Twist!

'I can hear you without problems'

Kiyu grinned as her opponent got even more frenzied.

She had let Siwang poison her on purpose and provoked Siwang so that she would lose her control over herself. But that it would work out so well, even Kiyu had not expected.

"Die!" shouted Siwang as she ran toward Kiyu, while still suspecting that her opponent would still be under the influence of the poison.

Kiyu did not move. Not moving an inch away, she continued to play the injured one who was about to be killed by Siwang at any moment. But now that she had removed most of the poison and treated the after-effects, she could see her opponent well.

As she had suspected, Siwang was carrying a weapon, a dagger, with which she had inflicted all the wounds on Kiyu. She waited until the last moment, trying to read from Siwang's movements where she intended to hit Kiyu.

Siwang raised the dagger and thrust it full force at Kiyu, who just raised a hand to protect herself, causing the dagger to pierce her hand instead of piercing her heart.

"Argh!" she cried out in pain and squeezed her fingers together, forming a fist around Siwang's hand.

"What?", Siwang groaned in surprise. "Why do you feel something?" she cried out in anger, about to withdraw her dagger.

But Kiyu had a firm grip on Siwang's pierced hand, even though the blood running down her hand and dripping over her opponent's made it harder.

"Let go you...!" yelled Siwang.

"Didn't expect that, did you?" retorted Kiyu, now straightening up. "How about you inspect me?" she grinned.

Apart from her hand, her body had no more wounds to show. Only the tattered clothes showed a sharp object had hit her.

"How is that possible?" Siwang had looked at Kiyu and widened her eyes when she realized Kiyu was unharmed.

Kiyu had no intention of giving her opponent any more time to react than she already had. But she couldn't defeat Siwang with one punch from the start, even if she could. Someone had to show her that even if she weighed herself in her element, she could very well lose.

Now that she had a firm grip on the arrogant woman, and despite her injury, she felt she had presented the strength to let it be a lesson to her. With her uninjured hand, she clenched a fist and took a swing.

"No! Please don't!" whimpered Siwang, who saw what Kiyu was about to do. "I... I'm sorry! It...", the rest of her stammered sentence fell silent and instead passed into him moaning in pain, caused by Kiyu's punch to the pit of the Spiritformer's stomach.

She hadn't restrained her strength in this attack, causing Siwang to roll over several times and slam into the dome made of plants unchecked before collapsing unconscious.

Clenching her teeth, Kiyu sucked in gossamer air between them, suppressing cries of pain. The adrenaline left her rather fast, leaving her with the unruffled pain of her pierced hand.

Bones, tendons and nerves too. This time she had to heal. The healing was slow because she had to take care of detoxifying her body, which was a permanent process.

Bit by bit the bones and everything around regenerated. Under normal circumstances, this was not possible for a human being, Toras had explained to her. The human body contained a kind of blueprint about itself, but not everything could grow back as easily as hair or skin.

But Kiyu, thanks to her power, could use all of its functions, even those that were only dormant present. Healing was tedious and tugged at her strength more than more non-complex things, like hardening her body parts or increasing jumping power or speed.

The regrowth was an exhausting process, but meanwhile she also had to numb herself so as not to endure unspeakable pain. Although she had defeated her opponent now, the real challenge was just beginning.

'And the poison doesn't seem to dissipate,' she noted with disappointment. She had hoped that when Siwang fainted, the poison mist would also disappear. But it was self-sustaining as soon as she materialized it.

< What are you going to do to her? >, Cheryu asked her, while she continued to take care of her hand.

'First, I'm going to create an exit for her before we run out of power,' she replied. 'And then we'll see what the situation is like outside. 'I have no intention of killing her,' Kiyu declared.

Quite a while passed before she had healed her hand halfway through. With care, she looked at the front and back of her hand, which was pierced just a few minutes ago.

"Another scar," she groaned somewhat. "Laki won't like that." She felt the price she had to pay was anything but high, but for Laki it was a great pain when Kiyu got out with injuries and now she had gained two scars in less than two weeks.

'If I get a scar from every fight now, I'll be able to tell my life story based on my body someday, I'm afraid,'

But then something happened that she had never experienced before.

"Woahohoho!" The spiritual being with a melodic voice inside her, the spirit named Cheryu, he laughed! <When the time comes, I guess we'll need a warrior name for you. Let's hope all your scars spring from a righteous cause, then whohohohoho. >

Mouth open, eyes strained, Kiyu's palms pointed in the air. 'Sometimes I don't understand you. What's so funny about that?'

Ghosts. Whoever had such a strange sense of humor could only be an exhausting companion for life, after all. But Kiyu did not concern himself further with the thought. Cheryu had overcome his fit of laughter after a few moments and had fallen silent again, while Kiyu went in the direction in which she had hurled Siwang.

Summoned unconscious, the latter sat against the wall of the plant dome, not moving a bit. Without hesitation, Kiyu took her over her shoulder and gathered much of her remaining spiritual power in her still free hand.

"AAAH!" With full force, she let her fist crash against the plant wall and punched a massive hole in it, through which she could escape the dome.

The sun blinded her eyes, and she had to hold up her hand to block out the brightness. Confused and without orientation, she looked around and tried to spot Laki, Toras and Zhèngyi.

She found it hard not to squint her eyes under the glaring sunlight. 'Is that bright!

"In the name of his lordship, you are under arrest!" a voice bellowed, and Kiyu could see that several men who had surrounded the marketplace also surrounded her.

'Has Tānlán been able to gain control outside?' wondered Kiyu in shock, trying to make out something more. It took some time, but her eyes got used to this brightness again.

Now she also recognized the soldiers which surrounded her by better.

'Those aren't his men.'

They were all soldiers, and they all wore the sign of Jarifa City, but these people differed from the ordinary city guards. That they were all mounted made them exceptional.

Now that her vision had improved, she could also make out Laki and the others.

"Over with you!" one soldier yelled, pointing her toward the others with his weapon. Since Kiyu wanted to get to Laki and the others as soon as possible anyway, the order didn't bother her.

"So, Minister Tānlán, what happened here?" The question came from a well-dressed man. He was not a soldier, but neither was he a commoner.

"lord..... lord Xianzhu!" shouted Tānlán, throwing himself on his knees before his master. "These four have broken several laws of the city and resisted arrest! They even destroyed your well!" he cried, frightened.

'So this man is Xianzhu? He looks young!'

Kiyu had opened her eyes wide. The man in front of her was still in his twenties, but exuded conviction and assertiveness. In contrast to Tānlán, whom she had met as the only other nobleman, Xianzhu also looked more like an elegant warrior. Long, black hair tied in a ponytail and a sword on his belt at hand.

Xianzhu's gaze fell on Kiyu, who had joined them at last. "You heard the accusations! Do you have anything to say about it?"

Kiyu looked around and saw that her friends were hurt. They had done well against Tānlán's men. Anger boiled inside her at the lies the town manager told. But now she could prove one of Cheryu's wisdoms. After all, it was the owner of Jarifa, who was in front of her. Someone with more power than Tānlán.

She took a step forward, cupped one hand in the first of the other, and bowed. "Aside from the fact that the 'town administrator' tried to buy my sister as a slave, kidnapped her after I refused, and almost killed me and several dozen guards, there is nothing to add, lord," Kiyu replied without anger or contempt, as she tried to sound as neutral as possible.

"Oh, there is one more thing," she added. "The slave he had executed without trial after he dropped his lord's palanquin, as well as the little boy he wanted to execute for.... I don't even know. Before the sword hit the boy's head, I broke the arm of the revered city ruler."

"Li... lies! All lies, my lord!" shrieked Tānlán in panic.