“That was so fun,” Sienne said, grinning even as she wrapped her hand with a tincture-treated bandage, and Shayma had to agree. Dropping in on the ogres like that, and getting out before Vok Lim could do anything about it, had been pretty enjoyable. The Whacker was back in its holder, a giant slab of stone Blue had provided so none of them would accidentally walk into the whisker-thin length of [Firmament]. It wasn’t quite sharp enough to cut on contact, but moving at any speed could do a lot of damage to an unsuspecting Classer.

“I haven’t had a chance to really hit hard since I got this thing,” Giorn added, leaning on the Tree. “It packs quite a punch. Kinda weird to have a weapon that doesn’t break when I use it, though,” he added with a laugh.

“How’d you manage to keep it clean?” Shayma asked curiously. Blue had mentioned it and she was wondering that herself, considering the bloody mess he’d made of the ogres.

“I gave it a bit of a kinetic pulse,” Giorn explained. “Usually I use it to strip leaves or small branches off my weapons, but it works for monster residue just as well.”

“That is an amazing idea,” Shayma said, shaking her head. It just reminded her that, even if she was catching up in levels, her mom and dad had a lot more practical experience than she did and knew how to squeeze every last bit of use from their Skills. Such as her mom using her void Skills to take apart or to fix items with weird or damaged mana.

“I really ought to get with your parents to talk Skills sometime,” Blue said, mirroring her own thoughts. “In the meantime, you might want to move out of the way. I think Vok Lim is going to start bombarding the area and you’re between him and Meil.” She glanced back at the lake behind them, and Meil perched on the island in the middle, and nodded.

“Grab your stuff, looks like Vok Lim’s going to be showing off the mage part of mage-king,” she told them, offering them her hands again. It wasn’t strictly necessary, but she felt that it helped the Skill a lot to lead them through the [Phantasmal Realm]. Besides, dad being dad, he might want to poke around, and she didn’t know what would happen if he strayed too far from her.

“I’m still a little nervous carting this thing around,” Sienne admitted as she picked up The Whacker, lifting it out of its stone holder. “But better me than one of our enemies.”

“Definitely,” Shayma agreed, waiting for Sienne to safe it by pointing it straight up and then pulled the three of them into [Phantasmal Path]. The Whacker was a palpable strain on the Skill, though she wasn’t sure if that was due to the size or the intensely magical nature of [Firmament]. It wasn’t quite enough for her to need to pull on Blue’s reserves, especially since it took more out of her stamina than mana, but it was enough that she wouldn’t want to do it for more than short bursts.

Blue could have teleported her himself, it was all his territory after all, but then she wouldn’t have the chance to exercise her Skills. Besides, he had enough to focus on with grinding away at their forces and making sure nobody in the killbox got hurt by anything. Not to mention she appreciated he didn’t feel the need to do every little thing himself. Considering his power, it would have been easy for him to hover and try to solve every problem, but he didn’t.

She dropped them back out of the Phantasmal Realm a few miles east of the nearest island that wasn’t attacking Meil, behind the line of advance. Even though she was used to the immense bulk of the Wildwood Tree, seeing so many tons of earth and rock floating around in the sky was a strange thing. Despite being far away, it made her feel oddly claustrophobic to regard it looming above them.

“That Taelah of yours does really good work,” Sienne said, flexing her hand as the bandage dissolved to leave only whole skin behind. Shayma wasn’t sure how many points of health that represented, but considering the way void magic cut everything it wasn’t nearly as easy to heal from a void magic wound as a mundane one. Keri could probably have done the same job, but Shayma wasn’t going to split her from Annit, and Annit needed to be getting all the levels and experience she could manage in the killbox. Besides, if something happened there, Keri would be on hand.

“She’s not my Taelah,” Shayma pointed out, focusing back on what she was doing rather than what her friends were up to. “She’s her own Taelah. If anything, she’s Blue’s Taelah.”

“Darn right she’s my Taelah,” Blue said.

Shayma grinned at Blue’s comment, taking a moment to use Companion Concord.

