Power Overwhelming
Author: Vihyungrang
Date: 2020-06-07T08:46:04+00:00
Keywords: Action; Reincarnation; In-Progress; Romance; Female Lead; Strong Lead; Fantasy; Original; Magic; Drama; Xianxia
Description: A particular soul has gone through more reincarnations than it can remember. Used to living quiet and simple lives, the soul is told that the next life would likely be the last one and that it would have to go back home, to the universe where it was first born to live it. A universe that also happens to be the gathering place of other reincarnators and some of the most powerful beings in the multiverse. What can a soul do when thrust in the middle of an emerging conflict? Why would this be the last life the soul can live? And who orchestrated all of this?
Publisher: www.royalroad.com

Power Overwhelming by Vihyungrang

Category: Original
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Female Lead, Magic, Reincarnation, Romance, Strong Lead, Xianxia
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2022-12-04
Packaged: 2022-12-10 21:16:34
Warnings: Profanity, Sexual Content
Chapters: 153
Words: 508,709
Publisher: www.royalroad.com
Summary:

A particular soul has gone through more reincarnations than it can remember. Used to living quiet and simple lives, the soul is told that the next life would likely be the last one and that it would have to go back home, to the universe where it was first born to live it. A universe that also happens to be the gathering place of other reincarnators and some of the most powerful beings in the multiverse. What can a soul do when thrust in the middle of an emerging conflict? Why would this be the last life the soul can live? And who orchestrated all of this?

Prologue

An endless stream of bodiless souls suddenly looked towards the grey sky in unison. Most of the souls were normally completely lost in apathy, but the huge gathering of power above them drew even the most faded souls out of the stupor they had been in for countless years. The endless rivers of faint and almost formless grey figures always managed to shuffle forward despite their apathy, but now those trillions of faint figures had come to a halt. The surrounding area, which looked like a desert covered in grey ash, had also grown quiet.

Among the endless stream of souls stood hundreds of large beings of titanic proportions. These black canine-faced Titans also lifted their faces towards the phenomenon above them and growled in both fear and frustration. The evenly spaced beings that looked like enormous gods of death all spread their hands towards the sky and attempted to shield the apathetic souls from the power appearing above them. As a result of their efforts, a pale grey shield of transparent energy spread above the countless souls, although cracks started to appear almost as soon as it was formed. With sweat and panting effort, the Titans managed to repair those cracks, though they knew the repairs would not last long.

Above them, a soul unlike any of the others appeared. The soul that seemed to appear from nowhere was hundreds of times larger than the already enormous Titans, and it seemed to glow with power. The odd thing was that unlike the grey souls that stretched out below, the soul seemed to be split in two with one side being white and the other side black. After fully materializing, the soul seemed to shiver a bit before starting to grow smaller. From an enormous blob of power, the soul seemed to condense into a tiny ball the size of a fist, and the oppressive pressure that had pressed on those below seemed to vanish. The ball glowed like a tiny sun in the dreary grey sky for a moment before flashing towards the direction all the souls below were shuffling, and the Titans breathed a bit more easily.

The ball of glowing power traveled with a speed that defied all senses, but the distance it had to travel still meant it took a fairly long time for it to arrive at a palace large enough to compete with the largest metropolises of the biggest hive worlds, and the palace made of grey jade was taking in that constant river of apathetic souls that had been trudging along below the flying ball of power. All those countless souls stepped into the palace, but none of them walked out. Despite its size, the palace was not needlessly elaborate or decorated. It carried a solemn presence, and it carried it well.

The palace didn’t need guards, but a row of the hyena-faced Titans kept watch anyway. The Titans all looked towards the rapidly approaching soul, but none of them was stupid enough to make a move against it. They knew the soul could crush all of them despite their nature as death gods. While all other souls were guided to rooms for judgment by robed individuals that showed no features under their shadowy hoods, no guide came to meet the soul. Nor did it need one. Without hesitation, the soul flew towards the tallest spire of the palace and the only place that actually looked decorated.

Inside the spire was a large and open chamber where an old humanoid man with a long and thin beard leaned on a large and heavy book. The old man looked towards the soul as it flew into the chamber, and the man’s seemingly bottomless black eyes bored into it. Unlike the others, this being was not afraid. Not because it could fight the soul that had just arrived, but because he knew the soul. “Karma. You’re back.” The old man stated.

“You know I was never a fan of that name, Tian’Zun.” The soul replied with a changing voice that made it hard to tell any details of the speaker. The voice could belong to a man or a woman, an adult or a child, or it could even be the cries of a phoenix or the roars of a dragon. Truthfully the soul had been all those things at some point. All those and many more.

“And yet it’s one of your True Names. One of the few you don’t completely detest. I could’ve used one of the more popular and less flattering ones, like Reaper or Cataclysm.” The old man pointed out. A soul usually had a single True Name, but some souls seemed to gather enough Names to forget most of them. The one in front of him was one of the worst in that regard.

“True. And I do thank you for staying away from the really vile ones. Still, we aren’t here to debate names. That brings us to the obvious question. Why am I here, despite the burden my mere presence puts on the place? You don’t invite my kind here too often, and it’s been several lifetimes since I was called here last. Usually, you just fast-track our reincarnation without any of us even seeing the River of Souls.” The soul inquired. The soul had lived enough lives to forget most of them, yet it could still remember the number of times it had been called here.

“There’s a problem with your next reincarnation. Or to be more specific, there’s a problem with your soul.” The old man stated. He had not even bothered to open the book in front of him. This soul was not here to be judged. Even as the Head Judge, he wasn’t capable of judging the soul in question. Or at least he wasn't capable of enforcing his judgment.

“My soul seemed fine when I arrived. More than fine. And I don’t remember facing anyone capable of attacking my soul in my previous life, not to mention someone capable of harming it.” The soul stated, speaking as if the glowing ball of power in front of the man was just a small part of the whole soul.

“That’s not the problem. In fact, the problem is the opposite. Your soul has grown too powerful. We can’t find any suitable vessels for it anymore, not to mention all the other ridiculous benefits you have accrued in your previous lives.” The old man grumbled.

“That shouldn’t be much of a problem though. I rarely make use of most of my gifts and I’m not in the habit of upsetting the balance of the universes I’m reincarnated to, unlike most of my kind.” The soul seemed a little confused.

The old man had to admit the soul was correct in this. Many of the beings that reincarnated multiple times tended to destabilize the universes they were reincarnated to with the gifts and knowledge they had gathered over their previous lives. In that respect, the soul in front of him was very different. This soul usually didn’t try to become the ruler of the universes it entered, nor did it upend the established order for its own pleasure and entertainment. Usually, it lived rather quiet and short lives, despite having abilities that eclipsed other reincarnators completely and having the ability to become effectively immortal with ease. In fact, it was a source of amusement among the judges that this supremely powerful soul often decided to live lives of complete peace and quiet. Not that it always did so. It had earned those unflattering True Names for a reason. When you lived enough lives, eventually you’d run into trouble.

“It’s not a matter of behavior. The cold hard fact is that nearly all universes are unable to handle the pressure from your soul being born there. You almost broke the River of Souls when you arrived as you mentioned. You should also realize this. Your last life was as a World Dragon, and still, the body could barely maintain your presence. Your options are getting slim. That's why you're here." The old man explained.

“No.” The soul denied firmly. It knew exactly what the judge was about to suggest.

“You have no choice. You’ve repeatedly told us not to reincarnate you in that universe, but now it’s the only option left for you. I warned you about this the last time we met. And we had to come to the same conclusion. Only this time there are no other options. It’s time for you to go home.” The old man stated gently but firmly. The universe in question was the one where the soul had been originally born. It was a universe where reincarnators congregated and the one that housed some of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse, so it was at a much higher level than any other universe and could easily house more powerful souls. The universe didn’t have many reincarnators at the same time, but where normal universes had one or two at a time at most, this one could have several dozen even during quiet times.

“No. Every time you reincarnate me there, things go to hell, both for me and for that place. I end up suffering and that universe faces another cataclysm that I need to fix by giving up something or someone I love. I’ve grown tired of it. That universe just seems to hate me.” The soul had horrid memories of the universe in question. It had been forced to reincarnate there before. At first, the judges had done it without asking, until the soul had shown them the error of their ways. Now they were polite enough to ask at least.

Its first life had ended miserably at the hands of one of the reincarnators, though the soul had not known that at first. Knowledge of reincarnators was not widely available after all, not even in that universe. It had taken several lifetimes for the soul to figure out that her original killer had been one as well. The suffering and loss it had gone through were not something easy to swallow. It had returned a handful of times, and every time things had ended badly. Not because the soul didn’t have the ability to defend itself anymore. No, it had that ability and more to spare. Yet somehow it always got pulled into the maelstroms that often appeared at the hands of the reincarnators that had egos that could rival the most narcissistic deities. That meant the soul didn’t get the opportunity to live the life of peace and quiet that it enjoyed.

“I already told you. You don’t have a choice. We have a rare opportunity. There’s a vessel capable of withstanding your soul and most of your gifts being born very soon. The next time such an opportunity arises might be millions of years from now, if ever, and even then you’d still be stuck with that universe. That means this might be the last life you live. You should make the most of it.” The man stated firmly.

The soul wanted to argue but it knew that the Head Judge would not lie. He might not tell everything, and the soul knew there was likely more here than it was being told, but what the man said was almost certainly true. “Fine. Just don’t be too surprised if the whole universe ends up burnt to the ground. And obscure my True Names. I don’t need any reincarnators seeking revenge from some past life where I humiliated them.”

“Agreed.” The old man quickly accepted the terms before a beam of light fell on the soul and took it away. Once the soul was gone, he released a long sigh. Now he was afraid. The soul would be angry at him. He had not lied. That wouldn’t save him though. Karma’s wrath was legendary. That’s why the soul asked its True Names to be obscured. Reincarnators could often create items and techniques to find out someone’s True Name after all.

Every being was born with a True Name, but most of those names where inconsequential. True Names came in several varieties though. Names that were recognized by enough people carried power. Names that carried a genuine meaning and were recognized not only by mortals, but gods, entire universes, and most importantly the other reincarnators became something more. Reincarnators carried those names to other universes, often cursing the Name of the one that had killed them. The most powerful and widely recognized names became something unique that only a single soul could possess. The soul that had left carried a few of those unique names. Karma was one of them. The name the judge feared the most at the moment was Wrath. The soul carried the name of one of the deadly sins, and it had earned that name in spades. The threat about burning an entire universe was not something made purely in jest.

“Is it done?” A female deity asked as she walked into the chamber holding a hand on her bulging belly.

“It is. And may your soul burn for having forced me into this. You do realize that even if things go as you’ve planned, Karma will likely take revenge. You may have doomed the entire River of Souls.” The old man truly looked his age as he leaned back on his chair.

“That’s a risk we have to take. You know as well as I do that He needs to be stopped, and the only one truly capable of doing that is Karma. Someone will have to take His place as well, and I think we’d both prefer Karma over any of the other options. Can you imagine any of the reincarnators you’ve sent into that universe in His position? Your precious River of Souls would truly burn then. And likely for no other reason than for spite. Despite Karma’s sins, the soul is both black and white in equal measure. There will be balance again.” The goddess claimed with conviction.

“You’re hardly a neutral judge of character.” The old man pointed out.

“Nepotism is hard to avoid even at my level.” The goddess smiled and rubbed her belly again. “But I notice you didn’t say I was wrong.”

He did not. He might be afraid, but he was also resolved. He had agreed to this path of action, even if the goddess next to him had forced his hand. Sometimes there were no good choices.

Chapter 1 - Heavensfall

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. The first proper chapter of the story. To new readers, welcome! To old returning readers, welcome back! The older readers should be aware that while there will be many similarities with the other stories, some things will also be quite different. Hopefully mostly in a good way. I hope you'll enjoy!

As a side note, some people already mentioned Karma's shenanigans as a child, and I want to temper those expectations a bit. I think that story has been told too many times, so the next chapter will have a time skip until the main character is around 10. We'll get flashbacks and small asides about her childhood even before, but there's only so many times you can read about the baby-life of a reincarnated individual without wanting the story to just skip to the good bits. Well, this story will do just that.

”Wait for it! Wait for it! Now! Fire!” The captain ordered and the heavily armed airship blasted several bolts of deadly arcane energy directly at their target. The ship was a brand new model designed to take on regular ships of the line despite being smaller and more maneuverable. However, their target quickly proved why they had gained the title of undisputed masters of the sky.

The dragon spun quickly in the air, the speed and nimbleness of its movements seeming impossible for such a large creature, and most of the shots sailed past harmlessly. The one that did manage to score a grazing hit was deflected by the thick and sturdy scales of the beast. The dragon growled more in annoyance than pain. “Don’t mind it Nalafor. Their firepower was higher than we expected but it makes little difference.” The elven rider of the dragon patted his mount’s neck. He knew the dragon was more annoyed at itself for getting hit than anything else.

“Easy for you to say Ellandal. You’re not the one who has to dodge the incoming fire.” The dragon protested, though the tone was joking and made it clear how leisurely the two were taking the battle.

“Come now, old friend. Since when did dodging shots become such a chore? We've downed enough of these flying contraptions before. What makes this any harder than the others? Besides the fact that their leader actually had the patience to wait until we got close enough to surprise us, that is." The elven warrior in silver and gold armor asked with a small smile. At the same time, he waved his hand and a brilliant blue sigil glowed brightly, forming a shield of energy in front of the dragon to deflect the next volley. The elf gave a small sigh. “I suppose it was too much to expect the empire’s finest to just give up after a single volley.” The drain on his mana was quite noticeable, which spoke volumes of the effectiveness of those weapons firing at them.

“Time to return fire before their reinforcements arrive.” The dragon’s voice sounded like an avalanche of stones falling down the hillside as it pulled in a large breath and flew closer to the ship.

“Captain! Incoming from the port side!” One of the officers on the bridge of the airship shouted in alarm and they all watched as the large beast flew past them while the deadly breath of the dragon covered the right flank of the vessel in a sea of fire. As the flames finally burnt out, the brightly shining protective barrier flickered and turned sickly yellow. It was hard to compete with the breath of a dragon in destructiveness.

“The port side barrier took severe damage and we’re compensating from the other barriers. Captain, we won’t be able to take another one of those!” One of the mages in charge of the barriers fields protecting the ship warned, sweat already covering his forehead.

The captain released a breath he had been holding and flexed his fingers that had been squeezing hard on his chair. “It’s a good thing the dragon is relatively small. Otherwise, we would be toast." The barriers of the ship were state of the art and could take heavy bombardment from other airships, but a dragon was a dragon, and their breath was the most dangerous weapon any flying being possessed. Well, aside from the rider in this case. “Why in the blazes is one of the Dragon Princes here? I thought we would be able to retrieve the item and flee before anyone else arrived."

“Sir, their presence makes no sense.” His advisor whispered. The wiry man was usually a great source of information. “They either had foreknowledge of the Heavensfall this time, or we have the shittiest luck in the empire.”

“Blasted seers!” The captain cursed. “Have we located the item?”

“Yes!” The scout leader relayed, his eyes glowing with magical light as he shared vision with the scouts outside. “We’ve spotted the cocoon of divine power at the side of one of the mountains. The impact created a rather large crater. It’s going to take some effort to dislodge the item without magical help. Effort and time we don’t have.”

“Curses! Alright! Time to recognize when we are outmatched. The higher-ups will have my head for this, but better a demotion than losing a prototype ship on the first bloody voyage. At least we can take back a report of the Dragon Prince violating our borders. That should get us some concessions even if we won’t get the item. Prepare to Shift back home.”

“They’re running away.” The dragon grumbled as they both sensed the power gathering inside the magicore of the vessel.

“As they should. They know when they’re fighting a battle they can’t win. We need to move quickly. The empire won’t tolerate our presence and will send more forces as soon as they can. It will be annoying to fight a protracted battle and the Queen wants to avoid a war. Otherwise, she would've sent more of us or one of the elders.” The elven rider released a sigh. He had no real desire to actually destroy the ship as the empire was not in war with the elves. Still, some things were too important to allow falling into wrong hands and they had no idea what had fallen from the Divine Planes this time. It could be nothing, or it could be something that could upset the delicate power balance between the various major powers.

The airship was just about to be surrounded by a field of mana that would allow it to transfer to a safer location, but suddenly the spell seemed to dissipate and fizzle out. “Oh dear. It seems we’re out of time.” The rider shook his head and the dragon managed to look pensive. Now things were going to become complicated.

Everyone with magical ability present could feel as a restrictive field covered the area completely in all directions. All forms of spatial magic and teleportation both in and out became impossible. The size of the field was enormous, signaling the fact that whoever cast it was very powerful indeed. Both the dragon and the elven rider raised their eyes higher and spotted a large spatial tunnel closing in the sky. The tunnel was extremely large, but not because of those that came through. A single man didn’t need such a large and power demanding spatial pathway. No, the size of the pathway was because of the distance the pathway had to travel.

The dragon recognized the burden involved in making such a large tunnel through space and knew it would require a great sacrifice of power, but it didn't recognize the person that came through. The elven rider did, however. Or to be exact, he recognized the uniform the handsome looking dark-haired man was wearing. The black military uniform with golden highlights was the symbol of one of the most powerful military forces on the plane. The uniform also had three insignia that he was able to make out with his sharp eyes even at this distance. One insignia had nine stars on a black night sky, the second had a glowing portal opening, and the last one had nine glowing swords crossed in a circle. The three symbols told a dreadful story about the power of the man, and the rider knew they were not going to win if this turned into a fight. He also knew who the man must be despite never having seen him before.

”Grand Medjai Arjuna. An unexpected pleasure. I certainly did not expect the Shadow Weaver to make an appearance. I suppose I don’t need to ask what would bring the Magocracy all the way out here.” The elven rider greeted courteously as his dragon flew closer to the man slowly floating towards the ground. He even lowered his weapons to signal that he had no intention to fight.

“I must admit, I was not expecting to see one of the Dragon Princes of the High Elven court either.” The man gave a small nod and a polite smile. While his uniform was impeccable, it was clear he was not all that comfortable with the formal attire. The top button at his neck was unbuttoned and his long hair was flowing around free and untied. Both would’ve been violations of the dress code in most militaries. The young-looking man didn’t seem to care about such details though.

“The Queen had a vision.” The Dragon Prince explained curtly. “This time the Heavensfall brought something special. Something we can’t allow to fall into the hands of the empire. Or any of the more aggressive factions for that matter.” Luckily, despite the might of the man and those he allied himself with, the Magocracy was not an expansionists power. They were meddlesome, however.

“What a coincidence, I was also sent here by the master of the Starlight Tower.” The man stated in a calm voice but his words shocked the elven noble to the core, to the point where he got small shivers down his back. Even the dragon looked like it had swallowed something it shouldn’t have.

“T-the Witch of the Starlight Tower sent you here? How bad is it?” He asked cautiously. The Starlight Tower was the most famed home of seers in the entire plane. No one on the Higher Planes would contest that and many distant worlds sent their ambassadors to consult the seers of the tower on various matters. Usually the master of the tower and those that directly served her only got involved when things were extremely serious.

“Very. She ordered me to retrieve the cocoon personally. I was told not to allow anyone to stop me.” The dark man looked at the elf sternly, making sure the other side understood his implication. When this man was sent to do something and he put his mind to it, there were very few beings that could even slow him down. This was something most of the notable powers of the Higher Planes were aware of.

“You put me in a bind. However, I can recognize when I’m outmatched. I would ask that we come to an agreement though, to save our Queen from being embarrassed.” The elven man requested, knowing that this was the best he could do, and he was already pushing things. The man in front of him was perfectly capable of just ignoring him and taking what he wanted.

"You shall have your agreement. We can discuss the details another time. I need to complete my mission first. This is too important to wait for some political maneuvering.” The man stated and the elven warrior agreed. A promise between the two was enough. He knew the other party to be honorable.

“What of them?” The dragon growled and eyed the airship flying away in a hurry.

“Letting them leave would be…inconvenient, but better than risking war by hunting them down after they’ve chosen retreat. The empire is fairly belligerent anyway, and this won’t change things too much. Until we meet again Grand Medjai.” The rider decided and urged his dragon to leave in the opposite direction. Both sides would need to get outside the field that prevented Shifting to leave the area.

Arjuna watched as the Dragon Prince flew away on his mount. The High Elves were the only ones who could successfully bond the prideful dragons, and that alone made their lands safer than anywhere else in the Higher Planes. He gave a small sigh. The cost to open a portal to this part of the world had been great, as the Starlight Tower was on the opposite side of the enormous planet. Most worlds on the Higher Planes were large, and theirs was no exception. Still, he could’ve opened the portal with his own powers, but that would’ve drained him completely and left him vulnerable in case he had to fight a serious battle. He still might have to despite coming to terms with the biggest player in this part of the world.

He rapidly descended and landed next to the cocoon of golden power. “A rather small thing to cause so much worry.” He commented, and with a wave of his hand, the stone surrounding the cocoon seemed to be eaten by the darkness surrounding the crater. Yet when the shadows came too close with the cocoon, they seemed to dissipate, which slowed the process down.

A tiny black shape peeked from his sleeve. "Not a weapon then?" The feminine voice of the shadow suggested. The cocoon of golden energy was slowly dissipating, but even at its full size, it hadn't been much bigger than Arjuna himself. They knew from experience that such cocoons could be deceptive in size as anything inside would need a lot of protection to survive the trip from the Divine Planes. The term Heavensfall was not an exaggeration. The meteoric crash was the easiest part of the trip as realities were torn apart to allow such passage.

“A dagger perhaps?” He suggested. No matter the nature of the object, this wasn’t the place to speculate. Once the earth around the object had been cleared sufficiently, he placed his hand on the cocoon and tried to store it in his storage ring. The failure made his sharp eyebrows draw into a thoughtful frown that would’ve excited the members of the opposite sex. The problems he was having were not inconsequential. Very few reasons could cause this reaction. Either what was in the cocoon was protected against such storage methods, or whatever was inside was alive and couldn’t be stored for that reason. He prayed it would be the former, as the Witch of the tower had been rather specific in her instructions. He would need to look after whatever was inside to avoid a huge calamity. It was not the first mission of its kind, but he still hated dealing with the smug and self-assured woman that had given him those missions. The only reason he still went along with it this time was the promise of dire consequence she made if he didn’t agree to help.

“Not working is it?” The shadow asked, knowing what that meant. It had learned a lot following its master.

“We’ll just have to do it the old fashioned way.” He waved his hand and glowing energy lifted the cocoon from the crater and held it aloft. Well, at least he had not been forced to fight so far, so he would be able to make the gate himself this time. A large and complicated sigil appeared above his head and the shadows seemed to swallow him and the cocoon.

------

“Welcome home master.” Arjuna was greeted on the teleportation platform of his tower by a stunningly beautiful woman wearing attire similar to his own. The difference was that she wore it perfectly. Not a single button was out of place and her long wavy brown hair was gathered in a tight braid that came all the way down to the small of her back, just above her long and soft tail. The serious expression she wore while she gave a small perfunctory bow was the same one she always had on her face.

“Duskclaw. I assume everything is still in order despite my absence?” Arjuna asked offhandedly. He had faith in his disciple. Still, the mission had been thrust upon him without any forewarning and there were demands on his time. Demands that didn’t simply disappear when the mission was given to him. Luckily his disciple was perfectly capable of handling a few lectures without his presence.

“Everything is in order master. There were no unexpected complications. Your workshop has been prepared for receiving the artifact, and I’ve taken the liberty to cancel all the rest of your appointments for the rest of the day.” She replied with a confident but emotionless face. Arjuna had seen her smile exactly once. That was when he had taken her as a disciple. That smile had been the last one she had shown, mostly because her seriousness was her way of showing appreciation and respect.

“Good. I’m afraid the Heavensfall this time might have brought us something special. Not that we should expect anything different considering it was that witch that sent me to retrieve the cocoon.” Arjuna nodded appreciatively. His disciple was very competent and he knew that he could rely on her for such things.

"How did the mission go?" She asked while stepping up to walk behind him at a respectful distance as they quickly walked through the corridors of his tower. The tower was one of the largest in a city already filled with large buildings, and the distances inside were extended further by spatial magic. This wasn't due to Arjuna's need for ostentatious surroundings. It was a matter of standing and the need for space due to his experiments and various projects.

“Successfully, although I did have to promise a favor to the High Elves. One of their Dragon Princes had arrived before me and was battling some prototype ship of the Aegean empire. I had to give the elves some leeway to prevent things getting dicey. A favor to complete a mission for the witch without a battle seemed like a decent enough trade. Once we get this thing into stasis, I can extract the value of the eventual favor from the witch as this was her idea.” He already had some ideas in mind. Mostly ideas that included being left alone in the future.

"The cocoon seems rather small this time," Duskclaw commented while looking at the floating container of divine power.

"Great trouble sometimes comes in small packages," Arjuna replied without realizing just how prophetic those words would end up being.

They soon arrived in a workshop filled with various magical apparatuses and artifacts. Nearly all of them were used to either build something or to take something apart. The rest were used to study the nature of objects, or the meaning of texts. The workshop was large, and it had a large open space in the middle where a waist-high pillar glowing with glyphs was surrounded by layers of magical formations etched into the floor and the ceiling high above their heads.

With a wave of his hand, Arjuna sent the cocoon floating on top of the pillar and the pillar extended to accommodate for the cocoon. It also shifted a bit so that the edges of the pillar rose up to keep whatever was in the cocoon inside a small basin that was formed at the center, just in case the cocoon contained something liquid. Long arms glowing with magical symbols extended from the sides, and they all had crystals of various colors at the tips.

Duskclaw stayed at the edge of the room so as to not interfere with what was going on, and she couldn’t help but admire the masterful ease with which her master effortlessly controlled over thirty spells at the same time as the crystals danced around the cocoon. It looked as if the cocoon was a tapestry being unwoven by a master weaver as threads of divine power were slowly being absorbed by the crystals and the formation below.

Despite making it seem effortless, Arjuna was on the verge of breaking into sweat as he struggled to dismantle the cocoon. This wasn’t the first item that had fallen from the Divine Planes that he had acquired, but he had never seen protections like this. Heavensfall was not a common occurrence, but not so rare that he would be unfamiliar with the procedure. Divinities and immortals often fought either each other or some unknown threats, and the items they lost were sometimes flung through space and time to land on the lower planes. The cocoon of divine power was something that formed on divine objects to protect them during the journey. Unweaving the protective power was challenging but not something one couldn’t do with enough expertise and proper equipment. The only issue was that the process was delicate and you couldn’t really stop until you finished.

This time the protective layer of divine power was deceptively thick and tightly woven. It seemed like whatever was inside wasn’t something that had accidentally fallen from the Divine Plane, but something that had been sent on purpose. Something that someone really wanted to survive the trip. Finally, the remaining power of the cocoon started glowing in a way that signified that his work was done. The rest of the power would dissipate on its own. Once he identified the object, he would be able to slap a bunch of protective and sealing talismans on it and throw it in the deepest vault he had and be done with the whole project.

He stepped back to allow the rest of the power to be drained by the containment formation, though to his surprise, most of it seemed to travel inwards towards the item itself. With a final burst of light, the cocoon was gone and Arjuna’s eye twitched in annoyance. “What’s that?” He asked rhetorically.

Duskclaw walked closer and for the second time ever, Arjuna saw her smile. “Master, I believe that’s a baby. A sleeping baby to be exact.”

“I’ve been had.” Arjuna suddenly realized. “The damn witch told me quite specifically that I would need to look after whatever was in the cocoon.”

“And you assumed that meant you just had to store an item and make sure it didn’t fall into wrong hands.” Duskclaw finished for him, understanding the thinking of her master after having spent enough time under his tutelage. “It seems she allowed you to misunderstand on purpose. Looking after a baby is quite a bit more difficult than simply storing a dangerous object.”

“So it would seem.” Arjuna gave a deep sigh. They could both sense the aura around the child and they understood that the parents of the baby were anything but ordinary. The baby didn’t look ordinary either. She already had a sort of otherworldly quality about her and looked more like a miniature person rather than a normal baby. It was quite obvious already that the child would be stunningly attractive when she grew up. “I think we can safely assume we just became the parents of a Godling.”

Godling, Empyrean, Demi-God, Godborn, and countless others. A host of names all used to describe a child born between Divines. This was not the first time such a being had been sent down from the Divine Planes, and every time the child would upset the balance of whatever world it landed in. “W-we? Parents?” Duskclaw stuttered a bit with a shocked expression. She was showing more emotions in a single day than in decades before this.

“Yes. We. If I’m supposed to take care of the child, then I’m certainly not going to do it alone. Besides, I’m not exactly optimal parenting material. You have younger siblings, right?” Arjuna asked, his voice sounding slightly panicked, something his disciple had never heard before.

“Yes, but that’s not the same. Master, you’re not going to push this whole thing on me. YOU were told to take care of the baby, not me. That was likely for a reason.” Duskclaw hastily countered.

"And as much as I loathe to do so, I will do my part. I will have your help, however.” Arjuna stated decisively, his tone brooking no arguments.

Chapter 2 - The belle of the ball

A note from Vihyungrang

'Ere we go. Like I mentioned with the last chapter, there's a 10-year skip between this chapter and the last one. That doesn't mean we won't get info about what happened in between, as we'll likely get flashbacks, but I don't like the idea of taking twenty chapters to go through the childhood before starting to get to the really good bits of the story. Besides, she's still only ten, so she still has plenty of childhood left. Mainly the part where all the shenanigans happen. I hope you'll enjoy!

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The nobility of most countries were known for their ability to throw lavish parties. It could be argued that the ability to organize a proper event was a prerequisite for belonging to the upper crust of most societies, and the nobles of this country were not any different, even if they had earned their titles a little differently than in most other places. This party was also a little different from most of its kind. This event wasn’t being thrown in order to have fun and socialize, although some people certainly attended for that reason. Most people had come here for other reasons despite all the flavorful delights on offer. There would be time for celebration later, once they knew if it was called for.

The people who were supposed to be the focus of the event were also a little different from the usual. It was not uncommon for the children of those with power and connections to take a big role in social events, as many events were thrown for that very purpose. However, this time the focus was not on a small group of youngsters making a social debut or someone coming of age. No, this time the room had an abnormally large number of young people, and many of them were very young indeed. Hundreds of youngsters from various races had gathered, making up a full third of everyone present, and a significant number of them were no older than ten years old. The majority of the attendees were human, but many other races ranging from elves to gnomes, and to beastmen were also represented.

In addition to the youngsters, the ballroom was filled with the most prestigious and powerful people of Ascalon, the City of Magic. Several members of the High Council of Magisters were in attendance and there were whispers about the Shadow Council also making an appearance. Or at least as much of an appearance as the elusive group would ever make. Yet most of the quiet whispers filling up the room were not about the secretive body that watched over their country from the shadows, but about recent rumors. Rumors were always popular among the high nobility, especially those that concerned the most promising man to rise into prominence in the last few centuries.

The man in question usually avoided public appearances aside from his role on the High Council and only fulfilled his assigned duties while focusing on improving himself, so most rumors about him could be easily dismissed. He was also powerful and had excellent sources of information, so few people dared to spread false rumors about him. Yet there was one particular rumor that had been around for the last ten years and refused to go away. It intrigued everyone who was attending tonight’s event, one of the most important social gatherings in Ascalon’s social calendar.

“Are you sure the Grand Medjai responded that he’d be attending? And that he would not be alone?” The hostess of tonight’s festivities asked the master of ceremonies with a look that was a mix of excitement and worry. She had made meticulous preparations for the event and couldn’t afford the humiliation of something going wrong.

"Yes, Master. Whether he'll really attend is another matter. The Grand Medjai is a man of his word, but we all know how often he is sent on missions. Everyone knows Master Arjuna always puts duty first." The nervous man stated. He knew how important this would be to his Master. Many of the people currently present, specifically those without any children of the appropriate age, had been lured to attend by the prospect of confirming the rumors that had plagued the nobility for so long, and their disappointment would cast a heavy shadow on the proceedings if the main attraction didn’t show.

“That is true.” The woman dressed in a glamorous golden colored dress affirmed and soothed her flaring skirt with her hands in a nervous gesture. “However, I heard that he has been taking fewer missions lately.” She said almost hopefully.

“You have a keen ear as usual Duchess.” An elder magister wearing the official robes of the High Council said in a kind voice, apparently to save the poor woman some worry. “I don’t know how, but Arjuna managed to wrangle a promise from the Starlight Tower that they’d leave him alone for a while. I would dearly like to know how he succeeded in such a deal but the fact remains nonetheless. The Council also honored his wishes and he has mostly been assigned to teaching and administrative duties for the last ten years.”

The old man didn’t want to publicly admit that they had little choice in the matter. Arjuna was the strongest combat mage in the entire High Council and by extension the entire Magocracy. While they would love to have sent him on more combat-oriented missions, they couldn't really force that on a fellow member of the council. Especially considering he was the person most likely to ascend and gain a spark of Divinity thanks to his talents and young age. Those that had the potential to ascend within a respectable amount of time were valued above everything else.

“Master. Whether we believe he is going to show up or not, we need to start the event soon. The time has come.” The master of ceremonies reminded the Duchess.

With a small sigh of disappointment, she moved towards the large raised dais placed near the edge of the ballroom before addressing the gathered crowd. A small spell carried her voice to everyone gathered without any need for her to raise her voice. “Ladies and gentlemen! It is a pleasure to see such an illustrious gathering of guests as we once again open the portal to the Spirit World. Most of you already know what tonight is all about, but a small reminder to those young ones among us that are attending for the first time. Eons ago the Revered Lady opened the paths to the Spirit World and gave our youngsters another path and opportunity to reach greatness. No matter your heritage, no matter your talent, no matter your status in society, geniuses, and those not blessed with talent, everyone has the equal opportunity to take the first step towards becoming someone worthy of attention this day.”

“Glory to the Revered Lady!” All of the guests chanted almost automatically. This was indeed a great opportunity for everyone, and the sacrifice of the Divine being that had made it possible would never be forgotten despite all the time that had passed since the path was first opened. Ever since then, the Revered Lady had become one of the most popular gods worshipped everywhere, despite the fact that she was no longer around.

“On the night that comes every ten years, this night, mages all over the universe are opening portals to the Spirit World, and those who have never visited the Spirit World before have the opportunity to step through. A once in a lifetime opportunity to find glory, companionship, power, and a new future. If the fates are on your side, once you step through, you will find a spirit on your journey willing to bond with you. Some spirits will bring you great power, while others will bring only minor benefits. Don’t let the appearance of the spirits fool you! The spirits can be tricksy, and the most powerful of spirits can mask themselves to test you. And even if you only manage to bond with a minor spirit, remember that it still leaves you better off than most others as the majority of you will return empty-handed. The fates can be cruel and most of us will never have the fortune to bond with a spirit. That is not a mark of shame. It just means you were not among those chosen and that you need to pursue other paths.” The Duchess gave a speech that made some of the youngsters puff up with pride while others seemed to shrink under the responsibility their relatives were placing on their shoulders. The majority of the youngsters in this room belonged to the first category thanks to their upbringing, whether their confidence was earned or not.

“Also remember that you will have limited time. You have to return when the time comes. Do not let your stubbornness make you lose your life. Every time the portal is opened, some fools refuse to admit they were not chosen and get left behind in the Spirit World when the way closes. Do not become one of those people. It doesn’t matter what kind of genius or chosen one you imagine yourself to be if you’re dead.” The Duchess finished with a stern warning.

The mages selected for the job tonight walked to the dais and started feeding their mana into a large stone doorframe behind the Duchess that started glowing. The youngsters taking part in the ceremony ranged from little children no more than ten all the way to those who were just shy of twenty and had barely missed the last ceremony. It had long since been decided that children younger than ten would not take part because they would more easily get lost in the Spirit World. Some worlds and groups didn’t abide by such rules, but the majority did. Once the doorframe was saturated with mana, they all waited for the fated moment to come.

No one missed it when the moment finally arrived as the power in the doorway flowed to the center, forming a tunnel that was covered in green fog that didn’t come through the doorway. All those taking part in the ritual rushed towards the door and into the tunnel, the older and more talented ones reaching the path first. They all wanted as much time to find a spirit fated for them, even if it was only a few more seconds. There were many ways of reaching the Spirit World on a night like this, and a doorway like this was just the easiest method.

Just as the last youngsters went through the doorway the seneschal at the entrance of the ballroom made an announcement. “The Grand Medjai and a member of the High Council of Magisters Arjuna, as well as his daughter Karna!”

The heads of everyone in the room whipped around as the announcement confirmed the rumors in a very simple and direct fashion. Yet at the same time, they didn’t even need the announcement to turn around. They had sensed the entrance of the pair as soon as it happened. One of them was a man with long straight black hair and a pencil-thin dignified beard dressed in the same ceremonial robes the other members of the High Council wore on such occasions. The one drawing everyone’s curious eyes however was the young girl standing at his side.

Despite her youth, they could all sense her emanating grace and mystery. She had long flowing hair of the same raven black color as her father, and she was dressed in a modest snow-white dress and had her face and most of her hair covered by a veil of the same color. In fact, she even had long gloves that came all the way up to her sleeves, so that the only parts of her that were showing were the large and sharp eyes that seemed to have small twinkling stars swimming in the deep blue of her irises.

Yet at the same time, everyone present could feel something that made them certain that the small girl was someone they should pay attention to in the future. It was like they were all pushed to feel positively about her for some reason. That thought occurred to everyone simultaneously for only a moment before they all seemed to come to their senses at the same time. What brought that thought on? Their wondering was interrupted though, as they could also sense something that made them pay even more attention and forget the earlier inconsequential thought.

“An Aura user!” Someone in the crowd voiced what they could all sense. They could also sense that she was quite strong for her age, even though judging her strength was difficult when she wasn’t really using that Aura. However, the mere fact that she was an Aura user was quite important, because only a few races were capable of utilizing the elusive power, and most of those races were counted among the magical beasts.

Aura was not an ability you could learn. You had to belong to a very select group of races to have that power, and all of those races were among the most powerful in the universe. That caused everyone to instantly speculate. The power of the Aura certainly didn’t come from Arjuna despite his overwhelming strength, as he was a human albeit likely one of the clans classified as High Humans, so who did it come from? The mother would need to be someone of the highest caliber considering even just half of that heritage allowed the use of Aura by the child.

“I told you we would be late father.” The melodious voice of the girl awoke all of them from the speculation that had caught nearly all of the curious guests. The voice had a slightly playful tone but it also seemed to carry confidence and maturity usually not found in someone of her age.

“So you did. I’ll have to listen to you next time.” Arjuna replied with a playful voice of his own. He had known the first appearance of his daughter would cause a stir. It would’ve caused an even greater stir without the veil. He had to admit that his daughter’s plan had worked perfectly. The display of Aura had made all of them forget what they had sensed just moments before.

The problem with Godlings was that they all possessed the universal ability to bend perception and the thoughts and emotions of those around them. A dreadful Godling would seem even more frightening, while an attractive Godling would appear even more so to everyone that saw them. The effect wasn’t really comparable to mind control, as it was more of a strong suggestion. The effect was currently minor thanks to her youth and could be easily shrugged off by people as powerful as those gathered in this room, but it would still be noticed. If his daughter had been older, then there would’ve been no problem, as finding a young woman beautiful was quite natural, but there would be a certain amount of cognitive dissonance in finding a mere child attractive instead of just cute. Luckily her little display with the Aura had distracted everyone just in time and the veil prevented most of the trouble.

“You say that every time, yet you never actually learn.” The girl shook her head in apparent exasperation, but the gathered people could sense that she was just playing around. They were also somewhat amused by the Grand Medjai being bossed around by a little girl.

“Will you be able to do this even while we’re late, or would you prefer to wait for the next opportunity? You only just turned ten, so it wouldn’t be too late to wait for the next chance.” Arjuna asked, now genuinely worried about his daughter’s chances of gaining a spirit.

The girl shook her head and her next words shocked most people present. “Time does not matter in the Spirit World. You are only in a hurry if you think you are in a hurry. If you are fated for a spirit, it doesn't matter how much time you have, and if you aren't, then no amount of extra time is going to help you.” Her words were in direct opposition to what most people thought of the process, but the most well-versed people in the audience knew she was right. Few ever asserted that fact with any sort of confidence though.

“Well get to it then. I haven’t got all day.” Arjuna grinned and played with his trimmed and elegant beard. The beard had been Karna’s idea and he had to admit that it suited him quite well. Before the beard, he had possessed a sort of attractiveness that was almost androgynous, but now he was attractive in a definitely masculine way. A world of difference caused by a simple beard.

Without a word, the girl crossed the room with a pair of graceful gliding leaps with just her toes touching the ground, and she vanished inside the tunnel without another word. The magisters in the crowd could sense her using a bit of air magic as well as her Aura to achieve the fast and smooth movement. As soon as she disappeared, the boldest among the gathered nobility approached Arjuna. “Well, well, well, the Shadow Weaver really has a daughter. I never thought I’d see the day.” The broad-shouldered and powerful looking man stated. He had an insignia with nine blades on his chest, and he also had a sword tied to a belt that barely held his half-open robes in place. The man had dressed sloppily, but no one really expected anything different from him.

“Wolfgang.” Arjuna nodded towards the warrior. They had been something like rivals while Arjuna had been training his warrior abilities. Now they were old friends. “I can’t help but note that you probably also brought your own devilspawn. How you managed to scam Birgitte to marry you still remains a mystery.”

The heavily built warrior only grinned at the jab. “Siegfried was the first to enter, though if your daughter’s words are anything to go by, that doesn’t matter. I should’ve expected your kid to cause a stir.”

“She is actually correct, strictly speaking.” One of the elderly magisters that focused more on research interjected. Those listening could all mentally picture the man adjusting his glasses with a finger just by his tone. “Time works differently in the Spirit World, although we can’t claim to have figured out all the rules and their implications.”

“Shouldn’t this be widely known information then?” One of the nearby nobles asked with a rather displeased tone. He remembered his own rush when he had taken the same ritual in his youth. He had not been among those chosen by a spirit and couldn’t help but imagine what could’ve been.

“It’s not that simple. Like the girl said, you’re not in a hurry if you don’t feel you’re in a hurry. Conversely, if you do think you’re in a hurry, then you most certainly are. The Spirit World is formed from our own thoughts and expectations. Just telling your kids that they don’t need to rush could have adverse effects instead. It is easy to be told something and think it to be true on an abstract level, but it’s completely different to truly believe it in your heart. That’s why it’s not spoken about. It’s more beneficial to act as if you’re in a hurry even when you’re not than not hurry when you actually should because your thoughts and beliefs don’t match exactly.” The magister explained with a shrug.

“Forget all that. Tell us about your daughter, Arjuna. She’s obviously an Aura user. I would’ve thought you would teach her control so we wouldn’t be able to detect it in such an obvious way.” Wolfgang returned to the subject they all really wanted to know about. He was also giving friendly advice to his old rival and friend.

"Oh, she has control." Arjuna smiled mysteriously. He couldn’t reveal the real reason after all. The whole scenario had bothered him so much that he had considered creating a private portal for Karna’s use, but she had argued differently. “She just chose not to exercise it. According to her, it’s not something she’s planning on hiding as it’s bound to come out during the many trials that she will face in the coming years anyway. She has already mentioned that she’d like to attend the Academy after all, so she decided to make the ability known in an obvious way. Or that’s at least what I think. My Karna is never quite so simple to understand.”

“She seems quite gifted.” One of the high nobility pointed out. One would think he was attempting to curry favor, except for the fact that they had all sensed that she was in fact gifted for her age. Most children didn’t start to cultivate until they became at least six or seven years old, and the first years would be spent in just learning the basics.

“Yes. Her ability to absorb information and turn it into practical applications is quite stellar.” Arjuna smiled proudly. She was actually the type where you could hand her a sword, show her the basics, and leave her alone for a while to figure things out. Given enough time she’d then come back with dozen different variations and a hundred different applications of whatever you taught her. Some of those applications would often be things you didn’t even think about. However, Arjuna knew better than to say that out loud.

“That’s rather high praise. Paternal bias perhaps?” Wolfgang teased a bit.

“I’ll leave that for others to judge.” Arjuna simply retained his mysterious smile. He couldn’t explain his daughter’s ability to learn new skills so fast, so he didn’t even try. It was something the others would have to experience for themselves to believe. Of course, even Arjuna didn’t know that Karna wasn’t really learning new skills. She was just revealing skills that she already knew at a pace that she considered appropriate.

“Do you think she will inherit your ability to summon a spirit?” One of the magisters asked while brimming with curiosity. Such things were impossible to predict with certainty, but that didn’t stop people from speculating anyway. And having the ability to summon a spirit was a major boon. Having a powerful spirit would by definition make one part of a very important and select group.

"I'm quite certain she will. The only question is what kind." Arjuna stated confidently. He knew his daughter was heavily influenced by fates, and that was one of the most likely ways to bond with a spirit.

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Karna released a small sigh of relief as soon as she arrived in the Spirit World. It was hard to rein in and try to hide the effect her nature as a Godling had on people. Her “father” Arjuna thought the effect was minor, but that was only because she took great care in reining the effect in. All Godlings possessed the ability, but she wasn’t just any Godling. This was a vessel capable of housing the soul of one of the oldest beings in the multiverse, so it had to be extraordinary by default. Her last life had been spent as a World Dragon capable of eating entire planets, an ability she didn’t bother utilizing, and even that vessel had felt a bit suffocating at times. It was a real testament to the quality of this vessel that she felt none of that discomfort now.

The problem was that she had mixed emotions about that fact. Many other reincarnators would give anything for a vessel like this, but she had enjoyed living unremarkable lives in the past. Many of her happiest lives had been spent as a nobody, living an ordinary life of doing nothing remarkable. However, the more lives she lived, the harder that simple happiness became to achieve. It was hard to be a nobody when just your heritage would make sure that you would grow to become one of the most powerful beings in existence, and that didn’t even account for the benefits her soul gave her.

There were no weak Godlings. Even the Godlings with the weakest Divine parentage would become powerful when compared to most other races, even if they tried to avoid it. That’s just how that kind of heritage worked. And her parentage would most likely be far from ordinary even when compared to other Godlings. She could easily figure that out even if she had never met her biological parents. Otherwise, this vessel would not be able to contain her soul. Tian’Zun had already implied as much when he had said that it could take forever for another such great vessel to come along and she could certainly already feel the difference.

With a small sigh, Karna started walking. The direction didn’t matter. While in the Spirit World, any direction was as good as any other if you knew where you wanted to go. ‘At least I don’t have to wear the stupid veil while in this world.’ She thought to herself and carefully removed the veil and headdress off without breaking her stride. As she did, her apparently raven black hair changed color to an almost pure white, though with a slight blueish tinge. The previously straight hair also seemed to twist into curls as it changed color. Even her eyebrows turned white. The weird color was another sign of her likely special heritage and another thing they’d been forced to hide.

The real issue wasn't really that she had a special heritage. Many people on the Higher Planes had some sort of special heritage, and while her heritage was even more exceptional, that wasn’t immediately obvious just from her looking different. No, the reason they were hiding her appearance was that no one would believe she was Arjuna’s daughter with a hair color that was almost the direct opposite of her father’s, and because the two of them didn't look similar in the slightest. And that would raise questions they were not yet prepared to answer.

Karna had never been one to bother hiding herself, although she wasn't fond of advertising her abilities either as there was wisdom in a certain level of discretion. That said, the need to hide things was directly dependent on her ability to defend herself. Once she had enough ability to fend off anyone too interested in her origins, the need for hiding would also disappear. In a weird twist, the older she got, the less odd her appearance would be, so the need to hide would also disappear as time passed.

‘This time my step-parents are quite weird.’ She mused as her mind wandered between topics while walking. She’d had all sorts of families in her countless lives. Some had been the epitome of family love, while others had been so abusive that they could be called outright murderous. She had survived most of those childhoods but not all of them. This life had brought her step-parents that could be mostly described as…incompetent. Oh, they were both rather skilled at magic and their professions, but they had no idea how to do parenting. A normal child would’ve died of starvation and neglect, not to mention suffer severe mental trauma due to lack of physical contact and affection. That didn’t even touch the topic of the eventual social problems that normally came from lack of proper upbringing,

Arjuna and Duskclaw weren’t abusive, they were simply forgetful and cognizant of the fact that Karna wasn’t actually their child, which couldn’t help but manifest in a certain lack of instinctive care. They had also been woefully unprepared for the whole thing. In fact, the servants in Arjuna’s tower had done most of the work for the first few years. Duskclaw was much better than Arjuna in that regard, but even her only experiences were with her siblings, which wasn’t the same thing. Luckily for the two, and admittedly a partial cause of the problem, was that she had been born a Godling and didn’t actually require much care. So as she didn’t require much attention, the two tended to forget she even existed. Luckily she wasn’t a normal child so she was actually glad for being left to her own devices for long stretches of time. That neglect had actually changed in the last four or five years when the two older mages had actually grown fond of her, and she had actually become old enough to credibly display enough intelligence to be a conversational partner. They had also taken to teaching her many things much too advanced for a normal child of her age, but as they had both also been child geniuses, they didn’t really know better. So what if Karna had started even younger than them? Wasn’t that just a good thing?

The mist of the tunnels gave way to a dry and sandy desert. “Ah, so it’s desert this time. Last time I had to trek through a jungle.” She had been to the Spirit World several times before. This wasn’t the only universe the Spirit World was connected to after all. Her spirit would never change. How could it? It was a spirit that had been specially created for her after all. The trip to find her spirit would be a long one, but patience and willpower were not something she lacked. Both were something that a reincarnator like her couldn’t survive without.

Chapter 3 - Spiritual awakening

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

Oh, something I should probably mention about tags. It has been brought to my attention that tags and content warnings should not be included until that content is actually in the story. In the interest of fairness, I'll mention some of the tags I've planned here, just so you're aware.

These include: romance, probably war and military, a dash of comedy, maybe strategy, some could argue secret identity.

For mature content warnings: profanity yes, gore depends on how you define gore, and almost certainly sexual content.

Those that have read my stories before know roughly what to expect, though that last mature content warning should be taken more seriously than in previous stories. For those new to my stories...well, you will learn what my style is.

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The blazing heat of the midday sun in the desert caused the air to shimmer above the sandy ground. Only a barely noticeable breeze of dry wind stirred some of the grains that had been dislodged by Karna’s steps. Neither the heat nor the constant walking disturbed her as she had zoned out completely, only putting one foot in front of the other, just like she had done for what felt like months. The desert felt endless, and in many ways it was. Just like many things, distances in the Spirit World were dependent on the one doing the traveling.

‘I wonder how long it will take me to arrive this time?’ She thought to herself idly, and not for the first time. The last time she had made the trip, trekking through a dense jungle that time, it had taken her almost a year to reach her destination. She would arrive when she believed she had traveled long enough and not a moment earlier. To reach this destination, it wasn’t enough to think you had traveled long enough, you had to believe it.

As with distance, time also worked weirdly in the Spirit World, just like she had told the crowd back in the ballroom waiting for her and the other hopefuls to return. What she had told them was correct, but the truth was even more twisted than anyone could imagine. There was a time limit, yes, but time passed differently for every visitor. They could spend an entire lifetime in the Spirit World and then return back home only to find out that less than a minute had passed. They would not grow older while here either, at least not physically.

She’d run an experiment during one of her lives just out of sheer boredom and curiosity. She had tested how long she could stretch this elusive bit of time and had spent three hundred years living in the Spirit World. Apparently, that was a kind of hard limit. She had spent most of that time running various experiments with this weird dimension and had become familiar with most of its rules and inhabitants. It had been an intriguing experiment, albeit somewhat dull after a certain amount of time had passed. That had also been the time a personal spirit had been created for her by the denizens of this place.

The spirits that inhabited this place were playful and most of the time they were kind, but they could also be tricksy and cruel when angered. The spirits were also locked in a weird sort of power struggle of their own. There was a reason why the spirits forged bonds with the people from other dimensions. Apparently, they grew stronger and evolved as their masters did. If, for example, the master of a simple tool spirit became an immortal, then the spirit returned to the Spirit World much stronger and evolved into something that might have absolutely nothing to do with tools.

That’s why the spirits had created a personal spirit for her. Reincarnators like her were the best masters because they usually attained great heights of power. And despite her fondness for the quiet life, she had also reached the highest highs of existence on more occasions than not, especially in her later lives. Simply speaking, she was upsetting the balance of the Spirit World. Thus they had created a personal spirit just for her that stayed out of the power struggles of the other spirits. They had made sure to compensate her for the fact that she could have only a single spirit in all her lives though.

"It seems you've come again." A female voice pulled her out of her musings and she discovered that she had arrived at the foot of a mountain. The desert seemed to have disappeared and around her were nothing but mountains. Near her, the stone seemed to flow out from the mountains and form into the shape of a lush woman made of stone and loose earth.

“They’ve given her a real treat of a vessel this time as well.” A low-pitched and deep voice added, and a golden crow made of fire seemed to perch on a nearby rock.

“She always gets the best vessels. I’d say it’s unfair, but we all know only the best can contain her soul anymore.” A merman suddenly pushed himself up from a nearby spring that had not been there moments before.

“Leave her alone. You know she has very little control over the fact. Besides, she has finally returned home. We should allow her to enjoy life a bit without ragging on her too much.” A tiny cloud teased in a playful voice as it floated and spun around the merman.

These were all spirits she had become familiar with during her lives. Despite their playfulness and current appearance, these four were quite important spirits. “And what brings you four here? Not that I mind, but the elemental spirits rarely make an appearance when I visit this place.” The elemental spirits had their own planes of existence, even if they too were counted as spirits of a kind and thus were welcome in this weird dimension.

“We have a request.” The female earth spirit stated while creating a stone seat with a simple gesture.

“I expected that much. What kind of request, and why would I want to oblige?” She had done various favors to the spirits in the past, and they had returned those favors just as often. She had long since learned that having friends and acquaintances in the right places was quite useful. Especially if those friends didn’t die of old age.

“I think the standard price from us will suffice, would it not?” The fiery crow cut down on the time spent negotiating. They had done this enough times to know roughly where they would end up.

“We’ll see. You didn’t tell me what you need. A rather important factor wouldn’t you say?” Karna countered. She had learned not to make promises before she knew the details. These spirits could be tricksy as well. “And do note that this vessel is still very young, which means my powers have not yet developed. My means are currently quite limited.”

“That’s alright. The request this time is more of a long-term one.” The merman waved the concern away.

“That said, we would appreciate it if you didn’t dally around longer than necessary.” The fiery crow added. “To the point then. You’re no doubt aware that your current universe has always had a higher concentration of reincarnators than usual. What you might not be aware of, is that there seems to be something odd going on. More reincarnators than usual have been born in the last century, and the pace seems to only be growing. There are hundreds of reincarnators already living there, and we are quite sure that the number will double in the next couple of decades. And that’s only the reincarnators we’re aware of. Most of those are reincarnators with only a handful of lives lived, but among them are some of the oldest and most powerful reincarnators as well. This is a friendly warning as a bonus by the way.”

“I should’ve figured something like this would happen.” Karna grimaced and cursed mentally. Every time she was born in this universe something went horribly wrong. That was just one of the reasons she didn’t like coming back.

“We don’t know what’s going on, but among those being reincarnated are some very troubling people that are breaking the rules when it comes to elemental planes. They’re tapping directly into our planes and drawing power from them directly. They’ve kept things in moderation so far, most likely because whatever is going on is still in the early phases, but we all know the damage that could be done to the elemental planes if they really let loose.” The spirit of earth explained patiently.

“So we need them dealt with. Preferably permanently!” The tiny cloud said with a chipper and playful voice despite the contents of what it said.

"We know you're one of the few that can kill reincarnators permanently, and you're also one of the very few that can face such power reliably. If you deal with the issue, then it won’t just creep back up once they get reincarnated again.” The merman added.

“So you want me to go against some of the most powerful reincarnators in the multiverse, the ones that have likely earned the True Names of elements no less, and kill them permanently? That’s not a small task, even assuming I was willing to kick a hornets' nest like that. You do realize that my identity would almost certainly be exposed if I do this, right?” Karna’s eyebrow rose in wonder at the request. The spirits knew that revealing herself was something she was not happy to do, as she would likely become the target of revenge for multiple reincarnators almost immediately. After all, her previous encounters with many of them had not been friendly. This was not like the small requests the spirits had made in the past.

“We know, though we’re also quite sure your identity would be revealed sooner or later anyway, and at least this way you’ll get to choose the time and place of the news coming out. We might not know what is bringing these reincarnators all to one place, but it’s safe to assume that most of the strong ones that have lost their previous lives in the recent past will make an appearance. Those that know you will no doubt realize that you will be among those reincarnated here as well. After all, no grand battle between reincarnators would be complete without the presence of the illustrious Karma.” The cloud stated without concern as it spun around the merman with increasing speed.

“The Reaper.” The earth spirit stated with a firm voice.

“The Calamity.” The merman said with a smile.

“The Wrath!” The crow voiced a deep bass rumble, and the spirits all burst into laughter.

"I'll consider it," Karna said with a light smile. If she had been younger, the blatant use of those particulars Names would've angered her, but now she could be blasé about it as she knew the spirits were teasing her. Time healed most wounds and these spirits were almost close enough to be called friends. They were some of the few existences that lived long enough to have known her in multiple lives after all. “But I’m going to need a bigger price than normal. And I’m going to need it in advance. Otherwise, what’s the point? I’m going to need power before facing these people, not after it.”

“Name your terms.” The crow encouraged. It had known they would have to pay more.

“All of the elements. I don’t want to have to go looking for essences when you can provide what I need and save me decades of effort. Well, all of them except for two, which you already know about.” She named her price.

“A steep price…” The merman warned.

“…but one you’re willing to pay. I can sense you already brought what I need. We all knew this is how it would end. I’m just saving us time spent on haggling. You know I don’t abuse that power.”

“Wrath…” The cloud pointed out a glaring exception. She had earned that Name for a reason.

“One time!” That they knew of. “And most of that was done with the element you do not need to provide.” Karna interrupted the spirit and shot that argument down immediately.

“Fine.” The crow tossed an orb-shaped container towards Karna, and she caught the thing from the air effortlessly. The spirits had come prepared. “But if you use them, we expect you to hold your end of the bargain. After all, even we have limited access to seeds of such purity, and we have other uses for them as well.”

“Naturally.” She retorted while bouncing the orb on her palm. Inside the orb were the purest essences from every element available to mages, with the exception of two. As mages grew in power, they would need to attune to their chosen elements to increase their affinity and connection with them. A mage that was attuned to the element could borrow the power of their chosen elemental mana when it was found in nature to power their spells, and they would also gain a much greater control over the particular element. The purer the essence used during the attunement process, the better the results. Most mages went on voyages lasting years to find even a single essence of half the purity she had inside the orb. That’s why the price they had given her was worth it. It was a steep price, but it was a large favor the spirits were asking for as well.

“Incidentally, your spirit is on that mountain.” The earth spirit gave a small hint while pointing at the mountain in front of her, as they all disappeared, returning to their home planes.

“I know.” Karna smiled. One of the good things about this whole mess was that they saved her the effort of trudging through the desert for a much longer period of time. That was included in the deal as a courtesy. The benefits of being friendly with various parties.

A long winding set of stone steps could be seen where there had been none only moments before. As someone used to it, Karna wasn't really fazed when seeing things pop out of nowhere. Instead, she simply started walking up the stairs that had been provided. As her body was still young and small, her legs were still relatively short and it took her several steps to cross each stair. The only reason she could keep walking without rest for so long was because they were in the Spirit World and her stamina would last if she believed it would. Most visitors to this world would tire at a relatively normal pace because they thought it was natural to do so.

Still, the steps eventually came to an end as she came up to a small plateau near the peak of the mountain. The plateau had no other features aside from a small pond. The pond looked fairly normal aside from having very dark water, but it was actually the most dangerous place in the entire Spirit World. Any spirit or prospective master that touched the water would die a quick death, which is why everyone stayed away from this place. Even the merman from earlier was no exception, and he had been one of the rulers of the elemental plane of water connected to several of the oldest universes. Of course, he had been in a convenient disguise just in case. The problem was that the dark substance wasn't actually water.

With a simple wave of her hand, the water-like substance in the pond seemed to gather above the pond in a rotating blob of energy. The spirits from earlier had been wise to leave, as they would’ve most likely lost their lives just from being near this blob. The blob was condensed essence created from pure Dark element. Not what most mages considered the dark element, which was just an extension of shadow, but the pure distilled power of the true Dark element, one of the most destructive powers in the multiverse. In fact, many people called it the Destruction or Decay element instead.

Much like the true Light element, the Dark element was often misunderstood. True Dark magic, or Dhar as some called it, was a raw and untamable power of destruction and death, created by smashing together the other elements, forced together by nature or by a mage crazy enough to try and control the stagnated and corrupted combination of the other elements. All elements had their own quirks, but most of them rewarded careful control and precise skill. In contrast, Dhar was like a club swung around by a barbarian, crude, terrifying, and apt to strike down anyone and anything in an indiscriminate manner, including the wielder.

Only a real madman would attempt to actually control that power. Yet here it was behaving like a slightly misbehaving puppy seeing its master for the first time in a while, eager to please and quick to act, even if it had trouble staying still. “Time to wake up Gem. You’ve had enough rest.” Karna called towards the empty hole left behind by the black liquid.

A woosh of a wind created by someone moving quickly could be heard as a shadow seemed to fly up from the hole before it landed in front of Karna. As the indistinct form took shape it took an appearance identical to her. “Master. It’s been a while.” The spirit made a small deferential bow. “How long have I been asleep?”

“As usual, it’s hard to say exactly. Three of my lifetimes and whatever time passed in between.” Karna replied with a shrug. She never really knew how long the time between reincarnations was. Sometimes it could be days, sometimes it could be thousands of years.

“So not very long considering your average lifespan.” The spirit teased with a smile. It knew what kind of person Karna was.

“Fair enough.” Karna had to concede that the spirit had a point. “There’s something you should be aware of. We’re going home.”

“The Judges are really getting out of hand. Did they at least ask beforehand this time?” The displeasure on the spirit’s face was clear. It knew Karna disliked being reborn in that universe and why. After all, the spirit had been at her side and had been forced to watch her master suffer without being able to help during one of those lives.

“They didn’t so much ask as they gave me an ultimatum. Apparently, this might be the last life for me. I've already sensed it before but the Head Judge made it clear. It seems it's become impossible to find proper vessels for my soul anymore." Karna stated, not really defending the judges but not condemning them either.

The spirit frowned. The expression looked downright adorable on her face which made Karna feel a little conflicted seeing as the spirit was effectively using her face. “And what will happen to me once you’re gone? I’d hate to sound selfish, but I don’t cherish spending an eternity hidden away because the other spirits fear me.”

“I can’t say. I think we might be able to arrange something though. That being said, if this is going to be my last life, how about making it worth it? Would you like to go to the top with me for once?” The little twinkle in her eyes suggested that she had something very specific in mind.

The spirit was more than ready. “I was afraid you’d never ask. I believe it’s time for you to earn a new Name. The old ones are getting stale. Let’s remind everyone what the two of us are capable of!”

Chapter 4 - Introductions and hasty exits

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

”Worried about your daughter?” Wolfgang asked while meandering to stand next to Arjuna, who in turn was staring at the doorway leading to the Spirit World.

"Not exactly," Arjuna replied with a complicated expression. “I have full confidence in her. It’s just…” He left the rest unsaid, not finding the right words.

“I know what you mean. Siegfried is also extremely capable and there should be no reason to worry. Yet the Spirit World is what it is. Many geniuses with a bright future have failed to return over the years.” Wolfgang nodded in understanding.

The two men stood side by side for many long minutes, comfortable being silent in the company of each other while everyone around them was buzzing about in excitement. The path to the Spirit World would be open for a total of four hours, though naturally, not everyone would take that long. Most people would stay as long as they could though. Only a single young girl had returned so far and that was because she had stumbled upon a willing spirit almost immediately. Over the last two hours, many of the guests had approached Arjuna with their questions, but they had given up once it had become clear that he wasn't going to be divulging too many juicy details about Karna’s origins.

It wasn’t as though Arjuna was being secretive without reason. It was hard to answer questions about Karna’s mother since he had no idea who her real parents were, and judging by her nature as a Godling, that might have been a good thing. He also didn’t want to lie about it. He had dated various women over his life so far, but none of them were credible as Karna’s mother. Not that he would ask them to lie in such a way either, as he was rather big on honesty. Additionally, there weren’t all that many things he could tell about Karna’s childhood either. That wasn’t just because of her heritage though.

Arjuna was the first to admit that he had been a horrible father to Karna, just as he had feared he would be. In fact, he had been the first to admit it, once his numerous mistakes had been pointed out to him in detail by the little girl. In his defense, Karna didn’t exactly make things simple either. Normal kids would cry out when something was wrong, but no, not Karna. She would stubbornly keep quiet and just suffer in silence. The only reason she hadn’t starved during the first months was because Godlings actually didn’t need to eat. They got their sustenance from the spiritual power in the air. They still got hungry and could eat, but everything they ate would be turned into energy, and the miniscule amount of energy they gained from food when compared to their natural absorption was a joke. He wasn’t sure why or how Karna had been able to resist that feeling of hunger and stayed silent more often than not.

So no true need for food, and thankfully no need to clean up poop either. A parent’s dream, right? Not when that meant that the child never drew attention to herself and you forgot she even existed sometimes. He was doubly glad of her nature as a Godling because she seemed quick to learn, as he certainly never taught her how to speak, although he suspected that the servants had a hand in that. Yet she seemed to pick up the skill perfectly fine, just like she seemed to be able to pick up anything. Oh he gave her lessons on thousands of subjects after he had noticed his mistake, and teaching was something he was good at so he might have been compensating for his earlier mistakes just a bit, but even those lessons seemed like they only worked as a prompt for Karna to learn a totally new subject all on her own. He certainly never held lessons on even half of the stuff that she seemed to have picked up somewhere. It was possible Duskclaw or the servants were teaching her, but the more likely explanation was that Karna was doing her own research in his extensive library. The girl certainly spent most of her time there. In fact, any time not spent on training was spent there.

Another problem was that her nature as a Godling had been quite obvious at a glance while she was a child. She didn’t have the childish appearance that normal kids and pre-teens had, and looked more like a small and underdeveloped adult or late-teen. Her hair and Aura were also somewhat obvious, so it was hard to take her anywhere without everyone noting she was different. Hopefully, that would now slowly change as she was becoming a little older. Nevertheless, the fact was that they had rarely taken Karna anywhere, which left her plenty of time to learn various things, but he was painfully aware that they had not given her the proper opportunity to socialize or learn social things. Or even make friends with people other than the servants. She seemed to be doing fine despite this, but Arjuna knew that there would have to be consequences for the years of mistakes and neglect. He’d heard about kids developing wrong if they were not raised right.

It was perhaps fortunate that Karna would soon be attending the famous schooling institution that had made the Magocracy the target of envy among the various worlds of the Higher Planes. The institute simply known as the Academy was the finest place of learning in this world, especially when it came to magic, and many of the neighboring worlds had no choice but to admit it. Some sects tried to contest that fact but always failed. A mage trained by the Academy could go into any world in the Higher Planes and be accepted into a high-ranking position. When accepted, Karna would need to learn social skills in addition to the academic curriculum, and as a guest lecturer, Arjuna would be in a position to watch over her without being overbearing.

“Another one is coming.” Someone said loudly, and most of the people present turned to stare at the swirling tunnel beyond the doorway that was now visible as the green fog had pulled back a bit further.

“It seems my son has succeeded. Before your girl I might add.” Wolfgang bragged a bit. He would recognize the large frame of his son anywhere.

“Congratulations. However, this isn’t a race of speed.” Arjuna deflected, hiding the fact that he was just a little miffed that his rival’s son had returned first. He was genuinely happy for their success though, so his smile wasn’t forced as he looked on as his old friend and rival beamed proudly.

The large and broad-shouldered boy stepped through the doorway and back into the ballroom, not taken aback by everyone staring at him as he arrived. “Son! Congratulations are in order I assume?” Wolfgang shouted in a loud and brash voice to make sure everyone heard as he stepped closer.

“They are father. I have returned successful.” The boy inside the large man’s body smiled a little bashfully. Even though he wasn’t bothered by the stares of the guests, he was still happy to make his father proud and a little embarrassed by his reaction.

“Haha! Good! Good! We will celebrate tonight! Doubly so if we get good news about your brother’s success!” Wolfgang embraced his son and hugged him fiercely. He was truly proud that his son had made it where he had not. As he gave his son a pat on the back and released him, the boy turned towards Arjuna.

“Grand Medjai! My father mentioned that you might be coming, though I missed your arrival. It's good to meet you again." They had met a few times before, and Arjuna had a favorable impression of the boy. He was more polite than his father at least, and could at least wear his clothes properly. The boy took more after his mother, unlike his brother who was a copy of their father. Arjuna had heard that the brother and the boy's mother were traveling in her homeland, and it looked like that rumor was true.

“Of course you didn’t!” Wolfgang exclaimed with a laugh. “The Shadow Weaver can’t resist making an entrance at the last minute. He simply cut it even tighter than usual this time.”

The boy made a bit of a face at his father’s words but continued in the spirit of polite conversation. “I had heard rumors that you also had a child, though you’ve never spoken about the subject. Can I assume the rumors are true?” He was a little curious what Arjuna’s kid would be like, as they would inevitably spend some together considering the bond between their fathers.

Arjuna was just about to reply when he noted that he didn’t have to. “Well, you’ll get to confirm that yourself. I believe that’s my girl arriving right now.” It was hard to miss the white dress and tiny form gracefully making their way out of the mists further beyond the door. “Also, Wolfgang, I do believe Karna started later than your son, so…” His implication was that Karna had actually been faster.

"Well, you yourself said that this isn't that kind of race. Also, she didn’t start that much later.” Wolfgang threw Arjuna’s words back at him. “Besides, starting late is just an excuse. Show up on time next time if you can’t admit your defeat.”

“Father.” Karna’s cool voice interrupted their little argument. “Please tell me you didn’t place bets on who finishes first.”

“Eh…” Arjuna was about to defend himself while Wolfgang was about to continue his teasing.

Karna’s next words threw all three of them off though. “Because if you do make such bets, then you have to tell me beforehand. I could’ve finished an hour ago if I knew there was something to win by doing so. I could’ve also placed a bet if I knew there was going to be gambling.”

“Bwahaha! It seems your daughter has more balls than you my friend.” Wolfgang burst into a mad cackle. This girl had given him a great impression.

“An hour ago?” Siegfried asked with a raised eyebrow, taking a more precise look at the girl that was literally half of his height. Not that he could see much due to the clothing that concealed just about everything. The only thing he could tell was that the girl’s eyes were showing a lot of mirth at the situation, which was telling in itself.

“Yes. Time in the Spirit World is weird. It doesn’t matter how long you take. If you know what you’re doing, you could spend a year in there and return a minute after you left.” Karna explained simply.

“Of course your daughter would figure something like that out.” Wolfgang wheezed out, finally managing to get his laughter under control.

“Karna. Did you get what you came for?” Arjuna interjected, looking at his daughter meaningfully.

“Yes. And I do believe we should get going. I don’t think we need to stay for the rest of the festivities.” Karna replied, the message clear. They had talked about this beforehand, and they had recognized the possibility that it might be better to hide the exact nature of Karna’s spirit for the time being, as her spirit was likely to be something different. It was customary for the ones that chose to stick around to celebrate their success to also show off their spirits a bit, even if the new bond didn't really allow the proper utilization of the spirit's abilities just yet. It was a way for both the parents and the kids to brag a bit.

“I see.” Arjuna nodded in understanding. He turned to his friend. “Wolfgang, Siegfried. It was nice to see you, but we need to get going. Have a pleasant evening.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us to celebrate. We all have a reason to let loose a bit now.” Wolfgang asked, his jovial expression hiding the small probe hidden inside his question. Despite his appearance, he wasn’t a stupid man and Arjuna’s rush to leave was pricking his curiosity.

"We'll have to take you up on that at some later date," Arjuna replied and went to give their goodbyes to the hostess along with Karna.

“What was that about?” Siegfried asked his father. He had detected something in the tone of his father’s voice. He was perceptive but didn’t have the experience to fully understand his father’s thoughts and machinations.

“Arjuna is hiding something. Something juicy. And I'm pretty sure they hit the jackpot in the Spirit World. Otherwise, they wouldn't have run off in a hurry like that.” Wolfgang whispered quietly.

“Speaking of, I don’t think we should stay either.” Siegfried also murmured.

“Truly?” Wolfgang turned to his son with a genuinely surprised expression. He would’ve been happy no matter what kind of spirit his son had acquired, but it seemed there was more to this.

“Yes. They were not the only ones to hit it big.” Siegfried admitted.

“That’s my boy!” Wolfgang patted his son’s back again.

-------

Karna and Arjuna walked towards the area designated for travel. Most magisters of sufficient ability could utilize some sort of long-distance travel magic that was sufficient to move them around the city, but it would be inconvenient for the mages to simply appear all over the estate of the Duchess hosting the event. Many magisters decided to take the more ostentatious route by arriving via methods that allowed them to show off their wealth and might, such as fancy flying vessels or flying magical beasts. Thanks to that, the path through the gardens towards the teleportation point wasn’t very crowded.

“So how bad is the situation?” Arjuna asked, referring to how big of a stir Karna’s spirit would make once it was seen.

"Hard to give a simple answer to that," Karna said slowly and thought about how to answer the question exactly. Normally people didn’t get too much information about their spirit when forming the bond for the first time. It would take some time to fully explore all the abilities that came along with a new bond, made even worse by the fact that the spirit might be new to its abilities as well. The spirit would also grow in power and abilities as the master grew stronger and the bond between the two strengthened. In fact, exploring the abilities of your spirit and training with it was one of the most popular courses in the Academy. It would’ve been mandatory if not for the fact that most of the students didn’t actually have a spirit companion.

Karna of course knew exactly what her spirit could do thanks to the fact that they had spent several lifetimes together. However, she wasn’t supposed to know most of those things yet. “My spirit’s name is Gemini. It’s a bit of a unique spirit.”

“Unique as in special, or unique as in uniquely powerful?” Arjuna honed on the important distinction.

“Both. Definitely the first, but I suppose the latter depends on how well I can utilize the spirit. That said, the potential is there.” Karna clarified. Gem was perhaps the most powerful spirit in the entire Spirit World, but she wasn’t going to reveal that fact just yet. Most of that power was less obvious and could only be utilized by someone like her and Gem that shared a bond over several lifetimes.

“Gemini you said? That name implies a double of something or copying something.” Arjuna speculated thoughtfully.

“Yes. From what I understood from the little I was told, Gem can copy the abilities, powers, and appearance of other spirits. Of course, she has a limited amount of power currently and what spirits can be copied is directly related to the power Gem has available and the power I feed her.” She didn’t bother mentioning that just because Gem had a limit, that didn’t mean the limit was low. Still, it was true that she couldn’t just have Gem destroy everything by assuming the abilities of some high-ranking spirit right off the bat.

“That’s…well it certainly does sound extremely useful. I’m assuming you have to be familiar with these abilities and spirits that you want to copy?” Arjuna questioned, already imagining all the possibilities.

"Correct. As far as I know, that is." She confirmed, remembering to add a caveat to signify her "ignorance".

“Wait, you said she?” Arjuna suddenly noticed.

“Well, Gemini assumed my form when we met, so that’s what I’m going with, but the spirit doesn’t really have a form of its own, so the term is inaccurate, but calling a spirit it feels disrespectful. Here’s the thing though. Gemini has absolutely no abilities on her own, so if I want any benefits from her, I’ll need her to take on the abilities of a spirit that does provide some. And just because she can replicate the abilities of other spirits, that doesn’t mean she’s equally good at using them. The original spirits have a lot more practice after all. A fire spirit that has spent decades practicing throwing around fire will be better at it than Gem doing it for the first time. I was thinking that it would likely be a good idea to play her off as a support-type spirit for now. Maybe something that helps me with magic?” Karna suggested. She also didn’t mention that they’d had a lot of practice already and they had some favorites that they had mastered a long time ago.

“An item-type?” Arjuna asked for details, liking the idea. Supporting-type spirits came in many forms. Some were generic items that could be used as a focus, a weapon, or something similar, some were tools that would make specific activities easier, some were familiars that acted more like a companion, and some were nothing more than a tattoo or some other type of symbol that granted a slew of random but constant benefits.

“That would likely draw the least attention. I already have something in mind. I’ve done some studying on the subject and I think I know of a spirit I can have Gem copy for the time being. It’s going to take a bit of time to get it right, but we’ll get there.” And by a bit of time she meant five minutes as the process wasn’t instant, but once again, that didn’t need to be mentioned. When they had first started off so many lifetimes ago, Gemini couldn’t change the spirit she was copying more than once a week and it took quite a bit of time to complete the change. They had come a long way since then.

Arjuna gave a sigh of relief. They could make this work. “How about the Academy? Do you think you can start attending this year? Technically the limit is 10-years old, but most don’t start until they are at least twelve. The entry requirements are quite stringent after all.”

“I still have six months until the tests. With the help of Gem, I should be ready when the time comes. At least I can take the test. If I don’t succeed, then there’s nothing lost. And I'll be eleven before the semester starts.” Karna replied with a mysterious smile. There was a reason why she hadn’t been making a lot of advancement in her cultivation yet, but that reason would not apply for much longer.

Chapter 5 - Choosing a path

A note from Vihyungrang

So I'm not going to mince words. This is going to be the obligatory info-dump chapter. I tried making it interesting, and I tried to scatter some other bits in as well, but this chapter is an info-dump. There's no way around it. That said, I hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless.

------

Now that she had regained her connection with Gem, Karna’s future development became much simpler. Any paths she chose would be smoother and all her progress faster. So far she had avoided making enormous strides in becoming powerful for two rather obvious reasons. First of all, she didn’t want to draw too much attention just yet, though the need for that was growing less by the day. Secondly, because she believed in the importance of laying proper foundations for future growth.

Many reincarnators abused their accrued knowledge to make enormous strides in cultivation to gain power quickly, but that left them in need of special and potentially dangerous to acquire and use resources. That or they would leave their foundations shaky by taking shortcuts and starting their cultivation too early before their bodies were ready, which would make them crumble when faced with someone who had taken the proper steps and taken their time. Thanks to their vast knowledge these reincarnators could fill in most of those cracks in their foundation later on and they would leave fewer cracks than those who didn't have the benefit of all that knowledge, but a foundation that had been repaired and patched up was still not the same as one that was built to last in the first place.

She personally thought that the haste of most reincarnators was due to fear. Those that had lived several lives knew just how dangerous life could be, and they all raced to gain enough power so that they would not be left helpless and exploited. Every reincarnator had lived through at least one life where they had ended up as a victim or a slave, used and abused. It was precisely because they all had that experience that the reincarnators who knew just how traumatizing and horrible such things could be, and would do almost anything to avoid going through it again.

Karna had learned patience. She had lived long enough to know that everyone would encounter hardship and become a victim at some point. She’d certainly had her own encounters with the darker fates. It was during those lives that she had earned some of those less than flattering True Names. However, as a result of that suffering, she had learned various ways to avoid falling prey to similar circumstances that didn’t necessarily require overwhelming power. Sometimes you needed to learn to roll with the punches. Take a bit of punishment to avoid greater suffering. And should things get really bad, she could always leave. There was a vast universe out there, and she had many skills she could leverage for survival. Skills that didn’t require you to be strong. And if life got really bad, you could always hasten the arrival of the next one.

It was those kinds of skills that had allowed her to live those unremarkable lives that she had enjoyed so much in the past. She had lived dozens of lives where she had not cultivated at all, choosing instead to live as a mortal, plying a trade, or traveling as a vagabond healer or a tradesman. Few villages minded a visit from a general handyman that could use a dozen useful skills to make their lives easier for a short time. If a village already had a blacksmith, then she’d be a tailor. If they already had both, then she’d be an apothecary, or a specialized carpenter, or an engineer, or one of a hundred other professions that didn’t require her to step on anyone’s toes. And if someone decided to attack her anyway? Well, there were ways of defending yourself without being a cultivator, as long as the difference in power wasn’t too large. The catch was that such methods usually came with a cost. Either one paid in materials or one paid in lifeforce.

That’s why she had remained hidden and taken steps to hide her heritage so far in this life. It wasn’t that she had no way to defend herself even as a child, and she also had a fairly protective “father”, but she didn’t exactly cherish the idea of spending a large chunk of her lifeforce to defend herself from an attack while Arjuna wasn’t around. This universe was also extremely dangerous in comparison to many others. Just this city alone had many people too powerful for her little tricks to work against without a major sacrifice, and even then she would only slow them down.

She hadn't forgotten that the judge had mentioned this might end up being her last life. If that was to be the case, then she would make the most of it. She would become strong, and she would do it the proper way, so that when she eventually came face to face with the other reincarnators, she would be able to crush them where necessary. Reincarnators were a competitive bunch at best of times, and some of them had gone insane due to living so many lives. Heck, Karna wasn't all that sure of her own sanity! At least she still retained a spark of something that stopped things from getting out of hand. She had seen too many reincarnators that treated others just like cattle. She had forced many of them to face the final death personally. There was a reason she had earned the Name Reaper.

The decision to become strong had already been made as she had been born, and she had already begun to take the first steps on that path, but it was still useful to review your options. “So what are the paths open to me in this life?” She considered while tapping her chin with a dainty finger. The paths to power were many and they all had their benefits and drawbacks. She was also still young enough and early enough in her cultivation that she could make changes.

The most common option was the way of the warrior or the method of cultivating Ki. This was the path that had by far the most adherents to it. The warriors gathered Ki in their dantians and built complex internal worlds according to their chosen cultivation method. Ki cultivation was in many ways the easiest path and had the least stringent requirements in that it required the least natural abilities from the user. A proper cultivation method could go a long way towards overcoming any lack of natural abilities after all. Warriors had strong bodies, and the various techniques could mimic many of the more powerful effects that the mages had access to. What they lacked was variety. Usually, the warriors had techniques with a very narrow focus and could not freely wield their powers in any way their imagination took them. The use of Ki also had limited utility outside combat, though not completely non-existent.

This was a path she had a lot of experience with. She had lived many lives where it was the only path available to her, and it was a path well-trodden by her and by others. It was also what she considered the most boring path, as she had done it so many times. Using Ki was effective, but not her preferred choice. Still, she wouldn’t dismiss the possibility outright. That said, she had access to more interesting options in this life, so she would likely choose them instead.

The second most common path was the path of a mage. Mages gathered mana to form a mage core and attuned their powers with the surrounding natural mana to bring about all kinds of impossible changes and a wide variety of spells and effects. The old adage was that if you wanted to kill a person, you brought a warrior, but if you wanted to kill an army, you brought a mage. The reality was not quite that simple, but magic was by far the most versatile of the different powers, and also had the greatest utility outside of combat. Most high-end artisans and creators had at least some ability as a mage for the purposes of enchanting and many other vital techniques used in such professions. A warrior might be able to craft a powerful weapon from rare materials, but to truly make that weapon shine, you needed a mage.

The third most common path was to seek the blessings of the gods and channel the holy powers that those gods imparted on you. This was the path Karna had the least experience with, and the one she dismissed outright. She wasn't planning on relying on a deity for her own powers after all. Still, the priests and holy warriors had their niche and their abilities could be extraordinary when used correctly. Never underestimate the servant of a god, especially if that god has a grudge with you. Psionics was also out. Not because Karna didn’t like the option, but because you couldn’t use psionics if you were capable of using mana and vice versa. She’d had a couple of lives as a psion, but they were generally quite rare, and she wasn’t even certain if there were any in this universe currently. Reincarnators actually made very powerful psions due to their gathered knowledge.

That left the more esoteric and less often seen abilities, of which she had clear access to at least one, Aura. Aura served in many ways a similar purpose to Ki, in that the main focus of the ability was to strengthen yourself and your body, but where Ki relied on cultivating an internal world and could be used to some extent by almost everyone, Aura relied entirely on bloodlines and could only be used by those that had at least one of those required bloodlines. Aura maximized the benefits gained from your heritage and the cultivation of many abilities that came with a particular bloodline. A good enough Aura user could also develop and refine a diluted and weak bloodline to a more pure and powerful one if they had the prerequisite skills and knowledge. Aura was extremely powerful, but also very limited in that you only gained those abilities associated with your heritage. If you had a phoenix bloodline, even a weak one, you would eventually be able to turn into a real phoenix and use all the abilities inherent to that race, but you would never have access to draconic, or vampiric, or titan, or any of the myriad of other abilities unless you gained that bloodline and the method to cultivate it as well.

There were many paths to power, and very few paths were mutually exclusive, aside from psionics. For instance, Medjai like Arjuna were both mages and warriors. Some masters recommended that you focus on a single path in order to not split your attention between two abilities, which could result in not reaching mastery on either. Those masters had a point. It was usually more beneficial to become a master in one path than be mediocre in two. That didn’t account for talent or take the unique advantage of reincarnators into consideration though. Most reincarnators had already walked down at least one path and had the gathered knowledge and experience from that path, which allowed them to master more than one path. Many reincarnators had their preferred paths that they focused on despite this advantage, and there was something to be said about mastering one thing to the absolute limits.

Through trial and error, the oldest reincarnators had come to some conclusions that Karna also shared. Magic was just too useful to pass on whenever it was available. Even if you focused on one of the other paths, you would at least dabble in magic just for all the benefits the versatile path provided. Karna also happened to think that magic was more powerful than any of the other paths, except for one, and she had become one of the greatest mages in the multiverse in the past. Thus it would be folly to not pursue that path in this life as well. That’s why she had acquired those essences from the spirits in the Spirit World after all.

Additionally, Karna knew of a secret that only the older and smarter reincarnators had figured out. A benefit that came from living multiple lives. And that secret was the true strength of Aura. Most Aura users could only ever really master one bloodline during their lifetime, no matter how powerful they became. Even then, they usually only achieved a certain level of mastery in their bloodline. It was as if they were building a puzzle by crafting each piece personally with their cultivation and even the best member of a particular bloodline could only figure out a quarter of the pieces and were working with an incomplete picture. Masters of equal level would have the same number of pieces, just not the same pieces. But what if one were to live several lifetimes as a vampire for example? Over those lifetimes, you would slowly be able to gather all the pieces, and in the end, you could cultivate your Aura by using the entire puzzle. Your results would be vastly different to those beings that only had a few pieces to go by.

There was another dirty little secret to reincarnators. The main benefit they carried on from one life to another was their knowledge and their skills. Even if a skill you mastered worked a little differently in another universe, you still used to be a master and could figure out the differences quickly. But knowledge wasn’t the only benefit. As the reincarnators lived their lives, some of those lives would be as different kinds of mythical and magical beasts. And once you lived enough lives as a particular type of beast, or reached the pinnacle in a single life, some of that beast would stay with you forever.

You would always have some of the nature and some of the bloodline of that beast within you, even if you shouldn’t have it due to your heritage. It also affected your appearance and behavior in some cases. If you lived enough time as a phoenix, for example, some of that grace and beauty would stay with you in all your lives. You simply couldn’t live several lifetimes as the most graceful and beautiful creature in most universes without some off it rubbing off on you. Of course, that didn't mean that only positive things rubbed off on you. Those that spent enough time as a dragon usually developed a certain level of greed and the need to hoard things for example. Karna had that problem as well, but she had learned to channel most of those instincts to positive and harmless things. Most, not all.

There was also a third secret that only someone as old as Karna could’ve figured out. The different bloodlines were not actually building their own separate puzzles. Their cultivation methods were in many ways connected if you knew where to look. If you put all the puzzles together, a cohesive picture formed. So what would be the results of someone who had already fully completed the entire picture and had lived enough lives to gather almost all of the relevant bloodlines and could figure out the rest? Well, Karna had never tried before, but she was planning to find out.

With her choices made and now affirmed, all that remained was to put them to action. So far she was only at the first level of cultivation for both Aura and mana, which basically meant that she had the potential, but that she had not yet reached the first significant threshold. That wasn’t strange for someone as young as her, though there were some geniuses that had managed to reach much further. Especially those reincarnators filled with fear and the need to gain power quickly. She had focused on building her foundation instead and some of the results had already become apparent.

During the party last night, the guests had noted that she was a rather strong Aura user for someone so young. She had already started cultivating her Aura using the method she had compiled from all of her previous lives, so her strength was way beyond what it should be for someone at the first level. The guests had all assumed she was already at the third level, at the very least, which would’ve been remarkable for someone as young as she was. They were not wrong in that she did have the same power as someone at the third step, they simply didn’t know why.

Cultivating Aura was all about Awakening your bloodline by having epiphanies about the nature of that bloodline. Every time you went up a full step you Awakened more of the bloodline inside you, and as a result, you would gain more abilities associated with that bloodline. The better your cultivation method and the more complete your "puzzle" so to speak, the more of that bloodline was Awakened. Even with her completed method, Karna wouldn’t be able to Awaken more than a single bloodline when she went up a step, even if she could Awaken the entire bloodline in a single go.

Since there were only so many steps one could take on the path of immortality, that meant she could only Awaken a limited number of them, so she had to choose well and with care. The order also mattered. Even if she could theoretically Awaken any bloodline thanks to being a reincarnator with so many lives under her belt, the first Awakenings were more difficult. It was much easier to use a bloodline you naturally possessed. Thanks to being a Godling and having the power of Aura since being born, she knew she had at least one bloodline, but she didn’t know which one. And thanks to the fact that she was already affected by so many bloodlines from her old lives, it was hard to say with certainty which of them was natural. Not without proper testing at least. She had her suspicions of course, but she wanted to be sure. Thankfully, Gemini would be able to perform that test.

As for mana, the reason for her slowness there was much simpler. There was no large hurdle she needed to cross, no epiphany she needed to have, and no amount of training she needed to undergo to go up to the second level, or to become what was called a second circle mage. The methods of going up levels for mages were relatively simple. They needed to accumulate enough mana repeatedly to allow their mage core to overflow in order to force it to grow, enhance the magical pathways in the body to handle the new influx of mana, and then carve the so-called second circle into their mage core. The process was a little more complicated than that and required years of study usually, but Karna had done the required study many times over in her previous lives and could recite all the necessary steps in her sleep.

No, what held her back was the fact that she was refining her mana. The mana inside a mage could be at various levels of purity. The purer your mana was, the more you could do with the same amount of mana. A drop of extremely pure mana could achieve the same results as a bucket of impure mana. The spells created from mana that was purer also tended to be more powerful. All the mana within you was always the same purity, so you had to refine your entire mana pool at the same time. The more mana you had, the more effort it took, so the earlier you did it, the better. This was what she meant when she thought about foundations.

Karna had an excellent mana cultivation method she had developed herself, as did most reincarnators, so the mana she gathered was already at a very high level of purity when she started, and normally she should’ve been easily outstripping her peers with the speed of her cultivation. The problem was not her cultivation method, but the level of purity she was aiming for and her current location.

She was currently at the Higher Planes, but eventually she would need to move on to the Divine Planes when she reached immortality and she wanted to be ready. One of the largest hurdles facing the newly Ascended mage immortals was the purity of their mana. They would need to spend decades if not centuries to refine their mana to the level of purity required in the Divine Planes. The problem stemmed from the fact that Divine planes were filled with divine power that made the process much easier, while the Higher Planes were not. So the work she had to do was slow since she had to work with an inherently less pure source of power. Added to that was the fact that she wouldn’t be satisfied with reaching the minimum standards of the Divine Planes either. No, she had reached that point a year ago. She aimed for perfection. If this was going to be her last life, then she would build the perfect foundation right from the start, no matter how hard she had to work.

She had a lot of work to do, but luckily Gem would make the process much easier. She had made it sound like her suggestion about Gem taking the form of a magical support spirit had been one she had come up with on the spot when Arjuna had asked, but the truth was that this had been planned years ago. There were magic supporting spirits, and then there were magic supporting spirits, and the spirit Karna had in mind would make the process of purifying her mana ten times faster and easier. Nobody would likely be able to identify a type of spirit that was usually only seen serving immortals that had reached Divinity, right?

That meant she would finish the process and easily become a second circle mage in time for the Academy tests. A second circle mage would not be anything special among the applicants, as those applying would be the geniuses of the entire Magocracy as well as some foreign students. However, she wouldn’t be just any random second circle mage when the time came, and the tests were not just about your current state of cultivation. Otherwise, the spots would all be taken by the older and more experienced applicants. There would be tests of knowledge, skill, potential, and affinity as well. And that was just for mages, although this being the Magocracy, the mages were the most important. She also had a spirit and she was an Aura user, so the odds of her failing in the test were slim to none.

“Alright, time to do this. Gem, come out and test my bloodlines.” She commanded the spirit.

A small flying creature seemed to appear from inside her in a flash of light, and a bat-like creature with a long tail and a mouth filled with sharp fangs landed in front of her. Spirits came in many varieties. Some of them were constantly at their master’s side, mostly this included the support type spirits, while some would only appear when called. The rest of their time would be spent in the Spirit World where they came from. From previous experience, she knew that Gem liked to terrorize the other spirits every time she was set loose from her little hiding place.

“You know, I never liked this form all that much Karma. It’s good for information gathering and analysis, but it’s not very comfortable.” The spirit complained and stretched out the leathery wings that didn’t reach more than 40 cm in wingspan.

“Then it’s a good thing you’ll only need to use it once.” Karna retorted. “And the name is Karna in this life.”

“That’s an amusing little coincidence, isn't it? So close, yet so far.” Gem pointed out the similarity. It was hard to miss after all.

"I asked about it from father once. Apparently, he was named after a hero in some old legend. Apparently that hero Arjuna had a rival named Karna. Notably, that Karna was supposed to be the child of a king and the Sun Goddess. Well, he knows I'm a Godling, so he thought it was fitting, even if the original Karna in that story was male." She explained. She had after all wondered about the same thing.

“Isn’t it tempting fate just a bit to name you after the rival of the character he was named after?” Gem asked, knowing that tempting fate was not wise when dealing with reincarnators, and especially so when dealing with this particular reincarnator.

“I also raised that question. His answer was, and I quote: ‘Bah! The character I was named after was the child of the Thunder God. You know I have absolutely terrible compatibility with that element and I’m definitely not a Godling. It’s just a story, if a good one.’” Karna recalled with a fond smile. Despite their rocky start, she had grown to like the man. Even if his parenting sucked, he wasn’t a bad guy. In fact, his reactions made him a rather entertaining person.

“Sounds like tempting fate all the same to me. Alright. Let’s get this stupid test over with, so I can return back to the Spirit World and you can summon me with a nicer form next time.” The tiny bat waddled next to the sitting Karna and bit her finger, drawing a drop of blood. Then the bat sat there for a while, tasting the blood and figuring out what it meant.

“A whole lot of Phoenix, and a very pure and high-ranking bloodline at that. The same amount of Titan. Also the purest bloodline imaginable. There’s a bit of something minor mixed in there, but I can’t quite figure out what. Could be just plain old divine heritage or it could be something else, but it has a powerful taste that I cannot recognize.” The bat finally stated.

“Doesn’t matter. If it’s so minor, then it won’t make a difference. Still, Phoenix and Titan, huh? No wonder someone sent me down here. Those two races really like to keep their bloodlines pure and undiluted, unlike some races that like to shag everything that moves. Or doesn’t move. I was expecting the Phoenix considering how many lives I’ve lived as one and how much the multiverse likes to throw me into the role for some reason, but the Titan part was a bit of a surprise. With that combination, I'm shocked I wasn't sent all the way down to the Mortal Planes to hide. The Higher Planes still see some immortals visiting on a fairly regular basis after all.”

“Maybe they don’t care as much anymore? It’s been a long time since you’ve been to this universe after all. The rules could’ve changed.” Gem suggested, not really having much faith in her guess.

“I don’t really think so. It’s more likely there was some kind of plan involved. Still, I hope we won’t have to worry about it for a while. I’m not nearly ready to deal with all the issues the immortals can and will bring to the table.” Karna dismissed the idea and gave a deep sigh. It wasn’t very likely that she’d have all that long despite her hopes. She never did have much luck where this universe was concerned.

Chapter 6 - Training

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. We get a bit more about Duskclaw finally. I hope you'll enjoy!

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Arjuna leaned on the cold stone railing of the small balcony overlooking the room below. Like most rooms in his tower, this too had the faint smell you could only really get while surrounded by stone, though in this room you could also smell sweat and the metal tang of weapons and armor. The sharp sounds of weapons coming together in a fight mixed with the small grunts of effort and the shuffling of feet on the wood-covered floor of the practice room. There was something off about the sounds, and it took Arjuna a moment to figure out what it was. The rhythm was off. There was also something about the way the weapons came together that most people would not notice, but the oddity in sound could be identified by a master of the blade like Arjuna.

He watched as Karna and his disciple Duskclaw were dueling, letting both of them train their skills and develop their form. The two were surprisingly even as opponents. Surprising because Duskclaw was a rank four warrior, while Karna was still a rank one Aura user. That said, Duskclaw was mainly a mage, unlike most of her beastmen brethren, and had not spent that much time keeping up on her martial skills after becoming Arjuna’s disciple. They’d have to rectify that in the future, but for now, the two made decent sparring partners for one another, as long as Duskclaw didn’t use any of her more powerful skills with Ki. As this was meant to be practice, using such skills would’ve defeated the whole point anyway.

Arjuna noted that it wasn’t just Duskclaw’s lack of practice that kept the fight equal. It was clear that the older woman was stronger and faster, but somehow she was still unable to land a solid hit on the much smaller girl. Well, not that much smaller anymore. Karna had recently gone through a small growth spurt and it seemed she was going to be fairly tall when older, as she was already almost 140cm and she was showing no signs of slowing down. He suspected that her heritage might have something to do with it. And that heritage likely also had something to do with the fact that despite the large difference in rank, she was still able to keep up with Duskclaw.

Karna’s fighting style also helped matters. She had developed faster than anyone Arjuna had seen, and her technical skill was already at a stunning level. Her style also helped with minimizing the advantage against a stronger and faster opponent. Arjuna had mainly trained her in the use of sword and spear, but it didn’t really matter what weapon she was wielding as her style remained quite constant. He was reminded of a river while watching her fight. She would never stay still and would bend and give way in front of greater strength. She would never directly block strikes against her. Instead, she would parry and allow the opponent's strike to slide along the length of her weapon, misdirecting and wasting all that strength in the blows that she wasn’t able to block. She kept her defense very tightly closed and her movements maximized efficiency and minimized wasted movement, naturally flowing from one stance and strike to another.

Flowing was exactly the word he would use. Her movements were perfectly natural, but the way she flowed from one moment to another made it seem like she had planned everything dozens of moves ahead. She would disrupt the pace of her opponent and then force them to overextend, after which she would strike with vicious lethality and speed at any exposed area. That’s why the whole thing sounded off in Arjuna’s ears. There were no clean hits and blocks, and Karna obviously tried various tricks to break the rhythm of her opponent. Her opponent barely even noticed it, but it would feel as if something was off and would fray their concentration. It was as if they were not able to exert their real strength for some reason. The reason was that Karna intercepted their attack just a tad earlier or later than they expected, making it so that they were not able to use their full strength because the focal point of the attack was off.

Every time you swung a weapon, there would be a point where the strength of your blow was at its strongest, and usually, every fighter unconsciously tried to make that point be the point where they hit the opponent or the opponent’s weapon. If the block came a bit early, your full strength and weight wouldn’t be behind the blow yet, and if it came late, the focal point would be off and you were overextending the strike. Especially if someone didn’t actually block but just misdirected the blow with a parry. Just like Karna seemed to enjoy doing. It also broke the rhythm of the fighter when the timing was off, forcing the person to pay more attention to the attack instead of letting muscle memory take over. Over a long enough period of time, that strain built up and could manifest in various ways.

As he had expected, Duskclaw got vexed by something she didn’t quite understand, and quite intelligently tried to step back to get some space to gather herself. The choice was correct in a certain sense, but the problem was that just like a river, Karna flowed in and took over any free space that was offered and stepped into Duskclaw’s defense, attacking her midriff with a quick jab while the other woman was mid-step. That forced the older woman to make a hasty defense and caused her to stumble. Karna didn’t miss the opportunity and tripped Duskclaw and set her blade on her opponent’s throat.

Duskclaw gave a suffering sigh. “I yield.” She had to admit defeat. She had been beaten fair and square after all, and the thought rankled her. “You’re learning way too quickly.”

"You're just out of practice, 'mom'," Karna replied a little sarcastically, although her smile took off the sting of the words.

“You know I’ve told you to call me sister. Or even aunt if you must.” Duskclaw said with an exasperated tone even if she showed no emotion on her face. This was a constant source of debate for them. Well, more like Karna kept teasing Duskclaw, and the older woman kept rising to the bait.

“Oh, I know. I’ve told you before that I’ll stop teasing you when you stop reacting like that. You really need to learn how to rein in your instinct to lash back.” Karna replied with her smile being replaced by a serious look.

"You know why I react like that though," Duskclaw argued. She had been forced to suffer jibes about her fascination with magic for almost her entire life. Most beastmen were warriors, even those that ended up choosing civilian life. It wasn’t that there were no beastman mages, but those all came from certain tribes where it was more accepted. There were several Owl-tribe beastmen in the Academy, for example, but no members of the canid tribes aside from Duskclaw. Their talents simply lay in other fields, such as tracking and archery where their sharper senses gave them an edge.

“I know. And that’s exactly why I keep doing it. It’s a weakness. And one easily exploited as well. If you get numb to it and stop rising to my baiting then you are less likely to get killed one day when someone trying to kill you uses that weakness against you.” Karna explained patiently.

Arjuna shook his head. The whole thing was supposed to go the other way. Duskclaw was supposed to be the teacher, not the student. Still, the girl was right. And it should’ve been Arjuna who taught that lesson to his disciple, not his daughter. He could claim that he had been distracted the last ten years by Karna’s presence, but that was just an excuse. The first few years he hadn’t even been a proper parent for Karna, so trying to use that as an excuse would be doubly humiliating.

Arjuna clapped his hands loudly. "Well done. Duskclaw, you've allowed yourself to grow rusty, and we'll be fixing that in the coming weeks. I suppose we haven't been paying enough attention to your training lately. Something else we need to fix. That's good enough for today. You're both sweaty and stink so I encourage you to wash yourselves."

The two nodded and Duskclaw headed towards the bathing area they had built adjacent to the training area just for this purpose, but Arjuna noted that Karna stayed behind. “What is it?” He asked, knowing the girl had something she wanted to talk about privately.

“Father.” Arjuna knew it was serious and important if she was using that word. “I’m going to need you to find me a suitable place for my first Awakening.”

Arjuna blinked a bit in surprise. “That’s it? I was expecting something more serious. We have several rooms in the tower that you can use.”

“No. I’ll need a place outside the city. Somewhere remote where we won’t be bothered. I’m expecting my Awakenings to be fairly…unstable. I think we’ll need a place that we won’t mind burning down either. On that note, it would be nice if that place was filled with a lot of fire elemental power.”

Places filled with the natural mana and spiritual power of fire were not rare but they didn’t exactly grow on trees either. Trees were flammable after all. “This has something to do with your heritage, I assume?” He asked rhetorically.

"That would be a fair assessment, yes." His daughter nodded, not explaining further. Another thing Arjuna was already used to. The girl sometimes just knew things but refused to explain how, despite him questioning her quite insistently on a few occasions.

“I was expecting you to do this a year ago so I’m not surprised. I’ll see what I can do. What about your mana? The Academy exam will be in three weeks, and I’m fairly sure they won’t accept a first circle mage.” He pointed out. He actually didn’t mind if Karna didn’t go this year as most kids at the Academy would be older by at least a year or two.

“Funny you should mention that. I’m going to use this opportunity to form my second circle as a mage as well. I told you that you didn’t have to worry. I simply like to have a proper foundation.” His daughter retorted with a small smile.

“Yeah, you’ve been telling me that for years now, and I happen to know you could’ve become a second circle mage when you were eight. Which means you were likely capable even earlier, knowing how you like to hide such things. I know foundations are important, but you might be holding yourself back a bit too much." Arjuna criticized with a fatherly tone. He knew his daughter was extraordinary and was afraid she was holding herself back because of all the secrecy they'd been forced to maintain so far. He didn't want her damaging her future just because they had to exercise care. She was brilliant and he wanted the world to know it.

Karna’s smile got a little mysterious. “I’m making sure I have the best foundation I can manage. Don’t worry. I'm now done. If you want me to progress so badly, then find me the place I requested!”

Arjuna laughed as his daughter shooed him away. He'd find the best possible spot for sure. He already had a volcano in mind. It was nice and remote and naturally filled with the right kind of energy. There was even a small portal to the elemental plane of fire within the volcano. That would suit her specifications perfectly. He’d only need to chase off some lava wyrms to make the place safe…

--------

“Ahh.” Karna released a satisfied sound as she slipped into the hot water of the large bath. She had always enjoyed baths. In fact, she liked many of the simple joys of life. As you grew older, you understood the value of finding pleasure in the moment and the simple things, and she was very old indeed. In fact, she had no idea how old she really was. She wasn’t even able to guesstimate how many lives she had lived. She had stopped counting after a hundred, and that seemed so long ago that she must have crossed a thousand by now. The question was, how many times over she had crossed that threshold? She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to know. Many of those lives had been very brief, while others had been extremely long, so the number was rather unimportant.

“You sound like an old woman when you get into a bath.” Duskclaw laughed. The beastwoman was floating on her back, mostly submerged in the water. She had her long brown hair untied for once, and it was spreading in a fan around her head. The woman had a tan light brown skin that was only somewhat lighter than her hair, and there were small tufts of black on the canine ears on top of her head. Karna wasn’t sure what specific kind of beastman she was as it had never come up and it was a little impolite to ask.

She simply laughed in response. If only Duskclaw had any idea. Still, the reincarnators had different kinds of methods to cope with the crush of the years pressing on them, and Karna had found her own coping method in acting like this was just her second life. She would act the age of her body, or vessel as she liked to call it, as that both helped with mixing in with normal people as well as helping her keep things fresh and retain her sanity. She slipped sometimes of course and there were certain childish behaviors that she’d rather just avoid on principle, but generally, she could get into the role. She couldn't pretend like she was a completely normal and idiotic child, but at least she could avoid acting like the ancient relic that she truly was. There were two main reasons that allowed her to do it. The first one was simple biology. Hormones and body chemistry influenced one's behavior and it didn't take a lot to act like a hormonal teenager when your body really was full of hormones. The second reason was that her short lives gave her plenty of opportunities to act like a relatively young person. In fact, she sometimes found it harder to act mature when the time came.

“You know I’m still not immune to sore muscles from this level of exercise unlike some whose name I won’t mention.” Karna made a playful jab at the other woman.

“Hey, you might not have that on your side, but I’m the one carrying bruises from all that training.” Duskclaw protested. A fair point.

"You don't seem all that bruised," Karna commented while looking at the other woman floating in the water. She noted that only three things of Duskclaw’s body were above water, one was her face and the other two things were on her chest. The woman was quite busty. She was also quite attractive. Karna could see how there would be rumors about Arjuna and his disciple floating around. She had noticed over the years that Duskclaw had a bit of a crush on Arjuna. Looking at Duskclaw now, it was a rather decent show of moral fortitude from Arjuna that nothing had ever happened between the two. As far as she knew at least, but she was a rather good judge when it came to such things.

“What’s this?” Duskclaw asked playfully. “Have you been checking out big sister in the bath?” She got up to a standing position as water cascaded down her body and noted where Karna had been looking the last before turning her gaze away. It seemed like some kind of realization had hit the woman. “Aww, don’t worry little Karna. I’m sure yours will grow properly as well. You’re still young!”

Karna almost facepalmed at the ‘encouraging’ words. It seemed that Duskclaw still carried a grudge about the ‘mom’ comment. “Don’t you worry ‘aunty’. I’m not worried at all.” She retorted calmly.

And she truly wasn’t. It seemed that the bloodlines the reincarnators gathered as a result of their numerous lives caused certain changes to their appearance. The only reincarnators that were not attractive were those that had not lived enough lives to gather any bloodlines. It almost didn’t matter which bloodline, as they all brought benefits, though there were of course differences. In addition, Karna had been fairly busty in all her lives for some reason. Well, all her female lives that is. Apparently, that was just one of the results of those bloodlines, though she couldn't understand why and which bloodline. As a result, she really didn't need to worry about her appearance while growing up. In fact, it was already clear that her appearance would cause some problems of the opposite type when she grew up. Still, it was one of those things that wound up solving more problems than it created. She had often heard that it was more useful to be attractive than it was to be intelligent, and that saying wasn’t all that wrong. She certainly didn’t mind being attractive.

The two teased each other for a while as they washed off the sweat and enjoyed the water. They also both enjoyed the company. Despite the teasing, Duskclaw felt more like a sister to Karna, and they got along fairly well. Karna was one of the few real friends that Duskclaw had as Arjuna’s apprentice. She had been Arjuna’s apprentice for several decades, and the rumors had it that the only reason she had not finished her apprenticeship was because the two were romantically involved. There was the slight bit of truth in the rumor that Duskclaw didn’t want to leave partially because of the attraction she felt, but that was only a minor reason.

Most apprenticeships like this lasted maybe a decade or two depending on the exact nature of the agreement. Still, few apprenticeships lasted longer than two decades. However, that didn’t really factor in the simple reality that Arjuna was one of the few people thought to have the potential to Ascend. Duskclaw had a lot more to learn than a normal apprentice, and would likely inherit a lot of his things if and when he did Ascend. It was also because Arjuna had saved Duskclaw that the young woman had sworn to serve him. Taking her as a disciple was just a convenient way to make things official. No matter the reason though, many people tried to get close to her just to get closer to Arjuna, so there were few people she could trust, and Karna was one those few despite her youth.

As the two were toweling off, Duskclaw finally got serious. “Tell me honestly Karna. Why are you so eager to go to the Academy? We both know you can get just as good if not better training as a mage from Arjuna, and it’s not like the people at the Academy are experts in cultivating your Aura. That’s really only something you can learn from your own kind. It’s also a risk, and one that might come to bite us. Going in a couple of years would not be too late and the risk would already be much smaller then. You’re not one to make impulsive decisions either, not if it puts us at risk as well.”

“What’s the point of being alive if you don’t live?” Karna replied with a sudden question of her own.

“What?” Duskclaw was only confused by that reply.

Karna turned to the older woman and took a hold of her hands. “Look. I’ve enjoyed my life with you and Arjuna. And the servants. But I’ve been a caged bird. I haven’t really been living life. There’s a reason why you’ve kept me hidden, and I get the risks. I really do. But it’s time I actually start living. I want to meet people. Make friends. Form connections. Personal power isn’t the only thing that can help protect someone. Having friends and connections helps as well. I also need to make rivals and enemies of my own. That will allow me to face the real world and practice my skills in new and unexpected situations. Most of all though, I want to see the world outside the tower. The few times we’ve visited outside aren’t enough for me.”

“But wouldn’t all that be there in a couple of years anyway? With a lot less risk involved.” Duskclaw argued. She was worried about Karna.

“Yes and no. I’ve been socially starving for a long time. You are good company, but I need to meet new people. Besides, I want to have a few years of just living before things get serious. And I have a feeling I don’t have endless amounts of time before things really do get serious. We are both aware that my heritage is something special, and I can feel it in my soul that whatever drove my parents to send me down here will follow me eventually. Before that happens, I want to have some time for myself. Simple rivalries and friendships with simple people. Well, as simple as you can get with the Academy that is. But you already know that. That’s why you and Arjuna haven’t really tried to stop me.” She squeezed Duskclaw’s hands in thanks.

"I just…worry," Duskclaw admitted. She wasn’t Karna’s mother, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t developed any motherly feelings towards the little girl.

“I know. And I appreciate it. I really do. It’s not like I’m moving to another world and never coming back. You spend time at the Academy as well. In fact, you spend more time there than father. You’ll see me a lot. Besides, just because the Academy might struggle to beat Arjuna’s private tutoring when it comes to magic, it’s not like that’s the only subjects they teach. I can learn many things by myself, but there’s a limit.” Karna pulled Duskclaw into a hug. She had expected questions like this earlier. Still, it was good to get things into the open, and it felt nice to have someone worry about you. “Come on. Let’s see if we can figure out what to do for the rest of the evening.”

-----

Chapter 7 - Burn baby, burn!

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”Good job father. This place is ideal for what I had in mind.” Karna praised her father as his teleportation spell deposited them inside the caldera of an active volcano. The place was surprisingly well illuminated by the glow from the lava. The place was also naturally extremely hot and it was filled with the acrid stench of sulfur. There was a convenient ledge for them to stand on that she suspected was made by Arjuna. The disappearance of the previous inhabitants was likely his work as well. She could still sense the lingering energy of the beings that used to call this place home not too long ago.

Her senses were one of the few things that hadn't deteriorated too badly as a result of her rebirth. Just that the range was much lower due to her inability to fully power them for the time being. She used those very same senses to locate the spiritual center of the fire energy inside the volcano. Naturally, it was deep within the lava, but thanks to the portal to the elemental plane of fire, the focal point was happily almost right below them. The energy from that place would simply need to be gathered upwards towards the ledge they were standing on.

“I still don’t quite understand why you wanted a place with abundant fire energy. So far you haven’t shown any sign that your affinity with that particular element is any higher than the others.” Arjuna probed. Karna wasn’t the type to share her plans unless asked, although she didn’t seem too averse to explaining her thoughts if you did ask and it wasn’t something she specifically refused to explain. He had gotten pretty good at discerning between questions she would answer and those she wouldn’t.

“It isn’t. In fact, there are several other elements that I have a better affinity with.” Karna responded honestly. They had not performed more than a cursory elemental affinity test so far, mostly because she had refused to take one. She had explained that she’d rather find her affinities out by herself, though in reality she already knew her affinities without a test and didn’t want to worry her father further.

“Then why? Creating the second circle is an important step.” He admonished gently. During the process, the prospective mage would need to inscribe a circle of magical symbols inside their magic core. The inscription symbolized the things they had learned and figured out during their time as a first circle mage, the first circle being something that you gained just from having access to mana. The second circle was the first step on the path to becoming a proper mage and could have real consequences if done incorrectly. Conversely, if you knew just the right symbols to use, you could make your future spellcasting much easier, as the second circle would affect every spell you cast in the future. He had given her lessons on the subject so he wasn’t too concerned she’d do something catastrophic, but he still worried.

“You’ll understand when you see it. Have a little faith. When have I been wrong so far? On that note, I need you to make a formation for me. It needs to gather the fire elemental energy from the surroundings and guide it to where I’m sitting. The more energy the better.” She could do the whole thing without the energy, but the result would be better with abundant energy for her use.

“Fine, fine. I’ll trust you. Once again.” He grumbled a bit but started chanting anyway. Glowing lines of power extended from his feet all over the ledge, forming an intricate circle filled with runes and spell inscriptions that seemed to carve themselves into the stone.

"That'll do," Karna said with a smile. It wasn't quite as good as she had hoped, but fire wasn't Arjuna's element and she didn't have enough mana to do such work herself just yet. Maybe once she reached the third circle…

"'That'll do' she says," Arjuna grumbled a bit more. He was actually a bit proud of his work on such short notice. Most mages could whip up a formation like he had done, but few could do it for an element they had little affinity for without preparations.

"Uh, by the way, I think it would be better if you stayed at a safe distance," Karna suggested.

“Seriously? I don’t think there’s anything here that could harm me.” Arjuna pointed out with an incredulous look. The whole mountain could explode and he’d be fine. Still, knowing his daughter, he prepared some defensive spells just in case.

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She shot back carelessly. She didn’t think this would get violent enough to really threaten someone as strong as him, but one could never be sure with such things. Luck played a significant factor in a person's development after all.

She settled down in the center of the formation in a meditative position and started gathering the fire energy towards herself. At the same time, the power of Aura inside her began to form into a pattern. After it had formed the first complete image, she could sense that she had done enough to Awaken the bloodline, however, her goal was not to do just enough. One pattern after another was formed and the Aura inside her began to go through a qualitative shift, taking on the fiery nature of the energy surrounding her. Image after image the heat inside her built up and started affecting the surroundings.

Arjuna stared in shock as first his daughter’s clothing all burned away before the stone below her seemed to turn into molten slag, seemingly flowing around her without harming her. Suddenly it seemed like all the heat and air in the area started being sucked towards her. He actually had to pull further away to not get caught in the maelstrom as the air around her seemed to be turning into plasma. He would’ve jumped in to save her if his senses didn’t clearly tell him that she was perfectly fine. It was hard to sense anything about her physically, but he could sense her lifeforce and it didn’t show any signs of abating. On the contrary, it was like her lifeforce was growing larger by several magnitudes every passing moment. The energy around her pulsed, and with every pulse, she seemed to grow stronger.

Finally, Karna finished all the imagery from the Phoenix bloodline that she had gathered, and they all seemed to lock together to form a completed whole. That’s when she could sense the transformation taking her over. It felt like her old self was being burnt away, and she knew that wasn’t just a vague metaphor. Her old self truly was being burnt and refined during the process. The process would be automatic if she allowed it to be, but she didn’t. There were changes she wanted to make now that she had the opportunity.

There was a reason she had been happy with one of her natural bloodlines being that of a Phoenix. It wasn’t the regenerative abilities or the ability to control fire that the magnificent beasts had, although those were nice benefits as well. Instead, it was the ability of the Phoenix to reconstruct and refine itself during the moment of rebirth. The most important part, and the part she could safely allow the process to handle, was the fact that all the impurities in her body that had formed from living in a place other than the Divine Planes were burnt away. She would also be forever immune to such impurities as the fire inside her would now be part of her nature. This was part of the perfect foundation she had in mind, and for that purpose, the Phoenix bloodline was optimal.

The parts that she wanted to make changes to were more mundane in nature. Her body was already an exquisite vessel for her soul, but that didn't mean she couldn’t make some changes and personal preference-type improvements while she was at it. If this was going to be her last life, then she would damn well enjoy it! Some of the changes would be something she would get to enjoy immediately, while others would not become relevant until many years later. This was the benefit of having lived several lives. With knowledge of what was to come, you could prepare. Some changes were utilitarian like the ability to burn away most poisons and diseases in her body, while others were purely for pleasure, such as a greater sense of taste and a more acute sense of touch and hearing. Also, she was going to have some ‘fun’ in this life as well, so might as well make some improvements on that front as well.

There were also many things she couldn't change. Her bloodlines were what they were, and for some reason, her hair stubbornly stayed bluish-white despite her attempts to change it into something a bit more palatable. Luckily there was no need to change most things, as the vessel she had been given was truly exquisite and didn’t need much improvement. She could sense some of the future potential still sleeping inside her, even if she got only a small glance, and she was quite satisfied with what she saw.

The fire elemental energy around her formed into an egg made of almost electric blue flame, which left Arjuna completely baffled. Then he sensed something that made him truly sweat. “Why in the nine blazes is there a tribulation coming at a time like this?!” He had to dash outside the volcano to see what was going on, and he had barely gotten out as a pillar of heavenly fires suddenly crashes straight inside the volcano he had just exited. If he had stayed inside, it would’ve been doubtful that he could’ve gotten out unharmed, even if his survival wouldn’t have been in question. This wasn’t the first tribulation he had faced after all, and as far as tribulations went, this one wasn’t among the most dangerous.

“Karna!” He shouted as panic started to set in but immediately sensed that the fires were not actually harming his daughter. On the contrary, they seemed to be aiding in the process. It was like this was something that was supposed to happen. Was this why she had warned him earlier? She could’ve just told him, as he almost had a heart attack from worry. He had almost thrown all his powers at the mouth of the volcano to prevent the fires from falling on his daughter. The only thing that had stopped him was his trust in Karna.

Suddenly the whole volcano seemed to erupt and a huge form of an electric-blue Phoenix made of what looked like lightning and plasma appeared just for a second before it shrunk back inside the volcano. Arjuna rushed back inside and noticed as a miniature version of the same Phoenix was floating in the place where his daughter had been just moments before. All the fire elemental energy rushed inside the bird and seemed to vanish as if eaten by something. Even the lava below seemed to grow cold and still as the power leaking from the elemental plane through the portal wasn’t enough to keep it going. It was a small portal after all.

Suddenly a realization hit him. “That’s why you wanted fire energy!” When a mage broke through to the next level, their mage core would grow almost explosively larger. The expansion often dwarfed any expansion the mage achieved during standard daily cultivation. There was a certain amount of luck involved in the process as the expansion was somewhat random, although the talent of the mage in question could ensure a decent result at the very least. You could also force the issue with large amounts of external power like Karna had just done, but that would result in a large amount of impurities and would be difficult for a young mage to handle. Except, for a Phoenix, purifying the fire energy was child’s play and no amount of fire could harm it. The first such breakthrough was also a little special in that it set the baseline for future expansion. No future expansion during formation of a new circle could be smaller than the one you experienced during your first. And Karna had just massively cheated the whole system!

“Well, that worked exceedingly well, don’t you think?” Karna asked rhetorically after the energies started to settle down. Unknown to Arjuna, she had also utilized the fire seed she had gotten from the Spirit World, which allowed her to attune with the element perfectly, further improving the result. She was quite pleased with herself all things considered. Her plans usually worked well, but it was always nice to see something complicated like this come together just right to form synergistic benefits. There was just a tiny little crack in her plan that spoiled her triumph somewhat.

“Why are you so small?” Arjuna couldn’t help but ask. Karna’s voice was normal, but her current form was barely larger than a baby bird.

“Shut it!” Karna retorted, though her cute and ruffled appearance didn’t help matters. “I just Awakened the bloodline, so of course I’m small! The form will grow as I practice my Aura further now that the bloodline is no longer inert.”

“Can you turn back?” Arjuna suddenly realized a possibility.

"Yes, I can. I just don't want to. I'm naked remember. And I don't think we brought any spare clothes. I must admit, I didn't think of that part." Karna admitted grudgingly.

“Oh, so your plans have holes as well?” Her father asked with a teasing voice.

“Nobody’s perfect.” She puffed her tiny chest. “Though I’m damn close.”

“Yes yes, and so very humble.” Arjuna continued his teasing, partly because of the worry she had caused him earlier.

“False humility isn’t an attractive trait. Confidence on the other hand is.” She shot back. “Something you should keep in mind if you want to have more kids one day.”

The two continued teasing each other for a while longer before they got a bit more serious. “A Phoenix, huh? I suppose I should’ve expected it. Any more surprises I should expect?” He asked.

“Well, the next Awakening will be as a Titan, so we'll need a storm and a lot of metal energy. It would be kind of ideal if we could catch something like a lightning tribulation inside a huge smithy or an ore vein.” Karna shamelessly requested.

Arjuna shook his head in exasperation. “That’s all? And you’re saying you have both bloodlines? And that you can Awaken them both? I’m not an expert, but I’m fairly sure that’s not how it’s normally done.”

“Those are the ideal circumstances, not requirements. And as you said, you’re not an expert, so let me handle it. I was just proven right moments ago, right?” She pointed out.

“Yes, but you also showed that your plans have holes in them. Small holes, I’ll grant you, but small holes can grow into major problems.” Arjuna retorted.

“Oh, I know. I’m not blind to that fact.” She admitted freely. “However, you need to take risks in life. Or I should rephrase that since I already know what you’re going to say. Not everyone has to take risks, but I do. Now get teleporting father, I need clothes and this form isn’t quite as fun to stay in as you’d think.”

------

Karna gave a sigh of relief once she was back to her old form and in her own chambers in Arjuna’s tower. Despite the fact that Arjuna could essentially conjure up any number of rooms he desired inside the tower, she had wanted only three. One of them was a modest bedroom with very little in the way of decoration or extra items. She had learned to make do with quite little in her previous lives, and she’d slept on worse beds than the quite moderate mattress placed in the corner of the room. The only luxury was the bookshelf with books and scrolls about magic theory and the current situation of the Higher Planes.

The other two rooms were a slightly more decorated sitting room for meeting guests and a fairly large training room that doubled as a meditation area. There was a dedicated training area in the tower, so this one was only so she could practice some things in her own time. The walls were lined with various weapons, and one side of the room had targets made from different materials that would regenerate once damaged or destroyed. She idly lobbed a bolt of blue fire at one of the targets, and the stone model exploded in a shower of shrapnel. It was interesting that her fire almost had an electric quality to it. Probably the result of her Titan bloodline showing.

The bolt of energy had taken almost no mana thanks to her perfectly purified mana and new attunement with the fire element. The bloodline also helped quite a bit. As she settled down on the floor in a comfortable position, she explored some of the changes that had happened. Despite being one of the highest-ranked magical beings in the multiverse, the form of a Phoenix wasn't actually optimized for combat. Especially the tiny baby-bird sized form she had access to currently. Sure, it was dangerous to fight a grown Phoenix, and few beings would come out alive from such an encounter. However, that was due to the other abilities that the majestic beings possessed, not because their physical forms excelled in combat. Now, for travel the form was perfect. Phoenixes had some of the highest speeds in flight, and some Phoenixes had the ability to Shift between worlds and planes. Thanks to her completed bloodline, she too would have that ability, but it was still out of her reach due to lack of power.

Orbs of fire danced around her palm as she played with the element. That was one of the main abilities Phoenixes had, control over fire. They had the ability to turn entire countries into storms of fire and flames. That said, she didn’t yet have the power to do something even close to that either, and it wasn’t like she didn’t know enough spells to do the same anyway, so the utility of the ability was a little suspect. She wasn’t even all that fond of the element due to its nature for being imprecise in its destructive power, though she had to admit that with the bloodline and the attunement, fire was currently her third strongest element.

Still, the changes she had undergone were extremely beneficial, even if their combat application was somewhat limited. That’s why she had chosen the bloodline as her first to Awaken. Phoenixes were not immortal, and neither was she, but they were hard to get rid of, and just the cleansing power of her internal flames would be more useful than any combat abilities almost any other bloodline could offer. As she was a Godling outside the Divine Planes, she would naturally need to take some measures to cleanse the impure power that would hinder her development, but with the Phoenix bloodline that became unnecessary. Now her development could match those Godlings that grew on the Divine Planes with their parents.

There was also the fringe benefit of the flames within her being extremely useful for the purposes of trade skills such as alchemy and smithing. Most such skills required the use of high-quality flames, and it was hard to beat the flames of a Phoenix in that regard. She would have to dedicate some time for those skills at some point in the near future anyway. Currently, Arjuna had only barely glossed over those subjects, so she couldn't really whip out a furnace and start producing pills and weapons without raising some eyebrows. There were limits to being a supposed genius after all.

That was one of the reasons she wanted to attend the Academy. The place offered lessons on most things. Besides the mandatory lessons in subjects like magic, politics, mathematics, history, and other basic subjects, the Academy also offered lessons in trade professions, spirit handling, and a thousand other subjects. Since she would be able to easily pass most of the basic subjects without any effort, she was hoping that she could take some more unconventional classes to give a plausible explanation for her sudden new skills in a variety of subjects. No one on the outside would be able to tell what exactly she was learning, so it would be hard for them to become suspicious if she suddenly showed aptitude in areas Arjuna didn’t give her lessons in.

Karna had long since learned that while a wise person hid some of their abilities in case of emergencies, she would not be able to avoid attention. She simply knew too much and was too skilled in too many things to hide her abilities. She also refused to play a complete idiot for a large part of her life. It was fine to show off enough to be labeled a genius, but it would become a problem if she displayed so much skill that her knowledge could be deemed impossible. That would create problems and draw attention of another kind.

Since this universe saw so many reincarnators, it had long ago started paying a certain amount of attention to such people. As even the reincarnators were prevented from discussing their nature, even under torture or mental intrusions, the exact nature of their existence had remained a mystery. However, there existed a term for the type of child that exhibited knowledge and skills well beyond what was possible. They were called Blessed Children. Karna had run into the term in her previous visits to this universe.

The Blessed Children were not common enough that the term would be used lightly, but there would be consequences once one was identified. Some parties wanted to protect them, while others wanted to use them for their own advantage. For that reason, Karna wanted to avoid that label by barely presenting herself within the limits of a normal genius. She would not be able to keep it up for too long, but hopefully long enough that it would no longer matter. And the first step was to create plausible deniability by attending the Academy.

Chapter 8 - The Academy

A note from Vihyungrang

Just so you're aware, since I skipped the childhood part entirely, I'm going to spend some time with the Academy portion. There will still be time-skipping involved since we're not going to go through the whole ten years in excruciating detail, but we'll spend some time here as it will be an important part in Karna's life. I hope you'll enjoy!

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Karna had seen many things in her life, but she had to admit that this universe had a handle on magical construction. The aerial view of the Academy was quite beautiful, and she knew from experience that the things found on the Divine Plane were even more so. Still, the Academy was absolutely at the pinnacle of magical construction. The Academy had used to be outside the capital city of the Magocracy Ascalon, but the city had later on grown to accommodate the place of learning, mainly to provide services and other necessities for the students.

The Academy was located on a nexus of elemental energies, and a large ley line ran under the place towards Ascalon. The complex was on an island that formed a perfect triangle, with wide rivers surrounding the island on all three sides. Several large bridges crossed the river at all three corners where the rivers were at their narrowest point, and several docks for both flying and sailing ships could be seen jutting out of the island. The whole place was covered by a large dome of protective energy, which was radiating from the highest point that could be found at the center of the island.

The island itself was very large. Tens of thousands of people could comfortably live on the island, and most of the space was dedicated to other purposes. If the whole island had been filled with residential districts, then a million people could've comfortably lived there. However, there were forest and gardens on the island, and there was even a decent-sized lake dug out near one of the points of the triangular island. There were several arenas and training areas, libraries, and buildings used for learning and various administrative functions. There were also workshops, stores, cantinas, temples, and a hundred various other facilities scattered around the place.

At the center of the island was a large and deep borehole that emanated fire, metal, and of course earth elemental energies. From her vantage point on the flying ship, Karna could see several doors and ramps on the walls of the borehole, and she could see the glow of magma near the bottom as well. Above the borehole floated perhaps the most important part of the Academy. A large crystalline structure levitated about a hundred meters off ground level as if it had been excavated and lifted from the borehole below, held in place by long gold-colored chains. Rings of floating buildings circled the crystal, slowly orbiting around it, while a tall tower had been constructed to the highest point of the crystal. The tower was the source of the protective dome.

All the buildings seemed to be built of marbled stone, and they were all decoratively painted and filigreed to perfection. Karna could sense all the enchantments radiating from the buildings all the way from the ship, and the floating crystal was almost blindingly bright to her eyes as it radiated mana. All the pathways were paved with the same marbled stone, and they were lined with statues, fountains, and trees that seemed to be shaped to perfection. It seemed the entire place was so perfectly maintained that not a single blade of grass was out of place.

"The Academy," Arjuna stated with a bit of pride while holding his hand on the crystal orb that controlled the sleek airship they were riding. Usually he would just teleport where he wanted to go, but you couldn’t teleport inside the Academy for obvious security reasons. He had a certain level of patriotic pride, and the Academy was one of the most important achievements of the Magocracy.

"Fancy," Karna replied simply. She could see a veritable swarm of other flying vessels landing on the platforms outside the island itself. Only some ships were allowed to land on the island itself, which also included Arjuna’s ship as he was a frequent guest lecturer of the Academy. She also suspected that his ties with the institute ran deeper than that, but he had never explained in detail and she hadn’t asked. They had a nice relationship like that. Neither of them asked too many questions and knew when not to push.

“The initial entrance exams are held on the large squares near the bridges. It’s pretty much just a test to see if you have any ability. Those that make the cut and get through the first exam get to actually cross the bridges and see some of the Academy as the other exams are held on the island.” Arjuna explained.

“So we have to actually walk back over the bridges to get to the initial exam? Why did we land on the island exactly?” Karna asked with a raised eyebrow.

Arjuna coughed a bit. “Actually, those that have the authority to land on the island get to bypass the initial exam. That exam only screens out those that have no hope of passing the other exams, as well as those that aren’t really serious about the whole thing. Many people want to take the exams just so they can say they took them. Still, just that alone reduces the number of applicants by more than half.”

Karna smiled a bit. "Nepotism still makes the world go round, I see."

Arjuna couldn’t really refute that. Still, it wasn’t like any applicant would get off easy because of their connections, so he wasn’t too concerned. “I’ll take you to the site of the second set of exams. This is where the Academy narrows the applicants down to those that actually have enough talent to attend the place. The first and the second set of exams take several days to complete, and this should be the last day of testing. The third group of exams will eventually find the best applicants and narrow the field down until only the people who will be accepted remain.”

Karna admired the view as they walked towards the nearest bridge. The promenades and garden paths were really well kept, and she could sense several spells maintaining the place. That made sense. It would take a not-insignificant army of gardeners and groundskeepers to actually keep the place in this condition manually. Not to mention cleaning and other such chores. It also explained the prevalent presence of marble everywhere. The whole walkway was melded together and even entire buildings were built as a single piece, which meant that you didn’t have to enchant every stone separately. Most of the trees and flowers were decorative, but she spotted a few fruit trees and some less often seen magical plants along the way as well. She had an inkling they would be used in some sorts of tests at some point, although it was unlikely they had anything to do with the entrance exams.

"Incidentally, the first-year dorms can be found there," Arjuna stated and pointed at a fairly large group of stone buildings that lined the riverfront and extended towards the center of the island. “As the first-years are the most numerous group of students, their living quarters are also the simplest and take the most space.”

"Is living in the dorms mandatory?" Karna asked. They had actually not discussed whether she'd live on-site or go back to Arjuna's tower every night.

“Strictly speaking no, but it would be a pain in the ass to get here daily if you chose not to. On that note, I expect you home at least every other weekend if you do pass the exams.” Arjuna had apparently given the subject at least some thought.

“If?” She retorted with a grin.

“Well, there’s always the possibility of you somehow mucking up all your exams, but no, I don’t actually expect you to fail.

“Good. You haven’t gone completely senile yet.” Karna couldn’t help but make a small dig at her father.

Their little fun was interrupted as an older magister wearing the official garb of a teacher approached them. He wore a uniform similar to the military of the Magocracy, except his garb was white and silver instead of the black and gold of the army. Nevertheless, the connection between the military and the Academy was quite clear. “Grand Medjai!” He greeted Arjuna with a small bow. “Have you come to oversee this year’s exams? We were not expecting you as you usually don’t attend, but we can easily reserve a spot for you.”

“In a manner of speaking. I'm mostly here because my daughter is going to participate in the exam." Arjuna made a small gesture towards Karna, who was clad in a similarly simple but elegant dress as she had worn during the trek to the Spirit World. She also wore the same veil that hid her features. The effect she had on people around her had grown in strength as she had grown stronger, but she had also gained a bit more control over it, so it was harder to notice. Still, it was likely that some people would have their reaction towards her swing towards the extremes.

“Daughter? Ah yes, I do believe I heard some rumors to that effect. I see. Of course she would attend the Academy. I will make sure that she gets to the exam site. As per the rules, you can't personally oversee an exam she is participating in to avoid any bias in the results. Even if you say nothing, just having you there could cause the examiners to change their standards." The older man explained rather reasonably.

“Of course. I will observe from a distance. Karna, this is Master Rajian. He’s one of the teachers in charge of the first-years. Rajian, this is my daughter Karna.” Arjuna made the introductions and the two others exchanged greetings. “Alright honey, you’ve got this. No need to be excited.” He seemed to be more worried than she was.

“Go on you old coot.” Karna shooed him away with a small gesture, before turning to the older man who had a complicated expression. “Something the matter Master Rajian?”

“My apologies. I’m simply unused to someone treating the Grand Medjai so casually.” The man shook his head while a wry smile bloomed on his face.

“Ah, I think I understand the feeling. I always feel a little off when everyone treats him with such reverence. Shall we?” She gestured down the path they had been traveling.

“Lets. I have to mention though, you will not be allowed to take the exam while hiding your face. We can’t have anyone taking the exam in someone else’s stead. Especially since I can sense that there is some sort of appearance altering spell weaved in as well.” The old man said a little apologetically.

“I see. I don’t really mind as long as my identity as his daughter is not spread around.” Karna nodded.

“Then why bother hiding at all?” The man asked a little confused.

“Well, it’s easier to just show you than explain.” Karna took off the veil and the cloth covering a part of her hair. Immediately the color of her hair changed and the refined and attractive features beneath were revealed. It was also quite obvious that she didn’t look even a bit like Arjuna. To complicate matters, she didn’t really look like a normal child either, as she didn’t have any of the childish features most kids of her age still had.

“Yes. I think I can see the problem. Tell you what. You can keep the veil on while you’re not taking part in the exams themselves, but the examiners will have to be able to see your features. This should be acceptable as most of the tests are held privately, and I can vouch for your identity for the tests where you aren’t in private.” The man suggested. That way her hair color would remain the blue-ish white that it was now, but she could still keep her features hidden most of the time. Veils were not uncommon among the younger generation of the Magocracy, so that would not attract any undue attention. Amusingly, her use of one during the trip to the Spirit World had sparked a small fashion craze towards veils. It often didn’t take more than a small push to start such trends.

“That sounds fine Master Rajian.” Karna nodded and donned the veil just on her face.

“I suppose I could explain a few things while we’re walking together. As the Grand Medjai’s daughter, I’d be surprised if you failed to pass the exams after all. He wouldn’t allow that to happen. Most of this information is something you’d learn during your orientation anyway, but it’s something you’ll need to be aware of nonetheless. All students are expected to wear the Academy’s uniform, although personal additions such as your veil are allowed. The important part is that the badge showing your year and your major has to remain visible. There are more exact rules that you’ll learn later on.

"The Academy divides the students into years, though that doesn't mean that the students actually get promoted yearly. In fact, it's not uncommon to have to spend several years to get promoted from a third-year student to a fourth-year for example. You have to be able to fulfill the criteria set to get promoted and even then you have to go through a rigorous exam. The basic curriculum spans ten of such years, and in the end, many students remain to either do research or specialize further under a chosen master. The naming is a little confusing I admit, but you’ll get used to it. The whole thing is built like this because the age of those passing the exams varies wildly, as do their skills in the beginning, so we can’t divide people based on age or starting level. By the fourth year, everyone should’ve reached a common level of skill and expertise anyway, even if their ages can still vary wildly.” The old man patiently explained. As a teacher, this sort of thing was common to him.

“I assume that’s when you choose the major you mentioned?” Karna asked a more specific question.

“At the latest, although many choose theirs much earlier. You could even say that sometimes the major chooses them. Usually, it's dictated by your talent, and the masters of each major like to poach talented individuals for more personal training. Ah, here we are." They entered one of the buildings that were near the bridges. The buildings were constructed using the same style as all the buildings on the island. The old man guided her through the marbled hallways until they reached a room that was almost full of people of various ages. They were all sitting down on small stools in front of small desks, apparently waiting.

As she had filled the last empty seat in the room, it seemed as if her arrival functioned as the starting signal for this test. A tiny gnomish woman stood on a table in front of the room to speak. “Welcome. You will all be taking part in the first real test of the entrance exams. The one you all went through earlier was just to weed out those with no ability. From now on, every test matters. Some of you might be thinking that your performance won’t matter for as long as you pass all the exams, but you would be sadly mistaken.”

“All the results of your exams from this point forth will be recorded and you will be ranked accordingly. Those that pass the exams will be divided into classes based on your ranking.” Master Rajian continued while walking to the front of the room.

The gnomish woman dressed like another teacher looked a bit surprised that he was taking such an active part but quickly adapted. “We do not select students based on your current knowledge and skills, although they do affect the selection as one of the factors. Mainly though, we choose based on your potential and talent. That said, you all have differing levels of skill and training, so it would be pointless to put you all in the same class as that would serve no one. Those in lower-ranked classes have the opportunity to show their talent and hard work and rise into the higher-ranked classes, while slackers in those higher-ranked classes have ample opportunity to fall down. The ranking you achieve will determine the level of your lessons in the beginning, and being in the higher-ranked classes comes with certain advantages and benefits, such as better accommodations and other perks. This is to foster healthy competition between students.”

Rajian once again took over. “The test you will be taking now will be one of knowledge. The test will cover several different subjects, but as we are part of the Magocracy, most of the questions will be related to magic. If you don’t want to study magic at all, then you really are applying to the wrong school.”

The gnome snapped her fingers and a scroll appeared on every desk, along with quills and ink. “As you answer the questions, you can keep opening the scroll, which will cause more and more questions to appear. They will also keep getting progressively more difficult. You have two hours, and you should answer as many questions as possible. This is the test where prior knowledge and learning will be very useful to you, but I wouldn’t worry too much if I were among those that don’t have much knowledge. This is just a single test among many. You will get the opportunity to prove yourselves in other tests. Now begin!”

As those taking the exam rushed to start, the gnome approached Rajian. A bubble of energy appeared around them that prevented any of the test takers from listening in on their conversation without blocking any of the noises the test-takers would make from being heard by the two teachers. “I assume there’s a reason you’re here. And I also assume you confirmed the identity of the girl you arrived with.” She asked quietly. Otherwise, she'd have to ask the girl to remove the veil.

“Yes. She’s Arjuna’s daughter. And there’s a reason she’s wearing that veil. I gave her the permission to keep it on until the examiners of the other tests need to confirm her identity.” Rajian explained with a nod.

“Oh, she’s the one? No wonder. You’ve always wanted the opportunity to gain his favor.” The gnome nodded in understanding.

“Can you blame me? It’s not like there’s a large number of people from our country close to Ascending.” Rajian pointed out.

“So you want to do him a favor in the hopes of getting one in return? Rajian, be careful. Even I’m not going to overlook it if you actually try to influence the results of these tests. And I don’t think he will be very grateful if you risk his daughter’s future by meddling.” The gnome woman looked at him firmly. They may be friends but she would not compromise the reputation of the Academy for his sake, even if she knew how much it meant to him. That’s exactly how the gradual corruption would start.

“Do not worry. I know. And I’ve been a teacher long enough to know how dimly our Headmistress views even the slightest hint of impropriety when it comes to the entrance exams. I’m not going to risk her ire. I will however make sure the girl has the best possible opportunity to pass the exams and have a good start to her education. Whether she can utilize that opportunity is up to her. If she can get in…well, then I can see if we can arrange something. Assuming her father is amenable.” Rajian explained and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s see how she’s doing.” The gnome woman stated simply while shrugging off his hand. With a slight wave of her hand, a scroll appeared in her hand. This scroll was tied to the scrolls used in the test with a rather complex but handy spell. The scrolls were all tied together in a magical system that was capable of judging the answers of the test takers without any work done by the teachers. Mostly. Sometimes the answers were complicated enough and offered an alternative solution that required a teacher to evaluate.

“Well, well. She seems to be doing quite spectacularly. Some of her answers on current events and near history are a bit thin, although her analysis is spot on. The magical questions she is acing, as expected from Arjuna’s daughter.” The gnome muttered before looking at Rajian. “It seems that your girl will be able to easily handle this test at least. It’s only been fifteen minutes, but she has already passed the average result received from this test among those who pass. I think she might be going for a record if this keeps up.”

“That’s reassuring, although I never thought this would be the place where she’ll stumble. The third set of exams is the real hurdle." Rajian nodded. He noted that the average scores in this group of applicants were not very high. Most likely the result of most of the applicants being from more modest backgrounds. The nobility and the wealthy always had the time and resources to properly tutor and educate their kids, at least when compared to the hoi polloi of the Magocracy, who were relatively well-off as far as standard of living went. Even the poorest in the Higher Planes lived wealthier lives than the poor in the planes below them, and the Magocracy was quite wealthy even by Higher Plane standards.

“Well, I suppose you’ll just have to hope she has what it takes.” The gnome stated with a tinge of sympathy in her voice. Most applicants didn’t pass, but they were talking about Arjuna’s daughter here, so the chances were better than for most.

Chapter 9 - Tests

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I tried some grammatical oddities in this chapter so forgive me if they don't read well. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

As the written test ended, they were all herded through the building to a long corridor with a dozen doors spread on both sides. Rajian, who was the one leading them, explained that this test would measure their elemental affinities, and that they would take turns to enter the rooms. Each room held one or more of the teachers of the Academy, and they would be in charge of the test. “You’ll also have to remove the veil when taking this test.” He explained to Karna, which drew some looks from the other applicants.

As they could test a dozen people at the same time, the whole process was relatively fast, even though their group had over thirty applicants. It was rather obvious that the Academy was quite experienced in dealing with a large influx of hopeful people seeking to become students. Karna was among the last ones to be called and she had to wait for less than five minutes. As she noticed the door she was being called to, a small smile graced her lips.

'Apparently, the applicants that the teachers have the highest hopes for are all being called to the same room.' She hadn't been paying too much attention to the other youngsters around her, mainly because she was relatively sure nearly all of them would be eliminated. Her soul granted her rather sharp senses and judging the potential of those around her wasn't exactly complicated when they weren’t protecting themselves against such examination.

As she stepped through the door, she found herself in a relatively large chamber, which made it quite clear that the room was larger on the inside than on the outside. The chamber was made of the same marbled stone most things in the Academy were built of, except the center of the room, which had a small dais of roughly-hewn stone that was covered in magical glyphs that were carved into the stone. From the dais, several lines of magically conductive metal ran in a fan shape to large crystal globes all around the room. She could sense different elemental energies inside each globe.

There were three teachers in the room, making it clear that more importance was placed on this room than the others. The teachers all wore the same uniform that Rajian and the gnomish teacher earlier had, but they all had a symbol on their chest, though the symbol they had was different for each teacher. Karna was quite sure that these were masters from the various majors taught in the Academy, here to scout potential talent. One of them was an older human woman, one a dwarven male of roughly middle age, while the last one was an elven man of indeterminate age. It was hard to judge the age of an elf, even for Karna who had spent several lifetimes as one.

“Applicant Karna, is it?” The human woman with a sunburst on her breast asked. “I believe you have been told that you will not be allowed to wear a veil during this examination.” Judging by her tone, she didn’t know if Karna specifically had been told, just that most applicants would’ve been told by this point.

"Yes, master," Karna replied respectfully and removed the veil covering her face. That caused a few eyebrows to rise.

“This might be a wee personal question, but yer not a human are ye?” The elven man with a leaf sigil on his chest asked in an accent that almost caused Karna to crack a smile. She would’ve expected the accent from the dwarf, not from the elf. A good reminder to keep an open mind.

“Not exactly, no.” She replied, not elaborating further. It was almost immediately obvious from her appearance after all. Her features were already beautiful enough that she would be more easily confused with a vampire or an angel, two races famed for their appearance, although she bore some resemblance even to an elf with her sharp and well-defined features. The entirely white hair and eye-brows hinted towards a more vampiric heritage. Most importantly though, she didn’t look like a human child.

“Fair enough.” The dwarven man that sported the rather stereotypical anvil on his chest grunted. It wasn’t all that hard to guess at their specialties, although the leaf and the sunburst could be several different possibilities. “Stand on the dais and draw heavily on your mana. Don’t form it into a spell, just hold it until the test is complete.” He continued.

Karna stepped up to the dais and did as she was instructed. Having gone through the process countless times, there was no hesitation in her actions. She idly judged the spellwork on the stones while waiting for the results. Whoever had created this test was quite capable. It would provide rather detailed results and would actually be able to show nearly all of the affinities. It wasn’t quite at the level of the best affinity testing systems she had seen, but it was a far cry from the dinky tests used commonly in most universes she had been to.

As she held her mana in a relaxed manner, threads of power ran from the dais along the lines of magically conductive metal she had noted before, and finally to the crystal globes. All of the globes started glowing with power, according to her affinities. One of the globes was crackling with lightning as a thunderstorm seemed to form inside the globe, where another glowed with brown energy as it seemed to coalesce into a solid orb that filled the entire crystal. One had a storm of ice and snow, while another had what looked like a tree of life, and so on.

Each of the crystals seemed to be filled to the brim, yet two in particular stood out. One of the globes looked like a miniature star had been placed inside the globe, and the globe started showing signs that it would melt soon, while another was glowing with such brightness that it almost blinded everyone in the room. ‘Oh dear. They’re actually testing for True Light element. Well, at least they’re not capable of testing for the True Dark.’ Karna thought to herself. That would require a completely different test.

“You can stop now!” The human woman called out hurriedly, and she complied immediately. Still, it seemed that the two globes that had stood out were at least slightly damaged and would need to be replaced. It wasn’t that her other affinities were bad, but that the two elements simply overshadowed the others. Or actually three, but they were not testing for the last one.

“Did…did we get the readings at least?” The dwarf man asked.

“Ye, we got ‘em.” The elf replied. “The fire and light are off them charts, but them others also be stellar across the board. Never seen results like this!” He looked up at Karna eagerly. “Ye wouldn’t’ be interested In becoming a druid would ya?”

"Hey, no poaching allowed during the exams!" The human woman protested while looking sternly at the elf. "Scouting is allowed, but no poaching until they've gone through the first month of the curriculum so that they can have a better idea about what to choose in the future. With that said, I would certainly like it if you kept the war mage specialty in mind." The sunburst was for war mages? Seriously? That...made some sense, but it was not Karna’s first guess.

“Shut it both of you!” The dwarf raised his voice a bit and turned to look at Karna with narrowed eyes. “You don’t look surprised.”

“I’m not. I’m well aware of my affinities.” Karna shrugged simply. She was not going to try to explain.

“I see. Is it just me, but did I sense it correctly and you’re already attuned with fire?” The dwarf asked, steepling his fingers in front of his face. That caught the other two by surprise. Likely the dwarf had also attuned to the element and could sense a slight connection.

Now it was Karna’s turn to be surprised and she paid more attention to the dwarven man. He had the same short and stocky frame as most of his people, but he was clearly muscled due to all the time spent in a forge. He had a long brown beard that was immaculately styled in three thick braids held in place by ornamented golden rings. “Very perceptive, master…” She allowed the question to hang in the air.

“Menkhaf. Master Menkhaf and I teach artifice as you may have already guessed.” The dwarf grunted. “Judging by your affinity, you probably didn’t make the mistake of using a low ranked essence for your attunement.”

Karna nodded in reply and the dwarf continued. "Good. With a fire affinity like that, you'll be popular in most majors, and the Wardens will likely be at the forefront of trying to recruit you with your affinity with Qhaysh.” He used the old name for True Light magic. “I recommend you take your time and weigh your options carefully. With affinities like those, I’m pretty sure the offers will stick around long enough for you to make a careful choice. And if someone’s dumb enough to rescind their offer…well, it’s their loss, now isn’t it? I’m quite sure I’ll be seeing you during your lessons, assuming you don’t horribly bungle every other test.”

“I appreciate your words master Menkhaf.” Karna made a small bow while cupping her fist with her other hand.

The dwarf cracked a small smile. “I see my warning was unnecessary,” He realized from the way Karna had taken the information. Yet she had been polite enough to take the advice in the spirit it had been given.

"Are we done here, masters?" Karna asked and placed the veil back on her face, with a small silver chain going behind her head to hold it in place.

“We are.” The elf man stated with a nod. “Or at least ye are. We hafta replace the damn globes.”

------

Rajian led them to what looked a bit like an archery range next. This time it seemed the tests would be open to being seen by everyone, and Karna spotted several older students observing things from the large viewing galleries on the sides. Several other applicants had also stuck around to watch things, and a significant number of teachers had also gathered at the stands. It seemed Arjuna was also among them, as Karna spotted him talking with some other teachers and Duskclaw had also arrived. She had been forced to take care of some duties and had not been sure if she would make it.

There were three other groups already present at the range, and despite the fact that there were several places for half a dozen applicants to take a test at the same time, it was obvious that this part was the bottleneck of the second round of exams. It also wasn’t exactly a mystery what they were meant to do at this place. Karna could see as a pair of prospective students both cast spells towards the targets at the end of the range.

Rajian stopped them behind the other groups that had arrived before them and turned to address the group. “Alright settle down. It seems we will be forced to wait a bit. The teachers that will perform the exam will explain you the specifics of the test, but I might as well save everyone some time and give you a brief rundown. When your turn comes, you will be given a time limit and in that time you will be tasked with taking down as many targets as possible. The more and faster you destroy targets, the more difficult the test becomes, as the targets will start moving, and there will be also other targets that you need to avoid damaging, essentially simulating collateral damage.

“You will be judged on the number of targets and the level of spells you use, yes, but the test will be calibrated according to your current level. The main purpose of this test is not to see who can throw around the highest ranking spells, but to figure out how good you are at using the power you do possess. Someone who takes down fewer targets might get a better score than another one who takes down more based on their skillful use of spells. There are many things that can affect your score, such as the number of spells or abilities you use, the time you take chanting, your ability to cast voicelessly and without gestures, your accuracy and wasted mana, and a dozen other factors.

“Remember to inform your teacher of your current rank as a mage, or a warrior if you prefer to take the test using your ki instead. The range will be calibrated accordingly. If you are caught lying, you will be automatically rejected, and will forever be banned from trying again, so don’t bother. We’ve grown rather good at spotting cheaters over the years. Any questions?” Rajian asked at the end of his explanation.

“Are we allowed to use items, such as weapons if we plan to use ki?” An older boy asked.

“You are allowed to use a weapon if you plan to use ki, or a focus if you plan to use mana and nothing else. In either case, the item will be handed to the teacher observing you for inspection, and you are not allowed to use a magical weapon or a focus that grants you any benefits beyond the very basic benefits that you gain from a standard focus. If you didn't bring a non-magical weapon or a focus, first of all shame on you for not thinking about such basic things, and secondly, the teacher can provide you with one should you need one. Any other questions?”

There were a couple more questions, but nothing that actually interested Karna. The test was rather well arranged. Personally, she would’ve arranged the whole thing inside an illusionary array to allow for a more realistic test, but that would’ve taken quite a bit of power to keep the array running. A rather tiring or expensive prospect considering the sheer number of applicants, as there would likely be at least tens of thousands of applicants that made it to the second set of exams, likely even hundreds of thousands. That also meant that there were more of such ranges in other parts of the Academy grounds, as handling so many students even over several days was quite daunting.

“Alright, if there are no further questions, I can explain what happens after you’re done. Your results from the three tests will be calculated, and you will be ranked accordingly. Those with good enough scores, or those that managed to attract the attention of the examiners despite a lower score, will be invited to take part in the third set of tests tomorrow. Rest well tonight, as the third set will likely be the most exhausting.” Rajian finished his explanation.

Karna had time to observe the performances of those that had come before her group, and she wasn't wildly impressed so far. There had been a handful of performances that had been worth notice, and only a single one that had actually impressed her. The girl that had impressed her had been around twelve or thirteen and had a long golden-colored hair and a rather haughty demeanor. Clearly the daughter of some noble judging by her attire. Karna had also been forced to re-evaluate her estimation about the number of applicants as six other groups had gathered behind them by the time it was her group’s turn. And some of the groups were three times as large as her group.

Finally, it was her turn and as she was called up she noted that Duskclaw was about to cheer but was held back by Arjuna. ‘Ah yes, the no meddling rule.’ Karna thought with a wry smile. The human man in charge of her exam looked fairly young. He also had an insignia she was familiar with on his chest, a portal similar to the one Arjuna had. Apparently, his specialty was related to spirits.

“The ones that came before you gave me the impression you have already been told what to expect?” The man asked with a slightly bored voice.

“Smash targets, don’t smash wrong targets, points for creativity and speed, blaady-blah.” Karna summarized sarcastically.

“That’s about the gist of it. Second circle mage correct? Hit the red targets, don’t hit the blue ones. You’ll have to reveal your face while taking the test. Do not worry. The stands are far enough that only the masters will have a sharp enough eyesight to actually see your face in detail.” The man said a bit dismissively. The parents of the examinees were not allowed on the island usually, so the only people powerful enough were the teachers.

“Considering there are elves in the stands, that’s not entirely true, however…” Karna retorted, before pulling the veil down enough to reveal her face. She was aware that the elves were focused elsewhere and would soon have something else to draw their attention.

The man paid a bit more attention suddenly but didn’t say anything beyond what he was supposed to. “Get ready, start!”

As soon as he shouted, targets started showing up on the range designated for her use. At first the targets came slowly, but their pace rapidly quickened. None of her targets lasted for more than a second, as she could sense the place where they would appear before they actually did thanks to her sharp senses. The blue targets felt just a tad bit different. Not much, but enough for her purposes. A barrage of bolts of energy spun into existence around her and hurtled down the range with blinding speed.

She purposefully used different elements to get points for variety, as she randomly cycled through all the elements, except Dhar and Qhaysh. All of the elements had a very basic attacking spell of the first circle in the simple bolt of energy formed from the particular element. The form changed a bit based on the element, but the function didn’t really change all that much. A bolt of fire was about as useful as a bullet made of stone when thrown at a target. When used as a single bolt, such spells would be classified as a first circle spell, while her variation was the more effective second circle version called ‘Barrage’ that would send a large number of such projectiles at targets of her choosing as long as she kept the spell going.

Her barrage of projectiles was quite simple but very effective, and her mana consumption was low and efficient. She controlled the energy in each bolt perfectly as the first targets required barely any power to take out, while the later targets required her to put a lot of oomph into each projectile. If her mana hadn’t been purified to perfection, she might have needed to use several bolts on a single target towards the end. She also made sure every bolt hit their target, sometimes even homing around blue targets.

To add further variety, once the targets started appearing in larger groupings, she added in variations of the basic fireball spell in other elements, basically clumps of elemental mana that exploded on impact, creating an area of destruction. Such spells were usually considered third circle spells, though mostly of the easy variety. The fact that a mage was of a certain circle didn't preclude them from casting spells of higher circle, but it did make casting such spells much harder. Usually, they'd have to use a longer chant than they would have to if the caster was of the correct level, and they would also have trouble controlling the spell. Of course, the required mana was also much higher. That was the main benefit of forming more circles, as they would assist in casting more difficult spells.

As Karna had plenty of experience with these spells and even spells from circles no one on this plane had ever seen, going up a single circle was not a large challenge for her. The purity of her mana also made the increased consumption almost trivial. If she had tried casting spells of the fourth circle, she might have been forced to actually use chants to aid in control, but third circle spells were still fine. As the time ran out, over 900 targets had been eliminated, which was more than triple of the noble girl Karna had spotted earlier. Most examinees had struggled to get much over thirty as they had to chant every spell. ‘This should be good enough. It’s a high enough score to be considered a good enough performance to put me in the first class.’ She thought to herself.

“E-examinee Karna, 963 targets destroyed, not a single wrong target hit!” The young teacher announced as Karna put on her veil again.

She could see Arjuna and Duskclaw grinning in the stands. The observing teachers graded her on variance and spell usage as well, but she would not find out about those scores until much later. “Are we done then?” She asked the teacher in charge standing next to her.

“Yes.” He looked at her more seriously. “I’m sure we will meet again. Just so you know, with a performance like that, there’s certainly going to be an investigation to check whether you were cheating. Seeing as you didn’t even use a focus or any items, I’m sure there should be no issue, but I’m warning you just in case. They will likely want to check that you really are a second circle mage tomorrow as you come for the third group of tests.

“My thanks for the warning. There is no need for concern though. We will be seeing each other again." Karna stated coolly and turned on her heels to walk back towards the place they had left the airship.

“You overdid it just a tad.” Arjuna laughed as he and Duskclaw joined her moments later as they had left the view of the other examinees.

“Just a tad?” Duskclaw asked incredulously, even though none of it showed on her face. “She completely smoked any competition! I heard the teachers already raving about her affinity test as well.”

“Ah, speaking of, did you really destroy two of the testing globes?” Arjuna asked with a more serious look.

“Eh, I blame the one who designed the testing formation. They forgot to add a limiter. The globes had probably been damaged over years of use as well.” Karna retorted, playing the whole thing off.

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.” Duskclaw didn’t even bother hiding the sarcasm in her voice. “I don’t think anyone has gotten more than triple the points of the second place in the entrance exam rankings before. Have you heard about such a case master?”

"I have actually," Arjuna stated calmly. “Twice. The second one reputedly leads the armies of the Aegean Empire nowadays.”

“And the first one?” Karna asked, already having a suspicion about the other person being a reincarnator.

“You’re looking at him of course.” Arjuna grinned. “Makes a father proud to see their daughter follow in their footsteps!” The man even had the audacity to fake an emotional tear.

Chapter 10 - Rememberance and potential

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we are, the last part of the tests. Next time we'll get to move on to other things. Sort of. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

’Well, at least the standard of the applicants that made it to the third round is significantly better.’ Karna thought to herself as she looked around at the people gathered for the third grouping of exams. Only five thousand applicants were left, and the quality of the people she could sense around her was markedly different from yesterday. These people actually had some talent.

They had been gathered in a large arena near the large borehole at the center of the Academy and the large crystalline structure floating above it. The stands were half-filled with older students that had been drawn in by the prospect of seeing their future competition. A large part of the faculty was also in attendance, as well as some of the parents of the youngsters now standing in the arena. The Academy wasn’t open to people, but certain people were ‘more equal than others’ so to speak, and were allowed entry as a special case due to being previous students of the Academy. Still, those people were in a minority.

Despite the setting being an arena, Karna very much doubted that this would turn into a fight. The people taking the exams were still too wildly different when it came to skill, and there was no way the Magocracy would risk some of the most promising youngsters in a battle like that where casualties would be almost a certainty. Likely they had been gathered here because it was a convenient venue. Something that was soon confirmed as the teacher in charge of the whole thing started addressing them from a podium placed at one end of the arena, just below where the teachers had gathered.

Karna tuned out most of the speech as it was filled with platitudes and hopeful messages that were so common in such situations. It all boiled down to 'You were the best applicants, now strive hard and try to pass the final obstacle.' anyway. Instead, she observed the gathered people. She of course spotted Arjuna and Duskclaw in the audience, as they were sitting in the faculty section. The gathered students all wore the white and silver uniforms of the Academy, although their uniforms were less fancy than what the teachers wore. Apparently, the teachers that had overseen the first two exams had dressed down as it seemed large billowing capes and accessories of all kinds had suddenly been unleashed among the teachers gathered in the stands.

She looked at the large magical screen floating above all the applicants. It wouldn’t be in use during the test for privacy reasons, but just its presence was quite telling. She had seen such screens meant to give a much better viewer experience in higher-tech universes, and it was a rather blatant sign of the reincarnators bringing some technologies over to this universe, albeit powered by magic. You'd think that with this universe being so old, the technological development would be much higher than it was, but most such developments were based on need. With magic providing most things, there was little need for the higher strata of society to invest heavily into technology. That said, convenience and comfort items were the type of things that reincarnators often ‘invented’ in this universe as well, so things like entertainment and clothing were rather modern in many worlds. The most important detail about the whole thing was that there were signs of a burgeoning industrial revolution everywhere, but the people of this universe simply preferred artisanal goods over cheaper mass-produced ones, which stunted progress further. She could understand the feeling, as she personally liked custom made things as well. There were always tradeoffs to everything.

Karna shook her head and dismissed the idle thought, choosing to pay attention to her competitors instead. The people taking the exam were quite a bit more varied than before. The Magocracy was predominantly a human nation, which logically would dictate that most students here would be humans as well. The numbers were skewed by the fact that other nations and apparently even other worlds of the Higher Planes sent some of their youngsters to study in the Academy, and they wouldn’t bother sending anyone without decent odds of getting accepted. Thus, only a third of the examinees were human, while the number of different races had risen significantly.

From what Arjuna had told her, about half of those gathered here would be accepted. There was some leeway in that number depending on the level of applicants, as the Academy could accommodate a larger number of entries if the quality of applicants was especially high. The vast majority of those accepted would come from the Magocracy, as national interests dictated, but there would likely be about five hundred foreign students accepted as well. As far as strength of the applicants went, Karna was actually on the lower end of the applicants with her abilities as a second circle mage and a second level Aura user, but that didn’t mean she was weaker than the others. She had long since learned that paying too much attention to such numbers was almost meaningless.

‘Ah, the teacher is finally getting to the point.’ She suddenly noted. The teacher in charge was a fairly non-descript human man of advanced age that Karna could barely even see from this distance.

“…and today you’ll face two tests that will determine your future. We have already determined that you all have enough skill and promise to study at the Academy. So today we will be testing the two most important things on a person’s path to becoming someone great. Character and potential. On my signal, you will all leave the arena through one of the exits on the sides. It does not matter which one. You will follow the signs that guide you to a path that goes towards the Crystal Palace that is the heart of our institute. On the way there, you will enter several illusionary arrays that will test your character. There is no direct failure in these tests, unless you manage to fail all of the tests based purely around resisting temptation, as there isn’t a single 'right' type of character. However, you will be judged according to the results, and prospective future masters might either get interested or lose interest accordingly.

“Once you make it through the arrays, you will come to a large set of magical stairs that go up towards the Crystal Palace. These steps are something we’ve built around an artifact we’ve gained from the Divine Planes and they will help determine your future potential. The test itself is simple. The higher you can ascend the stairs, the higher your future potential. This is where the eliminations happen. It might be cruel, but your potential and hard work are the two things that will eventually make you great. We can’t measure how hard you’re willing to work, though you’ll have ample opportunities to prove that during your studies. However, we can measure your potential and so we will. Potential is the final measure of whether you will be accepted as a student or not. Now go! Prove yourself worthy, both to your families and to the Academy!” The man spread his hands in a wide and slightly pompous gesture to signal the start of the tests.

‘Well, it seems it was a good idea to hang near the edges.’ Karna laughed as she disappeared like the wind down one of the tunnels leading out of the arena. As she was so small, there was a real risk of being trampled underfoot as the hopeful students rushed to be first to get outside. Many of them would also not be above hurting a fellow examinee if it could be masked as an accident, as that would mean one less competitor.

-----

"Conniving bastard," Wolfgang said as a light greeting as he plonked down to sit next to Arjuna among the stands. He had wisely chosen to sit on the other side where Duskclaw couldn’t reach him. He had learned already that the beastwoman disciple was rather protective of her master’s image. Perhaps even more so than Arjuna himself.

“Articulate as always Wolfgang.” Arjuna shook his head while Duskclaw somehow managed to look at the warrior with judging eyes despite her expression still remaining the same. “What are you doing here? I thought Siegfried entered the Academy a few years ago?”

“He did. My wife and my other son, Reinhardt made it back home in time for the boy to take the test though. You wouldn’t know because you don’t pay attention, but Rein turned twelve this year, so it’s time for him to apply as well.” Wolfgang replied while making himself more comfortable in the stone seat. “How about a little bet? Your precocious little lass versus my boy. Which one is faster and has better potential? The loser has to pay for the celebratory feast and drinks at the party we’ll have when they both get accepted. No dodging out this time.”

"We accept." Duskclaw quickly interjected without giving Arjuna a chance to reply. She managed to somehow look smug despite once again keeping the same expression. “We already made similar bets, so fleecing you will simply make little difference.”

“We have?” Arjuna asked, obviously hearing about it for the first time.

"Karna found some bookies that are students of the Academy, so we made a couple of bets in your name," Duskclaw stated shamelessly.

"Of course you did," Arjuna grumbled.

“Gahah! I knew the girl had more balls than you!” Wolfgang laughed. He liked the girl more and more now. “The wager is on. Look, she’s coming up to the first tests. She’s quick despite her age!” He commented as Karna was the first to reach the illusionary arrays.

They were all observing the tests, as every examinee was being followed by a magical familiar that recorded the whole thing. The parents only had access to the familiar following their kid, allowing them to watch over the progress of their progeny, while the teachers could easily look at the view from any of the examinees. Wolfgang and Arjuna were both guest lecturers so they got the expanded view despite also being parents.

The tests of character took place in areas that were clearly shown to the teachers, but not to the youngsters taking the test. In all of them, they were pulled into an illusion and presented with a temptation or a situation that required them to make a choice that would help the teachers judge their character. To make things more difficult, the illusion would also blur the examinees' awareness of the fact that they were in an illusion, and during the tests based around temptation, they would also feel like they were heavily intoxicated, which made it easier to fall to temptations that were pulled from their own psyche and desires. The teachers would not see what exactly happened in the illusion, as that would be a gross violation of the deepest desires of those taking part in the exam, but they would know what choices the examinee made while gripped by the illusion.

"That was quick," Wolgang stated with surprise as Karna vanished for only a few seconds before reappearing back on the other side of the test. “I know it was just a temptation test based around wealth and she’s a bit too young to be truly tempted by such things, but…”

“They should’ve tried tempting her with books instead of wealth. That’s the limitation of this particular test. It only includes material wealth and items one might desire, but it doesn’t include more abstract concepts like knowledge.” Arjuna shrugged. The tests were designed by people so they would be imperfect despite pulling on the individual desires of the one taking the test. Some desires simply were easier to cater to than others.

------

Karna shook her head wryly as she sprinted towards the second test. The teacher in charge had mentioned something about a reward, so she might as well go for it. It was a little annoying to purposefully allow the illusions to take a hold of her mind as she could’ve shrugged them off easily. Using mental magic and illusions against reincarnators was quite difficult as their more powerful souls helped resist such intrusions. It didn’t make them immune, but it made resisting such magic much easier. Despite the strength of these illusions, she could’ve easily shrugged them off, but that would kind of defeat the purpose of the tests. The teachers would not get anything to judge if she just bulldozed through every illusion. It was still a little awkward as the illusion didn’t have quite the same effect on her. She didn’t get the feeling of intoxication that others would, nor did she ever forget the fact that she was inside an illusion, which made any attempts at temptation kind of pointless.

She spent a rather awkward and amusing two hours crossing the feeble distance of a little over two hundred meters as she was thrown from one illusion to the next. Some of the tests were actually quite interesting, like when she was forced to choose between saving innocent lives and the completion of a supposedly important mission, or when she had the opportunity to take an easier path to complete a difficult assignment and no one would find out about it. That one had been particularly ingenious, as it was an innocent-seeming situation with no apparent harm to anyone else, but it would supposedly save quite a bit of effort on her part. It was those sorts of situations that really showed a person’s true nature. It was easy to do the right thing when you knew others were watching, but it was hard to be a righteous person when you knew no one would know of your sacrifice and what you did wouldn’t hurt anyone. It was even questionable if such dogmatic adherence to rules was a good thing in the first place. Of course, the fact that she knew it was a test made things rather easy for her personally.

On the other hand, some tests, especially those focused around temptation could get a bit awkward. Especially the one that had focused on the desires of the flesh. In the illusion the examinee would be tempted by the perfect partner of their dreams, quite literally pulled from their dreams in fact, and given the opportunity to indulge themselves. What made it especially awkward for her was that her body was only ten and hadn’t really started flooding her system with the hormones that would awaken those sorts of desires. Additionally, as a result of her multiple lives, her tastes were also rather broad, so she had been presented with a cavalcade of different options of both genders and all sorts of species, ranging from humans and elves to even dragons and other magical beings. She appreciated the rather nice display of course but had quickly decided to leave that particular illusion.

She crushed the temptation tests while taking a balanced and measured approach to the character tests. She was a rather pragmatic person and not really an idealist, and she didn’t mind others knowing about that. She could be cruel and manipulative if she chose to take that path, but usually she found it too troublesome. She was no saint, but she wasn’t a devil either. She’d earned the True Name Karma for a reason. She also allowed her whimsical side to shine through in the tests. It would likely make some of the teachers scratch their head a bit as she showed a certain character trait in one test, and then the completely opposite one in the next test, just because that’s where fancy took her. Thanks to her speed at passing most of the tests, she knew she was quite a bit in front of her competition. That lasted until the last illusionary test.

Once she entered the last illusion, her face fell and she couldn't stop a single tear falling from her right eye. In front of her stood a crowd of people and all sorts of beings. Ones that she had known and loved during her previous lives. Husbands and wives. Children and adults that she had been a parent or a child to. Brothers and sisters, both those by blood and those that had she had gained through battle and faith. Relatives, friends, rivals, lovers, pets, and those that she had formed bonds with. The important people and beings from her previous lives.

If you lived long enough, you gathered a lot of ghosts. You inevitably had things you regretted. Things you wished you had done differently. People you just missed after they were gone. You also gathered a lot of enemies and those that would love nothing more than to watch you suffer. Such ghosts could be a good thing, but more often than not they were bad. This test brought out the good ones. She had lived a very long time indeed and wasn’t afraid of forming connections, so there were a lot of such ghosts.

This was likely not exactly how this test was supposed to work, but here she was anyway. Everyone she had lost to the countless years over the countless lives she had lived. Some of the faces were blurry, as she had forgotten the details despite her exceptional memory. Despite knowing that this was nothing but an illusion, she couldn’t help but drink in the appearance of the people that had mattered the most to her over the years. As these sorts of illusions were the only place where she got to see them anymore, she couldn’t simply step away before taking a good look at them and memorizing their faces once again.

------

Arjuna frowned in worry. “She seems to have become stuck.” He stated the obvious.

The blazing speed at which she had passed all the previous illusions and the dignified manner in which she had faced every test of character had drawn the attention of most of the teachers. She had become a topic of speculation among those gathered, and this recent development didn’t help matters. It wasn’t uncommon for even the most promising examinees to get stuck on one illusion or another. They showed the deepest desires of every participant after all. In fact, all the participants got halted for a time by at least one illusion, and most got halted by several. Unsurprisingly the temptation of flesh was the most popular one of course, but it was hardly the only one. The tests of pride and greed were also difficult to leave behind in short order. Pride, greed, and lust were sometimes the simplest of the sins to fall prey to.

"That's an odd choice of tests to get stuck on," Wolfgang commented, also interested. His son had also just managed to pass the illusion Karna was stuck on. A handful of examinees had already reached the stairs. “The Illusion of Remembrance and Regret. Usually, it's effective against old people, not the youngsters."

"That might be our fault," Duskclaw admitted with a genuinely sad expression. "We might not have given her the best childhood, and now that might have come back to haunt her.”

Wolfgang was surprised by that frank admission but tucked the piece of information away for later. Maybe he could ask some questions later on during the celebration. A celebratory mood and a bit of alcohol could lubricate tongues that usually weren't too willing to share. He was curious by nature, and these sorts of things could be important. He wouldn’t pry of course if Arjuna didn’t want to answer, but his wife had often described him as a curious cat. He’d poke around with his instinct for trouble and secrets until someone bopped him on the nose.

-----

“I see. I might have taken a bit too long to indulge myself.” Karna muttered as she finally exited the illusion and reached the stairs ascending towards the floating crystalline structure. A half a dozen other examinees were already ascending the stairs and they seemed to have gained a small lead on her.

She could see that the ones furthest along were a pair of Leonin males. If Duskclaw was from the most human end of the beastman spectrum, then the Leonin were on the opposite end as they looked closer to lions walking upright on two paws. From experience, she knew they were prideful but often very caring and justice-minded as a people. She also knew that these Leonin most likely hailed from the Aegean Empire, as that nation was originally formed by their kind. That didn't mean all Leonin lived in that empire, but most of those in this world at least did.

Of the remaining four, one was a dark-skinned elven girl, one was a gnomish male, and two were humans both a young girl and a boy. They were all dressed in a standard fashion of the Magocracy, though that was no guarantee of their origin. It wasn’t like it was hard to buy fashionable clothes in a major metropolitan city like Ascalon, and many people who came from abroad like to dress like locals to attract less attention. On the other hand, it wasn’t like Karna herself wore the typical fashion of the Magocracy, so that wasn’t the best way to judge either.

As soon as she stepped foot on the stairs, she realized what the test was all about. She had been curious about the method the Academy used to test for potential, as something like that wasn’t easy to test for. Suddenly she understood that the Academy probably didn’t even know how exactly the stairs worked and determined a person’s potential. They just knew it worked. She came to that conclusion for a very simple reason. The stairs didn’t actually test potential. They tested the soul of the one ascending the stairs. The top of the stairs likely held something that exerted pressure on the soul, and the strength of one’s soul would determine how high they were able to ascend.

That wasn’t a bad method for testing things. Soul wasn’t the sole determining factor when it came to potential, but it was a major factor. There were a lot of factors that went into determining the potential of a person, and some of those things couldn’t be measured in any way. Heritage, bloodlines, attitude, intelligence, talent, work ethics, your body and health, luck, and a hundred other things all contributed to your future achievements. You could have any mix or even all of those things going for you. However, even if you had all the other factors and a weak soul, your fate was to never reach the highest highs. That’s just how important having a strong soul was. So a test designed to measure a person’s soul was actually a pretty accurate way to determine potential. At least as accurate as one could get without someone like Karna doing the testing personally.

"This might actually be one of the most important reasons the Academy is so successful." Karna realized as she started racing up the steps. For her, there was no pressure. They were using some artifact that had fallen from the Divine Plane, just like the teacher had mentioned during the long-winded speech, but a single artifact, no matter how strong, couldn’t bother her soul. Even the River of Souls trembled when she was present, and they were the foremost experts when it came to souls.

“This test might be easier than I thought.” Karna laughed as she passed the first people that had started ascending before her. They weren’t slow either, but they were slowed down by the pressure. The human boy looked a little familiar and reminded her of the boisterous man she had met at the time she had gained Gem. ‘Wolfgang was his name I believe. I wonder if they’re related?’ She thought idly.

-----

“Hmm. It seems to me like you’re about to lose the bet.” Duskclaw stated using a tone as if she was shocked and surprised, though it was clear she was faking it.

Wolfgang shook his head wryly. “It’s not over yet, but I admit it doesn’t look great.” He was proud of how well his son was doing, but it was rather clear the little girl was on another level. While the others increasingly struggled with every step they took on the stairs, it seemed like Arjuna’s daughter was taking a normal stroll without any trouble.

“Grand Medjai. Wolfgang.” A female voice suddenly called out in greeting behind them. They all turned around as they recognized the voice and came face to face with a woman they all knew. She had a pair of slightly curved horns on her head and ears that reminded them of an elf, though the ears were almost completely hidden by her golden curled hair. The woman had a very ageless quality about her, though at the same time she looked younger than Duskclaw. They all knew that appearance was deceiving though, as the woman was older than the three of them combined.

“Headmistress. I did not expect to see you take part in the exams.” Arjuna nodded in greeting. The woman in front of him was perhaps the only one in the entire Magocracy that would be able to fight him equally if he went all out. For some reason, he had a feeling that if they did come to blows, he would inevitably lose.

“I wasn’t until the busybodies over there sent a message that I might want to see one of the new seedlings.” She pointed at the group of teachers that were all glued to the magical feed from the exam. “Now that I am here though, I can see why they would call for me. I see we might have someone with enough potential to rival you and Ashanti. And if I understood correctly, you’re the one to blame.”

“Ah, yes, well, I believe you are talking about my daughter, so in that sense…” Arjuna stammered a bit. The Headmistress had always had a knack for throwing him off his equilibrium.

Duskclaw elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. “Get your mind out of the gutter and your eyes off her cleavage,” She hissed.

Duskclaw had a point though. It was a little hard not to stare. The Headmistress was dressed in the colors of the Academy, but her attire didn’t really pay any resemblance to the uniform used by most teachers. If one was being generous, they’d call her attire revealing. Some would rather call it downright slutty. Yet that would be a disservice to whoever created the ensemble, as her style was impeccable and very fashionable, and her attire was stylish and extremely high-quality. It was also very revealing, and it didn’t help that the woman was one of the most attractive beings any of them had ever seen. Arjuna cleared his throat a bit. “You’ve misunderstood Duskclaw.” He feebly defended his honor.

Wolfgang only laughed and openly ogled. “Just give it up and let go. I doubt Tsumi would dress like that if she minded the fact that we appreciate her assets. It’s easier if you don’t bother trying to deny yourself.”

The Headmistress shook her head. While looking down at her attire that left one of her legs and almost the entire other half of her torso bare. “It still surprises me how prudish the people of the Magocracy are. I do wish you all didn’t make such a fuss about it though. No matter. That’s not what I came here to talk about.” She took a glance at Wolfgang. “Would you mind giving us some privacy? I need to have a word with Arjuna.”

“Oh?” Wolfgang’s interest was certainly piqued now. “I do not mind.” He knew when to be flexible though and gave them some space as a barrier that blocked sound suddenly spun around the trio.

“That girl. She’s from the Divine Plane isn’t she?” The Headmistress didn’t waste time and asked Arjuna straight out.

“That was quick and blunt," Arjuna muttered without bothering to try and deny her words.

“Well, I’ve had more dealings with her kind than others. From what I can see, she seems quite talented even for her kind though. I know Godlings aren’t quite as affected by the pressure the stairs produce, but they’re still affected somewhat. She isn’t. At all. Even I wouldn’t be able to ascend those stairs with such freedom. I can also sense a trace of the Divine from her body, even from this distance." The woman was silent for a few seconds as her mind worked. "I see. I think I have some idea of what might be going on. I'll take care of it." She stated simply and prepared to leave as suddenly as she had arrived.

“Wait. What do you mean by what’s going on? Or with ‘you’ll take care of that’?” Arjuna asked with his face darkening a bit. “Even if it’s you, I won’t tolerate any harm towards Karna.”

“How sweet. And protective” The woman smiled mysteriously. “However, your ire is a little misguided. The benefits of ignorance. Do not worry. I have no intention to harm your girl. At least not directly. Her kind need to be pushed along a bit, but she should be able to handle it. You’ve also misunderstood something. I’m the absolute last person you should worry about. Her presence might be the best thing to have happened to the Academy in centuries if it’s handled right. And I’m going to be doing my level best to make sure it’s handled just perfectly.” She looked at the image showing Karna running up the steps. “She might be a blessing or a disaster for all of us, and I’d rather take the blessing, thank you very much.” Then she suddenly seemed to just disappear into thin air. Even Arjuna couldn’t feel where she had vanished. If she had even been there in the first place.

"I sense trouble brewing," Duskclaw whispered. She had wisely stayed quiet to avoid revealing anything. The usefulness of that silence was questionable however.

“With her involved, always. I was hoping we could avoid this for a few years, but I suppose it was too much to hope for. She has eyes everywhere in the Academy.” Arjuna shook his head. There was something positive that could come of this though. The attention of the Headmistress could be quite beneficial as well, as she held absolute authority within the Academy, even if she rarely exercised it. Opportunity and danger often came together.

"We should probably mention this to Karna." Duskclaw sighed.

Arjuna thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Normally I'd agree, but this is Tsumi we're talking about. If she says she's not going to hurt Karna, then I believe her. This might be a good learning experience for Karna if we don't warn her beforehand. Besides, I think I'd quite like to see the two of them butting heads. It could turn into something interesting."

Duskclaw looked at Arjuna with slight derision. "It's mostly the last reason, isn't it? You just want to see them clash." She tapped her chin a bit. "Now that you mention it though, it could be interesting. They're similar in some ways, aren't they?"

"I believe so. We'll warn Karna if it becomes necessary." Arjuna decided.

Chapter 11 - Celebration

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy.

------

Wolfgang nodded with approval as his son Reinhardt tried to make friends with Arjuna’s daughter. They had gathered in a high-class bar/restaurant to celebrate the two getting accepted into the Academy. The official results had not come in yet, but it was quite obvious the two would be among those chosen. Karna had been the obvious star of the whole thing and had defeated the others with a gap large enough to crush any opposition, while Rein had done quite well in his own right. He had been in the ten best performers during the exams. A handful of people that had taken longer to get through the first part of the exam had finally passed him on the stairs that tested everyone’s potential, but he had given an excellent showing of himself nonetheless and Wolfgang was proud.

"That's not going to end well," Arjuna muttered next to Wolfgang, also looking at the two youngsters.

Wolfgang looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Why in the world not?” He asked a little surprised.

Arjuna gave an apologetic smile. “I’ve talked with Rein a couple of times. No offense, but he’s not the brightest young fellow, while Karna on the other hand is quite precocious.”

“Are you saying your daughter is snobby about such things?” Wolfgang asked, misunderstanding a bit.

“Not at all. From what I’ve seen, she doesn’t seem to be at least, though you can never quite tell how people behave when you’re not around. However, she’s not very good at hiding the fact that she’s smart. She’s going to make your son feel stupid without even realizing she’s doing it. I don’t know if he has the maturity to deal with it.” Arjuna explained his reasoning.

"Ah, in that case, good," Wolfgang responded as he realized where his friend's mind was headed.

“Good?” It was Arjuna’s turn to be surprised.

“Yes, good. You’re right that unlike Sieg, Rein isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Frankly speaking, he’s a blunt instrument. Sometimes that’s good, as quite often a blunt instrument is exactly what you need. However, he needs to learn his limits. That’s why I’m sending him to the Academy despite his rather minor magical ability. I’m not sending him there to learn to throw spells. I’m sending him to learn to deal with failure and to learn other essential skills in life. He needs to learn where to direct his strength as a blunt instrument, and he needs to learn when that’s not enough. If your girl can start those lessons, then all the better. That way he won’t be humiliated in front of everyone.” Wolfgang explained his perplexing statement.

"That's…not what I expected," Arjuna admitted slowly. Wolfgang could be brutally practical sometimes, even with his family.

“Of course it’s not. Sometimes you don’t pay enough attention and underestimate people. With your skills and power, that’s easy to do. We mere mortals on the other hand have to learn to be clever.” Wolfgang smiled, pleased with himself. It was always fun to one-up Arjuna in something.

“What about Siegfried?” Arjuna asked after a moment.

“What about him?” Wolfgang played his part.

“Is he a blunt instrument as well?” Arjuna asked rather impolitely, but Wolfgang had to admit that he had baited the other man with his explanations.

“No. He’s quite clever, and I have high hopes for him. He’s…inexperienced though. He doesn’t quite understand the complexity of the world yet, nor the lengths some people will go to get what they desire. He will learn. What about her?” Now he got to the point of this discussion. It was always easier to fish for information when you first volunteered the same information yourself. And sometimes people said more than they were planning to, especially when they were inebriated. Arjuna was far from drunk, but the glass in his hand was his third drink. They’d been at it for a while already.

“She’s…complicated.” Arjuna frowned. “Blunt instrument is the furthest thing I’d say about her, though I think she’s not above using direct methods when necessary. Beyond that, I don’t really know.”

“What do you mean? You’re her father. Surely you know her character.” Wolfgang pointed out, getting more curious by the minute.

“Yes, but she’s not in the habit of explaining what’s in her mind. Often it’s not clear what she’s thinking. Even then, she almost always gains the result she wants. Even the times when it seems she doesn’t, I think that’s because she chose not to. Or she was hiding her true intent. It can be difficult to tell sometimes.” Arjuna spoke quietly.

“Ah. That type. I think I know what you’re talking about. Still, I’m surprised your daughter would be so conniving.” Wolfgang pointed out. Arjuna was a fairly accomplished schemer when he wanted to be, but usually he didn’t bother.

“Conniving is the wrong word. I’d say capable instead. She knows what she wants, and how to get there. I don’t think there’s any malice there, and she can take disappointment. It’s just that she rarely has to.” Arjuna tried to explain himself and was failing spectacularly.

Wolfgang could see he was struggling with the words, so he decided to throw his friend a bone and changed the subject. ”So what do you think? Are the rumors true?”

“Which rumors?” Arjuna blinked a bit in confusion and asked.

“The rumors. About it being time for another Expansion.” Wolfgang said quietly, though apparently not quietly enough. He was never the one to keep his voice down.

“What’s this gossip I hear?” A female voice asked, and caused a grin to suddenly sprout on Wolfgang’s face.

“Birgitte my darling!” He shouted and grabbed his equally tall wife into a bearhug.

"Let go you lug of a man!" The blond-haired beauty tapped the man on the shoulder in protest, though she didn’t seem to truly mind. It was not hard to see the Valkyrie heritage in her blood considering her appearance.

When her feet were once again safely on the ground, she repeated her question. “What were the two of you gossiping about?”

“Yes, what’s Expansion?” Siegfried asked while standing next to the three adults.

“Never you two mind such details.” Wolfgang waved the concern away. “It’s work talk, and we’re here to celebrate!”

“So where is he then? I want to give him a hug in celebration." The Valkyrie woman demanded in a fierce voice.

Wolfgang pointed towards the other table. “He’s there trying to make moves on Arjuna’s daughter, and failing miserably.” He joked.

“Arjuna’s?” Birgitte suddenly grinned. “He could choose worse I suppose.” She turned to the man in question. “So who did you manage to con into finally tolerating you for long enough to have a child with? Please don’t tell me you laid a hand on Duskclaw? Where is she by the way?”

Arjuna had to laugh at the words she used as they were almost the exact same he had used to describe the relationship between Wolfgang and Birgitte. “She’s getting more for us to eat and drink. And to answer your second question, no I didn’t lay a hand on her. Also, you can’t really afford to talk.” He looked meaningfully at Wolfgang. “Your taste is horrid.”

Birgitte’s grin widened. “True. But at least he does have a few good sides to him.”

“Oi.” Wolfgang protested without any heat in his voice.

“And I note that you didn’t answer the important question.” She continued as if she had not heard the protest.

“And I won’t. That shall remain my little secret.” Arjuna replied mysteriously.

“Fine, keep your secret for now. We both know I will pry it out of you sooner or later. Now then. Sieg, be a darling and go rescue your brother. Judging by his expression, he's about to have an aneurysm soon. That means he’s about to do something stupid.”

"As usual," Siegfried muttered, but went towards the two youngsters.

As soon as he was out of earshot, she launched into a question. “What’s this I heard about your daughter making a scene equal to the one you and Ashanti caused? I also heard Tsumi may have gotten involved.”

“I’d say your sources of information are scary as usual, but this time I think I know who tattled.” Arjuna looked towards Wolfgang who just shrugged.

“I’m not surprised the Headmistress is interested if your daughter showed even close to the promise you and Ashanti did. You’re one thing, but Ashanti is…” Birgitte didn’t finish her sentence.

“Well, Karna certainly made an impression that’s true. I don’t know how involved Tsumi will get though. Ashanti was a special case even when compared to me. This time she was simply curious.” Arjuna deflected a bit.

“Now now. You should know better than try to fib me like that Arjuna. I know you too well. And my sources of information aren't limited to Wolfgang. I already know that your daughter's scores crushed Ashanti's. There's no way the Headmistress would be just curious. I also got a report from someone who saw you two discuss. He mentioned that your talk looked a lot more involved than simple curiosity.” Birgitte pointed out with a gentle but insistent voice.

“I’ve given my statement and I’m sticking to it.” Arjuna refused to elaborate.

“Fine. Be that way. I’ll find out soon enough.” Birgitte promised.

-----

“Look, I’m not refusing your little challenge, but there’s no point in the two of us arm-wrestling. “ Karna explained patiently to the boy in front of her. “Your arm is so much longer than mine that you’d have so much more leverage that it would turn the whole thing into a pointless exercise.”

“Leve-what now?” Rein asked in confusion. He had been getting increasingly agitated as he realized that not only had the girl in front of him beaten him in the exam but now it seemed she was smarter too.

Luckily he was saved by the arrival of his brother. “Leverage brother, leverage. You really should’ve paid more attention during lessons other than the ones that included fighting. And what the heck are you doing challenging a girl so much smaller than you to something like arm-wrestling.”

“I just wanted to know which of us was stronger!” Rein defended himself.

“And you thought arm-wrestling was the appropriate way to find out? What are we going to do with you?” Sieg gave a small sigh and turned to the girl.

“Siegfried.” Karna nodded towards the new arrival. She remembered meeting him some months ago.

“Karna.” Sieg also nodded. “You’ve grown I see. Last time I saw you, you were barely half my size.” His words contained no ill will and were a simple observation.

“I don’t think very much has changed in that regard. I may have grown a bit taller, but so have you.” She pointed out, and she was right. The young man had also grown even broader at the shoulders and he now packed more muscle. He wasn’t yet quite as big as his father, but he was getting closer.

“The two of you know each other?” Rein asked, a little sullenly.

“Not as such. We met once during the ceremony to go to the Spirit World.” Sieg explained briefly to his brother before turning back to Karna. “Speaking of, you didn’t stick around long enough to show off your spirit.”

“You’re right, I didn’t.” Karna’s tiny smile was hidden by the veil that she was still wearing. Sieg’s question had been refreshingly blunt and had done nothing to hide his intentions.

Sieg grinned a bit. “You’ll have to crack sooner or later. You won’t be able to go through your time in the Academy without revealing some of your secrets. You’ll have to remove that veil at least.”

“That sounds almost like a challenge.” She pointed out while picking up a grape from a plate nearby and slipping it into her mouth below the veil.

"Well I suppose we could make it into a bet, but there's little point in making one that won't be resolved potentially for more than a decade, and a bet that we would likely both forget anyway.” Sieg shrugged.

“Hmm. Not that I’m advocating for such wager, but there is a way to make it something both parties would remember.” Karna pointed out, more out of academic interest than any desire to actually make the bet.

“And what would that be?” Sieg asked, curious.

“Hah! Isn’t it obvious?” Rein suddenly interjected. “Just make the stakes worth it.”

“Very good! He is correct.” Karna nodded towards the younger of the two boys.

“My brother finally said something intelligent. Sob! I’m so glad!” Sieg feigned being choked with emotion before continuing. "I need to inform mother! She needs to know Rein has finally grown up from being a complete lunkhead!”

“Hardy-har.” Rein wasn’t all that impressed by his brother’s performance and kicked him in the shin under the table. “I’d like to point out that I got a better placement in my exams than you.”

“…except the scores aren’t in yet.” Sieg pointed out yet.

“You know what I mean. You were not in the top ten of the exams two years ago.” Rein said a little smugly.

“Ah, but I didn’t have a spirit when I took my tests while you did, and I still managed to get in the top twenty. But yes, you are right. You did well. Too bad none of the tests actually measure intelligence.” Siegfriedg kept needling his little brother.

“Speaking of bets, I heard you made wagers on the results of the entrance exams.” Rein decided to change the subject while throwing the conversational ball back to Karna in his desperation. “How much did you make?”

"Let's just say that I don't need to worry about living expenses while in the Academy." Karna was actually filthy rich now. Both she and Duskclaw had known what the result would be and had dipped heavily into Arjuna's savings to make the bet. Even after splitting the profits with Duskclaw, Karna could still live luxuriously for several decades without any worry. The bookies hadn't been too pleased with their profits, but on the other hand, she had beaten all the favorites, so the two of them were the only ones to win anything. It had not been a good year for the bookies, but it had not been a disaster either.

"Oh, you won't need money in the Academy," Sieg stated, bursting her bubble just a bit. "I should be more precise. If you want to go to the stores outside the Academy Island, you’ll still need money, but in the Academy, everything you need is either provided for, or it can be bought using merits points. And before you ask, you’ll get those points for doing anything meritorious, so being the number one on the entrance exams should’ve earned you a neat chunk of points. I’m surprised your father didn’t explain this.”

“I think he didn’t expect me to really apply and then make it in this year truth be told. And by the time he realized I was serious and actually going to make it, he didn’t have time to explain all the small details. That or he forgot. He sometimes assumes I know more than I do.” Karna explained. In fairness to Arjuna, she more often than not did know more than one could reasonably expect, so she had kind of brought this on herself. Usually she did enough research into such things beforehand. “So how can the school afford to keep this up? I didn’t hear anything about tuition.”

"There's no tuition. Otherwise, the lower social class applicants with talent could be excluded, and that would be bad for everyone involved. No, the Academy is heavily supported by the Magocracy as a large portion of the student wind up serving our country in some way. Most join the military, but many join the various branches of civil service as well. Besides, the Academy gains many benefits from the students, as we often perform missions for the Academy that bring in resources, and we develop new spells and often provide services according to our major. We often spend decades in the Academy, and more serving under a master if we are lucky enough to get picked. We can do many useful things in that time that provides funds for the Academy. The foreign students also have to pay to get in. Mostly that bill is footed by the country or sect they originate from, as they are being groomed for high-ranking positions in their country of origin.” Sieg explained patiently.

“Makes sense I suppose.” Karna nodded in understanding. Sometimes it was easier to have someone explain these sorts of things directly, which is partly why she had not been in a rush to do her own research. Sometimes the theory and practice didn’t quite match.

Sieg tapped his chin for a bit in thought. "Hey, Karna. A question.”

“Feel free.” She gestured for him to proceed with her hand.

“Do you know what the Expansion means?” Sieg decided to try his luck and ask the girl in front of him. The term had piqued his curiosity.

“That depends. In what context?” Karna asked for clarification.

“I’m not sure. My father asked your father if the rumors about the time for an Expansion being soon were true.” Sieg admitted with chagrin. He knew that wasn’t much to go on, and the word was not exactly rarely used.

“Hmm. There are a few possibilities, but I think I might know what they’re talking about. I think they meant a new world being born.” Karna ventured a guess after a moment of thought.

“A new world?” It was Rein’s turn to ask, and he was clearly confused.

“Ah, yes. Sometimes the universe reaches a certain saturation point and a new world is born. The process is called an Expansion. It’s a rather major event and can cause quite a bit of chaos when it happens. It’s also an opportunity for everyone involved.” Karna explained while making a mental grimace.

‘It could be something innocent, but I doubt that’s the case considering it’s this universe we’re talking about. This universe is one of the weirdest I’ve ever been in.’ She thought to herself, and for a good reason. The universe she was in didn’t function like most others. It was very condensed when compared to most universes. Despite its age, it was much smaller than most universes, but every world was inhabited and rich with resources. That was mostly because every world on every plane was part of an enormous magical formation that funneled the ambient power usually found in the larger universes, and concentrated that power into a small number of worlds that were of much higher quality than in any other universe.

The whole system had a few important implications. The number of worlds was much smaller than in other universes, but every world was enormous and rich in resources beyond belief. Most importantly though, those resources kept coming back. Once an ore vein was found and mined out, for example, it would grow back with time. The speed at which it did depended on the amount of ambient power, and the plane they were in. The Mortal planes had a lot more worlds, but they were less abundant. The Higher Planes were much richer, but the number of worlds was tiny in comparison, although that was to some degree compensated by the size of the worlds. That was partially because the formation kept funneling power towards the top towards the Divine Planes, and the closer a world was to the center of the formation, the more power it could benefit from and the purer that power was.

“Chaos? Why?” Rein asked.

“The term Expansion simply refers to an event when a new world is born on a particular plane, and will usually result in an explosion of activity and wars as the established powers struggle for the new resources available. Just because the resources of every world regenerate, that doesn’t mean they are infinite as the rate at which they can be extracted is limited, and the demand always exceeds supply. The best resources are also always controlled by the most powerful nations and sects. New worlds mean new access to resources, and newly born worlds are usually havens for all sorts of new discoveries.” Karna explained. She left out some of the more important bits that the two boys didn’t need to know about. Plus it might be a little hard to explain her detailed knowledge.

“She’s right.” Sieg pointed out. “The High Elves are in control of almost 80% of moonstone production. If a new world appeared with significant deposits, then that would be a major blow to their power. Well, at least it would be if moonstone was used more commonly, but they’re just the example that came to my mind first because of how obvious their control of the resource is.”

“Good job understanding the basic implications son!” Wolfgang clapped his hands as he got closer to their table. He had overheard some of the conversation and looked at Karna with even more interest. “I didn’t know Arjuna had taught you about Expansions.”

“He hasn’t. I just happened to stumble on the concept in his library.” Karna used her most common excuse. Luckily Arjuna’s libraries were quite extensive, so the excuse was quite often applicable.

“Still, I’m impressed with the both of you. You now know more about the subject than most adults. Which reminds me. Arjuna, you didn’t answer when I asked about it.” Wolfgang turned back towards his friend.

“I didn’t answer because I don’t know. These kinds of things are hard to determine. The Starlight Tower would likely know, but I’m trying to keep my distance with that place.” Arjuna replied as he too joined them at the table. Duskclaw and Birgitte soon joined them with a large array of drinks as the waiters brought in many dishes for them to eat.

Sieg suddenly grinned. “We were just talking about wagers earlier. What’s this I heard about you having to pay for everything father?”

Wolfgang was not a sore loser so he just laughed at the jibe. “Well, I made the mistake of betting this evening’s fare on the results of the exam. Well, after seeing the results, I understand my folly.” He looked at Karna. ”I don’t think I’ll ever bet against you again girl.”

"Wise choice," Duskclaw muttered.

“Perhaps I should learn from that and leave our potential wager alone then.” Sieg decided while nodding towards Karna.

"Oh, you were about to scam someone again Karna? You should’ve said something so I could’ve kept Wolfgang away.” Duskclaw asked eagerly.

"Scam is such an ugly word," Karna said with feigned innocence.

“Aha! Now I understand. That seemingly random reference to making the stakes big enough was part of the plan the whole time?” Sieg suddenly noticed a possibility.

“Hey, I wasn’t the one to bring it up.” Karna nodded towards Rein.

“Gasp! Already working together against me? How bold of you brother!” Sieg exclaimed with feigned outrage while looking at Rein.

“To knock you down a peg? Always, brother!” Rein played along with a grin. The rest of the evening was spent with a playful mood dominating their little soiree.

Chapter 12 - Rivalries

A note from Vihyungrang

Yay for school spirit. I was thinking about skipping the stuff in this chapter, but it's still useful information and many might even find it interesting. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

”We are happy to report that almost three thousand of you were accepted to attend our illustrious Academy. That's a significantly larger number than usual, and the quality of those accepted was especially high. The average score of those accepted was notably higher than usual, and the best among you really surprised us. I'm also proud to report that one of you even managed to score the best scores in the history of the Academy's entrance exams, and I think that person, as well as the rest of you, deserve a round of applause." The teacher leading the ceremony smiled a beautiful smile and clapped her hands together to encourage the rest of the gathered people.

Karna had to admit that the woman was good. Despite making what was essentially a fairly standard speech that one could hear at the beginning ceremony of any decently sized educational facility. However, the elven woman, who had introduced herself as the teacher normally in charge of the oldest students, was a striking figure that drew the eyes and attention of everyone attending, and her charisma meant that even something that was relatively boring didn’t feel that way. It also helped that she had a knack for speaking and managed to draw everyone’s attention and interest with her choice of words and small gestures.

“Now despite your collective achievement, I encourage you to not rest on your laurels. This is only the starting point. It is a cold hard fact that only a third of accepted students will be able to successfully learn all the necessary things to graduate from our Academy, and only one or two in a hundred will be able to give a stellar enough performance to draw the attention of a potential master to further help you in achieving your dreams. The Academy is known as the best for a reason, and part of that reason is our high performance standards. If you successfully complete your time here, you will find many paths open to you, but in order to accomplish that, we expect you to perform. It does not matter how great you are now. What matters is how hard you work in helping your talents blossom.

“In this Academy, your rank, your relatives, your wealth, and your connections don’t matter. All that matters are results. Our Academy believes in fostering competition, which is why those that achieve great results get rewarded. On the other hand, we take a dim view of those that try to sabotage other students. Let me make this clear. If you get caught for sabotage, I will make sure you will be severely punished, and believe me when I say that expulsion will be the least of your worries.” The teacher flared her presence and they were all pushed back against their chairs. To Karna’s surprise, the woman was also an Aura user.

‘So that means you only need to not get caught.’ Karna smiled as she caught the little hidden meaning in the woman’s words. Getting caught for sabotage would have severe punishments in most societies, but such things happened anyway. It was a good lesson when the same applied within the Academy.

The rest of the speech was rather standard fare. The rules the teacher bothered to mention basically boiled down to not being an idiot and using some common sense. Karna also got a bit better explanation of the merit point system that Siegfried had told her about a few weeks ago. Doing well on tests or even during lessons could be rewarded, and any service performed for the Academy would also garner points. As expected, they had all been awarded points according to their success during the exams, which meant that she was now well ahead of the others.

Many of the faculty also introduced themselves, including the heads of the most important subjects and the most commonly chosen majors. There were literally thousands of subjects and hundreds of majors that could be chosen in the Academy. It would've taken forever to introduce more than the most important ones, so Karna was rather thankful for that little restraint. They'd learn further details later anyway. It was rather interesting to note though, that almost half of the most common majors were combat-related. It was clear the Academy had a focus on producing military capable personnel. It was a cruel universe at times, and being unable to defend yourself would usually end badly.

After the speeches and introductions, the students were divided according to their achievements in the exams, and they were all assigned to a class. As she'd had the best scores during the exam, Karna was naturally assigned to the first class, appropriately designated I-1. The first letter was actually an old fashioned numeral and would designate the year she was in. A third-year would have III on her badge, while a tenth-year student would be marked by the numeral X. The second number simply showed which class you were in according to your results. As the Academy accepted almost three thousand students, and the standard class size was thirty, there were almost a hundred first-year classes. Thus the badge rather blatantly singled everyone in their class out as the absolute elite of already a fairly select group of people, as the Academy had rather high standards for acceptance.

They had all procured their uniforms beforehand, so the badges they were handed could be attached directly on the uniform. The recommended places were either on the arm or the chest, although the uniform allowed for a fair bit of customization. As the standard military style of the white and silver uniform coat that looked like a blazer was rather restrictive, many of the students had already done a lot of customization. It was rather popular among the male students to remove the sleeves of the coat for example, while many of the females had swapped the pants for a skirt of the same colors.

“The only real rules are that your attire has to be able to be recognized as the uniform with a glance, and the badge will have to remain visible. Once you chose a major, or a major chooses you, you will gain another badge that will have to be kept visible." The older student leading them towards the classrooms explained. The human girl had a badge showing IV-5 on her sleeve, and was wearing a rather standard uniform, likely to not influence the new students. On the other hand, the dark-haired girl seemed fairly serious, so it might be just her personality showing in her attire.

"What about these?" One of the two Leonins asked while fingering a pair of colored studs on the collar of his jacket. The Leonin was covered in golden-colored fur, and had a rather meticulously cared for mane of the same color.

They had been handed those studs at the same time as they had been assigned to classes. They were made of some hard to identify material that felt halfway between stone and metal. Notably, the students all had different combinations of colors, and widely different number of the studs as well. Karna had a ring of them going around her entire collar, and it seemed she had all the colors the others showed and hers seemed to be bigger as well. That had drawn quite a bit of attention, not that she’d felt any lack of that anyway. The word about her had spread, and while most students had not seen her during the exams, it was not hard to spot a small white-haired girl that wore a veil.

“Ah, these.” The girl fingered the three studs on her own collar. “Those show your elemental affinities. You have to achieve a certain level of affinity to gain one of them, and the better your affinity the larger the stone. Now pay attention! Wearing those stones is not mandatory. However, you will be considered a coward if you do not. They don’t need to be on your collar of course, though that is the customary place, as well as the place where keeping them is the easiest.” She looked towards Karna with a bit of amusement. Her studs looked almost like a choker at this point. “In your case, I’d consider putting them on a belt or something.”

“Wait! Are you saying the little girl has literally all affinities stronger than my best ones?” The other Leonin, one with black fur and mane, asked angrily. He had four studs and they were all rather decent in size.

“That is exactly what I'm saying. She's the one that got the record-breaking top score, is she not? She got that spot for a reason." The girl tapped the badge on Karna's sleeve to draw everyone's attention. They all noticed that Karna's badge also had a small crown on it. "That's incidentally the way you can recognize the best student in every year. There are only ten badges with a crown in the entire Academy, and she has one of them. To encourage everyone to try and overtake her, the one with the crown will always enjoy certain benefits that others do not, so work hard to dethrone her."

‘I see. She’s purposefully inciting others to compete against me and setting me up as a target. It’s likely safe to assume that it’s nothing personal, and it’s something that happens every year. It’s likely also meant to make things harder for me, so I’ll also have to strive harder.’ Karna thought to herself with a small smile as the others stared at her filled with competitive spirit.

“Now then. I’ll leave you to the teacher in charge of the class I-1, and I’ll come to take you to the dorms once you’re done.” The girl stated as she opened a door and waved them in.

Their classroom was rather large and luxurious. Instead of simple seats and desks, they were presented with comfortable and plush seats with desks that could be pushed into place so that they could be comfortably used for writing and studying. Even here, one of the seats was placed separately at the center and almost looked like a very comfy throne. That seat had the same crown shape etched into the backrest, making it clear who the chair was for.

Most of the class was quite satisfied to take their seats around the large and well-decorated room. The walls were decorated with paintings depicting famous mages of the Magocracy. The room even had several plants and flowers scattered around to give the place more color, and there was a separate area clearly assigned for magical demonstrations that looked a bit like the practice range where they had taken one of the exams, except smaller.

Since the people in the class were almost complete strangers, the small groups seemed to form almost randomly as people sat down. Naturally, it seemed that the groups mostly formed based on gender and race. Humans, who formed a third of the class, all grouped together while the other races mixed a bit more, dividing themselves based on which races they usually got along with. Karna was a little amused to notice that the seats close to her were occupied by perhaps the most mixed group.

The first to take a seat next to her was of course Reinhardt who simply gave her a nod as he sat next to her. The second one to sit on her other side was the dark-skinned elven girl who Karna had seen during the third exam. She had been one of the few that had made it to the stairs before Karna had managed to shake off the final illusion. To her surprise, the fourth and last seat in their little grouping was taken by the Leonin with golden fur. Karna had expected the two Leonin to sit together as fellow students from the Aegean Empire, but it seemed that there might have been a bit more complicated relationship between the two than she had given them credit for. Unlike the other Leonin, this one seemed pleased to sit with her, as if this was exactly where he belonged.

They didn’t have to wait long before their teacher arrived. Karna was a little surprised to see the dwarven man from the affinity test. “I see you’ve all found your seats already. And you haven’t even started fighting for seats either. A positive development from what I’ve heard, though I’m not often in charge of the I-1 class. I’ve already met some of you, but only two of you probably know my name. I’m master Menkhaf, and I will be in charge of this class for the entire year. So as long as you can maintain your position in this class, then I will be the teacher in charge of you. Of course, I won’t be handling all your lessons. In fact, I’ll only be teaching one course for you, but you’ll see me around quite often anyway.”

Menkhaf didn’t bother mentioning that every year the teachers took part in a small lottery to see which of them would be in charge of which class. He had ‘won’ this year, which meant that he got the privilege of being in charge of the most advanced class. If you thought about it positively, he was in charge of the smartest class and didn’t have to deal with the dummies that didn’t know even the basics of magic. On the negative side, the most advanced classes were usually also the most bothersome.

"The first five months of your life in the Academy will be dedicated to learning the basics. There is a particular set of information that all of you must learn before the first tests that will take place once that five-month period is over. Your success in those tests will help determine whether you will be able to keep your place in class I-1, though it’s not the only factor. This is where things get a little complicated. The lessons you will receive are designed for your current level. As the most advanced class, you will receive the most advanced lessons. However, there’s a problem. This class, more than any other class, has large differences when it comes to your starting level, especially when we’re talking about pure knowledge. In fact, those that are below the ten best students in your class are actually closer to the level of class I-2 than those at the top of your class.

“Now you may ask, how do we know how advanced your knowledge is? The answer is simple. The knowledge test you took during the entrance exams covers most of the subjects you would be taught during the first year. It’s not a foolproof method of evaluation, but it’s pretty good. That means we’re going to have to make some adjustments to the subjects and lessons you need to take. While the bottom of your class will definitely need to take courses like Basic Magic Theory III, and Math II, there’s no point in forcing the top of your class to do the same. That means many of you will be able to skip many if not most of the courses designated as mandatory learning for the first five months. Soon I will call out your name, and mention the courses you will need to participate in.” Menkhaf explained. This was a system they had tested over the years and found to be the best way to produce results. It wasn’t very fair or equal, but the Academy was more interested in results than in a vague concept of fairness.

“Wait, does that mean that the best students will just be free during the time the others are studying these basic subjects? That doesn’t sound like an effective way to spend our time. We came here to learn.” The dark-skinned elven girl protested, receiving nods of agreement from others.

“A very good point.” Menkhaf nodded. “And of course the advanced students will not be just slacking around. What would be the point of that? No, we’re not trying to bring you to an equal level, only to bring every one of you to a basic level required to continue. As a reward, the best students will get the chance to have a jump-start on some of the elective subjects. All of you will have the same amount of courses by the end of this. Either you will be taking the mandatory lessons, or you will fill up with the elective ones. Something you should take note of. Just because you don’t have to participate in some of the mandatory lessons, that doesn't mean you won't be tested on the contents once the five months are over. So I'd take some time to brush up on those subjects."

‘That’s a fairly smart system.’ Karna thought to herself and nodded. She already suspected that she’d be the one with the most freedom, seeing as she was the number one student.

“There’s something else you should keep in mind. During the first few years, the Academy will take an active role in what courses you need to take, but after that, the onus is on you. You will need to fulfill certain criteria to be able to go up a year, but beyond that, you will be responsible for choosing your own subjects. This is a place of learning, and you came here to become strong. The harder you work and the more actively you participate, the better your results will be. The major you choose will also heavily influence which courses you should and will have to take in the future. But you will all be tested, and many of you will be found wanting.” The teacher promised with a grim voice.

The teacher started listing names and the courses. He started from the bottom of the class, and it soon became clear that they’d all have to take part in seven courses. The most commons were Basic Magic Theory III-IV and Math. Even the warriors had to take magic theory so that they would be able to better fight against mages in the future. Everyone also all had to take part in Physical Training and Combat. The others were a weird mix of history, physics, combat theory, and many others. It was clear many of the mandatory subjects were foundational in nature. For example, it was easier to cast many spells if you were aware of the physical forces involved, hence the need for knowledge on physics.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the top three students sat in their little group. The elven girl Miralen had to take four of the mandatory subjects, while the gold-furred Leonin had to take three. Even those two had to take the Magic IV class. "And finally this year's current Queen, Karna. Like everyone, you will have to take part in the PhysCom training. Additionally, you can take part in the history course if you want. Your results in the subject were borderline, so we’ll leave the choice to you.”

“I’ll participate in the history class. I could probably get the same information from a library, but it would be more interesting to hear someone give their own viewpoint on the subject.” Karna replied.

“Fair enough. That said, you three in particular will have to actively take some of the elective courses. From what I read on your file, all three of you have spirits, so I recommend subjects concerning the care and utilization of spirits. Other than that, you have a fairly free hand and I recommend using this opportunity to think about your own interests. Taking subjects related to those interests will become beneficial in the future as you’ll get a leg-up on your competition." Afterward, the teacher launched into an explanation of the rules and gave some general information about the Academy.

Once the teacher was done with them, the same older student led them on a small tour of the facilities in the Academy, before taking them to their dorms. Interestingly, they could see that the tour didn’t take them to many of the more interesting places, such as the borehole or the various practice grounds around the Academy. Once questioned on the subject, the student leading them explained that they wouldn't need to worry about those areas just yet, and that they'd get a more detailed tour later on when those places became relevant to their interests. They were already getting an overflow of information, so for the first week, they'd only be told what was necessary. Some of those areas could also be dangerous, so access to them was limited.

They were taken to a rather fancy dorm with a private garden and a dedicated practice area. Their dorm was also closest to the most commonly needed facilities for the first years, leaving them with short travel distances. The tall fence and the garden provided some privacy and quiet from the hustle and bustle that would inevitably happen around their dorm building. Just like all the buildings, this one was also built mostly of marbled stone, though the interior had been made more casual with the décor, wood paneling, and the soft rugs that seemed to be everywhere.

“Now, as the most advanced class of the first years, your dorm and rooms are naturally the most luxurious. The other classes will be forced to share a room with at least one other person, but you all get private rooms, so your dorm is the largest. Naturally, even in your dorm the rooms are not equal. The top ten students will always enjoy the best benefits, and the top student will have by far the best rooms. The males are on the first floor while the females are on the second floor. The top ten including the number one are on the third floor.” The older student explained.

As the top students walked the stairs to the third floor, the black-furred Leonin turned to Karna and growled. “Don’t bother making yourself too comfortable. I’ll be taking your position soon. I certainly can’t approve of a little girl taking the leading position.” The way he mentioned leading position almost seemed like he was suggesting she was the leader of a pack.

Karna had expected this. With the Academy practically rubbing the benefits of the top ranks in everyone’s face, it was only natural some would feel competitive. She might as well play her part. “Good luck with that. Your approval is not required, just your salty tears.” She turned to walk towards the door marked with a crown, before turning to look over her shoulder. “Get used to this view kitty, as it’s one you’re going to be looking at for a long time.”

The growl that sounded from behind her only made her laugh out with glee. She had told Duskclaw that one of the reasons she was coming to the Academy was to make her own rivals. It seemed like she had already earned the first one.

Chapter 13 - Friends

A note from Vihyungrang

I really like how this chapter turned out. I hope you'll also enjoy it!

-------

Karna was just going through the motion of flipping the egg on a frying pan when she heard a knock on the door. “Come in!” She shouted while sending a small trickle of mana to unlock the door. The system was actually quite useful, as were most of the magical systems that she had seen at the Academy. If she were to make a guess, many student projects focused on improving those systems, which meant they were constantly being tinkered with and worked on. The benefits of being a partial research institute on the cutting edge of magic.

“Where are you?” She heard Reinhardt’s voice calling from the door. The space reserved for her, or to the top of the class to be precise, couldn’t really be called a dorm room. It was more like a fairly large apartment.

"In the kitchen," Karna replied as she finished with the egg and started putting the finishing touches on the sauce she was making. She sprinkled in several rather strong spices to flavor the sauce. Thanks to her bloodline, no amount of heat was too much, so she was taking advantage of the opportunity.

“Kitchen? You have a kitchen?” A female voice that sounded like the dark-skinned elf of their class asked.

Karna chuckled a bit as she sensed them all entering the combined kitchen and dining room. “Among other things.” She replied.

"And I thought my rooms were fancy," Rein muttered and immediately started sniffing as he could smell Karna's cooking. "You are aware that the Academy has a rather posh cafeteria, right? Their menus were quite nice from what little I could see during our little tour.”

“Indeed. I heard from the other Leonin students I talked to before coming to the Academy. Apparently, the food served in the Academy is very high-quality, even by our standards.” The gold-furred Leonin said with a deep bass voice.

“I’m aware. But since I was provided a kitchen and I happen to have brought enough supplies just in case, I thought I might as well take this chance to make something for myself. Besides, it takes less effort to cook up something quick than it does to go to the cafeteria. I think I’d also draw quite a bit of attention if I did go there today. It might be better to give people time to adjust first before I show up to draw their attention. My apologies but I didn’t make enough for everyone, as I wasn’t expecting company.” Karna apologized politely. She placed a bowl on the rather large table where she poured the sauce and placed the golden egg on top of a heap of rice. Simple but good. She’d actually been a chef in three lives as there was always more to learn and no one disliked good food.

“We did show up unexpected, so no apologies needed.” The elf girl whose name was Miralen waved the apology away while they all sat down around the table. The girl was fairly attractive with a greyish white hair juxtaposed against her brown skin. It was clear she was some sort of Dark Elf. Her attention seemed to be drawn by the food and she actually managed to look a bit hungry.

“So what brings you here? I sort of figured Rein would show up at some point as we’ve met before, but I do not know the two of you. Not that I have anything against you visiting, mind you.” Karna posed the obvious question.

The three people glanced at each other a bit. “Well, there are multiple reasons actually. It would seem that three of the four of us are the highest-ranked students of the first year, and Rein is ranked seventh, so it made sense to get to know each other after we all sat together during the first class. We all have to pick several elective subjects as well, so it could be interesting to compare notes.” Miralen gave a quick explanation. She also didn’t mention that it was likely the other little groups that had formed around race and previous acquaintance during that class were all doing the same. Cliques were already forming and it was just the first day.

“I also have a proposition.” The gold-furred Leonin spoke. “Oh, my apologies. I haven’t even introduced myself yet. My name is Shaheera Goldmane. Yes, the last name is really that obvious.” He presented his large hand for a handshake. Karna noted that his claws were rather long and sharp as she shook his hand, her tiny hand disappearing in the much larger one.

“A proposition?” Karna prompted.

“Yes. I heard from the older students that I mentioned earlier that teamwork is a frequent theme in the Academy. Specifically, the lessons seem to favor working in pairs and groups of four. Especially in certain classes that involve combat. What better team than some of the top students of the entire year? Besides, I think it would be useful if the four of us got along with a spirit of friendly competition instead of bitterly making enemies of one another. The Academy likes to emphasize competition, and I have nothing against that. However, I think a friendly and honorable competition where we might even aid each other is preferable to one where we'll try to do everything we can to come on top, no matter how despicable.” The Leonin presented his idea.

"The two of us already discussed this and have nothing against the idea, though the whole thing largely depends on you of course," Miralen added while nodding towards Rein. “He mentioned that you would probably not be opposed to…” Her speech halted a bit after she noticed that Karna had still not removed her veil to eat. “If you feel the need to keep your veil on and that’s preventing you from eating, we can come back later.” She suggested finally.

A peal of bubbling laughter came from Karna. "Don't mind it. I'm letting the taste fully soak into the rice. I can keep the food warm with my magic anyway.”

“Are you really planning on keeping your veil on the entire time?” Shaheera asked, sounding curious. Karna could already tell that the Leonin was very curious by nature, and didn’t mean anything deeper with his query.

Rein grunted before speaking. “She has an unofficial bet with my older brother.” He said as if that explained everything.

“Really? What kind of stakes would be worth that kind of effort?” The Leonin leaned forward eagerly.

“We actually didn’t decide yet, and I’m not even sure if we do have a bet. The occasion where the topic came up was a little messy and left room for interpretation. I have a reason for wearing the veil, but I’m not going to do it for forever. Don’t mind it too much.” To demonstrate, she deftly moved a spoonful of the food behind the veil, showing she could easily eat despite the obstruction.

“Well, ignoring that for the time being, how about my proposal?” Shaheera leaned back, looking a bit dejected for a moment. It was kind of funny to Karna how easy it was to read his emotions. All that was missing was a tail wagging according to his emotions. He did have a tail but it wasn’t wagging.

“I don’t have anything against the idea for now at least. We can see how well we get along as time goes by. However, I do have a question. Won’t this cause problems for you? Your compatriot didn’t seem all that pleased with getting upstaged by a girl several years his junior.” Karna pointed out in reply.

“What in the worlds gave you that impression?” Shaheera asked sarcastically. “Brimaz has a lot of pride and not a lot of control over his emotions yet. His passions can be a good thing when channeled right, but they also cause him to lash out. I’m afraid that the two of you will likely never get along. Even if he were to replace you as the highest-ranked student, he would only lord it over you. I wouldn’t take it personally though. It wouldn’t matter who the number one was as long as it was not a Leonin. Although, I’ll grant you that your age didn’t exactly help matters. There’s nothing wrong with a Leonin having some pride, but I’m afraid his has grown excessive thanks to his family. Some among our kind can’t handle the thought of someone being better than a given member of our race.”

“You didn’t really answer my question.” Karna pointed out.

Shaheera laughed. “I didn’t, did I? Will it cause problems? Sort of, I suppose. Not because Brimaz himself, but who he is related to. I’d keep that in mind while interacting with him. They say one’s connections don’t matter in the Academy, and to an extent they are right. However, if your uncle happens to be Ashanti Goldmane, then that can’t but affect things.”

“I seem to recall hearing someone else with the last name Goldmane.” Miralen pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

“Indeed. In a twist of irony, despite our shared last name, I’m not related to him while Brimaz is. That’s just how our last names work.” Shaheera shook his head with a wry smile. “Anyway, I don’t mean to put any pressure on you, but there might be some consequences to aggravating the military leader of the entire Aegean Empire. I doubt Brimaz is close enough to Ashanti to really stir up anything serious, but I would still be a little mindful when dealing with him. I don’t mean being deferential, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to cause him problems and humiliation either.”

“I think I’ll manage.” Karna smiled under her veil. “That said, if you don’t mind the potential trouble, then certainly it would be petty for me to do so. “

“Good. Now then. What electives were all of you considering? It might also be beneficial if we knew some of the strengths of our future teammates.” Shaheera suggested. “To make things easier, I can start. I have four electives to choose. As a spirit bonded, I’m naturally thinking about the initial spirit control and handling course. I think I’ll also aim for tactics and strategy. Incidentally, that’s one of the courses where you need a team, so I would really appreciate you joining as well. On the flipside, I’m not sure about the last two and I’m open to suggestions. I’m a mage of the third circle and a second tier warrior with some experience in leading small groups.”

Rein chose to speak next. “Right then. I'm a third-rank warrior, and I have enough talent with magic to learn some, but I will likely not be a proper mage. My father always describes me as a blunt instrument, and he's not wrong. I'm very good at being a blunt instrument though. Show me a nail and I’ll be the best hammer you ever saw.” He grinned a little proudly. “As for electives, I’ll only get to pick two. Tactics was also my first pick, so that won’t be an issue. For the last one, I would like the spirit handling course, but my brother strongly advised me to take a course called Sword Techniques. It’s a long one, lasting several years, so it’s going to eat into my electives for a while, but my brother said it was one of the most useful courses he has ever taken.”

"As for me, I'm a pure mage," Miralen stated. “I will of course take spirit handling and tactics as well because of how useful those skills will be, but for my last elective I was thinking about the basics of chantless casting.”

“I strongly encourage you to do that.” Karna nodded towards the elven girl. “Learning the basics of chantless casting as early as possible is extremely beneficial. No matter what you choose to specialize in, chanting is always going to slow you down.”

“Thanks.” Miralen smiled in relief. “I was still a little doubtful about my choice, so it’s good to hear a second opinion.”

“No problem. I don’t mind giving you some tips if you have difficulty with the class.” Karna slipped the last spoonful of food into her mouth and chewed carefully before speaking again. “As for me, I have the most space in my schedule. As you’ve all set your hearts on tactics, I don’t mind joining you. I’ll also take spirit handling. My father told me it’s the most popular class for a reason. As for the others, I’ll likely be taking alchemy and blacksmithing. I was considering inscriptions and formations for the last spot, but if you have better ideas then I'm open to it. As for my strengths, I'm an all-rounder, but obviously, I will focus on magic while in the Academy. I'm also an Aura user, so I can handle myself in a fight."

Miralen gave a small whistle. “I had heard rumors about your Aura after the tests, but I didn’t know for sure.”

“Blacksmithing and alchemy, huh?” Shaheera focused on something else. “Interesting choices.”

“Let’s just say that I have certain advantages when it comes to such things, so pursuing that path seems beneficial.” Karna hedged a bit with a small smile hidden by her veil.

“Well, it would certainly be useful to befriend someone with those skills. I was hoping to get ideas about my last electives, but I don’t think any of the ones you guys mentioned really fits my plans.” Shaheera tapped the table with a claw. “I’ll have to think about it. There are too many choices.”

“I could give a recommendation if you’re interested?” Karna offered.

“Sure, why not. Even if I won’t agree, it would be interested in hearing someone’s reasoning.” Shaheera nodded.

“I’m getting the sense that you might be interested in a military career after the Academy. Am I on the right track?” She probed just a bit.

“I’m not sure how much it is because I’m specifically interested myself and how much it’s about my family pressuring me into the military. I’m not uninterested, but that’s partially why I’m at the Academy. I want some time to figure things out without being pressured by others.” Shaheera admitted rather frankly.

"In that case, I would recommend both comparative magic and ritual casting courses. Even if you don't personally want to use ritual spells all that much, there are benefits in knowing what different types of magic users are capable of, and ritual casting, in particular, is very useful for many different fields. Even army commanders would benefit from a competent ritual caster under their command. A skilled ritualist can affect large groups of people much more easily than many other magic users. Besides, I’ve heard that some of the majors and more advanced courses require you to have knowledge and skill in ritual casting. Might as well get it done early.”

“Hearing what she said, I think I'd also join in on those recommendations," Miralen interjected. “Many generals get focused on the abilities of battlemages, and they have a good reason, but that focus often comes with ignorance about the abilities of other types of magisters. It would be very useful to be aware of the capabilities of, for example, warlocks and shamans as well. The Academy is also an excellent place to get that kind of information, as you likely won't have access to such detailed information and lessons in other places. Here, you could actually get lessons from a real Shaman.”

“Hmm. That’s a fair point. I’ll take that under advisement. One question though. Karna, you said you still have one elective you haven’t settled on. Why are you not taking these courses?” Shaheera asked with a genuinely curious tone.

“Because I can get lessons on those subjects from my parents. My father is actually a guest lecturer in the Academy, and he’s quite skilled when it comes to ritual casting. His recommendation carries enough weight that I don’t need to take the class. As for the other one, the class on inscriptions and formations would simply combine better with my other choices. I still intend to take the comparative magic class at some point.” Karna explained.

“Changing the subject for a bit, want to show us around your rooms, Karna?" Miralen asked. “Your place is certainly bigger than ours, and I thought my rooms were already quite nice.”

“I’m not sure if there’s that much to show honestly. I have a kitchen and dining room as you can see. I also have a bath of my own, and then there’s the bedroom, as well as a small training area. None of the rooms are decorated yet so there’s nothing personal to show. Incidentally, I delved into the controls of the place, and apparently I can determine what rooms I have access to. I wanted the bath and the kitchen, but they could’ve been something else. I also haven’t yet used all the allotted space, so I can have another room created for me.” Karna explained.

“Ooh, a private bath.” Miralen seemed pleased with the prospect. “The communal baths are sizeable, but even with just our class, they will get crowded at certain times. Mind if I borrow yours sometimes?”

“As long as it won’t become a habit.” Karna nodded. Of course she had asked for a bath of her own. It would’ve been a little bothersome to wear her veil in the baths after all.

“Wait, we have communal baths?” Rein asked a little surprised. “Mixed?” His tone was almost a little too hopeful.

“You wish!” Miralen stated disdainfully. “No, we have communal baths, but they are gendered, thank the Goddess.”

Shaheera huffed a laugh. “You let your desires show a bit too much Rein. Not a good idea in mixed company.”

Chapter 14 - Friendly competition

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”What do you think you’re doing laying about?! You’re not here to laze around but to work on your body!” The drill sergeant sounding teacher shouted in Reinhardt’s ear as he was panting on the ground. The human man had a large scar at the side of his shaven head, and he looked around middle-aged. Rein had thought his father’s training was harsh, but he had just been proven wrong. “You’re being beaten by a pair of lions and a little girl!” The teacher tried to motivate him using the age-old method of mocking.

Rein barely managed to lift his head enough to survey the devastation. They were participating in the first Physical and Combat Training session and almost the entirety of their class lay on the ground, collapsed from exhaustion, with five notable exceptions. Rein wasn’t all that surprised to see the two Leonin students, Shaheera and Brimaz, still running laps around the huge training field. The two Leonin’s seemed to have endless stamina, although even their speed had reduced down to a point where their pace could be described more as jogging and not running.

Rein was much more gratified to see that the Dark Elf girl Miralem seemed to be struggling with keeping her lunch in her stomach and not in the nearby bushes, while the blond-haired female human he knew to be the daughter of one of the members of the High Council of Magisters was trying to keep herself from slumping down by leaning heavily against a wall. The blond girl had surprised everyone with her tenacity, as it was clear she was not a warrior but a mage. She had also shown signs of extreme exhaustion before Rein, but somehow she was still hanging in there.

On the other hand, he wasn’t all that surprised to see the ‘little girl’ mentioned earlier doing quick one-handed pull-ups nearby. She had already finished the assigned run, apparently to the surprise of the teacher, so she had been assigned to start doing pull-ups and to keep going as long as she was able. So far she was showing no signs of tiring, though in fairness, her small size meant that she weighed only a third of what Rein or any of the warrior-type men did.

“Are you giving up, slowpoke?!” The teacher continued shouting.

“I-I can…still…continue!” Rein gasped out and managed to struggle into a kneeling position. That’s as far as he got though, as the little bracelet he was wearing suddenly started glowing white. Not a lot, but enough. Rein grimaced as he knew he had failed.

“Disqualified!” The teacher shouted the word he had expected. The word had been heard twenty times already. It was surprisingly hard to fully exhaust yourself without accidentally using even a bit of Ki or mana. Only five students had managed it, while five were still in the middle of their attempt.

When the lesson had started, the teacher had handed all of them one of the bracelets and stated that they would react every time they used even a shred of Ki or mana. Karna had been handed an additional amulet that would detect the use of Aura. The teacher had told them that the class called Physical and Combat Training was something that would continue their entire time in the Academy. And for the first five months, they would not be allowed to use any of their powers.

“Your powers only enhance the strength your bodies already possess! If you want to be strong, having a lot of Ki or mana isn’t enough! Your physical body also needs to be strong and durable! It is true that constant use of power will strengthen your bodies and increase your fortitude, but if your powers have nothing to build on, then your results will be worth squat!” The teacher lectured them once again, as he did every time one of them accidentally used their powers.

The teacher had also explained to them that the physical training would mostly continue using the method of as little power used as possible after the five months was over, but the exercises would grow more complex and power usage would be slowly introduced. The combat lessons would start to include their powers after the first five months, but first they needed to have a solid foundation to build on. Today’s exhausting torture was to help them find their limits when not using their powers. Their training would grow more individual once those limits were better understood.

“We’ve finished!” Brimaz declared proudly as the two Leonin ran to the center of the training field where most of the members of their class lay collapsed and recovering. The black-furred Leonin looked proud, clearly having won the little competition between the two, but they both looked worn down with their fur and clothes covered in sweat.

“Hah! Two more overachievers! I heard class I-1 was exceptional this year. You know what to do next then.” The teacher mercilessly pointed towards the bars where Karna was doing pull-ups.

“One-handed?” Shaheera asked carefully, eyeing what Karna was doing. He didn’t seem too happy at the prospect.

“What? No, of course not! Don’t be an idiot. The little girl was just complaining that it was too easy for her, so I told her to do them one-handed instead. It’s her own stupid mistake for complaining.” The teacher retorted.

Shaheera laughed as he walked to the bars and started. Brimaz glowered at Karna before starting to do them one-handed as well. With his exhaustion, he didn't last very long until he too had to slump down on the ground in an undignified heap. Shaheera on the other hand congratulated himself as he kept going. He had not been stupid enough to try and mimic Karna, and that allowed him to beat Brimaz. Just as he was also reaching his limit, the teacher called out to everyone. “Alright, that’s enough. We only have two people going on, and it looks like there’s little point in carrying on.”

“Are you sure that Aura detector works?” Brimaz asked a little spitefully, looking at Karna who appeared only slightly tired, though even that was hard to notice from behind her veil. A few drops of perspiration gleamed on her forehead.

“I’m sure.” The teacher stated firmly, though in reality he too was a little suspicious. Such a small girl shouldn’t have that kind of stamina.

They of course couldn't know that Karna was a Godling and as such her entire physique worked differently. Despite her size, her muscle strength actually already rivaled Rein, who in turn seemed to have muscles on his muscles. And that was only measuring strength. Godlings didn't need to eat as they constantly drew energy from their surroundings, so even though she was wasting more than she was recovering during the exercise, she got tired much slower than the others. Her bloodline as a phoenix also burned up any built-up harmful substances in her system. She had limits, but this sort of relatively sedate exercise wasn’t enough for her to reach them without spending several days without rest. This was a good way for her to train, but that’s about it.

“Now then. One of the things you will have to learn is to fight while exhausted. It’s a bit cruel to spring this on you on your first lesson, but that’s how life works. Battle comes when it comes. It won’t wait until you’re comfortable and nicely prepared, and it doesn’t ask if this would be a good time for you. So, we’re having a hand-to-hand combat exercise next. You’re going to pair up and show me what you’re capable of. Warriors against warriors and mages against mages. There’s no point in having warriors slaughter mages that are unable to use magic, even if it would be a good opportunity for the mages to learn first-hand about the need to have some close combat skills.” The teacher started assigning pairs that he considered relatively equal. He was also purposefully having those that had given up first during physical training fight first so that the ones with most stamina could still get a bit of rest.

“Girl! It’s time to prove your words! Are you all talk, or do you dare to accept my challenge?” Brimaz demanded with a loud voice.

“I accept. It's fine with me." Karna shrugged and nodded towards the teacher, who in turn seemed happy to allow the fight to happen. He seemed like the type to foster rivalries if it brought results.

"It seems we're left together then," Shaheera said with a friendly tone as he walked up to Rein.

Truth be told, Rein was quite eagerly expecting the bout. He was quite proud of his hand-to-hand skills, and the Leonin seemed like a worthy opponent. “Sure. Sounds like fun.” He replied with a grin. “I want to see Karna and Brimaz fight though.”

Shaheera’s smile revealed a row of sharp teeth. “I’m quite sure so does everyone else.”

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been too surprising that nearly all of the students in class I-1 seemed to have quite a bit of training. Even the most dedicated mages showed that they were not complete beginners, even if their skills would never rival those of a proper warrior. The fight between Miralen and the blond-haired mage was especially fun to watch. Neither of them was especially skilled as they were both pure mages, but both of them fought with surprising ferocity and didn't shy away from going for strikes that could’ve been dangerous if they had landed. The calls about a catfight were quite appropriate, and the two girls only seemed to grow even more ferocious as the fight dragged on. Finally, the teacher decided to call the fight before either of them got seriously injured. Even as was, both girls had rather nasty looking cuts and likely bruises in places where no girl wanted them. To everyone’s shock, the two girls actually shook hands and gave each other half-hearted hugs once the fight was called.

Rein really had to show his skills during the fight with Shaheera. The Leonin had developed a martial arts style suited for their body type that utilized their claws well, but luckily Wolfgang had called for trainers from several different races when training Rein and Siegfried. As a result, Rein was already used to fighting against a Leonin and could turn the situation to his advantage. Despite the inability to use Ki, he had earned his fame as a blunt instrument as he slowly but surely battered the quicker Leonin to submission. Shaheera spent a fair bit of his training time on magic, which gave Rein enough of an advantage in a pure brawl. An advantage that he utilized to full effect. He might not be able to deal with the Leonin when magic and enough time for casting were involved, but in a pure brawl he came out ahead. "I yield!” Shaheera admitted finally, though he didn’t seem too bummed about his loss.

Their classmates actually clapped in appreciation, and their fight had been the best one so far. “A nice fight.” Karna clapped Rein on the back as the two walked back to sit with the rest of the class.

“Good luck to you too.” Rein replied with a proud smile as the girl walked towards the stage.

“So how do you think this will end up?” Shaheera asked and Miralen also sidled up to them.

“Well, Brimaz does have the advantage in size and reach. Also claws. Can't forget those. He’s also rank three for what that’s worth.” Miralen said carefully.

Rein grinned. “I think I’ll take a page from my father’s book. He already learned to never bet against Karna.”

“Despite the fact that Brimaz is a strong fighter, I feel you might be on to something.” Shaheera also nodded in agreement.

As the two fighters took positions against each other, Brimaz couldn't help but feel like he had already won. "I'll make sure to rip that stupid veil off your face first. We'll see what you're hiding. We have a bet going on. Personally, my money is on you just being ugly.”

“Well, good luck with that. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all, so I suppose you could always claim that you personally find me unattractive. But you have to actually get to the veil first.” Karna replied calmly, not rising to the bait. It had been rather juvenile in her eyes anyway. No need to get excited. No need at all.

As the teacher gave the signal to start, Brimaz immediately went to swipe at Karna’s face with his claws. Despite the rather obvious attack, it did play to his strengths as he had longer reach and he didn’t have to use much strength when using a quick swipe. People also instinctively protected their face when someone with claws was trying to hit you. Instead of avoiding the strike though, Karna seemed to flow around the attack and suddenly Brimaz found himself in a rather precarious position with his arm twisted and held in a very unnatural position.

"Now, we could call the fight here since submission holds are a legitimate way to end such things, but I don't think anyone would be satisfied with that," Karna whispered quiet enough that only Brimaz and the teacher could hear. Then she let go of Brimaz’s hand.

Angered by the disdain shown by his opponent, Brimaz launched himself at the much smaller opponent, allowing himself to overextend in his anger. Suddenly it seemed like the air around Karna seemed to shift and the calm and defensive stance seemed to vanish. She dove under the attack to get close and sent a straight kick at Brimaz’s midsection. He barely managed to swipe the kick aside with a hasty defense with his other hand.

Karna used the strength of that defense to help herself spin around and leap into the air as her other leg whipped towards his face. Brimaz had managed to pull his other hand back and stopped the kick with a perfectly executed block. The others observing a bit grimaced, as they could all hear the strength of the kick that sounded like a whip cracking against his forearm. Brimaz also grimaced in pain as he knew that if he had not supported the block with his other arm, the kick would’ve been too powerful to block.

He didn’t have time to rest though as Karna was thrown back up by the block and brought down her fist in an overhead strike as she was landing from her little jump, straight towards his forehead. He stumbled backwards, barely avoiding the blow. He tried to get some distance, but Karna didn't give him any breathing room as she rushed in. Brimaz managed to stop only a handful of blows before Karna managed to plant a full-power strike straight into his belly as a counterattack to a hasty attack, and the much larger Leonin male was bent double in the air as he was thrown back from the force of the blow. The classmates could swear they almost saw a shockwave coming out of the poor Leonin’s back as the strike landed.

“Ooof! Fuck me sideways, that must have hurt!” Rein voiced what everyone else was thinking.

“Humm, he might need a bit of healing, teacher. I may have used a bit more strength than I intended. It’s always frightening to fight against opponents so much bigger and stronger than myself.” Karna stated without a shred of shame. The fight had been completely one-sided and Brimaz had been completely taken apart.

“Hah! Bigger I believe, but the rest is bull. Get up Leonin! I saw you leaping backwards just as the strike landed. It probably hurt but there shouldn’t be any real damage.” The teacher grinned.

“I’m not so sure.” Brimaz wheezed out and coughed up a bit of spit before allowing Ki to massage the area and heal some of the damage he had taken.

“Well, it seems you’ll have to try again if you want to have a go at my veil. Better luck next time.” Karna teased a bit. She wasn’t quite sure why she enjoyed toying with the Leonin, but something about the guy caused her to behave in a more confrontational way than usual. Likely the result of her time spent as various magical beasts. Those sometimes manifested in weird ways, and a negative reaction towards someone challenging her wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary. She could usually suppress such instinctual reactions, but a bit of them tended to leak out on occasion.

"That was quite brutal," Shaheera commented. “Perhaps a bit unnecessarily so?”

“Perhaps. However, the sooner he learns that while I’m rather tolerant, there will be consequences to constantly picking fights with me, the better. I won’t go out of my way to rise to his baits and make things difficult, but I won’t go out of my way to avoid confrontation either.” Karna explained curtly. She knew that there were various ways of facing the kind of hostility Brimaz seemed to hold towards her, but sometimes facing things head-on was the best way.

“I knew you said you might be physically stronger than me, but I thought you weren’t serious.” Rein commented with a lighter tone.

“What’s this about?” Miralen questioned, sensing potentially juicy gossip.

“Our families went out to celebrate together after the entrance exams. It was the first time we met. Rein kept trying to challenge me to arm-wrestling.” Karna explained with an amused tone.

“You tried to challenge a girl so much younger and smaller than you to arm-wrestling?” Miralen looked at Rein with disdain.

“E-hem.” Rein coughed and pointed at Brimaz, who was still having trouble moving around after the blow he had taken.

“Yes, but you didn’t know about that at the time, did you?” Shaheera teased.

"I just wanted to beat her in something," Rein muttered a little apologetically.

“I’m not so sure that would’ve worked out for you.” Miralen pointed out with a tone that made it clear she was quite sure it wouldn’t have.

“No, I think it would’ve.” Shaheera countered. Then showed with gestures the difference in the arm length of Karna and Rein.

“Ah, right. Leverage.” Miralen realized.

“There’s that word again!” Rein stated angrily. “Why does everyone keep using it without explaining what it means?”

“They’re going to be teaching that to you soon enough in physics.” The teacher interrupted their conversation. “Knowledge like that is quite important to warriors like you. You actually already know about it instinctively, but you just don’t understand it fully. This isn’t the time however. Get up everyone! You’ve had enough of a break! You’ll get to try an obstacle course as a reward for finishing the fights so quickly.”

Almost everyone groaned at the so-called reward.

Chapter 15 - Some things...

A note from Vihyungrang

Well, this chapter turned rather world building-heavy, but it's also almost double length as well. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Alright, settle down.” Menkhaf, the teacher assigned to class I-1 ordered as he walked into the classroom. In the Academy, the classes usually had their own classroom and only the teacher changed, except in the cases of lessons and subjects that required special facilities. “Today we’re discussing the planes and cultivation. Callista, tell me the names of the different corporeal planes and the point at which people can Ascend up from them.”

The blond-haired mage that had fought Miralen the day before stood up to answer with a respectful tone. “Starting from the weakest, we have the Mortal Planes. Those that reach the fourth rank are given the opportunity to Ascend to the Lower Planes. Those that reach the seventh rank are given the option to Ascend to the Higher Planes, which would be where we are. Those that reach the tenth rank can Ascend to the Divine Planes. Umm, I’m not sure if there’s more after that.”

“The ability to admit when you don’t know something instead of trying to bluff your way through. Well done. A good show of humility and knowing your limits. Alright. So if Callista was right when she just explained that it takes a certain rank to ascend to the Higher Planes, why are there beings and people of lower rank here? In other words, why are you here? Reinhardt.” The teacher prompted.

“Uhh, because we were born here?” Rein offered the obvious answer.

“Was that a question or an answer?” The teacher shot back with a grumpy voice.

“An answer sir!” Rein snapped to attention in surprise.

“Good. Because it’s correct, even if it’s a little plain and simplified. The gist of it is there, however. Indeed. To take our plane as an example, 99% of those that manage to Ascend to our plane never manage to go higher. The same applies to those born here that reach the seventh rank. It is a cold hard fact that even among you who are gifted enough to get into the Academy, only a tiny fraction will eventually Ascend, and even a smaller fraction will do it while you are still less than a thousand years old. Currently, our country holds three people that are likely to reach the tenth rank within that timeframe, and we’re considered an anomaly in that regard. As a result, eventually most people realize that they don’t have what it takes and settle down to create families, countries, sects, communities, and everything you see around you. Their children are born mortal, and thus we have the societies of today. So Shaheera, what makes you any better than any poor sap that hasn’t even managed to reach the rank to Ascend to the Lower Planes from the Mortal Planes?” Menkhaf didn’t bother asking for students to volunteer answers. It was easier to just pick one student and force them to answer. Usually, the answers were incomplete but would at least reveal their level of knowledge and would spur discussion.

"Not necessarily anything," Shaheera replied curtly.

“But…?” Menkhaf prompted.

“Well, those born and living in the Higher Plane have enjoyed the benefits of living here, which means more resources and more importantly more ambient power. So a rank three person in the Higher Plane tends to be stronger than one that has spent their life in the Mortal Plane and has a higher chance of reaching a higher rank. One could argue that a being that has had to claw their way up from the Mortal Plane is more driven and has more experience, but that assumes we have no drive and get no experience of our own. And we tend to have more potential on average.” Shaheera replied, confident in his answer.

“Define potential for me in this context.” Menkhaf prompted. Potential could be described in many ways, so defining your terms was important.

“Well, the most common explanation has to do with the Wall. We all face difficulties in cultivation, and those difficulties can stem from a number of reasons. A faulty cultivation method, a deviation, lack of epiphanies and understanding, etc. These all pale in comparison to the Wall. We will all reach a point at which we will find that our advancement stalls out and stops almost completely. That doesn’t mean you can’t advance at all, just that it becomes exponentially harder and most give up. The point at which one hits this Wall is the most common definition of reaching the limits of your potential. Also, the further away this Wall is, the faster your cultivation.” Shaheera rattled off a textbook definition of the term.

“Good enough on both answers. Slightly incomplete, but only slightly. To return to the original point, there are other less obvious differences like the mana of those born on our plane being purer, and fewer impurities gathering in our bodies. There's also something that's not polite to mention in certain company but remains true nonetheless and relates to your second answer. Those in the Higher Planes are all descendants of beings that managed to Ascend here or even those that came down from the Divine Planes. That means we can all trace our familial lines back to people or beings that were at least the seventh rank. More often than not, we have the blood of several such people and those even stronger in our heritage, maybe even our parents.

“Now, some people don’t like to admit or even talk about the fact that heritage has a part to play, but the cold hard fact is that the children of high-ranked people are usually more talented and have more potential. That’s why those that come from the noble houses tend to have more talent on average, despite there being multiple exceptions both ways. And if you have countless generations of such talented people mixing, that’s going to have a significant effect over time. That’s why people born in the Higher Planes are more talented and have more potential on average, just like we tend to live longer. Do not make the mistake of underestimating those born on the Lower and Mortal Planes, but don’t ignore the advantage you have either. Karna, tell everyone another advantage that comes from being born in the Higher Planes.” Menkhaf’s words made it clear he wasn’t taking any pleasure in his words, although he didn’t seem to have any distaste for the way things were either.

Karna was aware that there used to be philosophical battles about the merits of heritage back when she was born in this universe the last time, and it seemed the argument still existed. Some things never changed. “Well, if all the powerful and most skilled people Ascend to the Higher Planes, then the development of those other planes is stymied. On the other hand, the Higher Plane gets to enjoy the benefits of the best techniques and products made by the most skilled artisans, made of the best materials. Just the existence of higher quality cultivation techniques makes a huge difference. That’s also why the nobility of most countries manage to keep their position and advantage. They’ve piled up valuable techniques, institutional knowledge, and resources over generations, and they have deeper roots than a random well-off family that might covet their position but would crumble at the first sign of adversity. Even if the child of a noble is less talented, having access to better techniques and resources means they can compete on at least an equal level."

“Exactly. This might make you think that life is unfair, and in many ways it is. However, crying about it won’t do you any good or change things. It is a fact of life that society only really cares about what you can contribute to it. If you want to make a difference or enact change, you have to have enough power, or some other valuable ability, in order to be taken seriously. Conversely, when you do have power, then all kinds of doors open in front of you. So work hard and make something of yourselves! Anyway, for the reasons both Karna and especially Shaheera mentioned, the major worlds of the Higher Planes created the Progeny Accords.” The teacher had a harsh view on life, but Karna knew from experience that he was right in most cases. It was something that held true in most universes. Not all though, and she had enjoyed her time as a mortal in those universes that didn’t place such a heavy emphasis on power, rare as they were.

Something else struck her though. ”Progeny Accords?” She asked a bit confused while noting that she wasn't the only one. This was new and something she had not come across before in her studies.

“Ah yes, many of you are probably too young to have heard about it yet. The major worlds of the Higher Planes have repeatedly come together to create certain agreements that bind the people of every world. Some of the agreements are rather obvious, like those that limit wars between worlds of the Higher Planes, and the ones that prevent the hunting of those that Ascend from the Lower Planes for a time. Before those Accords, such people were hunted mercilessly on many worlds to avoid competition, and wars between worlds were commonplace. One of the most recent agreements was made only five thousand years ago, and the group of agreements was named the Progeny Accords. You’ll learn more in history lessons, and your families will likely explain these to you once you become older.

“The basic gist of it is that since we long since discovered that the children of those that are very powerful, especially those that are close to Ascending, are usually especially talented, it’s a great benefit to the Higher Planes in general to foster such important bloodlines. As a result, we have the Progeny Accords. Every person that reaches the ninth rank is expected to have a family and leave behind at least one child before Ascending, and in return, those children will be taken care of. That’s also why it will take a few years before the Ascended person is given the opportunity to go to the Divine Planes. The Accords were actually ratified by the Emissaries from the Divine Plane as well.” Menkhaf had known the subject would attract some attention and was not surprised to see several students raising their hands to ask questions. The subject got the same reception every year.

'Well, this really is new.’ Karna thought to herself. She wasn’t quite sure what to think of it. If she went along with it, it wouldn’t be even close to the first time she would have a family, so that wouldn’t be a problem. However, the thought of leaving that family behind to Ascend was rather questionable. Still, considering they had actually created the Accords, the powers that be had likely considered the practical implications and there would likely be some measures in place. Still, she wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea of being dictated to have a family. There was bound to be more to this, and not just because of the obvious issues concerning sexuality and possible infertility. Besides, pissing off the most powerful people on the Plane over something so minor seemed like a bad idea. It was quite likely there were ways around the Accords, and it was likely something that mostly encouraged powerful people to procreate early in life so that the ‘duty’ would already be taken care of. Likely there were also further considerations as well.

The teacher had likely also seen the questions coming. “I know what you want to ask. We get the same questions every year. Not everyone is capable or interested. I get that, but I didn’t make the rules. And seeing as how most of you are never going to become powerful enough to fall into the purview of the accords, you don’t really need to worry either. However, this isn’t a lesson on the Progeny Accords. You can ask your history teacher for details. Suffice to say, there are ways around the common problems. I swear, the kids these days are too interested in everything concerning sex and kids.” He grumbled under his breath.

“You mentioned Emissaries from Divine Planes?” One of the students asked, rather adroitly changing the subject.

“Ah, right. A proper question. Thank you. Yes, the step to Ascend from the Higher Planes to the Divine Planes is more difficult than those that came before. The Divine Planes also take a more active role in managing our planes for obvious reasons. They’ve sent several Emissaries to act as their representatives. Those Emissaries are the only ones that can allow passage to the Divine Planes. They can also offer aid when calamity or one of the great scourges strikes at the Higher Planes. On the other hand, they also meddle in our business on some occasions. Luckily, only the most powerful of the worlds on the Higher Planes have an Emissary present. Those worlds then watch over groups of weaker worlds. And before you ask, yes, our world is one of those that have an Emissary, but that Emissary doesn’t reside in our country.” Menkhaf pre-empted the question he knew was coming.

‘Well, some things are the same and some are new. They still have Emissaries and they still keep lying about there being no other way to go to the Divine Planes.’ Karna’s secretive smile was hidden by her veil. She had actually been an Emissary in a previous life for a short time. She wasn’t sure if she should be proud or miffed at the fact that she had apparently meddled too much and had been recalled rather quickly. Incidentally, the other way to enter the Divine Planes was exponentially more dangerous, even for her, and she’d rather avoid it if at all possible. This supposedly being her last life and all. Normally she’d be a bit more careless, but the knowledge of your mortality did make you a bit more careful.

“Let’s cap this lesson off with the scourges. Brimaz, a short explanation, if you would.” Menkhaf threw another question in.

“The three scourges are the forces that exist outside the corporeal planes and wage an eternal war against us. Mostly that war never fully reaches us as the Divine Plane’s immortal armies stand against such invasions, but sometimes enemies slip through the cracks and worlds are invaded. The three scourges are the Inferno, the Underworld, and the Netherworld.” Brimaz replied proudly.

“Well done. The Inferno is home to the chaotic demonic denizens twisted by corrupted mana of the insane Evil Gods. Don’t mistake the fact that the denizens of Inferno are demons with all demons being from Inferno. There are many demonic races that are not affiliated with the scourge, although some would disagree with that assessment. The forces of Netherworld are mostly made up of the undead and the lifeless constructs of the Netherworld Dynasties, as well as wandering and restless spirits that have taken form. They are the most commonly seen threat, though usually we only see some tiny tendrils of their true might. The Underworld is the most mysterious and elusive threat. We often discover shadowy cults worshipping their dark overlords. We know little of their goals, only that the creatures of eldritch and darkness usually found deep in nightmares or the darkest places between worlds serve them for some reason.” Menkhaf briefly explained. The information on the scourges was actually a subject taught for later years in the Academy, when the students might actually be sent out on missions to deal with scourge influence.

‘Oops.’ Karna grimaced behind the veil. ‘Didn’t think they’d still be around. ’ She was quite shocked to hear the Underworld still existed. On the other hand, she was surprised the teacher didn’t mention anything about the fourth scourge. Had that problem already been dealt with? Or were they just suppressing the information?

“Anyway, that’s it for this class. Now hurry along and you might get the chance to get the cafeteria before the lines for getting lunch get too long. Karna, stick around for a bit. We need to discuss some of your electives.” Menkhaf shooed the others out.

“What’s this about?” Karna asked as the others had all filed out.

“Usually we don’t get many first years taking the artisan courses. Obviously, it's allowed or they wouldn't be offered, but you're very young even for a normal first year, and considering your talents, plenty of other courses would love to have you instead. I don’t think I need to test whether you’re strong enough for the subjects, but I do feel obligated to ask a few questions considering you actually picked three artisan courses. Did you know there were quite a few displeased teachers when this class got assigned to me? Well, you were one of the main reasons, and since I teach the major those artisan courses are tied to, there’s going to be some suggestions about improper influence.” Menkhaf explained. It wasn’t Karna’s fault of course, but it was still something he’d have to deal with.

“Ask freely. I can’t promise that I will explain everything, but I will explain what I can.” Karna promised.

“Why those three courses? Or more specifically, why not many of the more common choices?” He got straight to the point.

“Are you aware of who my father is?” Karna got a nod in reply. “Well, he can teach me many of the magical subjects just as well, and his lessons will be personally tailored for my skills and pace. Additionally, I’ve been told that I have potential in creating things, and I want to explore that potential.” She didn’t bother mentioning that she had been told that in other lives.

“What kind of talent?” Mankhaf asked.

"That you'll have to find out," Karna replied curtly but softened her words a bit with a playful tone and even winked at the teacher.

“Fair enough. Usually, when someone takes this many courses in these kinds of subjects, they will major in artifice. Are you planning on doing that?” He asked almost eagerly. It would be a real coup to snatch the girl into his major.

“No. Or to be precise, I haven’t decided. I only desire to explore whether my talents in the area can be turned into something useful. I will be exploring other options as well, but no matter what I choose, I believe the skills I will pick up here will be useful.” Karna replied, her smile hidden by the veil.

“You do realize that becoming a proper artisan requires dedication, right?” Menkhaf was afraid the girl was taking this lightly.

“We shall see. I don’t mean to belittle your field, far from it. I know it requires time and dedication. However, my ability to absorb information and skills is also something you won’t believe until you experience it. I know you’re skeptical, so I’ll make a little bet with you. If you think I’m not doing enough, I will admit my mistake and either dedicate myself to the craft or abandon it. Even failure can be a learning experience.” Karna posed a challenge.

Menkhaf would’ve dismissed her words if he had not seen her affinities personally, as well as being aware of her potential. The opportunity was simply too good to pass. “Fine, let’s put it to the test then.” Suddenly three stacks of books appeared on the desk in front of her. “Start with these.” He tapped one stack of books. “The first course of the three to start will be smithing. Start from the top and work your way down. Then move in order to the next stack, which is alchemy. This is the basic knowledge pertaining to each subject. I and your other teachers will be testing you on how much you’ve absorbed once your lessons start.”

“Sounds fair.” Karna nodded. She’d skim through the material just in case there had been something new discovered, or if they had some erroneous beliefs that she’d have to pretend to believe in. Still, this was all information she already knew, so it would not be a real challenge.

“I wish you luck then.” He stated simply and left her alone with the books, not caring how she planned on carrying them. That too was part of her test.

-----

“Some things are the same no matter what universe you go to.” Karna chuckled as she watched the other students move around below her, repeating the sentiment she’d expressed several times already. She had found a rather nice vantage point on the balcony of one of the administrative buildings near the cantina. It was a great place for some privacy while she ate her lunch.

“You didn’t really expect things to change in this universe of all places, right?” Gem retorted while munching on a grape. The spirit had taken the form of a tiny Fairy Dragon for the time being. The grape was the size of the tiny dragon’s head, so it was a real feast. Gem had always claimed that staying in the form of an item for extended periods of time felt constricting. Karna wasn’t sure if the spirit was being truthful or just fibbing, but she had never really cared either way. It didn’t really harm anyone, and if Gem wanted to indulge a bit on occasion, she wasn’t planning on denying that opportunity.

“Some things. Even this place isn’t stagnant enough for everything to stay the same. However, when it comes to most things, you’re correct.” Karna was still smiling as she observed below her as the youngsters were going through the dance that stayed a constant no matter where you were. The boys went through the motions of acting tough in front of the girls, while the girls acted coy and disinterested. The girls separated into groups based on status and past acquaintance, while the boys grouped up based on personality and interests. The more aggressive boys pushed around those with weaker personalities and weaker power, while the more passive boys sought refuge in numbers. Testosterone made boys do the same silly things no matter what universe you were in, the only difference was who had the power. In some universes having physical strength or an athletic ability placed you at the top of the pack, while in the Academy your position in the vague hierarchy was based on magic and rankings.

Not that the girls were much better. Status was just as, if not more important to them. Often that status came from social connections, and that wasn’t entirely different here either. While your wealth and family were less important in the Academy, your connections to teachers and the masters of different majors weighed a lot more, as well as your friendship with people with more power and a better ranking. Of course, the individual strength of a girl also played a part, but less so than with the boys. Much like with the more passive boys, the girls that didn't have enough personal strength could only seek refuge in numbers or solitude. The competitive spirit fostered by the Academy also had the side-effect of heightening some of these differences, while the group activities gave the perfect excuse to form cliques.

“At least those social mores are a little different based on race.” Gem commented. The spirit never really understood the mortal mind, as she found many of their actions baffling. Time had allowed Gem to grow used to such things but understanding eluded the immortal spirit.

“I’m not sure if that makes things better or worse.” Karna frowned. She looked to the side where a group of beastmen was applying a subtle kind of pressure on a member of their group, even though no one was really pressured directly. To them, the community was more important, and going off the rather narrow social codes they had was frowned upon with quite a bit of intensity. On the other side of the spectrum were the elves. They too were communal in some ways, but they were also all striving for some sort of nebulous individual perfection, and deviation from that ideal was scorned. That scorn was a lot more subtle than what than most races practiced, but the elves tended to be more subtle as a race anyway.

Suddenly Gem vanished in a shower of pretty sparkles, a sure sign that someone was approaching. Soon enough Karna heard the door of the balcony being pushed open. "Ah, I was right. I thought I spotted someone here. Usually, this place remains empty."

A tanned Alpyran woman stepped through the glass door and closed it behind her. The woman had a long and curly blond hair falling down her shoulders, framing a pair of golden-colored horns that were surprisingly small for her race. Normally Alpyrans had horns that looked more like antlers. The woman also wore clothes that had the school colors, but that's where the similarities ended. She wore something that was halfway between a revealing negligee and a long cloak combined with a brassiere. She also had on something that could only be described as very tight hotpants and thigh-high leather boots. Certainly not something you would expect a teacher to wear, though it was hard to say if she even was one. She certainly could’ve passed for one of the older students as well.

Alpyrans always looked ageless as even the oldest ones looked like someone barely out of teenage years, and it was even harder to judge the age of this particular Alpyran because Karna was quite certain she was just an illusion created by magic. A very convincing one, yes, but reincarnators were very good at seeing through such illusions. The real woman was likely somewhere else, simply projecting her form on the balcony. That made her age and power impossible to judge accurately. She also had no insignia on her clothing, a rarity in Magocracy, and something really odd in the Academy.

“I can’t imagine why. The vantage point is great, and so is the view. It’s not even that hard to access.” Karna replied while returning to her observations of the people below. The new arrival had come for a reason, but she had no way to tell what that reason was, for now.

“Ah, how refreshing!” The woman stated with a genuinely cheery voice. “Usually the people of Magocracy spend a lot longer judging my appearance.”

"I'm aware of the social norms and the hot-blood of Alpyrans," Karna muttered idly. Alpyrans could walk into a blizzard wearing nothing but a smile without getting cold, which was partly why they preferred to not dress in heavy clothing. Only a part though. Their hot blood also manifested in other ways. “My compliments to your tailor by the way.”

“He’ll be happy to hear that.” The woman smiled. Karna was refreshingly different from her father. “I’m Tsumi by the way.”

“Karna.” She gave a defeated sigh and turned to Tsumi, giving up on her people watching. It seemed this woman was determined to disturb her, so she might as well oblige.

“A pleasure to meet you. I seem to have disturbed your lunch.” The woman noted Karna’s subtle rebuke, even if she decided to press on anyway.

“I suppose I was done anyway. What’s brings you here? Besides curiosity that is.” Karna asked.

“Actually just that. This is one of my usual spots. It's just rare to see someone else here like I said. I’ve placed a slight compulsion on the door that’s usually enough to keep everyone away, so I simply wanted to see who had the same good taste as me and the will to completely ignore my little trick. And now I know.” The woman gave a small gesture towards the insignia on Karna’s jacket that bore the crown and her class number.

“Yes, the badge is a little blatant in advertising my position, isn’t it?” Karna asked mostly rhetorically. She had not even noticed the compulsion as it had been so minor. Sometimes being able to completely ignore such things had downsides. She would’ve likely spotted the spell easily if she had been looking for such things, but since she hadn’t…

“Perhaps that’s the point.” Tsumi pointed out.

"Oh, that's definitely one of the reasons.” Karna retorted. “You should know, as you’re not wearing yours.”

The mirthful laugh of the woman sounded almost musical. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. What do you suppose the ultimate purpose is?”

“It probably has several purposes.” Karna decided to humor the woman by answering. “It puts a target on your back, but it also serves as an inspiration for others. Something obvious to aspire to and compete against. At the same time, it drives the wearer so that they can keep it. Losing it would be rather humiliating for those that are fond of such obvious displays of status and strength. Motivation is important for students, and those are just the most obvious purposes.”

Tsumi nodded, seemingly giving the subject more thought. Karna decided that she had obliged the woman enough for now and closed her lunchbox. “Well then. I shall return your observation platform back to you. Have a good day.”

“The same to you as well.” The woman said idly and sat down next to the place Karna had just vacated.

As soon as the door had closed behind her and she had taken a few steps away from the balcony, Karna saw Gem appear back on her shoulder. “Well. That was a rather unsubtle way to make first contact.” The spirit said judgmentally.

“That was actually fairly subtle as far as such things go. You have to remember that I’m supposed to be a child, and she’s likely someone who doesn’t specialize in these kinds of things.” Karna replied a bit more moderately. The woman had not been too obvious with her intentions, but it was clear to the two of them that this meeting was not accidental and was likely a precursor to several more of its kind.

“What do you think she wants?” Gem speculated.

“Hard to say. Too early for that. I'd wager a guess that she's either a teacher or a late-year student assigned to keep an eye on me. Maybe an advanced disciple to some master like Duskclaw. She might just want to scout me out, or she might have some nefarious plan. We’ll have to wait a bit until we can say for sure.” Karna shook her head. They simply didn’t know enough to make a proper judgment. There was also no way to properly react just yet. It wasn’t odd for Karna to have people approach her with some plan in mind, as it had happened to her countless times before in previous lives.

Chapter 16 - Self improvement

A note from Vihyungrang

We get a look into the life of both students and teachers, and we also reach the point where we'll slowly start taking small leaps in time so that the first years of the Academy don't drag on for too long. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”...and next up we come to the first years. Menkhaf, you’re in charge of class I-1. What do you have for us?” The Headmistress directed the meeting while the teachers that had no contact with the newest students nor any interest in them filed out of the room. The teachers usually taught several classes to several years of students, but even with that, they had more than a thousand teachers. In addition to the regular teachers were the guest lecturers, so these meetings tended to balloon out of hand if they didn’t rotate people in and out. Tsumi noted that more than the usual amount of curious teachers stuck around to listen despite not teaching the first years.

“Do you want me to start with the obvious outlier, or with the others?” Menkhaf asked wryly, knowing exactly why so many teachers had stuck around.

“Let’s go with the others first.” Tsumi decided with a small smile. If they wanted information on Karna, then the least she could do was to force them to sit through the report on the others first.

“Well, the students of this year’s first class are above the average in many ways. More people than normal qualified for elective classes, and they even made rather smart choices. It’s also obvious that the higher than usual standard is driving the students to work even harder than we see during an average year. Interestingly, that particular mixed group formed by four of the top ten students, which we’re all interested in, inspired the rest of the class to also diversify their little cliques a bit more than usual. We’re seeing the different races of the class I-1 talking and interacting a lot more frequently than usual.” Menkhaf started thoughtfully while idly tugging at his beard.

“Are they actually getting results though?” One of the second year teachers asked. That’s what they would be more interested in, as they’d be teaching the ones that actually managed to pass the exams at the end of the year. The first year always saw the most people passing those exams in a single year as there was only so much you could teach during the first year, but it also saw the most drop-outs due to the packed schedule and a workload that surprised many new students unused to such hard work.

“Difficult to say anything definite yet since we’ve only been teaching them for three months, but I have every reason to believe they’re working hard. At least during lessons they seem to have absorbed the material. Some of them are showing excellent results, which is skewing the curve a bit and making it harder to judge the class’s level in general. The ten best students are doing so well that the others have trouble keeping up.” Menkhaf explained the dilemma.

“At least they are doing their best and working extremely hard in my class.” The teacher in charge of combat and physical education said gruffly. “I’ve heard very few complaints after the first class, though that’s partially because a little girl is kicking all their asses when it comes to both results and work ethics. It’s kind of difficult to complain when a kid at least two years your junior does everything I order without protest.”

“Which I suppose brings us to Karna. I heard you gave her a challenge Menkhaf?” Tsumi questioned. Karna had mentioned it during one of their talks.

“Yes. The girl took three artisan courses, and I suspected she might be underestimating the subjects. She crushed the challenge truth be told. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was great at absorbing information. There’s a slight problem though. We got a bit enthusiastic with the challenge, and dumped the entire theoretical knowledge of the first five artisan courses from all three of the subjects on her, instead of just the first course from each. Now we’re just putting the theory into practice, and we can’t even keep doing that without going into those advanced courses during practice as well. Instead of teaching her three artisan courses, we’re basically doing the abbreviated version of fifteen. I’m not sure it’s wise to go into the practicals of the most advanced artisan classes so soon, especially since those courses are not offered to first-year students." Menkhaf half bragged and half complained. They’d already gone overboard with the theoretical knowledge so it was hard to pull back now.

“Has she shown any indication of being a Blessed Child?” Tsumi asked with a neutral tone while leaning over the table with her hands steepled in front of her mouth. She had asked the artisan teachers to pay special attention. She already knew Karna came from the Divine Plane, but she couldn’t be certain whether she was a Blessed Child as well. The artisan classes were one of the best ways to confirm her suspicions though.

“So far, no. The speed at which she is learning is abnormal, but she hasn’t shown any indication of knowing something she shouldn’t. At least not something she couldn’t have easily picked up with a bit of self-study, practice, or from her father.” Menkhaf replied with a degree of confidence. "She's a very smart girl, but nothing that can't be explained with enough talent, excellent memory, and hard work."

Tsumi considered his words for a moment. The girl knew to be somewhat careful at least, in which case the risk of being discovered was much smaller. "Good. In that case, keep teaching her as much as you can. If she has the talent and is willing to learn, then there should be no harm. If she personally expresses that you're pushing her too much, then we can reconsider."

“There is one issue. If we keep going at this pace, we’ll eventually start entering the territory of things we usually reserve for those that major in Artifice.” Menkhaf pointed out. Some things were reserved for the experts and those that belonged to a particular faction within the Academy. Spreading that information was not forbidden, but every major liked to keep their own secret techniques.

"I see your point. Has she shown any interest in choosing that major?" Tsumi asked with slight trepidation. Personally, she thought it would be an awful waste for the girl to major in Artifice, albeit the thought of having such a promising new Artificer in the academy was somewhat enticing as well.

“Not as such. I asked her and that’s part of what prompted the challenge. She hasn’t decided yet.” Menkhaf replied honestly.

“Headmistress. It would be a disservice for the girl to choose a major before she even gets familiar with her options. So far she has spent a lot of time with Menkhaf and his fellow Artificers, but we know she has talent in other areas as well." A grey-skinned Archon man protested. It wasn't hard to see why he was interested as Karna's affinity with the True Light element had been so high, and the man was a Warden. Wardens specialized in defensive magic and barriers, and Qhaysh was an important element for both. The affinity was also quite rare, especially when the affinity was so high.

"I happen to agree, though we will, of course, have to respect her wishes. That said, Menkhaf, if you do start approaching the limits of what you should be teaching her, I want you to encourage her to seek out the other majors as well. She needs to be aware of the other options.” Tsumi decided. She also planned on doing the same, albeit more subtly. She had met Karna several times in the last few months, seemingly by accident. Tsumi was convinced that Karna had realized the meetings were less accidental than it seemed, but neither of them had mentioned anything. They had gotten more familiar and now discussed many subjects quite openly. Tsumi actually quite liked the girl, as she was much more interesting than her father Arjuna.

"Will do, Headmistress," Menkhaf replied. He had expected this, so he had been prepared. It would be a shame to give up on Karna though, so the artisan teachers would start slipping in some things reserved for the students of the major only, just as a small encouragement.

“What of the foreign students?” Tsumi addressed all the teachers at the same time.

“Many of the Leonin from the Empire have acclimated quite well, albeit their pride is a slight issue as usual.” The teacher in charge of discipline reported. “Interestingly we see both extremes in Menkhaf’s class. Shaheera is a perfect example of a Leonin student that has fit in well. The other boy, Brimaz on the other hand has real trouble with not being the number one. It doesn’t help that he’s related to Ashanti, though it seems his competitive spirit has taken hits lately, and his ardor is settling down a bit. The elves of Elvandar on the other hand fit in great, just like every year, while the beastmen tribes have the same issues as every year, mostly with their own kind. We didn’t see a large influx of either Saauri or Creuss this year, and we only got a handful of Alpyrans. They as well as the other scattered foreign students are doing as expected. They are slowly fitting in, but there are some issues as always. The laws of the Magocracy are quite open in comparison to most countries, while our social norms are relatively strict. That’s a weird combination for many people unused to our ways.”

“Alright. Let’s move on to the other classes then…” Tsumi sighed. This was going to be a long meeting. Thank the heavens for time magic to grant them some extra hours.

--------

“Are they still going at it?” Miralen asked while drying her long pale-grey hair with a towel.

"Of course they are," Shaheera replied with a scoff without even looking up from the book he was studying. "What did you expect? Rein is nothing if not persistent." The Leonin seemed to always be studying when he got the opportunity.

Miralen took a glance at the other side of the practice room where Rein was getting his ass handed to him by Karna. The boy was swinging around a large two-handed claymore that was apparently his spirit companion. His large and powerful swings seemed to have absolutely no effect on his opponent that seemed to almost be dancing while the two fought. “He doesn’t seem to have made much progress.”

"Oh, he has. Quite a bit actually.” Shaheera countered and finally looked up from his book. He’d placed a finger between the pages to make sure he didn’t lose his place in the book.

“Doesn’t really seem like it.” Miralen pointed out as Karna’s blade smacked the boy in three different places in quick succession. All of the strikes would’ve been at least disabling, had they been made with a real weapon.

"Naw, he's still getting his ass handed to him. That part hasn't changed. But at least he’s managing to hang there for longer and he’s getting slaughtered in different ways than before.” Shaheera explained, and now that he mentioned it, Miralen had to admit that he was right. It still seemed almost effortless on Karna’s part, but there were signs of progress.

“Well, I suppose we should give him some credit. He is fighting against someone who can directly counter his style, so even small improvement is improvement.” Miralen shrugged, giving credit where it was due.

“It’s more than just that. His entire life his biggest strength has been his ability to defeat his opponents in a fight with power and speed. Even he calls himself a blunt instrument. I think it’s rather admirable how well he’s taking the fact that the very thing he’s supposed to be good at is now working against him. Not only is he not angry or morose about it, but he’s actively working to improve himself. He’s trying his best to find a way around the style that counters him so completely.” Shaheera held quite a bit of respect for the other boy for his tenacity. He wasn’t sure if he would’ve been able to take things so well if their places were switched.

The matter had come in their tactics and strategy lesson the day before. They had finally moved from theory to practice. The lessons were not just about tactics and strategies between small groups and armies, but also about strategies when fighting against a single opponent. They had been discussing the merits of different battle styles, and somehow Karna and Rein had ended up as the perfect demonstration of the need for proper strategies when it had become obvious that Karna’s style rendered Rein’s blunt and strength reliant style almost completely ineffective. The teacher had suggested the two practice together so that Rein could figure out strategies out of his dilemma. That same teacher had advised that it would be even better if Rein figured out things by himself and wasn’t given direct advice by Karna. The two had been spending all their free time training since then.

“Well, when you put it like that. I suppose it’s also a perfect opportunity for him to train. I wonder how long it will take him to dig himself out of that hole?” Miralen thoughtfully bit on her lip before sitting down at the table, still dealing with her damp hair.

“Against Karna? I don't like his chances. It's not like she isn't improving as well, and all things considered, I'm quite sure she will improve faster than he will, thus always staying ahead." The students in class I-1, aside from Brimaz, had all pretty much given up on defeating Karna. Instead, they were now competing for the second place and left the crown to her. Part of that was because Karna wasn't shy about sharing the benefits she got from the position, even if she only shared them with her own group. That group held her biggest competition after all. “How was the bath? You seem to enjoy using it as often as possible.”

Miralen gave a sound of happy contentment. “It’s marvelous! I have no idea what Karna has done to it, but I’ve never used a bath like that. The water is just the perfect temperature all the time, and it even massages my muscles when they’re sore. I also feel cleaner than I do after using the shared baths.” Their last lesson had been a grueling session of physical training again, so the bath had been welcome.

“The shared one has always been good enough for me.” Shaheera shrugged. He had cleaned up as well, although much faster than the elven girl. The two that were still fighting had not bothered yet, seeing as they had only continued training anyway.

“What are you reading?” Miralen asked to change the subject. It was better for her if no one else wanted to borrow Karna’s bath as that left more time for her.

“It’s one of the books for comparative casting. We dealt with warlocks yesterday, and now we’re dealing with barrier mages, or Wardens as they are called in the Academy. I don’t quite understand some of the concepts. Especially when it comes to True Light magic.” Shaheera frowned. Or at least Miralen thought the expression was a frown. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Shaheera. It could’ve been constipation as well.

“You know you could just ask Karna. She has that affinity and likely has some experience with the subject.” Miralen pointed out the obvious solution.

“She’s kind of busy at the moment.” Shaheera laughed.

“Never too busy for questions!” Karna responded just as her wooden blade clipped Rein’s shoulder. The much larger blade had barely managed to turn a clean hit into a glancing blow. “Ooh, nice! You are getting better.”

“I try.” Rein grunted while breathing heavily. Two days of heavy sparring and a physical training class had taken a lot out of him.

“So what was the question?” Karna called out a bit louder as she stepped back to circle around Rein.

“What makes the True Light element so good for Wardens?” Shaheera repeated a bit louder. “The magic lessons don’t really go into that element, like it’s some sort of secret.”

"It's not really a case of it being secret," Karna replied thoughtfully while redirecting Rein’s strikes. The boy had learned not to overextend quite so badly when fighting her. “It’s more that there aren’t that many users of Qhaysh because the element is quite complex to use effectively, in addition to the affinity being rare. To answer your question though, the main two strengths of the element are that it can be used to empower other spells and to form hard-light constructs.”

“Hard-what now?” Even Miralen paid more attention suddenly. This was new to her as well.

“Hard-light constructs. It’s basically the ability to form solid objects out of pure energy. Like this.” Karna stepped away from Rein and suddenly a glowing blade made of what seemed to be a mix between ice and light was in her hand. She tapped the blade against Rein’s sword and the impact sounded like two metal blades clanging together.

“That seems handy, but not exactly what I imagine as the most important feature for a barrier.” Shaheera pointed out.

“You’re missing the point.” Miralen suddenly grinned in realization. “A barrier formed like that can be both a physical barrier and a standard magical energy one at the same time. It’s not weak to most of the common ways to pierce barriers. Earth and Ice magic use physical barriers while other elements mostly use energy barriers, but none of them are both at the same time.”

“That’s the basic gist of it. It’s a bit more complex than that as certain elements are sturdier by nature when used in defensive spells, but that’s the main advantage. The barrier is also quick to deploy, and it doesn’t need to exist all the time, unlike most physical barriers. Qhaysh is also resistant to damage from most other elements as it's something made from weaving the other elements together, so it doesn't have an obvious weakness either. Here's the last trick, and the one the most powerful barrier mages appreciate, there's no real limit in how much power you can put into the spell when using Qhaysh. That means the only limit on the effectiveness of the spell is how much power you're willing to spend. Some of the most powerful barriers are so strong because hundreds of mages have pumped their mana into them over generations." Karna went into lecture mode.

