So I kinda got inspired with how I ended the last chapter and decided to expand on that. So, rather than starting the chapter with the Shadow Strikers like I normally do, I did a little something different. So I hope you guys like it!


Deep in the empty abyss of the Demon Netherworld, a young, female demon dashed across the plains, zigzagging as she went as if she were dodging attacks from an enemy before pulling out her bow and striking makeshift targets set up around her. Within seconds, each targets was struck dead center with her arrows. Hou Yi stood up straight and admired her work before smiling to herself in content. It would be getting late soon and she would have to return to her master. She never had a habit of being late and she certainly didn't want to start one now. She retrieved the arrows from her practice dummies and placed them back in her quiver before heading back towards her master. After a few steps, she came to a stop and froze while looking around from the corner of her eyes. She could sense that someone was present, but she couldn't tell who. Without another second, Hou Yi whipped around and immediately drew back her bow. "Who goes there?" she called. Across from her she could see a tall figure with a long black cloak, long dark hair and two curved horns sprouting from the side of his head. "You are trespassing on Shadow Legion territory! Turn back now!" she warned.

"Shadow… Legion?" she heard the figure mutter, but whether it was out of confusion or a request for clarification she couldn't be sure.

"Turn back before I put my arrow between your eyes!"

The figure seemed to ignore her and instead scanned the environment around him as if he had never been here before. Hou Yi certainly didn't recognize him, so he must have been new. Suddenly, he sharply turned his head back to her, matching her glare with one of his own before speaking in a serious tone, "You are welcome to try."

Hou Yi growled under her breath as she released her arrow, sending it right towards the interloper. But before it could strike him, the arrow instead fell to the ground, sliced in two across the shaft. Hou Yi gasped in shocked as she say her arrow on the ground. She had never missed a shot before.

"How did you-" she started, but stopped when she noticed the sword that was now in his hands. It gave off a strange energy and the silver dots across the dark blue blade appeared to move slowly like stars in a galaxy. "You'll pay for that!" Hou Yi shouted, loading another arrow onto her bow. She fired again and a third time with two arrows, but they all met the same fate. Frustrated, Hou Yi charged straight towards him, ready to strike him with her bow. But before she could make contact, the male demon grabbed the bow from her hands and used the momentum from her rush attack to push her to the ground on his left. She quickly turned back up to face him, glaring at him viciously while he simply looked back at her with a blank, uninterested expression.

Before Hou Yi could open her mouth and fire an insult at him, the two heard someone clapping nearby. They both looked to the source of the clapping and saw a dark purple demon in brown and gold armor casually leaning against a rock. "Quite an impressive show," he complimented.

"M-master! I was just about to deal with this intruder!" Hou Yi insisted, immediately standing up straight at attention.

"Stand down, Dark Archer," he said, holding his hand up at Hou Yi. "My name is Tzan Ren, though I am better known as the Shadow Demon Sorcerer. What might your name be?" he asked, addressing the interloper.

The demon said nothing at first, only looking at Tzan Ren and analyzing him before speaking. "I am called Jun Bing."

"And where do you come from, Jun?"

"It does not matter. I concern myself with the future, not the past," Jun answered.

"Hm, well put," Tzan Ren said, impressed with Jun's response. "Then tell me, what brings you into my territory?"

"I did not know I was entering your territory. My apologies for the intrusion," Jun bowed.

"Quite all right, quite all right. You skill was most impressive. I've never seen anyone deflect Hou Yi's arrows before," Tzan Ren said, casting a disappointed look to her as he spoke. "Who is your master?"

"I have no master," Jun replied.

"No master? That is impossible. All demons serve a sorcerer. What is your element?"

"I have none."

"No master and no element? You are quite the enigma, Jun Bing. So if you have no master to follow, what is it you do?"

"I walk and I fight. I search for worthy opponents against whom I can test my skills. I have battled many brave and honorable warriors, but none have defeated me."

