Julius only thought of one thing as he and Mizuhana stood in the open courtyard. He looked up at the sky, finding it a sunny afternoon. No clouds in view. At least it was breezy, way more than at Longyue. So, the wind direction has to be from the sea which was from the west. In the eastern direction were the Maru Tetsu Mountains and the Moon Empire behind it. “Has Yamahiryu gotten any rain?” Julius asked.

  “Yes. Not very consistent, but it is all thanks to the sea. Yamahiryu gets its rain from the sea’s moisture that the wind blows over.”

  “I see that. When was the last time you guys had rain?”

  “About two weeks ago…Are we doing this duel or are we going to keep talking?”

  “Yinhai…How desperate are you?” Julius muttered, while summoning his longsword. A loud clunk echoed as the weight summoned in his right grip. He looked up again and thought of a Hanzi to cast. “Werfen!” He yelled into the sky and cast 雨 in the air. Immediately, the gray clouds appeared as the wind blew over them. Thunder roared along the way with lightning flashing within the cloud’s darkness. Rain downpoured freely into the city. Julius enjoyed the wetness and the cooling temperatures. “Finally…Let’s start.”

  “Damn it. You wet my haori!” Mizuhana said, taking it off and handing it to Hatamoto Tadamasa. She then exerted her qi, overwhelming her entire body.

  Julius saw her boots, the pants tightened up, and armor quickly formed around her body, reminding him of the familiarity of his Lich Emperor form’s transformation. Hence, he did the same, letting his darkness encircle him. The rain was like a misty massage and cold. Unexpectedly, it was pretty relaxing that he couldn’t ignore it, even when he was transforming. This time, inside his armor, he was cold and soothed that even his generated heat would have to go full blast to keep up with the temperature. However, today, he loved the change. The opposite of the warm bath the two ladies in kimono gave.

  Kaboom!

  A supersonic vibration escaped Julius’ feet. “Are you ready?” He asked, going dual-handed on the hilt.

  “I’m starving!” Mizuhana answered, wielding her black katana.

  The two flashed away from their spots, clashing with their thirsty and desperate blades. Sparks were inflicted by friction. Julius’ immense weight and towering height from his Lich Emperor Armor gave leverage against Mizuhana, pushing her down to almost kneeling. She smiled upon realizing what was happening. Hence, her back exerted qi through her armor’s open spaces like a jetpack. Mizuhana thrust her body upward, regaining her footing. Damn, she’s going for it. Julius thought. She pushed him away from her and blasted a shockwave that nudged him away by a couple of steps. With no choice, he reverted to one-handed swordsmanship and thrust his left hand out, directing it at Mizuhana. His hand’s index and middle finger thrust up, pointing at the sky. As a result, Mizuhana was sent into the air. Julius leaped up in the air, keeping up with her while his longsword absorbed some clouds.

  Flash!

  What the?

  “Not so fast!” Mizuhana’s voice exclaimed from Julius’ behind.

  The latter swirled abruptly, finding himself to be fooled. Shit. He got caught in her trap, and Mizuhana swung her katana, inflicting loads of cold water that Julius saw ice fragments flowing with the wave. All the water came like a tank, smashing right into him. He heard the metal screeches scream into his ear. The ice fragments scratched his armor carelessly, without any institution. Luckily, it was immensely tough armor for all he knew, so this duel might be considered an experiment to study if the duel could hold long enough.

  As the water wave overlapped and covered all of his surroundings, Julius was forced to heat his entire body, letting the flames emit through the armor’s openings. Unfortunately, he was buying time because Mizuhana’s first move disrupted his initiation. Hence, his longsword had to start over again, reactivating his intended move. This water is fucking cold. He thought and noticed the scratch marks on his right shoulder plate. The duel hasn’t progressed and already has cosmetic damage. Julius’ longsword regained its heavy weight and was about to spit out dark qi, which he let loose. He gave it a couple of seconds before swirling his blade. His internal temperature finally rose, and Julius was ready to launch out of this shield-like trap. With one heavy thrust from his right shoulder, the generated kinetic energy headed to the rest of his arm and the longsword. The spewed dark qi from the blade followed the force’s direction, blasting through the encircling icy water walls. Funny that it cracked like glass as the darkness punched through limitlessly. Julius kept going, contributing more energy. As a result, the cracks spread up to the ceiling.

  Crack!

