-------

”What’s got you so enthralled?” Hou Yi asked with slight trepidation. They had gotten a bit more friendly over the last couple of days. Having sex could do that after all.

“What?” Karna asked looking up, having completely missed what he’d asked. She’d been staring at her wrist in thought.

“I asked what’s got you so enthralled and I can already tell that zoning off like that is not like you. You’re always aware of your surroundings."

“For a good reason, as you should’ve learned by now. Just…had something to think about.” She replied curtly.

She’d been working on a conundrum. It wasn’t so much that the question she was struggling with was difficult to resolve, but that she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. She’d been toying with her new gauntlets a few hours ago, and she’d noticed that the gems set into the bracelet portion now had a fairly significant chunk of power inside. Not enough to really fill more than maybe a few percent of the total capacity, but a significant change when compared to before, and she could sense that power increasing even now, though very slowly.

The problem was, what had caused the increase, and what was causing it right this very moment? It wasn’t more than a handful of days ago that she’d studied the gauntlets while waiting for someone to arrive, and the only significant thing that had happened since then had been Hou Yi’s arrival. More specifically their little tryst. As much as Gem would enjoy the idea of the gauntlets getting charged by her banging people, that seemed unlikely. After all, the power was currently increasing, even if only very marginally. And they were definitely not engaged in sexual acts at the moment. Yet it was clear something connected to the act was the catalyst. The obvious answer was that it was somehow tied to emotions. Thus, a question that had an obvious answer but not one that she necessarily wanted to be answered.

“So, are you going to tell Heng’e and your Boy Toy about what happened? In my opinion, such things should be dealt with directly.” Hou Yi suddenly asked another question, interrupting her train of thought again.

“My what?” Karna had wanted to answer with a different tone, but then she’d caught up with what he’d said, and couldn’t keep the bewilderment from her voice. Who was he talking about? Surely not…

"You know, the super-powerful shadow mage? Looks devilishly handsome? Seems a little older than you, but you are a reincarnator so I'm certainly not going to judge." Hou Yi clarified.

She tried to keep her face straight, despite the fact that Gem had just fallen from her perch on a nearby branch. The only reason the spirit wasn’t laughing her ass off was because she could sense Karna was up to something that might bring even greater amusement. “Yes, I think we really should tell them. Your little ‘Girl Toy’ as you so elegantly put it will almost certainly realize anyway, and I want her to learn a lesson from this. In fact, I’ll be the one to tell her. You can tell my ‘Boy Toy’, and I want you to use those exact words when you tell him.” It would be a little cruel to Arjuna, but the opportunity was just too great to pass on.

‘Are you trying to get him killed?’ Gem sent her a mental message laced with giddiness.

‘If the man is stupid enough to do it, then I’ll consider my revenge fulfilled.’ Of course, she’d have to stop Arjuna from killing the guy for now, as it was against the rules of this place. But once they got outside, all bets were off.

-------

“Finally, the last people arrive!” Ashanti exclaimed. He’d arrived a couple of days ago together with Arjuna. The two men had been a little annoyed that they’d made it at the exact same time and had been arguing ever since about which one would be able to pick their reward first.

“That’s too bad. Couple more days and I would’ve been ready to reach the sixth rank in both Aura and mana.” Karna shook her head at the dual disappointment. She felt that she was getting close to a breakthrough. The second disappointment came from the fact that in addition to not quite reaching the sixth rank, the last person to arrive had not been the annoying woman named Heng’e. It was now highly questionable whether she’d get the chance to face the woman before they were sent out of the tests, and who knew if they’d ever meet again.

‘Perhaps this is for the best. I’m not sure if rubbing something like this in someone’s face, no matter how much that person deserves it, would be very sporting. I should be better than that. I’m not, but I should be.’ She thought to herself. Incidentally, Hou Yi had not self-destructed by talking with Arjuna. Shaheera had managed to out the latter as Karna’s father before Hou Yi had the chance to bring it up. Another disappointment.

“So, should we work out the rewards we want to pick?” Shaheera asked carefully. Karna was not pleased with him due to his loose lips.

"We already have for the most part," Ashanti explained his disciple carelessly.

“Wait, what? Without me?” The young Leonid asked incredulously.

"Who told you to arrive second to last? Your pick doesn't matter anymore." Karna teased him, while at the same time beating herself mentally for betting on him.

She’d known that karma was in large part dependent on how you viewed your own actions deep down. Shaheera had just recently betrayed a friend, and while the betrayal was not the kind that would destroy lives, he must have felt extremely guilty about it internally. He also didn’t have the tenacity of reincarnators or Ashanti and Arjuna to rely on. These were all things she’d considered, but she had underestimated the guilt Shaheera had felt. That, or the guy had done something much worse in the past that she didn’t know about.

