Loathe as Ao Tian was to admit it, the Yellow Devil made for a most formidable foe.

His Spells alone would prove difficult to overcome, what with how oppressive Fireball could be. Highly inefficient to use on a single target, but efficiency was secondary to survival, and the Yellow Devil was nothing if not a survivor. Then there were his guns and skill with them, capable of firing with pinpoint accuracy from up to 30 meters away at the very least and unleashing two volleys of triple shots that even Major Mu Bai could do nothing against. Granted, the Sword Saint had been caught off guard as everyone thought the Yellow Devil had no weapons close to hand, but in retrospect, he should have been patted down as soon as he stepped out of his wagon. Prince Gong had failed to give such orders however, and there were none among his cadre who cared enough to voluntarily risk the Yellow Devil's ire and the General's by proxy, so he'd been left untouched.

Then there was the rest of his costly equipment, all the Flashbangs, Entangle grenades, potions and other knickknacks he carried about on his person, to say nothing of the formidable Blast Cannon atop of his mobile steel fortress of a wagon and the Magical bull pulling it. Without all of that however, Ao Tian was still unable to claim confidence of victory, because he simply had too little information to go on and no real understanding of the Yellow Devil's skills and expertise. Take his Mage Hands for example, which were clearly a cut above the basic Cantrip Ao Tian was familiar with. The Cantrip constructed were limited to doling out or withstanding 5lbs of force, and those oversized revolver Blast pistols the traitor carried on his belt were sure to dole out far more than that, and yet those Mage Hands were capable of firing Blast after Blast after Blast.

How might they fare with sword or axe in hand, or even the hatchet the Yellow Devil kept strapped to his thigh as a weapon of last resort? Common knowledge stated that his focus on gunplay and Divination would leave him little time for training in the martial arts, but he was a man whose accomplishments defied all expectations, so there was no judging him by normal standards.

Then there was his right hand, which rumours stated had been hacked off in a conflict in the deserts to the north. Was that a lie, or had he somehow secured himself a life-like prosthetic that not only functioned remarkably well, but was also somehow capable of absorbing all the recoil from two successive triple shots without so much as wavering a single inch? Even if it was his flesh and blood appendage, that would still be a feat to impress, as Ao Tian had been told that a triple shot with a revolver was more party trick than functional skill. It was supposedly all but impossible to aim with any real accuracy, yet the Yellow Devil proved that wrong, so even without an Aetherarm in hand, Ao Tian would still need to be wary of the traitor's grip strength in close quarters.

And as the days passed while lying in wait for the Yellow Devil's arrival, Ao Tian reviewed all that the Republic knew about his foe in an effort to know his enemy, and the more he learned, the more apprehensive he grew. The Yao Guai of the badlands were furious after so many intrusions upon their territory, and Ao Tian's team had barely escaped pursuit without injury after a series of hard-fought conflicts over a two-day time period. They had ten well-trained and heavily-armed Vanguard, five of whom were veterans of almost twenty years, as well as three Scouts to lead the way, and yet they still struggled to shake off the furious Ferals despite running as fast as their feet would carry them for almost 48 hours. In contrast? The Yellow Devil was treating this like an extension of his family vacation, taking his sweet time and delaying so long that Ao Tian's team had been sat waiting a full day and a night while the traitor still had yet to reveal himself.

Were it not for Qian's assurances, Ao Tian might well have suspected his foe had died and been devoured by the endless stream of Yao Guai roaming the badlands these last few days. Qian was a veteran Scout though, a senior who'd studied the Luan Tou Pai Forms of Geomancy and the Book of Changes both to become one of the best Scouts under Prince Gong's command. With only two others to watch his back, he went back out into the badlands proper to watch for signs of the Yellow Devil's arrival, and reported his findings every three hours using Light signals sent through a mirror box. By showing a combination of short and long flashes, Qian passed along messages three numbers at a time, and three sequences of these three numbers made up code comprising of page, row, and column to give a character from the dictionary every Vanguard carried with them at all times.

