TA-9 Defiant Spirit

There's no end to them...

Look out!

Where did these monsters even come from, and just how many of them are there?!

They don't even seem to be decreasing... in fact, there's more of them now.

I heard last night, the third battalion in the north lost half their numbers...

What?!

Have you noticed? I don't know when it started, but these mysterious monsters are looking even more realistic than they did, and more aggressive to boot...

Where's our ta ma de backup?!

We're in dire straits, if this keeps up—

Stand up.

We must uphold our duty to guard the land.

Imperial Guards?!

All units, form a line and prepare to meet the enemy.

There is no retreat until we annihilate all evil inside the city.

Your Imperial Majesty.

The Grand Commandant's sickness seems to be gone... this gladdens me.

What is it that has you looking for me at this hour?

Has Your Imperial Majesty forgotten? Just the other day, You commanded me to be here for the morning court.

I fear you must have slept to delirium... court is long over. You are late.

No, not yet... the day of the full moon is tomorrow.

This old servant shall accompany Your Majesty and await your order.

...I find myself uncertain why the Grand Commandant wants this done in haste.

I know not what Your Majesty awaits.

And also... what Your Majesty has planned for the day.

That is none of your business.

Your Majesty's silence only keeps this servant guessing.

Would Your Imperial Majesty truly risk your sacred person to activate Bu Fan to settle the crisis within the Tomb of Sui?

...

I know not whose slander Your Majesty has heard... to resort to such an ill-advised course.

With no counsel offered, am I not capable of making my own decision?

Forty years ago... when Your Majesty ascended the throne, it was the Grand Tutor and I who went with you to survey Bu Fan.

I still remember following our visit to that remote room, three whole days came and went without a single court session. To this day I remain unaware of Your Majesty's thoughts at the time.

I remember then as well... But now I no longer fear the Grand Commandant deriding me, so perhaps I shall share.

I was only thinking... in Yan's thousand year history with this object, not even once has there been a single True Lung who used it.

If Great Yan were forced to use Bu Fan while I sat the throne... would I not become the weakest ruler in our history?

If you would grant me a presumptuous question... If Your Imperial Majesty were to sacrifice yourself for the nation, how would it be run, subsequently?

Is there a cause for worry...? Is my replacement not already in Baizao as we speak?

The mandarins would be unsatisfied if the deposed imperial heir Yan Wu were to take the throne, and the country would descend into chaos. And what will happen then?

The fault will lie on the mandarins' shoulders.

I only wish for Your Majesty to abandon this thought.

Ridiculous...

You know well I am no match for the late emperor, whom you so admired...

Why not accept and anticipate my brother's imminent ascension to the throne, where he will be able to realize your ambitions...?

Why trouble yourself to persuade me?

Your Majesty!

For the past forty years, I have witnessed Your Majesty toil tirelessly to grow our country... not even once did you slacken from your imperial duties.

In those years, Great Yan has enjoyed stability. Our population swelled, and the treasury remains full.

Has there been an era in our history... even more prosperous than this one... Or an emperor... more capable and benevolent than the one we have now?

...

And yet, Your Majesty... do you intend to idly watch as our nation's golden age...

Vanishes into night during this turbulent time?

An urgent message from the Sui Regulator. A strong energy wave has been reported from the depths of the Tomb of Sui.

Far stronger than the wave a hundred and twenty years ago.

And how fare the troops and civilians?

Under control at the moment. Baizao's peripheral blocks moved away before the energy blast, and non-mobile settlements nearby have also been largely evacuated. The damage is minor.

Mt. Mang has suffered more damage, but the Tianshis are at their posts, and the Garden of Grotesqueries is still suppressing Sui.

There are geists running amok in the city, and the Imperial Guards are cooperating with the Patrol Battalion to establish a defense line. They will give it their all.

I see... You may go.

It's about time.

You may withdraw, Grand Commandant. The battlefronts of Baizao and Yumen await your commands.

Your Imperial Majesty...

