Reluctant as he was, Yashiro prepared himself for the rendezvous he had made with the trio.
To his surprise, Sarah arrived five minutes earlier than expected, and her taste in clothes proved girlier than he had anticipated. He offered that observation as a compliment, and Sarah was embarrassed by it — so much so that she argued that wearing this dress, and setting up the other two, had been an ordeal in its own right.
Yukina in particular was bothered by how hard it was to move in hers, and Sarah assured her that she was finding her own just as difficult. While the two of them were discussing how much Yukina liked the colour white, Aki arrived, embarrassed by the prospect of being scouted as a model, and the other three moved on without her.
It was only when Sarah explained that the outfits were their master's choice that Aki accepted the explanation as it stood — even if it did mean that Yukina and Sarah's clothes had been picked out for a better lesson than hers.
Yashiro pointed out that his approach to the previous lesson had been fairly straightforward. This time he would be putting them up against multiple enemies, whose hostility they would be able to see for themselves the moment they walked in. He also made it clear that this fight would be their opportunity to try whatever technique they wanted, because they would be taking part in a party held by the Coffin Count of Storms, arguably the strongest dark lord in Western Tokyo.
In the underworld, these parties existed as a means of intimidation, expressed through the masks the attendees put on.
Since he knew Ishino had been eliminated on their turf, Yashiro was certain that Storm knew something. He was still turning that over when the girls behind him began throwing a tantrum, which made him lash out at all three of them before he walked into the building.
As one would expect of a mafia boss, the party the count was holding was full of grandeur.
At the entrance, Yashiro introduced himself as Ed Cyrus, here on behalf of his lord, King Rob. While they waited for the receptionist to look up the name, Aki wondered aloud whether the blue man in the crowd was a dark lord, which earned her a brief chastisement, after which Yashiro decided to warn all three of them about certain of the guests.
Firstly, the Count of Silver String — the blue man Aki had pointed at. Secondly, the Count of the Warped Garden. Thirdly, the Counts of Mournful Pulsation and Mournful Spray.
The girls were completely terrified by this, which was exactly what Yashiro intended, since improvising was part of the lesson.
By then the receptionist had returned to inform him that the name Ed Cyrus was not on the list.
In response, Yashiro pulled out a dose of E3, injected himself with it, and the trio and the guards charged one another at the same moment, starting a very messy affair.
With disarray now the order of the day, Yashiro thought it a good moment to teach both Aki and Sarah a fundamental move that would prove indispensable for the rest of their lives. The trick was simple. They had to bind the enemy's sword, and then rid him of the ability to hold a sword ever again.
Having explained the details, Yashiro sat down to watch the two of them demonstrate.
Aki went first, and failed at it miserably. Sarah fared far better against her own opponent, having been raised by a top-tier swordsman since she was young.
With Yukina doing well enough on her own, Yashiro became convinced that Aki was the weakest and most problematic of the bunch, and ordered her to be more aggressive. Instead, being the idiotic optimist that she was, Aki missed her opportunity to land a finishing blow entirely, and kept missing it, until she found herself on the verge of being eliminated. If it had not been for Sarah's timely intervention, executing Yashiro's move to perfection, that would have been the end of her. Sarah was praised for the cover. Aki was scorned for her excuses and for her principles about being a noble brave, so much more refined and respectable than everyone else in the room.
He was still lividly ordering her to read his mind when Yukina notified him that a strange person was approaching.
The guests were delighted by her arrival. Yashiro had a very bad feeling about it, because the person coming through the crowd was the Coffin Count of Storms herself, who was relieved to see that Yashiro had finally agreed to join them after hundreds of invitations.
This dark lord had once been an executive in a group in Kansai. After the BFE conflict two years ago, she had rallied every organisation that had lost its leadership, until she became one of the most prominent dark lords in the country.
Yashiro's first encounter with her had been about six months ago, when he had been trying to eliminate a different dark lord entirely, and had eliminated two or three of her minions before leaving. Storm had been persistent about getting his attention ever since.
Sarah, seeing her, was stunned by how powerful Storm was. Yukina noticed it too — and Yashiro refused to let her fight, since he was not keen on fighting the woman in the first place, no matter how hard Yukina tried to ignite it.
Storm addressed his students as exotic animals. Aki tried to answer that on Yashiro's behalf and was kicked for it.
Storm asked whether her offers of ten million a month had finally paid off. Yashiro chose to begin with a complaint about her intimidation attempts, and about her attempts to launder her cash through his account.
Eventually he learned that Pincers was on leave for the time being, worn out from the previous day's events.
Nevertheless, Yashiro raised the matter of the Half-Dragon, and Storm rightly concluded that he was seeking to avenge Ishino's death, which surprised him. According to Storm, the Half-Dragon had been a nuisance to her as well; they had been sabotaging the established status quo of the underworld.
When Yashiro pointed out that they were making a mess on her turf using E4, Storm was relieved to find him so understanding of the situation, and suggested the two of them work hand in hand against these people — going as far as to guarantee that he would be taken care of for the rest of his life.
Yashiro refused the offer. He simply needed her to tell him where the Half-Dragons could be found.
Instead, Storm offered him anything he wanted, on the condition that he and his companions defeat four of her storm guards.
Yashiro argued against getting the students involved. Storm insisted that he would have to take the deal if he ever wanted the intelligence he so desperately needed. Hearing that, Yashiro realised exactly how precarious his position was — particularly with Sarah and Aki being more of a liability to him than an asset.
Before he could find an answer to a threat like that, Sarah alerted him to enemies approaching from every direction at once.
Worse yet, those enemies had evidently decided they had had enough of life, because they transformed into horrific monsters and began eliminating everyone in their path. At that sight, panic became the order of the day. While the monsters were wreaking havoc, Storm eliminated one of them and left, abandoning Yashiro and the others to face the rest on their own.