The wall was a mess when Azura arrived. There were bodies everywhere, and only a few rapidly dwindling pockets of resistance remained. Tabatha was dashing around using her wind ki to scatter groups. Hamal was hurling throwing knives with such force that they had the penetrating power of ballista bolts.

"ENOUGH!" Azura shouted, her voice powered by ki. The few remaining mages collapsed, holding their ears as her voice reverberated throughout the area. "SURRENDER NOW!"

There was a pause, then mages fell to their knees, their hands behind their heads. It was over.

"You," Azura said to a random mage. "Open the gate. The city has fallen. There is no need for further bloodshed." Hamal and Tabatha must have broken their morale, for no one protested at her pronouncement.

With the gate open, Hamal threw some colored flares into the sky in a small shower of green sparks. The others would be here soon.

"Where's Gwen?" Tabatha asked as she and Hamal joined her.

"She, uh," Azura paused, considering what to say. "She had a tough time. I told her to go back to Azure's Rest." Hamal gave her a strange look before he started rounding up the mages. They had just finished when the rest of the cultivators arrived with her mother and Fatania leading the way. Behind them, Gerald and Elise, along with a few other honor guards, escorted them.

"Status?" Fatania asked.

"We have secured the gate. Most of the city's residents have taken shelter. There are pockets of resistance throughout the city, but nothing we can't handle," Hamal said.

"Good, we will secure the gate and begin gathering the kin and supplies," Fatania said.

"I'll go get Lord Tarwin to surrender," Azura said, refusing to call that man grandfather.

"I'll go to," Elise offered. "I can help convince him." Azura rather doubted that, but it couldn't hurt.

"Sure," Azura said, turning to leave.

"Be careful," Coralline said.

"He's just one old mage. What could he possibly do?" Azura scoffed.

"He has nothing to lose and plenty of time to prepare himself. Those are the most dangerous type of prey," Fatania said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful," Azura said dismissively as they walked away. They were quiet as they traveled the empty streets.

"I suppose this is the last time I'll be here. Even if we somehow made peace, the mist is almost here. There is no going back for me," Elise said sadly.

"Yeah," Azura said glumly. She didn't care about Deepmere, but Azure's Rest had become home over the last few years. It would hurt to leave it.

No mages were waiting in ambush for them as they neared the manor. It was strangely deserted. Soon, they stood before the manor. The place felt different from Azura's brief visit all those years ago. The garden was unkempt. Mold was growing on the exterior. Most of all was the permissive smell of stale blood in the air.

"Are you sure you want to go in?" Azura asked.

Elise hesitated before answering. No doubt, she also felt that something was off.

"Yes, family deals with family."

Together they entered the manse. What awaited them was something out of a horror story. Pelts… kin pelts… decorated the walls in a macabre décor. The work wasn't clean either. Dried bits of blood and chunks of flesh were still attached to the skins. Above a particular poorly skinned specimen was a set of antlers, a familiar pair. Elise gasped in horror.

"Bellos…" Elise whispered, her hand covering her mouth.

"Yes, shame that," A voice said from the top of a winding staircase at the end of the foyer. There stood her grandfather, Lord Tarwin Coldwell. The man looked terrible. His skin was sickly, and most of his hair had fallen out. His robes were unkempt and stained with things Azura would rather remain ignorant of. He was a man with nothing to lose.

"I came to offer you a peaceful surrender," Azura said. "Now I really, really, hope you decided to resist."

"Aggressive. So, unlike the trash that was my son. As for the décor, that wasn't my doing. Elise, your mother took your betrayal rather personally. She decided to take it out on the staff."

"Mother. Mother did… this?" Elise asked, her eyes wide.

"Oh yes. She was distraught with you. I could've stopped her, but then again… I'm not that happy with you either. You had such potential. And you threw it away to become just like your father. Having relations with an animal. How far you've fallen."

"How did you…"

"Know?" Tarwin said with a scowl on his face. "A spell, a drop of your blood from when you were younger, was used to make a purity rune. It turned black a short time ago. Oh, please don't give me that look. Noble houses often do such things. It makes marrying you off to a well-established house easier. None of the major houses would have accepted any proposal without such an assurance."

"Human mating practices are disgusting," Azura said.

"What would an animal know?" Tarwin sneered.

"Enough that I'm glad I wasn't born in this house. Not that it is worth anything now." Azura straightened and kept speaking in her most commanding tone. "Lord Tarwin, as the last member of the council present in Deepmere, I order you to surrender. Have all you people immediately free their kin from their slave runes and release them into my custody. Do this and we will leave peacefully."

Tarwin scoffed as he walked down the stairs toward them, fiddling with something in his cloak. "You still have learned nothing about how to use those that are below you. I thought time would have taught you better."

"I have learned a lot," Azura said. "Enough that I know everyone has potential in them for greatness."

"Nonsense," Tarwin said as his body stiffened. Then he took another step, his face hardening.