「Hey Taelah, thought you might want to know that my mom’s complimenting your Alchemy Skill,」 she sent. 「And Blue – hah, it’s great being able to pass messages under his nose like this – Blue called you ‘my Taelah.’」

「Aww.」 Taelah replied. 「Tell your mom thanks,」 she added. 「I’ll tell Blue I love him too.」

“Hey, what did you tell Taelah?” Shayma grinned and affected not to hear what he asked, just laughing once and then turning back to her parents.

“So how often do you think you’ll be able to use the Whacker?”

“Well, I have two hands so twice in a row,” Sienne said dryly, flexing her fingers. “About ten minutes between, based on how fast Taelah’s stuff replenishes my health and stamina. Probably can do that ten times or so before I get oversaturated on restoration magic, but that’s just a guess.”

“Launching her up is going to be dead easy, especially with the Tree,” Giorn assured her. “In fact, I can probably just extend it out and give her a proper foothold for the whole thing.”

“Do you want to go for the one that’s already damaged, or the one that’s most whole?” Shayma asked, half to her parents and half to Blue.

“Damaged, definitely. Always exploit a weakness.”

“If you destroy enough of one for it to crash, that might be an issue for ANATHEMA rage, but a win is a win.” Left unsaid was that if they damaged one enough to crash, Shayma might be able to get inside it and let Blue convert the core. Or let Sienne cut it. “The damaged one is full of slimes and such, by the way.”

The islands were visible enough from the Phantasmal Realm, lit up with wards and magical protections as they were, so it was just a short jaunt before they appeared underneath one with a scorched underside and a visible hole in the sloped surface. The hole seemed to have been filled in, but the slagged remnants of three floors jutted out beyond the patch that’d been slapped over the puncture. It was tempting to think of going through there, but that would involve taking on an army of slimes, oozes, and jellies. Taking out armies was Blue’s job.

The point of Sienne’s attacks was to destroy big chunks of the magics that made the islands run. Much of it was inside the inner tower, certainly, and nobody wanted to get near that, but the entire outside of the rock was covered with protective spells. Deeper inside were the anchors for the magics that kept them aloft, projectors for guiding the mage-kings spells, and an enormous complex of wards and sigils that none of them could even guess at.

Her parents hadn’t seen anything like it, even in Ir. Iniri hadn’t seen anything that complex, even taking the Adamant Fortress into account. It was an Artifact, and it was impressive, but it wasn’t the massive edifice each of the floating islands was. They were proof that magical items didn’t need to be Artifacts to be potent, especially when dozens or hundreds or possibly even thousands of them were put together. Even Shayma had to admit it was hard to imagine how Blue could do better, at least as it stood now.

Of course, Blue only had a few months to work on things. The mage-kings had been around for centuries. In a few hundred years, these floating islands might seem like mere trinkets, grown on the vine the way Blue made Sources.

“Holy crap,” Blue said, the moment before a massive surge of mana swelled from above them and everything was on fire. The blast of heat lasted only a moment before Shayma pulled everyone into the Phantasmal Realm, and even that didn’t last long as Blue snapped up a shelter of Adamant Stone for them.

“What was that?” Shayma demanded, coming out inside the safety of the temperature-immune stone.

“They’re trying to burn down Tarnil. Tell Iniri that, too, she could feel it all the way from Meil.” The liquid sounds of Blue’s attention quieted for a moment, and she took the time to tell Iniri what was going on.

“Okay, I’m going to use [Conservatory] to make all this damage temporary, and now seems a great time to attack actually. Iniri’s busy with Vok Lim, but with all this magic going off we can see exactly where to cut.”

「He’s going to fix it with Conservatory. Mom and Dad and I are going to go poke them in the eye while you take care of Vok Lim.」 She added to her prior message. 「Good luck!」

「You too.」 Iniri replied in a half-distracted fashion. Shayma had no idea what Iniri was going to be doing; even with illusion type magic she didn’t have any practice with the structured spellcraft Iniri and other mages used. She didn’t need to know to have faith that Iniri would wreak at least some kind of havoc on Vok Lim.

