Fervent Dissent darted to the door. He peeked out in time to see an arrow in midflight heading toward the building entrance, preceding a dozen Dragon-Blooded. Almost, he reached out to catch the shaft. Almost, he didn't notice the peculiar fiery Essence pulsing in the arrowhead.

He kicked off the brace of the door and dived across the room as the arrow shot inside, hit the wall...and detonated. Searing fire rushed across his body, setting his magnificent robes on fire and singeing him. Dissent growled in pain and rose, patting the flames out.

Heart-Wrought Silver lay beneath him and on her face was that smile again, the smile he'd only ever seen once. It was a smile of such innocent joy and pure happiness that it just about blinded him. Dissent was confused and honored at the same time...and that's when he realized why she smiled. Heart-Wrought Silver was beneath him. When that arrow came in, the first thing he'd done was cover her. To protect her.

The soulsteel knuckles of Dissent's right hand popped like the clockwork of a First Age Tower breaking suddenly. She jumped a little and got up beneath his glower. "Don't make any assumptions," he said darkly. "Now, we need to get out of here."

"We?" she asked, almost coyly. Dissent restrained his desire to groan. What was it about this woman that brought out feelings of...feelings he'd never felt before? Why did she have to push it in his face, for that matter? She would need killing much sooner than later if she kept acting that way.

"I counted a dozen at least, Heart-Wrought Silver. I may need you to help me cut my way through." Dissent glanced at Vira. "Stay safe." He looked at the Hungry Ghost ...and said nothing. They had an understanding.

"I'm ready," Heart-Wrought Silver said. Moonsilver chains shot out from her sleeves and coiled on the ground. Dissent's eyes narrowed at her artifact weapon and turned back to peer out the doorway. The Dragon-Blooded had disappeared from sight, oddly enough. What were they up to? They could only assail this structure from the front.

"Lingering Whisper is with them." That booming bass from behind could not possibly come from the Lunar. Dissent spun and his skin darkened to the lusterless gray of soulsteel as he activated his Perfection of Earth's Body.

"Heavenly Mother," Heart-Wrought Silver whispered, her head slumping forward. A gigantic golden lion too large to fit materially in this room stood behind her, his tail flicking forth to brush the back of her neck. Dissent's eyes widened as he recognized the significance of a dematerialized Celestial Lion, a God he'd only read about in ancient texts.

"Well, my Dragon. How do you rate such company?" he asked.

"She earned it the first day I met her," the Celestial Lion countered. "And she has proven worthy every day since."

"Bodyguarding a Lunar? Hardly a Heavenly Mandate, now is it?"

"You know...NOTHING of Heaven!" the Celestial Lion roared. Dissent tilted his head to the side as the force of the Lion's breath knocked his hood off and flattened his hair back.

"Your breath stinks of paradise," Dissent growled. "Now, what do you know about the forces outside?"

"They're more than enough to kill you. They have a Toyumato-era Shogunate Essence Canon, Silver," the Lion said, turning its great maned head to the Lunar. "They only need to move it into position."

"How bad is that?" Dissent asked.

"They can blast this whole building apart," Heart-Wrought Silver said. "And us with it. We have to get out of here."

"Stating the obvious," Dissent snarled. He turned away and closed his eyes. Through the Enthralled Chains, he found his link with the Whispers of the Neverborn and his thoughts sped toward Them. My Masters

You mock Our advice and with the same breath you call Us the Whispers howled in his mind. Dissent bore the pain because he deserved it. We hear you.

I need the Relentless Maiden of Unruly Pride and Roaring Fury. I need her to kill an Essence Cannon for me.

Your Destiny is not done, Fulcrum Hammer. The Voices laughed darkly. You will receive your aid. But remember your purpose!

"Did you hear me?" Heart-Wrought Silver continued to speak while his concentration returned to the world around him. "I can get us free, if you'll give me what I want."

"I'm touched you care," he said dryly. Dissent wasn't worried in the slightest about that cannon. If the Relentless Maiden didn't arrive in time for some reason, he could evade its attack no matter how big the explosion was. Vira could jump inside him with Mortal-Shadowing Technique and the Hungry Ghost...was more than capable of taking care of itself.

"You are my husband," Heart-Wrought Silver said. She looked faintly repulsed. "Even if you are a monster. I know that saving you from that Essence Cannon will mean more people are going to die, Dissent, so I want something from you."

"And what is that?" Dissent asked, not caring to conceal the amused contempt in his voice. Heart-Wrought Silver thought she could bargain from a position of strength? So she had a Celestial Lion for an ally. He had the Relentless Maiden and he knew which he put his trust in.

"Your ghost."

"No," he said. Vira gasped at the Lunar's words and let out a relieved sigh at his refusal. The sound made Dissent smile. That was more like the broken, submissive Vira he'd built out of his own hands for the past few years. "And she doesn't want to go with you anyway. Why trade one Anathema for another, after all?"

A humming vibration ran itself across Dissent's back, up and down his legs and it made the soulsteel rivets in his hands rattle. He looked out the doorway and saw that they had set up some kind of tripod, one housing a device that looked like a bizarre cross between a ship-mounted firedust cannon and a firecracker. Scores of men and women flocked around it, many of them Dragon-Blooded, and none of them got between the end of the weapon and the building it was pointed at.

