Amdirlain's PoV - Southeast Himalayas

The heat from her flames disrupted the valley's winds.

Sarah was on the far side of the mountain, herding hundreds of demons back towards the squad, while Kadaklan and Klipyl had already deployed a medical station. Those among the judges' squad who had taken the most significant injuries were already being seen by Kadaklan.

What a cluster fuck. I thought I was coming to rescue Dor Ji from a Demon, not stick my nose into another invasion. This form revelatory energy is clinging to me; is there a way to slip it free? I'll need to push my levels before I go to the plinth.

Amdirlain took in the changes to Dor Ji; though still rail-thin, she wore mottled grey robes, her formerly long hair was short and ragged. An air of isolation clung to her, overshadowing the adrenaline still surging through her flesh.

The poor woman is freaking out. Poor? She's got mostly one-shot charms. I only recognise a ring and bracelet from the last time we met, and they're both tailored to her Ki alone.

'Where did they assign your guards?'

Dor Ji squared her shoulders. "They were private guards I'd hired, and I no longer have the wealth to employ them."

'I left you with your inherited holdings and savings.'

"The order has divided my properties between a trust they'll return if I redeem myself to pay reparations. My only funds are those from a few Duty Pavilion tasks managed between hunting."

That isn't what I'd intended.

'I take it you're competing with the up-and-coming bright stars for those tasks?' Amdirlain eased the strength of her mental touch back further.

The thinning of Do Ji's lip was enough answer for Amdirlain, but she waited. Eventually, Dor Ji nodded. "The investigation is sealed and no one knows what we're doing. The sect elders have taken steps to prevent anything from giving us away. I can only accept what others can't or won't take on. Along with the scut work that those higher up relegate to someone expendable."

'Is your protective focus wards?'

"The barriers around towns are simply what people will most commonly pay for," murmured Dor Ji. "I can make other protective enchantments."

'It's not what you wanted to be doing when you took your prestige classes.'

Dor Ji lowered her gaze. "Does that matter now?"

'It does to me. Experiencing ongoing anger and despair at your situation can be poison. What do you want to be doing? Seek that, not the approval of your family and sect, and you'll be far happier.'

"You're so powerful," snapped Dor Ji. "What would you know about suffering? What would you know about being penned in by other's decisions?"

'You know you aren't the only one that can suffer, Dor Ji. I'm asking you to seek your happiness in whatever form it takes. As long as it doesn't harm others, I will not judge you for it.'

Dor Ji averted her gaze further. Amdirlain could hear the difficulty her shielded presence was causing Dor Ji and didn't interrupt.

She'd be even more worried if I projected a mental image instead.

'I know I'm scary in this form, so I'm not arguing. I'll ask you two questions, but the answers are only for yourself. What called you to become an enchanter and warder rather than seeking another path? What do you desire to be in the future, unlimited by others' expectations?'

"I don't know. All my reasons turned to ash, I schemed to grow along a path that brought me no happiness."

'Take the time to think about it. Would you like to wait for the other to get done hunting or I can send you somewhere?'

"Thank you for the offer, Lady Am. I'll wait for them and consider your words."

With the lingering energy, Amdirlain couldn't disguise herself, but she projected a simulacrum before Dor Ji. "I think you've had enough of hearing me in your mind. They shifted the ley lines here, so we're on an artificial junction point. Is that what led the expedition here?"

Despite her elven form, Dor Ji flinched at Amdirlain's sudden proximity.

"I'm sorry, Lady Am. The night has contained too many close calls in quick succession."

Amdirlain nodded calmly. "You're still injured. Do you mind if I heal you?"

Dor Ji swallowed. "I'm sure I'm not worth your time."

"When we last parted, I would have let you recover unaided. Though enlightenment often comes in a rush, one's redemption isn't a single event, Dor Ji."

Amdirlain caught a reminder to heal Dor Ji through the group's mental links and returned a quick confirmation. 'I'll get to it. You tend to the medic station for the squad, Kadaklan, and leave Dor Ji to me. She's expecting me to punish her further.'

"Tell me how the Storm Peak sect came to be here," said Amdirlain.

"When I returned to our monastery, I found complaints had arrived ahead of me. I'm still under oath to remain silent on the details, but it became clear forces were manipulating our sect and others. Under the judges' directions, we traced various ploys to their sources and spied on them. I say we, but my principal contribution was concealment charms. Once their agents' superior was captured, they surrendered enough information to follow the puppeteer's strings. From that manipulator, we learned about this valley and the ritual they'd used to change the energy flows."

"I gather that, along the way, you learnt who they planned to summon here? You were quite certain about your warning about the Yomi King's son."

"Yes."

"We're on the border between territories," noted Amdirlain. "Were they relying on that to hide?"

Dor Ji blinked. "We knew we were close to the border. They never mentioned how they were hiding."

