Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

[Malcolm Tent]

Five days went by in a blur. Forty more scrolls put me at ninety two, just one day short of a hundred (not counting the three emergency scrolls my friends kept on hand), and I wasn't any less nervous because of the excess. Bethy had been working with Callie and I the whole time, and we'd mostly come up with a stable method of training we were PRETTY sure would help.

Which was what we were doing now. Stacking our influence as we tried to prepare for the conclave. It was starting in about a two and a half hours (for us, there were people there already, but we weren't needed until the majority got there) and we wanted her to be in the best possible condition for this fight. I had no clue what this werewolf might have up his sleeves, and I wasn't worried about her losing, but if she lost control and started eating people the C-rankers would have to stop her, and that might be dangerous, assuming she didn't just escape.

"Alright, are you sure you're good for the next round?" I asked her worriedly. Bethy looked…bad. Hair matted, face soaked with sweat, and her ever present sparkle was completely missing. She looked grim and determined, which was a side I knew she HAD, but didn't make it less unsettling to see.

Callie seemed to feel the same. "I think that's enough Bethy," she assured her. "We've been chipping away at your bloodlust for almost a week now. It's just one fight."

Bethy shook her head. "Again," she croaked hoarsely. "We don't know what he can do. It's too dangerous to take chances." Her face looked gaunt and sallow. The process we'd been using definitely wasn't healthy. We'd been burning her bloodline away bits at a time and then using the heretic flame to reinforce the stripped spots. Zagan helped her regenerate, but there was some loss, and we'd done more than a few rounds.

The thing was, it seemed to be working. It wasn't really protecting the areas of stripped bloodline so much as being consumed, but Bethy's bloodline seemed to actively devour the heretic flame. It was integrating little bits of it into the sections that were restored.

What that actually MEANT I had no idea. I knew that you could alter racial traits, hell the werewolf we were preparing Bethy to fight had done it. It wasn't EASY exactly, but while not necessarily god level, Callie and I had tricks other people our level didn't come close to.

Taking a deep breath, I held my hands out. Genesis Burst. I poured the power into her, and Bethy threw back her head and screamed. Grimacing, Callie put her hands on our friend's shoulders and surged blue black heretic fire into her. Archie trilled, spreading his wings and exploding into a Life Nova that fueled all three of us.

The energy synergized well with Zagan, and it helped me keep up my output. There was an element of Zagan in the heretic flame too, though it changed the composition a bit. I could swear her flames looked a bit more greenish under Archie's influence.

After ten more minutes (which seemed like hours) we stopped, staggering away to sit down, taking deep breaths.

"Do you think we cut it a bit close?" I panted. "We only have a few hours to rest before we have to be there."

My sister, looking worried, stepped forward to help Bethy up. She and Gabe were standing by with Dayna. I could see on their faces that they wished they could feed her to help her recover, but if she bit anyone who wasn't a thrall it would cause agonizing pain as the stats were ripped from the body.

"It should be fine," she assured me. "Bethy recovers incredibly quickly as long as she has someone to feed on. Dayna is strong, and she should be in fighting shape within the hour." She glanced at the vampire with concern. "Is this going to be a regular thing? I mean, you can actually FIX her by doing this, right?"

I shrugged. "I mean…a bit. It's working a little better than the wishes. At this rate we could modify her trait within a few months, provided it doesn't start to adapt to the changes. At the moment it's sucking up the heretic flame like a sponge, but the actual changes are VERY minimal. If I had to guess Lark's mythology is infused into her through the Domain."

Which was frustrating, but I couldn't do anything about it. I still didn't know exactly where Domains fit into the whole soul body dynamic when it came to racial traits. I knew that animals didn't have them, but I wasn't sure how they impacted the way the Path connected body and soul. A lot of the way racial traits worked was counterintuitive, and seemed to have been made to compensate for the restrictions humans had that beasts didn't.

Of course, while it might seem at first glance that beasts had it easier than people, that was hardly the case. The percentage of humans competing for renown was infinitesimal, and it got smaller the higher up you went. With beasts, every single animal was competition for the renown of your species.

Killing other beasts and consuming them helped spread your legend, but beyond that, based on the way that stats were integrated into the bodies of animals, I was pretty sure they might be able to get stronger by eating other beasts. Which meant you had to worry about someone eating you for your renown at any time.

The elixir cap people had was based on soul strength, and since beasts had their soul and body (or at least stats) combined from day one, I doubted it was there. Of course, humans had their own advantages. Communication and systems of information dispersal, for one. I wondered if that had anything to do with why some beasts took human form.

I was distracting myself again. I focused on Bethy. "I'm going to keep trying. Don't misunderstand. I just don't want you guys thinking this is a tomorrow fix. It'll be months if not years before Bethy will see any changes to her trait, if she does at all."
The exhausted vampire shot me a heartbreakingly bright smile. "It's ok, Shane. I know how hard you're working to help me. It means a lot. This is why we're besties! Come here and give me a hug!" She threw her arms out, stepping forward to hug me, and I dodged back in horror, trying to avoid her sweaty embrace.

"Gross, Bethy you're covered in grime! Don't get my armor all sweaty!" Summoning some energy from deep within herself, she darted after me, cackling like a madwoman. I saw my wife snickering behind her hand and dove over her shoulder, taking refuge behind her much smaller form.

She gasped. "TRAITOR!" Then she wheeled on Bethy. "Bethany Lark, if you get my new costume all sweaty two hours before a big event, you will PAY. I'll make you sit with me and sort through Celine's economic impact reports. And I'll QUIZ you."
The maniacal vampire froze, reeling back in horror. "What?" She wailed. "But that's BORING! Celine's writing is SO flowery. It's like reading math based poetry. Anything but that!"

I wasn't aware we even GOT economic impact statements from Celine. I shot my wife a pulse of gratitude through the bond, and she just rolled her eyes. Bethy, pouting but subdued, turned and strode out of the room, head held high. Her adoring fans smirked and waved goodbye as they followed her out.

"I can't believe that worked," I marveled at my wife. "You made BETHY behave."

She blew on her nails, buffing them against her cloak. "What can I say? She knows who's really in charge in this family."

"My grandmother," I said dryly. Now it was Callie's turn to pout, but it quickly turned into a squeal of surprise as I tossed her over my shoulder. "Now let's go get cleaned up. We have to look presentable for this conclave."
We headed back to our rooms, each taking a shower (an hour a piece) and then spent the last thirty minutes relaxing together before meeting up with everyone else.

Carmichael was waiting for us in the hallway outside our rooms. "Alright, are you all ready?" He asked worriedly. "I have to admit, I'm pretty worried about this fight. I get the feeling it won't be as easy as you all seem to think."

"You might be right," I admitted. Everyone turned to stare at me in surprise. "What? I've been trying to cut back on my instinctive arrogance. Bethy is scary, but she's not operating unrestricted. Whoever this guy is has the backing of a deity. Admittedly, the whole werewolf vs. vampire thing is actually pretty cool, but there are a lot of species of werewolf, and I've seen a few scary ones. This will be a tough fight, even for Bethy. That's why we put so much effort into purifying and reinforcing her bloodline. The resistance to the bloodlust will let her tap into her power more deeply."

Her fight with me had stretched her limits, but there had been some purification after, while it had mostly faded, combined with all our work this last week it should be enough to let her put in some serious effort. Her fight with Dayna had been WAY beyond what she'd done against me. It showed how much stronger she could be when she wasn't holding back.

Dayne herself nodded. "I've fought you both. I believe you to be stronger, but don't underestimate Dastan. The Hound of Verdyn is a dangerous foe. Don't take this battle lightly. Lady Bethy needs to be in top form. No holding back."

We all glanced at our excitable vampire friend, and she just stared back innocently. "What? I always take things seriously. Except when I don't. That happens sometimes. But this doesn't seem like one of those times. I bet I'll be completely focused."

"Why are you WAGERING on that like it's out of your control?" snapped my sister. "Just don't mess around!"
Bethy nodded solemnly. "For sure. I'll definitely probably do that. I think."

"Alright," I said with a laugh. "Bethy stop taunting my sister, Chelsea you know better than to expect a straight answer about something like that from her. Bethy comes through when it matters, we have to trust her."

Chelsea had been winding up to argue, but at the last sentence, she froze. She glanced at Bethy, bit her lip, and then nodded. Gabe put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a warm smile. "Don't worry. I'll be right there with you. If anything goes wrong, we can step in instantly. No D-ranker in the world stands a chance against all three of us. And that's only if we beat Abel and Shane there."

"Which you definitely won't," Abel said conversationally. "It's not even on the table. I would never miss the chance to save her life. Imagine it, every time she tries to pretend she's forgotten my name, I can just be like 'Well I bet you remembered it when I was saving your life'."

Bethy recoiled. "What? That's not…that's never going to happen. Stop it." She glared at him. "I don't need your help Alice, I'm going to totally win this and you're going to be like 'Oh my gods, Bethy is so cool, I don't even care if she can't remember my dumb name, she's the best in the world'. That's you. That's what you'll sound like."

I shared a smirk with my sister as we watched Bethy officially shift from whimsical to focused. Apparently the idea of owing Abel her life was literally a fate worse than death. As we walked towards the conclave, Abel continued needling her, earning waspish replies from the vampire, and the rest of us just grinned and followed behind. Sometimes a little healthy rivalry was the best motivation.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The conclave took place in the bones of the tower. It was different than the other towers we'd been to. This was missing Veldran's cute little complex, underneath this tower was something different. Emptiness. Miles and miles of it.


We came down a small staircase into a colossal chamber. The roof was maybe three hundred feet above us, but we couldn't see any of the walls, just darkness that seemed to stretch on for eternity. The roof was being held up by huge stone pillars, grey rock that matched the floors, equidistantly spaced, with all the light seemingly gathered in a single shaft in the center (I was pretty sure) of the room.


After descending the stairs, we moved forward into the shaft of light. Around us, dozens of figures sat obscured by oddly thick shadows. With our eyes, Perception being what it was D-rankers, they should have been entirely visible, but instead we just saw a bunch of vague shapes outside the light circle.


In the center of the light circle were two people. One was a tall, ghostly pale woman with pointed elfin ears and silver hair and eyes. Not silver as in grey. Silver as in silver. Like the metal. Her eyes resembled spheres of metal, with her hair looking like nothing so much as tinsel. It was shaved on one side of her head, and on the other, it had been twisted into a long braid with complicated iron jewelry.


Beside her stood an unassuming man, short and brown haired, with a plain face and a harmless looking smile. Everything about him screamed mild mannered…except the eyes. His eyes were wolf yellow, and they shone with a barely repressed madness. It was chilling, because he was smiling guilelessly if you only looked at his lower face, but the second you met those blazing chips of citrine, it was like you were drowning in a sea of animal rage. He caught sight of us, and his harmless mask cracked, his lips peeling back into a too wide smile, fully exposing his incisors in a habit that seemed like it was developed to show off fangs he didn't have right now.


"Oh!' he said cheerfully. "New friends! So lovely of you to join us. Look, Vara, our guests have arrived!"


The silver haired elf rolled her eyes. "We've been over this Dastan. Don't play with your food. It's gauche." Her eyes scanned over our group, which had emerged into the light shaft directly as a while. Her silver orbs locked on Dayna. "Hello, little sister. You dare to show your face here? I knew you were shameless, but I assumed you were considerate enough to keep your humiliation out of my eyeline."


Dayne shrugged. "That's the difference between you and I, Selvara. I don't feel humiliated by a well deserved loss. You always did care too much what people thought."


"What about ME, Dayna?" hissed the other elf. "Do you care what I think?"


"The only person who has to live my life is me," our elfin archer said placidly. "The day that ceases to be the case is the day I answer to you about what I choose to do with it."


I glared at Dayna. "Can you NOT openly antagonize the enemy before the fight?" I groaned in exasperation. "You can stick up for your life choices when this is over and she works for me, we'll be in a much better position. The polite way to handle this situation is to pretend this isn't a formality and treat her like a serious opponent until Bethy actually wins."


My wife smacked her palm into her forehead with a sigh. "Shane, honey, why do you talk?"


I shrugged. "What? It's true. Dayne can shit talk later. It'll be way more satisfying once Bethy demolishes her champion."


Dastan, who apparently didn't enjoy being spoken about like he wasn't there, turned and snarled at me. I glanced at him, annoyed, and then reached into myself and triggered two of my forms. Sammael and Bael. When Bael activated though, I tweaked it. The form usually made me invisible, made it impossible to notice me. But this time, I inverted the effect. I made it so people could ONLY notice me. I dragged all the attention in the room onto myself, the entire thing amplified by now even stronger Sammael form.


"Bad dog," I rumbled, tapping into my Mephistopheles voice. "Heel."


Dom, who had been on the other end of that particular insult before, snickered as the werewolf flinched, the combination of overwhelming power and unbreakable focus causing a shock that made him step back in surprise.


Selvara reached up and slapped her champion upside the head. "Enough," she snapped waspishly. "You're making a fool of us both. Curb your snarling and save your animosity for the match. Submit your champion. The terms have been agreed on, and there is nothing more to be said. We are beyond the time of speech. The only way forward is action."


"Action is always the only way forward," Bethy pointed out helpfully. "Moving is an action by default. If you're not taking any actions you're just standing around."


I choked back a laugh as the elf girl glared at my friend, who summarily ignored her, skipping to the middle of the light circle. "Alright, you want to go first? If I attack you at the beginning the match won't last very long. You can have the first move."


Dastan whirled, glaring into her eyes maliciously. Throwing back his head, he let loose a primal scream. His hands hooked into claws, then he reached up, grabbed his face, and started tearing. He ripped his own skin off his body like he was unwrapping a christmas present under compression. The skin gave way and a massive lupine humanoid just…sprang free like an unfolding pop tent.


By the time he finished, he wasn't short anymore. He was ten feet tall, massive slavering jaws lolling open in an expression I recognized as the grin from earlier.


Bethy returned it, her eyes burning deep crimson as her delicate fangs gleamed in the light of shining down on her. With a roar, Dastan hurls himself forwards like a charging elephant, jaws snapping and claws carving into the air. Literally INTO the air, as they tear furrows in the space itself. The descending claws rake over Bethy, and we all tense…but nothing happens.


As the claws land on my friend, her body DISSOLVES. Not into bats. Into fucking MIST. It rolls over the razor sharp talons of the werewolf, drifting to the ground gently, and the wolf goes ballistic. Snapping, snarling, tearing. He bites and rips at the mist. The fucking SPACE is being torn with every attack, but it still can't find purchase, the mist dispersing around every blow, pooling on the ground.


After a minute, the werewolf is standing in a circle of mist, and Bethy's form gracefully rises from the cloud of fog behind him, nails extended and gleaming wickedly red. With a casual ruthlessness belied by her pleasant expression, Bethy's hands blurred.


Every nail nicked a tendon or a ligament, muscles detaching from bones, joints severed. She basically took him apart at the seams, dismantling the werewolf like he was a reverse jigsaw puzzle. As she continued though, her face began to wrinkle with frustration. Her cuts were healing as soon as she made them, and while she was too fast for him to react properly, nothing was sticking.