So in this primitive and painstaking fashion, Ao Tian and the rest of his team were able to receive news from Qian as they all laid in wait for the traitor. Not all in one location of course, but spread out across edge of the badlands so as to form a net from which there could be no escape. It made for a lonely and isolated experience, as they were all alone in hostile territory with furious Yao Guai to the front and Ranger Watchtowers to their back. The former were busy scouring their territory for trespassers and interlopers, and Ao Tian spent much of his time laying low with bated breath and watching patrols of the bugs skitter on by. As for the latter? Americans were an unpredictable lot, and if their presence were to come to the attention of the watchers behind, it could end up as an international incident with the Federal Government getting involved, or absolutely nothing would come of it because the Rangers stationed in the watchtowers thought the presence of Vanguard soldiers not worth reporting.

So best to remain hidden and unseen from both parties while Qian and his two companions passed along whatever news they could. Which at first was nothing of note. 'No Sighting', 'Nothing to Report', 'Status Unchanged' and so on and so forth. Frustrating for several reasons, since it was essentially the same message shared in different ways, meaning Ao Tian had to go through all the trouble of deciphering it each time when Qian could have just sent the first message multiple times to make things easier for all of them. Granted, the Scout wasn't doing this to be obtuse, but for the purpose of operational security since there was a non-zero chance that the Rangers manning the Watchtowers might see the signals and suspect foul play afoot if the same message flashed by multiple times. Or just investigate out of sheer curiosity, as they often were a meddling bunch, liable to interfere simply because they believed themselves the guardians of the old world and the Frontier both when they were really nothing more than opportunistic mercenaries and greedy vultures seeking to snatch food out of the hands of the Republic.

These lands were their lands, Republic lands which had been prepared for them by the Venerable Tian Zi himself. The Son of Heaven had been sent down to them by the powers above, a leader to unite the Qin people in arms against the Great Devourer and send its Yao Guai legions back to the lower worlds from whence they came. In their pride and ignorance however, the foreign devils rebuked the mandates of heaven and refused to bow before his might, thereby dooming the old world in its entirety. Fools is what they were, which Tian Zi himself knew well enough, which was why he'd spent centuries preparing the Frontier for the people of the Republic. These lands were once slated to be a pristine refuge against the Great Enemy, a place for the Qin people to rest, recuperate, and prepare for the great war ahead, a war to end all wars and eradicate all Yao Guai from the middle realms.

Alas, not even the Son of Heaven could foresee all futures outlined in the Book of Changes, and he fell before his plans could come to fruition. In his absence, the Great Enemy established a foothold on the Frontier while the foreign devils of the old world strongarmed the Republic into sharing this last bastion of humanity. Two hands cannot fight off four fists, so the Republic had no choice but to make allowances for the other nations and allow them access to the Frontier, but every true son and daughter of the Republic knew that these lands were theirs, and all others were merely interlopers here in opposition to the mandates of Heaven.

There would come a reckoning for them, one of blood and fire once the Republic had strength enough, but until such a time, they could do naught but suffer the presence of these foreign devils here upon their birthright. They were a blight upon the lands and a poison in the hearts of man, as evidenced by the traitor and his father who turned against their country to serve foreign interests, and for what? Their own selfish benefit, that's what, with the traitorous Yellow Devil living a life of luxury with weapons and women aplenty, while the true children of the Republic like Ao Tian and his peers toiled to save all of humanity from the Great Devourer and his insatiable hunger.

Typical Western egotism, to want more and more for themselves and care nothing for those they deemed 'lesser'. The Yellow Devil embodied this more than most, a sight which disgusted Ao Tian to no end, for it was nothing but sheer hubris to lay claim on the Progenitor infested badlands without the backing of any nation or army. And yet, the traitor did just that, declared that he would kill his own people on sight rather than return to the fold and repay the nation that had birthed him and his parents both. Without the Republic, he would not exist, would not have a Frontier to explore and conquer, and he repaid this generosity with scorn and hatred.

And yet, despite his lacking moral fibre, the Yellow Devil was clearly a cut above his peers. As the sun set on the third day since parting ways with Prince Gong, Qian's reports finally returned with something of substance, the first being, "Target sighted. Hold for more."

Though it couldn't have been more than a handful of minutes, Ao Tian felt like an eternity had passed before he spotted the telltale flash of light on the horizon once more. "Target under siege. Fight and Flee. Yao Guai corpses carpet the earth as far as the eye can see. Standby."