“Apparently the mage-kings are trying to burn down Tarnil, but Blue is addressing that. Since all their magic constructs are active, we can see where to hit them. I’m going to make us all invisible to them, though I guess your void magic will cut that, mom?”

“I would guess so. I’ve never met anything void can’t cut, aside from this [Firmament],” Sienne said. “But it might just be the blade. Besides, if he can catch me during the brief moment I’m using my Skill, the void will probably cut whatever he sends at me.”

“You shouldn’t be vulnerable for long enough, especially with all the heavy-duty magic being thrown about,” Giorn said, but he still frowned at the thought.

“It’s kind of toasty out there. Even though I can cool down where you’re standing, it’s going to be an issue up by the island. Heat rises.” Shayma pulled a few of Taelah’s fire protection potions from her [Phantom Pocket], tossing one each to her parents.

“This should help but Blue says it’ll be hot up near the islands.”

“One thing about being adventurers for so long, we’ve had time to get good gear.” Giorn grinned and thumped the leather armor he was wearing. “All the standard protections, and a few consumable ones.”

“Don’t worry about us, dear.” Sienne smiled before downing the potion. Shayma didn’t need them, obviously, but she had tried one herself, just to see. While the taste wasn’t bad the feeling of its mana spreading through her body was creepy. At higher levels it probably wouldn’t work at all unless it was specially made specifically for her mana, and even then it wasn’t likely to be a pleasant experience.

“I guess we’re ready,” she told Blue.

“Here you go,” he said, and the stone box slid away. Heat battered at her, more threatening her clothes than herself. Between [Shapeshifting] and [Eidolon Body] she was effectively immune to things like fire or heat. Aside from the patch of stone the three of them were on, everything was on fire in every direction, a roaring inferno that blackened the sky with smoke.

That actually made it easier to shield them. In such a roiling, chaotic environment, masking both the visual and mana presence of the three of them was as simple as blurring them into the surroundings. According to some of the veterans at Wildwood, full invisibility was usually easier to spot with esoteric senses, and she knew the mage-kings had to have those.

Neither of her parents looked affected by the fire or smoke, not even squinting as they peered upward. At some unseen signal, body language known only to them, Sienne leapt into the air, landing on the forward tip of the Tree before it sped forward. In a matter of seconds Sienne was nearly touching the underside of the island.

It was the first time that Shayma had actually felt void. She’d seen her mother use it often enough, always sparingly, but that had been almost entirely prior to getting a Class. This time the void snapped her [Liminality] skill the moment Sienne used it, instantly consuming the portion that was hiding the Whacker, and she understood why it terrified people. It didn’t merely break the magic, didn’t even merely consume it, it eradicated it entirely. It felt deeply and disturbingly wrong, like she’d had something essential torn from her, and that was just from having some small portion of her Skill void-sundered. It had to be far worse for the mage-kings.

Sienne used her [Anell-Style Bladeplay] to the utmost, the Whacker carving a three-hundred-foot swath of destruction through wards, rock, and spellwork alike, rending apart every part of the island she could reach. Even as rock and metal started to tumble down from the bottom of the island, Giorn moved the Tree, Sienne swapped hands, and attacked again. Then Giorn snapped the Tree back to its normal extension and Sienne somersaulted off the end to land next to Shayma.

The entire attack happened in a matter of seconds, and while Sienne busied herself wrapping her bleeding hands, Giorn extended the Tree to touch the still-falling rocks. For a moment Shayma thought Giorn was going to launch them back toward the island, but each one he slapped with the weapon abruptly slowed, falling as if through honey rather than air. He was pulling the kinetic energy out of them, storing it up.

Above them, the entire fortress-island listed slowly to one side, once the major pieces of spellwork that kept it afloat were ruined. Magic pulsed as the inferno roared once again, then sputtered as some portion of it failed, a twisted knot of mana blooming out from the crater Sienne had dug in the fortress above. Unfortunately, fire wasn’t the only weapon in the fortress’ arsenal, and a caustic hail began to rain from above. The hailstones shattered as they hit the ground, releasing a corrosive fog that began to melt the ash and charcoal of the fire.