"The energies pooling here have created a reservoir. Did any of the nearby communities notice?"

"We've not spoken to them," said Dor Ji. "We found maps that lead us here and didn't want to risk there being infiltrators or sect members among the local populace."

Amdirlain kept her senses restricted to the valley, but she could feel the differing energies in the winds' territories.

The situation beneath was easy to sense. While the Gate to Di Yu and the surrounding tunnels had shattered, their changes to the ley lines over centuries were still in place. The initial rituals had created thin links looping between them, and then successive efforts had tightened them until the two divergent lines had drawn close enough to mingle.

I'll have to drain the lake of mana before I can separate the ley lines to their original state. She's nearing her crash point.

The ground beneath Dor Ji levelled out, and a set of padded chairs and a table appeared on the newly created platform. "Please sit, Dor Ji."

"Yes, Lady Am."

The Enchanter dropped into a chair just before the adrenaline dump hit, her hands shaking like leaves in a hurricane.

Amdirlain sat down and prepared a large cup of butter tea. Her shaking hands stilled when Amdirlain held it out to Dor Ji, and she took it in reflex acceptance.

"I hope I got the amount of yak butter right," said Amdirlain. "It's the first time I've made this style of tea."

Dor Ji took a cautious sip, and the warmth eased her roiling stomach. "It is well prepared, Lady Am."

"Relax and drink your tea to calm yourself," Amdirlain said, and she leaned back in her seat, allowing Dor Ji to drink the tea at her own pace.

She's not acknowledging her injuries, just meditating to set the pain aside.

"Why did you save me?" asked Dor Ji at last. Her gaze darted to Amdirlain's feathered serpent form.

"You were a self-centred individual who hurt the livelihood of many families, but that doesn't mean I'd let a Demon have you," replied Amdirlain. "May I heal you, or would you prefer Kadaklan tend your injuries?"

"What can I do to repay you?"

"Aren't you already being punished by the sect?"

"That is between the sect and myself. It doesn't make amends to you." Dor Ji didn't look away and touched her fingertip to the gemstone under her robes. "This doesn't make amends."

The judges didn't ask her to seek anything from me.

"For every family your scheme affected, teach two children to sense their Ki," said Amdirlain. "I want you to teach them from the start, not those who are nearly there."

Dor Ji bowed low. "As you so instruct, Lady Am."

"You never learnt Universal Life, did you?"

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"No. A few among the squad have the ability, but most do not," advised Dor Ji.

I'll fix that later.

She mentally touched Dor Ji's injuries and started feeding them psionic energy, ensuring her body regained its original state, not merely healing the wounds and leaving scars behind.

Once she'd fully healed Dor Ji, Amdirlain spoke again. "Would you put a ward around Kadaklan's medical site, Dor Ji?"

"I lost my equipment," replied Dor Ji.

Amdirlain created a spatial pouch hovering in the air before Dor Ji; and filled it with copies of the essential tools Sarah had purchased or made for her Tao Enchanter class. "You should find ample supplies in here," she said.

Dor Ji hesitantly plucked the pouch from mid-air; her expression turned confused when she found it already attuned to her. Hands that had stabilised while drinking her tea shook for another reason—the raw mithril in the equipment was enough to fund an extravagant lifestyle for dozens of people.

"There is too much in here," protested Dor Ji.

"It is only worth what it does to ease the life or ensure the safety of others," replied Amdirlain, before she teleported her away to the site where Sarah had moved Kadaklan.

Time will tell if she falls into the same mental trap as last time or lives a better life. I need to do something with this Mana build-up. With it still present, it's a binding agent on the ley lines.

Amdirlain opened gates through her expanded Demi-Plane and alternated enhancements across millions of her colossi to store Mana for new weaponry. With that done, she funnelled her entire Mana pool through to them to prepare for the next step. Her tail stabbed down through the earth to stop near the pooled mana and through Greater Mana Drain, she carefully sipped at the power. The foreignness of her flesh caused it to revolt as she drank, bucking and writhing as she supped from not one but two of the world's arteries.

The rapid notifications showed Greater Mana Drain's advancement, but at a steep cost to her health as spilled Mana seared her flesh. While drinking from a very large well, she attempted to control the flow into herself and her creation, leading to repeated increases in Greater Energy Recovery as well. The process of draining enough Mana to ease the issues took hours of increasingly larger sips. Ultimately, she transferred hundreds of millions of Mana into the constructs through her flesh. With the pressure easing, melodies unwound the binding rituals, gradually freeing the ley lines and altering their flow.

With their separation enough to prevent their diffused energy from pooling, Amdirlain withdrew her tail and repaired the devastated valley, leaving the compound in its broken state. As the tension on the ley lines lessened, the weather in the range shifted. Amdirlain stretched her senses along their flow, checking for disruptions in both directions as she continued their slow restoration.