Finally, as she was cutting into his torso, the werewolf roared and threw himself on her, seemingly so mad with rage that he'd forgotten how he ended up in this situation.


Once again, Bethy dissolved into mist. It was a really scary ability. The bats had been bad, but this was worse. Bats could die. You couldn't kill mist. I could only assume this form took a LOT of power, and was probably really rough on her bloodlust. But with our preparations, Bethy was running at a hundred (or at least at way more than she had been).


As she rose from the mist this time, she didn't claw or slash. She waited until he was off balance, then reached up and grabbed the ruff at the base of his skull. Planting a heeled stiletto in a spot on his lower back, she yanked on his head, and the unconsciously arched his spine to prevent her from impaling his spine. When he was arched up onto his toes, fully pent over backwards, Bethy jerked her head back and STRUCK like a cobra.


His body seized up, stiffening into a bow of agony as strangled screams began to grind themselves out of his throat. Bethy just clamped down, taking pull after pull, and I could SEE him getting weaker, getting less vital.


When he shifted back to human form, she dropped him, and the now emaciated form of Dastan crumpled to the ground. She's drained his regeneration. Because of its connection to blood, things like life force and regeneration were within Bethy's domain in terms of consumption. It was like how Lark could eat "plasma" because he decided it made sense.


Bethy hadn't eaten all of his Vitality, or probably even much of it, but she'd sucked his life force mostly dry. Selvara glared at us, staring down at the incredibly anticlimactic end to her ace in the hole, then she rolled her eyes with a huff. "Alright, FINE. You're not incompetent. You've convinced me. Now can one of you please repair my minion? I require him for the rest of my stay."


Chuckling, I gestured for Archie to do a flyover. I didn't want to get close to a dangerous werewolf. My phoenix friend trilled, circling above the man, and trails of green flame rolled down from his tail, repairing the emaciated body of the werewolf with surprising speed.


When he was done, he glided over to land on my outstretched arm. Bethy skipped back over, beaming at my sister. "See, I told you it wasn't a problem." She surreptitiously licked her lips, cleaning off a bit of blood. I laughed to myself. We shouldn't have doubted her. There was a difference between overconfidence and pattern recognition. Bethy won. It was in her DNA.


I remembered how easily Lark had defeated all those S-rankers. I knew he was the strongest, and maybe Bethy was the strongest too. But what we the second strongest like? I was pretty sure my grandfather's senior brother, the Moonlight Pope, was second in terms of raw power. How strong was he?


Shaking off the thought, I turned to focus on the others, who all looked poleaxed. "See, this is why we don't ask Bethy to take things seriously," I scolded Abel. "Now everyone here is going to be terrified for the rest of the conclave."


Because she had NOT been fucking around. She'd tried to butcher him, and when that hadn't worked she ATE him. It had been the most decisive fight I'd ever seen.


He shrugged. "At least it didn't happen to one of us."


I rolled my eyes, and Mel glared at him. "This is why you aren't allowed to participate in diplomacy." She criticized.


"Oh no," he said dryly. "How will I ever survive?"


I rolled my eyes, then turned to see Selvara coming over. Someone else had emerged from the dark, and was escorting Dastan out of the light. He very carefully didn't look at anyone from our group. "So, what exactly am I expected to do here?" She demanded as she came to a stop in front of us. "Because I will not swear myself to you as Dayna did. It would be humiliating."


"Not asking for an oath," I assured her, withdrawing a scroll. "You know what this is? It only activates after I'm paid. You and your people will sign contracts in payment for these, and in return, you'll be able to leave safely." I looked around the circle. "Now why don't you get them all out here, and we can get started." As the shadowy forms emerged, I noticed there was way more than fifteen of them. Apparently Bethy's demonstration had convinced everyone. Our army was taking shape.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next stage of the conclave was much less mysterious. We'd left behind the basement full of stone pillars and had retired to a large golden ballroom. The walls were white paneled with gold trim, and the floors were white marble inlaid with gold. Weirdly, despite being similar material to the city outside, this place looked much more refined.


Among the golden trim, the white paint and marble created a sense of restrained wealth and complex elegance, as opposed to the garish "we dumped gold on your town" opulence of the rest of Dawnrend.


The ballroom had been lavishly furnished too, with a huge round table draped in white silk laid out in the center, covered in bone china plates inlaid with gold traceries. Naturally, my friends and I picked a spot near someone we knew, specifically Carmichael, and took our seats. Callie sat next to me, then my sister, then her guards, then Bethy.


At the end of our line of people was Dom, who had started chatting with Dastan about…wolf stuff. He seemed thrilled to find a kindred spirit, and Dastan was slowly recovering from what Bethy had done to him, though he was notably avoiding looking at her and seemed to be unconsciously leaning away when she got closer. Meanwhile, Selvara was on Carmichael's other side, and Argaunt was on the other side of her. And we were discussing terms of cooperation.


We'd made the initial agreements, of course, terms of service for freedom. We'd ended up with an even fifty C-rank cultivators, even more than expected given that several of the godchildren hadn't agreed. After handing over all fifty scrolls, my mood had soured a bit. That was potential points down the drain, but Callie reminded me that the renown from leading a C-rank army to charge out of the dungeon and expose the Void Shallow was definitely going to be substantial.


Now we were just deciding how exactly that attack would go down. Carmine and Delilah, the Master of Martial Force and the Mistress of Soothing Whispers, were the most familiar with the defenses at the palace, where the exit was under lockdown, so they were leading the discussion.


"I'm just saying, we can hit them head on. Sure, they have us outnumbered a bit, but if we surprise attack them, we can take advantage of the lull at the beginning to kill as many as possible." Carmine, a huge red haired man with a booming voice, slammed his beer mug (which he'd brought with him, because the rest of us had champagne flutes) forcefully on the table, his heavy brows furrowed.


Delilah, a slim, pale woman with black hair that fell to her ankles, sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her mouth was covered with a black veil, and her eyes were a shocking blue. So pale it was almost white. But her formerly composed appearance was shredded by her companion as he waxed on about the tactical benefits of shock and awe.


"We don't HAVE the element of surprise," she told him flatly. "They're EXPECTING us. We would be walking right into a trap."


He waved that off as if it was a small detail. "They're expecting SOMETHING. No way they know about our full forces. We send a small group in, with the majority smuggled inside the little Vampire's domain. Then when they surround our stalking horse we all jump out and tear them apart."


"And I think it's too risky," she sighed. "The initial group would be highly exposed. And what happens if the girl gets killed. I'm guessing we don't all just pop out of her Domain?"


He snorted. "Bah, she's squirrely. Did you see her fight with the dog boy? It's worth a bit of risk for such a pronounced advantage. Anyway, I don't hear you coming up with any better ideas, eh?"


"You don't hear anything at all over your obnoxious braying," she said waspishly. "I think we should divide and conquer. Five teams of ten C-rankers will enter through each of a handful of prearranged passages we can have 'conveniently' abandoned. Once everyone is in, the whole palace will go into seizures. They'll be running all over the place trying to put out fires and won't be able to mount a stable defense. Our elite groups will punch right through, and can join up at several prearranged locations, growing in strength until we reassemble in front of the exit chamber."


I frowned at her. "Um…that sounds like a super risky plan." She'd been so wrapped up in her argument, she took a minute to notice who had spoken, then turned to me and raised an eyebrow. "Never split the party." I told her bluntly. "That's dungeon one oh one."


She groaned in frustration. "Perhaps, but concentrating our forces leaves us open to a battle of attrition. If we get bogged down with the defenders, reinforcements might arrive."


"What reinforcements?" I asked, suddenly concerned. "I was under the impression all the C-rankers they had on side were city lords. I know they've been calling them back, since several of you are city lords who came in with the crowds, but the ones we accounted for should be all of them, right?"


"C-rankers are a major issue," she admitted. "But not the only one. A sufficient number or quality of D-rank threats can be just as deadly. And there are MANY D-rankers in the Shoals, most of whom work for Skartaris. I mean, our own forces aren't insubstantial, but a leaky bucket won't hold water. We've been forced to be quite circumspect with our D-rank subordinates to prevent information from leaking too badly."


I grimaced. Yeah, I knew we'd have a D-rank force coming along for the ride, though they didn't need wishes to get free. Last count we had two hundred and fifty D-rankers scheduled to come with us. A great many of them were actually peak D-rank, with a possibility of breakthroughs when they emerged, which was great news for my succession war forces, but at the moment, trying to organize them would be nightmarish.


It also meant that the number of D-rankers with each group was only going to be twenty five, with a total of thirty five ascendants each if we went with her plan. I didn't love that. But I did see her point. We needed to break through as quick as possible. If anyone got jammed up the other groups could converge and help them out, and I had a stockpile of scrolls still I could pass out. I could get some nice points for the help, so two birds there.


Humming uncertainly, I paused to think. We were rushed here. If we had time I'd have loved to teach them some formations, it might have helped our push. But we only had a few days to break out, and the longer we waited the more likely they'd see us coming. Managing to unite everyone so quickly was probably outside Skartaris's expectations, but they would be expecting us SOON.


Callie had been trying to scout for us, and her Abyssal Path actually helped, allowing her passage through the shadows, but there were a lot of places in the palace that were mysteriously blocked off, presumably by the Abyssal Lords. Which was another problem. Chances were good those bastards were around. I was pretty sure they were confined to the void laden areas, but if we dragged our heels, a quick sortie might be on the table.


"Two teams," I said finally. "One hundred and fifty apiece. A hundred and twenty five D-rankers and twenty five C-rankers. It'll let us split attention without leaving ourselves too vulnerable." I glanced around the table, where the other C-rankers were silent. "Anyone have any issues with that plan? Speak now, because your contracts won't allow you to defect. We can still change the plan if anyone thinks it's not workable."


While they were all going to have to fall in line, that was only if they actually escaped. If they didn't leave, the contracts would be void (pun intended).


I didn't think anyone here WANTED to stay in this abyssal shithole after we bailed, but if the choices were that or certain death, they would obviously defect rather than get killed. The easiest way to deal with that was to accept input on team distribution and entry strategy.


That made me think of the other issue. Namely all the innocent people here. While I couldn't help them personally, I was loathe to leave them here to suffer. Ideally, once we were out, we could have my grandparents dispatch a huge group of D-rankers, or maybe even requisition an Imperial Legion. They could hold the line while we evacuated the civilians before the void shallow finished integrating enough for C-rankers to leave.


I just didn't know if the five factions had the manpower, with the war ongoing. As much as I hated to admit it, this place might not be a priority. I wondered if there was another way to help them. Maybe have my grandmother open more of those portals so people who were still below C-rank could get out.


I got so wrapped up in my thoughts I missed the suggestions, but the parallel I left in charge of my body answered for me, keeping me apprised of the situation. Piece of Mind might not be flashy, but it was easily my most useful Skill.


Finally, everyone agreed on the plan. We'd had to accept a whole bunch of personnel changes to make everyone happy, and the teams were extremely lopsided, with the majority of the stronger C-rankers focused on the OTHER group, with us having only Carmichael and Carmine. But honestly, I wasn't bothered. We had our own confidence. My D-rank forces were superior, and most of the D-rank godchildren weren't bound by contract so I was hesitant to trust them anyway.


Meanwhile, my wife had been overflowing with confidence in a way I had never seen before. She wouldn't tell me why, just that she was working on something good, but I trusted her to know what she was doing. I was interested to see what had her so pumped, given that this particular change in demeanor had come AFTER her racial trait. She'd figured out some sort of deadly use for her new abilities, I suspected, and I couldn't wait to see what they might be.


Finally, after HOURS of talking, things started to wind down. With the distribution decided, all that was left was the timing, and everyone agreed that sooner was better. With that in mind, we officially planned the assault for tomorrow. The extra day would mean an extra eight scrolls, which meant an even fifty, one for each of our C-rankers as an emergency measure.


I was ALSO looking forward to seeing if I could get more stats per scroll, given my recent rise in power. Seventy five should be on the table, and any lit bit helped. I had one of my friends make an in person wish to test it, though I didn't grant it obviously because I'd used all mine up for the day. Still it confirmed that yes, seventy five points were on the table, and I made a not to request specific stats from each C-ranker as I passed them out.


Once that ended, it was dinner time. We'd been sitting at the table with empty plates for hours, and everyone was famished. A series of empty cloaks emerged from the entrances to the ballroom, trays of food floating beside them, and distributed the food to all of us. I had prime rib and mashed potatoes, while everyone else picked at the variety of unusual local dishes (some of them fish based).


All in all, it was a pretty decent night, considering how it started. I didn't let it fool me. Tomorrow would be the final push into the palace, and none of us were remotely ready for it. Once we got through though, we'd be out among my family, and we'd all be safe. I was just hoping that there would be room aboard the Acheron for all these people. It was going to be a tight squeeze.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The first thing I did the next morning was create and distribute my scrolls. I ended up asking all fifty of the C-rankers to try to offer Creation stats. It wasn't a commonly used stat for most Ascendants, and mine was laughably far behind the rest of my stats at this point. Once that was done though, we officially split into groups, getting ready to head out on our assault.


Delilah, who was going with the other group, gathered us all up to go over our entry points before we left, just to make sure the plan was fresh in our minds.


"Alright," she said as she pointed at the diagram she'd drawn on the wall. "Here's where we'll be entering the palace. There are a total of thirty six hidden entrances. Three of them are Skartaris's personal escape passages and are under heavy observation, twenty are in common usage by various criminal organizations for trades with palace personnel, and three of them are used for moving sacrifices for the Abyssal Lords. The last ten are used by various servants and staff for event prep and other purposes, and those were the ten I suggested we break into."


She reached up and circled two of them. "Among those ten, however, four of them are basically abandoned, and are even more secure, and I've selected the two furthest from each other for our entry, to give us the best chance of a quiet infiltration.


"This one is the quarry entrance off the third district." She pointed at a spot on the hand drawn map. "It's incredibly cramped, wet, and fairly dangerous. The whole thing is halfway underwater and it's full of snakes. The snakes are all venomous, and while the venom isn't LETHAL, it's deeply painful, and they tend to swarm. I cannot describe to you how much I hate this fucking quarry."


We were all staring, and Delilah stopped, flushing slightly. "Sorry, that was inappropriate. When I was younger I lived in the third district. We would often dare each other to swim in the quarry."


I wondered if the snakes were left there on purpose to prevent kids like that from accidentally stumbling into the palace entrance. It didn't matter. I was sure we could get by them. I had tricks for dealing with beasts. "We'll take the quarry." I said decisively. "You can have the other entrance, whatever it is."


She let out a relieved breath. "The cave system off the ninth district. There are a bunch of cave bats, but otherwise the only real problem is getting lost. The whole place is basically a labyrinth. I have a map, of course, so that won't be an issue."


"Honestly, I'm kind of surprised you gave us a choice," I said as I noted her relief. "You could have just assigned the entrances directly and I'd never have known."


She shook her head. "I work for you now. And besides, we'll need all the help we can get to push through Skartaris's forces. Alienating our allies for no reason is stupid. If you'd wanted to force it I'd have just gone to the quarry. I'm relieved you didn't though. I really hate that damned place."


