Flare’s magic holds her aloft by means of a light opal aura surrounding her body—Leonard spinning his Bo staff around in determined anticipation and on his hind legs—as the five fiery stave imitations floating around the scarlet-maned kirin zip towards her opponent, the original wooden Bo pressed against her back.

As the fiery weaponry descends upon Leonard, the first to reach him attempts a side-arched swing, prompting the stallion to swing his staff and step into a butterfly kick, acrobatically jumping over the flaming weapon. While in the air, he takes notice of a second scorched adversary closing in after the first and maneuvers his staff to block the oncoming attack.

Leonard then calls upon the enchantments of his clothing and vanishes in a burst of gold, reappearing behind Flare seconds later as her fiery weaponry floats in the distance where Leonard once stood.

However, the kirin’s ears alert their owner of the horse’s presence, having picked up a magical [PLINKSH] sound behind her, prompting her to immediately raise her wooden bo staff above her head just as Leonard performs a downward strike with his own.

[CLAMPK]

The collision of their hardwood weaponry cries out alongside the roars of the onlooking crowds beyond the arena’s confines. With admirable speed, Flare throws her hind legs upward with a growl and manages to strike Leonard’s stomach, sending him skyward before the stallion’s back crashes against the light opal barrier.

“Graugh!” Leonard gasped painfully from the collision, dropping his bo staff in the process. Gravity takes over from there as the stallion falls to the arena’s surface, letting out a grunt on impact.

“I told you, stud.” Flare’s voice teased from above, Leonard’s head going up to see her eloquently descend to the arena, her mane fluttering as she landed and stood on a single hind leg.

“I’m not holding back on you any longer.” Flare twirls her staff in a single cloven forehoof repeatedly while trekking across the arena, closing in on her downed foe at a steady pace. “Here’s a tip: you might want to use something else. You caught me unawares that first time, but I’m not an amateur,” she stops within bo’s reach of the stallion. “Never use the same technique against me twice.”

Leonard grins up at his opponent, “Thanks for the advice,” the golden borders of his clothing glow, “Flare.”

The actions of the red-maned stallion’s clothing jolt the kirin to utter caution, and he clasps his forehooves together with a resounding clop.

“Wukong’s Dispersal!”

Flare growls while leaping back, landing a generous distance away as four imitations of Leonard had formed and manifested after four pillars of golden energy evenly distributed on either side of the original stallion, who rises up from the arena’s surface.

All five Leonards strike a combative stance in perfect sync on hind legs, taking on a more ape-like posture as a golden spectral monkey flashes behind the collective of Leonards, prompting Flare to let out an annoyed scoff.

“Hmph… Monkey Style.” She snorts, letting out hot air from her nostrils. “Of course.”

The stallions collectively chuckle in unison.

“Tai Monkey Style, Flare,” the group corrects. “Tai.”

“Monkey Style?!” Sandy exclaimed in shock from amongst the southern audience before looking at her mother. “You taught him Monkey Style?! Tai Monkey Style?!”

Angus Prairie raises an eyebrow, “There som’ kind’ah difference here?”

“There is, Angus,” Tzu answered. “Each of the innumerable Qinese martial arts, or kung fu, possesses its own levels of mastery—three of them in total.”

Tzu fires up her horn and creates a golden floating rune, the unmistakable pattern of the Qinese written language.

“The first level is Tai, the novice of the three.”

The rune breaks apart and molds itself into another.

“Then there’s Wu Shu, the trio's second and adept level of mastery.”

Tzu repeats the process once more, resulting in a new runic member of her homeland’s alphabet.

“Finally, there’s Shaolin, the highest level of mastery.”

“Indeed, deary,” Udrako chimed in, lowering and bending her neck down to their level. “Dragon Style, Snake Style, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit—there's many of them.”

“And each represents the majority of Qina’s inhabitants,” Sandy adds. “Allowing one to essentially take on an aspect that grants them characteristics of the appropriate being the style is named after.”

Angus hums and nods in understanding. “Ah see. But then, why didn’t ya just teach that feller Horse Style? Makin’ ‘em ahll monkey-like seems mighty unnecessary.”

“It is necessary, Angus,” Tzu emphasized with a hardened look aimed toward the barrier arena’s innards. “Yes, I could’ve taught Leonard Horse Style. He is one, after all. The process would’ve been much smoother, to be sure.

However… If a fighter uses one of the Fearsome Three, the best hope for their opponent is to also use one of the Three. But even then, another problem presents itself, and it's all too apparent with these two.”

Flare lets out a joyous chuckle while swiping her bo staff sideways, causing her fiery stave imitations to reform above her.