“So, what are we picking?” Shaheera asked.

“I’m picking the pill, as befits my rank. The guy who got here second will take the spark.” Ashanti explained.

“He’s getting the spark? Really?” Shaheera lifted his eyebrow in question before looking at Arjuna and Karna. “What about you?”

"You don't have to worry about us," Karna stated in a chipper voice.

"She's already forcing me to pick something else," Arjuna said in a deadpan voice while pointing at Karna. She'd explained to him the downsides of using a spark that you didn't gain naturally and had promised to concoct a copy of the rank-up pill if he picked what she wanted. The only reason she hadn't done it before was because she thought it better to advance naturally as opposed to relying on a pill. And it was obvious what she wanted in exchange.

“Alright, since we’re all here, shall we move on to the main event then? I’m sure we’re all eager to get out of here by now.” The leader of the group of reincarnators, known as Yao, announced. He’d been the person to arrive just before Shaheera.

“Yes, let’s.” Ashanti agreed in everyone’s stead. They all moved inside the pyramid and took their places on the nine podiums. They had finally determined that Arjuna had arrived before Ashanti simply by taking their spots on the podiums, as the podiums only allowed the correct person to stand on it. Once they all took their places, they all heard a pleasant female voice that had a slight synthetic quality to it speaking.

“All the worthy victors have arrived. Make your selections and keep the prize you want firmly in your mind. Remember, if someone ahead of you picks the same reward, you’ll have to go without.” The voice reiterated the main points.

Karna noted that a light shone down on everyone as soon as they had made their selection, confirming that they’d made a choice and it had been approved. She was quite happy to see the light fall on Arjuna, as she hadn’t been sure if the pillow would be accepted as a separate reward. She’d taken a bit of a chance in allowing the pillow to fall to the third place, but the main reward in her mind was simply too juicy to risk, even for a pillow as magnificent as that. As she fixed the pyramid itself in her own mind, it took a while for the light to fall on her, as if the system considered her choice and finally decided to grant it.

The objects flew out of the little rooms they had been placed inside of, and the fact that two rewards seemed to fly out of a single room but to different people seemed to shock and surprise some. “Really?” Ashanti looked at Arjuna with pitying eyes as he noted the pillow in his hands.

“Hey, it’s for my daughter.” Arjuna protested feebly.

“What about you?” Hou Yi asked, noticing Karna was empty-handed. As she’d been the first to arrive, no one else could’ve picked her rewards over her.

“Oh, it’s coming.” Karna grinned as the entire building started shaking. “You all might want to exit this place right about now.”

Despite the playful tone in her voice, everyone followed her advice and rushed outside. There they watched as the entire pyramid and the surrounding obelisks seemed to shrink into a miniature size and float above Karna’s palm. She had been ejected outside the pyramid as well and was floating in the air above the spot the pyramid had previously occupied. “Muhaha! I’m already feeling expectant!” She laughed in a quite evil way. The miniature soon disappeared, and the others were not sure where it had gone. The pillow in Arjuna’s hand vanished at the same time, and only Karna knew where she’d stored them.

She felt the space around them fraying. “Time to go father. We’re about to be ejected from this place!”

“Understood.” He reacted immediately. They’d planned this beforehand, and he vanished into her shadow once again.

“See you on the other side. If we’ll see you. I’m sensing that there’s trouble waiting for us once we get outside.” Karna gave a very casual salute to Ashanti and Shaheera. While she couldn’t fully control their exit spot from this weird space, she could have some influence over it. And she wasn’t planning on coming out inside the storm this time. The space above the world should be relatively safe…

--------

“Son of a bitch.” Tsumi cursed as the ship shook as another shot hit the magical protections. The skill of whoever had attacked them was notable as some of the energy had bled through the protective bubble and had managed to hit the hull.

“The port side protective barrier is starting to bleed through. The protective runes withstood the damage, but we’re going to get more of that soon if we don’t get out of the line of fire.” One of the bridge crew reported.

“Have our mages focus on that side. If anyone has protective spirits they can summon, now would be an excellent time. Slowly start reversing away from our current position.” Tsumi ordered. The really shitty thing was that they had not even been the true targets of that last attack. The energy that had hit them was just something that had either been deflected away or missed its original target.

“We can’t. The protective bubble of the Golden Order is behind us and they’re not letting anyone not part of their order inside.” Another officer reminded.

The Golden Order was a large group of monks from the Divine Planes that had been sent as reinforcements to the ongoing battle. Hundreds of monks sat in the lotus position on prayer mats floating in place, while several golden giants that looked like statues hung behind them. Despite their limited numbers, these monks were the most powerful part of the Host currently present on the weird battlefield. Roughly half of the monks were focusing on keeping up a golden barrier that kept away any attackers. The other half had their palms pointed outwards towards the attackers with streams of golden energy cutting down anything and everything they designated as the enemy. If the battle had still been the simple battle against demons, then the presence of the Golden Order would’ve already resolved the battle.

