Masters Fencer, Kyem, Pheisl, Ayu and Emma sat in Emma's cavern with Josec, Buern, Harry and Estelle. Outside the cavern, it was night time but within the cavern, the concept of day and night had almost been forgotten and the biological clocks of everyone were slowly being altered. They now slept whenever they felt tired and trained during the rest of the day. The Masters ensured that the students reviewed the lessons they had learnt thus far.
On the night before the journey to the sixth Master commenced, the Masters assembled separately and began to talk.
"It's almost time, isn't it?" Master Kyem said with a grim look on his face.
"Do you think they're ready?" Master Pheisl asked.
"No one is ever ready for a danger the class of a natural disaster and these kids will have to confront seven of them" Master Fencer said.
"I don't think it wise to keep them in the dark anymore" Master Ayu said.
"They're not in the dark. The Raging Mad Thunderbird, the seventh Master of Jo-lan already informed them of the seven generals of Souryu they must face though she did not go into details" Master Fencer said.
"The seven generals of Souryu, each the class of a cataclysmic natural disaster. Facing them wasn't easy, even for us and I'm quite sure they've gotten much stronger by now. It would be folly to believe these kids can face them even with our help. We might just be alone on this one" Master Kyem said.
"Hmm…you're right about everything you've said except for one fact. Whoever made you believe that we were alone?" Master Fencer said with a confident smile.
The other Masters opened their eyes in surprise then turned to the History of Jo-lan in Master Emma's cavern. The History of Jo-lan was filled with people who had to face insurmountable odds, often on their own however the way in which they triumphed over those odds were beyond the capabilities of mere mortals begging the question 'who aided them?' The Masters knew the answer. It was the same person that created Light, Love, Courage and Hope; the one that forms the body of the phoenix, holds it together and sustains it; the one sometimes known as the Crimson Winged Hero.
"We're never alone which is why I suggest it's about time we once more came out of our caves and launched an all-out assault on the seven generals of Souryu" Fencer said.
"An all-out assault huh? There are only seven of us in all the present generation that have experience fighting these generals and the seventh is presently unaccounted for. Apart from that we have four students with us that have no experience dealing with these generals whatsoever. Are you dumb enough to suggest we fight a foe probably many times stronger than we are while trying to defend four students?" Master Ayu asked with an eyebrow raised.
"No, I suggest we split up. Two Masters to a general. One party might be allotted three Masters depending on how the Raging Mad Thunderbird decides to move. We will have to assign the student with weakest offensive ability to the team that will be seeking out the general in the location with closest proximity to the Raging Mad Thunderbird and have that team be assigned two extra Masters. With our remaining numbers, we will create a team with balanced offensive and defensive capabilities; a team of two Masters and two students and we will assign the Masters and student with the strongest offensive capability to the last team. That should give us overall balance" Master Fencer explained.
"It is a good suggestion especially if we consider the fact that brute force does not necessarily define each Masters' strengths and regardless of offensive capability, we are all evenly matched. It also implies that each team is responsible for taking down at least two generals of Souryu. One team will unfortunately have to take down three" Master Ayu said.
"All that's left is for the students to complete their training. We will discuss our plans with them only once that is over and done with" Master Fencer said.
The other Masters nodded.
The following day, everyone prepared to head towards the sixth and final Master leaving out the Raging Mad Thunderbird who was currently unaccounted for.
"How many more Masters do we have to find?" Harry asked.
"Don't worry, this will be your last" Fencer said.
"But that makes the total count six instead of seven Masters" Buern said in surprise.
"You noticed. It was the seventh Jo-lan Master that sent you to us. Right now, if I were to venture a guess, I'd say she's already gathering information on the seven generals of Souryu" Fencer said.
"You mean…my mom is…" Josec was surprised.
"I see you're quite taken aback. Yes indeed, your mother is the seventh Jo-lan Master and she is also the only one amongst us seven that has ever actually defeated Apollo. That story isn't as widespread as the tale of my battle with Apollo though" Fencer said.
Once more, the journey took five days and as they neared the middle of the trail, the students began to take interest in what their final Master was like.
"She never really talks about her abilities or strengths in detail and most of the time she is extremely shy. That is…until the time comes to do what needs to be done. She never delays to act when the time calls for it but she never acts whenever it is unnecessary. She has never actually told us what her unique trait is but she once dropped a hint. 'My power she said is;
'She that undertook a quest to those worthy of her and was rejected. Then returning to her abode, she undertook a second quest to those she never sought and was accepted. And with them she dwells'.
That is all she ever says about her unique trait but we've affectionately come to call her 'the wielder of the God weapons.' Her name is Andrea Rayne in case you were curious" Master Ayu said.
As they neared the end of the path, they noticed a woman a ways away waving towards them. They approached her.
"Once more, our paths connect" the five Masters greeted.
