"So. What's your reason for stopping us?"
Rover prodded Scar with the tip of his blade without an ounce of courtesy.
The man was finished. Between the two of them, they'd stripped him of everything, right down to his Spatial Teleportation Forte, which Abby had devoured whole. What remained of Scar barely qualified as a Resonator anymore.
But as a Fractsidus Overseer, the list of atrocities he'd carried out across the world was long enough to earn him a thousand death sentences over. By the time the firing squads were done, they could've extracted a small armory's worth of bullets from the corpse.
Danjin, standing nearby, was all for ending him right here.
Pull the weed, get the root. That was the Little Reaper's personal motto.
Still...
"As a Fractsidus Overseer, his rank gives him access to secrets the organization has kept hidden. Huanglong's understanding of this extremist group remains dangerously shallow. This is a rare opportunity for intelligence gathering." Sanhua's tone was measured, deliberate. She wanted Scar dead too. "Furthermore, Fractsidus is reportedly planning a large-scale operation to awaken a Threnodian and target the Sentinel directly. We need to pry his mouth open."
Jinzhou was on the brink of war.
They needed to know the enemy's plan in detail.
The fact that both Rovers had defeated and captured Scar two full days ahead of schedule was an unexpected windfall. It bought Jinzhou precious preparation time. Whatever else Scar was, he still had value.
"Fine. He's all yours."
"Thank you both. Jinzhou will remember this debt."
Sanhua offered a formal Jinzhou salute, her gaze lingering on the two Rovers before her. She couldn't help recalling the emergency transmission with Jinhsi just minutes ago, and the Magistrate's reaction.
Sanhua? Why are you contacting me? Aren't you supposed to be shadowing our guests? Has something happened?
Yes, Magistrate. Something has happened... The two Rovers have nearly beaten Fractsidus Scar to death.
...Excuse me? Who's been beaten to what?
A second voice had joined the channel, warm with quiet amusement.
It seems we've all underestimated those two. Small wonder the Sentinel Jué reached out to you as her final act before going silent, insisting you meet them at all costs.
Indeed. I'm afraid your careful preparations these past few days were for nothing, teacher. We planned for the worst-case scenario but never accounted for the best case. I hardly know whether to laugh or cry.
No matter. But when the three days are up and you meet them, Jinhsi, do make sure you've prepared a gift. ...Two gifts.
On the other end of the line, the perpetually composed Magistrate and her mentor had both been caught off guard. Two of the most powerful figures in Jinzhou, and neither could contain their admiration.
Sanhua took the lesson to heart. She could not afford a single misstep in front of these guests, lest Jinzhou leave a poor impression.
She dispatched a squad of Midnight Rangers from the city to escort Scar away. The Fractsidus Overseer would be spending the foreseeable future in a cell, getting intimately acquainted with Jinzhou's interrogation techniques. Plenty of quality time to max out his needlework skill tree.
There was no room for relief on Scar's end.
He'd "escaped death," technically. But that only meant what came next would make him wish he hadn't.
As they dragged him away like a beaten dog, Scar cast one final look at the open sky, unobstructed by iron bars. His mind replayed every step that had led him here, searching for where it all went wrong. Beyond the two Rovers, whose strength had shattered every expectation, the biggest reason was...
"Phrolova, where the hell did you go?!"
His useless teammate. Of course it came down to his useless teammate.
Godlike opponents. Pig-brained allies.
The proverb had never been more perfectly illustrated.
As for where the Spider Lily woman had actually been... she hadn't been slacking off. While Scar and the Rovers and Yangyang had been tearing into each other, Phrolova had been locked in a war of her own.
...
"Ahahaha! No retreating! Keep the dance going!!"
"Hmph! Then here... is bloom within the wither!!"
Deep in a valley of the Norfall Barrens, two varieties of crimson flowers raged in full and furious bloom. They intertwined, devoured, strangled each other in a display that was equal parts slaughter and elegance.
"Persistent little thing..."
The woman in the fitted red dress, a Spider Lily pinned to her chest like a bow, held a conductor's baton of the same vivid scarlet. She moved like an orchestra conductor, directing the carnage with practiced grace.
Phrolova, the one Scar had been cursing. Her brow furrowed as she studied her opponent. This one was a genuine problem.
Another "flower woman," just like herself.
Equally elegant. Equally beautiful. Equally unhinged.
"Come on, struggle harder! Don't bore me!"
The white-haired girl's voice trembled with excitement.
She wore a fitted red-and-white dress reminiscent of a ballet costume, its cut tracing every slender line of her frame. The fabric was torn in places from the sheer violence of their fight, but the damage only made her look wilder, more alive.
At her chest, where her Tacet Mark lay, four petals bloomed in a red so vivid they looked wet.
Behind her, twin lengths of white hair had partially transformed into flowering scarlet vines. A Resonator fused so deeply with her own Forte that she teetered on the edge of overclocking, barely a breath away from losing herself entirely.
"More, more! It's been ages since I found a decent accompanist!"
Camellya was savoring every second.
The parallels between them ran deeper than flowers. Phrolova was the musician; Camellya was the dancer. Their battle played out less like combat and more like a performance, brutal and breathtaking in equal turns.
But Phrolova was losing her appetite for it.
This dancer was technically exquisite but refused to follow the conductor's lead. She kept disrupting the perfect composition, and it was infuriating.
Besides...
"Let's call it here. We have no reason to fight. The Rover I was tracking vanished long ago."
Her target was gone. What was the point of brawling in an empty valley when she could be searching? And... Phrolova could have sworn she'd heard Scar screaming somewhere in the distance.
Hm. Rather pleasant to the ear, come to think of it.
Phrolova, you absolute...!!
The white-haired girl, however, had no intention of letting her leave.
"Reason? Who needs a reason?" She tilted her head with a smile, wiping a streak of blood from the corner of her lips. A born battle addict. "Fighting is fun. That's reason enough."
Phrolova's eye twitched. She despised battle addicts.
But what came next was worse.
"And don't lump me in with you. The rude little stalkers are you and your partner. I'm simply protecting the seed I've taken a liking to... from being eyed by unsavory women." A slow, curling smile. "Women like the gloomy one standing right in front of me."
Camellya's taunt landed with surgical precision.
Phrolova nearly snapped her baton in half. The nerve of this Camellia woman. How dare she, of all people, call her shady?!