Laughing, I went and collected our people. Carmichae, Dezcarta, and Carmine were the only C-rankers among our twenty five that I recognized. All the really impressive ones had gone with the other group. Our group, however, had all my friends, so our D-rankers were leagues above theirs.


Dezcarta and Caladwen had shown up last night, along with their mother, a cheerful woman named Delia. She was also pretty high in D-rank, of course, and she was coming with us when we left. As was, to my surprise, the Ordinary Citizen, who had tagged along with Caladwen and her mother.


Because it would be too obvious for a giant crowd of powerful people to stroll down the road together, we all split up after getting directions, agreeing to meet back up at the quarry, but the trip was quick and effortless.


We all arrived there pretty quickly, and we gathered at the top of a small cliff overlooking what appeared to be a tiny lake or a very deep pond. "So, this is the quarry," I observed as we stared down into the chalky water. "Why would anyone dare kids to swim in this? And why would they do it?"


"What, no kids on your home planet made stupid dares?" Carmichael asked in amusement.


I paused, thinking about my childhood. Benny had dared me to do some pretty dumb shit when we were children. After a couple moments, I just shrugged. "Not that I can think of," I lied. "I guess I was just too mature for that kind of thing, even as a child."


Callie snorted, and I turned to glare at her. She averted her eyes, lips twitching as she coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "mugs", and I very graciously ignored her.


"ANYWAY," I said loudly. "How are we doing this? I assume none of us want to swim in that shit and get ambushed by a horde of pain snakes. Anyone here have a water abi-" I paused. "Wait, I think I have an idea.


I'd been planning to make a chute through the quarry and then have someone drain the water, but thinking about it, there was a much easier way. I knelt down, and a quick flare of Dantalion allowed me to get a good image of the surrounding area. Once I had it memorized, I dropped the form and activated Agares.


With a slight effort of will, the stone in front of us began to dissolve and contract. I condensed it into a much denser rock, and in the process, created a series of black glass steps leading down into the earth. They were a bit steep, because I swept down and underneath the water, and I had to focus a lot of the hard stone into the ceiling of the tunnel as I went so it didn't collapse, but it only took me about ten minutes.


When I was done, I turned to the others, gesturing to the tunnel with a flourish. "There you go. Snake free. Probably. For now. We should hurry." I held out my arm to my wife. "Shall we?"


She beamed at me. I'd felt her distress about diving into murky water in her new costume. It had enchantments to prevent stains or tearing, but I imagine even with absurd strength, swimming in a ball gown would be annoying. Hooking her arm in mine, she followed me down into the tunnel, our heels clicking on the steps as we descended.


My sister was right behind us, looking intrigued. "One of your utility forms. I have to say, this one is pretty damned useful."


I tried to remember if she'd SEEN Agares. I was surprised to realize that she probably hadn't. I'd been on Rackham when I developed it, and I didn't use it much here. The only reason it was feasible now was that all the void energy had been drained into the clouds, leaving the ground slightly more brittle than one would expect from C-ranked rock.


Glancing back, I checked how far the others were from us. It was a decent distance between my group and the C-rankers and even the other D-rankers, so I went ahead and triggered Murmur, adjusting the domain to only filter sound. "Alright, we can talk freely. Yeah, this is Agares. You guys all ready? For the assault, I mean. I'm not sure exactly what this fight is going to entail, but I doubt it'll be pleasant."


Bethy and Abel, both supremely confident, just nodded casually. Mel, to my surprise, shrugged. "I'm not…I'm starting to fall behind. The training helped, your mom is a badass, but this idiot is on a whole other level now." He hooked a thumb at her boyfriend. "I feel off balance. Might need to ask for some wish priority. I want to start hyperfocusing into Might like Jessie does with VItality."


I'd been under the impression she was ALREADY doing that, but thinking about it, I didn't really know what her stats were. "Yeah, I'm down to help." Reallocating stats like that was easy, and it paid me as much as it paid them. We entered a bend in the tunnel, and then shifted from vertical to horizontal. This section of the tunnel was flat ground, and it was a pretty casual trip. "What about the rest of you? Any easy fixes for problems?"


Dom shrugged. "I could probably use more focus on Might and Vitality. Condensing my stats like that should help refine my ability on my next rank up. Honestly, it's probably a good idea for most of us."


I nodded. He wasn't wrong. Callie and I were exceptions, because her stats were distributed across too many specialties because her legend had grown WAY too fast, and I purposefully kept mine balanced so my ability DIDN'T upgrade (among other reasons). But Jessie had seen some absurd results from the focusing she'd done.


Honestly, along the way it would have been detrimental to stack everything into one or two stats, since most of us were still figuring out our Paths and abilities. But now that we had our combat styles confirmed, it was something to think about.


Originally, most of us had more versatile abilities than Jessie, whose entire portfolio of powers was pretty much covered under Vitality. Now though, with Paths and refinement of skills and techniques, we could mostly fit our combat styles into narrowed boxes.


Extreme specialization would make the abilities we DID have incredibly overpowered for our rank, which would snowball into more renown. Jessie got almost as much renown as Callie and I, and she hadn't killed any gods. She just did one thing and did it WELL. In all honesty, while the rest of us used tricks and shortcuts, Jessie was the best traditional Ascendant in our entire group in terms of gaining renown.


We let ourselves get distracted by that during the walk, though I kept an eye out for snakes. With Murmur active, nothing could sneak up on us, and I speared a few of them with steam arrows as they tried to slither out of wall cracks.


Eventually, we took another set of stairs I'd made up and ended up in another cavern, this one entirely empty and mercifully dry. We'd bypassed the quarry. We came out at the edge of a sort of…hallway. It was still kind of a cave, but the walls were made of ancient looking brick. An extension of the old ruins, I assumed.


"Alright, look alive people," I called over my shoulder, dropping Murmur. "This area is supposed to be abandoned, but we all know how that kind of thing usually plays out."


I heard some murmurs of assent, and we slowed down, taking our time as we picked through the tunnel, listening for any signs of ambush. Happily there didn't appear to be any, and we reached the exit with a surprising lack of trouble.


The passage up was a spiral staircase, and we took it up without any suspense. The area above was pitch black, which was creepy, and Dantalion couldn't pierce it. Some side effect of the ruins, I assumed. Once we were all out, we shut the passage, and I sighed with relief. "Ok, I think we're good. I don't think they noticed us. Anyone see anything to convince you otherwise?"


"I did," whispered an urgent sounding voice from the dark. "I'm pretty sure they know we're here."


I frowned, turning toward it. I didn't recognize whoever it was, but I was here with a lot of strangers. "Why do you say that?" I murmured back, trying to puzzle out my next move if we were ambushed.


There was a scratching sound, and the green flame of a candle illuminated the room, showing a crowd of people surrounding my group. A man stood at the front, smiling cheerfully as he held the flame aloft. "Oh," he said smugly. "Just a guess."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

There were a lot of people surrounding us. Our group was a hundred and fifty people, and they had us outnumbered two or three to one, at least. I grimaced. Someone had sold us out. But the weird thing was, I didn't FEEL any danger. Even now, my Danger Sense wasn't going off. I could see the threat, but I didn't feel threatened.


Of course, I wasn't stupid enough to assume we were safe. Maybe they had a way to block my danger sense, but at the very least I felt a bit less panicked than I normally would have. Trust, but verify, as they say.


"Who are you?" I asked the man with the candle. "And why are you waiting here for us? Skartaris sent for us, we're supposed to clean a nest of Crang Beetles out of the sewers. If those things get loose, he's going to be pissed." I decided the easiest thing to do here was to lie my ass off. They probably wouldn't buy it, but it didn't hurt to try.


He raised an eyebrow at me. "What exactly is a Crang Beetle?"


I huffed in annoyance. "Gods," I glanced at Callie. "This guy, works in the palace and doesn't know what a Crang Beetle is. Can you imagine anyone being more oblivious. Crang Beetles are a tier three invasive species, Mr. Silver Spoon. They're one of the biggest worries us mere mortals have in these tunnels, and you have a rank six infestation. There's a nesting mother down here, and we'll all be ankle deep in the bastards by lunch if we don't kill it."


He stared at me, lips twitching a bit. "You know, I think I've heard of Crang Beetles." I blinked. He definitely hadn't, I'd made them up five seconds ago. He glanced around at the others. "I think it's clear these people are here to take care of a pest problem. We've obviously come to the wrong place."


The big guy next to him, a bearded man with a shaved head, shot him a confused look. "I…what? Boss, that guy is obviously lying. None of us have heard of these things, and there's no way Skartaris would hire a hundred and fifty hardened soldiers to kill bugs in our basement and not tell us."


"Oh, so he has to tell you everything he does?" The boss asked archly. "Because last I heard, he was in charge. These people are clearly here in force because the infestation is a real danger. We need to let them through. In fact, I bet they're already recognized by the wards. Not only should we not kill them, if we try it would probably backfire."


The man looked confused. Then his eyes widened. "Crell!" He roared. "What are you doing?"


Crell Preost, the Master of Ceremonies, the Legendary Skill user who could disarm people's abilities by talking them out of thinking they would work, just smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry Baldwin. Nothing personal, you understand. You're part of the problem, and I'm in the solution business."


He flicked his wrist and the man choked, clutching his throat to try to stem the flood of blood from the wound that appeared across his neck as Crell snapped the straight razor that had appeared in his hand closed.


As he spoke, roughly half of the enemy soldiers turned and laid into their companions, tearing into them with weapons, abilities, and in a few cases, bare hands.


Within moments, half of the enemies, at least a dozen of them C-rankers, lay dead. The other half had taken up a position behind Crell, standing at attention. Crell smiled winningly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a familiar stone, tossing it into the air and then catching it. "Like I said," he chuckled. "You're here to help with the pest problem, right?"


I stared at the stone. "You're THE boss. The Tower Master. The one who made the cloaks."


"Oh good," he chirped. "You aren't stupid. That'll make things so much easier. I was afraid you might be a total blockhead. I think it was that wooden expression that convinced me."


Serah, standing next to my sister, her face as impassive as ever, had been just as floored by that ridiculous comment as the rest of us. She had also been extremely amused. The taciturn angel snorted, and in a complete reversal of everything I'd seen from her up to this point, dissolved into GIGGLES.


We all stared at her, and she snorted a few more times, forcing her face back into its bland expression. "Sorry," she said flatly. "That was funny."


I rolled my eyes, then turned back to Crell. "Ok, well, I don't suppose you have ANOTHER team of powerful turncoats? Because an extra ten C-rankers and….what, a hundred D-rankers, will definitely come in handy, but it'll be kind of moot if an actual team of enemies intercepts our second group."


I wasn't relaxing my guard. The lack of Danger Sense made me lean toward trust, but it was too soon to tell. I'd also noticed he hadn't actually CONFIRMED my statement about him being the boss. He'd just sort of avoided the subject. Maybe that was a coincidence, or maybe it wasn't, but I wasn't going to be letting down my defenses until I knew for sure. I had Mornax and Sammael active, and Abomination Engine running alongside Gluttony, just in case.


Callie, meanwhile, had drawn a pair of daggers and coated them with her blue flame. They hung relaxed but ready at her sides. "Afraid not," he said with a shrug. "Sadly we'll need to invite them to our little party personally. And we'd better hurry up. Like you said, if they get taken out before we meet back up things will get much harder. I assume your exit strategy can accommodate my friends here?" He nodded to the ten new C-rankers.


"Of course," I reassured him. "It'll need to wait until we're at the exit. Can't be wasting any emergency measures in case we need them. I'm sure we can cobble together ten from everyone's stock though. None of my group have used theirs yet."


He nodded genially. "Fair enough. Shall we get going then? Time is the fire in which we burn, and all that. Chop chop, off we pop."


I stared at him tightly. Crell was FAR too casual about all this. The way he just lazily killed the guy he'd been talking to a second ago. I didn't like it. It wasn't a premonition or anything, he just rubbed me the wrong way. But sadly, sometimes you had to work with people you didn't like. He was here to help, and our chances of surviving without him were much slimmer. So I followed behind him, making sure to put myself between my friends and the tower master, just in case.


It might not have accomplished much, but it made me feel better. I would have some warning, most likely, if he turned on us, and between Mornax and my armor, I was the tankiest member of our little group, even including the C-rankers.


But my Danger Sense remained mute. I very carefully avoided bringing it up or discussing it with him at all. His power was based on persuasion, so as long as I didn't engage with him on the subject it SHOULD be fine, but I triggered Dantalion as we walked, just in case. I refused to be caught off guard in such a dangerous situation.


More than that, even once we got OUT things wouldn't be safe. This whole thing was a trap. For WHO I was still unclear on. I didn't believe my great-grandmother would let her daughter show up here if she genuinely expected anything bad to happen. She was pretty casual about life and death, but not when it came to my grandmother.


But still, SOMETHING was going to happen. I wasn't going to assume she'd foreseen all of this, but who the hell knew. Enshrining Darkness seemed to have some connection to the Abyss. Maybe she'd set all this up to trigger the void break, who knew with her?


Whatever was going on, I was assuming that it would be dangerous and crazy, since that was kind of her MO. Which meant the real risk wasn't the push to get out, but what happened AFTER we got out. The vanished gods knew we were here anyway, and we were about to steal a bunch of their best. We were jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.


I forced my mind off of that topic. It didn't matter. There was nothing we could do. The plans of gods were far out of my reach, frustrating as that was. I could only take it one step at a time.


Crell led us through the halls like he was watching live camera feeds. Twists and turns helped us avoid patrols that I only knew were there because of Dantalion, sharp turns led us into hidden passages that were invisible to even our Perception, ones not even my information gathering form picked up.


It took us twenty minutes to arrive at a large spacious hall. Our second force, Delilah and Argaunt and most of the godchildren, were being seiged down by a fucking ARMY of people in heavy robes. It was an easy aesthetic to recognize.


Crell stepped forward, ready to attack, but I held up a hand. He cocked an eyebrow but nodded, motioning for me to go ahead. Closing my eyes, I triggered Wrath.


Now, Wrath was a dangerous ability, but it was very situational. The ash from the lake of fire needed to come from the surroundings. In a place with such high tier materials, doing that weas difficult. But I was confident I could manage it for two reasons. First was that I'd been using Dantalion to analyze the composition of the stone, and second because I had a B-rank staff.


The Ten Demons Tree was heavily linked to all of my forms, and after ranking up, channeling abilities through it was much easier. It didn't make my attacks B-rank, but it did push them to a high enough level to affect the C-rank stone of the floors here.


With the ability to dissolve the rock and a thorough UNDERSTANDING of the rock from Dantalion, the speed with which Wrath hit was much higher than it had been in the past. The rock under the feet of the enemy shifted into burning ash, and they all screamed as they dropped into the incredibly fine sea of blazing dust.


Once they were fully submerged, I cancelled the attack, then staggered as I felt a wave of vertigo roll over me. Callie appeared beside me, catching me as I swayed. "Whoa there, careful." She sounded concerned, but I could hear the pride in her voice too as our forces converged on the now helpless enemy, all of them trapped in C-rank stone.


