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”You can’t fly that monstrosity above the city! What happens if someone messes with the spells keeping it afloat? The crash will destroy half of the city!” The agitated official wearing the uniform of the Magocracy’s military argued.

"I'd like to see them try. First of all, the tower has several different systems allowing flight, split between magical and mechanical systems. None of the systems is enough to down the tower if that system alone is taken down, and there are several fail-safes and redundancies built-in. The tower is also monitored by a skilled tower spirit that can adjust things on the fly, pun intended, and can react if something goes wrong. Thanks to the extensive security, there isn't a single person in the city who can disable the tower's flight systems. That includes the Emissary. And anyone who tries will be sorry, as my tower spirit can and will respond accordingly to any attempts. Besides, the kind of devastation you think of will only occur if the tower can build up momentum while falling. Yes, it has a lot of mass, but I'm not going to be flying it high above the city unless I have to. So the worst that could happen is a few destroyed city blocks." Karna explained patiently. She hated dealing with officials, but it was a necessary evil.

"That's another thing. How's that monstrosity supposed to be a tower? It's a ship! Or a pyramid! There's nothing tower-shaped!" The official complained.

“It’s a tower because of concept and function, the form is irrelevant. A wizard could make their tower anything. I've seen 'towers' that were just gardens, and I've also seen 'towers' that were entire worlds. Now look, I'm talking to you as a courtesy. You actually have no authority to stop me. I'm a resident of the Magocracy and a graduate of the Academy, and I have every right to enter the country using a vehicle of my choosing. You're an immigration and customs official. I'm not an immigrant and thanks to my position, I don't have to subject myself to your inspection. I've only humored this interview because I didn't want to just force my way through. That courtesy is quickly running out as you waste time. Besides, the relevant people are already aware of the presence of my tower, so this conversation is over." That was the reason she had allowed the official to prattle on. She didn't care about this person, she simply allowed the powerful people in the city enough time to assess the threat her tower posed.

Karna turned to Zuellni that was floating next to her. “Send the good official out. Their duties have concluded.”

"Hey! You can't do this? We're not done he-" The official's words were cut off as several rings descended from the ceiling to surround the person and teleported her outside. The rings then seemed to vanish in a puff of dust, which was actually nanoparticles being collected by the tower itself. The rings could appear anywhere inside and outside the ship, within a certain range, and would be created and recycled on the spot.

"Test of the personnel teleportation system has concluded," Zuellni announced with a giggle.

"Finally. Now let's go and see why father called for us. Move us into the city, but do it slowly. We don't want to spook anyone. We also don't need to let them know how quickly we can move. Besides, we wouldn't want any of the airships to accidentally crash against our shields." Karna instructed. It was undeniable that the tower occupied quite a lot of airspace and other ships would have to go around it.

Arjuna had sent them a message while they were testing the tower’s new systems and exploring the new areas created by the Expansion. The message had been quite brief due to the distance, simply telling her to return. There was no emergency according to the message, but she would need to come back. “The message was a little cryptic. Instead of wasting time telling us that it’s not something to get worried about, he could’ve just explained the reason.” Gem pointed out.

“Indeed. Which leads me to believe that he either couldn’t or didn’t want to.” Karna agreed. “Well, we’ll know soon enough.”

The tower slowly made its way to float above Arjuna’s tower. Understandably it drew quite a lot of attention, but it's not like the populace of the city hadn't seen many odd magical constructions or contraptions before. The fact that it didn't move in a threatening way was enough for almost everyone to ignore it as anything more than a curiosity. There were some people that paid very much attention though, and that mostly included the important people.

“Just leave it above father’s tower. If anyone tries to approach, you’re free to inform them that I’m not available at the moment. Don’t attack anyone, but you’re allowed to return fire if someone fires first. Just try to avoid any damage to the city.” Karna instructed Zuellni.

“So no using the main guns in the city. Check.” The youthful and perky spirit responded. “You might want to suggest to your father that they could get a tower spirit as well. Their tower is very old-fashioned, but it's not badly constructed, so I know quite a few spirits that would happily take over."

“I’ll keep the suggestion in mind.” Karna laughed. She’d actually considered before, but Arjuna hadn’t really constructed his tower with a tower spirit in mind. Summoning one now would require extensive reworking of the system.

The same rings came out of the ceiling and surrounded her before disappearing in a shower of dust. A similar set of rings appeared inside Arjuna’s tower, depositing Karna inside. Her arrival had not gone unnoticed, as Arjuna naturally had formations inside his tower, informing him of any new arrivals. That and she’d appeared inside the workshop where he was working. “Karna! Please give me a warning next time before you arrive like that. I almost fired a spell at you before I recognized you.”

