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"That doesn't look very good," Tsumi commented as she watched countless demons descend on the world below. If that had been it, she would've been much more worried, but the demons were not the only ones to arrive. She also watched members of the Heavenly Host descend on the demons. The bronze- and silver-clad immortals were currently outnumbered and being pushed back by sheer numbers, but more were arriving as she watched the battle ebb and flow. Most of the fight was actually taking place above the planet, but many of the lesser demons were descending on the surface as well. They’d find plenty of unlucky people to fight there as well.

Tsumi had periodically returned to do a sweep of the world during the last couple of weeks. She didn’t want to get too close, just so she could keep the ship and the loot safe, but she didn’t feel secure just staying away either. Karna and Arjuna might have to leave in a hurry, and it wouldn’t be beneficial if it took too long for her to return. She also might have to sweep in and save their sorry asses. She actually hoped that she’d get the opportunity to do just that, as it would allow her to lord it over the two for years to come.

One of the immortals overseeing the battle broke away and approached the ship. Without so much as asking for permission, the immortal formed a portal and stepped onto the bridge of their ship, likely because she’d sensed Tsumi’s presence. “Well, well. We didn’t expect to find people from the Higher Planes here.” The silver-clad warrior commented on arrival.

“You’ll find quite a few on the planet below, assuming they don’t all get eaten by demons great one.” Tsumi gave a small bow.

“Truly? Can you give me some estimate? This place seems quite remote for it to draw too many people.” The immortal tilted her head, with a pair of bunny ears flopping from side to side.

“Unfortunately not. In the thousands at this point, at least. I’ve been keeping a safe distance for the last few weeks, only waiting for my friends to return before we’ll leave. We were among the first to find this place, so we’ve gotten our fill.” Tsumi said with an apologetic tone.

"Fair enough, and I certainly can't blame you for a bit of looting. I'm sure this world has many treasures that you haven't ever seen before. On that note, while we won't touch most of what you’ve gathered, you’ll understand that we’ll need to ask for you to return any items that are…shall we say too dangerous to be in the Higher Planes.” The immortal said suggestively. They both knew some Divine objects fell to the Higher Planes on occasion, and some of those could upset the balance of the Higher Planes completely. Not to mention Divine objects created by the Expansion, which could be basically anything in nature and power.

After a brief consideration, Tsumi decided to take a small loss. "We didn't run into too many of those, but this might qualify." She pulled out the spear with a clear but relatively minor bit of Divine power, which she’d recovered from the vault with the Hydra guarding it. She didn’t really use spears, so it wasn’t a great loss to her, and the Divinity in the item really was quite small. It would’ve been a great weapon, but not something she’d mourn losing. The things in their hold were worth a lot more.

“We thank you for your honesty.” The immortal stated while receiving the weapon. Even in the Divine Planes, items with real Divinity were somewhat rare because the number of qualified smiths didn’t just magically increase even if the available materials did. “You said your friends are still on the planet below?”

“They were convinced the perpetual storm circling the planet held the biggest secrets of the place. A fair assumption I suppose. They’re currently inside trying to find those secrets.” Tsumi didn’t dare to lie.

“I wish them luck then. They’ll need it with the whole world becoming a battle zone soon enough. It seems we have an entire demonic parade hitting the area.” The immortal bade her goodbyes and joined back in the battle. Demonic parades were basically enormous bands of countless demons wandering around the spatial cracks, trying to find worlds to consume.

"That could've gone a lot worse," Tsumi muttered, thinking about the crates and crates of spatial artifacts in the ship's hold, all filled to the brim with goods. A single item was a small price to pay to keep them, and now they also had the tacit protection of the Host as they’d already paid for the help.

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“How goes the war father?” Prince Tethrine asked.

“As well as you might expect. The Grand Marshall is very good at what he does. I must admit, your plan is working perfectly. The number of reincarnators that have died in the last week alone is larger than in the last ten years combined.” Kurnous rarely gave compliments to his children, but this time he was genuinely impressed.

It had been Tethrine’s plan to plant the idea about drafting new immortals into the Host, and the Grand Marshall had been all too happy to pick up on it. Just because they were rivals, that didn’t mean their interests couldn’t align. Most of the new immortals that normally didn’t join the host were either idiots, or they were people who didn’t need the help of the Host to advance. The first group was much larger, but the latter group had a large contingent of reincarnators among their number, as they already had the knowledge to advance without the help of the Host. Or they were at least conceited enough to think they did. They had also been the first soldiers to be thrown into the grinder.

The Host was usually very good at avoiding too many losses, as they were extremely powerful and disciplined. However, the newly recruited immortals didn’t yet have that battle-hardened discipline, as they were usually prone to going off on their own and thinking that they were the center of the universe that needed no help. Those that survived would learn, but many didn’t survive. Especially among the reincarnators as they usually also had the least regard for their lives. They’d often rather go out in a blaze of glory than submit to the commands of others.