"Time's up, Dissent," Heart-Wrought Silver said grimly. "Are you going to stay here and die or will you let me take you out of here?"

"I'm harder to kill than any building," Dissent said. The Lunar blinked in disbelief at his stubbornness and he smirked at her. Inwardly, he wondered. Why wasn't the Relentless Maiden already there? Of course, that fang of people out there was a bit much for even that Dusk Caste.

"But your ghost won't survive," the Lunar said. "You will lose her either way but if you come with me, at least you'll be unharmed." What a fool. How little she understood. On the other hand, he had an opportunity to learn more of her unique powers if he accepted her offer.

"Fine, it's a deal," Dissent said. He strode from the doorway and looked down at his Lunar mate. "Shall we?"

"Dissent, don't let her..." Ledaal Vira protested.

It was too late, even before the ghost spoke up. Heart-Wrought Silver grabbed his hand and her moonsilver chain from the opposite arm smashed into the granite wall. Dissent barely had time to seize Vira before he was improbably pulled, twisted, warped along the length of the chain and out the other side of the building.

Dissent landed heavily on the ground, Vira falling next to him. Heart-Wrought Silver brushed past them both with her Celestial Lion in tow. She looked one way, then another, and then she looked down at him.

"So, you going to lie there all day or do we want to get out of the blast radius?"

He laughed at her fearlessness and rose from the ground. Dissent's soulsteel hands lifted the intangible Vira to her feet as well. The Hungry Ghost stood next to them both, silent as always. Of course it was.

The humming vibration grew stronger and they ran for it. The Wyld Hunt was nowhere near them, owing to their desire to avoid being hit, and Dissent took full advantage of it as he sprinted. He wasn't as fast as any of the others but his strides were longer than theirs and his endurance inexhaustible. They reached the wall blocking the Cynis grounds from the rest of the town below and Dissent looked back just in time to watch the building explode.

His forearm sheltered his eyes but the shot debris stung his soulsteel-like skin. Dissent lowered his arm and gawked slightly at the outright crater in the grounds, roughly twice the size of where the building used to be. That Essence Cannon was comparable to the First and Forsaken Lion's field Siege Guns. He had no idea that the Realm had even one weapon of that power left.

"I cannot stay," the Celestial Lion said, regret weighing his deep voice down. "I cannot break the Law." The mighty spirit dashed through the wall and was gone.

"Lingering Whisper really wanted me dead," Heart-Wrought Silver said. She looked sad as she said it. "I thought we were beyond that."

"I know what I'd do to a man who tried to kill me," Dissent said indifferently. "So, what will it be?"

"I'm not a murderer," the Lunar said, stiffening. "I'm not a monster!" She bared her teeth as she said it and Dissent almost stepped back when he saw they'd lengthened into a set of sharp points. Her eyes turned reptilian and a sheen of gold spread like a passing wave across her skin, there and then gone.

"Look in the mirror," Dissent said. He fixed his gaze pointedly on her mouth. "You might find we're not too different. Now, you can go over the wall and run...or you can stand and fight. I don't know about you but I'm not letting them get away with this."

"That's a full Wyld Hunt, Dissent!" Heart-Wrought Silver gripped his arm suddenly. The feel of her fingers was a heated bliss, like the Spice Tents of the Delzahn. "No, that's more than a full Hunt and they have a Sidereal with them!"

"A Sidereal you say?" Dissent rubbed his chin and grinned. "I've always wanted to match blows with one. The First and Forsaken Lion told me they were the best Martial Artists in Creation."

"It's true," she said.

"Well, I'm the best in the Underworld. Let's see whose style wins!"

Dissent charged away from the wall. He brought up his Earth Dragon Form to match his Perfection of Earth's Body and he knew he was invincible between the two. As shouts went up among the Wyld Hunt, Dissent struck his soulsteel knuckles together and he laughed joyfully at the horror the shrieking metal and its sparks caused among his enemy.

"Hit him with the cannon!"

Two Dragon-Blooded swiveled the Essence Cannon around to point at him. The humming vibration began again...but Fervent Dissent refused to flinch. He snarled at them and poured on the speed, racing to reach them regardless of their gun.

The Relentless Maiden of Unruly Pride and Roaring Fury soared over the other wall like an ill-omened raiton. The slivered mass of soulsteel in her hands howled a sickly green and black, pulsing in time to the burning Anima around her. The Maiden's face was a caricature of rage and all the Dragon-Blooded were far too busy staring at him to see her. That was their doom.

She landed blade-first, bisecting the Essence Cannon. The sword hit whatever Essence reservoirs lay inside the ancient machinery and the gun detonated. As if time had nearly stopped, Dissent saw the white-hot shockwave pick up the Dragon-Blooded and the mortals like dead wood in a flood. In contrast, the Maiden was a suddenly black blur. The explosion passed through her and then she was there again, unharmed in the midst of the second crater on Cynis lands.

"For the Lion!" Dissent cried as he reached the first hunter.

