The Path is unknown. The Path is mysterious. One may walk the path, thinking that they know everything, but the truth is that they know even less than a man in a dense jungle or a tiger in a city. Walking the Path means sometimes cutting through a jungle of mystery with the sword of understanding. Other times, it means pausing to wonder how a fish has learned to fly. -Master Lu Qing of the Sun's Fury Sect to a room full of young disciples.

I leapt forward, letting my feet slide on the dark slate tiles of the roof until I reached the curved edge. Xinya was right on my heels, with Lin following a step behind. I couldn't help but smile at the little girl's enthusiasm. This would be the first time she fought at my side, and based on her sparking qi, she couldn't wait to prove herself.

Good, a little challenge will only help her growth, I thought, leaping off the roof and into the fray. And, if she has an outlet for that spirit, maybe she won't go disobeying us when we tell her to stay put.

Even as I thought it, I stifled a laugh. The day that Xinya actually listened when told to stay behind would be the day I learned to swim.

An arrow was on my string, just as my feet hit the ground. The goal wasn't to harm any of them, but when it came to cultivators, only near-lethal force would convince them to slow their assault. I drew the string back, aiming at the leg of one of the Chikara. The tip of the arrow shone with voidlight as it streaked through the scuffle to subdue its target.

"Xinya, stay close, but fight as you would any enemy!" I ordered. The girl nodded. At her level, true lethal force was beyond her reach. As such, there was no reason for her to pull her punches.

Lightning sparked from her fingertips, streaking towards the shade she'd selected as her target. Her brow was furrowed with focus as she did as her lessons taught her. Her lightning was vibrant violet, but with a shimmering silver sheen of moon imposed over it, visible only to those of higher cultivation than her.

The shade noticed the blast too late. He brought up his sword, but a mundane metal weapon is no defense against electricity. The shade seized as Xinya's power coursed through him. The moment he was stunned was enough for Lin to spare a sidelong swipe with his blade, putting the shade out of the fight for good.

"Nice work!" I shouted over the clanging of steel.

Our moment of surprise did not last.

"Chikara! Rally! Enemies attack our flank!" shouted the young oni at the head of the gang. Before I knew it, Flash Forward warned me of a sword and two glaives, each one with the potential to behead me, spill my insides, and otherwise ruin my day.

An arrow was nocked to my string and launched at the swordsman before he ever got close enough to strike me. It buried itself in his sword arm, forcing him to halt his advance. The first of the glaives whistled as it sliced the air. It was a hair's breadth away from my face, but I bent backward. The only thing it managed to cut were a few ends of the hair around my face.

But, that was enough to wake the beast.

As I put a hand to the ground behind me, using my momentum to kick the oni's weapon from his hands, a furious trill pierced the air, causing oni and shades alike to cover their ears.

Chiho zipped ahead in a green blur, spinning around and around the oni who'd dared to mess with my hair. Qi surged, kicking up a small tornado that flung the oni into the air. He landed with a sickening crack that left him groaning.

"Thank you for being gentle, Chiho," I praised as the pin returned to my side. It trilled an irritated series of notes that I could only assume were its complaints about how it would have loved to kill the oni for his crimes.

Looking around for the last glaive that was set to end my life, I didn't find it near me. Instead, I found Xinya engaged in a fierce duel. She'd picked up the first glaive that I'd kicked from its master's hand and was now trying her best to stab him with it.

I watched her battle closely, relying on Flash Forward to warn me if any acts of bad fortune were coming my way. The glaive was too big for her, but she wielded it with the determination and ferocity of a wolf battling far bigger prey. She lunged with a practiced motion, only to be blocked by the confused-looking oni.

"You're so tiny," he said. "You're like a little human piglet."

Xinya's eyes began to glow with qi as fury filled her. I took a breath to fire an arrow into the chest of a shade who thought to take advantage of my distraction. By the time my attention returned to the fight, Xinya's glaive coursed with lightning. She ran in a circle around her adversary, swiping at his heels. Being smaller than her opponent made her far faster, despite the glaive being awkward in her hand. The oni stepped back to avoid the first two strikes, but he couldn't avoid the third. Metal clanged as the glaives met blade to blade, and the oni screamed as pure lightning arced through the weapons and up his arms.

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"I was told that Oni are stronger, the smaller they are," Xinya hissed with a mocking tone. "I guess a big guy like you is a good example, huh?" In a swift moment, she slammed the haft of the glaive into his legs, and, in his stunned state, he crumpled to the ground. "Go pick on someone your own size, because I'm totally out of your league."

Pride surged in my chest. My disciple had won her first real fight! She might have done it with weapon skills that I definitely didn't teach her, but that didn't stop me from rushing over to the girl and giving her a bright smile.

"Excellent job, Xinya."

"Mister Satoro taught me some with his glaive," she admitted.