“I’m gratified by your praise.” Tethrine nodded, quite pleased with himself.

“Do not let it get to your head. You have done well, so it would be a shame to see you stumble right after. How about the mission I gave you?” Kurnous made sure to keep the Prince grounded.

“That one goes quite well. We’ve taken the opportunity provided by the recent battles to identify as many reincarnators as possible and put them under watch. So far, the scourges have not hit the Higher Planes too badly, so the work is only beginning, but with more enemies flowing in and more of our forces present to identify the reincarnators, the faster it will go. We will be sure to keep a list of them so that they can be drafted as soon as they Ascend to the Divine Planes.” Tethrine promised. This was why they had offered no resistance to the Grand Marshall’s proposal. They planned on using it to their advantage.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something odd was going on with the number of reincarnators being born into this universe. Whatever the cause, it would be beneficial to control them and perhaps cull their numbers a bit. If there was to be a competition of some kind between the reincarnators, as seemed somewhat likely, then controlling the number of opponents was essential. As was knowing their identities, strengths, and weaknesses.

“Good. Make sure to keep up the search. The more we know, the better for us. On that note, House Titannica has started to make moves as well. We have been unable to determine their goals, but by judging by the movements we’ve seen so far, they’re preparing for something big.” The titans were the chief rival of the Asuryans and they were also a race that had held the throne in a relatively recent past. They were not the only large threat, but they were the most obvious one.

"I'll keep that in mind father," Tethrine promised.

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"If nothing else, he's at least consistent," Karna commented while holding her knees to her chest as they sat on an elevated platform. She was watching Ashanti go through the next test while waiting for her turn with Hou Yi.

“His greatest fear is to see his people enslaved, and his greatest desire is to see his people dominant and free to choose their own path. Have to respect that on some level.” Hou Yi agreed. He’d held similar ideals in the past.

“Did you expect my desires to be more selfish?” Ashanti asked, able to hear their words. “Sorry to disappoint you. Though I won’t deny that my desires include a nice cushy place with certain perks for myself.”

Their current series of tests was all about facing themselves. The test created very realistic illusions for them to face. The tests weren’t so much to see if they could shake the illusions, as they were constantly aware of the fact that they were taking a test. It was more about allowing them to discover themselves, as well as revealing themselves to the other two members of their group. The tests were also conducted in several parts, and these desires and fears were just the first part.

“My turn.” Hou Yi decided to go next, partly to get this over and done with.

As he entered the illusory array, he came face to face with a rather attractive woman. It wasn't hard to see that the woman had a divine origin, and it seemed like she was constantly basking in the light of a moon. "Chang'e." He whispered the name with a voice suffused with conflicting emotions. The illusionary woman lifted her hand and caressed his cheek with a ghostly hand.

“A former lover, or a hopeful future one?” Ashanti speculated as he came to stand next to Karna.

"The first," Karna said with confidence. She knew Hou Yi was a reincarnator, and it wasn't uncommon for reincarnators to still have feelings for their old partners. She still had fond memories of several of her old families and lovers.

As the illusion of the Goddess disappeared, the vision was replaced with the image of Hou Yi in chains, battered and beaten. He was obviously wearing a slave collar, and he was clad in a simple hemp sack for a shirt. The enslaved man in the picture was brutally beaten and mistreated as scenes passed. “That’s an easy-to-understand fear.” Ashanti nodded. It was one shared by most, and one of the reasons he worked so hard to help his people prosper. Leonid had often been used as slave warriors in the past, much like how the canine Khenra were treated currently.

Karna realized something else from the vision. This wasn’t a fear of the future. The vision was too detailed for that. This was a memory of a past life, and the fear was about being forced to return to that life. The illusions lasted a variable amount of time depending on how powerful the fear or desire was. Ashanti had been forced to watch his illusions for twenty minutes. Hou Yi’s desire was faint, tempered by several lives lived since he’d lost his wife, but his fear was much stronger and drove his actions on a fundamental level, so he had to go through the torture of the vision of slavery for half an hour.

“That was rough.” Ashanti grimaced a bit. “Being so driven by your fears as opposed to your desires is not a healthy sign.”

Karna nodded in understanding, but she understood. “Let’s get this over with.” She stated before standing up brushing off imaginary dust from her dress. “Strap in. This might take a while.”

"Now I'm a little curious," Ashanti whispered Hou Yi, who had sat down next to him with wobbly feet. "From what I've heard, she's always been a very private person. I wonder how many people are actually privy to her fears and desires.” Hou Yi was too shaken to answer, but he too was paying attention.

