Pale violet eyes met blood-red scarlet.
Yanqing knew all too well the terror of Jingliu's sword. He quickly ran to Jade and Yunli, pulling them into hiding.
The three little ones crouched behind a crate, only their heads peeking out to watch the confrontation between Raiden Ei and Jingliu.
Jade's eyes looked blank. She muttered softly:
"Before I drew the Oni-face tattoo, I was hiding behind a crate… After I drew the Oni-face tattoo, I'm still hiding behind a crate…"
"Doesn't that mean I drew it for nothing?"
She shook her head quickly, then asked:
"Protector Yan, what do you think? Who's going to win this fight?"
Yanqing's mind replayed the sword Jingliu had struck toward him earlier. His heart still trembled with fear as he said:
"I don't want to admit it, but Jingliu's sword just now… it was too terrifying. I used everything I had to barely endure it, and yet…"
"I could tell that wasn't even her full strength."
"No one on the Luofu has ever given me that kind of oppressive pressure."
Hearing this, Yunli pouted.
"Then just say you think Jingliu will win. Don't circle around it."
"I bet ten Qiongshi-bird skewers that Raiden-jie will win. She only swung one sword earlier—if you can even call it a sword, I didn't even see her draw. And the moonlight strike aimed at us just vanished without a trace."
"Her strength is immeasurable."
Yanqing's golden eyes shrank slightly. He blurted out:
"What did you say?!"
"Raiden Ei just casually erased Jingliu's sword strike?"
"If that's true… then the outcome is hard to say."
When he had faced Jingliu himself, he had poured his entire spirit into defending. Of course he hadn't seen her unleash another strike.
But if what Yunli said was true—if one sword had canceled the other—then their powers were nearly equal. The fight's outcome truly was uncertain.
And more than that: to have received Jingliu's blade personally had already sharpened his swordsmanship. If he could also observe a duel between two top swordmasters like Raiden Ei and Jingliu… today would be a priceless lesson.
With eyes filled with both fear and expectation, the three children looked toward the battlefield.
Jingliu's gaze burned into Raiden Ei. Her voice, once cool and clear, now carried madness, surging battlelust.
Her Mara-struck body was stirring.
But not yet fully awakened.
"In all the Luofu, there is no swordsman like you. To cancel my strike with nothing but a sheathed blade… who are you?"
Unlike the children, Jingliu had seen it clearly—Raiden Ei hadn't even drawn her sword. Just the sheath had nullified her attack.
"Who I am?"
Raiden Ei thought for a moment before replying quietly:
"My past is buried. It doesn't matter. I now walk the Path of Trailblaze."
At that, Jingliu's brows furrowed lightly. She murmured:
"Nameless Guest, then."
But in the next heartbeat, rage and madness surged back. Her scarlet eyes blazed.
"Nameless or not, whatever you are—if you are a swordsman, then draw your blade and fight me!"
"Let us see if, between you and me, a glimmer of starlight can be carved into the heavens above!"
Her toes pressed into the ground.
BOOM—!
The floor shattered into a crater as Jingliu shot forth like an arrow loosed from its string, instantly closing the distance.
Her [Shard Sword] glimmered with deadly frost, slashing down.
Raiden Ei only lifted her sheath, blocking.
CRASH—!
Ice spikes burst from the ground, snow scattering like glitter.
Jingliu's assault poured down like a storm—at close range, countless strikes rained in an instant; at a distance, crescent moon blades of frost swept forth endlessly.
Yet every strike, no matter how furious, was parried by Raiden Ei's sheath as calmly as if she were strolling in a garden.
Both kept their blows constrained within the area, careful not to let collateral damage spread. Neither was Luofu's enemy—they would not allow it needless destruction.
But such restraint frayed beneath Jingliu's Mara-struck obsession. Her voice grew guttural, beastlike:
"Why won't you draw? Why won't you draw?!"
Each blade of moonlight grew fiercer, each swing more frenzied.
This was never Raiden Ei's intention.
She knew: the sword Jingliu had sent toward Jade and Yunli earlier would not have killed them—but it would have wounded them.
That alone had broken the promise Yevenko made her keep: to protect Jade.
So she had stepped in.
She had hoped they could part peacefully. But in Jingliu's Mara-struck state, her obsession ran too deep. Unless Ei gave her the blade she demanded, she would never relent.
Raiden Ei sighed softly.
BOOM—!
She parried again, stepping back.
Above, Jingliu leapt into the air, eyes blazing with scarlet frenzy. Her [Shard Sword] brimmed with overwhelming moonlight, unleashing hundreds of crescent blades like a sky collapsing, poised to freeze everything beneath.
She was losing control.
From a distance, Yunli gasped, pupils narrowing.
"That's… Mara-struck?!"
Yanqing nodded grimly.
"This is bad. We need to retreat—those shockwaves will engulf us too!"
But Jade cried:
"No! Raiden-jie is in danger! Team Night—charge!"
She leapt forward over the crate, only to be yanked back by Yanqing and Yunli, one on each side.
Yet when they turned for one last look—what they saw froze them in awe.
Raiden Ei, facing the world-collapsing wave of moonlight, did not flee, did not block.
Instead, she stepped gently forward.
"…So be it."
