Our fight became a flurry of attack and counterattack. A stalemate that would have continued indefinitely if I hadn't attempted a move that should have been impossible, and if Daniel knew it possible, would have warded against.

I had been trying to think of a way to remove all of that earth from the torc. If I couldn't starve his fire of oxygen, maybe I could smother it under a mountain of rubble. But the torc didn't work as a normal spatial device. I could add things to it, and remove them, but it required more effort to do so. I had to be touching the item in question, or at least enfold the item with my Qi energy signature.

That made me wonder if I could transport Daniel inside. An insane idea that shouldn't have worked. I knew it was possible to add people. I had done so with the poisoned women, but they had been unconscious and unable to resist. Daniel wouldn't allow me to do something like that.

At least he shouldn't. And he definitely wouldn't if he had known the torc existed, and that they had constructed a living world inside. A world that cultivators could access. It was a gamble, but the only risk to me was that it might fail. So, I chained [Lightning's Rush] and [Catch the Moon], my Tessen snapped closed, and the tines crossed so that my arms caught the brunt of one of his attacks and trapped his wrist.

And I reached, trying to bridge the gap between here and there and pull Daniel along with me.

The transition inside the torc this time was like riding a roller coaster. That sinking feeling in your stomach you get as the cars rolled over the highest point and plunged down hundreds of feet. There was no delay between here and there, and Daniel gave no resistance. Between one second and the next, the course of the battle changed.

The inner world gave me the maneuverability I was most comfortable with. It returned the open skies to me and my ability for flight. Just as importantly, it gave me the freedom to unleash the storms that were becoming my signature attack.

This fight had proven that I would need to address my deficiencies about fighting in enclosed spaces in the future, and I would. The fight in the tunnel had proven to me how important location and environment could be in influencing the outcome of a battle. It was a failing that might be deadly if I did not address it.

But the comfort of wind and rain sang to me at that moment. They were a balm to my frayed nerves, a healings grace gifted in the midst of battle. And I luxuriated in the storm that answered my summons. I even went so far as to ignoring Daniel for a moment, in order to luxuriate and commune with the elemental affinities that were mine to call.

My control over lightning had grown. It had become a true affinity, and I had considered using my new ability to unleash a sustained lightning blast while fighting with Daniel in the tunnels. But it required a great deal of Qi and Dharmic energy. The fight wouldn't have been sustainable for long, and if Daniel was able to deflect or avoid those blasts, I would have depleted my energies quickly. He would have been able to outlast me, in that case. Killing me in the end when my energy reserves were emptied.

"An illusion array?" Daniel said, gaining my attention and breaking the almost meditative trance I'd entered as I enjoyed regaining flight.

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He had no affinity with wind, but he had reached the Qi Gathering realm so had an ability to fly. It wasn't as well developed as mine, but it would keep him aloft and allow him to travel, although not as quickly or as effortlessly.

Normally, as a Beast Tamer, he would have summoned his companions by this point. But either he hadn't replaced those Storm, and I had killed in our last battle, or he was afraid to risk any new companion he might have bonded with since, knowing that I would have no reason not to kill them.

He had forced this fight, and I would not hesitate to take any advantage I might gain. Killing any new beast he had bonded with would be certain to destroy any healing to his soul that might have taken place.

"My source in Contribution Hall hadn't mentioned you purchased an illusion array of this complexity," he continued. "I wonder what you wanted something like this for?"

It didn't hurt to let him think I had triggered an illusion, but it did give me a vital piece of information about his abilities. His perception simply wasn't as good as mine. If it were, he would have noted our passage. It was probably why I was able to transport him, to begin with. He couldn't perceive the changes in time and space that translated into the inner world. And because he couldn't perceive the changes to our location, he wasn't able to guard against it.

"A source in Contribution Hall?" I replied. "You really are a poor loser. All this trouble because of a duel. Time and energy you should have spent training.

"I mean, what kind of obsession for revenge does it take for a person to wait in a tunnel passage for weeks, in the unlikely event someone survived a mountain being dropped on them?" I scoffed, the sarcasm and insult in my question angering him.

I had briefly wondered that question when Daniel had first confronted me, why would he have been patient enough to wait weeks for me to escape, and how long he had been willing to monitor that passage before giving up. His obsession with revenge was really all out of proportion because of his defeat in a tournament sanctioned by the Emperor.

"Your House is that concerned over lost prestige from one duel that you need to put this much effort into counting coup?"

"My House has nothing to do with this," Daniel sneered. "The request to Elder Dill was the only intervention my House felt you were worth wasting time and energy on. If my House were involved, they would target your Fief, destroy your family, and cripple your cultivation.

"No. This is personal.

"You killed my companions. For a Beast Tamer, that is the same as cutting off an arm or a leg.

"We were bonded. They were a part of me. And killing them, killed that part that made me more.

"Furthermore, my House had to expend a healing artifact in order to heal me quickly enough to join Four Elements Sect. Healing that seared my soul by cauterizing the gaping wounds to my psyche, the death of my bonded companions had made.

"That healing was even more painful than the death of my bonded. And none of it would have been necessary if you just played your part and followed the script by letting me win. You would have still been awarded a place in Four Element Sect. Your Alchemy results guaranteed it.

"And I know they warned you, that your handler told you enough details about what they expected of you that you were aware that they rigged the tournament. But you couldn't let well enough alone. You couldn't just concede and enjoy your place as an Alchemy Sect member.

"I want you to suffer for the death of each of my bonded, but you have Heaven's own luck. Nothing seems to stick to you, and whatever shit you fall into winds up turning into an opportunity. If I left you to your own devices any longer, I would never get this chance.

"Or you would be too powerful to move against.

"Even now you have gained too much political attention for me to risk angering those that have taken an interest in you. If I allowed that attention to take root and bloom, I would risk attention focused on my House.

"No, this ends today," he promised as he launched a salvo of fireballs towards me.

"You die here, and my House and I forget that you ever existed."