Waterstrider

Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fifthmonth, 1634 PTS

After receiving the techniques, I and Lao Feng had made an agreement for how to handle the matter of our reputations after our fight. If we were to say that I lost, I would lose a great deal of reputation, and Lao Feng’s own reputation would soar such that he would be forced to expand his territory. If we were to say that he lost, he would become my own stepping stone, but would acquire a risk of losing control over his forces. The sorts of gangsters in his force were, after all, attracted to his power and reputation.

Ultimately, we needed to compromise with a slim victory for me. The story would go that we had fought to a standstill, and ultimately he had admitted my victory, but declared that he would be the one to challenge me himself next time. I was fine with this outcome. It would grow my reputation, and if I was able to grow my reputation further in the coming weeks, would not harm his own too much.

This was an acceptable state of events for me, and in particular I was looking forward to that rematch that he had promised. My thirst for battle remained unsated, but I would have to wait some more.

I sighed. I would need to take over a gang or two myself, after this.

For this reason I was in a dour mood as I stalked out of the Feng Gang’s headquarters, though I made the effort to keep up appearances externally. After leaving the premises, I pulled out a pocket terminal, and activated it. I then pressed randomly on the screen, before Rachel’s face popped up. I hadn’t bothered to learn how to operate the device, it was simply an unobtrusive way for the two of us to communicate in a place where prying eyes might be watching.

“How are Jihan and the others?” I asked, still finding myself in an annoyed mood. Deuvar had claimed he had captured them, and I didn’t see why he would lie. What I questioned was why I had been unaware of the matter. After hearing the question, Rachel sighed, her image on the screen appearing despondent.

“It happened while you were entering the building, and since there was nothing you could do I felt it best to wait until you had left.”

“Just explain what happened,” I said, my voice sharp.

“It turns out that the factory was a trap. I’m not sure whether the clan was aware of this or not. I suspect they were wary but still wished to test it.”

“Shouldn’t Jihan have been able to sense the presences inside?” I asked.

“They were caught inside of a pseudoplasmic barrier. Only after that did the enforcers approach. It was actually quite an interesting method. Well tailored for martial artists.”

The way Rachel was speaking spoke of actually being impressed. Though, I had not been aware the barriers could even be used in such a way. If nothing else, this was a lesson we would need to keep in mind for the future. Still, I thought, there wasn’t much that could be done. The cost to activate such barriers was immense, but the effects were commensurate. If they were willing to spend such effort just to trap a few martial artists, there was little that could be done to stop them from succeeding.

“Has he surrendered, or are they still fighting?” I asked, aware of what sort of man Jihan was.

“Still fighting, of course. The factory is wrecked, but it seems like they won’t be able to escape any time soon unless the Celans let them go.”

I sighed.

“Tell them to stop fighting and that the Celans will just let them leave. This should be enough.”

Rachel snickered.

“Should we tell the clan about the trap?”

I snorted in response.

“Of course not. I don’t intend to do any favors for anyone unless it’s part of a direct exchange.”

“My, how cold of you,” she laughed.

I ignored her.

“Has Orion’s work been going well, at least?” I asked.

Rachel set one of her hands horizontally and shook it, a body language I didn’t recognize.

“So-so. He took down the Reds quite swiftly, but the Blade Daughters are posing a problem. We’ve lost 3 soldiers already.”

I frowned.

“Does he require assistance?”

“Let’s ask him,” said Rachel with a shrug.

Suddenly the sounds of colliding bodies and clashing steel emerged from the terminal, as well as a person’s heavy breathing.

“How’s it going?” asked Rachel.

After a pause, I heard Orion’s shocked voice.

“What- Vice-Sect Leader? How are yo-”

His voice cut out as he let out a grunt of exertion, and I heard the odd sound that his glowing whips made when they were snapped towards an enemy.

“You’ve been taking too long, so Cyrus and I wanted to know if you needed help,” Rachel chirped.

“I’m fine,” grunted Orion, and I heard the sound of cracking rock and the crunching of bone.

“Well, it seems like he has it in hand!” said Rachel, smiling.

“I’ll take your word for it,” I sighed. “Send a letter to the Hadal Clan, informing them that we completed the task they requested.”

Sometimes it felt like she acted this way on purpose whenever I was already in a bad mood.

Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fifthmonth, 1634 PTS

Sirena had not expected the war’s status to go downhill so quickly. It had barely been a day, and already the Celans had created a huge eyesore which threatened the clan’s reputation. Moreover, she had lost three core formation realm martial artists, and a large number of meridian establishment practitioners. It felt as if nothing had gone right in the past twenty four hours.

