It started when rumors floated around about monsters pouring out from the mysterious ruins nobody could enter.
Then there was news of all the martial arts sects deploying all their disciples to seal those ruins.
And then we began to hear some of the smaller sects getting wiped out fighting off the monsters.
Not long after that, a couple of the larger sects began to join the list of decimation.
The tales of defeat kept on coming that old lady Maojien could now count with her fingers and toes the remaining sects that were still fighting for Tchakra.
Maojien was born without a foot and lost a pinkie and a thumb while fishing dragon eels.
The situation had turned for the worse that it was not surprising to hear every two or three days that a town or a large city had fallen to the monsters.
Because of the dire days, I, an artist, had even started learning assault magic.
How could I not?
One time, while my performance troupe was travelling to do a show in another city, a horde of monster threatened to invade and eat all our audience.
I simply could not sit idly by.
So I went to the city walls and helped the thousands of guards fight the monsters by raging the entire field outside the city on fire.
Another time, I flooded a whole forest with water and mud to prevent the monsters from marching toward our performance tent.
One winter, I stopped a bunch of monsters by melting a frozen lake and let them drowned into the freezing water.
I did the opposite once when my troupe were trying to flee the monsters and I froze a river so we could escape by crossing there.
I also once blocked a whole valley and buried a bunch of monsters by tearing down the side of a rocky hill. Allowing my performance troupe to escape safely while we were travelling for another show.
There was also the time when I summoned a tornado to stall the monsters so my troupe could escape into the city in time. I almost died back then since I could barely casted the huge spell quickly enough.
Actually, I almost died in every moment I encountered the monsters.
I immediately passed out after I burned the plain.
Went unconscious for the next three days while being in a critical state. The city guard forces I was helping was almost wiped out when I finally casted my spell too.
The monsters almost crossed the forest when I finally finished my spell and flooded the entire area. The same happened on the lake.
Many escort guards died trying to buy me time to freeze the river. Triple the number when I was trying the block the valley.
Some of my performers and servants actually lost their lives because it took me too long to cast my wind spell while we were escaping into a city.
Had I learned magic properly back when I was young, all those deaths could have probably been prevented.
Had I not invested so much time for my art instead….
No!
Those were dangerous situations. Wars!
It would be stupid to expect no casualties in battles.
There was nothing I could do about them.
I also managed to learn all those grand elemental spells just fine on my own.
The reason I had not fully mastered them yet was simply because I only had a few years to learn them all.
If only I had spent more time practicing those spells…
"Yuxia?"
Maojien suddenly called me from outside my dressing room.
"What is it?"
I asked as I fixed my silver hair with the final decorative piece for my costume.
"I've brought Chango as you asked."
"Alright, send him in."
I said to her while giving a look to the mirror, making sure my face was stage ready.
The screen door slid open and revealed a short muscular prosthetic-legged old woman.
Despite only having one real foot, Maojien easily dragged a fat long-bearded ponytailed fellow in her grips and threw him before my feet.
The fat man was bruised all over. Courtesy of Maojien, no doubt.
If he expected a softer treatment from me, then he was terribly mistaken.
I kicked the man in the stomach so he could fall back and look up to my face.
"Urgh!"
I kicked him again when he fell sideway.
"Argh!"
Maojien then grabbed him by the shoulders and made him kneel in front of me.
She took a firm grasp of the fat man's ponytail and angled his head so he could look right to my sharp emerald eyes.
"Chango, I heard you've been charging people to see our show, even when I specifically ordered not to."
The fat man turned his eyes away at my accusation.
I then shifted my gaze to Maojien.
The old woman nodded back to me and proceeded to slam the fat man's head on the floor, breaking his face as well as dismantling a couple of teeth, a pair of them was made of gold.
"Ack!"
With blood streaming down his broken nose and lips, Maojien lifted the man's face so he could see me again.
"Why did you do it, Chango? Why did you ask for their money?"
I asked the man.
When he was reluctant to answer, Maojien strengthened her grip on his ponytail. She also squeezed one of his shoulders, which I just noticed to have been dislocated, and made him groan in more pain.
The fat fellow finally moaned out his answer.
"Th-they're…c-customers, Yuxia. We've got to…m-make…profit."
My arm immediately flew upon hearing his answer.
I backhanded him so hard he was thrown out of Maojien's hold.
"THEY'RE REFUGEES, CHANGO!"
I shouted at the crook bastard.
I grabbed him by the collar and went on furiously.
"They are people that have lost everything!"
I held the man in my glare. I would make sure he knew his crime.
"Monsters have taken everything from them. Their homes, their families, their loved ones. Gone!"
I used every strength that I had and lifted the man slightly, choking him in my grip.
"They came to Lantern City because they have nowhere else to go. This city is their last hope. The Dragon Weaver Pavilion is supposed to show them that!"
I threw the fat man across the room and unleashed my anger at the greedy scum.
"HOW COULD YOU STILL THINK OF MONEY AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!"
The man was about to leap and run away. But Maojien easily caught him firmly in her grasp once more.
"What do you want to do with this trash?"
The old woman asked.
"Strip him naked and throw him into the woods outside the city. Have our strong men at the gates on watch in case he tries to come back."
The man shrieked upon my order.
He went to sobbing as Maojien dragged him away from my dressing room.
I could not help but sigh at what I just dealt with.
The whole world seemed like it was about to end and there were still bastards that wanted to take advantage of the situation.