"For his Majesty, the First and Forsaken Lion!" the Relentless Maiden echoed, whirling her daiklave across the back of her hand, wielding it and taking the head off a mortal in a single motion.

Carnage ensued.

Dissent's soulsteel fists pounded through armor, shields and swords to reach his prey. Force of the Mountain empowered each punch and a mortal died with every blow. A Dragon-Blooded came at him and Dissent simply punched him so hard that his body went right over the walls of the Cynis manor.

A Fire-Aspect came at him with twin swords, moving in the familiar patterns of the Fire Dragon Style. What a fool. Dissent knew more about the Immaculate Martial Arts than any Abyssal and he knew quite well how to defend against their techniques. He ignored the Dragon-Blooded's first attack and let the blade scald his side. It did little else since it was plain the Fire-Aspect was hoarding his strength for defense. Instead, Dissent struck with all his fury at the man.

The other sword snapped up and sparks rang from the jade blade. So Dissent hit him again. And again. And again. Each time, the Dragon-Blooded's sword met his hand with sparks. But with each punch, the Dragon-Blooded's Anima flared more hotly and fatigue cracked across his face. Until at last he could counter no more and Dissent killed him with a punch that broke his breastplate, his ribs, pulverized his heart and snapped his spine from the single blow.

Dissent spun about, laughing at the leeched power his hands had pulled from the dying man's soul, before he realized he was in trouble. A literal dozen of Dragon-Blooded ringed him. Beyond the circle, another ring blocked the Relentless Maiden. The Host grinned at him and flames danced from their weapons while smoke billowed from their feet.

"He is a master of the Earth Dragon Style," an Immaculate Monk said. The white jade tetsubo in his hands and the massive build so like Dissent's own marked him as a fellow practitioner. "Which can only mean..."

"That I'm the Heretic," Fervent Dissent said proudly. He flexed his arms and clenched his fists defiantly at the Heavens and their Dragon-Blooded Host. "And I'm stronger than you can imagine!

Dissent lifted his foot and slammed it into the ground, harder than any Immaculate had in the history of Creation. His Hungry Earth Strike cracked the ground open in every direction and he leaped high above the Dragon-Blooded as an eighth of the entire Cynis grounds collapsed beneath his Charm. Two arrows shot out from the crowd below and his Essence-enhanced reflexes twisted him out of the way of each bolt.

He landed in the fallen ruin of the lawn. As he walked out of it, Dissent spotted a Dragon-blooded buried neck-deep in the mess, struggling to get herself free. So he kicked the woman's head off. It spun end over end out of sight, leaving him with the memory of the shocked look on that face. The sight brought a smile to his.

A staff cracked him in the back of the head and the blow almost knocked him out. Dissent fell heavily against the side of the crater and only his fighting reflexes pushed his body out of the way of a follow-up blow. He kicked his foot into the ground and shot backwards, up the crater wall, and came down on his feet.

Staff in hand, a single man stood in the middle of the destruction. He was wreathed in a silvery-gray set of interlocking plates, arranged in some complicated design. The Sidereal, for he obviously wasn't a Dragon-Blooded, had purple eyes on his helmless face. Purple for the color of Saturn, the Maiden of Endings. What kind of powers might one of Her Chosen have?

"That was an incredible hit," Dissent admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "You won't get another."

Somewhere inside of his soul, Dissent felt a sudden pull. He looked away from the Sidereal, back toward walls, and saw Heart-Wrought Silver with her chain wrapped around Ledaal Vira's neck. The ghost struggled feebly against it but was obviously helpless. Anger relit inside Dissent's heart and he jumped the entire length of his crater.

"What are you doing!" Dissent demanded as he charged toward the Lunar, leaving the Sidereal staring incredulously at his fleeing opponent. A body fell across his path and he spared a look backwards. It gave him the chance to watch the Relentless Maiden break a jade tetsubo in half just before her daiklave kept going to cut the Immaculate using it in half too. There was no pleasure on her face, only a deep satisfaction. What a fanatic. She'd been crazy when she was a mortal so she shouldn't surprise him now.

"You gave me your word" Heart-Wrought Silver shouted. "I'm freeing her!"

"You actually thought I was going to give you Vira? You ARE a fool." Dissent stopped up short and shook his head at the Lunar. She was his most prized possession and there was no way Heart-Wrought Silver could break his Void Circle Necromancy. Now that he knew she wasn't going to kill Vira, he could ignore her and get back to killing that Sidereal.

"Dissent, behind you!" Heart-Wrought Silver cried out in front of him. He turned his head to look at her, saw nothing, realized what she'd said and looked back over his left toward the Maiden. There was still nothing to see there. What was she babbling about?

Then that staff cracked into his head again, from the right. Dissent reeled and the staff went between his legs, tripping him and throwing him to the ground. He saw spots now but he'd live. The Abyssal rolled and came back on his feet in time to see the Sidereal sprinting at him, moving really, really fast. Dissent waited, let the staff come...and then he caught it with his Weapon-Breaking Defense Technique. His free soulsteel hand shrieked as the metal tightened into a fist, right before he smashed it into the staff. The silvery-gray weapon snapped in two.