Chương 267: Circle of calm

"I just found myself wondering, Kite… Why? While you are not alone in this venture, you truly seem to have taken part of the fight against Discord here in Hua-Xi upon your own shoulders. Why do that, instead of pursuing one of the many other paths available to you? You and that lovely little wife of yours could find your fortune in many places in the world more aligned with your values, be it through your work in the task group or simply as travelling adventurers.

The world lies before you, yet every step outside this kingdom is but a temporary one even though your struggle here is an uphill one. Why make this fight yours?" Kite fell silent at the question, and took a moment to think while letting his gaze drift upward towards the starry skies which were left clearly visible by Mistress Dew's high quality privacy screen.

His former teacher didn't seem to mind though, even seeming to have expected it as this was what had happened many times back at iron and early bronze rank during her tutelage. The moment stretched to one minute, then two, then five, yet there was something enjoyable in the silent moment, as Kite allowed himself a depth of introspection that had been rarely possible during these hectic days.

There were answers to be touched upon, even if some felt a bit at odds with how Kite viewed himself; the dissonance between the imagined self and the truth laid bare in thought. And, being alone with Mistress Dew and the still present Wander - who Kite honestly did not mind listening in, as he had somehow accepted that she probably was most times anyway - he could also bring himself to lay those realizations bare in words as well.

"I… It honestly pains me a bit to admit this… But I believe that it's just me being… ambitious," he eventually said, still looking up at the night sky.

"Oh? And why is that? A little ambition shouldn't be rare?"

"Indeed. And it is not something entirely foreign for me either," Kite agreed.

"But where I have articulated it before, it has been when I wanted to seize my right to make an impact for those closest to me. To grant power and stability. To give opportunities and seize some for myself. To create a strong position from which to spend time with those dear to me. This all felt quite reasonable for a silver-ranker such as myself too, given my humble origins, even though I also had to war with the lack of humility in those thoughts.

Who was I to do such a thing and make such grand claims that might as well come crashing down soon, should someone mightier decide that my claims were out of turn? And yet, now I have to confront the fact that I apparently am not satisfied with just that either. That I want to affect this kingdom, my home, in its entirety. Discord is actively warping it away from my ideals, and probably has been for decades. And I don't think I can just let that stand.

This is not how I see the best way forward for us as a nation, isolating ourselves while we struggle for individual supremacy. Do not misunderstand me, as there are many things I appreciate about our way of life; that it teaches us to reflect, that taking on students as mentors and teachers is important, and that it sees our powers not just as a means but as a path to something greater. But the pride and strife? The saving of face and arrogance born from fear of being called weak?

The isolation and tribalism at odds with the individuality proclaimed so important? That is something I want to work against. That I want to fight, even though I might just be a silver-ranker in a conflict where golds are involved. Hence my shame at my shameless ambition in thinking I know what's best for a whole kingdom. Yet I find myself unable to accept the thought of not pitting these ambitions and my means against Discord and the rest of the kingdom, if need be. It seems I am not as humble as I thought I was."

This time, it was Mistress Dew's time to fall silent in contemplation, and Kite gave her some time in turn even though her moment of reflection was just that; a moment.

"It seems like you've given this quite some thought, my erstwhile student," she replied, lips painted blue turned upwards in a faint smile.

"Bits and pieces, perhaps. Honestly, it was your question that had me facing the whole picture. It is… honestly a bit terrifying. Involving yourself and caring about a cause, not just people, leaves one open for so much more disappointment and hardship."

"And yet you faced it, earnest to a fault," Mistress Dew said as her smile grew a bit more fonder.

"Some in my position might have berated you for having such grand ambitions above your station, but those would just be fools who are denying that they too harbored such thoughts long before reaching where they are today. Ascending to gold rank is not something done without a vision of what to do with that power. I do hope that you can reach gold too, Kite. It would be interesting to see what your path of negation could do to this pond of ours whose surface is churning with such turmoil. I…"

She fell silent though as she noticed that Kite's eyes had grown distant, his mind latching onto her words as he felt that there was something there. And Mistress Dew apparently recognized that look, smile unfading as she rose to take her leave.