An evocative message that sent a chill down Ao Tian's spine for more reasons than one. How might he fare against such overwhelming odds were he in the Yellow Devil's place? Nowhere near as well, not even with his foe's equipment, for Qian's subsequent reports were filled with details of the Yellow Devil's prowess. The traitor was not content to tuck tail and flee while taking shots at any and all Ferals who drew close; no, he went on the offensive, breaking away from his wagon and horses both to strike out on his own atop a Floating Disc. Every Vanguard was familiar with the Spell and Ritual both, as maintaining the Spell for four hours a cast was the minimum accepted standard. 25 grams of ferromagnetic metal dust every four hours was far cheaper than food, water, and care for a beast of burden, and the ability to carry 375 catties or 225 kilograms at base was not to be scorned. One caster maintaining the Spell could ferry himself and two others alongside all their gear while a fourth 'carried' them all away, with the passengers' taking turns to rest and run in order cover up to 75 kilometres in a single day.

The Yellow Devil had other uses for the Spell however, as he showed in his admittedly heroic rescue of Jinfeng's cadre more than a week ago. Never before had Ao Tian seen anyone push Floating Disc to such limits, speeding about over mostly flat and rocky ground at four, five, maybe even more times the base Speed of 5 kilometres per hour. And with such control too, weaving in and around the Yao Guai attacks as if he had eyes in the back of his head while killing his way through the crowd. According to Qian, this was the tactic the Firstborn used here today, drawing attention away from the wagon and the occupants inside before engaging in wholesale slaughter and zipping away at all speed before returning with guns loaded to repeat it all over again.

It seemed almost unfathomable to know there was someone who possessed the speed, reflexes, and balance to navigate his way through a battlefield upon such an unreliable method of conveyance such as a Floating Disc. Though largely stable capable of accommodating for shifts in weight, the Spell was made for holding heavy, static objects that oftentimes had to be lashed down or otherwise fixed in place. When carrying people, it was best if everyone present remained as still as possible, and better if they all braced against one another to counteract any movements they might make. To not only stand atop a Floating Disc but also shift your weight to steer, push off the ground, and stand back atop it again was like dancing atop a tightwire, a feat that required steady footing and courage both as one wrong move would spell their doom.

So to rely on such a method of conveyance in a frenetic firefight whilst dodging Feral claws and accounting for Aetherarm recoil to boot? Madness is what that was, and yet the traitor made it look as easy as turning his hand. More than one member of Jinfeng's cadre had tried to emulate the Yellow Devil's accomplishments in the days following his daring rescue, and not a one managed to do anything more than stand atop their Floating Disc while it wobbled its precarious way forward. It took a vastly different mindset to maintain the Spell under such circumstances, with more attention placed on stability of movement over speed and cohesion.

The trick was knowing where to apply that stability, which was easier said than done. On a flat, smooth surface like the snowy mountains so many Westerners like to 'snowboard' down? You only needed to account for angle of descent, which the Spell more or less handled by itself. Over rocky terrain like here in the badlands however, the Spell was incapable of accounting for so many changes in so short a time period, leading many Vanguard Floating Discs to unravel the moment they passed over a jutting rock or even an uneven mound.

As such, Ao Tian suspected that the only way the Firstborn could possibly account for all those variables was through sheer mastery of the Classics of Changes, albeit on a small scale. More evidence of how the traitor scorned his roots, for without the Son of Heaven, there would be no Classics for the Yellow Devil to master. Just as the sun always gave way to the moons and back again, time was a cycle within which all souls of the middle realm were trapped, to be born, killed, and reincarnated from now until forever more unless they ascended to the Heavens or were dragged down to the lower realms by the all-consuming Yao Guai who sought to overrun the realms. The Classics of Changes sought to make sense of this cycle by teaching the reader how to interpret the omens and calculate the hexagrams which would then provide insight into the omens and allow the user to predict the best course of action moving forward. This involved a highly complex series of mathematical computations that saw many such practitioners standing stock still with a far-off gaze while moving their fingers in speedy calculation so that they could obtain the most accurate readings possible, because as the name implied, fate was ever changing and merely observing how those lines unfurled might well interfere with the future they foretold.

