Information requested: Akura Malice, Queen of Shadows and ruler of the western Ashwind continent.

Beginning report…

Path: Eternal Night. Though she is famous for the creation of the Path of Seven Pages, Malice herself has no Book. She is the practitioner of a pure shadow Path with an emphasis on Forger and Ruler techniques, and she sees her madra as a perfect blend of power and utility. However, her dissatisfaction with her own Path led her to create an idealized version: her Book of Eternal Night.

Everyone in the Akura family is named after a virtue. Even Malice.

When Malice was born, the Akura family was a tiny band of humans in a vicious wilderness. They were destroyed by a rival when she was only days old, their members dispersed.

She was named for the quality of ruthlessness, spite, focused hatred that her parents hoped would guide her to avenge them.

Malice grew up among exiles working with vengeance as her only goal, but she slowly realized how hollow revenge really was.

To her, the only thing that matters is the good of the family.

She had a firm sense of justice, defending the weak and fighting the strong, but she learned that the world of vicious competition was unfair to those born human. The best way to protect the weak was to gather them under one banner.

And to remove all threats at the roots.

The family is safest when its rivals are dead.

Suggested topic: the birth of Akura Fury.

Denied, report complete.

The four Monarchs bound to Ninecloud City had come together in the Court’s royal audience hall, allegedly to discuss the end of the tournament in peace.

Northstrider knew what was really going to happen. He was ready.

“I accept the results,” Seshethkunaaz said coldly. “Freak twists of fate are part of strength as well. If I must ascend, so be it.”

Reigan Shen idly toyed with one of his rings. “I would imagine she will exterminate the Bleeding Phoenix, as some portion of her link to it no doubt remains. But if I am forced to ascend, I suppose I will see you all sooner or later.”

They were not as fatalistic as they pretended, Northstrider knew. The dragon, at least, was seething inside. He wasn’t even doing a good job of hiding it.

But he was more interested in someone else’s act.

Malice’s smirk widened into a smile. “Sometimes I wonder if you know me at all, Sesh. Your people destroyed the Rising Earth sect and tried to destroy two more of my teams.”

Northstrider sensed something in the great distance.

The dragon and the lion looked up at the same time.

“Did you think that I would let that go?” Malice continued. “Did you think I couldn’t reach you?” Her smile widened further into a fierce, maniacal grin. “Did you forget my name?”

As the power in the distance grew, Malice’s laughter and her shadows boiled up to fill the hall.

Fury was advancing to Monarch.

At last.

Seshethkunaaz rose up on a cloud of golden sand. “You cannot stop me from interfering.” His power exploded, tearing off the entire roof of the tower and dissolving it to sand in an instant. “Use the arrow! I will take your son with me to the grave.”

With the tournament over, and all four Monarchs ready to leave, the barrier trapping them in Ninecloud City fell apart.

A gust of sand in the shape of a snarling serpent, containing the full willpower of the Dragon King, struck at Malice.

She held up one hand to stop it.

An amethyst gauntlet bigger than the entire top of the tower formed in front of her, and the sand crashed into it like water into a boulder.

Malice’s eyes blazed, and she rose into the air. An instant later, she and the dragon were miles away, slowly ramping up to their full power.

All over Ninecloud City, alarms blared. Sha Miara’s power covered them, rainbow light moving citizens to shelter or blocking stray bursts of power.

Northstrider kept his eyes on Reigan Shen.

The lion twisted his rings, looking disturbed. “This really isn’t necessary. We could have worked together to mutual benefit.”

Northstrider stayed quiet. Those were words that Tiberian Arelius had used on Shen.

They hadn’t worked then, and they certainly wouldn’t work now.

“Well, Penance is beyond our reach,” the lion continued.

He glanced up, and Northstrider knew he was looking at the blue bubble of the Way that contained Kiuran the Hound and Yerin Arelius, victor of the Uncrowned King tournament.

“…and I think we’ve already settled the hierarchy between us to our satisfaction.”

In fact, Reigan Shen hadn’t beaten Northstrider. The Weeping Dragon had. But Shen was no easy opponent himself, and his mastery over spatial travel meant he could escape anything.

“So let’s just go about our business, shall we?”

Space tore open behind Shen, revealing the blue of the Way.

“Stop,” Northstrider commanded.

The portal sealed itself.

Reigan Shen turned, and his own authority matched or even exceeded Northstrider’s. “Do not play games with me, human. If you want a battle, I will give you one.”

Blood madra began to rise from Northstrider.

He reached into his soulspace and tapped into his black orb. His oracle codex.

His experimental Presence.

Information requested: combat report on Reigan Shen.

The report began, but Northstrider pushed it to his subconscious.

Northstrider had clashed with Reigan Shen many times. He had gathered more information on the Emperor of Lions than anyone else alive, and his construct had analyzed the Path of the King’s Key a million different ways.

But it had taken Dross to bring all that together.

Now, his weapon was complete.

King’s Key madra tore open space to Shen’s left and right, but Northstrider knew what weapons were about to come out.

He Forged a crimson dragon from blood madra, filling it with the authority of the Dragon Icon. The serpent roared as it rushed at Shen, blocking the line of fire from both launchers that the lion had just summoned.

Shen was already traveling away, but Northstrider could see where.

He moved at the same time Reigan Shen did.

The Dragon was not the only Icon that Northstrider had manifested. He launched a punch, and the authority of the Strength Icon empowered him.

Reigan Shen appeared out of the Way, and Northstrider’s black-scaled knuckles caught him in the white-gold mane.

The shockwave cracked the tower beneath them, and Shen was sent flying out of Ninecloud City.

With a brief effort of will, Northstrider followed.

Sophara trembled more violently than the city cracking around her.

She’d failed…and it wasn’t even her fault.

As the ceiling crumbled around her, she knelt on the floor and desperately tried to figure out how to salvage this situation.

The reality crashed in on her: her spirit was finished. Her future as a sacred artist was gone.

She’d borrowed too much from her future, and it hadn’t even paid off. Even if her king was willing to invest more resources in her, he wouldn’t survive the night.