"I believe it best that you can be left with your thoughts here, Kite. Thank you for your answer. It was something worthy of reflection." Then she left, leaving Kite with the image of the churning pond that he himself stepped into. But instead of causing more splashes and waves, the surface around him grew calm. Not the whole pond, just a fraction close to him. But another purposeful step saw that circle widen just a bit further.

Judging by the position of the moon, it wasn't until at least two hours later that Kite finally came to, somehow feeling quite exhausted even though he had only been thinking.

"Finally back with us~?" asked Wander's sing-song voice as the rat seated on his shoulder stirred from where it had been snuggled up beneath Kite's chin.

"Ah, yes. Sorry for that."

"Oh, no worries. I told the others you seemed to need some time alone. To think. Or, well, I guess I was here but you get it~."

"I do. Thank you, Wander. That… I believe that was the beginning of something. It felt like I could grasp a thread I've been fumbling for. Perhaps even two, although of different natures."

"Well, after that little speech of yours, it's no wonder. It was great too, all Kite-like and earnest while you gazed up at the stars. I even wrote it down~."

"W-wait, what?"

"Oh yeah. Word for word. A few of my other bodies are at it constantly, and this was definitely worth a whole page in my book of quotes. Even did a sketch of you. It came out pretty well. I imagine that this will sell really well in the future~."

"- and as you can hear, honored juniors, us meeting here tonight was of grave importance. Those curs from the Thousand Echoes Sect are already planning to strike tomorrow during this so-called 'preparatory training' of theirs. If we let them congregate and organize themselves, it will only lead to more troubles down the line as they will have no doubt set other schemes into motion by then. Only by nipping this problem in the bud can we make sure that the Pinnacle Zenith Sect can continuously prosper and-""Hey!

Hey guys! Yeah, you. Down there~!" A shrill but surprisingly loud voice suddenly echoed throughout the simple, stone-shaped building on the outskirts of the Proving grounds, causing the dozen or so iron- and bronze-rankers gathered to all turn as one and look at the rat that had appeared in one of the windows. The rodent was currently standing on its hind legs while waving its small forepaws as if to call for attention while more identical rats joined it while carrying flags that they started waving around.

"W- what it the meaning of-""I thought that you might want to know that that guy speaking isn't one of your seniors. He's just some disguised guy trying to get you to do something stupid~!" Most of the people in the room only managed stunned silence in response, but the so-called senior brother whose fiery speech had been interrupted by the rat soon managed to find his words.

"H-how dare you! What kind of accusation is this? See, brothers and sisters, they are already trying to suppress us by such a base attempt to sow doubt among us. Perhaps this is even the work of the-""Eh, I tried. Kite, your turn~!"" Dissolve the patterns of power!" A hand appeared in another of the other windows, and from it a ripple washed over the room that caused the cheaper glow stones to flicker precariously from the dispelling energies.

It was not in their nature to affect magical objects though, but other active effects such as magical boons. Or, as it turned out, illusions and magical disguises. A collective gasp of surprise and confusion spread among the students of the Pinnacle Zenith Sect as the form of their 'senior brother' rippled and dispersed to reveal a very surprised runic woman in his stead, the bronze-ranked illusions dispersed like smoke in the wind.

"W-wait! Brothers and sisters, I can explain-""Good job, Kite~" Wander said from his shoulder as Kite had already turned and sped off into the night, using the power of his armor-turned-armband to borrow one of Soul's speed-enhancing boons that the celestine was nice enough to keep active for them during this night of action.

"One down. How many to go?"

"Well, I've found at least five more similar gatherings. River has verified three of them to have similar oddities triggering them. The closest ones are actually members of this Thousand Echoes Sect that guy - or gal? - back there was spouting on about, with a separate gal - or is that really a guy? - egging them on. Do you think those little students back there will actually be smart enough to not buy that runic's explanations? Because you never know- oh, never mind. She bolted. Rookie mistake.

That's admitting guilt if anything~."

"We can't be sure, but so far just spiriting away the suspects doesn't seem to have done too much good. Striking widely like we are tonight to expose as much as we can has a chance to leave many of the factions turning their attentions inward instead of against one another if we can manage to reveal things on a wide scale. At least that's what I hope. Fortune be willing, it might work better than our previous attempts. The pond can never calm if the circle doesn't widen. Is it that building ahead to the right?"