In short, mastery of the Classics enabled one to find the patterns contained within the world so that they might better prepare for what might come next. It was not without flaw of course, for not even the Son of Heaven could wholly predict the future laid out before him, though he did far better than most with help from his powerful artifact simply titled as the Book of Changes. With this, the Venerable One armed himself with knowledge to prepare for whatever might come. That was Tian Zi's greatest strength, the capacity to know everything and anything his enemies might do and act accordingly. The stories of his abilities were legendary to behold, the foremost Diviner and Transmuter of the Old World whose ever-constant vigilance and near prescient foresight allowed him to conquer the Middle Kingdom and unite all of the Qin people under his banner before even coming into the full extent of his power.

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In contrast, most who studied the Classics of Changes today were bumbling incompetents by comparison, spending long minutes or sometimes even hours to return with a proper reading of the omens, a reading which might well already have expired in the time it took the Diviner to calculate his or her fate. Hardly useful to learn of impending danger after it had already arrived, but even these slow interpretations were not without use, as some insight could still be gleaned from a reading of a future that might once have been likely, just not as much as a reading that was still relevant. It was this discrepancy which separated a passable Diviner from a great one, and the Yellow Devil might well be one of the greatest if he was interpreting the omens on the fly while zipping about on his Floating Disc.

It was more than practice which allowed him to utilize the Spell in such a manner, of this Ao Tian was certain. If not the Classics, then at the very least, the Diviner's Portent as the Westerners called it, an Ability unique to those who studied that particular School of Magic which allowed them to subconsciously recognize the omens without any need for calculation or even cognizant awareness of such. It was akin to how an adept farmer might sense the coming of rain without having to look up at the sky, yet be unable to voice exactly how they knew it would come in advance. Experience and pattern recognition taken to the greatest extremes, that was how Ao Tian understood the Portent Ability, one which enabled the Yellow Devil to adjust his Floating Disc on the fly while zipping about at breakneck speeds over uneven terrain. It had to be, because any other possibility hinted at nigh inhuman capabilities of maintaining the Spell under such circumstances with minimal room for error lest it unravel beneath him.

This was not a feat that could be accomplished through mere practice. This was talent, or at the very least, a mastery of an Ability that most considered underwhelming. Ao Tian included, because not only was the Portent Ability difficult to obtain, there were many easily accessible Abilities that provided a more tangible and immediate value as opposed to a vague and nondescript sense of unease that seemed wholly indistinguishable from common anxiety. Better to tap into the powers of Evocation to strike harder with your Spells while obtaining even more control over where you unleash your destructive energies, or master the defensive energies of Abjuration to maintain a personal Ward capable of stopping Bolts and blades of all sorts. Illusionists gained the Ability to manipulate their deceptive mirages on the fly and entrap their targets in an immersive and reactive hallucination from which there was no escape, while Enchanters gained the Ability to Charm and Hypnotize with little more than a glance.

Then there were Conjurers, whose abilities were most far-reaching of all, because their applications were not for use in battle, but in normal, everyday life. The potential alone of Conjuring a simple object out of thin air was incalculable, whether it be a mould of the perfect shape and size for a specific brick you need cast, or an object with the right curvature to keep the barrel of your rifle steady atop on an uneven surface, the possibilities were limited only by the Conjurer's imagination. As for the esteemed School of Transmutation? This Ability was by far the most useful of the bunch, for it granted the recipient a familiarity with Alchemy that could hardly be described with words, a general understanding of how Aether, Qi, and the natural energies of the world came together to create magic, which they then bottled for use at a later time when they should most require it.

There was a saying that an Immortal Monarch's greatest strength was time, for with the proper preparations, they were all but unstoppable, and the School of Transmutation made the best use of time out of them all.

These were merely the most common Abilities directly tied to the 7 Schools of Magic mind you, as there were hundreds, if not thousands of other established Abilities to yearn and strive for. Like Ao Tian's Action Surge, the staple of all aspiring Sword Saints and Warriors in general which allowed one to push beyond their normal limits to do more than what would otherwise be humanly possible. That's how Major Mu Bai was able to block a Bolt with his sword not once, but twice in quick succession, and were it not for the Yellow Devil's expensive and largely unobtainable Aetherarm, he would have been helpless before the Sword Saint whose movements and reactions were much faster than his trigger finger.

But not faster than the mechanisms of his master-crafted revolver, the famed Ranger Rattlesnake wielded by the traitor Ming and now by his traitorous son Hao Wei. Therein lay the rub, for with the advent of technology, many of those oft lauded Abilities were overshadowed by ownership of a basic Aetherarm. This in turn elevated the status of Divination and its vaunted Ability to see through the patterns of fate and know the changes before they take place.