"I don't care what you think, mage," Azura said hotly. "I'm only offering you this chance because of Elise, and that more lives might be spared with a formal surrender. I'm prepared to do this anyway I have to."

"Why would I surrender if I'm going to die anyway?" Tarwin asked.

"If you surrender, I'll spare you. Even though I don't want to."

"Spare me? You misunderstand, girl. I'm already dead. In half a day, I'll be naught but ash. Not that you'll be alive to see it."

Azura scoffed. "I would've thought you would have learned now, mage, that you're no match for a cultivator."

"I have learned much. It's a shame to see that you haven't," Tarwin said. "HOME WARD ACTIVATE." A pulse of mana and a barrier appeared around the manse. Azura could feel its strength. It must be pulling on a powerful reserve of mana.

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"So that's your big plan?" Azura scoffed. "Trap us in here while you set a fire or something? That barrier won't last more than a minute with me attacking it."

"No," Tarwin said as he unfastened his robes, tossing them aside. Underneath, he was simply dressed in form-fitting black clothes that wouldn't hamper his movement. It was something a fighter might wear. In one hand, he held an empty syringe, which he tossed aside.

"Grandfather, what have you done?" Elise asked, her hands covering her mouth.

"A special little concoction you would've never heard of. During the Great Mage Wars, a potent serum was developed by a nation on the verge of annihilation. It was so powerful that a single mage destroyed an entire army with its power. Not that it mattered. The cost was so great, the resources so rare, that only a dozen such serums were made before the nation went bankrupt. Afterwards, all nations agreed to ban the substance with the threat of total war if anyone made it again. Naturally, everyone made some in secret, hoping they would never have to use it."

Azura gently moved Elise to the side as she spun more ki throughout her body. "I find it hard to believe one little injection could give you the power to fight me equally."

"Equally? Oh, my dear, stupid, STUPID, animal. With this, I surpass you. The serum is called 'Soulburn'. It does exactly as it says. It burns your soul for power, leaving you naught but ash when it's done. Mages have long been aware of the limitations of mana. This was one of many ways they've found to surpass such limits. Even if it forces me to use brute methods rather than the elegance of spellcraft, with your existence, how many of these terrible creations will be used again? All you have done is create an arms race that could destroy everything. Perhaps after I kill you, such methods can stay hidden."

Tarwin moved. A powerful blow landed in Azura's stomach, launching her through the wall and out into the courtyard. She collided with the manor's ward in an explosion of dust and debris. Elise screamed something, then went silent as Azura leaped to her feet, grimacing at the pain.

"Impressive," Tarwin said, striding forward through the hole in the wall he created. Elise appeared to be trapped in a bubble floating behind him. She pounded silently on the sphere with no effect. "I didn't think you would survive that. How much more can you take?" Tarwin moved again, and this time, Azura was ready. She managed to duck the first blow. He was so fast! Too fast. The next blow, a powerful right hook, sent her tumbling away.

"Fuck!" Azura snarled as she got back to her feet. Azura increased the flow of ki into her body even further. She needed more power. It was just in time. A mighty hammer fist blow ruffled her hair as it missed her head, Azura barely managing to dodge. Azura's counter blow landed squarely on Tarwin's chest, sending him flying backwards into the home's ward, where he ricocheted off, digging a deep burrow in the ground. Azura moved, trying to reach Elise, but the barrier trapping her floated high overhead.

"Incredible," Tarwin muttered, getting to his feet. "I can feel my soul being consumed to match your power. I probably have less than an hour at this rate. But can you last that long? I don't think it's going to be enough."

He appeared unharmed. The damage must be draining his new power instead. Azura had no further time to reflect on the situation as Tarwin renewed his attack. A flurry of blows landed with enough force to shatter boulders. She blocked the first two, but three more struck her face and shoulder, sending her flying as her footing technique failed to keep her rooted. He was too strong.

Azura tumbled on the ground from the force of the blow, which she twisted into a controlled roll, springing back to her feet. Her face hardened as she burned a small piece of ki. An aura erupted from her, painting the landscape with a crimson hue. Tarwin's face showed utter disbelief as he stopped his advance, fishing out a talisman from his tunic. Azura didn't know what he was doing, but she was ending this now. So much power flooded her that she felt the world distort around her, unable to contain the power she had. In that distortion, Azura could feel it. The Dao. It was locked away behind the rules that limited this world. Now, with the veil weakened, the Dao's limitless potential opened itself to her. Yet this wasn't the way to truly connect to it. This was a crutch. A forced connection that hinted at what could be, but limited what she could do. This was a connection of violence, which is why it could do nothing but…

"SHATTER!" Azura roared, releasing a powerful blast wave that shook the ground. Everything broke between her and Tarwin as the man was engulfed. The wave of raw power didn't stop there. It continued onward to decimate the house wards, which failed under the attack. Fortunately, the wave of destruction dispersed shortly after breaking the wards, sparing the city from the potential destruction.

