After the fighting between Mitsuko and LingQi versus the bandits Dodomeki stealthily makes his way into the village and attempts to infiltrate the blacksmiths workshop. After quickly scouting around and being unable to see any bystanders he enters through the front door. As he enters however a sword clumsily strikes down from above making it very easy to step back from the strike. Dodomeki quickly enters and strangles the attacker who is the blacksmith he tasked to craft Mitsuko's new armour. He drops the sword and him and shuts the door quickly and hovers over him as he begs for forgiveness.

'You have a lot of nerve trying to strike me.' Dodomeki spits with venom as the blacksmith went on his knees and places his hands on the floor in a praying position.

'Please forgive me my lord I thought you were a mere bandit.'

'If you try anything like that your life will be forfeit aswell as your family understood?' he questions the blacksmith grits his teeth as he hears his family's life threatened by this demonic abomination or whatever the hell he was.

'Yes of course my lord.' He bows his head as Dodomeki scoffs and looks around.

'So have you completed your task then?' He inquires as the blacksmith stands up and dusts off his pants before responding.

'Yes I completed it a while ago it is stored in the chest.' He points out the chest in the corner. Dodomeki opens the chest pulls out a rather magnificent set of armour coloured in black. He examines it closely to make sure there weren't any mistakes made in the craftsmanship. The blacksmiths heart rate starts to race in fear of making even a small mistake such cost him his life. He begins to sweat as he examines one particular area that he checked before. Dodomeki checks the torso first and then the legs which were separate entities. After finishing his examination he finds the last part of the attire the helmet with a peculiar shape that Dodomeki examines even more closely. He turns the helmet as the blacksmith wipes the sweat from his brow before it is soon replaced by even more. Dodomeki puts the helmet back in the chest seemingly satisfied and closes it.

'Not bad not bad at all for a human.' Dodomeki responds as he packs the armour back in the chest.

'So have we earned our lives then my lord?' The blacksmith questions though he immediately regrets it as Dodomeki pierces his soul with his large eye staring into his before turning back towards the chest.

'I suppose so. Just stay out of my way and the one I serve and you will not be harmed by us.' He closes the chest as the blacksmith bows respectfully though he did it out of fear.

'O-of course my lord whatever you wish.' Dodomeki picks up the chest and lays it on his shoulder keeping it steady with one arm. The blacksmith was in awe of Dodomeki's immense strength as it seems he doesn't slow down or struggle with the weight of it at all even with one arm.

'Wait are you sure you don't require me to deliver it to the city like you requested.' Dodomeki scoffs at the blacksmith.

'I thought you'd be grateful. But no I'll deliver this personally to ensure its success. You're part is over make sure our paths do not cross again on opposite sides.' He warns as he peers out the door to make sure no one is around. The coast was clear and Dodomeki stealthily escapes the village as he closes the door. To him the chest was barely worth mentioning as he could sprint near enough the same velocity without it. He makes his way towards Gyuki's position in a short amount of time. Gyuki in the meantime was chewing on one of the mystics legs as if it was a chew toy. He sees Dodomeki's hand planted on the edge and pulls himself up with great strength.

'Hey so he got it done after all?' He inquires as he points towards the chest.

'Yeah I was quite surprised myself but thankfully he held up his end of the bargain. Anyway how was everything out here?'

'It was fine Mitsuko and her ally ended the raid with ease as we thought.'

'Ahh excellent what about the Fledgling phoenix himself I'm going to assume he returned to the south to the lands of Wu right or that you eliminated him right?' Gyuki hesitated to answer him as he fidgets and twiddles his fingers.

'Yeah...about that...' Dodomeki stares at him.

'He is gone...right?' Dodomeki's tone was lower as he notices Gyuki's hesitation and nervous tone.

'Yeah he's gone...with Mitsuko...'

'What!? You didn't try to stop him?'

'He said that Mitsuko would wonder where he was and I didn't want to inconvenience her.' He protested.

'Wait so you talked with him!?' Gyuki starts to cower as Dodomeki raises his voice.

'He said he knew about us before but he doesn't seem to be allying with the mystics though...he said he followed him to make sure he wouldn't do anything bad that's how he knew about the raid.' Dodomeki sighs as he shakes his head.

'Well I suppose someone of his intellect to help our lady is better than him being our enemy, still we don't know if he's telling the truth you're taking a risk here letting him go.' Gyuki nods in understanding.

'Yeah I know...but I trust him he seemed to have good intentions and he can be a powerful ally to her.'