“Impressive, stud,” she commended. “I initially expected you to use horse-style martial arts when our match began. But seeing you wield one of the Fearsome Three makes you an admirable opponent. Had this been just a test of your capabilities, I daresay you’ve already passed and are more than able to join the Blades of Peril.”

“I’m a Redmane, Flare,” the central Leonard responds. “‘Admirable opponent’ doesn’t even begin to describe us, and we love learning new ways to fight.” The quartet shifts their stance in unison, swiping their staves to the right and resting them against their backs.

“Good thing I got myself a great teacher, eh?” He teasingly asked, earning a content ‘hmm’ from Flare.

“Indeed…” A toothy grin forms on the kirin’s face as she casually tosses her bo staff aside. “But so have I! And I’m not just talking about Rain Shine!”

With that, Leonard’s interest had been garnered, and a sudden surge in Flare’s light-opal magic aura jolts the five red-maned stallions to further attention. The kirin then lowers herself to the arena in a feline-like fashion, whereupon a spectral, transparent, hulking light-opal tiger with blue eyes forms over her, her fiery weaponry still floating above.

“Shaolin Tiger Style!” Flare boomed, her voice slightly deepened as the ‘tiger’s’ mouth moved in tandem with her own, followed by the duo raising their heads to roar in unison.

“Shaolin Tiger... Radahn’s balls,” The central Leonard couldn’t help but admire the spectacle with a hint of nervousness. Flare was essentially wearing the ‘tiger’ like a suit of armor, despite it being much larger than her, and its movements were in perfect sync with the kirin’s own as she took a step forward, causing the quartet of Leonards to step back.

“Hehe.” The five stallions laughed anxiously in unison.

“You know, Flare,” the original began, “I half expected you to use Dragon Style. I was NOT expecting… that. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume you learned it from someone who's a pretty big deal?”

Flare shrugs her shoulders, causing the ‘tiger’ to do the same, “Eh, just the literal demigoddess who raises and lowers the moon. Lady Chang’e, the White Tigress.”

The five Leonards share a look, turning their heads to one another before setting their sights on their opponent again.

“Well... Shit,” they sang together with deadpan expressions.

Both the ‘tiger’ and Flare chuckle in response. “If you all think that’s unsettling…you’re going to love this.”

Flare and her tiger imitation stomp a forehoof and paw together, causing the world all around the combatants to shift in a sudden show of flames and light-opal energy that presents itself on the barrier covering the arena.

Leonard and his clones are forced to shield their eyes from the growing intensity of heat and light. Suddenly, their ears start to pick up the unmistakable sound of wood set ablaze, and when they finally open their windows to their collective soul, they find themselves standing in the middle of a forest set on fire.

Leonard attempts to speak, but the sudden intake of smoke and charcoal burns his throat and fills his lungs, causing him to cough uncontrollably, although his clones remain unaffected.

“H-how did—” Waves of coughing interrupt the flow of his words, “—How did,” another cough, “How is she- AUHUGH! D-doing this?!”

“You were doomed from the moment I put up my barrier, stud. Though I can imagine just how confused you must be right now.”

Flare’s voice echoes around the five Leonards, despite the roars of the forest inferno, as their ears twitch and aim toward every direction. With a gesture of the original—coughing while doing so—the four clones urgently shift and form a circle formation.

“I’m not going to bore you with all the juicy details. That comes later. But I can assure you that you have no fear of dying here. Trust me.”

“Y-yeah?” Leonard managed to get out before coughing again. “Well, it kind of feels like you’re trying to—AUHUGH! K-kill me.”

“I’m not trying to kill you. But I am going to make this very unpleasant. You’re someone who’s been trained by Sun Tzu, for Buddha’s sake.”

Silence takes hold for what feels like eons as Leonard and his clones scan the ablaze forest perimeter around them.

“I’d be an idiot to let my guard down around you.”

Flare’s voice again spoke with enough intensity to put that of the roaring flames to shame. Leonard’s ears then flickered in response to something coming from the west, and as he turned to face it, there was nothing to be seen.

No… He was wrong. With narrowed eyes, Leonard managed to decipher a tree’s scorched bark having an indented surface, almost as if something had-

[GRRR-ZOOMPH]

An abrupt and swift presence, accompanied by a tiger’s growl, zips by at Leonard’s rear, cutting off the stallion’s focus as he looks back, whereupon he notices that he is now one clone short.

“What just happened?!” One of the three remaining clones questioned, practically voicing the original’s shock. “He was right there a second ago!”

“I don’t kno-!” A certain ‘tiger’s’ maw suddenly clamps shut over the clone’s head, jolting the remaining trio of Leonards to attention as the spectral beast retreats back into a wall of flames.

