“Do you yield?”

Shi could feel it, the edge of a blade against her throat until it pierced the skin. The way blood ran in rivulets from where it bit into the flesh.

Yet it was a void in space to her otherworldly senses. As inert as the stone beneath her feet.

She supposed she shouldn’t have been too surprised that a craftsman of her foe’s caliber could provide his champion with a weapon that countered her own abilities so easily. While still managing to conceal a dangerous surprise within the butt of the shaft.

A literal firework, she mused as stared out through sightless and bloody eyes. How… elegantly crude.

Perhaps she might have been more on guard if she’d perceived the weapon as a mystic device. Felt the ki within it. Such weapons were reasonably rare, but not unheard of, and any decent duellist knew to be on guard for surprises from such a tool - her own weapon was one such item, capable of channeling lightning ki easily into an opponent’s body through their own weapon.

A move her foe hadn’t even noticed, yet alone been weakened by.

…That should have tipped her off. If nothing else.

Yet bereft of such tricks, she’d allowed herself to be lost in the tempo of the fight. Allowing steel to speak where more esoteric attacks proved useless.

A move that had spelled her doom – as the entire fight had been but a prelude to a singular trick.

A masterstroke, she admitted freely as she felt blood dribbled down her cheeks. Simple, but effective.

Perhaps a lesser woman might have complained about being beaten in such a way. Not by the skill of her opponent, but by the strength of their armament and a little trickery.

Shi was not a lesser woman. For while she was many things, she was not a hypocrite. Her guise might force her to occasionally don the mask to deceive and mislead others, but she did not deceive herself. She was garbed in finest vestments the Empire could provide.

Robes that could become as strong as steel. Weapon that were by most accounts, unbreakable. Jewelry inscribed with enchantments that allowed her to ignore most mundane poisons - or provide limited healing.

No, she would not dishonour herself by quibbling about how she lost. Any warrior worthy of the name knew a duel began long before a combatant entered the arena.

“Do you yield?” The woman – No, Lady An asked once more.

The blade cut a little deeper, the act little more than a reminder that should she move, her head would be removed with a single twitch.

Shi knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the question would not come a third time.

Or perhaps it already had? It had taken her nearly a minute to regenerate her eardrums after using one of her many healing charms.

…It seemed her eyes would require more powerful tinctures though.

Despite all that, she was tempted to move anyway. For it was better to face death than dishonor.

“I find myself curious,” she asked, making sure to remain stock still. “Why you bother to ask the question? Why not just be done with it?”

She heard rather than saw the tiger-kin shift minutely. “Because I find myself troubled by the question of what becomes of our negotiations if you fall here and now. Have you appointed a successor? One who might act in the event of your death.”

She hadn’t. Because she honestly had not expected to lose.

…Only in retrospect did that seem arrogant.

“You ask that now?” Shi found a small chuckle rumbling up from her throat. “Were you so sure of taking me alive?”

“Hardly.” The woman scoffed. “I would have killed you in a moment had the opportunity presented itself prior to your incapacitation.”

That went some small way to salving the Inquisitor’s pride.

“My second may act in my stead.” Shi allowed. “She is of a branch family, but has been groomed to act as my successor. With those two facts combined, she has the authority to fulfill the bargains we have agreed upon.”

…Probably. There were details about the Empire and its divinities – as well as a dozen other topics – to which her second was not privy. Details that would make the enforcing of any agreement suspect without Shi’s presence.

Yet another oversight in retrospect, she thought.

She really hadn’t expected to die here.

She didn’t want to die here. Not with so much left to do. Not with the fate of the Empire still held in the balance.

For just a moment, she couldn’t help but wonder if she might have been better served approaching this whole thing differently.

Alas, it hardly matters now, she thought.

“So do it,” Shi breathed. “Finish this.”

The metal at her throat shifted as the arms holding it tensed in preparation to cut.

This Shi is sorry, Mother, she thought. She laments that this unfilial daughter has failed you.

Sightless eyes gazed up towards the heavens.

“Don’t.”

The voice was a single clarion call amidst the stillness, one that came from a familiar throat.

“…Sister,” Shi almost sighed as the final blow refused to come.

Perhaps, in different circumstances she might have been able to ‘look’ out into the crowd at her half-sibling. Alas, through their injuries combined – Shi’s lack of sight and Huang’s lack of ki – the Inquisitor could not accurately place her fellow dragon-kin’s location.

Only two beings stood out to her senses amongst the rebels. The tiger-kin in front of her and the earthy presence of Lady Shui. All others were less than pinpricks amidst the darkness.

Her sister included.

Yet for all that, Shi was all too aware of Huang’s presence as the former magistrate continued to speak. “Perhaps it’s selfish of me, but I would not see you dead.”

“Have you truly grown so weak?”