It was mid-morning before they slipped into their original position.

A mini-twister touched down next to the shattered outer wall, and Bai Hu emerged, looking slightly surprised with his ears perked up in his massive white tiger form. The lingering effect from the relic had also enfolded him, and he sneezed in amusement. The blackness of his stripes stood out in the white flames emitted by the edge of Amdirlain's wings. "Lady Am, you've grown extensively. Have you been working out?"

"Very droll, Lord Bai Hu." Amdirlain cast her voice at a conversation pitch near him.

"Please, I'm sure using my name alone will do between us."

Flames struck the ground beside him, the woman within it transforming into an amber and red Phoenix. She wasn't the man-sized species Amdirlain had detected around the volcano but the size of the two-story blockish building from which the Demon had erupted during the night. She looked back along her feathered sides. "This is not the use for that relic. Why didn't you sort it out, lazy cat?"

Bai Hu yawned and brushed a paw across his muzzle to hide the amused curl of his lips. "I only just got here, and I thought I'd let you peck at it."

She blurred to tug at the end of a whisker.

"Hey, no fair." Bai Hu pawed the air, but Zhūquè had already pulled back out of reach. "Lady Am and Lady Zhūquè, I'm sure you can figure out who is who."

Are they putting on a show to make me feel at ease, or do they usually behave like squabbling siblings?

"That has to be the laziest introduction I've heard you give, Bai Hu." Zhūquè tilted her head to regard Amdirlain curiously. "Are you going to take forever to arrive at my court, Am?"

"I didn't realise you were impatient for my arrival, Lady Zhūquè."

"Zhūquè, please, I didn't address you with a title to start. Unless you'd like me to give more titles to you, Lady Am?"

"I'll decline your most generous offer, Zhūquè," replied Amdirlain fervently. "Names alone it is for all of us then."

"Xuan Wu and Qinglong have been teasing me about whether you'll avoid coming near me for longer than it took you to reach Bai Hu's tent."

"I'm not involved." Bai Hu flicked his ears dismissively.

"You've been encouraging them." Zhūquè lifted her chin haughtily. "I've heard from some of your wives."

A pleased playfulness rose from Bai Hu.

Did he get them to tell her, to bait her reaction?

Bai Hu settled to the ground, paws stretched out before him. "I see no need to address such matters."

"I'm going to pluck out your whiskers, Bai Hu, and braid them in my next nest," grumbled Zhūquè.

"If you want your nest decorated, pull out Qinglong's whiskers," protested Bai Hu.

Zhūquè's gaze burned furiously. "It's little wonder Am ignored your hints about wanting to exchange pointers. There is no point rewarding inappropriate behaviour."

How am I getting dragged into this?

"I didn't ignore his requests so much as deflect them," corrected Amdirlain.

"Perhaps that is the case," replied Zhūquè. "At every stop, you've brought change and freshness. You spent little time with this reprobate, almost a year with the turtle's court and over two years with the soggy brain. I was looking forward to seeing what impact you'd have on my court, and now I find you have healed a neighbouring wound that might have festered. Still, I hope you'll stay with me longer and take time in the sun to savour the warmth while you continue your healing," said Zhūquè.

Amdirlain took in the full yawn that Bai Hu indulged in, all his teeth on full display towards Zhūquè, who ignored him.

"That will depend on how long my research takes," advised Amdirlain.

Zhūquè sighed. "I might have doomed myself to shortening the pleasure of your company. After sensing your Ki residue on Bai Hu's fur, I developed a technique I believe would suit you. It provides an advancement of Ki Movement that mirrors the Ki Flight technique you selected and combines them."

"What's it called?"

"I called it Pyroclastic Flow in your honour," said Zhūquè.

That's the gaseous super-heated clouds that roll off some volcanoes during their eruptions.

"Why?"

"You seem to build up pressure and then roll over everything before it can flee."

"That name sounds entirely too suitable," allowed Amdirlain. She raised an eyebrow. "Did Kadaklan talk to you after returning from Qil Tris?"

"We had a brief conversation," replied Zhūquè, and she transformed back into a stately woman. Her lustrous black hair was braided in a crown while her loose orange, red, and amber dress had voluminous sleeves and pearl beading, and flowed around her. "May I remove the relic's effect from you as well? I didn't want to assume since it would wear off tonight."

It took her that long to remove it.

"If you'd be so kind," replied Amdirlain.

The energy's melody shifted off Amdirlain and Bai Hu together. He returned to the same form he'd worn—white hair, youthful features, blue eyes, clad in Mongolian silk and leather armour. Amdirlain took on her Elven form with azure blue hair, clad in a black wushu uniform with silver edges and clasps. Zhūquè continued to peel the energy back from the surroundings, and Amdirlain finally caught it when she removed it from Sarah and the others.

