The first thing that they heard was about a duel between students near the teahouse. A passing thing, really— overheard more than heard, as they passed the third group of people heading that way. Svvh just rolled his eyes. “Its ridiculous. The humans haven’t even been here for half a year and they’re already killing each other. What idiots.” Avyr tactfully didn’t point out that in that regard, cats weren’t all that much better. Depending on how it worked out, they could sometimes be worse.

  Wyao flicked her tail, tilting her head for a second as she paused. “Hm. It might be worth going to check it out. I doubt they would let regular students duel, so it’s likely between two of the elite cohort. If it’s one of our year’s, then we’ll be able to learn valuable intelligence about their capabilities. If it’s one of our seniors, we’ll learn about advanced human fighting.”

  Svvh dithered about it for a bit, but he’d clearly made up his mind the moment Wyao had started talking. “Hmm…” he started walking, slowly, making his way towards the teahouse. “Might as well. I guess I ought not turn down a chance to see the humans tear each other up. It might be entertaining.” Avyr felt a little sick to his stomach. With how callously Svvh was able to dismiss them as other… it was one thing he was never quite able to get used to from him.

  Still, he could admit to being a bit curious himself, in a morbid sort of way. The last time he’d seen real combat was between Lily and Xinshi, and that had been… well, not very enjoyable. More stressful than anything, so getting to observe some higher level combat might do him well.

  They sauntered over to the teahouse with all the utter smug grace that only a group of cats could have, shoving their way through the crowds until they reached the sparse spectators towards the front. It told a lot that not many people who were willing to push back against a group of cats were willing to get close to the…

  He stilled as he caught sight of just who was fighting. Two students he recognized— one in fine black robes, as arrogant as he always was, bloodied, shoulder filthy with blood… and another. Lily reeled back as she was kicked, skidding to a stop and holding her sword in exhausted grip, her own blood seeping out of a handful of cuts. Neither of them looked like they were in any condition to be fighting.

  Lily said something, Song said something in return… Svvh nudged him, then nudged him again. “Hey. What’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Avyr blinked, shaking his head. “Nothing. Nothing…” he could tell that Svvh was unconvinced. “I don’t like it.”

  Rrya snorted, as disheveled as ever— only made worse by being forced to push through a crowd. “Softy.”

  Wyao cocked her head. “Nothing wrong with being soft to those who deserve it. Compassion is valuable. Just… inappropriate, here. They brought this upon themselves.”

  “How? She wouldn’t—” he cut himself off. He knew better than to bring up anything to do with knowing humans while in—

  Svvh noticed, still, his words taking on a dangerous lilt. “You know her?”

  “…you could say that.” Like walking through a minefeild— “I know her. She wouldn’t get into a fight like this if she could avoid it.”

  Svvh scowled. “All humans fight. They’re cowards, though, so I can understand that.”

  And— he could hear, over the crowd-din, as the Song cultivator spat— “die like the dog you are.” Could feel the burst of qi, almost, the tremors of his blade bashing against Lily’s own. The desperation, from both of them, the furious—

  “Look.” A human— Aomao— had stepped out into the circle… or, at least, had tried to. Svvh had pointed it out because the outer disciple in charge of the duel had wrapped her in a binding and prevented her from moving forward. “They’re a savage race.”

  Wyao shook her head. “We have duels too. East Saffron is very militant, though, so it makes sense why a mercenary organization like a human sect would rather their disciples die than fail.” No, no, that didn’t make sense. Avyr couldn’t even figure out how to vocalize how nonsensical that was— the whole thing was wrong.

  He took a step forward.

  The Song cultivator’s foot cracked against the side of Lily’s head, sending her sprawling, the blade clattering out of her hand.

  Svvh affixed him with a glare. “Don’t do it. They’re just a human. It’s not worth it.” Avyr realized that if he kept going, he was throwing away the tenuous friendship he’d built with the cats. For a second, that pained something inside of him… but, for Lily?

  He knew he would never get through to Svvh, but he still bowed his head in apology anyways. “Sorry.” Svvh’s face twisted into a dangerous scowl, claws flexing out of his paws— “but she’s not just a human.” Then, dodging out of the way of Svvh’s swipe and his furious demand that he better not take a single step further—

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  He stepped into the ring.

  Slowly, he slunk closer, careful to the ground. Hidden. He made himself hidden, bending the light around him and demanding the world that he be hidden. He was a cat, and ambushes were in his blood. Nobody was paying attention to him, anyways and he had that scant second to sneak forward unnoticed even in the midst of it—

  As the crowd roared—

  As the Song cultivator struggled over to Lily, and raised his sword—

  Lily spoke something, and the Song cultivator paused, and Avyr pounced.