A realization which had Ao Tian rethinking this course of events. It seemed so simple when Prince Gong laid out the plan. Move out ahead of the Yellow Devil and find a place to lie in wait for his arrival before sending waves upon waves of Yao Guai towards his position. Killing with a borrowed knife, simple enough in concept and yet this reminder of their foe's prowess all but convinced Ao Tian that their hands could not remain clean in all this. In order to be absolutely certain the Yellow Devil would fall here in the badlands, he would have to take an active role in order to guarantee his target's death.

Qian had apparently arrived at the same conclusion, because after several hours of intermittent updates chronicling the Yellow Devil's seemingly one-sided conflict against the Yao Guai, the Scout sent back a lengthy message that read, "Target has seen off pursuit and is returning to wagon to resupply and recoup. Spell usage minimal. No Third or Second Order Confirmed. Ammunition: plentiful. Fatigue: negligible, tools remaining: abundant. Reassess mission parameters and chances of success?"

A bold query given in plain sight, one that every last team member would have seen and read for themselves to put Ao Tian in a tight spot. Of course Qian would like him to reconsider, because the man was a perpetual fence-sitter, a moderate who refused to take sides in the ever-growing conflict between the new ways and the old. Those like the General and his ilk who championed the old ways did so because it suited them best, not because it was best for the Republic. They would all be better served by a meritocracy over the nepotistic dynasty of old, wherein trusted officials serving under the Venerable One sought to elevate their own kin to positions of power over others more suited to the roles. It was an abuse of power, for though the General had most certainly proven his worth and was well-deserving of his high rank, if had he failed to live up to expectations, then there was nothing anyone, not even the Council of Elders could have done to remove him from power.

That right there was the root cause of the rift between the General and Elder Chang Sang, because the former placed too much value on blood and history, whereas the latter championed the rights of the common born who only needed a chance to prove themselves worthy of more. More responsibility and yes, more power, but that was not the end goal, merely the means with which they would better contribute to the Republic as a whole. It was one thing for the General to make sure every orphan like Ao Tian and the Hu siblings was properly taught and trained to serve the Republic, but under his system, they would never be anything more than mere servants, pawns here to carry out his will as he saw fit, and his successor after him. Wouldn't that be a sight to behold, the Republic in the hands of the Yellow Devil? He'd have them all wearing stupid cowboy hats and spouting off inanities about pigs and muck in that indiscernible accent that made it sound like he was always speaking with a mouthful of shit.

Why should a man or woman's station be determined by their birth? Though the Venerable One put great stock in fate and bloodlines, he'd admitted on his deathbed that he had placed too much faith in certain individuals simply because of who their parents, grandparents, or great grandparents had been, a very human failing for the Immortal Monarch who strove to save them all. With his dying breath, he spoke to all the people of the Republic and asked that they never give up hope, to come together as one people to stand firm against the Great Devourer and Foreign Devils both, because only in unity, would the Republic remain strong.

And the General? He would have them all disregard the Venerable One's last wishes, have the people of the Republic place all their hopes and dreams, the very future of their existence within his hands, and the hands of others like him who'd been born into houses of high rank. Ludicrous is what that was, and Ao Tian would not stand for it. Why should he accept limits to his future prospects before he should even have a chance to show the world what he was capable of? Just because his father was a low-born labourer, the son of a labourer who died a hero of the Republic, yet was declared a traitor all the same. And for what? For killing a true traitor, the turncoat apostate who abandoned his people, but had the good fortune of marrying in the General's family and fathering the sole heir of the Zhu Family.

The Venerable Tian Zi aside, all men were equal under the eyes of Heaven, regardless of what blood flows though your veins. That was the beauty of the Republic after all, the idea that any and all sons or daughters of the nation could rise up and make a name for themselves, unlike in bygone times. The Venerable Tian Zi had done much good for the people of the middle kingdom, but he was not without fault, and his greatest flaw was that he trusted the wrong people and paid dearly for it in more than one way.