“Damn it!” The original stallion managed to curse without coughing, his mind racing for any and all possible routes for retaliation.

Of course…he had to keep up that appearance. Although inhaling smoke, not to mention getting dropped in the middle of a burning forest, wasn’t exactly part of the original plan. Luckily, said plan would help to alleviate that problem, too.

“Up there!” One of his two remaining clones called out with an appointed forelimb, followed by the original Leonard and the other clone shifting their heads towards the north, where Flare could be seen looking down at them from within her spectral tiger, its claws digging into the tree’s charred surface as her five fiery staffs float just overhead.

“Hello~,” Flare and her spectral tiger overhaul began. “You know, you’re making this way too easy for me. In less than five minutes, I’ve already dispatched two of those handsome clones of yours.”

With exceptional finesse, the ‘tiger’ and its creator within scale around the giant tree, disappearing behind its towering frame.

“And If I were a betting mare…”

Admittedly, Leonard and his remaining clones were getting tired of this game. To think that a simple contest of hitting each other with sticks would progress into…this. Even so, the stallion wasn’t entirely unprepared, thanks to Sun Tzu's intel.

“I’d wager that five clones are your max, am I right?”

“Haha! Yeah,” Leonard agreed while rubbing the back of his neck. “Got me there.”

‘She fell for it, boys,’ the stallion said internally via a mind link he shared with his creations. ‘It’s just like Tzu said: ‘Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. Let’s just keep Flare guessing for now.’’

‘‘If you know yourself but not the enemy,’’ the voice of a clone quotes, ‘‘for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. Heh. We’ve certainly been receiving the latter in this chaos around us.’’

‘Ah, but that leads back to our plan!’ The other clone chimed in enthusiastically. ‘‘In the midst of chaos, there is also…”

The trio nods together, and the two clones grab onto the original.

“Opportunity!” They shout outwardly in unison before Leonard is thrown with admirable force through and across the treeline, the stallion dodging obstacles, his eyes steeling and fixating on a particular target, muttering:

“It took a little longer than expected, but you can’t get away now, Flare.”

All while also following a golden, guiding stream of magic.

Flare wills her ‘tiger’ to leap from tree to tree before finally landing on the ground, the spectral beast’s tail lazily swaying side to side in correspondence with her own. The five flaming staff imitations continued to follow her like loyal companions, and she intended to make good use of them for what came next.

“Only two more clones remaining,” the kirin said. “Leonard will be completely helpless once they’ve been dealt with.” A thought causes her to suppress a giggle. “More than he already is-”

“Hey, Flare!” Leonard’s voice suddenly presents itself, causing Flare to shoot her and, by extension, the ‘tiger’s’ head toward the rapidly encroaching stallion, who, like Flare, was now within a spectral, beastly aspect: a golden monkey.

“What?!” The kirin roared in shock as the stallion approached her through fire, smoke, and charcoal. “He found me?!”

While continuing his aerial approach, Leonard conjures forth a golden staff within his ‘monkey’s’ right hand. He then spins it around, controlling his primate aspect in a similar fashion to Flare and her ‘tiger.’

“You owe this Redmane another dance!” The stallion within challenged.

Flare’s ‘tiger’ unleashes a fearsome roar as the kirin within sends forth her fiery staff imitations to combat her adversary. But Leonard simply spins his staff imitation within his ‘monkey’s’ hands around before him, effectively blocking, ricocheting, and diverting the fiery staves away.

Within a more favorable distance, Leonard roars out and puppeteers his ‘monkey’ to swipe down upon their opponent, the kirin and her ‘tiger’ evasively leaping out of the way and onto a nearby tree face as the golden stave imitation crashes down on the earth, creating a sizable crater after a booming rumble.

The red-maned stallion sharply turns his and his aspect’s attention to the kirin, who scales up the large tree via the limbs of her ‘tiger.’ Acting quickly, Leonard twirls his staff around while turning in place before thrusting it forward and aiming it directly at the ‘tiger.’

“Extend!” He exclaims.

As Flare continues up the tree, she picks up the stallion’s words from below and dares to look over her shoulder, only to spot a golden staff elongating itself infinitely and coming at her like a loosened arrow.

“Shit!” She shouts, leaping off the tree and onto another one nearby just as the stave pieces through the last. “Heh. Not bad, stud.” The krin shifts her ‘tiger’ into a stance, preparing for a pounce. “Not bad at- AUGH!”

A second golden staff strikes Flare’s ‘tiger’s’ side section, prompting the kirin to maneuver her aspect and urgently jump away after recovering from the blow, only for another stave to strike downward on the ‘tiger’s’ back with great force.