The problem was that the original two-way battle had turned into a four-way clusterfuck. The forces of the Underworld showing up had not been too much of a shock, although a problem. The two Scourges didn’t get along much better than they did with the Host. What made things really complicated was the presence of a large but ragtag group of ships that fired indiscriminately at everything, likely due to getting caught in the crossfire. The ships were completely unidentified and nothing like what Tsumi had seen before.

She sensed very little magic or even Ki inside, but what they lacked in power they made up in what she assumed to be technology. There might not be any mana in their attacks, but a beam of energy that moved at speed of light was nigh impossible to dodge and carried just as much destructive energy as most mid-level spells. The only thing that came even close to these ships were those they’d seen while traveling to this world, as they’d run into a fragment of a station that seemed to come from outside the universe according to Karna. It stood to reason that these ships had also been caught up in the Expansion.

“Skirt the protective bubble and try to stay out of the line of fire.” Tsumi gave an order, just as her senses picked up something on the world below. It was quite hard to miss in fact as the entire world seemed to be covered by spatial disturbances for a moment.

It only took seconds after the disturbance before she sensed another, this time on the wards stopping anyone from boarding the ship without permission. Unlike last time when the immortal had just forced their way with pure power, this time someone had slipped inside between the cracks that Tsumi hadn’t even known existed. “What’s the damn point in these wards if just anyone can board anyway?!” She cursed and prepared for battle.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I’m not just anyone after all.” The response came from a relatively large phoenix that appeared in a burst of blue-ish white fire. “Now what the heck happened here? How did you manage to gather this many enemies in such a short time?”

“Hey, they’re not shooting at us.” The protective barrier was hit again at perfect timing. “Well mostly.” Tsumi shrugged.

“Let's save the explanations for later I suppose. It’s time we get out of this mess.” Karna shifted straight into the form of a small cat and landed on the navigation orb.

“The whole area is locked down!” Tsumi warned hastily. They’d already suffered the consequences of one failed attempt to leave. “Do you think I’d still be here if it wasn’t?”

“Yes, you would. You’re a big softie and would never abandon your disciple. Oh, and Arjuna. Well, we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way then.”

Their ship accelerated to full speed and took a course directly away from the heart of the battle. This of course drew attention. They weren’t the only ones attempting to make a hasty exit, but as the ones with the fastest speed they drew the most attention as all sorts of weapons and spells were directed their way. Yet somehow even those beams of light that had been so impossible to dodge before seemed to miss this time. Some of them seemed to fly astray with poor aim, while the more accurate shots hit something else on the way. Tsumi could’ve sworn she even sensed one beam actually curve around their ship, though that made absolutely no sense.

At the same time, Arjuna slipped out of his daughter's shadow and looked around the bridge. "What happened here?"

“I think that’s my question. What took you so long?” Tsumi asked in a frustrated voice.

“No need to be snippy. The tests were much longer and more annoying than we could’ve predicted.” Arjuna explained lightly as their ship made a sudden swerve that would’ve thrown anyone weaker around. Someone weaker, like the rest of the bridge crew that were tossed around mercilessly.

"Hey! Watch it, Karna!" Tsumi shouted.

“Would you rather get hit by a meteor traveling at near relativistic speeds? No? Didn’t think so.” Karna shot back.

“Any sign of Ashanti and their ship?” Arjuna asked curiously.

“They left in the opposite direction. Don’t know if they’re going to make it out. Their problem, not mine.” Karna had to focus on dodging, so her words were somewhat callous.

“How very cold of you.” Tsumi pointed out.

“Eh, it’s Ashanti. He’ll be fine.” Arjuna stated. “And if not…well, that will give us certain opportunities as well. Though it would be too bad about the rest of the crew.”

“Did you at least get something worth all the trouble?” Tsumi asked while holding on to a railing as the ship swerved again.

“That’s…something I’d like to know as well.” Arjuna turned towards Karna.

“We did. Or at least I did. I got the materials required to build my own wizard’s tower.” She didn’t even bother mentioning the pillow, which alone was worth everything they’d gone through. “All self-respecting magic users should have a wizard’s tower of sorts.”

“Not to rain on your parade, but will you be sticking around on our world from now on? And if not, wouldn’t a stationary tower be somewhat wasted?” Tsumi questioned. Karna had been keeping away the last years.

“What are you talking about? Just because I call it a tower, that doesn’t actually mean it has to be a building tied to a single spot. Or even an actual tower. It’s going to double as a vessel to use for travel as well.” Karna countered. Stationary towers were so old-fashioned.