Stagnant is the sect that does not change. Those who do not conquer will be conquered. This is the way of the world. -Sect Leader Xue Yu of the Blood Stalking Demon Sect

"I…I don't understand," I admitted weakly.

"You mean, you're not a part of the Shattered Moon Sect?" Lihua asked incredulously. "Then why would your membership tablet be here?"

That was the real question, wasn't it? I glanced around the room. There were no signs of a struggle. Very few objects had been knocked to the floor in a hasty retreat. By all appearances, this vault was exactly how it was when it was in use, leaving no reason to explain why the banner was there other than that it always had hung in that place.

"Maybe it was the spoils of a raid? They took the weapons and tablets from your sect?" she offered. Her voice had softened as if she were talking to a distressed child or cornered animal, but I couldn't bring myself to correct her.

"If it was just the weapons, then that would be the most likely answer," I said.

When I didn't continue the thought, Lihua tapped my shoulder. "But?"

"But, there's no reason to take the membership tablets," I explained.

"Maybe they didn't know what they were?"

I shook my head. Every sect would have known. There was no reason for Shattered Moon to take the Heaven's Blade tablets. Even if they'd been taken by mistake, the raiding sect would have just thrown them out or used them to hunt down the remaining members before killing them and disposing of the tablets. They never would have placed them in their vaults, alongside the treasures of their own sect.

Perhaps it had just been my token they were keeping. The Shattered Moon Sect worshipped me above all other Ascendents. I could see them hunting down and keeping my membership tablet in particular, as it was one of the few accessible objects thoroughly soaked in my qi. To them, it would have been proof that the object of their affections and beliefs was still alive, contrary to what the legends suggested.

Yet, that didn't make sense, either. Why keep all the Heaven's Blade tablets if they just wanted mine? Why let mine sink to the bottom of the box where none could find it? Shattered Moon would have put it in a place of honor, not treated it like all the rest.

There was only one horrifying truth that explained the details. It was one so horrible that it spun anger within my soul. The Shattered Moon Sect had corrupted my good name, but what else had they turned to their vile ways? As much as I hated the idea…were Heaven's Blade and Shattered Moon one and the same but from different points in time?

"Let's keep going. The sooner I get out from Shattered Moon's roof, the better."

I pushed forward, shoving open the ancient door beneath the Shattered Moon banner. A dark hallway lay beyond. If our guesswork was right, this would be the sect's escape route in case of attack. Much like the vault, there few signs of use, further confirming that this branch of Shattered Moon died swiftly and without warning, probably when the district armillary died.

Lihua kept close behind, eager to remain within my light. For someone who'd grown up as a spider in a dark and damn crevice, she didn't seem very fond of cramped spaces like these. A small part of me worried that I'd have to peel her off my arm once we returned to the safety of the lit districts.

A click echoed through the hall, as my foot dropped a half inch more than it should have. Immediately, I pulled myself backward, the silver dart flying a hair's breadth away from my nose. Lihua squeaked as a dart whizzed behind her.

"Where are they coming from?" she yelped. "There aren't any arrow slits!"

As the silver darts slammed into the wall next to me, they burst into qi. They were never real in the first place. In fact, they were extremely reminiscent of my use of Heaven's Rain, a technique that only artists in the Heaven's Blade Sect practiced. Behind these walls, I had no doubt a series of arrays meant to recreate the technique were still functional.

"We'd better run," I said simply. "Try not to step on my chain, please."

Before even waiting to see if she would nod, I latched onto Lihua's hand and began dragging her after me. There was no telling how many arrays were at work, and, more importantly, there was no way of telling where the darts would come from, nor at what strength.

A dart zipped over my head, coming so close to grazing my skull that Chiho began to trill complaints. It must have caught a few strands of hair, but I couldn't spare the fussing hairpin any attention. Instead, I kept my eyes ahead, squinting into the darkness beyond my light and hoping beyond hope that we wouldn't stumble into a worse trap in our haste.

"They're everywhere!" Lihua shouted. I didn't chance a glance at her, but cold liquid on my hand told me she was bleeding. Tightening my grip, I continued pulling her along.

A dart slammed into my left arm, and my light flickered as my concentration was momentarily interrupted. I forced more qi into the light, causing it to flare as I hurled it forward with all my strength. Though we were left in relative darkness, the light illuminated a door just a hundred yards away.

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"Just a little more!" I said, putting on a burst of speed. Lihua's hand gripped mine tightly as we sprinted through the corridor. Only a few seconds more, and we'd be through the door and away from the deadly darts.

Pain tore through my leg, and I very nearly lost my footing. Glancing down, a dart had buried itself in my leg between two turns of my chains. It persisted there for a single breath before bursting into qi. Blood began to flow down my leg and into my boot, but I ignored it stubbornly. The door was only a dozen yards away!

Another dart slammed into my ankle. I stumbled, but the power of perseverance and adrenaline kept me going as I lowered my shoulder and slammed it into the door. It burst open with enough force to bang loudly on the wall. Lihua and I ran through and collapsed onto the ground, both from exhaustion and worry that some other trap would slice our heads off if we weren't careful.

Yet, none came.

