"Hey, big tanuki, lend us your Chinju Forest for a bit," Reisen Riou called out.
"Damn fox youkai, ganging up with a phone youkai and a naginata youkai to thrash me!" groaned Goryou Goma, battered and bruised, sprawled after Reisen Anko easily floored him.
"You can't beat them, yet you still tried?" Yae Saiguu teased, ruffling Goryou's fur. As Narukami's guardian deity, he should've known better.
Chinju Forest was the chosen arena for the Rock-Shadow-Thunderlight Brigade's final exam against Raiden Ei's elite Okuzumeshu squad, handpicked by Yae Saiguu for her love of spectacle. They hadn't cleared it with Goryou Goma, the forest's tanuki lord, who'd tried to block their prep visit—until Anko trounced him, and Saiguu's charm secured his approval. Judging by his glee, he probably expected a fun show.
Tenmoku Uji soon arrived with the Brigade's four—Bankaku Nisei, Gensei Jirou, Kagei Banma, Arakawa Jirou—followed by Ei, Raiden Makoto, Torachiyo, and a gaggle of idle Tenryou Commission generals. Reisen Riou eyed the VIPs and announced the rules: three rounds in two parts—individual combat, team combat, and infiltration/counter-infiltration.
Individual combat was straightforward. The Okuzumeshu, all LV50+, unleashed a flurry of blade auras, overwhelming Reisen's team. Only Bankaku Nisei, now LV50+, pulled a win with his versatile skills, cementing his ace status. The others lagged slightly.
"You might lose the team round," Reisen Riou taunted Ei.
"We'll see," she smirked, her smile fleeting.
The Brigade's four wielded diverse Visions: Bankaku's Hydro, Gensei's Cryo, Kagei's Dendro, Arakawa's Pyro—capable of Burning, Freeze, Vaporize, Melt, and Bloom reactions. Elemental reactions, though powerful, were uncontrollable by Vision-wielders, often hitting hard.
"Team round, begin!" Reisen Riou's Electro crackled as the healed Okuzumeshu and Brigade entered the field.
"Where's Bankaku?" someone muttered—he'd vanished.
The Okuzumeshu, clad in heavy armor, formed a phalanx and charged. Trained for this, the Brigade's three dodged with eerie precision, weaving past the assault to strike from behind. Their attacks failed to break the samurai's stability.
"Bankaku-ryu: Tidal Rush!" Bankaku materialized, riding a Hydro wave, crashing toward the samurai.
"Burn it!" Arakawa loosed a Pyro arrow, missing but igniting the ground, disrupting the samurai's stability and Vaporizing Bankaku's Hydro.
"Prism Frost: Freeze!" Gensei's Cryo locked the unbalanced samurai in ice.
Dendro seals from Kagei bloomed, triggering Burning with nearby Pyro and Bloom with Hydro, spawning Grassland Cores. The samurai sensed danger. One erupted with Electro, triggering Electro-Charged to free his allies. The Cores exploded, blocked by their armor.
"Collective Art: Thunderlight Array!" The Okuzumeshu, all Vision-wielders, unleashed Ei's tech-enhanced formation.
"My Thunderlight Barrier?" Reisen Riou's mouth twitched. His basic barrier, potent at LV50+, had been upgraded by Ei for multi-user elemental input, amplifying its strength. He calculated: three to four of his arrows, two of Anko's naginata strikes, or three samurai sword swings to break it. Others gawked at the Okuzumeshu's prowess.
Suddenly, the barrier doubled—one encasing the battlefield, another shielding the samurai. "Ei, that's overkill," Reisen Riou grumbled. The dual-layer trick was his advanced Thunder Elixir Barrier technique, meant for high-end containment, now repurposed by Ei.
She shot him a side-eye, silencing him. He smirked—he'd gone further. The Brigade vanished in a Hydro-fueled mist, courtesy of his Mistveil Technique, inspired by a past-life anime. In Teyvat, it required a Hydro-user's Stealth Barrier to avoid Electro-Charged paralysis from Electro foes or monsters.
"Can't see a thing!" the crowd groaned, glaring at Reisen Riou for an explanation.