Fates Parallel Chapter 409 - Master (Patreon)

Ienaga Yumi was not having a good time. Once the girls had gotten safely through the portal to The Bloody Sovereign’s Tomb, the fighting had grown far more intense. It had begun as a battle to control who entered, but the conclusion of that battle was far from the end of it.

It was no longer a matter of stalling, and without any houtian bystanders to worry about, the xiantian fighters were able to let loose the full extent of their powers. An all-out brawl between world-class powers with nothing held back—the worst case scenario for Yumi.

Her specialty was single combat. She picked off xiantian commanders who thought themselves safe behind their houtian armies. Yumi worked best as a deterrent—a threat. She was the reason Qin was hesitant to risk xiantian assets in their frequent skirmishes with Yamato. Not because she was an insurmountable foe—but because it was too much of a risk.

The enemies around her didn’t care about that. They were already seeking blood or fighting for their lives. Each of them wanted to be the only ones present once the Tear was recovered.

In truth, Ienaga Yumi was weak. She made up for that weakness by specializing heavily, and using her divine essence as sparingly and efficiently as possible, and she hid it well from her enemies. But now she was trapped in a battle far beyond her, already exhausted and without any allies.

Guan Yu had been forced to flee early on, and Bai Renshu hadn’t been far behind after suffering an injury at the hands of the Dragon Lord. Yumi would have fled herself, had she been confident in her ability to navigate the storm surrounding the great maelstrom.

Exhausted as she was, even the elemental chaos surrounding them was a threat to her.

She knew she couldn’t hide forever. Eventually her foes would notice her hesitation, realize what it meant, and capitalize on the opportunity to rid themselves of a dangerous rival forever.

Yumi had been prepared for death when she set out to escort Yoshika and the others, but that didn’t mean she was eager to meet it. Thus, she had little choice but to place her faith in the least trustworthy person she’d ever had the displeasure of meeting.

Do Hye was just as exhausted as she was—which was to be expected after he’d moved the entire sky. Nevertheless, he’d been ready to offer her sanctuary.

“Lady Ienaga, I’m afraid we’re going to have to weather this one out while we recover. Care to join me while we let those brutes up above tear each other to shreds?”

She gripped her sword tightly and looked askance at the duplicitous mage.

“What makes you think I’m not just waiting for the right moment to strike?”

He laughed.

“Ah, well I felt your intent to slay me quite vividly during our last exchange. I forgive the misunderstanding, of course, but if you were prepared to join a fight like this one I wouldn’t be here to discuss the matter with you.”

“You just moved the sun and moon, Grand Magus. I’m not convinced by your flattery.”

“Just the earth, actually, but yes that was quite taxing even though I used many of the same little tricks that you rely on.”

Yumi bristled as he casually commented on her secrets.

“First flattery, then implicit threats. Do you think it endears you to people when you do that, Do Hye? I am unmoved.”

“Heavens, no! I’ve never had the talent for that, as I’m sure you can tell. Well, I’m going to slip away before they realize I’m helpless—I was just trying to be polite, but if you’d rather take your chances, I’ll be on my way.”

She grimaced. There was a lot that she missed about her time as a teacher in the grand academy, but Do Hye was one thing she could have done without. Yumi hadn’t worked with him often, but his abrasive personality only made his talent for persuasion that much more infuriating.

“What do you want, Do Hye?”

He blinked.

“Right at this second? Survival would be nice. I’ll be direct, since you seem to prefer that—I’m likely still going to have need of Yoshika in the future, and saving your life is the most efficient option available for endearing me to her.”

“And why should I give you that lever? What makes you any better than the monsters fighting up there?”

Do Hye shrugged.

“Nothing, really. They have their motives and I have mine. At the moment, my motives have more overlap with the interests of you and Miss Yoshika. Frankly, even in the best cases I don’t think Yoshika has much of a chance without me, whether she realizes it or not. If you are as invested in her survival as you seem, then working with me shouldn’t even be a question.”

“So you’re using her to manipulate me, so that you can use me to manipulate her.”

“That’s the gist of it, yes.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“This is exactly why nobody likes you, Do Hye.”

A crash overhead interrupted their discussion, the Dragon Lord’s giant form smashing through the edge of the maelstrom as Yan De and Longyan pursued.

“It seems our time is up!”

Do Hye hurriedly pulled a talisman from his robes and cast a spell, forming a portal in thin air between them. He called out one last time as he jumped through, the aperture already closing behind him.

“Make your decision, Lady Ienaga!”

Ienaga Yumi glanced up at the indomitable giants battling overhead and clicked her tongue irritably.

“I’ll remember this, Snake.”

She leapt through the portal just in time to avoid being crushed by the Dragon Lord as he smashed into the ocean floor.

—-

“You couldn’t have gotten us a little farther away?”

Do Hye scratched his bald head awkwardly at Ienaga’s criticism.

“I did the best I could under the circumstances. You know, I can count on one hand the number of people in the world even capable of creating a habitable extradimensional space like this. A little more gratitude would be nice.”

Yumi regarded the nearly featureless box she and the mage were trapped in archly. It had barely two tatami worth of floor space, and no entrances or exits. A magical formation kept it supplied with air to breathe, but even that was being powered by Do Hye’s mana.

The formation also served as the only source of light, and there wasn’t enough room to stand. It was a horrible, claustrophobic thing that made her feel as though she were trapped in a coffin. There wasn’t even any essence with which to meditate—apparently such a connection to the rest of the world would have made them too easily detectable.

“I’ll spare my thanks until after we’ve actually managed to survive. It’s been days, Do Hye. How are you supposed to know whether the fighting has stopped?”