The Riverfiend’s force had apparently been successful, which was a relief, but even then there were issues. It seemed he had taken advantage of the clan’s distraction to take over even more territory from nearby gangs. Of those his forces had visited, only Lao Feng had been able to hold them back. She cursed the man for his opportunism. They were gaining more territory than she wished them to. This would cut into the clan’s profits, but she couldn’t spare the forces to intimidate him.

More importantly, her plans for the man would be greatly hindered if she damaged the relationship between their forces. If matters worsened sufficiently, he might even choose to side fully with the Celans. This would be a true worst case scenario.

Rubbing her cerebral dantian to prevent a migraine from forming, Sirena glanced again at a terminal held in her hand, closely inspecting an image of the forward base.

Taking up the top two levels of a stack and surrounded by a large orange barrier, the forward base looked quite similar to the battlefield at that black market just a few months prior. This time, however, the Celans had moved a large amount of supplies and defenses inside. It seemed they planned to hold out for as long as possible.

“How long should it be until Karie is able to regroup and surround them?” she asked, glancing over to Wei, who had just silently entered through the office’s oversized red doors.

“Less than an hour, according to Pakas,” he swiftly replied, as he closed the doors again behind him.

The former First Commander had been placed as Karie’s second not only to help advise her and ensure the force was properly managed, but also to make sure they were kept fully updated at all times. The girl had a habit of going off and doing what she wanted without discussing it with her elders, Sirena grumbled silently.

“Good. Though, I’m concerned whether she will be able to break it or not.”

“I don’t see how it would even be possible to do so,” sighed Wei. “We might simply have to wait until they can no longer maintain it. Should only be a day or so at the most.”

Sirena nodded satisfactorily. The quicker the Celans could be forced back out of Canvas Town, the better the outcome would be for her. The question at hand was how many power cores they managed to sneak into the area, and just how much investment they would be willing to spend on this. Just operating a barrier of this size for an hour cost an immense sum. To operate it for a week would cost enough to bankrupt the clan’s finances, so she doubted they would be willing or able to maintain it for long.

As Sirena considered the issue, Wei got a strange look on his face. She glanced over, and saw him looking at his terminal in shock.

“Did something happen?” she asked.

“They’ve dropped the barrier,” he said.

“What?” asked Sirena in surprise, before understanding the Celans’ ploy just moments later. “So that’s their ploy,” she said. Her face and voice did not betray the anger which boiled inside her, but she couldn’t help but wish to tear apart the Celans with her own hands. She was a woman who had been known in Tseludia’s martial world as the ‘Jade Empress of Pain,’ and her instincts from those days had never truly left her.

“It seems this is their plan to save on costs,” sighed Wei. “I suspect they’ll be activating and deactivating the shield for days.”

Sirena gritted her teeth. The Celans were openly mocking her, and the Riverfiend was testing her bottom line. One of the two she would have to ignore, but the other she would not allow to continue. She turned to Wei.

“Tell Juen to go assist his cousin.”

Wei’s brow furrowed.

“Are you sure? He will be able to use this to suppress your daughter.”

Sirena understood the problem, and she felt for the damage this would do to Karie, but she had no choice. It was the Matriarch’s role to work towards the greater good of the clan as a whole, and not focus too much on the internal disputes such as succession. Not in a time like this.

“I’m sure. With three spirit refiners present, they’ll be able to easily take the base down. But tell him to arrive in secret. It’s better if they believe they only need to deal with two.”

Wei nodded.

“I’ll go speak with him.”

Wei left as swiftly as he had arrived, and Sirena stood up herself, heading for the door after him. Her cognition was affected by her anger, and she wished to calm herself down. It had been over a week since her last soul refining session, and she was overdue for further progression. Hers had stalled since becoming the Matriarch, but she would not allow it to cease completely, especially during the war.

Eventually, she suspected, she would have the opportunity to take action personally.

Power Cores: [Staiven power cores are mostly simple superheated chemical reactants encased in strong insulators, though in the home system of Staive it is said these are being phased out in favor of the use of genesis miasma as a storage medium. Most races within the Pantheonic Territory use the Staiven-built cores, as their technology is simple enough the Staiven are willing to allow it to leak. In fact, those which are sold to aliens are purposefully designed to be very simple in concept but incredibly technologically difficult to manufacture, so as to maintain a monopoly on them. Celans largely make their own cores however, using a method involving flickering miasma which can increase atomic reactivity far beyond normal limits. These cores have threefold potential uses, able to function as batteries, reactors, or explosives. They rarely see use outside of power plants, mechs, and starships.]