'Well it looks like I can't do anything about it anyway. No matter let's see how this plays out then I suppose.'

As soon as the sun touches the peak of the horizon Mitsuko, LingQi and Pang Tong woke up and hastily made their way to the city on horseback. Though since there were only two Mitsuko rides with LingQi clinging onto her. As a result she found herself getting a few extra winks of sleep thinking no one might notice.

'Does our lady have trouble with the mornings?' Pang tong yells over the horses gallops as LingQi looks behind her and laughs slightly to herself.

'Yeah pretty much unfortunately.' Pang Tong laughs at this.

'Well in that case I better follow her example it'll be a while before we arrive there anyway.' He responded as he lays down on his back keeping his full body on the horse with his head resting on its head. He pulls his hat down so the sun doesn't get into his eyes. LingQi shakes her head and smirks to herself as those two may have more in common that she initially thought. They both wake up form their nap when they reach the gate. LingQi hailing to the guardsman saw to that. The gates opened and they entered the castle. They dismounted the horses which were escorted by a couple of guardsman to the stables with the rest of the warhorses. The three were approached by Zang Ba and two guardsmen who accompanied him whom they all bowed in respect to LingQi.

'My lady I'm glad to see you return unharmed. Oh and you as well.' He refers to Mitsuko jestingly as he gives her a quick nod which earned him a quick glare.

'Oh gee thanks.' She replies sarcastically.

'What's the situation?' LingQi questions bluntly preferring to get down to business as soon as possible.

'No problems have arisen in your absence, though we received word that the main forces will arrive at roughly noon tomorrow.'

'That's great news I will go back to my duties and await for his arrival the rest of you are dismissed.' She bows respectfully towards everyone who reciprocated and walks away accompanied by the guardsmen.

'She really should learn to relax more.' Ba states out loud.

'C'mon leave her alone it can't be easy for her.' Mitsuko responds also out loud though she didn't mean for it to come out. At least not that bluntly.

'She is right, being the daughter of the greatest warrior in the land must have a toll on her that we can't see. Nevertheless we should let her be for now she seems to be handling herself ok.' Pang Tong pipes up.

'I didn't mean it like that, I just mean it would do her some good to relax a bit is all. Anyway why are you here anyway? I didn't think you'd show up again after informing us about the bandits.' He asked Pang Tong who just chuckles to himself.

'Well at first that was the plan but then I thought there is no harm in joining and it's not like I have anything better to do.'

'Great so you're going to be our strategist or something?'

'No.' Mitsuko interjected.

'I'm just a mere assistant to Mitsuko no one special and it'd probably be best to keep it that way.' He tips his hat towards Zang Ba who took a minute or two to comprehend the situation.

'Oh right! Ok well you don't need to worry about that a lot of the soldiers think you're just a scholar.'

'I'm not sure whether I should be grateful or offended...what do you think my lady?'

'Grateful, definitely grateful.' Mitsuko responded not wasting a beat.

'That's some confidence for someone essentially exposing me in front of everyone.'

'I didn't know you were going to join up did I!?' She protested.

'Say...do you know how to play Go? Mitsuko's been dodging my requests because she's scared.' Zang ba interrupts the two. Pang Tong strokes his chin over his mask.

'Hmm I may have dabbled in the odd game or two but I don't consider myself an expert by any means.'

'How about trying your hand against me if you've got the guts that is.' Zang Ba taunts him though Pang Tong doesn't seemed phased in the slightest.

'Hmm I suppose one game wouldn't hurt though again I'm nowhere near an expert level do try and go easy on me if you don't mind.'

'Haha I make no promises. Come the barracks should have a board and a place to sit.' Zang Ba laughs heartily as he makes his way to the barracks followed closely by Mitsuko and Pang Tong who seems to be very relaxed. Mitsuko didn't know how to play Go so she didn't bother to accept Zang Ba's invitation. To her she didn't want to embarrass herself especially at something she thought everyone knew how to do so she always avoided it. Maybe with this game between him and Pang Tong can she kind of learn the basic rules, that is if she was lucky.

They reached the barracks and found it was surprisingly empty. Various bunk beds were here along with various standard weapons like swords, shields and bows. In one of the smaller rooms there was a small table with 4 chairs surrounding it. It seemed to be an officer's room large enough for four people to have dinner. Zang Ba looks around various piles of miscellaneous garbage to Mitsuko before finding a board.