Most spells had a limit on how effective they could be. A simple fireball could be made more deadly by increasing the heat generated, the size of the fireball, and the explosive radius when the fireball went off, but in the end it was just a simple ball of fire. There were limits on how much you could improve the spell, no matter how much mana you were willing to spend, without fundamentally changing the spell into something completely different. Spells using Qhaysh didn't really have that problem, and in that way, the element was rather unique.

“So if the normal methods don’t work, how can such barriers be countered? If there was no counter, then such mages would be much more celebrated than they are, even if they are rare.” Shaheera questioned.

"You probably haven't gone into any of it yet in your class, but there are certain methods that can bypass all barriers completely, no matter if they're physical or energy barriers," Karna answered.

“Such as?” Miralen asked.

To their surprise, it was Rein who answered. "Well, one example is Shinmei-ryú. It's a style of swordsmanship designed to fight magic users specifically. Not that they don't have rather scary abilities against others as well."

“Ah, I didn’t expect you to know of that style.” Karna smiled pleased.

“It’s a style my father studied in the past. He also trained my brother in it, though I don’t know how advanced the two are with it. Apparently it’s not taught in the Magocracy, for obvious political reasons.” Rein was actually secretly happy to have a break.

“Huh. My father failed to mention that.” Karna actually had heard about the style from Arjuna, although she was already familiar with it as it was one of those styles that had been brought over from other universes by reincarnators. “They didn’t teach you?”

Rein frowned a bit. "Father said that he'd teach me when I was ready. According to him, my current way of fighting isn't exactly compatible with the style."

“Actually, I think you should consider asking either your father or your brother for some tips on that. I think that might be a decent answer to your current dilemma." Karna encouraged. The more deliberate style of the Shinmei-ryú would be a nice counterbalance for Rein's current power-focused style.

“Changing the subject, are you all excited about tomorrow? We’ll be getting our first cultivation resources from the Academy.” Shaheera asked excitedly.

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Chapter 17 - The basics of performance enhancing drugs

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. The last in a series of chapters made mostly for character development and to hash out the Academy as a whole. Next time we'll start progressing faster through the year and hitting things that are going on outside the Academy. I hope you'll enjoy!

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"You seem excited," Karna commented while looking at Miralen restlessly moving around and sometimes standing on her tiptoes to take a look around.

“Didn’t you hear? They said the Grand Medjai’s personal disciple is going to be taking charge of handing out the resources!” The elf girl replied with a conspiratorial whisper that was actually quite easy for anyone paying attention to them to hear. They were currently standing in one of the large training centers with several other classes, waiting to receive the first cultivation resources sponsored by the Academy. “I’m such a big fan of her! Despite being a canine beastwoman, she is one of the youngest female mages to have reached such a high rank, and she even got accepted as a disciple by the most powerful mage in the entire Magocracy!” She gushed.

“Yeah, imagine the honor.” Rein said with a teasing voice while looking at Karna.

Karna just rolled her eyes at Rein’s teasing. She was actually rather surprised the rumors of her identity had not spread wider. Many of the teachers knew of course, but surprisingly few students did, and the word had not spread all that much. That probably wouldn’t last much longer. “They?” Karna asked instead.

“Well, you know, rumors.” Miralen gestured vaguely around them.

“You should really know better than to believe rumors.” Karna pointed out. Miralen was rather social and got along well with most of their classmates.

“Yeah, what reason would such an esteemed person have to come here?” Rein kept teasing.

“You don’t know that!” Miralen snipped back a little miffed at being denied. “She’s a guest lecturer here, and strictly speaking she’s also still a student!” She was clearly holding onto feeble hopes and didn’t like Rein taking those hopes away from her.

"I'm not sure about the disciple, but I would be interested in meeting the Grand Medjai himself," Shaheera interjected, noticing her distress. "Not that we are likely to be that lucky of course. Still, the rumors are that he’s the only one that has enough talent to rival Ashanti Goldmane.” He took a sideways look at Karna. “Well, so far at least.”

Their little discussion was cut short as the doors to the training hall were opened and several teachers and older students walked in. Karna of course recognized Duskclaw among them, and could hear a small “Squee!” behind her. “Order!” Duskclaw commanded, clearly leading the group. Arjuna had once mentioned that disciples could have a position even higher than many teachers depending on their master and skill level, and it seemed that held true in this case. “Gather around and form orderly groups according to your class.”

The students were rather practiced at such things, and they quite quickly formed lines made up of their classes. This was something that had been drilled into them already. The order within the line was determined by their ranking, but the order of the lines was based on the first-come-first-served-principle. Naturally, the Class I-1 was given wide berth as the other classes knew they could easily get trounced by the highest-ranked class. They still hadn't moved to lessons or tests that pitted classes against each other, but those were coming and the individual sparring during shared lessons had made the gap between them quite obvious.

“Today you’ll be receiving the first set of cultivation resources from the Academy.” Duskclaw started off repeating what everyone was expecting. "You have so far proven yourselves capable enough that you are worth investing in. The further along in your studies you go, the more that holds true, and the more the Academy will invest in you. The first three months have helped weed the unworthy among you, and after your end of term tests in a couple of months, you will finally start seeing a proper investment in your future. Consider today a small taste of what's to come. Of course, you could use your contribution points to purchase even more resources, but most of you don't actually have enough points to waste."

Karna knew that many of the resources that would be handed out in events like these were created by the older students for practice. She’d even created a few things like that herself during her alchemy practical lessons. The really good resources made by advanced student Artificers, disciples, and teachers would be reserved for students of the later years. They were still just first years so the resources they would get would be quite basic. That didn’t mean they were not useful though. In fact, these kinds of resources were one of the main reasons some people applied to the Academy, as many of them were hard to get a hold of. The services of skilled alchemists were rather expensive outside the Academy after all.

“The amount and type of resources you receive depends on your ranking like everything in the Academy. If you have complaints about the difference in what you get, then get better. I won’t bother listening to any whining, especially when it comes to free resources. Now, the teachers and advanced students here will all be taking a single class and leading you somewhere a bit more private so we can distribute the goodies, and we’ll also be advising you in their most efficient use. All of us will have a card like this and you’ll follow the person with the card for your class.” Duskclaw displayed a small board with I-1 written on it. “Get to it! Class I-1 follow me!” She commanded.

She led them out of the training facility and towards a nearby park area with benches scattered around for relaxation among some nature and fountains. "Take a seat as this might take a bit of time. I'll have to advise most of you on what to do with your haul. Take a look first and then I'll explain." Her professionalism was cracking just a bit as she smiled at Karna. At the same time, she waved a hand and thirty small bags appeared and floated to their new owners.

Karna didn’t even bother opening hers. She felt that there were several small objects in her bag and that was enough. “Not curious?” Duskclaw asked with a more restrained voice.

"I can check it out later," Karna replied simply, her own smile hidden by the veil. She was more interested in spending a bit of time with Duskclaw, as she hadn't had all that much time to return to Arjuna's tower during these months. The agreement had been for her to come back every few weeks, but the rush of the first months had cut down on those visits.

"I suppose you wouldn't be too tempted," Duskclaw remembered that Karna had used no external resources before joining the Academy. Partially that was because Arjuna wasn't really a supporter of such things, as relying on pills or other resources might come back to haunt you later. Additionally, Karna herself had given off the impression of someone obsessed with their foundation. “Alright, everyone clear on what you got? Good. To some of you, those resources don't seem all that special, I know." She looked at the blond-haired human girl called Callista especially. “However, keep in mind what I said earlier. These are just the taste of what’s to come and you got a lot more than any of the other classes.”

“I recognize the spirit stones, but the others are new.” Rein commented. Miralen smacked him on the back of his head and whispered loudly. “Be respectful!”

“We should still start with those. Spirit stones still have an important use. As most of you know, or you wouldn’t be in this class, spirit stones are just dense concentrations of power. Spiritual Power is all around us in nature, and it is that which we all gather during cultivation to grow stronger. Warriors turn it into Ki and mages into mana. Spirit stones are simply a highly concentrated form of that power. You could use the stones for cultivation but it would be quite wasteful. They are much better used to give you a burst of power when in a protracted battle. However, in the Academy as in many other places, they have a more important use. They are used to power magical formations. The Academy has access to several beneficial formations that are quite helpful for your training, but they all require spirit stones to power. You’re going to have to fork those stones out yourselves if you want to use the formations. At first the formations you have access to are fairly basic, but the further along in your studies you get, the more powerful formations will become available to you. Even the more basic formations can be really beneficial if utilized correctly. Your teachers will guide you to the formations you have access to tomorrow. You'll have to reserve times to use them, and the higher-ranked people have priority. Just another benefit to working hard.” Duskclaw lectured.

Karna knew that spirit stones were a very ubiquitous resource found in most universes. They were extremely useful, which made sure they remained a constant resource and even currency in many places. In addition to formations, many magical items also consumed them, and even the magical street lights were powered by them in many places. She wasn’t exactly shocked to find them to be one of the resources handed out. She’d amassed a decent amount of them even before entering the Academy thanks to winning some bets. Most of the winnings had been in cold hard cash, but some were paid in spirit stones.

"All of you will also find purification pills in your bags. Those pills will help reduce the impurities that have gathered in your bodies. You will also find certain pills that will aid you in your cultivation. Warriors will find Tiger Pills, which will help improve your training for your physique, while mages will find Clarity Pills, which will increase the amount of power you can absorb while cultivating for a short time. A few of you will also find certain surprises in your bag, which I will leave for you to discover. That will be your homework. You will have to find the nature of the pills and the optimal way to consume them by yourselves. Now scoot! Go enjoy!" After instructing the students in the best ways to consume the various pills, Duskclaw waved them away and most students scattered. She still remained available in case the students had questions.

Karna and a handful of others stuck around. Karna because she wanted to talk to Duskclaw, while the others mostly stuck around to see what was going on. “It’s been some time, mother.” Karna greeted her as most of the people had left.

“Mother?!” Miralen squeaked with a scandalized voice.

"I really wish you'd call me aunty or big sister Karna. You know that." Duskclaw rehashed the old argument, but with a wide smile on her face. Karna noted that Duskclaw was much more expressive when not in Arjuna's company. "You should really return home a bit more often. Arjuna is getting cranky without you around."

“Hey, you two work at the Academy! It’s not like you can’t visit me.” Karna protested. Even if her smile was hidden by the veil, her eyes were clearly smiling.

"A fair point, but you know how stubborn your father can be. In his mind, it's your job to visit the tower and him. Please don’t make this into some kind of twisted battle of wills. It’ll just make both of you miserable.” Duskclaw lectured with a warning tone.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I’m not an idiot. I’ve just been a bit busy. You know how it is. These are some of my friends by the way.” Karna waved towards the three that were part of her usual group. A few other students were also sticking around like Callista, but they stayed a bit further away.

“Aunty Duskclaw. It’s been a few months.” Rein nodded a greeting with a grin.

Duskclaw's eyes narrowed. "You haven't been teasing little Karna, have you? And no making passes at her either! I certainly haven’t approved you making any moves on her.”

“Mom, I’m eleven.” Karna pointed out with resignation, having turned eleven after the semester started. Rumors were bound to be created. She could already imagine them. The rumors usually only had tangential relations with what had actually happened, so if she was a betting woman, and she was, she’d bet on something along the lines of there being rumors about an arranged marriage between her and Rein in a few days. There would always be rumors about her since she was the number one student of her year, so one more didn’t matter.

“I have not!” Rein protested at the same time, noticing the talk took a weird turn.

“Relax, I’m only teasing you. I know Karna would just kick your ass if you tried anything.” Duskclaw waved his concern away.

“Buh-wuh-buh-you know each other as well?!” Miralen finally managed to ask in a shrill voice.

“Yeah. She’s my…well, I suppose step-mom would be relatively accurate?” Karna asked while looking for help from Duskclaw.

“Eh, close enough.” The beastwoman in turn waved the subject away.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME!?” Miralen screamed and shook Karna while holding her shoulders.

“I didn’t know you felt so strongly about it. Besides, it’s easier to show anyway.” Karna retorted while batting the elf girl’s hands away.

“What’s this?” Duskclaw questioned with amusement and exasperation rising inside her. She had met quite a few people with strong opinions about her. Those could be both positive and negative. She wasn’t quite sure if it was a good or bad thing that one of Karna’s new friends was one of those people, even if she seemed to be in the positive camp.

"Apparently she's a fan. It seems some people aren't aware of how much of a doofus Arjuna is, and by extension, they think some overinflated things about you as well." Karna teased a bit.

“KARNA!” Miralen protested with an outraged expression. She was also furiously blushing at the same time, apparently having trouble deciding between being angry at Karna’s words and being bashful at finally meeting her idol in such a weird way.

“Ah yes, it’s such a burden to be as awesome as I am.” Duskclaw struck a heroic pose with her chest thrust forward and her hands placed at her waist.

“Aaaanyway, this is Miralen. She’s number three in our class and a part of our group. Also apparently an honorary member of the Duskclaw Fanclub. This on the other hand is Shaheera, number two in our class, and also part of our group. He’s from the Aegean Empire in case that was not obvious.” Karna made the introductions.

“Lady Duskclaw. It’s a pleasure. I’m Shaheera Goldmane.” The Leonin made a small bow and noted the obvious question coming. “No relations to that other Goldmane.”

“That would’ve been a little weird.” Duskclaw’s relief was obvious on her face. “As Arjuna and Ashanti are the two most obvious geniuses to rise in recent history and also both graduates of the Academy, they’re often pitted against each other as rivals, whether they agree or not. It could’ve been a bit awkward if you were his son or something, getting friendly with Karna of all people.”

“Yes, that could’ve been a little inconvenient, although I wasn’t fully aware of her parentage until now. I heard some whispers but I thought they were exaggerated. That said, we do have a relative of Ashanti in our class. Luckily for everyone involved, he seems to hate Karna.” Shaheera once again had that curious look on his face. “Tell me, have the two actually ever met? I’ve always wondered but I haven’t heard anything concrete.”

As The Magocracy and the Aegean Empire were separated by such a large distance, they rarely had reason to come into contact. “I can’t say for sure but I suspect Arjuna may have taught him at some point as he is a couple decades older and was already giving guest lectures at the time Ashanti would’ve studied here. That said, I’m not sure if Ashanti even took courses that he taught, not to mention being assigned to Arjuna’s class. They likely ran into each other at some point though.” Duskclaw speculated.

"Interesting," Shaheera muttered while losing himself in his own thoughts. That was a habit and a potential weakness the Leonid boy had that Karna had noted. He was prone to lose himself in thought and when it happened, he was almost completely unaware of anything happening around him.

Karna noticed that Miralen was about to explode with questions and knew that if the girl didn't get to ask them then she'd bombard Karna with them later on. "Mom, would you mind entertaining Miralen here with a few answers? Otherwise, she's going to have a fit. We can go have dinner later tonight if you're still around by then. I'll need to deal with these anyway." Karna shook the little bag with the spirit stones and pills.

“Fine. I suppose I could also ask her about how you’re dealing with school since you’re not going to tell me anything anyway.” Duskclaw looked a little mischievous. Karna suspected that her ‘mother’ would also likely try to embarrass her in some way. Likely that included some embarrassing stories about her childhood, which Karna really didn’t need to stick around to listen to. So a quick escape was in order.

She found a relatively deserted corner of the park to check out the contents of the bag. She idly also noted that Callista was also close by looking at her with some hesitation like the girl was considering something but was still undecided. Karna was tempted to confront the girl to ask what she wanted but decided against it. The girl would have to make up her own mind. No need to push things. If the girl made the decision in her own time, then that would be preferable anyway, as a confrontation might lead to her becoming defensive.

Karna opened the bag and took stock. There was a generous pile of spirit stones in the bag. Ironically some of them were clearly made by Karna during her alchemy lessons. The teacher had probably purposefully stored them just so they could be given to Karna in this manner. Usually, any products the students made during practice would go to the Academy and likely given to other students as rewards. The exception was of course if the student provided the materials personally and only used the Academy's facilities and equipment. Even then there would usually be a price to be paid in the form of merit points as rent of sorts.

"Well, at least this way I can be sure of the quality of the spirit stones." She muttered. There were also seven other pills in the bag. Two of them were once again something she had personally created. They were rather simple Clarity Pills, as they had not yet moved on to more complex pills at this point. At least they were of high quality as well. She could suppress herself from using any too advanced techniques during the lessons, but she couldn't really produce inferior products. It was simply not in her nature to make mistakes on purpose. As a result, the quality of the pills she produced was exceptionally high, but the teachers couldn't really fault her for being able to follow instructions with perfect precision.

It was the other pills that caught her by surprise. She had expected purification pills in her bag, but apparently whoever was giving these resources out was aware of her lack of need for such pills. Four of the pills were rather high-quality mana boosting pills that would be a big help for anyone trying to reach the next rank as they would give a large boost to one's mana reserves. Using such pills would also naturally introduce impurities into the user's body due to the artificial boost in cultivation, but due to her phoenix heritage, she wouldn't really need to worry about that as long as she didn’t overuse them. Of course, even for her, using multiple such pills had diminishing returns. The pills would not be enough to bring her to the border of forming her third circle, but they would shave off months of the time it would take her to reach that point. She might even make it by the time the exams came.

Finding a single pill of such type in her bag wasn’t too shocking, but four? Using all four of them could have adverse effects on a normal person’s future cultivation. They were also quite expensive. So either whoever had given them to her was trying to sabotage her, or they knew of her bloodline and wanted to help her reach the average rank for first and second-year students before she took the tests to move to the second year. Or they were testing her, which was supported by the last pill.

The last pill was by far the most expensive out of all of them, and it was pricey enough that even noble houses would have difficulty buying more than one of them every few years. The rather blatantly named Epiphany Pill would put a person in a trance that would give them a different perspective on the universe. Such pills were often used by cultivators to seek enlightenment, better understanding, inspiration, and to break through bottlenecks that resulted from mental hang-ups. As ranking up often required a certain amount of enlightenment in addition to having enough power, such pills were quite valuable to many people. Just the ability to change your perspective for a short time was quite coveted.

The pill was also utterly useless to her. She’d lived countless lives, cultivated to the apex more times than she bothered to count, and she’d had about every kind of martial enlightenment that one could have and she’d thoroughly studied and experimented on how mana and Aura worked. With the enlightenment part already handled, the only thing she needed was more power and time. Yet now she had been handed an expensive pill that one couldn’t just acquire any time they liked. There was no way the bag of the first ranked student of the first years usually contained pills like this. Someone had given it to her for a reason.

She could sense the implicit test that came with the Epiphany Pill. If she wasn’t a reincarnator, then the pill would be extremely useful to her. Combined with the other pills, it would all but guarantee her fast improvement. If she consumed the pill, then she’d also owe a rather sizeable debt of gratitude to the one that had gifted the pills to her. Not so large that she’d refuse the pill, but enough that such debts couldn’t just be ignored. On the other hand, since she didn’t need the pill, there was no point in consuming it and taking on that debt. Yet she suspected that was the point of this test.

Someone had given the pill to her with the intention of having it refused. If she did consume it, then fine, they’d manage to help someone who supposedly had a really bright future ahead of them, and they could collect on that debt later. If she refused or did something silly like gift the pill to someone else however, that would also be quite revealing. Even if mages didn’t require such a heavy emphasis on enlightenment while cultivating, she wasn’t just a mage, was she? A normal kid in her position would use the pill to help with cultivating her Aura. No one in her position would refuse such a gift without a good reason. Unless she didn’t need it of course…

‘I’ll have to keep it for now. Whoever planned this must have had some purpose in giving it to me. Let’s see if I can find out what that purpose is. That should be keeping in my character I think. I can then come up with reasons to refuse if I have to, if that becomes necessary.’ She decided. She considered for a moment that she could claim she’d already gotten a pill like that from Arjuna, yet she suspected it wouldn’t be that simple. ‘They’ve likely asked him if he’d ever given me one, or they know he’s against using such crutches while cultivating. There’s no way anyone clever enough to design such a test would leave such an obvious path out of the trap. Somehow things have become complicated.’

Chapter 18 - Pillows!

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

"That's quite a few ships," Miralen commented as the usual group was returning from class. Dozens of armed airships and magisters on flying mounts of different kinds flew past the Academy airspace, apparently going north. The ships varied in size from smallish scout vessels to large ships designed for extended battles.

"At least three task groups. You don't send that many ships out without a real reason." Shaheera speculated. He was more familiar with the military structure of the Aegean Empire, but there were enough similarities between the empire and the Magocracy to make some educated guesses.

“They seem to be heading north. The Sacred Dynasty?” Rein guessed. The Magocracy occupied the majority of the southern portion of their twin-continent. While there were some smaller nations and semi-independent enclaves in their part of the continent, the largest real neighbor they had was the northern holy nation known as the Sacred Dynasty, which occupied the northern part of the dual-continent connected by several narrow strips of land. The two nations had been at peace for thousands of years as the two hegemons of this part of the world.

“Judging by the direction that seems likely, but why? It seems unlikely the dynasty would start anything with us. They know we’d be able to crush them.” The elven enclaves of the continent enjoyed an alliance with the Magocracy and often worked together against external threats.

“It might be that the problem is within the Sacred Dynasty, not the dynasty itself. Those ships might have been sent to help or just something to make sure the problems won’t spread to us.” Karna pointed out. She was more familiar with political machinations than the other three.

“One of the Scourges?” Shaheera suggested.

“That’s as good of a guess as any. It might be anything though. It’s useless to speculate for now.” Karna shut the topic down as they all entered their dorm.

“Could you ask your mother?” Miralen asked, with barely concealed eagerness.

Karna couldn't help but laugh at the hopeful tone in the elf girl's voice. Apparently, she had gotten along well with Duskclaw and had been dropping unsubtle hints since then. “I could. Not sure now’s the time though. I’ll ask her the next time we’re in contact.”

As they approached the door of Karna’s rooms, their most common place to spend time together, she suddenly lifted her arm to block the others and stared at her door. “Someone has been to my room.”

“Are you sure?” Shaheera asked in confirmation while they could all sense him getting into a battle-ready stance. He didn’t really doubt her, but simply wanted to know how certain she was.

“Quite sure. I added my own little tricks to the room’s security measures that were already in place.” Karna explained. The rooms were actually quite well protected from anyone entering them without permission. Not something that a really skilled intruder couldn’t get past, but enough to deter anyone from randomly making an attempt. That's partially why she hadn't bothered adding too much additional protection. The other part was that she didn't keep anything she couldn't afford to lose in the room, so she didn’t care that much if someone did force their way in. “Give me a second.”

She walked closer to the room and her eyes were suddenly covered in bright blue mana as she studied the magical formations protecting the door. She noted that the formations were still intact, and nothing seemed out of place. The door was still closed and locked, and the only oddity was the fact that a personal spell she had added to the system was missing, while another well-hidden spell had been triggered. Both spells would only react if someone other than her tried to open the door. With a subtle trickle of mana, she accessed the spell still hidden inside the door.

Suddenly a transparent image of a young human male was displayed in front of the door. The image seemed to display the boy accessing the spells protecting the door as circles of complex runes rotated around both of his hands. The boy didn’t have an insignia on his uniform, but there was a lighter spot where the insignia had likely previously been until the boy removed it. The boy manipulated the spells protecting the door with quite a bit of skill, before apparently managing to enter the room.

"He knows what he’s doing," Miralen commented. "I do not recognize him. I don't think I've ever seen him in passing either. I have a pretty good memory for that sort of stuff.”

"Not from our year," Shaheera grunted, evaluating the intruder. “I’d say that he’s at least five years older than us, though that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s five years ahead of us.”

“Let’s see what he wanted inside. Shaheera, your spirit can relay messages, correct? Could you send it to fetch master Menkhaf? I think we might want to have his aid with this.” Karna requested and a bird that looked like a hawk seemed to suddenly appear and fly through the walls towards the faculty buildings.

“Are you sure this will be safe?” Miralen asked carefully.

“No, so we’ll have to be careful in case he left traps behind. I have a hunch I know what he was looking for, and he went through some trouble to remain undetected so I doubt he left anything malicious behind, but keep your eyes open.” Karna’s eyes retained the blue glow of mana as she looked around the insides of her place. She was scanning the area for any spells that didn’t belong, while her soul had already swept the whole place and told her nobody was inside.

They spread around a bit to make sure nothing was out of place. Karna had reached the kitchen when she heard Miralen calling out. “Uh, Karna! Would you mind coming here?” As she obliged, she noted that Miralen had looked inside her bedroom and was now keeping the two boys outside. “You boys, out!” Miralen commanded.

The two males realized this was likely something private and obliged with slightly odd looks. “Care to comment?” Miralen suddenly asked with an impish grin as she pushed the door to her bedroom open. The whole room was filled with pillows of different shapes and sizes. Every surface seemed to be covered with them.

“I like pillows?” Karna attempted a somewhat lame excuse.

“I like pillows as well. Not like this though.” Miralen couldn’t hide her mirth at the situation despite the potential threat posed by an intruder.

Karna gave a sigh. It might be better to give a partial truth. "You know I'm an Aura user, yes? Well, the bloodlines we possess sometimes manifest in certain…behaviors. That's my hoard." She was clearly implying a draconic heritage, which was close to the truth in the sense that the reason for the pillows was that she had channeled the draconic greed, which had rubbed off on her due to having spent several lifetimes as one, into a harmless and innocent direction. It didn’t need to be pillows specifically, just that those seemed harmless enough.

“Hoard as in…” Miralen’s eyebrow was quickly raised.

“As in a draconic hoard yes.” Karna covered her eyes with her hand.

“You have a draconic hoard of pillows? Seriously? That’s so adorable!” Miralen had almost devolved to using baby-talk. “I didn’t realize you had draconic blood though. That’s…” She continued a bit more seriously.

“It seems to be a rather minor bloodline actually. Enough to have spawned an annoying habit, but not the source of my Aura power.” Karna explained curtly.

They both heard the voice of the teacher from the outside. “We’re not done with this topic.” Miralen threatened before they walked outside.

“Master Menkhaf.” Karna greeted as she arrived.

“Karna. I just received a rather worrying message. Your friends here have already filled me in on the fact that someone apparently entered your room without permission.” The dwarven teacher cut to the chase.

Wordlessly Karna brought back the magical recording of the intruder. “Well, this is not among the usual security features, so I commend you for the fine addition.” He pointed at the transparent image showing the face of the intruder. “I know him. He is one of the Artifice students that has actually helped improve many of the spells we use on these doors.”

“Which explains the how, but not the why.” Karna summarized. If the boy had helped design the security, it would make sense he’d know how to break it as well.

“That’s what we’ll need to find out. I’m sure he will claim he was just doing maintenance, but before you even ask, no they’re not supposed to do things like that while the rooms are occupied. Any improvements are done between occupants, or at the very least in the presence of the person living in the room. Was anything stolen?” Menkhaf looked like he had eaten something sour. The boy in question had seemed like a nice kid until now.

“Not that I can see. I don’t keep anything important in the room, just in case something like this happens.” Karna replied.

Menkhaf lifted his eyebrow a bit and spoke with a bit of concern. “You do realize that keeping things on your person isn’t exactly the safest option either.”

“I never said I keep everything on me.” Karna smiled a bit under the veil. Stealing from her would require someone with much more skill than someone at the Academy would be able to exhibit. “I have my ways.”

“Good. We need to get to the bottom of this. This is a disgrace to the whole Academy.” Menkhaf fumed. He drew several magical runes in the air, a line of white power tracing after his glowing fingertips, and when they were completed the runes disappeared in a flash. “I’ve summoned the disciplinary students as well as the teacher in charge of them. They will most likely want to talk to you and also see the recording you made.”

“That will not pose a problem. I can even get them a copy. However, it would be somewhat troublesome if this whole process takes too long.” Karna noted. She had other things to do as well.

“Hmm, we might want to consider the possibility that creating such trouble might have been the whole point. The first tests marking the end of the semester will start in a few weeks. Someone might have wanted to rattle you with this little stunt. It doesn't necessarily take a large distraction to affect the rankings." Menkhaf suggested another possibility.

“If that was their goal, then I’ll have to disappoint them. I have no intention of giving up my spot. It would take a lot more than this to rattle me.” Karna stated with confidence, though she gave the suggestion some credence. It was a decent possibility. She had initially assumed the thief had been after the pills she had received, or maybe some items she had potentially gotten from Arjuna, but there could be multiple reasons for such an intrusion.

Menkhaf frowned suddenly and they could sense that he received a message as a glyph made of glowing power appeared in front of him and exploded in a flash of light. "Well, this complicates things. I just got word that the student in the recording had applied for a leave of absence several weeks ago, and he's already gone. Apparently he left this morning."

“This morning? When exactly?” Karna asked sharply.

“The information wasn’t that specific, but I would assume right after this happened.” Menkhaf gestured towards the door. “Now we can’t question him.”

"That's not the real problem," Karna stated with a steely tone. "The fact that he applied for the leave weeks ago means that he planned things that far ahead. Assuming the person that entered my rooms really was him that is. There’s no proof that the person that entered my rooms was him aside from the recording, and I’m sad to say that a good enough illusion could’ve fooled my little spell. I may be able to see through illusions fairly well, but all my spells don’t share that quality. And now we can’t confirm it was him. Someone could’ve known he was leaving and simply took advantage of the opportunity.”

“Well, this makes things even more complicated. It doesn’t help that we’ve been a little bit distracted as well.” Menkhaf waved his hand towards the ceiling, referring to the ships that had flown overhead. “We haven’t paid as much attention to the movements of uninvolved students as we probably should have.”

“Speaking of, what’s going on?” Shaheera jumped on the chance to find out more about the situation. He was simply curious by nature.

“You’d find out soon enough anyway, so I might as well tell you. An internal conflict has started inside the Sacred Dynasty. Major religious friction between sects is normal for them, but this goes well beyond that. Their country has had unrest for a long while, but they still had things under control until recently. The old embers started to create actual fires in the form of small revolts a few months ago. The Triarch of the ruling Dynasty defied direct instructions from the Emissary from the Divine Plane and tried to crack down on the unrest with military force. That didn't go over well, and some of the main temples sided with the Emissary, as the Emissary and the Triarch belong to different religious factions. There was apparently a battle in the capital. We don’t know the full details, but the Magocracy is deploying our military on the border to ensure the troubles don’t spread to us. We really don't need a religious upheaval to pull us into the mix." Menkhaf looked disgruntled at the whole situation.

“They picked a fight with an Emissary? Isn’t it kind of pointless to fight an immortal?” Rein raised the obvious question.

"The Emissaries aren't necessarily immortal. They can be and often are as a sign of power, but there's no rule that requires them to be. And the Divine Planes produce mortal children just like every other plane." Karna explained curtly.

"She's correct. In this case, the Emissary was a fresh immortal though. More powerful than any single individual of the Sacred Dynasty, but that doesn't mean they can't be brought down by a larger group of weaker people. In this case, we don't know what happened to the Emissary, but we can be fairly sure that the Triarch won.” Menkhaf added.

“Wouldn’t that be kind of bad for us? If the Emissary is hurt I mean. I would assume there would be reinforcements, and I’m not sure we want to be nearby when that hammer falls. Except we’re neighbors.” Rein pointed out a little scared of the possibility of Divine retribution.

“That’s hard to judge. The Headmistress had experience dealing with Divines, so she might be able to arrange things for us, which is partially why we’ve been so busy, but there is a realistic possibility that this will spill over to us as well.” Menkhaf tried to reassure Rein but undermined his own efforts. That showed he was a little off-balance as well.

Karna was the only one not really worried. She had experience with the way the Divine Planes of this universe did things, and while some things changed, the Divine bureaucracy most likely never would. There would be a reply from the Divines, but it would likely not affect other nations. Mostly because the other nations were still useful, and usefulness trumped indiscriminate punishment. So there would be repercussions, but they would most likely take the form of another nation taking the Sacred Dynasty’s place as the host for the Emissary, some reparations, as well as the heads of everyone involved. Maybe a small display of power to show others not to pick fights with the Emissaries.

“So what’s going to happen with our little problem?” Karna asked, bringing the topic back to the potential thief.

“Well, I’d like to promise a swift resolution, but with the situation being what it is, I can’t really make that promise. Not until we can reach the student in the recording. What we can do, however, is to make sure no one else can enter your room. I have a friend who's an expert in such things. I'll ask her to take care of it. I'll do my very best to see that we'll get to the bottom of this, but it might take time." Menkhaf said apologetically.

-----

“So the break-in was discovered?” A voice asked over a communication talisman. Menranel preferred the security of talismans over voice transmission spells that could be intercepted, so he insisted on using them.

“Yes. My source in the disciplinary squad just reported in. They talked to the target and got her statement. It seems sending Mint was a good idea since the target managed to get a recording of her breaking in. The squad talked to both the target and the teacher in charge of the class and they weren’t all that convinced by the ruse, but they have nothing else to go on either.” Menranel explained.

“Good. She’s not incompetent at least. And the objects we asked Mint to find?” The voice asked, not seeming too surprised.

“Not at the dorm. Mint is great at finding such things and she had plenty of time to look. If the items had been there, then she would’ve found them.” Menranel replied confidently.

“So the target can protect her property as well. Excellent. I think we can give her a passing grade for now. We’ll see if this has any effect on her performance, but from what I’ve seen of her so far, I doubt it. She has been crushing the competition in her classes as well. I think we can be quite confident that she’ll be joining us come spring.” Another voice came over the talisman. This one clearly female.

“It’s a little early to say for sure, but I would put my money on it as well. Assuming she won’t refuse of course.” The first voice said more carefully.

“I did tell you this would be the end result of the test.” A third voice, clearly male, pointed out smugly.

“So you did. Since you’re the only one that has had contact with her, we’ll give your words more weight in the future. We needed to check things though.” Menranel calmed things down.

“That’s fair, and I did agree to the plan as well. I just wanted my gloating to be on the record.” The third voice said magnanimously.

“Well, we can return to this topic after the exams. Until then, there’s little point in debate. We’ll make contact with her if she can hold her ranking.” Menranel promised and placed the talisman back inside a metal box sealed with dozens of magical formations.

With the little conference over, he could relax again. He had always enjoyed these kinds of little intrigues, even if they could be a little juvenile at times. At least it gave everyone the chance to practice scheming in a safer environment. Getting caught in the Academy carried a lot smaller penalties than getting caught during real court intrigue. With a sigh, he pulled on his jacket. It was time to go off and play the part of a serious student. The little crown on his badge forced him to put on such masks to keep up appearances. Being the best was challenging in more ways than most people realized.

Chapter 19 - We all have our kinks

A note from Vihyungrang

Righty then. A new semester is beginning for me as well, and I'll have a practical right from the beginning. Next week is still normal for me but after that the practical starts. For those that have read my stories before, you know the drill, for those that are new, here's the deal. Thanks to the obvious increase in demands for my time as well as increased stress, I won't be able to release chapters as often. I usually aim for one per week on Sundays. The practical lasts for five weeks, after which things will return to normal. So you'll get the next two chapters after this normally, but the one after that will be on the following Sunday.

That all said, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

------

The whistle sound ended the match, and the drill sergeant looking teacher declared the expected result. “Team one wins! No losses for team one, three losses for team five, and victory is achieved by taking the objective!” The man announced in a voice that carried to every corner of the training grounds.

"Well, that was easy." Rein celebrated and gave a fist-bump to Shaheera. Miralen was helping one of the 'dead' members of the other team up while Karna was returning to them while waving the flag the other team was supposed to defend.

"That's a little impolite to say in the company of the team we just defeated," Shaheera argued a bit out of politeness, and one of the defeated people grunted in agreement.

“True though.” Miralen mercilessly pointed out the obvious. “Karna’s plan worked perfectly, and the other team was no match for us. In fact, none of the competing teams were.”

“I wouldn’t let that go to your head too much. We have the four top students in our group after all. It’s not exactly shocking that a team like that would be able to overpower the opponents.” Karna stated as she got close enough to be heard.

"The results aren't final yet, so until then I'm not the fourth-ranked person in the class." Rein retorted. They were in the middle of taking the first five-month exams that would help determine their new rankings. The group combat and tactics test they had just finished was the last of the tests they were supposed to take together. They could still take tests in the electives they had taken, but the common tests were over.

“I was there when we were taking the tests. You did fine. I’m quite sure you’ll end up in the top five at least.” Karna reassured the boy. Rein was the one who was the most insecure about his scores in the group. He had clearly done well enough on the tests to increase his rank, though the full extent was still in question. He had worked hard and the other three had tutored him in the subjects he found difficult.

"Doesn't matter anyway," Shaheera interjected. “It wasn’t just our power that allowed us to win. I’m sure that no one disagrees that we probably could’ve taken three or four other teams at the same time and still come ahead, assuming we were given enough space to strategize. It was our tactics that won most of these group exercises and not our pure power.”

"I'm with the kitty on this one," Miralen added. The two of them were right of course. The four of them had excelled in large part because they had stuck together as a group in all the classes and had taken the tactics elective together as a group. As a result, they were able to execute much more elaborate and useful tricks and tactics than the other groups. Shaheera had been especially good at coming up with nasty tactics.

Partially that was because their group allowed for a lot of flexibility. Many other groups had very rigid roles and the groups also tended to be very unbalanced since they were not formed with those roles in mind. On the other hand, their group was quite flexible. Rein was an ideal frontliner that could stomp around, cause chaos, and draw attention, while Miralen was the perfect backline mage that could also move around stealthily and use a bow at the level of an expert, partly thanks to her elven heritage as cliché as that was. Shaheera was a great flexible midliner that could brawl with the best of what the other teams had to offer in the frontlines, while he could also fall back and perform the job of a mage when necessary. Add on top Karna who could fulfill all three roles and also provide support with her True Light magic, and you ended up with a very flexible team that could shift from a backline group of mages to a frontline heavy warrior group in seconds.

“Well, the four of you certainly did well.” The teacher complimented them as he walked close to their group. The teacher rarely said nice things, which made the compliment all the more impactful. “I’d say you could do well testing against second years as well. I’m not sure if you’d crush the opposition like you did here, but you’d do well. Good work. You will all be getting full marks from me at least. You performed your roles well and I don’t have any complaints. Even Rein managed to fix some of his issues and can be a bit more flexible now.”

They had been running group combat exercises as a test for a week now, among taking the other tests. Half the day was dedicated to other tests while the other half was for these combat exercises. They also finally got a chance to see why the Academy island was so large and had such varied terrains. The various terrains were not only good for training different elements, but they were also perfect for these kinds of tests that benefitted from being held in varied terrains.

“Finally I can relax! I haven’t seen my family for a month.” Rein celebrated. The testing schedule had been hectic, and those that had more electives also still had more tests to come. Luckily many of the electives had no tests or the tests were conducted together with other tests. For instance, the tactics and strategies test was held together with the combat and physical training test. On the other hand, some subjects like the basic magic courses had several tests, which luckily were already over.

“You might be done. I still have my chantless casting and Karna has her artisan classes.” Miralen complained a bit. “How about you Shaheera?”

“I’m done. My tests are all complete already.” The Leonid replied cheerily. He’d mostly taken tests focused on theory and he enjoyed learning new things, so the tests were easy for him.

“Lucky you. I’m dreading my chantless casting test.” Miralen grumbled.

“So what are you going to do during your break?” Karna asked. They’d all get two weeks to relax and meet their families before the next semester started. The test results would come out during the break.

“Rein actually invited me to join his family. Apparently they have some fun activities planned.” Shaheera smiled at the memory of Rein’s rather awkward invitation. The two had become genuine friends. They’d all become fairly close, but those two had clearly spent the most time together.

“You could probably join us.” Rein pointed out, more at ease with inviting Karna for some reason. “I’m sure the others wouldn’t mind, especially if you can drag your father and Duskclaw along.

“I’ll take it up with Arjuna, but we already had something else planned. What about you Miralen?” Karna asked politely. Just like the two boys, Karna and Miralen had spent more time together than with the two others, though they were still a bit more distant than the two boys.

“I’ll be visiting my family.” The elven girl frowned. “I think it has to do with the unrest in the Sacred Dynasty. I think my father just wants to see that I’m ok. There’s also the fact that our enclave is still slightly at risk if the unrest spreads to the Magocracy as we're not too far from the border. There are preparations in place already, but…”

“But you never know and you’re still worried.” Karna finished for her. “Well, if you do run into trouble, you know you can rely on my help. And by that I mean I’ll bully my dad into helping.”

“Thanks. That means a lot.” Miralen nodded genuinely grateful. "So what do you have in mind?"

“Ah, right. I’m getting close to forming my third circle, so we’ll see if I can do it in an environment that would be beneficial to me.” Karna replied.

The pills she had gotten had helped, although the biggest benefit had come from the aid Gem provided her. Having a spirit that could speed up your development really was like cheating. Especially since the main factor holding her back wasn’t her mana. The issue was that she wanted to keep her Aura growing in tandem with her magic so that she could utilize the synergistic effects to the fullest, but there were no shortcuts to cultivating Aura like the pills she had received.

Thankfully she had several benefits when it came to cultivating Aura. The most obvious was that she was using the cultivation method she had compiled over her countless lifetimes. Even though the method wasn’t really focused on speed, it was still much faster than most just because it was a complete method. Most cultivators worked with incomplete or faulty cultivation methods that had deteriorated and been patched up over the generations. Another rather crucial benefit was the presence of Gem. The spirit could speed up her cultivation by several times. It also helped that her enormous potential made the early ranks easy to speed through, and now that her foundations have been laid, they allowed for greater speed and let her stop worrying about that.

“Congratulations. I was somewhat expecting this.” Shaheera was quick to offer his good will.

“Thanks! Good luck with Rein’s family. They’re all psychos just like him.” Karna joked.

Shaheera faked a worried expression. “Please tell me that isn’t true. I don’t think I could handle more than one Rein.”

“Oi!” Rein protested before bursting to laughter. He had learned to take jokes over the last five months.

-----

“Have you understood the instructions?” Menkhaf asked with a firm voice.

“Yes. I am to craft an item to the specifications given, just like I was fulfilling a real order. I’ll first pick the suitable materials from those offered. Then I’ll forge the item and add inscriptions to it like I was enchanting it. Finally, as a bonus, I will have to decide a suitable potion or a pill to be used by this fictional customer for the same purpose given." Karna repeated. After a moment she raised a hand to ask a question. "Am I allowed to ask further questions from this 'customer'?"

"That depends on the questions," Menkhaf said a little unhelpfully. “What did you have in mind?”

“We’ll see. You can decide not to answer the questions if you feel them inappropriate.” Karna conceded.

“Alright then. For the order itself, the customer wants you to forge them a weapon to be used against one of the Scourges, specifically the forces of the Netherworld.” Menkhaf gave the order in a very rigid official tone.

“Did the customer specify what type of Netherworld forces? It’s a lot different to fight against the standard undead than it is to fight against the more elite dynastic forces of the Netherworld Phaerons. And that’s without touching the spirit infused constructs that are sometimes among their armies.” Karna questioned. She had been an expert concerning the Netherworld in the past and that expertise had not disappeared, even though she’d been forced to update some of her knowledge.

“Let’s say generic undead forces.” Menkhaf nodded. That had been a good question, and one a proper artisan should ask. It was also a bit too much to ask Karna to forge a weapon to be used against the elites of the Netherworld. Only expert artisans were suited for that task.

“And what kind of weapons does the customer prefer to use? I’d hate to make a sword for a spear-master.” Karna asked with a grin.

“Let’s say a spear.” Menkhaf once again nodded approvingly. Since this was an imaginary customer, there was no need to know specific measurements, but at least knowing the right weapons type was necessary.

With expert eyes, Karna picked the perfect material to cause maximum damage against the named enemy. Materials heavy with light or lightning elements were significantly stronger against weak undead. The forging process was conducted perfectly and without any wasted movement. Menkhaf actually enjoyed watching the perfect economy of motion that still somehow managed to look graceful. It was like watching the famed elven smiths of the High Elven court at work. As a dwarf, he of course had pride in the artisans of his own race, but the elves were indeed much more graceful in their actions, and Karna seemed to have that same quality.

The resulting weapon was not only extremely functional and effective but also artistically decorated. It didn't have any of the waste found in purely ceremonial weapons, but it still managed to look beautiful without sacrificing practicality. The practicality was simply enhanced with little flourishes and decorations. The inscriptions on the weapon protected against the miasma often exuded by the undead, as well as hampering the regeneration that many undead benefitted from. It wasn't a complicated inscription, but it was perfect for the purpose. As a final touch, Karna brewed an antidote potion against the most commonly seen toxins and poisons that the lower level undead used naturally.

“Good choices. I was somewhat surprised you chose against creating a potion that would stop corpses from rising as undead. That’s the most common option for those that take this test.” Menkhad half questioned. He didn’t bother mentioning that this test was actually something that was given to those that had studied the artisan classes for at least four years. This test had been picked especially since it was the least demanding when it came to the mana reserves of the artisan. Karna might be skilled, but she was still just a second circle mage.

“I don’t have much luck when it comes to sacred materials. The results tend to vary a lot more, so this was a safer bet." Karna replied with a secret smile. She knew how to use sacred materials and inscriptions, but there were some complications when someone with Divine origin used such spells and materials. The results could be staggeringly powerful or explosively bad depending on how her heritage worked with the materials and spells used.

“Fair enough. I'll have neutral parties evaluate your work, but I think it's safe to say you passed with flying colors. Was this your last test?" Menkhaf asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, it was, master.” Karna nodded.

“In that case, I won’t keep you for any longer. Have a good vacation.” The teacher dismissed her.

--------

Arjuna was always rather shocked to see all the activity going on in Llethunaxx’s lair. Everywhere servants that were almost cultists were carting around massive amounts of wealth. That was the normal part when in a dragon’s lair. What was less common was that some of the servants were clearly accountants and magistrates that categorized, counted, catalogued, and cleaned all the treasures. Llethunaxx fancied himself a business-dragon, and had his claws in many pies. Sometimes literally as he also owned bakeries and rather liked the little delicacies instead of eating people.

The dragon owned hundreds if not thousands of companies in dozens of countries. He rather prided himself on the fact that everything in his hoard was earned and not taken the usual dragon way. The fact that not all those businesses were legal or very ethical was very much besides the point. Llethunaxx might not have been the most powerful dragon, but he was smart, and when necessary ruthless. Traits that were not uncommon in Blue Dragons, even if he took them to the extreme. A large Red Dragon had once tried to attack his hoard thinking that Llethunaxx was not up to defending it, but had quickly been made to regret that choice when the wily blue had summoned reinforcements from all his underlings and hired mercenaries.

None of the servants bothered to stop Arjuna as he walked through the long and wide tunnels of the lair. The servants either recognized him and knew better, or they saw the insignia on his chest and knew that trying to stop him would be pointless. The fact that he had opened a portal straight inside the lair also spoke volumes about his power, as dragon lairs were meticulously warded against such intrusions. Otherwise, someone could just make a portal and walk away with all the treasure inside.

The tunnels were rather basic and lacking in architecture, something the dragon apparently had little taste for, but things changed as he reached his destination. The tunnel took him into a large valley that was surrounded by tall and thin pillars that flashed with lightning despite the clear skies. All the pillars seemed to have crystals in their base that radiated lightning, and the energy ran along the pillar and sometimes jumped between them. The rest of the valley was filled with coin and other treasure. In the middle, a large Blue Dragon lay stretched out as servants poured coins on top of the great wyrm’s scales.

“More.” The dragon muttered in a deep voice with his eyes closed, and the servants obliged, getting new buckets full of coins. “M-m-more.” The dragon repeated with a very happy tone while stretching his front claws along the ground.

“Llethunaxx!” Arjuna said with a shocked voice. “Are you actually cumming from having coins poured over you?!”

The dragon opened his eyes and blinked a bit dumbly before he noted Arjuna. Then he made a grunt that sounded both frustrated and relieved at the same time. “Not anymore I’m not. Did you come here to judge me, Shadow Weaver? Because if you did, I can get that done by someone much more attractive than you. Unless you’re into that sort of thing? Unlike you, I don’t judge…” The dragon stated, with something that Arjuna hoped was a joking tone.

“No. I did not come here to judge. I was…just caught by surprise.” Arjuna said a bit defensively. It wasn’t a good idea to piss the dragon off right now. Not when he needed something from the beast.

“Well, knowing you, you haven’t had the pleasure, or any pleasure for that matter, for years, so I can see how that would shock you. What brings you here? Despite your rather awkward timing, you’re always welcome here. Especially if you’re here for business.” The dragon was feeling magnanimous. Despite the interruption, this was still a good day. And if the Shadow Weaver was here for business, it was about to become even better.

Arjuna grimaced a bit internally. This would cost him, but if it would help his little girl, then why would he care. It wasn’t like she often asked for things and it wasn’t like he had a lot of uses for his wealth normally. “I need a favor. And not a small one.”

This perked the dragon up and he even waved for the servants to take some distance. “Oh? You certainly have my attention now.”

“My daughter…” Arjuna managed to say before being interrupted.

“Wait, wait, wait! Since when do you have a daughter? Maybe I need to take back my words about you not experiencing something pleasurable for a while. Unless you outsourced that part of course? You never know with small folk, and I heard some of you were into that sort of thing.” The dragon teased him.

“…my daughter is an Aura user and she needs the perfect place to Awaken.” Arjuna soldiered on and refused to rise to the bait.

“Wait, what bloodline is she awakening that you need my help? I don’t donate dragon life-blood if that’s what you had in mind. Not even for you.” Llethunaxx got a bit suspicious.

Arjuna noticed the change in mood immediately. “No need to worry. We don’t need your blood. That’s not why I’m here. The bloodline she’s Awakening is that of a Titan. And she would benefit greatly from a place filled with metal and lightning elemental power.”

The dragon blinked a bit. “Oh?” Then it looked around the lair filled with coins. “Oooh! I see. Most people would think of a smithy or something. But I can see what you’re aiming for. You want to borrow my lair for the Awakening.”

“Exactly. Additionally, I wouldn’t mind it if you made sure the weather was…helpful in our endeavors. I can cause a storm, but a Blue Dragon can make sure the storm is up to our standards. It’s always better to leave such things to an expert.” Arjuna explained.

“Well, that’s not out of the question, but we’ll have to discuss some compensation.” Llethunaxx rubbed the thumb and the first digit of his front limb together in a rather humanoid gesture.

“Well, to start things off, last time my daughter Awakened, she also caused a tribulation to appear.” Arjuna made his pitch. Even if most of the energy from the tribulation was to be absorbed by Karna, the remaining energy would be really beneficial for a Blue Dragon.

“That’s…quite useful actually. I’d say very useful, but it’s also a risk to my hoard.” The dragon pointed out rather fairly.

“Alright. What do you want?” Arjuna gave a sigh as they went into negotiations mode. He was prepared to allow the dragon something out of his vaults, even if he didn’t like the prospect. He just hoped he didn’t have to pour coins on the dragon…

--------

Chapter 20 - Thunder and Lightning

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. A reminder that my practical starts next week. Details in the last chapter. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”You don’t look very big for a Titan," Llethunaxx commented as Arjuna and Karna teleported directly into his lair.

“You’re not exactly huge for a dragon either. At least I’m still growing.” Karna joked back, and she wasn’t wrong. The blues weren’t the largest of dragons, preferring speed and their natural abilities over brawn. In fact, Blue Dragons were among the smallest chromatic dragons in existence, though there were always exceptions.

The dragon seemed to find her comment amusing as his teeth-filled maw spread into something resembling a smile. “Us dragons continue to grow our entire lives.”

“So you keep saying, but I’ve yet to see you grow a bit and I’ve been here for almost half a minute. Now I know some claim that size doesn’t matter and that all that matters is how you use what size you have, but that’s only what smallsies would say.” Karna kept up the banter, even if what she said made little sense. Sometimes it was just fun to play along. She’d given the lair a judgmental eye just before and had found the lack of pillows disturbing. For a business-dragon, Llethunaxx had no taste.

“I like her.” the dragon said while turning towards Arjuna. “She can come again.”

“She’s not pouring coins on you Llethunaxx.” Arjuna was covering his face with his palm. Of course his daughter would befriend the perverted dragon. Not that he could say much considering he had originally befriended the dragon as well.

“I wouldn’t dream of it! Or well, I might dream of it if she grows up a bit, but she’s too tiny for now. How’d you manage to shag a Titan anyway?” The blue asked curiously.

“Let’s just get to it. I brought the artifact you requested.” Arjuna firmly changed the subject and waved around a wooden case covered in talismans.

“Fine, fine. I’ve been brewing up a storm since you visited, and as you can see, the weather seems to be on our side. The mages from the Dynasty tried to interfere, but their weather control skills suck wyvern balls. I think they only managed to make the storm worse.” Llethunaxx decided to drop the subject for now. He’d bring it up again.

“I had hoped their mages would be too busy with the rebellion to interfere.” Arjuna frowned, thinking about the potential implications. He had decided against warning the nearby forces of the Dynasty because they were already jumpy with the rebellion, and they would try to extract some price from Arjuna just for not interfering. Sometimes the price of inaction was more expensive than getting someone to actually do something.

“Not to worry. This isn’t the first storm I’ve cooked up even this year, so they’re relatively used to it, even if this one is a bit more serious than those before.” The blue dragon assured. He was the type to become interested in these sorts of projects when given suitable inspiration. Besides, as a business-dragon, it was good for potential return customers to see he could work hard when the price was right.

“Nevertheless, it might be better if I keep my eyes open in case of outside interference. Last time things got a bit out of hand. Have you already made a formation to gather all the lightning energy inside your lair?” Arjuna didn’t cherish the idea of facing the Dynasty’s mages, as crappy as they were in comparison to those from the Magocracy, but they were strictly speaking not currently inside the Holy Kingdom as dragons controlled the area around their lairs, so they had every right to do what they were doing.

Llethunaxx managed to look a little offended at the question. “Hey, I’m a Blue Dragon. We won’t need formations, although of course my lair is covered with them.”

“In that case, we can start. I recommend staying outside the lair for the duration.” Arjuna recommended.

“And miss all the fun? Not a chance.” Llethunaxx decided to ignore that recommendation. Arjuna was somewhat amused by that as the dragon was making the same mistake he had the first time Karna had Awakened.

“Well, suit yourself. I won’t have to pay anything if you get yourself killed.” Arjuna shrugged and flew outside the area.

“Why’s he so worried?” Llethunaxx asked Karna who was already sitting down in a meditative position nearby, pushing for a breakthrough.

She had attuned with both metal and lightning elements just days prior, so her senses for those two elements had heightened greatly. “We may or may not have blown up a volcano last time.”

“A volcano lair?” The blue dragon asked, suddenly a little worried. His lair was reinforced against attacks, but there were limits to what it could take.

“No, just a regular one with a portal to the elemental plane. Don’t worry, this place should be well enough reinforced and I now have more control over the whole process. That said, I’d recommend removing all the treasure now. The elemental energy won’t have time to dissipate and we wouldn’t want to melt all your gold.” Karna instructed and all the coins and treasures suddenly vanished.

Karna’s breakthrough was drawing closer as pattern after pattern of aura was formed inside her. Thunder growled above them and the elemental energies inside the lair begun to stir. Lightning struck down without any pre-amble, but it seemed to freeze in the air. Somehow, it seemed like all the power from the lightning had been sucked out. More patterns inside Karna fell into place, slowly forming a complete image. A veritable forest of lightning bolts thicker than trees, started to fall from the dark clouds. Instead of completely vanishing like the first bolt, they all seemed to meld together and start forming the outline of some enormous humanoid being. The continuous fall of lightning made it impossible to see what was going on in the middle of the storm of deadly energy.

Llethunaxx’s nostrils flared as the air became filled with the smell of ozone and his nature as a blue dragon started to become excited. The storm above them had completely escaped his control now and had taken a life of its own. It had been a long time since he had seen a storm like this, which was saying something as he loved storms and was always seeking them out. And the storm outside was growing worse. At the same time, some bestial instinct informed him that now would be a good time to be somewhere that wasn’t in the middle of everything. Llethunaxx had long since learned to trust that survival instinct and quickly evacuated.

His exit had come at a perfect time as it seemed like metal energy was joining in on the party, and unlike with lightning, the blue didn't have all that much resistance against the metal element. The dragon didn’t know how, but it looked like it was raining small razor-thin blades. He knew that was just an illusion created by the abundant elemental energy, but staying could’ve been fairly risky. "Seems like you took my advice after all," Arjuna commented.

“Something big is coming.” The blue stated with realisation.

“The tribulation.” Arjuna guessed.

“No. This doesn’t feel like a normal lightning tribulation to me.” Llethunaxx shook his head. The horns he was so proud of that curled behind his head like a crown were vibrating with power.

As soon as he spoke, the skies seemed to open and tribulation lightning fell into the lair. But the lightning didn’t come alone. It was like divine swords started raining from the skies and balls of blueish-white fire were falling amidst the lightning and swords. If the storm of energy hadn’t all disappeared as soon as it got close to the outline made of lightning, an outline that was now filling out with something a bit more solid, the entire area would’ve been wiped clean.

“What in the blazes?!” The dragon cursed and flew further away, dodging a descending blade of divine energy.

“Ah, Karna. You really like to do everything the flashy way, don’t you?” Arjuna lamented with resignation. He could already feel magisters from the nearby Dynasty cities approaching.

As the storm of energy finally appeared to come to an end, the outline of a humanoid seemed to solidify just for a moment, to reveal a figure made of a white metal, that reflected several different colors of light, like a rainbow falling through a prism. The substance looked to be some sort of magical metal, though alive and almost organic at the same time. The figure was visible for less than a second before it shrunk down and back inside the lair, where simultaneously all the metal and lighting energy of the area was being sucked into.

Llethunaxx could now also sense the approaching visitors. “She’s not your daughter is she?” He suddenly asked before they got company.

Arjuna sighed. “What gave it away?”

“Her skin. The skin of a Titan reveals a lot about them. The more precious the material their skin is made of, the more noble their heritage and the more powerful their bloodline. That white metal? I’m fairly sure you will never see Celestium outside the Divine Plane. If you won’t even see the metal, then how would you be able to see a Titan of that metal? I’ve never even seen a Golden Titan, and all my instincts are telling me that Celestium is above even the gem Titans. It’s called the metal of the gods for a reason, as even the Divines have to use the hearts of dying stars to create it. There’s absolutely no way someone like her could be outside the Divine Plane except…Heavensfall?” The Blue Dragons were not famed for their guile and intelligence for nothing.

“Very astute of you. You understand why it would be bad for word of her to spread, right?” Arjuna’s tone had gained a hard edge.

“Of course. You’re fortunate the previous Emissary from the Divine Planes is dead though. And you’re even more fortunate the Divines have not sent a retaliation against the Dynasty yet either. There’s no way they would’ve missed that show otherwise.” The blue pointed out.

“I wouldn’t be here if those things weren’t true. I’d find another dragon’s lair on some smaller world instead. Now, let’s go and shoo the forces of the Dynasty away.” Arjuna wasn’t stupid. He knew it would’ve been dangerous to do something like this right next to an Emissary. His form was completely obscured by the shadows as they approached the visitors, seemingly leaving the dragon alone.

Llethunaxx was less than pleased to notice that the approaching mages had not come alone. Mages he could easily deal with. The problem was that the mages had brought two people dressed in heavy and stylized armor that covered them from head to toe. Not even the eyes of the two were visible, and that was on purpose. The Holy Knights of the Temple of Divines gave up their identities in the secular world as they dedicated themselves to all the gods equally. Once that armor was donned, the person wearing it would forever be known only by the knightly name they were bestowed. The Holy Knights of different faiths were the true power of the Sacred Dynasty, a nation that was often also called the Holy Kingdom for a reason. There was a reason the Emissary had stayed in that country instead of the other options despite the fading power of the ruling dynasty.

“Llethunaxx!” One of the mages the blue had dealt with before snarled. The blue had never gotten along with the crotchety mage as the man lacked a sense of humor. And propriety. “Should’ve known you were involved somehow.”

“Of course I am. It’s my mountain range after all! I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet again, but I honestly don’t remember your name. Annoying gnats with fleetingly short lives tend to slip from my mind more often than not.” The dragon retorted, egging the mage on a bit. He wanted to see what Arjuna would do.

“Friend dragon. I would advise you to not stand in our way. This is beyond you. We detected traces of divine power and if the Divines have sent a new Emissary, we need to know.” One of the knights said firmly but cordially, his magical equipment allowing effortless flight alongside the mages.

“There are no Divines here, just a tribulation. Thus I don’t think I will stand aside. I know you’re worried, but this isn’t any of your business. I don’t care for your interference and you’re overstepping your bounds. Even if I was hiding something, you have no authority here. Despite your precarious position, I’m not obliged to share my secrets with you.” The dragon argued.

“Making a disturbance like that within the Dynasty’s borders is our business no matter what you say.” The angry mage argued.

“Funny thing that.” Arjuna suddenly appeared from nowhere and stated. “I didn’t think the Dynasty had the gall to claim the lairs of dragons as part of their territory. The dragon is right. You have no business here if he doesn’t want you to enter.”

“Magocracy’s dog.” The angry mage hissed.

“And what is one of the Magocracy doing here?” The same Holy Knight asked, still with a polite but firm tone. He showed no sign of leaving.

“Trade. I’m sure you’re aware Llethunaxx is a business-dragon. I often trade with him. This time I traded for the use of his lair for an experiment. You can imagine why as you likely sensed the tribulation lightning. The experiment was a bit flashier than I expected but otherwise successful. No one was hurt, yes? That’s what I figured. You don’t need to know what I created.” Arjuna shut down the other side’s attempts. Sometimes the creation of powerful items called down a tribulation, although never three tribulations at once like had just happened. Arjuna was banking on the Holy Knight not being aware that there had been three tribulations occurring simultaneously as the three had blended together rather seamlessly.

The Holy Knight made a move forward before he was stopped by the other knight that had stayed quiet so far. The silent knight shook his head and the first knight pulled back. "Wise choice," Llethunaxx stated with a smug tone.

“Well then. I believe the Dynasty is already busy enough as things are, so I’m sure you don’t want to make any new enemies. Have a good day.” Arjuna stated and turned to fly away confidently. The implied threat in his words was clear. Llethunaxx showed his tongue to the mages before flying after him.

“Why did you stop me?” The first knight asked. “I could’ve dealt with the dragon easily.”

“Yes, but not the mage. You may not recognize the Grand Medjai, but I do.” The other knight countered, and his words seemed to scare the gathered mages and convince the other knight. “We need to report back, and if we had forced the issue, none of us would’ve returned alive.

--------

By the time Arjuna and Llethunaxx got to the lair, Karna had already managed to drape herself in some rolls of cloth she had brought along. She’d even found a large enough veil somewhere. Though with her current height of almost four meters, the piece of cloth on her face looked more like a bedsheet hanging on her face. “Hey, you’re slightly less tiny for a Titan now.” The dragon joked.

“I did say I’m still growing. I see you still haven’t grown a bit while I’ve tripled my height.” Karna joked.

"Touché," Llethunaxx admitted.

“So I’m guessing you can turn back this time?” Arjuna questioned, ignoring the byplay.

“In a few hours. The changes this time will require some time to settle. Well, not back as such, as my original body has also grown as a result of this change, but I can return to a smaller form.” Karna corrected herself.

“Grown how much?” Arjuna asked with a bit of surprise. The last Awakening had left few changes that were outwardly obvious. The changes had been quite subtle even though internally they had likely been much larger. This time things seemed to be a little different.

“I'd estimate, that I'm slightly taller than the average thirteen-year-old now - about 1,5 meters.” Karna speculated. She could already feel the changes inside her, as the Awakening had forcefully accelerated her towards physical maturity. She still had a lot of growing up to do, but she’d also grow up the rest of the way faster after this. She’d likely be fully grown and developed in a couple of years. That would both create some problems, as well as solve others.

In addition to a greatly increased affinity with lightning, an element she liked much more than fire, and somewhat increased affinity with metal, a quite useful element as well, she was also now much stronger physically, and her fortitude had increased a lot. Even if her skin in her normal body might look and feel like close to normal, it would be almost as hard to pierce and damage as a full suit of armor made of the same metal as her current skin. Her bones would’ve also undergone a similar change, now becoming borderline unbreakable.

Titans were defensively very powerful beings. Their ability to take punishment was second to only Dragon Turtles, and maybe the rapidly regenerating Hydras. Combined with her phoenix heritage, she was now truly difficult to kill unless she fought someone vastly more powerful than her current self. Titans were no slouches on offense either, and the benefits the bloodline offered were rather straightforward. Many of the most powerful Divines had been Titans the last time she had been in this universe, and that was for a good reason. Titans were without a doubt the most physically powerful beings in the universe, and she had inherited that strength. The Titans didn’t have many hard to figure out and esoteric abilities, but that simplicity paid off with sheer power. She rather liked the bloodline all things considered. It was also one of those bloodlines that became better the earlier you Awakened it as her strength had time to grow.

She could also sense the third circle inside her mage core. The synergistic effects this time were just as great, and the success she’d had with the Awakening was even better than last time. Her stores of mana were now vastly outstripping any other mage at her level, even without considering the purity of her mana. It had been a good idea to Awaken here. “Good job father. This was a great choice for an Awakening.”

“Of course. It’s my lair after all!” Llethunaxx bragged.

“Yes, yes. Your lair is great and awesome. Now if only you could match your lair." Arjuna countered. He wished that Karna hadn't praised the dragon so much as that might increase the price. Luckily it seemed the dragon liked his daughter and now that he knew of her heritage, he might actually decide to go easier on them to curry favor. Although with that said, the interference by the Holy Knights would likely increase the price as well. “How are we going to explain your growth back at the Academy?”

"We simply won't," Karna stated bluntly.

“Sorry, what?” Arjuna blinked in confusion.

“Sometimes audacity and refusal to explain work better than trying to come up with an excuse. The fact is, they don’t need to know anything. It’s not like it will be hard to prove my identity despite the changes.” She reasoned.

“She’s right you know. If you don’t have an explanation, then just don’t.” Llethunaxx agreed. He’d personally used that approach several times before.

“Well, now that you mention it…” Arjuna realized that people usually didn’t ask explanations from him when he didn’t offer one. Mostly that was because his power scared people, but also because they found it awkward to ask.

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Karna decided without giving Arjuna more time. “Now let’s return. We don’t want the zealots to return while I’m still in this form. I may have been huge only for a second, but I guarantee everyone within several hundred kilometers saw it. Let’s not stick around to answer questions we don’t want to. Besides, I need to get some clothes-shopping done.”

Chapter 21 - Bras and warnings

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. A bit of fun combined with a bit of plot. I hope you'll enjoy!

Reminder: my practical starts tomorrow, so the next chapter will come out next Sunday.

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Karna was usually a very pragmatic person when she went out shopping. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy just looking around and trying on various things. She liked the little things in life, and a bit of shopping was one of those little joys. However, she also often had many other things to do, so she’d developed an attitude of getting most things done quickly and efficiently. Quick and efficient were not words that could be associated with the current shopping spree Duskclaw was leading her on.

Karna had expected a burst of growth as a result of her Titan bloodline being awakened. She'd made rather precise calculations that resulted in some solid estimates about what the result of that burst would be. She’d even reserved some clothing for herself, as obviously the growth spurt would result in all her old apparel becoming useless. However, she had miscalculated. She’d forgotten an important detail. Despite her Titan bloodline, at the very base she’d always be a Godling, and Godlings also had a habit of growing and developing quickly, both physically and mentally, once they fully hit puberty. She had not expected that her Godling nature would mix in with the growth spurt coming from the bloodline, which resulted in her growing almost 30 centimeters in a few hours.

The other problem was that she’d also grown in other ways besides just height. The Titan bloodline would have likely just made her grow in height, but her nature as a Godling had other ideas. That meant even the clothing she’d reserved in case her growth spurt would be larger than expected didn’t fit. Duskclaw had taken a single look at her and given Karna some of her old clothes until they could get her something that actually fit. And then the eager beastwoman had dragged her into the high-class shopping district of the capital city despite the late hour.

The owner of the first shop they entered had simply clicked her tongue and taken them to the back to get her measured. “Who got you these rags?” The gnomish woman protested in obvious disgust. “They don’t fit you at all and they’re so old fashioned!”

“They’re her old ones actually.” Karna pointed at Duskclaw.

“Why? Why would you do something atrocious like this?” The shopkeeper looked at Duskclaw, horrified. “A pretty young girl like this shouldn’t be forced to wear some ill-fitting hand-me-downs!” Incidentally, Karna was still wearing the only piece of clothing that still fit her, the veil, so the compliment was partly out of politeness, and partly out of admiration for what could be seen.

“They were the only things on hand that came even remotely close to fitting her.” Duskclaw defended herself. She was a big believer in good and fashionable clothing, even if she had to wear the military uniform most of the time. Her penchant usually showed in what she wore under the uniform. “And I must defend myself further by pointing out that I brought her here without delay as soon as I was appraised of the situation!” This was the one type of slander she couldn’t tolerate.

“Hrmm. I’ll let it slide for now. I can see she’s obviously not your daughter and thus there might be circumstances, so I’ll give you a pass. For now.” Apparently the shopkeeper knew Duskclaw somewhat. “Though that raises the question, what happened to all her old clothes?”

“I had a growth spurt.” Karna shrugged.

“Don’t move!” The old gnome smacked Karna on the bottom. “I can’t get proper measurements if you move around. Now, I assume you’ll want to visit Tanglethread’s shop next?”

“Tanglethread’s?” Karna questioned with a glance towards Duskclaw.

“I said, don’t move!” The gnome smacked her again. There was no special meaning to her hitting Karna on the butt. It was just the part of Karna she happened to be measuring at that moment, so it was in easy reach.

“She handles underwear. And yes, you definitely need some bras now.” Duskclaw stated, looking at Karna’s chest judgingly. That had been one of the changes Karna hadn’t accounted for. Instead of a thirteen-year-old, she now looked more like slightly oddly developed fifteen. She also noted that this was an excellent opportunity to tease Karna and play a little dress-up.

"Oh, gods yes." Karna agreed. She was quite glad that particular invention had already either been made naturally or been brought over by other reincarnators, like many other clothing items. At least she didn't need to 'invent' bras this time. It was one of the banes of less developed universes. Fortunately, most of her previous handful of lives had been as beings that didn't need clothing.

“Right. So I’ll have to account for that in the measurements, which is why I asked. If you really had a growth spurt and –this- is all a recent development, then you probably don’t know the style you’ll be going for in that area either.” The gnome placed a heavy emphasis on the word ‘this’ and waved up and down towards Karna’s midsection.

“You would be correct," Duskclaw confirmed the gnome's suspicions. It wasn't the first time someone was on the receiving end of magical growth acceleration, so the shopkeeper wasn’t completely out of her depth. She was surprised, sure, but she could adapt quickly. “I suspect we won’t agree on everything, so I can’t even speculate yet either.” Duskclaw continued.

The gnomish woman grunted in resignation. “In that case, do me a favor and swing by back here once you’re finished there. I need to know. We wouldn’t want anything to clash.”

“You do realize that I’ll mostly be wearing Academy uniforms, right?” Karna pointed out with a raised eyebrow. It wasn’t like she needed a huge wardrobe aside from the uniforms, and by the time other clothing became relevant again, she’d have outgrown any such clothes that used her current measurements.

“Yes, yes, and I’ll be making those as well. But you can’t always be in uniform. Even Duskclaw here knows to let loose on occasion. Besides, there are uniforms, and then there are actually decent clothing that fulfill the Academy’s standard for uniforms.” The gnome believed in the importance of her own field and was a good salesperson, Karna had to admit that.

As soon as the gnome was done with the measurements, she gave Karna something temporary to wear because she couldn't bear the thought of Karna walking around in something so ill-fitting. According to her, it would be bad advertisement for her shop if Karna were to step out of her store with something like that. "Are we going to have issues in the next shop?" Duskclaw asked ominously.

“Well, I don’t know. Are we? I had my suspicions, but I didn’t know you’d be so gung ho about this. I just need something practical as it’s likely to be relatively temporary.” Karna retorted.

“What do you mean?” Duskclaw asked with a frown, clearly not happy with what she’d just heard.

“Well, now that the rapid growth phase of a Godling has been triggered, I’ll most likely finish the rest of my growth in the next couple of years. There’s not much point in getting anything too fancy for now as I’m going to rapidly outgrow it anyway. Something that fits me today will likely not fit me in a month or two.” Karna explained her reasoning.

"I vehemently disagree," Duskclaw stated emphatically. "Did you bet on the results of the tests as we agreed?"

“Yes, but everyone is starting to get wise to my skills and there’s limited profit to be made in betting on myself.” Karna nodded. “And yes, I made sure to use my insight to also bet on the second and third place. Shaheera will be ranked second and Miralen third. The biggest profits will likely come from Rein getting fourth.”

“Regardless, my point is that you’re not lacking in funds. In fact, considering the fact that you don’t spend much at the Academy, you’re filthy rich, so there’s really no reason not to make sure your clothing remains both fitting and fashionable. You may have not realized it yet, but just because the things under your uniform are rarely seen, that’s no excuse to skimp on them! You’ll know, and that will affect your confidence. You also won’t be self-conscious and shamed in a situation where you do need to show what you have under your uniform. I will not give in on this. Cuteness is justice! I’ve held on for this long because you’ve spent very little time in public, but now we finally get the chance to display your assets! I’m using this opportunity to exercise my parental right to live vicariously through you!” Duskclaw made an impassioned speech.

Funnily enough, Karna didn't disagree. She was actually in almost complete agreement and knew the importance of self-confidence bolstered by being prepared. She had just thought it impractical in this case. But it seemed Duskclaw wanted to make this into a regular thing, and Karna certainly didn’t mind spending time with her, so she didn’t bother arguing. Spending a weekend every few weeks to go shopping with Duskclaw was a rather good way to relax anyway.

To their surprise, the owner of the Tanglethread’s was expecting them. “You sure took your time walking from next door.” The mirror image of the gnomish woman from the previous store greeted them with her hands on her hips. “My sister already sent word. I already have a rough understanding of what you need. Get into the fitting room. Now!” She commanded them with a stern attitude fit for a drill sergeant.

As soon as they arrived, they found a group of women waiting for them. The others were easy to recognize as workers in the shop by their attire that showed the store logo. They all also ran the gamut of races, shapes, and sizes. There was a slim and average height human standing next to another petite gnome, a tall and sporty beastwoman standing next to a lush dwarf, and finally the bustiest elf Karna had ever seen in at least this life, and maybe the others as well. They were all holding measuring tapes, pieces of material, a bunch of pins, and finally some example pieces they could test.

“Now git naked so we can see what we’ve got to work with.” The gnomish owner of the store commanded with a bit of an accent coming through due to her excitement.

Karna didn’t even have the opportunity to protest before the assistants descended on her like a pack of starving hyenas. Surprisingly they were aware enough to leave her veil on, but everything else was gone in seconds. “Couldn’t you have gotten the measurements from your sister?” Duskclaw asked with amusement as Karna feebly called for help.

“We could’ve, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as fun. It's not often we get to work with such great materials.” The gnome grinned. “Besides, the measurements we take are slightly different. My sister mentioned something about a potential issue with rapid growth?”

"Yes, she's likely to outgrow anything we get her quite quickly," Duskclaw explained.

“We could add an enchantment that would allow the clothes to change along with her, but…” The gnome looked at Duskclaw meaningfully.

“That wouldn’t be as fun. No thank you.” Duskclaw shot that down mercilessly. She was definitely enjoying Karna's suffering and intended to repeat the performance.

“Good. She has the best skin out of anyone I’ve ever seen, and I work with some really high ranking people. We’re going to enjoy trying everything on her. And we will. Everything.” The gnome and Duskclaw shared a sinister laugh.

---------

“Whaaat the fuuuuuck?” Rein asked loudly as Karna came to the meeting place. The standard group of four had agreed on meeting the day before the next semester began.

“Language! …Is what I would like to say, but I think what you said is quite appropriate in this case.” Miralen goggled at Karna as well.

They couldn’t really be blamed as before the break began, Karna had been among the shortest and smallest people in their year, only beating the shorter races such as gnomes and dwarfs. Now she was amongst the tallest female students, and she wouldn’t have been all that out of place among the males either. That wasn’t the only thing that had changed, but it was the most obvious change. The only reason they had even recognized her was because of the combination of blue-ish-white hair that was quite unique to her and the veil that was rather recognizable. That and there were still some things about Karna that were the same and rather unique to her, such as the way she carried herself and her Aura.

“What happened?” Shaheera asked, also shocked but hiding it better than the other two.

“I seem to have reached puberty.” Karna joked. She was taking the opportunity to wear one of her new attires instead of the Academy uniform, a rather simple but elegant sundress that complimented her quite well without being tacky.

"You don't say," Rein muttered with a tone heavy with sarcasm.

"I don't think you can blame puberty for this," Miralen said seriously. "You’re, what? At least thirty centimeters taller than a couple of weeks ago?”

“What can I say? Clean living and healthy diet have their upsides.” Karna stuck with the choice of tactics she had decided on. If you can’t explain something, don’t bother trying. Just rely on absurdity and humor to carry you through. Refuge in audacity as the saying went.

“Bloodline Awakening.” Shaheera suddenly said with narrowed eyes. He could sense that Karna had reached the third rank with Aura and he was smart enough to connect some dots.

“Very good.” Karna nodded towards the Leonin. His natural curiosity led to him having more knowledge on various subjects than most other people, so he often had these kinds of epiphanies.

“What kind of bloodline causes that?” Rein asked with a bit of frustration. He’d kind of enjoyed towering over Karna.

“That’s for me to know and for you to figure out.” Karna grinned behind her veil. She had almost reached the point where the veil was unnecessary, but not quite yet. As with the last time she had Awakened, the ability that all Godlings possessed to influence people around them had also grown in strength. Normally that would also come with increased control over the ability as well, but the problem was that the growth spurt had messed with her Godling heritage as well, which had caused the ability to grow a bit unstable. She could keep it under control for now, but it was better not to take any risks. She could leave off the veil in a few months when that part of her had settled down a bit more.

“Is that what happened with your skin?” Miralen suddenly grabbed Karna’s hand and ran a finger along her skin. “I’m so jealous. It’s like you have no pores at all. You always seemed to have the perfect skin, but this is…”

“May I?” Shaheera was polite enough to ask and Karna nodded in curiosity to see where this was going. The Leonin softly ran the tip of one of his claws along the back of her arm. “Hmm, Miralen is right. It’s so smooth that it’s like your skin is not skin at all, yet somehow it’s still soft, elastic, and warm at the same time.”

‘They’re unexpectedly sharp.’ Karna thought to herself.

Miralen seemed to have realized something. “Oh dear, it must have been a bother to purchase a completely new set of clothing. I doubt anything you had before would fit you now.”

Karna gave a small shudder. “You have no idea.” The flashbacks to the eager assistant at the stores they went to sent a small shiver down her spine. Many women of various races cultivated and used products ranging from pills to simple make-up to reach the sort of skin texture she now had naturally, and the shopkeepers viewed it as the perfect canvas to use to display their own skill. They also viewed it as a challenge.

“Enough about this. What have you been up to?” Karna shooed the others away and shook away her errant thoughts.

“Ah, before we get to that, my brother wanted to speak to you.” Rein pointed to the second floor of the dining establishment they were in, and Karna saw Siegfried leaning against the railing. Sieg noticed her looking and gave a gesture to invite her to come up.

“This couldn’t have waited until we get back to the Academy?” Karna voiced her thoughts.

“Apparently not.” Rein answered even though Karna had not expected one. “I heard that he’s been trying to reach you through father for several days now, but you guys have been busy with something else. Seeing you now, I guess there was a reason for that. He tagged along as soon as he heard I was going to meet with you.”

With a shrug, Karna went up the stairs to meet the older boy. She had nothing against Sieg, as he seemed nice enough and quite diligent, so she had no need to avoid him. “Your brother said you wanted to talk to me?” She asked.

“Would you mind?” Sieg gestured towards a room that had spells woven into it to make it private.

“Sure, but now you’re making me really curious.” Karna nodded and follow him inside. The matters must have some level of seriousness to warrant such privacy.

"You've certainly changed," Sieg commented as they sat down.

“Don’t start.” Karna sighed. “That’s not why you came.”

“True. I just thought it was polite to mention it at least.” Siegfried shrugged with a boyish smile. “But you’re correct. Let’s get the business out of the way first. Your room was broken into some time ago.”

“That wasn’t a question. You’re quite well informed. Remind me to smack Rein when we get back.” Karna grumbled. The Academy wasn’t going to advertise the issue, and the three others that knew about it were supposed to have kept their traps shut.

“Don’t let me stop you from beating some sense into my brother, but this time it’s not his fault. The reason I know about it is because I know who’s responsible. I also know why it happened. It was a test.” Sieg’s words managed to surprise Karna completely. It’s wasn’t the part about the whole being a test that surprised her, she had considered that possibility as well, but the fact that Sieg knew about the details was a shock.

“Test for what?” She asked, her expression becoming guarded. There were only so many reasons Sieg could learn about this.

“Many things. I have faith that you can figure out most of those on your own. However, the main question isn’t what, but why. Why were you being tested? The answer is that the first ranked student of every year gets tested. So do especially gifted students of later years. The exact method and numbers vary from year to year, but every ‘crowned’ person is tested in some ways. Your test was simply a bit more…shall we say criminal than others. If the person being tested is found wanting, then nothing ever comes of it. However, if the person passes the test, they are given an offer. An invitation.” Sieg explained.

“And you’re here to give that invitation.” Karna of course leapt to the obvious conclusion. The answer caught her by complete surprise though.

“Not exactly. I’m not part of the group we’re discussing. Or I should say I’m not a member anymore. I was for a while some time ago. A friend of mine is a current member though, and he knows they will make the offer once you return back to the Academy and told me about it. That’s why I wanted to meet you before you returned. Unlike what you might think, I’m not here to persuade you to accept. In fact, I’m here to persuade you to refuse.” Siegfried once again managed to surprise her.

"Well, now you have my full attention." She wasn't just saying that either. It wasn't odd for places of learning to have some exclusive groups that had odd ways of recruiting more members. She’d gotten similar pitches in her other lives. But this was the first time someone was actively making a pitch for her to refuse, and not just because they hated her. She wasn’t planning on accepting anyway as she wasn’t the type to join such shadowy groups without a good reason, but a warning like this was enough to make that into an almost certainty.

“The invitation is to join a sort of secret student council. There are several benefits to joining, including resources and the opportunity to make a difference in the way things are run at the Academy. On the other hand, power and rewards come with responsibility. I have no doubt you could handle those responsibilities. I was made a similar offer when I showed enough skill to compete for the crown once I became a third year.” Siegfried explained.

"So far so standard," Karna said curtly.

"Yes. Here's where things get a bit more complicated. For most students, I'd say this was a good opportunity, but I don't think the group has much to offer for you. In addition, my father revealed to me that some of the members of our group are tangled with the Shadow Council of the Magocracy, which is why I eventually parted ways with the group. And I don’t think you want to get mixed up with them either, especially considering who your father is. Even my presence in the group would’ve been a bit of an issue considering who my father is, but it would be a much bigger problem for you.” He finally got to the real crux of the matter. “Besides, I have a feeling you’ll have enough complications in your life even without adding to them with this. Not that refusal doesn’t come with its own share of complications, but those are much smaller in comparison. Mostly any issues with refusal are limited to the people who are in the group disliking you for turning them down and shunning them.”

“So why does the Academy tolerate them?” Karna asked the obvious next question.

“Well, I can’t really answer that fully. I’m not privy to that kind of information. However, if I were to speculate, then it’s because the group is useful. They also aren’t bad, even if their methods are sometimes questionable. They do quite a bit of good from what I’ve heard, though I have to admit my sources in that regard are limited.” Sieg admitted his lack of information.

Karna tapped her chin in thought. “I appreciate the warning. I’ll have to consider this carefully. Have a word with dear old dad as well.”

“That’s all I ask.” Siegfried seemed to feel much lighter after Karna gave her response. “Now. Tell me what happened to you? Can’t really call you shorty anymore.”

“I seem to recall you never did, and I recommend you keep it that way.” Karna shot back and allowed the conversation to turn back into lighter topics.

Chapter 22 - Secrets revealed

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. Week 1/5 of the practical. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”So seeing as you’re a highly respected guest lecturer at the Academy, I’m sure you’re aware of the secret student council made up of most of the crowned students.” Karna suddenly stated while adjusting her uniform in front of the mirror.

Arjuna looked up from his book that he’d brought along just for these kinds of occasions where he had to wait. “Of course. They’re mostly harmless.” He was not surprised by the question, though the timing was unexpected.

"And when were you planning on mentioning them? Surely you knew they were going to try to recruit me." Karna continued with a playful tone. They were preparing to leave for the Academy as soon as she was ready.

“When you asked.” Arjuna had a small sneaky smile. “You can consider this as me giving you your own opportunities to fail safely. You’ve shown your skills when it comes to learning and planning. I wanted to get a feel for your skill at scheming and politicking.”

"I see," Karna said simply. She knew what he was going for. He assumed she'd be smart enough to ask him, or someone else, for advice before accepting. A relatively safe bet. He also assumed that she wouldn't rush to a decision. Also a safe bet. There was a certain amount of risk involved, as she could've accepted, but in that case, it would've served as the perfect lesson for her and she would've felt bad at disappointing him, making the lesson stick. "How bad would it have been, had I accepted? I’m not really clear on the internal politics of the Magocracy when it comes to these sorts of things.”

“Not very if I spoke to you about it before you got in too deep. I would’ve brought it up soon enough even if you didn’t. They wouldn’t have tried to use you to get at me for a while, as they would’ve needed to gain your loyalty first, so I had time.” Arjuna said with an assured voice. “And even if things had gotten bad, there are several ways I could’ve alleviated the problem. It’s not like the people behind this group are openly hostile to me. I’m just a tad too powerful and independent to the tastes of some people, and they’d like to counter that by having some leverage over me. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually threaten your life or anything, but they could make things more difficult for you.”

In general, the Magocracy was a very unified country. Due to the way their country was run, there was little danger of a serious internal struggle. There was also no point in antagonizing the most powerful combat mage in the entire nation when external threats were a realistic danger. That didn't mean there were no internal power struggles and political currents of course. Factionalism would always exist in one form or another. However, as someone focused on reaching Ascension, Arjuna was seen as a relatively neutral party by most. He had also proven his loyalty on many occasions and he was highly respected. Maybe too respected, which was part of the problem.

In the minds of those that focused on dealing with schemes, shadowy behind the scenes ploys, assassination, espionage, and extortion, someone who had the power and connections of Arjuna was a potential risk. It was a fact that if Arjuna decided one day to take over the Magocracy, many of the most powerful defenders of the country and a significant portion of the army would support him as his allies. Or at least that’s what these people thought. While they thought someone like Wolfgang would join Arjuna, it was more likely that the warrior would try to smack some sense into him instead. That was part of why they were loyal to him in the first place. They knew Arjuna was reasonable and worth their trust.

In a way, there was a good reason these people would prefer having some insurance over him. They’d also prefer never having to use that insurance or even show they had it in order to not anger him. They didn’t want the act of acquiring that insurance to be the thing that pushed Arjuna to act against them after all. Unfortunately, some people were simply incapable of trusting people. To them, every threat needed at least some kind of plan in place to counter.

“Anything else you failed to mention to me? Now would be a good time to fess up.” Karna prompted. She was purposefully taking her time with her uniform adjustment. It was also a brand new uniform and she had to take a bit of time to make sure it sat right on her, as she hadn’t yet perfectly adjusted to all the changes.

“Well…” Arjuna hedged, not sure if he should mention it. He had been hoping something interesting would happen between Tsumi and Karna, but that idea seemed to have been a miss. Might as well get that one out now as well, as keeping it a secret for much longer might become an issue later.

“Spit it out.” Karna pushed.

“The Headmistress of the Academy immediately figured out that you’re from the Divine Planes. She took one look at your progress in the entrance exam and knew. Tsumi has more experience with Divines than most after all, so she’s better at spotting any of the associated signs.” Arjuna finally decided that he might as well come clean.

“Wait, Tsumi? As in a blond Alpyran of about yay tall and with surprisingly small golden-colored horns?” That caused Karna to turn around and look straight at Arjuna in a hurry. “Rather charming and has a penchant for illusion magic?”

“I see you’ve met.” Arjuna smiled. This was interesting. It was also funny how Karna had failed to use the most obvious descriptor for Tsumi, the way she dressed.

“Son of a bitch. I knew she was strong and had a reason for approaching me. I just didn’t know she was the Headmistress. I briefly entertained the possibility, but it seemed way too convoluted for the Headmistress to do personally. And why exactly did you decide to keep this to yourself? Wait, don’t answer that. It was a test and you obviously thought it would be amusing.” That actually made things easier for Karna. She’d been trying to figure out Tsumi’s angle for months but hadn’t quite gotten there yet. The woman could be surprisingly circumspect, which made the whole thing a fun game. Now many of the things they’d discussed made more sense. The woman had been fishing for information and testing whether she was a Blessed Child or not.

“Well, she happens to be the most infuriating and strong-willed person I’ve ever known. Reminds me a lot of you in fact. I thought it would be interesting to see the two of you interact.” Arjuna shrugged. Not the best plan he’d ever had in retrospect. “Also, I strongly believed she wouldn’t hurt you, so…”

"We're going to have to have a discussion about what information is ok to withhold and what is not," Karna said sternly, putting her hands on her hips in a perfect imitation of a look that most mothers gave misbehaving children. She'd used that look herself many times on actual children, though she'd found that it worked quite well on most adults as well.

“It’s not like you’re one to speak. You’re not exactly forthcoming with most things.” Arjuna said a little defensively. Karna’s look was working quite well. Arjuna wasn’t exactly wrong though. The difference was that most of the secrets she kept were the kind that she was unable to and not unwilling to talk about, like her status as a reincarnator. Perhaps it would be wise to start dropping some hints to Arjuna in the near future. Just because you were prevented from saying some things, that didn’t mean you couldn’t use other methods to get around those limitations.

Karna sniffed judgingly. “I think I’ll be going ahead by myself.” Then she suddenly turned into the form she had gained during her first Awakening. The fiery bird had grown to the size of a crow, and thanks to her growing strength in Aura, certain new options became available to her. In a flash of flames, she disappeared and appeared just outside the Academy. She'd picked a place where her arrival would not be detected. She quickly turned back to her original form, not a single hair out of place.

‘That’s the one thing I love about this universe. Thanks to all the worlds being part of a huge formation, the entire universe is so static that teleportation becomes extremely easy when compared to most other universes.’ She thought to herself while walking to the nearby bridge over the river.

She’d thought about this before and had come to the conclusion that it was a shame it was so hard to talk about her nature as a reincarnator. Arjuna seemed like the type that wouldn’t judge and would actually love talking about the details and mechanics. She knew he had enough researcher inside him that a topic like that would intrigue him to no end. She was also rather fond of the man. Although his parental skills during her early infant years had been horrid, the man truly cared about her.

As a reincarnator, forming real connections of certain types became increasingly difficult the more lives you lived. It was simply a matter of numbers. Making your umpteenth true friend was not the same thing as making your first or second. Having had so many families and parents before, it was increasingly difficult to form proper familial connections the more lives you lived. Even though Karna was less affected due to the shortness of most of her lives and the way she could live in the moment, she was still glad when a real connection was formed. Even for her, those connections were harder to come by. You just couldn't feel the same about your parents after you lived enough lives. With some parents, it was easier, as it was clear they would do anything for their children. For others? Well, those connections never really materialized.

-----

Karna was once again people-watching other students from her vantage point. Gem didn’t even bother disappearing anymore as the door opened behind them to signal Tsumi’s arrival. “Ah, Karna. Here again, I see." The woman said as if surprised to see Karna here.

“Headmistress.” Karna nodded a greeting back.

“I see Arjuna finally spoiled our fun. Or did you figure it out yourself?” Tsumi didn’t seem too fazed by being discovered. Something seemed to shift inside her, and suddenly she was standing there in flesh and blood instead of being just an illusion. Karna could now clearly sense her cultivation, both as a mage and an Aura user, just like Karna herself was. If she had been able to feel this before, she wouldn’t have confused Tsumi for anyone in the first place, as there were only so many potential ninth circle mages around the Academy.

“That’s a nifty trick.” Karna commended. “As to your question, I had my suspicions, but I have to admit that the Headmistress was not my first guess. It’s so hard to judge the age of Alpyrans.”

Tsumi grinned a bit mischievously. “Yes, something I’ve used to my advantage often. I was surprised when you didn’t recognize me immediately when I first appeared before I realized Arjuna hadn’t said anything. Why did he have to spoil things now?”

“I was squeezing him for information on the secret student council thingy. He admitted to not telling me about it as a test, and I asked what else he was keeping from me. He spilled the beans.” Karna explained with a fond smile.

“That would do it. I heard you turned them down by the way. I’d have advised you to do the same, but for different reasons I suspect.” The Alpyran woman sat down on the bench next to Karna. Gem jumped into her lap in the form of a Faerie Dragon once again, and Tsumi scratched the spirit under the wings. Gem looked supremely comfortable in her lap, and it probably wasn’t just the scratching. Karna had long suspected that the spirit was a bit of a pervert, and this didn’t do anything to dispel that suspicion. “They’re a useful group and not a bad one. Just that they can get a bit pompous and too convinced of their own excellence, and they’re often controlled by the old members that have graduated already.”

“No need to defend their existence on my account.” Karna gave a small non-committal gesture. “I recognize the utility of such groups.” She’d certainly seen much worse in her previous lives.

“I’m not exactly defending them. I just wanted you to have a fair picture. I’m not sure how neutral Arjuna was.” Tsumi said idly.

“He was surprisingly frank actually. Returning to the earlier topic of your position though, was this your doing?” Karna pulled out the Epiphany Pill.

“That one? No. I allowed it to be placed in your resource bag because I wanted to see what would happen, but I didn’t place it there myself. That one came from Master Rajian. I believe he was the teacher that showed you around during your exams. He needs a favor from your father. Or to be exact, he needs a favor from someone who’s close to Ascending, and the choices he has are a bit limited.” Tsumi explained. Her voice had gained a bit of a sympathetic tone, which showed she wasn’t all too opposed to whatever Rajian wanted to achieve.

“What favor?” Karna asked, not entirely surprised. She had sensed Rajian had some special interest in her during the exams. She just didn’t know why, and the teacher had not seemed like someone who had malicious intentions. As the person carrying the True Name Karma, she had become rather adept at judging such things.

“It’s not widely talked about, but to allow the people who have reached immortality to Ascend in peace, the Emissaries from Divine Planes allow the person Ascending to ask a bunch of questions. That, along with some time to settle any affairs on this plane, is meant to help the person Ascending to sever their connections with the past. The Emissaries have many abilities the people of the Higher Planes do not, and their reach is very long, so they can find out things other people can’t. Or in this case, they can find people. Rajian needs to find someone. It’s a family matter that I won’t go too much into. I’d wager he’ll try other methods to gather your favor later on as well, as he knows a single pill isn’t enough to earn your father’s cooperation. Especially since you didn’t even consume the pill and managed to increase your rank without it.” Tsumi looked at the pill meaningfully.

Karna had already prepared an explanation about her rather advancing due to her own effort, and saving the pill for someone else who might need it more, but she noticed that there was something odd about Tsumi’s expression. It was as if the Alpyran woman was waiting for her to say something, knowing it was a lie, and being amused at the prospect. So Karna went with the same old tactic she had used to explain her sudden change in size. She didn’t.

“That brings us to something I think we should address. I’m fairly confident you’re what many call a Blessed Child in addition to being from a Godling. You’ve done a good job riding the line, but there are enough puzzle pieces to form a complete picture, or at least close enough to one. No need to say anything, as that is ultimately irrelevant and I know the Blessed actually can’t speak freely about their nature for some reason.” Tsumi waved Karna’s initial response down.

“Yet you brought it up.” Karna pointed out instead of trying to confirm or deny the woman’s words. Tsumi had already formed her opinion, and to a large extent, Karna didn't care what the woman thought.

“Yes. I and certain other people have noticed a worrying trend in the last couple of centuries. There are more suspected and confirmed Blessed Children being born than ever before. And that’s only those Blessed Children that we’ve actually spotted, which means there’s likely a lot more we have no idea about. We also speculate the same is happening in the other planes. Blessed Children tend to be harbingers of change even during normal times, not to mention when their numbers are this high. This is where hopefully you come in. Whether you are a Blessed Child or not, you are a Godling with enough potential that you can match the Blessed.” Tsumi finally got to the point of this meeting.

“And what exactly do you want from me?” Karna’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t averse to making deals, as mutually beneficial deals kept things running, but she didn’t like going into a negotiation like this unprepared.

“Not necessarily anything. Just your presence in the Magocracy would be a deterrent for any prospective Blessed Child that wanted to try and take advantage of us. Ashanti Goldmane is the most likely candidate to try something, but not necessarily the most dangerous one. We’ve noted that the suspected Blessed mostly either clash violently as soon as they meet, in which case their differences are settled in a duel, or they stay out of each other’s way, respecting some sort of invisible territorial boundaries we haven’t fully figured out. There’s always a risk that your presence here can attract the attention of some Blessed Child that would’ve ignored us otherwise, but that would be a danger whether you cooperated with us or not and we can help to keep you safe. I’d rather benefit from the upsides of having a perceived Blessed Child in the Magocracy since that seems to be the more common scenario.” Tsumi explained with a shrug. “If just having you around will keep at least some of them away, then that’s rather beneficial just by itself.”

Karna couldn’t really explain to Tsumi that things between reincarnators were a little more complicated than that, but the woman wasn’t entirely wrong. Reincarnators knew that their greatest adversaries were often other reincarnators, as long as they survived the early childhood of course. Yet at the same time, most of the reincarnators knew there was no need for any unnecessary battles. Most of the more powerful reincarnators were quite happy to leave the weaker and more inexperienced ones to their own devices as they were not a risk, while the weaker ones didn’t want to pick fights with enemies that potentially had a hundred times more experience than them. There was a certain level of camaraderie between many reincarnators as well, formed out of a shared identity. Some reincarnators were just plain insane though. “There’s a hole in your plan. What happens after I Ascend?”

Tsumi noted that Karna had said after, which implied it was only a question of time and not whether it happened or not, and she liked the girl’s confidence. “If our estimations are correct, then it won’t matter. Things will likely come to a clash in the next handful of decades. I know from what I’ve learned about you so far that while you cultivate fast, you also like to take your time to make sure you do everything perfectly. I’m almost certain that the problem will start solving itself by the time you Ascend. Or even if that isn’t the case, then at least we would’ve gained some time to come up with alternative solutions and we’ll have much more information.”

“Like a wise man once said: what’s in it for me?” Karna had so far heard very little that would benefit her.

“Well, it’s not like I’m asking for much that you wouldn’t have done anyway. I simply want you to attend the Academy and be excellent. You're going to draw attention to yourself anyway. I'm just asking you to not hold back in a wasted attempt to hide some of that excellence. Currently, you're avoiding the Blessed Child label, while I think you should embrace it instead. Or at the very least allow others to speculate. We’re not expecting you to even do much fighting, as that’s what we’re here for and honestly it’ll take decades for you to become strong enough to matter in those fights. Ideally, I'd like it if you showed yourself off a bit and maybe attended a couple of tournaments or similar events so that the potential other Blessed would be aware of your presence, but even that is entirely up to you." Tsumi said carefully, realizing they had entered a negotiation of sorts.

“Still not hearing anything that benefits me. That’s just what you want from me.” Karna pushed. This sounded like a lot of hedging instead of a proper pitch.

“I was getting to that. Let’s mention the obvious benefits first. You’ll have access to many resources, as it would be in our best interests to make sure you were as powerful as possible, as well as access to all the different classes in the Academy, even those that are usually reserved for certain majors only. If you are not a Blessed Child, the benefit of those lessons should be obvious. If you are, as I suspect, then the lessons will serve as a good excuse for all the skills you possess when it comes to those people that you want to remain in the dark about you being Blessed. Here’s the real reason you should do it though. Your divine heritage.” Tsumi finally got to the real crux of her argument. There was also a note of real concern in her voice. She wasn’t suggesting the deal just for the benefit of the Magocracy and the Academy, but for Karna’s benefit as well.

Karna gestured for her to continue, and Tsumi was quick to oblige. "For most people, being thought of as a Blessed Child would be their biggest worry. For you, however, I think your divine heritage being known would be a bigger problem. If my guesses about why you and Arjuna have decided to try and hide that heritage are correct, then you would likely want certain Emissaries looking the other way. Sometimes the best way to hide something is in plain sight. I get that you’d prefer to avoid the Blessed Child label for personal reasons, but you don’t actually have to confirm anything. Let the others come to their own conclusions while those close to you can see you working hard and taking lessons that explain your skills and knowledge. And if the Emissaries have an obvious explanation as to why you're out of the ordinary, they no longer have a reason to look for another reason. You’ll get the best of both worlds. The divine parties will assume you’re another Blessed, currently among many for reasons we are unsure about, while I will help make sure those close to you have adequate reasons to explain away your skills and knowledge. You’re soon enough going to be noticed by the powers that be anyway. At least this way you’ll get to control how you’ll be viewed. “

“I could just hide myself completely.” Karna pointed out another possibility. One that she didn’t really believe in, but it had to be mentioned.

“No offense, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible. You’ve been riding the line well so far, but you still can’t hide your excellence. I get the sense that doing a bad job somehow offends you. While commendable, it’s also not helping you hide yourself. So far you’ve limited yourself to barely what an exceptional genius could accomplish, but with your recent changes, I doubt that’s going to be possible any longer. And you honestly aren’t doing that good of a job of hiding your divine heritage.” Tsumi shot that argument down.

“Am I not?” Karna smiled under her veil. Then she stood up and removed the veil while releasing her hold on her own Aura and on the ability that all Godlings had to influence people around them. She knew Gem would make sure her powers would not be felt outside this little balcony.

Tsumi had to actually use her own Aura to disperse Karna’s. It was not exactly burdensome for someone as powerful as Tsumi, but it was still enough to be a nuisance. There was thickness and purity to Karna’s presence that she had not felt before with other Divines. Even with her Aura dispersed, Karna looked almost as if she was radiating light and holiness. Tsumi felt an instinctive press of sheer awe pushing at the edges of her mind despite the defenses she had in place, and there was an almost instinctual need to pay her respects in front of the girl. She could resist rather easily, but it was still an experience she’d rather not repeat.

Karna withdrew her presence almost as quickly as it had appeared and replaced the veil on her face. “Remember Headmistress, there are those with a spark of Divinity, and then there are true Divines. All Godlings are not created equal, and their parentage can make a vast difference. Some things are harder to hide than others.”

“Lesson learned. However, my point still stands. I have the materials and the artisans necessary for creating an item that will hide all traces of…well that. And you wouldn’t have to hold yourself back anymore. I suspect that suppressing your nature isn’t very pleasant.” Tsumi had truly underestimated Karna, but luckily she’d been prepared. Now she was even more eager to enlist the girl’s help.

“Your offer is still a little thin, but I’m willing to make a deal if you can do something else for me. Two things to be exact. I want my friends to also get access to all the lessons you promised me. They would also greatly benefit if they were to run into some great masters at some point. I’d like to help my friends grow into something great, and you would also benefit.” Karna had already known that hiding her status as a reincarnator was something she could keep up for a limited amount of time. She had been planning on enlisting Arjuna’s help, but Tsumi had come to offer a deal at the perfect time. If she was going to get paid for doing something she’d do anyway, why not?

“Deal. I was expecting something like that. What else?” Tsumi agreed immediately. The limits on classes and majors were more like guidelines anyway, and if Karna’s friends had decent potential, finding masters for them was just to be expected.

“You’re not the only one who wants something from me. I need you to work your connections and keep an eye out. Specifically, I need to find people who seem to be able to draw power directly from the Elemental Planes. They’re all Blessed Children, but they might not be obvious about it.” Karna could save some time and effort if she could take out some of the threats early. There were ways of handling the reincarnators without giving herself away if she got to them early enough. The results of a small scale duel were much easier to hide and keep contained than those from a world-shaking battle.

“That’s…not an ability I’ve heard about, but I suppose it would be something that wouldn’t be easily revealed unless absolutely necessary. I can keep my eye out.” Tsumi promised. It was an easy promise to make.

Chapter 23 - Judgment

A note from Vihyungrang

Week 2/5 of the practical. I hope you'll enjoy!

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Marius was not pleased. Few people would be when they had to clean up other people’s mistakes, but at least most people usually didn’t have to travel across planes to fix things when someone fucked up. “You, you, aaand you.” He pointed to three immortals in ornate silver armor from the group presented to him. The people didn’t really matter as long as they were competent and looked suitably impressive. The selected people brought their fist to their chest plate in salute and fell in step behind Marius as he walked towards a large array of gateways.

‘At least the Host has transportation under control.’ Marius thought to himself. Seeing as the armies of the Divine Planes had to defend the entire universe from the predations of the scourges, they had to have the ability to rapidly deploy troops anywhere.

“What exactly are we tasked with doing?” The most senior of the immortals Marius had picked raised his voice to question. They’d obey even if they were told nothing, but it was easier to react to sudden changes in the situation and improvise if you had enough information to work with.

“We’re going to the Higher Planes. One of our Emissaries got themselves killed by the locals. We are to find out what happened, why, and administer appropriate punishment. A new Emissary will be appointed at a later time once we have confirmed the situation.” Marius explained the basics curtly.

‘It’s a bit of a waste to not send the new Emissary with us. Would save the trouble of opening another gate.’ Marius silently judged in his mind as he watched several mages in silver robes channeling power into the large gateway they stood in front of. Passing through the space separating the Divine Plane from the planes below was not a simple matter, even for the Host. Thus having to open the gateway twice for no good reason seemed like a waste to Marius. Not that he was surprised. The Host could be somewhat inefficient at times when bureaucracy was involved. His mission was run by one department, while the replacement Emissary was handled by another, so of course the two would work separately.

The people in the capital city of the Sacred Dynasty felt their eyes being drawn towards the heavens as a grand magical formation suddenly appeared above them. They all had been expecting this for a while, so it didn’t come as a surprise. Perhaps as a result of that lack of surprise, the city of Ashur was almost empty of people. All the civilians had fled to the countryside and other cities a long time ago. They feared that either the heavens would punish their nation, or the rebels would invade and burn down the city.

The gateways used by the Host were extremely efficient, so the trip didn’t take long. Marius and the three immortals behind him floated through the tunnel connecting the planes and soon sighted the large city below them. The entire city had been built around two hills, upon which two large palaces stood, although one of the palaces was now scorched and badly damaged. The two hills were surrounded with large temple complexes dedicated to the various Divines, fanning outwards from the center of the city and towards the edges. The distance from the center was heavily dependent on the prestige of the Divinity in question. The major Deities were close to the two palaces, while minor gods only got a small shrine at the very edge of the city. The rest of the city had been built to be as pleasing to the eye as possible, ostensibly to draw the good will and attention of the heavens.

“It’s a pretty city. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it.” One of the immortals behind Marius laughed.

“Only if we deem that necessary. The entire nation is dedicated to worshipping the Divines, which is why the Emissary was placed here originally. We don’t want to offend the gods by destroying their temples unless we have to." Marius curbed their enthusiasm. It was an inconvenient fact that the Divines benefitted greatly from worship, and if their grand temples were to be leveled as part of a punishment, then the Host would only be shooting itself in the foot. "The palace, however…" Marius continued, and all four disappeared in a flash, appearing right in front of the gates of the undamaged palace.

The guards didn’t even bother trying to hinder them and threw the gates open. Hundreds of Holy Knights from various temples lined the courtyard in their grand armor, and they all stood aside as the four immortals passed. Marius could sense a bit of hostility coming from the holy warriors, which was decidedly odd considering his group were representatives of the heavens. It meant that these people were aware that this could turn into a fight, and that they’d likely be on the side opposing the four immortals.

As the four reached the gates of the inner palace and the throne room, Marius waved at one of the silver armored immortals to stick behind and take care of the Holy Knights if necessary. Then he placed a hand on the closed gates made of magical wood suffused with spell formations, and the entire gate just seemed to vanish into a bit of dust. The other two silver armored immortals fanned out from behind him to secure both sides of the large throne room, filled with the elites of the nation. Magisters, warriors, priests, and just standard nobles lined up the throne room. It wasn’t just that they had been expecting the arrival of Marius, but that the court seemed to be in session, which the arrival of the immortals had interrupted.

With self-assured steps, Marius walked towards the front of the throne room where three people sat on large thrones. One was a mage, a female human apparently, one was a warrior, a male naga with a wide cobra-like hood protruding from the sides of his head, and finally, the one in the center was a holy warrior much like the Holy Knights outside. Marius knew this armored man was the current Triarch, the leader of the Triumvirate, and the current head of the Sacred Dynasty. The man was clad in the same thick armor as all Holy Knights, this one made to look like it was formed from the scales of a dragon, but Marius suspected that the man likely didn’t hold to all the principles that bound most of those that dedicated their lives to the Divines as holy warriors.

The Triarch, seeing Marius’ approach, stood up from his throne and started to speak with a deep and authoritative voice. “Esteemed guests! If you had given us some warning about your arr…”

Marius didn't bother listening and flared his presence, the sheer weight of it pressing everyone except the silver-clad immortals on their knees to the ground. “Doesn’t matter. Introductions don’t matter either. I’m here for information, and considering an Emissary is dead, I won’t bother giving you the courtesy of waiting for you to explain and potentially lie to me. It’s much easier to just get the answers myself.”

Suddenly a large and complicated glyph depicting a large eye formed behind him, and streams of purple power rushed from the glyph into the head of the Triarch. Mind magic was always a difficult field, but Marius was an expert as his Totem was dedicated to the practice. That’s why he was often sent to clean up messes other people left behind. No one would be able to hide things from him, and he freely rifled through the memories and knowledge inside the kneeling monarch’s head.

He found what he was looking for rather quickly, but he studied the information and the person he’d gotten the information from carefully. He didn’t want to leave even the slightest chance that someone was trying to fool him with planted memories. Once he was satisfied, the tendrils of power leapt out from the Triarch and implanted into the heads of the two other members of the Triumvirate. They tried to struggle of course, but their might was insignificant in front of Marius. He quickly confirmed what he’d already found.

“All of them.” He pronounced in a cold voice. “The charge is not only the murder of an Emissary, but also heresy due to conspiring with the Underworld. The sentence for both is death.” The crime of killing an Emissary was bad, but it was child’s play in comparison to the other charge. The entire nation would be punished for that crime as a warning.

“Aye!” The two silver clad warriors got a grim look and bared their weapons, ready to execute those sentenced.

The Triarch managed to gather his wits long enough that suddenly an enormous formation that covered the entire palace sprung into existence. Clearly he’d made plans for the arrival of Marius. “Feeble struggle.” The man clad in luxurious robes made of materials only available to the denizens of the Divine Planes sniffed loudly, and suddenly it seemed like the grand formation just shattered. “Just because you managed to fight against someone who barely qualifies as an immortal, that doesn’t mean you should underestimate the Divine Planes and their agents.”

With a wave of his hand, Marius decapitated the Triarch and the two other members of the Triumvirate. The mage had not actually been aware of the heretical aspects of their actions but had joined in on the attack against the Emissary anyway. That alone was enough to seal her fate. As for the others…well, there were no innocents in the group that occupied this throne room as those who had opposed were either dead or part of the rebellion. When judging people outside this room though, Marius would have to be a bit more discerning about who was guilty and who was not. It was bad karma to kill innocents, even if you were a representative of the Divines.

The two immortals were efficient at their job. In less than a minute, all the high ranking and powerful people in the throne room were dead, and the whole place had been turned into a charnel house. This was one of the largest nations this world had, and the world was deemed powerful enough to warrant an Emissary's presence. The fact that the elites of the nation could be slain almost casually and in such a short time, seemingly without being able to offer proper resistance at that, spoke volumes of the power of the silver-clad soldiers. It helped that they could suppress the abilities of those weaker than them with just their presence.

“What of those outside?” One of the two asked Marius.

“Many of the Holy Knights took part in the fight, but they were mostly just following orders. They were not part of the greater crime. Those that fall under the sway of the scourges deserve no mercy. Those that take part in an ill-guided rebellion might be worth sparing depending on the individual. Yet they must still be punished. If they attack us, make no effort to spare them. If they do not, leave them be. I have other methods in mind.” Marius decided after a moment of consideration.

As they walked outside, they noted that the Holy Knights must have felt what had happened inside, but only a handful of them had been stupid enough to try and intervene. Those idiots now lay dead on the ground, splayed around the third silver-clad immortal as a warning. "Your rulers have been judged and found wanting. Next, I shall pass judgment on the rest of the city and the nation.” Marius declared in a calm voice that carried all over the palace.

The four immortals all flew towards the skies where the glowing form of Marius drew the attention of everyone still remaining within the capital city of the Holy Kingdom. He pointed at one of the immortals at random. “You. Go find the remaining members of the Sacred Dynasty. We shall pass judgment on them individually.” The Sacred Dynasty was not just the namesake of the entire nation, but also a family that ruled over it. Two of the three members of the Triumvirate had come from that family, and that alone placed the family under a bad light. The entire family might end up being removed if what Marius suspected was correct, but he had to make sure.

Then he gathered all his powers and a formation of divine power, much larger than the city itself, covered the skies. “Excommunicado!” He declared in a voice that was heard all over the city and pillars of golden power fell on and covered all the temples in the city. “Judgement of the Divines!”

The spell he had wrought left him exhausted and drained, and the two remaining immortals had to support him. “You actually called for the removal of blessings from all the Holy Knights in the nation?” One of them asked in slight surprise. That wasn’t something that was done lightly. “And you actually asked for every god to judge the people serving them personally?”

“Well, not personally. The Divines are busy enough as it is. They’re going to pass the responsibility off to some of their higher-ranking servants. Also not all Holy Knights. There were three temples that didn't have their members participate in this crime at all, so they were spared.” Marius explained between pained coughs. Drawing the attention of all the Divines whose temples were present in the city had left him completely dry of all his own powers.

“Which ones?” The other immortal in silver armor asked out of sheer curiosity. They were also waiting for Marius to recover a bit, so they might as well spend that time chatting.

“Well, one of them was the Temple of the Sacred Lady.” Marius lifted a finger.

“Makes sense. They don’t even have Holy Knights.” The curious immortal nodded. The Goddess that had become known as the Sacred Lady had been known as the Goddess of Mercy even before her death, and nowadays the faith worked very differently from all others, which was only natural seeing as they essentially worshipped a dead goddess and had done so for countless years. Even in the current day, the faith retained the aspect of mercy, and none of the adherents used offensive spells and dedicated their lives to helping those in need. That was one of the reasons the faith stayed alive and respected. It was surprisingly popular actually, as it drew in those who wanted to dedicate their lives to helping others.

“The second one was the Temple of Divines.” Marius lifted a second finger.

"Of course, the temple that serves all the Divines equally." The other immortal nodded as well. Nearly all Holy Knights started as members of this temple until they later on dedicated themselves to a particular Deity. The temple was also in charge of training most holy warriors, and thus held the largest number of Holy Knights, albeit most of them being trainees and those of low rank.

"The last one was the temple dedicated to the various Gods of Death." Marius lifted a third finger. "That one was both a surprise and not at all unexpected. The Death Gods have been acting weird for years now, and I expect they've given some orders to their temples as well." Usually, the Divine Planes held a major Divinity in charge of a large domain, like the God of Death, and then they had several lesser Divinities that ruled over a particular aspect of that domain, like the Goddess of the Souls, or the God of Plagues.

“So most of the Holy Knights of the nation just lost the source of their powers as they were all excommunicated? And the priests and other wielders of holy powers are currently undergoing an examination by the gods they serve on whether they get to keep theirs or not, right?” The first immortal that had started asking questions pushed for more information.

“In a nutshell, yes.” Marius nodded. “The Holy Knights can appeal their innocence to the gods they serve, but that’s going to take a long while, and not all of them will get their powers back. In fact, I suspect most of them won’t.”

“Considering this is a nation dedicated to faith, that means they just lost most of their war potential.” The immortal continued. “I can only imagine what happens next.”

“Yes, and the country is already in the middle of a rather problematic rebellion. Once we’ve dealt with the Sacred Dynasty, we’ll leave behind a decree. This world has four major powers left now that this place is about to fall. One of them will become the home of the new Emissary. The decree will state that whichever of the four powers gain control of this city will become the one to house the Emissary next. That shall be the punishment for this country.” Marius decided. The southern neighbor of this nation was the most obvious choice, but the Magocracy wasn’t exactly filled with fervent believers, and it was also fair to give the others the opportunity to compete for the attention of the Divine Planes.

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“This is crazy!” Duskclaw exclaimed. “We’ve always had peaceful relations with the Holy Kingdom, albeit slightly tenuous at times.”

Arjuna and she were standing on the deck of the 1st Fleet flagship as the fleet as well as two others prepared to Shift above the Holy Kingdom’s capital of Ashur. “And yet it must be done. Our forces have already moved across the border on all fronts. If we don’t, then others will. The armed forces of the dynasty were already in disarray before the decree, and now they are like headless chickens running around without any direction.”

“Does the High Council of Magisters believe we can just simply annex huge swathes of land like this? I don’t doubt that we have the military advantage, but taking the land and resources is different from holding them. The people were already rebelling against the dynasty, so what does the council think will happen when we take over?” Duskclaw argued.

“They have no illusions about this being a simple or easy endeavor. Our two countries are very different and friction will be inevitable. That said, it seems we’re facing a lot less opposition than expected. Many of the dynasty’s armies have simply surrendered when our forces showed up. In a religious country like theirs, being judged harshly by the heavens carries a lot of weight. And while our cultures clash in certain ways, at the very least they are familiar with how the Magocracy does things. They know we are tolerant of the cultures of our allies. The Aegean Empire? Not so much.” Arjuna explained the thinking of the council. He had personally voted against this action, but he didn’t completely disagree with the idea either.

“But why did we have to attack in the first place? The High Elven Court would’ve been unlikely to attack if we didn’t. They would’ve been too worried about leaving themselves open against the Aegean Empire, and that alone would’ve dampened the aggression of the Empire as well, as the problem would've been mutual. I don't think the Alliance of Saurian Kingdoms would've wanted to attack alone. Even in their weakened state, the armies of the Holy Kingdom aren't completely gone and the lizards would've been hard-pressed to deal with the remaining forces by themselves. Now that we've made the first move, the others will be forced to action. They can't allow us to just swallow the Holy Kingdom as a whole.” Duskclaw argued.

“That was an issue I also raised. We could’ve even supported the Holy Kingdom in forming a new interim government, perhaps from amongst the rebels, and their nation could've survived, even if diminished. Unfortunately, Ashanti didn't leave us with other options. He's been actively searching for areas to expand to, and he just got an easy target. We already got word from our sources that he ordered a full mobilization as soon as the word about the decree spread. The only reason we got a jump on them was because our forces were already on the border and because the Empire will have to deal with the logistic hurdle created by the distance.” Arjuna had been asked to lead the all-important assault they were now taking part in to make sure Ashanti wouldn’t be able to interfere.

Soon enough the remaining inhabitants of Ashur had to deal with another enormous magical formation appearing above their city. This time the formation didn't bring heavenly judgment, but it did bring three sizeable fleets of airships with the accompanying auxiliary forces. “Time to ask for their surrender. I hope they’ll agree and not put up a futile struggle.” Arjuna gave a deep sigh. Normally invading the capitol of another large nation would never be this easy, but the defenses of Ashur had been effectively neutered by the four people from the Divine Planes, as well as the defensive formations collapsing as the power supporting it had been withdrawn. The whole city was just waiting for someone to invade, and now the first invasion had arrived.

Chapter 24 - Domination

A note from Vihyungrang

Week 3/5 of the practical. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

”We’re getting spread out too much! Regroup and gather back at point alpha!” Shaheera gave a hasty command through the enchanted earring that was connected to three other similar pieces of jewelry. He fingered the bauble while praising its usefulness in his mind. Karna had created them in her artisan classes, and the items had shown their usefulness several times already. Communications were a very important aspect of strategy after all.

"What's wrong?" Rein called out as he was the first to arrive at the meeting point.

“I feel like they’re trying to pull us apart and separate us. It’s better to stay together and not play their game. These people aren’t as easy to defeat as the other second-year groups we've faced before." Shaheera explained just as Karna also jumped down from a branch above them.

They were currently using one of the Academy's small forests for a Tactics and Combat exercise. This course was a little different from those they'd had before because it was more advanced and mostly had students from other years taking part. Only their group had been allowed to attend from year one, and the reason became obvious soon. The later years had spent a lot longer practicing these kinds of skills and had a lot more experience working as a group. Even if the group of first years was at the top of their year and extremely talented, these exercises were a lot more balanced and equal than when they fought the other first years.

“What did I miss?” Miralen asked with a cheery voice as she jogged out from between the trees. She of course seemed at home in a forest environment.

“I was just explaining to Rein that I think this is a tr…" Shaheera started to explain but was interrupted almost as soon as he started.

Karna seemed to cross the distance between her and Miralen in the blink of an eye and planted her fist in the elven girl’s belly with full power. The two boys could actually hear a crack of thunder and saw a small flash of lighting as the completely stunned elf was blasted through several nearby trees and slumped on the ground helpless. “What are you doing Karna?!” Rein shouted in panic and pointed his weapon at the not-so-small-anymore girl. Not that he was stupid enough to try using that weapon. it was just an instinctive response.

“That’s not Miralen. It wasn’t illusion magic either. A Changeling?” Karna asked with a curious voice while cracking her knuckles as she walked closer to the one she had just blasted away. "I don't think she's a second-year either, which is why I hit her so hard."

The being had already changed its appearance away from Miralen. Its form was shifting back and forth a bit, but the being now generally looked like a normal human. It was rather hard to tell though, as its form was in constant flux while it was busy trying to vomit out everything he or she had eaten and was already coming up empty. "You didn't need to hit me that hard." The being managed to croak out finally, after managing to get a bit of air into her lungs.

“Ah, but I was nice enough to hold back and everything. If I had been really serious, you’d have a fist-sized hole in your belly. That said, I don’t really appreciate it when someone tries to assume the form of one of my friends. I find attempts to steal someone’s identity, even for a short time, highly offensive.” Karna retorted with a dark voice that showed her clear intention to continue using violence on the other person.

“Duly noted.” The being that could now clearly be identified as female said.

Karna squatted next to the still-recovering Changeling, now radiating a bit of danger. "Besides, you're not a member of the squad we're supposed to be fighting either. I couldn't go too easy on someone who's a fourth-ranked warrior. Now, a quick explanation please, and make it fast so I don’t have to keep beating you, just to make sure you don’t become a threat.”

“And where’s Miralen?” Shaheera asked another important question. If this being had taken the elf’s place, then…

"What about me?" The Dark Elf girl asked as she seemed to arrive at the meeting point at the perfect timing without noticing anything was wrong. "Sorry, I'm late. I got delayed by one of their backliners. Incidentally, their team is now one backliner short.”

Karna took a hold of the Changeling’s throat and lifted her up into the air with one hand, seemingly effortlessly. She still wasn’t someone that could be considered tall, so she had to lift the taller Changeling above her head just to keep the being’s feet off the ground. "This one was about to explain why she had assumed your form.”

The Changeling tried to struggle against Karna’s grip and actually tied her legs around Karna’s arm in an attempt to gain leverage and struggle free of her grip. Not that it helped much. Karna stood firm and seemingly unaffected by the struggle. Instead, she channeled a bit of magic through her hand and the Changeling found herself being shocked by lightning. "Behave," Karna commanded. "I'm still acting polite all things considered, but my patience is wearing thin.” She squeezed a bit harder on the Changeling’s throat, now actually making it difficult to breathe.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll talk!” The Changeling croaked out, and Karna allowed her grip to loosen a bit, to allow her to breathe. Now she was mostly just holding the struggling being in place.

“I’m called Mint. I was sent here to make trouble for Karna. Those I work for aren't exactly fond of the fact that you turned them down." The Changeling explained and was rewarded by Karna dropping her on the ground rather unceremoniously.

“Wow, Karna. You were just a child only a few months ago, and you already have people propositioning to you?” Miralen teased a bit, though she was doing that partially to shake off the discomfort of someone taking her appearance and trying to use that against the group. She had not seen it, but she had picked up enough from context clues to know what was going on.

“She didn’t grow that much.” Rein grumbled. He disliked the fact that he couldn’t lord Karna’s short stature over her anymore.

“Yeah, she did.” Shaheera just bluntly corrected him. If Karna had looked like a child before, now she was more like a mid-teen.

"Yeah, she did." Rein quickly admitted with a defeated sigh. Thanks to cultivating, they were all developing faster than mortals of similar age, but Karna’s had all of them beat in that field as well, and she was also younger than them. Something they kept forgetting thanks to her maturity.

Karna decided wisely to ignore the by-play and addressed the Changeling instead. "Go back to your employers and give them a warning. I don't take well when people try to create trouble for me. I couldn't care less about their injured pride, however, I know this. A slightly bruised ego is not worth making potentially dangerous enemies. I'm also the vindictive type. These sorts of things are all fun and games until you start making real enemies, and I show no mercy to my enemies, no matter their background. Understood?”

“I’ll relay the message. They won’t be too happy about it though.” Mint replied honestly. She wasn’t personally invested in the whole thing, and Karna’s reaction to the situation wasn’t new to her. She’d been in similar situations before. That was the danger Changelings often ran into.

“Their happiness is not required. Only their compliance.” Karna said coldly. She knew they would not take the warning. Or at least not all of them would. Pride made people blind. Even she wasn’t immune to that sin. She’d need to make an example at least once. She just hoped the other party wasn’t stupid enough to force her to make multiple examples.

She waved to the rest of her team. “Now come on. We still have two more enemies to hunt down, and they seem to have been complicit in this. Let’s not be too gentle in showing our displeasure. Defeating them will make a stronger statement than ratting them out to the teachers.”

--------

“Good job!” Menkhaf patted her on the back, even surprising himself with the gesture. “Your new strength has really improved your crafting. It took you a bit of time to get used to it, but now you don’t have to strain yourself anymore, and the whole process feels more natural.”

‘He isn’t wrong.’ Karna thought to herself. Her motions became more natural as she got stronger. ‘And with the lessons advancing, I can finally start showing some of my real skills.’

It had been bugging her for a while now that she had to avoid using some of the tricks she’d learned in previous lives. Tricks that were not all that complicated, but vastly increased the quality of the final product and made the whole process easier. Something rather basic like refining the grain microstructure of the metal was something she wasn't allowed to do, simply because the lessons had not gone into such things yet. Finally, the teachers had started showing her methods that could affect such things, ranging from the smelting to the way she actually hammered and treated the metal, so she no longer needed to hold back on such basics. It had pained her to use the smith's hammer in ways that actually damaged the final product before this, but it would’ve been too obvious if she hadn’t made those errors. Making such errors went against her nature and pushed her towards revealing her true skills.

“So I hear the headmistress made some sort of an offer to you?” Menkhaf asked in a seemingly innocent voice.

“I believe she likely already informed you of the deal.” Karna smiled under the veil. The teacher was fishing for extra details. Then she frowned at the veil itself. The damn thing really got in the way in the forge. It would be good to get rid of it. She was planning on phasing the damn thing out in the next few weeks. Not while in public necessarily, but at least with her friends and while crafting.

"I suppose she did," Menkhaf admitted with a sigh. “She said we should teach you everything with no concern for the major you choose. An unusual order to say the least. Not the first time, but unusual.”

"The circumstances are unusual as well," Karna replied non-committaly.

Menkhaf seemed frustrated by something, scratching his beard furiously. “Just tell me. Are you really a Blessed Child? I can swear not to tell anyone. It’s just…sometimes it feels like I’m only pretending to teach you and you’re pretending to learn something you already know. It’s like I’m teaching someone who’s already a master, but is only holding back. It…makes me feel like we’re wasting time that we could be using for better things.”

Karna lifted an eyebrow at his directness and perceptivity. This was the second time this dwarven Artificer had impressed her with his acumen, the first time being during the affinity test. “You already know that Blessed Children can’t admit to being one. However, there is something you should test.”

“Which is?” Menkhaf asked eagerly.

“If you think you’re teaching something I’m already familiar with, then maybe test things out by teaching something more advanced next time. Let’s see how far and how fast we can push things.” Karna suggested with the same kind of faked innocence the teacher had used before.

---------

"They've come," Wolfgang said with a calm voice that betrayed no real surprise. He looked out at the horizon from the flagship of the 1st fleet stationed above the previous capital of the Sacred Dynasty.

“I suppose they couldn’t avoid at least making an attempt. They couldn’t let us have this place without a fight.” Arjuna replied, equally unruffled. The city had surrendered mostly peacefully as soon as it became clear that the Magocracy had no plans of just taking over everything. It also helped that the city was mostly empty even before they arrived.

“They certainly kept us waiting. I expected the Aegean Empire to be the first ones to take a crack at us, not the Saurians.” Duskclaw added.

“It’s because they wanted to bring their ground forces along. Unlike us, the lizards don’t have too many airships. They have many creatures that can fly at their command, but those tend to be too small and weak to stand up in a proper battle without support. On the other hand, their ground armies are quite strong, and our ground forces still haven’t reached the city. Not that it much matters with you here.” Wolfgang estimated the plans of the Saurian Kingdoms.

The Magocracy was taking its time to slowly conquer and absorb the territories of the previous Holy Kingdom in an attempt to avoid being stabbed in the back by rebellions and uprisings by the original populace. That meant that the only forces the Magocracy had in the city were the original three fleets of airships. A formidable force, but not exactly an optimal force for defending a large city. Airships were handy, but they didn't win large battles by themselves.

“We’re winning this easily, right?” Duskclaw could do the math as well, but she was still confident.

“We should be fine. There’s a reason the Saurian Kingdoms have never expanded beyond their current borders despite the power of their armies. I can sense only three rank eight beings among the entire army, and not a single one even at the beginning of ninth rank. With both me and Wolfgang here, this should not be a too difficult battle.” Arjuna said confidently.

He was the premier combat magus of the entire Magocracy and one of the, if not the most powerful combatant in the Higher Planes currently. Aside from the Emissaries of course. Wolfgang had also been sent to support him, and that pretty much decided this battle for good. High ranking individuals didn’t completely invalidate entire armies, as most armies had developed various tactics to deal with such individuals, but the power they could project could easily swing battles if they were not kept in check by other people of at least similar rank. Wolfgang would be able to deal with the three strongest individuals among the Saurians, which left Arjuna free to rain death and destruction on the enemy.

“I still don’t understand why the empire hasn’t attacked us yet.” Duskclaw returned to her earlier point. “They were the fastest to react after us, and they would actually have the strength to fight against us on a relatively equal footing. I hate to say it, but Ashanti might even be able to fight you master, even if he wouldn’t win.”

Arjuna loosened his shoulders a bit in preparation for the upcoming battle. "This isn't widely known yet, but the old fogies in the council finally had a good idea for once.”

“You do remember you’re on the council yourself, right?” Wolfgang asked rhetorically with a small lopsided smile.

Arjuna just ignored him. “They realized that this whole thing would turn into a mess if all four powers clashed openly, so they approached the High Elven Court for an official alliance. The whole thing isn’t official yet, as the details are still being hammered out, but there’s already an unofficial agreement in place. That has the empire getting jumpy, as the alliance between us and elves is more than enough to counter their forces rather decisively. The empire was leery of the elves alone, and seeing us getting involved…”

“And since the Saurian Kingdoms happen to hate the Aegeans after losing the Salanak Islands to the empire’s navy, Ashanti is a little short on ways to counter the alliance. Smart. On the other hand, the Saurians know our alliance isn’t really directed against them, so they’re free to test us out without being too worried about the elves getting involved. We might actually manage to divide the old Holy Kingdom without the whole mess turning into an all-out war.” Wolfgang nodded in understanding.

“Now you jinxed it.” Duskclaw gave a deep sigh.

Arjuna tapped his wrist, and a small communication sigil appeared above his sleeve. “Admiral, the enemy seems to have come with a significant number of flyers. Take the fleet higher, and let’s start harassing them. Just because we’re supposed to be defending a city, doesn’t mean we want to give up the high ground and our mobility advantage.”

"Yes, Grand Medjai." The voice of the female admiral acknowledged. In less than twenty seconds, the entirety of the three fleets was gaining altitude and flying directly towards the enemy. The fast ships crossed the distance quickly, and soon enough they could see details of their enemy.

"What the heck is that?" Wolfgang asked with a frown and pointed at the figure leading the army. There, a white-scaled Saurian warrior with a large spiky crest and a golden-colored armor sat astride a large beast that seemed to be all muscle and teeth. The beast was standing on two legs like a bird, but that's where the similarities ended. Its four limbs were all filled with hard muscle and scale, and it had a wide thick tail that balanced its heavily front-leaning upper body. It also had a huge maw much like the Saurians themselves, filled with razor-sharp teeth. It was also gigantic enough to bite one of the airships in two.

“You haven’t seen a Carnosaur before?” Duskclaw asked innocently. “Our tribes often run into them as we border the Jungles and volcanoes inhabited by the Saurian Kingdoms. They like to hunt anything lower than them in the food chain. Which means anything that moves. Or doesn’t.”

Wolfgang cleared his throat a bit. “I’ve heard the Saurians use beasts in war, but I’ve never actually fought them before, so…”

"Well, here's a bit of advice my father gave me way back when. Don't get bitten. Those things can easily bite through any armor, and even a high-ranking warrior like yourself would be ill-served by the experience. The power in their jaws is terrifying.” Duskclaw almost cracked a smile at her suggestion.

“Gee, thanks. That’s so helpful.” Wolfgang grumbled sarcastically. It was clear he’d have to deal with the damn beast, seeing as both the beast and the rider were among the three rank eight beings in the enemy army.

“You’re very welcome. Now how are we going to deal with all those flyers?” Duskclaw changed the topic. The enemy army was covered by thousands of small flying creatures ranging from those that were not much bigger than a normal bird, to flying lizards that were almost the size of the smallest airship in their fleet.

"Leave that up to me," Arjuna stated confidently. “Admiral, open fire. No need to waste a good advantage on faking negotiations that will fail anyway.”

“Opening fire.” The Admiral’s voice sounded again and soon enough thumping sounds could be heard as magical cannon began to unleash their deadly barrage at the army below. The three fleets moved into a formation where they could easily support each other while firing at the shield of energy that had suddenly sprung up to defend the troops below. At the same time, the mages below them started casting their spells, which were deflected by the protective magic surrounding the airships.

This was how most engagements began. The long-range asset of both groups would test the defenses of the opposing army. If one side spotted a potential weakness, then that would be exploited mercilessly, but most of the time such obvious weaknesses didn't materialize. In most cases, there were two options. Either the two forces would settle into a battle of attrition, or one side decided that they'd be better served by closing the distance and turning the whole thing into a melee. With one side of the current battle being entirely made of flying forces and the main force of the opposing army being on foot, the possibility of melee was rather limited.

Not that the Saurian would just stand there and take the punishment of course. They sent in their own flying forces at the airships, supported by their mages, while the warriors got into formations and combined their ki to launch attacks towards the ships above them. The methods varied based on the enemy, but the most common tactic was for a single squad or company to combine their ki, which was then channeled by the company’s commander into powerful attacks. Sometime when the enemy was especially powerful, entire regiments or even armies could combine their powers to strike with enough strength to even cause someone like Arjuna some issues. The effectiveness and efficiency of such attacks varied greatly on the army using the tactic, as well as the leader who had to channel all that power of course.

“Well, then. Let’s see what kind of damage we can cause.” Arjuna declared and suddenly the entire area seemed to be covered in shadows. It was time to remind the enemy why he was called the Shadow Weaver.

------

Tuc-mo’etzpec growled in anger as enormous maws made of shadow suddenly started descending from the skies. Numerous flying creatures seemingly created out of pure darkness also materialized out of nowhere. The pterodactyl riders of their army were good fliers and agilely tried to avoid the attacks, but the shadows seemed to have come alive and adjusted their path of attack when their targets dodged. Just to make things even more difficult, showers of shadowy spears seemed to appear almost at random from the sides of all the shadowy creatures, targeting and shooting down fliers that had managed to avoid the original attacks. It was raining death, and there was little they could do to avoid it.

Tuc-mo’etzpec had known this attack was foolish. They didn’t have the manpower to go against the elites of the Magocracy. A proper Saurian would gladly give their life for the nation, and none of the brave warriors fled despite the horrid situation. Yet just throwing their lives away was plain stupid. The Saurian Kingdoms didn’t lack for warriors, and they could always spawn more to replace those that had been lost, but the experience and training of the warriors that died would be lost and wasted.

A sudden sound of an appreciative whistle came from near Tuc-mo’etzpec. Since the Saurian didn’t have the mouth-shape for making that kind of sound, the sound must have come from an enemy, causing both Tuc-mo’etzpec and his trusty mount Deathfang to spin towards the source of the sound. They found a sloppily dressed human man with a sword tied to his hip standing nearby. The human seemed to be chewing on some kind of straw for some reason. “It seems old Arjuna went a bit overboard. I don’t think he needed to decimate most of your army, don’t you agree?” The man asked with a playful tone.

Tuc-mo’etzpec couldn’t properly sense the strength of the man for some reason, but his instincts told him that he should be afraid. Apparently, Deathfang agreed as the mount took several slow steps backwards. The man turned his eyes from the sky towards the two. “Oh, my apologies. How rude of me to ignore you like that. It seems it’s my duty to take care of you, and I can’t allow Arjuna to have all the fun.”

Before Tuc-mo’etzpec had a chance to respond, the man swung his hand towards the two, his fingers looking like claws. A blood-red palm made of pure ki was launched towards him, and the weight of the attack was pressing on Tuc-mo’etzpec like he was drowning. Quickly he activated the magical runes in his armor, drawing on the stored power within, and sent a shining orb of ki to meet the bloody-red hand. The two attacks collided in the air and the sudden burst of power buffeted everyone nearby, causing significant casualties to the surrounding troops, which was a problem as all of them were Saurians.

Tuc-mo’etzpec had stopped the attack, but the effort had drained most the power in his armor in one hit, and it was clear he was outmatched. Deathclaw agreed and suddenly turned tail to run away. “Hey! Don’t leave so soon! We just started!” The weird man shouted after the two, but apparently didn’t want to bother chasing.

No proper Saurian would shy away from giving their life for the nation, but throwing away lives was simply stupid. Sometimes discretion was better. Maybe they could return with more strength? Or maybe they could just not return and save their strength. They’d already benefitted from taking over parts of the Holy Kingdom after all…

Chapter 25 - Tournament arc?

A note from Vihyungrang

Week 4/5 of the practical. Haven't had a proper day off in almost two weeks, but luckily next week should be more relaxed. I hope you'll enjoy!

EDIT: Yeah, her age got retconned a few months.

------

Karna luxuriated in her soft surroundings as she stretched out on her rather impressive hoard of pillows. This was the feeling that she sought out, as she flexed her toes and allowed her fingers to sink into a pair of fluffy masses of fabric and feathers. She had no idea why most dragons insisted on lying on piles of coins when there were clearly superior options available. Coins were hard and cold and much better spent on buying something more comfortable to sprawl on. Most of the room was covered in a range of soft and fluffy objects, and there was actually no need for her to use the bed that was buried somewhere under the pile.

Her luxuriating was interrupted by a very familiar knock at her door. With a small sound of resignation, she got up from her ever-growing pile of fluff and made it towards the door of her bedroom. A single thought opened the outer door that her visitors had knocked on, and the three usual people met her in the kitchen. “Happy late birthday!” Miralen called out before any other greetings could be exchanged. The brown-skinned elven girl shoved a small present into her hands and gave her a quick one-handed hug.

“Why, thank you Miralen. I didn’t expect you to bring me a present when we talked about birthdays yesterday. You got this quite fast.” Karna said with a grateful voice. Getting presents was fun, even if she didn’t really need them. The old adage about the thought counting was not just a platitude.

“Nonsense. You gave me a present as well when it was my birthday, so it was only natural to return the favor. You should’ve told us when your birthday actually happened. We could’ve celebrated! Now we’re almost six months late. Still, I think you’re going to like it. Also you could've mentioned that you turned eleven only weeks after our first year began. I kept thinking you were ten for months.” Miralen had a sneaky expression on her face, which made Karna quite sure the present was some kind of pillow. The elven girl was the only one aware of her hoard, as she had managed to keep others away from her bedroom. Well, the elven girl and the Changeling that had broken into her room. And anyone that the Changeling had blabbed to. So maybe quite a few people knew actually?

With a slight bit of trepidation, she opened the small box enough to peek inside, and found her suspicions confirmed. Inside was a bright pink pillow with humorous pictures of stylized dragons prancing around. She could sense the pillow was actually enchanted to make it extra soft and fluffy. "You know me too well," Karna said with a genuine grin spreading on her face. Miralen had good taste. Pink wasn’t her favorite color, but she didn’t dislike it either, and the rest of the pillow definitely made up for it. Besides, the color was an obvious joke.

The smile caught the others a bit by surprise, as they were still getting used to seeing Karna without her veil. They all agreed it was a good idea for her to still keep the veil on while in public. Otherwise, she'd draw too much attention, different from the kind of attention that she was already getting. She only took the veil off while they were in private, or while she was taking her artisan classes, as there the veil just got in the way.

“What did you get her?” Shaheera asked curiously, as was his nature. He and Rein had also brought a present, but the two weren’t all that confident in their choice of a book on different forms of magic. They need not have worried. Books were among Karna’s favorite things as well; even if the subject was something she could’ve written a book on herself.

“Girls have to have their secrets.” Miralen simply replied mysteriously. Incidentally, Karna had created protective amulets for all three of them during the last few months. Fortunately, the three all had their birthdays relatively close together, though that was less due to luck and more due to the proximity of the night during which the pathway to the Spirit World opened. There were always more births near that time, and several festivals dedicated to love had been strategically placed so that the children that resulted from the festivals would be born around the same time. Of course, that mostly applied to humans as the majority species of the Magocracy, as the other species had varying gestation periods, but the same principle still applied.

“It’s the thought that counts.” Karna waved their concerns away. It wasn’t like she couldn’t get anything they would be able to get their hands on by herself if she really wanted to.

“Have you all considered what to do for your end of the year test?” Rein suddenly changed the subject with his usual tact and grace. The test was still several months away, but this time there was a need to prepare.

“Well, I’ve got a fairly easy opportunity available to me in that I can just craft something suitably impressive, but I'm keeping my options open. Why? Did you have something in mind?" Karna asked, noticing the other two were not surprised by the question. Clearly, the subject had come up before. They had discussed the topic without her.

While the test at the end of the first five months was mostly theoretical with a dash of practical mixed in, the test you had to take to be promoted to the second year was the other way around. The test had a theoretical component, and they’d be scored in everything they’d been learning the entire year, but the theoretical portion was given a lot less weight this time. The students had to show what they had learned in practice, and the most common way to do so was to undertake some missions or jobs that allowed your skills to shine. Each task would grant the students points, and if you managed enough points you would be promoted to the next year.

Since the points would also take in the scores of the theoretical tests and their performance during the year, the better you had done before the test itself, the less you had to do during the testing period to actually get promoted to the second year. As a result, a student with already good scores could go for something flashy and get all the necessary points in a single swoop, while those with worse scores and those that had not shown improvement during the year had their work cut out for them. Those students would have to do a lot more to gain the necessary scores.

The test to get to the second year was mostly one to weed out those that had not shown enough improvement and willingness to work hard, which is why most first years managed to get through the test if they had made it this far in the first place. Those that didn’t have the ability or the work ethics had already given up during the year. The tests for later years would be much more difficult. “Well, seeing as we’re the top students of the year, we don’t actually have to do too much to get promoted. That said, I think we all agree that our goal is not to just get by. Our scores will give us the opportunity to challenge the remaining second years for the top spots, and I think I’m speaking for all of us in saying that I’d rather keep my spot in the second year as well.”

As students of the Academy went up in years, the portion of older students that had not yet been promoted would naturally increase. The Academy had in place methods that allowed the newly promoted gifted students to challenge the old students for the top spots of the new year. It was a relatively fair system, and it wasn’t necessarily about challenging students to a duel. That was certainly one method, but not the most widely used one. The final result was a combination of the students’ scores, learning, and the estimates of the teachers.

Sometimes the newly promoted students failed in their challenge, and that was only fair as the older students had studied at the Academy longer and simply knew more and had more experience. On the other hand, seeing as they failed to get promoted to the next year, they weren’t exactly the top students of the year either. Exceptional students like the four of them could usually manage to reach the top of the new year, while more mediocre students would struggle, as students like Karna and Shaheera usually had skills and knowledge beyond just their lessons.

“Of course not. We're aiming for the top. Was there even a point to the question?" Miralen was rather firm in her opinion. "We've been beating second-year students in our tactics class for months now, and that includes some of their top students as well. The ones expected to gain their promotion I mean. It would be embarrassing to be placed below them in the rankings after that.”

“Which brings me to what I had in mind. We have a few months until the tests so we can hash out the details as we go along, but I think we should take a three-pronged approach to this. First of all, I think we should challenge the number one group of the second year during the tactics lessons. If we beat them, it's going to send a clear signal about our combat abilities. We've so far avoided the best second-year groups because they're much better equipped and have much more experience, but I think it's time we take the plunge.

“That brings me to the second part of my plan. I think Karna can earn some nice extra points if she manages to personally take care of the gear difference, and we all use items she creates to gain victory. While she manages the gear, the three of us will have to pick up our own training. We could allow ourselves to be carried by Karna, but that’s not going to be great for our own scores, and it would be a rather crummy thing to do as a friend. I want the three of us to try and close the gap between us, if only just a bit. To that end, I want us to do most of the fighting during the actual challenges.” Shaheera purposefully goaded Rein and Miralen. Karna had not intentionally shown off the difference in strength and skill between them, but it had become rather clear anyway.

“I agree. It would be even better if the three of us handled the fights for the next few months entirely and Karna stepped in only if absolutely necessary. All the teachers are already aware of her skill, so it won’t hurt her to hold back. Besides, it’s annoying to be losing to someone younger.” Miralen softened her words with a playful smile, but there was truth to her words.

“The three of you have plenty of talent. You just need some experience.” Karna reassured them, and she wasn’t just being polite. For non-reincarnators Miralen and Shaheera had great potential. Even Rein had quite a bit, even if a bit less than the other two. Miralen and Shaheera could become real powerhouses if given the chance to hone themselves. Even Rein could be a strong fighter, although he would not reach the heights of his father or brother without some serious help. Sometimes the talent gap was simply too large to bridge with effort alone, and while Rein wasn’t lacking in talent, Sieg and their father were just in a different category. With the right kind of teaching and enough effort, Rein would be able to bridge some of that gap, but the gap would still always exist and would always hinder Rein.

"You said a three-part plan?" Rein prompted, as Shaheera had only mentioned two.

“I think we should try to complete a mission that is usually considered beyond first years. That would be suitably flashy, and it would be just the kind of display of practical skill that the teachers seem to be looking for.” Shaheera explained. “This is the part that needs the most work as we’ll need to find a suitable mission. We might have to do several to have the right type of impact, but the idea should be workable.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Karna agreed. “Just don’t forget to study the theoretical parts as well. Even if this is a more practical test, there’s still the theory portion and anything you learn can be a great boon as well.” She reminded them. The courses after the break had been less theory focused as a whole, but they still had a long way to go with simple theory as well. The Academy was doing an admirable job of teaching the basics, so she had little to add for now.

------

Karna was somewhat surprised to see Tsumi already waiting in their usual meeting place. "Well you seem eager," Karna said as a way of greeting, while the Headmistress caught Gem out of the air as the traitorous spirit jumped into the older woman's lap to be pampered.

“Well, it just so happens that an opportunity has come up. How would you like to earn a whole lot of contribution points? Enough to make sure your position as the number one ranked student once your promotion to the second year is official. At the same time, you'd get the chance to check out one of those individuals you wanted me to look for." Tsumi suggested, seeming very pleased with herself.

“I’m listening. Seeing as you’re offering that many points, you must have something bothersome in mind, so what’s the catch?” Karna gestured for the older woman to continue.

“As it happens, there’s a tournament of sorts for younger students held on a particular world. Many of the best institutes of learning will be making an appearance from our plane. It’s a relatively sizeable and prestigious event but nothing too major as there won’t be any audience present. Only about a dozen of the highest-ranking worlds in our plane are attending, so it’s not something that involves the other Higher Planes. I call it a tournament, but the whole thing is much more about allowing each of the best institutes to show off their most promising students, and there’s a large non-combat portion, which is actually the part I want you to participate in. It’s also more about making connections and giving the young students some experience, and not about real duels. The whole thing starts in a few weeks, so we'd have to leave within a week to get there in time." Tsumi gave a brief summary.

“And why didn’t you mention this earlier?” Karna raised an eyebrow in question.

“Two reasons. Well, three in a way. First of all, I wasn’t sure if you were ready to participate in these sorts of things yet. Usually, we only take students from the fourth year and up. The age limit is actually thirteen, but with the way you look and act, no one can really complain if we don't tell anyone you're too young to attend." Tsumi gestured up and down Karna’s body, obviously hinting at the fact that just a few months ago she'd looked her age but didn't any longer. "I also wasn't sure if you had enough strength to attend, but your recent bouts with the second-year students have allowed me to see more of what you’ve been holding back, and now I’m confident in taking you along. Especially if we mostly have you stick to the non-combat portion of the event. Secondly, most of the students that we’re taking along are the crowned students of older years. I assumed your relations with them might be a little strained with you rejecting their offer to join their little club.”

“And the third reason?” Karna prompted. She had actually expected more trouble from her rejection, but it seemed the group was biding its time.

“Well, the tournament will take a while. During that time, you won’t be able to help your friends.” Tsumi simply shrugged. She knew Karna likely had plans for her little group and didn’t want to mess them up.

“Well, funny you should mention that. They just told me that they want to get stronger on their own so that I won’t be carrying them all the time, so now’s their chance. This timing seems a little too convenient to be a complete accident though.” Karna looked at Tsumi with obvious suspicion. Even a blind person would be able to see foul play involved in a ‘coincidence’ like this.

"I may have encouraged some teachers to gently plant the idea to your friends," Tsumi admitted shamelessly.

“Uh-huh. I don’t appreciate the manipulation, but I’ll let it slide this once. You mentioned that you found one of the targets I’m seeking? Which one? And I’m guessing they will be attending?” Karna didn’t mind the lost time as their plan didn’t call for her presence for a while as the others trained. Her friends needed some space to grow their skills without being overshadowed by her. They also needed to realize just how good they were when they weren’t comparing themselves to her. Kicking the asses of some older students should go a long way to accomplishing that.

As for the items she had promised the others, she could work on them when she returned, or even while she was gone. She didn’t actually require the Academy’s facilities to create the items. She would simply need to use some of her more advanced skills to compensate. The only things she needed were materials, and those were easy to come by and take along. The three would have to pay for the materials anyway, so they might as well do so upfront.

“One of my associates reported someone who might be pulling power from the Elemental Plane of Air. My friend can’t be certain, as the target is only a handful of years older than you, but I thought this was a good opportunity to confirm things. Besides, other Blessed Children will be attending as well, so this plays into our other plans quite well.” Tsumi had a good reason to be pleased with herself. Karna had to admit that she had not expected results this quickly.

This did put a little wrinkle in her plans though. She had not expected to run into one of her targets quite this soon. She didn’t mind horribly if people knew she was a “Blessed Child” or if the other reincarnators knew she was one. She had already reached a point where she wasn’t defenseless. It could be a little inconvenient and cause her family and friends to look at her differently, but that was more a nuisance than a real problem. No, the real problem was if the other reincarnators realized who she truly was. That could invite the sort of fury down on her that could consume the entire Magocracy. There were quite a few reincarnators that would stop at nothing to kill her. She could probably escape, but she wouldn’t be able to save those close to her just yet. She needed to be careful when it came to dealing with this issue.

In the meantime though, she could at least check the person out. If that person wasn’t one of her targets, then no harm done. On the other hand, if the person did end up being one the targets the spirits had asked her to deal with, then at least she’d know where to look when she was prepared. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

---------

Traveling between worlds was significantly harder than Shifting from one place to another on the same world. Luckily the whole thing was made easier by the presence of pre-made pathways that made the trip faster and easier. It also allowed trade between worlds and the existence of alliances and friendships that spanned across several worlds and even planes. As the nation of mages, it was not surprising that the Magocracy had created several of these dimensional highways, and the majority of their armed forces were usually stationed to defend them, both from internal and external threats. If another world wanted to invade then these pathways were an obvious target, which is why certain failsafes had been put in place.

The same naturally held true for other worlds. As soon as the airship they were riding on arrived in the snowy terrain of their destination world, Karna could sense that the portal they exited was rigged to collapse violently should it be necessary. Of course the failsafe wasn’t something that just anyone could trigger, which was just one way in which such systems were rather fragile and potentially exploitable. Complicated and important magic often came with such problems. Securing the pathways was almost as difficult as creating them.

Their ship wasn't the only one that had recently arrived. With this being the designated date of arrival, nine other airships had also already arrived, and two large flying creatures also added to the mix. Some of the airships had a similar sleek and practical design as the Academy's ship had, while others resembled seafaring sailing vessels, and one even looked like a rather futuristic battleship that had clearly been influenced by a reincarnator from some more scientifically advanced universe. One of the flying creatures looked like a giant eagle, while the other looked more like a flying whale.

The world they had arrived at was covered with snow and ice. Karna could already sense that this was a world with a much lower average temperature, and large parts of it were likely covered by huge glaciers. She could also sense that the inhabitants of the world were mostly those that enjoyed such conditions, such as Yuki-Onnas and Snow Elves, certain types of beastmen, and creatures such as Yetis and Frostwyrms. This was likely a world that wasn’t exactly filled with life, but the presence of abundant resources drew in races that preferred warmer climates as well. She could see a city below them where the weather and temperature was controlled by a magical dome that turned the area within similar to what could be found on other warmer worlds.

“Is that a Dire Penguin?” One of the other students asked. The being was clad in armor from head to toe, and Karna knew that the being within resembled a ghost more than a being of flesh and blood. The male Creuss also had a crown with the numbers VI-1 on his breastplate.

“I do believe you’re correct," Karna replied with a pleased expression that was covered with her veil. Shala, which was the armored man’s name, was one of the few on the ship that actually got along with her. He and Siegfried were the only ones aside from Tsumi and other teachers really, and Siegfried had not had much opportunity to spend time with her.

“Don’t lollygag and embarrass us in front of the other worlds.” The elven man with VIII-1 on his chest said angrily from a short distance. He was the type that took everything seriously. Or at least that’s the impression he gave off to most. Karna could sense darkness in the elf, and he likely had managed to gather quite a bit of negative karma somehow. Staying away from him seemed like a good idea. Karna suspected that there was much more to Menranel than met the eye. The elven man wasn’t among those that took the most hostile attitude towards her, but Karna suspected the elf had a lot of control behind the scenes. Control that he either chose not to exercise for Karna's benefit or chose to actively use to cause the others to create trouble for her.

The trip hadn’t been unpleasant in general. Mostly the others just chose to snub her. Karna didn’t really mind, as it wasn’t even close to the first time such things happened to her, and she didn’t really care about such minor things and petty people. As such, it wasn’t hard to ignore Menranel’s words. No, her attention was drawn by something else. She could sense two other reincarnators among the people present. Two reincarnators that either didn’t know how to hide their souls from someone like her, or didn’t care to. One of them seemed like someone who had likely not lived too many lives, as Karna could sense their soul wasn’t that out of the ordinary yet. That person also seemed to be an inhabitant of this world, judging by her location below them, in the city. The other one however…well, their soul was like a burning house compared to the candle that most non-reincarnators looked like to her. This trip might turn out at least a bit interesting.

Chapter 26 - Dance for your supper

A note from Vihyungrang

Week 5/5 of practical! We're done! Next week should see a return to the normal schedule. I hope you'll enjoy!

Now I should probably address something that people will likely ask when reading this chapter. "V, didn't you say the other reincarnators focused on speed while cultivating? Shouldn't they be at a much higher rank?" A good question, and something I haven't found an appropriate place to go into. The simple answer is that they are. When compared to non-reincarnators and what they'd be capable of without being a reincarnator that is. Besides, the time it takes to go up ranks is a bit exponential, especially when people are getting closer to the limits of their potential. While it took Karna only half a year to go from rank two to rank three, going from three to four will take years. So being a rank higher a couple of years earlier at this point is a big deal. Now the reason Karna can still somewhat keep up despite having focused on her foundation is because she's using the very best cultivation methods learned over countless lifetimes, and her body has obscene levels of potential.

Just thought I'd address that before someone inevitably asks.

-----

Despite the grand entrance of the various institutes of learning, the gathering itself wasn’t that large. Since the whole thing wasn't open to the public, the number of people involved was relatively limited. With each institute bringing around a dozen students and a similar number of teachers for security, the whole number of participants was less than five hundred. The hosting institute, aptly named the Frostpeak Institute, of course had more people present than any of the others, as their delegation was almost twice as large even when not counting the servants.

The building the event took place in had a very wintry theme and was made of white stone with snow motifs. The main room for the event consisted of a large balcony circling the center of the room that looked like a relatively small arena. It seemed likely that the room had been constructed for this very purpose, as all the delegations were seated at tables all around the balcony at equal distances, giving a great view of the arena below. It was likely that the fights and events were to take place in the arena. The institutes had been grouped according to their previous success in similar gatherings, which left the Academy at the most prominent place, along with the hosts of course.

Tsumi had explained to the students during the journey that while the whole thing was called a tournament, the process wouldn’t be as rigid as the word implied. The whole thing was just an opportunity for the various institutes to show off their most talented students. The process would take place over several days but essentially the entire time the various institutes were allowed to use the arena to show off. The first few days were dedicated to displays of skills outside combat, while the last few days would consist mostly of duels between students. Aside from the time reserved for the bouts, there were no strict rules about who could and would fight. The whole thing could just end up being a series of challenge matches between similarly aged students, or it could turn into something more exciting like a battle royale or even a kind of king of the hill type of situation. The winner would usually be clear by the end, no matter which format the fights ended up taking.

It was clear that the purpose of this gathering wasn’t just for the sake of the tournament. It was also an opportunity to make connections and socialize with promising young people from other institutes, as well as an opportunity for the leaders of the institutes to discuss some matters now that they were all present. It was likely that the most important topics would be handled behind closed doors, but there were many lighter matters that could be discussed in the open. It was expected that the students would mingle and make friends while the teachers discussed the more serious matters. The teachers or teacher equivalents of each institute were of course also eager to form connections, so they’d spend time mingling as well.

Many of the adults as well as the students that had experience with similar gatherings quickly moved between the tables to greet old acquaintances and to make new ones. The servants had purposefully served food that was easy to bring with you as you moved between the tables. Karna kept her eyes open and quickly spotted the two other reincarnators she had sensed before. The more inexperienced of the two was a relatively young girl that sat demurely among the host delegation. Karna could sense that the girl was a fourth circle mage, and probably wasn’t more than a couple of years older than her. She seemed to have some sort of ice-demon lineage, although not one of a pure Yuki-Onna or a frost Oni. Likely a mix of some sort.

The other one was an older boy of some sort of Djinn or Efreeti lineage that eyed the first girl with a slightly predatory look. It was quite clear from his look that he had also somehow identified the girl as another reincarnator, which wasn’t all that difficult considering neither of them could hide their souls from such scrutiny. It seemed that neither of them had learned too many soul related techniques, although the boy at least had learned to spot others like him, even if he apparently had not spotted Karna. He also seemed like the type to take out any potential competition early. Some reincarnators were like that. They attacked others of their kind almost on sight.

The guy was much better at hiding his level, but Karna could still identify him as a late-fourth rank warrior and a third rank mage. He’d obviously been busy as he wasn’t much older than the girl. Karna got the sense that the guy had lived at least a dozen lives. He clearly had some of the confidence that came with living repeated lives. The girl on the other hand felt like she was unsure of herself and somewhat lost. None of that showed on her face of course, but Karna had seen those like her quite often. Being reincarnated could be very disorienting, especially if you were reborn into a universe that was very different from your original life. You didn’t know what was going on, or any of the rules. You also couldn’t even talk freely about the situation with others, which made it harder to find out any details. That sense of confusion would eventually go away as you got a handle on things, which usually happened by the third or fourth life. By that point, you knew enough to start taking advantage of the situation.

The guy was a good example. He likely felt invulnerable, as he would just be born again if he died. He also had more experience and knowledge than others of his age, which made him appear more gifted than he truly was. A combination like that easily inflated one’s ego and gave false confidence. There was one thing Karna realized though. This guy most certainly wasn’t one of her targets. Someone that could draw power directly from the elemental planes would likely have a True Name associated with that ability, and that meant they’d likely be much older and more experienced. Someone who had lived a hundred lives, and not a dozen. Certain True Names carried power, but they also weren’t easy to acquire.

“Not going out to socialize?” Tsumi asked as she was seated next to Karna.

“There’s little point yet. To everyone gathered here, I’m currently one of the weakest people at this gathering. Even if I’m young, my current level isn’t so high as to raise any eyebrows among the level of people gathered here. Especially since they don’t know how young I really am. If I were to approach people now, I would be doing it from a position of someone inferior. I’d rather give it a bit of time and see how the situation develops. Who knows? Maybe they won’t be thinking so little of me in a few days.” Karna explained her thoughts. It was clear that no one present thought very highly of her just yet, and no one had even tried approaching her, though the other crowned students of the Academy might have something to do with that, judging by the looks she was getting. That suited her just fine for now. She’d rather counter any rumors with her actions anyway, and spreading false rumors would make them look unreliable.

"Incidentally, the person we found for you is the one approaching our table right now," Tsumi whispered quietly.

Karna noticed that the person was not one of the two she had sensed to be reincarnators. That wasn't too surprising. A person with the kind of power that she was looking for would most likely also have the ability to hide their presence from the sort of cursory search she had used before. The person Tsumi had pointed out was clearly a senior student. By his attire, he seemed to be one of the oldest students of one of the smaller institutes, and he was also both skilled and powerful enough that Karna could not sense his level, but he was likely among the most powerful students gathered here, if not the strongest. He also showed no obvious signs of standing out from the other gathered students despite his power.

‘So someone who can hide themselves. This makes things more complicated.’ Karna thought to herself. She contemplated for a moment before her eyes flashed with power for less than a second. The person looked sharply around the room, clearly having sensed what just happened. That was also confirmation of sorts. Reincarnators had certain methods to discover the True Names of those around them, which was exactly why Karna had asked the Head Judge of the River of Souls to mask her Names.

The information gained from using abilities like this was incomplete and somewhat random if the target had multiple Names, but the biggest downside was that the target would sense what had just happened. He now knew there was someone at this gathering skilled enough to use an ability like Karna had just used, though he didn’t know who had used it. There were two other reincarnators present though, so Karna had judged the information worth the risk. Having four reincarnators in one room was extremely rare even for this universe, although made a little more likely by the fact that this was a gathering of the gifted and the Higher Planes were the most likely gathering place for reincarnators. It was likely that the person would think one of the two other reincarnators was the likely culprit.

‘So. Stormcaller.’ The Name made it much more likely that he was truly one of the people she was tasked to take care of, since it actually dealt with an element. Karna was satisfied with that bit of info for now. She’d find out more later. In the meantime, she could go bug Siegfried and Shala. Those two were actually going to treat her like an equal at least.

-----

While the beginning of the gathering was a little tentative in that no one seemed to be in a rush to be the first to step on the arena, eventually the atmosphere came to a point people and institutes started to feel truly competitive. Even though the first few days were dedicated to activities other than combat, that didn’t mean you couldn’t show off your skills in other ways. As the hosts, the Frostpeak institute started the festivities. A young grey-skinned Frostling mage that likely only barely managed to cross the supposed age limit stepped to the platform to give a demonstration of his formidable mana control.

The youngster didn't actually cast any spells but controlled the ice element directly. That in itself was a relatively advanced technique for someone only at the fourth circle. Usually, mages had some elements they were clearly better with than any others. As they learned more about their chosen elements and attuned to it, their control also increased. At first, they would be able to customize their spells, progressing to not needing to use chants or gestures to control their spells, and finally reaching a point where they controlled the power of the element directly. How much they could do with that direct control varied wildly. Some could do small things like the Frostling boy where he created ice sculptures out of thin air, while others would be able to imitate the effects of a spell they wouldn't normally be able to cast due to the spell being of a too high level. The ability had limits of course.

"His control isn't too bad," Tsumi commented. "He still needs a bit of refinement, but he's still good. With that one element.” Her implication was that the Frostling boy probably didn't have near as much control with any other element. That wasn't necessarily a horrible thing. Some mages dedicated themselves to a single element and did great. They didn't have much flexibility, which was one of the main strengths of mages, but sometimes pure output with one element was exactly what was needed. That said, Tsumi’s tone wasn’t exactly complimentary.

“Mmh, the boy is especially suited for the Ice Element. Frostlings in general excel at the element, and his affinities revolve almost entirely around that single one.” Karna could tell with a single glance at the way the boy channeled his mana. She didn’t much appreciate the performance either.

“You’ll probably need to go next.” Tsumi suddenly commented. “Do you have something in mind?”

“I can whip something up, but is there a reason why I should be next?” Karna questioned.

"You'll see," Tsumi said with a small smile. Her words became true as the Frostling boy’s performance came to an end. As the boy returned to his seat amidst small and polite applause, Tsumi stood up, drawing everyone’s attention. “Ladies and gentlemen. As it is often difficult to get these kinds of things started, we have built certain habits that some of the more experienced visitors are aware of. It is quite common that after the host had given the first performance, the youngest students from other institutes will go next. I can say with some confidence that this year the Academy had brought the youngest participant out of everyone.”

“How young exactly?” The Headmaster of the hosting Institute asked while looking at Karna.

“Let’s just say that it’s better if you don’t ask. It’s a good thing we have never been too strict about the age limit when it comes to younger participants.” Tsumi gave a disarming smile to everyone gathered and tilted her glass in a joking gesture of thanks, which elicited some laughs from the older teachers gathered. “With that said, Karna, if you would?”

"So much for keeping my age a secret," Karna muttered just loud enough for Tsumi to hear.

"It's better that they find out this way so that they can't complain later, should they find out by accident." Tsumi retorted as Karna walked past her and seemed to float to the arena below.

Karna spun around and looked at all the other institutes in turn. "I will need someone to name an element. Something other than ice since our hosts already got that covered." She made a small but respectful bow toward the host table. “To keep it fair, I’d like the suggestion to come from someone other than from the Academy students or teachers.”

“Qhaysh.” Someone shouted from behind Karna. She wasn’t sure who it was, but that side held both of the male reincarnators, so she had a suspicion. The voice had also sounded much like the Djinn boy’s.

“An excellent choice.” Karna agreed with a nod.

A long but thin blade made of hard light and pure Qhaysh materialized in her hand. A small glow of light started shining at the tip of the blade. Then to the surprise of everyone, she started moving to the beat of some unheard-of song, as the brightly shining blade started to gracefully spin in her hand. Those watching could immediately sense that she was at the same time fighting against some imaginary enemy, as well as performing an intricate and graceful blade-dance.

The tempo of the performance started off slow and languid but started to soon pick up pace as everyone started to catch on to what was going on. Everyone could almost see Karna's invisible enemy in front of her, as she dodged and weaved an exquisite net of blows, parries, and dodges. Despite there being no actual enemy, they could all 'see' with perfect clarity as Karna sometimes 'dodged' with a hair-thin margin, or delicately ‘guiding’ away the heavy invisible blows. It was clear that both Karna and her imaginary opponent were extremely skilled with a blade, and the fight was at much higher level than her rank would have others assume.

The dance was so breathtaking that it took a while before they all noticed something else. The bright light at the tip of Karna’s sword drew symbols and lines of light in the air, and sometimes those symbols and lights didn’t disappear. Many of them lingered, and as the blade-dance progressed, everyone started to realize that they were building up to something. As enough symbols gathered, they all noticed that the lights were slowly building up magical circles around Karna, and it was clear that the number of circles was much higher than her level as a mage.

As the fight came to a crescendo, with a beautiful flourish, Karna gave a ‘decisive blow’ to her enemy, and at the same time her final blow finished the magical formation. As the formation glowed, forming a spell ready to be cast, they all could sense that the spell only required enough mana to power it for it to be unleashed. With another flourish, Karna drew out a magical gemstone designed to store magical formations or inscriptions. The spell surrounding her was then sucked inside the gem.

After a moment of quiet, most of the teachers and many of the other students stood up and clapped with genuine enthusiasm. Even with the spell incomplete, the performance had been exquisite. The headmaster of the Frostpeak Institute raised his voice to ask a question they were all wondering. “Young friend Karna. Pray tell us what spell that formation would’ve cast had it been completed?”

"Feel free to judge yourself," Karna stated and tossed the gem towards the headmaster.

The old man easily caught the perfectly thrown object from the air and allowed his mind to study the spell inside. “Hmm, I have to admit that Qhaysh is not my specialty, but I’m quite confident that this spell is the eight circle spell ‘Unmaking’, although the spell has been modified.”

“Excuse me, can I take a look at that?” The leader of another school, a female of a race often called the Aasimar interjected. Everyone present could sense the older woman’s heavy affinity with the same element Karna had used during the performance. Most of her students had a very similar aura and were clearly specialized in techniques focused on light, holy, and some Ki techniques that while not religious, carried certain elements of holiness and drew on religious philosophies.

The old headmaster obliged, and the gem floated towards the Aasimar woman. The woman studied the gem in great detail and was clearly both shocked and surprised by what she saw. “This is excellent work. I don’t think I could’ve cast the spell better even had I done it myself. Can I ask, how does a mage of the third circle know a spell this advanced?” Knowing and being able to perform spells of higher circle was possible, although extremely difficult. Even Karna with all her expertise had been forced to draw out the entire spell, and the process had taken several minutes, only a small part of which was due to the theatrics. And she certainly didn’t have the mana to power the spell despite how pure her mana was. Someone of the right rank only would’ve had to spend a fraction of the effort to achieve the same results. That was the difference between higher and lower ranked mages.

Karna had already prepared an answer for the inevitable question. “My father is a Grand Medjai with good prospects of Ascending. His libraries are rather extensive.”

“You asked for a random element in the beginning. Would you have been able to do the same with the other elements, or did you just get lucky?” The Aasimar woman asked a very good question.

“I’m afraid that’s for me to know and for everyone else to find out. Perhaps I will get the opportunity for a repeat performance at a later date. Should that opportunity come, I encourage those curious to pick another element.” Karna said playfully, while giving a small bow and exiting the stage.

Tsumi had to grin at her audacity. Not only did Karna just refuse to answer the third most important person in this room, she did it in a way that left everyone curious for more and not offended. The girl had flair! “Nicely done.” She complimented as Karna sat down next to her. Now it was obvious to everyone why she had been brought along, and no one doubted that they’d see more of her during the whole event.

As she sat down, Karna sensed someone using the same kind of ability on her as she had used on the reincarnator Stormcaller to find out his True Name. She looked straight at the older boy and noted that his eyes had suddenly widened with barely contained fear. ‘I wonder which Name he saw?’ She thought to herself. She honestly didn’t know which one the Head Judge had left visible. Judging by the fact that the boy was now whispering to his master and Karna could clearly read the words ‘we need to leave right now’ from his lips, likely one that he was at least somewhat familiar with.

Chapter 27 - Smackdown!

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go! An extra-long chapter to kick off the return to normal schedule. I hope you'll enjoy!

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"Her form is excellent." A man dressed as a monk commented. “Her style allows her to fight against opponents significantly stronger than her without being at a disadvantage.” The brown-skinned Aasimar man’s voice was very complimentary, and his judgment was given a lot of weight due to his expertise.

“In addition, the fact that she’s an Aura user of what seems like some sort of Titan bloodline, that increases her strength way beyond what her rank and size would imply. I don't think she's even close to serious yet." The same man continued. Karna had continued dominating the arena for hours now. It was common for the battles to start from those that were the youngest and the weakest in rank, and then slowly go up in level. Karna had been the first to step on the arena, but no one had managed to dislodge her yet, and she had fought against representatives from all the institutes already. The first fights had been very quick and decisive, and it had become clear that no one on the same rank as her was able to match her.

“How far could she go if you trained her?” The older Aasimar woman asked while her hand played with the spell gem Karna had created. No one had asked for its return yet, despite several days having passed already, and it was clear the Luminous Sect would be the most interested in the spell inside the gem, seeing as using Qhaysh was their specialty.

“Very far. Extremely far. I’m quite confident she could become a true powerhouse able to influence battles between planes with just her presence.” The man stated without false modesty. “I’m quite certain that most of what we’re seeing is the result of her own talent and sheer ability. If she’s as young as the Academy claims, then there’s no way they could’ve trained her for very long, and judging by the badge she’s wearing, she’s still a first year. That means those skills were not taught to her by the Academy.”

The woman playing with the gem turned towards one of the Elders sitting close to her. “What did you manage to find out about her?”

“Sect Master, the girl is a bit of a conundrum. There are plenty of things that I could discover even without much effort, but much of her is also shrouded in secrecy. Some of the other students of the Academy apparently aren’t fond of her, so they were more than happy to explain some things to me. I also managed to pry some details from one of the teachers. Apparently, the girl was speaking the truth about her father being the Grand Medjai known as the Shadow Weaver, a fairly young and promising person almost certain to reach Ascension within a century or two. As such, her current skills aren’t that surprising, although there’s a distinct possibility of her being a Blessed Child. The girl herself completely crushed the entrance exams and when tested by the artifact the Academy likes to utilize to judge a person’s potential, hers was almost limitless.” The female Elder that looked like a human replied carefully.

“They don’t like her? Why?” The Sect Master asked with a frown. Their sect placed a lot of emphasis on having a certain kind of character.

“They were a little vague on the details, but from what I gathered from the teacher, it’s a combination of jealousy and her refusing some kind of an invitation to a group of prestigious students.” The Elder cleared her throat a bit. “Sect Master, if you’re considering poaching her, then I should warn you that Tsumi seems to have taken some personal interest in the girl. She would not look favorably on the attempt. Besides, the girl’s father is strong enough that we’d need to get his approval first.”

“I recognize that. However, even Tsumi must realize that someone with her affinity would be better served by joining our sect. Besides, I’m not sure it would be good for the Academy to gain another powerhouse like Tsumi. If the girl has even a fraction of the potential we suspect, not to mention if she’s a Blessed Child, then the Academy would be able to extend their lead a bit too much when compared to the other institutes. We’ll at least have to make the attempt.” The Sect Master explained her view. They were allied with the Academy, but that didn’t mean their views always coincided. The sect was a strong advocate of light and order, while the Academy was more of a neutral force.

“The fight’s about to end.” The battlemaster dressed like a monk suddenly stated.

As if to confirm his words, Karna seemed to flow around her opponent and twisted their body in a way that they had to surrender or lose an arm. As the bouts were friendly, such injuries would be frowned upon, but if the person refused to surrender when placed in a hold like the one Karna now had on her opponent, then it was their own fault. “And the winner is once again contestant Karna from the Academy!” The teacher from the Frostpeak Institute who had been chosen as a referee declared. “Any other challengers?”

Karna had been crushing the students of similar rank, so the number of willing volunteers had decreased heavily. Still, there was one person who had enough confidence to try. “I would like to challenge her.” Declared the blue-ish grey-skinned boy with glowing eyes. He also had glowing tribal tattoos the Djinns often used on his skin. The boy leaped over the railing of the arena and stood opposite Karna.

Normally the referee would’ve given Karna a bit of time to recover, but the whole thing had turned into a sort of king of the hill-type of scenario that she had dominated the entire time. Thus the referee gave the signal to start as soon as they were both standing on opposite sides of the arena. The Djinn boy almost lazily lifted his hand and pointed a finger towards Karna. A beam of pure ki was launched towards her, probing her defenses.

The beam of energy got halfway across the arena until it smashed into a barrier that seemed to be able to easily block it. The round barrier made of glowing Qhaysh didn't have a single scratch on it, which seemed to confirm what the Djinn boy had expected, as he simply nodded. "You are good with barriers. That much has become clear already. Let’s see how much you can resist with your turtle-shell.” He declared before making a grabbing motion towards her.

The palm strike made of green energy was much more dangerous than anything Karna had been faced with so far in this event. She could sense that the ki in the attack was very heavy and that the technique had been refined with what the boy had learned in other universes. It wasn't obvious, but something about the way the energy was woven together was foreign to the warriors of this universe. Karna had to give the boy some credit, he wasn't completely without ability. Not that it would matter in the end.

The palm strike crashed against her barrier and the barrier actually had some cracks form, but the smile on the boy's face was wiped as the barrier quickly repaired itself as Karna also put a bit more oomph into it. Her mana was so pure that the strength of a fourth-ranked warrior simply wasn't enough, even with a bit of help from past lives. Suddenly the Djinn boy seemed to disappear, only to appear within Karna's barrier with his own palm striking down at her face.

Karna swept the incoming attack aside with relative ease and retaliated immediately with her own counterattack. The boy wasn’t so bad as to be caught so easily though. He had fought against opponents with a similar style to Karna before. He knew pure power wasn’t going to be enough, and it seemed his speed wasn’t enough to just crush her either. The two soon settled down into a rhythm where dozens of attacks were launched, parried, blocked, and countered in a few breaths of time.

Suddenly several small blades of ki materialized around the boy and dashed towards Karna. The distance made the attack a lot more dangerous, but despite that, every blade ran into another tiny barrier floating around Karna. "Two can play that game," Karna said with amusement, and bolts of different elements flew towards the Djinn boy instead. He managed to conjure his own barriers to block them, but those barriers were clearly not quite as efficient as Karna's.

The battle quickly turned into one of attrition and multi-tasking, as kicks and strikes were intermixed with magical and ki attacks that tried to sneak by the other person’s defenses. A battle that the Djinn boy was soon losing as he was pushed back. To the people watching it looked like Karna was reading all his attacks and managed to counter them before they were even launched, while he was struggling to keep up.

With a small growl, the boy stepped back and his skin turned reddish grey, now clearly showing the Efreeti blood inside him. An odd mix to be sure, as Djinn and Efreeti were racial enemies. A wave of flames was suddenly swallowing the arena as the boy displayed the benefits of his race. The flames grew hotter and suddenly they swarmed towards Karna. 'Hoh, a battle of bloodlines is it?' Karna laughed in her mind. The fire that used to be under the boy's control suddenly seemed to halt and become docile as it all gathered into a ball above Karna's hand, which she then made vanish. It was foolish for an Efreeti to challenge a Phoenix when it came to fire.

“How..?” The boy managed to ask before Karna mimicked what he had done earlier and appear in front of him, striking at his face. The difference was that she seemed to have grown taller for some reason as her skin suddenly got an odd almost metallic sheen. The hands the Djinn used to defend himself were smashed aside as her strike connected with his face.

To the shock of everyone, she didn't just punch the boy though. She took a hold of his face. "Did I mention I hate those who target those weaker than themselves, thinking them as some sort of prey?" She asked quietly and glanced at the younger reincarnator girl in the audience. Then she twisted her body, spinning in place, and smashed the Djinn boy mercilessly against the arena wall. She had controlled the power perfectly, as the impact was just enough to injure the boy to the point of rendering him unconscious, but not enough to truly damage him.

As she let go and returned to her own size, the boy slumped down on the floor. The referee could sense that he was still alive and relatively intact, so Karna had not broken any rules. She had simply been more heavy-handed than in her earlier bouts. “The winner is once again contestant Karna from the Academy!”

Karna knew the boy was actually relatively skilled. He wasn’t some master that had reached the apex before, clearly, or he would’ve been a more dangerous opponent. He was skilled enough that if he controlled his mentality, he could go quite far in this life though. Some reincarnators were gifted enough to get to the top in all their lives, while others were less skilled and had to build up over several lifetimes. This boy belonged to the latter group, but he had started reaching the point where he was a contender for real power among the non-reincarnators. He wouldn’t be able to face the old monsters that had reincarnated countless times or the peerless geniuses that were not reincarnators at his current level though. If she had fought the boy before awakening her Titan bloodline, she might have been forced to get somewhat serious, but now? Not so much. This was a perfect display of reincarnation not being a guarantee of ability.

The Headmaster of the hosting Institute stood up from his seat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Well then. It has been an interesting day, albeit a little one-sided. I suggest we adjourn for now to get some rest and refreshments. In the evening we can give the Academy representative some rest and move on to the older students.”

His declaration was a tacit admission that Karna had done enough to crush the other institutes and it would be somewhat bad if the same continued. It was time to give others the opportunity to shine in turn. It was also a fact that it would be somewhat embarrassing for everyone involved if Karna was to be challenged by people much older and stronger than her, as there would be no glory in winning. And the embarrassment should Karna keep winning would be even worse. It was better to have her retire undefeated and move on using a simple excuse.

---------

“Good work. You’ve certainly done your part.” Tsumi complimented as soon as Karna returned to the table.

“Thanks. It’s a shame the other Blessed Child didn’t participate.” Karna was a little displeased. The younger girl from Frostpeak Institute had chosen to not fight her, and Karna had wanted to test her a bit. Now the other reincarnator wouldn’t be able to participate as the bouts would move to the older students.

Karna was especially displeased that the third reincarnator had disappeared on the first day and had not shown his face ever since. No one had left the world through the gateway, so Stormcaller was still on this planet, but it was clear he was avoiding her. The two other reincarnators were rather inconsequential for now, but Stormcaller could be a problem depending on which of her True Names he had discovered. The Head Judge had promised to hide her really inconvenient names, but clearly the other reincarnator had seen something that alarmed him. “Any word on my target?”

“No. He has either left the city, or he’s shut inside the rooms reserved for their institute. You never did explain why he escaped. He seemed stronger than you, so it feels a bit weird.” Tsumi had been rather patient on the issue, but she wanted to understand.

Karna had to think about how much to reveal. In the end, it came down to the fact that it would be useful to have someone with Tsumi’s strength and connections to confide in. It could be mutually beneficial. “How much do you know about True Names?” She asked.

"I know that they exist and sometimes carry great meaning. Some even confer abilities to those holding the Name. I see. You're suggesting he somehow found out your True Name, and that spooked him somehow." Tsumi was rather quick on the uptake, which was one of the reasons Karna preferred her as someone to confide in.

"More or less," Karna admitted.

“Which True Name, if I may ask?” Tsumi inquired. There was no special taboo about True Names, though it was rare that someone had a True Name with significance when it came to non-reincarnators.

“That’s the thing. I don’t know.” Karna shrugged.

“You don’t know your True Name, but he somehow found out? How did you come to that conclusion then?” Tsumi misunderstood.

“That’s not what I meant. You do know that a person can have more than one True Name, right?” Karna corrected her.

“That’s…I was vaguely aware of the possibility. You’re pretty much suggesting you have more than one, obviously. So how can you tell he discovered one?” Tsumi reeled a bit at the revelation, though she adjusted quickly.

“There’s a limited number of ways to discover someone’s True Name against their will, and I certainly didn’t tell him mine. The downside with most of those methods is that your target can feel what’s happening, if they know what to look for. I do, and I felt it happening. His True Name is Stormcaller by the way, so there’s that as well.” Karna explained.

“So wait. You used the same skill on him first, didn’t you?” Tsumi’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Yes, but he had no way of knowing it was me. The problem is that my performance on the first day was enough to prompt him to check.” Karna admitted without any shame. She had known it was a bit of a gamble, but she had relied on the Head Judge’s promise.

Tsumi rubbed the bridge of her nose a bit. “Right. I should’ve guessed. Well, there’s not much I can do if he’s being hidden by his institute, but I can see if I confirm if he is in their rooms or not. That should be doable at least.”

--------

With a heavy heart, Mayumi approached the quarters of the Academy. Today’s fights were over, and nearly everyone had withdrawn back to their quarters for the night. Mayumi’s master had considered this to be the perfect opportunity for a private duel. And now Mayumi was going to present her challenge. Her master had great hopes for her and considered her potential to be very high, but her lack of experience and opponents of a similar skill level was hampering her progress.

In truth, Mayumi felt like the great expectations that her master had for her were wasted. The only reason she had managed to progress so fast was because this wasn’t the first time she was treading this path. She had managed to hide the fact that this was her second life, but having previous knowledge was helpful, even if she was still horribly confused about the whole thing. Sooner or later that pre-knowledge would run out though, and then her progress would be no greater than anyone else’s. Anyone normal. She wasn’t some grand genius like the girl she was supposed to challenge now, so why? What was going on? Why had she been given this kind of opportunity? Why not the others?

It was clear that everyone wasn’t like her. She had been named something called a Blessed Child, and apparently there were others, but not that many others. She had never met anyone like her, and she was full of questions. Questions she was unable to ask anyone. That was another thing that bothered her. She would’ve liked to inform her parents and her master about her situation, but something was stopping her. Something she didn’t understand. And that made her horribly confused.

“Are you sure?” She heard a voice from beyond the corner. The voice sounded like the Sect Master of the Luminous Sect. Mayumi had always been great at recognizing voices, which helped her in many situations, and the clearly honorable and upright voice of the Sect Master was not hard to recognize. Aasimar all had rather distinctive voices that sounded a little otherworldly to Mayumi.

“I’m quite certain. The Academy is where I belong, at least for the time being. The Headmistress and I have a deal, and it is one I intend to honor.” Another voice she recognized replied. Something about that voice sent a shiver down Mayumi’s back, and she wasn’t sure why. If Aasimar sounded otherworldly, then this voice certainly had a mysterious quality about it as well, as if it had unknown depths that were currently hidden.

“I recognize that the Academy is the most advanced of the institutes gathered here, but even they wouldn’t dare to claim to possess the level of expertise in Qhaysh that we have. Even as a Blessed Child you must recognize the utility of having real experts teach you.” The Sect Master tried to convince the other person.

Mayumi's heart jumped in her chest. Another Blessed Child like her! Could it be? Was this her opportunity to find out more about what was going on? "I'm not sure what you could be referring to. Certainly, there's no reason to label me so." The other voice replied with a denial, but with a tone that wasn't really a true denial. "However, as a righteous sect, you too must understand my desire to keep my word. Besides, my familial ties are to the Academy as well. I will keep your offer in mind, but I'm afraid I must decline for now."

The Sect Master tried to make a last pitch but in the end had to return with a refusal. Just as Mayumi was thinking about going back, the other person called out. “You can come out now. Eavesdropping on a private conversation like that is rather impolite, but I recognize that we chose a bad spot for said conversation.”

With a small grimace, Mayumi stepped around the corner and found the girl called Karna leaning against an ornate windowsill. "Nevertheless I should apologize," Mayumi replied and made a small apologetic bow, though she could barely contain her excitement. There was something unreadable in the other girl's eyes as she looked at Mayumi.

It would’ve been polite to allow the other person to reply to the apology, but Mayumi couldn’t stop herself. “Is it true? Are you like me?”

The veil that the other girl was using covered most of her face, but Mayumi was quite certain that the girl was smiling from the way her eyes narrowed a little. There was something genuine about the way the girl smiled even with her eyes. “And how exactly do you think we are alike?” The girl asked with a teasing tone.

"You've also been born again!" Mayumi rushed to say and then realized that something was different. "Wait, how was I able to say that?"

The girl gave a small chuckle that sounded like the ringing of bells. At the same time, the air around her changed. For some reason, Mayumi got a very motherly feeling about the girl suddenly. In a single instance, she realized that the girl in front of her might have been a girl in body, but not in spirit. The girl must have lived longer than Mayumi. A lot longer. “This is your first reincarnation, isn’t it?” The girl asked with a warm tone.

“How did you….wait, first? So it can happen more than once? How many times?” Mayumi was filled with questions. Just a single statement from the not-really-a-girl had already revealed a lot more than she had managed to figure out on her own.

“Calm down. One thing at a time. To answer your first question, we cannot talk of our nature to others, not even if someone is eavesdropping on us and we’re unaware of that fact. No, it doesn’t make any sense, but that’s the rules. And before you ask, I don’t know who made the rules either. There are many such rules, but that one is the first one we all run into. As to the other questions, you saw the River of Souls, right?” The woman, Mayumi was definitely going to label her as a woman from this point forward, asked almost rhetorically.

“The river of what now?” Mayumi had to disappoint her though.

“Ah, you didn’t even get that simple courtesy. Well, to put it simply, all souls no matter which universe they are born in return to the River of Souls when they die to be judged and washed clean of their memories. That’s with the exception of some religion with special afterlives, but explaining those would take forever, and it’s not important. Anyway, some souls don’t have to go through the last step of having their memories removed. In fact, many of us just get shunted off to the next life even without stopping to be judged on the way either. It seems your case was one of those. Unfortunate. The judges could’ve explained some things to you.” The woman explained.

“So there are more of us?” Mayumi asked eagerly, wanting to confirm what she had already heard.

"Yes, though not that many. This universe is a little different, and even for this universe, there's an exceptionally large number of us present. Once again, I do not know why, but I’m not sure I like it.” The woman sounded a little worried, and if she was worried then Mayumi should almost certainly be panicking.

“You sound like you have a lot of experience. How many?” Mayumi asked with a weak tone.

“How many lives have I lived? I can’t say. I stopped counting a long time ago. More than you ever will likely. To answer an earlier question of yours, there are no strict limits on how many lives we can lead, but time takes its toll. Most of us either go insane eventually, or we purposefully allow ourselves to be reset when it gets too much to bear. You will be given the opportunity to do the same at various points between your lives.” The woman gazed at the empty air and for a moment Mayumi could feel the weight of countless years pressing down on the woman’s shoulders.

“Can you teach me?” She blurted out. “I mean, you mentioned there are many rules, and I don’t know any of them. This whole thing is so weird and there’s no one I can talk to about it, and… I need help! Please help me!" Mayumi felt desperate and she almost sobbed out her plea as she feebly reached out towards the other person.

The motherly feeling was back. “I can and I can’t. I can tell you some of the basics, but our time here is limited. I also have my own goal in coming here. If you really want to learn, you’ll need to seek me out at the Academy. Or you can do what most of us have to do. Learn by experience, trial, and error. Some things you’ll need to learn the hard way anyway. However, I can give you a small tip that might help you a lot in the short run. Consider it a gesture of good will. Have you noticed the Djinn boy that seems to be fascinated by you?”

“The one you crushed in your last fight? I have. I thought he might have some sort of unhealthy fascination with me. He wouldn’t be the first.” Mayumi gave a small shudder. Yuki-Onnas were generally viewed as quite desirable by many races, and she had a healthy dose of that lineage.

“I’m sorry to disappoint, but his fascination isn’t because of your looks. It’s because he too is like us, more like you than me, and he knows what you are. Neither of you have figured out how to hide yourselves yet, so he spotted you immediately. And some of our kind take a rather hostile view of any ‘competition’. In that regard, we are much like any other people. There are good people and there are bad people among us, although with the added twist of experience and several horrible lives pushing us into madness.” The woman explained, and Mayumi wasn’t sure if she liked what she had heard.

“Horrible lives?” She asked with trepidation.

“You should’ve guessed by now. If we get reborn often enough, eventually we’ll draw a really short straw. And there’s sometimes little we can do about it. A life as a slave, for instance, is a good way to turn someone either insane, or at the very least cynical of others.” The answer didn’t really reassure Mayumi.

“I need to learn more. Please.” She pleaded again.

“Come then. Let us find some refreshments, and more private spot so that I can at least tell you the basics.” The woman suggested. The conversation they’d share would be very eye-opening for Mayumi.

Chapter 28 - Various kinds of lessons

A note from Vihyungrang

What? A double-length chapter? How did this happen? Well, I just got to writing and kept adding things. I could've chopped it in half, but there wasn't really a good place to do so.So I hope you'll enjoy!

Incidentally, the next chapter will be the last one of this first arc. After that, we'll have a timeskip again. No need to go through every year of the Academy, as I'm sure you all got the picture by this point, and we've spent enough time on Karna's childhood. We'll go straight to the point where things start to change.

-----

“Wait, you’re saying that I can be born as a magical beast as well? Like…a Hellhound or something? And I’ll forever be affected by that time, exhibiting behaviors from that life? Does that mean I’ll feel the need to pee on trees or something to mark my territory?” Mayumi asked incredulously.

Karna couldn’t’ help but laugh at the girl’s imagination. "Yes and no. Yes, you will be reincarnated as a beast, though how often is mostly up to luck. When you reach a certain point like the older reincarnators, only certain kinds of bodies are capable of holding your soul. I personally call them vessels, but that’s just me conceptualizing things. You likely won’t be born as a minor beast for the same reason even in your first lives, but it has happened. Depends on the strength of your soul. And yes, the life will affect you, but the effects will be a bit more subtle than that.”

She had to consider for a moment how to explain the effect. "If your first life was as a human, in your next few lives you tend to view things from the lens of a human, even if you're not one anymore. Eventually that view will lessen, but it will never go away entirely. The same thing if you live a very long life or multiple lives as a certain type of beast. I've spent many lives as a phoenix and it affects things ranging from my mentality to the way I move. I actively try to act against some of those tendencies, but I can't avoid all of them. For example, while it would be better for me to keep my skills hidden while I’m young, I also have the urge to show off, prove my superiority over others, and I get a feeling of rightness when others admire me. That’s not a characteristic I had originally, and something I sometimes struggle to keep under control. It’s also something that comes from a mix of my bloodlines, especially the phoenix one. That’s another thing. If you live enough lives as a certain type of creature or reach the pinnacle of that existence, a little bit of that creature will always be inside of you. A shadow bloodline if you will, that you can later on activate, even if the parents of your current vessel have none of that blood inside them. That blood will also influence you, physically and mentally. Usually it’s not obvious, but sometimes it is. Those that have avian bloodlines are usually prideful, while dragons tend to be greedy and lustful. It’s not just negative traits of course.”

“I’m not sure if I like the thought of that. The idea of something invisible like that affecting me.” Mayumi admitted.

“Ah, but everyone is affected by their experiences and their genetics and cultural norms. You have certain habits and views because of your experiences, the way you’re biologically disposed, and because that’s how your people have raised their own for generations. For us reincarnators it’s just a bit more complex as such things tend to compound over several lifetimes.” Karna pointed out.

“I guess I can see how that would work, though that doesn't make me like it any better. You said these bloodlines and traits carry over between lives. What else carries over? I mean, can we bring items along? Power? You mentioned something about our souls growing stronger and even some soul techniques…” Mayumi tried to figure out the positives of the whole reincarnation thing. Aside from essentially having an opportunity to do things again of course. That was something that shouldn’t be underestimated.

“The most important thing that carries over is knowledge. I recommend you spend a few lifetimes learning various skills when you get the appropriate opportunity. Rules tend to be a little different in some universes, but the general principles still apply. If you learn to cook in one universe, you’ll quickly learn to do the same in another, for example, even if the boiling point of water is a little different and ingredients change. As for items, not really. I mean, it’s theoretically possible to have your soul bound to an item so strongly that it travels with you, but that’s very rare and something that only happens during extremely long lives and a lot of luck. I have one such item myself, but I can’t even call it out before becoming an immortal myself. The bloodlines you mentioned, but I should emphasize that as you live more lives, your soul grows stronger, and the more potential you tend to have in new lives. As for soul techniques…that’s a little complicated.” Karna grimaced under her veil. This was a subject often argued between reincarnators.

“To make things simple, there are some techniques that we can all learn, which I can teach you as well if we have enough time. How to hide from others of our kind for example. Some people actually use various techniques to cultivate their soul, but that's generally not a good idea for a reincarnator to rely on. You would think we'd make perfect soul cultivators with our powerful souls, but it's actually the opposite. Someone like me would need to use centuries just to reach the second rank as a soul cultivator, just because of how strong my soul is inherently. So while it's useful to be aware of those kinds of cultivators and have some measures against them, I wouldn’t waste too much time learning their techniques, because they basically don’t work for us for more than a few lifetimes. There are also certain downsides to those techniques. You can’t actually do too many detrimental things to someone’s soul, and even harming one can accrue quite a bit of negative karma.” With her little speech over, Karna leaned back in her wicker chair. She knew certain other reincarnators disagreed with her strongly, but that wasn’t new. They disagreed on many things.

"That's another thing I'm curious about. What's karma and how does it affect us? I've heard of the term, but most differ on the details." Mayumi launched into another topic. She had the perfect opportunity to learn and she planned to use it. For some odd reason, the person in front of her seemed amused by the question.

“They’re often both right and wrong. It’s part of how souls are judged at the River of Souls, but that’s not the only thing it’s good for. Karma could in many ways be linked with luck or destiny. Don’t confuse good karma with good luck and bad karma with bad luck though. It’s not that simple. Those with a lot of Karma tend to attract different kinds of things. If you have a lot of Karma, you tend to run into different kinds of opportunities a lot more. These can be fortuitous encounters, old legacies, certain kinds of people, and that sort of thing. If you think of any kind of main character in a fictitious story that seems to have a lot of things go their way, that's likely because they've accrued a lot of karma. Now here's the thing. Bad karma doesn't necessarily attract bad things, although it can do that and often does. It attracts opportunities and people that are drawn by the sort of people that have a lot of bad karma. Often that means enemies and other people with similar karma, but it can also mean potential allies and dark artifacts that you can utilize. It also means opportunities to grow stronger if you’re not too particular about hurting others. That sort of thing.” Unsurprisingly, she was an expert on the subject of karma. She could hold lectures spanning literal centuries on the subject.

Mayumi was quiet for a while as she considered the implications. “So how do I know what kinds of acts bring good karma and what kind of things bring bad? People seem to differ on that as well.” She finally asked.

“That’s because gaining and losing karma is in large part an act of self-actualization. It’s actually a lot more complicated, but I’ll try to put it in as simple terms as possible. If you did something good that helped others, and you know that you helped people, you gain good karma. If you did something that leads to the suffering of others, and you know it’s bad, then you accrue bad karma. Now, this part is important. It doesn't matter if you can justify something to yourself. What matters is what you know to be true deep inside. Large acts or acts of true selflessness or selfishness gather a significant amount of karma, while small day to day things can give tiny insignificant amounts. You won't really notice the effects of karma anyway unless you're wildly tilting on one side or the other. Even then it can be unclear, as your karma isn't the only thing affecting you. Things like luck and fate are real things as well, and not everything is about you." That was a mistake people often made. They believed that if something happened to them, it was due to their own bad karma or luck. Maybe it was just that the other side was better, or things went the way they did because of someone else.

"This seems rather complicated." Mayumi gave a deep sigh. She didn't need anything like this weighing on her shoulders on top of everything else.

“Well, there are good sides and bad sides to learning everything early. Anyway, if you want to learn more, you know where to find me.” Karna promised and patted the girl on the shoulder, before going back towards her own quarters.

Before she managed to leave the little chamber they had talked in, Mayumi asked one more question. “How do you deal with it? Multiple lives, karma, bloodlines, all of it.”

“Like with most things, you just get used to it. On the other hand, some people will always find it to be too much. Those people either give up or go insane. But most of us endure long enough to learn to cope. Then we can go insane for a whole host of other reasons.” Karna joked lightly.

------

"So I've had an interesting morning," Tsumi stated bluntly as she sat next to Karna on the last day of the tournament. The unofficial finals would take part a little later, and the best performers would be rewarded. Sieg had already secured himself a reward of sorts, which had kept him busy for the last few days.

“Oh? And why is that?” Karna asked the expected question. It was clear that the Alpyran woman had brought up the subject for a reason.

“I was approached by three of the institutes participating. The Frostpeak Institute, the Luminous Sect, and the Tempest Gorge. Want to guess what all the three meetings had in common?” Tsumi’s voice was hard to decipher. Karna could sense exasperation and amusement, combined with resignation and teasing.

“Seeing as you’re talking to me about it, I’m guessing my name came up.” Karna made the obvious leap in logic.

“Why, yes! How did you guess?” Tsumi faked surprise.

“I’m just that good.” Karna decided to play along.

“Yes, well, it seems you might have done a bit too well, which plays into our plans perfectly by the way. And I got the distinct impression that their interest wasn’t just due to your performance. In any case, the Academy has had amicable relations with all three institutes before, we wouldn’t be here otherwise, but I’ve never been approached quite like this. The Luminous Sect made the offer that was the easiest to understand. You apparently turned them down, but they're somewhat obsessed with your affinity with Qhaysh. They realize that prying you away from the Academy would be difficult, so they're trying to forge a connection instead. They want to send one of their elders to the Academy as a guest elder, which would make them roughly equal to a guest lecturer in the Academy. We have several such lecturers but usually we seek them out personally and those lecturers teach multiple people. The Luminous Sect wants to send one of their elders to train you personally. That's more than just a bit unusual. Normally that would be handled as having them become the master of their chosen student, but you're a bit young for that, and I'm not sure that would be the best of ideas either. So that decision is on hold for now.” Tsumi explained the dilemma. Having a teacher for just one student would be rather blatant favoritism, but it wasn’t like the master-disciple system didn’t exist.

"I'm going to have to accept a master at some point, but I'm not going to do it blindly," Karna stated decisively.

“I suspected as much and explained that to them. The negotiations are ongoing. Anyway, the Frostpeak also wants to send a guest elder, though they would be more of an emissary than anything else. Apparently, they also want to bring a student along. A certain Blessed Child. Any idea what that’s about?” This time Tsumi’s tone had less teasing and more genuine curiosity.

"Ah. I didn't expect her to actually go that far." Karna tapped her cheek a bit. She'd given a lot of hints to the young reincarnator girl, but it was only natural that Mayumi would want to learn more. She had a lot of sympathy for the girl. She couldn't remember much from her own second life, but she did remember being filled with anger due to the unjust way her original life had ended. That had not been a good life. Neither had been the next few that had followed. If she could help ease someone's way and help them avoid the mistakes she had made, then she would. She’d done it before, and she had made several friendships that had spanned over lifetimes. She’d also created some future enemies that way, but that was always a risk. This girl seemed harmless though, and it wasn’t a big burden to provide a bit of advice. “That one you can accept if you feel it would be beneficial, I believe.”

“Good. Even if they have ulterior motives, the fact that that they made the suggestion at all is a great opportunity to deepen the bonds between our two institutes, so I was planning on accepting anyway.” Tsumi nodded, clearly pleased by Karna’s words. “The third one is the weirdest. The Tempest Gorge has asked for, and I quote, ‘a parlay’ between you and one of theirs. Since they’re currently hiding the one you called Stormcaller, I doubt we need to think too hard to know what this is about. The question is, will you accept?”

“I might as well. At least that will get me close enough to him to find out what I need to know. I’m also curious about what he has to say.” Karna decided. Stormcaller had managed to hide himself so far, and time was running out. They couldn’t exactly break into the Tempest Gorge’s quarters, so their options were limited. She was curious why he would want to talk now after successfully hiding for so long.

------

Karna approached the private room set aside for this ‘parlay’ with Tsumi. With the finals being fought right at this moment, Tsumi’s absence was a little odd so they wouldn’t be able to stay for long. The one Karna had identified as ‘Stormcaller’ was waiting on the other side of the room with one of the elders of Tempest Gorge. She noted that the elder was apparently his master that she’d seen him whispering to right after he had discovered her True Name.

“My disciple has requested this meeting to be private between the two of them.” The older man said as soon as Tsumi and Karna entered.

Tsumi looked at Karna in question. “You can go back to the tournament. I believe I’m quite safe here.” Karna replied to the unspoken question, and the Stormcaller gave a small shiver at her words.

Tsumi looked over the young man and his master before acquiescing with a nod. "We'll let the youngsters resolve things on their own then. Return to the event once you're done, Karna. You wouldn’t want to miss the celebration. I think they’re going to reward you as well.”

Stormcaller waited until the two adults had gone far enough away before he got on the floor on his knees and hands in full prostration. "I'm sorry! Forgive me, master!" The young man shouted out with a sincere and desperate voice.

‘Interesting reaction.’ Karna thought to herself. She wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for though, and it might be better to let him reveal that. “And which of your transgressions are you apologizing for?” Karna asked with an imperious tone. She had not missed the fact that he had called her ‘master’.

“For misusing the teaching you imparted on me without your permission, for disrespecting my seniors, and for hiding all this time in fear of your just punishment. I know I should’ve come to apologize earlier, but I was afraid.” The young man listed off, not moving from his position on the ground, even to look up.

That little spiel hinted at certain things. It seemed this Stormcaller had been a student of hers at some point. "I see. I noted that you rather impolitely peeked at my Name." A little hypocritical since she had done the same, but it was quite common that the same rules didn't apply to those much more powerful than yourself. "What Name did you see?"

“Master?” This time he did take a careful look up for a moment, before returning his eyes to the ground. “The Name of course.”

Karna gave a suffering sigh, which was only mostly faked. “It might be hard to understand, but some of us tend to gather more Names than we know what to do with. Even those that others would consider to be obviously the most important. Which one?”

“Karma, master.” The young man admitted, chastised.

This time Karna's sigh was not faked. Of course, the Head Judge would leave that one. I should’ve been obvious just from the fact that he had called her that when they met. It was one of the less annoying ones. It was one of those names that would be feared by those that knew the significance and had met her before, but it was significantly less unpleasant than many of the others. It was also one that many reincarnators knew about but didn't exactly hate, unlike some of the others. Karma was a Name that reincarnators whispered about in rumors and legends, but most of her enemies had not been made under that Name. Which was probably why the Head Judge had left it unmasked.

“I see. Stormcaller is it? You did not have that Name while I taught you.” She said, probing for more information. She had taught so many people that without a True Name, it would be impossible to recognize someone from behavior alone. Besides, she hadn’t had students for several lifetimes and people changed.

“Master, that Name was acquired in my previous life. My mastery of air and lightning magic reached sufficient levels to be recognized with a Name. You knew me by a normal name, which at the time was Velen.” The young man explained.

Karna had to genuinely struggle to keep her face impassive. ‘Really?! Out of all of my old students, I had to run into this one?!’ She silently screamed in her mind. This apprenticeship had happened quite a long time ago. But this student was notable in one specific regard. He had once won a bet with her and used that opportunity in a way that she had not expected. She had not refused mostly because by that time their time as a master and a disciple had been mostly over anyway and sometimes it felt nice to do something forbidden. ‘Really fates?! You threw the one disciple I shagged at me? Seriously?!’ Her internal screaming continued.

There was a reason why reincarnators sometimes got involved with each other. Familial bonds and ties of friendship were not the only connections that became difficult to form after enough lifetimes. The same applied to romantic bonds. It was common for even the short-lived humans that older people had a much different perspective on romance than the younger people. The same held true and even to a much larger degree to very old reincarnators. Some of the oldest reincarnators Karna had seen had given up on romance almost entirely, except with other reincarnators that could relate. Once again, she had managed to retain some of her original youthful feeling towards romance, but even she had noticed that it took more to fall in love and to truly feel the sort of connections she had felt in her earlier lives.

Interestingly, not all connections and emotions were affected in the same way. It was somewhat ironic that feelings like excitement in battle, thirst for knowledge, and plain old lust were mostly unaffected and sometimes even heightened by the lack of other connections. Karna had always suspected that was because those feelings had a strong biological and instinctive component. For instance, sexual desires and the need to procreate were hard-wired into most living beings, and the excitement one felt in battle helped you to survive. As a result, due to being the easiest methods to feel something real, some reincarnators turned all their attention to these more base emotions and turned either into debauched lust-filled people, battle-crazed maniacs, or secluded hermits seeking freedom from all such worldly desires. On the other hand, as a safer option, many reincarnators sought the company of others of their kind, although those bonds rarely lasted too long. Certainly, this one had not lasted more than that one night, as the young man kneeling at his feet had found out rather quickly. There was a good reason he was afraid of her now, as things got a little stormy. They had not parted on bad terms as a whole, but it did make things a little weird.

Karna showed none of her thoughts on the outside though. “I see. Well then. Why have you sought out this parlay? Surely it wasn’t just to apologize, as you could’ve escaped. And you aren’t my disciple anymore either.”

“I know master. I also know that something odd is going on in this universe and you tried to seek me out. I know better than to get on your bad side. I came to the conclusion that if someone knew what was going on, it would be you, and that you were probably seeking me out for some purpose. I also know that if you really wanted to find me later, there’s very little I could do to hide. I thought it better to simply surrender myself to your mercy and get this over with. If you’re going to come after me anyway, I’d rather just get this life over with before I waste more time, and just get to the next one.” The young man explained his reasoning.

Karna considered his words and now knew that the decision suited what she remembered of his character. He had always been careful, but not the type to put up a futile struggle against the inevitable. Some would consider that cowardly or giving up too easily, but he simply considered it efficient. If you would just be born again, why fear death and waste time? “You mentioned your talent in air and lightning magic, as feeble as that boast may be. Have you channeled power directly from the elemental planes?”

The young man looked up in surprise again. “Not yet.” He said finally. “I remember your teaching about doing that harming the elemental planes and incurring the wrath of the spirits. I…have the ability, but I wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary.”

Karna believed him. He was not the type to take such risks unless something he cared more about than his life was threatened, and even then there were few things that he would really care enough about. He wasn’t the type to form bonds easily, and hadn’t been even in his first reincarnation. That was one of the reasons he had approached her so boldly in the first place. That and the fact that she had been less than discerning in some of her lifetimes, that particular life being one of them. She was far from immune to the vices that some of her bloodlines brought her after all. Still, even if she wasn’t too picky about her partners in general, that had been a low point even for her.

"Good. Don't. Not even as a last resort. Otherwise, I'm going to have to deal with you. And I mean a bit more permanently than just sending you to your next life." Karna threatened. Threatening reincarnators was always difficult, as they always had an easy out unless you had some proper leverage. And the boy was aware of just a bit of what she could do to make things difficult aside from simply erasing him completely. That was something he wasn't aware of, luckily.

“In that case, I may have something for you. One of the people that Ascended from our plane about a century ago was from our sect. The way my master talks about them makes me think they did draw on the elemental planes. Since they’ve been gone for a century and my master doesn’t like speaking about them, I’m not all that clear on the details. I can get you more information though.” The Stormcaller promised.

“Good. You do that and I’ll forgive your transgressions.” Karna promised magnanimously.

As she was about to leave, the young man spoke again. “Master, there’s no chance that...” His expression made it clear what he was thinking. He couldn’t help but ask, as it had been one of the highlights of his lives so far.

“No. Divines no.” Karna shot that idea down firmly. "First of all, I'm way too young no matter what my mental age is, and secondly, heck no. Get me that information so I won’t smack you just for suggesting it.”

------

"You're a bit late," Tsumi commented as Karna sat down next to her. "Your award was already handed out, but I collected it in your stead." She tossed Karna a bag with several books. A single glance showed them all to be spellbooks of rather high level.

"Interesting," Karna commented.

“I think the interesting part is coming up next. A student from the Academy won the whole thing, and I’ve got a sense they’re about to make a move on you judging by the fact that the whole thing was delayed until you returned.” Tsumi pointed towards the arena at the center where the elven man known as Menranel was just about to state his wish. The real winners of the tournament were granted a limited wish by the institutes. Since the tournament was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, the participants knew to keep their wishes within reasonable bounds as well, as the reward would not be granted if the wish was too extravagant.

“As the winner of this tournament, what is it that you desire?” The headmaster of the Frospeak Institute ceremonially asked.

“I wish to issue a challenge.” Menranel declared with a clear and loud voice. “Normally this kind of challenge would be considered shameless, but the target of my challenge has slighted me and my associates. They need to be taught a lesson in humility. And what better way to do that than to give that lesson in public?”

“I see. This is why they didn’t make too many overt moves against me before. They wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. They’re rather confident in their victory though.” Karna commented calmly.

“Well, he is the crowned student of his year in the most prestigious institute on the Higher Planes. He has a reason to be a little smug. He’s also quite skilled for his age and rank and just won the tournament. It’s a shame you didn’t get to see his last fight.” Tsumi explained.

The headmaster of the hosting institute seemed intrigued by the development. “I see. And who do you wish to challenge?”

"I wish to challenge Karna from the Academy," Menranel stated confidently.

That got everyone’s attention. They had assumed that Menranel would challenge someone from another institute, which is why he had used this opportunity to do so. But instead, he wanted to humiliate a rising star in front of all the other institutes. The Headmaster looked towards Tsumi. “We cannot compel her to accept of course. That’s up to your Headmistress and the person in question.”

Before Tsumi could intervene, Karna got up from her seat. “I will naturally accept. I can’t say I agree with the reasoning of my senior student or the excessive pride of his little social club, but if he insists, then I shall oblige and show him the error of his ways.”

“Will you be okay?” Tsumi asked in a whisper.

“Don’t worry. I wanted to make an example anyway. He simply provided me with the perfect opportunity and stage.” Karna reassured her. As Menranel was a fresh rank five mage, normally someone like Karna would have zero chance of victory. Yet she wasn’t worried, and she wasn’t alone. Stormcaller had returned to the audience as well, and it was clear on his face how little he thought of Menranel’s chances.

“I’m allowed to use all my abilities, correct?” Karna confirmed as she stepped on the arena. Out of Menranel’s sight, she tapped at the insignia on her uniform that showed that she also had a spirit. While her opponent couldn’t see the gesture, the teacher judging the fight did. Gem had already been summoned and had turned invisible upon appearing.

“Of course.” The referee nodded in understanding. He also turned towards Menranel. “Usually the one who was challenged would decide the conditions for the fight, but as this is your reward, you’re allowed to pose terms.”

"No holds barred until one side is unable to continue," Menranel stated. The fact that he had left out the option of surrender showed that he clearly planned to teach Karna a lesson in pain.

“Will this be agreeable?” The referee asked Karna, who nodded in turn. “Fine, the terms are set. Let me remind you however that we will not tolerate killing blows or intentional maiming. On my mark. Fight!”

Karna materialized another blade made of hard-light, while leisurely waiting for Menranel to make a move. She was usually the type to end fights as quickly as possible, but she was here to make an example. That meant showing just how pointless this attempt was despite the difference in rank. Menranel knew he wasn’t Karna’s equal in melee as he was a pure wizard type, so he started off by casting spells that increased his speed and strength just in case. Those were relatively simple buffing spells, so it didn’t take more than a few seconds.

“Let’s see how long your Qhaysh barriers can stand against my magical assault!” The elven senior student declared.

With his preparations done, Menranel started his attack. Spell after spell was quickly lobbed in Karna’s direction. Most of the spells were actually relatively high level, fourth and fifth circle. Despite this, Menranel showed why he had won the tournament. His execution was clean and flawless, as well as very fast. He was also able to cast multiple spells at the same time, which made the barrage of magic impressive for his rank, and were a good display of the skills that had carried him thus far The barrage of spells was simply too much for most people. It was also why it was so baffling that all those spells fizzled before they even got close to Karna.

“What’s going on?” Siegfried had to ask Tsumi, as his experience with mages was inadequate to explain what was going on.

“Karna is unweaving all the magic Menranel is using.” Tsumi leaned forward, impressed with what she was seeing. “Menranel’s spells are very streamlined, which makes them so fast to cast, but that leaves them vulnerable as well, as most of the guff that would protect the spell against this kind of thing is removed.”

Directly blocking spells was the most common way to defend against them. A simple barrier was usually enough to stop most spells, unless they were specifically designed to go through such barriers. It was also very costly when it came to mana as it usually cost more to block a spell than cast one, but it was fast and simple. It was also possible to counter spells by using your own spells to intercept them on the way. Opposing elements were a particularly efficient method, but that method required precision and careful control of the power you spent. If you missed even one attack, or didn’t use enough power to block the incoming spell, you got hit. That often led to wasted power, and the person who was casting faster usually won by simply overwhelming the opponent.

The third and the least used method was to attack the construct of mana holding the spell together. This method used very little mana, but it was rarely used for a reason. You had to know exactly where to attack the incoming spell to 'unweave' it, or you'd take too long and get hit. Even if you were familiar with a spell, every mage added their own little twists to the spells, which changed how to unweave them. So the skill required to unweave spells in battle was staggering, and impossible if the enemy used a spell you were unfamiliar with. Even experienced magisters were leery about using this method because the burden of knowledge was simply too large.

It soon became clear that Menranel’s attacks were not working. To everyone's surprise, he suddenly summoned a blade made of fire and closed the distance between the two. Everyone had assumed he wouldn't want to fight an Aura user in close combat, but it soon became apparent that he was quite skilled with the blade as well. Magic was not as efficient when it came to helping the user in physical combat, but the difference in ranks between the two made up for that. Or that was the idea anyway.

“Very bold of you elf.” Karna complimented with a snide tone. “However, you’re underestimating a proper Aura user a bit too much.”

For the first time since being re-born, Karna truly activated her Aura in combat. She was surrounded by an eerie glow of the same color as her blueish-white hair, and suddenly her strength increased exponentially. She might have been a third-ranked Aura user, but she was using the absolute best Aura cultivation method and had Awakened two of the very best bloodlines fully, even if those bloodlines needed time to grow into full effectiveness. Her power with Aura could not be compared to those of similar rank. With a simple shove, Menranel was pushed back and his blade of fire was shattered.

“Fine. Have it your way. I didn’t want to go this far, but I’d lose my position if I didn’t show you your place.” Menranel growled, now truly angry. Suddenly everyone in the room sensed some sort of weird and ominous power that they could not see.

Karna however just laughed. “Really? A soul attack? That was the absolute stupidest thing you could’ve done.”

The referee hissed in alarm and disgust and was about to interfere, and he wasn’t the only one. Tsumi was already preparing to jump into the arena as well. Soul attacks were abhorred for many reasons, and most certainly shouldn’t be used in a friendly competition like this. Karna waved them back though. “Let me tell you a little secret.” She said as she grabbed a hold of the attack with her own soul.

“There are several reasons why soul attacks are a silly idea in general. First of all, it’s a bit hard to judge if you actually have a stronger soul than your target, as that doesn’t depend on your rank or even age. And attacking someone with a stronger soul, as you've just done, is a bad idea even if you've trained to use the attack. Secondly, soul attacks bring really bad karma, which actually explains why I sensed such bad karma from you earlier. You’ve used this technique before and will need to be punished accordingly. Thirdly, when you use a soul attack, you leave yourself open for a counter. I'll be kind enough to not use that opportunity with you, because I don’t need to and because you’re still from the same Academy. Fourth and finally, soul attacks leave you wide open, as it’s really hard to focus on anything else while you’ve committed yourself to such a reckless attack. And you seem to have forgotten that I can summon a spirit. Gem, if you would please.” Karna listed up, lifting a finger up with each point while Menranel seemed to be frozen in place, with sweat dripping down his pained face.

Suddenly a large form appeared behind Menranel and a golden two-handed blade was pushed through his stomach. The blade was quickly pulled out and Menranel slumped on the arena floor, bleeding all over the place. Then the large being stepped to stand protectively next to Karna. Gem had appeared looking like a large angelic warrior with a bright golden-colored armor and a large golden-colored claymore. She looked quite impressive as she stood at least three meters tall, towering over her master with enormous golden wings spread around Karna for added protection. Gem looked like a righteous Archangel ready to strike down anyone approaching an innocent maiden, and the worst part was that no one could sense how powerful she was.

“You really decided to go all out with the theatrics this time, didn’t you?” Karna whispered Gem.

“I just thought I might as well make my first real appearance impressive, that’s all.” Gem retorted, clearly enjoying the attention. The spirit had never been all that interested in subtlety. Skilled yes, but not interested.

Chapter 29 - Peaceful resolution

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. As I said in the last chapter, this one is the end of the first real arc of the story. We'll be skipping ahead some years in the next chapter. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

"So things got a little exciting there," Sieg commented as they sat on the deck of the flying ship as it traveled the dimensional pathway back towards the Academy.

“That’s one way to put it," Karna commented wryly. "I suspected that Gem's appearance would cause a stir, but they went a bit overboard."

"Well, you can't blame them really. It was quite clear to everyone that your spirit was a powerful one." Sieg pointed out the obvious.

“That’s not it. They’ve seen powerful spirits before. The real reason they got so excited was for two different reasons. The first one is that they could not determine how strong Gem was. Partially that’s because the bastard disappeared as soon as it became obvious she would not be left alone, but also because humanoid spirits vary greatly in power. Secondly, and this is the really important part, she's my spirit. Because of my age, Gem is only going to grow stronger as I will, and quite significantly so. Because I'm so young, it's obvious to everyone that Gem pretty much started at her current level. So how strong will she be when I reach higher ranks? That's what they're thinking." Karna understood the reacting of the various institutes a lot better than Sieg.

“She did look quite powerful. And I suppose it’s appropriate to have such a strong light aligned spirit considering your affinity with Qhaysh.” Sieg said off-handedly.

“Yes, quite.” Even Karna had little trouble keeping her face straight.

“Did you know? My father and I knew you'd struck gold during the trip to the Spirit World as soon as you and Arjuna bade a hasty exit from the celebration. You clearly didn't want to show off your spirit." Sieg suddenly explained with a sneaky look.

“As I recall, you two weren’t too far behind.” Karna pointed out.

“True.” Sieg’s sneaky smile remained on his face. “And I also had good results back then. Not as good as you obviously, but…”

"Eh, it wasn't a fair contest," Karna said mysteriously and refused to explain further and the two sat there in companionable silence for several minutes.

“It seems the Headmistress is calling for me.” Karna suddenly noticed Tsumi signaling her from the door leading inside the ship.

”The healers had to spend quite a bit of time putting Menranel back together after your fight," Tsumi stated as soon as they found a private room. “And they aren’t quite sure his soul is fully intact either. That said, he’s going to recover at least physically.”

“That’s just one of the myriad of reasons you shouldn’t use soul attacks. Even if the target doesn’t retaliate, the rebound from a failed attack can be quite bad. As for his other wounds, Gem made sure to strike him in a way that he suffered no lasting damage. I didn’t want to break the rule about maiming after all.” Karna retorted calmly. There were countless reasons why even the reincarnators with their powerful souls didn’t dabble with soul attacks. “On that note, that wasn’t the first time he used that sort of attack. If I were you, I’d look into it. The use of soul attacks should be banned as far as I’m concerned, and you might find interesting coincidences in his background. People that lost to him where they shouldn’t have.”

“We’ll certainly look into it. Speaking of, are you alright? It would be bad for the Academy if two of our more promising students crippled each other while having a fight. Not that Menranel looked very promising in your little fight. You dominated him.” Tsumi's tone was in equal measure complimentary and worried.

“I’m fine. He did something stupid, and he chose the exact wrong target. You would’ve thought that my performance in the entrance exam should’ve been enough as a clue to tell him that I have a powerful enough soul to resist his attack, but I suppose he either ignored that or was too confident in his own training. As for the fight itself, the matchup was really bad for him. His style simply doesn’t work against me. A simple warrior of his rank could’ve done much better against me. I doubt I could’ve dominated a fifth-ranked warrior with proper skill as badly, and ironically a mage that had focused less on the speed and efficiency of their spells would’ve been a worse opponent.” Karna downplayed her victory.

“But you would still have won against them?” Tsumi noticed the attempt and didn’t let her get away with it.

"That depends. Despite what many people seem to think, rank isn't everything. Yes, a fifth-ranked warrior is usually stronger than a fourth-ranked one, but not necessarily. If I had fought against one of the more gifted warriors that took part in the tournament, I might have had real trouble.” Karna admitted with a shrug. She was being modest though.

“What about your spirit? I was under the impression that your spirit was a Fairy Dragon.” Tsumi asked the next obvious question.

“What gave you that impression?” Karna deadpanned, while Tsumi looked meaningfully at Gem stuffing her tiny draconic face with another grape. “Yeah, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Appearances can be deceiving.” Karna continued shamelessly. Seemed like refuge in audacity was going to become a habit.

It was clear she had no intention to explain herself when it came to Gem, so Tsumi just let it go. There were some secrets that Karna wouldn’t share because it was simply too advantageous for her if her enemies didn’t know the full extent of her or Gem’s abilities. “Fine. Have it your way. I wouldn’t expect you to reveal everything anyway. I certainly don’t.” Tsumi gave a small satisfied sigh. “Still, we accomplished most of our goals for this trip. You’ve certainly been brought to the attention of other powers, and they’re all pretty convinced you’re more than you seem, which is exactly how we want it. We also had other institutes approach us to make some connections, which will prove beneficial for both of us in the long run. What about the person you were looking for?”

“He was both a hit and not what we’re looking for. He was the type of person I wanted you to find, so good job on that front. On the other hand, he was also someone I didn’t need to deal with, at least for now. So best of both worlds I suppose. On the other hand, him being aware of me could potentially be a bad thing if he chooses to share that information far and wide. It would be too much to have him killed just for that possibility though. We’ll have to trust that he knows better than to blab about me to everyone.” Karna mused.

She was pretty sure Stormcaller wouldn’t say anything, but you could never be entirely sure. A lot could change in a few lifetimes, and most reincarnators were at least a little bit insane, so judging them by the normal standards was dangerous. As the reincarnators knew they could just be reborn, some of them could and would do something that potentially destroyed entire worlds on a whim, as they didn’t have to suffer the consequences beyond accruing bad karma.

“Speaking of, did you find out what True Name he discovered?” Tsumi asked, her voice practically dripping with curiosity.

"I did," Karna replied curtly.

“May I ask what it was?” Tsumi couldn’t help herself.

"Karma," Karna replied with a serious voice, but her seriousness was broken by the wave of amusement radiating from the other woman.

“I’m sorry, what? Your given name is Karna, and you have the True Name of Karma?” Tsumi had trouble keeping her face straight.

“Laugh it up. Get it out. Gem also had a fit when she found out.” Karna couldn’t prevent the smile from creeping on her face. It was nice that Tsumi wasn’t aware of the implications of the True Name, and didn’t know the significance. Very few beings were aware, fortunately. “I suspect the similarity wasn’t entirely accidental.”

“Yeah, Karma can be a real bitch sometimes.” Tsumi couldn’t stop herself from making the obvious joke. It simply had to be said, just so she got it out of her system.

Karna chuckled politely even if she had heard the joke a million times. “Yeah, she can be if she so chooses.” Her tone of voice implied that she wasn’t referring to just a single meaning of the word ‘bitch’.

“Ooh, saucy!” Tsumi commented playfully before getting serious again. “So any plans?”

“Right now? Well, I assume I earned my points. I’ll provide a bit of help to my teammates, although they wanted to learn to stand on their own so I won’t help too much. Then we’re going to crush the tests and move to the second year. Then we’ll do the same the next year, and the next. I doubt the big events will really come in the next couple of years, so I’ll just grow stronger and enjoy life.

"Sounds like a plan. In a few years, you'll have to pick a master as well. I'm sure there will be plenty of takers." Tsumi commented idly, slipping into the Headmistress role again.

“You aren’t available? I mean it would be kind of easier with you already knowing some of my secrets. I would of course prefer Arjuna, but he already has Duskclaw, even if they are a master and disciple in name only anymore.” Karna suddenly suggested.

“Me?” Tsumi was a bit surprised. She had considered the possibility. She was in an interesting position. With her power and position, there were many that wanted to form a connection with her via having their son or daughter accepted as a disciple. On the other hand, many of the best candidates didn’t want her because of cultural reasons. She was the lewdly-dressed and norm-breaking Alpyran after all. There was also the added complexity that she was often busy with matters of the Academy, as well as larger affairs of the Higher Planes, so the disciple would need to be exceptionally skilled, or they would need to be left behind. They would also have to be good at learning on their own. “Sure, why not.” She finally said.

“Sounds like we have a plan of sorts then.” Karna nodded in agreement.

--------

“Well, it looks like everyone worth anything is already here. We can begin the negotiations while the others handle the song and dance that diplomacy usually requires.” A Leonid with white-gold fur stated with a powerful and self-confident voice. The Leonid were powerfully built as a species, but this one was tall and broad even for his kind. Arjuna knew that he was likely much stronger than even Wolfgang.

“You’re always so brash Ashanti. That’s why nobody likes you aside from your little flunkies.” A gorgeous elven woman with a silver diadem on her forehead replied. Her pale skin and regal bearing, combined with her unnatural height and unsettling presence were enough to identify her as a High Elf. Arjuna realized that he was probably the shortest person in the room.

“Hah, we can’t all be a bunch of prissy and awe-inspiring fancy-asses like you Amaranthine.” The Leonid man snarked at the elven woman. He was clearly winding her up on purpose, but the elven woman was intelligent enough to notice that. The two were also somewhat used to each other already.

"That's Queen Amaranthine to you, and my point still stands." She countered with a regal tone. She wasn't entirely serious though, as Ashanti was extremely loved by his people, and for many good reasons. He acted brashly because he chose to, and because that made him popular with the common people, not because he wasn't able to act like the fanciest and most refined nobles.

“Warm-bloods. Always arguing about pointless things.” The tallest member of the gathering of four people hissed while revealing a row of razor-sharp teeth. The representative of the Saurian Kingdoms was a testament to the fact that the Saurians never fully stopped growing, as he was almost four meters tall and made of pure muscle. His heavy frame was deceiving though, as Arjuna knew he could move extremely fast and with nimbleness that belied his form.

“We really should get to the point.” Arjuna agreed while rapping the table they were all gathered around with his knuckles. “We should come to terms.”

"Of course you would think that Shady," Ashanti stated, using a weird nickname for Arjuna. "You're the biggest winners of the whole thing. You also formed the cowardly alliance with the pointy-ear over there, so there's not much we can say about the whole thing."

“You speak as if the Aegean Empire didn’t benefit from the whole endeavor. You gobbled up more of the Holy Kingdom than we or the Saurians did, so you’re not in a position to complain. And the alliance is the natural result of your aggressive posturing and expansion in the last few decades. If you pick a fight with everyone, then don’t be surprised if the others join up to push back.” Queen Amaranthine countered.

Ashanti laughed. “Fair enough. And the Magocracy did get the jump on the rest of us, so it’s their victory. It’s almost like they were expecting something like this to happen. Makes you wonder doesn’t it?” The Leonid noticed that Arjuna was about to protest. “Don’t mind it Shady. Either you weren’t expecting it and just had the ability to react faster than others, or you did, in which case I’ll only respect your ruthlessness more. Speaking out now will only spoil my impression of you.”

“I was going to say something about sore losers, but I’ll refrain.” Arjuna lied smoothly. “Now then. We could bicker about the result and continue throwing lives away in a larger war over the territories that used to belong to the Sacred Dynasty, but that would only waste the gains we’ve already made. Speaking of, we've all made a big profit so far, so there’s no point in throwing the benefits away for questionable gain. Instead, I suggest we come to terms and wrap this whole thing up here. That will allow all of us to consolidate our gains and prepare for what’s to come next.”

“Ah, so you’re saying the rumors about the Expansion are true?” Ashanti leaned forward. The Magocracy, as the nation of mages, was the best suited to confirm such rumors. The Magocracy also had the Starlight Tower. Ashanti had his own speculation and evidence, but it was nice to confirm things.

“It’s true. I’ve already seen it.” The elven queen confirmed instead. Her abilities as a seer were also rather famed, and she was both miffed and relieved that almost everyone sought out the Starlight Tower instead. On one hand, it was a slight on her own talents, but on the other hand, she was spared the trouble.

“It’s not quite the same as confirmation by the Witch of the Starlight Tower, but I’ll take it.” Ashanti couldn’t resist making a small dig at the elven monarch.

“The Tower has been relatively quiet on the matter, but our calculations suggest the Expansion this time will be a major one. Several worlds for the Higher Planes. Perhaps even a new Plane.” Arjuna hastened to state, just to avoid more squabbling. Ashanti and Amaranthine famously didn’t get along, though few knew the real reasons behind the animosity.

“The Saurian Kingdoms agree. We have bigger and more glorious fights ahead. Better to save our strength. This way we all win. Wasting our strength now would allow our rivals to beat us when the stakes are higher.” The large Saurian stated, surprising the others. The scaled warriors were famed for not fearing protracted wars, so they had all assumed it would be the hardest to convince him, and now he was the first to agree.

“Have it your way Shady. I got what I needed from the ruins of the Sacred Dynasty, and I don’t need an Emissary looking over my shoulder anyway.” Ashanti also easily agreed, which made the whole thing a lot easier. Ashanti didn’t mention that the alliance between the elves and the Magocracy had been in his plans anyway, so he was actually glad that things had worked out as smoothly as they had. He’d originally been worried that the two new allies would’ve tried taking over some of the new territory the empire had gobbled up before initiating these negotiations just for leverage. The fact that they didn’t showed that they didn’t have enough ruthlessness to exploit their position and strength. This was all working exactly as he hoped.

“So we’re all agreed then? We can hammer out the exact details later, but each of us keeps the lands we already occupy, and the Magocracy will become the new home for the Emissary?” Arjuna confirmed while looking at the elven queen, who simply nodded in agreement.

Of course, working out the exact detail took several hours and the diplomats would haggle over a border there, a mine here, and a city there for months to come. However, the general outline of the treaty was now done, and the previous Holy Kingdom was officially carved into four pieces. It would likely not be the last time these territories would be fought over, but for now, a large war had been averted. As soon as the negotiations were wrapped up, the Saurian warrior marched out. Surprisingly, both Ashanti and Queen Amaranthine stayed behind.

“So Arjuna, I heard you got yourself a daughter? I also heard one of my relatives got trounced by her. My nephew? Younger cousin? Whatever. The poor sap picked a fight he shouldn’t have, and I’ve pulled him from the Academy.” Ashanti suddenly declared.

Arjuna was instantly alarmed. “You’re talking about Brimaz? There was no need to go that far. Rivalries are common in the Academy and can be great motivation. It’s not like the two were really hostile or anything.”

"Ah, but picking a fight with a Blessed Child is a lot less intelligent. Besides, from what I hear, you managed to train your daughter to be a fair bit more ruthless than most, so being an enemy of someone like that is prone to end badly. As I said, the sap picked a fight he shouldn't have. I don't really care about him; I just wanted to congratulate you on finally having a kid worthy of my attention." Ashanti seemed entirely genuine with his words, which didn't mean anything. The fact that everyone else at the table suspected him to be another Blessed was a bit of unintentional irony.

“Ruthless?” Arjuna blinked a bit in confusion. He knew Karna could be very decisive, but this was the first time someone called her ruthless where he could hear. He wasn’t too shocked about Ashanti thinking she was Blessed, as he knew how gifted she was. He'd had his suspicions as well, but in the end, it didn't matter. Karna was his little girl and that was all that he needed to know.

“Oh, you didn’t hear about the results of the little tournament between the Academy and the other institutes yet? Interesting. Well, I suppose you wouldn’t bother with spies seeing as your daughter can just tell you what happened. I think you should ask her when she returns. Suffice to say, that I’ll be keeping an eye on the girl in the future.” Ashanti laughed before walking out of the chamber without even giving the barest of polite goodbyes.

Arjuna had not heard anything yet, as Ashanti had guessed. He had been too busy with other things to make inquiries. Apparently, that had been a mistake, and he hated making mistakes like that. They could come back to haunt him. Queen Amaranthine also nodded towards Arjuna. “His words might be brash, but he has the right idea. He won’t be the only one paying attention to the girl. However, I find it interesting that your daughter is that particular age. I seem to recall something else happening at the same time she was born. I wonder if the two events are connected.”

Arjuna knew she was referring to the Heavensfall and that she had made the connection. “Let’s just say I’m happy with what I found that day.” He knew there was no point in hiding things completely. The Queen was not an idiot, and lying would only make things worse.

“I suspected as much. I think you owe us another favor for letting things slide that day, but that’s not why I brought it up. I have a warning for you. You and your daughter should be wary of the new Emissary. Should they find out about her, then the consequences would be bad. Not just for the Magocracy either. Should you need it, I can hide her for a time. An exchange program of sorts.” The Queen promised.

“I’ll…keep that in mind.” Arjuna nodded. He knew the Queen would not have made the warning without knowing something about what would happen in the future. “I wonder how long it will take before the Emissary shows up? I don’t think they’re in too much of a hurry, and the Divines have a different concept of time when compared to us mortals.”

“I can’t say for sure, but I can say that my visions only have them present some years from now.” The elven queen guesstimated. Predicting the future was a very imprecise endeavor sometimes, especially when the target of those visions was powerful.

Chapter 30 - The Emissary

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go, the start of the next arc. You might notice that I'm somewhat harping on Karna's appearance in this and the next few chapters, but I'm doing it to make a point. The more I do it now, the less I'll have to do it later, and it's an important plot point. Incidentally, next time we're going to have the first chapter with a + mark (a relatively mild one). Those will work a little differently in this story when compared to those I wrote before, but I'll get into that next time.

I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Well, it seems you finally caught up," Siegfried said warmly while prying the crowned insignia of VIII-1 off his chest and handing it to the new owner. He had been expecting this for a while and he knew the new owner deserved it far more anyway, so he wasn’t feeling too bad about it.

“Why thank you, number two. I couldn't have done it without you. I mean that literally. It would be impossible to catch up if you didn't fail your class promotion twice. For some reason, master doesn't want me to skip years." Karna laughed, her beautiful smile enchanting everyone in the surroundings. She had finally stopped using the veil in public some months ago, and people were still getting used to it.

“It’s too bad my brother didn’t make it, though I must say that I’m surprised and glad he managed to hang on this long.” Siegfried pointed out, ignoring the small jab at his expense. He wasn’t the only one that had been surprised. Rein had worked harder than anyone had expected to stay together with the group they had formed, and he had managed to stick with them until the others got promoted to the eighth year. At that point the gap in talent had finally caught up. It was already shocking enough that the others had made it to the eighth year while managing to pass the tests every year. Usually, nearly all students would need to spend extra years to get promoted by the time they reached the fifth or sixth year.

“He did try his very best, and he wasn’t too far from succeeding. At least he’ll be able to lord over the seventh years now as the new crowned student of that year. And he wasn’t the only one. Callista also didn’t make it. I’m pretty sure there is something going on between those two.” She whispered conspiratorially. The blond noble-girl had finally managed to gather her courage and approach the original group of four in their second year. Their group had also expanded to include the exchange student Mayumi, although the others still didn’t know she was a reincarnator, or a Blessed Child as they were known. The contrast between her and Karna was simply too large and allayed all suspicions.

“Really? And I was so sure he was pining after you.” Sieg exclaimed with a genuinely shocked face. Sieg knew that his brother and other friends of Karna had been aware of Karna’s appearance since the first year. Rein had after all confessed as much years ago. Seeing as Karna was the newly, albeit unofficially, elected belle of the Academy, it wasn’t too shocking that Rein had developed a fascination towards the girl at some point. He would certainly be far from the only one.

"It was fairly obvious that he was at some point. Unfortunately, he was also too afraid. Too afraid of the gap in skill between us, too afraid of rejection, and too afraid of losing our friendship and ruining the cohesion of our group. I understand that fear, so I don’t hold it against him, but I really did think he was bolder than that. I’m not saying it would’ve worked out, but I might have even given him a chance if he had managed to at least gather up his courage. Too bad really. His work ethics and persistence were quite commendable. Anyway, I think he got over his fascination towards me last year. That’s when he started to look at other girls, and Callista is rather attractive and has had a thing for him for years.” Karna explained with a teasing smile.

Sieg wasn’t sure how serious Karna was about giving his brother a chance, though he could sympathize with his brother’s fear. Karna was beyond a shadow of a doubt the most attractive girl at the Academy, only really matched by her master, the Headmistress. She had been, for the last three years, since she’d had the last part of her growth spurt, even with the veil still hiding her face. The only reason she wasn’t inundated with advances of all sorts was the fact that she was almost as intimidating as the Headmistress as well, despite the obvious gap in power. So if Rein had actually confessed, then he would’ve been braver than everyone else on the campus.

“An understandable choice. She’s fairly attractive and well connected. My mother would be pleased." Siegfried said, mostly to get his own mind out of the gutter. Something that was increasingly difficult around Karna. She had a certain presence about her, something that unknowingly drew everyone's attention and admiration. Being drop-dead gorgeous with a body that aroused all kinds of desires didn’t exactly help matters of course. Siegfried was somewhat aware that this presence had something to do with her parentage, but Arjuna had never revealed anything about her mother.

“Well, I’m glad you approve of your brother’s love life.” Karna teased, knowing why Sieg had replied in that sort of half-distracted way. She knew what kind of effect she had on people, even those that were used to her. It was just the natural result of being a Godling, combined with her bloodlines and her natural charisma. People needed to either get over it with time or be strong enough to resist. “How is your love life going by the way? I heard you had something going on with a pretty little girl a few years your junior.”

"Ah, Bernadette? That one is slightly in the air but doesn't look too good. Strictly speaking, we're still dating, but that's more because neither of us has ended things decisively yet. Her parents aren’t fond of our family. Truth be told, I’m not sure if going out with her was a good idea. I think she was only going after me because of that.” Sieg pointed at the crowned insignia now in Karna’s hands and gave a sigh. “I wish people wouldn’t do things like that.”

“What? Go for others based on their status and power? I’m afraid you’re going to be sorely disappointed if you expect people to change in that regard.” Karna had a moment of nostalgia. Status and power would always be attractive no matter the universe. There were some exceptions of course, but mostly it was something driven by natural selection. Most species would be driven biologically to look for suitable mates, and status and power were very easy ways to display that suitability. Not the only ways of course, but a very common way. “But don’t stop hoping. Such futile hopes and optimism are what make you who you are.”

“Yeah, yeah, no need to make fun of me.” Sieg shook his head wryly. Somehow he had managed to retain that sort of innocence and hopefulness, which was rare in someone as smart and well-trained as he was. Karna thought it would be rather sad for him to lose that positivity in favor of the cynicism that most powerful people had.

“So how did you manage to fail the promotion exam a second time anyway?” Karna decided to change the subject instead of arguing.

“I didn’t really. It was a decision made by my master.” Sieg shrugged.

“You call your father master?” Karna asked with a quirked eyebrow. Wolfgang had taken his own son as an official disciple several years ago, which didn’t surprise anyone. The two had similar talents, except that Sieg had more gifts when it came to magic. Sieg’s main talent was with the blade though, and his father was perhaps the best teacher when it came to that particular field. Wolfgang also knew many fighting styles not commonly practiced in the Magocracy, so his teachings would allow Sieg to broaden his horizons.

“At the Academy? Damn right I do! He’d have me doing extra endurance training if I didn’t. I think he likes being called that. Mother is forcing Rein to call her mom even at the Academy, which I think is much worse.” Sieg gave a small sympathetic shudder. “What about you? What do you call the Headmistress?”

“Tsumi most of the time. Master if it’s an official situation. The rest of the time I’m calling her some variation of witch, bitch, idiot, or an old-hag.” Karna laughed. Her relationship with the Headmistress was an interesting one. The Alpyran woman was rather liberal in many of her methods and habits, and some of those could be rather bothersome on occasion. Some were quite interesting and fun though.

"Yikes! You're the only one bold enough to do something like that." Sieg shivered a bit. "Then again, the two of you are the scariest two people around. With the possible exception of your father, though he’s less scary and more imposing.”

“Oh, speaking of! He returned from another mission in case your father wanted to talk to him.” She suddenly stated cheerily. The council and the Starlight Tower had started assigning new missions to him again a few years ago. With the trouble caused by instability within the territories conquered from the Holy Kingdom, there was a need for a firm hand and a powerful presence. There were also plenty of other missions elsewhere, so Arjuna had been fairly busy.

"Good. Apparently, the Emissary is finally going to arrive, and it would be useful to have him present when the real festivities begin.” Sieg nodded. He didn’t want to mention that it was also better if Karna were to lay low for a while, but that could be inferred from his worried expression. Sieg was aware that there was something odd about Karna, and likely it would be something that would be bothersome if noticed by the Divines.

---------

“Is all this pomp really necessary?” Wolfgang asked a bit miffed while tugging at this collar. His wife had forced him into a proper military uniform for once, and he’d always hated restrictive clothing like this. If being strong couldn’t even allow a man to wear what he wanted, then what was the point?

“Stop playing with it and it will be fine.” Duskclaw mocked him with a neutral face that still somehow managed to convey her joy at his misfortune. As usual, she was all prim and proper. “And to answer your question, yes it is. We have no idea what kind of person the Divines decided to send us. They usually don’t get too involved with things, but we have to consider what happened to the previous Emissary, and we should make a decent first impression. Even all the old fogies are wearing their best robes.”

Wolfgang looked at the gathered group of the most powerful magisters in all of Magocracy. The High Council was, of course, present, as were some of the most prominent teachers of the Academy, including Tsumi, as well as some of the most powerful and influential members of the army and the nobility. Most of the men looked at least middle-aged, although that was partially due to conscious choice. People of certain rank could control their appearance and body to a certain extent, assuming they weren’t too old. Many magisters simply thought that a proper magic user should look distinguished. To the surprise of no one, the female mages all looked at least twenty years younger as a whole.  The non-humans were of course another thing altogether.

“All those fogies actually like wearing the stupid robes.” Wolfgang protested with an annoyed voice. “I could’ve worn a robe too. Those are actually comfortable and breezy, even if they make most of the people wearing them look like absolute clowns.”

“Still complaining about your clothing Wolfgang?" Tsumi asked as she sauntered closer. In stark contrast to others, her clothing was no more official than usual. It was perhaps even a bit more revealing than usual, if possible. The line between fashionable and scandalous was being blurred really hard this time.

“Tsumi. You’re in no position to lecture me. Although I must admit you’re a sight for sore eyes.” Wolfgang stated shamelessly, while admiring the ‘view’.

“Must you always?” Tsumi gave a tired sigh. She was used to it, and to a certain extent dressed for it, but sometimes it was tiring nonetheless.

“You know I do.” Wolfgang didn’t even bother defending himself and made no move to move his eyes. He was true to his instincts, both in battle and elsewhere.

"Yes, I suppose I do," Tsumi admitted. "At least nowadays I'm not the only one gathering such stares."

“Ah, you’re referring to your disciple. I can see why she’d draw eyes away from you, as impossible as the idea seems. She grew up nicely.” Wolfgang had never made bones about his admiration of the female form. Suddenly he felt pain at the back of his hand and noticed Duskclaw’s sharp claws dripping a bit of blood.

“That’s my daughter you’re talking about.” Duskclaw’s smile was chilling, to say the least. “And you’re old enough to be her granddad, so stop being a creep.”

“Fine, fine. But you can’t say I’m wrong.” Wolfgang raised his hands in a defensive posture, while the scratches on his hand were already healing. Just the fact that Duskclaw had managed to wound him showed that she’d been quite serious.

“Oh, you’re not wrong at all.” Tsumi’s voice almost purred a bit, though the other two didn’t dare to speculate why. “Moving on from your unhealthy fascinations, shouldn’t the Emissary already be here?”

“Soon. Supposedly they got a bit off-course while coming down the planes. Truthfully they probably wanted to get the lay of the land before making an official appearance.” Duskclaw reported. She’d gotten a message from Arjuna, who had gone to meet the Emissary before anyone else.

“So where did they end up?” Wolfgang asked. Before he could get an answer though, a rather sizeable teleportation gate opened on the arrival platform that had been prepared beforehand. The people present all recognized the shadowy power that formed the gate and knew the Shadow Weaver was the one forming the gateway.

The three people that stepped through were the exact people they had been expecting, but their appearance still managed to make everyone draw breath. Most people drew a breath for two reasons. The first reason was the obvious aura of power and authority that radiated from the man leading the group. They couldn’t tell how strong he was, but it was clear that he was much stronger than anyone else present, which was saying something considering he was flanked by both Arjuna and a silver-armored immortal acting as a guard. The second reason was the man’s appearance. He was handsome to the point of being almost beautiful in a way that blended both masculine and feminine features to an almost perfect whole. He was also dressed in the finest heavenly silks, yet somehow managed to look somewhat casual in his almost entirely white attire.

A small group of people, mainly the trio of Tsumi, Duskclaw, and Wolfgang drew breath for another reason. The man looked familiar. Not so familiar that everyone else would see the similarity, but similar enough that someone familiar enough with Karna could make a connection. The way the man’s white hair contrasted with his white hanfu clothing and reminded them quite closely of a certain young girl with a similar hair color, and the two also had similarities in their facial features. To cap things off, both of them had this otherworldly quality around them, in addition to a seemingly perfect appearance.

“The Magocracy greets the Emissary!” The eldest member of the High Council of Magisters declared in a loud voice and everyone in the room bowed at the waist to pay their respects to the representative of the Divines.

Tsumi, Wolfgang, and Duskclaw didn’t dare to say anything, but the looks they exchanged spoke a lot. “Why does this Emissary look so much like Karna?” They were all asking silently. Tsumi knew that while most Divines and Godlings tended to be supernaturally attractive, they weren't any more likely to look like each other than anyone else. So the odds of the two being somehow related were not insignificant.

“Rise everyone!” The man in front stated in a charming and affable voice. “I’m not a stickler for formality, and I’m not here as a ruler of some sort. One should only bow to their parents, their chosen Deity, and my grandfather.”

“Grandfather?” One of the high-ranking magisters asked as they all straightened their backs.

“You’re talking to Prince Tethrine Asuryan, the son of Kurnous Asuryan, and the grandson of the Heavenly Emperor, the ruler of all the Divines." The silver-clad immortal announced in a loud voice.

At his words, everyone in the room knelt down on one knee almost on instinct. The mere mention of the Heavenly Emperor could cause this, not to mention the presence of a member of the royal house. “Did you really have to say it that way?” The Prince complained with an exasperated voice. “I already told you to get up. I’m related, yes, but I have a dozen siblings and almost a hundred cousins, and I’m not even a Divinity myself. So there’s no need for such deference.”

“May I ask, what brings a member of the royal house to the Higher Planes?” Tsumi asked from the place she was standing near the back of the group. She was more experienced with dealing with those of divine origin than others and she recovered faster than the rest.

“Ah, a good question! I was sent here as the Emissary by my father to gain experience. No doubt you’ve already guessed that I’ve been sent here with a handful of missions, and you would be right. As the previous Emissary met an untimely end at the hands of those that had flirted with one of the scourges, it was deemed prudent to send someone with the right insight to look into matters, as well as sending a Silver Immortal as backup. Though I must admit I don’t quite know why it was deemed necessary to send someone weaker than me to protect me.” The Prince mumbled the last sentence, though it was heard by everyone thanks to their superior hearing.

“Your Highness, power doesn’t mean everything. Skill is also important.” The silver-clad immortal stated with a voice that brooked no argument. It was a bit unclear which of the two was truly in charge.

“So I’ve been told. Repeatedly.” The Prince said with a complicated expression. “Nevertheless, you can all be assured that one of the missions given to me was to see how deep the corruption of the Underworld has spread and root it out. That will likely mean that I will have to spend a lot of time in the country that used to host my predecessor as an Emissary, at least in the beginning.”

It was rather clear that his words were a test of sorts, and they all had a hunch that if anyone had shown any sign of the wrong kind of reaction at his words, the sharp senses of the two immortals would've picked it up. "Even if we are not as religious as the Holy Kingdom, we at the Magocracy know the risks of conspiring with the scourges better than most." An elder magister reassured the two immortals.

“Good. I hope that I can rely on your cooperation then. In the meantime though, I have another request. I’ve been told that your Starlight Tower is the home of the best seers on the Higher Planes. I was hoping I’d be able to utilize their services for some of my other missions.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged, though the Witch of the Starlight Tower is notorious about being…picky about who she helps, regardless of rank. I'm sure it won't be too much of an issue though. Unfortunately, the Starlight Tower didn't send anyone to this party." The same elder magister replied, though his voice betrayed the fact that he wasn’t at all sure if the Starlight Tower would comply. The Tower never attended such gatherings and was notoriously independent.

“That’s quite fine. My other missions have waited until now, and they can wait a few more days. It would be a shame to waste this party you have prepared for me, so let’s get to it. I’m eager to get to know those that will become my neighbors for the foreseeable future.” The Prince said with an affable smile and actually placed his hand on the shoulder of the elder magister that had answered before.

‘That man is quite capable. Which means he could also be dangerous.’ Arjuna thought to himself, remembering the Elven Queen’s warning from so many years ago. Despite his position and power, the Prince could disarm others quite easily with his easy demeanor that made others forget the differences between them.

Chapter 31+ - Onsen episode?

A note from Vihyungrang

ATTENTION! This next part is something that even those that usually skip the author's note should read. This story will be a fair bit raunchier than my earlier ones, partly because it's something I want to improve with. Those that have read my stories before know that a chapter marked with a + symbol contains mature content (as in the sexual kind). As these kinds of things will have more relevance for this story due to the nature of our main character, I've decided to clarify things a bit. From this point on, a chapter with certain types of content can be marked +, ++, or +++.

+Marks chapters that can have some more mature content, in the vein of this chapter, like detailed descriptions of nudity and maybe some raunchier behavior, but there will be no full-blown sexual content. No coitus, except maybe implied or in the 'fade to black' style. These chapters are also usually more about the plot or character development and are recommended reading even for those readers that like to skip any sexual content. As I know certain people don't care for such content, I will usually either make those chapters longer to compensate, or even release a second chapter at the same time if the +chapter is light on content and is more about funzies. Just like in this case. So yes, you'll get a second chapter today.

++Marks a chapter that can have more sexual content and maybe even full-blown sex scenes in it, but it's like half of the chapter, so you might miss something if you skip the whole thing. These ones will be a bit more rare as a whole, but they can happen on occasion.

+++Marks a full-on mature content. There might be plot and character development in them, but it's more coincidental, as the main focus will be on the mature part. I'll usually put out a second chapter with these, assuming I have a second chapter to release. These can be relatively safely skipped if you don't want any sex scenes in your stories, though there will inevitably be some character stuff involved. Rare plot points you'll likely be able to pick up from context in the surrounding chapters rather easily. How common will they be? I don't know. That depends on the plot situation and my mood. I've said it before that I don't pre-plan romances, so there might be long stretches with no +++ content, and then several of such chapter in a relatively short time.

With that said, I do hope you'll enjoy!

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”This is a really bad idea.” Sieg protested to the other gathered males. Aside from his brother, everyone here was from the eighth year, and Sieg had mostly joined to build bonds with the others. Mostly. At least that’s what he kept telling himself.

“A bad idea? This is a suicide! You do know Karna will kill us all, right?” Shaheera was a bit more vehement with his opinion. Yet he made no move to leave either.

“So you say, but when will we get a chance like this in the future? Perhaps never!” Rein was actually one of the main instigators of the whole thing. “Yes, there are risks involved. I will not lie to you. Grave risks. But with such risks come commensurate opportunities! What kind of opportunities? Men’s dreams, that’s what! You all know what we can find on top of that hill! Now is there any warm-blooded male that can resist such temptation?!”

Sieg had to admit that Rein could be pretty convincing when he put his heart into it. It also helped that while his speech was a little cliché, they all knew why they were here and were willing to brave grave dangers. So in a way, Rein was just preaching to the choir, making sure no one’s courage failed at this point. In truth though, while this was something to build camaraderie with the guys in the class, the main reason they had gathered so many people was to diffuse blame.

“You’re trying awfully hard to make the whole thing sound noble. However, that doesn’t change the fact that all we’re doing is trying to peep.” Shaheera poured cold water on their fervor.

“I don’t see you leaving. We both know why.” Rein, undeterred, turned the accusation around.

"Oh, I'm not turning back. Us Leonid are brave enough to face any danger. I just wanted to make sure no one had any illusions about what we’re about to do. It’s a creepy and shameful thing we're about to do. I want everyone to be cognizant of that when we do it. And the girls will likely hate us for it. At least for a while.” Shaheera showed some of his fangs as he grinned in an almost feral way.

"Then we'll go into the darkness knowingly because the prize is worth it!" Rein shouted and lifted his fist into the air, followed by the other gathered guys cheering for him. "Now climb, and may the Divines be with you! We will not all make it, so those that do have to make sure they enjoy it for all of us!”

Sieg shook his head. This was a really bad idea. They were trying to get a look inside the Headmistress’ own private hot springs. Much like many other things with the Headmistress, she was rather liberal with the bathing area that belonged to the living quarters she was currently sharing with her disciple. The hot springs were open air, as a kind of challenge to everyone brave enough. But much like other things in the Academy, the whole thing was also a test, as the path up was trapped and no one flying would be able to see inside. Trying to fly over just the traps was the quickest way to be caught in them as well.

It was almost customary for some guys to make the same journey they were now going for every year, though usually, only a few guys were brave and depraved enough to make the attempt, despite how attractive the Headmistress was. What made this time special was that they all knew she wouldn't be alone this time. A certain group of friends would be there, and perhaps most importantly, that included the new belle of the Academy.

The guys all had their own reasons for making the attempt. Rein was going for the sake of Callista, and a couple of the elves were here for Miralen, who had blossomed in her own way into one of the most popular girls in the Academy. Then there was the Headmistress of course. The woman always teased others with her attire, so finally seeing beyond that would usually be the main driving factor for these sorts of attempts. Usually. They all knew what the grand objective this time was though. Even Sieg found it impossible to walk away, despite knowing this was wrong.

-----

“So the guys really don’t realize that voices carry quite well up that cliff?” Miralen asked with a certain amount of amusement mixed with apprehension. She had quite enjoyed her bath so far, and she didn’t cherish the idea of getting out.

“No. Though most groups that make the attempt don’t stop to make speeches like that either.” Tsumi laughed as she allowed herself to be submerged in the warm water. She was also considering how she should broach the subject of the Emissary with Karna once they were alone.

“It seems your boyfriend was instigating everyone else along.” Mayumi egged Callista a bit. The impression was ruined a bit by the fact that the part-Yuki-Onna girl clearly had trouble dealing with the heat from the water, as she was completely flushed. Her long hair was tied up in a huge bun on top of her head to cool her off a bit, but even that didn’t seem to help.

"If he keeps these kinds of things up, then he won't be my boyfriend for long," Callista replied with a dissatisfied voice, although they all knew she wasn’t all that serious. She had pined after Rein for so long after all.

"Oh, this is still quite standard for boys their age. They can hardly resist. That's why I've set this whole thing up. Besides, isn't it a bit nice to know your guy is willing to brave dangers just to catch a glimpse of you like this? That just shows how much he likes you!” Tsumi didn’t seem bothered at all. In fact, something like this was a rite of passage among the Alpyrans. It was a bit less common among the more prudish Magocracy, but hardly something too odd either. The people of this nation were just as lustful as any other, they were just a bit more private about it.

“Is he here for me though?” Callista asked rhetorically with a bit depressed tone. She also looked meaningfully towards the last person getting into the hot spring. They all did, and they all felt a pang of jealousy as Karna slipped into the water with them.

It was a well-known fact that the bodies of cultivators and mages slowly changed towards their ideal when they grew in power, and eventually, even relatively large and conscious changes could be possible, though they often came with a price. Because of that, there were very few high-ranking people that looked completely unattractive, unless they wanted to look that way or were maimed in ways that could not be fixed. However, that didn’t mean certain people couldn’t be more ‘blessed’ than others when it came to appearance and physical attributes.

“Now, now. Jealousy is not an attractive trait. Besides, it’s not like you aren’t attractive enough yourself.” Karna chided Callista with a gentle tone, while releasing a small satisfied sound as the warm water engulfed her. She really enjoyed hot springs. This world had access to proper baths and showers, but a hot spring was always a hot spring. She'd often create one in her home during her other lives as well. Making a dragon-sized hot spring was sometimes a little challenging, but she valued her comfort.

“To heck with that, I want an explanation! How in the Divines did you manage to swing a body like that? I know we can change our bodies somewhat when we grow stronger, but I’ve never seen something like that and you’re only fourth rank! And you already looked like that when you were third rank! That’s how you appear naturally, and it bloody shows!” Miralen asked with a somewhat jealous yet also jesting tone.

“It’s all about genetics and bloodlines I’m afraid. Combined with diet and exercise of course, but we all have that part covered.” Karna replied with a smile. She wasn’t even lying. She was a Godling with clearly very powerful parents, and her past lives affected her in this one. She’d been rather busty even in her first life; a feature that had only grown more obvious with more lives lived. She still didn’t know which of her bloodlines were responsible, but she was the bustiest one present by a wide margin, and the others weren’t exactly petite in that department either. She’d also found it odd that she could not change that part of her physique for some reason, not that she really tried that hard. She knew the advantages outweighed the negatives.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s what you always say.” Miralen gave up with a sigh and looked down at her own relatively impressive assets. She was the slimmest of the group, but it wasn’t like she was unhappy with what she had. The comparison was just too unfavorable. “By the way, we are going to get up and go inside before the guys actually do manage to scale that cliff, right? By the sounds of it, they’ve already made it about a third of the way up.”

"You can go inside if you want," Tsumi said calmly, showing no indication that she planned to do so.

“Wait, you’re not going to go inside?” Mayumi asked surprised and somewhat intrigued.

“Of course not! That would be very impolite of me. They’ve braved the danger, so denying them their prize would be defeating the whole point of the exercise. If they actually manage to make it the entire way that is. The traps get more difficult the further up they get.” Tsumi grinned. This too was a part of the way Alpyrans handled such things. There was a certain type of honor in what she was doing in their culture. “That said, everyone involved will naturally be punished once the whole thing is over, so…”

“I’m also staying. Many of them made the trip for my sake anyway, so it would be quite impolite of me to stomp on their determination. Besides, I just got here, and it would be such a shame to get out now before I’ve gotten the chance to enjoy the water.” Karna said with a playful smile.

“You two are just exhibitionists!” Miralen accused them, and not entirely without reason. Tsumi was an obvious case as an Alpyran and her usual way of dressing, but there had been certain signs when it came to Karna as well. Signs that had only really started to materialize in the last few months.

"You're not entirely wrong," Karna admitted with a small smile. She knew her body was perfect, and she had developed a bit of an exhibitionist streak in her previous lives. Unlike many younger women, she also didn’t feel shy about showing her assets either. It wasn’t like plenty of people hadn’t seen her naked in her previous lives anyway, so that sort of sense of shame had been forced out of her a long time ago. She’d even worked as various types of performer, ranging from simple dancer to a huge celebrity, in many of her lives. This was the perfect opportunity to entertain that particular streak of hers.

Tsumi’s laughter sounded so pleased it caught most of the others by surprise. “My disciple secretly has a lot more lust and playfulness inside her than most people think!”

"I wasn't really keeping it a secret or anything though," Karna muttered. There simply hadn't been much reason to talk about such things before.

“Secret to others I mean. I had sensed it a long time ago. In fact, I’m somewhat surprised you haven’t indulged that side of yours before. It’s not like you would’ve had trouble finding willing partners. I know the people of this country are a little prudish and tend to be closeted perverts, but you reached physical maturity years ago, and you’ve been mentally mature enough even longer. Even legally you reached the age of adulthood a few days ago.” Tsumi voiced the thoughts she’d had for a while now. She could sense that there was a growing need and desire inside her disciple, so why didn’t Karna indulge herself?

“Ah, that’s because of my presence. You all can tell I affect those around me. Well, that presence is also affected by my own feelings. So far my presence has had a certain flavor of innocence and immaturity to it because I’ve purposefully kept it so. While many people find me attractive, they don’t really approach me with lewd things in mind. However, once I go down that path, my presence will also change. It already has to a certain extent, but I wanted to be a bit older before I take the leap. I think we’re starting to approach that point anyway.” Karna explained. In a word, she was getting so horny that it was affecting the presence she was giving off. Despite being mentally much, much older, her body was still that of a teenager, and that had an effect on her. Especially since reincarnators had a bit of a penchant for lust anyway, and she hadn’t managed to avoid that part of the draconic instincts entirely. She could control that part of her, but it was still there.

“Ah, that explains it.” Tsumi nodded in understanding, even if the others didn’t quite get it.

“How often do these challengers actually reach the top?” Mayumi asked, also a bit worried now as the sounds were getting closer.

“Very rarely. The last ones did it twenty years ago. The ones before that were actually Arjuna and Wolfgang. That said, usually they don’t make the attempt with a group as large as this time, as they try to be more secretive.” Tsumi said thoughtfully, tapping her full lips with a finger. “I think they have a pretty good chance this time, especially considering who’s involved. Shaheera and Rein have been training with Karna for years. The traps were not adjusted with that in mind. I doubt most of them will make it, but…”

“Yeah, I think I’m getting out!” Miralen declared, rising out of the water decisively.

“Me too. The water is too hot for me anyway.” Mayumi used the heat as an excuse, though looking at how red she was, there was actual truth to her words as well.

Surprisingly Callista stayed submerged. “Cal? You’re really planning on doing this? We can leave the whole thing to the two pervs over there.” Miralen asked while gesturing towards the master and disciple that had already declared their decision to stay.

Callista chewed on her lip a bit. “I will stay. I don’t want my boyfriend to look at others. Just me.” She finally said decisively.

“You’re crazy, but I can respect your bravery at least.” Miralen nodded before the two girls left.

After they were gone, Karna turned to Tsumi. “So are you planning on just giving them a small glimpse, or are you putting on a full show?”

Tsumi laughed. “It hasn’t happened enough times to say I have a policy on such things, but I’ll follow your lead.”

“Show it is then.” Karna grinned. If you decided to do something, might as well go all out.

-----

Sieg wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that he had actually made it to the top. He still had this dirty feeling about the whole thing, like he knew he was doing something he shouldn’t but he was going to do it anyway. “Is this how all those morally bankrupt people start?” He had a brief philosophical thought, which was soon interrupted by the arrival of what remained of their group.

The traps had taken their toll. He was surprised so many of them had actually made it. Then again, only two people aside from those that regularly trained with Karna had made it to the top, and one of them was Sieg himself. “I see you made it brother.” Rein stated solemnly. “Despite your earlier words, here you are. You could’ve chosen to turn back, but you didn’t.”

"Here I am," Sieg said simply. He had made his choice. It was too late to turn back.

"Well, let's not stick around waiting for them to leave. We made it this far, so we might as well get to it." Shaheera declared and moved to climb a tree near the stone wall surrounding the open-air paths. The vantage point would allow him a great view of the hot springs and the washing area inside. The others quickly followed him, not wanting to miss the opportunity in case they were inevitably discovered.

They all got to see the vision of their lives, something that would unite them in a secret brotherhood for years to come. The first one they could see from their vantage point was Callista. The girl was submerged up to her neck in the warm water, her long blond hair being placed on the stone behind her to keep it mostly dry. Despite being submerged so deeply, the clear water granted all of them tantalizing glimpses of what lay under the water, and they could all tell the girl had a well-proportioned body. Much of it was hidden by her arms though, which were placed somewhat protectively around her even under the water. She gave a pleasant shy impression for some reason.

The next one they could see from a side angle was the Headmistress herself. The older woman was much bolder, with her elbows placed in the side of the hot spring they were in. That obviously meant that she only had water until about her abdomen, which was nice and toned. That left her large and soft breasts completely visible, and all the guys got a real eyeful of the magnificent display. The small brown nipples contrasted well with her well-tanned skin, and they moved around enticingly as the woman herself moved.

What really drew their eyes though was the girl sitting with her back to them. Even though her back was towards them, their vantage afforded them a nice look over her shoulders to her front and at her magnificent peaks. Her assets were also large enough that they got to see a bit of sideboob from behind her. And just as they were getting enthralled by her, she stood up. Hot water cascaded down her impossibly smooth skin, and they got the perfect view of her from behind.

Karna had long smooth legs that connected to a nice and round behind that was the perfect mix of feminine curves and athletic tightness. Her butt looked at the same time soft enough that it would feel heavenly to touch, but at the same time tight and hard enough to crack an egg on. As the soft swell of her nicely rounded hips flared out, forming an enticing looking gap between her thighs, they came to a narrow waist and a straight and flawless back that was covered by her long blueish-white hair.

The guys watched on mesmerized as her hips swayed a bit as she took slow and careful steps out of the hot springs, giving them tantalizing glimpses between her legs, and at the muscles that moved under her seemingly soft skin. She moved towards a small stool in the bathing area, leaning over at the waist to pick up a bucket from the floor, almost giving the guys a heart attack. At the same time, she turned towards them and sat on the small stool to wash herself. Her bountiful breasts swung almost hypnotically as she straightened. Those breasts were large and heavy, yet at the same time, they rode high on her chest and managed to look both impossibly perky and invitingly soft at the same time, swaying to her every movement.

She slowly started to wash and lather herself, running her soapy hands all over her perfect body. The guys were almost catatonic as unknown to them, the most beautiful woman they'd ever seen went into a full exhibitionist mode. She purposefully washed herself as slowly as possible without arousing suspicion, as every millimeter of her skin was 'soaped' by her own hands. They almost fell from the tree as she started pouring water on herself, of course in small enough portions that she had to do it slowly and multiple times to get all the soap and dirt off. One of them, and none of them could tell which one, made an involuntary sound as a particular rivulet of water ran a stream along her silky smooth skin and disappeared between her breasts, and when a particularly stubborn drop of water hung on the tip of her pink and hard nipple before falling down.

To add to Karna’s merciless teasing, Tsumi soon followed after her and put on a similar show. This would be a memory all four of them would treasure for the rest of their lives. Whatever punishment they would suffer, it would be worth it. This one trip would fill their dreams for years to come. The guys actually managed to fall from the tree as Tsumi judgmentally grabbed one of Karna’s breasts, one hand being grossly insufficient to hold the entire mound. They barely managed to see as the Headmistress' fingers sunk into the soft flesh, and they heard her comment. "Your breasts truly are outrageous. I've never seen anything quite like them." At that point, darkness took them as they managed to land on one of the traps.

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A note from Vihyungrang

1/2 Releases for today

Chapter 32 - The start of a journey

A note from Vihyungrang

The second promised chapter of today. Read the author's note of the previous chapter!

-----

”I’m guessing that the kneeling is part of their punishment?” Karna asked in confirmation as she watched thirty guys, including some familiar faces, on their knees with their hands behind their heads on the lawn just in front of the most popular cafeteria on the Academy campus. She was sitting at one of the outside tables with Tsumi and Miralen, as the Headmistress had invited them for a discussion.

“Naturally. While it’s kind of fun to see them like that, I wouldn’t humiliate the students without a proper reason.” Tsumi explained with a nod while taking a sip from her tea. “The kneeling is only a part of the punishment of course. The public part to be precise. Their merit points will also take a hit, though not a large one. No one was harmed, and it’s a challenge I silently allow to exist as a tradition after all. Thus the punishment can’t be too harsh either.”

“That ‘no one was harmed’ part could be argued somewhat." Miralen pointed out. "Most girls would consider being seen like that as being harmed.”

“That’s why you were all free to leave. Even if the boys hadn’t made noise, I would’ve told you of their approach. All of you were free to choose to leave or to stay, and Karna and Callista chose to stay for their own reasons.” Tsumi countered. “If you choose to stay, you can no longer claim harm.”

“There seems to be no difference in punishment for the ones who succeeded.” Miralen pointed out, realizing she had lost that argument. While she had not been there by the time the guys showed up, she had been told that four of the guys had actually made it. She also knew that their friends were part of that four.

“Of course not! They all took part in the same ‘crime’ so to speak. Why would I punish those that succeeded further? Competence should be rewarded, as it was in this case, not punished. Still, just because they got what they wanted, that doesn’t mean they didn’t participate, hence the punishment.” Tsumi argued.

Karna looked at the four kneeling at the front row. Three of them were very familiar. She wasn’t too surprised that Sieg, Rein, and Shaheera had succeeded, although she was a little surprised they had all participated. Rein’s presence was expected and accepted. He was rather straightforward as a guy, and like his father, he was true to his desires in many ways. Sieg was a bit more unexpected, but not really a surprise. She’d sensed his fascinations, and while he was a bit too straight-laced to take part in such activities usually, her opinion of him actually went up now that he had. Having a more adventurous side could be a good thing. The two boys were brothers after all, and they had both been raised by Wolfgang, so at least this much should be expected. Karna also didn’t dislike that sort of side in a man, as long as it didn’t get out of hand.

Shaheera was the biggest surprise. She would’ve given his participation relatively low odds, as she wasn’t even sure Leonid found females of other non-beastman races attractive. He had certainly hidden such thoughts really well before this. But she didn’t mind his presence. She had actually quite enjoyed showing off. She had been honest about her exhibitionist streak and had actually downplayed it. There was something extra naughty about the people seeing you being familiar with you as well. Allowing herself to indulge her lewd side just a bit removed some of the weight her own desires were placing on her. It was like there was a pressure building up inside her, and she had just let some of that pressure out.

The fourth guy that had succeeded was unknown to her. From a glance, it seemed his racial background was somewhat complicated. She could tell there was quite a bit of elf in there, with what was most likely High-Human. Something else as well, though it was hard to tell what with just a glance. Some beastman perhaps? The resulting effect was rather pleasant to the eyes, as the boy was powerfully built and looked to have a bit of a wild side, mixed with some of the sharp lines and dignity that the elven side gave him.

"Who's the fourth one?" She asked. She had been rather surprised that no rumors of the guy's success had been circulated. It wasn't like there weren't hundreds of rumors about her already, so she wouldn't have minded one more, but she appreciated their discretion nonetheless. She had expected it from the other three, but she knew nothing of the last person so it came as a pleasant surprise.

“He’s one of the eight years like Sieg that wasn’t promoted to the ninth year just yet. His name is Travan Drannor, and he comes from one of the more distant enclaves the elves have in the south. That enclave has pretty much already integrated into the local population, so he’s not a full elf either, despite the name of an old elven house.” Tsumi had to think for a moment before she recalled the details.

“Oh, I’ve heard of the Drannors! They used to be Desert Elves, a rather rare sub-species. The desert they used to call home was slowly being transformed into farmland, so they had to adjust to the changes. Good people, though also hard people.” Miralen recalled with a sudden exclamation.

“That describes him pretty well. He’s studious and stubborn, if not very gifted. But he has tenacity. Anyway, I didn’t call you out for that.” Tsumi swept the topic aside. “We may have a problem. The new Emissary arrived two days ago. He departed almost immediately to investigate matters in the old Holy Kingdom, otherwise I would’ve talked to you immediately, but I don’t know when he’ll be back. The thing is, he looks a lot like you Karna. So much so in fact, that I wouldn’t be shocked if someone eventually puts two and two together and thinks that you might be related.”

“Unexpected, if not a complete shock. Why is this such a sudden issue though? It’s not like the immortals haven’t left behind families on the other planes. I’ll remind you of the Progeny Accords. So having some family still around shouldn’t be too shocking, although very coincidental.” Karna and Tsumi didn’t mind Miralen’s presence, partly because they both knew the elven girl already had her guesses and partly because they were planning on letting her in on some of the secrets anyway. It was something they had discussed before.

“Because he’s from the royal house. A grandson of the Heavenly Emperor in fact. Both of you are also something else when it comes to appearance, so the fact that there just happens to be two similar looking people  like that strains credulity a lot more than normally.” Tsumi said with a small grimace. The royal house naturally didn’t leave behind any progeny on other planes since they never Ascended from the other planes. Well, the possibility of illegitimate children sired during a short stay was always there, but very unlikely.

“Well, that would explain your worry. It’s not like we didn’t see this possibility coming though.” Karna shrugged. They had made plans over the years. “I doubt I will be able to escape his notice anyway, seeing as I haven’t exactly stayed hidden these last few years, as per our plan. That’s why we’ve built up another explanation for my skills. Though I must admit that if we are as similar looking as you say, that could present a wrinkle in how we approach this.” Karna frowned a bit. Her cover as a Blessed Child would be wasted if she could be recognized with a glance to be a member of the royal house.

“I’d still prefer it if we had some time to lay the groundwork for whatever plan we end up going with. The similarity isn’t so glaring that we have to worry about it immediately as people are simply dazzled by his presence, but I’d still like to take some measures to avoid you two being connected too soon. We have been given offers to have you visit some of the other large powers both in this world and on this plane. Maybe it’s time you take on some sort of diplomatic mission with your friends. You all need experience in the real world anyway, and such practical studies are part of the eighth year curriculum.” Tsumi laid out her idea. Such extended missions were just one of the reasons why eighth years almost never got promoted to ninth years within a year’s time.

“Judging by the fact that I’m here and not Shaheera or one of the others, you’re planning on sending us to the High Elves first, aren’t you?” Miralen asked with a sharp intuition. She had not asked anything about the earlier subject because she was certain Karna would explain the details later. Miralen would make sure of that by taking one of Karna’s favorite pillows as a hostage. She’d done it before with great success.

“Correct. You can serve as a sort of bridge to the elven culture, and it is likely that the presence of an elf in the group will put the High Elven court at ease. I’m not sure how many of the others will be tagging along, but I wanted to ask you specifically for the reasons I mentioned.” Tsumi took another sip of her tea. Having a Dark Elf in the group was not as good as having a High Elf, but Miralen and Karna were already familiar, so there was no point in trying to find someone else for relatively limited benefit.

“Of course I’ll go! We’re friends with Karna, and if she’s in trouble, then I’m happy to help. I’m sure the others will feel the same way, although Rein can’t go as a seventh year and that means Callista won’t go either, even if she could. I'm not sure how welcome Shaheera will be, but I’m sure he’ll tag along anyway. What about Siegfried?” Miralen asked enthusiastically. She had wanted to visit the capital of the elves for a long time.

“After yesterday? I’m pretty sure he’d invade the Netherworld if Karna asked.” Tsumi pointed out with a wicked smile. That was a small part of the reason she'd made sure the traps were just a bit easier than usual. She wanted Sieg connected with Karna in some way, and a bit of old-fashioned desire was one of the simplest ways to ensure loyalty in the short term.

"We could use him," Karna said a bit more sedately, though she silently agreed with Tsumi’s evaluation. “Rein left a hole in our group, and Sieg would fill it quite well, although he isn’t quite the blunt force his brother was.”

“Rein does do some things well. Being a distraction is one of those things.” Miralen snickered at her own words.

“I think we could ask Mayumi as well. She’d likely join us if we did.” Karna pointed out. “That would also mean her master came along. Did you have another destination in mind after the elves?”

“I do actually. The Luminous Sect had requested you to visit several times, and they did send one of their elders to help you with your combat lessons. Even if you didn’t really need his help. It would be polite to return the gesture and at least pay them a visit.” Tsumi suggested.

“Sounds like a plan.” Karna also agreed. She’d been somewhat curious of the righteous sect since the tournament years ago.

“There’s one more thing. It’s interesting you brought up Travan because I actually wanted to ask you to take him along, at least to the elven lands. He has requested the right to visit several times and the situation has simply not allowed it so far. The relations between the two elven groups are a bit weird as some feel that the High Elves should’ve supported the Drannor’s when they were in trouble. This would be the perfect opportunity for him to tag along without stirring up trouble.” Tsumi suddenly brought up the boy kneeling not too far from them.

“Hmm. Well, if it’s just about taking him along, then I suppose it can be arranged.” Karna decided. Thanks to his discretion, she was inclined to give him a chance to prove himself. If his presence became an issue, then there were solutions to the problem.

--------

The preparations for their departure had taken a couple of days, but the whole thing was expedited by the fact that both Wolfgang and Arjuna were rather eagerly cooperating. They both knew why the mission had come about so suddenly, and since they were the parents of two of the people going, that made things go a lot smoother. Wolfgang had arranged for appropriate transportation, Tsumi had secured the agreement of the High Elven Court, while Arjuna had made sure that the parents of the other students were informed and they agreed to the mission.

In total their group had six students, Karna, Miralen, Shaheera, Sieg, Travan, and Mayumi, and a single adult, Mayumi’s master, another Yuki-Onna whose age was impossible to determine. Mayumi’s master had been rather eager to go along with the plan as well, as she thought her disciple would benefit from the practical experience. They had gathered outside the Academy on one of the public airship landing pads to say goodbyes.