"That's quite the assertion. If I may ask, what would you say if I were to challenge you?" Tzan Ren asked, materializing a large orange broadsword in his hand.

"Honor would demand that I accept," Jun replied, holding his sword at the ready. Both demons got into a battle ready position, waiting for the other to make a move so they could expertly counter it. As if the two were reading each other's minds, they both leapt forward, charging with their blades held high. Each delivered a strike with their sword, only for the other to block it and counter, which was also blocked. Their arms moved at such speed and intensity that the whole thing looked like a blur. Their swords clashed once more as both tried their best to push the other off. Tzan Ren smirked and snapped his fingers, causing shadow tendrils to rise up from the ground beneath Jun and wrap around his legs and tail. Jun saw this and pushed Tzan off him before sending a stream of starbolts at him, knocking the shadow demon back.

"Master!" Hou Yi cried, rushing to help him.

"Stay back!" he ordered. Tzan Ren stood back up and snapped his fingers again, commanding the shadows to release Jun. "You are full of surprises, Jun Bing and your skill is undeniable. Come, join me for a drink?" Tzan Ren offered. Hou Yi stared at the scene before her in shock. Her master was inviting a complete stranger into their territory! He could be a spy for one of the other sorcerer's or an assassin! Either way, she wasn't going to let this newcomer out of her sight. They made it back to the center of Tzan Ren's territory where the remnants of his old palace still stood. Hou Yi followed her master and the newcomer up the stairs to his private quarters, but Tzan Ren stopped her from going in with them. "This is a private matter, Hou Yi, you are not needed." With that, he shut the door in her face, leaving her standing there with a stunned expression.

Not needed? He couldn't be serious! She was his right hand; she was always by his side but now he didn't need, didn't want her there? She had never questioned her master's judgement before, but why on earth wouldn't he allow her to be present? What could they possibly be talking about that he didn't want her to hear? Leaving the door, Hou Yi quietly crept to the back wall of the room, hoping to eavesdrop on the conversation. She managed to peek through a small hole in the wall and watched as the two demons sat opposite from each other. She could just pick up the sound of them speaking, but couldn't make out all the words. Suddenly, she felt something small grab onto her left leg. She looked down and saw a tiny little demon with light brown skin, dark hair and little wings on his back. The infant smiled up at her and cooed while Hou Yi simply scowled in response. "Get off me!" she shouted, shaking the infant roughly off her leg. The infant fell back and looked up at her with sad, teary eyes and began crying. Hou Yi quickly covered her ears, trying to block out the child's intense wailing. "Rgh, silence that infernal wailing!" she shouted again, but it only made the child cry more.

All of a sudden, Hou Yi was roughly pushed to the ground by something behind her. Whatever it was, it stayed perched on top of her back, pinning her to the ground in front of the infant, whose cries finally ceased at the sight of the person in front of him. "What do you think you're doing?" the voice hissed.

"I...I…" Hou Yi stammered, unable to find the words as Hsian Ji, the Sound Demon Sorceress and her master's wife hovered over her.

"My son is far too inquisitive for his own good, always wandering off on his own. I won't punish him for his curiosity, but I don't mind punishing you. You see, at first, I found his incessant wailing an annoyance. My sensitive hearing could always pick it up. Let me give you some advice, Hou Yi, should you and Tso Lan decide to take the next step in your association: never bedevil a mother's child."

"I-I didn't know he was yours, I swear!" Hou Yi cried, pleading for her life.

"It shouldn't matter who the mother is. How would you like the last thing you hear before you die be my voice?"

"N-no, not the death song, please! Wh-what about your son?" Hou Yi cried desperately.

"Oh, he'll be just fine, as will I. You see, I can form a sound barrier around us and everyone else here to ensure that you are the only one who will hear it. I'm sure my husband won't miss you. From what I hear, you're already being replaced. So what will it be? My death song or a humble apology to my son?"

"I-I'm sorry!" she wailed.