The staff simulating higher tier versions of my forms was a massively useful ability, but it was also extremely taxing. I realized with a start that Dantalion, Gluttony, and Mornax had all shut down. I was still in Sammael, but I was completely bare of any other forms at the moment. I'd have to watch that one. I noticed Crell heading towards the enemy, and I straightened up, heading to cut him off. "No." I told him bluntly.


He looked surprised. I explained. "We leave them. They're helpless and this will be over too soon for them to get free. Killing them serves no purpose."


I had long since gotten used to putting down enemies, but executing a hundred people who were literally incapable of resisting was wrong. The casual way he'd killed his Skartaris's men had bothered me, but this was his world. He had set this up and he knew what was what. There was too much going on for me to just decide he was a bad guy and call him out based on that.


This, though. This was a hard line for me. He seemed to know it too, because he stared at me hard for a minute or two, then nodded. "Alright. Then lets gather the others and find someplace more private. Now that our forces have convened, it's time for the final push. We're getting the hell out of here."

 

[prymael]

Thank you for the chapter, and I hope this finds everyone doing well and able to enjoy their weekend.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We headed for the exit straight away after combining the groups. Once we were all together, I could see a change in Crell. His previous easygoing snark melted away, and his eyes started to shine with a feverish intensity. Anyone who could hide as deeply and work as hard for a cause as he had must be someone of supreme determination, and I could see that in him now. When his victory was at hand, he seemed almost like a sword, drawn at last to free his edge.


"I have to ask," I finally said as we walked. "How have you not been caught? I mean, I know that you leveraged Skartaris into a position where he couldn't really investigate anyone too deeply for fear of unbalancing his government, but even then, he NEVER figured you out?"


He grinned wolfishly. "Did you forget my Legendary Skill? It's good for more than just shutting off powers. Doubt is insidious, it creeps in and infects anyone who hears it. Did he suspect me? Maybe? But was I really suspicious? Wasn't Alanna a more likely candidate? Or Carmine? Even that ridiculous dragon was more suspicious than I was. So elusive and greedy. I'm the Master of Ceremonies, if there's one thing I know, it's how to put on a show."


I gaped at him. Because…that made a weird amount of sense. Even within the first few hours of asking around, he'd seemed like the likeliest suspect. Carmichael had even said as much. But in a way, that made him even LESS likely. The longer it went on, the more ridiculous it seemed that he could keep getting away with it. And with him in Skartaris's ear, not only defusing his concerns but actively shunting them onto others, he was almost uncatchable.


How much of this ridiculous power distribution system was Crell responsible for? How much doubt had he sown into Skartaris's mind about his own competence to handle it all, about his desire to do so? Had things been like this when he arrived? Or did they change over time.


No wonder he'd been able to build an organization like the Ghost Bone Tranquility Tower. In this dungeon, where C-rank was the limit, no one would be able to resist that insidious Skill.


As we walked, his expression became tighter, less gleeful. The focus was still there, but now it was starting to get more…exposed. If he'd been a drawn sword before, now he was being waved around in a threatening manner. But he wasn't threatening ME. He was just…pissed. I raised an eyebrow behind my mask. "Everything ok?"


"No," he said in frustration. "This isn't…this is too easy."


"Ok," I said slowly. "Isn't that good? We want it to be easy. You've been preparing for this for years, right? You outmaneuvered him."


He shook his head. "Not like this. Skartaris isn't stupid. Arrogant, lazy, a little petty, yes all of those things. But he isn't an idiot. Letting us group up this easily is dimwitted. It would make much more sense to ambush the groups to prevent us from gathering. Now we're together and we haven't seen ANYONE. My plans are effective, but they're not THAT effective, not unless…"


Freezing in place, I saw the blood drain from his face. "Formations," he said in a strangled whisper. I froze, then triggered Dantalion, focusing hard on the form to begin the process of deducing our surroundings.


After a minute or two of focusing, I finally caught something. "Fuck," I spat as I held up a hand, stopping everyone. I turned and looked behind us. The energy currents around us were just that. Currents. Energy sat in the air, Impact native to this world, and the natural warp and weft of that power was different everywhere. That was what formations were. Steering the power into patterns that could achieve certain effects.


But the power here was…off. I couldn't SEE a formation, mind, but I could see the power moving in ways it shouldn't. Specifically, boxing us in and subtly pushing us forward.


I informed Crell of this, and his eyes hardened. "I fucked up," he said tightly. "I missed something. I was too busy leading him around by the nose, I wasn't watching where the bastard was putting his feet."


Carmichael and Delilah both stepped in to check on the situation. They heard that last statement, and Delilah looked disturbed. "Missed something? What did you miss?"


"I missed that we aren't the only ones here with Legendary Skills," he said darkly. "Skartaris is a formation master. I thought it was just a hobby, and not one he ever seemed particularly good at. He would practice when he was bored, laying down formations in the palace, rearranging things. But it was just…nonsense. Casual bullshit he did to pass the time."


"Except it wasn't," I said slowly. "Do you think he knows it's you? That he was able to break through your Doubt?"


He nodded. "If he had proof he could have bypassed it. And formations can be used for all sorts of things. Monitoring and information gathering would be easy. Which means this is a trap. He outmaneuvered me."


"But why?" I couldn't help but ask. "Why do all…THIS? Why not just take you down when he discovered you?"


"The same reason I didn't join up until you beat Dastan," said Selvara as she joined us. "He's making an example. With the Void Children coming, this place is going to get NASTY. If he has dissenters, that'll be a prime time for them to split his forces. But if he lets all of us gather together and crushes us in front of his people?"


I winced. "He makes an example of us, massively boosts his own prestige, and he has a bunch of C-rankers at his mercy. He can choose to "pardon" some of us in exchange for a change in loyalties. He gets his forces back in line, ousts his only rival, and solidifies his grasp on power all at the same time. But the fight will be the same, won't it? How is he so sure he can win?"


"Formations," said Crell sourly. "He's been reworking the palace for years. It's his home ground. With enough preparation, a formation master can do almost anything. Suppression, amplification, even direct killing formations exist. He probably rigged up a perimeter around the exit, reinforced it to hell, and has his people laid out in the most advantageous possible way waiting for us."


"Can we push through?" My tone was urgent. "We know he's waiting for us, and I can try to study the formations…"


But even as I said it I knew that wouldn't work. Dantalion could barely map the energy here. A Legendary formation was a B-rank construct. I had zero chance of deciphering it without a LONG time working on the problem. Even that would only be possible because the actual ENERGY wasn't B-rank, just the techniques. But we didn't have weeks for me to case the place.


"What if we use the scrolls," Callie suggested. I hadn't noticed her approaching, but I nodded happily at the idea. It was easy to forget just how versatile my power was, given that I couldn't use it myself. Subconsciously, I'd long since begun to rely on my DS Mastery more than my wish power, treating the latter as a means of accruing points. Luckily, I didn't travel alone, and I had other people to pick up the slack in that department.


We had more than enough scrolls to use. Ten of them were needed for the new C-rankers that Crell had brought, but that left forty. Sadly, it took some doing to get the details we needed. Just asking for a map of the formations didn't work, because they were theoretically "secret" and the cost was a bit excessive. But we were able to work around that by going room by room. Still expensive, because the information wasn't common knowledge, but even with the extra cost it was within my price range.


Unfortunately, there were more than forty rooms in the palace, so we couldn't get all of it, but with a bit of work, Crell helped us make a map of the closest rooms to the exit, and after filling it in with formation info and doing a bit of induction, we were able to roughly determine what we would be up against.


On the plus side, I got two thousand two hundred and fifty points of Creation out of the deal, and it was well worth the time spent, even if we kept having to move as the formation slowly closed in on us.


I had originally worried that might be a problem, given the information gathering aspects of this whole thing, but Chelsea assured me after studying the formation layouts that the formations had been reconfigured to maximize entrapment and power suppression. There wasn't room for them to keep an eye on us, so we were just trapped in a slowly closing inescapable death box, not being spied on. Joy.


"Alright," my sister said as she studied the layout. "I can see a few things. These formations are complicated and VERY polished, but gaps are gaps."


Crell looked skeptical. "He made mistakes? After all that preparation?"


She shook her head. "Not exactly. Formations are the art of arranging natural energy flows to create specific effects. But the key lies in that last phrase. Specific. There's a finite amount of energy in a given area. You can supplement it, but it's rarely done with large scale formations because if the energy supplemented isn't distributed evenly across the breadth of the formation it creates holes.


"Even if the energy IS distributed evenly though, at least in a general sense, it still needs to be used." She pointed at a room. "This formation here is a fairly simple splitting array. It's a kind of subformation that splits energy flows to allow for more complex variations in construction. I don't recognize about half of these, mind, but some of them are very polished versions of things I DO understand."


She pointed at a partial formation that bled into the exit chamber. "Based on the half we can see, this is a containment formation. Containment formations, obviously, contain things. But the process of containment requires that you sacrifice lethality for durability. Otherwise it's a killing formation. Moreover, there are a lot of details that can be seen in blueprints. Where the energy flows meet, where they arranged the fulcrum for the transfer array that lets people OUT of the formation. These are all weak spots, but not really weak spots. It's just the energy is being used for something other than being strong."


"Ok," I said slowly. "So can you use the blueprints to design us a safe path through?"


"Not a chance," she said immediately. "I'm a dabbler. Having all the formation blueprints in front of me is a huge cheat, but these are way above my level. I can give you some basic formation breaking advice based on placement, but you'll need to actually apply it. And by you I mean the C-rankers, because there's no way any of us will be able to break this directly." She glanced at my staff. "Or at least not on our own."


I focused on the formation blueprint. I knew…not much, about formations. But I had some ideas for ways to apply the little I did know, especially if Chelsea helped. But she was right, we'd also need to be able to actually break through.


Turning to Carmine, Delilah, Crell, and Carmichael I cocked my head. "Well? Any of you interested in helping us overthrow a tyrant?" We'd just been planning to push through and leave, but now that it had come to this, might as well do this world a favor and take Skartaris out. I didn't even need to worry about his Impact. Without even considering my staff, we would be right next to the exit, and he was C-rank. I wondered what would happen if we pushed him through.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We arrived at the doors to the exit chamber about forty minutes later. We kept having to move along the hallway to do our calculations because the energy flows were pushing us, but apparently Skartaris had decided to be sneaky and ended up shooting himself in the foot, because the progress was very gradual.


When we reached the entrance, Crell stopped us. "Everyone knows their places?" He asked quietly. "C-rankers up front, along with the ten strongest D-rankers, and the rest of you bringing up the rear. Invocations where you can do them, otherwise just look for ways to help.


After a nod, he stepped forward and slammed his hands into the doors, blowing them open as we all marched into…a garden.


I'd been expecting something ragged or untamed. He'd said the exit was in a courtyard, but I'd figured it would be something like the portal to the undersea city. This was just a pleasant gren meadow with water features and stones all over it. I could see fish in ponds, dizzying colorful flower arrays, and even some pleasant garden furniture, including dozens of tables with people sitting at them.


The exit itself was just a hole in reality, but rather than a jagged rent, it was a neatly cut black doorway with a well made teak frame. The frame was carved with murals of happy woodland creatures frolicking and playing, and I had to focus hard to see the enchantments in the carvings.


Next to the doorway was a small round table, a glass pane laid on top of a curlicued iron frame, with a small plate of finger sandwiches and a fragile looking teapot.


It looked like a garden party, more than anything, a bunch of fancy dressed C-rankers with ballgowns and suits and bowler hats. When we entered, a stylish young man with the kind of messy, devil may care hairdo that made it clear someone had spent at LEAST an hour styling it when he got out of bed this morning, stood and spread his arms wide.


"Crell!" said the dark haired young man brightly. "You made it! I was so worried, you were supposed to be here ages ago."


Skartaris the Weeper was…not what I was expecting. FIrstly, he was young. Like…my age physically. He had a boyish face and a wide smile, and the only reason I knew who I was looking at was the blindfold tied over his eyes, and the dark tracks tattooed down his cheeks.


His clothes were unusual, a black silk shirt and white silk tie, worn under a purple velvet waistcoat. A black bowler hat perched on his head jauntily had a single white strip of silk above the brim that matched the tie, and a white silk kerchief poked nearly out of the breast pocket of the coat, with the only other obvious accoutrement aside from a chain that I was pretty sure connected to a pocket watch being a black wood cane with an ornate silver pommel.


The head of the cane was engraved with a series of complicated diagrams and models that I recognized as completing several of the formations Chelsea had pointed out. Formation masters sometimes anchored formations to physical objects that could be moved, making it easier to manipulate the energy flows. These were called "anchors" and were complicated to deal with.


We'd figured he might have one, but had really hoped he wouldn't. It was going to make this much harder to handle.


Formations were big and terrifying, but inherently difficult to manipulate because of their scale. Anchors created a small formation inside the big formation, and manipulating the anchor manipulated that, which moved the bigger one. It was a bit like clockwork, and was extremely complicated. It reminded me a bit of witchcraft with extra steps.


Crell smiled insolently at his former boss. "Sorry, Got held up plotting your inevitable doom."


"Oh, I think my doom is extremely evitable," Skartaris chuckled. "But by all means, lay your cards out. If you haven't realized you've been outmaneuvered yet, one of us is much less intelligent than they think they are. I hope it isn't me."


Crell sighed, looking past the smiling man to the surprisingly delicate looking red haired woman sitting behind him, sipping tea daintily from a china tea cup. She was wearing a red silk tunic and leggings, and had a long sword belted to her hip. I might have ignored her, not seeing a difference to the rest of the people here, but she felt…sharp. Her aura was just different. It reminded me of the way Abel got in fights. Like his Path was leaking into the world around him. Except this wasn't bloody or gleeful. It was just sharp metal.


"Alanna," the tower master said with a sigh. "You're really taking his side? You know we can leave, right? We have a way out. If you stay, the void will come, and this place will be miserable."


She shrugged. "Can't practice cutting without vegetables. I just want to train in peace, Crell. Outside is too messy. Too many big fish looking to snap up talented Ascendants for one reason or another. That's always been your problem. You aim too high. We were kings here, why rock the boat?"


"We are NOT kings," he snapped, eyes flashing. "We are PETS. He puts us in fancy collars and feeds us better scraps, but we're still DOGS Lana. Maybe you're content to live like that, but I'm not. I never have been."


Skartaris clicked his tongue. "So this is what you really think of me, old friend? A despot. A tyrant. Someone who holds your leash?"


"Don't play the victim with me," spat Crell. "Don't forget who you confided in during your moments of weakness. Who you shared your paranoia and doubt with. How many times did you plot Alanna's murder? How close did you get to giving that order before I talked you down. Or Carmine's. Hell, or MINE. I wasn't there for those, I imagine, but knowing you it happened more than once."


The blindfolded man shrugged. "I've made mistakes. Had moments of weakness. But it was all for this. All to accomplish this goal. For all of us, Crell, not just the few I like best. Can you really justify what you're doing? Abandoning all these people you've spent years claiming to want to save?"