Flare and her aspect are sent meteoring down to the flaming forest’s floor, shaking the general area on impact and creating a crater, its depth concealed within a cloud of ash and dust.

Leonard and his two clones, those responsible for the duo of sudden strikes on Flare and possessed monkey aspects of their own, come together to form a wall a short distance away from Flare’s crash site.

“We have just enough magic fuel left in our clothes’ enchantments for one final strike,” the clone to Leonard’s left voiced. “After that…bye-bye, magic.”

“We’ll need to make it count,” the other clone to the original’s right chimed in. “Once these aspects of ours are vanquished, you’ll once again be vulnerable to the elements, creator.”

“Right,” the original stallion states in agreement, followed by the trio sharing a look with one another, nodding afterward.

“We’ll take this time to prepare while she’s still down.”

Following the impact, Flare lies splayed out on her back, beaten and battered, but with a satisfied grin. She looks up at the visible treeline beyond the crater’s mouth as her ‘tiger’ aspect has been shed from her former collision.

“Amazing~,” she mused with the red-maned stallion in mind. “He’s perfect. A breeder who can defend himself is always a treat.” Chuckling amusingly, Flare eloquently rolls over and pushes herself off the ground and onto her hooves in one swift motion, kicking up a gust of wind in the process.

“He’s up there plotting something at this very moment, no doubt,” the kirin began with closed eyes. “It really is a pity, then,” her eyes shoot open with ferocity, “that I’ll have to show him just how pointless any of his attempts are in this place.”

With a plan in mind, Flare proceeds to scale up the nearest incline of the crater, her cloven hooves grabbing onto dirt, ash, and rocks to pull herself up along the way. Upon reaching the mouth and pulling herself out of the earthly indentation, the scarlet-maned kirin surveys her surroundings, scanning the ablaze forestation for any signs of Leonard.

“Come on out, Leonard!” She called out while turning in place. “I’m not finished yet!”

“I kind of figured.” Her ears dart toward the direction of the stallion’s voice, and she turns her head accordingly. She then spots Leonard stepping around a tree to reveal himself, leaning against it afterward with the aid of his ‘monkey’ aspect.

However, she takes note of one glaring detail pertaining to his clothing. The golden fabrics of his attire’s borders were losing their hue, being nowhere near as lively as they once were at the start of their battle.

“You’re strong, Flare,” the stallion compliments genuinely. “Really strong. I’m learning a lot from this fight.”

“Good to hear it. By the way, I’m curious: How did you manage to find me before?”

“Those clones you destroyed? They marked that tiger of yours with Wukong’s Trace,” the stallion illustrates his point by resting his ‘monkey’s’ right hand on the tree, leaving behind a golden handprint. “Once a connection was established, I followed a golden stream of magic that’s only visible to my eyes, and it led me straight to you.”

The revelation causes Flare to stare wide-eyed at her opponent for a time in silence, which is then abruptly broken as she throws her head back for boisterous laughter.

“Why, you sneaky little equine-shaped monkey!” She managed during her laughter, regaining her composure a moment later. “But I guess that’s to be expected from a Monkey Style user, of course.” Her eyes drift off towards the borders of the stallion’s clothes.

“Hmm. Can’t help but notice your golden glow seems to be losing its’ vigor.”

“I’m not even going to lie to you, Flare; I’m running low on power here. If we don’t take you down with this final attack,” Leonard’s ‘monkey’ points up at the treeline, Flare following the gesture, after which she spots innumerable amounts of Leonards positioned on branches and latched onto trees all around the vicinity, each with its own golden primate aspect, “we’re done for.”

The kirin was at a loss for words in sight of the sheer number of clones her adversary had managed to conjure and position subtly. Every Leonard in attendance began to charge up some form of attack in their ‘monkey’s’ palm before aiming it at Flare in unison. And just as they all let loose a warcry while firing off golden comet-shaped energy projectiles, Flare raises a cloven forehoof high into the air in defiance during the barrage’s approach.

“That will be all, Leonard! BEHOLD THE TRUTH!”

Reality itself begins to bend and warp in response to her proclamation, the phenomenon startling every stallion, clones and the original alike, as the world was consumed in a burst of white light.

“W-what just…?” Leonard questioned in shock, his mind trying to make sense of things. He was now on the ground again within the…forest.

A forest that wasn’t on fire anymore, as if it were restored to its original self before the flames tarnished its beauty. Moreover, not a single member of his legion of clones could be seen. And as he looks himself over, he realizes that he has been stripped of his former attire.