"Now say it to my son," Hsian Ji said, lifting Hou Yi's head up to face the infant Linos with her clawed foot.

"I'm sorry…" she muttered. This was absolutely humiliating: being made to apologize to a crying child of all things. If Tzan Ren had been here instead, he would had just yelled at the child until it ceased crying. He would have sided with her and not make her apologize!

"Very good, Hou Yi," Hsian Ji complimented contemptuously. She stepped off Hou Yi and strolled over to her baby. As she bent down to pick him up with her small wings, Linos raised his arms in response, reaching out for her. She cradled Linos in her arms and smiled happily at the giggling infant before turning back to Hou Yi. "Stay away from my son, Hou Yi, or the consequences will be most dire." Hsian Ji opened her large wings wide and with a single beat, took off into the air. Hou Yi stared after her in awe before hesitantly pushing herself off the ground. She had seen Hsian Ji around before several times, usually at her husband's side, but never had she actually interacted with Hsian Ji personally. And since she had their child, Hsian Ji was often off on her own, raising the child while Tzan Ren remained to command his forces.

Hou Yi turned sharply to her left when she heard a low, hysterical laugh. Only a few feet from her stood Wei Gong, his head only coming to her waist. "That was hilarious Hou Yi! Seeing the face you made when Hsian Ji threatened to kill you? Hahaha!"

"Shut up, you little imp!" Hou Yi spat. "I am your superior and you will speak to me with respect!"

"Respect? I think you should learn to respect someone superiorly skilled," Wei said back in a serious tone. Drawing in the earth and soil all around them into his body, Wei suddenly grew to more than twice her height.

"Grow all you want, Wei! I still know that beneath all those rocks you're nothing but a pathetic little imp," she narrowed her eyes are him with a determined glare, refusing to back down despite his attempt to intimidate her.

The pair were drawn out of their standoff at the sound of Tzan Ren addressing his troops back at the entrance to the palace room. "Shadow Legion, allow me to introduce your new commander, Jun Bing the Swordmaster," Tzan Ren announced proudly. "He will take command of the main forces and infantry. I expect you all to treat him with the same respect and loyalty as you do me."

Hou Yi practically seethed with anger and jealousy as she recalled that memory. It took her years of training and loyal service before she was promoted to the position of Commander of the rangers. But this newcomer… they had only known him less than a day and within the span of one sparring match and a single conversation, he was already named Commander? He wasn't even part of the Shadow Legion! She had been part of the ranks for more than half of her life and it still took her years to get to where she was now. This outsider didn't deserve the status he was getting so easily. And now here she was taking orders from him.

"What?" she snapped at Jun when she heard him shout her name. The two of them were crouched beneath a large archway, one of many in a large, circular stone structure. It gave them a perfect view of the streets below.

"Did you hear what I said?" Hou Yi didn't answer, unwilling to admit that she wasn't paying attention. But despite her efforts, Jun seemed to pick up on this and proceeded to berate her for it anyway. "If you keep letting your thoughts wander, master will never reinstate you as a commander."

"I don't need you to lecture me!"

"Master clearly disagrees. Look," he said, pointing down below to a group of humans below. "They've arrived. You and the hounds should be more than enough to handle them, yes?"

"What? While you go gallivanting off to retrieve the Sign and deliver it to master and receive all the glory?"

"I'll be more than happy to cite your contribution in single-handedly holding off his son and his son's friends. Unless, you think you can't handle it?"

Hou Yi narrowed her eyes at him and muttered, "I can handle it."

"Good, then go." The last thing Hou Yi wanted was to take orders from him, but she kept quiet and dashed off. However, Jun grabbed her arm before she could leave and whispered to her in a serious tone, "no civilian casualties, understand?" Instead of responding, Hou Yi just pulled her arm from Jun's grip. He watched from above as she landed below and began firing arrows while the hounds unleashed black flames from their mouths. Civilians around them scattered in panic and fear as Linos and his friends began engaging her and the hounds. Jun watched the battle carefully before he cast his gaze towards the hunter.

