I spin the liangi so as to check both of my blades as they pass before my eyes. There is no visible dent to the edges despite the hard impacts which means it wasn't a hard block.

I scowl because I'd thought these constructs were based on solidified air which would have damaged the softer Lassus steel. I start pouring energy into the pavement but very quickly encounter foreign flow which pushes back at me.

It's only present on the ground's surface but that is enough to stop me from seizing control. Shit. They've adapted, lightning will not work either. I know. I focus on my inner self, on the body I've relied on to obtain my hard-fought victories.

I use flow to make a small cut in my half-shoulder, integrating blood to the framework of air I've built in my sleeve-glove so that no disruption construct will deprive me of it.

Just as I finish this task, golden energy rises out of the pavement and disperses in the air to form a disruption sphere around my position. I smirk and lower my stance to hold my ground since only half the Exemplars have swords to use inside this territory.

The Exemplars once again shift formation around me. They likely expected me to try to escape this area since my sundering and defensive construct have been disrupted but I mind not fighting in such conditions.

The six temple guards with swords leap at me from all angles. I crouch even further and bend completely backward as I launch my liangi into a horizontal swirl that deflects all but one of their weapons.

The three facing me accelerate to hit first before their companions, two impacting me with their shields while the third's sword comes in at the perfect angle to not only cut hardened leather but also slip past two bands of steel.

Sadly, for the Exemplar, his blade hits my Vuskyt chain-mail and goes no further. I doubt it even left a chink in the intricate mail. Yet, the man doesn't let himself be defeated so easily and he uses his proximity to land a front kick with his greaves.

I did my best to negate all these impacts with flow but it's too much too fast so the last hit still sends me flying off. I reluctantly activate my perception construct and buy myself the reaction time I need.

I focus on my left arm and slam the hand into the ground to force a back-flip that propels me over three Exemplars already positioning themselves to take advantage of my flight.

My acrobatics take me out of the disruption construct to land behind them. I slash my liangi at their backs while pouring flow into the runes and also ensuring the aft-blade threatens anyone looking to attack my blind-side.

Like I predicted, I detect three silver triangular constructs thrusting towards my back as my fore-blade narrows on my targets. I angle my liangi to intercept the first and shape an air-shield that I send at the other two.

Unfortunately, my liangi hits the construct and is stopped before I hit even one of my targets but my defenses do manage to block the other two attacks so I don't lose anything.

I take advantage of their now broken formation and their slow movements stemming from wearing plate armor to lion's leap away. I furiously reflect on the fight as I leave the area to figure out what it is they were using but find naught out until I closely inspect my fore-blade and find tiny scratches on the surface.

Those were air-shredding hybrid constructs. My sister's conclusion baffles me because those are relatively obsolete during human battles. I thought of it at first but their constructs were too coherent for being confined to such a tight space.

Then tell me before, I could have used heat. It didn't seem likely at all, there is a reason shredding clouds expire through expansion so quickly and it's because it is very difficult to maintain control of so many whirling particles of air.

I grunt and keep leaping through the dark streets, feeling safer now that night has fallen with my eyes able to pierce the somber veil without difficulty. I arrive in sight of the Midnight Palace only to witness three squads of Hospitaliers break down the front gates with Leomi in the lead with her plate armor.

It occurs to me only now that Leomi and her organization are going to take hits to their reputation for assaulting this neutral ground if it can't be proven Roskal was behind the assassination attempt on Yvonne.

I care little for it, in fact I relish this opportunity to have her witness how treacherous Nobility is to its core. I wonder how Leomi determined the upper limit of troops she could bring to this but it does feel like over thirty people would be stretching it.

Of these three squads, two wield halberds and are led by Mary while the other ten wield shields in the front-line. The Midnight Palace's guards who belong to dozens of different houses don't try to interfere with them, the handful from Caeviel swiftly retreat.

“Where's that fiancee of yours? Hiding behind your covers?” I mock. Hey!

Lance throws a glance my way without responding but communicating much with her gaze that briefly flickers to over my shoulder. A moment later, I detect six silver human shapes rushing at me from behind.

I don't hear any steps but those can easily be concealed by redirecting the sound with a construct. I swirl around while slashing out with my liangi without any hopes of hitting but leaving flow where the points of my blades pass.

I make several air-blades with these trails of energy and launch them at the armored Exemplars who are forced to block with their kite shields. I gather kinetic force and propel myself at Leomi. I spin in mid-air as I flash past the Hospitaliers to land before her.

“Yvonne died trying to fix your failure of an engagement to that crippled girl whose only redeeming feature is her fleeting smarts.” I throw out with a harsh tone.