For the sake of Yan... Is Your Majesty truly unaware why I so strongly advocate for war?

Do you still remember why the court came up with the Twenty-Eight Policies?

Victoria, Leithanien, Kazdel... this whole great land is plagued by unrest, Great Yan aside.

We are now in terrible peril... and the nation cannot afford to be passive. We must proactively seek change...

Has Your Majesty not learned from what happened in Ursus?!

...

The Chamber of Heaven's Designs has yet to figure out what sort of power managed to wipe out that entire Originium vein.

If the Crystal Age truly ends with the depletion of every prime vein, then Great Yan must take the responsibility and prepare to lead all of Terra.

Attack Ursus in the north, repel Victoria in the west, pacify Mitsukue and Kusarigawa in the east, and settle Rim Billiton to the south. Furthermore, we must keep a close eye on Columbia's developments as well as possible naval incursions from Ægir's own sea.

And before all of that... while Great Yan stands at the height of its power, we must seize the chance in this fight against the bestial Sui to sweep away decades of weakness hiding under peace and prosperity!

Only then... will we manage to stand tall in this chaotic realm... undeterred for the next millennium.

You dedicated your life to wars for the country, and your military merit is without equal, but this has also left you with injuries and ailments...

Have I ever doubted your undying loyalty to the country?

But earlier, you spoke of what befell Ursus, and that makes me wonder...

Do you remember... what happened to Gaul?

Your Imperial Majesty...?

Your words were incisive...

Yes, Great Yan should seek change, and must change...

But the way I see it, compared to the lives we may lose to this war with the bestial Sui...

What we need even less is a True Lung past his prime... and this power accessible only to the True Lung for the past thousand years...

...

If we talk of Great Yan's future, then I must say, my outlook is indeed brighter than yours, Grand Commandant...

Has Great Yan these past forty years... lacked for loyal and righteous men?

The Grand Preceptor, Yu Cheng, Gu Quan... the Grand Tutor, and yourself...

My officials are loyal, my soldiers are fearless, my people are principled... Where is this 'weakness hiding under peace and prosperity' you speak of?

As for the future you mentioned, you can take a look in my stead...

Your Majesty... you still insist...

That Hunt of my ancestors' days; the remnants of the bestial Sui plaguing Yan for a thousand years... should end with me.

If we must inevitably spill some blood...

Then the True Lung should be the first one to spill it.

If I cannot dissuade Your Majesty, then I can only strive to serve my duty.

Send word to Yumen, it's time to make a move.

You came, in the end.

So you were here.

You don't seem surprised at all to see me, though.

So, at least you weren't kidnapped.

I still don't know just who on this land could manage that.

Everything I've done has been of my own volition.

I'll never stop hating that attitude of yours...

Why are you here? Is this that backup plan the Grand Tutor kept telling you to make?

His words should not be followed entirely... the situation should never have developed as he suggested, in the first place.

I have another plan in mind.

Either way, you're safe. So what comes next won't be much of a problem.

And what are you preparing to do?

Ensure you're safe, get you out of Baizao, then...

...Correct some mistakes made by you and your brother.

I see... so the artifact is with you.

I'm not too surprised.

Hah. And who were you supposing would deliver this writing knife to you?

That's no longer important...

Since you have it, then you ought to know how to use it... and everything else about it.

I was pretty surprised. Every secret I've learned about you since coming to the city has... opened my eyes.

You know, I almost admire your ability to hide so many secrets.

If you truly wish to rectify the mistake I made then, you should follow me.

Follow you...

Where?

Beneath the Forbidden City, to the first Originium.

The writing knife you hold will be of use, and will solve Great Yan's crisis. All will be made right.

Of course, I prefer you hand the knife to me instead. It'll be quicker, and you'll have less trouble to contend with.

But you won't trust me. I'm sure you want to see it all yourself before you'll give up. I don't really mind, though.

Haven't had enough of playing the tragic hero? You're just conveniently skipping over the part where you'd actually lose your life.