  “Yes,” Julius muttered.

  Splash!

  Water flowed inside of the closed space. Julius looked up and ahead, finding it trying to close up again. Hence, he summoned his aura to cover his entire body before launching out of the zone like a missile. After escaping, the trap acted like a magnet, attempting to follow him up higher in altitude. Julius saw Mizuhana controlling it for a moment before the wave grew bigger, blocking his view. So, he thrust his longsword right into the upcoming wave of water. That was when he fired the dark qi from the blade’s tip.

  “Gah! You bastard!” Mizuhana yelled.

  The trap ceased along with its remaining waves. Julius saw Mizuhana with her right shoulder plate damaged and a small gaping hole. Blue blood leaked out like a dripping faucet. Swoosh!

  Julius dodged away, missing an inch. That was a close one. He thought and teleported right behind her. One swipe of his longsword aimed at her feet, only for her to block it despite her wound. Her sense is astounding. He reacted with interest. While so, Mizuhana’s blood continued to leak. A drop landed on his longsword’s blade, triggering a burst that punched the two away. What the fuck? A ticking bomb of blood. That’s new. Hmm, I wonder what would happen if it was more. An idea popped into his head.

  He regained his footing in the air and glared at his left index finger. A look at the blade and his finger back and forth deterred him. One forceful gesture to where he could hear the cutting noise. A brief vibration erupted his entire index finger. Julius then directed his finger’s surface towards the blade. Afterward, his sky-blue blood squirted from the wound. Multiple drops splashed right onto the longsword's blade. This time it illuminated the blade, removing its general completely dark appearance. The edges of the blade and the central ridges turned into a fascinating red, like a lightsaber. Ironically, it reminded him of one character.

  Sounds of gusts had reached him from afar. Julius returned his attention, finding Mizuhana got back up. In the next second, she was already a few feet away from him. He responded with a nudge to the left, letting his sword swing clash with her katana once more. Mizuhana’s blade reacted with flashing colors, turning out to be gold like her haori and overall armor color. Julius broke up the confrontation. Her blade then stopped flashing gold. He went for Mizuhana again, and the latter's blade revealed their true colors once again. You're really a pile of gold. He reacted before looking at Mizuhana's right shoulder.

  “We’re both durable, I see,” Julius commented while still staring at the wound. “At least you can heal.”

  Clash!

  “If we can’t heal, what are we fighting for, then? That’s a damn suicide,” Mizuhana said, while putting leverage on him like he did on her earlier. “You should understand that, right?”

  Kaboom!

  Both brought out their left hands, using their qi to telekinetically push at each other. Surprisingly, they were equal. Hence, it caused an environmental effect. The two were already outside of the capital’s borders and somewhere out in the sky over some plains and landforms. To Julius’ left was the Maru Tetsu Mountains. A rumbling noise, like crumbling some concrete into dust, came from there, and it grew louder and ironically soothing to the ears. Mizuhana looked at it first, while not breaking off the confrontation. When Julius followed her attention, they saw more mountains begin to tear themselves up and collapse like an avalanche. A bunch of snow from the snowcaps sped down the natural slide. In the opposite direction, lightning bolts wider than two football fields continuously struck the flat plains.

  Julius and Mizuhana kept going, trying to break the confrontation. They both lost as the accumulated energy from the telekinesis aimed at each other was so strong that it knocked them away. This time they were sent to the ground hard, tearing through the depths. All the dirt poured on top of them. Julius blew a forceful air, disintegrating all the layered dirt. He ascended out of the deep hole and ran to the site where Mizuhana crashed. When he arrived, she wasn't there despite the piles of dirt.

  Clash!

  Julius blocked a surprise sword attack from behind. Now we are even. He thought. A one-to-one count for blocking from behind. However, he launched away, using his feet as boosters. He swirled around, and she was already following him. Hence, the two simultaneously forced themselves down on a spare flat ground and went on a lengthy demonstration of swordsmanship. Despite the sword differences between the two, they kept going and ignored the potential drawbacks.

  20 minutes later.

  Clash! Kaboom! Clash…Boom!! Screech!

  Clang!