The first time they had clashed swords was just a test run so that Jun could get a feel of the hunter's abilities and vice versa. But now, the two knew each other and they could fight like true warriors and Jun would finally get what he wanted most. With his sword in hand, he swung and sent a single starbolt towards Remy, purposely missing him and instead striking the ground next to him. Remy noticed the starbolt and his eyes shot up towards the colosseum structure and noticed Jun hiding in the shadows, the shape of his curved horns giving him away. Remy reached for the katana on his back and made his way towards Jun after alerting his comrades. Jun stood on the far end of the colosseum floor, waiting for his opponent to enter. Out from the darkness of the opposite entrance, Remy emerged with his katana in hand.

"The last time we fought you caught me off guard. It won't happen again," Remy glared.

"I should hope so. During our first encounter, all I wanted was to test your abilities, to see if you were truly worthy of being my opponent," Jun replied.

"And what's your assessment so far?"

"You are not your ancestor, that is certain," Jun said, readying his star sword. "Know this: I desire an honorable battle. I will not use the powers held by this blade unless you resort to using the power within your blood. Does that sound fair?"

"Since when do demons care about fair?" Remy asked, readying his blade in response.

"Would you ask that question to your comrades?" Remy glared in response to Jun's question, knowing he had a point but refusing to admit it. "Make no mistake, Remington, I am not like my associates. I care not for the destruction of this world or installing Tzan Ren's rule here."

"Then what do you care about?" Remy shouted.

"What every warrior wants in the end," he replied, "Before I merely tested your basic sword skills, but today, I was hoping to test something else." Jun stabbed his sword into the ground, causing stars to emerge from his sword and fly into the ground. From each spot where a star landed rose large cylindrical, transparent platforms. One rose from right beneath Jun and Remy, raising them above the ground. The platforms glowed a light blue while stars connected by white lines composed the inside, resembling constellations.

"What is this?" Remy asked.

"Simple: a test of balance," Jun smirked as he leapt forward. His sudden attack just briefly caught Remy off guard and he barely managed to block Jun's attack with his own sword. He stepped back out of instinct as Jun landed on his platform only to find that there was no platform left for him to step on. He fell back off the platform but managed quickly pull out a grappling gun. He fired it to another one of the platforms and was able to pull himself back up. Before turning back around to face Jun, Remy whipped out three throwing knives and threw them towards Jun, who easily deflected them with incredible speed. Without a moment's hesitation, Jun leapt from his platform towards Remy again. This time however, Remy was ready for him and blocked Jun's strike with his katana. Both tried to push the other off, but neither one budged. That is, until Remy quickly reached back and pulled out his collapsible jian, whipping the blade out in a single stroke. Jun noticed Remy prepare to strike him with his second blade and narrowly avoided the attack and jumped back to another platform.

"Ha, looks like you're the one who got caught off guard this time!" Remy taunted. Jun looked at him with a glare before noticing a small sharp horn on the ground in front of Remy. He quickly reached up and felt his left horn. Rather than the sharp tip at the end of the curve, he felt a smooth, slanted surface.

"It seems you did. I wasn't aware you were proficient in dual wielding, but I expect nothing less from a Ryder slayer." As he spoke, Jun raised his sword. The tip lit up a bright, light blue and Jun slowly drew his sword down, leaving a trail of bright orbs connected by white, glowing lines as it went. When he pulled his sword away, the line suddenly expanded as a transparent blue sword formed over it, resembling the pillars they stood on. Jun took the sword in his other hand and turned his attention back to Remy. "That should make things even."

While the two swordsmen fought, beyond the walls of the colosseum, their allies were also locked in a heated battle. Hou Yi and Arran fired arrows at each other, each strike missing the other until both managed to land a hit on each other's shoulders. "Grrr, lucky shot!" Hou Yi growled, ripping out the light arrow as its power burned her skin before preparing to fire again.