We stand before a great crisis... and this is a small cost Yan can afford.

There are no victims in this case. Your work ends here, Superintendent Ch'en.

Don't tell me you forgot. I resigned right in front of you, five years ago.

Though the man standing before me now isn't even fit to be called 'Chief Wei'.

...

You're telling me to watch you throw your life away, and that's not even the part of your words that's pissing me off the most.

Your sacrifice isn't going to move anyone's heart but your own.

And right now, you don't even have the right to end your life just like that.

Hui-chieh, this is no petty squabble. This matter concerns the fate of Yan and its people!

Of course I know that...

But get over your own ego. The country's fate doesn't fall on your shoulders alone. There are definitely other things you should be doing, besides glorifying your own suicide.

Very well.

You don't have to come with me.

Give me the writing knife and go back to Lungmen.

It's too bad I got two blades here, but I can't lend you either of them.

We don't have any more time to lose, and you still want it your way, Superintendent Ch'en?

I'm not the one insisting on having it my way.

Must you force my hand...?

Fine, show me. Let me see how much your swordplay has grown in the last five years!

That's more like it.

As sword ere shadow's trace...

...Cast off as cast.

Hah, hah...

Do you... intend to use Heaven's Eye.

...Scared?

'Skillful, but not yet the peak of perfection.' The Grandmaster once said of your swordplay.

Your skill has improved much in five years, and you've surpassed my expectations in comprehending Chi Xiao's techniques.

But you are still one step away from Heaven's Eye.

The eye of Heaven sees all and nothing.

Only when the clouds are parted is Heaven's wrathful eye revealed.

Let your heart guide the sword, never looking back. Turn around, and the sword loses its sharpness, harming the user.

I was only reminding you of its form... but I see you remembered it all.

But you should be well aware a fog remains in your heart, so the technique is beyond your ability.

Drop your sword. I especially don't want to go that far with you.

Will you use it though, if I don't give you the writing knife?

...Just like you did thirty five years ago?

Don't force my hand, Hui-chieh.

When you walked out of the Forbidden City forty years ago, when you decided whether Tal and her father would live or die, did you do it with the technique's ideals... 'never looking back'?

Hui-chieh!

If that's what Chi Xiao's final technique demands, then I shall never be able to unleash it.

Trial. Justice.

Good and evil, right and wrong—they aren't weights you can easily tell which is better when placed on two sides of a scale... 'Don't judge a life until its end' was never a positive term to use.

The same goes for people, and even more so. They shouldn't be used and then unceremoniously abandoned.

Workers in the Victorian siege, warriors of the Ursus tundra, and even the casino bosses in Dossoles. All of them understand that.

So you are right. I won't use Heaven's Eye. I can't learn it. It's not my bladework.

What are you getting at?

More than keeping a resolute will to abandon everything, I'd rather pick the path of knowing what I find impossible.

...

Hui-chieh... you still don't understand!

You're right. I don't.

I don't actually understand what happened that night, whether your father actually died by Chi Xiao or something more sinister.

I don't understand what you were thinking. I do know Edward and Tal both bore the curse of their bloodline, while I could only watch from the sidelines.

I don't understand why Mother resented you, Father, and even me on her deathbed.

I'm only clear on one thing. And Tal knows it too.

Apologies from the dead are meaningless. If there are people you want to apologize to, then tell them you're sorry while you're still alive.

Otherwise, you're just a coward consumed by guilt to the brim, putting on a heartless and stoic act for a ridiculous facade.

I won't let you keep making the same mistakes.

There is no real merit in winning a verbal fight.

If you truly have a strike that surpasses Heaven's Eye, you shall indeed become a legendary Yanese swordswoman.

Show me. Prove with my blood that you are right.

I'll show you...

I'll prove that if the dilemma itself is fundamentally wrong, you'll never get the right answer, no matter which side you take.

I'll prove that before we reach an inevitable dead end, we can take a step back and consider other options.

