The Summit was nearly here. Yejin returned to Saeho with Seon-Gak Han Zhangli and his people in tow.
"Listen up, everyone." Yejin's voice cut through the noise, and the courtyard settled. "I'll be taking some of you to Eralsa. It's an island of Horris where the Summit will be held. Our job is simple: keep the royal family safe at all cost during the entire period of the Summit. Seon-Gak Han Zhangli will take charge of Saeho's defense while I'm gone, along with most of you and his own people."
"So who's staying behind, exactly?" Tsuyu asked.
"Easier to just tell you who's coming with me." Yejin's eyes swept the group before landing on Vincent. "Good to have you back, Vincent — and with someone new, I see." She turned toward Haein with a nod.
Haein returned the greeting with an easy smile, offering a short, polite introduction of herself to the group.
"Yul, you're with me," Yejin continued. "The Crown Princess specifically asked to see you."
"Understandably so." Zhangli added, arms folded. "She took the news of your death rather hard, from what I heard. Turned out to be false, thankfully, but I imagine she'll want to see that for herself."
Yul rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not sure what to do with that information. Tsuyu bailed him out, changing the subject smoothly. "So who else is going with you? I'm happy to stay and help Seon-Gak Zhangli run patrols here in Saeho."
"That won't be necessary," Zhangli said, stepping forward, hands clasped behind his back. "The Shogun mentioned there's an underground cave here that needs securing — something powerful enough that it could threaten the whole country if it fell into the wrong hands."
Haein's expression sharpened, all playfulness gone in an instant.
"That's right, Seon-Gak Zhangli," Yejin confirmed. "We've formed a partnership with the Fabled Class. They aim to keep that power out of the cultists' reach and make sure the barrier protecting our world from those fiends holds."
"Then, Tsuyu — send the Fabled Class members to search that cave properly, find whatever's down there." Zhangli's tone left no room for debate. "I'll handle Saeho's defense against the South with my own retainers. You focus entirely on that task."
"You're certain about that, Seon-Gak Zhangli?" Tsuyu asked, brow furrowed. "The Southern Alliance won't hold back this time. This is war we're talking about."
"I'm well aware of that." Zhangli's expression didn't shift. "I'll call for you the moment the invasion actually reaches us here. Until then, securing that cave is included in our priorities."
"Understood," Tsuyu said, dipping her head.
"Lady Yejin — go ahead and choose who's accompanying you to Eralsa," Zhangli said, stepping back to give her the floor.
Yejin bowed slightly in acknowledgment, then turned to Kei. "You're not planning to come with us, are you?"
"No. I was thinking I'd stay here, Princess Yejin," Kei said.
Vincent cut in before Kei could get another word out. "No. You're coming with them, Kei."
Kei turned to him, brow creasing in confusion.
"We need you there," Vincent said, more serious than usual. "Take down a commander. That's our goal, remember? That's how we can finally get our shot at the Shengyowon."
Understanding settled over Kei's face at once.
"The Shengyowon, you say?" Zhangli's attention sharpened. "What business would you have there?"
"We struck a deal with the Shogun," Vincent explained. "If we manage to eliminate one of the SAT commanders, he'll petition the Emperor to help convince the Mistress of Shengyowon to grant us an audience — we're after information on the Heavenly Crystals."
"Oh." Zhangli nodded slowly, understanding settling over his own face. "That makes sense. If there's one place in Iona holding real answers about ancient relics, it's Shengyowon. The vault was built to guard old secrets — cursed weapons—"
Haein listened closely now, her grip tightening slightly on the hilt at her side.
"—forbidden scrolls, knowledge better left buried. All of it kept locked away, tightly guarded." He paused, something distant crossing his expression. "Mind you, Shengyowon answers to no one, not even the Emperor. I was granted entry once, during Fang Heian, and I can tell you the place is sacred, and eerie in a way that's hard to put into words. Even standing outside the door to the main chamber, you can feel the cold seeping through the wood before you've touched a thing."
"Sounds like the perfect vacation spot for Kei," Vincent said, grinning sideways at him.
"Even if you complete every task the Shogun's set for you, understand this — the Emperor holds no real authority over Shengyowon. The Mistress could turn away an imperial request just as easily as any other." Zhangli's gaze swept over them, making sure the point landed.
"We know," Vincent said, nodding. "The Shogun already made that clear to us."