  Julius looked right at his chestplate. Mizuhana, whose face was drowned in her blood, had struck with her katana right at it. The loud clang was followed with a large dent and a crack. In response, he slashed his longsword right to her side, breaking off her armor’s left side. Both limped forward towards each other by a bit. Julius took the worst, where his entire left leg was fatigued. He was forced into a kneeling position. His chestplate shattered afterward and puked blood over the scene and onto Mizuhana’s face, who, in turn, ironically, did the same thing. The urge to smell was imminent. Strangely, it smelled like a purification scent, which was not how it was supposed to be. Julius’ mind almost went blank from this smell, so he dropped his longsword, grabbed Mizuhana’s hand, and forced it to summon water. Much better. He eased and let go of her hand. The former took a couple of steps away before tumbling to her knees.

  Her left side ruptured like a burst hose. Blood squirted everywhere, flooding parts of the area. Julius, feeling heavy, resisted his pain and thrust his left arm out and delivered her his qi.

  “No, don’t,” Mizuhana uttered with extreme effort, as if she was forbidden to talk. Blue blood painted her teeth and mouth, involuntarily spitting to the ground.

  Julius tumbled. However, he didn’t take his healing off from Mizuhana. “I refused to oblige. You’re not fainting…Not on my watch…Spit!” His vocals suddenly shut off, so he couldn’t talk either. One movement to lift himself up straight. His legs crossed, and Julius, using telekinesis, took a boulder from a distance and set it behind his hack. He then leaned his back onto it, allowing him to still see and focus on Mizuhana.

  Despite her willpower and superhuman endurance like him, her qi was fluctuating. In fact, Mizuhana telepathically told him to help himself first because he, too, was deteriorating. Julius might not feel it yet, but he stubbornly refused to heal himself. “No more objections. We will both heal. That’s how it will end,” he said.

  “You’re a very strange man, Emperor Julius…I believe you are right now being dangerously stubborn.” Mizuhana’s lacerations and deep wounds rapidly closed up.

  “To save you? Yes, I am, and that will not change.” Julius ignored her remarks and persisted. His whole body flexed because he wasn’t willing to relax until everything in her was closed.

  --

  Beep!

  Alert!

  --

  The Skoltor system aggressively beeped, warning of his draining health. Almost there! Julius thought. He continued to push until, finally, the last laceration closed. Julius’ torso then tumbled after it was done. His right side felt paralyzed and weak like he had a stroke. Going through the virtual inventory, he summoned two bottles of potions and threw one to Mizuhana. With a functional left hand, Julius crushed the bottle open and dumped all the contents into his mouth. The right side of his neck, which he could totally feel in his esophagus, screamed in pain as if it had been impaled many times. It was not only a combination of burns and dull sensations, but the side kept punching him, aiming at the center of his throat. Despite that, Julius continued to keep his focus on Mizuhana, ignoring the pain as much as possible.

  She drank the bottle and not for long was back up on her feet. Julius wanted to be jealous of her quick recovery, but he couldn’t. When he observed her, the left side was completely naked of the armor, leaving only her ragged Kageyama Koromo. The outer robe was torn, so it was only her underclothing on the left side, while her right side was still in her armor. A bit more gaze at Mizuhana’s physical features stunned him. Funny that when she caught his stare, the pain in his neck subsided and resulted in ordinary soreness. The paralysis faded enough for him to move again. Hence, Julius stood up from the floor. Mizuhana walked up to him, and he felt the sound in his mind, recognizing she was trying to read him.

  “What gives?” She asked in a curious tone.

  Julius looked at her and saw her partially sneaky, closed smile. “So much jade and diamonds on you.” He responded while continuously swallowing his throat to ease the last strains. “Only admiration.”

  “I’ll take that.”

  Swoosh!

  The two turned to the west, where Solomon arrived with a grimace. “Are you guys’ nuts?!”

  “What’s going on?” Julius asked before coughing a little blood in his palm. He shrunk as his Lich Emperor Armor broke down.

  “You two look for yourselves!” Solomon exclaimed, expressing minor frustration. He turned and gestured them to the capital. “A quarter of the city is destroyed!” Solomon then looked at Julius. “With all due respect, I don’t know what power you or Empress Mizuhana might have learned and experienced in this duel, but you two have done catastrophic damage.”

  Mizuhana gasped upon viewing the capital. “That’s not possible…We were fighting a way out of range and near the mountains.” She turned to the Maru Tetsu Mountains, finding most of the summits had been wiped out cleanly. “Everything is gone…”

  Julius followed her direction and glanced around like a bird. “It’s all tall plateaus now. You can’t even call them mountains anymore,” he said to his surprise and turned back to Solomon. “There're casualties, aren’t there?”

