Vivian pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose as she stared into the depths of the rapidly cooling tea in her crystalline mug. She could feel bags forming under her eyes, and that wasn’t even possible. Her youth was functionally permanent — age had long since become nothing more than a distant memory worth nothing more than tracking the years that she’d been stuck at Rank 8.

Tea normally helped calm her down. But today, it wasn’t doing much at all. Not even the copious amount of liquor she’d mixed into the tea had done anything to distract her. Frankly, calling the liquid in her mug tea might have been a step beyond an exaggeration. Tea only composed something around 10% of its actual volume. Perhaps that was why it wasn’t quite doing its job.

Letting out a weary groan, Vivian slipped back further in her chair. The back of her neck hit the backrest and she craned her head to stare up at the ceiling. Unfortunately, the answers weren’t written there any more than they were written at the bottom of her cup.

There were only hours until the tournament. Aqua Terra was positively chock full of a bunch of rabid little animals — and a number of quite large animals. Rabid, of course. They were all rabid.

The other Faction’s Heads were here, as were Orlen’s little psychopathic pests and all the problems that they brought with them. Crime had practically quadrupled in the last few days. Fortunately, the vast majority of said crimes had been focused on Mistress’ intentionally placed targets. That, at least had limited the actual damage.

Aqua Terra had no shortage of powerful mages within it. The Church was out in full force enforcing law and making sure all the warring interests didn’t tear each other to shreds. But it just wasn’t enough. Gathering up all the most powerful mages in the Empires and bringing them together for even just a few days was just a nightmare in every sense of the word.

And then there was Mistress herself. Vivian’s lips pulled down in annoyance. That was a problem to deal with at another time. A far more distant time, when she actually had the capacity to split the attention off. Something told her that wouldn’t be coming anytime soon.

Vivian pushed herself out of the chair and adjusted her clothes. The other Heads were waiting for her. It would be hard to justify her absence for much longer. To her great disappointment, she was going to have to spend an indeterminate amount of time together with them as they all watched the tournament together.

It was an old tradition. On the surface, it was to show unity. To prove that the Factions could stop fighting for all of a few days to observe the greatest feats of their Empires. It was meant to show that they weren’t all at each other’s throats. In truth, it was so they could all make sure nobody was cheating. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Not that it’ll stop any of us. Cheating is half the fun.

Vivian let out a sharp breath. Then she shook her head, slapping herself lightly on the cheeks before setting her jaw. There was no more time to let her mind wander. And, all things considered, a quadrupling in crime was actually pretty good. Rumor was that the last tournament had seen incidents magnify by over ten times.

That old bat has done her job well. I suppose I should thank her once all this is done. I don’t think I’d have been able to limit the bullshit quite as much on my own. The fact that nobody important is dead yet is a minor miracle… but there are still a few hours until the tournament starts.

I’m not holding my breath.

Vivian’s domain prickled. She turned, her features straightening. A moment later, a figure clad in tattered black robes appeared before her. A huge sword wrapped in thick white bandages was bound to the figure’s back, stretching well up above their head.

The Executioner’s head bowed ever so slightly, a move that would have been taken as insubordination if done by anyone else. But, for him, this was about as much as anyone could ever expect. The Executioner wasn’t the emotional sort — and Vivian had never truly cared much for decorum unless anyone important happened to be watching.

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“You are back later than expected,” Vivian said. “Is it done?”

“No,” the Executioner said. “I have searched the Empire. Your target does not exist. There is no evidence of a Hand belonging to another Faction present. The information you received was incorrect.”

Vivian tilted her head to the side. Then she inclined one shoulder. In truth, that really wasn’t particularly surprising. There were few advantages that the Coral Empire had in a direct conflict with many of the other Factions — but the Executioner was one of them.

If he claimed that there were no traces of the other Faction’s Hands present, then she trusted him.

“Well done,” Vivian said. “Thank you. Is there anything else you need to report?”