"Good. Then I'll be on my way." Zhangli inclined his head and turned, gathering his retainers to begin patrol duty around the isle.
Yejin turned back to Kei once he'd gone. "So — are you in, or not? We need to move soon."
"Go with them, Kei." Haein gave him a gentle push toward Yejin, then turned to Vincent with the same expectant look. "You too."
"Me? Why me?" Vincent blinked.
"Better odds with two of you there instead of one." Haein shrugged, already dismissing the question. "Don't worry about the cave. I'll take point on that, see what I can find while you're gone."
"You sure about that?" Vincent's brow furrowed, genuine concern breaking through. "Those cultists aren't a joke. Lady Yejin was nearly killed by just one of them."
Haein turned her head slowly and fixed him with a flat, unimpressed stare. "Are you seriously asking me that?"
Vincent held both hands up, already backing down with a laugh. "Right, right, my mistake. Guess I should be worrying about the cultists instead, not you."
"Then it's settled." Yejin nodded once, decisive. "Yul, Kei, Vincent — you're all with me. Hajun, Tsuyu — stay close to Haein as much as you can while she works the cave, and make sure she's briefed on everything she needs to know. Understood?"
"Yes, Lady Yejin," Tsuyu answered.
And so the moment finally arrived. The Emperor and the Crown Princess boarded a great skywhale bound for the island of Eralsa, where King Logan Scott of Horris already waited to receive them. Six more skywhales flanked the royal vessel as escort, while below them, a fleet of Iron Turtle Navy warships cut through the water in formation, the Grand Admiral himself aboard one of the lead ships.
But at the south of the Gulf of Iona, the Southern Alliance Treaty had already made their move. Their forces struck first, driving hard against the Iron Turtle Navy's line along the southern stretch of the Ionan Sea — dozens of nautical miles away from the quiet route the royal convoy was taking overhead.
Cannon fire erupted across the water in overlapping barrages, the SAT ships unleashing everything they had. The Iron Turtle Navy held their line and answered in kind, their own guns thundering back across the waves. Practitioners serving the Sunhonghin Imperial Kingdom joined the exchange too, hurling balls of fire and jets of pressurized water out across the gap between the fleets, adding their own fire to the barrage.
Both sides bled ships and men in equal measure. Then the balance tipped, hard, in the South's favor.
A lone figure climbed up onto the figurehead of a SAT warship, impossibly tall even from a distance, a greatsword resting across his shoulder that looked far too massive for any ordinary man to lift.
"He's on the move!" a SAT soldier shouted, voice carrying across the deck, spreading fast down the line. "Everyone — he's on the move!"
The figure swung the blade through the air in one sweeping arc. The raw force behind it tore straight across the water and slammed into the Iron Turtle fleet, shattering hull after hull in a single devastating blow, fire and smoke rolling skyward off the wreckage.
"Damn it! It's the Warlord of the South!" An admiral's voice cracked with alarm as he grabbed the nearest officer by the arm. "Get the order out — abandon ship, now, before they all go down!"
Soldiers dove into the water trying to escape the spreading flames, but most never made it clear — swallowed by fire or torn apart by the shockwave of the strike itself before they'd even hit the surface.
"HAHAHAHA! That's our Warlord for you!" Garoda's laughter boomed across the deck of his own ship, eyes wild, alive with excitement. "Living proof of what our military's really capable of! Nobody in this world comes close to matching him!"
Cheers rippled through the SAT ranks, soldiers pumping fists in the air at the sight of half the Iona fleet burning on the water in front of them.
"You seeing this, men?!" Garoda bellowed, arms thrown wide, drinking in the chaos. "That's the power of the South! We rule these waters!" His men roared back in answer.
Out in the water, clinging to a floating barrel, one of the Sunhonghin soldiers stared at the wreckage around him, pale and shaking. "What kind of man was that?"
"I can't believe I'm facing something like that in my first week on the job," another soldier said nearby, voice trembling, teeth chattering. "We're finished. We're all finished."
Aquila watched it all from his own deck, a slow grin spreading across his face as he took in the fear on the Iron Turtle soldiers' faces, savoring it.
On the other warship, Garoda's voice thundered out across the water, carrying clean over the chaos. "Today, the Sunhonghin Imperial Kingdom falls! Every last one of you, ready yourselves to die for the alliance! WAHAHAHAHA!"
His laughter rolled out huge and unrestrained, and his men surged forward behind it, pressing the attack harder still.