  Whatever tenuous stealth he’d managed to hold onto was shattered in an instant as he flew through the air, propelled by a leap powerful enough to break the flagstones beneath him. The outer sect disciple noticed immediately, a band of bloody qi flying towards him— but Avyr would not be denied. This was his hunt, his sole moment— the step had already been taken, and nothing could undo that. Not even a Foundation Establishment disciple.

  He pulled on his qi, fully, and burned. Burst alight— his entire qi pool transformed into radiance, a brilliance that for a brief moment outshone the sun itself. The air around him burst aflame, transformed into plasma— and the binding simply evaporated as it came in contact with his qi. The burning intensity of it only lasted for a moment— but he was still shining bright enough to hurt eyes and burn skin when he crashed into Banwei. The man’s robes, already battered as they were— burst aflame, and the sound he made when one of his paws slammed into his face— it was ghoulish.

  He rolled off him only a moment later, but the damage was done. Ugly burns ran down most of the man’s body, and the imprint of a paw had been thoroughly seared into his face. The outer disciple gaped at him, simply stunned silent for a moment before a scowl flashed across his face. “You’ve interfered with an official duel. What do you have to say for yourself, beast? Do you thirst for blood so much? I’ll feed you your heart for this insult!”

  “Does the Bloody Saffron Sect have no honor?” That managed to bring everyone up short. No local of East Saffron would ever dare insinuate such a thing— but Avyr wasn’t a local, and he was too furious at the moment to care. “To arrange so that a senior from an established clan could kill an orphan girl with no formal training in the duelist art, in broad daylight? In cold blood?” The outer disciple grit his teeth, but did not respond. “Your actions shame the name of the Bloody Saffron Sect. You are a pathetic worm, worth less than the dirt you crawl on.” He knew that this was a battle he would likely not survive— but that was fine. If his step onto the blade would protect Lily, defenseless behind him, then he would take that step gladly.

  A deathly calm spread across the outer disciple’s face. “You are courting death.”

  “You flee from death and fall into honorlessness.”

  “I do not fear an early-Opening cultivator whose gaze cannot even see the top of Mt. Tai. I’ll kill you for the insult—” a dangerous aura deepened around him, an almost overwhelming cloud of killing intent darkening the entire area. Some of the regular students, still mortals, reeled back against the undiluted force of it. A few even fainted— “and then I’ll kill the girl.” He gripped his blade, and Avyr settled into a crouch, ready to fight for his life on already depleted qi reserves—

  A bolt of scarlet lightning fell from the clear sky and struck the outer disciple like the fist of heaven itself. The whole world seemed to flash white, then dark, before slowly resolving back into focus with a jagged afterimage burned into his retinas.

  It was so unexpected that all Avyr could do was stare dumbly at the crater the outer disciple had been hammered into, even as an aura so infinitely more powerful than the prior one descended over the clearing. A speck of burning qi appeared far overhead, expanding out into a swirling sphere of pure power, before pulsing once and collapsing back into the shape of a singularly recognizable man. “Yu Baozha. I am… disappointed. I overlooked your transgress before this for the sake of our relationship, but this… I cannot overlook.” As though seized by invisible hands, without even gesturing, the outer disciple was dragged into the air in front of the Outer Elder. His gaze scanned over the entire field, feeling like a burning spears stabbing into him as they briefly settled on him. “Duels are permitted. Farces like these are not. I had to exit closed door cultivation for this. And you, cat.” Avyr flinched at being addressed. “Report to the administrative pagoda to pay the replacement fine for the access token you destroyed.” Oh.

  Then— before Avyr could even fully breath a sigh of relief, the Outer Elder disappeared, leaving them alone in the center of an utterly destroyed courtyard. None dared approach, bar the Song cultivator’s clansman, who didn’t even look his way— just grabbing his battered compatriot and dragging him away. Avyr did much the same, silently cursing under his breath the fact that he’d destroyed his bags again.

  Nobody so much as came close to him as he walked away, Lily sprawled out on his back, but he could feel it. The stares. The glares, from the three cats, once companions, who’d watched as he’d all but sacrificed his life for a human. They turned their backs on him, after a while, and he did much the same, too focused on getting Lily to medical care for much of anything else to register.

  Things had changed, though. That much was obvious.

  Everything had changed.