“Perhaps.” Huang allowed, as if truly considering the thought. “Or perhaps I am simply… more free. Free to make choices that once have been unthinkable. Which is why I humbly request – Lady An, Lord Johansen – let my sister live.”

Shi almost scoffed at the tripe her sibling was spouting. What fool would let a foe of her calibre just-

“Alright.”

Shi definitely did not imagine the subtle gasp that seemed to emanate from all around at the Divinity’s words. Because they echoed the noise she herself made.

Indeed, the only one who didn’t seem to make a noise in the face of this ridiculous proclamation was the woman holding a blade to her throat.

She sagged. As if in resignation.

…A feeling Shi herself was not entirely unfamiliar with. She was accustomed to dealing with the… erratic whims of Divinities too, after all.

Though I had thought this Jack Johansen to be of a more practical bend, she couldn’t help but think. It seems though that at a certain point, the eccentricities of immortality will inevitably win out.

“She’s dangerous,” Lady An argued, a small hint of petulance in her tone.

“Aye,” Johansen’s mirth was audible in his tone. “I can’t argue that. She’s certainly been a pain in my side since she showed up.”

Shi resisted the urge to argue that the sentiment was entirely mutual.

The man continued though, ignorant of her thoughts. “With that said, I think the next fight shall act as a small demonstration of why it would be unwise to even think about calling the outcome of these duels void once I’ve won.”

Shi twitched at the slight against her honour – even if she knew she would void this entire arrangement if it benefited the Empire.

“Is it not a little arrogant to assume your victory at this juncture, Lord Johansen? While this one admits that your two victories thus far have both come as a surprise, one might argue that they were but a prelude to the real conflict to come.”

A battle between divinities.

Yating against this foreigner.

…And Shi had little reason to believe that the pecking order of power between men and women was any less true where divinities were concerned than it was with lower levels of cultivator. A powerful craftsmen he might have been, but she could only hope that said lack of focus on more combat aimed endeavours would ultimately prove his undoing against a peer.

The man laughed. “I can’t argue that. This next one is going to be a doozy.”

What in the Empress’s name is a doozy?

“Still,” the man continued. “I’m feeling confident. Confident enough that I want you alive to see it when I win.” Though she couldn’t sense him in the darkness, the Inquisitor could almost feel his gaze upon her as he said the next words. “More importantly, I want you to be the one to stress to your dear old mother why exactly it would be a bad idea to call the outcome of today’s little diplomatic incident into question in the future. Because, coming from anyone else, I can’t help but feel it might lack impact.”

He was smiling. She knew it.

“And I’m all about impact.”

-------------

“To Lady An! The greatest warrior in all of Ten Huo!”

It was rather amusing, how An all-but flinched at those words from her right. Sat at the head of the table, they had a view across the entire dining hall. The men and women of the army of Ten Huo were celebrating raucously as they celebrated the day’s victory.

“Empress above, you’d think they’d still be tired from yesterday’s party,” the red faced cat-woman murmured under her breath as the cheers continued.

Jack just chuckled. “To be fair, that affair was a little more lowkey.”

No offense had been intended to Huang, but the fate of the province was still very much hanging in the balance in the minds of many last night. A thought that had tinged the whole affair with a quiet tension that went some way towards dampening the mood.

Well, that and the dead people, Jack thought as he swilled his rice-wine around in his cup. Having people occasionally burst into tears over their dead comrades does tend to put a damper on things.

Mortals were no strangers to loss though, even before they’d become soldiers. So, while a single night certainly wouldn’t have been enough for those people to come to terms with those losses, it was enough for them to… place them to the side for a few hours and just enjoy the moment.

“With this the independence of the North is guaranteed!” A nearby lieutenant shouted raucously, raising his drink into the air – a move imitated by his fellow.

This time it was Jack’s turn to scoff. “Guaranteed? Last I checked, I have to fight a divinity tomorrow. That doesn’t sound very guaranteed to me.”

Sure, that fight was rigged, but no one below him knew that. Only the Ten Huo’s sect leaders and Jack’s inner circle were privy to Yating’s change in loyalties – and even then, the quality and quantity of details regarding that fact varied.

“On that front I find myself in agreement with the rather excitable young officer, Master.” An chuckled quietly. “Even if the situation were not as it is, after all you have achieved, after all I have seen you do, this Guo An struggles to imagine any future in which you’re not victorious.”

Perhaps if Jack were a different man he might have felt some degree of shame in the way the young woman looked up at him with total faith behind her fluttering black eyelashes – given that much of her faith was based on a falsehood.

Jack was not a different man.

“Is that so?”

The sudden question seemed to take the woman off guard.

“It is.”

Jack smirked, placing the back of his hand against his brow as he leaned back in his seat. “Alas, for some reason… I find myself less confident.”

An stiffened. “You aren’t? But…”

She paused eyes flitting about the dimly lit dining hall and the many celebrating soldiers and officers within as she kept herself from saying more. A wise move. Given the capabilities of the Inquisition, it was entirely possible someone from the Imperial camp was listening even now.