Like the Zhu family, a once lofty name which had now fallen to such disgrace as its youngest scion shirked his duties and openly scorned his people, which only further proved Elder Chang Sang's cause was just. One could not rely on blood to determine the quality of one's future, for this supposed aristocratic hero was a failure in the metric which mattered most, namely devotion to the Republic. Jinfeng refused to see it, scorned and disdained Ao Tian because of the status of his birth, but no doubt had already spread her legs for the high-born Firstborn. Why else would he care to listen to her pleas when he seemed ready to kill them on a whim? Well she would soon reap the fruits of her labour, ones which will be far more bitter than she otherwise might have expected. All the better if she was already pregnant with his child, for the child of a traitor would be a lifelong reminder of her faulty judgement, the Golden Phoenix who settled on a rotten branch of a bygone era instead of soaring up into the skies alongside a hidden, but rising dragon.

Yes, not only had the Yellow Devil abandoned his duty, but now he threatened to kill his own people for merely showing themselves before him, just like he'd killed Ao Tian's father who would never have raised his hand in violence against a child of the Republic. There would be a day of reckoning for Father's death, one that might well come soon enough as he responded to Qian's query with, "Stay the course. Mission parameters unchanged." A message he repeated so that his comrades to the north and south could see too, because they too were capable of calculating the odds against them and figuring out what must be done, and he did not want them stewing in the doubts that Qian himself had introduced. It was public knowledge that the General, despite being a young man of 36 and still fully capable of siring his own heirs, had no children to call his own. An oddity that, one few cared to remark on save for when they were deep in their cups, and even then, they might well sober up the instant they realized what they might have implied.

Either way, the Yellow Devil was widely accepted as the General's chosen heir, and his wrath would know no bounds once he learned of his nephew's death. That's why they'd come all this way to kill with a borrowed knife, so that the General would only harbour suspicions and have no true target to focus his wrath upon, but that no longer seemed possible. No matter though, for Ao Tian was determined to see this through, so much so that he imagined it might even come to a showdown between him and the traitorous son.

How would he fare in such a matchup? Poorly if he was being honest. The Firstborn carried 4 sidearms on him at all times, and 6 now that stealth was no longer a concern. He would not even need his triple shot to emerge victorious against Ao Tian, who was no Sword Saint capable of blocking Bolts with his sword or a Magus who could cast Warrior's Ward to help mitigate the impacts by more than half. He was a purist of the sword, a Warrior first and only, and while he'd been making some small strides with Transmutation Spells under Sifu's tutelage and had successfully Prepared a single Third Order Spell, there would be no more lessons now that Ao Tian had pledged himself to Prince Gong and led him straight to the Yellow Devil in a ploy to bring the traitor back to the Republic under heavy guard and disgraced in name and reputation.

A plan that didn't work out all that well, meaning Ao Tian's future prospects were bleak at best now that he'd thrown in his lot with the young Prince, a man who was far from gracious in victory or defeat. It was difficult to dismount the tiger however, so Ao Tian had no choice but to see things through, even if he himself wasn't eager to see the Yellow Devil dead. In killing the traitor, he would avenge his father, and in turn suffer the General's vengeance, which he lamented would likely be the end of the cycle as there would be no one to mourn Ao Tian's death.

If he were to somehow survive and become the man who brought down the fabled Firstborn? Then he would become a folk hero to the people, the man who struck the deathblow to the outdated dynasties and championed the rise of equality for all sons and daughters of the Republic, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. Yes, once Jinfeng and Prince Gong returned to Fuyuan, word of the vaunted Firstborn's betrayal would spread like wildfire and shake the Republic to the core. The General had upheld his precious prodigal nephew to the masses as an example for all to behold, a shining symbol of excellence who would soon be his downfall. How disgraceful, for the latest scion of this once storied and illustrious family to have fallen so low, and Ao Tian only wished he could be there to see the faces in the crowd when Prince Gong told them all what their precious Imperial Dragon had said and done.

And then Ao Tian would return with the traitor's head in hand, showing all that justice had been swift and without consideration as all should be equal in the eyes of the law. That was the Council line, but the truth rarely held up, as Ao Tian himself had witnessed firsthand when the General praised the traitor for a hero, and declared Ao Tian's father a traitor for only doing what was right and just. So if Ao Tian were to be disgraced in the same manner, then he would wear that disgrace like a badge of pride and hold his head up high so that all might see the hangman fit his noose around the neck of a true Son of the Republic and dragon of a generation.

