Scouting

Shi reached the gates and summoned his black kite, having it fly towards where the scout had said the army was. Shi hadn't just spent the last month and a half making his summon stronger, he had been working on a new technique.

As the kite flew away, Shi closed his eyes and focused on his summon. Shi sat down near the wall and made a mental link between him and the kite. Suddenly, the blackness of Shi's eyelids was replaced by a top-down view of the ground rushing by.

As Shi got his bearings, he saw that his senses were sharpened. He focused on the ground as the kite flew on, looking for the army. After a while, Shi saw a couple small squads making their way towards the castle.

Shi couldn't use his mana sense through the hawk but the men were wearing poor clothing and carried spears so he doubted that they were mages. After thinking about it for a bit, Shi decided to turn the kite around and sent it hurtling down at one of the squads.

The kite came down on one of the men, claws leading. Before any of the men noticed the kite, it sank its claws into one of their throats, tearing it out. All of the men froze for a second as they processed what had just happened, and during that moment the kite slammed its beak into another man's eye, going through the eye and into the brain, killing him instantly.

The remaining three men stabbed at the kite with their spears, but the kite flapped its wings to gain some height, narrowly dodging the spears. Before the men could retract their spears, the kite rushed in towards one of the men, heading straight towards his eye.

The man dropped his spear and held his arms up in front of his face to protect it. The kite folded its wings and turned upside down, dropping under the man's hands and slamming its open beak into his throat.

The man's scream was cut off by the kite snapping its beak shut, crushing the man's windpipe in its beak. The kite planted its talons on the man's raised arms and ripped the man's windpipe out through his neck, dropping it on the ground.

The kite jumped off the man's arms, launching itself down and under the thrusts of the other two men's spears. The kite flipped itself back upright as it went down to land on its talons.

The kite flapped its wings powerfully, launching itself at one of the men. The kite flapped its wings forward at the man mid-flight, slowing its forward's momentum, narrowly dodging the second man's spear thrust.

The kite reached out its talons and clawed the man's eyes out, before landing on his face and flying straight towards the last man. The man brought the but of his spear to block the kite's attack.

Expecting this, the kite turn sideways, reaching its talons out towards the spear. As the kite's talons caught onto the spear, the kite leaned forwards, using the spear but as a pivot point. The kite revolved around the spear, slamming its beak into the side of the man's neck.

The kite forced its beak open while it was in the man's neck, opening the side of the man's neck. The kite's attack had hit the Carotid Artery, so the man was doomed. As the man lied there bleeding out, the kite launched itself into the air and continued towards where the army was supposed to be.

After a few minutes, the army appeared below the kite. Shi looked down at the army in shock. He knew that the Eikyo family would have to take him seriously the next time they came after him but he hadn't expected them to take him this seriously.

There had to be at least 15,000 men below the kite, with at least 50 men that looked different enough to definitely be mages. Shi had the kite fly towards the back middle part of the army to see who was running it.

When the kite arrived, Shi had it start circling to avoid suspicion. As the kite circled, Shi focused in on the men below the kite. Shi saw a group of men that were dressed significantly better than the men around them.

There were about 25 men in the group, but there were two men who were dressed significantly more opulently than the others. Shi imagined that those two would have to be the strongest ones since they were probably from the Eikyo family.

Satisfied with his findings, Shi unsummoned the kite. Shi's vision went black again as the kite disappeared and he opened his eyes to see the courtyard. Shi stood up and stretched, before heading back to the castle to get some food.

After night fell, Shi stopped training his mana manipulation and left the castle. Shi rushed north towards where the army had been and activated war cry and stoneskin. As the army came into view, Shi saw that they had camped down for the night.

One of the men on the wall saw Shi and the man next to him headed into the camp. As Shi came closer the man stopped him, "Who are you, and why are you here?" he asked in a serious tone, his hand on the hilt of the katana at his belt.

"I'm Shi, I run that castle back there," Shi said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder behind him, "I'm here to have a friendly chat with your leader." The man looked at Shi for a second, then called another soldier over.

"You, go tell master Akio that the man Shi has come to see him. Come back with his response." The soldier nodded before heading into the camp. "So, how many men do you have here?" Shi asked the soldier casually.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to answer those questions, but you can ask Akio if he agrees to meet you." The soldier said, packing his kiseru. "Want some?" The soldier asked Shi as he took a puff.

"No thanks," Shi said, turning on his mana sense. To his surprise, the man was a green core mage. Shi noticed that all the other guards posted on watch were yellow-core or higher. After a few minutes, the man who had gone to see Akio came back and asked Shi to follow him.

The man led Shi to a giant tent in the middle of the camp and opened the flap. Shi stepped in and saw that 10 of the 25 men he had pegged with his kite were sitting across a table from him.

"Please sit," One of the two Eikyo family members said, "We have a lot to talk about."