Amdirlain floated to land before the pair and exchanged bows with Zhūquè. "I appreciate your help, Zhūquè."

"Has my grandson been telling tales about me being wild and reactive?"

"He has, but may I ask the relationship between you? He doesn't sound related."

"I'm the spiritual ancestor of all phoenixes within the courts," explained Zhūquè. "Given that he is one of the few phoenixes in this realm to have so far reached a proper Immortal state, I'm very pleased with the youngster."

Amdirlain nodded at the explanation. "I appreciate the clarification."

"When today's fighting settles, I invite you to come to my court directly," said Zhūquè. "I'll even keep the greeting as private as Qinglong managed."

"There are some preparations I'll complete first, but we'll advance faster than planned."

Zhūquè tilted her head. "Are you ever planning to settle down, Am? It's good to have a proper nest to return to."

"The threat of enemies drove me from the last I had prepared. I aim to be strong enough that they won't cast a shadow near my doors."

Bai Hu frowned. "What happens if you can't gain such strength?"

"Then I'll get used to life on the road and take my house with me," replied Amdirlain. "Just like your tents."

"You're more of a builder than I am," noted Bai Hu, and he suddenly smiled at her boyishly. "Did you enjoy your exchanges with Xuan Wu?"

Zhūquè tugged his ear. "No."

"I only had one exchange of pointers," protested Bai Hu.

"Technically, you had two," corrected Amdirlain.

Bai Hu snorted. "That one with the Jian doesn't count. We were both going so slow. I've heard you got a sturdy Ki Body now. Enduring Flame, isn't it called?"

"It is, but we'll spar again when I'm stronger, not before," Amdirlain said, motioning for Bai Hu to calm down.

His boyish smile gained a smug tone, his melody a rumbling purr.

Zhūquè flipped her fingers at Bai Hu dismissively. "You've had your chance to speak to Am, shoo." She tucked her hands into her voluminous sleeves and glared at Bai Hu.

"Didn't realise I was so popular."

Bai Hu eyed where the central building of the compound had stood. "I can sense the remnants of that Gate; it's clear the growth you've been through of late."

With that, he transformed back into the mini-tornado and soared northwards to crash down among a demonic gathering.

A fond smile curled Zhūquè's lips, and her gaze traced his departure.

"A good heart?"

"That lazy cat always wants to play," huffed Zhūquè. "He and Xuan Wu are horrible at the paperwork. Tell Kadaklan I've held the guest house he used last time for your group. Master Cyrus is already in residence."

She handed over four jade pendants with a Phoenix crest engraved.

"We shouldn't be longer than a week," said Amdirlain. "I need to get some pieces moving and don't want to take a chance that traces of your court might attach to them."

Zhūquè nodded and turned into a living flame before she too jetted away, incinerating bands to the south.

The squad members, accompanied by Sarah and Jinfeng, were churning through the remaining demons. Meanwhile, Klipyl guarded Kadaklan, who treated any wounded person who fell back to him.

Amdirlain listened to the negative emotions within the demons and compared their shifting energies to those at the courts. The changes from the negative emotions of fear and rage were microscopic compared to the gains. She'd heard through the Di Yu Gate and caught the melodies of millions of demons within, but none had felt like even the most recently bound demons.

Amdirlain opened gates to the Demi-Plane again, and as she expanded it, she drew the constructs into ranks. Harnesses supporting shoulder-mounted turrets appeared across thousands, tapping into the Mana she had stored within the constructs. They supplemented the aerial units and the constructs she'd created solely to counter aerial strafing. Beyond the thick ranks of troops, millions of gates to the grey Plane of Hades appeared, and her first army marched forth at a steady pace. They were thousands of kilometres from the boundary of the fading domain, but Amdirlain could hear that nothing but denizens of various lower planes lay in their path.

That will give me time to make more contingents.

When the last construct exited, she closed the gates to Hades and started to create more. By the time the others finished, another army was ready to roll.

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Patrol Commander's PoV - Two thousand kilometres from Hades

A rhythmic thumping shook the mountain slope they were scaling to get into position to ambush Moloch's demons. Hellhounds and the flayed Merihem—with their long-limbed sinewy frames and hooked polearms—comprised most of his company, but he had a few aerial scouts. He jabbed a clawed finger at two Erinyes floating along nearby; they disappeared, teleporting into the sky above the mountain. A dozen crackling white beams bisected them before they'd flapped their wings once.

The spots they'd teleported from then manifested points of purplish blackness that distorted the surrounding light. Its eruption swept across hundreds of demons and blasted through him before he could form an image to teleport away. He felt himself being yanked back to Hell and came to within the grinding pressure of the river Dis. The fiend's scaled flesh ached in protest of the constriction that locked him to his Home Plane.

I didn't recognise the Spell that killed me. How did they target the origin point of the scouts' teleport?

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