The duo gathered around Sigsa with the rest of her gang in the hall of her manor. All were armed and ready for war, and all were silent.

  The helmed man from the gate entered the hall and hurried before them. “The tavern is quiet.”

  A sign that Zubal’s gang had fallen asleep, drunk or otherwise. It was the expected end to a night of the usual merrymaking, and the news that Sigsa had been waiting for.

  She gave motioned the others and they all moved out quickly, heading straight for the tavern.

  Banda kept pace with the crowd as he thought about how Eres had told him Zubal definitely had a traitor with this gang. Not informing Sigsa of their encounter would signify to him that they had accepted his offer.

  As the tavern entered their sights at the end of the street, Shamaness stopped and the crowd stopped with her. Aura rose around her and glowed in a multitude of colors. From it, eight differently colored Wisps swirled into existence and hovered over her.

  [ Elemental Fury ]

  Shamaness croned as she held out her hands. The dim light of wisps flared bright and surge flowed from them at the tavern. Fire, Frost, Lightning, Wind, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood. The eight lights presents melded in a chaotic incomplete blend and destroyed the building in a gale of the elements.

  But as the dust settled, there was naught but wood and stone among the debris.

  Enemies emerged from their hiding spots all around. From within the houses along the street to the roofs above, they unleashed a barrage of arrows and magic on the disorganized crowd.

  Zubal’s gang had drawn first blood.

  Any semblance of smart tactics vanished with this one exchange, and the conflict devolved into a brawl. Banda and Eres fought casually within the fray, doing little more than to kill those few of Zubal’s gang who charged at them.

  “Carry your weight! Or I will not renew the seal!” Sigsa yelled at them, as one of her wisps burned a man to ash. An arrow struck deep into the block of metal that the dark silver Wisp had formed into.

  She had yelled her threat to spur them from listless defense, but all she had given them was a glint in their eyes. Her wording meant that she could not undo her seal, and they did not need a renewal of it anyway.

  Eres used her Flawed Giant Palm Blast to kill a small bunch of enemies as Banda clawed at a few others near. They had raised their involvement, but only just enough to stave away complaint.

  The longer the two slumlords fought, the better it was for them. And neither of the two leaders could call a truce at this point. For this conflict, time was on their side.

  Zubal strided among the outskirts of the chaos as he loosed arrows at Sigsa. His form was barely noticeable, as its color shifted endlessly to match the colors around him.

  Sigsa’s Wood and Earth Wisps joined the metal one in forming greater protection against the bolts as she cast back thin surges of the other elements in the direction of the arrows.

  Zubal dodged a stray arrow from one of the underlings then kicked off the air in a rush to dive away from the stream of of elements that followed.

  “Still so spry at your old age!” He called out with a laugh. “Why not rest for once? Save the opportunities for those with a long future.”

  “There is no future for you.” Sigsa spoke with grim severity.

  Three giant walls of stone shot up from the ground, cutting off Zubal’s path of escape. The eight wisps radiated intensely once more as she cast her Elemental Fury.

  Zubal’s expression worsened for the first time as he burst in the direction of the surging elements, aiming for the edge of the wall. With one last push, he managed to dive out of its path by a hair’s breadth.

  And a runestone struck him in the head. The jewel on his bracer shattered violently as Zubal staggered, but only a few lines of blood trickled down his head.

  A giant spear pierced through the metal shield of the wisp and clean through Sigsa’s back. Before the old woman could react with what little strength she had left, Eres’ Avatar smashed her body into the building at her side, and left it among the rubble.

  Banda burst after Zubal at the same time, not giving him a moment’s rest to regroup his thoughts.

  Zubal darted through the air, dodging the stones that Banda threw as he pursued, though his arrows did not find their mark either. The feather-capped man was twice as fast as him, but Banda could read his attacks with ease.

  The blue sky and its scattered clouds seemed to paint the man in its colors, but that too was useless. Banda could see the strange movements of lines clearly against the open canvas, and he could sense his intent even clearer.

  Panic grew on the man’s face as he shot an arrow with pitiful skill. Banda easily sidestepped it and continued his pursuit. The second arrow the man loosed was far faster and far more accurate, as he seemed to find his nerves.

  Banda dodged to the side again, but the first arrow soared back around straight through his blindspot to the back of his head. Zubal sneered as the deception of his Curved Arrow was almost upon him.

  But Banda simply tilted his head and let the arrow sail past as he whipped a runestone. Zubal dodged it despite his chagrin at the failure of his tactic, but the runestone exploded on the bell tower he only just now noticed behind him.

  Rubble blasted Zubal off balance. His focus was disrupted for only a moment, and that was all Banda needed to shatter his skull.

  Banda kicked off the tower and landed back beside Eres in an instant. The fighting around them had come to a sudden stop with the deaths of both leaders. At the hands of newcomers, no less.

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  “Whoever knows where the Training Shrine is gets to live.” Eres loudly proclaimed. Silence was her only answer, so she cleaved several weak Rank 1s in half. “Only those who know get to live.”

  “I-I know!”

  “So do I!”

  “I was there when they found it!”

  A chorus of cries rang out at once, as the rabble desperately clamored for their survival. Eres stood indifferent to their pleas as she inspected their faces.

  They had no time for an intricate interrogation. She had given the ones who actually knew a good reason not to hold their tongues. Now she needed only determine who was telling the truth.

  “I was there!” The helmed guard from the gate pushed some others aside as he stormed to the front.

  “I stood guard for Zubal when he tried to open it!” A woman spoke up. “He can confirm.”

  Eres saw that the gate guard showed no twitch of rejection or confusion in his expression, and signaled to Banda.