"Where the hell is Remy?" Mavis shouted from behind Mala's crystal barrier.

"I don't know!" Tim shouted back. "Do you think that other Commander showed up too?"

"Let's find out! Mala, Tim and I are going to find Remy!"

"Ok, just be careful!" Mala cried, raising a crystal barrier to cover the two while they left the field of battle.

Drago kicked Hei Gou off him when the beast lunged towards him and tackled the dragon to the ground. The two unleashed a breath of fire from their mouths simultaneously, creating a bright flash as Drago's bright red flames clashed with Hei Gou's dark ones. Linos meanwhile, reluctantly fought An Gou, who was just as reluctant to fight him. But An Gou could not fight the influence of her master as he forced her to fight.

"It's ok; I know you don't mean it," he said to her with a smile. "I know you can hear me father," he called to Tzan Ren through his unwilling servant, "When this is all over, I'm going to do what I should have done the last time you came back into my life. I'm going to kill you and free An from your control. That's a promise!"

An's eyes glowed bright red in anger, a response from Tzan Ren to his son's declaration, as An lunged towards him.

Once Tim and Mavis were far enough away from the battling demons, Tim stopped her. "Wait, do you hear that?" he asked.

Mavis stopped and focused, trying to pick up what Tim was hearing. It was faint, but she could just make out the sound of metal. "It… it sounds like metal," she said, "and I've seen enough movies to know that is the sound of a sword fight, come on!" Mavis declared, dragging Tim with her by the collar of his sweater vest. The pair entered the large colosseum and saw the large stellar pillars as Jun and Remy fought on top of them, jumping from pillar to pillar as they exchanged blows with their swords.

"I must say, you're certainly versatile!" Jun complimented as their swords clashed again.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were complimenting me!" Remy shot back.

"I was. Unlike my associates, I can recognized a talented individual." Jun spun around and swept Remy's feet with his tail, causing Remy to fall onto his back.

"Oh no!" Tim cried.

"Remy!" Mavis called out.

Jun heard their cries and turned to look at their interrupters. Remy took advantage of his slight distraction and kicked Jun's feet out from under him before standing up. Now he was the one standing over Jun.

"Go on then, finish it!" Jun taunted.

But before Remy made his move, something glowing caught his eye. Across the colosseum embedded in the wall was one of the Signs. He quickly looked back to his friends and yelled, "The Sign's there!" and pointed the way with one sword. Just as Remy had done before, Jun took advantage of his momentary distraction to break free and move to another pillar, putting space between the pair.

"What about you?" Tim asked.

"I can take care of myself. Just get the Sign!" he assured them.

"He said he'll be fine, come on!" Mavis shouted, once again pulling Tim along by his sweater vest.

Remy expected Jun to leave their battle and go after the Sign and he was even prepared to keep him from getting to it, but to Remy's surprise, Jun stayed put. "You're not going after the Sign?" he asked.

"I care not for them. I didn't join the Shadow Legion to gather magical artifacts or conquer worlds. I joined for one reason only," Jun replied.

"And what's that?"

"To fight strong opponents." With that, the two warriors clashed again, matching each other blow for blow.

"Come on Tim, hurry up!" Mavis cried, pulling Tim up as they climbed the interior of the colosseum.

"You… you just… go… on ahead…" he panted heavily, desperately trying to catch his breath.

"You need to start working out more because this," she said, gesturing to all of him, "is probably going to get us killed some day."

"I'd… flip you off… but I can't… lift my arms," he panted.

"Aw, it's cute when you try." Mavis smiled. She turned, leaving Tim where he was and faced the support beam holding up the next level of the colosseum. Just as Remy had pointed out, there embedded in the wall was one of Arran's Signs with a bright red sigil of a ram. She carefully climbed up the support beam. When she got up to the Sign, she gripped her fingers around the edge and pulled, but the Sign wouldn't budge. Still holding the Sign, she adjusted her position against the beam and tried pushing off with her feet. After a few seconds, the Sign came free from its place on the beam and Mavis fell roughly on her butt. "Owwwwww…." she groaned, rubbing her sore rear. When the pain subsided, the examined the Sign in her hand. "Hey Tim, which one is the goat again?"