'Ha ha here we are.' He plants it on the table with a loud thud. He opens it up and all the pieces fall out which almost littered a good fraction of the table for both colours. The pieces themselves were circular dot pieces and the board was a large one itself having a 19x19 square grid. Pang Tong takes a seat along with Mitsuko who sat at one of the sides. Zang Ba rubs his hands together excitedly.

'So you're ready to get stomped on?'

'You have a lot of confidence, that's nice its always good to have some basic confidence in your abilities...though that can be your downfall. Why don't we have a little wager?' Pang Tong responds as he was given the colour to go first.

'What kind of wager?'

'Well its just that me and Mitsuko never really had anything to eat yet and Go can work up an appetite. If you lose you buy us both breakfast and round of wine for tonight. If I lose Mitsuko and I will buy you one helping each.' He suggests though Mitsuko looks at him with shock. Though his calm expression tells her not to worry though she can't help but feel a little nervous.

'Ha two helpings of breakfast and wine for free? All right you're on.' Ba decided.

'Well in that case lets begin.' Pang Tong declared as he placed his first counter in the centre. Zang Ba responds however as soon as he puts down his piece Pang Tong puts down his almost immediately which threw Zang Ba off quite a bit. He didn't expect that fast of a reaction play. He puts down another piece and again Pang Tong responds immediately. He looks up to see that his face looks so relaxed it was pretty impressive. He slowly realised what he gotten himself in for. As soon as Pang tong captures one of his pieces the panic starts inside Zang Ba's mind although he tries his best to hide it to no avail. Mitsuko never saw him get this flustered before. To Mitsuko they were just moving pieces on the board though she knows there's deep strategy going on...mostly from Pang Tong who seemed to anticipate where Ba would place his pieces and counter appropriately to capture more territory for his forces which is the goal of the game.

Unbeknownst to Mitsuko or anyone else her left eye turned bright silver as she examined the board and each of the plays. She starts to slightly understand more what's going on, not enough to make her an expert player by any means though she's slowly getting a better understanding of the game...a small understanding but it was still more than she understood before. Pang Tong hands moves quick almost too quick for the naked eye immediately with every piece that Zang Ba puts down. Sweat begins to form on his forehead and the panic starts to set in. The Fledgling Phoenix smirks under his mask and closes his eyes innocently as he notices this. Zang Ba hoped to catch him out by making quick plays of his own just as he was hoping for.

He was so focused on the centre pieces and gaining territory there little did he know that there was Pang Tong's pieces on the edge of the board slowly but surely. Pang Tong didn't skip a beat as he began to put centre pieces down as sacrifices to bait him. He succeeds as he began to gain more confident in his abilities again almost to the point of arrogance. Pang Tong didn't skip a beat consistently as he places his sacrificial pieces in the centre with the occasion one to the on the edge to continue to bait him. As Zang Ba places his final piece to capture a large amount of territory he laughs heartily as if he's won...though reality set in as he set his eyes at Pang Tong who began to chuckle innocently. His face was filled with confusion until he looks down at the board, his face transformed from confusion to horror. It was his turn and there was only one piece left to fill to complete the square to the entire board.

He places the final piece and looks at Ba with closed eyes looking as innocent as possible.

'Well it seems to be your turn my friend...wait hang on hmm that looks like a victory for me since I captured the whole board. Well look at that beginner's luck coming through for me.' He laughs heartily as Zang Ba places his head in his hands in defeat.

'How...how did I lose this badly?' He asked himself as Mitsuko was stunned to see Zang Ba lose so convincingly. She didn't think Ba was a genius by any means but that was a thrashing if she ever saw one. This made her realise just how intelligent the Fledgling Phoenix actually is. Her eye returns to its usual colour.

'I told you overconfidence can lead to your downfall my friend. It was a good game though you did try your best though.' He stands up and pats him on the shoulder before turning to Mitsuko and stretching his arms over his head.

'Well that game helped me work up an appetite lets go get something to eat huh? Especially since we're being treated.' Mitsuko smirks.

'Yeah I agree it seems only fair after all.' Zang Ba slams his fist on the table which frightened Mitsuko for a second.

'I'll defeat you! I swear it I will beat you at your own game!' He shakes his fist at him as he starts to shed tears. Pang Tong chuckles at this.

'Yes I have no doubt you will but for now you must pay the penalty for losing.'

'He's right you did agree to the terms.' Mitsuko agreed as Ba sighed in defeat as he led the way out of the barracks.