"Six canons…become one" the woman replied.
She didn't look much older than the students and this surprised them.
"She doesn't look much older than us" Buern said.
"She's the youngest Jo-lan Master. None of us are that old anyway" Master Fencer said.
"What of Master Kyem. He is obviously old!" Harry exclaimed in shock.
"He prefers to be seen that way" Master Fencer replied.
"You guys are just beyond us" Buern sighed in defeat.
"Come in" Master Andrea escorted them into her cavern.
The first thing Josec did was to seek out Master Andrea's History of Jo-lan. It was represented in art and sometimes in words. There was the 'Common History Of Jo-lan' which was not so different from any of the other Masters. Josec glanced past that and stared at the 'Unique' or 'Personal' History of Jo-lan.
He saw things he didn't comprehend. There was an image of a building on the verge of collapse, a chair missing a leg, a puzzle almost completed except for one piece. Then there was an image of a cloth on the verge of becoming a rag and finally Josec noticed a long spiral made out of standing blocks with numbers imprinted on them.
"Master Andrea" he called. "This is your unique History Of Jo-lan right?" he asked.
She nodded in response.
"What does it mean?" Josec asked.
Master Andrea smiled softly.
"Originally, you would have rested for five days here if you were going to travel to the seventh Master Of Jo-lan afterwards but since your final training will most likely not occur within the walls of these caves, you will rest here for two days and then I will test you" Master Andrea said.
"Test us…how?" Buern asked curiously.
"I will tell you that after your rest is complete" Master Andrea said.
So there were two days of rest in contrast to the usual five days all finally adding up to five weeks and two days of rest. Funnily enough, it was like having five weeks without their weekends and a weekend without its week days.
When two days were over, the students stood before Master Andrea.
"What is the nature of our test Master?" Estelle asked.
"There are ancient sayings I am familiar with. Three of them go like this 'it takes a thousand men to build a strong tower but one foolish man to destroy it'. Then 'the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step' and finally, 'the strongest chain is only as strong as its weakest link'. There are many forms of battle but the enemy is the same and a battle with a sword is only one of the many variations. Your test is to tell me what is common amongst all the objects in my 'Unique History of Jo-lan'" Master Andrea said.
"Hmm" Buern said silently. "Is that all?" she asked, not because she underestimated the test but because she finally understood that the theme of each Master's Unique History of Jo-lan was never trivial.
"That is all" Master Andrea said with an encouraging smile.
For a day, the students stood before her History of Jo-lan trying to find the Common Trait amongst all the things they saw.
"The building and chair are on the verge of collapse" Josec said.
"But the puzzle is on the verge of completion so I doubt the theme here is deterioration" Estelle said.
"The cloth is also on the verge of deterioration so deterioration appears to be a major theme flowing through all of this" Buern said.
"And what does a spiral made out of numbered standing blocks mean? I doubt there is any deterioration there" Harry pointed out.
"So we have three objects sharing the common theme of deterioration, one on the verge of completion hence throwing our assumptions out of whack and one that remains a mystery" Buern said.
"What if we said they are all missing something?" Estelle asked.
"The first four objects are indeed missing something but we still haven't figured out the trait of the last one and it doesn't appear to be missing anything. It's simply a spiral made out of numbered standing blocks. Even if one of them is missing, we wouldn't really be able to tell unless there was a block missing in the spiral formation" Buern argued.
The students took short breaks between their study of Andrea's Unique History Of Jo-lan. When evening came, they sighed in defeat and expressed their ideas to Andrea.
"You are not completely wrong. However, you are not completely right either" Master Andrea said.
When the students and Masters sat together, the students pleaded with them for clues. Master Fencer realized that they were trying their best so he gave them one.
"There are two major ways to destroy what is built but when you do it one of the ways, you forget the pain of building" he said.
"How does that help?" Buern asked.
"Think of it like this, all blocks are not laid at the same time" Master Fencer said.
The following day, the students stood before the art once more.
"All blocks are not laid at the same time" they mused and stared at the paintings.
As they stared, Harry noticed something strange.
"Buern, look! The distance between each block is shorter than the height of the blocks" he said.
"I think I know what those blocks are" Buern sighed, feeling stupid for not noticing it before.
"What are they?" Josec asked.
"They are dominoes of some kind. I don't really know how they are used but there's this trick. If you set them up vertically, a certain distance from one another and topple them, the whole pile collapses in sequence" Buern said.
"Then we weren't really wrong, but we weren't really right either. Master Fencer said 'all blocks are not laid at the same time in reference to the art of building but he also said there are two ways to destroy anything but one way makes you forget the pain of building. I think he meant you could either wreck it or take it apart piece by piece" Josec said.
"You seem to be on to something. Go on" Harry encouraged.