"Yep! I'm disrupting things as best I can, but you can probably just go ahead and dispel stuff right away. Your path will sure be working hard tonight~."

"Again?" Dragonfly sighed as she saw the defensive arrays light up the outside of their pavilion. If she interpreted the visual feedback correctly, it wasn't from any major assault, but it seemed that those gathered outside needed more encouragement to take the hint.

"I'll be back shortly." Emerging from the pavilion, she found the same persistent silver-ranker and his little gaggle of bronzes and irons that had been there a few hours. Dragonfly already knew that it wasn't the leader who had flung the attack that had impacted the arrays, but from the faces of the others he surely had not done much to stop it either.

"You! Outcast! Bring out the woman called Soul! I demand a clash with her to finally banish her and your guild's shameful presence from this Proving," the silver-ranker from the Iron Howl Sect demanded loudly, supported by similar calls and cheers from his followers. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"So I heard that you've been claiming for the last few hours. And while I'm sure that Soul will be more than happy to fight you as soon as she's done with the Proving, you know the rules-" Dragonfly began to reply, shouting over the others. But the silver would apparently have none of it."

"Rules based on traditions that you so flagrantly cast mud on by your guild's mere existence. We all know that you're just a front for the outsiders too. These sacred rules do not apply to ones such as you!"

"Oh really? Then how come you just haven't stormed this place yet then?" Dragonfly replied sweetly, walking up to get in the man's face while still remaining inside the bounds of the guild's allotted space in the proving grounds. This was arguably harder than she wanted to admit though as she was shorter by him by a head, but where height failed her, spirit and attitude compensated.

Dragonfly might not be close to the likes of River or Amica, but the weight of her aura was still enough to start pressuring the troublemaker. Something that both he and his followers were suddenly very aware of.

"I-" he began, voice still strong but words faltering slightly as he had to divert more effort to keep his spirit intact beneath Dragonfly's pressure. One of his followers seemed to be a bit more hotheaded though.

"You dare treat Inner Disciple Sea like this, outcast? Know your place?!" the human woman bellowed as she launched a shard of shimmering steel towards Dragonfly, who in turn simply let the bronze-ranked attack hit her side where it only managed to just bury itself enough into Dragonfly's unarmored arm to stick.

This greatly changed the flavor of the tense situation though, everyone present falling silent as Dragonfly turned her head to regard the projectile sticking out of her arm even as a slight glow had started flickering beneath her skin.

"You know, striking those of a higher rank is a pretty good way to get yourself in a lot of trouble," she calmly remarked even as she never let her gaze waver from the silver in front of her.

"You do realize that many would consider me well within my rights to end her path and life here, right?"

"Bah. Who would believe the claims of an outcast?" the silver replied, even though Dragonfly could sense a hint of concern in his voice as he seemed to ponder how to best defend his subordinate should the need arise.

"Strike down one of our initiates, and the sect will come crashing down upon you like the heavens themselves."

"Three sects tried that. Did not work out too well," Dragonfly retorted even as her smile grew fiercer.

"But as it seems that you are the ranking member present, I suppose that I will have to hold you accountable. You did come for a fight, no? Then I, Dragonfly over Sun's Reflection, challenges you on a clash of paths before all these witnesses. As neither of us are contenders in the Proving, I am sure that our seniors won't mind. And when I win, the prize will be that you and your little entourage here will leave the capital and not return for the duration of the Proving.

It's always nice when the troublemaking trash takes out itself." She did, of course, not have to add the insult there at the end. Kite had urged her to remain calm and polite in the face of adversity, after all. But Dragonfly couldn't help but stay just a little bit true to herself, as it just felt too good to pass up. It worked too.

"Wha- you dare?!"

"Courting death!"

"Beg for forgiveness right now, or Senior Brother here might show no mercy!" The cries of outrage came only from the entourage though, as the inner disciple before Dragonfly had instead gotten a calculating look on his face that ended in a slight smile.

"Very well! I shall accept this challenge, outcast scum. As my prize upon victory, you will ensure that the one named Soul will accept my challenge so that I can finally have what I came for. This will let me punish your insolence not only once, but twice. The fifth arena. One hour." The group then turned and left, with Dragonfly feeling quite good about herself as she was going to get some exercise today after all.

Even so, she also nudged the rat sleeping tucked into her curly hair to call upon Wander's attention.