It was strange. With Dantalion active, and studying the area as I was, I could see the energy flows. Not just the formations, but the shift of the power in the room. The inherent Impact in the world being…moved was the wrong word. The flows didn't CHANGE the Impact. More like…stained. Like something was seeping through them, changing the color in a way I couldn't describe.


That was what I'd been seeing before. Not really moving energy, but something moving behind the energy, causing it to move in response. Like someone tracing the back of a sheet of paper with a marker, drawing designs I could see through the page.


But what was staggering was that given the detail of the energy layout in the room, I could see the subtler things against the backdrop. I could see them both fighting.


Doubt was a sort of confusing mist made of shimmers, pouring off Crell and rolling over the crowd. Skartaris, to my surprise, had something coming off him too, not directly, but seeping through the power flows nearby, shaped by the formations. Some kind of persuasion formation maybe?


The fight was already happening, Crell was trying to chip away at Skartaris's influence, undermine his position, and Skartaris was trying to steal legitimacy from the tower master, to make him seem pathetic and useless. An upstart he could magnanimously pardon if he got in line.


I didn't worry about that. I was thinking, planning, and analyzing. Dantalion was stockpiling information, collating with the blueprints and running it all through the Ten Demons Tree, tapping into the Wisdom of Solomon.


I didn't have much of that left, after Callie's upgrade, but I didn't need much. I just needed to run some permutations of possible breaks in the formations that Chelsea had proposed. She didn't have time to figure out what the responses would be, but standing in the room perceiving the energy flows myself, with a full diagram of the surrounding area and blueprints for all but the VERY center of the formations, I was basically just solving a math problem. And that, I could do.


The two of them argued, sniping and riposting, and I could see the surrounding watchers shift back and forth. As they spoke, portions of the crowd with sort of…change color, according to who they were being influenced by. It was surprisingly even, but Skartaris was slowly pushing Crell down, suppressing him with overwhelming momentum as he surrounded us with the energy he was channeling through the formation.


I watched, I waited, I calculated. And then, after about three minutes, I casually lifted a hand and pointed to one side, locking eyes with Carmichael as I did.


The big man MOVED, his whole body pivoting, twisting in on himself like a spring uncoiling, and his fist smashed out, a massive manifestation appearing above him, the illusory fist slamming into the empty air.


There was a slight cracking sound, and Skartaris staggered, and I bellowed, "NOW!" And all hell broke loose.


Argaunt drew and fired, his arrow striking empty space, while Delilah flicked her fingers, bringing shadow to life in a demonic waltz as dark forms lifted from the ground, mirror images of the guests, and launched themselves at the people who sat at the tables.


All around us, the other fifty plus C-rankers took advantage of the lull from the surprise attack to unleash hell, and Skartaris's troops rose to meet them, shedding their affable garden part disguises as they howled in depraved glee, weapons and despicable energy being unleashed towards us in a wave.


The two forces slammed into each other and cancelled out, and as they did, I triggered Limbo, keeping Dantalion active. I could see dark forms covering the battlefield, possible futures of all of our people. But unlike in the past, I'd learned more about what my forms could really do. Belial didn't just erode, it could corrupt and control, and while that would be impossible to manage on a C-ranker normally, this wasn't normal circumstances.


I triggered the ability the Ten Demons Tree had only recently developed, elevating one of my forms, and used it on Belial, even as I used it to take control of our side of the battlefield. Our people knew what I was planning so they didn't fight, and suddenly I was wielding fifty new weapons, destroying possible futures as I manipulated the battlefield like a chess board.


Skartaris had been planning the same thing, I could see PEOPLE integrated into the formations, being maneuvered by his anchor, and I cursed, whirling my staff to direct my own forces, smashing into his will through the otherworldly collision of our two distinct abilities.


Carmichael punched again, but it was intercepted by a sword image that neatly bisected the space above us, and Crell stepped up to help only to be attacked by a colossal man with a brutish face that I was pretty sure was Waylon Dreft, the Dragon Ant. Carmine jumped in to help, but I had to reposition him to counter an ice based C-ranker, and the whole fight just devolved. It got more and more chaotic, and I was barely able to keep up with Callie's help.


That was fine, I had planned this out, and I was just holding him still, getting ready to break the deadlock. My friends were building up power, working with the other D-rankers to create an invocation that would reinforce the massive combination attack we'd used in the sea. Once it was ready, the tide would shift, and I just needed to be prepared.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

It felt like it went on for eternity. The moments dragged, somehow spawning from between each other, stretching seconds into minutes. The staff was starting to flag, I'd asked too much of it too quickly. But I had to keep going, had to hold it just a bit longer.


This was the plan. It was all on Crell, really. His power was the fulcrum on which we were balancing this entire raid.


We'd talked about it while we worked on the formation diagrams, helping Chelsea sort them all out, and I'd also been analyzing it with Dantalion. He'd been right next to me, and he used it reflexively pretty frequently. Nothing crazy, but just little things, smoothing over conversation, redirecting attention. He sowed doubt like most people breathed.


But beyond that fact, I'd learned something else. Much like my Wish power, Doubt was a support ability. It depended on the person using it. How convincing, how cunning, how tricky. But most of all, it depended on momentum, on the situation, and on opportunity.


People will believe almost anything if they see it with their own eyes. That kind of bias makes conning others difficult for a lot of people, because when you can't show someone evidence, they just write anything you say off. But conversely, if someone DOES see evidence of something, even if that thing is absurd, even if it CAN'T be true, they have to believe it.


It's a factor of control. Admitting you can't trust your own senses is abandoning all control over a situation, and it's something most people can't abide. Complete surrender to the circumstances is anathema to almost anyone, but especially to the powerful.


Which was what this whole plan hinged on. Crell couldn't counter that formation. He didn't have the ability. He could lie, cheat, and scheme, he could manipulate and bamboozle. He could make people's powers outright fail if he could make them believe it, but he couldn't just point to a powerful formation that Skartaris had built himself and tell him it wouldn't work.


Part of that was knowledge. Understanding made sowing doubt easier, a little knowledge was a dangerous thing, and that could be a sort of evidence itself. But part of it was the fact that Skartaris BELIEVED in that formation. He'd poured his blood, sweat and tears into it (no pun intended), and he was sure it worked. There was no room for doubt, no space for negotiation. The formation worked, and that was a fact. I bet he'd refined and perfected it for YEARS to make sure of it.


So Crell couldn't counter the formation. Skartaris knew it. I knew it. Crell knew it. But the formation was BEING countered. Skartaris was watching it happen. He didn't know who was doing it, had no context for my ability to make it happen. He was currently fighting Crell, and his formation was being countered.


This was fact. It was proven. And he couldn't dispute it. And so he started having doubts.


It took a few minutes. Almost so long the staff's rank up charge gave out. It was subtle at first. That silvery mist that represented Crell's powers started to infiltrate my pawns. Sliding through them, over them, beginning to merge with the corruption influencing them. It subsumed and overtook my Limbo domain, and I let it. I started to pull it back, to let it recede slowly, pulling my power away an inch at a time, leaving only the doubt.


But it didn't matter. Skartaris had faltered. He'd let it creep in, and now Crell had something better than power. He had LEVERAGE.


I gasped, stumbling back, and Callie caught me, helping to steady my armored form far easily than one might expect from someone her size. That new racial trait gave her flat modifiers for her Might, and it made her MUCH stronger than she should be with her stats. It was fantastic.


Archie trilled above me. He'd been circling, pouring green flame over our people, and now he landed on me, pulsing life nova fire to recharge my flagging energy. My soul was fine, given my Chronicle, but my physical body had been overworked by all the power running through it. I'd never used Limbo like that before, not combined with the new powers I'd dug out of Belial.


I glanced up above us. In the air, shimmering behind the plane of this world, I could see the energy of the formation, slowly being infected by Doubt. It was subtle, insidious, and terrifying. I had to tip my cap to Crell, he was a scary fucking guy.


More than that, it was beginning to become static. The energy flows slowed and congealed. The deadlock was holding the formation in place, making it solid, and that was exactly what we wanted. We had one chance at this. After studying the formation structure for a half an hour, my sister had essentially confirmed that no little trick she could manage would halt this beast.


She didn't have the foundation in formations to counter a Legendary formation master. In the end, power was required. B-rank preferably, but that wasn't doable, so we needed something C-rank, but with some extra kick.


Beyond even that, we needed to pin the damned thing in place. To make it a single solid target instead of a complicated web of moving pieces. That was how we'd gotten here.


Now that we had the formation pinned, and Crell was holding it, it was time for the REAL attack to begin. I closed my eyes, knelt down, and focused on the earth. And then, I called for a Behemoth.


An arm erupted from the ground first, as big as a bus, then the shoulders, along with the head. Wings exploded from the back, spreading behind the massive armored figure like the blazing sun behind and unstoppable charge. There was a ripple, and a Domain expanded, Bethy cloaking the hardened stone of Behemoth in her power, and space warped as Abel poured his infinite blood sea into its veins, supercharging the construct.


Unlike last time, the void seemed to see a threat. Space shuddered as…something congealed behind the world where the formation was sitting. But before it could attack, Callie flexed her will and flooded the construct with her own power.


Blue black flames poured into the green glowing cracks in the black rock spitting like an azure and onyx volcano. Something about the heretic flame caused the entire thing to become more solid. We were in a strange place, an in between state where the void met the real, and the heretic flame was of both in some ways.


It wasn't just Callie though. Chelsea poured her Enshrining Darkness into the black rock, and it used the heretic flame to fuse into the stone, condensing and elevating it. The angels lent their own holy fire to the cause, and the blue black flickers in the cracks took on bronze and gold sparks.


The construct started to shake like it was going to explode. I grimaced, but there was still one more bit of power we needed. I glanced at Gabe, nodding, and he set his jaw, he held out a hand, and as he did, I put the last piece in place.


I'd had a few interesting new tricks come out of the staff. The temporary upgrade, the enhanced calculation time, but the biggest thing that had changed wasn't the effects, but the staff itself. The image of that towering tree made it clearest, because it illustrated what trees did. Trees GROW.


I whipped my hand, and my staff snapped into a spin, arcing up into the air in a parabolic whirl as it flew up and forward. As it did, it started to shift, and expand. It was a tree, and trees are big. The C-rank reincarnation tree might have only been a sapling, but my B-rank Ten Demons Tree? It was mighty.


The body of the staff expanded, shooting out as it exploded in size, and the hand of the construct caught it out of the air mid spin, fingers snapping around it like an iron vise. I pushed my will, shoving the power of Mephistopheles into the construct itself, and I felt my Chronicle shake under the pressure of so MUCH power. I could barely hold it. I felt a hand in mine, and I looked down to find Callie staring up at me determinedly.


That soul pressure lessened, and I saw pain on her face. I turned aside from that, I could feel she'd be ok, but we needed to hurry.


"NOW!" I bellowed, the breath from my lungs smashing the air like a freight train as the sheer sound of my shout blew the space in front of me apart. Gabe clenched his fist, and the power of the Adamant, of the unyielding unstoppable force, gathered on the top of my staff as I drove it forward into the formation, powered by all my rage, my frustration, my worry, and my fear.


I HATED this fucking dungeon. I hated these people, who sold their own kind to monsters, I hated having to be here because my friends were in danger, and that they'd been put in danger by me.


There was so much rage, so much power and fury locked up inside me, and I used it. I used it all. And my friends echoed it. I could feel them, their fury crying it in counterpoint to mine. They wanted out, wanted to be free, wanted to go home. All of them. We were trapped here and this THING was all that stood in our way. And there was only one thing to do when something stood in the way of freedom.


I drove the staff forward like a descending comet, all the force of all of our power packed into it, and it hit the solidified formation with the power of a fucking rampaging supernova.


My staff, B-rank and implacable, struck the frozen formation behind the air, and the energy CRACKED. There was a shudder through the whole room, Skartaris SCREAMED, clutching his head as he vomited up blood, and he staggered backward, reeling from the pain of having this massive formation shatter while he was tied into it.


Crell had been waiting. He'd been advancing slowly, getting close, using lots of feints as he attacked with a sword cane that reminded me a lot of Skartaris's (though with a hooked head). When the weeper grabbed his head, Crell didn't even flinch. He sheathed the cane, flipped it so he could catch the bottom, and calm you please, hooked Skartaris's ankle with the hook, pulling lightly.


Skartaris screamed again, this time less roaring pain and more squeak of shock, and then…he fell through the door. And he was gone.


Everything stopped. Everyone in the whole place froze, turning to stare in disbelief (and horror in some cases) at the exit doorway. Skartaris never came back. He never would. He was gone, a C-ranker without suppressing going through the void boundary. He was lost forever.


Slowly, inevitably, people started to drop their weapons. A few at first, but then more. With Skartaris gone, most of the remaining C-rankers would join Crell, and anyone still fighting would be mobbed. They all stared at him in mute terror, and then they began to fall to their knees, pressing their heads to the floor in a silent plea for mercy. Or a not silent one. A lot of them were literally pleading.


Crell twirled his cane between his fingers, strolled over to the chair Skartaris had vacated, and dropped into it casually, staring out at the rest of us smugly. "Alright lords and ladies, time to start the cleanup. We're on a schedule, but it just got a bit less tight." I just chuckled. Of course he was a sore winner. He seemed like the type. Well, he wasn't wrong. Besides, some of these C-rankers were going to have to stay behind. Maybe I'd finally found a way to help the people we were leaving in here. I was out of wishes, but I could still write contracts. Time to do some business.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The cleanup took less time than expected. Of course, that might have been partially because my head was swimming the whole time it was going on. I might have blacked out a few times. My first discovery after the end of my little rampage was that I had DRAMATICALLY underestimated the toll it would take.


Namely, the fact that my fucking Chronicle was CRACKED. I hadn't noticed it while it was happening, because the constant pressure it was under had actually held it together, but after things eased up, the cracks opened, revealing the extent of the damage.


Luckily, I could feel that it was repairing itself. Slowly. But I wouldn't be able to do much of anything for a while. Any form besides Sammael, and definitely any Domain, would be likely to make the damage worse. Callie was beside herself when she noticed, and she hovered around me like a moon, orbiting and fussing and trying to convince me to take a nap or something.


"I'm FINE, love," I reassured her again. I'd half expected her to be upset about the risk, but I hadn't done anything stupid, just necessary, so she was just panicked and not pissed. I honestly would have preferred a tongue lashing, because seeing her about to cry and not even having frustration to distract her was tearing me up. I pulled her into my arms. "We're through this, and now it's almost time to leave. We just have to finish getting the troops in order, and then we can leave."


Final count for our departing force was five hundred and fifty D-rankers and Sixty C-rankers. I was pretty sure at least forty more of the D-rankers would be ranking up when we left, so that was definitely good news, and some of the C-rankers were already looking like they would be hitting B-rank.


I still had more than a few B-rank slots to fill, and based on their Legendary Skills (which required a Chronicle) Crell and Carmichael were both looking at a rank up.