“I won’t. As I said, I closed the connection to regular space behind us when we entered. They can’t sense us, but that means I can’t sense them either.”

“That seems like a pretty fatal flaw. Aren’t we trapped, then?”

He shook his head.

“No, if need be I can rebuild the connection to regular space, but I’m waiting for something else.”

Ienaga was about to ask what, when their extradimensional closet was suddenly flooded with powerful, alien, yet oddly familiar essence.

“Aha! There she is! And right on time! Now to just—hm, they’re barring my entry. Well, divine artifact or no, it’ll take more than a couple of freshly ascended upstarts to...to...tch, those girls are always full of surprises. Hang on a moment, Lady Ienaga, this shouldn’t take long.”

He scrunched his eyes shut in a look of intense concentration, beads of sweat forming on his brow. Yumi wanted to laugh—she didn’t have the same control or sensitivity over her domain as other xiantian cultivators, but from his hints she’d realized that the essence she felt was Yoshika. Evidently her students were giving the arrogant old mage more than he bargained for.

Apparently they’d also surpassed her. Hardly a surprise, but the moment came much sooner than she’d expected. It was a bittersweet feeling. Still, she reminded herself, they were young yet, and she’d made a career of killing overconfident cultivators much more powerful than her.

There was still so much she needed to teach them.

—-

“Let them all in.”

Eui balked at Do Hye’s absurd demand.

“Are you insane?! It’s all I can do to keep them out! If I let a bunch of xiantian invaders rampage through my soul realm I won’t have any hope of stopping them.”

“The worst have already broken through, and your favorite teacher can’t enter at all unless you explicitly allow it. She doesn’t have Yan De’s power or my expertise. I’m afraid that Ienaga Yumi is actually something of a failure when it comes to anything other than killing.”

Do Hye’s words ignited Eui’s temper, drawing more of her attention than she’d meant to dedicate to their conversation as every part of Yoshika resonated with her fury.

“You fucking take that back! She’s worth a thousand of you, you conniving little—”

Her distraction cost her, and another domain slithered through the cracks. The Dragon Lord resolved his avatar into a humanoid form, not yet able to gather enough strength within her realm to assume his full stature. Like the other two, he ignored his rivals and focused his efforts on wearing down her defenses.

“Damn it! Do Hye, even if you and Master Ienaga are going to help, if I let everyone in now it’s going to be so much worse. They can only manifest a fraction of their power while I’m resisting them, but if I let go there won’t be anything stopping them from fully manifesting.”

“That’s true, but you’re making the mistake of trying to do everything at once. I know that it’s part of your nature, but rather than be everywhere at once you should try being in one place several times.”

“I’m not stupid, Do Hye! I’ve done that plenty of times. But there are too many this time. If I concentrate my attention on one enemy, then the others will break through.”

Do Hye shook his head and smiled.

“You underestimate the power you now wield, and the strength you can offer your potential allies. I know you don’t trust me, but Miss Yoshika, you are Unity. Cooperation is who you are! You’ve clearly learned some lessons about power and responsibility, but for you especially it is the gravest of errors to take that burden on alone.”

He was right. She hated him, but he was right. More than that, she was getting tired. She had power surging through her like never before, but her minds were exhausted. It was too much to handle all at once, and she needed help. She needed guidance.

She needed a better mentor than fucking Do Hye.

“You better not make me regret this, old man.”

“If things go poorly for you, my dear, then I’m afraid I’ll be stuck in the same sinking ship. Your regret is mine.”

Yoshika didn’t believe a word of it, but she’d already made up her mind. She braced herself for what was about to happen, and stopped fighting back against the domains vying for entry to her realm.

—-

Without warning, the world around Ienaga Yumi coalesced into a bright landscape flush with powerful essence. Her hand went to her blade immediately as she assessed her surroundings. A battlefield, though the battle had already concluded. She recognized the mountain in the distance—Geumji?

How was she back at the academy? No, that didn’t matter now. Someone powerful was approaching, and she could feel the malice in their aura.

As she turned to face the incoming enemy, she found herself standing atop a hill, fortified by a hastily erected mud-brick wall. It was what she might expect a Goryeon mobile combat unit to set up if they were forced into a corner. Fighting from behind fortifications was their specialty.

At the base of the hill was a man in pristine white robes, with a pristine white beard, surrounded by gleaming blades all pointed in her direction.

Sovereign Shen Yu. Yumi was certain that she’d seen Do Hye kill him—or at least destroy his avatar. Had he really managed to send another so soon?

She readied her blade, though she knew she’d be hopeless against someone like him, especially as depleted as she was. She’d barely finished the thought when the essence around her shifted, as if trying to embrace her. A voice echoed in her mind.

“Master, it’s good to see you again! I wish I could do more to help, and I’m really sorry for putting you in this position, but if we can’t keep them from entering the academy then we’re all dead.”

Yumi didn’t understand, but she trusted Yoshika. Her presence vanished quickly, but the surrounding essence was drawn to Yumi in a way that she hadn’t experienced since her awakening over a hundred years ago.

The divine energy that she’d always struggled to cultivate flooded through her meridians with barely a thought—her combat meditation technique more than enough to keep up with her full capacity.

For the first time since her ascension, Ienaga Yumi felt what it must have been like for her opponents. To be overflowing with more power than she knew what to do with—able to go all out, and push herself to the absolute limits without ever exhausting herself of energy.

Except she did know what to do with it. She’d been training her whole life for this.

Master Ienaga Yumi leveled her blade at Sovereign Shen Yu and silently thanked Yoshika for her blessing. It was time to discover what she was truly capable of.