A choice that requires no sacrifice or abandonment, but allows all things to thrive.

You plan to use Chi Xiao's swordplay with the writing knife?

You said the techniques of Chi Xiao were all about one's state of mind, so it doesn't really matter which sword you use, right?

Uncle...

I still remember your last words to me when I left Lungmen.

...

Hui-chieh, I'll respect your determination.

I won't hold back.

...

?!

So this is... the swordplay you meant.

After I came to Baizao, I heard some stories about my mother.

When you left the city, she followed you to Lungmen. I never understood, but now, what other reason was there...?

She wanted to convince her brothers, her own two siblings, to make up.

And now, I think she was probably even more naive than I am.

You met someone from the House of Ch'en...

...I owe your parents and them an apology.

There are some things that should be resolved with blood, but this matter—this family matter that has entangled your entire life and my decades doesn't have to be one of them.

You felt regret in the end.

...

You dared only hold the form of Heaven's Eye, but not its spirit. You know what comes after remorse.

The Heaven's Eye you wielded decades ago was before regret reached your heart. You saw all and nothing, never looking back.

And when you finally felt it, it gnawed at your heart nonstop.

You win... Of course, you're right.

But this way you stake everything on a war that cannot be controlled. Now countless Yanese soldiers and civilians have their lives on the line, not just you and I.

Those with power and privilege love hiding their selfishness with big numbers and scary consequences. But obviously, there are plenty of other choices besides your death.

There are many who stand with us, proxies who have joined forces with Yan, your own brother and even, if there really is no other choice to take up the responsibility, there's me.

...

Let's finish the conversation from earlier.

...'The path before you is long and hard. But I know you will master it.'

I thought for a long time about what you meant by that 'will'. When I found the answer, I was loath to believe the conclusion it led to.

But now, seeing you in such a pathetic state, I can only believe it...

From that moment on, when you placed your unfulfilled hopes on my shoulders, you were already old.

You're old. You can't even harden your heart into stone as you did in your prime. You want to make amends, pay your debts. So you choose... to die.

Death won't let you make up for all you've done, death won't preserve your last shred of dignity. Death will only leave a final knot in your relationship that can never be untangled.

So don't do it... don't do what Tal did.

Is she...?!

If you want to ask me 'Is she doing well?', then I'll tell you. No. Not at all.

But you should rejoice in the fact I'm willing to talk about her with anybody... with you.

What's that?

...The horns signaling the attack. It's not from Baizao, but outside... from Yumen.

Yumen's about to attack the Tomb of Sui?

The Grand Commandant has issued the command, but whether or not the troops move is up to Zuo Xuanliao.

He cannot hold on forever, though. Yumen's troops are not his personal army.

...I should go.

To do what?

Our family matters have to be resolved, but those incarnations of the Feranmut, the same goes for them too. They'll try their best, and I'm willing to trust them.

And that Grand Commandant...

I can kind of guess what's on his mind. He's not selfish, but he thinks his judgements are logical and realistic.

Disasters caused by people like him are usually the worst ones.

Be it for Lungmen or what's left of the House of Ch'en, I should try and win whatever peace is possible for Yan.

I know you will.

Right.

Before I go, and if you want, help me think up a name for the move I pulled off. A name like Heaven's Eye that would get a young me all excited.

...Heaven's Plaint.

Heaven's Plaint. Doesn't that sound a little old-timey?

Surely you don't have to remind me of my age every five minutes.

Even so, there are some things that I must do myself.

Such as?

This time, I will do something that won't leave me with regrets.

And where is the thing you promised me?

I... didn't find it...

...

Then there is no meaning in leaving you alive—

W-Wait!

Kill me, and you'll never know where Bu Fan is!

What?!

Mo Yi, what exactly—

Let me ask you first... what are you planning to do with Bu Fan once you have it?

Just kill Sui, or do you want the whole city, or even all Yan to also die alongside your grudge?

That is of no concern to you.