The time for full congratulations would have to wait, though. Nearby, Lin was facing several shades. The ground was scattered with seeds and vines, each one glowing with his qi. They wrapped around the ankles of shades, hindering them as Lin cut and dodged. Any shade who fell was immediately overwhelmed with plants feeding off their qi to further their growth.

However, distracted as he was by the shades he was subduing, Lin didn't see the meteor that was falling towards him in a blaze of qi and steel. The powerful oni, the leader of this group of Chikara, meant to capitalize on Lin's own techniques to deal a considerable blow to the shade forces.

"Not if I can help it," I muttered. He wasn't the only one who could strike from above.

Corrosive Voidlight covered my arrow as I drew it taught. Yet, just as I planted my feet to fire steadily into the heavens, my right foot landed on a loose stone. I glanced down just in time to see faint threads of Voidlight wrapping around my ankle. Though they vanished quickly, the damage was done. The arrow was gone, streaking into the sky in a wide arc towards a nearby building.

Yet…

More threads of Voidlight followed it. The arrow slammed into a bucket that had been abandoned on a balcony railing when the fighting broke out. It tumbled from the building, tipping its contents over the field…right where the oni was about to land.

The oni landed in an explosion of flames that greedily lapped at Lin's plants and the prisoners within. Adaptive as they were, the plants tried to resist the qi, but no plant could resist the hungry flames forever. However, it was just enough.

Gravity took hold of the bucket, and water cascaded over the battle. The fire was extinguished for a brief moment, and though normally, any fire artist would be able to reignite their flames in an instant, the Chikara leader never got the chance. Threads of misfortune wrapped around the bucket until it landed cleanly on the oni's head.

The battlefield fell silent.

I stared at the bucket in utter shock. How does one even process that level of misfortune? It was a new level, even for me. Finally, it was a tally mark raking across my wrist that jerked me out of the stupor. Though Flash Back had little to share, having only destroyed a minute of reality, it was enough to make it clear to my present self that I needed to step in now, lest things begin to spiral.

Stepping forward, I tapped gently on the oni's shoulder. His clothes were steaming with heat, but he was only a few inches taller than me, leaving the bucket in reach for me to hook on the end of my bow without being burned.

"The Young Master will have to forgive us for interfering in this matter, but the quiet of the morning was ruined by the sound of battle," I began. "You could hear it all over the district. We would have had complaints from our guests if it had gone on any longer."

It was…a stretch, and I knew it. But, I just smiled sweetly at the young oni who looked as if he was trying to decide whether to be confused or angry. To further diffuse the situation, I bowed my head.

"Perhaps we could settle this dispute without further violence. Are you a young master of the Chikara?" I asked.

"I am. I am Chikara Shion. My father is the Chikara Chief,"

"Oh, that's wonderful to hear. Our inn has had dealings with the Chikara in the past. We are practically family, aren't we, Lin?"

"Uh, sure."

"Now, Young Master Chikara, would your esteemed self be willing to explain what's going on here?" I asked. "We would be more than happy to mediate a solution that would surely be beneficial to everyone involved, yes?"

Chikara Shion sighed. "Willing? Sure. Able?" he glared at the shades before spitting in their direction. "That's for this filth."

"Lin, would you let them up, please?" A moment later, the shades stood, forming a defensive group. "Who here represents your group and can speak on what's happened here?"

One shade stepped from the crowd. She was a tough-looking warrior with several scars across her cheek and forehead. After taking a moment to brush off unseen dirt from her ghostly image, she joined us. Her sword was still in her hand, but it was pointed to the ground rather than Shion, which was a start.

I inhaled sharply as she stood still. Her qi was ancient but fractured. When she moved, her form blurred, making the details of her armor unclear. However, when she stood still, I could see it clearly. She bore a crescent moon insignia. For a moment, I almost mistook it for my own crest from back when I ruled the Black City as the Lunar Prince, but as she settled into place, it became clear that it was a slightly different emblem.

"Something wrong?" she asked sharply. I bowed my head.

"No, madame," I cleared my throat. "Do you represent these shades?"

"I do."

"And do you serve any faction?"

Shion snorted. "They belong to the Forgotten." There was enough scorn in his words to make even the most stubborn donkey feel shame, yet the ghostly soldier bore it without flinching.

"I am one of the Moon Guard's lieutenants. They call me Crescent, as my name was lost long ago," she announced. "These wretched oni stole an important artifact from us. I am here to take it back."

"Stole?! You dare accuse us of stooping to stealing from the likes of you?!" Shion growled. Behind him, the few remaining Chikara readied their weapons.

Before the Shades could respond in kind, I put a hand on Shion's shoulder. The other, I held just above Crescent's shoulder, since she was largely incorporeal.

"Easy, easy, easy," I said. "We've had enough blood and qi spilled today. Now, I am neither yokai nor shade, the same is true of my companions. Please, allow us to help settle this. Crescent, why are you so certain that the Chikara stole from you?"

Crescent looked me straight in the eye. "Because we have witnesses."

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