“Where are my clothes?!” The stallion questioned in shock. “What did she do to me?!”

“Everything you’ve just experienced was both a dream and reality.” Flare’s voice answered from above, prompting Leonard’s gaze to scale up a tree, spotting the kirin and her aspect lying sideways on a branch, their tails hanging lazily off of it.

Seconds ticked by as the duo simply stared at one another. Flare, smirking, and Leonard, utterly confused.

“Don’t worry about your clothes, by the way,” Flare states as she fires up her horn and levitates his neatly folded apparel in a light-opal magical grasp, setting it down alongside her ‘tiger’s’ frame. “I’ve got it right here. You’ll need to recharge them later.”

“You…undressed me?” He questioned, followed by a suspicious glare. “...You didn’t do anything funny to me, did you?”

“No, no. I assure you.”

“You stripped me…”

“Gently and non-invasively, that is. Although I’d be lying if the thought didn’t cross my mind.”

“Ok, ok, forget about that for a second!” The stallion bursts while shaking his head with closed eyes, opening them to question the kirin further. “What, in Radahn’s name, just happened?”

Flare chuckles as she and her aspect lift themselves up from the branch before jumping down and joining Leonard on ground level.

“I’ll try to keep this brief,” she starts while stepping around to circle the stallion in a fashion similar to the predatory aspect she controlled, “but you’ve been, let’s say, daydreaming.”

“D-daydreaming…?” He inquired while bending his neck back to look at her as she passed his rear. “Like, actual daydreaming?”

“It’s what we like to call it,” she answered, coming up alongside his right and positioning herself in front of him again. “It occurs when I ensnare someone, that being you, within a spacial fragment of the Dream Realm. The thing is, you’re not actually asleep, but I can infiltrate your psyche all the same.”

The stallion’s eyes shoot wide open in realization. “That barrier you put up… That’s when you…”

Flare nods. “I wanted to see what you were capable of and how you would adapt in the heat of battle, pun very much intended. So, I allowed you to feel like everything you were doing and were experiencing was real. I even changed the scenery for you, which I can do on a whim.

In ‘reality’ though? This space? You were just standing right there, creating your clones, summoning your aspects, everything. When you and your clones started to fire off those blasts of yours, I got a good grasp of your capabilities, and now…here we are.”

Leonard’s muzzle parted slightly, the stallion at a loss for words as the true gravity of the situation came down on him.

“I wasn’t lying when I said that you were doomed from the moment I put up that barrier, stud.”

She practically voiced the conclusion he was coming to, garnering a chuckle from him. “I, uh, don’t suppose there’s a way for me to get out of this?”

“There is, actually,” that caused his ears to rise, “but I’m not telling you,” she emphasized with a wink. “Nice try, though.”

“Damn,” he jests while shaking his head. “And you learned how to do this from a moon-bearing demigoddess?”

“Lady Chang’e, yes.”

“Ok…” Leonard stares at her. “...That’s fucking awesome.”

“Right?!” She expressed in glee. That is until she abruptly shifts her features into a more serious expression, which causes caution to rise in Leonard, the stallion gritting his teeth in anticipation.

“But that’s enough talking for now.” She steps forward while licking her lips; he steps back.

“N-now, Flare, hear me out,” he stutters while backing away, “m-maybe we can just go back t-to using Bo staffs?”

“No,” the kirin declined instantly, continuing her approach. “But if it’s of any consolation, Leonard, I promise to treat you well-”

[CRACHINK]

In an instant, the barrier Flare had erected and the spacial anomaly within, by extension, was penetrated, a deafening sound almost akin to shattered glass gracing both of their ears and causing them to flinch unbearably with closed eyes.

Opening their eyes once more, Leonard and Flare found themselves within the hardwood arena again, the remains of her barrier sizzling away in light opal particles. Additionally, the crowd was gone, with not a single onlooker in sight.

“Leonard! Flare! This match is over!” Mulan calls out from above, the duo looking up to see her hovering in place within a jade-colored magic aura.

“Seriously, Empress?!” Flare roared up at Peak Village’s leader with a hint of frustration. “I was just about to-”

“There’s an emergency!” Mulan interjects sternly and with urgency, garnering Flare and Leonard’s attention as she tosses a potion down to the crimson-maned kirin, who catches it within her magic.

“ALL members of the Blades of Peril are to head to the village NOW!”

Mulan’s tone causes Flare to shift her stance in a militarized fashion. “What’s the situation, Empress?” She inquired while popping the cork off the potion and downing its’ substance.

“A wyvern is attacking and has claimed several of our sisters’ lives. That creature...has a blood debt to pay.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 22~ Estimated time remaining: 10 Minutes