That wasn't all, either. To my shock, Alanna had decided to come with us when we left. Given her speech about how dangerous it was outside and how she planned to stay and continue getting stronger, I'd expected her to be glad to see us go. But the way we'd beaten Skartaris seemed to have wounded her pride. She was content to stay when she thought she was invincible, but seeing how deep the waters could run, I suspected her apathy felt like cowardice to her now.


We had one of the spare emergency scrolls left, so we'd passed it to her. One more B-ranker wasn't something I would turn down.


I still wasn't sure if them pushing their Skills past the cap would hurt them in the long run. It already meant that, while strong, they wouldn't be able to combine those Legendary Skills with their abilities. To form a Chronicle, your Solid Path had to be merged with your ability, and abilities couldn't surpass the current rank of the wielder. That meant all those Legendary Skills were secondary Skills, like Ragam had been for Abel back in the day.


Granted, Legendary was still B-rank, so they could just combine them after they broke through. It would just be sacrificing some of the advancement the rank up would have provided naturally for those Skills.


I shook my head. That wasn't my business. They were employees, not servants. They were free to handle their advancement however they wanted.


Groaning, I stood up, and Callie rushed over to support me, looking frantic. "I'm FINE," I repeated with a laugh. "We're safe and among friends. You don't need to worry about me. Is everyone else ready to go?"


I kept my tone light, but honestly…I was terrified. We NEEDED to go. The void break was coming, and this place would be much more dangerous once it arrived. We'd be swarmed by Void Children and might never escape. But on the other side of that door…I could feel it. Danger. Danger so intense my Danger Sense was silent. Not the good kind of silent, either. The strangled, tense kind. Like it was so scared it couldn't even muster a peep. I hadn't known that was possible.


But whatever was waiting, it wasn't on us. None of us would be able to do a damned thing to stop whatever was going to happen. We had to trust that my grandparents and my mom had made preparations for this. They knew the situation out there way better than we did anyway, and they were still fine. My grandmother also already suspected this was a trap by Raxus, so they had all the information I did.


Callie, despite my best efforts, frowned at me. "You're worried," she said bluntly. "What's wrong?"


I glanced around at the room full of people, then shook my head. I wasn't going to drop a lit grenade on the fragile order we'd managed to establish. It was why I hadn't warned any of the others. They weren't any more capable of stopping what was coming than I was, and they couldn't stay here. Knowing what was out there would just make the process of actually moving our people out harder.


Since we had the bond though, I could and did fill her in on my suspicions telepathically. Her face went pale, and I could tell how agitated she was by the news, but within moments all sign of it disappeared, like a rock into a bottomless lake. I was impressed, if I couldn't feel her emotions I'd have no idea she was so scared.


Smiling, I took her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, and I felt her relax a notch, though not much, through the bond.


I turned to head over and check on my sister. She was sitting with Bethy, Gabe, the girls, and Dayna. "Hey, everyone doing ok? We didn't lose anyone, right?" I hadn't really been paying enough attention to the battle, given what was going on.


"A few injuries," my sister assured me. "But no one died. You and Skartaris mostly kept things contained, weirdly. The whole 'keep it deadlocked' thing saved a lot of our people. Well, except Albert. He got stabbed."


My wife gasped. "Oh no, Albert got stabbed? But he's so nice. And wasn't it just his birthday?"


Chelsea nodded sadly. "I was surprised he invited us to the party. Well, not Shane, obviously. Not after what you did."


"What?" I said in confusion. "What did I do?"


"Well don't bring it UP," Callie said in an appalled tone. "Honestly, honey, WAY too soon. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."


"What is HAPPENING right now?" I sputtered. "I don't even know this person!" They turned to walk away, and Callie shot me a wink over her shoulder. I rolled my eyes as I felt the surge of triumphant smugness through the bond, but smiled at her warmly. Trust my wife to distract me from impending doom by pranking me mercilessly. Of course, I wouldn't bring it up out loud. The last thing we needed was Bethy deciding to get back into pranking.


Shaking off my amusement, I headed over to check in with Crell, who was sitting with Carmichael and Alanna. Delilah and Carmine were there too, and to my surprise, Waylon Dreft, the dragon ant. I was curious as to why he was with them, but once I asked them about it, they filled me in on the new arrangement, asking me to arrange the contracts.


I'd been expecting Dreft to be a problem, based on the way Carmichael described him. Oddly, he'd been one of the first to switch sides when Skartaris was gone. None of the others seemed BOTHERED by that at all, so I just kind of ignored it. Especially once I found out that he wasn't coming out with us.


After the fight, there was a substantial number of C-rankers who had agreed to surrender, but aside from not knowing if we could trust them, we didn't have enough scrolls left to take them all. Instead, they were planning to stay and form a new government, with the intention of helping liberate some of the locals from the Abyssal Lords.


I'd been skeptical about that being legit, but I was informed that things like this were pretty common among Ascendants. Half the reason Dreft switched sides was because he was planning to surf the wave of renown generated by all the good press from 'liberating' the oppressed masses here. Reputation was about making an impression, and having essentially a captive audience for their heroic redemption (they were going to be blaming everything shady on Skartaris, since he was dead) would help them all hit B-rank once the void break finished and the C-rankers could leave.


After handing over one of the two remaining scrolls we had to Dreft to set up a communication avenue with the outside world, all of us were officially ready to go.


We lined up at the door, and I insisted on being first one through. I was informed that I was an idiot, and without access to my forms I was just lining up to die. Carmichael volunteered to be first through the door and everyone agreed. I was right behind him though, and after making sure everyone was ready and had triggered the suppression through their scrolls, we all stepped into the dark.


When we first came in, we'd come through a portal my grandmother made. I'd been expecting something kind of like that, but to my dismay, going through the void directly was…worse. Way worse. It was like I was drowning in frictionless slime that was somehow hot and cold at the same time. Pressure was undulating over my body irregularly, with some spots being crushed and some of my skin feeling like it was being suctioned off my body, and I was in a state of constantly shifting equilibrium that made me feel like I was inside of a rolling ball.


The moments stretched on as I hurtled through the space, and I felt the void starting to actively attempt to creep into me, but before it could make a serious effort, I was ejected into blessed normalcy.


I erputed from the doorway in a roll, barely avoiding Carmichael as I tumbled along the ground with a clatter. We were sitting on some kind of asteroid, the door perched in the middle. Weirdly, I could breathe fine, despite being obviously in space. I assumed it was some kind of enchantment.


Standing up, I coughed loudly, then turned to check on everyone else. "Alright, is everyone good?" I spluttered through my wheezes.


I head lots of grunts and saw a few thumbs ups, but only one person answered. "Personally, I'm excellent," drawled a friendly voice from behind me. I froze, then turned, and saw a man I'd never met sitting on a rock. He smiled urbanely, and I furrowed my brow as I tried to figure out who he was. I didn't know him, and he wasn't giving me any serious pressure…and that was when it clicked.


He had no presence. No Impact. Complete and total isolation like that was something I'd only ever seen from a few people. I recognized the sense of subconscious dread creeping through me though, from the last time I'd seen my great grandmother.


"What," asked Raxus, the god of deception. "No hello?" I felt the bottom go out of my stomach. This…this was bad. I'd been expecting problems, but I had figured it would take longer than THIS.


"My great-grandson doesn't need to greet you, trash," said a cool and familiar voice. I turned to see Black Sorrow standing casually next to me, smiling at Raxus with a smile that wasn't really a smile. I took a step back, positioning myself behind her. She was here to help, but I wasn't sure if this situation had just gotten worse or better. I supposed only time would tell. I just hoped my time wasn't running out.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Black Sorrow didn't look even slightly uncomfortable with her position between us and enemy god who had been expecting her. Raxus, to his credit, didn't look any more intimidated. He looked young, actually. Eighteen or nineteen, pale with sunken dark eyes and floppy hair. Very delicate. He looked like a really morose poet. In comparison, my great grandmother's razor sharp features made her seem like an evil princess. Noble and malicious.


"Black Sorrow," said the god of deception. "We meet at last. How lovely. I was expecting this particular encounter to come later in the war. I was under the impression you didn't like this particular spawn."


She snorted. "I like him better than most, but it wouldn't matter if I wanted his head on a platter. That's family. I'm allowed to make things hard for the brat, but heretic garbage like you isn't permitted to lay a hand on my blood. If you think your little doublespeak trick is enough to keep me from bouncing you off every planet in this cluster, you're even better at lying to yourself than you are at conning gullible kids."


Raxus shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I think you might be a bit less prepared than expected. I know how dangerous you are, given your foundation. It doesn't do to underestimate one's enemy."


With a smile, he flicked his fingers, and the world…changed. Space around us warped, and reality rewrote itself. From the asteroid, we were suddenly transported to an endless city. Buildings pierced the skies around us, spreading out into the horizon like endless waves of steel and concrete grain on a planet of rolling wheat fields.


It wasn't just us, either. I was disturbed to see my grandparents, my mother, and the crew of the Acheron alongside us, having appeared from nowhere. I looked around, trying to glean something, and I got…nothing.


Bethy's Domain was a Domain, it was a world, but it was small, and it was made up of Impact in a way that was…not obvious, unless you had something to compare it to, but still notable. Domains were their own things, pocket dimensions. But this…this wasn't a pocket dimension. This was a world. A real honest to gods reality.


Black sorrow snorted, and her eyes narrowed slightly. There was an explosion of darkness, and then jagged canyons of dark stone tore their way through the space around us, replacing the city. Around the edges, I could still see the previous Domain trying to push in, but sure enough, it was stopping cold.


Raxus frowned. "You already have the inkstone," he said in annoyance. "This is stronger than your Domain is supposed to be."


My grandmother stepped up next to Black Sorrow. "Mom, what the hell is going on here?" She hissed. "Where are we, and what is happening? Are we INSIDE his world? Do we need to worry about being attacked by his supplicants?"


The goddess shook her head. "Nothing that overt. Think of it like a divine shallowing. He's breached the surface of this reality, but only with a tiny intersecting territory. The majority of his world is still in the void, and he'll keep it there unless he's an idiot. Trying to surface a world this close to a void break would be mindnumbingly stupid."


He sighed. "Alas, you aren't wrong. But luckily, I'm hardly the only one here to deal with you. Don't forget, while being in realspace does give your world an advantage, it's also a limitation. We're nowhere near your territory, so you're manifesting your Domain through yourself just like I am. Or rather, like WE are."


With a smirk, he snapped his fingers, and a pair of figures appeared beside him. One was…well, old. Like, the oldest ascendant I'd ever seen. His face was so wrinkled that it was hard to make out the shape of his skull. He looked like one of those dogs with the scrunched up faces. His eyes were a malevolent red, burning in his sockets like bloody flames, no sclera or iris or pupil, just crimson fire.


From the neck down, he was almost disturbingly muscular, muscles bulging so overtly it seemed like they might split the skin, and his chest was bare, his collar of wired bones on black iron the only adornment except for the long robe bottoms that looked like they MIGHT have been sewn from human skin.


The other one was just terrifying. He was a colossal being, ten feet tall easy, and his whole body was wrapped in a long heavy cloak. Under the fabric, I could hear whirring and hissing. I wasn't sure about the first guy, but the second was obvious. Stralthrem, god of dread fabrication.


My great grandmother sneered at the buff old guy. "Hatescream, how positively despicable to see you. Carrying water for the babies now, I take it. Well, fair enough. It's not like you're much of a threat on your own. Tell me, do they let you kill the small fries to feel useful, or do you just get in the final blow after they're done with the real work."


The old man snarled at her. "Vicious little bitch! Should have put you down when you first acquired Strakkenthar's legacy. Pretentious fool never could keep track of his things."


"Watch your mouth, old man," rumbled a new voice. We all turned to see a tall young man with bright red hair and red irises step from seemingly nowhere. "That's my wife you're talking about. She might be a nightmare, but she's MY nightmare." My eyes widened as I saw the newcomer. Not just him, but the people WITH him. One of whom was Morgan fucking LARK.


And judging by the power I was sensing off them, there were SEVERAL S-rankers. My grandfather nodded to a tall dark skinned man with a blindfold on, and the man nodded back with a small smile.


Raxus snorted. "Two of you. Interesting. I'm surprised. We arranged a few nasty surprises for you all to coincide with this little incursion. You must be losing quite a bit of territory, coming here like this. It's so nice to have friends, don't you think? The Void Children hate you simpering cowards as much as we do."


The red haired man, who I was beyond certain was the Red Revenant himself, my great grandfather, who I was meeting for the first time, just smiled. "We borrowed a few legions from the Empire. I'd worry more about your own business than ours. This doesn't bode well for you three."


Hatescream let out a mocking laugh. "Three on two? You might be stronger here, but we're older, and much more experienced. Not to mention we've been preparing for this little encounter for quite some time."


"If that's true, then you should be as aware as we are that this isn't the place," my grandmother said. "Any serious divine combat here would shatter the void shallow. Mixing up the void during such a complex process would cause untold damages to everyone involved. It might not do much to you, but some of your adherents could die. I think we should move this a little deeper into the system."


Black Sorrow beamed. "That's a wonderful idea, Celia. You're such a sensible girl." She sneered at the revenant. "YOU didn't think of that, did you Samuel?" She waved a hand and we vanished, appearing on what looked to be some kind of moon…somewhere else. Happily alone.


"I JUST got here," he groaned. "Literally less than a minute ago. Can I have a second to process before I start making plans? What happened to keeping family business in the family? We're supposed to be on the same team here."


My grandmother groaned. "Enough, mom. Dad is here to help, be nice."


"Thank you," said my great grandfather graciously. "And you must be Shane." He finally turned to smile at me. "I regret that our meeting has to be under such tense circumstances, but my grandaughter raves about you so much I feel like I already know you. I hope we can talk more after this battle."


I nodded solemnly. "I'd like that. I've always been a little curious about you."


"This is all very heartwarming," Black Sorrow said with a groan. "But we have gods to fight. And while Shane's little army is very cute, it's not even remotely relevant here. Nor is the layabout my daughter married. Celia herself is too young to be placed in a fight this dangerous, and we couldn't get any more gods. Among those three behind you, the Vampire might be useful, and your sword whelp has some talent, but I don't see how the third one will be useful."


The third man she mentioned, a tall refined looking noble with a well groomed black beard and blue eyes, bowed deeply. "Your Holiness, I am Schrader Elston Raleigh Von Drexel, first prince of the Imperial Family. Among my people, I am known as the Iron King. One of the legions his holiness mentioned is within my Domain, and my personal ability lends itself to the use of their power. In combination with the forces we have arrayed, I believe that I might be able to aid in this offensive."


My great grandmother squinted at him for a second. "I don't like you. You irritate me. Switch spots with the vampire, you're standing to close to me."


The Red Revenant, or Samuel as Black Sorrow had called him, pinched the bridge of his nose. "Really Alli? You can't be nice to our allies for five minutes? Schrader was kind enough to volunteer to assist us with what might be a suicide mission, and this is how you repay him?" He paused, then cleared his throat and said. "Not that we expect you to die. I'm sure you'll be fine. This is perfectly safe."


Schrader looked decidedly unconvinced, and glanced nervously between the other two. Black Sorrow sighed. "You're such a hypocrite, Sam. Always acting so polite to everyone when you're just as arrogant as I am."