I only promised to help you exact revenge against the bestial Sui... but before I give it to you, I need you to promise me something.

Your rage can only be directed at Sui... and once you're done with your vengeance, you'll leave Yan.

Absurd.

Why should I promise you anything?

No particular reason... but I'm not giving it to you unless you agree.

You've exhausted my patience with your life.

Zuo Le—

The Sui Regulator will not allow you to harm anyone, even if she is a Shanhaizhong—

Ridiculous.

It is this very human game that I hate—

The whereabouts of Bu Fan, or his life.

—!

No way... You can't...

I...

...Don't hurt him! I'll tell you!

...

That's from the Sky Mirror Pavilion, when did you—

...Sorry...

Lord Zuo... I admit to the crime of deceiving you over and over again...

Dare I ask you to trust me... and if a chance comes, to let me be the good one and make amends?

You mustn't——!

Enough. I did what you wanted... you should leave.

...

You tricked me once, and still hope for me to trust you?

You shall come with me, until I find Bu Fan.

Don't just stand there, run—

What... did you do...?

...

...Stop.

Where are you going...?

I think it beneath me to make another move on someone I have no business with.

If you cherish your life, then leave.

...

So you have a death wish.

Who dares?!

Why do we always run into each other when a fight's about to start?

This encounter is no different from the one a thousand years ago.

Our former foes are gone, as are our dear friends...

To draw your blade for vengeance now—how is it not a futile grasp at the past?

You two...?!

As you can see, we are no illusions or walking corpses, so yes.

But this is no place for chit-chat... Can your hidden realm welcome us as guests?

I thought It and I were the last of our kind on this land.

How have you survived these last thousand years... and why have you come here today?

Do you want to stop me as well?!

We don't intend to make things difficult for you... but are you aware just how much trouble you've added to our plates with your awakening and return to Yan?

Since that day, I've been followed by hundreds of eyes, even when I'm just casually angling for some silverfin on the Dusk River.

Staring at your decrepit shell. Hah, those ants sure are experts at wasting time.

Ruined mounts and streams, bodies weak and sick. That's all we are now, and you're no exception.

Weak and sick...

Yet enough strength to leave another wound on It that will never heal!

...Is that the only thing you've gained from your long journey?

After this millennium-long journey, all that remains in your head is wanting to settle the score between you two?

Seriously, your smarts are not up to par...

...

Anger, humiliation, discontent, confusion. You came back on account of these, and you use them as excuses to level your blade against your own kind.

Humanity gave a name to this obsession born of anger—they call it 'vengeance'.

You proudly claim to be a Feranmut and look upon 'human emotions' with contempt...

Yet you've changed. When did you become so obsessed with the boards and games humans play?

And when did you primordial beings pick up the rhetoric used by those crass pests?

Fooling humans, hunting our own kind... when have we ever suffered such humiliation?

When have we suffered... such a betrayal?

Vengeance? Boards? Games?

This is a war between It and me that has yet to end!

Lands shorn of life, mountains split asunder, rivers choked with crimson... The war at the dawn of time is not worth my remembrance.

Eons ago before you granted these insects your cunning, they had long embarked on the wrong path.

Now look at you, taking on a form similar to theirs—comical, ugly, broken, unbearable... you make me laugh!

And you, Hou. The ancient bestial Hou, the 'nature' of antiquity—you who once floated between heaven and earth have too learned how to live like an ant.

One can live as they wish in this realm. Rafting, swimming, fowl-watching, fincatching... You're not me, so how would you understand the joy I derive from this land?

You find joy in dragging your tail through the mud?!

Seasons change, life and death come and go, joy is but a speck, and sorrow the same... to me, these joys and sorrows are but floating weeds on the Dusk River. Where the wind blows, I go.

If one day a finbeast devours me whole, I shall drift freely for ten thousand miles with the current; if a fowlbeast snatches me, I shall be lifted up into the highest heavens.

Will you raise your weapon against the wind, a fin, a fowlbeast?