Since the departure had been a little hasty, and because they would naturally not travel wearing their uniforms to avoid attracting attention, Karna had to ask Duskclaw to bring along some appropriate clothing. The two of them had spent several enjoyable weekends acquiring Karna several outfits for all occasions now that she had stopped growing, so clothing was not an issue. Something that was clearly shown by the number of bags Duskclaw had brought. Karna thought the number of bags was a little excessive even considering they didn’t know how long the trip was going to be and what sort of situations they’d run into, but that’s just what Duskclaw was like.

"My little girl has grown up," Arjuna stated emotionally and even had a genuine tear in his eye. He was somewhat joking just to embarrass Karna, something that wasn’t working as she played along eagerly, but the emotions were not faked, just a bit exaggerated.

“She grew up years ago.” Wolfgang jabbed at his friend, while also giving his son a bear-hug. For once, he was referring to Karna’s mentality.

“I know. I think I only really realized it now.” Arjuna admitted. It was hard to see one’s child leave for an extended period of time. Even while Karna had been at the Academy, they could meet almost anytime. He even taught her a few lessons. Now though, it would be a lot more difficult for him to just pop in and see Karna. Someone of his level just popping by would be a major diplomatic incident.

“No hug from you?” Karna asked Duskclaw as Arjuna let her go.

Duskclaw only looked at her like she was an idiot, and turned towards Arjuna. “Master. Disciple will be gone for a while. Try to not starve, and make sure you do your paperwork while I’m gone. I don’t want to return to piles and piles of things that you couldn’t manage and just left for me to deal with. I’ll burn them all if you do.” She bowed to Arjuna even while threatening him.

“Ah! That’s why there are so many bags. You’re coming along.” Karna realized. She was actually a little happy. She’d get to spend some extended time with Duskclaw.

“Yeah, no. Those are still all for you. Mine are already stored inside my storage ring. You’re going to have to take care of your own bags.” Duskclaw countered rather brutally. Her own number of bags was only slightly smaller.

With a shrug, Karna waved her hand and the bags floated towards her and just seemed to disappear. Her crafting lessons were already at a point where crafting spatial artifacts was considered routine. Her personal storage bracelet had enough space to contain supplies for an entire army, and it could also change appearance to become other types of accessories. She personally wasn't a fan of rings and sometimes bracelets were just not appropriate.

“Glad to have you along Miss Duskclaw." Mayumi's master nodded in acknowledgment. She had clearly been informed beforehand. Judging by the expressions the others had, they'd also known and had just wanted to see Karna’s reaction. She was quite happy to disappoint them with her lack of one.

Tsumi clapped her hands to draw everyone’s attention. “Right, so most of you are already aware, but there are several parallel missions going on during this trip. Karna and Miralen are being sent as a sort of diplomatic envoy to the elven court, and if things go well, your mission will broaden to visit other planes. Your purpose is simply to build connections and good will towards our institute. If the locals have issues that you can help with, don’t hesitate to provide what help you can, but this is mostly meant as a simple gesture, not something that is trying to achieve a massive improvement in relations. You just need to arrive, give a good impression, and move on. Most importantly, don’t fuck things up just to impress us or them.” She knew from experience that students could get a bit too eager.

She turned towards the boys. “Shaheera and Sieg are given a different kind of mission pertaining to their majors. Both of you chose to major in military and warfare, aiming to become officers in the army. You’re being sent as the bodyguards of our two emissaries, and if you can do so without taking risks, you are to also evaluate the military status of the places you visit. Your main mission is the escort one, and your other mission should not endanger that one, nor should you break any rules to accomplish the information gathering one. It’s more important that you conduct yourself with honor than it is to gain information. We have dedicated spies for that. We already know everything you’d find out anyway. We just want to see how much you can discover.”

Finally, she turned to Travan. “Your mission is a personal one, so I shall not rehash it. Suffice to say is that if you do well, then you can join the others on their further travels, if you want to. They will be the judge of that though. Should they find you wanting or your personalities to clash, you will simply return once your own mission is complete." The boy only had a single light bag on his shoulder. He was clearly familiar with surviving with what he could forage.

Tsumi then addressed everyone together. “We’ve arranged you a ride to the part of the old Holy Kingdom territories that are controlled by the elven court. Part of this mission is for you to learn how to travel across areas that are potentially dangerous, to conduct yourself while in foreign lands, and to gain experience. For that reason, you will have to find your own way from your drop-off point to the elven court, although if you can manage it, you can find your own methods to shorten the trip. You have been given some resources, and Duskclaw, who’s going to be monitoring your performance, has been given certain things should you run into an emergency that would necessitate your quick return. Don’t rely on her for normal situations though. This is a test of your skills, and relying on her will be taken into consideration when we evaluate you. Now go. May the Divines bless your path!”

A note from Vihyungrang

2/2 for today.

Chapter 33 - Girl Talk

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

”Was this drop-off point chosen at random?” Miralen asked as the airship that had transported them left them seemingly in the middle of nowhere. They were in a place with mostly wide open grassland with no real landmarks to signify this place was special in any way. They could vaguely tell that there were some mountains in the north, and they could see the edge of a forest far in the east.

Instead of replying, Duskclaw simply smiled mysteriously. Despite that, Shaheera was quick to answer in her stead. “Of course not. They had some reason to choose this place. We just aren’t aware of those reasons. Most likely they picked a suitable distance from the nearest settlements, just to see how we’ll do. This is supposed to be a wilderness survival exercise as well.”

They had gone out on missions before, even during the end of the first year. However, nearly all of those missions had been either extremely short trips with adequate transportation available, or they were well-organized trips with plenty of people and teachers participating. Relatively few of the students had spent more than a few days at a time in the wilderness during the time they were students. Of course, some of them had spent a lot of time roughing it even before becoming students, or during their vacations.

"We also passed some elven patrols on the way, so they know we're here," Karna added. She had sensed the patrol while they were flying over them. "I don't think any of them were close enough to approach us, but a word about our arrival has already gone out. Assuming it wasn’t expected already. We might run into some questions on the way.”

“So how do we want to approach this?” Mayumi asked. She was actually the one with the least amount of experience with such things, despite being a reincarnator. She’d led relatively cushy and sheltered lives. She’d spent some time in the snows of her homeworld, but that was a very different experience.

Everyone automatically turned towards Karna. On the other hand, she was more interested in seeing what the others decided, so she waved for them to decide. After a moment of hesitation, Sieg seemed to make a decision and took charge of the situation. "Our supplies are good for now, and we both packed tents and are able to create a shelter with magic if necessary. So those things won’t be an issue for the time being. We should make our way to the nearest habitation and find out where we are exactly, and what we need to deal with to make our way to our destination.”

“We could also try securing some sort of transportation. Airships might be out of our budget for now, but we could at least try to find mounts. While most of us can maintain a fair speed on foot for quite a bit of time, I’m fairly sure running all day will take its toll eventually.” Shaheera added his own thoughts.

“Good call.” Sieg nodded. As the supposed bodyguards, this part was more for them to handle. “Tired people also aren’t as vigilant, and these lands aren’t as safe as we might hope. Thanks to the war and the recent takeover of this area, the old Holy Knights haven’t kept up patrols. The elves sent their own forces, but they’re probably stretched thin for now. And if my guess is correct, the Headmistress likely dumped us in an area that’s far from peaceful.”

"We might want to be prepared for the locals not being too friendly either," Travan added from the side where he was touching the soil and getting a read on the territory. Then he pointed at Miralen. “I apologize for asking, but I’m not aware of your capabilities. She’s a mage, right? So she’s going to have some issues keeping up.”

“Ah, that won’t be a problem.” Miralen smiled. “Karna and the teachers have made sure my fitness is good enough to keep up for short times, especially when I use some spells to aid in that area. I also have my spirit!” With a flourish, a beautiful dark-furred wolf big enough to easily carry the girl appeared next to her. “Little old Snow here will be able to carry me easily, and she has enough stamina and speed to keep up over long distances. The only issue is that to keep her materialized for the whole day will strain my mana a bit, so I won’t be at 100% if we run into a battle in the evening.”

“You named your black wolf Snow?” Mayumi asked incredulously.

“Of course!” Miralen said with a cheery tone.

“Don’t let her fool you. The wolf changes names like every month.” Shaheera interjected. “What about you Mayumi?”

“Ah!” The Yuki-Onna snapped her fingers and a snowflake-shaped artifact hovered next to her in the air, and they all knew she would be able to handle herself.

“That just leaves…” The three guys’ eyes quickly moved across Karna who could run circles around all of them to the two adults.

“Don’t worry about us.” Mayumi’s master stated confidently. “We’d be rather poor guardians if we couldn’t even keep up.”

"I wouldn't be too sure," Duskclaw said slowly. "I've seen some of these kids move. That said, I’m a beastwoman. I’ll manage. Besides, I also managed to drag my warrior ranking up a bit after Karna kept kicking my ass.” Her rank as a warrior was now a respectable fifth rank, known colloquially as a ‘Battlemaster’.

“So which way are we headed?” Miralen asked.

"Give me a second," Shaheera stated and used one of the abilities granted by his spirit, which allowed him to view the area from a great height. His spirit was a more utility-based one, the value of which should not be underestimated. Not everything was about combat. “That way.” He pointed roughly towards the north and the mountains. “There are farming hamlets only about a day and a half’s travel that way, and a decently sized village a bit further. I’m not sure how much use they’ll be otherwise, but at least they will be able to tell us where we are, and I brought maps.”

“Good. Let’s get to it then. Keep your guard up. We have no idea what kind of things we might run into. Tell me if you sense anything out of the place, and give a warning if the pace we set is too much. It’s easier to just go a bit slower than nurse you if you overexert yourself.” Sieg instructed and they all took off in the direction Shaheera had pointed out for them.

At first, the pace was a bit uneven as they got a handle on what sort of pace everyone could handle, but by the time the first hour had passed, they were all moving at a pace that would cover a lot of ground in a very short time. They were all good at keeping pace, and their stamina was plentiful. They also had people in the group that could keep an eye on the surroundings even at great speeds. Even expert scouting patrols would've had trouble keeping pace with them.

The first day's travel was surprisingly uneventful. They all expected some sort of trouble but were almost disappointed when they didn't run into any. They set up camp when it started getting dark, and even though it was the first time they were traveling with this exact group, people naturally fell into roles when the time came. The tents were set up with practiced ease, as it was something they had trained in class, and guard shifts were set. Karna took over the role of the cook, as all her friends had already discovered her culinary abilities were by far the best in the group. Miralen set up some magical traps to warn them in case someone tried to sneak up on their camp, while Travan set some physical traps around the camp, just in case.

"Are you sure you don't want to create a bath?" Miralen asked in a bit of teasing voice as Karna cast a cleaning spell on herself. The attire they both wore was very practical though made from great materials. Leather pants and leather armor in addition to a cloth shirt on top. They also had rather sizeable cloaks against wind and the weather. Even though they had the same attire, Karna’s somehow managed to look more indecent as the clothes were significantly tighter, leaving little to the imagination. The attire they wore had been chosen specifically to not seem out of place.

“Here? No thanks. As much as I enjoy baths,” Karna winked at Miralen to show she had understood the small reference to the bath where they had been peeped on. “I’m not so fond of them to require one the first night. The spells will be enough for now. We can see if we find some place with a lot of natural water, in which case I can use magic to create a bath for us. How about you? Can you survive without stealing my bath for a night?”

“I think I’ll manage.” Miralen also grinned a bit and used the same spell. It was something the teachers in charge of wilderness skills had drilled into them. Baths were a luxury while traveling, but taking care of hygiene was important as well.

"I think the boys were a little disappointed about the way the tents were split." Mayumi laughed. Naturally, the two adults had their own tent while they had one for each gender as well. "Are you sure you don't want to switch…?" She tried teasing Karna a bit as well.

"Ah, as fun as that might be, I think it would create too much trouble for now," Karna said shamelessly. She’d spent enough time in various militaries in countless lives that sharing a tent with the opposite gender didn’t bother her at all.

“Don’t worry, that was a nice try!” Miralen encouraged Mayumi, who looked a little crestfallen as her attempt at teasing failed. The Yuki-Onna girl had a bit of trouble treating Karna as an equal due to all the lessons she had been given, and because she knew Karna was in fact so much older than her in spirit.

“Is it just me, or would this be the perfect time for some girl-talk?” Miralen suddenly asked.

“That depends. What do you want to talk about?” Karna asked while playing along.

“Well, would it be too cliché to say love and boys?” Miralen suggested, blushing a little.

“If you want to, though that's really a bit too cliche.” Karna shrugged. “From what I’ve seen though, there’s not that much to talk about. None of us have a boyfriend, and unless I’m horribly mistaken, neither of you have had one either.”

‘At least in this life.’ She added to herself silently while glancing at Mayumi. She wasn’t sure how old the girl had been when she died in her first life.

Miralen looked at Mayumi a little curious, as she knew Karna had not had one either. They spent enough time together that keeping that kind of secret was sort of impossible. “You’re right.” Mayumi agreed. “There was someone back home, but…it didn’t really work out.” Something about the look in her eyes told Karna that she was talking about that previous life and not this one.

“Fine.” Miralen placed her hands on her waist in a defiant gesture. She was determined to have this talk, as if to get it ticked off on some mental checklist. “Anyone you’re interested in then?”

"Not really," Mayumi replied after a short moment. "I mean there were some guys back at the Academy that were rather handsome, but none of them were bold enough to approach us. The only ones I've spent any time with are Shaheera and Rein. Rein has Callista, and before that he was crushing hard on Karna. As for Shaheera…well, I don’t feel the whole Leonid thing. I suppose Sieg and Travan both look nice, but I don’t really know them yet.”

“What about you?” Miralen turned towards Karna.

“Well, before that, it would be fair that you answered your own question.” Karna turned the tables. Even though elves had to be decades older to be recognized as adults, that didn't mean they didn't get frisky earlier than that. Miralen was also quite a looker, so Karna was a little surprised the older girl had given no indication in that direction.

Miralen looked hesitant for a moment but finally spoke with a displeased face. "My family is trying to set me up in an arranged marriage of sorts. I'm not fond of the idea, which is one of the reasons I haven't gone back home for the last couple of years. I don't dislike the guy they've got picked out for me, but he's like a brother to me. A significantly older brother. Just because I don’t dislike him doesn’t mean I’m going to marry him though. I just need enough power to assert my independence. Until then though, it would be a bit of a problem if I completely disregarded my parents and got involved with someone else. That said, if I were looking…I suppose Shaheera is quite nice when it comes to personality, but I agree with Mayumi. I’m not into the whole Leonid thing. There are some nice looking fellas at the Academy, but our training and frantic pace hasn’t really left me much time to socialize.”

“I know right?” Mayumi high-fived the elven girl. They had both been working hard during the last few years. They had to in order to keep up with Karna.

“Now then, fess up!” Miralen turned back to Karna.

“I’m not in love or anything if that's what you're asking. I'm not looking for anything serious like that either just yet. We’re clear on that? Good. Now if you’re talking about just having a bit of fun, there’s quite a few people I wouldn’t mind. I’m not in a rush though. Assuming I don’t find anyone interesting during the trip, I’ll probably find someone when we return to the Academy." Karna mused while setting out her bedroll. A bedroll that secretly was much bigger inside and had a large number of pillows stuffed within. It was one of the items she was secretly very proud of. Now she just had to make sure Miralen didn’t notice.

“Anyone in particular in your mind?” Miralen asked, filled with curiosity.

“Well, yes and no. I’m not sure how smart it would be to pick someone from inside our group. Mayumi and Tsumi are out on purely master-disciple type of grounds. Rein got himself involved with Callista, so he’s now off-limits. I don’t go for anyone already in a relationship, even if I was inclined to give them a chance otherwise. That leaves Shaheera, Sieg, and you Miralen." Karna went through the names as if she was just reading a shopping list.

“I…didn’t know I was an option?” Miralen wasn’t sure how to take Karna’s words. To say she wasn’t interested at all would be a lie, but she wasn’t sure she swung that way. In fact, she was rather confident she generally didn’t, though it might be interesting to experiment.

“Sure, why not? That said, I think it might be better to not pick inside the group. We’ll see though. These kinds of things have a tendency of solving themselves, so there’s no need to waste too much thought on them.” Karna was quite aware that relationships inside friend groups could also blow up in unpleasant ways, in which case friendships could be broken. People this young had trouble with the concept of casual sex without any strings attached. Feelings would inevitably develop, and hearts would be broken once those feelings were not returned. “Now get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and we can do these kinds of talks while we have more time. Also, come up with something a little less cliché next time!”

-----

"It might be better if we don't approach them as a group," Sieg commented as the group of farmers warily looked towards them as they got close enough to the farmlands to be visible from the fields.

“So who should we send?” Shaheera asked as the two of them were standing a bit ahead of the group. “Seeing as I’m a Leonid, and ostensibly an enemy of the elves that currently control this area, I might elicit a bad reaction."

“Well…” Sieg looked at the rest of the group behind them. “Miralen and Travan are both elves, so theoretically they should be fine. Assuming these farmers don’t resent their new rulers…”

“A bet I’m not sure I’d take just yet. I heard these sorts of areas were the hotbed for the rebellion that was growing in the Holy Kingdom before the Divines sent their judgment. Mayumi is…well, I’d say she’s a decent option, but her type isn't exactly standard in the area, so I’d keep her as an alternative.” Shaheera speculated.

“Karna…she’d certainly get the information we want, but…” Sieg wasn’t entirely sure how to voice his concern.

“Her presence could also bring a host of other problems.” Shaheera finished in his stead. “So I guess you’re going.”

"I suppose so," Sieg grunted. He was the most normal-looking of the entire group, and that was saying something considering he was over two meters tall and very broad and muscled as well. In many ways he took after his father when it came to appearance, but he actually managed to become a bit taller thanks to his mother's side as well. He could look quite threatening to most people that didn’t know him.

It didn’t take Sieg long to converse with the farmers, and once he managed to calm them down, a bit of coin was enough to get any information that he wanted. “The town Shaheera spotted is called Stadfelt, and we’re closer to the eastern border of the old Holy Kingdom, although still relatively close to the center. This area is actually fairly safe when it comes to magical beasts and wildlife, but there is some bandit activity. The wars were relatively gentle as far as hostile takeovers go, but a fair number of people were still displaced or became disgruntled by the new management. Banditry was the most common response. Some of the old Holy Knights that didn’t get their powers back also joined groups like that, but there are rumors of them being in this area.”

“Stadfelt…Stadfelt…” Shaheera repeated as he browsed his map. “Ah! Got it. Oh wow, they really dumped us in the middle of nowhere. This area is some of the most sparsely populated land in the entire Holy Kingdom. The only reason this place is of any interest is due to the plentiful farmland available for settlers and the mines that can be found in that mountain range.” He pointed towards the north. “That’s also where we’ll find the closest decent-sized city. Seeing as the city was built because of the mines, there’s a good chance we’ll find some transportation there. Maybe even teleportation gates if we’re lucky.”

“Can you show me the map?” Karna asked, suddenly remembering something.

“Sure.” Shaheera handed the map over, and Karna studied it for a while.

“There is an alternative in case that mining city doesn’t pan out. It’s a bit of a hike, but I happen to know a particular business-dragon called Llethunaxx that lives about a week’s travel east, assuming we keep a hard pace. I’m quite sure he can arrange us passage to where we want to go. For a price.” Karna said with a tone that was hard to interpret.

The others were not used to her using that sort of tone, so naturally someone had to raise the obvious question. “What sort of price?” Miralen asked.

"We might have to pour coins on him," Karna replied ominously.

Chapter 34 - Divergent objectives?

A note from Vihyungrang

Well, that was an interesting week. It seems my story has gotten some people salty. If I cared about rankings, a drop of over 60 spots might have peeved me, but since all they really accomplished after those 0,5's and the rest was a grand total of 0,03 off my average rating, I'm more amused than anything. I am slightly petty though, so I'll take a bit of revenge. As the issues seemed to focus on the sexual parts (at least judging by two reviews and a couple private messages), we're gonna have more of them! Just as an example, the 'distraction' used in this chapter used to be something different, but I changed it just for you. So expect more lewd jokes!

Now on to more serious matters! My next practical starts on 9th of this month, and I'll also be working on my thesis at the same time. The good news is that I've got some chapters stocked so that you might even get chapters with the normal schedule! The bad news is that I had to rush them a bit, so the quality standard might be a bit lower, and I'm not sure if i'll be able to maintain the schedule for the entire five weeks of the practical. We'll see though. I still liked the chapters, but I hope you'll enjoy as well!

------

"I told you so," Karna said smugly. “Now hand it over. A bet is a bet.” She snapped her fingers in a ‘hurry up’ gesture.

“Why did I bother? And why am I not even surprised?” Miralen complained while sitting on the back of her wolf and tossed over some coins. The value was inconsequential, so the monetary loss didn’t really matter. Losing a bet in general was annoying though.

“It was a stupid bet. You should’ve known better.” Mayumi commented from the top of her floating giant snowflake.

“I know, but what were the odds really? This shouldn’t have happened.” Miralen continued protesting.

“Could you three be serious for a moment?” Sieg demanded, though even his tone was a little half-hearted. “We’re still being ambushed, albeit in a fairly incompetent manner.”

“Oi! Whatchu mean badly?! ‘Tis a perfectly good ambush!” The bandit leader protested. He tried to look menacing with a giant weapon and even an eye-patch on his scarred face, but it was clear that he didn’t actually need the prop eye-covering, and it was just being used for effect.

“First of all, you may have been able to hide your presence, but your companions were not able to do the same. They stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of this terrain. ” Shaheera criticized. “Besides, why are you speaking like that? I can still sense the remaining holy power you used to possess. We all know you used to be a Holy Knight. Holy Knights are taught proper etiquette and I know you can speak properly. You also should’ve been able to arrange a proper ambush instead of this mess. Were you trying to get caught?”

“You try working with underlings who can barely even swing a sword and can’t even bother to train in the basics!” The bandit leader said angrily, stomping his foot and tossing away the useless eye-patch. “Now enough blabbering! Leave behind all your valuables. And the women. Definitely the women.”

"I think we'll just decline, thank you very much," Sieg stated firmly.

“That’s not really how bandit attacks work. You don’t get to refuse.” The bandit leader retorted.

“And yet, here we are.” Sieg shrugged. “Now what are you going to do about it?”

“Charge!” The bandit leader shouted, though he had a bad feeling about the whole thing. His underlings were numerous, but he hadn’t lied when he said they were poorly trained. They had used to be peasants and maybe at best town guards before becoming bandits. That made them physically fairly strong, but not exactly the most skilled or disciplined fighters. And the people in front of him didn’t seem too phased by the numbers. He had been hoping they’d just surrender quietly as most before had. Why would any skilled groups appear in the middle of fucking nowhere?!

“Pattern delta!” Shaheera shouted.

Suddenly large walls of Qhaysh rose on both sides of the group, cutting off the attack path from those directions and funneling the rest of the bandits into two narrow paths. Then Miralen, Mayumi, and Shaheera cast their spells, cutting down the nicely grouped up enemies in a hail of magic. Travan took care of anyone that managed to survive the sudden attack with his magical bow, while Sieg seemed to almost be dancing as he cut his way through the enemies and reached the bandit leader, and the two engaged in a battle that was a lot more equal than the rest of the mess.

“Switch!” Shaheera called out, and the walls seemed to shatter as they suddenly turned into floating swords and arrow before being shot outwards, right at the bandits that were still circling around the walls and were caught completely by surprise. Most of them were cut down before they even noticed what hit them. The group members then all chose a side and started to take down any remaining targets from range.

This was just one of the tactics they had practiced during the lessons, and they had a hundred other variations for various situations. As only Karna, Shaheera, Miralen, and Mayumi were practiced with these particular tactics, they’d gone with a simple one. They’d have to share their bag of tricks with Travan and Sieg as they traveled, but as the two had also taken part in tactics lessons, they generally knew how to react. Sieg had even brainstormed some of the tactics with Rein before, so only Travan was mostly ignorant of them, which is why he was taking a more passive role for now.

Soon enough the other bandits had been dealt with, cut down like weeds by the much better-trained group, so the only one remaining was Sieg, who was fighting the bandit leader. “Go-go Sieg! You can do it!” Miralen cheered.

"Stop playing around with the poor man and just end it," Shaheera called out instead.

"I'm not playing around," Sieg grunted. Despite having lost the powers he’d been blessed with by the Divines, the man he was fighting used to be a Holy Knight, one of the most powerful defenders of the old Holy Kingdom. Just because the man had lost some of his powers, that didn't mean he had lost his skills. Sieg was powerful and skilled for his age, but he didn't have the same level of experience as the older man.

“Not so smug now, are you boy?” The old knight asked, though he too was clearly struggling.

"I'm not going to listen to any crap from a man that would already be dead if my friends bothered helping," Sieg grumbled. They both knew he was right too.

“Karna will show you her tits if you beat him in less than twenty seconds!” Miralen suddenly shouted out, instigating the situation further. She apparently wished that her shout would work either as a distraction or at least motivation to Sieg. That and she apparently planned on teasing Karna about ‘showing off’.

“Oh for Divinities' sake!” Karna covered her face in despair at her friend’s idiocy, but she still used her other hand to start untying the strings at the front of her leather armor. An armor that she wore mostly just for appearance's sake since her skin was much better as protection anyway.

The two fighters tried to ignore the byplay, but they couldn’t avoid taking a small glance towards Karna, who in turn was slowly walking closer to them. It wasn’t necessarily that they were hoping to catch a glimpse of something. Rather it was the fact that she was approaching their fight, and the two needed to know if she was going to intervene. That small moment of distraction proved decisive though, as suddenly an arrow buried itself in the bandit’s temple. “Travan, you spoilsport.” Miralen joked.

“It was taking too long.” Travan simply stated with a shrug and a nonplussed expression.

“Would you really have…?” Sieg asked Karna quietly and waved a finger at his own chest.

“Of course not. It simply seemed like an efficient distraction.” She replied, although her tone left it unclear how truthful her reply was. “And now you’ll never get the chance anyway, as you didn’t beat him.”

“Strictly speaking Travan did and the offer wasn’t specified to apply just to Sieg.” Miralen continued her joke while she rode closer.

“Yes, but I didn’t make the offer, now did I?” Karna countered. “If you feel that’s not fair, then you’re welcome to show him yours instead.” That shut Miralen up effectively.

“You might want to take the head of the leader to the town. There’s likely to be a bounty involved. More so if we could find their den somewhere.” Duskclaw interjected and pointed out. Her and Mayumi’s master had stayed quiet and on the sidelines the entire affair. The bandits hadn’t even noticed their presence, or they wouldn’t have attacked.

"I can deal with that," Shaheera said and summoned his spirit. The eagle that was now much larger seemed to split into a dozen identical copies which then flew into separate directions.

"I'll take the head since I killed him," Travan said simply.

“That leaves burning the bodies to me. We don’t want to attract beasts to the road, nor do we want any undead being born.” Karna sparked a flame atop her palm, which then quickly spread to all the corpses around them, turning even the gear they carried to ash.

--------

The town really wasn't all that large. As a mining-focused town near the mountains, it was hardly a shock that the buildings were mostly made of stone. A rather sizeable wall circled the town, and the group could see that the wall was quite thick as well. It would not be able to stand against a determined and large monster, but anything smaller than a Hill Giant would have trouble getting past it. As they approached the town in the middle of the day, the line to enter was not very long. Most inhabitants were still working, while most visitors had already entered.

As their group was quite mixed when it came to race, and their clothing was high quality despite being relatively non-descript, they drew some attention. It also didn’t help that one of them was riding a large wolf while another flew on a magical snowflake. To make things run a little more smoothly, Travan tossed the head of the bandit leader at the feet of the guards as soon as it was their turn.

“And what’s this supposed to be?” The guard sergeant asked with a look of disgust.

"That's the head of the bandit leader who decided to suicide his merry little band against us," Shaheera explained with a genial smile. "Incidentally, we can also tell you the location of their hideout, so if you're interested in recovering some of your lost assets…"

“Well, that’s a language I can speak. Come into the guard post and I’ll take the details.” The sergeant said with a pleased smile. The group of bandits had been a thorn in their side, so getting rid of them was a real blessing. Recovering their lost items, even if only a part of them, was a useful boon as well.

The guard sergeant questioned them in detail about the attack but wasn't too bothered to ask after their identity or business in the town. The lack of questions was a sort of courtesy that they had earned with the head of the bandit leader. Of course, he also pushed a decently sized purse of coins their way as well. “My apologies that I can’t give you more. We’re not exactly a wealthy town and the elves haven’t gotten around to arranging proper management for us yet. We’ve managed with our tax revenues so far, but since we also have to pay all the guard wages and city maintenance as well…” He gave a small shrug.

“That’s fine. We didn’t really kill them for the reward.” Sieg received the coin pouch and slipped it inside his storage ring. “We just ran into them and the rest is history. There are a few things you could help us with though.”

“Sure. Whatever I can arrange.” The sergeant nodded eagerly.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a teleportation gate to a larger city?” Miralen asked, interjecting herself into the conversation.

“I’m afraid not. We get merchant caravans every few weeks, but you missed even that a week ago, and we’re not expecting the next one until at least eight days from now. And that’s if they’re early, which they rarely are. We mine a lot of minerals and even gems from the mountains, but they’re not exactly the type to attract loads of attention. Just your everyday necessities for blacksmiths, enchanters, and jewelers. And I know what your next question is going to be. Mounts, right?” The sergeant had an apologetic look as he spoke.

“That obvious, huh?” Sieg smiled.

“It’s not the first time travelers arrive here, albeit rare. We do have draft animals to pull the wagons of traders that lose their mounts for some reason, as well as a couple of steeds for emergencies, but not on the level you’d likely require. Those steeds are bred for speed, not endurance, and would likely die on you if you push them too hard. If you need steel or fresh groceries from the nearby farmsteads, then that we can arrange cheaply, but the only animals in the area are for consumption and those that try to kill us.” The sergeant shook his head.

“In that case, we’ll likely leave fairly soon. We’ll stock up on supplies, but…” Sieg understood the situation, and could sympathize.

“Ah, a bit of advice. We're a mining town. Most people in the town live most of their lives in the mountains. Almost eighty percent of the population is male and of the rougher type. The only women they see are the occasional farmer’s daughter and those poor girls working for the brothel. Certainly not young and pretty ones like those in your group. I’d keep your hoods up and leave once you’re done. The people here are not bad per se, but they can get a bit rowdy and pushy. As much as the innkeeper would say otherwise, I’d advise you to not stay the night. Seeing as you got rid of the bandits, I have no doubt you could defend yourselves against any untoward advances, but I’d rather we all avoided the resulting injuries. It would be a problem for us.” The sergeant had a fatherly tone as he looked over the girls in the group.

“Well, that was kind of useless.” Shaheera pointed out as they entered the city.

“Yes and no. At least now we know that it might be better to approach Karna’s dragon friend instead. I doubt any of the nearby towns are any better off. And we also know to sleep outside to avoid a brawl.” Sieg defended the visit a bit.

“Unless we want to partake in a brawl?” Miralen suggested.

“Let’s not. I’m sure we’ll get to fight more than enough on this journey anyway, even if the dragon can send us straight to the elven court. Why bother instigating fights we don’t need?” Travan joined in with Sieg as the designated party-poopers.

“Let’s just get our provisions and go. I’m sure our campsites aren’t much worse than the beds in an inn catering to miners.” Karna also joined in. Their camps were actually quite comfortable as magic allowed them access to many amenities usually not available.

The provisions in the town were fresh and cheap so they were done quickly, after which they bade a hasty exit. The trip towards Llethunaxx’s lair was so uneventful that they all decided to run drills of their various battle tactics while they traveled. Miralen and Travan were quite adept at hunting while on the move as well, so they had no complaints about their cuisine either, especially once they reached the forested areas between the mining town and the lair.

One of the nights saw Travan and Karna together on watch. Most of the night had gone quietly aside from a wild boar stumbling across one of Travan’s traps. Their watch was already reaching its end when Karna finally sparked up a conversation. “So are we at a point where you can discuss this mission of yours? I normally wouldn’t pry about private affairs, but I don’t want our missions to clash.”

“I doubt they would, but…no there’s a good chance they could if handled badly, so I might as well.” Travan scratched his pointed ear a bit in a curious gesture. He wasn’t the most talkative person, and it showed in his mannerisms. “How much do you know about where I come from and my family?”

“Miralen told us that Drannor’s used to be Desert Elves and the desert is no more. That’s about the gist of it really.” Karna replied curtly.

“Yes, well, the story is a little more complicated than that, but as far as summaries go, that was quite efficient. The Drannors used to be a rather prominent House among the elven clans. We didn’t match the High Elven Houses of course, but we had some of their blood as well. That gave us a leg up over many of the other Houses. The terrain controlled by the court though…it’s not exactly what you’d call suitable to Desert Elves. Very few deserts and quite a lot of snow, forests, and mountains. Good for the other clans, but not so much for us. That’s why our House drifted to the area that later became the Magocracy. This was…I don’t even know how many thousands of years ago. Still, our departure came with certain guarantees from the court.” Travan’s look darkened a bit.

“Let me guess. Those guarantees were not kept?” Karna honed on the important point.

“No. Despite our repeated requests, the court did not make even the simplest of efforts to help. It’s not like it would’ve taken large concessions to sway the Magocracy to intervene on their behalf. The de-desertification projects were not of major importance to the nation as a whole. Important enough that the objections of a single elven House could be ignored, but if the Queen made a personal request? Things would’ve been very different.” He was clearly not happy with how things had gone.

“I can understand the anger towards the court then, but what are you going to the court for? If I understand correctly, any help now would be too late. I get that revenge would be satisfying, but if that’s your plan, we can’t allow that to happen.” Karna sympathized, but she’d not risk the alliance between the elves and the Magocracy for Travan’s revenge. Especially since the legitimacy of that revenge could be argued.

“Revenge? No. I’m not that stupid. I only want to look at the Queen in the eyes and ask her why the guarantees were not kept. And then I’m going to announce both the separation of House Drannor from the court and its dissolution. The dissolution is kind of an embarrassment for the court, but not too bad since it has all but officially happened already. The separation is something that hasn’t happened before though. That’s going to make some waves. Waves of the sort that you might not want to be around to catch.” Travan gave a fair warning. So far he’d rather liked these people and didn’t want the political fallout of the whole thing to affect them or the mission. He obviously planned on completing his mission after the rest of the group was long gone.

“I’ll take that under advisement. I assume the Headmistress knows about your plans? And she approved the mission anyway?” Karna’s mind was already making leaps. If Tsumi knew about this, then the whole thing was a test. It could sink their mission easily.

"Yes to both. She gave me free rein about the timing of my mission, so you don't have to be around anymore when this goes down." Travan reassured her, though it wasn’t quite that simple.

“I’m getting the sense that there’s more to this. We’ll have to keep our eyes out.” Karna decided.

Chapter 35 - Deals and gift horses

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I was tempted to tag this chapter with a + as a joke, but finally decided against it. Anyway, I quite like how this one turned out and it's also extra long, so yay for that! I hope you'll enjoy!

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”Tiny Titan! What brings you back to my lair?” Llethunaxx greeted Karna happily as they finally got through to the blue dragon. Unlike last time she visited this place, the servants, accountants, and bureaucrats that filled the dragon's lair didn't simply ignore their presence. She didn't have her father's sheer power to guarantee entry, and the dragon had not expected their arrival, so the various pencil-pushers had tried to make difficulties for them. Now that it was clear they were welcome, the accountant that had brought them here, after Karna had greased his palms a bit, happily faded away and left them with the dragon.

“Tiny dragon! I’ll have you know I’ve grown again.” Karna teased the dragon happily. They’d borrowed his contacts when her last rank-up had required special arrangements. Holding blood rituals in the middle of the night inside the Magocracy borders could be taken the wrong way after all. She had reached the fourth circle in magic and fourth rank as an Aura user during her sixth year in the Academy, and the Awakening had required a different kind of method than the other times. For some reason, blood baths and blood rituals were awfully frowned upon by most civilized nations. Very narrow-minded of them.

“So you have! Though this time not as much as last time. You’re slowing down! Soon enough you’ll be growing just as slowly as I am. Besides, I’ll have you know I’ve grown several centimeters since the last time we met.” Llethunaxx held himself proudly and extended to his full length, giving the group the perfect view of his profile.

"Oh? It seems you weren't lying. You have grown. You finally ate the remaining bits of tribulation lightning didn't you?" Karna looked the dragon over and her sharp eyes could tell the difference. The dragon was much stronger than before and was even close to ranking up. Karna’s last Awakening had caused just as much of a disturbance as the previous ones, though in a slightly different form.

“I did! You always bring me such exciting business opportunities! Which brings you here this time? Surely your next Awakening hasn’t come yet?” The dragon inquired happily.

“No, no! We’re here for something much simpler, and I’m here entirely in my own capacity as a student. Father is likely aware of where I am as he’s a worrywart, but he’s not to interfere with the mission.” Karma waved her hands to bring down the dragon’s excitement a bit.

“Oh? You’re here on a mission then? What do you require?” the business-dragon got a calculating look in his eye. Business was still business.

“We need transportation. Our goal is to reach the lands of the High Elf Court.” Karna explained.

“That I can’t do. The dragons the elves control are quite territorial and don’t like the rest of us Shifting into their territory. I actually own a cake shop in the city, but the old stooges refuse to recognize it as my territory! Besides, the elves have their own measures against unauthorized spatial magic to prevent any surprise invasions by the Aegean Empire. A rather smart choice all things considered.” Llethunaxx shook his massive head in refusal.

“I suspected as much.” Karna nodded. If that hadn’t been the case, she could’ve opened a portal herself with enough spirit stones to power the spell. It would take her almost half a day to cast the spell and would seriously drain her spirit stone reserves, but it could be done. Time was easy to come by, as they’d spent several days getting here, but she’d rather save the spirit stones in case of emergencies. “Instead, we’d like to get to a large enough elven controlled city within the old Holy Kingdom territories to have an authorized gateway. I know they transport people and goods back and forth, so this shouldn’t be too big of a problem.”

Llethunaxx scratched his flank against a nearby pillar while thinking about the request. "It's not too difficult to find a portal, but it's harder to find one that is available for public use. The elves are really careful with incoming traffic, and only certain types of people and goods are allowed through most of the gates. Your best bet would be the city of Titangel. It's the official-unofficial regional capital of the elven occupation and the seat of their government on this continent. They have gates, though using them might be a bit pricy."

“That sounds perfect. Can you get us there?” Karna requested with her best puppy-dog eyes. She wasn’t too worried about the price. She had started producing items for the Academy years ago, and the items she created had quite a bit of demand.

The dragon completely ignored the imploring look thanks to his business skills. Others had tried the same trick, though ignoring Karna was significantly harder. “I can get you close, though not into the city itself. What are you willing to trade though?”

“Bah, it’s not a large bother for you, and it’s only going to save us time so it's not worth it if you get too greedy.” Karna went into haggling mode.

“Perhaps, but you came to me for a reason. It would be a shame to leave empty-handed. All that wasted time. Besides, opening portals in the area is going to annoy certain people. If someone like you would do it, they might just forcefully collapse the spell and cause your attempt to fail.” Llethunaxx was happy to haggle about the price. This was exactly the sort of negotiation that he enjoyed.

“People that you don’t mind annoying and that are annoyed with you anyway.” Karna countered. The two went back and forth for several minutes, giving points and counter-points, haggling without actually mentioning any concrete price.

“You want me to pour coins on you, don’t you?” Karna finally asked with narrowed eyes.

“Yes!” Llethunaxx admitted easily and eagerly. His tail was thumping on the ground in expectation.

“You know father will kill you if he finds out.” She pointed out simply.

“Which is why secrecy will naturally be part of our agreement. For both parties.” Llethunaxx said cheerily.

Karna pretended to consider the proposition, but she already expected this. The whole haggling bit was just for show and a bit of fun. She wasn’t one to kink-shame people, and this didn’t really require anything unpleasant on her part. “Fine. I’ll even throw in a freebie and do it in my Titan form, but I’ll only do it once.”

“Twice and you have a deal!” Llethunaxx countered eagerly. He even lay down on the ground in eager anticipation.

With a faked suffering sigh, Karna suddenly seemed to more than triple in size as her Titan form had grown to be almost seven meters tall. Luckily she’d accounted for this possibility, and her clothes had been enchanted with this in mind, so they grew along with her. She picked up the largest container nearby, which happened to be a huge bathtub filled with gold coins and decorated with gems. What the damn thing was doing in the middle of a dragon’s lair was a mystery, though on a second look she could still see some traces of blood inside. Wasn’t this the tub she had used during her Awakening? Ignoring the implications, she lifted the thing over the prone form of the dragon and almost gently allowed the contents to cascade over his blue scales. She could’ve just dumped the contents on the dragon, but if she was going to do this, she might as well do it properly.

Llethunaxx’s whole body shivered as the rain of coins covered him. His claws scratched the ground and it almost seemed like he was having small seizures. The same happened even more strongly as Karna scooped another tub-full of coins and repeated the process. “Is the dragon cumming?” Miralen asked in a hushed tone, though her question wasn’t addressed to anyone particular.

"In a way," Mayumi replied. “The dragons don’t work exactly the same as humanoid races. They have the usual type of cumming which we all know about, and then they have a more mental way to reach a climax of sorts, in which case there’s no…bodily fluids involved or anything. This was of the latter type.”

“And why exactly do you know such things?” Shaheera asked with a suspicious glance.

“We have dragons near the Frostpeak Insitute," Mayumi said a bit defensively. She’d actually learned about it in her previous life.

“That should be good enough, right?” Karna asked loudly while returning to her original size. This sort of kink really wasn’t her thing, but there was always a certain amount of satisfaction in bringing pleasure to others. And as far as golden showers went, this one was a lot more pleasant than the alternative.

"It'll have to be," Llethunaxx stated slowly, coming out of his reverie. If someone had asked him why he got such pleasure from having coins poured on him, he wouldn’t have been able to explain. He gathered his wits and got up. “Right then. Give me a minute. A portal like this will take a few moments to create.”

“You know Arjuna will be really disappointed, right?” Duskclaw asked with a lopsided smile when Karna returned to the group.

"Ah, but he won't be finding out," Karna said, quite sure of herself. "After all, he would be even more disappointed that you didn’t intervene, right?”

"True enough. Personally, I think it's about time you started exploring such things, though this was not the first sexual experience I would’ve recommended.” Duskclaw simply joked. She knew most girls even in the Magocracy started exploring such things much younger than Karna. This group in itself was out of the norm in that regard. Miralen was an elf and elves matured more slowly, while Mayumi seemed rather uninterested in such things. Duskclaw had no idea about the guys in the group. She didn’t honestly care either, which made her a bit of a hypocrite.

“What makes you think this was my first experience?” Karna asked sneakily, trying to get a rise out of Duskclaw, with great success.

“What? Where? With who? Why didn’t you tell me?!” Duskclaw started to fire off questions but was interrupted by Llethunaxx.

“Alright. We’re about ready. You’ll end up relatively close to Titangel, but I can’t place you too close. It’ll take you about a day to arrive. I’ll drop you off south of the city.” The dragon explained before his magic coalesced into a relatively small but stable portal. “Good luck, and come again!”

------

Titangel was an odd city. It used to be a relatively small city in the northern part of the old Holy Kingdom, but it was originally built by elves. One could still see the traces in the architecture due to ornamental carvings, soft lines, and a beauty-before practicality type of aesthetics. The city had grown greatly in the last few years and had become the local capital, but that wasn’t due to the elven origins. The real reason was because the city was the crossroads between three important locations.

The city itself was surrounded on three sides by very old forests of tall and ancient trees favored by the Wood Elves. To the north were mountains and the wintry terrain favored by certain Dark Elf groups, and on the west side of the city ran a large river that led to the sea and the large coastal cities that attracted the Sea Elves. As a result, the city itself had grown ten times its original size in scant few years, and there were more buildings being constructed all the time.

"I've never seen an elven city so…industrious before," Sieg commented. "The ones I've seen before were all so sedate and had the feeling of countless years of history behind them."

"You haven't been to too many elven cities, have you?" Miralen asked a little disdainfully. "Elves, in general, are quite productive as a people. Our productiveness just tends to come in waves as we suddenly get inspired by something. We also don’t waste as many things as other races, so there’s less need for large scale production. That allows us to focus on craftsmanship.”

“The whole place smells of freshly cut lumber and new stone buildings," Shaheera stated while breathing the air deeply with his eyes closed.

“What do new stones smell like?” Mayumi asked curiously.

“New stone houses, not new stone. There’s a difference. But to answer your question, Dusty and wet. The stones haven’t entirely settled yet, and the mortar used for the brick houses hasn’t fully dried yet.” Shaheera explained.

“Wouldn’t cutting down all those trees go against the wishes of the Wood Elves?” Mayumi continued to ask a little confused. Her knowledge of the elven culture was quite limited.

“Divinities no! The Wood Elves were the ones who cut those trees down. The trees are specially grown for the purpose. The druids are excellent in creating new groves just for that purpose." Miralen explained. "The Wood Elves like forests, yes, but they understand the necessity for lumber and wood used for other purposes, such as firewood and furniture. They grow special types of trees for each purpose. They simply dislike it when you cut entire forests down and destroy entire habitats.”

They approached the ‘gates’ slowly. As the city was expanding rapidly, there was little point in building walls that the city would outgrow in months anyway. Mages had erected some basic barriers around the city and the major roads had checkpoints where the gates would normally be. It was somewhat clear though that the plan was to eventually heavily fortify the city as it was the economic heart of the area. “Their barrier-work is quite excellent.” Karna commended. “It’s hastily erected, but not bad at all.”

“I’ll relay your compliments to the barrier mages.” The elven guard in a dull-green leather and chain armor said as he approached the group. His eyes were looking at all of them sharply, appraising them in several ways. “And who should I say sent these compliments?”

"You can say the compliments came from Karna, an eighth-year student in the Academy. Barriers happen to be one of my specialties." Karna smiled at the guard, which seemed to have some effect as his expression mellowed a bit.

“I see. And what brings students from the prestigious Academy to Titangel?” He inquired, though something about his tone hinted that he already knew. He had no trouble believing her words as the short appraisal he had done told him the group was made of people who were quite young to have as much power as they did. They also carried themselves in a way that spoke of underlying skill and confidence.

“We’re looking to gain transport to the High Elven Court. We’re on a diplomatic mission. We were told that this city had teleportation gates that could speed our journey.” Karna explained openly.

"Well, that explains your presence here. We were actually informed that a group like yours might eventually come here, though we weren’t expecting you for several weeks at the earliest. The good news is that we can take care of that transportation as we’ve been instructed to provide you with free passage. The bad news is that because we weren’t expecting you for some time, you’ll have to wait. I suggest you spend a few days in the city. Most of the facilities are new and state of the art. We’ll send for you when the portals are ready for your use.” The guard provided helpfully.

“My thanks. Any recommendations for lodgings?” Karna knew that the guards were usually aware of the best inns, so getting their recommendation was quite useful.

“Silver Lining if you don’t mind paying a bit of a premium. The Happy Tankard if you want something more affordable.” The guard was happy to answer, and even provided some directions to get to both inns.

"Thanks for your help captain. We shall await your word then." Karna replied. They both knew the elves would keep an eye on them, so there was no need to tell the guard which inn they would go to.

Despite the relatively late hour, the city they entered was filled with the hustle and bustle of people rushing about on various errands. As most of the city was new, the design took into consideration the role the city would fulfill, so the streets were wide enough to accommodate heavy traffic by carriages. The streets were also well paved with stone, and even had dedicated pedestrian walkways on the sides. Both the wide streets and the walkways were filled with construction workers and wagons hauling either building materials or produce to feed the horde of people. It seemed they had entered from the gate that served as the main path through which such materials were transported, as more important goods were transported via the other gates.

All around them the group could see new and still in the process of being built structures. It seemed many of the new buildings were still empty, but even the relatively new buildings had a decent occupancy already, telling a tale of how necessary all these buildings were. Many of the new buildings were in the process of being converted into commercial purposes as new shops and restaurants were springing up everywhere, especially among the main pathway the group was using.

“We should start off by going to the lodging and making sure they have room. It’s getting late and it would be a less than pleasant surprise if we tarried around, only to find out all the rooms were already taken.” Shaheera pointed out. The Leonid had already gathered quite a few pointed looks from the inhabitants, though he wasn’t the only one.

The group in general drew quite a bit of attention. They had originally dressed in a way that would not make them stand out, but it seemed that they had wasted the effort. They simply didn't look like a normal gathering of people. They were simply too young to be so powerful and they were also rather attractive as a group, all of them well above average in looks. Even Shaheera was rather out of the ordinary by Leonid standards, though most people couldn’t tell. They were also an odd mix of races. Still, the city was full of travelers and people of various races, so while the group drew looks, that was the extent of it.

They had to spend some time looking for the correct inn, and even had to ask for further directions twice, but they finally found the Silver Lining. “Finally a soft bed and a hot bath.” Miralen cried out in excitement and relief as they entered the luxurious-looking inn. The common room had a bard playing music on a stringed instrument that looked like a mix between a lute and a zither while a couple of people actually danced on the small opening in front of the bard’s elevated platform. The whole place had a feeling that was a nice mix of homey and slightly opulent as the place was nicely decorated with clearly expensively dressed patrons, but it also the warm and inviting air of a comfy inn.

“Welcome, welcome!” A slightly chubby Halfling female greeted all of them as they entered. “What can I do for you?”

“We’ll need rooms for an indeterminate number of nights, though we expect at least a few days. Hot food and hot baths as well, if they’re available.” Sieg took the lead.

“Of course, of course! How many rooms do you want? Our rooms go up to four beds, though the biggest rooms are mostly taken. We have three-person rooms available though, as well as doubles and singles.” The woman smiled warmly, knowing that she’d be earning quite a bit from these new guests.

Sieg took a quick look at the group and did a fast estimation. “We’ll need two triples and a double.”

“That can be arranged. We’re serving food around the clock, though the menu is more limited during the night of course as we’ll mostly just warm up things made during the day. You’re in luck though, as our cooks just finished a fresh batch expecting the evening customers that will start arriving in about ten minutes. I suggest taking a seat at the tables so you’ll get first dibs, while we’ll prepare your rooms for you. As for baths, we can arrange tubs brought to your rooms easily, but if you’d prefer, there’s a dedicated facility right across the street.” The innkeeper helpfully rattled off.

“We’ll take your word for it. We’ll take you up on your offer of food as well.” Sieg decided for everyone, and they all sat down at the nearest tables and made their orders from the rather decent menu.

“The innkeeper seems nice. She even guided us to the bath facility, even though that’s less coin for her.” Mayumi pointed out.

"She likely gets a small cut for referrals, and it saves her people the trouble of hauling tubs and hot water," Shaheera noted more cynically. "That said, she did point out the best available options for everything we asked, so points for that.”

"I think we can also assume the food will be decent judging by her appearance," Miralen said happily.

"Never trust an innkeeper that isn't at least a little chubby," Karna said sagely. “Means they don’t like their own cooking enough.”

“Or they’re a cultivator with enough power that weight isn’t really an issue anymore.” Duskclaw pointed out, slipping in a small lesson.

“Or that, yes. But it doesn't sound as good as a saying if you have to add caveats." Karna laughed. The group dined and discussed inconsequential topics such as lessons they'd had before until the dinner was eaten and the entire inn seemed to have become full of customers dining and enjoying the music. The lone bard had been reinforced with two others and the trio was playing a bunch of songs popular in the area also suitable for dancing, and several couples had joined the dancefloor.

Suddenly Miralen was approached by one of the patrons of the inn and invited for a dance, which she accepted after a bit of hesitation. The elven man that had asked her seemed to be only a little older than her, though only a first level warrior. “Well, this might turn into a more fun evening than we might have assumed," Sieg commented. He turned to Karna after a bit of hesitation. “Karna, I suck at dancing, but may I have one with you anyway?”

Karna giggled a bit. “Not the most elegant way to ask, but it’ll do. Yes, let’s go.” The two of them joined the others on the dancefloor, and quickly almost their entire group had found partners to entertain them. Karna noted that while Sieg had claimed otherwise, he was actually quite good at dancing. He obviously didn't know the steps, but he was naturally dexterous and had a good sense of rhythm. He could also lead decently well and might be even better if he gained a bit of confidence.

The evening wore on, and they all rotated around partners and rested for several hours, spending a very pleasant evening just having a bit of fun. Karna also found out that while Sieg had been a decent dancer, Shaheera most certainly was not. He had the same dexterity, but his sense of rhythm was off because he heard the music a little differently. Travan on the other hand had two left feet. She even took Mayumi for a spin and found out that she was by far the best dancer of the group, which didn't surprise her. It was clear that the girl had experience with dancing, likely from her previous life. Their dance was a little odd in the sense that they both danced to some steps that most certainly didn’t belong to the songs being played, but they worked well together anyway.

They had just gathered at the table and were considering testing the bathing facilities across the street when the guard captain they had met earlier walked in. “Ah, good. You’re here.” He stated and walked to the table the group was sitting at. “I have some good news, some great news, some potentially bad news, and some that you’ll have to decide for yourself.”

“Fire away.” Karna encouraged him to continue.

“The good news is that you might actually be able to leave tomorrow. A lot of people are traveling to the homeland in the next few days, which is why I wasn’t sure we could squeeze you in. However, someone apparently put in a good word somewhere, and you can join one of the merchant caravans going through tomorrow. The great news is also the reason the gates are so busy. There’s a large festival that’s going to begin in the capital by the time you’ll arrive, which is why so many people rushing home. If you had arrived when we expected, the festival would’ve been long over by then.” The guard captain explained with a smile.

“What’s the festival for?” Shaheera asked curiously.

“Well, originally it was the yearly festival of life, but the Queen announced some good news some weeks ago, and the whole thing seems to have ballooned out of proportion as everyone’s taking this as an excuse to get excited. The eldest prince reached the eighth rank as a warrior, supposedly a few weeks ago, and the Queen’s youngest son is also coming of age, so the noble clans in the capital are rushing about to see if they can get their daughters betrothed with the prince.” The guard gave enough details to make the best gossips blush.

“So that was the good and great news. Now the bad and the meh, please.” Sieg prompted.

“Well, you mentioned that you’re on a diplomatic mission, right? Well, with the celebration going on, you probably won’t be able to meet with anyone important until way after the festival is over. The festival is scheduled to run for a week, and I expect it will spill over. Elven festivals tend to have a life of their own after all. If you do manage to meet the royal family during the festival, you’ll only be one among a multitude of guests and probably won’t leave much of an impression. Now for the last part, if you do manage to snag an opportunity to meet the royal family during the celebrations, it would likely be a good idea to bring a present to celebrate the two princes. That could be an opportunity.” The guard captain couldn’t tell the group that he’d actually received orders from high up to be so helpful. It seemed someone in a position of power wanted these people to arrive in the elven capital on time.

"Thank you, Captain. This is good news." Karna gave him a genuinely pleased smile and dropped a small token in his hand. “For your trouble. I think you’ll find it useful one day.” The token was something that she had created and could protect the man from a single relatively powerful and potentially deadly attack.

The guard nodded and stood to leave. "I'll come to get you tomorrow and lead you to the caravan. The guard duty with the merchant caravan is only a formality so you won’t be receiving compensation, but it’ll get you to where you need to go.”

“Well. That seems convenient.” Shaheera pointed out once the guard was gone. “Perhaps a little too convenient.”

"Yes. But we shouldn't dismiss the opportunity just because it is convenient." Miralen didn't disagree, but she had a different perspective. “Any gift ideas? Getting the royal family a gift could get expensive.”

"I can take care of that," Karna promised. She'd need to spend the night crafting, but she had just the thing in mind. Something only she could do and she wanted to test.

Chapter 36 - Masquerade

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. My practical started today. We'll see how the releases go. I didn't get quite as many chapters for my stock as I wanted, but I do have some. I hope you'll enjoy!

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The elven capital of Teleriand was the oldest still standing city in the entire plane and one of the oldest in the Higher Planes in general. No one alive currently could say for sure how long the city had stood the test of time. The city itself was located in a large valley between several mountains and didn't need walls because nature had already provided them, making it one of the most defensible locations possible. The mountains themselves were also inhabited by a large number of dragons that had allied with the High Elves. That meant no magical beasts dared to set foot or even fly over the area without their permission.

Karna had actually visited the city in a previous life, and it was one of the few cities still standing. The area had been controlled by the High Elves and their draconic allies even back then, though their influence had grown since, as other nations and sects had fallen during the long years. Back when Karna had last visited the city, most of the planes had been controlled by various sects instead of nations. Now those sects had long fallen while the elven city had grown into an empire.

While the city itself had existed back then, it had changed quite a bit. As long-lived as the High Elves could be, even they had gone through a lot of cultural changes in the intervening years, and those cultural changes had left their marks on the city as well. Back then, the city was almost exclusive to the High Elves, but now the other elven clans had made their home in Teleriand. What’s more, even other races seemed welcome in the city, although they were definitely in the minority. Not surprising considering the whole city was akin to a holy land for all elves.

Despite all the changes to the city, some things remained the same. Karna felt quite nostalgic as she ran her hand along the base of an enormous statue made of white stone. It depicted an elven woman wearing a crown that held a long spear above her head in a gesture of victory. Similar statues were placed all around the city, and some of them had existed even during her previous life, preserved to this day by magic. Despite the magic, many of the features of the statue had worn out and had been repaired several times. As a result, the appearance of the statue had changed quite a bit from what Karna remembered. Some of the oldest buildings and temples had also been preserved. The palace still stood at the heart of the city as well, although it had been expanded since then.

The city itself was filled with elven elegance and focus on details. There wasn’t even a single piece of stone or railing in the city that had not been turned into a work of art with intricate carvings done by master crafters. Both stone and wood were used in abundance to construct the buildings, both predominantly in white colors. Even during normal times, the city was still filled with color as pennants, flags, carpets, banners, and all sorts of other colorful cloth-covered walls, floors, and balconies. Most of the roofs were tiled blue or red, depending on the district, and the abundant green of trees, gardens, plazas, and other plants were plentiful. Now with the festival preparations about to finish, every surface was also decorated with fancy and colorful ornaments reaching from simple lanterns and confetti, to large arches that covered many of the city's streets with decorations hanging from them. The buildings also had large glass windows, some of which were heavily tinted.

As the group entered the city proper, having left the merchant caravan behind at the gates, it was quite obvious that flowers were everywhere. Every building and every stall where peddlers hawked their wares was covered in various flowers that all seemed to be alive and thriving. Those same peddlers and stalls filled every street large and small. All sorts of wares suitable for a festival were being placed in prominent places to be displayed and sold to customers walking by. "Seems like masks are a rather popular item," Miralen commented as she looked at the wares. Indeed, almost every fifth shop seemed to be selling various types of masks ranging from simple to extremely gaudy. As she was the expert on elven culture, being an elf herself, she knew why that was, but didn’t want to spoil things by explaining just yet.

"Magical masks at that," Karna commented, her sharp senses picking up the traces of magic in even the cheapest masks. "It seems the masks all have simple spells to prevent others from recognizing the wearer. The fancier the mask, the stronger the effect. They don’t change your features in any way, but anyone looking at you will not be able to recognize you due to the enchantment, and the fancier ones will even make any observers unable to remember what you looked like afterwards.”

"I think that's likely a theme of the festival," Shaheera said in a careful voice. His presence was not exactly unwelcome in the city, but people seemed wary of him anywhere he went. He wasn’t the only Leonid around, but they’d only seen one other since their arrival.

"Sharp eyes customers!" An elven peddler selling such masks standing nearby shouted to them, having obviously overheard their words. "For the first four days of the festival, the participants are all expected to wear masks."

“Why?” Sieg asked confused.

“Ah, you haven’t taken part in the festival of life before, have you?” The peddler laughed. “You’re in for a real experience then. There are many explanations depending on who you ask, and undoubtedly different people wear the masks for different reasons. Many would tell you that the masks are so that everyone can participate and have fun as equals. No matter your clan, your position, your power, or indeed even your race, everyone can take part and not be any different from others. The girl you’re dancing with might be a peddler like us, an adventurer of great power, or even the Queen herself. That’s part of the mystery and the fun of the whole thing.” He explained with an excited voice, clearly hoping to make some sales.

“And what would others say?” Travan asked a little suspicious. He was not as familiar with the elven culture thanks to having grown among a very mixed crowd.

“Well, anonymity grants several advantages as mentioned before and it’s a festival of life for many reasons, and only the most obvious reasons have to do with the gods. Traditionally, many new lives will be created during the festival. Not everyone avails themselves to this part of the festival, but the possibility is there and a large part of what makes the whole thing so much fun.” The peddler said in a slightly bashful voice. He wasn’t quite used to explaining these details to non-elves.

“Ah.” Travan’s voice made it clear that he was not too happy about the idea.

“We should still get the masks. We’ll need to blend in during the festival, and I doubt anyone of us will skip on participating. Cheap masks will likely do.” Sieg pointed out, and they all grabbed one of the masks from the stand. The peddler had given them good information and his masks were rather pretty, so they bought from him.

As soon as they got away from the stand, Karna muttered a few words, and the enchantments of her rather simple but attractive mask broke. The mask was just a simple carnival mask that surrounded her eyes and covered most of the upper portion of her face. It was made from lavender velvet that faded to black near the edges, with a couple of lavender and black feathers sprouting up from a small gold-colored stone on the forehead. After breaking the enchantment, she drew several complex formations in the air with her fingers while chanting complicated spells at the same time. As soon as she was done, the glowing magic seemed to sink inside the mask, forming glowing runes on the inner surface of the cloth. It was actually a slight surprise the simple cloth mask could withstand such a heavy enchantment.

“What did you do?” Miralen asked with a raised eye-brow.

"Well, I didn't want to go around looking for a high-quality mask, so I simply made one," Karna stated and slipped the mask on her face. Despite the entire group being aware of who it was that wore the mask, they were all unable to recognize her. Well, they could easily recognize her from the neck down, but if anyone had asked, they wouldn't have been able to describe her even while looking straight at her face. Even her blueish white hair seemed to disappear from their memory.

“Well, it works.” Shaheera exhaled, stunned at how powerful the effect was. “I wonder if anyone would try to use the masks to commit crimes after the festival. Seems like a useful feature.”

“The enchantments are made to be temporary on purpose. Besides, the effect isn’t exactly hard to break, although it’s etiquette to not do so during the festival. I recommend against it as it would be considered very rude.” Miralen explained what she knew of the enchantments. The masks were very temporary as far as magic items went and any half-decent enchanter could make one with relatively little effort.

“Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask this morning. How did it go with the gifts?” Sieg suddenly asked.

“No problems. I’ve got them covered.” Karna stated confidently. Making gifts was easy for her because she had access to certain things that no one else was able to create.

“Good. Then let’s find a place to stay for the duration of the festival at least. I’d prefer near the palace, but we’ll have to take what we can. Many of the best inns are likely already full, so we might have to spend some time finding something suitable.” Sieg took Karna at her word. If she said the matter was covered, then it was covered.

------

“Cendirion, darling!” The elven queen opened her arms wide to welcome her eldest son. The two of them were in private so the Queen was able to act without inhibitions.

The tall and powerfully built elven man smiled widely and walked quite willingly to return his mother’s greeting. “Mother. It’s good to be back.” He whispered with a warm voice. The two hugged for a while before they both took enough distance to take a better look at each other. “You look good. A little tired, but good.”

“The last year has kept me busy. Preparations for the Expansion and pacifying the new territories.” Queen Amaranthine confided in her son. The two had not seen each other in over a year as Cendirion had been traveling the planes in order to hone himself and get the last push to reach the eighth rank as a warrior.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you or the rest of the family, but what was so important that I had to drop everything and come home? The Expansion isn’t happening right now, is it?” He questioned. He’d been forced to rush and push himself to his limits to make the breakthrough in time to make it back home.

“No, of course not!” The Queen waved the worry away. “It’s time for celebration, and we need the family together.” She said innocently. She was never very good at hiding things from her eldest son. Not because she was a bad actor, but because Cendirion knew her so well.

The prince’s eyes narrowed. “Mother, you’re clearly keeping something from me. There’s no way you called me back just to celebrate Finuwar’s coming of age. I’ll remind you that you didn’t call me back when Anaire came of age, despite the fact that she likely made a bigger fuss about it, so using that excuse rings a little hollow.”

“Nonsense! Of course you should be here for your little brother. It would be bad form if the eldest son was not home at such an important time. Anaire is a girl, so the expectations are different. While your presence would’ve been preferred, it wasn’t required. Besides, we're celebrating your recent improvements as well, and you’re one of the main stars of the whole event.” Amaranthine continued to play ignorant.

“Uh-huh. Recent improvements that wouldn’t have happened yet if you hadn’t rushed me. And I note that my second brother, the crown prince, isn’t home.” He countered skeptically. It was a rather good point as well. Cendirion had dedicated his life to growing stronger and cultivation, so the position of crown prince had been left to his next oldest brother. Not that anyone expected Amaranthine to let go of her position for thousands of years, so the whole issue was pointless. The High Elves were already functionally immortal when it came to age, even without reaching the rank of one.

“Which is all the more reason for me to invite you. It worked well for you, didn’t it? You shouldn’t always be so suspicious!” Amaranthine deflected. “It’s also the festival of life. You should have fun and relax once in a while as well.” She pulled out a purple mask that looked just like any other used during the festival and tried to hand it to him.

Cendirion was about to argue but the Queen placed a finger on his lips. “Shush, I know. I’m not expecting you to be like your siblings and get married or anything. That's not what I meant. Just relax and have some fun. You've earned a little break. As I said, you’re one of the stars of these celebrations, so make the most of the first days. The last few days you’ll be stuck with endless diplomatic events and balls thrown in your and your brother’s honor.”

Amaranthine knew she couldn’t tell her son why she had really called him back. Some of her visions had told her of certain impossible to ignore opportunities if things went just right during this festival. It required some work to make sure all the pieces came together so that her visions became reality, but luck was on her side and all the pieces were falling into place despite the long odds originally. However, she knew that if she told the truth to Cendirion, none of what she had seen would come to pass as things had to go just right. Her son wasn’t stupid though.

"It's one of those things isn't it?" He asked with an annoyed voice. He had enough experience with his mother to recognize the signs. He had literally been named after the Queen's powers after all. His name translated into 'The son of the one who sees'. "Divines damn it, mother. You know I dislike it when you pull something like this."

“I’m quite sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Amaranthine admitted nothing. That he suspected something was fine, and couldn’t be avoided in her visions. Suspecting something was quite different from knowing what was going on though. “Now how was your trip?”

Cendirion knew his mother wouldn’t budge as she likely had a reason to keep her secrets, so he acquiesced to the change in topic. Maybe it wouldn’t bother him if he didn’t think too hard about it, and worrying about it wouldn’t help anything anyway. “It was hard but rewarding. Many of the other worlds are a lot less safe in comparison to ours. Fighting the beasts and even the scourges is a good way to hone my skills. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t dangerous though.”

Amaranthine guided her son to sit with her on a couch and gave his shoulder an encouraging squeeze, while also deftly slipping the mask into his lap. “I know son. I worry about you of course, but we both know that the only way to truly become strong is to face dangers. Especially those that put our lives on the line. While someone who grows up in a safe environment might reach a high rank, their power would be fragile. Growing up in a gilded cage is a good way to create rotten children. Your father would be proud of you.”

“Thank you. That…means a lot to me.” Cendirion replied with a heavy voice. His father and the previous king of the elves had been a powerful warrior and a wise man. Something that he tried to live up to. Even after the man had passed away his shadow was long.

The two sat in silence for a moment, missing the man they had both cared about. Amaranthine had never remarried after Cendirion’s father had passed, although it was obvious that she had taken lovers since then as only one of Cendirion’s siblings was old enough to have been sired by the previous king. The elven society didn’t really have a stigma against bastards due to the relatively low birth rate of elves, which led to every child being celebrated. So the fact the other kids had been born as the result of affairs only sparked some rumors about what the Queen might get up to during the festival and didn't create problems. It was also one of the reasons the festival of life was so popular and widely accepted. The Divines had also reputedly blessed the festival so that the fertility of everyone participating was higher than normal, which was a big deal especially for the High Elves that had the lowest birthrate normally.

"You should spend some time with your siblings. Especially Finuwar and your little sisters. They’ve missed you while you’ve been gone. You’ve been on these trips most of their lives. They know why you do it and understand, but they still miss you. You’re their idol after all.” Amaranthine prodded her son to do his familial duties. “You should stay for a while now that you’ve returned.

“Don’t worry, I will. I need to stabilize my new rank anyway.” He laughed. He rather enjoyed spending time with his siblings after all. Elves reached adulthood significantly slower than other races, but that was mostly a cultural thing due to their long lives and not something that was dictated by their physical growth. As such, even elves that weren’t considered adults were much more advanced than youngsters from other races, simply because they were older. That was especially true for High Elves that lived even longer and grew slower than any of the other elven clans. Thus, even if all his siblings weren’t adults yet, they were still good company. “Oh, by the way, did anything happen during Anaire’s coming of age? I know you were looking for a husband for her, but knowing her, that didn’t work out.”

"Ah, so you do know. Your little sister refuses to settle for anyone that can't live up to her big brother." Amaranthine said with equal measure frustration and amusement. "Her standards are too high. Especially now that you’ve reached the eighth rank. Luckily Finuwar isn’t quite as picky as your sister. There are already quite a few candidates that he has in mind.”

Amaranthine started arranging marriages for her kids almost as soon as they became of age for political reasons, but she wasn’t in the habit of forcing those marriages on her kids. The children themselves had a lot of say in who they ended up with, and they had the power to approve or veto any potential candidate. Anaire had done a lot of vetoing, while Finuwar was a lot less strict with his standards. Amaranthine wasn’t sure if that was purely a good thing as the boy did a bit too much accepting, though of course none of the candidates that passed her screening were of low standard.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I do know she was never too happy with the prospect. I always got the sense that she’d be happier taking my path. Yes, I know she doesn’t have my talent, but still.” Cendirion and his mother had gone through this discussion before, and they respected each other’s points of view, even if they didn’t agree.

“Well, ultimately it is her choice to make. I just wish that she’ll make it for the right reasons, because going down your path will not be easy. I don’t want her to do it just because she idolizes you. It needs to be something she truly wants for herself. So do me a favor. When you do visit her tonight, tell her the truth about your travels. Not just the highlights and the exciting parts. Tell her about the unglamorous parts as well. She needs to hear the truth and not just embellished stories about your heroics." Amaranthine wanted the best for her children, and sometimes that wasn’t easy.

“So anyone interesting coming to this shindig?” Cendirion changed subjects again, and decided to fish for information instead.

“Oh, I think you’ll be positively surprised.” The Queen replied mysteriously.

“Fine. Be that way.” Cendirion laughed before getting up to go see his siblings. The Queen noted with satisfaction that he’d taken the mask along despite his protestations, and a sneaky smile bloomed on her face. Things were really falling into place.

Chapter 37 - Festival of Life

A note from Vihyungrang

So yeah, I have not been able to write at all during this week, and the weekend isn't looking great either. As a result, I'll be forced to push the next release out to next Sunday. If I can write more, then we can get back to the four-day schedule, but for now, the situation is what it is.

For some good news (at least for some) today we have a double release because the other chapter is a definite +++ one. The combined length of the two chapters is also as much as three normal chapters, so if you like reading mature content, you'll have plenty of content to tide you over. I'll reiterate, the next chapter will not have much in the way of plot, though it will have some character development, so it can be skipped relatively safely. Also something of note to those that might think that writing the mature chapter took away from writing standard content, that's not really how my writing works. Banging out (hah, a pun!) a mature chapter in one sitting is very easy and quick.

All that said, I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

Karna looked on judgingly at her image in the mirror. She was wearing a long strapless silver dress that came all the way down to her ankles. The dress had a long slit running down her side all the way from her navel to the hem, leaving her long and smooth leg almost entirely bare, and the little back the dress had only barely started above her buttocks. The front of her dress was covered in intricate golden patterns describing various mythical beasts. It also seemed almost glued to her skin as it only did the very minimum to cover her bosom, which seemed a single deep breath away from plopping out of the dress. She also wore a separate black top piece that covered her shoulders, arms, and even the backs of her hands, leaving her fingers and palms bare. The whole thing was crowned by a pair of high-heeled shoes that made her seem even taller and her legs look even longer.

The entire ensemble looked like only magic was holding the whole thing together and on her, which was actually a very accurate impression. All in all, she looked both scandalous and elegant, but more importantly, she looked stunning and very desirable. The mask only added a mysterious element to the whole thing. A woman out to have some fun. The entire ensemble was one of those she had acquired with Duskclaw, and the beastwoman also stood next to her, judging their handiwork.

“Well, I wasn’t sure about this one as it leaned a bit too heavily towards your master’s style, but I have to admit; you do look gorgeous in it.” Duskclaw nodded. She finally understood what the fictional stories were talking about when they used descriptions like ‘kingdom toppling beauty’.

“Eh, it’ll do.” Karna nodded in grudging approval. She’d worn dresses that were both more beautiful and more magnificent, but you had to make do with what you had. Besides, you had to dress for the occasion. She wasn’t going to a gathering of immortals. She was going to join the festival that was starting outside. She was also planning on getting lucky that night if she found an appropriate partner, but that was a separate issue.

"Also going commando I see," Duskclaw commented, a little disappointed. She was an aficionado so any time Karna skipped undergarments felt like a wasted opportunity.

"They wouldn't really work with this dress." Karna pointedly ran her finger down her shapely right hip, which was bared by the large slit at the side of her dress. Obviously, any undergarments would've been plainly visible.

“Disappointing but understandable.” Duskclaw gave a sigh. “I get the sense that you’re going out with a purpose tonight.” She also pointed out suggestively.

"Yeah, I wouldn't stay up waiting tonight," Karna replied rather bluntly. This had been a long time coming, so her reply didn't exactly surprise Duskclaw. Like Tsumi, she was more surprised it hadn't happened earlier considering Karna's mental and physical maturity.

“I assume you’ve taken care of protection? This is a festival for the life gods after all, so taking chances sounds like a recipe for consequences you’re not ready to deal with.” Duskclaw slipped into her motherly role.

"Of course," Karna assured her. She had things covered.

A knock came at the door. "Are you ready? We're about to head out." Sieg's voice sounded from the other side of the door. They had been fortunate to find several rooms at a high-class inn relatively close to the palace. A large party had canceled their reservation at the last minute, which the group had been able to take advantage of. The others thanked their luck, but Karna knew it likely had more to do with destiny, or someone was making things work in their favor. Things had been going so smoothly that she was quite sure the fates were driving their group to be here for a reason. She didn’t know what that reason was, nor did she want to waste time guessing as the possibilities were endless. Something to take note of though.

“We’re just about done!” Duskclaw shouted. She would join the festivities for a time as well, as she wanted to have some fun drinking and making merry as well, though she would be returning to the inn relatively early just in case. “Good luck and may fortunes favor you.” She whispered her ‘daughter’.

As the two stepped out, the others gave whistles of admiration. "You're going all out," Miralen commented, understanding the significance. She too was dressed for the occasion in a glorious ensemble that revealed vast swathes of her brown skin. She wasn’t entirely sure if she should do the same as what Karna was planning, as it could be fairly bad if word of a dalliance got back home. On the other hand, this could be the perfect opportunity as she could do it anonymously. Perhaps she should just throw her lot to luck and see how the evening went?

“You look ravishing.” Sieg managed to compliment Karna as he recovered from his own shock.

“Why, thank you. You don’t look too shabby yourself. I wasn’t sure if you could dress considering your father, but you clean up well.” Karna returned an honest compliment. Sieg was wearing a nice set of green robes in a traditional elven style, which complimented his physique well. “Shall we then? We can check out some of the nearby sights before we get lost in the festival spirit.

“Yes, let’s!” Miralen agreed eagerly.

As soon as they stepped outside the inn, they were surrounded by a throng of people. The entire population of the city, as well as a generous number of visitors, was out on the streets. Some were working, of course, most commonly selling food, drinks, and various other sundries that the festival-goers would desire. Guards and entertainers were also in for a busy few days as their work would be guaranteed. Everybody was wearing masks, even those that were working. Despite the sun having already set behind the surrounding mountains, the whole city was filled with light as lanterns and various magical lights were covering almost every surface.

The group was swept along the current of people as the crowd moved around aimlessly along the streets, looking for something to catch their attention. On every plaza, crossroads, park, and open space a group of musicians or jugglers, or a multitude of other performers were plying their craft, which caused some of the people to stop and laugh merrily as the mood caught them. As the group didn't have a real reason to stick as one, they were soon separated into pairs and some even wandered off alone.

Even though the masks were supposed to make everyone equal this night, it was clear that didn’t entirely hold true, as certain people were afforded more space than others among the press of elven bodies. Both Duskclaw and Karna got to enjoy as much space as they wanted as the people around them gave them wide berth. For Duskclaw, it was because people around could sense her strength. For Karna, it was also because the people sensed something, but they weren’t entirely sure what exactly. They simply felt that it would be wrong to push her around. Besides, nobody dared to approach her too close as they felt a sense of danger if they tried.

Soon Karna found herself alone and wandering further away from the palace. She had a very alcoholic drink in one hand and a meaty snack of some sort in the other. She allowed luck to guide her path as she wandered aimlessly. She stuck around in a couple of places to observe some of the entertainers before she got bored and moved on again. Finally, her attention was drawn to a relatively smallish park by music played by several instruments. There she found several elves of different clans taking turns playing a large gamut of instruments in a way that resembled a series of duels instead of a joint performance. The musicians weren’t playing on top of each other most of the time, taking turns and turning into a sort of performance instead, but there was a clear battle of music going on as the songs went on.

It seemed like the battle always lasted a song and the ‘winner’ got to stay while the unfortunate competition had to give their place to the next challenger. This was intriguing. She too cheered on as challenger after challenger took the stand. After a handful of songs, it became obvious that one of the musicians seemed to be better than others, and the losers became a little leery about challenging him. “How about you pretty lady? Would you like to step up to the challenge?” The victorious musician called out to Karna as he spotted her.

“Sure, why not?” Karna decided. The victorious challenger had a magical instrument that could change shapes, but it was in the form of a guitar at the moment. Due to that, Karna formed an identical instrument from Qhaysh.

“How very bold, challenging me in my own game.” The older musician stated, though with no ill intent and the spirit of fun clear in his voice.

Instead of rising to the bait, Karna gave a quick string of notes as her fingers flew across the strings of the instruments, her challenge clear. The two were soon locked in a struggle of speed and playfulness as the fast-paced song came to life. It seemed that both of their fingers flew so fast that they managed to produce a song that seemed impossible to be the result of only two instruments, and soon they were playing together more than against each other. Both of them were smiling beneath their masks, completely unaware of who the person opposite them was.

-----

“Are you really going? Why would you bother when you can spend the evening with us?” Anaire asked her brother, who was fiddling with the mask he’d gotten from the Queen.

"I get the feeling that mother quite strongly wants me to go for some reason," Cendirion replied while he toyed with the string that would hold the purple mask in place.

“You’ve never liked it when she wants you to act according to her visions. Why would you start following them now?” Anaire asked, getting a little more interested. Earlier she had been reading a book while stretched on a sofa, but now she closed the book and looked at her brother more sharply.

“I may not like it, but I also know those visions serve a purpose. Ignoring them could be quite detrimental. Besides, she wouldn’t have called me back if it was something minor. As much as I enjoy seeing you little buggers, rushing my cultivation at such a critical juncture could've gone really badly." He replied, while also dodging the book his sister had thrown at his head when he called her and their other siblings little buggers.

“As much as I hate to say it, you do have a point. However, let’s think this through logically. Why would mother want you to take part in the festival?” Anaire questioned calmly, as if she hadn’t just thrown her book at her eldest brother.

“I…don’t think it’s about the festival itself. There must be something involved that I’m not aware of.” It couldn’t be just about the Queen trying to set him up. She’d given that up almost a century ago when he had chosen the path of cultivation, and she had respected that choice so far. Even if this ended up with him somehow falling in love and marrying someone, it wasn't worth risking his breakthrough like this. Even the High Elven Court had a limited number of warriors at his current rank, and he had the potential to reach further. Even if he wouldn't become the king, he'd still support their family from behind with his power.

“Obviously. Well, if you are determined to go, then get to it and stop fiddling with the mask. You’ve already made the decision in your heart and now you’re just trying to rationalize it to yourself. Just go along with it and stop worrying. The quicker you leave, the quicker you can get back.” Anaire reasoned. Her words were not unreasonable, so Cendirion decided to accept them.

With the decision made, he swung by his rooms long enough to freshen up and find some appropriate clothing that would blend in with the people outside while still looking nice and stylish. He found a nice silver-colored coat and pants that were quite decent, even if somewhat outside the current fashion trends. Fancy enough to show he had means and taste, but not so fancy that he came off as a dandy. With satisfaction, he noted that the mask was of the highest quality, which was needed to hide his identity. Even if he didn’t spend a lot of time at the capital, he was relatively famous. If he was recognized, he would need to spend the entire night shooing off people eager to make connections with him.

He slipped outside the palace with a nod to the keen-eyed guards that noted his passing with some surprise and amusement. They had not expected him to go out after all. They knew the Queen did some years, as did some of his siblings, but he had very rarely taken part in these sorts of things. Unfortunately, that also meant that rumors would soon spread. Obviously, he would need to make sure he was not found, as he slipped the mask on his face and got lost in the crowd. He should've done it before if he had wanted to avoid drawing any attention, but he didn’t want to create trouble for the guards by being an unidentified person slipping out of the palace.

With clear intent, he traveled further away from the palace. As he had no real destination in mind, he allowed the crowd to determine his direction, as long as it was away from the palace. Despite his earlier reticence, he found himself enjoying the festivities. His mother had been right; he did need a bit of a break. For years he’d done nothing but fighting and traveling to find another worthy fight. Getting stronger was important, but what was the point if you didn’t have the time to enjoy life? “If only Gloridan was still here.” He muttered to himself.

The two things that had influenced his desire for strength had been the deaths of his father, and the passing of his friend Gloridan. His friend had fallen in a duel, something that could’ve been prevented if he had been strong enough. Cendirion’s friend had been full of life and had always tried to find the fun side of everything. The two had gotten into all sorts of trouble together while younger. “I suppose I’m being a bad friend by dishonoring his memory with constant training.” He said to himself with a fond smile.

With his conviction made, he swung by several beverage stands to acquire some of the strongest beverages they had available. Due to his rank, anything milder would’ve had no effect. Even now he wasn’t drunk even slightly, but at least it got him into the correct mood. The sound of music suddenly tugged at his senses. With his sharp ears, he could hear all kinds of music in every direction, but something about this particular song drew him in. It sounded more like…a duel of sorts.

He soon found himself in a small park, watching as two musicians were showing their expertise. He recognized the magical instrument one of the two used, as he’d seen it thousands of times in the palace. The man was the most skilled and the most experienced among the royal bards. What surprised Cendirion though was that he seemed to be losing. The two musicians were almost playing together more than battling at this point as they clearly enjoyed the performance, but it was also clear that the royal bard was barely keeping up.

As Cendirion turned his focus to his opponent, his jaw almost hit the floor. His opponent was clearly a young woman, though the mask made it impossible to judge her true age or even race. The enchantment in her mask was even stronger than with his mask, so a custom job. Her skill wasn’t what shocked him though. He’d seen young geniuses before. Even the glowing instrument made of magic didn’t shock him, although it was a display of great magical talent. No, what hit him like a dragon punching him in the gut was the realization that despite the mask, Cendirion was completely sure she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

As the prince of the High Elven court, he had seen the best the elven nobility had to offer when it came to beauty. Elves were generally recognized as one of the most attractive races on the Higher Planes, and the High Elves especially so. As such, Cendirion had seen his fair share of stunningly attractive women in his life. His family had several as well, although he usually didn’t think of them in that way. But something about the girl in front of him outshined all of them. It wasn’t even a fair competition. Comparing her to anyone he’d seen before was like comparing the Queen to a farm girl, and not a particularly attractive one either. The girl in the silver dress was simply on another level altogether.

He realized several things at once. The first thing was that this was likely why the Queen had called him back. The second thing was that despite knowing that fact, it was too late for him to fight against it. The flames of passion had already been ignited in his heart, and he'd never felt anything like this before. He knew he had to approach the girl. He had no idea what he would say, as for the first time in his life, he found himself tongue-tied. It wasn't his first experience with women, but for some reason, he found himself short of breath and almost panicking, something he'd never experienced even in the worst battle.

The song came to an end, and Cendirion knew it was his time to act. He pushed through the spell he found himself under, and approached the two musicians that were both laughing and complimenting each other. The sound of the girl’s voice rang in his ears. He positioned himself behind the girl, giving an appreciative glance at her rear which only inflamed his passions further. He shook that reverie off though and looked into the eyes of the royal bard and lifted his mask just enough that the bard suddenly managed to recognize him.

The bard’s eyes grew almost imperceptibly larger in surprise but it quickly passed and was replaced with a question. Cendirion nodded slightly towards the girl between them, and now the surprise on the older bards face was much more obvious. The bard knew Cendirion and was shocked by the development. But why not help the prince a bit? “Young friend. Could I introduce you to someone?” The bard stated. “This is an old friend of mine, C.” He gestured towards the prince.

“Hmm?” The girl turned towards Cendirion and he could see the evaluation and ongoing judgment in her eyes. Soon enough it seemed that she reached some kind of decision, and Cendirion felt like he had just passed the most difficult evaluation in his life. He almost wiped his forehead in relief. “Pleasure to meet you.” She extended her hand in greeting, the two touching their palms together in a traditional elven greeting.

Chapter 38+++ - One night stand

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. Read the last chapter's author's note. If you don't like mature content, then this is safe to skip.

Ok, so keep in mind, this is fantasy sex. It's not meant to be fully realistic. It's meant to be a pleasant fantasy. To those that want just yuri stuff, I did warn you that Karna swings both ways, and that holds true. Also keep in mind that she's lived so many lives that she's mostly past the point of caring who she's in bed with as long as she enjoys the process. That all said, I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

As Karna turned around, she could tell there was some setting up going on. She’d noticed the musician she’d been dueling with react to whoever was behind her. Not that she minded considering why she was out tonight. “Young friend. Could I introduce you to someone?” The musician said as she turned around. “This is an old friend of mine, C.”

It was quite obvious with a glance why the musician had made the introductions. The fascination, frank admiration, and desire radiated from the unknown man’s eyes. She had clearly caught his eye. ‘Ah, so the musician knows this man and is being a wingman!’ Karna thought with some amusement. ‘Well, this is what I came out for tonight, so…’

She gave the new guy a judgmental look from head to toes and also scanned him with her soul, allowing her a look under his clothing. He was skilled enough to hide his exact strength, but he was clearly powerful. A sixth rank warrior at least. That was good. He would need to be able to keep up, and a warrior of that rank should have enough stamina. Relatively young for a High Elf, which meant a few hundred years at least. He was rather handsome too! As the masks worked based on illusion magic they were completely useless against her, as she saw no reason to allow the illusion to influence her mind, so she could easily tell what he looked like. He was also powerfully built and muscled for an elf, and it was clear that he had spent a lot of time honing his craft judging by the way he moved. That was good too. A little grace and dexterity were always preferred in a partner. She didn’t have very strong preferences, but she liked a bit of muscle on any guys she got involved with. This man could use a bit more confidence, but that might have been due to his obvious fascination with her. Sometimes people got a little silly when overcome with strong emotions.

As Karna had lived as most of the common races, as well as most of the more powerful magical creatures and monsters, her tastes when it came to sexual partners were extremely wide. She had certain preferences of course, but they were not strong preferences. She liked her female partners athletic and male partners strong and well built, though she could deal with curvy and frumpy women, as well as men that were on the thicker or scrawnier side almost as easily. She was almost even when it came to life partners, maybe slightly leaning towards females due to more compatible personalities. For simple sexual partners, she had a stronger preference for men, but that was for very specific reasons. Of the three things she got the most enjoyment out of in bed, two needed male genitalia. Not that it stopped her from enjoying a roll in the hay with women, and she had certainly married enough men in her previous lives as well. So preferences, but not strong ones.

The man in front of her would do well enough for tonight. He looked like the type that had enough experience to not be a completely bumbling fool while not looking like a complete ladies man. He was good looking and fit her tastes well enough. He also fulfilled her two most important criteria for tonight. He was a complete stranger that she’d hopefully never meet again, and he was well hung. Karna wasn’t a size queen when it came to male partners, but she wanted to test some of the changes she had made to her body when she had Awakened the phoenix bloodline, as she wanted to see if those changes had handled her quick growth well. Those tests required the proper ‘equipment’.

“Pleasure to meet you.” She said and extended her hand in a traditional elven greeting. Due to the masks and her long hair covering her ears, none of the elves around her were even aware that she wasn’t an elf herself. She was certainly tall enough to be a High Elf as well, as they were taller and stronger than members of the other elf clans.

It was obvious that the guy wanted to inquire about her identity, as he had become smitten, but the purpose of the masks and the festival was to allow the hiding of identity and rank, so he wasn’t impolite enough to come right out and ask. Karna most certainly wasn’t going to volunteer anything. She placed a finger on his chest and dragged it down to his abdomen very suggestively. “I must confess that I’m a little new to this festival. How do these kinds of things work?” She asked rather straightforwardly.

The man so far identified only as C cleared his throat a bit. “I…have to say that it’s been a while for me as well.” He stammered out and looked at his musician associate.

“Ah, right. Of course. Should two people want to spend some ‘private time’ together during the festival and can’t return to their homes to keep their identities a secret, there are specific places in the city for such rendezvous. They’re mostly inns and places were ladies of the night ply their craft, but some people also open their houses to honor the gods of life, or for some similar reason. These places are marked with a certain type of banner, and the banner is taken down if the particular place is…occupied. Usually, it's polite to leave behind some remuneration as thanks, especially if there's a need for cleaning afterwards. Should you wish to avail yourselves of such facilities, you're in luck. One of the houses I mentioned can be found there, and it's unoccupied at the moment." The musician pointed towards one side of the park where a small red banner hung from a tiny flagpole near the door to a relatively wealthy looking house with two floors.

Without another word, Karna grabbed a hold of C’s sleeve and dragged him towards the house they had been pointed towards. As they reached the place, Karna snagged the banner and took it along as the man closed the door behind them. “Should we…mmph!” The man was about to ask something but was interrupted as Karna pasted her lips on his, shutting him up. She leaned her body against his, her large breasts pressing against his hard chest, and her hands went behind his neck.

Their kissing became steamier and more passionate as they both got into it with gusto. His hands almost instinctively went to grab a hold of her shapely bottom as he pulled her closer against himself. He certainly enjoyed the feeling of her body pressing against him. She gave a small moan of approval, as their tongues dueled. It was clear that the guy had experience in kissing, and had had a rather good teacher. He knew to respond to her little cues and moderated his pace to hers. His other hand started roaming around her body, carefully caressing her back and sides, while the other one squeezed her butt a little harder.

Karna’s body was burning. She had been holding back the teenaged hormones and her own natural passions that came from her nature and bloodlines for years. She had always been a passionate person, and she enjoyed the pleasures of flesh, so the last year especially had almost been torture for her. Now she was finally letting go and a fire had been lit inside her. A fire that would be hard to put out now that it had started burning. She could feel her inner thighs getting moist as she was literally dripping with expectation. Once they came back for air, she finally spoke. “No words except when absolutely necessary. There’s no need for long talks. We’re here for one thing and one thing only. If you have complaints, then speak up now, so I still have time to find someone else.”

“No complaints.” The man said hastily. Of course he wasn’t going to complain.

“Good.” Karna grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him along to a room that looked remotely like a living room. It had comfortable looking couches and tables set up for games. The two of them didn’t really care, as all they saw was a room they could use for their pleasure. She pushed him towards a sofa, and his jacket and undershirt flew off him with the aid of a little bit of magic. The man raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on the apparently effortless use of magic and allowed himself to be pushed to a sitting position on the couch.

Karna ran her fingers along his hard pecs and abs before kneeling on the ground in front of him. Then with a bit of his help, she pulled down his trousers and a piece of clothing that reminded Karna a lot of boxers from other universes. He had already lost his shoes somewhere, likely the same place she had left her own shoes. She could’ve used her magic to undress his trousers too, but she felt that this part was like unwrapping a present and had to be done by hand. A rather sizeable member sprang to life as it was unleashed from the confines of his trousers. It was already hardening in expectation, and she noted that she had actually underestimated his size. That could happen, as every man’s ability to grow larger while getting erect was different. It seemed this guy was a grower, despite already having a lot to show.

It was also not unexpected for male cultivators to have large cocks. As cultivators could change their bodies to an extent, nearly every single man used that opportunity to enhance that part of their anatomy. Karna had once heard a saying that if there was a pill that could make their dicks grow, every man would find out the exact lethal dose, and then take one pill less. In all her lives, she'd found that saying quite accurate.

“Ooh!” She cooed out with positive surprise. She then licked her lips in expectation. She ran her hands gently up and down his hardening shaft, and started taking slow and deliberate licks along the bottom side of his length, before engulfing the head in her mouth.

She had known many powerful women in her previous lives that looked down on cock sucking. They thought it demeaning and felt like servants while doing it. Karna was convinced they were just misunderstanding the whole concept and that turned into the wrong type of approach. It was an acquired taste, yes, but women never had more power over a man than when they had their lips around the man’s cock. It was also the most sensitive part of their body and men would do almost anything to have their cocks sucked by a beautiful woman. Thus the woman had all the power when she had that cock in her hands. Even without that, she knew that women fell into two categories. Those that like doing what she was now doing, and those that really didn’t. Karna had found out rather early that she had a taste for the process. It was like a game, and bringing such pleasure to another person brought a different kind of fulfillment to her as well. It wasn’t as fun as licking the pussy of some pretty woman, but it was still rather fun if you took it as a challenge of sorts.

-----

Cendirion felt like he was about to Ascend. The girl he had suddenly developed such passion towards seemed to return at least some of the desire he felt for her. He couldn’t believe his luck once he got his hands on her body. When they had kissed in the hallway, he had gotten a good feel of that magnificent ass, and the combination of softness and hardness he had felt with his fingers was out of this plane. His fingers had sunk into her flesh just the right amount before being pushed out by the tight muscles beneath. She was also an awesome kisser. His friends had taken him to several courtesans in his youth, and he’d been trained in the art of kissing by rather eager professionals. But the girl currently between his legs had them all beat.

Another thing she seemed to have them beat in was in the art of giving head. As her head bobbed up and down along his manhood, he had to struggle against cumming too soon, as it felt like she had three tongues in her mouth, and she knew just the places to lick and tease as well. He felt the perfect combination of suction, caressing, heat, and wetness surround his manhood while her hands never stopped their work either. That was another thing. His cock was really big. Most women seemed to like them big during sex, but it did make blowjobs more challenging. Despite that, this girl seemed to have no trouble at all as she took more and more of him inside her mouth. It felt like she was sucking his soul out through his dick.

Soon enough, he patted her on the head to warn her that he was getting too close. It was a shame to interrupt one of the best blow jobs of his life, but there was etiquette to these trysts during the festival of life, and his cum was supposed to go somewhere more important. With a soft plop and a small slurp, the girl pulled off him and gave him one more lick and a stunning smile that almost caused his heart to stop. Cendirion had to take several deep breaths not to cum just because of what that smile did to him. With a small gesture, the girl signaled that they should change places, and he happily obliged. After what she’d just done to him, he’d quite happily return the favor.

The girl got up from the floor and turned around coyly. Cendirion felt just a smidgen of magic again and whatever was holding her dress up seemed to fail and the whole thing fell to the floor in a deceptively small pile of cloth. He admired her perfect rear and the way her hips swayed as she moved, but his eyes were forced up as she turned around. His eyes were automatically drawn to her breasts, and what a magnificent pair of breasts they were. They were bigger than her dress had implied, an almost impossible achievement considering how skimpy the dress had been. They were large and round, just shy of being too large for her frame and barely on the huge side without going into the massive category. But instead of hanging low due to their weight, they somehow managed to ride high on her chest, and instead of drooping lower, they seemed to bravely push forward and prominently jutted out from her chest. Yet they also seemed so invitingly soft as they swayed even from her slightest movement. Something she seemed to be doing on purpose.

A peal of laughter pulled him out of his reverie, and Cendirion noticed that he'd been completely entranced by the sight. The girl, now wearing only her mask, gracefully slid down on the same sofa he had just sat one and spread her legs in invitation. Even as overwhelmed by passion as he was, Cendirion knew better than to dive face first into the inviting mound between her legs. Instead, he took a hold of her ankle and slowly started kissing his way down her long and smooth leg. He idly noted that she didn't seem to have any hair anywhere on her body below her neck. Not that the hair had been shaved or removed magically. It seemed to have never been there in the first place.

By the time he kissed around her inner thighs, his nose was filled with the intoxicating aroma of her sex. She was clearly quite aroused already, as his lips and tongue could taste her nectar, and her inner things were glistening almost as much as his cock had after it had been pulled out of her mouth. She smelled and tasted divine! He'd never tasted anything like this, but he knew he wanted more, and the smell alone was driving him insane with lust. His dick was harder than it had ever been in his life. He kissed around her mound and finally took a long lick between her lower lips. Her pussy seemed so small and felt extremely tight as his tongue forced its way inside her, eliciting a pleased gasp from her.

Just that gasp alone almost made him jump her right then and there, the need to sink his manhood inside her growing almost into a compulsion. He barely managed to retain his sanity, knowing that once he started, he would not be able to stop until he had made this little goddess his own. He continued licking and teasing her, noticing that she seemed to be much more sensitive and easier to please than anyone he’d slept with before. It seemed that no matter what he did to her, she enjoyed it immensely, her body responding involuntarily. He wasn’t sure how long he had pleasured her, so focused on his task, when she suddenly cried out in a soft voice and her entire body shuddered. He suddenly found his face covered in her juices.

With surprising strength, she pulled him up by his ears and kissed him passionately. She even licked her own juices off his face in a fit of passion. “I taste good, don’t I?” She muttered almost thoughtfully, and he was forced to agree.

----

Karna felt that she might have made a slight mistake with her modifications. She had made herself easy to please for a reason. Most guys didn’t really have the patience and skill to do what the man had just done, so she had made sure that she’d get wet easily and would be ready for the main course in a matter of minutes and even with an unskilled partner. Her little improvements made sure that her body was lubricated and ready even at the slightest stimulation. All she needed was the right mood. Except she might have made herself a little too easy to please. Now that she’d actually had someone with a modicum of skill between her legs, the man had kept pushing all her buttons just the right way. It wasn’t hard after all when every button was the right one. And the pleasure had been a bit too much considering they hadn’t even moved to the best part yet. The burning need inside her had only grown in intensity!

After giving the guy a thorough kissing, she pushed him back a bit. Now they were ready to move to the real reason she had gone out and dragged this unknown man here for. She needed something stiff and hard inside her. With a quick move, she turned around on the sofa and leaned against the backrest while on her knees. Then she looked over her shoulder and waved her butt in clear invitation. He didn’t have to be told twice, and he palmed his cock while standing behind her. He ran his cock along her pussy lips, getting her juices on the bulbous head, before aligning himself with the tight opening. He remembered how tight she had felt around his tongue, and knew they’d have to take this slow.

He ran his finger down her spine, eliciting a shiver from her and distracting her for a moment, just as he started pushing inside her. Karna had made sure that there would be no pain associated with her first time. Another modification she’d made was to make sure her pussy was capable of taking even the biggest of cocks while still retaining the unbelievable tightness found in young and fairly inexperienced girls. That said, she had never taken a large or even a small cock in this life, and she was unbelievably tight. She felt the tiniest twinge once the head of his large cock slipped inside her opening, but that was it. She’d made sure that she was almost incapable of feeling pain in a sexual situation.

The man had to take a hold of her round and shapely hips with both hands so that he could push inside her properly. Due to being considerate, he pushed inside her very slowly, though Karna eagerly pushed her own hips back to help him get more of his cock inside her faster. Waves of pleasure washed over her, and she couldn’t stop herself from moaning as she felt herself being filled for the first time in this life. She could acutely feel every millimeter of his manhood as it was ever so slowly fed inside her, and she loved every moment of it. She could feel the veins on his cock pulse to his heartbeat as her pussy squeezed down on him, and she could tell his manhood was nice and veiny, uneven in the best of ways.

She had been slightly concerned about how her improvements would fare in actual practice as she usually didn’t go this far with these kinds of changes, but now she congratulated and high-fived herself mentally. This had been the best idea she’d ever had! She felt pleasure beyond anything she’d felt in her previous lives, and she knew instantly that this body had been supremely sensitive even before she had purposefully made it even more so. There was no need to jill herself off during intercourse anymore, as her entire pussy was just as sensitive as her clitoris if not more so, without the downsides of being easily hurt, and she had to struggle against cumming just from his entry. This body was now made for sex!

Both of them soon discovered another difference that was the result of her changes, as he kept feeding more and more of his manhood into her velvety sheath. Whatever else the man was, he was well hung, and there was no way such a thick and long cock would fit inside a standard elven girl, but it damn sure fit inside her! Normally it would hurt when a cock hit against the cervix of a woman, but hers just happily opened to accommodate his length, and she discovered that it was by far the most sensitive part of her body. She shuddered through another tiny orgasm as his cock almost pushed inside her womb. As she felt his hips come into contact with her butt and her pussy squeezed down on the base of his cock, she knew she could take something much larger as well.

This was also one of the two feelings that she couldn’t get with a female partner that she loved so much. The feeling of having her pussy squeeze down on the base of a man's cock gave her some sort of mental fulfillment that she couldn’t explain, but it turned into powerful physical pleasure as well. Something about the act of taking someone completely inside her made her feel complete in a way that nothing else did. She released a long moan of pleasure and contentment as she felt his entire manhood filling her up.

This was what she had been longing for the last few years! A bout of sapphic lovemaking with a pretty girl could certainly be a pleasant way to spend an evening, but nothing compared to this feeling! The man allowed her some time to get used to his size, as he had somehow realized that he was the first man to ever get inside the woman now speared on his cock. That thought alone was nearly enough to cause him to cum, but he managed to hold himself back. He didn’t want to give a bad impression of himself after all.

After luxuriating in the feeling of being stuffed to her satisfaction, she gave her butt a small suggestive wiggle, signaling for him to continue. He took the hint and started slowly pulling out, causing her to cry out again, though this time in desire and frustration as she felt every millimeter of the magnificent cock being extracted from its snug place in her tight snatch, leaving her feeling empty and desperate for it to return. In that half a second she felt so empty that she would’ve given almost anything to have it back. Luckily that desire was soon fulfilled as he pushed back inside her right away, as if afraid she’d run away if he didn’t. This time he entered her a bit more quickly and forcefully.

He took her loud cry of pleasure as a signal that he was on the right path and started to move his hips back and forth with increasing speed, stroking in and out of her in earnest. The way her pussy almost refused to let go of his cock was beyond anything he’d ever felt, and the way she moved her hips in slight circles while meeting his every thrust with her own made him go crazy.

She had made her body sensitive and easy to please and now they were both reaping the benefits as she was happy to vocalize her enjoyment. She had never been a shy and quiet lover, and she displayed her enjoyment with audible cries and moans rather loudly every time he pushed inside her. The cries of pleasure were a clear indication of just how good he was making her feel, and that alone was a massive ego boost for him. Knowing that he was bringing such pleasure to this goddess made him feel like a conquering king.

As they had both been on the edge for a while now, it didn’t take them long to reach their climax. She had just loudly but wordlessly cried out as she reached the peak first when he rammed his hips against her butt with a loud smack, pushing his entire length inside her as deep as he could. He had no idea what sort of instinct was driving him, but for some reason, he felt the need to get his seed as deep inside her as possible. There was an almost palpable need to try and impregnate this girl, and he pulled her against his chest as his cock pushed rope after rope of cum deep inside her, straight into her womb.

That was the second feeling Karna loved above anything else, and the other thing she couldn’t get with a female lover. The feeling of someone cumming inside her had always caused her to cum harder than anything else, and the same held true now. Her mouth was opened in a silent cry of pleasure and only a tiny keening sound came out of her as her smaller orgasm suddenly tumbled into another, much larger one as she felt herself being filled with his seed.

They both collapsed on the couch, him on top of her with his rock hard member still lodged inside her. They both panted a bit, not due to lack of stamina or due to heavy exercise, but because of the sudden release of passions and pleasure, which turned into happiness and contentment. “That was…” Cendirion managed to say before he was shushed by Karna. Despite the shortness of their copulation, it had been more than anything he’d ever experienced.

Wordlessly Karna pushed him up just enough to slip out from under him. His cock made a small lascivious slurp as it pulled out from her pussy and air filled the wet void left behind. Not even a single drop of his cum leaked outside, as she considered it very impolite to waste what he had just deposited inside her and her control over her internal muscles was immaculate. “I hope you don’t think this is over? The night is young and you’re going to have to make sure I’m satisfied, or I’ll have to find someone else to finish the job.” Karna taunted a bit, and used her hands to push her breasts together and forward. She rubbed them suggestively, practically caressing herself. “Besides, you still haven’t gotten your hands on these. Let’s see if this house has a bed.”

Cendirion had never moved so fast as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs. They quickly located a bedroom with a wide bed and he collapsed on top of her as they dived for the wide mattress. He was already between her legs and had one of her nipples in his mouth, sucking on it like his life depended on it. That elicited pleased sounds from her. He tried to grab a hold of her other breast with a hand, but found it too large to completely handle with one hand, so he had to settle for squeezing it gently and slowly, while his other hand guided his still rock hard cock towards her tight opening.

She moaned a hard a long “Ahhhn!” sound as he pushed inside her hard and with a clear lack of the gentleness that had dominated their previous lovemaking. And indeed their previous coupling had been more akin to gentle but quick lovemaking, than a hard fuck.

Karna loved having her breasts played with while someone penetrated her, a fact that she was happy to once again announce with loud moans of pleasure and passion. “Fuck me hard this time. Take me like you mean it!” She egged him on. She didn’t mind being the more submissive partner in bed, as long as any of her partners didn’t allow themselves to think she’d be submissive out of bed as well. It was a nice change of pace from her life outside the bedroom. And encouraging men to take her always got them going.

Cendirion did exactly that. His hips picked speed and strength every time he thrust inside her. Karna helped him along by spreading her legs wide to her sides on the bed. She was as spread open as a woman could be, and she felt like she was behaving wanton and debauched. A feeling she enjoyed immensely. Their hips came together with clear slapping sound as he plowed her fertile field harder and harder. For a girl that had been a virgin just moments before, she enjoyed the whole thing in a way that should be impossible, but she felt no pain, only pleasure. This truly was a body made for sex, and she had every plan to have much of it and with many partners.

She was actually a little worried, as she enjoyed the whole thing a little too much. She was getting completely lost in passion and found it impossible to think straight. ‘I may…have...gone…a bit… too far!’ She cried out in her mind between the waves of pleasure that crashed on her upon being hammered by his cock.

“Aaahn! Harder!” Her body and mouth betrayed what remained of her mind and reason, as her hands clawed at the bedsheets that were already covered in sweat and her juices.

Cendirion obliged and the bed was now protesting the rough treatment as the bedpost was banging against the wall in a rhythm as old as time. Anyone hearing the banging would know what it meant, and the cries of passion the two released weren't any quieter as his voice joined hers in that moment of heat and passion. Not that they cared, as the entire world had been lost to them and had become irrelevant to the two seeking out their release, as Cendirion tried his best to fuck her through the mattress.

This kind of passionate coupling couldn’t last for long and he lifted her hips up from the bed and sunk his cock to the hilt inside her as he started seeding her womb the second time that night. The two didn’t rest for any longer than it took for them to come off their orgasmic high, before Cendirion flipped her around and grabbed a hold of her ass before their bodies came together with a smack as he entered her from behind again. The two would continue their fierce coupling for the entire night, and by the time they were done, the entire bed was destroyed and devastated.

Karna got up from the bed first in the morning and winced a bit. Just because she was practically incapable of feeling pain in the middle of sex, that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel any once they were done. Her nether regions were rather battered and bruised as their passions had not abated the entire night, and there were marks all over her body. With a quick thought, she was surrounded by a white flame and she returned to perfect health, looking just like she had before they started. Had Cendirion entered her now, he’d have discovered she was just as tight as when they had started.

“Sleep tight!” She said with a smile to the man sleeping on the bed. She still didn’t know his name, despite the mask not working against her, and she preferred to keep it that way.

She found her way downstairs and heard voices in the kitchen. It seemed the owners of the home were home. An older elven couple was enjoying breakfast in the kitchen as Karna walked in. "Good morning." The old-looking woman, which meant really old for an elf for it to be showing like this, greeted Karna with a sunny smile. “We would’ve called you to breakfast, but the way you were sounding during the night, it seemed like you’d need the sleep.”

Karna shamelessly sat down at the table, still not wearing a thread or stitch of clothing aside from her mask. She was struggling a bit to not leak on the chair, as all the semen that had been pushed inside her during the long night was still there. She needed a bath and a trip to the toilet. Badly. She also positively reeked of sex. “Very polite of you. I’m famished and I expect my partner will be as well once he wakes up.” She grabbed a bit of the food and a plate and started eating. “My apologies about the bed. It’s quite done I’m afraid. We’ll compensate you of course. A proper mage might be able to salvage it. I could’ve done it myself, but it was still occupied.”

“Oh don’t you worry your pretty little head. We got plenty of repayment last night. Your passionate cries got my husband going like nothing has for years, and we had one of the best nights of our lives as well. And judging by the way he’s staring at you now, I’m fairly sure we’re in for a wild day as soon as you leave.” The old woman laughed. Her words were rather worrisome in certain ways as Karna had not sensed their presence at all while being lost in the throes of passion.

She was right about the last part though, as the old elven man couldn’t pull his eyes off Karna’s bare breasts and hard nipples. “I believe you’re correct.” Karna laughed gaily. She got up from the table and walked to the man, allowing her bosom to press against his shoulder while giving his forehead a small peck. “There. That should help things along.” Karna laughed again, hearing how the old man’s breathing quickened.

"My thanks, young lady." The old woman laughed happily as well. “That should be enough to keep enough energy in his little trooper for weeks. I have to admit, I’ve never seen anything like you. And judging by the passion we heard last night, neither has your partner. I’d be surprised if the Gods of Life haven’t already blessed your union.”

With a small smile, Karna placed her hand on her lower abdomen. “Who knows about such things?” She didn’t want to admit that she’d made very sure before going out last night that she wouldn’t be pregnant by morning. Whether she had children at some point during this life, a strong possibility judging by how much she’d enjoyed the feeling of someone cumming inside her, now was still too early for such things. But she wouldn’t always have the opportunity to take such measures beforehand, and accidents happened.

She nodded to the old couple. “Don’t wake him up until I’m gone. Good day!” She then disappeared to find her clothes.

“Well, she’s a real doll, isn’t she?” The old elven woman commented happily. And the old man nodded along eagerly.

Chapter 39 - The morning after

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

Also, I'm not saying yer all a bunch of perv- *cough* I mean people of culture, but the +++ chapter had double the views of the normal chapter preceding it.

-----

"Well, you seem to have enjoyed your evening," Miralen commented with a knowing smile as Karna got back to the inn from her little tryst. The elven girl was eating a late breakfast at one of the tables and could see Karna was still carrying signs of the previous night.

"What makes you say that?" Karna retorted with a 'cat that ate the canary' expression. She was quite satisfied with the previous night's success, and now that she had managed to sate her desires, it was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“Oh, I don’t know. The fact that you have been gone the entire night and return rather late in the morning? Or perhaps the smell of sex wafting from your direction? Or mayhap it’s the change to your presence. It’s rather palpable after all.” Miralen seemed to be ticking off things from a mental list.

Karna grimaced a bit. “I was afraid of that. It’s precisely because of my presence that I waited for so long.” She couldn’t feel it herself, but it was rather obvious to everyone that knew her well. The way she affected people had changed. It wasn’t a huge change, but she’d definitely elicit a lot more dirty thoughts in people. She gave herself a bit of sniff before making a face. “Yeah, I need a bath. Badly.”

"You'll also need to get those clothes cleaned, or at least use some heavy-duty cleansing magic on them." The elven girl suggested helpfully.

“How was your night?” Karna sat down gingerly. Despite the healing her phoenix flames had provided her this morning, she was still a bit sore. Magical healing was wonderful, but didn’t always perfectly heal all the underlying issues because what the magic considered healed wasn’t exactly the same as what the person in question would. She didn’t mind the slight pains though. These sort of slight pangs were something that Karna considered to be the price for the kind of fun she’d had. Even if she could, she wouldn’t heal them unless absolutely necessary.

“Not as nice as yours clearly, but still rather entertaining. The festival was quite fun. I did meet a nice little gentleman that seemed quite interested, but we decided to both take a pass in the end. Mainly because he found out how young I was.” Miralen explained with a small shrug. By elven standards, she was very young.

“And you? Why did you back off?” Karna inquired while waving at the servers to bring her something as well.

Miralen made a complicated face. “I’m not sure. Just didn’t feel right I suppose. I…can't just accept the idea of sleeping with a perfect stranger with the same kind of casualness as you." There was no judgment in her voice. She was simply trying to explain her point of view. Miralen was a good friend in that respect. Even if she had her own opinions and even teased others about such things, she didn’t judge.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. We all have different views on such things. If you feel it’s not right for you, then that’s what you should go with. We only get into problems if we get judgmental about our choices.” Karna reassured her with a smile.

“I would never!” Miralen waved her hands in front of her face in denial.

Karna laid a hand on her friend’s to calm her down. “Relax. I wasn’t accusing you of anything. Just making sure we’re on the same page.” The servers finally got to Karna and put down something that looked like eggs, bread, and some cheese. Simple but quick. “What about the others?” Gem seemed to appear out of nowhere and chomped down on the eggs in her fairy dragon form. The little glutton had been fairly quiet the last few weeks.

They watched with some amusement as the tiny dragon stuffed her face to a point where she looked like a chipmunk. “Mayumi went to bed early, and her master and Duskclaw were back before me. I think I heard something from the guys' room, but I don’t know which of them returned, nor whether they stayed the whole night.”

They didn’t have to wait too long for the answer. Travan came down the stairs looking just as fresh as any morning while helping Shaheera, who seemed quite a bit worse for wear. “Hangover?” Miralen asked with a smirk.

“Not that actually. Or at least mostly not that.” Shaheera offered an explanation and winced visibly as he sat down. “We got into small scraps with some elves. You know, with me being a Leonid and all. The whole thing turned into more friendly competitions once I told them I was a student at the Academy. Still, I managed to get some bruises on the way. They’ll heal, and it turned into a fun experience all in all, but it still stings.” No amount of magical masking could change the fact that he was clearly a Leonid.

"Hold still for a moment," Karna ordered and laid her hand on Shaheera’s shoulder.

Healing magic wasn’t really the forte of mages, but they weren’t completely incapable. Certain spells for life and True Light elements could be used for healing. They wouldn’t match what a proper cleric could do, but it was still adequate for small things like this. Shaheera’s body glowed green for a moment, and soon he was able to move and breathe much more easily. "Thanks, Karna. That's much better."

“You know druidic magic as well?” Travan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've dabbled," Karna replied coyly. She quite liked living the life of a druid and had spent several lifetimes as one. It was nice to occasionally spend some time healing and fixing damage done to the world instead of doing the damage all the time.

“Sieg’s not back?” Miralen asked, brimming with curiosity.

"No. He was roped in by a rather sizeable group of elven girls early on. They seemed quite taken by his performance with the sword when we took part in some duels." Travan explained curtly. “I suppose one of them managed to catch his attention for the night.”

“You didn’t attract the same kind of notice?” Karna asked a little surprised. Travan wasn’t bad looking by any measure, and she seriously doubted that he’d done poorly with the duels.

“Eh, I think my more eccentric mixed heritage was throwing them off. After all, many of them wanted to be blessed by the Gods of Life, and any child I sired would be a bit of a surprise to everyone involved. Besides, I wasn’t all that interested.” While his words were rather straightforward, Karna felt that he left something unsaid. Something that had heavily influenced his decision.

Karna didn’t feel like prying though. If he wanted to keep things to himself, then he was more than entitled to his secrets. She pushed her plate away and stood up. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I need to find some clean clothes and I need a bath.”

“Ah, good. Maybe now some of the male patrons here will be able to get their eyes off your cleavage.” Miralen commented loudly enough to be heard by said patrons, who turned around in shame. Karna was still wearing the dress from last night and her cleavage was rather generous in what it showed.

“Let them look. It’s a great cleavage after all.” Karna stated confidently and sauntered off with a bit of bounce in her step. Teasing people early on was a good way to start the day.

“That it is.” They all agreed as she disappeared off.

Karna ran into Duskclaw while entering her room. “A successful night it seems.” The beastwoman sniffed meaningfully. “Will you be going out tonight as well?” She asked more carefully.

Karna just laughed. "I don't think so. As much as I enjoyed last night, now that I got it out of my system, I'm not in such a hurry for a repeat performance tonight. Last night was out of need, but going out again would be purely for the fun of it. Maybe tomorrow, or the last masked night. Not sure yet, but I doubt it. Want to join me in the bathing house down the street?”

“Sure! And while we’re at it, you can tell me all the juicy details.” Duskclaw seemed eager to get a detailed explanation. “I’ll just confirm again, but I assume you took precautions?" She launched into a series of rather probing questions that would've caused anyone besides prostitutes and sailors to blush.

-----

Cendirion had been extremely disappointed to see the girl of his dreams gone by the time he woke up. Not surprised, but disappointed. He’d also been extremely embarrassed by the old couple that owned the house they had spent the night in. He had been forced to go downstairs naked, aside from his mask of course, and the appreciative whistle of the old woman had mortified him. That had caused the woman to cackle in laughter as she explained that the girl he’d spent the night with had felt none of that same embarrassment and had apparently shared breakfast with them in the nude. “You’re a good looking fella, but that girl’s way out of your league.” The woman had told him frankly.

Cendirion still wondered what the woman would’ve said if she had known he was the first prince. “Come to think of it, that likely wouldn’t have changed her opinion.” He muttered as he slinked back to the palace. Cendirion was rather realistic about his own looks and knew he was a catch, but the girl from last night had been something completely different. Well, what he could remember of her anyway. The masks had done their job, and he was a little short on details. He was confident he would be able to recognize her again, but couldn’t give any details about her appearance.

He had to remove his own mask when he entered the guarded areas of the palace of course, and from the looks the guards gave him, he was quite sure that rumors would soon spread. He’d taken a thorough bath before returning, but there was no getting around the fact that he hadn’t come back until morning, and the guards had seen him go out in the same clothes during the night. The guards weren’t stupid. They’d swap stories as soon as they got the opportunity. Guards that leaked information to outsiders wouldn’t get to work at the palace, but many of the guards had loyalties to various lords and ladies in particular, and would consider those people an exception to the rule. Information was power after all. And their masters would not be as discreet.

“Brother?!” A scandalized female voice sounded above him from a small balcony. He mentally grimaced as he recognized the voice.

“Anaire.” He greeted while turning around to face his sister.

“How..? What…? With who..?” His sister stuttered. She had been the one to encourage him to go last night, but now that he returned in the morning, she seemed absolutely flabbergasted. Her mind worked quickly though and knew exactly why he was so late in returning.

“You know the answer to the first two sis. As for the third one, you know that’s not how the festival works.” Cendirion replied calmly. He didn’t feel at all ashamed of what had happened. He didn’t want to dirty the experience with something like shame. That said, while he didn’t feel ashamed, he didn’t enjoy the idea of being the target of gossip either, which is why he had wanted to avoid too much notice. Sometimes you didn’t get what you wanted. He could’ve been more secretive if he had put his mind into it, but he didn’t care that much about secrecy.

Anaire placed her hands on her hips in an angry gesture that he recognized well. He’d seen it many times since his sister had been born and Anaire had used that exact gesture ever since she was a toddler. “I expected something like this from Finuwar, not from you.” There was palpable disappointment in her voice, though Cendirion wasn’t entirely sure why. It wasn’t like taking part in the festival was somehow wrong. That’s how Anaire had been conceived after all.

Before he could retort though, one of the servants came to call for him, and apparently the same happened to Anaire. “The Queen has requested for the family to gather for breakfast.” The servant announced.

Cendirion’s shoulders slumped a bit and he followed the servant towards the royal family’s private dining room. He really wanted some rest, but it seemed like he’d have to face the consequences of his actions sooner than he had wanted. The dining room was a cozy affair with a long oblong table filled with food in the middle and the chairs of the various family members scattered freely around the table. He noticed that most of the family was already present.

The twin girls Rosseth and Rannith were locked in some secret discussion of their own as usual. As the youngest of the siblings, the two girls were still rather immature both mentally and physically, though they had quite a bit of potential. Finuwar looked tired, but his eyes suddenly sparkled as he noticed the mask still in Cendirion’s hand. The little fox better not start anything! Anaire was just entering from the other side of the room with a judgmental look, while Castor and Ellavormen were discussing some military matters while standing in the corner. The two were older than the other siblings aside from the missing crown prince and Cendirion, and were already actively taking part in politics and military affairs. It seemed all but three of his siblings were present, a rather rare sight considering their roles.

The Queen of course looked radiant in her morning gown. It was impossible to tell whether she had been out last night, though for some reason Cendirion suspected the answer was yes. She also somehow managed to radiate smugness without showing anything on her face, a rather challenging feat. “Cen, darling. Did you have fun last night?” She asked innocently.

Anaire made a sound that was between a scoff and a laugh. “Apparently, since he just came through the door. In the same clothes he left in." The damn girl seemed to have it out for him today.

“Well done brother.” Finuwar showed his approval with a small warrior salute of respect. “Now I have you to take most of the heat from the family prudes.” he also revealed his true colors just as quickly.

“You know very well the answer to that question mother.” Cendirion looked at the Queen firmly, ignoring his younger siblings. “Who was she? Don’t claim that you don’t know. I know you sent me out there to specifically meet her.”

That got everyone’s attention. Even Rosseth and Rannith suddenly sat down at the table, now much more interested. "That sounds awfully like an accusation, son. Are you sure you want to take that tone after last night?” The Queen leaned forward, resting her chin on her steepled hands.

Cendirion gave a sigh in surrender. "No. No, I do not. I want to thank you actually. She was…something I cannot describe. But! That doesn’t mean you can avoid my question.”

The Queen smiled broadly. “I glad you enjoyed yourself. As for her identity, that would go against the spirit of the festival, now wouldn’t it? If you want to find out, then you’re going to have to do that yourself.” She clearly knew and hid the information!

Cendirion knew there was more to this, but he also knew his mother wouldn’t say anything when she took that tone. He had to find some other way. Maybe the bard could help? The girl had been musically dueling with him when Cendirion spotted the girl, and it wasn’t too difficult to find one of the most senior royal bards during the festival. The bards were experts at gathering information after all, and after last night, the man must have memorized all the details of the girl. And the masks were a lot less effective against certain types of people that could see through falsehoods.

“Now changing topics a little, I want all of you to be present during Finuwar’s coming of age celebration three days from now. All of you. I'll also be extending the guest list as we need to make some connections in preparation for the Expansion that will be coming soon. You'll be taking the leading role during the party in order to make those connections.” The Queen explained. “And we also have another purpose for that night, so try not to act too shocked when it happens.”

“Mother, it’s my party!” Finuwar complained. “I don’t want to spend the entire evening schmoozing with some foreign diplomats and nobles. And if you’re going to ruin the party anyway with some scheme of yours, why have one anyway?”

“Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to do wonders. You can have another private party later on. For now, the plan is more important. That’s why I need all your siblings present. And I think you’ll like my additions. Some of them are a lot less boring than you might think.” The Queen hid her smile well. The hardest part was over. Now she just had to wait for things to fall into place.

‘Hmm, I should be able to catch the royal bard during this celebration.’ Cendirion thought to himself. By that time the masked part of the festival would be over. He’d of course go back to the place he had met the girl last night, but something told him that he wouldn’t meet her there again. As much as he wanted to see her, her behavior had made it clear that last night was a one-time thing. Cendirion knew his attempts to find her would go against those wishes, but he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

“Anaire, could I request you to deliver one of the invitations personally? The group is staying relatively close to the palace, so it shouldn’t take too long.” The Queen asked in a casual tone. As she asked her children to perform such things relatively often due to political reasons, there was nothing odd about the request. Yet for some reason, it caught Cendirion’s ear.

“Me? I don’t mind, but could I ask why?” Anaire asked a bit surprised. Delivering invitations could usually be handled by guards, unless there was something special about the guests.

“The situation with the group is a little complicated. The group I’m talking about is made up of students from the Academy who are here on a diplomatic mission. Normally that would place them rather low on the priority order, but there are some…circumstances in this case. The group isn’t normal, and they’re here because I specifically asked for them. Thus, it would be a little impolite to just send a guard to invite them. Especially since the party will most likely be spoiled later on, so we should keep up appearances.” The Queen explained, and Cendirion lost interest.

"Sure, I can handle it," Anaire replied, having accepted the explanation.

Chapter 40 - Rememberance

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. We get a little glimpse at some of Karna's previous lives, including the first one. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

Anaire left the palace as soon as the breakfast was over in the company of a pair of royal guards. She was still fuming about the behavior of her brother. She knew it was a little unfair and she couldn’t quite explain why it vexed her so much, but the fact remained. Part of it was that she had placed her brother on a pedestal. He’d always been a shining example of what a proper elven man should be for her. That was why she was so disappointed when he did something she considered to be beneath him. She wasn’t as judgy when her other siblings did something similar, Divinities only knew what Finuwar got up to, and what Cendirion had done wasn’t exactly wrong. It was something that was actually encouraged during the festival of life, although not by everyone. She just thought he was better than that.

They reached the inn while she was still lost in thought and she would’ve walked past it if she had not been reminded by one of the guards. As she entered the inn, she noted that it was a rather cozy one. She didn’t notice anyone wearing the Academy uniform in the common area, which made sense as they’d likely use normal clothing to blend in, so she approached the innkeeper. The surprisingly chubby elven woman faced her with a practiced smile, clearly not recognizing her. “Greetings! Welcome to the Faerie Ring! How can I help you this fine morning?”

"I have a message I need to deliver to some of your patrons," Anaire announced.

“Aah. And which guests would you be referring to? You’ll understand that I can’t confirm or deny the presence of any person without their permission of course? And the guests might not have registered with their real names.” The innkeeper explained carefully. A certain amount of discretion was expected at fine inns like this.

“Naturally. The group I’m looking for is made up of a group of students from the Academy. They likely have at least one teacher with them.” Anaire explained patiently. Sending the princess on these kinds of errands was a nice touch from her mother. It was a gesture of good will, but not one that was too blatant since the royal family’s position was a little different in the elven court. It might have seemed excessive in many other countries, but here it was rather standard as the royal family had to earn any positions they wanted to fill.

“You’re in luck.” The innkeeper looked towards the edge of the dining room. “I believe two of the people you’re looking for are sitting at that table.” She pointed towards a table near the corner where two young people were sitting.

“My thanks for your help.” Anaire slid a coin over the counter to the innkeeper. The coin wasn’t valuable enough to be a bribe, as it was only meant as a token of appreciation. The innkeeper snagged it up anyway, and with speed only innkeepers, barkeeps, and beggars could display.

She noted that the two sitting at the table were a slightly odd pair. One was a Dark Elf, a relatively common sight in Teleriand, but the girl's light brown skin and clan markings showed her to be from the Magocracy. That was a little more uncommon as most Dark Elves were of the pale variety, and her age suggested that she might be one of the students. The elves from Magocracy also didn’t visit the city that often due to distance. All in all, she wasn’t out of place exactly, but decidedly stuck out to anyone keen enough. It seemed like she was the right person, and it made sense for the student group to bring an elf to smooth things over. ‘Not a bad decision on the part of the Academy. Sending the other one though…’

The young male that sat at the table with the Dark Elf girl was a fair bit more out of place. He looked like a Half-Elf mix with several other races. That couldn’t be easy in this city. People in Teleriand were not fond of mixed elves, unless that mix was with very specific other races like High Humans. Some even called them ‘mutts’, which Anaire thought to be very impolite and quite inappropriate. As a High Elf, she was very proud of her own heritage and would never stoop to diluting that blood, but she understood it if the other clans might choose to do so and didn’t much care if someone was of mixed heritage. And the whole thing seemed a little hypocritical, considering the festival of life was currently happening. Only certain other races were popular during the festival of course, and those races were usually the ones that were considered worthy to mix with.

As she approached the table, the female elf turned around with a pleasant and polite smile as she spotted Anaire approaching them. “Hello. Did you have some business with us?” She clearly seemed to recognize the guards escorting Anaire, but didn’t seem to be entirely sure why palace guards would show up here.

With a disarming smile of her own, Anaire extended her hand in the traditional gesture, which the girl returned after a moment’s consideration. “Greetings. I am Princess Anaire and we’re here to extend an invitation to you.”

“An invitation?” The girl asked with a slight tilt of her head, not showing too much surprise by the revelation of Anaire’s rank. Good. The girl had at least some potential as a diplomat or a courtier.

“Yes. The Queen has expanded the guest list to the party celebrating my younger brother’s coming of age and my eldest brother’s recent achievements. Your group is one of those that have been invited. You’re the group of students from the Academy, yes?” Anaire asked to confirm and handed the girl a decorated envelope with the royal crest.

“We are. Well, this is certainly good news. Anything particular we should prepare for the party, aside from the obvious gifts?” The girl asked, visibly pleased with the turn of events. Anaire felt a little bad as she knew the party wasn’t really going to go as the girl hoped. Hopefully, they'd get another chance.

At that point, the male started showing some impatience, and Anaire realized he probably couldn't understand them. She had almost instinctually spoken the most common elven language, as she was dealing with two elves. "The party is themed relatively casual as it was planned to be a smaller event originally, so wearing something like full ball-gowns might be inappropriate. Other than that and standard party etiquette, no. The invitation is for five people. We were not entirely sure of the size of your group, so we settled on that number.” She stated, shifting to a language used commonly all over the plane.

“Please pass our thanks to the appropriate parties. We shall be attending.” The gorgeous brown-skinned girl replied, and Anaire found herself rather expecting the whole thing despite everything. The girl seemed nice, and it might be interesting to talk to her further. She was rather cute too. Maybe Anaire would be able to wrangle them an invitation to a celebration that would actually have a better ending. 'Hopefully, Finuwar doesn’t get any ideas. He’s always liked the exotic types.' Her brother could be a bit of a ladies' man, and getting involved with a clearly too young representative of the Academy could backfire. Badly.

“In that case, I bid you good day.” Anaire gave a slight polite bow and made her exits. Maybe the party wouldn’t be as bad as she feared.

------

“I heard you had an exciting time last night," Mayumi commented as she found Karna sitting on the roof of the inn, enjoying the music that was played in the vicinity by the festival attendees. The flat roof had been turned into a mix between a small garden and a terrace. Usually, it would've attracted quite a few people, but with the festival going strong, the two of them were alone, which was exactly what Mayumi had been hoping for.

"Word travels fast," Karna replied with a wry smile. Mayumi still had trouble trying to tease her, but at least she made the effort now.

"People aren't quite used to someone like you in the Magocracy. They're much more prudish while you're…shall we say more open." Mayumi smiled. The two had become much more open in the last few years. In many ways, Mayumi respected Karna even more, but she had at least gotten over the need to treat the other woman as almost a second mother. The feeling wasn’t going away entirely, but it was no longer dominating their interactions.

“Hard to get all that excited about losing something when you’ve done it literally thousands of times before.” Karna shrugged with an oblique reference to her first sexual encounter. That was not the first time she hinted to the number of times she’d lived, and Mayumi suspected she was still downplaying it, as hard as that was to believe.

"How old were you when it happened in your first life?" Mayumi asked, curiously. “For myself…gosh, I was a late bloomer, so I was well over twenty.”

“I…can’t even remember exactly. Neither can I remember who it was with.” Karna had a nostalgic smile on her face, but it was marred by a small frown. “I faintly recall it was pleasant, but that’s about it.” Her face grew a bit darker. “Unfortunately my memories of that time have been tainted by how that life ended.”

“You’ve made vague references before. What happened, if I may ask?” Mayumi gathered her courage and posed the question she had been wondering about. Karna’s first life had seemed like a touchy subject.

“Oh, it’s not quite as interesting as you’d think, though I think I’ve already mentioned that my first life was in this universe. I had reached the Divine Planes from the Mortal Planes back then, and I was quite proud of myself. For a good reason too. I was rather talented, and my looks also drew attention. I…was quite similar to Miralen in appearance actually. Anyway, my meteoric rise in the Divine Plane came to the attention of people that saw me as a threat. They…wronged me in the worst of ways and killed everyone that mattered to me.” Karna’s expression had grown cloudy and dark.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Mayumi asked carefully.

“I’ve already gotten over it. Mostly. I don’t mind telling the outlines though. I was married back then. To a rather new and relatively powerless Divinity. He was…one of the Gods of the Arts I think? I’ve forgotten. It wasn’t some grand romance, but we cared for each other, and we were happy. Until what I much later learned to be a reincarnator, decided to take us out. She and her friends killed my husband in front of me and banished me to the Netherworld. That alone would’ve been bad enough, but I had just given birth back then, and they banished my baby with me. The Netherworld is not for the living and it certainly isn’t for newborns.” Karna looked stricken as she told the story, but Mayumi found it impossible to stop her. Clearly, there was lingering pain even after all the lives.

“Oh no.” Mayumi managed to say sadly. “The baby…didn’t make it?”

“No. It was…I tried to…” Karna’s voice almost broke but she pushed on. “The Netherworld drains away your lifeforce constantly. I tried to replenish my child’s and keep her fed, but…by the time I made it out, I was carrying a dead child. To this day, I have no idea how long she had been dead. I faintly recall that the person who found us mentioned that I was only cradling a skeleton. For all I know, I might have been wandering for years in those dead halls. I can’t remember, because I was...not myself by that point. I took my own life only days later. I’m afraid the next few lives were…not much better. Not for me, and not for the worlds I was reborn in. I firmly believe the Judges of the River of Souls should’ve prevented me from being reborn, but even back then they couldn’t. Much bad karma was earned during those lives.”

“If…if your first life was that unhappy, then what about a good one? Tell me about the person you’ve loved most in all your lives.” Mayumi tried to change the topic almost desperately. There was nothing she could say about Karna’s first life that would be any consolation. She only silently counted her own blessings that her two lives so far had been relatively positive, although the way she died in her previous life bore some resemblance to how Karna’s first life had ended.

Karna noted her distress and flashed a small but sad smile. “Don’t misunderstand. Despite how it ended, my first life was not all unhappiness. I forgot that myself for a long time, but there were happy times as well, and I try to focus on those. As for the person I’ve loved the most…well, I’m not sure if that story is all that cheery either.”

"Oh no," Mayumi muttered.

“You often desire those things the most that you can’t have. It was actually one of the relatively few lives I lived as a man. It was also one of the many I spent entirely as a mortal. A girl caught my eye. Or I should say we caught each other’s eyes. I’d like to say it was love at first sight, but I know it was more like lust. Lust that turned into love over many passionate nights. She was a mortal as well. I was a traveling handyman, and she was the daughter of a farmer. Not a bad match in general. The problem was that her family was part of a very insular group that wasn’t all that fond of outsiders. They were especially leery about their daughters marrying outsiders.” Karna shook her head thinking about her stupidity in that life.

“I’m guessing things didn’t go well?” Mayumi asked with a grimace.

"Oh, they went quite well for a long time. As I was a traveling handyman that actually got things done, people were happy to see me visit back then, and the fact that our trysts were short but passionate every time I visited kept it from becoming a problem. Until she became pregnant and I stayed too long. There had been suspicions before, but there had been no real proof until then. She was getting a bit too old to stay unmarried though, and I wanted to do the honorable thing. That’s when things went wrong. I knew what would happen when they came for me. I could’ve run. I could’ve fought. Even as a mortal, I wasn’t completely defenseless. But these people were her family. What kind of basis would that have been for a happy life if I had killed her family? That’s what it would’ve taken since there was no hope of reconciliation. They would’ve only come back if I had let them live and running away would’ve still left her alone. And I knew she would be taken care of. It was not an optimal solution, but it was the best I had at the time. I was still relatively young and stupid back then, and I would handle things much differently now. Still, we were happy together for the brief time we had together.” Karna told her story in warm tones despite the slightly dark ending.

“I assume you’ve had happy lives?” Mayumi was forced to ask gingerly.

“Of course I’ve had them. More than unhappy ones.” Karna burst into near-hysterical laughter. "There will be both happy lives and unhappy ones. I've also had lives that were much darker than the ones I already mentioned as well. If you live enough lives, you'll also have both. I suggest you get out of those fast where you end up as a slave. Especially an attractive slave. Those lives are the worst. They can leave you traumatized for…I don’t even know how long. The only real way to get over them is a proper palate cleanser. A life filled with peace and happiness. I suggest becoming a druid or a hermit for the best results.”

"That's…I'll keep it in mind," Mayumi muttered while her body shivered. She really didn't want to imagine a life as a slave, not to mention one where your uses as a slave were…indecent.

“Well, the upside of being a reincarnator is that you can easily escape those lives without really losing anything, except maybe bits of your sanity. We all learn coping mechanisms." Karna shook her head. "Well, that talk got a bit dark. How was your evening?"

“Rather dull. I’m not all that fond of crowds. I would’ve enjoyed the festival otherwise, but the crowds got to me. Also doesn’t help that it’s summer.” Mayumi went along with the shift in topics.

“Oh? You could’ve just found some fun for yourself as well. No crowd when it’s just the two of you. Or three. I don’t judge.” Karna teased. “In fact, three can be very fun as well.”

“I actually considered it. Finding company I mean, not the threesome. I just didn’t have enough time, until I got tired with the crowds.” Mayumi explained with a small shrug.

“Ah. Do you want me to help you find some company?” Karna asked with a small smirk.

“No thanks. I’ll handle that all by myself, thank you very much.” Mayumi shot that idea down immediately. “So why aren’t you out there, finding your threesome?”

“Hah! Nice one.” Karna gave her a quick appreciative thumbs up and avoided the question. “Now enough about me. How was your previous life?”

“Well, I’m afraid it’s going to seem quite dull, after all you’ve been through. I was a mage then as well. I got up to the seventh circle, though only barely. I knew I had tapped out on my talent by that point and had mostly reached that rank due to luck. I had a rather enjoyable life as a tower mage. It wasn't all that long either. I was not very old when I died…” Mayumi thought wistfully.

“What happened?” Karna prompted her to continue.

“The usual. Jealousy, competition, betrayal. I was being courted by a man. He was…well, there was potential for something good between us, so I was giving him the chance to prove himself. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as talented as I was, and he was stuck at the sixth circle. He didn’t take it well when I came by that bit of luck I mentioned and kept it for myself instead of sharing. That’s when the cracks started showing. He was…tempted by one of my old rivals and he stabbed me in the back. Quite literally actually. I could've dealt with it, if not for the fact that we were in the middle of a rather sizeable battle at the time. A lapse in judgment, due to being stabbed, caused the spell I was casting to go haywire. Blew both of us and everyone around us to bits.” Mayumi explained with a shrug. She didn’t seem too fazed by the betrayal all things considered, though Karna suspected that it had left a mark in Mayumi’s soul.

“A story that’s unfortunately common. I’d love to say that we all become better judges of character as we go through many lives, and in many ways we do. However, we also tend to lose our grip on what’s normal. The fact that we can be born again twists our perspective, so keep that in mind.” Karna warned Mayumi.

“I suppose it would. I already think of things differently, and it’s only my second life. Although…” She looked at Karma. “That’s partially your fault. Your little stories and lessons have changed me.”

"Hah! Hopefully, some of that change is for the better. I love to corrupt young maidens. Muahaha!” Karna imitated her best evil laugh.

--------

Chapter 41 - What goes around...

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. Week 4/5 of my practical. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

"Everyone ready?" Karna asked. She was dressed quite simply and even relatively modestly this time. The party for the two princes was themed to be quite casual, so fancy gowns were off the table. Thus she was wearing a simple purple dress similar to the one she had worn on the first night of the festival, except this one actually had more back and omitted the large slit at the side. Some of the attires Duskclaw and Tsumi had forced her to acquire were quite tasteful. Some were anything but.

"We are. I still think I shouldn't come along. I can complete my mission later." Travan pointed out. The others were also dressed in clothes that were appealing, but not too fancy. Travan and Sieg wore jackets in the black and gold colors that the Magocracy's military used, except they looked a lot more casual. Miralen wore a more traditional elven dress with a lot of greens and living plants woven in. She was perhaps the most overdressed of the group, but she had insisted and looked quite fetching, so no one argued.

"You might not get another chance if you don't take this one," Duskclaw told Travan. She was coming along as an observer and the fifth person allowed by the invitation. It had been decided that since Karna and Miralen were here on a diplomatic mission, they'd have to attend. Travan had a mission of his own, and Sieg came along as a bodyguard. Shaheera would've drawn too much of the wrong type of attention as a Leonid and Mayumi would rather skip anyway.

"Besides, this kind of setting might be the optimal time to do it. The whole court won't be in attendance, so you won't draw everyone's ire. The Queen might also appreciate the discretion, and will almost certainly be in a better mood." Karna reasoned.

"A mood that I will sour," Travan argued.

"Sure. Probably. But it's not like you weren't going to do that anyway. Might as well soften the blow. Besides, in more casual surroundings we could argue this in a way that it might even fall in our favor, instead of against us. If you confronted her in front of the entire court, she'd have no choice but take a more hard stance due to being pressured by the nobles and having to keep up appearances." Karna countered.

"The decision is already made." Miralen declared. "Now let's get going. This dress isn't as comfortable as I'd hoped, and I may have made a mistake in choosing it. I want to get this done with as soon as possible."

The trip to the palace was short and uneventful. Most of the city was still in the midst of the festival, even if the masked portion was over. The whole thing had taken a little more solemn and official tone though, and many of the elves that had eagerly participated previously had taken the opportunity to rest a bit tonight. Thus the streets were noticeably less crowded, and the path to the palace was easy to traverse. As they arrived, they only had to display the invitation to be admitted within the palace proper, though now they were forced to queue in a moderate length line as the arrival of everyone was announced, and they were all greeted by the two princes whom they were all celebrating. They could also see that this was the time for the gifts to be presented.

The palace itself was interesting. In a true High Elven fashion, it was a grand affair that was intricately built and decorated, with thin spires dotting the white stone edifices. Gorgeous statues decorated every surface large enough to hold one, and nature was a prominent feature all around the palace. On the other hand, despite the size of the palace, the whole thing wasn't all that separate from the rest of the city. It was surrounded by a wall, but other buildings were built very close to the wall, and the palace didn't cover a lot of ground as the grandness was displayed more by everything being tall instead of being wide. The palace grounds were also filled with guards from the various elven clans, but especially from the tall and powerfully built High Elves.

"Can you finally tell us now what you made for them?" Miralen questioned as they were waiting in line. The waiting was getting to her, and she wanted something to distract from her nerves.

"Have a little patience. You'll find out soon anyway. Right along with everyone else." Karna only smiled mysteriously.

As the line moved forward, Karna's senses confirmed something she had been suspecting for a while now. "This night might turn out more interesting than we expected. There are vampires present among the guests. Not many, but more than a handful. I've been getting whiffs of them for the entire time we've been in the city, but this is the first time one has come close enough for me to confirm my suspicions." She didn't know what's going on, but she doubted there would be too much celebrating going on.

"Whiffs? What are you, a bloodhound?" Miralen asked, and then smiled at her own pun.

"I'm curious as well. Shaheera usually has the best nose in the group. Or were you just using the words as a figure of speech?" Sieg asked, ready for trouble at a moment's notice. They had left their weapons back at the inn as they would not be allowed inside the palace armed.

"Sure, let's go with that." Karna decided not to go into too much detail.

The fact was that she could sense vampires, because the bloodline she had Awakened when she reached the fourth Aura rank was that of a vampire. That's why she had been forced to take such odd methods to Awaken the bloodline. She had chosen vampires as the next Awakening because they had supreme control over their Aura. Much more precise than other beings. Certain vampires could also use their Aura in a very atypical way by using Thaumaturgy, or blood magic, and usually Aura was very limited in what kind of things you could do with it, despite the obvious power it provided. Thus the vampire bloodline provided options.

One of the general abilities vampires possessed was for the high-ranking vampires to be able to sense the presence of those beneath them on the food chain. Among vampires, their ranking wasn't determined only by their power, but the purity of their bloodline. As Karna had used her own blood, which meant blood that came from the very highest grade phoenixes and titans, during the ritual, she could be compared to a bloodline primogenitor when it came to vampire rankings. A very young and weak one, but a very high-ranking vampire nonetheless.

"Should we inform the guards?" Travan asked, much more wary than the others.

"I would not be surprised if the guards were aware. I doubt vampires could step into the royal palace without being spotted after all, and I'm getting the sense that there's more to this party than meets the eye. Still, we can make sure once we get inside." Karna speculated.

Luckily for everyone involved, the line moved quite quickly, and soon enough they could get inside the real venue for the party. The princess that had given them their invitation had been quite serious about the party being relatively casual, although that was on the scale of the royal family. The size of the event was relatively limited, and the number of servants and refreshments was quite reserved. Some of the guests had not gotten the memo and were clearly overdressed, but they were in the minority. The Queen was present, but she was staying out of the way and out of the limelight. She could be seen in one of the side rooms without her crown, while the two princes greeted everyone at the doors. There was also a rather sizeable mound of gifts behind them.

"Oh shit." Karna suddenly cursed as her eyes fell on the older prince. She had no trouble recognizing the person who had served as her partner during her little tryst. The mask the prince had worn had done nothing to hide his identity, and recognizing him was not exactly difficult. 'This is rather mortifying.'

"What?" Sieg asked, now genuinely concerned. Karna didn't show such signs of distress very often.

"Just…my past bad decisions coming back to haunt me." Karna waved the concern away and gathered her wits. Maybe he wouldn't recognize her? That would allow the whole thing to be forgotten. She knew that was a pointless hope, but one she decided to cling to anyway.

"Ah, our friends from the Academy." The Queen just so happened to arrive near the door just as their turn to be greeted came. Her approach had seemed casual and drew no extra attention, but something about her appearance right at this moment seemed too purposeful to Karna. The Queen's eyes also seemed to have a sparkle of amusement as well. She clearly knew something.

The two princes also turned towards them, and Karna could see the spark of recognition in the older prince's eyes. 'There goes that hope.' She thought to herself. The prince's eyes made it clear that he wanted nothing more than to pull her aside and have a talk with her. Well, talk, and maybe something more.

She decided to not show any reaction though. She was not going to make a fool of herself in front of the royals. It seemed that using the mask had been pointless in the end. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. "The Academy?" The younger prince asked, entirely unaware that something odd was going on. "Well, it's nice to meet some of the most promising youths on the plane."

Miralen stepped forward to make the introductions. "Your Majesty. Your Highnesses. May I present to you, Sieg Wolfgangsson, the disciple and son of the greatest warrior of the Magocracy. Travan of House Drannor. Karna, the most promising student in the Academy, the disciple of Headmistress Tsumi, and the daughter of the Grand Medjai Arjuna. I am Miralen of House Shurifon. And finally, we have our observer, and the disciple of the Grand Medjai, Duskclaw." The people introduced all took turns to step forward and make a small bow towards the Queen and the two princes.

"Well, I knew there was supposed to be a delegation from the Academy, but I didn't know it would be full of such prestigious people." The young prince smiled radiantly. He was trained in diplomacy, so this much was to be expected. Besides, his words were genuine. He had expected a group of students that were perhaps nobles, or perhaps not even that.

"Our congratulations to Prince Finuwar for coming of age, and to Prince Cendirion for reaching the eighth rank. Accept these humble gifts as a token of our respect." Karna said in perfect ancient elvish only spoken by the High Elves and some of the more prestigious elven Houses. At the same time, she gave a perfectly measured curtsy and present two velvet boxes to the two princes.

"How refreshing to hear someone speak the old tongue. It has gotten rare even among the High Elves." The Queen gave a radiant smile as she responded with the same language. She then prodded Cendirion, who had been frozen ever since he'd seen Karna and recognized her, with her elbow, and spoke to him. "Come now. Accept the gifts." She said, using the common language.

Cendirion was roused from his stupor and he managed to accept the two boxes while trying to hide his faux pas by clearing his throat. "Our thanks for the gifts." He popped the velvet boxes open and looked at the simple silver chains inside. He could sense the complex magic within, but not what it would do. "I have to ask, what are they for?"

"Small pieces of destiny," Karna replied and pointed at the two little tokens hanging from the chains. "They can be worn as bracelets, or they can change shapes to other accessories you might find more suitable. The main feature is that once during a pivotal moment in your life, the magic within will give you a small nudge. When making a decision that can have far-reaching consequences or even save your life, that feeling will push you towards a conclusion that will be more beneficial or desirable for you, depending on your karma. The magic within has its limits though. It won't save you from certain death, but if you listen to it, you might be able to avoid ending up in a situation that will put you in that danger in the first place. How well you can utilize that nudge is up to you."

All three royals and the guests around them drew breath. Messing with fate and destiny was something extremely few people dared to do. Fewer still could turn it into an enchantment. Even items that brought luck were rare. The only reason Karna could do it was due to her being the holder of the True Name Karma. She had infused the effects of a moment of strong karma into the bracelets. It was one of those things that didn't depend on power but on sheer skill and ability. And it wasn't something Karna could do very often either.

"This is a precious gift." The Queen said with a stately voice. "Please relay my thanks to your father." She assumed, and not without reason, that the items came from Arjuna. Arjuna still owed the Queen a favor thanks to the warning she had given about the Emissary, and she assumed this was his way of repayment. After all, she had suggested that Karna pay a visit to the elves as a way to keep out of the Emissary's sight, and Karna had clearly brought the gift along.

Karna didn't mind the misunderstanding. "I shall pass your words along." She said with a small nod, and the group moved inside the party venue. She could feel the burning gaze of the prince on her back, well her butt actually, but she showed no reaction, and the prince wasn't gauche enough to make a scene either.

-----

Amaranthine was quite pleased with the way things had gone. She knew her little plan had worked once Arjuna's daughter walked in and Cendirion couldn't pull his eyes off her. Even now her son's eyes followed the girl as she crossed the room, though that one wasn't as much of a surprise. The girl had drawn everyone's attention. The elves were more subtle about their interest when compared to most races, but to Amaranthine it was as plain as day. It wasn't just about the girl's appearance, although that also contributed. She was naturally charismatic and a striking figure that moved and carried herself with the sort of self-assurance and confidence that could only come from having the power and skill to back it up. The girl commanded attention as if it was something to be expected and seemed to not be bothered by it either. She moved across the room like a dancer or an expert fencer, and Amaranthine's suspicions about her parentage grew only stronger.

Arjuna had all but confirmed that the girl had been the result of Heavensfall, which would explain many things. A Godling's natural charisma was an obvious explanation for the way the girl captured the room as she entered. It also explained her power. The others might have difficulty sensing it, but Amaranthine could tell. The girl might only be at the fourth rank, but she was much stronger than the average person of that rank. If she pitted the girl against Cendirion, Amaranthine wasn't certain her son would win. That kind of power could come to dominate the plane when she grew older.

Forming a connection to a person with that sort of potential was vital. The fact that her visions had presented her with such a way had been a real stroke of luck and it didn't even require too much effort on her part. The fact that she was also Arjuna's daughter was just the cherry on top of that cake. "Well, I think you two can handle greeting the rest of the guests. I think I'll go and have a word with those students and Duskclaw. I want to know how old Arjuna's doing. I haven't seen him for several years." She said and patted her younger son on the back.

"Of course mother. I was surprised you bothered to come here in the first place. You left this job to us for a reason." Finuwar replied. It was clear he was smart enough to realize something was going on, but he didn't know what.

Cendirion was different though. "You knew. You knew the whole time, and you sent me out on purpose." He whispered in an accusatory tone.

"Would you rather I hadn't?" Amaranthine shot back with a wide smile. "No? I didn't think so."

"What now?" Cendirion asked after giving a deep sigh of surrender.

"Well, now that's up to you, isn't it?" This time the Queen patted her older son on the shoulder. "It's quite clear you don't want things to end here. You certainly have my blessing. Like you've said, you've been dedicating yourself to cultivation. I haven't been pushing you to do anything else. I still won't, although for many reasons it would be great if you did have success with her. It won't be easy though."

"Nothing worth having ever is." Cendirion quoted the old saying.

"That's certainly true. Now then. I'll go and have a word with them. Maybe I can get to know my perhaps future daughter-in-law better." Amaranthine giggled as she heard Cendirion's exasperated exhale behind her. She had known her son would be into the girl, but not that he'd be this into her. She didn't actually expect her son to succeed. The connection had already been made, and anything further would only be a bonus.

"Your Majesty!" The brown-skinned elf girl from House Shurifon hurriedly stated as she spotted Amaranthine's approach. She was about to make a formal bow before she was stopped by Arjuna's daughter. The Godling girl knew her etiquette.

"No need to be so formal. This isn't a court gathering despite the guest list." Amaranthine also gestured for her to stop. She turned towards the other person in the group with elven blood. "House Drannor. I see. I think I know why you're here."

Travan gave a small bow. "Then it makes my mission easier."

"I suppose it would. Ask your question. However, I urge you to think carefully. The answer you'll get won't be the one you seek. Sometimes it is better to remain ignorant about the truth." Amaranthine steeled herself. She'd known one of the scions of House Drannor would eventually come for answers. Her answer had been prepared a long time ago.

Her words gave the boy a small pause, but he soon gathered his resolve. "That may be, but I need to know anyway. Why did you not send help when the House Drannor was driven to a corner and was losing its place? You could've easily asked the Magocracy for a favor, and they would've granted it."

"I did ask the Magocracy for a favor. The reason your House was driven into a corner was because I specifically asked the Magocracy to do so." Amaranthine admitted freely, noticing that while others were surprised by her words, Duskclaw and Arjuna's daughter were not. They had clearly considered the possibility.

The boy looked ready to explode, but he managed to control himself. "And why would you do that? We were ruined! Our House was devastated!"

"Because the House Drannor brought it upon themselves. I'm not surprised you don't know, as I doubt the old head of your House would advertise it. However, your House didn't leave for the Magocracy just because there were no suitable deserts close to Teleriand. There are climates suitable for your clan closer by, and other Desert Elf groups live within our borders. No, your House was sent into exile. That happened before my time. In the current generation, the Head of your House specifically asked that I would punish them in a way that would eventually result in the dissolution of your House, so that the younger generation would no longer have to carry the sins of your forebears. This was a way it could be done without actually having several members of your family killed. Now your House will simply fade away with time, and hopefully, the younger generations can find happiness." Amaranthine explained. The decision had been a rather easy one. Fading over time was preferable to a massacre.

"That's…but…" Travan was speechless. He wanted to accuse the Queen of lying, but something told him she was being truthful. It also explained many things that had seemed odd for so long.

Amaranthine noted that the poor boy seemed devastated by the news, and she watched on as he staggered towards the direction of the gardens. "Well, that could've gone better," Duskclaw mumbled. "Sieg, would you mind following him and keeping an eye out, so he won't do something stupid like picking a fight with one of the princes."

"Aye, ma'am." The boy that had been identified as Wolfgang's son gave a small salute and disappeared after the boy from House Drannor. Or what remained of that House anyway.

"Well then." Amaranthine turned towards Arjuna's disciple. "It's been a while Duskclaw. Still chasing after the stick in the mud that's your master?"

Duskclaw grimaced. "I find it gross that the whole thing is obvious enough that even you know about it, but Arjuna still hasn't noticed."

"Oh, he's noticed," Karna interjected. "He just doesn't know what to do about it."

Duskclaw's eyes grew larger. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. He's a little dense when it comes to these kinds of things, but he isn't stupid or blind. He wouldn't have gained his position if he was. However, as long as you don't make a move and force him to act, he won't either. He's too comfortable with the current state of things, and doesn't want to be forced into making a choice. Despite the whole thing being a formality at this point, you are still his disciple, and it would be quite unethical for him to get involved with you. If you took that step, things between you would change dramatically, and he likes things as they are." Karna's tone gave the impression she was explaining the facts of life to a child.

"Quite astute of you." Amaranthine commended. "Especially for one so young."

"Eh. I live with them. It's hard not to notice. That said, I do have another observation to make. I assume you are aware that there are several vampires in this room, correct?" Karna turned towards the Queen.

"I am, though I'm surprised you noticed as well. Can you tell how many?" She simply asked. She'd expected the vampires, as the whole party had been a bait. Capturing the vampires was the main purpose of this event after all. She simply wasn't sure how big of a catch she'd hauled in. She also wanted to make sure none of the kids from the Academy or any of the other guests would be affected.

"I can show you." The girl stated and drew a blood-red rune in the air that looked suspiciously like blood magic. There was none of the evil aura around it however, and as soon as the rune was complete, Amaranthine could see similar red runes floating above several of the guests in the room. It seemed no one else could see the runes either. The number was quite a bit larger than she'd expected and even included two royal guards. It seemed the vampires had been quite busy.

"We'll have to improve the wards around this place." She muttered idly. At least the plan had been a success. And this way they had more targets to interrogate later on. The downside was that there was a possibility of a stronger vampire among them, and a strong enough vampire might be able to resist what they had planned long enough to harm a bystander.

Chapter 42 - ...comes around.

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. Week 5/5 of the practical. We'll return to normal schedule next week. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

Karna and her group watched with surprise and interest as the Queen suddenly channeled a large amount of mana into a pre-built formation. All that power seemed to be absorbed by a complicated spell matrix that suddenly flared to life and covered the entire palace. Pillars of light fell on a number of the guests, the exact same ones that Karna had just marked out for the Queen earlier, and those guests suddenly vanished. The Queen clapped her hands and the sound was amplified by her magic.

"Everybody keep calm." Her voice was laced with another type of spell that seemed to affect everyone's mood. Otherwise many of the guests would be panicking, thinking they were under attack. "The guests that were just transported away are all under suspicion of being vampires and trying to infiltrate the palace in an attempt to spread their kind among the nobility. They will all be tested and questioned. If they're found innocent, then they will be released. That said, if they were innocent, they wouldn't have been affected by the spell in the first place. I understand that this has soured everyone's mood when it comes to this party, so it would be too much to just ask you to continue to celebrate despite what just happened. You can stick around if you want to, but the cold hard fact is that this whole event was designed as a trap to lure out the vampires. There will be another party tomorrow that will hopefully go more smoothly and you're all naturally invited, though we will understand if you do not wish to attend. I promise you that no extra scrutiny will fall on those that choose not to."

Karna silently applauded the Queen's plan in her mind. It was a bold plan, but it was also one that had a good chance of succeeding. Since the guest list was mostly made up of the younger generation of the nobility and their associates, it was the perfect opportunity to catch any people that had been compromised by the vampires among the younger generation, and it was also the best kind of bait for vampires trying to look for potential new targets. Perhaps even royal targets. But as those caught were associates or family of some powerful Houses, there would inevitably be a backlash, even if proof was acquired. As a secondary effect, despite the Queen's words, any guests from this night that didn't show up tomorrow would immediately fall under suspicion as collaborators, as any real collaborators would stay away out of fear of the captured vampires spilling the beans.

"You have a vampire problem?" Karna quietly asked the Queen who was still standing next to them.

"We've had one for years and it's especially bad because it avoids many of our best defenses since we can't really burn the entire city with dragon fire to ferret out a few vampires. The problem is that there are some very powerful vampires behind this problem, and we still haven't been able to catch the ones turning all these people. One of the downsides of having such an old empire is that there could be vampires hiding among any of the old Houses and we wouldn't be able to tell, as we aren't even sure how many members each House has. The Houses have no obligation to accurately report the extent of their numbers or forces. They could've also fostered vampires amongst their number for thousands of years as allies and pawns." The Queen explained. The High Elven court wasn't a very centralized source of power as many of the elven clans had scattered all over the planes. The vampires also weren't universally disliked, so having some as allies was not a crime by itself.

A vampire couldn't turn just anyone into another vampire. The vampires of this universe came in two types. The undead ones were part of the scourge known to hail from the Netherworld, and they worked as spies and infiltrators. Still, there were many holy spells designed to deal with the undead, so those were much easier to handle. The problem was the presence of the other type of vampirism that behaved more like an infection passed down from the vampire to their victims. These living vampires were less numerous, and it took specific measures to turn a living person into one of these vampires. On the other hand, the living vampires that had pure enough bloodline could procreate just like other races, and the pureblood vampires were extremely powerful. Luckily it took a very powerful vampire to turn someone really strong, especially when done against their will.

"We could offer a bit of assistance." Karna sensed another opportunity to complete the diplomatic mission. She had a hunch that the mission had already succeeded the moment the prince had recognized her, but it would be better to gain success using a different method.

"Yes, I noticed you had the ability to mark them. I assume you can do that again?" The Queen had not heard about the kind of spell Karna had used, though that wasn't too uncommon as mages all had their little secrets. The spell had looked a little bit like blood magic, but only very old and very evil people or the most powerful vampires were able to use Thaumaturgy in such precise ways. Karna didn't really fit either category.

"I can, but that's not exactly what I meant. The spell I used can't spot vampires that are old or strong enough to resist it, and the range isn't exactly huge. I'm afraid there's very little I can do about the really powerful vampires out in the city, but I could help you in clearing out the younger ones. I can create artifacts that can be used to track members of the same bloodlines as those you captured." Karna offered.

It had been actually awkwardly close that the Queen's spell would've affected her as well. Strictly speaking, Karna wasn't currently a vampire despite having Awakened the bloodline. She simply gained access to the abilities of the vampires, and she could turn herself into one at will, as she had a vampiric form. She was both a Phoenix and a Titan all the time as those were bloodlines she had been born with, but she could only be counted a proper vampire while she was using the form of one. A very small distinction, but a very important one in this case. Had she been in that form, she would now be among those captured.

"Well, even if it only helps in catching the weaker vampires, that alone would be a great help, as they can be annoying in infecting the normal citizenry. What would you require and when could you have these artifacts ready?" The Queen was quite pleased by the prospect. She'd known it would be a good idea to create bonds with this girl, even if her visions had not revealed that the girl had these kinds of abilities. Her visions about Karna had been rather vague in general, as if she had some sort of protection against her powers, but that alone was quite telling.

"I'd need some materials, including the blood of those vampires you captured, as well as access to your workshops." Karna requested confidently. "As for how long, making these kinds of things will take a bit of time as it would be quite detailed work. I'd say a day if I work hard. The good news is that I can make a couple of them at the same time as there's quite a bit of waiting involved."

"In that case, I'll have to impose on your good will then. We'll make sure the correct materials are delivered." The Queen promised. It would also provide her son the opportunity to approach the girl to make things clear as well, so this worked perfectly. Even if she had other plans for tracking the vampires, the girl's plan would make things easier. She could also use the news of these artifacts to her advantage…

-----

Tethrine was quite pleased with the way his mission was proceeding. He had been able to find several groups of cultists that had ties to the Underworld, and those cults had been thoroughly decimated and questioned. He was quite confident the infection in the old Holy Kingdom had been reduced significantly if not removed almost completely. There would always be some remnants, but those remnants would not be able to cause problems for a time. Luckily the old Holy Kingdom had not been infected for too long before the cults had been discovered by Tethrine's predecessor as the Emissary. That had allowed him to complete the mission much faster than he had assumed.

With the cultists either destroyed or scattered to the wind, he now had time to focus on his other tasks. "And you're certain this Witch of the Starlight Tower has the knowledge we seek?" He asked the silver-clad immortal working as his guard.

"That is what my sources tell me. The witch is supposed to be the best seer on the Higher Planes, rivaling even those on the Divine Planes. With her distance from the Divine planes, her sight would also be unobstructed by the various Divinities." The powerful immortal explained. The problem with seers in the Divine Planes was that many of the gods and other divinities didn't like seers looking into their matters. As such, many obstructions had been put in place. Trying to use the powers of a seer among all those obstructions was like running full speed ahead in a maze filled with invisible walls. Sometimes the walls were too weak to stop you, while sometimes you were stopped dead and banged up by the experience.

The two of them were flying towards the construct known as the Starlight Tower, and the Prince had to re-evaluate things a bit once he got close enough. The tower itself was a spectacular building that seemed to be twinkling with the light of the stars even during the day. It wasn't the appearance of the tower that caused him to reconsider though. There were two very important facets about the tower that he had spotted now that he was so close.

The first one was that the entire building seemed to be made of Starsilver. Starsilver was a magical metal that conducted mana extremely well, just like Mithril and Orichalcum. It wasn't as suitable or rare as the two other magical metals, at least as far as everyone in this universe was aware. Still, the metal was quite rare and was very suitable for very specific types of magic. The entire tower was akin to a magical artifact, and the Prince was quite sure the owner could just pick the tower up and move elsewhere should the Magocracy ever fall. Being in possession of this much Starsilver meant that the owner had to be old enough and powerful enough to both gather and protect this much of the precious material, which meant that she likely could've Ascended a long time ago, and chose not to for some reason.

Secondly, the defensive formations around the tower were so powerful that the prince was quite sure that nothing native to the Higher Planes would be able to force their way inside. The defenses also utilized the special characteristics of Starsilver in ways that the people of this universe were not aware of. The Prince had seen similar techniques before, but not in this life. For them to appear here was rather suggestive of the origin of the person who had made them. "Stay here. I'm going to enter the tower alone." He ordered the guard, who was about to protest but noticed his expression and decided against it. The prince knew he wouldn't be able to speak openly with the guard present.

He wasn't surprised when the defenses of the tower didn't react at all to his presence and allowed him to pass through to the top of the tower. There he found the Witch of the Starlight Tower already waiting with a cup of his favorite beverage already prepared. She was also notably alone as well. Obviously, his arrival had been seen beforehand. The Witch herself was clad from head to toes in heavy robes, and only her eyes were visible. "Welcome, Prince Tethrine Asuryan." The pleasant and husky voice of the woman greeted his arrival.

"It seems I was expected." He retorted wryly, stating the obvious. "Maybe I should've expected that from a seer."

"The Seer, if you don't mind." The woman emphasized the Name in a very specific way, revealing a lot with her words.

"I see. Well, that makes things easier I suppose. You should already know why I'm here." The Prince said calmly and took a sip of the exquisitely prepared drillberry kaf.

"I do, but I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you. I cannot provide you with the answers you seek." The woman replied with an apologetic tone.

"I'm sure we could arrange for a proper reward and even protection if that's what you're looking for." Tethrine offered calmly. He had been prepared to haggle the moment he knew he was dealing with another reincarnator.

"I appreciate the fact that that you started with bribes instead of threats considering how much easier the latter would've been for someone like you, however, you misunderstand me. I'm not refusing to answer because I'm unwilling. I'm refusing to answer because I'm unable to." The woman's words sent a chill down Tethrine's back.

"There aren't all that many ways a being can prevent someone like you from finding someone. That tells me that the child is obviously one of us. Or more likely they're being protected by someone like us. Someone with a Name that stops your powers from working properly?" He proposed. Only a handful of Names could stop the sight of the being that had the Name the Seer. And all of them were bad news. There were other explanations that could work against other seers, but this one…

The woman made a non-committal gesture. "You are free to believe that, and you probably wouldn't be entirely wrong. I'm not at liberty to confirm or deny." Her words implied there was something more. "I know the royal family is interested in finding its wayward members to prevent your blood from falling into wrong hands. I also know that should you fail, your grandfather will have to face the ire of the one above, which in turn would mean you'll have to face the Emperor's displeasure for failing your mission. That said, I will caution you that some missions are not worth succeeding in. There are people whose ill will is more important than even the Heavenly Emperor's."

Tethrine's eyes narrowed. "One of the really dangerous ones then?" He gave a sigh. He wouldn't be punished too badly if he failed this mission considering no one had been able to find the missing child despite the repeated attempts. He'd just be the last in a long chain of failures, and other successes would mitigate that small failure quite a bit. He wasn't quite ready to give up yet though. "Can you at least tell me if I have any hope of finding the child?"

"You have pretty good odds actually. I don't think you should. Or at least I would say that you shouldn't report it if you do." The Seer replied, surprising him with her frank reply. Her answers so far had been rather roundabout, except for this one. It was clear the Seer didn't want to pick sides.

"I will take that under advisement." The Prince said noncommittally. He wouldn't promise anything concrete to the likes of the Seer, as there were ways of making such promises binding.

-------

Karna had been lost in the act of creation for hours when something suddenly triggered her warning spells. The entire workshop had been emptied of people and reserved just for her private use. A glowing orb that looked like a miniature sun floated in front of her, while she was feeding materials into the flames contained by a magical field. Inside, the materials were all broken into their constituent parts and reassembled in very particular ways. Her way of forging often didn't include hammers or tongs. As useful as the old ways sometimes were, the scientifically inclined universes had figured out better ways.

With a snap of her fingers, the process in front of her seemed to become frozen in time, and she walked towards the open doors of the workshop. While walking, she removed the smith's apron she had over the party dress she was still wearing. As she stepped outside, she sat down on the simple bench next to the door and pulled out a small metallic token that she started rolling over her knuckles as she waited. She didn't have to wait long before a pair of corpses was tossed in her direction.

The two bodies seemed to hit some invisible barrier and slid down to lie on the ground. Karna noticed the guards wore the attire of guards from the palace. The whole thing would've been quite threatening, but Karna recognized the two guards and knew things weren't quite as they seemed. "You seem rather relaxed little girl." A melodious voice called out from the surrounding darkness. The night was at its darkest, and even the well-lit palace had long shadows everywhere.

"Why would I not be? Did you think that throwing a pair of your own servants at me would scare me?" Karna retorted. The two guards were among the vampires that had been captured only hours before. "Even if they were real guards, why would I care? They're not my acquaintances or servants."

"How cold little girl." It was hard to tell if the voice was male or female, but something about the way of speaking told Karna it was female. "You should care because you're soon going to share their fate. These guards and many others lost their lives when they stood against me. You're making the same mistake."

"I somehow doubt it. You couldn't have missed the fact that this was another trap." Karna pointed out. The Queen had obviously spread the information about what Karna was making on purpose to lure the more powerful vampires out. Karna's identity or the exact nature of the artifact would not be involved in those leaks of course.

"My, aren't we confident little girl. The problem with traps is that they only really work if the target is unaware of their existence and if the trap is strong enough to catch the prey. I'm not entirely sure how you managed to spot my approach, but I made sure you wouldn't be able to send a message out. The Queen and her elite guards are a little busy at the moment. Even if they wanted to come and save you, they wouldn't arrive in time. Are you hoping that the prince currently gazing longingly at this place is enough to save you? Because if you are, I'll have to disappoint you." The velvety voice pointed out.

"And yet, you're still talking," Karna stated the obvious. If the vampire wanted her dead, playing for time was not a good idea, as whatever was distracting the guards would eventually lose its effect. Karna knew what was making the vampire so nervous. The being could recognize something was off about Karna and wanted to find out what it was. The information about the prince was news though, even if not entirely surprising or comforting.

"Have it your way then. My clan likes to handle things a little more elegantly usually, but I'm not above using a little bit of violence." Suddenly a crimson-clad woman appeared from the darkness and dashed towards Karna with the clear intent to kill.

Chapter 43 - Roses are red

A note from Vihyungrang

Yes, that's a World of Darkness reference. And yes, the vampire kind of assumes Karna is a Tremere of sorts. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

The sharp claws of the vampire woman slashed towards Karna’s throat as the rather alluring woman crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Before they reached her though, they crashed against a glowing barrier. The barrier was not strong enough to withstand the blow, as it cracked and crumbled under the power of the attack. However, it was enough to buy a few precious seconds. "Don't think your little turtle shell is enough to save you, little girl!" The vampire shouted gleefully, bloodlust radiating from her eyes. Something about Karna roused a thirst inside the vampire, the sort of thirst only a few beings could. The girl likely had a powerful bloodline!

Karna didn’t waste time in replying. Magical beings had a ranking of their own, aside from any abilities they gained as mages or warriors, and the magical beings could grow in power and rankings just by growing older and learning to use their abilities better. Karna could tell from the blow against the barrier that the vampire was at the eighth rank, and not someone that had recently reached that rank either. After reaching the sixth rank, no matter if you were a magical being or a mage, the difficulty increased exponentially, and the differences between different beings of the same rank became more pronounced. She knew that a direct confrontation of strength with a vampire of that rank would end badly for her despite her powerful Aura and Titan bloodline.

In a flash of white flames, Karna assumed the form of a Phoenix that had grown to the size of a human, and seemed to disappear in a burst of sparks and lightning. “Oh no you won’t!” The vampire cursed, and suddenly a field preventing spatial magic locked the area down. She had not wanted to do this, because using the field was effectively announcing her presence to everyone in the palace as every skilled magician could follow the magic creating the field to the creator. Her time had grown very limited suddenly, but it was better than allowing her prey to escape.

Karna’s Shift had been interrupted midway, and she materialized in the sky above the palace. She had managed to create distance, but she had not managed to escape fully. As she glanced down, she could see the vampire woman flying towards her. Dozens of other high-ranking vampires were assaulting the palace at the same time and hundreds of low-ranking vampires and thralls kept most of the guards busy for the time being. It seemed the vampires had been planning some kind of attack for a long time, but Karna’s appearance had forced their hand and moved their plans forward. They obviously didn’t know exactly what kind of artifact she was creating. This attack would not end well for the vampires, but it might take a bit of time for help to arrive.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a barrage of what looked a lot like giant thorns were launched at her by the female vampire. She easily dodged them in the air with her speed and agility, but the barrage showed no signs of abating. “Toreadors!” She scoffed at the vampire, loud enough to be heard. “Always so dramatic and flashy, but without substance.” She suddenly started flying away from the approaching vampire, creating further distance between them. The speed of a Phoenix was really something to behold, as she darted around the projectiles fired in her direction.

“I would’ve been surprised by the fact that you know the name of our clan, if I had not seen the Thaumaturgic runes protecting the workshop. You should call out your teacher little girl. You’re not going to survive otherwise.” The vampire called out. The vampire wasn’t slow either, and unlike Karna, she could fly in a straight line.

“On the contrary. I think I’m surviving just fine.” Karna taunted as she flew around above the palace. The elves would be fine. Despite the presence of dozens of high-ranking vampires, this was the capital of the elven court. The mountains around them were filled with dragons, and many of the elite of the elves were in the city, including the Queen. Although notably, the most battle-hardened veterans were absent. Curious. Still, the vampires had no chance in a direct confrontation, and Karna very much doubted that was the point of this attack. They were here for something else, and the attack was just meant to buy time and work as a distraction. And the vampire after her was just here to make sure her artifact would not be able to track any surviving vampires after the attack. Thus, Karna simply needed to buy time.

Suddenly a flash of sword ki reached the flying vampire, knocking her off her trajectory and causing the irate vampire to crash into one of the spires of the palace. The sword ki had moved so quickly that even Karna had to nod in appreciation. Prince Cendirion used his own powers to fly up to the sky and he hovered protectively between Karna and the vampire. “The only way you’ll lay a hand on her, vampire, is over my dead body.”

“A bad choice of words little prince.” The vampire appeared from the hole her crash had created in the spire. “Just because you managed to catch me by surprise, that doesn’t mean you’re my match. I think my master would like it if I brought the corpse of a prince back with me, along with the flaming and sparkly chicken behind you.”

Karna cursed silently. She had been hoping that this vampire was the strongest of the bunch, but of course she wouldn't be. And now that the prince had gotten involved, she couldn't just fly around to buy time either. She didn't really owe anything to the prince, but it would be a bit too much to just leave him to die after he'd come to 'rescue' her. The only good thing was that the clan the vampire belonged to was not a combat-oriented one, so she hoped the 'master' was of the same clan and was busy elsewhere.

A giant eye seemed to open in the empty air above the vampire, and a beam of deadly red energy shot towards the prince. Cendirion prepared to meet the attack head-on, but was shocked when a huge pillar of some dark crystalline stone seemed to materialize out of a magic circle, right on the path of the attack. The attack seemed to easily smash the stone, sending debris falling down towards the palace grounds, but the impact also shifted the direction of the attack enough to cause it to miss the prince.

“You really shouldn’t take attacks from a vampire like that. Even if you manage to block the attack, the Toreador are known for their ability to affect the minds of their targets, and their attacks also carry that trait. A single attack might not be enough to affect you, but it stacks up.” Karna explained as she flew next to the prince.

“In that case, I’ll have to thank you. Though…I would’ve preferred if you had chosen another method.” Cendirion muttered as the debris fell on the palace gardens, doing quite a bit of damage to the flower beds and trees. He had decided not to comment on Karna’s appearance, but it explained some things in his mind.

“Eh, the plants will recover with the help of a decent druid, which I doubt the elves lack. You won’t if you get yourself killed." Karna stated, and dodged another attack aimed at her this time. To her annoyance, the arrow-shaped energy only looped around and retargeted towards her, showing that the attack was of the homing type.

“Do the two of you think you really have time to flirt?” The vampire huffed in annoyance. As much as she had boasted earlier, she knew that the prince likely had enough skill and experience to stretch the fight out if given the opportunity. Especially with the aid of the annoying girl that seemed to know too much. She had to hurry.

A blood-red aura suddenly surrounded the woman and an apparition created from a combination of Aura and mana materialized behind her. The apparition looked like a forest of bloody roses, and the petals all seemed to be as sharp as razor blades. Millions of petals suddenly detached from the roses and seemed to come together to form a tidal wave of death and danger as they flew towards the prince. At the same time, she launched several more of the homing attacks towards Karna from the eye floating above her, as well as sending a smaller portion of the petals to attack her. Apparently, the eye allowed her to eschew the need for chants and empowered the spells, while also aiding in her control over the petals.

The prince released several bursts of powerful sword energy to scatter the petals aiming towards him, while dodging the rest with relative ease, but the problem was that he only managed to buy time with his actions, as the destroyed petals regenerated and reformed into smaller waves of danger and reached towards him. That didn’t leave him much time to attack the vampire. In the meantime, Karna flew around the swarm of attacks aimed towards her. The attacks were not strong enough to truly hurt her, but they were strong enough that it would be bad if one hit, as that would disrupt her enough to allow the others to hit as well. And that would definitely hurt her. Defying the expectations of both Cendirion and the vampire, she flew directly at the bloodsucker hovering in place.

The eyes of the vampire narrowed as she realized Karna's intent. Clearly, the girl wanted to use the vampire herself as a shield against the attacks. With most of her power directed towards the petals attacking the prince, it would not be safe for her to take her own attacks either. Assuming she was foolish enough to allow her own spells to hit her. “Fine. Have it your way then.” The vampire growled and flew to meet Karna midway. The moment they reached each other, several things happened.

The vampire slashed at Karna's fiery form with her claws, though her slash only met empty air as Karna's form had suddenly turned into a burst of flames that seemed to flow around the vampire. The vampire had expected something like that. "Did you think I was dumb enough to be struck by my own attack?!" She growled and canceled the projectiles and slashed behind her where she could sense the girl retaking her form. To her shock, the vampire found that what she slashed at wasn't in the form of a fiery and somewhat intangible bird anymore, but a large and solid angelic-looking being with golden armor, holding a large golden shield in place.

“No. I caught you.” The girl that had returned to her original form retorted as she appeared from behind what must have been some sort of spirit, her hand glowing with ominous black glow. The vampire could sense the wild and deadly power and shuddered as she identified the power of the True Dark element. She tried to dodge but couldn't at this range as a lance of darkness punched through her resistance against most magic and pushed straight into her torso. She did manage to retaliate though, and just like her, the girl was unable to dodge at the range as a blood-red arrow of magic pierced the girl's abdomen, though only barely for some reason.

For any weaker being, an attack like this would've been fatal, but vampires had great fortitude, and despite being the most dangerous element, the attack made of Dhar didn’t quite have the power to kill her in one strike. The vampire was shocked by her injury but managed to recover enough to turn her body into a swarm of bats that scattered in all directions. "She's all yours prince." Karna coughed out, and a rain of sword ki suddenly fell on the fleeing bats, cutting them all down. The petals had lost cohesion as soon as the vampire had been seriously wounded, leaving Cendirion free to strike as well.

Karna grimaced a bit as Gem carried her to the ground. The wound in her abdomen wasn’t too bad, but she was disappointed she’d taken the wound in the first place. The whole thing should’ve been much easier, but the vampire had been stronger than she’d expected. If the vampire had also been more skilled and experienced in battle, then the whole thing could’ve been actually dangerous. Despite the situation being somewhat against her, she’d underestimated the danger and taken an unnecessary risk with her last strike. She’d have to take things more seriously to avoid such problems in the future. She had prepared certain surprises earlier in case the situation turned truly desperate, but the presence of the prince and the fact that they were above the palace had stopped her from using most of them. It would be bad for diplomacy if she accidentally harmed the prince or burned a chunk of the palace.

“I should’ve gone with an attack instead of just holding up a shield," Gem muttered. "I got distracted by the fact that the situation was so similar to the one we faced during the tournament and prioritized protection over attacking. In the end, I didn't even manage to prevent the vampire's last attack.” Despite her strength, Gem still had to work with the confines of the power Karna supplied her, and that meant most of her most useful abilities were still unusable.

“Are you alright?” The prince landed next to Gem, who was still holding Karna. His voice was genuinely concerned. Even if his presence had drawn away most of the vampire’s powers, Karna and the spirit holding her had done most of the work against the much higher-ranked being.

“I’ll be fine. Go help your family. I know you’re worried.” Karna waved away his concern. Gem was already using the angelic powers that came with her current form to heal the wound in Karna’s abdomen.

“Fine. But we need to talk after this is over.” The prince said firmly.

“What about?” Karna grunted. Maybe avoidance was the wrong path after all. She had hoped to ignore the issue, but it seemed the prince wanted a clear response. While understandable, it was also what Karna had wanted to avoid with going out anonymously that night.

“You know.” The prince said firmly.

“I’m quite sure I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now go.” Karna waved the prince away. She still had an artifact to create, and the current situation was only more reason to make one. Drama could wait.

------

“This is a disaster!” Amaranthine fumed as she cleaved another vampire in half with the glowing blade extending out from the top of her staff. “How in the scourges did they manage to sabotage the defensive formations of the palace?” She asked angrily from the captain of the palace guard.

The rank nine warrior grimaced at the rather deserved rebuke. “I’m ashamed to admit that the pair of guards we caught during the party were not the only ones affected by the vampires. Or in this case, I should say their allies. Several guards that were definitely not vampires or even their thralls attacked the core holding the formations. They managed to catch us by surprise as we were too secure in the expectation that only vampires or their thralls would do something like that. They didn’t manage to destroy the core, but they did disable it for long enough to allow this mess to occur.”

“Report! I want to know who we lost, and what was taken! I also want to know if my family and our guests are ok!” The Queen shouted as the last of the vampires fell. She’d already gotten word of the rest escaping. “Divines forbid if something happened to Arjuna’s daughter. He’s going to kill me. She was supposed to be safe here.” She muttered. How did the plan go awry in such a spectacular way?

The guards were relaying information back and forth with magical means, and no one spoke for a moment. Amaranthine could sense the defensive formations coming back to full power, and she could see several of the dragon princes flying above the palace. That was one of the downsides of relying on dragons as a major part of your military might. The powerful beings were excellent when it came to wars and battles between armies, but they weren't exactly at their best when it came to delicate fights inside something like the palace or the city. It also took precious minutes to call the dragon princes back to the palace, and it’s not like the dragons could use their full power without destroying the palace in the process. Infiltrators like the vampires were the best way to attack the elven capital, especially when backed up by traitors.

‘We’re going to have to pay more attention to personal training of warriors and mages from this point on.’ She decided. It wasn’t like the elves didn’t have powerful individuals, but those individuals were mostly under the command of the noble Houses and thus scattered all around the elven lands. Or they had been sent out to give the vampires the impression that the palace was vulnerable. Which turned out to be more true than it should’ve been.

“My Queen, we have news.” The Guard captain reported. “The losses among the guards are relatively minor considering the sudden nature of the attack and the power of the enemies. The guards may not have done the best of jobs in spotting the threat, but they did do a good job in the battle itself, and most of the vampires are dead. The royal family seems to be safe. The vampires didn’t go for them, and the only member of the family to even be involved in the battle was prince Cendirion. He and the girl known as Karna defeated one of the high-ranked vampires together. The guard who ran into Cendirion mentioned that the girl was injured, but not badly. Apparently, her spirit is already taking care of it. Anaire tried to get involved, but the guards stopped her.”

“Good.” The Queen said firmly. Anaire getting herself involved in the battle and possibly taken as a hostage would’ve been a real problem. “We owe the girl an apology. We were supposed to keep her safe as we sprung the trap, and look at this disaster!”

“Speaking of disasters, I have bad news. Some of the vampires managed to force their way into the treasury. They didn’t have much time inside before the spells protecting the place forced them out, but it seems they knew what they were looking for. A handful of items went missing, and among them are two items that fell down from the Divine Planes.” The guard captain reported.

“Which ones?” Amaranthine rubbed her forehead in frustration. This was supposed to be a trap, and traps didn’t work like this. The vampires had come prepared and with a plan, albeit a hasty one. Whoever led them was obviously gifted tactically.

“The Chalice of Bathori, and the Scepter of Dominance.” The guard captain reported. “The other items were also powerful and significant, but not on the same scale.”

“The Chalice I understand, as it can help the vampires in turning powerful individuals, but the Scepter…” Amaranthine narrowed her eyes in suspicion. The Scepter would be of little use to the vampires. Their allies on the other hand… “Who were the guards that attacked the core?”

“The reports are not complete on that front, but apparently they were from various Houses from the Old Gods faction.” The answer wasn’t one Amaranthine had wanted, but it was what she had suspected.

“The Scepter was taken as payment. It seems we might have an internal struggle on our hands. The Chalice the bloodsuckers can keep, as it likely means they’ll find another place to make their home. Pursuing them won’t be worth the continuous trouble if they keep returning to get the Chalice.” The Queen speculated. Now that the vampires had gotten what they wanted, they no longer needed to risk staying in the elven lands where they were going to be hunted with renewed vigor. While the vampires had been a problem before, they had not been a big enough one to warrant the mobilization of all the elven forces. With the attack on the palace, that had changed. “The Scepter we’ll need to reclaim though.”

“I do have some good news." The guard captain suddenly stated. "The guards we sent to safeguard Karna and the workshop mentioned something. Apparently, the girl can make the artifact a lot more powerful now that she got blood from the high-ranking vampire that attacked her and the prince. According to what she told the guards, the artifact might be able to track down the vampire’s master as well.”

“That is good news. I want you to gather some of the Dragon Princes we can trust absolutely. It is likely that the vampires are hiding among the noble Houses. Once the artifact leads us to our quarry, I want the whole area quarantined. If they surrender, great. If not, I want the whole place burnt down with dragon fire. We need to make an example of what happens to Houses that think we've grown soft." The Queen declared. She also planned on calling up her personal guard for this operation, as she needed troops she could rely on absolutely. The palace guards were generally loyal, but they were also politically motivated much of the time. And if she ordered them to eradicate a noble House? Well, that could be a problem. Sometimes she hated elven politics.

Chapter 44 - The talk

A note from Vihyungrang

Phew, finally. It took quite a few chapters for the two to get to this point. For those that dislike the prince, don't worry. He's not going to be a permanent fixture. I hope you'll enjoy!

Also as a side note, has anyone noticed that it's hard to write when you're busy playing Cyberpunk? Well, I have. Good thing I have a couple more chapters written out already!

------

”Are you absolutely sure that this thing is working as it should?” The Queen asked with a small frown. Unlike the two of them, most of the capital city was taking part in the grand celebration for the two princes, including Karna’s friends. The word about the battle with the vampires had spread, but the royal family had enacted hasty repairs, and the party was taking place to give the impression that the whole thing was not a big deal.

The Queen’s subordinates on the other hand had followed Amaranthine’s orders to a letter, following the guidance of the odd-looking artifact that Karna had created, and now surrounded the place where the vampires had escaped to. Dozens of dragons and their extremely powerful riders surrounded an enormous estate. The dragons were flanked by mute guards that wore golden scale mail. The Queen had gone all out in taking along people that she could rely on, so all of the guards and Dragon Princes were people that served the royal family personally. As for the artifact the Queen was holding, anyone that had spent time in a more tech-rich universe would recognize the artifact as a very advanced looking scanner. To the Queen though, the whole thing just looked strange.

“I’m quite sure. Judging by your expression, I’m guessing you don’t like the results you’re getting.” Karna replied. The two of them were surrounded by the elite of the elite among the elven soldiers, and Gem stood protectively above Karna in all the glory of her angelic form.

“You guess correctly. Not because the people at the estate are friends. It’s the exact opposite. They’re members of the faction of the court that revere the old gods, and they’re something of a rival to us. It’s just…” The Queen was hesitant to speak further.

“Dealing with them will have heavy political ramifications I assume?” Karna could guess what the problem was.

“Indeed. Well. It’s not something you’ll need to worry about.” Amaranthine knew there would be trouble in the coming years, but she didn’t need to burden Arjuna’s daughter with such things. And the artifact was telling her that several vampires were inside the mansion. After the attack on the palace, there weren’t all that many vampires left in the city, although they too were currently a little outside the city proper.

They waited for several minutes until one of the guards in golden armor approached them. These guards were clearly different from the usual ones protecting the palace. These people were battle-hardened and Karna could sense that they had all gone through countless battles, unlike the more ceremonial guards that usually protected the palace. There was a kind of hardness and an edge to them even when they were just standing still like statues, waiting for the command to attack. It wasn't just the rank of these people that made them dangerous, although they were strong in that regard as well. These people were warriors and veterans, not your standard guards. The Queen had pulled these people from somewhere else. Somewhere where they saw constant battle.

“So?” The Queen asked. The guard simply shook his head. “I’m not sure if I should be happy that they refused to surrender, or sad. It makes things much simpler, but…” She shook her head. The refusal to surrender also left her with little choice.

“Should I…?” Karna made a gesture of leaving. She was clearly in the wrong place here if things turned into a battle.

“You should, but it wouldn’t matter. There will be no battle here today. Only death.” The Queen gave a signal and the dragons took flight with their riders. When they were all above the estate, the dragons all opened their maws and gave a perfect example of why their kind were so feared in battle. The entire grounds of the enormous estate were soon covered in flames of the kind that could not be put down with simple spells or water. The dragon fire also easily punched through the defensive formations that had been layered around the ancient estate over the centuries. These were not young dragons fresh to their powers, but ancient wyrms with abilities that allowed them to all but ignore defensive magic. The oldest golden scaled dragon that was the size of a small mountain released a breath that lanced down like a laser and caused a small mushroom cloud to cover what remained of the entire estate.

The devastation was complete. The golden armored guards kept their sharp senses peeled in case someone tried to escape, but no one managed to survive the fire. Even the buildings had been reduced to nothing but specks of dust. Karna was reminded of an old song she’d heard.

“No one could outrun the crash
it was all reduced to rubble

And then again to ash

To the blinding burning light

It’s no use to fight

There’s no one out there.” She sang quietly.

“What does your artifact tell you?” The Queen finally asked once the sound of Karna’s voice had gone quiet.

"There's no one out there," Karna repeated. The scanner showed that the closest vampires of the same bloodline were out of range.

“Any tunnels underground or spatial disturbances?” The Queen raised her voice a bit more, addressing the golden-armored guards. The mute guards only shook their heads. This wasn’t the first time had to do something like this. They knew all the tricks the enemy could pull to hide from their senses.

“Go through the rubble. Make sure there are no surprises. See if you can find the artifacts. Something from the Divine Plane should be able to survive the devastation. Though I suspect the Chalice at least is long gone.” She ordered, and several of the warriors dashed towards the devastation.

“Now we’ll have to return to the party and act as if nothing happened.” The Queen stated firmly as she turned towards Karna.

"I'll have to swing by the inn first. I haven't had the chance to wash up or change clothes since the attack last night." Karna shrugged. She didn't really feel like taking part in a celebration, but she had to perform her diplomatic duties. She had already done enough, but it would leave a bad taste in her mouth if she half-assed things right at the end.

“I believe you’ve earned that and more. I would like to reward you personally for what you’ve done, though I suspect you’ll refuse.” The Queen had already gotten a rather decent impression on Karna.

“Well, you could throw enough spirit stones my way that I can cast a couple high ranked spells when necessary.” Karna surprised the Queen with her request though.

“Sure. That can be arranged.” Amaranthine nodded. “Anything else?”

“Keep your son away from me during the party. I know you were behind the whole thing with him, so now you can be the one to deal with it. I get why you orchestrated the whole affair, and I don’t really mind as I had fun as well. He served his purpose well. However, I don't need him making passes at me when I'm not interested in anything further.” Karna decided to dump the issue with Cendirion on the Queen’s lap.

To her surprise, the Queen burst into laughter. “Poor Cendirion. He really doesn’t know what kind of person he fell for. Still, I can understand where you’re coming from. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. I can’t blame him too much for his fascination or persistence though.” She gave Karna a rather blatantly evaluating look and nodded in approval. “I certainly wouldn’t mind if something were to develop between the two of you, but I can’t and won’t force it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I want to accomplish my diplomatic mission that way." Karna shook her head and turned to leave. "As I said, I'll let this one slide since it also fulfilled my needs and there was no harm done, but I don’t really enjoy someone trying to manipulate me.”

---------

“So what are you planning to do now?” Karna questioned Travan as the two of them stood on the balcony overlooking the celebration going on down below them. Karna had arrived late to the party, but no one had questioned it as she had a special permission from the Queen. Her late arrival was definitely noticed though, as she did tend to draw attention.

“I’m...not sure to be honest. This mission didn’t go the way I expected. I have a lot to think about and I'll need to bring word to my family, so in that sense, I should probably return immediately. On the other hand, it might be better if I could get my mind off the whole thing, and traveling with you guys would be a great way to accomplish that." He felt genuinely lost.

“Well, you’ll need to come to a decision relatively soon. I think you’re welcome to join us, but it should be mentioned that I have no idea how long it will take us to return back home. If you don’t’ take this opportunity to go back, then it’s hard to say when the next opportunity will come.” Karna pointed out the obvious problem.

“I know. That’s what makes the whole thing so difficult.” Travan had also realized the issue. “I suppose I really should go back.” He scratched his hair, unsure of himself.

"Karna," Duskclaw called out as she approached the two of them. Karna simply nodded and smiled as a return greeting. “I think it’s fair to say that your mission here was a success. I can promise you a very good grade. Miralen didn’t do too badly either. She made a connection with the younger prince. No, not that kind of connection, get your mind out of the gutter. They became friends. Or at least friendly.” Duskclaw saw Karna’s grin and pre-empted the obvious joke.

“Good for her, although I have my suspicions. As for the grade, after what we accomplished? Yeah, I’d expect to get a good grade. This was supposed to just be a diplomatic visit.” Karna laughed. “What happens next?”

“Well, that’s what I came here to talk about. It seems the Emissary has returned to the Magocracy, so returning there might be a bit iffy. The problem is that the dimensional highways that would take us to our destination also originate from the Magocracy, and it’s not like the Academy has ships capable of making the trip stationed around the elven lands.” Duskclaw pointed out.

“Tsumi and Arjuna could probably both arrange a pickup…” Karna suggested.

“True enough, but that still leaves the route problem. We’d need to use the elven routes which won’t go directly towards our destination, and for that, we'll need the permission and guidance of the elves. Navigators don’t like sharing their secret paths.” Duskclaw argued.

“Well, the Queen does owe me…” Karna’s eye twitched a bit. She could already sense a potential headache coming, as she could sense what the issue would be.

Sure enough, she was right. The Queen actually grimaced almost apologetically. "I can arrange that, but Cendirion will most likely want to join you. I can't really argue against his participation either. He's among the most experienced people to travel the planes, and he would be an excellent guide. Plus, the captain of his vessel is an excellent navigator. It would also be good experience for him. He's eager to return to his training and…well we both know something or someone else he's rather eager about as well. He has many good arguments to make and he's honestly perfect for the job. I could overrule him, but to stop him from following you, I'd have to ground him effectively. And for that, I'd need a proper reason."

Karna knew that the Queen could stop the prince from going, but it would take a royal decree to confine him to the palace, as Cendirion was free to travel as he pleased. And as much as the Queen liked Karna and was thankful for the aid she’d provided against the vampires, she wasn’t going to effectively order her son’s house arrest just for some romantic foibles. “Fine. I’ll need to make things clear to him eventually anyway.” Karna decided. She knew from experience that leaving such things hanging could create more problems than it was worth. She had hoped to avoid the discussion, but it seemed that attempt had failed.

“I could see if he wants to take his sister along. Anaire could keep him in line and she’s been expressing her wish to travel with her brother for a while now…” The Queen extended an olive branch. She knew Anaire would make sure her brother would not get creepy. Not that she believed her son to fall that low anyway.

---------

In the end, the Queen's solution also provided them with a vessel they could use. Instead of a large military vessel, they were traveling with a smaller yacht that was apparently prince Cendirion’s private vessel. As he often traveled with companions, the yacht was easily large enough for all of them, although they had to bunk in pairs. Along with the group and the two royals, the yacht also had a small handful of elven crew to take care of the vessel when Cendirion was off fighting and ‘gaining experience’.

“Welcome aboard the Shining Star! The trip this time will take a while as we have to take some detours, but it should be relatively safe.” The female captain greeted them enthusiastically.

With a bit of amusement, Karna noted the way the captain was looking at Cendirion. Clearly, there was something going on between them, which was confirmed by the awkward look the elven prince wore at the moment. Obviously, the prince had not been living a celibate life before this, and the good captain was probably one of his previous partners. The awkwardness was enough amusement for Karna to let go of her troubles with the Prince. This whole thing could be amusing after all.

Princess Anaire on the other hand was filled with enthusiasm. She had a good impression of the group of students, and she was excited to finally get out and test her wings in the wider universe. She’d stuck pretty close to the elven capital so far, even though her training would allow something a bit more adventurous. “So we meet again.” Anaire had a genuinely happy smile as she greeted Miralen. She had seen the way the brown-skinned elven girl had fended off Finuwar’s advances, while also staying courteous and even befriending the prince. It had been quite tactful and impressed Anaire greatly.

“Princess.” Miralen still remained a little bashful, which was a little odd for her. That was mainly because the elven royals had a special meaning to the elves of this world.

“Now, none of that nonsense. We’ll be companions on this trip, and I won’t have you treating me like that the entire time!” Anaire mock-scolded the girl. Both of them smiled at the easy companionship they felt already developing.

The two of them quickly got lost in conversation, exchanging stories and little amusing tidbits. The more they talked, the more they found they got along. “Is there something going on with your brother?” Miralen finally asked at one point.

They both looked towards the prince who seemed somewhat awkward and didn’t seem to know what to do. “I’m not sure what’s going on. He’s been acting odd for several days now, especially when that Karna girl is around. In fact, my brother’s been acting weird ever since the first night of the festival.” Anaire complained.

“The first ni…OHH!” A realization hit Miralen. She put two and two together as she remembered that Karna had rather bluntly revealed what she had been up to that night. And she had also acted a little odd around the prince.

“What?” Anaire looked at Miralen sharply. “You realized something, didn’t you?”

“Well, this is just a guess. I think your brother and Karna might have run into each other the first night.” Miralen whispered conspiratorially. Normally she wouldn’t divulge something like this, but the idea was just way too juicy to keep to herself.

"Run into…OHH!" A realization hit Anaire as well. She looked at Karna with more interest “Well, I suppose I’ll let that slide then.” She couldn’t really judge her brother now that she had seen Karna in person. “But why is brother so awkward around her? It’s not like he’s never had any partners before.”

Miralen just shrugged. “That’s for them to figure out. What about you? You seem excited about this trip.”

“Well, I’ve always wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps and become a cultivator of great power. Mother is just more protective over me as I’m a girl. Now I get the chance to go out and find out things on my own.” Anaire stated excitedly, still taking glances towards Cendirion and Karna as the two seemed to slip on the deck of the yacht, though separately.

“Well, I can somewhat understand the concern, though it’s not fair. There are worse things that could happen to girls like us out there.” Miralen speculated. The two went on to argue about the merits of gender for a cultivator for a while.

-----

“I was starting to wonder if you were going to ignore me the whole trip.” Cendirion pointed out as he stood next to Karna, leaning on the railing of the ship

“I was seriously considering it, but it's easier to just confront things head-on. So let's clear the air. It seems you're hung up on that night." Karna turned to look at the prince directly, instead of staring at the sea of trees below them. The ship had already taken off and was traveling towards the spatial channels.

“Well, you can’t say you didn’t enjoy that night as well. I remember quite clearly that you enjoyed our time together even more than I did, if possible.” Cendirion pointed out.

"I can't and won't argue that. I did enjoy our time together. That's it, however. I'm not looking for anything further. It seems you’re different in that regard.” Karna didn’t dance around the subject.

“I…you’re right. I was fascinated by you the moment I saw you. I admit that I’m quite smitten. I would really like it if that night was a sign of many more to come and wouldn’t just remain a memory of our only time together.” Cendirion felt a little awkward but managed to express himself. He wasn’t used to asking someone to start a relationship with him.

“See, I didn’t ever want to meet my partner of that night again, because it would make things awkward, just like this. That’s why I went out masked. That said, that ship has sailed. I’m a young woman with needs, and I would not mind fulfilling those needs with someone like you, except I don’t think you could remain emotionally distant enough.” Karna stated. The situation was what it was, so all she could do was to make the best of it.

"What do you mean? Why would you even care if I could remain detached if you don't want to form a bond? And would it be so bad if something further did develop between us?" Cendirion asked with a frown.

“Well, here’s the thing. I have absolutely no intention of being a one man’s woman or getting into a relationship. Besides, just because you have some feelings for me, that doesn’t mean I have them for you. Nor that I would develop any, or want to develop any. As I said, I'm a young woman with needs and desires, and many of those don't include you. If you allowed yourself to get even more emotionally involved than now, what would happen if I decided to indulge myself with someone else? This is a small ship. Could you handle it if you had to listen to me indulging myself, with say Sieg? Or the captain?” Karna bluntly explained the issue.

She didn’t want a relationship. She just wanted a bit of fun. It was just a fact that she’d done the monogamous relationship thing so many times before in previous lives, that she just desired something different and more fun this time around, especially if this was going to be her last life. That’s why she had made those changes to her body in the first place. She’d expected and planned for a life filled with all sorts of pleasures. And a steady monogamous relationship would simply be in the way. Besides, she had no feelings for the prince. He was a decent enough guy, but nothing that would make her develop deeper feelings.

“I…don’t know. I doubt I could be blasé about it.” Cendirion admitted. He didn’t consider himself jealous by nature, but he didn’t like the thought now that it was presented to him.

“And there you have it.” Karna turned away. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend or a husband. If you can’t deal with that, then you can’t deal with me.”

-----

Chapter 45 - Singing up a Storm

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I was tempted to give this chapter a single + but it didn't really warrant one. I hope you'll enjoy!

As a side note, I had a specific song in mind when I added the song part to the chapter. Yes, it was because I'm playing so much Cyberpunk, I admit. What can I say, the game has baller music at points. I'll add a link to the song, though if you haven't played the game yet, I'd avoid the comments, which are full of spoilers for the best bits of the game.

https://youtu.be/Ihdo3vPFK9Y

-------

Even while using one the magical pathways connecting the planets of a single plane, travel between worlds took some time. That was especially true if the path they took was one that didn’t see frequent traffic, as the more often traversed pathways developed and became more efficient. Some ships had the power to travel between worlds almost instantly, but even those ships usually required a mage of at least eighth rank to power that fast travel. Even better if the mage had talents in spatial magic. Or they required a special type of attunement to the target world, which was almost as rare.

The yacht they were currently on didn’t have a mage like that, and even if they had, the trip would leave the mage exhausted, so they wouldn’t have used that method. They were not in a hurry anyway, as a large purpose of this whole trip was to keep Karna away from the Magocracy. Not that most of the group was fully aware of that fact. While luxurious and quite sizeable, the yacht was still small enough to provide limited opportunities for entertainment. Serious sparring was off-limits as bursts of too powerful energy could disturb their travel. As students in search of power, they all had the option of cultivating and meditating to pass the time, but they were still young and relatively easily bored. There was only so much cultivation they could do continuously without the drudgery getting to them.

“What’s the most interesting spell you’ve ever used?” Mayumi asked mostly to pass time as the two were walking towards the common areas from the cabin they shared.

“Huh. That’s a difficult question. There are many to choose from, but the one that first comes to mind is a spell that used the power of sound. It has many names and countless ways to use it, but one name I’ve heard used is the Song of Khali.” Karna tapped her chin in thought. “It’s a way to infuse your voice with emotions and feelings, which then forces them on the ones listening. It can be used to cause pain, drive someone insane, or even bring someone happiness or pleasure. It’s a versatile ability. It’s also very different from normal spellcasting.” The two of them reached their destination and walked into the room that was already occupied by the other people on board.

“I heard you have skills when it comes to music. Maybe you could demonstrate?” Mayumi asked Karna in the form of a suggestion.

“Where’d you hear that?” Karna asked, a little surprised. She hadn’t spent that much time playing instruments in this life.

"Well, you mentioned it during one of the stories you told me," Mayumi replied, She wanted to point out that it was one of those times where they talked about their previous lives, but as they were in the company of others, that was not possible.

"You were also playing an instrument when I first saw you. As I recall, you were dueling one of the court bards musically. And winning.” Cendirion pointed out.

"I'm surprised you remember that," Karna muttered quietly.

“What was that?” The Prince asked, having not heard her words.

“Nothing. Well, sure, I can play. Just keep in mind that you asked for it.” Karna gave a wry smile. “It can be done in a very subtle way since music often evokes emotion and this is just an extension of that, but many people find it quite disconcerting to have emotions forced on them, no matter how benign.”

Karna conjured up a bow and a large stringed instrument out of what looked like nothing but light and mana. When she started playing, her mouth kept moving, though no sound came out. Yet at the same time, the sounds produced by her instrument seemed to be impossible to have been created by a single instrument, not to mention a stringed instrument in the first place. There was also a sort of female voice that seemed to be half singing and half chanting.

The song itself started of hauntingly and gave them a profoundly uncomfortable feeling, then they suddenly felt like a calm before a storm, and like they were all standing before a choice that was the most pivotal in their entire lives, and they were filled with the almost certain knowledge that whatever they decided, the result would not be happiness and rainbows. Finally, they felt a tangible feeling of gut-wrenching loss, as if someone had just taken something important from them, a result of their 'choice'.

“That was…” Mayumi managed to say. “I was expecting you to play something happy.”

“Sometimes life isn’t filled with purely pleasant things. Besides, I wanted to show you the results of the magic in a way that wasn’t just making you feel pleasant. Messing with magic like this can be dangerous, and shouldn’t be just fun and games. I went easy on you. That feeling of loss? That could be amplified a thousand times, causing the listener to have a complete breakdown. That said, I could play something a bit happier to make up for it.” Karna leaned towards Mayumi to whisper in her ear. “Besides, the most common positive use for this spell is a sexual one, and I don’t think you wanted me to display that on you in front of everyone.” She was only partly teasing, mainly the part where she’d do that to Mayumi.

-----

“Hah! Read ‘em and weep!” Anaire shouted in victory and splayed her cards on the table before sweeping the spirit stones off the table and into her bag. Games were another way for the people on the ship to pass time.

“Dammit! I was so sure I had you this time.” Shaheera cursed while Miralen just looked resigned.

“You’re ten years too early to try and swindle me with cards Leonid boy!” Anaire bragged and strutted a bit. “I’ve been playing my brothers for years and I’ve never lost against them. And they’re experts in such things.”

“Fine. I must concede to your superior skill.” Shaheera admitted reluctantly.

“That makes four of you then. Mayumi and Sieg already surrendered yesterday, now you’re being put in your place.” Anaire cheered and danced a little victory dance. “Now that just leaves Karna and the two teachers. Too bad the boy called Travan went home before I could take his money.”

Travan had decided that taking the news he’d heard from the Queen back to his relatives was more important. There was no guarantee that he’d survive if he traveled with the group, nor were there any assurances about how long the trip would take. He couldn’t with good conscience put off his trip home for what could potentially be years. "Good luck with that," Miralen muttered, knowing the elven princess was likely up for a rude awakening.

“How about it Karna?” Anaire called out to the other side of the room where Karna lounged on a comfortable divan, reading a book.

"I don't really play those types of games," Karna replied calmly, while not looking up from her book.

“What? Scared to lose?” Anaire taunted. She’d grown more familiar with the students present, though many of them were still quite mysterious in her eyes, Karna especially.

“No, the opposite actually. I don’t want to take the money of my acquaintances since there’s no challenge in the game. I don’t mind playing games in general or fleecing random people, but supposedly friendly games with money wagers will only leave others feeling bad. And there’s no point in these types of games without wagers as the tension would be gone.” Karna explained.

“So what I’m hearing is that you would play if there was a wager other than money or spirit stones.” Anaire grinned, not prepared to give up the chance.

“Well, that would depend on the wager. I wouldn’t agree to just anything. It needs to be fair, something that’s worth playing for with at least some seriousness, and something that both parties wouldn’t mind if they lost. I’m not really interested in forcing you to do something you’d absolutely hate after all.” Karna countered confidently.

“Oho! Mighty confident, aren’t we? Fine. How about a massage? Not just a shoulder massage either, but a proper full-body massage with scented oils and everything.” Anaire decided to throw in something that would be fun and also rewarding. Besides, getting a massage from the attractive girl could be quite fun.

“Do you have skill as a masseuse?” Karna asked with a small smile.

“I’ll have you know that I’m an excellent masseuse, though you’ll never find out, will you!” Anaire declared boldly.

-----

“How?!” Anaire cried out with a devastated voice. She’d been so confident in her victory!

“What can I say? Heart of the cards, I suppose.” Karna smiled graciously. “I’ll be expecting my massage tonight.”

“Wait! Again!” The princess asked desperately.

"You need to learn when you're defeated, princess," Karna said sternly. "If you can't, then you'll land in hot water one day, making wagers that you can't pay. Let this be a lesson to you."

Anaire knew Karna was right. It galled her to admit it, but this was indeed an important lesson. She had seen her brothers feeling the same thing she was feeling now, and knew how dangerous that desperation could be. She had fleeced her brothers enough times to know. It was hard to be on the receiving end though. The bitter medicine tasted just as bad when she had to drink it. ”Fine.” She managed to admit with gritted teeth. “I will take this lesson to heart.”

-----

"Undress and get on the table, please. You washed up like I asked, right?" Anaire ordered Karna. They were using the cabin Anaire had all to herself due to being Cendirion’s sister. The yacht had several cabins and a fair bit of space, but it still wasn’t so big that the cabins could be all that large aside from the common areas. Karna noted that the princess had cleared out most of the objects inside the cabin, and the room was dominated by a large padded massage table with several soft towels spread on it for added comfort.

“Of course. A thorough but relaxing bath with hot water to loosen the muscles." Karna replied and allowed the large robe she was wearing to fall on the floor before getting on the massage table with her front towards the soft surface of the table.

“Ah. I was expecting you to wear your underwear.” Anaire commented with a surprised squeak in her voice. She was somewhat unused to how comfortable Karna was with her nudity. She couldn’t help but marvel at the other girl’s form, half in envy and half in appreciation.

“Why bother? They’ll get in the way.” Karna retorted while getting into a relaxing position on the table, with her hands under her head, and her long hair hanging down by the side of the table in a long thick braid.

"Why indeed," Anaire mumbled. She too shucked off most of the inhibiting clothing, knowing they'd only be in the way and get dirty. Then she got on the table on her knees as well, straddling the back of Karna's thighs. "I'll be using scented oils made exclusively by the masseuses in the royal palace. It’s very relaxing and smells nice and not too heavy.” She explained while reaching to a nearby table with a small handful of bottles with a golden colored thick substance inside.

"That's fine by me," Karna replied in a muffled voice as her face was against the soft towels of the table, and she allowed her body to relax completely.

With a small flourish, Anaire dropped a large dollop of the thick liquid on Karna’s shoulders. From experience, she knew it would leave behind a very nice and attractive glistening layer, while also allowing her hands to smoothly glide over skin. Then she slowly started spreading the oil, before allowing her thumbs and palms to dig into the soft flesh of Karna’s shoulders. As she massaged the knots away, Anaire couldn’t help but marvel at the feel of Karna’s skin and the flesh below. The skin was silky smooth and without a single blemish, while the flesh felt like an impossible combination of soft and hard. While relaxed, Karna’s flesh felt pleasantly pliable under her fingers, but she could sense the hardness in the muscles below. Hardness that hinted at the power within. She was quite sure Karna could rip someone’s head off without breaking a sweat despite how she looked.

Slowly she moved her hands to massage Karna's neck and scalp, eliciting a relaxed and pleased moan from the girl below her. Slowly her hands allowed Karna to release all the piled-up stress and fatigue. Her massage started to move down to Karna's arms and back, before reaching the waist and rear, making sure every muscle group was taken care of and tended to. Anaire was definitely envious of the way Karna’s body transitioned from a perfect narrow waist to hips that were rounded but not too wide, and the way Karna’s tight, perky, and round buttocks gave the girl shapeliness without being excessive. While massaging Karna’s rump, she managed to elicit small moans that were getting definitely more erotic sounding than those before, and she knew she’d quickly have to move on, or the nature of this massage would change.

While still straddling Karna's legs, she turned around and focused on the long and smooth legs, bringing the tension down a bit. Perhaps prompted and encouraged by the tone that the massage had almost taken, Anaire managed to ask. “May I ask, did you really sleep with my brother?” Her tone was careful and even a bit faint despite the obvious bluntness.

Karna gave a small sigh. The massage had been going so well until this point. “Have you heard the saying, gentlemen don’t kiss and tell? Well, ladies shouldn’t either. It would be quite hypocritical of us to get angry about the guys bragging about their conquests, and then turn around and do something similar.”

“You’re…not wrong. Still…” Anaire wanted a confirmation. She needed to know for some reason. She felt that the knowledge would unlock something inside her, something she’d been clinging to for a long time, but was now ready to start letting go. But for that to happen, she had to be sure.

"If you must know, the answer is yes," Karna admitted finally.

“Why him?” Anaire asked quickly before her courage failed.

“I didn’t even know who he was until we met at the party that ended up with the arrest of the vampires. That was kind of the whole point of the masked festival. He was simply the one that came along at the right moment.” Karna explained, feeling a bit odd about the whole discussion. She didn’t have a problem discussing such subjects and had already had a similar conversation with others, but talking to the princess about it seemed a bit odd.

“What was it like?” Anaire asked the final question that managed to get a raised eyebrow from Karna.

“Are you asking in general, or about your brother specifically? Because if it’s the latter, then I’m most certainly not going to answer.” Karna drew the conversational line. Oh, she’d gone there too. She just didn’t want to encourage it.

“Turn around.” Anaire gave up on her questioning. Karna obliged, and as she turned around, Anaire somehow felt defeated as a woman as her eyes fell on the other girl’s bosom. “That’s just plain unfair.” She voiced the same complaint other girls of similar age had.

Karna was just about to retort with a joke, but she suddenly sensed something approaching rapidly. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!" She shouted with magic carrying her voice as she grabbed her robe with one hand and Anaire with the other. Mere seconds later everyone on the yacht felt as if they were on a boat that had suddenly been hit in the side by a ginormous wave. Everyone inside tumbled around and those that had not heeded the warning were thrown around as the whole yacht was tossed about like a leaf in a storm.

Karna could feel more than she heard the elven princess screaming in panic right next to her as they, along with everyone on the yacht, were subjected to spatial forces that were in heavy flux. Karna could sense a spatial rift forming and suddenly the two girls were no longer on the ship. They were falling down from the sky towards a yellowy-brown ground that seemed to be made up entirely of sand. As they plummeted towards the ground, Karna could see some debris falling down around them, but she couldn’t sense anyone living among the debris. On the other hand, the amount of debris was very small as well, consisting of the things inside Anaire’s cabin and not much else.

With her hand still around the elf princess’ wrist, she pulled the girl closer and called out. “Stop panicking and look around you! Can you cast a spell that would allow flight or a softer landing?”

It seemed that the reminder she had given was enough for Anaire to gather some of her wits, as she managed to look around her, still somewhat panicking. This was the first time the girl had been thrown into a situation like this, so a little panic was to be expected, despite all her previous training. “Yes, but not at the moment!” She managed to shout out through the wind blasting into their faces from their rapid fall. Luckily they were still relatively high in the air. The girl’s panic was stopping her from casting spells that should’ve been second nature to her. Not an uncommon reaction, though one she would need to get over if she wanted to continue her travels some day. The fact that the girl could recognize her inability was a step in the right direction.

With understanding, Karna was suddenly surrounded by magical formations, as she cast a flying spell on both of them. Even with the spell, it took some maneuvering before they managed to slow down their descent, as Anaire wasn’t used to the flight spell, and their fall had reached the kind of velocity that would’ve only resulted in a wet smear on the ground had they crashed. Anaire was shaking and trembling as they finally managed to land on the sandy dunes among the apparent desert.

Karna looked towards the sky and could see a very bright and glaring sun glaring down on them, and she could reasonably deduce that it was quite likely this entire world was a rather arid one, if not entirely made up of desert. She still couldn’t sense any living beings around them, but judging by what she had felt when the rift had formed, it seemed unlikely that the others had ended up somewhere on this world. “Hopefully the others had a better landing than we did." She muttered. She wasn't too worried about her own group, assuming they had been conscious, as they could all manage to at least float even if full-on flight wasn't in the cards.

“W-where are we? What happened?” Anaire shakily asked two rather reasonable questions.

Karna was fairly sure they were still on the Higher Planes simply because the spirit power around them had that quality, and because the spatial rift had not been large enough for travel between the levels of planes. "I'm not sure about the where, but I do know we were hit by a spatial disturbance mid-transit," Karna replied while pulling on the silky robe she still had in her other hand. Even if it didn't make much of a difference, she felt a little less vulnerable now that she wasn't standing around in her birthday suit.

“What? I’ve never heard of such things happening while traveling on the spatial pathways! Maybe if you’re trying to shift through entirely uncharted space, but…” Anaire had actually studied the basics of dimensional travel.

“I don’t think that disturbance was something natural. I can’t say anything certain, but if I were to make a guess, it’s one of the first waves caused by the Expansion. If that’s the case, then this time the Expansion is going to be a big one.” Karna speculated.

She had a much better idea about how this universe worked than most others. She had reached the Divine planes in her previous lives after all. She knew that since the entire universe was built upon a complex magical formation, any changes and new worlds created had to follow the dictates of what that formation allowed. Sometimes these so-called Expansions were minor, with only a few new worlds created to make the formation stronger. However, sometimes the formation made a much bigger change as they reached a saturation point, and that could result in entire new planes being created at once.

“What about the others? What about my brother?!” Anaire asked, with her panic slowly returning.

“I can’t say for sure. I’m guessing that some of them might have ended up here as well, but that doesn’t mean everybody arrived on this world. In fact, I’m fairly certain most didn’t. Accidents like these can have very wild results. I hope everyone is fine, but…” Karna had no way to tell at the moment. There was another problem that she didn’t want to mention just yet. The Scourges were always looking for an opportunity to send their forces to the more lightly defended parts of the universe, and spatial disturbances like these could crack that door open just enough to allow some forces to slip through.

"What do we do now?" Anaire asked, realizing that Karna seemed much better at making decisions at this very moment.

“In the longer term? We’ll have to find our friends and a way home. Luckily I have enough supplies with me to feed an army. Right now? I suggest we change our clothing and find some civilization, if there is any to be found here, or at least shelter. As much as I like this robe, it's not exactly the appropriate attire for trekking in the desert. I don't cherish the idea of sand getting…well, into the same places you were just massaging. And your attire isn't much better." Karna commented, looking judgingly at Anaire’s lack of clothing, which consisted mostly of simple shorts and a top.

“I…took off my spatial ring for the massage," Anaire admitted reluctantly. She couldn't sense the ring anywhere in the vicinity, and with her connection with the magical object that meant it likely ended up somewhere rather far away, or was destroyed

“Well, luckily I packed plenty of clothing. Although…” She looked judgingly at the much smaller girl. “It’s not going to fit all that well.”

“Don’t remind me!” Anaire shouted out, and somehow even in the middle of this managed to feel defeated as a woman for the second time.

Chapter 46 - Search and Rescue

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

A singular airship Shifted into the airspace above the elven capital of Teleriand. The distinctive shape of the vessel identified it as a warship of the Magocracy. It was decidedly odd that the elves would allow a warship of a foreign power around their capital even with the alliance in place, and if there had been more than one ship, they’d all be shot down by the dragon riders circling above the city. Even this lone ship was escorted to land in a designated spot near the palace by a pair of large Gold Dragons. They knew that just because there was just one ship, that didn’t mean those aboard the ship couldn’t be a danger to the city.

"I'm still surprised you managed to get the elves to allow passage," Wolfgang commented with a concerned frown. "They'd never allow it under normal circumstances."

"Well, apparently Karna did them a favor, and it's not like they don't have a stake in getting to the bottom of this. The kids disappeared under their protection, and apparently, some of Amaranthine's own children were also involved. Besides, this mess is only growing in proportions.” Arjuna replied in a calm tone. He neglected to mention that one of the reasons the elves had allowed the ship to come here was because the Queen knew Arjuna would come here anyway, one way or another. It was better to allow a ship than to have him punch through the defensive wards around the city with his magic.

“You seem rather calm about this.” Wolfgang pointed out. “I’d think that you would be the most worried seeing as both Karna and Duskclaw are missing.” The ship the students were on wasn’t the only one that had disappeared. Many ships in transit had suffered the same fate, and some of the ships had been confirmed destroyed.

“We created a soul jade for both of them a long time ago," Arjuna explained. The only purpose of the item was to crack and break if the person tied to the jade was killed. "As long as they're alive, I have confidence in their ability to survive. Now we just need to find them."

"That…makes a weird kind of sense," Wolfgang said as they were escorted from the ship towards the palace. The guards surrounding them were not the usual green-clad royal guards, but mute professional warriors clad in golden scale armor. Even Wolfgang had to nod in appreciation at the discipline and sense of professionalism the guards had. These weren’t guards but warriors, and the difference was easy to sense.

They didn’t have to travel too long as they were escorted into a small side room in the palace and the Queen soon arrived as well, not keeping them waiting. “Arjuna. Wolfgang. While I’m glad to see you, I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Indeed. Any news?” Arjuna asked immediately.

“Some. The entire pathway to the world they were traveling towards has collapsed, but the good news is that the collapse was gradual and less violent than some. Our spatial mages could determine the ship was struck by the wave and was damaged, but they also sensed the presence of a large-ish rift. It seems the people on the ship were scattered on different worlds, but we don’t think they were outright killed. Not unless they had a bad landing. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we also detected Scourge activity in the area. It is likely that some of their forces made it through as well. We also don’t know where they landed. We can make educated guesses to narrow the field, but…” The Queen made a disgruntled face, something the two men were surprised to see. She wasn’t one to display her emotions so openly to other high-ranking visitors.

“I’m fairly certain that Duskclaw at least is capable of getting a message back to me, as I gave her some charms that should reach us as long as she’s still on the Higher Plane. She probably needs time to determine where she is first though, as she doesn’t have too many of the transmission charms I gave her. Karna…I think will manage. Either she’ll get a word out, as she can create a charm powerful enough with some time and materials, or she’ll just make her way back. The others I’m not so sure about.” Arjuna speculated.

“I talked to Tsumi. The badges the students have can be used to locate them once we’re close enough.” Wolfgang interjected. “In fact, the only reason she’s not here already is because she already left to try and visit as many worlds as possible to try and find them. But with the spatial pathways being as they are…”

“Could you…?” Arjuna made a vague gesture towards Amaranthine, suggesting she could use her powers.

The Queen frowned in response. "I tried, but unfortunately my skills aren't as easy to control as I'd like. Apparently, your daughter is also somehow resistant to my abilities. Interestingly predicting minor things about her is possible, but seeing anything major about her is much harder for some reason. I tried more traditional scrying spells as well, but the spatial disturbances are messing with that too. I’d also need to get closer. The potential presence of a Scourge makes things more complicated though. Besides, travel isn’t exactly safe yet either. Unlike Tsumi, I can’t just drop everything and go, no matter how worried I am.” Usually seers were also gifted at other types of divination magic, and the Queen wasn’t an exception.

“Minor things?” Arjuna asked, something about the Queen’s tone setting off warning bells.

“You can ask her if you want,” Amaranthine deflected, quite certain that Karna wasn’t going to gossip about such things with her father.

"We're going to have to do this the old way then," Wolfgang stated, turning the discussion back on track. "Search parties using direct portals and Shifting when possible." Using the ability to almost instantly Shift between two places was quite challenging between worlds, as the methods for doing so were very closely guarded secrets and known only to select few experts. It could also be quite power-consuming depending on the destination.

"Well, fortunately, I can help there." Arjuna agreed. His own ability to form portals was on a very high level thanks to his shadow magic and spirit companion. “That said, I’d rather go alone, as taking someone along would make things much more difficult.”

“I’ll stay here and arrange more search parties and coordinate our communications.” Amaranthine promised. “We’ll need to survey the damage done by that spatial wave anyway. It’s a good chance to also send out search parties along with the surveyors.”

“I’ll take a group and see what traces I can find about the Scourge. We don’t need them interfering.” Wolfgang decided. He didn’t have the ability to travel to as many worlds as Arjuna or to perform location spells, but he was plenty good enough to hunt down the Scourges.

“I’m somewhat surprised the new Emissary didn’t offer his help. This would’ve been a good opportunity for him to create some good will.” Amaranthine pointed out.

“He did offer. I turned him down. If he got involved, we both know who he’d find first, and that would defeat the whole point of this diplomatic trip. Now that a Scourge might be involved though…well, he’ll be getting involved no matter what. Maybe the Scourges can keep him busy.” Arjuna explained. It was one of the duties of the Emissaries to deal with the Scourges after all.

---------

Karna took a glance behind her and noted how tired the falcon flying behind her looked. She had been pleasantly surprised when she discovered that Anaire was capable of the druidic magic of shapeshifting now that she had calmed down, and was pleased that the elven princess had managed to keep up with her this long as they flew above the hot desert. The falcon was of course slower than Karna’s Phoenix form, but it was still relatively fast, and the princess had stamina. They had seen nothing but sand for the last three days as they had flown continuously and the heat was starting to become sweltering. It seemed the princess had reached her limit at last.

Without a word, Karna angled her flight downwards and soon they both landed on a sand dune, though Anaire’s landing was decidedly ungraceful as the falcon flumped on the ground in an exhausted heap. Karna returned to her original form and with streams of magic started building a shelter. Earth magic formed thick walls as sand solidified into stone, and the base below them turned into something that could hold the weight of the sudden construct. Karna had learned in previous lives that building something on sand was problematic at best. At the same time, she created water with water magic, which took quite a bit of mana as there wasn't enough moisture in the air to use, so she had to conjure the water literally out of nowhere.

Anaire also released her shapeshift and lay down on a soft bit of bedding Karna had tossed in her direction, thankful for the chance to just rest. She had not wanted to complain, but she truly had reached her limit. She could've pushed past them, but that would've meant that when she finally did stop, she would've needed several days of rest instead of the good night’s sleep she needed at the moment. “You seemed to have a destination in mind as you were flying in a straight line.” She commented and wearily looked at Karna who was pulling out supplies from her storage ring. The contents of the ring seemed almost inexhaustible, and even the clothes the princess was wearing had been stored inside. Why Karna was carrying around attire suitable for a desert was a question she wasn’t sure she wanted answers to.

“I do. Even though it seems this world is mostly desert and barren wilderness, that doesn’t mean it’s uninhabited. There’s quite a bit of activity under the sand in the form of various creatures and magical beasts. I used a scrying spell to locate the largest gathering of intelligent life in the vicinity, and we’re traveling towards them. The problem is that they’re pretty far and moving away from us, albeit not very quickly.” Karna explained.

“Nomadic people?” Anaire realized the implications.

“That seems likely. I’ve seen traces of vegetation and an oasis or two as we’re getting closer, so they’re likely traveling some predetermined path between the more fertile areas. Or areas with some special resources. It wouldn’t be the first time a desert civilization survived by trading the special resources that can be found in extreme conditions like these.” Karna had lived as such a nomad before.

“I didn’t notice any vegetation," Anaire exclaimed with surprise.

“That’s because you were too exhausted to pay attention. It also helps if you know where to look.” Karna teased with a slight smile. The arduous travel had not left them much time to get to know each other, but they had talked enough to get friendly at least.

Anaire conceded the point with a small hand gesture. “What sorts of resources can be found in a sandpit like this?”

“That depends. Certain spices and herbs thrive in these kinds of places. Fire and sunstones. Mined minerals. Resources from the creatures that inhabit these sorts of places. It’s also rather common for nomadic peoples to develop certain crafts out of necessity.” She listed off. “It’s hard to say for sure until we find them.”

“And what will we do when we do find others?” Anaire asked with a bit of trepidation. “There’s a good chance they won’t be friendly or welcoming.”

“That’s true. However, we don’t have much of a choice. While we could just camp somewhere and hope rescue comes to us, as I do have quite a bit of supplies, that won’t help in finding the others. They might be hurt or in a worse situation. And we can’t be sure how long it will take for help to find us. I doubt traveling is easy currently. It is likely that these nomads might be in contact with others of their kind, and word of our friends could’ve reached them if they’re on this world. Besides, we might be able to negotiate passage to somewhere more productive. I doubt the nomads have too many vessels capable of traveling between worlds, but the traders might take us somewhere where we could find passage back home.” Karna laid out her plan.

“Do we have enough to trade with? You already know I have literally nothing except what you give me.” Anaire pointed out. Passage between worlds wasn’t usually cheap, and it would come at a premium if the pathways between worlds were disturbed.

“Well, I have certain things, and you forget. I’m a rather skilled Artificer. I can barter using my skills. We'll have to see how willing they are to trade when we meet the locals." Karna didn't mention that she also had other methods to help convince others that trading might be a good idea. Some of those methods were rather dark while others…well, there were many ways to reach a deal and she wasn’t above using anything she had at her disposal.

------

“Shaheera, you’ve been holding out on us!” Miralen commented with a loud voice as a bright orange blade of sword ki mowed down a large number of the plant creatures surrounding them. The blade kept going and twirling around, taking even more enemies with it, not seeming content with the ones killed in the initial attack. Not that the dead made much more than a dent in the swarm of enemies surrounding them. Miralen herself released a large burst of frost energy and a nova of cold energy engulfed the ones surrounding her.

“Holding out is such an ugly way to put it.” Shaheera countered a little sullenly. “I prefer to call it using my powers judiciously.”

"No matter what you call it, it's a positive surprise." Sieg interrupted as his own ki blades did their damage. His skills were not as well suited for dealing with such huge numbers of enemies that regenerated any damage that wasn't enough to be called catastrophic. His skills focused more on precision and dealing with few high-ranking enemies instead.

They had been fighting almost constantly since arriving in this very inhospitable jungle, and the number and strength of their enemies only seemed to be increasing. Individually these plants were not a problem, but their tenacity and numbers made them dangerous even for the trio. The constant fighting was also taking a toll. Thanks to training with Karna and in the Academy, they were all skilled at pacing themselves and keeping up a constant fight, but they were still approaching their limits.

Suddenly Shaheera seemed to sense something, and to the shock of the other two, sheathed his blade. “What ar-“ Miralen managed to say before a veritable storm of blade energy very similar to the one Shaheera had used earlier shredded the surroundings. Not just the plant creatures, but the entire jungle around them was cleared in the blink of an eye, and the trio found themselves standing in a suddenly created clearing.

“What the fu-uhh…?” Miralen said with a stunned voice before the shadow of an enormous airship suddenly fell on them.

“Shaheera boyo. Fancy meeting you here of all places. It looks like you’re having some trouble.” A powerful and confident voice said with a bit of a teasing tone. They all took a sharp breath as the biggest Leonid they had ever seen floated downwards from the airship, with his hand lazily resting on the pommel of his blade.

“Grand Marshal Asha-“ Shaheera’s greeting was interrupted midway.

“Boyo, you might have run away to the Academy, but you should still stick to the formalities.” The powerful being said, now with some steel in his voice.

“Ashanti Shifu," Shaheera grunted with a voice that managed to be both respectful and apologetic, while also conveying how grudgingly he used the term.

“Good. You may have not been one of my students for long, but you should still pay the proper respects.” The de facto leader of the Aegean Empire nodded. “So. I always knew that cavorting with the elves and the Magocracy would get you in trouble one day. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.”

Shaheera gave the older Leonid a long suffering look. “You don’t mean that and we both know it, Shifu. You aren’t petty enough to try and blame the elves or the Magocracy for a spatial phenomenon like the one that hit us. If I’m not wrong, we weren’t the only ones affected. In fact, just your presence here suggests that there’s a massive search and rescue effort being made.”

The golden-furred Leonid burst into a cackle of laughter. “Very good Shaheera. You always were a smart one, and I always respected that about you. No, this isn’t the fault of the spell-flingers or the knife-ears. I was just teasing you. However, one thing remains true. You seem to be in a spat of trouble.”

“And what trouble would that be?” Shaheera asked.

“Well. You’re surrounded by hostile territory in the middle of nowhere. The only reason I found you was because you’re an old student of mine, and we still share a bond of sorts. Others won’t have that advantage. And even if they did, they’ll likely not visit this world to search for you, especially after we already visited the place. That leaves you in a bit of a pickle, doesn’t it? If you were still my student, I wouldn’t hesitate to save you and your friends, but as you’re not…well, I think I’ll need a bit of an incentive.” The older Leonid grinned wickedly.

"You always were an opportunist," Shaheera commented. "It can be a good feature to have, but you take it too far."

"And you've always been too soft-hearted. I'm just doing what's necessary to get ahead in the universe. I'm not refusing to help you, nor am I taking your friends for ransom, both of which I could easily do. I’m simply asking to be compensated for my services. That’s fair I believe.” Ashanti countered.

“And what do you want?” Shaheera asked with gritted teeth.

“Oh, you know what I want. You’ve always known what I want. Like I said. You’re a smart boy. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.” Ashanti pressed a little.

“Fine. Have it your way." Shaheera agreed to what he knew to be the terms. Not that he had much of a choice. He knew Ashanti was actually taking things easy with him and his friends.

Chapter 47 - Shipwrecked

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

Duskclaw grimaced as she applied another dose of a healing poultice on her ribs. It wasn’t just the ribs that hurt though, but pretty much everything else as well. The spatial disturbance had inflicted a rather huge shock to her system. Healing a singular wound or injury was usually relatively simple with enough mana or qi, even if you didn’t know proper healing spells. However, if your whole system was suffering from shock and an overload…well, things became much more difficult.

Despite the pain, she managed to apply the poultice and leaned against the wooden frame of what was left of the airship they had been traveling on. The vessel had suffered extensive damage, and it would require just as extensive repairs before being able to fly again, not to mention travel between worlds. Repairs that would be much easier to perform if they had someone with the necessary skills to do the work. She took a glance around the room she was in and shook her head at the sight of the surviving crew members, who were lying on makeshift beds in worse condition than she was in.

It seemed that anyone that had been on the deck of the ship had been transported along with most of the ship through the rift. That meant Duskclaw, the majority of the crew members, and Prince Cendirion. Most of the crew had not fared well, as they didn’t have the skills or power to defend themselves from the spatial forces involved. Duskclaw had a bit of both, which is why she was in better condition, but she had still been seriously injured. The crew had not been as fortunate. Many of them had already died from their injuries.

The only good news was that the ship itself had provided some protection to the people inside, so Duskclaw had reason to believe the others were in a better condition. The ship wasn’t enough to truly protect anyone from the forces involved, but it had provided the precious few moments that were required for the people inside to be transported through the rift before getting injured. They might be lost, but at least they had not suffered the worst of the spatial tidal wave.

“How are you feeling?” Cendirion came closer with a bowl of the same poultice Duskclaw had just applied to her side. Neither of them was all that skilled in healing and most of their stock of healing elixirs had been spent to save as many of the crew as possible during the worst moments. The prince had shown surprising stoicism when applying triage between those that most needed the precious resources, and those that were too far gone to save.

“I’ll live. For now at least. Any luck finding help?" She asked while accepting the foul-smelling concoction. She had plenty of other wounds and she'd suffer through the smell if it helped her heal faster.

"Yes and no." The prince gave a small sigh before pursing his lips in distaste. "I found some locals that ‘helped’ me find more herbs. They're not going to be much more help than that though. And the odds are that I'll have to fend off their scavenging parties if we don’t leave soon. The locals aren’t exactly…all that civilized.” It was quite clear from his words that the help had not come willingly.

Duskclaw grunted in displeasure. It was somewhat ironic that the only reason she was still alive was the prince saving her. The reason she had been on the airship’s deck in the first place was to give him a piece of her mind. She could see the man had not completely given up on Karna, and his persistence was becoming a little creepy. Now the guy was doing his best to keep all of them alive, and he had his work cut out for him. It was hard to muster the anger to berate someone in a situation like this.

“Have you managed to figure out where we are at least?” She asked.

“Not exactly. As I said, these people are not very civilized. I've narrowed things down, but the problem is that I'm not even certain we're on the same Plane anymore." The prince admitted.

“That’s not great. As long as we find that out, I can call for help.” She explained once again. She had a talisman that would allow her to communicate with Arjuna almost completely disregarding the distance between them. Once. And then the talisman would be spent. And she couldn’t really use the talisman until she had some information to give to help Arjuna find them. Otherwise, what was the point? He already knew she was alive thanks to the soul jades. He’d do his best to find them anyway. She was tempted to try and use the talisman to contact Karna, just to make sure she was alright, but that would not help either. She was worried, but she wouldn’t allow that worry to drive her into making mistakes.

“We’re going to have to make some hard choices soon.” Cendirion frowned. “I’m quite sure that if I want to find that information, I’m going to have to travel further out to find civilization. However, that will leave all of you vulnerable.”

“We could wait until I’m in good enough condition to protect the place. I am improving, if slowly. The problem is…” She left the rest unsaid and took a meaningful look towards the wounded crew members.

“The problem is that by that time many of the crew will be dead from their wounds.” The prince finished for her.

“I have some pre-built formations in my bag that you can use, but they’re mostly for concealment and to protect against singular heavy attacks. They can buy time, but…” She suggested. Even setting up pre-built formations took some power from the person doing it. And if you wanted to cast a high-ranking spell or a formation that was pre-built, the required power could not be contained in a simple gem or a talisman. At least some had to come from the user, and she was currently not in a condition to provide that power.

"It's still a risk, and the mana signature can draw unwanted attention from something really dangerous," Cendirion noted. "It's a risk, but one we’ll have to take. I haven’t seen anything truly dangerous nearby, so the biggest risk comes from the locals discovering you. I’ll start with shorter trips out, but we don’t have all that much choice if we want to make any progress.”

--------

Duskclaw had to suppress a grimace as some of the marsupial looking local creatures started sniffing closer to the area the remains of their ships had crashed at. The stealth formation made them invisible and harder to detect, but it was impossible to hide all signs of the crash with a formation that wasn’t dedicated to the purpose. There had been damage to the surroundings, and even though they had tried to cover that damage, some signs remained. And the locals seemed to have a rather keen sense of smell. Most illusions relied mostly on sight and sound. Smells were harder to account for, especially since certain species had a sense of smell that worked in a completely different way. Trying to fool their senses was like trying to paint a portrait while having no idea what colors were.

Cendirion had been gone for a few days now, and would likely not be back for several more as he had gone out a bit further in order to find some civilization. Duskclaw had managed to recover a bit more and was now resting on top of the wrecked ship to have a good vantage point to see if anything tried to approach them. It was rather easy to notice any intruders since the area was relatively barren. The ground was rocky and dry, while the local plants consisted mostly of dry looking and spiky plants that somehow managed to eke out enough water and nutrients from the ground to survive.

“That explains why the prince had such trouble finding plants with healing properties. Though I can’t be sure what the area further out is like.” Duskclaw muttered while keeping an eye on the marsupial looking thing that was wearing some kind of leather jerkin and carrying basic metal weapons. She’d never seen a creature like that. The thing was clearly not powerful, nor very intelligent. Yet it existed in the Higher Plane. Sometimes weird creatures managed to make their way through the spatial cracks, and it’s not like all creatures on the Higher Planes were powerful. Still, it made one wonder. Had the creature and its kind been something more before degenerating to this point? Or had it been something even less intelligent that had developed due to ambient mana?

The thing stood on its hind-legs like a humanoid would, and it was currently sniffing its way closer and closer. Clearly, it had caught some scent, and now it was trying to find the source. Even in her current condition, Duskclaw could kill the thing with a snap of her fingers, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that there were other marsupial creatures not too far away, and they'd likely notice if their companion suddenly disappeared. Secondly, she couldn't really blame the things for being curious, and just outright killing them off didn't really sit well with her conscience. Sure, they seemed to be scavengers of sorts, but she had no idea if they were the murderous kind. For all she knew, they could be rather friendly.

The prince had warned against the creatures. She wasn't sure how good his judgment was, but she wasn't sure she should really risk her and the remaining crew's life on some vague concept of morality, especially against his advice. "Oh, shit. That kinda settles it." Duskclaw muttered as the other creatures managed to scare out some sort of animal and descended on the animal with almost needless savagery. They seemed to enjoy causing pain and had actually wasted some materials that could be harvested from the dead creature just to cause more suffering to the animal.

She took advantage of the distraction and used a bit of air magic to yank the nosy creature closer, inside the field, where she used earth magic to drop a stone on it to crush its neck. Then she used a bit of air magic to push the thing far enough outside the field again. Hopefully, the crushed neck was plausible enough to not arouse too much suspicion, while at the same time covering any odd smells with the smell of blood and the stench of the dead rodent.

At least it seemed to satisfy the creatures for now, as they carried away the corpse with little care. Still, Duskclaw knew she’d only bought a bit of time. This wasn’t a solution.

--------

“Finally, some life in this barren desert!” Anaire shouted in relief as they landed in front of a group of what could only be described as moving houses. Large constructs made mostly of wood and cloth tarps were placed on large sleds and pulled either by magic or by large green beasts of burden that looked a little like lizards. The beasts were huge and strong enough to easily pull the sleds but seemed extremely docile as well. They were covered in large chitinous plates that almost made them look a little like insects, but the large mouths and cloven hooves told a different tale.

The people surrounding the sleds were all clad from head to toe in cloth robes and armor made from the plates of the beasts that pulled the sleds. Little aside from their eyes could be seen, but they were taller than normal humans or elves, had long arms and legs, and it seemed like their heads had either horns or other similar protrusions jutting from the backs of their heads. They seemed a bit more lithe than humans as well, more akin to elves, though they seemed to have some sort of a hump on their upper back, which made their shoulders seem larger. There were around three hundred of the humanoid beings outside the sleds, and there was no way to tell how many were inside with just a quick look.

The people had seen them land and seemed to be scurrying around to prepare just in case combat was necessary, though their reaction was relatively muted, as if well-practiced. There was no panic, and it seemed they were all merely going through the motions just in case. A group of four from the nearest sled approached them first while the others were gathering. “Greetings strangers. What brings you to the Garian Tribe?” The being spoke in a language that was translated by the spell Karna had cast on them earlier.

‘Oh, this is an older language.’ Karna realized, understanding the man even without the spell, though her knowledge of the language was out of date. “Greetings. We have come to you in search of information, and maybe to conduct trade.” She replied using the same language.

“Trade is always welcome, especially since our usual partner is late. Information I can’t promise. It is power after all. And such power can be pricy.” The man removed the piece of cloth on his head and made a face that was supposed to be something like a smile. The mandibles outside his mouth and the metallic looking carapace somewhat spoiled the impression though.

“Is your trade partner supposed to come from another world?” Karna asked.

“Naturally. Outsiders bring us what we need in exchange for our wares. Palaven is a harsh mother and Qunara an even harsher father. We have many riches, but we also lack certain things. Which you should be aware of if you've come to trade with us…" The man’s voice was a little curious.

“In that case, we might have some bad news. There was a spatial disturbance that disrupted planar travel not too long ago. It led to us crashing on your world, and I would not be shocked if others were similarly affected.” Karna explained the predicament. Just those names told her enough to figure out where they were. That made things easier. It was also somewhat good news, as they were still on the same plane, albeit barely.

“That…complicates things. If what you say is true, then I would assume you seek passage home? We do not have such capabilities. We rely on traders. And if those aren’t coming, then…” The man seemed genuinely apologetic. It seemed the desert environment here bred a certain type of natural empathy as you had to pull together to survive. Some beings in similar situations became insular, but some, like the person here, became more willing to help anyone.

"I don't believe the traders will be delayed indefinitely. We would appreciate it if you could help us in the meantime. We have supplies for ourselves, as well as for trade if necessary. We can also make ourselves useful. I'm a skilled artificer and a mage myself. She's a druid, and I would assume a desert planet like this could use her services." Karna made her pitch.

“If what you say is true, then I’m sure we can make arrangements.” The man nodded eagerly. Both of the strange girls posessed two of the most useful skills they could possibly have in this place.

“We would also appreciate it if you could get a word out to the other clans. Others like us could've crashed on this world, and we would appreciate it if we got word of our friends. I assume we just flew out of the Great Desert." It had been called the Great Desert of K’Tun the last time she’d been here, but the name could’ve changed a dozen times since then. As likely had the desert.

“If you agree for some trades, then yes. Supplies and your skills can be used for those trades. We do not deal with money.” The man explained. Food and water were always in short supply in the desert, even if they knew how to survive here.

“Sounds like we’ll get along.” Karna smiled, pleased. She’d known that would be the case. Now all they needed was to make sure they were not taken advantage of, and keep the good will of the locals.

---------

“What the heck happened here?” Cendirion asked as he landed next to Duskclaw. The entire area around the ship was devastated, and he could see what looked like the remains of thousands of the little rodent creatures that made up one of the local species. Duskclaw also looked seriously injured, as her right arm was charred black by something.

“They found us.” Duskclaw grimaced in return while leaning heavily on the side of the ship. A bit of blood leaked from the side of her mouth.

"I can see that much," Cendirion said dryly.

“Well, I had to defend the ship. I used one of the spells my master had prepared beforehand. Don’t have too many of those left by the way. It was…a bit more effective than necessary. And I really shouldn't have cast it.” She had not meant to wipe out all the attackers. Normally it was enough to break the enemy's morale. In addition, even using a spell from a storage gem like that had been too much for her body to handle. The magical pathways in her arm were completely shattered. Fixable, but something that would take time and a skilled healer. The real problem was that her mage core had a crack in it now. That was much harder to repair. That one could take years if you didn’t know the proper methods. She seemed to recall Karna mention something about the subject, but that was a long time ago.

“What’s done is done. I have some good news though. I found civilization at last. No way out, but I at least found where we are. This world is known as Ragh. And more importantly, other worlds know it by that name as well. So that should be enough to find us if you send the message.” Cendirion explained.

Without waiting, Duskclaw pulled out the communication charm which crumbled as she allowed the magic to carry away the mental message she had pushed inside the spell. She soon got a reply. “On my way. Found the other students besides Karna and Mayumi already. Kids alright, Mayumi’s master is injured but alive. No Karna or the princess yet. Will be there in a few days with healers.”

She relayed the message to Cendirion. "Good. Too bad there's no news of my sister or Karna, though I believe they might be together if the rift dispersed us based on who we were closest to."

“Let’s focus on defense and keeping the others alive until we get rescued then.” Duskclaw decided. The crew were not in great shape and would need some help to survive the upcoming days. She was in bad shape but she was not in danger of dying, unlike the others.

Chapter 48 - Omens of the future

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

”Karna! Sidera said they finally got word of off-world traders arriving at the Gathering Point!” Anaire shouted through the open door before rushing in. The elven Princess wore a rather revealing set of clothing repurposed from both Karna’s storage ring and what she had acquired from the locals, a race calling themselves Palennese. The reason her attire was so revealing was because the insides of the dust sleds became extremely hot during the day when the sun of the world scorched the surface.

Karna had actually found out that the world’s sun released a larger than normal amount of radiation, which is why the local species all had an exoskeleton or carapace with traces of a certain metal that reflected the radiation away. That or they lived most of their lives underground. Karna and Anaire had to spend most of their time indoors to avoid any adverse effects, although any damage from radiation could be healed away by someone with enough knowledge and skill. The dust sleds of the Palennese provided ample protection from the radiation but became really warm.

Anaire had been a little wary at first about showing so much skin while essentially living with Karna, but she’d soon gotten over that hang-up due to the circumstances. The two of them had spent a full month traveling around with the nomadic people, and had gotten quite friendly with the Palennese in that time. “We shouldn’t be too far from the place, right?” Karna asked to confirm. She’d been fairly busy with several magical projects for the last week.

The aptly named Gathering Point was a large oasis where the different clans came together when dealing with large issues or when they had to deal with large merchant groups bringing lots of trade. Usually, the clans didn't have more than a few thousand people each and could only carry so much of the products the merchants wanted. Thus the merchants usually liked to deal with several clans in the same place at the same time, instead of hunting them down all over the planet's surface. "We should arrive later today. The improvements you made to the dust sleds really sped our progress. Otherwise, we wouldn't have arrived until next week."

Karna had applied anti-friction magic to the skis under the dust sleds. She didn’t remove the friction entirely as that would’ve brought a whole host of problems, such as making the sleds slide sideways when on inclines, but just the reduced friction allowed them to move much faster and allowed the beasts pulling the sleds to go on for longer without needing rest. “Any word about our companions?” Karna focused on the important point. The meeting with the clans was also to exchange information.

“According to Sidera, no. No sign of our friends. That could be good news, right?” Anaire had mentally leaned on Karna quite heavily in the last month.

“In that they didn’t crash on the same world, yes. We knew that was a strong possibility.” Karna confirmed, but she didn’t sugarcoat the news either. She comforted the elven princess when necessary, but she also made sure to keep things realistic.

Anaire sat behind Karna and leaned against her back while she was working on a small artifact that produced water. Karna knew the gesture wasn’t meant to be anything with frisky undertones. She was pretty sure the girl only needed to feel someone close to her, preferably someone with a comforting presence. The Palaennese didn’t really fit the bill, and Karna had supported the girl this entire affair, so she was a natural and really the only choice. “They’re going to be alright, right?” Anaire asked with a weak voice. She’d asked the same question several times before.

“You know I can’t make any promises, but I have faith in them. Your brother is quite strong, and I suppose he can be fairly reliable as well.” Karna gave a small smile, thinking of the time the Prince had rushed to defend her from the vampire. “You should have some faith in them as well. It’s certainly going to take more than getting stranded to get my friends killed.”

“We can also finally make some progress as well. I realize we’re not getting home yet, but at least we can take a step closer.” Anaire whispered into Karna’s back. “I know you’ve been telling me that all this time, but finally seeing some actual progress is…”

“I know.” Karna turned enough to pat the girl on her shoulder. She knew there was a decent possibility that the traders didn’t want to take them aboard, but she was frankly prepared to resort to violence if that happened. She was no saint, and a trader that was willing to leave two girls stranded in a desert didn't deserve her pity. If she had access to a ship, she could handle the rest. Her navigation information of this universe was hopelessly out of date, but that didn't mean she had lost the skills accrued in previous lives.

“Oh right, that reminds me.” She pulled out a small object made of dark metal that looked a little like a tiny trident.

“What’s that?” Anaire asked with a muffled but curious voice.

“This is a planar tuning fork. I made it a few days ago, and I’ve almost finished tuning it to this world.” Karna explained. Objects that were tied to a particular plane and a certain world could be used to travel between worlds and planes much more easily as they were inherently tied to their place of origin. The construction of such items was extremely hard, as it usually required magical talent at the level of an archmage specializing in spatial magic. Or you could find one that had formed naturally, but those were extremely rare. Karna had used to have an entire library of such objects for this universe back when she'd last been born here, but those were long gone.

“Wait, you can create planar tuning items?!” Anaire pulled away from Karna and stared at her incredulously.

“You forget. I’m the daughter of a Grand Medjai who also happens to be something of an Artificer.” Karna lied smoothly. Well, calling it a lie would’ve been wrong. Everything she said was true, just not the reason she possessed the skill. “It takes a bit of time at my level though. I need to be present at a world long enough to attune to it myself.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have one for our home, would you? That would make our travel back much easier.” Anaire pointed out the obvious.

“Yes and no. The materials required vary greatly from one world to another. This world was easy, but our home is not. I have the right tune memorized, but I didn’t have the materials at hand back then, and I didn’t think we’d have to leave in such a rush that I didn’t have the time to both acquire the materials and complete the process.” Karna grimaced internally. She’d known making the item would be necessary, but she had kept pushing it off. And the materials required for their home were quite rare and expensive. There had always seemed to be more important things and projects.

"Ah, I did hear my mother and brother talk about it once. Apparently, the higher level the world, the more difficult the materials are to acquire. That's one of the main reasons so few of such items existed for our world.” Anaire recalled.

“Anyway, we’d still need a vessel capable of making the trip. We better see what these traders want for passage on theirs.” Karna said as she got up and donned an attire that covered her from head to toes before exiting the dust sled they’d been allowed to use. It was a small one, only enough for a few small rooms, but still quite precious for the clan. Karna had been paying decent rent for its use.

Sidera was standing by as usual. The older male had become their usual point of contact with the clan. “It seems we’re not among the first to arrive.” She commented while peering into the distance where she could see a much larger gathering of dust sleds surrounding a large oasis.

"We do range further than many other clans. Usually, we're among the last and the traders have to wait for us. You could say we're early this time. Although…" He seemed a bit worried as he too peered at the distance.

“It seems something is going on.” Karna finished for him. It looked like the gathered clans were preparing to defend themselves. As were the merchants, whose ship they could both see resting just outside the gathering of dust sleds.

"We need to hurry," Sidera stated firmly. There was no hesitation in his voice. The thought of turning around and fleeing didn’t even occur to him. Of course he and his clan would rush into danger to help defend their fellow people. He dashed off to give out orders to the rest of the caravan.

“He’s a good man, isn’t he?” Anaire stated quietly.

“Yes. A good leader for his people. It will bite him and his people one day, but until then, I wish them all the luck in the world.” Karna agreed. People like Sidera usually found an early grave as they risked too much for others, but until then they were a good example of how things should be. How things could be if everyone pulled together. "Too bad it rarely lasts."

“What’s wrong, can you tell?” Anaire asked with a hushed tone.

“I can smell the presence of death. That means the presence of the agents of the Netherworld.” Karna said firmly. She had a special connection with that particular Scourge.

-----

Osokh made a sound of displeasure as the bolt of venomous magical energy he had launched against the airship crashed into a protective shield. The shield cracked and fractured from the impact but soon repaired itself. The spell had not really been designed to be used against protective shields, as the penetrative power was quite low, but it was still clear that the ship that had come from another world had a decent mage defending it. The local warriors were also standing up and fighting tenaciously, using the terrain well to their advantage. It was a valiant effort, but it was also futile. They would all die, and the only thing that would change was the time it took for them to do so.

It was ironic that the trade ship that was now putting up the stiffest resistance was also the same thing that had doomed this world. The Celestial Host was busy repairing the cracks that had been created by the erratic spatial waves, but many of those cracks were large enough for the Scourges to slip through. Many worlds now had a host of demons or monsters of the Underworld rampaging through them. The Netherworld was much more surgical in their actions. If they could act quickly and quietly, then they could make great gains while the Eternal Enemy was busy repairing the walls of their fortress and dealing with the rampaging demons. Osokh’s legion had slipped through one of those cracks and followed the nearby ship to this barren world.

The numerous sand spirits summoned by the local people made a valiant effort in pushing the undead back. The problem was that when fighting the legions of the Netherworld, you were always in a battle of attrition. Every defender that fell would stay down or could even rise as a low ranking disposable undead under Osokh’s Aura. Every soldier of the legion that fell would rise again, assuming they weren’t struck down by very specific types of power, chief among them holy power. And it didn’t seem that this world had Holy Knights defending it. What luck.

Unfortunately for the defenders, the true soldiers of the legion were not just mindless undead like those raised by feeble necromancers or Osokh’s own Aura. They were skilled warriors that fought with discipline and tactics, and they knew how to take advantage of their ability to come back, making suicidal attacks that would take down a defender with them. Except the defenders didn’t get back up. And the soldiers of the legion would keep returning for as long as Osokh was around. Some of the elites even had enough power to regenerate on their own.

He glanced to the side where said elites stood. Instead of bone, these warriors seemed to be made of living metal, and in their eyes shone the light of malevolent intelligence. “Time to finish this. Onwards Centurions.” He commanded, and the elite troops started making their way to the battle.

They would eliminate the inhabitants of this world and then they'd draw this world into the realm of the Netherworld. The demons or the eldritch abominations might dislike a barren world like this, but for the undead of the Netherworld, the only thing they needed was the spirit energy the world generated. They could harness that energy to create more of their kind. A world like this from the Higher Planes would be a real prize. Sure it wasn’t one of the major worlds, but it would still make a fine Tomb World. It would mean the birth of a new Phaeron. Perhaps even the birth of a new Dynasty! And as the one who made it possible, Osokh would also be rewarded. He might even become a Hierophant!

Suddenly Osokh felt a sense of dread. He tried to use his powers to raise a protective barrier, but it was too late. He felt a lance of some kind of energy thrust its way through his chest, somehow easily bypassing all his defenses, and before he could react, he felt some kind of grand force pushing him into the ground. "Well, well. Having trouble regenerating, lich?" A booming female voice sounded like a thunderclap above him.

The voice was right. He wasn’t regenerating at all! ‘That power was not holy power, so what could…’ If Osokh had still possessed eyes, they would’ve grown larger as he noticed the eerie black glow surrounding the hand of the enormous being that was stepping on him. Dhar! And on the other hand of the over four-meter tall Titan was a sword spirit of some kind that emanated a golden holy glow of the kind that almost blinded him! What was one of these Divine beings doing in a place like this?

He didn’t get to find an answer to his question though, as the glowing blade swung down and ended his unlife.

-----

“It seems our plan worked," Karna said as she finished off the lich. The undead spell-weavers were dangerous opponents when surrounded by their minions, but they became vulnerable when alone. They had waited for the right opportunity, and once the lich had become assured of victory and had sent his protectors to finish things off. That’s when Karna struck. With the head of the legion cut, the rest would soon follow.

The effects were almost immediate. All the undead brought to life by the lich, and those that had relied on the lich to support their regeneration suddenly fell to the ground and stopped moving. That only left the Centurions and the few soldiers that had not been damaged before and even they grew much weaker. In a single moment, the majority of the undead host was gone and the rest could show only a fraction of their power. Anaire crashed into the remaining ones in the form of a giant stag that seemed to glow with green power, trampling many under her unnaturally strong and heavy hooves, while flinging away many more with her antlers. The princess had insisted on taking part as she’d grown fond of the Palennese as well.

“She seems to be having fun.” The golden sword in her hand pulsed as Gem replied to her. The blade was sized to her Titan form and as she swung it around, huge arcs of golden power shot off and cleaved into the ranks of the Centurions. This was one of the benefits of Gem. The spirit could change forms to match the enemy. While Karna couldn’t use holy powers yet, that didn’t mean Gem couldn’t turn into a weapon that could.

Re-energized by the sudden change in the battle, the Palennese struck back with ferocity and started working together to bring down the dangerous undead. The Centurions were individually more powerful than any of the locals, and the necroblades coated with deadly energies could easily cut through their protective carapace. The living metal of the Centurions, in turn, was stronger than any normal armor, which made killing them a real chore, unless of course you had holy power on your side, or you could work together like the Palennese were now doing. One by one the undead warriors fell.

Karna waded straight into the middle of the enemies just so she could feel the pleasure of cleaving the undead warriors down. She had an almost irrational hatred for the minions of the Netherworld, and she would make sure none of them returned back. Even after the battle was finally over, she used the golden flames from Gem to burn away any of the undead corpses even though the metal in their bodies could be quite useful if cleansed of the taint of undeath.

“Karna, that’s enough.” Anaire, now back to her own form, patted her on the leg. In her Titan form, that’s as high as the elven girl could reach.

She released a breath she had been holding for a while. Despite all this time, the old anger was still there. Just the presence of the Netherworld’s energy could cause her to make decisions that were questionable. She had managed to make some good ones today though. The ambush on the lich had saved everyone, and while revealing her Titan form might have been a bit excessive, it worked well as a rallying force for the Palennese, as well as a distraction against the undead. Several lives were spared because the Centurions had aimed at her instead of the Palennese at the end of the battle.

A group of traders approached them, led by an old Naga woman whose scales had turned white due to age. She had likely been the source of the spells that had kept the traders safe during the battle, and she was dressed in the typical toga that the Naga often favored, when they bothered wearing anything. The Naga was holding a fancy looking mage’s staff, and she was flanked by two Khenra guards dressed in nothing but leather armor from waist down.

The jackal-headed beastmen were one of those races you couldn't be entirely sure if they should be counted as beastmen or something entirely separate, just like the Leonid. They were humanoid in shape, tall and lean with graceful and almost sculpted bodies, but had the heads that resembled Jackals atop powerful and thick necks. Their snouts were long and sharp, and they both had a pair of angular ears rise above their heads. Their bodies were covered in sleek hair that was so short and smooth that it almost looked like skin. Karna had noticed that the two warriors had fought more than equally with the Centurions with their long khopesh blades. She had a fondness for the Khenra, as she found them adorable for some reason. Something about them caused the same kind of reaction in her as cute cat videos did in most civilized races with the prerequisite technological level. These two Khenra were twins, as was rather common among their race.

“Greetings great one. Your intervention was most timely.” The Naga woman gave a deep bow, though she had to keep looking up as Karna was still in her Titan form. The merchant had a slightly calculating look as well. “I would not presume to question your motives, but I would wager a guess that you are among those displaced by the recent disturbance. Otherwise, your presence on this remote world defies any common sense. Would I be mistaken in also assuming that you seek passage away from here?"

“You assume correctly.” Karna’s voice boomed. She remained in this form on purpose. It was useful to negotiate from a position of power.

“In that case, I believe we can come to a fair agreement, seeing as your intervention did just save us.” The Naga nodded.

Karna hid a small smile. Of course the trader would still negotiate a price. She wouldn’t be a merchant otherwise. Good thing she had prepared something good just in case. The tuning fork would greatly ease the passage of traders when they returned to this world, especially if there was a risk of further spatial disturbances. She could always make another one for her own use, just in case she needed to return. It was a nice quiet world, and sometimes she liked quiet.

Chapter 49 - Lost and Found

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”When we reach our destination, we might want to make a relatively hasty exit and leave the ship behind as soon as possible," Karna warned Anaire as the two prepared to disembark the merchant's airship.

“Why?” Anaire wasn’t questioning whether Karna was right or not, she simply wanted to know the reason. She could venture a guess though.

“Well, let’s put it this way. Normally the people who can make items attuned to different worlds are mages around the eighth rank. No one wants to pick a fight with one of those, especially a spatial mage of that rank. They can be horrendous enemies in a battle as they are often the people that keep small powers and nations afloat. When someone is skilled enough to make those items before reaching a high rank, they usually don’t wander around the different areas without protection, unlike us. Now, how long would you wager it takes before someone tries to capture us in an attempt to force us to work for them, once the word about us spreads? How long do you think it will take before word about us does spread?” Karna questioned.

“Not very long. The captain might owe us, but she has her loyalties and likely will report us as soon as we reach our destination, if not before. How big of a danger are we in? And if it is really dangerous, then why would you trade the attuned item with the captain in the first place? We could’ve worked out another deal since they owed us one for the fight beforehand.” Anaire’s mind whirred as she went through all the implications in her head.

“That depends on what kind of world we're going to. Some worlds are very safe and we’ll be fine. On most worlds, only criminal organizations would make the sort of attempt we’re talking about. On certain worlds, however, there's going to be real issues. We can mostly defend ourselves against those that would make the attempt, but there are limits. As for why I paid with the item, it was the easiest way to ensure the captain's cooperation. The item really only has value for a trader like her because others don’t travel to that world. Our other goods can be used to barter a passage with a much wider range of parties. The captain might also be hesitant to mention us to the authorities because she'll likely lose the item.” Karna explained. “And we don’t need a lot of time to leave. Even a short hesitation would be enough.”

“Still a bit of a risk.” Anaire pointed out.

“Yes, you’re right. On the other hand, it’s not like we have no cards to play should someone try something against us.” Karna nodded in slight agreement. The problem was that they had only so many ways to secure passage on ships that could travel between worlds. Earning your keep with a nomadic tribe with her crafting skills was very different from paying a trader. She had certain goods in her storage ring, but most of those she wasn't really willing to trade away. She’d have to create something to trade, and that would take time. She had already made some things in preparation, but bartering with such items was always a matter of supply and demand. And depending on where they ended up, the demand might not be there.

The duo was already waiting on the deck of the ship as they suddenly dropped off the spatial passage. Karna had seriously considered just taking flight from the deck right away, except that she could immediately tell that they had arrived on a relatively major world and all arriving ships would need to go through an inspection to be allowed out of the isolated area they had arrived in. The spatial path had deposited them into a mountain valley and the valley was surrounded by several layers of wards and magical protective fields to prevent anyone from slipping through. As usual, most worlds took their dimensional security seriously.

The officials that boarded the ship for the inspection were also Naga surrounded by Khenra guards, which was a little odd as a combination. Karna had wondered about it even when it came to the captain and the two Khenra on the ship. The two races weren’t usually very symbiotic. Naga commonly inhabited moist terrain, preferably near oceans and major rivers, while Khenra usually liked more arid terrain. They both did like warmer climates, so there was that.

The Naga wore the attire of officials, strict and clean uniforms made of light silks, while the Khenra were armed and armored, though often keeping their torso bare. Even female Khenra wore rather minimalistic pieces on top. That somewhat implied that the Naga were in a higher position in the society, but it might be a bit hasty to make such determinations with such little evidence.

The captain handled the inspection procedures, and all seemed to go well, except by the time they landed, the ship was quickly surrounded by three dozen Khenra soldiers, while a very large male Naga approached the two girls as they stepped off the ship. “Pasha Belik requests your presence offworlders.” The three meters tall Naga clad in ornamental armor stated in a voice that made it clear that this wasn’t actually a request.

“And what does the Pasha want?” Karna asked rather directly, her tone implying impatience.

“I’m not at liberty to say.” The Naga stated, his mouth tightening into a line.

“In that case, relay my apologies to the Pasha. We are on a tight schedule.” Karna was testing the resolve of the Naga officer.

“I’m afraid I must insist.” The Naga said in a voice that was still relatively polite, while still being firm.

“Must you though? Because unless I’m mistaken, your Pasha has an offer for us, and it wouldn’t exactly bode well for any negotiations to start like this.” Karna pointed out.

“I have my orders.” The Naga said with a firm tone.

“Do you? And how far do your orders extend? Should we choose to resist, do your orders extend to using violence? Because that would make us prisoners and enemies of your Pasha, and if that is the case, then I wouldn’t feel all that bad resisting. And I’m quite confident we would win.” Karna wasn’t actually throwing down the gauntlet for a fight just yet. She’d gotten a glimpse of the city, and knew it likely had enough military power to make things difficult for her. Especially with Anaire along to make escape difficult. But she did need to know where they stood.

“I would prefer if you did not make things difficult, but I have my orders.” The Naga kept his tone polite.

"No," Karna said firmly, before turning to Anaire. "See, this is something you will have to learn. If the local ruler has ill will towards us, then it is a very bad idea to go along. If they want to make a move against us, it is preferable for us to force them to do it in public like this. If we follow them then they will take us to a place where we can disappear without any word about it getting out. On the other hand, if the Pasha wants to capture us in the middle of a busy port without any explanation, then a word about it will get out. Such captures are quite bad for business. Especially when they fail.”

Karna turned back to the Naga. "Now here's what's going to happen. I'm going to walk out those doors. If you try to stop us or stand in our way, then I'm going to take that as an act of aggression and will strike back with no mercy. You will not survive that."

Karna and Anaire took several steps towards the exit and the Naga guard was about to make his move when a voice called out. “Stand down Hebi.” A much smaller male Naga slithered through the doors. He was clad in opulent clothing and was flanked by four Khenra warriors that Karna could sense to be quite strong.

“Yes, Pasha.” The big Naga made a small deferential bow.

The smaller Naga turned towards Karna. “If the mountain won’t come to me…” He quoted an old saying.

“I’ve actually met a moving mountain.” Karna smiled, remembering an older life fondly.

“Well, be that as it may, I have a proposition for you Tuner.” The Pasha used an archaic term for people who could facilitate travel between worlds and locations. “I would’ve preferred to have this discussion in my palace, but here we are.” He waved his hand and the guards around him made sure no one suspicious was within earshot.

“Here we are.” Karna agreed simply. “I’m assuming you need to get somewhere. Somewhere you can’t get to without some very specific help.”

“Quite. It always makes things easier to negotiate with someone smart. I need to be able to get a ship through a spatial channel and into a pocket dimension. The channel still exists, but it is so badly deteriorated that navigating through it is impossible after a certain point.”

Karna frowned a bit. This was an interesting problem. And one that did require some very specific skills indeed. “So you need a Tuner that can help your ship Shift beyond the deteriorated parts of the spatial channel?”

“Preferably straight to the pocket, yes.” The Pasha nodded.

“Any defenses?” Karna asked.

“More than likely, though it is hard to say without actually getting closer.” The Pasha admitted freely.

"Then you need a very skilled Tuner and not just an average one. And what would be my reward? I do not work under duress, and the presence of your four guards has not changed the mathematics about the result of a fight between our two groups." Karna got to the point.

“Judging by your race, you likely seek passage to other worlds. I assume it’s because you were stranded due to the recent events. I can arrange that. Quickly as well.” The Pasha didn’t blink an eye at Karna’s implied threat.

That was an offer she’d have to consider at least. She also needed more information before agreeing. “I would need to…” She suddenly looked up and after letting her senses roam around a bit, a grin split her face. "I see this discussion has become moot. We no longer require your help, Pasha."

The Pasha’s face fell. “I had hoped we could come to an amicable solution, but…”

“I would really suggest that you don’t finish that sentence, snake.” An angry female voice suddenly seemed to cut through all the other noise in the area while a heavy weight settled on every armed person aside from Karna and Anaire.

“Master. Nice timing. Did you wait until now to make a proper entrance, or…” Karna grinned as Tsumi slowly floated down from the sky above.

“Of course I waited for the perfect moment. As my student, you should know better than to even ask such silly questions. Making a proper entrance and first impressions is paramount.” Tsumi stated shamelessly. Her powers had spread across the entire area, pressing all the guards and the two Naga to the ground like a physical weight, and everyone could feel that she was at the ninth rank.

“Naturally. So are we going to have this discussion here while you keep suppressing the ruler of the city and the entire guard with just your presence, or should we take it somewhere else?” Karna couldn’t help but be amused by the antics of her master.

“I don’t know. This current situation does have its benefits.” Tsumi joked. “Although, we might as well go. We might have to speak about rather sensitive subjects and I don’t want to kill everyone here just to keep them quiet.”

--------

“It’s good that you’re ok. Not that I was really worried, but you can never be certain with the Scourge presence.” Tsumi gave her student a hug as soon as she’d created a portal back to her ship resting in a mountain valley not far from the city.

“How bad is the situation?” Karna asked, curious about the extent of the damage.

“Pretty bad but not yet what I’d classify as dire. Several worlds have been attacked, but most are fending off the attacks relatively well. It’s not a major invasion, just some scattered parties slipping through the cracks. The problem is that with the paths between the worlds being disrupted and somewhat risky at the moment, travel is quite limited, and sending reinforcements to worlds that can't hack it on their own is challenging." Tsumi gave a brief explanation.

“What about-?” Anaire asked hastily, before swallowing her words, not wanting to appear rude and because she wasn’t sure who to ask about first. Tsumi was someone that could rival her mother, and being rude to such a person could be a death sentence. Karna had mentioned her master during the time they’d spent together, but that didn’t mean everything Karna said applied to Anaire as well.

“Your brother is fine, and so is your family. The crew of the ship you were on less so. Our world wasn’t really affected aside from disrupted trade and the ships that got lost. Benefits of being one of the major worlds and housing an Emissary. The Scourges keep away from us when they can.” Tsumi turned back towards Karna. “Most of your group has been found, although the situation with Shaheera seems to be odd. I’m not sure of the details yet because I haven’t been back and have to rely on jumbled messages. The spatial disturbances aren’t doing wonders for communication either. Duskclaw was found, but she’s seriously hurt. Nothing life-threatening as the healers got to her in time and she’ll recover, but it’s going to take months I’m afraid. Maybe even years.”

Karna grimaced. She had hoped that everyone was fine, but it had been a bit too much to ask. She felt bad for Duskclaw, but in some ways, her step-mother was a better target for getting injured than her friends. Her friends were still in the middle of the most important growth spurt in their lives while Duskclaw wouldn’t suffer too badly if she lost a couple of years to recover. It would still be a loss and she wouldn’t wish it for anyone of course. Well, anyone she cared about at least. “You said most?”

“We still haven’t been able to locate Mayumi. The problem is that unlike you, she didn’t bring along the Academy uniform. I can’t locate her as easily. I might have even visited the world she’s on already, but I just didn’t know she was there.” Tsumi explained while spreading her hands in a helpless gesture.

“Master…” Karna said with a frown.

“I know. You don’t want to leave her behind. I get that. I know she looks up to you and I’m not sure if I could abandon her either. That’s why I came here with a ship of my own. I’m coming with you. While you’re strong and resourceful, having someone with my power along will simplify many things and open many doors. Going back home would take weeks that Mayumi might not have, sorry princess, so we’ll have to skip that, but we’ll at least need to inform Arjuna that you’re ok. He’ll tear half the Plane apart if we don’t.” Tsumi knew what Karna was thinking.

“Thank you, master. What about the Academy though?” Karna asked with a small frown.

“I left the vice-headmaster in charge. They can manage for a time without me. I’ll need to pop back eventually and can’t stay away from my duties forever, but I’m actually quite happy to dump most of my duties on the vice in the current situation.” Tsumi grinned.

“Why am I not surprised?” Karna asked sarcastically.

“So what’s this about you being a Tuner?” Tsumi asked suddenly.

“After all this time together, you’re surprised?” Karna shot back with a raised eyebrow.

“Not really if I’m being honest. Just didn’t think of it before. It does make travel a lot easier though. I assume you can also guide the ship through some dicier spatial pathways? Because some of the worlds I haven’t visited so far are really hard to reach at the moment. While Mayumi could theoretically be on the worlds I’ve already visited, I did at least make an effort to gather information and got no word of her.” Tsumi confirmed just in case.

“I know how to pilot a ship, yes. That doesn’t mean I can navigate the disturbed space at my current level without risk. Though with that said, there is an option that would make things easier. I’m not too far from my next Awakening, and I could rush it as my foundations so far are beyond solid. I’d need to compensate a bit later on, but it wouldn’t be too bad. And if I were to Awaken the right kind of bloodline…” Karna suggested.

“Ah yes, that weird ability of yours to Awaken bloodlines that you don’t actually have. I never understood your explanation on it.” On purpose, as Karna had made up the whole explanation and made it extremely convoluted just for this very reason. “Wouldn’t you need a special place for it though?”

“Well, if I want to Awaken a bloodline tied to spatial forces, then what better place than the space between worlds where those energies are abundant? That said, there are certain…issues that we’ll need to discuss later. Before that, Anaire, what’s your take on the situation?” Karna turned to the elven princess.

“I’m worried about my family, but knowing they’re ok allays that somewhat. I’d like to see them, but I realize you don’t have the time to waste when your friend could be in all kinds of danger. I’ll go with you, as long as we can get a word back. Besides, I’ve learned a lot in the time I’ve spent with you. I think I’ll learn a lot more if I stick around.” Anaire had found that Karna was a great source to emulate and learn from. Another potential idol of sorts.

“Speaking of, do you have a way to contact Arjuna? I can contact Queen Amaranthine as she’s the one coordinating the rescue efforts, but not with Arjuna specifically.” Tsumi asked.

“I can probably whip something up if you have the materials. We’ll need to buy some though if you don’t have what we need.” Karna shrugged.

“Um, as we are on the subject of making purchases, could I also get some proper clothes? Wearing Karna’s hand-me-downs is still making me feel…inadequate.” Anaire grimaced.

Chapter 50 - Decision, decisions

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we are. I hope you'll enjoy!

Note that the next chapter might be a bit late. I've been a bit busy helping my parents with their plumbing and heating problems, so I'm not sure if I have the time to write all that much. We'll see.

------

”So how exactly are we supposed to locate your friend?” Anaire asked with a frown. “For all we know, she could be on this very world and we wouldn’t know.” She was feeling a lot better now that she had proper clothes. She still couldn’t wear elven attire, and the togas used by the Naga were a little airy, but it went a long way towards returning some of her confidence.

Karna and Tsumi looked at each other and frowned as they both considered the problem. “There are certain spells that could help, but I have to be honest. Divination isn’t my specialty.” Tsumi admitted. “We always lived under the shadow of the Starlight Tower and I frankly have very little respect for seers. Their field does have certain uses though.”

"Hmm, there is a way, though it's not exactly foolproof," Karna mentioned. "When a proper artisan creates something, there will always be a little bit of the artisan in that item. With a proper spell, I could try to scry for the items I’ve made. It won’t reveal her exact location, but at least we’ll know if we’re on the right world. The problem is, Mayumi only had a handful of items made by me, and this assumes she still has them.”

“She could’ve lost her spatial ring just like me.” Anaire agreed with a nod. “Or the items could’ve even been taken from her.” That possibility was much worse.

“Well, even if that is the case, we’ll at least know where she had been if we find those items in someone else’s possession.” Tsumi pointed out.

“Right. Let's start with that one." Karna closed her eyes and muttered the incantation that went with the spell. She had to use a relatively high-ranked divination spell just to cover the entire world they were on, which would leave her quite exhausted. Once the spell was complete, she tried to sense any echoes coming off from any items she had created and came up empty-handed. Not that she'd expected a response on this world.

“Nothing?” Tsumi asked to confirm when Karna opened her eyes.

“Zilch.” Karna shook her head. “I might as well contact Arjuna as well. Get the ship ready to go in the meantime.”

Tsumi and Anaire wandered off to make preparations while Karna drew a fairly small but complicated magical circle on the ground with some of the materials they had acquired. There was a reason she’d sent Tsumi away. The spell she was going to use was soul magic not practiced in this universe. It would also reveal just how powerful her soul truly was while she was casting it, and that little tidbit might be too much information even for her master. Karna had revealed many things over the years and hinted at a lot more, but certain things she still kept a secret. Only Arjuna had any idea about the strength of her soul and that was because this wasn’t the first time she used a soul magic spell.

