Grus lunged in with his spear striking Pang Tong with a flurry of stabbing attacks, however Pang Tong managed to surprisingly dodge or block all attacks with his fan from all of them. Grus couldn't understand why, sure he was a dark arcana user but he wouldn't be the type to enhance his own abilities. Would he? As he swiped his spear horizontally to cut his chest Pang Tong rolled beneath the blade. As he stood back right up his shadow arm glowed with a red outline as the forearm covers his face before extending like he was also striking something down with it. The arm released a black sword like projectile attack towards Grus whose eyes widened with shock before he blocked the attack. It was stronger than he anticipated as he found himself being pushed back with his feet grinding against the wall.

With a grunt he manages to deflect the attack to the side. The projectile eventually hits the indented mountain, leaving a scar on it. Pang Tong held his shadow hand up and released several black projectiles from it in the form of sharp shards. Grus twirled his spear to block all the oncoming shards as he walked closer towards Pang Tong knowing he would need to get in close to finish him. Pang Tong stopped releasing the shards before he started to lift up his veil and released a burst of black flame towards Grus immediately. Grus side stepped the flame and jumped with one foot landing on one of the ports of the wall and used that to jump over Pang Tong. Pang Tong flipped backwards doing a hand stand for a split second before jumping up again, landing on his feet. After that however he bent his back backwards as he placed his hands on his hips.

'Aye aye. Looks like you're really serious about this whole thing. Surely you would prefer more tougher opponents to fight more than some hermit surely.' Pang Tong suggested as he stretched his arms and back. Grus shook his head as he gripped onto his spear tightly.

'No, people like you are dangerous and if left alone with the Serpent you'll cause a lot of damage to us. I cannot allow that to happen. Plus I don't really like Arcana users.'

'Oh, now I'm hurt by those words.'

'You'll be slain by my hands soon enough!' Grus interrupted as he sprinted towards Pang Tong again, trying to catch him off guard. Pang Tong managed to block and dodge all the attacks and spit out a burst of dark flame underneath the veil. Forcing Grus to leap back to safety. A soon as the burst of flame dissipated, he quickly entered the fray once again. Pang Tong raised his human arm with his fan high. A sudden gust of wind lifted him in the air as he charged once again. Pang Tong dropped his arm and suddenly the wind as a black pillar materialised in front of him as he was falling and quickly dropped on him. The pillar was faster to drop than Grus as he manged to push himself with his hand using the pillar to narrowly enjoy getting impaled by the tip of it. As soon as it crashed onto the wall, the pillar dissipated. Grus stood up as quick as he could to see Pang Tong look a little exhausted and arrogantly smirked.

'So sorcerer, how's the arcana arts working? Not good is it? Don't worry I'll make sure you won't perform anymore soon enough.'

'Hehe…Is that so?' Pang Tong sinisterly responded as 9 dark tails sprouted behind him, stopping Grus in his tracks. His eyes widened in shock as he gasped. It can't be he thought to himself. If it was impossible. She was killed during the last battle.

'Then in that case I better let someone out.' However as Pang Tong seemed to grow a bit more taller as his robe seem to be lifted further from the ground. His human arm has suddenly become more shadow similar to his other one. Though the fingers moulded themselves to be more in the shape of sharp claws. Pang Tongs eye colour changed to an alluring violet instead, instead of them being filled with amusement they're filled with malice and sadism. His body inside his robes was morphed to become more slender as the robes looked a bit too wide for him now. Grus took a step back out of fear of who this may be. "Pang Tong" breathed heavily for a moment as they look at their hands before opening their mouth behind their veil and snarls viciously as they look at the mystic before them.

'Ahh, so this is what freedom feels like now? Hehe, how exciting.' The voice was more feminine as she whispered demonically. A forked tongue revealed beneath the veil before slithering back behind it.

'You…you're supposed to be dead! I saw it. Lord Nezha saw to it personally.' Grus stuttered, his fear overtaken him as he took a step back as this new entity before him walked forward.

'Dead? No. Very close though were it not for this vessel. Unfortunately it was a contract I wasn't particularly fond off, but when you're about to die you become desperate. Just like your other colleagues I enjoyed tormenting, however unlike them I am alive and well.' "Pang Tong" cackled sadistically.

'You-you'll pay for what you did to your victims.' Grus stuttered again, attempting to sound stoic. "Pang Tong" laughed at him.

'Is that so? Then who would be the one to do that? You? Ha! Don't make me laugh, do you really think you can deal with Da Ji? Demon of torture!?' Da Ji cackled as she vanished in an instant and appeared behind him. Suddenly he felt agonising pain in his stomach. He clutches the source of the pain tightly and finds blood staining his teal attire along with being covered on his hands. He looked behind him to see Da Ji has his blood on her claws now. She stared right into his eyes as she took her bloodied claw and retreated behind her veil and made loud slurping noises behind it, purposefully being loud enough so Grus could hear it, be disturbed by it. She pulls out her claws from the veil, completely clean. Grus groaned as he gripped onto his spear tightly and faced her.