“This is a little harder to deal with than fire,” Giorn said, and the stone box closed around them again. Light filtered in as glass windows formed, letting them see the acid miasma that surrounded them.

“Give me one second, I think I can fix this if I juice up a grassland Climate…” Blue said, and wind picked up, blowing around the fog. A dark funnel cloud touched down nearby, the island itself blocked from view by low-hanging clouds.

“Blue says he’s fixing things.” Shayma said, looking out at the tornado, the sound of the wind so low and so loud that it seemed like it was growling.

“Only Blue would call a tornado fixing things,” Giorn said, face plastered against the window as he watched. Sienne flexed her hands as Taelah’s tinctures did their work, regrowing flesh and replenishing hitpoints. The Whacker was effectively trapped by the ceiling where it had formed around the ultrathin blade, so Sienne let it rest on the floor while she waited for the bandages to dissolve.

“Maybe we should go to a different fortress?” Sienne suggested. “This one’s already moving up out of range.”

“Oh yeah I didn’t even notice that. I mean, Giorn’s staff can extend out pretty far but…” Shayma couldn’t help it. She had to laugh at Blue’s unintentional double entendre, even if it did involve her dad.

“What?” Sienne looked at her, nonplussed, and Shayma just laughed harder.

“Oh, ho ho. Come on, he has a giant weapon—”

“Nooo, stop!” Shayma couldn’t stop laughing, but she pointed her finger upward to indicate it was Blue she was laughing at, not her mom. Her parents waited patiently until she got herself under control, finally taking a deep breath. “Blue was making comments about dad’s staff,” she explained. Sienne’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, you mean how long and thick-”

“Mom!” Shayma cut her off, but Giorn was already grinning. He reached out to wrap his arm about Sienne’s waist, pulling her against him.

“I appreciate it, dear, but I think maybe this isn’t the time.” He told her, bending down to give her a kiss.

“Spoilsport,” Sienne faux-pouted.

“Sure, we can go to the next fortress,” Shayma said.

“I bet I can do even more damage to the next one.” Sienne said, reaching down to pick up the Whacker in her newly-healed hand.

“Grab hold,” Shayma said, offering them her hands. Sienne and Giorn each took one, and she stepped out with [Phantasmal Path], heading toward the next Fortress. It was still in flames when she popped out, though a quick exercise of [Liminality] to flood the area with fresh water and flexing her will to make the water a little more real snuffed out the worst of it around their landing area. Sienne whistled, impressed with the use of the Skill, and Shayma practically glowed with pride at impressing her mother like that.

The second attack went just about the same as the first. Shayma shielded, Giorn lifted Sienne up to the fortress, and Sienne cut huge, gaping holes in reinforced stone and metal. Her mom was absolutely right that she did more damage with her second try, because the fire completely vanished even before Sienne was done. The whole six-mile-long bulk of the island shuddered and tilted drunkenly before Giorn lowered her back to the ground, though this time it wasn’t followed by an acid hail. Instead, the response was far more insidious.

The humidity jumped instantly, making it feel hot and hard to breathe. Then Shayma realized that the air filling her lungs wasn’t doing anything — there was so much water in the air it was effectively drowning her while still being breathable. She grabbed her parents and hauled them into the Phantasmal Realm, where the saturation of water mana around them was clearly visible. Neither Sienne nor Giorn had any problems racing away from there, off to somewhere else where they could actually breathe.

“Oop. Looks like they’re all going high now. All four fortresses are way up in the air. Also wow what was that last thing that you ran from?” Shayma tried to reply, but coughed instead, spitting out extra water that she’d breathed in.

“I’m not sure,” she got out at last, wheezing for a moment before her throat cleared entirely. “It was like drowning, but on land.” Sienne and Giorn were busy purging themselves of the built-up water too, coughing and hacking to get it out of their lungs.

“That’s kind of terrifying,” Blue said, sounding concerned, but she waved her hand.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Takes more than that to really worry me.”

“Well, even so, I think you’re done for now. All four of the fortresses are way up high. Guess we’ll have to see what they do.”