Lucian’s head spun. There was a demon on the great stone bridge leading to Heavenwatch Monastery. That was no small potato demon, either—it was one of the Children of Urzan, easily peer to Metterand before his transformation in physical capability. This devil appeared not moments after Cyril had provided them a warning that there was likely a demon informant among the Emperor’s retinue. Lucian had no idea how Cyril came by that information, and there seemed to be no time to ask him.

  “Demons are attacking Heavenwatch,” Lucian said, looking backward.

  “Insightful,” Aurelia said dryly. She glanced at Cyril to be sure he wasn’t eavesdropping, then whispered in Lucian’s ear, “Unseal.”

  With the situation as it was, he was hesitant. Still… he could seal her once more at any time. He touched her shoulder, and undid the Mentor’s Seal.

  “Let’s go outside,” Lucian said, then started walking toward the door. On the way, he grabbed his satchel of potions.

  Cyril merely jumped out the window with surprising mobility in light of disease, and Lucian didn’t have time to say anything more to him. Instead, he looked to Aurelia.

  “In the event of an invasion of some kind, what happens? I mean, how does the monastery group itself up for battle?” he asked Aurelia.

  “Noncombatants are taken to the cathedral with a few left behind to defend them, while everyone that’s combat-ready moves to the front. Command falls to the abbess. She howls to gather everyone,” Aurelia said. As if on cue, a howl filtered into the room, and they shared a glance. “Before, we always fought on the bridge. But that demon was trying to destroy the bridge. Meaning—"

  “Meaning they might be anywhere on the mountain, ready to pour in and surround us,” Lucian finished. He thought for a few seconds. “I’ve got a night vision potion. Get me to the highest place in the monastery.”

  As Lucian reached into his satchel and produced the potion, Aurelia shifted into her divine beast form and lowered herself to the ground so he could climb on back. Once he did, she bounded up the buildings and came to a tall building. Lucian drank the potion and looked out across the land. What he saw… humanoid archers with abyssal black hair so long it covered their body. Nixie Archers.

  Not the most formidable demons, but the stealthiest, Lucian reflected. The only sort that might be able to get past the monastic’s patrols altogether. But that won’t be nearly enough to defeat all of the people that’re here. What do they have planned? Who else could be here? The greatest hits? Are they paving the way for something bigger? No, not a chance… the monastics have tremendous patrols, and the emperor himself is here. Security will be ironclad. One major demon—that’s all I could see getting past.

  Lucian heard a loud noise near his head, and looked over to see Aurelia had conjured a gold shield with one of her many tails. An arrow she’d blocked fell to the roof, rolling away. He had hefty resistance to mundane projectiles, but…

  “Thanks,” Lucian said, eyeing the arrow. He was about to turn his head away from it when something about it caught his eye. He alighted from Aurelia’s back, and knelt before the arrow. The arrowhead was maroon. “Did you bleed at all?” He looked at Aurelia. She shook her vulpine head, vigilantly watching for more projectiles.

  Lucian picked up the arrow. He grabbed a cloth and smudged the arrowhead. As expected, it was coated in liquid. A maroon liquid, thick and viscous. One notion came to mind immediately. This might be the supreme poison of the Palace of Ten Thousand Poisons—a poison that was missing when last they checked. It was a wild conclusion to jump to… but certainly not an unreasonable one.

  If I wanted a low-risk way to assault the monastery, it’s definitely the path that I’d choose. If someone is hit by a poison like that, divine beast or not, they’d be neutralized. Send in a squad of Nixie Archers for the first wave, poisoning all those unlucky enough to get hit…

  Lucian felt terrified at the prospect that, even if they overcame this ambush, countless could die. But if he was right, and this poison was in use…

  Then one of Aisha’s snakes has to be, too, Lucian reflected. The poison is her creation. Without the presence of one of her snakes, healing magic can cure the poison. With a snake nearby, it becomes incurable. There are plenty of healing mages in Heavenwatch Monastery—one of her snakes enhancing the poison is the only way there could reasonably be fatalities.

  “Hope I’m just paranoid…” Lucian muttered as he stood. “Aurelia—the frontlines. But don’t jump into battle. I want to check the injured.”

  At that, the two of them together headed for the area where the Nixie Archers were loosing their arrows upon the Divine Beasts. After scanning the battlefield for a while, he saw a divine beast with an arrow in their side struggling to stand. He alighted from Aurelia and rushed up, then cast a spell that should’ve at least slightly abated the effect of the poison.

  “V?x Nūr Ka,” Lucian said evenly.

  The spell did nothing, and the divine beast looked at him in confusion. He rose to his feet.

  “…the poison’s not responding to the magic,” he thought aloud, mostly for the patient’s benefit. They had the right to know what was going on.

  We’re shafted, Lucian thought. I knew I’d already lost the moment I lost my knowledge advantage. That snake could be anywhere. Even if we do manage to find it, there’s no telling what might be defending it. Maybe this is a trap to try and find out who has knowledge of the future, who might come looking for the snake. Maybe this is a way for them to flush out the ‘True Divine Beast.’ And who says the battle ends here?