'I am not scared of you, demon!' He stated with venom in his voice before he seethed slightly from the pain he felt. Da ji smiled amusingly behind the veil.

'You should be.'

Meanwhile LingQi pursued Luna as she swung her polearms wildly, catching other soldiers in the process as she slices her way through them as they separated themselves from the fight, fearing that they'd get caught in the crossfire. However, Luna skilfully blocked and dodged out of all their attacks frustrating LingQi. As she continued to swing wildly at her Luna found an opening in her technique. She lunged in and tried to stab LingQi's right shoulder. The tip of the blade catches her shoulder plate but couldn't quite penetrate the armour, though it was chipped as a shard was sent flying. As soon as Luna past LingQi she quickly turned and pulled the chain behind her, trying to entangle LingQi in it.

Although she heard the rattling of the chain getting closer and leapt up and over the chains, creating distance between the two. Which is what Luna had wanted. She grabbed the chain near the hilt of her blade and attacked with wide swings going diagonally down at LingQi as she charged forward, side stepping the chain attacks. However, one swipe from the chain forced LingQi to deflect the attack, however it instead was entangled around one of the blades. She was about to cut it with her free polearm however Luna would not let her. She pulled on the chain with such strength that LingQi stumbled forward, unable to cut it as her whole body was dragged towards Luna. She prepared to strike horizontally aiming at LingQi's neck. LingQi used her other polearm in her free hand to block the attack by turning her wrist. The blade clashed with the polearm as Luna stared into LingQi's determined eyes as Luna grinned widely, clearly enjoying herself.

'Come on, give me your all. You can't worry about your serpent and keep your head intact for long. Or keep worrying, it makes no difference to me!' Luna stated as she kicked LingQi in the stomach and pushed her away. She rolled backwards and got back to her feet very quickly to see Luna sprinting towards her at the right side with her sword going in for another stabbing attack at her head. She deflected the attack with one of the blades of the free polearm. She raised her elbow to have her blade above the sword and horizontally strikes Luna. She bent her back narrowly avoiding the blade as she experienced the air that briefly crashed on to her face before she straightened herself. As she turned, she pulled the chain, forcing LingQi to turn her whole body to her right side however this time LingQi is able cut the with a strike from her free weapon. One link was split into two while the part around LingQi's entangled blade quickly fell to the ground as she pointed it down before she turned fully towards Luna. She quickly charged in towards her, not giving her a chance to gain more distance between them to use her chain. She went in for lethal blows immediately with various stabbing attacks and slicing attacks and continued with her relentless onslaught.

LingQi swung more wildly than usual to try and get rid of Luna so she could help Mitsuko. The problem was that Luna was too skilled as she kept dodging and blocking her attacks, frustrating her more. She heard footsteps behind her getting closer, she assumed it was an enemy soldier. Her frustration with Luna forced her to stop in het tracks and twist her body to strike the oncoming attacker. Though she was surprised to find the person was not just another soldier but in fact another Luna. How could there be two? With the same sword and chain attached to their hilt? LingQi thought to herself before this Luna smirked while the other one charged towards them, seeing an opportunity to go on the offensive. LingQi saw this and manged to block the strike momentarily before both Luna's released a flurry of attacks from both sides. LingQi was struggling to keep up as her attention got split between both. She leapt back to get some distance and give herself a breather though as she did one of the Luna's used their chain to grab as she threw it and wrapped it around LingQi's ankle and quickly pulled her to the ground. The other Luna leapt towards her, her sword ready to impale her with a grin on her face. All LingQi could do was to roll out of the way. As she did she extended her polearm at the last possible moment, making it impossible for Luna to block the oncoming attack. The blade cuts through her torso in two. As LingQi got up one knee and looked at the incapacitated Luna she smirked, though that quickly wiped away as she saw that Luna vanish into the wind. She looked at the other Luna after she quickly smashed the chain with her weapon. The fake Luna appears slowly next to her as if she was returning back to this reality. LingQi stood up and readied herself.

'So this is how you managed to beat Dodomeki? With sorcery?'

'Yeah pretty much, but his unexpected last wind was something else indeed. Didn't see a demon act like that at all. That flame of determination burning brightly as even if it did seem inevitable he still kept on fighting, the same fire I see in you. I don't know if this was always the case or if this incarnation of the serpent has given her followers more of a will to fight. Its gets me all excited.' Both Luna's replied at different intervals though one at the end licked her lips hungrily. Before they both charged in. They synced their attacks with one focusing on one side and one focusing the other. Even though LingQi had two of her special halberds in each arm, the fact she had to focus on two rather skilled enemies in perfect sync of each other threw her off. Their blades clashed, neither of them giving an inch to the other, although LingQi is distracted by the knowledge of Mitsuko being surrounded by enemies and being unable to help her. The Luna on her right side swung her blade towards her head. LingQi blocked as she swung her halberd down and initiated a deadlock with the top blade. The other Luna unleashed a flurry of attacks to LingQi's left side which she was able to repel. To some soldiers the motions of these attacks would seem too fast, though LingQi was able to see and deflect them.