  Banda tore through the survivors in a blur of flesh and blood. A cascade of screams and mayhem broke out as they tried to fight or flee, but it was futile. Soon there was silence and Banda returned to her side.

  “Show us the way.” Eres ordered the only two besides them who still remained.

  ---

  The two grim-faced escorts led them through the Misty Forest. The journey was a surprisingly short and easy one, for all its importance. Soon they found themselves before a building carved entirely out of blue stone.

  “This is-”

  Banda snapped their necks bloodlessly before the two could even fully turn around. His attention left them before their bodies even hit the ground as he gazed at the majestic building.

  He had been unimpressed with the structures of humans so far. The Tower was grand, undeniably. But that seemed more a formation of nature to him, closer to a mountain than any building. This shrine was different.

  Intricately carved pillars held up the edges of the titled roof in front of the inner walls. On the first layer above them were stone men so realistic Banda still had suspicions they might move despite feeling no life nor intent from them.

  On the second layer were a multitude of carvings. Depictions of a great battle, one fought by humans wielding all manner of magic and tricks. It was far simpler in design compared to the statues, but their was a clarity to the canvas where it ought to be nothing but chaos.

  “Enter me, to craft your art. Prove yourself to enter me. Pour your essence within the jewel. And walk beyond the door.”

  Banda glanced over to Eres as she read the words carved on a stone slab held in the one arm of a stone man at the base of the building’s steps. The other held a large glowing gem.

  “It allows you to create a sacred grade art.” Eres’ eyes lit up, as she turned to him. “Let me have this one. I have something in mind.”

  Banda thought for a moment. He too had spells he would like to regain. Mountain, most of all, which would increase his might by nearly double and without the strain.

  But he could effortlessly remake that once he left the Tower, once he could harness divinity again. What they needed now was immediate power to overcome the obstacles before them.

  Eres’ Avatar was powerful, but she herself was lacking. Her arts had been steadily diminishing in usefulness the more powerful they grew. A powerful art would solve that problem.

  For the sake of his own survival, rather than for himself to double his might, it was far better for her to increase hers tenfold.

  “Fine.”

  With a smile at his approval, Eres placed her hand upon the gem and strain showed on her expression immediately.

  Banda watched as the wisps of aura flowed from her hand into the gem, and thought it far slower than what she was capable of. He looked back to the exertion on her face and deduced the stone man made the task more difficult than it ought to be.

  He waited and watched in silence as the wisps of aura grew larger. The strain on her face deepened into resolve and her resolved deepened into tyranny.

  She forced her aura into the gem in streams until the very last wisps of it left her hand. The dull gemstone shone with a brilliant luster and Eres pulled it out of the statue’s grasp.

  “I don’t know how long this will take. You’ll be fine on your own for while, won’t you?” She asked with her teasing smile.

  “Yes.” Banda frowned. He had been alone most of his life. That was what he was used to.

  Eres seemed to derived some humor from his answer for some reason. She walked up the steps of the building and placed the glowing gem in the empty slot of the door.

  It shifted immediately and opened up with the grinding sound of stone to a strange swirling layer of mana, like the surface of a lake.

  Eres stepped through without hesitation and disappeared through that surface as the stone door closed behind her. And the forest was silent as Banda found himself alone for the first time in quite a while.

  He did not pause longer than a few moments, before contemplating his own path. The encounter with the earth elemental had shown the clear inferiority of his art. And it was not the first time.

  Eres had tried to force her art to a higher grade, and has partially failed. Her Flawed Giant Palm Blast was certainly stronger than the original most of the time, but it was far too inconsistent.

  Banda did not want to make that mistake, especially without the book peddler to replenish his lost skills should he fail. Banda recalled the words he had told them all those days ago.

  Mastering, learning, and creating arts was more epiphanies through spiritual contemplation than study and knowledge. Eres had used this in her attempt, though by her own words she had simply willed it to improve with a solid form in mind.

  Banda glanced at his hands as one turned into solid metal and the other tightened with the strength and form of a beast. Their weakness was more so in their strength rather than their design. Banda did not require his magic to be complicated or dazzling. Only effective.

  He sunk into deep contemplation, as he focused on the circle patterns on the surface of his inner sea. The patterns of each began to break apart and merge together in accordance to his desires.

  He felt for the parts he wanted. The toughness of Iron Claw and its solid transformation. The sharpness of Beast Claw and its maneuverability.

  He recalled the specific flows of aura for each as he dove deeper in his contemplation, searching for the patterns that reflected it.

  The two circles merged into a signal one and the patterns within started to take clearer form. Banda felt the stability and power of it wax and wane constantly, but he kept focus on the image in his mind.

  He adjusted the patterns. Altered them. Improved them. Again and again as he made the circle clearer and firmer still. And soon something connected. The circle snapped into a firm pattern of grander make than either of the ones before.

  Banda poured his aura into the new circle as his hand turned into solid gray iron, the glint of his black nails sharper than the rest of it. He turned and gestured his hand before his eyes.

  Harder than Iron Fist. Sharper than Beast Claw. And he could move his hand freely. Iron Claw, he decided to name it. A more powerful and versatile version of either.

  This was part of the reason he let Eres have the art-granting shrine. He had seen first hand that arts could be upgraded on their own. And he held complete confidence that he could accomplish the same.

  Banda did not need a pile of stone to give him Sharp Claw. He would make it again himself.

  “Oh…?”

  Banda snapped around at the voice that had managed to sneak through his vigilance. Its source was a half man, half horse that trotted out from beyond the trees.

  There was no hostility nor pressure, but Banda felt in his bones just how dangerous the creature was.

  “It has been some time, Monga…” The centaur spoke. “How goes your reign?”