  Solomon rotated his head as if it weren’t straightforward. “Obviously…That’s why I’m here to tell you two to hopefully stop…But I guess you did that sooner. Fifty thousand people have died because of this duel. That was the estimate I received at the last minute.”

  Julius and Mizuhana turned to each other, knowing crap messed up. The possibility of higher death tolls wasn’t off the table. Hence, the latter told Solomon to head back as they’ll follow. Once the three returned to the capital’s limits, they viewed the extraordinary damage that the two had indirectly inflicted. Plumes of smoke were everywhere, concrete border walls crumbled, and the Tō-ji like towers were obliterated. A rubble wasteland to best describe it. Julius was madly disappointed briefly, but, however, he felt Mizuhana’s emotion as her mind went freely.

  “Are you alright?” Julius asked. “I could hear your emotions in my head.”

  “No, I’m fine,” Mizuhana said, not wanting to say anything further.

  The three returned to the Hiryu Palace, where everyone gave their concerned facial expressions. It was really terribly daunting because there were pitched screams and cries in the background, telling them about the horrors outside.

  “Shit,” Julius muttered, pulling his phone out. He then called President Yang on the phone.

  “We gotta go now!” Hatamoto Tadamasa said while sprinting to the scene. He also ordered his men to go to fix the troubles.

  “Hold on,” Mizuhana said. “I’m waiting for him…You guys go and get this fixed.”

  “But—”

  “I said you guys go. That’s my emergency order. All of you are permitted to go into the 2nd quarter district. Are the three Daimyos still alive?”

  “Yes, they escaped the blast unscathed.”

  “Then go.” Mizuhana watched them depart to the district along with Julius’ group, who were willing to help.

  Come on…Pick up the phone, please. Julius’ smartphone was pressed hard into his ear as it continued to ring. “Hello?”

  “Oh, great. Are you busy?”

  “Not right now. Why?” President Yang asked.

  “We got a problem down in Yamahiryu. This is an urgent order, and I’m granting you emergency war powers to send a medical unit and many of our men to Yamahiryu.”

  “Oh, Yinhai. Did something happen?”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  “Yes! A quarter of Yamahiryu City was destroyed by an accident. I want them to be our long-term ally, so this is the best I can do to prove it.”

  “Alright…Can you hold it off for twenty minutes?”

  Oof. “I think so,” Julius said with a minor concern in his voice. “The quicker the better. I’ll leave the capacity up to you.” He turned off his phone, and Mizuhana walked up to him.

  “What was that?”

  “It’s a communication device. My men would be arriving in less than half an hour.”

  “How many men do you have?”

  “Well, how many samurais do you, your Daimyos, and lower ranks have?”

  “About…Five thousand total…The Second Quarter District has around four hundred.”

  Oof. That’s so little. Julius grimaced. “Yeah, you guys are going to need our help,” he said, checking his smartphone again. “I told President Yang to send how many are available. The smallest could be five hundred men or as much as ten thousand…Don’t worry, we have plenty. Our current size is at least five hundred thousand, so this is not an issue.”

  Mizuhana’s eyes widened. “Okay, I’ll leave the extra assistance to you then,” she said, pointing toward the Second Quarter District, “while we go there now and help them out.”

  Julius agreed, and both flew away from the Hiryu Palace, heading to the Second Quarter District.

  Twenty-Five Minutes Later

  As everyone was going through the debris and finding any survivors, Julius couldn’t help but wonder what led to all of this. He hadn’t asked Mizuhana yet, as everyone and he was busy rescuing and cleaning up the damage in the district. The fact it was him and Mizuhana who were responsible for this, according to Solomon, was horrifying. Once going through the rubble, the Second Quarter District was pretty huge, and it was all wiped out. A cluster of buildings and homes were still standing earlier but collapsed upon the recovery process began.

  When no other people were found, Julius was in his safe zone and deployed his sky-blue flames into his area of reach. It quickly disintegrated all the rubble. He strolled through the mess in his direction, cleaning it up. The flames were pretty strong; if anything, to be concerned, it was pretty toxic to the ones who didn’t train their lungs. Hence, he had to steer toward the flames eastward. Good thing today the winds were around and were heading eastwards, which was where the Maru Tetsu Mountains were. As he blew the flames in that direction, Julius viewed the mountain ranges, and it really looked silly. The peaks made the mountain ranges appear deadly and menacing, like the shiny and spiky death traps. Funny, all the damage made it into a possibility for civilization to take over on the flattened tops.