Karna had been wondering about how the formation found out about the fears and desires of the participants, but she felt a gentle magical probe approaching her soul. She could easily stop it from reaching her and crush the probe with a mere thought, but that would likely cause her to fail the test, so she allowed the probe to find what it was looking for. She still kept a close eye on it to make sure it didn't do anything else though.

She burst into laughter as her desire was displayed and she wasn’t the only one, as she could sense Gem snickering, even if the laughter was not audible to others. In front of them was a World Dragon rolling around on a solar system-sized hoard of the softest pillows imaginable. "This one was easy to see coming." She commented.

"What in the ever-loving fuck?" Ashanti asked eloquently.

“Not that hard to understand is it?” The sight brought a small smile to Hou Yi’s face. He had a much better understanding of what was going on. It was not uncommon for reincarnators that had lived as dragons to like hoarding things. Pillows was a very uncommon choice, but much better than most. “It’s a dragon and her hoard.”

The most stupid part of the whole thing was that the illusion stuck around for almost an hour, and nothing else happened in it, except a frolicking dragon and her trove of pillows. "That's one powerful desire for something extremely idiotic," Ashanti grumbled.

“Hey, speak for yourself. I didn’t kink-shame you for your desire.” Karna called out from the array.

Ashanti’s retort was cut off as the illusion shifted. Now it showed a woman dragging herself forward with a small bundle in her arms. The woman was so malnourished and shriveled that she was unable to stand, and she was clawing her way forward with sheer stubbornness and determination. She had likely once looked majestic and divine, but now she was just a husk, barely more than skin and bones. The bundle in her arms was nothing but the shriveled and mummified form of a small baby.

"How uncouth and unoriginal," Karna said while kneeling next to the illusion of the shriveled woman. "I've come to terms with this past a long time ago. It's time for you to rest." With a small thought, she scattered the illusion.

“Past you?” Hou Yi held her back a bit as they started walking towards the next set of arrays and asked his question quietly out of Ashanti’s earshot.

“The end of my very first life.” Karna shook her head. “Such a long time ago. I’m not sure why the array chose that as my fear, but I suppose people like us don’t have all that many things to fear anymore.”

Hou Yi looked at her with a raised eyebrow, hinting at his own fear, which Karna picked up on. “Yes, well, that one. Once you’ve gone through it a couple of times you’ll learn some methods to deal with it. It’s still not something you want to experience again, but if nothing else, you’ll learn how to give up on that life and go for the next one. That’s the benefit we have after all.”

“I…don’t know if I could do it. It’s in my nature to fight. To try and find a way out. Taking my own life just feels wrong.” He had a bit of trouble explaining why he felt that way.

Karna gave a small wan smile. "You haven't been a woman in a life like that, have you? I thought not. If you had, you'd quickly learn that there are worse things than giving up on your principles and your life. It can break you as a person, but once you manage to deal with it, it can also be liberating.”

"I'm…not sure I want to even imagine." Unfortunately, he had enough imagination to know what sort of things would lead Karna to the kind of conclusions she had come to.

Ashanti turned towards them and shouted. “Stop flirting you two and get here. The next test is about to start and it’s going to require all of us!”

As they reached the next test, they found themselves within an arena. Opposite them stood exact copies of themselves. The message was rather obvious. “Well, this test was supposed to be all about facing yourself. I guess this time they mean it literally.” Hou Yi joked.

“This might be a bit of a problem.” Karna made a face. Depending on the extremes this test would go into, an exact copy of herself was capable of killing all of them by itself, assuming it had no intention of surviving the fight.

“You guys are taking this rather lightly.” Ashanti gestured to his own copy. His point was obvious, as his copy was by far the strongest of the group. “You better not accidentally get caught in one of our attacks.”

“Wait a moment.” Karna suddenly realized something. She’d seen something in the eyes of her copy. “I think I have an idea.”

She walked into the center of the arena, her copy doing the same. They stood there looking at each other for a few moments before they both suddenly developed a smile beneath their veils and high-fived each other, after which Karna’s copy disappeared, and a path opened for her on the other side. “Yeah, just as I thought. You will have to face yourself, but it doesn’t mean you necessarily have to fight your copy.” She shouted back.

“Err, ok.” Hou Yi looked at his own copy and just waved. The copy just shrugged and disappeared, allowing him to also pass.

"I don't think that's going to work for me," Ashanti commented. He realized what was going on and knew himself well enough to know that his own copy wouldn't allow him to just pass. This was too good of an opportunity to hone his own skills by fighting someone equal.

“Well, just catch up once you’re done. I think I can already sense what the next test will be, and if I’m right, that one is going to take a lot of time.” She could sense the presence of a lot of karma in the next room, and her senses detected the presence of a very particular array. An array she had developed herself in the past. It seemed the Expansion had somehow copied it. Assuming she was right, the next test would be extremely easy for her. But for others? It would take them a long time indeed.