First he would have to take the traitor's head though, a task that would be difficult enough even though the Yellow Devil had spent the better part of the day fighting against Yao Guai. No confirmed use of Second or Third Order Spells, meaning he would have the bulk of his Spells still available to him, including the domineering and oppressive Fireball. To say nothing of his Aetherarms, whether it be the giant cannon atop his wagon or the larger rifles he carried about but only rarely made use of. Who knew if he had a fully automatic weapon in his arsenal? Even a semi-automatic rifle would spell doom for Ao Tian, not that he would fare much better against a revolver.

Yes, the key here was to strike before the traitor was aware of their presence, perhaps even whilst he was still embroiled in battle with the Yao Guai. Ao Tian could see the plan unfolding before him, one wrought with danger and desperation both, but one that could well see them through to victory. Send the Yao Guai towards the traitor as planned, but follow closely after upon their heels and strike when the target was least expecting it. 10 meters, that's how close Ao Tian would need to get in order to succeed, because any more risked his quarry seeing and reacting in time. It mattered not how much chaos and clutter there might be upon the battlefield. If the Yellow Devil spotted Ao Tian from more than 10 meters away, he would make good on his promise to kill every last one of his countrymen and gun them all down where they stood.

Within 10 meters though? If Ao Tian could get that close, then it was a simple matter of using Misty Step to dart in close and Action Surge to ensure the Yellow Devil went down in a flurry of blows. Strike at the gun, then at the Firstborn's throat to ensure maximum chance of success and survival, and then kill the round-eyed women too. There could be no witnesses left behind, no one to bring word to the American Federation of what happened here, as there was a chance Elder Chang Sang would not want the Republic's part in all this to spread. Infighting amongst the Republic would only cause them to lose face on an international scale, and Ao Tian had no desire to bring shame to his country, so it would be best to keep things quiet until he knew how things would unfold. From there, all that would be left was to bring the traitor's head home to Fuyuan, perhaps sealed in a box so as not to announce to the world and to the General in particular that Ao Tian was the man responsible for his nephew's death, not before he secured Elder Chang Sang's guarantee of safety at least.

Just because Ao Tian was prepared for death, did not mean he welcomed it, which was why it still took him two tries to gather his nerves before raising his mirror box to ask Qian for a report. It took some time for the Scout to reply, and the message read, "Target gone to ground. Establishing defensive wards on ideal ground. Impossible to pin in place. Recommend revise mission parameters to change due course."

Ao Tian ground his teeth and replied, "Stay the course. Mission unchanged. Loyalty in service is rewarded; betrayal, punished without mercy." A message sent multiple times in all directions to make sure they were all in accordance. There would be no recourse, no revision, no hesitation or delay. This was happening, and the Firstborn would die tonight, so best that they all accepted it and did as their duty demanded. Just as Ao Tian's father had done his duty, and Ao Tian was sure to do his, as he emerged from his place of hiding and stalked over to the entrance which led down into the depths of the earth, where a burrow of hibernating Yao Guai were in deep hibernation and would be none too pleased to be disturbed.

But disturb them Ao Tian did, and he made sure to leave no trace besides that which he wanted them to find, an Aetheric trail laid out well in advance that would bring them right to the Yellow Devil's doorstep. Assuming Qian did his job as expected of course, but if not, then Ao Tian would be fine all the same, for he would then have a scapegoat to blame his failure upon. He hoped it would not come to that, for despite his centrist ways and constant second guessing, Qian was a good man and a good scout who served the Republic in his own way, and it would sadden Ao Tian to essentially sentence the man to death in the labour camps.

Better if they all did their part and killed the Yellow Devil tonight, for his existence alone had cost the Republic far too much already. That would hopefully end tonight however, as Ao Tian watched the slumbering hive of powerful Yao Guai emerge from their tunnels in unvarnished rage and run headlong towards the horizon where the Yellow Devil awaited. It would be so glorious, he could see it now, the look on that foreign pretender's face when he was cut down by the true dragon of this generation, one whose name would live on in fame or infamy as Long Ao Tian.

Yes, it would be most fitting for the dragon of a generation to be named after the Dragon itself, and though he was ready to die for his deeds, Ao Tian dreamed of living up to his name to become the Proud Dragon and Soar Fearlessly Across the Heavens.

And killing this traitor was the chance he needed to see his dream truly come to pass…

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