  A couple of seconds later, Julius’ area was cleaned, and he saw something flying toward the capital. They’re here. He thought and turned, looking for Mizuhana. When he saw and then teleported to her, he said: “They just arrived.”

  Mizuhana, who was covered in debris, viewed the mountains. “What the heck is that thing flying?”

  “Oh, you all will be having a fun day learning all the new technology.”

  Two aircraft flew into the capital and hovered above the ruins before descending to the ground. Its dual thrusters, with one on each wing, switched off, followed by a loud bang like the buses released air from their brakes, but louder and more aggressive. The back opened along with a rear ramp and a dozen cultivators came out from one. To a surprise, Empress Cai arrived along with Father Kang from the second aircraft, exiting.

  Empress Cai appeared bewildered at the damage while walking up.

  “That’s not her,” Mizuhana said.

  Julius grinned. “It sure is.”

  Empress Cai saw Mizuhana. She immediately ran up to her, and the two hugged. “How are you, my girl?!”

  “I’m very well until now.”

  Empress Cai let go and looked around at the broken scenery. “I’ve heard something was wrong, but I didn’t expect this. How did this happen?”

  “Solomon said that when we were dueling near the mountains, our aura reached the city and brought its wrath to the district.”

  “Yinhai…How many casualties?”

  Julius turned to Mizuhana, expecting she had an estimate.

  “From what I’m told, under one Daimyo, twenty samurais have perished. Adding the innocent lives is up to one-fifty,” Mizuhana said with a little shame.

  Empress Cai shook her head but with a smile. “What does that tell you?”

  Mizuhana looked up. “I don’t know what you mean by that…And…Why are you smiling?”

  “Because did you ever realize that you were fighting with Julius,” Empress Cai stated, then head turned to Julius. “Who won?”

  “None of us. It was a draw. Both of us were at a near-death experience.” Julius gestured his fingers back and forth between him and Mizuhana. “That’s how far we got, and I don’t want to worry you about the details.” He then walked away, summoning water around his right fist. “Come on, we have other cleanups to do.”

  Before the two leave, they finish the conversation. Empress Cai refocused on Mizuhana. “I shouldn’t have left him to go with his group alone. His power is too uncertain and couldn’t be left unchecked, but how did you guys end the duel?”

  “I swung my blade to his chestplate. And then he hit me with his sword on my left side. We broke after.” Mizuhana showed her left side where her kimono was fully torn, leaving only her underclothing bits of her skin exposed.

  “Then you have improved since the last time we met up. That’s what matters, and don’t worry about your army. Once we were done with this cleanup, Julius and I invited you and your many samurai to Longyue. Rest there for a day and then new training because we are going to need each other in this war.”

  Mizuhana sighed. “Even reading his memory, so it was real. This entire war. Are we going back to the old times?”

  “More like fixing loose ends, and Julius will lead the way for all of us.”

  Turning back to the direction of the city and facing away from the mountains, Mizuhana had one more question before departing to help others. “To you, what kind of man is he? He seems rare.”

  “Even I don’t know the full answer. Most of us with him don’t know what kind of man he is and are curious. He said before and implied that he was searching for answers about himself. It’s a lifetime journey, and naturally, it is inviting us to join along with him.”

  “Have you?”

  “Yes, I have, and I like it. You should join.”

  “What does it give?”

  Empress Cai shrugged. “Who knows? Everyone has a different reason. For me, I feel more alive and active. We are going all over the place…Anyway, we will talk more about this after fixing up this mess,” she said, and Mizuhana nodded, leading the way.

  Four Hours Later.

  The Moon Senate was booked for a private session. Julius ordered the meeting to take place there instead of his public office, the Emperor’s Compound. When he arrived and flew over the gate’s entrance with the mass group behind him, he introduced the renovated palace complex to Mizuhana, Hatamoto Tadamasa, and a few samurai who came along. Mizuhana felt like she was a tourist, expressing all the new things immediately upon a glance at the new buildings.

  After one quick memo about the updated Moon Palace Complex, he directed everyone to the Moon Senate Hall. The dual entrance door automatically opened, shocking Mizuhana and Tadamasa, who had never seen such an event before. It surprised them even more when they entered inside and discovered no one was handling the doors.