As the casting was finished, Karna found her soul in a large empty courtyard. The building beside the courtyard was something that she had pulled out from her memories as it seemed appropriate. It was a relatively nondescript castle made of grey stone that you could find anywhere. Next to her appeared the tiny form of Arjuna. 'It's not that Arjuna is small, but that I'm big.' Karna thought idly. She was keeping her own size in check and still Arjuna was short enough to not even reach her shin.

“Karna. It’s good to see you again.” Arjuna said with a relieved voice. “What took you so long?”

“Didn’t have the materials for the spell. Tsumi found us and she’s one of the few people that carry around sand that has time properties.” Karna sat down on the even ground and placed her hand flat next to her so that Arjuna could step on it and be brought up to eye-level.

“Your Titan form will be stupendously large in the future.” Arjuna shook his head again. That’s how Karna had explained things. That the space they were in would show her future shape. “You said ‘us’. Who else is with you?”

“Princess Anaire and Tsumi like I mentioned. Master just found us a few hours ago. I heard from her that Duskclaw was injured. How is she?” Karna was genuinely worried.

Arjuna sighed. “She’s not well. She’ll live but she did some things she really shouldn’t have. It’ll take her a long time to recover. She’s not in any danger, but this will slow her cultivation. It might affect her potential if we don’t deal with it thoroughly. I have some of the healers from the old Holy Kingdom looking after her though, so the situation is improving. They know what they’re doing. Where are you?”

Karna mentioned the name of the planet. “We actually crashed on a sandy planet called Palaven. A dreary place but the people were nice. Ran into some Netherworld forces and got here on a trader ship.”

“Ah, the Scourge groups have actually been trailing the trader ships around, so the major worlds have considered banning inter-world trade until the situation is resolved. Too little too late though. When will you be back? Are you coming straight back?” Arjuna asked.

“No. From what I hear, Mayumi’s still missing, and I’m going to keep looking. With Tsumi here, I should be fine. We’ll need to keep in contact though. If either of us finds her, then the other one could waste a lot of time looking for someone who’s no longer lost.” Karna explained quickly.

“Well, it’s not like I have much choice in the matter. Just keep safe.” Arjuna was right. He had no choice when it came to Karna’s decision. Just knowing she was safe was enough for now though. He had known she would be, but it was nice getting a confirmation.

“Where did you find the others? Maybe we could narrow down the search area.” Karna suggested.

“We’re way ahead of you there. So far all of you have been found in the south-eastern segment of our plane. You two were thrown the furthest out so far. You were traveling south while the spatial disturbance seems to have originated from the west, throwing everyone eastwards.” It wasn’t quite that simple of course. There were no cardinal directions like that between the worlds in the first place, and the cardinal directions Arjuna had mentioned had been decided based on where each world was on the magical formation that unified all the worlds and planes. The directions were only general guidelines though, and in some cases could be extremely misleading. In some ways, traveling between planes could actually be easier than travel between worlds. Especially in places where the borders between planes grew thin. On the other hand, in some places it was almost impossible.

“That does narrow it down, although we shouldn’t rely on it too heavily.” Karna nodded.

Arjuna took a long look at his daughter. “Are you fine, really? I know I shouldn’t, but I worry.”

She smiled in response. It was endearing. “I truly am fine. Concerned about Duskclaw, but other than that I’m fine.”

"Make sure that you stay that way," Arjuna ordered in a stern voice before disappearing. The spell was great but not very long-lasting, and Arjuna knew it burdened Karna to cast something out of her league like this.

------

Unlike Prince Cendirion’s yacht, Tsumi’s vessel was built for one thing and one thing only. Speed. It had the flying V shape that became so popular in many science-based universes, and it even had three huge gravity stones at its aft in a way that almost made them look like engine thrusters. “Master, who designed your ship?” Karna asked with a frown. She’d seen the vessel Tsumi used in day to day travel and that one looked more like a fat duck.

“Hmm? Oh, this is a design originally made by the Witch of the Starlight Tower. We’ve improved on it since, but the general outline is still the same.” Tsumi responded without worries.

“I see.” Karna nodded. This cast a very special kind of suspicion on the enigmatic witch. Clearly the design had been inspired by knowledge from outside this universe.

The insides of the ship were barely large enough to hold the three of them comfortably. They had the space of a small-ish one-room apartment in addition to the cockpit, which didn't really bear any resemblance to modern design, as this vessel was not piloted the same way. Karna touched the control crystal and felt like she was becoming one with the ship itself, and the instructions of her mind guided the ship along. A very peculiar feeling had she not been used to such control schemes for her previous lives.

“Aaaand I see you don’t really require any instructions on how to fly.” Karna almost sensed Tsumi’s voice more than heard it. The ship had already lifted into the air and she went through small maneuvers to get used to what the ship could do and how it responded to her inputs.

Once she had gotten a handle on the ship, the air around the ship was suddenly sucked inwards as the ship simply disappeared, transferring into the great in-between that separated the worlds. Karna’s mind reached far and wide as she got a handle on their location and where they needed to go. This was where she could finally utilize her soul to its fullest by extending her senses further out than anyone else was capable of doing, and the ship even amplified those senses. She could finally allow her senses to range far and wide without worry of being detected or accidentally hurting someone. The ship itself protected those inside as the magical runes on the hull glowed a telltale purple hue.

She could feel the space holding the universe together struggling. It was like it was in pain. Not because of the recent disturbance. That had been a tiny ripple in a huge pond. No, that ripple had in fact been the space releasing some of the stress it had been under. It wasn’t until now that Karna realized truly how heavily the space was stressed. It was a wonder the earlier disturbance had been as mild, or that it had been the first. She’d experienced several Expansions before, so this sort of stress was not new to her, but there was definitely something strange going on. This Expansion was going to be much larger than she or anyone else had anticipated.

“This isn’t just the birth of a new world or even a new plane.” She muttered, spooking the other two inside the cockpit wondering at the turbulent space around the ship. “This is…something new.”

Tsumi’s eyes narrowed. “Are you certain?” She asked. She didn’t ask how Karna knew, as she was already used to her disciple’s reticence towards explaining such things. She had learned not to care about the origins of such tidbits of info. What mattered was how reliable it was.

“Completely. And I don't think the Divines will be prepared either. We already got a small hint of what will happen, but I'm almost certain that the Scourges will be free to flood into the new…whatever is created, just as easily as we will." Karna tried to put her vague impressions into words. And she somehow had a feeling that the whole thing was tied to the recent influx of reincarnators. Something big was coming.

“So we won’t be fighting just other worlds and planes for the new worlds and resources.” Tsumi made her own conclusions. “We need to prepare. I’ll have to get a word back.”

“We’ll relay the message once we reach the next world.” Karna agreed. She then allowed her senses to reach towards certain types of channels in the turbulent maelstrom of energies and used the ship's engines to push. Space twisted around them and bent to her will. Reluctantly for now, but it did. She would need to change that. Luckily that was exactly what she had in mind.

A bout of sudden nausea almost caused Tsumi and Anaire to hurl. "Whoa. That's not how this usually goes." Anaire had her hand covering her mouth, just in case. Not that she was really thinking vomiting on her hand would make things any better.

“Yeah, you’ll get used to it. My disciple rarely does things the way most people prefer to do them.” Tsumi couldn’t help but giggle. Most pilots would follow the currents of this weird space to their destination. Only spatial mages and some people like Karna would think of bending the space around them instead, bringing the destination to them, instead of the other way around. She also recognized that Karna was actually doing a bit of both, which required double the effort and concentration.

“Where are we?” Anaire asked when the twisting feeling ended. “We’re not on another world yet, are we?” She looked outside and saw nothing but huge streams of flowing energy. It looked like stars were twinkling around them, but that could’ve just been her mind trying to make sense of her surroundings.

“We’re near the formation. Next to a juncture point in fact.” Karna explained curtly.

“Which formation?” Tsumi asked suspicions rising.

“The formation," Karna stated firmly. She was referring to the formation that combined all the planes and the worlds. They were only tiny specks when compared to the formation, so their eyes and minds couldn’t comprehend it. It was like a tiny ant looking at and trying to understand a pack of river-dancing dragobears.

“So. You did want to find a very special place for your Awakening after all.” Tsumi realized.

“Well…” Karna was prepared to say something quippy but decided to just let it go and accept that her master was right.

“You said you had something to discuss before going through this?” Tsumi prompted.

“I…have a decision to make. The Awakenings aren’t all equal. The Awakenings you first go through of course form the foundation of everything. And those done at ranks ten and thirteen are also special. As is the one I’m currently going to undertake, though this one is significantly less so. I’m not certain which path I should take, and I have a few options.” Karna tried to explain without revealing too much. She mostly needed a sounding board for her own thoughts.

“It’s rather cute that you’re so certain that you’ll reach rank thirteen someday. I won’t even ask how you know all this. Alright, lay it on me. What’s the issue?” Tsumi realized her role in all this. To the surprise of Anaire and Tsumi, Gem suddenly materialized as well in the form of a tiny Faerie Dragon, ready to give her input as well.

“I have a…handful of options but I’m not certain which order to choose them in. I have one option that I know is very powerful and significant. It would also make our travels easier and give me a significant boost of power in the short term. However, that option would be even stronger if I saved it until the later Awakenings I mentioned. The second option is a rather plain one when it comes to power, but it comes with a really handy slate of smaller abilities, and it would be especially useful for our current spatial problem. However, as I said, the increase in power would be minor at best. The third option…I'm not sure about. I have a hunch that it could be extremely significant, but I have no idea beyond that. It might provide all the answers we need right now, or it might be a total bust. It would be the safer option to test now when the loss would be smaller than when I'm at rank ten or Divines forbid thirteen, but the potential gains are also smaller.” Karna had slight difficulties wording her worries correctly.

“Ok, let me try to get this straight. You have three options that you will all take at some point, but you’re not sure of the order?” Anaire asked for clarification.

“In a nutshell, yes.” Karna nodded.

“The other two options are a potentially awesome mystery option three and a guaranteed great option one that you’d rather save for the future. And you have a hunch that the mystery will be significant at some point?” Tsumi reiterated.

“That’s the gist of it, yes.”

“You know what to do," Gem spoke in a squeaky voice. It wasn’t the first time Tsumi heard the spirit speak, but it was rare. "You don't jeopardize future potential for a short term gain now. That's why you spent so much time on your foundation. Option one will be much better saved for the future."

“I agree with the…spirit?” Anaire’s voice was a little questioning. “I think the choice is obvious. Option two now. Option one when you reach immortality. That’s when you need the power most. Option three when and if you ever reach rank thirteen. Why take a risk that you might not have to ever take?”

“I agree with those two, except I’d consider flipping the first and third option around.” Tsumi also nodded.

Karna nodded. “I had similar thoughts, I just needed to work the problem out.”

As soon as she had said the words, she appeared outside the ship. Instead of drawing just on the surrounding spatial forces, she also tapped straight into the great formation. There was no need to try and gather as much power as possible this time. In fact, she had to be very precise so that she wouldn't draw too much and kill herself in the process. That's why she finished attuning to the space element before starting the real Awakening. She’d absorbed nearly all of the essences the spirits had provided her, so she really needed to start dealing with her own part of the deal. She’d saved a couple just for maximum effect but the attunement to the elements was almost finished.

This time there were no grand apparitions or flashy heavenly tribulations. The same had held true for her previous Awakening as a vampire, although even then there had been a disturbance as she’d basically created a new vampiric bloodline. Rain of blood and other such minor details that should really be ignored. The form she was taking on this time was not one that would draw the ire of the universe, although that was a horrible oversight on the heaven’s part. That was part of what made it so great. Karna had always found this particular bloodline a borderline broken one. That’s why she had picked it for one of the more significant Awakenings.

Although the heavens didn't strike at her, that didn't mean this Awakening was any easier than the others. In fact, it was significantly harder. Absorbing the power from the formation without being overwhelmed was agonizingly painful. Her mana channels burned and were recreated just as fast as they were being destroyed. Luckily the process was rather quick, and the whole thing took less than five minutes. With a small puff of smoke, she slumped back inside the ship in her new form.

“Oh, Divines!” Tsumi gave an exasperated exhale and covered her eyes with her hand.

Anaire on the other hand clapped her hands and released a girlish squeal. “Daaaww! So adorable!” She tried to scoop Karna up into her hands.

“Get off. Let me get some rest first.” The tiny blueish-white kitten deftly floated away while flapping what looked like butterfly wings that were three times larger than her body.

Chapter 51 - Whiskers

A note from Vihyungrang

Phew, got this one done just in time. Though the downside is that I'm now officially writing at the same pace as I'm releasing, and that's going to influence the quality because I won't be able to make later improvements. Hmm...

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

”So...a Tressym? Really?” Tsumi asked, not entirely convinced of Karna’s choice. She was aware that Karna could seemingly pick almost any magical bloodline, Divines only knew how, and had expected something a bit more impressive instead of a tiny kitten with wings.

"I think it's adorable!" Anaire squealed. The only reason she wasn't trying to scoop up Karna's new form to pet it to oblivion was because she'd already tried and had the claw marks on her cheeks to prove how bad of an idea that had been. She was already using her druidic abilities to heal the cuts, but they still stung.

Karna narrowed her eyes at the elven princess but replied to Tsumi. “You shouldn’t underestimate what you don’t understand. Besides, you should know that it’s not always the size that matters, but how you use it.” She joked.

“We both know no one actually believes that.” Tsumi shot back immediately without a single second of hesitation. Her voice was deadly serious as well.

“Are we still talking about the kitten?” Anaire asked a bit confused.

“No.” Both Karna and Tsumi said at the same time.

“O-okay then.” Anaire just shook her head.

“But seriously. Tressym are beyond broken as a bloodline, even if as magical beings they don’t seem that impressive at first glance.” Karna got a bit more serious. “Their senses are second to none, and perhaps more importantly, they’re very sensitive to spatial forces. They’re completely immune to all known poisons, magical or otherwise, and can sense their presence just by taste, touch, or scent. They can sense invisible creatures. I’m going to repeat that for emphasis. They can sense invisible creatures, not just see through the invisibility. They’re inherently one of the most magical creatures in the multiverse, can instinctively tell when someone is lying, and they have natural luck that borders on the illogical. They’re also naturally loved by the heavens and fates, and as long as I have the bloodline, I don’t have to worry about any Heavenly Tribulations, unless I specifically want to face them. And here’s the best part. Tressyms grow up so fast that instead of having to spend decades or even centuries reaching the peak of their abilities, unlike with my Phoenix and Titan bloodlines, I’ll get access to all of that in a couple of years.” Karna explained seriously, which was a bit spoiled by the fact that she was currently looking like a baby cat with huge butterfly wings.

“And you look cute!” Anaire supplied.

“And I look downright adorable!” Karna agreed firmly and puffed up her chest and stamped her tiny paw on the air ineffectually to emphasize her point. It looked very silly.

“Well, when you put it like that.” Tsumi couldn’t help bursting out in laughter. She had really not expected this. She’d expect something like a Chimaera or maybe some eldritch abomination, but she should’ve known better. Karna had said that this Awakening would be for a form that would not bring direct combat power. Also, she knew that Karna could be quite vain, so she wouldn’t activate bloodlines that would make her ugly, unless the benefits were too big to ignore.

“Alright. Let’s get this show on the road.” Karna decided and jumped to stand on the control crystal of the ship.

“Dawwwww!” Both Anaire and Tsumi made a sound as the tiny kitten balanced on top of a crystal three times its size.

“Shut it, both of you!” Karna growled, though it sounded more like an ineffectual mewl. Her stomping paw wasn’t any more effective this time either.

---------

"This is gross no matter how many times I see it," Wolfgang commented. "The combination you and your spirit make is just…"

Around them, countless shadow soldiers assaulted the forces of the Underworld. The seemingly mindless shadows ignored most of the attacks hurled their way and devoured the aberrations that were used to being the ones doing the devouring. Most of the aberrations relied on mental effects and different sorts of detrimental spells to tear down their victims, but the shadows ignored those completely. Another Aboleth was dragged down by a shadowy dragon while screaming an impotent mental screech, and a dozen Beholders had their eyes pierced by shadow lancers riding equally dark steeds. Any shadow that got destroyed by their eye-beams emerged back immediately from the black ground beneath them. Elsewhere countless gibbering abominations were turned into pincushions by shadowy archers.

The ground beneath was covered by a layer of dark energy for a dozen kilometers in all directions from Arjuna. It was like someone had poured a large amount of black sludge on the ground, and more and more shadows kept emerging from the darkness. This was one of the main reasons Arjuna was so feared on the Higher Planes. There were other rank nine mages and even other Medjai of the same rank, albeit those were much rarer. There were also those of similar rank that were even younger than him, as well as those that were closer to Ascending. What made Arjuna special, or at least one of the main reasons, was the fact that he together with his spirit had already managed to develop a Domain. And inside that Domain, very few could challenge him in battle.

High ranking mages were known for their ability to even wipe out entire armies with their spells. Well, Arjuna could also do that, but he also carried around an army of his own, ready to emerge from the shadows. And this army would not surrender or run out of troops until he ran out of power. It wasn’t the only reason he was feared as his might was a combination of many factors, but it was one of the main reasons. “Less complaining and more killing the Scourge. Stop slacking around.” Arjuna gestured upwards.

“Fine, fine. Not that you don’t already have this covered.” Wolfgang grumbled and slashed out with his sword, pulling it out of his scabbard and returning it back in a single flash of movement. Above them, an enormous creature that looked like a flying whale was cleaved into two. The ground shook as the corpse of the massive creature crashed on the battling abominations.

“Thank you. The noise that thing was making was quite distracting.” Arjuna rubbed his temple a bit.

"You say distracting, others would say quite dangerous." Wolfgang pointed out while gesturing towards the collapsed walls of the nearby city. The walls had withstood days of siege from the abomination until the flying whale-thing had shown up with reinforcements for the attackers. Reinforcements that were now in the process of being torn apart by Arjuna’s shadows.

“This is a relatively large concentration of Scourge. Before the disturbance, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Scourge attacks this large on civilized worlds. And now this is becoming the new normal. Many worlds are facing similar attacks.” Arjuna commented with a concerned tone.

“Yeah, this isn’t boding well.” Wolfgang agreed. This wasn’t the first time they discussed the subject. The recent attacks were worrisome and quite naturally incited discussion and concern.

As the battle started winding down, a large cheer went up among the local defenders. “Are we about done here?” Arjuna asked a little impatiently, addressing his question to the nearby member of the Magocracy’s military. The Admiral in question was overseeing the fight on this world.

“Well, there’s the victory feast and then the repairs…” The Admiral said slowly, knowing he was treading on thin ice.

“Right. You can manage those on your own. I have a disciple to take care of. You can feast and enact repairs on your own time. Damn council sending me on all these missions while I should be helping Duskclaw recover.” Arjuna was not pleased about the constant interruptions. He could get Duskclaw healed much faster if he could consistently help her with his own mana.

“Wait!” Wolfgang suddenly called out, noticing that Arjuna was preparing to make a portal out of here.

“What?” Arjuna asked a little snappishly.

“Can you feel that?” Wolfgang asked, looking around him, trying to find the source. It was the feeling of a pressure mounting. Of space stretching.

Arjuna narrowed his eyes. He would’ve sensed it much earlier if he hadn’t been so impatient to return. “Another disturbance. Or the Expansion is finally starting.” Suddenly they all felt a large power above them and a man in silver armor seemed to materialize from thin air. The man wore the same type of armor as the Emissary’s bodyguard, so they both recognized it. As soon as the being appeared, a large golden formation covered the skies above the world and the feeling of pressure seemed to lessen and go away. Not entirely, hinting that the problem would return eventually, but the danger seemed to have been averted for now.

The man suddenly seemed to notice them below and floated down to meet them. "It seems we have you to thank for taking care of the Underworld forces here. Good. It saved us time. We could focus on more important things." The man seemed to ignore all preamble and niceties.

“More important things like…?” Wolfgang asked quickly, knowing Arjuna was likely not in the mood to ask as politely.

The man looked at Wolfgang and seemed to decide the question was worth answering in the current situation. “The Host has been busy patching the holes these enemies are coming through. And we’ve also spread around to stop the kinds of things I think you just sensed. It might not be optimal in your opinion, but the Divines decided it was better for us to work pro-actively to stop further troubles than to play whack-a-mole with smaller Scourge invasions.”

“Which leaves us to play the role of a hammer," Arjuna said with clear disdain in his voice.

“A role you seem adequately suited for.” The immortal smirked. “To each according to their abilities.”

“What my friend here forgot to mention is that we do appreciate your efforts in preventing further spatial anomalies. How long will this situation go on?” Wolfgang felt a little weirded by the fact that he was the more diplomatic of the two.

“Hard to say. This Expansion seems unlike any other we’ve seen. I think we must prepare ourselves for the fact that this might be the new normal for a while. And it's going to get worse until the Expansion actually happens." The immortal admitted.

"How reassuring," Arjuna said sarcastically.

“My job isn’t to reassure people. In fact, talking to you in the first place is just a courtesy. You’ve been such good little hammers that I thought you deserved that much. Might have been just me overestimating your capabilities. That said, the good news is that the more we manage to repair the damage, the fewer attacks there will be.” The immortal seemed to have reached the limit to which he was willing to humor them and just flew away.

“That went great.” Wolfgang scratched his neck.

“Grand Medjai. You are free to act as you will, but could we ask that you don’t antagonize people needlessly? At least people you can’t deal with by yourself.” The Admiral who had quietly listened so far requested with a sincere voice.

--------

“Could I…?” Anaire asked with a hopeful voice.

“No.” Karna shot the request down firmly.

“Just a little! I’m a druid. I’m the best at petting and scratching all the right places.” Anaire appealed for the hundredth time.

"No. Sod off." Karna kept refusing her. At the same time, she finally felt that she could shift out from the form of the kitten, and did so with real relief. Anaire had started to become a little vexing with her insistent requests.

She heard a pair of audible gulps behind her. “You know, Karna, if your purpose was to look less adorable, this doesn't really help," Tsumi commented with a voice that seemed to be suppressing an instinct.

“What…?” Karna asked a little confused before she realized what her master meant. She had retained a pair of cat ears, whiskers, and a long tail. She now looked much like a beastman from the feline tribes.

“So why exactly are you pretending to be a catgirl?” Tsumi asked while holding back Anaire who was desperately trying to reach Karna’s ears.

“I still have to fly the ship. I need the senses the Tressym bloodline provides me, and this is the price for it. For now at least, until I can fully make that bloodline a part of me.” Karna explained briefly. “They’ll go away once we reach our destination.”

“Yeah, well, just as long as you’re aware that the problem wasn’t solved. At least now you’re big enough to defend yourself again. Which makes her entirely your problem.” Tsumi released Anaire at the same time, before the elven princess was punted across the cockpit, and the door to the rest of the ship was closed and locked in front of her, locking her out.

"Problem solved," Karna stated firmly.

“Right. Ok. Avoiding the issue it is then. So when are we going to arrive?” Tsumi changed the subject.

“Right about…now.” They suddenly appeared above a mountain range with a shockwave of displaced air.

“Convenient timing. I like it. You’re learning. Where are we exactly?” Tsumi nodded in approval.

“We’re actually on the world we were traveling towards originally. I noticed that you didn’t search this place yet. There’s a reasonable chance that Mayumi would head here if she was able.” Karna said while looking outside the ship. “I wasn’t sure where the Luminous Sect headquarters are though. I just picked a random spot on the world. As we didn’t use the sanctioned spatial pathways, I thought it might be better to not appear anywhere near the usual exit point.” The benefit of braving the wilds of the dimensional spaces between the worlds was the ability to choose your exit point. It was a lot more dangerous a way to travel, however.

“That’s probably a smart choice. The Sect in charge of the most commonly used paths is actually a competitor of the Luminous Sect. They might have asked several questions we don’t want to answer.” Tsumi nodded. She could’ve dealt with most issues, but it would’ve created a scene and potential diplomatic issues.

“I’ll try to see if any of the items I made are present.” Karna let her mind expand as the words of the divination ritual allowed her to cover the entire world. She noted with some amusement that this world actually wasn’t a planet by the standards of other universes, but instead a gigantic island floating in place. It was big enough to rival a couple of continents on other worlds, but still a single island. That helped her with the wave of exhaustion that hit her once the spell was complete. As the search area was smaller, so was the power expenditure. Her recent rank-up also helped.

“Hmm.” She made a non-committal sound while frowning as she got the results back.

“What?” Tsumi noticed her expression.

“Well, the good news is that I did spot an item I created for Mayumi. It’s just a small trinket, but it did belong to her. The problem is that I can’t sense the other things I made for her, and the trinket is close to the place we just talked about avoiding.

“Ah.” Tsumi made a sound of understanding. Sounded just like the usual luck.

“Ah, indeed.” Karna agreed. “Well, we can still visit the place now that we’re not using the spatial pathways to get there. We could just pose as traders.”

“With a ship like this?” Tsumi pointed out.

“Fair enough. This deathtrap of yours isn't exactly designed like a merchant ship. On the other hand, we could simply point out that we're selling spatial artifacts among other things, and thus don't need the extra space for cargo, for obvious reasons. Speed is more important to someone like that.” Karna argued.

“Or we could just not explain at all.” Anaire’s voice came through the door. “Why volunteer information when it’s not necessary?”

“It seems refuge in audacity is becoming my standard operating procedure anyway.” Karna shrugged.

Chapter 52 - Fires of War

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I really liked how this and the next chapter seem to be turning out, and I hope you'll agree. I also hope you'll enjoy!

--------

”Stop!” Tsumi suddenly shouted, and their ship came to such a sudden halt that they were all thrown about by the momentum. “Can you sense it?”

Karna frowned and her mouth twisted in distaste. “Yes. I spotted it just a tad after you did.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Anaire asked, picking herself off the floor. She had been the only one to not have any warning, and she was also the one least likely to be able to maintain her balance out of the trio.

"There's a large persistent curse field ahead of us," Karna explained curtly.

“Demonic magic!” Tsumi hissed. She was familiar with the foul stench of the corrupt and fel magic.

“Either that or someone familiar with their rituals.” Karna pointed out a second possibility. “Although, with the current situation being what it is, the presence of demonic spellcasters is much more likely.” She didn’t have the same kind of aversion to demonic spells as most people of this universe. She’d been a demon herself after all.

“What kind of curse?” Anaire asked warily. While the aberrations of the Underworld were known for spells that targeted the mind, the forces of Inferno were known for their curses and maladies. Sometimes those curses could wreak more havoc than entire armies of demons.

"I don't know," Tsumi admitted. "I have limited experience with demonic magic." They were quiet for a few seconds before she spoke again. “Go ahead Karna, I know you know something. No point in trying to hide it now.”

Karna gave a small shrug. “It’s a curse cast on an extremely large area. I wouldn’t be surprised if it covered most of the continent in fact. It has a dual purpose. The primary one is to spread a magical disease. The second one is to cause any already existing diseases, both magical and mundane, to grow much worse.”

“Any way to break it?” Anaire asked with a worried tone.

"From here? No. Theoretically, someone with enough power could attack the spell-structure and overload it, but the attack would have to be multiple times stronger than the being that created the curse. That's however assuming that this curse isn't being actively maintained and monitored. If it is, as is rather likely, then the ones powering the curse could fight back and likely win unless the difference in power is enormous. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a group of demons maintaining the thing considering they bothered to create a curse like this." Tsumi went briefly into a teacher mode. While she wasn't an expert on demonic magic, she was still proficient when it came to curses and breaking them. "I could try to attack it, but this was probably cast with the aid of a group ritual and more likely a large number of sacrifices.”

“Blood magic.” Anaire spat the word out. There were two kinds of blood magic. Magic that used blood as a medium, Thaumaturgy, and there was sacrificial blood magic that used blood and lives as fuel.

“A sufficient counter ritual with enough people using holy power would also work. Which makes the whole situation a little odd. The Luminous Sect is the type of group to have such casters on hand, yet the curse is still here.” Karna speculated.

“You’re right. They’re not only obsessed with Qhaysh but also holy magic, and the more…shall we call them sacred ways of using Qi." Tsumi confirmed. Karna knew that in many other universes the so-called 'sacred' ways of using Qi were associated with religion and temples.

“So either they can’t or they won’t. The curse is covering the area covered by their rival.” Karna suggested an explanation.

“That doesn’t really sound like them. They’re a very righteous sect. Annoyingly so at times. They might not extend a helping hand if their rival had more standard trouble, but the Inferno? And a curse that affects the innocent population as well? Sounds unlikely that the Sect would leave it alone.” Tsumi argued. She didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the leader of the Luminous Sect, but the sanctimonious Aasimar woman wouldn’t allow innocents to suffer.

“So the problems of this world seem rather severe.” Karna trusted her master’s evaluation, which happened to coincide with her own impressions.

“Can we avoid being affected by the curse?” Anaire asked the important question.

“Well…” Tsumi looked at the elven princess. “I can protect us for a time, but not forever. And I’ll have to maintain that protection by staying in close proximity the entire time. It also won’t work if I have to sleep, or if I have to fight several dangerous enemies at the same time.” In reality, the only one in real danger was Anaire, as Tsumi was too powerful to be affected and Karna had her Phoenix form to deal with the disease. Even Anaire had some resistance due to her druidic abilities.

“I could probably create something to block the curse, but let’s go with Tsumi’s method for now. We’ll try to keep the duration of the visit short and see what the situation is. With the curse in place, I’m pretty sure the whole place is crawling with demons anyway. If it seems we’ll have to stay longer, then I’ll figure something out.” Karna finally suggested.

------

As they flew over the curse-riddled land, it became obvious that Karna’s suspicion had been right. Any village or small city they came across was either evacuated, devastated, or both. The demons were quite happy to destroy empty buildings as well, though it was quite obvious that not all of the buildings had been empty. Bodies were strewn about several devastated villages, and it was obvious at least two cities had not been evacuated before the demons reached them. The bodies impaled on the walls made that abundantly clear. Demons didn’t discriminate either. The corpses of children and elderly were lined up right next to the likely defenders of the city. Tsumi and Karna both kept their senses out in case they found any survivors, but the demons were quite thorough in their massacres.

Not everything was devastated though. Several cities and forts still stood under domes of protective energy as waves and waves of misshapen demons crashed against the outer walls. The Higher Planes were not peaceful places and most cities had sturdy defenses. In some cases they even spotted decently sized groups of local soldiers making forays outside the cities, striking the demons in the flanks and clearing out any stragglers, though those were relatively rare. They also spotted some other airships that seemed to be mostly carrying refugees and supplies. Most of them stayed high enough in the sky that even flying demons had trouble reaching them. Those that couldn’t reach such heights were usually escorted by military vessels or soldiers riding griffons or other flying beasts. The demons had an upper hand but the locals clearly made them work for it despite the circumstances.

“That’s…” Anaire tried to speak but her voice was choked as they hovered above the second city with all the inhabitants slain and placed on the walls as grisly trophies. She was looking at the remains of the carnage through the window on the ship.

"That's the realities of war," Tsumi said firmly. “Although the Inferno does make it a tad more obvious than most. Sights like these aren’t exactly rare when it comes to normal wars either.”

“No survivors this time either.” Karna declared with a cold voice. Suddenly flames engulfed the diseased corpses that had become swollen and twisted by the effects of the curse. “We won’t be able to give them a real burial, but…”

“Agreed. Their loved ones and friends shouldn’t have to see them like this.” Tsumi also used her own magic to make sure all the bodies were incinerated.

As their ship started ascending higher away from the city, they noted that they had company. Dozens of large airships were approaching them from the distance, and they had obviously been spotted, as smaller support vessels seemed to spread around and screen the skies around the larger ships. “Do we run?” Anaire asked.

“No. That would only get us labeled as suspicious, and that’s the last thing we need in the current situation. We might as well see what they want.” Tsumi rejected the idea. She could always use her power if things got difficult.

It didn’t take long for the fleet to reach them. While most of the fleet continued their travel, they did slow down enough to allow one of the larger ships to make contact. "They're using a messaging spell to contact us," Karna said simply. As she was the one controlling the ship, she was also the one controlling the spells protecting the vessel from outside magic.

“Let’s hear them out.” Tsumi nodded. Even though Karna had taken most of the lead since they started looking for Mayumi, Tsumi was still the one that had the final say in most things. As a teacher, she purposefully allowed her disciple to learn to make such decisions and to carry responsibility, but in the current situation, she felt it was time for her to take the lead again.

A glowing paper-talisman appeared in the cockpit and a male voice could be heard addressing them. “This is the Captain of Lammasu to the unidentified vessel. Identify yourself and your purpose.”

“Captain, it is good to see something besides demons for once. I am Tsumi and we are traders. We’re traveling towards Zharr-Nagar but stopped at the city below to see if there were any survivors. We found none and burned the desecrated remains as a show of respect.” Tsumi explained quickly.

“Traders? How is it that there are traders on this world that don’t know that Zharr-Nagar has been under siege for more than a week?” The captain asked in a suspicious voice. The city Tsumi had mentioned was the city where the spatial pathways mostly converged.

“We may have not entered the world via the traditional route. We didn’t know the situation was so bad here, but we wanted to avoid getting caught in anything if the Scourges had attacked the arrival point.” Tsumi started to spin a web of lies.

The captain grunted, clearly not buying it. “Smugglers I see. Well, in the current situation that might be the best option actually. We could use some skilled smugglers. What wares do you carry? With Zharr-Nagar cut off, we're running low on most things. I'll look past your illegal entry and even give a decent price on your goods if you carry food or medicine. I'll even pay a premium if you have something that can stave off the effects of magical disease or prevent curses."

Karna interjected. “Captain, I can provide you with a fair bit of supplies, though not enough to feed a fleet like yours. I have a handful of magical items that can work against the curse and I can make a few more fairly quickly, but they’ll only delay things. You’ll need to deal with the issue at its root.”

“I realize that. We all realize that. That’s why this fleet and a few others like it are all moving towards Zharr-Nagar. We need to liberate the city and consolidate our forces before we can push for the ritual site.” The captain was speaking rather freely because he knew there was no way anyone would choose to ally with the Inferno in a situation like this. The Underworld had spies, cults, and even allies, while the Netherworld had their vampire spies, but the Inferno didn’t do subtle. There were scant few demon worshippers and those that tried to steal the demon’s powers, but those were few and far between.

“What about the Luminous Sect? Surely the rivalry between you and them isn’t enough to deter assistance in a situation like this.” Tsumi addressed the thing she was worried about.

“Ah yes, the righteous gits. They’re not much better off than us. In fact, we might have gotten attacked by the demonic horde, and they’re dealing with a single demon, but I’d still argue they’re worse off. The demon they’re facing is actually an immortal.” The captain seemed resigned to the situation.

"That doesn't sound good," Anaire said quietly.

“Indeed it’s not. It’s the first I’ve heard of the Scourge managing to sneak an immortal into the Higher Planes. The Luminous Sect will be able to resist for a time, assuming the immortal isn’t more than rank 10, but this is still something the Host should deal with.” Tsumi confirmed.

“Yeah, about that.” The captain interjected. “If you really are a smuggler that can go outside the spatial pathways, then I have a request for you. We need someone to get help. From the Celestial Host if possible, but I’d settle for any help if it can arrive soon. Reaching the Emissary would take too long. If you manage to pass on the message and get us the help we need, then we’ll make sure you’re rewarded accordingly.”

The captain gave a deep sigh before continuing. “This curse is really fucking us up. We can’t fight properly when any army we put on the field gets cursed and reduced to nothing by attrition and disease. The rate people get sick and immobile is stupidly high. We have some hope that this maneuver will be successful with so many ships taking part, but our forces can’t actually get outside the protective magic of the ships. That’s not how you win battles. The enemy was smart. Unlike the Luminous Sect, we don’t have the powerful individuals to face entire armies. We have our own armies and our technology, but both are useless if we can’t get them on the field. On the other hand, the powerful warriors of the Sect are all tied down by a single immortal stronger than them. We need help and we need it yesterday.”

Tsumi and Karna looked at each other meaningfully. “Captain, we can take on this mission, but we aren’t interested in a monetary reward. We need to find someone. A friend of ours was stranded by the spatial anomaly, and we have a reason to believe she was at Zharr-Nagar at some point. We detected one of the items she was carrying there.” Tsumi suggested meaningfully.

“Ah, I think I know what you’re getting at. You’ll deliver the message if we can find information on your friend. Well, I can probably already help you a bit to get things started. Before the demons bothered to shut down travel, we managed to send out several refugee ships. That was likely their intent as it removed a large portion of our ability to move people around, and the true magnitude of the disaster became obvious much later. If your friend traded for a passage on one of those ships…well, I can’t say where she is now, but we can maybe find out if the city gets liberated.”

"Captain, I might be able to get word to an Emissary in less than an hour. It might take longer though, depending on where he is at the moment. And I can’t guarantee how quickly they’ll respond.” Karna stated.

“How?” The captain asked with obvious suspicion.

“Let me worry about that. Just make sure you don’t die off before help arrives. I need someone to attest to the deal we made.” Karna dispelled the communication talisman. “Tsumi, keep us in the air. I’m going to contact Arjuna. If he’s home taking care of Duskclaw, as he damn well should be, then he should be able to get in touch with the Emissary. I would assume they’d be in a hurry to arrive once they learn there’s a demonic immortal on this world.” There was a risk of drawing attention to herself and being here once the Host arrived, but she wasn’t going to let more innocent people get murdered by the demons if she could solve the problem just by contacting her father.

------

Arjuna rushed through the luxurious building that had been assigned for the Emissary’s use. The Emissary was having a dedicated building built for his own specifications in a different location, but that would take a bit of time. Until then, this palace was his to use as he saw fit. Arjuna was ready to pitch a fit after he was contacted by Karna. His daughter was on a world under heavy Inferno assault, and there was even a demonic immortal present! And that didn’t even take into account curses and other dangers. He knew Karna was resourceful, but this was getting really bad.

A seneschal came to intercept him as he was marching towards the quarters used by the Emissary. His arrival had been sudden and unannounced, something highly improper when dealing even with a standard Emissary, not to mention one that was a member of the Royal House of Asuryan. “Grand Medjai, the Emissary is in a meeting right now.” The man tried to prevent Arjun from going forward.

"This can't wait," Arjuna said firmly without bothering to stop.

“Grand Medjai! The Emissary gave instructions…” The protests of the man fell to deaf ears as Arjuna pushed open the large heavy doors in front of him.

Before he could take another step forward, the bodyguard wearing silver armor had appeared in front of him with a spear point pressed against Arjuna's throat. He hadn't even noticed the movement and hadn't sensed anything, but he didn't show any reaction either, beyond stopping before he impaled himself. He could see the Emissary was standing at respectful attention while the illusionary image of a woman seemed to be lecturing him, though the lecture had stopped as soon as Arjuna had opened the door. Arjuna couldn't stop his eyes from growing a bit larger as he noted that the woman looked even more like an older version of Karna, which made her stunningly beautiful, than the Emissary who was already quite similar in appearance to his daughter. The family resemblance was quite obvious at this point.

“Seneschal, I’m quite sure I gave instructions about not letting anyone in.” The Emissary said in a chastising tone.

“My apologies Prince Tethrine. I could not stop the Grand Medjai.” The seneschal kneeled down on the floor.

“This better be important Grand Medjai.” The Emissary turned his displeased eyes to Arjuna, while the woman seemed to be measuring Arjuna from head to toes and wasn’t all that impressed with what she found.

“It is. I just got word of the homeworld of the Luminous Sect being under a massive attack by the Inferno. The enemy is led by a demonic immortal. The world will fall fairly soon if they do not get assistance.” Arjuna explained quickly.

“A demonic immortal? On the Higher Planes?” The woman asked with a voice that commanded attention and respect. It was impossible to judge the age of someone that had reached immortality, but the woman looked to be in her late twenties at most. The voice on the other hand suggested someone much older and much more powerful. “Tethrine, I’ll forgive this interruption. If the Scourge has reached a point where they can send immortals to the other planes, things are much more serious.”

“Indeed. Grand Medjai, give the seneschal all the details. Your little faux pas is forgiven, but do not make a habit of it.” The Emissary also seemed to agree and watched as Arjuna was escorted out.

“Tethrine, there was something odd about the way that man looked at me.” The woman suddenly said with narrowed eyes.

“Mother, you’re one of the Goddesses of Beauty. Although impertinent, I can’t exactly blame him for looking at you.” Tethrine pointed out with a tired voice.

“That’s just it. The way he looked at me wasn’t out of fascination or admiration. That I can recognize easily. In fact, the fact that he didn’t is odd in itself. For a moment it looked like he recognized me. Or that I reminded him of someone.” The woman dismissed her son’s words.

“Reminded him of…I see. I think I know what you’re alluding to. He has…acted a little odd before this as well. This might be a lead.” Tethrine thought he had finally found the first real hint to follow up on. The Witch of the Starlight Tower had warned him, and warnings from the one bearing the True Name of the Seer should be taken seriously. That said, he was still curious.

“The issue with the Scourge comes first of course. I’ll have a word with your father. We will need to take this more seriously.” The Goddess said before her image disappeared.

The impression of the Prince’s face changed as soon as the image was gone. His respectful look turned to one of displeasure. “My reports were not enough to get a serious response but a single word of a demonic immortal is? Well, maybe I really should thank the Grand Medjai. At least he managed to get a reaction out of her and get things moving in a direction I like.”

Chapter 53 - Miracle

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”This is not a good idea Captain. You’re throwing away lives for no good reason.” Tsumi said with a tone that displayed just how little she thought of the idea under discussion.

“I understand that. Some others understand that. Heck, most captains hope that you’re right. The problem is, they can’t rely on your word alone. If we don’t attack and try to lift the siege of Zharr-Nagar now, very soon we won't have the chance to do so anymore. Every day our ships come under attack and more of the crew gets affected by the curse. If we don’t go now, we won’t be able to go at all. And while the captains would like to trust you, they can’t put the entire fate of our world into your hands.” The tired voice of the captain carried over the communication spell.

Another captain from the same fleet picked up where the previous one left off. “Despite the aid you provided us, we’re also running out of supplies. The cities we all came from couldn’t afford to send us off with more than absolutely necessary since most of our cities and villages are under siege. Spells can help maintain the situation for a while, but we were not prepared for an invasion like this. Even if the immortals arrived right this moment, it would still take them days to hunt down all the demons running around, and the resettlement effort will also take time. And just because the curse will be gone, that doesn’t mean everybody will suddenly be fine. Most people are either sick, starving, or both. The more time passes, the worse the situation gets.” The captain was rambling a bit but her point was made.

"Let it go, master. The decision is out of their hands and it has been made already. All we can do is help and try to limit the casualties." Karna placed her hand on Tsumi's shoulder.

"We'd be more than happy to have a rank nine participate in the battle." The first captain said. "As I said, we don't have as many high-ranking individuals."

“Fine. I won’t fight your battle for you, but I will participate.” Tsumi promised. Karna had created an amulet that kept Anaire safe from the curse for the time being, so now Tsumi was able to take part in the coming battle.

They didn’t have to wait long. A few hours later the fleet that had grown to a hundred ships crested a line of mountains and started raining death on the demonic hordes below. Karna noted that the battle was actually fairly non-standard for this universe. The people that lived here liked to combine magic and technology, and they used guns and cannons enhanced by magic as the most common weapons. Thousands of cannons roared, sending projectiles enhanced with magic at the demons, while countless guns fired bolts of coalesced energy at the enemy. The rows of musketeers on the walls and on the flying ships were protected by soldiers with sharp pikes and large shields, while more old fashioned trebuchets and ballistae also did their deadly work.

Despite the hail of projectiles and the iron will of the stalwart defenders, the tide of demonic creatures seemed almost endless and didn’t appear bothered by the losses. Three of the five outer walls protecting the city had already fallen previously, leaving the houses between those walls victim to the predations of the menacing and twisted forms that surged against the walls. The valley between where the flying ships appeared and the outermost wall was more than two dozen kilometers distant, the entire area now a chittering sea of baying monsters. which didn’t just stand by allowing themselves to be slaughtered.

Many of the larger demons seemed to just shrug off any projectiles sent their way. Countless spells were flung towards the ships that had appeared, as well as the defenders on the walls. Most of those were simple bolts of fire or chaotic energy that many demons could generate naturally, but some were much more sinister. A large mass of dark energy seemed to home in on one of the larger flying ships as it fell from the sky and punched through the magical protections of the ship in a single strike, leaving a gaping hole in the hull of the ship that started tilting dangerously and slowly descending towards the waiting horde below.

“It seems that someone down there is crazy enough to utilize Dhar.” Tsumi cursed. “Even we might be at risk.”

“You worry about the enemies, and I’ll take care of any attacks aimed towards our ship, Dhar or otherwise," Karna said confidently.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Tsumi asked a little worried but realized how confident her disciple looked. “Right. Stupid question. Well, let’s get this show on the road.”

Tsumi had hidden her presence well as the ships approached the demons. She knew that the first spell she cast before the demon mages realized her presence would be the most important. Just like the Luminous Sect was able to stand against the demonic immortal, the demon mages below would be able to resist Tsumi’s efforts for a time once they were aware of what they faced. She raised her open hand in front of her to point at the demons, and three large glowing orbs of energy appeared above the demonic army. As she closed her hand into a fist, the orbs all exploded.

Two of the three orbs faced a large magical barrier that resisted against the cold energy that had appeared before the energy fractured and rained down on the demons in the form of sharp icy projectiles that tore into the demons. The third orb had not faced any resistance, and almost a third of the demonic army suddenly seemed to turn into frozen statues. As Tsumi snapped her fingers, the ice statues all seemed to explode, not only killing the demon that had become a statue, but also injuring those close by that had somehow managed to avoid the original spell. Some of the demons had been powerful enough to resist the freezing energy, but even they were hurt by the explosions all around them.

"Nice," Anaire commented in slight awe.

“Yeah. But I only got one out of three, and now the enemy is aware of my presence.” Tsumi frowned at the same time as three more bolts of Dhar coalesced above them and seemed to target their ship specifically.

Before Tsumi could react, Karna waved her hand almost disdainfully, sending the bolts of deadly energy careening towards the demons below. As if she had barely even noticed the danger, Karna kept looking over their allies. “It seems the locals are making an effort to do their part.” She gestured towards the ships that pushed forwards in the face of a constant barrage of fire while raining death below. Now that they were above the demonic army, the bellies of the ships seemed to open and odd-looking shapes started falling out.

“What is going on?” Anaire asked, never having seen anything quite like it, just before the falling objects made contact with the demons. The results were rather devastating and explosions of holy energy washed over the decidedly unholy demons.

“That’s a bombing run. Not a bad idea.” Karna commented. The bombs were doing their job, leaving massive holes in the demonic army.

"It's not enough though," Tsumi argued as the magical protections of the ships started to fail. The demons had focused their fire on the more imminent threat instead of continuing the attack on the city, and the effects were starting to show. The smaller supporting ships that Karna silently called fighters in her mind started to be overwhelmed as flying demons landed on the hulls of the larger ships.

"I guess that's my cue," Tsumi said and with a gesture from her fiery barriers surrounded the lead ships that were taking the most punishment. The flaming barriers seemed to absorb the fiery projectiles of the demons and used that energy to power the barriers. On the other hand, the barriers didn’t do anything against other elements, but as fire was the favored element of most demons, the incoming fire was halved in a single moment. It didn’t take long for the demons the change their tactic, but the delay bought the ships precious seconds, during which they continued their bombing run.

“Still not enough.” Karna agreed as more and more bolts of Dhar were sent their way and swatted away by her. The lead ships all started losing altitude and many of the following ships were already belching out smoke from the numerous fires on board. Suddenly one of the ships in the middle of the formation expanded rapidly before exploding in a violent rain of holy energy, debris, and shrapnel that tore into the other ships in the formation. The bombs inside the ship had mostly likely exploded.

Tsumi was about to cast a third spell of her own but was interrupted as the air around the entire battlefield seemed to shift. Space above the city was torn open as silver-clad warriors came through and golden energy started raining on the demons below. "Here comes the cavalry," Anaire exclaimed with a relieved voice.

“Yes. And the fleet only needed to wait for a few hours to avoid this.” Karna looked at the remains of the fleet. Half of the fleet had already fallen or was in the process of crashing towards the ground. And the ships that remained in the air all seemed heavily damaged. “Victory, but at a cost. A cost that was paid because they didn’t believe.”

"We tried to tell them," Tsumi stated firmly. "Not our fault."

“I agree. Still, it feels like a waste. And I don’t think everyone will be able to see things the same way. Some will blame us even though we were the ones that called for help and even warned them against the attack.” Karna knew the nature of mortals.

The remaining ships, Tsumi’s among them, flew towards the city, leaving the demons to the Celestial Host. There was a wide open park area near the center of the city where the ships landed, some more gracefully than others. As they disembarked, Karna noted that most of the locals were a mix of Dwarves, Gnomes, and other smaller races like Beaver-clan beastmen. As they were all so busy taking care of the wounded and the dead, the three of them were left alone and to their own devices.

“I should see if I can help with the wounded.” Anaire’s voice was filled with sympathy. Her druidic abilities were not as adept at healing as priests, but it seemed the city had a severe lack of any healing. Likely because any wounds would almost certainly get infected due to the curse.

Tsumi stuck around to protect both Anaire and the ship as Karna wandered idly, gazing over the rows of the wounded. She noticed a significant number of what seemed to be orphans near a large temple. It looked like the children were able to resist the ravages of war and disease a little better, unfortunately that also meant that many of them lost their parents in the process. It broke her heart to see the crying and traumatized faces of the children who stared at the influx of casualties from the damaged ships, even though most of the crew members were not from this city or their family. Despite the arrival of the Host, there would be many more orphans tonight.

She walked into the temple made of simple grey stone and saw that it had been cleared of all other furniture as rows upon rows of patients lay on the makeshift pallets and beds while a scant few priestesses ran between the beds, trying to keep as many of the suffering people alive as possible. Karna could sense that most patients here were victims of the curse. All of them were suffering from some sort of disease, magical or mundane, that risked their life. It also seemed that most gathered here didn’t have very long to live.

“Please! Please! Someone help! Mother!” A feeble voice drew Karna’s attention. A brown-haired little girl from the Rabbit-tribe was leaning over what was obviously her mother on one of the pallets. “Please! Someone! Anyone…” The child’s voice grew more desperate while also growing quieter as the malnourished child obviously was running out of strength.

The priestesses looked over the crying child but shook their heads sadly. They had obviously done what they could already. The priestesses all seemed to be running on what little remained of their holy power and had to make hard choices about who they tried to heal and who they had to let go. Karna could also sense that the little girl's mother was definitely on her way out already, as the disease had ravaged her lungs to the point where she was barely breathing. The mother tried to console the child but didn't even have the strength to pat the girl's head anymore. A little bit of simple healing would not be enough for her. What she needed was a miracle.

By chance, the little girl looked towards Karna and the desperate plea in her eyes was clear. Karna took a glance towards the altar at the heart of the temple and released a small sigh as she noticed which deity this temple was dedicated to. "Fate can be a real cunt sometimes, presenting us with choices like these." She muttered quietly. It wasn't a proper choice though. Not really.

She took slow steps towards the large marble statue at the altar. The features had been altered over time by the fantasies of countless sculptors and the original face had been long since forgotten to time, even by other Divines. Most of them hadn’t even been around when the goddess supposedly depicted by the statue had lived. Karna gently laid a hand on the foot of the statue and looked behind her to check if anyone was looking at her. The little girl was staring at her, a strange mix of emotions in her eyes, as she seemed to realize Karna held the answer to her plight.

The many victims of disease in the town would not just miraculously get better just because the curse was removed. Even if the Host prioritized removing it, that'd only prevent new cases. Even with the number of immortals that had arrived, their priority was to hunt down the demon immortal, followed by the removal of all demonic presence. It was likely that the well-being of those affected by disease would not even occur to them until several days from now, and even then the Host was busy. There would be no help to those suffering in the temple, or elsewhere. With a deep sigh, she took a hold of the faith circling inside and above the temple and channeled it, before the entire temple was consumed by a golden light that rapidly started spreading around to the city, and beyond.

-----

Tethrine gave a pleasant smile as the demon immortal grunted in pain. The vaguely female demon had been pinned into the bedrock by several golden spears through all her nine appendages and a trio of silver warriors had their spears trained on her form. “You know, we could make the pain go away quickly. All you have to do is to tell me how you got here.”

That was the crux of things. Defeating the demonic immortal had not been too difficult. Even the mortals of this world had managed to keep her away for a long time, so a dozen silver-immortals of the Host and the Prince certainly had no trouble with her. They’d also taken measures to lock the world down to prevent the hideous creature from escaping. All this trouble because they had to take the enemy alive. They needed information after all. The problem was the demon knew it too. “You think I’ll tell you anything? Hah! Do your worst. What you dogs of the puppet emperor consider pain is considered foreplay where I come from!”

Tethrine easily dodged the bloody spittle the demon sent his way. “Every demon says that, but eventually you all break. We aren’t as bad at pain as you seem to think. And even if we were, there are other ways to get you to talk. You too shall break.”

The demon coughed out a throaty chuckle. “Ah, but you don’t have time for ‘eventually’ do you? You think I didn’t notice this world getting locked down and the way you rushed at me without any care for the mortals? You don’t need my information eventually. You need it now. And if you want it now, you’re going to have to make a deal. A deal that includes my life being spared.”

With a tiny gesture from the prince, one of the immortals stabbed his spear through the bloated abdomen of the grotesque creature. “I think you’re overestimating your position quite drastically. I would prefer the information now, but I certainly don’t need it. As it happens, I benefit either way. If you talk, I’ll get credit for quickly resolving the situation. If you don’t, this little skirmish will escalate. And winning will bring more glory to me the more things escalate. After all, killing a single demonic immortal that infiltrated the Higher Planes is an accomplishment. Killing a dozen or even a hundred? Well, that’s a whole other level of achievement. And make no mistake. We will win. The more of you bastards slip through the cracks, the more seriously the Divines will take this. Eventually, we will have a dozen immortals posted on every world of this plane until we find out what we're looking for. And like I said, you'll talk eventually."

“So why bother asking in the first place?” The demon grunted while ignoring the pain.

“Well, like I said. I prefer getting the information now. Call me a softie, but I don’t consider the idea of sacrificing a dozen worlds to demons worth the little extra credit I’ll receive. I prefer getting the information by a large enough margin to grant you a quick death instead of a prolonged one if you talk, and not a lick more.” Tethrine had a smug smile on his face. He knew he had the advantage and nothing to lose really. The demon knew that too and despite the earlier bravado preferred a quick death over a long period of capture and torture. So the Prince got his information.

“Gather any of our forces not needed for securing this world. We have a spatial crack to close.” He waved the spear he’d borrowed from one of the immortals to get rid of the putrid blood stuck to it. The demon had been too low ranked to warrant him using his own weapon to kill it.

“That’s going to slow down our effort to hunt down the remaining demons.” One of the warriors mentioned.

“While unfortunate, I think we can all agree that it would be a bigger problem if more demons make their way through the crack. Now that we’ve removed the biggest threats on this world, even a single immortal will be enough to kill the remaining demons. And with the large-ish sect here freed from the threat of the demonic immortal, they’ll be able to help. On the other hand, if more demonic immortals make it through, we might see several worlds fall.” Tethrine wasn’t without empathy. He realized that his decision would lead to several more deaths on this world, but he had to prioritize.

Just as he was preparing to leave, he sensed something that blew all thoughts of leaving out of his head. He could sense a wave of divine power from the other side of the world that spread out in a way that seemed to cover the entire area affected by the curse. The curse itself was broken like a dry twig. While a wave of power like this was not uncommon in the Divine Planes, it most certainly was here. And the more alarming thing was that he could sense a hint of Divinity behind that power. Not a group of mortals coming together to use the holy power granted to them by one of the Divines, but someone with actual Divinity. That should not be possible. And the worst part was that he sensed the Divinity was old. Very old. Old meant powerful.

“Change of plans. You’re going to handle the dimensional crack. Something more important just came up.” He said, shocking the immortal commanding the silver-clad warriors.

Chapter 54 - Suspicion

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

Just an FYI, there will be more consequences for the little 'miracle' but they're going to take some time to appear.

------

Tethrine took a step forward while Shifting at the same time, that single step taking him from one side of the world to the other. He could still sense the remains of the surge of holy power sending echoes all over the place, which allowed him to pinpoint the source relatively accurately. He was inside a city and could tell instantly that this place was the area where most of the dimensional paths of this world converged. Several heavily damaged airships were moored nearby, and confused people were milling about everywhere.

The confusion was understandable. The wave of power had washed away not just the curse, but also the diseases that had been affecting almost everyone in the area. Many people had also recovered from their wounds and any damage the diseases had wrought, and the sudden change in the situation had everyone wandering around in confusion. They clearly knew where the wave of power had come from though, as it seemed most people were congregating in the direction of a particular temple. “Make way!” He said with an authoritative voice and used his presence to clear a path easily.

It had only been seconds since he sensed the wave happening, and he reached the temple where the phenomenon had originated from, but he could tell he was too late. There was no sense of a Divinity being present, and it would've been odd for one of the gods to step foot in this place. The temple itself was rather simple and relatively unadorned as far as such structures usually went. The only concessions to making an impression were the sheer size of the stone temple and the large statue at the altar. Normally he’d assume some soft-hearted Divinity had taken pity on these people and stepped in, except that wasn’t possible. Not with this temple. And the Divines almost never ventured to the Higher Planes. It was a major event when they did.

The place was filled with people that had been sick or dying only moments before. The whole place was also covered in a very faint ‘feel’ of the Divine that only barely managed to overcome the smell and feel of the stench of death that had existed here previously. Whoever had performed the small miracle had expected someone to come to investigate and had made sure that he would not be able to recognize who had done it. Heck, even the small rabbit-tribe girl that was crying and holding what seemed like her mother with one hand, while holding a blueish-white kitten with the other hand could’ve been the one. Speaking of, it seemed like the place had also functioned as a sort of orphanage as there were quite a few kids around. But there was no way to tell at a glance who could’ve caused this. Yet somehow, that didn’t completely shock him once he saw who the temple was dedicated to.

“The Sacred Lady of Mercy.” He muttered while looking at the statue. Most of the temples dedicated to this particular goddess were just like this. Houses of healing and mercy, like the name suggested. “Why is it always the Sacred Lady that causes headaches, while not even being around?”

The goddess in question had been dead for so long that no one could accurately say how long ago it had happened. The reason for the goddess' death was famous, and it was one of the main reasons she was still one of the most popular Deities even after all this time. Tethrine knew there was maybe a handful of Deities old enough to have been alive when the Sacred Lady had lived and died, and at least one of those had been nothing but a mortal at that time. The others would not speak about her for some reason. Few could say what the goddess had been really like when she had lived, but her deeds and her sacrifice were remembered to this day.

It was odd for the current Deities that the faith in a dead goddess was still so strong. On the other hand, they had all grown with that fact, so no one really paid attention anymore either. Several Divines had tried to step into her shoes to assume the position of the Goddess of Mercy, as the huge reservoir of believers and faith was attractive to even the most powerful Divines. For some reason, no one had succeeded. Part of the reason was because those that served and followed the faith worshipped the Sacred Lady specifically, not the concept of a Goddess of Mercy, so any Deity taking her position would’ve been rejected as a pretender. Perhaps there was something in the minds of believers that thought it right that the position remained unfulfilled. No matter the reason, the faith remained and most of that power remained unused.

That wasn’t to say all the power went to waste. It seemed like the universe had compensated by making the faith work like it was automated. Priests and priestesses of the Sacred Lady got blessed and could perform holy spells just like normal. Notably, and perhaps befittingly for the Goddess of Mercy, none of her servants could use their power to attack and no one who sought out her blessing was rejected. Because the temples all seemed so simple and lacking in glory, the faith didn’t really draw in the most gifted and powerful, but for the same reason, the servants the faith did have tended to be the most dedicated. They were also always staunchly neutral, helping all sides equally, which in an odd twist also meant that even the most wicked warlords left the servants of the Sacred Lady alone. Only a handful of people had shunned that principle and they had all lost all support quite quickly. She was considered the goddess of the people and the downtrodden, her death granting them an opportunity to rise by contracting a spirit. That dedication caused the faith to grow and more power to gather, waiting for someone to claim it. And now someone had used that power.

“You, priestess. Tell me exactly what happened.” Tethrine commanded the nearest servant of the goddess.

The priestess obviously recognized him as an immortal and bowed low. “I do not know great one. We were all busy helping the diseased and we’ve been running ragged for days. We wouldn’t have noticed if a pack of dragobears had rushed inside. Suddenly the whole place was filled with power, and everyone was healed.”

“No one saw anything? Really?” Tethrine demanded with a bit of anger in his voice. Everybody stood stock still, and the only one making any moves was the tiny bunny girl crying tears of relief over the fact that her mother was saved. Even the damn cat seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

With a sound of vexation, he marched outside and allowed his senses to scan the area. It was like his senses were completely failing him as they failed to come up with an adequate answer. He found a single rank nine near the ships and decided to approach the Alpyran woman. He was somewhat surprised to note that he had seen the woman before. “You. Aren’t you the Headmistress of the Academy? What in the name of Divines are you doing here?”

"Emissary." The attractive and immodestly dressed woman made a small bow. "We're here to try and find the last of my students that were lost during the spatial disturbance. They were originally traveling towards the Luminous Sect on a diplomatic mission when the wave hit. We were the ones to call the Grand Medjai for help when we found out about the presence of the demonic immortal.”

“Ah, so I have you to thank for that bit of information. In that case, I owe you my thanks. Tsumi, right? You may have saved us a lot of trouble. You said we. Who’s with you, if I may ask?” The woman’s words made sense to Tethrine. He had been wondering where the Grand Medjai had gotten the information.

“Anaire, the daughter of Queen Amaranthine is using her druidic abilities to heal the wounded over there.” The woman gestured towards the wrecks of the airships. “My disciple got stranded with her and I managed to find the two a few days ago. She’s…around somewhere. She’s more the type to get into combat than to heal people, so I’m not exactly sure where she went. She might have even gone towards the walls to make sure all the demons are dead.”

Tethrine had a smile of polite interest on his face, and he wasn’t completely uninterested. Someone gifted enough to get picked by a rank nine as a disciple was someone worth meeting at least once. However, he had more important things to think about at the moment. “Do you have any idea what or who might have caused the phenomenon that just happened? Even if you don’t know anything specific, I’ll take it if you saw something odd or suspicious.”

“I have no idea. My understanding of holy magic is limited to what we teach at the Academy, and I’m not even the foremost expert of the Academy on the subject. This place was a mess with all the sick and the wounded and the battle didn’t help matters. I didn’t see anything especially out of the ordinary after your forces arrived. I’m just thankful for whoever or whatever did this.” Tethrine could tell the woman was being completely honest, and he was paying attention. This woman would be the most likely to know what had happened if someone did see anything.

Even though Tsumi knew Karna could pull out a lot of tricks from her seemingly endless bag of wonders, even she didn’t suspect Karna was behind this. Thus she really was truthful in her words. “Well, if you do find out anything, let me know. I’d also like to meet the one responsible and express my gratitude.”

Tethrine decided to stick around the city to see if anything else happened, but he wasn’t feeling very hopeful about his chances. More and more he felt that there was something very suspicious going on, but until he figured out what that something was, all he could do was to report the event. The Deities would have a fit if a Divinity had come down to the Higher Planes, and they’d have an even bigger fit with who that Divinity seemed to be tied to.

-----

“Yikes! That was too close.” Karna made an adorable face in her cat form. She had been sure the Emissary would be able to see through her, but the man seemed too flustered to really pay attention. That and she’d turned Gem into a collar that hid any sign of magic from her, which was also why her wings were gone. It also happened to make her incredibly nauseous as Tressym were so inherently magical creatures, but that was a price she was willing to pay. The Emissary had been too busy looking for something or someone Divine to pay attention to a simple cat.

‘You know that there will be consequences from this, right?’ Gem sent her a mental message. ‘Even though we seem to have managed to fool the Emissary for now, the gods are now aware of our presence. Most of them might not know what it means but some will. They may not know who you are either, but they will be on the lookout and now they know where to look.’

‘I’m aware. You know me though. I can't stay uninvolved.' Karna knew the spirit was right but didn't regret her decision. Gem didn’t even think she’d done something wrong, but the spirit liked to remind her of the consequences of her actions.

She padded close to Tsumi once the Emissary had gone away and she no longer sensed him close-by. “I can see why you would think it would be bad for me to meet him. We do look quite similar.” She commented.

Tsumi picked her up and scratched her behind the ear. Karna quickly decided that her master’s scratching skills needed some work. “Yeah. It’s not hard to see a connection between the two of you. A brother or a cousin maybe?”

“Could be. Hard to say at this point.” Karna said non-committaly.

“Shall we go and try to find what happened to Mayumi? Anaire seems like she still has her hands full, but I can leave a message and a stern warning to keep her safe.” Tsumi suggested.

“Let’s. I’ll stick to this form for now. That Emissary might decide to look in on you and we don’t want him to see me in my normal form. If anyone asks, I’m your spirit.” Karna suggested.

“A useless bloody spirit at that. Always bringing trouble.” Tsumi made a fake grumble.

It didn’t take too long for them to discover the store where Karna sensed the presence of the item she’d made for Mayumi. The shop was run by an elderly gnomish man. "Oh, this little thing? Yeah, it was sold to me by a pretty little Yuki-Onna. She was in a rush to leave. Although her kind aren't part of the Inferno, certain people still consider them to be a demon race. And demons weren't real popular around these parts for obvious reasons. She was on one of the first ships out I believe. They charged her extra too. Still, they wanted her gone so once she forked up the money, they were happy to let her leave. She sold a handful of items to pay her way. I seem to recall she really didn't want to sell that one, but she needed the money and I had my eye on it so we worked out a deal.” The gnome narrowed his eyes a bit. “You look like you have some demon blood as well.”

Tsumi had become quite angry at this point. “So, you basically scammed a desperate young girl for no other reason than her race. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t let my ‘demonic’ side out just kill you and take everything you own in recompense.”

“Besides the fact that I was the only one willing to buy from her? Well, it’s against the law for one.” The gnome didn’t seem too bothered. What he’d done wasn’t exactly ethical, but it was legal.

“I don’t think the law will care considering we just helped save your world. Now here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to hand over everything she sold you, and I’m going to pay you half of what you paid her. Consider that to be the mercy I’ll give you for being greedy enough to look past her race.” Tsumi made her demand.

The gnome grumbled but realized he had little choice. They soon exited the store. “That wasn’t a total bust. Now we have to find out where she went. Hopefully, the captain can come through with his end of the deal." Karna didn't mention her master's little extortion.

The captain they had made the deal with was among the wounded and thus surprisingly easy to find. Despite being bound to a bed for taking a piece of shrapnel through the abdomen, he had not been idle. He held his end of the deal and had found the information they wanted. “Wei-Jin?” Tsumi seemed surprised to hear the name of the world the ship carrying Mayumi had traveled to. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. They took all the people with demonic blood there. One of the first ships to go, just like you mentioned. My pal mentioned a Yuki-Onna that fits your description getting on the ship as well.” The captain explained.

“Alright. Thank you.” Tsumi gave her thanks and walked away with a concerned look.

“Ok, spit it out. What’s with that reaction? Bad news?” Karna asked, not familiar with the name.

“Wei-Jin is…well it's both good news and worrisome news. We can be sure that the world will not be threatened by the scourges. It's the most powerful world on our plane, and possibly on all of the Higher Planes. The world is home to the Weijin Empire. There are several powerful sects there, and I’m quite confident Mayumi is not in major danger seeing as she was a refugee. The locals aren’t racist towards demons either, so there’s that, and I know there are Yuki-Onna on that world. Many demonic races live there in fact. There’s a reason the demon refugees were sent there. There are certain concerns though. Wei-Jin can be a bit…lawless at times as they believe in strength above all, and foster rivalries and a certain ‘survival of the fittest’-type of attitude. Mayumi is smart enough to keep her head down but…” Tsumi tapped her lip in thought.

“But she might also attract attention by accident or get caught in something.” Karna guessed.

“Well, she is the type. And the emperor is a bit…well I wouldn’t call him a dark cultivator, but he isn’t too far either. He’s the kind that thinks the ends justify any means. There's also a bigger problem. We won't be able to go there. They accept refugees, but anyone above a certain rank will have to go through a strict background check and interrogation to see if they truly are a refugee. The Wei-Jin people aren’t fond of other great powers meddling in their internal affairs. You most certainly can’t go there, and the emperor knows me, so I can’t go either.” Tsumi grimaced.

“What exactly do you mean I ‘certainly can’t go’, hmm?” Karna’s little claws were digging into Tsumi’s shoulder in a dangerous fashion.

“You even dare to ask? You’re a trouble magnet! And with your looks, you aren’t exactly stealthy or subtle either. The whole planet would go up in flames as they competed to steal you away! Besides, with your potential, there’d be a hundred old monsters that would want you as a disciple and you’d be stuck. And there’s no way you could credibly play the part of a refugee. You simply carry yourself with too much confidence. Refugees…feel different.” Tsumi retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"Fair enough," Karna admitted with some reluctance. "So, what can we do?”

“At the moment? Nothing. Their spatial surveillance is second to none. We can’t sneak in like we did here. We have to wait until Mayumi can get away. Or until something distracts Weijin enough for their security to become lax. Or we need a legitimate reason to go there." Tsumi shook her head. "As I said, the good news is that they do treat refugees well. Mayumi has some time before she can get into trouble, and even then the other Yuki-Onna might protect her. She could be fine or even thriving for decades. We just have no way to find out. I suppose the Frostpeak Institute could make an official request for information, but I’m pretty sure even that would be rejected.”

“Well. Shit.” Karna cursed.

“I do have some…vague ideas that could help but we won’t be able to act on them for a long time. Weijin has some contact with other worlds and there are certain events that they either participate in, or even host when it’s their turn, but they won’t be hosting anything for a while, and the recent trouble has made such events unwise anyway. I might be able to arrange something on the grounds of having an event moved to their world due to safety reasons, but that would take time as well.”

"Or I could get strong enough to go and kick their doors down," Karna suggested.

“Or that, yes. But I’m guessing that’s going to take a while too.” Tsumi smiled in response. “There is…one option, though I don’t know how we’d manage to swing it or if we should even try. Weijin can’t deny an Emissary entry.”

“We’d need something to entice an Emissary then. And I’d rather that didn’t include me showing myself. Theoretically, we could approach another Emissary, but there aren't too many around. Especially ones that wouldn't raise questions if we went to them instead of the Emissary that resides on our world. Especially since he’s royalty.” Karna went into planning mode.

“Well, no matter which path we take, I’m pretty sure we need time. We’ll have to keep our eyes open in case an opportunity presents itself. On the plus side, with the Emissary busy here, I think we could visit back home, at least briefly. There's just one problem. They still haven't lifted the lockdown on this world because they don't want to let any demons escape.” Tsumi wasn’t all that excited to go back and get yelled at by the vice-headmaster, but sometimes you had to make sacrifices.

“I assume the immortals will lift the lockdown soon to allow people to return and this world to gain supplies from elsewhere. I would like to go back at least long enough to see Duskclaw’s condition. Maybe we could help her. And we really need to be gone before the Emissary gets suspicious about us. Anaire probably wants to see her family as well.” Karna raised an issue.

“Speaking of…” Tsumi grinned at the approaching elven princess. The sparkling eyes looking at Karna’s current form promised mischief.

“That’s unfair! You allow Tsumi to scratch you, but I can’t?! This is elf discrimination! I’m a druid! I’ll be able to do it much better!” She shouted while she approached.

Karna made a hissing sound. “Well, you can’t be much worse. Tsumi sucks at scratching. I’m tempted to agree just to get her clumsy attempts out of my mind.”

Chapter 55 - Home

A note from Vihyungrang

This one is a bit of a transition chapter, but they're sometimes necessary. I already cut down most of the boring parts with tiny skips. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”I have to apologize for not being able to receive you with proper hospitality. We aren’t really a sect that places a lot of weight on pomp and fanfare at best of times, and the current situation hasn't really helped matters." The Sect Master said modestly. The Aasimar woman had healthy tanned skin that contrasted well with her relatively humble attire.

Karna had noted that very few people in the sect wore any fancy adornments, and the few that did mostly had some sort of cultural reason for it. That didn’t mean their clothing was bad quality though, as it was often made from very comfortable or practical materials. While it seemed that the sect eschewed showing off wealth in useless ways, they did allow for practical things that brought comfort or those that were useful in a fight, like heavily enchanted materials. They also had exceptions for things that had artistic value or were simply beautiful. The Sect Master herself wore a robe made of Moonsilk, a material almost solely made by the High Elves, with an inner lining that was heavily enchanted with protective runes and etched formations. Outwardly her robes had simple but attractive decorations.

The impression was marred a little by the fact that she was injured. Not heavily, as she wouldn’t be receiving visitors otherwise, but the long battle with the demonic immortal had taken a toll. As the Sect Master, she had naturally been at the forefront of the battle, holding the line. Karna could tell at a glance that the woman should really be resting, but the presence of visitors like herself, Queen Amaranthine’s daughter, and especially Tsumi warranted her presence regardless.

"No apologies necessary," Tsumi said smoothly. "We certainly understand the situation and can sympathize. The Inferno is everyone's enemy and being bloodied in battle against them is not a mark of shame by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Well, I hear the Magocracy has taken a very active stance in combatting the scourges, helping several weaker worlds. Very admirable of you. And I believe we owe you our thanks as well. I was told you were the ones that got the word out to the Emissary about the situation.” The Sect Master gave a small bow even though she was sitting down, and the act was clearly uncomfortable due to her injuries.

"No need to go so far. We only did our duty. As for the Magocracy, in fairness, it has mostly been Arjuna and Wolfgang doing their part. Our world was fortunate enough to be spared thanks to the presence of the Emissary, so it is only proper that we help others.” Tsumi schmoozed fluently. Normally she would’ve allowed Karna to lead the proceedings to allow her to perform her ‘diplomatic mission’ that was the supposed reason they had been traveling here in the first place. However, her presence negated that possibility as it would be odd for her to take a step back as the Headmistress and Karna’s master.

"I'll be sure to remind father of his place once we get back," Karna said with a voice tinged with the idea of what exactly she meant by her reminder. She firmly believed Arjuna's place was at home, helping Duskclaw heal. She'd make sure he remembered his duty.

The Sect Master who had introduced herself as Ardani gave a slightly amused chuckle. The thought of the great Grand Medjai getting lectured by his daughter was quite amusing. “I feel compelled to ask as to why you are here though. With the current dangers of travel, I doubt you came here just on a diplomatic mission.”

"Well, ironically that was the original plan. A group of our students was traveling this way when the disturbance hit, and they were indeed on a mission like the one you mentioned. Karna was one of them as you expressed interest in her earlier. Then the disturbance hit while they were in transit and the student were all stranded and separated." Tsumi explained.

“Oh, my! I feel bad that this happened while they were traveling to us.” The Sect Master seemed genuinely apologetic.

“We managed to recover the students except for one. The ship’s crew suffered some losses, and I only found Karna and Anaire here a handful of days ago. We came here under the assumption that the last missing student might have come this way because this was the original destination and an easier place to reach when compared to our own world.” Tsumi continued the explanation.

“And then you got stuck with this mess.” The Sect Master nodded in understanding.

“Yes, well, the trip wasn’t for nothing. We did find what happened to the missing student.” Tsumi grimaced a bit.

“Please tell me she wasn’t killed by the demons.” If that were the case, that would be a rather embarrassing loss of face for the Luminous Sect.

“No, she was among the refugee ships that left before the demons locked the place down. The only issue is her destination. Wei-Jin.” Tsumi stated with a voice that made it clear they hadn’t given up.

“That’s…problematic. I assume this student had some demonic blood? Yes, I expected as much. So, let me guess. You’re here to ask for our help to lean on Weijin to let her leave? As much as I’d like to help as thanks for the favor you did to us, we don’t have that kind of power. We might be one of the more notable Sects on the Higher Planes, but we can’t match an empire like Weijin.” The Sect Master looked apologetic again.

“While we would appreciate any aid you can provide, we are looking at more long-term solutions and trying to find other opportunities. No, we’re here for a simpler reason. This world is still in lockdown, and this was the best place to come while we wait for the way to be open again.” Karna interjected in her master’s stead.

“That we can probably help you with. We’ll be meeting with the representatives of the Host soon, and if we promise to take an active part in eradicating the demons, then they’ll likely agree to let ships leave sooner. We were going to do so anyway to clear our name a bit. With the demonic immortal locking us down inside the sect, many innocents of this world were left to fend for themselves against the demons, and we ironically suffered the least from this attack. We’ll need to show that we’re also willing to sacrifice for the good of everyone.” The woman had planned on sending out most of the sect anyway, so if it happened to help Tsumi and Karna as well, then all the better.

There existed a certain perverse incentive for the sect to not rush too much to get the world open again, just to keep Karna around and maybe convince her to stick around, but they were a righteous sect and wouldn’t entertain such ideas. Karna had also made her stance clear already. “Wonderful. Then we’ll be in your care for now. We’ll try to not be a burden. Karna is also a prolific crafter so she can help with some rebuilding efforts, while Anaire can help heal the wounded.” Tsumi quite happily ‘volunteered’ the other two while slacking around herself.

--------

Sect Master Ardani watched with interest as Karna worked in the sect’s smithy, creating items that they sorely needed at the moment. She wasn’t the only one of course, as the sect naturally had its own crafters, but all help was welcome. “She has admirable work ethics.” The elder in charge of the forges nodded approvingly. She was a slightly odd Aasimar in that she was much stockier than usual, and she was also a little squat. Usually, Aasimar were closer to elves in look, while this one was more akin to a dwarf.

“You’re having her make nails and screws?” Ardani asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Nails and screws are quite necessary when it comes to rebuilding efforts.” The elder said a little defensively.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But she is also a foreign diplomat known for her crafting abilities, and one we wouldn’t mind joining our sect at some point. And you’re having her use her skills to make nails.” Ardani stated with a voice that was between amused and mortified. She had pretty much given up on Karna leaving the Academy for their sect, but that didn’t mean the girl couldn’t join them after graduating. At least she wanted to forge a relationship of cooperation.

“Well, nearly everyone is performing repetitive tasks that require relatively low skill as things stand. We don’t need heavily enchanted weapons at the moment. We need nails. And screws. Screws aren’t usually made by forging, actually, so it requires a lot of skill.” The elder remained defensive.

“Uh-huh.” Ardani looked at the woman with a certain amount of pressure in her gaze.

“Well look. She might have a great reputation, but we don’t know the extent of her skills and she’s really young. It’s hard to give her work appropriate to her level. And I was being truthful when I said we need a lot of nails.” The elder admitted.

Ardani tapped the desk she was leaning against with her fingers. She sensed something from Karna. Something she hadn’t sensed the last time they met. Something that roused her curiosity and made her feel there was much more to the girl than she had suspected. And she had already suspected the girl was a Blessed Child with almost infinite potential. “Offer her some of the work from Halls of the Holy. I want to see what happens.”

The elder looked a little confused but went to do as she was told. Karna had stopped working when the woman approached. Once she heard what the elder was asking, she looked sharply at Ardani and the two exchanged a long look before Karna finally nodded. 'Interesting. So she has some kind of aversion towards forging holy items. I'm eagerly awaiting the results.'

-----

“So. She created all the items requested exactly to specifications, even a bit better, but she refused to make any weapons?” Ardani confirmed a few days later.

“Yes. All the items she made seem especially potent, and healers in particular commented that their powers seemed to be flowing much better with the items she created.” The elder explained.

“We can infer that she has some sort of affinity towards certain types of Divinities then. And she doesn’t seem to be very fond of Divinities that have to do with arms. That’s fascinating.” Ardani muttered mostly to herself. Creating holy items was very finicky and could be wildly affected by the creator. “She seems more and more like a great fit for us. Too bad Tsumi got her talons into her first.”

She turned towards another elder, a male Aasimar dressed like a monk. “You sparred with her yesterday, right? You said before that you were eager to be her martial arts teacher. How did she fare?”

“She did remarkably well. I was…unable to get a proper edge over her even though I used quite a bit of my abilities. It was clear that the difference in level between us was too much to overcome, but she is an expert in rendering such advantages pointless. It doesn’t much matter how much stronger I am if I can’t hit her properly, and I’m not so much faster than her that I can just overwhelm her either. Not without resorting to techniques that would render the whole spar a waste. She’s been taught well. Whoever did it is good. Very good.” The man said with admiration. The sect had sent a teacher to the Academy years ago, but that teacher had been withdrawn later on.

“Better than you?” Ardani questioned further.

“Hard to say. Close to equal at least. Her techniques are highly refined and pretty much perfect in execution. She’s been training hard, that’s for sure. Tsumi didn’t teach her, that’s clear. She doesn’t have that kind of ability.” The man said with conviction. Since he was one of the best pure martial artists in the plane, his words were high praise indeed.

“Well then. We’ll follow her development with great interest. And let’s see if we can work together with the Academy in the future. Working so closely with Tsumi is…uncomfortable, but I’m more and more convinced that the girl will be a key player in the coming decades. They’re leaving tomorrow?” Ardani asked for confirmation.

“Yes. We got word from the Host that the lockdown will be lifted in the morning.” A third elder interjected.

“Alright then. It’s a shame to see them go, but let’s keep in touch with them. Let’s make subtle inquiries towards Weijin. If we can arrange for the release of their friend…” She left the rest unsaid. She had been truthful about influencing Weijin when they spoke earlier, but there were certain options she could explore. She’d had a few run-ins with the Emperor of Wei-Jin before and she might be able to call in some favors. The issue was that the Weijin were the type to really hold on to something the more you wanted it. She couldn’t reveal her interest too soon, but she had a nice excuse in that the refugees were from their world and she simply wanted them returned.

---------

"Mother!" Anaire called out and rushed Queen Amaranthine. The Queen had been a little surprised but had sensed her daughter's approach.

"Anaire! It's good to see you alive and well." The Queen scooped Anaire into her arms, not paying heed to the officials around her. The officials couldn't really blame her for her breach of decorum. "You are well, right?" She pushed Anaire to arm's length and looked her up and down with a discerning eye.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” Anaire laughed. “I feel bad saying this, but the whole accident has been good for me in many ways. I learned a lot.” She also had someone new to aspire to, someone closer to her age, but she couldn’t say that of course.

The Queen seemed to sense her thoughts anyway. “I suspect you also made an important friend, am I right? Where is she by the way?” It would also be fair to thank Karna and Tsumi for keeping Anaire safe.

“Karna and Tsumi only dropped me off. They were eager to get home and check Duskclaw’s condition.” Anaire explained. They were currently located at a command center the Queen had created outside the elven capital, as ships and mages of other countries and groups couldn’t teleport to the city itself.

“Her ‘condition’, eh?” Amaranthine had a small sneaky smile, which made Anaire wary immediately.

“Mother? What’s that look for?” Anaire asked, knowing the type of woman the Queen was sometimes.

“Oh, nothing, nothing. I simply suspect we might get some good news soon-ish. Too bad they left so soon though. They could’ve taken me along since I’m supposed to visit the Magocracy for some negotiations. Come my dove, let's go find someplace where you can tell me all about your adventure. I think I might enjoy hearing this." The Queen pulled Anaire towards her tent that had been set up nearby. The officials could all see that they had been dismissed and dispersed without a word.

"Don't think your little distraction tactic will work mother," Anaire said sternly, placing her hands on her hips. Amaranthine recognized the gesture and made a mental 'tsk'-sound.

She was rescued by the arrival of her son though. “Anaire? I heard you were back!” Cendirion eagerly rushed to embrace his little sister. He had been really worried about her.

“Brother. It’s good to see you too.” Anaire greeted her beloved older brother, but both her mother and her brother noted that her greeting was a little bit more subdued than they had expected.

“Is something wrong sister?” Cendirion asked with concern.

“No, of course not. What made you think that?” Anaire asked a little thrown off by the question. She didn’t notice herself that she was acting any different, but some of the hero-worship towards her brother had vanished. It wasn’t a major change, but it was noticeable.

"Don't mind it, sister. I'm just worried as is my right as an older brother." Cendirion decided to change the subject. Unfortunately, his choice of subjects was a bit ill-fated. "How's Karna? I heard you spent this time with her. Is she with you?"

“Gosh, brother. You sleep with a girl once and become obsessed." For some reason, Anaire felt like teasing her brother, and a small plan suddenly sprouted in her mind. "I mean, imagine if I walked around with my head in the clouds just because I scratched her itch a couple of times. Just because there was a lot of petting involved, that doesn't give me the right to assume she has any obligation to me. Just because I made her feel better than her master, that doesn’t mean…”

“Oh, Divines, I don’t need this image in my head. I’m glad you’re safe. I’ll see you later.” Cendirion suddenly bade a hasty escape.

“Oh wow, I didn’t even get to make jokes about teasing or petting a pussy.” Anaire chuckled at the escaping form of her brother.

Amaranthine was also grinning widely. “I assume there was some sort of cat form involved?”

“Well, what do you think?” Anaire winked at her mother, and suddenly felt that the whole situation was all kinds of wrong, which caused her to make a face.

"I suppose that answers that." Amaranthine cackled. "An amusing thought, though I'm not sure if I would be too happy about it if two of my children shagged Arjuna's daughter. That would make things more complicated than they need to be, and the number of jokes Wolfgang and Ashanti could make at my expense would be...too much."

“Eh, I might have been just a bit tempted, but somehow it felt wrong. She…helped me cope with the situation in a way that made me think of her more like a big sister.” Anaire replied thoughtfully.

“Well, that’s good. It’s nice to have someone like that. Now I really want you to tell me everything. I hope you weren’t in too much danger?” Amaranthine took them the rest of the way towards the tent.

“Funny you should ask. There was this battle with the Netherworld, a war with Inferno, and there was even a demonic immortal involved. It all started with a massage I had to give as a result of a bet…”

Chapter 56 - Good news and...

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

As a side note, my next practical will start in two weeks again. I'm going to be doing my in-depth practical at the local ER, so I'm considering just taking those 5 weeks off completely. Would also give my creativity the perfect opportunity to recharge. I'll try and not leave you on a cliffhanger if I do go that route. Haven't fully decided yet. Depends on how things go I suppose.

--------

”Duskclaw!” Karna crossed the distance from the door to the bed with hurried steps and pulled her ‘mother’ into an embrace. Arjuna would otherwise say that she had rushed over, but his daughter didn’t rush.

“Karna! It’s good to see you!” Duskclaw eagerly returned the embrace with equal fervor. The two held each other for several minutes, which couldn’t help but move Arjuna’s emotions as well. It was heartwarming to see the two most important people in his life acting so close.

“How are you, really?” Karna finally asked quietly, not letting go. She was leaning over Duskclaw’s bed a little awkwardly, but she didn’t mind.

“Truly? There are better days and there are worse days.” Duskclaw gave Arjuna a meaningful look and he left the room, leaving the two alone. “Your father has done what he can, but progress is slow. And it can be rather painful some days.” Normally Duskclaw would’ve put up a tough front and tried to reassure Karna, but she knew the girl was too sharp for that.

“Let me check.” Karna wasn’t really asking for a permission, and her senses already delved inside Duskclaw’s body, checking her condition in a very comprehensive manner. “I see the healers have managed to regrow some of the mana channels in your arm. No wonder it’s painful, they’re not doing anything to protect the new channels. It’s like leaving a raw nerve open to air. We’ll have to fix that. I can whip something up in a few hours, and I can use my own mana to help the channels grow.”

“You should’ve seen the arm when it happened. It was charred completely black, and I was honestly worried it was too far gone to save. They’ve done a good job to fix it to this state. It’ll just take some more time.” Duskclaw defended the healers that had done their best.

“Well, a lot less time now that I’m here. The healers haven’t done a completely shoddy job, I’ll admit, but they could’ve done better as well. Let’s see, your mage core is…fractured in seven places.” Karna frowned a bit.

“Seven? There’s only a single crack in it.” Duskclaw suddenly got worried.

“The other fractures are much smaller, but they’d become a problem if we leave them untreated. I see Arjuna has at least made an effort to fix the damage. Maybe I don’t have to chew him out quite as badly as I planned…oh?” She suddenly noticed something. “Ohhh?! Maybe I don’t have to chew him out at all. It seems the two of you have been busy.”

Duskclaw smiled a bit. “Yes. There have been some benefits from the accident.”

“I’d say! You’re pregnant! I didn’t think he had it in him. You two work quick. That’s why you sent him out of the room.” Karna couldn’t stop the grin splitting her face.

“Apparently he was quite shaken by my injury. You should’ve been there! Actually, maybe it’s better you weren’t. He wouldn’t have been able to get over his hang-ups and embarrassment if you had been there. He even apologized for leaving me hanging for so long.” Duskclaw blushed at her memory about what happened afterwards.

“Aha. I see. Well, how was it? Everything you wanted?” Karna pressed for details.

“It was wonderful! Well, the injury made things a little awkward, but he was so attentive and gentle that the awkwardness wasn’t too bad.” Duskclaw had a silly grin on her face.

“Well, you obviously didn’t take care of precautions seeing your current state. I’m just going to note that you don’t get to give me any grief after this.” Karna teased. “I can’t believe that I’m asking this about my father, but was he any good? Just out of curiosity.”

"He's…improving," Duskclaw said a bit defensively. "He doesn't have that much experience, believe it or not. As I said, the injury has been a bit…"

“Ah, I got it. You’d like it if he was a bit more passionate and he’s being too careful at the moment. Do you want me to give him some advice?” Karna was mostly just teasing, though her offer was somewhat genuine. She had a lot of experience, after all, so she could give plenty of advice on how to please a woman.

“No! ….actually, that might not be too bad.” Duskclaw blushed fiercely before joining in on the joke. “Just because I can’t even imagine the look on his face! Please, if you do it, let me see his face when you do. I’ll even record it magically so that I can have his expression framed and placed in the lobby!”

The two shared an evil cackle as their plan started coming together. “Seriously though, your core will need some time to heal, even with my help. It might be good that you’re pregnant now, as this way the time won’t be wasted.”

“That’s actually part of why I didn’t take care of things afterwards. I mean the whole thing happened so quickly that there was no way I could’ve predicted it. But Arjuna pointed out rather intelligently that we are still bound by the Progeny Accords. You’re our daughter in all but biology, but I doubt everyone will see things the same way. It’s becoming more and more obvious that we aren’t actually your parents after all.” Duskclaw explained. While she and Arjuna had gotten together in a rush of emotions and passion, they had talked about the pregnancy afterwards quite rationally. Using too much magic while you were pregnant could risk a miscarriage, so her current situation provided the perfect opportunity in that sense.

“Not a bad plan. His idea I presume? Yeah, he can be quite smart when he bothers using his head.” Karna considered her options a bit. “I could create something that would get you mobile and out of bed in a few days. With proper care, I’m sure I can fix your core with enough time. But you’re not going to be casting any spells for a long while.”

“That’s fine. I can live with that. I just hate being bound to a bed and being treated like I’d break if I did anything strenuous.” Duskclaw was a beastwoman and they tended to hate staying still for too long.

“Oh, that’s not right. I’d actually encourage you to move. In fact, after we get you to a state where you can move around without pain, I’d encourage you to train your warrior skills in the meantime. Nothing too heavy, but the sooner you get into a decent condition, the sooner your body can start helping us with the healing.” Karna was going to be taking over Duskclaw’s care, no matter what others tried to say.

---------

"…and if you move your hips in a circle like this, it's going to be extremely pleasurable for the both of you," Karna explained with a completely stoic face while moving her hips very suggestively. "Now remember, some women like a bit of passion and rough treatment…"

“Please stop. I beg you.” Arjuna had his face covered with his hands and he was nearing the point of having a nervous breakdown from embarrassment, mortification, and a host of other feelings.

“Please don’t stop. This is great stuff! I never knew about the…what did you call it? On the inside, I mean.” Wolfgang was actually taking notes. Because of course Karna had chosen to have the embarrassing conversation while in the company of others.

“G-spot.” Karna provided helpfully, without showing a shred of shame.

“Some of this is new to me as well. I have no idea how you discovered all of this, but this is enlightening.” Tsumi joined in with Wolfgang. Despite what most people might think of her because of the way she spoke, acted, and dressed, the Headmistress wasn’t an expert when it came to lovemaking.

“I agree. I thought I’d learned most of what there is to learn about the subject, but it just goes to show you’re never finished with learning.” Queen Amaranthine added. She had come to negotiate with the Magocracy about their future plans and was staying at Arjuna’s tower. Unlike the others, she was extremely experienced, but the elves weren’t exactly the most adventurous race when it came to such things. She was quite sure Karna’s knowledge came from her status as a Blessed Child. An odd blessing to get, but perhaps a useful one.

“Kill me now.” Arjuna made a rather genuine wish.

“Oh, this is just the basics. Next, we're going to move on to more complex concepts like using your voice and very simple touch to bring pleasure, and even…" Karna carried on to the next topic.

“Please tell me you’re getting all of this recorded.” Wolfgang’s Valkyrie wife Birgitte whispered to Duskclaw with a barely concealed grin.

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for anything, believe me, I'm recording this, and I'll lord it over everyone present for years to come," Duskclaw assured her while conspicuously holding a magical orb in her hands.

“Good. Make sure I get a copy.” Birgitte demanded.

“There’s no way!” Wolfgang exclaimed suddenly. “There’s no way you can reliably do what you claim.”

“What did I miss?” Birgitte asked Amaranthine, who was sitting next to her.

“Karna claimed someone could effectively and reliably make someone…reach an orgasm with nothing but your voice.” Amaranthine whispered, very intrigued.

“There are several ways to do it actually, but most of them require the subject to already be in the correct mood. I know at least one way that doesn’t require that. It’s…a little invasive and doesn’t work on someone powerful enough that’s actively resisting the effect, but beyond that…” Karna argued.

“And I call bullshit!” Wolfgang shouted, though he was mostly just caught in the mood.

“Would you like to make a bet?” Karna challenged the man directly.

Her confidence gave Wolfgang a pause, but he decided to go ahead anyway. This was simply too juicy even if he lost the bet. “Fine, a bet it is. How will we check this?”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to make you cum if that’s what you’re asking. You could also resist the effect easily.” Karna laid down the obvious restriction.

“Tsumi?” Wolfgang asked a little hopefully.

“My own disciple? Really?” Tsumi asked with faux shock. In truth, she was a little intrigued about the ability Karna mentioned, but wasn’t going to volunteer here.

“Well Arjuna and I are out," Duskclaw stated firmly.

"That leaves…" Wolfgang's eyes skipped over Amaranthine straight away and looked towards Birgitte.

His wife lifted her eyebrow meaningfully. “Ask me. I dare you.”

"I think we'll need to skip on the bet after all," Wolfgang said in a dejected voice.

“Smart choice. The best one you’ve made all day.” Amaranthine commended him.

--------

“Revered Father.” Tethrine took a knee in front of the illusory image in front of him. The image showed a broad-shouldered man with powerful but attractive features and an exquisitely decorated robe depicting phoenixes taking flight. The man looked a lot like Tethrine himself, but a more mature and majestic version.

“Son. You requested this meeting. I have a good guess as to why, but I want to hear you say it. The whole Divine Plane is in an uproar about it after all.” The man said with a deep and rumbling voice.

“The Sacred Lady. I need to know more about her, and there are very few people that can provide any of the information I seek.” Tethrine kept his eyes glued to the floor in front of the image. There was very little emotion shared between the two aside from very obligatory familial bonds. Their relationship was more of an alliance of necessity than the relationship between a father and son.

He could sense the man in front of him thinking, considering if he was worthy of the information. “Do you know why that information is so hard to find?”

“I do not, but I assume it has something to do with the fact that very few of her contemporaries exist anymore.” Tethrine knew there had to be more to it since his father had asked, but he didn’t know what exactly.

“That is only partly true. Very few Divines alive today realize just how long ago the Sacred Lady died, and it is true that time is one of the reasons. However, more of her contemporaries were alive when I was your age and I had just as little luck finding anything out. Details of the Sacred Lady are some of the most well-kept secrets of this entire universe. That information has been suppressed on purpose. Mostly out of fear.” The older man explained slowly. “If her Divinity had not stirred earlier, I would not tell you anything either. But with the situation being what it is, you have perhaps earned the basics at least. Just so you have some idea what you are dealing with.”

“Fear?” Tethrine asked in confusion. “How would a Goddess of Mercy be able to make anyone afraid?”

The older man laughed a bit in a very eerie way. “Tell me, how many lives have you lived?” Just like Tethrine, his father was also a reincarnator. That was also the main reason the two didn’t feel like family.

“A hundred maybe? I haven’t kept exact count.” Tethrine wasn’t entirely sure why the question was asked. It also reminded him a bit about what the Seer had told him.

“So enough to know many things, but not enough to have experienced most of them. Well, let us begin with a bit of speculation. Many of the most powerful of our kind in the Divine Plane have long suspected that the Sacred Lady became the Goddess of Mercy for atonement. It was not the concept her nature was most suited for. That is also why she sacrificed herself, to atone for earlier sins.” His father spoke with a voice that made it clear that all this was just speculation.

“Alright. Interesting, but I don’t quite see the significance yet.” Tethrine said with a careful voice.

“We will get there. Now another question. You are aware of the fact that no matter where her temples and servants can be found, they are almost never attacked, right? Nowadays it is because it is the custom, and because she is seen as the goddess of the people. Any aspiring warlord would find their supporters suddenly running low if they attacked the temples of mercy. That was not the original reason though. Tell me, if the servants of a Deity are all unable to use their powers to attack, why would anyone bother to avoid attacking them? Take into consideration that she had not sacrificed herself yet." The man known as Kurnous Asuryan asked with a slightly toying tone.

“Because they were afraid of the Deity? But if she’s the Goddess of Mercy of all things…” Tethrine found the dichotomy incongruous.

“Very good. However, mercy can be shown in many ways. And from what I heard, her favorite form of mercy was that of a quick death. A mercy she didn’t always provide her enemies. There is also the fact that most other Deities were quite quick to come to her defense, and the few alive still refuse to really speak ill of her. In short, they are still afraid, and they also respect her at the same time. Now tell me. What kind of a Goddess would seek atonement and yet cause such fear in others at the same time?” It felt like his father was placing dots in front of him and was now only waiting for him to connect them.

“Someone old and powerful. Someone who had done something that required atonement. Likely something the others knew about, so a True Name? Someone carrying a True Name of a sin…one of the seven?” Tethrine, still keeping his eyes on the floor, speculated.

“And which of the seven?” Kurnous prodded a bit.

It didn’t take long for Tethrine to arrive at an answer. All of the seven could cause a lot of damage and were bad in their own way, but only one could really cause fear like that. “Wrath.” He stated with conviction.

“Precisely. Ironic isn’t it? The Sacred Lady that everyone reveres actually carries the Name Wrath? What could be less merciful than that? So, as you might imagine, the mere possibility that someone like that has returned is something that will cause everyone with enough knowledge to take things seriously. Just her mere presence changes things drastically.” There was another hint in his father’s words.

"Don't tell me…you don't have faith that I can deal with the situation by myself?" Tethrine was a little vexed but also realized that it probably wasn’t a judgment of his abilities this time.

"We are sending Marius. He is not the only one, but he is the only one with power over you.” Kurnous said with a tone that would not accept any arguments. To his surprise, he didn’t get any. he had expected Tethrine to protest.

“As you will father.” He had suddenly realized something. The Seer had told him that trying to find the missing member of their family would not end well. He had scoffed at the idea a bit at the time, but now he realized why the Seer had said what she had. He was probably the only one aside from the Seer that suspected the person they were looking for, and the person who had used the Sacred Lady’s powers were the same person. ‘I’ll let Marius spring that trap. Depending on how things go, I might be able to swoop in and capitalize on the situation. Or I might even be able to work out a deal. Having someone like Wrath in my corner…’

“Marius was recalled from another mission so it will take a bit of time for him to arrive, but you should see other arrivals in a few weeks.” Kurnous wasn’t sure what his son was thinking, but he eagerly awaited finding out. Clearly, the boy had some kind of plan.

Chapter 57 - Memories

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Miralen!” Karna greeted happily and scooped the Dark Elf girl into a surprise hug. She had snuck up on her and Siegfried as the two had been talking about something in the Academy gardens. Siegfried had seen her approach but had managed to keep his expression neutral.

"Kyaah! Karna? Put me down! Unhand me, you scoundrel!" Miralen's surprise turned into relief and a joking tone quickly.

"Oh, hey to you too Sieg," Karna added as if an afterthought, just to rile him up.

“Yeah, I can feel the fair and equal love.” Siegfried dutifully acted as if he’d been hurt by her words.

The trio exchanged quick greetings and gave a rough synopsis of what had happened to them since the accident. “Did Shaheera say anything?” Karna asked when she learned that he had stayed in the Aegean Empire.

“What do you mean exactly? He said many things.” Miralen was a little confused by the question.

“I mean, did he explain why he had to stay behind. Yes, I know he made a deal, but why did Ashanti even bother asking for a deal like that? And is Shaheera ok with all this? Do we need to mount a rescue or something? That sort of thing.” Karna explained.

“Ah, apparently there’s a program where the most promising highborn Leonid in the empire are trained in a group by Ashanti and other notable high-ranking Leonid. Those that show special promise get further training by Ashanti in particular and can rise to a rather prominent position in the empire. Shaheera was something of a special case when he voluntarily came to the Academy. On one hand, he was the perfect exchange student, but on the other, it became a little awkward when he started to really shine in the Academy. It’s not polite to outshine the teachings of the Leonid bigwigs apparently. Shaheera also mentioned that there's some kind of agreement between his family and Ashanti’s. He said something about a marriage agreement, but apparently that agreement is not exactly binding. The Leonid aren’t really big on that sort of deal. Very progressive of them actually.” Miralen shared what she had managed to learn. As she herself had some trouble with arranged marriages, she actually appreciated that the Leonid didn’t seem keen on forcing the issue.

Sieg picked up the explanation from there. "Anyway, Shaheera doesn't need a rescue. He made a deal. Under duress yes, but as you know, he's a man of his word. He also told me that this is a good opportunity for him. He still plans on graduating from the Academy as well, but for now, he's staying in the empire. With him having roused Ashanti's interest, he could learn a lot. Usually, the great marshal of the Aegean Empire doesn't have much extra time to teach pupils.”

“I’m getting the sense that despite his reputation and supposed behavior, Ashanti is really fond of win-win deals. This isn’t the first time he’s agreed to one or proposed one.” Karna observed. Arjuna had told her about the peace deal over the territories of the Holy Kingdom. Even then Ashanti had agreed to a deal that was a bit too good for everyone when he clearly could've negotiated for a better one despite the situation.

"That's…not a bad observation," Siegfried said with a frown. Most people would've missed a detail like that because of the way Ashanti acted. He suspected there was some greater purpose to Ashanti’s deals, and not without reason.

“Forget that, I brought you a present.” Miralen pulled out an ornately decorated pillow that had Leonid mane-hair circling the outer edge. It was clearly something made in the Aegean Empire. “I’ll give it to you if you promise not to disappear on us straight away. With Travan back with his family and Shaheera in the empire, things around here are not the same.”

Karna snapped the pillow up and hugged it to her chest with lightning-quick hands. "Well, I suppose I could agree to stick around for a short time at least." She didn't bother mentioning that she planned on using this opportunity where the Emissary was busy elsewhere to spend some time with her family and the Academy, although she’d likely do some heavy cultivating as well. “Travan went back home?”

“Oh? You’re interested in his goings?” Miralen asked with a teasing voice.

“You literally just told me he went to his family. I thought it polite to at least ask for some details.” Karna wasn’t flustered though. She knew Miralen was only trying to get a rise out of her.

“Bleh, you’re no fun. To answer your question, yes. Travan went back home to bring home the news about what the Queen told him. He hasn’t been back since. Apparently, he might not come back at all. I heard something about him staying back and helping his family move on. Don’t know how reliable those rumors are though.” Miralen speculated. The school rumor-mill could be very effective, but reliability was always an issue.

“Well, I suppose we should at least celebrate our safe return. We can’t really say we’ve all returned until we get Mayumi back though.” Karna stated with firm determination.

---------

Once again Marius was not pleased. As so often happened, he had been recalled from a mission that had been going perfectly just to deal with someone else’s mess. This time though, he had to admit the mess wasn’t entirely due to incompetence. Besides, he was being sent to clean up the mess of the Royal Family, so he certainly wouldn’t voice his discontent. He was currently being briefed by one of the more powerful members of that family, Kurnous.

“So, if I understood correctly, my mission is to find the being that tapped into the powers of the Divinity of the Sacred Lady? And then what?” He asked in confirmation, as Kurnous had been rather unclear with his instructions.

The elder God of the Hunt frowned a bit in displeasure. He had expected Marius to be a bit quicker on the uptake. “I was hoping there would be no need to spell things out. That being is to be killed as soon as you find them.”

Marius shook his head. He’d understood. He just hoped he’d been wrong. “I suspected that was what you were aiming for. The answer is no.”

“No?” Kurnous was not used to hearing that response.

“No. As far as I am aware, this being has broken no laws. I am not an assassin sent to do the dirty work of the gods.” Marius held on to his principles. He was a problem solver, and he wasn’t too picky about his methods, but he also served the gods of justice and law. There were some lines he didn’t want to cross without a really good reason.

“You do not understand the danger this being presents.” Kurnous leaned forwards menacingly, but Marius didn’t back away.

“That may be, but being a potential danger is not a crime. Dangerous to who? And why? And until you have proof of a crime worthy of execution, the law of the Divines still applies. Even if you are a member of the Royal Family, that doesn't give you the right to just execute people without a trial or a good reason. You know as well as I do that once you start going down that path, the other large powers will have to react. I’m fairly certain both Shiva and Themis will see things my way.” He was quite comfortable with his convictions.

“Considering your actions until now, I did not realize you had such scruples.” Kurnous pointed out his past. He was certain that Marius was right. Shiva was one of the few gods that had lived long enough to have met the Sacred Lady. The God both feared and respected The Goddess of Mercy.

“I do what I must in the service of justice, and those that I have killed have all committed crimes worthy of the punishment I've meted out. I have something I believe in, and sometimes you have to do evil for a better world. However, there’s a line. A line we must not cross lest we become what we’re fighting against.” Marius knew the Gods and the Blessed Children occasionally killed each other in the struggle for power, but he would not take part unless the target was a convicted criminal. And he certainly wouldn’t assassinate someone who wasn’t even an immortal yet.

“Then just find the being in question. We will deal with the matter from there.” Kurnous said simply.

Marius nodded and left but had no intention of simply complying. If he found the person and simply turned them over to Kurnous and his lackeys, then he might as well kill that being himself. He’d at least make it painless. He needed to talk with his master to figure out what to do. As he wandered out of the opulent and glamorous temple, he found himself in a forest. That such a huge building had been placed in such a place was only due to Kurnous’ nature as the God of the Hunt.

‘That reminds me. Considering his Divinity, he likely has servants capable of tracking down people, which makes it a little odd he'd pick me.' He frowned as his suspicions were raised. Maybe the being that had tapped into Sacred Lady's Divinity was more dangerous than he'd thought.

Most of the realms controlled by the gods reflected their Divinity, and they could change drastically according to who controlled the area, and who was trying to enter it. Most realms of the gods in the Divine Plane were both infinitely close and infinitely far from each other, so Marius was not surprised to find himself ejected from Kurnous’ realm as soon as he took a single step, finding himself on a shining gold bridge that connected the separate realms. There were hazy indistinct shapes around him, reminding him that wandering around this area without a firm destination in mind could be dangerous.

With another step, he reached the realm of Shiva, the primary god he served. He stood inside a rather simple temple with little decorations. Shiva was a god with many aspects, and that was reflected in his temples. There were some that were fantastically opulent, while others could be simple shrines made of nothing but sticks and stones. As one of the primary gods overseeing and enacting justice, he was constantly presiding over countless issues in just as many courtrooms and temples like this one. One of the aspects of his Divinity allowed him to exist in all those places at the same time. He was always busy, but at the same time, he also had time for each case.

“Marius. I sensed your need to discuss matters with me.” The god that had taken the form of a simple monk this time prompted.

---------

The first thing Marius had done after Descending on the Higher Planes a second time within a decade, was to seek out the person with proper knowledge pertaining to his mission, Prince Tethrine Asuryan. As the only real witness to the events, he was an important source of information. The meeting had been cordial, although it had become rather clear the Prince didn’t like the fact that Marius had been sent. Marius’ own admittance that he’d rather not be here stepping on the Prince’s toes either had been rather well-received. Marius also had to admit that the prince was not stupid, as he’d provided him with something he had not expected, but that would help him immensely.

One of the more complicated mind spells that could be cast was able to produce a copy of the memories someone had of a particular event. That copy could then be viewed by others. Marius had been about to suggest casting the spell but didn't have the chance before the Prince gave him an orb containing his memories of the events that day. Tethrine had also produced the memory only a couple of days after the events, which made things much easier as time made most memories unreliable at best. Even someone with a well-trained and structured mind like the Prince would have their memories decay and get embellished rather quickly.

When Marius walked through the memories, it was like he was inside an illusion. It was a little odd to view the memories of powerful people, as their senses caught many details they weren't even quite aware of, but those details were often hazy and hard to interpret. For example, the prince couldn't see what happened behind him, but his senses could tell him a lot, and his mind filled in the blanks. Those details were even less reliable than other parts, so going through the memories of a person was always an exercise in judgment.

He had viewed the memories a dozen times, and it wasn't until this last time that he finally found what he had been looking for. It was no surprise that the Prince had missed it while he had been in the situation. There were several things that stood out from the memories even on the first viewing. The most obvious was the power that had obliterated the curse. A surge of power that not only removed a curse that spanned almost an entire continent, actively maintained by the demons no less, and on top of that curing those affected was not something a mortal could accomplish. Power at that level could only be used by someone at the rank of a Silver Immortal at least. Unless they were borrowing someone else's power of course, like the power of a Deity.

The second detail that jumped out was the presence of the Alpyran woman the prince knew to be rank nine. Most people would focus on her, but Tethrine had questioned her and had deemed her to not know anything. Despite everything, Marius had quite a bit of faith in Tethrine's judgment when it came to those kinds of things. He'd likely want to question the woman at some point just in case, but for now, she could be dismissed as a suspect and a source of information. That's why he'd spent hours going through the memory with extreme precision.

What finally gave him the breakthrough he needed was the collar worn by a tiny blueish-white kitten. The collar was rather elaborate for such a small cat and had drawn his eye. The design had stirred his memories. He had to dig deep to recall why, but finally, he remembered something that he'd been taught long ago by Shiva. As he and other investigators like him had gone through thorough training, they had been taught about spirits that would allow someone to fool the senses of others. The collar looked exactly like one of those spirits, a rather high-ranking one at that. The spirit would hide the magical nature and aura of anyone wearing the collar, for a time. The more powerful the person wearing the collar, the faster they’d become extremely nauseous, as if suffering a sort of poisoning from the aura and magic that was not allowed to leak outside. Despite the side-effects, the spirit was very powerful as it could hide someone almost completely.

That discovery had caused him to pay a lot more attention to the cat. It didn’t seem to act in any way that was strange, which was why Tethrine hadn’t paid any attention to the creature. It had disappeared at some point, but that alone wasn’t enough to raise any warning bells. The presence of a collar that looked just like the spirit could be a coincidence, but Marius didn’t trust in coincidences.

The second sign that something wasn’t quite as it seemed was the girl holding the cat initially. When Tethrine had raised his voice to demand information from the gathered people, the girl had flinched. Now that wasn’t too odd. Tethrine was an immortal and hadn’t hidden his presence completely. Him showing any agitation was easily enough to make someone like the girl react with fear, even if there was no reason to be afraid. That's why Tethrine hadn't picked up on it either, despite being specialized in detecting such reactions. The girl had reacted as she should. But she had also made a glance towards the cat in her hands just before it had disappeared. That too wasn't anything odd considering the situation but combined with the possible presence of the spirit it raised some questions. Maybe the girl knew more than she let on? Marius would need to find out. Assuming he could still find her. If the girl still had the cat, then there would be no problem. If she didn’t? Well, then Marius would need to find out more about the elusive feline.

Tracking the girl down took a couple of hours as the city was still a mess even after all this time, but the priestesses at the temple of the Sacred Lady were able to direct him to the right house eventually. A Rabbit-tribe woman that he barely recognized from the memory answered the door. She had recovered a lot and looked a lot healthier now. “What can I do for you immortal?” The woman knelt and bowed down deep.

“Oh, I’m here just to look into the miracle that happened at the temple. You were one of the people most affected and your daughter is one of those that might be able to shed some light on the matter. You are not in any trouble, I assure you, but I want to ask your daughter a couple of questions.” Marius said with a gentle voice that he knew would produce more results than threats.

“You want to ask Kani questions?” The woman questioned incredulously. “I mean, of course you can, but I doubt she’d be able to tell you anything. It was a miracle by the Sacred Lady after all.”

Despite her words, the woman allowed him inside and shouted out to call for her daughter. It seemed like there was no father present. The tiny bunny-girl bounced out from a side room with a careful smile. “Kani, this immortal is here to ask a couple of questions. Be a good girl and answer them if you can.” The mother instructed the girl.

From a single glance, it was obvious the girl knew something, just by judging her expression. "I see you already know what this is about," Marius stated with a warm smile. "You don't have a cat do you?"

“No, she doesn’t have a pet. We can’t afford to keep one.” The mother seemed confused.

“Mother.” The girl hugged the woman and hid her face.

“Ma’am. With your permission, I’d like to cast a spell that will allow me to copy your daughter’s memories of the event. That will make things easier and we don’t have to ask any questions she doesn’t want to answer.

Once he acquired the memory, he barely managed to wait until reaching the nearby alley before delving in. The memory was tainted by time and there was a lot of embellishment after the fact. There was only one thing that Marius could pick up from the memory as the truth and that was the appearance of the girl that was likely responsible for the miracle, and that was because the girl didn’t need any embellishment. It only took him a fraction of a second to recognize her appearance and the obvious implications.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUUUCK!' He cursed in his mind. Things had just become infinitely more complicated. Without any hesitation, he crushed the memory in his hand and pulled out the memory produced by the Prince to do the same.

He stood still for a few seconds and knew this was not enough. With a heavy heart he turned back towards the house he'd just left. He'd have to make sure the girl's memories of the event would be gone completely. He hated to do such things to kids. He'd have to wipe the mother's memories of his visit as well…

Chapter 58 - Change of perspective

A note from Vihyungrang

Atteeeeention! For those of you who missed it a couple of chapters ago, my in-depth practical starts next week. I'm going to be working in the local ER, which also services several other cities, so I'm gonna be a busy little bee. What does that mean? It means you'll get this chapter and the next, and then probably nothing for the next five weeks. I might put out a chapter or two, but it's better you don't expect any. I'm also going to use this chance to recharge my creative batteries a bit. I've really liked the last few chapters I've written, but they've also been harder to write than normal, and I think I need a little break anyway. Amusingly, I've got a second practical right after the first, but that one's a much lighter one, so you might even get full normal schedule releases during that one.

That said, I hope you'll enjoy this one!

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“Immortal, what brings you to our little institute of learning?” Tsumi greeted the man that had just entered her office. She could sense the power radiating from the man, and he had the sort of air about him that told her he was prepared to do almost anything to reach his goals. A dangerous man if he became an enemy, but he could also be a great potential ally.

“You can call me Marius, Headmistress.” He replied with a confident voice and demeanor.

"Marius? As in the immortal that dealt the judgment to the Holy Kingdom some years back?" Tsumi asked, suddenly even more wary.

"Ah, yes, that did happen now that you mention it. Anyway, I'm here on a much more pleasant errand this time. I'm looking into the miracle that happened some weeks back that I was informed you were present for. Prince Tethrine already reported that you didn't know anything about the matter beyond the obvious, and I believe in his judgment. I'm mostly here to just ask for your impression and to tie up a few loose ends.” The man said in a conversational tone.

"Anything to help the Host," Tsumi assured the man, knowing there had to be more to this.

“Excellent. Let’s start with something simple. You know the effects the so-called miracle had, so what’s your best guess about what happened?” The man asked.

“Well, as I told the Prince, I’m not an expert on the field, but I did discuss the matter with some of the more knowledgeable teachers at the Academy, and they assured me that it would take someone that had already become immortal to cast a spell like that. Assuming it was even a spell. The same teachers also mentioned that it could’ve been an intervention by a Deity. I honestly can’t tell you which is more likely.”

“Of those two options? The latter one. The gods can sometimes take interest in the affairs of their worshippers, while immortals rarely come down from the Divine Planes, despite what recent events might imply. The issue is that the temple where the miracle originated from is dedicated to the Sacred Lady, who obviously isn’t around to perform miracles. You mentioned you were traveling with two other people. A princess and your disciple, is that correct? Did you ask if they saw anything, and might they have any knowledge pertaining to the matter?” Even though the man was asking in a very laid-back manner, Tsumi was keenly aware that any lie on her part would be detected immediately.

“I did not ask, though I doubt they saw anything. It would’ve likely come up in conversation if they had. The Princess was busy healing the wounded after the battle, so I’m fairly certain she has no knowledge. As for my disciple, it’s a little hard to say what she knows and when. She’s one of those people that tend to have endless founts of knowledge and can have the most surprising insights into matters at the weirdest of times. That said, I’ve never seen her use any sort of holy abilities and she hasn’t mentioned any special knowledge on the subject either.” Tsumi chose her words very carefully despite maintaining a light tone. She mentioned Anaire first just to buy herself the necessary time to figure out how to word what she said about Karna.

“Your disciple sounds like an interesting person. A Blessed Child?” Marius asked directly.

“Well, you know they can never straight out confirm that fact. I’m fairly certain she is one though. She has come as close to confirming it as one of her kind can.” Tsumi had to admit. There was no way to deny the fact without getting caught in a lie.

“Could I meet her as well? Just to ask questions about this subject. Blessed Children often had surprising insights as you mentioned.” Marius suggested innocently.

"I'm afraid she's currently in closed-door training. She only recently reached the fifth rank both as a mage and Aura user, and she had to rush a bit due to the spatial disturbance that hit the Higher Plane. She was one of the people stranded while mid-transit. She's now cultivating hard to make sure the rushed rank-up didn't mess with her future." Tsumi didn't even need to lie. Karna was really in closed-door cultivation, though in Karna's case the 'closed-door' part was not very strict. She knew both Miralen and Siegfried visited her often, and Karna was also constantly helping Duskclaw heal. She’d even attended a couple of lessons in the last few weeks.

"That's a shame. I don't have much time to stick around, unfortunately. Well, if she does emerge out of her training in the next day or two, let me know. I’ll likely be staying with the Emissary.” The man stood up and was already walking towards the door before he turned around as if just remembering something. “Oh right, there was one more thing. Have you ever seen this person?” An illusionary image of Karna appeared on his palm.

Tsumi had been expecting something like this the entire time, so she managed not to react. “Is it just me, or does she look a lot like the Emissary?”

“Very astute of you.” Marius nodded.

"I assume I would be out of line if I asked more about that," Tsumi asked rhetorically, though she did get an answer.

“Again, very astute of you. Well, if you do see her, do give her a message. She might do well to make herself scarce for the foreseeable future. There are many people looking into this matter, and it’s more serious than you realize. And unlike me, some of the other people looking for her wish her ill. It would be a very good time to spend some time in another Plane for a few years or even a decade.” Marius said with a much more serious tone.

"I'll be sure to pass the message along if I ever run into her," Tsumi promised, fully intending to keep that promise.

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“I get what you’re saying master, but if I really wanted to make it difficult to find me, I’d have to miss the birth of my sibling and endanger Duskclaw’s recovery. If the threat is as serious as this Marius implied, that means I would have to disappear for years, not just for a couple of weeks. You of all people should know that the Divines tend to take their time with such things. Besides, this is something I’d have to face sooner or later anyway.” Karna replied to the warning Tsumi had relayed to her.

“But later you’d have more power to defend yourself," Tsumi argued back.

“I would, but I wouldn’t have as much power as them. If I don’t confront the situation at some point, the problem would persist even when I Ascend to the Divine Planes. Then I’d have to deal with literal Deities instead of just their henchmen. It is preferable that I get to the bottom of this problem now when the threat still comes from a handful of immortals. There’s more to the situation than we’re aware of at the moment and we need information. I do not intend to spend the next century in hiding. And it’s not like I have no means of dealing with the situation. We might even be able to turn this into our advantage.” Karna explained.

“So what’s your plan?” Tsumi questioned.

“I think I should meet this Marius person. That said, we don’t have to let them know who they’re dealing with. I have…certain abilities that might aid me in dealing with the situation, assuming I have a bit of time to prepare. I…have a plan that might turn the entire situation around, though I’m not sure if I like all the implications.” It was a good thing Gem could take so many forms. She’d be relying on the spirit heavily to deal with the current situation.

-------

Marius was a little surprised when a blueish-white phoenix suddenly materialized in the garden he was borrowing from the Emissary. He had suspected the Headmistress knew more than she let on as she had not directly denied knowing the person he had shown her, but he had not expected a response this soon or this directly. Even if he couldn’t sense anything about the strength of the phoenix, the unique coloring alone was enough to identify her. The bloodline she had was obvious at a glance and judging by the appearance of the large bird, the blood was very concentrated. Normally the Royal Family would’ve been extremely proud as they always valued blood purity. Now her other parentage formed an embarrassing problem, well displayed by the sparks and currents of lightning that seemed to flash inside the flames.

“Princess Ynnead. It’s an honor to finally meet you.” Marius gave a small bow that bordered on mocking despite being quite genuine.

“Is that the name my mother picked for me?” Karna asked, curious about that fact.

“Unfortunately not. Your mother didn’t want to give any hints about you to anyone, so she couldn’t even reveal your gender. And as the exact identity of your father is still a mystery, no one could ask him either. Your name was decided by the current Heavenly Emperor, and he gave you a name that would fit both a male and female Godling.” Marius explained what he had heard about the situation.

“And he decided to name me after an ancient and deceased God of the Dead. A little provocative, don’t you think? How is my mother? Who is she?” Karna had a couple of burning questions and now someone seemed willing to provide answers, so she was utilizing the opportunity.

"Your mother is alive, although imprisoned. The Royal Family doesn't take it well when one of the princesses breaks the taboos, even if they are a powerful goddess in their own right. Had your mother been anyone else, they'd have likely taken her life but they didn't dare go against one of the few gods with twin Divinities, one of them being the Goddess of War.” It had been whispered as being highly ironic that the twin sisters, that her mother was one half of, had become goddesses of such opposing Divinities as beauty and war.

Karna’s beak clacked in annoyance. “No wonder any holy weapon I tried to create almost blew up in my face.”

“That would indeed bring some problems. Shall we get to why I’m here?” Marius asked rather politely, though his words did imply that it wasn’t an actual request. He knew he had the advantage in the current situation, although in certain ways the young phoenix outranked him. “I’m here because of the little stunt you pulled in the Sacred Lady’s temple. You really should’ve removed the memories of that girl you helped. Incidentally, I did it for you.”

“I didn’t have the time. The Emissary’s arrival was too fast, and his presence made it impossible to approach the temple again. I had left the world before the girl and her mother were released. It was a risk, but a calculated one.” Karna shrugged at his words, which looked a little odd for a phoenix. She had known the possibility existed, but she didn’t like using mind magic in that way. Tampering with someone’s memories could alter their personality, and it also came too close to one of the personal rules she always held on to.

‘So she can use mind magic.’ Marius confirmed the fact. “What is your connection to the Sacred Lady? You should know that the Divine Planes are in an uproar after what happened, and that’s the main point of speculation.”

“There’s no real connection. I’m a Godling, the temple was filled with the faith of believers. I happen to be very good at what I do.” Karna lied straight to the man’s face. She knew the Gods who were reincarnators were worried that she was the Sacred Lady reborn. She had to change the perspective and give them another reason. If she provided another reason, then things became much simpler. They were not afraid of the power itself; they were afraid of Wrath. If she simply had access to the power, she became a potential opportunity instead.

Marius couldn’t believe what his Divine sense was telling him. It was telling him that the one he was speaking to was being completely truthful, but her words went against everything else he had discovered so far. “Could you repeat that?” He asked with a slightly shaking voice. Shiva had explained to him the worries of the gods. He had not been told about reincarnators, but he had been told that the gods were afraid this girl was the Sacred lady reborn by some kind of miracle.

“I have no connection with the Sacred Lady. Now, I can understand the confusion, as I too sensed the Divinity stir, but I believe that is simply because I’m suitable for assuming the Divinity once I raise my rank high enough.” Karna lied again.

She was sweating a bit as Gem had to really work overtime and she’d likely have to reward the spirit later on. There were spirits that allowed you to lie and fool everyone, and Gem could copy one. Those spirits were a little tough to hide under normal circumstances, which is why she was wearing an artifact from Arjuna's collection. An item that originated from the Divine Planes that hid both her level and Gem's presence. She’d raided his collection in search of something appropriate. It had been quite fortunate that the item had been among the collection, but she knew it had nothing to do with luck. This was exactly how karma worked. And she should know, being the expert on the subject.

Marius had no choice but to accept her words, although his instincts were telling him there was something going on. Her words changed things, however. They changed things drastically. In fact, it wasn’t wrong to say that if what she said was true, then they turned the entire situation completely around, and might even end up completely upending the power dynamic of the Divine Planes. He wasn’t privy to all the reasons why Kurnous wanted this person dead, but he was quite sure what she had just said changed that calculus as well.

The reason she had been hunted originally was because her existence was an embarrassment. Her mother had broken one of the largest taboos in giving birth to her. If the Royal Family had caught the girl, they would’ve likely killed her just to remove the embarrassment. Or they would at least hide her and lock her away. Most of all, they had to stop the girl from having any kids of her own, especially any that were not under the Royal Family’s control. If the girl had been killed or hidden away, in time the breach of the taboo would’ve been forgotten.

The thing was, one of the reasons the Royal Family could so quickly dismiss her was because she was just a worthless child. Yes, she probably had potential, but plenty of kids in the Divine Planes had potential. She lacked actual power. Thus, she had very little actual value beyond her blood, and that weighed against the fact that she was a massive liability. Except, now she did have power. Now that she might be able to inherit the power left behind by the Sacred Lady, something that all the great families coveted, she had a lot of value. Now the fact that she was the child of one of the most important and powerful Goddesses in the entire Divine Planes was much more important, because that meant she not only had value, but she was also likely to inherit her mother’s abilities at some point. If she was allowed to grow up, she might become just as powerful as one of the most powerful goddesses in the entire Divine Plane.

That was also the crux of the matter. She didn’t have value just for the Royal Family. Because of her blood, she had value for all the important families, and not just because of the power of the Sacred Lady. Now that the Royal Family would want her back and she was no longer slated for execution, the fact that she had royal blood, and a hefty dose of it judging by her appearance, suddenly became important as any kids she would have would also share that blood. Having royal blood wasn’t just a matter of reputation, as anyone with the blood could lay claim to the throne and start a civil war. In a single moment, she had turned from an embarrassing pariah prone to be killed to the most coveted commodity in the Divine Planes. Except she wasn't in the Divine Planes. “This…changes things.”

“It does, doesn’t it.” Karna wasn’t entirely up to date on Divine politics, but she had experienced it enough to know how the game was played. Even a slight change in how her position was viewed could change things drastically. The problem was that now that she had thrown her hat into the ring, it was hard to completely back out even if she managed to stay out of sight for a time.

“You’re not worried that I’ll capture you in light of this new information?” Marius asked almost perfunctorily. He wouldn’t due to his own reasons, but she didn’t know that.

“No. I’m quite confident in my ability to run away. I can’t fight you directly, but escape is well within my reach.” Karna wasn’t quite as confident as she was portraying, but she had roughly 50/50 odds of escaping if she used all her abilities and utilized Gem to the spirit’s limits. The spatial abilities of a Tressym combined with the Shifting abilities of a Phoenix were quite powerful in combination with a spirit that could open many doors for her.

“And the people you care about?” Marius asked, just to make sure.

“Which people are you talking about? This world doesn’t have anyone I wouldn’t quite happily leave behind. Yes, I’m familiar with the Headmistress of the place they call the Academy, but only to the extent that she can contact me. There’s no one here that you can threaten me with.” Karna lied again. The downside of being able to tell when someone was lying was the fact that you became reliant on the ability. Only certain reincarnators and the owners of a couple of spirits were aware of ways to fool that ability, and they damn sure weren’t going to share that information. The advantage was just too big.

“Do you really expect me to believe you’d let all the innocents of this world die? After revealing your existence to save those you healed with your little miracle?” Marcus pushed again. He needed to know if others could use the same threats he was now making against her.

“The innocents of this world aren’t in danger though. The laws of the Host prevent you from those kinds of atrocities. And you wouldn’t actually do something like that even if they didn’t. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent you.” Karna had already judged the man and had a decent idea about his character.

"Good. I wanted to make sure. Now I can officially add that to my report. Speaking of, you do realize that I'm duty-bound to report this, right? After I do, they might be looking for you for a different reason, but they'll still be looking for you. And now they have even more reason to do so." Marius was actually relieved. He liked where this was headed. It served his purposes nicely.

“I realize that, but I won’t be around here for them to find. You can add that to your report. You can also add that I’ll make sure to sever my connection with the Headmistress, so there will be no point in hassling her after this. You can quote me on that in your report. And you can tell them I was truthful in saying all that.” Karna was playing a dangerous game, but she had to change the rules. She wouldn’t survive if the Divines actually wanted her dead. Not yet and not for a good time to come.

“I’ll be sure to do exactly that. And while I do need to report this, I have no need to do it immediately.” He was silent for a moment. “Any word you want to relay to your mother?”

"Yes, tell her this. 'Get your lazy ass out of prison. Then we can talk.'" With a burst of flames, she was gone.

Marius had to admit that catching her would’ve been challenging as he had no idea where she had vanished to. “I wonder what your father will have to say about all this? I doubt the Titans will remain quiet once they get wind of this. After all, now one of theirs has access to royal blood again after all these millennia.” The girl might have thought most would want her children, but there existed at least one group that would quite happily put her on the throne given the opportunity. There was a reason the union between the two races was considered taboo.

Chapter 59 - Gemini

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. The last chapter before my practical. As I said, you might get one or two during it, but I wouldn't count on that. I hope you'll enjoy!

Incidentally, I'm immature enough that I have already decided that chapter 69 will be +++ one. Because of course it will. I don't care if I have to make it into a complete flashback chapter to make it work with the rest of the story. On the other hand, that's why there has been no +++ for a time as I've been holding on to chapter 69. Not that there were too many opportunities either. In fact, odds are that with the way my mind works, that chapter will be written way before chapter 68. *shrugs*

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Kurnous tapped the table lost in thought. Marius had just reported his meeting with the person that had utilized the Sacred Lady's power. The report had been very detailed and contained word-for-word quotes, as one of the most important parts of his reports was tied to the truthfulness of those words. The person had not been vague with her words, although she hadn’t revealed too many extra details either. One of the things that had become quite obvious was the fact that she was almost certainly a reincarnator, and one at least somewhat familiar with the Divine politics of this world. Someone familiar with the old politics considering they were familiar with the name Ynnead. So, someone from the Sacred Lady’s time or earlier. That made them a relatively old reincarnator. Several generations of otherwise immortal gods had come and gone since then, which meant so many years that few people could even understand the number.

She had also directly denied any connection with the Sacred Lady, which removed the fear Kurnous had of her. There were only a handful of reincarnators that truly scared him, especially those that hadn’t reached immortality yet. No matter how skilled, they would be relatively powerless until then. So, if he didn’t need to fear her, then the question was, how could he use her? And how could he find her?

Marius had made it rather obvious that he had not been in a rush to make his report. He’d had the man followed of course, but Marius was a slippery one, and the meeting with Ynnead had not been seen by anyone. Marius had given her plenty of time to disappear, and he had likely also made sure to share his report with others as well. The great houses and families of the Divines would all be interested in the information and the girl. Chief among them the House Titanica. And considering Shiva was one of their close allies, Marius had likely given them an advance warning.

“What do you make of this?” He asked his wife, one of the Goddesses of Beauty. She had a strong claim on one of the most heavily contested Divinities, and for several good reasons. Her appearance being only one of those reasons.

"There's something sketchy going on. I believe Marius was truthful in his report but was it the whole truth? Your son, Tethrine also seemed to be on to something before this mess with Princess Ynnead and the dimensional waves messed things up. That lead might have gone cold, but it might be worth exploring nonetheless.” The goddess gave her input. She and her husband were actually distant cousins, an unfortunate result of trying to keep the bloodlines pure. Not that Divines had to worry about genetic defects.

“Might be worth checking out indeed. We have precious few other leads at the moment. Marius did not want to oblige us with a memory of her appearance. He also mentioned that she approached him in the form of a phoenix so he probably doesn’t know either. As a result, we do not have her exact appearance. We can guess that she looks a lot like your twin sister. We also know that she has likely inherited the hair color shared by those that have the bloodline.” Kurnous was not happy with what they had. Too much guesswork and possible false assumptions.

"That's not a lot to go on." The Goddess agreed. "And even that's all speculation. And while rare, the hair color isn’t unheard of in the Higher Planes. That said, finding a Godling with the right qualities shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“We said that when your sister sent her into the Higher Planes in the first place. It took us almost two decades to find any hints of her.” Kurnous countered. Several search parties had been sent after the child, though they didn’t know which plane the child had been sent to.

"Maybe, but it's much easier to hide a baby that we know nothing about. Now we at least have a starting point, even if she erased all traces of herself." The Goddess didn't disagree, even if she was more positive about it. "We should send Tethrine some assistance."

As they were negotiating the exact details of the help, a golden decree suddenly appeared in front of both of them, as well as every Divinity in the Divine Planes, forcing everyone to kneel in respect. “What the Scourges?!” The goddess asked in shock after the meaning inside the decree had been passed into her mind.

“It seems our competition truly was informed before us. They got to father.” Kurnous grunted.

The message ordered the recall of all the Host personnel from the Higher Planes, with the exception of the Emissaries and the warriors required to deal with the Scourges and the dimensional issues directly. From this point forth all travel to the Higher Planes would be subject to extreme scrutiny and an evaluation by the Grand Marshal of the Heavenly Host. The order was issued jointly by the Heavenly Emperor and the Grand Marshal. Incidentally, the Grand Marshal was a Titan with a Divinity, but no specific domain or concept he ruled as the god of, as he was simply the Grand Marshal. That meant he was a Divine, but not one of the gods.

“Why would the Emperor approve of this? He should know this will only give our competition the advantage.” The goddess asked, clearly confused.

“Not necessarily. Yes, House Titanica will be able to benefit by sending their own people, but everyone else? The Grand Marshal will deny them as well. Besides, many of those already in the Higher Planes answer to us, and our son is the Emissary of the area where Ynnead was sighted.” Kurnous rubbed his chin a bit in thought. “Father likely also wants to prevent a large influx of immortals suddenly rushing the Higher Planes to search for her. That could lead to fights between immortals, and the Higher Planes would not be able to deal with the collateral damage. It would also draw the wrong kind of attention.”

“Ah yes. We aren’t the only ones that would like to get to her. Imagine if the Demonic Gods got their hands on royal blood.” The goddess shuddered. “Maybe this is for the best for now. It will delay things, but to our advantage. Well, ours and the Titans.”

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Prince Tethrine had been briefed on the situation but found it slightly difficult to accept. There wasn’t a single thing he could point to that would be wrong, but the pieces didn’t quite fit together as they should. It didn’t help that he didn’t have time to investigate thoroughly either. It had been somewhat vexing that Marius had found answers so much faster than him. To make things worse, after Marius had made his report, many of the immortals that had helped with the Scourge problem with just their presence had been recalled. That had left Tethrine and his underlings running from one place to another, making sure the Higher Planes were not overrun by the Scourges.

When he finally did get a moment of peace, he decided to take a more direct approach. His mother had noticed something off about the Grand Medjai, so he decided to visit the man directly. That way the man would not have time to develop plans against his visit. He’d get to the bottom of this. As he arrived at the Grand Medjai’s tower, he was of course allowed in immediately. While he was being escorted by a relatively modest-looking servant, he noted that the place seemed to have fewer servants than one might expect. He could sense the tower was largely able to maintain itself magically without even gathering dust, but servants were often seen as a status symbol.

"Emissary. What brings you to my tower?" The Grand Medjai Arjuna greeted him politely as soon as the servant led him to a cozy-looking office that was quite disorderly with stacks of paperwork everywhere. The man himself was dressed in a deceptively simple-looking cloak that seemed to be made of shadows that clung to his body.

“Grand Medjai.” Tethrine nodded in polite greeting. “I came to follow up on something. It’s in connection with the time you visited my abode last. You recall that you had urgent news and barged in during my meeting with another person.”

"I remember. I also remember apologizing at the time, and I believe we all agreed the news was urgent enough to warrant my intrusion.” Arjuna wasn’t sure where this was going. He had expected that matter to already be behind them.

"Indeed. My visit is not about that. I only mentioned it to remind you and to draw your attention to something. Do you recall anything from the person I was meeting with?" Tethrine led the discussion in the right direction.

"We were not introduced due to the urgent situation, but I do recall she was a very attractive and powerful looking woman who looked quite a lot like you," Arjuna recalled. How could he forget, as the woman had looked like an older version of Karna.

Tethrine laughed a bit at Arjuna’s words. “My mother would be quite disappointed she made such a small impression on you. She’s one of the Goddesses laying claim to the Divinity of Goddess of Beauty after all. She did mention that you looked at her a little weird.”

“My apologies if I offended.” Arjuna raised his eyebrow. He could see how the woman could make a claim for the Divinity, though he had largely ignored her beauty due to how much she looked like his daughter.

“Ah, you misunderstand a bit. With her position, she is used to getting certain types of looks, and even if you only saw her illusionary image, most men would’ve been affected. You weren’t. She mentioned that you actually looked at her more like you recognized her. So that got us thinking if there was a reason for that. Have you seen anyone who looks like this?” Tethrine created a small illusionary image of his mother standing on his palm.

‘Ah, so that’s what this is about. It’s almost scary how well Karna had predicted something like this happening.’ Arjuna thought to himself. Despite the fact that Karna had successfully lied to Marius, they knew it was only a matter of time until someone mentioned to the Emissary that Arjuna’s daughter looked remarkably like him. That would ruin the lie about her leaving the world and there being no one that could be used as a hostage left behind. That’s why they had hatched a plan.

“Hmm, it would be easier to just show you why I reacted as I did. I’ll need to send my daughter a message. She’s currently in training and it could be bad to just barge in and interrupt her.” Arjuna then used the code they had agreed upon beforehand. He purposefully allowed the Prince to hear and understand the magical message. ‘Daughter, the Emissary is currently in my office. Would you join us as quickly as possible?’

------

“That was quick.” Gem commented while doing something she’d done the first time after Karna had visited the Spirit World, which was to assume the form of her master. She also knew the form normally annoyed Karna, as any trouble Gem stirred up would be pinned on her instead.

Except this time she didn’t look exactly like Karna. She looked very similar, but there were some very subtle but obvious differences. Her hair had both white and blue in it, but it wasn’t the almost glowing white the royals seemed to possess. Her face also had several subtle differences. The changes were enough that if someone were to look at Gem and the Prince side by side, they would no longer think that they were obviously related. Instead, they would think the two looked somewhat similar.

“They must have heard some sort of rumors before. Now be on your best behavior. Just because we can disguise your presence for a time, the spell won’t fool the Emissary forever.” Karna grimaced a bit. There were two obvious problems with the plan. First, as Gem had assumed her form for a time, the spirit could also copy her presence as a Godling, a necessary part of their little ploy. Secondly, the plan called for Gem to act like her master. There was no doubt Gem could do it. If she wanted to.

“Don’t you trust me, master?” Gem asked, faking a pout.

“When there’s an opportunity for mischief? Not for a second.” Karna shot back without hesitation.

“Smart. I’ll try to limit my instincts for now.” Gem easily agreed. She too knew the situation was serious.

------

“I see. Well, I suppose this explains a few things.” Tethrine could see the resemblance as soon as Arjuna’s daughter stepped into the room. The similarity was easy to see. “I’m surprised I didn’t hear about this earlier.”

“Well, we didn’t want to create any trouble or start any rumors. She has been out of the country almost the entire time you’ve been the Emissary. She was also stranded by the spatial phenomenon as I explained last we met.” Arjuna provided by the way of explanation.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Emissary." Arjuna's daughter offered a fractionally small curtsy. Tethrine almost burst into laughter at the obvious falsehood of her words.

"She is a Godling," Tethrine stated, noticing the girl's aura.

"From what we can tell, you're correct. We have no idea who her parents are, but her kind are sometimes sent down to us for various reasons." Arjuna said, picking his words carefully.

Tethrine of course knew he was right and knew about those reasons better than Arjuna. There could be any number of reasons, most related to power struggles, illicit relationships, and illegitimate heirs. “Could I ask her a few questions privately?”

As this was part of their plan, Arjuna obliged and left the two alone. It was much better for Gem to answer any questions instead of Arjuna being questioned. “So, not your first life?” Tethine asked, testing the waters. As Karna’s spirit, Gem was exempt from the rule that disallowed reincarnators to converse about such subjects. Most spirits were, as otherwise their masters would not be able to talk about the subject at all. Even item spirits were usually able to hear spoken words, even if they didn’t necessarily understand them. The spirits already knew about the reincarnators, so it made sense they were exempt.

“Let’s just say that I’m probably older than you despite how I look.” Gem smiled a bit.

Although impolite, Tethrine used a skill that allowed him to discover the target’s True Name. His eyes narrowed. “Spirit King?”

“The Name was received as a measure of power, not an actual position. Interesting life that.” There was nothing stopping someone from reincarnating as a spirit.

“Huh. Interesting.” Tethrine had never considered the possibility. Spirits could live almost forever, so it would explain why she considered herself older than him without actually knowing how many lives he had lived.

“Now as interesting as this is, why are you here? I don’t need divine attention just yet and I was in the middle of training.” Gem prodded the prince. And by training she meant very actively sleeping and lounging around, gathering power.

“Right. Let’s get straight to the point. Are you the Sacred Lady, and if not, are you connected to her in any way?” Blunt questions would be harder to dodge.

“I’m not the one you call Sacred Lady. I can’t say I have no connection with her. I did live at the same time as her. Why do you ask?” Gem deflected the other question a bit.

“Some believe she was a reincarnator and has now returned. Have you seen a person that looks a lot like this?” Tethrine used the image of her mother again.

“You mean aside from you and me?” Gem couldn’t resist snarking a bit.

"Obviously." Tethrine couldn’t resist a small smile at the shitty joke.

“I think I know who you mean, and yes. She spent a brief time on this world from what I know.” Eighteen years was extremely brief in the grand scheme of things. “I think she was actually annoyed by my appearance.” Gem gave an internal grin at her little joke.

“Were you friends?” Tethrine asked. He had noted that while the girl’s answers left a bit of room for interpretation, they were relatively direct and honest.

“No, though I suppose you could say friendly.” Gem said honestly. She didn’t consider their relationship to be one of friends. They were many things. Master and servant, and family would be the two ways Gem would’ve described their bond.

“Lovers?” Tethrine asked just in case and this time actually laughed as the girl made a face.

“No! Although, now that you mention it, she is pretty hot. That said…” She waved at her own face and body. The implication was clear to Tethrine. They looked too similar. “Also before you ask, no I’m not becoming your lover either. Same reason.” That last part was an obvious lie, which the Prince could sense.

“Wasn’t asking.” Tethrine shot the idea down just as fast. “Do you know how to find her?”

“I could probably find a way if necessary.” She stated without hesitation. “But I can’t tell you. Oaths. Incidentally the same applies to others that might be of help.”

That was the solution they had stumbled upon. Both Arjuna and Tsumi had been quite amused as they took oaths that would stop them from answering certain questions if they were asked by an immortal. Those two had been the only ones to take such binding oaths, as it would be impossible to get the entire student population and all of Karna's friends, but they hoped this little charade would take care of that. Oaths could be broken but the results could be extreme and even deadly to those that did break them.

“Of course," Tethrine grumbled. He had expected his quarry to take care of any tracks left behind. There were ways to lift oaths, but it would require a god to interfere. And the gods that had that sort of power, like Shiva, were not inclined to do so, both because they were all competitors of the Emperor and because their own Divinities went against such things. That’s why they had been granted such power in the first place, as they wouldn’t abuse it.

------

Karna gave a relieved sigh. The spells in the room had allowed her to eavesdrop on the conversation Gem and the Emissary were having. Eavesdropping on the two had actually been extremely easy as reincarnators sometimes relied too much on the security provided by the fact that they wouldn’t be able to talk about matters relating to reincarnators if someone else could hear them. After all, the inhibition didn’t apply if the one doing the eavesdropping was also a reincarnator.

Gem had done well with their little charade. The spirit hadn’t even said anything too troublesome, which was a small wonder in itself. Karna had half expected the spirit to try and hit on the Emissary just to create some trouble for her. For some reason, the spirit seemed to enjoy it when she got into any romantic or erotic entanglements, the voyeuristic bastard.

With this, they had managed to buy some time. Now that the Emissary could vouch for her, and the man called Marius could do the same, she had purchased herself a chance to grow stronger. She had paid for that time by drawing even more attention to herself in the future, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to stay under the radar of the Divines forever anyway. Now she needed to make sure to use the time she’d managed to acquire well. Cultivation was a path that required you to tread carefully and slowly if you wanted the best results, but that didn’t mean there was no way to speed things along.

She also knew that the upcoming Expansion would provide a great opportunity for her. Firstly, it would draw everyone’s attention away from her for several decades. She only needed to stay hidden until then. Secondly, the Expansion would also bring along the opportunity to gain access to resources that were usually hard to acquire. As the new worlds would be unclaimed, the mad scramble would allow many with the right kind of karma and senses to gain many unique opportunities. Thirdly, and most importantly, it would also provide her with the opportunity to forge herself through battle. Strength gained in a safe environment would never equal the tempering of battle. So far, she had lived a very peaceful life as those around her tended to be too weak, or way too strong. That would need to change.

“I wonder if I can speed things along a bit and bring the Expansion about sooner than it normally would?” She considered seriously. That would require tampering with the grand formation that governed this universe. Even the Divines would be leery about attempting something like that, as even they didn’t have enough power. However, although Karna didn’t have power, she did have knowledge. And she knew the formation didn’t need any large changes. The universe was already teetering on a knife’s edge, and all it needed was a little push in the right place and at the right time.

Chapter 60 - To nudge or not to nudge

A note from Vihyungrang

I'm baaack! Kinda, sorta. The ER practical is now over. Had fun and learned a lot. As those of you that have read my author's notes know, I'm rolling straight into another practical, but this one is much, much, much easier and more relaxed, so I should be able to write pretty much normally during the practical. That said, I still have a big fat mess to deal with this week what with a new practical, my thesis, and a large-ish report to turn in. So what does that mean? It means that the next chapter will come out a week from now, but after that we should be able to return to the usual one every four days schedule.

With all that said, I hope you'll enjoy!

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”…and then Gemini tried flirting with the member of the Golden Order," Duskclaw reported with a clear tone of amusement in her voice.

“Of course she did.” Karna gave a frustrated sigh. “She’s been taking the opportunity to flirt with the representatives of every immortal group that passes through. Why would she deviate from that trend just because the other party is made up of ascetic monks?” She asked sarcastically.

“Well, she was actually having some luck. It could’ve gone a lot worse.” Duskclaw pointed out, finding the humor in the situation, despite the fact that she couldn’t really see her daughter. Karna had returned several times during the last year, but the visits had grown more sparse as time passed.

"I'm not sure if that's better. I’d rather her attempts all end up as failures. She’s setting expectations that I’m not sure I’m willing to live by.” Karna grumbled while putting the finishing touches on a gemstone filled to the brim with magic. She was currently carving a magical formation inside the stone. If anyone had seen the sheer complexity of the formation she was forcing inside a single gem, they would’ve been horrified.

“You can’t really expect her to do all that badly, considering she doesn’t look all that dissimilar to you.” Gemini had stayed behind in the Magocracy to deal with any questions the representatives of the Divine Planes might have about Karna, although most of the curious people had already moved on in the last two years and scattered to search elsewhere. Gemini had even stood in for her during the graduation ceremony from the Academy, wearing a very familiar veil, though Karna had personally returned for long enough to take the tests.

“Unfortunate but true.” Karna agreed without a shred of shame. “How’s Sahadeva?” Arjuna’s and Duskclaw’s son had been born as a High Human with very slight beastman features, so he’d been named by Arjuna, who once again showed his lack of naming sense.

"Still cries himself to sleep because his big sister is away," Duskclaw said with a sad voice.

“Uh-huh. And in reality?” Karma didn’t buy it for a second.

“He’s a little hellion. We really had things easy while raising you. A normal kid is much harder to deal with. And he does cry himself to sleep, though I think it’s mostly just to annoy us.” Duskclaw was complaining, but it was clear from her voice that she wouldn’t change anything. Except maybe the crying.

“That’s because you didn't really raise me if you’ll recall. Now you actually have to give some effort.” Karna teased. “How are Miralen and Sieg? And any word of Shaheera?” She hadn’t seen her friends for almost a year as she had to make a hasty exit when several immortals got too close to finding her.

“Miralen is working as a permanent ambassador with the High Elves now. Her connection with the young prince makes things much easier. I think the two might be secretly dating actually.” Duskclaw laughed. “Or maybe not. I wouldn’t put it past Miralen to just lead the prince on to keep his interest. The relationship between those two is weird. Sieg and Rein have both now joined their parents in traveling to different worlds to train themselves, though I heard they’re supposed to return in a day or two. The last I heard of Shaheera was that he has become the personal project of Ashanti. It seems that whatever foundations you forged into him were good enough that even the most fearsome Leonid in the world now finds him adequate.”

“That’s good to hear. Any other news?” Karna didn’t actually expect any, so she was surprised by Duskclaw’s response.

“Two pieces of news. One bad, one kinda neutral. I already know you want the bad news first. Travan is dead.” Duskclaw said with a sad voice.

“That’s a shame. What happened?” Karna actually halted her work to listen to the reply. While they hadn’t known each other for long, she’d rather liked the Sand Elf.

“One of his family members challenged him into a duel.” Duskclaw made an exasperated sound. “Not wanting to hurt someone he cared about, Travan didn’t even resist. I think he assumed his dueling partner would balk at taking his life, but he was wrong.”

Karna shook her head. This was one of those things. She could’ve easily altered Travan’s fate by simply spending more time with him to help him solve some of his issues, and maybe accompanying him home, but just because she was powerful, that didn’t mean she could solve everyone’s problems for them. She had tried in many of her lives, but solving people’s problems for them actually often had an adverse effect, as they never had to deal with the consequences of their mistakes. She was also much too familiar with losing friends. Travan wasn’t even that close of a friend, so his loss barely even moved her.

“What a waste.” Karna quickly moved on. “What about the other piece of news?”

“Tsumi and the leader of the Luminous Sect have finally managed to get some news of Mayumi. They haven’t managed to secure her return, but they did manage to confirm she’s fine. Wei-Jin has a large number of Yuki-Onna presence, and they’ve decided to take care of Mayumi. She should be fine.” Duskclaw’s voice hesitated a bit before continuing. “Tsumi also asked me to relay a message. Apparently, you'll need to put your plan into motion if we want to gain access to her."

“I already suspected as much. I’m almost ready.” Karna finished with the gem and slotted it into place. Tens of thousands of gems just like the one she had been working on were used to focus an enormous formation that spanned kilometers in all directions. If the formations inside the single gem had been complex beyond comprehension, the multi-layered formation that seemed to exist in different times and dimensions at the same time would’ve boggled the minds of even immortals. It had taken Karna a year to create after all, and there wasn’t a soul in the multiverse that could rival her when it came to complicated and primordial magic like this. “All I need now is the perfect opportunity.”

“Well, according to Arjuna’s calculations, you’re about to get one soon. The disturbances have started to become more frequent and severe. A big one should be hitting in the next few days.” Duskclaw wasn’t happy with the plan her daughter and husband had hatched as it would place both of them in danger and upset the balance of the universe.

“Tell both Arjuna and Tsumi that it’s time to give the universe a nudge.” Karna had a predatory smile on her face.

---------

When the spatial wave hit, most of the planes and worlds were already used to it. They’d seen other waves come and go, and despite the fact that the adverse effects were growing worse, they had also learned from the previous waves. They could anticipate when such waves hit with relative accuracy, so only the boldest and the most stupid ships were caught by the wave, while most ships capable of traversing between worlds stayed safely moored in the nearest harbor.

While the wave started just like those before, it didn’t take too long for everyone to realize something about this wave was different. Instead of swelling to a high point and then crashing down until the spatial forces abated, this wave kept growing and growing. After a few hours of constant growth, every spatial mage knew something was very different. When the wave finally hit its high point, everyone in the entire universe felt it. It was like the universe itself was being twisted and for a moment, people thought their eyesight and sense of balance had been damaged as almost everyone saw double and fell to the ground as if drunk.

Then came the release. There was no fanfare or widespread devastation to herald change, but everyone felt different. They felt more. They felt as if something inside them they hadn’t even known existed had been unblocked, and almost everyone feverishly tried to find what had changed. They didn’t get far before the feeling went away, but the memory lingered. It didn’t take long for the most intelligent people to realize that the feeling of being more didn’t stem from their own bodies, but the universe itself. They knew there was now more to the universe than there had been before. A lot more.

It didn’t take long for the empires, sects, alliances, and other powerful entities to realize that what they had felt was the Expansion happening. And it had come at an unprecedented scale. An uncountable number of ships on an endless number of worlds were launched to discover the new unknown. The problem with a universe like this growing larger was that it didn’t grow in predictable ways. There would be no handy-dandy spatial pathways to lead everyone to the new worlds. A handful of new worlds were relatively easy to discover, but entire planes? Those could be anywhere. The ones to reap the greatest rewards would be those that had the ability to launch the most ships to search and those that were favored by luck. In other words, those that had the greatest power or the highest karma would reap the greatest rewards.

The Magocracy was also quick to send their ships out, along with the other powers of their world. “Are you sure about this?” Karna asked, just to confirm. She was currently on a large and advanced battleship, designed for this very purpose, commanded by both Arjuna and Tsumi. Wolfgang had wanted to join them as well, but the absence of all three from the main fleet would make it too vulnerable. They were not the only rank 9 beings in the Magocracy, but they were the most battle-tested and the ones with the greatest potential.

“You told me that you could lead us to a place that would have much greater rewards than any other worlds brought about the Expansion. Of course we’re sure.” Arjuna nodded firmly. This plan had been more than a year in making, so it was too late to pull back now.

“Yes, but I also remember telling you that this world was on the border of the Divine Planes and the Higher Planes, which means we might be competing against immortals. The destination is really remote, so the odds of a large number of immortals being present is small, but…well…with our karma…” Karna grimaced a bit. She had already guided the Magocracy towards several juicy worlds but was saving the best for private exploitation. The reason she was aware of the locations was thanks to her little nudge, she had a much greater awareness of the situation. She didn’t know even close to everything, but she knew a heck of a lot more than anyone else.

“There’s always risk associated with reward. Even if we do run into immortals, we have some methods of defending ourselves. And we can still loot everything that we get our hands on, even if we can’t take permanent control of the world.” Tsumi reasoned.

“Fair enough. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Karna had been the one to suggest this endeavor, so she wasn’t going to back down. She just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the risks.

Unnoticed by them, their ship had also acquired a few tag-alongs that knew to keep a respectful distance.

------

Just because someone had a good idea where they were going didn’t mean it didn’t take time to get there. Even with Karna doing the piloting in her Tressym form, something that amused Tsumi greatly despite the fact that Karna was no longer the size of a kitten, it took them weeks of travel through the untamed and unstable wild space before they finally found something. And once they did find something, it wasn’t what they were looking for.

Most of the crew stared in confusion at what seemed like a large piece of debris from some sort of construct that defied any geometric sense. The chunk of metal was in stark contrast to everything they knew and understood, as the construct didn’t seem to have any sort of bottom and top, as if it had been designed to float in a void that didn’t have defined up and down. Those that had knowledge from other universes would’ve immediately recognized it as a piece of a space station. A very small piece of a very large space station.

“Is that what I think it is?” Karna asked Gem, while her eyebrow was twitching dangerously.

“Yup!” Gem replied happily. “It most certainly is!”

"Why though? The previous Expansions have never brought in things from other universes. All the worlds and their inhabitants have been created from essentially nothing." Karna wondered.

The Expansion didn’t create empty worlds and planes. There were no actual civilizations present, nor were there cities or even villages. That didn’t mean there was no intelligent life though. There were several magical beasts, some of whom were extremely intelligent. If you were to talk to one, they’d swear they had memories spanning entire lives, but the memories didn't quite add up. And those beings always felt a bit hollow. There were also ruins of civilizations and tombs of great masters ready for plundering on these worlds, but no real sense of where those tombs and ruins had come from.

“Well, this might be just my speculation, so just bear with me. Someone, and I’m not naming any names here mind you, gave the universe a bit of a nudge. Maybe the universe wasn’t quite ready, so it had to compensate. And it compensated with what was most easily accessible.” Gem was really enjoying the current situation. She’d always liked a bit of chaos, especially if it managed to exasperate her master.

“And so, we end up with a chunk of the Crossroads in the middle of nowhere in our universe?” Karna’s voice was filled with discomfort. The explanation made sense, though there could be a thousand other explanations. This piece seemed to be from a relatively remote sector near some docks, though there was no part of the Crossroads that was completely uninhabited.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more than a small chunk of the Crossroads in this universe now. This is just a tiny fragment. There’s no way we just accidentally bumped into the only piece, not even with your karma. How much do you want to bet that there’s a lot more scattered around the place?” Gem asked cheerily.

“Assuming your theory is correct, I think the correct word for this situation is: oops.” She covered her face with both of her paws. Luckily the two of them were alone for a moment as everyone else had gone ahead to wonder at the weird construct from the deck.

“Oh, it gets better. Think about all the races and all the people that accidentally arrived here. Some of whom have never been seen in this universe before. Most of whom are quite angry, very powerful, or very technologically advanced, even if some of that tech doesn’t quite work here.” Gem had realized several potential issues right away.

Most science-based vessels were designed to travel through the void of space. The spaces between worlds of this universe were not that. Traveling between worlds in this universe was more like diving deep underwater, except the water was trying to kill you. In these ‘depths’ laid shallows, reefs, spatial storms, cracks in reality, and even creatures that were better left unmentioned. While travel through normal space was far from safe, it wasn’t a constant struggle against potential death either. These new arrivals would eventually adapt, but it would take time.

“And they’re stranded here.” Karna gave a sigh. Travel between this universe and the Crossroads was extremely perilous, even if you had a very advanced vessel or a lot of power. “And I’m pretty sure there’s at least one very pissed off rank 14 being that was brought along with the rest of the Crossroads. Assuming there really are more chunks of the Crossroads here.”

If travel between normal universes was more about trying to chart the right path and avoiding most of the obvious risks like pissed natives and the Guardian of each universe, travel between this universe and the others was much riskier. There was a barrier of sorts that kept others away, and this universe had active defenses against intruders. On the other hand, leaving wasn’t a simple process either, as this universe seemed to have an odd need to keep the powerful people inside. Any that tried to leave would find that their path would be obstructed, and the safe paths would shift and change instead of remaining constant. Someone with enough power and determination could leave, but it would take time and effort incomparable to other universes.

“Ysendra’s gonna be pissed!” Gem crowed happily. She’d always liked the playful little dragon that had helped the Crossroads with her master.

“Ah well. She’ll get over it.” Karna stated with a less than confident voice.

Arjuna and Tsumi were both approaching her from the door of the bridge. “Should we not go to them?” He asked. “This might be an opportunity to both help and make contact with something we haven’t seen before.”

“No. Not for now at least. We have no idea if they’ll be hostile or their strength. Even if they aren’t, we do not have the time. Others might not be aware of our destination just yet, but that will soon change. And with the nature of the world in question, we’ll lose any advantage we have if we’re not the first to arrive.” Karna was sympathetic towards the people that had been pulled across space and ended up dumped here, but they seemed to be managing for now. And they couldn’t afford to spend what would likely amount to weeks negotiating. Especially since Karna was already quite well aware of what the other party had to offer. They might actually serve as a nice distraction for other interested parties.

------

Chapter 61 - Weather report predicts strong winds and looting.

A note from Vihyungrang

'Ere we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”I don’t know if my expectations were wrong, but I have to admit I expected something a little different from the world you so highly recommended," Tsumi said while erecting a field of energy above her to keep the rain and wind away, before adding. “This place is really gloomy.”

As far as Tsumi knew, their landing spot had been chosen mostly randomly when Karna brought them out of the dimensional rift and into the atmosphere of their destination. They’d picked a large enough clearing that their huge airship could set down, and the clearing was on the border between grasslands and a large forest dotted by some mountains. The star of this world was quite dim, so the world itself was cast in what looked like a constant twilight when it was not plunged into the darkness of night. Or it would be twilight if the sky had not been covered in thick storm clouds, which were releasing a slow but consistent drizzle that would get everything soaking wet quite quickly. Strong winds were also buffeting them and making the nearby trees sway in ways that almost tore them out of the ground.

“You say that, but I find this place quite pleasant. The shadow element is really strong in this world.” Arjuna argued with a pleased expression. “Besides, we aren’t here on a vacation. Just because a world is potentially filled with resources, that doesn’t mean it’s also a pleasant place to live.”

“Quite right. This world is actually quite inhospitable all things considered. Or at least that’s what I gathered from the quick glance I got of the place before we landed. On that note, I would avoid flying any vessels too far south. From what I sensed, the equator of this world is covered in what looks like a perpetual storm, and the winds there are probably on a level that requires some heavy defensive spells to survive. By extension, the rest of this world is quite windy as well.” Karna explained.

She could also learn a lot from just observing the surroundings. All the trees and plants were relatively short and flexible while having long and strong roots, hinting at the fact that strong winds and storms were the norm on this world and not the exception. Many of the trees were also filled with lightning energy, which suggested that thunder and lightning strikes were a common phenomenon. “Besides, you’ve already been here for several minutes and you haven’t noticed the most significant difference between this world and many others. Try drawing power from the surroundings.”

The two of them glanced at Karna curiously before doing what she had told them. It did not take more than a second for them to realize the difference. “The air is so thick with power, yet I have trouble drawing it in. This is…” Tsumi already knew the reason as Karna had hinted at it several times in the past.

“The power in the air is too pure.” Arjuna had also started purifying his mana and ki on Karna’s instruction, which was why he could channel the mana in the air though only barely. “Divine power?”

"In a way," Karna said a bit non-committaly. "The name is a bit deceptive. Just like the spiritual power of the Higher Planes, this is the ambient power of the Divine Planes. Most call it divine power, because of course they would as they lack imagination, but the name is deceptive in that it doesn’t really have much to do with any Divinities or gods. This isn’t holy power or anything, just very pure ambient power that occurs naturally. This power is also not quite at the level of the Divine Planes since this world is only halfway between the planes."

To her with her supremely pure mana and Aura the power she could sense was much more beneficial than the ambient power of the Higher Planes. As her nature was also that of a Godling, she benefitted more from this power just by her nature. If she focused on cultivation, she would grow in power dozens of times faster here than on any other world in the Higher Planes and could probably rise to the sixth rank in a matter of months instead of years. The problem was that she did not have the time to waste on just sitting around and cultivating.

On the other hand, for people like Arjuna and Tsumi, the purity of the ambient mana was actually a problem since it was purer than their own mana. It was hard to take in and process. That was also the reason why many newly Ascended immortals had such trouble once they reached the Divine Planes. They would have to refine and rebuild most of their cultivation and learn new techniques to utilize the ambient power in proper ways. That was how most of them ended up as members of the Host, as the military arm of the Divines would help new immortals deal with these issues in exchange for service. The new immortals were free to refuse, at least in theory, but most could not because it would take such a long time to deal with the problems. And that entire time they would be vulnerable, where most of them were used to being the top dogs of wherever they came from. The change in status was simply too much to bear without the support of the Host.

“This might be a bit of a problem. It’s going to take more time for us to regain any mana we spend.” Tsumi noticed the problem immediately. Cultivators regenerated much of their mana internally, but a decent portion of their regeneration was also from taking in the ambient power.

"True, but you've already gained something from coming here. Now you know why you must purify your mana as I told you. You have actual experience with what to expect and have a goal to aim towards. By the time you've purified your mana to the point that you can match the ambient power here, you'll be ready to Ascend anyway. Just the act of purifying your mana will push you over that edge." Karna encouraged the two.

“While you’re mostly right, I think we should get to what we came here for. I believe you promised that there would be some great resources and treasures to find.” Arjuna urged his daughter with a smile. “And I don’t believe for a second that you chose this landing spot at random.”

Karna laughed cheerily. The years they had spent as a family had not been in vain as Arjuna knew her so well. “Follow me.”

She started walking into the forest while shielding herself and the other two with a weird field of power that seemed to obscure their presence. “First things first, the trees around us. Use your senses to take a better look.”

“I don’t recognize the species but…” Arjuna stroked his thin beard in thought. “They’re filled with power, especially air, lightning, and darkness mana and they conduct mana extremely well. The wood is flexible but durable, making it a good building material. Especially if we can make it more rigid by other methods. This material would make the perfect airships or bows even as is. It would also be an excellent luxury good for other wood-carving projects.”

“The fruits! While small, they’re filled to the brim with power as well.” Tsumi realized. “I can’t wait to see what kind of potions they could be used to make.”

“You can have the crew to harvest some later. We shouldn’t stock up too much on these kinds of materials just yet when the best is still to come. Besides, we’ll need to deal with the local fauna beforehand.” Karna suggested. The ship was currently filled to the brim with storage artifacts as they were planning on plundering everything they could.

“Fauna?” Tsumi asked while sending her senses outwards, coming up with nothing. She frowned as she knew there must be something she was missing as Karna would not have said anything otherwise.

“You’ll find out.” Karna grinned while walking further into the forest.

They soon came to an opening in the forest as a large pond stretched out in front of them. Even without any mana-sight active, they could all see the mana visibly oozing from the pond, and the water itself almost seemed to have all the colors of the rainbow. Most of the pond was also covered in multicolored waterlilies with each petal shining with the color and power of a different element. If the surface of the pond seemed wondrous, then what was beneath the surface was shocking. The sheer power of different elements that they could sense was almost overpowering to their senses, and Arjuna and Tsumi could not fathom how they did not feel the presence of the pond before.

“Are those…seven-colored elemental lilies? Wait, there are more than seven elements present. Eight- and even nine- colored?” Tsumi asked in a hushed tone. These types of lilies were the ingredients in some of the most powerful and rare pills and potions alchemists could make in the Higher Planes, and that was just the seven-colored lilies. She couldn’t even estimate the price and potency of the lilies on top of the pond. You could buy entire countries for the price of just one or two.

“Karna, please tell me that I’m sensing correctly. Are those really pure elemental essences at the bottom of the pond?” Arjuna paid attention to the more important fact. Essences of sufficient purity were extremely rare and pricy as they were used by mages to attune to elements. As a Grand Medjai, Arjuna was of course attuned to all the elements he was strong in, but even he wasn’t attuned to all of them. Most mages had to settle for sub-par essences and worse attunements. And now he could sense thousands of pure essences beneath the surface. Thunder, water, and shadow essences were obvious just because of the location, but he could sense earth, air, space, and time essences as well. And there were two which he didn’t recognize at a glance. One was probably True Light that he’d seen Karna and some of the Wardens of the Academy use, but the last one…could it be the fabled True Dark?

“Well, purity is a relative thing. They’re extremely pure for the Higher Planes, but there are even better essences.” Karna replied. For example, the ones she’d gotten from the elemental spirits during her visit to the spirit world. Which reminded her, she still needed to take care of her end of the bargain.

“We’ll need to harvest all of this carefully.” Tsumi swallowed hard. Just this find alone was enough to make the trip worth it, and they’d been here less than an hour.

“Indeed. We don’t want to waste their potency. Tsumi should focus on the lilies while Arjuna takes care of the essences.” Karna nodded in agreement. It was all well and good to find rare resources. Gathering them could be much more difficult.

“What about you?” Tsumi asked, suddenly suspicious.

“Me?” Karna looked at her master with faked innocence. “I just want the water.” She pulled out a spatial ring from her sleeve. She had a long magical chain in both her sleeves, and both chains had a long row of spatial rings hanging from them. She’d made the rings herself, all in preparation for stealing anything worthy.

“Ah.” Arjuna suddenly made a sound. “I think I just found the local fauna. One of my shadows just got destroyed.” He’d sent shadow scouts into the area around them as a precaution.

“Took you long enough. I was wondering when you’d notice.” Karna laughed.

“Well, the enemies are quite adept at hiding their presence.” He defended himself as suddenly the forest around them was filled with the noise of chittering and clacking. In seconds, hundreds of crystalline figures were rushing towards them from the tree line.

“Ugh. I hate spiders.” Tsumi commented before sending a thick bolt of lightning at the closest wave of spiders. To her surprise, the bolt of energy seemed to be absorbed by the crystal on the creature’s back that started glowing with the new power. “Ah. Right. Storms. Of course they’d have some way to defend from lightning.”

"Also from shadow, fire, air, and pretty much anything that doesn't have the destructive power to crack their shells," Karna added with a chipper tone.

“So, the usual adventuring fare then. Just keep your wits about you and you’ll be fine.” Arjuna stated firmly as hundreds of large shadow warriors appeared from the ground around him that now seemed to have become pitch-black. As if to defy Karna’s words, the closest soldier plunged his black lance straight into the head of the closest spider. “And just because they’re resistant, that doesn’t mean they’re immune.” He wouldn’t have gotten the nick-name Shadow-Weaver if simple resistance had been enough to nullify his greatest asset.

"Don't get too complacent though. These are just the closest danger. There are much more dangerous creatures in the surroundings." Karna reminded them, though it wasn't necessary. Both Arjuna and Tsumi were professionals with a lot of experience under their belt. They wouldn't be caught off-guard easily.

------

“It seems following the girl and Arjuna was the right idea.” Ashanti smiled happily as their airship set down on the dark and shadowy planet. “Good work disciple.” They’d managed to sneak a tracking spell on Arjuna’s ship and Karna had piloted the perfect path through the turbulent spatial forces to this world.

“My thanks, master.” Shaheera made a small bow. It wasn’t hard to figure out that wherever Karna was sneaking off to would be significant. Karna always seemed to be mixed right in the thick of things. “Was it a good idea to not follow them to the north?” He asked as the Leonid crew hand-picked by Ashanti started disembarking. Most of them had received training either from Ashanti directly, or from those that he had taught. The area was already showing signs of a sandstorm, so erecting shelter was also a priority.

“Hard to say. It might be that we missed on something really important by not following them, but I refuse to believe they knew exactly where to go to find the greatest treasures. Otherwise, there would be no need for exploration. And even if they did, I can already sense this entire place is filled with things we can benefit from. Sometimes it’s better not to get too greedy. They can take the north of the storm while we take the south. We can both focus on looting instead of fighting each other for what might not even be the juiciest bits this world has to offer. Odds are that we have an equal chance to run into the best things here in the south anyway. Besides, we’ll need that girl’s help if we want to find our way back as easily as we got here. Best not to create trouble with her.” Ashanti was all about win-win deals, and this sounded just like a win-win deal to him. They could fight over the best loot later when they returned.

“Sir! We’ve located an enormous vein of spirit stones beneath the sand! The purity of every stone is on a scale that we’ve never seen before. Sir, we’re pretty sure there are gravity stones among the biggest deposits!” One of the crew members that had started running a magical survey of the dark desert sand beneath their feet reported.

“See? I told you.” Ashanti had a feral grin. Decent quality gravity stones were perfect for the cores of airships. A big enough gravity stone could keep even a ship-of-the-line afloat and thus more magic could be directed to weapons and defensive magic. It also allowed for bigger and faster ships. “Start excavating immediately while broadening the search perimeter.” They would mine the best parts of the vein using earth magic while at the same time looking for more things to loot. More traditional mining was better for the economy of the area as using magic carried a lot of waste, but they weren’t here to settle down. This was a smash and grab to loot as much as possible before running away.

“Incoming!” One of the mages shouted and pointed towards the ominous wall of storm clouds that stretched all the way from the sky to the ground where the strong winds pulled up debris and sand. They'd landed quite close to the perpetual storm in the north, and the area around the equator was like a solid wall made of hurricane-level winds and storms circling the planet. And from that wall, several bright forms were emerging.

"Elementals. How quaint. Their presence in this sort of place isn't exactly a huge surprise. We can see lightning elementals but be ready for air elementals as well. Those buggers can be almost invisible. Also, be on the lookout for earth elementals coming from under us!” Ashanti ordered, and the entire group of Leonid moved like a well-oiled machine as everyone took their positions.

“We’ve only been here for few minutes and we’re already under attack. I wonder if we’ll have to fight constantly while we stay on this world.” Shaheera speculated.

“That’s a gloomy outlook. I think once we show that we’re not easy prey, most of the local creatures will leave well enough alone. Of course, that’s the point when we’ll start drawing the attention of the really dangerous creatures lurking on this world. But with risk comes reward. The locals are the best source of information as well. The biggest and baddest monsters will be perched on top of the greatest treasures as well.” Ashanti had a much more positive outlook.

Chapter 62 - Loot and plunder!

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

Karna was lounging on top of a half-crumbled pillar while leaning back on her elbows as the whiskers on her face twitched. ”We’re starting to get competition.” She announced while leaning forward and letting her feline features disappear. The Tressym part of her was very sensitive to spatial waves, which is why she had been keeping watch.

"I'm almost done. Are they coming our way, or just picking a random direction?" Arjuna's voice came out of an orb of light floating next to her head. His voice was accompanied by a sound of thunder and a loud whoosh of flames. They had created some more permanent communication devices with Arjuna for this trip.

“Hard to say exactly. They were headed towards our general direction but not towards us specifically. I don’t think they’ve noticed us. We just have bad luck as usual.” Karna speculated based on the heading of the ship she had noticed. She had felt their arrival and their general direction, but she couldn’t sense them anymore. Using a spell that could spot a single ship at these distances would’ve almost certainly revealed her own location. Assuming the other party was paying any attention, and you shouldn’t rely on the incompetence of your potential enemies.

Arjuna seemed to make a non-committal but displeased sound before the sound of a wall being broken by a heavy impact carried through. “Call the ship just in case.”

"Would the two of you stop yapping and help me!" Tsumi cried out in displeasure just as both she and an enormous hydra crashed through the outer wall of the ruined temple-looking building close to Karna. Tsumi kept cutting away at the hydra, but it wasn't working. As a seasoned mage and the Headmaster of the Academy, she was well aware of the usual weaknesses of hydras and had tried both cauterizing the wounds with fire, as well as freezing the damn thing, but nothing seemed to work.

“I’m staying out of that one. I hate Chaos Hydras. The buggers seem to be able to rotate their vulnerabilities and resistances. I’m powerful, but I’m also fairly specialized. Besides, this treasury isn’t going to loot itself.” Arjuna’s amused voice carried over the communicator orb.

“The last one did.” Karna pointed out with some amusement. Despite her tone, she wasn’t joking either. The last place they had looted had tried to make all the items inside vanish after they’d triggered a trap.

"Yes, well, I learned from that mistake," Arjuna said a little defensively.

“Disciple! Help! Now!” Tsumi commanded while slicing off another head with a beam of white light, while the hydra sent several beams of devastation elemental energy towards her, the elements were all different according to the head, and even Tsumi had trouble avoiding all of them.

“Fine, fine.” Karna’s eyes turned red and her fangs grew longer as she drew several bloody runes in the air. Suddenly a huge pair of bat-like wings made of blood appeared behind her back and struck against the hydra. Instead of hurting it though, the blood seemed to become absorbed by the hydra instead.

“Fat good that…” Tsumi started saying before Karna snapped her fingers, and suddenly the hydra bloated like a balloon before exploding into bits of blood and gore. The only thing that stopped Tsumi from being entirely covered in the stuff was the protective spell she had managed to barely cast in front of her. “…did. Well, I suppose that was more effective than I thought. You know, you’re much less fun now that you have enough power to be uppity, oh disciple of mine.”

“The blood of a Chaos Hydra is prime material for potions against…well, almost anything.” Karna just pointed out with a grin.

“Yeah, and now it’s splattered all over these ruins. And you filled the damn thing with whatever that red stuff was. I seriously doubt the blood is pure enough to use anymore.” Tsumi countered.

“You think injecting it with my blood made its blood less effective?” Karna lifted an eyebrow. Strictly speaking, the red wings were just a magical copy of her blood, but it worked just like the real thing.

“Fair point.” Tsumi gave a sigh of defeat and started casting spells to gather and purify the red blood scattered all over the ruined remains of some supposedly lost sect that had never even existed in the first place. Of course, the entire planet hadn’t even existed a couple of months ago, but the Expansion worked unlike anything else in the multiverse.

“A-ha! Finally!” Arjuna’s voice sounded over the orb again, and the sound of grinding gears and stone scraping against stone came through both the orb and the hole in the wall. “Come on. We have loot and plunder to acquire.”

"Just in time too," Karna said as the shadow of their airship fell over the ruins.

The two women walked inside the ruins and found the sealed door now open while the walls were covered in complex glowing runes. “The runes are a misdirection actually. The answer was purely mechanical.” Arjuna explained as he saw the two approach.

“Tricksy.” Karna nodded in approval. “So, what exactly did you do to anger the hydra?”

"I may or may not have tried a magical solution at first," Arjuna admitted without a shred of shame on his face, before leading the way inside. The vault was filled to the brim with stuff, neatly organized on countless rows of shelves. “Try not to touch anything. Most of it is probably trapped.”

Karna's eyes glowed deep blue for a moment before she nodded in confirmation. "All of this stuff carries the same curse. If you touch anything without breaking the curse, the spell starts to multiply the item uncontrollably, the copies obviously being fake. The mechanism isn't all that dangerous, but it will make things difficult as you'd be hard-pressed to find the genuine stuff. And if you try to dig through the fakes, you'll just increase their number with every touch."

“Tsk. Annoying.” Tsumi said while making a face. It wasn't the first time they'd run into basically harmless but vexing traps.

“Can you deal with the curse?” Arjuna asked.

“At the moment? No. This is an immortal level curse, even when compared to my skills and growth rate. There's some good news though. The curse only triggers if you get too greedy. Every person is allowed to take the contents of one shelf without triggering the trap." Karna explained. She'd actually used a similar curse in the past. It was quite handy in deterring greedy bastards.

“Ah, well then. We better spread out and pick something good.” Arjuna stated. he could sense many of the items were really powerful, and some of the ingredients seemed very precious.

“And don’t forget, once the three of us have taken the best stuff, we can have the crew come in and pick stuff as well.” Tsumi reminded them.

“Yep. The loophole especially created for people willing to share the bounty. Quite nice of them all things considered." Karna chuckled before allowing her soul to spread to cover the entire room. She could sense a bit of divinity from three places, though one of them was significantly stronger than the others. "You might want to look for something interesting there and there.” She pointed the direction towards the two other items before approaching the largest source of divinity personally.

It took a while to walk between all the shelves before she narrowed down the right spot. The shelf didn't seem any different from the others, except for the contents. The correct shelf was unassumingly to the side, surrounded by several dazzling and powerful-looking items. There were weapons, armor, pills, and even jade slips that obviously contained some kind of techniques on the other shelves. The one she was looking at had an oblong crystal chest that was closed and obviously designed to hide whatever was inside. If her soul hadn't been so strong, she wouldn't have been able to sense the divinity radiating from inside. This wasn't the only such chest she'd seen either, so it didn’t stand out from the rest. “I see. So, you’re not supposed to be able to tell what’s inside, so you have to pick it blindly. And other similar containers have mediocre stuff inside. How sly of them.” Even she couldn’t tell what was inside, so she couldn’t be sure if the contents would be useful to her. If it was some kind of peerless technique, then she’d waste her opportunity. Her own techniques were superior anyway. “Well, you have to take chances in life.”

She took a hold of the chest and decisively started walking back towards the door. “Oh, right! Gem!” The spirit came out in the form of an angel this time. “Pick a single item from a shelf. Doesn’t matter what, just pick one.” She knew Gem was stupendously lucky in her own way, so the spirit wouldn’t pick something bad.

“Alrighty.” The spirit said simply and vanished among the shelves.

“I hope that wasn’t a mistake…” Karna murmured to herself. She waited to open the chest until she was safely outside the ruins, and even then she cast several barriers to hide the energy of whatever was inside the chest. She didn’t want to attract any trouble after all. Once she was convinced of her security measures, she cracked open the chest and was suddenly flooded with the sense of divinity, proving that her precautions had been necessary.

In the chest lay a pair of odd gauntlets. Calling them gauntlets was not quite right either, as in truth these gauntlets were made by two parts connected by golden chains. The first part was a bracelet of sorts covered in runes and studded with several purple gems. The second part was made up of the fingers. They looked like segmented pieces made of the same metal the skin of her Titan form was made of. The fingers also looked a lot like bony claws that you could slot your fingers into.

As she wore the gauntlets, she could tell they were designed to re-size automatically to the wearer, and as they did, she noted that she retained almost full mobility of her fingers. She also noticed that the tips of the claws had small openings in case she had actual physical claws of her own that she wanted to use. Notably, she could use all her martial arts freely with the gauntlets, with the added benefits that came from the gauntlets, which she was unaware of so far. Whoever had done the enchanting had done quite a bit of work to hide the exact nature of the gauntlets. “Hmm, I’m going to have to spend a bit of time unraveling the mystery behind these babies.”

-----

"No," Arjuna said with a definitive tone.

“I recognize your concern father, and it is rather endearing, but I’m the best choice. My Titan bloodline grants me borderline immunity to most of the dangers inside the storm, and we both know by now that together we stand a better chance of finding any secret locations. My senses are sharper than anyone else here, and you’re good at dealing with any big nasties we might face. Someone has to stay behind to protect the ship, and that someone has to be either you or Tsumi. As much as I’d like to make an argument otherwise, I still can’t fight someone at the ninth rank with any hope of winning. And with all the new arrivals in the last few days, the odds of running into one are too big. We’re running out of time.” Karna patiently explained.

"And for the same reason, it's too risky for you to go. At this point, it’s clear that the juiciest secrets of this world are hiding inside the perpetual storm. The newcomers know they’re late for the lesser things, so they’ll aim for the big prize directly. We’re more likely to run into trouble inside the storm, and I can’t fight multiple enemies while also protecting you.” Arjuna countered.

“You two are really sweet, you know that? Look, Arjuna, the girl is right. Taking her along will more than quadruple your chances of finding whatever that storm is hiding, and you’re going to need some backup. Instead of thinking of her as a liability, why not think of her as watching your back. We’ve already seen she can take care of herself. And she's right. She is best suited for the environment. Her battle capabilities are heightened by a large degree once you're inside the storm." Tsumi joined the argument on Karna's side. She knew better than anyone that Karna was fully capable of pulling miracles out of her magnificent derriere at the oddest of times.

Arjuna seemed to be having a long internal struggle before he finally gave way. “Fine. But you’ll have to do as I say once we’re in.”

“Excellent!” Karna clapped her hands. She had never doubted things would end like this. The only question was how hard she'd have to try and convince her father. She didn't even have to make puppy eyes, so things had gone much more easily than she'd thought. "Tsumi, if you face any danger do as we agreed. Jump the ship away from this world and wait until we send you the signal to come back.”

"Will do, though I'm not a pushover either," Tsumi stated a bit displeased that she was being underestimated.

The father and daughter duo quickly made their way to the edge of the perpetual storm. They had no idea where to start looking, so any place was just as good as any other. Arjuna conjured up a spear made of shadow magic and pushed it into the wall of turbulent energies, and it took less than a second for the spear to be disintegrated by the winds and flying debris that was little more than sand at this point. Still, when the wind speeds were as high as they were, even sand would be able to wear down the most powerful magic. Even now, standing next to the wall, they were buffeted by storm winds strong enough to almost tear away any clothes they were wearing, magical reinforcement or not.

"That's going to be a problem," Arjuna muttered.

“I already told you. This world is on the border of the Divine Plane, and most of the power of this world is focused on that storm. Of course your magic will be torn to pieces. This is why you need me.” Karna retorted. “Just hop in my shadow and let me handle this.”

With a small sigh, Arjuna stepped on her shadow and seemed to disappear inside. Karna on the other hand assumed her Titan form. As she didn't want to draw too much attention, she didn't use her full height, so she remained at relatively controlled seven meters tall, while her skin took on the white metallic hue that seemed to be reflecting several different kinds of colors even in this dusk-covered world. Her skin didn’t have the durability on the level that the color implied, but it was still stronger than any metal found in the Higher Planes.

Without hesitation she stepped into the storm front and could immediately feel the grinding of small particles rubbing against her skin, trying to wear it down while she was being buffeted by storm winds moving at speeds that could not be seen in nature. Even her skin was slowly being worn down by the storm, but the lightning energy that filled the entire storm immediately revitalized it. Her heavy weight managed to keep her grounded even with her size, although with a bit of help from magic.

She picked a direction at random and started walking. The storm impeded her ability to sense things to some degree, showing that it was clearly magical in nature, but her soul was stronger than any spells woven into the storm, so she retained most of her senses. She soon got a feeling that the storm worked much like a magical maze. The actual location inside the storm didn’t matter as much as the direction you traveled. If you walked blindly, you could walk centuries inside the storm without finding anything, but if you were lucky, you could find the right destination within minutes. Good thing she could read the magic within the storm. She might not be able to stumble on the best location immediately, but she could find some locations quite easily.

She started walking, making odd twists and turns at seemingly random intervals. It took her little more than an hour, but eventually she felt the power of teleportation magic cover her. As she was being transported, she realized something. It seemed the creators of this teleportation formation were the same kind of pranksters that had seemingly designed the other locations. Why? Because the teleportation seemed to pick a destination for her at random. She might have picked the right way to trigger the formation, but that didn’t’ mean she ended up any closer to her goal.

As the teleportation finished, she could tell she was inside a pocket dimension of some sort. The storm was gone, and she seemed to be standing in a desert. The problem was that she couldn’t sense the edges of this pocket dimension, which meant it was damn huge. Maybe even as large as the world she had just come from. “Shit.”

She was about to call for Arjuna before she realized that he was gone. She had felt the formation take a hold of them both, but apparently it had not dropped them off at the same spot. “Double shit.”

Chapter 63 - Arrows

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy.

------

”Why is it always a desert?” Karna grumbled as she flew over the dull terrain.

“You know exactly why. It’s called karma.” Gem retorted smugly while hitching a ride on her shoulder.

“Look, it was only a couple of planets! That shouldn’t be so bad? Why does that have to carry over so many lifetimes?” She kept asking in a sulking tone.

“If by couple you mean couple dozen, then yeah, sure.” Gem joked.

Karna gave a frustrated sigh. “It’s a self-actualization thing, isn’t it? I keep ending up in deserts because I think that’s where I should end up. That’s it isn’t it?”

“Yep. Like I said, karma. And considering who you are, you should know exactly how that works.” Gem agreed with an easy tone.

The two kept flying onwards for several hours without seeing any change in terrain. It was actually the simple boredom of the terrain that made Karna suspicious. Even though huge deserts were not rare, Karna could fly really fast, and having a desert this large and this uniform was odd, to say the least. "We aren't really in a proper desert, are we?" She suddenly stated, and it was like they both heard glass breaking and a spatial force seemed to suck them through a crack in space that had suddenly appeared.

"I'd say that's a no," Gem argued while feeling a bit queasy. “I hate tests like that. Shouldn’t you be immune to illusions?” They found themselves in a stone room with rune-covered walls.

"I pretty much am, though nothing is absolute. No, the reason that one worked was because it wasn't really an illusion. We were in a desert of sorts, though one that was conjured up by my own mind. And illusions that I create myself work even on me. A rather intricate test that, required a sudden realization to pass. It would take someone really strong and skilled to make it." Karna speculated. The room only had a single exit, a hallway made of the same stone leading forwards.

“And yet it had no real creator as it was spawned by the Expansion. I’d really like to find out one day how that works.” Gem was a little vexed by the oddity of the situation as well. “Well, only one way ahead so we might as well.”

“Wait. If the previous desert was all a test, then was the feeling I got about the teleportation being random also a suggestion planted by the test? And is father still within the test?” Karna realized several things at the same time. “He might actually wind up being close enough to be within range of the communicator.”

She pulled out the glowing orb that obediently started floating around her head. She had hidden the device earlier to protect it from the storm, but now there was no need to do so anymore. As it twirled around her head, the orb gave off nothing but static in the start but as they walked along the completely straight corridor, the orb seemed to make a connection and Arjuna’s relieved voice could be heard. “Karna! Thank the gods I was worried. Finally, you got through the first test.”

“Finally?” Karna wondered. “I admit it took me a couple of hours to realize what was going on in the test, but I refuse to believe you realized it that much faster.”

"I didn't, my spirit did. Apparently, if you put a powerful darkness spirit into a world of shadow, they can sense something wrong pretty quick." Arjuna's relieved voice explained.

“Your spirit huh?” Karna looked meaningfully at Gem. “So you’re saying a spirit could’ve detected the problem immediately?”

“That’s not the problem. The problem is that the first test has a variable time dilation effect as well. You may have experienced a couple of hours, but I’ve been here for a week and a half already. And I’m not alone. I’m already on the sixth test, and there are at least four people ahead of me.” Arjuna dropped the bomb.

“Well. Shit. What a waste of perfectly good cultivation time.” Karna’s mouth twisted as she made an annoyed sound. “I think it’s time for me to put my heart into it and catch up.”

"Watch for the third test. Other people will be able to attack you during the test! The tests also have time limits. I have no idea what happens if you fail, but I heard anyone that fails disappears. What exactly that means, I don't know." Arjuna warned her quickly.

As they exchanged information, Karna found her way to another room identical to the one she’d come from, including the fact that the only path in or out was the one she’d just come through. The runes around the room seemed inactive. Her eyes flashed deep blue as she traced all the runes making up the formation. It didn’t take her long to figure out that the formation was incomplete, and that there were actually three solutions to the problem. “Well, I hope they’ll continue with tests like these.” She muttered. Solving magic puzzles like this was extremely easy for a prodigious mage like her. Even if her power was not at the peak, no one could rival her in pure knowledge.

She tapped the floor three times as three runes appeared around the room to complete the formation. She idly wondered if there was any special prize for providing the perfect solution. Her answer came quickly as not only did the path forward open when one of the walls crumbled to dust, but a small door at the side opened as well. Inside she found a small vial of reddish-blue liquid. She pulled the vial to her with a wave of her hand. “Hmm? Seems like some sort of blood.”

“Want me to test it?” Gem asked. The spirit had long ago tested Karna’s blood as well and was very good at it.

“Not yet. We might need you fairly soon.” Karna replied before moving on.

The path towards the third test was a fair bit longer. The stony corridor started to grow damp and the air boggy before the two of them were greeted by a pair of wooden doors. Rays of light shone through the cracks around the door, and they could smell the nature outside. As she easily pushed the rickety door open, she had enough time to recognize the terrain around her as some sort of lightly forested tundra, mixed with a fair amount of swampy terrain. Her eyes also fell on a stone stele with writing on it, but she didn’t have the time to read it before she sensed imminent danger drawing close.

She instinctually erected a pair of barriers in the direction she sensed the approaching danger before both barriers collapsed under the assault of a hail of arrows that moved at speeds that were easily hypersonic. As the first two arrows were deflected by her barriers, which also collapsed under the attack meant to punch through any barriers, she took a more active defense. A blade made of pure Qhaysh swung on the path of the remaining two arrows, intercepting them. At the same time, her skin had already turned to reflect her Titan bloodline.

To her shock, while the first arrow was struck down relatively easily, the second seemed to explode on impact. Except calling it an explosion would've been wrong as the space around the arrow seemed to collapse as everything in the vicinity was pulled towards the head of the arrow that seemed to have been turned into a miniature black hole. She tried to take distance immediately, but even with her speed she wasn’t quite fast enough. Although she got out of the affected area, not all of her did.

The same arm she had used to strike down the arrows was now shredded and ended up in a stump just below her shoulder, and clothes on that side of her body were torn to ribbons despite the powerful defensive enchantments. “Gem!” She called out while preparing to regenerate her arm. Even the skin granted by her bloodline hadn’t been enough to protect her from the attack.

The spirit assumed the form of an angel with an enormous shield on her arm, while the fires of a phoenix consumed Karna’s damaged arm. “Why aren’t they attacking again?” Gem asked after another attack didn’t immediately follow.

“Because whoever attacked is the sniper type. They know that as soon as their first attack failed, the chances of success went down too much to try again. They also realize that I’d be able to retaliate if they don’t move from their previous spot. How vexing. Not only are they dangerous, but they’re also competent.” Karna sweated a bit as she noted how slowly her arm was regenerating despite her powerful bloodlines. Both her vampire and phoenix bloodlines should be helping her, yet it seemed the damage would take hours to recover fully.

“What about the spatial rings you had hidden in your sleeve?” Gem suddenly asked.

"Of course I protected the loot." Karna scoffed as if insulted Gem had even doubted her.

“Your pillow hoard was in that sleeve, wasn’t it?” Gem asked, suddenly realizing why Karna would rather sacrifice her arm than the rings.

“I had the hoard inside my bracelet.” Karna grimaced and pulled out the slightly charred bracelet that she’d pulled away with magic. “The real problem is that.” She pointed at the rather sizeable crater placed right where she had been standing earlier.

“The stele. The damn thing had the instructions for this test.” Gem also realized the problem.

“We’ll have to ask Arjuna and hope we got the same test. Or that we can find another stele.” Karna nodded. “I’d also like to know how the attacker spotted us so quickly.”

------

He flung the bow back on his back as he ran through the sparse cover offered by the terrain. Even with the lack of cover, his ability to hide in even the smallest dips in the terrain made him almost impossible to spot. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that mere distance to his target was enough to keep him safe. The moment the arrows had left from his bow, he had felt something powerful lock on to his position, and it was only the surprise and the damage wrought by his arrows that had allowed him to elude the notice of his target.

His attack had failed. This was only the second time since being reborn in this universe that his first attack failed him, and he could count the times in his previous lives on his fingers. Even if he could tell his target wasn’t on the same rank as him, he would not make the mistake of thinking the target was not a match for him in a more direct confrontation. The last time he had failed, the target had been someone several ranks above him in power, and his arrows had still claimed most of the target’s body as a price. He had managed to subdue that target with his second attack, although barely. Yet now that his new target seemed to be of lower rank than him, he had no delusions about winning a fight in close-quarters, or that his arrows would do the trick without the element of surprise.

He'd fired three shots with the singular purpose of bringing down any defensive barriers his target might have, and those three arrows were specially handmade for that very purpose from material he'd gathered himself. Yet the hastily erected barriers the woman had created had almost managed to withstand two of his shots. That wasn't the scary part though. In a fraction of a second, the woman had made the judgment that further barriers would be futile and had struck his other two arrows with a hastily created weapon. The strike had managed to intercept his arrows perfectly and had rendered his third shot useless. It was also the exact wrong response against his kill-shot, a technique he'd developed personally from fragmented old texts left behind by old masters in several lifetimes.

The shot he'd rather smugly named 'Heavenly Collapse' borrowed the celestial energies to create a phenomenon that nearly all mages and warriors were unable to defend against. The power of the moon, the sun, the stars, and the other celestial phenomenon didn't create a unified magical element, yet most mages would agree that the associated powers were some of the most powerful in existence. Once someone was caught in the effect of his arrow, they were fated to die. Except the woman hadn't. And unlike his previous quarry that had managed to survive, the damage she had taken had been rather minimal. Even with his extremely sharp eyesight, he had not quite seen what she'd done. Yet the fact remained. She was alive, and even relatively unhurt.

Considering he had managed to catch the woman almost completely by surprise, yet she’d not only survived but located him so quickly told him that he’d really kicked a wall this time. Leaving behind live enemies was bad, but leaving behind potentially very dangerous enemies was much worse. His companions had left him here to stall all newcomers, and to eliminate anyone he judged dangerous for their group, as they knew how good his archery and his senses were. Unlike everyone else in his group, he was capable of traversing the enormous space used for this test in mere moments, as well as spotting anyone with even a shred of Divinity just as easily. Maybe it was time to move on?

He pulled out a communication charm, which he activated. “Yao, I missed. It’s time I move on. I hope you have made enough headway.”

Soon another talisman appeared in a burst of flames that he hoped didn’t draw the attention of the dreadful woman. “Since when have you missed Hou Yi? Anyway, we’ve managed to create some distance so you can join us now. Heng’e is eager to see you again. We’ve run into some trouble though. There’s some annoying shadow magus as well as a group of really vexing Leonid here that we’re having some trouble dealing with. Your assistance would be welcome, so run like the wind. I know you can catch up.”

Hou Yi gave a small shudder. Heng’e was a persistent woman. He’d turned her down several times now, but she just kept trying, talking about fate. He pulled out a small stone that glowed with magical glyphs before crushing it between his fingers. As he did, a light came from the ‘sky’ to bring him to the next test. He would need to use all his speed to race ahead, as he had the feeling that the dangerous woman would not be far behind.

--------

“Finally. I think I know how the test works now.” Karna’s face was split by a smile. The archer that had shot at her, or someone before that, had destroyed the other stele with the instructions for the test. She could sense that they would be automatically rebuilt eventually, but she wasn’t entirely sure how soon that ‘eventually’ was exactly. So, she did the next best thing. She asked Arjuna. It had taken her a couple of hours, but she'd finally found a magical stone in the gullet of some tiny lizard. Once she'd known what to look for, she'd noted that only one in a thousand lizards had them, and the tiny creatures were scattered all over the place.

“Why would they make a test to hunt some tiny animals?” Gem asked, still in her protective form. Her eyes lingered on Karma’s hand that was still regenerating from the earlier damage.

“That’s not really the point. It’s a test of senses, luck, and brutality. You only need to kill one to find the stone if your senses are sharp enough, or if you’re lucky enough. Or you could steal the stone from someone else, as everyone in a group needs their own stone. There’s a reason why this test allows you to fight with other test-takers. There simply aren’t any around yet. That, or our little assassin took care of any competition.” Karna explained.

"So, what are the chances of him lying in wait, ready to take another shot at you?" Gem was fully prepared to make sure her master didn't take another hit like that.

“Not very high. Arjuna mentioned that the next test is a long one, took him over a week apparently, but it shouldn’t be shared with other scavengers. Still, I’m not going to let my guard down and I’ll be sure to return the favor in the future.” Karna promised. She wasn’t really all that vengeful in nature, but she wasn’t in the habit of handing out forgiveness willy-nilly either. And she could get a bit petty when someone really got under her skin, like by putting her hoard in danger…

Chapter 64 - Eye for an eye...

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

”Marius.” Another god nodded to him as he took his place among the growing crowds. The number of Divines and immortals in attendance was larger than the Grand Assembly had seen in eons. The chambers themselves were some of the more wondrous ever constructed in the very distant past by gods that were now long dead. They naturally grew larger as the people inside increased in number, even growing to accommodate much larger beings such as dragons and titans, but that wasn’t the wondrous part. The chambers themselves changed according to the person. Marius saw a rather fancy but simple room reminiscent of a theater, but the god that had just greeted him likely saw something entirely different. He could see a grand palace, a wooden hut, or maybe the insides of a volcano, and all of the places would be real. Multiple realities overlapped in this room.

“Nero.” He returned the greeting while sitting down next to the man. He idly wondered what the situation looked like to the god. “It seems most of the True Gods are in attendance. Haven’t seen a gathering like this before.”

“You wouldn’t have. Nearly none of us have. I doubt any gods alive now have.” Nero waved dismissively.

“Have you he-?” Marius was interrupted mid-sentence as the whole gathering suddenly hushed as an enormous titan bearing the golden armor of the Host strode to the stage. Just his presence was enough to grab everyone’s attention and respect. This was undisputedly one of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse, spawning legends that seemed outrageous even to the gods, yet none of them dared assume he was not worthy of every legend.

“I call this Grand Assembly to order.” The titan stated almost perfunctorily. His deep voice carried to every corner of the enormous chamber without any need to use magic to enhance it. “Most of you are already aware that the Expansion this time happened on a completely unprecedented scale. We have confirmed that even the Divine Planes saw the birth of two entirely new planes. There might be more. Assuming the same scale holds to the other planes, that means that the universe grew almost 20% at once.”

“Have there been any explanations as to why?” One of the more powerful True Gods asked, yet even her voice sounded a little hesitant.

“The Heavenly Emperor has not commented. Or at least I have not been informed.” The titan known only as the Grand Marshal gave everyone a sharp look that promised all kinds of suffering if anyone had information and had not informed him. “As such, we can only speculate, and I hate speculating. I deal with facts.”

“Yet speculate we must. If we ignore the hints of the future, only a ghastly end awaits us.” The crowing voice of an elderly female goddess sounded from a dark corner. Marius recognized the voice of Skuld, the Norn of the future. Her voice was a little deceptive as her looks and voice didn’t match, a major reason she stayed hidden.

"Speculation is the work of you seers. I'll leave that to you, and you'll get your opportunity." The Grand Marshal was well-known for his dislike of prophecies. "What we can say for sure is that the Scourges have mobilized on a scale never seen before. Although the borders are still secure, the Expansion has created an open buffet for all the Scourges to push in. Of the worlds discovered by the Host so far, a full third are already heavily contested by the enemy, and that is expected to only grow in the next century. With the numbers we've seen so far, I'm certain that we are on the brink of a new all-out war."

"I thought you didn't like speculation?" The Goddess of Beauty asked snidely. In stark contrast to most Divines, the royal family had not sent most of their members to the gathering.

The Grand Marshal gave a disdainful look towards the spiteful goddess, and ignored her entirely, something everyone knew would incense her further than any kind of retort. "I call for the full mobilization of the Host. In addition, I'm calling for all combat-capable Deities and related personnel to take part."

Marius shook his head a bit. Judging by the voices of discontent already rising from the gathering, the Grand Marshal was asking for the impossible. Some gods would heed the call, as always, and the Host would likely be mobilized in full, but most of the Gods would not risk their lives before they had indisputable proof that it was necessary. His prediction came true as the gathering argued against the Grand Marshal, something they were only barely bold enough to do.

The crafty titan had likely expected this, as he managed to wrangle a different concession instead. All new immortals would be drafted into the Host for the period of the upcoming conflict, something that would last for a very long time. The Gods were happy to agree as it got the scary Grand Marshall off their back, and it didn't really concern them. Sure, some of their children or relatives might end up drafted, but that would allow them to get achievements and military experience. The Gods always had some trouble with their offspring growing a bit too spoiled as their path was so easy due to their inherent talents. And if they died? Well, they could always make more, and the process could be quite pleasant.

Of course, not everyone took the decision as lightly. Many expressed concern over forcing those that had no ties to the Host to fight for them. It wasn't just a matter of politics and empathy either, as the gentle gods were not the only ones to object. Some more militaristic gods expressed concerns over sedition and a general dip in morale as a result of forcibly drafting immortals. Still, those voices were in the minority, and the decision was passed with a huge majority. The more cowardly gods recognized the need for more power to the Host in the current situation, even if they didn't want to risk their own lives.

“How’s the situation in the other planes?” Marius surprised many of the gathered gods by asking.

“Currently very volatile. As can be expected, the main thrust of the Scourge offensive is towards the new Divine Planes, which is also where our defense is focused, but as we keep rebuffing their attempts, they will eventually seek out softer targets. And sadly, they do have numbers on us. At least as long as the Divines, the Great Houses, and the most powerful factions don’t make a move. While the situation is not all too dire at the moment, that will not hold true forever.” The Grand Marshal didn’t really need to put the consequences into words. They could all imagine the problems that would arise.

“Well, I suppose it’s good then that we have a decent presence on at least the Higher Planes already.” The Goddess of Beauty remarked again. “Oh wait, someone forbid us from sending too many people down there.”

This time the Grand Marshal didn't allow her remark to pass by. "Yes, the Heavenly Emperor gave the order. If you have a problem with his judgment, I suggest you take it up with him."

The Goddess reacted as if she’d been struck, and she gave an angry hiss in response. “I would n-“

“I do not care.” The Grand Marshal cut her off. “We are not here to cater to your whims. On that note. All those already on the other planes are hereby ordered to take part in the defense of those planes to the full extent of their abilities. This is an official decree as the Grand Marshal.” Drafting Divines might have been outside of his writ, but he had a lot of authority as the Grand Marshal, and that authority covered all the immortals that had traveled to the other planes.

That caught everyone’s attention. The powerful titan rarely had to flex his authority in such a blatant manner. Many of the more powerful factions had managed to skirt the earlier decree given some years ago and had sent their members to the Higher Planes. This order was a direct challenge to their sovereignty. “The Golden Order agrees and abides.” Suddenly a glowing golden god declared while standing up. He was one of the leaders in charge of one of the largest and most powerful factions, and everyone knew the Golden Order had sent a large number of their members to the Higher Planes for several reasons.

“The House Titannica agrees and abides.” A very expected voice joined in.

"House Asuryan agrees and abides." Kurnous stood up and surprised everyone. With the three enormous factions already agreeing, the chorus of agreements soon rose to cover the chamber.

"Well, that was interesting," Marius commented. The titans had not been a surprise, but the two others…

“Not really. You simply don’t yet realize all the implications.” Nero commented. “I think we might have to send some of our young ones to take part.”

--------

"Finally found you," Karna whispered while drawing back the string of an ornate bow seemingly made of pure white bone and decorated with several metal highlights near the handle and the ends. The bow didn't seem to have a visible string or an arrow.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be vengeful?” A sarcastic voice came out of the bow.

"This isn't revenge, this is justice for endangering my precious pillows." Karna retorted while power started to gather around the fingers she was using to nock a non-existent arrow.

Her senses were focused on a small group of five. After hunting the group for a fair bit of time through several tests, she had finally managed to narrow down how the archer of the group was able to sense her presence. It was not that difficult to identify the archer, as she could sense the presence of the same arrows that had hurt her before. In addition to the masked man hiding his features, the group had two men and two women, they all at least looked human, although Karna suspected their appearance was a disguise. Of the men, one had a long glaive on his back and was clad in colorful leather armor, while the other had a kite shield and full plate armor. Karna had also seen a sword on his hip. The women were both clad in robes, one wearing religious regalia, while the other looked like the typical mage.

“A rather balanced group they have.” Gem commented, still in the form of a bow.

“A boring group. Such strict roles will only limit them. There’s something to be said about specialization, but a group this specialized will collapse if their formation is broken.” Karna disagreed. She was in the camp that thought that while specialization had its place, most members of a good group should be able to fulfill multiple roles.

The power she was gathering had taken its time to form just so she could do it without drawing attention, but it finally coalesced into a white-hot arrow of fire that seemed to almost be liquid as the power swirled inside. “Let’s set the trap.” She loosed the arrow, aiming at the middle of the group. Almost as soon as the arrow left her bow, it was detected. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that still didn’t leave all that much time to react.

Both the cleric and the mage of the group managed to erect shields of magic and holy power, while the plate-wearing man also seemed to cast some kind of defensive spell. As soon as her arrow hit these defenses, the thing erupted in an explosion of fiery energy, and for a moment it seemed like a new star had been born. All members of the group suddenly seemed to disappear and appear a fair bit of distance from their original spot. The only problem was that the archer was clutching the stump of his arm with dark energy seeping from the wound.

“You were right. They were all capable of using Shundo.” Gem stated in a voice that made it seem there had been no doubt. There existed various abilities that would allow someone to effectively teleport a short distance. They were all complex techniques with various dangers, and usually cost a fair bit of mana or ki to use.

“That’s how he managed to get through the fourth test faster than me.” Karna nodded, happy to get a confirmation. Shundo was a very powerful technique and it was one of the most effective short-range teleportation techniques, but it had a rather obvious weakness as well. It was extremely rare to find a full group capable of using the technique.

The ability connected two points together, allowing the user of the technique to cross the distance between those points in a single step. The problem was that if you could sense the destination point before the transfer was finished, you could pre-emptively attack that point, and it was impossible to change directions mid-step while Shundo. It also made your movements rather predictable as you could only move in a straight line. Karna had expected this result, so she'd had a second waiting by the time the archer had arrived at his destination. The arrow had been just a distraction.

“Happy now?” Gem asked.

“Happier.” Karna corrected. “I don’t think we’re even yet, but I’ll settle for this now. He’s going to need a bit of time and help in exorcising the power of Dhar from that wound, just like I had to do with the wound he inflicted on me. I’ll still need to teach him the price of threatening my pillows. But for now, we can go and find Arjuna. I have a feeling we’ll see them again before we reach the end.”

They were already on the seventh test and Karna had finally caught up to the same test where her father was progressing. The tests were getting progressively more complicated, and they were also now directly competing with the other participants. “Good. We wouldn’t want to run into any of the other groups without his help.”

-----

“What WAS that?” Heng’e screeched with a shrill voice while attempting to treat Hou Yi’s arm. The treatment wasn’t really working, and he could’ve really survived without the shouting as well.

“I’m pretty sure this is payback.” He replied from between clenched teeth. The dark energy seeping from his wound was also quite painful, even for someone as used to pain as he was.

“The one you missed?” Yao asked while leaning against his spear. As a close friend of Hou Yi, he knew that an archer that missed the first attack usually didn’t stick around to make further attacks, and no other attacks had been forthcoming in the last minutes.

"Yes, well, I may have forgotten to mention that I didn't entirely miss. I managed to take her arm." Hou Yi admitted with a slightly humorous tone despite the pain wracking his body.

“A-ha! So poetic justice? It does seem that whoever attacked us had a very specific target in mind.” Yao was also the type to find humor in such situations.

Heng’e was concerned about something else entirely. “Her?” She asked with a sharp tone.

He chose to wisely ignore the question. “It did seem that the attacker could’ve been a lot more lethal if they had wanted to be. Instead of striking at my arm, they could’ve gone for my head. Or yours. No offense but none of you are as skilled with Shundo as I am.”

“I’d like to contest that a bit, but I can’t really.” Yao shrugged. He was rather used to being the fastest person around, something that had held true for several lifetimes, but Hou Yi’s presence had put an end to that.

“The techniques they used were quite interesting.” Zhao Yun commented. The heavily armored man had been studying the damage caused by the first arrow. “I’m fairly sure the arrow itself was just a very dense collection of very fine fire mana, but it was much purer than should be possible below the Divine Planes. And I’m interested in what held that mana together all the way from the sniping spot until here. They also managed to both predict and read our Shundo, as well as making a stealthy, effective, and instantaneous attack over that distance to take advantage of the technique’s weakness. All of those would be quite impressive alone, but when you put them together, you get a pretty nasty picture.”

“Another reincarnator?” Yao asked, suddenly a lot more serious.

“A very powerful one at that” Zhao Yun confirmed. “Or at the very least a very old and skilled one. That would actually be worse, I think. Someone powerful can be overpowered with time, but someone old and skilled will grow faster than us and will be harder to out-fox.”

“I’m, sorry, HER?!” Heng’e once again interrupted with an angry voice. This time she had no intention of being ignored.

“What does that matter?” Hou Yi asked in tired resignation. “Yes, the target that escaped was a woman. Why is that important?”

“Because, dummy, some skank just wounded my man! And now you’re all talking about how powerful and skilled she might or might not be. Yes, I’m taking this seriously, as she’s not only a thieving cat, but also a danger. And despite living so many lives, you blockheads tend to not take women seriously. Especially pretty ones. Was she a pretty one Hou Yi?” The question was asked in a very dangerous tone.

“First of all, Heng’e, despite all your claims, I’m not your man. Just because you claim it to be true, that doesn’t make it so. Secondly, it’s me who she shot at, if it indeed was her, so I’m the one who should feel threatened, not you. Thirdly, she was wearing a veil, so I have no idea if she was attractive or not." Hou Yi replied with emphatic tones.

“A-ha! So she was pretty!” Heng’e either deluded herself into hearing something she didn’t, or she’d actually picked up something in Hou Yi’s tone. She also completely ignored the first two points, which was very much business as usual. She stopped healing his arm and marched away in a huff.

All three of the men and their dark-skinned female mage rolled their eyes together at the sight. “So was she pretty?” Lakshmi, the mage asked after a moment of quiet.

“I already told you she had a veil, and I only saw her for a second before I shot at her!” Hou Yi protested again.

“Oh, damn, she really was that pretty?” Yao exclaimed with a teasing tone. “Don’t bother trying to dodge. We all know how good your eyesight is.”

Hou Yi lifted his good arm and the stump into the air in frustration and stomped off in the opposite direction from Heng’e.

Chapter 65 - Well that didn't work as planned

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

”I see you found some company," Karna commented as she landed next to Arjuna. She had flown here from the site of her little altercation earlier. As she landed, she looked pointedly at the camp made by Leonid a short distance away.

“Karna! I’m so glad to see you’re ok!” Arjuna grabbed her into a hug and gave her a big squeeze. “I was worried about you.” He whispered into her ear more quietly.

“I appreciate your concern, and it’s good to be back. I’m fine as you can see.” Karna returned the hug happily.

“She’s not fine. She lost an arm, and it took a long time to regenerate.” Gem snitched on her immediately.

“You lost an arm?” Arjuna asked while holding her at arm’s length, inspecting her up and down. He noted that while she had used her magic to fix her attire, it was still frayed at places because the damage had been too much. “How, who, and why?”

“Don’t mind it. That’s something I’ll take care of. It’s my business.” Karna waved him off. “I’d rather hear about them.” She nodded towards the approaching duo of Shaheera, and who she assumed to be Ashanti.

“Well. That’s a long story that I’ll leave to them.” Arjuna kept his arm thrown around Karna’s shoulders while turning towards the two Leonid.

“Karna!” Shaheera greeted with a wide grin and a cheerful wave. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Yes. Fancy that indeed.” Karna rather pointedly raised her eyebrow to match her tone.

“Hahaha. She caught you this soon.” The large Leonid man at the peak of the ninth rank mocked Shaheera. “My disciple here knew that with your penchant for trouble, you’d probably get mixed up in something potentially extremely dangerous but profitable.”

"A fair assumption," Gem muttered her agreement, not all that quietly.

“Yes, well, we snuck a tracking spell on Arjuna’s ship once it became clear you would be traveling with him. It’s a wonder what you can accomplish with a bit of alcohol and a pretty woman batting their eyelashes at a random crew member.” Shaheera explained a little shamefully.

“And you used that tracking spell to follow us here.” Karna finished for him. “Bold. Very stupid, but also bold. You do realize that just because you tailed us, that doesn’t mean you can avoid all the dangers just like us, right?”

“It was a calculated risk. Our ships are the best though, and we had both Master and a very capable spatial mage on our ship. Our crew is also extremely well trained and disciplined. We were as prepared to deal with any issues as can be reasonably expected. And no matter which direction we decided to go to, it would still be dangerous. At least you were showing a generally safe one.” Shaheera explained his thought process.

“And most importantly it worked. You really found a great place.” Ashanti laughed while observing Karna carefully. “We left the north side of the storm for you while we went to loot the southern side. We knew you wouldn’t be able to loot everything by yourself anyway. And we were right. This place is filled to the brim with goodies. Now, you can blame my disciple for us using you, which is fair, but also keep in mind that it’s handy to have some friendly competition with you in case you run into something really bad. We might not be working together exactly, but we could help each other.”

"Uh-huh." Karna listened to what Ashanti was saying but she was focused on observing Shaheera's reaction. She wanted to know how he felt about using their friendship like this. With her countless lives, she'd had countless friends and as someone as old as she was, she had some trouble forming meaningful connections anyway. Thus, she wasn't afraid of the thought of losing a friend, but she was observing him in order to find out if it would be necessary to cut their relationship here or retain it for the future.

Shaheera had never been a fanatic supporter of the Empire he was a member of, but he had also never hidden his aspirations about joining the military and his pride about being a Leonid. That showed in his reaction. Karna could read from his expression that he felt a little bad about abusing their friendship like this, but he wasn’t ashamed of what he’d done. He’d done what he thought was best for both himself and his people. Karna could respect that even if she didn’t approve. If he’d been ashamed and sorry but had done it anyway, or if he’d just been proud and hadn’t felt bad at all, then Karna would’ve cut their friendship here, as she didn’t like being used. As it was though, she wouldn’t throw away the friendship, but things would inevitably be different. That was also part of growing up, and part of what made deep connections so hard. Once you became old enough you realized that most friendships would be transient, and as situations changed, so did friendships. It was a little sad, but it was also part of life.

“Be that as it may, I do expect a finder’s fee.” She finally turned towards Ashanti.

The wily Leonid could tell the girl had reached some kind of decision. With the kind of haul they'd managed to gather, he wasn't too averse to parting with a bit of it to maintain peace. “What kind of fee are you talking about? Just to note, I’m not going to let go of whatever we’ll find at the end of all these tests. Judging by the required effort alone, there has to be something really precious at the end. maybe even something that will shake the balance of major powers. Don’t think I haven’t sensed the divine energy in this world. We discovered that as soon as we tried replenishing our powers after the first battle. The reward will likely be something divine as well. I’ve gone through too much effort to let go of it now.”

“I wouldn’t ask something that’s already mine.” Karna jabbed at the Leonid man. “No, may the best person win on that front. What I require is something else. I need your help for something in the future.”

“A-ha. I think I already know what it is. Your little friend that’s still missing, right? Yes, we do have our own ways of gathering intelligence. Yes, Shaheera snitched. I’m not going to attack Wei-Jin for you, but I don’t mind lending a bit of diplomatic pressure.” In fact, Ashanti had already made some arrangements in secret. Win-win deals were great for just this kind of situation. He’d offered the Wei-Jin a deal as well in hopes of having Arjuna’s daughter owe him a favor.

"I also want to see Mayumi return safely," Shaheera added his own reassurance.

“Good. With all the diplomatic pressure we’ve managed to gather so far, I think we can finally force them to react.” Karna nodded. Tsumi had not been idle the last couple of years. While Wei-Jin was famous for their stubborn disregard for other powers, even they had to pay some respect to the level of power they had managed to gather.

“Right. With that dealt with, can we finally get back to this test?” Ashanti asked, changing the subject. “One other group already went ahead to the next test while we were dithering around, and at least two more are getting close.”

“What does this test require?” Karna asked curiously.

“It’s relatively simple really. This test was designed to allow the formations running this place to gather power. We have to literally fill up a magical container with enough power to pass. The trick is, if you waste too much power you will leave yourself vulnerable to attack from others. We’ve been taking turns filling the container for days now, and we’re getting close. The problem is, the required amount of power is directly proportional to the number of people moving forward.” Shaheera explained eagerly.

“And you’ve brought along a large chunk of your crew, which makes this take time.” Karna noticed the problem right away.

“Right. And because we can’t be sure of what will happen to those that choose to retire from the tests, we haven’t wanted to risk it.” Shaheera added.

“Father, where’s our container?” Karna asked, knowing Arjuna well enough to figure out that he had his own container and had not been helping the Leonid this entire time.

“Here.” Arjuna pulled out a brightly glowing orb.

"Now wait just a-…" Ashanti noticed where this was going and tried to stop the two.

"Well, this has been a pleasure. And like I said, may the best person win." Karna grabbed the orb, figured out how to register herself with the orb in less than a second, and then pushed her mana and Aura inside. She might not have as much power as the others, but this was a test designed for divines and hers was the only mana pure enough to really count properly, so she and Arjuna vanished in a flash of light almost as soon as she started.

“Should’ve seen that coming.” Ashanti shook his head wryly.

"Yup. There was no way they'd help us with the situation being what it is." Shaheera confirmed happily. He had seen it coming but had decided not to say anything as there wasn't really much they could do about it.

------

“Who the heck designs these challenges?” Arjuna asked angrily as he read the instructions. They’d just made a stylish exit and now this test was going to ruin it.

“Someone obviously sick and twisted.” Karna couldn’t help but smile a little. She’d already noted that the tests seemed to have a sense of humor to them. She’d expected that humor to surface again, but this one had caught her by surprise.

"We can't proceed except by teaming up with people from other groups aside from the ones we left the previous test with?" Arjuna read the test instructions again. "And two other people at that, so just teaming up with Ashanti and Shaheera isn't enough."

"I believe this test is hammering home a point that should've been picked up on in the previous test already," Karna suggested.

“Which is…?” Arjuna asked.

"Large groups are a no-go from this point forward. Think about it. In the last test you were punished for having a large group, and in this test, it's practically impossible to proceed if your group is larger than the others taking part in the test." Karna already had several ideas in mind for this test. "This is also a test of diplomacy and karma. If you attacked all other groups indiscriminately and became hated by everyone, then it's going to be impossible to proceed forward.”

“What would happen if there was only a single group or even a single person taking the test?” Arjuna asked a rather important question.

“Then this test would likely be skipped. Or the number would be modified. Haven’t you noticed? Very few of these tests are actual tests of strength or even necessarily skill. Many of these seem designed to be tests of your mind or personality. It’s almost like they were designed to be taken by several different groups at the same time.” Karna speculated.

“Why though?” Arjuna seemed confused. “Why would someone design a test series like this?”

“Well, first of all, you have to remember that no one actually designed them. It was all created by the Expansion. Secondly, probably because the tests are “designed” to screen for and against certain things. Indiscriminate killing being one of those things that would get you eliminated. On that note, you mentioned that one group had arrived here before us. What are the chances they’re feeling cooperative?” Karna had a suspicion but wanted to confirm just in case.

“Not very high. They ambushed us during the same test I warned you about. Ashanti lost one of his crew, and he didn’t take it well. He took revenge any and every chance possible. I’m almost a bit surprised they haven’t already tried to find us to make trouble.” Arjuna shook his head. Too much bad blood had been created with that group.

“They know the terms of this test just as well as us. They don’t want to make any more enemies, just in case they can force us or others into making groups.” Karna speculated.

“Well, as unlikely as it would be for us to group with them, I don’t see much choice. Shaheera and Ashanti will join up with us, but we need three.” Arjuna wasn’t all that pleased by the idea either.

“Well, as to that, I may have another idea.” Karna gave a small chuckle. As it happened, she did know another group that could be useful. And this might provide her a further opportunity for some ‘justice’. “But for now we’re stuck. Seeing the Leonid again will be a bit awkward.”

-------

“Who the hell came up with these shitty tests?!” Heng’e raged. She’d been angry ever since Hou Yi had lost his arm and this didn’t help.

"Calm down. The situation isn't as bad as it might seem." Yao took the role of calming the situation. As the nominal leader of their group, he wasn't chosen just for his ruggedly handsome looks but for his clear head and quick judgment. "We know at least three groups have already advanced, and we haven't attacked the other groups, even if we've had trouble with them. Well, except one, but she already took her revenge."

“The large group of Leonid is probably desperate for people to group with to advance, and we know for sure they don’t get along with the shady group with masks. We’ve seen them fight and actually draw blood.” Zhao Yun pointed out. As the group’s strategist, he was often the voice of reason, but his lack of passion also made him bad at encouraging and rousing the passions of others. He knew the logical best course of action but had trouble relating to people and taking their emotional reactions into consideration. That was why he deferred to Yao.

“There’s also the shadow mage. He’s the biggest threat but also the most obvious possibility. He’s been working with the Leonid, but they’re not the same group. I scried him leaving together with the woman who attacked Hou Yi.” Lakshmi pointed out. “They will obviously pick two of the Leonid to group with, likely including the big and powerful one, but they’ll need a third.”

"No." Heng'e shook her head firmly. "Nuh-uh. No way. We're not grouping with that thieving cat and her boy-toy!"

"Ok, now you're just being illogical. First you call her a thieving cat, despite there being no reason for it, and now you call the shadow mage her boy-toy? Which is it then?" Hou Yi pointed out the lack of consistent logic, knowing he was wasting his time.

“Oh, so now you’re defending her? Great! Wonderful! I didn’t think you’d grown so close at some point!” Heng’e stomped off again.

“And this is why I keep going on solo missions whenever I can.” Hou Yi pointed towards the direction Heng’e had disappeared towards. “I’m seriously starting to reach my limit, and it’s been getting worse these last few days.”

"Fair enough. Yet she's the best healer around. Who else do you think could've gotten that dark stuff out of your wound and then manage to regrow it in a matter of days?" Yao pointed out reasonably, trying to placate his friend. He knew Heng'e had been getting out of hand, but he also knew it was mostly due to the situation. The stress and continuous wariness were getting on her nerves, and she was taking it out on Hou Yi, using the latest development as an excuse. He knew she'd calm down if they got through this and managed to return to safety. Or if she got laid, but that seemed unlikely.

“Whether she likes it or not, the situation is what it is, and there’s an opportunity to be had here.” Zhao Yun interrupted. “The others will have real trouble forming groups, but I believe two of us will be able to get ahead quickly if we act now. We should approach the shadow mage and the Leonid to make the deal. If we get there first before others will start making deals, we might be able to stir the pot up so that only the six people we choose will be able to advance.”

“We should also seriously consider who goes. The two of us that will be among those six might be the only ones to proceed for a while.” Lakshmi said. “As much as I loathe to admit it, the shadow mage is better than me, and he outclasses me completely, even if he’s not like us. If this turns into a battle, he will be able to render my abilities quite useless.”

“We also can’t send Heng’e. She’s a great healer, but she’s still mostly a healer. I would suggest myself and Hou Yi. Yao might be the leader and better in a straight-up fight, but I have healing and supporting abilities as well, to help if things go wrong. And Hou Yi is Hou Yi.” Zhao Yun made a tactical suggestion.

“You do know how Heng’e will react if you split her from her darling, right?” Yao asked, almost admiring the bold suggestion.

“I do. And that’s also partly why I made the suggestion. We can’t have her group up with him, as the two are going to come to blows if this continues. She’ll need this opportunity to calm down.” Zhao Yun was well aware of the fallout of his choices.

“Should we go and make the proposal before she returns?” Yao asked, hoping to avoid the argument.

“I think that might be too late.” Lakshmi suddenly said. “I can’t be sure, but I’m fairly confident the direction Heng’e just disappeared to is the same direction as their camp.”

“She wouldn’t…” Yao covered his face with his hands and hoped against all hope.

“Oh yes she would.” Hou Yi dashed those hopes mercilessly.

“Aww crud.” They picked up their stuff and ran into the direction Heng’e had disappeared to.

Chapter 66 - A cat fight?

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

On a side note, some might feel that I'm spending a surprising number of chapters on this part, but many of the things here have consequences so they need to be addressed properly. Besides, it's fun to write about these kinds of interactions.

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”Wouldn’t it be safer if I went with your daughter and you went with Shaheera? That way both groups are protected in case the third person starts something.” Ashanti suggested.

“That presumes I trust you with something like this. I don’t.” Arjuna countered with a straight face. “For all I know, you’d try to take my little girl hostage.”

“I’m hurt. Really. That you’d imagine me doing something so heinous cuts me deep. I mean I would if I thought the payout was worth it, but I’m still insulted you see me that way.” Despite his words and tone, Ashanti looked mostly amused.

Shaheera shook his head at the two masters going at it. “So, it looks like we’ll be going together.”

“Hmm, I’d still give it about fifty-fifty odds.” Karna countered. “Father might not trust Ashanti, but the point was well made. It would be safer.”

"You're not worried my master will try something?" Shaheera asked curiously. He’d gotten used to everyone imagining the worst when it came to Ashanti.

“I’m cognizant of the possibility, but I don’t think he would. He can be brutally practical at times, but he doesn’t strike you as someone who would go out of his way to do something dishonorable like that. Not without a good reason. From what I’ve seen so far, he’s more likely to work out a deal that would work to everyone’s benefit. If he couldn’t make a deal, then he might pull out all stops, but…” She speculated.

“I have to hand it to you. You’re a good judge of character as usual.” Shaheera nodded at the accurate assessment.

“Well, I don’t know about that. You managed to surprise me with your little tracking trick.” She pointed out.

“Perhaps, but can you honestly say that it was an act that was outside of what you assumed my character to be? Not saying you should’ve seen that specifically coming or anything, but was it all that unexpected really?” Shaheera asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, I suppose not," Karna answered as he had expected. Her eyes suddenly grew sharper. "We're about to get some company." She announced.

She could sense power gathering at the nearby tree line and felt some heavy hostility directed towards them. What surprised her was the fact that nearly all of it seemed to be focused entirely on her. "Step aside. This is for me." She said, just as a large glowing bolt of golden energy was launched directly at her.

She was just about to erect a barrier to block the offending missile, but she suddenly felt something whisper to her. It felt as if she’d gotten a sudden hunch, except she knew it had come from the outside. Deciding to follow that hunch, she materialized the gauntlets she’d recently acquired and pointed the right gauntlet palm first at the incoming projectile. Just before coming into contact with her arm, it seemed like some force took hold of the glowing ball of energy and it seemed to be absorbed inside the gauntlet.

At the same time, she noted that one of the runes carved into the bracelet portion started glowing just a bit. A tiny part of the rune had acquired a very faint shine, as if someone had highlighted that part of the rune with fire. Simultaneously, she noted that one of the gems socketed into the bracelet had a tiny fraction of power inside of it. That gem had definitely been empty when she first acquired the gauntlets, and the power inside had not come from the attack just now. She had no idea where it had come from, as she was completely certain she would’ve sensed it if the item drained power from her, even if the amount drained was the tiny smidgen currently inside the gem. So where did it come from?

As if to remind her that now was not the time to get distracted, a very angry woman that looked like a moderately attractive human strode from the tree line towards her, chanting a spell. "…and I ask that you bring down the judgment of heaven on this thieving cat!"

“A what now…?” Karna was confused. She recognized the woman as one of those she had attacked earlier, but even if she had wounded one of them, this seemed like an odd reaction.

To the surprise of everyone, dark clouds seemed to gather above them out of nowhere, just before a thick bolt of lightning struck down towards Karna. If the appearance of the tribulation had been a shock, what happened next stunned even the woman who had called it out. The lightning shot towards Karna but suddenly seemed to slow down before stopping in the air above her. The lightning energy just stalled there for a moment, before all of them could swear they felt as if the lightning had just changed its mind before slinking back into the clouds.

“What the fuuu…” Shaheera voiced what they were all thinking.

“Yeah, about that…” Karna started off. She wasn’t sure if she should explain that this was just her Tressym luck and bloodline at work, but she didn’t get the chance to.

“Why?! Why would even the heavens deny me the rightful opportunity to punish this skank, this thieving bitch that tries to steal what is mine?!” The woman was screaming. She continued cursing and sending holy spells towards Karna, but they were all being absorbed by her gauntlet.

"Uh, daughter, anything you want to tell me?" Arjuna asked, not sure if he should intervene. On one hand, his precious daughter was under attack, but on the other hand, she seemed to have the situation well under control. Sort of.

“Resentment like that can come from only one thing.” Ashanti grinned. “What was the saying about fury and scorned women? Things just became a lot more interesting. I didn’t know you had time for romance during the tests Karna.”

“I have no idea what brought this on.” Karna defended herself. She’d seen a lot, and she’d had quite a few jealous women come after her in the past, so she recognized the behavior, but usually she’d done at least something to deserve it. She did have a bit of a lusty and playful side to her, so she wasn't above outrageous flirting and teasing, even if the partner she was flirting with already had a lover or admirers. In fact, usually they had admirers since those kinds of people were the most fun to flirt with and most attractive. So yes, she was used to jealous women, but this time she was quite innocent. Who was this woman even jealous about?

The woman seemed to only grow even angrier at the futility of her attacks, so she decided to make things more personal. She took a hold of her staff like it was a spear and lunged towards Karna. Her staff didn't have a sharp point, but the top glowed with a nasty golden light that suggested that it would not be healthy to get hit. Karna easily moved out of the way of the thrust and parried the impromptu spear aside with relative ease. The woman was actually quite good with her improvised weapon though, and she didn’t overextend. Instead, she managed to pull her weapon back and launch into a series of attacks aimed at Karna’s vitals.

Even if the target was good with her weapon, it was also clear that she hadn't trained her body with close-quarters combat in mind, and she moved way too slow to ever hit Karna. On her side, Karna was more curious about the situation than angry or threatened, so she flowed around the strikes, occasionally rapping the angry woman on her hands or flanks as a sign of yet another hit she could’ve made lethal. The whole thing was so non-threatening that she was finding it hard to take it seriously. “While this is fun and all, I do want to know what this is about.”

“You will never take my man you thieving cat!” The woman actually hissed, somewhat ironically considering what she’d just called Karna, and actually tried to spit at her opponent.

Just as she was about to ask more questions, Karna noted that the rest of this woman’s group burst from the same tree line. They didn’t have their weapons drawn and seemed more worried about the woman than planning an attack. That was pretty much the only reason they didn’t immediately get skewered by Arjuna, as they ran closer to pull the angry woman away from Karna. The spear-wielding warrior stepped forward to negotiate and gave an apologetic bow while the others were struggling with the woman who had attacked Karna.

“I’m so sorry about that. We have no idea what our comrade was thinking. I hope she didn’t go too far?”

Ashanti stepped forward and waved the concern away, while at the same time taking control of the situation. “This was actually somewhat entertaining. She ran at our friend here, spitting and hissing, but she doesn’t really have the power to harm any of us.”

“I’m relieved to hear that. We were just planning to come here and make a proposition concerning this test, and I’m sure you can imagine what type of proposition we had in mind. Suddenly she became enraged and decided to attack you instead.” The apparent leader of the group bowed again and prepared to start negotiating with Ashanti.

In the meantime, Karna was observing the newcomers and figuring out the dynamics of the group. She really wanted to know who she had supposedly stolen. Even if the other three pulled the angry woman back to start a shouting match conducted entirely in whispers, it wasn’t hard to judge the situation from body language alone. “Wait, she’s attracted to the guy who shot me? And the one I wounded? How in the name of Divines does that translate into me stealing him away?” She asked no one in particular.

“The hearts of women are impossible to decipher. I keep telling you that.” Shaheera, who had overhead, replied in a joking tone. “And look, it seems like the guy is really not into her or putting up with any of her crap.” That much was obvious from the way the archer man acted.

“She has a one-sided crush on the guy, and somehow it’s my fault he’s not returning her affections?” Karna scoffed. Sometimes her own gender baffled her. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time she’d run into the type. Those kinds of women tended to be extremely obsessive, delusional, and they also exhibited the ‘if I can’t have him, then no one can’ -type of behavior. The female version of an obsessive stalker or a superfan.

Karna really disliked the type. They grated on her nerves. Not only did they objectify the target of their affection, but they also tried to limit the target’s free will and freedom to choose. It wasn’t the business of the woman if the object of their affection chose someone else. It was possessiveness on a very unhealthy level. Unfortunately, Karna also knew it was just one more expression of a trait shared by many reincarnators. Many reincarnators lost parts of their sanity over the years, and one of the more common ways that exhibited was by showing off a very entitled way of thinking and behaving. They began to believe that the universe owed them something, and that since they were special and, in many ways, better than others, they could take what they wanted. And sometimes that something was people.

That kind of thinking led to some of the most heinous kinds of crimes and behaviors Karna had seen, and it was usually those sorts of reincarnators that she wound up killing permanently. Luckily, this woman didn't seem to be that far gone. That didn't mean Karna would tolerate her behavior of course, but it did mean she didn't need to take extreme measures. She might have to teach her a lesson though…

------

Hou Yi and his companions had feared the worst once they’d seen the tribulation clouds gather, as they knew Heng’e had the skill and power to call for one. Luckily by the time they arrived to prevent Heng’e from doing something that would doom them all, it didn’t seem like she’d managed to do anything too bad just yet. Heng’e had chosen to get up and personal with the target of her anger for some reason, and it wasn’t going well. They all knew Heng’e had been a master of the spear in a previous life, but her lack of practice and physical prowess was now showing, and she was being toyed with and rather effortlessly at that.

As they managed to pull Heng'e away and Yao went to apologize to the other group, Hou Yi's usually rather calm emotions started to boil over. "What the hell were you thinking?!" He whisper-shouted angrily, keenly aware that the other group could try to listen in.

Heng'e had tears of frustration in her eyes. "I just don't want to lose you, Hou Yi. The mere thought of that skank stealing you from me is driving me crazy.”

“Heng’e, I’m not some kind of possession for you to lose. I keep telling you, I have no intention of getting together with you. This isn’t about her. You hardly know her, and this is the first time you’ve seen her. You know nothing about her, and there should be no reason for such vitriol.” Hoy Yi tried to be patient, for one last time.

Heng'e bit her lip for a moment, before seemingly coming to a decision. "When I was born, there was a prophecy. In my village, it's common for the village seers to bless children with visions of the future, though most of the time it’s something inconsequential. The prophecy I was given told me that I would marry you. We'd be happy together and even reach the Divine Planes together, where we'd become a pair of fated Deities. The seers told me that it was one of the most powerful visions they'd ever had, a sign that it was certain to come true if I worked hard for it!"

That was news to everyone as Heng’e had never explained the roots of her obsession. "Wait, so did this prophecy mention me by name?" Hou Yi tried to make sense of the situation.

“Well, no, but I recognized you immediately from the description, and I fell in love at first sight. Besides, our names also match the old mythologies. In the myth, Hou Yi was a famous archer, and he’s known also as the husband of Chang’e, the Goddess of the Moon. Chang’e is also known as Heng’e.” She explained patiently.

“Ok, so we’ve established that the prophecy isn’t even necessarily about me, and you might be reading too much into a coincidence with names. And we all know prophecies are shaky at best when reincarnators are involved.” Hou Yi didn’t dare to mention that he’d actually been the Hou Yi of the legend many lifetimes ago, and he’d just kept the name due to his bad naming sense. “If your obsession with me is fueled by your faith in a prophecy, then why are you so wracked with jealousy and insecurity? Surely you should have nothing to worry about if you’re right?”

“You have to fight for your love!” Heng’e replied with a heated voice filled with conviction. “Love doesn’t just happen. You have to work for it! Just because there’s a prophecy, that doesn’t mean I don’t have to make an effort. It’s because of my effort that I can be sure.” No one wanted to be the one to point out her circular logic. “I was worried about you when she attacked, and that worry turned into anger when you didn’t deny she was attractive. I have to defend what’s mine! I mean, look at her!” She suddenly pointed at Karna, who raised an eyebrow at the sudden attention, even if she hadn’t heard what was being said.

Even with a veil covering her face, it was quite obvious that she was what could only be called divinely attractive, which wasn’t all that odd considering Hou Yi had already sensed her divine origin. And the veil didn’t do anything to cover the rest of her. Karna was moderating her attire in the company of Arjuna, but she still had a lot of both Tsumi’s and Duskclaw’s influence in her attire, which showed enough to make it obvious just how much more she had to show.

“Fair.” Lakshmi judged with a serious tone.

“Fair.” Zhao Yun joined in on the chorus.

Hou Yi couldn’t really disagree, but he certainly wouldn’t voice his opinion out loud. He wasn’t that stupid. “So, you decided to attack a random woman because…what? She’s a little pretty?”

“A little?” Lakshmi asked with a tone that conveyed just what she thought about his attempt to dodge the issue.

Their argument was interrupted with Yao approaching them. “We’ve reached an agreement. Two of us will proceed with them, while the rest of us will remain here with the other Leonid to wait for another group to come to an agreement with us. We’ll go with the split we decided on earlier. And no Heng’e, you can’t go. You destroyed any possibility of that with your attack.”

“But..!” She wanted to protest.

“No. That’s final. Reflect on your actions.” Yao shot her down. He was the only one who could really exert any control over her, and that was mostly because he rarely did so.

“Have you decided who’s going?” The large and powerful Leonid called out as he approached them with surprisingly stealthy steps. He was standing next to the veiled woman they had just been talking about, while the shadow mage stood next to a young Leonid male.

“We have.” Zhao Yun said, and he was prepared to go with the first group, but Hou Yi had another idea.

“I’ll go with her. Despite it pissing Heng’e off, she’s still dangerous, and I want to keep an eye on her. Besides, for some reason I feel like I’ll be much more likely to reach the goal with them.” He explained away his instinctual reaction.

The two groups stood ready to leave, with Heng’e grinding her teeth in frustration. They were just about ready to activate the transfer, but the veiled woman stopped them. “Ah, there’s one more thing I need to do.” She suddenly approached Heng’e, and everyone was worried she’d retaliate due to the earlier attack, but instead she leaned in to whisper something into the other woman’s ear. No one could hear what she said, but Heng'e exploded with anger and was about to attack her again before the veiled woman actually used Shundo to reach Hou Yi and the Leonid man.

“Now we can go.” She stated with a smug tone, and the Leonid man seemed all too eager to oblige as they disappear in a flash of light.

Chapter 67 - Facing yourself

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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"That doesn't look very good," Tsumi commented as she watched countless demons descend on the world below. If that had been it, she would've been much more worried, but the demons were not the only ones to arrive. She also watched members of the Heavenly Host descend on the demons. The bronze- and silver-clad immortals were currently outnumbered and being pushed back by sheer numbers, but more were arriving as she watched the battle ebb and flow. Most of the fight was actually taking place above the planet, but many of the lesser demons were descending on the surface as well. They’d find plenty of unlucky people to fight there as well.

Tsumi had periodically returned to do a sweep of the world during the last couple of weeks. She didn’t want to get too close, just so she could keep the ship and the loot safe, but she didn’t feel secure just staying away either. Karna and Arjuna might have to leave in a hurry, and it wouldn’t be beneficial if it took too long for her to return. She also might have to sweep in and save their sorry asses. She actually hoped that she’d get the opportunity to do just that, as it would allow her to lord it over the two for years to come.

One of the immortals overseeing the battle broke away and approached the ship. Without so much as asking for permission, the immortal formed a portal and stepped onto the bridge of their ship, likely because she’d sensed Tsumi’s presence. “Well, well. We didn’t expect to find people from the Higher Planes here.” The silver-clad warrior commented on arrival.

“You’ll find quite a few on the planet below, assuming they don’t all get eaten by demons great one.” Tsumi gave a small bow.

“Truly? Can you give me some estimate? This place seems quite remote for it to draw too many people.” The immortal tilted her head, with a pair of bunny ears flopping from side to side.

“Unfortunately not. In the thousands at this point, at least. I’ve been keeping a safe distance for the last few weeks, only waiting for my friends to return before we’ll leave. We were among the first to find this place, so we’ve gotten our fill.” Tsumi said with an apologetic tone.

"Fair enough, and I certainly can't blame you for a bit of looting. I'm sure this world has many treasures that you haven't ever seen before. On that note, while we won't touch most of what you’ve gathered, you’ll understand that we’ll need to ask for you to return any items that are…shall we say too dangerous to be in the Higher Planes.” The immortal said suggestively. They both knew some Divine objects fell to the Higher Planes on occasion, and some of those could upset the balance of the Higher Planes completely. Not to mention Divine objects created by the Expansion, which could be basically anything in nature and power.

After a brief consideration, Tsumi decided to take a small loss. "We didn't run into too many of those, but this might qualify." She pulled out the spear with a clear but relatively minor bit of Divine power, which she’d recovered from the vault with the Hydra guarding it. She didn’t really use spears, so it wasn’t a great loss to her, and the Divinity in the item really was quite small. It would’ve been a great weapon, but not something she’d mourn losing. The things in their hold were worth a lot more.

“We thank you for your honesty.” The immortal stated while receiving the weapon. Even in the Divine Planes, items with real Divinity were somewhat rare because the number of qualified smiths didn’t just magically increase even if the available materials did. “You said your friends are still on the planet below?”

“They were convinced the perpetual storm circling the planet held the biggest secrets of the place. A fair assumption I suppose. They’re currently inside trying to find those secrets.” Tsumi didn’t dare to lie.

“I wish them luck then. They’ll need it with the whole world becoming a battle zone soon enough. It seems we have an entire demonic parade hitting the area.” The immortal bade her goodbyes and joined back in the battle. Demonic parades were basically enormous bands of countless demons wandering around the spatial cracks, trying to find worlds to consume.

"That could've gone a lot worse," Tsumi muttered, thinking about the crates and crates of spatial artifacts in the ship's hold, all filled to the brim with goods. A single item was a small price to pay to keep them, and now they also had the tacit protection of the Host as they’d already paid for the help.

---------

“How goes the war father?” Prince Tethrine asked.

“As well as you might expect. The Grand Marshall is very good at what he does. I must admit, your plan is working perfectly. The number of reincarnators that have died in the last week alone is larger than in the last ten years combined.” Kurnous rarely gave compliments to his children, but this time he was genuinely impressed.

It had been Tethrine’s plan to plant the idea about drafting new immortals into the Host, and the Grand Marshall had been all too happy to pick up on it. Just because they were rivals, that didn’t mean their interests couldn’t align. Most of the new immortals that normally didn’t join the host were either idiots, or they were people who didn’t need the help of the Host to advance. The first group was much larger, but the latter group had a large contingent of reincarnators among their number, as they already had the knowledge to advance without the help of the Host. Or they were at least conceited enough to think they did. They had also been the first soldiers to be thrown into the grinder.

The Host was usually very good at avoiding too many losses, as they were extremely powerful and disciplined. However, the newly recruited immortals didn’t yet have that battle-hardened discipline, as they were usually prone to going off on their own and thinking that they were the center of the universe that needed no help. Those that survived would learn, but many didn’t survive. Especially among the reincarnators as they usually also had the least regard for their lives. They’d often rather go out in a blaze of glory than submit to the commands of others.

“I’m gratified by your praise.” Tethrine nodded, quite pleased with himself.

“Do not let it get to your head. You have done well, so it would be a shame to see you stumble right after. How about the mission I gave you?” Kurnous made sure to keep the Prince grounded.

“That one goes quite well. We’ve taken the opportunity provided by the recent battles to identify as many reincarnators as possible and put them under watch. So far, the scourges have not hit the Higher Planes too badly, so the work is only beginning, but with more enemies flowing in and more of our forces present to identify the reincarnators, the faster it will go. We will be sure to keep a list of them so that they can be drafted as soon as they Ascend to the Divine Planes.” Tethrine promised. This was why they had offered no resistance to the Grand Marshall’s proposal. They planned on using it to their advantage.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something odd was going on with the number of reincarnators being born into this universe. Whatever the cause, it would be beneficial to control them and perhaps cull their numbers a bit. If there was to be a competition of some kind between the reincarnators, as seemed somewhat likely, then controlling the number of opponents was essential. As was knowing their identities, strengths, and weaknesses.

“Good. Make sure to keep up the search. The more we know, the better for us. On that note, House Titannica has started to make moves as well. We have been unable to determine their goals, but by judging by the movements we’ve seen so far, they’re preparing for something big.” The titans were the chief rival of the Asuryans and they were also a race that had held the throne in a relatively recent past. They were not the only large threat, but they were the most obvious one.

"I'll keep that in mind father," Tethrine promised.

------

"If nothing else, he's at least consistent," Karna commented while holding her knees to her chest as they sat on an elevated platform. She was watching Ashanti go through the next test while waiting for her turn with Hou Yi.

“His greatest fear is to see his people enslaved, and his greatest desire is to see his people dominant and free to choose their own path. Have to respect that on some level.” Hou Yi agreed. He’d held similar ideals in the past.

“Did you expect my desires to be more selfish?” Ashanti asked, able to hear their words. “Sorry to disappoint you. Though I won’t deny that my desires include a nice cushy place with certain perks for myself.”

Their current series of tests was all about facing themselves. The test created very realistic illusions for them to face. The tests weren’t so much to see if they could shake the illusions, as they were constantly aware of the fact that they were taking a test. It was more about allowing them to discover themselves, as well as revealing themselves to the other two members of their group. The tests were also conducted in several parts, and these desires and fears were just the first part.

“My turn.” Hou Yi decided to go next, partly to get this over and done with.

As he entered the illusory array, he came face to face with a rather attractive woman. It wasn't hard to see that the woman had a divine origin, and it seemed like she was constantly basking in the light of a moon. "Chang'e." He whispered the name with a voice suffused with conflicting emotions. The illusionary woman lifted her hand and caressed his cheek with a ghostly hand.

“A former lover, or a hopeful future one?” Ashanti speculated as he came to stand next to Karna.

"The first," Karna said with confidence. She knew Hou Yi was a reincarnator, and it wasn't uncommon for reincarnators to still have feelings for their old partners. She still had fond memories of several of her old families and lovers.

As the illusion of the Goddess disappeared, the vision was replaced with the image of Hou Yi in chains, battered and beaten. He was obviously wearing a slave collar, and he was clad in a simple hemp sack for a shirt. The enslaved man in the picture was brutally beaten and mistreated as scenes passed. “That’s an easy-to-understand fear.” Ashanti nodded. It was one shared by most, and one of the reasons he worked so hard to help his people prosper. Leonid had often been used as slave warriors in the past, much like how the canine Khenra were treated currently.

Karna realized something else from the vision. This wasn’t a fear of the future. The vision was too detailed for that. This was a memory of a past life, and the fear was about being forced to return to that life. The illusions lasted a variable amount of time depending on how powerful the fear or desire was. Ashanti had been forced to watch his illusions for twenty minutes. Hou Yi’s desire was faint, tempered by several lives lived since he’d lost his wife, but his fear was much stronger and drove his actions on a fundamental level, so he had to go through the torture of the vision of slavery for half an hour.

“That was rough.” Ashanti grimaced a bit. “Being so driven by your fears as opposed to your desires is not a healthy sign.”

Karna nodded in understanding, but she understood. “Let’s get this over with.” She stated before standing up brushing off imaginary dust from her dress. “Strap in. This might take a while.”

"Now I'm a little curious," Ashanti whispered Hou Yi, who had sat down next to him with wobbly feet. "From what I've heard, she's always been a very private person. I wonder how many people are actually privy to her fears and desires.” Hou Yi was too shaken to answer, but he too was paying attention.

Karna had been wondering about how the formation found out about the fears and desires of the participants, but she felt a gentle magical probe approaching her soul. She could easily stop it from reaching her and crush the probe with a mere thought, but that would likely cause her to fail the test, so she allowed the probe to find what it was looking for. She still kept a close eye on it to make sure it didn't do anything else though.

She burst into laughter as her desire was displayed and she wasn’t the only one, as she could sense Gem snickering, even if the laughter was not audible to others. In front of them was a World Dragon rolling around on a solar system-sized hoard of the softest pillows imaginable. "This one was easy to see coming." She commented.

"What in the ever-loving fuck?" Ashanti asked eloquently.

“Not that hard to understand is it?” The sight brought a small smile to Hou Yi’s face. He had a much better understanding of what was going on. It was not uncommon for reincarnators that had lived as dragons to like hoarding things. Pillows was a very uncommon choice, but much better than most. “It’s a dragon and her hoard.”

The most stupid part of the whole thing was that the illusion stuck around for almost an hour, and nothing else happened in it, except a frolicking dragon and her trove of pillows. "That's one powerful desire for something extremely idiotic," Ashanti grumbled.

“Hey, speak for yourself. I didn’t kink-shame you for your desire.” Karna called out from the array.

Ashanti’s retort was cut off as the illusion shifted. Now it showed a woman dragging herself forward with a small bundle in her arms. The woman was so malnourished and shriveled that she was unable to stand, and she was clawing her way forward with sheer stubbornness and determination. She had likely once looked majestic and divine, but now she was just a husk, barely more than skin and bones. The bundle in her arms was nothing but the shriveled and mummified form of a small baby.

"How uncouth and unoriginal," Karna said while kneeling next to the illusion of the shriveled woman. "I've come to terms with this past a long time ago. It's time for you to rest." With a small thought, she scattered the illusion.

“Past you?” Hou Yi held her back a bit as they started walking towards the next set of arrays and asked his question quietly out of Ashanti’s earshot.

“The end of my very first life.” Karna shook her head. “Such a long time ago. I’m not sure why the array chose that as my fear, but I suppose people like us don’t have all that many things to fear anymore.”

Hou Yi looked at her with a raised eyebrow, hinting at his own fear, which Karna picked up on. “Yes, well, that one. Once you’ve gone through it a couple of times you’ll learn some methods to deal with it. It’s still not something you want to experience again, but if nothing else, you’ll learn how to give up on that life and go for the next one. That’s the benefit we have after all.”

“I…don’t know if I could do it. It’s in my nature to fight. To try and find a way out. Taking my own life just feels wrong.” He had a bit of trouble explaining why he felt that way.

Karna gave a small wan smile. "You haven't been a woman in a life like that, have you? I thought not. If you had, you'd quickly learn that there are worse things than giving up on your principles and your life. It can break you as a person, but once you manage to deal with it, it can also be liberating.”

"I'm…not sure I want to even imagine." Unfortunately, he had enough imagination to know what sort of things would lead Karna to the kind of conclusions she had come to.

Ashanti turned towards them and shouted. “Stop flirting you two and get here. The next test is about to start and it’s going to require all of us!”

As they reached the next test, they found themselves within an arena. Opposite them stood exact copies of themselves. The message was rather obvious. “Well, this test was supposed to be all about facing yourself. I guess this time they mean it literally.” Hou Yi joked.

“This might be a bit of a problem.” Karna made a face. Depending on the extremes this test would go into, an exact copy of herself was capable of killing all of them by itself, assuming it had no intention of surviving the fight.

“You guys are taking this rather lightly.” Ashanti gestured to his own copy. His point was obvious, as his copy was by far the strongest of the group. “You better not accidentally get caught in one of our attacks.”

“Wait a moment.” Karna suddenly realized something. She’d seen something in the eyes of her copy. “I think I have an idea.”

She walked into the center of the arena, her copy doing the same. They stood there looking at each other for a few moments before they both suddenly developed a smile beneath their veils and high-fived each other, after which Karna’s copy disappeared, and a path opened for her on the other side. “Yeah, just as I thought. You will have to face yourself, but it doesn’t mean you necessarily have to fight your copy.” She shouted back.

“Err, ok.” Hou Yi looked at his own copy and just waved. The copy just shrugged and disappeared, allowing him to also pass.

"I don't think that's going to work for me," Ashanti commented. He realized what was going on and knew himself well enough to know that his own copy wouldn't allow him to just pass. This was too good of an opportunity to hone his own skills by fighting someone equal.

“Well, just catch up once you’re done. I think I can already sense what the next test will be, and if I’m right, that one is going to take a lot of time.” She could sense the presence of a lot of karma in the next room, and her senses detected the presence of a very particular array. An array she had developed herself in the past. It seemed the Expansion had somehow copied it. Assuming she was right, the next test would be extremely easy for her. But for others? It would take them a long time indeed.

Chapter 68 - Bets

A note from Vihyungrang

Chapter 69 is going to release a minute after this one, and it's going to be a +++ one like I promised. Those that don't like that sort of thing can safely skip it, as the plot content is non-existent.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy!

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”We’re going to be judged on our sins? What does that mean? And by whom?” Hou Yi asked suspiciously. Sin was a very vague concept, as different people considered different acts and behaviors to be sinful. He didn’t like the idea of getting judged by the standards of others.

“In a nutshell, the array will force you to suffer the weight of your karma. The more bad karma you have, the more you have to go through, and for longer. Good karma will make things easier, but it won’t eliminate the effect completely.” Karna explained. Now that she was this close, she could tell that the array was indeed a copy of one that she’d designed in the past. She had been looking for ways to weaponize karma against other reincarnators, and this array had been one of her earlier attempts.

“What kind of suffering are we talking about?” The archer frowned. He didn’t think of himself as an evil man, but just like all reincarnators, he’d done quite a few objectionable things in the past. You could say that he’d earned bad karma not too long ago when he had ambushed people like Karna. It wasn’t even close to the worst thing he’d done, but in general he considered himself a decently moral man when compared to many other reincarnators. Compared to normal people, though? That was another question.

“It would seem that the suffering will in this case take the form of a pressure being placed on you for an extended period of time, enough pressure to really force you to crawl, and those that have a lot of bad karma will feel an increasing amount of pain during the whole thing as well. Then you’ll have to move over a distance also determined by your karma. If you’ve done a lot of bad things, then you’ll be crawling over a very long distance.” She explained helpfully. She could even read the exact details on the array.

“You seem to know this array surprisingly well.” Hou Yi remarked, noticing that fact as well. He wasn’t an expert mage, as he’d always been more of the warrior type, but he had quite a bit of knowledge just from having lived so long, and he had no idea what the array in front of them did. “You also don’t seem too worried.”

Karna smiled widely beneath her veil. “I’m a little surprised that you haven’t tried to figure out my True Name yet. It’s very polite and even a little gentlemanly to refrain from prying, but I would’ve expected you to have gotten curious enough by now.”

As her words seemed a little bit of a non-sequitur, it caught Hou Yi by surprise. "Well, considering the situation, I thought it better not to antagonize you further."

“A very good choice. However, if you had acted a little less politely, then you’d have an answer to your question.” She danced into the formation while her eyes flashed with power. Hou Yi could feel it as she read his True Name. “Celestial Archer. Very appropriate considering your legend. I’ll see you on the other side.”

The array didn’t even activate as Karna walked through it. Just before she vanished from sight, Hou Yi returned the favor. “Karma, huh? I should’ve expected something like that. Figures I’d meet one of the ancient ones in a place like this. I wonder what someone has to do to earn a Name like that.”

As he stepped into the array, it seemed like the weight of the world was dropped on his shoulders, and he crashed on the floor, unable to move a muscle for several minutes. As he slowly adjusted to the pressure, he noted that the only way forward was to drag himself forward just with his fingers and fingernails, and the distance to the other side of the array had turned into a long hallway seemingly without end, instead of the room he’d just been in. At least he wasn’t subjected to the pain he’d just heard about.

As Karna pranced forward, she felt almost as if she had cheated on the last two tests. Avoiding the effects of an array she had designed was easy enough even if her True Name didn’t already counter the effects. If she had been subject to the effects, then it might have been interesting to see what those effects would’ve been. After all, one of the primary conditions for earning the True Name she had was to reach the peak of both positive and negative karma.

Few people even knew there was a peak. Destroying a couple of universes was a very effective way of discovering that fact though, and she had maxed out her negative karma long before her positive. It had taken hundreds of lifetimes to get enough positive Karma to match. Karma was after all largely dependent on the principles of self-actualization, and she’d seen those lives as a penance of sorts. It was a good thing the two somewhat canceled each other out, and her True Name took care of the rest. Nowadays she was subject to the whims of karma only because she wasn’t actively warding the effects off. Life was more interesting this way, though it did come with some consequences. Those consequences were part of what made it interesting though.

The other test had been a stroke of luck, or in this case, her Tressym bloodline manifesting again. The arrays controlling these tests were simply unable to copy the level of purity her mana and Aura had, so her copy had actually been significantly weaker than she was. It also didn’t have access to some of her stranger abilities, so a battle would’ve been pointless. As it wasn’t in her nature to fight fruitless battles, it wasn’t in the copy’s nature either. That’s why the copy had simply surrendered. Hou Yi had managed to slide through the crack she had created mostly because he simply thought he should be able to, and she’d already created the precedent. Ashanti could’ve probably done the same if he hadn’t been so battle-crazy by nature. Even his copy would’ve inherited that trait.

As she reached the end of the tunnel, she came to a large open area with an illusory sky above. There were several buildings and forested areas in the surroundings as well. A large stone stele had been placed right in front, and the stele was covered in writing in many different languages and scripts. Apparently, there would be no more tests, but she wouldn’t be able to get her reward until a sufficient number of people had made their way to this place. If she had been the only one to take the tests, then she would be able to pick immediately, but as there were more than enough hopeful explorers, she had to wait until nine people had arrived, or the last set of tests she had passed through was empty. If no more groups of three had been formed by the time the last person taking the lasts tests finished, then those that had passed the tests would be able to take their rewards and leave. Any hostile action taken in this area would immediately disqualify you of course.

The selection of the rewards was also quite strict. The rewards could all be found inside the large black pyramid at the center of the open area, and as the first person to have reached the goal, she’d be able to pick first. There was a trick to the selection of rewards though. They would all have to silently make their selections at the same time, and if more than one person picked the same reward, then the one who arrived first would get it, while the other person would have to leave empty-handed. There was nothing stopping them from working out the rewards beforehand, as even now she could go and view all the rewards on offer, but that required trusting those ahead of you in the order.

"It seems the theme of sick sense of humor still prevails," Karna spoke mostly to herself.

“Should we go and check out the rewards?” Gem asked while materializing as a Faerie Dragon again. Apparently, spirits didn't count and would not be able to pick rewards, which was only fair since they didn't have to go through the tests either.

“We might as well. It’s going to take a while for the rest of them to arrive. They made the last test long on purpose as they likely wanted to make sure enough people would be able to form groups of three. And depending on their karma, some of the latecomers might still have an opportunity to create an upset. I’m quite sure both Ashanti and father will take a long time to get through that last test.” Karna walked towards the black structure visible in the distance.

“Want to make a bet on who gets through first?” Gem suggested.

“I don’t mind, but what are the stakes?” Karna was always up for a little added excitement.

“How about the loser has to do any one thing the winner demands?” The mischievous spirit suggested.

“Bold of you. That’s a very open-ended bet.” Karna wasn’t one to shy away from a bit of risk though. “Sure, let’s do it. Since you suggested the bet and the stakes, I assume I get to pick first? I’ll pick Shaheera.”

“Ah, you went with the safe and uninteresting pick. You should know better though. That’s not how Karma works.” Gem did a little wordplay, giving her words a double meaning. Shaheera was by far the youngest of the six in their two groups of three, and he naturally hadn’t had the chance to gather too much negative karma, so as far as bets went, he was very safe. “I’m going to go with a risky pick and choose the archer boy.”

“Bold. Very bold. He’s a reincarnator, and not a very young one either. I could see someone like Mayumi doing well, but him? Seems unlikely. Why him?” Karna was caught off guard by Gem’s pick.

“Couple of reasons. First of all, I get the feeling that while he isn’t a good person exactly, he’s a fairly straightforward one. I doubt he’d gather too much negative karma as he’s the type that won’t go against his own convictions, even if those convictions wouldn’t be seen as a moral good by most people. He might kill a few people, but I doubt he’d kill innocents just for sport. Secondly, he seems like the stubborn type that could tirelessly power through that last test even if he is at a disadvantage. Those are not the main reason though. The main reason is that him being the second would be the most interesting result.” Gem was the type that would make tactically odd choices just because it would make things more interesting. Annoyingly, she often ended up being right, just because that’s just how things tended to work when they were involved.

“Interesting, why?” Karna narrowed her eyes.

“Others might not have heard what you whispered that annoying little bint back there, but I did. You might have meant it as a joke and a way to rile her up, but if I win this bet, I’m going to hold you to your threat.” Gem cackled.

“You wouldn’t!” Karna exclaimed, though she knew better.

“Oh yes I would, and I’m going to watch.” Gem crowed.

“So that’s what this is about. You just want to watch. A pervy spirit, that’s what you are.” Somehow, she knew Gem would end up being right. Not that she was all that opposed to the idea. He wouldn’t be the first ‘enemy’ she bedded in her numerous lives.

Their banter continued until they reached the pyramid, at which point they got something else to think about. “A whole structure made of Blackstone! And several obelisks as well!” Karna clapped her hands out of giddy expectation. The material the pyramid was made of was more precious than anything they’d seen so far on this world, with the possible exception of the gauntlets she’d found.

“Can we take it with us?” Gem asked eagerly. They’d worked with the material before and she knew just how useful it could be. The obelisks surrounding the huge pyramid were made of the same material as well.

“We’ll have to see. I think the testers might appreciate the humor if I were to ask for the pyramid instead of another reward.” Karna speculated while walking inside the building.

As they entered, the insides of the pyramid were actually fairly narrow, which was good news as that meant there was more of the dark material. Inside there was a singular central chamber with nine podiums for nine people to stand on. Surrounding the central chamber were nine smaller rooms with the rewards placed on display. The differences between the five ‘worst’ rewards were not large. There were two weapons with a bit of divine power inside them, two techniques inscribed on jade slips ready to be studied, and a single huge chunk of a very precious metal perfect for creating a weapon or armor.

It was the four best rewards that stole the show. The first one was a pill that Karna identified as one that would allow someone at the ninth rank to reach immortality very quickly and with relatively few side effects. The second one was a vial full of blood and judging by the carvings surrounding the bottle the blood came from an immortal ranked dragon. If she had to guess, Karna assumed it would be the distilled blood essence that would allow someone to give themselves a draconic bloodline. The third prize was a collection of techniques, the usefulness which was a little hard to judge without studying them, but judging by the fact they had been positioned as the second-best reward, they must be fairly powerful.

It was the first-place prize that drew Karna’s and Gem’s attention though. “Seriously? They have a spark of divinity as a reward?” Gem asked with a bit of shock. The thing was a literal spark of glowing energy radiating divine power. Anyone that acquired the spark would take their first step towards reaching godhood.

Karna wasn’t looking at the spark though. She was staring at the decorated purple and gold pillow that the spark was laying on top of. The pillow was soaking in the divinity of the spark, and she could sense it had become a divine object as well. She was practically drooling at the possibilities. “The rules stated that we could pick any object here, right? It didn’t have to be one of the prizes, did it?”

“Karna?” Gem asked in a judging tone. “Your draconic nature is leaking.”

“Well, look. The spark would be useless to us. We’ll gain one naturally anyway. Still, I still think that the only thing that can compete with the pil-, I mean with the spark is the pyramid itself.” Karna corrected herself.

“Uh-huh. So, let’s pick the pyramid then. Do not pick the pillow!” Gem argued waving her tiny paw at Karna’s face.

“But I wanna!” Karna cried out, fully prepared to throw a tantrum quite unbefitting her age.

--------

“Someone’s finally approaching.” Karna stood up and stretched her body a bit. The last week had not been wasted as she’d spent the entire time cultivating. She had no idea what was going on outside, but the level of divine power inside this place seemed to only be growing thicker, and it had already been a very good place to cultivate before she had started. She wasn’t too far from reaching the sixth rank, which would allow her to effectively fight even rank nine enemies, even if someone like Arjuna might be a bit much.

“Time to see who won.” Gem stated happily, already certain of her victory. She knew how her master’s karma worked.

“Just so you know, since you decided to use your command in such a way, I’m going to have you assume the form of a tiny puppy for the next twenty years, and you’ll have to wear cute and tiny dresses the entire time.” Karna threatened the spirit.

“We both know you’re not going to win so doesn’t matter. Now let’s get to it.” Gem stated fearlessly. She wasn’t wrong either, as Karna could already sense the person that had arrived was not Shaheera. Nor was the person powerful enough to be Ashanti or Arjuna. That only left Hou Yi or the other reincarnator man that had gone with Arjuna and Shaheera.

They exited the simple building near the black pyramid, which they had been inhabiting for the last week, and made their way towards the stone stele. There they could see Hou Yi reading the instructions. “Bingo.” Gem whispered in a gleeful voice. “You know what to do.”

“Fine, fine, you pervy spirit. It takes two to tango though. He might refuse.” Karna pointed out.

“Hah! We both know that’s not going to happen. Not if you put in any effort. And I expect you to put in enough effort. I expect a proper show as well.” Gem shot down her attempt to deflect.

“Welcome to the finish line.” Karna greeted Hou Yi in a warm voice, knowing that he would appreciate a bit of geniality after the ordeal he’d been through.

“Thank you.” The man gave a genuine heartfelt thanks. “Was that truly the last test?”

“Yes. The stele is quite accurate in its description. You can view the prizes inside the pyramid, and some of them are quite nice indeed. However, we won’t be able to pick any prizes until nine people make it here. And as you well know, that might take a while.” Karna explained while purposefully standing quite close to the man.

She took a good look at him from head to toes. The man was relatively handsome, at least enough to somewhat justify the obsession of the crazy woman, and he was well-built with lean and powerful muscle. A very typical body type for reincarnators that knew what they were doing. She certainly had no complaints about him appearance-wise, and truth be told she found the idea kind of attractive in a wicked sort of way. She hadn’t had a partner since the elven prince and could really use one after all this time. The idea of boffing someone that could be considered an enemy of sorts, and someone she still planned on taking vengeance on, had a sort of a forbidden appeal to it as well. Besides, anger could make for interesting partners.

"I believe that and I'm eager to see them, but I really need some rest after what I’ve been through.” Hou Yi said emphatically with a bone-tired voice.

“Understandable. The buildings around the pyramid have private spaces for rest, and while there are no bathing houses, there’s a very beautiful pond not too far in that forest.” She pointed to the side. A plan of sorts was already forming in her head.

Chapter 69+++ -A different type of revenge.

A note from Vihyungrang

Just so everyone's clear, these two arent' smashing just because Karna made a bet. Also, she's being called Karma in this chapter because that's how Hou Yi knows her, and I wanted to keep it consistent. Just to remind everyone, +++ means mostly just sex and little to no plot content. Also remember, this is fantasy sex and not even supposed to be too realistic.

That said, this came off a little different than I planned. Still, it's chapter 69 so I'm not giving up on the idea. I hope you all enjoy!

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Hou Yi woke up slightly groggy after a night of deep slumber. The woman he knew as Karma had directed him towards one of the buildings that had been constructed around the area. He'd been too exhausted to really pay attention, but now that he'd managed to get some sleep, he could tell that the building was actually moderately furnished and decorated. It couldn't be called luxurious, but it had the basic trappings for living. He also understood why as Karma had told him that they might have to wait for a while. He'd been too tired to register her words properly, but now he wondered how long they’d have to stay here.

As he'd been sweating profusely during the test of his sins, he felt he could really use a bath or a shower. His clothing was enchanted to be self-cleaning, and he could probably use one of a myriad of techniques to clean himself, but with how sore he was, a good long soak in a bath followed by some stretching sounded like a much better idea. He looked around the building a bit but didn’t find anything like a bath. He eventually remembered that Karma had mentioned a pond in the forest nearby, and while a cool dip didn’t sound quite as inviting as a hot bath, he had already become determined.

As he wandered out and towards the forest where the pond was, he noted that it was nighttime, or at least what passed as one in this place. The sky above him was wholly artificial, but it emulated a standard day and currently, the full moon was shining down on him with a surprising amount of illumination. Thanks to the light provided by the moon, the forest wasn’t all that dark, and he was perfectly capable of seeing in the dark anyway. He could barely recall that it had been something like a morning when he’d arrived, so that meant he’d slept the entire day.

His musings were interrupted by the sound of splashing water, and he froze in place. Despite the earlier sluggishness, he suddenly found his mind working extremely fast. He was going towards the only bathing spot in the area, as far as he knew, and there was only one person here aside from him. Thus, it didn’t take too long to understand what was going on. He had almost just walked in on Karma having a bath, and he didn’t want to imagine her reaction.

"Well, are you just going to stand there like an idiot, or are you going to join me?" A soft and very charming voice called out to him. "The water is much warmer than you'd expect."

Hou Yi was torn and confused. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t tempted. Leaving could be taken as an insult, but so could accepting the invitation if it wasn’t serious. Either choice he made could be taken the wrong way. His curiosity and sense of intrigue won in the end, and he continued to walk through the forest and towards the sound. Just before reaching the pond, he came upon a neatly folded pile of clothing that looked quite familiar. He stepped through the last trees just in time to see Karma flipping her wet hair back and straightening her back as drops of water were thrown around.

He wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved when he noted that she wasn’t bathing nude. No, if he was being honest with himself, he was definitely disappointed, because even clad in undergarments the sight was spectacular. The very small pair of skin-tone panties sunk very slightly into the soft flesh of her round and full derriere. The tiny piece of cloth didn't really cover much and didn't leave much to the imagination, but it was still better than the lace bra that held up her magnificent breasts that proudly jutted out from her chest. From his vantage point, he could see that the bra only barely covered her nipples and practically put the alluring mounds on display.

A peal of laughter brought him out of his stupor, and he realized he’d been caught staring. Not a big surprise there. Despite Karma being a dangerous woman and even a potential enemy, Hou Yi had to admit she was also the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in any of his lives, and that included his beloved wife from legends Chang’e, so he couldn’t just blame her divinity affecting his senses. The perfect golden ratio of her flawless face combined with a body that seemed to be purposefully designed for sinning made for a powerful combination. And he’d been staring again, as evidenced by another bout of laughter.

“If you like the view so much, you might want to paint a picture. That’ll last longer.” Karma joked, while gaily covering her mouth with her hand while she giggled.

“You are quite picturesque.” Hou YI admitted freely, as there was no point in denying the facts.

“I bet you wish there was something different about this picture though.” She suggestively pushed the strap of her bra down one shoulder while smiling playfully. Hou YI noticed that despite the support going away, the breast didn’t seem to sag.

“Yes, well, I will not deny that the picture would improve without the offending garments, though there is also a certain amount of allure in tastefully hiding something.” Hou YI philosophized while his eyes were glued to the edge of her bra. The moonlight was drawing alluring shadows on her skin, and it seemed like her areola was peeking from beneath the lace just a bit. The light pink coloring was easy to miss, but his eyesight was that of a master archer.

"I agree," Karma replied. That’s why she’d kept the garments on after all. “I believe you are here to bathe as well, are you not? It would be really difficult with all that clothing. And well, if you complete your picture, maybe I’ll complete mine.” She said quite suggestively.

Her words had not even registered completely before Hou YI was already pulling off his still dirty clothing. He wasted no time in undressing completely, although he hesitated just a little in removing his own pants, but finally stood fully in the nude before he waded into the pond that only came up to his waist at the deepest point. “I believe I did my part.” He wanted to see just how far she would take this game, which was becoming very intriguing.

“So you did.” Karma licked her lips seductively while admiring his form openly. Hou YI was quite proud of his body and for a reason. He was built like a god himself, and his body was the result of hard work and almost constant struggle. He was surprisingly built for an archer, his arms especially filled with thick and powerful muscles that had not shown under his clothing, and his entire body seemed hard enough to have been chiseled from marble by some masterful sculptor. Karma also noted that he’d taken the opportunity to refine a certain part of his body, just like most male cultivators and mages. Either that or he was extremely well-hung by nature. Not that she was a size-queen.

She shrugged her shoulders in a way that did marvelous things to her breasts, and the other strap also slid down her shoulder as she pulled the garment away and tossed it to the nearby stones. Hou YI was forced to swallow as his mouth felt dry as her breasts bounced up and down with her movements, the now bare pink nipples drawing little figures in the air. “I see the picture isn’t quite complete yet.” He stated a little hoarsely.

“Well, there’s a little secret trick to that.” She smiled boldly in reply and ran her finger along the edge of her panties, causing them to somehow disappear in a shower of small sparks. “I wasn’t really wearing any in the first place.” She explained.

"Naughty." Hou YI replied with a playful voice and watched in fascination as she waded closer, he noted that she was just as tall as he was, although he could've sworn she had been shorter not too long ago, which left most of her divine body out of the water as she stood less than an arm's length away, before running a finger along one of the scars on his chest.

“You could easily have these removed.” She commented, her voice now clearly containing some heat.

“Yes, I could, but a few scars are hardly an issue.” He took a hold of her hand. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”

“Am I? What makes it so dangerous? We’re all alone here, and we might be for some time. There’s very little to spend time with, except cultivation.” Her intention was now quite clear.

“It’s dangerous because if we start going down this road, I’m not going to stop halfway.” He brought her hand to his lips.

"And who said I expect you to stop? As I said, there's very little to do aside from cultivation, and here we have a wonderful way to pass some time." Following her statement, Karma bent her body forward, her breasts pressing against him as she bit the lobe of his right ear playfully.

“Well, then, I’m certainly not going to refuse an invitation like that.” His hand went straight to her pert and plump posterior and pulled her lower body against his as well. Her butt felt very firm, yet at the same time soft enough for his fingers to sink into. He also felt like he could easily pick her up just by lifting her butt a bit.

"Good. See that you don't." She breathed hotly against his lips, just before they overlapped. Her lips were extremely soft against his and he eagerly returned the kiss. Those luscious lips soon parted, allowing their tongues to intertwine in a duel of passion, something that was rising inside both of them quite quickly.

His hands caressed her thighs a bit before he took a firm hold of her butt, and following his earlier instinct, picked her up. Her legs immediately went to surround his waist and he started carrying her as he waded towards the shore. By the time they reached land, Karma could feel his rock-hard manhood pushing against her lower lips and extending beyond her butt. He knelt on the grassy ground just in front of his clothes, holding her in his lap for a moment before leaning over her so that she was laying on top of his clothes instead of the ground while he was on top of her. At this point, both of their bodies were burning with expectations and desire.

Now that he no longer had to hold her up, his hands went immediately to caress those luscious mounds that had held his attention so completely earlier. He gently stroked and kneaded the outsides of both large mounds before moving his hands to her nipples that were already turgid and hard from excitement. He slowly started playing with the little nubs, teasing and rubbing them before getting a little more aggressive and gently pulling and twisting on them, testing her reaction. She moaned approvingly into his mouth. Clearly, she wasn't the type that was too tender.

The duel of their tongues hadn’t stopped for a moment since it had started and they were both excellent kissers, knowing exactly how to tease and play with the other to elicit the best reaction. Now they finally separated for a small moment as Hou YI looked straight into her eyes, seeing them filled with lust and passion. “Last chance to back out.” He warned.

“Not a chance. You really should show a bit more courage in situations like this.” She replied firmly before unhooking her legs from behind his back and spreading them wide open to her sides, giving him all the space he needed to move, a naked invitation if he’d ever seen one.

Hou Yi snaked one of his hands down her body. making sure to caress every bit of exposed skin on the way, before his fingers came to her lower lips. As he ran a finger between her labia, it became quite obvious that she was more than wet enough. Neither of them seemed all that interested in extended foreplay, so he palmed his manhood before placing it at the mouth of her opening. Then he pushed inside. “Ahn!” She released a clear and lust-filled moan as she felt him split her open.

It was one thing to see that he was well-hung, but it was another to feel that manhood inside of you as it spread you open in all the best ways. His cock was very hard and forced its way inside her relatively easily despite how tight she was and how hard she squeezed down on him. It also helped that she was more than wet enough, allowing for a velvety-smooth experience as he slid inside her. The head of his cock was especially large and the way it rubbed her insides as it pushed inside felt good in all the right ways. Karma once again thanked her foresight in making changes to her body as the stiff and hard member pushed straight through her cervix and into her womb. She actually came a little when she felt her pussy finally tighten around the base of his cock. This was it! This was the feeling!

Hou YI on the other hand couldn’t believe how easily she took his entire length despite being so tight. “Divines you feel so good!” He exclaimed as he bottomed out, feeling his balls rest against her crotch. Normally he would’ve started out slowly and gently, but this was a woman that had taken his arm earlier and had now purposefully seduced him, so he planned on giving her exactly what she wanted.

He pulled back with his hips before thrusting back inside her hard and fast, their bodies coming together in an audible slap. There was no gentleness lost in the way he started thrusting inside her, their bodies coming together in a quick pace as she rose to meet his every thrust with her own hips. “Aahn-! It feels so good! Harder! Deeper!” She cried out, and he obliged to the best of his ability, her breathing, and moaning growing in intensity as the pace of his thrusting picked up.

“AAAH!” She cried out louder, and suddenly he felt her body shiver and pussy contract as she arched her back and pushed her breasts forward in a way that was impossible to resist. He leaned more over her while pushing her legs up to her sides while also moving his hands to caress her breasts while driving his cock inside her from the top, causing their pace to slow down just a bit due to the slightly awkward position. It was a very empowering feeling to experience a goddess like her cumming while speared on his cock, even if it was clear that it was just a small orgasm, the first of many to come.

“You’re really hot to trot, aren’t you?” He asked a little teasingly.