“I thought my own tower parking above yours was a big enough warning.” She commented with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s only if I’m certain that it’s you, and you didn’t share your plans with me. I should’ve guessed though, as I did invite you back, and no one else creates something as ostentatious as that. You call that a tower?”

"Tower-envy is not pretty even when it's coming from a relative." Karna joked. "It's not my fault you built a substandard stationary tower."

“Substandard? Substandard?!” Arjuna looked like he was on the border of an aneurysm suddenly.

“Stop teasing your father Karna.” Duskclaw interrupted from the door of the office with a warm voice. “Come here and give me a hug.” She didn’t bother waiting and scooped Karna up in her hands. Or tried to, as Karna was significantly taller and heavier at this point, so the attempt didn’t go according to plan.

“Where’s the little one?” Karna asked after her sibling. She’d been looking forward to spending some time with her ‘sibling’.

“Visiting my family. You’ll understand.” Duskclaw replied, dashing her hopes.

“How are you? Any lingering issues from your injuries?” Karna hid her disappointment and asked, continuing to hold the embrace. She’d missed this.

“Well, I’m still a little sore after hard exercise, mostly due to the damage to my mage core. The core is fine, and I think the pain might be more mental from being forced to hold back for so long, but it’s hard to say for sure.” Duskclaw explained while finally releasing the hug.

“I’ll check you over later anyway. Just in case.” Karna promised before turning to Arjuna. “So what’s this about? Why did you call for me?”

“I’m not sure myself. I got a message from Ashanti. Apparently, it’s about Mayumi. That’s all I know. He wants to meet.” Arjuna replied. “Now that you’re here, we can set up the meeting. He also told us to get any strong allies we have, so I think we can expect a fight. I already sent out word and we’re gathering our allies.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I came prepared then.” Karna grinned wickedly.

-----

Zuellni felt a very powerful presence approaching with the sensors of the tower. The presence reached the ship in seconds, but remained outside, apparently waiting. She usually wouldn’t be bothered, but she knew her master would want her to be polite and avoid trouble, so she materialized an image of her form outside the tower and in front of the being. There she found a woman clad in a golden-color armor that she knew wasn’t actual gold but something much more precious and important. ‘A Golden Immortal then. Those shouldn’t be in the Higher Planes without a damn good reason.’

“I am Zuellni. How can I help you?” She asked politely. The woman looked just like most mortals to her, so she didn't even bother identifying a race. Only master's race and preferences mattered.

The immortal seemed to be caught by slight surprise. “I am Araleth. I’d like to have a word with the owner of this…tower.” Internally the immortal revised the threat assessment posed by the weird construct. She was well aware of the significance of a tower spirit, which meant that whoever built this thing knew what they were doing. It was already difficult to get a read on the tower as it seemed resistant to most of her sensory and scrying spells.

“Master is unavailable at the moment. I can take a message and relay it as soon as she returns.” Zuellni stated as if the person visiting was just a random passerby.

The immortal was once again taken aback a bit but didn't seem offended. It just seemed she was unused to either the situation or the treatment. "That would be great. Do tell her it's important."

“I will do so, although I do not know long we’ll stay on this world. In the meantime, I’d like to pass on a message to the Host as well. I’ve gotten word that the immortals of the Host have a habit of teleporting on board the ships of those they deem lesser in the Higher Planes. Attempting such a thing with my master’s tower would be highly inadvisable and dangerous. We take no responsibility for anyone foolish enough to try.” Zuellni stated with confidence.

The immortal knew that the tower spirit wasn’t bluffing. Anyone with enough skill to properly utilize a tower spirit would have active defenses against such intrusions. And with a tower spirit to manage those defenses, trying to breach them could be quite dangerous, depending on how vindictive the spirit was feeling. Someone like her might be able to brute-force their way through such defenses, but even she might not come out unscathed. “I will relay the message.” She promised seriously.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Arjuna asked with a bit of trepidation. Even though Karna's tower had not drawn too much of a reaction when it arrived at the Magocracy, it was immediately surrounded by obviously hostile vessels as it arrived at the Aegean Empire. The Leonid were clearly not as blasé with the vessel's appearance.

"Seems like a great idea to me," Wolfgang stated with a slightly bloodthirsty grin.

“I concur. It’s a nice opportunity to let Ashanti have a taste of his own medicine. Besides, if things turn into a fight, I’m sure we’ll manage. Maybe we can finally do something about the Empire.” Queen Amaranthine commented.