Vanishingly unlikely, but possible.

Still, he put that thought from his mind as he continued. “This Yating, she’s a powerful warrior. Against her, I can’t help but find my confidence shaken.” He made sure to keep his words low enough that only An could hear them. “Now, if only I had some manner of… reward waiting for me at the end of my bout. Something to give me strength in a moment of doubt.”

The cat-girl continued to stare for a moment, before snorting as she realized he was joking. She reached out for a moment, as if to slap him on the shoulder, before pulling back her hand at the last moment.

A move that made him feel slightly sad. For while An had grown more comfortable with him since they’d reunited, they still weren’t equals in her mind.

They might never be.

Unless he revealed the truth.

Which he would never do.

Because it threatened to undo everything he’d built.

“The entire province is not enough of a prize?” She asked, her cat-like ears twitching with restrained mirth.

Jack shook his head faux-mournfully. “I’m afraid not. For you see, I’m a greedy man. I need something far more valuable than a bit of dirt and a few dozen unwashed peasants to drive me to action.”

“Oh really?” The cultivator’s eyes flashed coquettishly as she looked up at him through dark eyelashes. “And what could your lowly student provide that could be more valuable than an entire province?”

Jack responded by reaching over and booting up a file on his datapad.

An looked over at it with a languid smile on her face before stiffening.

Grabbing the device, she shoved it back under the table as she flushed bright red.

Jack said nothing. He simply stared.

Smiling.

The cat girl said nothing. Her ears twitched.

“I won’t insist,” he leaned down to whisper. “If you’re uncomfortable with it, just say so.”

Sure, watching the big-bad warrior woman act all flustered and embarrassed did things for him, but anything beyond that would just sour things in his eyes and take all the fun out of it.

It was like the difference between a good prank and just being a dick and then claiming it was a prank.

On that front, I probably did go a bit too far with the rat burgers, he realized in a rare moment of introspection.

To be fair, he hadn’t expected them to react that badly. Meat was meat after all. It wasn’t like he’d fed them a person.

Abruptly though, his focus shifted back to the here and now as An spoke.

“…I didn’t say no.”

He smirked. “Is that a yes?”

“I have my own conditions if I agree to this.”

“Oh?” he asked, surprised but not displeased at the pushback he was getting.

An moved quickly, her hand flitting across the screen of the datapad with such speed one would never think she’d never even seen an electronic device before last year.

Quickly, she was done – and with quaking hands she turned the screen to face him, making sure no one else could see it.

Jack’s eyebrows shot up as he found himself staring at what was very clearly a servant’s outfit. A fancy one, but a servant’s outfit all the same.

Basically the local equivalent of a butler’s outfit, he noted.

His eyes moved up from the screen to the blushing woman behind it, who’s dark eyes quickly flitted away.

“…I did win after all,” she murmured quietly. “Don’t I deserve a reward?”

Jack laughed. A deep belly laugh that threatened to draw eyes over to them. Fortunately, those that did look over thought better of it when they met An’s flushed and challenging gaze.

“Well, who am I to deny the conquering hero her prize?” he murmured.

An’s eyes snapped up from a nearby terrified private towards Jack. “Really!? Now!?”

“Eager, are we?”

The woman’s flush grew deeper, but she did not deny it.

Still, he’d have to disappoint her a little. “Let’s hang around for another few more minutes first before heading upstairs.”

He’d need at least that long to print off a servant’s outfit in his dimensions, given that he was a few sizes larger than just about any of the locals. A few of the ox-men came close, but at the end of the day gene-mods won out over magical animal shenanigans.

More to the point, a lot of the soldiers in here had fought for him less than two days ago. And they wanted him here. He didn’t understand a ton about face, but he knew he was giving it by attending.

And he’d rob them of it by leaving too soon.

Still, he decided to lessen the blow some as An drooped just a little in her seat.

“Besides, that’ll give us more time to tease Gao about that girl of his.”

Indeed, as Jack’s eyes trailed over, he found the high-general looking very uncomfortable as a rather drunken corporal snuggled up to his side, her fingers idly tracing his scars.

If the pair were in full view, Gao would probably have put an end to it, but the pair were sat almost entirely out of view by one of the corners. A seating placement Gao had justified by saying that he didn’t want to bring down the mood.

He clearly hadn’t expected a rather tipsy subordinate to actively seek him out though.

An’s momentary disappointment melted away instantly as her eyes alighted on the pair, looking for all the world like the cat who ate the canary as a wide smile slipped across her features.

“A fine idea, master. A fine idea indeed.” Her hand ran across Jack’s thigh as she slowly stood up. “But this distraction shall only sate your Guo An for so long. Don’t keep me waiting.”

With that she strode away, long black tail swishing to and fro as she rolled her hips sensually with every step.