Yuuko sighed and shook her head.

“That was more than a second, and I’m not convinced.”

She stood up and began circling around her desk, but before she could drop her spell and call for the guards, Harada took a step back and raised his hands urgently.

“Wait! I forgot an important part! Shogun Hayakawa sold our country out to demons. I saw it first hand, with my own eyes.”

Yuuko clenched her teeth. How stupid did he think she was?

“This was a mistake. On both our parts. You should never have come here, and I should never have entertained your ridiculous lies.”

She took him by the arm and started dragging him out of the room as he struggled fruitlessly against her.

“Damn it, Minami, I forgot how hotheaded and stubborn you are! Don’t make me fight you!”

“So when lies fail, you resort to insults and threats? Kami preserve me, you’ve somehow gotten even dumber over the years. Go ahead and try—I’ll kill you faster than you can blink.”

He sighed and gave up as she dragged him away. She felt a little bad for him—he had trusted her friendship, and it had backfired. But he had betrayed her first! Yuuko refused to allow him to abuse their friendship to manipulate her.

The guard outside was startled as she exited the room.

“Where’s the commander?”

“On the battlements, ma’am. I was actually told to send you up to him as soon as you finished your meeting.”

“What a coincidence...”

Yuuko shot Harada a vicious glare.

“We were just heading there ourselves.”

His eyes widened in panic.

“Wait, you’re not actually going to—”

She ignored him as they made their way up to the fortress walls to find Commander Miura. They found him waiting for them on the northern wall. He was an old career soldier, dressed in full armor. He was a capable fighter at the peak of the third stage, but strictly speaking Yuuko was much stronger, and her tribulation had left her with the scars to show it.

But he’d earned his rank through years of leadership experience, and she could respect that. She saluted him as she approached, which he returned.

“Lieutenant Minami and...who’s this?”

Yuuko released her grip on Harada, but kept him suppressed with her domain.

“Not important. I’ll explain later—you called?”

“Indeed. We have a force approaching from the north—most likely the Ienaga army coming from Shoda.”

“What?! Why would they attack here?! This checkpoint is one of the most defensible positions in the country.”

The commander shrugged.

“Desperation, or perhaps overconfidence now that they’ve recovered their greatest weapon.”

Yuuko went pale.

“I thought Yoshika was dead.”

“The self-appointed foreign queen of that Goryeon puppet state? No, not her. After Ienaga Yumi’s escape, the most likely reason for the attack on Shoda was to secure her return to Ienaga’s forces.”

“That’s...bad. But Ienaga Yumi doesn’t fight in civil wars, does she?”

He scoffed.

“You still believe that, even after she murdered the princess? Her refusal to pick a side wasn’t out of benevolence, it was cowardice. Biding her time while the Ienaga clan secured their foreign backers.”

Harada Jun glared at the commander, casting one last sidelong glance at Yuuko before speaking.

“Perhaps we should confirm the makeup of the enemy forces. Lieutenant Minami specializes in altering visibility, right? It should be easy for her to see the army from here.”

Yuuko narrowed her eyes at the traitor, but before she could admonish him for speaking out of turn, the commander nodded.

“Indeed. That’s exactly why I called her here. I’d like to confirm whether Ienaga Yumi is taking the field so that I can adjust our strategy accordingly.”

She pursed her lips. It was something she could do, but her techniques focused on hiding things, not making them more visible. Still, it was a request she’d gotten often enough that she’d managed to develop her own spell for it.

Fetching the talisman from her sleeve, she held it out in front of her face and channeled power through it. For such a simple effect, it was an annoyingly complex spell. Light wasn’t an element she was very good with, so the bulk of the spell focused on using Force essence to concentrate the light while her Mist ki turned the resulting image into a larger illusory projection. It still needed a little bit of Light mana, but that was something that could be found in abundance on any sunny day.

It took a moment for the spell to take hold, and then Yuuko spent another minute or two calibrating it to focus on the army at the edge of the horizon.

Her blood ran cold when she saw who was leading it—Master Ienaga Yumi herself. Yuuko’s own teacher. Some part of her still wanted to believe that Ienaga was innocent, but seeing the proof for her own eyes was like a knife to the heart.

For some reason Harada had a knowing smirk, as if it wasn’t his own condemnation that she was observing.

Out of a sense of diligence, and to avoid wasting the expensive spell, Yuuko continued to observe the makeup of the army. What she saw disgusted her to the core. The rumors were true—Ienaga had aligned themselves with foreigners. Not just Goryeon mages, but what looked like a unit of imperial cultivators bringing up the rear—as if trying to hide.