“You’re not friendly with this Empire I take it.” Ardani, the Sect Master of the Luminous Sect asked. The Aasimar woman had arrived with a group of her most powerful warriors just a few hours earlier.

“While I wouldn’t mind giving Ashanti a bloody nose, do remember that he’s the one that invited us.” Tsumi pointed out.

"Aww, and it's so rare to see so many of us gather in one spot. It would be a shame if there was no combat involved." One of Tsumi's companions commented. The reason for his words was obvious. Karna's tower was currently housing ten rank 9 beings and three times that many rank 8 ones, all among the top echelon of the entire plane in both power and skill. Such gatherings were rare outside emergencies.

"Normal engagement rules Zuellni," Karna told the spirit while ignoring the ongoing banter. "Don't fire unless fired upon first."

Despite the bluster and bravado from the Empire’s forces, none of them was stupid enough to pick a fight. Mostly because their arrival had been expected. It didn’t take long for a larger and more decorated airship to arrive as well, before it launched a small craft that Zuellni announced was carrying Ashanti and one other unidentified person. it docked in one of the bays that had been built into the tower just for such purposes, and immediately after the two passengers were teleported into the room with the rest of them via the rings.

“That’s a fascinating system.” A pale-skinned woman with pitch-black hair remarked. A breeze of very cold air seemed to linger around the woman. Karna could sense the woman was fairly strong at rank 7. A mage for sure, and most likely of an ice-related lineage. Her Vanagandr blood was reacting to the woman’s presence.

"Yes, though the décor of this place needs a bit of work," Ashanti commented.

“I simply brought you into a room that doesn’t have anything I wouldn’t want to lose in case this turns into a fight.” Karna joked.

“That’s not entirely true. This place definitely needs more decorations.” Tsumi interjected.

“Hah! A pleasure as always.” Ashanti chuckled. Karna noted that he hadn’t consumed the rank-up pill at least yet.

“Will you introduce your guest? I’m guessing she has something to do with Mayumi.” Karna focused on the woman, noticing the obvious Yuki-Onna connection.

“Indeed. This is Tsuki, a member of the Yuki-Onna clan that is taking care of your friend.” Ashanti made a small bow towards the woman while noting all the powerful people present. A small smile came to his lips as he noted the number and the level of power.

“Yes! I’m Tsuki! Mayumi has been such a nice new addition to our tribe. We’ve loved having her there and she’d brought many good things to us, but we understand if you want your friend to return.” The woman seemed excessively polite as she kept bowing.

“…but?” Karna prodded. “You wouldn’t have made such a big deal about it if this was just about Mayumi coming home.”

“Yes, he would’ve.” Amaranthine interjected.

“I really would, but unfortunately not. I felt rather thankful after our little adventure earlier, and for the fact that you drew everyone’s attention, allowing us to escape as well. I reached out to my contacts within Wei-Jin. They put me in contact with Tsuki here. I even managed to make a trade for the government to turn a blind eye for us to retrieve your friend. Alas, things aren’t as simple.” Ashanti explained.

“What did you promise them in return?” Tsumi asked with surprise. “I’ve been trying to trade with them for years now.”

“I sold them the location of a particular world. A world you’re familiar with, which we just visited together recently. They were quite excited at the prospect. I was even nice enough to inform them that we’d heard rumors about both Scourge and Host presence, but they didn’t seem too worried.” Ashanti shrugged.

“So, what’s the problem?” Karna questioned, feeling a little impatient but tamping the feeling down.

“Little Mayumi has caught the eyes of some wrong people!” The Yuki-Onna woman exclaimed.

“Of course she has.” Karna sighed. “And I’m guessing these people won’t just stand by as we extract her, which is why we had to bring some help?”

“It’s a little more complicated. See, the world of Wei-Jin places a lot of emphasis on personal power. Well, the people we're talking about have a lot of it, and the worst of the lot is well connected. So even if the government of Wei-Jin has agreed to stay out of it, that doesn't mean all of the officials will abide by that. That means we might run into heavy resistance. Additionally, there's a good chance Tsuki's tribe would face backlash, so we'll need to evacuate them all. That means it won't be just a quick in and out without giving the enemy a chance to respond." Ashanti grinned. "That's why I told you to bring enough muscle. Besides, this tower of yours isn't exactly inconspicuous, though it's going to be quite useful for this project. I was a little worried about how we'd transport everyone."

“How many people are we talking about?” Karna felt a headache incoming.

“My tribe has 50 000 members!” Tsuki announced cheerily.

"That's gonna be a tight squeeze," Wolfgang commented.

"No, it won't. The insides of the tower are as large as master wants them to be." Zuellni stated proudly.