"H-huh~?"

"See that bronze-ranker?"

"Yeah? The human woman~?"

"Keep an eye on her. She might just be a hothead, or perhaps someone a bit too willing to spark conflict."

"I'm on it. Will you be okay with the fight~?"

"I believe so. Being on guard duty back here is turning more interesting by the day. But we'll need to be wary, as these rumors seem to be getting some people really fired up."

"Good thing that you do fire even harder then~!" Twin Strides gritted his teeth as his sword met that of his assailant, knees almost buckling beneath the great strength of the strike. His foe was known to him, a leonid woman wearing armor decorated with the colors of the Golden Song Sect, even though Twin Strides could still not comprehend what had transpired for them to assault him and his two fellows like this.

Had it been members of the Auspicious Lightning Sect - the greatest rivals to Twin Stride's own - things would have made more sense. Had they somehow enticed some bronze-rankers from the Golden Song to do their bidding? Was an alliance brewing against them?

"I need to defeat these curs and report to the elders. This shall not stand," Twin Strides inwardly swore to himself, striking back with the conjured claws of his left hand which he combined with his swordplay to momentarily seize the initiative in twin ferocious combination special attacks. His two comrades were equally embroiled in battle in this empty back alley, and none had so far broken the unspoken agreement to not use more spectacular abilities that risked collateral damage.

At least so far, but with the way things were devolving…

"You bastards! Your actions will not go unavenged!" the leonid woman shouted while unleashing a shockwave from her body that pushed Twin Strides back with enough force for him to slam into the stone wall behind. It was another power that this particular foe had apparently kept well-hidden, as Twin Strides had never heard of her possessing such a part to her path. They could apparently not underestimate their foes.

Perhaps it was time to- The thoughts of everyone present were thoroughly diverted, however, as a spear suddenly descended from above as if from the heavens themselves. And what a spear it was too, with a haft of pale wood with carved vines and flowers so beautiful as if to be alive. Its head was wrought from glowing blue crystal that also seemed to spread like glowing veins of ice through the rest of the weapon, and said head even stopped in the air just above the cobbled streets to float on its own.

Twin Strides felt his eyes further drawn to its magnificence, and he somehow felt that it seemed to have a will of its own. He even thought that he heard a faint female voice on the wind that came from the very air around them." Iniquitiy's bane!" A painfully brilliant flash erupted from its crystal tip, painting the whole world white with pure light of white and blue.

It took more than a few moments for Twin Strides to clear his eyes of the potent blinding effect, and when the world returned to him, quite a lot had changed. Where he had previously seen assailants from the Golden Song sect there now stood students of the Wandering Wind, a sect far removed from Twin Stride's own and one with which they had no enmity.

Their foes seemed equally confused, but this paled before the fact that a man had also descended from the skies to grasp the magnificent spear with a tender, loving care. He was a tall, handsome elf with golden hair whose silver armor bore no markings of sect or other allegiance, and he seemed surprisingly jubilant for one suddenly descending into conflict.

"Take heed, all of you. Foul forces have deceived your eyes with the purpose of sowing strife and ill intent!" the elf called, his voice like a clarion call while the revelation of his silver-ranked aura had all of the formed combatants take another step back.

"But this day, light has pierced iniquity and sundered the veils before your eyes. Take a good look at one another now. Speak. Untangle these threads of discord that have entangled you, and let honorable tempering be the only conflicts you seek with one another as you all continue your climb towards the heavens! My Lady, we depart!" As he finished, wings of spears looking similar to the one in his hands sprouted from his back before - somehow - carrying him up over the rooftops and out of sight.

This left Twin Strides and the others looking dumbfoundedly after the disappearing form before turning to look at his former opponent, a human man rather than the leonid woman he had previously seen in his stead. Said man soon spoke the words on everyone's minds.

"What… Heavens, what just happened?"

"Another?" Steps Marked in Fallen Fate asked, unable to hide the frustration leaking into his voice as he looked at the reporting operative.

"Yes, Senior Brother. This makes for over a dozen operations that have failed in the last two days. The guild members have changed their method of operating, foregoing stealth and disguise for efficiency. They have also directed their efforts to include lower-ranked incidents as well, not just the more carefully planned ones directed against silvers."