"In that case—receive my blade."
Black ripples spread from her feet like water.
Rain began to fall, freezing midair alongside the countless crescent blades.
Blood-red seeped across her body. Her lavender hair drained into pale gray. She drew her sword at last.
"For the dead, I grieve…"
Her violet pupils burned into scarlet slits, a single tear of blood falling.
This power of Void pulled her back into memory—
Izumo, under the Black Sun. Companions, friends… all fallen, one by one, leaving only swords buried in sand.
She should have remained there forever.
Until a blazing train carved across the sky, colliding with the Black Sun. A black-haired youth, with a cat on his shoulder, appeared at her side.
Thus she was pulled from eternal solitude into this place.
The blood tear dissolved into golden motes, scattering. At the center of her scarlet eyes, a trace of molten gold shone.
"…For the living, I rejoice."
Her lips curved faintly.
Her blade cut.
BOOOOOOM—!
A colossal blood-red arc of energy, streaked with gold, roared forth—pure void, pure death.
The wave smashed through the heavens, its gale alone hurling Jingliu backward, stripping the madness from her eyes.
The strike itself did not cleave her, but passed above, carving instead a black scar across the sky, stretching like a horizon across all sight.
Jingliu fell back to the ground, staring blankly upward, pupils unfocused.
Yanqing and Yunli, stunned, let go of Jade's shoulders. She fell on her butt with a thump—only to be caught by a Shadowkhan surfacing beneath her.
Only after a long silence did they return to themselves.
Yanqing muttered dazedly:
"I thought Jingliu was already the pinnacle of swordsmanship, the peak I must strive for my whole life. But it's as the General said—beyond people, there are always greater people; beyond skies, greater skies."
"I still have so much to learn… But… even if I dedicate my life to the sword, could I ever swing that strike?"
With the lifespan of the Xianzhou, he felt he never could.
He had thought himself a rare genius of the blade—but he was nothing.
A weight of powerlessness rose in him. He clenched his fists tight, then slowly released them.
Sensing his mood, Jade patted his shoulder.
"Hey, Yanqing. You're my Left Protector. You have to keep working hard! One day you'll catch up to Shadow-sis, and then I'll promote you!"
"You're still young. You've got endless potential!"
She ladled out encouragement.
Yunli handed him a skewer of candied Qiongshi Bird.
"Come on, don't be so down. Maybe your sword skills aren't much—but at least you've got more swords than they do!"
At some point, Raiden Ei had vanished, leaving only the three little ones. They comforted the gloomy Yanqing as they marched onward. They still had to prove themselves by accomplishing something big on the Luofu.
"…Huh? Tom!"
After walking a while, Jade spotted a gray-blue cat, butt sticking up, head stuck in a mouse hole.
Hearing his name, Tom braced against the wall and yanked backward.
His head popped free—flattened like a mouse hole arch. He shook himself back to normal, then padded over to Jade.
Yunli's eyes sparkled with excitement. Yanqing instantly stepped back warily.
Jade said:
"Tom, do you want to join us in defeating the Abundance monsters?"
But Tom shook his head.
He curled his ears from pointed to round, showed two big buck teeth, pulled out a block of cheese, and nibbled. Then he pointed to himself.
Jade understood.
"You mean you're looking for the mouse, so you can't join us?"
Tom nodded quickly.
Jade sighed in disappointment. She'd wanted to recruit Raiden-jie, but after that sword, Ei had vanished.
And thinking further—Ei was an adult. If she joined, it wouldn't really count as their great accomplishment.
She looked down at the Oni tattoo on her leg, muttering:
"Sigh… back home, this is really powerful, but here it feels completely useless."
"If only I'd brought the Talismans. With their powers, I could really do something big here."
Tom scratched his head, confused.
Jade closed her eyes, picturing them.
"The Talismans… there are twelve of them. Hexagonal, with animal symbols—rat, ox, tiger, rabbit… Oh, why am I telling you this? They're all stored safely in Section 13—"
Mid-sentence, she froze.
Something heavy pressed on her head. Looking up, she saw a glowing dialogue box floating above her. Tom had already climbed inside.
He grabbed the twelve Talismans she'd imagined, stuffed them into his chest, and hopped back out.
Jade: "…?"
Her head filled with question marks. How had Tom done that?!
But never mind—better try them out.
"Tom! Can you pull out a Super Moose doll for me? The one with the blue mask and red cape?"
Instantly, a heroic moose appeared in the dialogue box—masked, caped, standing tall like a superhero.
Tom ignored it and simply reached behind his back, pulling out a plush Super Moose doll.
Jade placed the [Rat Talisman] on it.
A glow traced the mouse symbol, sinking into the doll. The cape flared, the doll levitated, and it spoke:
"Doo-doo-doo! Moose in action!"
Jade jumped up with joy, clapping.
"Yay! Moose in action!"
Tom, done with this nonsense, returned to the mouse hole. He reached inside again—he was close to finding Yevenko.
His arm stretched impossibly far, twisting through the tunnels.
At that moment, Yevenko and Jerry were sound asleep in their beds. Yevenko suddenly felt his body poked.
Groggily opening his eyes, he saw—
A giant cat paw grabbed him, yanking him instantly out of bed.