Dusk settled over the forest, and Team Five moved like shadows beneath the trees. Daiyu's summoned fireflies floated ahead of them, tiny lanterns guiding their quiet journey toward the Huan Dynasty.
The forest rustled.
Then black-clad assassins burst from the darkness.
"Phoenix Flames!"
Zixin swept his arm forward, releasing a wall of blazing fire that swallowed the first wave of blades.
"Shufen!" Liling shouted. She drove her twin blades into an assassin who had slipped through the shadows. "Behind you!"
Something tore through Zixin's fire barrier. More assassins surged forward, running with unnatural speed.
"Dews of Heaven."
Shufen's qi flared. Dew-shaped daggers of condensed energy burst from his palms and hurled the attackers backward.
The team leapt from their horses. Steel rang in the dark. Qi erupted around them. Their movements synchronized with perfect precision
Jiang stepped forward and twisted in the air, his form blurring into a thousand flickering shadows.
"Rings of Lightning."
Lightning spiraled down his arms and wrapped around his fists. His punch struck with thunderous force and shattered three assassins at once.
Liling dipped low, dodging a blade before driving her sword into an attacker's chest. Another charged at her. Daiyu shifted beside her, lifted her shoulder, and swept her sword in a clean arc that decapitated him.
Jiang flicked his wrists, sending small daggers spinning into the skulls of five more assassins. They hit the nearby tree with a sickening thud.
Shufen struck another in the face and smashed the butt of his sword into its eye socket. As it staggered back, Zixin's phoenix fire erupted again and took its head clean off.
"Blades of Lotus."
Daiyu moved as fast as lightning, slicing through five opponents in a single breath.
Yet the assassins kept coming. For every one that fell, two more stepped into the light.
"Liling!" Shufen yelled. "Burn your qi!"
"No," she whispered. Fear tightened her voice.
An assassin slashed her shoulder before she could react. Pain shot through her. She cried out, then levitated a fallen dagger and thrust it into his heart.
"Burn your qi and let's end this already," Jiang snapped.
"I said I can't."
"You can," Daiyu said softly. "Focus."
A sharp hiss cut through the forest.
Cold swept over the trees. Frost crawled across the leaves. Ice gripped the assassins and froze them in place. Instinctively, Team Five burned their qi to shield themselves.
Shufen planted his feet and extended his hand.
"Clouds of Mist."
"Flames Ignite."
Zixin's fire rose beside him.
"Lotus Shield."
A glowing flower-shaped shield unfurled before Liling.
"Whip of Lightning."
Lightning curled from Jiang's fingers and formed a crackling whip he gripped tightly.
The mist thickened. Screams echoed from within it. Then five silhouettes emerged through the fog.
Liling squinted. "Eun? Team Five?"
"Liling?" Eun stepped forward. His brown hair was tied back, his military uniform neat, his sword at his hip.
"Phoenix Flames!"
Zixin launched another attack, almost reflexively.
"Zixin!" the team shouted.
Eun only lifted a brow in amusement.
Before the flames could strike him, a barrier of ice rose in front of him and swallowed the fire completely. Darkness coiled around the ice and smothered the last spark.
"Nice try," Eun said, irritated. "But you almost burned my hair."
"He planned to burn more than that," Shufen muttered.
The mist cleared, revealing Eun's team.
"Daiyu!" Two girls rushed toward her. One had blue hair and ice-blue eyes. The other had fiery red hair and matching red eyes. Chin-hwa and Chin-sun wrapped her in a fierce hug.
"I never thought I'd see you two again," Daiyu said when she finally pulled away. "What brings your team to this part of the kingdom?"
Ha-Neul stepped forward without acknowledging anyone in particular. His cerulean robes flowed like water behind him, and the emerald slit of his goblin eyes gleamed faintly. Once a terror of the northern villages, he had been captured by the Northern Master, forced into submission, and bound into the team.
"Our trail led us here," he said. "The map is heating up. That means we're close."
Yeon nodded with his usual scowl carved firmly into his expression.
When Liling stepped forward, Shufen appeared instantly and pulled her back in line.
"Your business here is finished," he told Eun. "Run along."
Eun didn't react.
Daiyu gasped and twisted her fingers, summoning their ancient map.
"I'm getting something," she said. "If I'm right, we're on the correct path." She looked between both teams. "Bong, where is your map pointing?"
"South."
He unfurled his own animal-skin map. Intricate runes shimmered faintly.
Both maps pulsed at the same time.
"The Isle!" they shouted.
He sucked his teeth, his scowl deepened.
He hated the Isle.