"Why yes, I am. Why do you think I decided to spend time this way with almost a perfect stranger?" She retorted. "Now less talking and more fucking."

He laughed a bit before sucking one of her nipples into his mouth. The swollen and hard nipple was the perfect size to suck and chew on while also squeezing down on the other breasts with his hand. His hips never stopped working though, and he could feel a pressure start building inside him as he drove his cock inside her with increasing force and pace. The way she worked her internal muscles was quite skillful and made sure this first coupling wouldn’t be a long one. Along with the pressure, something else started building inside him. An instinct that came from the very basic nature of his being, an instinct to breed, to make this woman his. This instinct as well as his own feelings about her, created a desire inside him to dominate her, to show her his manhood and his superiority. For some reason, the instinct to cum inside her rose to a level he’d never felt before, almost to the point of compulsion.

As he was already so lost to his passions, he didn’t even try to resist those instincts, and their ferocious coupling soon came to a head. “I’m going to cum!” He somehow managed to instinctually warn, even if he had no intention of stopping.

“Inside me! Cum inside me!” She cried out. If she could decide, and she could, all her partners would always cum inside her, as that was one of her greatest pleasures.

With a final thrust, he forced his cock deep inside her womb and she could feel it start jumping in place as his thick seed fill her up. She moaned loud and deep as she came again, her body shaking and shivering, her muscles locked tense as rope after rope of cum was pumped inside her, while her pussy did its best to milk him for all he was worth. And he was worth a lot. He hadn’t had the chance to relieve himself for the entire time they were inside the tests, and now it showed. His eyes squeezed shut as his head swam as if he was about to faint. He’d never cum this hard before, and the orgasm lasted longer than ever.

Her legs automatically crossed behind his back again, holding him seated deep inside her while he filled her up. “So much! You’re cumming so much inside me!” She cried out in the throes of her own orgasm. She was a vocal lover and wouldn’t curb that habit now that waves of pleasure crashed over her.

Finally, as he felt the last drops of his cum flow out, he rolled them over, with Karma straddled across his chest and waist, his cock still inside her. “That was…”

She just laughed. “I hope you’re not thinking that was it?” She quickly seemed to regain her energy and sat up on top of him. He could see a bit of his cum dribble out between her lips, as she testily moved her hips back and forth a bit, making sure his cock didn’t show any signs of softening up. “The night is only beginning, and we have several days more than likely.”

She kept moving her hips in circles, using his cock to probe all the best spots inside her, while driving Hou Yi to insanity with the sight of her naked body writhing on top of him, and the fact that her current movements, while feeling great, didn’t bring him any closer to cumming. Yet it also felt good enough that he didn’t want her to stop either. Her hips worked like a belly dancer’s, making quick and small circles and tiny movements.

Just before the frustration grew large enough for Hou Yi to say something, Karma lifted her hips up so that only the very tip of his cock was still inside her, the crown of his cock tugging at her pussy lips. His entire shaft glistened with her juices and his own cum, as if someone had oiled it. Then she allowed gravity to do its job, impaling herself on his cock again with a pleased moan and a satisfied groan escaped his mouth as well. She leaned backwards, placing her hands on his legs while her hips started working up and down on his shaft. Eager to seek a release of his own again, he started meeting her every thrust with his own.

“Nuh-uh.” She immediately put a stop to that. “You got to have your fun earlier, this one is for me.”

What followed was some of the most enjoyable and excruciating thirty minutes of Hou Yi’s life. Karma rode him expertly, bringing herself to an orgasm after another, but at the same time denied him the opportunity to cum. It was like she could read him like an open book, and just when he was about to cum, she changed the tempo or the angle enough to deny him his release. Yet at the same time, the combination of the way she was making him feel, and the sight of her body on top of his made it hard to complain.

She made sure to keep it up until Hou Yi apologized for attacking her and pleaded for forgiveness about putting her pillows in danger, whatever that meant. Even then she kept torturing him for ten more minutes. And what a wonderful and heart-wrenching torture it was. When she finally relented and allowed him his long-sought release, he came even harder than last time, actually blacking out as he completely emptied his balls inside her.

Just as his consciousness faded, she leaned over him and whispered in his ear. “Oh, and by the way, I promised to do exactly this when I whispered that little fangirl of yours. I don’t make empty threats.”

The last thought in his mind, beyond the pleasure of course, was that Heng’e was going to kill him.

Chapter 70 - Escalation

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to release the next chapter on Monday due to a busy weekend, but we'll see. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”What’s got you so enthralled?” Hou Yi asked with slight trepidation. They had gotten a bit more friendly over the last couple of days. Having sex could do that after all.

“What?” Karna asked looking up, having completely missed what he’d asked. She’d been staring at her wrist in thought.

“I asked what’s got you so enthralled and I can already tell that zoning off like that is not like you. You’re always aware of your surroundings."

“For a good reason, as you should’ve learned by now. Just…had something to think about.” She replied curtly.

She’d been working on a conundrum. It wasn’t so much that the question she was struggling with was difficult to resolve, but that she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. She’d been toying with her new gauntlets a few hours ago, and she’d noticed that the gems set into the bracelet portion now had a fairly significant chunk of power inside. Not enough to really fill more than maybe a few percent of the total capacity, but a significant change when compared to before, and she could sense that power increasing even now, though very slowly.

The problem was, what had caused the increase, and what was causing it right this very moment? It wasn’t more than a handful of days ago that she’d studied the gauntlets while waiting for someone to arrive, and the only significant thing that had happened since then had been Hou Yi’s arrival. More specifically their little tryst. As much as Gem would enjoy the idea of the gauntlets getting charged by her banging people, that seemed unlikely. After all, the power was currently increasing, even if only very marginally. And they were definitely not engaged in sexual acts at the moment. Yet it was clear something connected to the act was the catalyst. The obvious answer was that it was somehow tied to emotions. Thus, a question that had an obvious answer but not one that she necessarily wanted to be answered.

“So, are you going to tell Heng’e and your Boy Toy about what happened? In my opinion, such things should be dealt with directly.” Hou Yi suddenly asked another question, interrupting her train of thought again.

“My what?” Karna had wanted to answer with a different tone, but then she’d caught up with what he’d said, and couldn’t keep the bewilderment from her voice. Who was he talking about? Surely not…

"You know, the super-powerful shadow mage? Looks devilishly handsome? Seems a little older than you, but you are a reincarnator so I'm certainly not going to judge." Hou Yi clarified.

She tried to keep her face straight, despite the fact that Gem had just fallen from her perch on a nearby branch. The only reason the spirit wasn’t laughing her ass off was because she could sense Karna was up to something that might bring even greater amusement. “Yes, I think we really should tell them. Your little ‘Girl Toy’ as you so elegantly put it will almost certainly realize anyway, and I want her to learn a lesson from this. In fact, I’ll be the one to tell her. You can tell my ‘Boy Toy’, and I want you to use those exact words when you tell him.” It would be a little cruel to Arjuna, but the opportunity was just too great to pass on.

‘Are you trying to get him killed?’ Gem sent her a mental message laced with giddiness.

‘If the man is stupid enough to do it, then I’ll consider my revenge fulfilled.’ Of course, she’d have to stop Arjuna from killing the guy for now, as it was against the rules of this place. But once they got outside, all bets were off.

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“Finally, the last people arrive!” Ashanti exclaimed. He’d arrived a couple of days ago together with Arjuna. The two men had been a little annoyed that they’d made it at the exact same time and had been arguing ever since about which one would be able to pick their reward first.

“That’s too bad. Couple more days and I would’ve been ready to reach the sixth rank in both Aura and mana.” Karna shook her head at the dual disappointment. She felt that she was getting close to a breakthrough. The second disappointment came from the fact that in addition to not quite reaching the sixth rank, the last person to arrive had not been the annoying woman named Heng’e. It was now highly questionable whether she’d get the chance to face the woman before they were sent out of the tests, and who knew if they’d ever meet again.

‘Perhaps this is for the best. I’m not sure if rubbing something like this in someone’s face, no matter how much that person deserves it, would be very sporting. I should be better than that. I’m not, but I should be.’ She thought to herself. Incidentally, Hou Yi had not self-destructed by talking with Arjuna. Shaheera had managed to out the latter as Karna’s father before Hou Yi had the chance to bring it up. Another disappointment.

“So, should we work out the rewards we want to pick?” Shaheera asked carefully. Karna was not pleased with him due to his loose lips.

"We already have for the most part," Ashanti explained his disciple carelessly.

“Wait, what? Without me?” The young Leonid asked incredulously.

"Who told you to arrive second to last? Your pick doesn't matter anymore." Karna teased him, while at the same time beating herself mentally for betting on him.

She’d known that karma was in large part dependent on how you viewed your own actions deep down. Shaheera had just recently betrayed a friend, and while the betrayal was not the kind that would destroy lives, he must have felt extremely guilty about it internally. He also didn’t have the tenacity of reincarnators or Ashanti and Arjuna to rely on. These were all things she’d considered, but she had underestimated the guilt Shaheera had felt. That, or the guy had done something much worse in the past that she didn’t know about.

“So, what are we picking?” Shaheera asked.

“I’m picking the pill, as befits my rank. The guy who got here second will take the spark.” Ashanti explained.

“He’s getting the spark? Really?” Shaheera lifted his eyebrow in question before looking at Arjuna and Karna. “What about you?”

"You don't have to worry about us," Karna stated in a chipper voice.

"She's already forcing me to pick something else," Arjuna said in a deadpan voice while pointing at Karna. She'd explained to him the downsides of using a spark that you didn't gain naturally and had promised to concoct a copy of the rank-up pill if he picked what she wanted. The only reason she hadn't done it before was because she thought it better to advance naturally as opposed to relying on a pill. And it was obvious what she wanted in exchange.

“Alright, since we’re all here, shall we move on to the main event then? I’m sure we’re all eager to get out of here by now.” The leader of the group of reincarnators, known as Yao, announced. He’d been the person to arrive just before Shaheera.

“Yes, let’s.” Ashanti agreed in everyone’s stead. They all moved inside the pyramid and took their places on the nine podiums. They had finally determined that Arjuna had arrived before Ashanti simply by taking their spots on the podiums, as the podiums only allowed the correct person to stand on it. Once they all took their places, they all heard a pleasant female voice that had a slight synthetic quality to it speaking.

“All the worthy victors have arrived. Make your selections and keep the prize you want firmly in your mind. Remember, if someone ahead of you picks the same reward, you’ll have to go without.” The voice reiterated the main points.

Karna noted that a light shone down on everyone as soon as they had made their selection, confirming that they’d made a choice and it had been approved. She was quite happy to see the light fall on Arjuna, as she hadn’t been sure if the pillow would be accepted as a separate reward. She’d taken a bit of a chance in allowing the pillow to fall to the third place, but the main reward in her mind was simply too juicy to risk, even for a pillow as magnificent as that. As she fixed the pyramid itself in her own mind, it took a while for the light to fall on her, as if the system considered her choice and finally decided to grant it.

The objects flew out of the little rooms they had been placed inside of, and the fact that two rewards seemed to fly out of a single room but to different people seemed to shock and surprise some. “Really?” Ashanti looked at Arjuna with pitying eyes as he noted the pillow in his hands.

“Hey, it’s for my daughter.” Arjuna protested feebly.

“What about you?” Hou Yi asked, noticing Karna was empty-handed. As she’d been the first to arrive, no one else could’ve picked her rewards over her.

“Oh, it’s coming.” Karna grinned as the entire building started shaking. “You all might want to exit this place right about now.”

Despite the playful tone in her voice, everyone followed her advice and rushed outside. There they watched as the entire pyramid and the surrounding obelisks seemed to shrink into a miniature size and float above Karna’s palm. She had been ejected outside the pyramid as well and was floating in the air above the spot the pyramid had previously occupied. “Muhaha! I’m already feeling expectant!” She laughed in a quite evil way. The miniature soon disappeared, and the others were not sure where it had gone. The pillow in Arjuna’s hand vanished at the same time, and only Karna knew where she’d stored them.

She felt the space around them fraying. “Time to go father. We’re about to be ejected from this place!”

“Understood.” He reacted immediately. They’d planned this beforehand, and he vanished into her shadow once again.

“See you on the other side. If we’ll see you. I’m sensing that there’s trouble waiting for us once we get outside.” Karna gave a very casual salute to Ashanti and Shaheera. While she couldn’t fully control their exit spot from this weird space, she could have some influence over it. And she wasn’t planning on coming out inside the storm this time. The space above the world should be relatively safe…

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“Son of a bitch.” Tsumi cursed as the ship shook as another shot hit the magical protections. The skill of whoever had attacked them was notable as some of the energy had bled through the protective bubble and had managed to hit the hull.

“The port side protective barrier is starting to bleed through. The protective runes withstood the damage, but we’re going to get more of that soon if we don’t get out of the line of fire.” One of the bridge crew reported.

“Have our mages focus on that side. If anyone has protective spirits they can summon, now would be an excellent time. Slowly start reversing away from our current position.” Tsumi ordered. The really shitty thing was that they had not even been the true targets of that last attack. The energy that had hit them was just something that had either been deflected away or missed its original target.

“We can’t. The protective bubble of the Golden Order is behind us and they’re not letting anyone not part of their order inside.” Another officer reminded.

The Golden Order was a large group of monks from the Divine Planes that had been sent as reinforcements to the ongoing battle. Hundreds of monks sat in the lotus position on prayer mats floating in place, while several golden giants that looked like statues hung behind them. Despite their limited numbers, these monks were the most powerful part of the Host currently present on the weird battlefield. Roughly half of the monks were focusing on keeping up a golden barrier that kept away any attackers. The other half had their palms pointed outwards towards the attackers with streams of golden energy cutting down anything and everything they designated as the enemy. If the battle had still been the simple battle against demons, then the presence of the Golden Order would’ve already resolved the battle.

The problem was that the original two-way battle had turned into a four-way clusterfuck. The forces of the Underworld showing up had not been too much of a shock, although a problem. The two Scourges didn’t get along much better than they did with the Host. What made things really complicated was the presence of a large but ragtag group of ships that fired indiscriminately at everything, likely due to getting caught in the crossfire. The ships were completely unidentified and nothing like what Tsumi had seen before.

She sensed very little magic or even Ki inside, but what they lacked in power they made up in what she assumed to be technology. There might not be any mana in their attacks, but a beam of energy that moved at speed of light was nigh impossible to dodge and carried just as much destructive energy as most mid-level spells. The only thing that came even close to these ships were those they’d seen while traveling to this world, as they’d run into a fragment of a station that seemed to come from outside the universe according to Karna. It stood to reason that these ships had also been caught up in the Expansion.

“Skirt the protective bubble and try to stay out of the line of fire.” Tsumi gave an order, just as her senses picked up something on the world below. It was quite hard to miss in fact as the entire world seemed to be covered by spatial disturbances for a moment.

It only took seconds after the disturbance before she sensed another, this time on the wards stopping anyone from boarding the ship without permission. Unlike last time when the immortal had just forced their way with pure power, this time someone had slipped inside between the cracks that Tsumi hadn’t even known existed. “What’s the damn point in these wards if just anyone can board anyway?!” She cursed and prepared for battle.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I’m not just anyone after all.” The response came from a relatively large phoenix that appeared in a burst of blue-ish white fire. “Now what the heck happened here? How did you manage to gather this many enemies in such a short time?”

“Hey, they’re not shooting at us.” The protective barrier was hit again at perfect timing. “Well mostly.” Tsumi shrugged.

“Let's save the explanations for later I suppose. It’s time we get out of this mess.” Karna shifted straight into the form of a small cat and landed on the navigation orb.

“The whole area is locked down!” Tsumi warned hastily. They’d already suffered the consequences of one failed attempt to leave. “Do you think I’d still be here if it wasn’t?”

“Yes, you would. You’re a big softie and would never abandon your disciple. Oh, and Arjuna. Well, we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way then.”

Their ship accelerated to full speed and took a course directly away from the heart of the battle. This of course drew attention. They weren’t the only ones attempting to make a hasty exit, but as the ones with the fastest speed they drew the most attention as all sorts of weapons and spells were directed their way. Yet somehow even those beams of light that had been so impossible to dodge before seemed to miss this time. Some of them seemed to fly astray with poor aim, while the more accurate shots hit something else on the way. Tsumi could’ve sworn she even sensed one beam actually curve around their ship, though that made absolutely no sense.

At the same time, Arjuna slipped out of his daughter's shadow and looked around the bridge. "What happened here?"

“I think that’s my question. What took you so long?” Tsumi asked in a frustrated voice.

“No need to be snippy. The tests were much longer and more annoying than we could’ve predicted.” Arjuna explained lightly as their ship made a sudden swerve that would’ve thrown anyone weaker around. Someone weaker, like the rest of the bridge crew that were tossed around mercilessly.

"Hey! Watch it, Karna!" Tsumi shouted.

“Would you rather get hit by a meteor traveling at near relativistic speeds? No? Didn’t think so.” Karna shot back.

“Any sign of Ashanti and their ship?” Arjuna asked curiously.

“They left in the opposite direction. Don’t know if they’re going to make it out. Their problem, not mine.” Karna had to focus on dodging, so her words were somewhat callous.

“How very cold of you.” Tsumi pointed out.

“Eh, it’s Ashanti. He’ll be fine.” Arjuna stated. “And if not…well, that will give us certain opportunities as well. Though it would be too bad about the rest of the crew.”

“Did you at least get something worth all the trouble?” Tsumi asked while holding on to a railing as the ship swerved again.

“That’s…something I’d like to know as well.” Arjuna turned towards Karna.

“We did. Or at least I did. I got the materials required to build my own wizard’s tower.” She didn’t even bother mentioning the pillow, which alone was worth everything they’d gone through. “All self-respecting magic users should have a wizard’s tower of sorts.”

“Not to rain on your parade, but will you be sticking around on our world from now on? And if not, wouldn’t a stationary tower be somewhat wasted?” Tsumi questioned. Karna had been keeping away the last years.

“What are you talking about? Just because I call it a tower, that doesn’t actually mean it has to be a building tied to a single spot. Or even an actual tower. It’s going to double as a vessel to use for travel as well.” Karna countered. Stationary towers were so old-fashioned.

Chapter 71 - Questioning/Interrogation?

A note from Vihyungrang

Phew! Managed to get this one out. It's admittedly a little rushed and I have no idea how I'll manage the next one, but...eh, that's the problem of tomorrow's me. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

Hou Yi cracked his eyes as he sensed people entering the other room next to the one he was in. A big pane of one-sided mirror separated the two rooms, something he was used to seeing in such situations. The people in the other room would be able to see him, while all he saw was a mirror. The mirror was made of some advanced and very sturdy material that had also been reinforced with magical runes. He’d tried to break the glass on pure principle, although he hadn’t made a real effort. Their captors had treated him and his companions cordially, so he was willing to return the favor for now.

They had attempted to escape after the tests had ended and the storm had spat them out, but their ship had been destroyed by demons, and there wasn’t really any effective way to leave the world without a fast and maneuverable vessel. Still, they had been strong enough to defend themselves against the stray demons that wandered their way, and they could always retreat inside the storm if things got too hairy, thanks to Heng’e’s protective spells. Things had looked rather positive as the presence of the immortal order of monks had given the Host an advantage and they seemed to be winning, which would’ve likely allowed Hou Yi and his companions to leave peacefully. He might have been forced to give up the Spark of Divinity as a price of their freedom, but they had no grudge with the Host. However, things had taken an odd turn.

To their shock, it hadn’t been the Host or even one of the two Scourges present that gained victory. It had been the strange ships that relied on technology. The ships had been on the losing side until a particularly large vessel had appeared. More specifically, a being on that ship. Hou Yi had not been able to see what had happened exactly, but they had all felt the power of the being as they had flashed their might as a warning to the other parties present, causing the Host and the Scourges to retreat. Despite his previous experience, the comparatively low rank of his current body made it impossible to estimate what the rank of that being was, but it had to be at least twelve, which would make the being an equivalent to a Golden Immortal or a mid-ranking Deity. What a being of that rank was doing here was an open question.

Their party had been among those that had been captured on the surface of the world and they had been brought aboard the large vessel shaped like a fish. They’d almost burst into laughter once they saw the ship that looked like an enormous goldfish, except they knew the situation was too serious to do so. They had been treated well after their capture, and the capture itself had been peaceful. They had been separated and questioned once they had been brought on board, but that had apparently been done to stop them from agreeing on stories, as they were provided with comfortable quarters and even quick glances of their companions to ensure they were all alive and well.

In fact, Hou Yi was pretty sure that among the handful of people on the other side of the mirror was at least one of his companions. Lakshmi if his senses were accurate. It was hard to say for sure as the runes etched on the mirror were rather skillfully made. Their presence implied that someone was going to question him again soon. That should have been fairly obvious anyway, since they wouldn’t have brought him into this room otherwise. So far, the questions had been quite general in nature. It was as if these people had only just arrived in this universe.

His hunch proved correct as the door to the room was pushed open and a woman walked inside. The woman was decidedly different from anyone he’d seen before for many reasons. For one, she was apparently a human in appearance, though there was a weird ethereal quality about her. Most of the people he’d seen so far were from a dozen different races, but no humans before now. From what little he could see, she seemed fairly attractive, though nothing out of the ordinary. Secondly, he couldn’t sense her power at all. It was like she wasn’t there. Thirdly, unlike everyone else he’d seen so far, she was clad in a complete and ornate plate armor made of some dark metal. Only her face was visible as her hair was also covered by a black cloth hood. The front of her armor was covered with a tabard that bore the symbol of crossroads for some reason. Hou Yi personally called the type of cloth she wore paladin crotch flaps, as it was usually the holy warriors that wore them.

The fourth odd thing was that the woman was cradling a tiny dragon in her arms. It was barely larger than his palm, and it had green scales all over its body. Interestingly it also had hood-like protrusions on its neck, making it look like a cobra-dragon or something similar. The woman closed the door behind her but left it unlocked, seemingly confident in her own ability to contain him with her powers. She sat in front of him, with a simple metal table typical for such interrogations between them, still cradling the little dragon in her lap. The tiny being glanced lazily in his direction.

“Hou Yi, I presume? True Name Celestial Archer.” The woman asked in a pleasant voice.

‘Well, this is a little interesting. She's throwing around my True Name so easily.' He thought to himself while answering. "That is correct."

“We wanted to confirm a few things. We’ve questioned both your companions as well as the others we captured, and there are a few details about your answers that seem either a little odd, or just need some clarification.” The woman continued with a voice and tone that you’d expect from someone working in a service industry instead of an interrogator.

“Confirm away, although I do have a question of my own, if I may?” He also wanted some answers.

“I assume this has to do with your release, yes? We have not yet determined what we’ll do with you exactly. Some of the others we caught attacked our people and might have to bear the consequences, though we were not currently planning on killing them. Your group came willingly, so we bear no animus towards you. You’ve also provided us with information, albeit maybe not all that willingly. The fact remains though, that as you’ve likely already guessed, we are strangers to this universe, and that places certain limitations on us. For now, you will remain in our custody, and if an opportunity should present itself, you may be either set free or used as a bargaining chip with other groups. Exchange of prisoners and that sort of thing.” The woman seemed quite honest and frank in her words, which made her words all the more alarming.

Notably, their gear had not been touched, as they’d even been allowed to keep their weapons. Shockingly, they hadn’t even confiscated the Spark of Divinity. “That’s both reassuring and worrying.” He said honestly.

“Life sometimes is. Now, on to my questions. We discussed about the parties involved in the previous battle, and two of them were identified as Scourges. Interestingly, the others mentioned them as two of the three Scourges. You said two of the four. Now some might think you were trying to lie to us, but the person questioning you said you seemed quite genuine with your words. Would you like to clarify?” The woman looked directly into his eyes, and he could sense she would be able to detect any lies.

“Most people I’ve heard also speak of only three. However, I’ve…been born in this universe before, and back then there were four. I do not know if the last one was defeated, or if they’re simply laying low. Knowing their nature, it seems unlikely they've been completely wiped out though, so that's why I mentioned four." He was somewhat surprised he was able to acknowledge his nature as a reincarnator. That meant that the woman was also one, and so was everyone observing this interrogation.

“The Underworld, the Netherworld, and the Inferno. What would the fourth one be if they still exist?” The woman asked as if talking about the weather.

“The fourth one had several names. The Hive, Growth, Swarm, Green Tide, and so on.” Hou Yi replied.

“So, a hive-mind species of some nature?” She confirmed.

“It’s a bit hard to explain. It’s not a single species or genus. I’m not even sure if they were plants or insects in nature. They seemed like a mix of both. They could range anywhere from tiny critters and fungi to large beings bigger than this ship. They could also survive in all conditions and regrow from nothing but a bunch of spores. That's why it's a little difficult to believe they're entirely gone.” Hou Yi added.

“Fascinating.” Her voice seemed almost bored. “On to another matter. You mentioned other reincarnators being present on the world we took over. Any Names beyond those of your companions?”

“One. Karma.” Hou Yi saw no reason to keep that a secret when doing so was a potential risk to him and his companions.

Suddenly the tiny dragon in the woman’s lap opened its eyes as it pounced on the table, now suddenly very interested and focused. The tiny form was practically radiating intensity and power, and Hou Yi was suddenly quite sure the tiny dragon was the one that had driven away both the Host and the Scourges in the earlier battle. “Karma is here?! Are you absolutely certain?”

“Y-yes. I checked her Name myself.” How had he forgotten the tiny dragon was present? Naturally, it too had to be a reincarnator to be able to listen in on the discussion.

"Well, well, well. Things just got interesting. She wasn't among those captured, was she?" The tiny dragon looked towards the mirror.

“There was no one with that Name among those captured. We did hear that several ships escaped before our arrival though.” A voice replied though a speaker of some sort.

“So I missed Karma by only a few hours. Well, she doesn’t have the Name for no reason. At least now I know she’s in this universe and somewhere in these so-called Higher Planes. I’ll run into her eventually. Wait…” The tiny dragon suddenly narrowed its eyes. “Maybe she can explain what caused this whole mess. Yes, if anyone has the explanation, then it would be her.” The being seemed to be talking to itself at this point.

“Um, you know her? And who might you be anyway?” Hou Yi inquired carefully. He hoped the tiny but extremely powerful dragon wasn’t an enemy.

“Know her? Hah! I’ve known her longer than most of your kind have lived, all of your lives combined. As for me…well, you can Call me Ysendra. Most don’t know about me, but you should’ve at least heard about a little project Karma and I created together. The Crossroads.” The tiny dragon seemed to be enjoying his reaction.

“T-the Crossroads?!” Yeah, he’d heard about the place. The place in-between. In-between time, universes, magic and technology, and many others. The place had also been ancient even before his first life. And he’d gotten mixed up with the beings who created the place? “Fuck me.”

---------

"That was eventful," Karna commented as she finally brought their ship back to the Magocracy. Most of the ships the Magocracy had were sent to find resources and worlds, so the sudden appearance of a large ship like theirs drew some attention.

“That it was indeed. It’s going to take a while to unload and catalogue all the resources we recovered. It’s going to take even longer to figure out the best way to utilize them.” Tsumi commented while taking a glance at her disciple, still laying on the control orb of the ship in her cat form.

"You do that. I have a construction project to complete." Karna commented and leaped down before stretching in a very cat-like manner. She’d been constantly piloting the ship at top speed since they left, and she'd taken several detours, just in case they had been followed. "Master, can I borrow your private vessel for the project? I want to find a suitably remote location to do my work."

“I’d love to lend you the ship, but I can’t. I’ll have to catch up with our exploration parties as soon as I get the chance to leave. While Wolfgang is quite competent at times, he’s going to have trouble holding up the front by himself.” Tsumi shook her head apologetically.

"I can create a portal for you if you'd like," Arjuna suggested.

“While that would be handy, I’ll have to decline. The same rules from before apply. If someone were to ask you if you know where I am, I want you to be able to honestly say you don’t know. And with the mess that we ran away from, I wouldn’t be surprised if a certain Emissary were to ask some questions. They might not have recognized Arjuna, but they talked directly with Tsumi, so…” Karna shrugged her kitty shoulders.

“So what will you do?” Arjuna asked.

“I guess I’ll have to see just how much my phoenix bloodline has developed.” She said a bit cryptically. “Before that though, I want to see Duskclaw and the little one.”

-----

“Well. I didn’t think I’d be back here so soon.” Karna mused while looking around her at the lair of the business-dragon Llethunaxx.

“I was hoping you’d return Tiny Titan. You always bring such nice business with you. What can I do for you this time?” The blue dragon asked with a cheery voice.

“I need peace and quiet. More specifically, I need someone to make sure I won’t be bothered for a while. I also need a fair bit of space for my project, so this can’t happen in your lair.” Karna made her request.

"You want me to play guard dog in some remote location? For how long?" The dragon seemed less than enthused about the idea. At least in his lair, he had his usual joys.

“Hard to say exactly. I’d say six months or thereabouts.” Karna guesstimated. She had pretty much all the materials for her project thanks to all the acquisitions she’d done beforehand, and the Blackstone was the most important part, but she’d still need to either refine or create some materials herself, which would take some time. There would also be a lot of complicated spellwork required. Not quite as complicated as when she sped up the Expansion, but higher level, which meant she’d either have to spend some time supplying the requisite mana, or she’d need to borrow someone else’s power. Maybe Arjuna and Tsumi would give the whole thing a jump-start when everything was ready?

“Six months in the middle of the biggest rush caused by the Expansion. That’s not going to be cheap.” The dragon haggled, as suited his nature.

"Ah, but you're not taking part in the rush," Karna argued, getting into the spirit of haggling.

“Perhaps not, but I am a business-dragon. I provide materials, services, and contacts to those that do. I’d have to leave much of that business to my cultists…I mean henchmen…I mean subordinates.” The haggling was once again not about the real price as they both already had a price in mind, though different in this case. The haggling was just part of the process and most importantly fun.

After a solid ten minutes of haggling, Karna finally pulled out the vial she’d gotten as a bonus reward from one of the tests she’d passed inside the perpetual storm. “This is my offer.”

“And what would that be?” Llethunaxx asked intrigued. He could sense something that stirred his blood inside the vial.

“This is blood from a Sea Wyrm. Not just any Wyrm though, but one from the Divine Planes that has reached immortality. It’s not quite dragon’s blood, but it can be used to incite your own bloodline, to help it evolve.” She made her pitch. Offering Llethunaxx the blood of a divine dragon could have disastrous consequences, since the dragon was not strong enough to handle consuming it, but a Wyrm? Well, dragons naturally suppressed the other related bloodlines and thus could benefit greatly.

Llethunaxx licked his chops, showing just how intrigued he was. He also knew there was something else, because Karna’s offer was too good. “What’s the catch?”

“Well, the ‘catch’ as you so eloquently put it, is that I may need a bit of help during my project. I’m approaching rank six, but until then, my strength and powers might be somewhat insufficient for the project. Thus I’ll also need you to watch over my next Awakening as well. The same rules as last time, just that the place will be different.” Karna explained.

“What place will it be this time?” Llethunaxx asked suspiciously.

"I haven't yet decided if I should go with the polar region or the deepest ocean. I had a plan, but our recent visit caused some changes to that plan." More specifically, the presence of the gauntlets she’d found made things more complicated. Did she want to address one of her still existing weaknesses, or did she want to take advantage of the possibilities the gauntlets provided? She was intending on both eventually, but which one should she go for first?

“Either way, we’re going to have to deal with some trouble. The sea monsters won’t just leave us alone, and the polar regions are a haven for some quite nasty species.” Llethunaxx nodded. Now the deal seemed much more even.

Chapter 72 - One woman construction crew

A note from Vihyungrang

Yesterday's me is a dick. That's all.

I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

"Do we really have to be here, Tiny Titan?” Llethunaxx asked while giving a small shake of his body. “I’m freezing my tail off. No, really, I think I’ve got frostbite on my tail.” He brought his tail up to Karna’s face, just to show the frost that was gathering on the tip.

“That’s exactly why we’re here. What better place to absorb ice elemental energies." Karna dismissed his complaint. The blizzard around them wasn't exactly helping matters though, and neither was the fact that she was clad in very thin clothing that looked more like a bikini than anything that should be worn in the polar regions. Unfortunately, the attire was necessary to really allow the freezing energies to enter her body. She would’ve been naked if she was alone. Not that it mattered much since the clothing would be destroyed during the process anyway.

"You're getting cold too," Llethunaxx stated defensively and gave a pointed glance towards her chest.

“Okay, A, stop staring at my nipples. And B…no wait, that’s about it.” Karna had to mentally admit that she was cold as well, but she had the benefit of a phoenix bloodline, so the freezing temperatures felt a bit brisk and not really freezing.

They were currently in the polar regions of their world and the temperatures were horrifically low for most races. Even for a dragon like Llethunaxx, staying in these kinds of temperatures for long would be dangerous. The local creatures were not exactly fond of their presence either, and they already had to kill a pair of frost wyrms and a pack of wendigos to clear the area. They didn’t want to be bothered in the middle of the process.

“Cast a warming spell or something. That should keep your tail intact until I’m finished.” She added, before a large magical formation started forming on the ground around her. Previously she had to rely on Arjuna to create a formation that would allow her to draw in all the elemental energies, but now she had the mana to do it herself. And she definitely had more expertise in the matter than her father.

“Right. Bully the friendly business-dragon that’s helping you. That seems smart.” Llethunaxx grumbled.

“A business-dragon that already got paid.” Karna countered.

Llethunaxx had learned from the earlier Awakenings and took enough distance from Karna, so that he would be able to keep an eye on what happened without getting caught in the mix. Unlike the time of Karna’s titan Awakening, this was definitely not his element, and he really didn’t want to be caught in the middle of the upcoming storm. He just hoped he wasn’t underestimating the area affected.

The process itself had become quite familiar to both Karna and Llethunaxx. Once she reached the critical point, all the ice elemental energy in the area started gathering into a large vortex with Karna at its center. The blizzard that had already belted the area turned into one that qualified as a tribulation, which once again didn’t accomplish anything against her, only feeding her Awakening, as well as the formation of the next circle in her magic core. As the energy gathered, she was frozen inside a huge block of ice, seemingly disappearing within the pure glacial chunk of solidified elemental energy.

Where most people would’ve died by freezing to death, the whole process only fed Karna, and once her Awakening reached its peak, the ice shattered while the spectral form of an enormous wolf howled at the sky, making the storm grow even worse and sending all the nearby monsters running away in terror. The spectral wolf seemed to breathe out a cloud of freezing energy, creating a small mountain range out of ice that would not melt without magical heat of similar power. Then the spectral apparition seemed to shrink down before disappearing.

“She really doesn’t half-ass these things, does she?” Llethunaxx grumbled again, while casting several spells to keep himself warm, as the weather was still affected by the ritual and only growing worse. As he landed near the epicenter of the devastation, he found a relatively normal-sized wolf resting on its haunches while panting with exhaustion. The wolf had glowing lines of power near its paws, eyes, and legs that looked like frozen flames, while sparks seemed to be flying off from its tail, showing that the current form was being affected by Karna's other bloodlines. On one paw the glowing lines form the image of a drop of blood, while on her flank the lines formed the image of a laughing cat with wings.

"You didn't come out as a puppy this time," Llethunaxx commented.

“No. I’m no longer a child, nor are my powers so minor anymore. From this point on I won’t have to start off as a baby in the other forms, though this one will grow to be almost as big as you by the time it’s done.” Karna explained, her voice sounding wiser and more experienced somehow.

“So, not a standard frostwolf from what I can see. A beast of the apocalypse unless I’m mistaken.” Llethunaxx suggested. Beasts of the apocalypse were famed monsters that brought forth the end of the world in various stories and legends. Those stories were fictional, but legends had power. Some also called them Divine Beasts, as such things often depended on your point of view. In the end though, such beasts were rather prominent players in the Divine Planes, and often the peak of the various bloodlines that were related to the beast.

“A Vanagandr to be specific.” Karna nodded and shook herself a bit, suddenly releasing a wave of pressure that Llethunaxx had only felt from immortals before. Angry immortals.

“Uuh, Karna?” He asked a little spooked.

“Oh, sorry about that.” She replied and the pressure vanished. “Still getting used to this.”

The sixth Awakening had been a very important step for her, not because there was something inherently special about this one in particular, but because of what it gave her specifically access to. When someone became immortal, they gained access to something called the Soul Space. This was an area inside their souls that reflected their nature and their personality and granted various benefits. Those that were the most gifted or the luckiest managed to develop their Soul Space into something called a Domain that they could manifest in the world, bringing various advantages. Both could be refined further with time and effort.

Perhaps more important than their Soul Space though, the immortals had to take a very large step in their development. They had to start building a totem inside their Domain, and the form and nature of that totem was completely up to the individual. A prolific fire mage for instance could develop a fire-related totem that made all their fire spells much easier to cast, or to cost negligible amounts of mana, or grant much better control over their element, or any of a thousand other benefits that were just as varied as the totems themselves were.

The thing was, she’d already opened her Soul Space countless times in the past, and she’d even created multiple totems, something that should be impossible as the totem represented the core of your being. However, as she had changed several times as a person over her countless lives, so had her nature and values, and so she had been able to create several. Thus, she didn’t really need to re-create or even refine her Soul Space or her totem, as they were already there, just not available. And because of her powerful soul, she got limited access to them even before reaching immortality. She didn't gain their full benefit, not even remotely close, but she could briefly tap into the benefits they granted in a very limited way.

All reincarnators that had become immortals in at least one of their lives had this benefit to some extent, but the timing varied. This is where the benefits of her enormous soul started to really shine, allowing her to gain access to certain things much sooner than most others. Most reincarnators reached this point at rank nine, maybe at rank eight. Only the oldest and most powerful benefitted from rank seven. For a very brief moment, what Llethunaxx had felt was the presence of her Domain, even if it hadn’t manifested properly.

Of course, advantages like these were not free to use. As her body wasn’t really ready to handle the strain of her Domain yet, not to mention utilizing her totems, she was able to manifest that power for a very short amount of time, and the longer she used that power, the longer she would need to spend recovering afterwards. However, for that short time, she was able to easily match any rank nine being on the Higher Planes, with very few skilled exceptions like Arjuna, who would be able to withstand her power until she ran out of time. At least theoretically.

“So what does it do?” Llethunaxx, referring to her new form.

“Ah? Oh, the form. It holds power over ice and frost as you already noticed. One of the most notable things is that it can manifest what’s called a Fimbulwinter, which you can pretty much guess what that does from our surroundings and the worsening weather. On a sidenote, we should probably leave before this gets worse. More importantly, though, the bloodline has three main advantages. Speed, its claws, and the devouring ability. Speed is obvious, but the claws can cut through anything. Theoretically. If I run into a monster of much higher rank, then the effect is obviously reduced, but it's still one of the best possible weapons available. And the form can also devour pretty much anything. The same rules basically apply, but if you need something destroyed, I can just eat it. It might take a while to digest, but…” Karna explained.

Those were the reasons she had chosen the form over others, even though they weren’t the main benefit from this Awakening. She’d always liked the ice element, and now her control over the element was maximized. Additionally, the claws would go extremely well with the gauntlets…

--------

Llethunaxx couldn’t help but be increasingly impressed as literal tons of materials floated around, seemingly without any trouble, at the same time as dozens of magical formations ranging from microscopically tiny to enormous were formed and activated. At the same time, dozens of pieces of material were delicately connected either by mechanical means or just the power of magic. He wasn’t quite sure which impressed him more, the hundreds if not thousands of screws that precisely screwed themselves into place without any apparent input from Karna, or the way different magical and mundane materials shifted from solid to liquid and then back to solid in a matter of seconds. She was doing the work of several full crews of magical and scientifically oriented engineers at the same time and by herself. Which was good since the mix of a tower and a vessel of some sort was unlike anything Llethunaxx had seen before, and it was huge.

Almost the entire island they had appropriated for their private use for the project was covered by the construction project. Much of it was due to what Llethunaxx would’ve called a drydock or a shipyard, but what Karna called a ‘cradle’. Apparently, the term was used with ships that were specifically designed to travel between worlds and even universes, though he wouldn't know about that. No matter what it was called, it looked like a bunch of scaffoldings and things that would hold the separate parts in place while Karna was either resting or just focused on some other part of the project. There were also devices that he had no idea what they were for, but Karna had assured him were absolutely necessary. Apparently, they had to do with creating the mechanical parts of the tower/vessel. According to Karna, you needed to create tools, so that you could create more precise tools, so you could create smaller tools, so that you could maybe finally create something very small and intricate, and the whole concept made his head hurt.

What he did realize was that the whole thing seemed like an unholy mix of magic and science, and it was big. Just the central portion shaped like a pyramid was several hundred meters in all dimensions, and there was supposed to be another larger section surrounding the central core. Unless he was mistaken, the whole thing was supposed to be large enough that smaller airships would be able to dock with it, and even inside it. Currently, only the central core was under construction, and it looked like someone had gutted and disemboweled a pyramid as tons of black stone-like material floated by and seemed to turn into liquid before solidifying into place around systems that looked quite delicate to his eyes.

While he didn’t understand the construction process very well, he did understand that it required extreme concentration from Karna. Even a momentary distraction could ruin weeks of work, as everything she did seemed to build upon itself and balance on a knife’s edge. If she were to be disturbed, the whole thing could come tumbling down or even explode. Especially that brightly glowing thingy that she had called a reactor. That one looked primed for exploding at any moment. That's probably why it was located at the very center of the tower/vessel.

That was also why he was here. He was here to make sure no one disrupted her concentration. She had made it quite clear she was now capable of dealing with any non-immortal attackers, but she didn’t have the luxury of getting distracted. Every time a monster appeared in a certain radius around the island, he would have to deal with it. Every time some curious humanoid flew nearby, which had admittedly only happened once, he’d have to go and shoo them away. Unfortunately, that also meant that he couldn’t bother her either, which meant he was bored out of his mind most of the time.

‘Ah, she’s about to rest again.’ He thought to himself as he noticed her perform a weird gesture that looked a lot like pulling a bunch of ropes or threads together and tying them all into a large knot, which cause the whole project to freeze in place. Every process came to a halt and froze in place, while the heavier objects were suspended by the ‘cradle’.

“Had enough for the day?” He asked, making polite conversation. He really just wanted to distract himself from his boredom.

“Yes. I’ll need my strength for the next part. Handling the Blackstone requires a lot of mana.” She nodded in confirmation.

“Seems to come easy to you. Are you sure it’s the best material to use?” He asked, a bit curious. It seemed too easy to affect with magic to him.

“That’s only because I know exactly how to do it. Thing is, most of the time Blackstone is almost immune to magical effects if treated right. That only applies while it’s in a solid and inert state though. That’s why I have to keep it liquid if I want to work with it. It also helps with shaping the material of course.” She refuted.

“But if it can just be turned into liquid…” he said suggestively.

"That's the thing. It's not. It requires very specific type of magic, which is a real mana hog. Besides, I'm obviously going to create protective magical formations on the ship against that kind of thing. That’s partially what the other materials are for, as the Blackstone itself can’t hold spells, as it’s resistant like I said.” Karna explained with a thoughtful expression.

“Is that why you’re doing all this…dabbling with mechanical bits?” Llethunaxx guessed.

“Well, that’s not the only reason, but it’s one of the reasons, yes. I won’t have to come up with magical means of lift or propulsion when there’s a scientific solution to be found. Technology has many other benefits as well though. Just ask the Host and the scourges. They’ve been discovering that fact lately.” She replied with a chuckle.

Llethunaxx often returned to his lair for brief periods of time to gather news while Karna was resting. They still wanted to keep up with the situation around the wider universe. The new arrivals that had been forced into their universe by the Expansion had in many cases taken a rather dim view of their situation. Some were quite happy to co-exist peacefully, but most had decided to make a foothold for themselves with force. The latter was made much easier by a combination of factors.

The first was that almost everyone that had been brought to this universe by the Expansion either had powerful technology on their side, or they were powerful in other ways. The number of immortals among their ranks was not something that could just be ignored. The second factor was that the Host was currently too busy dealing with the scourges to really focus their efforts into dealing with this new problem, as the new arrivals were a lot less destructive than the scourges even when hostile. They could be reasoned with.

“You don’t seem too worried about this new threat?” Llethunaxx noted.

“Let’s just say I might be a bit more informed about it than most.” Karna retorted mysteriously.

Chapter 73 - Tower Spirit

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

Ok, so I always loved the TBC expansion of WoW and they're releasing the pre-patch for the classic version of the expansion tonight. I'll be leveling a shaman, and also playing in the expansion, so releases for the next few weeks might be a bit...sporadic. I won't be playing all the time, so I'll still be writing, but it's mostly going to be unscheduled and when the fancy strikes me. Or when I get bored of playing. I also have a few school things I need to deal with, so there's that as well. *shrugs* That's just the way it is.

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”Is it finally finished?” Llethunaxx asked with a mix of relief and awe in his voice.

“Finished is a relative term. The work is never entirely finished as there will undoubtedly be upgrades that I will need to make in the future as other materials become available. But if you’re asking if the construction itself is done for now, then the answer is yes. Yes, it is.” Karna said with a bit of pride in her voice.

They were both looking at the completed tower currently remaining in the air with its own power. The central pyramid had dark and glowing metal running through it in various places, while the same metal surrounded the central pyramid in a larger frame that utilized a fair bit of negative space, mostly in order to allow other vessels to dock with the tower. The whole thing was a little over 700 meters long and wide while being a little over 300 meters tall. The framework itself was rather triangular, almost looking like it was fitted to slip over the central pyramid section. Karna had mentioned that the framework and pyramid could function independently, though the central pyramid was the main part that should be protected. The bottom of the pyramid was covered with the same glowing metal that shined with a mix of green and blue light, as the whole thing was held aloft by a mix of both magical and mechanical means.

“So can we go home now?” Llethunaxx asked hopefully. The whole project had been inspiring in many ways, but it had also been boring to spend months doing nothing but shooing away curious onlookers.

“Not quite yet. There’s one last thing left to do. A wizard’s tower can be their greatest asset and weapon, but only if utilized properly. For that to happen though, there’s a need for a tower spirit.” Karna refuted Llethunaxx’s hopes.

She didn't bother explaining that a tower spirit functioned very similarly to an advanced AI, except it would be able to interface with the spells and magical formations of the tower as well. By utilizing the power-gathering formations built into the tower, the spirit would also be able to use the magic of the tower to perform various tasks to assist the wizard or to defend the tower if necessary. With a proper spirit in place, the wizard could reap the benefits of the tower, without wasting effort in actually controlling every minute aspect of it.

“Will that take long?” Llethunaxx asked.

“Hard to say exactly. Likely not, though that’s going to depend a bit. The Spirit World can be a bit hard to predict at times.” Karna shrugged her shoulders.

“Spirit World? But the night to open the portal to Spirit World already passed. how are you going to get there? And you already have a spirit. How are you going to get another?” Llethunaxx asked a couple of very good questions.

"While access to the Spirit World is hard to gain during other times, it's not impossible. Spirits themselves can make the journey any time they so choose. It would also be possible to reach the Spirit World through the elementals planes but we're not going there." Karna explained.

“Ah, so Gem is going to do it?” Llethunaxx realized.

“Yes. The downside is that she might have to spend a while looking for the right spirit instead of the single night a prospective master would need.” She confirmed with a nod.

“So when is she leaving?” The impatient dragon asked.

“She already left a week ago. I was kind of expecting her to return by now, but the problem is that she doesn’t get along with the spirit we’re looking for. In fact, Gem is generally quite feared among the other spirits due to her power and unique nature. As such, this might take a while.” Karna knew that it was more of a case of Gem disliking the other spirit and not the other way around, so it was quite likely that the only reason Gem was taking so long was because she didn’t want to find the other spirit. And as usual, the Spirit World was greatly influenced by your desires.

“We can’t just return while we wait?” Llethunaxx asked, his hopeful tone returning.

“We could, but the tower would be a sitting duck without a spirit. And we’ll likely draw some attention once we arrive. I want to be prepared.” She shot the idea down. “All we can do is wait.”

-----

Gem kicked at the grass beneath her feet. She’d taken the form of her master as that one felt the most natural. She rarely got to use the form though, as Karna took a rather dim view of anyone trying to impersonate her. Gem’s master also knew very well that Gem would find it difficult to resist making some mischief if the opportunity presented itself, just like she’d done when she had been actively pretending to be Karna to all the immortal investigators.

She really disliked the idea of another spirit serving her master. She should be more than enough for her master’s purposes! Except she didn’t have the patience required of a tower spirit, nor did she have the intention of staying back whenever her master stumbled from another amusing mess to another adventure. After all, her master was a trouble magnet and wouldn’t be able to manage without her. Those lives in universes without spirits didn’t count. They were short anyway, proof positive that her presence was actually required!

The clump of grass she had kicked slowed down in the air before turning into a bunch of butterflies. Nothing in the Spirit World was permanent. Except maybe that damn pond she’d have to sleep under every time her master died and before she was summoned again. That was probably the most permanent fixture in this entire place, and even its location changed. Her surroundings kept changing, but just the fact that they were growing more stable and firm hinted at the fact that she was closing in on her destination. She didn’t want to, but there was also a growing urgency inside her that was pushing her towards arriving soon.

“Oh, Gemini, you’re back!” A chipper voice greeted her almost as soon as the thought had entered her mind. Letting your mind wander in this place could be dangerous in various ways.

She gave a deep sigh. "Zuellni. You look…normal." She stared at the childlike spirit that looked more like a ghost than a spirit. The bright blue and glowing spirit took the form of a small child with a floor-length fluffy hair and certain fairy-like air about her. She looked and acted like someone extremely curious and child-like, and while that wasn't a lie, Gem knew the innocent-looking spirit also had a darker side to it.

The spirit was entirely amoral in that it would fulfill their master’s commands without any hesitation or question, no matter what that order was. If Karna ordered an entire world devastated, then Zuellni would quite happily oblige without batting an eye. Gem herself was extremely loyal, and would also follow any commands, but she also recognized the dangers of blind loyalty. A true companion would question and second-guess their master, and not just wordlessly fulfill every command.

“Oh-oh, is my new body ready?! Did you come to bring me to our master?!” The childlike spirit asked with an excited voice.

“Yeees. Master has created a new tower. It’s still relatively low level, but you should be quite pleased as we managed to acquire large quantities of Blackstone.” Gem replied with a tired voice.

"YAAAY! Master is the best! I can't wait to start working on the tower! I assume it's already flight-capable? What am I asking. Of course, it is. Master would never make an antiquated stationary tower. Quick, quick, take me to master! I want to see her? Him? It? What's master rocking this time? I hope she got a female form this time." That was another thing that annoyed Gem. Zuellni was even more perverted than her and shared her proclivities of voyeurism. Except as the literal tower spirit, the childlike spirit got to observe a lot more often. Just another thing to prove that the childlike form and behavior was a huge lie.

“Let’s go. The less time we have to spend here, the better.” Gem grabbed a hold of Zuellni’s diminutive hand.

The other spirit giggled. “You still don’t get along with the others. You should lighten up a little.”

“I don’t need to anymore. After this life is over, I never have to accede to the wishes of the others.” Gem stated angrily before they both disappeared from the spot they had been.

---------

Karna could sense the arrival of the two spirits before they appeared. “Get ready. We’ll be leaving soon.” Her words stirred Llethunaxx from his stupor.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she vanished in a burst of flames and appeared deep inside her new tower. As she was the master of the tower, she was naturally also keyed to the wards protecting it. She’d designed the wards herself, so she could say without bragging that they were nigh-impregnable, and any immortal trying to brute-force their way through the wards was in for a nasty surprise. Of course, she had learned long ago that there were always ways around every single ward and security measure, which is why she had stacked several of them, and it was also why a tower spirit was so necessary, as the spirit would be able to adapt the tower’s defenses on the fly against any enemies that could get through the wards.

She ran a hand along the soft fabric covering the walls with a smile on her face. Every tower was unique and her tower naturally reflected some of her peculiarities. She couldn’t make her entire tower into a giant pillow, but she could at least do the next best thing and cover all the walls with soft fabrics, and the floor with a cushy carpeting. Of course, her entire hoard of pillows was scattered around the insides of the tower, with plenty of space for more. There would always be space for more. The walls and floor under the soft fluffiness were covered in magical formations designed to protect the place. Only the outer walls of the pyramid and the superstructure were actually made of Blackstone to allow the magic to take hold.

With a few steps, she was standing inside the central core of the entire pyramid. The round core was made of strands of silvery metal that was only the thickness of hair, but it had been woven together to form thicker strands. Every individual strand was covered in runes, and the thicker strands came together to form a mix of complex formation that was constantly in flux as the strands moved around like a cascading waterfall that was flowing around a central center of gravity. Just outside the core were thick lines of heavily enchanted mithril that ran through the entire pyramid and into the outer structure. The outer structure wasn't just for docking and holding cargo, but it was also an enormous magical construct designed to gather mana from the surroundings and to channel it into the core here that powered all the formations inside and outside the tower.

The core room was also located right above the reactor cluster. As most of the systems of the tower were mechanical, enhanced by magic of course, and powered by electricity, the tower had a need for a huge amount of energy production, and the reactors were for that purpose. As Karna had visited many high-tech universes, she could shamelessly steal the best ideas, although she didn’t quite have the tools or the materials for the very best. That would have to wait until later. Still, the tower’s systems would not lose to anyone when supported by magic.

As was her intention, Gem and the child-like tower spirit appeared right inside the core. “Masteeeer!” The spirit that looked like a little girl shouted and dove to give Karna a hug.

“Zuellni. It’s been a while." Tower spirits were a very specific subset of spirits. Unlike most, they didn't change much and evolve when they were contracted. However, they got better at what they did and could handle more complicated structures with experience. Zuellni was already capable of managing entire worlds but preferred to stick with her master.

“Is this my new home?” The small spirit said while looking around at the core. “As usual, you are the best when it comes to creating cores. Most people think some kind of magical crystal is the epitome of development. The idiots. You can’t evolve and improve a crystal.” The little spirit complained while making contact with the core. Her senses were already flowing through the tower and the magical formations.

“How do you like it?” Karna asked with a smile.

“It’s a bit small, but as usual, we can improve on things later. I’ll make you a list of materials at some point, though you already know most of it. You’ve always been good at doing great things with access to limited resources.” Zuellni commended her master. She could sense Karna was only at the sixth rank, so it was already a small miracle she could make something like this.

“Small might be good for now. While we’re going to be drawing some attention anyway, we should limit our exposure for now.” Karna pointed out.

“Master, you’ve never been very good at the whole lay-low thing. Even when you stay as a mortal, you tend to draw attention.” Zuellni stated firmly, and even Gem was forced to agree as she too nodded along with her ‘rival’.

"I resent that accusation, and firmly deny it," Karna said with a completely serious face. "Now let's take it for a spin. You can start making adjustments and improvement once you get a feel for it."

“Master, there’s a dragon outside.” Zuellni pointed out.

“That’s a friendly dragon. He helped keep watch while I built the tower.” Karna explained.

“Are we inviting him inside?” Zuellni asked.

“Not for now. He doesn’t need to be aware of our capabilities. Connect me to him.” Karna decided.

A quick illusory hologram of Karna appeared in front of Llethunaxx. “Tiny Titan. I assume everything is working?”

“The tower is now operational. You can head home while we go to perform some tests. We’ll swing by your nest in the near future to finish things.” Karna confirmed.

Llethunaxx could sense when he was not wanted and could understand Karna would want to keep the specifics of her tower a secret. Most wizards that built a tower did, and Karna’s was definitely among the weirdest. “Alright. I’ll head back then. Next time you bring business to me though, try to make it a little less boring.”

"Will do," Karna replied with a laugh.

"Let's head to the bridge," Karna told Gem, and the two made their way through the pyramid and all the way near the top. There they found a sight that would not be out of place on any spaceship. Several consoles were arrayed along the walls, surrounding a central dais where a large crystal orb was placed in a stone holder that looked like a dragon's claws locking around the orb, and the orb was placed in front of a pillow placed on a similar pedestal. The pillow radiated Divine Power, and Karna took a diving leap right into the soft fluffiness of the pillow that immediately adapted to accommodate her size and shape. There she could comfortably keep an eye on the other stations as well as use the control orb used to fly the tower.

Most of the time Zuellni could actually control the tower’s flight, and Karna knew from experience that the spirit was almost as good at navigating as she was. However, sometimes her skills and especially her spatial abilities from the Tressym bloodline would be needed, which was why the manual control option was there. Zuellni could also control all the other systems, but the other stations allowed for the presence of a crew as well as manual control over the various systems.

“Alright, take us for a spin Zuellni. I’ll leave the choice of destination up to you. I already uploaded the map data, as well as historical archives into the database.” Karna simply lounged on the pillow as the walls around them turned transparent, as if they were all a large window surrounding this entire room, and by extension the entire floor. That was incorrect of course as windows would’ve been an enormous structural weakness. The walls were simply displaying the view from the outside, and you could actually alter the view and the angle freely.

“Do you want to use the charted paths or try something new?” Zuellni inquired.

“Going along the beaten path would be boring. Let’s do something new. Just use the normal path when we return. We don’t want to spook the defensive units of the Magocracy when we show up.” Karna knew her arrival would create a stir anyway, but at least this way she would show she wasn’t a threat.

“Alright then. Calculating the best path and method of reaching the chosen target. Completed. initiating drives.” Space seemed to fold around the pyramidal vessel as it suddenly disappeared from above the deserted island. The way the tower vanished was decidedly odd compared to most as it combined both the magical travel methods necessary in this universe with the speed of faster than light ships from other universes. Karna knew that you’d always achieve the best results by combining magic and technology, so of course her tower would make use of the combination.

Chapter 74 - Fire ze cannon!

A note from Vihyungrang

Well, it's been a while. Finally managed to hit lvl 60 on my new character, so I had a bit of time to write again. That doesn't mean I had a lot of time to proofread or edit though, so there might be more mistakes and clumsy sentences than usual. Still, I hope you'll enjoy!

(And yes, those are Arpeggio references)

---------

The combination of a tower and a ship appeared above a world that seemed to be covered in green. There were oceans also present, but most of the world was land, which in turn was covered by forests. Three enormous trees also reached up into what would be the stratosphere in other universes. All the trees looked quite different as one looked like an ancient oak, another one looked like a spruce, while the last one looked like some sort of tropical tree.

"We've arrived," Zuellni reported dutifully. "How did I do?" She asked while turning towards Karna.

“I’d say about 96%.” She replied with a small smile.

“96?! That’s terrible!” The tower spirit complained. “I definitely need upgrades. The handling of the ship is too stiff, and my sensors need an upgrade. I also need to finetune everything. I’m certain that I can get to at least 97% with just some touch-ups.”

Karna enjoyed watching the eccentric spirit that looked like a little girl act. They had been testing how well Zuellni could navigate and control the ship, and the percentage estimate was Karna giving the spirit a grade on how optimal of a route the spirit had taken to reach the destination. While Zuellni was dealing with a new ‘body’ so to speak, and even though there was room for some upgrades with the availability of better materials, the spirit was very experienced and very good at her job. That’s why Karna kept summoning the same spirit.

"Where are we exactly, pervy spirit?" Gem asked, looking at the view in her Faerie Dragon form. In reply to her words, she got a raised eyebrow from Karna and a pout from Zuellni. "Right, my mistake. Pervierspirit.” Karna kept calling her a pervy spirit after all, so she had to adjust a bit.

“You really need to learn to play better with others Gem.” Zuellni shook her head in mock exasperation. “To answer your question though, the data master provided me tells me this place is called the Drakenwald. It’s a forested world, as you can see, mostly inhabited by magical beasts. I picked it because it was a relatively distant world that allowed me to test my systems properly, and it’s also on the border of the recent Expansion. If we want to do some exploring, then we can easily do so from here. We can also return here for easy resupply, and the world has plenty of magic so we can charge up our reserves.”

“Might as well. As much as I’d like to see the looks on everyone’s faces when we show up back home, I don’t much cherish the trouble we’ll have to deal with. Might as well properly test our systems beforehand.” Karna decided.

“That includes the weapon systems, I presume?” Zuellni asked eagerly. Despite her innocent appearance, she had no compunctions about causing some mayhem.

"Especially the weapon systems," Karna confirmed, as she too was eager to see how the tower performed. "Pick an appropriate direction and enter exploration mode. Report as soon as you pick up something interesting. You know the drill. This should be a good test of your sensors as well."

It took them three days before they found something interesting. Considering the speed at which the tower moved, they had traveled a long distance, though since they didn't exactly travel in a straight line, the actual distance from known worlds was much shorter. During the three days, both Zuellni and Karna had made several improvements, both big and small to the tower's systems. Most of it was just about fine-tuning systems and formations, but there had been a couple of conflicting arrays that Karna had been forced to fix. Despite her expertise at making magical formations and arrays, even she couldn't be sure that not a single one of the over a thousand formations ever conflicted with one another, or worse, with a mechanical system. That was just one of a hundred reasons why a tower spirit was so useful. Zuellni could notice any such conflict immediately, and with much higher precision.

For the three days, Gem and Zuellni had also been bickering, even getting into small fights a couple of times. The fights were mostly comical in that it looked like a pair of baby kittens waving their paws at each other, which showed that neither of the spirits was serious. If they had really wanted to hurt each other, Gem could’ve taken any of a million effective combat forms, and Zuellni could’ve used the tower’s defensive systems against the other spirit. This was simply the way the two spirits interacted after not seeing each other for so long. Karna secretly suspected the two had missed each other, as they only got to interact when she summoned them both.

"Seems we found an excellent arena for testing," Karna stated as soon as they arrived.

The world they arrived at was just a continent-sized island floating in space, but it was currently locked in a three-way battle. The defenders of the world were fighting on the ground and with airships, while the forces of the Inferno were divided in fighting against two enemies. The third-party seemed to be made up of the odd ships that had recently arrived in this universe. None of the parties was fielding a huge amount of forces, though in the case of the Inferno that still meant hundreds of thousands of demons.

“Permission to engage?” Zuellni asked eagerly.

“Permission granted. Try to avoid the defenders of that world for now, and don’t fire on the ships unless they fire on us first. Let’s not make any enemies we don’t have to. If the ships do fire on us though, fire at will. We want to test as many systems as possible, and it would be useful to get some feedback on our defenses against mechanical threats." Karna gave permission.

“Firing the super-gravity cannon!” Zuellni announced happily.

“Wait, what?” Gem asked in shock. “You’re starting off with the main gun?!”

“Firing!” Zuellni ignored the other spirit entirely, as three large and dark globes seemed to float out from the bottom of the tower. The three dark disks lined up before energy seemed to build up between them as they condensed gravitational waves into a single stream, before launching it as a beam straight into the fighting demon army. The bright blue beam cleaved straight through most of the demonic army’s center, which was made up mostly of low and middling ranked demons.

The tower combined the best of both magic and technology, so it was unquestioningly effective. And while the tower still wasn’t at its peak magically, the systems that relied on technology and energy from the reactor were working perfectly. The gravity beam was a design that Karna had come up with long ago, combining magic and technology to produce effects that should be impossible by conventional theories of either, and despite the devastating effects, Zuellni had not used even close to the maximum power of the weapon. She’d used three of the focusing pods, and the tower actually had and could power more than twenty of them. The weapon didn’t have a high rate of fire, but it was quite effective, as even a singular pod could launch a weaker shot of the same weapon.

“First test successful. The cannon works within expected parameters, and the aim deviated only 5,73%. Calibrating. We have also successfully gained the attention of everyone involved. Deploying secondary weaponry." Zuellni dutifully made her report. At her words, hundreds of turret barbettes of various sizes were revealed all around the tower as they had been hidden earlier under armor. Each barbette was armed with four shapes, which all mechanically advanced universes would recognize as barrels of some sort of cannon. "Incoming demons, firing secondary weapons."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the barrels of those cannons seemed to point at different targets and streams of what looked like hot glowing lava at the approaching enemies. The streams moved with such speed that dodging was almost impossible for anyone under a certain rank, and were deadly enough to vaporize what they hit. The demons quickly learned that attempting to swarm and surround the new arrival was pointless as it only allowed more of the turrets to fire at the same time, and the deadly array of guns covered the entire surroundings of the vessel.

The demons quickly turned to using their magic to attack from long range, which was largely ineffectual, as the magical defenses of the tower held rather easily. The tower was also moving quickly enough that hitting it was relatively difficult despite its size. “Master, we have a couple of ships moving in to attack. I think they want to test us.” Zuellni knew that her master’s senses were actually better than hers, so her words were mostly perfunctory, and to Gem’s benefit.

"Wait until they fire on us, and if they do, return fire," Karna repeated her earlier instructions. She wasn't in the habit of sparing those that attacked her.

“Incoming fire. Deploying mirror-ring system.” Zuellni announced, and three brightly glowing rings appeared next to the ship. Just as the deadly beams of energy that were aimed at them were about to hit the tower, they all seemed to twist around and get sucked inside the glowing rings. The pair of ships kept up their ineffectual fire for a good thirty seconds without accomplishing anything. As soon as the firing stopped, a wave of energy was unleashed from the tower, shredding any nearby surviving demons.

“Reporting, the mirror-ring system is able to absorb the fire normally, and we can also unleash the stored energy as a single omnidirectional release, or as a directed attack," Zuellni reported the results of the test. The defensive system stored the energy of any mechanical attacks directed at them in a pocket dimension and launched it back at the enemy. The system had its limits of course. “Returning fire.” Several of the larger turrets redirected their fire towards the pair of ships that were torn to shreds by the unidentified energy.

“I’d say we can call that a successful test. This is why every wizard should have a tower.” Karna nodded to the proud smile of Zuellni.

“Master, this thing has very little in common with a normal wizard’s tower, and most of the systems we used are more standard on battleships in space.” Gem rained on their parade.

---------

Marius once again realized that while he considered himself immune to the aura of the various gods, there were still some that could cause him to tremble in their presence. Marius had been forced to wait for several hours, and while he would be somewhat annoyed at most other gods for their behavior, he recognized that this particular one had more reason than most others to keep him waiting. He seriously doubted there was any god in the Divine Planes that was as busy as this one at the moment.

“I apologize for my tardiness.” The Grand Marshal said in a polite gesture, but his voice made it clear the apology was mostly perfunctory. “Shiva stated that you have some news concerning the invaders and why the Guardian hasn’t reacted to their presence. I ask that you keep it brief.”

“Because strictly speaking, they’re not invaders.” Marius cleared his thoughts and said simply.

The titan with an enormous presence and stature rubbed his eyes a bit. “This might be a longer meeting than I thought. Or a very short one. Alright. Explain in more detail.”

“Shiva wanted to see if we could negotiate with these so-called invaders, so he sent me to make contact. I traveled to the location where the most powerful of these invaders had been located and established contact. It seems that at least some of them are more than willing to negotiate." Marius gave a truncated synopsis.

“Some of them?” The Grand Marshall noticed an important point. “So these invaders really aren’t unified just as we thought. Yet they do seem to work in some kind of concert and appeared at the same time.”

“According to the being I talked to, someone that can match even the strongest of True Gods in strength incidentally, these new arrivals had no intention of starting an invasion. In fact, they had no intention to even arrive in our universe. According to what I was able to gather, the Expansion tore them away from their original places in other universes and dumped them in ours. A large part of them hail from a sort of meeting place between universes known as the Crossroads that facilitates travel and the exchange of information.” Marius explained.

“That coincides with what little information we’ve managed to gather so far.” The Grand Marshall nodded. They had managed to acquire some captives, though not as many as they’d like as the invaders were surprisingly strong and hard to capture alive. Add to that the problem with the scourges and the Expansion, and they didn’t have as much manpower to dedicate to the task as they would’ve liked.

“Apparently reaching the Crossroads requires either a great deal of luck, power, or technology, which explains why so many of the new arrivals are so powerful. Being an immortal, or having the technological equivalent of power, is rather mundane at the Crossroads. Their average immortal is somewhat weaker than ours, but they do have many of them. They have no unified government, as the Crossroads didn’t have a real ruler. There was someone who was famed for creating the place and watching over it, but even they didn’t rule actively. They enforced a handful of rules and general order via an organization of sort of peacekeepers of all races, but all these disparate groups of new arrivals rule themselves.” Marius had engaged in long talks with his contact and managed to gather a lot of information.

“That would mean asking what they want is useless.” The Grand Marshall noted.

"Indeed. The disparate groups have disparate goals. They are sort of unified by a common sense of being thrown into our universe against their will, but beyond that, they often follow the most powerful individual around. Some worlds that had certain kinds of government before they too were caught in the Expansion still have that government, and we can expect that they likely want to keep it that way. Many want to go home. Many others want to exploit this new opportunity." Marius pondered for a moment. "At the moment, most of the groups desire information. And I believe some groups could be turned into allies if we treat them with respect."

"Yes, I suppose most of them aren't used to the idea of being ruled by the Host and the Heavenly Emperor. They probably aren't excited at the prospect of us trying to enforce that rule over them. Yet if we don't, certain parties will raise all kinds of problems." The Grand Marshall rubbed his temples. The political implications of these new arrivals were complicated, to say the least, not just because of the complicated politics and values of the arrivals but also the internal politics of the various factions in the Divine Planes. No matter what path they chose, someone would raise trouble, and they'd make enemies of someone.

“It is not my place to advise, but I would like to point out that some of the groups that have been thrown here are as powerful as the major factions in the Divine Planes. Where there are problems, there are also opportunities.” Marius provided.

“True. However, their reliability is an open question. Relying on outside help might turn out to be a foolish decision when they might decide to leave as soon as they find out a way to do so. But you’re correct. It is not for you to decide these kinds of things. Anything else to report? No? In that case, you're dismissed. I have another meeting to attend to." The Grand Marshal left the office just as quickly as he'd arrived.

Marius grimaced a bit at how unenthused the commander of the Host had seemed about allying with the new arrivals. It wasn’t that the decision was wrong per se, in fact it was quite reasonable. If only others shared the Grand Marshal’s attitude. The various factions of the Divine Planes were already considering making allies of these ‘invaders’ and thinking of ways they could be used. The more conservative parties wanted to use them to fight the scourges, while the more audacious ones considered how they could use these new allies to stab the other factions in the back without having their own hand holding the knife. And that was all predicated on the idea that the ‘invaders’ could be negotiated with.

Some of the new arrivals seemed all too happy to attack everything that they made contact with. It made sense in a weird sort of way. Many of these new groups were very warlike and had arrived at the Crossroads to find new challenges. Well, now they were surrounded by challenges on all sides. To some, there was nothing more fun than an endless war to wage against worthy enemies. There were enough of such races and groups in their own universe, and now the number of such groups had multiplied. The problem was that these new groups had been scattered all over the various planes. It seemed that the Expansion had been fairly accurate in placing the more powerful groups in the Higher and the Divine Planes, while dropping the weaker ones in the Lower and even Mortal planes, but there were exceptions. And they could move around. So far the invaders seemed to have trouble in Ascending and Descending planes, but that would last only so long.

Chapter 75 - Complications

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

For the record, I reached lvl 70 finally and even managed the first raid, so now I should have a bit more time on my hands as the early frenzy has passed. Don't expect normal schedule, but the next one shouldn't take two weeks at least.

---------

”You can’t fly that monstrosity above the city! What happens if someone messes with the spells keeping it afloat? The crash will destroy half of the city!” The agitated official wearing the uniform of the Magocracy’s military argued.

"I'd like to see them try. First of all, the tower has several different systems allowing flight, split between magical and mechanical systems. None of the systems is enough to down the tower if that system alone is taken down, and there are several fail-safes and redundancies built-in. The tower is also monitored by a skilled tower spirit that can adjust things on the fly, pun intended, and can react if something goes wrong. Thanks to the extensive security, there isn't a single person in the city who can disable the tower's flight systems. That includes the Emissary. And anyone who tries will be sorry, as my tower spirit can and will respond accordingly to any attempts. Besides, the kind of devastation you think of will only occur if the tower can build up momentum while falling. Yes, it has a lot of mass, but I'm not going to be flying it high above the city unless I have to. So the worst that could happen is a few destroyed city blocks." Karna explained patiently. She hated dealing with officials, but it was a necessary evil.

"That's another thing. How's that monstrosity supposed to be a tower? It's a ship! Or a pyramid! There's nothing tower-shaped!" The official complained.

“It’s a tower because of concept and function, the form is irrelevant. A wizard could make their tower anything. I've seen 'towers' that were just gardens, and I've also seen 'towers' that were entire worlds. Now look, I'm talking to you as a courtesy. You actually have no authority to stop me. I'm a resident of the Magocracy and a graduate of the Academy, and I have every right to enter the country using a vehicle of my choosing. You're an immigration and customs official. I'm not an immigrant and thanks to my position, I don't have to subject myself to your inspection. I've only humored this interview because I didn't want to just force my way through. That courtesy is quickly running out as you waste time. Besides, the relevant people are already aware of the presence of my tower, so this conversation is over." That was the reason she had allowed the official to prattle on. She didn't care about this person, she simply allowed the powerful people in the city enough time to assess the threat her tower posed.

Karna turned to Zuellni that was floating next to her. “Send the good official out. Their duties have concluded.”

"Hey! You can't do this? We're not done he-" The official's words were cut off as several rings descended from the ceiling to surround the person and teleported her outside. The rings then seemed to vanish in a puff of dust, which was actually nanoparticles being collected by the tower itself. The rings could appear anywhere inside and outside the ship, within a certain range, and would be created and recycled on the spot.

"Test of the personnel teleportation system has concluded," Zuellni announced with a giggle.

"Finally. Now let's go and see why father called for us. Move us into the city, but do it slowly. We don't want to spook anyone. We also don't need to let them know how quickly we can move. Besides, we wouldn't want any of the airships to accidentally crash against our shields." Karna instructed. It was undeniable that the tower occupied quite a lot of airspace and other ships would have to go around it.

Arjuna had sent them a message while they were testing the tower’s new systems and exploring the new areas created by the Expansion. The message had been quite brief due to the distance, simply telling her to return. There was no emergency according to the message, but she would need to come back. “The message was a little cryptic. Instead of wasting time telling us that it’s not something to get worried about, he could’ve just explained the reason.” Gem pointed out.

“Indeed. Which leads me to believe that he either couldn’t or didn’t want to.” Karna agreed. “Well, we’ll know soon enough.”

The tower slowly made its way to float above Arjuna’s tower. Understandably it drew quite a lot of attention, but it's not like the populace of the city hadn't seen many odd magical constructions or contraptions before. The fact that it didn't move in a threatening way was enough for almost everyone to ignore it as anything more than a curiosity. There were some people that paid very much attention though, and that mostly included the important people.

“Just leave it above father’s tower. If anyone tries to approach, you’re free to inform them that I’m not available at the moment. Don’t attack anyone, but you’re allowed to return fire if someone fires first. Just try to avoid any damage to the city.” Karna instructed Zuellni.

“So no using the main guns in the city. Check.” The youthful and perky spirit responded. “You might want to suggest to your father that they could get a tower spirit as well. Their tower is very old-fashioned, but it's not badly constructed, so I know quite a few spirits that would happily take over."

“I’ll keep the suggestion in mind.” Karna laughed. She’d actually considered before, but Arjuna hadn’t really constructed his tower with a tower spirit in mind. Summoning one now would require extensive reworking of the system.

The same rings came out of the ceiling and surrounded her before disappearing in a shower of dust. A similar set of rings appeared inside Arjuna’s tower, depositing Karna inside. Her arrival had not gone unnoticed, as Arjuna naturally had formations inside his tower, informing him of any new arrivals. That and she’d appeared inside the workshop where he was working. “Karna! Please give me a warning next time before you arrive like that. I almost fired a spell at you before I recognized you.”

“I thought my own tower parking above yours was a big enough warning.” She commented with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s only if I’m certain that it’s you, and you didn’t share your plans with me. I should’ve guessed though, as I did invite you back, and no one else creates something as ostentatious as that. You call that a tower?”

"Tower-envy is not pretty even when it's coming from a relative." Karna joked. "It's not my fault you built a substandard stationary tower."

“Substandard? Substandard?!” Arjuna looked like he was on the border of an aneurysm suddenly.

“Stop teasing your father Karna.” Duskclaw interrupted from the door of the office with a warm voice. “Come here and give me a hug.” She didn’t bother waiting and scooped Karna up in her hands. Or tried to, as Karna was significantly taller and heavier at this point, so the attempt didn’t go according to plan.

“Where’s the little one?” Karna asked after her sibling. She’d been looking forward to spending some time with her ‘sibling’.

“Visiting my family. You’ll understand.” Duskclaw replied, dashing her hopes.

“How are you? Any lingering issues from your injuries?” Karna hid her disappointment and asked, continuing to hold the embrace. She’d missed this.

“Well, I’m still a little sore after hard exercise, mostly due to the damage to my mage core. The core is fine, and I think the pain might be more mental from being forced to hold back for so long, but it’s hard to say for sure.” Duskclaw explained while finally releasing the hug.

“I’ll check you over later anyway. Just in case.” Karna promised before turning to Arjuna. “So what’s this about? Why did you call for me?”

“I’m not sure myself. I got a message from Ashanti. Apparently, it’s about Mayumi. That’s all I know. He wants to meet.” Arjuna replied. “Now that you’re here, we can set up the meeting. He also told us to get any strong allies we have, so I think we can expect a fight. I already sent out word and we’re gathering our allies.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I came prepared then.” Karna grinned wickedly.

-----

Zuellni felt a very powerful presence approaching with the sensors of the tower. The presence reached the ship in seconds, but remained outside, apparently waiting. She usually wouldn’t be bothered, but she knew her master would want her to be polite and avoid trouble, so she materialized an image of her form outside the tower and in front of the being. There she found a woman clad in a golden-color armor that she knew wasn’t actual gold but something much more precious and important. ‘A Golden Immortal then. Those shouldn’t be in the Higher Planes without a damn good reason.’

“I am Zuellni. How can I help you?” She asked politely. The woman looked just like most mortals to her, so she didn't even bother identifying a race. Only master's race and preferences mattered.

The immortal seemed to be caught by slight surprise. “I am Araleth. I’d like to have a word with the owner of this…tower.” Internally the immortal revised the threat assessment posed by the weird construct. She was well aware of the significance of a tower spirit, which meant that whoever built this thing knew what they were doing. It was already difficult to get a read on the tower as it seemed resistant to most of her sensory and scrying spells.

“Master is unavailable at the moment. I can take a message and relay it as soon as she returns.” Zuellni stated as if the person visiting was just a random passerby.

The immortal was once again taken aback a bit but didn't seem offended. It just seemed she was unused to either the situation or the treatment. "That would be great. Do tell her it's important."

“I will do so, although I do not know long we’ll stay on this world. In the meantime, I’d like to pass on a message to the Host as well. I’ve gotten word that the immortals of the Host have a habit of teleporting on board the ships of those they deem lesser in the Higher Planes. Attempting such a thing with my master’s tower would be highly inadvisable and dangerous. We take no responsibility for anyone foolish enough to try.” Zuellni stated with confidence.

The immortal knew that the tower spirit wasn’t bluffing. Anyone with enough skill to properly utilize a tower spirit would have active defenses against such intrusions. And with a tower spirit to manage those defenses, trying to breach them could be quite dangerous, depending on how vindictive the spirit was feeling. Someone like her might be able to brute-force their way through such defenses, but even she might not come out unscathed. “I will relay the message.” She promised seriously.

--------

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Arjuna asked with a bit of trepidation. Even though Karna's tower had not drawn too much of a reaction when it arrived at the Magocracy, it was immediately surrounded by obviously hostile vessels as it arrived at the Aegean Empire. The Leonid were clearly not as blasé with the vessel's appearance.

"Seems like a great idea to me," Wolfgang stated with a slightly bloodthirsty grin.

“I concur. It’s a nice opportunity to let Ashanti have a taste of his own medicine. Besides, if things turn into a fight, I’m sure we’ll manage. Maybe we can finally do something about the Empire.” Queen Amaranthine commented.

“You’re not friendly with this Empire I take it.” Ardani, the Sect Master of the Luminous Sect asked. The Aasimar woman had arrived with a group of her most powerful warriors just a few hours earlier.

“While I wouldn’t mind giving Ashanti a bloody nose, do remember that he’s the one that invited us.” Tsumi pointed out.

"Aww, and it's so rare to see so many of us gather in one spot. It would be a shame if there was no combat involved." One of Tsumi's companions commented. The reason for his words was obvious. Karna's tower was currently housing ten rank 9 beings and three times that many rank 8 ones, all among the top echelon of the entire plane in both power and skill. Such gatherings were rare outside emergencies.

"Normal engagement rules Zuellni," Karna told the spirit while ignoring the ongoing banter. "Don't fire unless fired upon first."

Despite the bluster and bravado from the Empire’s forces, none of them was stupid enough to pick a fight. Mostly because their arrival had been expected. It didn’t take long for a larger and more decorated airship to arrive as well, before it launched a small craft that Zuellni announced was carrying Ashanti and one other unidentified person. it docked in one of the bays that had been built into the tower just for such purposes, and immediately after the two passengers were teleported into the room with the rest of them via the rings.

“That’s a fascinating system.” A pale-skinned woman with pitch-black hair remarked. A breeze of very cold air seemed to linger around the woman. Karna could sense the woman was fairly strong at rank 7. A mage for sure, and most likely of an ice-related lineage. Her Vanagandr blood was reacting to the woman’s presence.

"Yes, though the décor of this place needs a bit of work," Ashanti commented.

“I simply brought you into a room that doesn’t have anything I wouldn’t want to lose in case this turns into a fight.” Karna joked.

“That’s not entirely true. This place definitely needs more decorations.” Tsumi interjected.

“Hah! A pleasure as always.” Ashanti chuckled. Karna noted that he hadn’t consumed the rank-up pill at least yet.

“Will you introduce your guest? I’m guessing she has something to do with Mayumi.” Karna focused on the woman, noticing the obvious Yuki-Onna connection.

“Indeed. This is Tsuki, a member of the Yuki-Onna clan that is taking care of your friend.” Ashanti made a small bow towards the woman while noting all the powerful people present. A small smile came to his lips as he noted the number and the level of power.

“Yes! I’m Tsuki! Mayumi has been such a nice new addition to our tribe. We’ve loved having her there and she’d brought many good things to us, but we understand if you want your friend to return.” The woman seemed excessively polite as she kept bowing.

“…but?” Karna prodded. “You wouldn’t have made such a big deal about it if this was just about Mayumi coming home.”

“Yes, he would’ve.” Amaranthine interjected.

“I really would, but unfortunately not. I felt rather thankful after our little adventure earlier, and for the fact that you drew everyone’s attention, allowing us to escape as well. I reached out to my contacts within Wei-Jin. They put me in contact with Tsuki here. I even managed to make a trade for the government to turn a blind eye for us to retrieve your friend. Alas, things aren’t as simple.” Ashanti explained.

“What did you promise them in return?” Tsumi asked with surprise. “I’ve been trying to trade with them for years now.”

“I sold them the location of a particular world. A world you’re familiar with, which we just visited together recently. They were quite excited at the prospect. I was even nice enough to inform them that we’d heard rumors about both Scourge and Host presence, but they didn’t seem too worried.” Ashanti shrugged.

“So, what’s the problem?” Karna questioned, feeling a little impatient but tamping the feeling down.

“Little Mayumi has caught the eyes of some wrong people!” The Yuki-Onna woman exclaimed.

“Of course she has.” Karna sighed. “And I’m guessing these people won’t just stand by as we extract her, which is why we had to bring some help?”

“It’s a little more complicated. See, the world of Wei-Jin places a lot of emphasis on personal power. Well, the people we're talking about have a lot of it, and the worst of the lot is well connected. So even if the government of Wei-Jin has agreed to stay out of it, that doesn't mean all of the officials will abide by that. That means we might run into heavy resistance. Additionally, there's a good chance Tsuki's tribe would face backlash, so we'll need to evacuate them all. That means it won't be just a quick in and out without giving the enemy a chance to respond." Ashanti grinned. "That's why I told you to bring enough muscle. Besides, this tower of yours isn't exactly inconspicuous, though it's going to be quite useful for this project. I was a little worried about how we'd transport everyone."

“How many people are we talking about?” Karna felt a headache incoming.

“My tribe has 50 000 members!” Tsuki announced cheerily.

"That's gonna be a tight squeeze," Wolfgang commented.

"No, it won't. The insides of the tower are as large as master wants them to be." Zuellni stated proudly.

Chapter 76 - Inferno

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

”We’re about to arrive in 15 minutes," Zuellni announced to the whole tower.

“You were right. This thing really is quite fast.” Queen Amaranthine stated to those that had gathered in the same room to have some tea and discuss their plan. They had the outlines figured out, but too much depended on the situation once they arrived, and on the reaction of the Wei-JIn people, to make any detailed plans.

“I’m curious. Why haven’t you taken the pill?” Arjuna suddenly asked, intently staring at Ashanti. He had expected Ashanti to take the rank-up pill as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

The Leonid lifted a golden eyebrow. “Do you even need to ask? There are a hundred reasons. We’re in the middle of a crisis created by the Expansion, and it’s really not the best time for the Empire to lose its greatest asset and military commander.”

“How very egotistic.” Amaranthine commented in a quiet voice that everyone still heard.

Ashanti continued as if he hadn’t heard, though his mouth split in a slight smile. “Also, you’re making a fundamental error in your thinking. You’re assuming I selected the pill for myself. Let me disabuse you of that motion. I’m perfectly capable of reaching immortality on my own. I don’t need the help of a pill to do so, and I’ve actually been holding myself back.”

“I think I get it. You want to groom someone to take your position when you do Ascend, so that the Empire won’t be left in a bad spot.” Tsumi nodded in understanding.

While Ashanti was still smiling, something about it caught Karna’s attention. “That’s not it, is it? You probably already have a plan in place for your successor, and that doesn’t include the pill. No, you’re keeping it for someone else. Maybe someone that doesn’t have your potential and wouldn’t be able to reach immortality on their own.”

"You can think as you will," Ashanti replied simply, all but confirming Karna’s words. He indeed had someone like that. Someone that he wanted to join him in Ascending. But the others didn’t need to know about that, as it could be a potential weakness for them to exploit.

"How interesting. The great Ashanti might have a heart after all." Tsumi commented and grinned as she’d just found out something she was planning on exploiting to the fullest. Unfortunately for her, they were interrupted.

“Reporting, we were forced out of the spatial pathway early. The entire world is surrounded by a magical formation that prevents spatial disturbances, including teleportation.” Zuellni summarized, along with a small alert sound. “We’re relatively close to the world. Correction, worlds. There are three worlds present.”

"This would've been nice to know earlier," Karna said with a displeased voice, looking at the people who were likely to know about it.

"The third one is new," Tsumi said with a frown. "How they managed to move it here, or even worse create it is a mystery."

“The Wei-Jin don’t broadcast the fact that they live on a twin world, and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. The third one they brought here after the Expansion. The one we want is the central one.” Ashanti provided a very brief explanation.

“Could we manage to transport an entire world?” Amaranthine asked Tsumi uncertainly. That kind of magic was beyond her expertise.

"Theoretically, with a large enough ritual, and if the world was largely uninhabited so that there was no one to stop the attempt, but it would require a huge effort and decades of preparation," Tsumi replied after considering the logistics of such an endeavor.

“I guess we know what the Weijin Empire has been doing the last decades then," Arjuna said with a clipped voice. "We should get to it. The longer we stay, the more attention we'll draw."

“Oh, we’ve drawn attention already. They can’t sense you while you’re inside the central part of the ship, but their formation had all kinds of early warning systems.” Zuellni reported. “Curiously, they don’t seem to be mounting much of a response.”

“That’s because they were expecting us, and we’re just one ship. Tower. Whatever.” Ashanti responded. “We do want to get moving though. I’m not sure how long their grace will last. And while I’m not exactly afraid of the Weijin Emperor, I’m not cherishing the idea of fighting all of their elite forces.”

“Bring us in. Follow the Yuki-Onna’s directions and start loading her people as soon as we arrive.” Karna instructed Zuellni.

“Will your transporters work? The spirit mentioned teleportation is impossible.” Ardani posed a very logical question. She was also curious about how the tower functioned.

“It’ll work. Our method doesn’t rely on spatial magic.” Karna didn’t bother explaining further to the sect master’s disappointment.

The tower swooped down under Tsuki's instructions and came to hover over a group of snow-capped mountains standing in a perfect circle, so that the valleys formed in the middle were still covered in snow. They noticed two things very quickly. One was that the Yuki-Onnas were already rushing to gather their things to prepare for evacuation. The second was that a large portion of the pale-skinned demonic women were currently locked in combat against an enemy near one of the mountain passes.

The enemy was made up of beings in full blood-red armor that didn’t even leave their eyes visible, riding bear-like beasts that were just as armored as their riders. The Yuki-Onnas outnumbered their enemy greatly, but their magic didn’t seem to have any effect on the armored cavalry that was in the process of scattering the formation the Yuki-Onnas had created. “Oh no, we’re late!” Tsuki exclaimed.

“Wolfgang, Ashanti. You two seem the best to deal with this situation.” Karna suggested, and surprisingly the two men just nodded before the transport rings brought them in the middle of the enemy. At the same time, the rings started pulling up any of the Yuki-Onnas in combat, prioritizing those that were injured or in a bad situation. “Ardani and Amaranthine, you take care of the wounded.”

Karna already had a good idea of the strengths of the various people, and the Aasimar Sect Leader was a skilled and powerful mage capable of using holy power for healing magic, while the elven Queen knew many druidic spells that could be used to heal. “The rest of you scatter around and help the Yuki-Onnas with the evacuation. Keep an eye out for any enemies. Just call for Zuellni when you need transport. Tsuki, help calm your people and tell them we’re not an enemy.”

"I'll run reconnaissance," Tsumi promised in turn. "I feel the situation is a bit more complicated than it first appears.”

As most of the people were transported off the tower, Karna glanced at Zuellni. “What can you tell me about the attackers? The uniformity of their equipment and style suggests we should expect more of the same.”

“Devils of a very humanoid lineage. They seem to excel in forging and fire techniques. That cavalry is fairly high-ranking and my quick scans tell me that they’re only the advance party. I can detect at least twenty times as much approaching. They won’t pose a problem to Ashanti or Wolfgang of course.” Zuellni reported.

“Why do I get the sense we were not told everything?” Gem commented.

“That seems quite likely. They wouldn’t mobilize this kind of response just for a single woman. Not unless there was something more at stake.” She frowned while looking at the illusion showing the image of the attacking devils. “These look like official troops and not just the private forces of some noble or a clan. Their armor and tactics are too uniform. That or we’re dealing with something much bigger than we expected. Either way, those kinds of numbers wouldn’t be sent just for Mayumi. She’s cute, but...”

“Are you thinking they’re just using her as an excuse or something along those lines?” Gem suggested.

“I’m guessing we’ll find out eventually. We need more information. And I think I know someone who could provide some of the missing pieces of our puzzle.” Karna nodded. “Zuellni, have you found Mayumi?”

"My apologies master, but the description you gave me applies to too many individuals. It's also out of date. I've narrowed the field down, but I'm still eliminating other possibilities." Zuellni had never met Mayumi after all, so even with Karna's description, it was hard to pick a single Yuki-Onna among so many. Zuellni also didn't want to mention that the way her master saw the world was a little different from others, as the others didn't have the benefit of seeing the others with her powerful soul. She could also read their karma if she wanted to, an advantage that others didn’t share.

“Try to hurry that one up. Try to keep the evacuation moving along as well. I have a bad feeling about this.” Karna ordered.

Even though the Yuki-Onna were doing their best to gather their things quickly, and they had even started before the tower arrived, the youkai didn’t want to leave everything behind. There were certain sacred items they wanted to take along, and removing the seals securing them took some time. Still, the transportation rings brought another group of refugees several times a minute. It took fifteen minutes until Zuellni managed to finally locate Mayumi, and by that time the attacking devils had been driven off.

“Karna! It’s good to see you.” Mayumi greeted her with a warm smile and an even warmer hug. It seemed the girl had gotten over most of her shyness.

“Mayumi. Sorry it took so long.” Karna returned the hug. “Are you ok?”

"I am now. Things were getting a little dicey there, but you arrived just in time. I hope. We haven't escaped yet." Mayumi gave her a harder squeeze before letting go.

"You cut your hair," Karna commented while giving the shoulder-length black hair a small touch.

“I was hoping I’d draw less attention this way, but it didn’t quite work," Mayumi replied while making a displeased face.

“Yes, I heard about that. I need some information. Tsuki told us you have a persistent suitor, but this seems a bit excessive for just that.” Karna pointed out.

Mayumi shook her head. “Tsuki means well, and she wasn’t lying, but the issues here run much deeper. You already made contact with the Flamescar Clan. They’re Devils that excel in fire manipulation. That makes them natural rivals and enemies of us Yuki-Onnas, but at some point, someone discovered that if our two races practice dual cultivation, it benefits both parties greatly. By that time, our relationship was quite bad though, so things became a bit awkward.”

"I can somewhat see where this is going," Karna muttered.

“Perhaps, perhaps not. It was a good deal for both parties to have some of the young ones…shall we say explore the benefits. There were two problems though, aside from the obvious pre-existing hostility. The first one was that there were naturally pregnancies, but Yuki-Onnas give birth to our own kind 99% of the time, unless the other race has a similar characteristic. The devils don’t, and they weren’t happy about it. They certainly didn’t want any non-devils taking over the clan. Secondly, all the exploration wasn’t exactly consensual, both sides being the culprit on occasion. Those two things soured things even more.” Mayumi explained.

“While that gives context, that doesn’t quite explain the current situation, especially since both parties were guilty.” Karna pointed out.

“Well, I don’t know which side discovered it first, but the dual cultivation doesn’t have to be mutually beneficial. If certain rituals are conducted, then one participant can boost their cultivation greatly, but it leaves the other party a dying husk. Either way, things have gone bad really quickly in the last few years. Unfortunately for us, the Flamescar Clan is a major player in Weijin power politics. And with the Expansion taking away the attention of any official parties that might stop them from taking advantage of the situation…” Mayumi shrugged.

“I see. I really do wish Tsuki had told us about this. It’s not like we wouldn’t have helped anyway.” Karna said thoughtfully.

“I can see why she didn’t. I wasn’t joking about the power of the Flamescar Clan. You are effectively picking a fight with one of the major factions of Weijin. She was likely afraid you wouldn’t get involved if you knew.” Mayumi explained, defending the other Youkai.

Karna decided not to comment further, as it didn’t matter in the end. They were here now. “There’s something that’s bothering me. I get that Wei-Jin is a dog-eat-dog world, but I find it difficult to believe the entire clan of devils would be ok with a plan that basically includes the mass murder and rape of a clan of Youkai. Despite their reputation, devils aren’t any more evil than other races.”

Mayumi let out a deep sigh. “That’s where I come in. There are likely plenty of factions in their clan that are against this plan as it’s very short-sighted, and as you said evil. However, the military of the clan is currently controlled by the individual that has their eye on me. Karna, they’re really dangerous. They’re one of the strongest beings on this world, and I’m certain he’s…like us.”

"So a reincarnator," Karna said the word in Mayumi's stead.

“Yes, that. I made the mistake of looking at his True Name, and I’m pretty sure one of the main reasons he’s so interested in me is because he knows I’m one as well.” Mayumi added.

“What’s their True Name then?” Karna asked.

“Inferno. They call him the Flame King. He has more power with the element than anyone else on this world. It seems like his power is endless.” Mayumi explained, causing Karna’s eyes to narrow in suspicion.

At the same time, a communication talisman burst in front of Karna. "I located their main forces. Safe to say they have the numbers on us many times over, though we should still have the advantage because of our rank. They also have several rank eight and nine beings as well, so the advantage isn’t insurmountable. One of them really gives me the heebies. I’m almost certain he’s one of those beings that you asked me to look for. He might even be stronger than Arjuna.” Tsumi’s voice came over the talisman.

"That's probably Inferno," Mayumi confirmed.

“This makes things complicated.” Karna tapped her chin in thought. Now her other objectives started clashing with the mission at hand. “Gather our forces. I’ll leave the details to you, but we need a delaying action. Don’t engage the individual you mentioned. If you’re right, then this could be very bad.”

“What about protecting this area?” Tsumi asked.

"I'll handle that with the help of the tower," Karna said with confidence.

"…Why am I not surprised that you made your tower somehow able to fight in battles. Of course, you did." Tsumi muttered to herself before shutting the connection.

“This ship is yours?” Mayumi asked with shining eyes.

“Tower.” Zuellni corrected while appearing next to them.

“But…”

“Tow-er," Zuellni repeated with emphasis.

“Fine, fine. It’s not very tower-like though…” Mayumi mumbled.

It saddened Karna that even Mayumi shunned her vision. “We need to speed things up. If Inferno really is drawing power from the elemental plane of fire, then this whole area could turn really dangerous really fast. Zuellni, be ready to fire the main cannon at full power on a moment’s notice.”

“Aye-aye master! Big boom and lots of devastation incoming! Though, I do feel the need to mention that someone at rank nine should be able to easily evade the shot.” The spirit seemed happy at the prospect.

“That’s the problem, isn’t it. We’ll have to find a way to keep him in place. And we can’t ask Wolfgang or Arjuna to do it, because they’d just get caught in the shot as well.” Karna thought about ways to lock the enemy down and she was coming up with some ideas. If this Inferno could fully wield the power of the fire plane, then even keeping him in place would be difficult.

“Not a tragic loss in my opinion.” Zuellni pointed out without concern.

“Nevertheless, it’s probably better if Arjuna does it, or even myself if necessary.” Karna retorted with a small smile. "A lot depends on what other forces he's bringing. We brought a lot of powerful individuals, so we should have an advantage."

"You do realize you just jinxed it, right?" Gem asked ominously.

Chapter 77 - Through fire and flames

A note from Vihyungrang

The time between chapters keeps growing shorter! I was planning on making the last part a little longer to make things more interesting, but ultimately decided against it. I don't like writing long action scenes, and the important part is what happens next anyway. I hope you'll enjoy!

PS. I had to go a little light on PR, so do excuse the slightly lower quality in writing.

--------

"The evacuation is 80% complete," Zuellni reported.

“It seems our time has run out. The enemy has arrived.” Karna pursed her lips as she watched the map projection the tower had helpfully put up. It showed the surrounding area and the people within. It also had marks for the various important people, and currently it showed their delaying force retreating back towards the ring of mountains, while the large army of the Flamescar Clan surrounded the mountains.

Most of the forces were just for containment, as they would be too weak to actually take part in the battle that seemed inevitable. In a battle involving dozens rank eight and nine beings, those of weaker rank would only become collateral damage, at best draining some of the power of the stronger beings. The Flamescar obviously had no plans to just throw away their painstakingly trained forces, so anyone below a certain rank just spread around to make sure there were no escapees or too much damage to the surroundings. The lower rank people might not be strong enough to sway the battle, but they could take care of any stray bursts of power.

The other side had gathered their strongest members into a single group that was pursuing the delaying force. The enemy didn’t seem to be in a rush though, which seemed a little odd. "They don't seem afraid that we'll run away," Tsumi commented as she entered the room where the projection was located.

The entire room was dedicated just for this purpose, with several powerful spells providing real-time information and illusions projecting them into a large and realistic map of the area. Anyone in the room could also focus on a particular point of the map and inspect things more closely with a thought. The area just around the enemy group of elites was obscured, showing that at least some of them were carrying items that worked against the spells used to gather the information.

"They're not. For two reasons. The obvious one is that we haven't finished the evacuation. They're guessing that if we were the sort of people to just abandon those that we hadn't evacuated yet, we wouldn't be here in the first place. A good judgment. Secondly, the forces they've spread around the mountains are building a formation that would prevent anyone inside from leaving. A formation that large and hastily created wouldn't stop a group like ours for more than a few seconds, but if we showed any inclination towards breaking through, the enemy would speed their approach to catch up." Karna explained, gesturing at the way mana seemed to be flowing around the area, starting to fall into a formation.

“I see what you mean. They’re quite well trained, setting something like this up so quickly. Even if they’re carrying pre-made formation flags that they just need to plonk down, it’s still a great show of cooperation and discipline. I haven’t detected any communication spells either.” Tsumi added. Using communication magic this close to powerful mages was an open invitation for the other side to eavesdrop. Even well-made communication talismans weren’t completely secure. That’s why they weren’t currently getting information from the delaying group.

“How are the wounded?” Karna asked, knowing Tsumi had gone to take a look if she could help. She was the Headmistress after all, and her expertise was quite wide, even if healing wasn’t her specialty.

“They’re coming around. Some of those that were involved in the battle were quite badly hurt, but Amaranthine and Ardani were able to take care of it. The Yuki-Onnas are able to take care of the rest with the help of the healing facilities. You failed to mention your tower has healing facilities by the way. I don’t know how even a third of that stuff works, but it was a little creepy seeing the wounded floating in some kind of tanks.” Tsumi had been quite impressed if she was being honest.

“You didn’t ask. And no one really asked for a tour either. We have a large recreation and training area as well as extensive bathing and sauna areas. We even have a pool.” Karna smiled. The tower had pretty much everything she could think of, though many of the facilities still needed a lot of furnishing and equipment.

“And a sex dungeon.” Gem interjected happily.

"There's no sex dungeon," Karna stated firmly.

“Are you really sure?” Tsumi grinned.

"I'm very sure," Karna replied blankly.

“Would you like a tour of the sex dungeon?” Gem asked teasingly.

“Gem.” Karna’s tone carried a stern warning.

“I think I’d really like to explore at a better time, yes. It seems this tower is full of surprises.” Tsumi kept grinning widely, though she got seriously quickly as the advance party reached the ship. “But we have another problem to deal with.”

Behind the advance group, a single person had floated high in the air and was now surrounded by a halo of fire. Even through the illusion, the air around the person was being distorted by the heat, and looking at him was a little like looking at the sun directly. "Yes, we do. Zuellni, deploy the defenses and make sure to protect the evacuees as well. Focus on defense, but be prepared to take that shot we talked about earlier when the opportunity presents itself. Tsumi, send a message to Amaranthine and Ardani. We're going out."

As they prepared to join in on the fight, two huge magical formations appeared above them. The first one was the one they had discussed earlier, trapping them in place. The second one was obviously created by the glowing individual to test things out, and a storm of fire started bombarding the tower with different kinds of flaming attacks, ranging from simple fireballs and beams of flames to flaming meteors and dark flames that looked quite sinister. All of the attacks seemed to get swallowed by the twelve white rings that appeared around the tower.

"Protective fields 8% saturated," Zuellni reported as the storm seemed to subside.

“What does that mean?” Tsumi asked as the transport rings brought them outside.

“The protective field can theoretically absorb almost everything, but only to a certain point. Once the field is fully saturated, the gathered power needs to be expelled or the entire field will collapse. The energy can be expelled earlier to ease things a bit, but the more saturated the field is, the more likely it is that something slips through and actually hits the tower. Also, the more saturated the field is, the worse the expulsion will be to the surroundings, and the increase is exponential. I don’t recommend doing it with anything living nearby.” Karna explained.

“Incidentally, that bombardment was strong enough that it would’ve really strained the protections around the Academy, or without such protections it would’ve leveled a large city. Our enemy isn’t playing around.” Zuellni added, the spirit floating next to them as they exited the tower.

"No, they're not," Wolfgang stated as the advance group reached them. "They're stronger than we anticipated. I'm fairly sure we can win, but it's not going to be an easy fight. It's hard to believe these are the forces of a single clan."

"The Wu-Jin isn't the strongest world in the Higher Planes for no reason," Tsumi stated simply. "They've stood alone for countless millennia and you've just discovered why they don't even cave into the demands of entire coalitions of other worlds."

“So, what’s the plan. That last attack didn’t seem like good news, but it must have taken some wind out of their sails.” Wolfgang continued, undeterred.

“I’m afraid that is likely not the case. If my guess is correct, that glowing person, who’s called Inferno by the way, can throw around magic like that forever. As long as it’s fire magic that is.” Karna burst his bubble.

“How?” He asked with a frown.

"To make a complex explanation simple, he's drawing power from somewhere else and isn't really wasting his own. Speaking of, you asked for a plan. I have some good news. As long as we deal with that individual, I've got a feeling the others will retreat. The bad news is that we need to deal with him, and permanently." While she did have some basis for thinking the other devils might retreat, she wasn't fully confident in that fact. She was mostly relying on sketchy information and speculation about clan politics she'd heard third hand about. However, they did need to deal with Inferno, as the whole thing hinged on him, and she was planning on killing him anyway.

“That does seem to coincide with what I noticed. Many of the enemy elites didn’t seem too eager to fight us. They did it, but they didn’t exactly take the opportunity to tie us down and force a real engagement.” Arjuna observed.

"Internal clan politics at play no doubt," Ashanti added his two cents.

“So here’s the rough plan. I want the rest of you to keep the other enemies busy. No need to force it into a deathmatch like you probably already noticed, just make sure they don’t have the opportunity to interfere. Amaranthine and Ardani will support the rest of you. Arjuna and I will take care of Inferno.” Karna laid out her plan.

“That seems feasible if the two of you can do it. I mean, I have faith in Arjuna’s abilities, but why you? No offense.” Wolfgang asked a question that was on most of their minds. She was the weakest person present at least on the surface.

“Because I’m well suited to deal with fire. I also know how to deal with most of his fire-based tricks, while Arjuna is there to take care of his other abilities. We don’t really need to beat him though. We just need to force him to stay in place for long enough for my plan to take effect.” Karna explained a little cryptically.

“What sort of plan?” Arjuna asked as well.

"You'll see. Just don't stand next to him if you can help it. In fact, it would really help if all of you kept your distance from him. I hope all of you brought your fire resistance magical items because you're going to need them." Karna refused to explain.

To their credit, everyone had some magical items or armor that could protect them from fire. They were all experienced fighters and even adventurers, and fire was one of the most common threats one could face.

-----

Inferno looked over the home of the Yuki-Onnas. Things had gotten more complicated than he had expected. They had been warned that the ice youkai would have reinforcements, but the number and strength of those reinforcements had caught them by surprise. If he had not been present, it would’ve been likely that the enemy would’ve been strong enough to defeat their clan’s forces. Even with him present, things wouldn’t go too well, unless he fought seriously. It was hard to hold back and stop himself from destroying everything when he was serious. And killing the youkai and their own forces accidentally would defeat the whole point of this exercise.

He wasn’t particularly too interested in the ice women, aside from the reincarnator that had caught his eye. This was all about making a power play and improving the standing of their clan inside the empire. For that, the Yuki-Onnas were an asset, nothing more and nothing less. Now it seemed the whole thing wasn’t worth the trouble, but it was also too late to turn back. Besides, battle itself had its own rewards. A fight against a worthy enemy would hone the skills and will of his forces. And powerful people usually had powerful items on them that they could ‘liberate’. Like that oddly shaped spaceship.

The others in his clan might not recognize a spaceship when they saw one, but he could. Its presence here clearly signaled the presence of another reincarnator. And one with skill and knowledge to build a ship like that essentially from scratch. He seriously doubted any of the worlds in this universe had the infrastructure ready to build something like that. The problem was that he knew nothing of the capabilities of the ship. It likely didn’t have the power to harm him, but it could surprise their troops. And he couldn’t sense the owner. The damn central pyramid somehow resisted all of his attempts to probe inside. It had also taken one of his attacks without any difficulty, which was a little worrying.

‘It seems they’re finally acting.’ He thought to himself as the Powerful enemies scattered to face all of his clan’s forces. Maybe now the old farts of his clan would take things seriously. With a firm enemy in front of you, it was a lot harder to avoid getting serious.

Two forms separated to meet him in the air. The first one he'd seen before, though only from afar. They had wisely avoided him before, but now the dark-clad mage faced him directly, with shadows lingering around him in quite unnatural ways. The other one was new and would've seemed out of place if not for her form. 'They're trying to counter my flames by sending out a phoenix, eh? Not a bad plan, though ultimately futile.' The noble bird was just too weak.

He had never been one for long talks before fights, so he just sent an incinerator beam towards the pair. The glowing beam of fire energy glowed with blue light as the heat rose to the extent of almost setting the air on fire. To his surprise, the man didn’t even react, and the fiery energy deviated from its course, coming to rest above the phoenix’s head, forming a glowing orb. ‘I see. The little birdy is stronger than she seems. She has cultivated above her level.’

For a second, his eyes turned fiery red as he confirmed his suspicions. The phoenix had a True Name that definitely belonged to a reincarnator. It also worried him a bit. You didn’t get a name like Karma without becoming old and very powerful. Then again, you didn’t get a Name like Inferno easily either. This might become more interesting than he thought. Fighting this enemy might not have been very wise but letting her live and grow would be equally dangerous. He didn’t know if this Karma was the type to hold a grudge. And there must have been a reason so many reincarnators were sprouting up in this universe.

The shadow mage acted in turn, a gigantic spell formation taking shape above everyone, a storm of shadow energy coming out of the formation and attacking him, while at the same time a pitch-black dragon seemed to be climbing out of the mage’s shadow. ‘Starting off with a pair of ninth-circle spells, eh? They really brought along a monster, able to cast both simultaneously. Too bad you’re fighting against almost a direct counter.’

----

“Look out!” She sent a mental warning to Arjuna as the man that was seemingly made of fire suddenly lit up like a small star, turning his surroundings into a raging inferno that burned away both the shadow dragon Arjuna had summoned, as well as the spell formation above. The man, Inferno, was apparently one of those old enough to be able to exert their Domain early, as the corona of flames burned away any foreign magic around him. The Domain also granted him perfect control over his preferred element within said Domain, which combined with his ability to draw power from the elemental plane of fire was a dreadful combination.

The heat and power even pushed down on the people fighting far below them, as the trio was currently at a height equaling the tops of the mountains the Yuki-Onnas called home. The two of them pulled some distance from the tiny star that had suddenly appeared. "Well, that's going to be problematic. His fires burn away all my shadows and making them unable to regenerate, leaving me fighting at less than my peak." Arjuna commented.

“Don’t worry. Just stick to the plan.” Below them, Zuellni allowed fifteen of the gravity focusing pods to stealthily float out from the bottom of the tower and they lined up towards the battle above. The Tower could fire a more powerful shot, but not while inside the atmosphere. Even using fifteen would leave a mark. Karna had purposely ordered Zuellni to not fire on the enemies before to avoid drawing attention. “Distract him for me for a moment. Something big and flashy.”

Arjuna obliged as thunder started to gather in his arm, forming an enormous lance that was growing in size and power. He’d picked the element as it was less likely to be affected too badly by the scorching heat. The devil inside the glowing star didn’t wait until the attack came, as old enough reincarnators knew the dangers of hubris. Usually, battles between similarly powerful mages ended up in one of two ways. Either it turned into a battle of attrition, or one of them managed to surprise the other in a fatal way. And the Inferno wasn't going to wait until he was surprised and launched his own attack.

As the power of the two nine rank mages clashed, Karna performed the real attack. Her fiery wings touched the flames inside Inferno’s Domain, and suddenly sickly black, brown, and green streaks were spreading through the fire. “You may command fire, but you’re much too young to compete with me when it comes to using it.” Karna’s beak twisted into a grin. Everything had a counter. All you needed was to discover it. And seeing as fire was one of the most commonly used and abused elements, she’d found plenty of counters in her studies.

Inferno was feeling sick to his stomach as the weird energy and substance invaded his Domain. It was like someone had poisoned his flames. He’d always known that flames were alive in a way, but he’d never even considered them alive in that sense. Well, there was a cure to such sickness, and that cure was to burn it out.

The flames around him grew in intensity as pillars of flames and lightning struck the ground as the atmosphere started igniting. To Inferno’s horror though, the weird sickness in his flames only grew worse, and the sickly energy seemed to be coalescing into something that looked like tar, sticky and thick, but most importantly sickly. He didn’t have time to concentrate on the problem either, as the bloody shadow mage renewed his assault, sending streams of lightning his way, apparently channeling them from his fingertips.

He saw no other way to get rid of the sickness, other than to shut down his flames briefly, to allow the impurities to go away. That turned out to be a mistake as a dome of shadows seemed to swallow him immediately, and he heard the phoenix utter a single word. “Now!” Before his whole existence seemed to be torn to shreds as powerful energies assaulted him.

Everyone else was equally shocked as a sudden stream of thick destructive energy was shot from the tower, through the dome of darkness and towards the sky. The energy easily punched through the barrier that had been erected to pen the tower and the Yuki-Onnas inside, as it lanced towards the skies, boring a hole through the cloud cover. The ground wasn't spared either as despite the distance, everyone felt that they were pulled towards the deadly beam, and they could've fallen inside if the beam had fired for a longer time. Even now it left behind quite a bit of devastation, as the ground beneath the beam had been torn asunder, forming a long round ravine for several kilometers, while the ground around the ravine had sunk significantly, cracking under the pressure. Debris and rock were floating in the air along the path the beam had taken, as gravity in the air was permanently altered, leaving behind small floating islands.

“Yeah, that’s gonna draw some attention. We might want to leave real quick.” Tsumi commented from the ground, sending a mental message to everyone.

“Not quite yet. There’s still something I need to do.” Karna stated as her phoenix form landed on the ground near what remained of Inferno. The man was still breathing, although his body was mangled beyond recognition. One really shouldn’t underestimate the tenacity of rank nine beings, as given enough time he would recover, even from this state. She wasn’t planning on giving him that time though.

Chapter 78 - The Reaper

A note from Vihyungrang

It seems even days is about the turnout time I need at the moment. We'll see how things progress. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

As Karna approached what remained of Inferno, she called out to Arjuna. “Could you arrange some privacy for us? I have to do something that I don’t want others to see.”

Despite the slightly ominous request, her father didn’t hesitate even for a second before erecting a dome of shadow energy around them. The attack by Zuellni had thrown everything and everyone in chaos, including their allies, and most spells would be disrupted by the residual effects of the cannon, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The dome not only blocked visibility but also prevented any magical scrying. He chose to remain inside the dome himself though.

Karna actually had three ways of dealing with the souls of reincarnators permanently, though she only had access to one method at the moment. Once you knew how it was done, it was not impossible to theorize other methods. The first method would require extensive preparations, while the second one would require her to reach the rank of an immortal to utilize. Usually souls could not be harmed, or even imprisoned for long. Even less so in the case of reincarnators, as they tended to have stronger and larger souls than others, but there were very few ways you could interact even in the case of a normal mortal without anything special about them.

Thankfully, she had a relatively simple method available to her thanks to possessing the Name Reaper. Some of the unique True Names came with certain benefits, and this one wasn’t an exception, though the benefit was extremely limited use. An outline of a long, thin, and slightly curved sword suddenly appeared in her hand, and it seemed the insides of the weapon were filled with grey ash and smoke. The shape of the weapon didn’t really matter though, as it was the materialization of the True Name. The weapon had no effect on anything physical, and to have any effect on souls required the connection between a body and the soul to already be frayed.

To Arjuna, the weapon didn’t even look like a sword. He wouldn’t have been able to explain what it looked like exactly, as he could barely even see it. What he did feel was a sudden and heavy case of nausea. Whatever his daughter was holding felt very wrong. Something that shouldn’t exist. Just the mere presence of the object made him want to empty the contents of his stomach, and it caused cold shivers to run down his spine. Whatever it was, it was giving him the creeps, and he dearly hoped his daughter would never call it out again, wherever it had come from.

Luckily for Arjuna, he didn’t have to experience those feelings for long, as Karna swiped the blade through the remains of Inferno. The blade left no wound, and to Arjuna’s eyes had no effect. Except for one. Where once the mangled and almost completely destroyed body had still clung to life, now it was most definitely dead. Where once it had been the body of a powerful individual housing the soul and spirit of a rank nine being, now it was just a pile of charred and distorted flesh and bone. And once Karna had finished the swing, the weapon she was holding disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

While this method was easy, it was in many ways less effective than the other two. It wouldn't work on everyone either. If someone had a soul even remotely as powerful as she did, then the weapon would not work. And while she had effectively eliminated the soul, someone could theoretically take the pieces and put them back together before the remains dissipated completely. That had come back to haunt her once. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do on such short notice, and it was doubtful anyone with enough power and skill cared enough about Inferno to go through the trouble. It would require someone with the skills of a Head Judge of the River of Souls anyway.

“Now we can go. In fact, we really should. We drew a lot of attention earlier, and we don’t want to stick around for the Weijin Empire to come asking questions. Zuellni, bring all the remaining Yuki-Onnas on board right away. I don’t care if they’re finished gathering their things or not. We’re leaving now.” She ordered.

------

Seconds before Inferno met his end, Mayumi had been talking to the members of her new tribe, trying to rush them along. They were almost done, fortunately. In mid-sentence, she collapsed on the floor as if all strength had left her body, and she was swallowed up by a tsunami of emotions. She felt wrongness. She felt afraid. She felt like some kind of taboo had just been broken. Most importantly, she felt the presence of something she could only describe as a predator, and she was the prey. She was also assaulted by a wave of feelings that also manifested physically, including anxiety, terror, pain, pressure, and she had trouble breathing.

All she could do was to clap her hands on her ears in an instinctual effort to shield her mind from the onslaught, as she also screamed as hard as her lungs managed, trying to find a release valve for all the emotions. The onslaught didn’t last for long, but she never wanted to experience it again as she lay panting and hoarse on the ground. The moment had felt like it had lasted for much longer, but she knew it had only been a few seconds.

-----

Prince Tethrine and the person he had been negotiating with both collapsed in the middle of diplomatic negotiations. They had been debating the fate of a particularly lucrative world that had come along as the result of the Expansion, and the others involved in the negotiations stared in shock as both the leader of a large empire and an immortal Emissary collapsed in the middle of heated debate. The emperor clutched his head and screamed as he collapsed on the floor, while Tethrine lay slumped on the table as he managed to avoid displaying his own distress more heavily out of habit.

While all the other feelings vanished soon after, the feeling that there was now a predator out for him remained. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened, but he had a strong fear of death suddenly. For the first time in several lifetimes, he was actually afraid of dying. Somehow, he knew that someone could kill him permanently and that someone was in this universe. And that, more than anything made him afraid. There were very few things that could make someone like him truly afraid, but now he was borderline panicking and having trouble breathing.

"W-we'll…postpone these negotiations for now." He managed to say, and everyone involved seemed to agree. They were already preparing to draw out weapons, and a pause in the negotiations was the perfect opportunity to de-escalate. Not that he cared. He would not be returning to these negotiations. He'd already received a silent message recalling him back to the Divine Planes, and he was likely not the only one. Even if he had not received the message, he would've still returned. He didn't even care that he was running away.

------

Kurnous Asuryan clutched at his chest like he was having a heart attack. It wasn't all that far from the truth either. He'd felt this feeling once before, and he knew what it meant. A reincarnator had died. And not in the usual way everyone died. The reincarnator in question had died a final death, having their soul destroyed. He had managed to resist most of the effects of what had happened, partially because he'd encountered it before.

Last time he had taken his own life to escape. It was better to default on the current life and start over than risk having your soul destroyed. For a moment, he seriously considered doing so again, but he decided against it. Despite the fear coursing through his core, he knew that it was not required. Not yet anyway. He’d grown wiser and more experienced since the last time. He’d learned from other, older reincarnators. He’d heard about the Reaper.

The Reaper didn’t kill indiscriminately. Even that being would be punished if they used their power willy-nilly. And the universe currently had more reincarnators than ever. The odds of the Reaper turning their ire towards him was…manageable. He was a high-profile Divinity though. He would have to keep a lower profile from now on. In fact, maybe he needed a proxy to act through? Now that he thought about it, with so many reincarnators being born in this universe, some of them extremely old and powerful, wasn't it almost inevitable that the Reaper would also be here? He would need to be careful.

He activated a message talisman. “Send an urgent recall to everyone on the red list. They are to return to the Divine Planes as soon as possible, no matter what they are doing.” If the Reaper wanted someone to reap, let it be someone aside from his assets.

-----

Not everyone made the same choice as Kurnous. In a single day, many reincarnators lost their lives. All of them died by their own hand, or at the hand of someone they knew. The instinctual fear drove the reincarnators to take the easy way out. They knew something odd was going on in this universe, but they decided the potential rewards of finding out what that something was did not outweigh the risk of dying permanently.

Those that didn’t take their own life, all knew that things had changed. Where before, the air in the universe had been charged and expectant, now it became extremely serious and careful. The older and more experienced reincarnators had experienced this before and knew what it meant. Some of them had even run into the Reaper before. Some of them cursed their bad luck, while others grinned in expectation. Some had good memories of the Reaper, having befriended her, or at least fostered an association. They knew they had a potential ally in her. Someone who had the ability to even lead them. They also knew trying to find her was likely to backfire, but the Reaper would not stay hidden forever. It wasn’t in her nature. Not if she chose to reveal herself in this way already.

-----

“What’s the problem?” Karna asked with a bit of frustration.

“Apparently you yanked some of the senior members of the tribe just as they were trying to break the seals on their most sacred artifacts. They managed to take the container along, but it seems it can’t be opened anywhere other than their main hall.” Mayumi explained.

“Shouldn’t they be happy to just be alive and free?” Tsumi asked, not at all pleased with how the Yuki-Onnas had chosen to hide things, and now didn’t seem very grateful despite the rescue.

“They are, but this particular set of artifacts is vital for setting up their new home. It’s the source of the tribe’s power.” Mayumi tried to mediate.

"Show me the container," Karna stated gruffly while gesturing with her hand towards the egg-shaped pod the tribe's elders were cradling. The elders didn't seem too eager to oblige. "Look, we're not going back. We barely got away before the Weijin airships locked the place down. You can either deal with it or let us have a look. Zuellni and I are both good at analyzing such things."

The elders whispered among themselves before finally proffering the container. Karna waved her hand in a careless gesture, and the container floated to a basin-shaped indentation in the wall, before the entire basin was filled with light. With Zuellni's assistance, she started deciphering the protective seals. "Hmm, whoever sealed this did a good job." She had to admit.

“Reporting, the sealing doesn’t require the presence of the unlocking formation that they have…had in their main hall. It does make it easier though. The seal can be unlocked by a replacement, but it will take some time to synthesize a proper replacement. Or we could try brute-forcing it.” Zuellni finally told the Yuki-Onnas that were waiting for results. It had taken almost twenty minutes to finish the analysis and Karna had already left to guide the ship. The spirit didn’t really care about anyone other than her master but felt obliged to provide answers due to Karna’s instructions.

"How long?" The oldest, entirely white-haired but still youthful-looking, Yuki-Onna asked. "Without force that is."

“I’d say a couple of months if I have to do the analysis by myself. A few weeks if master spends her entire time helping with the analysis.” Zuellni estimated with a bored voice. She wouldn’t dedicate her entire capacity to the job, and neither would Karna. If they did, they could probably do it in less than a week.

The elders negotiated with each other for a while, before the same one stepped up to reply once again. it was clear they weren't used to being treated with so little respect before, though considering the number of powerful individuals on board, the attitude was understandable. "That is acceptable. Where are we headed?"

"You gave us a list of potential relocation sites, and we are approaching the closest one," Zuellni replied.

“So we’re going to be spending at least two weeks on board, yes?” The Yuki-Onna confirmed.

“What? No. Of course not. We’ll be there in three to four days.” Zuellni was shocked at how slow most vessels in this universe were, but they weren’t glorious towers like theirs, so it was excusable.

In the meantime, Karna was getting a detailed report on the fight. "All in all, we have a few people injured, but we didn't lose anyone. The fight didn't last long enough for that. Your…weapon also threw everyone into such disarray that we managed a clean retreat. It also helped that we had the advantage in the battle even before that. We did however piss off one of the major clans of the Weijin Empire, so I'd say they're going to be cranky about it for the foreseeable future." Ashanti finished recounting the details.

“Practical downsides?” Karna cut to the core of the issue.

“Well, considering this group of allies won’t stick around for much longer, we’ll have to keep an eye open against any hostile action by the Weijin. I doubt the Empire will take any official action, but considering the scene you made, I wouldn’t be surprised if others besides the devils felt slighted or challenged. If we run into any of their forces while we’re dealing with the Expansion, we’ll more than likely have to deal with them as enemies. The devils might also send some assassins after us, and your tower in particular. While you personally didn’t draw all that much attention, your tower did. And seeing how unique it is, it won’t be too difficult to track.”

“Track maybe not. Catch and destroy? Well, that’s going to be much harder.” Karna waved the concern away. She was more worried about other reincarnators catching wind of her location. Now that she’d revealed herself, it was likely that her True Name as the Reaper was no longer concealed. It had already been questionable if her Name as Wrath was still hidden. While she could ask Mayumi to try to find out, the young Yuki-Onna honestly wasn’t a good test as her skill with finding out True Names was quite low.

Karna tapped her chin in thought before turning towards her father. "Once we get our passengers settled, I'll probably have to go out to take advantage of the Expansion to stay out of sight for a while. On the plus side, I'll be able to bring back any spoils I find."

Arjuna's smile was a little strained. "I suspected things would end up like this. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but we expected it. Do swing by to give Duskclaw a hug before you leave though. Otherwise, I'll have to suffer the consequences."

Zuellni popped out right next to Karna. “Oh right, master. There was an immortal that wanted to talk to you back at the Magocracy. I assumed she was just curious about the tower, so I dismissed her, but we might run into her again when we go back.”

“What kind of immortal?” Karna asked a bit suspicious.

“A Golden Immortal named Araleth. She seemed relatively well-behaved once I explained the situation.” Zuellni didn’t seem to mind the possible ramifications of slighting such a powerful being.

“You forgot to relay the message of a Golden Immortal until now?” Ashanti couldn’t help but admire the guts of the little spirit.

"Such beings may seem powerful, but in the large scheme of things, they do not matter," Zuellni stated with conviction.

"I like your tower spirit," Ashanti said to Karna with a smile.

Zuellni was diplomatic enough not to openly scoff at the faint praise. “Master, considering the time it takes to return everyone home and to open the Yuki-Onna’s little toybox, it’s going to take months before we get home. I doubt the immortal will stick around for that long.”

“Assuming she didn’t have something important to talk about.” Karna pointed out. “Seeing as we’ll need to stick around with the youkai for a while, we might return the others first. We should also probably see what this Araleth wanted.” She decided.

Chapter 79 - Talks

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

”Greetings. What brings a grand Golden Immortal to my humble tower?” Karna asked while making a small polite bow. Her entire form was covered by thick and heavily enchanted monk’s robes, and none of her features were visible.

“I must say that it’s quite unusual and suspicious to cover yourself like that in the presence of an Immortal.” The woman in golden armor pointed out with very little inflection in her tone. It seemed like she didn’t really care about the matter but pointed it out anyway.

“Yes, well, I was being polite for a long time, but I’ve had a series of immortals come through here, asking questions and disturbing my life. I’m starting to run out of politeness.” All her words were quite true, as she allowed the immortal woman to sense. She had decided against trying to have Gem allow her to lie or to pretend to be her. She was approaching the point where she didn’t need to keep running away anymore, though someone of this strength would definitely be an issue. Still, running away wasn’t really in her nature, and she wanted to stop. The only ones she really worried about were the immortals that were also reincarnators, and avoiding those was just common sense.

"I see. That somewhat answers one of my questions. I hear the daughter of the Grand Medjai has been the subject of several inquiries, and your tower is parked above his tower for the second time. I was about to ask if you were his daughter, but I suppose I already have my answer." The angelic-looking woman nodded to herself.

The two of them were meeting in the air above the tower as it was a neutral ground of sorts. Entering a wizard’s tower could be dangerous if things turned hostile. Getting in was much easier than getting out after all. On the other hand, Karna still had access to the protection of the tower. “I repeat my original question. What brings you to my humble abode? And if I’m not mistaken, you’re a member of Mount Celestis as well. I was under the impression your kind were…isolationist to put things mildly.”

The woman looked slightly startled. “You have sharp eyes. Sharper than most. That agrees with what I’ve learned about you. To make things succinct, I’m here to offer an olive branch to someone who might end up becoming someone important in the future. As you noted, Mount Celestis has remained separated from the affairs of the larger universe for a long time. Perhaps too long. I and others of my kind are now searching for future talent and allies because we think it is time to bring our isolation to an end. The matters of the universe no longer allow us the luxury to remain within our home, and we need to gather allies if we want to succeed. We’ve been given certain qualifications that we look for in potential future allies, and you meet said qualifications rather easily.”

“You’re giving me a recruiting pitch? I would point out that you’re not the first ones to do so. What makes your pitch better?” Karna prodded. She knew there was more to this offer. Mount Celestis wouldn’t just suddenly send recruiters out. Other powerful groups in the Divine Planes might, though even that was only done in rare cases, but Mount Celestis? That seemed very unlikely.

The angels and celestials of Mount Celestis had been isolationists even before her latest visit into this universe so many lifetimes ago. There was a good reason too. Their kind had been betrayed and exploited in the past, so they had withdrawn from the general operation of the Divine Planes as a protest. They considered the Divine Planes too corrupted and beyond rescue with just their own efforts. They refused to clarify further, but they clearly had some larger goal. The only reason they had not left entirely was because the Host was still the best way to combat the Scourges. As far as Karna knew, the inhabitants of Mount Celestis had ventured out only three times in all the eons after their isolation had started, and every time it was because of a huge existential threat. And now they were just out and about recruiting? That made no sense whatsoever.

“Beyond the fact that this offer comes from the Mount Celestis? We do not need you to join our forces directly. We simply wish you to ally with us. We also offer you a piece of very important information that we're willing to offer you on the condition that if you find the information worth it, you will owe us a favor in the future. This information is not conditional on the alliance, and I want to add that it might save your life or the life of one of your loved ones. In our case especially." The immortal woman set rather attractive terms, although a ‘favor’ was quite vague. Obviously, she was confident in her information.

“Alright. I’ll be the judge of the information though. I feel the need to point out that if you simply want to inform me about the difference between divine power and the spiritual power of our planes, I’m already aware and have taken measures.” She didn’t want to owe vague future favors, but she didn’t want to dismiss the information too lightly either. If they asked for something completely disproportionate with their own information, she could just refuse.

"While that too is something we could inform others about, I could already sense that your power is much purer than others. That is one of the qualifications I mentioned earlier actually. No, my information is something much more topical and time-sensitive. Due to the current chaotic situation with the Expansion, the resurgent Scourges, and the new arrivals, the Divine Planes have instituted a draft. All new immortals that are either born in the Divine Planes or Ascend there are immediately forced to join the Host and sent to fight these threats. While the Host is extremely good at avoiding losses, as immortals are obviously hard to kill, the losses among those that have been recently drafted have been quite heavy in comparison. Multiple times heavier than among the seasoned, disciplined, and veteran troops of the Host.”

Karna blinked in surprise and had to do a double-take at the news. This had certainly caught her by surprise. For once, she had not anticipated this possibility at all. A very bold strategy that she might even support under many other circumstances, except there was a glaring problem. Arjuna. Her father was quite close to Ascending, and she was even expected to create a pill for him that would allow him to make the Ascension faster and easier. And he would be drafted immediately upon Ascending.

Arjuna was a powerful and resourceful mage with very useful abilities, so she wasn’t all that worried about him. Or she wouldn’t be normally. If her father was thrust into the front lines of this clusterfuck though, that could create issues. Despite his power and abilities, he wasn't quite up to dealing with some of the shit that existed among the Scourges and especially at the Crossroads. While he would do well in a conventional fight or a magical duel, the technologies and bizarre techniques that could be found at the Crossroads would be entirely foreign to him.

“This…is useful information. You shall have your favor in the future.” She finally admitted after digesting the news.

“Excellent! As for the alliance, we can discuss that after you do Ascend. Just keep us in mind. Do be aware though, that we are especially interested in any knowledge on this technology that these new arrivals seem to be using. And which your tower seems to utilize at least to a certain extent. So, we'd happily offer you good terms for the information." The woman seemed to be ready to leave but suddenly changed her mind. "I wasn't going to mention this as it might seem we are pressuring you into things, but if Your Highness is seeking a party that would not exploit your heritage, then Mount Celestis would be the ideal choice.”

“I suppose it was too much to ask for a Celestial to not be able to see through simple enchanted clothing," Karna muttered to herself. It had been a test. A test that had failed.

“You do not need to worry Princess Ynnead. While we might have exited our isolation, that doesn’t mean we’re actively taking part in the divine politics. In fact, we do our best to avoid it. I just wanted to point out that you do have a safe option among us.” This time the immortal did leave.

“Well, that was an interesting meeting.” Gem commented. “The sneaky bastards have come up with something annoying this time. Also, these enchantments really didn’t do diddly-squat, did they?”

“They might have worked against others. Celestials have the ability to see through such things though. We need further testing. I expected her to sense my divine origin with her power as a Golden Immortal, but her recognizing me was an anomaly. Well, that allowed us to learn some new things. I think she might have not been as open if she hadn’t recognized us.” Karna guessed. She still had trouble believing the Mount would send their members on recruiting drives, unless they wanted to hide something, like the fact that they came for her specifically. And they likely needed that information on technology as well. “We’ll need to see if her words about other recruiters holds true.”

“Do you think she was telling the truth when she said she didn’t care about your identity as the apparently missing princess?” Gem inquired.

“That’s not what she said. They care. Of course they care. But her words about not exploiting it are more likely to be true. They are as apolitical as a group in the Divine Planes can get. Or at least they used to be. Admittedly my information is quite out of date. Still, even if we assume my information to be true, that doesn’t mean my heritage doesn’t matter at all. Here’s the thing. The Angels and Celestials aren’t going to accept just anyone as a member of their little group. A royal though? That would be acceptable.” She pointed out. Part of the isolationist nature of the two races included their bloodlines. You couldn’t be part of the mount if you weren’t at least a lesser angel species, like an Archon or an Aasimar.

“How very racist of them.” Gem said half-jokingly. Most groups and great Houses of the Divine Planes were divided on the lines of your bloodline and race.

“Let’s go break the news to Arjuna. He was really looking forward to finally Ascending. I don’t think we have to convince him too hard though, what with him finally romancing Duskclaw and having a child. It would’ve been a little sketchy for him to leave so soon anyway. Maybe now I can convince him to stick around until I can Ascend as well.”

“That’s several decades away at the very shortest.” Gem pointed out. Even for Karna, ranking up would take time.

“He’s waited this long. He might as well wait a bit more. Or if he doesn’t want to wait for me, he should at least wait until the situation becomes a bit clearer.” Karna responded.

“You’re assuming this clusterfuck isn’t going to keep growing worse.”

“A fair point.” Karna had to admit.

--------

After just killing a reincarnator permanently, rousing the ire of the most powerful world in the Higher Planes, and negotiating with a Golden Immortal, Karna felt a little out of place when she suddenly found herself with extra time to waste. Her allies had returned back home, and she was currently in the process of helping the Yuki-Onnas relocate. Except it didn’t really require much effort on her part. The female youkai were currently building a new settlement, but they had already gotten all their people and things off the tower, and they also had their own mages and craftsmen to handle the construction. Her assistance was not needed, nor requested.

Not that Karna was planning on offering any free labor anyway. She wasn’t all that fond of the fact that the group of youkai had hidden the detail of their dilemma until she had arrived with her allies, so she wasn’t going to do any extra favors for them. The only reason she hadn’t already left was because Zuellni was helping with decoding the sealing on the sacred artifact, and Karna occasionally also pitched in. While she had no desire to stick around with the Yuki-Onnas any longer than necessary, the place itself was a pretty decent location for a small vacation.

The location the Yuki-Onnas had chosen was surprisingly not some kind of arctic region. Part of that was because they needed other races to procreate, but apparently the ice-demons preferred to make their own ideal terrain instead of finding something appropriate that already existed. To their powers, creating a winter wonderland wasn’t too difficult. Another reason for that was the availability of resources. While they could easily make a short trip to some arctic region to find the appropriate resources due to their powers, more mundane resources like food and construction materials were a much larger concern. And it was pretty difficult to grow and hunt food in a frozen wasteland. So, if they had the option of making an icy paradise right next to arable land that could be easily farmed and some forests for hunting, then that trumped other concerns.

The settlement was located in a relatively remote mountain valley next to the coast of a rather stormy and unstable sea. The sea offered a lot of bounty in the form of fish and other resources, but the frequent storms made coastal cities less desirable. Storms and monster to be more specific. The storms the Yuki-Onnas could easily deal with, and it was easier to exploit land that was currently not in heavy use than it was to take over territory that belonged to someone else. The nearest cities were within travel distance, but not so close as to be a problem. The Yuki-Onnas could live relatively isolated, while still finding other races to mate with when they so desired.

The terrain surrounding the coast and the mountains was mostly fertile plains with occasional forests dotting the landscape. Boring, but perfect for the purposes of the settlement. Many of the earth mages were already turning the land into something useful, while the druids, a rarity among the Yuki-Onnas, made sure that the first crops could be harvested as soon as possible. Using magic to assist in farming made the whole process laughably easy, which was why farming was a much rarer profession in the Higher Planes when compared to the lesser planes. The process was almost automatic with nature spirits and treants tending to the crops once they had been summoned and the farms and gardens created.

As for Karna, she had made herself a nice little spot on the coast where she had found a rather idyllic cove with a sandy beach. The storms that plagued most of the sea avoided the cove, mostly with a little encouragement from her magic, and she spent quite a bit of time just enjoying the sun and swimming around, while also catching up with Mayumi. “So, you got stranded in a desert with the elven princess, basically naked?” The latter questioned.

“That’s the basic gist of it. Well, I had my dimensional artifact, so I had no trouble with supplies or clothing, but Anaire lost hers. She had to wear my clothing until we found civilization, and even then, the offerings were pretty slim, the whole world being a desert and all.” Karna chuckled.

“Poor Anaire.” Mayumi shook her head in sympathy while taking a glance at Karna’s body that was pretty much on full display as the Godling was taking in the sun in a rather skimpy bathing suit she had found Divines only know where. Mayumi could only imagine how inadequate the elven princess must have felt, as she currently felt the same and she didn’t even have to wear Karna’s clothing. “Oh, I’ve come up with a whole host of questions I want to ask while we were separated. Would you mind if I ask a few of them now?”

“Fire away.” Karna prompted while closing her eyes and taking a more comfortable position while laying on the sandy dune.

“What do you think is the most important lesson about living your life as a reincarnator?” Mayumi started off with something she’d thought about several times. Someone with Karna’s experience must have come learned a lot over her many lives.

“That’s both a tough one, as well as an easy one. Most reincarnators spend too much time brooding over the past or planning the future. Most of that time is wasted. I’m not saying plans are completely useless as a good plan can often be the difference between failure and success. You just shouldn’t spend too much time worrying about it. You lose sight of the present and your plans will inevitably be ruined by random factors anyway. Same thing with the past. What’s done is done. Reflect and learn from your mistakes, but then move on. Don’t wallow in self-pity and shame.” Karna smiled broadly for a moment. “A wise master once told me that I was too concerned with what was and what will be. He said that yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why they call it present.”

“That’s…not what I expected. At all.” Mayumi was stunned by the obviousness of what Karna had said. Yet it was also something that even she kept forgetting. The little wordplay was just something fun to help remind yourself of the fact.

“Most people fall victim to this, but reincarnators are especially prone. We have a lot more past to brood over, and a lot more future to plan after all. Others plan only for a single lifetime, while we can plan out several lifetimes. It’s mostly wasted effort, but not entirely. Just remember to not lose sight of the here and now.”

“What’s stronger, magic or science and technology?” Mayumi shifted the attention to something the new arrivals to this universe had brought with them.

"Neither. Depends on what you want to do, though most of what you can accomplish with one, you can accomplish with the other. There are some exceptions of course. In reality, the most power comes from combining the two. Some things are easier with one or the other, but the greatest achievements come from using both in tandem. To a certain extent, magic is a science in itself, and some science is more magic than anything else." Karna replied.

“What’s the strongest magical beast in the multiverse?” Mayumi asked half-jokingly.

“Oh, that’s a good one. While many people would offer different answers, the fact is that dragons are the most powerful in their extreme forms. A World Dragon can trounce pretty much anything else without breaking a sweat. Now, if Dragobears had enough intelligence to match the Dragons…” Karna joked.

“Please don’t scare me like that. We really don’t need intelligent Dragobears. I’m surprised you haven’t been born as one.” Mayumi gave a shudder.

“You’re assuming I haven’t.” Karna grinned in response.

"Nah, the universe wouldn't be that cruel," Mayumi stated with confidence. "There's no way any powers ruling this stupid system would hate a universe so much to have you born as one."

Chapter 80 - Sentinels

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

”Oh divines, what are you wearing?” Arjuna asked as soon as Karna’s illusory image appeared in front of him. They had installed a permanent communication array between Karna’s tower and his, allowing the two to communicate over vast distances. What threw him off was the fact that the array showed the person on the other end just as they were, and currently his daughter was wearing what he could only describe as a swimming attire that barely covered anything. As a father, he was very conflicted.

“What? I was working on my tan when you contacted me, and you told Zuellni it was urgent.” His daughter protested. He was very conflicted.

“We will discuss this at a later time young lady. Even if you’re having a vacation, there are things that are proper and things that are not.” He went into a slight lecture mode.

“You really have adopted the social mores of the Magocracy. This is actually one of my more conservative suits.” His daughter grumbled. He didn’t see how that was possible. If there was any less fabric, then the whole ensemble would be positively indecent. “You didn’t contact me to lecture me on my dress code I hope? Otherwise, I’m ending this now.”

“No. Something has come up. You remember how we’ve been looking for a suitable world to claim with the expansion? The problem has never been finding a worthy world, but keeping it. It’s easy to come in and snatch resources, but to actually hold a world requires enough power to hold it. With the scourges and the newcomers around, that has been difficult. We also haven’t found the exact right world that would be worth the effort.” Arjuna summarized.

“I’m assuming that has changed.” Karna cut to the heart of the matter as usual. She had a habit of focusing on the important things.

“Yes. We have found a very lucrative world. Not quite as good as the one that you found on the border of the Divine Planes, but the next best thing. There’s also a…potential solution to the problem of holding it. As you’re aware, while some of the new worlds created by the Expansion have intelligent life in the form of magical beasts, there are no actual civilizations present to compete for the space. Well, now we’re skirting on the very edge of that definition. We’ve found a world that is protected by magical constructs that call themselves the Sentinels. These Sentinels are perfectly capable of protecting the world against most threats, and they can be negotiated with, possibly even controlled.” Arjuna had been quite excited about the prospect of studying these Sentinels at some point.

“I’m sensing a but, and I’m guessing it comes in the form of competition.” Karna pointed out accurately.

“Quite. We’re not even close to being the only ones that have found the world. Gaining control of the Sentinels is also conditional on beating this competition. The Sentinels don’t want to turn their world into a battleground though. They’re tasked with protecting the world after all. They have indicated that they have a solution to the problem. They have constructed a special arena where representatives from all those that want to claim the world can send representatives to fight for it. There are some conditions though. We don’t even know all the conditions, but we know a few. Everyone can only send a single representative for instance. There’s a second issue. The Sentinels didn’t want the whole thing to turn into something where a single Immortal can come in and sweep the whole thing. So, they limited those that can participate. Limiting it to just rank 9 beings would only kick the can down a level though.” Arjuna was not exactly pleased about what he was about to tell her.

“Let me guess. They’re limiting things by age.” Karna guessed the problem immediately.

"Exactly. While you're not even close to the age limit, which would give you a bit of a disadvantage, no one of the higher-ups of the Magocracy could argue against your selection after Tsumi and I put you forward." He'd done so only grudgingly. "You're much stronger than your rank indicates, and you'll be able to appear as less of a threat. Here's the problem. We have absolutely no idea what kind of things this arena will present to any claimants. We can assume it's some sort of Battle Royale, but I doubt it will be that simple."

“Which also favors me, as you know I can be very adaptable. I can see why even you recommended me despite your obvious worry.” Karna gave a small fond smile to her father. “I get the sense that there’s more to this. The timing is a bit too…convenient.”

"I agree. I've also been informed that the Wei-Jin has sent a representative. And we found this place at a very convenient time. I doubt they're behind this whole thing, but I'm confident they were the ones to tip us off. They're planning on utilizing this opportunity." Arjuna agreed with his daughter's suspicion.

“That’s not exactly what I had in mind. I was more suspecting this was caused by someone’s karma, but what you said makes sense as well.” Her words confused Arjuna a bit, but he let it go. She often said things that were hard to understand or explain. “When am I needed?”

“The event starts in two weeks. I already gave your tower spirit the location.” Arjuna provided.

Karna tilted her head a bit as if listening to something. “I see. The travel time is around four days, so I still have a bit more time to work on my tan.”

“Find a proper attire first! And be sure to put on proper clothes before you arrive! You look indecent!” Arjuna reminded his grinning daughter.

“You know, I could probably gain an advantage if I did arrive like this. There’s going to be alliances between participants, and what better way to attract allies than with honey?” Now Karna was just teasing him. Hopefully.

“No! I’m calling in my dad-veto!” He decided to put a stop to that idea just in case anyway. She wasn’t wrong though. If she did arrive looking like that, she’d definitely gain allies. Of the wrong sort though.

“You’re no fun today.” She teased before cutting the connection.

------

Usually, Karna wasn't against making a grand entrance, but this time she decided against it. Once her tower reached the vicinity of the world in question, she left the tower there while flying the rest of the way in her phoenix form. She wasn't sure how the Sentinels would react to the presence of her tower, and it would also draw the wrong kind of attention. She would still become the center of attention as soon as she arrived, but that would be due to her appearance and not because she had caused everyone to become wary of her. She didn’t need the other claimants allying against her right from the start. Besides, she wouldn’t be able to utilize her tower during the event anyway.

The Sentinels themselves were an odd collection of constructs made of dark metal in brass-colored armor. They wielded curved weapons and seemed to be moving with surprising grace considering their metallic forms. They took many forms and sizes depending on their location, ranging from tiny to gigantic, and it seemed the entire world was dotted with them. They seemed to be forming some sort of a network, and the distance between two Sentinels was never longer than two kilometers. Some places had much larger concentrations of the constructs. It seemed that the ones spread around were there to monitor things and to report any changes, while the larger concentrations of forces would respond to any emergencies.

The world itself was relatively standard with nine continents with varying climates, ranging from the standard arctic at the poles to deserts and rain forests near the equator. A standard paradise world to be exact, as the climate in general seemed mild and the world extremely temperate and fertile. It was hard to say what resources could be found without doing a proper survey, but one thing was certain. The air was thick with power. Arjuna had been right in saying that this place was the next best thing to the half-divine world they had discovered. If she could use this world for cultivation, it would speed up her progress significantly.

It wasn’t hard to find the place where the event would take place as all the airships from different worlds had gathered around a single city. It seemed the city had been nothing but ruins not long before, but it had been turned habitable in a record time. It still bore the marks of age and devastation, but it also had a quaint charm to its scratched walls made of white stone and marble pillars. The number of Sentinels present was also very high. Likely to make sure peace was kept. The sheer number of outsiders necessitated the forced peace. Hundreds if not thousands of airships could be seen either docked or floating around the city, and the number of people wandering around the city made the ruins seem quite lively. The word about the event had obviously gotten out and everyone wanted to be present. And many of those present would be hostile with at least one of the other parties.

"Divines! Girl, you almost gave me a heart attack arriving like you did." Wolfgang cursed as Karna arrived at the bridge of the airship in a burst of flames.

“It’s almost worrying I was able to do it in the first place. Your anti-teleportation wards need some work.” Karna countered while assuming her usual appearance.

“The wards are fine. You know it and I know it. They just don’t apply to you and your bullshit abilities as a flaming chicken.” Wolfgang countered. “It’s good to see you though. Arjuna wasn’t completely sure you’d be able to make it in time. And if you hadn’t, Sieg would’ve had to attend in your stead. I have confidence in his abilities, but he’s not quite ready for some of the monsters the great powers will throw into the mix.”

“And yet you don’t seem worried about me.” Karna queried with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not. I already know your abilities are complete bullshit like I just said. Even if you don't win, you'll find a way to return in one piece." Wolfgang seemed quite certain of his assessment.

“What a resounding vote of confidence.” Karna was slightly surprised by the endorsement.

“I’ve seen enough to have that much faith at least. That’s why I voted for your participation.” Wolfgang wasn’t stupid. Not by a long shot. He might act like a boorish oaf at times, but that was just him not wanting to put up a front.

“Father may have forgotten to mention that. Anyway, what can you tell me?” She wasn’t surprised Arjuna hadn’t mentioned Wolfgang, as the man was excellent at getting under her father’s skin at times.

“We have confirmed the participation of at least nine hundred people the last time I checked. Might be more now. I’m guessing we’ll reach way over a thousand by the time the festivities start. For the event itself, we know very little. We know that it’s age-restricted, and we know every party can send only a single participant. We’re not even sure where this is all taking place. The tinheads mentioned that they have the perfect arena for such an event, but we’ve seen nothing to indicate that’s true. They are restricting equipment to whatever you can carry, so no spatial artifacts. We’ve also been informed that we’ll be able to observe, but that we can’t communicate with the participants in any way.” Wolfgang listed the little information they had.

“Do you know how they’re determining the age of participants?” She asked.

“Something about a magical spell. I’m not really up on the details.” Wolfgang hadn’t really cared about that tidbit since it didn’t matter to him or supposedly to Karna either.

“Any Outsiders participating?” Karna questioned.

“What now?” Wolfgang wasn’t familiar with the term.

"The ones brought by the Expansion," Karna explained.

“Ah, so that’s what you call them. Fits, I suppose. As far as I know, there is at least one group we suspect of being these…Outsiders, but we can’t be certain. No weird ships or technologies that I’m able to determine.” Wolfgang was aware that some of the Outsiders didn’t differ from them too much, which is why it was hard to tell the difference in some cases.

“Right then. I suppose all we can do is wait and gather information on our competition.” Karna nodded. Information was power after all.

------

By the time the event was about to start, the number of participants had risen to 1215. The number of observing parties was more than thrice that, as many factions knew they had no chance at victory. That didn't mean they couldn't enjoy the festivities and gather information. The Sentinels had finally, under constant pressure, revealed that all participants would be provided with a way to forfeit and leave the field of battle, which encouraged more people to take part. After all, the event was shaping up to be the perfect venue for all the big factions to show off their younger generation. While this world was remote enough that only a certain portion of the Higher Planes could take part, the word of the event had spread far enough that every big faction was involved.

“They’re sending you?” Karna asked a little surprised when Shaheera entered the large magical formation that was supposed to take them to the prepared arena.

“Ashanti knows I won’t win, but he wants me to test myself against others of similar age. And I must say that I’m curious to see how I’ll do.” The Leonid replied.

“Well, try not to get yourself killed.” Karna shrugged. She’d already noticed the presence of several people that would defeat Shaheera easily despite their time together in the Academy. It was a simple matter of strength and age.

“Same to you.” Shaheera nodded and mixed among the rest of the crowd. He didn’t want to draw too much attention, which he would automatically get just by associating with Karna. Even now she’d drawn the attention of most of the gathered people.

Karna fingered the small bracelet on her wrist. The Sentinels had provided it, informing the participants that breaking the rather flimsy bracelet would automatically teleport the participant outside, forfeiting their chance at victory. That meant that the bracelets would also become an obvious target for everyone, a weak spot to target. Most had hidden it among their clothes, while she was wearing it very obviously on her wrist as a bit of a bait.

The Sentinels weren’t big on explanations, expecting the participants to discover all the details on their own, and there was no signal as the formation activated, transporting everyone inside. Karna found herself alone among underground ruins. It seemed that the formation had scattered them, and she couldn’t sense anyone in the immediate vicinity. While the Sentinels had mentioned an arena, they obviously hadn’t meant an actual physical arena. She idly wondered if the whole thing was underground or was that just for her arrival point?

She had only taken a single step before she noticed another anomaly. The spiritual power in the air was thin. Extremely thin. To the point of almost not existing at all. It was worse than the Mortal Planes. It was like this place had been deliberately drained of all power. That complicated things. Many spells and abilities relied on ambient power, and mages and warriors would find it extremely difficult to replenish their power. Was this one of the conditions imposed by the Sentinels? If so, then it was a very interesting twist, turning this battle royale into a battle of attrition. Any power you wasted on fighting someone would take a long time to recover, leaving you vulnerable to others.

Except the restriction didn't apply to everyone equally. Mages would be the most affected, while on the other end both those that used holy power and those that used Aura would be the least affected. Both of the latter groups used ambient power to a certain extent to cultivate, but holy casters gained their power from the gods they followed, while Aura users regenerated their power internally. If this was a condition applied everywhere, then this would be a huge advantage to her.

With a small grin, she turned into her full Vanagandr form, a white wolf that had grown almost to the size of a large building. As soon as she did, the inherent ability of her form activated, and the temperature in her surroundings started to plummet. Fimbulwinter was an ability that started slow but grew worse the more time passed. The area affected would grow and so would the severity of the cold weather created. At first, it would only be an annoyance to people of this level, but sooner or later they would need to start taking measures against the cold, and that would drain their powers slowly but surely. Something that might become important in a battle of attrition like this. Additionally, the weather would also turn bad and there would be storms created, even underground. She would be immune to the effects, others wouldn't. With a literal wolfish grin, she slipped into the shadows in search of her first prey.

-----

Shaheera found himself in a coniferous forest with extremely tall and thick trees. There was little undergrowth, but the heavy and thick branches above made it hard to do more than catch glimpses of the sky above. With a deep breath, he could smell the aromas of the somewhat moist forest. He didn't smell any animals. Or people for that matter. The air was thick with ambient power, almost to the point of it being suffocating. Was he just placed on a different spot on the same world? What was the point? Not that he really minded, as a straight-up battle in an arena would’ve been disadvantageous to him. At least this way he could try to remain hidden for a time, to observe others.

With the basics of a plan, he climbed the nearest tree and started moving along the canopy in search of others. Perhaps he could find allies?

Chapter 81 - Winter

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

A woman clad in dark silken clothing and protected by equally dark leather armor had one of her knees on the snowy ground as she placed her hand inside a paw print to measure it. The print was much larger than her glove-covered hand, but it was impossible to read any reaction from her, as her head was covered by the hood of her cloak and her face was further covered by a scarf that protected her against the cold wind. She had a large bow made of dark wood covered in silver decorations on her back, and everything about her screamed “experienced tracker”.

Which was probably why the other person was relying on her skills. "So, what can you tell from the tracks?" In stark contrast to the woman, the man asking the question was wearing mostly white, though his clothing was made of similar high-quality silk. He was also not as well equipped against the cold weather. He had a sleeveless jacket on that was open at the front, revealing well-developed muscles underneath, and his only concession to the frigid weather was a relatively thick cloak similar to the one the woman wore. The cheeks covered in an intricate tattoo twitched as more snow slipped down his neck, causing a shiver to run through his body.

"I'm pretty sure these tracks belong to who- or whatever is responsible for this weather. They passed here a few hours ago, and the cold and ice are heaviest wherever these tracks pass. The beast is quite large and obviously dangerous." The woman replied with a husky and low voice. It was impossible to tell if that was natural or her attempt at masking her voice. She pointed towards the direction the tracks led. "Judging by the speed the beast is traveling, I think we could catch up to them before nightfall. Or whatever passes as nightfall in this place.”

"Do you think we're dealing with a magical beast, a person transformed into one, or something indigenous to this place?" The man inquired while pulling his hood to cover his gunmetal-grey hair in an attempt to stave off the weather.

“Impossible to say. I did not notice any magical beasts among the participants as we gathered for the start of the event, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t present in disguise.” The woman shook her head in reply while getting up and taking a few steps towards the direction the tracks led. She stopped as she noticed her ally wasn’t following.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to go hunting for this beast? We’re here to deal with our competitors. Heck, we’ll eventually have to fight each other to settle this. We can leave this beast to the others.” He pointed out. “If we even need to deal with it at all. It might be just something the Sentinels added in to make this more interesting. Besides, we can just go outside the affected area.”

"You're not paying enough attention." The woman's voice made it clear she was disappointed in the man's perception. "Even you should've noticed by now, but the weather is only growing worse. The temperature started off as mildly inconvenient, but it has now developed into an actual threat, especially when combined with our lack of gear and the lack of ambient power. We've been here for hours, and we've only run into each other and three others we had to fight. Considering the number of participants and the size of this place, we might have to be here for days. And if the weather keeps growing worse…"

“Eventually we’ll succumb just to the weather.” The man finished for her.

“Exactly. Secondly, you definitely didn’t notice this, but the area affected by the weather is growing. It was growing back towards where we started, and in case you missed it, that's the opposite direction from where this beast is traveling. Which means the area is growing faster than the beast is moving. I doubt our starting position will be safe from the weather anymore. We might not even be able to outrun the growth of the area affected if the beast decides to change direction." The woman explained in a voice that sounded like someone teaching a child.

“No need to get patronizing.” The man lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. “I doubt whatever is causing this can keep it up forever though. Especially in this power-starved environment.”

"That's just it. I don't think the beast needs to expend any power to keep this up. I think this is a natural ability it possesses. I'm almost certain we're chasing a Vanagandr." The woman shot that idea down immediately.

“One of the beasts of the apocalypse? Why would one of them be here? I thought those only existed in the Divine Planes.” The man clearly doubted her word.

“It’s not a fully grown one, that’s for sure. I think this is either an evolved beast, a pup left behind by one of the beasts before they Ascended and who has inherited a very pure bloodline, or an Aura user with the same bloodline.” The woman posited.

“So, you’re saying it might be like us?” The man suddenly got a lot more serious, his early laid-back demeanor gone.

“A distinct possibility, though only one of a handful. In either case, we should not take this lightly. Despite our knowledge and power, we are not invincible, and can be brought down by even those that are not like us.” The woman was clearly a more careful and calm person than the man.

“Well, if we have to go out of our way to challenge this beast, then we better do so quickly. Unlike you, I don’t get my kicks from hunting ‘worthy opponents’, nor do I want to spend more time than necessary in this weather.” The man finally started moving and walked past the spot where the woman was standing.

"Coward." The woman muttered quietly. She knew the man could step up to a fight but preferred not to challenge himself with increasingly difficult enemies to grow stronger. Not like she did. Not like her people had done for eons. Funny how she kept reincarnating into races like that every time. Perhaps that was the multiverse telling her she was on the correct path.

------

Karna could sense someone was hunting her. It wasn’t something she could detect with even her overpowered senses. Instead, it was an instinct honed over countless lives. Something primal inside her telling her that not only was someone willing to challenge her, but they also considered her prey. Very bold of them. It wouldn’t be the first opponent she faced in this place, but it was the first that actively sought her out.

Despite her musings, she wasn’t distracted from the enemy currently in front of her. “What the heck is with that fur!” The enemy cursed as his spell crashed ineffectually against her flank. The fur had adopted the same metallic sheen as her skin in her titan form. It wasn't quite as effective as in that form, but it was enough to keep her protected against feeble attempts like this. She ignored the magical attacks and leaped on her target, pushing the man down with her paws. She could easily devour the man or chomp him in two, but that wasn't the objective of this arena. Oh, she'd likely end up killing many people before this was over, but there was no need to create trouble when she didn't have to. With a slight wave of her claws, the bracelet given to the man by the Sentinels was broken, and he vanished in a shower of lights, just like those before him.

The last couple of hours had been quite effective for her. Unlike most others, the weather didn’t affect her at all, and it was easy for her to detect more and more participants inside the storm. The fact that they kept underestimating her and not using their full power in order to not waste too much power that would be hard to regenerate, meant that she was able to rush and quickly overwhelm most of her opponents. They’d learn eventually, or they’d be left with only the serious competitors. Either way, she was planning on taking advantage of the situation while it was still this easy.

Having the shape of a powerful magical beast was a huge advantage in a power-starved situation, as the beasts had naturally powerful bodies and didn't necessarily need to use any power when fighting. She had the natural abilities of a Vanagandr, which could carry her pretty far, and once she started running into enemies that this form didn't work against, she could always fall back on her magic. In this place, she was the hunter while most others were the prey, which made her even more curious about who actually dared to hunt her.

------

“She’s doing well.” Wolfgang heard a familiar voice behind him. As he turned to face the voice, the elven queen continued. “Not that I would really expect anything different from her all things considered. The Magocracy is quite lucky to have her.”

“Amaranthine. I suppose it’s not that surprising to see you here. Your sons aren’t taking part, I assume?” Wolfgang knew the queen would dislike risking her family on something as inherently dangerous as this. The losses so far had been rather limited, though not everyone had been as considerate as Karna.

"You assume correctly. The rules as they are don't really favor us elves. Even my youngest is too old to take part." The queen confirmed. Elves weren't considered adults until long after passing the age limit of this event, and she wasn't going to send in a child.

“So, who did you send?” Wolfgang asked, curious. The viewing galleries were separated into hundreds of small rooms with a suspended magical screen displaying what was happening.

“You’ll see.” Amaranthine wasn’t willing to give anything away. instead, she looked at the screen showing Karna. “Though I have to admit I’m not all that confident they’ll be able to take her on.”

“Few can from what I’ve seen so far. Especially if they keep underestimating her.” Wolfgang agreed. “She can punch way above her rank, and I haven’t seen any hint of rank nine beings taking part.”

“There are three.” Amaranthine stated with surprising amount of certainty.

“That was quick.” Wolfgang lifted an eyebrow in question.

“Well, unlike some, I’ve been spending my time doing reconnaissance. I’ve been through all the rooms with all the screens, and I’ve also tried to dig information from the Sentinels.” Amaranthine teased a bit.

Wolfgang laughed a bit. “I haven’t bothered. Do you know why? Because the others do not matter. I firmly believe that no one that actually fits the age bracket can rival Karna.” Wolfgang was pretty sure he would be able to fight Karna, but even he wasn’t confident that it would be an easy fight. And if he would have trouble, then what about these wet behind the ears whippersnappers?

"My, aren't we confident. I don't think you're too wrong, though I don't think it's quite that simple. I think there are at least two that can give her a fight. And she’s not all that far from one of them.” Amaranthine gave a warning.

Wolfgang wasn’t too worried. Even if someone could match Karna in a direct fight, the girl wasn’t foolish enough to stick around and fight to the end. She’d create other plans to get around the problem. “So did you find out anything useful from the Sentinels?”

"Perhaps unsurprisingly, not that much. They're quite good at not giving away any details, but I did manage to fish up a few details with enough questions that they refused to answer. The most obvious thing is that the differing terrains and especially the difference in the ambient power isn't an accident. Nor is the placing of people completely random. I don't know what their logic and reasoning are, but I got the distinct impression that there is a logic behind it." The elven queen didn't mind sharing some of her information with an ally. "One interesting tidbit that I've noticed is that alliances have formed with surprising ease. It’s as if someone placed already friendly factions near each other, while placing obviously hostile factions far from each other.”

“That is interesting. So why did your representative and Karna not run into each other?” Wolfgang questioned.

“I would wager a guess that’s because the Sentinels didn’t know we are allies. It seems like these decisions are based on the observations they’ve made during the time we’ve been on this world. And as you’d know, we only arrived just before the event.” Amaranthine had managed to make a lot of conclusions, albeit based mostly on speculation.

“Well, I still think those alliances won’t matter. I won’t admit it to her face, but I have faith in Arjuna’s girl.” Wolfgang stuck to his attitude.

------

For the first time since this event had started, Karna actually paused and was considering avoiding a fight. She’d seen from a fair bit of distance as a single swordswoman had taken out a group of other participants with seeming ease. The way her sword flowed impressed even her. As a result of what she’d seen, she didn’t even need to check the swordswoman’s True Name. She already knew it had something to do with the blade she was wielding with such ease.

'It seems we have a Kensei on our hands.' She thought to herself. There were very few reincarnators that could give her a fight at an equal level of power, but the Kensei, or sword-saints, were among that small group. Hou Yi was a good example, as the Celestial Archer could be counted among their number, and the man had managed to injure her, despite the fact that she was almost a natural counter to anyone using a bow.

Kensei didn’t need to refer to just those that wielded the blade, as they could be spear-saints, bow-saints, or use any other weapon. The main point was that they had dedicated themselves to mastering that weapon with a single-minded focus. Someone who spent their entire lives on a single thing could reach a certain level of mastery, but someone who did it for dozens, if not hundreds of lifetimes? Well, they reached the kind of level that could match her skill with magic.

Karna was a magic user recognized all over the multiverse, but she was not someone who had dedicated herself to the craft. She was good at almost everything, but that was because she'd lived so many lifetimes, and magic was the one thing she'd given the most attention to. Even her level in magic was more a result of innate talent combined with countless lifetimes of research and experience instead of the dogged pursuit of mastery in that field.

The Kensei could reach the point that they had much faster exactly due to the single-minded focus in their chosen field. Usually, they were not very good at anything else, but they didn't often have to be. A Kensei could turn a simple branch into a dangerous weapon and could fight higher-ranked people with skill alone. Even she with the almost fathomless experience didn't want to challenge a Kensei in their chosen field. She would be able to fight them, but depending on the level the Kensei had reached, she would eventually lose.

She exhaled sharply as the Kensei in question swung her blade in Karna's general direction. Of course she had been detected. The strike arrived almost instantly despite the distance, as distance was often irrelevant when facing a real Kensei. Despite moving aside to dodge the blow, it was as if reality had been overwritten as the blade of sword Qi was still about to hit her. The dodge had been mostly to test how powerful this Kensei was, and she wasn't disappointed. With another snort, she sent some of her Aura to her claws and struck down the incoming strike. The claws of a Vanagandr could cut through anything, even the strike from a Kensei.

With a third snort, she backed off and moved away from the swordswoman. She still had confidence in winning, as she’d dealt with Kensei before, but fighting this one would leave her vulnerable to the third party lurking not too far away. The one hunting her had finally caught up, and she could sense that the hunter and the other one tagging along with the hunter were not to be taken lightly. It seemed she had already run into the serious competition, and it was too early for that. She wasn’t someone that brashly and blindly ran into a fight just because it was presented.

------

“That’s too bad. It would’ve been a fight worth seeing." The hooded and dark-clad woman lowered her bow, which she had already aimed towards the Vanagandr.

“The swordswoman might be just as dangerous as the beast.” The man narrowed his eyes. They were too far to see details, but he could sense the Qi inside the woman with the large and curved blade on her shoulder.

"I would expect nothing less from the representative of Wei-Jin." The dark woman confirmed. Her eyes could see much more sharply than his. The only reason she had not tried reading the True Names of their two targets was because that would've revealed their presence and perhaps even position depending on how skilled their targets were.

"Wei-Jin? That little girl?" The man asked in surprise.

The woman laughed. “That ‘little girl’ as you called her is just in disguise. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was an Oni or something similar in her true form.”

“Dammit, why couldn’t we have gone a bit closer. I feel stupid just because my eyes are not as sharp as yours.” The man grumbled.

“You’re just stupid, no matter the distance. No matter. You still have your uses. And we couldn’t have gone any closer. My senses were already warning me that the beast might have been aware of our presence.” The woman’s dark hood turned a bit as she shook her head.

“So, what now? Do we just allow the beast to leave? I don’t think we’ll get another opportunity like this.” The man questioned.

The woman had to think about it. She knew the man was right. The presence of the swordswoman acted as a deterrent for the beast, but it did the same to them. They had no idea what the swordswoman would do if they attacked the beast. "For now. We'll just have to deal with the weather. It's going to be a bother, but we'll have to deal with it. I'm pretty sure this little competition will come to the four of us anyway. Unless some new threat materializes from out of nowhere of course, which is a possibility we shouldn't discount. Either way, we'll run into both targets again."

Chapter 82 - Monsoon

A note from Vihyungrang

Well, observers? How would you like the finaly to be structured? I have a basic plan that I can go with, but if there are interesting ideas...

I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

Shaheera cursed silently while wiping the water away from the fur on his face while trying to step around another huge puddle. The weather was miserable and had been ever since this whole thing started five days ago. At first, the forest had seemed quite inviting as far as battlegrounds went, as the large trees offered some cover, while the lack of undergrowth made traveling easier. However, it was like the skies had opened soon after the event started, and it had been raining non-stop ever since. The rain was thick with large drops of water coming down almost like a heavy-duty shower that covered the entire forest. Even the trees above didn’t offer any meaningful respite.

There wasn’t a single dry piece of clothing anywhere in their group, despite several of the mages trying to use their magic to protect themselves. The moisture was everywhere, and the forest floor couldn’t absorb all the water, so the place had turned into something like a swamp. Even the more appearance-focused mages had given up eventually as there was no dry place anywhere to even sit down, not to mention sleep. The water also hindered visibility and morale, and everyone was miserable, tired, and losing their focus. Even Shaheera had trouble staying sharp despite all the lessons with Karna, who had kept hammering the importance of focus. According to her, you were only allowed to lose focus when you were strong enough to deal with the consequences. A good lesson that he’d kept in mind ever since.

The group itself was a hastily made gathering of allies that had come together to oppose the other alliances that had formed in the last four days. Most of their group was made up of the weaker participants in this event, so grouping up provided security, and with the leadership of a particularly charismatic Holy Knight they had managed to deal with all resistance they faced. In fact, as far as Shaheera could tell, they had defeated all the other alliance groups in this event. Their leader had been very effective at combining the strengths of the various members of their group, which had allowed them to stand against seemingly more powerful enemies.

That in itself was also starting to become a problem. Many members of their group were beginning to believe that they’d already dealt with all of the other enemies. As there could be only a single winner, or so they assumed, sooner or later they’d have to address the problem of each other. And those that believed they’d dealt with all the enemies thought it was time. The weather wasn’t helping things either. It made people irritable and impatient.

Their assumption wasn’t entirely without merit, albeit foolish. Their group alone had dealt with over two hundred participants, and Shaheera had managed to take out a couple more before even joining the group. If they assumed the other groups and solo participants had done their share before falling to Shaheera’s group, the number of participants couldn’t be much above a hundred at this point. And their group represented a full third of that. The last time they had seen someone was over twelve hours ago, and people were getting impatient.

Shaheera knew better, due to the simple fact that they had not run into Karna. And if Karna was still around, so were others that had enough power and skill. They had also not seen any sign of a handful of other participants he had taken note of before the event started. Theoretically, all those dangerous participants could’ve been defeated by others, but that seemed very unlikely. The problem was proving it. The forest was so filled with magical power that searching spells were almost entirely useless over any kind of significant distance, and the constant torrential rain washed away any physical tracks.

“You do realize that we have to deal with Lucian sooner or later if we want to have any hope of winning this thing, right?" Shaheera's sharp ears overheard a couple of his 'allies' whispering to each other. Lucian was the Holy Knight leading their group and the strongest member of their group.

“Yes, but if we make our move too soon, we’ll be defeated by other threats.” Another ‘ally’ responded reasonably.

“Threats that might not exist. And we aren’t entirely dependent on his power. Yes, he’s the strongest, but we’ve faced the dangers together and come out just fine. And we’ll have to take him by surprise if we want to succeed. Maybe along with the next enemy, if we do actually find one. Accidents happen.” The first person proposed.

Shaheera noted that he wasn’t the only one that had overheard the discussion. “You seem calm about this.” He pointed out quietly to the Holy Knight standing close by.

“It’s not exactly surprising. In fact, I’m more shocked they haven’t tried anything sooner.” Lucian responded with a small gentle smile that seemed to be permanently etched on his face. Except Shaheera knew that while the almost beautiful man could be gentle, there was a lot that went on behind that expression. The Holy Knight had been the one to come up with most of their plans, some of which had been downright nasty in their ruthless effectiveness.

Shaheera was pretty sure the man wasn’t a human, just by the almost unnaturally attractive appearance he possessed, but he wasn’t entirely sure what the man was. There were plenty of attractive races that were close to humans in appearance, and many of those had wisely hid their nature during this event. What Shaheera did know, was that Lucian was extremely powerful. From what he could tell, the man was at least at the eighth rank, even if not the ninth.

“What will you do?” Shaheera asked while keeping his voice down much more effectively than those they had listened in on.

“I have a feeling I don’t have to do anything. Our next adversary is close by, and I don’t think we’ll be able to come out of this fight without losses. Anyone that has lasted this long can’t be weak, and my instincts are warning me to be very careful. The fact that I can’t sense even a hint of that enemy aside from those same instincts is telling in itself.” Lucian replied.

The two had talked and gotten somewhat familiar over the last couple of days. Lucian knew Shaheera wasn’t really participating to win and was happy enough to bring him along to gain experience. Shaheera on the other hand got a fascinating perspective into the mind of another genius similar to Karna. Lucian wasn’t as brilliant as his old friend, but he made up for that with sheer power and the authority he seemed to possess so naturally.

It was interesting to observe the differences and the similarities between his old friend and Lucian. Both were ruthlessly effective, and often came up with plans that could turn around seemingly impossible odds, but while Karna liked to build up her friends and allies, she rarely relied on them when things got truly dangerous and often carried all the burdens by herself, while Lucian was quite happy to allow others to take responsibility and fail. Some of that could be because he didn’t mind if his competitors failed and died, while Karna protected her friends, which Shaheera was more than willing to admit might skew the perspective quite a bit. And it wasn’t like he’d known the Holy Knight for long.

Lucian’s instincts turned to be right, as it didn’t take more than twenty minutes of walking forward in the wet terrain before an ominous laugh seemed to sound from all around them. ”Kakakaka! You little flies have done well taking care of the trash, but it is time to swat you down.”

Lucian’s blade glowed with a golden light as he slashed down, seemingly cutting some kind of magical shroud that had been hiding their enemy. What greeted them was the form of some sort of huge troll-like abomination that was wearing the rags of a dark robe with several bone piercings all over its slime and scale-covered body. The creature looked like the stereotypical troll witch-hag, so much so that it roused Shaheera's suspicions. Apparently, he wasn't the only one as he heard Lucian declare loudly: "Illusions within illusions. Your true form will be revealed soon enough witch."

“Kakaka. That’s if you survive long enough. Come my pretties, take care of the flies.” The troll illusion gestured towards the group, and from under the ground and the watery swamps burst forth creatures just as horrid and grotesque as the troll itself. Poisonous centipedes fought along with screeching tree-spirits, some sort of twisted magical abominations that looked to be a mix between goats and men, and a lot more.

The group had faced plenty of ambushes before, so they reacted instantly and in a very coordinated fashion despite their earlier grumbling. Warriors stepped forth to protect the mages, who in turn cast many supportive and protective spells before turning their power into deadly bursts of magic that blanketed their surroundings, every mage covering their own sector. The warriors took care of anything strong enough to get through the magic, while Lucian’s own power protected them from whatever the witch itself seemed to throw at them. The shadowy tendrils of magic that crashed against his golden protections told a grim story though.

Their formation wasn’t quite as effective or complex as what Karna had trained their group to do in the Academy, but for a group that had only been together for less than a week, Shaheera was forced to admit that it worked quite well. He got further confirmation of that as a pulse of golden power washed over the group and struck down some sort of shadowy creatures that had managed to slip through the gaps among them. The golden light had not been quite fast enough as some of the mages had gotten wounded, but by the time the heated combat was over, they were all still standing.

Shaheera breathed heavily and swung his sword to get rid of the poisonous blood that was still stuck on it. “So, what now witch? What will you do without your minions? Summoning all of them had to have taken quite a bit of effort, but that couldn’t have been your entire plan.” Lucian stated with a booming voice, yet that permanent smile never slipped from his face.

“Kakaka. You’re right. unfortunately for you, you’ve already lost. You really shouldn’t challenge a witch on her chosen battlefield. Gives the chance to lay down all sorts of traps.” The witch cackled. That laughter was really getting on everyone’s nerves, which might have been the entire point.

Shaheera's eyes narrowed as he searched his surroundings with all his senses, and his magical sense finally provided an answer. One that he didn't like one bit. "Poison! Protect yourself!" The entire area was covered in very subtle and hard to detect pollen, which they had been breathing in the entire time they had been fighting. He could already sense something wrong with his body.

“Very good lionman. Unfortunately, it’s already too late. Kakakaka.” The witch gleefully boasted. As she spoke, many of their group started coughing, and as they did, they spat out blood and some kind of black sludge, which Shaheera could already feel filling his own lungs. How had this poison slipped through Lucian’s protective magic?

“Your poison isn’t strong enough to affect me, witch!” Lucian dashed forward and unleashed another golden slash at the troll, but his blade didn’t face any resistance, and the illusion just scattered.

“Maybe it doesn’t Holy Knight, but your allies don’t share your protection. Next time you won’t have your little minions protecting you. We will meet again.” The voice and the presence seemed to disappear.

Shaheera collapsed on his knees, doing his best to try and rotate his Qi and mana to cleanse his body, not having much success. He only managed to slow the progress. He also noticed Lucian take a knee next to him. “I’m sorry about that friend. Her magic managed to somehow slip through.”

“Cough! Did it, though?” Shaheera asked with a knowing look.

“Good. You’re smart enough to have a bright future ahead of you. Still, it is time for you to retire now. It is time the real competition begins.” Lucian’s gentle smile lost just a bit of its gentleness and Shaheera got a glimpse of the ruthless pragmatism that hid behind that smile. Ruthless pragmatism he had noticed before, so he wasn’t too surprised.

Then the Holy Knight reached down and snapped the bracelet that Shaheera had on his belt, and the next thing he could see was the insides of some sort of infirmary as healers rushed about trying to help those of this group that had also been disqualified. “Not bad disciple. Not as good as you could’ve done, but not bad either.” Ashanti stood by his bed as a Leonid healer did her best to treat the poison inside Shaheera’s body.

“How many?” Shaheera managed to ask between coughs, already feeling better, though extremely fatigued by the process.

“How many are left? A little under twenty by my last count. And yes, your old friend is naturally among them. Rest up so you’ll be able to see the finale. It’s going to be quite spectacular.” Ashanti grunted.

---------

Karna ducked under her enemy’s blade as another one of her hard-light constructs shattered, despite her only using it to parry the blow. Her opponent chased after her with another precise strike, but that one was stopped by the gauntlets that had appeared in her hands. She had wanted to face her enemy with a sword of her own to test the level of the skills the Kensei possessed, but her Qhaysh constructs simply couldn’t stand up to the expertly crafted sword of the blademaster. The difference wasn’t in the materials, as her magic was quite robust and pure, but a Kensei could turn a simple tree branch into a deadly weapon, so their own sword would naturally be much stronger than that.

She had come close to the Kensei twice more in the preceding days, but they had avoided each other in favor of going after easier prey, but this time the Kensei had pursued her with enough determination that they had come to blows. And while her Vanagandr form was great for fighting against most opponents, against a real Kensei the large size would be more of a hindrance than a benefit. Against this enemy, she needed precision in both her movements and strikes, and not power and ferocity. The time to use her more bestial form was over anyway. She’d gotten whatever benefit she would out of it already. She’d retained the claws on her hands though, and they were now peeking out of the finger portion of the gauntlets she wore. The convenient holes for her claws made it seem like the gauntlets had been made for her.

Where before she had been forced to dodge and parry the Kensei’s blows, now she met the strikes head-on. Of course, her style still revolved around graceful parries, but now she was more than happy to meet the heavy strikes from the large no-dachi blade with her own fists and claws. “Hmm, finally getting serious.” The Kensei muttered with a smile. “It’s about time. This wouldn’t have been fun otherwise.”

“Agreed. It wouldn’t do to strike down someone like you without at least showing some respect.” Karna gave a small verbal strike.

“How confident. I hope you’ll be able to show me you’re not all talk.” The woman verbally parried, enjoying their little tête-à-tête. "Perhaps I should show some seriousness as well." She hefted her blade onto her shoulder before a powerful force surrounded her. To Karna’s eyes it was clear she was about to transform into her true form, but they were both interrupted.

"Stand by remaining participants." A mechanical but clearly female-sounding voice announced over the whole area. "By popular request, you will now be transferred out of the current arena to a stage where the final part of our trial will take place."

They were both surrounded by the same light that had carried away anyone that lost their bracelets, and they were transported to a new arena. Karna noted that she was standing on a round platform of stone that seemed to float in the void of space. Her surroundings were dark, and only the platform was illuminated and seemed to glow with a soft light. Well, her platform and the other similar platforms also floating in the same darkness. She did a quick headcount and realized there were fourteen other platforms just like hers.

She idly noted that Shaheera was not among those remaining, not that she had expected him to be. She recognized the Kensei on one platform, as well as the two brave ones that had hunted her on the first day. The female still wore a heavy robe, though she was already shedding some of the extra clothing now that the weather no longer required it, and the male had already tossed away his cloak. A quick analysis showed her that at least three of the remaining participants were magical beasts in disguise, though nearly everyone had assumed the form of a human. Another participant was covered in heavy illusions, which she could penetrate if she wanted to, but saw no reason to do so at this moment.

It was also clear that she was the lowest-ranked person present, with everyone else being at least on the seventh rank either as mages, warriors, or holy power users. Or in the case of the magical beasts, just by their very nature. The man in the open shirt and gun-metal grey hair looked around and spoke before anyone else could. “Where’s the huge wolf? I refuse to believe it was killed since the winter was still present when we were transported.”

The dark-clad woman, who now shook her short white hair out of her hood, revealing a pair of white cat's ears looked at the man like he was dumb. "What are you, blind? She’s right there.” She gestured towards Karna, who in turn tipped a non-existent hat towards the feline beastwoman in a slight show of respect.

“Winter? That means we were not in the same place as we faced nothing but monsoon rains.” A man that had almost angelically attractive features, and who stood in heavy plate armor added. The gentle smile on his face seemed unflappable.

"Such a shame. Our re-match seems to have canceled." The magic-user under heavy illusions spoke towards the literal knight in shining armor.

“Vat is ze reason for zis change?” Another devilishly handsome man in a pure white uniform asked with a slight accent. “Ve are not done yet.”

“It seems we're the final participants, pretty boy." A muscle-bound woman that was at least three meters tall spoke in an amused voice while leaning against a huge axe as tall as she was. It was easy to see she had at least some giant blood in her.

“Correct.” The same mechanical voice sounded around them. “By the popular demand of the observers, we’ve pulled the rest of you out to have a more interesting finale as things were turning into a game of hide and seek due to how large the previous arena was. There were originally supposed to be sixteen of you, but several people got eliminated at the same time just before this.”

“Kakakaka!” The one under heavy illusions burst into laughter while the smile on the knight’s face got a bit strained.

“In any case, stand by while we run a poll with the observers to see the most interesting way to bring this to a conclusion.” The mechanical voice spoke. It seemed the Sentinels were now a bit more forthcoming with explanations, though not much more.

Chapter 83 - Of sin and virtue

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I added a bit to this chapter due to a request fro the reader, but this is a chapter with a lot going on, so I couldn't stretch it out too much. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

”Well, this is a weird situation. Since when have the Sentinels started taking in feedback from us?” Wolfgang wondered out loud as he pondered on the suspension of the first phase of the tournament.

His words were overheard by two people approaching him. “From us? I’ll do you one better. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the format of the tournament. Some people mentioned in passing that things were dragging out a bit with the arena being so large and the last participants so scattered, but that kind of thing was only just now starting to come up. It wasn’t a real complaint yet.” Queen Amaranthine’s companion, a feline beastwoman with bright red hair and a long bushy tail stated.

The woman was clearly a warrior with pronounced muscles showing through her relatively thick and surprisingly nondescript clothing. It seemed she had tried to dress to blend in, but her hair made that rather difficult. That and the fact that she was only tall enough to reach his waist. “There’s more. You heard that the Sentinels want to run a poll about the finals, but have you been asked for your opinion?”

“No.” Wolfgang realized the implications immediately. “I’m guessing you haven’t either. So was the whole thing a lie?”

“That’s not the part you should be worried about, though still worth considering. The Sentinels have been doing things arbitrarily so far, so them continuing to do so isn’t so bad. Sure, the fact that they could’ve lied has rather bad implications about the whole thing. But here’s the really interesting possibility. If we’re not the observers in this case, then who is?” The red-haired woman posed a question with a clever look on her face. She even had a single finger pointing up for theatrical emphasis, which Wolfgang found rather adorable. But she posed a good question.

“Now that you mention it, this whole setup does seem kind of suspicious. It’s been a long time since the last Expansion so it’s hard to know anything concrete, but has there ever been something like this created? Something like the Sentinels I mean.” Wolfgang nodded as his mind started working.

“That we can’t answer right now, but one thing is for sure. The three of us aren’t among the observers the Sentinels mentioned, and I haven’t heard of anyone else being polled either. I even asked the other high-ranking powers that are involved, and they seemed just as confused. If we aren't the intended audience, then who is? And if there is some other audience, then that would explain the Sentinel's reticence about providing information." Amaranthine outlined the problem.

“Great. Another thing to worry about.” Wolfgang released a breath of frustration.

“Another?” Amaranthine asked, slightly surprised there was an issue she had missed.

“That chick using a large sword that was facing Karna at the end. She’s a real danger. I haven’t been able to see too much of her, but even I have trouble seeing through all the secrets her techniques hold. Whoever trained her is beyond anything I’ve seen before. Now, I already told you before that I don’t think anyone in this age bracket can match Karna. Well, I might have been a bit hasty. That one is a contender, and she seems to have something against our girl.” Wolfgang gestured towards the screen that showed the Kensei Karna had been facing earlier. Before, when the tournament had been a more open affair, he had been confident in Karna’s ability to at least escape if things turned hairy, but if the format was changed into something that was all about direct confrontation, then things became a lot riskier.

“My, my. And you were so confident earlier.” Amaranthine covered the lower part of her face with her wide sleeve to hide her amused expression.

“This isn’t a laughing matter Amaranthine. I’m not entirely sure I could beat that one myself.” Wolfgang stated with full seriousness.

“That’s…” Amaranthine knew how powerful Wolfgang was, so his words carried a lot of weight when he admitted something like that. She knew Wolfgang wasn’t modest by nature, so he wouldn’t say something like this without a good reason.

“You’re underestimating the other competition.” The red-haired beastwoman suddenly piped up. “It’s good to have confidence in your representative, but those remaining are among the best of the best of this generation. My niece isn’t one to go down so easily either.”

“Your niece?” Wolfgang asked a bit dumbly.

“Oh, come on! How many feline beastwomen are there in the competition!” The small woman stomped her feet a bit in another adorable display.

“There’s no way…” Wolfgang took a look at the white-haired and quite a lot taller beastwoman on the screen showing the participants, causing the woman in front of her to walk away in a huff, cursing as she went.

“That wasn’t the most diplomatic thing you’ve ever done.” Amaranthine actually giggled at Wolfgang’s faux pas. “I’m sure your wife would like to hear about this.

“What? No, she doesn’t need to know! Besides, you can’t say I’m wrong. The only thing those two have in common is the ears. They’re barely even the same species! Actually, are they even the same type of beastwoman? She looked more like a house-cat while that one on the arena is…well, something bigger and more dangerous.” Wolfgang defended himself.

“Yes, they are. Though I would assume there’s something interesting in the parentage of either of them. Getting more serious though, I wouldn’t be that worried about Karna. Even if she doesn't win, I'm sure she can withdraw in time. As you said, she's not stubborn enough to stay and fight a battle she can't win. And if this whole thing is really as questionable as it seems to be, then I'm not entirely sure we want to win." The elven Queen posited.

“Yes, but she doesn’t know that.” He pointed out.

Amaranthine gave a deep suffering sigh. “Really? You can’t be that forgetful” She pulled out the communications artifact Karna had created and given everyone during the operation to save Mayumi and the Yuki-Onnas.

“Oh right. That. Assuming it works.” He cleared his throat. “Moving on, let’s assume for a moment that this whole thing is organized by some third party. What’s the point? Trapping us here seems like a really bad idea, considering the amount of power gathered at this world currently.”

"That I can't say. I'm not all-knowing." Amaranthine shrugged.

-----

“Wait, so are you trying to tell me that I shouldn’t try to win this thing?” Karna sent back a silent mental message. They had been left to float in this empty space for almost an hour now.

“Not exactly. The offer of the Sentinels could still be entirely genuine, and we’ve seen no real evidence against that. The only thing that we have at the moment is pure conjecture combined with some suspicions. What I'm saying is that winning is now less important than before. As the nominal commander of this mission, I'm giving you official permission to bail out at the first sign that it's too much to handle. Do still try to win though. At least we’d get some bragging rights.” Wolfgang responded with a message of his own. His voice was somewhat unclear and mixed in with some static, showing that the communication artifacts had to either work over a too-long distance or through some obstruction that should be preventing this kind of communication.

“Well, that’s spectacularly unhelpful.” She muttered. Try to win but not too hard. A mixed message if there ever was one. The message from Wolfgang had disturbed her in the middle of meditation.

“Kakaka. You should give up girl. You’re out of your league here.” The one covered in illusions warned her suddenly. It seemed that Karna’s mutterings had broken the silence that had reigned ever since the last announcement.

“While I hate to agree with the witch on anything, she’s not entirely wrong.” The gently shining knight in shining armor added his opinion.

Karna was debating if it was worth answering but was spared the trouble as she got support from the oddest of directions. The Kensei’s mocking laughter made it clear how much she looked down on the opinions of the two in question. “I rarely see worry that’s more misplaced. If anyone should throw in the towel, it’s you.” The Kensei added. "There's no place for a man of god in this fight. We're not interested in moral lectures."

“You obviously disagree vith zem.” The devilishly handsome man in a white uniform stated with a curious tone.

“Who do you think was responsible for most of the eliminations in our part of the battlefield.” The beastwoman with white cat-ears helped the other part of the group understand where the Kensei was coming from. Her words weren’t entirely accurate though. While Karna had done her part, she’d hardly rampaged through the competition. The fact that she didn’t suffer from power starvation had given her an unbeatable advantage, which she’d used, but she’d only eliminated about 70 participants personally.

“You’re not wrong kitty-cat, but that’s not why I was laughing. Numbers don’t mean anything. She was able to stand against me in a direct confrontation. Something I doubt any of you will be able to accomplish.” The Kensei scoffed. “Which reminds me. Our fight was interrupted just as things were about to get good. I don’t like leaving things unfinished like that.”

“I’m sure we’ll get the opportunity to rectify that. I doubt the Sentinels will change the format into a dance-off, as interesting as that might be.” Karna said quietly while not even bothering to open her eyes. She’d totally win a dance-off though. She had moves.

It seemed the argument would’ve gone on for longer, but the Sentinels once again interrupted their fun. “The observers have reached a consensus. We will be conducting a team event, but to split you into teams equitably, we need to get a better handle on your power and abilities. Each of you will now find a power measuring orb on your platform. We need all of you to grab a hold of them, and the orbs will do the rest.”

Karna noted that there was indeed a very familiar crystalline sphere floating near her. Her eyes flashed with blue as she took a better look at the enchantments. “Oh, these are well done. They’ll actually give a very accurate reading of a person’s actual strength and not just their rank, even if they can’t measure skill or technique. In fact, they seem a lot like the ones I created for the Crossroads back then.” She thought to herself.

"Rank eight holy power user and a mage of the fifth circle. Holy power at the level of a standard ninth rank and mana at the standard level of a sixth circle.” A neutral and genderless voice announced as the smiling knight laid his hand on his orb.

“Oh, this thing is good.” The knight’s smile didn’t change even with his information being outed to everyone.

The others followed the example of the knight, with only the person covered with illusions refusing to cooperate. Obviously, she had something to hide. "If you refuse, you will be given a disadvantage when selecting teams." The voice announced, but the witch, if that was indeed what she was, stuck to her decision. Interestingly, while her words had been disguised with mocking, Karna felt that the witch had genuinely tried to warn her against taking part further. Something to think about.

Some of the results were rather expected, with the beastwoman and her ally both getting announced at eighth Qi rank, with the strength to match a standard ninth rank. The ones that stood out the most were the Kensei and the man in the white uniform getting early ninth rank in Qi and magic respectively, both bordering on the early tenth rank in actual strength. The real surprises were the very ordinary-looking human man being evaluated as an eighth rank magical beast, while a woman hiding herself with heavy clothes getting ranked as a seventh rank psion.

One thing was blatantly obvious. There were almost certainly multiple reincarnators in the group. There was no other way so many people had reached such a high ranking at such a young age. Even for people with unparalleled potential and resources, reaching the ninth rank before the age of sixty was nigh impossible. For a reincarnator that knew the best techniques from several universes and who was rushing? Still extremely difficult but doable.

With so many reincarnators in a small space, the only reason they hadn’t started probing for True Names was that it wasn’t a good idea to get on the bad side of someone that could decide if you were removed from this competition without taking your life. While all of the reincarnators taking part in this competition had confidence in their abilities against nearly all opponents, they were also realistic enough to know that only one of them would actually be victorious. Losing didn’t have to mean death though.

As Karna was the last one aside from the witch, they all turned to her next. With a slight hum, she grabbed ahold of the device. "Sixth circle mage and a sixth rank Aura user. Mana at the standard level of an upper eighth circle mage and Aura impossible to quantify exactly. Rough evaluation somewhere around the ninth rank." The voice announced. She was the only one where the measure seemed uncertain, which caught everyone’s attention.

The holy knight gave a small whistle. “Jumping three ranks in strength. My apologies for earlier. I clearly underestimated you. Someone has been working on their foundation.” Something in his voice implied that he knew more than he was saying, but it was impossible to read anything from his unchanging smile.

"Teams will now be selected based on your results." The neutral voice announced once again, just before they were all given small amulets in the primary colors. Karna was apparently in the blue team, and she took a quick look around her to see who else had been assigned to the same team. The cat-eared beastwoman, the holy knight, and the handsome man in white uniform had the same pendant, along with the man that had gotten the result of magical beast.

Their platforms were separated into and grouped with their teams around a much larger central platform that appeared in the middle. “I suppose that could’ve gone worse.” The holy knight commented, looking at their team, and especially the man in white.

“Could’ve gone better as well.” The beastwoman shook her head a bit and gestured towards the group that had both the witch and the Kensei. The others in that group were not as impressive, but those two alone could carry their team pretty far.

"The rules of the next part are as follows. Each team will send one or two members to take part in a three-way confrontation in the central arena. Each person can take part in a single confrontation, and there will be three bouts in total. Any person that loses their pendant or dies is disqualified. The team with the most remaining participants in the end will be the winners, and the remaining people will decide the victor among their team. The three bouts do not need to be fights, as you are free to come to a conclusion via other methods. The final decision will also be up to the winning team. You can fight it out if you so choose, or you can use another method, as long as there's a winner at the end." The voice explained.

“There’s a surprising amount of both depth and leeway in those rules.” The Holy Knight commented immediately.

“Do you truly think that any of the bouts will end up being anything other than fights?” The beastwoman asked skeptically.

"Ve shall see. It might turn out different than you expect." The white-uniformed man posited.

“Should we have some introductions?” The magical beast that had been quiet so far asked.

“Yes, let’s.” The beastwoman said with a wry look, and Karna suddenly felt three people probing for her True Name.

She returned the favor at the same time, and it quickly became obvious that the magical beast was the only one that wasn’t a reincarnator, as his True Name was simply Thickscale. The other Names in the group caused Karna to burst out in laughter while the others were making rather blatant faces. The white-uniformed man, whose vampiric nature was suddenly clear, looked sick as he noted the kind of people he was mixed up with. He still had a very powerful Name of Tremere, referring to the same blood magic that Karna had gained access to with her vampiric bloodline, which obviously meant he was a true expert in the field. It also implied that he might have been the originator of the clan in the first place, which meant he was old indeed.

Karna looked at the holy knight and beastwoman while her laughter still echoed in all their ears. “Envy and Valor. Fancy meeting you two here.”

“Wrath. It’s been a while. Not long enough though." The beastwoman replied with visible displeasure, while for the first time the smile on the Holy Knight's face fell from those words. Clearly that wasn't the Name he'd seen, and in fairness, it wasn't likely that Envy had seen that Name either. The two sins simply knew each other by many Names.

“So. We have two sins and a virtue in a single group. I dread to think what the other groups hold.” Valor said a little ominously before the smile returned to his face, though it looked a little crooked this time.

Chapter 84 - History

A note from Vihyungrang

Was this entire chapter writen just so I could use discombobulated in a sentence? I will neither confirm nor deny. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

It wasn’t all that surprising that Envy had recognized her as Wrath, even if the beastwoman had likely seen her Name as Karma. The two of them had met several times in previous lives, and Karma was her most commonly used True Name. She personally believed there was some kind of fate that kept bringing the ones bearing the Names of the sins together, and they of course learned many of the other Names the others possessed. The same held true to some extent with the virtues, though to a lesser degree. She’d met Valor before, but only in passing, so it wasn’t all that surprising if the man had not connected Karma with Wrath before Envy had voiced the connection.

True Names were a curious thing. There was no reliable source of information on them, and everything the reincarnators knew about them was learned through trial and error. And many of them weren’t willing to share any information they had managed to scrape together. For example, Karna knew the acquisition condition for her own Names, and she’d been there when Envy, Lust, and Pride had gotten their Names, so she could make a decent guess how those Names were gained, but she had no idea how Gluttony, Sloth, and Greed got theirs.

There were several techniques to find out about someone’s True Name, some of them more effective than others. Normal magical means and even items could be quite effective, but they could also be defended against, and Karna had made her own magical defenses long ago. It had been one of the first things she’d made in fact. The most commonly used techniques were the kind of soul techniques all four of them had just used to identify each other, but the effectiveness of those techniques was limited, especially when using it against someone with a stronger soul than your own.

The most common issue was that you only got one Name. In many cases that didn't matter, as even among reincarnators, you usually only had a couple of True Names. People like her that seemed to gather a large number of Names were rare and old. But the issue still existed. For instance, none of the other three reincarnators in their group got more than a single Name from her, despite her having multiple. Her case was also special in that her other Names were concealed, but even if they had not been, they'd still only get one. Repeated uses of the technique would only yield the same result.

The second issue was that not all Names had an equal chance of appearing. Even Karna didn’t have an exact idea of what the odds were and how it exactly worked, but apparently the more widely a Name was recognized, the bigger the chances that people would see it. Universal recognition seemed to have some effect, but the most important part was how many people associated the Name with the current you. So even if the people of this universe knew of the existence of the Reaper, since no one associated the name with her specifically, the odds of the Name appearing were relatively minor. Not non-existent though. The same held true for Wrath, except now Envy had associated that Name with her, so it had a much higher chance of appearing, even if still relatively minor in comparison to Karma.

“Why do I always keep running into you.” Envy complained, though there wasn’t any real heat behind her words.

Of the sins, Envy had always gotten along with Wrath the best, though that wasn’t saying much. As her Name implied, Envy was quite prone to jealousy and the sin she was Named after, and Wrath, or Karma as she was better known as, had many qualities to be envious of. No matter how she looked at things, Wrath always seemed to be better, more attractive, more connected, and stronger than her. She knew most of that was because Wrath was older than her, but it still annoyed her. What made Wrath much more tolerable than most other sins was the fact that she never lorded that fact over her. In fact, the few times Envy had managed to get one over Wrath, the other woman didn’t seem to really mind it at all.

The problem was that the reason she had gained the Name Envy had been due to the feelings of inadequacy that she’d felt towards both Wrath and Lust. She’d largely gotten over that later and improved as a person, but there was no denying the fact that it had been mostly Wrath that had driven her down this road, which caused their interactions to always be a little strained. That said, she wasn’t stupid enough to pick a serious fight with someone carrying the Name Wrath. She’d made that mistake once, and never again. She wasn’t Pride after all.

“You know, I’ve been wondering the same thing. How long has it been? Eight? Nine lifetimes?” Karna asked, trying to remember the details.

"Your lifetimes maybe. For me, it's been four." Envy responded. She was aware that Wrath had a habit of living much shorter lives than many other reincarnators.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that the sins are so familiar with each other.” Valor commented. “That being said, we were in the middle of introductions I believe. I’m Lucian.”

“Karna.”

“Really?” Envy asked with a deadpan voice and got a nod in reply. “That’s…anyway, I’m Noriko.”

“Zis is silly.” The white-clad vampire now better known as Tremere seemed discombobulated by the situation but managed to gather himself. “I am Morgan.”

“And I’m Qydrys. Lady Karna, Queen Amaranthine sends her regards. Mind explaining to me what was going on with the four of you? You seem…unsettled.” The magical beast asked, confused by the situation. He seemed to realize there were some undercurrents he wasn’t aware of.

“Let’s just say that we aren’t complete strangers. We’ve either run into each other before, or we at least know each other by reputation.” Karna side-stepped the issue.

“Send forth your first representatives.” The voice of the Sentinel announcers sounded once again.

“Ah, we didn’t really have that much time to discuss strategy.” Lucian or Valor realized.

"No, but we did find out something more important," Karna replied while eyeing the other teams. The Kensei had her eyes locked on Karna, clearly signaling that she'd step in if Karna did.

“In that case, I’ll go first. I’m less beholden to such strategies.” Qydrys volunteered and stepped forward before being covered in a pillar of light that soon brought him to the large central platform.

“It seems the other two teams are also taking things carefully.” Envy commented as two other pillars landed on the platform.

“I’m a bit surprised. I expected at least…” A third pillar flared, as another person entered from the team that didn’t have the Kensei or the witch. “Ah, there it is. At least one team should try and seize the advantage.”

“What are they doing?” Envy asked with a confused voice as all four people in the central arena walked to the middle and just started talking.

“They’re trying to find a non-violent solution. You should try it sometimes.” Valor made a small jab at the beastwoman, who didn’t appreciate the implications.

“I’ll have you know that I can be very diplomatic. In fact, I’m one of the more diplomatic sins.”

"She's not wrong," Karna confirmed. Envy really was a sin that relied on violence less often than many of the others, partly because her abilities shined elsewhere. They were useful in combat as well, but their use case was much wider. Pride and Greed were the worst, and Gluttony wasn’t far behind. Lust was…well, Lust had earned the Name for a reason, and it was a fitting one. Sloth was simply slow to rouse, but once they got going, they were hard to stop.

“Next you’re going to tell me that Wrath has become a pacifist.” Valor clearly wasn’t buying it though.

“Oh goodness no. I abhor pacifists. They are the worst kind of hypocrites, as the only way they can espouse their trite is when they have someone they can bribe or cajole to stand behind them with a big enough weapon that no one messes with them.” Karna didn’t mind individuals that chose to be non-violent, and she’d led several lives sticking to the principles, just enjoying life, but that only applied if those same people knew when the time came to put aside those principles or accept the consequences. “Still, a non-violent solution would be interesting in this case.”

“It seems ze negotiations ‘ave failed.” Tremere pointed out as the participants pulled out their weapons and took some distance. Qydrys decided to finally show his true form and transformed into an Earth Dragon without wings. The dragon was covered in steel-colored scales that seemed like a metal armor, and he had a powerful but lithe body filled with power. He also had a single horn on his forehead pointing straight forward.

“A rather young dragon to be that big.” Valor nodded. “But then again, Earth Dragons grow up faster.”

"It was also sent by a kingdom of elves, so they probably had difficulty finding someone that fit the age bracket," Karna explained. Both elves and dragons matured slowly, though dragons reached a combat-ready point earlier in life.

The dragon seemed to almost teleport as he moved so quickly to slash his claws at one of the two representatives from the Yellow team, while the single member of the Red team cast a hasty spell to slow down the approach of the warrior chasing him down. The fact that they had been negotiating just moments before and thus were standing close together wasn't a good thing for a mage, but the man didn't seem to be too fazed as he quickly raised a wall of earth to block the approaching warrior. The warrior in turn ignored the wall entirely and seemed to somehow phase through, reaching for the mage with his blade.

Meanwhile, the person Qydrys attacked also revealed themselves, and in the place of a rather non-descriptive humanoid now stood a large eagle, although only for a moment before it flapped its wings and took to the ‘skies’. The air above the platform was filled with nothing but darkness, so it was hard to call it an actual sky. With another flap of its wings, the eagle sent a bolt of lightning towards the dragon, who ignored it entirely.

“A bad match-up for our dragon, perhaps? Without wings, he won’t be able to chase.” Envy suggested.

“I wouldn’t be too worried. I doubt the dragon hasn’t prepared a solution and the lightning of the bird seems really ineffective.” Valor stated, and his word proved almost prophetic as the dragon seemed to be running on some kind of invisible platforms, chasing after the suddenly spooked bird. The continuous stream of lightning didn’t seem to be doing anything against the dragon’s scales, while the dragon returned fire with several scythes formed from air magic. Even though the eagle had managed to dodge the strikes, it was being herded towards the approaching dragon.

The eagle's partner noticed his partner's peril and had to abandon his chase of the mage. The warrior simply disappeared from his previous position and appeared next to the dragon, slashing at its flank. "Oh, that's risky, using Shundo in a situation like this, leaving your opponent free to retaliate.” Valor stated with a quick comment, which once again was very timely as the exit point of the Shundo was suddenly filled with magical energy as the mage had managed to calculate that exit point and retaliate. While the warrior's blade did indeed manage to pierce through the dragon's flank, though only in a very limited fashion, he had to pay for it when a bolt of arcane energy struck him in the back, causing him to fall and crash down on the large platform. The mage didn't let up and kept bombarding the warrior with spell after spell while he was down, clearly not planning on allowing him to get back up.

“Nice try, but ironically the dragon and mage are working together better than the two on the same team.” Envy shook her head.

“And yet, the mage will have to pay for it.” Valor pointed out as the eagle turned its lighting against the surprised mage that had to erect hasty defenses, which didn’t protect him completely from the eagle’s wrath.

At the same time, the dragon finally reached the eagle, his claws just about to close around the bird, before the bird removed its own pendant, thus throwing in the towel and getting teleported out. “One down. And the other two aren’t a match for the dragon.” Valor stated simply, once again proving correct as both the warrior and mage decided to follow the eagle’s example rather than try fighting an almost completely uninjured and full-strength dragon of the eighth rank.

"He's not your run-of-the-mill dragon, is he?" Envy asked suddenly, as the realization hit her.

"No, I don't think he is," Karna replied. The dragon was brought out of the arena, but not back to their platform, clearly signaling that he would not take part in further bouts. “I did not expect a win from that fight. Bodes well for us.”

“Also means the yellow team is already almost out of this competition. Which might also be a bad thing as they might end up playing the kingmaker.” Valor pointed out.

“I vill go next.” The vampire decreed. “If ve vin as two, ve ‘ave essentially secured the vin.” As he stepped forward, a pillar of light brought him to the central platform.

“Well, who would you rather go with?” Valor asked Envy. “Sins together?”

“Oh hell no. I won’t take the risk of being around when Wrath goes off. I’d rather go with the newbie.” Envy said, referring to the progenitor of an entire vampire bloodline that had been around for eons. That alone was enough to tell how the sins considered time. She too was transported to the arena.

“Sigh. So still no strategy.” Valor seemed especially insulted by the lack of coordination, which seemed to be his forte. “What did she mean by the way?”

“You mean with me going off? Well…let’s just say that I haven’t always cared about collateral damage. I’ve changed since then, but it’s hard to shake a reputation like that. Especially with a Name like Wrath. They conveniently ignore my other Names, like Mercy.” Karna shrugged.

“Wait, you’re both a sin and a virtue?” Valor asked with a surprised tone.

“Naturally. You can’t become Karma without seeing both extremes. Oh, this might be interesting. Envy was allied with that guy earlier, and now they’re fighting each other.” Karna pointed at the central platform, where a guy with an open shirt had entered together with someone covered in heavy clothing.

“I wonder if there’s some history there. It also seems the yellow team is punting the last round where we’re involved.” Valor wasn’t sure how pleased he was with that, as it meant the red team could also focus on them instead of the yellow team.

“Perhaps. They might be hoping to get an upset win while our two teams are pummeling each other. They did leave their strongest member for last.” Karna pointed out.

"The barbarian-looking woman with giant blood? I didn’t read her as the most dangerous.” Valor admitted. He usually got a pretty good grasp of all enemies with a single glance, but he could be wrong.

"I think she might be more like us than she's letting on, and that attire is just camouflage. I have no doubt she can swing that axe, but people didn't pay attention to her when she took the power test. She's the reason their team is weaker overall." Karna had been paying attention to the woman, as she had a hunch.

“I must admit, while I’m usually very observant with such things, I was distracted by the Kensei at the time.” Valor wasn’t above admitting his mistakes. “What result did she get?”

"She got rank eight in both Aura and Qi. And her real power was in the upper end of the ninth rank of both. She got the highest evaluation aside from Tremere and the Kensei.” Karna revealed.

“And you.” Valor pointed out.

“I got both a high and a low evaluation, so that doesn’t count.” Karna smiled slightly. “But let’s focus on this bout first. The red team has made their choice as well.”

The red team had chosen to send their magical beast and who Karna suspected of being one of the travelers that had arrived with the Expansion. “Oh dear, I can recognize that aura coming from the red team. That’s a Lamassu, and one with a lot of holy power. Their kind always tends to be favored by the Divines.”

“Hmm, this fight might turn out a lot more interesting than we first assumed. I have no idea how strong Envy’s little friend is but I doubt she’d drag him around without a good reason. Sending a psion against her is a great idea as well, though I think more by accident. Her abilities won’t be able to work so well against a psion. The other team might be an excellent counter against our vampire if the other person of the red team is what I think. Our team will be at a disadvantage match up-wise if this turns into a brawl and the other teams do the sensible thing and ally against us.” Karna speculated.

"I don't think our allies will care though. I'm pretty sure they think they can handle it anyway." Valor argued.

“And they might be right. Envy’s always been quite skilled, so she should be able to handle it. Don’t know about our vampire friend though, despite the fact that he should be our ace on paper.” She pursed her lips a bit.

“Oh? They don’t seem to be gearing up for a brawl?” Valor suddenly noted. “I might be getting my non-violent solution after all.”

“Well, Envy is the type that can come to other agreements.” They looked on for a while. “Wait, are they actually doing a contest on who has the most powerful and valuable magical items?”

“It certainly looks like it.” Valor was a bit caught off guard as well.

Chapter 85 - Show and tell

A note from Vihyungrang

W-what? But it's not Wednesday. No it's not. I'm starting to get into the swing of writing, and I managed to hammer this one out in a single sitting yesterday, and I used today for PR, so why not release it? I'm aiming to have the next one out on Sunday. I hope you'll enjoy!

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After a brief period of negotiation, the contestants in the arena announced the rules of their little test. Since it was impossible for any of the participants to be even remotely fair in their judgement, as their and their entire faction's participation depended on it, all the contestants had agreed that a single judge would be chosen from each team to grade their items. Exactly half of the contestants would get to advance, regardless of team. Each person could display a single magical artifact, or if they really wanted to brag, they could pick a different item to be graded by each judge, which would at least theoretically allow them to customize which item to show to which judge. That also turned the whole thing into a test on how well you could judge the judges.

“This was your idea, wasn’t it?” Karna asked Envy point blank as she too was moved to the arena as the chosen judge from the blue team.

“Who, me? Nooooo…” The other sin replied insincerely.

As the sole remaining member of the yellow team, the muscled giantess was selected as their judge, while the illusion-covered witch had been picked from the red team, likely to stop the Kenshin from picking a fight with Karna. “Kakaka. Was the Holy Knight afraid of facing me? Is that why they picked you?” The witch asked.

"Might be," Karna said, to everyone's shock, though that emotion was wiped away as she continued. "Or it might be because I'm also an expert at crafting and judging such items. As she's well aware." She pointed at Envy, who looked extremely confident for some reason.

“I trust you’ll still be fair?” The giantess from the yellow team asked in confirmation.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. I have more incentive to judge her too harshly than be lenient. Not only are we sort of old rivals, but it would reduce future competition.” With the blue team’s victory in the first round, they were in a really strong position to take the whole thing, thus actually giving a perverse incentive to eliminate members of their own team. Assuming she and Valor were confident about winning the third round.

“Let’s get this charade over with.” The man that had teamed up with Envy before the finals declared and took a position in front of the three judges that now found a large table rising out from the platform. Apparently, the Sentinels were paying attention and were being accommodating.

The fact that they couldn’t bring their spatial artifact along meant that all of the participants were limited to any items on their person. However, there were certain loopholes around that, and the man now displayed the most obvious one. He pulled out something tiny from a pouch on his belt and with a small flourish it grew to become a weapon as tall as the man himself. It was a glaive where the pole was shaped like a dragon with intricate carvings of scales and the mouth of the dragon was swallowing the blade made of a metal that almost seemed to shine with light. There was a faint sense of divinity around the weapon, which was already enough to signal a lot about its quality.

The man confidently placed the weapon on the table in front of all the three judges. He had clearly chosen to go the single item route. It seemed like the witch’s eyes flashed, although that might have been just an illusion, and Karna was aware that she was reading the enchantments on the weapon much like she would’ve done.

“The spellwork is intricate, and the enchantments are powerful, if a bit overly so. It’s a powerful weapon, but it’s also rather simplistic in its function. It seems to be purely focused on slaying dragons, granting additional penetration against their scales, which would’ve made it a great weapon in the last round. It also grants a level of magic resistance similar to the dragons, as well as being able to release a limited power dragon’s breath from the blade. No additional functionality.” The witch detailed, showing off her skill in reading the spellwork. “I’d say six out of ten. Too focused as a weapon to be applicable in a wide variety of situations.”

The giantess took the weapon and gave it a couple of swings and a twisting thrust. “Hmm, a little top-heavy, making it unbalanced. Great if you use a style that only utilizes the blade, giving the swings more power, but kinda shitty if you also use the pole or the pommel to fight. The entire thing has enough weight to properly swing and do some damage with, unlike some of those weightless pieces of garbage. Five out of ten.” She judged.

Karna took the weapon and ran her fingers along the shaft while closing her eyes. “The craftsmanship of the weapon itself is…mediocre at best, but the materials used are excellent, giving it a lot of power and more longevity than you'd expect, assuming you plan on killing dragons. Due to the materials, the wounds it makes will fester and poison the magic of the dragon once wounded. I wouldn't pull it out when dealing with dragons peacefully though, as it's using heartstrings from juvenile dragons as a core of the shaft. I'd say seven for materials available in Higher Planes, but I'll have to reduce that to five due to craftsmanship. The spellwork is better done as mentioned before.”

“This is bullshit! The weapon was made by the best craftsmen on my world!” The man protested.

"Then they aren't very good at what they're doing, or they did shoddy work. There are hundreds of different ways that this weapon could’ve been made stronger.” Karna shot his argument down. The basic principles of craftsmen were that the first step of becoming a master was the ability to take great materials and turn them into something just as great, a step these craftsmen had clearly not reached. The second step was to take great materials and turn them into something greater. Finally, a real master could make something great with next to nothing. “But at least you’ve set the baseline with sixteen points.”

Despite his disgruntlement, the man stepped aside to watch over the rest of the proceedings. The judgement had been harsh, but not obviously biased. He'd have to pay attention to make sure that remained true for others. If the standards were this high, then it was possible that the others would fare even worse. At least his companion shouldn't have anything too fancy. Their people had been the vassals of the empire he represented until their recent secession and couldn't have provided the beastwoman with anything too fancy.

The next one to step up was the magical beast from the red team. The lamassu displayed another glaring problem with the storage limitation as she seemed to dry-heave before a small gem-like object fell from her mouth. The item had not actually been inside the beast’s stomach, but magical beasts often had an innate ability to store items inside them in a space similar to storage items humanoid races used. The gem was orange in color and seemed to hold a small sandstorm inside it.

“Oh? Is this…it’s a reality marble! Don’t see these too often.” The witch seemed enthused.

Reality Marbles were a strange piece of arcane or a magical beast’s innate power, where the marble was basically a transportable battlefield of sorts. Once the reality marble was deployed, it would expand over a certain area and draw anyone close enough inside. It was a bounded field that was extremely hard to escape without the permission of the person controlling it, though most Reality Marbles required the caster to also remain inside while it was deployed. The battlefields or even entire worlds held inside were completely cut off from reality, projecting the internal landscape over the reality while shutting that reality outside.

Some of them were simple battlefields that allowed combatants to go all out without harming their surroundings, while the most powerful Reality Marbles were actually conceptual abilities that could hold entire illusionary armies inside them, ready to fight at their master’s command against anyone pulled inside. Naturally, the more complicated the Reality Marble was, the more power it consumed to maintain. Some used such Marbles as prisons, though those required a constant supply of power from the outside.

“This one seems to be of the terrain type, and I assume favorable to you and your abilities. Magnificent work, and it seems to have been created with your innate abilities. The reality inside is a little simplistic, however. I’d still give it a solid eight points.” The witch was rather impressed due to her own fascination with illusions. Reality Marbles could be considered the epitome of such skills, though they were usually reserved for immortals who possessed their own Domains, as those Domains often manifested as a kind of Reality Marble.

On the flipside, the barbarian-looking woman wasn't all that impressed. "So it makes things windy and sandy? A fifth circle spell could do the same. And only cowards hide from reality. If you don't want collateral damage or you desire an advantageous battlefield, simply have the battle in a place of your choosing. Why carry the terrain with you? Two out of ten.”

Karna smiled brightly at the Lamassu. “My fellow judges are both correct. I have to appreciate the fact that you have managed to create the Reality Marble so early, even though it is an innate skill of your kind. For that, I’ll have to add some extra. However, the usage is somewhat limited as the conditions inside are not as beneficial for you as they could be. This is new though, isn’t it? You’ll need to do some real work to turn this to your advantage, but at least that work has begun. I’ll give it a solid six, bringing it to a tie with the first item.”

“I vill go next.” Tremere decided. He pulled out three items, one for each judge. He felt like he'd gotten a pretty decent idea of the criteria of each judge, so he handed the witch a gothic-looking cross that functioned as a protective artifact, earning a seven for his trouble, a claymore he often used in battle to the barbarian woman, getting an another seven, and a chalice filled with blood to Karna.

“Where did you get this?” Karna asked as soon as she saw the item, her eyes narrowing.

“Confiscated it from a Vampire clan resisting my clan’s return. Vy ask?” He seemed genuinely curious.

“I see. Sometimes it feels like the universe is so big it's almost endless, and in a situation like this it feels like such a small place." She shook her head with a small smile. “This item was stolen some years ago from an allied nation, which our dragon teammate actually hails from. I was present myself when it was stolen. I believe both I and the dragon would appreciate any details you might be willing to share when we have time. For now though, what you handed me is the Chalice of Bathori. The chalice provides an almost infinite amount of blood filled with vitality, which is quite handy to a group of vampires, especially during the process of Turning. It’s an item recovered from a site of Heavensfall. The materials used are quite good, and the craftsmanship is relatively high level as well. I will not go into all the enchantments as those you will need to discover yourself but suffice to say it has many other functions beyond the obvious. Especially for a skilled thaumaturge.” She tapped her lip for a moment. “For anyone else, I’d grade it as a seven, but in your hands it’s at least an eight.”

The next two contestants made a slight error in judgement. The being from the red team was really a Traveler like Karna had suspected, and a synthetic lifeform to boot. He gave them a rather advanced piece of technology to judge, which didn’t go over well with the witch, though the barbarian rather enjoyed the idea of making things explode with the obviously high-tech grenade. However, big explosions were not strange to her, so they both graded the item rather poorly. Even though Karna gave the grenade a rather decent grade for the craftmanship, the item landed the Traveler solidly in the last place.

The psion from the yellow team provided a great item for all three judges, but as they were psionically operated, neither the witch nor the barbarian woman could rate them very high without making it obvious they were also reincarnators, which they weren’t willing to do just to give the items a grade they deserved. Still, with Karna’s high praise, the psion managed to scrape together seventeen points as even if the two other judges couldn’t reveal their knowledge, they couldn’t deny the effectiveness of the items either.

With Envy left as the last person to go, Tremere was in the lead with 22 points, the psion at second spot with seventeen, and the Lamassu and Envy's male friend tied at third with sixteen, while the Traveler was already out. Karna wasn’t all that sure if she liked the smug and self-assured look on Envy’s face. The woman was always good at acquiring the best items, but she was rarely this confident about them. She clearly had a plan. And if Karna guessed correctly, that plan was aimed at her.

With a flourish, she pulled out two items, one for the witch and one for the huge woman. “I’ll leave the last one a mystery for now. Can I get the other two judged first?” She requested. She’d used the same miniaturization method her ‘ally’ had.

“Theatrics. I can appreciate that.” Interestingly, the witch had not used her ridiculous laugh even once since the judging began, showing it was just something she did for effect. She took the vial that seemed to be holding pink stardust inside. “Hmm? This is…where in the blazes did you get access to the purified essence of fantasies? And judging by the color it's…well, let's just say someone has been a naughty girl.”

Karna had to hide a smile. Now Envy was just showing off. The dust was one of the most coveted ingredients for ritual casting, especially for illusionists, but it wasn’t normally available in the Higher Planes. Not unless you knew how to make it. The dust had a variety of uses, but primarily it could be used as a catalyst to create a permanent and completely realistic illusion, turning one’s dreams into reality, even if only inside the illusion. It could even be used to enhance a Reality Marble to become more powerful. The trick was, you had to find the right kind of essence for the job. The one the witch was holding could be used for many things ranging from realistic battle training to creating an illusionary palace that didn't differ from reality in any way, but where it really shined was when used for kinkier purposes. Ever dreamed of a romantic encounter with a certain someone? Well, this dust could turn an illusion of that encounter into something indistinguishable from reality. It was called the essence of fantasies for a reason. It was also a stupendously potent aphrodisiac.

“The Expansion has treated me well.” Envy didn’t explain further, though Karna knew she was lying. She’d obviously created the stuff herself. The method was not widely known, which is why it usually only appeared naturally, but she knew Envy knew the technique.

“I can’t give this anything less than a nine, no matter how much I don’t want to.” The witch was forced to concede.

The yellow team’s judge had been handed Envy’s bow, and she drew the string back, causing a glowing arrow to appear on her fingers. She released the arrow in a smooth motion, sending it crashing against the target that had conveniently appeared. The arrow simply disintegrated the target. "A good bow. A coward's weapon, but for a coward's weapon it's very good. Eight."

“So, I need one point to qualify, and six to beat my own teammate. Let’s see what happens.” With another flourish, Envy pulled out something that shocked everyone, especially Karna.

In front of her was one of the fluffiest and most inviting pillows she’d ever seen. It didn’t have the divine presence of her currently most precious treasure, but the sheer fluffiness seemed to practically ooze out of the seams. The pillow was covered in what looked like silky-smooth dark and long animal hair. As she instinctively placed her hand on the pillow, her finger sunk into the pillow just the right amount before facing the very faintest of resistance, showing that the pillow was very soft, but not too soft. Just the way she liked it. The pillow also seemed to be radiating energy that invited one to just lay your head or body on it to rest and relax. It almost promised good dreams, and Karna was quite sure some of that pink dust had been applied to it. The thing felt almost like a combination of the soft fur of a sheep, combined with the soft and malleable flesh of a relaxed cat that you were petting. It was almost perfect.

“So. How many points?” Envy asked with a knowing grin.

Karna looked up sharply, though her eyes almost immediately returned to the pillow. “You just happened to be carrying this around?”

“Oh, no! I prepared that just in case I ever ran into you again. I always carry one around. Since the last time we met and you taught me the value of preparation, I’ve always made one of those as the first thing I do. I’ve gotten quite good at making them too.” Envy had an almost sing-song voice as she was borderline taunting Karna without straight-up admitting that she’d been making extra fluffy pillows in every life to use against Karna in case they ever ran into each other again.

“…ten points.” Karna conceded. The craftsmanship was flawless. And best of all, the materials were quite low level, showing Envy’s skill had reached a very high level at making the pillows.

Unsurprisingly the others around them got up to protest, but the two of them ignored them as they stared at each other. “Now, be a good girl and give it back.” Envy grinned victoriously and stretched out her hand, while also making a ‘gimme’ gesture with her fingers.

The hesitation in Karna's eyes and gestures was so palpable and obvious that it caused everyone to suddenly swallow their protests. it was clear there was much more going between the two than they had realized. With great reluctance, Karna stretched out her hands while holding on to the pillow. Envy grabbed onto it and started to pull on it, though Karna resisted just a bit before letting go, afraid that the pillow would be torn. "You're pure evil, you know that right?" Karna asked with a fire burning in her eyes.

“Oh, I know. I’m going to have a lot of fun with this, believe you me.” Envy laughed as she sauntered away.

A note from Vihyungrang

I feel like I didn't really do some of the items justice, but I wanted to keep this to a single chapter, so the Psion and Traveler were kinda shafted. Tremere's items could've used some fleshing out too, but I didn't want to get repetitive, so here we are.

I also mentioned that I'm starting to get into the swing of writing in the upper author's note, and actually wrote a full ten chapters for another little side project due to a sudden bout of inspiration. Too bad that story can't ever be posted on Royal Road. Ah well. I might have to make a small site of my own just so I can put up some of these side projects in case anyone is interested.

Chapter 86 - Layers

A note from Vihyungrang

This is one of those chapters that would've probably benefitted from me working on it a bit longer, but I don't think it came out badly. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”Why does it feel like your fellow sin just got one over you?” Valor asked with a slightly barbed tone as Karna returned to the platform to wait for the third event. It was a little difficult to judge how much time they had, as the participants of the last event were either thrown out of the arena or transported to the winner’s platform.

"For the moment, perhaps. Envy has always been good when it comes to short-term advantages. It's her long-term planning that needs work. Besides, we've had a game of one-upmanship that stretches through the eons. A little something like this is a fun distraction. A distraction that we might not be able to afford considering our next fight." What she left unsaid that she was going to acquire that pillow, by hook or by crook.

“So you don’t think the third event will be peaceful?” Valor asked a bit sarcastically.

"Theoretically it could be since we've already won. With the psion taking third place in the previous event, neither of the other teams can reach more than two remaining people, and we already have three. There's a rather obvious hiccup though." She mused while taking a glance at the red team's platform where the Kensei was already eagerly waiting for the next bout.

“Yes, that one has been aiming for you from the start. Any particular reason? I’m merely curious.” Valor kept up a discussion while they waited.

“I can think of a few. There’s a political reason, but while that could’ve been the reason she was originally sent, a true Kensei would not be affected by such pointless considerations. Not unless the person I killed was a close friend of hers, and I don’t get that kind of vibe from her. I think it’s mainly because she knows I can actually fight her relatively equally and push her.” She concluded. Guessing how the minds of reincarnators worked was always dangerous, as they tended to be at least a little crazy.

“Huh. That’s kind of arrogant of her, discarding the rest of us like that. Though, I suppose that comes with the territory with being a Kensei.” Valor tapped his leg with a gauntleted finger. He’d met other Kensei before, and they all seemed to be singularly confident in their abilities.

“Well, that, and the fact that she didn’t actually fight you. Envy is…well, she could probably deal with the Kensei given some time and space, and the chance to use a bit of subtlety, but a direct confrontation like this would not be a good match. It’s a bit hard to be sneaky on a flat arena like that. Not impossible though.”

“Considering what I’ve heard from other virtues and what I know of the sins, I would tend to agree. I doubt the ability she gained from the Name is meant for direct combat.” Valor speculated, though he was caught by surprise as Karna burst into laughter. “What? What did I say?”

“You should never underestimate someone who carries a sin in their Name. We are much more complicated than you could imagine. As one that carries both a sin and a virtue, I can say without hesitation that the sins are much more dangerous. And among all sins, Envy’s ability is the one you should underestimate the least. I’d much rather fight Greed or even Pride than her.” Karna shook her head. Pride and Greed were the two sins known for their combat abilities, aside from herself as Wrath of course.

“Noted. I’ll keep that in mind. If you don’t mind me asking, I’ve always wondered what the Name Mercy grants to the one who carries it.” Valor prodded a bit. He rather enjoyed the opportunity to talk with another virtue, even if that virtue was also potentially the worst sin. Few old reincarnators were as free with information as Wrath seemed to be at the moment.

Karna was being open for a reason, and that reason didn’t include sharing information like this. "Mercy is…a double-edged sword. I can reveal to you that much. Look alive. We're starting." There was no announcement this time as all five of the remaining contestants were simply brought to the central platform.

“So, what shall it be?” The muscle-bound giantess asked with a cheery voice. They all knew this would turn into a battle but she was still having fun proposing other options. “Arm-wresting competition? Spitting contest? Eating competition?”

"I'm partial to a dance-off myself," Karna added just as cheerily.

The Kensei pulled out her sword and pointed it at Karna. “The rest of you can do as you please, but the two of us have unfinished business, and I’ve waited long enough.”

“What a surprise. Spoilsport.” Karna muttered sarcastically and started moving to the side of the platform with the Kensei.

“I believe our fight was left unfinished as well.” Valor nodded towards the witch, who only cackled in return before the two moved to the other edge of the platform from Karna and the Kensei.

“Wait, what? Why do I feel like the fifth wheel?” The giantess complained to no one in particular as she was left alone. Suddenly the attention of her, Valor, and the witch was drawn to the direction of Karna and the Kensei, as a huge pressure suddenly engulfed the entire area.

On one side stood a four meters tall Oni with a bright red horn in the middle of her forehead, and teardrop-shaped red markings around her eyes as flames of extreme heat danced around her. On the other side was Titan that was keeping her size to the same four meters with a metallic sheen on her skin. Unlike what one might expect, the surroundings of the Titan were not a storm to match that of the furnace of the Oni, but her aura resembled a calm and unperturbed lake instead.

“Oh, oh! This one I have to see!” The giantess also seemed to grow in size, and the form of a female Storm Giant now stood in her place. She quickly jogged towards the other two gigantic figures.

“That side turned into a kaiju battle quite quick.” Valor commented before taking a glance at the witch’s True Name. “Shall we also join them Witch of Chaos?”

“By all means Valor. It’s going to be an honor to deal with one of the virtues.” The witch had lost her cackle, and even her voice had changed. The fact that she had managed to look at his Name without him noticing anything was not a good sign. Suddenly some chaotic power seemed to take a hold of his surroundings, twisting reality and trying to erase him from it, before the golden glow of his power pushed the power back.

“You’re going to need more than that.” Valor said, with his smile not breaking, while his entire form seemed to be swallowed in a golden glow before he re-appeared in what seemed to be an empty spot, his golden blade tearing apart the spells hiding the witch.

“That only seems fair.” The witch’s voice seemed to come from all around him, as similar-looking witches stepped out of hiding places just like the one he'd just slashed open. This time the witch didn't look hideous, but quite attractive. However, Valor knew that the odds of this being her real form was just as likely as the troll form. The fact that he still couldn't see through her illusions despite being a powerful reincarnator was disconcerting. “We should probably both take this seriously.” The witch stated before all the witches channeled the same chaotic power towards him.

-------

The entire platform seemed to shake as the two giant beings clashed, their immediate surroundings shattering and sending debris flying just from the blast wave of the Oni’s sword meeting the Titan’s gauntlet. Despite the heavy strike, it was immediately followed by another, and another, and another as the two moved with such speed that most would find it difficult to follow. The engagement between the two almost seemed like an intricate dance with hair’s-breadth dodges and expert parries that re-directed the power of the two’s attack into the surroundings, leaving huge gashes in the platform. Someone watching the two would feel there was something discordant about the fight as the two were also constantly trying to mess with their opponent by altering the rhythm of their blows

“You’ve done well keeping up with me, but you know this can only end up one way.” The Kensei taunted with almost a manic grin on her face. She was clearly enjoying the bout.

“Oh? And what way is that? We’ve only just begun.” Karna parried the verbal thrust as well.

“You want to play dumb? That is fine with me. We can dance this dance until the inevitable end. At least it will be fun while it lasts.” The Kensei’s blade suddenly seemed to glow with the heat of a star as she slashed at Karna, while at the same time it looked like three other blades made of pure solar flame slashed from the sides.

“A bad choice." Karna flared her Aura and the flames simply vanished as her phoenix aura took over and smothered them. At the same time, she uttered a single garbled and rough word, disappearing in a puff of dark smoke as the Kensei’s sword seemed to meet only empty air. She appeared in the air above the Kensei, her sing-song voice chanting a spell that caused a bright shining ring of light to appear around the Kensei. Several large runes appeared around the ring of light and started pushing the ring inwards to trap the Kensei. The Kensei noted that the space around her seemed locked, making any movement abilities practically impossible to execute. "Just because I've indulged you so far, you shouldn't forget that I'm actually a mage," Karna added.

"Pshaw! Dividing your focus multiple ways makes you weak." The Kensei closed her eyes in concentration and used her senses to find the core of the 8th circle spell trying to imprison her. Once she did, she slashed at the air in front of her, yet somehow her sword reached the core of the spell, which was definitely out of her reach. “You’re going to need to do much better than that.”

"I did," Karna said simply, and suddenly four long gashes appeared on the Kensei’s shoulder, making her left hand almost unusable until healed, and the dark energy wisping out of the wound was quite suggestive about how hard healing the wound would be.

The spell Karna had used had been nothing but a distraction as her real attack had been hidden in the gesture used to send out the flashy spell. She had used some of the power stored inside her gauntlets, just to see what it would do, and the gauntlet had sent almost entirely undetectable attacks from the fingers, which the Kensei had still somehow managed to minimize instinctually, as Karna had definitely not aimed for the Kensei’s shoulder.

“Very good. If you insist, let’s show everyone why you will lose this fight. You can only blame your low rank for this.” The two had already emitted a heavy presence but now it felt like an entire mountain had suddenly been dropped on everyone, as the Kensei’s Domain suddenly materialized to cover the arena.

Karna wasn’t the only reincarnator able to get early access to her Domain even before reaching the rank of an immortal. Before she could react, several lances of solar energy were about to tear through her body. The strike would’ve been lethal to almost anyone else, but she was saved by the fact that her skin slowed the attack down enough for her to shift into her phoenix form, negating most of the damage. “That could’ve been a little dangerous.” She muttered calmly.

“And what now birdy? You may have managed to survive my first attack, but do you think that was the only thing my Domain can do?” The Kensei seemed to take no pleasure in her words. This was not the way she had wanted to win this fight, but here they were, just like she had predicted. The only thing different was the speed at which they had reached this point.

------

“Hmm?” The witch made a surprised sound as the pressure from the other side of the arena suddenly pushed on her, making movement difficult. Apparently, the knight in shining armor didn’t have that issue as he slashed through another one of her clones. “It seems they’re pulling out the big guns on that side of the arena.” She remarked.

“So, it seems.” Valor replied seriously. He was seriously considering giving his teammate a helping hand. He knew there was no way he’d be able to face all three of the remaining enemies by himself. His thoughts were interrupted by the witch.

“Don’t bother interfering. She’s not going to lose that easily. You people really keep underestimating her despite what she’s shown so far. You’d think the Names would be enough of a hint, but nooooo…” The witch was almost complaining.

“You sound like you know her.” Valor commented.

“Know her? That’s…one way of putting it.” The witch shook her head in exasperation. “Well then. I think it’s about time we finished this as well.” Another Domain seemed to smash on the platform that was now showing signs of crumbling. Spirits made of red and white sparkling energy seemed to come out of the floor and dash towards Valor. Some of the spirits also seemed to veer off and target the other three people on the platform of their own will.

“Purge the unclean.” Valor muttered with conviction in response, and a third Domain was added to the two already present, the golden power pushing away at the wraiths. He lifted his sword high above his head and suddenly a rain of golden energy fell on the entire platform. The energy took the shape of various weapons, ranging from swords and arrows to spears and halberds, as well as the shapes of beasts like dragons and angels, and if the platform had shown signs of crumbling before, now it was losing large chunks as they fell into the nothingness below.

A battle that had just before been between mortals had suddenly turned into a mess of three people borrowing the abilities of immortals. The attacks looked deceptively simple, but Karna could see behind them. The Kensei’s Domain allowed her attacks to reach anything and anyone within her Domain, regardless of distance and any protective barriers. It also granted her greater power over the energies of stars, making for very powerful and pure fire energy. Utilizing the power of cosmic entities always made your power more effective.

Valor’s Domain allowed him to use holy power without any gods granting that power. That allowed him to access powers far beyond his level, as shown by the rain of golden power devastating the platform, and made sure he’d be able to still use the power even if his chosen god cut him off. The power he channeled came from his convictions and his True Name Valor, and Karna imagined it would also be the type of Domain that would allow him to grant great power and protection to any troops he commanded. It wasn’t a Domain for single combat, but for leading armies. He simply had to use it to combat the witch’s power.

The witch’s Domain summoned the spirits of chaotic elemental energies that were pretty much impossible to get rid of, but the spirits would attack targets on their own with an element of their choosing. They’d also find the weakness of their target through trial and error as they changed elements. The Domain was likely supposed to be used in conjunction with her other magic as the spirits could continue the attack indefinitely and on their own, but the witch had called the Domain out too early, and it was incomplete.

Reincarnators might be able to call their Domain out even before reaching immortality, but that didn’t mean they’d be able to fully utilize the power of that Domain. The Kensei’s Domain was the most complete, as it was also simplest in function and the Kensei was the highest rank out of all three. On the other hand, Valor might have gotten his to function in the situation they were in, but it was not suited for the purpose, and he was clearly burning his power quickly to maintain the barrage tearing apart the witch’s clones. Interestingly all three of the Domain were the type that could coexist, as quite often Domains would push against each other, combating for superiority. If Karna used her own Domain for example, then it would struggle for dominance against the three others, clearing them away from the area hers covered.

The Kensei clearly didn’t find the situation amusing as their fight was interrupted by having to fend off against both the spirits and the holy power that attacked her. A moment of distraction that proved decisive. With a burst of flames, Karna appeared in front of her, and she reflexively defended, managing to slash away the left wing of the phoenix that had stuck her. The wound was dangerous enough that it would’ve been decisive in any other fight, but they had all forgotten something important, something that even Karna had momentarily forgotten earlier.

They had all gotten caught in the moment and forgotten that they were not on a battlefield fighting to the death. They were in an arena, fighting in a competition with rules. And one of those rules was that anyone that lost their pendant would be disqualified. While the Kensei’s blow had been instinctual and completely from muscle memory honed over countless lifetimes, it was something that would be decisive if the fight between the two had continued for a minute or two longer. Karna on the other hand had aimed for the Kensei’s pendant and had played to the rules of the competition.

She returned to her own form with a cheeky grin, even as her left hand seemed to be missing from elbow onwards. The last thing the Kensei saw, as the light that would transport her outside the arena swallowed her, was Karna blowing her a kiss with her still healthy hand. The impression was ruined just a bit by Karna having to dodge one of the spirits going for her while her back was turned.

Chapter 87 - That hardly seems fair

A note from Vihyungrang

Complicated chapter. Took some time. Considered spending a second chapter making things smoother and clearer, but decided against it. I hope you'll enjoy!

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The sudden disappearance of the heaviest of the three Domains was jarring enough to cause the other two combatants to also briefly pause their fighting. They took furtive glances towards the other side of the platform where wounded Karna dodged another spirit that wandered a bit too close, though the spirits don’t seem all that interested in attacking her for some reason. “That’s…not what I expected to happen.” Valor commented simply.

“I did tell you.” The witch’s voice echoes from multiple directions. Both of them suddenly tilted their heads at the same time, as if listening to something.

At the same time, Karna was taking stock of her injury. Her left elbow and everything below it was just gone. She could rather easily prevent any bleeding or the injury from getting worse, but healing the damage would be a little challenging. Thanks to her phoenix heritage, this level of injury wasn't too difficult to fix, albeit it would take a bit of time. She'd healed a worse injury when Hou Yi had managed to surprise her with an arrow. That's why she had been willing to make the attack in the first place. The problem was that wounds caused by a Kensei were not as easy to deal with.

All Kensei were not equal of course. Some of them had made it further on their path to perfecting their skills. The best and the oldest Kensei could strike down even conceptual entities and get infinitely close to even damaging souls. That's where Karna had gotten her original idea from in the first place. She'd taken the techniques of the Kensei and adapted them further in a very particular direction. And she was pretty sure there were at least one or two Kensei who could do the same. Whether they had done it was another thing entirely.

Because of that, the wounds made by a Kensei were hard to heal because they did more than just damage your physical body. The very best of them could make such healing almost impossible by attacking the very concept of your body. On a fundamental level, healing magic worked on the principle of returning the patient to their normal state. But if a Kensei with enough skill attacked someone, they could change that normal. Healing magic wouldn’t work, because there was nothing to heal. Your body was already at its normal state. There were still ways around it, but it no longer fell under the purview of healing. At that point it became about changing your body to match what you had previously. It would be like trying to add another arm. It could be done, but it was much more complicated.

Luckily for Karna, there were several factors in her favor in this case. The first one was that the attack had been hasty and reflexive, without having the full intent of the Kensei behind the attack. It was simply an almost automatic strike she’d performed out of muscle memory due to performing the same action millions of times over her previous lives. The second advantage was that either the Kensei wasn't quite as old and skilled enough to fully harm the conceptual state of her body, or she hadn't wanted to do so. Thirdly, and most importantly, Karna was old and powerful, with a will stronger than anyone, at least as long as pillows were not involved, and as such, harming her concept of self permanently was almost impossible.

That didn’t mean there was no effect from the Kensei’s blade. She would be able to heal her hand, but it would take a bit of time and effort. Effort wasn't a problem. Time, on the other hand… "Well done young one. I was a little worried for you for a moment there." The Giantess' thundering voice boomed over the arena, as the giantess picked up her axe.

Karna rotated her shoulders a bit in preparation for the fight continuing, the gesture being mostly something she performed out of habit. "I get that I'm the youngest out of everyone still participating, but it's not like the rest of you are all that much older. Not to mention…" She didn't say anything about them all being reincarnators, but her implication could be read between the lines. Being called young didn't really bother her, but it was still a little out of place in her opinion.

“Ah, I believe it’s due to your appearance. You look younger than the rest of us.” The giantess stated after a moment of consideration. “That’s beside the point though. You did well against that monster of a swordswoman, and I feel a little bad about picking on someone who's obviously injured, but this is a competition, and you're clearly a dangerous competitor. Even if my team has already lost, I feel obligated to eliminate you. Otherwise, there'd be no point in me even taking part in this round." As she spoke, the giantess took long but slow strides towards Karna.

"Understandable, but I believe you're a few incorrect assumptions," Karna replied and pushed the matter of her hand out of her mind for now. Just because she'd lost a hand, that didn't mean she couldn't fight.

“And what would those be?” The giantess asked, seeming genuinely curious and a little amused.

“The first one is that I’m unable to beat you just because of this small scratch.” She lifted the stump of her arm a bit for emphasis. “And the second one…”

“The second one?” The giantess asked, now grinning as she’d gotten close enough to attack the smaller girl now in her normal form.

"There are two others still in this fight, and It doesn't seem they like the idea of you playing kingmaker," Karna said with a small smile of her own, just as a golden beam of holy power slammed into the back of the giantess while a wave of spirits assaulted from below. The spirits pushed the giantess into the air, while the beam threw the giantess outside the arena, as Karna and the Kensei had been fighting at the edge.

Unfortunately, this battle had no rules for ring-outs, so the giantess soon made her way back towards the arena. The smile on her face had not faded despite the surprise attack. "I have to admit that I did not expect that. I can see why our knight in shining armor might want to save the damsel in distress, but why do you join hands with your enemy to strike at a third party?” The giantess looked at where the witch was standing.

“Like the little one said. I don’t like someone playing kingmaker. And if I have to choose between first fighting against the knight and then fighting you after, or fighting the wounded girl and the knight at the same time…well, I’ll take my chances with her. I believe I have a decent to fair chance that she won’t even interfere with my duel with the knight. We might even work out a deal should I prevail against the knight.” The witch surprised both the giant and Valor with her suggestion, though Karna wasn’t all that shocked. She had expected something like this.

“What kind of deal?” Valor’s eyes narrowed a bit, though the gentle smile never slipped from his face.

“Well, there were no rules about changing teams as far as I know. I believe she would’ve taken my offer, considering that us two fighting until the end would’ve meant that even if she had won, she would’ve been too spent to do well in the last phase.” The witch pointed out.

“Would you have accepted the offer?” The giantess turned to Karna to ask the question.

"Depends a bit on how the fight between the two of them had gone. If the two of them had beaten each other to a pulp, then no. Otherwise, yes. She made a fair point." Karna replied with a small shrug. That was also the reason she had not brought her own Domain out. She could do it, but it would’ve left her entirely incapable of fighting afterwards. In which case there would’ve been no point, as she’d rather just concede and keep her ability a secret.

“A sound strategic decision, even if one I can’t really approve for obvious reasons.” Valor confirmed.

“Look, the only reason I even bothered taking part in this last fight, despite my team already having lost, was the opportunity to switch teams. And she was always my best chance to do so. That’s why I can’t let you take her out.” The witch admitted to her motives. She had seen a potential path to victory, and she’d planned on going down that path.

“Seems we’re at a bit of an impasse then.” The giantess grunted and gestured towards Valor and the witch. “It seems the two of you aren’t willing to be on the same team, and the two of you aren’t going to finish your fight until I’m out, which means we can’t all jump into the blue team.”

Karna had to struggle to hide her smile. Now that the Kensei was out of the fight, they were back to finding alternative solutions to the situation, which meant this was all about politics. And when it came to politics, she had the upper hand for a couple of reasons. She was the most harmless out of the group, at least ostensibly, which made it so that the others were more willing to deal with her. She also didn’t have any grudges with those remaining, which meant there wasn’t anyone specifically gunning for her anymore. She didn’t want the scenario where all four of them made it through, because then this whole fight would’ve only accomplished the elimination of the Kensei at her expense, and luckily she wasn’t the only one with that opinion.

“I think the situation is quite clear actually.” Valor argued. “We’ll momentarily join forces against you, after which we’ll find a solution with the three of us.” He remembered the warning Karna had given before this third round about the giantess.

"Really? You three would join hands against me, even with the witch? That seems a little…" The giantess was thrown off by the situation, to say the least. Earlier she had been the fifth wheel that everyone was ignoring, and now she had three people allying against her. The situation had changed quite quickly.

“There’s a fundamental error in assumptions here. You think I and the witch are in some kind of a vendetta that requires the death of one of us. We’re not. I simply felt that our earlier fight was left unfinished.” Valor suddenly countered. In the giantess’ defense, everyone had assumed there was some grudge between the two.

“Well, now I’m tempted to fight to the bitter end, just so I can take at least one of you with me.” The giantess straightened out to her full height and slowly swung her weapon to point at the three others in a small arc. “However, I won’t. There’s no point risking injury or even death when there’s nothing left to win.” With a small yank, she used her other hand to tear away the necklace, which caused her to be teleported out of the arena.

“I…actually didn’t think that would work.” Valor admitted. “Somehow I expected that we wouldn’t be able to just talk someone who had already reached this point out of competing.”

“That was a pretty good plan, even if a bit risky.” The witch nodded as well. Both of them had gotten a message from Karna just after the Kensei had been sent out of the arena. They’d agreed to the plan, mostly because they had little to lose, and if they managed to eliminate one of the most dangerous contenders with just this, then why not give it a shot?

“It wasn't all that risky all things considered. None of us actually wants to die here, and the giantess knew she was already out of the competition, so why risk her life fighting us? She may have looked like a barbarian, but she clearly wasn't stupid." Karna simply shrugged, though grimaced a bit as the movement sent a jolt of pain through her arm because of the injury.

“So…about what I mentioned earlier…” The witch was hinting at her earlier words about switching teams.

Karna had expected the plan from the witch and had nothing against it, so she looked towards Valor. He thoughtfully leaned on his shield a bit before coming to a decision. “I think we’d win if we joined hands to fight you right now, but it would also leave both of us rather spent, and she’s already injured.” He gestured towards Karna. “Welcome to the team, I suppose.”

As soon as his words came out, the rest of the blue team was brought to the central platform, and the announcer’s voice could be heard again. “The Blue Team is the victor. You are free to come up with a way to find the final winner amongst yourselves.”

All six of them looked at each other for a while, and Valor was the first one to speak. “Is there any way this isn’t going to turn into a fight?”

"I kind of liked her idea of a dance-off, to be honest." Envy pointed towards Karna. "Or we could even turn it into a vote."

“Not when you’re holding Fluffy McSoftenstein a hostage." Karna shot the idea of a vote down. Everyone was just going to vote themselves, and with Envy holding the pillow hostage, she had Karna in an awkward position.

"You already named the thing?" Envy asked incredulously.

“More importantly, that’s the name you went with?” The witch seemed almost offended by the naming.

"I stand by my decision, and I have no regrets, other than the fact that Fluffy is still held prisoner by a cruel and malicious creator." The whole thing was turning silly for some reason, but Karna decided to just dive in with both feet.

“Malicious? I resent the accusation.” Envy protested.

“But the cruel part is fine?” Valor now interjected.

“I mean, that part is accurate, and I’m proud of it.” Envy admitted shamelessly.

“Could ve get on vith zis?” It was obvious the vampire was fighting the urge to facepalm rather heavily. “If zere is a fight to be had, then ve can start.”

"Actually, I do have a proposition." Karna got more serious. "Is there any reason why there must be a single winner? I mean, if either I or Qydrys win, then we’re going to share this world anyway.” She gestured towards the dragon. “So, is there a reason we can’t share the place six ways? It’s a big and rich world, and it would be easier to defend as well, in case the Sentinels end up being less useful than we assume.”

“That’s…not out of the question.” Envy slowly nodded. “My people need a new home. We just got out from under the thumb of a larger power, and we need a place rich with resources. That said, we aren’t numerous enough to need an entire world. Or even a large continent really.”

“I’m with Lady Karna on this.” The dragon nodded as well.

“Zis is…not ideal, but something ve can work vith. Depends on ze details.” Tremere also slowly nodded, and all heads turned towards Valor and the witch.

"My people will be fine with this. Actually, this might be better. My order would rather settle inside other empires instead of building our own. As long as we won't face religious persecution and get our fair share of the resources, we can agree to this general outline. We'll…or to be more precise, the representatives of the groups we are here for, need to hammer out the details, but…" Valor was happy with this choice. The only reason his order had sent him to take part was the fact that the Sentinels would help defend this world. They needed resources and a new home, but trying to defend a world rich enough for their needs would be difficult.

“I’ll obviously agree.” The witch said hastily.

“Obviously?” Valor asked with slight suspicion.

“You’ll find out. Maybe. Kakakaka.” The witch brought back the annoying cackle.

“Right. Now we’ll just need to run this by the Sentinels. Even if they don’t agree though, we can just declare one of us the winner and go through with the deal anyway.” Karna declared happily.

-----

“Is this fine master?” A mechanical voice asked.

Hou Yi watched as the tiny Cobra Dragon that led the forces that had captured him considered the question. He and his friends had been allowed to watch the tournament as a way to entertain themselves, and he just happened to be the one the Faerie Dragon had been questioning for details on the various factions involved when the tournament had come to an end.

“Yes, this will serve our purposes just fine.” The diminutive but extremely powerful dragon decided quickly. “It’s not the ending I expected, but I think this might actually be better. Agree to their solution.”

Hou Yi knew that these ‘Sentinels’ had been created by the dragon and her subordinates, though not their purpose, or the purpose of this tournament. “Why are you doing this?” He decided to just ask. Their captors had not released them, but he and his companions had been treated well and had even been allowed to cultivate in relative peace, only occasionally questioned on information related to the various groups of the universe.

“I thought you would’ve figured out at least a part of it by now.” The dragon took a small glance at him, clearly amused by his question. “But I suppose I’ll oblige. There are many reasons, but I can tell you three of them. First of all, we need allies. Not those that we force to serve us by force, but proper allies that have a position in the hierarchy of this universe.”

“Wouldn’t these allies be too weak? I mean, if they need these Sentinels of yours for protection, then wouldn’t the Sentinels be enough as it is?” Hou Yi questioned.

“Ah but you’re making a rather large mistake here. We don’t need allies to get more power. We need them for various other reasons, not the least of which is for legitimacy. Everyone we deal with knows we are outsiders. They’ll treat us as such and make deals with us with that as the basis. We need a third party to act as the middleman, and not one we’ve subordinated because they’ll be treated with just as much suspicion as us. There are other reasons you don’t need to know about as well. Secondly, we need a trade partner. Not for resources, but for information and diplomacy. The same concept as before.” Despite what the dragon said, Hou Yi knew she wasn’t telling him the real reasons, even if the ones she’d mentioned were true.

“And the third reason?” He asked.

“Because of her.” The tiny dragon pointed at the holographic display where Karna was shown in the middle of the other contenders. “I knew we could draw her out with a tournament like this. I think you’re already familiar with her, aren’t you?”

"What do you want with Karna?" Hou Yi asked, suddenly feeling wary.

“No need to get defensive, although your reaction is interesting. No, we’re old allies like I’ve told you before. She likely knows why we’re here, and even if she doesn’t, she can find out. And most importantly, she can help me fix this mess. Afterall, she helped me build Crossroads in the first place, and I’ll need her in order to fix things. She might not have the power now, but she will eventually. And until then, I can keep an eye on her.” The dragon’s face split into a toothy grin.

Chapter 88 - Aftermath

A note from Vihyungrang

This chapter is mostly about wrapping things up with the tournament and dealing with the fallout, as well as a bit of fun and games. A transitory chapter of sorts, but necessary. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that I appreciate all the work you went through to bring home a victory. Especially considering….” Wolfgang gestured towards Karna’s still missing and slowly regenerating hand. “So thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Karna nodded magnanimously. She had a small grin on her face as she could see the throbbing vein on Wolfgang’s forehead.

“Now then, do you have any understanding of how big of a clusterfuck this solution left?” Wolfgang asked while visibly struggling with his annoyance.

"Oh, I'm perfectly aware. Half of the factions that arrived here are refusing to leave, while the other half pretty much hates us because they think the whole thing was a sham. They could've respected a single winner, but a peaceful solution makes them think we winners are undeserving. Some of them even think we're weak and easily bullied since we didn't fight to the end. Also, despite me personally holding back a lot, not everyone was as gentle, meaning many bright young talents were lost, and in many factions' opinion it was all for nothing. That about the gist of it?" Karna grinned at the annoyed Wolfgang.

“That’s just half of it. Now we actually have to negotiate a six-way split of the world, and what great fun will that be.” Wolfgang shot back.

"A sixth of a world like this is still a lot better than nothing. Besides, you're overlooking a couple of important details. First of all, Lucian's order doesn't actually need a continent of their own. He already said that their order would prefer settling in a city of another group as long as they get a fair share of the resources. The elves we're already allied with, and this will only make that alliance stronger. The Vampire might be a bit of a problem, but I doubt they'll want to get too greedy. En...I mean Noriko's people are halfway to being refugees and will be happy to get away from their old masters, so as long as we treat them fairly, they should be relatively easy to deal with, although Noriko herself might be a bit of an issue. As for the witch…well, let's just say that there's still something you're not aware of. Face it, we're by far the most powerful of the factions involved and thus have an advantage, especially since I was the one who proposed this and most of the representatives are at least somewhat friendly with me." Karna listed off.

Wolfgang sniffed but had to concede the point. “What’s the second thing?”

"The second thing is that this isn't your problem. As in a problem you personally have to deal with. You're the muscle here. Send for a proper negotiator. You can go do muscle stuff, like shooing off all these uninvited guests. The Sentinels are supposed to be helping with that by the way. So have them help. First, be polite but firm. Then get less polite. We might not want to piss off everyone, but they know they're in the wrong. Remind them of that fact. Act like a man!" She instigated Wolfgang who actually growled a bit at the implication.

Suddenly his anger was replaced with a calm amusement. “Oh, by the way. There’s someone to see you. I was thinking of just turning them away, but suddenly I feel like I have to go do my job as a muscle while you deal with her.”

Karna was not surprised to see the Kensei enter the infirmary room she was currently using for recovery. She’d move to her tower as soon as she got the opportunity, and her tower was already moving towards where they were. The Kensei didn’t look very amused by the situation. “Birdy. Didn’t expect you to survive long enough to be one of the winners. Good work on that by the way.”

“Why are you here Swordy? I’m assuming you didn’t come here to finish our fight.” Karna looked at the Kensei with a tired expression.

“No. As much as I’d like to beat you, doing so in this kind of situation would serve no point. No, I got careless and lost focus on the fact that we were playing a game. That was my mistake and I can admit my loss. Next time I will fight you at your best so that there can be no excuses when I beat you. That time there won’t be any rules or a game you can hide behind to claim a technical victory. That said, for me to learn as much as possible, our playing field needs to be leveled. There’s no point if I can just kill you thanks to my Domain. We will meet again. Maybe not soon, but we will. I hope that by then you have also regained your Domain.” After having said her piece, the Kensei turned to leave.

Karna couldn’t help herself as a smile played on her lips. “What makes you think I haven’t already?”

The Kensei looked over her shoulder at her as she replied. "If you had, then it was the height of foolishness to not use it against me. Unless…unless you couldn't. Well, in that case, I hope our next meeting will be sooner than I feared." This time she didn't stop as she walked out.

"Fun girl," Karna commented to the empty air.

"She's a fool to pick a fight with master," Zuellni said coldly as her spirit form appeared out of the thin air. "You know, I could shoot her ship down as they leave. I doubt she'd survive if I catch her by surprise."

“No need. She made the oldest mistake in the book. She picked a fight and then gave her rival time to grow before dealing the killing blow. Not that she could’ve, but still. She’s not exactly a villain, but it’s such a cliché villain mistake that she might as well be.” She shook her head. As you lived enough lives, you noticed certain patterns repeat. Truly living through something you could recognize as a cliché was different from just reading about one.

“So is Gem back already?” Zuellni asked.

“Not yet. She’s still busy. She’ll be back soon enough.”

------

Chasing away those factions that lingered became surprisingly easy as soon as Karna's tower returned, though it might have something to do with the way they 'test fired' one of their main guns just for emphasis. The actual negotiations threatened to become longer while everyone waited for their negotiators, but things were pushed forward when Envy's tribe arrived in a hurry and just settled down on one of the nine continents.

When pressed for answers, Envy revealed that their former masters had been preparing to pressure them to relinquish their portion of the victory, so the relatively large tribe of beastmen had snuck aboard a group of airships before that could happen and had moved here en masse with nothing but what they could carry. As their tribe had landed one of the smaller and heavily forested continents, the others agreed on letting them keep that continent, and only that continent in exchange for protection against their old masters.

That put a rush on the rest of the negotiations. The vampires agreed to settle for two of the continents for as long as they got to keep the one that had the easily accessed spatial pathways that everyone had used to arrive on this world. Apparently, the vampires suffered from a chronic lack of spatial mages capable of such grand magic. Karna urged everyone else to agree to the offer, promising that she'd personally arrange for something better even if no other mage did. This was mostly because Zuellni’s scans revealed that those two continents were the poorest in resources, which in this world’s case meant that they were only fabulously rich in resources, instead of obscenely rich.

Valor’s knightly order decided to settle inside the continents controlled by the Magocracy as there they would find no religious issues as the Magocracy placed little to no emphasis on such things. That left six of the nine continents and the various islands to be shared three ways between the elves, the Magocracy, and whoever the witch represented. She was still insistent on representing her faction’s interest alone.

As the elves and the Magocracy were already allies, they were in no rush to split the remaining continents, which suited the witch just fine as well. The process of colonizing the areas was a long-term project anyway, which could easily take hundreds of years. Since the last Expansion had been such a long time ago, all of the large factions had a surplus of population and a lack of space, but both the elves and the Magocracy had gained control over the old holy kingdom not too long ago, so while there were plenty of willing people to come to this world to build fame and fortune for themselves, it would still take a lot of time and effort to build the necessary infrastructure, and likely thousands of years until the population increased to the point where there were any issues with available land. The places rich in resources would of course be taken first, but since this world was so rich and filled with power, there weren’t many places without said resources. The only question was, how quickly could you find and exploit them?

The six factions in question were not the only ones facing this issue. With the Expansion bringing so many new worlds, the pressure to initiate struggles over resources and space was greatly reduced, and the value of many rare resources was brought down as well, as new sources were found every week. There was competition for the best new worlds, but with the presence of the Sentinels, the six factions could focus on exploiting this world to the fullest instead of defending it, and they no longer needed to take part in the rest of the Expansion process. They already got what they wanted.

Forming an alliance between Valor's order, the Magocracy, and the elves was quite obvious thanks to their common interests, and though it would take time for the alliance to grow into something that could be truly relied upon, they could already see the obvious benefits for all three parties. "it's almost a shame neither of your groups is a monarchy or an empire. It would've been so easy to cement things with a diplomatic marriage." Amaranthine said wistfully to both Valor and Arjuna, who had ended up becoming the representative of their two respective groups. "And Karna already shot down my son, so even that won't work." Not that she would force any of her children into a diplomatic marriage anyway. She might suggest it, but not force it.

"Good for your son." Valor muttered, feeling sorry for anyone that married someone with the Name Wrath, not to mention someone as old and a reincarnator in the first place. Reincarnators were all a little crazy and didn't usually make for the best spouses.

“I’m sorry, did you just insult my daughter?” Arjuna asked, more surprised than insulted. With Karna’s appearance being what it was, it was rare to see someone not eager at the opportunity instead.

“Uh, of course not.” Valor hadn’t really meant to speak out loud, but it was a bad habit sometimes, and he was tired from all the negotiations. Even the constant smile on his face seemed a little strained. “I just have trouble imagining someone who wouldn’t be completely dominated by her.” He made a little white lie.

“That’s fair.” Amaranthine quickly agreed. “However, once you grow older, you’ll find out it’s better that way.” Her tone was a little smug.

“Whatever you say.” Valor didn’t bother arguing the point, as this body of his was quite young, proven by his participation in the event.

"Do any of you have an idea what's going on with the witch? Is she actually just representing herself?" Amaranthine decided to switch the subject, only to receive headshakes as a reply. “Right then. I suppose we should at least agree on the continents we can start with, so we can get Karna to do whatever she has planned for travel.”

-----

Karna felt quite a bit of satisfaction as she looked over the island she'd taken over on the coast of one of the continents that had not been assigned to any faction yet. The place had few usable resources, but that wasn't why she was here. She'd been tracking the ley lines crisscrossing the world, and the biggest ley-lines all came together under this volcanic island, making the place so suffused with power that you could almost cut it with a knife. You could even see mist-like clouds float around as the power had condensed into a visible form, while occasionally you could also spot floating bits of rock as just the sheer amount of power present seemed to mess with gravity.

She would need to set up some formations to help refine the power further, but the place was absolutely perfect for cultivation. Her current plan still included using a bloodline associated with water for her next Awakening, and this place had plenty of that as well. Her next Awakening wasn’t exactly close, but it was good to be prepared. Besides, the place had other benefits as well, something she could enjoy while cultivating, such as the beaches of clear white sand, and the volcanic hot springs. The water on and around the island was so clear that it was almost invisible, and the climate was perfect for catching some sun on a paradise island. The branches of the trees and bushes of the island were heavy with fruit and berries that tasted excellent, and there was an actual honest to divines spring that somehow produced some sort of sweet nectar, perfect for drinking or spicing up some foods. No, she had not made that, it had been there when she arrived. All she was missing now were some scantily clad servants plying her with drinks that had little umbrellas in them, and the place would’ve been perfect. Well, almost.

“Wow, I knew you would find the perfect place. I have no clue how you manage to sniff these things out. Some things never change.” Envy called out loudly while pulling out a lounging chair of some sort before placing it on the beach near Karna. Yes, the company could be better.

Mayumi was here because Karna had invited her. So was Anaire. Karna had extended an invitation to the elven princess as soon as she heard Amaranthine had brought her along. Tsumi might not have been invited exactly, but she had Karna’s approval to be here at least. She’d actually extended an invitation to Wolfgang and Sieg as well, the latter having arrived along with Tsumi not too long ago, but the two men had decided against it for some reason. Wolfgang had muttered something about his wife killing him, and Sieg wanted to explore the world first. Also, Karna got the feeling that he didn’t want to be the only guy present. They’d have to fix that at some point.

“Why are you here Noriko?” Karna asked Envy.

"I'm here to cultivate and relax of course, silly." Envy retorted as if it was obvious, while stretching out on her divan-like chair. Karna had to admit that the woman made for great eye candy. She always did, and Envy's current attire was just as skimpy as Karna's own, which meant very.

“And why exactly are you on my island? I seem to recall the continent your tribe plunked down on has several nice archipelagoes surrounding it.” Karna made one more attempt while allowing herself to sink into a bed-sized pillow that she was lounging on. It was specially designed to be waterproof and sand resistant while remaining fluffy.

“Because you always find the best places, just like I said before. I like beaches just as much as you do, and this place is so heavy with power that you won’t even notice my presence if we all cultivate here. I can even help you set up the necessary formations unlike the rest of them.” Envy whispered the last sentence leaning in close enough to not be overheard.

“This place is missing something, though I can’t quite put my finger on what.” Tsumi piped up while laying out a towel to lay on. Somehow the Alpyran woman still managed to out-skimp both Karna and Envy, with her attire being literally nothing but strings.

“I believe you’re missing something to drink. Preferably alcoholic.” Anaire provided. She and Mayumi were much more modestly attired.

"Here you go, master!" Zuellni suddenly appeared holding a tray with a brightly colored drink on it. She'd even added a little umbrella! As a good tower spirit, she of course knew exactly what her master wanted.

"Thanks, Zuellni." Karna gratefully received her drink before giving the spirit a small pat on the head. "You read my mind."

“Eeeh, still missing something," Tsumi commented. Not to mention she hadn't gotten a drink.

"Lacking some va-va-voom?” Envy helpfully supplied.

“Yes! That! Though knowing how she usually looks, I don’t think it would be appropriate to have Zuellni assume a form that has that.” Tsumi snapped her finger in realization.

Zuellni puffed her cheeks in indignation. “I can add va-va-voom just fine. I’m just not going to unless master wants it.”

"Don't mind them Zuellni. They're just lecherous old men in disguise." Karna failed to mention that she'd been thinking the same, though she wasn't going to have Zuellni provide the necessary eye candy.

“Yeah, don’t mind them squirt. It’s not your fault you’re lacking in certain areas.” Envy grinned behind her palm while riling up the tower spirit.

Zuellni couldn't take that of course. Even a hint that she might be doing anything but perfect job as the tower spirit was intolerable. In a huff, she assumed a much more mature form. "How about now? Enough va-va-voom for your tastes?” There was just one thing.

“That’s an exact copy of Karna, isn’t it?” Anaire whispered Mayumi. The two got along quite well.

“As far as I can see. Except with Zuellni’s head on top, which makes it a little…” The yuki-onna replied vaguely.

“Well, I might as well base it on the best. Hmmph!” Zuellni turned away her face in a huff.

“You know your master’s body well, don’t you? I wonder why…” Envy continued teasing the spirit.

Karna decided to tune the rest of it out in favor of planning out the formations she'd have to place on the island. With the formations in place, her speed of cultivation would increase greatly, almost matching what she could achieve on the Divine Plane, although not quite. She also needed to plan the gateways that would facilitate travel between the Magocracy, the elves, and this place. She had plenty of good ideas from other universes. Many of them had direct gateways connecting worlds. She'd even created many of them herself. The exact same system wouldn't work here, but maybe something similar to the tuning forks could be used? At least she'd be able to create gateways that formed stable spatial pathways between two points that would speed up the trip greatly.

She idly glanced at Zuellni that was currently threatening Envy with something. Now that she got a good look at a perfect copy of herself, she really did look quite stunning, didn’t she? It always hit differently to get to see yourself like that.

Chapter 89 - Deals of all kinds

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

”Alright Karna, I’m guessing this is about what you promised with the spatial pathways. Why are we all here though?” Arjuna asked his daughter. There were several members of the Magocracy’s Council present, along with officials from the Elven court, including the Queen. They’d all been gathered at Karna’s request. Most of the people, including Arjuna, were attending as mere illusionary holograms as they were still back home. Communication across such large distances was still difficult, though made easier by the connected communication arrays at Karna’s and Arjuna’s towers.

"You guessed it." With a small wave, a 3D hologram was projected above the table they were all sitting around, either in person or as illusionary images. The hologram showed a gateway of some sort and judging by the figures floating around the image, the 4-part gateways had a diameter of around 300 meters. "This is the basic version of a gateway I've designed. If we have a gateway like this both at this new world and back at home, we can connect the two, creating a stable and efficient spatial lane between them."

Karna had often compared the spatial forces that existed between the worlds of this universe to travel through the deep ocean. A deep ocean that was filled with storms, crushing pressure, and violent currents, and those were the least dangerous things about it. These gateways created a tunnel between them where the 'pressure' no longer affected any ships traveling between them and even punched through the spatial forces to shorten the distance. The tunnel wasn't completely without risks, but any danger would have to be powerful enough to collapse the entire tunnel to get at the ships traveling between the gateways. She gave the basic rundown of how the system worked to everyone gathered.

"What kind of travel speeds are we talking about?" One of the Council members asked, curiously studying the explanations of the enchantments that floated around the hologram. "In comparison to standard spatial pathways, I mean. I know ships travel at differing speeds of course." When ships traveled between worlds often using the same path, the frequent travel helped to stabilize the path, creating a sort of spatial road that could develop later on into a sort of ‘highway’. Both the speed and stability of the path increased with the amount of traffic, making the most often trod paths the safest, increasing traffic further and forming a positive feedback loop of sorts.

“This basic version would allow travel at around six to seven times the speed of standard paths. For example, if it takes about three weeks to reach this place from the Magocracy, then these gateways would allow a ship to make the trip in little over three days.” Karna answered simply.

“Alright, I’ll bite. You’ve been calling this the basic version a couple of times now. I assume there’s a not-so-basic version as well?” Amaranthine asked with a knowing expression.

“Well, as you can see, the gateway isn’t very large. the path created between the gateways is the same size as the gateways, which would make it difficult to have traffic in both directions at the same time without risking ships crashing into each other. So, naturally making the gate bigger would alleviate the problem. This current version is the smallest you can make the gateways and have the system work. Making the gateways bigger improves them in just about every way. The larger the gateways, the more stable the path and the faster you can travel. It also makes the pathway more resistant to dangers and allows for more traffic both ways." Karna made the hologram double in size and showed an example of traffic going both ways through the created path. Most airships that carried cargo or a lot of people were rather large after all.

“But?” Amaranthine pushed.

“But making the gateways bigger also makes the whole project more expensive and it will take longer to complete. To properly stabilize the path at certain sizes also requires more valuable materials, as it’s not quite as simple as just using more of the same stuff. On the positive side, unless we make the gateways absolutely massive, the price of the required materials is currently rapidly going down with the influx of new resources from the worlds created by the Expansion. In fact, most of the materials needed can be found on this world. They just need to be extracted.” With a wave of her hand Karna created four more holograms of gates in different sizes, and next to each was a list of materials and the expected travel speed. “These are only estimates, though they should be fairly accurate.”

All of the officials started speculating and estimating prices while debating the merits of each example. They all noted that after a certain point the prices started increasing almost exponentially. "Ah, I think I see what you're getting at." Amaranthine suddenly realized. "It seems rather obvious to me that instead of building a separate gate for both the Magocracy and us, it would be more effective to build a single larger gate that we can both use.”

“Very perceptive your majesty. That is indeed what I’d consider the optimal solution, though I’ll of course defer to your judgement.” Karna had known the Queen would notice there was an optimal size for the gate, a certain sweet spot between price and effectiveness, and that size was a bit excessive for either country alone, but together…

Amaranthine scoffed. She was rather certain Karna had designed things like this on purpose. There was even a good chance the cheeky girl had tweaked the numbers just to deepen the alliance between the two nations. “We’ll have to run the numbers by our respective logistical experts, but I’m tentatively accepting the idea of a joint gateway, say in the territory of the old holy kingdom to make things even?”

“Ah, you can actually move the gateway according to needs as long as it’s not moved so quickly that the spatial pathway destabilizes. I would suggest rotating the placement every now and then to keep everyone happy.” Karna suggested instead. She’d hoped this would be the solution they’d end up with, and the elven queen didn’t disappoint. She’d even made all the plans with this in mind.

--------

As she was putting together some of the materials the gateway project would need regardless of the gate’s final size, Karna noticed Gem suddenly slithering out from the shadows. The spirit was in the form of a shadow-walker, a snake-like spirit that was not very powerful in direct combat but extremely stealthy and fast. “Gem. I assume you have news finally.”

"Yes, master. The Sentinels were extremely careful, but I finally located their communications center." Gem managed to look quite proud of herself despite the form she took being essentially expressionless. "They had the damn thing hidden below this world's crust."

Karna gave a small whistle of appreciation. Few people would be paranoid enough to do something like that. These Sentinels were really taking their precautions seriously. No wonder Gem had been forced to waste some time finding the place. “How did you find it then?” She asked curiously

“Well, their own carefulness was also their downfall. Naturally, with the communications center being located so deep underground, they’d need either a connected array on the surface to get any messages out, or they would need to overpower either their magical or technological system with enough juice to get through the crust and still have enough power to cross the distance to the destination accurately. The latter one would be impractical if they relayed the entire tournament with all the feeds they were providing. Still, I tried to search for any signs of the latter first as that was an easier search to perform. No luck as I expected, so I went on a hunt for an array. I finally caught a break when the Sentinel’s on the surface had to communicate with the comm-center underground. I followed their trail to the array, and the array had a hardline connection to the center. They’d actually placed the array deep underwater, not all that far from the island you claimed actually.” Gem preened in pride at her success.

“Well done.” Karna didn’t mind giving credit when it was due, though she did feel like teasing the puffed-up spirit a bit, an instinct she tamped on for now. “What did you find out?”

“Three things. The Sentinels are in fact under a third party’s control, though the offer to give us control is genuine for as long as we won’t go against their maker. Secondly, this third party comes directly from the Crossroads. I can say this with certainty because the third thing I found out was that they’re being led by Ysendra. Oh, and Ysendra already knows, or at the very least strongly suspects who you are. I overheard her talking with the Sentinels.” While she’d been playful and proud before, Gem got serious with the last thing she said.

“Ysendra, huh?” Karna set down the materials she had been working with to consider how to react to the news.

Ysendra was one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, and they were on friendly terms. They had created the Crossroads together after all. The tiny dragon combined both a Cobra Dragon and a Faerie Dragon, a very dangerous combination. Faeries Dragons were all insane, and Cobra Dragons were one of the oddest offshoots of the draconic species, mostly known for their proficiency with poison. One notable thing about Ysendra was that she wasn’t a reincarnator, but she was so old that she had enough skill to match one. She was in fact one of the oldest beings that had lived only a single life, old enough to match hundreds of Karna’s normal and admittedly rather brief lives. The dragon was extremely powerful and skilled, and she’d earned both with work and time. Few beings ever reached rank 14 in any universe. Even those that Karna had run into in all her lives were in double digits, and not the high double digits either.

It also wasn’t wrong to say that Karna had raised the dragon almost like a child or a pet. Not that their connection was that close anymore. They didn’t dislike each other or anything, just that they hadn’t really interacted for such a long time. Even if she’d helped build the Crossroads, Karna didn’t really visit the place all that often as she liked her simpler lives to stay confined to a single universe. There were exceptions of course, but you could count the number of times they’d met in the last…who even knew how long with the fingers of two hands. “That is both good news and bad. She’s…relatively rational and not likely to just kill us on a whim, unlike many reincarnators. On the other hand, she almost certainly has a plan of her own that she’s trying to accomplish, and if that plan runs against ours and she isn’t willing to negotiate, then we’re completely boned.”

“Yeah, she’s one of the beings we won’t be able to do anything against, even if we were willing to throw our lives away. And seeing as this is supposed to be your last life, we’re not willing." Gem nodded. They had also agreed that this life would be a last hurrah of sorts, so they had more reason than usual to try and stay alive.

“On the other hand, her presence will likely keep any nosy immortals away from us. Even the True Gods of this universe aren’t willing to pick a fight with Ysendra, so if we can use her presence to our advantage…” Karna immediately considered the flipside. “And she’s likely to be willing to protect us.”

“She’ll want something in exchange.” Gem pointed out the obvious.

"She likely already does. I have a feeling this entire tournament was just a way for her to locate me. She knows I'd be drawn in if I were born in this universe and had already reached the Higher Planes. I'm not that hard to identify all things considered." Karna pursed her lips a bit. She had some educated guesses about what Ysendra might want. "Speaking of, the word about my participation in the tournament would've likely spread. Even though I tried to avoid being too flashy, there will be some immortals that will likely want to scope me out." Even if the immortals were not looking for her specifically, they were looking for 'princess Ynnead' which would mean they were on the lookout for someone with her hair color. Hopefully, they were too busy to pay too much attention.

“Did you find out anything about what they want?” She asked while considering how she should react, or if she should. She was reaching a point where she couldn’t just be whisked away by the first immortal that showed up. There were laws about what the Host could do, and while they didn’t always play by those rules, she was becoming strong and prominent enough that they’d have to. She wasn’t a criminal after all.

"Very limited information on that. They want to use us as a partner to provide legitimacy in this new universe. That's about the extent of what I overheard. The rest is speculation." Gem shook her head.

“Mmh, you already got more than I expected. We can work with this. It would be useful if we could get in contact with Ysendra, but I suppose we’ll need to wait for her to make the first move.” Karna decided.

--------

"I'm sorry, what?" Prince Tethrine asked, the news being shocking enough to be a little difficult to take in on the first hearing.

"We've reached an accord with the most powerful of these new arrivals, and part of that accord includes our forces staying away from their sphere of influence. In return, they’ve agreed to take care of the defense of that area, allowing us to free our own forces to deal with the Scourge threats elsewhere.” The Titan speaking to Tethrine wore the armor of a general among the Host, one of the most influential ranks one could have in the Divine military. The Titans held most of the important positions currently, which was one of the reasons House Titannica was considered to be the second or third most important among the hierarchy of the Divine Planes. That and the large number of influential gods among them.

“I can see that there would be benefits, especially if this is an alternative to making yet another new enemy, but this sets a bad precedent. If we allow a part of the great formation to be controlled by a force other than us, that’s going to give all sorts of ideas to people that chafe under our rules.” The Prince reasonably argued.

The Titan General wasn’t a fool, so he nodded in agreement. “That is true, but the situation is unusual as it is. We truthfully do not have the power to fight against the most powerful among them without the True Gods becoming involved, and you know as well as I do that there’s very few among them willing to risk their necks for a Plane or two. Besides, we have other concerns. While the cracks formed by the spatial disturbances have finally been closed, the Scourges have all launched massive invasions on both the Higher and Divine Planes that were created by the Expansion. We need our forces on the frontlines, not patrolling the newly created areas in search of hostile outsiders. This new outsider is taking care of the niggling problems that have been sapping at our strength. As much as I agree with you that this is not a great deal, we must deal with one danger at a time. We’re in an all-out war. We must first secure the great formation before we can start quibbling about who owns which parts of it.”

Tethrine could see the strategic benefits of this deal, essentially turning a major risk into a potential asset, but the repercussions would be much further reaching. The Host had compromised with an enemy, and everyone would know of it! Even if the area they ceded had all been created by the Expansion, and thus not causing any of the previously controlled worlds to be lost, that wasn’t how the political enemies of both House Titannica and House Asuryan would spin it once the dust settled. Heck, they were already making waves with the Grand Assembly!

“I’ve made my dislike of this idea known, yet I know that nothing I say will change it.” Tethrine had to simply accept the situation. “I’m assuming that I should keep my forces out of the areas affected. Anything else?” While important news, he doubted one of the generals would’ve bothered contacting him personally for just that.

“I have a mission for you. A mission directly from the Grand Marshal.” The Titan confirmed his suspicions. “The world you’re currently residing on is in an interesting position. They recently won a colony rather deep in the Expansion created areas. A rather valuable colony I might add.”

“Yes, I’m aware. There was a tournament for the control of the world if I recall.” Tethrine frowned. He’d been a bit busy lately to pay attention to minor details like that.