"Yes, that's called 'manners'," he said dryly. "Regardless, we only need them to hold the machine god for a time." He glanced at my grandmother. "Celia, did you bring it?"


She nodded, then flicked her fingers, and something very familiar appeared. A scythe. She'd been holding it for Callie, and when she saw me looking, she smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, dear. Mother is just borrowing it. In fact, that was always part of the plan. There are ways to divine information such as the owner and possessor of items. Otherwise they'd never have shown up."


Black Sorrow plucked the scythe from her fingers, whirling it around herself fluidly in a way that told me she'd had plenty of practice. Then she glanced at the Red Revenant. "I despise you." Her tone was hard, but her eyes looked a little sad.


He smiled sadly. "I know. But this is about protecting our family." He held out a hand. "Dance with me?"


She broke out into a radiant smile, setting her hand in his. "I thought you'd never ask."


He pulled her in, whirling her in a circle, and the two of them sort of…exploded. Darkness and flames bursting outward and mixing together, sweeping up the three S-rankers together. Before us, out in the blackness of space above the moon, a world bloomed. A black world of dark stone canyons with volcanic rivers running through it, and all of our people appeared in it, standing in the caldera of a volcano. Around us, the world shifted slightly as my grandparents manifested their domains, black power and white flame becoming a small sea of stars more exquisite than the real one we stood in, wrapping around us and protecting us.


"Watch this closely, Shane," my mother said as she put a hand on my shoulder, and the other on Chelsea's. "I have a feeling we're about to see something that no one has witnessed in a very long time. This is what a god war really looks like." I watched intently. Because she was right, and I planned to learn everything I could. One day this would be me.

 

[Bezarius]

"Watch this closely, Shane," my mother said as she put a hand on my shoulder, and the other on Chelsea's. "I have a feeling we're about to see something that no one has witnessed in a very long time. This is what a god war really looks like." I watched intently. Because she was right, and I planned to learn everything I could. One day this would be me.

Click to shrink...

Hopefully Shane and Callie learned to be a less dysfunctional couple than Red Revenant and Black Sorrow.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Seeing my great grandparents together among those black volcanic mountains was…odd. The two of them were so innocuous. Young and relaxed and elegant, standing beside each other like a couple from some royal portrait. "They remind me of Shane and Callie," my sister said quietly. "I've never seen great-grandpa look so…young. He's usually got this ageless quality about him, like he could be a million years old."


My grandmother chuckled. "They bring out the best and the worst in each other. Their relationship has been complicated for a long time. When you build your whole world around another person, anything that goes wrong taints the way you feel about them. My parents were obsessed with each other when they were coming up, and that hasn't changed much. The form of that obsession is just different."


"I'm not so sure it is," my grandfather said dryly. "Master looks as agitated as I've ever seen him."


"She's his wife," my grandmother said with a soft smile. "What would you do if someone was plotting MY death? My mother can be cold, sometimes even cruel, but she takes care of her own. It's why he still loves her. Now watch, because this is going to get intense."


We shut up, focusing on the couple and the three men behind them. They were standing on a volcanic plateau, waiting, and within moments, three more people appeared across from them. The vanished gods. Raxus raised an eyebrow at the scythe. "You brought it with you?" He said in amusement. "Awfully confident in yourself, aren't you? I have to say, I don't like your chances. I've heard the rumors about your little pet monster," he smirked at Lark. "But an S-ranker can't do battle with a deity. Not a proper one."


Lark cracked his neck. "That one," he said lightly. "I want that one."


My great-grandmother grinned. "I suppose I'll take the old timer. Pigsticker, tin soldier, you're with the leech. Handle that brat for us while we deal with the real threats." She smirked at Raxus. "I look forward to seeing your acting skills in action. I suspect you're about to do a real convincing impression of someone getting their ass kicked."


Raxus sneered at her. "Bitch, I'll-" we didn't get to hear what he was going to do, because before he finished speaking, Lark dissolved into a torrent of mist, exploding outward into a tide of fog that blotted out the stars around them. Raxus's expression got serious, and he stomped his foot, that city world expanding around him, forcing back the volcanic mountains.


It didn't push them far. Only about a mile of city managed to interject itself into the divine world, suppressed by the combined force of two gods.


The fog flooded the city, wrapping around the buildings. My grandfather flicked his fingers, and a wall of white flame rose up between us and the scene in front of us. Then he snapped his fingers and it resolved into a crystal clear image, split into two separate viewpoints.


He grinned. "I purified the viewing experience. Should make it easier to keep track."


Sure enough, each image followed one of our groups. My great grandparents had advanced, shifting their world so that the city battlefield where Lark confronted Raxus was shunted off to the side, leaving the two gods time to work. Hatescream bellowed in rage, slashing open his palm and collecting the blood before hurling it out onto the rock.


The world began to corrode, the blood eating its way through the dark stone, and as it did, Stralthrem raised his hands and a tide of automatons erupted from the melting muck, condensing from red metallic material. The combination seemed to enhance the automatons, and while I couldn't really tell what they were exactly, I was pretty sure they were all at least high S-rank.


My great grandmother smirked, then offered her hand daintily. The Red Revenant took Black Sorrows hand in his, then he spun her, and the WORLD moved.


I'd seen people fight quickly before. Seen them move with ghostly precision, or unnatural grace. I'd seen spatial manipulation, and teleportation, and super speed. But I'd never seen anything like what I watched when those two fought together. As the two of them moved, it was like they were standing totally still, but whenever one of them took a step or pushed off, the world around them slid by like someone was scrolling across a screen.


One second they were there, the next he was twirling her among the army of machines, and the scythe moved along the outside of her spin, cutting through the metallic monsters like they were the wheat it had been designed to bisect.


A whirling, trotting, dizzying tempo, the two of them danced, standing in place and cutting a rug as reality was torn to pieces in their orbit. Under their feet, a riot of red black flames erupted with each step, darkness and light intertwining and roaring as it consumed everything they left behind.


It HURT to look at, and I was forced to drag my eyes to the other one, where Raxus was NOT having a good time. The city was overrun, legions climbing the buildings and herding the god across the face of his own world. He flicked his fingers, shifting the buildings, trying to confuse and divert them, but he was a bit distracted dodging the colossal waves of gentle looking white cutting force that bisected huge swathes of city.


My grandparents had their complex world, Lark was using his mist, and Shrader had an army to bring to bear, but the Moonlight Pope didn't bother with any of that. One sword, one victory. I was in awe of just how sharp those blade lights were, and I realized after a few glances that I was blinking back tears of what I soon figured out was BLOOD, because the literal sight of those slashes was cutting into my eyes.


I learned to avoid looking at them head on, and my eyes healed, probably protected by the purification of the screen mostly, but damn if that wasn't terrifying.


Raxus looked livid, but between the ultimate swordsman, the endless waves of soldiers in perfect formations, and Lark enshrouding him and confusing his senses, the god of deception had no chance to turn things around.


Meanwhile Stralthrem and Hatescream had abandoned their wave tactics and engaged my great grandparents directly. They tried to encircle them, with Hatescream manifesting a pair of crimson hand axes from his own blood and Stralthrem throwing back his cloak to reveal arms replete with massive buzzing energy cannons.


Blast of ethereal force rained down on the waltzing couple, unable to even singe the corners of their clothes, as Hatescream tried to both dodge and attack. The scythe bit through his axes, not quite severing them in one shot, but managing to take them out on the second swing every time, and the older god was forced to bleed himself even more deeply to replenish them. Stralthrem and Hatescream were being pushed back, but I didn't get the impression they were in much ACTUAL danger. I didn't think any of the gods were.


That scythe looked like it might be able to kill one of them if wielded properly, but if so, it wasn't being wielded like that now. None of the cuts were causing much damage. Even as I had the thought, my great grandmother released her husband's hand, spinning out away from him in a pirouette, and raised the scythe above her head. There was a pulse of dark energy and the enshrining darkness infused the blade. Above her, the scythe manifested in the form of a giant image, on the back of the jagged, menacing blade, a skull opened its mouth and screamed, darkness erupting from its eyes and from between its teeth.


Stralthrem and Hatescream didn't even hesitate, they got the fuck out of dodge, backing off immediately. Their worlds exploded out, shoving back the combined worlds my grandparents had manifested and breaking free to speed over to an empty section of space, staring back at them worriedly.


The scythe was dangerous, but it was also slow. They looked wary but not concerned enough to actually escape. Sadly for the group, they were worrying about the wrong thing.


As soon as they broke free, the volcanic world condensed, smashing down until it was only a small ring of very condensed territory surrounding the city. The city world, meanwhile, was squeezed like it was in the grip of an invisible fist. Raxus, who had been trying to avoid getting cut by the Moonlight Pope, stopped and looked up at the scythe that was now hovering over HIM, still gathering power.


"Now!" My great grandmother cackled maliciously. In the fog around Raxus, a hand appeared, and in it was something I hadn't seen for a few months. The ink stone. Lark's disembodied hand clenched down, and the inkstone shattered, exploding into a tide of dark dust that dyed the fog surrounding it pitch black. The fog swirled and condensed, sublimating as it did, going from diffuse mist to sleek black chains that looked like they were made of liquid darkness. Raxus's eyes went wide with terror. "NO! STOP! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"


"To paraphrase my dolt of a husband," Black Sorrow trilled gleefully. "RUBRUM GLORIA!" And she swung the scythe.


The massive image of the scythe fell like a headsmans axe, shearing through space and bisecting the city world on its path to gently scooping the head off the deceptive god being chained down by the combined suppression of a dead god's object of power and the strong S-ranker in the universe.


Raxus's head rolled off his shoulders, thumping to the street, and the city projection shattered. I wasn't sure if the god world was gone, or if the extension of it into realspace had just been cut off (though I suspected the latter), but it vanished. I turned to look, but sure enough, Hatescream and Stralthrem were gone. I blinked in shock, staring at my grandparents and mother. "Did…did you know that was going to happen?"


They all shook their head. My grandmother shrugged. "My mother doesn't like being plotted against. I wasn't expecting the method, but I'm not surprised she prioritized Raxus. She can be somewhat petty."


"Now that's no way to talk about your beloved mommy," came a poisonously sweet voice. Black Sorrow and the Red Revenant appeared behind us, both of them looking neat and orderly. "But I'll forgive you because you did such a good job protecting the kids and showing them our victory."


"I did that," protested my grandfather.


She scoffed at him. "You're inconsequential. I consider your actions to be proof of my daughter's delegation skills."


Pinching the bridge of her nose, my grandmother sighed. "Mother, please be polite to my husband. It'll be much easier for to visit if you aren't constantly belittling and threatening him. Not to mention we're all on the same side."


Black Sorrow nodded solemnly. "You're right of course, darling. Even trash like him deserves common decency. I'll do my best to be polite for your sake, regardless of what a disappointing waste of space he is." She turned to look at my grandfather with a serious expression. "Good job…you."


He blinked at her. "Do you…do you not know my NAME?"


"Of course I do," she snapped imperiously. "It's…Dan. Wait, Michael. I know it starts with a vowel."


"Neither of those names start with vowels," I pointed out helpfully. "Now, how about to celebrate the execution of a GOD, we all head to Rackham to get something to eat. We need to drop the others off, and it's close by. We can all finally share a meal as a family, assuming the great grandparents can stand to be around each other that long."


Black Sorrow sighed. "I suppose. I'm in a good mood after snuffing out that pathological liar, so I can magnanimously grace you all with my presence."


Bethy perked up, "Wait, there's going to be presents?"


The goddess glanced at her assessingly before nodding. "I like you," she looked at us. "I like her." We all shuddered as we heard the most terrifying statement we'd ever been privy to. That couldn't possibly bode well.

 

[SilverEagle2121]

This was just excellent! I really enjoyed this chapter.

 

[Verdthandi]

Bethy is precious. I'm glad Black Sorrow is a woman of culture.

 

[Ranan]

Absolutely loved this chapter, I wonder if Shane will get any godkiller rep for somewhat enabling the encounter that led to this. I also wonder if being involved in the death of two gods will have any lasting impact

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Our trip to Rackham wasn't immediate. I'd neglected one very important thing during the god fight. Namely, the breakthroughs. All these people had come out of a dungeon, and most were locked at a specific rank because of circumstances. C-rankers couldn't leave at all, and D-rankers couldn't leave if they ranked up.


My wish power had changed the game for the C-rankers, temporarily suppressing them, but the suppression had worn off by the time the fight was over, and they were ready to break through. Crell, Carmichael, and Alanna were all at Legendary with a skill, which required a Chronicle. It did NOT require a Chronicle condensed from that skill, or it wouldn't have been possible for them to GET to Legendary, but it gave them the foundation they needed.


One, two, three B-rankers breaking through. Carmine and Delilah weren't QUITE there yet, but they were on track, and at least three of my other C-rankers were most likely going to be able to reach the threshold within a few months.


Which was to say, my ten B-rank slots were officially full even if I didn't manage to recruit anyone from Dom's clan.


On top of that, eighty of my D-rankers had broken through, way more than expected, taking me from sixty to one hundred and forty, with some more looking to make the jump before we made the trip to the competition.


"This was a surprisingly productive trip," I told my mother as we sat together on the way back. "We broke off our search for people to help my friends and ended up finding them anyway." She'd dragged me away to check me over for injuries then hugged me for ten straight minutes after the battle ended. Apparently Rackham had worried her much less than this divine bullshit. Which was fair, given the stakes.


She shrugged. "That's how it works sometimes. Recursion is weird. Sometimes it gives you exactly what you need, and other times…" she grimaced. "That void shallow is a mess. It still needs to be cleaned up. We left Schrader behind to coordinate the imperial response, because this is on the edge of Empire space. But don't think this is over. The void have entered the war. We got rid of one of the vanished gods, and now we have a whole new swarm of enemies."


I hummed to myself. "What if we didn't?" I asked slowly. "Or, like, we do, obviously. But what if we had two less?" I told her about the Lady and Verdyn. "If we can convert them to allies, we would deal a solid blow to the enemy forces, cutting them in half, at least if you count Raxus being gone."


"That won't work," she said bluntly. "It's a nice thought, but I told you why the gods only allow six. Too many deities will influence the Impact of the universe. It'll elevate us all into a higher realm, and we aren't ready for it."


"But that's realspace, right?" I said quickly. "The void doesn't count, that's where they've been the whole time. If they stay in the void not only would it not compromise reality, but we'd have a pair of combatants already over there. You mentioned their worlds were in the void, and those manifestation domains were just slight protrusions into our world. Our gods were beating theirs because this is their home ground. So wouldn't the void be THEIR home ground?"


She paused, thinking it through. "It's not impossible," she admitted. "I can try to talk to my mother, but you need to understand that this isn't something my parents can decide. This is god business, which means you need the deities to weigh in. Most of them won't even MEET with mortals. My grandmother lives by her own rules, and my grandfather came to help because we really needed it, but don't mistake meeting with gods for a daily occurrence.