As she diverted more attention towards one side the other Luna removed the blade from the deadlock to attack overhead, aiming for her skull. LingQi blocked the attack but the amount of strength Luna put into the blade forced her on to one knee. LingQi gritted her teeth as she's pinned down. The other Luna went in for a strike at LingQi's face. LingQi blocked the attack just barely however the blade narrowly missed LingQi as she moved her head slightly back, narrowly avoiding the blade that would pierce her skull. Her hand that was grabbing the polearm was situated below her arm and very near her body. She let go of a couple of fingers and her thumb and used them to grab her shirt. LingQi threw one of the Luna's over her shoulder to land on the other. It was too quick for either Luna to react.

As they landed, LingQi stood up and shook her right arm after the body as it went numb after Luna's strike that pinned her to the ground. As both Luna's try to get up, LingQi used her left polearm to stab the closest one in the stomach. The Luna quickly disappeared. The other Luna jumped up and landed on both feet and quickly attacked LingQi unleashing a flurry of attacks. Now that it was only one LingQi had an easier time anticipating her attacks and deflecting them and waited impatiently trying to find an opening to strike. Though Luna kept up her offensive though as she did she analysed LingQi's facial expressions and looked directly in her eyes that revealed her impatience and frustration that was clear on her face. She smirked as she put all her strength in one attack only for LingQi to deflect the attack leaving Luna vulnerable.

LingQi couldn't contain her relief on her face as she swung her other halberd across her chest diagonally, cleaving through her. LingQi immediately sprinted towards Mitsuko who was still surrounded by enemies and duelling another mystic she was not aware of. She sprinted as fast as she could before she heard chains rattling. Before she could react, the chain wrapped around her neck and pulled her back. The momentum caused her to crash on her back. Luna laughed as she got back up as she slowly kept pulling her back, the chain wrapped tightly enough to choke her. Luna's hand holding the chain glowed blue which the glow traversed its way through the chain, eventually reaching the tip surrounding LingQi's neck. It felt like the chain was burning her neck as very faint searing could be heard as LingQi quickly crashed to her knees, the pain being unbearable as she let go of one of her halberds to grab the chain to at least try to pull it off. Although it was no good, LingQi could not scream despite her best efforts. She felt her strength wane as she tried desperately to escape but to no avail. Luna walked closer, still pulling the chain to keep the pressure around her neck.

'My apologies for ending this so soon, but you just seemed that you weren't interested in fighting me, a shame. I'd let you go to try again later but as you can we're in public and I can't quite do that. I don't mean to show preferential treatment to your demonic companion but this is where you die I'm afraid.' LingQi couldn't react as the pain was too great as her vision started to fade to black, she looked upon Mitsuko fighting one last time as her eyelids started to get heavier. She tried to keep them open though it was too draining as her arms started to get limp and eventually let go of the chain. Was this the end? Is this as far as she could go? LingQi thought to herself as she witnessed Mitsuko in her element. She would smile if the pain were not so great. Suddenly, she heard rattles and the pain stopped as the chains dropped to the ground. She immediately coughed and hyperventilated as she used her hands to quickly trace the burn marks over her neck. The burning sense of pain was no longer present as the chain was no longer touching her flesh. She wondered what happened when she looked behind her to see Dodomeki of all demons standing in front of her while looking beyond him to find Luna getting up from quite far way with golden blood trickling down from the side of her mouth.

'Easy, that's not a wound you can just shrug off. Trust me.' Dodomeki stated as he looked down at LingQi, his golden eye staring at her as she went on one knee and grabbed her halberds she dropped.

'Aren't you supposed to be resting?' LingQi questioned as she struggled to get up.

'I've recovered enough to battle. Do not worry, how about you? Are you still able to fight?' Dodomeki asked as he saw LingQi was still a bit shaky while she attempted to stand up while coughing.

'Yeah. I'm ok, this is not enough to put me down. Though…Mitsuko is still.'

'Do not worry about her right now, trust me for this mystic you'll need to focus everything onto her. Believe in Lady Mitsuko, as she believes in you as she'd prefer you alive.' Dodomeki interrupted as he understood LingQi's concerns. LingQi was shocked to hear that from Dodomeki…though he was right. She was careless in her actions, in her haste to assist Mitsuko she made herself vulnerable and underestimated Luna. She will not allow herself to do that again.

'Heh, I didn't expect that coming from you. The isolation must've made you mad.'

'Mad enough to save you.'

'Maybe…no matter your intentions I appreciate the rescue.' Dodomeki was caught off guard as he expected some backhanded insult.

'Tch, don't thank me yet. We still have to do with her.' Dodomeki pointed at Luna who wiped off the blood with her right hand and smiled deviously.

'Oh look it's the cyclops, you must be ready for round 2. I admit I didn't see you coming but now I can't let you live this time. You'll die with your human ally.' Dodomeki and LingQi got into their battle-ready stance.

'You'll regret not finishing me off when you've had the chance. We both will make sure of that.'

'Tch, don't think because there's two of you, you have the advantage.' Luna advised them as smoke appeared from the palm of her hand to form a second Luna who both got into the same battle stance but on different sides. All for four of them suddenly sprinted towards each other and their blades clashed once again.