“Well, according to our informants, this world falls into the sphere of influence of another very powerful member of these outsiders. We do not fully understand the extent of this being’s power, but from what little we’ve managed to extract from prisoners, this Ysendra might be even stronger than the being we made the agreement with. At least this being was in some sort of leadership position before their arrival, though her powers are more a subject of rumor and legend than fact. Your objective is to use your connections with the world you reside in to travel to this new colony and make contact with this Ysendra. We would prefer it if you reached the same kind of deal as I mentioned before, but you have some leeway to negotiate with. Of course, if you can reach a better deal, then that’s all the better.” The General explained.

“And?” Tethrine could sense this wasn’t everything. It never was. It would’ve been too simple.

The Titan in golden armor smiled at his perceptiveness. "And we're sending someone to join your delegation. Ostensibly they will be there to have a final say on whether any deal you make falls within our parameters or not, but in reality they have another mission to complete. A mission that you should try to avoid making any harder than it already is. And before you ask, I cannot tell you what that mission is. I was not informed either. I only know this mission was also ordered by the Grand Marshal. And from what I was given, this mission will take precedence over yours should there become a conflict."

To say Tethrine was unhappy about this addition was an understatement of epic proportions. There was always some bullshit he was saddled with!

Chapter 90 - Gateway

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

”You just straight up lied. There’s nothing simple about this formation. Even the building blocks of this formation are smaller formations instead of simple runic symbols.” Arjuna protested as he and the Magocracy’s best spatial mages were constructing their half of the pair of gateways. The elves had also sent some of their best, and the two groups were working together relatively well. Not that they were making very fast progress. “The mages are already complaining that this whole thing is going to take forever.”

They currently had the first of the four sections of the gateway gutted and splayed in front of them as they worked on it. The gateway would be built in four parts which would then be joined together to create a complete gate. The sections were roughly diamond-shaped and much longer than they were wide so that they would be joined together from the thickest part while forming almost a tube-like structure. Each section was a massive hunk of various materials that had to be put together just so to accomplish the intended goal. And the superstructure of the gate was actually the easy part, albeit the most expensive. The superstructure was mostly there to gather and direct power to and from the formations, which in turn made the whole thing tick.

"I told you that it would take longer the larger we build the thing. Did you think it was just because of the increased material needs?" Karna's illusionary image asked. They'd brought the communication device from Arjuna's tower to the build site so that she could advise them. "And this is still much easier than it could've been. There are only 128 clusters in this formation, even if every cluster is a separate formation as well. If the mages keep bitching, then remind them that you can draw on the combined magical talent of two empires, while I’m doing both this as well as resource extraction by myself.”

“Hey! We’re helping with the extraction at least!” A male voice on Karna’s side called out. Arjuna was pretty sure that voice belonged to Wolfgang although he couldn’t be sure with how distorted it was due to distance.

He chose to ignore his old friend griping. “Yes, but each section of the gateway requires almost three hundred of these formations! And they together must be placed in a larger spell structure to boot! Even if I could make two of the formations a day, a hard task with all the double and triple-checking I have to do, it’s still going to take me half a year to make just one section!” He complained. Creating the formations didn’t require that much power, and instead relied completely on control and the caster’s ability to handle several complicated concepts at the same time, as such formations often relied on the caster’s intention. It felt like juggling flaming torches while solving three different math equations at the same time.

“But you’re not alone, are you? Besides, the more experience you get, the faster it will go. The first ones will take a while, but once you get a feel for it, you’ll be cranking them out in no time at all. Have others check your work instead. Preferably someone who hates you. You’ll get blind to your mistakes, but someone who hates you will happily tear your work apart. You don’t want the damn thing exploding on you after all that work, right?” Karna advised her father.

“It’s going to explode if there are any mistakes?” He asked with trepidation, and the sudden urge to quadruple check all his work so far.

“I mean, it could. Well, not explode necessarily, but it could collapse into the magical equivalent of a black hole. The risk of that is rather minor though. There’s a certain amount of self-correction built into the system, so as long as you don’t fork up too many things…” Arjuna wasn’t sure if his daughter was joking or not, and he didn’t plan on finding out. He didn’t appreciate the curbing of language though.

“Check everything again and keep checking until we’re 110% sure! We don’t want this thing misfiring!” Arjuna shouted to every mage working on the project, though he didn’t have to, as they’d all been listening in on the conversation and were already doing exactly that. “You know, this didn’t make the whole thing any faster…”

“It wasn’t supposed to. This is a demanding project. It’s not supposed to be complete in a couple of weeks. I warned you, didn’t I?” Karna replied seriously. They’d already been working on the gateways for a month, though most of that had been gathering resources and building the superstructure. “This is the kind of thing you get right the first time instead of doing a half-assed job that you’ll need to fix later.”

"It's great training though," Arjuna admitted after a moment of silence. He was on a break at the moment, so he had time to just chat with his daughter. “I feel like the border towards ranking up is growing closer.”

“Just remember my warning:” Karna reminded him, though she knew it was somewhat wasted. Ascension to the Divine Planes was the dream of every serious cultivator in the Higher Planes. The closer you got to the point, the harder it was to resist the allure of immortality. Her father had agreed to take things slowly and to refine his powers before Ascending, but he could wait for only so long. Probably until his child with Duskclaw had grown up, and no longer.

"I will. How far along are you in your work? As you said, you're doing all the work on your side by yourself. There's no point for us to rush things if we have to wait for you.” Arjuna returned to the earlier topic. The other one was a bit too private for the current surroundings and it was a topic they frequently discussed.

“Oh, I’ve got the first section already enchanted and I’m already working on the second one. I’m mostly being held back by the physical construction of the sections and not the enchanting. We don’t have a surplus of magical engineers after all.” Karna revealed easily. “And while we can just pull the materials out of the ground with earth magic, we have to find them first.”

“Oi! We’re doing the best we can!” Wolfgang protested again.

“How?” Arjuna asked, echoing the thoughts of all the mages around him.

“I developed the formations father. Of course I have a nuanced understanding of all the details and can create it quickly. Also, I do have Amaranthine here to help me. Despite everything, she’s still quite skilled as a mage.” Karna explained with a tone that implied she was talking to a slow child.

“What do you mean despite everything?” A female voice asked this time. Arjuna was pretty sure this one belonged to the elven queen. “And quite skilled? I’ll have you know that I’m an excellent mage.”

“Not a spatial magic expert though.” Karna shot the queen down. “You said you had something serious to talk about as well.”

“Yes. The Emissary and his entourage have left towards you. They got some reinforcements from the Divine Planes before they left as well.” Arjuna didn’t want to go into details with others listening in.

“The Emissary? What are they coming here for?” Karna frowned a bit. One of the reasons she’d made her new home on the new world, aside from the abundant power, was because there was little reason for immortals to show up.

"Apparently they're going there to make contact with the Travelers," Arjuna explained. The people thrown here by the Expansion still didn't have a single established name.

“And they decided this was the place to do it from? Huh. They might know more than we give them credit for. I’ll keep their arrival in mind and afford them all the necessary courtesies.” She didn’t want to reveal too much either. “Now get back to work you lazy bum of a father!”

--------

“I was given this mission with slight haste, so they weren’t entirely clear on the details. How exactly are we supposed to make contact with this group of Outsiders? The world we’re going to is supposed to be in their sphere of influence, but…” Prince Tethrine asked the new arrivals from the Divine Planes.

Three people had come down, two of which wore the armor of a Golden Immortal. They obviously acted as bodyguards for the third person, which by itself signaled that the woman was someone in a high position. Tethrine himself was a prince, and all he got was a single Silver Immortal, though one that was especially skilled. The woman wore a dark scale mail that covered most of her body, long dark gloves, and a dark grey hood that she kept pulled up shadowing her face. You could still see the obvious divine heritage in her appearance, although she tended more towards mysterious than attractive, a quality highlighted by her softly glowing eyes. A few strands of her dark hair also peeked from the hood.

The woman looked at the prince for a moment, as if considering if she should reply. “If I was in your place, I’d make contact with the local representatives of the Magocracy, as they might have the information you seek. If they don’t, try the local powers. The Outsiders as you call them tend to work through such groups. Aside from that, you could wait for them to make contact. Your opposite party will find out about our arrival at some point anyway.” Her voice implied she didn’t really much care what method he chose.

“You speak as if it doesn’t concern you.” Tethrine pointed out, trying to keep his unhappiness from his voice.

“That’s because it doesn’t. You have your mission, while I’m here for a different reason. We may be spending some time together for appearances sakes, but we can barely qualify as allies.” The woman stated rather bluntly. It was almost refreshing considering the complex politics of the Divines.

The woman clearly had some Titan blood in her, judging by her height that stood at almost 2,5 meters, and her skin tone which tended towards greyish. Tall people were not rare in the Divine Planes. Most of those that had achieved some level of Divinity or at least had a divine heritage were larger in stature when compared to normal mortals. The woman was actually showing quite a bit of restraint in keeping her height to what it was. The skin tone and her armor were stronger hints of her heritage.

The most annoying part was that he had no idea how strong she was because she was able to hide her strength somehow. A rather admirable talent considering Tethrine’s own skills and knowledge as a reincarnator, which helped him to counter such things specifically. “Even if so, I would think it beneficial if my mission succeeds as well.”

“True, which is why I gave the advice that I did. And I might offer some slight assistance in the future as well, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my own plans.” She responded.

“We’re about to arrive.” The Silver immortal piloting the ship they were traveling on reported from the cockpit. Even if Tethrine had been given just a single bodyguard, as a military commander, he could commandeer the participation of several others. He’d decided against bringing a large number of immortals along, as this was supposed to be a diplomatic mission, and the presence of two Golden Immortals along with whatever power the woman had was already a bit of a provocation.

Their group was currently traveling with a ship borrowed from the Magocracy. As immortals with great power, they could’ve just created their own path through the turbulent space and flown to their destination with greater speed than the ship was capable of. Such forceful methods usually had negative consequences to the space lanes in the area though, and while their mission wasn’t a stealth one, there was no point in announcing their presence to every hostile force in the vicinity either. That and they’d promised to deliver some supplies to their destination as a favor for the Magocracy. There was no point in denying the favor as they were going in that direction anyway.

"Finally," Tethrine muttered. Having spent weeks in the company of the strange Godling, he was looking forward to some more pleasant conversations. The woman had been stonewalling him the entire time, and he hadn't even managed to squeeze her name out of the reticent woman.

“They seem to be building another gateway here as well.” The woman commented. They’d been given directions to this place on the new world as the most likely place to find the people they were looking for. “A rather elegant system from what I can see.”

"Not as good as the gates of the Host," Tethrine stated dismissively.

"Of course not. But they don't have the resources or power of the Host either. Nor are we in the Divine Planes. They're making the most of what they have. I can respect that." The woman seemed to disagree with everything he said, almost on principle.

“Let’s find a place to land. There are no cities here yet.” Tethrine decided against arguing further. His words were also correct. The lack of cities was the reason they needed directions to this place.

It looked like the construction on the gate had halted for the moment, though from what he could see, they were ahead of the team in Magocracy, which was somewhat expected since Tethrine’s group had left weeks ago. The break was likely due to lack of personnel and materials, some of which they’d brought along. “Who’s in charge here?” He asked loud enough to be heard over the din of conversation and work.

A familiar elven woman walked closer, and it took a moment for Tethrine to recognize her as usually the woman was wearing royal garb while at the moment she was wearing simple but relatively elegant clothing more suited for work. "I suppose that would be me at the moment, Your Grace."

“You suppose Queen Amaranthine?” He inquired further with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, this is a joint project between the Magocracy and my people, and while I might be the ranking person on the elven side, I’m not the one in charge of this project. However, both Wolfgang and Lady Karna are currently out gathering materials though, so by process of elimination, I’m in charge.” The queen explained.

"That'll do I suppose. I was asked to bring a shipment of materials while I traveled here, which you'll find onboard the ship." The prince decided to get the formalities out of the way first.

“Great, some of those we haven’t found on this world yet, though we suspect we will eventually. Now, what brings you here, Your Grace?” Amaranthine knew well that the Emissary didn’t come here just to make a delivery. She also glanced behind him at the large woman wearing full armor and a hood that obscured most of her face. Something about the woman was strange, making Amaranthine feel the need to kneel and supplicate in front of her. an instinct she was barely managing. It wasn’t hard to guess she was the reason they were here.

“We want to make contact with the Outsiders dominating this region. You wouldn’t happen to know of a way?” Tethrine noted the discomfort in the queen’s posture and filed that away for future use. His companion had a different effect on mortals apparently. ‘Almost as if…no that couldn’t be.’

“I can’t say anything for sure, but I’d try to reach out to the Sentinels guarding this world. We have certain suspicions about their origin. For that, as well as for lodgings, you should probably aim for the continent currently controlled by the vampires. Very imaginatively they named the place Noctis. We still haven’t started on any permanent lodgings, so the only real accommodations are those made for the tournament, which means Noctis City.” Amaranthine knew Karna would be happy to see these immortals gone, so she was happy to do this little favor and act as the face of the project. She owed the girl a lot after all. Besides, they really did need more materials.

“As we suspected.” The large woman spoke simply, and just her voice was almost enough to send Amaranthine kneeling. She couldn’t quite suppress a small wince, which the prince also noted. Clearly mortals reacted very differently to her than anyone from the Divine Planes.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a map? This world is still almost entirely unclaimed, so we’d rather not waste time looking for directions.” Tethrine asked while lost in thought, staring at the hooded woman. They could always scan the entire world with a quick spell, but that was considered quite impolite.

"Of course." Amaranthine seemed to have expected the request as she pulled out a map from her sleeve and handed it to the guard standing next to the prince.

"Shall we then?" The prince asked, half expecting her to go her own way, but to his surprise, she just nodded in agreement.

As soon as they were out of earshot and flying towards their destination, Tethrine couldn’t help but take a longer look at the woman traveling with him. For some reason she seemed much more energetic after having arrived at this world, adding another suspicion to the growing pile. Had House Titannica sent an actual goddess to the Higher Planes? That would explain a lot. It was also risky beyond belief. Gods were extremely powerful in their own way, but not necessarily in direct combat. The Scourges would stop at nothing to strike at an exposed Goddess protected by only a pair of Golden Immortals. And the loss of a goddess in battle would be a major blow to House Titannica, even if they had more gods than most other Houses. Why would they risk something like that? What could be so important?

Chapter 91 - Divinity is bullshit

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Tsumi.” Karna nodded in greeting as she landed on her new island home. “How are the formations coming along?”

"You know, you used to be so much cuter when you called me master," Tsumi said playfully while ignoring the question.

“I’m still damn cute, and we both know it. Now, the formations?” She shot back.

She'd left Tsumi in charge of creating the formations over the island. The woman was the Headmistress of the Academy after all and an expert in such things. Karna had created the blueprints for the formations, while Tsumi was just making them a reality. The island was already located on a nexus of ley-lines and surrounded by abundant elemental energies, so the main purpose of the formations was to gather and refine all that already existing power. Even with this, the power on the island didn't quite reach the level of the world Karna had found earlier on the border of the Divine Plane, but it got close enough. Once the formations were complete, she would be able to speed up her cultivation by a lot.

"Like you asked, I started with the defensive formations that are mostly complete, but the refining formations are still halfway. Why?" Tsumi got a bit more serious.

“It seems the Emissary has come to negotiate with the Outsiders, and this world is going to be the stage for now at least. Only, I don’t think that’s the only reason they’re here. I need to keep out of sight for a while. I’ll finish things here if you’ll go and help with the gateways.” Karna suggested.

“You know, this isn’t the proper way to treat your old master! I’m unpaid labor!” Tsumi protested playfully.

“I said I’d owe you one, didn’t I? Besides, we both know you want to move the Academy here, and the sooner the gateways are done…” She left the rest unsaid. This largely untamed land was a much better place for the Academy, as it allowed plenty of opportunities for learning. That became especially true if Karna managed to create a safe and steady transportation method between the two worlds, of which the gateways were just a single part of. They had further plans in addition.

“Speaking of, now that you’re no longer my disciple and have officially graduated from the Academy, isn’t it about time you took on a disciple as well? I’m thinking of cashing in that favor in fact.” It was common that the previous graduates of the Academy took on disciples, as there were always more potential disciples than there were willing masters. In fact, it was something of an unspoken agreement that one couldn’t really be called a proper master until they had successfully trained at least one disciple.

"You know as well as I that my circumstances don't really lend to raising a disciple." Karna pointed out. Officially their master and disciple relationship had ended after Karna's proposal for the gateways was approved, as it had been considered sufficient proof of her skill, though the bond between the two would always be there.

“Honey, I’m the Headmistress and here I am helping you. Do you think I have nothing else to do?” Tsumi asked with a raised eyebrow.

“First of all, you probably do, but you’re also more than happy to use this as an excuse to fob those duties off to your underlings. Secondly, that’s not what I meant. Or at least not entirely. I am busy, yes, but I meant more the fact that I might have to make a hasty exit at any time as the immortals come knocking on the door, and I’m definitely hunted by certain parties among the Wei-jin. Any disciple I take would be in danger."

“You think I don’t have enemies?” Tsumi asked as if she was talking with someone stupid.

“Of course you do. They just don’t tend to come after you quite as actively.” She’d noted the little things her master did to ward off any of her own enemies every time they were out of the Academy. However, Tsumi’s enemies were mostly political.

"Look. I recognize that your situation is unique, but I have confidence in your ability to protect a disciple. And I know you'd be a great teacher. You already coached your little group of friends as a student, and they turned out to become some of the best students we've had in a long while. Even though they didn't all stick around to graduate." Tsumi referred to Shaheera of course. The last they'd heard, Shaheera was doing well under Ashanti's tutelage and was taking a larger role in the empire's affairs.

"We'll see once this mess is over," Karna replied non-committaly. "Now, shoo! Go and help Amaranthine."

Knowing she’d gained as much as she could at the moment, Tsumi went along. She knew that Karna was one of the best teachers she’d ever seen. She couldn’t know about the countless disciples Karna had trained in previous lives, but she could see what her disciple was capable of now. Anyone Karna bothered training ended up becoming much better as a result. There was just something that allowed Karna to see just the right way to push someone to become better, and it helped that her old disciple seemed to quickly be gaining mastery in most fields. There was something to be said about knowing how everything connected to everything else. That was one of the reasons Tsumi herself was so effective.

As soon as Tsumi was gone, Karna started adding protections to the defensive formations, specially designed to hide her presence from anyone using divine abilities. The power of gods was just pure bullshit in the way they managed to go around many of the rules governing normal magic, which made defending against it very difficult. Unless you happened to be an expert, which she was. Heck, she'd developed many of the abilities the Divines were still using without knowing they were treading on paths she’d already laid down. She wouldn’t be able to guard against everything. That was just impossible. But at least anyone trying to find her would need to try something special. And she’d already felt the presence of a Divine being among the arrivals. Most people wouldn’t notice, but she knew what to look for.

------

"We've made contact with the so-called 'Sentinels' and while they were non-committal and evasive about the whole thing, I got the distinct impression that they'd relay the message." The silver-clad bodyguard of the young prince of the Asuryan family reported. The immortal in question had been picked to make contact by the prince because unlike the prince, the bodyguard would not draw quite as much attention.

In Narmada’s opinion, the prince’s actions were entirely meaningless. He was effectively performing without an audience. Anyone on this world was low enough rank that any immortals would draw attention, and the Sentinels were everywhere anyway. Who exactly was the prince trying to keep in the dark, and why? The negotiations he was supposed to initiate were not something that had to, or even should be kept a secret. Anyone notable in the Divine Planes would find out once the deal was made anyway, and if the prince failed to reach an accord, then that information would spread as well. There were enough enemies of House Asuryan in the loop about the mission to make sure of that.

On the other hand, maybe it was just his nature to keep most of his dealings a secret. One of the problems that haunted most Houses in the Divine Planes was internal fighting and general disregard for unimportant members of the House. The ruling House Asuryan wasn't an exception in that regard, and in fact, had a fair bit of internal struggle even if they tried to present a united front. In circumstances like that, it was perhaps no wonder that the prince instinctually tried to keep his maneuvering a secret. If no one knew what you were doing, then it was harder to sabotage your actions. It was a sad fact that the game of divine politics had reached a point where most Houses were willing to allow their own to fail and sabotage the interests of the Host as a whole just to have their own position in the internal hierarchy of their House rise. Sad because it told of the decadence and corruption amongst the Houses, and sad because while they could afford such excess due to the powerful position of the Host, it wasted resources and power that could be better spent elsewhere.

Narmada secretly thought, and had her suspicions pretty much confirmed by her relatives in the Host, that the Divine Planes and the Host had the power to drive away and even destroy the Scourges if they really put in full effort, but that they chose not to because it was useful to have an external enemy. If the Scourges didn’t exist and provide a convenient enemy, the Divine Planes would’ve devolved into a massive and messy civil war a long time ago. There were already internal struggles as it was, and only the presence of a common enemy stopped things from getting worse. Even so, it was now impossible to get the Houses working together long enough to put forth the full effort of the Divine Planes.

Only a direct decree from the Heavenly Emperor could force the Houses to work together, and even that was sometimes questionable. No one would openly oppose the emperor of course as his authority was absolute, but there were many smaller ways to go around any edicts. And the emperor rarely intervened. Part of that was to make sure the edicts he did give would retain their authority. If the emperor intervened in every little thing, then the Houses would be more likely to rebel. Another part was that despite being immortal, emperors only ruled for a limited time, albeit a very long one, and this emperor was reaching the end of his term. At least that’s what Narmada had heard. That’s why her mission was especially important now.

“Did they indicate any timeframe?” Prince Tethrine asked, somewhat impatiently, even if his voice showed none of it

“No. That’s the bad part. We can’t even tell for sure that they are relaying the message, not to mention how long it will take. So, if we have to wait for a while, it raises the potential issue of them not relaying the message in the first place. We just don’t know.” The immortal explained.

"Sounds like you're in a bit of a pickle," Narmada commented. She disliked the prince. She disliked almost the entire Royal House, as they were a pit of snakes, but she especially disliked the prince. He had a decent enough reputation, but the fact was that she simply didn't respect him. His father, yes. To an extent at least. But not the prince. He had not earned that respect. From what she could see, he put his own self-interests first, a sadly common trait, and while he didn't seem outwardly dishonorable, she felt that the prince wouldn't mind compromising what honor he had if it meant he could benefit.

“I’d like to point out that as long as I’m stuck here, so are you.” The prince argued. He was sadly mistaken though. Narmada had no obligation to stick around once her mission concluded.

"Or so you think." She didn't mind at least implying to the fact. Unlike the House Asuryan, she had no intention of undermining the Host's efforts, even if she personally didn't agree with the course they had chosen. Even if she wouldn't make much effort towards completing the mission the prince was on, she wouldn't actively undermine it either. Her uncle had been among those that had made this decision, so it would be disrespectful to think her own judgement, as lacking in information as she was despite her position, was above that of the Grand Marshal.

The prince’s eyes narrowed. “So, you’re saying that you will not stick around if you complete your mission.”

“Not without a good reason. You’re conducting negotiations. Or at least you will be if you manage to make contact. You really should consider other ways of making contact just in case this doesn’t pan out. You aren’t marching to war or trying to coerce the other side, so my presence should not be required. Besides, as nice as this world is, there’s very little to see or entertain yourself with.” That was something they’d all noted already. One of the downsides of a world like this was that there was nothing to do. Well, there was a lot to do as the entire world was seeing a lot of development and construction, so there was plenty of work, but there was very little for a visiting dignitary to entertain themselves with.

The prince made a small, exasperated sound, either due to lack of entertainment or due to her eventual departure, before he left to make plans. The two really didn't get along and didn't want to spend anymore time together than necessary. It wasn't just their clashing personalities either. Their two Houses were some of the main players in the political game and bitter rivals. Only a couple of Houses could reach the level of power and influence their two Houses had.

As soon as the prince was gone, Narmada cast a spell with her power as a Goddess, trying to locate anyone with divine blood. Her spell excluded their own group of course. She had to smile at the way her Divine powers jumped to her command. Mages always complained how unfair it was that Divines and even those using holy spells like clerics could bypass most of the rules that governed other powers. There was a reason why such things were called miracles. Annoying mages was one of her favorite pastimes.

Her spell bypassed almost every method used to hide against such magic and found people that arcane spells would miss. It was exactly in these kinds of little things where Divine power shined. The downside was that sometimes it worked too well. "There are three people with divine blood on this world?" She wasn't asking anyone particular, just wondering about the result she'd gotten. "That's a lot of Godlings for a single world in the Higher Planes."

She’d have to check them out individually. Luckily, there was now a golden thread connecting her with all three. At least it wouldn’t take long to find them.

------

Valor was surveying the construction work on a large fortress-monastery that the knightly order he belonged to would use as their new headquarters. The surroundings were still rather barren as the city that would eventually surround the monastery wasn't there yet. Some buildings had already been erected, though many of them were temporary. As the future capital of the Magocracy on this world, the city would eventually be built from precious materials and would follow a very strict plan, but the people here still needed temporary housing and services for the time being. So unlike the fortress-monastery, the surrounding buildings were mostly made of hastily cut wood, or they were structures that had been transported here via magical means.

The outer wall of the monastery itself was made up of high quality but rather utilitarian stone that lacked most ornamentation. The sanctum at the center would of course be much more decorated and fancier, but they'd save that one for the last. They needed to gather the necessary materials that would be suitable to honor the gods first. Their order had already moved here en masse, which meant that over a thousand knights and thrice that many squires and supporting personnel were present, though only the knights did the construction. The knights had to do the work personally to properly pay respects, and to make sure the work was done perfectly. Their meticulous work was one of the reasons they weren't even close to being finished despite the large number of people.

The sanctum would not be dedicated to a single god or goddess, even though certain Divines were naturally more popular among the order. They wanted to make sure any servant of the good gods would feel welcome. They were already very strict with their recruiting, so there was no need to make things even harder by excluding those that served a different god. As long as they still met the other standards like possessing a strong moral fiber. Which meant no servants of the evil gods. Servants of neutral gods were taken on a case-to-case basis.

His musings were halted as three immortals suddenly landed from the sky in front of him. Just the presence of two Gold Immortals was enough to earn his respect, but as a holy warrior, he could detect the presence of a real god from the third one. This might not have been his god, but it was a god. “Holy Knight Lucian pays his respects." He knelt on one knee while bringing his hands in front of his face in prayer.

“Not the person I’m looking for.” The female Divinity spoke with a voice that sent a shiver down his back. This might not be one of the major gods, but she was not someone to take lightly either.

“You are looking for someone specific? Maybe we can be of assistance.” Lucian offered. He didn’t necessarily want to get mixed with something that had actually brought a goddess down to this place, but he could sense this wasn’t an evil goddess.

"Hmm, I suppose there's no harm in asking. You can lift your gaze." Lucian did as ordered although he kept his eyes below the divine's neck level. "I'm tracking all those with divine blood on this world. Unfortunately, my spell can't tell the difference between a Godling and someone descended from a Godling. Now that I'm next to you, I can sense you're at least two generations removed. Anyway, I received three pings and you were one of them."

“Three? I was aware of one other, but…who are you looking for?” He asked again.

“I’m looking for this person.” The image of Wrath appeared above the goddess’ palm. “I see you recognize her. I got the other pings here and here.” The map of the world appeared on top of the goddess’ other palm, showing a result near the settlement of the beastmen that Envy had brought here, while another was on the continent that had been given to the witch. “So, which one is she?”

Despite getting along with Wrath, he wasn't going to lie to a goddess. "I don't think it's either. The person you're looking for is called Karna, and while she could've gone to visit those locations, I would expect to find her working on the gateway not that far from here. It's her project after all. If she's not…well, I wouldn't be surprised if she had some way to hide. She is very skilled. And potentially dangerous."

“…even for immortals?” The goddess asked carefully.

“I can’t say for sure.” Lucian shook his head. It was hard to see the depths of the Sins, and Wrath was both a Sin and a Virtue. Even if she’d almost lost against the Kensei, there was no telling what she could come up with. And he still didn’t know what the Name Wrath gave her.

"I shall keep that in mind." She turned to the other Golden Immortal to give instructions. "Go to the build site and keep an eye for anyone matching the description of our target. She is hard to miss. Don't approach if you spot her, just keep an eye on her. I'll check the other two pings just in case."

Chapter 92 - No more hiding

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

By the way, for those keeping track, I'm currently doing my last practical, but since I'm already doing once a week releases, nothing will change on that front. That's also one of the reasons why I wasn't rushing into trying to go back to once every for days-schedule, as I would've had to go back to once a week almost immediately. Just FYI.

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”Fuck off.” The beastwoman in front of Narmada stated bluntly. It was almost refreshing. No one spoke to gods like that, and this was the second time someone rebuffed her rather bluntly just today. The other one, a witch of some sort clad in heavy illusions, had been a little less crude about it, but the message had been essentially the same.

It was rather gratifying to know Princess Ynnead was able to elicit such loyalty from others, even though this person was supposedly a rival of the princess. Or it could be just because she was belligerent and anti-authority by nature. The latter type usually didn’t take their obsession quite so far though, as pissing off a god usually trumped such petty short-term gratification. Usually. She hadn’t really expected much anyway, so she wasn’t really angry. The same could not be said of her bodyguard.

“Blasphemy!” The one with her stepped forward, and Narmada toyed with the idea of allowing the Gold Immortal to enact some repercussions on the woman for her impudence even if it was refreshing. She decided against it though and stopped the immortal with a small gesture.

“You don’t seem all too worried about picking a fight with two beings vastly more powerful than you.” She noted.

“You’re right. I’m not.” Envy replied confidently. Her ability was perfect for a situation like this. A victory might have been a bit too much to ask, but if the goddess thought victory would be easy, then she’d be sorely mistaken.

“Interesting. What has Princess Ynnead done to earn such conviction?” She asked curiously.

“Princess? Should’ve known she was born a royal. She always gets the lucky draw.” Envy muttered just loud enough to be heard. “I don’t know anything about a princess, but this person you’re looking for and I have history. History that carries more weight than the whims of some minor god. Now either let your guard pick a fight or find someone else to annoy. I’m running out of patience.”

“Very well. I got the answer I was looking for anyway.” In order to get the last jab in, and to not let the mortal’s provocation go completely unchallenged, Narmada waved her away like dismissing a servant.

Uncharacteristically, Envy decided to eat the small loss and just walked away. “What now?” The immortal with Narmada asked. They’d located all three of the targets she had detected with her spell.

“Now we wait. Either our true target can truly hide herself, or she’s not on this world currently. With what we’ve found out, she’s likely to return. Or come out of hiding eventually. Or one of the people we talked to will crack and try to approach our target in her hiding place. Any of these work for us.” She’d placed divine tracking spells on all three she’d approached earlier. The spells would also intercept any magical communications in case they tried to warn the princess.

“And in the meantime?” The immortal continued to press. They couldn’t stay in the Higher Planes forever.

“In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye on her associates. Even if these three are smart enough to avoid contact, not everyone will be. Or we’ll find another thread to pull on. While we don’t have endless time, we’re not in a rush either. As long as Tethrine is here, we have a good reason for staying as well. And if he leaves, we can always go to plan C. We can also work on plan B while we wait.” She hadn’t arrived on the Higher Planes without contingency plans.

The two were about to return back to where Prince Tethrine was, but Narmada suddenly stopped. “Huh. Didn’t expect to catch a lead this fast. The one we just talked to tried to send a message to warn our quarry. She was skilled enough to mask where her message was sent to, but not the contents. Apparently, Princess Ynnead is on this world after all." She waited for a moment in case there was a reply. "It seems the princess isn't stupid enough to respond or managed to mask her response. Still, it seems the two really have a friendly rivalry of sorts judging by the first message.

------

“You little minx! You didn’t tell me you were a princess! A divine one at that! Why do you always catch the lucky things? Oh, and there’s a goddess and a pair of goldies here looking for you. Apparently, they searched for divine bloodlines or something, and I have a little bit of something-something in my veins as well.” Karna wasn’t sure how to react to Envy’s message.

There was a reason her current vessel was a princess, and that reason was because only a vessel like that could sustain her soul. Her current body was more powerful than that of one of the great dragons, though the power wasn’t quite as obvious yet. Random people wouldn’t be able to have a child like that. To say she wasn’t surprised at being royalty was putting it mildly. It was almost a guarantee. That was also why her previous lives had put her in similar positions. That and her excessive Karma.

That Envy was, well envious about it sort of came with the territory. The fellow sin wasn’t as bad as she used to be, but that didn’t mean her basic nature had changed. People that lived as long as the reincarnators did could change their basic nature, but the trait that birthed the Name in the first place would always be there. It might be suppressed, like her wrath, but that didn’t mean it was gone. Karna had changed more than almost anyone, and she still knew that her own wrath was there, hiding under the surface and waiting for a chance to be let loose. The same applied to Envy, only more so. She would forever be prone to looking at others and thinking that she deserved more. Especially so if she had been dealt a bad hand in this life.

Karna had done some looking into things, and it seemed Envy's tribe of beastmen had had a rough time. Things had changed for the better around the time Envy came around, but that meant that Envy had at the very least felt the echoes of the old bad treatment, and at worst was the reason that treatment had changed. Either way, her childhood couldn't have been simple. Reincarnators often got to experience shitty childhoods, and they grew to quickly overcome such odds. There was no way to avoid being born as a slave or something equally bad at least a few times, and you were either broken by the experience, or you learned from it. Or both. The two were not mutually exclusive. Still, that sort of beginnings was rather conducive to feeling envious about others who had been dealt a better hand in life. Especially as someone like Envy would be prone to only seeing the positive things about someone else's position. That's why she'd become so envious in the first place.

As for the goddess, it was nice to have a confirmation even if she’d already known about them. It was also nice to get a confirmation that they were here for her, and that they were openly looking. She could stay hidden for a fair bit of time. The wards and formations around the island would be enough to keep her hidden for years, which she could spend cultivating. Assuming no one made a mistake that revealed her location. Someone always did. And she had promised to work on the gateway, which would obviously not work.

Besides, she was sick and tired of hiding. She was patient, but while she could act carefully and with meticulous planning, that wasn’t her true nature. She was used to just acting and then dealing with any issues that crept up with either her power or skills. If she couldn’t overpower or out-skill her opposition, then she would be able to make a trade. She always had something to offer. She usually had a bag of tricks she could play, and that wasn’t incorrect this time either, but her tricks didn’t seem to be enough to deal with the shit she was mixed up with. Her birth had really made things complicated. Maybe it was time to just deal with that problem?

Maybe she should just face this goddess and see what she had to say? She could spend the rest of her life hiding away, or she could face the issue head-on. The current situation was about as good as it could be in case she was forced to go to the Divine Planes, and she now had enough power that she couldn’t just be ignored. She was a potential asset. “Zuellni. Send a message to Tsumi. Have her bring the Goddess here. Just the Goddess and not the other immortals. That’s my condition. If she can’t deal with it, then have Tsumi tell her that we can spend the next twenty years playing hide and seek. The gateway isn’t enough to keep me here, and I’m pretty sure I could convince our little Cobra Dragon friend to give me shelter, even if she’ll have a price.”

---------

Narmada had not expected her target to reach out to her, but she was positively surprised. It saved both of them a lot of trouble and showed a certain kind of judgement and confidence. Whether that confidence was earned and if that judgement was correct was still open, but it was a potentially positive sign. It was better if the princess could take decisive action like this. The condition to leave her bodyguards behind was somewhat expected, and something she could deal with. Narmada had brought the two along in case she ran into the Scourges or one of her rivals, and wouldn't need them during the meeting. They'd be close enough to react if something truly threatening showed up.

The woman who had introduced herself as the previous master of the princess, or Karna as Ynnead was known in these parts, brought her to an island off the coast of one of the still largely empty continents. She had to admit that it would’ve been a pain to try and look for the place without being led here, especially due to how new the world was. No one would notice an island that went missing, and the heavy formations around the island made sure this place would not be found by accident.

The island itself was relatively sizeable, though also relatively unremarkable in all but one regard. Power was thick here. The island was clearly located at the nexus of several ley lines, and the formations around the island, still unfinished as they were, refined all that power to something much purer. The air on the island almost felt like the poorest areas of the Divine Planes, though not quite. It was the most comfortable Narmada had felt since coming to the Higher Planes. There were several reasons why the Divines disliked spending a lot of time on the other planes, and why they had to rotate the Emissaries every few decades, but one of the biggest was just the discomfort that the lack of pure enough power caused them. Gods were even worse, though could make things easier with their own divine power.

Notably, a large pyramid-shaped structure floated above the island. She'd read reports of the 'tower' this 'Karna' had constructed, and it did not surprise to see the structure functioning as the core of the formations. The structure itself was a marvel of magical engineering and something she'd love to study for longer, but the presence of the tower signified a few things. It signified that the 'Karna' from the Magocracy and Princess Ynnead were the same person. It seemed unlikely that there would be two people with the same name and the same kind of tower on the Higher Planes. Which meant that either the princess had successfully lied to several higher-ranking people, or more than one person had filed a false report. Since Marius was their agent, it was doubtful he’d misinform their House, even if he didn’t reveal everything in his official report.

The bigger problem was the prince. While she had no problem believing the Prince would at least twist the truth, the Emissary had supposedly met with this 'Karna' personally. And he hadn't recognized another member of the royal family? That sounded implausible, to say the least. Narmada had read the report, and nothing in it implied this 'Karna' was the same person as Princess Ynnead. In fact, the report had quite clearly stated that while the two were similar, they were most definitely not related. Yet, according to her information, the prince had been quite convinced that he’d met the right person. That implied that the princess was capable of lying to those much stronger than her. Not only would that be a useful skill, but it also had further implications. Marius had reported that the girl had no connection with the Lady of Mercy, something the princess had denied outright, but if she could lie…

Narmada was led to a small gazebo right below the tower floating above. The Gazebo had a great view over the island while remaining largely hidden by the neighboring trees and vegetation. As soon as she saw the young woman sitting inside the gazebo, Narmada knew she’d found the right person. The likeness the young woman had to the princess’ mother was blatantly obvious, and on a closer look was like a younger copy of the Goddess of War and Beauty. A younger, and maybe even slightly improved copy, if that was possible.

Narmada also immediately noticed something that most others would’ve missed. As a Titan herself, she could sense the slightly metallic quality of the young woman’s skin, hinting at her Titan heritage. And was that Celestium she was sensing? There were exactly two Titans in House Titannica that could lay a claim to having a bloodline powerful enough to have their skin turn into the heavenly metal, and this half-blood girl had the same quality, even if it was immature?

“Princess Ynnead.” Narmada greeted with a small smile on her face as soon as the person who had led her here pulled out of earshot. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” The young woman was also most definitely a Godling, and a direct descendant of two gods at that. That much was obvious from her presence.

“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I can sense I’m in the presence of a goddess, and a hint of…fresh water?” The princess nodded in greeting of her own, though she declined to get up from her seated position, showing that she was not going to be deferential during this meeting. She had spine. Good.

“Sharp senses. I am Narmada, the Goddess of Rivers.” Her position wasn’t quite as prestigious as the God of Oceans, but she wasn’t a minor goddess either. “I am also associated with House Titannica, in case that means anything to you.”

"It does. I would expect that the House of my biological father isn't here to kill me at least." The young woman spoke lightly as if not really worried either way.

“That is a fair assessment, though I suspect most don’t even know your father is from our House. Even I do not know his identity.” Narmada was being truthful with her words. There were only a few options once you knew the father was a Titan, something she’d just confirmed, but there was still more than one possibility. They had known she would be one of them, as the father had revealed as much to the Head of the House, but it was nice to get a confirmation anyway.

“Yes, well, it’s not hard to figure out from my bloodlines. No doubt you already have noticed as much. I assume that was one of the reasons you came here?” The girl lifted one of her perfect eyebrows in question. She wasn’t stupid, that’s for sure.

Narmada easily sidestepped the question as it didn’t need to be answered. “Should I call you Princess Ynnead? Or do you prefer the name given to you on the Higher Planes? Or do you have a Name you’d rather be addressed by?” Just because Narmada herself wasn’t a reincarnator or even aware of them aside from what she knew of Blessed Children, that didn’t mean she didn’t know about True Names.

“Karna will do for now. Why are you here? Aside from making sure of my parentage that is.” The metallic feel from the young woman’s skin seemed to dissipate, showing that she had been broadcasting it on purpose.

Narmada chose her words carefully. “There are several ways this meeting can go depending on what you decide. If I got to have my way exactly as I want, this discussion would end with you agreeing to come with me to the Divine Planes.”

“And yet, that’s not the only option?” Karna asked with a bit of surprise in her voice.

“Not necessarily. Or at least not necessarily right now. Let me make my case first and we can discuss the finer details after. The recent expansion and trouble with the Outsiders and Scourges have distracted everyone, but the fact is that the Heavenly Emperor has ruled for so long, that it’s closing in on the time where he’ll have to name his successor. We’re not entirely sure when exactly it has to happen, as such rules are kept a bit vague for reasons we’re not fully aware of. However, we know it would have to happen in the next few hundred years at the latest, and will likely happen earlier. A blink of an eye in the life of immortals. The jockeying for position started thousands of years ago, but things will intensify in the next decades slowly but surely. That’s where your presence becomes important.”

“I’m a potential ticket for the throne. I assume whoever wants me is planning on challenging the previous emperor, but a succession complicates things.” Karna knew more of the succession than the goddess in front of her. It was something mandated by the royal guard, the most powerful force in the entire Divine Planes, and the purpose was to prevent stagnation and the excessive consolidation of power. At least that was what she’d been able to figure out in her previous lives. She’d never been the emperor, or even aspired to become one.

“In a way both hold true. Those that only want your children are aiming for challenging a new and inexperienced emperor, while for the House Titannica you personally could be elevated, bringing us into the position of Royal House as you're part Titan. For House Asuryan, you're one more potential contender for the position, but they don't really consider you a real threat. You're actually a potential asset in the future, but your blood also carries a risk if the other Houses get their hands on it. For some members of the current Royal House, you're also a potential weapon to be used against your mother. She's not actively vying for the position, and her imprisonment effectively prevents her from acting, but she's still a serious contender even as things are. And getting their hands on you could help in making sure she stays out of the running." Narmada was laying the cards down on the table in an attempt to test the princess. So far the young woman was not disappointing.

"I see. So you want me to join you because I could be the banner House Titannica could fly to regain their position as the Royal House. Or perhaps to help secure the cooperation of my mother? She seemed willing enough to deal with your House considering I’m here. I’m still too weak to make a run for the position myself after all.” The princess smirked a bit. So, she’d noticed that. Good.

"Quite true. We would prefer you on the throne as you're part Titan, but as you said, you're currently too weak. That's partially why we'd prefer you return immediately, so you'd have a better chance of reaching the level of power required in the Divine Planes. But we'd quite happily settle for your mother if that can't be arranged. There's also little point in trying to force you or extort your mother. We want your willing cooperation and a genuine alliance after all. Trying to force someone would only work until the moment you'd become the emperor, after which you could just order us all killed. It's questionable if such an order would be followed, but we'd rather not risk it. Besides, you're still one of us. You might not have spent any time with us, but you will once you come to the Divine Planes. You'll learn we're one of the most honorable Houses around." Narmada was quite pleased with the young woman's wit.

“I’m still not seeing a very good pitch for me to go with you yet.” Karna pointed out.

"As to that, I'll begin with two things. The first one is that the danger to you will keep increasing as time passes. I can help protect you for a short while, but not for long. Secondly, and more importantly, your mother can't leave her imprisonment until you return. She herself has implied that she will defy the order confining her once she knows you're safe, and not a moment sooner. And the longer you stay, the longer she will stay imprisoned."

Chapter 93 - Counter offer

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

Karna tapped the table inside the gazebo with a finger while considering her next words carefully. She didn’t want to alienate this goddess or the Titans she represented, but to say she wasn’t impressed by the arguments she had been given was putting it mildly. “You should be aware of something. I’m not completely unsympathetic to the one that gave birth to me, or whoever my father is among your faction, but they’re not my parents. They might be biologically, but they did nothing to raise me. Which one do you think I’d consider my father? A Titan I’ve never met and who no one even knows who he is, or the man who took me in after I fell from the Divine Plane and has sheltered me ever since? The same thing for my mother. As I said, I'm not unsympathetic, but I'm not going to upend my life to salve the worries of a woman who by your own account chooses to stay imprisoned, and I'm guessing not in uncomfortable conditions. If it makes your political situation more complicated, then that’s too bad, but once again not something I’d sacrifice myself over.”

“Even so, she was imprisoned for giving birth to you, and you’re still in danger.” The goddess pointed out.

“Mmm, strictly speaking, I believe she was imprisoned for consorting with the exact wrong race instead of marrying another phoenix like a good princess of House Asuryan should. My birth just made things worse and brought the affair to light. Had the affair been discovered, she would’ve faced punishment even without me. I’m also not stupid enough to not realize that allowing herself to get pregnant was a power play in divine politics. These things don’t happen by accident at that level. Playing on my sympathies will not work. Now, before you get insulted, I’m not opposed to some sort of alliance with House Titannica when I do reach the Divine Planes, but you should not expect my automatic cooperation just based on heritage. You are essentially planning on using me to spearhead a revolution, or at least to become a bargaining chip.” Karna cut through the nonsense and went straight for the heart of the matter.

Narmada wasn’t displeased by her words. In fact, she seemed inordinately pleased for some reason. “As would everyone else. Thanks to your heritage, you will end up being a tool no matter what you try. Even if you decide to go your own way and defy all the other Houses, that too just makes you another player in the game, utilized by others. The question is, will you be a willing participant that gets raised to the throne, or will someone try to use you to produce an heir for a future challenge to the throne. You will need someone’s protection. No matter how strong you might become individually, there are limits to what a single being can accomplish.” The goddess pointed out calmly.

“Perhaps. And the incoming succession does complicate things. You said I’ll be in danger. I’ve been in danger since I was born, and while the danger might grow in the next few decades, that time is exactly what I need. If you want me to take the throne, then not only will you not want me to come to the Divine Planes now, but you’ll do your best to make sure I won’t have to for the foreseeable future either.” Karna stated confidently.

“Why?” The river goddess asked, humoring Karna for now. She seemed to be testing her.

“Because you don’t need just any candidate. You need the best possible candidate. And there’s a world of difference between someone who was brought to the Divine Planes by a goddess, and someone who Ascended there on her own power and effort. Especially if that someone makes the trip without the help of the Host and the Emissaries.” Karna had a smug look on her face as she spoke the last words.

That got Narmada’s attention. Karna was right. There was a different level of respect for those immortals that had Ascended to the Divine Planes when compared to those that were born there. There was no overt discrimination or favoritism, but the words of someone who’d shown the ability to rise through the planes with their own power always got that extra level of respect and leeway that a normal Godling or Divine Plane-borne immortals didn’t. And no one had made the journey from the Higher Planes on their own power for ages. If Princess Ynnead did, then she’d immediately earn the respect of many important people and would be taken much more seriously.

Truth be told, House Titannica was mostly prepared to back up the mother, as she was a respected True God with dual domains. She could be a serious contender for the throne, even if her victory was far from assured. Even if it would be better for the House Titannica if Ynnead, being part Titan herself, got on the throne, making it happen was almost impossible without using military power. Ynnead was just too young and inexperienced. She didn’t have the connections, or the stable position brought about by being a goddess of an important domain. Even if the princess would manage to reach godhood before the old emperor abdicated, she’d be a minor goddess at best. Getting her the support to ascend to the throne would be a struggle. Unless she earned enough respect in other ways. Even then it would be a long shot, but at least she could be presented as someone with incredible potential for greatness in the near future.

“That’s not a bad idea, but it leaves you vulnerable here. If I found your location, others will as well. And soon.” This possibility had also been considered, and it was among the plans they had made. They couldn’t really force Ynnead to come along, as they needed a willing ally, not someone that carried a grudge. Those that just wanted her to bear a child could be forceful, while House Titannica could not.

“As to that, I have a plan. I think the Emissary has been given a mission to approach the Outsiders in this area in order to form a deal of some sort. Would my guess be accurate? I thought as much. I think it would be beneficial if you joined that delegation and happened to bring me along. I…have an in with the one leading them.” Karna admitted. Ysendra would also love the fact that she was acting like a diplomat and might even be amused enough to agree just based on that alone. Unlikely but possible. It was always a bit of a game dealing with the dragon. That was why she hadn’t wanted to be the first to make contact.

“While it might help if a being like that would agree to protect you, would they really be enough to keep away True Gods long enough for you to Ascend?” Narmada could see the plan forming already and agreed on principle. This could work, assuming the princess could Ascend quickly enough. Smuggling the girl along the delegation would not be too difficult, though Tethrine would get suspicious. She could come up with a plausible reason though. The princess was a member of the local people, who would have an interest in the negotiations after all.

“You don’t think a Nakshatra strong enough?” Karna asked before noting the look on the goddess’ face. “Oh, you didn’t know about that, did you? Well, this should be interesting.”

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“What’s with the mortals?” Tethrine asked rather pointedly as the woman he suspected of being a goddess brought in a group of the stronger people currently residing on this world. One of them was even masked, though was obviously female. The prince had no idea what the point of bringing the mortals was. He had some theories, but they all seemed silly and pointless.

“They’ll be joining us during the negotiations.” The female immortal replied as if the whole thing was already decided.

This had been one of the theories he’d considered. In fact, it had been the most obvious one. “I see. Why? In fact, when did you decide to take part?” He had been ordered to accommodate the woman, but he was still in charge of the negotiations. In theory.

“They’ll be coming along for two reasons. First of all, this is their world. It’s only fair they get to participate, although they will be running their own negotiations parallel to ours. Secondly, and most importantly, they’ll be coming along because they arranged the meeting.” The woman ignored the other question in a rather obvious fashion.

Tethrine knew a diplomatic dodge when he saw one and saw no point in pressing the issue at the moment. The presence of the potential goddess, and perhaps more importantly her two bodyguards, could be highly useful. It could also be threatening, though tempered by the presence of the mortals. Bringing them along had that benefit at least. The downside was that it could end up sidelining him during the negotiations. He didn’t really care about the mortals. They didn’t truly matter. What did matter was, why bring them at all? What was the goddess planning? It was doubtful she would’ve brought them along just for the reasons she had mentioned. Although, there was one detail that stuck out. “They arranged a meeting with the Travelers? And how did they manage to swing that? I thought they were not in contact with the ones we seek.”

“In general, we aren’t. One of us apparently knew how to contact them however, and when asked…” Tsumi explained. This whole thing was proceeding so quickly that she wasn’t sure how to react, but she was playing along with Karna’s plans for now.

“Uh-huh. And when is this meeting taking place?” Tethrine wasn’t fond of the games obviously happening around him, but he had to admit that this saved him a lot of time. He also recognized the Headmistress of the Academy and knew she was reasonable. At least she wouldn't be a huge burden.

“At our earliest convenience. We have been provided a destination.” Tsumi replied curtly. This was all something Karna had arranged, and she didn’t even know where they were going. She didn’t even know how Karna had managed to make contact, or who they were meeting. Apparently someone powerful that the Emissary was sent to negotiate with, and she could guess it had something to do with the Outsiders from what she’d heard.

“I see. I do not appreciate this whole thing being dropped on me like this, but it would not be a good idea to keep them waiting. Now that we have mortals with us though, we need transportation.” Tethrine pointed out. He was not happy with the arrangement, but it would be counter-productive to fight the minor points here and now. Picking a fight over the details would be petty. He'd have to make sure the others followed his lead later on though.

"We have that arranged." Tsumi smiled a bit before they were all surrounded by a light and several rings that surrounded them before teleporting them somewhere.

The only reason Tethrine didn’t defensively lash out was because the goddess didn’t react and because he’d experienced such methods of teleportation before. In other lives. That raised some questions. “Where are we?” He asked as soon as they arrived inside some kind of structure.

“My tower.” The masked woman spoke. She seemed somewhat familiar somehow. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why.

Tethrine suddenly realized who she must be. He’d seen the tower in question before, which made sense. He knew the Grand Medjai’s daughter was a reincarnator, which explained the teleporter rings. “Miss Karna, I presume?” Her voice sounded a little different though. There was also a subtle difference in the aura of the girl when compared to the last time they met.

“Quite. Our destination is relatively close, so we won’t have to stay inside my tower for very long.” She explained.

Tethrine could sense the ‘tower’ suddenly accelerating away from the world, quickly leaving it behind before being swallowed by the spatial forces. Surprisingly, he could also sense the vessel using some sort of faster than light travel to speed the journey, combining magic and technology seamlessly. Most such FTL drives would not work in the soup of spatial forces that made up this universe, but this vessel seemed to have no such issues. ‘I think I’ll need to have a word with her again. Clearly, she can engineer things to a degree I didn’t expect. Even the Host would find these kinds of vessels useful.’

His thoughts were interrupted by their quick arrival. They had not been traveling for more than a minute or two, so even with the speed of this vessel, their target truly hadn’t been far. One of the walls showed the view outside, and even Tethrine had to shake his head in disbelief at the sheer size of the structure in front of them. It was like someone had stitched together pieces of several planets, enormous space stations, and something he could only describe with words like craftworld or city-ship. The whole thing was a hodgepodge of magic, technology, and sheer elements, and it seemed the place had been added to in a thousand different seemingly random ways over countless millennia. He’d heard about the Crossroads, and he had no doubt that he was looking at a rather sizeable chunk of that very place. How it managed to hold together was a mystery.

“That’s…big.” Tsumi managed to eloquently articulate.

“Indeed it is. Also damaged.” The one Tethrine now suspected to be Karna stated in a tone that seemed to be quite familiar with the structure. She had obviously visited the place before.

What he suspected to be the tower spirit suddenly appear in the middle of the group. “We’re being given instructions to dock.”

“Follow them.” The master of the tower instructed the spirit. It seemed a little odd that she’d be the one giving the commands as she was the weakest among them, but she was the one who controlled the tower.

As they approached, Tethrine sensed two enormous beings approaching and adjusting their course to fly along with the tower. The beings looked like a lovechild between a behemoth and a whale, and Tethrine could identify them as Astral Dreadnoughts, beings native to the Astral Plane and dangerous to even gods. The two seemed to be escorting them, and he could see why. There seemed to be thousands upon thousands of ships docked around the enormous structure, and they ranged from the arcane to the technologically advanced, and some were a mix of both, just like the tower they were on.

They could all sense and see powerful guardians floating all around the place, wearing a variety of equipment just as varied as the place itself. These guardians were from all kinds of races, most of which they didn’t recognize. Notably though, a large portion of them were immortals, and not weak ones either. It was clear that at least the guards of this place were extremely strong, though something about them suggested to the prince that their skills might not match their power, and that in many cases that power had been laid on a shaky foundation. He suspected many of these immortals had used various inefficient means to reach their rank instead of using the refined techniques of this universe or the reincarnators. That wasn’t all too surprising, considering this place was supposed to be the Crossroads. Even reaching the place would ordinarily require a high level of power or technology, but that didn’t mean all the universes these beings came from had refined techniques.

"It seems that turning this into a battle wouldn't be the wisest of ideas," Tethrine instructed the others. "We're heavily outnumbered and outgunned. Keep that in mind, and try not to piss off anyone."

“Wise plan. Though I would suggest that being too accommodating and servile will also have negative consequences.” The one that Tethrine assumed to be Karna spoke, sounding once again like she had experience. “Be firm but polite. Don’t allow yourself to be pushed around, but don’t go around picking fights either.”

“So, don’t act like an ass. Got it.” The large frame of the rank 9 warrior known as Wolfgang summarized.

Tethrine once again didn’t appreciate someone else giving orders, but the advice was good, likely based on experience, and largely what he’d said anyway, so arguing would’ve been petty. That seemed to be becoming a theme. Those around him seemed to be making their moves in a way that would make any of his arguments sound unreasonable. A good strategy, though annoying.

The tower soon reached the designated place, and they once again teleported outside, where they were met by a group of guards and a very official-looking woman from a race Tethrine did recognize from his earlier lives, though he couldn't recall the name. The blue-skinned woman was largely humanoid, but instead of hair, she had a headcrest of some sort on top of her head, with several tiny finger-sized extensions forming a whole. For some reason, he remembered that the entire species was female. Wonder why?

“Ambassadors. My name is Aleena, and I’ll be your liaison during your stay. You will be able to meet with the mistress shortly, but I have been instructed to provide you an opportunity to refresh yourselves beforehand. I understand this meeting came about quite abruptly, and the mistress is currently still dealing with another issue, so you’d have to wait a bit if you don’t avail yourselves.” The blue-skinned woman explained. “Alternatively, I can show you to the accommodations that have been provided to you, though you shall of course have the opportunity to use your ship during your stay.”

“Tower.” Karna corrected automatically.

“My apologies. In addition, there are some people that we’ve…been forced to apprehend for some time. You can discuss with them and check if they are someone you’d like to see freed. We’d be happy to release them into your care.” The woman explained while already leading them deeper inside the enormous construct. She was quite skilled at playing a hostess, and they found themselves following along without even noticing.

Chapter 94 - Exposed

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

”….and I’m here to represent the Heavenly Host and the Imperial Family. My name is Tethrine Asuryan, a prince of House Asuryan, and the current Emissary to one of the nearby planes.” The princeling introduced himself with flowery language, listing his titles to lend his words more credence.

Ysendra wasn’t really interested in the pompous immortal. Why the princeling was even leading this delegation was a mystery. Yes, he was a prince, but there was a goddess present as well. Granted, that goddess wasn’t especially powerful, but she was still counted as a True God with a fully matured Divinity. And then there was the person Ysendra was really paying attention to. Her old friend, still hiding among the mortals of the delegation. This would be fun.

The princeling just glazed over the goddess, as if he didn’t even recognize her, which seemed odd. What kind of stupid delegation didn’t even introduce themselves to each other properly? The other immortals were inconsequential, as they were just grunts of the Host. Powerful, yes, but nothing a group of her guards couldn’t handle. It also seemed like the princeling and the goddess both seemed confused by her appearance.

It was one of Ysendra’s habits to make people underestimate her, to have one of her strongest guards keep her in their lap as if she was a pet. They’d assume the guard was the real leader, which they could’ve been in any other situation considering their rank and power, and they’d disregard her. It was also a test of sorts. Only someone with great senses could get even a hint of how strong she truly was when she was acting like this. Thus, acting like this was a test of skill and perception. It also helped with the fact that few people could take a tiny dragon like her seriously. Fairy Dragons also had something of a reputation for being lunatics. Wholly undeserved of course.

The princeling was finally getting to the real point. “…and these are the mortal representatives of a world nearest to us, which we’re using as a base currently, and one that falls within your sphere of influence.”

“Karma, my darling!” Ysendra suddenly hopped on the table and allowed her tail to wag all over in happiness. She was tired of listening to the boring princeling. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to show up!”

Ysendra could feel the heavy sigh and the resignation oozing off her old friend as Karna pulled her hood back. Exactly the reaction she was looking for. “Ysendra. You could’ve come to me, you know?”

“And where’s the fun in that? Besides, you’ve told me before that you don’t want me to disturb your life unless necessary.” She was really skirting the edges of what she could say with non-reincarnators present. She would need to get Karma alone soon so they could talk properly.

"You obviously want something from me. Otherwise, you wouldn't be hanging around nearby." Karma responded, before finally turning towards the princeling that had been goggling at her as soon as her hood had gone down.

“Cousin Ynnead. It seems you had me, and everyone fooled.” The princeling stated.

‘Oh, this is getting interesting.’ Ysendra grinned mentally. “Cousin? Wouldn’t that make you royalty as well, Karma?”

“In a way. It’s irrelevant at the moment.” Karma dismissed the topic.

“I disagree. It’s quite relevant and changes quite a few things.” The princeling argued.

“Does it though?” Karma asked in an inscrutable voice. “This is not the time or the place. You’re in the middle of a negotiation and want to start hashing things out with your own group? Somewhat unprofessional, wouldn’t you say?” She reprimanded the prince rightly, though Ysendra gathered that her old friend’s identity was a rather important detail.

She decided to throw her friend a bit of help. “She’s not wrong. What brings you here? I don’t like my time wasted, especially since I’ll be sure to have a reunion with my old friend here as soon as this meeting is over. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

"Right." The princeling seemed to realize his faux pas. "We're here to negotiate an arrangement for the areas that currently fall within your sphere of influence. We've negotiated similar deals with other recent arrivals such as yourself. There's no need for hostilities between us, especially since the Scourges are a problem for all of us."

"Problem for you perhaps. We've been dealing with them just fine. They've already learned that approaching us is a bad idea. Still, I'm not opposed to some kind of arrangement, as long as I find the terms acceptable." Ysendra had a rough idea of what the Host wanted. She'd need some compensation if the Host wanted her to take care of this area. "Hey, Karma. I don't suppose you've run into a pair of Nakshatra in a huge city-ship?”

“Should I have?” Karma asked, a little wary.

“They had a magical problem and I gave them a few options regarding people who would be able to help. You were at the top of that list. I suppose they didn’t go for you first though. Ironically, this little accident that brought us here might have caused me to find you before them.” Ysendra mused.

“Two Nakshatra? Coming here?” The princeling asked, now very worried.

“Maybe.” She shrugged, which she knew looked kind of comical with her tiny draconic body. “Depends. So you haven’t seen them?”

"Can't say I have," Karma confirmed.

“Shame. Look, we need to have a proper conversation, and the presence of all these people doesn’t help.” She turned towards the princeling. “Prince Whateveryan, I’m going to have to ask you to wait for your turn and come back later. Our negotiations hinge on what I’ll discuss with my friend here anyway, so if you’ll excuse me.” Her tone of voice made it clear that she wasn’t asking, and her purposeful snub of the prince’s name obviously incensed the man. As it had been meant to. At least he managed to control that annoyance.

“In that case, I shall return later.” He said stiffly, before leading the others away. He might not appreciate being sidelined, but he wasn’t silly enough to argue with a person of unknown level of power and resources over something so petty.

As soon as the others had made their decidedly less than hasty exit, Ysendra got a fair bit more serious. “How have you been, really? It’s been ages since we’ve last seen each other.” Only the guard that had held Ysendra in their lap stuck around, and they were keeping quiet and to themselves.

"You know me. I manage. There have been good lives since the last time we met, and there have been less fun ones. Less of the latter lately just because of how hard it has apparently been to find my soul an appropriate vessel. It's a bit tough to live a normal life as a dragon that can eat stars." Her old friend shrugged a bit.

“What do stars taste like?” Ysendra threw in an inane question. She knew Karma wouldn’t be too annoyed as they’d known each other for eons.

“Kind of light and the texture is non-existent.” Karma snarked back.

“Fair enough.” Ysendra chuckled. “Do you know what’s going on in this universe? I’ve always known this place was odd when it came to the number of reincarnators and a few other things, but lately it seems this place is even more crazy. The number of reincarnators I’ve run into is way off the norm, and some of them have been old monsters like…well, I was going to say like you, but no one is quite like you. Then there’s the whole thing with the Crossroads being forced here.”

“I’m not entirely sure. I know the reincarnator thing is building up to some sort of crescendo. The Head Judge of the River of Souls all but forced me to come here, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just for the reason he provided. Reincarnators are being gathered for a purpose, but I don’t know what that purpose is just yet. I expect something will happen when the current Heavenly Emperor abdicates the throne, but that’s mostly speculation on how such things usually tend to work. As for the Crossroads…well, this universe has gone through Expansions before, countless times at that. This one was different than those before, and I expect that has something to do with what’s going on with the reincarnators. Beyond that…” She left the rest unsaid.

“Sounds reasonable.” Ysendra couldn’t really argue with that. Karma had also not been in this life long enough to gather enough information, so the amount of uncertainty was understandable. “Can you help me to gather up the pieces of the Crossroads and bring them back out of this universe?”

“Hmm.” Karma tapped her chin with a finger while she considered how to go about what Ysendra had asked. “I could probably devise a spell that would help you locate the major parts of the Crossroads in this universe, but I don’t have the power to cast the spell myself. Since it would have to be able to reach across planes, the sheer amount of power required is staggering. This universe is still a rather big place, even if it’s not quite as expansive as some other old universes. You’d have to handle gathering the pieces yourself. I definitely don’t have enough power to transport even this chunk of the Crossroads, not to mention all the pieces you manage to gather. Even if I could devise a way to do it, and I probably could with some trial and error, I don’t have even close to enough power to begin testing any of the theories out.” Something neither of them bothered voicing was the fact that if anyone could do it, it would be Karma.

“I don’t expect you to manage it now. That said, the longer we wait, the more troublesome things get as everyone that had gathered within the Crossroads will make a new home here.” Ysendra easily conceded.

“Well if you want me to help you in the future, you’re going to have to help me reach that future. You know my lives tend to be on the shorter side, and you just effectively outed me to one of the Princes of the Royal Family. Which I was trying to hide from, for your information.” Karma expressed her displeasure, though Ysendra knew much of it was faked.

“Oh, boo-hoo. We both know that while many of your lives tend to be short, that only really applies to the lives you spend as a mortal. You’ve already left that idea behind in this life. You stand out. There’s no way around that. Hiding just isn't what you do. And let's not pretend you didn't come here for that very reason. You knew you were going to get outed and wanted my protection." Ysendra laughed at her friend's displeased face.

"Fair enough, but I would've been much more careful about it instead of just blurting out one of my most commonly used True Name in mixed company. You're as subtle as a brick to the face, as usual." Karma countered. “Besides, I’ll be much more helpful to you if I’m not tied down by divine politics.”

“At least I didn’t use one of your nastier Names. Look, we’ve already practically reached a deal, and now we're just arguing blame and detail. I'll sweeten the deal and throw in an incentive. I'll convince Envy to make a couple more pillows for you, as well as releasing Fluffy McSoftenstein from the current imprisonment and into your care." Ysendra sweetened the pot a bit while at the same time revealing just how familiar she was with the events of the earlier tournament.

“Deal.” Karma agreed without hesitation. Just like Ysendra knew she would. It was useful to know the weaknesses of the one you were negotiating with.

“Do you have any estimation about how long you’ll need to grow in strength enough to not need me? It’s going to be a problem if I try to follow you into the Divine Planes. Not that the Host would be able to stop me, mind you, but it would still lead to the level of hostilities that would defeat the entire purpose of this deal.” Ysendra wanted to set clear terms on the deal.

“Hard to say exactly. A few decades at worst. Ten-ish years at best. My foundations are perfect, so I can afford to push things along a bit now, but I don’t want to rush too much. You know how that’ll end.” Karma was a bit vague about the time, but it was still within tolerable limits.

“I’m aware of your obsession with perfect foundations, yes. I also know that if you really wanted to, you could make yourself immortal within a year. I’ll help protect you, but my patience is not unlimited. Just keep that in mind.” Ysendra had gotten the deal she wanted. So had Karma apparently. Win-win deals were always so much fun.

-----

“So. The princess is the reason you’re here.” Narmada heard a voice ask rhetorically. She’d sensed Tethrine approaching, so she was not surprised by the sudden words.

“Perhaps.” She replied non-committaly. No need to confirm things, even if it was fairly obvious.

“I’m guessing something happened that I’m not yet aware of, which revealed her presence here. I wonder…I once met with the Grand Medjai’s daughter, and the person I met was not Princess Ynnead. They managed to fool me quite successfully. I wonder how they pulled it off?” The prince seemed to be mostly talking to himself. Maybe he was fishing for a reaction. In any case, he didn’t expect an answer and Narmada wasn’t going to provide him one.

“It does make you think though. What else did she manage to fool me and others on? Marius claimed to have met her. Was that fake as well? I don’t really blame her all things considered, but this will come back to haunt her. I doubt Kurnous or others in my family will take this as lightly.” He continued to vocalize his speculation. This time Narmada did interject a small comment.

"That is of course up to you, but I would remind you that our host seems quite familiar with the princess. And you're trying to make a deal with our host. I doubt that deal will be very successful if you go after her friend. Not to mention, any hostile action might end up with you on the losing side." Narmada was a bit worried about someone picking a fight with a Nakshatra, so she wasn't just giving out advice from the goodness of her heart.

“I’ll have to get further instructions. I was given this mission, but it wasn’t given to me by my family, and I wonder which would take precedence in their mind if I had to choose between making this deal happen and retrieving my cousin.” The prince wasn’t quite making a threat, but he wasn’t far from it either.

“I doubt defying a direct order from the Host would go well, even if your family would be all for it. And you’re still assuming you can retrieve her. If you are correct about her fooling you earlier, then it stands to reason she isn’t willing to go with you. And her new friend might feel inclined to protect her. You would not win that fight.” Narmada reminded him.

“Alone, no I wouldn’t. With help…well, things might go a little different.” Tethrine argued.

“And what help would you be referring to? I doubt the Host will jump in to help you, considering this whole idea is you defying their orders. I’m certainly not going to go against orders to help you. I suspect your father isn’t going to personally come here either. I’m not sure it would be enough even if he did.” Narmada wasn’t sure how serious the prince was, but this was a bad idea, and she didn’t want anything to do with it if the prince decided to pick a fight with a Nakshatra.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. At the very least these negotiations have gained a new dimension. On that note, was it just me, or did the princess and our host seem like old friends? As in the type of friends that have known each other for a while. Rather interesting, isn’t it?” The prince suspected that they were friends from a previous life, but couldn’t voice his suspicion in the current company.

"Some people are just friendlier than others," Narmada said dismissively. She'd noted that fact too but wasn't going to admit it. How could the princess be old friends with someone who hadn't even been in this universe for that long?

“I’m going to make a report. Certain people will find recent developments quite interesting.” The prince suddenly declared before walking off.

“Things have become complicated, have they not?” One of the gold armored immortals working as her bodyguard whispered.

“In some ways, yes. Have you managed to get an estimate on our host’s allies?” She asked in return.

“Not really. This place is enormous and apparently shielded against most types of scans. I can tell you that there are many immortals here, and they are powerful. I wouldn’t want this to turn into a fight.” The immortal stated.

“Agreed. We must conclude that this group of Outsiders matches one of the Scourges when it comes to the total level of power. And this is just a portion of all the Outsiders, even if a rather large portion. They’re going to be a major player in the future. And the princess has a connection with them. Which means that she might be able to borrow some of that power for her own benefit.” That was a thought worth considering.

Chapter 95 - Stirring Monsters

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Tethrine. I did not expect to hear from you. This better be good.” Kurnous didn’t even bother looking up from his work.

“Father. I have news. Before that, I need to ask you a question. Are you aware of the mission I was given, and did you have anything to do with it?” The prince was respectfully taking a knee on the illusory communicator.

"I am aware, but it was not my doing. Why?" He had expected this to have something to do with his son's newest mission. This really better be good, because he didn't need to be holding his son's hand through such basic assignments.

"I found Princess Ynnead," Tethrine said simply.

“Ok, you have my attention.” He put down the quill he had been using to sign reports. He had people for such work, but sometimes you needed to check over that work to make sure your subordinates were not skimming too much off the top or making egregious mistakes.

"The good news is that I know exactly where we can find her, and I don't think she will be running away this time. The bad news is that she's being protected by the leader of the Crossroads, known as Ysendra." Tethrine reported.

"That is…interesting. She is obviously a reincarnator like us in that case." Kurnous was much more familiar with the Crossroads than his son and knew that picking a fight with the master of that place was a sketchy idea at best. "You said she is protected. To what extent?"

“They seem to be on very friendly terms. Ysendra ignored me and the goddess the Host sent with me in favor of personally greeting Ynnead, and the two talked privately after shooing the rest of us away. I’d say they are quite friendly.”

“The Host sent a Goddess with you?” Kurnous confirmed. This was new information to him.

“Yes, though I’m not sure which one. They are affiliated with House Titannica, that’s for sure. They were sent on a separate mission that’s connected to Ynnead, but they tagged along with my delegation to make contact with Ysendra. It seems obvious they were seeking protection for the Princess and got it.”

“Interesting. So they don’t plan on bringing the princess to the Divine Planes yet. I wonder why? If the princess really is familiar with Ysendra, then their plan is a good one.” Kurnous nodded. They had been outplayed.

“There’s something else. I discovered the Princess’ True Name. Karma.” Tethrine added.

That was an old Name, and one Kurnous hadn’t heard in a long time. Even back then he’d only heard it in whispers. He leaned back in his chair. “That changes things. We assumed before now that the princess would not be a serious contender even if she did come to the Divine Planes, but if we are dealing with someone like Karma…we have to take her seriously.”

"What should we do? I don't think attacking this place would be a good idea. The place is filled with powerful immortals. They're a bigger threat than one of the scourges. And that's just what I could sense." Tethrine knew he was in over his head.

“If you get the perfect opportunity, grab her and use the artifact I gave you to return home immediately. No hesitation. However, do not go out of your way to try and create such an opportunity, and do not try if the window for the opportunity is too small. There’s a decent chance that someone with a Name like that can resist the artifact’s effect to an extent. The risk would be too high. in either case, return back home. Your term as the Emissary has lasted long enough, and we need to plan. We need the entire family for what is coming.” He decided before cutting the connection.

Kurnous was already making plans on how to get around Ysendra. He was quite confident the Nakshatra wouldn't bother chasing Ynnead into the Divine Planes, as that would be tantamount to a declaration of war. She'd keep a sharp eye on the princess though, so grabbing her would be hard, and the crazy little dragon would happily slaughter any immortals he'd send. Maybe he could fool others into setting off the trap instead? There was more than one way to skin a Fairy Dragon, and direct confrontation was usually the worst way. He'd exercise utmost caution in his actions, but he'd take advantage one way or another.

“Karma, huh?” He muttered. According to what he knew, the one known as Karma had been old before he’d even had his first life. Old and powerful. He’d known there would be older and more powerful reincarnators appearing at some point, and it seemed that the multiverse had decided to give the younger reincarnators a chance by keeping the old monsters in reserve until now. Karma wasn’t the only one he’d heard about recently. He’d heard reports of at least three Sins appearing, and at least Pride was already in the Divine Planes, while Lust and Gluttony were still gathering their power. Who else? What kind of monsters were making their way towards him, and how many of them would he have to kill? At least they hadn’t heard anything about Wrath lately, though the presence of the Reaper was just as bad.

On a whim, Kurnous got up from his chair and with a single step exited his realm and appeared on the golden bridge that connected all the divine realms together. His steps took him towards a very particular direction, and soon the bridge turned into a set of stairs. Intent mattered when traveling the bridge, but the problem was that it wasn’t just the intent of the traveler that mattered. The fact that he had to spend almost twenty minutes climbing the golden stairs was a rather poignant sign that he was currently not in favor with the emperor. Not surprising. The emperor had always favored his brothers. At least outwardly.

Eventually, he reached his destination, a realm surrounded by bright white borders and guarded by a group of immortals entirely covered in white armor. The style of armor varied from full plate to simple cloth, but one thing was consistent. None of the armor showed even the slightest of the people wearing the armor. Not a millimeter of skin showed, and Kurnous couldn't even be certain there was skin beneath. All he could tell was that the armored figures were all large in size, even the smallest being over 2,5 meters, and they all were powerful. These were after all the imperial guards.

No one knew where they were recruited from, or how many there were. No one knew where or how they were trained, or by whom. Only two things were known for certain. They were all fanatically loyal to the emperor, the position, not the person, and they were all extremely powerful. There was a reason that the role of the emperor only changed hands by succession or challenge, and these guards were the reason. Any attempt at a coup by military force, or any attempt to attack the emperor outside a challenge was crushed with such ruthless efficiency that no one tried anymore. Even Kurnous couldn't say how much power the white-clad beings held, but he was pretty sure that if the entirety of the Divine Planes combined forces to attack the emperor, they would still lose against these guards.

As he stepped past the guards that paid him no attention, he pondered the fact that so few people even knew of their existence. The guards never interfered unless absolutely necessary, staying strictly neutral in all the divine politics, and few divines ever got the chance to visit the emperor if they were not summoned, so very few people saw the guard or knew what they represented. Even the color of their armor was something that depended on the ruling House and even the whim of the emperor. Kurnous was well aware that while House Titannicus was the Royal House, the guard wore blue, and even the current emperor had changed the color between red and white several times for reasons he was not aware of. He suspected it wasn’t just a fashion statement though.

As he stepped over the border that glowed white with power, he was transported to a remote corner of the emperor’s realm. He had not been summoned, so he would not be able to reach the imperial palace even if he tried. Even if the guard or the emperor didn't know why he was here, the realm itself did. The stone-paved path he was standing on led to a relatively luxurious but remote building that had tall and simple sandstone walls surrounding a siheyuan-styled building with an open central courtyard.

The building had two of the white-clad guards standing at attention in the front, though their presence was largely unnecessary. This house was a prison of sorts, though it was more akin to a house arrest. The only inmate didn’t need guarding because she wasn’t trying to escape, and even if she did, she wouldn’t get far inside this realm. As long as the emperor willed it, no one would be able to leave. At least in theory. The woman inside might be one of the few True Gods powerful enough to force their way out.

As he stepped into the central courtyard, he found the woman he was looking for already waiting with a tea-set to one side, sitting near a small pond on simple stones. Despite the simple surroundings and just as simple clothing, the woman managed to look both gorgeous and regal. It still disturbed him that the woman looked so much like his wife, though the fact that they were twins had a lot to do with it. “Why are you here Kurnous?” The woman asked simply, not even turning to look at him. Nor did she offer him a seat or tea, a purposeful snub.

“We have found her. Your daughter.” He stated simply, not seeing any point in engaging in verbal sparring. A fight that he knew he would lose.

“Have you?” She sounded thoroughly unconvinced. She didn’t bother even confirming that she had a daughter.

“Yes. Your little attempt at a play has failed.” He stated with more confidence than he had.

“Truly? Somehow I doubt it. If you had recovered my child, then you’d be here, cutting their throat in front of me just to spite me. I know you Kurnous. You are petty enough to do just that. Besides, I doubt recovering my child will be quite as simple as you assume.” The level of confidence the woman had at that last statement was worrying to the extreme.

“Maybe I plan on using her for my nefarious purposes.” He decided to take a small gamble to see if he could gain some new information. “You have a lot of faith in Karma. A very old and powerful Name that. Not the only one I would know is it? I wonder…who did you manage to give birth to that gives you such confidence. Mercy perhaps?”

The laughter from her was disconcerting to the extreme. "Oh, Kurnous. You're thinking way too small. You always have. That's why you'll never be able to defeat Hoeth or Vaul. And Eldrazor will eat you for lunch.”

Kurnous managed to cover his flinch at the mention of his brothers. She had a point. Even if the woman in front of him was the biggest danger to him when it came to succession, that was mostly because of the bad blood between them. His brothers however…well, there was a reason he didn’t want to turn this into a verbal sparring match and this was one of the main reasons. There was too much that she could use against him, just like she just had. “My brothers have their strengths. I have mine.” He feigned confidence.

The woman finally turned towards him, her eyes practically glowing with hatred. "Do you now?" She asked sarcastically, but this time he didn't rise to the bait. There was a reason she hated him so much, though somewhat unearned. He had been a large part of her troubles and current imprisonment, but only the most visible part. His brothers had played their part as well. They had all agreed that removing her from the equation was necessary, even if she wasn't actively vying for the throne.

“We shall see how you react when your daughter is in our hands. And your precious titans will not be able to help.” This taunt lacked some impact, as he’d expected. That wasn’t the point though. He hadn’t come here just to taunt her, even though that would’ve been fun too. No, he’d hoped for a reaction that would provide him with some information. And he did get something.

"You might find that getting your hands on her might be more difficult than you think. As I said, you're always thinking too small." The woman seemed oddly confident again. That in itself was an answer. Perhaps not the one he was looking for, but good enough to make the trip worth it.

------

“Are you sure? I thought you were familiar with them?” Ysendra asked with a tiny smirk.

“I have met them. I wouldn’t say I’m familiar or even friendly with them. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I certainly won’t mind if you set them free. I just don’t care enough to request their freedom. I know such requests don’t come free. My interest in them only goes as far as it does with any random people I’ve met in my life, which is to say not very. At this point, I think you know them better than I do.” Karna was looking at a video feed of Hou Yi and his group of friends.

"Really? I was under the impression you were at least acquainted?" Ysendra had met other people with who her old friend had gotten involved with, and it always left its mark. Now sure, someone might show similar signs even without any involvement, but it would be so much more fun if there was something going on.

“I’m quite sure. Do with them as you will.” Karna had to stop herself from snickering. She knew the little dragon and the games she liked to play. Ysendra would let them go regardless. Eventually. And well…she hadn’t entirely forgiven Hou Yi for trying to assassinate her before. Him suffering a bit of punishment as penance was just what she’d prefer. Ysendra wasn’t going to get her way this time.

The little dragon kept looking at her for several minutes, looking for any sign of misdirection, but didn't find any. Not that Karna was easy to read at the best of times. "Che! How boring.” She finally decided to let it go. “On another note, that little prince that you came here with already sold you out. He reported your presence to his family…which would mean they’re also your family, no? Anyway, he has standing orders to grab you and try to portal back to the Divine Planes if the opportunity presents itself.”

“How droll. I expected this, but it is still a little disappointing. Also, judging by the fact that he likely didn’t share this information willingly, I’m guessing you have all of us under surveillance? You still have those nasty habits. I don’t like to kink shame, but I resent the fact that you’re exploring your voyeuristic habits on me.” Karna joked as the two made their way towards the place where the negotiations would take place. She wasn’t worried about the prince for two simple reasons. Firstly, the Crossroads had plenty of defenses for this sort of kidnapping. Secondly, she herself was an expert spatial mage. Now that she had been forewarned, there was no chance of someone just teleporting her away against her will if she chose to fight it.

“I’ll have you know that my kinks are much tamer than yours.” Ysendra declared with faux indignation. “Besides, that was one time. It's unfair to keep holding it against me.”

“You still have the recording, don’t you?” Karna pointed out. She didn’t object to the first statement, as it was true.

“Of course I do. I wouldn’t get rid of such good material. Also, consider how your spirit acts, you can’t really judge me. Anyway, it’s only prudent to keep an eye on potential enemies.” The little dragon had no problem admitting to her past and current sins.

“Yeah, I have no idea why I keep attracting voyeurs wherever I go. No, that’s untrue. I have a pretty good idea actually, but it’s still a little odd. Well, at least I don’t have to pour coins on you.” She gave a small shudder.

“Hah! Like you’re one to talk with your pillows.” Ysendra turned the tables on Karna.

“Hey, I have an extremely healthy relationship with pillows. They’re nice and fluffy, and comfortable to lie on. There’s nothing kinky going on there.” Karna defended herself.

"Oh? So there's no part of you that fantasizes about what you do on top of…" The little dragon clamped her mouth shut as they opened the door to the negotiation chamber and found out that everybody was already there waiting for them. "Aaand, we'll shelve that topic for the time being."

The negotiations turned out to be extremely boring as such things tended to be. Lines were drawn, promises were made, and veiled threats were included. The only real spice came from Ysendra announcing that Karna and the world they had recently acquired were under her protection, and that if any immortals decided to get uppity…well, she had just been given free rein in her sphere of influence, and the agents of the Host were not exempt from that.

"I see you managed to get her on your side," Narmada whispered. "This buys you some time, but only so much of it. I may know she's a Nakshatra and what that means, but not everybody does. And any warnings will ring a lot more hollow as time passes. I'm honestly surprised the prince hasn't tried anything."

"He hasn't gotten an opportunity to, and I don't plan on providing him with one. Besides, I think he might have an inkling that the attempt would fail. Humiliating himself isn't high on his list of priorities. Not to mention potentially getting hurt. He might not be aware of exactly how bad of an idea it would be to try, but he knows it is a bad idea." Karna had noticed the way Tethrine had looked at her. The prince had an evaluating look that hinted at prudence instead of showing disdain or confidence.

“So, what will you do now?” The goddess asked. “You clearly have a plan.”

“Now? I’ll fulfill a small part of my bargain with Ysendra by making her a spell that allows her to look for other parts of the Crossroads, and then I’ll make my push for the next rank. It’s a bit early, but I’ve been holding back long enough.” It wasn’t that she was unable to rise in ranks faster.

She had lived so many lives and reached the peak so many times that she had the best and most effective methods in the entire multiverse. Most of them she’d created herself by combining the knowledge of countless universes. She was considered the greatest mage for a reason. She also had the best Aura training method in existence, and her current vessel had potential the likes of which hadn’t been seen before. She also had Gem to help her. The spirit could turn into several artifacts that could increase the speed of her cultivation several times.

So yes, if she wanted to, she could rise in rank quickly. She could grow in strength faster than anyone had ever seen or even considered possible. She hadn't so far because she wanted to do things perfectly. Because she wanted to take things easy and enjoy the life she had been given. She might not be a mortal in this life, but some of that relaxed pace from her previous lives had rubbed off on her. There was also some truth in claiming she was a little obsessed with her foundation. But her foundation had already been laid. It was time to capitalize. It was time to remind everyone why she had earned all those Names.

---------

Chapter 96 - Of Sins and Virtues 2 (electric boogaloo)

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

A giant vortex of magical energy visible to the naked eye twisted around above the island. The vortex seemed to be funneling the power down to the center of the island. The amount of magical energy was so high that the layers upon layers of magical formations around the islands were glowing white-hot, struggling to refine the influx of energy. Above the vortex was the pyramidal tower of Karna, adding its own effect to the whole, while the tower spirit maintained control over all the formations. The spirit floating just below the tower glowed like a tiny sun.

At the heart of the island, Karna floated in place in a standing position with her arms spread and her blueish-white hair fanning behind her and cracking with streamers of power that occasionally struck the surroundings. She was the eye of the vortex, her eyes shining with barely contained mana, as all the formations and the vortex channeled the gathered and refined power right into her. On her forehead was a silver crown adorned with a bright blue jewel, the current form of Gem who had taken the form of the most powerful artifact used for cultivation that they'd ever run into.

Occasionally small waves of power were sent out of Karna's body, sending a deep thumping sound reverberating around the island, and the ocean around the island was sending waves away from the island instead of crashing on its shores. The rampant flow of power had left a mark on the island as the ambient mana had manifested in several odd ways. The plants around the island had gained a sort of sentience and had all moved away from the center. The stone itself had solidified and was in the process of turning into a mix of various magical materials. If enough time passed with the current amount and flow of ambient mana, the entire island might turn into a deposit of precious minerals.

“She’s getting serious, isn’t she?” Valor asked carefully as he, Envy, and the witch that had taken part in the tournament were all observing the island from a safe distance.

“She’s been serious for the last year-and-a-half.” The witch pointed out.

“Well, as serious as she ever gets. I’m not sure if she’s gotten truly serious in a long time. Everyone will be well aware when that happens, and usually that only happens when a lot of people are about to die. You’ll be able to tell by the amount of screaming.” Envy retorted easily. She'd noticed the sudden change in her old rival almost as soon as it had happened. And if Wrath was getting serious, then so should she. She'd only been training heavily for a little over a year, and even if her preparations had not been as thorough as Wrath's, she'd also managed to reach the ninth rank as a Qi user.

As the trio was quiet for a moment, Envy turned towards the witch. “Ok, this has been bothering me for a while, but what’s your connection with her?” She couldn’t help but ask, and even Valor turned his head towards the two in curiosity.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The witch teased with a light smile, or at least so it seemed as she was still covered with illusions, but the looks she got from the other two made her clear her throat and get more serious. “It’s…complicated. Suffice to say that we’ve met in previous lifetimes. Usually in the ones where she’s been a mortal. We’re…family of sorts.”

“How come I’ve never heard about you?” Envy kept asking.

“You probably have. You just don’t know it. That’s about the extent of what I’m willing to say.” The witch shot the line of questioning down.

“So…should we disturb her? She seems to be in the middle of something.” Valor turned back towards the island. They knew the one gathering all that power had already gone through one rank increase, reaching rank seven, and was approaching the eighth rank.

“She’s been like that for months. Now is as good a time as any. Although, I suppose we might as well ask Zuellni first.” Envy pointed at the tower spirit that had noticed their presence and was floating down towards them.

“What can I do for you maggo-, I mean nuisances.” The spirit asked with a vexed tone of voice.

“Maggots?” Valor’s eyebrow shot up. He’d been called many things, but it had been a while since anyone had called him that.

“You know, nuisances isn’t much better.” The witch pointed out, more amused than insulted.

“If the shoe fits…” Zuellni just shrugged. She had never cared too much for others besides Gem and her master. And the occasional visitor that provided entertainment.

“We have news for your master.” Envy got to the point. She knew they could spend the entire day playing with the spirit, but she wanted to get back to her own cultivation.

“Can it wait?” Zuellni looked back towards the island. “Master is almost ready to make her next Awakening.”

“Scary speed.” Valor muttered a bit quietly.

"It can, but not very long. Your master has let it be known she's looking for certain types of people. We've got news of two of them together. And we can't say for sure how long they'll stick around. The longer we wait, the bigger the chance the people will leave." Envy explained. She knew Wrath was looking for certain reincarnators, though she didn't know why.

Zuellni considered the situation for a moment before coming to a decision. “Three days. Master will make her breakthrough in three days. Come back then, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to oblige you then.” Then without any further time wasted on pleasantries, the spirit returned to her place above the island.

“Hmm, I was worried she’d need longer. Three days should be fine considering how fast the tower can travel between worlds.” The witch nodded.

------

As the three days grew towards the end, the tower above the island started moving seemingly without prompting. Those that had the ability to follow the flow of magic could see that the power flowing towards the island had reached a critical point, and the tower was simply moving out of the way. "She's about to have a breakthrough!" Valor called out to the other two, suddenly bringing all of them to attention.

“What do you think it will be this time?” Envy asked eagerly. “The last time she went with a sea monster, and the resulting tsunami did a number on the nearby coastlines.”

“Didn’t she Awaken some sort of Scylla bloodline?” Valor also asked.

"Yes. I got Gem to explain the reasoning while Wrath worked on the gateway. Despite there being water-related bloodlines that seem more obviously powerful in a fight, she picked the Scylla for three rather important reasons. The first and most obvious one was that Scylla were much more skilled at wielding the element as part of their magic than almost any other. Secondly, a little-known fact, Scylla were related to Hydras, what with the hydra-head tentacles instead of feet and all, and shared the Hydra's ability to regenerate. It seems she's been taking some hits in this life and wanted to improve her ability to recover from injuries. The third reason had something to do with Scylla's allure and voice, though I didn't quite follow her reasoning there." The witch explained.

“Ah, I think I know. She has this extremely twisted and powerful ability known as Song of Khali. It’s really one of the nastiest, or alternatively the most pleasurable, abilities I’ve ever seen. And believe me, I’ve seen a lot. Let’s just say that the one time I got to utilize that ability as well wasn’t pretty. I think I wiped out an entire city without even trying.” Envy didn’t get queasy easily, but even she got shivers remembering that night. Her ability as the Sin of Envy allowed her to steal other people’s abilities, and she’d never steal that ability again. The sight had been so gruesome that she almost got sick thinking about it. Not a nice way to go.

"That's…I don't suppose it was a city full of evildoers?" Valor asked with a tone that implied he was hoping against hope but knew it was a futile wish. Envy didn't even bother responding, instead being content smiling sadly. She'd known and liked many of the people that had died that night.

“I’m guessing something to do with air or earth. She has water and fire already covered of the basic elements. Would make sense if she tried getting the entire set.” The witch changed the subject back to the earlier guessing game.

“Why not light or dark?” Valor asked.

“She doesn’t need the help there.” Envy covered her melancholy with a mirthless laugh. “I’m pretty sure she’s planning on something to do with air. She already has earth somewhat covered with Titan bloodline, though that’s more metal and lightning.”

Before they had the opportunity to speculate further, Karna’s form shot straight into the air, leaving behind a trail of glowing energy that slowly dissipated. She climbed up above the cloud cover before all the air in the surroundings seemed to start rotating around her just as the magical vortex had earlier. Soon she found herself in the heart of an enormous tornado that would've devastated the island below if not for the magical shield protecting it.

The three reincarnators stared in fascination as all the elemental energy of air was sucked into a single point before it exploded outwards, revealing the form of what looked like a mix between a bird and a serpent. The creature was also enormous. Large enough that they couldn’t even tell how big it was. The wings of colorful feathers seemed to extend from one horizon to the other, while the scaled serpentine body, also covered in a riot of colorful scales, was longer and thicker than many serpentine dragons.

“Motherfucker, she doesn’t do things halfway, does she?!” Envy cackled, clearly having regained her humor.

“Is that a Kun-Peng?” Valor asked with a frown, his constant smile disappearing for a short moment. “It’s the weirdest Kun-Peng I’ve ever seen, though granted I haven’t seen more than a handful.”

"Yes, well, Kun-Peng do come in several varieties like most other mythical beasts. The standard variety has the body of a fish and the wings of course from a bird of some sort. The more powerful and rarer varieties have serpentine bodies, though those wings seem to come from either a Coatl or even a Quetzalcoatl." The witch went into lecture mode, and the two others could almost imagine her adjusting a pair of glasses.

“She went for the jackpot by going for the Beast of Apocalypse version. Not a huge surprise as she already had the form of a Vanagandr, so why not go for another one.” Envy had seen the form before, used by Wrath in fact.

The enormous Kun-Peng above them flapped its wings once and cleared the storms its birth had created, making them vanish almost immediately. Then the creature shrunk down to a more manageable size before approaching the trio. As it approached, they all felt a pressure from a Domain pushing down on them, which they canceled out by activating their own. Despite shrinking down, the Kun-Peng was still almost a hundred meters long with a wingspan of twice that as it got close. “Ah, Envy, Valor, and Hope. Zuellni informed me you were here.” Her voice came out as a rumble that would’ve scared most people to death.

“Hope?!” Envy and Valor turned to look at the witch in shock.

“What? You already had two Sins and a Virtue present. Did you really think karma, the fickle bitch, could resist bringing two and two together?” The witch shrugged.

“No offense, but Hope is not the word I would associate with the abilities you’ve been using so far. Or the way you’ve been acting.” Valor commented, remembering the time they first met during the test, where the witch had used poisons and all sorts of hideous creatures to attack and even kill his temporary allies.

“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” Envy realized. “You’re trying to do the same Wrath’s been doing. You’re trying to bury the Name Hope by having everyone recognize you by another Name.” She also realized that she was single-handedly destroying Wrath’s attempts to bury that Name, but she didn’t care. She was…if not proud of her Sin, then at least of the special category that Name put her, and she didn’t want Wrath looking down on that. Embracing and controlling your Sin was better than running away from it.

“Sharp girl. I’ve noticed that the Name we see when we check others is not entirely random. Our expectations have something to do with it, along with how recognized a Name is. If people expect to see a Name that fits a witch, that’s what they’ll see most of the time. And the more people recognize me by that Name, the less likely it is anyone sees Hope.” Hope nodded and then turned towards Karna. “That’s partially why every time I see someone that looks anything like her, be it mortal or otherwise, I expect Wrath. Even I don’t know most of her Names. Besides, the Name Hope is almost as old as her Wrath. Plenty of things have changed since then.”

“Don’t let the Name fool you. Hope is without a doubt one of the more dangerous and ancient reincarnators in existence. Even older than you Envy. That isn’t to say the Name is inaccurate.” Karna rumbled again. She didn’t bother correcting the witch that her Wrath was eons older. Time had very little meaning when talking about such long periods anyway.

“Well, I wouldn’t have gotten it if I lost hope easily.” The witch shrugged. “Anyway, we’re here for a reason. Wrath, you were looking for certain people. We’ve gotten word of two of them together. Well, not together but on the same world.”

“I’m interested. I need to get out anyway to let my new power settle.” That’s why she’d spent enough time to finish the gateway after her previous Awakening. That, and she’d promised to complete the project.

“Three rather large empires were competing over the control of a planet that was created by the Expansion. The competition was mostly straightforward and honest without turning too ugly. They might have even been able to come to an agreement about sharing the place. Then things suddenly turned ugly. It took the three parties a while to find out why, as the empires back home had certainly not authorized things getting so bad, but apparently the Underworld had gotten involved. You know how the Underworld is. They don’t have the direct power of the other Scourges, so they often use more insidious means. Once they were discovered though, the other Scourges were happy to jump in. Things were getting dire, so our two targets also showed their power, which they’d been hiding until now.” Valor took over the role of explaining things. This was more his forte, which allowed him to regain his equilibrium and smile.

Valor had been quite forthright in the fact that he had informed the goddess that had found Wrath about certain things, but he’d also hidden the more important details. Such as the fact that she was Wrath. He’d used the age-old technique of giving a lot of information without actually giving anything truly useful. Karna had understood, as he had no reason to lie for her. He’d taken a neutral stance in essence. Now he was making up for it as recompense.

“So what’s this about?” Envy asked.

“The spirits asked me to deal with these people because they’re harming the elemental planes. A bargain was struck.” The still large Kun-Peng explained curtly. “Judging by the presence of the Scourges, this is outside Ysendra’s sphere of influence.”

“Yes. it’s a bit of a risk, but at least you’ve been informed. What you do with the information is your choice.” Hope summarized. If Valor hadn’t been present, she wouldn’t have bothered with the illusions. Ironically, she trusted her fellow Virtue less than the two Sins.

"Of course I'm going. I almost hope some immortal will be silly enough to come and pick a fight. Things won't go quite so easily for them anymore." The Kun-Peng's mouth was split into what looked like a savage grin as a building-sized row of teeth was revealed.

“Well, we do have four people here more than capable of fighting against immortals on an equal or superior ground.” Hope nodded. “This also sounds interesting enough that I want to join in.”

“Sure. Why not?” Envy asked rhetorically, even though it was obvious she was eager to go. She’d always loved getting into trouble with Wrath. The results were always hilarious and at least interesting.

Valor just gave a small sigh and nodded. He was now picking a side, and what better side than joining together with other Virtues. Even if it meant joining hands with the Sins as well.

Chapter 97 - Sonic Insect Annihilator

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”That doesn’t look very good.” Valor commented dryly.

They were looking at their destination through an illusory projection devised to make use of the Tower's sensors, a mix of both magical and mundane. The illusion showed a throng of demons in the process of surrounding the world and swarming around it like insects. It also seemed like calling what was happening swarming wasn’t an exaggeration, as it seemed like a huge portion of the demons seemed to be insectoid in nature and tiny in size. Once the illusion zoomed in, three spots around the world showed glowing domes of energy holding back the swarm, but otherwise the world was lost and the demonic insects were in the process of consuming everything living. It seemed that all three of the involved empires had created a holdout point of some sort, but it was unclear if they were just trying to stay alive, or if they were waiting for reinforcements or the completion of some sort of plan. And areas outside the three domes were a lost cause at this point.

“These insectoid demons are also new. I haven’t seen their kind in this universe before.” Hope had focused mostly on the enemy instead of the survivors.

“That’s because it’s not something that has been seen since ancient times. It’s not actually an almost endless wave of insectoid demons. It’s an example of a very special type of demon. A swarm-that-walks. All those supposedly demonic insects are just small parts of a single, more powerful demon. Or in this case three.” Karna didn’t mention that the last time these demons had been active, the fourth Scourge had also been around.

“You said these people you’re looking for would most likely end up dead by your hands, right? Seems like the demons are doing the job for you.” Envy pointed out. The obvious implication was to leave them to it.

“You would condemn all the people sheltering within those defensive formations to death, just to get at two people?” Valor asked with a bit of displeasure in his voice, and his smile got a little frosty.

"Those people wouldn't weigh heavy on my conscience. They're expeditionary forces from competing empires. There's likely not a single one I'd call an innocent among them. They came here to explore and take over a dangerous area to gain their own empire an advantage. They all knew they were taking a risk, all for some potential for greatness and resources. Opportunities are always accompanied by risk. They’re not exactly refugee camps Valor my dear, just like you weren’t an innocent after you decided to take part in the tournament.” Envy countered easily. Not that it would bother her all that much even if they were innocents.

“That doesn’t mean they can’t be good people. I agree to an extent with the principle of ‘If you live by the sword, you die by the sword’, but there’s a good chance many of those are builders, pioneers, and support personnel, not just warriors and explorers. If we can help them, we should. Especially if it doesn’t come at a large cost to us.” Valor argued reasonably.

“The point is slightly moot anyway, as there are several problems with just leaving them to the demons.” Karna decided to stop the argument from getting bigger, partially because Hope was giving her the look that told her that the Virtue knew she could and should end it. “The most obvious one is that we can’t really allow the world to fall into the hands of the Inferno. Even if we don’t care about the world or the empires involved generally, it’s bad for the Scourges to gain another world. Especially the swarms. Secondly, unless we get to see them in action, we can’t tell if the ones we seek are still present from where we are. Identifying a bunch of bones won’t work, and the swarms won’t leave behind an intact corpse for us to identify. I won’t make the mistake of assuming them dead, just to later find out that they left before things got this bad.”

“That’s good and all, but how are we going to deal with that?” Envy pointed at the swarm. “I don’t keep an army in my pocket, and truth be told my powers aren’t really suited for fighting against a bajillion tiny targets. I’m more of a hunter and a duelist.” Envy could of course deal with numbers to an extent, but this was a bit out of her field of expertise. She couldn’t even use subterfuge or scheming to confuse the enemy, another one of her favored methods, as the enemy was effectively mindless. It wasn’t like she was incapable of dealing with a threat like this, but the amount of effort she’d need to expend vastly exceeded what her rival would have to do, so she left it to the experts.

“I can defend us, and tear a chunk out of the swarms, but this is a bit…” Valor’s expertise was in battles between armies, and while he could use his Domain to deal some real damage, the enemy seemed likely to not run out of forces before he ran out of power. He could also ask for a more direct miracle from the gods, but he got the sense that Wrath really didn’t want to draw any divine attention at the moment.

“Hmm, my effectiveness is a bit better than these two, but it would be challenging to deal with the swarms while not affecting the people inside the protective fields as well. Strategic level magic tends to be target-agnostic after all.” Hope was a magician and could do horrific things with high-ranking spells, However, if she did something like dropping a meteor swarm on the bugs, she’d also hit the ones they were planning on avoiding. And that assumed the swarms didn’t have ways to defend against her spells. After all, it would be foolish to assume the swarms had no ways of dealing with that kind of magic as it was an obvious weakness of theirs. Any sensible enemy would try to come up with ways to counter obvious weaknesses.

“I have a way to deal with this. You don’t need to use a sledgehammer to kill a bug.” Karna reassured the others. This was her field of expertise.

“Could the tower deal with this? I seem to remember some spirit bragging.” Envy teased Zuellni a bit. As far as opportunities went, this was just too perfect to pass up on.

“I could deal with this easily!” Zuellni puffed her chest, before deflating a bit. “It’s going to take a while though. These demons can’t get past my defenses, but if they spread out, they’ll be able to diffuse the effectiveness of my weapons.”

The turrets of the tower were designed to slug it out with either a small number of heavy targets, or a larger number of lighter ones, but they were designed to be used against humanoid sized targets at the smallest, and they were definitely not optimized to kill trillions of tiny insects. Especially if the insects were smart enough to spread so that only a few of them would be hit with every beam. The main cannon was just about useless against tiny targets like these, as it was horrific overkill. And as much as Zuellni considered overkill to be the best kind of kill…

“I’ll take care of it. Or at least part of it. Just because we might want to give the people down there a bit of help, that doesn’t mean we want to do all the work for them.” Karna waved away Zuellni’s worry. She had an idea that suited the situation perfectly.

With a quick teleport, she was outside the ship. The sides of her face and neck were covered by small purple scales, and the colorful wings from her recent Awakening as Kun-Peng were on her back. She was starting to reach a point where using the advantages of her different Awakenings together for the best effect was getting viable. The wings were out for a very simple purpose. Despite its size, the Kun-Peng was known for its speed, reaching the kind of speeds that very few beings in existence could match. And it could do so from standing still, meaning the speed was combined with instant acceleration. The important thing, in this case, was that she could use that speed to also accelerate the magical effects she created, which would be something she needed to make her plan viable.

Tiny and weak targets like the swarms could easily be killed with a small application of force, but the trick was to hit all of them before they could react or adjust to your attack. She used her relatively new Scylla bloodline to create a simple sonic attack that would be enough to crumble any of the bugs it came in contact with, but not strong enough to penetrate the defensive barriers of the survivors. Then she overcharged the part of the spell that governed the area affected and accelerated the resulting sonic wave with the power of the Kun-Peng.

To everyone else it looked like she’d just opened her mouth to scream before a circular shockwave was shot out, expanding to cover the entire world and traveling across it in a couple of seconds. By the time the shockwave reached the other side of the world, and the final stragglers of the swarms, those hit first were already exploding into bits of goo, and the rest soon followed. In a matter of seconds, the swarms that had covered almost the entirety of the world had been wiped out. Karna couldn’t help a small smirk of satisfaction. This was what you could do with enough power and proper tools. A little bit of ingenuity was better than a whole lot of power if you used it well.

Of course, the shockwave hadn’t wiped out all the demons. The swarms were made up of more than just tiny demonic insects, as there were thousands of higher ranking insectoid monsters present as well, and there were also demons aside from the three swarms on this world. However, 99,9% present of the demonic numbers had been wiped away in an instant. And like she’d said before, they weren’t here to wipe out the demons in place of the three empires hunkering behind the shields. She’d simply given them a fighting chance.

“That was quite impressive.” Hope commended her as she teleported back inside the tower. “You killed only the enemies you wanted, and nothing more. Now that you showed me that trick, I’m already getting a lot of good ideas on how to deal with similar situations in the future.” In truth, she could’ve dealt with the bugs as well, but she wanted to see how Wrath would do it.

“A wave attack of some sort seems like the obvious answer in retrospect.” Valor also nodded in agreement. Now that he’d been given the idea, he was already figuring out ways to replicate the effect, even if on a smaller scale.

"The lazybums are getting their act together and attacking the remaining demons." Envy announced with her eyes locked on the illusory display. She hadn't doubted Wrath for a second. She'd already gotten used to the fact that her old friend and rival was an omni-tool of sorts that could deal with almost any situation given enough time and preparation. "It seems that with the swarms gone, they've managed to find the remains of their dignity they had misplaced earlier.”

"Any sign of our targets?" Karna asked.

“Not yet. They’re only beginning. We’ll have to keep an eye out.” Envy shook her head. Their information sources had provided them with pretty good descriptions of their targets and their abilities and Zuellni was monitoring everyone on the world below. Now that the shields were gone, locating their targets was only a matter of time.

“Should we keep helping? Instead of fighting the two empires our targets are from, we might be able to negotiate something in exchange for the two if we provide additional help.” Valor pointed out. The chance that the two empires would sell out their people even to the ones that had saved their hides was rather slim, but it was still there.

“I’d say we’re better off letting them exhaust what power they have left before swooping in and taking out our targets. If we’re lucky, the demons might get one or even both of them.” Envy provided a counterpoint, as Karna had come to expect. Both were ruthlessly practical, but Valor tended towards more honorable action, while Envy had no such qualms. She’d use any and all methods within her reach. Interestingly Karna was somewhere between the two in her own methods. No one could accuse her of being too dogmatic with her ways, while some would even call her inconsistent.

“There’s nothing that says we can’t do both. Contact the two empires once we spot our targets and say that we can provide assistance in exchange for the two. We could also imply that refusal will likely result in us becoming enemies.” Hope seemed to be willing to go with both plans.

“Let’s go with that.” Karna agreed. “We don’t want to antagonize these empires for no reason. We aren’t exactly incognito, and we don’t want to make enemies that will come back to haunt us unless necessary.”

-----

“They want what?” The leader of the Bandahir forces demanded angrily, while at the same time sending a wave of Qi crashing down on one of the larger demons remaining. Even his hooves itched with the remains of the bugs crushed under them.

"Your Highness, they want the young master." The heavily armored messenger reported. He’d been sent to both greet and thank the people from the weird vessel floating above them. Four powerful beings had disembarked on beams of light, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that this group was responsible for dealing with the demonic swarms earlier.

“They want my son? Why in the scourges name would they want my son for?” The Duke was barely able to contain his anger at the impudence. They might have helped his forces, even saved all of their lives, but this was just too brazen.

"You might want to ask your son about that." A female voice with enough power and gravitas to demand immediate attention replied. The Duke's head snapped around, almost allowing a blow from a nearby demon to land on him in his distraction. He wasn't usually so careless, but the voice clearly belonged to a greater threat, and that threat had managed to sneak upon him.

He was shocked to see the entire group of four only a few steps away, and he couldn’t sense how strong they were. That worried him greatly. The one who had spoken was the divinely beautiful woman at the front of the group. That wasn’t a good sign. A Godling. Were the Divine Planes involved? “You have a lot of gall asking for my son and threatening us in the process.”

"Your son, huh. I can see how you'd be reticent about that. I do wonder though if you'd be equally incensed if we had asked for another member of your group. Rather hypocritical of you if not.” Another woman, this time a feline beastwoman, had a small smirk on her face as she spoke. She too seemed quite attractive in a more wild and untamed fashion. The group clearly didn’t believe they were in any danger. And judging by how they had dealt with the swarms, there was a good reason for it.

The leading woman gestured for the smirking one to tone it down. “The fact remains that we traded the lives of your entire group for the life of one member of your group. And we weren’t asking. We will be taking the person we’re after, whether you agree or not. The only question is, do we have to waste his sacrifice and kill the rest of you as well.” The woman was practically oozing confidence, and why wouldn’t she be?

“Why do you want the young master?” The old advisor to the duke, another Centaur like most of their group, asked the important question again. His mage’s staff was glowing in preparation in case they had to fight the newcomers as well.

“Like we already told you. The person we’re looking for knows.” The woman refused to elaborate. The advisor gave a signal to have the young master fetched just in case he would be able to explain.

“Stop dancing around the issue and tell us! What do you want with my son?!” The duke insisted angrily. He wasn’t going to relent.

“I think you might have a slight misunderstanding. The fact that he’s your son is irrelevant to us. We have no interest in who the person we’re looking for is related to. The important thing isn’t who they are, but what they’ve done.” The woman elaborated slightly. “If the person really is your son, then that’s too bad for you, but at least the rest of your group will survive.”

“Father?” A relatively young male centaur galloped to join them, having heard the tail end of the woman’s words. You could sense a strong aura of stability and strength radiating from him. You could feel that he was almost as immovable as a mountain.

"Son, they're claiming to be here for you, and that you know why." The duke asked.

The young centaur looked confused for a moment, but they all saw it in his eyes when he suddenly thought of something. He wasn’t going to admit to anything though. “I have no idea what they are talking about.” He denied.

The woman made a condescending smile. “Your son has been warned against doing something several times, and he has ignored those warnings. He’s also been informed that there would be consequences to his actions. He chose to ignore those warnings. Well, now his actions have brought those consequences to you.”

"What is she talking about son?" The duke didn't want to believe, but for some reason, he knew inside his heart that the woman was not lying.

The young centaur’s eyes flashed a bit, and the four people smiled a bit as they felt their True Names being discovered. The young centaur blanched and his face went white. “Father, these…aren’t the sort of people you want to go against. Do not fight them. Do not seek revenge. This is my last request.”

"What is it, son?" The duke asked quietly. He had some idea. He'd never seen his son this scared before. Normally the boy was unflappable. Yet his son clearly knew something, and that something was enough to make him scared out of his wits.

His son looked at the four as if asking for permission and getting a shake of a head in response. "Just remember my words father.” He directed his next words to the four strangers. “If I come quietly, will you make it quick?”

“There can be some consideration given to those that don’t repeat their sin by fighting back by using the exact power they were warned against using." The leading woman promised without elaborating.

“Sin. Hah.” The duke’s son said mirthlessly. “I will come. Please help our people in return.”

With savage grins, three of the four strangers spread out to deal with the demons, while the leader extended a hand to the duke’s son in invitation before they both disappeared as a series of metallic rings surrounded them and whisked them away.

Chapter 98 - So that happened...

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

”The target is not here. I’ve checked every living person among the three groups of survivors and even scanned for additional life-signs, but I haven’t found her.” Zuellni reported, clearly upset and pouting at her own failure.

“And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we don’t let the demonic insects just om-nom-nom all the survivors in order to keep our own hands clean. The target managed to slip out, and we would’ve been ignorant of that fact if we hadn’t intervened.” Karna said a little smugly, even if the news was not good.

"You're getting way too much pleasure out of this." Envy shot back grumpily while folding her arms across her chest.

“I can’t help the fact that I’m always right.” Karna’s grin widened as she teased the other Sin.

“What I want to know is, why are we keeping the centaur alive?” Valor questioned. “You wanted him dead, so now’s your chance.”

“It’s not quite that simple. The deal wasn’t just about killing them. I want to deal with both of them at the same time. For that to happen though, we have to find the other one. Until then, we’ll be keeping him around.” Karna explained.

What she didn’t mention was that she didn’t want to utilize her power as the Reaper more than once. It always gave the wrong people the opportunity to locate her when she did use it. And she also didn’t want the others around when she did do it. She wasn’t going to spread that particular identity around any more than necessary. Envy might’ve already had suspicions, and she had no idea how much Hope knew, but at least Valor wasn’t aware, and she’d like to keep it that way. The Virtue might feel compelled to do something about it if he knew. It was hard to tell with the supposed virtuous types. If they were young enough, they tended to be more chivalric and traditionally virtuous, but the older they got, the more insane and unpredictable they also became.

“Can we even keep him imprisoned? You told me the issue with him is that he's drawing power directly from the elemental plane of earth, which kind of suggests that he's an expert on that element. Imprisoning earth mages is always hard, as the very floor they sit on is made up of their favorite element, and they can easily draw power from the ground. Any metal shackles are only half as effective, as the element of metal is deeply tied to earth.” Valor explained his concern. “He might have submitted to us easily, but that was partly because his associates were around to become collateral damage. If he thinks he’s going to die anyway, then there’s no risk in trying to make his escape now.”

They were currently above the world they found the centaur on and were trying to locate the other target. "He's not connected to earth though," Karna stated, and made a flippant gesture with her hand, bringing up a view of the cell holding the centaur, located deep inside the tower.

“Is that entire thing made of hard-light constructs and magical barriers?” Envy asked, slightly impressed. She had more than enough faith in her old rival, but it was still impressive to see. “You saw this coming, didn’t you?”

“Not this exactly, but I like to be prepared for anything. I have specialized cells for each element.” Karna had built the cell to suppress any magical abilities and dimensional powers, which would be required to draw strength from elemental planes. Every single one of her targets would by necessity have to have at least some skill and affinity with spatial, and by extension dimensional, magic to access the other planes. Even if that skill was limited to just the single plane they had accessed and nothing else.

"Hope wishes to come on board," Zuellni reported. No one could teleport on the ship without the spirit's say so. They could try, but they wouldn’t like the results.

“Let her.” Karna gave the permission. Zuellni was slightly tempted to just allow the witch to get mangled by the defenses, but couldn’t, and didn’t want to, go against her master’s wishes.

“Good news and bad news.” Hope stated as soon as she was brought on board. “The good news is that I managed to find out where the target was traveling when leaving this place. She was wounded, so the odds are that she’s still there, being treated by the healers for severe magical poisoning. Here’s the downside. The world we need to travel to is pretty far from both here and your safe zone, and it has an Emissary present.”

“That’s…less than optimal.” Karna tapped the console next to her seat in thought. She didn’t get far before a warning blared on one of the consoles, and a holographic projection of the world they were orbiting suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.

“We’ve got incoming, and the space around the world has been locked down! The demons are back.” Zuellni warned in an almost enthusiastic voice. She wanted to shoot something, and the demons just offered new targets.

The image showed a crack in space and a throng of demons was pouring through that crack. They also saw that the remaining demons on the world below drew away from the world to meet their reinforcements. Among them were three very distinct figures, all of them much taller than normal demons, and in one case extremely bloated. One was clad in dark leather armor and a heavy coat with only a pair of glowing eyes showing from beneath the hood, with locusts spinning around the figure, slipping in and out from under the hood. The second being was a bloated husk of a roughly Balor-looking demon seemingly made of patches of hundreds of other demons. The last one looked like a swarm of butterflies had taken a humanoid shape, while also wearing bright and colorful clothes, making no effort to hide its nature.

Importantly though, all three of the swarm demons were gesturing in their direction judging by the display. “That doesn’t look like friendly and positive kind of pointing us out.” Envy commented.

“Well, didn’t you complain earlier that you had been feeling useless in previous fights? Well, now’s your chance to make up for it. There are plenty of targets for you to kill. Assuming we’re staying around to fight? I know we could run with this tower.” Hope glanced towards Karna.

“And leave the ones below to their deaths?” Valor questioned, once again unwilling to forsake the innocent.

“We don’t owe them anything. Besides, didn’t they all mention that they have reinforcements coming? Eventually.” Envy argued. She wasn’t feeling the whole goody-two-shoes act. She also knew her old rival could go either way depending on mood and influences.

“Why do I feel we’ve had this argument before?” Hope asked sarcastically.

“Because we have, and the same reason why we should intervene holds true. Allowing the Inferno to take this world is not a good idea. However, there’s now an additional wrinkle. If the people down there have called for reinforcements, then the Emissary you mentioned earlier has been informed. Even if he hasn’t, the Host should already be aware of what’s going on and will be reacting. We don’t want to be here when the Host shows up. We just want to slow the enemy down before we leave. So, get out there and make a mess, while I’ll make sure we can make a hasty exit, while keeping an eye on any arrivals.” Karna ordered.

She started working on the spatial locking, while outside three Domains popped into existence. Envy dealt decisive blows to the most powerful enemies present, removing the leadership of the enemy, while Hope rained death and destruction on the rank-and-file by taking the idea of wave spells Karna had reminded her of and running with it. Valor in turn took care of the defense, and any retaliation sent their way met an impenetrable barrier of holy power. Zuellni added to the mess by cheerfully firing the tower’s regular weapons at anything that wandered too close.

Despite the damage they took, the swarm demons proved to be the most tenacious enemies of the entire horde. They were not as dangerous to the group offensively, although the one made of butterflies seemed to be a rather competent mage as well, but they seemed to be impossible to kill. They showed the natural swarm ability to adapt to anything thrown their way, and they could easily sacrifice parts of themselves to save what was important, regenerating any lost parts by creating more insects. By the time the group was ready to leave, only the patchwork swarm had been killed for good by the combined efforts of Hope and Envy. Weirdly, that swarm had been the one that had the most familiar method of combat, trying to engage in standard melee, perhaps showing that it was the one that had not completely embraced the swarm-style of combat, unlike the other two.

“Time to go!” Karna messaged the trio as she sensed both reinforcements and the Host approaching. Thanks to her increased rank, she could now better support the senses that came with her powerful soul, so she could sense their approach well before their arrival. This despite the speed at which the immortals of the Host moved.

The trio didn’t hesitate as they quickly got on board before Karna used her own spatial magic to tear apart the power locking down the area. The methods for spatial locking were widely known and practiced, but few people actually knew how to effectively counter them. Partially that was because it took a lot more effort and at least a decent affinity with spatial magic, which was one of the rarer types of affinities. Most mages knew how to chuck a fireball, but few knew how to tear space apart to allow passage between two places. Some of that was because the physics involved with the latter were much harder to understand. It also required thinking outside the box, something most people were not good at.

The tower vanished from orbit, and Zuellni guided them away from the approaching reinforcements, which meant that they’d have to take a bit of a detour if they wanted to reach the world their target had been transported to. “So, are we going after the other one?” Envy asked, grinning wildly after the battle with the demons. She was almost as bad as Zuellni sometimes. Only one of the reasons they got along.

“Yes, I suppose we have to. We’ll have to make our approach a lot more discreet. A quick infiltration ending up with an abduction.” Karna hadn’t forgotten to consider the issue while dealing with the demonic problem.

“Doesn’t seem like a great solution, but if we must.” Valor agreed. He had also deduced this to be the most efficient strategy. At least it beats any plan that involved slaughtering their way to their target.

-----

“Have I mentioned that I hate aquatic worlds?” Envy snarked while her head was surrounded by a bubble of air, with magical runes filtering oxygen out of the surrounding water.

"Once or twice," Karna replied idly while focusing on the glowing dot on her holographic map. She’d simply assumed her newish Scylla form with hydra-headed purple tentacles instead of legs coming out of her waist.

"In the last five minutes." Valor resignedly added. At this point, he was quite sure Envy kept saying it just because she knew it annoyed him. He was wearing a glowing helmet that took care of his breathing.

“Could be worse. We could be forced into fighting sea monsters while we’re out diving like this.” Hope had simply cast a spell that allowed her to breathe underwater.

“Monsters like that?” Envy asked while she shot an arrow made of Qi from her bow. The ornate bow glowed with magic, and the Qi arrow shot with a speed that even the group had trouble following before striking down a large shark-like creature.

“That hardly counts as a monster.” Hope waved the concern away. “A real sea monster has to be at least the size of a whale.”

“Like that one?” Valor didn’t attack the monster, simply pointing below them in the dark water, where they could see an enormous eel three times the size of a whale.

“Eeeeeh…” Hope gave an uncertain wave with her hand. “So how much further?”

They hadn’t been too happy to find out that their target had escaped to a world entirely covered in water. Only a couple of tiny atolls were on the surface, while their target was definitely on them. Zuellni had tracked the target deep down into one of the underwater cities. "We're in the right spot, but we'll have to go deeper. A lot deeper. Naturally, the city is on the bottom." Karna replied while studying the map.

“So, if the last guy was drawing power from the elemental plane of earth, please tell me this one isn’t doing the same to the plane of water. Because it would suck to fight someone like that under a bloody ocean.” Envy asked hopefully.

“Sorry to disappoint, but my reports told me the target excels with water magic.” Hope crushed that dream rather mercilessly. “In fact, they described her flinging around water magic, and notably blood magic, as if she had limitless power. Which tracks if she’s drawing power from the elemental plane.”

"Oh great. So not just a water mage, but a blood mage as well?" Envy complained. She loved beaches, and she loved little dips in the water, but underwater fighting was miserable. Fighting underwater was much more challenging than fighting on land or air, as water resistance and currents made many things absurdly more difficult.

“Remember to keep your power around you protectively, to make sure she can’t just tear away the blood inside you.” Valor warned, having fought vampires in the past several times. Blood magic could be highly annoying to deal with.

“Ah! We’re about to arrive.” Karna suddenly announced, and was proven right as they rounded another coral formation before laying their eyes on the underwater city below.

The city had a soft and warm orange glow about it, dispelling the deep darkness at the bottom of an ocean. The city fit the surroundings well with most of the buildings being made of coral and blending in with the terrain. Most of the city was completely submerged, but certain sections of it had been lifted on large pillars planted into the bottom of the ocean, and these sections on the pillars were covered in softly glowing power fields that kept the water away. The city as a whole had a very organic and natural feel to it, and it wasn’t a huge city either, hinting at the fact that it probably wasn’t the main city of the empire controlling most of this world.

“How do they keep the sea monsters away? I don’t see too much in the way of defenses.” Envy pointed out.

"They might not have to." Valor provided a potential answer. "As Hope said, we didn't see too many monsters on the way here, and the ones we did see seemed rather passive all things considered. There’s a decent chance that they don’t need defenses against the sea monsters, because the sea monsters are the defense.”

“It seems the city isn’t just for aquatic races.” Hope pointed at the sections on the pillars, as the group hid behind the edge of the cliff. “I can see some kind of shark people, Sahuagin, Nautolans, a handful of Sea Elves, some type of lizard race, and a smattering of weirder species like Scylla like Wrath, but I can’t see inside the domes. No idea if there are any terrestrial races.”

“The elves really do get everywhere. They get adjusted to all living conditions.” Even Valor had to shake his head in exasperation. “In some universes I’ve lived in, they’re a dying species, but here they seem to be everywhere. Usually not in large numbers, but…”

“Zuellni, where’s our target?” Karna decided to focus on the reason they were here.

The spirit appeared next to her master. “The last sighting was in the medical clinic in the central pillar. Incidentally, the domes aren’t really for non-aquatic races. They’re for facilities that work better while not subject to the salty water of the ocean. Or for recreation for people that enjoy getting out of the water for a time.”

“Well shit. How exactly are we supposed to get to our target without attracting the attention of everyone? I have confidence in my stealth skills under normal circumstances, but this is their natural environment and it’s been ages since the last time I lived under the oceans. I’m not going to claim their guards won’t notice me. And no offense Wrath, but stealth is just not your thing. You’re much better at just showing up and throwing your weight around.”

“We don’t actually have to go through the entire city. Now that we know where our target is supposed to be, we can just make a portal to her." Hope didn't stop to wait and formed a glowing magical door between their current spot and the central pillar. She was even considerate enough to add a charm on the doorway to stop the oceanwater from getting through. Not that the people on the other side appreciated that.

“Guard! Protect the royal family!” An obvious warrior type wearing a shiny scale armor shouted while stepping in front of a male Sea Elf wearing a golden crown.

“Well fuck me sideways. You really picked a room to make the portal to, didn’t you?” Envy wasn’t sure if she should be laughing or crying at their luck.

Chapter 99 - Kidnapping 101

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-----

Another spell splashed against the barrier holding back the furious defenders on the other side. “We come in peace? Really?” Envy asked with an amused tone before throwing a blind blast of Qi back to keep the other side honest.

“Hey, it’s a classic for a reason.” Karna defended herself with a small grin. “Besides, I wasn’t the one who threatened their princess.”

“We all know that it was inevitable. The logic of karma dictates that of course, our target would be, what with the royals present and everything." Hope said defensively this time. "I wasn't the one that went after the wrong princess."

“How was I supposed to know there were two princesses being treated in the same hospital?” Valor argued, the mixed smile of amusement and consternation never leaving his face. “And I only did it after someone already killed several of their guards.”

“What? Don’t try to pin this on me!” Envy exclaimed in clear outrage, of which only 90% was faked. “Was I just supposed to let them arrest us?”

“I think we can all agree this is Hope’s fault.” Karna declared firmly. “She’s the one that opened a portal into a hospital room filled with royals.”

“Hey, you were not against my portal idea. The problem with opening blind portals is that they’re blind!” Hope protested. “I think we can all agree that what happened is only because of bad luck, which means karma, and I’m not the one with the Name Karma, am I? So, bad Karma! Bad!”

“I have good karma too.” Karna pointed out. “And you opened that portal so quick that we didn’t have time to suggest alternatives.”

“I blame Valor. On pure principle.” Envy laughed as another spell hit the barrier.

“You really aren’t taking this with the seriousness it requires.” Valor said, trying to hide his own amusement while taking a quick peek beyond the corner, getting several spells sent his way as a greeting.

“I mean, it’s a bit hard to take it seriously when there’s only a single rank 8 among them, and he’s not exactly the most dangerous individual we’ve seen.” Envy pointed out. Apparently, most of the powerful individuals nearby had been sent along with the reinforcements to relieve the world besieged by demons. “I know it’s not good to underestimate our enemies, but any one of us could kill everyone in this hospital without breaking a sweat. The only reason we haven’t is because we don’t want to. And because it’s more fun this way.”

“It’s all fun and games until the Emissary shows up.” Valor countered.

“Except we all heard their failed attempt to contact him. Or her. They went along with the reinforcements and the Host as well, and they’re not coming back for what they assume to be a shitty assassination attempt by a rival empire.” Hope waved the concern away. They’d overheard the royal family’s magical communications. The problem with such communications without proper equipment was that anyone with enough skill could intercept messages if they knew to expect them.

“So really, we’re just killing time until Zuellni can locate the other princess. Because of course she’d still end up being a royal despite our initial mistake.” Karna nodded in agreement.

“And the only reason I haven’t found her already is because they keep moving her, and because this place doesn’t have a proper surveillance system, magical or otherwise.” Zuellni protested grumpily. “And your little game of cat and mouse isn’t making this easier.” It was surprisingly difficult to locate someone when the tower was located a safe distance away from the planet, which meant any scans Zuellni did had a lag to them due to the distance.

Another small explosion rocked the hospital. “You know, they’re doing more damage to this place than we have. Also, I won’t be able to keep this barrier up forever. They might not be as powerful as any of us, but they’re not complete idiots. They've already figured out that they need to use barrier-breaking spells.” Valor grumbled.

“You could always switch with Wrath again. She’s the expert in Qhaysh. Barriers are kinda her thing.” Envy supplied helpfully.

“Not the point, but thanks.” Valor retorted sarcastically.

“Got her!” Zuellni suddenly called out. “She’s directly below you, eight floors down. A group of four going for a secure room.”

"Oh! Another portal coming up!" Hope announced, and before anyone could stop her, she'd already created another hole in space. They were staring right at three guards escorting a female Nautolan wearing a gown meant for patients. “That her?” Hope asked a little unsure. The previous royals had been Sea Elves.

"That's her," Zuellni confirmed. She didn’t bother explaining the genealogy and harem structure of the royals when two words sufficed.

"Great," Hope said happily, and they quickly jumped through the portal, allowing it to close behind them. She waved her hand in front of her, and the three guards fell to the ground, asleep.

“What do you want?” The light-blue-skinned Nautolan hissed at them with narrowed eyes. She was putting on a brave front, but the fact that she was only around rank 7 didn’t really help. Something they could all easily sense.

Nautolans were an odd species. They all had large black eyes and thick skin meant to deal with the pressure deep underwater. They had two hands and feet, although they had webbed skin between their toes and fingers. Instead of hair, which would've been impractical underwater, they had a mess of quite thick tentacles on top of their large, slightly fishlike heads. One of the things odd about them was the presence of both gills and a normal respiratory system, allowing them to live both on land and water, though they usually preferred deep oceans.

“We are here for you. You know why. You’ve been warned multiple times, and yet you persist in drawing power directly from the elemental plane of water.” Karna declared with a cold voice.

“Is this what the whole thing is about? The spirits finally found a lapdog to do their dirty work, huh? Well, I’m not scared so easily. I may be injured, but you really should’ve considered things before attacking someone who controls the power of water under an ocean!” The woman screeched with a shrill voice and they could sense a great deal of power, for her rank, gathering around her. “Did you know that the average humanoid body is mostly made up of water?” She made a quick gesture towards them, reaching for the blood inside their bodies.

Karna’s eyes turned blood red, her canines grew longer, and a rune seemingly made of blood floated in front of her, suddenly shattering the power that had tried to attack them earlier. “Why, yes. I do know that very well.” Karna grinned, showing off her fangs. “However, I think you have something confused. Just because you have basically an endless supply of power at your disposal, that doesn’t mean you’re good at using it.”

With a gesture, she flicked another bloody rune that hit the Nautolan on her forehead causing her to fall to the ground and scream in pain as the rune seared itself into her flesh. “Ooh, I love it when you get all angry and vengeful on someone.” Envy purred, before getting a bit more serious. “Well. Within limits. We wouldn’t want you getting all Wrathy on us.”

“What does the rune do?” Hope asked curiously. She’d never seen a relatively powerful mage taken out so easily and effectively. Yes, they were all stronger than the woman, but with the support of the elemental plane they should’ve at least had a fight on their hands. Apparently, Wrath had come prepared, despite their initial bumbling.

“It causes the victim’s own blood to attack their magical pathways, making casting spells pretty much impossible, unless you know how to counter it. Oh, and pain. Lots of pain. Sadly, only works on those that practice either blood magic or Thaumaturgy. Normally a person's blood is protected by instinctual defenses. That's how you usually resist what she tried to do to you. However, once you start using your own blood to power magic, that protection dissipates, as otherwise, you couldn't use it yourself either. A little known fact: the best counter to a blood mage is a better and stronger Thaumaturgy expert.” Karna explained.

“Glad this farce is finally over. Can we go now? The people chasing us will be here any minute.” Valor tried to push things along.

"Just a moment," Karna muttered before casting another spell to cut any magical ties the Nautolan had to this place that could be used to track her with scrying spells. "Now we can go. Zuellni, if you would please."

The group, along with their new prisoner, was whisked away by the tower’s teleportation system. Now that they weren’t trying to hide anymore, and now that Hope wasn’t being teleport-happy, they could make a hasty exit that way.

------

Karna gathered the group to the meeting room on her tower. “Ok. There’s something we need to discuss.”

“I’m guessing it has something to do with the fact that you took the two prisoners instead of just killing them like you talked about?” Valor asked, showing once again that he wasn’t stupid.

“That’s part of it, yes, but only a part. What happens to those two is a rather large secret concerning me, and before I can reveal something like that, we have some other matters we need to discuss.” Karna didn’t bother denying his conjecture. “We’re all approaching a point where if we want to continue working together, we’re going to be revealing secrets we’d rather keep hidden.”

“You’re building towards a proposal of some sort. A more permanent type of alliance, perhaps?” Hope realized. She had seen this coming a long time ago. It was actually one of the reasons she’d allied herself with Wrath in the first place, as she had similar plans.

Instead of answering directly, Karna approached the matter from another direction. “Have all of you been reborn in this universe before?”

“I have. Twice.” Envy confirmed easily. “Been a while though.”

“Once.” Valor nodded more carefully.

Hope simply nodded with a small smile, which prompted Karna to continue. “Well, then you’re probably aware that even with the standards of this universe, there’s way too many of our kind being born here. And it’s not a coincidence that so many Sins and Virtues were born so close to each other. The four of us didn’t come together just because of karma, although that played a part. I’m also quite certain that we’ll find at least Pride, Lust, and Gluttony here as well. It’s hard to say for sure if Sloth or the other Virtues are here, but I would not be surprised. There must be a reason behind all this. I’m sure you’ve felt it as well.”

The others murmured in agreement. “It seems like this universe is gearing up for something big.” Hope pointed out thoughtfully.

“I’ve felt that as well. I’m not sure what it’s about, but we wouldn’t all be here, and so close in age otherwise. It’s not entirely uncommon for several Sins to be reborn into the same universe, as it seems we’re strangely drawn to each other, but rarely are we born so close in age.” Envy confirmed.

Valor waved his hand a bit unsurely. “I’ll have to defer to your expertise when it comes to things like that. I’ve known this for a while, and you three keep confirming it with every interaction we have, but I’m obviously not even close to as old as you three are. However, I can say that this whole thing does have a very artificial air about it.”

“Right. And if you’ve reached immortality in this universe before, you’ll know that the power and politics of the Divine Plane should not be underestimated. Which brings me to my main point. We could all benefit from having firm allies at our back. Allies that we can trust, even without keeping a constant eye on each other.” Karna suggested.

“And coincidentally, the sort of allies we would need to be to share the kind of secret you mentioned earlier.” Hope pointed out, bringing them back around.

“Yes. It also happens that we’re relatively close when it comes to reaching the point of Ascension. We could even do it together.” Karna added. She was the lowest rank among them, and even she was at the 8th rank.

“I would’ve laughed at those words a few years ago, when we first met, but you’ve already proven that you can catch up. However, there’s a slight problem. You three know each other well. Or at least the two of you know Wrath well enough to trust her to an extent. I do not share that with you. The kind of trust you’re suggesting requires powerful bonds. Bonds that only build over time over shared goals, shared battles, shared losses, shared joys, shared heartache. Something that requires years if not decades to build at least, and even more for our kind. I'm sensing that this alliance you're suggesting is more immediate. I'm not saying you're not worth such an alliance. I'm simply saying that we do not have that kind of trust between us yet." Valor explained his concerns. He knew the three others would make for powerful allies, but would their interests align enough for them to work together in the long term?

“A fair point. But there is a quicker way to build trust. No, I don’t mean magical oaths. No offense, but I'm skilled enough at magic that I could wiggle out of any oath we’d make.” Karna allayed the fear that had obviously been reflected on Valor’s face.

“And you have Gem.” Envy pointed out.

“Gem?” Valor asked. He’d seen the spirit before but didn’t know what the spirit had to do with this.

“I might reveal that later. Funnily enough, that’s maybe a part of what I’m talking about. What I mean by forced trust is potential mutual destruction. Not in the way that if one of us dies then all will, that’s just plain stupid, and once again I could get out of it. No, I mean revealing secrets to each other that would be detrimental enough that it would ensure that we’ll keep each other’s secrets. And also, forcefully getting to know some of those secrets in a situation where lying is impossible. Shared secrets are a great way to force trust.” Karna explained.

“Uh, hate to rain on your parade, but I happen to know that Gem can help you lie, even to someone stronger than you.” Envy revealed.

"That is true, however, once I share what I have in mind, I have no doubt that you'll agree that I may have even more to lose than you, and it's not something one would lie about," Karna revealed a bit of her cards. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep all her secrets for long. And if this would be her last life, she wouldn't have to. If revealing them bought her allies she could trust, then it was a small price to pay. And she already knew she could trust Envy and Hope. To an extent at least. Valor was the potential wild card.

“If we’re going to do this, then there are some questions that need answers. We’ve been dancing around certain issues for a while now.” Valor pointed out. “And if we do want to build this alliance, then those issues need to be dealt with.”

“Such as?” Karna asked, knowing mostly what he was talking about. She just wanted him to voice his concerns.

“Well, you three know a lot more about each other. I need to find out at least some of that past. That especially pertains to the shared past between Hope and you Wrath, though I’d like to know about Envy and you as well. It also seems that some of you have gathered quite a few Names. It would help a lot if you shared them.” Valor mentioned the few things that bothered him the most. He had a longer list, but those were the most important.

"That's…somewhat impossible," Karna said hesitantly.

“That’s not a great sign…” Valor lifted an eyebrow.

“Ah, I think you misunderstand me. When you get as old as me, you tend to gather a lot of Names. Some of them you gain together as the requirements to get them overlap. I literally have so many Names that I don’t remember all of them. That said, the secret I was going to share actually has to do with my Names, so sharing the ones you should be aware of is on my agenda.” Karna hurried to explain.

“That’s…alright. I’ll buy it for now.” Valor himself only had a handful of Names, and only two unique ones. That said, he could imagine someone much older having a lot more.

“I suppose I could share our story. It’s not exactly a huge secret even if I’m not fond of talking about it.” Hope agreed, albeit a bit hesitantly. “Unlike Wrath here, I don’t have a vast array of Names to share. You actually already know the most important ones. Witch of Chaos, The Illusionist, and Hope.”

“I’m not entirely sure what kind of secret I could share though…” Envy hesitated a bit. “Wrath already knows nearly all of it. I suppose I could…”

“Share the method of creating such awesome pillows!” Karna interrupted her eagerly.

“No! Never! That’s my one and only hold over you. That information will go to the grave with me!” Envy refused firmly.

Chapter 100 - Hope born of Wrath

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I'll be away the entire weekend, so I won't be around to make corrections until Monday. I also had to rush this a bit, even though I still like how it turned out. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

”I suppose we should start with Hope’s story as it dovetails into my own, and I suppose partially to Envy’s as well.” Karna started. They’d reached an initial agreement on their alliance, so it was time for sharing.

Hope nodded. “This may seem a little odd, but this is more Wrath’s story to tell than mine. I can pick up from where she leaves off if there are questions.” She’d allowed her illusions to vanish again, leaving behind a young attractive woman with clearly divine origins, holding similar charm that Karna did, only to a lesser degree.

“Why does this not surprise me?” Envy asked sarcastically. “You seem to be involved with many of the Sins and Virtues gaining their Names.”

"To be fair, usually I'm just present. And I wouldn't call you, Hope, and Lust 'many' strictly speaking.” Karna said while averting her eyes and grimacing a bit.

“So, five altogether considering you’re both Wrath and Mercy.” Valor pointed out with slight amusement. “Can’t really deny your involvement with those.”

“So less than half.” Karna brightened a bit.

“That you know of…” Envy couldn’t resist adding another jab.

“Moving right along.” Karna coughed. “This story starts quite far back in my past. I was originally born in this universe. I won’t go into details but suffice to say it didn’t end well. At first, to make a long story short, I spent a few very dark lifetimes figuring myself out, before I forged myself into a weapon to take revenge. Eventually I returned, but by the time I did, anyone I might have wanted to take revenge on was long gone. Not even their grandchildren remained, and considering we're talking about immortals here, that's saying a lot."

“Not surprising considering you did dither for several lifetimes, plus the time between reincarnations.” Envy pointed out.

“Right. I didn’t know about that time though, and I was not thinking clearly. The way my first life ended had left me…damaged. Anyway, I wandered through a countless number of lifetimes after that. I was rather directionless, doing the sort of things most reincarnators do. Conquered a few worlds or universes. Reached the pinnacle of power a few times. Made a family and friends several times. I think I lived more than a hundred lifetimes like that. Perhaps more. I certainly didn’t count. Some of those lives were very productive though. Eventually, I ended up encountering what every reincarnator dreads. I was reborn into slavery. And it didn’t happen just once. It happened five times in a row.” She gave a sad smile at her own words. Those memories didn’t bother her as much anymore, but that didn’t mean they were pleasant.

“Ouch. Had that experience. Don’t want to repeat it.” Envy gave a small shiver, mirrored by Hope. Valor had been close, but he hadn’t yet experienced direct slavery, so he couldn’t quite understand fully.

“As a result, I also discovered two things most reincarnators discover in such situations. Most of the time it's worse being an attractive slave than it is being unattractive, and that for us the better solution is to take the quick way out. Unfortunately for both me and my then masters, three of them had taken measures against suicide by making the slavery magical. On the other hand, I had spent my early lives turning myself into a weapon. Being in a situation like that forces you to come up with various rather inventive ways to circumvent the slave contracts, and I had a lot of motivation. By the time the last slaveholder fell, I was feeling proper…wrathful." Karna was giving the sanitized version of the story.

“I think I see where this is going.” Valor nodded in sympathy.

“I don’t think you do. I wasn’t a very good person back then. I hadn’t had too many happy lives back then, and I wasn't shy about taking it out on others. If you think I limited my wrath to slavers, then you’d be sadly mistaken. It may have started out that way, but pretty soon I was a lot less discriminate than that. My wrath consumed countries, worlds, galaxies, and even universes.” She listed off thoughtfully.

“Sorry, what? Universes?" Valor asked, suddenly alarmed.

Karna blithely ignored the question. “I may have not intentionally gone out to hurt innocents, but I didn’t really care about collateral damage either. This wasn’t the first rampage I went on, and it wouldn’t be the last, but it was the period where I earned most of my less flattering Names. Among them were such Names as Calamity, Demon Lord, and Wrath. And believe me when I tell you that I earned each and every one of them. Many times over.” Not the proudest lives she’d ever lived.

“I can somewhat confirm. I’ve been on the wrong end of her wrathful side a couple of times. Not even the target, mind you. It’s not a good experience. Believe me when I say that she has mellowed out a lot. The wrathful side is still there, hidden deep under the surface, but she’s like a different person nowadays. Has been for eons.” Envy explained.

“Well, you have Hope to thank for that, at least partially. While I was throwing around temper tantrums, I would eventually be brought down and killed. Not surprising considering. I would almost always start over again in the next life though. And I was about to do just that when I stumbled upon a small girl. A child really. She had been through a lot, even by my standards. I found her in a snowy forest, bleeding to death, suffering from malnutrition and all sorts of disease that plagues peasants on such backwater worlds. There were even a couple of beasts, wolves I think they were, prowling around her. I’m fairly certain they would’ve eaten her up by then if there was anything to eat really.” Karna continued her story.

Hope added her own side to the story. "The girl, me if you hadn't figured it out yet, had been abandoned in the forest by her family because winter meant too little food. One less useless mouth to feed would help others survive. Especially since the one they abandoned was already diseased, crippled, and almost blind. It was cruel, but it was not a nice world. Even now I'm not sure I can blame them for abandoning me back then. Especially considering that ended up saving my life."

"Getting ahead in the story, are we? Anyway, I shooed off the wolves, or whatever those things were, and I seriously considered just leaving her in the snow. She was barely alive at that point anyway, and it wouldn't have taken much longer for her to die and be born somewhere else, without the baggage of that life. Still, she was clinging to life somehow, and when she looked up at me, her eyes were…filled with such hope. She wasn’t ready to give up on that life yet. It managed to move something inside me. I don’t know if she somehow reminded me of myself or something, but I ended up picking her up and bringing her home. It was supposed to be just a quick delay to make sure she’d survive. Somehow, for some reason, the delay just kept getting longer though. Something that should’ve taken a few weeks at most to heal her turned into months and years. There was just something about the girl. Despite losing a leg and being confined to a rudimentary wheelchair with most of her sight gone, she had such warmth and love for life. She was…filled with such hope, that I couldn’t just leave her behind.” She had a wistful and sentimental smile on her face as she recalled the past.

“You manage to quell her wrath with smiles and hope?" Envy gave Hope an appreciative look. "Nice.”

“Cuteness is justice.” Hope declared, fully confident in her words. "She couldn't resist my puppy dog-eyes."

“Be that as it may, I found myself enjoying the quiet and peaceful life. In fact, I enjoyed it a whole lot more than I did my previous lives, especially those that I’d spent waging a one-woman war against unfair universes. We became a family of sorts, and I effectively adopted her. It was around that time that I decided that living a quiet mortal life was something vital, at least on occasion, so that we don’t lose our touch with our…well, humanity for a lack of a better word. I can’t say it helps keep you sane, as I’ve not been sane since my first life, but it might work for others.” Karna posited. She’d lived plenty of mortal lives since then.

"Well, that life did end up becoming a lot less peaceful towards the end," Hope added with a grin. "Mother dearest here couldn't resist when her daughter had such hopes not only for herself but for a peaceful world in general. So many hopes, all of them fulfilled by a doting mother."

“Please don’t.” Karna groaned at the moniker. “You know exactly why.”

The sheer mirth in Hope's eyes was visible to everyone. "Whyever not, mo-ther dea-rest!" She chanted out with a sing-song voice.

Envy suddenly realized what was making Wrath so uncomfortable. “Oh, you two totally banged in a later life, didn’t you?” Karna’s groan was answer enough.

Hope giggled. “She didn’t realize it was me of course. You should’ve seen her face when I called her mommy afterwards.”

"Shut it," Karna said with no real heat in her voice, as she covered her eyes in despair.

“In fairness, I didn’t realize at first either. I just felt drawn to her for some reason. In retrospect, I’m not sure I would’ve gone with it either if I had realized earlier. Still, it happened so many lifetimes later that it didn’t really matter.” Hope continued.

“So wait. How long ago was this?” Valor asked. “I’ve been trying to get a handle on how many lives you three have lived, and I’m getting the sense that I might have grossly underestimated with my initial estimates.”

“It’s really impossible to estimate time on scales like this.” Envy provided. “I’m among the older reincarnators, and entire universes have born and died in the time between Wraths first life and mine. Which reminds me. When did this happen? As in, did it happen before we met, or after?” Her curiosity had been piqued.

“Before, but only barely. There’s maybe a handful of lifetimes between the time I met you two. And those were mostly shorter lifetimes, even if not entirely mortal. I wasn’t willing to let go of my hostility and power entirely after I met Hope. I didn’t want to return to slavery out of laziness. Lust came around about the same time.” Karna frowned. “As did quite a few of the Sins and Virtues now that I think about it. Might be that the previous ones all met an unfortunate end around the same time.”

“Unfortunate end?” Valor asked. “Aren’t our souls basically impossible to damage permanently? How could they meet an unfortunate end?”

"Which brings us to what I wanted to talk about. I know how to kill reincarnators permanently." Karna just decided to get it over with and took the chance to dive straight into it.

“I knew it!” Envy jumped up from her chair in obvious excitement. “I’ve never encountered that feeling when I know you’re not around, and I’ve felt it a couple of times when I know you were present! I fucking knew it! You’re the Reaper!”

Hope didn’t seem all that surprised either, but Valor looked concerned. “The Reaper? So that feeling really was the destruction of a reincarnator’s soul.” He gave a shiver before looking at Karna thoughtfully. “I’m going to make an assumption here and guess that it’s not something you can or will do very often. I haven’t encountered that feeling more than once during this life at least.”

“Correct. It’s not something I like doing, but some souls deserve eternal destruction. Especially since in our case dying only means we get to inflict our insanity on a new unsuspecting universe. I’m all for second, and maybe even third chances. Goodness knows I needed them myself, so it’s not my place to judge easily. However, there are limits. Some souls are just so depraved and far gone that they can't come back. In these cases, there are very few options.” Karna nodded. She didn’t mention that theoretically she could use the power relatively often, she simply chose not to.

“Have you ever done it to a non-reincarnator?” Valor questioned.

“Once. I admit that it was purely personal, though I can say that the person had earned it. I should also add that there is more than one way to do this. Two of the methods pretty much erase the soul, while the third one forcibly turns them into a normal soul. It’s not a pleasant experience for the soul and requires extensive preparation, but it can be done.” She didn’t go into more detail, but even this was already enough for Envy.

“That’s what you’re planning with the two you captured! And the feeling we got before was you dealing with one of their kind.” Envy exclaimed again. She felt like she was on a roll.

"Somewhat correct. The elemental spirits specifically requested I deal with the sinners like this. Like you mentioned, the feeling you got some years ago was me dealing with the Inferno permanently. For these two, I'm still considering how exactly I want to deal with them. I'm planning on using the second method, which simply resets their soul. The process burns away all their memories, karma, and abilities. There's also no risk of anyone putting their souls back together either. With Inferno, I didn't have this option, but now I do. This way I also won't alarm every reincarnator in this universe." She explained. She was more likely to grant this mercy to the centaur that had come quietly, while being less certain about the one they’d just captured. Misuse of blood magic wasn’t among the list of her favorite crimes. She would need to interrogate the woman a bit to see how far gone she was.

After considering for a moment, Valor seemed to come to a decision. “I see you’re giving this some consideration. I can also see how this requires us to be allies to reveal. If others knew about it, many panicked reincarnators would rush to kill you. I’m actually glad. I had been worried after what happened before, and knowing this power is in the hands of someone who is not too eager to fling it around gives me some peace of mind. Mind you, the fact that Wrath of all people has this power has me a little worried, but I could easily imagine it being a whole lot worse. I’d also rather be your ally and maybe even a conscience of some sort to try and prevent you from going off the deep end, as opposed to your enemy, possibly earning myself the same fate. I’ve also met some souls that have more than earned the kind of fate you can give them.”

"Ooh, Wrath, I've got a list of people for you, if you don't mind." Envy seemed all too eager to utilize the power Karna had.

“Please don’t.” Valor opposed that idea with a fair bit of alarm.

Before the two could bicker further, Hope interrupted them. “While the earlier story was riveting, I doubt it’s enough to qualify as my secret. My secret concerns the power I received from the Name Hope. Obviously, I can instill hope in others in dire times, however, my main ability is to bring someone back from the dead even after their soul has left this universe. There is a time limit, of course, as I can’t bring back someone who has already reincarnated, and the price is my own life. Obviously, I can’t be magically brought back afterwards, as my soul is immediately brought into the River of Souls for processing. The whole thing has to be voluntary as well, as I need to sincerely wish to bring someone back, but most people don’t really consider that last part. They think they can just use hostages to persuade me.”

“The ultimate last hope. I can see how that would be dangerous information for you.” Valor nodded in sympathy. Someone would obviously try to capture Hope, if for no other reason than to keep them as insurance.

“Yes. There’s also another problem, that usually isn’t much of an issue, but it might be in this case. Just in case you have plans for my ability. It also doesn’t work on someone with a soul more powerful than my own. Considering how old my soul is, the list of people it doesn’t work on is quite short. However, we have at least one such person in this room, and possibly another.” Hope looked at both Karna and Envy. “And despite my Name, I’m not the sort of person to throw my life away for someone random either. I’ve used this ability exactly twice in all my lives, so keep that in mind.”

“That leaves just the two of you.” Karna looked at Envy and Valor.

Chapter 101 - Valor and Envy

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Before I say anything, there is something I’m curious about. Everyone has secrets, but yours are on a whole another level. What makes you think I have anything to present in return? You already know I’m not even close to as old as you three.” Valor questioned.

“It doesn’t have to be on the same level to fit our purposes.” Hope pointed out quickly, in an attempt to assuage the other Virtue, but was in turn placated by a gesture from Karna.

Karna’s eyes suddenly turned blood-red, and her fangs grew longer as she bared them in a wide grin. “Because I already know what your secret is. Even if most of the Vampires of this universe have forgotten, surely you didn’t think that I couldn’t recognize our ancient Lupine rivals.”

Valor’s perpetual smile turned into a slight grimace. “I suppose it was a bit too much to hope for. Well, since you already know, there’s not much to explain.”

“Could someone translate for the slow one in our group?” Envy’s words would’ve seemed self-effacing, if not for the fact that she was jokingly pointing at Hope.

“I’m a werewolf. My whole order is made up of werewolves. War Wolves to be exact.” Valor gave a curt explanation, as if that was enough to explain everything. War Wolves were a subspecies of werewolves where their more bestial forms were practically designed for battle. They didn’t turn into oversized canines, but relatively humanoid engines of destruction, muscle, claw, and fur. They could walk and run both bi-pedal and on all fours, but their hands had opposable thumbs and while they usually didn’t use weapons, they were perfectly capable. They were also almost impossible to kill without silvered or heavily enchanted weapons.

“I’m still not following.” Envy admitted.

"That's because you've only been here twice, and neither of those was likely during the time this information was relevant." Karna decided to elaborate. "And the fact that he said War Wolves is important. Have either of you run into any others of his kind while in this universe?"

“Well, I haven’t really gone out of my way to chart all the races I’ve run into. I seem to recall hearing some rumors of werewolves, but I didn’t care enough to investigate. Could’ve been werebunnies for all I know.” Envy shrugged uncaringly.

“There’s a reason for that. Our kind is hunted down and killed on sight. Well, mostly. No one is actively looking for us, but that's because they assume we're all dead and because the order to do so is very old.” Valor asserted in a rather displeased voice.

“Ok. Seems a little odd. I assume there’s a reason for such treatment?” Envy prompted.

"There is," Karna explained. "You are aware of the rule that only those of royal blood can become the heavenly emperor, yes? And that succession is strictly enforced and can only happen in very limited ways. Ever wonder why no faction tries to forcefully conduct a coup?”

“I would assume that it’s because the Host would protect the emperor?” Envy knew she was missing something obvious here, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what.

“The Host is powerful, but it’s not always controlled by the royal family. It’s also busy defending against the Scourges. The Host also has very few if any Divines among them. Do you think no one has ever, over the countless eons, managed to unify the other gods against the emperor?” Karna continued to ask questions, leading Envy towards the answer.

“The divines have a sort of reverence towards the emperor.” Hope pointed out. “All the decrees made by the emperor are treated as law.”

“The current emperor, yes, and to an even further extent with some emperors, but do you think there has never been a crappy enough Heavenly Emperor to incite a full rebellion?” The problem with hereditary power was that sometimes it produced some really shitty offspring unsuited to rule.

“Someone tried and failed for some reason.” Envy realized, turning to look at Valor. “His kind.”

“Exactly.” Valor nodded. “Our kind managed to unify the gods and the Host against an incompetent but tyrannical Emperor of the time. And the whole thing was thwarted by the royal guard. The emperor was less than pleased of course, and ever since our kind have been at the top of the "kill-on-sight" list."

“The unfortunate thing is that the ruling house has changed at least a dozen times since that emperor, and none of the emperors since then have bothered rescinding the order. It’s not that the current or the previous emperors carry a grudge, but it’s a sort of etiquette not to countermand the orders of the previous emperors without a really good reason. They try to maintain the position as sacrosanct after all, which would be a bit challenging if every emperor countermanded all the orders the previous emperors made. And with his kind believed dead, there hasn’t really been a good enough reason. That’s what you want to change, isn’t it?”

Valor nodded. “I wouldn’t be able to stomach the injustice, even if I hadn’t been born as one of the Lupine. Of course, now that I have, the whole thing has become more urgent. I’m trying to help my Order to rise to a prominent enough position that we could create a reason to change things. It’s a slow process. The hope is that we could recreate the house in the Divine Planes and affect change when we reveal ourselves. We’ve managed to climb up all the way from the Mortals Planes, but…”

“How long ago was this?” Envy asked curiously.

“At least a couple hundred emperors before the current one," Karna replied with a thoughtful look. As the emperors would’ve been immortals, that meant a fantastic amount of time even by her standards.

“Yet you seem very familiar with this.” Envy’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her old rival.

“I’ve been born here several times, as much as I try to avoid it. Before you ask, no I wasn’t around when this happened. Not my fault this time.” She scoffed in reply.

“That you know of.” Hope was quick to add in a teasing tone. “We can’t rule out that you were an inspiration for these or something.”

“You know, not all bad things are due to me.” Karna defended herself.

"Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that." Envy grinned at the chance to needle her. “So Valor and his little order of knights will get killed if the Host finds out what race he is, even if they aren’t super eager or in any rush about it. I’d say that qualifies as a secret for the purposes of this exchange. And I suppose it’s my turn, but oddly enough I don’t really have a big secret like that.”

“You could…” Karna started proposing with a hopeful expression.

“No. For the last time, I’m not giving you the secret about the pillows. And it doesn’t qualify anyway since that secret is only useful against you and will do nothing if revealed to others. Except ensure there are even more pillows for you, which I won’t allow. You are all aware of the fact that my people recently got out from under the yoke of another, larger empire, but there’s no real secret involved there. There are certain things in my past that I wouldn’t like bandied about, but that’s more because they’re private and not because them coming out would be in any way dangerous. I suppose I could reveal how the power from my Name works, but Wrath already knows, and while it’s not something I like to spread around for tactical reasons, it’s not some deep dark secret either.” Envy told the other three in a rather straightforward voice. She had lived her lives purposefully in a way that no one would be able to blackmail her. She did the blackmailing herself often enough to know how dangerous that could be. Usually against Wrath though.

The other two looked at Karna in question, as this had been her idea and she’d known about the other secrets so far. “She’s not entirely wrong. most of her secrets are just embarrassing. However, she is already tied to us for a simple reason. Guilt by association. She’s known me for eons. And I have enough secrets to sink both of us. She knows that if I go down, so does she. And I’m loath to say this, but she is the most trustworthy of all the Sins.”

“Gee, thanks.” Envy smiled unenthusiastically.

“Well, I want to know how her power works at least. You’ve referenced it a couple of times before, mentioning that she shouldn’t be underestimated in battle.” Valor said firmly. he wanted something in exchange for his secret.

“I want to hear one of her embarrassing secrets!” Hope added cheerily.

"One of both, eh? Well, let's start with my power. It's rather appropriate considering my Name, I think. I can copy the power of someone that is better than me in some way.” Envy revealed.

“That’s...huh. Not what I expected.” Valor seemed confused.

“You’re not seeing the implications yet. She can copy almost any power, from anyone at any time. So, if an immortal were to attack her while she’s rank one, she can copy that immortal’s powers and beat them with their own cultivation.” Karna explained with a small smile.

“Wait, is this copying permanent? And is it limited to just one person?” Valor was starting to realize the possible further implications.

“It is permanent, but I can’t improve on powers that I’ve copied, as they’re supposed to represent the target of my envy. Thus, I can’t just steal some immortal’s cultivation and continue from that point on as a rank 1 mortal. If I want to reach the peak, I need to copy someone at the peak or make it there due to my own effort. And it’s not just one person, but I can copy only one type of power or ability per person. There are certain other limitations as well, as some powers are very conditional or dependent on another. For instance, Wrath’s Aura powers are tied to specific bloodlines. without possessing the bloodlines, I can’t really bring out the full power of that bloodline if I copy her cultivation. That being said, she's explained to me and to others several times that when we live enough lives as a certain magical being or reach the peak as one, a bit of that being stays with us into future lives, so I could copy her phoenix bloodline power as an example and use it relatively effectively. The problem is that I have no idea how her fucking multi-bloodline Aura cultivation shit works, so I’d only be copying a small portion of her powers. I also don’t inherit the target’s skill with said power, so I have to be a little careful when it comes to turning that power on them.” Envy explained further.

“On the other hand, she has lived countless lives, so she’s pretty damn skilled in using most powers and abilities so it’s effective against most people," Karna interjected.

“You don’t seem too worried.” Valor pointed out.

“I’m just used to it.” She shrugged. That and Envy wouldn’t be able to copy her attunement to the elements if she copied her magical powers, which meant that she would still be much stronger even with access to the same amount of power. Not that it ever stopped Envy from snagging her magical cultivation, as it was just too handy to have.

“She is my most common copy target.” Envy admitted shamelessly. “It’s almost a tradition at this point for me to copy her magical cultivation at some point. She’s the best at it after all, and even if I can’t beat her with her own magic, I’m more than satisfied being the second best.” She added with a grin. “I’ll copy her power at some point after reaching immortality, which is another reason why I’m not going to bother with her Aura abilities. Another thing. I could theoretically try to copy something more abstract like a Kensei's skill with a blade, but while I could get the skill, I wouldn't get the muscle memory, reflexes, or the mindset, which goes to show that some things are too conditional to copy properly. Besides, a Kensei’s body is a perfectly honed instrument specific to their style. I wouldn’t have that. That’s not to say it would not be useful, and I’ve done it before. However, the best targets are straightforward powers and foundational things like cultivation, as well as superficial things like appearance. There is a limit on how many people I can copy, but you don’t need to be concerned about that number.” Envy downplayed her power a bit.

"It's still a horrific ability," Hope said before her eyes suddenly grew huge. "Oh my. You actually do have a secret worth keeping after all. There's something you could copy that would have rather huge implications. You could copy the bloodline of the royal family so that you could also challenge for the position of an Emperor.”

Karna secretly grinned in her mind. She had hoped someone would realize the implications. Now she wasn’t the only one that might need protection from the great houses of the Divine Plane. “Oh hey, fancy that.” She said with an exaggeratedly fake surprise.

“Son of a Karma!” Envy cursed. “You realized this long ago, didn’t you?” She looked sharply at Karna. “That’s why you weren’t worried about me revealing anything. Guilty by association my ass!”

“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Karna grinned. “That’s for calling me the source of all evil by the way.”

“Well, to me it seems like we’re now in the same boat. Or in this case tower.” Valor frowned. “It’s still odd to call this thing a tower when it’s clearly a ship.”

“Don’t mind it. You’ll lose.” Hope added idly, as if on auto-pilot. “I still want my juicy secret. I was promised a secret!” She focused on something else entirely.

“Fine. Fine! But no one said anything about the secret being just about me. I got my Name almost at the same time Lust did. I got it primarily due to my actions because of the almost irrational envy I felt towards Wrath and Lust, though mainly it was about Wrath. Even back then she was annoyingly competent and she’s almost incapable of not being attractive. If vanity was a Sin recognized by whatever system gives us our Name, I’m pretty sure Wrath would have that one as well.” Envy grumbled.

“She’s not entirely wrong.” Karna freely admitted. In fact, the only reason she likely didn’t have some kind of Name to that effect was because she enjoyed being born as magical beasts as well. Now, if most of those beasts also happened to be majestic, that wasn’t really her fault. She was also often self-deprecating, which didn’t fit with vanity, so there was that as well.

“As it just so happens, Lust was also re-born into that universe, and you can’t really earn a name like Lust if you don’t have what it takes appearance-wise. This was one of my earliest lives, so I wasn’t able to keep up with the two. So naturally I envied what they had. I’m also not afraid to admit that I was attracted to them both as well, so I also envied them in another way. I went rather far in my envy, much farther than anyone should. I mean, I was special, right? I was able to be reborn. Surely it was for a reason. No one else was as important as I was. So why were these two uppity upstarts getting in my way? Well, one of the plans I hatched to get at them resulted in the event that earned Lust her Name. What most people don’t know, is that Wrath was right there with her. If Lust hadn’t earned the Name, I’m pretty sure Wrath would’ve. Assuming someone can have two Sins as their Name, I’m not sure honestly.” Envy pondered.

"Yeah, that one really got out of hand, didn't it? Of course, the real difference between me and Lust is that I got my fill, while she found herself at that moment, and continued in her subsequent lives." Karna admitted.

“That’s the embarrassing part for them. Now the embarrassing part for me. I envied them even for that. Perhaps especially for that. I envied them for the pleasure and fun they got out of it. I envied how it didn’t seem to affect them mentally, or politically. The plan was meant to ruin them, but it only made them stronger. I envied that I wasn’t part of it. I also envied the fact that it wasn’t me that…well, you get the gist. That, more than anything, drove me to the final acts that finally earned me the Name. It’s funny what happens when you machinate a civil war between all the gods of a particular universe.” Envy shook her head partly in shame, and partly because she’d left that part of her behind already. They all had. All three Sins had changed greatly since then, though it was hard to say how much Lust had truly changed.

“I’m not sure if funny is the correct word, but I suppose the end result was not as bad as one might assume.” Karna shrugged, not minding that Envy’s story had turned into airing her laundry as well. “Well, we can discuss further later, but for now, we have something else to do. We have two reincarnators to interrogate, and you’ll get to see them die, one way or another.

Chapter 102 - The River

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

----------

”That’s just fucked up.” Envy announced. “I’ve seen plenty of fucked up things in my lives, and even against that background, what she’s done is fucked up. Mind you, not the most fucked up thing I’ve seen, not even close, but definitely getting there.” She gestured towards the cell where Wrath was almost finished interrogating the Nautolan princess they’d captured.

“Indeed. I was leaning towards trying to convince Wrath not to attack their souls when we got done with the centaur, but this…I can now confidently agree that there are people that deserve to experience a permanent death.” Valor nodded along. He didn’t agree with Envy very often, but on this they were in full agreement.

“It’s not all that surprising though. Not all things considered. It stands to reason that there would be the crazy scientist types among the reincarnators as well. And for those types, blood magic is a natural fit.” Hope didn’t really disagree with the assessment, but she wasn’t all that shocked either. Her Name might have been Hope, but hope was most needed in the darkest of places.

"Yeah, but to run blood magic experiments on the unborn like that…entire races and worlds gone just to create the best methods to extract power from them. Even in this life, she used her position as a royal to murder and torture hundreds of her supposed subjects. I know it's naïve, but I still believe in noblesse oblige, and this is a gross betrayal of that contract." Valor was the youngest among them and still hadn't had all his idealism crushed by the multiverse. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a realist, but he still held on to the possibility that things could, should, be better.

“As much as I disagree with puppy here most of the time, I have to agree with him on this. I hate it when supposed nobles misuse their position in such a gross way.” Envy’s face was crunched in an obvious show of displeasure. One of the things that drove her to envy others was her image of perfection that she wanted to strive towards. Nobles living up to their position was part of that perfection, and she didn’t like when that image was stained. She saw it happen all the time in all her lives, but it didn’t make her any happier with it. The reincarnators all had their triggers, and that was hers.

“Well, I think we can all agree that this one will be put to the sword in a permanent fashion.” Hope suggested and the other two nodded. “As for the centaur, I’m actually inclined to let him go. And by that, I mean go on to his next life. His sins against the elemental planes are not small, but in comparison to things I’ve seen, or even done myself, they don’t really warrant a permanent death. He’s not innocent, but none of us are. I’m reminded of the saying about throwing rocks in glass houses.”

"Hmm, I think I agree. As you said, if we wanted to start perma-killing people for the level of sins the centaur guy committed, then we'd all be on the chopping block.” Envy nodded her agreement again.

“This may come as a shock, but I’m not entirely in agreement.” Valor surprised the other two, as he’d said something different just moments before. “Yes, his sins are not great in the grand scheme of things, but it is true that his continued actions will result in more dead spirits. And he didn’t show any inclination to stop, despite Wrath’s gentle ministrations.” He shivered at the memory of what Wrath had done to the two. “Now, I’m not suggesting she kill him permanently, but didn’t she say something about washing away his memories and turning him into a normal soul? I believe that would be more appropriate in this case.”

The two didn’t seem willing to argue the point, but Hope focused on another detail. “Her interrogation method is stupendously effective. I’ve heard her mention Song of Khali before but seeing it in action is a whole other thing.”

“I still have no idea what happened. I saw her whisper something in their ears a few times, and whatever it was made them scream and thrash around like someone was pouring molten metal into their ear.” Valor accepted the switch in topic easily and went along with it. He was curious as well after all.

"Wrath has explained it a couple of times, but I still can't fully understand it." Envy pursed her lips. "It somehow turns the target's mind and senses against them. Or to be more precise, they are hers to control, because she can use it for positive purposes as well. Anyway, imagine the worst pain, feelings, emotions, paranoia, and insanity you can, then multiply that a hundred times. That's roughly what it feels like. Asking her to subject me to it just once to experience it was one of the worst decisions I've ever made. And I've made many bad decisions in my life.”

“That’s somewhat surprising. It seems highly effective. Not something I’d want to experience, but very effective." Valor gave a small shudder.

At the same time, Karna walked through the door separating the nicely decorated lounge-like room they were in from the interrogation area. “That was enlightening.” She walked to a side stand that held refreshments and poured herself a glass of some kind of golden liquid that even she didn’t recognize. As soon as she took a sip though, she was pretty sure the drink was quite strongly alcoholic but also very tasty. Zuellni was responsible for most of the less-consequential decoration and all their food and drink, and the tower spirit was of the opinion that only the best was good enough. That showed in everything, ranging from their plush seating to the glasses made of some sort of crystal that seemed magical.

“It was that indeed.” Valor agreed, just now noticing the refreshments. He was pretty damn sure those hadn’t been there until Wrath showed up. Zuellni was definitely favoring her master in all things. “It’s your decision of course, but we have come to our own conclusions about what should be done with the two. If you care to hear of course.”

“I’ve already made my own determination, but I’m curious if you have the same opinion. Who knows, you might even convince me.” She nodded for him to continue.

Valor outlined their opinions on the matter, including where they differed, and their reasons for coming to such conclusions. “Does that match what you had in mind?” Valor asked once he was done.

“My reasoning is slightly different, but yes. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I don’t put much stock in the sanctity of life, or whatever you decide to call it. I've reaped too many lives to get too sanctimonious about it, and most importantly I know what awaits them after death. I know this will just be one life among many for them, even if they can't remember previous lives. What I put stock in are needless suffering and karma. Only certain people can see the karma of others, so I know it can’t be used as an objective standard, but luckily karma and causing suffering are almost always synonymous. The noblesse oblige Envy mentioned is also part of it, since breaches in that obligation usually result in the suffering of others.” Karna didn’t shy away from their reasoning.

She searched for the right words for a moment before continuing. “I’m the perfect example of how giving someone a second chance can result in turning them around. But for redemption to happen, the person must have certain qualities. They need to still be capable of empathy, and they can’t have committed their sins with complete cold detachment and lack of remorse. There needs to be some goodness in them that can be redeemed, and not everyone has that. More importantly though, they also need to have a willingness to change. The Nautolan princess doesn't have any of those qualities. She has to go, permanently. The centaur is…not a horrible person generally. He's simply willing to use all tools he has to protect what he considers important. In most situations, I would agree and do the same. Except, in this case, he's trading the lives of elemental spirits to save those he considers important."

“He’s not going to stop.” Hope realized sadly. She wasn’t sure she would either. There were some people she’d protect at any cost. The centaur was the same, but his means actually ended up with innocent casualties, and he also had more people he was willing to sacrifice the spirits for.

“Indeed. So, the only way is to make sure he no longer has the option.” Valor confirmed his earlier reasoning.

“Exactly. Well, there’s no point in delaying things, so you might as well come with me and observe.” Karna gestured for them to follow.

“You’re not afraid we will copy your method?” Envy asked surprised.

Karna had to suppress a smile. This was her last life according to the Head Judge of the River of Souls, so she wasn’t really worried that the method would be used against her. Her methods were not something so easily stolen either. “You’re welcome to try. If you can, be my guest.”

She led them down to the base of the pyramidal core of her tower. There they entered a very odd and large room made of the same dark stone-like material the outside of the core was built of. The room only had a single door, but on the other side was a several-meter tall trench that ended on both sidewalls in a round opening rimmed with glowing runes. The whole thing looked like an elaborate and empty sewer system from medieval times. Except the two openings didn't seem to actually open anywhere. As Envy walked ahead to peek inside the openings, despite her perfect night vision, she couldn't see anything. It wasn't that the openings opened to other dark rooms or even ended in a wall, but instead, it seemed like there was some sort of spatial distortion there instead.

They all also noted a large and sturdy sarcophagus held in place above the trench. Both the sarcophagus and the chains holding it in the air were made of the same dark material the rest of the room was made of. The sarcophagus and the chains were completely unadorned and seemed to hold no magic or mechanical function aside from the obvious. The sarcophagus itself was large enough to fit a dozen people inside comfortably, though that assumed its walls were not too thick. They all also noted that the system was meant to lower the sarcophagus inside the trench, as there was a wider spot for it directly below.

“That’s not ominous at all.” Valor muttered.

“Good instincts.” Karna snorted and walked to the side of the room that held an enormous dark gem that had several equally dark lines of some crystalline material running from it towards the trench. The immediate impression was that the gem was somehow used to fill up the trench, and that impression wasn’t wrong. “Please keep away from the trench the entire time and don’t do anything too sudden. Being here can be dangerous for you. There’s a reason this entire room is made of Blackstone. Zuellni, place our centaur prisoner inside the sarcophagus.”

There was no flash of light of transportation rings to signal something had happened. “Done.” Zuellni simply reported.

With a small frown, Karna dug deep inside her own well of power, and soon pure and thick mana ran from her hand, into the gem, and along the lines into the trench. What made the three others take another step back was the fact that they could all sense that the trench was being filled with pure True Dark or Dhar mana. As the trench filled, it looked a lot like the lake that Gem had slept under between Karna's lives. The spirit also appeared in the form of a perfect copy of Karna, only to make a low animalistic growl towards the pure black mana. It was a testament to how disturbed the other three reincarnators were as they didn't even react to the presence of a perfect replica of Wrath.

Once the trench was filled with the mana, Karna made a small gesture, which caused the chains to lower the sarcophagus into the filled trench. The surface of the dark mana wasn’t disturbed in the slightest, but everyone could suddenly feel another powerful presence. In front of their eyes, a grey and misty energy started to flow from the left side opening to the right, and they all realized what it was, even if their experiences with it were limited.

The name River of Souls had a double meaning. It referred to the metaphorical river of dead souls as they made their way towards the final judgement under the watchful eyes of the Judges and their servants. It also referred to the actual river that washed the souls clean of memories before they were sent into the next life, and it seemed a very small part of the river had been redirected here, into this place in the form of grey and smokey energy.

"When you said you'd wash the soul clear of all memories, I didn't expect this. Though I suppose I should have." Envy said with a solemn voice. They all watched for several minutes as the soul of the centaur was separated from his body and dragged into the river, where it was held in place by some powerful force, stretching out from the dark power below, before it was finally swept away by the river.

"It is done," Karna said with a small ceremonial bow towards the already disappearing river. She then placed her hand on the gem again and seemed to pull back the dark power the sarcophagus was submerged in. As the sarcophagus appeared again, it showed signs of damage, although very superficial. “So even Blackstone can’t deal with extended exposure to this level of concentrated Dhar. That’s too bad.”

“That was disconcerting. Also seemed quite elaborate. You’re right. I won’t be able to copy it without extensive study.” Hope commented.

“I did mention that this method required extensive preparation.” Karna shrugged. “Controlling and directing two of the most unpredictable and potentially dangerous powers in the multiverse isn’t easy even for me.”

“Do the judges know you’re borrowing their river?” Envy asked with a small frown.

“They’re aware. They protested at first, but they settled down once I explained the benefits. They don’t disagree with my usage as they know I don’t go around abusing it. Now though, I have someone else to kill.”

------

She couldn’t help a small smile that snuck on her face while everyone else at the table grasped their head or their chest and a small bit of panic appeared on their faces, only to be gone immediately as they tried to hide their instinctive panic. The panic that came from realizing you were just prey and there was now a predator around. To all other reincarnators, this feeling was a threat and a warning, but for her, it was proof that her daughter was alive and free. Not that she doubted of course, but it was nice to get a confirmation anyway.

“The Reaper has struck again.” One of the guests spoke quietly and with a voice that spoke of calmness that he couldn’t have been feeling. The man was beautiful in a way that only a True God could be, as was everyone at the table. They all looked somewhat similar, with the most obvious common factor being the blue-ish white hair. His was cropped short as he worked in the forge most of the time. He was also dressed in a very atypical attire for a True God in its simplicity.

“Your talent for stating the obvious remains strong brother." Another male god, this time dressed much more according to his station, spoke. "This isn't a good sign though. The first one might have been passed off as something forced, but a second destroyed reincarnator shows that The Reaper is willing to use their power much more freely than we may have anticipated."

"I wouldn't worry too much. It is still only two. Two is hardly a sign that it's their go-to solution.” A female goddess dismissed their concerns. The goddess was somewhat notable in that she was the least attractive of the four at the table. It wasn’t that she was unattractive, but that she was more ‘homely’ or even ‘motherly’ in her appearance.

"Come now Isha, even you must admit that this isn't a trend we'd like to see continue." The god with a fancy attire and long hair framing almost androgynous elven features argued.

"Don't be such a worrier Hoeth. What can the presence of one reincarnator, even if it is The Reaper change in the grand scheme of things?" Isha wasn't nearly as concerned, or at least didn't seem to be. The goddess sitting across from her knew better. She knew Isha was just hiding her fear with audacity. Nobody liked to be reminded of their potential mortality, especially reincarnators who were used to being anything but. Usually, Isha was the most patient and kind of the siblings, but fear was making her act snippy.

“This is not the topic we came here to discuss.” The short-haired male god chastised the other two, despite the fact that he had been the one to initiate the topic with his words. “We haven’t seen our sister for years. We came here for a reason.”

“Yes. Yes, we did.” Hoeth gathered himself and turned back towards their imprisoned sister. The modest house working as the location of the house arrest was hardly the appropriate setting for the gathering of some of the most powerful True Gods in existence. “How would you like to gain your freedom sister dearest?”

“I’d say you have a price in mind for said freedom. Which is somewhat rich considering the only reason I’m even here is because you used Kurnous as your puppet to put me here.” The woman replied calmly.

“You can’t really blame me for that. You provided the perfect excuse with your dalliance. Come now, you would’ve done the same. We all know the game we’re playing." Hoeth didn't seem perturbed by the accusation. Trying to deny the charge was pointless after all. He was proud of outplaying her and not ashamed.

"All you have to do is side with us." The short-haired man said simply. He'd never been one for politicking and long speeches with double meaning. He left that for his siblings. Despite this, his power was so obvious that you'd be a fool to disregard him.

“So, you’ve decided to support Hoeth’s bid for the throne then?” She asked, looking at the always calm and stoic God of Smiths and Artisans.

“We both know I’m not the right choice for the Emperor. I don’t want it. Yet we must all pick sides. Would you rather support Eldrazor or Kurnous?” The god looked like he’d bit into something bitter with the latter name.

“None of the three.” She replied simply.

"Come now, sister. You could be out of here today." Isha tried to convince her. "Despite your surroundings not being wholly unpleasant, I know you sister. Being cooped up here must be grating on you. And your bid for the throne is dead and buried. You could be out and on the battlefield right now, if you just listened."

“It seems you’ve forgotten. You’ve all forgotten who I am.” Her presence increased enough to remind the trio who exactly they were talking to. “I’m here by choice. If I found my imprisonment unbearable, I would leave. I may stay here out of courtesy to our father, but don’t confuse that for inability to leave.”

"The royal guard would stop you," Hoeth argued back. "And you'd be a fugitive even if you did get out."

“Would they? Would I? You might find that many of the things you believe about the current situation are based on nothing but false assumptions. You will find those assumptions shattered soon enough.” With her daughter proving her freedom once again, she felt secure in acting in defiance. If they had not managed to catch her daughter by now, they never would.

"Khaine, please…" Isha tried to reason but was shot down.

"No. You have chosen a side. Just remember that it won't be too late to choose differently when your assumptions have been proven wrong. You might have to beg and grovel a bit, but it won't be too late." She grinned viciously. "Now go. Leave me to my humble abode, and I'll decide how long I'll stay here. No one else."

Chapter 103 - Goodbyes

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. This chapter could've used a bit more work, but you know, Christmas. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

Envy, Hope, and Valor had understandably been a little shaken by the death of their two prisoners. It was one thing to know it was going to happen, and even understand and condone the action, while it was another to see and feel it happen. Being in close proximity while The Reaper did her business affected them as well, no matter how much they had prepared for it. Luckily, they had soon gotten over it. By the time they reached their home, they were already bantering like usual.

"Master, I can detect the presence of multiple immortals," Zuellni reported as soon as they arrived.

“So can I. Three to be exact.” Envy confirmed. Her senses were only second to Karna’s. “One of them feels familiar though, but I’m not sure how.”

“It feels familiar because you’ve met him while he was rank 9.” Karna jogged her friend’s memory, before releasing a sigh filled with exasperation. “Oh father. It would’ve been better if you could’ve waited for a couple more years.”

“Father? You’re talking about Arjuna, the Grand Medjai?” Valor questioned. Arjuna had visited this world a couple of times as the gateways had been completed, and the two had met briefly. Ironically Karna had not been present at the meeting, as Arjuna had been there as a representative of the Magocracy.

“The other two are likely the new Emissary and whoever is supposed to bring Arjuna to the Divine Planes then.” Hope put two and two together. “This must have happened while we were gone.”

“Such rotten luck.” Envy shook her head. The plan they had hatched included Arjuna Ascending together with the four of them. Even if Arjuna wasn’t a reincarnator, he was still a powerful mage and a warrior, so his presence and support would’ve been useful, not to mention the familiar relationship. They knew this change in events would create some additional trouble. And for it to happen in the few days they had been gone was extra bad.

“At least he’s still here.” Valor pointed out. “I know there’s usually a grace period to put your affairs in order, but few people actually use that period for more than a few days. Likely because usually those affairs are already in order before they become immortal.”

One of the reasons the Host enforced a grace period was so that any new immortals wouldn’t take the opportunity to go on a rampage with their new powers. Even though the difference between the ranks was very dependent on the individual in question, the jump from a mortal to an immortal was a big one for everyone, so even a single immortal could cause a lot of devastation. And cultivators often created grudges and resentment. The Host didn’t cherish the idea that whoever reached immortality first slaughtered their way through all their enemies and killed off many other potential immortals. On the flipside, they also provided some protection for the families left behind, mostly in the form of retaliation if someone crossed the line.

Their arrival had apparently been noticed as Arjuna flared his own powers in what could only be described as an invitation. There was literally a large shadowy hand beckoning them in orbit. “Not very subtle.” Envy chortled.

“Arjuna is many things, but subtle is generally not one of those. He can be, but usually chooses not to be.” Karna smiled fondly before turning more somber. Like father like daughter in some things. This would be hard for Duskclaw and the little one. Not only would Arjuna Ascend now, but Karna would be following him shortly. It wasn't impossible for them to come and visit, but those visits would be few and far between. The Host didn't just randomly open gates for every immortal.

As the tower descended towards the new joint capital city of both the Magocracy and the elves, the progress that had been made in the last few years was clear. The city was quickly growing, but it wasn’t allowed to grow organically. Every street and district was meticulously designed and allotted to different purposes. The architects had been given the opportunity to design the future capital from the ground up, and they were taking full advantage. Space was also reserved in the center of the city for future projects, which meant those areas were assigned as parks for now. The architecture was an interesting blend of elven stone and still living wood construction, married with the heavy stone and glass style of the Magocracy, resulting in highly ornamental spires made entirely of magical glass, or tree-like buildings made of living stone.

“Say what you will, but you guys can build a pretty decent city. I didn’t expect to see skyscrapers at this level of development. Especially ones as ornamental as those.” Envy was quite aware that her own tribe’s settlements were nowhere near this level.

“What are you going to do with your continent by the way?” Valor suddenly asked Hope. The latter had gotten a slice of the pie as she’d also been among the winners of the tournament.

“Well, I was planning on gifting it to Wrath, but I’m still holding onto it. Haven’t honestly decided. I wanted the resources for some new goodies, but as soon as I realized she was here, the need for those resources kind of disappeared. Speaking of, can you make a few items for me? You’ll get a continent in exchange.” Hope turned to ask Karna.

“I mean, what can I say to a deal like that?” Karna shook off her melancholic mood and reached over to shake Hope’s hand to seal the deal.

The tower came to a stop over one of the tallest buildings at the center of the city. The roof of the building had been turned into a meeting spot with a view over the city and the adjoining lands. Most of the place was covered in carefully manicured plants that hid countless enchantments designed for protection and privacy. The four of them were brought down in the middle of the little garden, while the tower remained above as a sort of statement.

“It’s good that you returned so soon Karna.” Arjuna rose from his seat to pull his daughter into an emotional hug. “I was afraid that I’d miss you.” He whispered into her ear.

“Seems you finally did it. Couldn’t stop it anymore?” She knew her father had been on the precipice of Ascending for years now and had actually been holding back. Usually, you only ranked up when you chose to, and even then it was often an ordeal. Sometimes when you held back for too long even when you had more than enough potential, or there was some kind of momentum pushing you towards ranking up, you couldn’t stop it.

“Ironically the tip you gave to me about purifying my mana was the drop that broke the dam.” Both Arjuna and Tsumi had gotten a very important hint about purifying their cultivation to the point where they would be able to utilize divine power once they Ascended, and that purification had the effect of also making their cultivation stronger. “I wouldn’t be too shocked if Tsumi were to follow me in a few years. The only reason she hasn’t already is because she has even more reason to stay than me.”

“Mr. Arjuna, I believe introductions are in order.” The gaudily dressed and ash black-skinned man interrupted their reunion.

“Emissary Merodach, this is my daughter Karna.” Arjuna introduced. Since Karna had shown up, he assumed introducing her was safe. “And these are...” He was about to present the three others but was stopped.

“Envy.” The Sin introduced herself more officially. That was the moniker she most identified with, and she was sick of hiding. So, she decided to start staking her claim openly. Might as well start now before they got to the Divine Planes.

“Hope.” She was once again clad in heavy illusions and glamours. She was more than happy to go along as she realized what Envy was likely going for.

“Valor.” He decided to follow the example of the other two, and his Name was at least a positive one.

“And I’m more commonly known as Karma.” Karna also added, having sensed that the new Emissary was also a reincarnator. She wasn’t going to introduce herself as Wrath though.

“Well then.” The Emissary smiled a little, his small movements causing his numerous accessories to jingle. "I was expecting great things from this meeting, and yet I seem to have underestimated things.”

“Bold of the Host to send a Devil as the next Emissary after a member of the Royal Family.” Karna pointed out. A change like that could be interpreted as an intentional snub.

"Believe it or not, it was considered a neutral choice. Since Mount Celestis has sternly refused to offer any kind of support to any side, and since our kind are banned from royal politics thanks to our lineage ties to the Inferno, we were about as neutral as could be managed on such short notice. I should note that I have been instructed to bring you to the Divine Planes if possible, Princess Ynnead.” The Devil didn’t bother hiding that fact.

“And I’ve been instructed to tell you to fuck off. Politely of course.” Karna countered. “There’s an insane Faerie Dragon that would happily see you try and take me. Not that I’d need her help to defend myself.” As if there were any other kind of Faerie Dragon.

“Of course. It’s good that we understand each other. Incidentally, since our introductions were halted midway, I should mention my friend here.” The Devil gestured to the third immortal present, a female Arch-Naga. Her kind were among the most powerful close combatants and weapon masters in all of the multiverse, even rivaling Asura and the Royal Rakshasa. Even though they could all sense that she was a rank 10 immortal, all of them knew that picking a melee fight with the snakelike being with a woman’s torso was a bad idea. “She will be in charge of keeping Arjuna here safe and escorting him to the Divine Plane once he is done with his preparations. I’m sure she has a name, but she didn’t even bother telling me, so here we are.”

“I did not expect to see one of the Arch-Naga in the Higher Planes.” Karna gave a respectful nod. The deadly exclusively female beings may carry the same term Naga as those seen in other planes, but calling her kind just Naga was the same as calling dragons lizards. While strictly true, it would also be a grievous insult. Arch-Naga were beings that could only be born on the Divine Planes, same as certain other superior variants of their species.

“We all must perform our duty.” The immortal stated coldly, making it clear she didn’t care of anything else. Not uncommon with her kind being famous for their practicality and dampened emotions. Their kind were created for one simple thing, and that was war.

"Charming," Arjuna muttered sarcastically. "Oh, right. I remember the thing you requested about aiding one of your Academy professors, and it's handled."

“Good. Even if he helped me only to curry favor with you, it’s polite to deal with these kinds of debts when possible.” Karna remembered the professor who had wanted to help her when she had enrolled at the Academy. “Besides, helping find lost loved ones is always a worthy endeavor.”

“Did you manage to accomplish your business?” Arjuna changed the subject and pulled Karna aside so they could talk more privately. The ward he made against eavesdropping was something that could easily be broken, but it would be seen as extremely impolite. The Emissary was happy to stay behind and discuss things with the three that stayed behind, though the Arch-Naga kept close enough to Arjuna that only the ward kept her from overhearing.

“For now. I really do wish you would’ve managed to wait just a couple of years longer. I managed to create a more permanent alliance with the three I arrived with. We were planning on Ascending together with you, which would’ve made us all safer.”

“You think I’ll be in danger?” Arjuna asked seriously. He knew enough to trust his daughter in such matters.

“Yes and no. I already told you about the draft you will be subjected to. That means you’ll have to fight, and wars are always dangerous. Here’s where the fact that you’re my father might work to your advantage though. Those that want to use you to get to me will likely make sure that your life won’t be thrown away needlessly in a random battle. On the other hand, who knows what they’re willing to do to use you to get to me. It’s going to be a bit of a tug of war between those that want to curry my favor by protecting you, and those that want to use you in more negative ways. This is all assuming the word about your identity will be widely spread. If it’s not, and I don’t recommend you spreading it, who knows?” Politics was a complicated game, especially with so many competing agendas, and the fact that not everyone was playing the same game with the same stakes.

“So, what you’re saying is, be careful, keep my eyes open, and don’t trust anyone easily? Sounds like smart advice.” He summarized with a small smile dancing on his lips.

"Good advice in general." She chuckled as well at the obvious conclusion. "Have you spoken with Duskclaw?"

“Yes. I already left my tower and all my possessions to her. I also called in some favors to make sure she’ll be alright. You do know she’ll be devastated when you’ll follow me, right?” His expression turned to one of extreme sadness and looked at her meaningfully.

“Yet there’s very little to be done, since you’ve already taken the leap, and I’m not going to delay mine. It’s rare that more than one person from a family Ascends to the Divine Planes. It’s both our good fortune and bad luck that we have two, and we also happen to be almost her entire family. Cultivation is a selfish business and striving for the peak has its consequences.” She knew there were countless ways cultivation could break a family, which was just one of the reasons she’d spent several lifetimes as a mortal.

"Sometimes I feel it would've been easier for her if we hadn't gotten romantically involved," Arjuna stated sadly.

“I disagree. At least you got several years of happiness, and Duskclaw will have a child to take care of instead of being left alone. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but she’s had years to get prepared for this. It would’ve been worse for both of you if you hadn’t taken the leap and had been left wondering what could’ve been. I’ll invite her to stay here, so at least we’ll get to spend time together before I leave.”

“I’ll have to hope you’re right. It’s not like I can go back in time to change things anyway.” He wasn’t convinced his daughter was right, but he had no reason to think she was wrong either.

“When are you leaving?” Karna questioned.

“As soon as I’m done here. I actually reached immortality a couple of weeks ago, but we arrived here only a couple of days ago. This has been coming for a while and most things were ready. I got to say my goodbyes. Incidentally, I heard that Ashanti and his partner also started preparing for Ascension about the same time, though I’m not sure how that went.” It wasn’t uncommon for multiple people to Ascend close together, as the gifted individuals often kept an eye on each other, often as rivals. The success of one often acted as a catalyst for the other.

“I have something for you.” Karna pulled out something she had prepared just in case. She had a fairly large black gem prepared, which she handed it to Arjuna. “This is something for the time you face trouble you can’t deal with alone. Use it, and I will be able to find you no matter where you are. It doesn’t matter if I have to tear the dimensions apart to get to you.”

Even with her current powers, it had been difficult to create the magic stored in the gem. "I will treasure it." Arjuna smiled and stored the gift away. He wasn't sure if he would use it even if he needed to since it was a father's job to protect their daughter, not put them in more danger. He kept it anyway. "I realize with everything going on that there's a more than zero chance we won't be able to meet again. Remember, I will always love you no matter what. You are my daughter even if only because I found you."

“I love you too.” Karna embraced him. “You weren’t all that bad as a dad.”

“What a ringing endorsement.” He couldn’t help himself bursting into laughter.

Chapter 104 - Messenger

A note from Vihyungrang

Happy new year! 2022 babeh! I hope you'll enjoy the first chapter of the year!

--------

”You look like you’re having a good time.” Envy commented as she came upon Hope looking in on Karna’s workshop inside the tower.

The workshop was located deep within the core of the ship, close to the main reactor. The others assumed it was so that Karna would be able to draw the heat from the reactor to use in her work, but they honestly weren't sure. It's not like they had no crafting skills of their own, but the methods Karna used were so far beyond them that they didn't even make full sense. Envy and Valor would both be considered divine-level smiths in other universes, but that was by the standards of non-reincarnators. Karna on the other hand couldn't even be judged by those standards.

“It’s calming.” Hope placed a hand on the glass separating the room they were in from the workshop. “We told you about how we met. When I was still young, she spent much of her time in the smithy. I think she was working through her anger, or she might have just wanted something to do. She wasn’t good with boredom back then. Either way, most of my fondest early memories are about watching her work like this.”

“You never picked up the hammer yourself?” Envy asked. It seemed like such an obvious skill for every reincarnator to learn. Not that most bothered, but no one said reincarnators had to be smart.

Hope shook her head in denial while her expression turned a bit pensive. “It would’ve felt like I was trying to bring back those moments, but it would’ve been a cheap imitation. She made me feel safe and loved. Without her in there, there was no safety or love in the smithy. I learned many other skills, but I could never really get into that one.”

Envy stepped next to her and looked inside the workshop. Inside, Karna was holding a long object of indiscernible quality with a pair of long tongs. The material seemed to be somewhere halfway between a blue metal and crystal, but Karna was handling it almost like it was something extremely fragile. At least her movements and attempts not to touch it spoke of fragility, while the extreme heat and pressure focused on the object spoke of something completely opposite. If a living being had been subjected to forces like that, they would’ve been torn to shreds or burnt to ash in a second.

“What is she doing?” Envy wondered. The magical fields made no sense to her. It was like the object was being molded by extreme fluctuations in opposing gravitational forces instead of being hammered into shape. At the same time, it would’ve been much easier to just use magic to shape the object. Yet in many ways, the entire room was void of magic despite the many formations at the walls controlling the various forces.

“I think I know. She explained some of the things to me when I sat observing her work all the way back then. She’s obviously improved since, but I believe the theory is still the same. She’s creating a staff for me to use for my magic. She’s trying to isolate the staff so that the first magic that actually touches it when it’s finished will be mine. That way the item will imprint on my magical signature and that will allow my magic to flow through it better, amplifying it. See, she’s controlling all those forces with magic, but none of that magic actually touches the staff itself.” Hope wasn’t sure if she remembered correctly, but that was the gist of what she’d been told. She hadn’t really understood at the time, but as those memories were precious to her, she hadn’t forgotten either.

“That’s just stupid. Now that you explained that to me, I can see what she’s going for, but the effect all that trouble will have is less than 1% of improvement in performance.” Envy was a skilled smith herself, so the concept wasn’t foreign to her. “She could make it in a fraction of the time without that complication. The tiny increase in performance is not worth the extra trouble.”

“Perhaps not alone, but if you do enough of such things, would the effects not be cumulative?” Hope pointed out.

“See, I could see that if she was making some kind of divine artifact that you’d be using for eons. Even I’d go through the extra effort then. But she’s making you a staff that you’ll maybe use for a few years at best. We both know she’s just going to have to go through all the trouble again once we all become immortal.” Envy argued. She knew Karna could be a perfectionist, but they both were also aware of the principle ‘perfect is the enemy of good enough’.

“And yet, she’s the one we all went for our crafting needs as soon as we got the opportunity. You even made her an extra pillow in exchange. I saw how much effort you’ve put into those. You can’t fool me.” Hope loved teasing the Sin about things like that.

“That’s completely different. I already told you even I would give the extra effort if the situation called for it. Those pillows are my hold over her, so of course I’ll have to make them perfect.” Envy defended herself with a sniff.

“Uh-huh.” Hope didn’t seem convinced though.

“I gather Valor’s sword and my new greaves are already finished.” Envy changed the subject.

“I’m sure you saw the fireworks as well.” Hope allowed the change in subject but filed that little exchange away for future use.

“Yeah, she wasn’t kidding when she mentioned that creating weapons of the holy attribute could get a bit wild.” They'd all borne witness to the whirlwind of divine energy that had formed and then coalesced to someplace inside the tower. Envy and Valor had been outside at the time, and it hadn't been too difficult to figure out what had caused such a disturbance. There had even been tribulation clouds forming above the tower, but for some odd reason, the clouds had just gone away without doing anything. "Valor is a bit concerned since the tribulation clouds went away. He's hoping Karna didn't make a mistake or something."

“No mistakes. It’s just one of my bloodlines.” Karna called out from inside the workshop, never pausing in her work.

“I didn’t realize you could hear.” Envy commented wryly.

“It’s more interesting this way. I might overhear something fun. As I just did. Good work on the pillow by the way.” They could both hear the smile in Karna’s voice.

“Forget that! Valor said he wanted to test the new weapon as soon as possible. Since the best way to test a sword is to fight with it, you get to do the honors.” Envy quickly changed the subject. Her greaves were much simpler in that they only helped boost her speed and other movement-related attributes such as dexterity and stealth. They would also look quite sexy if Wrath had made them according to the design she'd made.

“Lucky me. I’ll soon be done with the staff. We can play around then.”

-----

Valor was feeling a little odd as he squared off against Wrath for their little practice bout. For this to be a good enough test for his new sword, they needed to take it at least somewhat seriously. Not ‘let’s use our Domains and try to murder each other’ seriously, but still. He was a reincarnator, and a powerful War Wolf facing a lower-ranked opponent, but for some reason, he didn't feel all that confident. He wasn't going to back down, but his instincts were telling him that he wasn't going to have a good time. Perhaps that was necessary? He'd long known that the best way to improve was to face adversity and get through it. Wrath had already shown her skill by going toe to toe with the Kensei.

His new sword was fantastic. The blue and gold blade practically screamed that this was a holy blade fit for heroes, and the way it fit his hand was like it was custom made for him. Which it was of course. He’d never had a blade that fit his hand and style so perfectly, every groove in the grip formed around his fingers. The weight was just right, as was the length, and if Wrath's description of the abilities was accurate, then the abilities conferred by the blade also complemented him perfectly. He could feel some of the effects that made him faster and stronger just by holding the sword. It was also perfect for being used both with two hands or in one hand with a shield like he was using it now.

“Ready?” Wrath asked while twirling around a blade made of pure light. He knew however, that the real danger wasn’t the blade, but the gauntlet in her other hand. That and Wrath’s magic. She might have been a proficient fighter, but her real strength was in magic. Luckily his armor was designed to resist magic akin to dragons, and the new blade enhanced that effect.

“Ready.” He confirmed and took a stance.

As soon as the word left his mouth, he was forced into defending himself as Wrath attacked him with speed that completely defied her rank. Thanks to his own skills though, he was able to follow her movements and even respond, even if only barely. Without the added bonus from the sword, that wouldn’t have been the case, so that part was working at least. He took the attack on his shield and regretted his attempt at blocking immediately. The sheer power behind the attack lifted him off his feet and tossed him in the air.

He managed to right himself in the air before managing to counter the quick lightning spell aimed at him with a defensive holy shield that stopped any of the power from the spell that wasn’t countered by his resistance. ‘Right, I’m fighting a Titan despite her size and appearance. So, parries only and no blocking.’

As soon as he landed, he swung his new blade in a wide arc, sending a wave of golden holy power towards Wrath. As the creator of the weapon, she was of course fully aware of all the abilities of the weapon, but since they were testing the weapon out, she attempted to block the wave of power with a barrier made of Qhaysh. The attack went straight through the barrier as if it wasn’t even there, and the barrier itself wasn’t affected either. Right after, the attack was swallowed by the weird power of her gauntlet.

'How does that thing work? It can't just render her immune to any holy-based abilities, can it?’ He wondered.

“First round of tests successful.” Wrath said with an analytical tone, not moving to attack further. “Moving to the second round of tests. Ready?”

"Go for it." He tried sounding more confident than he actually was. This test was decidedly less pleasant.

She started chanting a quick incantation and a bolt of energy shot from her hand towards the skies, just before it seemed like the entire sky fell on him. He barely managed to lift his sword up to meet the incoming torrent of lightning, and then all he could do was to hold on as a ninth circle lightning spell battered him continuously for what felt like an eternity. Somehow all the lightning from the sudden attack seemed to be drawn into his blade. It wasn't that he was completely unscathed, though his magic resistance countered most of the effects to his body, but when the torrent came to an end, he was still mostly intact and a single rune on his blade now glowed with new light. He knew he would be able to release all that power his new sword had stored inside it to make a single devastating attack.

“Second test successful, I’d say.” She said while analyzing the blade and the damage he had taken. He could’ve protected himself with his holy power, but that would’ve defeated the point of the test. “The spillover power is a bit more than I assumed, but not too bad all things considered.”

“Yeah, but let’s not do that again.” He shuddered a bit.

“What are you talking about? We still have to test the other elements. Who knows if it works as well on them if we don’t try.” Karna gave a nasty grin. This wasn’t going to be fun.

----------

"There's someone here to see you, master," Zuellni reported dutifully.

“Who?” She asked idly while tinkering with one of the formations controlling the tower.

“The person said that they’re a messenger. I checked already, and they arrived on the most recent group of ships that brought colonists from the Magocracy. Their credentials also seem genuine.” The tower spirit had done some due diligence.

“Did they say what it’s about?” She stopped her tinkering and frowned a bit. It wouldn’t do to meddle with such complex formations while distracted.

“They did not. I did however get the distinct impression that the message is from a rather official source.” Zuellni was displeased that she didn’t have more answers.

“Alright, show them in. I’ll meet them in one of the meeting rooms.” She cleaned herself and changed her clothing with a wave of her hand. It wouldn’t do to meet an official messenger in work clothes, even if she looked good in anything.

As she teleported to the meeting room, she noted that the messenger was one of those used by the Magocracy when conducting official business, wearing the dark military uniform with a simple messenger’s insignia on her shoulder. Such couriers came in two varieties. The first was a common runner that carried written messages between officers or nobles. They were picked mostly for their speed and didn't usually carry any messages that would be too sensitive if they fell into enemy hands. Messengers like this one though usually carried only oral messages or official orders that absolutely had to reach the recipient. They were all relatively high-ranking people too. They weren't something you could just hire either. If some noble wanted to send a more secure message, they used a courier boat outside the military. That implied this message was either from someone in the military or from someone who had enough pull with the military to arrange a messenger like this. The messenger herself was also a bit of a statement that told Karna that she should take the message seriously.

“I was told you had a message for me.” She prompted simply. There was no point in wasting time with pleasantries when dealing with messengers like this.

"I was given the assignment to deliver an invitation to you by the master of the Starlight Tower. She would like to request your presence at your earliest convenience.” The message was quite brief and to the point. Such messages usually were.

“The Witch of the Starlight Tower, eh?” Karna had to frown. She knew Arjuna had never enjoyed getting mixed with the seers, and she herself rather disliked them as well. The tower had been rather quiet since the Expansion, but it was likely the master of the tower wouldn’t reach out without a proper reason. “Were you told to bring back a reply?”

“No.”

“Alright then. The message has been received.” She said and gestured for Zuellni to teleport their guest away. Now the question was, should she go? Seers were trouble, but it was doubtful one would reach out like this without a good reason. And the seer had picked an official messenger to make that point clear.

The problem was that she would need to go back to the Magocracy, which wasn’t under Ysendra’s control. And the new Emissary would be stationed there as well. The man had seemed relatively reasonable, but showing up without the protection of the very deterrent she’d threatened him with only days before might be a bit too much of a temptation given that he’d already admitted to receiving orders to that effect. She wasn’t really worried about the Emissary as she was able to defeat him even without the aid of her new allies, but killing the man could have bad consequences, as proven by the old Holy Kingdom. Granted, the Holy Kingdom had consorted with the Underworld as well, but trouble didn’t need to come in the form of an annihilation.

“Gem, we’ll have to go with plan C. Have you already made the preparations?” She called out.

The spirit came out looking exactly like Ysendra. More importantly though, Gem also gave off the same aura as the Nakshatra, and even to Karna's senses, the spirit outranked her rather severely. That was all nothing but an illusion though. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Chapter 105 - Starlight Tower

A note from Vihyungrang

This was a complicated chapter to write. Intrigue and seers always are. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

She’d often seen the Starlight Tower from a distance. It was hard to not notice such an obvious landmark after all, and Karna was aware of the complications the tower and its inhabitant had brought to Arjuna’s life over the years. It was those very complications that had caused her to personally keep her distance from the tower. Well, in addition to her personal dislike for seers. She could also see the defensive formations around the tower, which were made in a way that practically screamed of the presence of a reincarnator to someone like her. Seers were already bad enough, but a seer that was also a reincarnator could be so much worse. They would know how to leverage their information. And since they were all crazy, they were also more likely to act irrationally. It usually took standard seers a long time to even consider making ‘predictions’ that were false, just for their own gain.

The tower itself was gorgeous of course. Starsilver was a beautiful metal, even if its uses were mostly limited to divination magic. The tower looked like stars were shining inside of it, which was rather appropriate considering the time of day. The metal wasn’t just reflecting the stars in the sky though, as the stars within were mostly different from those in the sky. It also seemed there was limited activity inside the tower this late, although a few customers were making their way out through the doors at the base of the tower. Those were the entrances for people who had not been invited and were simply customers seeking out the services of the seers for their own benefit. There was never a shortage of people that wanted to know the future, with motivations ranging from pure to greedy and nefarious.

Karna had been invited however, and there was a rather obvious gap in the defenses of the tower, right around the balcony that ringed the top. As she touched down on the balcony, she noted a woman dressed in such heavy robes that only her eyes were showing. The woman was currently pouring some sort of drink to a cup opposite to where she was sitting, signaling that the drink was for Karna. “Welcome Princess Ynnead Asuryan, or Karma if you’d prefer another Name.” The emphasis on the last word was rather obvious.

Karna wasn’t all that impressed. Even a half-decent seer would’ve found out that much by now. “I assume this is important. It’s somewhat risky for me to be here as you should be aware.”

“It is. Though, I should point out that the risk to your person is less than you’d assume. The Emissary is strictly neutral, and while he has his orders, he won’t go out of his way to fulfill them. So, unless you decide to announce your presence here, he will not be looking for you either. At least for now. He is also vaguely aware that taking you might not be quite so simple.” The woman, who Karna had identified as the owner of this tower, explained. “I’d also prefer it if you didn’t kill him, for several reasons.”

Karna sat down at the table and was unsurprised to see one of her favored teas. Still, it wasn’t her favorite, which suggested a few things. Either this seer was unable to see everything about her or chose not to. There were two main ways that seers could find out such things. The first one was to look into the various futures and check what kind of reaction each offering got. That only worked with people that were open with their reactions though. The other method was to scry the person directly to find out things about them. Karna had made sure to protect herself against such scrying, and trying to look at her future had always been challenging for any seer. Likely the seer had chosen to just glimpse at the future to see her reactions and picked something that was at least positive.

It would’ve been rather impolite to cast a poison detection spell right in front of the master of the tower. Not that Karna really cared about politeness towards the seer, but in the end, she simply took a tiny sip and decided to observe the reaction her body had to it to make sure the drink didn’t cause any undesired effects. “So, talk. I’m not going to be your new instrument now that Arjuna is gone if that was your goal.”

“That is always the choice of people I speak about the future to. I only tell what I see, and how it could be prevented. How everyone chooses to react to such news is up to them.” That alone proved this seer was experienced. She’d figured a great way to manipulate people, as no one could complain too much about simply being given the opportunity to prevent some dark future. And if the seer happened to be a little selective in how she phrased things, and the recipient didn’t realize there were plenty of other people that could act on said information, then it was hard to refuse.

“Still, I didn't invite you here to debate such things, so I'll get to the point. As you're no doubt aware, the most frantic phase of the Expansion is coming to an end. There are still worlds more than worthy enough that remain to be discovered, and there will be for hundreds of years to come, but the biggest surge is now over. Would you concur so far?" It seemed the seer had elected to approach the subject by leading Karna to the answers instead of just blurting out what she'd seen.

“I haven’t followed the situation that closely, but I imagine you’re not too far off.” She’d been busy cultivating and had even created a spell for Ysendra to try and find other pieces of the Crossroads. In addition, she was already mixed up in the politics of the Divine Plane and didn’t want to add the machinations of Higher Planes to the mix. At least not more than she had to. She was already involved in some things.

“Well, with the landgrab for free and important resources over, what do you think would be the next logical step?” The seer posed a question.

“I would imagine that many great powers have been building their forces in preparation for taking some of that new land by force.” Karna pointed out the most obvious path. Many of the great powers hadn’t even bothered doing their own exploration, finding it easier to let others do the dirty work for them, and planned on just swooping in and grabbing the spoils. That risked losing some of the more immediate gains like artifacts and consumable items that would’ve already been used, but most of the big powers were looking at things long-term. A single Divine item might upset the balance of power between factions but such items were rare, and having a replenishing source of an important resource for tens of thousands of years to come was much more useful in the long run. Being able to control and draw power from multiple worlds was even more so.

“And with Arjuna gone, and Ashanti about to follow, what do you think are the odds of our world appearing like a juicy target?” The seer finally seemed to get to the point. The two men were not the only rank 9 beings the Magocracy and the Aegean Empire had access to, but they were the most powerful and most well-known. Just because you were at the same rank, that didn’t mean you had equal power.

“The Emissary would prevent any direct threats against the Magocracy and the Empire. No one would Ascend willingly if the countries they left behind would be crushed as soon as they were gone.” Karna voiced her thoughts. Such aftercare was one of the most important reasons for the presence of Emissaries in the Higher Planes. The Planes below were too low level for the same to apply as their wars were less about individual power and more about numbers. “However, that protection isn’t a blanket protection either, and likely doesn’t extend to newly established colonies.” She realized where this was likely going.

“Exactly.” The seer nodded. “And to be specific, while the Emissary wouldn’t let the Magocracy or the Empire fall, that doesn’t mean they will stop any and all hostilities. For instance, attacks that are made for the sole purpose of keeping us from sending all our military to protect those new colonies. The Emissaries won’t allow their aid to be abused either.”

“I see. And I suspect you’ve seen something like that as well.” Karna could put two and two together. “You want me to handle the protection of said colony? No. That’s not it, is it? Or not all of it at least. You didn’t need to invite me here for that. I was already on that world and would’ve obviously protected it from attacks. And there are the Sentinels as well. There’s something more to this, isn’t there?”

“In a sense. Just by informing you, I’ve already made sure you and the others will not be caught unawares, and that alone will make the attack harder. I needed to inform you of the attack for two additional reasons. The first reason is that you don’t always stay on that world, and your tower is rather easy to notice coming and going. Much like yourself, it’s not exactly stealthy. The informants of the parties that will be attacking would make sure the attack is timed so that you would be gone. It’s not that they fear you exactly, but they don’t quite understand your tower’s functionality, and they are aware that you often travel with three other powerful individuals. With your tower and you four gone, taking the world would be much easier, and they would be able to do it before you return. Whether you’d be able to retake it is another matter, but the losses would be quite significant even if you did.” The seer was clearly somewhat familiar with tactics, as her analysis was basic but accurate.

“Secondly, there are certain parties working behind the scenes to make sure this attack both happens and succeeds. I’m not entirely sure yet what those parties are or what their motivations are, but they seem to be interested in your group in particular. From what I’ve seen, unless you fight seriously from the beginning, meaning using your Domain, then either you or one of your group will end up either seriously injured or dead. And when I say seriously hurt, I don’t mean something that you’d recover from in a few weeks or a bit of healing. There are assassins and magical poisons involved, which are not my forte. I’m not sure of the exact reasons, but apparently, a large enough show of force will deter them from acting." It was clear that the Seer's visions were incomplete, and she was working with several possible futures that were in flux.

Her instinct was to state that she wasn’t all that afraid of assassins anymore, not unless they were at least immortals, but she knew the danger of such hubris. There were plenty of abilities that would allow someone to hide even from her senses, and battles often came down to who could get the first serious enough strike in to do real damage. There were ways even she could be injured that would be hard to recover from, even with her bloodlines. That didn’t mean she would take everything the seer said at face value. Just being aware of the danger would allow her to come up with countermeasures, and she had no doubt the seer was playing some sort of game as well.

She was more concerned about the fact that the Sentinels had proven less useful in this potential future than they had hoped. One of the reasons the Magocracy had so eagerly gobbled up such a valuable world like this was because it had the capacity to defend itself. Gem had found out that Ysendra was behind the Sentinels, so they shouldn’t be something so easily dealt with. The crazy Faerie Dragon was many things, but incompetent wasn’t one of them.

“And when is all this supposed to take place?” She asked. That was a rather important detail, wasn’t it?

“The enemy forces are still gathering their strength, making their plans, and choosing targets, as we’re not the only possibility. The news about Arjuna won’t spread for a while yet either. The same for Ashanti. You are well aware that the future is always in motion as well, and the smallest decisions could have huge consequences. The earliest I’ve seen the attack happen is four months from now, and that was an extreme case with you leaving the world. With you sticking around, it could be anything from eight to eleven months.” The seer responded.

“Eight months is a lot of time. You can prepare all sorts of things in defense, and I don’t see any reason to keep this information a secret. You’ve informed the council and our elven allies, yes? Good. In that case, I feel like some preparations are in order as well.” Karna drank down the last of her cup and got up to leave.

“As I said, that was also one of the reasons I invited you here. I know that with enough preparation time, you can accomplish many things that will reduce our losses. I would focus on the world you’ve made your base at. The attack here will be dangerous, but it’s not really meant to be too dangerous due to the Emissary, just enough to hold most of our forces here. Oh, I should remind you again. Please don’t get into a fight and kill the Emissary. If he’s dead, then we won’t be able to rely on his protection.” The seer felt compelled to repeat. “And Karma, do be careful in the future. I like the life I’ve built here, and we’ll all soon find out why all these reincarnators have been brought here. I would greatly dislike it if your actions forced me to relocate somewhere else. I don’t mind helping you when appropriate, but I can just as easily help your enemies if it's necessary.”

Karna grimaced a bit. “I do so wish you hadn’t said that. Now I have to make plans for dealing with you.” She retorted heavily.

“We both know you made those plans as soon as you saw the defenses around my tower. Besides, I did mention I’d rather be an ally. Otherwise, I would’ve told Prince Tethrine where to find you when you were still powerless to oppose him. I’ve already covered for you. It is important for you to remember that my aid isn’t unconditional though.” The seer revealed some of her reasoning behind saying something that wouldn't be received well.

"If you're expecting repayment for inaction just because you see things, you're going to wait a long time. It's hardly my fault you choose to wield your ability to peep on people. If you happened to learn something dangerous in the process, then that's the price of your actions. And I'm not going to be paying the price of other people's reckless actions. I have enough work to cover the price of my own mistakes. I said it before, I won't become your new problem solver. I appreciate this warning but don't pretend you did it purely for altruistic reasons. You yourself stated that you enjoy your current position here. It's only expected that you'd also have to protect that position. I'm not looking to become your enemy, but I won't be your weapon either." Karna's tone was harsher than necessary. Her dislike of seers was causing her to act in a less polite way than usual. It was also a fact that having power meant that she didn't need to tolerate others trying to manipulate her either.

Everyone had to deal with attempts at manipulation. Only with enough power of your own could you prevent that manipulation. As she was now, she wouldn’t have to go along with the machinations of people like the Elven Queen anymore. That didn’t mean she could lash out every time someone tried, as that would only create too many enemies, but at least she could make a stand when necessary. Even now, she was thinking of ways how she could turn the information the seer had provided her to her advantage. The problem with seers though, was that they could predict such attempts, and their aim could be to incite a reaction like that. And that dilemma, in a nutshell, was why she hated seers and tried to stay away from them.

“I am already doing my part. I was doing my part long before you were born. Even if you don’t like it or want it, I’ve already hitched my wagon to your success. Why else would I be here in the Magocracy? I could’ve Ascended a hundred years ago. But I know that this war is simply the first of many more to come, and we all have to pick a side or get caught in the middle. I’ve made my choice. Whether you choose to take advantage of the benefits that come with that decision is up to you. I know the trouble of trusting a seer. And I am The Seer. You shouldn’t trust me. That doesn’t mean you can’t use my talents regardless. Just think about it. I could help you in locating the quarry you seek, just to name an obvious example.” The seer didn’t seem to mind Karna’s hostility. She had likely expected it. Seen it. Which only annoyed Karna even more. Not that she would allow that annoyance to affect her actions further.

There was also something that she had paid attention to earlier. The seer had mentioned that the attack would happen when she was gone if she allowed it. There weren't all that many reasons for her to leave her current home. One was to locate and capture one of the people abusing the elemental planes. Another was if one of her friends or family was in danger. Both options had their own detriments. Maybe she should swing by Arjuna's tower, and move her family to her own until the attack passed?

Chapter 106 - Operation Warp Storm

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

”So vat you’re saying is zat zis world is going to be under attack in less than a year’s time? And ze attack vill be dangerous enough zat the Sentinels alone vill not be enough to defend us?” The same Vampire that had taken part in the tournament asked pointedly. Somehow his accent had gotten thicker since they’d last seen him.

“Ok, I have to ask. Are you doing that accent on purpose to annoy others, or did it really get worse?” Envy interjected, also noting the change.

“It’s not entirely fake, but it is mostly.” Morgan, or Tremere as his True Name was, admitted freely and dropped the accent. “I find it interesting to act in character so to speak. Sometimes I’m more into it than at other times.”

“Can we be serious long enough to get through this meeting?” Valor asked with an exasperated click of his tongue.

“We could, but it wouldn’t be as interesting.” Morgan shrugged. “And our kind need to find our amusement where we can. It’s the same reason why I get in character. Less boring that way. But we can get back to the point. We’re going to be attacked? And you know this how?”

“How else. Bloody seers.” Karna grumbled.

“And we’re not going to get a whole lot of support from your home countries? Despite them being protected by an Emissary?” The vampire seemed to genuinely be just trying to get a decent read on the situation, and actually looked a bit excited at the prospect of being attacked. More excitement for him.

“Essentially. Our home will be attacked at the same time to keep the majority of the forces back home. Losing a colony is tolerable, though not desired. Losing our home is not. Tsumi will likely be here to help us defend as she was moving the Academy here the last I heard, and the elves will send some of their dragon princes, but Envy’s people are essentially refugees, and Valor’s Order is already here in as much force as they can muster. We’re not without military power, but we don’t have the might of an established empire behind us. Which would be fine considering everyone in this room, except we can be almost certain that the attackers will also include others like us as we’ll have multiple forces aiming at us.” Karna summarized the dilemma.

“That’s…not great. I made a bit of a point of separating from the old monsters back at home when I left. Zey were being insufferable. Zey were weaker zan me, but still tried to command myself and my subordinates to do zeir bidding. So ve can’t expect too much help from them.” The accent apparently required conscious effort to keep out of his speech as he slipped back in character while distracted. “Ve have focused on building a home here, and not on building heavy defenses. Zat’s vat the Sentinels are for.”

“And to make things worse for you, you purposefully picked the continent with the easiest access to spatial pathways to and from this world. Which means you’ll likely also be taking the brunt of the assault.” Karna wasn’t unsympathetic. “The good news is that with the advanced warning we can focus on building defenses and rectifying the holes left behind from earlier. As much as I dislike seers, they do have some uses, and forewarned is forearmed. There’s quite a lot of work I can do in these months if I dedicate most of my time to it.”

“Still doesn’t leave us with great odds.” Envy pointed out. “My people are mostly hunters and not warriors. We can fight a guerilla war of sorts, which suits the terrain of our continent quite well, but that won’t be much help when it comes to repelling an invasion. I’ll help of course, but don’t expect too much military help from my tribe.”

“We could take you into our cities.” Karna offered. “It would leave your settlements at the mercy of the enemy though.”

“Not a great solution. We’d lose everything we’ve built so far. We’ll take you up on that if necessary, but I’d rather avoid it.” Envy’s face scrunched up in obvious displeasure.

“We could just….” Hope waved her fingers in a universal gesture meaning magic. “…you know. I’m quite certain that you can just store their entire settlements in some sort of dimensional pocket, and even I could take a shot at that. I’m not as proficient with spatial magic though.”

"It's…doable. Either way, the real problem is that we don't have the military force to prevent them from landing forces on the empty continents. And once they get an entrenched strongpoint going on, it's going to be a lot harder to root them out. Shooting down troop transports isn't too difficult while assaulting a heavily fortified position most certainly is. The Sentinels will help in this regard, as they're spread all over the world, but they won't solve the problem. It would be much easier if we could prevent them from landing in the first place."

"You have a plan," Morgan stated with a realization.

"There's…a possible solution, but it's not foolproof and comes with its own dangers. The surrounding space around this world is still extremely dangerous as there are very few established spatial pathways. There are ways to make that space even more dangerous. In fact, I could make it so that the only safe path is to use the gateway with the Magocracy.” Karna suggested.

“Which would make it impossible for any traders to come here, except by making a stop at the Magocracy. That can’t be the only downside though.” Envy knew Wrath wouldn’t have considered that a sufficient deterrent, as it might make things a little difficult but not enough when compared to the security of the entire world.

Karna got up from her seat and paced to the window overlooking the vampire city below. “Well, there are two major problems and one additional potential one. The first problem is that this isn’t something I can just suddenly put into motion once we detect the enemy approaching. I’d need to start things months in advance to really have an effect. Which in this case means I’d need to do it as soon as possible since we don’t know exactly when they’re coming. Secondly, it makes the area around our world hazardous to pass through, but that’s not the same as impassable. Someone determined enough and powerful enough could still make the trip. If they decided to throw their ships into the storm though, then they’d lose more than two-thirds of their number, assuming they don’t have some kind of trick in their pocket to lower that attrition rate. Even then they wouldn’t be able to make the trip safely, which would make this a bit of a no-brainer if it wasn't for the third potential issue. If I create a spatial anomaly like that around this world, I can't say for certain how long it will last. It might cut any viable paths to us aside from the gateway for decades to come.”

"Zat…iz certainly a downside." Morgan agreed. His people would be the ones to lose the most, as the elves and the Magocracy would have the gateway, and Envy's tribe didn't really do a lot of trade with other worlds yet.

Valor had a different view. “It could also encourage our enemies to seek other targets if it lasts long enough. According to you, the seer said the attackers were aiming for us in particular, which might make them more patient than normal, but I doubt the forces doing the actual attacking are willing to spend decades in a state of readiness, waiting for an opportunity to attack us. They’d find someone else in the meantime. And in a handful of years, we can turn this world into something that can easily withstand their attack. I mean, the only reason we’re vulnerable in the first place is that we were somewhat confident that the Sentinels would deter anyone from even trying to attack us and focused our efforts on building cities and economy instead of defenses.” He pointed out.

“Yes. Ze Sentinels are still a strong force even if zey are not enough to be a sole deterrent.” Morgan nodded. “Ze issue is, what are ze chances that someone could find a way through ze storm without losing too many forces? Or, could zey target ze gateway?”

"They will almost certainly try, but the Magocracy already moved the gateway to the capital, right above the Emissary's mansion." Karna grinned a bit. "Even if he won’t react to attacks on the periphery, the Emissary can hardly ignore a battle right above his head. If the enemy made a sudden suicidal attack on the gate, they might be able to damage it, but it’s built to be rather sturdy. As for our end of the gate, we’ve made sure to secure it properly as well.”

The vampire city that she could see through the windows was cast in a perpetual night thanks to the magical cloud cover above the city. The Vampires would not be destroyed by the sun, as they weren’t neonate vampires, but it would still weaken them. That was also a potential tactical weakness as any proficient commander would send their mages to disperse the clouds to weaken any defenders. As Tremere wasn’t a fool, the attempt would trigger several nasty traps, but it would likely eventually succeed. At least if they sent a powerful enough holy caster to do it. Many divine spells worked on the basic structure of bringing in daylight to dark places.

“As for the odds of getting through the storm…it’s a little hard to quantify exactly. On one hand, I’ll have to create a storm that surrounds the entire world and make it strong enough for our purposes, while anyone making the attempt would only need to punch through from a single spot. On the other hand, I’m only enhancing the already chaotic nature of the spatial forces to be more powerful and all-encompassing, while doing the opposite is a lot more difficult, as proven by the effort that we had to put into creating the gateway. A third factor is that since I’m not going to be actively maintaining the storm, I won’t be able to actively combat anyone trying to tamper with it. Then again, I’m really damn good at what I do, so…” She shrugged her shoulders a little unsure.

“We need an estimation to at least get a rough idea.” Valor pushed.

“To get a handful of ships through without significant losses would not be too difficult, so I’d give a competent spatial mage of our kind odds around 20% to 40%. If they don’t have a spatially oriented mage that has access to knowledge like we have, they’re rather boned. If they wanted to get an entire invasion fleet through without losing most of the fleet, I’d put their odds between slim and none. Not impossible mind you. And if they have enough mages like that working together, the odds shift again.” Karna tried to emphasize the fact that something like this couldn’t be put into exact odds.

“There is a hole in this plan.” Hope suddenly pointed out. “If the storm sticks around for decades, then we’ll no longer be around to defend this world when it goes away.”

“We won’t be around for too many years anyway, so any concern about what happens in a few years is kind of moot.” Valor waved the concern away. “And at least we can help with building defenses while we are here. And once we’re gone, the personal motive will be gone as well.”

"True, but if we face the enemy in battle, then at least we have dealt with the issue," Hope argued. "I'm not saying we can't go with the storm idea, but we have to make a bit of an adjustment to our plans during it. Since the gateway does exist, we don't need to stay holed up in here. We need to face these enemies and deal them a big enough blow that they won't be interested in finding trouble with this world once we're gone. At least we should deal with these behind-the-scenes parties driving the attack our way. There are easier targets to attack even with Arjuna gone, so if we remove the reason to target us specifically…”

“Zat’s not a bad idea.” Morgan agreed. “Ve have a better chance if ve have ze initiative. Zat raises a question. Vho exactly are zey?”

"That's what we need to find out. Everyone on board with the plan provisionally named 'Warp Storm'?" Karna turned to look at the other reincarnators present. They represented the leaders of the factions in the world. Only the elves didn't have a voice here, and while Karna wasn't the official leader of the Magocracy on the world, she could make sure things went according to what was agreed to here. They did represent the largest military power in the world after all. Everyone nodded.

“When are you going to put the plan in motion?” Valor asked. They needed to make preparations and hand out warnings to certain parties. They had to be judicious as they didn’t want word to get to the enemy too soon, but the information would leak sooner or later anyway it was a bit of a balancing act as they had to warn their trading partners but not give enough time for the enemy to launch the attack before the storm was in place.

“I could start right now, but I think we have to do something else first. I want you two-” Karna pointed at Hope and Morgan. “to seed the surroundings of our world outside the area affected by the storm with spells that will allow us to detect anyone approaching us. If they do arrive, we want an advance warning, and it would be useful to know if they start attempting to break through the storm.”

“Zat will not be easy. Ze area to cover is very large.” Morgan pointed out.

“Not if you really think about it. There are only a handful of viable approaches to this world. You can just cover those.” Karna countered. “Besides, I’m sure the two of you will manage.”

“That leaves us with the question presented earlier. Who is attacking us?” Envy brought the question back. “I think I can safely guess that our old overlords might be part of the attacking force. They were part of the tournament and probably didn’t take it well when we were one of the winners and didn’t turn over the prize to them. They might have been willing to grant my tribe independence, and even that was after a lot of hard work, but I’m pretty sure their tolerance ends at the point where they think our independence is an active hindrance to them. They might think they’re only reclaiming what’s rightfully theirs. And since I played a big part in both our independence and our victory in the tournament, it explains the personal interest in me.”

“I think we can somewhat assume that other tournament participants will be the most likely culprits when it comes to the forces actually conducting the attack. Maybe not the entire force, but a good portion of them at least. And I wouldn’t be too surprised if Wei-Jin is among the attackers. They might even be one of the actors behind the scenes. They also have a grudge against me personally, so like Envy, there’s a reason to target me.” Karna added.

“I haven’t really made all that many enemies since coming to this universe.” Hope defended herself. “Except…I did cause quite a few deaths during the tournament, as Valor here can attest. His group almost became part of those casualties. If someone is targeting me, it could be anyone carrying a grudge over someone who died during the tournament.”

"As for us, it is obvious vho would target my kind," Morgan stated. "Ze elders, and anyone zat carries a grudge against vampires. Zat could be almost anyone really."

Everyone turned to look at Valor. "What? I've lived a life of a chivalric knight. Our Order is well known for its good deeds. The only enemies we've made are the groups we've destroyed while defending the innocent. And most of those are dead."

“Right. So enemies abound, but no concrete information on who’s behind all this, aside from maybe Wei-Jin, but I doubt they’re the only ones.” Karna summarized.

“It sounds like you’ll be getting a rematch with the Kensei soon.” Envy teased a little.

“I actually doubt that. She was already solidly in the ninth rank when we fought. Odds are she has already Ascended.” Karna doubted a Kensei would not improve themselves when possible. “We have the basics of a plan. While Hope and Morgan get the surveillance going, I’ll help with the defenses. Then I’ll deal with the storm. Unless someone finds a reason to change that plan by then. While the odds are on our side, I think we should all prepare for the possibility that they’ll be able to make their way through the storm in some capacity at least. Better to be prepared than to be caught unawares. Also, I know it’s impossible to deal with them completely, but do try to weed out any spies among your ranks. This whole thing will be a lot easier if we’re not leaking information everywhere.”

Chapter 107 - Commence hostilities

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

”Master, the others are trying to reach you.” Gem informed Karna, who was currently floating in place deep underground, embedded deep into the crust of the planet.

“Is it urgent? I’m approaching a breakthrough.” She was absorbing vast amounts of earth mana in preparation for her next Awakening, which wasn’t too distant now. Unlike what she’d done with her previous Awakenings, the element of earth was more effective when taken in over time instead of attuning yourself in a single decisive burst. She sometimes managed to snatch some time to cultivate between working on the world’s defenses and wanted to make the best of the time she had.

“The enemy forces are approaching the warp storm you created. Both Hope and Tremere spotted them, and the ships are arriving from multiple directions. The design of ships is also quite varied, suggesting differing origins.” Gem gave a brief summary.

“They’re still arriving though? They haven’t yet massed in force just yet?” Karna confirmed.

"Apparently not, but they're getting there. The talisman we gave Wolfgang also activated. The enemy has started their attack on the Magocracy. I don't have any details yet, as I assume they're sending a report once they have more to tell.” Gem floated next to Karna in her faerie dragon form. For most people, the pressure down here would’ve been excruciating, but the two of them barely even noticed it.

“Things are starting to move then. Let’s hope our preparations have been sufficient.” Karna nodded to herself.

They hadn’t been idle these last nine months. The frantic buildup of defenses had produced quite a lot of results, especially with the reincarnators pulling out all the stops. The cities were all heavily protected with overlapping magical shields, sturdy qi-enhanced fortifications, and grand blessings that would support all the defenders when activated. Any attacker would need at least a 10-to-1 advantage to have hopes of breaching them. The smaller villages were all equipped with rapid transit portals that would take the inhabitants inside the fortified cities, after which the connection would be disabled to deny access to the invaders.

They had not limited themselves to just passive defenses either. Several magical weapons had been constructed within each city that would allow them to fire upon and shoot down any approaching ships, and most of the approaches towards the world were heavily trapped. The group of reincarnators, bolstered by Tsumi and the recently arrived but still empty Academy, had created all sorts of nasty surprises that even experienced reincarnators would be hard-pressed to detect until it was too late.

“Any word of the people behind the attack?” Karna asked, never stopping her absorption of the mana around her.

“We have something on that front. Mayumi was actually the one that managed to get this information. It seems she still has some connections within Wei-Jin. She didn’t manage to get detailed information, but it would appear that the attack is being engineered by another rather prominent group of reincarnators. We don’t have Names yet. We do have some reason to believe that at least some of them will be taking part in the attack. I don’t expect all of them to do so.” Gem was in charge of keeping up communications with Karna while she either worked or cultivated. The others were handling the more political and espionage-related aspects of the situation.

“And Ysendra has confirmed the lack of immortals pulling the strings?” The leader of the Crossroads was in a slightly odd situation, as it would be somewhat improper of her to interfere too much in these kinds of matters as long as no immortals were involved. That didn’t mean the crazy dragon wouldn’t of course, but nearly all of the reincarnators were proud and self-reliant by nature and wanted to handle any problems personally.

“As far as she can find out, yes. She has a bit of a force prepared to interfere if some immortals suddenly show up though. I think she sent one of the Astral Behemoths that usually guard the Crossroads, among others." Gem grinned. The spirit had always liked the whale-like beings. Apparently, they got along well.

“Alright. Let the others know that I’ll be coming up in a couple of days unless something else happens. I should be done by then.”

------

“Great timing!” Envy called out as Karna teleported into their newly established command center. To ensure neutrality and to better respond to any threats to the most likely place to be attacked, the command center had been placed in the new capital of the vampires. “We just got word from your home. The attackers made their first big miscalculation.”

“What happened?” Karna asked eagerly. The command center was filled with magically provided feeds from all the important locations both on the world, and outside it. They had even managed to get observation magic near the enemy forces milling outside the warp storm. As the whole war would be led from here, information was the key to everything.

“Well, the attackers assumed that since neither Ashanti nor Arjuna were elves, the Emissary’s protection wouldn’t extend to our allies. Not a completely unreasonable assumption, albeit risky. The elves got the brunt of the assault, but their dragon princes managed to hold the enemy back long enough for the Emissary to get involved. Several members of the Host came down and smacked the attackers down hard. Perhaps harder than necessary. If I didn’t know better, I would think someone was trying to do us a favor.” Envy grinned a bit. “I wonder who they were hoping to please, huh princess?”

“Don’t get too happy just yet. While a small victory, that attack was a distraction anyway, and I expect the enemy wasn’t wiped out? I thought as much. So that means we won’t be getting reinforcements quite yet. Have the forces coming at us made any attempts at breaching the storm?” Karna was more careful about rejoicing just yet.

“They’re attempting something, but I can’t quite tell what.” Hope provided. She was in charge of observing the enemy. “I haven’t been able to get a good eye on what they’re working on. They aren’t blind enough not to notice if we make our observation too obvious.”

“How’s Valor faring with organizing our forces?” Karna quickly moved on between the important points.

Envy had to give some credit to Valor. “He’s doing very well. You were right to put him in charge of the armies, such as they are, because he’s really showing talent. His powers of course make things easier. We don’t have enough forces to defend the entire world as we expected, but we can defend the areas we occupy reasonably well. The good news is that since the enemy has to ship all their forces here while we have the benefit of having all our meager forces present, we should outnumber them for a time at least. Until they figure out a way to reliably get troops across the storm that is. Then all bets are off. The rather obvious gap in our forces is the distinct lack of airships, which means we lack mobility. We have a handful of ships belonging to my tribe and the vampires, as well as your tower, but that’s it.”

Most of the ships that had arrived at this world so far had been transport ships bringing colonists and pioneers to chart the available resources, along with merchant vessels of course. Most of those had returned back for more people, and they wouldn’t be much use in a battle anyway. They had only the necessary magical protection to shield against the dangers of the spatial forces, and almost no weapons. The fact was that most of the airships of this universe relied heavily on the power and cultivation of their crews. Even the top-of-the-line warships that had complex magical and even mechanical weaponry mostly relied on the crew members to power the weapons. The weapons themselves were just a good way to project that power against enemies. The ships themselves had magical cores, but those cores were usually focused on keeping the airship aloft and maybe providing some extra power to the defenses.

Unlike power cores that relied on science, magical cores at the hearts of airships didn't create their power internally. They gathered mana from the ambient power in the surroundings and stored it for later use. That was also one of the reasons why ships usually made several stops on the way when they traveled long distances, to allow the core to recharge. The other main reason was obviously the existence of the spatial pathways. The only real exceptions to this rule were cores that used something special, such as the hearts of legendary monsters like dragons, which allowed them to create their own magical power.

As such, the power of an airship in battle was just as much about the power of the crew. The better ships could multiply that power several times, but you still had to have enough power for that to matter. “Do we have a count on the enemy vessels so far?” Karna looked towards Hope.

“A guesstimate. We haven’t gotten an exact count, and even that’s relying on the idea that the enemy has not spotted our observation and kept a portion of their number out of sight. So far, I've counted three groups with each group consisting of between 300 and 500 battle-ready ships, with half again as many support vessels and transports." Hope replied quickly, having expected the question.

Karna tilted her head a bit. “That’s…hmm. On one hand, that’s quite a few ships, but on the other, I’ll be honest, I was expecting more.”

“Quality over quantity?” Envy suggested.

"That's already a given when you have to ferry over your troops with ships. However, you might be right. They may have gone even more heavily towards quality than we expected.” Karna nodded thoughtfully.

“Could it be because they got word of the storm?” Hope suggested. They’d done their best, but there was no chance they had managed to stop all leaks. “They likely have a plan of some sort, and that plan likely doesn’t involve throwing countless ships at the storm, hoping that some of them make it through.”

“That would be a rather shitty plan:” Envy smiled a bit. “If there’s something I’ve learned over my lives, it’s that we should never assume the enemy is an idiot. They may very well be, but it’s better not to rely on that fact. If the enemy turns out to be a moron, then it’s a positive surprise.”

“I seem to recall I was the one to teach you that lesson.” Karna teased the other Sin gently.

“I seem to recall I learned that lesson well and took my revenge in the next life.” Envy countered. They’d been frenemies for a long time before reaching a sort of tentative peace. They still competed in many things and sought out advantages where they found them, but they got along pretty well, especially when compared to the other Sins. And in this universe, that fact mattered, as it was likely they’d run into some of their old enemies. Enemies they liked a lot less than each other.

“I’m detecting something!” Hope exclaimed. “One of the enemy groups is activating some sort of large magic!”

“Just one? Any movement from the others?” Karna leaned forward eagerly.

“Just one. The others are showing no sign of reacting.” Hope confirmed. They had assumed that there was a level of coordination between the groups, but they didn’t know how unified the groups were. If only one of the groups managed to penetrate the storm, then that would be quite advantageous for the defenders, though they’d likely provide the other groups with the method if it worked.

“I can already sense what they’re doing.” Karna realized. She could feel the other end of the magic the enemy was casting on this side of the storm. They were trying to use teleportation magic to bypass the storm. A risky plan, as trying to force teleportation across such a spatially turbulent area was very dangerous even if the distance crossed wasn't all that large. There was a reason why this universe had not created a teleportation system between worlds. “Too bad for them it’s not that easy.”

The warp storm she’d created was not a natural phenomenon, even if she’d created the storm by enhancing the naturally turbulent spatial forces that already existed around the world. If the storm could be bypassed with a teleportation spell like this, then the storm would be rather pointless. She’d already considered most of the obvious plans, and even most of the less obvious ones, and made countermeasures. They all watched in fascination as fragments of airships arrived at the destination point. It was almost impossible to tell how many ships had tried to make the attempt, as the debris was such a mess, but it likely wasn’t too many. It would require the enemy to be stupid to risk a significant part of their fleet with their first attempt at breaching the storm.

“1-0 Wrath.” Envy declared smugly. “The first attempt, but likely not the last.”

“That’s probably why they don’t have more ships present yet. They don’t want to commit all their forces until they’ve figured out a way to get through. It would be problematic to keep ferrying supplies for too many people.” Valor suggested as he entered the command center.

“How close to the storm are they?” Karna suddenly asked.

“Very. Why?” Hope reported.

“Well, there’s no reason for the storm to stay the same size the entire time. I may not be able to control the storm, but I can give it a push. Let’s give the enemy another reminder about the dangers involved.” As Karna walked out, the others took a quick look at each other before eagerly following. They had to struggle a bit to keep up as a pair of colorful wings sprouted from her back and quickly brought her high above the world.

Now that she had reached the 8th rank, her ability to utilize her soul space and Domain were more easily accessed. She could borrow the power of her future immortal self for a short time, and she needed that power for what she had in mind. She would need to work magic that was beyond her current rank, and for that, she couldn't just rely on her own relatively vast stores of mana.

The others could sense as she activated her soul space. For some, the activation was immediately obvious, as they could force the power of their soul on reality, even creating a Reality Marble of sorts, a place where the rules worked a little differently. Some had entire armies hidden within their souls while others simply turned the terrain to their advantage. In this case, the change was extremely subtle. They could feel that something had changed, but they couldn’t tell what. There were no obvious visible changes, just a feeling that they were now inside a space she controlled, and the instinctive feeling that they should try to push back against her. An instinct they suppressed as they were not the intended target.

Karna drew heavily on the well of power inside her, as glowing lines of power formed around her. Each line was thicker than her arm, forming slowly as she chanted the words that gave her will form, assisting in casting a spell that should usually be reserved for someone at least at the 10th rank, a full immortal and not a weak one either. She kept drawing on the well of power, each line slotting in place in the formation, and it seemed that each time she drew from the well, it filled up immediately.

The sheer amount of mana she was using was mind-boggling for someone of her rank. “What’s going on?” Valor asked quietly as Karna was clearly using more power than she should have.

“Ah, right. You aren’t aware.” Envy gave a wry smile. “She’s considered to be the pre-eminent mage by almost the entire multiverse. And that’s not just because of her knowledge, although that’s a huge part of it. We all have our unique soul spaces and Domains. What do you think the soul space of the most pre-eminent mage would do?”

“I would imagine it would make it easier to work magic.” Valor made the obvious guess. His powers were related to using holy power and leading armies, influenced largely by his past and the Name he carried.

“Correct. And what are the factors that most limit mages?” Envy was guiding him towards the answer instead of just giving it out.

“Lack of mana and speed of casting.” Valor replied quickly. It was a textbook answer, and one taught to most warriors and holy knights when it came to combatting mages. Once a mage ran out of mana, they were borderline helpless, and even the best mages could cast only so many spells in a given time. Sometimes that time was long enough for a warrior to slip in and strike down the mage before they could change spells mid-cast. Magical fighters were of course an entirely different case, which made people like Arjuna so dangerous.

“Not the full answer but close enough. So don’t you think that the pre-eminent caster would have some way of dealing with those issues?” Envy had seen Wrath work her magic enough times to know about this facet of her rival.

“So…what? Her soul space somehow creates a reality where she doesn’t have to worry about mana?” Valor questioned, not fond of the idea at all.

“Not as simple as that, but sufficient to explain what’s going on.” Envy focused on Karna who was giving her spell the finishing touches.

As the magical formation was complete, Karna could feel the strands of power latching on to the storm. A storm like this was impossible to force to bend to your will, but you could affect it. And that's exactly what she did. She gave the storm a push at certain places, and the destructive power of the storm surged forward like a tidal wave, crashing towards the enemy ships lazily floating next to it. Her actions had not gone entirely unnoticed, and at least some parts of the enemy fleets were constantly ready to react to any dangers. That said, turning an airship around and gaining enough speed to escape the tidal wave took time. Time that many of the ships didn’t have with their proximity to the storm.

One of the three fleets reacted immediately, and the largest ship suddenly projected some sort of magical barrier around the entire fleet, causing the wave of destructive energies to surge around the fleet. The other ships in the fleet joined their barriers to support the flagship, and the barrier held long enough for the wave to pass. They were the exception though.

The second fleet was caught entirely unaware, and half of the fleet was caught in the storm before the more distant ships had managed to turn around and gained enough distance. Even then, a large portion of the fleeing ships were either damaged or destroyed, especially the support vessels that were not built to make combat maneuvers.

The third fleet had been more cautious and kept a safer distance from the storm. Apparently, they were not here to attempt to breach the storm and were just providing forces for the eventual assault. They also tried to use the fleet’s barriers to protect themselves, but they didn’t unify all their barriers into one. For some of the ships, that was enough and their barriers held long enough for them to escape. For others it wasn’t, and their ships suffered some level of damage. This fleet suffered losses, but their losses were a lot less severe than the second fleet. For them too, the most damage was done to the support vessels that were not fast enough to move.

A bone-weary exhaustion took over Karna as she released her control over her soul space and the spell. The downside of doing something like this was the rebound. She had drawn heavily from the well but casting the spell had not taken too long. As a result, she would be fine with a few days of rest. Hopefully, it had been worth it. Maybe some of the enemies might reconsider this whole affair and decide not to come back. At the very least the enemy would no longer be able to just safely work on getting through the storm. That would slow them down. Perhaps enough to force them to give up. That might be a bit too hopeful though.

Chapter 108 - Serpent vs. Dragon

A note from Vihyungrang

Bloody snow *Grumble Grumble*. I hope you'll enjoy!

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The elemental energies in the surroundings pulsed along with her heartbeat. Her own power was seeping into the earth, drawing in more and more mana. Her Aura was already on the border of pushing against the ninth rank, while her mana lagged behind a bit. She’d overextended herself a bit by utilizing her Domain, and she was now paying the price. Had she not done it, she could already be ranking up. She still might, as she didn’t need to rank up the two together. It simply produced the best results. Sometimes perfect was the enemy of good enough, as some of her friends and associates were so fond of telling her.

After her trick using the storm to attack the enemy, they hadn’t seen any sign of hostile ships. It was impossible to say if the enemy had pulled back entirely, or if they were simply biding their time at a safer distance. The net of detection they had set up didn’t extend far enough to be sure. Karna refused to believe they had given up so easily though. And she had an inkling of what the enemy had in mind. As the one who created the warp storm, she also knew best how to get around it, and the number of methods was limited.

The easiest method would be to use some sort of artifact from the Divine Planes that could help open the way. Those kinds of artifacts were rare even in the Divine Planes though and finding one here would be unlikely. The second method was to borrow power from the gods. Divine spells were bullshit and could accomplish basically anything if enough power was involved. In this case, the amount of power required to get an entire fleet through would require a True God to personally intervene, which was also somewhat unlikely, as that would be an act of hostility against Ysendra. That seemed unlikely. That didn’t mean divine power couldn’t be involved in a smaller capacity.

Getting a single ship through, packed filled with people at ranks nine and eight? That was doable. In fact, there were dozens of ways to accomplish that. That was what Karna expected to happen, eventually. The enemy had to wise-up sooner or later. Once they brought in their strongest people, Karna and her allies would have no choice but to meet them in battle in the skies above the world, leaving most of their defenses behind, because otherwise the enemy could just work on breaching the storm in peace, from the inside. Or at least, she hoped the enemy would think that. It would make things so much simpler. And if the enemy did go that route, things would be easier if she was also rank nine, even if only with her Aura. If they stalled long enough, she would be able to rank up her magic as well. She doubted they’d get the time though.

"We're detecting movement at the very edge of our detection range," Gem reported, as if reading her thoughts. She had joined forces with Zuellni, and with the combined powers of the two spirits, they had extended the magical and technological detection capabilities of her tower to the extreme. The two spirits might be occasional rivals and frenemies, but no one could argue with the results they produced.

“What kind of movement?” She asked.

“I believe the fleet is moving into position; however, the ships are all…disappearing somehow. They’re too far out to tell how though.” Gem sounded unsure. The spirit disliked being unsure.

“I believe I’m running out of time. Time to take the plunge.” Karna decided. She had some ideas about what might be happening.

Suddenly the elemental energies of earth started swarming around her, coalescing towards her. She had settled on the Awakening she was aiming for. She had several earth-aligned magical bloodlines in mind, but she finally settled on one. She had a very specific requirement, and two beings fulfilled them the best. She had entertained the idea of using the Gorgon, more often known as a Medusa, as the bloodline, but there was another bloodline that fulfilled her conditions even better and combined perfectly with her other bloodlines.

The biggest problem of having multiple powerful bloodlines was combining them effectively, especially in a single form. If some of those bloodlines resembled each other physically, then the process would be made much easier. She didn't, strictly speaking, need to take on the shape of the Vanagandr, for example, to use the forms powers, but taking even some of the features would make those powers more effective. And if some of the forms shared a similar shape? Well, that just made things simpler. She already had serpentine features from her Scylla and Kun-Peng forms, especially since the latter looked a lot like a Coatl, and her next Awakening would be as a dragon.

Her body was surrounded by an enormous egg for a brief time before the elemental energies in the surroundings were sucked into the egg, and a large serpentine creature burst out. A pair of golden eyes flashed with light that would bring death to anyone they gazed upon. The scales of this serpent were of the same white living metal as her skin as a Titan, and a mane of hair that seemed to burn with icy-blue flames ran down its back. Even without the peculiar metal, the scales of a Basilisk were famed for their anti-magic properties, and in the form of a world serpent or Jormungandr, the most evolved form of a Basilisk, those qualities had been taken to the extreme.

A deeply satisfied rumble came from her body as she swam through the earth as easily as she would in water, she thought about the implications of picking another beast of the apocalypse as her Awakening. She'd always enjoyed playing the part, but there would likely be some political implications in the future, especially among the magical beasts of the Divine Planes. The beasts of the apocalypse were called that for a reason. They were obscenely powerful, but they were also just as feared. And for a good reason. It was likely just by making this choice she had earned some new enemies. She didn’t make the choice randomly though.

The obvious power implications aside, there had been a very good reason to pick this bloodline. Her most important requirement had been the eyes of the basilisk. The same reason that had made the gorgon a viable choice as well. She had plenty of techniques, magical or otherwise, that she could use with her eyes. Sight-based powers had always been well regarded, and having a bloodline that enhanced those abilities made them a hundred times more effective. And what better bloodline for that than the mighty basilisk, taken to the natural extreme in the form of a Jormungandr?

Just as she burst out from under the ground, spreading the colorful wings of her Kun-Peng form to give herself speed, Gem’s agitated voice interrupted her luxuriating. “Master! They’ve managed to get through the storm, and not just with a single ship! They have an Astral Dragon leading the fleet through a portal.”

"Ah. I have to admit, that was not what I was expecting." Karna had to give the enemy credit. Their method was an ingenious one. Only really worked for a reincarnator though. Astral Dragons were not native to this universe, and neither was the usage of the Astral Plane in general. The Astral Plane was a grand sea of magic that connected all the other planes and even universes together, and it was also the only way to reach the original place where the Crossroads had been, aside from specifically crafted doorways. That spot had been a place in the Astral Plane where countless universes connected.

Getting to the Astral Plane wasn’t easy, and it was especially difficult to bring others. It took one of those serpentine dragons that called the plane home or a very skilled and powerful immortal in fact. The thing about the Astral Plane was that it didn't quite work like other planes. You didn't really move through the plane in a normal way, as your speed was not determined by your body, but by your intelligence and understanding of the plane. You could also easily get lost because moving the location of an exit portal from the plane a couple of centimeters could result in dumping you into a completely different world or plane. Distances didn't work logically. A person could spend eons lost in the faintly glowing sea of power and never find their destination, as there were no convenient road signs. That's why it required someone familiar with the plane to navigate. On the positive side, you didn't really go hungry or older while in the Astral Plane, but your magical items might behave in weird ways.

“How many enemies did they bring through, and how big is the dragon?” She questioned, while at the same time sending magical warnings to her allies. Around the world, defensive systems were activating, and defenders were mustering.

“They only managed to bring a couple of hundred ships, and the dragon is a small one. Definitely not an immortal. I can sense it using Aura power to maintain the form. Likely a reincarnator with the specific bloodline.” Gem reported.

“Right. Have Zuellni retreat back to me. The others are on their way as well.” She turned her new form to ascend towards the skies. Her current body was impossible to miss. As a Jormungandr with the bloodlines of a Titan and a Kun-Peng, she was enormous even without counting her wingspan, and the wings of the Kun-Peng only added to her size. The timing of this assault was a little inconvenient, as she was stuck with the form for a time, as her Awakening had just happened. At least she wasn’t stuck in the form of a baby world serpent.

"You really don't do things halfway, do you Wrath?" Valor questioned as her allies all came up to meet the enemy above the world. Valor himself would likely go back to lead their armies if this turned into a ground battle, but for now, he was here as well. “You’re literally the size of a duchy! And not even a small one.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say to a lady.” Hope teased. Valor’s measurement unit also aroused some mirth from the others.

“Hah! Wait till you see her become a dragon! I bet that form will be even bigger.” Envy added her two cents, and to Karna’s slight surprise, the trio, along with the vampire reincarnator Tremere, decided to land to stand on her head. She wasn’t a mount! Even though it made sense since she was by far the fastest of the group, combining the bloodlines of a Phoenix and a Kun-Peng.

“The enemies are being directed by an Astral Dragon. That might be a problem. Few beings have a bloodline as powerful as that.” Tremere commented.

“Eh, we have a serpent of our own. And if I know Wrath, and I do, our serpent is going to be taking the win.” Envy waved the issue away. Karna couldn’t actually see her waving, as the Sin was standing on her head, but she assumed.

“Tsumi didn’t come with you?” She decided to change the topic.

“She’ll join us shortly. She stuck around to make sure the Academy’s defenses were fully operational. Even if the students were sent back, the facilities still need to be protected.” Hope reported as they came to a stop at a spot they had determined beforehand. The place wasn’t chosen at random, as it was the focal point of their defenses. The enemy ships would either have to go through them, or around them, and they had some surprises for any ships that chose the latter. Zuellni had already brought her tower to the spot as well.

The tower spirit popped out to give a report. “The enemy has noticed us and is advancing. Preliminary scans show 237 airships of various types, most packed full of troops ranging from rank five to seven. I also detect three other towers. At least someone is smart enough among the enemy to notice the superiority of towers. The whole group is led by a puny dragon of no significance. The first enemy ships will be running into our first line of gifts soon enough.”

They hadn't been idle for these months, which the front ships among the enemy forces noticed, as suddenly they seemed to unravel somehow. Karna and Hope had planted something akin to mines of spatial force on the most likely attack vectors. These mines were just spatial forces twisted and forced into a small space, and as soon as the enemies ran into them, the compressed and twisted space righted itself, usually tearing a hole into whatever occupied the space at the time. The damage wasn't exactly crippling unless they managed to hit something vital, but such 'mines' were easy to make, allowing for better coverage. A dozen of the enemy ships were already listing from damage, while one had the misfortune of hitting two mines at the same time, getting torn apart in the process. The people inside the ships likely had enough power to survive, but injuries and chaos could not be avoided.

The Astral Dragon moved to the front of the formation and used its breath to detonate the traps directly in front of the formation, while mages on board started sending waves of spatial power to do the same. "Open fire," Karna commanded.

Suddenly the turrets dotting her tower’s hull opened fire, sending both magical and mechanical destruction at the enemy. While most of the fire was deflected by magical barriers, the benefit of the turrets was their relatively high rate of fire, and the barriers wouldn’t last forever. The turrets were also mainly just buying time for the main gun to fire. A dozen focusing lenses lined up in groups of three, each group sending out a stream known as a super gravity cannon. Those were much more effective. The enemy responded by sending the three towers they had brought along to intercept Zuellni.

At the same time, the Astral Dragon rushed towards Karna’s own enormous serpentine form with a small group of beings at the ninth rank as support, clearly aiming for their little group. “We’re outnumbered.” Valor commented.

“Should make this more interesting at least.” Envy boasted. Even if the enemy had powerful reincarnators among their number, she was quite confident in her chances. There were only a handful of reincarnators she was wary of, and the biggest one of them all was under her feet right this very moment. The rest of the enemy ships continued pressing towards the world below. Apparently, the commanders of the fleet had decided to take the brutal option and every spirit summoner was also calling out their spirit to help clear the path, with their bodies if necessary.

Zuellni squared off against the three other towers, supported by Gem. Even she wasn't cocky enough to take on three other tower spirits alone, even if she was confident of achieving ultimate victory. She didn't want to damage the tower after all. The four towers all stopped a short distance from each other, and all five of the spirits materialized for what could be called posturing and a standoff. Zuellni was in her usual form, while Gem had unexpectedly taken Karna's form for now. The other three spirits had taken a more animalistic appearance.

The spirit of a traditional-looking wizard's tower looked like a small bird with blue and gold feathers. That spirit blanched as soon as it spotted Zuellni for some reason. The second tower looked like a temple dedicated to the gods with marble columns and walls. The spirit of the tower took the form of a ram with a golden fleece, and it could easily be detected that this tower was focused on channeling power from the gods. The third and last tower was the largest and looked like a small city carried by spider-like legs, and protected by a crystalline dome. The spirit looked like an Arachne with black chitin and a blood-red hair contrasting against her grey-ish white skin.

“Z-Zuellni?! O-oh, this isn’t good.” The bird-like spirit seemed to be panicking.

“You know this little bitch?” The Arachne demanded with an angry voice.

"S-she's the tower s-spirit of Wrath." The bird revealed and caused Zuellni to preen a bit.

“Our mission remains the same. Our masters will deal with her master.” The ram said with a solemn voice.

"I'm not sure if I should feel insulted for being ignored," Gem muttered.

Nearby, the masters were also squaring off, picking their opponents, though in this case there was less talking. Envy sent a huge arrow of Qi at the strongest-looking man with brown skin and a pair of curling horns on his head. The man swatted the arrow aside and the two clashed heatedly soon after. Valor didn't launch a pre-emptive attack, but somehow it seemed obvious that the most knightly-looking woman in the group of enemies became his opponent. Hope, once again covered in heavy illusions was already exchanging spells with the most obvious mage in the enemy group. Tremere drew the short straw, but for an obvious reason as two elder vampires became his enemies.

The Astral Dragon stared at Karna with an imperious look, trying to exert dominance over her just with his bloodline. Dragons were theoretically the peak of evolution for serpent and lizard-type magical beasts, and Astral Dragons were among the most powerful bloodlines among the dragonkind, so his attempt wasn't made just out of vanity. Against most serpents, it would've reduced her power significantly. The attempt was made a little comical by the fact that the dragon was so much smaller than her own gigantic form. “It seems our associates were rather eager for battle. How very uncivilized.”

"Well, the quicker we deal with you lot, the quicker we can get back to destroying your fleet," Karna stated confidently, though she had a feeling there were more enemies that she was simply not able to detect for some reason.

“Quaint. Surely even a mongrel like you should feel the difference between our bloodlines. A simple worm, no matter how powerful, raising its head in a futile attempt to bite at the moon. Size isn’t everything little wormling.” The dragon didn’t seem impressed by the size difference.

“Ah, the pride of dragons. So very reliable. And you’ve ignored something rather important. For world serpents, a moon is just a snack.” Suddenly the surroundings were heavy with her thick and powerful Aura, before it was channeled to her eyes as she channeled the fearsome ability of the Basilisks to bring death to those that met its gaze.

A glowing glyph appeared on the Astral Dragon's head and the majestic Aura of a dragon protected it from its effects, for the most part. "Was that it?" The dragon asked in a mocking tone, although it had become wary after almost being gravely affected by the attack.

"It's cute that you think the attack was directed at you. I would've been so disappointed if you'd died that easily. Your friends, however..:" Karna bared her new teeth as the bodies of several assassins suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. At the same time, many of the ships that had been getting close were tilting as their crews had been within range to be affected. She had not wasted her power in trying to attack the enemies her group was already engaged with, but anything else in the area had been fair game. And it was rather difficult to avoid her gaze with her current size. "Now, we can begin properly."

Chapter 109 - Domination

A note from Vihyungrang

Hmm, this chapter could've used a bit more work to smooth things out, but here we are. I hope you'll enjoy!

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As the large man swung a wicked-looking blade at her head, Envy easily dove under the blade and twisted her body to plant a fist into the man's sternum. Normally such an awkward blow wouldn't have had enough strength to make a difference, but her skin glowed metallic white as the Titan bloodline she'd copied from Wrath boosted her strength to a significant degree. Combined with her already superlative cultivation, even such a simple blow had to be taken seriously. As they were all fighting in orbit, none of them had a proper footing, something they all had to account for in all their attacks, which meant that the large man was blasted away by the strike.

Several runes glowed on his skin, seemingly dampening the damage from the blow, and he quickly recovered, but the strike had made him more careful. This time his approach was more measured and guarded as his blade wove a net of attacks made of Qi, making dodging much more difficult. The price was naturally that the strength of each attack individually was weaker, which Envy exploited by just bluntly tanking one of the blows as she broke inside her enemy’s guard again. Her natural durability combined with the boost from Wrath’s extremely high-quality Titan bloodline was enough to keep her safe. Not that she was a stranger to taking some damage to deal a lot more.

This time she didn’t strike the man with an open fist. Instead, her palm landed on his chest and twisted, sending a spiraling force of Qi inside his body to attack his organs instead of his surprisingly hard skin. The tattooed runes glowed a lot brighter this time, and he didn’t manage to avoid all the damage as he had a trail of blood leaking from his mouth. He did manage to strike back though, as his foot kicked out and sent Envy flying away this time. However, this suited her just fine, as a rain of Qi arrows came flying at him, which he had to deflect with a wasteful burst of his own Qi.

“So. What are you doing here, Rune Warrior?” Envy asked a bit playfully; the man’s Name an obvious reference to his fighting style. Despite the one-sidedness of their engagement so far, he wasn’t a bad fighter, far from it. Envy was simply one of the best in the multiverse, which made him seem crappy in comparison. These kinds of fights usually went one of two ways. Either they’d stick to a match of pure skill, speed, and strength, or they’d try to see which of them had the more powerful techniques and Qi. Usually, fighters preferred one or the other, although they could switch if they thought it would be advantageous to do so. So far, they’d stuck to the first method and Envy was definitely coming out ahead.

The man spat out a globule of blood. “We’re here to get rid of and punish evildoers. And don’t bother trying to deny your guilt, Envy. No one who carries the Name of a Sin is innocent.”

Envy burst into laughter and raised her voice to be heard over the sounds of battle around her. “THESE DUMMIES ARE HERE BECAUSE WE HAVE TWO SINS HERE! THEY FANCY THEMSELVES AS HEROES!”

At the same moment, Karna sent the Astral Dragon flying with a smack of her wing. Being large could be both good and bad but being able to move at the speed of a Kun-Peng eliminated most of the downsides. “Are they idiots?” She growled back. The Astral Dragon decided that exact moment to try and scratch her face off, but the fact that just her head was bigger than the dragon meant that each of her Celestium scales was larger than an airship and many times as thick, making such attempts rather pointless. “Scratch that, literally, they’re definitely idiots.” She chuckled at her own pun.

Envy turned back at the man. Just before Karna smacked the dragon away again. "While my fellow sin there isn't making the best counter-argument, the fact remains that your view of the situation seems rather simplistic."

At the same time, Valor sent the female knight flying past Envy with a beam of golden light from his fancy new sword. As she flew past, Envy noted that the female knight seemed the strongest member of the group despite currently being overpowered by Valor. She also carried the Name of Saint, which was something that couldn’t be earned lightly. As she flew past, the knight had the awareness to take advantage of the situation and swept her spear at Envy, which the latter side-stepped with less ease than she would've liked. The head of the spear, which was clearly a weapon spirit of some kind, glowed with a nasty amount of power and would've been rather dangerous if it had hit.

“They do seem to be rather conveniently ignoring some facts.” Valor pointed out.

“Such as?” The female knight with golden hair asked, sending her spear flying at Karna, not missing that opportunity either. Karna had sensed the attack coming and moved out of the way, and the spirit suddenly reappeared in the knight’s hand.

“Like the fact that we might have two Sins here, but we also have three Virtues.” Valor pointed out.

The woman’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Virtues?”

“Yes.” Valor nodded. “You must have checked out my Name already. And there you can see Hope…” His words faltered a bit as Hope was doing her best evil witch impression with crackling energy flowing from her fingertips to torment the mage that was her opponent. “And the big one also carries the Name Mercy…” His voice was even more feeble as it was rather clear Karna was toying with the Astral Dragon at this point, headbutting the poor thing hard enough to make it crash into the enemy airships.

“…pardon me if I’m not entirely convinced.” The female knight stated with heavy sarcasm. She could see Valor’s Name as just that, but Karna she saw as Wrath and Hope as Witch of Chaos.

“Yeah, that doesn’t look all that great.” Envy cackled. “Not that we need to convince you. I’m just laughing at your stupidity personally. You dug your graves when you attacked us. All I want to know is, who convinced you to take this fool’s errand?”

“You seem rather confident in your victory.” The female knight stated, not really giving an answer. Instead, her golden holy power coalesced into a glyph that floated behind her head, and the same golden power suddenly surrounded her allies. Their wounds healed rapidly, and Hope was the first to notice something was wrong as her magic didn't seem to have any effect on her target anymore. Instead, the mage suddenly ignored all defense entirely and started bombarding her with his own spells with reckless abandon.

Next, Karna's wing impacted on the Astral Dragon again, but this time didn't seem to have any real effect. Sure, the momentum from the strike still sent the smaller being flying, but the dragon wasn't injured. "I see. Valor, you need to step up. Your opponent's power renders her allies invulnerable for as long as her power lasts."

Envy had to go to the defensive as well as the tattooed warrior came at her, swinging his weapons wildly. “Finally, some challenge. I was worried that this was all there was to the attack!”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m going to have to spoil your fun.” A voice called out just as a pillar seemingly made of blood smashed into Envy’s opponent. Tremere floated to them while holding the heads of his opponents. “Bah! Old vampires always think they’re powerful just because they’re old. Sending a vampire to fight a Thaumaturge is a stupid idea.” His words echoed what Karna had declared years ago.

"So, what now Saint? Still, feel like fighting while outnumbered and outgunned? Your little trick is a fun one, but we both know there are ways around it, and it won't last for too long." Valor asked while pointing his sword at her chest.

“Do your worst evildoer.” The woman declared with a voice filled with righteous judgement.

Valor was about to argue but was pre-empted by Envy. “Don’t mind if I do!” The Sin declared before pulling out the weapon Wrath had made for her. She had requested this along with the greaves she was now wearing. Her natural speed, combined with the boost from her new greaves allowed her to move with such speed that the next thing anyone realized, her new spear was already through the chest of the tattooed warrior. His runed tattoos were trying to fight the spear, failing abysmally, and the golden glow that had protected him earlier seemed to have turned sickly yellow, and seemed to be making the wound worse.

“What did you do?!” The Saint screamed. She could feel the blessing she’d extended to her ally being corrupted.

"Oh please. Most of our future enemies are either gods or borrow the powers of gods. Of course we came up with methods to fight the miracles those gods can bestow." Envy grinned wickedly while twisting her spear further before it seemed like the runed warrior's chest caved in and imploded in a shower of gore. Envy's new spear was one that carried a heavy power of curses, turning protective magic, especially the divine kind, against the one being protected.

“Cur! Heathen! Sinner!” The woman was practically spitting in her anger due to losing her companion.

“Says the supposed Saint leading an invasion fleet against a world that posed no threat to anyone. But I’m not here to debate morality. Such concepts are rather irrelevant and subjective anyway. No matter if you consider yourself good or evil, you doomed yourself and your allies when you decided to attack us. Or did you think you could just come here and murder us all without any losses?” Envy wasn’t having any of it. She’d always hated the sanctimonious types.

Hope was even more direct as her own magic turned the protective shield around her opponent into a deathtrap, as all that power suddenly turned inwards and exploded. The fight had been a short one, but brutal. It also made the difference between their group and the others clear. These reincarnators they'd fought were skilled in their own right, but they hadn't lived for countless lifetimes like Karna, Tremere, Envy, and Hope had. Even Valor to a lesser extent.

Karna looked at the dragon that also seemed devastated by the loss of two of its friends. “Last chance little dragon. Take what’s left of your little fleet and your knight friend from this place. If you do not, none of you will live to see the morning.” To emphasize her words, she activated her Domain, as did the others, making it clear that play-time was over.

With a howl of rage, the dragon led the remaining airships through a portal and back into the Astral Plane. Some of the ships had managed to make it close to the world below before they had been fired at by the forces on the ground, led by Tsumi. “That wasn’t all of it, right?” Hope voiced what they were all thinking. This had been somewhat anti-climactic, even if they were quite confident in their own strength. “I mean, the Seer wouldn’t have warned us just about that, right?”

“Well, the whole thing would’ve been much worse if the entire enemy fleet had attacked us at once…but no. I do not think that was the extent of it.” Karna confirmed.

“Is that why you let them go? I mean, the Saint was rather annoying and she could be dangerous. If the entire group had been as skilled as she was, then the fight might have been more challenging, even if still not very dangerous. Letting her go might bite us in the back later on.” Envy pointed out.

“You don’t think they were sent here to lose on purpose, do you?” Valor suddenly suggested.

“What do you mean?” Envy asked, suspicious.

“Well, I just had a thought. It would make for a bit of a story. The Saint losing in battle against two Sins, two of her companions dying in the process. If presented the right way, it could be used to incite others against us. Even more so if she had died.” Valor explained.

“Two problems with that. Now that we know about the Astral Dragon, I can make sure that approach will no longer work. Secondly, anyone important enough wouldn’t be fooled by such obvious propaganda.” Karna pointed out. “I’m not saying this can’t be used for something like that, but I doubt that was the main point.”

“I think he’s on to something though.” Envy nodded towards Valor. “I get the feeling that this was somehow meant to draw other forces into the fight, but I’m not sure how.”

“I can answer that!” A cheery voice called out to them and a small hybrid of a Cobra Dragon and a Faerie Dragon suddenly appeared above them. Some of the group could identify Ysendra of course.

“Do tell. This whole thing seemed quite suspicious.” Karna encouraged. She knew Ysendra was the type to just float there not saying anything until one of them bit.

“During the fight, you were all playing to an audience. The presence of that audience was quite subtle, and my presence made sure none of them interfered, but you were definitely monitored. And if you had shown weakness, some of their pre-arranged forces would’ve been brought in to deal with you. However, as you had no trouble dealing with the attackers, you didn’t really give them a proper opening. With me here, they were being limited to using mortal agents, and you made it abundantly clear that any mortal agents would just be marching into their doom.” The little dragon explained.

“Wait, we were being observed from the Divine Planes?” Valor caught on quickly.

"Still are, though I'm obstructing their view currently. They can't look inside Karma's tower or certain other well-protected places, but from now on you should assume any actions you take will be seen by others. I’m sure I don’t need to explain why.”

Hope pointed at Karna. “Princess Ynnead.” She frowned a bit. “Did they hear what we were saying?”

“Not as such. It’s not a video feed or anything. It’s not as detailed as that. Well, for most gods at least. And I may have made sure they would not hear about your Names. That said, you did just allow someone to escape that knows those Names, right? Will she tell if asked? I would operate under the assumption that anything you told her is now public knowledge.” Ysendra explained.

Envy made a fed-up sound before looking at Karna. “Your mercy had made things more difficult.”

While not untrue, Karna didn’t quite agree. “Some of them already know, and the rest would’ve found out soon enough anyway. You’ve been calling me Wrath all this time, essentially making sure that’s the name everyone will see when they look. They would’ve found out anyway as soon as we Ascended. Besides, we didn’t expect things to be easy, did we?” She turned to Ysendra. “So, what was the point of this whole exercise?”

“Well, there were multiple goals by multiple parties. Some really wanted to conquer this world, but your little storm effectively put an end to that plan. Those parties have already moved on to easier targets. The Saint and her group really wanted to punish evil Sins, probably encouraged by the god she serves. The observers wanted to get a measure of all of you, especially the ones like you, as you’ve already proven to be potential rivals. Those not like you still have an interest in Princess Ynnead, while some just want to see you all dead. There are also a dozen other interests mixed in, major and minor, personal and political." Seeing the tiny dragon shrug was odd, to say the least.

“So, was that it?” Valor asked. “Or will there be further attacks?”

"Impossible to say. As you suspected, some will try to use your 'obvious evil' to try and gather support for another attack, but I have no idea how successful they will be. That said, I think I'm putting my paw down. This world is in my sphere of influence, and I don't think I will tolerate any further encroachment. You're welcome." Ysendra sang the last two words, and Karna recalled hearing some kind of song to that effect before.

“I get the sense that we'll see the dragon and the Saint again," Hope murmured.

“Don’t you dare get all seer-y on me.” Envy protested.

"Ah, miss dragon." Tremere turned towards Ysendra. "Could I request a favor? Ze storm. It is still zhere."

"Hmm? Ah, the thing Karma created? Yeah, I can deal with that." For a fraction of a second, they all felt a pressure heavy enough that it would crush them if it lasted any longer, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. And they could sense that so was the storm.

“You always were good at that sort of thing.” Karna smiled at the small dragon. There was a reason why the two had joined hands to create the Crossroads, and the little dragon’s command over spatial forces was just one of them.

Ysendra grinned with a smug look. “Have you made progress with finding a way to get us away from this annoying universe?”

Karna had to sigh in return. “In theory, but I can’t really test things until I reach immortality.”

“I understand. Still, at least you have some theory in place and you’re progressing quickly. Speaking of immortality, do you remember when I mentioned two particular beings of my rank to you before? I’ve gotten word that they’re currently in the Divine Planes. You might find it beneficial to seek them out. I think the two of them could be very helpful.”

A note from Vihyungrang

I get the fight took a bit of a different turn that some expected, but you have to remember that these are all very old reincarnators, aside from Valor. Karna alone is strong enough that she could've taken on a dozen people of the same rank, so there was only one way this fight could go without immortal interference, which couldn't happen with Ysendra around.

Chapter 110 - Imperial ambitions

A note from Vihyungrang

The chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but there's a couple of good reasons for that. For one, I had a 6-day workweek this week. For another, this chapter is sort of a divider between parts of the story. Kind of an end of the book if I were the type to divide things into books. It's a rather pivotal chapter, and I didn't want to try and make it longer than it is just to meet some arbitrary wordcount. I hope you'll enjoy!

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Divine politics often took many forms, and it was a battle waged on countless battlefields, though less often with martial ability than one might think. More often than not, the battlefield was some sort of social gathering, although the gathering was often disguised as something more innocuous. For example, a small tournament between the younger generations was the perfect excuse for the elder generations to gather and play their games and conduct their battles of power while the young ones battled in the normal meaning of the word. And usually, the battles of power were more important. The most common gatherings were for some sort of search for pleasure and excess. Immortals had a lot of time on their hands, so it wasn’t unusual for them to seek out all sorts of hedonistic pursuits. Some more ascetic divines and immortals didn’t partake of course, but most did to varying degrees. These hedonistic gatherings could be anything, from showing off the most excessive clothing and food, created from fantastic materials normally impossible to acquire, to more carnal pleasures, though the latter was much less common since many of the Houses didn’t want to mix bloodlines.

It had been a while since Marius had seen the Divine Planes in such a weird state. The best word to describe the mood was impatient. Immortality had a way of affecting everyone’s sense of time. When there were no obvious time pressures, many things got pushed off and even the more productive people tended to take their time with things, and few people were in a rush. Even deadly plots usually took years or decades to develop and execute at the short end. The only exceptions were usually the scourges and when wars between Houses flared up. Even then, things usually built up for a long time before erupting in frantic activity for a brief moment. And it seemed the entire Divine Planes were now in one of those brief moments. Except it wasn’t brief.

Now everyone seemed to be in a rush, and it felt odd even if he knew many of the causes. Too many things were happening at the same time, and not everyone could adjust their ingrained sense for how long things should take to act in time, which caused rushing that went nowhere, and a weird mix of frantic and sedate reactions to the new issues. It made the mood odd and even innocuous actions could elicit unexpected and sometimes overblown responses. There was no longer time or patience for the old cloak and dagger games, although new ones had taken their place.

The Expansion had been a major factor. New worlds in the Divine Planes always were hotly contested, but unlike the lesser planes, the Divine Planes took decades if not centuries to settle such things. Things were usually not resolved with armies and fleets but with politics and power plays. Or by someone powerful enough interfering, though that happened quite rarely. This time the Host had taken over the governance of the new worlds due to having to fight the scourges for the worlds, and the worlds would be handed to new owners once the hostilities settled and the politicking resulted in winners and losers. With the House Titannica holding such an obvious grasp on the Host, they’d likely be among the first to benefit. Such were the benefits of risking your life in the Host, so the others didn’t really begrudge the Titans this advantage, as long as they didn’t take things too far.

The aggression by the scourges was another factor and a really important one, but it was also the most mundane. A problem they were used to, even if the current issue was outside the standard scope. The gods and the Host, mostly the Host, had struggled against the scourges for longer than any of them had been alive. Longer than any of their histories went. So, a renewed aggression by their enemies was a cause for concern, but it was also nothing new. The threat was also relatively contained for now, thanks to the new allies they’d managed to make. There had been losses, but not as much as there could’ve been.

A third important factor came from the arrival of the Outsiders. These new arrivals had thrown a spanner in the works, and they were far from weak. Marcus had even heard rumors of multiple rank 14 beings, although those seemed unlikely to stand up to scrutiny. Still, these Outsiders had been mixed into the political games, and were being used as mercenaries by multiple factions. It might have been politically inconvenient to strike at your enemy directly, but hiring a complete stranger? That was much more palatable. Some of the minor Houses had even fallen as a result, and many more had suffered losses. Still not enough to cause an upheaval by itself.

The most important factor was the incoming abdication of the Heavenly Emperor. That alone was enough to cause a stir, as was the presence of Princess Ynnead finally being found. Speaking of, information of the princess had recently arrived, giving new life to the idea that the girl might somehow be the rebirth of the Sacred Lady. That information had certainly been enough to stir things up, even though the theory had already been dismissed once. Marius wasn’t sure where this information had come from, so he had no way to judge its veracity for now. There were many that wanted to see the return of the Sacred Lady, and there were even more that feared the same. Even Marius' master and his master's closest allies seemed affected, though they seemed both fearful and hopeful. The fact that the rebirth of the Sacred Lady happened in a person that also was the princess complicated things further. Debates raged day and night about what should be done. Except nothing could be done for now. The princess was protected by the one Outsider that they knew for certain had reached the dreaded rank 14. And the Host had even made a deal with that Outsider, a deal they didn’t want to break.

As if that wasn’t enough, something had happened in just the last few hours, and whatever it was had really stirred the hornet’s nest. To his shame, Marius had no idea what that something was. He’d tried asking around, but even his closest allies had refused to divulge anything. To him, it wasn’t that they didn’t want to tell him, but that they couldn’t for some reason. There were only a few things that could cause an information block like that, and the most likely cause was the Heavenly Emperor issuing a decree. But why did it seem like some even relatively low-ranking people were informed of the decree, while many of the True Gods had not been? Whatever the cause, it had caused the Divine Planes to gloss over the matters concerning the princess, which suited Marius and his allies just fine. The trouble was, it seemed as if this new information somehow rendered everything else inconsequential. And Marius didn’t know what that information was! It was infuriating!

The odd thing was that there had also been more than the usual number of people dying for various reasons. And the ones dying seemed to belong to the more gifted portion of the Divine Planes. What could've caused all these supposed geniuses to suddenly be in danger? There was a palpable sense of impending civil war in the air. Marius had assumed there would be hostilities with the abdication, but the emperor was still in place, and this seemed to be…more.

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“…the fuck?” Envy asked eloquently as suddenly all four of them were presented with the same thing. A plaque of seemingly black marble had appeared in front of each of them, and the plaque was filled with filigreed golden text.

“It’s a decree from the Heavenly Emperor. And not a standard decree either.” Karna explained. She’d seen such decrees before, albeit rarely. So had Envy, even if she had been caught by surprise.

Usually, the words of the Heavenly Emperor were equal to law. However, not all of the emperor’s decrees carried the same weight. Words that he or any of the previous emperors and empresses spoke in passing were recorded and abided by, but there usually weren’t dire consequences to disobeying them. These kinds of words were equal to the orders of any normal ruler. If the emperor wanted to go further, he could issue a formal decree, and these decrees carried the full weight of his office. They were usually short-term orders that guided the direction of the Divine Planes. You could go against it, but you were risking a lot if you did. Karna had gotten the name Ynnead via such a decree.