Fallen fell silent at the numbers which painted a frustrating picture; that a concerning number of their attempts to sow discord were being unraveled by the members of this guild. They had already taken the constant actions of the Tengu's clan into account before the Proving, as the mercenary assassins had long been a thorn in their side at the behest of the Adventure Society.

But all of this forced a shift in perspective for Fallen, raising the guild to the level of one of their main adversaries currently working against them.

"This requires a shift in approach. We need to stop them before they get enough of a foothold and start doing actual damage rather than mitigating what we're building. Maybe even consider moving up the timetable for the next phase, although that will be up to the Mistress. I will send her my report and you will have new directives within the day. It is time for me to take a more personal approach to these nuisances."

"-so while the sect acknowledges the part of the Autumn Wanderer's Guild in clearing up the misunderstanding and preventing further incidents and fell karma between us and the Singing Grove Sect, we insist that any further such interventions be made directly to the elders to allow them to sort out these internal matters. Still, this does leave an imbalance of karma between us that we wish to balance as soon as possible, hence why this gift of awakening stones has been arranged.

We trust that this will see the matter settled," the silver-ranked elder of the Crowned Heart Sect said as one of her accompanying junior elders handed Walker a closed box.

"I shall see to it that your words reach my members," the guildmaster replied politely, giving the elder some face by not opening and inspecting the contents of the box in a show of trusting the other person's good intentions.

"They of course meant no offense in their actions, simply acting to prevent potential disasters. We all want our kingdom to thrive, after all, not be embroiled in fabricated vendettas. That is something that shall remain at the forefront of our hearts."

The elder seemed relieved to let the matter drop there as she gave the shallowest of bows towards Walker before turning and striding off with great speed, as if her mere presence there before the pavilion of the guild was eating into her reputation like a necrotic affliction.

"Oh sweet Gods, that was hilarious! Wander exclaimed as soon as the elder was out of earshot.

"Did you see how much she really didn't want to be here? I wonder whose favor she lost to be the one chosen to come here~?"

"I'm honestly surprised to have them here to actually say some kind of convoluted thank you rather than accuse us of meddling in their business," Walker agreed, looking to Kite who along with Wander had been the other one present for the exchange.

"It seems that your change of approach has garnered some fruitful results."

"Along with an increase in challenges sent our way, with the gold-rankers present turning a blind eye as expected," Kite replied while joining the others as they headed back into the enchanted silk pavilion.

"But yes, I agree that we have seen more results than I'd dare hope these last two nights, much of it through the hard work of Wander and River plying their respective paths and strengths to our advantage. Still…"

"Still what, little Kite?" Walker asked as they sat down in the common room of the grand tent.

"Not satisfied?"

"Honestly, Uncle, it feels like we're still only scratching the surface even though this is through no fault of our members as they are all working hard. I just wish we could find something more tangible; something to grasp onto beyond what feels like mitigating and limiting the damage done…

Soul and Vista are both moving through the brackets, and while the pace of the matches has lessened to give more time to the participants to prepare and to let more people witness them, it feels like the number of incidents Wander and River can find each night only increase. Or perhaps it's the severity? Either way, it feels like we need to further step up in some way if we are to make an actual impact and allow the Crows and the other teams to find the leads they need.

The Proving won't last forever, and it feels like that for all of our progress, we're running out of time before something more severe happens."

"Hmm… Speaking of… I might have something for you there, Kite~," Wander piped up from where a few of her rat bodies were hard at work in helping Braid compile an impressive amount of notes.

"I've started picking up hints and traces of a covert meeting taking place tonight between two of the challengers, young masters Silver and Everbright. They're both still in the dueling part of the proving, and something about how one of them has been called there by the other makes my whiskers itch. Waaay too similar to the attempt on that Petal girl a few days ago.

Offing a silver-ranker isn't that easily done, so if we can manage to get there and investigate the place it might let us do a better job than last time and not have a plaza blow up on us~?"

"We'll have a look then. Good find, Wander," Kite agreed.

"Thanks again for your hard work. None of this would be possible without you. I'll just have to accept that we are a mere part in this operation, and that anything we do will be better than nothing. I'll go there along with Amica and Little Crow, assuming River hasn't come back from whatever trail she's out following yet. We'll keep widening this circle of calm; one night and strike at a time."