  There was another set of doors to pass through ahead as they were in the perimeter hallway. Going through the door, everyone was met by President Yang, who came down from the platform. Senator Bǐdé and Tang Cheng were also present, sitting in their seats. Their desks were stacked with a bunch of papers, which President Yang first spoke about. “They have their bills ready to be reviewed.”

  “Perfect, we can do it here. Can you confirm who else is joining in this private session?”

  “A couple more senators who have sponsored and assisted Bǐdé and Tang Cheng on getting these drafted.” President Yang paused for a moment. “Uhm… Hóng and her family will be arriving shortly. She has some news to bring. Quynh is coming too—”

  “Don't tell me the lumber guy is coming too?”

  “Oh, you don't have to worry about him. Quynh already got that notice in advance.”

  Julius nodded. “Hóng having her whole family over? That's new.” He then gestured to the guests to sit somewhere while he went right to his spot on top of the rostrum. Solomon and Empress Cai followed. President Yang teleported to her part of the rostrum. She pulled out a binder and handed it to Julius as he sat down in his chair. Empress Cai sat in her chair next to him, and President Yang gave her another binder copy.

  As the ones present in the Moon Senate Hall waited for the rest to arrive, Julius and Empress Cai simultaneously looked through their binders. On the first page was the attendance list, or at least the ones for sure will be attending the session. Most would be from the departments. Technology & Innovation and the Education department took most of the list. Julius wanted a checkup on their progress and if they had any input, today would be it. Another reason for this session was to discuss the plans for dealing with the Kingdom of Renos. So, Feng here today represented the entire Defense Department; the only department was to be the most centralized. Agent Sleep, his agency, and all from Earth were summoned too.

  Daiyu arrived and went to her seat at the rostrum, and President Yang gave her a binder copy. A quick read-through after the attendance page was readings and reports from the citizens. Many of their comments or complaints were organized similarly to chapters of a book. Each topic was one chapter and so on. Flipping the pages, Skoltor System counted to be 127 sheets of paper, which was 254 pages of comments and notes. Thank you, Lin. You save us all.

  It took a few minutes to read through the whole binder, and by that point, the crowd grew. He leaned on his chair, waiting for the hall to be a little louder.

  Not for a minute, a couple more arrived, and one individual outside in red formal attire appeared at the Moon Senate Hall’s entryway, giving a high thumbs up. Hence, Julius nodded, allowing her to close the doors, and the entire hall grew quiet.

  “Please guys, sit down and take all the seats left. They won’t come anyway, so yeah, relax.”

  Míngyuè flash teleported into the hall in casual clothing. Loose pants and an oversized shirt like if she were going to the gym and having a rigorous workout. She sat in the front row of senate seats, the one spot next to Hóng. Both greeted each other with firm handshakes and sat down, conversing about stuff.

  As the hall quieted, Julius began with attendance, viewing the entire crowd. He had already memorized the list of the ones attending, so it should be a straightforward task to fill out the checklist. A couple of glares from left to right ended with more than 20 guests, including Yamahiryu’s samurai. He doesn't mind if they sit on the floor like at home. Mizuhana went for the first seat, also on the front row, but to Julius' left, which was the first half. Senator Bǐdé sat directly behind her in the second row. He greeted her, and the latter didn’t do a handshake, so she bowed. Senator Bǐdé realized this; hence, he bowed in greetings to her. Senator Tang Cheng sat across from Senator Bǐdé’s left in the third row, waving from the fifth seat.

  Agent Sleep, Dale, Laura, and Tiberius sat on the right half, sitting in the 2nd row behind Hóng and Míngyuè. Quynh took the first seat in the third row. The rest of the seats would fill up, taking all one hundred seats. Others, mainly the samurai, sat on the floor.

  The session began with a call for all the stacked papers that Senator Bǐdé and Senator Tang Cheng brought to the Moon Senate Floor. President Yang went down from her spot on the rostrum, heading down with her left arm out. The two each put their stacks on her palm, and she felt the weight as nothing. “Thank you, gentleman.” Her right arm folded to her side, holding all the papers. She went back to her rostrum spot, going through the papers while having the microphone on. “Emperor Julius and Empress Cai…I’m told they have at least four hundred pages of proposed bills for you to review in this session today.”