The final type of decree was the kind they were all now seeing. These kinds of decrees were equal to the emperor supposedly interpreting the will of heavens and the formation that controlled the universe, and they were the sort of thing that carried weight even after countless generations. These kinds of decrees were quite literally written in stone and would be in effect until countered by another similar decree, and they also carried the implicit threat that anyone going against the decree would face the might of the Host and perhaps more importantly the personal guard of the emperor. Anyone fighting against such decrees would become an instant pariah to all the gods, as even their power was tied to obeying the decrees. These kinds of decrees were rare though, as even the most foolish emperors over the countless eons knew not to abuse them. They were not for the emperor’s personal benefit, and it was speculated that he couldn’t even issue them unless allowed by the grand formation. And these kinds of decrees could extend to all the other planes as well, as they were now witnessing.

“To all those not living their first lives. Hear and obey. You have all been called here for a singular purpose. You have been gathered to find someone worthy. A successor. You will fight, you will scheme, you will plot, you will form alliances, and you will use any means necessary to rise above others. Others of your kind. One will stand victorious, and once no one rises to challenge them for a sufficient period of time, one of the blood will allow that person the opportunity to be judged by Him. If you are judged unworthy, your soul will be scattered and destroyed, never to recover. However, if you are judged worthy, you will rise above Everyone and Everything. You will stand as the next one to make all the rules and to control all creation. Nothing will be impossible for you, and everything will be within your reach. You shall have the position until you choose to relinquish it, at which point another will be chosen. If you so choose. This too is something you can change. The best and the strongest have gathered here, and a victor will be chosen. There is no time limit, and the struggle will continue until one has been judged worthy.”

“That’s…both incredibly exact and incredibly vague at the same time.” Hope voiced her impressions.

“It seems rather clear to me.” Karna shrugged. Sure, there were some spots that were a bit vague, but they were vague on purpose.

“Ok smarty-pants. What’s it talking about?” Envy turned towards her. “What’s this ruler thing it mentions?”

“This is all speculation on my part, mind you, but I have a theory that I’ve been building for a while now. Have you ever wondered who makes all these infuriating rules we all have to follow? Like the one that says reincarnators can’t talk about their nature to others? Yeah, well, it looks like whoever it is will be retiring. And another will have to take their place. Or His place in this case, as it appears.” Karna summarized.

Hope frowned a bit in deep thought. “You’re basing this on the formation, aren’t you?”

“To an extent. I mean, the entire universe is built to both create and channel power up the planes. And I suspect much of that power is drawn from other universes. That’s why it’s so difficult to travel to and from this place. Or one of the reasons. While the inhabitants benefit from all this power, most of it’s going somewhere. It’s not to the Heavenly Emperor, that’s for sure, even if he is powerful. It’s long been speculated that the emperor is just the keeper and the mouthpiece for something greater. So maybe all that power is going to a someone instead of somewhere? You could do a lot with that kind of power and with enough time. Maybe modifying the rules of the multiverse is on the list.” Karna was purely speculating here, but her speculations were based on the things she’d figured out during all her lives, so they were unlikely to be completely baseless.

“What’s this about ‘one of the blood’?” Valor shifted focus on the vaguest term.

"I'm guessing that's referring to the bloodline of the emperor. The emperor has always had to come from the same bloodline, and there must be a reason why such rule is enforced." Karna guessed. She'd theorized many reasons before, though she'd never arrived at this particular answer.

“So, essentially you or your family?” Valor guessed. "Maybe it's the family line of this being that we're supposed to be the successors of?"

“I’m assuming. I might be entirely mistaken though.” She shrugged. Terms like ‘one of the blood’ didn’t really give you a lot to go on. For all they knew, it could be referring to a bloodline of pink fluffy unicorns instead.

“Be that as it may, things are about to get interesting. The emperor just declared a grand free for all between all reincarnators. That can’t end well.” Hope was both excited and horrified at the idea.

“Well, we all knew we were being gathered here for one reason or another. I guess we just found out why. I was getting kind of tired of not knowing. Knowing and acting accordingly is much preferable, even if the level of danger for us has just increased." Envy had never been afraid of bloodshed. "Though, if this successor really does get to set the rules, there are certain people I'd really prefer not to win. Pride and Greed being the obvious ones. The fuckers would wipe us out of existence on pure principle."

“On some level, this is good for us.” Valor suddenly stated, confusing Envy and Hope.

“How do you figure?” Envy pressed.

Karna was the one to answer. “Well, first of all, the decree didn’t say the winner had to kill all the competitors. Just go unchallenged for a time. That means rounding up powerful allies suddenly became a viable option. And, oh hey! Look who we have here! Three Virtues and two Sins. I’d say we all qualify. On the other hand, it means that all the most powerful reincarnators are now focused on each other and jockeying for position. They’ll have less time to be concerned with still growing ones like us. And with every reincarnator focused on this, and likely forcing their non-reincarnator allies to aid them, something like a princess and her allies causing a stir is suddenly much less interesting. We’ve been given the perfect opportunity.”

Chapter 111 - Divine Planes ahoy!

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”…and our information campaign has borne fruit," Hope reported. "The faction the Saint came from has come under attack, and in a desperate move to protect them, the Saint herself Ascended to gain the protection of the local Emissary for her people. The ploy worked and the attack was stopped, but everyone has effectively forgotten our part in the whole disaster."

The group had focused their efforts on two things. Making sure that the enemies who had targeted them were busy elsewhere, which they managed with a variety of methods, as well as reaching immortality as close together as possible. The fact that they'd have several new immortals Ascending from the same world guaranteed that the Emissary had to protect the world, so no further attacks would be possible. However, since they didn't plan on Ascending to the Divine Planes with the help of the Host, they wanted to make sure those that had attacked them previously were dealt with.

Ironically, some of the attackers had already given up before the attack due to the storm, and even some of those that had taken part in the attack had since given up due to the stiff resistance they had faced. Some had been convinced by the idea that the presence of the Sins meant the world was controlled by evil, and had since either been convinced they had been wrong, or had lost interest in any heroics due to the losses incurred, or the impossibility of the task. As for the rest, the Magocracy and the Elves were not without allies, and a bit of pressure in the right place had been enough to deter almost all of the remaining holdouts. The few remaining had suddenly found themselves slim on allies and vulnerable to attack, distracting them from any further attempts. Diplomacy and threats were wonderful assets when they worked.

“Good. I’ll be able to rank up as soon as I want to, and with you two already immortals, we’re only waiting on Wrath then.” Envy concluded. Hope and Valor had been the first to rank up. The event had of course been noticed by the Emissary, but the group had rather firmly refused any assistance in Ascending, though promising that they would find their own way within a short period of time.

“Having Tsumi and Tremere rank up at the same time was a bit of a surprise.” Valor added. “Though we might have to go through some effort to find them. Such a shame they didn’t wait for us before Ascending.”

The two had gone up to the Divine Planes the traditional way, despite Karna advising them not to. Tsumi had been worried about Arjuna, which was fair, while Tremere was an ally by necessity, and didn’t necessarily want to be tied to the four of them with the decree hanging over all their heads. They were still nominally allies and might become stronger allies in the future, but the vampire had wanted to keep his options open for now.

"There is one issue though," Hope added. "We're all in breach of the Progeny Accords. So were Tsumi and Tremere. Now, I know that deal has been made largely defunct in the last year with so many reincarnators Ascending, but it might still be held against us."

Valor shook his head. “It would be odd if they focused on us. We could easily argue uneven enforcement of the rules. Besides, the Accords were between the major powers of the Higher Planes and the Host, however, we’re not Ascending with the aid of the Host. You could argue that the whole thing doesn’t even apply to us. Besides, it’s a bit late for any of us to start thinking about kids at this point. We’ve promised to Ascend within half a year, and unless you’ve forgotten to mention that you’re pregnant somehow…”

“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even swing that way.” Envy said half-jokingly. She knew Hope and Wrath had gotten frisky at some point after all, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Many reincarnators had wider tastes. Still, Hope had shown no indication of being attracted to men, which was different from Envy and Wrath.

Hope just smiled a bit secretively, without revealing anything. “Zuellni, any news of your master?”

The tower was currently located in a rare and remote system that only held a single star and no planets. Karna had revealed that this was one of the places where the planet had been either destroyed or taken by the scourges, leaving only the star behind. It was rare for an entire world to be destroyed so completely, though the possibility existed. The scourges were a much more likely explanation. The system had been here for a long time though, as Karna had found it in her previous life in this universe, back before becoming the Sacred Lady.

They were here for several reasons. The main one was to avoid attracting attention, as four people reaching immortality in a short period was bound to draw attention from more than just the Emissary. The other reason was a more practical one. Karna was intending to use a very particular type of dragon as her Aura bloodline, and the process would likely require her to consume the star during the process. It would’ve been somewhat bad if she consumed a star in a system that was inhabited.

The tower spirit appeared reluctantly. She had been reticent to help the three other reincarnators, but since they had been here for months now, she had relented somewhat. “The process is reaching its culmination very soon. I’d estimate that Master has already consumed 20% of the star and the trigger point should be somewhere around 22%. Once she triggers the change, the rest of it will happen quickly. The whole thing is speeding up, and Gem mentioned that we should be done in a week at the latest.”

“In that case, I’ll need to get on with my immortality as well.” Envy declared before exiting the room. She had been holding back for weeks now, just to make sure the two of them would be close together.

“It’s almost cute how she wanted to wait so that she could make sure to Ascend together with Wrath.” Valor commented, causing Hope to burst out in laughter.

“Don’t let her hear that. She’d eat you up, and not in the fun way.” Hope managed to not sound too mirthful.

Valor shuddered. “Yeah, I’m not an idiot.”

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“I don’t know why I even bother leaving here, considering I have to come back soon enough anyway.” The black-skinned demonic Emissary shook his head in mock exasperation, though his play was betrayed by the ghost of a smile dancing on the corners of his lips.

“You leave because if you didn’t, the crazy tower spirit would toss you out.” Envy shot back, being the focus of the Emissary’s visit this time. She was also confident that she could defeat the Emissary by herself if necessary. She might have been able to do it before, but now that she was an immortal as well, that victory was all but certain.

“She’s correct, just for the record.” Zuellni popped in just to confirm, disappearing right after.

“You can say a lot of things about that crazy spirit but at least she’s consistent.” Valor smiled a bit as well.

“So, I’m guessing you aren’t planning on taking the invitation to Ascend this time either?” The Emissary asked rhetorically. The other two had already refused. He wasn’t sure if they planned on waiting until all four of them were ready, or if they wanted to make the attempt on their own. Or both as the case might be.

“You guess correctly.” Envy confirmed with a firm nod.

“So anything we can do for you in the meant-“ The Emissary’s question was halted as a pulse of power went through the entire vessel, and in fact through the entire system.

“It’s about time!” Envy exclaimed loudly as all three of them moved to the holographic display showing the view of the star in the center of the system. “I was worried I was too early.”

They watched in awe as an enormous pair of wings seemed to extend out of the star that had grown much smaller than before. The wings were dazzlingly white, the already familiar color of the living metal associated with Karna, but inside the wings you could faintly see the outlines of various constellations. Immediately after, a head and a tail exited as well. The draconic head had three pairs of long curved horns that seemed to form a crown behind her head. In the middle of all six horns glowed what seemed like a small star, and every move of the wings seemed to send waves of what could only be described as stardust into the surroundings. The dragon opened its enormous maw, and as she breathed in, the rest of what remained of the star seemed to be sucked inside, leaving the system in darkness.

“A Stellar Dragon? This is…” The Emissary seemed unable to find the words.

"The fucker got even larger. I thought her basilisk form was huge, but this is just excessive.” Envy complained. As she did, the presence of the dragon seemed to hit them all at once, and they realized Wrath had been holding her Aura back quite heavily so far. With her newest Awakening, all that presence was released. None of them were weak-minded enough to fall prey to dragon terror, and surprisingly they didn’t even have to fight against it. Instead, they felt empowered.

“This one’s new.” Hope commented. “Haven’t seen a dragon like that before.”

“I’m not surprised.” The Emissary commented, not bothering to wonder where the woman’s knowledge about dragons might come from. “Stellar Dragons are…forces of nature for a lack of a better term. Even the weakest ones can change the entire climate of a world with just their presence, and she looks the opposite of the weakest type. Is that Celestium on her scales?”

“It is indeed.” Valor confirmed, deciding that trying to hide it was too late at this point.

“That’s just…I wouldn’t want to be in a position to try and fight her.” The Emissary shook his head. “Oh divines, she’s the type that eats planets, isn’t she?”

Karna slowly drew closer, her nose almost pushing against the tower. “The type that can eat planets you mean. Surely you wouldn’t imply that I’ll eat inhabited worlds just because I get the munchies, would you?”

“Yes, yes. Of course. Well, seeing as you’ve just reached immortality, I have to ask. Would you like our help in reaching the Divine Planes?” He felt silly just asking. A Stellar Dragon could make the trip on its own.

“No thank you. We’ll be fine.” Karna replied politely.

“Yeah, I bet you will. Well, that’s my cue to leave.” The Emissary vanished in a cloud of smoke, appearing a small distance from the tower, before starting his travel back towards his post.

“Is everything ready?” Karna asked, turning to look inside the tower.

“Yes. We’ve all reached immortality, and we’ve settled matters to the extent that we’re able. How exactly are we going to do this?” Envy questioned. She was well aware that the Host offered the easier path to Ascension, but obviously there were other ways.

“The easiest way is to utilize the Grand Formation. The formation sends power up towards the Divine Planes, and we could ride one of those paths. That said, I don’t think it’s necessary anymore. With this form, I will be able to open a path myself and you can just follow in my wake with the tower.” Karna had done something similar before, though in a less conspicuous form.

“Sounds suitably ballsy and flashy. I’m in!” Envy declared, and the other two could only wryly shake their heads. They knew they were along for the ride anyway, so there was no point in arguing. The two Sins were clearly the flashier ones in the group.

Seeing that the others were, if not ready then at least willing, Karna forced the space around her to twist in a very particular way before opening her enormous maw in which everyone could see power gathering. Zuellni activated all the magical and technological defenses of the tower only seconds before it was buffeted by the shockwaves of the dragon's breath Karna unleashed. The breath seemed to be entirely focused on the twist in space she had made before, and tore a path open where previously there had been none. At the same time, they all felt more than heard some kind of barrier being broken.

The breath weapon Karna had used seemed odd to say the least. The celestial energies, the power of the moon, the sun, the stars, and various other celestial phenomena, weren't a proper recognized magical element. Yet any ability, spell, or weapon that managed to harness that power was strengthened exponentially. And for some reason, Karna's earlier breath seemed to consist of purely that energy, which was a scary thought. As the Celestial Archer, Hou Yi had managed to harness the power for his arrows and had managed to injure Karna rather severely before, even through the skin granted to her by her titan bloodline.

Karna took the lead, flying through the crack in space, while the tower followed in her wake. Whatever crack had been formed by her breath earlier soon closed behind them, and they found themselves swimming through a mix of chaotic energies. Spatial forces crashed against divine powers, which in turn crashed again mountains of Aura and rivers of Qi. All kinds of energies struggled for dominance here, and they were all so heavily concentrated that many of them had turned into solid and liquid. All the powers crashed on them, but Karna used her huge form like an ice-breaker ship, clearing the path for the tower. The deadly energies seemed to fizzle and disappear as they got close to her, the natural Aura of a high-ranking dragon resisting all magical effects. What energies didn’t just disappear were still diminished and seemed to clash ineffectually with her white scales that almost seemed to be absorbing the power.

Karna plowed ahead, not caring about anything in her path. Even when some of the powers had solidified into a mountain in front of her, she flew right through, her breath dispersing any obstacles too large to just ignore as they bounced off her scales. She knew that diverting from the path was the worst thing they could do. Time and dimensions worked strangely in this place, and she knew that if she diverted from the path even a little, she might find that they had arrived a hundred years into the future. This place didn’t look like a maze, but that is what it would be if you didn’t keep your destination firmly in mind and your direction directly towards it. A momentary distraction could cost you everything.

While the trip would’ve been dangerous for anyone else, she felt like she was in her element. She had wielded all of the powers that could be found in this place at some point in her lives, and even now most of them welcomed her. Some tried to rebel and attack her, but she could quickly put those rebels in their place. Just being here strengthened her, and she knew that would only become more obvious once they reached the Divine Planes. She was a Godling, and the Divine Planes were her home. Even this in-between place was more welcoming than repelling her.

The ones in the tower weren’t quite as comfortable, but with Karna clearing the way, they weren’t suffering either. Aside from some turbulence that was. They couldn’t avoid the energies completely. However, at Zuellni’s request, they added their own power to the defense of the tower. They were also experts in their own chosen energies. Hope handled mana and the spatial forces, Valor took care of the divine power, while Envy handled both Qi and Aura. They were pressured, but not to extremes they couldn’t handle.

If they had been asked how long their journey took, none of the three would have been able to tell for sure. To Envy, it seemed like only moments had passed, but Hope could’ve sworn they spent weeks plowing through the maelstrom of energy. Valor refused to comment when asked. Karna only smiled mysteriously when the three confronted her. Nevertheless, they arrived at the other edge of the maelstrom the same way they had arrived here. Karna used her breath to open a path through a barrier of some kind, and they found themselves in an endless meadow filled with grass, small animals, and a warm sun overhead. The sky above them seemed just as endless as the meadow that spread around them, and they got the sense that if they tried to fly upwards, they’d never reach whatever awaited above.

"Where are we?" Hope asked, feeling that the entire area was filled with positive and encouraging emotions. There was also divine power everywhere. The power was thick. Almost too thick for any one of them to cultivate, despite the fact that all of them had extremely pure and concentrated power in preparation for the Ascension.

"This is the realm of one of the True Gods," Karna replied, her dragon form finally dropping off, leaving her looking exhausted and drained.

“Which one? Won’t it be dangerous to annoy a god? I’m not sure trespassing is a good idea. I’m surprised we haven’t already been detected.” Valor was starting to panic a bit.

“You don’t have to worry. The goddess of this realm is long dead. The only reason it still exists as it does is because people still believe in her, and no one has taken her place.” Karna reassured him.

“We’re in the realm of the Sacred Lady?” Valor realized.

"We are indeed. No one else will be able to come here, so we'll be safe for a time. We can't stay here for too long though. Even if the owner of this realm is no longer present, that doesn't mean the realm will tolerate us for too long. Unless…" Karna went quiet.

“Unless what?” Envy prodded.

"Don't mind it for now. Just know we're safe here, but we can't stay too long. I feel like sleeping for a week, though I suppose a couple of days will have to suffice. I'd recommend getting used to cultivating here, though I suppose the thickness of the gathered power might make it difficult."

Chapter 112 - You could've told me!

A note from Vihyungrang

Things are heating up. I hope you'll enjoy!

On another matter, I will be traveling to England and Scotland next week, and the beginning of the one after. I'll try to write next week's chapter quickly at the start of the week and schedule it for next Sunday, but there are some potential issues there. First of all, if the scheduler doesn't work, there's not much I will be able to do about it from England and with nothing but my phone. I also won't be able to fix any typos you point out until I get back home. Still, I hope the next chapter being a little rushed won't impact it too much.

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Khaine could barely hide her grimace as her sister once again attempted to convince her to support Hoeth in his bid for the throne. She had to give Isha points for consistency and persistence, and it wasn’t like the goddess wasn’t making some good points. Isha wasn’t a foolish goddess by any standard, and she’d always been charming and persuasive. That’s why they kept sending her here, instead of Hoeth coming personally. Well, that and the fact that Hoeth’s actions had directly led to her imprisonment in the first place. The problem was, Isha was operating under incomplete information. And it was somewhat tiring to listen to treaties and arguments, no matter how persuasive, when she knew it was completely pointless.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a communications talisman suddenly burst in front of her, sending a simple and short message just for her ears. “She’s in the Divine Planes.”

Khaine didn't need the sender to specify who they meant with "she", as there was only a single person they could be referring to. She recognized the sender of the message, and there was only a single reason why they would contact her, especially with her being here under house arrest. She wasn't supposed to be getting messages. Theoretically, she wasn't supposed to be getting visitors either, but the royal family had always been an exception to that, even if they had rarely visited before the recent events. The decree had caused all of them to make their plays at a frantic pace. Well, now the game had gained a new dimension.

With a confident smile, she stood up, cutting Isha off mid-sentence, and with a quick gesture her earlier humble clothing was replaced with her full Divine Regalia. As the Goddess of War, it was only to be expected that she would wear armor, and hers was a mix of red, orange, and gold with heavy decorations and a clear phoenix theme. Even her helmet’s visor was shaped like a striking phoenix. A heavy halberd was in one of her hands, while a curved sword was in the other.

“K-Khaine? Sister? W-what’s going on?” Isha asked, suddenly afraid.

“It is finally time for me to leave, sister.” She replied with a confident voice. “You can try to stand in my way, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

Instead of answering, Isha vanished in a burst of magic with a distinct feeling of the life element. Khaine didn’t want to look down on her sister, but Isha had always been more of a diplomat and a healer than a fighter. Unlike her sister, Khaine couldn’t use magic to exit, and it was also somewhat symbolic for her to leave on foot. With a small scoff, she walked out from the house that had been her abode for the last few decades. She faced no resistance as she walked the tiled path towards the exit of the realm that housed the palace of the Heavenly Emperor, in fact, she met no one until the exit was already in sight. She wasn’t surprised to see an older man with gray in his hair standing by the exit, thoughtfully stroking his beard. Despite his age, the man had an aura of power around him that could not be dismissed, even with her strength, and he wore the golden phoenix robes that signified his station, even if most of his face was obscured by strings of beads hanging down from his headdress.

“Going so soon?” The man asked with a playful voice.

"It is time father," Khaine responded simply, mentally prepared to fight her way out if she had to. She wouldn't win very likely but was rather confident in her ability to escape. At least unless the man called for the imperial guard. Even then she had a good chance of leaving, although it would become much harder.

“She’s here then.” His words weren’t a question. “Ynnead has finally come home.”

"I will go to my daughter, father. No matter what you say. She needs to take His place, but until she's ready, she'll need protection." She stated firmly.

"Oh you'd be surprised, but I'm not going to stop you. You and Ynnead are both eligible to participate. In fact, with the situation being what it is, I welcome more of the blood, as it might become necessary. Most of you will fall during the fight I suspect.” Khaine could see the man looking into her eyes from between the beads, and in his eyes raged the flames of the most powerful phoenix in the universe. “In fact, I’m surprised you stayed as long as you did. You’ll note that I wasn’t forcing you to stay.”

“I didn’t want to give Hoeth and the others more reasons to go after her. While I might have been able to protect her by staying with her constantly, my presence would’ve only drawn more danger to her, and she needed room to grow.” Not that the soul she had chosen really needed much help.

The man seemed to either agree or not find her words consequential, as he moved right along. "She has returned to her old realm. You'll find that entering it might be harder than you thought. And daughter. Keep your eyes open for Eldrazor. Ynnead is far from the only soul with the potential to win. And some of the others have the advantage of time on her."

Khaine knew very well how dangerous Eldrazor could be. You didn’t become one of the Sins without some skill at least. Especially not that particular one…

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”This place is lovely. So peaceful and relaxing.” Hope commented while sitting on a rock in front of the tower and staring over the nature-filled plains. She could see a snow-capped mountain in the distance, and the sun was softly shining down on them.

“Makes sense when you think about it.” Valor agreed. “We are in the realm of a goddess of Mercy. From what I know, the divine realms reflect the god that created them. How could they not?”

“So, basically Wrath made this place? And this is supposed to reflect her?” Envy asked with a weirded-out expression. “That doesn’t sound right, somehow.”

“I still have trouble believing she’s the Sacred Lady.” Valor admitted. “The Sacred Lady has always been portrayed as the paragon of virtue in all the legends. And while I would never speak ill of her, Wrath’s…well, Wrath.”

“She can be many things.” Hope smiled mysteriously. “She’s lived so long that she has been everything you can imagine and more. She’s been a monster and a paragon. A demon lord and a hero. A good friend and a bitter rival. Family and an enemy. There’s a reason she has the Name Karma.”

“From what I understand, no one has been able to take her place as the new Goddess of Mercy. That means she could probably take up the role again. Would be quite a power boost.” Valor pointed out. “Would make things easier for us, that’s for certain.”

“It’s not that simple though.” Karna’s voice came from behind them. She’d slept for two days straight, and the three others had been waiting for her to wake up. “You’re not wrong when you say I could do it, but things are never that simple.”

“Incompatible divinity?” Hope asked, knowing what the problem was.

“Not incompatible per se, as it’s still me, but it would be…limiting.” Karna shrugged.

“Sorry, a new reincarnator here. Incompatible divinity? What’s the problem exactly?” Valor lifted his hand up like a student in a classroom.

"Right. You probably wouldn't know. Godhood in this universe works a little differently, probably because it's a straight-up power boost instead of just being a separate source of power. When you gain a fragment of divinity in this universe, it will make you stronger and nurture it into a proper godhood with the associated benefits. The problem is that the further along you go in your godhood, the more the divinity imposes limits on you.” Karna explained.

Hope picked up the explanation. “The easiest way to think about it is that you have to act according to the tenets of your divinity, or you create discord with that divinity. That discord will make it so that the divinity no longer works properly for you. The more in harmony you are with your divinity, the more benefits you gain from it. A minor god acting in full harmony with their divinity might overpower a major god that is actively working against theirs.”

“So, a god of say…justice has to act in a just way or they create said discord?” Valor asked to make sure.

"In a nutshell. It's a little more complicated than that, though. These things aren't usually simple yes or no kinds of choices. All your actions and behavior matter. Instead of a binary choice, it's more of a scale, where everything you do moves you towards harmony or discord. Heck, for some gods even their looks matter. Can't be the Goddess of Beauty without looking the part. Now, going against your tenets once or twice isn't too bad, unless you make some kind of heinous sin directly contrary to everything you stand for, and you have some leeway to interpret things, but it does put some restraints on what you do. For instance, when I was the Goddess of Mercy, the mercy of a quick death was a part of what I stood for, and one of my tenets was that being merciful to your enemies was to be cruel to those you love, but I was still expected to be self-sacrificing and generally peaceful. I might have been the most feared Goddess of Mercy in history, but mercy still isn’t the most flexible of concepts. In the current situation that can be a bit problematic. I’m not saying I won’t do it, but I’d rather not do it just yet.” Karna said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I can see how that could be an issue.” Valor nodded, considering the implications.

"Now something to consider is that the same holds true even when you only have a spark and you aren't a god yet. It's just less important. That's also why you shouldn't just accept any random spark you find. It's important to get one that you're compatible with. The best would be a naturally occurring one that you create for yourself, but those tend to be rare and only available when you become strong enough. We might not have the luxury of waiting that long.” That had been the reason why Karna had advised Arjuna against choosing the spark as a reward when one had been presented to them.

“How does one create a spark naturally?” Valor asked, leaning back against another stone.

"I'm not entirely sure. It's one of those things I haven't really studied because I don't spend a lot of time in this universe." Karna replied a bit apologetically.

"This is all very interesting, but I think there's an elephant in the room we need to address even more than this." Envy interjected. "And now that we're all awake, we might as well. You all read the decree. This thing turned into a big tournament. A tournament with only a single winner. There are four of us, and potentially even more allies. I'm all for working together to win, but only one of us can win. That poses a problem."

"Potentially. On the other hand, maybe not. There's no point in creating problems arguing about this when the whole thing might become moot later on. We could agree on one of us right now, and then that person might die before we win. If we win. Are we actually trying to win? Do we want the position? I kind of like things as they are." Hope wasn't in a rush to argue about the subject.

“She has a point. We might change our minds a hundred times between now and the potential victory.” Valor agreed.

"That's fine, but we need to address this eventually. At the very least we have to decide if we’re playing to win. If we’re not playing to win, then we shouldn’t play at all. Otherwise, we’re only setting ourselves up to lose.” Envy wasn’t quite as willing to let the topic go.

“I vote we go for it. Even if I have to do it alone, I’m going to aim for a win.” Karna suddenly declared.

Envy's head whipped around in surprise. She had not expected Wrath of all people to take such a hard stance on it. "That's unexpected." She voiced her surprise.

"It shouldn't be really. You know I've always been somewhat competitive. Besides, there are two very big reasons why I think at least one of us should take the position, even if it's not me. The first one is obvious. We know some of the others that are going to do their best to win. And in most cases, it would be horrible for us if they did. Can you imagine Pride winning?" Karna pointed out.

“That’s a good point. I can’t imagine Pride not taking advantage of the situation and having a bit of vengeance.” Envy grimaced, knowing exactly how much Pride hated them. For someone with the Name Pride, having that pride trodden on by someone superior was a big deal. Both her and Wrath had trodden on that pride several times. “Gluttony wouldn’t be much better, though Pride has a much higher chance of actually succeeding.”

"Let's be frank. Most of the reincarnators I know would be horrible choices. I assume it's the same for you." Valor concurred with the other two.

“What’s the other reason?” Hope looked at Wrath in concern. She had sensed something. Some kind of sadness in Wrath’s eyes when she’d mentioned two reasons.

Karna let out a long breath. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to mention this, but I might as well. There’s a very good chance that this is my last life.”

The three others stared at her for several seconds as if she was crazy. Envy suddenly stood up and gestured wildly while shouting her questions, “What?! How could that be?! What kind of crazy talk is that?! There’s a limit of some sort?!”

“That’s what the Head Judge at the River of Souls told me. Apparently, my soul has grown so much that it’s almost impossible to find a vessel for it anymore. My last life was as a dragon like the one you saw me transform into earlier, only bigger, and now I’m the daughter of royalty with potential the likes of which has likely never been seen before. Literally a daughter of heavens. The judge implied pretty heavily that once this life ended, it might be impossible to find another vessel to contain my soul. You know it’s not an accident or just my techniques that allows me to catch up to you in cultivation decades earlier and the thoroughness of my cultivation. I was given the best vessel available. There might not come another one.” Karna explained patiently.

“That’s…!” Envy took a couple of steps back and forth, not really knowing which way to go, clearly agitated. “YOU SHOULD’VE TOLD ME EARLIER!” She shouted before storming off.

“Should we…?” Valor gestured towards the direction Envy had gone, suggesting they might want to follow.

“No. She needs some time.” Hope said, sounding a little choked herself.

“It seems I should leave you to deal with the news.” Karna smiled a little sadly before disappearing in a burst of flames.

Valor stared in the direction Envy had vanished to. “Is she…are the two of them…you know?” He asked carefully.

"I know what you are suggesting, but it's not quite that simple." Hope smiled a bit, tears now coming into her eyes. "What those two have can't be described with a simple word like love, or even rivalry. The same with me and Wrath. We've known each other for so many lifetimes. Some of them short, while some of them were long. Then we might not see each other for eons, but we always knew we'd run into each other again. The bonds that form on timescales like that are…complicated. For old ones like us, and doubly so for someone like Wrath who's positively ancient, just the knowledge that we will certainly see each other again, no matter how long it takes, is just something we take for granted. It's...comforting to have such established friends, lovers, family members, and so many more. We've been all of those to each other, and things you couldn't even imagine."

Hope gave a wan smile while thinking for the right words. “The kinds of bonds that beings like us form simply can’t be understood by others.” Her eyes returned to focus and looked towards the direction Envy had disappeared to as well. “For Envy, this is especially hard. Her existence is in many ways defined by Wrath. She was the original source of envy, and that which had driven Envy all this time. To suddenly hear that the eternal goal might not be there any longer is…hard.”

“Wrath is the originator for your Virtue as well.” Valor pointed out. “So, it can’t be much easier.”

"It's…not. However, we've always been close with Wrath. We're family in all senses of the word. She and Envy though…they've danced a weird dance with each other for longer than most reincarnators have existed. I don't think even they know what it is that's between them. You suggested love, and there's probably some of that, but I don't think that's the driving factor. It's complicated, as I said." Hope went quiet again, trying to find the words.

“Something like a parent and child perhaps?” Valor suggested. “No, that doesn’t feel right.”

"True, but it might be part of it as well. I think Envy might have always sought Wrath's approval on some level, much like a child would seek from a parent. So, you’re not entirely wrong. But you’re once again trying to simplify it. You won’t truly understand until you experience it yourself. If you’re lucky enough to experience something like it.” Hope got up and dusted off the cloak she had been sitting on. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need some time to process as well.”

Chapter 113 - That sounds nice

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

Just to remind you, when this comes out, I'll be in England, so can't fix any typos until later next week. Also, despite this being a bit rushed, I think it turned out well. At least the first half. The latter half...eh, could've been better.

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”As much as I’d like to give you time to ruminate, we need to leave soon.” Envy looked up as she heard Karna speak. She’d found a nice shady spot to put her thoughts in order. She had even taken off her shoes to let her feet soak in the nice warm water of a pond. It was hard to stay cranky in this place, as the aura was so calming.

Karna sat down next to her, though refrained from getting her feet wet. The two of them sat there quietly for several minutes, just enjoying the ambiance of the divine realm. Envy took a long look at her oldest frenemy and tried to imagine life without her. She'd had several lives where Wrath was nowhere to be found, so it wasn't that difficult, but even in those lives, she would always imagine what she'd do when they met the next time. It was always something to look forward to, even if they ended up on opposing sides. It was hard to imagine what it would be like without that constant motivator.

Realizing that Karna was not going to be the first one to speak, she decided to take the dragon by the horns. “How long have you known?”

Karna considered the question for a moment before answering, knowing there was more to it than the obvious. “I’ve known only since just before this life began and the Head Judge informed me. I’ve suspected something like this might be happening longer. The vessels I’ve had have felt…insufficient. It has also been almost impossible to live those mortal lives I value so much. Hard to be a mortal when the only vessel capable of holding your soul is a dragon that’s practically immortal just by its very nature. What you’re really asking though is, did I have a suspicion the last time we met? The answer is no. Not really. There were signs perhaps, but not to the point where I could have put the pieces together.”

Envy released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “At least there’s that. And no, I’m not going to ask again why you didn’t tell me earlier in this life. I get it. It’s not something you just drop in a conversation. Especially when you didn’t know for sure what I would do in response. I still wish you had told me earlier. Would’ve been a shame if I had succeeded in killing you during the tournament. I seriously considered it during the finals.”

"That was part of what convinced me that we could be allies in this life," Karna admitted. "You know better than anyone that you aren't exactly the most consistent person ever."

“I like to think it spices things up. Similar to how you spice things up by staying a mortal. Or Tremere with his horrible accent and acting.” Envy smiled a bit, fondly thinking about some of her past exploits during one of the more unpredictable lives.

“Fair enough. I’m not the most consistent person either. Comes with the slow erosion of mental faculties I suppose. Though I’d say I’ve become more consistent over time.” Karna postulated. “Unlike most reincarnators, I started off crazy and mellowed over time.”

“Eeeh. You’re one of the saner reincarnators around, I’ll admit. At least nowadays you are. Those mortal lives have done good things for you. I’d never do it myself, but I can see it works for you.” Envy went quiet again after that. The mood in this place was truly pleasant.

"You know, I wouldn't mind just spending a small eternity here. Just the two of us. Maybe Hope as well. We could just relax and let the eons wash over us as we grew old and fat." Envy suggested, only half-joking.

Karna let herself fall back to lie on the ground. “Except, it would require me to take up the godhood, and that would automatically tie me into the divine politics. It’s not a bad thought though. Of all places to do it, this would be at the top of my list. Would get a bit boring after a century or a dozen though.” She opined while staring at the sky.

“Oh, I’m sure we could find something to occupy our time.” Envy grinned. “I could make you the greatest pillow hoard that ever existed. You know, we’ve been many things from enemies to even sisters, but we’ve given the lovers thing a shot only once and that didn’t last long thanks to Lust interfering. Might be interesting to give it another go.” She leaned back on the grass as well, her feet still in the water.

“You’re right. That doesn’t sound too bad. Almost tempting. Were it anything but my last life, I might take you up on it. There’s a rather obvious problem though. The same problem that prevents us from not taking part in this silly nonsense set in motion by the decree. If someone we’ve angered in the past took the position of ruling over everything, we’d be fucked. And not in the fun way.” Karna shook her head slowly.

“That does give us an alternative though. We could put Valor or maybe even Hope on that throne and just retire here afterwards.” Envy suggested.

"That's not too shabby of a thought," Karna admitted. "We might invite a few other people on occasion. Just to keep things fresh."

Envy suddenly sat up as an idea occurred to her. "Wait. If they get to modify everything and set all the rules, couldn't they then help you with this problem?"

“Theoretically. It would involve them tampering with my soul but…” Karna had originally considered taking the role herself, but this might be even better.

“A small price to pay for the potential payout!” Envy was getting excited at the idea. She hadn’t been really all that motivated before now, as her victory only prevented anyone they hated from winning, but now she had a proper reason to get serious. Heck, she’d rather take the job herself if that’s what it took to keep Wrath around, though she’d rather delegate it to someone else. Even if it would be interesting to get one up on her rival for once. “Yeah, this sounds like a plan! Either an extension via a bit of soul tampering, or a cushy eternal retirement if it’s something that can’t be stopped!”

“The beginnings of a plan at least.” Karna frowned a bit at the sense she was getting from the realm around them. “It seems our time here is coming to an end. We’re close to overstaying our welcome.”

“Right. We will talk about this again, however. Do we have a concrete idea about what to do once we leave?” Envy questioned, now excited to move on.

“That’s something we were supposed to discuss before leaving, though now we’re in a bit of a rush. There are two obvious options. Three if you count trying to lay low. Which, let’s face it, isn’t our strong suit. We could go for the house of titans. Or we could go for Mount Celestis. The angels already approached me, trying to recruit any talented future immortals. They have certain plans towards the current messed-up situation in the Divine Planes, and that was before the decree. I’m rather sure they’d love to take in the four of us. Would give us the chance to stay away from the immortal politics for a while.” Karna listed off.

Envy couldn’t help the grimace at the thought of allying with angels. “You know as well as I do that angels aren’t exactly fond of anyone associated with the cardinal sins. And you can’t get much more associated with them than us. Not to mention the fact that I kind of dislike the sanctimonious assholes.”

"Your dislike for them is well documented and widely known." Karna smiled a little. Envy somehow always managed to antagonize any angels she met, no matter which universe they were in. "That said, it wouldn't do to leave them out of consideration completely, and staying out of politics would also come with the downside that we can't play politics to our advantage either. The angels are a major power, and they actively disdain divine politics, but they have very few allies they can rely on as a consequence. We would benefit from their protection, however.”

“On the other hand, the titans would definitely welcome us and be more palatable for me, but they’d have certain expectations for you.” Envy pursed her lips in displeasure, now especially displeased at the idea of someone forcing Wrath into a political marriage or something along those lines, even if that wasn’t a very likely scenario. She was hardly a jealous type, as that was a bit of an impossibility with reincarnators. Neither option was optimal, but sometimes you had to make compromises. “My vote is with the titans, though not just because of my dislike for the pigeons. They’d likely be willing to offer more support for us, assuming that we’d go along with their plans. And I could pass myself as one thanks to the bloodline power I copied from you.”

“That’s not a bad idea, and I’m not entirely averse to it either. We have some other options as well, as there are plenty of forces that would be happy to recruit us, though the problem is that they want me for other reasons, mainly for my bloodline. We do need some support though. As much as we can punch above our weight, we can’t stand against entire houses just with the four of us. Not until we get stronger. And unlike in the Higher Planes, hiding is much more difficult. Before now, it was a game of gaining power and staying hidden. Now it’s a game of politics and forging alliances. And we have some catching up to do in comparison to other reincarnators that have been here for centuries or even longer.” Karna was very powerful for a fresh immortal, easily matching rank eleven and perhaps even rank twelve beings, but she was realistic about their chances without allies.

“What did the other two doofuses say?” Envy asked.

"They left the decision for us," Karna said without elaborating. "And I'm leaving it to you, mostly."

"Let's go for the titans then. Unless…" A thought occurred to Envy. "We don't necessarily all need to go in the same direction."

Karna shook her head in reply. “Usually I wouldn’t oppose a little divide and conquer, but with the decree in place, nowhere is safe. Besides, we have gotten closer, but we aren’t exactly the most unified of allies just yet. We have a reason to stick together, and we’re stronger that way, but if we split up, we could be picked off easily. So, titans it is then. Let’s go.”

All four of them gathered into the tower, which reminded Karna that she would need to do some upgrades now that they were in the Divine Planes, and headed for the border of the realm they were in. As she had at least some control over the realm, they quickly reached the exit, as the border was just suddenly there without any warning. As they pushed their way through the nebulous border, they found themselves on a shining golden bridge that seemed to extend forever. Hazy and indistinct shapes of the other realms of the gods extended everywhere around them. It was like they were standing on the sideways trunk of a tree, while pathways stretched like branches everywhere around them, and the separate realms of the gods were the leaves of the tree.

They were also not alone. Karna knew from experience that one could wander this path for ages without running into anyone else due to how distances worked on the bridge, but now there was a crowd. An arguing crowd by the looks of it. They were all located just outside the realm they had exited, so it stood to reason that the separate groups in the crowd had been waiting for them. And the separation in the groups was rather clear, as they not only stood apart in their attire, but in their appearance as well.

The first group was made up of members of the Host. A dozen silver-armored immortals were accompanying a pair in golden armor, and this group was embroiled in an argument with two other groups. One of the others was made up of individuals that could only be titans judging by their size and the house sigil of thunderbolts grasped in a metallic fist. The third arguing group bore the house colors of the ruling house, the phoenix insignia on their clothing and armor clear. There was also a fourth group made up of a gathering of various parties that exhibited totally different identifiers and despite their appearance were from a variety of races. This group only had seven individuals, which made it the smallest, and they had likely banded together mostly just to have some strength in numbers in the face of the three arguing groups. They were also the ones staying out of the tussle.

“Well, there goes the plan to lay low.” Valor joked, which caught the others by surprise. Humor was not what they had expected from him in this situation.

“I don’t care what house the newcomers might or might not be part of!” One of the golden-armored members of the Host was shouting, clearly agitated by the two other groups. “All of the new immortals are to be drafted into the Host to fight the Scourges!”

“You’re talking about an imperial princess. A princess that has been lost to us for decades. Even if she were to become part of the Host at some point, surely she deserves to meet her family first.” The leader of the group from House Asuryan argued with a reasonable tone of voice, before turning to the titans. “I’m not sure what the interest of House Titannica is in all this though.” Now her voice had become almost sickly sweet.

“Don’t bother.” The titan stated with clear disdain. “We all know that if the princess were to be brought to your house, she’d be dead by the morning. You already imprisoned her mother, and you’ve sent assassins after her in the Higher Planes. We all read the report that the girl has the blood of titans. We’ll always protect our own.”

“Such slander!” The phoenix, as Karna could sense the woman carried the bloodline of a lesser phoenix, shouted in faux outrage. “You call our attempts to find the lost princess assassins? Surely if we wanted her dead, she’d already be dead. We also protect our own, no matter what you might think.”

“The order was drafted by the Grand Marshall and ratified by the full Assembly. Whatever your opinions on the matter, they are irrelevant. If you want to meet with her, you can request a meeting through the Host. I’m sure one will be provided to you.” The soldier’s voice was dripping with such heavy sarcasm at the last words that it was impossible to miss.

“You were right. They want to draft us.” Envy pointed out as the three groups continued to argue as if the tower wasn’t there. The fourth group paid attention though, and the naked greed in their eyes was obvious.

All four groups were suddenly thrown away by a wave of force as a single goddess strode down the bridge from the direction of the imperial palace. None of the four in the tower would’ve recognized the armored figure if it hadn’t been for one glaringly obvious fact. The woman looked just like Karna, except more mature. Or to put it another way, Karna looked like a more refined and younger version of the woman. The woman’s status as a Goddess also was rather obvious by the thick amount of golden divine power surging around her.

“None of you will be touching my daughter!” The woman claimed before pillars of golden light descended from the sky and a dozen other gods surrounded the area, and not all of them seemed to be on friendly terms.

“You’re popular as usual.” Envy snarked, looking at the sudden standoff.

Chapter 114 - Of realms and afterlives

A note from Vihyungrang

A bit of a transition and world-building chapter. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”Khaine! What are you doing here?! Shouldn’t you still be under house arrest?!” One of the other Deities demanded in an angry voice. The goddess in question wore a rather revealing toga that left little to the imagination, but her power was even more obvious than her appearance.

It was easy to tell the gods apart from the immortals, as the gods were all significantly taller and constantly surrounded by a golden glow of power. They were also all striking in appearance. As shown by Karna, even Godlings were all attractive to various degrees, unless they specifically chose to be otherwise, so of course the same applied to the parents of said Godlings. As long as they wanted to of course. Of the gathered gods, one was completely covered in scarlet armor covering him from head to toes but still somehow managed to make it look good, one had clearly focused more on being intimidating, and two had chosen to look like older men to highlight their eminence. The rest were at least moderately attractive in a universal way.

“Wouldn’t you like that Astarte. Unfortunately for you, I’m not, and before you say anything you’ll regret, the Heavenly Emperor is fully aware that I’m here.” The Goddess that looked so much like Karna retorted rather smugly. “I wouldn’t want you to disparage the emperor by accident by claiming he’s unaware of my presence here.”

“You were imprisoned for a reason. That reason still stands!” Astarte replied, apparently taking the lead in the group that seemed to be standing against Karna’s supposed mother. It was easy to see the animosity between the two went far deeper than the issue in question.

Karna could sense that this Astarte was a relatively important goddess, while most of the others were less so. Aside from her mother of course. There was only one more Deity present that stood out, and that one seemed to be standing apart from the group led by Astarte, joined by two other gods. “And what gives you the right to interfere in the internal matters of House Asuryan? Or any other House aside from your own for that matter? My imprisonment was part of an internal power struggle, and it wasn’t called for by either the Assembly or the Host. And even if it had been, you don’t speak for either.” Karna’s mother seemed to enjoy throwing that fact at the face of the other goddess.

“It was sanctioned by the Emperor, and as his loyal subject, I will naturally enforce his will.” Astarte seized on a potential loophole in the argument, as weak as it was. “Even if you claim he’s aware, that’s not the same as sanctioning your release.”

“Was it though? Did you hear a decree from His Majesty? Or any word from him at all? Or did you just buy into Hoeth’s blathering? No need to answer. We all know you’ve always been Hoeth’s good little bitch, and will continue to be. Now stand aside pet! A good dog should not bark at its betters, and untrained and rabid dogs need to be put down. You have no power or authority to stand against me. If you try, I’ll take great pleasure in freeing another realm from an incompetent claimant.”

“Ooh, that one had to hurt.” Envy joked, while making an exaggerated face. They were only partially aware of what was going on, but they could guess a lot from just what the two said.

“Is it just me, or are we being ignored?” Valor pointed out in a whisper. “We might actually be able to slip away while they butt heads. Assuming of course you don’t want to stick around to help the one who claims to be your mother?”

“They’ve still got their senses on us despite not looking our way.” Hope shook her head, shooting the plan down immediately. “We wouldn’t get far. Not here anyway. This golden path doesn’t work like standard roads.”

“Lady Khaine.” The representative of the Host stepped forward. “We’re still under orders to draft every new immortal into the Host to fight the scourges.”

Finally, the third powerful Deity interfered. “And we all know you’re not walking away from here with them, so you might as well forget it.” The man wearing rather ostentatious green robes with a dragon motif stated with a deep voice that almost sounded like a growl. Either that or his vocal cords had been impacted by constant smoking and drinking, which seemed unlikely as immortal bodies were not so easily damaged. He stepped towards Karna and her companions, to look all of them closer. “One of you registered as a dragon as you Ascended. Which one?”

The four of them looked at each other before the three others grinned and all pointed at Karna. The man made an exasperated growl. “This complicates things. The House of Dragons invokes its ancient right to any and all Ascended dragons.”

“As does House Titannica!” The leader of the titans interjected. The houses founded around certain races had long since established the right to recruit and establish dominance over anyone belonging to their race. It only applied to the most powerful races of magical beings though. There was no unified house for humans or other more common humanoid races.

“As does House Asuryan.” The woman in phoenix robes wasn’t one to be left behind. Her group was at a disadvantage with no god of their own present, aside from Khaine.

“You really are too popular.” Envy muttered, not sure if she should be envious or relieved for once that she wasn’t the center of attention.

“None of you is going to touch my daughter.” Karna’s mother wasn’t having any of it. “You can all make what claims you desire, but they’re leaving here with me, and there’s nothing any of you will be able to do to stop me.”

“Don’t push your luck Khaine.” The dragon looked at the Goddess of War without fear. “Your power buys you some leeway, but not as much as you might have once had.”

“Would you like to put that to the test?” The weapons in her hands suddenly glowed with power.

“I just might.” The dragon growled and scales started appearing on his skin, and he was clearly prepared for a fight.

“I think this calls for a timeout.” Karna suddenly interjected, and something in her voice caught everyone’s attention. “I will go along with her for now with my companions. I have not picked a side yet, nor will I do so without exploring my options. Everyone will get a chance to make their case. However, she is supposedly my mother, and I haven’t seen her since I was sent to the other planes." She noticed the representative of the Host gearing up for remaking the original claim and interrupted. "My friends and I Ascended without the assistance of the Host. Thus, by the ancient laws, any claim you might have over us is null and void until we pick a house, since we do not owe you for helping us. In fact, we are not subject to any of the laws either, until we pick an association or gain help from the Host.”

The Host controlled the Divine Planes, but its control relied mostly on the fact that new immortals needed the Host’s help to Ascend and to help purify their cultivation once they reached the Divine Planes. Strictly speaking, the Host had no hold over the Divine Planes, only the Heavenly Emperor did. The issue was that most houses, gods, and the Assembly supported the Host because either they themselves or their progeny owed the Host for helping them. The Host was also a convenient method of keeping at least nominal order and the scourges at bay. Someone who Ascended by their own power and didn’t need help adjusting to the purer power of the planes didn’t owe the Host their allegiance, and that was one of the reasons such people were valued.

“She’s correct and has you there.” The woman in the phoenix robes took some glee in pointing out. She was actually pleased with this result. Despite their obvious differences, Khaine was still a member of the House Asuryan. Either the wayward goddess would bring the Princess back to their house, or she would have to fully betray the house and join another, which would label her as a traitor. Having a clear enemy was often better than having an ambiguous ally. It seemed Khaine had no intention of waiting for a full consensus anyway, as one of the realms surrounding them suddenly surged forward and pulled both her and Karna’s group inside it.

"And that's why it's dangerous to wander on the bridge without keeping your destination firmly in mind." Karna quickly explained as they were all recovering from a sudden bout of dizziness from being instantly relocated inside the realm controlled by a True God. She knew they could’ve resisted, but there would’ve been no guarantee of success.

The place they found themselves in was inhospitable, to say the least. They stood in a circle made of brown stone and man-sized stone obelisks were placed around the circle at a few meter intervals. If the obelisks had once had some writing on them, that writing had disappeared long ago, eroded by time and sand. The ground itself was covered in more brown stone and only slightly lighter color sand. The most notable thing surrounded them on all sides and almost literally stared them in the face. From the circle opened four narrow paths in the shape of a cross, while the paths were framed by what looked like walls of giant sand-covered skeletons sitting on stone thrones. The walls of thrones rose up endlessly on all sides much like an amphitheater, except the rows of thrones were placed almost directly on top of each other instead of a slow incline. These walls of thrones and skeletons seemed to extend so high in the sky that they saw no end, and the same held for the four paths placed between the walls of thrones.

While all of the skeletons looked to be gigantic in size, the smallest being at least five meters tall, they were far from identical. Most of their clothes had deteriorated and rotted, but you could still see the remains of various styles of clothing and armor. The skeletal structure of the remains also differed, ranging from humanoid, to draconic, to various beasts and avians. Whatever race you could think of, their skeleton could be found in this odd gallery of bones, sand, and decay.

“What a cheery place.” Envy was the first to comment, observing her surroundings.

“It’s the realm of the Goddess of War.” The very goddess in question explained. “You didn’t really expect puppies and rainbows.”

“Hey, your old realm actually had both of those.” Envy pointed at Karna with a grin. Karna in turn ignored the comment.

“I was expecting more lakes of blood. Maybe a skull-throne.” Valor added his impressions in an effort to gather his bearings. “Although, you do have skulls aplenty, so I wasn’t entirely wrong.”

“Blood was more my predecessor’s thing. Gods must maintain a certain type of aesthetic according to the concept they rule over, but I personally have no patience for blood and viscera in my realm. This is just for the arrivals though. I wasn’t sure if some of the others would try to tag along, and I didn’t want to take them to the more pleasant areas by accident.” Khaine explained with a slightly regretful tone. This was the public access point for any arrivals.

With a single thought from the goddess, they found themselves in front of a rather comfy-looking longhouse. The walls were made of logs while the roof was made of thick straw. The sound of merriment, drinking, brawling, and fighting came from inside. “This might be a bad idea.” The goddess muttered. Khaine seemed to have some trouble deciding between slight embarrassment and a fond grimace, as she stopped them from entering just yet. “Right, so, something you should be aware of. I’m not sure how well you are versed with what happens to souls after people die. Some reincarnators are experts and others have even less of an idea than normal people.”

“River of Souls, right?” Valor summarized.

“In essence, that is true for most souls. However, if there is enough faith for an afterlife among the believers of a god or pantheon, those that fulfill whatever conditions they believe in for said afterlife can be sent into that afterlife instead. The souls will eventually end up back among the rest, but that can take a rather long time. Assuming of course that the god administering said afterlife has enough power to maintain that afterlife." Khaine realized that at least one member of the group was operating under limited information and was likely a newer reincarnator. “This doesn’t apply to everyone of course. Anyway, many of the warrior cultures of this universe believe in an afterlife where worthy warriors can go after their death. Well, you’re hearing the sounds of said afterlife, where they can feast and make merry until being called to battle once again.”

Karna burst into laughter. “You have created your own version of Einherjar.” The concept was common enough that it had even been given a name among the reincarnators.

“Something along those lines. I like to think of them as a strategic reserve. They don’t retain the power they had in life outside my Domain or my Realm, as they are just souls, but in those two places they can manifest their old power. And they are a formidable force, considering they tend to be the best warriors around.”

“That sounds like a powerful Domain.” Valor nodded. “Would also combine great with mine.”

“Yes, well, I’m not giving you a lecture on the subject just for the heck of it. There’s a problem you might run into, seeing as most of you are female. The warriors that end up in my realm have certain beliefs about what they find in this afterlife, as it is supposed to be a reward for their heroic deeds, and they tend to be somewhat bawdy with their imagination and beliefs. They also tend to be majority male. I can’t help them with the bawdier aspect myself as the goddess for obvious reasons, nor do I want to, and the female warriors who end up here usually don’t want to volunteer either, so the realm itself creates them sort of courtesans they can…unleash their lust on. Said courtesans aren’t actually real souls or people, however, sometimes some of the warriors have a little bit of trouble in telling the difference between these courtesans and any visitors, so you should be prepared for such advances.” Now Khaine was clearly a little embarrassed. “Also, you three are rather attractive, so don’t be too surprised if you’ll see courtesans that look a lot like you in the near future. The courtesans are basically fantasies given form, and you’ll likely be present in many fantasies soon. It’s easy to tell the difference between the real person and the courtesan copies though, so no need to worry there.”

“Not sure how I feel about that," Hope admitted. She wasn’t exactly a prude, but the idea was somewhat unsettling at the same time.

“Bloody brilliant, that’s what!” Envy declared loudly. “I wonder if I could end up in a threesome with two copies of myself created from someone else’s fantasy. Oh! Oh! We can have a competition about who will inspire more of these courtesans in the next week!” She wasn’t a stranger to being the object of sexual fantasies and actually considered it only her due.

"Isn't the winner rather obvious?" Hope lifted an eyebrow and gestured towards Karna.

“Ah, that’s probably going to be doubly so since I’m exempt from any such fantasies, and Karna is my daughter. So now they can fantasize an almost identical copy of me, with the added forbidden fruit from her being my daughter as well.” Khaine grinned a bit. “On the other hand, most of them might be too scared of incurring my wrath to try. Anyway. I just thought I should warn you in advance and also apologize. I wasn’t planning on bringing my daughter here when I first created the system.”

“It’s fine.” Karna just shook her head wryly. It wasn’t the strangest way she’d seen an afterlife solve that particular problem. Many religions had a concept of an afterlife with certain perks, and most of the afterlives had to get inventive unless they wanted to force some souls into servitude to provide said perks.

"Alright. Enough stalling. Let's get this over with so that we can talk." Khaine wasn't the type to get anxious or afraid, but she would've been lying if she had claimed that she wasn't dreading the conversation she was about to have with her daughter. That conversation might also decide how vengeful said daughter would feel towards the River of Souls. They also had plans to make as she’d brought the soul of Karma here for a reason.

A note from Vihyungrang

Some probably expected the conversation between Khaine and Karna in this chapter, but I thought it would've been too rushed.

Chapter 115 - Party all the time

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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As Khaine pushed the wooden doors open, they could all see a seemingly endless hall full of festivities and warriors making merry. The hall was organized into six rows of long tables, where both the tables and the chairs were made of logs. The rows of tables continued towards the other end of the hall, which was not in sight. Above them crisscrossed wooden beams from which hung lanterns and rough chandeliers made of wood and wax candles. Every table was laden with food and drink, and formless servants made of holy power moved between tables bringing in more food and alcohol.

The tables were filled with warriors of various races and strengths. Some were elegantly sipping wine and playing games of strategy, looking a bit out of place in this hall, while in other tables topless warriors were wrestling on top of the table. Some warriors were carousing with the courtesans Khaine had mentioned earlier, while another group were in the middle of testing their mettle in armed combat. It was impossible to say how many warriors the hall had, but they seemed without number and all of them were in various states of inebriation, regardless of race or gender.

The cacophony of noises was deafening, which made it even more striking as a hush filled the hall in a wave as all the warriors noticed the new arrivals. Every warrior inside turned to look at the door and stare at them with a solemn expression that was in sharp contrast with their earlier cheer. “The boss is back!” Someone close to the door called out with a voice that would’ve been right at home in a drill square as it carried to every corner of the hall.

Slowly, every warrior started stomping their feet and hitting the tables, and the warriors called out "Hu!" together like they were chanting. Khaine lifted an arm and brought it down in a sharp gesture as if she was cutting something, and indeed all the noise was cut with her gesture. "The bitch is back," Khaine said simply and with a wide grin.

Now the warriors started openly cheering and laughing, though the merriment only lasted for a handful of seconds before they all got serious again. They all had fervor and desire in their eyes, but the desire was not for the goddess in front of them. They all seemed to desire for battle. “Is it time then, Chief?” One of the warriors asked, and clearly all of the warriors were eagerly awaiting the answer.

“Close. Sharpen your blades and don your armor. The time for us to go to war is at hand.” Khaine declared, eliciting another cheer from everyone gathered. This time it took a lot longer for everyone to calm down, and Khaine started walking towards the other end of the hall.

It was rather obvious to Karna that the only reason they reached their destination in less than a minute was because the master of this realm controlled this space completely, as she couldn’t see the door they had entered through when she took a look back. As they reached the end of the hall, they came to a small elevated platform, where stood a relatively simple throne made of bones and the skull of some huge monster, and the warriors at the tables closest to the throne seemed much more serious and skilled than the ones closer to the door.

Karna had noted that the tables were not ordered according to power, as there had been immortals even close to the door while there were mortals even at the tables closest to the throne, but now she had some idea what was going on. Still, she was curious. She wasn’t the only one as Envy was the one to voice the question. “How are the tables ordered?”

"You are given a place of prominence according to your deeds and the worthiness of the enemies you defeated. Even if you've reached immortality, if all you faced were enemies of your own rank and weaker, then that's not as impressive as defeating multiple enemies above your own strength. The worse the odds you managed to overcome, the more glory." Khaine explained, as six warriors, all of whom had sat at the end of the rows of the tables walked up to her as soon as she sat down on her throne.

“Chief. It’s good to see you back.” A blond woman dressed in fine furs was the first to speak, her expression filled with worship and awe as she gazed up at the goddess. She gripped the handles of two axes that hung from her waist as she spoke.

“It’s good to be back Silja. While my place of arrest wasn’t uncomfortable, it wasn’t home either.” Khaine responded, eliciting angry murmurs from the six warriors.

“Who have you brought with you, Chief?” A long and dark-haired man dressed in silks and holding on to a Katana at his waist asked with curiosity.

“Meet my daughter’s friends, Valor, Hope, and Envy, and my daughter Wrath.” Khaine didn’t mince words and introduced them with their True Names. Even non-reincarnators could understand the significance and power of a True Name, even if they were not aware of the implications.

As Khaine had gestured to them in turn the six, as well as the other warriors in earshot, turned to look at Karna. "Wrath, eh? That's a powerful Name." A very distinguished-looking older man said, his emphasis on the last word making it obvious he knew at least some of the significance.

“Yet does she have the achievements and glory to go along with it?" A gruff-looking man with a spear questioned. "Is she a warrior worthy enough to be the Chief's daughter and standing at the foot of the throne?" His tone wasn't malicious, and it seemed he was speaking more due to his reverence for Khaine than any dislike for Karna.

His word of course elicited a gale of laughter from Envy and Hope. “Well, daughter? What say you?” Khaine asked with a small grin.

Karna had a tiny smile of her own. “I think you’re mistaken about something.” She said before turning to the man and pointing at the monster skull that made part of the throne. “I’m not a warrior that goes searching for glory. I’m the monster that eats the warriors that don’t know their place.”

A moment of stunned silence was followed by a chorus of laughter, hooting, and jibing, as the gathered warriors found her response satisfactory. Even the man who had challenged her grinned in response. “Good. I wouldn’t expect any less from the Chief’s kid.”

As the warriors, the six leaders leading them, started a procession to greet their goddess and to affirm their loyalty and willingness to fight, Karna tuned them all out. As Khaine had said, this was unavoidable, and something they needed to deal with before they could get to the real point of their visit. Of course the most fervent servants of a deity would feel the need to affirm their faith and the wellbeing of the one they served, but that didn’t mean she had to pay attention. As the whole thing dragged on, the four of them sat down at a table that had been brought out for them at some point.

“This is quite good actually.” Valor commented while chewing on the meat of some roasted bird. “Not what I’d call fine cuisine, but surprisingly good when you consider how it looks.”

“I’m not quite as fond of it.” Hope’s expression was a bit pinched. The meal was decidedly meat and bread focused and had very little in the way of mild tastes or healthy food.

“It’s food for warriors in their afterlife. It’s not supposed to be good for you. Only expected they'd go heavy with spices and grease." Envy smirked. She rather enjoyed the spread. Her tastebuds were influenced by her race, and her race tilted heavily towards the carnivorous side.

"Just don't expect it to satiate your hunger," Karna advised. "It's food for souls given form. They don't need nutrition. All of this is magically created with the power of belief. It's not actually real food. Besides, this is supposed to be a constant feast. Getting full would kind of defeat the purpose."

They spent a good few hours until Khaine called a stop to the proceedings. The goddess told her subjects that she had to make preparations for the upcoming struggle, which wasn't untrue. They stepped into a backroom that didn't differ much from the décor style of the previous room. Plenty of logs and furs, though there were some allowances for comfort like pillows, which immediately drew Karna's eyes. "Do sit down." Khaine gestured around the relatively modest but large room. "I would've preferred to have this discussion privately with my daughter, but since she has made her own allies, I certainly won't insist."

“I do hope you won’t expect me to call you mom?” Karna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No. While that would be kind of fun, it would also be…just no. It would feel wrong. Anyway, I’m well aware how difficult it can be for the likes of us to form connections with family even at best of times, and this certainly hasn’t been the kind of situation that fosters familial love.” Khaine shook her head. “I still call you my daughter, because that is a fact, and that is how I will present in front of others. It’s easier if I don’t try to switch between behaviors in public and private.”

“Wrong?” Envy asked, focusing on a word that seemed out of place.

“Let’s just say that this isn’t the first time we’ve met.” The goddess smiled mysteriously.

The group of reincarnators immediately tried to check the woman's True Name but didn't get one, which caused all of them to frown. Three of them were skilled enough that hiding from them should've been impossible. "How?" Hope voiced the obvious question, as they knew the goddess had felt their probing.

“You have your skills and specialties, and I have mine. My research has necessitated that I have the ability to hide myself. Otherwise, I'd be killed immediately." Khaine leaned back in her fur-filled chair in a rather tired fashion.

“What kind of research?” Envy questioned.

“That brings us to the main point actually. While my daughter here has avoided this universe like the plague whenever possible, I on the other hand have focused my efforts here. I’m sure you all received the decree? Of course you did. Well, I’ve been researching the figure behind that decree. And when I say a figure, I mean both the Heavenly Emperor and the power behind the throne. After all, some of us would like to know as much as we can about the force that makes us dance to its whims.”

“Ah yes, this mysterious ‘figure’ we’re supposed to replace.” Envy retorted sarcastically, using air-quotes.

“That’s the gist though. You’re not replacing that figure. She is.” Khaine pointed at Karna. “I brought her here and created a suitable vessel for her for that very purpose.”

"Brought me here?" Karna's eyes narrowed. She had suspected something about this reincarnation was iffy, and now she was getting a confirmation of sorts.

“Yes. I made a deal with the Head Judge. Before you burn down the River of Souls though, you should really excuse his actions. He was between a rock and a hard place, just as we all are.” The goddess made gestures to calm down the four that had gotten visibly irate at the thought. “This is more important than any of us.”

“So. You want me to win this little tournament of sorts? Why me? Why not you or, say, Valor here? You obviously picked me instead of someone like him for a reason.” Karna pointed at the Virtue.

“We did. You’re the most likely to win, which was a real factor, but it’s more complicated than that.” The goddess drew a deep breath before releasing it to try and relax while rubbing her forehead. “While the decree might have given another impression, we have a reason to believe the position isn’t open to just anyone. The part about the ‘winner’ being brought to be judged is the most important part of the decree, despite seeming like a tagged on extra. At least according to what I’ve managed to find out, there are in fact very few reincarnators that qualify, and this little fight is supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. What makes things more difficult is that it's almost impossible to find out too much about this entity doing the judging, so we can't be sure what the qualifications are. For all I know, Envy and Hope here could qualify as well. Here's the thing though. We can't be certain until we try, and if we want our candidate to win, we can’t divide our support between multiple candidates. I’m pretty sure Valor doesn’t qualify, though I couldn’t say where the limit is. Why my daughter specifically? Because I’m sure she does qualify, and of the people that applies to, you’re by far the most preferable option.”

“That’s the other important part, isn’t it?” Karna pointed out. “This is just as much about who we can’t allow access to the position.”

"Exactly," Khaine confirmed. "Look. There's an old saying: 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ And the unfortunate fact is that the more likely someone is to gain this position, the more likely they are to be the sort of person we wouldn’t want to have the role. And make no mistake. While I haven’t been able to find out much about this mysterious being, the one thing I have found out is that their power is very much absolute.”

“Then why are they giving it up?” Valor asked with a frown. People that amassed power like that were not very likely to give it up.

"Weight of time and boredom," Karna replied instead of Khaine. She could understand quite well.

"Bingo," Khaine confirmed and pointed at Karna. "I knew you'd understand. What most people that haven't reached the apex don't realize, is that if you're too powerful, immortal, and have everything at your fingertips, things that you used to value lose their luster. If there's no challenge, no difficulty, no adversity, then you slowly slide into apathy and torpor. From what I've been able to find out, the being we're talking about is so ancient that he's been around so long that even my daughter here, whose soul is already too heavy to be reborn again, is a teenager in comparison. As far as I can tell, he’s been in a state comparable to heavy sleep for eons now, only waking up once in a while. They’re the voice behind the throne of the Heavenly Emperor, but that voice has been silent for almost as long as the current emperor has reigned. Hence why we’re at this point now. I can only assume they’ve reached a point where they’ve had enough.”

“And you want your daughter to take up the job after all that?” Hope wasn’t too pleased by the prospect.

Khaine was quick and firm with her answer. “Compared to the alternatives? Would you rather Pride or Greed takes the role? Make no mistake, both of them are aiming for it. And so are certain other people even worse than those two. So yes, I do prefer she take the role. Remember, they’d have absolute power.”

"The prospect doesn't exactly fill me with glee," Hope admitted with a frown.

“There are a couple of things that stood out from what you’ve told us so far. You mentioned ‘we’ several times, and I don’t think you referred to just you and the Head Judge of the River of Souls. Secondly, you seem to know an awful lot about me.” Karna narrowed down on two points.

“I did tell you I’ve been preparing this for a while. Surely you didn’t think I picked you randomly? And like I said, this isn’t the first time we’ve met. And before you ask, no I won’t tell you when and where. You’ll just have to figure that one out on your own. As for ‘we’, I’ve gathered some allies. Some more reliable than others. What unifies us is the need to address the situation. I’ll introduce you in the near future. Keep in mind though, that they will likely have their own goals and aren't necessarily fervent supporters. We have a unified purpose but that only takes us so far." Khaine didn't seem to have any illusions about the loyalty of said allies.

The goddess continued. “Which brings us to the next point. Greed at least has a very powerful position in the Royal Family and has been preparing for something like this for hundreds of years. I’ve done my best to prepare as well, but there are too many parties involved. We can relatively safely rely on House Titannica, but they alone aren’t enough support. We need more allies, both political and military. Most of all though, we need to bring other True Gods to our side.”

“We need to take a lay of the land.” Envy was quick to interject. “We certainly won’t reject your help out of hand, but you just dropped quite a lot on us, and do excuse me for not taking everything you've said on blind faith. As you said, everyone has their own goals."

"Fair enough." The goddess stood from her relaxed seat and prepared to move back towards the festive hall where the warriors were still gathered. "Just don't take too long. We don't have an endless amount of time, and our enemies aren't just staying still either. And I still need to have a private word with my daughter later on.”

As the goddess exited the room, Hope quickly wove a ward to prevent eavesdropping. “Well. That was something, wasn’t it? Am I the only one that feels like we just became tools in someone’s toolbox?”

“Only if we submit to being used as tools.” Envy quickly protested.

"We might have limited choice." Valor argued. "She is right about needing allies and allying with Wrath’s mother certainly has advantages over allying with many other groups.”

“Still, Envy has a point. Blind trust is not something we should give out.” Wrath felt a bit pensive at her own lack of information on the subject. She wasn’t used to not being the most knowledgeable person in the room. “Her information on this mysterious figure especially seemed on shaky grounds. The problem is that I don’t have any better information either. My avoidance of this universe might have come back to bite at me. Still, we should keep our options open. For one, I’m not fully convinced about the part where others are not able to take the position. We’ll have to keep our eyes open.”

Chapter 116 - Daddy issues

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”So, who’s my father then?” Karna asked bluntly as she sat next to Khaine in the large feasting hall. A smaller throne had risen from the ground for her to sit on, though that had invited some looks from the warriors that were still throwing glances her way. “Figuring out your identity was relatively simple, seeing as everyone in the Divine Planes was aware of it, but few are aware of who my father is supposed to be. Or at least my previous sources didn’t know.”

Khaine was chewing on a bite she’d just taken out of a golden apple. “Your previous sources being Marius and Narmada, which aren't too shabby as far as sources go. Not exactly the most connected either. Still, you're not wrong. Only a handful of people are aware and that's on purpose. Out of morbid curiosity, I know your sources are limited, but what's your guess?"

Karna considered the possibilities for a while. She had managed to gather some information about the gods from various sources, but her understanding of the politics and the key players was limited. One being stood out though. "The Grand Marshal seems like the one that makes the most sense. Has both the political and personal power one would expect from someone you'd pick. More importantly, he's a Titan, which is one of the bloodlines I started with."

Khaine smiled mysteriously. “Good. Very good.” She giggled a bit. “Also completely wrong. Though it’s gratifying that you also came to that conclusion. Despite your outdated information, your ability to reason such things out means that my ploy worked.”

“He’s the bait.” Karna realized. “While the vast majority are left wondering, those like me would guess him instead of the true answer. He makes sense on too many levels, while also being deliciously forbidden. The idea of an affair between the princess and the leader of the armed forces to seize power. Practically writes itself.”

"Exactly. It's a classic for a reason. And if my goal was just to gain power, then he would make sense. He’s a bit too serious to really go for it without a lot of work, but I might have managed if I went for it. There’s a reason I have a shared claim for the seat as the Goddess of Beauty. Which means so will you once you become a god now that I think about it. Anyway, you’re missing something that should be obvious to you, even if others are not aware.” The Goddess seemed rather proud of herself.

It took several seconds for Karna to puzzle out what she was talking about. “Your main goal isn’t to replace the Heavenly Emperor unlike many would have assumed before the decree. You’re aiming for the mysterious force ruling over everything. And you need me for that. So, your choice of a father had to have been geared specifically towards producing the best vessel for my soul.” She put the pieces together.

The Goddess made a rather pedestrian finger-gun motion towards Karna. “Bingo. While political connections and personal power were a factor in my choice, among a hundred others, all of that pales in comparison to one simple requirement: who would provide for the best possible vessel for you?”

“That means a bloodline as pure as possible.” Karna tapped her chin in thought. “A True God obviously. As powerful as the Grand Marshall might be personally, he’s not among the most important Divines because he has no concept he rules over. So, a True God lording over a powerful concept. One that is worshipped by many.” She suddenly looked up sharply. “Someone who would be willing to give a decent portion of their essence just to make the vessel even more powerful?”

"And now you understand why it's so important to keep it a secret. Let's say hypothetically that your last guess is correct. Such a sacrifice would weaken this God for a rather long time. They would want to hide said weakness or their enemies would take advantage. That's why I'm not going to tell you who they are exactly. You already have enough information to piece things out yourself once you get time to immerse yourself in the divine politics. It's also not my secret to tell." Khaine turned away and dispelled the little privacy bubble she had put up as soon as the topic came up, clearly signaling that the conversation was over.

‘Or they’d need to be reclusive enough that their weakness wouldn’t be noticed.’ Karna thought to herself. She didn’t put it past Khaine to leave that unsaid in order to bluff her. After all, if you’re going to set up one decoy, why not set up a second?

One of the things she had already managed to figure out was that while House Titannica had a lot of power and influence, they didn't have as many True Gods as one would expect. Most of their power came from the personal power of the Titans themselves and the hold they had over the Host. The House had gods of course, as they were a major House with many powerful individuals that could reach those positions. They even had a few of the more powerful ones, but not as many as one would assume from their prominent position. That was one of the reasons Khaine was so desperate to make allies. While the military power of the House was strong even without all those gods, this was a struggle that would be fought on more than just military power. And having the voices of the major gods would weigh a lot. It also meant that the list of potentials that fit the criteria Khaine had revealed wasn’t a long one. If you limited yourself just to House Titannica that is. Her blood was that of a Titan, but that didn’t necessarily mean one from the House. Not all Titans were part of the House, as Titans came in several varieties as well, and not all of them wanted to be pigeonholed into one faction.

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“No. Piss off.” Hope passed the spirit of a male warrior clad in furs, pushing him aside with her shoulder. The spirit had not expected the level of impact as he was sent sprawling.

“I see you’re getting less polite in your refusals as well.” Valor said as he approached her from the side. “I just saw Envy dissipate one of the souls, sending it to the River of Souls instead of staying in this temporary afterlife. The other souls trying to approach her scattered like frightened birds afterwards.”

"Soon I might have to do the same," Hope grumbled. "They're getting more annoying, and as long as I don't take a stand like that, I'll have to suffer their advances. Khaine was right. These people are not used to taking no for an answer.”

“I got a few women approaching me as well, though they were more receptive to being turned down. Wonder why it took them a few days to start making advances?” Valor asked thoughtfully.

"It's probably because the excitement from Khaine's return is starting to wear off. The first day they were also acutely aware that we arrived with the goddess they serve. Now we're being judged by our own strength, which is both a good thing and a bad one." Hope was more aware of what was going on. The two of them headed towards the room Khaine had arranged for them.

The group had spent the last few days mostly gathering information on the current situation in the Divine Planes. Some of the souls had been here long enough that their information was outdated, despite the slow pace of the Divine Planes and immortals, but they could still offer a perspective. The trick was trying to find either immortals or people of lower rank that had lived in the Divine Planes and died recently. And even then that person might not have had the best information, and whatever information they had could be wrong or at least biased. It was a bit like trying to sift through a mountain of old information for the few precious nuggets of useful data. They could gain a bit from Khaine, but the Goddess was rather busy managing a realm that had been left neglected for decades.

“Wonder if any of them have been brave enough to approach Wrath?” Valor mused.

“Oh, this one I can answer. One of them tried, but she did some trick with her basilisk eyes to turn the man into a living torch burning with some weird purple flames. As far as I know, that guy is still running around screaming.” Hope grinned at the memory.

"A little extreme perhaps." Valor looked a bit judging. He wasn't a fan of such licentious behavior but being burnt alive was an overreaction to being propositioned. Just being sent to be reincarnated seemed much less punishing in comparison.

“Ah, the guy tried to cop a feel. Might have even succeeded now that I think about it. He moved really fast, even by her standards, which is why Wrath used her ocular abilities. Besides, he was an immortal of some power, so he can survive being burnt a bit while in this realm. Which I suppose isn’t working to his advantage in this case. Anyway, the fire will be put out at some point and it takes some effort to disperse a soul here. However, it seems many of the others don’t approve of this kind of behavior either, as they stopped anyone from helping the guy for now. I think that might be because she’s Khaine’s daughter though, as those same people haven’t done anything to stop the other from approaching me or Envy. Or you, I suppose.” Hope shrugged a bit.

“Still a bit of an overkill, but I won’t bother judging too harshly. Not my place really.” The two of them entered the room just as Karna was teleported there by the rings of her tower. The tower was here as well of course, and they were staying in this room only out of politeness. “Done with whatever you were doing?” He asked with the same smile that almost never seemed to leave his face.

Karna scoffed. “Envy, Hope, what have I always said should be the first thing you do after reaching immortality.”

“Create some countermeasure against time magic.” The two chorused together.

Time magic really started to flourish when mages became immortal, as any lower-ranked mages didn't have the power to properly utilize it in battle. Achieving a basic effect like stopping time took a lot of power, and actually worked a lot differently than most assumed. Even a rank 14 being wouldn't be able to actually stop the time of an entire universe, not to mention the multiverse, so the best they could do was to create a localized bubble of time that was stopped for others besides them. The more common method was to instead speed time for yourself to such an extent that everything else seemed to be standing still.

“Exactly. If you don’t, a single ‘Time Stop’ spell will be your doom.” She tossed a small charm to all three of them. "That's only a single-use temporary measure. You're going to have to figure out a more permanent solution on your own, which I assume you’re all capable of doing. Now, what’s the second thing you should always do?”

“Figure out a way to counter conceptual attacks/Figure out a way to counter ‘Contingency’-triggered spells.” This time the two didn’t agree and looked at each other in slight surprise.

Conceptual attacks were skills and spells that didn't necessarily attack you in a direct physical sense but were more akin to special abilities that some immortals had mastered. The Kensei Karna had fought back in the Higher Planes had a Domain that allowed her to make a conceptual attack that would always hit. Avoiding such conceptual attacks was rather difficult, though luckily few people were capable of executing them. Contingency was a meta magic ability that allowed the caster to trigger any spell or spells they had pre-cast and had in a ready state with some pre-determined trigger. Both could be extremely deadly and unpredictable, as any mage was theoretically capable of unleashing hundreds of spells on a moment's notice if they were sufficiently prepared.

“Both correct. As long as you’re with me, I can take care of contingencies. However, you won’t always be with me, so I want you to work on that. As for conceptual attacks…well, you’re shit out of luck there. What’s the third thing?” Karna smiled with some amusement at the situation, even if the topic was less than amusing.

The two women looked at each other with narrowed eyes before speaking together again. “Come up with a way to prevent yourself being instantly killed by divine bullshittery/miracles.” The two differed at the end, Hope being the more polite of the two, but they hummed a bit at their agreement, just now realizing how many lives the other must have spent with Karna to have these things drilled into their heads with such clarity.

“Exactly. There are plenty of hostile gods, and unfortunately, there's always a chance one of them decides to just sacrifice a large portion of their power to enact a simple miracle. A miracle that leaves us dead. Luckily such miracles are almost impossible to enact without knowing your target's exact location. That gives us a bit of time. In the meantime…" She tossed a bangle to each of them. The bangles were all carved with a complex magical formation that would redirect such miracles, depending on their exact nature. If the god aimed for them just dropping dead, then the bangle would work, but if they just summoned something like tribulation clouds, then there was little a bangle like this could do about it.

“Thanks. I assume you can take care of making our more ‘permanent measures’ if we provide the materials?” Envy confirmed. She was perfectly capable herself as she’d done so in many lives where Wrath was not present, but she also recognized her frenemy was better at it.

"If we find the time. Now, what have you managed to find out?" Karna didn't mind. She'd always enjoyed creating items. It was peaceful and gave her something to focus on for a time.

“There are currently five major houses involved in the politics of the divines, and about a dozen houses and faction on the brink of being counted as a major player. The royal house is the most prominent one, along with the titans and the dragons. The other two are human-centric groups, or at least the leaders of the two houses appear as humans. Both are led by fairly large coalitions of major True Gods. Perhaps unsurprisingly the two groups consist mainly of light and dark gods and their allies. Most of the factions on the brink of becoming major players are led by groups of gods unsatisfied by the two factions, and who don’t belong to any of the three big magical races.” Hope rattled off. This was largely what they had guessed even before arriving, but it was nice to get a confirmation.

“Then there are the factions that have traditionally kept away from the direct politics, but who are now getting involved for one reason or another.” Valor picked up the explanation. “The most obvious ones you already know, like the Host, Mount Celestis, the Devils, and the Golden Order. There are thousands of others though. It’s going to take a while to make sense of all of them.”

“You’re not going to make sense of all of them, because many of them don’t make sense.” Karna chided him a bit. "You have to remember that many of the factions, politics, and grudges are based on personal interests, potentially the personal interests of insane individuals mind you, and blood feuds that have lasted for so long that even the oldest immortals no longer remember the original cause. These things take a life of their own sometimes, and immortals often do certain things only to see what would happen. You should know we reincarnators especially aren’t the most stable individuals.”

“Fair enough, but we should at least try to get the lay of the land first.” Valor countered.

Envy interjected. “The problem is that the ‘lay of the land’ has been disturbed by both the approaching succession of the emperor, and the decree. Old allegiances might not be valid anymore.” She shrugged. “Honestly, most of the information we got is already hopelessly outdated. I think we need to try something drastic. I’m not happy about putting my fate in the hands of your mother, Wrath. Sorry about that.”

“No need to be sorry. I’ve been thinking the same. I won’t shun a potential ally like her, but if we don’t want to end up being used, we need another plan. And I think I have one. Ysendra mentioned two Nakshatra that were looking for me. I think we should seek them out. Just the two of them won’t swing things our way, even assuming we can gain their allegiance, but having two rank 14 beings in our corner even if all they’re willing to do is to loom over everyone would buy us a lot of room to maneuver. We also need to seek out Arjuna, Tsumi, and Tremere, assuming the last one wants to be found."

“I suggest we split our efforts.” Envy suggested. “You’ll try to use your mother’s connections to find our friends, while I’ll try to figure out a way to find the people Ysendra mentioned. I’ll probably need to borrow Gem and Zuellni though. Those two have the best chance of aiding me.”

“Fine. I’ll take Valor with me, and you two can take my tower. I’ve noted that you don’t exactly enjoy staying here.” Karna smirked a bit, knowing the two women were nearing the end of their patience.

Chapter 117 - Debut

A note from Vihyungrang

Had to rush this one a bit more than normal, so there might be more odd sentences and typos than normal. Hopefully, it's not too bad. Hope you'll enjoy!

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”I’m not sure this is the greatest idea politically speaking.” Valor noted as he fixed his tie. He was dressed quite sharply in a red suit with golden buttons and epaulets. The sword at his hip, the one Karna had made for him, enhanced the image of a career soldier. That said, he was well aware of the fact that he was going to be woefully underdressed. While his attire looked fine, the materials were rather mundane, and in social gatherings of the Divine Plane, the materials were often the most important part. Despite this, his ever-present smile never left his face, giving him a charming appearance.

“There are certain risks. But we can't avoid risks much longer." Karna retorted while putting finishing touches on her wavy hair, which had been partly tied up into an ornate ensemble mixed with various jewels and artifacts she'd personally created, yet still remained long enough to run down the small of her back.

Unlike Valor’s suit, her attire was much higher quality. As a skilled artisan, she had no problem making her own dress in a rush from materials she got from Khaine, but she didn’t have time to help Valor as well. The dress was relatively revealing while still remaining classy, and it seemed to shift between colors as she moved. The dress was quite literally made of dreams, something only the best artisans and Dreamweavers could work with.

"This is the first social event we're attending. Making our debut in an event hosted by the Titans, we're rather obviously declaring our allegiance with House Titannica. We could at least leave people wondering if we attended some other event before this one." Valor suggested. Much of politics and the game of social intrigue was about unsaid signals like the one he'd mentioned, and navigating the byzantine social cues and rules was an art form. A simple choice of which party to attend first could have heavy consequences.

“Two problems with that. We need the help of the Titans to get in touch with Arjuna and our allies. Who knows where they’re stationed? It could take centuries for us to find them without help. And since the Titans have a hold on the Host, they're in the best position to help. Besides, thanks to the machinations of my mother and my heritage, the Titans are natural allies. They'll be more than happy to help us. We'll have to play along with this situation at least until we have found Arjuna. The second problem is that we wouldn't necessarily be safe going to an event hosted by someone who we didn't have a connection with. Since we have no official allies or recognized power yet, there would be those that would try to strike at us just because of who I am. Once we do have allies or power though…" She left the rest unsaid.

They were far from powerless. They weren’t the average fresh immortals thanks to being reincarnators and exceptional ones at that. Karna herself could now feasibly defeat someone at the 12th rank, and even Valor could put up a good fight. The moment they had stepped into immortality, they had all become much more powerful, even when compared to other immortals. However, their power was still unknown, and they could easily run into other reincarnators or even gods.

“I know. It’s just not an optimal situation.” He commented, finally having finished with the tie. “Shall we then?” He quite naturally presented his arm for Karna to take, the gentleman that he was. The gesture of walking into the gathering like this was also a statement of sorts. It would signal they were allies and rather close ones at that, but their contact was quite purposeful in that it didn’t imply a romantic association. Small things like where Karna placed her fingers and how close to her own body she allowed his hand made this clear.

The venue was gorgeous, though you couldn’t really expect anything less from one of the most prominent houses. They were not at the heart of House Titannica, but they were at one of the larger cloud castles. The enormous almost temple-like structure was located on an even larger floating island that had landed on the peak of a mountain. All around them they could see a pure-white cloud cover as they were high enough that only the peaks of other mountains and other flying apparatuses could reach.

The event had a rather open invitation list, though largely only allies and associates of House Titannica were in attendance. There were certain neutral parties that had come out of curiosity, but since this event wasn’t something of special note, there was no reason for unfriendly parties to risk themselves by coming so deep inside potential enemy territory. The choice of venue was another one of those silent messages. If the Titans really wanted to have a wider attendance, the cloud castle would be located in more neutral territory.

As soon as Karna and Valor entered the venue, their appearance drew attention. More specifically, Karna drew attention. As many of the attendees were much more resistant to the lure of her divine heritage and aura, that wasn’t what drew said attention. Even without the aura though, she had the looks of her mother, a Goddess that had a claim on the position as the Goddess of Beauty, and her hair color alone would’ve been enough to draw everyone’s attention. Even if her hair had a bit more of a blue-ish tinge from her other parent, no one would be bold enough to imitate the hair color of the Royal Family. Her hair alone was enough to proclaim her heritage.

“Well, it certainly didn’t take long for you to become the center of attention.” Valor said half-jokingly, even if his words were accurate.

“At least we don’t have to struggle with obscurity.” Karna allowed a smile of her own as they moved deeper inside the venue, all eyes following them as whispers spread like waves after their passing.

Since the host had not yet arrived, the two of them did the usual socializing and introducing themselves, moving from one small group to another. Both of them had spent lifetimes as nobility and even gods, so they knew how to play the game. They knew the words that needed to be said, the gestures that played to their advantage, the little tidbits of information that should be revealed, and those that should only be hinted at. In short, they expertly made their way through the social minefield and made a great first impression on everyone involved. Even those that didn't like them for one reason or another had to take them seriously.

Since this was the first time they met everyone present, there was no way they could really make any large gains besides a simple connection. No one in the Divine Planes was foolish enough to form alliances or give away sensitive information just based on a single good impression. However, they managed to lay the groundwork for future development. Karna’s skill at creating her attire was something that also played to their advantage, as skilled artisans were always in demand, and hers was on obvious display just from the dress she wore.

When the host, a goddess named Ranas, finally arrived, it was time for their formal debut. It was customary for new arrivals to the political and social scene of the plane to make such introductions at one of the social gatherings, and as Valor had mentioned, there was significance to choosing the event where said introductions were made. They would be expected to make similar introductions at other events in the more neutral venues and most important social events, but this was the place where they announced their presence to the social and political circles at large.

“And who stands before me?” The hosting goddess asked with a gentle voice, knowing that it was something of an honor. She knew the daughter of Khaine would make a splash, which would bring honor to her by association. “Who would join the assembly of immortals?”

Karna was aware of the old formulae of how such introductions should be made, so that’s what she went with, even if they were a little outdated in the current Divine Planes. “One who has forged her own path and found her own Ascension. One who has challenged the heavens and chosen to walk the road leading to the peak of Aura and Magic. One who has left behind her old and childish self. One who is ready to take her new place under her True Name.” Her voice gained the tone of solemnity you could hear when someone was going through a ritual of sorts. Valor went through the same litany, only changing the small details to fit his powers.

The goddess was caught slightly by surprise at the old-fashioned formula, but it wasn’t that different from what was usual today. “And what Name will you bear and will forevermore be known by?”

The two of them had discussed this. Their identities were already known to some. It would not take too long for that information to leak out, so it was better to get ahead of any rumors and just own their True Names. An additional benefit was that the more people knew them under a certain Name, the less likely it was that anyone curious enough to try would find out their other Names. They also now had enough power that they no longer needed to hide their identity.

“This one goes by the Name Wrath/Valor.” The two said together, their Names causing a ripple of excited chatter to spread out.

Even the non-reincarnators were to a certain extent aware of the importance of True Names, and Names of power like theirs held a large significance. Valor's Name spoke well of him, and no one would be able to impugn his character with a Name like that. On the other hand, having a young woman like Karna with a Name like Wrath was a shock to everyone. It was also a warning. Now everyone was on notice that rousing her ire was not something to be done lightly.

“Those are powerful Names.” The goddess, being even more aware of the significance than most, stated solemnly. “It is my honor to welcome you, and I hope you will enjoy your time.” She nodded imperiously.

At this point came another test of sorts. It was customary for the ones introducing themselves to bow or curtsy to the host, and even something simple as the depth of the bow or curtsy would be judged, as it determined how the debutante judged her own standing and relationship with the host. Karna’s curtsy was just deep enough to fulfill the requirement of being respectful, but no further. It was exact to the millimeter and even the position of her hand on her skirt. Just enough to not be disrespectful and impolite, but not enough to imply she was in any way subservient or putting herself in a lesser position. Valor followed her example, though making his bow just a smidgen deeper, to show more courtesy, and to show which of the two of them was in the leading position. This too caused some murmurs to spread among the other guests.

For the next two hours, the two of them continued their socializing. Their Names lending extra weight to every word they uttered. Before now, they had been treated as two youngsters with great potential, but with little power of their own just yet. Now everyone was forced to re-evaluate their position. After the formal portion of the gathering started to give way to more relaxed and informal merriment where the various attendees simply enjoyed their time, the two of them were shown to a side room where they could finally get to the reason they were here. “Well, you certainly made things more interesting.” The goddess pointed out with a playful tone. “For that, I’ll have to thank you. Now, I think it’s time to ask the obvious question: why are you here? Khaine wouldn’t have sent you here just to make your court debut.” She went straight to the point.

“Some of our family and allies came to the Divine Planes before us. Most likely got drafted to the Host. The kind of people that could be used against us.” Karna explained simply. There was little point in dancing around the issue.

“Hmm. Complicated.” The goddess muttered. She was an immortal that had reached godhood, but she wasn’t a True God. That meant she wasn’t the god of anything. There was no realm, no concept she could claim domain over. Thus, she had no, or at least very few, believers. “Before the draft, it would’ve been simple to recall someone of political significance, but the only reason the draft works is because it applies to everyone. In fact, you should be subject to it as well. If we start making exceptions, soon everyone will be asking to be among the exceptions, and we’ll lose a significant chunk of our military power.”

“First of all, you’re already making exceptions. You’re simply keeping it quiet. I might not have been in the Divine Planes for long, but Khaine mentioned some of those exceptions. People that are too politically divisive to be included. People who’d get stabbed in the back immediately. And people you don’t dare to touch, such as members of Mount Celestis.” Karna countered. “Secondly, and more importantly, House Titannica is the premier power in the Host. If you can’t even manage to keep my family safe within the Host, why exactly would I throw my lot with you?”

That was the gist of it. She wasn't a direct ally of the house yet. They wanted her, for various reasons, but she wasn't going to ally with them just because Khaine had formed some ties with the house. She needed to benefit from the arrangement as well. For many others, they would be happy to just be accepted, but Karna had almost complete freedom to choose her allies. The dragons would take her in just as easily. So would the ruling House Asuryan, even if her position as a princess was a potential risk. The other houses and factions would be even more eager.

The goddess knew all this as well. “I said complicated, not impossible.” She said in a placating voice. This was the downside of Karna, or Wrath as she’d now be known, making her debut in this event. She was the point of negotiation, and the situation was complicated. “We actually have an alternative suggestion for you. I’d like you to give me a chance to explain before you dismiss it outright.”

Karna gestured for her to continue, a simple signal that showed she was not buying things so far and her mood was quickly souring as it was a lot less respectful than speaking out loud. “First I'll have to ask, do you have any intentions of taking part in the fight for the throne?"

"I'm keeping the option open," Karna replied non-committaly. She was going for a throne, just not the one the goddess was thinking of.

“To gain the throne, or at least support your mother or your preferred candidate for the throne properly, you need to close the gap between yourself and the other claimants quickly. Your enemies are ahead of you in resources, support, connections, and power. Now, you can try to improve by slow cultivation and gathering connections and resources the old-fashioned way. Your skills as an artisan would make things easier, but your enemies aren’t going to just allow that to happen. Not to mention, choosing the other option we have in mind doesn’t preclude you from also utilizing this path. We don’t believe you have the time for the slow way. You need to do something drastic instead.” The goddess explained.

Karna considered her words for a handful of seconds. “You want me to join the Host.”

The goddess smiled. “It’s good that you catch on quick. There’s no better way to win resources and support than through glory through military victories. Besides, it would eliminate any voices claiming you should be part of the draft as well. Now, I know you have a case to avoid it since you Ascended on your own power, something that has already garnered you fame, but why not silence those voices altogether? Besides, while getting your allies an exception might be hard, getting them assigned to the same unit as you would be very easy. We could also arrange it so that you’d be watched over by forces loyal to us. That way you wouldn’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back. Of course, you’d have to fight, but I get the sense you don’t mind that.” She glanced at both of them. “In fact, judging by your Names, you’d prefer that route instead of the slow politicking and gathering of support.”

Her eyes narrowed, and Valor gave the faintest of nods when she took a glance his way. He thought the idea wasn’t too bad. “You of course realize that I’d be far less indebted to you in this scenario?”

The goddess allowed a small smirk to grace her face. “Just like you realize that if you do join one of our enemies, the forces loyal to us would no longer feel it necessary to protect you. Look, this isn’t an optimal solution and there are risks, as war is never safe, even for seasoned warriors. But we believe the potential rewards outweigh the risks. A warrior princess will always be more favored in politics than a flower protected in a garden. Especially if the warrior princess also happens to have all the strengths of the flower.” She tried to indirectly imply that the Host would allow Karna to prove her own personal power and those of her allies, which would allow her other paths than being the flower whose only worth was in their looks.

“We’ll take this under advisement.” Karna wanted to hear what Hope and Envy had to say, and whether the two had succeeded in their endeavors. This had been one of the paths they had considered.

Chapter 118 - Murderpuppies?

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Well?” Envy asked impatiently. It was the third time she’d asked too.

"I'm still only getting a vague impression to continue in the direction we've been traveling until now," Hope replied distractedly. “Even with Gem’s help, our targets seem to have taken measures against being magically located.”

“This is a fool’s errand!” Envy practically growled, only barely stopping herself from tossing away the cup she was drinking from. “Let me know if you actually find something useful.”

Hope stared after Envy as the Sin walked off to cool her head. The more time they spent together in the confines of this tower, the more obvious it became that Wrath had been the glue holding them together. Without her presence, Hope and Envy had very little in common. The two of them stalked the hallways of the ship pretending to be a tower, mostly staying out of each other's way. It wasn't like they disliked each other, but they saw little reason to reach out to the other person either.

Part of it was the general difficulty old reincarnators had in forming meaningful connections. Another part was just that their personalities were not that compatible. It wasn’t that they were too different or anything, but more so the little things. For instance, Hope wasn’t fond of the way Envy had a habit of not taking things seriously and turning everything into a joke. It was just something the Sin did to cope. They all had their coping mechanisms. It just got on Hope’s nerves sometimes. On the flipside, Hope knew Envy thought she was too soft. Too positive. Envy did a decent job masking her cynicism with humor, but it was clear that she had had a much worse time in her lives than Hope. Probably partially because of why she’d gotten the moniker Envy in the first place. On the other hand, despite the difficulties she’d faced, Hope was also well matched with her Name and remained hopeful. It also helped that Wrath had given her such a good starting point to become a reincarnator. Secretly Hope was rather certain she wouldn’t have even become one without Wrath, or Mom as she still thought of her sometimes.

Another problem, though not really a serious one, was that in many ways they were rivals. Yes, they were currently allies and could help each other, but it was still true that if either of them had been in this universe just with Wrath, they would progress faster. And that in a way was the crux of their rivalry. Similar to how siblings competed for the attention of their parents, the two of them in many ways competed for Wrath’s attention. Like most siblings, it wasn't really a mean-spirited competition, but it was still true that any time and effort Wrath gave to the other was time and effort not spent with them. And while Hope didn’t consider her own obsession with Wrath as potentially unhealthy as Envy’s, it was true that in many ways Wrath’s existence defined both of them.

With a long exhale, Hope pulled her hands off the magical dome protecting the little glowing tree that Gem had turned into. A tree might have seemed like an odd choice, but this particular tree had the sharpest senses for power out of any being alive. And yet, even that didn’t seem to be enough to do the trick. “Zuellni. We’ll need to keep our current heading.” She instructed.

“Reporting: following the current heading will become increasingly challenging quite soon.” The tower spirit had minimal contact with Hope and Envy as well. The spirit had always been a little rude to everyone else besides its master, but that only became more obvious when Wrath was not present. Zuellni did as instructed because Wrath had given orders to that effect, but the spirit didn’t really go out of its way to do anything beyond the minimum.

That was also why it was a little odd it had just volunteered information. “Why?”

“According to my calculations, we’re approaching the conflict zone between the Host and the Scourges. We’ve already entered the area created by the Expansion, and while the Host has pushed the Scourges back, the threat is far from gone.” The spirit only told the minimum facts. “Especially since this area is still relatively uncharted. We have to move slowly because of that.”

That didn’t sound good. If the vague direction she was getting from Gem was correct, then they would have to enter that zone. And there was no way to tell how close to their target they were. There was a good chance that the people they were looking for were in the areas controlled by the Scourges. That would explain why there was so little sign of them.

Hope and Envy had visited some of the places they’d passed in an effort to gather information, though they had tried to remain as secretive as possible. The two of them were not as blatant as Wrath, who wouldn’t be able to hide if her life depended on it, but they’d still draw some attention, and they didn’t want any potential enemies after them. Luckily, most of the players in the Divine Planes seemed to be focused on whatever Wrath was doing, their own machinations, and the war, so the two of them had managed to slip through the cracks so far. Not that they’d found much in the way of relevant information.

“Reporting: we’re entering another system. One world present. Quick scans show that the world is mostly unclaimed. I am detecting some…odd lifeforms. Unable to determine their true nature or their power…” Zuellni seemed mystified.

“Can you show me some sort of a visual?” Hope asked, knowing they were likely too far for anything too precise.

"Not a very sharp one," Zuellni responded as expected, while a hologram came up.

In the hologram, Hope could see what seemed to be some sort of a silvery ship roughly diamond in shape, made of some crystalline material, with several petal-like protrusions coming from the bottom part. The ship was intact, though it had also just as obviously had a crash landing. Some sort of plant-like creatures moved in the surroundings, except these seemed rather mobile and lively for plants. The hologram became a little clearer as they got closer, every moment adding more details. One of the creatures that looked a little bit like a small dog made of branches and grass chomped down on a local animal.

"Well, those plants have teeth, which makes them infinitely cooler than normal plants," Hope said with a touch of humor in her voice. Just because she disliked Envy turning everything into a joke didn't mean she didn't have some of that fault herself.

---------

“The Host? That’s not necessarily a bad idea. It is the fastest way to get positive support due to glory in battle, and to show your own power without picking a fight with random members of the major factions.” Khaine said thoughtfully. “And as a Goddess of War, it would be a bit hypocritical of me to say too much about it.”

“The potential downside is that we’d be under someone else’s command.” Valor pointed out.

“While true, the Host is rather strict about allowing those with the greatest skill to be the ones in positions of power. They’re good at finding out people of skill and promoting them. You'd naturally start under the command of more experienced immortals, but you could relatively quickly be the ones giving orders if you show your abilities. There’s also the fact that the Host usually operates by giving smaller groups a lot of autonomy and responsibility. While there would be generals above you, most of the time those generals wouldn’t do more than assign you general mission guidelines, unless it was some very important operation that needed to be completed in a very particular way, or some large-scale thing that brought all the various squads together for a single attack.” Khaine considered the options for a moment. “Rana is right in that it would be a much faster method than going the social path, and they can arrange it so you’re under the command of people they can trust. You have to give people a reason to support you.”

“We could also use this as an opportunity to forge connections with other factions aside from just the Titans as well.” Karna pointed out. “I’m not sure if relying on them too heavily is the right answer.”

"That's not necessarily a bad idea either," Khaine admitted easily despite her own connection with House Titannica. Just the fact that she’d had a child with a Titan made that connection somewhat obvious, but her daughter didn’t need to be limited in that way. “Of course, you do realize that there will be a fair bit of training and testing before you’re thrust into the front lines, right? Even if you’re much stronger than the average immortal, you’re still going to have to go through the training. That part is non-negotiable. Even Kurnous’ offspring had to do the training before becoming an Emissary, and that position is only tangentially connected to the Host.”

“Naturally. They can’t just throw us into the meatgrinder without at least having the basics in place. Besides, there’s going to be training for the procedure and rules, along with working as a team and within an army.” Valor nodded. No army that wanted to be successful would just throw a random collection of people into the fight. Something like the Host had to be especially strict to enforce a certain level of uniformity in both skill and behavior, as the immortals were so varied in their abilities.

“Although, I’ve heard some rumors that many reincarnators have been thrown into battle with very limited preparation. It almost seems as if someone wanted to cut down on the competition.” Karna pointed out.

“Yes, but this is where your somewhat high-profile nature will work to your advantage. With so many parties paying at least some attention to you, it’s harder to just throw you to the wolves or stab you in the back when the first opportunity presents itself.” Khaine explained. “While murder is a common tool of divine politics, the various players don’t like that being made too obvious.”

“What’s the stance of the Host on magical creatures joining?” Karna suddenly asked.

“The last time I heard, the Host is happy to take them in. You’re expected to be able to transform into a humanoid when necessary, but beyond that…” Khaine shrugged simply.

“What are you thinking?” Valor asked.

“Well, I’m just keeping my options open.” Karna grinned.

------

The city world of Golconda was one of the major neutral cities in the Divine Planes, and it was especially notable as the starting point of the bridge that connected to all the realms of the True Gods, and even the Imperial Palace. The large metropolitan city was located on a continent-sized floating island. The city was controlled by a rather sizeable group of gods that formed a full pantheon served especially in certain cultures in the planes below the Divines. This group of gods enforced the strict neutrality of the city with an iron fist, partially made possible due to the heavy Host presence as some of the major facilities of the Host were located in the city.

The city itself was a hodgepodge of architectural designs, and around the city spread the gardens and farmlands that kept it supplied. Many smaller islands also floated around the one the city was on, and most of these smaller islands had been converted into enclaves for various purposes ranging from hunting to pleasure palaces. As the place held such a large political significance, most of the great houses and factions had their own holdings in the city. Partially because of this, the city was actually much larger than it appeared, as spatial magic had been used liberally to enlarge various areas, and there were even several created demi-planes used for various purposes anchored to the city.

One of those demi-planes held the largest training centers of the Host. The location of their headquarters was a relatively well-kept secret, so this facility saw much general traffic as well. “Come again?” Marius asked in shock, as his assistant had just given him a report that couldn’t possibly be accurate.

The assistant was just a rank 7 mage, but the dwarven woman was very good at her job despite her lacking personal power. “Princess Ynnead, or Wrath as she recently declared her True Name to be, is at the front desk looking to get recruited. She is in the company of a man whose True Name is apparently Valor, and the Goddess of War Khaine Asuryan.”

“So, what you’re saying is, that one of the most powerful True Gods is here with her wayward daughter, who in her own right has been the topic of interest for decades now, and a man bearing the True Name of one of the Virtues. Am I getting this right?” Marius was becoming more and more convinced that he was being pranked.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" The dwarven woman asked with a voice that could cut steel and a disdainful expression.

True, his assistant had never been one to make such jokes. "Well, do show them in. I'll take care of them personally." If it was a joke, then it would become obvious quite quickly.

He still couldn’t stop his eyes from widening a bit when the trio his assistant had announced entered the room. The goddess was easy to recognize. True Gods especially had a certain kind of presence about them, which was hard to ignore. It also helped that they were usually in a form that made them over three meters tall and glowing with holy power. The Princess was just as easy to recognize, if for no other reason than because she looked almost just like her mother. She too had a presence about her, which was eerily similar to her mother. Dangerous and powerful beyond her rank. Her eyes also seemed to be filled with wisdom that was odd for her age. The man that came in with them looked gallant and honorable, and a polite smile seemed a permanent fixture on his face.

“Your Divine Grace.” He stood up and made a bow towards the goddess. “Your Highness.” He made a smaller bow towards the Princess. “Ser Valor.” He nodded to the man.

“Enough bowing and scraping Marius. Judging by your constipated expression, Rana didn’t warn you about our coming.”

Marius’ eyes narrowed dangerously. “The goddess knew you’d be coming?” He would have to have some words with his Shiva. Clearly, he was not in the loop for some reason. His mind worked quickly and came up with several plausible explanations for the situation.

“It was her suggestion.” The Goddess of War declared. “We just happened to agree.”

That was a little out of his expectations, as it would’ve made sense if this goddess in particular had come up with the idea, but it didn’t matter much in the end. “My aide said that you’re here to enter the Host?” He asked while looking at the Princess and the man. “You’re aware that this will be somewhat binding and not something that you can just back down on after a few months?”

“We’re aware. Depending on the situation, the time of enlistment will be at least for a decade.” Ynnead, or Wrath now Marius supposed, replied briefly.

“That’s the best-case scenario. Most spend a lot longer.” Marius felt obligated to point out. “And the training will be on top of that. I happen to know from my time looking for you that you’re quite skilled, but you’ll still have to spend at least a year in training.”

“That is fine. I didn’t expect anything else.” She smiled a bit. “Besides, raking in achievements will take some time anyway.” Directly hinting at her reason for enlisting.

"I suppose it will at that," Marius replied almost to himself. He had little doubt that she would be able to get those achievements. Something in her eyes told him it was only a matter of time. That worked for him. "Well, we can quickly arrange the enlistment part, but it will take a bit of time to arrange a suitable…shall we say support around you. To make sure you aren't assassinated, you understand? The next batch of new enlistees won't be starting until a month from now anyway."

“That works for me as well. We can handle some arrangements in the meantime. There will likely be two more people joining us by then. At least two.” The Princess explained.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask. “And who might these others be? Do note they will have to personally come here and confirm their enlistment. Otherwise, it would be possible for anyone to maliciously enlist their enemies.”

“Naturally. The two carry the Names Envy and Hope.” She replied as if talking about the weather.

‘Two Sins and two Virtues?!’ He thought to himself, feeling a slight bit of panic setting in. “And I assume you’d like to stay together as a squad?” He asked hesitantly. That squad would make a mess of things, that was for certain.

“Naturally.” She replied just as expected.

He rubbed his temple, a headache setting in. This could be a problem. Having powerful members in the Host was great. The problem was that he would need to find squadmates that would be able to match the four. It would be a problem if the members were too disparate in their abilities. Luckily, he had time while they were going through the training to find those people. With any luck, the same training batch would have some other people with enough skill and power. He at least had one person in mind. "Right. I'm going to give you a list of equipment that every trainee will need to possess as well as some materials to read and train with. Just let me know if you can't procure something on your own, and it will be provided."

“Oh, no worries. I have some small skill at crafting. I assume they have to, at least outwardly, look according to the standard specifications. I’m allowed to make upgrades though, right?” She asked, which seemed to elicit amusement from the other two for some reason.

“You can make upgrades, but as you said, they have to appear standard. And the listed specifications are the minimum standard. You won’t have a good time if you don’t meet those.” Marius advised, just in case.

“Oh, I don’t think we have to worry about that.” Valor stated confidently.

Chapter 119 - First contact

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

”I want to hear you say it.” Hope looked at Envy with a smug face and a wide smile.

Envy groaned in annoyance. “Fiiine. You were right. This was a good idea. Happy?”

“Very.” Hope turned back towards the tiny being in front of her. There were dozens of beings that seemed almost like combinations of plants and animals in the immediate vicinity, and she could sense thousands more in the area. The one leading them was tiny, barely larger than Hope’s fist. It looked like a mix of some sort of canine and a plant. It had six legs and instead of fur it had grass all over its body, and instead of a tail, it had a pair of long, thin, and flexible branches with leaves growing on it. She sent a mental message to the being, confirming that this group of beings known as Shinzen had indeed come to this universe in the company of the two individuals they had been looking for.

The tiny being nodded in excitement. The beings were capable of speech but greatly disliked speaking. To them, it was too inefficient. They much preferred mental communication, where you could send entire concepts and thoughts to each other. Such telepathic communication didn't leave room for error the same way speech did, and it was much faster, especially when it came to conveying complex concepts. It also made lying all but impossible.

Hope had approached the beings in the form of mental communication as a simple hunch. Part of it had been because she didn’t think the beings actually had the correct vocal cords for speech. The beings most certainly were intelligent, proven by their actions, but their biological makeup was complicated, to say the least. That decision had been the correct one as the beings had been eager to work with her as soon as she'd done so. The beings were apparently eager to learn. About everything. And they were not shy about sharing information. For some reason, Hope got the feeling that lessons that were not accompanied by violence seemed worth less to these beings, but that was just a slight impression she got.

Notably, the beings all seemed naturally psionic. Or to be more precise, the beings among them classified as Queens were. There were roughly a dozen such individuals among the Shinzen, and all of them were quite powerful psions. The Shinzen worked like hive species, and most of the beings scuttling around in their surroundings were either drones or warriors of some sort. They were working on building a base of power in addition to unearthing the ship that had crashed with the planet. The drones and warriors seemed relatively intelligent as well, but had very limited autonomy, if any at all. The presence of so many Queens defied the normal classification of a hive, though for some reason only one of them was breeding. Weird division of labor.

“Can you ask them where our targets are then?” Envy prodded. Unlike Hope, she was feeling less blasé about these beings. She had never bothered to learn how to communicate telepathically, magical or psionic. She’d been a psion a few times and could steal the ability from one of the beings around her if she wanted, but chose not to.

"Roughly," Hope replied. "They aren't entirely sure either, as they got separated not too long ago. Hence the crash. A large contingent of powerful creatures of the Underworld ambushed them. Even with all the forces at their disposal, and apparently they have quite a bit, the attack managed to scatter them. The Shinzen assume the Great Teacher, which is their name for one of the two we’re looking, is still gathering those that were scattered, while the other one is sticking around to fight off the enemy. They have a rough idea where to find at least one of our targets, but not an exact location. Because of that, they were planning on hunkering down and waiting until found.”

“Can they at least give us some information on our targets?” Envy questioned a little impatiently.

“Yes and no. They can give information on the Great Teacher, but I’m getting the impression that the information is…heavily colored by the Shinzen view on things. They have very little interest in the other one at the moment. They gave any information they had on the other one without even asking. It's not negative per se, but it is…disinterested. Apparently, the Shinzen were not able to learn as much from that being as they had wished." Hope tried to parse through the images and impressions. The mind of a Shinzen worked very differently from most species. They were extremely focused as a species, and things that didn't pertain to that focus just seemed to fade away from their minds.

“This rough idea about the two we’re looking for. That location is inside the scourge-controlled territory, right? Otherwise, the Underworld wouldn’t have managed an ambush like that.” Envy asked, focusing on the real topic.

Hope looked toward the puppy-like being and it seemed like something passed between them, before she turned back. "Rather deep inside the scourge territory at that. They'd been fighting the three scourges quite actively for a while before getting scattered. Apparently, the Shinzen and the two strong ones quite enjoyed the constant battle, which is why they didn't make much of a move to reach more civilized space.” She confirmed.

“Sounds like we should head back to inform Wrath and Valor. I think we might end up needing their help. I’m confident in dealing with any random scourge we run into, but dealing with an entire army’s worth, while on a vessel with a tower spirit that is being uncooperative at best, doesn't sound like the best plan ever.” Envy suggested. “With the four of us we have a better chance. Besides, Ysendra mentioned that they were looking for Wrath. Might make negotiations easier if she’s with us.”

The puppy-sized Shinzen Queen pawed at Hope's leg and seemed to communicate something again. "The Shinzen want to come along. They've pretty much finished digging out their ship, and they’ve only stuck around so far in case the Great Teacher comes looking for them.”

“Fine. Sure. Let the plant puppy and others come along. I don’t care.” Envy decided to just give up the point, as it wasn’t worth arguing about.

--------

“You did what?!” Envy asked with a loud shout.

"We enlisted in the Host," Karna repeated. She and Valor had reported things on their end first.

“Why would…you know what, never mind. It makes a certain amount of sense now that I think about it. Still, you could’ve consulted with us beforehand.” Envy grumbled.

Hope just shook her head, having expected something like this to happen. The odds of Wrath not getting into any trouble in the time they had been separated were slim to none. “We brought along some friends.” She added.

"You did? What kind? And where are they?" Valor asked curiously. He was also a little suspicious as this seemed like a setup for one of those 'they were here all along' -kinds of jokes.

“We left them with Zuellni. We didn’t think Khaine would appreciate us bringing in Outsiders to her realm.” Hope explained. In truth, she wasn’t entirely sure what the reaction would be, as the realm could consider the Shinzen to be invaders.

“You found the targets?” Karna asked eagerly.

"Not quite. We found a clue though. I think you should meet the Shinzen. They're interesting." Hope liked the eager creatures. Even the Queens that were larger in size seemed somehow childlike in their innocence.

'Shinzen. That sounds vaguely familiar.' Karna thought to herself. Maybe she'd run into their kind in one of her previous lives. "Well, let's go to them then." Khaine had granted the four relatively free access to leave and enter from a more remote corner of her realm. The realms of the gods could be accessed from places other than the golden bridge, but only if the owner allowed it.

A single thought brought them outside the realm, and they found themselves inside Karna's tower. "Now let's see. What's gotten you so int-“ Karna’s voice disappeared as she saw the ship floating next to her tower. The other three looked at her with surprise at her sudden silence, which lasted for several seconds.

“That’s a Dhar ship.” She finally continued. “What’s a Dhar ship doing here.”

"Dhar? As in the element of the true dark?" Envy asked with a frown.

Karna just shook her head. “No. The same name though just a different meaning. The race known as Dhar had no concept of the magical element, as they had no concept of magic in the first place. They were all natural psions. The entire universe had no magic.”

“Were?” Valor seized on the word.

“Well, there are members of the species in other universes, though their kind is relatively rare and usually go by different names, but the ones that made ships exactly like that died out. Many, many lifetimes ago. And when I say lifetimes, in this context I mean the lifetimes of an average reincarnator, not just mine.”

“You seem quite familiar with them. Lived a life as one?” Envy realized.

“Yes, a long time ago. Theirs wasn’t called the Eternal Empire for nothing.” She had a small nostalgic smile dancing on her lips. “Even by our standards, they ruled that universe for a very long time. It was the most technologically advanced species I’ve been a part of as well. I’m not sure what happened to them, but when I returned to that universe out of curiosity, they were gone. Seeing one of their ships here and now is…odd. Yet, it’s rather unlikely some other species would build ships using the same shape and materials.”

“Maybe the Shinzen aboard can provide an explanation.” Hope suggested gently. They all had lives they had fonder memories of than others. Sometimes it felt great remembering those lives, while at other times it was painful to remember.

Boarding the ship was a little eerie for Karna. She’d been on several ships like this one, although there were signs that the Dhar had made advances since she was one. No doubt as a result of the Great Song they all participated in. That had been one of the weirdest concepts she’d seen in the lives she’d lived. A combined song of an entire people dictated by the universe itself, granting various benefits to the participants. It was one of the reasons the Dhar had become such a huge power in the first place.

The crystalline structure of the psionically enhanced walls was nostalgic, to say the least as she ran her hand along the wall. It had been a relatively long life by her standards. Even if she wasn't a psion in this life, she could almost sense the systems of the ship reaching out to her in what was akin to recognition. Another feature of the species made entirely of psions was that all the systems were controlled mentally. Even without psionic energy she could duplicate the connection and allowing the connection was like turning a key inside a lock. Suddenly she could feel everything inside the ship. With a mental command, their group was warped to where the Shinzen were located. Warping had been one of the most important technologies of the Eternal Empire, allowing a single mental command to bring you across galaxies from one side of the empire to the other.

The Shinzen in the ship were truly varied in their appearance. Most of them had plant-like features, though their frames were anything from a small puppy to what looked like a giant gorilla made of plants. There were some that had an appearance that was less plant-like, with one looking very insectoid, while another looked almost humanoid with white skin and elongated limbs. The odd thing was that they were all bowing down to her.

The explanation came quickly in a rush of emotions and images. To these creatures, appearances were almost inconsequential. The psionic beings could sense her soul and recognized it. The species had a genetic memory to go along with their hivemind, and her soul was prominent in those memories. Apparently, she'd been part of a group of Dhar that subjugated the Shinzen far in the past. To the Shinzen, that had been a lesson they'd never forgotten. To her, it had been just another day that she didn't even remember. Dhar were benevolent masters most of the time, but they were a warrior people.

“Ok, why are the creepy plants bowing at you Wrath?” Envy asked.

“Ah. Apparently, their ancestors got a bit uppity in the past. I was part of a group of Dhar that cracked down on that attitude. Dhar fought a lot of battles.” She shrugged in response.

Instead of focusing on the past, she inquired where the Shinzen had gotten the ship, and the beings were more than happy to oblige. Apparently, there was a live Dhar the Shinzen called the Great Teacher that had brought one of the Dhar Arkships here, along with the accompanying fleet. The crew was decidedly non-Dhar though. The Shinzen were part of that crew, in their own way. Those same Shinzen had been aboard this ship when it had gotten separated from the main fleet.

“I see. There’s a Keeper alive. I didn’t expect that. This could get a little interesting.” She muttered mostly to herself.

“What’s a Keeper?” Hope was quick to ask.

"Among the Dhar, Keepers were the most powerful and respected psions. They stored the memories, skills, and fractions of the personalities of the most important and skilled individuals among the species in their own minds. You could call them walking libraries of the accumulated knowledge, skills, and technologies of the Eternal Empire. It makes sense one of them eventually became a Nakshatra. Though, I’m still no closer to finding out what happened to the Dhar, as these Shinzen cannot provide an answer.” She explained.

"Umm, considering what a Keeper stores, and the fact that you lived a life as a Dhar, does this being have you stored as well?" Envy asked in slight worry.

Karna chuckled. “No, luckily not. The Keepers didn’t store everyone, and I made sure I was excluded for reasons you can imagine. There’s one thing the Shinzen did manage to tell though. If we want to get to our targets, we’ll need to be careful. The presence from the Underworld is extremely heavy, and our targets might just shoot at us before we get the chance to say anything, as the abominations of the Underworld are fond of using misdirection and tricks.”

-------

“Weren’t they supposed to rely on misdirection and tricks!” Envy complained as the tower was forced to move out of the path of another enormous beam of magical energy. The defensive systems of the tower were already working overtime with the smaller bursts of death coming their way, and they were just a collateral target.

In front of them, an enormous battle was unfolding. At the center of the battle was a giant ship that looked like a domed city, with a long spire coming out from the bottom. It was constructed of the same crystalline material the earlier Dhar vessel had been made of, looking like liquid mercury. The city-sized ship was flanked on all sides by ships similar to the one the Shinzen had used, and they were currently engaged in a battle with seemingly endless hordes of the Underworld.

The abominations of the Underworld were hard to describe as many of them were nothing more than amalgamations of flesh, tentacles, eyes, and teeth. The creatures ranged from tiny to grotesquely huge monstrosities almost as large as the city-ship they were attacking. The monsters most often attacked by sending streams of arcane energy from their multiple eyes, though some of the monstrosities were attempting to bite down on the crystalline ships, with very limited success. It seemed the ships were holding their own with relative ease, though some of the vessels seemed to have taken some damage. Those damaged vessels quickly disappeared and appeared close to the city-ship for repairs and support, while any ship that really got in trouble was quickly rescued by the powerful weapons of the largest vessel.

“Huh. A large portion of the enemies are actually either illusions or gathered energy from the Underworld. Throwaway troops and mirages. Yet, the ships either don't seem to care or are ignoring that fact on purpose." Valor commented.

“Surely a powerful psion should be able to tell the difference?” Envy suggested. Her experience with psionics was relatively limited as that had never been her thing.

“Yeah, sure, a really powerful one. I doubt the crews of all those ships are that powerful though. Besides, a large chunk of those creatures are effectively mindless, so telling them apart from illusions is rather difficult. And it might be just me, but doesn’t this look like the ships are treating this almost like a training exercise?” Karna suggested.

“Now that you mention it…” Valor also noticed what Karna had seen. The movements of the ships were a little unnatural, almost as if they were prolonging the fight on purpose.

“I guess that explains why the really powerful soul in the large vessel hasn’t just wiped them all out.” Envy added.

"Master, the AI of the ships is contacting us," Zuellni reported.

“Alright. Put on your diplomatic hat everyone. This is it.” Karna called out and nodded to Zuellni.

“This is Nox calling for the unidentified vessel. You’ve arrived in the company of one of our missing ships. Report your intentions.” The clear voice of the AI could be heard. The AI had used the language most commonly used in the Divine Plane, which was clear proof they had been in contact with beings from this universe long enough to learn the language.

Surprising the AI, Karna responded in the official language of the Eternal Empire of the Dhar, and specifically the language used by the Dhar and not their client races. “We are here on friendly business. You can call me Karna. I must admit that it is a surprise to see an Arkship of the Eternal Empire in this universe. I’m sure we’ll have a very illuminating conversation.” The bait was set, and they wouldn’t have to wait long for a bite.

“You’re invited to board. Instructions will be provided to your…tower spirit?”

Chapter 120 - Old acquaintances

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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The powerful ships had quickly managed to secure a corridor for their tower to approach, and docking with the monstrously large vessel was a simple process. As the tower slid into the cradle, the ship carrying the Shinzen slid into the one right next to it, connected to the same hangar. The four of them disembarked to cavernous hangars while the battle still raged outside, and noticed the Shinzen were happily jumping from side to side, seemingly coming back home. The word frolicking would've been appropriate to describe their actions.

The four of them were not the only ones fondly looking at the antics of the Shinzen, as someone had come to the hangar to meet them. Several someone’s. The scaled humanoid lizardfolk dressed in a rather simple garb looked more like hunters than guards, but in this case, they were obviously fulfilling the role of a guard. Guards that for some reason seemed reticent to approach the four of them. Leading these guards were two cats. Not beastmen of the cat tribe, but actual literal cats. One of them looked like a typical, if slightly large, housecat dressed like an officer, while the other one was clearly a panther dressed like a civil official. While the panther was walking normally, the other cat was perched on a hovering pillow, which immediately drew Karna’s interest.

The Panther spoke in the general language of the Divine Planes. “Greetings guests. Welcome aboard the Tal’Nachazzar. My name is Moonshadow, and this is Lilly. I’m the Ambassador of the ship, while Lilly is the personnel officer. We’ll be in charge of you for the time being. As you might guess, the ongoing battle is currently occupying the attention of our leader. Until she is available, we will see that your needs are met and perhaps we can exchange some information so we can ascertain why you are here.”

“Well met Ambassador. I am Karna, also known as Wrath, the one your AI Nox made contact with, and these are Envy, Hope, and Valor. We'll be happy to follow along with your guidance until such a time your leader is available. I must say, I'm eager to meet the Keeper." Karna responded.

The ambassador nodded. “Three of the four of you appear human, but we’ve learned that in this universe looks can be deceiving. You don’t need to tell me, but I feel obliged to ask if that is the case here as well? I’m mostly asking in case we have to make any special preparations. This battle seems to be stretching, and you might have to be here for a while.”

"As you already noted, I come from the feline tribe of Beastmen." Envy gestured to herself. "Hope here is human, while Valor would rather keep his race a secret for now. Karna is…complicated."

“Complicated?” The cat sitting on the floating pillow asked curiously.

"Strictly speaking, I'm a child born between gods, which makes me a Godling. I'm also an Aura cultivator of a very particular type, which means I am many things. There are no special considerations though." Karna summarized.

“Right. That. Gods are an actual thing in this universe. Takes a bit of getting used to.” The cat stated, more to herself than to them.

“Well, this is also a bit of a bad place if you wanted to avoid running into them, being the Divine Planes and all.” Valor suggested.

“That is what we have gathered so far. We’ve also been able to gather that things are a bit of a mess right now.” The Panther ambassador glossed over the topic for now. “Would you follow us, please. We’ll lead you to somewhere more appropriate for such discussions instead of standing in the hangars.”

As they walked through the vessel to a transit point, Envy, Hope, and Valor were a little weirded out by the geometry of the vessel. The hallways were hexagonally shaped, and the corridors had high ceilings. No doorways had doors, and many of the rooms they glanced into looked oddly empty. “The rooms rotate in the furniture and other things you need. A single room can become anything you need.” Karna explained with a whisper, already familiar with the design feature.

Her voice was caught by the Panther’s sharp ears. “You seem familiar with the design. Nox also reported that you spoke the language of the Eternal Empire.”

“I’ve been to your universe in the past.” Karna only said with a slight smile.

“If you’ve been to our universe when the Eternal Empire was around, then you’re a lot older than you look.” The cat on the floating pillow said in a clearly shocked voice.

"I think you should assume we're all older souls than we appear." Karna didn't elaborate further.

Just then the platform that had transported them from the transit station deposited them in front of what could only be described as a suite of high class, with a large meeting room as the main feature. “Perhaps you might assist us then. Arriving in this universe was relatively easy, although it happened under strange circumstances, but leaving has proven more difficult. We haven’t yet tried to force the issue with sheer power, but…”

“I might be able to assist with that yes, though we will have to negotiate the details. The process for this universe is more complicated than you’d expect.” Karna already had something to bargain with.

The group settled into the room and exchanged niceties and shared a little about themselves without going into too much detail. The ambassador was great at keeping their attention and telling stories without revealing too much. In contrast, the one known as Lilly was a gaffe machine when it came to keeping information, but she was also very entertaining and fun company. At some point, they were provided refreshments by both the AI Nox and a slightly irate Zuellni that was less than pleased the meeting wasn't taking place inside the tower.

Eventually, Karna's senses told her things would get more interesting. "It seems the enemy has chosen to retreat for now." She informed the rest just as the AI was about to do the same.

"Good senses." The ambassador, Moonshadow, nodded toward her. "I'm good at sensory abilities myself, but even I can't sense everything that's happening outside the ship."

“I believe that’s on purpose. Or rather, the intent was that the enemy couldn’t sense inside the ship. It simply works both ways.” Karna explained, once again showing off that she knew more of the ship’s construction than those currently crewing it.

While the others couldn’t sense what happened outside the ship, they all clearly felt it as a very powerful being suddenly appeared very close to them. Whether this happened due to the ship’s system or the being’s own power was unclear. The being itself made itself known as it floated into the room. She, as the being was female, was not flying or using technology, but simply floating under her own power, as if it was the most natural thing to do.

The being was over 2,5 meters tall, roughly humanoid-shaped with long arms and legs, a dark blue skin that faded into almost white in places and almost black in others. Her head was slightly elongated compared to a human or an elf, with no visible mouth, nose, or ears. Instead of hair, the being had five long and thin tentacle-like appendages coming from the back of her head. Veins of power seemed to be running under her skin, and she seemed somehow almost intangible. The four reincarnators immediately recognized this as a quality of a being made of energy, which was standard for rank 14 beings. That also meant she was in this form out of choice, and not because she had to be. The being’s eyes, glowing with power, were currently looking at the four of them.

“I was told one of you spoke the language and even visited the Empire.” The being said in a melodic voice, speaking the same language Karna had spoken to attract the attention of the AI.

"That would be me, Honored Keeper," Karna responded with the same language and gave a polite nod, respectful but not any further. She also knew why the question had been asked. It had been done in such a way that forced her to not only speak the language but to respond in a way that couldn’t be allowed by a simple translation spell. A spell wouldn’t get the perfect emphasis on certain syllables correctly.

The being looked at Karna for a moment, and she could feel that the powerful being was looking deeper, at her soul instead of just the skin she wore. “You seem familiar indeed, though I can’t place why.” The being finally said and turned to the two felines and the guards standing by the door. “I will meet with them alone.” Her tone was that of a command, even if her word choice might have not been commanding.

As soon as the crew had left the room, the being addressed the AI. “Nox, make sure absolutely no one can hear us.”

“Done.” The AI promised.

The being then turned back to the four of them again. “This should make it possible for us to talk openly. So. Reincarnators? All four I see, since I’m able to talk about it. And one of you lived a life as one of my people.”

“That is correct Honored Keeper.” Karna allowed magic to surround her, changing her appearance to one that was very similar, but also subtly different from the powerful being. Where the being’s skin was blue, Karna’s was more gray, and her attire had seemed to morph to that of a warrior. A high-ranking one, but a warrior nonetheless. “It’s good to see at least one of the People survived, Selendil.” She addressed the being by name, having recognized the Keeper.

Karna’s appearance clearly took the being by surprise. Her eyes grew larger and her voice was a bit shaky as she spoke. “Grand Admiral Siroth.” Another realization hit her. “Siroth. Our word for Wrath. I see. I heard you announced you carry that Name. We always wondered what happened to you when you passed. The Keepers attempted to store your strategic brilliance and wisdom.”

Karna’s form changed back to her own as the spell ended. “As you might imagine, being a reincarnator isn’t exactly conducive to having an imprint of all your knowledge stored.” She smiled gently. “I was being honest. It is good to see at least one of the People survived. I returned to that universe only once after my death, and by then the Eternal Empire was no more. I wonder if you could tell me what happened.”

The being nodded and they got the distinct feeling that if she’d had a mouth, she’d be smiling. “Of course. I would like nothing more. Though I will not bore your companions with that story. I believe we’ll have to find some time to reminisce. I believe that’s not why you’re here though.”

“Before that, I want to know more about this Grand Admiral thing.” Envy interjected. “It seems to me you know each other. Not closely but still.”

"By reputation, more than anything. I think we might have met twice after you became a keeper?" Karna looked toward Selendil to check. It was always a bit awkward when you came into contact with someone you knew from a previous life, rare as it was, though luckily they had not been very familiar with Selendil.

“Thrice. We also met before, while I was still in training. The Grand Admiral was someone everyone in the Eternal Empire had heard legends about. Her success in war was unparalleled. She was sorely missed when she disappeared.” Selendil explained. “She inspired many young Dhar for thousands of years. I must admit, her exploits were one of the reasons I worked so hard as a child myself.”

“I was already quite old by the time she became a Keeper. Dhar had largely eliminated aging as a cause of death, but I decided it was time to move on.” Karna looked towards Selendil. “You’re of course not aware, but I’m somewhat of a rarity among the reincarnators in that I prefer to live shorter lives instead of sticking to every life as long as possible and trying to reach the peak of power. I find the first few centuries are usually the most interesting period anyway, and the rest is just gilding the lily so to speak.”

“Well, while I could spend the next year talking about the past and reconnecting with another Dhar, even in a new body, the enemies might return at any point. We should probably get back to the topic. I appreciate you helping the Shinzen get back to us. It feels a little like you found my lost puppy or something. However, that’s not why you’re here, is it?” Selendil returned to her earlier question.

“That is true. We’re here for two reasons. I believe you might benefit from having someone inform you what is going on in this universe, and I also have a proposition for you.” Karna admitted. “Though it might be prudent to first find out why you’re here. In this universe I mean. Pieces of the Crossroad might have ended up here by accident, but Ysendra gave me the impression that you were already traveling this way before that happened. Even more, she implied you might have been looking for me.”

“She said that?” Selendil seemed surprised by that. “Well, to be honest, we were not quite sure who we were looking for. Ysendra sent us this way with some Names, of which Wrath wasn’t one, and we got caught in the phenomenon that this universe seems to call the Expansion. We were hoping to find the person Ysendra mentioned, to assist us with a little project, but the Expansion threw another issue our way. Not only were our forces scattered, and the other Nakshatra whose name is Dee has been gathering our people, but we’re stuck here.”

“Stuck?” That caught the interest of Valor.

"Yes. There seems to be some sort of enormous magical formation that we suspect spans the entire plane, perhaps the entire universe. Worlds seem to be the focal points of this formation, and for some reason, this formation is treating this ship as one of those worlds. Because of that, the ship is stuck until we can detach it from the formation somehow." The Dhar Keeper explained.

“Huh. The pieces of Crossroads didn’t seem to have the same issue.” Hope pointed out.

“Or maybe they did, but Ysendra just chose not to tell us. Still, the Higher Planes are not as heavily influenced by the formation. Scourges and even the Wei-Jin are capable of moving worlds. I could probably do it in the Higher Planes now.” Karna speculated.

"I hasten to point out that there are no proper magic users among my crew, so that might be part of the problem," Selendil added. “We haven’t wanted to ask for help until we have to, but we ended up in a very dangerous place and the constant attacks are admittedly wearing us down.”

"I could take a look," Karna promised. "Though something like this isn't the work of a couple of days. We'll need to stick around for a while. Discovering the issue and fixing it are also separate matters."

"Understandable. But even slow progress is more than we have at the moment. I tried to forcefully move the ship and managed it to some extent, but the formation just adjusted, and now we're even more stuck. Brute force doesn't seem to be the answer and I'm concerned about trying to force it since I'm not sure of the consequences." Selendil continued. "Also, if you really are the person we came here to find, then it would be great for us if you could stick around for a time. Dee is actually the one that needs your help with a little project, and she's not here at the moment."

“What kind of project?” Karna asked the obvious.

“She has an intelligent magical item of some kind. She wants to give the identity of the item a body and a life. We managed to build a mechanical body of sort that the item is piloting, but it’s not a true body. Ysendra mentioned that you are an expert with magic of this sort.” Selendil explained.

“She’s an expert in all kinds of magic.” Envy added a little smugly.

"Hmm, I'd need to take a proper look, but it doesn't sound impossible. It would be a complex bit of soul and life magic, but it should be doable. Depends a bit on the item and the specifics of how the intelligence within is created." Karna speculated. She'd done something similar before.

“That would be excellent. Now, we’ve talked about two favors you might be doing for us. What do you want?” Selendil asked again, and this time they needed to provide an answer.

The four of them launched into the explanation of the decree handed out to the reincarnators and the political situation. It didn’t take long for Selendil to grasp what they were here for. “I see. It seems you could use the support of someone as powerful as Dee or myself. Is that the gist of it?”

“In essence, yes.” Karna made her case as simple as possible.

"Well, one of us will have to stay to protect the ship, but I believe the other one could help you. If for no other reason than just to have a bit of fun. I know Dee at least came to the Crossroads partly to seek adventure, and I know I'd like to see more of this universe. There is also the fact that if the position you're fighting for really has the kind of authority you're implying, then it could solve this problem as well." She waved to the ship around her. "And we wouldn't want someone wrong to take the position either. You're of course aware that we'd be monitoring you to make sure you're not a wrong kind of person either, right?"

“Of course.”

"Then I believe there might be an agreement we could reach," Selendil promised.

Chapter 121 - Baywatch

A note from Vihyungrang

Grah! Had to write most of this chapter in a hurry, so there might be more errors than usual. Hopefully not too bad though. Bloody work and social engagements. Hope you'll enjoy!

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The four reincarnators had been given a brief tour of the enormous ship. To many others, meeting so many strange new species might have been odd, but for reincarnators, it was business as usual. A slight oddity could perhaps be found in the fact that there was so much unused space on the ship. The vessel could house tens of millions of people without any trouble, and the ship only had a tiny fraction of that as crew. It seemed they had not chosen the ship because it matched their needs perfectly, but because it was the best they had available.

They also met some of the more important personnel like the three officers that had been leading the previous battle Amaterasu, Xiaoli, and Yrala. Apparently, Selendil, the leader of the group, had purposefully stayed out of the fight to allow the three officers the opportunity to train in commanding the Dhar ships in combat. The first two could be confused for humans, but apparently were a little different in their home galaxy. Amaterasu was a genetically engineered superior version of a human, their kind being called the Illum, while Xiaoli was a cybernetically enhanced version, called Cybran. Yrala’s species was known as an Eriad and looked a lot like a redeemed demon, and the four reincarnators had seen her kind in other universes under other names. She had grey-ish blue skin, stood over two meters tall, and looked a little like Selendil in fact. She had some thinner and smaller tentacle-like appendages hanging from the back of her head, and she had long hooved feet and a humanoid face with a pair of large glowing eyes and a pair of horns on her head.

All three of the officers received them with some reservation and guardedness, but they were also mostly positive and welcoming. The science officer was a serpent with a pair of large and colorfully feathered wings, making him look like a tiny Couatl, which was apparently what their species was called. He was the enthusiastic and curious type and had a warm welcome for them. Not quite as warm as the medical officer, who in turn tried to hit on Karna as soon as she made an appearance, and didn’t seem too daunted by the refusal. The odder members of the crew had among them living plants, not just Shinzen but actual Treant-like creatures, and sentient oozes called the Zlorth. The reincarnators had been quite sure the Zlorth had been the oddest part of the crew until they entered the largest open area in the ship, the hydroponics. There they were proven wrong.

"That's…not possible." Hope stated with an expression that seemed to be struggling with incomprehension and amusement.

“That’s what I keep telling myself as well.” Selendil, the Keeper agreed, though for some reason kept looking away from the scene drawing everyone else’s attention. Not that the others couldn’t understand the reason.

“That’s…a mountain, right?” Valor asked, struggling with his words. For once, his smile was nowhere to be seen, replaced with confusion and incomprehension.

“So it would seem.” Envy responded this time. She was handling the situation a little better than the others, but only a little.

“Why is the mountain wearing something that looks like a huge maid’s apron?” Valor asked something they all were wondering.

“I don’t think that’s the detail we should be focusing on.” Hope pointed out, even if she too wanted an answer.

“Why are the mountain and Wrath running at each other with arms open, like they were old friends or long-lost lovers?” Envy was quick to point out the main issue.

“I think the most intriguing question is, how is the mountain running in the first place, what with not having any feet? Or more importantly, how are we all getting the impression that it—she wants to give Wrath a hug? What with it not having any arms either.” Valor brought up another issue.

“The mountain communicates by magically broadcasting images and concepts.” Selendil quickly added to explain how they all had the same idea.

“Why are both of them running in exaggerated slow motion?” Hope asked the real question. “If they keep going at that pace, it’s going to take hours before they reach each other.”

“You’ll lose if you mind it.” The Keeper commented once again, staunchly refusing to pay any attention to what was happening.

“Do the two know each other? The mountain is sentient, right?” Valor kept firing off important questions.

“Eh, I wouldn’t bet on it just yet. For some odd reason, I’m getting the impression that the mountain is quite playful. And the fact that I just called a mountain playful is wrong on so many levels. Wrath is also someone who can get swept up in such things. I'd give it about 50/50 odds that the two noticed an opportunity for something like this and just went with it.” Envy speculated.

“Oh, you have one of those people as well.” Moonshadow commiserated, not being able to divert her eyes from the unfolding scene.

Valor finally managed to pull his eyes away from the sight long enough to notice Selendil’s behavior. “Is there a reason that you’re looking away?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“That direction does not exist. Both I and Dee agreed that what was happening in that direction is impossible, and that we should remove that direction from existence. What’s more important in the general scheme of things, a single direction that no one really cares about or everyone’s sanity?” The extremely powerful being asked a nonsensical question.

“I don’t think that’s how it works…” Hope replied carefully.

“Considering the alternative, I’m not sure I’m willing to disagree.” Valor decided to go along with it and turned around.

“Bah, denial won’t keep you sane. Just embrace the oddity.” Envy decided and suddenly rushed towards Karna and the mountain.

"Oh no. Now there's more of them." Lilly covered her face with her paws.

--------

Once the nonsense with the mountain had been sorted, Karna and Hope focused on studying the formation holding the ship in place. It quickly became obvious that the matter was far from simple. The formation had entangled with the ship in a way that would render it almost impossible to set the ship free. It was like tendrils of invisible power wrapped around the vessel. Selendil had managed to move the ship once with sheer power, but that now backfired on her as the vessel was even more entangled with the formation than before, as the formation resisted further tampering. The formation had the power of an entire universe behind it, so even a pair of rank 14 beings would find it difficult to just overpower it now.

“I’ve never seen something held in place so firmly before.” Hope commented, both her and Karna’s eyes glowing with power as they were looked past the walls of the ship around them. “I think it might be possible to loosen the binds the formation is putting on the ship for a brief moment, but the problem is what to do in that moment. Even if it was possible to quickly teleport the ship over a long distance, the formation would just drag the ship back.”

“Yet it has been done before.” Karna pursed her lips.

“The Scourges when they take over a world?” Hope suggested.

“That’s not what I meant. What the Scourges do is a little different. The formation itself still considers the world to be there when it’s assimilated by the Scourges, even if it can no longer draw the same amount of power from the world. Strictly speaking, they’re not moving the world, they’re simply…shifting it a little bit. Instead of being on the Divine Planes, the world suddenly exists in the realm of that particular scourge instead. It would be more accurate to say that the realm extends over the world instead of the world itself moving. Yes, the travel distance to the world becomes vastly different because the dimensions shift, but theoretically the world doesn’t move as far as the formation is concerned.” Karna happened to be acutely aware of how the system used by the Scrouges worked, so she could dismiss that path of thought. “What I was referring to was the Wei-Jin moving a world.”

“Could it just be that the hold of the formation is simply weaker in the Higher Planes?” Hope suggested.

“That’s likely part of it, but I don’t think it’s the whole story.” Karna tapped her lip in thought. “There’s something we’re not seeing.”

“It would likely help if we could study the world the Wei-Jin moved. Or it would actually be even more helpful to study the place they moved the world from.” Hope pointed out.

“It would. We’re not in the Higher Planes though, and I don’t think we have the freedom to go jaunting between the Higher and Divine Planes at the moment. In the future, yes, at the moment, no.” She shook her head. “We’ll need to inform our hosts of the bad news.”

Surprisingly Selendil took the news in stride. “It’s more than we had before.” She explained. “Now we know that trying to move the ship would be a bad idea. We also have some things that could help. I’m also assuming that one of you winning this thing you talked about would allow you to set my ship free?”

“That was the impression we were given at least. For all intents and purposes, they should become omnipotent, so something like this should be fairly simple.” Hope replied. “And I’ll reiterate that we’ll likely know more if and when we get to visit the Higher Planes again. Which might be years from now, but still.”

“Right. So we have leads, which is more than we had before as I said. And it appears that helping you four seems to be key to any solution we might have. We'll have to wait until Dee returns before either of us can go with you, but from your explanation, I got the sense that you didn't need our support right away in any case." Selendil nodded, having her thoughts confirmed.

"While we would appreciate immediate assistance, you're correct." Envy confirmed. "Any thoughts as to when this Dee would be back? Because if we're talking about days or weeks, then we might as well wait. This is as good a place for training as any, and we aren't needed back for some time."

“It’s hard to say exactly. She went to make sure all our missing people were returned, which you made sure already happened as the Shinzen were the last. I sent her a message to that effect, but I’m not sure where she is at the moment. With her travel speed, it shouldn't be too long, but that's assuming she wasn't in the middle of something. She does tend to get wrapped up in all sorts of trouble."

“Well, we can wait here for a short time, and if she doesn’t return in time, then we can figure something else out.” Karna decided.

------

The four reincarnators found it rather easy to make themselves at home on the enormous vessel. The crew were welcoming and eager to exchange information with people that were more aware of the multiverse as a whole than the usual inhabitants of the Divine Planes. It was much easier to converse with someone already familiar with technology for instance. And despite their individual issues, the four reincarnators were very adept at socializing and making connections with various races.

Karna spent a fair bit of time exchanging stories with Selendil about what had happened to the Dhar after her death, while she in turn told the Keeper about their kind that could be found in other universes. The fact that their kind could be found in relatively few universes was a little depressing to both, but at least their kind wasn't entirely gone. Selendil in turn mentioned her desire to tell the story of her people to others of her kind so that their memory would not be forgotten.

Karna also spent a fair bit of time dodging the affections of the medical officer, and the other members of the crew mentioned that the man named Khaemwaset fancied himself something of a ladies’ man, something most of the females on board didn’t quite understand. He was mostly harmless though and knew not to cross any lines or push too hard, so Karna didn’t punish him too badly. She also got to see the same man try to woo Selendil as well, which ended just as badly, and much more violently.

Valor made quick friends with the Eriad Yrala once it became obvious both of them were military officers and had rather firm convictions about doing the right thing. The two could appreciate each other’s viewpoints, even if they didn’t agree on everything. They talked of tactics and the differences between space combat and magical warfare in a universe like the one they were currently in. The similarities were surprisingly numerous, and the differences could often be found in places where it wasn’t obvious.

Hope on the other hand could often be found in the company of both Moonshadow and Amaterasu. The Illum and the Panther were something like rivals but could bury the hatchet in favor of cooperation and presenting a unified image to these new arrivals. The three could often be found in the hydroponics drinking tea or something similar while enjoying the ambiance. Hours could pass without any of the three saying anything, and all three seemed pretty satisfied with that state of affairs.

Envy found a receptive audience to her humor and sharp wit with both Lilly and Xiaoli. She'd burst into hopeless laughter once she found out that the cat-like species was actually named the Mrrroww. She was convinced that some weird god or other power had been having a bit of a laugh when making and naming the species. The trio could be found in the most unexpected places, usually just goofing off or making a great show of explaining the most stupid details of the various species and situations they had run into.

They all made sure to dedicate time to cultivation as well though. This was the first real opportunity they had to just sit down and cultivate properly since arriving at the Divine Planes. For immortals, their cultivation at ranks 10 through 12 focused around forming and properly utilizing their totem and domain if they had one. As reincarnators, all four of them had already formed at least one totem, which carried over to this life as well, so the most difficult part of their cultivation was already accomplished. Where most immortals would need centuries to rise in rank, the four of them could accomplish the same much more quickly, especially since they could all utilize the best cultivation methods in existence and had experienced all this before.

For Karna especially, her Godling heritage meant that cultivating the divine power of this plane caused her to progress much more quickly. She was seriously considering adding Qi cultivation to her repertoire as now she could do it hundreds of times faster than if she’d done it in the Higher Planes. It would undoubtedly make her stronger, even if Aura cultivation already covered the most important bases Qi cultivation would, but it would also slow her down a bit. Instead of spending 50% of her cultivation effort on magic and the other 50% on Aura, she’d be dividing her attention three ways. Then again she was already going to progress so much faster than most everyone else that the little extra time might easily be worth the potential gain. Something to think about.

Chapter 122 - Meeting of fates

A note from Vihyungrang

I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with how this chapter turned out, but here we are. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

”I was told you were already familiar with my mountain?” The being known as Dee asked conversationally. Dee, or Haydee as her full name went, was the other Nakshatra they had been waiting for. She had returned just a few hours earlier and was now conversing with the group of reincarnators.

Dee herself was an odd mix of races. At first glance, she looked a lot like an angel with two differently colored halos and wings, along with foxtails that no doubt numbered nine and were also all different colors. The fact that she also had four hands threw the picture off even more. Unlike her companion Selendil, Dee was much better at concealing her strength, though Karna’s sharp senses could sense the eccentric mix of powers that had lifted the being to such heights. There was a definite feeling of the power of gods mixed with her other abilities, though those gods were likely not from this universe.

“Familiar is perhaps a strong word. We’ve met before though. Am I correct in assuming you acquired the mountain on a world called Pantheon? Right. As one might assume, a mountain can be very old. I was among the people that created that world, though before you ask, I had very little hand in the process. I was merely present and lent my expertise with some of the more complicated concepts. I met the mountain then, although I can’t say how much the mountain’s consciousness has changed since then. It was already developing a level of intelligence back then thanks to the master of the mountain. Something you should be aware of though, is that time flows differently between universes, and the speed sometimes ebbs and flows. That particular universe hit a very slow patch soon after I died. So, for me, that was dozens of lifetimes ago while for the mountain and its old master the acquaintance was much more recent.” Karna gave a curt explanation.

“Yet you still remember.” The angelic being pointed out.

“I have a good memory, and living mountains aren’t common enough that you easily forget. And the mountain has only become more reality-defying since then. If you were to ask me about the mountain’s master, I’d probably have very few details I could share. Anyway, the mountain sees things a little differently, so it was able to recognize my soul, despite the vessel being different.” Karna just shrugged.

Dee suddenly leaned towards Karna and sniffed a couple of times. “You smell…like me. Like a chimera. Like someone who has been made of many different creatures. Were you made like that against your will as well?”

“No. I’m a mix of bloodlines because I choose to be. That’s due to my Aura cultivation method combining the bloodlines of many beings.” Karna responded a little surprised by the sudden forwardness. “I gather from your question that you did not have a choice in the matter.”

“Indeed, I did not. I was created to be a weapon, and to do that…well. I suppose at least in that they succeeded. I…can’t entirely fathom someone choosing to become like me, though I suppose if you look at it from the perspective of gaining the advantages of multiple races, then…” The being shook her head a bit. “Still an odd concept. From what I smell, you do not take the power of your enemies either. The power of Sengir, I believe it’s called.”

“Ah, that one. No, you’re correct, I do not. There’s nothing wrong with doing it, but I’m a bit of an…artisan when it comes to my cultivation. I take pride in building every brick that goes into the house that is my cultivation. Unlike most, I don’t really use the help of herbs, pills, potions, or other supplements either. I believe it makes me stronger. And considering how many lifetimes I've lived, I'd say I have some proof to that effect." Karna took care not to sound judgmental.

“I can confirm that.” Envy added. “Her cultivation is bloody brilliant.” There was a reason she usually stole it after all, even when there were more powerful options available. She knew from experience though that her ability to steal cultivation wouldn’t work on Nakshatra that were somewhat designed to fight reincarnators. Aside from that, trying to steal the cultivation of a psion wouldn’t work either, as psions could not use magic or Qi.

“I suppose living all those lives has given you perspective we can’t really argue with. I didn’t have much choice personally as I was constantly struggling to become as powerful as quickly as possible.” Dee admitted.

"And certainly, I would never begrudge that. Someone whose power has been forged in the fires of war and struggle will always be stronger than someone who has grown powerful in a gilded palace or peaceful mountain retreat. There are many ways to grow strong. Your way has left you with a powerful element of death, which can be a good thing as well. It can be a powerful element, even if some look down on it. I personally use the power of True Dark quite often, which is another despised element.” Karna made sure to reinforce that she wasn’t judging.

“It’s not the power, but how you use it.” Dee quoted the old saying. “Moving on, I was informed that you might be able to help us with giving an intelligent item of mine a body to inhabit. Or to be more precise, make it so that the spirit inside actually has a living feeling body, instead of just piloting a mechanical one.”

“That depends on the item, but the chances are good. I can confidently say that if I can’t manage it, it can’t be done. You brought the item in the original state?” Karna accepted the slightly forceful shift in topic.

"As instructed." Dee handed over a relatively simple-looking amulet.

Karna placed the amulet on a table between them and started casting a diagnostic spell after another while allowing her magical senses to sink inside the item to figure out the secrets hidden within. The item was a support item with a mind and personality of its own. Instead of instantly bringing great power, the item evolved alongside with the owner, either covering the weaknesses of the wearer or supporting their strengths even further. The personality would also develop according to the owner, taking on many of the same traits before eventually diverging into a completely new and separate personality. The item was a masterwork of spellcraft and magical engineering.

The potentially tragic part of the item was that the personality within would be reset when the item passed to a new owner, along with any powers it held. The reason was obvious. The most common way for an item like this to switch owners was for the previous owner to die. it was too much to expect a developed personality within the item to just merrily serve the new master that might have murdered the old one. An intelligent item like this could just as well sabotage the holder as it could enhance their abilities. It was a bit cruel to the spirit within the item, but it was kind of ingenious and necessary.

Moving the spirit to a new body could theoretically be done, but it hinged on a few things and did come with some problems. The most obvious problem was whether there was anything to move. “Does this unit have a soul?” Karna muttered quietly.

“What?” Dee asked, not having heard properly.

“What?” Karna repeated.

“You said something about a soul. I didn’t quite hear what.” Dee clarified.

“Ah, that was just something I heard from someone else a long time ago.” She turned back to the amulet on the table. “Croestia, was it? Do you believe you have a soul?”

Dee was about to angrily respond in the amulet’s stead, but Karna quieted her with a raised hand. This question was important. The amulet considered the question for a moment before a feminine voice responded. “I believe I do. I can’t be sure, but…”

“Good.” Karna smiled. “The reason why I asked, is because when we’re dealing with artificial intelligences, either magical or mechanical, the moment the intelligence believes they have a soul is the moment when one is born. And for this transfer to truly be successful, you needed to have a soul. It was important that you answered yourself without anyone else doing it for you.”

"Of course you have a soul Croestia," Dee claimed without hesitation.

"That's the first hurdle. Transferring a soul from one vessel to another is difficult, but feasible. There are some potential issues with the process though. The first one you need to be aware of is that I don't know how much of the amulet's supportive abilities will remain after the transfer. The odds are about 50/50 whether she can keep them as the magic of the item will likely not transfer over completely. There's also a chance that some of them will just apply to her new body instead of you Dee. This is something you need to be aware of. On the upside, if you prepare a good body for her, she'll be capable of cultivating on her own. Because her soul is so new and weak, her cultivation will likely be slow and weak at least in the beginning, so I recommend preparing a vessel that isn't prone to dying of old age.” She explained.

“That’s alright. I’d happily lose any support she provides for a friend of mine to have a life of her own.” Dee didn’t seem too bothered. “What kind of body do you recommend.”

"One that isn't already occupied," Karna stated perhaps the obvious. "Don't grow a clone or anything, as they can develop a soul of their own, and Croestia here isn't likely to win any battle for the control of a body. Aside from that, the choice is entirely yours. Something else though. When the transfer happens, you need to be far away. I can sense that you draw the souls of the dead to yourself and channel them to the River of Souls. Her soul will be for all intents and purposes identical to a dead person's soul during the transfer, and the process is delicate enough without you accidentally pulling her along."

“I’d rather be there, but I understand. Selendil can stay, yes? It’s not that I don’t trust you, but this is important.” Dee seemed likely to insist.

“Not a problem for me. We can start as soon as you have a vessel prepared. Oh, since the amulet is a magical one, I’d recommend something that can hold magical power, so something from a universe that isn’t Selendil’s. Psions and magic don’t really mix well.”

"Hmm, we'll have to prepare something," Selendil said thoughtfully. "It might take time since we'll want the best that can be arranged of course."

"I believe we can wait. Now that we know it can be done, we're no longer in a rush, though of course, I'd prefer a faster resolution." Dee nodded in agreement.

“Unfortunately, we’ll have to go back soon. We enrolled in the Host for our political goals, and we have to attend the training program they have prepared for us. We’re not in a rush yet, but if you’re only starting the process of finding a suitable body, then we won’t be able to stick around long enough.” Valor noted. “We gave our word, so we can’t go back on it.”

“That’s fine. Did I understand correctly that the process itself wouldn’t be a long one once all the preparations are done?” Dee asked.

“Well the transfer itself won't take more than an hour, but I'd recommend you to stay away from the new body for at least a week to allow the soul time to attach properly. I'd say more than a week would be better, but a week would be the minimum." Karna made sure to emphasize.

“Alright. If this goes well then we’ll certainly owe you one. You have our support for now.” Dee nodded, echoing Selendil’s earlier words.

---------

The four, having reached their goal of gaining the favor of two such powerful beings, turned their focus back to the rest of the Divine Planes and made their way to the neutral city of Golconda, and more specifically the training center of the Host. They were all wearing the bronze-colored trainee armor that Karna had created in her free time while they had been waiting for Dee’s return. The armor marked them all as new trainees as every trainee had to wear the at least outwardly same armor, even if the performance of theirs was much better than usual.

Thanks to their armor, they were quickly picked up and directed to the trainee barracks dedicated to those that hadn’t yet been assigned to a training group. They were not the last to arrive as there were still a few days before the beginning of training, but they were far from first. Somehow the barracks were already filled to brimming and the Host’s mages were already adding extension spells. “Is it just me or does the place seem quite busy?” Envy asked no one in particular.

“This does seem unusual.” Valor added his agreement.

“Sharp eyes.” The more experienced trainee leading them seemed happy to explain. “From what I’ve heard, the last few years since the draft was instituted has swelled the ranks of recruits, but this is unusual even by those standards. There have already been thousands of arrivals and we’re expecting it to only get worse the closer we get to the deadline. You can thank the rumors for that.”

“Rumors?” Valor asked disinterestedly. All armies were hives of rumors and gossip, and most of those rumors were bogus.

“Word is there’s a princess from the Royal House starting this year. The long-lost Princess Ynnead if I recall correctly. Aside from curiosity, everyone sees it as an opportunity to forge connections. If you're going to get drafted anyway, why not do it the same year as the princess? At least you have the chance to get something good out of the situation. Doesn't hurt that the rumors say her mother has a claim on being the Goddess of Beauty, and well…everyone's assuming." The man cheerily explained.

“Uh-huh. A beauty, huh?” Envy looked meaningfully at Karna, who had elected to make her own helmet the type that hid her face. She knew her identity would get out soon enough, as that was sort of the whole point of this endeavor, but she was hoping to forestall it a bit to avoid anyone approaching her until the training began. She assumed from experience that they’d all be too busy to socialize too much once the training got into full swing.

“That’s the rumor. Of course, rumors always take on a life of their own, so who can say. Still, most of the newbies, oh sorry that’s you as well, won’t have time for such things soon. You girls don’t need to worry too much. The Host takes a dim view on anyone thinking the Host is a dating service.” The guy seemed to genuinely want to reassure them, and he was obviously proud of being part of the Host, even if still just a trainee himself. “Right, here we are. Since we’re already having to expand our living quarters as fast as we can, we can’t give you more than one room, but once you get sorted into training units, you’ll be staying in shared barracks anyway. Better get used to it. Not much chance for comfortable lodgings while deployed on the battlefield either.”

As the trainee rushed off to receive the next batch of newbies, Valor turned to the rest of them. “The rumor mill works fast as usual. Sometimes I think soldiers are worse gossips than old ladies. Still, I’m surprised Marius let the news slip. He didn’t seem the type.”

“I’m not sure he had much choice. Once our names were listed on the rolls, they became public knowledge. It would’ve drawn more attention if he’d tried to suppress the information. Anyone with enough clout would’ve found out anyway. This way we at least have some buffer between us and the annoying gnats.” Karna argued.

“Well, we expected this. Hence the helmets.” Hope knocked on her own closed helmet. “Well, that and protection.”

“Have you given thought to what the instructions said about choosing a specialty?” Valor decided to shift topics.

The Host divided all the trainees according to their specialties to focus on training them to act as part of the Host by using the unified methods of their chosen specialty. Naturally, people were often multi-talented and could be trained in multiple specialties, but the Host trained them in a single specialty at a time, so that they'd know what exactly was expected of them in large army situations. They had to be able to respond to orders in very particular ways and very quickly. Small group situations were often different and required a wider range of skills, but the Host was an army first and foremost. While they operated in small squads most of the time while on the field, being able to act as a unified army often took precedence. The more advanced stages of training would deal with squad tactics and related issues.

“Well, if we want to be placed in a single squad, then it would be beneficial if we chose a wider range of specialties. We don’t want to have three people enrolled as mages, as that wouldn’t make for a very balanced squad.” Envy pointed out. Since she’d snatched Karna’s magic cultivation, she now qualified as a mage as well.

"On the other hand, if we prove ourselves as a power squad of mages able to deal with any situation together, that would give Marius an excuse to keep us together as well." Hope brought up another option. They had been assured that the titans would help them stay together, but it would be easier if they gave a plausible reason for it.

“We’ll see when the training starts. They might not even give us a choice and just divide us based on test results.” Karna decided with a shrug.

Chapter 123 - Tests

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

Karna carefully studied the people gathering at the enormous training field. The number of immortals wearing the same armor as she and her friends had on was rather shocking. She knew from experience that the number of immortals in the Divine Planes was much larger than one would assume at first glance, but there were over ten thousand new recruits gathered here, and nearly all of them were immortals. Even if this batch of recruits was much larger than usual, she knew it was beyond unusual for so many to enter training in a single year even during heavy wartime.

The Host didn’t recruit just from immortals, though only immortals were deployed to the frontlines. An army needed personnel other than soldiers as well though, so those under the tenth rank were not turned away. They were simply used for other purposes and support roles. For the same reason, none of these recruits would be turned away now that they had enlisted. If they didn’t meet the requirements for some reason, they’d simply be given further training to bring them up to par, or they’d be used for support purposes as well.

Since all the recruits were wearing very similar armor, it was harder to tell the difference between them. That was on purpose, as the Host wanted to project an image of invincibility where another soldier would just take the place of any who died or was wounded. It also helped eliminate any discrimination, though even that only held while they were wearing the armor. It was also impossible to entirely eliminate all the differences, as it was hard to hide wings or the fact that you didn’t have legs, even if the helmet and armor hid any obvious features like horns, ears, and tails. Someone with sharp senses could also always tell the details of the one wearing the armor, as it wasn’t designed with camouflage in mind, but not everyone shared that ability.

This was the day the testing was supposed to begin, and by the end of the day, they would be divided into training units. At least in theory. That assumed the Host was prepared to test so many applicants in such a short time, though Karna had a fair bit of confidence in the Host's abilities in that regard. Say what you will about the rest of the Divine Planes, but the Host had always been competent and well-organized. It had to be to stand against the scourges for so long. As far as Karna was aware, there had never been a time when the Host had been truly losing against the powers arrayed against them. Part of that was because the gods were using the external threat of the scourges to foster internal unity and could mobilize the gods themselves in an emergency, but that was only a part of it.

A man wearing a golden armor without a helmet, flanked by two silver-armored companions ascended to the small podium in front of the ranks of new recruits. The man launched into his spiel without much preamble. “I am General Augustine, though you’ll most likely learn to know me as the bastard who runs this torture center. You have all enlisted in the Host for various reasons, but right at this moment, those reasons have stopped mattering. Your ass is now mine for the foreseeable future, and I will forge you into something the Host can use. There will be no quitting allowed. Your background doesn't matter. Your history doesn't matter. Your family most bloody definitely doesn't matter. It's not your pappy or mommy that enlisted, but you. That means you're the one who's going to do the work and earn the merits personally. However, you're all pretty bloody far from earning jack shit. Know this. The only things I care about are your abilities, and how much you apply them. Only results matter."

He took a hard look over everyone. “You’re almost all immortals or just about to become one. There shouldn’t be a single one among you that can’t deal with that. If there is, that attitude will soon be hammered and beaten out of you. I did tell you I would forge you, and sometimes that means literally. Now, as most of you might be aware, you maggots are all a varied bunch, and there's only so many things you're useful for, and in some cases that use isn't as cannon fodder. So, what's going to happen next, is that we're going to sort you according to your skills and abilities. No, we're not going to ask you. I just told you that only results matter. I don't care if you claim to be a genius in fire magic or bloody crocheting. Only. Results. Matter. And this will be your first chance to show results, so don't bloody disappoint me. I know, that's a bloody low bar, but some people manage it every bloody time."

One of the two silver-clad warriors stepped forward. “We’re going to divide you into smaller groups since there’s so bloody many of you lot.” He seemed to share the speech patterns of the general. “We’re going to have to rotate you from one place to the next.”

The third silver-clad person made a gesture, and Karna could sense light magic cast at everyone on the field. A floating colored light appeared above everyone's head, and the same kind of lights appeared on the different sides of the field where a senior recruit was waiting. “Now, if any of you are too dim to understand what to do next, I’ll be really bloody disappointed.” The general stated with a voice that implied he was quite certain someone would do just that.

To the general's surprise, the gathered recruits all managed to sort themselves into groups, though it was rare for someone who was a complete dunce to manage to make it all the way to immortality. Not that the general hadn't seen a fair share of immortals who acted like they had no brains to speak of, but that kind of stupidity existed everywhere. It had more to do with a lack of common sense, selfishness, and wrong kinds of incentives, than a genuine lack of intelligence. Someone could be extremely smart in the academic sense, but if they had no real experience of common sense, then they could act like a rank idiot when confronted with a situation that didn't fit their skillset or pre-conceived notions.

Karna was in the same group as Envy, though Hope and Valor had been assigned to a different group. The senior recruit leading their group was taking them a fair distance from the gathering place, which made her realize that either this pocket dimension was much larger than she’d assumed, or it had been expanded specifically to account for the large influx of new recruits. It was extremely doubtful they’d spend their entire training time here, as in the few days they’d spent in the pocket dimension so far they had seen only a few hundred recruits.

As if to spite her assumption about this being a newly created area, their group was led to a well-worn arena of sorts. The arena was made of magically reinforced stone that still bore the telltale signs of countless years of training that had left its scars on the stone. The arena was also odd in the sense that it wasn’t designed for an audience in mind. There were no stands, and the arena portion itself was divided into several separate portions by walls that could be moved, removed, and replaced at will. There was a single observation platform above the whole thing, where trainers could observe everything going on in the separated rooms below. The observation area was blocked from sight, but Karna could sense several relatively strong immortals present with her other senses.

The senior recruit stopped in front of the arena and turned towards them. "Make ten lines. Each line will stand in front of one of the glowing glyphs on the floor." He gestured towards a line of glyphs carved into the stone floor. "When the glyph glows, that's the signal for the next one in the line to enter your assigned room in the arena. There are small guideposts to lead you there, but we will expect you to memorize the glyphs and the corresponding spots on a grid within a week, as the same signals will be used elsewhere. You will have to find the most expedient way to your assigned spot on your own in the future. Once you enter your assigned room, announce your name and follow any instructions given. Do so promptly, as we don't want this whole thing to take longer than it has to. Now line up!"

Karna was the first on her glyph and was soon summoned by its glow. As instructed, there were slight glowing signs to guide her to the correct place, which meant she had to take the long way around to the other side of the arena. Once she entered the assigned room, a silver-clad instructor was waiting for her. “Recruit Wrath, reporting for testing.” She declared firmly.

“Ah, I got the princess then.” The large and wide-shouldered man responded with at least a bit of curiosity in his voice. “I won’t treat you any differently though. Pick a weapon from the practice weapons on the walls. No one will get to use their own weapon during the tests. Can’t have anyone perform just because daddy bought them a shiny sword.”

She simply thrust her hand out and a slightly curved but long blade flew into it. The weapon was made of wood, but not just any wood as no standard wood would be able to handle impacts caused by the strength of an immortal that got serious. The dark wood had lines of divine power running through it. The instructor continued. “This test is one of your skills with a weapon. You can use any sort of power you possess to enhance yourself, but no magical spells, or abilities that simulate such effects. Those things will be tested later. This is about your ability to swing a weapon. Ready? Go!”

The man dashed forward and made a probing strike with his own weapon. He was moving quite fast even by immortal standards, but not at his full speed. It would’ve been a poor test if he simply overpowered the recruit right from the beginning. Karna obliged and matched his speed and met the strike with her own. As the trainer noted her matching him, they started to quickly increase the speed, the strength their blows carried, as well as the complexity of their techniques. It took less than a minute before their fight was already at a level of mid-level immortals that weren't using specialized techniques and just pure skill. Slowly and surely Karna started pushing the trainer back as she could still increase her pace, while he couldn't keep up anymore.

“Halt!” He called out. “That’s good enough. I recognize you could defeat me, and that’s all the information we need for now. We might finish this at another time with our power at full use, but that’s not necessary for now. Instead, follow this to the next testing site.” Another glowing orb appeared and started leading her away.

As soon as she left the arena, the orb took flight, assuming she could follow, and she was led to a temple-like building where other trainers were waiting and prepared to test recruits. Another recruit from the previous testing site had already made it here before her, though she didn’t recognize the man. She was waved down by another silver-clad trainer that wore the same armor under what seemed to be almost glowing white priestly robes.

“This testing site is about your abilities with holy power and any supportive abilities you might possess. Lay your hands on the altar please.” The instructor told her, and Karna obliged, already recognizing the altar as something that would measure her affinity and holy powers.

“Hmm?” The priestly man seemed a bit surprised by the result. “What’s your name?”

“Wrath.” She stated simply.

“Ah, princess Ynnead.” The man seemed to ignore what she’d said and just jumped to the more recognized name. Not that she didn’t understand, as the name Ynnead had been assigned by the Emperor, so that’s what they’d use until she got powerful enough to force the change. “That explains the result I suppose. You have unfathomable affinity with holy power, especially the more warlike types of power. Knowing your mother and your chosen nomenclature, that’s expected. However, you have no power from the gods. You haven’t sought out a blessing?”

“I have not. Political reasons.” She explained curtly.

"Well, with affinity like this, I wouldn't be surprised if you manifested your own Divinity soon enough. And it's not like I don't understand you're in a complex situation. Still, as a cleric of the Host, I must encourage you to seek out a blessing from a god, as it would increase your power. Do you have other supportive magic that you can use?" The priestly man asked.

“I’m an expert at using Qhaysh, as well as all the supportive elements. I’m also attuned to every element to the highest degree. I’m aware of most of the supportive arcane spells, even if they aren’t my first go-to solution in normal circumstances. My healing abilities are understandably more limited, though that doesn’t apply to self-regeneration. I’ve got some druidic spells, but they won’t match a dedicated holy healer. Disrupting enemy magic and curses on the other hand is something I excel at.” She listed off the main points.

"Good to know. Your defensive magic abilities will be tested later, but it's always good to find someone who excels at countering magic. Those will always be in high demand." The man smiled a bit sadly. "There will always be more spell-slingers than those that know how to counter such magic without resorting to a barrier. I'll ask you to cast some of your supporting spells on the targets here."

He led her into a room with lines of simulated patients suffering from various illnesses and issues. Karna allowed her magical senses to sweep over all of them, which was a little difficult as these were all illusionary patients and she was almost immune to illusions, but she could allow herself to be affected to an extent. As she cataloged all the various problems, her hands worked quickly drawing magical formations as curative and decursive spells were sent towards appropriate targets, while the druidic healing spells aided with injuries and wounds. Her magic was effective, but she had to work many times harder than someone who could rely on the curative power of the gods, which was the difference between divine and arcane magic.

“Good enough, you can stop.” The trainers said. “You’re clearly skilled, and we can use your abilities when in a pinch. You can move on to the next testing site by following the orb.” Another glowing orb led her away.

The next two tests were simple fitness and endurance tests. Testing such things for an immortal wasn’t a simple affair of course, so they’d been forced to wear suppression bracelets while under the effects of heavy gravity spells. She effortlessly aced both of those tests of course. The next battery of tests had been much more interesting, as she’d finally reached the section where her magic was tested. The first one tested their precision and sensory abilities with either magic or if they had similar skills with Qi or other powers. They had to hit rapidly appearing targets in a room filled with obstructions, and there were targets they were penalized for hitting, so area of effect spells were out.

She had almost closed her eyes as her senses enclosed the entire area, and as the targets materialized, she’d summon small and precise spells to destroy them. The testers were quite nasty though, as the targets changed as the test proceeded. Not only did they become more numerous and more of the friendly targets were mixed in, but the targets also became tougher to destroy. You needed more powerful spells for each target. Karna had the advantage of having her mana so pure and concentrated that her spells were inherently more powerful, so she wouldn’t have had to change her spells, but she obliged the spirit of the test and shifted to using the True Dark element which simply disintegrated each target.

"Well. I'll have to congratulate you, princess." The instructor in charge of the test reluctantly admitted. "I haven’t seen a full score from a fresh recruit in a while. Ah, wait. I heard there was another full score in another room about an hour ago.”

“Out of curiosity, who got that result?” She inquired. The odds were that person would be a reincarnator.

"I can't remember the name. Probably they didn't mention it. Some sword-wielding woman. Really skilled one too from what I heard." The instructor shrugged and summoned the mandatory glowing orb. “Now shoo. I’ve got a buttload more recruits to test.”

The next test was another one she quite liked. She had been brought to an array that would transport her to a simulated battlefield between two armies. "This task is purely magical. I can sense you're a mage, which is why you're taking the test in the first place. You aren't allowed to use any other abilities aside from magic, and your performance will be strictly monitored. Your job is to kill as many enemies as possible. The array is created so that the enemies will attack you continuously and never stop. Your allied forces will keep the enemies at bay to an extent you'd expect from a normal group of Host's forces, but eventually, they'll be overwhelmed. The trick is to kill as many enemies as possible while prioritizing enemies that are about to breach your defenses. The longer you can keep your allies alive, the longer you’ll have to blast enemies, and the higher your score. When either all of your allies are gone, or you get ejected from the array for taking damage yourself, the simulation is over. Damage taken is not real, but pain and exhaustion are, so be careful.”

These kinds of arrays were a bit of a rarity, as they transported you into a place that was similar to a pocket dimension, but not quite. The array could control everything that happened inside and could theoretically create any sort of situation. Any cultivation done in this kind of array would be wasted, but you could gain battle experience, which was what they were mostly used for. As she was transported inside the battlefield, she immediately noted that her allies were perched in a defensive position on a hill. They were surrounded on all sides by what could be considered stereotypical Netherworld forces consisting mostly of various undead and constructs. There was no time wasted as the undead were already surging forward.

“Right. I suppose it’s time to show off a bit.” She decided. She’d done well so far, but she hadn’t really been showing off. It was time to start earning that glory that she was here for.

She activated her Domain, which vastly increased her spellcasting speed and control, as well as supplying her with an almost endless supply of mana for as long as the situation allowed. She didn’t activate the Domain fully, as that would create a Reality Marble around her, messing up the array, so the effects were a bit more limited. Then she drew heavily on the power of the True Dark, the one element she was most familiar with, and cast one of her favorite anti-army spells.

At first, it didn't look very impressive as it seemed she'd just released a host of black wraiths that rushed towards the enemies and entered their bodies. Those affected suddenly withered as any lifeforce or magic animating them was drained away, after which a pair of such dark wraiths exited the victim’s now dead body. Those wraiths then jumped to new targets and repeated the process, doubling their number on each jump. She also kept releasing more of the black wraiths periodically to target enemies that got too close to the defenders. As each wraith only took a few seconds to kill their target, depending on their target’s level, in less than a minute the number of wraiths had ballooned so much that any enemies the array spawned were wiped out faster than they appeared.

The really nasty thing about this spell wasn’t the speed at which it could kill targets. Dropping a meteor on an army worked even faster after all. What made it so nasty was the amount of control she had on the spell, which meant no collateral damage to friendlies, something that often plagued powerful spells, and the fact that very few things could stop it. Stopping the spell was actually very simple, and the strongest enemies could resist the effects to an extent, but actually stopping the wraiths required you to figure out how they worked. No shield would stop them, and shields were the most common way to defend in a battle between armies. Of course, the fact that this enemy was simulated meant that they had no one able to figure out a counter, nor did they have enemies strong enough to resist the effect. Eventually, the array had to concede that just spawning more enemies would not work, and the program ended, ejecting her out of it.

“What the heck happened?” The trainer asked as she was ejected. “The array is fritzing out and running out of power.”

“I believe my magic might have been a little too effective.” She smiled inside her helmet a little smugly. “My score is still shown, is it not?”

“Y-yes. That can’t be right…” The trainer started to suspect something had gone wrong.

“I’m sure you’ll find out the score is legitimate, if you truly did monitor the whole thing as you mentioned.” She retorted, knowing her performance would be reviewed. “Now, the next test please.”

Chapter 124 - Dramatis Personae

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

The orb of light led Karna to another testing site. This seemed to be one of the array arenas she’d been to before during the magic test. To her surprise, the instructor in charge of this test simply activated the array and entered it with her without even a word. “Recruit Wrath, reporting for testing.” She declared firmly as the instructor looked her way.

“At ease recruit.” The female instructor with a naga-like lower half replied. “I can sense you are an Aura user. This test is to determine the usefulness of your Aura abilities to transform into a magical beast. While this array has been arranged mostly for testing purposes and secrecy, you should know that you won’t likely be able to hide any other form for very long so you might as well take this chance to reveal what you have so we might best utilize your abilities. You can transform now.”

“I have more than one form.” She reported without moving.

"The most powerful one will suffice." The instructor clarified.

“Most powerful in what sense? I’m not being difficult on purpose ma’am; the different forms are simply more powerful in different situations.” She had to point out again. “I would prefer more specific instructions.”

“Let’s say a generalist situation against a large number of varied enemies. Our Aura users are most often used as shock troops to disrupt enemy formations, so one that isn’t strictly for speed or magical support.” The instructor had become curious instead of impatient, which showed she was well suited for her position.

“I think I have just the thing in mind.” Karna smiled a bit inside her helmet before transforming.

------

“Good timing General. The Princess just entered the Aura test.” One of the officers stationed in the observatory that showed feeds from all the testing sites reported as Augustine entered.

"What's the fuss? We all know she's going to turn into either a phoenix or a titan." The general downplayed it a bit. He was just as curious as the others, but it would've been unbecoming to act so excitedly. He'd just come out from a meeting with some higher-ups wanting to influence things at his training center. He'd shot them all down of course. Unsurprisingly, most of it revolved around Princess Ynnead.

“Maybe. But we haven’t seen a real high-purity version of either show up during the tests for a while. Even the last prince just showed us a deviating bloodline.” The same officer grinned in excitement. “Besides, she’s been acing all her other tests and absolutely crushed the magic ones, so I’m sure I’ll be forgiven for having my expectations quite high.”

“Well, let’s see what she’ll show us.” Augustus looked at the screen showing what they were all here for. “I’m still saying it’ll just be your standard phoen--…” An enormous being covered in white metallic scales suddenly seemed to fill the entire array space which hastily expanded to compensate. They could see the creature had three pairs of long curved horns that looked just like a crown, while a glowing orb that looked like a small star nestled in the middle between the horns shined a bright light that almost blinded everyone. “—what the bloody fuck is that?”

“I believe that’s a dragon.” The officer replied dumbly and earned a smack at the back of his head.

“I can bloody see that you ass. That’s not just a white dragon, is it? I’m pretty bloody sure that’s a metallic dragon of sorts. But I’m also pretty sure there are no Celestium Dragons!” The general stated annoyed at his subordinate.

“And yet…” The officer gestured at the screen that had trouble displaying the enormous size of the beast.

“Sir, I believe that’s a Stellar Dragon. See the stardust being scattered into its surroundings?” One of the other officers stationed in the observatory suggested. The officer was one of the few devils present in the facility. As one of the few truly neutral forces, the devils often held positions in supposedly neutral organizations like the Host’s training center.

"No, I don't see, because the screen can't even show her full image!" The general responded angrily. "I thought her father was supposed to be from House Titannica?" The general himself was a member of one of the minor houses, which was why he was considered a relatively neutral force and given control over the training of their young. Even though he wasn’t personally mixed up in the upcoming shitstorm, he was the one who would have to deal with it. “Divines damn it, the House of Dragons will be going apeshit over this.”

The House that represented the dragons was a bit of an oddity in that they'd never settled on a single name. The Dragons were proud of their nature and didn't want to give in to the suggestions of other dragons. That’s why it was called by many names, like House Draconis, House Pendragon, House of Dragons, and many more. Some names were less flattering than others, such as the Pit of Snakes, or the Hoard of the Greedy Lizards.

“Sir, she suggested that she had multiple forms to turn into when instructed to transform. You might have not heard that part when you were talking earlier.” The same devil supplied.

“Have her turn into any others she might possess quickly." The general ordered, and they heard on the screen as the instructor ordered Karna to assume her other possible forms. They were all treated to a real cavalcade of wonders as she cycled through all her forms in turns. The good news was that the expected titan and phoenix were among the list, and at very high purity of the bloodlines, which would reduce the severity of the shitstorms somewhat.

"Divines. She has the form of multiple beasts of the Apocalypse." The general covered his face, before a spark suddenly entered his eyes. "We can use this. She'll make a perfect member of our shock troops. They're called beasts of Apocalypse for a bloody reason. Well, let her apocalypse some of our enemies.”

“With respect sir, her results in the magic tests might be even better. She literally broke the array used for testing.” The original officer pointed out.

“Trained as a part of the magic corps, while being used as the occasional secret weapon? Sir.” The devil suggested.

There was a reason Aura users like Karna were used as shock troops and secret weapons. Even if two beings were both at the same rank, that didn’t mean they were equally powerful. A dragon immortal was naturally much stronger and more dangerous than a human immortal. This gap could be bridged with skills, equipment, and various other factors, but the body of a dragon that had reached immortality was simply stronger than that of a human, even if both were reinforced with magic or Qi. Magic and the other powers were in the end force multipliers, and the baseline being multiplied would always matter. One also had to consider the difference in size. Someone larger wasn’t automatically stronger than someone smaller, and being large came with its disadvantages as well, but in general, if a big object and a small object collided, the bigger would win just due to sheer mass.

You also couldn't argue the fact that each of Karna's scales when in dragon form were larger than entire suits of armor worn by humans, and each scale was made of pure Celestium. The protection that provided would invalidate nearly all attacks, even without considering the natural magic resistance of dragons. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that a dragon immortal was fully capable of facing dozens of human immortals unless the humans specialized in fighting dragons. That was also one of the reasons the House of Dragons and House Titannica were so powerful, as their forms were so well suited to battle.

“What about the other recruits? I’ve already heard something about several promising candidates.” Augustine moved on while still mulling over the implications and the possible applications of the kind of power Karna’s forms suggested. It wasn't common for a fresh immortal to be able to turn around a battle similar to a rank 12 or 13 beings, but it happened on occasion.

“That’s the great news.” The first officer replied with a happy face. “We expected some of it, but the quality of the new recruits exceeded even our most hopeful expectations.” He instructed the devil. “Pull up the list.”

A row of illusory images floated above the round central table of the observatory. A series of what were essentially mugshots were accompanied by the known information of each recruit presented, along with their results. "We seem to be getting especially good results from the magic tests. The holy knights and warriors are also doing well, but not to the same extent."

Four images separated from the crowd. “Keeping in mind that the average results are already exceptionally high, these are the biggest magical standouts. Two of them were expected. Marius already told us to be wary of them, as they’re the companions of the Princess. These two go under the Names Envy and Hope.” The emphasis on the word Name was clear. “Both scored extremely high on the magic tests, to the point where I think they would’ve scored even better if the arrays had managed to keep up.”

“Why is the appearance of this one obscured?” General pointed at Hope, whose image was distorted. Most of the images were captured during the waiting period or during enlistment.

"We don't actually know what she looks like sir." The devil reported. "She is always under heavy illusions, and we aren't even sure what race she is from. Even our true-sight spells seem to be ineffective.”

“We could use her as an infiltrator. Assuming she isn’t one already.” The general immediately realized the possibilities. If the being could hide from them, then she could hide from the enemy as well. And perhaps more importantly, she could work for the part of the Host that maintained order internally.

“We can still train her as an infiltrator even if her motives are questionable for now. She also seems to be a bit of a generalist mage. Unlike Envy, who’s more of a battle magician, she’s more well-rounded. Since we’re a bit short on support magicians, I suggest using her in that capacity unless we’re sending her on clandestine missions. An odd skillset for one whose Name is Hope, I must say.” The officer suggested.

“The other two are not related to the princess as far as we know, although one of them reported their Name as Wisdom, which suggests there might be some connection.” The Devil moved on after making a note. “He’s also a well-rounded mage, and as his Name implies, his grasp on theory is spectacular. Countering magic seems to be his forte as you might expect.”

“Always a use for more of his kind.” The general nodded. “We can keep an eye on him to figure out his associations.”

“The last one didn’t register under a True Name. They’re an angel actually.” The officer said carefully. They were unsure why one of their kind would be here. “Anyway, there are plenty more skilled mages, but these simply stood out the most. The rest may have been sandbagging though. I noticed members from many of the bigger houses among the recruits.”

“We’ll see how long they can keep it up. Sooner or later they will be shamed into showing their true colors. What about the other areas?” The general moved on, memorizing the biggest standouts for now.

“Well, the biggest other outlier was among the warriors. We have a young Kensei among us. An Oni at that. She’s a powerful one too. Her scores were the closest with the Princess, even beating her in a few of the tests. We certainly haven’t seen the full extent of her abilities yet.” The officer pulled out another image, soon joined by five others. “Then there were the three brothers from the Golden Order, and the Royal House sent a scion of one of their branch families. They all showed off their skills to a reasonable extent. We also have a Leonin that goes by Ashanti Goldmane who couldn’t quite hide his skill despite trying to keep a low profile. Really, we have a glut of powerful warriors in this batch, even if their skills aren’t obvious yet in all cases.”

"As for the holy side of things, the Princess' last companion, Valor seems to have powers tailor-made for leading armies, capable of buffing everyone under him. We had what appears to be a Valkyrie by the Name of Saint with similar qualities. Both Ascended only recently, so they have a lot of room to grow. The temples have also sent their usual share of clerics and Holy Knights, as have the clans and houses focused on divine powers.” The devil added.

“For other Aura users, we have two more dragons, five wyrms, a phoenix, three titans, a chimera, a behemoth, a thunderbird, several canine and avian types, and a few dozen holders of bloodlines that can’t transform. As for how many hidden magical beasts we have among us, we can’t say for sure, but we estimate at least hundreds.” A third officer pulled out another list of images. Every year they had a large number of magical beasts enlist, but most decided to hide their nature for various reasons. Being used as shock troops was dangerous, among other reasons.

"Well then. Looks like we have a lot of material to work with. Now we need to manage them so that politics won't end up causing problems." General Augustine ordered in a firm voice. Every incoming group of recruits harbored ideas about the nature of politics in the Host, and every time the Host had to beat those ideas out of the newbies. "Let's start sorting these bastards into the training regimes that best suit them."

------

“…and this is the manufactory of the training center. It’s not the largest the Host has of course, as there’s no point in putting all the eggs in a single basket, but it’s enough for the standards of the recruits and trainees.” The older trainee leading their group around explained.

Karna had gathered her companions after the tests finished. The older recruits were instructing them on the facilities and the practices they would need to know about. “All the gear used by those trained here is made here, and the place also supplies the Host with weapons and armor when the main artificers are too busy.”

The manufactory was a rather large collection of workstations, all the way from smithies and rather futuristic looking tooling stations to alchemical stations and delicate looking devices similar to the one Karna had seen in Arjuna’s tower. Hundreds of artificers were constantly working on equipment, casually using materials that would've been considered priceless treasures on the other planes. "Now here's the question: any of you have any skill when it comes to the crafting side of things?" The older trainee asked.

Valor, Hope, and Envy all at once pointed at Karna. As reincarnators, they certainly knew their way around a smithy, with the exception of Hope who avoided it on purpose, but they were quite happy to leave such things to much more skilled hands. “Princess? You have crafting skills?” The trainee confirmed, a little surprised.

“I made our armors.” She replied simply.

"Well, then you might be interested in the rules of this place. Simply put, you're allowed to work your craft here, but everything you make must be for either personal use or the use of those in the Host. That means active use, and not just some nebulous future use. Materials are made available, but you’re expected to compensate for the materials by working on communal projects, such as making armor and weapons for the new recruits. That’s actually the main project most help with. Any work done will be checked by the Forgemaster. If you do particularly good work, you might get special orders from the Host and even gain access to materials only available in the primary forge of the Host.”

As the Host was the primary defensive force against any threats, as well as the force in charge of keeping order, they got a certain percentage of all materials produced by the various worlds of the planes. The Great Houses also had certain materials only they could produce or procure, which they traded to the Host for various reasons. Only certain rare materials that even True Gods would desire were unavailable for the Host, as only the most powerful individuals possessed those.

“I’ll be sure to take advantage of the opportunity.” Now that they had reached the Divine Planes, it was time for her to focus on creating her primary weapon and various other items of importance. Access to materials was one of the reasons they’d chosen to enlist, even if it wasn’t very high on their list of priorities.

“See that you do.” The gruff voice of a Saaurian smith interjected. “I can see that you’ve done good work with those armors. You’ve managed to hide most of the things that make them unique, but you can’t hide the fine craftsmanship.”

“Assistant-Forgemaster!” The trainee leading them around hastily made a salute, prompting the rest of them to copy him.

"None of that hogwash in my forge. Tell me, Princess, do your skills at crafting go outside just forging? Are you skilled in other forms of crafting?" The Saaurian questioned.

“I’m well-versed in all forms of crafting.” She responded confidently.

“Good.” The Saaurian grunted. “We have enough people that can swing a hammer, although we’ll never turn away another talent, but we’re sorely lacking in the more artful fields. Hard to find a proper enchanter, jewelcrafter, or a tailor. I have no idea why everyone thinks proper artifice is just about hammering pieces of metal together or cackling over a cauldron like a witch making pills.”

"Well, if it's skill with a needle you desire, Envy here is even better than me." Karna grinned inside her helmet as she threw Envy under the bus, and then proceeded to do the same to Hope. "And while Hope here isn't much of a crafter otherwise, she can make for a mean cackling witch. If you need another that is."

While she distracted the Saaurian with her friends, she was already looking over the place. It wasn’t quite optimal for what she had planned, but if she could borrow materials from here, she could use her tower as a forge. They probably wouldn’t mind. After all, she was about to create certain things that even the most powerful Divines would drool over. Even if she had the level of skill required to make miracles out of lesser materials, when she did have access to good materials, she could do even more. Perhaps it was time to add to the number of sacred artifacts of this universe. Her old ones likely were already in use by others, if they still existed.

Chapter 125 - Corps

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. A glimpse into their training. I haven't yet decided how much time I'll spend on it, but it didn't feel right to skip it entirely. We'll have more snippets, but I'm not sure how many. We'll see. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

”You’re all immortals with enough magic ability to be assigned to the mage corps, so I won’t need to teach you how to cast a bloody fireball! Or at least I better damn well shouldn’t have to!” The instructor told them using a voice that was familiar to everyone who had served in some kind of army at one point or another. It was the voice used by every drill sergeant ever in every reality and universe. “What you’ll be learning during the lessons for the mage corps is to work as a team! Some of you fuckers are savants when it comes to dealing death as battle mages but know nothing when it comes to working together because you’ve never had to!”

The number of potential mages for the mage corps was surprisingly large at almost four hundred. Mages were always more rare than the various warrior types, and having almost four hundred mages in a group of ten thousand recruits was a good haul, especially since they were all mages with enough ability to become immortal on the power of their magic instead of just dabbling. These were also all mages of the offensive and defensive magic type, and not those that focused on support or more niche types of magical abilities like magical warriors or artisans.

“There are four main types of activities you’ll be involved in as mages of the Host. The first is solo missions, which for mages are much rarer than the warrior types. The Host usually likes to send at least a few warriors to watch every mage’s back when they go on the field. That said, these types of missions offer you the most freedom in how you go about accomplishing your magical objectives. However, even for solo missions, we expect every Host mage to be able to accomplish certain things in certain ways. Communication is the most obvious of these, but far from the only one. You will also be trained in certain types of tactics, so that if and when we have to send reinforcements to you, they will know what to expect from you.” The instructor continued.

“Second type of mission has you act in small squads. Squads vary in size a bit depending on the objective and the type of squad, but expect anything from five to twenty people operating in a squad. When in a squad, you need to learn how to act like a squad worthy of the Host, and we’ll be spending a lot of time drilling you pumpkins on small group tactics. When shit goes down, everyone in the squad needs to know how you will react without spending time communicating your plans. This will be essential in situations when you are caught off-guard. And as the squad’s mage, certain kinds of magic will be expected of you. Still, you will have a fair bit of freedom, assuming your squad knows your preferred spells and reactive magic.” It might have been a little difficult to take the instructor seriously as he was barely tall enough to reach the waist of most of the gathered people. Kobolds were not the most common race to reach immortality, but no one was willing to look down on this man.

“The third type is an extension of the second, where more than one squad joins together to tackle a larger enemy, or a situation too difficult for a single squad to handle. Similar to the fourth type, which is being part of an army, the spells you are expected to use and when are rather strictly defined because the leaders of armies and large groups can’t be expected to learn the peculiarities of every two-bit mage that thinks they know better. In both of these kinds of missions, you are going to use the spells we tell you to use, when we tell you to use them, and in the way we tell you."

The instructor looked firmly down at them from his podium. "This will be the hardest part for you as you are used to doing things the way you either want or have been taught. We can’t afford solo acts in battles between armies. Even if your individual power would allow you to do more, you will have to abide by the commands of your leaders, until and unless given the command to let loose. Usually, at that point, the battle has turned into a mess already anyway. I’m seeing a lot of confused looks, so let me give you an example. Some of you are much faster at casting spells than others. That’s all well and good until you realize that a bombardment from an army with a mage battalion is much more effective when it's simultaneous. That way the enemy won’t get the chance to counter your spells one at a time, and they have to deal with the entire barrage at the same time instead. That means, some of you fuckers will need to learn how to cast faster, and other will need to learn to hold your fire until the slower members of your unit can get to it. On the flip side, you will learn how to utilize your casting speed to keep up a constant barrage of spells as well, which will utilize that part of your strength, as these kinds of barrages are often used to keep the enemy on the defensive.”

The instructor glanced over them again, looking everyone in the front rank in the eye. Incidentally, the front rank held those that had gotten the best scores. “On the defensive, you will learn how to erect magical barriers in a way that you will be responsible for maintaining a particular section of the barrier. Here it is important for the strongest among you to learn to compensate for the times when your weaker allies are overwhelmed and can’t maintain their section anymore. In such cases, you will learn to quickly subsume their portion of the barrier into your own. Keep this in mind. You’re part of an army now. Not. Individual. Acts. You will learn to behave like a member of an army. This will take time and effort, and you will be frustrated. That is normal. What we will not tolerate is lashing out at your allies. You’re part of the Host. Everyone around you now will be your ally while in the Host. We will not tolerate politicking, bullying, backstabbing, or sabotage. Anyone caught in any such act will find themselves on the receiving end of a swift and brutal punishment.”

The instructor then launched into a lesson about the various spells they were expected to master, and in which situations they would be called for. Since they were all immortal-level mages, they were expected to learn all the required spells quickly, and the idea was that these training situations would be about practicing their use in various situations, and not about learning the spells themselves. Situation after situation would be thrown at them, and they would be expected to handle each situation with the repertoire of spells given. This in turn would help them mentally condition themselves in the use of the spells, instead of reacting with whatever their current favored method was.

Tactics training was more advanced and would be something they would train later. Eventually though, the majority of their time would be spent running drills, so that they would know without thinking what to expect from their allies. Once they had the basic tactics down, the magic corps would combine with the other groups and run drills together, for similar reasons.

It was perhaps inevitable that someone finally crossed the line and allowed their mouth to run during the lessons of the first day. The mockery was mostly driven by politics, and Karna hadn’t even heard the details as she’d been busy running her own exercises, but she certainly got to see the response. She knew the practice area was covered by an observational spell that would allow the instructors to follow everything that was said and happened. That was proven when the diminutive instructor quite literally lashed out at the trainee that had made the infraction. Karna could sense a whip of pure magical power reaching across the entire training field and catching the offender in the face. The female trainee stumbled away and was thrown to the ground with her helmet rolling away. The bleeding wound on her face was glaringly obvious, as was the instructor who floated above all of them and towards the wounded trainee.

“I believe I already told you that harsh punishment awaited those that couldn’t leave their politics and bigotry behind. Every year we give the same rules, and every year there are trainees stupid enough to think we’re not serious.” The instructor now floated above the wounded trainee. “This is your last warning. Next time the punishment will be much worse. Let me make this crystal clear. The unity of the Host is much more important to us than your individual health or even lives. We know it is impossible to completely remove politics from the Host, but we’re damn well going to try.”

The wound on the trainee's face looked ugly and painful, but it would heal even without intervention from healers. Immortals were a lot hardier than beings of lower rank, and that didn’t just mean that they stopped aging. Any immortal would be naturally a lot sturdier and could both survive and recover from wounds that would easily kill lesser beings. The specific degree of survivability depended on the particular immortal and their abilities, but it wasn’t uncommon for immortals to survive being bisected and as long as they survived, a healer would be able to put them back together.

“As a lesson, you will be forbidden to seek healing for your wound for the period of five days. If another trainee takes pity on you, that’s their business, but you are not allowed to seek out for such help.” The instructor declared.

------

“Welcome to the shock troops of the Host!” A man with obvious titan heritage greeted Karna and the other trainees as they arrived. Unlike during the magic corps training, Karna was the only one of her allies to participate, and there were very few others in general. There were less than fifty trainees, and even that was something that had surprised the trainers positively.

“You’ve all been brought to this group either because of your heritage, or because you’ve been lucky enough to cultivate a bloodline to an extent that allows for transformation. Do not be mistaken. There are a lot more magical beasts and beings among the new trainees, and our group will grow as these beings are discovered. Why do the proud dragons and phoenixes tuck their tails and hide their feathers, I hear you ask? Because being in the shock troops is dangerous. If there is a stalemate in a battle, it is often our duty to go in and break the enemy lines. That is what shock troops do. But that also makes us targets. And there’s only so much focused attention even a dragon can survive. At least that’s the image everyone outside the Host has. Are they correct? To an extent. It is true that the survivability of shock troops in large-scale battles is lower than average, and we tend to go out in a spectacular fashion. However, the Host is not in the habit of throwing away lives. Especially lives as important as ours. Make no mistake, we are the elites of the entire Host!" The instructor lifted his metallic fist in a rousing gesture, though didn’t get a response, mainly because the trainees weren’t entirely sure if they should be responding.

“Eh, you’ll get into the spirit eventually. Along with danger comes rewards. We usually get our pick when it comes to assignments and rewards. Oh yes, I see that caught your attention. Has no one explained the benefits yet? That’s the reason many of you joined, is it not? The Host is a source of resources and information. Stuck at a cultivation bottleneck because the lower planes didn’t teach you to purify your powers properly? We can help you with that. Need a particular pill to say, cure a loved one? Can be arranged. These and a thousand other wishes. But you have to earn them. And the shock troops are the quickest way to earn them. As I said, we are put at risk, and the Host wants to make sure we come out alive on the other side.” The difference in trainers was rather obvious. It was obvious that this trainer believed what he was saying, and his style was completely different from the previous one.

"As you are all experts in your own forms and know better what you can and can’t do, we will not be handling that during training. What we will be doing is figuring out how your forms can best be utilized, and some ideas for army battles when it comes to staying alive. We naturally have had almost every sort of being in the Host before, so we have a lot of experience in getting the best out of everyone’s abilities. Unlike many other groups, the shock troops are not about us telling you what to do, but a collaborative effort to come up with ideas and methods. We will also go over what we expect from you, when, and how that will be communicated.” The instructor started to move into further details, and the rest of the lesson was all about going over some of the most common examples of how the shock troops had been used in the past.

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“So, how was your first week?” Envy asked Hope and Valor.

“Mostly going over the basics. They’re covering all their bases and making sure everyone is up to speed. On the positive side, I’m surprised at the pace at which we’re moving forward. Of course, all the trainees are immortal, so you’d expect that they can absorb the basics quickly, assuming they don’t know already.” Valor summarized. He could appreciate the training methods that had been honed over countless years. “I suppose it’s good that they’re being thorough, even if it does make things a little boring for those like us. In slightly more exciting news, I ran into our old friend Saint.”

“Ah, the one who was part of the attack against us on the Higher Planes.” Envy nodded. “I take it she wasn’t too thrilled about us being here.”

“That’s putting it mildly. The ones we killed weren’t exactly friends of hers, but they were friendly and could be called acquaintances. She still thinks they were right in attacking us, although she’s perhaps less certain about it now. She did at least some research on her own, and while we weren’t shown in a very negative light, we weren’t exactly shown as saints either. Pun intended.” The holy warrior explained with a grimace. “Anyway, the fact that I’m Valor saves me from most of her ire, and she’s intelligent enough to not make trouble during the lessons as that would only wind up earning her a punishment, I’m pretty sure she’ll take any opportunity to create trouble for us in the future. As her Name implies, she’s not really the sort of person to spread malicious gossip, but we should keep her in mind just in case.”

“Well, the espionage training was a lot less dull in comparison. They started us off with the basics of infiltration, but we quickly moved on to more practical lessons. They had us infiltrate guarded positions yesterday, and the day before we had information gathering tests. Those were fun. We get to critique each other’s methods and exchange ideas. It’s a good environment.” Hope added her own response to the original question.

“The shock troopers are a similar case. A lot less regimented and a lot more interaction. Also helps that I got to smack around virtual enemies and even two smaller dragons.” Karna snickered a bit at the memory of showing two dragon brothers that had quickly submitted to her power.

“Ah yes, the monster den. A lot more interesting than the scout training, I’m sure.” Envy had been enrolled both in the standard forces of the Host in addition to her magic corps training. Specifically, she had been made a scout and a ranger, which suited her skills well.

“Seen anyone as interesting as Saint?” Karna probed. They had to be on the lookout for other reincarnators.

“Not yet. I’m sure there are plenty, but the warriors are split into smaller groups due to the sheer number of trainees. The scouts are trained separately. I’ve heard rumors though. It appears there’s a Kensei among the newcomers. I wonder who that could be?” Envy asked in a slightly sing-song voice.

Karna grimaced a bit. “I heard the same. What are the odds of another female Kensei appearing at the same time?”

“Not very high.” Valor stated bluntly.

"Between slim and none," Hope added.

“Just give it up. You’re scheduled for a rematch. Better get cracking on that new weapon you spoke of.” Envy teased.

“The materials I requested should arrive tomorrow. Perfect timing as we’ll get two days off for independent training anyway.” Karna said while making plans already. Two days would be cutting it close when it came to crafting something worthy, but luckily her plan consisted of multiple steps that didn’t all need to be completed at once.

She also had an advantage when it came to materials. Celestium, scales of a very powerful dragon, and the blood of various beasts were all among the best crafting materials imaginable, and she just so happened to have access to all of those naturally. Dragons shed scales naturally, so she didn’t need to go plucking any for her use. She’d been storing the required materials ever since she had gained immortality, and the quality of all of them had naturally reached a new level. She also had some materials stored from their exploration during the Expansion. That didn’t mean she had all the materials she needed, but at least she didn’t need to order the core materials from the Host, just the supporting ones. She would need all of them and more eventually, however, she could take the first steps now.

Chapter 126 - Creation

A note from Vihyungrang

I'll likely be at work when this chapter is released, so I won't be able to make corrections immediately. Also, if something borks with the scheduler again, then I won't be there to release it manually. Let's hope things work out though. I hope you'll enjoy!

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Karna drew a deep breath while gazing at the clear night sky above. Unerring focus would be required to get the best result, so she had spent some time centering herself. The materials for her crafting project were arrayed in front of her within quick reach but still separated by magical forcefields that would stop any accidental contamination. She knew her allies were spread around her tower in a defensive formation, just to make sure she wouldn't be disturbed. It was considered the height of rudeness to disturb an artificer in the middle of their crafting, but she'd be drawing a lot of attention very soon, so it was important to be prepared. The Forgemaster and the others at the manufactory would also help keep others away out of pure principle, but she’d given Zuellni the freedom to open fire if anyone managed to slip through.

Still, Zuellni wasn’t going to be focusing on defense, as the tower spirit and the tower were more focused on enabling her crafting. The tower would draw in power from the surroundings, and Karna would even tap into the grand formation if the plan went well. “Gem, you know the drill.” She extended her hand in expectation, and the spirit transformed into an ornate hammer that would’ve made any smith drool.

She took the first pieces of material she would be working on, a large chunk of dark blue metal and a long pole she’d created from one of her scales. The Celestium glittered in the starlight, reflecting the heavenly bodies above while absorbing the power they radiated. She drew heavily on the element the titans were so famed for, and the power of thunder and lightning channeled through her and into the hammer in her hand as she brought it down on the chunk of metal. The strike sent small waves through the divine power ever-present even in this pocket dimension, and some of that power was channeled through the hammer as well, and into the metal. Her hand came down again, and the waves she made were just a smidgen larger and extended further.

Hammer strike after hammer strike landed on the metal that stubbornly resisted every attempt to shape it. Yet every strike echoed a little louder and a little further, and the metal ever so slowly started giving away. Storm clouds started forming above the tower, which was floating above the manufactory itself, as the elemental power responded to her forging. Soon her strikes slowed down as every time she lifted the hammer, a thick stream of lightning descended from the clouds and landed on her hammer, and the subsequent hammer strike channeled the power into the metal she was forging.

The waves of divine power were starting to get noticed all over the pocket dimension as more and more was channeled with her every strike, and the powerful beings cast their senses in her direction, their curiosities piqued. It wasn’t too odd for the forging of the manufactory to be felt by others, but everyone could sense that something a little different was happening this time. Even though they could already sense the waves, they were still growing and they could all sense that this was only the beginning.

Most of the time crafting was all about forming the item out of chosen materials and then applying your chosen enchantments on the formed product. Things were a little different when creating truly powerful items. For true artifacts, the forging itself was secondary to forcing the requisite power inside the object being created, and that power then gave the artifact its strength. The problem was, unless the crafter was very good, the effects were somewhat random. The better the artificer, the more control they had over the process and the more power they could forge into the object. The materials themselves acted more as containers. The better your container, and the more skilled the being creating the item, the more power the container could hold. That’s partially what separated true grandmasters in the art of crafting from just the masters, as they could instill a great power into a container made of lesser materials.

In this case as well, while the metal she was using was resisting her efforts heroically, the forging process itself was relatively simple. The weapon she was making wasn’t all that complicated after all. The real skill was in controlling the vast amounts of power she was forcing inside the weapon. The metal was forced into the shape of a rectangle that flared wider at both ends, a very classic shape for the head of a hammer, though this one was created for war and not for forging like the one she was swinging now.

The waves of divine power were now being felt even outside the pocket dimension, and they had also gained a sense of dimensional power in addition to thunder and lightning. Yet the forging continued. When the metal hammerhead seemed to reach the extent of the power it could handle, the Celestium pole slipped into the hole she had already punched into the metal just for this purpose, and suddenly the capacity of power the weapon could hold multiplied.

The strikes of lightning every time she lifted her hammer had become entire forests of lightning strikes and they all seemed to converge on her hammer. She allowed her Domain to expand just enough to cover her workshop, and she ever so carefully tapped into the grand formation, very gently coaxing a minor fraction of the power channeled there to be available for her use. The waves of divine power suddenly jumped in strength and size, and suddenly they were felt inside the realms of the gods, who suddenly got just as interested. So far, none of them had interfered, but they were paying attention.

Strike after strike fell on the forming weapon, and Karna could feel it gaining divinity, but she was far from done. Immortals loved to categorize things. Items with divinity were normally categorized into nine levels. The first three were the standard divine items that trickled down to be used by even standard immortals. A few even fell into the Higher Planes during the events known as Heavensfall. The next three were considered artifacts, and these were usually the items only created and used by gods. They were rare, but not so rare that they were impossible to acquire if one put their effort into it. The seventh rank items were the start of what would be called the sacred items. Usually, only True Gods had them, and only a single one, which usually became their symbol. The scythe of a God of Death. A lyre of a God of Music. Eighth rank items were something only the most powerful True Gods possessed, and usually only those with powerful Divinities. Rank nine were the sort of sacred artifacts that became the cause for wars between gods, and only a very small handful of them existed in the deepest vaults of the most powerful houses.

The strikes continued and as the materials finally reached their limit, Karna lifted her hammer one last time. Instead of quickly striking down, a veritable vortex of energy formed above the crafting instrument. The power became so thick that it started to coalesce first into liquid, and then into solid form, forming a gemstone under the pressure. She then gently guided the newly created stone to the butt of the hammer, where it fit right into what looked like claws grasping it into place, making it into a pommel of sorts. The blue gem flashed one last time before it connected with the rest of the weapon.

The power within the weapon fluctuated before settling down into the range that would have others classify it as a rank eight sacred item. She was happy with her work and started adding the finishing touches and decorations, including intricate carvings and gold embossing. Just because the main work was done, that didn't mean she would be happy with an unadorned weapon. Aesthetics mattered, and a weapon of this power required suitable looks.

The creation of such an artifact caused a stir among the gods. Items of such rank were extremely rare. Rare enough that many gods would happily kill to acquire it. However, they were less willing to just barge into a base controlled by the Host to do it. Especially now that all the other gods would be paying attention and might interfere. Had the item been a rank nine sacred artifact, such considerations would’ve been thrown aside and ignored, as the gods would’ve been prepared to go to war over it. They also considered that anyone capable of creating an item like this once might be able to do so again. Stealing from such a person might be detrimental because the artificer might decide to take revenge by arming their enemies. On the other hand, trade was always an option…

That was also one of the reasons why Karna had been satisfied with “just” a rank eight weapon. She knew going further would’ve only created trouble, even if she was capable of holding on to the weapon. Instead, this opened more doors instead of closing them. The creation of rank nine items also wasn't that simple. The materials were fine, but even she would need a lot more preparation and time to reach the pinnacle of item creation. Creating something of the ninth rank, or above, would take years instead of the hours this work had taken. Besides, she wasn’t finished.

She reached deep within her soul and brought out the item that traveled with her between her lives. Anyone witnessing it wouldn’t have paid it any attention. In her hand was a simple unassuming sheath for a slightly curved sword. The sheath looked like it had been made of black lacquered wood and had been decorated with gold leaf filigree. Most notably, the sheath was empty. There was no power radiating from it, and even if someone with eyes and senses as sharp as hers studied it, they'd think it was just a sheath. Yet at the same time, it was the most important, powerful, and most of all useful item she'd ever created. Sometimes the biggest benefits were not obvious.

She gestured towards the newly created weapon with the sheath, and the weapon seemed to turn into smoke before being sucked inside the sheath. As if due to an afterthought, she also pulled out the gauntlets that she’d been using before this, and the gauntlets disappeared in the same way. With a small secretive smile, she twirled the sheath before it disappeared somewhere no one would ever be able to find or access.

Then she looked around her workshop. She had only used a small portion of the materials she had prepared. There was a lot more work to be done. More items would be created shortly, and all of them would find a home in the same place the war hammer and gauntlets had.

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The entirety of the Divine Planes had been given a shock during those few days. The creation of even a single rank eight items was a large enough feat that it echoed across the planes, but someone had created two such items and a rank seven in a row. Items that thus far had only been the domain of the most powerful True Gods had suddenly been created like they were something easy to produce. Such weapons were not a small deal. Even one was enough to disturb the balance of a battle between some of the most powerful beings in the universe. The fact that someone was able to create them continuously was disturbing, to say the least.

Naturally, by the time the second item had been created, there had been plenty of observers trying to get a better idea of what was going on. There was also a decent case to be made that the reason the third item had only been a rank seven one was due to the presence of these observers disturbing the creators. Whether that was true or not was left unconfirmed, but the Forgemaster of the manufactory had clearly been displeased enough with these pests that no information had been released.

Not that such releases were necessarily required. The tower floating above the manufactory was rather obvious, and enough people could connect the tower with Princess Ynnead to allow conclusions to be drawn. Either she was the creator, or one of her companions was. Oddly though, once she exited the tower, none of the newly created items could be sensed on her person. The tower having been made of Blackstone blocked all attempts to sense what was inside, but even the seers and scryers couldn’t locate the items. Items of such power were difficult to hide, even with the assistance of something like Blackstone. That in turn made it even more difficult for anyone planning on stealing the newly created items.

“You made a mess again.” Envy commented. “I’ve always known you don’t do things halfway, but now you’re just showing off.”

“Hardly. There are other artisans capable of doing the same on the Divine Planes. Granted, I can do it faster than most, but that doesn’t mean others can’t do it. Heck, I’m pretty sure you could do it too:” Karna argued back.

“If you say so.” Envy smiled a bit mysteriously. “Now show it off. I know you made a weapon for yourself. You won’t be able to hide it for long anyway.”

Wordlessly, Karna summoned the war hammer she'd created first. For some reason, the weapon didn't radiate any of the power they both knew it possessed. The handle of the hammer was long enough that it could almost be called a halberd. Lightning seemed to be crackling around the head of the hammer almost constantly, and the gem at the pommel shined with a dangerous light. Envy gave a small whistle, and with Karna's permission, gave the weapon a small twirl. It seemed almost weightless in her hands.

“Control over thunder and lightning, as expected. Fitting for a titan. It can freely control its mass and momentum, can't it?" She looked toward Karna. "I'm pretty sure I could flatten an entire city with just a swing if I tried. And those are just the most obvious features."

“So far so good.” Karna nodded, confirming Envy’s suspicions.

"Why a hammer though? I've always thought your style to be more elegant and control-focused."

“War hammers are misunderstood. There’s no reason you can’t use one in a more elegant fashion. However, you’re correct. This one was created for a purpose. My current cultivation emphasizes speed, power, and fortitude. Sometimes taking the direct approach is the best. Why bother engaging in a dragged-out fight of skill when you can just overpower your enemies? I’d like to see someone try blocking this with a sword or a spear. Many of our future enemies will also be focused heavily on defense, and I wanted something that can take care of that. This is for bludgeoning my way through most trouble. Besides, I may have made something else for the times where elegance and control are required." Karna revealed.

“I noticed. And I believe so did the entire Divine Planes. Three items at that. Why one weaker though? Did the audience mess things up for you?” Envy asked, knowing it was unlikely.

“No. The third item was simply too small to hold as much power. Besides, it doesn’t make a difference. That one was created for a different reason entirely.” Karna confirmed her old rival’s suspicion. “Though to be fair, I was getting a little tired at the end, so creating a third item of eight rank would’ve been pushing things a bit anyway.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be so easily swayed. Still, you’ve once again made yourself the center of attention. Now everyone is aware of you.” Envy pointed out.

“That was sort of the point. We came to the Host to make a name for ourselves. Battle isn’t the only way to achieve that. I’ll likely get some orders from desperate True Gods in the future, and it will be useful to have some gods owe us some favors. Besides, making it as blatant as I did also makes it less likely someone will do something sneaky as everyone will be paying attention now.” Karna explained her reasoning.

“You could’ve gone straight for a rank nine item if that was your goal.” Envy pointed out.

“I didn’t want to incite a war just yet. Besides, all in good time.” She certainly wasn’t going to admit she’d already almost accomplished that. That was the thing about the sheath. It didn’t just hide items she fed to it. It combined them. The weapons she’d fed to it weren’t quite enough yet, but she’d get there soon enough.

Chapter 127 - Team Omega

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. 7-day work week, so this is a wee bit shorter than standard, but at least I got it out. I hope you'll enjoy!

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”This is such bullshit!” Another trainee exclaimed. His outburst wasn’t the only one of its kind, as similar sentiments had already been expressed several times just today, and the phenomenon had existed for years now. “How is any team supposed to dislodge Omega when their King can solo entire teams by herself!”

“Have you considered using tactics?” The instructor standing nearby suggested. “That’s kind of the whole point of these exercises.”

“What tactics? No, don’t avoid the question. You’re the instructor. What tactics would you use? The entire Team Omega is made up of monsters. How are you supposed to outwit a team when every single member of their team is worth several of yours? How would you, an instructor, out-tactic a King that can just overpower any attempts to subdue them?” Another trainee complained, garnering a lot of support from everyone around them.

“Use the terrain to your advantage. Lure the rest of the team away, while you gang up on the King. Yes, the Princess is strong, but she’s not unbeatable. Just because you haven’t found a way, that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.” The instructor suggested. “Try competing by going for other objectives if you can’t figure out any other option.”

“Do you think it’s that simple, sir? Do you think we haven’t tried? We even tried to combine the most powerful members of the other teams, and the result was the same. Also, I can’t be the only one that noticed you didn’t give any proper suggestions, sir. You stated obvious things that we were taught on the very first tactics lessons, if someone was uneducated enough to not learn them before even enlisting.” Another trainee retorted.

“We've tried illusions. We’ve tried pretty much every magical element, even at the same time. We even threw two dragons at her, at the same time mind you, and we all know how well that worked.” The one-sided brutalizing that the dragon brothers had received, and not for the first time, was still a source of amusement among the trainees. “Heck, even the older trainees have tried and accomplished nothing. There’s a reason Team Omega is on the top of the standings, and that’s because it’s a bloody unfair team!”

The trainees had rather early on been divided into teams. They had been given the freedom to form their own teams, under the principle that the trainees would learn the value of different kinds of talent when faced with other kinds of teams with more balanced members. Except, for the last three years a single team had dominated all the standings that were used to motivate the trainees to improve themselves. And that team had very little to do with balance, considering that out of the six members, it had four mages. All four mages were also trained in other fields, but it was hard to argue the dominance of the mage corps in the team. And that team had not changed members even once, except to add two new members.

The most annoying thing was that teams were allowed to have up to ten members, yet the team that called themselves 'Omega' only had six. Yet that didn't seem to bother them too much. As soon as the team exercises began, the team shot to the top of the standings, first in their own intake group, and later when they were allowed to join the competition with the older groups, they'd smashed those standings as well. The team exercises were all varied and not just simple group versus group combat, but one rule stayed constant; taking out the 'King' of the opposing group immediately disqualified that group. And ‘Omega’ had not lost their King even once in the last three years.

No matter what kind of exercise they were involved in, team Omega dominated the whole thing. No matter what sort of objective they were handed, no matter how many teams they were stacked up against, team Omega always dominated with seeming ease. One time they had been involved in an exercise that pitted twenty teams against each other, and all the other teams had ganged up against them. The result had been a massacre. Of the allied teams that is. Even the instructors had been flabbergasted as nineteen out of twenty teams had been disqualified on the first day of the exercise, after which the single remaining team completed the exercise with full honors.

Honestly, the instructor was rather sympathetic to the plight of the other trainees, as he too could see no way to defeat team Omega without resorting to something extreme. It was rather outrageous that six rank 10 beings all had Domains and had completed their totems already. Not to mention the fact that they were all also extremely skilled and outrageously powerful for their rank. And they were well-equipped. Princess Ynnead had personally equipped her entire team with items that even gods would envy, so having normal immortals forced to contend with a disparity like that was not exactly an even playing ground.

------

The General listened impatiently as one of the senior instructors gave a report about the growing discontent. "I don't really see the problem." The general finally interrupted. "Our job isn't to maintain the sanctity of the standings but to train effective soldiers for the Host. Sounds like team Omega qualifies as exactly that. If the others are having trouble adjusting, then that sounds like sour grapes and something they'll need to get over. We aren't here to protect their delicate fee-fees."

“Normally I would agree, but it is becoming a bit of a morale issue. The main purpose of the standings is to motivate the trainees to improve themselves, and it has done well in that regard for thousands of years. Now that it has become impossible to reach the top of the standings, the other teams are losing motivation.” A devil officer interjected. “While the problem isn’t something major, it will show up in the results of the other teams over time.”

The general tapped the table they were gathered around with a finger. “Then let’s graduate team Omega.”

“Beg your pardon?” The instructor that had originally brought up the matter asked.

“You heard me. The team is clearly capable enough. Judging by the reports, they’ve already pretty much learned everything they need to learn here. Why keep them here when it’s clearly not necessary? In fact, isn’t it a bit of a waste to keep them here, when they could be doing something useful out there?” The general gestured vaguely around him.

“I concur.” The devil added. “Their team works perfectly well together, and they are already stronger than most of our instructors, and I suspect they haven’t been going all out either. Let’s send them to the Host for assignment. There’s already precedent for early release from training, so we’re on solid ground in that regard as well.”

“Their team is a little imbalanced.” One of the other instructors pointed out. “Before you say it, I’m well aware that they’ve managed to complete all sorts of assignments in training without trouble, but the headquarters will have some trouble sending a team filled with mages on too many missions.”

"They're going to have trouble anyway." The general said dismissively. "The princess has shown her skill as a crafter in these few years, and judging by the number of orders she's getting, the headquarters will find a lot of resistance to the idea of risking her by sending her out on missions. Sounds like their problem and not ours though."

----------

“Another easy victory.” Envy declared with a bored tone. “I wonder how long they’ll keep us here. I would imagine they would’ve gotten the message by now.”

They had been making a show of the whole standings for a reason. They’d long since exhausted any benefit they’d gain from this kind of training. “We should be close now. They can’t keep ignoring the problem for much longer. I’ve seen the disgruntled looks on the faces of the instructors as trainees complain to them.” Valor pointed out.

“You’re quite right. I just got the news.” Karna stated as she entered their usual gathering spot. She’d heard the earlier words. “We’re being assigned to the Host proper, and they should start sending us on missions soon after.”

“Nice. Your plan worked Wisdom. We might have wished it had worked a little quicker, but it worked nonetheless.” Envy nodded towards the relatively non-descript man sitting in the corner of the room. He always liked to sit in corners for some reason.

“The result was inevitable. I did warn you that the plan might take a bit of time, but that it had a very high chance of working.” He adjusted a pair of round glasses. Any immortal could’ve had their eyesight fixed at any point, and they all secretly suspected that the glasses he wore were fake anyway, so it seemed likely they were more of a fashion statement. It did kind of work, as it set him apart from most people. His brown hair suited him well, and his cut was stylish, making him relatively good-looking, though in the Divine Planes he was nothing out of the ordinary.

Wisdom was one of the two new people they had added to their team. The virtue was very knowledgeable as his Name implied, and he was relatively good at planning and coming up with working strategies, even when he had to think on the fly. His skill with magic was also rather extensive, though he was on the younger side when it came to reincarnators with such an important Name, just like Valor. Or at least that’s the impression they’d gotten. He didn’t exactly like to go into deep detail when talking about his past. He was happy to draw on the knowledge and lessons he’d learned, but he considered the past to be in the past. He had stated multiple times that he liked to take every life as an opportunity to start anew. A rather healthy attitude all things considered, at least when compared to some other reincarnators.

“Where’s our stabbier friend?” Karna asked. “I’d rather not have to explain this a second time.

“Where else?” Envy asked with a slightly tired sigh. It was obvious from her words that they all knew where the last member had gone.

“Ah. Training it is.” Karna understood the implications immediately.

"Gotta hand it to her. Her work ethics are something I've rarely seen before." Valor commented. "I thought Wrath was a hard worker, but she's even worse."

"You might as well tell us now. We all know she won't stop training until the next mission, or until you spar with her." Hope added.

“Well, she can find out the details when she can be bothered to grace us with her presence. Anyway, like I already said, we’re being sent to the Host. We’re supposed to report in with the airship Dauntless in two days. The ship will be taking us to our new destination, which wasn’t yet revealed.” She curtly explained.

“I hope they’re not planning on giving us something pointless to do.” Envy muttered.

While the Host was, in certain ways, similar to other armies in universes all over, it was also very different in some regards. The Host was very conscious of the fact that the main troops were all immortals. Even if you had to maintain a certain level of discipline and chain of command, you couldn't really treat immortals like normal privates of other armies. You couldn't assign them to embarrassing and nonsensical duties without a good reason, because you really couldn't afford to humiliate an immortal just because. Especially since some of those immortals would end up becoming gods. The officers might talk tough, and strict discipline sometimes required the administration of certain punishments that might be humiliating. However, those situations were always handled with strict guidelines and the person being punished would always know why it happened. The reason couldn't be just because the commanding officer felt like finding some fault in you. Any officers that tried something like that would quickly find themselves demoted and punished.

“I don’t think we have to worry about that too much. I got the distinct impression that they had some plans for us.” Karna assuaged the worry a bit. “I think I better go find our last member, lest she’ll spend the rest of the day practicing when she should be preparing to leave.”

“Try not to destroy anything important.” Hope, who knew they’d probably end up fighting, shouted after Karna.

As she got close to the practice yard, Karna could see the last member of their team swinging a blade dutifully, always practicing the basics. The Kensei’s form was perfect, and a sight to behold, as she could make even the basic movements look elegant. The Oni Kensei took a couple more swings before turning towards Karna. “You’re here for a reason.”

“Yes. Wisdom’s plan finally worked. We’ll be moving out in two days.” Karna gave the pertinent information, not bothering with details.

“Good. This was getting boring anyway. Join me for a spar?” The Kensei, who didn’t really bother with other names, gestured in invitation.

"Don't mind if I do." Karna agreed easily. Now that they were at a similar level, their spars were much more productive for both of them. Sparring with someone with the Kensei's skill kept her own form sharp.

Karna pulled out a straight one-handed Jian blade with a typical red tassel hanging from the pommel. The blade was something she’d specifically created to fight the Kensei. The two didn't waste any time and clashed immediately. Their fight was almost like a dance, two rivers flowing around each other. While the Kensei tried to control the pace, Karna allowed it, and instead fought like a leaf on the wind, not offering resistance and instead allowing her opponent's strikes to push her, while she diffused all the strength in those blows and flowed around them to strike back at her opponent.

This was a style she'd adopted specifically to fight the Kensei, as it wasn't her usually preferred style. However, it worked perfectly against her current opponent. The Kensei was unable to fully utilize her strengths, which would've annoyed most opponents, but the Kensei took this as an opportunity to improve instead. The two often briefly flared their Domains, the Kensei mostly to utilize her ability to strike at anything within her Domain, while Karna mostly used hers defensively to push away her opponent's Domain.

Due to the nature of their clashing styles, their current fight could last forever, something both of them understood well. Normally they’d happily spend a few hours just sparring, but this time the Kensei stopped early, something that surprised Karna, as she was usually the one to put halt to their fights. “Since we are leaving, I’d like to fight you at least once at your full power. I know this isn’t the best you can do. And yes, I understand that you still have a long way to go before reaching your full power. So do I. But I’d like to have something to compare my current self against.”

Karna allowed her sword to vanish. “We can, but we’ll need to use the grand training array to do it.” The training arrays allowed the trainees to go all out since any wounds and even death suffered inside would not carry outside.

“The grand array? The others won’t be able to handle what would happen.” The Kensei realized the reason immediately.

“Yes. The fight will be over one way or another in almost an instant, but the power released would disable any lesser arrays.” The grand array was really meant for battles between large teams, or even armies, and not individuals.

“Bold words. I like it! Let’s go right now. We’re suitably warmed up, and I’m eager to see what you can do."

Chapter 128 - Aquarius

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

As the pair moved towards the grand array, Lavender couldn’t help but feel excited. She had met other Kensei like her over her numerous lives, but few had the skill her current opponent possessed. It was a shame this ‘Karna’ didn’t dedicate herself to the sword, but perhaps that was a kind of strength as well? Her style had certainly developed in interesting directions. It wasn't often you could face someone who had almost as much skill with the blade that Lavender had, but also possessed almost a limitless range of skills and abilities in other fields as well. Honing yourself against someone with such range was great for improvement.

‘Who names an Oni Lavender anyway?’ She thought to herself idly for the millionth time. It was a nervous tick of hers. Of course, she would never admit to herself that she was nervous, but that didn’t mean the nervousness didn’t exist. To say she was unhappy with her given name though, would be an understatement. Hence masking her nervousness with anger directed at the name.

Her nervousness and excitement were both easy to understand. She knew Karna, or Wrath as she was also known, had plenty in store to show. From what she understood, the girl had basically stumbled from one situation to another where she either had to suppress her true abilities for secrecy, or she had been forced to fight opponents significantly higher ranked than her. Neither situation was conducive for anything but trying to survive. Now though, her opponent was finally being allowed to fully blossom and come to her own. And Lavender was eager to see what that produced. Those possibilities were the main reason she was part of this team after all.

The magic of the array took a hold of them, and they were deposited in the middle of a barren field, surrounded by varied terrain on all sides. The array was meant for training purposes, so of course most of the common terrains were represented. If you went far enough, you could find more exotic terrains, like lava fields, underwater battlefields, poisonous swamps, and plenty of other hazardous terrains and climates. "This will be fine, yeah?" She asked gesturing at the field around them. She didn't feel like playing tag in a forest.

"Suits me just fine," Karna responded.

The girl pulled out a large hammer from divines only knew where, which made Lavender frown a bit. A hammer was a weapon that had its place, but against a Kensei like her? That didn’t seem like a great idea. Not much opportunity for displaying skill. Karna wasn’t finished though. A pair of colorful wings appeared on her back, while her skin turned distinctly metallic. Lavender had seen her use Aura abilities before, though only in limited fashion, so she wasn’t too shocked by the wings, although she was still a bit mystified as wings as large as those would be unwieldy. In a fight as mobile as theirs usually was, they would be a hindrance.

“Are you ready?” Karna asked with her eyes closed.

“Always.” She responded confidently.

As soon as her words were out, the girl opened her eyes and Lavender felt a power invading her very being. ‘A basilisk!’ Her mind realized in an instant. The deadly power of a basilisk’s gaze was enough to bring even the most powerful low, and this wasn’t the power of a normal basilisk. She wasn’t instantly killed thanks to her resistance to such kind of effects, granted by her Oni heritage and her cultivation, but it did cause her to freeze for a brief moment as she had to fight the effects. And that moment was crucial in this case.

Almost faster than her eyes could follow, Karna was in front of her, swinging that hammer of hers with speed that should be impossible for such a large and heavy weapon. She managed to lift her sword in an attempt at blocking, but she knew it was useless. She was proven right as their weapons came together. War hammers might not be the most skill-intensive weapons, but they made up for it with blunt force. There was no way a simple stationary sword would be able to block a hammer in full swing.

Still, it shocked her as her block was brushed aside like it wasn’t even there, and the power behind the hammer almost broke her wrists as she held on to her sword to slow the swing down, unsuccessfully. Then it felt like her entire world had broken. She somewhat recognized that she was flying through the air before crashing into the side of a mountain. Those mountains had been pretty far away. The force behind the blow had been powerful enough to annihilate an entire city, something she was keenly aware of as almost every bone in her body was shattered, and her organs ruptured. Even if that hadn’t been the case, she still wouldn’t have been able to move as the power of lightning coursed through her body, paralyzing her entirely. It seemed the hammer was more than met the eye.

She was completely unable to move as an enormous dragon stepped up to her and opened its maw, preparing to send a breath attack at her from point-blank range. The attack was interrupted though, as the voice of a third person was heard. “I think that’s about enough Wrath. I don’t think the array can take the force of your full breath.” Envy floated next to the dragon that swallowed the breath weapon to Lavender’s secret relief. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she died inside the array just as it was broken. Not her area of expertise. It likely wouldn’t be too good though.

“Fair enough. I suppose I got a little excited as well.” The dragon admitted with a voice that still managed to sound refined and graceful.

“I know. I’m feeling a little bit suffocated as well. Holding back against other trainees has caused all of us to pile up a lot of stress. Let’s hope our first mission will give us the chance to let loose.” Envy commiserated. When had she even entered the array? Lavender was usually able to sense anyone approaching.

“Here’s to hoping.” The dragon finished before turning back into a Godling. It was a bit of a relief when the array was shut down and the pain went away. Still, Lavender was already figuring out ways to counter what she’d just been subjected to. Just the fact that she’d been surprised was a big reason it had ended so quickly, and now she knew what to expect. At least some of what to expect. And that basilisk gaze would be the first thing she needed to figure a counter to.

---------

“So, you managed to wrangle yourself as our handler?” Karna asked Marius. The man was the one they were meeting to get the details on their first mission.

“For now. There’s something odd going on even within House Titannica, so I thought it was better if I take on this role for now. It’ll give me a chance to get to the bottom of things. Or at least gain a better picture.” Marius had noticed odd political maneuvering in the house of the titans. That wasn’t uncommon in itself. The fact that he was being kept out of the loop was. Information was his specialty. That and solving problems. And the presence of the princess created plenty of those.

“I hope you have a proper mission for us.” Envy grunted. “I don’t think I could tolerate a milk run at this point.”

“You’ll have to excuse her. The training has left all of us more than a little frustrated.” Valor made excuses for his ally, while also managing to highlight the fact that he wouldn’t be too pleased either if the mission was boring.

"Well, I'm not sure, to be honest. Usually, new teams are given simple assignments, which would likely leave you unsatisfied. However, this one is a little complicated. We aren't sure what to expect exactly. I think it was sent to you as a sort of test as well. It's not something you can just bludgeon your way through." Marius frowned a bit. It was the sort of mission he was usually given in fact.

“I don’t know. We can bludgeon pretty hard." Envy only half-joked, which brought a small smile from everyone.

“Well, there’s a good chance that at least some bludgeoning will be involved. Your mission is an investigative one. Are you aware of the city Aquarius?”

“One of the Zodiac cities? The one where a lot of aquatic or water adjacent races live.” Karna guessed. That’s what it had been the last time she was in this universe. The Zodiac cities were not among the largest or most powerful, but they were old and famous for their wealth and resources.

“That’s the one. People have started to go missing in the city. Now normally this would be a problem for the local forces to deal with, but there’s a large number of outsiders among the victims. Larger than you’d expect if the acts were random.” Marius prefaced the situation.

“As in someone tried to eliminate agents of outside powers and tried to mask it by killing some locals as well?” Hope jumped to the obvious implication.

"Yes and no. That could be the reason, but not all the outsiders, in this case, were agents of other powers. In fact, it's rather difficult to even determine how these people were selected. There are tourists, merchants, people that had moved into the city and now live there, people visiting family, and yes, agents of other powers. I’d say the selection is almost random, except for the oddity of outsiders being overrepresented.” Marius had a bad feeling about the whole thing. “As a result, any outsiders are understandably wary while in the city. We also can’t ignore this, as the local powers don’t seem to be making any progress.”

“Hence the Host being sent to investigate it. Send a newbie team to not draw too much attention.” Hope added.

“That’s the theory at least. I would recommend going in wearing your official garb, though going undercover while inside the city might not be a bad idea. The local powers will not give you as much trouble if you’re entering as official members of the Host but information might be hard to come by. That said, things are a little strained with the city at the moment.” This was just one of the reasons Marius was feeling apprehensive.

“Why?” Valor asked bluntly.

“Well…several new Deities have arisen from the city in the last couple of decades. Only one of them has become a True God, but they’re still effectively creating a new faction of sorts. That’s not forbidden of course, but the established players aren’t exactly fond of new competition. Especially since some of those established parties think the number of new Deities is a little sketchy.”

“And what’s your opinion on that matter?” Hope questioned.

"It is a little odd, but not odd enough to really raise eyebrows. It can easily be explained by a crop of talented people reaching the maturity of their power. Here's the thing that worries me though. At least a couple of those people that have gone missing were sent there by the beforementioned established parties to make sure there was no foul play. Now, this might just be a coincidence, but…”

“But it also might be that they found something hinky.” Hope finished for him.

“What’s that saying you're fond of quoting Wrath?” Envy looked towards her.

“I believe in coincidences. Coincidences happen every day. But I don’t trust coincidences.” Karna quoted with a smile of her own.

“That’s the one. Good one that. One that I have also adopted.” Envy nodded.

“Something to keep in mind.” Marius also nodded. “However, I would advise against focusing on that possibility too heavily. Many other such agents are still alive and well. And going in spells blazing, accusing the new Deities of murdering people would be a quick way to end any cooperation from the local powers. Even if the Deities are somehow guilty, I seriously doubt all the other local powers are, and they could be very useful. Unless antagonized. So, tread lightly around that possibility. Yes, keep it in mind, but find some solid proof first before you take any steps towards making accusations.”

“There’s also another possibility that’s related. It could very well be that there is something going on with the way the new Gods have become what they are, and that could be the reason these agents died, but it might not be those Deities behind this. Someone might be trying to protect them. Or it could be that someone completely unrelated took advantage of these disappearances to get rid of some nosy people.” Valor suggested.

“All good theories, but we can’t really determine anything from here. We need to actually do some investigating.” Karna chuckled. “I assume we’re leaving right away?”

“Yes. Something else to keep in mind. You are fully authorized to defend yourself against any and all aggression, and the Host has broad punishment power when it comes to dealing with criminals. However, if you do find out that there’s something politically inconvenient going on, especially involving gods, then you are to inform us immediately. We will handle the punishment side in a way that won’t create too much backlash. We can’t have new members of the Host going off and killing gods without authorization, even if you’re capable and they deserve it.” Marius made sure to underline this point. He could see this particular team creating problems of that nature.

“Does that mean we’re also limited in how much force we can use in self-defense?” Valor wanted to confirm.

“No. If someone attacks you, you’re free to respond with lethal force, although we’d prefer if you simply subdued them. Makes it possible to question them later. That said, there’s a line. You can’t go and pick a fight in order to justify self-defense. The line is blurry and often misused, but you shouldn't have a problem with it, as long as you make sure to act in a reasonable fashion. No desecrating temples or marching into court to mock them to their faces. That’s not your job.” While Marius suspected that this team might be trouble, he was confident it would be a different kind of trouble.

---------

After being deployed by one of the Host’s specialized portals that allowed quick teleportation to almost anywhere, with the downside that they’d have to get back the slow way, their arrival at Aquarius didn’t take more than an hour. They could’ve been deployed right next to the city, but the Host usually observed certain rules of politeness, at least as long as they weren’t actually assaulting the city. One of those rules was that they’d give the officials of the city a bit of time to prepare.

The city of Aquarius itself was gorgeous. It was one of the more beautiful cities they’d seen in fact. As the name implied, the city was largely dominated by water. It was situated on the coast and off the coast, and half of the city was built into the shallows and scattered islands located at the valley estuary of several large rivers converging to meet the ocean. The buildings were mostly made of white sandstone, giving the city a clean and pristine look. This look was reinforced by the wide streets and numerous plazas and plant-filled promenades that ran through the city. Even those areas that would normally be called alleys and back streets were spacious and dotted with trees and gardens. In addition to normal streets, canals and run-offs from the rivers ran through the entire city, and these canals were even more filled with traffic as the city was favored by aquatic species. Many of the canals were elevated so that anyone traveling along would be able to observe shop windows and the wares of the various hawkers. Part of the city was submerged, and several taller buildings rose from the shallows to come above water.

The city was almost perfectly circular in shape. The part of the city that was on solid ground was surrounded by a white wall that was more decorative than designed to withstand a siege, and both the wall and the city beyond were dotted by identical towers at perfectly equal intervals. “What are those towers?” Envy asked the question they were all wondering as they flew closer.

Karna allowed her senses to brush one of the towers. "It seems they're water towers."

“Why though? It’s not like they’re lacking fresh water. Why store it in so many towers?” Hope questioned.

“I think we’ll ask about that too once we meet with our informant.” Wisdom commented. “I believe they might be part of a magical formation though. The construction is too purposeful to be anything else. Maybe a defensive measure?”

"Maybe," Karna muttered while looking at the towers. Something about them was tickling her instincts. "Let's see if we can find this informant. Or at least get into the city first." They had been given a list of people they could contact for further details on both the city and the victims, as well as any news that might have occurred after Marius had gotten his information.

Entering the city didn’t cause any trouble as the uniform of the Host was a universal pass to almost any place in the Divine Planes. Preventing the passage of the Host would’ve been seen as highly suspicious. Some private holdings of the major houses of course were different. The group quickly noted that the inhabitants of the city truly were for the most part those that at least tended to flock near sources of water, even if they weren’t fully aquatic. Any water-related species you could think of could be found in the city. They’d even seen a rather large octopus just outside the city while they’d flown in.

Locating the combined place of business and abode of their informant wasn’t too difficult, as the city was easy to navigate, and the people were more than happy to give them directions. However, once they arrived, they found the place empty. It didn’t look like their informant was absent on business either, as the place had been cleared. All the items of worth had been taken along, and there were signs that whoever had lived here had left in a hurry.

“Well now. This isn’t a very good sign.” Valor pointed out the obvious.

Chapter 129 - Sources

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I had to go light on the PR due to time (work and midsummer festival) so expect errors. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”So you’re saying he left in a hurry yesterday morning?” Valor questioned a hawker selling food across from the now empty shop of their supposed informant. The little stall sold simple things like fish and meat pies. The kinds of things a hungry worker might want to snack on during hard work.

“Ye. He was in a right hurry too. When a few of his things fell off the load, he didn’t even bother stopping to pick ‘em up. ‘Course, someone else appropriated those things soon after, so yer not gonna see ‘em anymore. I know he had the stuff moved to the harbor. Heard something about the city of Pisces.” The older Kappa was rather free with information, partially because Valor had bought a whole bunch of the food as a trade.

Pisces was one of the two other Zodiac cities located on this plane, which tended to be filled with worlds rich in water, the other city being Cancer. "Any idea why he left in such a rush?" Valor continued to question.

“I can’t rightly say. I’d say it has something to do with the rumors of people going missing. Ask his neighbor. She might know more.” The Kappa gestured towards a seamstress store next door. Hope was just coming out of the shop, having questioned the owner after they split up to find clues.

“Any luck?” Wisdom asked.

“Only marginally. The woman said that our informant fled because he thought he’d be the next one to ‘disappear’ and didn’t want to risk it. In fairness, she also mentioned that he might’ve fled because whatever brought us to his door, as the presence of the Host usually means trouble. In this case it’s the same reason, but it shows she was mostly going by what she’d overheard.” Hope explained. They were all still in armor, as they hadn’t yet found a place to stay and change. Not that they would blend in very well anyway, aside from Hope with her illusions.

Envy personally wasn't all that interested in the whole investigation business. She wasn't a stranger to intrigue, but she was more used to it on the court level, and not when it came to a police-style investigation. Besides, she thought this was a distraction anyway. The informant was gone, and there was nothing they could do about it aside from traveling to the place he'd fled to, which wasn't on their agenda. They were unlikely to find out anything useful. They should rather be focusing on what they were in this city for, which was to find the culprit, and the best way to do that was to wait for the culprit to hit again.

There was also another reason Envy was feeling uninterested. The others hadn't noticed yet, aside from perhaps Hope, but Wrath seemed very distracted for some reason. She'd been like that almost since they entered the city. Even now she could see her tilting her head, as if listening to something only she could hear while staring at empty space. "What's going on?" She asked, while walking to stand next to Wrath.

“It’s…hard to explain. There’s something wrong with this city, but I can’t put my finger on what that something is. It’s highly annoying. It’s like a constant buzzing in my ear, or as if everything is tilted just a few degrees the wrong way. I can’t point to any single thing being wrong, but the whole picture just…feels wrong.” Even her response was halting and half-mumbled, as she was clearly focused on something else.

“Any idea what it could be?” Envy knew Wrath was much more sensitive to this sort of thing. She hadn't noticed anything wrong personally, and a quick look around seemed to confirm that the hustle and bustle of the city was perfectly normal. People going about doing their daily errands just like everywhere else.

“It’s like there’s something in the air. No not the air. Something else. Something in the water perhaps? I can’t put my finger on it. The city is so full of magic that it’s hard to make out any details amongst the cacophony. Just when I think I’ve caught a glance at something weird, it’s gone.” Wrath tried to explain.

Envy understood the point about the city being full of magic though. That was one of the things about cities in the Divine Planes. Even areas filled with mortals and weaker cultivators were absolutely brimming with ambient power and magical items and formations that utilized that power. Interestingly, there was less need to rely on anything technological in the Divine Planes, as just the ambient power was enough to power almost any magical device you could imagine. Even if her senses weren’t close to Wrath’s, she too was being slightly overwhelmed by the amount of magical things happening around her. Even simple tasks usually had a magical solution. She was used to such strong magic of course, even if it was exceptionally prevalent in this universe, so she quickly got adapted to the overwhelming amount of magical information. Perhaps that was why she couldn’t sense anything wrong.

Slightly concerned over Wrath’s state, she called out to the others. “I think we’ve gotten what we can from this area. Let’s find a place to stay and get some plans going.”

"Agreed. This is a dead-end. We should move on." Valor nodded as well.

They’d gotten several recommendations for lodgings from the locals. Thanks to their position, they wound up rather close to the heart of the city, as the mere presence of the Host would’ve disturbed things too heavily on the fringes. The inn they selected was a rather luxurious one. They could easily afford it thanks to Karna’s work at crafting, and three two-person rooms located on the top floor of the five-floor inn. Their rooms were separated by a rooftop garden, where they now all sat, making plans.

“I think we should avoid moving alone, but we should split up to cover more ground and gather more information. Since our informant vanished on us, we’ll have to gather all the info on our own.” Wisdom begun. His planning had already proven to be efficient, so he and Valor often took charge when Karna didn’t. “We should pair up.”

“I suggest that I’ll go with Kensei to make contact with the officials. Wrath has an aquatic form which might be able to blend in, though I haven’t seen any Scylla here so far. I think Hope and Wisdom should do most of the undercover work, as they’re the most likely to pass unnoticed.” Valor listed.

“I’ll go with Wrath. I think we might have something else we can investigate.” Envy volunteered. She would’ve gone with Wrath anyway, but now she especially wanted to keep an eye on her.

“Something else?” Wisdom asked.

“It might be related, or it might not. We’ll see.” Envy said simply, while Wrath was still looking distracted.

As the two other pairs departed on their missions, Envy turned to Wrath. “What do you need? Where do you need to go?” She knew her old rival would have her head in the game if things became difficult, but it would be better to get this mystery solved quickly.

Perhaps realizing that she’d been too distracted, Wrath also seemed to focus more. “I need to get to one of the focal points of their water distribution network. Below one of the water towers will provide us with a starting point at least. I should know more after that.”

“I’m guessing access isn’t open.” Usually, the risk of poisoning prevented free access. “Wouldn’t the mouth of the river do as well?”

Wrath smiled a bit. “The two are on separate systems. The canals and the ocean are separate from the municipal water system, although I’m sure the municipal system draws from the river, before filtration of course. No, I need access to the municipal system.”

"How are we going to do this? I'm assuming marching up with our armor might get us access, but if there is something going on, then they'll also know we're on to them. With you around, trying to blend in and infiltrate the place will be a challenge as well." For once, Envy was fully in a task-oriented mood.

“Well…” Instead of replying vocally, Wrath just assumed the form of a winged cat, or Tressym as they were known.

“Huh. That works, I suppose.” Envy borrowed on the magical talent she’d copied from Wrath and cast a more traditional polymorph spell on herself. While it wouldn’t last as long as someone with natural shapeshifting abilities like Wrath, it was good enough for their purposes.

Envy gestured with her paw, now identical to Wrath's, signaling for the other Tressym to lead the way. The two easily made their way across the roofs of the city towards the nearest water tower. Even if cats were not the most common pets in an aquatic city like this, Tressym weren't an odd sight either. They also picked paths that would keep them out of sight, often utilizing their wings. It wasn't until they got close to the tower before they started to run into situations where actual sneaking around was needed.

This was where the nature of a proper Tressym became obvious. The guards around the tower, which weren’t that numerous to begin with, suddenly found themselves distracted or clumsy, as the luck of the Tressym turned things to the two felines advantage every time they had to find an opening to sneak through. The tower itself was massive and practically hummed with magic. Most of the magic seemed to be designed to both protect and purify the water inside, but Envy also got the sense that the towers were a defensive feature, and the water inside could be deployed in various ways should the city be attacked at some point.

They made their way into the tunnels beneath the tower and reached a spot where the water was transferred from the pipes and aqueducts into the reservoir in the tower. There was no mechanical pumping system, as it worked completely on magic, and they could see a couple of water elementals handling the transfer and control of the water. In the middle of the large chamber they had entered was an enormous basin where the water was gathered before either being moved into the tower or out to the city.

“So, what now?” Envy asked.

“Now I’ll need to enter the water.” Wrath responded simply.

“Will the elementals interfere?” Envy asked, glancing at the elementals going about their work. The beings were rather low-level and not dangerous, but their disappearance would be noticed.

“Not with my attunement to the element. I’ll also have to take my Scylla form to best connect with whatever is going on. The elementals know better than to get involved. However, there’s a good chance that someone will notice me even if I’m careful, so I need you to keep any guards at bay. This shouldn’t take long, and we can make a hasty exit once we’re done, but it would be better if no one can enter the chamber until then.” After finishing her explanation, the feline form of Wrath morphed into something more monstrous.

Her lower body became a mess of serpentine heads as each tentacular appendage was actually the head of a hydra. The upper body of a woman was mostly covered in scales, while her head retained her normal appearance. She also grew rather large, only barely able to fit into the basin that for some reason wasn’t at all disturbed by her entrance. In fact, the water seemed to welcome her presence, humming with a welcoming tone as the water itself vibrated.

Not one to stand around, Envy turned towards the paths into the chamber. She utilized one of Wrath’s favorite tricks and placed barriers of pure Qhaysh deep enough into the tunnels that anyone trying to enter wouldn’t be able to see into the room. Any single barrier wasn’t all that powerful by itself, but she layered hundreds of shields on top of each other, where anytime a single barrier was destroyed, another one would move up to take its place from behind. The technique was a rather well-known one, named Phalanx, but it wasn’t easy to execute. Envy had enough experience as a mage though, that such tricks were simple to her.

She could sense the searching magic Wrath was using behind her but focused on the tunnels. It took a couple of minutes, but guards finally showed up and started attacking one of the barriers. The attacks were rather powerful, which signaled that the one doing the attacking wasn’t just a random guard, but Envy could still maintain the barrier. “We’ve got company. Whatever you’re doing, do it fast.” She called out.

“I’m already finished.” Wrath declared from behind her, before grabbing Envy’s shoulder. Both of them vanished in a flash of flames.

------

"Find out anything interesting?" Envy asked smugly as Valor was the last of their group to arrive.

“Just the basics. Who disappeared, from where, and what they’ve managed to find out so far. The officials promised us their cooperation, but they either haven’t really found out anything, or they’re holding back. I think most of the officials are in the former camp, though probably not all.” Valor seemed a little frustrated with the official response. “Things did get a little interesting though. Apparently, there was some sort of break-in in one of the water towers that had the officials in a tizzy. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?”

“Us? What preposterous slander! We never left the inn. As far as anyone knows.” Envy faked being outraged, before letting some of her true feelings slip out with a grin.

Valor gave a suffering sigh. “So, was it worth it? Spooked the officials bad enough that they won’t be much help for a while.”

“Yes.” Wrath confirmed firmly. Most importantly to Envy, she’d lost that vacant expression and was now fully engaged again. “We found out, from a completely unrelated source of course, that the waterways below the city work as a sort of magical formation. It’s a little complicated to explain, but they’re essentially extracting the power of faith from the people living in the city. The people aren’t worshipping a god strictly speaking, but as aquatic species, they have certain reverence towards the element of water itself, and the ones that built the system are using that reverence as a source of faux-faith. I’m assuming they’re using that power to elevate new gods by expending the stored faith during the elevation process. That also explains why the gods aren’t reaching the point of becoming True Gods, as they have to gather any subsequent faith the old-fashioned way.”

“That’s…kind of sneaky but a lot less sinister than I expected.” Envy frowned. “While not something they’d want spread around, it’s hardly a motive for a string of murders.”

“True. There’s still something else to this, but if I want to find out more, I’ll have to get to the focal point of the formation, which is probably under the huge tower in the center of the city.” Wrath confirmed.

"Also known as the place where all the guards, officials, and oh yeah, the gods congregate." Wisdom pointed out. "Sounds like we're back to square one though."

“Not necessarily.” This time it was Hope’s turn to look smug. “While the rest of you were wasting your time on conspiracies and politics, I actually found something that might be helpful.”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense.” Envy prodded.

“I found something that connects all the victims. They were all fervent believers. As in, visit the temple at least three times a week-kind of believers.” Hope’s look of triumph was both adorable and childish at the same time.

“The same temple?” Wisdom clarified.

“No. Different temples. As you recall, a large portion of the victims were outsiders. It would be odd if they all served the same gods. Especially the spies. Notably though, none of the victims were believers in the local deities.” Hope knew temples and faithful were a good source of information and had gone that direction first. Even she had not expected this kind of result though.

"Huh. So, a faith-motivated string of crimes. I hate fanatics." Envy grumbled, despite utilizing such fanatics in the past.

“I wonder if that idea clears the local gods or implicates them again?” Wisdom posited with a frown.

“Could you elaborate on that? I’m not following why it would implicate them.” Valor asked. He could see the followers of the new gods getting fanatic, but not the gods themselves giving official sanction for such religious persecution.

“Well, I wonder if the strong faith of these people might mess with the formation? Is that possible?” Wisdom was only guessing as well.

They all looked towards Wrath. “I can’t say. I wasn’t able to get a detailed enough reading at the…well, wherever we got the information. I don’t think so, but I can’t rule the possibility out. It honestly might interfere by tainting the faith a bit, but I doubt it would be to the extent where murders were the answer.”

“We’ll report our current findings and keep looking. We’ll find something out eventually. We have enough karma between us that we’ll get mixed up with whatever this is even if we don’t want to.” Valor decided.

Chapter 130 - Caution versus risk

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

Marius had to admit he was feeling a little out of place. He had always considered himself powerful and even influential. Oh, he had always known there were many beings more powerful and influential than him, but he was rarely the weakest person in a room. Except now that was the case, and he wasn’t the weakest by a small margin either. The fact that the most powerful Divines of the House Titannica were sat around an enormous titan-sized table could make anyone feel small, but that alone wasn’t what was making him feel so weak. Comparing yourself to gods would always be a losing proposition. No, what made him feel inferior was the fact that all of the Divines had been allowed to bring a companion, and even amongst the companions he was the weakest.

He had been brought along as Shiva's companion. He had been asking his master what was going on within the House, and the god had brought him along to this meeting as a response. He wasn’t the only non-titan in the room, but only because one of the gods sitting at the table was Khaine. All the other Divines had brought along titan companions even if their most powerful allies were from another race. Only Shiva had been bold enough to bring along what could be considered an ‘outsider’. That was another reason Marius felt small. Even if the others around the table were too polite to directly question his presence to Shiva’s face, they were certainly bold enough to give him looks that spoke volumes.

“My apologies for being late.” The Grand Marshall said as he entered the room along with another high-ranking officer of the Host. As he took his place, the titan gave a perfunctory explanation. “The House of Dragons was making a fuss again and it took a while to get rid of them.” It was telling that the man usually respected everywhere was not among the most important people at the table. He would also likely abstain from too many comments as many here thought him biased concerning the topic.

“Don’t worry about it.” An older female titan waved magnanimously. She was one of the oldest and strongest Divines at the table. “We can all understand the frustrations of dealing with the Dragons. The serpents don’t like their pride trampled upon after all.” The female titan was surrounded by living flowers as they grew from her dress and climbed up her body.

“Can we get to it? While I wouldn’t be bold enough to lay any blame on the Grand Marshall, we’re all busy. Let’s skip the pleasantries and chit-chat this time.” One of the younger gods, Vulcan asked with a frustrated tone. The titan seemed to be formed of molten stone and lava, as he was clearly a more elemental-type titan.

“Well, I believe we’re here to discuss an important topic, so rushing should be avoided.” The female titan said, drawing out her words. “Still, we might as well.”

“We are here today to…” The youngest god at the table started to speak in a ceremonial voice, something that seemed to be the standard in these meetings.

“We all know why we’re here. No need to rehash it.” Another old god that seemed to have swirling vortexes of power within his metallic-shining blue body. “How much effort are we going to expend supporting Khaine and her daughter to the throne?” Marius thought that for a God of Time, Kronus sure seemed impatient.

“Does the question even need to be asked?” Khaine raised her voice. “I bore a daughter for House Titannica and went into confinement, which I only recently escaped, due to the promise of full support. You have all eagerly awaited this opportunity for generations of immortals and gods. Finally, a titan with royal blood and a legitimate claim! Any of the other houses would jump at the opportunity, and by the sounds of it, the dragons are doing exactly that. Why do you hesitate?" Khaine's voice had become angry by the time she finished.

“Because now we have to question whether the girl truly is one of us.” Kronus’ companion responded with a tone colored with disgust. “She certainly flaunts other bloodlines just as willingly as she does ours.”

“While my companion is a little impolite in her words, she does make a point. The girl shows something that shouldn’t be possible. No being should have access to so many bloodlines, not if the bloodlines were pure.” Kronus mitigated the words of his companions a little. His words got some nods and murmurs of approval from the younger section of the table.

“Kronus. You do realize that you are rather directly accusing me of not only lying and betrayal of the worst kind, but you’re also questioning my honor as a woman. Rather bold of you. Especially since you’re only doing it because my daughter is capable of something you do not understand.” Khaine’s words dripped with venom. “I’d pick your next words very carefully.”

“I do realize that, yet the question must be asked, no matter how insensitive it might be.” Kronus didn’t back down.

“There’s also the fact that the girl seems rather wishy-washy about committing to us. Even if we recognize her as one of us, will she reciprocate?” Vulcan asked, although his tone was signaling that he was more concerned than accusing. Unlike Kronus, he wasn’t against the girl. He simply had concerns.

“We have to take her circumstances into account.” The flower-clad female titan stated with a warm tone. “She was sent to the Higher Planes as a baby and raised by the people there. Aside from her bloodline, she has never gotten anything from us, and you could even say that we abandoned her in her time of need. She wasn’t raised to be loyal to the house like our children usually are. And we haven’t exactly rushed to embrace her after her Ascension either. It would more suspicious if she was willing to suddenly throw her future in with us just because she is also a titan. If we have never given anything to her, how can we ask her everything in exchange?”

“While that might be true and perfectly reasonable Gaia, we are not in a situation where we can afford to question the loyalties of our chosen contender for the throne.” Kronus pointed out. “Even an unpleasant option might be preferable to a completely unknown one. A missed opportunity is just that, while throwing our lot behind this girl might lead us to ruin."

“I stand behind her unquestionably.” Shiva suddenly declared.

“So do I.” Declared Indra. The two of them were the oldest gods present and when the two of them spoke in agreement, few dared to question, as the two rarely bothered taking sides.

“Ehm, might I ask why?” Kronus asked, a little confused at having the wind taken out of his sails so suddenly.

“You are all ignoring something important. We do not blame you for this, for you are too young to realize your own ignorance and the depths of the potential mistake you are prepared to make.” Indra stated authoritatively.

“And what mistake would that be?” Kronus couldn’t help but ask.

Khaine was the one to respond as the two old gods seemed unwilling to elaborate. “You’ve all got something backwards. You’re all thinking of this in terms of whether my daughter is worthy of your support or not. My daughter will claim the throne regardless. The only question is whether you have done enough to stay in her good graces when she reaches there.” She seemed to have picked her words very carefully for some reason. She seemed to want to say more, but for some reason couldn’t.

Shiva added. “Kronus, you have heard about the girl using the power of the Sacred Lady. She has also claimed the Name Wrath. To youngsters like you, that might not mean much, but for us? Well, there’s a reason why the Sacred Lady is so venerated amongst the old gods. Incidentally, her other Name was Wrath as well.”

“You’re afraid.” Kronus realized. “You speak as if this girl is the Sacred Lady reborn.”

“We have respect. There’s a difference.” Indra corrected. "As for rebirth, I don't know if such things are possible, but there are enough hints that I'm willing to gamble on her. Besides, she was the sort of being who could've hatched an elaborate plan of some sort that would result in her return in some fashion. We all know there are ways to cheat death, even if avoiding it forever is nigh impossible."

The thought of something causing a reaction like this in such old and powerful gods sent a shiver down Marius’ back. He’d known the group was going to be trouble. Maybe he’d underestimated the amount of trouble after all. Perhaps he should send some reinforcements to Aquarius while he still had a chance.

------

“I’ve got it!” Hope exclaimed. “The killer struck again, and I’ve got a tag on them!” Her shout had woken the others. They had placed several magical observation spells around the city in the hopes of catching the culprit. The spells had to be very discreet and narrowly tailored to not arouse suspicion, but they had known the best chance to catch the culprit was during the act. They had been taking turns with the monitoring spells, and now their plan had borne fruit.

"Where did the murder happen?" Karna asked quickly, and Hope provided a location near the docks. "Good. Everyone else, follow our culprit to their lair, while I'll go to the scene to try and gather further evidence in case it's necessary."

They quickly split up, with Envy ending up coming with Karna citing the security as a reason. The two made their way to the location Hope had provided and found the city officials already present. "Be so kind and stop disturbing the scene," Karna stated in a firm but ostensibly polite tone.

“This is still our city. It’s our job to solve the case.” The guard in charge argued, recognizing their armor.

“And yet you haven’t gotten any results so far despite numerous chances. Now it’s our turn. We both know the Host has authority here, so stop wasting both our time and move aside.” Envy was feeling less polite.

The mermaid guard seemed prepared to argue, but a small flash of Envy showing her power caused any such plans to fall by the wayside. Karna didn't bother to stay and listen to the rest of the discussion between the two and just made her way to the actual scene. Just like the other times, there was no body so the case could only be classified as disappearance and not murder, but Karna knew better. She had designed the searching spells, and the spells were triggered by a sudden influx of negative karma that would come as a result of a murder. Of course there were other conditions as murders in a city of this size weren’t exactly rare.

The blood on the scene was also another hint that whoever had been attacked was not likely to still be alive. The amount of blood wasn’t enough to know for certain someone had died, but it did give serious doubts about anyone surviving very long. Interestingly the blood looked very dry and coagulated for something that had happened only a few minutes before. There were no other obvious signs of a crime at the scene, but that wasn’t what she was after anyway. Obvious hints would’ve been great, but if the criminal was the type to leave such obvious hints, then they would’ve been caught by now.

Instead, Karna cast a spell that was at the intersecting point of time magic, scrying, and a little bit of soul magic. Unless the victim’s soul had been purposefully dispersed by someone with skills similar to her or the Nakshatra Dee, then it was still lingering in the area. The spell latched on to the memories of that soul, and added more details from scrying and time magic, as there was a good chance that the victim had not even seen the killer.

An illusionary image played out in all its simplicity and brutality. A sharkman had marched up to the victim, a human by the looks of it, and smashed his head in. The interesting part came when the killer pulled out an orb of some kind that absorbed all the moisture in the victim’s body. Then the killer dispersed the remains with a quick blast of Qi. “Huh.” Karna made a surprised sound. She hadn’t expected the process to be anything complicated, but it was somehow very pedestrian at the same time. Aside from the crystal, the whole thing was very simple. It looked planned and targeted, and there was no passion or even a fight.

Envy and the official both approached, clearly seeing the scene as it played again, this time in slow motion. “Do you recognize either of the individuals involved?” Envy questioned.

“Both actually. Well, sort of. The human is a traveling merchant. At least he claimed to be. There was some suspicion about the veracity of that claim. His deals were a bit too generous, which meant he couldn’t have been making much profit. I’ve bought some things from him. Occasional knick-knacks and jewelry. Quite cheap like I said. The killer I don’t know personally, but I recognize the markings. He’s part of a group of mercenaries known rather imaginatively as Dreadfins. They’re a bit gang-ish in their behavior, but usually they get their jobs done.” The mermaid explained.

“Any ideas about the orb?” Karna asked.

The mermaid scratched her scales in thought. "Hmm, I'm not sure, but I think I've seen something like it before. I just can't pinpoint where. I'm sorry." Despite the earlier dispute, the official had taken a professional attitude, partially because the spell Karna had used helped her investigation as well.

“Why do I feel like this is a setup?” Envy asked. “Smells fishy. No pun intended.” Envy looked at the mermaid’s tail.

“It does seem a little odd. We need to get our hands on the killer. I think there’s more to this.” Karna agreed before they took their leave. They had gotten what they were going to from the scene.

The two quickly made their way to where they could sense their companions. By the time they arrived, they came to what was left of a short but brutal battle. It seemed the Dreadfins had taken umbrage to having one of their number captured and had reacted violently. Now most of them lay dead or dying in what remained of their hideout. “You’ve been busy.” Envy commented.

“A bit of evening exercise.” Valor retorted cheerily while yanking his sword out of a sharkman’s skull.

"Is the one we want still alive?" Envy asked. Valor just pointed deeper inside the remains of the building where Wisdom was already in the middle of questioning a familiar-looking sharkman, without much success by the looks of it.

“Get anything out of him?” Envy asked as they got close.

“Her. And yes. She’s avoiding answering, but even her avoidance and the way she refuses to answer things provides some answers. For example, I’m pretty sure she’s not responsible for the bulk of the ‘disappearances,’” Wisdom actually used air quotes with his fingers. “To be more precise. Her group was hired to commit the last four acts, but someone else did the work before that. They also don’t know who hired them. Just the instructions and payment, along with a list of targets that magically updates itself.”

“Oh? I’ll be able to track the spell to its origin.” Karna realized.

“Yes, well, unfortunately the list didn’t make it.” Wisdom grimaced a bit.

“I see. Let me handle the questioning from here. I’ll get whatever information she doesn’t even realize she has out of her.” Karna promised.

“Ooh, are you going to do that again?” Envy suddenly cheered up and started to push the others outside without waiting for an answer. “Oh dear, we better give you some space. We wouldn’t want to be here when you start.”

“What’s going on?” Wisdom asked a little confused.

“Song of Khali.” Envy replied just before an unearthly scream of terror and pain sounded from inside the ruin they just exited. “Gives me the shivers every time. The fun kind.”

A few moments later Karna came out as well, and they all realized the killer would not be doing the same. “Wisdom’s deductions so far were right. There was one thing of interest though. The crystals. They’re the point of this whole endeavor. They were going to send them to the one hiring them. They still have all four of the crystals as they were supposed to turn them in once they had five. I got the location. Here’s the interesting part. They were supposed to hand them over to a middleman. A rather prominent one at that. The Golden Scale.”

The Golden Scale was a very prosperous merchant house in the city. One of the most influential ones in fact. “Is this the point at which we report our findings? Things could get pretty political pretty fast.” Valor pointed out.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Envy asked in return.

“Valor does have a point, but it would be better for us if we could get further with the mission before handing in our findings. Solving it entirely would be even better. Let’s see if we can at least find the next destination of the crystals.” Karna ended up suggesting.

Chapter 131 - Resolution

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

Karna approached the store of The Golden Scale in her Scylla form and wearing an ostentatious dress along with a veil covering her face. Kensei and Valor were entering the premises along with her, wearing what was rather common attire for bodyguards of nobles in these parts. They were in disguise, and instead of sneaking in, they decided to just walk in and use audacity to their advantage instead.

“Welcome to The Golden Scale.” A rather attractive Sea Elf woman greeted them at the door. “Are you here to buy or sell? Or are you here on other business?” It was apparent this kind of greeting was extended to everyone.

"A little bit of all three," Karna stated with a voice that screamed nobility and pride. "I suppose selling is the main point."

"In that case, follow me, please. I will lead you to somewhere where we can negotiate in peace." The elf made a small gracious bow and turned to lead them into the depths of the opulent and large merchant house.

“You might want to send for someone with authority to make big decisions. It will save both our time.” Karna added with a high-and-mighty tone. She flashed a bit of her power to make the point.

“My apologies immortal, but we have standing instructions that mean we have to evaluate anything offered to us before bringing it to the attention of the managers.” The elven woman responded calmly, clearly used to dealing with such situations. The elven woman herself wasn’t immortal.

Even in the Divine Planes most people were not. Due to the plentiful ambient power and the multitude of powerful materials and techniques, the average level of the people and magical beings was much higher than in the lesser planes, but that was mostly due to people simply cultivating faster. Everyone still met the limits of their potential sooner or later, and fancy techniques and powerful pills could help you only so much after that point. That’s why potential was so important. If your potential maxed out at rank nine, becoming immortal was almost impossible. It could be done, but it was arduous and would require timeframes that would necessitate being immortal. The average potential in the Divines Planes was also higher thanks to purer and more powerful bloodlines, but most people still met the limits of their potential before reaching immortality. The only reason reincarnators were not as limited was because they were usually born into better vessels and because they had found ways to work around the limits of their vessels over numerous lifetimes. They also had the best techniques, which allowed them to push their limits further.

The woman led them into a luxurious room and sat them around a table. “Now what can The Golden Scale do for you?” The name of the merchant house was a reference to both their mercantile nature, and the fact that the founders were powerful sea serpents.

Without uttering a word, Karna pulled out one of the crystals they’d just acquired and placed it on the table. The elven woman’s eyes flashed blue as she used magic on her eyes to appraise the item. “I…must confess, I’m not sure what I’m looking at. The crystal has power, of that I have no doubt, but I’m having trouble identifying the type and purpose.” The elven woman was loathe to reveal her ignorance.

"This is also why I wanted someone with decision-making power present. I know someone inside The Golden Scale wants these very much. Badly enough that lives are at stake." Karna pushed.

“You have more than one of these?” The woman asked and got a nod in confirmation. “Then may I take this and show it to some of my superiors to see if they recognize it?”

“Yes, with the understanding that if you happen to ‘lose’ it, I will bring this entire building down around you.” Karna grinned evilly, something clear from her tone even if the veil masked her expression.

“We would never.” The elf promised and placed the crystal on a tray to bring along with her.

“She was truthful when she said she didn’t recognize it.” Valor said as soon as the elf was gone. He knew Karna had already made it so that they couldn’t be listened to.

“That doesn’t mean anything. I’d have been surprised if she had recognized it. If it was common knowledge, then this whole mess would’ve already been dealt with long ago.” Kensei argued.

They had to wait a fairly long time before they sensed the elven woman returning, and she wasn’t alone. “You can sense it, right?” Valor confirmed.

“Of course.” Both Karna and Kensei nodded, knowing what he referred to.

The door opened, allowing a distinguished-looking man with a long grey beard and a topknot of grey hair into the room. He was dressed rather opulently, and while he looked human, the three reincarnators were all rather confident that was just a form the man had chosen to assume. The man sat down at the same place the elven woman, who was now standing close to the door, had vacated. "I must ask how you came into the possession of this." The man laid the tray with the crystal in front of him.

“And I need to know who you’re providing these crystals to.” Karna retorted with a confident tone.

“I’m afraid that information is not something we can share. Client confidentiality is very important to us.” The man shot that line of questioning down.

Karna smirked under her veil, and even Valor and Kensei had smiles on their faces, although Kensei's was rather nasty while Valor always smiled. "And I'm afraid you misunderstood me," Karna stated confidently. "I wasn't proposing an exchange of information. And that wasn't a request. You will provide me with the information, whether you want to or not."

“I’m saddened that you’ve chosen such a hostile attitude. Angering The Golden Scale is a very bad decision, yet you’ve made it anyway. This is going to become a little unpleasant. You will not be leaving here alive.”

“Oh, but I disagree. You brought five immortals with you, who are hiding all around this room, ready to burst in. With you, that’s six immortals. You were planning on attacking me anyway, no matter how our negotiation ended, which is proven by the bloodlust your incompetent guards are unable to hide. Unfortunately for you, I brought the Host." Karna's eyes wandered around the room, accurately spotting the enemies around them. "And even if I hadn't, six immortals is far from enough."

“I…” The older man looked a little hesitant. “What do you mean the Host?”

Valor and Kensei made a gesture and their forms were suddenly clad in the easily recognizable armor. “In case you’re planning on attacking us anyway, we knew The Golden Scale was involved, so in your place, I wouldn’t assume that we didn’t already inform our superiors of the situation.” Karna pulled out a viewing crystal that worked both ways. “I’m assuming you heard all that?” She asked the image of Marius.

“Loud and clear. Reinforcements are already surrounding the facility. The Golden Scale is ordered to comply fully with our investigation, or the entire merchant house will be destroyed. I would advise against trying to attack the three in front of you. They’d win. You’re welcome to try of course.” Marius spoke in a cold voice. He had been very surprised that the group had reported in instead of going in alone.

“Permission to interrogate this man?” Karna requested.

“Are you confident in getting what we need?” Marius asked. He could use his own ability to force information out, but it would take time for him to arrive. And the presence of so many Host, who were currently surrounding the building, would likely spook any co-conspirators.

“I’m not only confident, I’m certain I’ll get the information. No one has ever managed to resist for long. The only question is whether there’s anything left of his mind afterwards.” Karna responded.

“Ok, I really need to see her using the Song of Khali for once. Both Envy and her have such high opinion of the ability.” Kensei muttered.

“You’re allowed to watch. Just know that you’ll never be quite the same.” Karna warned her.

------

“Why does Kensei look so ill?” Hope asked as they reunited again.

“She wanted to stick around to see Wrath do the thing.” Valor responded, looking a little queasy himself.

“Ohhhh.” Hope made a sympathetic noise.

“You know the best part?” Envy asked with a grin. “She can use that in a positive way as well.”

“How can that thing be used in a positive way?” Kensei asked while shaking her head, disturbed by the memory.

“Well, you saw her using the skill to cause madness, fear, pain, and all sorts of bad feelings. It can be used to cause pleasure, love, hope, and all sorts of positive feelings as well. Mostly pleasure though.” Envy explained with a wide grin. “It’s the scariest bloody ability I’ve ever seen. So far, I haven’t found a solid way to counter it aside from stopping her from using the ability completely.”

“It can actually be resisted in several ways. That’s why the situation where it’s used is important.” Karna argued.

“That said, I’m a little surprised that you ended up calling for reinforcements.” Wisdom added. “You seemed pretty ready to go in with just us.”

"I was," Karna confirmed with a nod. "And I still think we would've been fine. However, I kept our goal in mind. Our personal goal that is. We aren't here to punish the ones behind the plot or even to avenge the dead. We're here to make a name for ourselves. Causing a huge scene would not be conducive to that, even if we were to flush out the powers behind the whole plot. Instead, we successfully completed our part of a rather complicated mission that went off the rails in the beginning, showing that we can be team players when necessary. We also showed we aren't just brutes and that we can have a deft touch. Successful and deft completion of missions also builds a name for us.”

"Also, we did end up providing extra information to the Host about how the new gods here are elevating themselves, and the Host is already taking steps. We also got the name of the contact The Golden Scale was providing the crystals to. As we suspected, the higher-ups of the city were involved, so now the more diplomatic side of the Host can take over from here. We were specifically instructed not to antagonize the gods, so I'd say we got as far as we could without breaking those instructions." Envy added. She had been rather gung-ho about taking things all the way as well, but she knew where to draw the line as well. "I would prefer if our next mission was more military-minded though."

“Well, you’re about to get your wish.” Marius’ voice came from the same communicator they had used before. They had the communicator placed on the table and were waiting for further instructions as Marius dealt with their findings. “I got an advance word of your next assignment and you’re being sent to deal with the Netherworld forces pushing in on one of our more remote worlds. The details are still not decided, but I assume this will be part of a bigger operation.” Karna’s expression became more guarded at the mention of the Netherworld.

“Sir, did we find out what those crystals were being used for?” Valor asked.

“We haven’t gotten full confirmation yet, but we have some suspicions and one of the people we managed to apprehend near the palace hinted that our suspicions might be correct. The method they have been using to make new gods is apparently insufficient for elevating a certain person that they wanted to make into a god. They wanted to use the lifeblood of strong believers in other faiths to enhance the process. Whether it would’ve worked, I don’t know, and we also don’t know who else is involved, but we’re figuring it out and this is no longer your problem. The factions whose spies were killed will likely want to leverage heavy punishments on the entire city and the gods created here so far, but we'll see how things unravel. This is no longer about justice but politics." Marius wasn't too pleased with that either as he was the servant of a God of Justice, but he knew the realities of politics. Gods rarely faced heavy punishments unless they did something egregious or pissed off the wrong more powerful god.

"So, mission accomplished, sir?" Wisdom asked eagerly. None of them had been too pleased with this mission.

“Indeed. Well done. You were handed a difficult situation and you did very well for a newly made squad. Your success has been noted. Unfortunately, I have some potentially bad news as well. Since you are being sent on a military assignment next, presumably into battle, the higher-ups of the Host have decided to boost your squad to full strength so that, and I quote, 'won't drag down the combat effectiveness of your allies'. Combat squads are usually ten strong, so they're effectively forcing four more people on you at least as a temporary assignment." Marius was a bit apologetic as he felt they should be rewarding the group for a job well done instead. Although, some would argue that more manpower was a reward.

“We’ll deal with it.” Valor stated before anyone could say something snide. They had been expecting something like this. While teams that were not deployed on the frontlines could easily operate understrength, combat teams usually were supplemented like this. "Do we at least get to influence what we'll be getting?"

"What, yes, who no," Marius explained. "The good news is that House Titannica can influence the who part to an extent at least, so we won't be getting saboteurs at least." Now that the House had finally decided to support Karna, they were starting to exert their influence. Truth be told, these reinforcements were the idea of the House as well, as they wanted to make sure their investment survived. "The other good news is that unlike most other squads, you won't be assigned a higher-ranked member of the Host as a leader, so all the merits still go to you. I managed to convince everyone that you have enough power to match the strength of that higher-ranked member."

“Well, you already know one person that we want in our group. We could use another front liner and a support caster of some sort. Maybe a dedicated healer as well.” Valor suggested.

“The front liner will be easy, as will the healer. Support caster might be a bit harder but doable. As for Arjuna, we are in the process of recalling him from the front. I don’t know if he’ll make it back in time, but I’ll do my best.” Marius had finally been able to flex the influence of the House Titannica to recall Karna’s father. It was the least they could do.

“See that you do. He was one of the main reasons we joined in the first place.” Karna said firmly.

"Any further information about our destination?" Wisdom questioned.

“Well, the world itself is rather small, but the resources gained there are important. Rather fittingly to your current whereabouts, the destination world is a tropical paradise of sorts, although infested with rather nasty flora and fauna. The resources of the world are important, but the more important factor is the location. The world is located in a rather important chokepoint between areas that makes it an alternative path deeper into our territory. The main thrust of the Netherworld attacks has been in that sector for a while now. There’s a fortress world nearby that guards the main artery of travel in the entire plane, but this small world is expected to come under siege pretty soon as the fight from the fortress world spills over. We don’t know what kind of forces the enemy will send, but we expect it won’t be small.” Marius explained.

“So, we should expect more than our squad to take part.” Valor said definitively.

"Almost certainly. However, the main fighting is still at the fortress world and the connected worlds from there, so we can't deploy too much force to guard this place either. There's going to be a couple of higher-ranked immortals present at the very least to deter the Netherworld trying to blitz the place with a couple of elites."

“Good to know. How soon are we deploying?” Karna asked.