Azura gasped for breath, her hands on her knees. A small trickle of blood was leaking from her lips. That had been a lot harder than she thought. She looked up as the dust settled, and a figure stood in the destruction. Azura gawked at the scene.

How the fuck did he survive that?!

"Astounding. Utterly astounding," Lord Tarwin said, striding forward unharmed. "I can't believe how much power you have. I thought I was paranoid when I had this little trinket commissioned." He dangled a medallion with a black jewel at its center. The jewel was cracked with blue smoke rising from the fissure. Another flame guttered from it before it fell into pieces.

"This was linked to the city's mana reservoirs that power the wards on the wall. Surely you noticed how easily you broke the wall's defenses? That was because most of the mana was reserved for my use. Which you just destroyed with a single attack. If only you had joined me. We could have ruled the entire continent." He shook his head sadly.

"I would never join with someone like you," Azura spat as she readied herself to burn another piece of ki. Tarwin must have sensed something, for Elise, trapped in her sphere, appeared next to him.

Azura released the portion of liquid she was about to burn, the ki fled, returning to the ki spiral.

"What's the matter? Not going to attack?" Tarwin asked.

"You, you, would use your granddaughter as a hostage?" Azura couldn't believe how low the man could sink.

"Sacrificing others is the privilege of the strong. What will you do? Will you use that attack again? You could achieve victory. I can't stand against such an attack a second time. But… do you have the courage to sacrifice Elise to achieve victory?"

"You're disgusting," Azura spat.

"And you're pathetic. You will give up victory for the sake of another. You are just as pitiful as your father." Tarwin dashed at her while Elise floated behind him. Tears leaked from her eyes as she helplessly pounded at the magical sphere. She appeared to be shouting something. Azura had no time to interpret what she was trying to tell her as she narrowly avoided a fist to her head. She didn't evade the follow-up kick, which landed hard on her thigh, sending her to the ground. Tarwin landed two more kicks before Azura used her ki to roll out of the way. She nimbly avoided a punch to her chest and landed a retaliation blow, which sent the man flying. Any hope of retrieving Elise was dashed as the magical sphere sped away to settle beside the man.

Azura panted heavily as her vision swam. This wasn't good. Her ki was rapidly being exhausted. Tarwin appeared to be able to keep going. Azura looked down at her blood staining the ground. Blood. You needed it live, lose too much, and you died. In a sense, the presence of her blood would decide if she lived or died. Blood must flow in her so she could live… just like ki.

The connection to the Dao exploded in her mind. Her earlier half-step on the path was nothing in comparison. That weak connection she had before was like a flickering candle constantly threatening to extinguish at the slightest use. Now… The connection sang with potential as the pieces of her core connected to a concept beyond this world. A bright, brilliant flame now illuminated the path. It wasn't the forced connection from burning her ki. This was the true first step on the path. The Dao of blood called out to her. She gazed up at the man charging at her. He was a mage. A mighty spellcaster who had vast skill, able to weave complex magical constructs to wield his magic. He was a determined foe who would even burn his soul to ash to get revenge. He was impressive, but he was no cultivator.

Azura stood straight and confident as the man neared, his fist drawn back. This would be the final blow, one way or another. Azura stretched her hand toward him, her Dao infusing her ki as she commanded the world to bend to her will.

"MINE," Azura said, and then pulled.

Blood exploded from Tarwin after a brief contest of wills. For all the man's lifetime of accomplishments, Azura had something he didn't. Her will had been constantly forged and strengthened by compressing her mana. The mage simply lacked the defenses against such an attack. Despite this, the innate resistance was great. For a brief moment, Azura thought it would fail, then something gave out in the man. Perhaps it was his soul that he sacrificed for the sake of power. Regardless, veins ruptured all over his body as the sanguine fluid flowed out of him and to Azura. With it came the power. Whatever this 'soulburn' was, it empowered his body with something that was neither ki nor mana. That empowerment included his blood. Dangerous energies flowed into Azura, where her core greedily drank it. Instantly, her ki was refreshed and wounds healed. Then it started raining in her core. Azura shuddered as a flood of new liquid ki entered her body. It was like she had been constantly cultivating for a year. The power was intoxicating. Before she could get drunk on the power, the tap turned off. Azura glared in annoyance at losing such a fine vintage. More. She wanted more. All around, she could feel sources of blood. They were hers for the taking. Then she abruptly snapped back to herself.

Azura collapsed to the ground, shaking in fear. It wasn't the violence or the death of her grandfather, who was slowly turning into ash, the soulburn now exhausted. It was that, for a moment, she would have done ANYTHING for more power. And that scared her more than a hundred eldritch lords. That was a hidden danger of cultivation she never expected.

"AZURA!" Elise shouted, running to her. Elise swept her into a hug, and she clutched the other woman tightly. Tears in their eyes, they watched their grandfather collapse into a pile of ash that the wind scattered into the air with a vengeful gust.

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