  Julius stood from his seat. “Greetings everyone here today,” he said while looking at the crowd before looking down right at President Yang. “As she said, we will be reviewing multiple proposals made by multiple senators and a decision will be made. Afterward, the plan was to attack the Kingdom of Renos. To end this session will be hearing the complaints.”

  Empress Cai stood afterward. “Thank you, President Yang…I’ll be the second opinion concerning military actions and related topics. As well as speaking on behalf of General Father Kang and his unit.” She then sat down in her seat, allowing Emperor Julius to continue.

  “Thank you, Empress Cai; now President Yang can proceed by announcing each proposed draft and hand each to me,” Julius said.

  The stack of papers has many tabs on the side, making the process easier to perform. Hence, President Yang handed in the first proposal. It was about fifteen pages, and from afar, Julius saw the title, since each bill at any stage had a title page. High Education Index. He got interested and sat down, turning to the first page. President Yang explained a short summary of it on the microphone while he was going through. “Senator Bǐdé and ten sponsored senators had come together to propose an index of reforms within the higher education system with a high emphasis on reducing the exclusivity and authorize more opportunities for more of our youth to get higher levels of teaching. This is for all thirty states. Everything within our territory will be affected by this proposal.”

  By the end of her summary, Julius had finished reading through the fifteen pages. “Hmm…Why is there an extreme protocol for exams? And I’m speaking about the entrance exams because that complaint from forever hasn’t been stated in any of these pages. Why is that?” He waited for any of the few senators present to respond, but mainly Senator Bǐdé.

  “Sir, I find the entrance exams to not be extreme since we have run through this process for more than half a century. All of our eligible youths that graduated and entered into a higher education get top results with one year of training in their last year of secondary education.”

  “Did all of us read the same graph? The one I got was the demand for higher education waning significantly in the past four years. Four years ago, enrollment was twenty thousand. Now, including data from thirty states, is only twelve thousand. So, even if every state united together, the numbers still decrease rather than increase for state and national higher education,” Julius angrily said, turning to a complaint page within the education chapter. “We have about 1.5 billion people living in our empire, and only twelve thousand go to higher education; does that make any sense? It sounds like a big deal to me that everyone should be talking about.”

  Senator Tang Cheng was gripping hard on his armchair. “Sir, I may add. Have you heard about that as part of the culture?”

  Julius shook his head. “Culture?! What does this have to do with culture? You're just proving my point that the entrance exam is likely the reason the damn enrollment is abnormally low.” He aggressively scratched his beard, triggering a rustling sound. “Think this through, if you want more enrollment, cut the damn blockage.”

  President Yang interrupted, having her input. “If I may, as I'm still the secretary of education, we actually had made proposals before this session,” she said, summoning another binder. It was thinner and had fewer pages. She handed it to Julius. “In these pages are considerations to abolish this outdated process.”

  Senator Bǐdé stood from his seat. “What?!”

  President Yang turned to his face. “Mr. Senator, I had these discussions with the Education Department…All the important staff were voted by ordinary citizens, and they unanimously agreed that we should abolish this process…I suggest you reconsider that portion of the index.”

  “But—”

  “Any other senators who don't agree need to reconsider their point…Don't you want us to be the smartest and an example for the rest of the world’s youth?” The crowd grew louder; all the noise came from the senators present. They stood and exchanged harsh words. Hence, President Yang used the gavel, striking a hardwood platform that caused Qi to be unintentionally released. “Gentlemen, you are too damn loud for this!”

  They were stunned by their seats.

  Only twenty-three senators and they are already feisty. Yinhai…Imagine more than a thousand. Thought, Julius. In fact, he was going to make the proposal for expansion after this. “Settle down now, lads!” He ordered, not expecting them to know what lad meant. A decision has been made in the past minute, so Julius came out with his word. “Under my consideration, I will say other than this entrance exam dispute, I agreed with every other reform proposed by Senator Bǐdé and his sponsored senators, so that is approved.” Julius summoned a pen from a built-in drawer and wrote his signature on the last page of this Higher Education Index Reform bill. After that, he scanned for an empty space and drafted an amendment right there. “President Yang and the Education department’s proposal will be on the table…Approved.” Julius closed it and handed it to President Yang. The latter passed him the second bill, took what he gave her, and put it in a spare binder she summoned.