"Not to mention that we would need an emissary that they would trust. And since other gods can't go into the void easily, it would need to be someone important, but not strong enough to be seen as a threat." Her tone was absent, more like she was turning it over in her head than trying to actively deny me.


But I latched onto that last part. "Someone like…the current Wishmaster?"


"No!" she snapped, eyes widening as her gaze snapped to mine. "Under no circumstances Shane. That's out of the question. Forget that you might not win this succession war at all, forget the the Wishmaster is still beholden to the council, and forget that the void is far too dangerous for the WCP to let you risk it, I won't allow my child to run off into the darkness beyond reality to try to make FRIENDS with evil gods."


I raised an eyebrow at her. "Are we really throwing around the E word in present company?"


She coughed. "My grandmother is…complicated. But she helped us this time. And you seem to be growing on her."


"Not as much as Bethy," I said, pointing across the deck of the Acheron to where Black Sorrow was currently BRAIDING Bethy's hair as the vampire girl chattered amiably to a bunch of stupefied C-rankers.


"Yes, that's concerning," she admitted. "I'm trying not to think about it. Morgan does not look happy." Sure enough, the Vampire himself was glaring at the pair of them, looking like he wanted to storm over and yank her away. But…he didn't. His eyes were oddly sad, and he eventually sighed and looked away. It made me think about the story Bethy had told in the dungeon. I wondered if Morgan felt quite as positive about that experience as he came across from her point of view. Somehow I didn't think so.


I sighed and shook my head to clear it. "Look, no use talking about it now. We need to win the succession war for it to matter, apparently." Another reason for me to put my all into becoming the next Wishmaster. "We still have what, four months left? Do we need to start heading over?"


My mother sighed and nodded. "I heard from your father. He's making his way there personally, and will be meeting us when we arrive. It's actually a bit more than four months, but we've been travelling in the opposite direction from the Heirworld. If we want to make it in time, we should start the journey soon. We have a few days, or even weeks if we push, but after the banquet with my grandparents we should leave."


I locked onto a specific word she used. "What exactly is an Heirworld? I keep hearing about the succession war, but how does it work? What exactly IS the succession war? How do we decide who takes the top spot? Is it just a death battle?"


"Not death," she said with a shake of her head. "Conquest. I was actually on your father's team during his attempt, so I know more about than most. But not as much as some."


"She means me," Zeke said as he dropped into a chair next to us. "But yeah, we're on the way now, so I guess it's finally time to fill you in. I've been avoiding bringing it up, given how crazy things have been. Didn't want to distract you."


I chuckled at that. "I guess I can understand that. But I think it's time to finally catch me up."


"It's said, by and large, that the WCP is a floating faction." He said, having taken a moment to consider his words. "This is mostly true. But we DO have at least one dedicated planet. Of course, it's not EXACTLY WCP territory. We don't interfere with anything that happens there, in order to keep the testing conditions pristine. But the majority of the forces there reflect the WCP branches and factions anyway. That would be the Heirworld."


My mother nodded. "The Heirworld is a planet specifically terraformed for the succession war. It's existed as long as the Wish Curse Palace, having been established by the first Wishmaster personally."


"So it's some kind of homeworld?" I asked worriedly. "Like a spot for all the elites to gather?"


Zeke snorted. "I suppose you could phrase it that way. But I wouldn't. Don't forget the Wishmaster is a god. He has his own world, even if it isn't a physical home planet. No, the Heirworld isn't a training camp. It's a prison. The worst of the worst end up there. Anyone too brutal for the WCP, and that's a high bar, gets tossed on the Heirworld. It's left to fester and rot between competitions, but when the succession war rolls around, that's when that place really heats up."


"Why?" I didn't see why they would participate if they were imprisoned. Wouldn't they want to kill as many of us as possible?


"Because the people following the top candidate get to LEAVE," he said grimly. "It's a once in a lifetime chance, and you have to back the right horse. Once you commit to a backer, you're stuck with them. So the wars get nasty, because the local factions will do anything to force their candidate to the top of the heap. Not to mention old grudges can flare up, because a lot of the old factions from the last succession war are still around."


"I'm still stuck on the prison thing," I said dazedly. "This is a whole planet full of people the WCP thought were too hardcore to leave running around? Why would I let any of them out?"


Zeke shrugged. "Not exactly. Lots of the reasons people end up there are political. I've told you before, the WCP doesn't DO morality. There are a couple of real monsters lurking down there, granted, but none of them are S-rank or higher. Plus you can request information on locals through your branch if necessary."


"My branch?" I asked. "Like…through my dad's dad? Because I don't even know him."


"You will," he assured me. "Trust me. Malachai won't miss the succession war. None of the branch heads will. The whole council will be in attendance. They'll be watching from a space station in orbit over the Heirworld." He grinned at me. "Hope you're excited, kid. You're finally going to meet the other side of the family."


My mother grimaced. "I'd prefer he didn't. Malachai is a cold hearted bastard. I have no idea how Eli turned out as well as he did." I gaped at her in disbelief, and she smiled bitterly. "Yes, he's THAT bad."


"Malachai isn't so bad," Zeke said wryly. "He's not NICE, but he cares about his kids. He always took care of Eli and his brother and sister."


"Out of guilt," my mother pointed out. "Because he left their mother and got remarried for political reasons and had ten OTHER kids." I knew about that, actually. Nat had told me. Her mother Allison was my dad's full sister, and he had a brother named Felix. His half siblings I was much less clear on.


Zeke didn't seem to have an argument for that, just shrugging again. Meanwhile, I was fixated on everything I had learned. The succession war was finally here, or would be soon enough, and now I had another reason I had to win. If I could pull it off, not only would I be able to grow fast enough to help my friends survive the coming storm, but I might be able to use my influence to save the Lady and get us an ally all in one fell swoop.


Maybe that was beyond my pay grade, but for some reason, I was convinced it would be necessary. The Void had come into play in a big way, but I somehow got the impression this was just beginning. The god war wasn't the real disaster, it was just the opening salvo, and my fate sense was screaming at me that things would only get worse.


I'd go to the banquet, meet my great grandfather properly, and spend a bit of time with my friends, but once I left, I was going to buckle down and do some serious training. Once the story of this most recent adventure got out, I should be raking in the points, and if I was lucky I'd make it to at least halfway to C-rank before arrival. I'd need every advantage I could get.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Arriving back on Rackham was surprisingly nostalgic. Not just because we'd brought my friends home safe, but because after the dark and despair filled dungeon, the gentle forests of Rackham were practically paradise.


"We're back!" Shouted Ray in relief, hurling himself off the shuttle to literally kiss the grass. "I'm so happy to be home."


Elena chuckled as she jumped down. "You'd think you were the one with a kid here. You're not even from this planet, what are you so excited about?" Despite her words, her tone was every bit as fond and exasperated as I'd expected from her. Elena was everyone's big sister, and she seemed to have bonded with the others while they were imprisoned.


We'd settled in at a large inn located in the capital, and my mother had rented the place out for the banquet, dropping more money that I'd seen in my life arranging seating and food for everyone. With hundreds of people here, it was a tight squeeze even in the biggest banquet hall, and she'd paid extra for the best chefs.


"So, Shane," my great grandfather said as he sat beside me. "Tell me about yourself? I've heard plenty of stories, but as we all know, legends so rarely tell the whole tale. Not to mention some of the sources were…prone to exaggeration."


Black Sorrow slammed her hands down on the table, glaring at him ferociously. "Was that a shot at me? You want to die hypocrite? I already killed one god today, I'll do it again!'


"Mother!" my grandmother snapped reproachfully. "You promised you'd be civil for this dinner!"


Black Sorrow sputtered. "He's clearly baiting me! You all saw it! Look at his smug fucking face!" She pointed at the Red Revenant, who stared back at her with an innocently puzzled expression so flawless it had to be fake.


Celia rolled her eyes. "You stop it too, dad. Honestly, do you have to wind her up every time you see her?"


He smiled modestly. "It's a gift," he winked at the goddess. "Besides, she's cute when she's angry." Black Sorrow snorted, looking away sulkily, but I could have sworn I saw her lips twitch. Seeing the complete lack of sympathy from his daughter, he sighed. "Fine, I'll be nice too. I was being sincere with my question though, I want to know more about my great grandson."


I decided that pointing out how he hadn't wanted that BEFORE wouldn't be productive. They'd showed up to save our lives, and granted, it had been Black Sorrow's fault we'd been in danger to start with, but I wasn't unhappy with how things turned out.


So I filled him in on my life up to now. My childhood, my early days as an Ascendant, and some of my adventures.


To my surprise, Black Sorrow seemed as enraptured as he did. I didn't know how to feel about her, honestly. She'd been a serious problem for me, but I knew now that everything she'd done had been lining up ducks to make this happen. I couldn't even process that kind of scheming, but knowing that any of our interactions could have been subtly shaded to make me do or think a specific thing was…unsettling.


In the end though, we'd come out ahead. I was going to net a large windfall of stats from all this, and she'd come to protect me when I needed it. As much as I resented some of her nonsense, seeing her there in front of me when the enemy gods had arrived was the most relieved and safe I'd felt in a long time.


This was the side of her that my grandmother saw, the one that pushed her to defend the erratic goddess even when she did something inexcusable, and I kind of got it. Black Sorrow was condescending, ruthless, and manipulative…but she cared. About all of us. I could see that. Even the Red Revenant held a special place in her heart. Given how easily she'd manipulated us into baiting out Raxus, I didn't believe that she couldn't have killed him if she'd been really trying, not with such a long time to do it and when he had such an obvious blind spot for her.


My grandmother's "death" had damaged their relationship, though I had no idea if it was the only factor. Now that they'd been angry for so long, I wasn't sure they knew how to make peace. Or rather, that she did.


Mom had told me privately that she hadn't seen her grandfather this lively in a long time. Being here with his wife, even as the object of her ire, was clearly a joy to him. Watching them together, I felt my heart ache. I imagined that was me and Callie. Imagine watching her look at me with that kind of tentative animosity.


Not that it wasn't warranted. The Revenant had known their daughter was alive and kept it from her. I wondered if she was the same person she had been back then though. Black Sorrow was erratic and vicious when provoked, but would she really have killed us all? Would she have killed the father of her own granddaughter? Or had she changed after so long without my grandmother?


Losing a child would make anyone different. Was this a completely new version of Black Sorrow? One who had mellowed after losing everything? I knew from interacting with the Lady that gods COULD change.


"Shane?" my mother said worriedly. "You ok?"


Callie reached over to squeeze my hand. "He's fine. He just gets lost in his head sometimes. He's always been more introspective than most people give him credit for."


"Translation, he has the attention span of a gnat," said Benny with a snicker.


"Shouldn't you be training with Sebastian?" I asked vindictively. "Do you really have time for all this socializing? You're going to need to put in the work to hit D-rank before the succession war, you know."


He glared at me. "Shut up, I'm working on it. Don't try to change the subject."


"Speaking of problems I'm working on," I turned to Jessie. "I have some good news for you. Callie and I did a bit of trial and error, and it seems like it's finally time. No rush, but whenever you're ready, I can finally do it. I can bring your brother back."


Jessie froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. Her girlfriend, Alyssa (Tasha's daughter and a D-rank dryad) shot her a concerned glance, but Jessie just stared at me. "It's…time? You can really do it?" She shot a look at Callie. "And what about…other people?" My wife winced, averting her eyes, and I frowned at her questioningly as I felt a pulse of guilt through the bond.


"That's not…" she said slowly. "I don't want to steal focus. We still have to bring back Alan, and Perit later on, I'd love to see Batty again, but-"


"But nothing," I said as I realized what she'd been thinking about. "Of course we can bring him back. I'm just sorry he missed the wedding. I'm sure he'd have liked to be there for the ceremony."


Attic Bat had been one of Callie's oldest friends. When she'd run away from home at sixteen, he'd taken her ion and kept her safe. He was murdered by the same person who'd killed Jessie's brother, a traitorous serial killer named Stricture who he'd been helping us try to catch.


Honestly I'd almost forgotten him. While he'd been a huge part of Callie's life, he'd died before I got a chance to meet him. I honestly felt like an asshole for not remembering, but we'd been through a LOT since then, and his death hadn't been as impactful for me as it had for Callie. She must have been hiding it from me too, because I hadn't picked it up through the bond. How deeply had she buried that?


I brought her hand up to my mouth, kissing it gently as I smiled at her. Among family I didn't bother with the mask, not with actual gods here. "We can arrange yours at the same time as Jessie's, a scroll for each of you. I just so happen to have exactly two in reserve for emergencies."


My mother beamed at me. "See, my boy is the sweetest. He gets that from his father. Eli used to do romantic things for me all the time when we were younger."


I gaped at her in open disbelief. To my surprise, Zeke nodded. "She's right. They were almost as disgustingly sweet as you two are. I used to mock him about it mercilessly. Now that everything is settled and he's meeting back up with us…" he smirked. "I'm looking forward to seeing how miserable Sasha is going to make him forcing him to make up for your childhood."


She smiled sweetly. "Don't be silly, I would never make my husband miserable. If he feels that he has some things to make up for and decides to put in the effort to make it up to our family, I support him in that course of action. If he doesn't…well, people change their minds."


Her glance at me was a bit guilty, and I could tell she wanted to force dad to make everything he had done up to me. The thing was, I wasn't sure that was even possible, and even if it was…I'd moved on. I still wasn't happy with how he'd handled things, but I could see where he was coming from, and I knew how complicated the situation had been.


I also knew that she was going to feel guilty if she didn't, since she blamed herself every bit as much as him. I had come a long way in my relationship with my mother, and in some ways I thought that not holding it against her made it WORSE for her. I shook off the various dramatic issues surfacing after so long and glanced at my great grandparents, who were sitting in silence, eating and glancing at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking.


Smiling, I dug into my food. The steak was excellent, the company was good, and for the first time in a long time, I felt…whole. We'd killed a god, I was with my whole family (minus my dad, but I wasn't too bothered), I wasn't under threat of death from any external factions, and I had months before I had to be ready for the succession war.


Not to mention I was finally keeping my word to Jessie, and helping my wife get over a devastating loss at the same time. Especially after seeing the darkness and depression in the dungeon, I couldn't help but appreciate what I had and how lucky I was to have it.


After everyone finished eating, my grandmother convinced her parents to stay for dessert, but eventually Black Sorrow got pissed at the Revenant again and almost attacked him, so we called the family dinner a tentative success and she sent them on their way. Then we all headed over to the inn.


The next day we met with the others to say goodbye. Elena was staying home with her husband and kids, though she insisted we stop in to say hi to Simon, and I left him one of my scrolls for the day just in case he needed something.


Once we said our goodbyes, we brought most of them along with us. Ray, Desria, Cavallo, Chess, and of course, Bella, all came with us. The Acheron was surprisingly capable of containing so many of our people, and it wasn't even that crowded. There were whole sections of the ship I hadn't even seen yet.


We found an out of the way spot and Callie and Jessie made their wishes. They paid me a C-rank chit each for the resurrections, and they went surprisingly smoothly. After that, we officially left Rackham space and set our course for the Heirworld. In just a few short months, the final fight over future of the WCP would begin. But hey, no pressure.