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"Land here." Harrison tapped the Cold Cloud Sparrow's back.
The bird released a crisp cry and spiraled down to the Capital's outskirts, settling on the ground with practiced grace.
Before anyone could ask why they'd landed outside the city instead of flying directly to their destination, Harrison turned to address the group. His tone had shifted from casual to serious.
"Ashenmere is one of the twelve capitals. It's governed by an Immortal Realm Card Master." He let that sink in. "Even other Immortal Realm Card Masters cannot fly over a capital city's airspace without explicit permission from the governor. If you enter the airspace without authorization, you will be shot down. No warning. No questions."
He paused.
"If you're unlucky, you'll be classified as a hostile combatant and eliminated on the spot."
The group went silent. Nobody had considered this. Back in Ashenvale, flying over the city was a matter of basic courtesy. Here, it was a matter of life and death.
"Remember this rule. It applies to every capital, not just Ashenmere. A Sovereign Realm Card Master might rule a satellite city, but in a capital, you're a guest. Act like one."
The message landed. Every team member straightened up and filed the information into the "never forget" section of their memory.
Harrison led them through the gates on foot.
-----
The Capital hit them like a wall of sensation.
Ashenvale was a respectable city. Clean streets, decent infrastructure, a population that filled its commercial districts comfortably during peak hours.
Ashenmere was something else entirely.
The main avenue was three to four times wider than Ashenvale's broadest street, and it was packed. Streams of people flowed in both directions, a density of foot traffic that made rush hour back home look like a quiet Sunday morning. Buildings rose higher, lit more brightly, and wore their architecture with a grandeur that satellite cities couldn't match. Banners and lanterns lined every intersection. The atmosphere was festive, electric, alive.
Luke took it all in with the quiet appreciation of someone who'd seen impressive cities in a previous life and could still recognize when something exceeded expectations.
But sightseeing wasn't on the agenda. They were here for the competition.
Harrison led the group through the bustling streets with the confidence of someone who'd walked them many times before. Within the hour, they arrived at the Capital Association headquarters.
The building was immediately recognizable as a larger, more imposing version of Ashenvale's branch office. Same architectural language, same organizational insignia, but scaled up and dressed in materials that radiated authority. If Ashenvale's Association was a regional office, this was the corporate headquarters.
"Harrison! Just getting in?" A booming voice cut through the crowd noise. A middle-aged man with a bearing that matched Harrison's own strode over, trailed by a group of young Card Masters in formation.
"Grant." Harrison recognized the man immediately. "Same timing as usual."
Grant Whitfield. President of the Moonvale Branch of the Card Master Association. Same rank as Harrison, same generation, and by all appearances, on friendly enough terms despite the rivalry between their cities.
"Everyone, this is Grant Whitfield, Moonvale's branch president." Harrison made the introduction smoothly.
Moonvale. Luke's mind flashed to the exchange match. The Silver Moon Fox. Helena Drake's fury. Victor's smug debriefing. The institutional rivalry between Ashenvale and Moonvale ran deep, but apparently, the Association presidents operated on more civil terms than the school principals.
While Harrison and Grant fell into conversation, Luke's gaze drifted across Moonvale's team and stopped on a familiar figure.
Lily Fairchild.
She was wearing a fitted yellow dress that turned heads even in a crowd full of Card Masters. Tall, poised, effortlessly the most eye-catching person in Moonvale's delegation. The same presence she'd carried during the exchange match, where her Silver Moon Fox and Nebula Rainbow Butterfly combination had been the only thing from Moonvale that genuinely impressed him.
She'd also been the source of his Moon Spirit Ring, the healing artifact that had been sustaining his spiritual recovery for weeks.
Lily noticed him at the same moment. A smile crossed her face, and she raised a hand in greeting.
Luke nodded back. They'd spoken once, fought once, and exchanged approximately zero personal information. Acquaintances at best. But the mutual respect was there.
What Luke didn't notice, because his attention was on Lily and not on the rest of Moonvale's team, was the wave of hostility that rippled through the male members of her delegation the instant she smiled at him.
Lily Fairchild was Moonvale's dream. The Fairchild family was one of the city's most prominent houses. She was beautiful, talented, and personally favored by Moonvale's City Lord. Every young Card Master in the city who had even a shred of romantic ambition had Lily somewhere on their list of aspirations.
And she had just smiled. At a guy from Ashenvale. The rival city. The place that had humiliated them in the exchange match. The home turf of the maniac who'd soloed their entire team.
The collective male reaction could be summarized as: Fertile water should NOT be flowing to an outsider's field.
Who does this Ashenvale guy think he is? Are there no women in his own city? He has to come HERE and poach OUR goddess?
Luke felt the hostile stares prickling against the back of his neck. He glanced behind him and found half a dozen Moonvale boys glaring at him with the intensity of people who'd just watched someone kick their dog.
What did I do? He genuinely had no idea. He'd been in the Capital for less than an hour. Is spontaneous hostility just a Moonvale thing? Because the exchange match students had the same energy.
Lily, for her part, felt a faint chill run down her spine. She looked around but couldn't identify the source. She shrugged it off.
"You two," a voice called from inside the headquarters, cutting through the reunion. A Capital Association official stepped out, addressing Harrison and Grant. "Stop catching up and get your teams registered. You're not the only ones arriving today."