Reisen Riou arrived at the archer unit.
"Hey, bro—no, sis—what's the deal with the Dark Sea front?" Reisen Riou clapped the Tengu General's shoulder, correcting himself after sensing her gender.
"You're Ritou Shrine's Lord Reisen?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Heard your archery's top-notch," the Tengu General said.
"It's alright," Reisen Riou said modestly.
"Hmph," she scoffed. "If Lady Ei vouched for your archery and named you deputy of the archer unit, you're deputy. No worries about stepping on toes."
"Your archery's self-taught, right? Riou-ryu, renamed after promotion. Got any signature moves?"
"Sure do. How do I show 'em?" Reisen Riou asked.
The Tengu General stood, her chest—adorned with a black Slime emblem—nearly knocking Reisen Riou back. He stumbled, regaining distance.
She summoned a few elite archers.
They nocked and fired in unison.
"Thunderstrike Barrage! Resonance!" The General's body glowed with incantations, her Vision flaring. The runes morphed into coiling lightning.
"Everlasting Way, Eternal Narukami!" The archers chanted the Shogunate's slogan.
All loosed a single arrow.
With a crackle, each arrow sparked with Electro.
Guided by the General, the arrows streaked across the sky. Far at sea, several Mitachurls rowing boats were pinned dead by the volley.
"Heart Flow?" Reisen Riou gaped.
The General, smirking provocatively, eyed him.
Not backing down, Reisen Riou rallied the miko archers, picking a few at Archery LV5 as his squad.
He guided their draw and release.
"Guiding Arrow, One Begets Many, Elemental Burst—Thunder Spear Array!"
Reisen Riou's arrow led, his Vision igniting. It morphed into a massive Electro spear, splitting into phantom copies. The phantoms pulled the others' arrows, all spears solidifying.
The spears raced to catch the lead, but lagged slightly. They arced across the sky, landing on a Mitachurl Thunderhelm's skull.
The central spear ignored its shield, piercing flesh, pinning the Thunderhelm. Follow-up spears nailed it dead.
Electro erupted, reducing the Thunderhelm to ash, returning it to the Ley Lines.
The Tengu General's brow twitched. This guy's archery might outshine mine, she thought. Her attempt to flex backfired, leaving her sheepish.
Reisen Riou looked calm, but inside, he was panicking like a dog.
He cursed the Dark Sea's wretched weather.
Heaven help him, he'd aimed for a basic Mitachurl. To counter wind and interference, he'd even used his gigantification trick.
Yet a stray thunder magnetic field veered his arrows, landing the Thunder Spear Array on a Thunderhelm.
Ugh.
Snapping back, he wondered if this was another bigshot's meddling.
Don't think, don't think.
Crack! A lightning bolt exploded at his feet, making him leap.
Guess I was right. What's your deal, scaring me like this?
The archers stifled laughs.
Lost in thought, Reisen Riou missed a purple thunderbolt from the sky, zapping him stiff.
"Oh, right—I'm an elemental being, Geo-Electro. Not immune to Electro, but my resistance is high."
A golden thunderbolt loomed faintly. Reisen Riou shut up fast.
Golden lightning was Baal's domain. His inner Electro paled against it, a chasm wider than facing Raiden Ei—Baalzebub.
Ei's Electro quality outstripped his, sharing the same essential gap as Baal's. But her's didn't suppress lesser Electro like Baal's golden lightning.
"It's like, no matter how often you feel it, that lightning's the natural enemy of regular Electro," the Tengu General once said.
She now respected Reisen Riou's archery. Though his arrows veered, she didn't know. She only saw his elemental control dwarfed hers.
His archery matched hers, nearly.
Its personal flair, though, wasn't suited for large-scale combat.
Smartly, he'd developed Guiding Arrow to lead shots and Thunder Spear Array to boost impact.
What impressed her more was his eye for talent. In moments, he picked skilled, balanced archers—not too elite, not too weak.
Uniform squads excelled in group combat.
She'd learned her unit's strengths through long battles and bonds. Reisen Riou, with a glance, nailed it.
She noticed his picks had similar physical strength, too.
"What's the situation up there?" Reisen Riou asked, resigned.
"Obviously, Lord Narukami and Lady Ei have the upper hand," the General said. "It'll wrap soon, not even delaying the Narukami Grand Festival."
The sky battle seemed done. After a purple lightning frenzy, dazzling blade flashes paired with a wail. The Dark Sea Demon God retreated.
Inazuma's twin Demon Gods stowed their powers. Reisen Riou glanced back. Without clouds or drizzle, Mount Yougou gleamed in sunlight, the Kanjou Commission's mid-slope base faintly visible.
"Withdraw!" the General barked.
"That's it?" Reisen Riou blinked.
"What'd you expect?"
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