“The Faction Heads are pushing the limits of the treaty. I would be wary. They have not done anything expressly forbidden yet, but their attempts to dig for information are not as subtle as they think. Some of them are not subtle at all.”

“That’s hardly a surprise,” Vivian said with a sigh. “Let the Mistress deal with it. That’s her domain. We can’t spread ourselves any thinner. Not if we want any of our other goals to succeed. What of the other task?”

“Octavian has not been able to properly locate the Death Mage. After his first altercation with them, there have been no more traces of their magic. Should I deal with the matter personally?”

Vivian paused for a moment. Then she shook her head.

Pissing Sievan off wasn’t at the top of her list, but the demon was a surprisingly reasonable one. He’d understand that she had more important tasks at hand. Delaying hunting down a lone Death Mage wasn’t going to be the end of the world.

And besides, chances were that the mage in question was going to make an appearance at the Tournament of Heaven’s Path. That was probably why they’d arrived in the Coral Empire in the first place. If they used their magic again, she would know.

“Forget about it for now,” Vivian said. “Focus on our ultimate goal. We aren’t going to get another chance to pull this off for a long time. Failure is not an option.”

“It never is,” the Executioner replied.

From you, I actually believe it. If only the rest of my people were equally as competent.

“Do you have anything else to report?” Vivian asked. “I have an audience with the other Faction Heads that I need to attend. One that will take up much of my time for the duration of the tournament. I will expect you to keep a handle on all but the most pressing issues in the meantime. So if you have anything you need from me, now is the time. Interruptions during the audience will make us look weak. That should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.”

“There is only one thing,” the Executioner replied. “There are stirrings. Rumors that pass through the Coral Empire.”

Vivian’s lips thinned. “Of me?”

“Of the future,” the Executioner said. “There are more forces at work in this tournament than there were at the previous one. I am not certain that all of them actually seek victory.”

“That’s hardly new,” Vivian said through a sigh. “Anything that you have been able to confirm?”

“Of the rumors? None that concern you. But there is one matter that you asked me to observe that has changed. Dealing with it will take a considerable amount of my attention. More than I believe I am able to afford right now.”

Just what I wanted to hear. Lovely.

“Which one?” Vivian asked. “I still have a moment before I need to deal with the other Heads. I may have time to deal with this myself and save us both the trouble.”

“The Apostles.”

“The Apostles? That’s hardly that great of a concern. They can barely keep from tearing each other’s throats out for more than a few minutes at a time. How many?”

“I have not confirmed the exact number, but I do know their Prophet moves. At least a few of the Apostles march with him. Kyyle is among their number,” the Executioner replied. “They are approaching Aqua Terra, and they are not attempting to hide the advance.”

Vivian blinked. The Apostle’s Prophet was arrogant bastard, but he’d never been an idiot. “He’s actually going to try to challenge me? Here? Does he not realize that all of the other Faction Heads will stand by my side to protect the tournament? This is the one time when we’ll actually work together. The Tournament is too important for us to allow an outsider to meddle. He’s more than welcome to try his luck. Even if all the Apostles had joined hands for once, it still wouldn’t go well for them.”

“I believe he is aware of that,” the Executioner said. “But I do not believe they are coming here to challenge you. Anyone would be hard pressed to truly defeat you within Aqua Terra. Their Prophet’s previous actions do not align with an attempt to attack you at this time. It would be a death sentence.”

Vivian frowned. The Apostle’s Prophet was the secretive sort. He wasn’t the kind to just amble through the Coral Empire and announce his presence to everyone for no reason.

What is he—

Then her face paled. There was only one other reason he’d have been heading here now, of all times.

“How far is he?” Vivian asked grimly, but she already knew the answer.

“Less than an hour,” the Executioner replied.

Vivian’s jaw clenched.

They waited until the last minute to make sure I wouldn’t have time to interfere.. I won’t be able to finish them off before the tournament starts. And even if they don’t have badges yet… no, it doesn’t matter. Getting one would be trivial.

“Shit,” Vivian said. “They’re coming to compete in my gods damned tournament.”