After the group left the arcade, Phoenix sent his teammates ahead of him to Coral Ward while he headed over to the weapons shop where he left Lei. The lightning jishen was still there, admiring the assortment of dao. He even put on a spectacle juggling blades and pretending to eat them. Phoenix had to admit it was a cool trick.

Lei caught his eye and let the knives fall. "Is it time to go already?"

"It's past sunset. You were here almost all day."

"I could have stayed there even longer!" Lei declared. "Lightning and knives are my two most favourite things in the world, now that I've left behind my common candy and lucky magnet."

Those were two of the things Lei had been forced to part with when his landlady evicted him for accidentally causing a blackout in the apartment. Before they went through the slums—for Phoenix, it would be the third time that day; he craved a shower in the Coral Ward inn—they stopped by a hovel out of curiosity.

Though several rats stayed there overnight—anywhere was preferable to the slums—it was not a savoury place. Yemin would put up a fuss if Phoenix suggested that Kira stay there for the night.

Entertainers sashayed around, their skin coated in fragrant-smelling amber. Their hips bumped into their lustful patrons. An excessively tall woman purred when she saw Phoenix and Lei. "Hello, boys," she cooed in a low voice. "How may I please you tonight?"

"Let's just go," Lei muttered. "This was a mistake."

What did you think this was supposed to be?

"Bring us to whomever is in charge," Phoenix demanded.

The hostess blinked in trepidation, glitter dripping from the kohl on her curled lashes. "Are you displeased with our service?" she asked in a voice a full octave higher.

Phoenix didn't bother to explain or repeat his demand. He stared at her until she obeyed; all the employees here had to obey their patrons, whether or not they tipped. In a hovel like this, it was the owner who payed.

There were two owners, an older couple in traditional robes. The balding woman piled her grey hair high up to hide any unattractive spots, while her husband stroked his crooked beard. The hostess bowed and left.

The woman glared at the boys. "Leave."

"Let's go, Phoenix," Lei pleaded.

Phoenix stood his ground. "Give your workers pension and then send them off for better work."

The blue-robed man went into a fit of rage. "Who are you to tell us what to do? We're pimps! This is our line of work! We're as bad as they come!"

"Phoenix," Lei repeated. "These people aren't our problem. Let's just go."

Phoenix didn't look at him. "I want to be the Master of Masters. A master protects his people, and that includes the lowliest who mingle with rats and are exploited by the likes of them."

The woman pulled the sash securing her plum-coloured robes. "You leave us no choice!" Phoenix averted his gaze for a second when she disrobed, then decided he had nothing to be ashamed of, not like them. "We'll eliminate you ourselves! This is an attack."

Her husband tugged his sash so hard, the expensive silk tore, and Lei gasped. "So brace for impact."

The woman yanked off her wig and hurled it across the room, where it struck the wooden door behind Phoenix and Lei. "To eliminate this infestation!"

The man ripped off his beard with the painful sound of a bandage coming off freshly healed skin. "To restore the art of Qilin's nation!"

"To be worthy of the world above!"

"To find what lies beneath truth and love!"

Phoenix recognized the two young adults in their close-fitting mercury gear. He, Cupid, Dula, and Yemin had battled them to protect Kira and her mother.

"Eclipse!"

"Aster!"

Eclipse tried to twirl for a dramatic pose but the toe of her boot tangled in the plum silks. "Yunxing resonates with the eternal light! Run away now, don't try to fight!"

Aster found a fake rose that some of the entertainers used as a prop and put it in his mouth. "That's right!"

Lei cleared his throat. "Do you want me to tell you where that's been, crazy man?"

"I remember your group from Peridot Ward," Phoenix said. "My team and I defeated you before, and we raided your factory and sent your leader running with his changxiaobang between his legs."

Eclipse kicked aside the silks. "Our leader wasn't in Mosswater Factory."

Aster stifled a gag as he rinsed his mouth. "And he doesn't use a bang. You must be thinking of—"

"Aster and I have had this ruse up for weeks now," Eclipse interrupted her partner. "No one suspected that we weren't actually Obsidia's sweetest pimp couple!"

"Where's the real one?" Phoenix demanded.

Aster finished rinsing and pulled out his five-pronged glaive, designed like a star. "Do you really want to know?"

"No," Lei said.

"Yes," Phoenix ordered, unsheathing his sword.

Eclipse snarled and unsheathed her broadswords, clashing against Phoenix's sword. Embers sparked on her hands and she hissed, taking a step back. Phoenix let his flame grow and spiral as he lashed out at her, a provocative dance of fire and light that would trump the entertainment outside and rival the notorious City of Gold in Fantasia.

Aster threw his glaive at Lei, who leaped over it—the glaive had been at eye level and he jumped over like it was nothing—and dug his dao into the weak wooden wall. It supported his weight as he unfurled more dao, new and shiny from the store, and chucked them between him and Aster.

The five dao hung suspended by lightning. Lei swung himself onto them like they were stepping stones. Aster's eyes widened at first but then he grinned. Lei realized an instant too late as the glaive returned like a trusty boomerang. The weapon was designed like a planet orbiting the sun, and it would plow through any obstacle in its way, including a lightning-levitating dao supporting a jishen.

Lei cursed as he and all five dao fell with a clatter. Aster caught his glaive but didn't have time to celebrate as Phoenix's fire expanded and scorched the private room in a sweltering blaze.

Eclipse and Aster backed away to avoid getting burned. Phoenix walked closer, his fire spiralling around him like an eel made of hellfire.

Aster fumbled with the door. Eclipse pointed one of her broadswords at Phoenix and Lei, who was collecting his fallen dao. "Everyone must be eliminated. Fallen stars do not relent."

Aster swung the door open, and he and Eclipse ran into the crowd of red-and-gold-ribboned entertainers.

"Wait!" Phoenix shouted. "Where's the real pimp couple?"

Several patrons and employees turned to stare at Phoenix with gawking mouths and bleary eyes. Eclipse laughed. "You'll never know!"