"I think you mean the Ram," Tim said, having finally gotten some rest. "Arran already has the goat, which is Capricorn."

"Goat, ram, what's the difference?"

"It's a big difference!"

"Whatever, so if it's not Capricorn then it's…"

"Aries," Tim answered for her.

"I would have gotten to that on my own!" she objected.

"Sure you would have. Remy, we've got it! Don't worry we're coming to help you!" Tim shouted over to his friend who was still locked in combat with Jun.

"No! Go help the others! I can handle this on my own!" Remy shouted back.

"But-"

"Go!"

Tim looked at Remy with a worried expression before turning to Mavis. "He said he can handle it," she said, placing her hand on his arm reassuringly. With that, the two left the colosseum to rejoin the rest of their friends, reluctantly leaving one of them behind.

"You sent away your allies away?" Jun asked, intrigued by Remy's choice.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I just don't want them getting in my way. I can beat you on my own!"

As they continued their duel, Mavis and Tim rejoined their friends outside, who were still locked in combat with Hou Yi and the two hounds. "All right Aries, let's see what you're supposed to do!" Mavis grinned as she held out the Aries Sign to Hou Yi.

Arran saw what she was about to do and, recognizing the sigil on the Sign, his eyes widened in shock. "No, Mavis wait!" But it was too late. The sigil lit up and Mavis became surrounded by a bright red aura. The Sign's power raised her slightly off the ground before she suddenly shot forward like a speeding bullet.

"Whoooaaaaa!" she cried, unable to control herself as she rammed straight into Linos and Arran, knocking them over onto Drago and Mala. The aura surrounding Mavis disappeared as the Sign rolled over to Hou Yi, who greedily seized it in her hands.

"Hahaha! Well I should thank you girl for making my job easier, but I think it's time we make our leave!" On her command, An and Hei let out a stream of black fire, setting the ground between them ablaze and using it as a cover to get away. She made her way to the colosseum where she saw Jun still fighting with the slayer. From the looks of it, they had both managed to get a good number of hits on each other. Jun's jacket was ripped at the ends and one of his sleeves was cut open and… was the tip of his horn sliced off? Hou Yi rolled her eyes but then smiled to herself. She made a note to pester him about that later. The slayer's clothes were equally damaged. The armor he wore protected most of his body, but his scarf and pants were cut up in a few places. She even just noticed the small cut across his right cheek. Determined to finish this pointlessness quickly, Hou Yi drew back her bow and aimed for the slayer. He and Jun were moving too quickly and the shot was far from clean, but she couldn't care less about that. Honestly, she was willing to make the shot even more if Jun got hit too. She smirked to herself before releasing the arrow.

Jun, however, heard the sound of the bow releasing the arrow and saw it coming towards him and Remy from the corner of his eye. Without a second though, he pushed Remy away from him with his foot before slicing through the arrow just as it reached him. "What do you think you're doing?" Jun shouted.

"Doing what you're clearly incapable of! Finish off the slayer and let's be done with it!" Hou Yi shouted back.

"No! That's not how it's supposed to end! Don't interfere!"

"Insufferable fool! Fine then! Stay here and spar with your precious slayer! I have what we came for and I'm leaving whether you're done or not!" A shadow portal opened up next to Hou Yi as the hounds jumped in. She stepped in next and cast a condescending smirk to Jun before disappearing inside it.

"Arrogant wench," he cursed under his breath. His ride back to the Netherworld had just left without him. He didn't have the power to open a portal back, only Tzan Ren did. Jun wasn't sure if his master could open another portal so soon given his weakened state and even if he could, Jun wasn't counting on Hou Yi giving an accurate report back to him. He turned back to Remy, who simply stared at the demon with wide eyes. "That will be enough for today, Ryder." With the wave of his sword, the stellar construct pillars descended, lowering the two safely onto the ground.