Lance raises her visor to scowl at me. Tone it down, Liz. You know I love you, sis. Mary lowers her halberd a fraction with an uneasy expression on her face, causing the rest of the Hospitaliers to raise a wall of shields supporting two rows of halberds.

“Scary, what am I to do?” I sneer.

“Get out of my way, Elizabeth.” Leomi utters through grit teeth.

I incline my head back to make sure she can see me roll my eyes beneath my mask and step to the side. She moves forth and her Hospitaliers hesitantly walk by me as I turn to face two converging squads of Exemplars including the first I faced.

“The Order needs to know when to cut its losses, I've utterly lost patience now.” I say with a threatening tone because I need to lose them if I'm to be able to deal with Wraith.

The temple guards ignore me to fan out, they all have runic gauntlets allowing them to produce a shredding blade which makes this complicated because my sundering construct cannot cut through it and I doubt this construct is as vulnerable to lightning bolts as air-blades are.

I thus shape a wide-ranging fire curtain with my flow to see how they'll react. The Exemplars immediately deploy energy that spreads out and fades in the air, causing me to rein in my construct so that it isn't disrupted.

While they don't seem to want to apply a disruption construct to the entire area which would affect them as well, it is an issue that I'm constrained to small area and there is now a wall of fire blocking my sight.

I begin retreating in a snaking pattern to ensure they don't try to send air-blades through but the Midnight Palace is getting closer so I've limited space and time to act.

I take down the wall of fire as I land a dozen meters away from the building and am baffled to find that the Exemplars haven't taken a single step in the garden's perimeter although seven or eight of them appear to be tempted to pursue.

Is this luck or planned on their part? They could easily confine me with enough temple guards. I flick my gaze to the east and west to find more squads of Exemplars spread out.

A trap it is, but one that allows me to wreck havoc here as they use neutrality as an excuse not to interfere. I turn to the Palace and smirk, knowing now that not only was Roskal abandoned by the Emperor but it'll be even more difficult for Wraith to escape if he shows himself.

My eyes fall on Leomi and I pause. She is standing before the locked entrance with her gauntlet brought back and shining golden from an intense concentration of flow.

She strikes out with her palm and the double-doors shatter upon impact, sending shards everywhere as soldiers who stood too close stumble back with others rolling on the ground while bleeding from their noses.

I blink, amazed by the power behind her blow. Even considering what I've taught her, it must have taken precise simultaneous control of her muscles and flow to crush through this obstacle.

She rushes in without waiting for her escort of thirty Hospitaliers and uses her blade to decapitate half the soldiers arrayed against them before they can recover. I whistle in admiration as I follow them inside, watching Lance destroy combatant after combatant with impeccable technique and lightning-fast speed.

I almost help her when a Noble rushes at her with an ornamental axe enhanced by an armor-piercing construct but she destroys the woman with a flick of her wrist that thrusts the point of her sword deep into the Lady's eye.

The Noble drops like a puppet whose strings were cut and Leomi steps over the dead body to face several more members of Nobility who rush in the lobby wearing leather armor and wielding swords.

I genuinely consider rushing in to her help but the way Lance leans forward to shift into an aggressive charging stance convinces me that it would be insulting for me to barge in.

I glimpse up to the lobby ceiling and gather kinetic force from the area. I launch myself up and pierce through the floorboards with my left arm to land in a large empty room with padded seats arrayed in a semi-circle.

It is quite normal the entire building wasn't reinforced with flow but I had expected to encounter more of a garrison. The Emperor's decree forbidding the gathering of troops in Kruzser was most definitely taken seriously by all parties.

It isn't surprising they fear his power considering how quickly the Exemplars found ways to counter me. It'll take more smarts than brawn to escape them this time. I've an idea but... That's enough for me, stop selling yourself short, sis.

I casually make my way to a lobby and cross it to enter the hallway but stop before opening the door as I hear distant voices on the other side. I enhance my senses and prepare to crush through if this is an awkward ambush.

“I know where she is, I can hear her from here!” A hysterical voice exclaims as a shrill scream arises from the ground floor. “Where is Elizabeth Vil?!”

“She entered right behind Leomi Lance, my Lord, she couldn't have gone far.” A woman reports. “Shall we purge the ground floor?”

“Find Elizabeth Vil first!” The Lord snaps at them. “She must die!”

“I'm right here.” I remark as I shove the door open. “Come and get me.”

The Lord's eyes go wide while his soldiers draw their weapons, clearly far more prepared for the battle to come than their Liege. There are only a dozen of them but the flow permeating their weapons and leather armor makes them far more dangerous than usual.

“Attack!” The Lord cries out.

I extend my liangi out and activate the sundering runes, smirking behind my mask as the soldiers move in on me in rows of three as the hallway is large but not so much it can accommodate more than this.