To be used or cast aside is of the times; to act or to hide is of my own will.

That is what Ju and I have come here to tell you.

...

Continue your reckless act, and you shall only meet your end—A Feranmut's end, with your shell no more, as only ash and dust.

Simply put, we pity you, our kin.

The two of you only leave me with shame.

Kin, you say?

The two of you, as primordial manifestations of 'nature' and 'rules', are groveling at my feet to surrender the ages?!

Puny, weak, filthy, low... What grants you two rotting corpses the right to call yourselves my kin?

...

I'll lose my body, and end as only ash and dust?

Heh, the destruction in your eyes is to me simply a return.

So what if I am reduced to nothing? So what if I am consigned to eternal nothingness?

You take this realm as a coffin... Is it then not a waste, preserving this vast realm when only death awaits you?

I dwell within a leaf, but see an entire realm within... All things arise from the mind, and it should stay free and unfettered.

*sigh*...Is it this realm that confines you?

Hah... so you wish to face me in my own realm?

Arrow's nocked.

Yes, use your arrow, your staff, your pest-like forms to smash all that you see as coffins!

Then come with me in your sly disciple's stead, and take a good look for yourselves...

Witness how this thousand-year old feud shall finally end.

...Ju?

I see stopping the war is no longer possible.

Are we really going to destroy this realm She has preserved for so many years?

'Pity for your kin' really struck a nerve with Ya, but isn't that why we've been trying to make Her see the error of Her ways? How can we drive the knife even deeper when She's already wallowing in self-abandonment?

So from now on, must we only watch from the sidelines as Wang's plot unfolds?

We guided that lass once. We saved that Candleholder, and even stood in for that precious disciple of yours. We've done our part for Wang.

He probably knows we can't stop Ya, which is why he even let us involve ourselves in this troublesome affair in the first place.

He really is like It. Only, he has a bit more...

...

What's done is done. Let's just rest on this river and partake in the scenery from a millennium ago.

Time's running out for It as well.

Aiyo...

Wait, I'm back?

And you're alive too! Where's Ya?

I saw an old man and a... person covered with machinery.

They stopped Ya, then they all vanished.

Someone covered in metal? Don't tell me—

Damn it, I was so close! Why am I the only one who hasn't seen Him!

Forget it. Since He's already here, I'm sure I'll get another chance to meet Him when this is all done with.

...*cough*...

Thanks... for saving me earlier.

Saving you?

Haha... Without my convincing performance, she would've thought my actual intel was fake, right? Wouldn't that be a real shame?

...What?

What were you planning, divulging the location of Bu Fan to that proxy?

You keep asking me what mission the Old Tianshi gave me, right?

Man... you wouldn't believe me anyway, maybe when you become that Sui Regulator Supervisor whatchamacallit...

...What was that?

That's Yumen's call to march.

Yumen... is preparing for an assault on the Tomb of Sui.

So soon?! The bestial Sui hasn't woken up, right—

The bestial Sui has yet to wake, the city is in chaos, and the Sui Regulator still hasn't fulfilled its duties... how could they possibly issue the order to attack the tomb right now?

Something must have happened inside Yumen... I should—

Well then, get going!

But we have to take that token to the Tomb of Sui!

Can I... trust you...?

Just shut up... and leave it to me.

...Since you saved my life earlier.

...Stay safe.

Gah... it's been so cold this autumn.

What are you doing out here all alone, on a day this cold?

Waiting for someone.

Oh... have you eaten?

Here, I have a bag of buns with me. Fill your belly a little?

We can eat once everyone's here.

If we're gonna wait for more, then I better prepare a proper meal, buns won't do...

...Do you think they'll come back?

What do you think?

Of course I think they will!

I know we rarely come together, we always argue whenever we do meet; we don't share the same hobbies and have conflicting personalities...

But it's times like these that I believe our hearts are all as one!

Though, even if everyone comes back, can we even...?

...

*sigh*...

I'll wait with you then.