Jun disappeared out of the colosseum while Remy stared at the arrow that had nearly struck him. If Jun hadn't pushed him out of the way, he would have… Remy shook his head, not wanting to think about that. But why would Jun save him? Sure, he had once thought the same thing about Linos, but that was different! Linos was one of his best friends now. Jun clearly wanted to fight him, but why save him if killing him wasn't his goal? He pushed those thoughts out of his mind - they weren't important - and reunited with his friends. "What happened?" he asked.

"Hou Yi got away with the Sign," Mala said.

"It was my bad. I didn't know what the Aries Sign did and it was because of me that she got it," Mavis admitted with genuine sincerity.

"It's not entirely your fault. I should have told you what the power was and warned you before," Arran added.

"We should get back. There's no sense in moping about this," Linos said. Arran nodded and opened a light portal back to Los Angeles. Before Mavis stepped in, Mala placed a reassuring on Mavis' shoulder. Once they entered the portal and it began to close, Jun suddenly appeared and jumped through, following them back to Los Angeles. When he came out on the other side, everyone prepared to defend themselves, but Jun simply dashed out the door of Arran's nearly-ready restaurant and disappeared down the street. They ran out after him but he was already gone from sight.

"I'll find him," Linos said, opening his wings.

"No," Remy stopped him, "Let him go."

"Why?" Drago asked.

"He ran instead of attacking us. He won't be any trouble… for now."


"Excellent work, Hou Yi, but this is still not the Sign I require!" Tzan Ren said.

"My apologies master, but if perhaps you were to tell me which Sign it is you require, I-"

"And what? Play with the risk that you will suddenly stop trying to acquire the Sign once you find out it isn't the one I need? I think not! Continue gathering the Signs. I will tell you which is the right one once you've acquired it."

"V-very well, master," Hou Yi bowed.

"Where is Jun?" he asked.

"He… he did not make it," she responded.

"What happened?"

"I didn't see much, but I did see him battling with the Ryder slayer. Perhaps Jun fell to him?" Of course she knew that wasn't true. But she knew that saying "he didn't make it" was vague enough and, as she hoped, Tzan Ren assumed she meant he died.

"Jun is not the first of our kind to fall to the Ryder slayers," Tzan Ren sighed. "In light of this… loss, I will reinstate you as Commander of the scouts. You will also take over Jun's responsibilities and lead the infantry."

"Th-thank you! Thank you, master! I will not fail you! I promise!" When Hou Yi turned away, she grinned widely beneath her hood.


So I hope you guys enjoyed that little flashback into Hou Yi and Jun Bing's past. Like I said, I got a little inspired by how I ended the previous chapter. Plus, I threw in some Hsian Ji! yay! I never get tired of writing her. You'll be getting more of her in flashback form, that's for sure!

I think one of my favorite parts of writing this story, aside from writing Linos and the Shadow Legion is writing the Remy vs. Jun bits. I really like the two of them as rivals and writing them is so much fun. Plus I'm honestly just expanding on the powers of Jun's Qian Xing Po as I go along and I'm loving what's coming out of my thinker box.

ALSO BIG NEWS! D-Sniper and I have spent the last two days brainstorming and THERE WILL BE AN ARC 5! We had been playing around with the idea of an arc 5 for a long time, but we just couldn't think of a story or plot for it, so we had to put it on the backburner. But two days ago we just got hit with brainstorming steroids and the ideas would not stop flowing. But alas, we don't want to give too much away. Although we will give you some information about arc 5: it will feature a timeskip, new ally characters, new demon elements, a female villain and the JCA character of one of my best friends, VioletRoseDragon14 (with some changes). So, I'm interested in hearing any theories or even ideas you have for future story ideas.

Next chapter: Hou Yi goes rogue in an attempt to hurt Linos by attacking Mavis... and her family.