  Ironically, the rest of the session continued smoothly without a loud dispute compared to the Higher Education Index Reform bill topic.

  By the end of the session, almost two hours passed, and it was five past six. A military plan was drafted with the help of Secretary Feng, President Yang, and Empress Cai. Father Kang came right in ten minutes before the session ended. He read the whole draft and added some of his input for Julius to consider. Afterward, it was approved without any strings attached. Journalist Rui was also present. He wrote at least ten pages of the session, and Julius, too, reviewed it for anything that might be classified or not necessarily ready to be presented to the public. At the end, one page of notes had to be withdrawn.

  Mizuhana had a thought she wanted to verbalize. “I'm changing my mind. Can we train now?”

  Julius shrugged. “Is this what you wanted?”

  She nodded. “I'm sure. How long does this training take to get that ability?”

  “That depends. Do you want to do two levels straight or only the first level?”

  “Can we do two?”

  “My lady?!” Hatamoto Tadamasa yelped. “Are you crazy?”

  “Ain't that what being a samurai is? Strive for battle. All of you should know that.” Mizuhana briefly turned to him and the other samurai. “We have been stuck in our region for so long. It's only a blessing that Julius reached out to us forcefully…Empress Cai told me that our duel was a rare case. Me surviving this duel is an achievement I won’t forget.”

  What pride she got. Julius thought. “Alright…I guess we can do two of them if that’s what you wish.”

  Mizuhana nodded with a wide, beautiful smile, and then Hatamoto Tadamasa had something to say as well. “If these plans are set for tomorrow, how long will this training take?”

  Julius chuckled. “You think it will take a long time? Of course, it would be in Level Two. I guess you've never experienced realms, have you?”

  Hatamoto Tadamasa and every other samurai shook their heads in sync, which looked terribly amusing.

  “Well, all of you from Yamahiryu better get used to it today because however long you train in there, only an hour will pass outside…It’s as simple as that and ask no more questions because otherwise you would confuse yourself.” Julius pointed at them and was very serious about it as his mind grew tired of the simple questions. He had made it clear many hours ago in Yamahiryu that he found most of the samurai there were unironically boring. So, Hatamoto Tadamasa’s unit of his and himself were lucky that Julius could tolerate them.

  The private session went into recess and finished. Hence, everybody departed the Moon Senate Hall, while Mizuhana waited until Julius walked right up to her.

  “Are you ready?”

  “I am. Let’s do it.”

  Julius and Mizuhana were the last to exit the Moon Senate Hall and the building. The former called Hu through his Skoltor System, who was resting somewhere in the Palace Complex. She immediately appeared at the Moon Palace Complex’s wall entrance.

  “You called?”

  “Yeah, we got new people for Level One and Level Two,” Julius said, then transferring an image and basic information about Mizuhana within the system.

  Hu took it in surprise. “Both? At once?”

  Julius nodded. “Mizuhana, you’ll get to know her, and she was the one that called this.”

  “A samurai…Ooh, Yamahiryu. Ok, this is going to be good.”

  “Well, Mizuhana and Hatamoto Tadamasa are the ones I’m interested in. I was disappointed that the rest of the samurai are pretty boring.”

  “Woah…Woah. Maybe this training in two levels would change your mind,” Hu said and was surprised by his remarks. “Speaking of training. I don’t know what to expect at the first level.”

  Julius flew up with Hu by his side. Mizuhana and her group followed. A short distance to the other side of the High Cai Plateau led to the Merit Universe Tower's hill. Everyone stood and waited as instructed until a loud clunk erupted.

  “Wait…What do you mean?” Julius asked, growing confused.

  Hu sighed. “Ever since I left and joined you and Empress Cai to explore the outside world, my autonomy of Level One was vastly cut, so anything could happen there.”

  “You are saying that things have changed and could be wilder to predict?”

  “That’s my safest assumption.”

  Clank!

  Hatamoto Tadamasa walked right up between Hu and Julius. “I don’t see a tower.”

  Hu half-turned. “It’s more of a mythical manifestation. The real tower is the stages, so if you wait for a few more seconds,” she said, gesturing her head to the scene, “the grand gate should appear.”

  Clank! Swoosh!

  The gusts thrust out of the clouds, and a grand gate that was triple the height of Julius appeared. It slowly opened, revealing all the holy yellow light from inside. Hu stepped forward first and gestured to everyone to proceed in.