"If you take away a foundation stone or a key supporting pillar, the entire building will be in danger of collapsing, take one leg from a chair and you will fall with the chair, take one piece of a puzzle away and regardless of how clear you can see the image of the puzzle, the entire idea of the puzzle remains a mystery, a cloth begins to decay the moment the first thread is pulled out and a block of dominoes laid vertically and placed a certain even distance from one another will collapse entirely the moment the first block is pushed. It takes a thousand men to build a strong tower but one foolish man to destroy it, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and the strongest chain is only as strong as its weakest link all express the theme of 'The Power of One' or 'Oneness'. One person, one piece could be what supports the whole building. It is possible that the Crimson Phoenix would never have formed if even one of the people that formed it were missing" Josec said.
The four students heard the sound of clapping from behind them.
"Well done, you have passed my test. You have discovered the one thing that can be used in any variation of battle. She is the one called Wisdom but you've barely began to understand her ways" Andrea said.
"WHAAA…you mean the 'she' you've been talking about all these years was 'Wisdom'? And you never told me yet you had no hesitation telling these kids the moment you met them?" Fencer complained.
"Don't act like a spoilt child Fencer. They solved a riddle you couldn't solve when you were their age and you better than I know they need a lot of her in the next battle they're about to face" Master Andrea said.
"What next battle?" Estelle asked worriedly.
"What do you think the major reason is that the sting of Souryu's power can be felt throughout the world?" Master Pheisl asked seriously.
"I don't know" Josec replied seriously.
"Think of it this way…how does an emperor enforce his will over his empire?" Master Fencer asked.
At this question the four students stiffened as the full implication of his words dawned on them.
"Did you really think the 'Souryu' you fought in Innovain's castle, the Souryu I fought at the outskirts of Avalon was the full extent of Souryu's true ability?" Master Fencer said seriously.
"In this world there are countless Psychorages but they serve one of two wills. The will of God or the will of Souryu. If you wanted to measure them numerically you could say their total number is almost equivalent to the number of all humans that have and will ever exist within time. Out of this vast number, two thirds are allies and one third are our foes. Now Souryu assigns each of those under his command a territory based on their affinities. It's the same way good Psychorages are assigned and of this vast number of Psychorages in Souryu's army, seven of them are extremely evil and powerful. So evil and powerful in fact that they are at the class of a cataclysmic natural disaster. Each of these seven are assigned to one of the seven continents of our earth. The more powerful they are, the larger the continent they are assigned to and these coordinate the lesser evil Psychorages under them. However the same can be said of the good Psychorages who are even vaster in number. You could say the reason no cataclysmic disaster has occurred yet is because the good Psychorages are acting as a counterbalance" Master Fencer explained.
"But if what you say is true, how do we find and fight a natural disaster. Combating them is like combating nature itself" Josec said.
"I can tell you how we find them but as to how we fight them, there is no one particular way that guarantees victory. I did tell you there were certain forces in this world with almost unfairly established strengths" Fencer said. "Now listen closely, Souryu does not only delegate his power in an analogical sense of the word. His delegation of power is quite literal. You could say every force under him contains a fraction of his own power with his generals containing even greater portions of his power. You could say that is one of the reasons Souryu appears significantly weaker now however even if he were to be as weak as an ant we'd still not be able to beat him completely. Souryu is immortal after all and the only way to beat an immortal foe is to seal them away. The problem here is this; to seal Souryu away we need the seven elemental seals but these are currently in the possession of his generals. So Souryu has inevitably guaranteed that the only way to beat him is to confront his generals first and that on its own is quite a perilous task. The danger doesn't end there because once Souryu's seven generals are beaten, the power he delegated through them and to them returns to him and he becomes as strong as every single evil Psychorage under him merged. It will be like fighting Souryu after he has devoured his entire army" Master Pheisl said.
"H-How do we defeat something like that?" Buern asked in horror.
"You build up the body of the phoenix till it becomes a force rivalling Souryu. The power of many to counter a single insurmountable force. You could call it the power of ultimate augmented ones clashing but you need to remember what you just learnt; no one life will be trivial in this battle. One life could be the difference between victory…and defeat. Don't worry, we will be with you to guide you and you have your lessons as well" Master Fencer said with a smirk.
"You still haven't answered the question how do we find Souryu's generals?" Buern asked.
"You listen…basically. Listen to people, be observant. That is where your 'Eye Of Heart' comes into play. When their problems start to converge on a particular theme, a powerful evil Psychorage can't be far off. It's the same way you find powerful good Psychorages, where positive ideas are spread in unison, their influence can't be far off. This will mostly be a job for the Phoenix's Heart but since we'll be splitting up, the teams without Josec will have to rely on each Master's experience" Master Fencer said and then he explained how they would be split up.
"There is one more thing I want you all to remember…never confront a Psychorage whose affinities place you at a disadvantage" Master Kyem said.