By far the worst, however, were the oni. Among the vanguard was a unit of what could only be described as monsters. Although Yuuko couldn’t help but notice that they were oddly disciplined—marching in such a perfect formation that they would have stood out even if they weren’t so obviously inhuman.

Yuuko was about to end the spell and report the bad news when something caught her eye. A familiar flash of red near the front that she had missed on her first pass.

Next to Ienaga Yumi was the unmistakable image of Hayakawa Kaede. Her distinctive long red hair had blended in with her mentor’s armor at first glance, and Yuuko had mistaken her for a subordinate.

But if Hayakawa Kaede was there with Ienaga Yumi then...

Yuuko glanced back at Harada, who met her eyes with firm resolve. She took another look through her spell, as though the results would change. But Hayakawa was still there, looking straight ahead as though her piercing blue gaze could see right through all of Yuuko’s insecurities.

Everything she knew was a lie. Her friends, her country, her lover—all of them betrayed her one way or another, until she was completely alone. She couldn’t trust anyone or anything except what she could see with her own eyes.

That’s what Yuuko had thought. She was so stupid. Her friends saw what she didn’t. They trusted each other while she abandoned them—too caught up in her own head to return the favor. They hadn’t betrayed her—she’d betrayed them.

And despite all that, Harada Jun had still come to her, knowing the risks. He’d put real faith in the friendship to which she’d barely so much as paid lip service. And she’d nearly repaid that trust by taking his life.

Minami Yuuko took a step back from the wall, but her image stayed in place. It turned to the commander as she moved.

“Sir, Ienaga Yumi is there but...she’s joined by Hayakawa Kaede.”

The commander scoffed.

“A petty trick. I’ve heard rumors that they’ve been using a lookalike to foment uncertainty in the weaker northern lords.”

Yuuko invisibly positioned herself behind him, a hand on her sword. She’d always been such a coward, never wanting anyone to see her for what she really was. Repaying trust with suspicion all while hiding her own motives. The image kept the commander talking.

“I’ve met her myself. We fought and trained together in the academy. It’s her, Sir—no trickery.”

“Then she’s as much of a traitor as her teacher. The Shogun’s orders are absolute—clan Ienaga and all of their collaborators are enemies of the nation, and must be eliminated.”

“Yes, sir. Jun, what you said you saw—is it true?”

Harada nodded.

“I stake my life on it.”

The commander turned to scowl at them.

“What are you—?”

Yuuko beheaded him in a single strike, then tossed his body over the wall. Even Harada was startled by her sudden appearance, the projection fading into Mist where she’d been standing a moment earlier.

“Holy shit, Yuuko, where did that come from?”

“I owe you an apology Harada. I’ve been blind. I should have just trusted you. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I would have just added to my neverending pile of regrets. Can you forgive me?”

“I think so? You just very publicly murdered the commander, though—what do we do now?”

Minami forced more power into her lingering spell, expanding the image as much as she could until it could be seen from almost anywhere in the castle with a view of the sky.

“We get the rest of the castle on your side. Are you the only spy?”

Harada scratched his head awkwardly.

“Uh...I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but no. Ishihara’s on their way to Lord Kasuga’s castle.”

“Good. Ryuuji is there. He’s smarter than I am, and Ishihara’s way smarter than you are. They should have no problem overthrowing Lord Kasuga.”

“Ouch. Well good for them, but how is a pair of idiots like us going to subvert a whole fortress?”

Minami wiped her blade, then bent down to retrieve Miura’s severed head.

“Only way idiots like us know how—by force.”

 

---

 

As Jiaguo and Ienaga’s armies approached the checkpoint leading into Kasuga’s lands, they found that not only was the fort’s army marching out to meet them, but they were already waving the white flag of surrender.

When Kaede and Yumi went out to meet their leaders, Minami Yuuko threw the head of the fort commander at their feet and kneeled.

“Lady Hayakawa, I have taken this castle in your name. However, I nearly had your subordinate killed, and I have foolishly believed every lie your father has said about you. If this tribute is not sufficient, then I will gladly pay for my folly with my life.”

Jia ignored the grisly offering and ran forward to embrace her old friend.

“Yuuko! I’m so glad you’re okay! Don’t even joke about taking your own life! I forgive you. It’s not your fault you were deceived. What matters is that you’re here now, and that you’re okay!”

Yuuko froze, her arms hanging awkwardly at her sides and her eyes swimming with confusion as she hesitated.

“What.”