After Lilia settled down, she took a step back so that she could see Kate's face. Though her hair was messy, Lilia could tell that Kate was growing into a stunning beauty. Still caught up in the bliss of reuniting with her mother, Kate was slow to react when Lilia reached to move her hair.
"Wait—!"
Kate quickly stepped back, but she wasn't able to prevent her hair from briefly floating away from her face.
"Are those whiskers?"
"This – I just had something stuck to my face –"
"Kate."
Cowed by the familiar stern tone in her mother's voice, Kate reluctantly pulled her hair away from her face. Upon seeing the faintly yellow hair follicles sticking out from the sides of Kate's mouth, Lilia reached out and carefully touched one. Noticing the twitch of Kate's nose once her finger made contact, Lilia gasped in surprise.
"Are these real? Did something go wrong with your cultivation? Don't tell me, you practised a demonic method?!"
"I'm fine, Mom. I just forgot to shave."
As Kate moved her face away from Lilia's hand, Lilia didn't try to stop her, but both she and Jeanne looked at her dubiously. Kate refused to continue this topic, so she quickly changed subjects.
"Anyway, I'm happy to see you again, Mom, but it doesn't look like this is any time to relax."
Both women saw through her aim, but the topic she switched to was too important to ignore.
"Lilia, how's Matthew?"
"He's asleep, but I don't know for how long. I've tried my best to stay calm, but it seems he can still sense that something's wrong."
Kate was interested in hearing about her little brother; however, that could wait until after everything was under control.
"Were there any signs of those Blaze Union guys before this?"
"Not really, but I did hear a certain rumour. Apparently, someone tried to talk the mayor into sharing the city in exchange for providing protection."
"Hmm, so that's it. Those guys must have given up on returning to their parent sect so that they could take advantage of the lack of power here."
"They likely think it's better to be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon."
Few had expected something like this to happen after the major powers left Silver City, but after thinking about it, Kate didn't find it very surprising. Even in Storm Sky Manor there were greedy and shameless elders who would think of doing something like this; remnants of the Lava Stream Sect were simply the first to take action. As for why they didn't just kill the mayor, Kate guessed that they were after something that could only be obtained from him while he was alive.
"Kate, you should be more familiar with this Lava Stream Sect. How far do you think they would be willing to go to make the mayor submit?"
As a woman who had experience with the underbelly of society, Jeanne knew that the Blaze Union had many options if they didn't want to rush into killing the mayor.
"I don't think they'll go as far as mass-killing mortals, but I can see them publicly executing cultivators after labelling them rebels."
The mood grew heavy among the three at Kate's response. History had plenty of examples of invasions and unjust executions, but it was still difficult to believe they would find themselves within a similar situation.
"Let's go back to the girls for now; we need to decide what to do next."
Kate and Lilia nodded at Jeanne's suggestion, so the three returned to the storefront. By this time, Lily had finished her story, so the ladies had been sharing their worries until Jeanne's group returned.
"Everyone, I'm sure you've realised this by now, but the city is in great danger. If things go poorly, that danger will reach us as well. Therefore, we have to think about how best to protect ourselves."
Jeanne started off the discussion, and soon after Lily reported that she had spoken to Shui and he was on his way. This brought great relief to everyone, though few knew how it was possible for Lily to contact Shui in the first place. Still, only a couple among them were aware of Shui's wondrous feats, so word of his arrival didn't completely placate their worries.
"I can protect this place as long as the Blaze Union doesn't come at us with full force, but my instinct tells me it would be dangerous to let the mayor submit to them."
Kate wasn't sure why, but she felt that the mayor still possessed a trump card, and if the invaders got their hands on it, the situation would become dire.
"I share Kate's opinion. It's not verified, but there's a rumour that each of the mayoral clans of the four original cities has access to a powerful array. They say Silver City refrained from attempting to invade the other cities because of this."
"If you both think so, then there's no reason to dispute it. I feel guilty about asking this, but, Kate, would you be willing to go assist the mayor?"
Since Lily had a way to contact Shui, Kate understood why Jeanne chose her and had no complaints.
"Sure. I'll see what I can do."
"Kate."
When Lilia called her daughter's name, there was some worry and hesitation, but she still hugged her with all the love and hope she could muster.
"Don't push yourself too much."
"Okay. I'll be right back."
The warm interaction between the two brought a few of the women to tears, but no one stepped forward to oppose Jeanne's suggestion. Though they didn't feel good about separating the two after they had finally reunited, they trusted Jeanne, who made the decision, and Kate, who agreed with it. After Kate left Lilia's arms, she briefly stopped next to Lily.
"The Master wishes you good fortune in battle."
"Hmph, tell him to hurry up if he wants to be part of the action."
Kate knew her chances of victory against the Blaze Union were low, but now that she had decided to face them, a smile naturally formed on her face. She had no intention of dying in battle, but a fight like this was hard to come by. This wasn't a side effect from recklessly using the Shredding Beast Claws; she was earnestly eager to test the results of her training.
After leaving Fairies' Wardrobe, Kate headed towards the tall tower at the centre of Cyrus, which served as the mayor's office and residence. The Blaze Union members within Cyrus all headed in that direction, but she wasn't sure what they were planning, so she only fought them if they were attacking mortals and focused on reaching the tower. Regardless of what the Blaze Union had in mind, there would be someone strong to ensure that things went as planned, so helping the mayor obstruct that plan would naturally lead to the battle she desired.
As Kate got closer to the tower, the streets became packed with Blaze Union members. Some members carried captured men, women and children, but Kate decided not to interfere since they weren't in danger at the moment. Though the Blaze Union filled the area, Kate still managed to make good progress towards the mayor's tower. With Kate's control over wind and nature energy, even Sky Realm experts would find it difficult to detect her if she wanted to hide, and there were no Sky Realm experts from the Blaze Union in the city.
"As I thought."
Once Kate reached close enough to the tower to see what was happening, she wasn't surprised, but she wasn't pleased that her guess was on the mark.
"Mayor Henry! The time for you to make a choice is dwindling! If you don't submit to our demands within the next half hour, we will begin executing these rebels!"
A middle-aged-looking man in the Earth Realm made this announcement before the gate at the bottom of the tower. Behind him were a random assortment of men, women and children who were at least in the Mortal Realm but at most in the Soul Realm. Judging by the hatred and fear in their eyes, perhaps they had rebelled against the Blaze Union, but who knew what sort of provocations they had to endure before it reached that stage.
Though she wasn't afraid to jump into action, Kate first tried to see if there was a way she could meet the mayor to confirm his thoughts. However, the tower was being protected by a powerful barrier that even Sky Realm experts would need time to remove, so just like the Blaze Union, she was stuck outside.
"I guess the only choice is to attract his attention."