"Soon. The details are still being worked on but expect it to happen in the next week. Your squad wasn't originally slated for this as we expected you would take longer to wrap up the investigation, but since you were faster than expected…" Marius left the rest unsaid.

“Well, that’s what you get for doing good work. More work.” Envy shrugged.

Chapter 132 - Sparks

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

The group was just preparing to set off when a messenger entered the room where they were gathering. “I have an invitation for Princess Ynnead?” The messenger asked, not sure who was who as they were all in full armor.

“From whom?” Karna asked suspiciously. They would need to set off for their destination shortly, as they were going to meet their new teammates and travel to the world they were supposed to defend.

"I'm not entirely sure. A really official-looking guard handed it to me. I would assume someone quite important though. The guard seemed awfully powerful." The messenger admitted. He was just a young page, barely rank 3 as a Qi user.

“What kind of invitation?” Karna asked, not really sure if she liked where this was going.

“I was told to bring you somewhere. It’s not far. The next building over.” The boy explained. The Host had taken over several buildings as they investigated the events in the city. They didn’t exactly hide their presence either.

“Fine. Did they specify anything about my companions?”

“They were not mentioned.” The page replied simply.

“Right.” She turned to her allies. “Be ready to act if things go sideways, but I’ll take this meeting alone. Seems to be official.”

As she followed the page to a large stone building that used to be some sort of office but now housed Host personnel, Karna could sense the presence of someone very powerful inside. They were hiding that power extremely well, so even she had trouble getting an exact read, but she could tell the being was at rank 13, even if she couldn’t say if they were a mana user or something else. As the page continued to lead her inside, she quickly spotted a humanoid being wearing white armor that covered them from head to toes so that no skin or even their eyes were showing. The armor was made of a mix of metals and leather, making it lighter than full metal armor, hinting that this was a speed-focused fighter. The being was almost three meters tall and broad at the shoulders, and they were carrying a halberd that she could easily identify as a very high-ranked divine weapon.

Without saying a word, the white-armored being turned around and opened a door, beckoning her inside. The page turned around and left, as if getting a silent message to leave them alone. Now drawn by curiosity, the large white-clad being closed the door behind her once she entered, and made a gesture that expanded a magical formation around the room that would make eavesdropping all but impossible. Then the being stood behind a table in the center of the room and placed some sort of amulet on the table.

The amulet wasn’t the only item on the table, as there was also a magical chest of intricate design placed next to the amulet. The amulet suddenly lighted up with magical power, and the illusionary projection of a man stood above the amulet. The projection was life-sized, so the man was effectively standing on the table and looking down at Karna. The man was older with gray in his hair and a thin beard, but he was obviously not weakened by his age. He was also wearing golden phoenix robes, and his headdress also obscured his face with strings of hanging beads.

“Princess Ynnead. Before you say anything, I’m not here, officially or unofficially. I would also ask you to keep questions and comments to a minimum, though I’m certain some can’t be avoided. This meeting should’ve been under better circumstances, but unfortunately, we are all slaves to our roles and commitments. I wanted to give you a short explanation and a gift of sorts. I'm not sure if I should really call it a gift as you should've earned it naturally by now, so I'm only giving you something that's yours by right." The man, who Karna already suspected of being the emperor briefly explained. She didn't recognize the man, but she did recognize the garb, and the identity of the man would explain the presence of the white-clad powerhouse in front of her.

“You may have wondered why you and your allies haven’t yet triggered a spark of Divinity on your own. That’s because the perfect spark already exists for you, and I have stopped any…suboptimal…sparks from being born for you. That spark is in the chest in front of you. Why have I done this? For the same reason I named you Ynnead. We all have a role to play, and I need you to play yours. I know from experience, yes we’ve met before, that you dislike being used. That’s why I’ve given you plenty of leeway in how you fill your role.“ Now she knew why the man was using a hologram of sorts for this meeting, aside from a visit from the emperor drawing attention. She couldn’t determine his True Name when he wasn’t personally here.

“That spark is made up of two ingredients that you’re familiar with. More familiar than anyone. It combines the concepts of Soul and Karma. I see you understand what I mean. I don’t need to explain why you are more suitable than anyone for the concept of Karma, and as for Soul…well…I shan’t say more when there’s any possibility of being overheard. I’m sure you can see all the possibilities that combination provides even better than I can.” The man gestured towards the chest.

He was right. This was the optimal spark for her. Not the only optimal spark, but probably the best combination. It placed the least amount of potential limitations on her actions and opened a vast range of Divinities for her to claim in the future. Just the concept of a soul could take many forms. A God of Death was just the most obvious one, along with the related Divinities such as God of Afterlife and whatever god was responsible for punishment after death. On that note, one of the possible Divinities combined well with karma to form a sort of judge archetype. And the less obvious ones were even more numerous.

It was also a fact that she had an extremely strong connection with the two concepts. Just the fact that she had such a powerful soul made her uniquely suited for the soul half of the spark, and her maxed out karma did the same for the other half. A powerful connection like that would mean the spark and the subsequent Divinities would grant more power to her than they might some random other person. It was indeed the perfect spark for her. Which begged the question. "Why?"

“I already told you. You have a role to play in this charade. And that role doesn’t coincide with the Divinity of Mercy. Even in the way you interpret the concept. I’m also a slave to my role, and getting you to play your role is one of the things my role entails. That’s why I named you Ynnead as well. You don’t need to assume the role of the previous Ynnead of course. Thanatos and Hel would be quite vexed if you contested their claim to the Divinity. Like I also already said, I didn’t give you anything you haven’t already earned. I only held on to the spark so that someone else wouldn’t try and claim it. Now go. We both have much to do.” The man commanded.

Karna looked for a moment at the illusory image before grabbing the small chest and leaving. It was clear that she would not be getting anything more out of this person. As she left, the powerful being finally spoke to the illusory image. “Your majesty, will she use the spark?” The masculine voice asked.

“That’s a good question. From what I know of her, no. She dislikes being used and playing to the tune of others. Even a no-strings-attached gift from someone who frankly admitted to wanting to use her will be scrutinized. Interestingly, now that she has the perfect spark for her, she won’t bother going after other sparks, even if she doesn’t use that one. Why bother when you already have the perfect one? She’s the type that would rise to the apex without a scrap of Divinity, just to defy everyone and show that it can be done. Whether she chooses to use it or not is largely irrelevant. The important thing is that I’ve set things in motion.” The man said a little cryptically.

------

As if in defiance of the man’s expectations, Karna had wasted no time in absorbing the spark. She’d of course first confirmed that the spark was exactly what the man had said it to be and had checked it for traps and any hidden curses, but once she was sure it was safe, she’d immediately absorbed it. The spark had eagerly jumped inside her and settled inside her core.

"You're much too young to play games with me," Karna muttered with a small smile. She had realized immediately the same thing the man had explained to the guard earlier. If she didn't absorb this spark, then she wouldn't absorb any. So why wait? The man was clearly trying to use her and push her in a direction he wanted, but unlike in the past, she no longer had to abide by such wishes. If she had enough power, she didn’t need to care what kind of games others tried to play. And this spark would go a long way to helping her gain that power. She didn’t consider herself owing anything to the man, likely the emperor, either because just like he had said, this spark was rightfully hers.

Divinity was a complicated thing. It could be many things. It could make you stronger, it could give you new powers, and it could help you become a god. At the end of the day, it was a power multiplier. It made strong mages even stronger, fast warriors even faster, and depending on the divinity, could by itself make you extremely powerful, although that usually required believers in your divinity. On the other hand, it also placed certain limitations on you. You had to act according to your divinity. A god of peace couldn’t be warlike, and a god of justice couldn’t be unjust.

That's why it was important to get a spark that suited both your abilities and nature. It was also why these particular concepts were so well suited for her. She suited the conditions they imposed just by existing. They didn't really impose behavioral limits on her, and instead required her to possess certain qualities instead. That didn't mean that there would not be any behavioral limits in the future in case her divinity developed into godhood, but as the man had said, she had plenty of choices in what sort of god she wanted to be, if she even chose to become one. Being the God of Death, for example, had very few limits. She could also somewhat mold the divinity around her own ideas, just like she'd done when she had been the Goddess of Mercy.

As the spark found its place inside her, she started to feel the difference immediately. As a godling, she was slightly divine from the beginning, but her cultivation was supposed to work with a spark from the beginning. It had been a very incomplete divinity until now, and it still was, but she could already feel it was much easier to use the divine power that filled the plane. And she had only just begun integrating the spark. Her affinity with the spark was so high though, that she could tell she was already at least 10% stronger just by possessing the spark.

She was pulled out of her contemplation as she entered the room with the rest of her team. “What just happened Wrath?” Envy asked excitedly.

“What do you mean?” Karna asked, though she could feel a difference immediately. She had not been the only one to gain a spark.

“Sparks of Divinity just suddenly appeared for all of us.” Valor explained curtly.

"All of you?" Karna confirmed and got nods in return. They had been expecting to gain sparks before this, as their affinities with certain concepts were so strong. And as reincarnators, they knew how to attract one. It had been a little odd that none of them had succeeded until now. “It seems someone was preventing the sparks from being created for us. No longer though.” She explained. Only the Emperor had the authority to do something like this. Well, the emperor and the mysterious figure behind everything.

Envy’s eyes narrowed. “Someone was preventing the sparks? Who cou- oh. Ohh! I see. And I see you got one too. What kind?”

“Soul and Karma.” Karna smiled wryly.

“Of course.” Envy muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I got Hope and Life, Valor got Courage and Leadership, and Wisdom got his namesake as well.” Hope summarized. “Kensei got Space and Battle, and Envy refuses to tell us.”

“None of your business!” Envy exclaimed, a little embarrassed.

“Come on. It can’t be that bad.” Wisdom prodded her verbally. The man was just curious by nature.

"Shut it bookworm!" Envy made a rather uninspired jibe back. Apparently, this little argument had been going on for several minutes.

“Moving on, have we heard anything of our new teammates?” Karna moved things right along. If Envy wanted to keep hers a secret, then she certainly wasn’t going to push. “We were supposed to hear about them before we left.”

“Yes. We got word just after you were taken away. Arjuna and the others will meet us at the destination. They’re being moved there directly instead of wasting time moving back and forth. Apparently, they assigned us some people already near the front. Probably thought someone with battle experience against the Netherworld would be necessary.” Valor responded. He’d become the de facto official communication point between the team and the Host, likely because he was the most stable of them all.

“Yes, because none of us has experience fighting the undead.” Envy scoffed.

"As far as they know, that's true. Although we could've gotten a lot of experience before Ascending, I don't think they consider that real experience. As for any other experience…they don’t know about that.” Valor countered briefly. “Strategically it makes sense to mix experienced soldiers with the newbies to help institutional knowledge to be passed along.”

"Besides, it would be a bit wrong to think of the Netherworld as simply undead," Karna added. "Yes, the undead do make up the majority of their lower ranking forces, but if you're expecting their higher ranking forces to be shuffling corpses, then you'll be in for a rude awakening."

“You sound like you have a fair bit of knowledge about them.” Hope pointed out.

"It also sounds like you have a special hatred for them." Envy pointed out. Without even knowing, Karna's tone had turned sour when she had spoken of the Netherworld.

“I do. Both. For the latter, I might tell you at some point, as for the former, I have lived here before if you recall. And while many things change, the Netherworld remains largely the same. They might learn new tricks, but the core is the same.”

"I know some of the main points, but I'd still like to have my knowledge confirmed." Wisdom requested. “General information about the Scourges is easily available, but practical experience is practical experience.”

“Well, the first main point I already mentioned. The true legions of the Netherworld aren’t simple undead. The necromancers and liches might raise all the dead of their enemies to work as cannon fodder, but the true legions are closer to constructs animated by the energy of death than what would normally be considered undead in other universes. They do share some similarities in that they are almost impossible to beat in a battle of attrition, as they will just keep getting up as long as the leaders are around. They also never get tired or need to eat. The only thing they need is the negative energy that sustains them, which radiates out from the leaders and heals all their wounds given a bit of time. They also become stronger the more negative energy there is, and the more they kill, the more these beings can evolve into higher forms." Karna explained.

She tapped her chin for a moment. “Their types are numerous, but they can be divided into roughly five general types depending on the vessel the energy inhabits. The first type is the standard undead, which means shambling corpses. While they are common in the lower planes, don’t expect to get off so easy here. The next type are the wraiths and ghosts that are just ethereal clumps of negative energy without a body to inhabit. Then there are the abominations, which are twisted forms of flesh brought together and molded by the negative energy. Do note that flesh in this case can be vegetation as well. The fourth type is the one you'll see most often, which are bodies made of a sort of living metal. They roughly resemble skeletons, but these warriors are much tougher and more intelligent. The last type are actual constructs of metal and stone that resemble moving statues. In all cases, the higher the concentration of negative energy, the more powerful the being, and usually their form reflects that.

“The Netherworld is divided into dynasties, led by Phaerons. Most commonly the Phaerons are the metal soldier type, or at least they used to be, but they could be any of the other types as well. All dynasties at least used to have all types of beings in their ranks, but a dynasty led by a construct, for example, usually has a larger concentration of constructs when compared to other dynasties.” Karna finished her brief explanation.

“Who makes these metal soldiers and constructs? I can sort of understand naturally occurring undead as I’ve seen them in other universes, but these two types sound purposefully created.” Hope asked.

“The Dynasties of course. They make more in the Netherworld. And before you ask, I don’t know where the first ones came from. They pre-date even my first life.” Karna shrugged.

“Doesn’t much matter. They will die just the same to overwhelming power. Just aim for the leaders by the sound of it.” Envy summarized.

"Essentially yes, though they of course have developed defenses against such an obvious weakness. You'll find out soon enough." Karna grinned.

Chapter 133 - Defense

A note from Vihyungrang

*falls asleep* Long work-week. Hope not too many mistakes. I hope you'll enjoy. zzzzzzz

--------

The tropical surroundings had turned into a chaotic battlefield as two lifeless armies clashed against each other and had to contend with the rather unfriendly nature. Regiments of constructs and skeletal soldiers made of metal marched across the beach and jungle to crash against the ranks of shadowy soldiers, while the jungle seemed to come alive to snare soldiers from either side, though usually only long enough for the soldier to hack themselves free. Neither army seemed too fazed by losses either way, so no help was given to captured soldiers.

”Nice job daddy Arjuna!” The woman he’d come to know as Envy shouted excitedly as a storm of magic annihilated the ranks of the enemy forces.

“I already told you not to call me that!” Arjuna shouted back as he summoned more shadowy soldiers with the help of his spirit. As he summoned more, a wash of golden energy fell on them, increasing their abilities greatly, while a powerful aura also engulfed them, making them stronger still.

Theirs was an odd combination of skills and abilities but they had found a way to make it all work together. He could summon large numbers of soldiers made from pure shadow, although the strength of each individual shadow was inversely proportional to the number of shadows he summoned, while the one called Valor used his holy aura to turn them much stronger, while another new addition to the team, Helen, used her clerical abilities to buff them with more traditional holy spells, thus rendering the downside of summoning large numbers almost non-existent. They could essentially create an army out of thin air just by the three of them. In the meantime, the rest of their team performed the function of heavy hitters, taking out threats that the shadows could not deal with. The earlier storm of magic had been created by Envy and Hope to take out the backlines of the Netherworld forces, which had been raining magical arrows on them earlier.

It was a good thing that their tactic was so effective, as it basically created a stalemate where both sides had an army that never really died and stayed dead, turning it into an endless battle of attrition. They also created two very effective ‘anvils’, forces that tied down the enemy, while the ‘hammer’ struck at the important parts of the enemy. The difference was that their side had a much more effective ‘hammer’. The Oni who was called Kensei, and another of the new arrivals, a Holy Knight called Lancelot, sliced into the enemy ranks like the enemy wasn’t even there, while the magical group of Envy, Wisdom, and Hope kept raining death on the enemy elites and backlines.

Still, the whole thing would’ve been much harder if Karna wasn’t keeping the enemy leader busy. “Can you tell how my daughter is doing?” He asked, regretting the fact that his senses couldn’t quite reach the orbit where Karna was battling.

Just as he asked a question, a beam of sickly green energy was intercepted by one glowing with the power of the stars. “She seems to be doing well, don’t you worry.” The one known as Envy said with confidence. “We have our own battle to deal with, so let’s focus.”

Arjuna, and the other three new reinforcements, had joined together with the Team named Omega only a couple of days earlier. It had been nice to be reunited with Karna, although he couldn't help but be shocked at her rapid growth and new power. All his daughter's allies were extremely powerful. Still, it had been heartwarming for the few hours they'd gotten to catch up before they had been interrupted by the arrival of the Netherworld's first troops.

The world they were defending was far from an ideal battleground. The world was just as hostile to them as it was to the enemy, both flora and fauna attacking rather indiscriminately. They had no fortifications to speak of, and the world offered no natural defensive advantages. A few of the more important resource centers had protective magical shields, but those shields were not designed to withstand a prolonged siege. They were only strong enough to take a handful of spells from a nearby engagement. Thus, they were no use defensively. That's why their team had chosen a sort of defense-in-depth tactic. They had started the fight in orbit and had allowed themselves to be pushed back slowly, now fighting the enemy forces on the ground in a spot they had chosen beforehand as useless enough that it wouldn't matter if it was destroyed. A battle of this scale wasn't exactly great on the environment after all, especially with the spells and powers the Netherworld employed. The energy of death pervaded all of their actions, leaving behind devastated lands.

One of the benefits of their tactic was that they had managed to whittle down the numbers of the enemy during their slow retreat. Even if most of the run-of-the-mill troops would just get up again, the elites wouldn't as their team all had access to spells and abilities that could take down the enemies for good. That in turn reduced the strength of the grunts in the enemy forces as they no longer had the powerful elites buffing them. Now even the weaker troops were showing signs of not getting up again as the Netherworld army no longer had the elites supplying enough negative energy.

Another reason the enemy army was slowly being whittled down was the absence of their leader. The Overlord leading the enemies had been engaged by Karna in the very beginning, and unlike the rest of the army, the Overlord was not being allowed to progress down to the surface. That wasn’t just because of the tactical benefits, but also because Karna wouldn’t be able to use her full power on the surface without devastating everything around her.

The last of their team, a man clad in a dark cloak and armor you’d normally see on an assassin appeared behind the leading Elder Lich of the enemy army, before sinking his two swords glowing with golden power into the lich’s body. Immortals were notoriously difficult to permanently kill, undead immortals like the liches especially so, but this man was an expert in making sure that the rare times he appeared and struck, his target would stay down. He didn’t just look like an assassin, he behaved like one too, most of the time. The rest of the time he was a rather jovial scout with some of the best senses Arjuna had the pleasure of working with.

He and the Dragonborn assassin had been drafted around the same time and had become fast friends, so it had been a relief when they had both been assigned to this team. Silvanus was very good at what he did, and he was pleasant company also. They had been assigned to the same team with Helen and Lancelot a little over a year ago, so they knew how to work together decently well. Arjuna wasn’t really that close with Helen or Lancelot, but the two devout people were competent, which was the most important thing at this moment.

“Now’s the time. Push our advantage! Put your backs into it!” Valor commanded. He wasn’t just shouting encouragements as his words worked as a trigger for a skill that filled all their bodies with holy power. Any fatigue was washed away, and they were strengthened significantly. Valor made for a great commander because just the buffs he provided made any army fight with at least twice the strength. He also had an eye for tactics, exploiting any opening, such as when he’d ordered their mage group to wipe out the exposed backline.

Arjuna increased the number of shadows being spawned from the darkness covering the ground like a layer of water. After he’d become an immortal, his abilities with shadows had developed into what he was told was called a Domain. Countless shadows crawled out from the ground as if emerging from a lake, grabbing at the feet of the Netherworld troops and dragging them into the shadows below, never to be seen again. Arjuna still wasn’t sure where all those enemies vanished to, but he didn’t honestly care too much either. It worked, and that was enough. Some of the enemies were too strong to be dragged down, but even some of the powerful enemies were either too damaged or spent to fight. He could see as a giant construct made of black stone was dragged under. Many of the constructs were almost immune to magic, but even that seemed to no longer be the case. However, he did remember a small group of much larger and more dangerous constructs staying behind to fight Karna and protect the Overlord.

------

“You can feel it, can’t you?” Karna asked, as her wolf claws tore another Necrosphinx apart. The immensely powerful constructs were all but immune to magic, but they were like paper in front of the claws and fangs of the Beast of Apocalypse. Only one more construct of their kind remained, while three had already been torn to shreds. Even the regenerative abilities of the Overlord couldn’t save them anymore. “Your army is being wiped out as we speak.” Her voice wasn't coming out of her mouth, as the mouth of a wolf was hardly designed for speech.

The emotionless skeleton made of grey metal and clad in golden armor didn’t rise to her bait. “This is but a temporary setback. Our victory is inevitable. Even if you win today, tomorrow, and for the next thousand years, we will only return more powerful.” The rank 12 immortal warrior had been a powerful enemy. Unfortunately for the Overlord, Karna was pretty far from a standard rank 10.

The remaining Necrosphinx, a construct of black stone that combined the lower body of a lion and the torso of a vaguely humanoid being with enormous blades for hands, slashed down on Karna's fur-covered back. The blow was strong enough to shatter mountains, but it only glanced off the white fur of Celestium, the blade finding no purchase on the slippery and metallic strands. The only reason Karna hadn’t just torn the last construct apart without any care was the presence of the Overlord. Unlike the constructs, the Overlord did have the ability to wound her, proven by the small nick on one of her paws.

“Bold of you to assume that you will be around to return.” Karna released an eerie laughter that spoke of dark amusement.

“Flesh is fallible and always fails, but the chosen of the Phaeron will always return. Claim your hollow victory wolf. It will only be a temporary one. I will be back, and once the Phaeron hears of this, we will strike with the power of an exploding star.” The Overlord didn’t seem too phased even as the last Necrosphinx, a creature that would’ve been a powerful enemy to almost anyone, was torn to pieces with contemptuous ease.

"There are a couple of fundamental errors in your thinking. The first problem is, I'm not afraid of you returning in the distant future. Unlike you, I'm only getting stronger. I defeated you easily today, and it will only grow easier. The second problem…" Her eyes suddenly changed to those of the basilisk and tore the dark power animating the undead being from its metal shell, before she dispersed the soul and sent it to the cycle of reincarnation with a small extension of her new spark. Half of her spark dealt with souls, so it was an obvious power to have to be able to prevent the beings of the Netherworld from being drawn back to their sarcophagi in their tomb worlds.

“…eh, talking to the dead isn’t really something a sane person should be doing.” She had prepared a supposedly witty follow-up, but felt it was wasted with no one there to hear it.

She slowly descended down on the surface, noting the enemy army slowly being scattered to the winds as the sustaining power of the Overlord left them. “A rather successful battle!” Lancelot declared with a boisterous voice. An infectious smile spread on his handsome face.

Karna didn’t dislike Lancelot, but she suspected the man would likely be the source of some trouble. He clearly fancied himself as a ladies' man, and their team was filled with rather attractive ladies. Even discounting herself, the new cleric Helen was gorgeous in a very classical Godling fashion, Envy definitely had her charms, and Hope could look literally like anything she wanted. Even Kensei was far from unattractive. It was only a matter of time until Lancelot tried his luck, and it would be interesting to see how he dealt with rejection. And Karna was pretty sure he would be rejected by all the ladies. Even Helen had implied as much, even if the two were friendly. Lancelot didn’t strike her as the type that was used to rejection. Some pretty boys didn’t take it well.

"That went better than expected." Wisdom commented as he landed. "Of course, this is only the beginning, but a good sign nonetheless."

“I’m not sure if this even qualifies as a beginning. Even a standard Host team could’ve dealt with this enemy force, albeit not as easily as we did. After all, most teams don’t have access to a pocket army.” Valor commented. “Still, they didn’t even send a dozen immortals at us, even if their other numbers were notable. The Necrosphinxes that Wrath dealt with might have been a little problematic to some teams, but then most teams wouldn’t be made up of just rank 10 people at a location of this importance. Which reminds me. Weren’t we supposed to have other teams and some higher ranked immortals assigned here as well?”

“We were. Yet there aren’t any. Something must have happened.” Karna stated simply. That worried her just a bit. They would most likely manage, but the plan being altered like that was a little concerning.

“We can hold for now, but it would be preferable if those reinforcements showed up. We can gather a fair number of merits like this, but if there’s one thing the Netherworld is famous for, it’s persistence. This was just the first of their attacks, and now that it failed, they will send a stronger force.” Wisdom speculated.

“Glory and risk go hand in hand!” Lancelot declared boldly. “If we want to attain glory, then we must also bear the risks. I think we have what it takes to hold this world. At least we now have a little bit of time to prepare.”

“He does have a point there.” Valor conceded. “We shouldn’t waste this breathing room we’ve gained. While creating fortifications might be somewhat pointless, we know from experience that we can thin the enemy numbers with traps.”

“I’m assuming Gem and Zuellni haven’t located the source of the enemy forces yet?” Envy shifted the topic slightly.

"Not yet," Karna confirmed. "They are moving stealthily and avoiding notice. Still, it shouldn't take too long."

“I’m still not entirely sure why we’re even looking…” Helen said carefully.

“A strong offense is the best defense.” Envy retorted with a smirk.

Chapter 134 - The Bachelor

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

----------

”They’re starting to get serious about this," Kensei commented as she used her Domain to strike and get rid of another Netherworld Overlord. There had been three this time and Karna couldn’t handle all of them at the same time. One of them had landed on the world they were defending, which had turned the battle a lot more difficult. Just the presence of one Overlord had made the enemy forces fight a lot harder. On the other hand, the remaining forces crumbled as soon as that Overlord died.

“Not quite serious, as there would be a Phaeron here if they got truly serious.” Envy corrected. “But yes, as serious as they’re likely to take this place.”

Almost to punctuate her words, the remains of a skeletal dragon crashed on the ground behind her. The skeletal dragon had been animated by baleful energy just moments before, but now that energy was gone. Not because the Overlord was dead, as this undead dragon had been one of the immortal monsters sent to protect the Overlords, but because the tail of a very much living and a much larger dragon was wrapped around its neck.

"This is getting annoying," Karna grumbled in a draconic voice. She'd kept the size of her draconic form smaller this time, as it would be bad for the surroundings if she landed with her full size. "The Netherworld is sending more and more annoying monsters along with their Overlords as protection."

"And it's about to continue being annoying," Hope reported. She was in charge of monitoring the space around the world. “I’m detecting another spatial disturbance. We have incoming.”

After the first attack, the Netherworld had given them time to prepare traps and defenses before attacking again. That mistake was not repeated. Now there was a maximum of a couple of hours of rest between attacks, even if not every attack was a full-strength one. Most of the small attacks were just something to keep them busy and something to clear out any traps between the main attacks. Sacrificial attacks by disposable forces.

“That was quick. If we get no peace between attacks, even we’ll get tired eventually.” Wisdom said in a slightly worried tone. Arjuna especially was already looking spent, as he was in charge of basically summoning and maintaining their forces. Helen and Lancelot were also running low on their holy powers as they had to pray and commune with their deities to regain the power they spent.

“I have to admit, when it comes to this sort of battle of attrition, the Netherworld certainly has us beat.” Valor agreed with the assessment. The Netherworld had basically endless forces to throw at them, even if the scourge still hadn’t quite realized the strength of this team. Their team might be able to out attrition the enemy in a battle or two and had more explosive power than the forces sent against them so far, but if the Netherworld really decided to crush them by sending a hundred immortals at them, then there was very little that could be done. Those immortals had to be pulled out of other places though, and the Netherworld had not considered that to be necessary so far. That might change though, when they realized none of the immortals' souls sent here were returning.

“Ah.” Hope made a sound suddenly. “It’s not the Netherworld.”

“It’s not? We haven’t seen any trade ships since we arrived. The locals pretty much fled before we got here. Have our reinforcements finally arrived?” Wisdom asked with a slightly sarcastic tone, not really believing his words either.

“It would seem that you are correct, as surprising as that is. I’m detecting two full teams wearing the armor of the Host.” Hope surprised everyone with her report.

Karna shifted to her normal form, mostly to avoid anyone mistaking her for an enemy. “Huh. I’d say finally, but they did arrive pretty much at the perfect time.”

“You mean aside from being here from the beginning?” Envy corrected with a displeased tone. She wasn’t angry at Karna, but at the lateness of the arrivals. “I mean, it would’ve been better if we could’ve rotated forces since the start.”

“Aside from that, yes.” Karna agreed with an easy smile. “On an unrelated note, I got a message from Gem and Zuellni earlier. They found the likely location of the Phaeron leading this offensive.”

“Oh. A chance for a counterattack?” Valor perked up.

“Potentially. They reported that the defenses around the Phaeron are extremely heavy, and we’d need to do a bit of sneaking to get within striking distance, but it could be done. Once we get some rest.” Karna nodded.

“Oof. Our sneaking hasn’t produced very good results so far.” Envy made a face.

As they were joking around, the Host reinforcements arrived and landed nearby. The group of twenty immortals was led by a pair in golden armor, signifying a higher rank. All twenty of them radiated quite a lot of power as well. It was also clear these were two separate teams that had been sent. The first team looked relatively standard judging by their equipment and strength. Their auras gave a battle-hardened and experienced feeling, and their armor looked worn and well used despite regular maintenance. Even though the armor was designed to hide most differences, it could be sensed that the different members had a mix of specialties and races as they seemed a balanced mix of mages, front-liners, and supports.

The other team was more powerful at first glance. They didn't have quite the same battle-hardened aura to them as the other team, signifying that they had not spent long on the front lines, or at least their time had not left the same kind of mark. On the other hand, every member of the squad gave an air of extreme competence and confidence. They were more powerful than average silver armored members of the Host, every single one being strong enough to earn the golden armor. Karna and the others got the distinct impression that the members of this team simply hadn’t been in the Host long enough to be promoted yet, much like their own team. There wasn’t anything obviously suspicious about them either, yet there were a few things that were immediately noticeable. They were all male, and none of them were wearing their helmets, which were tied to their waist.

“Is it just me or are the members of that team unusually handsome?” Envy asked with a bit of amusement. “I mean, I know we’re in the Divine Planes and there are a lot of Godlings running around, but…”

“Not just you. For some odd reason, I get the feeling like someone purposefully sent the most eligible bachelors our way as reinforcements…” Hope also agreed. She enjoyed the view though. The gathered men were quite good-looking.

“Who’s the leader of this squad?” The leader of the more grizzled and balanced team asked with a voice that tolerated no nonsense. He sounded like a career military officer that was used to doing things quickly and efficiently.

"That would be me." Valor stepped forward. Even if most of their team recognized that Karna often gave the last word on important topics, Valor and Wisdom were the tactical leaders.

"No senior officer?" The same man in golden armor stated more than asked and moved right on without waiting for a confirmation. "Not relevant. Apologies for the delay. The main fortress world of this plane got heavily attacked, most likely as a distraction, which tied us down since the General of the fort didn't feel comfortable releasing Squad Iron Fists until the brunt of the assault was dealt with. As for Squad…” He looked towards the other newly arrived squad. They might have arrived together, but it was obvious they’d met up on the way.

“Squad Valor.” The other Golden Armored immortal announced in a graceful, almost musical tone. His focus was drawn by both Envy and Hope giving a small snicker. “Something amusing?” He asked obviously not used to such a reaction.

“Excuse my friends. It’s just that your squad seems to be named after the leader of ours.” Karna answered, not bothering to hide the smile that was obvious in her voice.

“Well then, we are well matched! Squads after the same goal!” The leader of Squad Valor declared with a raised fist, obviously pleased, although there was something a little off in his tone as if the words weren't entirely spontaneous.

The leader of the Iron Fists cleared his throat a bit to get things back on track, and the other man was quick on the uptake. “Right. The original plan was for the Iron Fists to be your reinforcements, but as they got delayed, our team was sent instead. When we were called for though, we were all off-duty, so it took a couple of days to gather everyone, and we had a lot further to travel. In the end, we arrived at the same time as the original reinforcements. Our apologies for that. The good news is that at least there are three squads here now.”

“Right. With that out of the way, I’m Lieutenant Manus, and we were sent here to make sure this place is defensible. A report on the current situation and the defenses if you would.” The grizzled veteran said with a commanding tone.

Valor gave a very detailed report while the others rested. Arjuna especially had laid down to take a catnap as soon as it had been confirmed the new arrivals were not hostile. As the report came to an end, Lieutenant Manus didn’t look too fazed either way. “Right. So, you’ve been under almost constant attack, and have managed to kill a dozen Netherworld’s Overlords, while also taking down an assortment of their other immortals. On the other hand, the defenses of this world are shit, and you haven’t had the time to improve on that too much. All in all, a pretty good result, albeit not one that gives the best starting point against future aggression. Don’t worry, I’m not judging you on that really. Just the reality of the situation. Our squad is specialized in fortifying places quickly. You could say we are the perfect complement to your team in this situation then.” The man gave the impression that he had a lot of faith in the Host and liked to have that faith validated.

“It also seems that you are rather spent from the constant fighting.” The other golden armored man, who turned out to be Lieutenant Akasha, commented. “We’ll take up the fighting role while you rest for now. We can set up a proper rotation once you’ve freshened up.”

Neither squad wasted any time and moved to take positions very quickly, which turned out to be a good decision as the Netherworld's forces showed up only an hour later, though the initial attack was quickly annihilated by the crossfire of two full squads. The Iron Fists turned out to be highly effective at what they did, creating powerful defenses and fortifications in a matter of hours, and every passing moment saw those defenses strengthened and added to. Unlike what Karna and her friends did, their squad didn’t go for elaborate defenses from the start. Instead, they started with simple and quick to build fortifications and those initially simple defenses quickly became more effective and complicated, as the squad erected both physical and magical barriers, fortifications, and strongpoints.

Squad Valor, the name still causing Karna and her teammates to chuckle, was also very effective at defeating the enemy, as they aimed at the enemy leaders with surgical precision, showing their skill and strength. Even their weakest member was near the middle of the eleventh rank, and they were all very good at using their powers. Wisdom had to admit that it would be difficult for even them to defeat that squad without going all out. It wasn’t just that they were powerful, but each and every one of the squad's members was very skilled and effective at using their powers. None of them was an average immortal and they had more than enough skill to lead a team of their own.

Hope was the one to point out that in any other universe, every member of that team would have been powerful and skilled enough to inspire stories and legends. In fact, the members of that team were pretty much the best of what the Divine Planes had to offer without dragging out the old monsters and gods. That wasn’t counting reincarnators of course. That said, it wasn’t clear whether any members of the team were reincarnators, as it would’ve been rather rude to check. Karna could judge that none of their souls were so powerful that they could be old reincarnators, but several members of the team had powerful enough souls that their potential was truly noteworthy. Yet those same souls were still within the limits of very gifted non-reincarnators. And they all seemed to work very seriously and diligently.

“Ok, this can’t be a coincidence.” Envy commented as the four original members of their group were eating something towards the end of their rest time. “That isn’t a naturally formed team.”

“They seem to be paying a lot of attention towards us.” Valor added. “They’re hiding it well, and it wouldn’t be notable if they weren’t all doing it. They don’t seem to be directing any hostility towards us though. It’s more like they’re curious and evaluating us, which isn’t too odd. Or wouldn’t be if they were doing the same to the other new squad.”

“You don’t think my original joke of a guess could actually be correct?” Hope asked suddenly.

“The one about someone sending the most eligible bachelors our way?” Envy asked, now seriously considering the possibility. “They all do kind of strike me as the future leaders of powerful houses. You know the type. Serious and competitive, skilled due to having to compete for the position against other claimants. They have that air of competence that a proper heir should have. They all seem very confident as well, as if they’ve already secured their position.”

“That’s reading quite a lot to just surface impressions and traits. We’ve only been around them for a few hours. Anyone can put up a mask for a period like that. They could all be mass murderers for all we know, and just hiding it well." Karna tempered the speculation that was getting a bit wild. "We can't make proper judgements until we've spent more time with them."

“If you say so…” Envy retorted with a sing-song voice.

“You don’t seem convinced.” Karna stared down at her old friend and rival.

“I’m simply going to point out that if Hope’s speculation is correct, then we all know who they’re here for.” She pointed out.

Valor was surprisingly the one to counter that idea. "I don't think it's quite that cut and dry. I mean, yes, it would be a real coup for any House if they managed to charm the princess, but you're selling yourself short. Well, yourself, Hope, and Kensei. You might not have the royal connection, but word of your competence during our time at training has likely already spread. Besides, you're friends and allies of the princess. Sometimes you don't have to aim for the main prize to get what you need. And all of that is predicated on the squad really being here for such vacuous reasons. As Wrath said, they could all have congregated together for other reasons. Birds of a feather and all that.”

The group continued to joke around for a while longer before they were interrupted by the leader of the Iron Fists squad approaching them. “The one called Kensei told me you had news.” He stated simply.

“Yes. We sent out a spirit to search for the Phaeron leading this offensive, and we got a report back that the spirit had found the target. Sometimes offense is the best defense.” Valor suggested.

The man grunted a bit thoughtfully while stroking his stubble. “While I’d prefer to say that defense is the best defense, controlled offense has its place. The problem is, if we sally out to attack the Phaeron, we’ll leave this world wide open.”

"We were actually thinking of sending a smaller strike. Especially now that there are three squads present, there's no need to risk this place by sending everyone.” Valor specified.

“Hmm. The problem is, can a smaller group actually deal with a Phaeron? The leaders of the Netherworld dynasties are far from weak, and they're always well defended. Not just by other immortals, but by magical defenses and various other tricks. They're just as aware as we are of their dependence on their leaders. And Phaerons are almost all at least approaching rank 13 if not already there." The lieutenant pointed out.

It was a good point as well. Not all Phaerons were rank 13, but many were. There was also a large difference between an Overlord at rank 12 and a Phaeron of the same rank, as only the most successful and powerful Overlords could become new Phaerons. There was also no guarantee that this Phaeron was one of the newer ones. There was a rather major jump in power between a rank 12 and a rank 13. They had managed to defeat some rank 12 Overlords, but those had been on the weaker end of the rank. He was tactfully letting them know that he wasn’t personally confident in facing down a Phaeron. And that was without considering all the other forces and defenses around the Phaeron.

"There are no guarantees, but there's a chance. If we can isolate the Phaeron or catch them by surprise, then I can do it." Karna stated. Even for her, it would be almost impossible to face a rank 13 being at full power in direct combat at this point. Even one on the weaker end. "I'm also feeling particularly wrathful towards the Netherworld…”

Chapter 135 - Wrath

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. Had to rush it a bit because of work, but it turned out alright all things considered. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”We will come with you.” Lieutenant Akasha stated firmly.

“Excuse me?” Wisdom asked, caught by surprise.

“The Iron Fists can hold this world for the short time we are gone. They excel at defense. On the other hand, even if we assume that your confidence in defeating the Phaeron is warranted, you’ll likely benefit from having extra hands. The Phaeron will not be alone. And if your confidence is misplaced, then you’ll certainly benefit from assistance while retreating.” The handsome lieutenant explained his reasoning.

“It’s going to be a bit of a suicide mission though, so extra people might mean extra losses.” Wisdom pointed out. “Besides, stealth will be our main method of approach. Having more people won’t necessarily help in that regard.”

“No, but you won’t be able to stealth all the way up to the Phaeron anyway. The Netherworld would never leave their leaders so vulnerable.” He insisted.

“Let them come.” Valor called out from a short distance away where he was gathering his gear. “He has a point, and they can prove to be useful. As long as they understand that they’re coming under their own responsibility.”

They didn’t really mind a bit of reinforcements, and since they would be using Karna’s tower to make the approach, the number of people was rather irrelevant when it came to stealth. The real reason Wisdom had tried refusing was because they couldn’t fully trust the other team. And allies you couldn’t trust were often worse than no allies at all. Still, the other team had proven their competence in the previous fights and the lieutenant was right. They really could use the extra fighting power to actually get to the Phaeron.

“It’s settled then.” Lieutenant Akasha declared with a small smile. “How are we making the approach?” He asked, now focusing on the details. Valor had not really explained the nuances of their plan, partially because even he didn’t know.

“With that.” He stated while pointing at the sky. Nothing happened though. “With that.” He tried again, and once again nothing happened. “Damn it, with..” Before he could finish, Karna’s tower appeared from a twist in space. “Ok, now you’re doing that on purpose.” He accused Karna with an aggrieved tone, though his smile never slipped for a moment.

“That’s what you get from trying to be so dramatic.” Karna laughed. He was right though. She had done it on purpose.

“Would’ve been rather epic if it had worked though.” Envy stated while giving Valor a small mocking pat on the shoulder.

“Your tower?” Lieutenant Akasha asked while looking at Karna. It wasn’t a difficult guess to make from what he’d just seen and heard between them. Karna nodded in confirmation. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not exactly subtle or stealthy.” He pointed out.

“At the moment it’s not. It can be, when necessary.” Karna responded without going into details. She wasn’t going to reveal that Gem would be the one to make the tower stealthy. “The tower spirit was the one to locate the Phaeron in the first place.”

“I stand corrected.” Lieutenant Akasha admitted freely. “I see a potential issue though.”

“I think I can already guess what that is. You’re about to point out that the Phaeron will not be stationary and would likely have moved since the time the tower spirit located it, right?” Karna asked.

“Exactly. I have a feeling you’ve already considered that though.” The lieutenant guessed.

“Yes. The tower spirit was not the only one to go. We have another spirit keeping an eye on the target from a sufficient distance.” Karna assured him.

“In that case, we’ll be in your care.” The lieutenant and the rest of the team boarded the tower with Karna and her team.

The distance to their target wasn’t too long, but they had to take a circuitous route to it because of their need for secrecy. As they got closer, they gathered on the bridge of the tower to go over the details of their plan. “The main thing making this plan a possibility is that the Netherworld is constantly making attacks against the main fortified position of the Host in this area. When those attacks happen, the defenses around the Phaeron will by necessity be thinner. Many of the most important and powerful immortals from the dynasty will be taking part in the attack after all.” Wisdom explained and a rough map of the area was projected in the air.

Since the forces of the Netherworld were not staging on a planet, the map was mostly empty aside from enemy forces and some environmental hazards, such as spatial storms. The map showed the entire area all the way up to the fortress Wisdom had mentioned, but focused on the part where the Phaeron had been located. The information provided on the enemy forces was rather detailed, which was thanks to Wisdom’s spirit. He was also a spirit contractor, and his spirit was perfect for intelligence gathering.

“That’s…a whole lot of enemies between us and the Phaeron." One of the members of Team Valor said carefully. They learned that the man's name was Avosh, and he was a member of the Golden Order. They were not aware of how prominent of a member he was, but judging by his talents, he had an important future ahead of him. Assuming he survived. “Even if we assume that the majority of the immortals will take part in the attack, that still leaves several dozen for us to face.”

“Tactically not a great situation.” Lieutenant Akasha nodded in agreement. “They also have wraiths with powerful true sight abilities spread around the area where the Phaeron is located to…well deal with something like we’re attempting.”

“Those are just the obviously visible defenses as well.” Another member of the other team, Resmeed scratched his thin and stylized beard. “We can be certain that they have invisible defenses as well. They aren’t stupid after all."

“I’ll have to disagree with you there.” Valor said with a small smirk. “Not about the invisible defenses, those are obviously going to exist. I meant the part about them being stupid. Look at their formation. There’s a glaring weakness to it. I’ll give you a hint. It would be a good formation if we were on a planet, but since we’re not…”

“The formation is two-dimensional." A fourth member, a Dark Elf named Nalred realized immediately. He was one of the few whose race was immediately obvious, as the others had taken a human form, even if they were something else. "They aren't defending properly against attacks from above and below. They have those wraiths spread out in those directions, but their formation is not. Not in a meaningful way."

“Exactly.” Valor confirmed. “Now, this isn’t likely just due to stupidity. They must realize the obvious weakness, especially judging by the wraiths being spread in three dimensions, but they don’t have the numbers to cover all directions effectively with immortals. That’s likely where the invisible defenses come to play.”

"As for the invisible defenses, Wrath, would you like to enlighten us?" Wisdom prodded.

“There are obviously traps around, which we can locate and avoid, but the main thing to worry about is the dais the Phaeron is sitting on. The dais itself is protected by a very powerful temporal barrier.” Karna revealed. She had used her own spells and magical sight to study the defenses. It was also impossible to hide the traps with illusions from a bunch of reincarnators that could see straight through them.

Lieutenant Akasha grimaced a bit. “Temporal barriers are rather nasty and hard to deal with. Especially since we have to assume this isn’t one that can be easily overpowered. They wouldn’t use it to protect the Phaeron if it was. The biggest benefit of those barriers is their delaying power. Even if they can be broken, it’s going to take time, which we won’t have.”

“There’s also the fact that we suspect the Phaeron to be one that at least dabbles in time magic.” Valor added. “Luckily, we do have a solution to the barrier, and I assume all of you have some contingencies against time magic.”

Everyone gathered nodded. As skilled and experienced immortals, measures against time magic were a necessity. “Ok, so what’s the plan exactly?” Lieutenant Akasha asked.

“We will wait for the attack to begin. That will thin the numbers of immortals around the Phaeron. We’ll approach from a less protected direction as that will give us a clear shot at the Phaeron. My tower will take care of the barrier, while I’ll attack the Phaeron directly. We’ll strike from a distance, and it will be over in seconds, whether it works or it doesn’t. Here are the important points for the rest of you. You’ll need to clear a path for me to take my shot if we get detected, and even if I succeed, the remaining immortals won’t just disappear and let us go. You’ll need to secure our exit route. Secondly, I can’t have anyone close to me when I make the attack. Anyone too close will get caught in the attack. I’m confident in my attack strength, but not when it comes to avoiding friendly fire.” Karna explained.

“Simple plan with clear instructions and exit strategy if things go fubar. I like it.” Avosh summarized the thoughts of most everyone. Even if the plan failed, at least they had a chance of a clean getaway since the Netherworld’s forces would be distracted by the main attack.

“Let’s get to it then.” Valor declared.

-------

The plan started off exactly as planned. The attack by the Netherworld happened almost as soon as they arrived, which meant they didn’t have to try and stick around while staying hidden. Most of the enemy forces surged forward, and the tower managed to slip close enough to enact their plan. They had to strike down a couple of the wraiths as they arrived though, which meant their arrival was noticed. The Netherworld showed that they were not idiots as they realized the Phaeron would be the most likely target. They then shot themselves in the foot by being too smart for their own good, because they seemed to suspect other attacking parties still undetected and sent only a handful of powerful rank 12 immortals to intercept them, while the rest stayed protectively close to the Phaeron. That or they didn’t take the attack seriously.

“Remember to keep them out of the line of fire.” Valor reminded everyone, as they split up to distract the approaching enemies.

“You’re going to do the thing, right?” Envy asked eagerly. She and Valor had stayed behind to watch over Karna, as she’d explained that the attack would likely drain her.

"Yes, I'm going to do the thing," Karna said with a small sigh as she levitated forward.

“Excellent.” Envy cheered a bit while gesturing Valor to move back. “We don’t want to be too close. You’re in for a treat.”

“A treat?” Valor asked, a bit confused, not sure why Envy seemed so giddy in this kind of situation. They could sense the power of the Phaeron from all this distance, and the skeletal being of living metal was definitely rank 13, even if not an especially powerful one.

“Yes. You’ll get to see why exactly everyone fears Wrath so much, as well as the reason no one who knows her dares to pick a fight with her once she’s strong enough. Just be ready to catch her.”

The first to attack was Zuellni, with the full power of the tower. All of the tower’s dark focusing orbs lined up and fired the most powerful gravity distorting beam it could manage at the barrier protecting the Phaeron. Gravity was one of the few forces capable of distorting and countering the temporal powers of the barrier, and the spatial forces of the entire area were disturbed by the beam of unbelievably destructive energy. The beam hit the dais directly and crashed into the greenish-grey barrier that suddenly sprung up to protect the Phaeron, that now had to take the sudden attack more seriously. At first, the Phaeron assumed the barrier would be enough, but the cracks that started appearing on the until-now impenetrable barrier forced it to action.

The rest of the fight happened in the blink of an eye as several things happened almost simultaneously. Those that specialized in temporal powers and speed rarely focused on defense, as speed and time were their main forms of defense. That made battles between such combatants very brief as it was a battle between two glass cannons, relatively speaking. Both sides were still immortals, and a rank 13 being would never be easy to kill without equivalent power.

A wave of temporal energy washed over their two teams as the Phaeron tried to stop their time, an obvious first move, but that energy was rendered moot by the artifacts everyone was wearing. The Phaeron had not expected it to work either, and its next attack arrived right on the heels of the first. A scythe of dark green energy crossed the distance in an instant, cleaving the source of the attack directed against the Phaeron in two. They could only watch as the blade of Qi struck the tower, easily overpowering the Blackstone’s natural defenses against magical forces.

That was the gaping hole in the tower’s otherwise superlative defenses. It couldn’t really use its full power to attack and use the full power of the mirror-ring defense system at the same time. It was also the reason why Zuellni had been the first to attack. The tower was a big and obvious target, and it would likely attract the first attack, which they had to deal with. Hope’s job during this fight, now that they had reinforcements from the other team, was to make sure the tower’s core was saved. That would make rebuilding the tower much easier. Karna had planned on refitting it sooner or later anyway, now that they had access to the Divine Plane’s resources.

While the Phaeron attacked the tower, Karna made her own attack. Her gift as Wrath was at the same time very simple, while simultaneously the applications were quite varied. Wrath as a concept was all about two things. Pure attack power and keeping the attacks going after all natural limits had been crossed. The ability the Name Wrath granted her came in three main steps, though all of it was part of the same power. It allowed her to gather power infinitely from her surroundings, that power would then sustain her until the object of her wrath was gone, no matter the wounds she suffered, and it allowed her to use that power to attack her enemies beyond the normal limits of any spells and abilities.

There was a reason she had been so eager to get to the Divine Planes before using this power. There was so much more power in the Divine Planes for her to use without worrying about collapsing an entire plane. In the worst case, she might even tap into the Grand Formation itself, although when used with her Wrath, it would almost certainly burn her out beyond any recovery. She had destroyed too much in the past by overdrawing on the surrounding powers. It was also partially why her Domain dealt with providing her more power to use.

There was also a fundamental limitation in magic, which was one of the main reasons why mages weren’t able to lord over other paths of power despite their versatility. That limitation was that you could only make a spell so powerful. While a simple Qi slash could range from annoying to planet-destroying, a fireball would always be a fireball no matter how much power you put into it, and a simple fireball would not be able to kill an immortal, no matter how powerful the caster. There were some ways around these limits, but one of the most important facets of immortal magical duels was the ability to pack as much power into as small of a package as possible. And no one was able to do this better than she could when using Wrath.

The power in the surroundings seemed to converge on her finger in a fraction of a second, before being releasing a tiny beam that looked like the flame between the horns of her dragon form. The beam moved so quickly that even the temporal powers of the Phaeron didn’t allow it to avoid the attack it hadn’t been expecting. Not that it would consider such a small and thin beam a true threat anyway, considering the attacker was a fresh immortal. That was the last mistake it would ever make.

As it arrived, the small beam punched through the defenses and chest of the Phaeron and suddenly expanded into an enormous explosion of power, consuming the entire portion of the Netherworld forces in the area. It was like a new sun had suddenly been born. This sun was also created from the pure celestial power, one of the most powerful forces of any universe, and even the Phaeron couldn’t survive the powers at the center. The new star consumed everything in the vicinity, and the blast wave threw everyone further away from the newly created star that soon winked out of existence.

The downside of Wrath was that once it was spent, Karna had to deal with the backlash of channeling so much power. This was also why she had been increasing her own powers and her foundation so heavily, so that she could withstand the backlash with as little adverse effect as possible. She’d been very judicious in how much power she had used, knowing how much it would take to destroy the enemy, but Wrath was not a power that was easily corralled and controlled. It was still too much for the current her to handle, which was the reason why she immediately collapsed after the attack.

She was caught by both Envy and Valor, and the trio prepared to make a hasty exit. While the Phaeron might have perished, along with a decent portion of the Netherworld’s forces in the area, not all of the enemy immortals had. And now those immortals were pissed. It was also rather impossible to not notice the event that had just torn out the heart of the attacking forces, and even some of the immortals that had been part of the attack on the fort earlier turned around to enact revenge.

“Well. Time to go people.” Valor commanded quickly, before whispering to Envy. “If that’s what she can do now, what can she do when she reaches the highest ranks of immortality?”

Envy just grinned, excited to see the power of her rival in action. She knew just how overwhelming Wrath’s power could be, and she wasn’t too worried about their future. She was eagerly expecting it. After all, their true enemies were not singular non-reincarnator immortals, but True Gods and old monsters like themselves. Pride would’ve been able to simply ignore the attack, while Gluttony could’ve eaten it whole. She shivered in expectation at what other old reincarnators they might run into.

Chapter 136 - Progress

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

Karna woke up with a start. Her senses quickly expanded to cover the surrounding area to appraise any potential risks. She relaxed just as soon though, as she detected the presence of her teammates and the other allies she’d recently gotten familiar with.

"Feeling better?" Envy asked from her sitting position only a couple of meters away. She had sensed Karna waking up.

“Been better. Been worse. A little sore but that’ll pass quite soon. How long was I out?” She also smacked her lips a bit as she had both the cotton mouth and a taste like a dead rodent had crawled to die in there.

“Little under a day. You went relatively easy this time. Or your new vessel is more suitable than I thought.” Envy replied, keeping an eye on the surroundings. “The escape got a bit touch-and-go there for a while, but we managed.”

“What happened?” Karna croaked out while trying to work up some saliva. She was also stretching herself a bit on the ground, trying to work her muscles without aggravating them too much.

“You probably saw the Netherworld’s immortals that survived converging on us before you fainted. The ones that were part of the attack on the fort also returned in a hurry. They hadn’t fully committed to the attack yet, so the Host at the fort didn’t do much to deter their retreat, especially since they weren’t sure what happened. They saw a big boom and a lot of the Netherworld’s forces collapsing, but they couldn’t be sure it wasn’t some sort of ploy. Wouldn’t be a bad plan if it had been a trap by the Netherworld by the way.” Valor supplied from her other side, where he too was watching over Karna. “I can’t really fault the Host commander at the fort for making the choice.”

“I can. I mean, you’re not wrong, but I can and will still fault the commander. It might be petty of me, but it’s my prerogative after they left us in the lurch like that.” Envy was not feeling as forgiving. “Anyway, with your tower busted, we no longer had the speed advantage, and it became a fighting retreat. As much as I don’t want to admit it, Team Valor really made themselves useful. They’re a really strong team, and it would’ve been much harder to get away without their help. Not impossible, mind you, but much harder. They earned their keep.”

“Agreed. There’s a decent to good chance that we might not have all made it if they hadn’t been along for the ride. It might be a little cruel of me to point it out, but the most likely ones to be lost would’ve been Arjuna or Helen. As it is, we got to the defenses the Iron Fists had created, which aided greatly in turning the tide. We have some injured people, but nothing that won’t recover with a bit of time and a whole lot of healing.”

“Yeaaaah.” Envy stretched out the word, not really wild about what she was about to say. “I hate to say it but having the Valor boys around proved out to be really handy. Those guys can fight well for not being like us. As far as useful allies go, we should keep ‘em for now.”

“Despite our suspicions about why they’re here?” Karna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean, it’s not too bad having some eye-candy around, is it? That’s why we keep you around after all. And it’s not really that much of a problem as long as we’re careful, as they’re clearly going to go with the soft approach.” Envy shrugged. “I don’t mind the soft approach.”

“Indeed. Someone trying to form bonds by being useful and a good ally is rather refreshing, and much preferred to…well, pretty much all other methods. Yes, they might be here to specifically form connections with us, so it might not be as natural as it could be, but we should assume that to be the case no matter who we meet. As long as they recognize us, then any overtures will likely be due to some political considerations.” Valor found himself agreeing with Envy. As his skills were the least outlandish of their group of reincarnators, he was the most impressed with the abilities shown by the members of Team Valor. Talent truly made a large difference.

“It’s also a little telling how hard they worked to help everyone get away even when the situation was so dangerous, and you were not conscious to see them act in that way. It shows character. What’s the old saying again? What you do when no one is there to see you act shows your true nature. Now, we aren’t no one, but if they really are here to form connections with you, then…” Envy shrugged again.

“Well, this is very interesting and all, but it’s a bit of a moot point since we don’t control where we get deployed, nor who we are deployed alongside with.” Karna pointed out, even though she didn’t disagree with what was being said.

"No, but we can always let our preferences be known. The more glory we gather, the more those preferences will be taken into consideration. And we did just gain quite a bit of glory. The Phaeron we killed wasn't the only one on this front, but with the Phaeron gone, one of the dynasties on this front is crippled until the Phaeron can return. If the Phaeron is returning?” Valor looked towards Karna in question, who shook her head. “Not returning then. So, the dynasty will be crippled for even longer. That changes the balance of power in this area significantly. I don’t think we have to be too worried about further attacks, and there’s a good to great chance that we’ll be the ones doing the pushing next. Well, the forces at the fort maybe, not us personally. I can smell at least a commendation in the near future.”

“Liberated worlds tend to have that effect.” Envy grinned widely.

“Anyway, I doubt our three teams will be too involved for a while, but we’ll be required to hold this position until others take our place, so we can take it easy for a while. Maybe we can seriously start working on our next rank-ups?" Valor suggested.

One of the main reasons Karna had not reached rank 11 despite having been at the Divine Planes for several years, and her cultivation speed being increased multiple times over just from the presence of divine power, was because they wanted the main members of their little group to rank up together. To compensate, Karna had been working on her foundations, shoring up any issues from her earlier rushing, as well as working on her Qi. Perhaps unsurprisingly Valor had been the slowest of the six reincarnators, though not by a large margin. Their cultivation speed was still blindingly fast thanks to already having their Totems ready to go, and now they were all approaching the point where they could rank up together.

-----

In between cultivation, Karna decided to get a better feel for the other two teams. It was the least she could do after the two teams had done such good work making sure they got away from the Netherworld safely. Valor and Envy had also been right. They could use some allies, and the heirs of several prominent houses were a good place to start. Even if they couldn’t make outright alliances, just having connections with the other houses would be useful. If she ever needed to get in touch with one of the houses, then already having an established connection was the best way to go. It was also likely that some of the members of team Valor might turn out to become rather important players in the grand scheme of things with enough time.

Even though the team was rather unified and worked well together, there were still four distinct groups in the team that mostly spent time together, or in the leader’s case by himself. The first one she sought out and engaged in a discussion was that leader, Akasha. The rank 12 warrior-mage, or Medjai as they were called, was part of a house that all combined the cultivation of Qi with magic. Warrior mages were not as common as one might assume. It was hard enough to reach immortality with one kind of cultivation, and doing it with two required potential and talent in both. As such, Akasha was rather free in admitting that their house was extremely interested in Karna and her friends, though unlike most, it wasn’t for political reasons. Or at least mostly not political reasons. They were interested in her because of her talent in both Aura and Magic and had become even more interested now that she was showing talent in Qi as well. Their interest was also a genealogical one, as parents with multiple talents were most likely to have multi-talented kids as well.

Akasha wasn't shy about talking about his own history either. He was the second son of the current head of the house, but he'd caught up to the first son by having more talent, and the two were in competition to become the next head of house. Technically their younger siblings were also qualified, but they were far enough behind the two eldest that Akasha wasn’t too worried for now. Gathering merits in the Host was just one of the ways he was utilizing to get a leg-up on his brother.

The magical beast trio of Mellendroth, from the House of Dragons, Heya, A Golden Winged Tiger, and Vacred, A Grand Behemoth, were perhaps the easiest to understand. They all belonged to races that desired to do battle and had joined the Host to do just that. All of them also belonged to houses where power ruled above all else, and battle built up that power. They were less interested in the political side of things, though certainly they wouldn’t mind any political benefits they would gain by associating with her. Even if battle power was the important factor in their houses, power still came in many forms.

Resmeed, the Djinn Sultan, Nalred, the Dark Elf, and Kohaku, the Kitsune, readily admitted their political interests in forming a friendship, or more, with ‘Princess Ynnead’. The three came from very magical houses, and word of her talent with magic had already reached far and wide as well. Their houses were also part of the third large power block of the Divine Plains. Humans and Godlings formed one large group, magical beasts formed the second, while other humanoid and magical races formed the third.

The last group was made up of Rime, a holy knight, Perseus, a Godling, and Avosh, a member of the Golden Order. Their interest in her was quite obvious to see and more personal. Aside from the other reasons, the three were quite clearly attracted to her, and their discussion involved the most out-and-out flirting. While the others wouldn’t mind something further happening, these three were the clearest about wanting to bed her, and not just for political reasons. They had been taken by her appearance, and they were not hiding that fact at all.

Having a healthy libido and having gone so many years without meant that she wasn’t entirely unreceptive to the idea, but it wasn’t quite that simple. While having a bit of carnal fun would be great, and something both parties could enjoy, she had to be careful about becoming too connected with any of the ten at this time. The worst case would be if she became pregnant, and the way she liked having her fun, that was always a distinct possibility. It was also a little awkward when there were ten quite attractive guys clearly receptive to the idea present, as accepting one would undoubtedly be noticed by the others, and they were still officially in a military situation even if the danger was significantly reduced. So, she chose to refrain for now at least. That wasn’t to say she wouldn’t reconsider the idea if she were to run into them in another setting.

--------

Karna found herself facing a difficult decision as the moment of her rank-up approached. For immortals, their cultivation focused around developing their Totem. An idol of sorts that represented the power you wished to wield. For non-reincarnators, the ranks from 10 to 13 would all be about building and empowering their Totem, but reincarnators had the benefit of having already created one. Or in the case of old enough reincarnators, several.

The Totem represented your inner self, but your inner self could change with enough time. In Karna’s case, she’d changed several times. Her first Totem represented the rage and Wrath she’d felt that had earned her the Name. As she was currently in her soul space where the Totems resided, she couldn’t help but glance at the weapon that kept shifting forms while dripping blood, forming an ocean of blood below. Even if she went by the Name Wrath currently, the Totem didn’t really represent what she wanted to be in this life. Even less so if she were to take the position as the ultimate being controlling the multiverse.

Her second Totem was slightly more suitable, but not really appropriate. The godly anvil of a creator that searched for the peak of making things. She had already created many items, and would likely create many more, but that wasn’t the core of her current being. Neither was the olive branch that represented her time seeking Mercy and forgiveness.

She went through and decided against most of the Totems she’d created, until she came upon two. One represented her as the peak of all magic, and the other her Name Karma. The crystalline orb that seemed to contain an entire universe inside was her most magnificent creation. Mastery over magic had been her greatest strength for so many lives that she no longer bothered to count. On the other hand, the scales not only represented karma, but could also utilize it. Judgement could be brought to those with karma that was too heavy. Not too evil, but too heavy.

The two didn’t feel right either. Her mind went to the picture her Aura cultivation was creating. That incomplete picture on the cusp of completion would be a powerful totem, but it had the same problem as the one representing her magic. It represented only a part of her. She was many things, and each totem only represented a small part of her. Why should she settle for something that didn’t represent her as a whole? She wasn’t brought to this universe to be a minor player, so why not try to do something never done before?

Slowly the idea took hold, and she started combining things. The olive branch went to one side of the scale, while the bloody shifting weapon went on the other. Two more sides were added for a four-sided scale, with her magic on one side and Aura on the other. The celestial energy that infused her new Qi cultivation and her draconic form were condensed into a star that floated above the central point of the scale. Instead of a godly anvil, being put on the scales, a lifelike carving of one was added to the base of the scale, along with many of the other totems.

She felt something was missing. Something to represent the beginning. She knew what that had to be but didn’t want to do it. Yet it would be incomplete without it. With great reluctance and a small tear, she added a Celestium statue of herself carrying the scale with one hand, and a dead baby with the other. Like it or not, that was where it had all begun, and the experience that had molded her more than any other. Even if she had gotten over that loss, she still carried it inside her. As a small afterthought, the star above the scale moved to form a halo around the statue’s head instead.

As the final piece slipped into place, she suddenly felt whole. Complete. She had done something right. This was her new, completed Totem, and the core of her being. As soon as the Totem was completed, she felt herself rising in rank as an enormous influx of power entered her. She wasn’t alone either, as it seemed like the first one ranking up triggered the others, and soon enough more than half of their team was doing it. And each of them was ranking up in a spectacular fashion. For others, the step from 10th to 11th rank was notable, but for the group of reincarnators it was a huge leap.

Karna had managed to barely defeat a relatively weak rank 13 being using the power granted to her by Wrath, and now she'd be able to do it equally without the Name. She might still be a little weaker than the strongest representatives of the rank, but the differences between those of rank 13 were larger than any other rank. The same held true for the others. Karna wasn't the only one with such abilities, and while Valor might not quite reach Karna's or Envy's level, he too was far beyond his rank.

The difference showed in their rank-ups. The sheer influx of power was so huge that it matched the birth of a dozen rank 13 beings at the same time. For a moment, the entire area they were in was completely drained of power, and even the Grand Formation had to divert in a miniscule way to compensate for the sudden void of power. The shift was felt by those paying attention in the Divine Planes, even if they couldn’t quite pinpoint it exactly.

Where the others faced tribulations, only a beam of golden and divine light fell on where Karna had been sitting moments before. In her place stood something even the reincarnators had not seen before. A golden beast mixing a bird and a lion towered over everything. The body of a lion was covered in golden fur with occasional blue-ish white feathers. The same feathers made could also be found in small tufts at the back of the being’s paws, and of course the magnificent golden wings. Instead of having the head of a lion, the being had the facial form of a bird, but instead of a beak, the creature and a roughly beak-shaped muzzle, and instead of a mane, long golden feathers sprouted from the being’s head and extended all the way down its back like a cape. It also had a long sinuous tail. The same floating star was located in front of this being’s forehead as Karna’s dragon form.

“What the heck did you turn into this time?” Envy asked, also finished with her own rank up.

A note from Vihyungrang

Pic of what I had in mind with the new form. Originally it was just an image I stumbled upon on a Quora thread about magical beings they'd like to ride, but since my readers liked the image more than I expected and actually found the source, it's only fair to mention it here. The picture is from an artist callen Aviaku on deviantart. Linky here:

https://www.deviantart.com/aviaku/art/Homecoming-507759624

Just to note, this isn't an exact image of the new form, just something I had in mind when describing it.

Chapter 137 - Assembly

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I'll be at work when this comes out so can't fix mistakes right away. I might even have some unfixed ones from last chapter as well, but that's how it goes sometimes. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

"This is stupid," Kensei exclaimed while looking at the creature in her lap in disgust. That same creature was waving a fuzzy paw at her, clearly asking for scratches.

"You have to learn to live a little. Relaxing and having a bit of fun isn't forbidden, even for someone as dedicated as you." Valor advised while scratching the ears of another kitten-like creature in his lap.

“You’re just jealous you can’t turn into a fuzzy little creature.” Envy argued while curled into a fuzzy ball with Karna on a humongous pillow that had appeared from nowhere. While Karna was in a miniaturized version of the being she’d turned into during her rank-up, Envy had assumed a fuzzy form that was rather similar, even if not the same.

“Why would I want to turn into something so weak and fragile?” Kensei asked, looking disgustedly at Wisdom, who was still pawing at her.

“Because it’s fun, and because we’re not in battle currently.” Hope retorted before releasing a cute little yawn from Valor’s lap.

“We could be any moment.” Kensei pointed out.

“And we’d sense their approach, giving us plenty of time to change back. Face it. There’s no reason to resist, except for the fact that you can’t shapeshift.” Envy pointed out brutally.

Once Karna had taken her new form, the three other mages of their group had quickly also assumed fuzzy forms to garner some petting and scratches. “Still, we should probably get something useful done. Mind finally telling us what that form is, Wrath? I mean, the bigger version at least.”

“Yeah, do tell you tease!” Envy lifted her head from the soft and fluffy pillow, and tried to look at Karna angrily, though the impression was rather ruined by her current form.

"You people have no patience…" Karna replied with a soft smile and went for an even more comfortable position on the large pillow. Incidentally, the pillow was the one she'd gotten as a reward during the tests of the Expansion.

Her slow response didn’t go well with the others though. “Spit it out!” Envy shouted and smacked her with a soft paw.

“Fine. You’d think someone like you would’ve learned the value of patience. Well, you already know I have a couple of forms that are termed as Beasts of the Apocalypse. This one is pretty much the opposite of that. It’s a Sacred Beast. Calling them one-of-a-kind is a little misleading as they’re related to each other, but their forms differ vastly. I was reborn as one of them during one of my later lives. Filthy powerful. Require either the presence of divine power or worshippers though.”

“So, they excel at handling divine power then?” Valor asked.

"You'd think so, but no. It's a bit of a cheat form though. It's basically perfectly attuned to all elements and can utilize all of them equally. I didn't actually think I could've pulled this bloodline off without…well, let's just say I had a bit of a breakthrough. As befitting a Sacred Beast though, its real strength is in protecting. Both protecting itself and others. And no, I will not reveal the details. Everything has a weakness, and it's much harder to figure that weakness out if you don't know how the abilities of the form work.” Karna explained.

“Can you at least give a demonstration of some kind?” Hope asked while rolling over to look at Karna.

“Sure. Someone throw a spell at someone else.” Not even a second passed after Karna’s words, before Envy sent a beam of destructive magic at Valor. The beam simply disappeared before reaching the target though.

"And there you go," Karna stated a little smugly.

“That’s…huh.” Envy muttered. She hadn’t used full power of course, but the problem was that she had no idea what had happened to her attack. “Not a spatial or temporal disturbance.”

“A Conceptual defense?” Kensei suggested, suddenly more interested. Her own Domain relied on the Conceptual, making sure her attacks could land anywhere within her Domain and cut anything.

"As I said, I'm not going to explain further. Suffice to say though, that the form is quite powerful when utilized correctly. And besides, now I don't have to use my remaining forms to aid in attuning to other elements." Karna refused to elaborate further. She still wasn’t sure of all the implications that came from her new combined Totem either.

Their musings and playing lasted for a few minutes longer before one of the members of the Iron Fists approached them. “We have a courier boat approaching. It’s going to arrive in less than an hour. It will most likely have our next orders, so I suggest you prepare.” There was no judgement in his words, but he was clearly not impressed by their current lazing about.

All three squads gathered in full armor to meet the courier, though their stiff postures didn’t prevent them from speculating. “Wonder why they sent a ship? They could’ve just sent a message if it was just another deployment. It’s not very likely that even long-range communiques would be intercepted with the Netherworld on the run.” The team leader of Team Valor threw out the question many of them were thinking.

“Must be something really important then.” Valor speculated. “Maybe they’re less worried about an enemy overhearing, and more worried about the message not reaching us.”

Courier boats were not uncommon but usually reserved for important military use. Most of the time a communication talisman or a paired array was enough in the Divine Planes. "Maybe they're bringing us medals?" One of the members of Team Valor suggested.

“They’d summon us back for that. They do love their pomp and ceremony.” The leader of Iron Fists grunted. “Now shut up. They’re landing.”

The sleek and roughly arrow-shaped silver vessel, clearly designed for speed, landed right next to the three groups. Without wasting any time, a golden-armored immortal stepped out and placed a crystalline orb on the ground, and a hologram was projected above it, showing a recorded message. The one giving the message was Marius. "My congratulations to all three teams. You performed magnificent work. You completed your assigned task of protecting your post, while also striking a blow against the Netherworld, granting us an important advantage in the area. With the Netherworld pushed back, there’s no longer any need for three teams to be positioned there anymore. Squad Iron Fists will secure and fortify the world against further attacks, though we don’t expect any. You will be relieved in a couple of weeks, and you’re looking at several weeks of R&R as a reward. As for Teams Omega and Valor, we have a new assignment for you. It’s a reward for your deed, but it’s also more complicated than that. A Grand Assembly has been called, and you’re going to be part of the guard in charge of protection and keeping order. The messenger that brought these orders will grant you entry. I will meet you there and give more detailed instructions.” The message ended.

“Grand Assembly?” Arjuna asked, being one of the few to not recognize the term.

“A name for both a place and the meeting between all the gods and other influential people of the Divine Plane," Karna replied curtly, and the newly arrived messenger nodded at the explanation while gesturing for the two named teams to step closer. Without a word, a mental message was sent to all of them, and they all stepped forward as one while thinking about a password they had been given. A password that would only work once.

As they stepped forward, they were no longer at the same place they had been only moments before. “What the…what?” Even Valor was shocked.

Karna wasn’t sure what he was seeing as the Grand Assembly was that kind of place. It was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was a place where the gods and Great Houses gathered to play the game of politics even while the assembly wasn’t called into session, so there would always be a constant presence of at least some gods at all times. You could enter the place from anywhere in the Divine Planes, but only if you were granted entry. All gods had constant access of course.

It was also one of her favorite places in the entire universe. It was a marvel of magic and divine power that appeared different to everyone present. One person might see a grand palace, while another a temple, a city, a forest, an active volcano, or even a simple hovel. Realities overlapped here, and none of them were wrong. That’s why she couldn’t tell what Valor was seeing, but to her it was a giant hoard of pillows piled into a fortress made of pillows and blankets, and all of it rested on a giant bed. It was both marvelous and ridiculous at the same time. Too bad none of the pillows could be taken away from this place, as they were both real and not at the same time. It was a pleasant dream, but pillows that she couldn’t add to her hoard inherently had less value.

"There you are," Marius called out and rushed to meet them. "You got the message in time. Good. The Assembly will be starting in less than three hours, and you need to be ready. Better get your armor cleaned and shining, as you'll be representing the Host in front of everyone who's anyone."

“So, this will be a large assembly then?” Akasha, the leader of Team Valor asked. Their team was familiar with such assemblies and had attended several as guests before.

“The largest kind. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, important has been invited. A quick explanation. If you heard my message that this assignment is something of a reward, but it’s also not. The reason you, among a dozen other teams, were given this assignment is because you showed the capability to handle it once you killed a rank 13 being.” Marius revealed.

"I'm not sure I follow," Hope admitted. She could see that gatherings like this should have good protection, but with the most important and powerful people present, that hardly seemed necessary.

“We’re not really here to protect those at the Assembly from outside threats. We’re here to keep the peace. The most likely danger here is internal struggle, and we need to possess enough power to deal with anyone getting rowdy.” Karna explained in place of Marius, who in turn nodded towards her.

"Exactly. These meetings can turn a bit contentious and we're here to keep the peace." He summarized. “There’s also the fact that this Grand Assembly was unscheduled, and I’m not even sure who arranged for it. Few have the authority or power though.”

As they entered the main building, or in Karna's case the pillow fort, they could see there were already gods and other influential beings present. They had retreated into their own little nooks to plot and exchange information. Political games often were all about controlling information, and subtly distributing information disadvantageous to your enemies was one of the main ways to gain an advantage. Of course, getting caught lying would taint all your future attempts, so you had to be careful to couch your words with uncertainty and caveats if you weren't certain. And those that wanted to be certain were also the ones too late to react to important news.

The two squads joined the other Host members spread around the venue, spread at strategic intervals to keep their presence subtle enough, while still reminding everyone they were there. Even a simple thing as the placement of guards was a game of politics in this place. Envy and Karna stuck together and placed themselves more discreetly than most. Part of that was because they could already sense other reincarnators rather carelessly looking at the Names of those present. That only became more obvious as more influential people trickled in.

"Let's hope your gambit with your Names worked." Envy whispered.

“With this many reincarnators present, I seriously doubt none of them will get that Name if they all target me.” Karna wasn’t going to rely on luck. Fortunately, she didn’t have to anymore. She now had enough power to deal with the aftermath if her less desirable Names came out.

It took hours for the place to start filling up, mostly because it kept expanding as more people entered. Some of the beings were also so large that they couldn’t have entered the original structure. The spatial trickery of the Great Assembly made everyone take the same amount of space though. Even enormous magical beasts were shrunk down by the place, and Karna knew it was so that they couldn’t use their size to intimidate others.

Many of the gods, especially the True Gods, were very unique in their appearance. They ranged from bizarre to monstrous, though many of them decided to just assume a relatively generic human form as well. Still, it wasn't hard to identify someone like the God of Thunder for example, as they were made of pure lightning in a vaguely humanoid form. The gods were not the only ones with striking appearances though, as the different races all had representation in the Grand Assembly. Quite literally every race found in this universe had at least one member present, and that meant thousands of species even without counting the magical beasts. The number of people was truly staggering, and the Great Houses had also arrived in force. House Asuryan had gathered in a single place at the center of the entire Assembly, with fifty people with the blood of the phoenix running through their veins.

Still, the one power with the most representation was the most surprising, and the last to arrive. Hundreds of angels, all immortals of high rank, spread around the venue in a fashion similar to the Host. Mount Celestis had not taken an active part in politics for eons, and now they were here in force. It also became quickly obvious that they had been the ones to call for this Grand Assembly, as one of their members walked straight to the podium where the proceedings were directed from.

The female angel was extremely striking in appearance. The flaming red hair combined with a face that could only be described as ‘angelic’ combined with a form that couldn’t even be hidden by the heavy golden armor she wore. She radiated power, confidence, and charisma, as she took the stage, and her mere presence quieted everyone. ‘Aww shit. Should’ve known she would be here.’ Envy sent Karna a mental message.

They had both immediately recognized the female angel, and they didn’t even need to check the being’s Name to make sure. It was almost blatantly obvious anyway, as there were very few beings in existence that could rival Karna’s current vessel, and this angel was perhaps the only being present that could boast of being more attractive than Karna. ‘You really should’ve, though I must admit I didn’t expect her to be born as an angel either.’

“Gods and immortals, brothers and sisters, magical beings and the races of the universe. I welcome you all to the Grand Assembly called by Mount Celestis. We are here to address something important. Enemies are at our gates, and strange Outsiders roam our lands, without any real opposition from this august body. Instead of beating back the Scourges, and proving our might to the Outsiders, we’ve retreated, ceded ground, made deals, and even lost entire planes. Why? Surely this august body isn’t lacking in power. No. The reason we can’t stand up and show our might is simple. Political bickering and petty games for power and influence.” The angel castigated the gathered powers.

She went on to elegantly call out the faults of political games, while not personally attacking any party, and even making almost everyone feel they were only victims of other people playing games. Surely they would want to stand for what was right and just, but the others. The others stood in their way and chained them down with petty self-interest. She never truly defined others, but she didn’t have to. The people gathered were not newcomers to politics and speeches and knew what she was doing. That didn’t mean it wasn’t effective though.

“She still has it. This is what she does best.” Karna had to shake her head in admiration, and Envy simply grunted.

There was just something about the angel's words. She had just the right amount of pathos and reason, combined with a seemingly innocent desire to change things, combined with her personal charisma of course, which somehow captured everyone's attention. Even knowing she was playing them, the people were getting caught up. Envy and Karna of course easily shook off the influence, because they knew her. Influencing others in such ways was what this reincarnator excelled at. She was someone that could sell snow to ice demons and bullshit to bullshitters.

Her inspiring and captivating speech finally came to the real point. “Mount Celestis will no longer stand by and allow politics to ruin this place. The games end now. Anyone caught playing such games will immediately be challenged and killed, and even if entire Great Houses get involved, Mount Celestis will not be afraid to crush you.”

"You dare threaten us?" One of the members of the House of Dragons asked incredulously.

“Yes. Mount Celestis has gathered power all these years, while the rest of you threw yours away in political intrigue. We are more than capable of taking out any other Great House. And I seriously doubt any Houses will dare to form a coalition around the concept of keeping the Divine Planes weak with intrigue.” The angel retorted.

“She’s not entirely wrong.” Envy whispered reluctantly.

"She's not right either. She might have managed to charm everyone for a short time, but once they get enough time to think, they'll realize all the holes in her arguments. Such as, submitting to the tyrannical authority of Mount Celestis. You don’t need to defend intrigue to oppose the angels.” Karna pointed out. “But it’s a decent first move for the time being.”

Apparently, someone else thought so as well, as one of the people at the gathering of the Royal Family stood up in opposition. “I do not care what these curs use to justify themselves, but we will not be dictated to or pushed around by a faction that has been in self-imposed exile for as long as anyone can remember. If this is all you’ve come up with, then you should’ve stayed in your hidey-hole. And if you don’t like it, you can try and come at the Royal Family.”

Things were about to get rowdy.

Chapter 138 - Escalation

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

And see if you can spot the loophole.

-----

The angel that had led the proceedings so far looked unfazed by the interruption, and indeed it seemed like she had expected a development like this. “Mount Celestis gives House Asuryan one chance to back down. Otherwise, we will challenge your House in front of the entire Grand Assembly and force your acquiescence. Do note that we are not challenging the emperor, but House Asuryan, so you won’t be able to hide behind the skirts of the Imperial Guard.”

A wave of murmurs spread across the gathered Divines, who seemed more than happy to allow this disturbance to continue. No matter which of the two came out on top, it would be beneficial to the other Houses. The angel’s wording was also important. House Asuryan was the Royal Family, but by excluding the emperor from the challenge, the guard protecting the emperor were not supposed to intervene. The emperor could choose to ignore that and order them to intervene, as that was his prerogative, but the rest of the family could not call upon the guard themselves.

“Why bother with a challenge when we can just deal with such cowards here and now!” The God from House Asuryan said angrily, clearly not expecting either the challenge or the exclusion of the guard. He threw a fist toward the angel and a large golden arm materialized and struck towards her.

The angel made no move to defend, as she knew she didn't have to. Maintaining order was the job of the Host after all. As she'd expected, a woman wearing the armor of the Host appeared on the path of the strike, lifting a large war hammer towards the attack before the attacks seemed to disappear into thin air. The god that had made the attack wasn't surprised the attack was deflected, as he hadn't expected to gain victory with a single strike and hadn't used even close to full strength. The strike had only been meant as a provocation. Still, the ease at which the attack was completely nullified caused him to raise a shocked eyebrow.

An enchanting voice spoke to everyone gathered. “The Host would like to remind all the illustrious personages present that the Assembly is not the place to conduct battle. Any fights and challenges should be taken outside. A proper arena can be created to accommodate any sort of challenge. This place is for negotiation and for resolving the problems of the Divine Planes peacefully.”

The red-haired angel standing behind the interfering member of the Host grinned widely. “Mount Celestis offered House Asuryan the opportunity to back down and was rebuffed as witnessed by everyone. According to our words before, we now officially challenge House Asuryan.”

At the gathering of the Royal Family, everyone turned toward two particular men. Two men that every god present at the venue recognized. Both carried themselves with gravitas and great power, but one was surrounded by a host of other gods, while the other one stood proudly alone. The first was Hoeth, one of the two main claimants to the throne within House Asuryan, while the other one was Eldrazor, the eldest son of the current emperor. There was another difference between the two men. While Hoeth was focused on the angels challenging them, Eldrazor's gaze was firmly locked on the member of the Host that had stopped the earlier attack.

“House Asuryan accepts. Name your terms.” Hoeth declared with a voice filled with confidence.

“As defenders, you’re entitled to decide the format.” The leading angel allowed with a magnanimous voice. “As for the stakes, I’d love to call for the dissolution of your House, but we both know you wouldn’t abide by the terms when you lost. So we’ll settle for a promise that you will not interfere with our proposal any further. In return, we will abandon our plan should we lose. Which you don’t have to worry about." With her little taunt, she also sidestepped the fact that you couldn't really dissolve the Royal House due to a challenge anyway. Some other houses could find their end that way, but the Royal House was special in that only those with the blood of the House could become the next Heavenly Emperor.

The challenged party conferred for a brief moment to decide on the details. This time even Eldrazor spoke a few words, which no one could hear since they had activated a cone of silence that prevented eavesdropping, though his gaze never wavered. After a few moments, Hoeth turned back towards the angels. “The challenge will be conducted as a series of one-on-one duels, king of the hill style with nine participants per side. Each pair of combatants can decide the particulars of their duel, which doesn’t have to be an armed fight. In case the two can’t come to an agreement, the party that stepped up will get to decide, but to balance that out, the previous winner can swap out for another person that has not yet lost a duel and is more suited for the selected format.”

“Agreed.” As if having predicted what was going to happen, the leader of the angels that had managed to charm everyone just waved a hand and eight other angels stepped up next to her, signaling that their nine had already been chosen.

Everyone present was shocked to note that every single one of them was a rank 13 being, even though none of them were gods. Despite this, their powers, even while suppressed didn't seem to lose to the gods around them. Their opponents couldn't make such a show of unity, as theirs was a camp divided. "I shall be taking part." Kurnous was the first one to step forward. He was the third candidate for the throne, even if his claim was the least likely to succeed.

"It's only fair we put forward our best foot as well," Hoeth stated and stepped forward while gesturing towards Eldrazor, who did the same. "I also suggest we take turns to name our other participants." His suggestion got agreements from the other two.

“I call upon Addaioth, the God of the All-Consuming Flame.” Kurnous declared, and another extremely powerful-looking man that looked like a mix between a living flame and an elf stepped forward.

“I call upon Vaul, the God of Smiths and Artisans." Hoeth declared. A god with powerful muscles and attire more suitable for a smithy stepped forth.

“I call upon Drakira, the Goddess of Retribution," Eldrazor stated more calmly, and a stern-looking goddess dressed in the attire of a court official stepped forward.

“I call upon Atharti, the Goddess of Beauty.” Kurnous declared, his gorgeous wife stepping forward.

Choosing a goddess famed and indeed deified for her looks was a choice that spoke of tactical thinking beyond combat. The goddess was almost like a copy of both Karna and her mother, causing Karna’s teammates to raise their eyebrows in surprise as well. Yet somehow the Goddess managed to look less attractive than both Karna and the Angel standing behind her, as naturally Karna had been the one to stop the attack earlier.

“I call upon Isha, the Goddess of Fertility.” Hoeth drew heavily on his allies, choosing his most important supporters.

“I call upon Ynnead.” Eldrazor declared next, his words catching everyone by surprise, including the angel behind Karna.

“Is the Royal House truly so low on strength that you must resort to calling on outsiders and those you’ve cast out?” The angel asked, her tone mocking, though there was now a slight tinge of worry on her features. The angel knew better than anyone what it would mean for the person in front of her to take part.

"Ynnead is still a member of the House, is she not?" Eldrazor pointed out. "At least I have not heard of her officially removing herself from the family." Everyone aware of the situation knew that was just a pretext. Eldrazor had just made a rather intelligent political play.

Karna knew it too and chewed on her lip under her helmet. If she refused, she would officially be breaking her already tenuous connection with the Royal House. She would officially be picking a side against them. So far her position had been somewhat unclear, which had provided some political protection for her, and had stopped her ‘family’ from actively going after her as an outcast. Only the emperor as the head of the family could cast her out officially, unless she broke the connection herself, and so far the emperor had not done so. It was a thin excuse, but it had been enough so far.

Surprising everyone present, the one to provide the answer was not Karna, but the Grand Marshall. The Titan stood at his full height, drawing everyone's attention before speaking. "The Host is supposed to remain neutral in battles between Houses, especially at this place. However, this challenge will not take place within the Grand Assembly, but outside, and members of the Host have often been given dispensation to deal with family matters. Princess Ynnead, you are granted such dispensation and can participate with the Host’s blessing.” The Grand Marshall was signaling that the titans wanted her to take part and wouldn’t mind. They stood to gain more from allowing her to take part than from her initiating hostilities with the Royal Family at this point.

“I hear and obey.” Karna finally nodded and joined those on the side of the Royal Family. Part of the reason she was so willing to join was because she had noticed a loophole in the rules, and she was quite certain she wasn't the only one to notice that loophole.

The Host had been prepared for something like this to happen, and they had already constructed a suitable arena beforehand. The combatants moved to the arena and the people back at the Grand Assembly were allowed to freely observe what went on in the arena without actually entering the separate dimension that had been created just for that purpose. The arena could only be called such because it had the rough shape of one, but it floated in vast nothingness, allowing the powerful beings to fight freely without worrying about damaging the surroundings.

As the two teams separated to strategize, Atharti was the first one to comment on Karna’s presence. “You brought her along as cannon fodder? Sure, we need someone to take the first fight, but wouldn’t someone stronger have been much more useful?” She asked snidely, allowing her hatred of Karna’s mother to color her view of the daughter.

To her surprise, Eldrazor laughed derisively before speaking. “Princess Ynnead will be a much more useful addition to this team than you, that’s for certain. In fact, I don’t think there’s a single thing you’d beat her at. Even when lower ranked, she’s more powerful than you, so you won’t have even that to fall back on.”

Karna couldn’t help a small smile. Despite their differences, the Sins always did feel a little like siblings that just didn’t like each other very much. Even when they hated each other, an attack on one was like an attack on a sibling, something not to be taken lightly. Eldrazor also pulled her a bit further away from the others, and another field of silence appeared around the two. “Wrath. How very good to see you again.”

“Greed. I must admit, I was expecting Pride in your place.” She responded with the same familiar tone.

“Most would, and it would suit him, would it not?” Eldrazor, or Greed smirked a bit. “But here I am, and he isn’t. You’re not the first one to make that assumption though. You do realize though, that if he had been in my place, you’d be dead, right? Unlike him, I don’t want you dead though.”

“He would’ve made his best effort to kill me at least. We both know he hasn’t succeeded very often.” She realized there was some truth to what he was saying though. Unlike Greed, Pride would’ve most certainly hunted her down if they had been born in the same family. “And we both know why you haven’t tried to kill me.”

“Of course. Unlike some, I’m not ashamed of my Name. I want everything. And you’re included in that everything. The jewel of the Sins decorating my crown. What would be better than that?” He admitted freely. Notably, he didn’t mean it necessarily sexually, though he probably wouldn’t count that possibility out either. No, he just wanted her as his subordinate in some way.

“And I keep turning you down, the pest that I am.” She only half-joked.

“Speaking of which, we both know that if you went all out, you could ensure our victory in this challenge.” Greed shifted the topic, as they were treading ground they’d gone over many times before.

"That's the problem, isn't it? If. I have no reason to, though. I'm not going to put on a shameful display, but no one expects me to win against our opponents either. And if you try to pit me against her, then I have very little reason to give it my all. I like her more than I like you. And just in case you missed it, most of their team is made up of reincarnators. And not insignificant ones either.” She pointed out.

“Oh, don’t worry about her. I can take care of her myself. That’s not the problem. No, she’s too smart to make a challenge like this without having a plan ready for me specifically. I want you to foil that plan. We both know you’ll be able to. You saw her face when I called you out. That was her seeing her plan crumbling in front of her face.” Greed posed.

“Or that was her acting like her plan had been foiled. You know she isn’t so easy to figure out.” Karna had seen that as well, but she’d also seen something else. Something Eldrazor had apparently not caught during the explanation of the rules.

“Be that as it may, it seems the others are finished.” Greed noticed the other members of the Royal House looking their way and lowered the silencing effect.

“Are you quite finished?” Hoeth asked a little mockingly.

“No, but I decided I could deign to talk to lesser beings for a moment.” Greed, returning to his Eldrazor persona, said cockily.

“Well, perhaps you’d deign to listen to our plan then?” Hoeth was visibly holding his anger back. It seemed Greed was good at getting on his nerves and knew which buttons to push for maximum effect.

“I honestly don’t care. However, I’m not going first and neither is she.” He pointed to Karna. “The success of our team relies on keeping the two of us back until the right moment.”

Hoeth narrowed his eyes a bit and now seriously considered Karna. To him, her presence and even existence had been relatively inconsequential so far. Now he was re-evaluating. "Well, good thing then that Addaioth agreed to go first. The first bout will be a fight anyway."

"A very short one," Karma mumbled as she noticed the angel stepping forward and read the True Name. It seemed the fight would turn into a matchup between elements, and fire was not a good matchup against gravity.

“Oh, by the way. If you do agree to do your part for our team, I’ll make it worth your while.” Eldrazor whispered.

“Oh? Do tell. There’s very little you can promise me. Unlike you, I’m not one to hoard resources or valuables.” She didn’t shoot him down outright though.

“How about information on your father? Your mother may have been able to hide it from everyone else, but not from me. And her red herring with the Grand Marshal is cute, but not enough to fool me.” He suggested slyly.

“While I’m curious, I don’t truly care. Not enough that I can’t wait for the information to come out on its own. A secret like that won’t stay a secret forever.” She could be patient.

"Understandable. How about I sweeten the deal a bit? And speaking of hoards, I do know you like to hoard something as well. I may or may not have stumbled upon something extremely soft and fluffy.” Greed knew his audience. And unlike all other reincarnators, he wasn’t limited when it came to bringing items from one life to the next.

“Now you’re starting to speak my language. However, I’m afraid this won’t go as you think. You might actually wish me to not put in too much effort if I’m right…” She said enigmatically.

Chapter 139 - Reunions

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy.

--------

"This is problematic. Our previous strategy is now in jeopardy." The leader of the Mount Celestis team announced as the teams strategized and the first fighters entered the arena and exited it moments later as their fight took them into the void surrounding the arena. She wasn't even looking at the fight, knowing that Azazel was more than enough to deal with his current opponent. The angel with black wings was such a strong combatant that even she wouldn't take him lightly.

“How’s so Matriarch?” The lynchpin of their strategy asked in clear confusion. The female angel with pink ethereal-looking wings radiated kindness and care, though assuming she didn't have any bite would be the last mistake you made.

"Their last pick. I know her. Very well in fact. Our strategy will no longer work because if we pit you against Eldrazor, he'll just swap out to the Princess. And then you'll lose." The leader stated with certainty that didn't leave any room for doubt.

That didn’t mean her words were accepted without any question though. “Why? I don’t mean to doubt you Matriarch, but surely the young princess can’t have more positive karma than me? Challenging Eldrazor in a battle of Karma should still work. Unless…she’s like us, isn’t she?” The pink winged angel’s Name, Paragon, was well earned and she was confident in her strengths. She was so confident that they were banking on her challenging one of the most well-rounded reincarnators in her chosen field.

All the members of the team from Mount Celestis were reincarnators, albeit not all strong and old ones, but they still had to limit their words because there were people in the ‘audience’ capable of overhearing. “Very good. She’s a very old one, just like me. In fact, she’s much-much older. And one of her Names is Karma.”

Paragon groaned in realization. She might have been a paragon of virtue, but she couldn’t compete with someone literally Named Karma. “That means this competition hinges on us being able to take her out before Eldrazor. Only, I’m not sure they’d be silly enough to send her out if they realize what our plan is.”

The leading angel made a non-committal sound that somehow still managed to sound charming. "There are many factors at work here." She said, while a large explosion sounded above them. Azazel was trashing the True God that had changed into their phoenix form and tried burning down everything. "Her family is more than willing to throw her into the grinder, but Eldrazor will likely want to keep her back as a trump card. It is very unlikely he knows what our plan is though. However, we might not be any better off if she does get sent forth. If Eldrazor managed to bribe her into taking this seriously, I wouldn't give even Azazel very good odds of actually beating her in a fight, and she's unfortunately quite multitalented. Or fortunately, as it might turn out. The Asuryans made a mistake in their rules. They said we could sub out when challenged in a field we aren't confident in. However, they failed to limit that substitution to our team. Only the people on the two teams can take part, but there’s no real rule preventing us from subbing in one of their members. As long as she agrees, that is. I don’t think forceful substitutions would be accepted. Otherwise, both teams would keep subbing in the other team.”

“Will she though?” Paragon asked. She had another name among the angels, but it wasn’t used often as she was proud of her Name.

"That depends. She likes me more than she likes Eldrazor, but that might not be the only consideration." As she finished her words, the mangled body of the once proud phoenix crashed into the arena. The True God was still alive as immortals were quite difficult to kill, and True Gods even more so. However, he wouldn't be carrying on this fight.

“And the winner is Azazel of Mount Celestis! Addaioth is eliminated and may no longer take part! He’ll really need the famed rebirth powers of the phoenixes after that slaughter!” A female voice announced. Those taking part had no idea who was doing the job of an announcer, though many of the gods recognized the voice of one that used to be one of their strongest. “Next challenger step forward!”

“Now the real competition starts.” The leading angel stated, knowing this is where the strategizing started. The first fight was there just to set the stage.

-------

“Well. That was one-sided.” Karna stated coldly, not caring that the one that was so thoroughly crushed was most likely an uncle of hers, or at least something similar.

She’d been absolutely right about the powers of fire being a rotten counter against gravity, and the angel known as Azazel was very crafty at using his powers. Even the divine powers of the True God had been thoroughly countered. The attack that had taken out the deity had been very similar to the main gun her old tower had used, though more powerful just due to sheer rank difference. The angel was very good though and would be a hard opponent in a fight. Certainly someone that had earned his rank.

"I must admit, I expected him to do better." Greed replied. The Royal Family was not made of weaklings, and a True God should be able to fair better against a similar rank non-divine opponent even if their strengths were not a good match.

"My turn then." Atharti stepped forward. The goddess clearly had something to prove. "I challenge you to a duel of seduction." The angel was rather handsome in a dignified sort of way, but he wasn't a match for the Goddess of Beauty.

“He’s just going to swap out you dolt.” Karna grimaced.

“She’s confident in beating anyone. Normally a good shout, but not with her on the other team.” Greed was just as unimpressed, though he wasn’t worried. He knew the real fight would be fought between him and the leader of the other team. Assuming she was willing to face him.

"I'm swapping out," Azazel announced.

"Who are you swapping with? No strategizing with your team." The announcer had clearly decided to make things interesting, though the teams involved were not obligated to follow the new instructions.

Azazel seemed confident in his decision though. “I choose the leader of our team, Temperance!” He declared loudly.

“Oh? She’s earned a new Name? And a Virtue at that?” Greed was caught off guard.

“You didn’t know?” Karna turned to look at Greed in surprise as ‘Temperance’ took the stage.

“I will admit you’re charming, but you’re competing against the Goddess of Beauty!” Atharti declared while gesturing dismissively at the angel, who was most likely the primary reason the goddess felt the need to prove something. This too was a fated encounter of sorts.

------

It took a moment to make arrangements for something as nebulous as a competition in seduction, but Temperance had full confidence. The little Goddess might be feeling confident, but she had no idea who she was up against. Both competitors were provided with a host of targets, and they had to lure the targets into their part of the arena. The targets were all provided with items against mind-altering magic just in case, though neither participant needed such assistance.

The goddess turned on her full charm of her Divinity and promised the world to her targets, and normally that would have been more than enough. Temperance on the other hand just unleashed the ability provided to her by her other Name, which allowed her to charm and persuade just about anyone to do her bidding. Her words seemed more reasonable and convincing than they actually were and her voice was something all the targets focused upon, despite the goddess’ attempts to the contrary. Soon enough the entire group of targets made their way to Temperance’s zone, marking her as a clear winner, and making the score a convincing 2-0.

“And the winner is Temperance of Mount Celestis! Atharti is eliminated in a rather humiliating fashion! Will the Royal House be able to recover from this bad start? We will find out! Next challenger!” The announcer didn’t miss the opportunity to make a dig at the goddess.

"Time to end this farce." Eldrazor declared and stepped into the ring. "I challenge you into a straight-up fight. We both know we'll face each other soon enough anyway. Might as well get it over with."

“Not quite yet. I’m swapping out.” Temperance announced, showing the clear weakness in being the challenger, even if you got to use your strengths.

“And who will be replacing you?” The announcer asked, a smile clear in her voice, signaling that she knew what was coming.

“I choose Princess Ynnead.” She looked at Greed, who was fuming, with a grin. “Enjoy your own mistake.”

“Ooh, a hole in the rules!” The announcer declared. “It is allowed by the wording, however. Substitutions were not limited by team. Will the substitute agree, though?”

Karna knew this was a good opportunity to spoil Greed’s plans and stepped up. “I think it’s only fair. These were the rules as defined by the challenged. And I will insist on reminding everyone that my participation was already a deviation from the original intent.”

As she gracefully sauntered to stand opposite Greed, she couldn't help grinning. "Still want me to go all out?" She asked.

“Hrrm. I think it’s better for everyone if neither of us did.” Greed grumbled at his plans being foiled. Most importantly though, he was blaming himself for not seeing this coming. Wrath certainly had, as she’d all but said as much.

“Your call. Should we at least put up a token fight, or should I just fold right away? While crushing you might be interesting, it would create more problems than it would solve.” Karna seriously considered fighting Greed at full power, but Greed wasn’t an enemy you could fight two ranks down without revealing most of your cards.

While he wasn't as strong in a fight as Pride, he was still a very old reincarnator with practically unlimited resources and who knows what kind of traps and surprises stored away. She'd once fought him in the past when he'd pulled out an entire fleet of AI-controlled ships from wherever he stored all of his treasures. That had been a less than pleasant surprise, and the man had only had more time since then to come up with something new and exciting.

“Fine.” He stated with a long sigh before making a loud announcement. “I give you permission to withdraw.”

“I didn’t really need your permission but seeing as you’re the one who pulled me into it, I shall abide. For now. I yield!” Karna folded out.

“Aww, I was looking forward to a fight between those two.” The announcer wasn’t the only one disappointed. “We’ll get a chance in the future, I’m sure. Next challenger!”

The remaining part of the challenge proceeded largely just like the angels had expected. With a 3-0 lead, they could tactically lose a couple of fights while forcing their more powerful opponents into traps they had prepared beforehand. Greed alone managed to take down 3 of the angels, but was in the end the last one standing and forced to accept the challenge of positive karma against Paragon, which he obviously lost. Hoeth, Kurnous, and Vaul all managed to win at least one duel as well, keeping up the house’s reputation to an extent. At least the challenge didn't turn into a full blowout despite the bad start. However, the strength of the reincarnators on Mount Celestis' team was simply too much, and Temperance didn't even have to take the stage again. Instead, she approached Karna just as the contest was concluding.

"Wrath my darling!" She greeted her with a gorgeous smile that caused even Karna's heart to skip a beat.

"Lust. I consider the favor I owed to Mount Celestis repaid with that." She quickly crushed any effect the other woman's gift had on her. She knew getting involved with Lust was dangerous, to say the least.

“Please, it’s Temperance nowadays.” The other Sin continued smiling, noting her influence being resisted. “I believe that makes us the same. Are we the only Sins that also Virtues, or have any of the others managed?”

“I don’t think they have. I know of Wisdom, Hope, Mercy, Temperance, and Valor. I also know the whereabouts of us, Envy, and Greed, so we’re missing Pride, Sloth, and Gluttony. I doubt any of those three managed, though you never know with Pride.” She didn’t mind sharing information with Lust as their relationship had always been at least cordial.

“Ah, yes. Envy. How is the old girl?” Lust’s relationship with Envy on the other hand had always been a little iffy.

“Fine. You know her.” Karna shrugged simply, not going into details. While sharing general information was fine, she wasn’t going to gossip about her ally.

Lust noticed the slight dodge but blithely ignored it. "Well, you can add Pride to your list. I've seen him, and he certainly hasn't become a Virtue. Incidentally, he might be our biggest problem."

“Our?” Karna asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, knowing you, I know you’re not too eager to win this whole thing, whatever it is, though even if you are, I’m not really hung up on it either. So, our interests need not be in conflict. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure we can both agree on Greed and Pride being very bad choices.”

“Where is he?” Karna asked with a deep sigh. She wasn’t sure Lust would be a great choice either, though at least she was better than Greed or Pride. Temperance was a Name she’d earned through hard work after all.

“Last I saw, he was guarding the emperor.” Lust dropped the bomb.

“Wait. He’s a member of the imperial guard? Which means he wouldn’t settle for anything besides leading it. That…is a problem.” The guards of the emperor were the most powerful force in the Divine Planes, aside maybe from the gods themselves if the discordant divines ever managed to unite their forces, and their purpose and origin were quite mysterious. Pride had chosen well.

“Right? That’s why I’m making a gambit like this. I’m pretty sure he’s pulling strings behind the scenes, stirring up trouble, so I need a bit of unity from the gods so that he’ll have to make his moves more openly.” Lust explained.

"You do know that this can't last, right? Even with the Royal Family cowed, for now, the others will not be able to tolerate things for too long." Karna knew the other Sin understood but wanted a confirmation anyway.

“I'm aware. I don't need it to last though. Besides, a bit more unity will help with dealing with the scourges as well. You should make the most of this opportunity. I heard of your exploits already. You could always join Mount Celestis you know. We have a spot for you. I made sure of that. I think we both know your alliance with the titans is iffy at best." Lust suggested, not really expecting Wrath to bite right now, just planting the seeds for the future.

"I'll keep what you said in mind," Karna replied without committing to anything. That was the safest path with Lust.

Chapter 140 - Duels

A note from Vihyungrang

Sorry about the chapter being shorter. I was hit with the night-shift-stick this week and I've been exhausted. I think you'll like what's in this chapter though. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

For the first time in a long while, Tethrine was ashamed of his family. Their performance had been abysmal. It was clear they had played right into the hands of Mount Celestis and had been outsmarted. His uncle Eldrazor had thought his little ploy with Princess Ynnead so clever, but it had been turned against them quite easily. In retrospect, it was easy to see the mistake they had made in defining the terms. Normally it wouldn't have mattered as no true member of the family would've agreed to fight for the other team. Unless their participation was forced. And the loss wasn't even Ynnead's fault. The rest of the family had fared just as badly. Only Eldrazor, Hoeth, Vaul, and Kurnous had managed to do well, although Aunt Drakira had been close to victory. Her opponent had simply been stronger. Even Vaul had barely managed, and Hoeth had fared only moderately well.

“Ah, little prince, don’t look so sad.” A familiar voice could be heard behind him. He turned around to see the hateful face of one of his worst rivals. Of course, Kheldiras wouldn’t miss the chance to taunt him. Tethrine had only recently returned home, and he was immediately being forced to deal with this shit.

“This doesn’t concern the House of Dragons.” He stated coldly. He wouldn’t give this wyrm the satisfaction of showing any weakness.

“Oh, but it does. Your incompetence has cost us all. Now it will be much harder to rally support against this inane plan by the angels. You didn’t just embarrass yourself. You embarrassed the entire Assembly.” The dragon spat out in a much more venomous tone. In the case of this particular dragon, that saying might become actual venom.

Tethrine was about to argue further when he spotted something he really didn't want to see. The participants were already starting to trickle out of the arena, but the broadcast was still going as if anticipating further trouble. And further trouble was on the horizon. He could see his mother whispering to his father in a familiar way. He'd seen it before. It was a bad habit of hers. When she felt humiliated, as she no doubt felt now, she tended to take it out on others. Only, it was not her way to do it directly. She used others for her venting. Usually, father was too smart to fall for it, but this time they were looking towards Ynnead in a way that promised trouble. The warning he'd gotten from The Seer rang in his ears. This could be big trouble.

“Cat took your tongue?” His rival asked, not used to such easy victories, which no doubt confused the dragon.

"I just feel like I'm watching a disaster happen in slow motion," Tethrine muttered, not caring about the dragon overhearing. He could see Kurnous marching towards Ynnead, antagonizing her. He seemed to be pushing the blame for the loss on the girl, calling her out publicly, though it was difficult to hear the details as sound was not being transmitted clearly enough at the moment.

“Oh dear. It seems your father is about to commit suicide by stupidity." Kheldiras chuckled, noticing where he was looking.

"What do you know?" Tethrine turned towards him, suspicion clear in his eyes, while his father screamed about teaching Ynnead a lesson and challenging her to a duel. Such one-sided challenges were usually ignored, and many people seemed prepared to interfere when Ynnead surprisingly agreed.

“Unlike your family, the House of Dragons doesn’t underestimate her.” The dragon was clearly hiding something. “Look, it’s about to start!”

He was right. As they were already in the arena, setting up a new challenge was quick. Kurnous didn't waste any time and threw his divine might at her as a beam of golden light slammed down on her from the skies. However, the beam never reached her as she had lifted a large hammer above her head, and the hammer seemed to be somehow absorbing the power from the attack.

------

Karna couldn’t help smirking a bit. Her greatest creation came in handy again. The sheath combined the powers of all the artifacts she fed to it, and one of the artifacts had been the gauntlets that could consume divine attacks. The gauntlets had not been powerful enough to take a direct full-power attack from a rank 13 god, but her current weapon was. After all, the weapon was a sacred artifact at a level few had seen even in the Divine Planes, so of course the ability gained from the gauntlets had become much stronger as well. She wouldn’t be able to take a limitless number of such attacks, but she didn’t need to. She wasn’t planning on allowing this fight to last very long.

“I was going to take it easy on you, but it seems you have chosen the hard way.” Kurnous taunted her in an attempt at mental warfare. He wasn’t a weak god. He was a reincarnator and a powerful True God of the Royal House. By most standards, he was very powerful. But his power was no longer something she had to worry about. She had already moved beyond ordinary standards and to the extraordinary.

The god suddenly started to transform into his Divine Regalia, a wild-looking hunting attire that could often be seen among the elves, along with a black spear made of dark wood. He also lifted a horn and blew into it, sending a booming voice across the battlefield, activating his Domain, which started to manifest as a Reality Marble. As the God of the Hunt, his Domain was no doubt tied to his Divinity, but she didn't care. With a snort she allowed the power of her own Domain to flare into life for a moment, the power of her new Totem crushing the Reality Marble in the middle of manifesting.

The feedback from his power suddenly being broken lashed back at him and caused Kurnous to stagger, though he never took his eyes off her. He had suspected she was powerful, but he had still been confident. This was beyond what he had imagined. “You want a hunt? Then I’ll give you one.” The girl in front of him declared before her form shifted. Now in her place stood an enormous wolf with pair of golden wings.

The wings were not familiar, but the wolf was. Nearly every universe that had wolves had a legend about a creature like the one in front of him, and most of them were not happy legends. They were tales that ended in the destruction of the world. “The Dread Wolf.” He growled. This was a direct slap to his Divinity, as hunting such beasts was what his Divinity was all about. But this wasn’t just a normal wolf. He didn’t have time to hesitate though, as his arm lashed out almost by instinct, throwing his black spear towards the heart of the beast. The unerring throw of the God of the Hunt was an almost certain kill technique.

The beast snorted and moved with blinding speed, easily moving out of the trajectory of the spear, but his weapon was not so easily avoided as it corrected its path. Before reaching the beast though, it suddenly seemed to slow down for some reason and seemed to shudder, as if struggling against something. By the time it reached its target, the power behind the throw didn’t even manage to ruffle the hairs on the beast’s chest. What was this odd defense?

The beast moved again, this time to attack, and the speed involved was just as unbelievable. Only the fact that he too had the speed of a phoenix allowed him to somehow manage to keep up. The black spear reappeared in his hand to block the beast’s claws, but to his horror, the spear only managed to stop the claws for a fraction of a second before it was shredded to pieces. A piece of his Divine Regalia destroyed so easily?

His body was thrown aside by the power behind the attack. “You seem confused.” He could swear the wolf was grinning. “Were you not familiar with the legends of the Dread Wolf after all?”

He understood immediately. That was the danger of the wolf. Its claws and fangs could not be stopped by anything. Even something like Divine Regalia, which was basically his Divinity made manifest, couldn’t stand against an unstoppable force. He rematerialized the weapon, though this time a large chunk of his power was consumed in the process as the weapon had just been destroyed. “Don’t think this is enough to save you.” He threatened, mostly to regain his balance.

“On the contrary. I think this is over.” The wings of the wolf suddenly changed color, and the beast vanished. He tried to move instinctively to dodge, but it was too late. The power he’d lost had made him slower. He could feel the enormous jaws of the beast close around him, and the fangs penetrated straight through all his divine protections. His last thought was to curse his wife for getting him involved, as the jaws crunched.

Karna could feel the life in the god vanish. Immortals and Gods were not easy to kill, and in most cases the god could rematerialize inside his Divine Realm, weakened but alive. However, there were exceptions and the jaws of a Beast of the Apocalypse were one of those exceptions. These beasts existed to slay gods and heroes and did so in most legends. And legends often followed reality. Or in this case, reality followed the legends. Concepts were important, and the very concept of the Beasts of the Apocalypse was to slay gods. That’s why the gods were inherently vulnerable to them. That’s what made them the beasts of dread and legends that they were. Most of the legends surrounding them ended in sorrow after all.

Killing Kurnous was going to create issues. It would also clear some of them. He had been the one to issue the challenge, and these kinds of challenges sometimes ended in the death of at least one participant. The earlier team challenge was actually rare in that no one had perished. Now that she had slain a True God of rank in a very public duel, her power would also have to be acknowledged. After this, she would be spared the annoyance of dealing with weaker enemies, but those that were determined to get at her would become only more so after this. At least she didn't have to worry about Kurnous' plots anymore. He had been one of the main driving forces in the Royal Family that sought her out in the past.

As she too was ejected from the arena, Hoeth was there waiting and pointed an accusing finger at her. “You’ve chosen to declare a war on the Royal House with this act! I will see you cast out!”

Karna had expected this and wasn’t unprepared. It was one of the issues she was expecting. She sent a sweeping glance over the gathered Assembly. “I appeal to the fair-mindedness of the Grand Assembly. Did Kurnous not issue the challenge himself?”

Her words got an approving murmur from the gathered gods and power players. They also liked where this was headed. She continued. “Those of you capable of following the fight can also attest to the fact that his first attack, with the beast slaying spear of a God of the Hunt no less, was directly aimed at my heart. It even changed trajectory after I dodged. He certainly had no qualms about killing me. So I believe it is only fair to respond in kind. Or is the esteemed member of the Royal House suggesting that in duels the members of your house are allowed to kill the opponent, while the same does not apply to you?”

This time the mere suggestion gathered jeers and mocking from the crowd, directed at Hoeth. The god noticed the tide turning against him, knowing she had a point. “We will remember this.” He threatened.

“On that note, I was under the impression that duels in front of the entire Grand Assembly are sacred, and the results are not allowed to be questioned. House Asuryan has broken this rule now twice, thrice if you count the threat just now. I allowed the first one to slide as Kurnous was part of the team in the first duel, but I believe punishment is in order for such flagrant and repeated breaking of the rules." Karna grinned inside her helmet. She knew the rules better than anyone as they had not changed in eons.

The sound of a throat being cleared could be heard and a member of the Golden Order stood up to speak. “I believe Princess Ynnead is correct. Punishment shall be decided later and levied against House Asuryan.” He promised.

“Finally,” Karna wasn’t finished and turned towards Hoeth. “You really shouldn’t try to act like this is some great slight against your house. As Prince Eldrazor pointed out earlier, I’m also a member of the House in at least name, and I just eliminated one of your main rivals for the throne. It takes some gall to act all offended while dancing from joy inside.”

This was a direct attack on Hoeth’s reputation, but he was forced to swallow it as everyone knew she was right. He also realized that airing the laundry of the House in such a public setting would only make things worse. On the other hand, many others in the audience realized something else. “It seems there’s now another serious contender for the throne.” The dragon Kheldiras taunted Prince Tethrine.

Tethrine realized the wyrm was right. Although Princess Ynnead could become the new empress, in theory, no one would've taken a claim seriously before now. Just like Tethrine had a claim but no one actually expected him to compete. However, Kurnous had been one of the three serious contenders, even if he'd been the least likely of the three, and Ynnead had just slain him in a duel, thus proving her martial might at the very least. That turned her into a serious contender, even if one that was starting from behind. And with her mother in the mix, there were now four serious contenders, even though one had just perished.

Tethrine also understood why The Seer had told him that challenging Ynnead was not going to end well. With his father’s protection now gone, it was time to make himself scarce.

Chapter 141 - 10 years

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

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The Grand Assembly naturally didn’t end with the two challenges settled. Most of the gods and other powers had not known why the Assembly was gathered initially, but now that they were here, they weren’t going to let the chance to deal with several outstanding issues go by. The Assembly was the natural place to air grievances and play politics. The declaration by Mount Celestis, which still stood as others had not risen to challenge it, limited that politicking somewhat, but it seemed even the angels didn’t expect everyone to just halt any and all plots immediately. And the more sensitive plots that would run afoul of Mount Celestis were kept to private conversations and veiled in several layers of polite language.

“It’s almost admirable how many ways gods can say ‘go fuck yourself’ without actually making it sound rude or repeating themselves.” Envy commented at one point.

They were naturally expected to stand guard the entire time, though the shifts were rotated so that every team got the chance to rest and recuperate. As these kinds of events could easily take years, and it was also unreasonable to expect the brightest young cultivators to take all that time out of their cultivation, which was another reason why enough personnel had been prepared to take shifts. The Host had become more involved in the proceedings this time when compared to normal Assemblies, mostly due to Karna, but now they tried to pull back and stay in the shadows. And they mostly succeeded after enough time passed. Only Karna, as the Princess Ynnead that had just defeated Kurnous, was brought up again, and even she was mostly left alone as the various parties were reconsidering their position when it came to her.

Part of the reason why these kinds of gatherings could take so long was because everyone involved was an immortal, and their relationship with time was different when compared to a mortal. They could easily spend years for a single such gathering, as those years were just a drop in the bucket. That didn’t mean everyone was present the whole time of course, as the gods had things to take care of. Everyone involved was informed beforehand when something important would be coming up, so they could return home or deal with other business in the meanwhile. Even if someone tried to sneak something of consequence to the Assembly while others were gone, such matters were stalled while information was sent out for everyone to gather again. Every large power would always have people present after all. The full Grand Assembly was a little different in that people were more reticent to leave, but that just meant there were more people bringing things to the attention of the gathering of powers.

The major players in the Assembly could be roughly divided into three major groups. The first and most important group consisted of the True Gods, and even to an extent the lesser ones. They held the majority of the power here, though they didn’t wield that power as individuals. In fact, most of the True Gods acted under the direction of the second group, which consisted of the Major Houses. To further complicate the politics though, many of the Houses and individual gods also belonged to factions, which were groups with similar goals and views despite not belonging to the same House. These were divisions along ideological lines, and sometimes you could find strange allies that happened to agree on the matters of said ideology. Sometimes the gods decided to act in the interest of their chosen faction instead of their House, as even the Houses were not monolithic entities that enforced loyalty on every subject. In fact, it was more common to act with your faction, as long as the matter wasn’t important to the House you belonged to.

The third major group was formed by other large organisations and interest groups. Some groups and organizations were not unified enough to be counted as a House, or the power consisted of mixed members from several Houses but wasn’t really unified by ideology like a faction. The most obvious such power was the Host of course, but there were others. The major temples of Light, Grey, and Dark Gods, the economic interests represented by merchant guilds, the representatives of the organization in charge of the Emissaries, Transportation Guild, the organization that represented the interests of magical beasts that didn’t belong to the Houses, and a hundred other groups ranging from political to the bureaucratic.

This third block was also where many of the genuine issues, not just political plots, arose from. It wasn’t uncommon for a merchant guild for instance to request the cooperation of a particular Major House to acquire certain resources, or for another to complain about unfair treatment. Usually, such issues were not minor, as despite the patience of the immortals, they didn't want to spend an eternity here listening to various petty complaints. These were matters that required attention and resolution, or there would be serious issues in the future.

For Karna’s group, the most interesting moment came when one of the seers, a Norn to be precise, brought up that Karna had assumed the form of a Beast of the Apocalypse earlier. And usually such beasts were heralds of, you know, the apocalypse. She had already killed one god and clearly could kill more. And in all the legends such beasts were a huge danger. So, shouldn’t she be dealt with? Just to preserve the lives of the other gods of course.

That caused a stir, especially among the representatives that came from magical beast backgrounds, and an argument was soon in full swing. At this point, Karna took it upon herself to handle her own defense, using it as an opportunity to build up her own political bonafides. “It seems the esteemed seer has not really studied those legends she refers to. In most of the legends, such beasts become a problem only after they are mistreated and either hunted or imprisoned because the gods are afraid of what they might become. Usually at the behest of seers, who don’t understand the principles of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Am I the only one to see the potential parallels here? Now, I wonder how this beast would react to any such attempts made at the behest of this particular seer?”

That caused a good amount of amusement in the gathered crowd, and a few calls of 'well played' could be heard. She continued. "Besides, what most don't realize is that the beings often called by the moniker 'Beast of the Apocalypse’ are just the most evolved form of a particular bloodline. The form you saw is the purest distillation of the magical wolf bloodline taken to the extreme. Just like the seer is the most advanced form of a mortal concept known as ‘the concerned old aunty’ who likes to meddle in things that they aren’t involved in just for their own interests and narcissistic need to get attention.” That definitely caused laughter, as there were many who didn’t like seers.

“The only reason these beasts are more dangerous to gods is because of the Concept they are associated with. They aren’t inherently any more likely to turn against gods than any other being. And if we’re planning on killing or imprisoning on the basis of danger a being poses, then we’d have to deal with most of the members of this Assembly. Is the esteemed Seer suggesting we go down that route? At your behest and direction, I assume?” The last part was enough to get the subject dropped entirely. In fact, Karna was almost willing to thank the Norn for such a perfect opportunity to sweep the subject under the rug. And judging by the small secretive smile on the woman’s face despite what had happened, that might have been her aim from the beginning.

‘Bloody seers.’ She cursed in her mind.

The Assembly stretched on and on, and even Karna was starting to lose focus when she was approached by one of the Imperial Guards. A quick look around informed her that she wasn’t the only one, though for some reason it seemed that even the gods had not noticed their arrival. “Princess Ynnead. The Heavenly Emperor requires your presence.” The female guard, clad from head to toe in white armor that didn’t show a single millimeter of skin, stated in a polite but firm tone. This wasn’t a request.

"Lead the way." She gestured, and followed her out of the fort of pillows that the Grand Assembly appeared to her as. Once on the outside, she noticed six other people, all members of the Royal House, being led out.

She wasn’t the only one to note the makeup of their little departing group. “What’s this about?” Hoeth asked with an impatient tone, though he also seemed somewhat eager.

“All your questions will be answered shortly, so I ask you to refrain for now.” The leading guard stated. Karna could sense that each of the guards was at rank 13, and the leading guard that had spoken was bordering on rank 14. Very, very dangerous.

They all took two steps where their surroundings changed. The first one took them outside the Grand Assembly and to the bridge connecting the Divine Realms of the gods, while another took them directly to the front of the palace of the emperor. The entrance was guarded by a larger contingent of the guards, but those guards didn’t react to their arrival in any way. It was obvious they were expected. Two more steps took them inside the realm of the emperor, and into the throne room where the emperor was standing next to his throne, looking away from them.

Unlike what you'd expect of the most influential being in the universe, the throne room was not all that elaborate. Karna had seen several such throne rooms under different Heavenly Emperors and knew the décor always reflected the person currently holding the position. The current throne room was rather simple and modest because the emperor wanted it so. For now. Next week he might decide to go for something opulent instead. Thus, the décor also reflected the current mood of the emperor and the impression he wanted to give.

“Father.” Hoeth made a flowery bow. Of the seven gathered people, four made such bows, while three chose to stand, interpreting the current décor as a desire to keep things relatively informal. Karna was of course one of the three, while her mother and Eldrazor were the two others. Khaine had been the commentator during the earlier challenges, as her voice was easily recognized by Karna. She had mostly hidden her presence aside from that.

"Rise my children." The emperor, who had been turned around to admire the profundities of a painting that moved in complex patterns, spoke without turning to meet them. Karna could see the painting was a treasure left behind by some ancient and likely destroyed sect and contained many of their secrets, though hidden within layers of useless and false information.

They all stood there waiting for several minutes while the emperor stared at the painting, before he finally turned to meet their gaze. He was once again wearing a hat that had strings of beads hanging from the front, obscuring his face. The beads didn’t just obscure his face though, as Karna could sense that any attempts to read his abilities, powers, Names, and many other factors would be impossible. It also protected against mind-influencing magic to a degree that few artifacts could. In short, it was the perfect artifact for someone who wanted to pretend to be the Heavenly Emperor, yet they all knew this man was not fake. His presence, especially in this place, was quite easy to recognize. This was also the second time the man avoided getting his Name read by her.

“Some of you may already suspect why you’ve been called here just by who was invited.” The emperor said, and it was somewhat obvious. The seven here were the most likely candidates for the emperor’s position. “And it is as you suspect. I will be stepping down in exactly ten years. One of you will be taking my place at that time.”

They all had questions, though the air around the emperor strongly implied that he wasn’t going to entertain any until he was finished speaking. “Any of you will be allowed to step out of the contention at any time by publicly declaring your intention to do so, though you will not be able to step back into the competition once you do step out. There are three ways of winning. The first one is to be the last one surviving. I'd rather you didn't go for this option as you're still family, but I'm also not naïve enough to think you will all survive. There’s already one less of you than there were before the Assembly. The second option is to get the majority of the surviving, and still eligible, candidates to recognize your victory and elect you as the next emperor. That majority must declare their vote inside this realm, or within the Grand Assembly. I think we all know that thing will carry on at least that long. If it won’t, I’ll make it last.”

All of the candidates took a quick look around and did the math. Of the seven present, Vaul was already supporting Hoeth, while Drakira supported Eldrazor. The last goddess, Hekarti was known as the Goddess of Dark Magic and was generally considered a member of the family in name only, much like Khaine. Courting her vote might be more detrimental than positive as most members of the family did not want to be associated with her despite her rather obvious power. And even with her vote, it was obvious to both Eldrazor and Hoeth that they would need either Karna’s or Khaine’s vote to get chosen. Both if they couldn’t get Hekarti on their side, which seemed unlikely considering they’d all shunned her.

"The third way is to get a two-thirds majority vote in the Grand Assembly. And I do mean the entire Grand Assembly. Any trickery by having only a portion of the Assembly present will not be allowed." The emperor finished. This last option was even less likely than the second one. Getting even a simple majority in the Grand Assembly was already a chore, and two-thirds never agreed on anything.

“Before you make too many plans, I need to tell you something. Something that is only ever told to those in the position you now stand, and you will not be able to talk about it after you leave. Note that I don’t mean I order you to silence. I mean you will be physically unable to pass on the information. The position of the Heavenly Emperor is a weighty one, but there is a duty that most of you are unaware of. The Heavenly Emperor does lead the universe and has almost absolute power within, but we’re also the mouthpiece for a greater power. A power that holds sway over the entire multiverse. It is their authority that gives us our power, and it is their will that sets the rules of the entire multiverse. It is also due to their commands that it sometimes seems like the Heavenly Emperors are insane and give contradictory decrees. It is also because we have their blood in our veins that allows only our bloodline to become emperors. That is the prerequisite required to even become an emperor, and why our bloodline is so closely guarded and monitored.” He glanced towards Karna, as her birth had been an oddity.

That caused everyone to take pause. The emperor had taken this into consideration though. "I'm going to somewhat allay your concerns by pointing out that the one known as He or The One Above rarely meddles in the mundane running of the universe. In fact, according to the information that is passed from one emperor to the next, The One used to be much more active countless generations ago, but as time has passed, the less they’ve interfered. During the reign of the previous emperor, He didn’t interfere or give out Decrees a single time. That has changed during my reign though and will likely change even more during yours.”

“Why?” Hekarti asked with a frown. Some among the candidates already knew the answer though.

“Because He is also stepping down, and someone else is taking His place. Whoever will be their successor will likely be more active as they’re new to the position.” The emperor explained curtly.

“Again I ask, why?” Hekarti repeated.

The emperor gestured towards Karna. “She knows. Better than anyone else perhaps.”

Everyone turned towards Karna in surprise. “This is speculation, but I’d assume due to the sheer weight of time. It can be fun to be omnipotent for the first eon or two, but what about when you’ve already taken vengeance on everyone who slighted you until you no longer care? When you’ve easily won every battle you’ve taken part in? When you’ve tasted all that life and immortality has to offer until it all tastes like ash? We all strive and struggle to become stronger to make our lives easier and freer, but that struggle is also what gives life meaning. When you no longer have to struggle, you will grow bored fast. We’re all called immortal, but why do you think all of us eventually pass on? There are no immortals in the Divine Planes, not even True Gods, that have seen the reign of more than maybe a dozen Heavenly Emperors. Why do you think that is? We all get tired eventually and want to pass on. For it all to end.”

Both Khaine and Eldrazor looked at her with a lot of sympathy. They knew she was talking from experience, while the others were weirded out to hear something like that from someone who was barely older than a child in their view. “She is right.” The emperor confirmed. “The One has reigned for longer than any of us can comprehend. And from what I understand, He has slumbered for the reigns of the previous emperors, just to alleviate His boredom. Yet the universe requires someone to be at the wheel. Someone to set the rules, as arbitrary as they sometimes seem. The reason He has become active now is to arrange for His successor to be chosen.”

“Why would we compete for the second position on the totem pole when the first position is also up for grabs then?” Hekarti asked angrily.

“Some among you are competing for both.” The emperor revealed directly. “However, surely you don’t think there aren’t qualifications required on becoming the supreme being of the entire multiverse? If you weren't aware of that second competition before now, then you don't have those qualifications. And to use your analogy, currently, you're not even the tenth on the totem pole, so why not aim for the second spot? The new number one will be busy dealing with the multiverse and their new powers, so you'll most likely be number one in this universe for the period of your reign. On that note though, there's a reason why Heavenly Emperors only reign for a certain period of time. You will find out why when you get the position, but you don’t need to worry. I will not die when I pass on the position, and neither will you when the time comes.”

“Is this tiredness the reason why we haven’t heard about anyone in our universe having such power?” Vaul suddenly asked. He was quite sure he’d know if there was someone so powerful among them.

“No. Well, mostly not. Like I said, He has rarely taken an active interest in the affairs of our universe. Besides, what makes you think He isn’t right now taking part in the Grand Assembly, just to alleviate His boredom?” While they couldn’t see it, they could hear it in the emperor’s voice that he was smiling. “Now, this meeting was just to inform you about what’s coming. More details will be revealed in the future. Go now and find me a replacement.” With a wave of his hand, he sent all of them out of his realm, and they all found themselves standing at the front where the guards were gathered. Only this time they were barring any access to the realm.

Chapter 142 - Deals and favors

A note from Vihyungrang

'ere we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

As they returned to the Assembly, all coming up with various schemes and plans, Karna noticed a potential problem with what they’d just been told. However, she didn’t have time to ponder on the issue for very long before the issue was already solved. As soon as they returned to the Assembly, Marius approached her. “I was given this by one of the emperor’s guards after you were pulled away. They told me to deliver it as soon as you returned and suggest you view it at some private location.”

He had just handed her a small crystal-decorated disk that contained a recording of some kind. She quickly excused herself and found a private room. As the Assembly adjusted to the needs of the participants, such places were not hard to come by, and her room was tastefully filled with soft pillows. Unsurprisingly, as soon as she activated the disk, the image of the emperor was projected above the disk, dressed the exact same as moments before. In fact, judging by the surroundings, the emperor had likely made the recording only moments before summoning all the successor candidates, as the same shifting painting could be seen behind him.

“I’m assuming this recording reached you. Marius has always been a rather forthright and trustworthy person. And if not, then that just means you haven’t yet managed to impress him enough to earn his loyalty. Either way, not really my problem. There are a couple of things you need to be made aware of, and you can safely assume all of the candidates received similar messages. We both know you have another goal instead of taking my position, and even if you didn’t, the only reason you’d want my position is to stop someone less desirable from taking it. Much like your bid for that other position I imagine. Still, I can never be certain when it comes to you, so I’ll just say this just in case you want to become the emperor. The others might not have realized it, aside from your mother of course, but in order to qualify as the next emperor, you need to become a god. Normally there wouldn't be a rank requirement, especially since you don't lack in the power department even with your current rank, but you won't have anyone's true respect as the emperor if you're not also rank 13. That one is negotiable though, unlike the first requirement. There have been non-god puppet emperors before, but that won't work with The One being as active as He is at the moment. A non-god will not be able to handle the burden. I’m fairly confident that won’t be a problem for you though, right?” Despite the obstruction on his face, it wasn’t hard to tell the emperor was looking at her meaningfully. Since it was just a recording though, there was no point in responding. It was somewhat worrying that the emperor seemed to know her somehow, while she had little idea who he was. Still, of the reincarnators she’d met in the past, roughly half had been at least friendly, so the odds were not bad.

“That said, the fact that you’re stuck guarding the Assembly might make things a bit more difficult, so I’ll make a trade with you. I’ve already sent orders to have your team released from guard duty, and you should be free to go in a couple of days. You're free to come and go as you please, as I'm sure you'll find some benefits in the politics of the Assembly. You might even manage the two-thirds majority if you play your cards right, unlike the others. In exchange, I want you to not seek revenge against Kurnous' family, particularly Prince Tethrine. His wife will, unfortunately, pick a fight with you sooner or later, and I can't expect you to spare her, but the boy is relatively innocent, and I’m rather fond of him. Despite everything, he is my grandchild, and that does mean something to me, unlike most of the rest of the family. I’m fairly confident you’ll agree to this trade, since there didn’t seem to be any animosity between the two of you, aside from being in opposing camps. He should be smart enough to stay out of your way after the duel with his father, and if not…well, you will do what you have to.”

The emperor seemed to gaze at nothing for a moment, before gathering himself again. “It’s a real shame, but it seems our family has forgotten the meaning of the word. Once upon a time family was the most important thing to us. Not everyone has forgotten though. I wish things were different, but they’re not. Maybe once this mess is over…” The image of the emperor just disappeared after that.

It wasn't a bad deal for her. She had no plans to take any sort of revenge on Tethrine, as there wasn't all that much reason to. Sure, the prince had sought an opportunity to take her out, but that was to be expected in the prevailing political situation. She would’ve likely done the same in his position. And he hadn’t done something underhanded like go after her family. In fact, it seemed he hadn’t even mentioned their existence, aside from maybe reporting on her connection with Arjuna. Which reminded her, she still hadn’t found any sign of Tsumi. That worried her a bit. It was time to do something about that. She didn’t like it, but the Assembly happened to be the best place to find out where the old headmistress had disappeared to. She also had another plan to enact before they could leave.

Hoping that she had read things correctly, she sent a message to the same Norn that had made a hubbub during the Assembly about her being a Beast of the Apocalypse. As if having expected the message, the Norn appeared only minutes after receiving the message, entering the private room Karna was still occupying. "Princess Ynnead. A pleasure to meet you." The Norn had the voice of an old crone, but the appearance of an ageless-looking woman. Karna guessed the voice was mostly for effect.

“Skuld. I should’ve expected the Norn of What Shall Be to have known this was coming.” Karna was familiar with the Norns from her previous experiences. The Divine Planes always had exactly three, who always carried the same names despite the holder sometimes changing. Urðr, who represented the past, Verðandi, who represented the present, and Skuld, who represented the future. The three were the most powerful beings when it came to finding information in the Divine Planes. They weren’t just ordinary seers after all. “I’m pretty sure I sent the message to Verðandi though.”

"You did, however, I've been the one chosen to deal with matters pertaining to you, as it is mostly my judgement of what will be that guides our actions," Skuld explained with a crooked smile.

“I feel like I should point out that I’m highly uncomfortable with anyone being able to divine my future.” Beings like her, old reincarnators, were usually too difficult for Seers to divine, as they weren’t really bound by Fate, and even their smallest decisions could throw all the futures into disarray. The Norns were a bit of an exception, though only in a limited fashion.

"Believe me the feeling is mutual. Those like you are always a headache for us as well, and now our universe is filled with headaches. You are of course the worst among the lot. That said, at least we won't have to suffer that headache for very much longer. We've all gazed into the Urðarbrunnr, the Well of Fate, and found the one you seek. She really doesn’t want to be found though, and she’s constantly on the move.” The Norn explained.

“She’s being targeted.” Karna realized. “Pride?” That particular Sin rarely stooped so low as to use hostages. Yet it was the most obvious guess, no matter how unlikely it seemed.

“Your instinct is right in that Pride isn’t the one seeking her. I will not reveal who, but the culprit is aware that capturing her will be of limited use. However since it could be of some use at least, they’ve chosen to put the word out. The one you seek was quick to realize she was being targeted and slipped the net. She has been forced to take some extreme measures though. Currently, they've secreted themselves behind the enemy lines and are hiding in the Netherworld." The Norn revealed, with a knowing look on her face.

She wasn’t disappointed, as an expression of mixed anger and grief briefly flashed on Karna’s face before she managed to control herself. She wasn’t going to lose another one close to her to the Netherworld! “I thank you for the information.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not telling you this to extract a favor from you. I’m doing it because I’ve seen what would happen if this person were to be lost to the Netherworld. I’m not eager to get firsthand experience with your less pleasant Names. The next favor will not be for free though. And yes, we know you will seek us out again.” The Norn was a little smug but knew not to go too far.

“Might as well tell me now.” Karna gestured for her to continue.

"Not now. You will not appreciate the information as much now. You will not agree to the trade. And I wouldn't want to give the impression that we're forcing you either. Have a good day princess." The Norn left just as quickly as she'd arrived, perhaps realizing she'd pushed her luck far enough.

------

“What can I do for you Princess Ynnead?” The Genasi man in front of her asked. Everyone’s treatment and regard for her had changed after the fight with Kurnous. Even in the Divine Planes, the number of people capable of killing a rank 13 True God were limited. Mostly those people were the pillars of support of various factions.

“Administratrix Zellrhys. I have a favor to ask.” Karna nodded to the man in a way that conveyed respect. The man was a representative of the organization in charge of the Emissaries. The organization had deep enough ties with the Host that it was often forgotten they were not part of the same organization.

The man nodded knowingly. That was the most common reason for anyone to seek him out. “I expected as much. I’m not averse to such favors if they are within reason. Emissaries must fit certain criteria and certain positions are already spoken for.” Those criteria were important enough that even the Royal House wouldn’t be able to circumvent them. It would be devastating if the wrong type of person was sent as an Emissary. The Emissaries were not all selfless and caring individuals, but they couldn’t be the type to abuse their position either. The reputation of the Divine Planes as a whole would suffer.

“I believe the criteria will not be a problem. The man I have in mind is just and fair-minded. He has also served the Host for some time with distinction, so you can request the Host’s evaluation of him as well. The position I have in mind is the one Prince Tethrine occupied not too long ago. I know a temporary replacement was sent when he was recalled, but the one I have in mind could be a more permanent replacement.” She was talking of Arjuna of course. If he was sent back as an Emissary, then he would be able to spend time with Duskclaw and their child.

The Genasi rubbed the wispy beard on his chin while considering the proposal. "It could be arranged. The position doesn't have too much competition as it is somewhat politically charged, especially now with Kurnous gone. So, it would actually be a bit of a relief if it was handled. However, we can’t do it right away. The replacement Emissary still has a few years on their contract’s minimum time, and we prefer not to change the position too often to ensure continuity, and to not appear flighty in our decisions.”

“That’s fine. It’s actually better if we can push this a couple of years." It would allow her to ensure Arjuna would be safe when he was sent to the Higher Plane. He'd be out of the direct line of fire even now, but many people had enough reach to strike at him even there. If she managed to solidify her own position and power in the minds of others a bit further, then there would be fewer people willing to go through the effort and risk her ire. Ideally, this would happen after the new emperor had taken their position, and for that, she had to get the slow wheels of the bureaucracy moving in the right direction as soon as possible. The important part was that Arjuna would be given the chance to reunite with Duskclaw, even if for a limited amount of time. “If you can manage this, I will owe you.” She promised.

------

“We were released from duty?” Valor asked as they all exited the Assembly.

“Yes. Direct orders from the emperor.” Karna replied.

“I assume that when you and the others disappeared, the matter of succession was brought up? And that’s why we were allowed to go?” Envy asked shrewdly.

“Correct on both," Karna confirmed again.

“We seem to be moving in a hurry.” Hope observed. They were flying towards one of the Host’s mustering stations. “And I can’t help but assume we’re going to a place where we might gather some help for some reason.”

“I found Tsumi.” She quickly reiterated what the Norn had told her.

“And you believe this Skuld?” Envy asked with a frown. “This smells like a trap.”

“I do. She was aware of my less than flattering Names and concerned about the reaction I would have to Tsumi’s death. She knows enough that even if this is a trap and we walk right into it, I have the power to return. And she would not survive my return. She would also not find her demise pleasant.” Karna practically growled.

“The Norns also survive off the reliability of their information.” Wisdom interjected. “They might argue and be wrong in matters of politics, but when they trade in information, which is the only reason they have any value in a place where many hate seers and Fateweavers, is that their information is reliable. If it were to come out that they’ve given out false information, especially for political reasons, all trust in them would be shattered and there are plenty of people who would happily kill them. So no, it’s unlikely that the information they’ve provided is false. It is, however, almost certainly incomplete.”

“She admitted to knowing who is hunting Tsumi, but wouldn't reveal that information," Karna added, agreeing with Wisdom. Unlike what she’d stated in the Assembly earlier, this particular seer seemed to understand the concept of self-fulfilling prophesy and had planted the seed of seeking further information from the Norns in her head on purpose. It was highly unlikely she’d have gone to them for any other reason otherwise. Now the idea had been planted, no matter how she felt about seeking further help being unlikely. Such manipulations by seers irked her in the worst way possible, and she’d quite happily hunt the Norn down if the information proved inaccurate. Which meant it was almost certainly accurate.

“I’m assuming we’re not going to just simply march into the Netherworld.” Silvanus, the Dragonborn assassin member of their group and Arjuna’s friend, asked. He had already learned to trust these people and was quite calm, unlike Lancelot and Helen, who seemed to be on the border of hyperventilating after they heard about going to the Netherworld.

“Kind of. We will be marching there, but I plan on making sure there will be nothing simple about it. I already sent the word out. We should see some reinforcements gathering at this place in the next couple of weeks while I’ll be creating some items to help us during the journey. It’s a shame my tower was destroyed. It would’ve been the perfect transportation for us.” She still hadn’t had an opportunity to remake the tower. It would be a project that would take years to complete as well, as she wanted to make improvements instead of just recreating it, so it was an open question when she would have the time.

“What kind of reinforcements?” Envy asked curiously. They hadn’t forged all that many strong alliances just yet.

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice Team Valor had also been given dispensation from guard duty at the Assembly. I can’t help but think this wasn’t by accident. The emperor is playing a game, but we shall humor him and play his game for now. That team should be hungry for some glory. In addition, we have my mother and any help she can gain from the Titans. We befriended a couple of very powerful Outsiders not long ago, and I think one of them might join us. I also may have goaded the leader of Mount Celestis to prove her convictions and earlier words by joining in at striking at a common enemy.” Karna listed.

“Lust? You asked Lust for help?!” Envy was not happy.

"Might as well use her as she tried to use me." Karna shrugged, and Envy quickly calmed down, suddenly realizing that they could turn this to their advantage. If she could get the other Sin alone in the Netherworld…well, they didn’t all need to return alive and Wrath likely wouldn’t oppose…

What Karna left unsaid was that she’d also approached House Draconis with an offer. In exchange for help with this matter, she’d owe them a sizeable favor as well. Not enough to be forced to do something she was vehemently opposed to, but enough to entice them. “In any case, assuming most of the people I’m expecting show up, we’ll have quite enough power for what I have planned.”

“Which is?” Valor wanted more specifics.

“Well, wouldn’t it be a nice little coup to regain some of the tomb worlds lost to the Scourge by the Host? And if we managed to wipe out one or two of the Netherworld’s Dynasties while at it, I’d say we would’ve done quite a bit to secure ourselves in the minds of the Divine Planes. Besides, we all need to turn our Sparks into true Divinities. Battle is the best catalyst to speed up that transition.”

Chapter 143 - Crusader Kings

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. Action time! I hope you'll enjoy!

------

”What does this do?” Indra asked while lifting a rosarius. The golden metal chain had a scale with two glowing purple gems on both sides. The titan god was asking in genuine curiosity as he couldn’t for some reason identify the item. Lightning crackled along his powerful arms, not an uncommon sight for titans in general, and especially not this one.

"I'm not sure of the exact nature, but it's filled with the power of life," Gaia commented while peering at an identical object closely. The jewelry looked tiny in the hands of the titans despite them taking a more reasonable size.

“Think for a moment you two. We’re going to be attacking the Netherworld, a plane filled with the foul energies that animate their unnatural kind. The object is obviously designed to protect us from those energies.” Shiva, the third titan god present chided his companions.

“We’re True Gods. Do we really need that kind of protection?” Gaia asked, not really quite seeing the need.

"You might not," Shiva admitted, referring to the abundant life energy of the goddess. “But the rest of us might. True Gods like myself or Indra can also protect ourselves rather easily, but that’s going to be a constant drain of power. And this is likely to counter prolonged exposure, correct?” The glowing god looked towards the rest of the table that was following the three gods arguing. Everyone at the table, which was actually multiple smaller tables pushed together to accommodate everyone, was holding a similar object.

“Correct. I’ve spent the last few weeks making them while our little crusade gathered. With some help of course.” Karna nodded towards Envy and Arjuna, who had both helped. Neither of them was quite as skilled at the job as she was, but the need for help had become obvious as the three gods had shown up with over four hundred war-ready titans. Even then the project would’ve been impossible if Lust, or Temperance as they were still trying to get used to calling her, hadn’t told them that Mount Celestis had long since prepared for such crusades and could provide all the gathered angels their own versions of the same artifact. Their version was weaker, but it would do.

“Slave driver…” Envy muttered with her head in her hands as she was sleeping while leaning against the table due to sheer exhaustion. The trio had been forced into working night and day.

They had gathered the most important members of their crusade at the table to plan things out. The rescue of Tsumi and a chance for some glory had ballooned entirely out of proportion. It seemed there were plenty of factions eager to finally stretch their might and take the fight to the Scourges for a change. It had started with the titans, but certain other parties didn’t want to be outdone. House Draconis had shown up with two elder dragon gods that sat in their human forms at the other end of the table. The two had brought their entire dragonflights with them, making their numbers almost as large as the titans.

Team Valor had also shown up in full, and they had brought their own retinues as well. It wouldn’t do for the young masters of some of the most important families to go into danger without adequate protection. That protection ranged from a handful of immortals to almost twenty strong retinues. Lust, noticing the political opportunity, had jumped at the chance to score some points by striking at a common enemy and had shown up with enough forces to match the rest In numbers at least.

There were several reasons that led to the unexpectedly large showing. The titans had shown up because the old True Gods still remembered the Sacred Lady and could put two and two together. They knew this would turn out big and had shown up out of respect. The dragons were just bored and jumped at any chance to have some fun and were certainly not deterred by Karna owing them a rather sizeable favor. There was also a prevalent feeling within the Divine Planes that things had stagnated too much. For too long the Host had handled almost all the external threats, which left the other warlike races and groups to fight internally and wallow in their frustration. There were many parties eagerly watching the success of this little endeavor, and if they were to meet success, their numbers would likely swell up a dozen times over. After all, it had been a very long time since actual gods marched to war.

“I think we’ve waited long enough. We have enough power to make this happen, and the most likely ones to join us already have.” Khaine stated loudly, bringing everyone’s attention to her.

As the Goddess of War, it was only natural for her to have certain amounts of control over the whole thing. In reality, she mostly allowed Karna and her friends to make most of the decisions, but her nominal leadership granted the whole effort a lot of credibility. Together with Valor and Wisdom, they'd also taken care of most of the logistics and organization. “Before we initiate this attack, we need to address two things, chiefly concerning our goals. While many are not aware of it, this is also a rescue mission. How are we going to find our target? Second point is about the worlds we manage to reclaim. I don’t think any of us has ever had to deal with worlds being reclaimed deep from the Netherworld. I don’t think we’ll have too many issues taking over some worlds but holding them while in the heart of one of the Scourges is another thing entirely.”

She was looking towards Karna as she spoke, making others focus on her as well. Not everyone was completely clear on why they were asking her as she looked to be the youngest member of their group, but enough of the important people knew to prevent anyone from asking. “The second problem is much simpler to deal with, so I’ll address it first. We don’t have to do too much with the reclaimed worlds for the simple reason that the Grand Formation will do it for us. Most everyone knows that the Scourges can take over a world by occupying it, and the world then disappears into the dimension in this case known as the Netherworld. Most don’t know the mechanics though. The Netherworld, as with all the homes of the Scourges is a separate dimension that doesn’t exactly have a physical location. Thus, distances don’t really matter. To make a long story short, this process can be reversed. Once we have reclaimed a world, the formation will find a place for it. The world will then be treated just like the worlds created during the Expansion. Thus, we don’t need to, and shouldn’t, waste forces defending those worlds, as any forces left behind would be sent out of the Netherworld.”

Her explanation caused some whispers among the people gathered, which included many other high-ranking members from the three main groups participating, as well as the members of both Team Valor and Team Omega. “Can we in any way control where they will appear?” Gaia was the first one to ask.

“Well, how much influence can you exert over the formation?” Karna asked with a slightly apologetic smile. “It’s theoretically possible to influence it, but not fully control it.”

“So, we’ll be at the mercy of luck then. If we are unfortunate, the reclaimed world might end up immediately lost again due to ending up on the wrong side of the current lines of battle.” Shiva summarized, mostly just stating a fact instead of judging.

"Well, as to that, and to address the first concern that was posed, luck is much easier to control than the formation." Karna looked over the gathered people. "Most of you aren't aware but I have another True Name aside from the one spread more commonly. That Name is Karma. It allows me to control my namesake to a certain extent, at least when it comes to myself."

That definitely caused a stir. Karma was a very nebulous power that most didn’t understand well, and the idea of someone being able to even affect it, not to mention control it was dreadful to almost everyone. “I’ll be the one to open our path to the Netherworld, while at the same time maximizing the effect of my own positive karma. Here’s the problem. Most people think good karma makes you lucky. In a way it does, but that luck is not necessarily the type you want. It will guide me to what I need, or where I’m needed, not necessarily where I want to go. Those two can be very different things. I can also maximize my positive karma when we reclaim a world, which should at least guarantee that the world won’t wind up in some unfortunate location, even if the location isn’t necessarily advantageous.”

“We’re all dying to know, so I’ll be the one to ask. How much control do you really have over karma?” Indra looked at her intrigued. He had all sorts of possibilities in mind.

“It’s far from absolute, and I’m not going to go into details. It’s one of my secret weapons after all. However, it can be a very useful benefit in the coming battle.” Karna dodged all the other questions that followed. She had been expecting them, but she wasn’t willing to reveal her secrets.

------

As Karna opened the path for them utilizing her draconic powers similar to the time she’d Ascended to the Divine Planes with her allies, their crusade fell on the closest tomb world of the Netherworld like a judgement of god. In actuality, they carried the judgement of several gods, and gods had not marched for war in a long time. The results were predictable. The defenders of the particular world they’d ended up arriving at were woefully unprepared, as they had not expected an attack in the heart of their controlled space. Few had the kind of ability to just punch their way through reality as she did after all. Otherwise, the Scourges wouldn't be attacking at the borders and would be striking at the heart of the Divine Planes instead.

While the others might have been somewhat surprised when they stumbled on the gathering of three Phaerons that had gathered on the world for some negotiations, Karna was not. This was the effect of high karma, positive or negative. Anything you did was going to cause waves. With a single strike, where three Phaerons had lost their lives in seconds, three major dynasties were decapitated, leaving this portion of the Netherworld in complete disarray. These weren’t the most powerful or influential Phaerons as they were simply in charge of these long-established tomb worlds, but they were important in many ways. The immortals that had been protecting the Phaerons were swept aside, as the combined might of some of the most powerful beings on the Divine Planes was dropped on them.

The tomb world was quickly reclaimed, and they watched in fascination as it disappeared when Karna broke a particular magical formation that had kept the world within the distorted dimension of the Netherworld. Their crusade quickly rampaged through several other worlds as the Netherworld was caught completely unprepared. They all recognized that the Scourge had sent their forces towards the frontlines and recalling them to defend their heartlands would take time. Time which they used to their full advantage. They had reclaimed a dozen worlds until they started facing enough resistance that it couldn’t simply be brushed aside, and even then they were barely even slowed down.

The most significant advantage they had was that they had several magical supporting effects that multiplied their strength in different ways. Karna stayed almost the entire time in her Sacred Beast form and all truly dangerous attacks made at them simply disappeared. She didn’t bother making all attacks disappear because she didn’t want to give either their enemies or her allies the opportunity to probe the weird defense and figure out counters. Besides, everyone in their crusade was powerful enough to defend themselves from most attacks. Valor also shined in using the effects of his Name to turn their already powerful force into an unstoppable force of holy vengeance. That allowed the gods among them to focus on attack and their divine powers did horrendous things to their enemies. Karna also used her slowly growing divinity to make sure their enemies would not get back up, negating the main advantage of their enemy. Without lifting a finger personally to take part in the fighting, she was turning the battlefield around with just her presence.

The end result was that the power of their force was multiplied a dozen times over, while their enemies were cut down at the knees even without accounting for their lack of forces in the area. Many tomb worlds were simply places to generate the dread energies that animated the forces of the Netherworld. In a way, their crusade was metaphorically rampaging through the farms of their enemy without the guards being present to resist them. Even when forces were present to defend the worlds, they were easily brushed aside by the sheer difference in the quality of their forces, and the stacking buffs that their side had. No sign of Tsumi though, and that was slowly becoming a concern.

------

“Well, I have to admit. They’ve finally managed to gather a force that we have to take seriously.” Khaine stated as they stepped through another spatial tear to face an organized army arrayed against them. “I was starting to doubt if they had it in them with the last ten worlds being almost undefended.”

The enemy outnumbered them at least a hundred times over, and these forces were not just the usual cannon fodder the Netherworld had an almost inexhaustible supply of. “Well, they had to get smart eventually.” Wisdom replied. “They likely pulled out any defenses from the previous worlds to gather them all here. No point in throwing away more forces in battles they’d lose anyway.”

“Formation gamma!” Valor called out loudly, stepping to the front of their army. His armor was shining bright with the power of his growing divinity. Courage and Leadership suited him well, and he was exhibiting plenty of both during this crusade.

The titans arranged themselves in a roughly V-shaped formation with the trio of gods at the tip, before launching their famous lightning at the gathered enemies. The power of their attack was amplified by the presence of their gods as well as Valor’s effects, and the storm of lightning crashed on the undead. Much of the destructive potential met a powerful protective field that seemed to sap the strength from the attack, but the sheer power of the combined titans pushed through. The titans were their heavy artillery. Their attacks were simple but deadly. They were also a huge target for the enemy to aim at, while their metallic skin could easily deflect most attacks. And their large frames and lightning-wreathed blades could crush enemies underfoot just as easily as they could attack from range.

If the Titans were the artillery, then the angels of Mount Celestis were their infantry and shock troops, as the light and flame-covered blades of the holy beings cleaved through the enemy as their formation, led by both Lust and Valor, crashed into the heart of the enemy formations. House Draconis on the other hand was their air force, either engaging the flying forces of the enemy or bathing the enemy ranks in the deadly energies of their breath weapons. Team Valor and their retinues engaged the elites of the enemy forces, working as a scalpel to remove enemy leadership and destroy the synergy of the Netherworlds forces.

Their strategy was reckless and plunged them into the heart of the enemy, but it also prevented the enemy from using large-scale magic due to their own forces being in the way. They also trusted the effect Karna had on their defenses, which allowed them to be more reckless than they’d be under normal circumstances. She had positioned herself in the middle of the formation of titans for better protection, while Envy and Hope stayed by her side as bodyguards.

“They’re getting smarter.” Envy stated as two wraithlike assassins suddenly appeared behind Karna’s large frame, only to be shot down by Envy’s arrows. “They’re already figured out that you’re the source of the protection and are starting to target you.”

“Time for stage 2?” Hope asked eagerly.

Karna had spent a large part of her first lives on planning revenge, and Netherworld had been one of the targets of said revenge. Thus, she had naturally come up with many ways to achieve that goal. "Not just yet. We have to deal with something else first."

They could all sense a large amount of divine power gathering above them. This wasn't the doing of the True Gods in their crusade though. This was the dark deities behind the Netherworld finally taking action. The Netherworld and the other scourges naturally had their own deities, albeit much fewer in number and lower power due to the nature of how this universe worked. That didn't mean they didn't exist though. The members of this crusade had known this from the start and knew they'd eventually have to deal with that enemy as well. They also had a plan in place.

As the blow of negative energy struck down from the sky, Hope lifted the hammer Karna had lent her. It was a bit awkward to swing around a hammer with huge paws like she currently had. They both channeled their own power through the weapon, specifically to utilize the same effect Karna had used against Kurnous to devour divine power. The attack from the dark gods was consumed, and the gods were not certain if the feat could be repeated. In that case, they were just throwing their power away for no effect. To make the decision for them, Hope swung the hammer towards the enemy army, consuming the power the hammer had just devoured, flattening a good twenty percent of them in a single strike, and cracking the crust of the planet for effect.

“Oops. I didn’t think it would be that powerful.” Hope said apologetically, as now they had a natural disaster to complicate things further.

“Oh, that’s just perfect. I doubt the enemy gods will want to try that again.” Envy cackled happily.

Chapter 144 - Bag of Tricks

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

Despite the sudden show of force, or perhaps because of it, the dark gods of the Netherworld were not willing to give up. Instead of trying to attack the crusade directly though, as that had already shown to be a bad idea, they chose a more supportive approach. A number of portals opened in the skies above the world they were fighting over, each portal spewing reinforcements for the scourge forces that had been thrown into disarray by the earlier display. Unlike stopping the teleportation of mortals, which was relatively simple, one of the benefits of having gods on your side was that it was rather difficult to prevent gods from bringing about various miracles like the portals that crossed the dimension of the Netherworld. Though that was only if those gods were willing to throw enough power at the problem. Gods could do many things mortals or even immortals couldn’t, but it came at a cost.

Large constructs made of metal and stone, covered in magical runes that cause lightning to crackle across their skin, marched at the front. These constructs came in all sorts of shapes, from bipedal humanoid monsters to insect-like constructs with numerous legs. Despite their varied shapes, they were an obvious attempt to counter the titans. These were beings of roughly equal size and strength to the titans, with practical immunity to the element the titans were famous for utilizing.

The giant constructs were not the only reinforcements. Numerous gargoyles, wraiths, spectral and undead dragons, and other flying forces soon followed to engage the dragons in the skies above the world. Any single flier would not be able to match a dragon in the air, but they wanted to replace quality with quantity. The most dangerous addition was saved for last, and it was the least flashy one. A large number of winged humanoid female forms came through the portals. These humanoid forms seemed to mostly consist of the baleful energy that animated most of the Netherworld, except it was much more concentrated in these beings. They wore old, rough-looking armor and were born aloft on ethereal wings of energy, as they moved from one fallen or damaged member of the Netherworld to another, bringing them back to perfect health in seconds, no matter the severity of the damage.

Karna knew from experience that these Val’kyr could even bring back ‘dead’ members of the Netherworld, at least under normal circumstances. Currently, her divinity was dispersing most of the souls as soon as they were released, making this pseudo-resurrection impossible in most cases. However, if any enemies could not be killed in a single strike, and they could retreat back to the Val’kyr, they would soon return to the fight in perfect condition, and killing immortals wasn't easy. While not completely, the female-looking warrior apparitions brought back some of the attrition warfare the Netherworld was so famous for.

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but stage 2?” Hope asked again.

“Hmm, seems a bit premature still. We want them fully committed, and they’re not yet there. Challenging the titans and the dragons in their own specialty also seems unwise. Even if the giant constructs have the power to challenge the titans, for example, they don't have the experience, the training, and institutional knowledge of the titans when it comes to using those powers.” Envy hedged a bit before firing several shots at the closest Val’kyr, quickly showing that they were not too hard to kill if you could catch them by surprise.

“Peace young one. It’s time for us to show that you three aren’t the only ones that can utilize a bag of tricks." The voice of Indra could be heard, just before the god brought out something that had the outward appearance of a golden spear, though only barely. Near the top of the weapon, the shaft split in two and formed a perfect circle before joining up again just before being capped off by the blade. In the center of the open circle floated a gem glowing bright orange.

Without wasting time, the god pointed the spear forward and a beam of glowing energy shot out from the tip. It was like the heat of a star had been condensed into that single beam, as the god swept the beam across the ranks of the enemy, burning everything in its path. Nothing was left wherever the beam passed, and the beam moved with such speed that only the fastest enemies were quick enough to avoid it.

“That’s interesting.” Karna, still in her Sacred Beast form, muttered.

“What is?” Envy asked.

"That's not a Divine Artifact designed for his use. Certainly not part of his Regalia." Karna pointed out.

“Ah! The spear uses the power of the sun. You’d expect an item like that from a sun god, not Indra.” Hope realized as well.

"Would it not be smart to have a weapon that utilizes another element as a backup?" Envy asked, still confused.

"For you and me, yes. We can make those kinds of weapons ourselves. That's a rank 8 Divine Artifact though. Almost as powerful as the hammer Hope is swinging around was when I created it. There aren't too many artifacts like that lying around. Even an old True God like Indra would be hard-pressed to get one as a backup weapon instead of his primary weapon that's part of his official regalia." The Regalia of a God always matched their Divinity, as it was a manifestation of it.

The other two could also read between the lines of what Karna had said. The titans had sent the artifact along for some reason. Another thing they noted was that she had said the hammer had been that strong when it was created, implying it was stronger now. Not something they'd be too shocked about, but it was nice to get a confirmation. It would also explain why the effect earlier had been larger than expected. For some reason, neither of the other two could sense the power of the hammer at all while it wasn't in active use. And even while used, they could only sense the amount of power that was being utilized and not the maximum power of the artifact. Usually, something like this would be difficult to hide.

Not to be outdone, Gaia brought out an ornate wooden stave with vines growing all over it, and positive energy suddenly filled the battlefield completely. This sort of positive energy directly countered the negative energy that was empowering the undead and the constructs, and many of the enemies started burning from the inside or just dying off as the energy animating them was suddenly consumed and countered. “That one is definitely part of her Regalia though.” Hope nodded towards the goddess.

“I wonder why the spear then?” Karna said thoughtfully. It would be odd for the titans to risk an artifact like that without power. It clearly had been the power of the weapon Indra had used instead of his own powers, as Karna could sense the god had very little affinity with either fire or any celestial aspect that could include the power of a sun.

“I’m assuming I should still keep out of this?” A fourth voice suddenly interrupted. The female voice came from a being completely covered by a heavy cloak that masked most of the power of the one wearing the cloak. Still, the only reason the enormous psionic presence wasn’t drawing attention was because the beings of this universe were usually not searching for that type of energy. No one had noticed the being standing close by, and even now the three of them had difficulty pinpointing her exact location. They at least knew what to look for.

"If you don't feel too bored," Karna replied politely. "Nothing's stopping you from tearing a couple of the enemy immortals apart just to pass the time of course.”

"I might just do that." And the figure gestured towards one of the most powerful undead dragons that had been giving some of the House of Dragons a hard time. The skeletal wyrm practically radiating malevolent energy was suddenly just crushed and torn apart by energies that no one saw or could even detect. “I know I’m supposed to mostly be a deterrence, but I didn’t realize just hanging around while others battled would be quite so boring. I must confess, I’m used to being on the frontlines and the center of attention.”

"Just be patient Keeper. Your time to shine will come eventually.” Karna reassured the being. She knew well the Keeper came from a race of warriors and thus found inaction a little frustrating.

Not to be outdone, the two gods from House Draconis used their own powers and artifacts to wreak havoc among the flying enemies, allowing the rest of the dragons to sweep the skies clear once again. The dark gods of the Netherworld were not willing to give up though, and more and more portals kept opening, and now some of the elite forces of the scourge were coming through. Phaerons of great power were leading the charge, and the immortals under their command were powerful and numerous as more and more monstrous creatures and constructs followed after their leaders, as the powerful Dynasties sent their elites into the fire.

“It would seem the Netherworld has upgraded the threat we represent from a nuisance to a real problem." Envy commented. Until now their success could partially be chalked up to the fact that they might have been taking worlds, but they hadn’t been doing irreversible damage, and the Netherworld was a scourge that took a long view on things. They weren’t an existential threat. Or they hadn’t been before this. Now the enemy had decided to crush the problem before it became larger.

"I agree." Indra once again sent his voice to them. "I can recognize some of the Phaerons as those we see on the frontlines of the battle. I believe it's time for the stage 2 you mentioned earlier."

“Yes, I believe we’ve managed to catch a good enough haul.” Envy finally agreed as well.

A wave of power suddenly washed over the battlefield as Karna unleashed her new totem, utilizing it to boost the effect from her second most famous Name, Karma. She also combined her own Divinity to slightly influence the effect to work better against the undead. “Let your sins be judged and weigh you into the ground.” Her voice boomed over the battlefield.

The giant image of her totem appeared above her head and the scales on the totem suddenly swung to one side. The effect was immediate and rapidly spread outwards from her position. The enemy fliers fell from the sky and cratered on the ground as if gravity had been suddenly multiplied for them. The giant constructs started to break under their own weight, and even the Phaerons found it difficult to move freely. In fact, it seemed like the more powerful the enemy, the more they were affected, even if they were better able to resist the effects. Anywhere her glowing eyes turned to, the effect multiplied.

The members of their crusade didn't waste this opportunity and quickly struck at the suddenly immobilized and impaired enemy. The effect wouldn't last too long, but it didn't have to. An immortal could cut down countless impaired enemies in seconds when given the opportunity. The members of the crusade had been told to expect something like this, even if they hadn’t been told the exact details, and they took full advantage. The elite forces that had just been brought in were the first to be cut down, and the dark gods allowed the portals to start closing in disgust. There was no point in sending more of their best to be killed.

“Quite impressive.” The cloaked individual remarked. “Judging by your words and the effect, you somehow turned their sins against them?”

“Almost exactly so.” Karna nodded, now resting while laying on the ground. It took a lot out of her to affect so many enemies and her reserves of Aura suddenly diminished greatly. The skill she’d used was originally designed to be used against a single target, and without the recent evolution her totem had gone through, she wouldn’t have been able to extend the effect over a battlefield. “The forces of the Netherworld all carry heavy negative karma. They’re quite literally animated by negative energy, and while that’s not the same as negative karma, it is similar enough when combined with their actions and intent. They’re out to destroy the living and have been at it for a long time. The stronger the individual, the more mayhem they’ve likely caused. My Name Karma allows me to turn that negative karma against them. Or I could use positive karma to improve my allies, though that assumes my allies actually have positive karma. Unlike the Netherworld, our allies aren’t quite as uniform in their karma.”

Incidentally, this judgement of Karma was also the third way she could destroy a soul. It would require her target to have heavy negative karma, usually not a problem if she was willing to kill them, and she could only do it to a single person at a time, but it would result in the target soul being effectively destroyed completely. She could use less power to achieve the same effect that happened to reincarnators that wanted things to just end, resetting the soul. That's where she'd originally gotten the idea, which she'd then refined over several lifetimes. The judges of the River of Souls could do it to anyone with any karma, but she could go further. A simple trade-off that she was happy to make. She wouldn't want to use the power on someone with mostly positive karma anyway. In a way, she was glad the limitation existed so that she wasn't even tempted.

Any of her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she sensed something. “THERE!” She pointed a paw at one of the closing gates. “KEEP THAT GATE OPEN NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!”

Shiva reacted immediately, appearing next to the portal the dark gods had opened, and wedged his own power into the rapidly closing gap in space, forcefully maintaining it. “Envy! Hope! That’s your cue!” Karna ordered. She would’ve gone herself, but the earlier stunt with her totem had drained her. Envy and Hope hadn’t stayed out of the fight just to protect her. They were also keeping their strength up in case it was needed like this.

The two dashed through the closing portal without question, surprisingly flanked by Lust that followed after the two with a pair of angels, before the gateway collapsed. "You sensed Tsumi?" Arjuna asked while panting for breath as he rushed to her, the rest of their team taking over the protection of Karna now that the two were gone.

"Yes. I could detect her through the portal I pointed out." Karna replied idly while trying to detect the items that Hope and Envy carried. It took a moment, but she could finally feel the direction and distance as the duo arrived at their destination. "The distance isn't exactly far, but it's not close by either. It's going to take our crusade a while to get there."

“Let us have faith that they can locate and rescue Tsumi. I believe they can stay safe if they do manage to save her.” Arjuna was reassuring himself almost as much as Karna. It was now up to those two, and the three angels that had followed, to enact the rescue while the crusade worked as a giant distraction.

Valor landed less than gracefully next to them, his equipment less pristine than before the battle from sheer wear and tear. Of course, as the equipment was made by Karna, it would repair itself before too long. “I’d be more worried about Envy and Lust killing each other.” He scoffed. “I know very little about Lust, aside from the Name, but I do know Envy doesn’t much like her and isn’t above a bit of backstabbing.”

“He’s not wrong.” Karna grimaced, still in her Sacred beast form. As her Aura was expended, the protection she was providing to the rest was also wearing off, though the battle had mostly turned into a mop-up at this point.

“We can always hope that Hope can keep the peace between the two.” Wisdom suggested.

“I wouldn’t rely on that. Hope can be…a little questionable about such things at times. She’s just as likely to just enjoy the spectacle.” Karna provided, being the one that knew Hope the best.

Chapter 145 - Next step

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

Was hit with the nightshift stick again, so may have more errors than usual.

-------

They were all used to the pattern by now. Everyone evacuated the surface of the world and took care of any outstanding issues while Karna took care of sending the planet away from the Netherworld. On occasion, someone wanted to see how it was done and they followed along to watch her work, but most of the time everyone handled logistical issues. Any wounds were taken care of, armor and weapons repaired, hunger and thirst satisfied, and the need for rest was handled. Eventually, they could all get to watch the world they'd just taken over disappear in front of them.

“We’ve got more wounds than usual. People are also exhausted after the battle. A little catnap isn’t going to be enough to return all the expended mana or Qi.” The acting leader of the angels looked like the stereotypical secretary while reading off the list. She might have even dressed up for the part because her dark hair was up in a bun and she was wearing glasses, something few immortals needed to use outside a fashion statement. That or Lust had influenced the choice.

"She has a point," Indra grunted while shifting to a more comfortable position on the hastily erected chair that was standing on hastily conjured stone that held up their tent in the void. The leaders of the crusade usually gathered for a tactical meeting after a large battle, and this wasn’t an exception. “Little Ynnead can protect our forces against attacks that would take lives, keeping our losses near non-existent, but even she can’t stop all attacks or stop just the normal injuries that come from wear and tear.”

“We’ve had less than a dozen full casualties in all. That alone is a miracle.” Gaia said in wonder, half-defending Karna, even if it wasn’t necessary. “Think about all the Netherworld forces we’ve taken out! The worlds we’ve reclaimed!” Most of the casualties had been among the angels as they were the easiest to kill so quickly that no healer could reach them in time. In battles of this level, a single mistake could lead to your death if you didn’t have the fortitude of a dragon or a titan, even for immortals.

“Begging your pardon, I’m not making any judgements, only reporting the situation. So far, we’ve been using blitz tactics, moving with speed to avoid getting bogged down and to reclaim as many worlds as possible. We’ve had limited rest and it worked while the battles were simple and quick. We were able to easily carry on for a time and recover any expended power between battles since the battles were so easy. Now all the stress and injuries are catching up. Our forces are getting tired, and the power reserves are getting low after that battle. The situation isn’t dire yet and we can keep going, if necessary, but it’s only going to get worse and cut into our battle efficiency. Tired people, even tired immortals, make mistakes, which will lead to more losses.” The angel’s voice was neutral. She was explaining herself with detached efficiency.

"On the other hand, we've been presented with an opportunity." Khaine leaned forward and spoke. "We've just wiped out a large chunk of the enemy forces, and I have no doubt most of them were pulled from our surroundings. That means there are now many open and vulnerable worlds that we could take with token effort. We also struck down multiple Phaerons and their elites, which is going to leave the enemy in further disarray. The longer we dither and rest, the more time the enemy will have to reorganize a defense. They managed to mount proper defenses for the first time in this battle, but it will only grow worse from here.”

The flap to the tent they were all using opened and Karna slipped inside. Her work was finished, and the world had now vanished. "We should push forward." She stated simply. "We need to get to Envy, Temperance, and Hope." Khaine had been keeping her abreast of the meeting.

Indra pursed his lips a bit. “I understand your desire to reach your friends as quickly as possible and I certainly wouldn’t suggest we don’t help them, but…”

Karna waved her hand showing that she didn’t mind. “There’s something else for you to consider. I think we’ve accomplished a lot and gotten about as far as we can without stalling. This was the first battle where the Netherworld’s forces were serious, and next time they’ll be more prepared for our tricks.” Her words echoed Khaine’s. “They’ll also have more tricks of their own. From this point on, the resistance we face will only grow, not lessen. I believe that once we meet up with my friends, who aren’t too far from here, we’ve accomplished our original objectives and can simply retreat. Once we’re back in friendly territory, we can rest and resupply in peace. We can also then determine new goals. We could be happy with what we’ve accomplished so far, which is more than the Host has managed in a long, long time. Or we could come back for more, with a more serious intent to cripple the Netherworld. If that is our goal, however, we need to be better prepared and we also need reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements that I’m fairly certain are ready and waiting to join us considering our success so far. Success breeds more success.” Khaine nodded in agreement. “We’ve actually wildly exceeded our original ideas for how this would go. This was originally supposed to be a bit of a raid and a quick rescue, but our continued success and inability to find the person in question turned this into something more.”

“We could also allow the Netherworld to think we’re not coming back and relax their defenses before repeating what we’ve done here.” Gaia pointed out. She was less excited about an all-out war instead of just being happy with small gains. As a goddess representing life, the Netherworld was something of an antithesis to her existence, but she was also a relatively peaceful goddess. She knew the dangers of reaching too far just because you could.

"That's not a bad shout either." Khaine agreed. "Still, those are plans we can decide on once we make a graceful exit. I agree with the idea of making that exit once we rendezvous with your friends. It gives us more tactical options instead of just fighting until we finally run into resistance that we can't overcome. I'm not under any illusion that just the forces we have gathered here are enough to defeat the Netherworld. If that were the case, they would've been defeated a long time ago. Unless…" She looked meaningfully at the heavily cloaked figure standing by the side.

Only a handful of them were aware of who was under the cloak and the power she represented. The figure looked at Karna instead of answering. "I suppose it's time to let that cat out of the bag as well." Karna was not expecting the slight sound of amusement that came from the figure, and it took her a moment to remember the feline members of the crew working for the being. "Anyway, this is Keeper Selendil. She, along with her allies, comes from outside this universe. For the purposes of brevity, I'll just say that she's a rank 14 psion. A very powerful one at that."

“Rank 14?!” One of the two dragon gods present asked in shock. “Why hasn’t she been blazing the way for us so far? Heck, with her, we might actually be able to seriously threaten the Netherworld.”

“Because she’s been functioning as a deterrent so far," Karna explained. "She's not the only rank 14 being out there. We have more than one among the True Gods and the imperial guard as well. Do you all think that in all this time the Netherworld has not been able to produce one as well? The type of attack we've made is exactly the type of threat that a being like that could be used to deal with. She’s here to prevent that. It has also been to our advantage that both she and her counterparts have stayed out of this fight, as it would be inevitable for some of us to be caught in the crossfire. And our forces are less expendable than theirs.”

“Then why did they not send their Rank 14, or multiple if they have more than one, to deal with us during that last attack? They knew there was a risk that she would engage.” Gaia questioned. As a relatively old True God, she wasn’t a stranger to the presence of rank 14 beings, even if such beings were rare.

“Because they don’t know how strong I am exactly.” Selendil’s voice came from below the hood, which she finally lowered, revealing her decidedly alien, yet somehow charming face. “For all they know, I would’ve been able to defeat anyone they sent, and then I would be free to act with impunity. As long as neither side is entirely sure how strong the other side is, neither side can fully commit to such a fight. That’s why Karna has been stopping me from fighting as well. We don’t know the extent of their power either. And so far, we haven’t pushed them into such a corner that they would be forced to act regardless.”

“There’s also another factor. As we just saw in the previous fight, we have certain tricks we can pull, and they knew that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t dare to be here in the first place. Until they can determine the extent of our bag of tricks, any rank 14 they sent against us would’ve potentially been subject to those tricks as well. Always remember this. Just because someone is stronger than you, that doesn’t mean they can’t be defeated.” Karna made sure to try and make sure she wasn’t using a lecturing tone. These were all powerful beings that might take offense at being lectured, especially since these were things they would’ve figured out on their own given a bit of time.

“Now, let’s push on until we rendezvous with our missing members.” Khaine declared.

--------

Envy cursed quietly as she pulled one of the angels behind a support column. The patrols from the Netherworld were more frequent than she’d expected and the angels weren’t exactly subtle with their glowing halos and bright clothing. Wrath’s friend Tsumi also wasn’t as good at stealth as she’d hoped. Sure, the woman had managed to stay hidden for years in a hostile environment, so she wasn’t all that bad, but in front of true experts? She was a child.

Locating Tsumi had actually been simpler than Envy had expected. Once Wrath had gotten a sense of the right direction, Envy had easily found her within the deepest catacombs of this Tomb World. Her senses weren't as far-reaching as Wrath's, but when it came to shorter range, no one could defeat her. She was a hunter, and mere parlor tricks were far from enough to hide from her senses. Besides, one of the advantages of being born into the beast tribes was her heightened senses.

Anyone remotely competent could turn invisible and remove tracks, as they were all of course doing right now. That was the first step. Anyone who wasn't an idiot could also dampen sounds, which was also where the problems started. Most people just eliminated sound around them, not realizing that doing so would create a void of sound that sucked in all sound around it. It messed up the echoes of a room in a way that anyone attuned to it would immediately notice. People, and things, also gave off a certain amount of ambient magic, and competent people knew to eliminate this magical radiation, though eliminating it completely created the same problem as with sound. People who hadn’t spent time in universes with heat detection rarely realized they gave off body heat, and that body heat could throw off the heat balance of a room in many ways, even if simple heat detection was prevented. And that wasn't even getting into detecting souls or some of the more esoteric detection methods, like detecting life force.

There was a reason it had been Envy protecting Wrath’s back from all the ethereal and silent assassins. And the reason wasn’t just because she’d wanted the job.

The angels were complete idiots when it came to stealth. They were practically shouting their presence from the rooftops with their lack of any proper stealth skills, though part of that problem was racial. Few angels would ever be good at stealth. It was hard to be good at hiding when you passively radiated light and cleansing power to your surroundings. Lust was barely better, as she had always aimed to be the focus of attention, not hide from it. In that sense, Lust was worse than Wrath, bless her. Wrath at least tried sometimes, even if she mostly failed. Neither of those two had the correct personality to stay in the shadows.

Hope had more skill. The Virtue could use her illusions to cover for any lack of skill in other areas, especially since Envy had given her a few tips. Hope was also the only reason they hadn’t been detected so far. In comparison, Tsumi was quite skilled at stealth, though that was only because they were stuck with a group of bumbling incompetent idiots. One of the angels had almost caused an alarm with their bumbling, and it had only been thanks to Envy's quick action that the danger had been avoided. Still, that patrol would be missed sooner or later, and Hope's illusions couldn't cover that problem for too long.

They also had a reason to be worried. They could easily deal with some patrols. Envy had to grudgingly admit that Lust alone could deal with almost everything that the Netherworld could throw at them. The issue was, Tsumi hadn't been the only thing Envy had detected when they'd arrived. There was also something else hidden on this world. Wrath had been right to be worried about the Netherworld having a rank 14 being. Envy was pretty sure one was on this world. If the crusade attacked this place, that being would be roused from its slumber. She wasn't confident enough that the being wouldn't be alerted if their presence was detected.

Tsumi alone had not warranted its attention. There was no way a rank 14 being wouldn’t have been able to detect her presence with her lacking stealth skills. Just that she wasn’t worth the effort alone. A small squad like theirs might not be either, but Envy didn’t want to risk it. The being seemed to be in almost stasis-like state from what little she had been able to sense. Which begged the question. If the Netherworld had one such being in stasis, how many more could there be? And for what reason?

They slowly made their way through the narrow and eerily illuminated corridors, avoiding patrols. They had to stop on occasion to allow a larger group pass, or to allow Tsumi to recover. The woman wasn't looking too good. She clearly had talent, as she'd managed to stave off the effects of the Netherworld so long, eerily similar to the way Wrath had an item for the purpose, but the sheer amount of time she'd spent here was taking its toll.

Tsumi's cheeks looked sunken, and she had obviously not been eating enough. Much of her life force was drained, and she looked like a wilting flower. She was also constantly coughing, something they also had to hide via magical means, and Envy was pretty sure she wouldn’t have survived more than a month or two at the current pace. She’d handed her protective amulet to the woman to stave off further deterioration, and she could already tell that the Netherworld was starting to affect her negatively. They had to get out and soon.

Chapter 146 - Exfiltration

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

”Sometimes Wrath can be a little too efficient.” Envy cursed.

She had managed to guide her little group out from the bowels of the Tomb World without raising an alarm, and they were in orbit ready to leave when very familiar portals began to open right in front of them, with very familiar forces starting to stream through. "No! Don't come here! Get back!" Hope shouted and waved at the incoming members of the crusade.

Their forces had almost perfected their tactics for quick assault, but they were also smart and flexible enough to react to sudden changes. They could also all recognize Hope, and perhaps more importantly Lust. Everyone that had already come through turned around and made a hasty exit. The turn wasn’t quite fast enough though, as a wave of green energy reached them in the blink of an eye. Wrath grit her teeth and took the hit in her Sacred Beast form, stopping the attack from affecting anyone else, but Envy could tell with a single glance that stopping the hit had taken a lot out of her. Even if the attack wasn’t one of those that truly worked against the weird protection Wrath used, an attack from a rank 14 was always dangerous.

An enormous halo suddenly surrounded them all and the next two attacks crashed against a field of psionic energy that was projected out from the halo. With a wave of her hand, Selendil sent some kind of a counterstrike back towards the Tomb World. Envy didn’t have time to look behind her to see what the effect of the attack had been, but by the sounds of it, the Tomb World wasn’t going to survive the attack. As soon as everyone was through the portal, back inside the empty space between the worlds, the portal closed behind them.

“Are we being followed?!” Envy asked with a fierce tone, while at the same time wondering if she could’ve somehow trapped Lust on the other side of the portal before it closed.

Wrath coughed and gagged in her beastly form, with a fair bit of blood coming out with each cough. At least Envy hoped it was blood. "Not that I can detect." She managed to groan.

"Are you going to be able to handle a hasty exit from the Netherworld? We need to go. Now." Envy wanted to ask how Wrath was feeling and help her recover but now was not the time.

"Barely. Even in this form, taking an attack from a rank 14 is…not great. Fortunately, it was just a hasty, almost reflexive attack, and Selendil here stopped the others. I need a minute though." Wrath was still hacking and wheezing, although less than moments before.

“She’s right.” Selendil nodded towards Karna. “That was not a rank 14 to be taken lightly. I suppose no being that has reached the rank is, but this one seemed especially dangerous. Each of the attacks I stopped had a heavy time and decay element. Which likely explains why you’re having trouble recovering. I might be able to take the enemy, but there would be collateral damage. I wouldn’t be able to protect everyone while going for the kill.”

"What happened?" Indra questioned. They'd always suspected the Netherworld of having at least one or two rank 14 beings, but this was the first time in eons since one was sighted. Even now they didn't actually see much, as the attack had come from inside the Tomb World.

"We found Tsumi." Envy pushed the ragged-looking woman forward. "I gave her my protective amulet by the way. Anyway, the world was very heavy in negative energy, likely because of the presence of the Rank 14, or the being was there because of the energy. Anyway, the being was slumbering inside the Tomb World. We had to take our time because we didn't want to accidentally alert the being to our presence. We were just about to sneak away, but then you stumbled in. Wrath, we need to go now. I think staying here would be a bad idea. This place is important to them. They won't take an attack on this place lightly."

“Alright. I should be able to handle it now. Prepare for a hasty exit!” Wrath called out, transforming into her draconic form, and opening the path with her dragon’s breath. As she’d assumed such an enormous form, not holding back in the slightest, most of the crusade could actually get on her back.

Everyone was slightly shocked when they appeared in front of the fortress world Wrath and her team had helped defend not too long ago. The actual fortress world and not the alternate route they’d personally defended. The fortress world itself was more like a floating island filled with defenses than an actual world. Below them, forces of the Netherworld were making a light assault on the fortifications, mostly just to keep the defenders busy.

The members of the crusade had several questions concerning the chosen place but decided to save them for later. Instead, they fell on the enemies below with the same fury they'd shown before, quickly dispersing the almost perfunctory attack. As soon as the battle stopped, many people in golden armor approached them from inside the fortress. "Halt! Identify yourself and explain your presence!" The leading general-looking immortal asked authoritatively.

Indra stepped forward along with the other gods to introduce themselves. “My apologies Your Divines. I must ask why you’re here. Last we heard, you were leading a strike force to attack the Netherworld. We’ve gotten word of worlds returning to us, heavily polluted by the negative energy of the Netherworld, but liberated nonetheless.” The general was now more polite, and the guards seemed less ready to attack them, but they hadn't relaxed completely either. They were still watching for any sign of betrayal. Something that Envy approved wholeheartedly.

The gods looked towards Wrath, who had turned into her normal form clad in the armor of the Host. “I chose this place because I knew it was well-defended. While I can open the path, I can’t be sure the gods of the Netherworld won’t force it to stay open behind us. I wasn’t going to offer their forces a direct path to the heart of the Divine Planes. I also wasn’t going to lead one of their rank 14 beings there either.”

“You ran into an enemy of that rank?” The general asked, suddenly alert again.

"Barely," Indra admitted. "We retreated as soon as we realized what we were dealing with. We might have been able to fight it with the forces we had, but the losses would’ve been unacceptable. Especially since we’ve had so few until now.”

“A wise choice.” The general nodded. “Still, it’s admirable that you survived at all. I’m quite sure the command would like a detailed report on the whole affair. If the Divines are willing of course.” The looks he was giving the rest of them made it clear that if the gods were not willing, then the Host would extract the information from the rest of them. Heck, they’d do it anyway just to be thorough.

Indra glanced at the other gods, who all gave small nods. This would be a good opportunity to make sure the news about the whole affair was spread the right way. “We’d be happy to assist the Host.” He stated confidently.

“She needs rest and a chance to recover.” Envy pointed at Wrath. “She tanked an attack from the enemy we mentioned, and had to open a path for us while wounded.”

“Of course.” The general nodded while giving Wrath an evaluating glance. “Any others in need of medical attention?”

“Mostly just superficial wounds. We mostly need rest and some time to recover, as we’ve fought multiple battles in a short period of time. As the defender of this fort, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” Khaine answered diplomatically.

“Would you like us to provide lodgings and healers, or do you have something else in mind.” The general asked.

“It might be better if we pull to the nearest inhabited world to rest. You don’t have to worry about a large armed force in your midst, and we don’t have to deal with any attacks interrupting our rest. Your investigators can easily reach us there.” Khaine responded and with the general’s agreement started organizing their motley crusade’s retreat.

“How are you feeling, really?” Envy whispered Wrath. The armor was hiding most of it, but she could tell from the way Wrath was standing that everything was not alright.

“Not too hot to be frank. The damage inside me is still ongoing, and it's unfortunately self-sustaining. I'm having to spend my aura to recover and regenerate while using my mana to counter and chip away at the attack. The decay aspect of the attack is quite effective at countering any regeneration though. I could use a proficient healer of the clerical variety. Otherwise, I'll be indisposed for a while." As she spoke, Wrath's legs wobbled a bit, showing she was barely managing to stay standing.

“Anything I can do to help?” Selendil asked worriedly.

“I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think it’s that kind of problem. Power will not solve this, and while Keepers are mighty, healing magic isn’t your forte.” You could hear the slight smile in Wrath’s voice despite the helmet covering her head.

-------

It had taken three days of active healing from several clerics to finally get rid of the final effects of the attack. Part of that was because the clerics couldn’t understand how her defenses worked, which meant they didn’t really understand how she was being affected. Still, the miracle of holy magic was that understanding was not required. It only made things easier. Enough holy power combined with her own efforts had her back in a fairly normal state. And on the positive side, she didn’t need to deal with the Host’s investigations while convalescing.

She had no illusions about her chances when it came to taking more than one of such attacks at her current strength though. Which was why she’d only tanked the first shot, trusting in Selendil to handle the others. No matter how powerful she was for her rank, and no matter how sophisticated and powerful her techniques were, raw power was still something that could trump all her efforts. The existences known generally as ‘rank 14’ beings were a very varied bunch, and their powers and abilities could fluctuate wildly. One thing was certain though, which was that they were all extremely powerful. You couldn’t become rank 14 without having sublime power and skill. Yet, someone like Selendil might be able to deal with several others of the same rank depending on how their powers mixed together. More than anything, beings of that rank tended to be very specialized existences in that they were energy beings quite literally made of the power that had brought them to the rank. A rank 14 psion, made of psionic energy, carried all the strengths and disadvantages of that path of power, only magnified. And some things worked better against others.

Still, the whole thing had not been without its benefits. Some of that power rampaging inside her had been assimilated by her. The old adage about something that didn’t kill you making you stronger applied in this case. Aside from that, her spark of Divinity was about to bloom into a fully-fledged godhood. She just needed a bit of time to process and meditate. And she wasn’t the only one. She could already sense new divinities being born in the rather modest lodgings they were borrowing from a smallish sect of cultivators near the border. Her friends and allies weren’t the only ones either. Many of the people that had come along on the crusade had either earned a spark or had cultivated their earlier spark towards a full divinity. Combat truly was the best way to entice your divinity to manifest. Even if your divinity was of the more peaceful sort, like farming, just the sheer danger to your life was a great catalyst.

Divinities came in three rough levels. First you got the spark, which boosted your abilities somewhat. Then the spark developed into a full divinity, and you became a god. Godhood granted various benefits, though you also got some limitations from your divinity. The more you were in sync with your divinity, the more power you gained. Thirdly, you could become a True God, which made you a god of something. A God of Harvest, or God of Shenanigans, or any of the myriad of concepts. True Gods had worshippers and a religion dedicated to them, and they were the ones who could truly enact the real miracles.

She could sense that both Hope and Wisdom had already gotten their spark to bloom, while Envy and Valor were close. Valor had likely been too busy with the investigations and de-briefing as one of the leaders, although Wisdom had somehow managed, while Envy seemed embarrassed by her divinity for some reason. She'd likely wait until Karna was done with her process before finally revealing what she was so embarrassed about.

She climbed out from the enormous pile of pillows she’d been resting in, and waved at Gem, who had been keeping guard. “Anything I need to be aware of?”

"The investigation team wanted to talk to you about the methods you used to reach so deep inside the Netherworld, as well as the techniques used to keep the crusade safe. Envy shooed them away on the grounds of letting you recover, and Indra managed to convince them that those are your secret techniques anyway. Rather nice of him. To summarize the rest, your whole team is about to get promoted, while heaps of glory etcetera and the Grand Marshal wants to speak with you when you have time. This isn’t one of those ‘at your earliest convenience, meaning right now’ type of things. It truly seemed this matter could wait a bit.” Gem explained while yawning lazily. She’d assumed a form that looked almost just like Karna.

“Did they mention what this is about?” Karna asked with a small frown.

A third voice joined the discussion and Khaine entered the room. “Two things. First one is that the Host is considering using your ability to reach just about anywhere to strike at the heart of one of the Scourges. Likely the Netherworld as they’re already wounded, though they might pick another one since the Netherworld is somewhat expecting it now. Our little crusade also inspired a lot of people about striking real blows against our enemies. We’ve had the potential before, but not the will. Now the will is there to actually do something about the Scourges. Inspiration is a heck of a thing.” The Goddess of War shook her head ruefully. This was all to her benefit of course.

“And the second thing?” Karna reminded.

“Ah, right. It’s about your father. You’ll recall I mentioned that he withdrew from the public eye after sacrificing a portion of his essence to create this vessel for you. He has finally recovered enough to make a return without everyone pouncing on his weakness. As such, I informed the Grand Marshall and the House Titannica of his identity. They’ll likely want to discuss things pertaining to that with you.” The goddess looked unbearably smug, which caused Karna to frown.

“Why would they seek me out for that?” Karna asked a little confused. She could see them approaching Khaine and this mysterious father figure, but why her?

Khaine cackled. “Because it messes up the internal power balance of House Titannica. The House is being led in important matters by a council of the most powerful members, but there is an official leader. This is where things get complicated. The leadership of the House is hereditary, but the previous leader didn't have any children on account of him being too busy being one of the five most powerful True Gods keeping the universe running. In fact, most people have forgotten he's even part of the House since he's so rarely seen. The current leader, which is Shiva, by the way, is also childless as his only son passed away, so Kronus was slated to become the next leader, partially because he has several children who have shown enough promise to inherit the mantle. Now, what do you think would happen to that whole cycle of inheritance if the previous leader is suddenly shown to have a child capable of inheriting?"

Karna facepalmed in frustration. “You planned this, obviously.”

Khaine didn’t bother denying it. “Always take any advantage you can get. Wins most wars.”

“And who is this previous leader, that’s now supposed to be my father?”

“Surya, the God of the Sun.” Khaine finally revealed, though she hadn’t expected Karna to burst into laughter. “What? What am I missing?”

“It’s just…” Karna barely managed to get her laughter under control. “I really should’ve expected this, with my name being Karna.” It seemed they were in a twisted version of the old epic.

Chapter 147 - Enter Harpy

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

It's always interesting and a bit challenging to write about political machinations, mostly because I don't have the head for them, so I apoligize if they seem a bit simple. On another note, some people might be familiar with the concept of a Harpy from Vampire the masquerade. I thought it was too fun as a concept to not bring in at some point.

Oh, right, and we moved the clocks again where I live, so the timing of the release might have shifted for some now that we're doing winter time again.

---------

The Grand Marshall looked down on the courtyard through a large and ornate window, getting a good look at his guest. That same guest had noticed him as well, though only showed it with a quick glance up towards him. He was a dozen floors above the ground floor, but for someone like her, even a glance would be enough to gather the necessary information. The same held true for him, and his job dictated that he be good at making quick evaluations, but he liked to get a good look at someone to truly get their measure.

He'd seen Princess Ynnead, or Wrath as she had named herself, before, but the girl had changed quite a bit since then. She was still gorgeous even by divine standards which was saying something, and the blood of her mother was strong in her. She had also always carried herself with grace, confidence, and a silent sense of danger and authority, but now it was more obvious to see where it came from. She had more than proven her power and mettle since the Grand Assembly began, yet that wasn’t the obvious change. No, the obvious change came from the fact that she was now a god, and from what he could sense, a rather powerful one. Her Divinity suited her well and was a powerful one.

She’d not been a full god before he’d invited her. His invitation had been made with the idea that she didn’t have to attend immediately since he’d heard she was still convalescing, but she'd really taken her time. Few people dared to keep him waiting for weeks. It seemed however, that the time had been spent well. For all intents and purposes, they were meeting on a much more equal footing now. He also wasn't a True God, as he'd instead chosen to lead the Host. Strictly speaking, he was her superior in the Host, but her recently revealed parentage placed her above him in House Titannica, where once she'd had almost no foothold in, and she was the 'woman of the hour' so to speak. In some respects, you could even argue that he was coming to this meeting from an inferior position since he wanted to make requests of her.

Despite the distance that needed to be traveled, she arrived at his door almost immediately after entering his castle in the clouds. Despite not being a True God, he was strong enough as a god that he too had a divine realm he controlled, and travel inside took as long as he wanted it to take. And he certainly didn't want to start the meeting on the wrong foot by forcing her to trek through countless hallways. He was curious though. Despite ostensibly being a rather powerful god, the girl had reached her godhood very recently. Did she have a divine realm yet? And if she did, what kind?

The door opened by itself to allow his visitor inside. This meeting was private, and not even his servants were within the castle at the moment. The servants weren’t really necessary anyway, since anything they did, he could just will to happen. Seemingly not surprised in the least by her swift arrival, the girl stepped inside and took a quick look around his relatively spartan office. While the castle itself was made entirely of magical stone, most of the rooms had hardwood floors, and the walls were covered in warm tapestries and drapes to soften the milieu. The walls were lined with bookcases filled with information and reports that he might need on a moment’s notice, mostly pertaining to the operation of the Host, while all the interesting and more fun reading could be found in his private library.

The girl had chosen to not wear the armor of the Host, a very slight power play showing that he couldn’t just command her as her superior officer. Instead, he saw her wearing an elegant but relatively simple dress seemingly woven of hopes and wishes. It was one of those almost living creations that everyone saw differently. Those looking upon it saw what they wanted, within the limits that she had set. Those that wanted to see her naked would likely see the dress as immodest as she was willing to go, while those that wanted to see something elegant and more modest would see that instead. Such ensembles were rare but not too much so in the Divine Planes, while still requiring a tremendous amount of skill from the creator.

Her only concession to more military matters was a sheathed sword at her hip. He couldn’t sense anything of the weapon, but he’d read enough reports to know not to trust that feeling. She had a way of hiding her artifacts. It made him curious, but not enough to ask. They all had their secrets.

Another change was immediately obvious when they were face to face. All gods were larger than non-gods. Everything about them was larger in proportion, but the end result was that they were on average at least a meter taller and glowed the golden light of their divinity. They could hide the change of course, but she'd chosen not to. This close he could also tell that his earlier estimation of her strength had likely been an underestimation. Most divinities made their holder stronger, but the ways in which that happened varied, as did the exact amount. Now that she was closer, if she hadn’t gotten at least a blanket 50% increase in pretty much all relevant ways, then he’d eat his shoes. Likely the effect was more, especially in the areas it focused on.

“Grand Marshall.” She broke the brief silence, a small concession of position as the weaker party usually spoke first. In this case, it could also be simply considered politeness and not an admission of inferior position.

“I’m tempted to call you Princess Ynnead simply because I’m a member of the Host and thus beholden to abide by the emperor’s decree. Still, it’s only fair I ask what you prefer yourself?” He returned her politeness with his own and gestured for her to take a seat on the other side of her office desk.

“I’ve fought against it, but that is how most refer to me as due to the decree you mentioned. So, I decided to embrace the moniker instead. Some refer to me as Wrath, as that is my Name, but officially Ynnead is fine. The previous holder of the name was the God of Death, and it still carries some meaning.” She gracefully sat down on the soft chair that he’d offered, crossing her legs and re-arranging her dress in that way women sometimes did, teasing a little without actually showing anything important except a nice view of a very fine leg.

“So, a Divinity of Death then?” He asked, taking his own seat behind the desk.

“Not exactly. Souls and Karma. It would seem I’m heavily leaning towards being a sort of judge of souls, taking their measure before sending them on to whatever awaits.” It seemed the idea amused her for some reason he couldn’t quite figure out, but some things he didn’t need to know.

“Powerful. And it seems to suit you from what I can sense. The domain is somewhat contested though, in case you want to take a position as a True God. There’s no direct equivalent that combines the ideas you’ve mentioned, but we do have a God of Death that collects the souls of the dead, as well as several gods in charge of the afterlife. They might not take it well if you suddenly claim to have judgement over who gets in. In some ways, it even conflicts with your mother's divinity as she gathers brave warriors into…well, I've never actually visited her realm." He advised.

“I’m not certain I should be competing for believers at this point, as the fight for the throne is ongoing, but as we both know, I may not have much choice in the matter.” She said, surprising him a little. He hadn’t expected her to be aware.

The universe itself handled the appointment of True Gods. When a god took over the domain of another god by whatever means, the major temples all over the universe were informed, and the statues and shrines changed to reflect the new god or goddess. The same happened when a god claimed a new domain. New statues and shrines would simply appear in the major temples, and from there the news would trickle to the other temples which would either choose to take up worshipping the new god and then create shrines, statues, holy symbols, and the like to match. Poorer temples were more likely to just stick to the major gods, while temples that leaned towards certain types of gods would be more likely to pick up any new gods in their field. Once a god gained followers, they would then start to perform the function they served among their faithful, and in turn gained the power of faith. They could grant blessings and share some of their power with the faithful as well.

How a god became a True God was more complicated. If no one occupied an obvious concept, the universe picked someone with an applicable divinity. A god with an applicable divinity could also try to claim a concept if there was no competition. Sometimes, like in the case of the Sacred Lady, the faithful kept worshipping a dead goddess and claiming the mantle became too difficult. If there was competition for a concept, then the competitors would keep competing until one of them gained a clear enough advantage that the other competitors either gave in or the universe itself picked the winner.

"That does bring us to the reason why I invited you here. Or at least one of the reasons. Your position as the new heir to the leadership of House Titannica has complicated matters. Not necessarily in a bad way, but complicated nonetheless. I need to know if you have any intention of vying for the position. As you said, you might not have time for such things, but Kronus will fight for the position no matter what. He has to. There's going to be some division in the House, and I'm not sure we can afford it. So, while I'll try to avoid rushing you, I encourage you to decide quickly." He leaned forward to emphasize his words and leaned on his powerful arms which were crossed in front of his mouth to hide his expression.

She didn't seem too fazed, not reacting to his words visibly. "What's your opinion on the matter? I'm confident you have a strong opinion, as you were the first to approach me. You want me to go a certain way, and I'd like to hear your reasoning." She was smart too. Good. He’d known that beforehand, but it was always nice to get more confirmation.

"On one hand, it's going to be difficult for a half-blood to lead the House, but on the other, you somehow have the most potent blood of Titans I've seen in a long time. That's going to assuage many naysayers. You're young, but you're already rapidly raking in achievements and more importantly, you're quickly growing in power and influence. Your recent achievements have earned you many allies in your little crusade and even more outside of it. Your loyalty to the House has already been questioned, but if you were leading it, that would somewhat solve the problem. We're already trusting you by supporting you on the throne, so I believe that ship has sailed." He slowly worked through his thoughts.

"You might not know this, but Kronus was the most vocal opponent of supporting both you and your mother. He has his reasons. Some of them are good ones. This whole thing is a risk. He is a voice of the status quo and taking this safely. If you don't compete for the position, his voice will be strengthened, and you might find that the House will no longer be supporting you except in name only. Granted, we haven’t yet been the best of supports anyway aside from the attack you led. In the end, it comes down to this. Which of the two of you I think is more suitable? If I’ve learned anything as an officer, it’s that those that take initiative and risk win. Stagnation and standing still is death when everyone around you is working towards a goal and are improving their odds. And truth be told, I don’t like Kronus very much. I don’t dislike him enough to allow that to sway my choice, but yes, I want you to fight for the position. And I’m prepared to support you. If you make the bid quickly enough.” He worked his way to his decision.

"And I believe you made a good case as to why I should do just that. Assuming my father doesn't immediately disinherit me when we meet of course." She smiled at her own joke a bit.

“Well, if that should happen then this discussion becomes moot of course.” He allowed a smile on his own face as well. “As to the specifics, I think we should start with the other reason why I called for you. Your recent…” His words were interrupted by a knock at the door, causing him to frown. He had left instructions not to be disturbed. It had to be important for his servants to ignore those instructions. “Enter.”

A titan servant stepped through the door and gave a deep and apologetic bow. “I’m so sorry master, but the Seneschal is here to meet with your guest.”

“The Harpy is here?” The girl used the more commonly used and less official term for the Seneschal.

The Harpy was a complicated position on the Divine Planes. The Harpy wasn't appointed. They became holders of the title through their activities and their charisma. They were opinion leaders and trend-setters, to whom many from True Gods to mortals looked for when it came to matters of taste, style, politics, gossip, or favors. The Harpy’s words and actions influenced attitudes and they could be supporters of the current status quo, or they could be forces of change. The Harpy was always on the cutting edge of the popular forces of the Divine Planes. They could tell, in exact detail, which way the winds were blowing, and which way you should lean to benefit the most. They usually weren’t leaders in name, but they could move the masses with their word and example.

There was also another reason and qualification to become the Harpy that caused them to be both feared and trusted. They were the official recordkeeper when it came to debts owed, feuds and blood debts owed, and alliances made, and they were usually aware of most of the dirty little secrets hidden, crimes committed, and plots hatched. They didn't share the information without reason. Their ability to gather such intelligence was vital for their position and ability to retain their position. They were always charming, and adept at social manipulation, and pissing them off was generally a bad idea.

The Harpy was obviously flexing and showing their intelligence-gathering skills just by showing up to this place, looking for Ynnead at this time. It was safe to presume he’d also know why she was here. He turned towards the servant. “Lead them in.” She gestured apologetically towards Ynnead. “We’ll need to discuss the rest of it at a later time.” The girl nodded gracefully in agreement.

The servant returned a few moments later, leading in a man that he was quite familiar with, though tended to avoid when possible. Politics and the Host didn’t mix well, and unlike the Harpy who jumped into the mire of politics and social cliques, he tried to stay away from anything that might implicate him in any sort of a scandal. The two of them were not on unfriendly terms though. The Harpy knew his position and could appreciate it, while he knew the Harpy served an important purpose in the often-byzantine divine politics.

The man looked to be somewhere between him and Ynnead in age appearance-wise, though such appearances could be very deceiving. He had medium-length wavy dark-brown hair that was combed back and impeccably groomed, just like his thin moustache and beard. He was wearing a black suit that seemed like someone had ripped out a piece of the night sky and formed it into clothing. The suit itself was not too extravagant aside from the materials, which were just as hard to work with as those in Ynnead's dress, though his lapels and buttons were intricately carved, just like the thin cane he was carrying as an accessory. No doubt all the latest fashion.

“Grand Marshal. Your Highness.” The man greeted first, giving a polite nod.

Neither he nor Ynnead got up to greet him, a slight social snub showing their displeasure at being interrupted. “Seneschal.” He nodded.

Ynnead inclined her head in greeting as well before speaking, her words forcing him to hide his smile. “I am curious what brings the Harpy here, now of all times.”

The Harpy smiled as well, clearly not finding the use of the less-official term offensive. “I’m here to meet you actually. You’re a hard woman to reach sometimes, and there have been countless matters that have been brought to my attention that necessitated this meeting. For instance, were you aware that quite literally every House, major or minor, has approached me since they can’t approach you, in order to arrange a marriage between you and their House?”

"I was not aware they had approached you, but I'm not surprised by the offers." She replied neutrally.

"Yes, I would imagine so. I'm not expecting you to accept any of them of course, but I do have to pass the offers on to you, or I wouldn't be doing my duty as the Harpy. And the topic of both your potential, or eventual, romantic interest has become a big deal in the social circles, which you have not spent enough time with. As the Harpy, it is my duty to be on top of such movements, and a hundred other topics, meaning we really need to talk." The Harpy stated, and he seemed rather genuine. Of course, he always did, even when slipping a dagger into your back, as such was his charm.

Chapter 148 - Machinations

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

------

The Harpy handed her an ornate scroll case no doubt filled to the brim with spatial expansion magic to house all the marriage proposals. “With that, I’ve fulfilled the primary duty I was given.” The Harpy said with a playful smile. “Now we can move on to more interesting matters. Although…”

She gave a small mental sigh, not outwardly showing anything of course. “Out with it.”

“Well, it is part of my position to keep up on many things, one of them being whatever interests the public. I’ve already gathered from the few moments we’ve been together that you’re not interested in those.” He gestured towards the scroll case. “I would never judge you for that decision, I frankly don’t mind either way, but I am curious as to the reason for your reluctance. You are, to say the least, in a very interesting political situation, and a strong alliance created by marriage would solve many of your problems quite neatly. If, say you already had someone in mind, that would be a good reason I could give everyone and the proposals would slow down.”

"You don't think that I'm just old-fashioned and think marriage should be for love?" She asked while allowing a faint smile on her face.

“That’s a reason I would happily accept as well, but I do not for a moment think that’s the reason in your case. You’re too intelligent for that.” He seemed to consider for a moment before elaborating. “Relationships based on passion and love are common enough in the Divine Planes, but marriages of that type are less common, and most immortals get over the love-phase after a few mortal lifetimes. Add to that the fact that most arranged marriages don’t mind a passionate fling or two on the side, making political and arranged marriages less of a burden. Even passionate lovebirds get bored of each other after a few thousand years. They want to spice things up, things get out of hand, and the fallout tends to be spectacular. When you take the long view as an immortal, you know you will take on more than one partner over your ridiculously long life. That tends to make people more tolerant of political marriages since they know they only need to tolerate it long enough that the alliance has stabilized or served its purpose. Now, you are young enough to still have more romantic notions, but we both know you're mentally much older than many would assume." The Harpy had gone as far as he could in calling her out as a reincarnator, in the process all but admitting he was one as well.

He wasn't entirely wrong either. Karna had long since noted the same tendencies he spoke of. No matter how much two people loved each other, eventually that love tapered out, and they grew bored. As he’d said, that usually ended in two possible ways. Either the couple separated or tried to spice things up to keep things fresh, and usually that went sour eventually as well. The tendency held especially true for reincarnators that had seen and tried everything already, and who had ever-growing problems when it came to forming connections. It was once again one of the reasons she usually frequented shorter lives. It was easy to have a 'romance of a lifetime' when that life was a brief one. Immortality placed a whole new slew of problems on relationships. That’s why the most lasting positive relationships between reincarnators were usually ones where the participants were friendly and fond of each other, or even a friendly rivalry like with Envy, instead those with a lot of passionate emotions.

“I’m not categorically against the idea. I simply don’t think it would serve my purposes currently, unlike what you think.” She replied, hinting at factors he wasn’t aware of.

Earlier the problem had been that since she didn’t have enough power or recognition, she would essentially have been selling herself to some House to be used as a broodmare and a potential path to the throne. She would’ve been a lesser partner. Now that different parties were starting to recognize her power and position, the idea became more realistic. It still had some of the old issues, but to a much lesser degree. The option was on the table at least, but it wasn't one that she would take unless necessary. It would complicate things in several ways, and she needed to be very careful with her actions.

“Fair enough. I’d like to get a confirmation on a few other things. You of course don't need to answer any of my questions, though I'll naturally be inferring my own answers to the questions anyway. I can also agree to not spreading any of the information you reveal until it is no longer tactically advantageous for you to keep it a secret." The Harpy suggested.

That wasn't a bad deal actually. As he said, people would speculate anyway. It could be useful to get the truth out there, at least in some cases, and the Harpy was a good way of disseminating that information. “You can ask, but I will not commit to answering anything.”

What followed was a short but intense duel of wits as the Harpy questioned her on her aspirations towards the throne, the leadership of the House Titannica, her recent crusade against the Netherworld, probing her opinion on contentious issues, and a dozen other topics, as the Harpy tried to tease as much information out of her as possible, while she tried to keep her revelations limited to what she wanted. A simple innocuous question that might have seemed just to confirm an earlier position could be worded in a way that would reveal a lot more about her position than she was prepared to say, as either confirmation or denial could paint her in a rather extreme light. The Harpy wasn’t trying to catch her in any sort of scandal or gaffe, as much as he was just enjoying the game and being genuinely curious. A good questioner always tried to tease out more information than the one being questioned was prepared to reveal.

The Harpy was genuinely a rather charismatic man in some ways. Smug and full of his own importance no doubt, but that smugness wasn’t unearned. He was a reincarnator with a lot of experience in such social situations and circles, and even though Karna only got a generic Name when she checked him, she got the feeling he might have been older than many others, and she’d just gotten unlucky in that regard. He could be a useful ally, or a very annoying enemy, as his solid hold on his current position meant he wouldn’t be replaced easily, and the Harpy could, by definition, sway the public opinion in many ways. He also knew that, and that's why he had barged into this negotiation as he had. He'd forced himself to become a player in the game they were playing, and Karna’s earlier distance had precluded him from utilizing his position. In short, he was forcing her to make an attempt to get him on her side. It was somewhat annoying for her, but it was also expected from his point of view.

The interesting part was figuring out what he wanted. She doubted he was after a position after she’d become the Heavenly Empress. He was already the Harpy, and by all that she had been able to gather, he enjoyed the position. He was also wealthy, and while he might want an artifact created by her, he wasn't giving any hints in that direction. He also didn't seem to be after her body either, which was rather rare. In fact, the Harpy and the Grand Marshall were perhaps the two men who'd so far shown the least interest in anything like that in the Divine Planes. Aside from Arjuna of course. Her mother and aunt were both competing for the position of the Goddess of Beauty, and she looked almost exactly like them. Some would argue she looked even better. So, looks of desire or at least consideration were par for the course. The beauty of the Goddesses, and by extension her, wasn’t just something you dismissed by not being the type to gaze at beautiful women. They were divinely, and magically attractive in ways that forced even other gods to pay attention. Yet both of the men had given her a once over, mostly in what seemed like evaluation, and then largely ignored her looks. Even Valor, as virtuous as he was, snuck a look once in a while. The Grand Marshall had taken a look at her legs a single time, but aside from that, he seemed to almost entirely dismiss her for any such considerations, and the Harpy hadn’t done even that. So, what was he after? If she didn’t know what he wanted, it would be hard to get him on her side.

“Well, that’s good enough for now I believe. I do hope there will be more productive meetings in the future.” The Harpy finally stood up to leave.

“Next time I’d appreciate it if you sent word of your arrival beforehand.” The Grand Marshall stated, speaking for the first time in a long while. He’d been happy to let the two talk while remaining an observer. “I allowed it this time mostly out of consideration for Princess Ynnead but barging into my castle without a word would usually result in even you getting tossed out.”

“Of course.” The Harpy said blithely. “Military matters. I understand.” He didn’t promise not to do it again though, both of the others noted.

A servant came and escorted the Harpy out, leaving just the two of them in the office. “Well, that was interesting. Not entirely sure what his angle is.” Karna pursed her lips in thought.

“He has always been hard to figure out. He puts on a mask for everyone. I’ve noticed that he often allows others to assume what he wants, and then behaves as if they’d got it right. Mostly he seems to do it so that it would be easier to interact with him. Makes him a known quantity, at least in theory. However, I’ve never been certain if it’s just pretense, or if some of the things are truly what he wants. His fake desires mask his real ones almost perfectly. And I’ve dealt with him a lot longer than you’ve been alive. You dealt with him as well as anyone can deal with him. I’m not sure if I personally would’ve revealed as much as you did, but I’m sure you have your reasoning.” The Grand Marshall seemed thoughtful.

“Either way, you were about to get into the second reason you called me here when we were so rudely interrupted.” Karna prompted. The meeting with the man had done well before the Harpy showed, and she wanted to keep that up.

“Right. The crusade you and your friends conducted returned many worlds back to our control. A victory the likes of which we haven’t seen in several lifetimes of immortals. We’ll of course need to go through cleansing the worlds of the Netherworld’s taint, and a slew of other logistical hurdles, but that’s not something that concerns the people and the powers that be. What they are concerned about is that we have gained a victory of rather epic proportions, and they’d like to see more. And as the leader of the Host, it is my job to provide. I also think this is the perfect opportunity to strike a real blow against the Scourges. The first in a very long time. That blow will come whether you’ll be part of it or not, though it would be in both of our best interests if you and your allies were part of it. Being hailed as great liberators and conquerors would go a long way in putting you on the throne, just as an example. I’d like to hear your opinion on the feasibility of such an attack. I have my own thoughts, which I’ll share, but I’d like to hear yours first.”

Karna tapped her lip in thought. “I think striking a large blow is doable. Not sure if it would be tactically better to pick another Scourge aside from the Netherworld, but that’s for another time. The people are in the need of inspiration because things have stagnated for too long. We both know this. Our first crusade brought some of that inspiration, which is why they’re clamoring for more, but I don’t think striking a decisive blow against one of the Scourges could be done. Or to be specific, it could be done, but I don’t think we should.”

The Grand Marshall nodded as if her thoughts mirrored hers. “I’d like to hear your reasoning.”

“Well, the most obvious problem is that striking a quick blow like we did is completely different from the kind of protracted war that would be required for a decisive victory. One of the reasons why our crusade is getting so much glory heaped upon it is because the losses were so low. The whole thing was also quick. Once people start losing loved ones in a protracted fight that also consumes a lot of resources and time, their willingness to support such an endeavor will quickly disappear. Once their unity starts to crack, it will lead to internal struggle, which will lead to further trouble. There’s a reason why the Scrouges haven’t been eradicated yet, despite us clearly having the power to do so.”

Karna considered for a moment how to word what she was going to say next. “The existence of an external enemy has also been a great boon for the Divine Planes. If we didn’t have clear enemies, we’d be fighting each other. We already are to an extent, but the fighting would shift from plots to outright civil wars. Also, if we wanted to really push a Scourge to the limit, then we’d have to deal with their Rank 14 beings. So far, they’ve stayed out of the frontline just like ours, but I don’t for a second think the one we ran into is the only one. There's also a rather scary thought that came to me. The one we ran into was in a stasis-like state. What if the Netherworld has placed all their rank 14 beings in such stasis? We might get more of them, but they eventually all pass on for one reason or another. What if the ones for the Netherworld aren't passing on, and are instead all in stasis? For how long have they been gathering such beings? How many are there? Such beings aren't invincible so their numbers would inevitably not be enough as taking one down with people of lower rank isn’t impossible, but there would be losses. Many losses. Even if we matched the numbers or even outnumber them, in a fight between such individuals there would be collateral damage to the rest of our forces. And thus we return to the point of losses and public tolerance.”

The Grand Marshall had come to similar conclusions and for similar reasons. He thought they could push through the losses to achieve a more decisive blow, but at this point they would be arguing about whether they thought it was worth it. Each person had a different threshold of acceptable losses and as a military man he was more willing to take losses to secure a more permanent advantage. Something he also shared with her before moving on to the next point. “I was informed that you had acquired the help of a rank 14 being. I also know that the being has another being of the same rank as an ally. Would they help?”

Karna waved her hand in an unsure gesture. “They could possibly be persuaded to, but there’s a large difference between coming along as a deterrence and actually going out to look for enemies of their rank to fight. We aren’t that strong as allies. I couldn’t ask that of them, without providing something suitable as compensation.”

The Grand Marshall made a 'harrumph' sound as he considered her words. "We'll have to take that into consideration. The general staff is convening in a few weeks to consider the idea. We'll be making our recommendations to the Emperor after the meeting." With a shake of his head, he dismissed the topic for now. "I think before that happens though, we should resolve the issue with the leadership of our House. The longer that issue is left to fester, the worse it is for us, while on the flipside we have an opportunity strike now, while Kronus is still reeling from the revelation. We need decisive action. I suggest we both gather what support we can, including you confirming things with your father, and make the bid before the meeting of the general staff happens. If we are going to do this, the faster we make a move, the less time Kronus will have to mount a proper resistance.”

"Agreed. Let me confirm things with my 'father' first, so that there won't be any surprises from that direction. I need to ask though, how are things like this handled in our House?" Karna knew how internal succession had been handled in the past, but things could've changed many times since then.

“We summon the heads of families and other important personages of the House to the heart of our domain. If we wanted to contest the succession on some other grounds, you would need to either reach a quorum of those present, or challenge Kronus and have your challenge accepted. The latter part is important, as we aren’t a House ruled only by strength. The challenge could be anything really. However, since you are a proper and legal heir, you basically just announce your acceptance of the position.” The Grand Marshal explained.

“And Kronus then gets to present a challenge or try to win over those present.” She realized why he had explained the alternative method.

“Yes. He will no doubt try to argue that you are not fit for the position.” The Grand Marshall nodded. “You don’t need to accept a direct fight challenge, though refusing might sway some to his side when it comes to reaching a quorum.”

She’d never met Kronus, so it was hard to judge how powerful he was. She wasn’t too worried though.

Chapter 149 - Ceremony

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we. I hope you'll enjoy!

---------

Karna looked at the boundary of her divine realm with a frown. Since her godhood was a new one and not yet well defined, her realm didn't have a very consistent form either. So far it looked mostly like the grey desert of the River of Souls on one side while looking a bit like a lush paradise on the other side. She wasn't frowning at the divide or even the unfinished feeling the realm gave off. Since the only people likely to enter the realm were her friends until she became a True God, it didn't matter all that much what it looked like. No, the problem was at the border, the boundary between her realm and the others.

All the realms competed for position and size, though since the space wasn't limited in any way, the competition was mostly just for show. A bit of grinding against other realms was to be expected, and her powerful soul combined with her strong divinity assured she'd win most such competitions. What was happening here though wasn't a competition. It was a merger. A merger she didn't initiate. Her realm was in the process of slowly uniting with that of the Sacred Lady, and that could become a potential issue.

Now that it was happening, she realized that it shouldn’t have been so unexpected. She was now a god of sorts again, and her soul was still the same one as it had been while she’d been the Sacred Lady. Sure, her soul had changed plenty since then, but it was still the same soul. So now that she was a god once more, her old divinity was attempting to return to her. The realms slowly merging was the most obvious sign of that happening. The problem was, she had not initiated the merger, and she wasn't sure what the effect would be once it was completed. She wasn't the Goddess of Mercy anymore. Would she be forced to add a third divinity to Souls and Karma? She had considered taking up the position before, but she'd dismissed it for a reason. She couldn't afford to show mercy to her enemies this time. And the excuse about the mercy of death would start to become a bit hollow if she was the aggressor. She didn't know how to stop it either. Despite all her lives, this scenario was new to her. At least it wasn’t happening quickly, so she had time to come up with solutions. She wondered what the followers of the Sacred Lady would do once the merger was complete?

“We need to go.” Hope stepped next to her and spoke, also looking at the weird turbulent energies at the point of merging. “As fascinating as this is.”

She was right of course. This wasn’t a problem that needed immediate attention. She’d mostly been looking at the area as a distraction. They had a ceremony to attend. She turned towards Hope. “How do I look?” She was wearing a dress similar to the one she’d worn to the meeting with the Grand Marshall, a piece of conceptual creation that adapted to the wishes of the viewer. The only real difference was that this one tended more towards majesty and awe.

Hope brushed a lock of hair out of her face, a useless gesture as the hair just returned right away, and adjusted Karna’s collar in a gesture that brought a smile to both of their faces. Their places had been reversed many times in other lifetimes. “You look great Mother, as you always do.” The word bringing another smile.

The two walked towards the exit of the realm, something that could’ve been done with a single step if Karna had wanted it so. “Where’s Envy? I haven’t seen her since I returned.” She’d just returned from finally meeting with her biological father. The meeting had gone quite well, and it had been rather informative in certain ways.

------

The God of the Sun tried to project an image of impregnable strength and ferocity, but Karna’s sharp eyes could pick up on the little cracks in his being. Granting a part of yourself to another like he’d done to create her current vessel wasn’t something that you could completely recover from in a few decades. It would take someone with her level of detection to notice the damage to him, but there it was. Still, he was mending, if slowly. Whether he’d ever be what he was before was an open question, but time tended to fix everything when it came to immortals.

The introductions had been a little awkward at first, and now the two of them were mostly just looking at each other, evaluating and considering how to approach the situation. Despite everything, he was supposed to be her father, but it was rather obvious she didn't actually require any fathering from him. In fact, they were both aware that she had more parental experience than he did, and that made things a little awkward. That and the fact that they didn't quite know how to treat one another.

“Did you know that there are certain things required for a universe to be created?” He suddenly asked, as if bringing up a random topic just to have something to talk about.

“Three things. Someone to control space and time, someone to handle the flow of souls to the River of Souls, and a Guardian, someone to prevent incursions from other universes.” She of course knew.

He nodded, having expected the answer. “And did you know that the rules for this universe are slightly different?”

She frowned. “No. I did not know.”

He nodded again, having expected the answer. "It makes sense. I've been reliably informed that you've been avoiding this universe whenever possible and that you've never taken a position among the five controlling True Gods in any of your lives. Only those like us, one of the controllers, become aware of the rules. It’s not a forbidden topic, but there’s usually no reason to share, and keeping the information secret does come with certain advantages.”

This was something that caught her interest. Not what she’d come here to talk about, but interesting nonetheless. So, she decided to indulge him. “How are they different? I can come up with several explanations as to the ‘why’ part.”

“It is rather obvious, isn’t it? After all, this is where He resides, and where the Grand Formation is. You’ve no doubt noticed that many of the rules of this universe don’t exactly follow the standard laws of physics or the magical laws in other universes. To take an obvious example, the space between planets doesn’t work the same. The stars sometimes orbit the planets, and the worlds aren’t even shaped the right way some of the time. To make a long story slightly less so, because of how the rules work differently, this universe also needs more beings to make sure things keep working the right way, as we can’t rely on the laws of physics to make things happen for us. You’ve been around longer than most stars live, yet have you ever heard of any of the stars around the important worlds going out? I don’t mean just some random star in an unpopulated system to create Celestium, or a particularly powerful immortal nuking one, but a star in a system with a real center of power.”

“Now that you mention it, no.” She frowned. “I chalked it up to the same reason all the resources keep regenerating.”

“And that’s basically the reason. But this universe needs a dedicated god to control the stars to make sure they don’t just randomly blow up just from the sheer impossibility of their existence. If you keep adding mass to stars infinitely…well, I’m sure you can imagine a dozen different ways that could go wrong. That’s also why we’re granted access to the worlds born from the Expansion before anyone else. We need to make sure the new worlds and everything associated with them don’t just explode in everyone’s face. And that’s just one example.”

“Interesting. So, if you have such early access, why did the Crossroads end up here? Was that one of your decisions?” She so wished for him to say yes.

Now it was his turn to frown. “No. We’re not exactly sure what happened there. Still, with this many reincarnators around, something was bound to go wrong, so we had an emergency failsafe in place. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Nope. Nothing whatsoever.” She lied straight to his face, allowing him to sense that it was a lie, causing him to smile a bit. They both wordlessly agreed not to mention anything, to avoid word getting to a particular tiny dragon.

“Anyway, why am I telling you all this? To make sure you understand the role of the top five True Gods. We aren’t randomly chosen from the most powerful either. We are the ones who keep the system running, and our skillset has to match. I’m also telling you this to make sure you understand why we don’t take part in mundane affairs. It’s why we can't raise children or deal with internal house politics. I’m not saying this as an excuse, but to provide an explanation. The temptation of meddling is strong, but we aren’t just busy. We have actual rules in place. We’re allowed to give a hand once in a rare while, something rather hard to do while you’re injured like I was and staying out of the public eye. However, we can’t get mired up in the small things. We can prevent our House from getting wiped out, but we can’t get involved in small skirmishes. And if a conflict would place two of us on opposite sides, then we’re expressly forbidden from interfering. We have bigger things to deal with, mainly holding this universe together. I’m sure you don’t need me to do fatherly things, you already have a dad for that, but on the other hand, you can be assured that I won't stand in your way either."

“Am I to interpret this as you giving me the go-ahead to become the heir then?” She asked in confirmation, as that was the reason for her visit.

“That was the plan since the beginning. I’m not sure how much Khaine told you, but we did do quite a lot of planning for this. Now granted, all of those plans haven’t gone exactly as we wanted, but that’s the nature of plans. There are too many people with their own plans and goals for any complicated plan of ours to survive perfectly intact. I assume she mentioned that we picked you specifically?” Surya asked.

“She strongly implied.” Karna nodded.

“Knowing her, she didn’t tell you why, did she?” He looked at her knowingly.

“She could’ve been clearer in that regard.” Karna allowed just a hint of frustration to show on her face. “She sort of implied there was a previous connection of some sort.”

The God of the Sun made an undignified grunt. "Typical of her to dodge the issue. Long story short, we are related. She can go into further detail, as those don't really matter. Suffice to say I can't quite describe what it's like to grow up hearing stories of your amazing granny that blazed a path of glory and destruction through half of the universe. We needed someone like that."

“Gran- wait! When was this?" That came as a shock. She'd had enough families and kids over the eons that it wasn't too shocking some of them became reincarnators. There was also a non-zero chance that them being related was part of the reason they became reincarnators in the first place. “And hold up! Are you implying that you two were siblings in a previous life? Who now had a kid?”

“Nooooo. No! Definitely not!” He denied the sudden accusation vehemently.

“I’m not judging. If that is your kink then that is your kink. However, as a responsible grandmother, I need to look out for my grandkids and stay aware of such things.” She teased with a huge grin. The meeting had been a lot more relaxing after that. At least for her.

------

“Envy said she had some errands to run. I’m sure she’ll show up.” Hope replied in a tone that hinted that she knew more than she let on.

Karna decided not to pursue it. Envy had been quite evasive after their deification, likely trying to hide her divinity, and dragging her to an event like this might have been too much. It wasn't like they had the time to wait either. They arrived at the edge of her realm, where a mage of the House Titannica waited just to open them a path to the headquarters of the House.

They arrived next to a grand temple structure flying in the midst of thick storm clouds. Karna could tell the storms were perpetual, likely to maintain a pleasant environment for the titans. The temple was on a large flying island, but despite the size of the island, only one building was present. The reason for that was simple. The structure was a behemoth of a temple built of all the various metals that the skin of the titans could be made of. The closer to the heart of the temple you went, the more precious the metals involved. The reason the structure was so huge was the same reason why the titans preferred to build such cloud temples in the first place. The structure was made in a way to allow them to assume their true size, so everything had to be sized to match. If even drinking cups had to be large enough to drown several people in, then you could only imagine how large everything else was. Titans didn’t like cramped quarters either, so everything was built open and expansive. There was no need for windows, as walls were rare, columns of metal dotting the view as they were holding up the roof over their head. Everything also had to be built sturdy as the titans were heavy and powerful, and they didn’t want to break anything by accident. Even the smallest ones weighed enough to be measured in tons and could accidentally break a stone wall with a careless swing of their hand.

With a small, relaxed exhale, Karna too allowed herself to assume her full-sized titan form and let go of her aura, totem, and domain. This wasn’t the time nor the place for holding back. This was the time for awe and making lasting impressions. And she intended to do just that. Power whipped around her before settling down like a mantle around her. She would finally get to put her powerful soul to full use.

Hope looked up at her and smiled. “We’ll be in the observation area if, and when, everything goes to hell. Just shout and we’ll arrange a quick extraction." Naturally, as everything was titan-sized, any visitors had to go to a specially prepared observation floor that allowed them to watch over the proceedings.

-----

Shiva smiled a little as he felt the sudden release of power outside. The main character of today’s gathering had arrived. All the important members of the House had been invited, and as they all had some idea what it might be about, they’d showed up in force. Not only had all the heads of the families come, but they’d brought spouses, children, advisors, and bodyguards. It had been a while since the Storm Peak had been this populated. Servants of course also moved between the gathered throngs, but no one from outside the House was present. He knew Ynnead had brought her friends, which was a breach of etiquette, but if things went the way he assumed, no one would care about the slight faux pas. And if things didn’t go to plan, then their presence might become necessary.

As the titans were less about ceremony than many other houses, there was no master of ceremonies to announce her arrival, but no one could miss the moment Ynnead stepped into the large central area where everyone had gathered. It was like someone had suddenly brought a small star into the room, except this star didn't radiate light, but power and majesty. Shiva was both shocked and not at all surprised as most of those close to Ynnead instinctively knelt as she passed, her sheer presence overwhelming them.

Some people had the sort of presence that forced others to admit they were before someone special. Someone more than them. Ynnead had that in spades. It was like a predator had stepped into a room full of prey, as the very air in the room suddenly felt different. Everyone else felt small as she entered, a feeling titans were not used to. It wasn’t just a show of force either, as there were some beings in the room that could still claim to be stronger than her. They all knew that would not be the case for very long. She simply had presence. She had that something that forced you to pay attention and pay your respects.

Her skin was whiteish, though seemed to slightly change color upon the light reflecting off in different angles, showing the magical nature of the Celestium and marking her almost one of a kind. She wasn’t the tallest titan present, yet it seemed everyone had to look up at her. She also had the glow of a god about her, and they all got a strong sense of death and judgement from her. Somewhat ironic since the latter was Shiva’s domain. She carried herself with complete certainty and moved through the throng as if the genuflections were to be expected. She was an empress, if not in actual title yet, then at least in character and bearing.

She walked up to Shiva and tilted her head just a bit. “Head of House.” She greeted.

“Princess Ynnead.” He nodded in return. They’d grown more friendly during the crusade, and the more they spent time together, the more certain he and Indra had become that this was the Sacred Lady somehow brought back. The other True Gods and Gods of the House were in the front row, though a certain spot was suspiciously empty.

“The wayward daughter of the House has returned.” She spoke the ceremonial lines.

“We welcome all the children of Titans. Here you will find shelter, support, security, and a family to support you.” He replied, sticking to the pattern. The next lines were the important ones. Normally a titan that had Ascended from the lower planes would simply say their thanks and assume their position, but Ynnead was never satisfied with just doing the normal. Not that Shiva would have it any other way in this case.

"As the child of the House, I've come to claim my rightful position and to assume the titles and responsibilities that are mine by the right of birth," Ynnead stated solemnly. This same line was used by those that had a claim to certain positions in the House. Recently discovered heirs of families were the most common reason to go this route.

“And what positions are you laying a claim to?” Shiva asked. They really were a race that liked to keep things simple.

“As the daughter of Surya, the previous head of the House, I claim the position as the next head of the House.” And there it was. The claim had been made. Now all that remained was to see if it went through.

"Are there any among those gathered that would contest this claim?" Shiva asked ceremonially and pointedly looked at the empty place. Where was Kronus? Shiva, and many others, had made sure to inform him of what was going to happen, to avoid any claims of impropriety. A challenge could be made later, but it would be much better if any such problems were handled now.

They all awkwardly waited. There was only so long they could wait without the whole thing turning into a mockery, but they would wait as long as they could. Murmurs slowly spread among those gathered. Even Shiva took a glance toward Ynnead to see if she'd had anything to do with this, but she looked just as confused and annoyed. Indra was the one to break decorum and voice what they were all thinking. "Where in the blazes is Kronus?! I will not have him disrespect everyone with this kind of behavior!"

Chapter 150 - What's in the box?!

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

A point of clarification. Someone asked if Kronus was the being in charge of maintaining time and space in this universe as one of the top 5 gods. The answer is no. He is the God of Time, but there are more than one god associated with time, and he wouldn't have time for all this plotting if he was one of the top 5.

------

”AAAARGH!!” Kronus bellowed out in pain. The fact that he had been crucified to the stone floor with long dark metal spears that drained his powers might have had something to do with it. There was a formation drawn in blood under him, glowing with all the power being drained from him through those spears.

“Stop being such a baby. Shouting also won’t do you any good. No one is coming to help.” Envy said with a distracted voice while going through all the papers on his desk.

“What-GRAAAH-did you do with them?” A shock seemed to run through his body. He had tried to transform into a larger form to free himself, but the spears running through him were not there just to stop him from moving. They had been placed with perfect precision to disrupt any sort of power he tried to use, while he died a slow death.

“You should know better than to ask stupid questions. Those that are relatively innocent and potentially still useful are alive but unconscious, while the rest are dead. Wouldn’t want to kill any of the useful future pawns after all.” Envy replied freely, knowing that even if someone came to rescue him right at this moment, they wouldn’t be able to counter the corruption in his veins that had already reached his core. Now it was just a matter of time, and not a very long time either. Someone with knowledge equal to hers might be able to extend that time, but not for very long.

“You won’t get away with this!” He screamed when a convulsion ran through his body. He regretted not being in his Divine Realm, as there he would’ve had a shot at fighting this assassin. However, most gods maintained residences outside their realm because they were still part of various houses and because meeting outside the realm was considered more of a neutral ground. Despite their lofty positions, they still had a place in the society of the Divine Planes.

“We both know that’s not true. I was very careful not to leave behind anything incriminating, and once they find your little basement, anyone coming to investigate will be much less concerned about finding your killer. They’ll be more occupied with covering up your misdeeds.” She looked at his stunned face. “Oh yes, I found your basement of sin. You’re pretty good at hiding such things, but I have too much experience for someone like you to evade my eyes. You’ve been a very bad boy. And I’ll make sure the investigators from the House will also find the basement. In fact, I’ll make sure they find that place first. Actually, now that I think about it, I think I’ll just dump your body inside the basement. Either way works for me.”

Kronus desperately tried to have his realm come to him instead of entering it himself, failing miserably as another shock ran through him. “That wouldn’t help you anyway.” Envy commented.

“How?” He grunted.

“How, what?” She looked up from the papers. His questions didn’t quite follow what she’d said.

“How are you so strong?! You’re supposed to be rank 11!” He shouted. “All her close allies were supposed to be that or under, aside from that tramp Khaine!”

“You really have no idea what being Envy means, do you? I’ve been around so many rank 13 beings lately that it would be a wonder if I hadn’t become this strong. It’s just too bad I couldn’t steal the powers of the rank 14s. Would’ve made things so much easier.” She wasn’t even sure why she bothered to say that much. Perhaps she was just tired of being underestimated. “It was actually harder hiding my power from everyone. It took a while to find someone with the right concealment ability.”

Kronus laughed bitterly, though with his situation being what it was, there was little mirth in his voice. "So. You're hiding your powers from your owner. Does she know you're here? Or are you planning on stabbing her in the back as well?" He wasn't feeling pain anymore. That wasn't a very good sign. Neither was the fact that he could no longer move.

Now it was Envy’s turn to almost fall from the chair in laughter. “Oh dear, I really needed that. You really should not underestimate Wrath so much. Of course, she knows. She’s not an idiot like the rest of you. She just doesn’t ‘know’ so she has plausible deniability. As for betraying her, you couldn’t be more wrong.” She allowed her divinity to leak inside the room for just a fraction of a second. The palpable feeling of devotion and obsession was quite obvious. The two were the sides of the same coin. “Besides. Even if she wasn’t the target of my devotion, I’m not silly enough to think I could defeat her with this meager power I’ve managed to gather. You people really are blind. She has plans within plans, exit strategies within exit strategies, and contingencies inside hidden aces. I’ve spent so much time with her and fighting against her, and I’ve never, even for a moment, thought that I had seen everything she can do.”

Kronus's breathing was slowing as the corruption was eating away at his core. "Is she worth such obsession?"

“Well, that’s a matter of perspective I suppose. However, if not her, then who else?” She tossed away the papers that burst into flames and turned into ash before they could reach the floor. She’d gotten what she needed out of them. “Time’s up. This was fun, but I do have a scene to set, and I don’t need to be here when the investigators show up. Better luck in your next life.” She unceremoniously squeezed her hand into a fist, causing his core to shatter. She didn’t have quite the same power that Wrath had for dispersing souls, but even she had enough skill to make sure there would be no resurrection for him. Nor did she want any entrepreneuring necromancer talking to his soul.

Another wave of her hand extracted the dark spears and made them vanish, before a third gesture caused the corpse to float behind her as she headed towards the hidden basement, which was already decidedly less hidden. It was astonishing what you could find in even spatially enlarged areas when you knew to look for what wasn’t there, instead of trying to find some sign of what was hidden. A void of magic was almost a blatant alarm to her that something had been hidden, even if the void was also spatially hidden in a pocket dimension the size of a pin. Breaking the pocket dimension while remaining hidden had been the hardest part of this whole thing, as killing a True God wasn’t nearly as challenging when you had the element of surprise. And if you knew exactly how to kill immortals.

------

The higher-ups of the House Titannica had gathered in what the newly elevated heir of the House called a 'situation room' within the Storm Peak. Unlike the rest of the place, this room was surrounded by walls and isolated. The titans were still at their full size in the surroundings fitted for them, as they sat around a round table. There were enough of them that it would’ve been impossible to fit them all if the room didn’t automatically magically adjust. As she stepped into the room, Karna very visibly cast a spell they were all familiar with, even if they couldn't necessarily cast it themselves. The spell was called Zone of Truth. While the immortals could often feel when someone was lying, especially when the person was lower ranked than them, the Zone of Truth made lies impossible.

“Just to clarify things, as I know the suspicion is there even if it wasn’t voiced during the ceremony, I have a few statements to make. I did not kill or attack Kronus. I did not order, ask, request, or even hint for him nor anyone serving him to be killed or attacked. I do not know who did it. I do not know what happened to him, aside from what the brief report our investigators sent contained. I have certain suspicions about what or who might have attacked him, but so do we all, as both he and us have many enemies. In many ways, him dying is inconvenient, as just defeating him in a challenge would’ve quelled any questions about my legitimacy. Any questions before I let the spell expire?” She was clear and concise in her words, not leaving too much wiggle room for any lies of omission. There would always be some, but she’d done a pretty thorough job.

The gathered Divines and important personages shared looks and nods before Indra spoke for all of them. “I believe that will suffice. It is certainly a more thorough refutation of your involvement than any of us are willing to make ourselves.” Many of them had plots and schemes surrounding Kronus.

With that out of the way, no one protested as she took the position at Shiva's side, usually reserved for the next leader of the House. The seat had remained empty until now, though they all knew Kronus had been eyeing the seat for a while now. As she sat down, the Grand Marshal was the one to take the lead with military precision and efficiency. "To get everyone up to speed, we all noticed Kronus and the core of his faction missing during the ceremony. After waiting for a polite amount of time to make sure he wasn't just running late, I dispatched a group of investigators to his realm and his dwelling within the House Titannica-controlled territory, while we went through with the rest of the ceremony. The investigators ran into some trouble as all the defenses around his dwelling were still active and running at full force, so it took them a while to gain entry. During that time, the team sent for his Divine Realm reported that the realm had started to behave erratically, consistent with the realms of gods that have died, and that they couldn’t gain entry despite repeated attempts.”

One of the less prominent gods present raised a finger as a signal that he had a question. The grand Marshall allowed it with a nod towards the male titan with silvery skin. “Who exactly is in these investigation groups? I don’t want to cast any aspersions, just to make sure that no one can raise any questions about bias later on.”

“Some of you might not be aware, but most Great Houses have an internal investigation force. Different houses do things differently, but ours is purposefully made with as many different factions in mind as we can manage, and any team sent on an investigation is selected to be as neutral as possible. We made sure to include someone that would’ve supported Kronus in the ceremony, as well as someone who would’ve opposed him.” The Grand Marshall assuaged any worries, and the minor god nodded in agreement.

"Now, we do not have a detailed report yet, we're expecting to have the first such report arrive at any moment, but once the team gained entry to his abode they reported the bodies of Kronus, his oldest son, as well as two of the gods that were his most fervent supporters. They also called for full information confinement and blackout." The Grand Marshall continued his report. At his last words, several questioning fingers shot up, including Karna's. The soldier nodded to her as she was the ranking person of those signaling.

"I have a decent idea of what that means, but just to make sure we're all on the same page, what does that mean in House Titannica?" She asked.

“It means that we’ll build a perimeter around the area, not allowing anyone in or out, and any information found at the site is to be designated a house secret. Anyone found spreading the information is to be executed immediately. The contents of the report will only be for my eyes as the leader of the investigation teams, as well as the leader of the house, who will then determine whether to share that information with anyone."

Indra leaned forward and spoke quietly. “It means the team found something sensitive. Something that would affect the house’s reputation if it got out. It means Kronus was involved in something he shouldn’t.”

That forced everyone quiet for a moment, and as if on cue the door opened to allow a messenger through. The messenger handed a scroll to the Grand Marshal, who quickly read it over. The contents caused him to frown, and he leaned in to hand the scroll to Shiva. Instead of taking it though, Shiva nodded towards Karna, clearly signaling that she should take it. He was going to test her and how she would handle a situation like this where her personal interests were heavily involved. How would she react, and would she protect the house’s interests? Did she know how to do something like that?

Karna obliged and took the scroll, giving it a quick read. She had to do a double take and read the last part again which described what the team had found in Kronus' secret basement. "You really do need to read this, even if you are going to have me handle it." She stated and handed the scroll over to Shiva, who now looked extremely curious, as he knew neither the Grand Marshal nor her was easily shocked.

"Motherfucker!" Shiva cursed loudly as he read the end of the scroll. "Oh, Kronus. I suspected you wouldn't mind getting your hands dirty, but this is…too much." He looked towards Karna. "How would you deal with this?" He was still going to go through with the test, though he’d intervene if necessary.

“I would personally go to the site and use my special flames to incinerate the entire area. Perhaps even dragon’s breath the place for good measure. We really don’t want anything in that basement getting out. Or anyone else getting wind of this. As for what happened to Kronus…he took his own life. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his entire future to a young girl like me. He knew his days were numbered anyway, so he decided to go out on his own terms in a blaze. Those who died decided to follow their master rather than die in a futile struggle. Spread rumors that I was going to clean house and snuff his faction out to remove any possibility of internal strife.”

Most of those gathered were savvy enough political operators to figure out the general outlines of what had been in that report, or at least the importance of it. "Sounds believable enough. It will paint our house in a less-than-flattering light, which will help sell it. The purge is also something many other houses would do in similar situations. The lighter factions will judge us for it, but the darker ones will approve." Indra nodded. He could guess that whatever was on the scroll was bad enough that taking a bit of a reputation hit was preferable to letting the truth get out. And Karna was allowing some of that dirt to splash on her, showing that she was willing to bear the blame.

“What of the servants that are still alive, and Kronus’ surviving family?” The Grand Marshal asked the question most here were dreading. As a military man, details like these were easy to notice as he was used to such operations.

“Question and investigate them heavily. Leave no stone unturned, and do not stop until you’re certain they knew nothing of what was on that scroll. If they did know, make sure they ‘perished’ in the same fire that is about to consume the place. If they didn’t know and still don’t…we'll make decisions on an individual basis at a later stage." Karna decided.

She tapped the table with a long fingernail for a moment. “The assailant is the real wild card in this situation. Judging by the report, it seems likely that they carried a personal grudge against Kronus, but not the House in general. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left the servants alive. Well, some of the servants that is. Aside from revenge, the main goal seems to have been to make that-“ She pointed at the scroll. “-stop. They made sure that we found the basement, hinting that they are not blaming us. Not yet at least. I do not think they will reveal what we’ve found, or they would’ve done so already.”

"A fair bit of assumptions, but they feel logical," Shiva said in agreement.

"While they have a basis in fact, I'm not fond of relying on such assumptions." The Grand Marshal frowned.

“Agreed, however, as long as we have nothing on the assailant, we can’t do much about it. I want full investigations on the grounds of every property and estate Kronus owned, now or in the past. Investigate his closest allies as well. The allies will protest, some are even in this room right now, but we will have to quell those protests. I do not want any more surprises like that basement found. Anyone found to be involved is to be put to the sword immediately. I believe strong action will also go a long way to pacifying this unknown assailant in case they are keeping an eye on our reaction.” And give her the chance to get dirt on her opponents. If her suspicions were correct, she’d need to have a word with Envy soon. But not too soon. She didn’t need anything confirmed just yet.

Some of the allies of Kronus currently present in the room were less than pleased, but they knew better than to object. They could sense the seriousness of the situation. "I also want three plans that we can enact based on the assailant's future actions, as I don't like to act based on assumptions either. First, we need to have a plan in place in case they do reveal what they found out. What will our reaction be? Full denial? What if they took evidence? What will we do if we can't just sweep it under the rug? Secondly, I want a plan for if they don't. Will we sit on this forever? Secrets have a way of getting out, and we might be able to mitigate any damage to the house if we release the information slowly in a way we plan out and prefer. Thirdly, and in the most likely scenario, what if this assailant chooses to extort us with this information? Do we negotiate? And what price are we willing to pay to keep it hidden?" Karna laid out the path they would need to take.

The three plans would take hours to hash out and would cause a lot of arguments and gnashing of teeth while having to remain fluid enough to react to changing situations. Luckily those involved were not handling a coverup for the first time.

Chapter 151 - Puppetry

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

--------

”Good work.” Hope greeted happily and handed Karna a drink. “I’m under the impression that we’re now talking to the heir of House Titannica.”

Karna had not been able to return and inform them of the details after the ceremony, because of the meeting concerning Kronus. They watched the ceremony itself but didn’t know what happened behind the scenes. The only ones not present currently were Tsumi, who was still suffering from the aftereffects of her time in the Netherworld, and Arjuna who was watching over her. Both had made an appearance during the ceremony but had left once that had passed. “Thanks.” Karna received the small bottle and drank it all in one go. Negotiations were thirsty business. “And you are.”

The others, including Envy, were in the observation area reserved for other races. Envy had slinked in not too long ago. Karna didn't say anything to her fellow sin and just pumped fists with her. "What's the plan now?" Wisdom asked.

“Well, for now, I’ll have to go un-fuck a situation Kronus left behind. Oh, he’s dead if you were still wondering.” She replied briefly.

“We suspected when he didn’t show up during the ceremony.” Valor said while smiling just like always. Everyone quite pointedly avoided looking at Envy. “What kind of mess, and do you need help?”

“I can’t explain the details, as they’ve been declared a house secret. For the same reason I can’t take you along either. However, I have a feeling that if you ask the right person, you might find out the details. The whole thing shouldn’t take too long, assuming nothing goes wrong. Most of the pressing business was handled in the meeting just now. We need to decide what to do after I’m done with this errand though.” Karna suggested. “I’m going to be somewhat busy with the heir business for some time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t deal with other outstanding issues. Additionally, if you have personal business to take care of, now would be the perfect time.”

“Hmm, I would like to start laying the foundation for my brotherhood, and others of my kind returning to the Divine Planes.” Valor said thoughtfully.

“And it might be useful if I started forming some connections in the social circles. You also mentioned the Harpy, and we should keep him updated and on our side. It’s likely I’m the best to act as an ambassador of sorts.” Hope looked at the others with a bit of judgement. Envy especially might create trouble if she ran into Lust.

“We need more time to recover from all our recent adventures and to meet with our families. We’ve gained a lot of glory with you, and now would be an excellent time to capitalize.” Lancelot admitted and nodded towards Helen. They had their own situations and needed to deal with the internal politics of their houses. They had been brought along mostly because it would've looked bad if they had not been included.

“I’m going to stick with Arjuna.” Silvanus, Arjuna’s Dragonborn assassin friend stated simply. As someone Arjuna trusted, he was more welcome than the other two.

“Arjuna will most likely be sticking with Tsumi until she recovers. Which might take a long time even with my help.” Karna pointed out.

“Then I will watch over them and cultivate. I need to integrate all the recent benefits either way.” Silvanus didn’t seem to be planning on changing his mind, and Karna didn’t mind.

“Speaking of watching over, you know I’ll be sticking with you. Even with this cleanup operation.” Envy said simply and stepped up to Karna’s shadow. It seemed like she sunk inside the shadow, not leaving even a hint of her presence, and even Karna had trouble sensing her.

“This one is recent. When did you pick it up?” She asked curiously. She’d seen similar techniques of course, but Envy hadn’t used one before.

"I always had the skill in theory, but our little crusade allowed me to pick up a few things." Envy's voice came out of her shadow.

"Fair enough." Karna was fine with that explanation and looked towards Wisdom and Kensei.

“I’m going to do some planning.” Wisdom said. “The Grand Marshall suggested another crusade with a larger scale, and I think I might as well see if I can find him and help him plan things. The logistics alone are going to be a nightmare. So much to plan and calculate.”

Kensei didn’t even bother responding and just lifted her sword.

"Alright then. I also suggest that everyone take time and try to get close to ranking up as well. We don't have endless time and we need to become stronger. The recent battles should've provided everyone with ample opportunities for forging yourselves. I'll also make any pills and arrange any cultivation resources you might require." Her tone clearly hinted that Karna had just given them an order disguised as a suggestion. Things were coming to a boiling point, and it would be very useful if they could become as strong as possible before that.

------

Karna had assumed her Kun-Peng form to travel to Kronus’ house to make the trip as quickly as possible when she sensed something. She didn’t hesitate for a moment before dodging, which turned out to be the correct decision, as a powerful stream of arcane energy flashed through the place she would’ve been at if she had not dodged. The attack wasn’t powerful enough to have killed her, not even close with how sturdy she was, but it would’ve been quite bad if she’d taken it head-on.

“Do come out. There’s no point in hiding after missing your first attack.” Karna called out while returning to her normal form.

No one else said anything, but several beings clad in dark clothing surrounded her. The assailants didn't waste time by making small talk and just attacked her directly. They worked well as a team, with one acting as a supporter buffing their allies, three attacking in melee, one using a magical bow, and two casting spells at her. The melee ones also used different weapons with different reach to make countering them more difficult, while the archer waited for an opportunity to take a shot when she was vulnerable and distracted. One of the mages was gathering power for another powerful attack, while the other one cast debilitating spells at her, rendering her less able to resist. Or at least that was the plan.

As the trio of melee dashed at her, Envy suddenly leapt out of her shadow and struck down one of the melee fighters in a single accurate blow, while also sending a deadly burst of Qi at the so-far hidden assassin, that fell to the ground clutching at their chest in pain. Karna on the other hand shifted her eyes to those of a basilisk, fully powering them to attack the enemies. The archer was the most unfortunate one as they'd been staring at her with the focus of a hawk, trying to spot any moment of weakness, and their perception was now their undoing as they fell to the ground as nothing but a corpse. One of the melee fighters started turning to stone, his movements slowed down to a point where they were not a concern. The mage that was casting a devastating spell lost their concentration, stunned by the backlash from a miscast spell, while the de-buff mage found their magic ineffective simply because Karna was quite easily countering their magic as it was cast. She knew well the effects that debilitating magic could have and prioritized stopping it.

The final melee fighter managed to close the distance, thrusting at Karna with their spear. They had clearly placed all their power into this single attack, with glowing wings of power surrounding their weapon, and it would’ve been quite dangerous if it were to hit. The problem was that with Karna’s speed and perception, it looked like the enemy was thrusting in slow motion, and she rather easily slammed aside the spear with the war hammer that materialized in her hand. The devastating power behind the attack was thrown off target, destroying a huge swath of the mountainous terrain they had been fighting in, and wasting all that effort.

It seemed like everyone froze for a moment, before all the enemies suddenly just collapsed. “Suicide?” Envy asked, a bit surprised, kicking at the petrified fighter that had just fallen down while half stone.

“No. Puppets.” Karna corrected, using the corner of her hammer to remove the veil covering the spear wielder's face, revealing a rather young human man. "Living puppets to be exact."

“Ah. Makes sense with some of the stuff that was in Kronus’ basement.” Envy suddenly made the connection. “But who’s behind the attack? Kronus is dead.”

“Obviously he wasn’t the only one connected to this. And it’s not like he’s the only one with the required knowledge. I’ve been wondering when someone would try to assassinate me. There are certainly enough people with reason to try.” Karna was rather efficient at making enemies, although she was also good at making allies. “In fact, I’m almost shocked that Hoeth at least hasn’t tried before now.”

“Well, you have been surrounded by members of the Host and even the Crusade since your meeting with the Emperor and the other successor candidates. Maybe there simply hasn’t been a good opportunity. I mean, even now we’re deep in the heart of House Titannica territory. Which does raise some questions about how they knew you’d be here.” Envy speculated while gazing at their surroundings, trying to stop any hidden enemies or spells that would explain how they’d been detected.

“That one’s easy. Someone from House Titannica gave them the information. I’m almost positive there are multiple people that were present in the earlier meeting that have reason to see me dead and they all knew I was coming this way and when. I don’t think Hoeth was behind this though. Or at least if it was, I don’t think it was a serious attempt.” Karna suggested.

“It did feel a little half-assed for a serious attempt. Their first attack was quite decent. It’s not easy to hit a Kun-Peng traveling at full speed, and while it wouldn’t have killed you, it would’ve done some damage. Their chances dropped significantly when they missed though. This was clearly not a team of elite fighters. They didn’t have the ranks nor the staying power. Well, if they really were just puppets as you said, then it makes sense why they sucked so bad. They were a sacrificial pawn meant to just take a stab at you.” Envy speculated. “I wonder if they observed the fight somehow? I can’t spot anything, but any traces might have disappeared as these guys died.

“If they succeeded, then great, and if not, then nothing important lost. And they gained some information to do better next time.” Karna nodded. “Not a bad theory.” There were also several mental aspects that might have been at play from trying to make her act more cautiously, all the way to the opposite of making her more reckless by making such a feeble attempt, but it was a fool’s errand to try and guess at those kinds of motives. “It also could’ve been the best they could do with such a short notice. That said, I think we can safely assume this won’t be the last attempt. The game has begun to quote the old proverb.”

“We should also warn the others. They might be targeted as well when they move independently.” Envy pointed out. That might have been another reason for the attack, to corral their movements by deterring them from independent action.

Karna pulled out a messaging talisman and sent the silent warning. “I think the bigger issue is that I’m almost certain these were puppets. They didn’t commit suicide. Their controller just abandoned them. That means whatever Kronus was up to is not limited to him.”

“We suspected as much already.” Envy pointed out.

“Yes, but at least I was hoping to be wrong. It’s not pleasant to get a confirmation. What we need to find out now is whether this is confined to just House Titannica, or if it’s a more widespread plot. If it is more widespread, then we have a purge on our hands. And if we have real puppet masters on our hands, then things just got a lot more complicated.”

“Agreed.” Envy nodded with pursed lips. “I’m not one to balk at most things, but even I draw a line when it comes to turning people into puppets. It’s vile. It’s also unfortunately rather effective if done right.”

“Let’s get to Kronus’ place. I need to torch it, and we might as well see what sort of puppetry we’re dealing with.” Karna suggested.

The two made the rest of the trip. The distances were not too long with the speed of Kun-Peng, though Kronus did have his dwelling in a relatively remote location, for reasons they now understood. Titans also liked their space in general, so it wasn’t suspicious in normal circumstances. With Envy hidden, the information blockade group allowed Karna to pass without any trouble. As they reached the property itself, the bodies had mostly been cleared out already after being inspected, lined up at the front to be burned along with the building, while the prisoners had been taken away for questioning.

Karna’s investigation of the basement was quickly completed, and what she found reinforced the idea that turning people into puppets was just a minor part of the horrors that had been done in that place, although one that she and Envy particularly despised. She also confirmed that this was where the worst of the worst methods for multiple already unethical fields were tested. It wasn’t just that unethical things had been done and tested here, but that the tests were almost seeking the most despicable and brutal way to accomplish those goals. Now that the enchantment hiding the basement had been broken, the entire area seemed to be filled with an aura of brutality, suffering, and gory experimentation. She could almost hear the wails of all the souls that had their lives cut short here as those voices had mixed with the very materials of the building. And those were likely the lucky ones.

It was with considerable eagerness that she turned into her fully grown phoenix form in all its glory and burned the entire area into nothing but ash. The purifying effects of the fires of a sacred phoenix were amongst the most powerful cleansing forces in existence, and her flames were quite efficient at their job. Her form had reached its full size and beyond, perhaps due to the influence of her other forms, however her flames also had to struggle against the protective enchantments of the building. Just because the defenses had been disabled before she arrived, didn’t mean that the enchantments reinforcing the building itself weren’t active. Any building in the Divine Planes would be reinforced just by the ambient power, and this place certainly had additional enchantments. Still, she happily allowed her flames to wash over the area for hours, just to make sure nothing remained. Even stone and metal was molten down and turned into slag.

Once she was done, she kept her promise and turned into her draconic form and sent her breath at the mountain itself, annihilating it completely, making sure no evidence was left behind. “Feeling better?” Envy asked.

“Better is a bad way to put it. Less tainted perhaps, knowing this place is no more. I'm afraid we'll more than likely find more of its kind before we're done." Karna grimaced.

Her words turned out to be quite true. In the next two weeks, they found three smaller similar places at sites owned by either Kronus or his allies, who were quite quickly executed after being questioned. During the questioning, and while going through every lead they’d found at the sites, they were able to deduce this wasn’t just a problem within House Titannica. That meant they would need to make contact with the other houses and reveal what they’d found to be able to further their investigation.

Some argued against it of course, unwilling to allow a dark secret like this out, even if only to a limited group of other people. They argued, rightly, that once a secret was allowed to spread like that, it would not remain a secret much longer. However, Karna was quick to point out that if she wanted to truly keep the secret, then she would have to kill all of them as well, as they'd already proven the existence of malicious actors within the House. To placate any further protests, she also pointed out that a shared dark secret was actually a great way to ensure the silence of anyone they contacted, and that a secret like this also made for a great way to form alliances.

And it just so happened that one of the other Houses implicated was House Draconis, which could prove to be a very useful ally.

Chapter 152 - Sic Semper Draconis

A note from Vihyungrang

Here we go. I hope you'll enjoy!

-------

*flip* *flip*

The black-haired man in dragon-themed robes paged through the documents he'd been given. His sharp features remained stoic the entire time, though the two on the opposite side of the table could see the anger growing in his eyes. While the man was good at hiding his emotions, his robes reacted to them anyway, as the dragons woven into the silk seemed to move around angrily and release soundless growls and roars. After reaching the end of the documents, he wordlessly handed them to the younger man standing behind his chair.

The younger man received the documents without comment and started to pour through them as well. He was the spitting image of the other man, only younger, and his reactions while reading were similar as well. Both of them had their long and silky hair tied into a simple ponytail behind their back, and their appearance would likely incite a riot among any of the mortal worlds and kingdoms. Both of them were splendid examples of immortality and divinity bringing out the best in one’s appearance, practically exemplifying the tall, dark, and handsome description. Even among divines, these two would be considered quite good-looking, and their immaculate appearance reflected a certain amount of vanity and pride typical of their race. Both appeared fully human on the outside, but everyone present knew that to be just a front.

“I’m assuming this is all verified.” The sitting man spoke. His godhood was very obvious as he did nothing to hide it, though he also didn’t flaunt it either. It was what and who he was, and he didn’t care to hide it.

"As much as it can be just from our end," Shiva replied, allowing his own divinity to meet the dark man's on equal grounds, sharply dividing the room in two. They were currently in one of the private meeting rooms of the Grand Assembly. "We of course can't be certain until you raid some of the places mentioned by those we interrogated and in the documents we found. For all we know, the information could be outdated by now.”

The younger man in dragon robes leaned a bit forward and spoke quietly. Not quietly enough that the other people in the room couldn't hear, but quietly enough that it was clear his words were meant for the older man only. "Father, while it is difficult to believe some in the House Draconis involved with vile things like this, some of this research…" He left the rest unsaid.

“Yes, I could easily imagine certain parties in our House interested in certain parts of it. Especially the methods for trying to improve bloodline purity. The goal is something most dragons can understand even if the methods used are not.” The older man admitted grudgingly. That bit of information in particular was enough to convince him that this was real.

For dragons, the power of your bloodline was very important. The purer and more powerful the bloodline, the more powerful you could become as a dragon. It was also a fact that few dragons liked to openly speak about, but there was a clear hierarchy among the different kinds of dragons. And the more powerful your bloodline, the more powerful type of a dragon you were. Metallic dragons hatched only metallic dragons, but a Gold Dragon, for example, could lay eggs that birthed other kinds of metallic dragons, even if it was more likely to hatch more Gold Dragons. And while the difference between a Brass and a Bronze dragon wasn’t great, the difference between a Brass and a Gold dragon was rather notable, not to mention Platinum or the more evolved magical metal types. The same held true for chromatic and gem dragons. An average Azure Dragon dwarfed White and Blue dragons, and that was just the physical side. If a Brass dragon could purify their bloodline, they could theoretically evolve into something greater either when ranking up or when they performed certain rituals. It was rare for a dragon to be from the magical metals when newly hatched, but even a Brass Dragon could evolve into one in rare circumstances. It was rather obvious why some dragons would go to almost any length to improve their bloodline.

“I’m going to assume that you didn’t bring this up just to force concessions out of us, seeing as you’re directly admitting that your house was also involved in the research and all this other mess." The sitting dragon stated. As the current leader of the House, even if House Draconis was for all intents and purposes impossible to fully rule over, it wasn't uncommon to get requests from other heads of house for negotiation. Still, this wasn't what he had expected when the leader of House Titannica had requested for this meeting. The presence of the girl at Shiva’s side had given him hope of another kind of negotiation.

“No. It would be foolish to try to blackmail someone with information that implicates us as well. We’re trying to organize a concerted effort to excise this tumor instead. We’ve already cleansed our own House. Now we want to deal with the other Houses.” Shiva explained briefly.

“The recent purge of Kronus and his allies.” The younger dragon suddenly stated in realization. “We were led to believe that was due to a power struggle over the heir position, but it seems we were mistaken.” He glanced toward Karna standing behind Shiva. Only the heads of the two houses and the heirs were present.

“It was tied to the fight for the position of heir where all this came to light, so that information wasn’t entirely wrong.” She said suavely. The others realized the wordless implications. The struggle for power had provided a convenient excuse for this larger purge.

“So. Kronus was involved in all this.” The sitting dragon waved at the documents, now on the table between the two groups. “You’ve also hinted at other houses being involved, but I noticed that all mention of them was left out of the documents.”

“We’re protecting their privacy for now. As you might expect, some will not react as calmly as you have. It helps keep them calm if we haven’t already announced their names to everyone else. You’ll note that we’ll be providing you with the same protection. However, since we wish to make this a concerted effort, we will bring everyone together once we have buy-in from everyone involved.” Shiva explained. This was all Karna’s plan, so he was just acting as the mouthpiece.

“And if a house refuses to work together, or their leadership is involved?” The younger dragon asked, before realizing the answer himself. “Ah, you’re going to turn the Golden Order on them. I can only imagine how they would react.”

The Golden Order was one of the mostly Human organizations that were rather upright in their morality and willingness to fight to uphold their values. It wasn’t uncommon for them to fight other houses over sins committed in the past. “And since you’ve already punished those involved in your house, the Golden Order would be more than happy to assist.” The older dragon finished. “What a neat little arrangement.”

The two dragons considered the options before them for a time, and both Shiva and Karna were happy to give them the time required. They would want to consider something like this properly as well. Finally, the sitting dragon seemed to reach some conclusions. “Dealing with this matter on our end is a little more complicated than it was for you. House Draconis isn’t as unified as the other houses. Even I can only really guarantee the cooperation of the Gem Dragons, and my reach into the other two groups is limited. We’ll need to bring the others in on this.”

As the home of all dragons, perhaps the most powerful of all magical beings, the house of the dragons had more theoretical power than most others, but they’d always suffered from a lack of unity. Chromatic and Metallic dragons really didn’t get along, and there were many types of dragons that didn’t neatly fall into the three main categories and thus felt left out. There were also magical races that weren’t exactly dragons but were still hanging on the fringes of the house in the hopes of gaining acceptance, or eventually becoming dragons themselves.

“On the positive side, I don’t think this problem has spread too far just yet.” The younger dragon pointed out. Keeping secrets within the house between the three main factions was just as difficult as finding unity after all. And if it had spread wide, then they’d heard about it already.

“Still, we’ll need more time to prepare to deal with this issue than other houses.” The older dragon grunted.

“That’s why we came to you first.” Shiva nodded in agreement and understanding. That too had been Karna’s idea. This was also part of their plan to forge an alliance with the dragons.

The older dragon looked up towards Karna. “I can’t help but notice that this all came about just as you decided to take your position as the heir. A bit of a surprise that one, but it seems you’re a catalyst for change in many ways. Your crusade also shook things up, and I haven’t seen the Grand Assembly get this excited about anything for a while. You know, you could always come to House Draconis instead of hanging out with the Titans. I can almost guarantee that you’d rise to become the God of Metallic dragons in a relatively short order. The lure of a Celestium Dragon, not to mention a Stellar Dragon at that, is a powerful one. Who knows, you might take over my position as the overall leader eventually.”

The gods of the dragons were a bit of a special case. They were only really worshipped by dragons, and related races such as Dragonlings, Dragonborn, Wyrms, and some Saurians and Lizardmen. Their believers were more limited, but also very powerful. Every major dragon type had their own god that they worshipped in particular, as well as venerating the other draconic gods in general. The Silver Dragons venerated the God of Silver Dragons, while at the same time paying their respects to even the chromatic gods. They also had one major True God for each of the three main types, the God of Metallic Dragons, the God of Chromatic Dragons, and the God of Gem Dragons. Usually, but not always, the most powerful member of each type became their God, though different dragon types also valued other qualities.

The older dragon present was not just the leader of House Draconis, but he was also the God of Gem Dragons, while his heir was the God of Obsidium Dragons. Two of the dragon gods had joined Karna’s crusade before, and they’d both come from the metallic dragons because her Celestium scales technically placed her in the metallic category, even if cosmic dragons like her were considered a separate category on their own.

"While the offer is intriguing, I have assumed my place as the heir of House Titannica," Karna responded in a show of loyalty. It would’ve reflected very badly on her if she’d accepted the offer.

“There strictly speaking isn’t a rule to say you can’t be part of more than one house, but we can leave that discussion for another day.” The older dragon knew this was not the time or the place. “We will take this up with the other dragon gods.”

Shiva and Karna knew this was as much as they would get at this point. The dragons would need to confirm the information before committing to anything anyway. As they exited the room, Shiva allowed a smile on his face. “That went much better than I expected. I know the dragons have been interested in getting you to be a part of their house, but I didn’t realize they wanted it badly enough to even consider allowing you to be part of another house.”

“There’s a reason they found the research on blood purity to be a believable gateway to more sinister topics. They’d approve me for the same reason, as any progeny I’d have with a dragon would be guaranteed to become powerful. They also want to know how my bloodline is so pure even with my other bloodlines. Besides, even if we give the dragons grief for their pride and other failings, they can be quite intelligent and far-sighted. They can see that the fight for the throne might be tilting my way. And some of them have memories of my Names as well.” Karna stated.

Shiva realized this was the closest she'd ever come to confirming that she might be the Sacred Lady somehow returning from the grave. He also knew this would likely be as much of a confirmation as he'd ever get. "Now that we've talked with the most important party we know of being involved in this, what’s your next plan? I know the Grand Marshall is planning another crusade, but that’s not going to happen quickly.”

“Aside from the heir duties I’ve now taken on?” She asked with a smile. She’d need to represent their house in many social engagements just to name the most obvious duty. Her elevation needed to be officially announced to other parties after all.

"Aside from those, of course," Shiva confirmed.

“I’ll need to help Tsumi recover. The energy from the Netherworld is difficult to remove, and even Envy was affected despite her brief exposure. Tsumi will need a long time to recover even with my help. I’m also going to try and increase my personal power. Currently, I'm the lowest-ranked of the serious contenders for the throne, and I need to close that gap as much as possible to be seen as a viable alternative. On that note, when I do get to the point of ranking up, I'll need a place to do it. Preferably a place that you don't mind getting destroyed." One of the benefits of their group reaching full divinity was that it hastened their journey towards the next rank. It didn't hasten everyone, as many people had reached the extent of their potential by the time they became gods, but none of her core allies had that problem as they were reincarnators. It was an open question how far Tsumi and Arjuna would be able to reach, and they’d already fallen behind.

“We have dedicated secure places for just such a purpose inside our territory.” Shiva pointed out. “They’ve been built to withstand the rigors of ranking up and even tribulations.”

“I’m afraid you misunderstood me. I was quite serious when I asked you to suggest a place you didn’t mind getting destroyed, but I should’ve been more specific. There’s a good chance the entire world will end up destroyed or at least uninhabitable. And this won’t be something that can be contained by reinforced walls.” She turned to face the old True God, looking him straight in the eyes just to make sure he understood she wasn't kidding or overexaggerating.

"I have to ask, what kind of rank-up did you have in mind? I already know your Aura Technique allows you to take on other bloodlines. What kind of bloodline are you considering that would result in such devastation? I assume this isn’t about your magic or Qi." He asked while thinking about possible places.

“My previous form was that of a Sacred beast. The natural thing to do is to go in the opposite direction.” She hinted.

“But don’t you already have several forms that are considered Beasts of the Apocalypse? Why is this one different?” He frowned.

Beasts of the Apocalypse were considered such because they were in many ways the anathema of Gods, so it was natural to think of them as the opposite of something Sacred. However, he was wrong in this case. Sacred didn’t necessarily always equal gods. "Opposite in a different way. Not the opposite of gods, but the opposite of the Sacred Beast. Something profane."

Shiva, knowing how powerful Karna’s earlier forms were, had to swallow at the thought of what she might have in mind. He could think of a handful of possibilities. “How profane are we talking about? Because this might create some issues when you reveal it to others.”

“Very.” She couldn’t help the malicious smile. She was going to go back to the lives where she earned some of her worst Names for inspiration.

--------

"Could you repeat that?" The Grand Marshall looked up from the maps that he'd been studying with Wisdom and stared at the messenger.

“The forces of Netherworld have retreated from the front we share with them.” The messenger in the golden armor of the Host repeated, quite understanding the confusion. He was feeling the same after all.

“What do you mean retreated? They’ve ceased attacks? They’ve buggered off completely? What? I need some details.” The titan asked impatiently.

“We can’t fully determine that yet. Our scouts are still trying to find out the full extent of the situation, but the generals decided it was important to let you know as soon as possible. We can say with certainty that their attacks have stopped and that we have not found any sign of them so far so at least the areas near the front are abandoned.” The messenger reported. He wasn’t fully briefed on the situation either as he’d been sent off in a hurry.

“When did this start?” Wisdom asked. There was some kind of plan afoot. And it was imperative to discover how late they were in reacting.

“The attacks stopped a couple of days ago. The full disappearance of their forces was noticed a few hours ago. So far as the generals were guessing on current information, it seems the enemy has withdrawn all the way back to the Netherworld, but that is still speculative.” The messenger made sure to mention the speculative nature of the information. It wouldn’t do to report something as a fact when that wasn’t the case.

“Whatever is going on, we’re quite late in responding.” The Grand Marshall realized. A certain possibility occurred to him. “Return immediately and have every border fort go into full code red. I want as many countermeasures against rank 14 beings in place as quickly as possible.” The front lines could’ve retreated to avoid getting caught in an attack by such beings.

“Yes sir. Sir, they’re going to ask what to do with the worlds the Netherworld has suddenly vacated.” The messenger pointed out.

The Grand Marshall knew they would, but he didn't have a good answer. "Tell them to prepare a full defense. We don't want to overextend over a few worlds and then end up allowing a breach because our defenses were not fully prepared. If they really have withdrawn, then they'll either attack some other way, or the worlds will still be there once we get a better handle on things. Don’t let the allure of a couple worlds bait you.”

The messenger gave a salute and left in a hurry. “What do you think is going on?” Wisdom asked, his mind running wild with scenarios as well.

“I’m not sure. It could be a reaction to your little crusade, but…” The Grand Marshall allowed a frown on his face. “That feels too good to be true.”

“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst?” Wisdom asked.

“Something like that. I’ve long since learned that if your enemy does something unexpected, then it’s rarely positive news for you. The problem is that I don’t know what the ‘worst’ is in this case, so I can’t prepare for it.” He tapped the plans they had been making. Wisdom had been quite useful with all this planning of the second crusade. He’d need to remember to tell Ynnead to keep the man around. “These are now most likely useless though. Or at the very least, we’ll have to change the target. They could work against the Inferno in theory…”

Table of Contents

Title Page
Prologue
Chapter 1 - Heavensfall
Chapter 2 - The belle of the ball
Chapter 3 - Spiritual awakening
Chapter 4 - Introductions and hasty exits
Chapter 5 - Choosing a path
Chapter 6 - Training
Chapter 7 - Burn baby, burn!
Chapter 8 - The Academy
Chapter 9 - Tests
Chapter 10 - Rememberance and potential
Chapter 11 - Celebration
Chapter 12 - Rivalries
Chapter 13 - Friends
Chapter 14 - Friendly competition
Chapter 15 - Some things...
Chapter 16 - Self improvement

Chapter 17 - The basics of performance enhancing drugs

Chapter 18 - Pillows!
Chapter 19 - We all have our kinks
Chapter 20 - Thunder and Lightning
Chapter 21 - Bras and warnings
Chapter 22 - Secrets revealed
Chapter 23 - Judgment
Chapter 24 - Domination
Chapter 25 - Tournament arc?
Chapter 26 - Dance for your supper
Chapter 27 - Smackdown!
Chapter 28 - Various kinds of lessons
Chapter 29 - Peaceful resolution
Chapter 30 - The Emissary
Chapter 31+ - Onsen episode?
Chapter 32 - The start of a journey
Chapter 33 - Girl Talk
Chapter 34 - Divergent objectives?
Chapter 35 - Deals and gift horses
Chapter 36 - Masquerade
Chapter 37 - Festival of Life
Chapter 38+++ - One night stand
Chapter 39 - The morning after
Chapter 40 - Rememberance
Chapter 41 - What goes around...
Chapter 42 - ...comes around.
Chapter 43 - Roses are red
Chapter 44 - The talk
Chapter 45 - Singing up a Storm
Chapter 46 - Search and Rescue
Chapter 47 - Shipwrecked
Chapter 48 - Omens of the future
Chapter 49 - Lost and Found
Chapter 50 - Decision, decisions
Chapter 51 - Whiskers
Chapter 52 - Fires of War
Chapter 53 - Miracle
Chapter 54 - Suspicion
Chapter 55 - Home
Chapter 56 - Good news and...
Chapter 57 - Memories
Chapter 58 - Change of perspective
Chapter 59 - Gemini
Chapter 60 - To nudge or not to nudge

Chapter 61 - Weather report predicts strong winds and looting.

Chapter 62 - Loot and plunder!
Chapter 63 - Arrows
Chapter 64 - Eye for an eye...
Chapter 65 - Well that didn't work as planned
Chapter 66 - A cat fight?
Chapter 67 - Facing yourself
Chapter 68 - Bets
Chapter 69+++ -A different type of revenge.
Chapter 70 - Escalation
Chapter 71 - Questioning/Interrogation?
Chapter 72 - One woman construction crew
Chapter 73 - Tower Spirit
Chapter 74 - Fire ze cannon!
Chapter 75 - Complications
Chapter 76 - Inferno
Chapter 77 - Through fire and flames
Chapter 78 - The Reaper
Chapter 79 - Talks
Chapter 80 - Sentinels
Chapter 81 - Winter
Chapter 82 - Monsoon
Chapter 83 - Of sin and virtue
Chapter 84 - History
Chapter 85 - Show and tell
Chapter 86 - Layers
Chapter 87 - That hardly seems fair
Chapter 88 - Aftermath
Chapter 89 - Deals of all kinds
Chapter 90 - Gateway
Chapter 91 - Divinity is bullshit
Chapter 92 - No more hiding
Chapter 93 - Counter offer
Chapter 94 - Exposed
Chapter 95 - Stirring Monsters

Chapter 96 - Of Sins and Virtues 2 (electric boogaloo)

Chapter 97 - Sonic Insect Annihilator
Chapter 98 - So that happened...
Chapter 99 - Kidnapping 101
Chapter 100 - Hope born of Wrath
Chapter 101 - Valor and Envy
Chapter 102 - The River
Chapter 103 - Goodbyes
Chapter 104 - Messenger
Chapter 105 - Starlight Tower
Chapter 106 - Operation Warp Storm
Chapter 107 - Commence hostilities
Chapter 108 - Serpent vs. Dragon
Chapter 109 - Domination
Chapter 110 - Imperial ambitions
Chapter 111 - Divine Planes ahoy!
Chapter 112 - You could've told me!
Chapter 113 - That sounds nice
Chapter 114 - Of realms and afterlives
Chapter 115 - Party all the time
Chapter 116 - Daddy issues
Chapter 117 - Debut
Chapter 118 - Murderpuppies?
Chapter 119 - First contact
Chapter 120 - Old acquaintances
Chapter 121 - Baywatch
Chapter 122 - Meeting of fates
Chapter 123 - Tests
Chapter 124 - Dramatis Personae
Chapter 125 - Corps
Chapter 126 - Creation
Chapter 127 - Team Omega
Chapter 128 - Aquarius
Chapter 129 - Sources
Chapter 130 - Caution versus risk
Chapter 131 - Resolution
Chapter 132 - Sparks
Chapter 133 - Defense
Chapter 134 - The Bachelor
Chapter 135 - Wrath
Chapter 136 - Progress
Chapter 137 - Assembly
Chapter 138 - Escalation
Chapter 139 - Reunions
Chapter 140 - Duels
Chapter 141 - 10 years
Chapter 142 - Deals and favors
Chapter 143 - Crusader Kings
Chapter 144 - Bag of Tricks
Chapter 145 - Next step
Chapter 146 - Exfiltration
Chapter 147 - Enter Harpy
Chapter 148 - Machinations
Chapter 149 - Ceremony
Chapter 150 - What's in the box?!
Chapter 151 - Puppetry
Chapter 152 - Sic Semper Draconis