When the noise of the qi darts finally quieted, I risked sitting up to look around. It was a temple. Forgotten stubs of long burned incense rested in the same bowls where priests had left them, and even a faint, almost ghostly, trace of the smell still lingered on the air. Dusty cushions were arranged around the altar, but they were still plump rather than flat with use.

"They must not have gotten many prayers," Lihua noted, seeing the direction of my gaze. "I wonder who it was for?" Both our eyes flicked up to the idol atop the altar. "Is that…" Lihua's voice trailed off.

Because who else would the Shattered Moon Sect have a temple of but me? Lihua turned to me, eyes wide with questions. There was no way she hadn't recognized it. After all, she was obsessed with my appearance.

Rather than confirm what she was already on the edge of discovering, I simply suppressed the void within me. My hair lightened a shade, and my horns and fangs retreated into my skull. Soon, even my skin was back to a more human pallor, and the chains that bound me vanished into qi.

Lihua gasped in shock as I suddenly resembled the statue upon the altar directly. In this form, the ambient void qi of the Black City crawled over my skin like a swarm of insects rather than with the cool and gentle touch with which it caressed my voidspawn form. It was strange, to me, just how uncomfortable I felt wearing my human form again after six months as the resident void spirit.

"It's…you." Her voice was filled with awe as she glanced back at the altar. The statue of me that stood there was expertly carved, wielding a sword in one hand and holding a moth in the other. I looked like an ethereal immortal sent from the heavens, just like I always wanted to be.

"It's the image of the Lunar Prince," I explained. "This would have been carved before the rise of the Darkened Moon, more than likely."

"But, Tsuyuki, he looks just like you."

"Yes, I was very particular that they get my image correct back then." I stepped forward, my hand reaching out to trace the hem of the statue's robes. "Funny how I barely even resemble that man, anymore."

Lihua continued glancing between me and my likeness. Then, she hung her head.

"You really are way out of my league," she whispered. "How could I ever think that I was capable of keeping a legend as my knight."

"I'm hardly the legend I once was." I sighed. "The Lunar Prince was capable of batting his eyelashes and resolving any problem. A conflict like the one between the Chikara and the Forgotten would never have ended in violence."

"What happened, then?"

I snorted. "You're from the Moon-Soaked Shore. I'm sure you've heard my story. I became the Darkened Moon, murdered millions, and was locked away by the only person left that I loved."

"And what does that make you now? You don't seem like the Darkened Moon."

My eyes met those of the statue. What did that make me now? I'd lost the title of hero long ago. Ruler was out of the question if no one would listen to me.

"I don't know what I am," I admitted.

Part of me wondered if I should even be telling Lihua any of this. After all, she was an enemy until a few hours ago. That was the sort of day we'd had, though. Even enemies can be brought together by the whims of circumstance.

Lihua rested her arms on the altar, looking up at the statue. "Do you want to know what I think?" I almost replied with a sarcastic no, but she was already speaking again. "I think you're a knight. You may not be my knight, but you are to someone. That little girl, for one, the one that follows you around?"

"Xinya?"

"Is that her name?" She mused. "Tsuyuki Xinya has an interesting ring to it."

"We don't share a surname," I protested. "Her clan name is Lang."

"Really? I thought you'd adopted her as your daughter."

I felt heat creeping into my cheeks. "She's my niece at best."

"Well, regardless of who's deluding themselves," Lihua continued, "she looks up to you as if you had personally hung the moon in the sky." She paused, frowning. "That might be a bad metaphor in this case, since you basically did."

"The moon did exist before me, you know," I said. "I just was the first and only one to bind my spirit to it and use it to fuel my cultivation."

She waved a dismissive hand. "My point is that she looks up to you as a hero. I have been watching you for over a year, and the look she gives you is one of awe and trust. I have seen you save her from certain harm along with entire towns which would otherwise be wiped off the map. You're a helper. You help people, even when they get in their own way like those silly forest insects back on the Shore. I'm sure you'll do no different here in this festering pit of yokai."

Lihua turned her back on the altar, leaning back against the stones. "Who knows, maybe it's time I let you help me a bit. Knowing just how silly my dreams were, maybe it's time I found new ones."

"Will you return to your master?"

"I have to, at least to tell him that I'm going home," she answered. Then, she turned to me. "By the way, I don't have the power core for the Forgotten Array anymore. I gave it to my master. He's so hidden that you're better off trying to find a replacement rather than the original."

"How am I going to do that?" I said grumpily. I'd never even seen the thing before.

"You're the Darkened Moon. I'm sure you'll figure something out," she assured me with a smile. Then, she grew serious. "You should know, though. My master is not a man to take lightly. I don't know what he plans for you, but his attention is…uncomfortable. He's extremely powerful. Just to enter the city, he had to unravel his cultivation, and he did it like it was nothing to him. Like he'd have it back in a week."

That was worrying. If he had to unravel his core, this Master must have been at least Gemstone, normally, a step just below Ascendency. It was not the type of person I wanted to be noticed by at this stage.

"Will you tell him my true identity?" I asked. She just shrugged.

"We'll have to wait and see, won't we?"

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