I launch at them without delay, slashing out with the liangi to successively shear through their steel blades with my fore-blade and then hard leather vests with the aft-blade.

The nine falter as their three companions drop with gaping wounds in their chests. The Lord pales and raises both hands at me. Runes on the walls suddenly activate. The soldiers panic at the sight and begin retreating.

I casually launch four small air-blades enhanced with kinetic force that begin tearing through the runic construct. The Noble shapes segments to replace these lost portions of his construct but the destruction is too quick. I lion's leap towards the man, passing by his fleeing soldiers who do not even try to strike at me.

“Traitors!” The man exclaims panically as he still tries to repair his construct. “Slow her down!”

“Die, old fool!” One of his subordinates throws back.

These soldiers clearly saw the runic construct and me as a threat to their lives so they're in the right to consider themselves relieved of their duties. I bring my liangi forth and lion's leap while thrusting it out.

A barrier appears to block my blade but I break through it almost instantly with a combination of my sundering construct and physical power. Yet, it allowed the Lord to take a step back so I only leave a gouge in his belly.

The man glances down and his expression turns from astonished to crazed at the sight of the wound. He raises his hands, causing all his flow to stream back at him.

I consider pressing forth but the Lord's twisted traits send a chill down my spine. Run! I immediately lion's step back and use a burst of kinetic force to go faster, even seizing the surrounding air to propel myself.

Just as my feet were about to touch the ground, the Lord lowers his arms. His flow quickly expands into an opaque golden sphere that scares the shit out of me so I immediately launch myself even further.

“No, nooo...” The woman's cry is cut off as the energy engulfs her.

The flow swallows all the retreating soldiers one by one as it tries to catch up to me. It licks the tip of my right boot and then suddenly stops. It remains immobile for a split second before suddenly retreating all at once towards a singular point where the energy fades into nothingness.

A strong gust of air blows at my back and almost causes me to fall through the huge gaping hole in the building's structure that the flow sphere left in its wake.

The ground floor, the second floor, all the adjacent rooms are exposed as everything the sphere touched was obliterated. I blink, stunned by the Lord's suicidal move which could have easily killed me.

Is this what it looks like when one turns the Lake's blessing against itself?

Why haven't they sent a random soldier to use this on me? I wouldn't teach this secret to anyone if I knew it. Good point.

I shudder and take off to leave the area in case there is another insane Noble ready to pay their lives to kill me, also to get to Leomi and save her if they attempt this against her. I find two large arching staircases leading down into a hall where Leomi and her Hospitaliers are facing two dozen armored elites led by a bulky Lady wearing plate as well.

Spectating from the sidelines are dozens of Nobles who seem completely comfortable watching while commenting on the event. I stop in the shadows to watch out for threats to my fiancee.

“The times are changing, you can feel it in your bones.” Leomi proclaims with her blade at rest against her knee. “Your house may yet join the march towards a new, stronger, Empire.

“Your words are hollow, honorary Duchess, the truth is you intend to shackle us to low born councils who have no right to ruler-ship!” The woman in armor responds with a harsh tone.

“Nobility can be the elite of the future instead of being an amalgamation of humanity's failings, the privileges necessary to wield authority must be met with an increase in responsibility!” Lance counters with conviction but is met with disinterest and disdain from the gallery. “Laws affect all, we will have a say in them but we've proven unable to respect those we make ourselves so it is a right that must be shared or the injustice of it will be the cause of our destruction.”

Her efforts come to naught as it doesn't move those listening. The woman pledged to Roskal doesn't even bother debating as she likely feels her accusation was proven and stands as enough of an argument against Leomi, which it does for these people.

“Today, you die.” Roskal's minion utters as she raises a heavy sword.

“May those who believe themselves strong enough step forth and die.” Leomi coolly responds to the challenge.

The woman loudly scoffs and lowers her weapon. The soldiers by her side do not charge but instead raise their left gauntlets and swiftly release a volley of air-needles.

The ten Hospitaliers wielding shields raise them and activate defensive constructs, intercepting the projectiles, several of which bounced off Leomi's armor.

A second volley is sent only to be blocked in the same manner but this time a few are parried by the halberds. Lance takes a single step forward and the Hospitaliers move in sync with her.

Roskal's soldiers take this as a provocation and yell loudly as they launch into a charge with their swords held high. The ten Hospitaliers in the front take a knee and place their shields on the ground while the twenty behind fully lower their halberds to present a sharp steel wall at their enemies.

I keep my eyes on the gallery of Nobles as the battle threatens to begin in full swing, knowing that this could be where Wraith reveals himself and that I cannot lower my guard and allow Leomi to be harmed.