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  Just then, Aurelia nudged him. He looked at her, and she shook her head. Was she trying to tell him to snap out of it? If she was… she wasn’t wrong. He looked back at the patient, trying to think of a way this could be solved.

  The poison that I remember… Lucian reflected. It was much more fast-acting.

  He brightened a bit, receiving clarity. Lucian had forced them to interrupt the distillation of the poison early. It might not be as potent as it was in War of Four. Meaning…

  Time. More time, he thought, brightening a little. Time enough to find the snake, maybe? But searching blindly… risky, inefficient. Might be bumbling into a trap. Blessing of the Soothsayer or not, I’m still quite weak. Think. Think, you idiot.

  The answer came to him suddenly. It wasn’t a fully satisfactory answer, but it would have to do.

  “Take me to Cyril,” Lucian asked of Aurelia. “On second thought… no. Find him alone. I need to make sure Cate’s safe, find Dorothea and some others, give them some instructions. You need to deliver this request to him, as if it’s the request of the True Divine Beast…”

  ***

  “You want me to scout for this snake with my Dark Doppelganger?” Cyril summarized.

  Aurelia crouched inside a building with the duke, peering out into the monastery in chaos. Arrows barraged relentlessly. “You were the one that originally found Belcourt using it, after all. Your ability might be the only chance that we have to find the snake that’s increasing the potency of this poison and making it incurable.”

  Cyril contemplated that, then said, “I’m incapable of both maintaining that spell for a long period of time and fighting on the front lines.”

  Aurelia nodded. “That’s why Abbess Dorothea is gathering together some of the best of the best to defend you while you do. This task takes precedence before anything else. Countless have already been poisoned, and until the snake dies, they won’t be treatable. Only your Dark Doppelganger provides the means to find it.”

  Cyril nodded. “Alright. The plan seems solid. But… the True Divine Beast is here, then?” His eyes took on a strange greed that made Aurelia narrow her eyes.

  “I don’t think that’s any concern of yours,” Aurelia said sharply.

  “Their aim is likely him,” Cyril said. “I say that out of caution.”

  “He’s left writings. Predictions,” Aurelia explained. “They provide invaluable insight that I and others can rely upon.”

  Duke Cyril didn’t look entirely convinced. “Let’s proceed to Dorothea, then.”

  ***

  Lucian stood alongside the divine beast form of Abbess Dorothea as she congregated the members of her monastery in one location. Countless divine beasts had been put out of commission by the Nixie Archers, the poison rendering them all but useless in combat. Maroon veins spread along their body, slowly killing them. That said, they’d succeeded in dealing with the archers.

  “Cowering with the wounded, Lucian?” called out a voice.

  Emperor Algard walked out into the square where they all were, his body positively soaked in blood—fists most of all.

  “Have you seen Denzel?” Lucian called out.

  “I’ll worry about that later,” Algard said, looking around. “This poison… it’s incurable, it seems. Some of my retinue was struck by it. I had the best mages in the empire try to reverse it, and all they did was exhaust themselves.”

  “There’s a demon making it incurable,” Lucian said. “Or so the monastics claim. Someone’s fetching—”

  Aurelia landed beside Lucian, surprising the hell out of him. Cyril followed shortly after, and he sat on the floor cross-legged.

  “I’ll get to work immediately,” Cyril said.

  Cyril’s Dark Doppelganger burst free of his body, and he sent it out into the night.

  Lucian looked back to Algard. “Some kind of demon is making the poison resistant to magic. Cyril’s going to find it while the monastics protect his body.”

  Algard stared at Aurelia even as Lucian spoke to him. His gaze lingered for an uncomfortably long while before switching back to Lucian. “Do you think I’ll be blamed for this? Because I think I might be.”

  “If you save more people, there are more witnesses,” Lucian reminded him.

  Algard pointed at him. “Smart.”

  “I haven’t found the snake, but there’s a brutal demon on its way,” Cyril spoke up. “Tall, eight arms, eight swords.”

  Lucian’s blood ran cold.

  Algard rolled his shoulders. “I should have known that this was just the beginning.”

  An eight-armed demon… the shock trooper of the First Emperor. The one that he sent when he wanted something killed, at any cost. The unsubtle destroyer.

  Algard was wrong. This might not be the beginning. This might be the end.

  Although… Lucian looked at one of the many arrows laying about. If ever there was a way…

  “What direction, Cyril?” Lucian asked.

  “My left,” he said.

  Lucian looked that direction. Well… guy doesn’t use dark magic, at least.

  Lucian tapped Aurelia. “C’mon. If he makes it here, everyone might get caught up in the crossfire. Let’s see if we can’t find Brutus, too.”

  After a few moments, he realized Aurelia wasn’t following. He looked back at her.

  “You coming?” Lucian asked with a raised brow.

  All her tails were down, and she was unmistakably shaking. She probably knew who was waiting. But as Lucian stared, she shook herself as if she were a dog drying itself off, then advanced. Lucian smiled in pride despite himself. They walked out.

  Once they were out, he glanced at her.

  “We can’t win,” Lucian said plainly.

  She stumbled.

  “Might be able to draw, though,” Lucian said. “Force a retreat. That’s only if Brutus is fine.”