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”We’re about to arrive in 15 minutes," Zuellni announced to the whole tower.

“You were right. This thing really is quite fast.” Queen Amaranthine stated to those that had gathered in the same room to have some tea and discuss their plan. They had the outlines figured out, but too much depended on the situation once they arrived, and on the reaction of the Wei-JIn people, to make any detailed plans.

“I’m curious. Why haven’t you taken the pill?” Arjuna suddenly asked, intently staring at Ashanti. He had expected Ashanti to take the rank-up pill as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

The Leonid lifted a golden eyebrow. “Do you even need to ask? There are a hundred reasons. We’re in the middle of a crisis created by the Expansion, and it’s really not the best time for the Empire to lose its greatest asset and military commander.”

“How very egotistic.” Amaranthine commented in a quiet voice that everyone still heard.

Ashanti continued as if he hadn’t heard, though his mouth split in a slight smile. “Also, you’re making a fundamental error in your thinking. You’re assuming I selected the pill for myself. Let me disabuse you of that motion. I’m perfectly capable of reaching immortality on my own. I don’t need the help of a pill to do so, and I’ve actually been holding myself back.”

“I think I get it. You want to groom someone to take your position when you do Ascend, so that the Empire won’t be left in a bad spot.” Tsumi nodded in understanding.

While Ashanti was still smiling, something about it caught Karna’s attention. “That’s not it, is it? You probably already have a plan in place for your successor, and that doesn’t include the pill. No, you’re keeping it for someone else. Maybe someone that doesn’t have your potential and wouldn’t be able to reach immortality on their own.”

"You can think as you will," Ashanti replied simply, all but confirming Karna’s words. He indeed had someone like that. Someone that he wanted to join him in Ascending. But the others didn’t need to know about that, as it could be a potential weakness for them to exploit.

"How interesting. The great Ashanti might have a heart after all." Tsumi commented and grinned as she’d just found out something she was planning on exploiting to the fullest. Unfortunately for her, they were interrupted.

“Reporting, we were forced out of the spatial pathway early. The entire world is surrounded by a magical formation that prevents spatial disturbances, including teleportation.” Zuellni summarized, along with a small alert sound. “We’re relatively close to the world. Correction, worlds. There are three worlds present.”

"This would've been nice to know earlier," Karna said with a displeased voice, looking at the people who were likely to know about it.

"The third one is new," Tsumi said with a frown. "How they managed to move it here, or even worse create it is a mystery."

“The Wei-Jin don’t broadcast the fact that they live on a twin world, and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. The third one they brought here after the Expansion. The one we want is the central one.” Ashanti provided a very brief explanation.

“Could we manage to transport an entire world?” Amaranthine asked Tsumi uncertainly. That kind of magic was beyond her expertise.

"Theoretically, with a large enough ritual, and if the world was largely uninhabited so that there was no one to stop the attempt, but it would require a huge effort and decades of preparation," Tsumi replied after considering the logistics of such an endeavor.

“I guess we know what the Weijin Empire has been doing the last decades then," Arjuna said with a clipped voice. "We should get to it. The longer we stay, the more attention we'll draw."

“Oh, we’ve drawn attention already. They can’t sense you while you’re inside the central part of the ship, but their formation had all kinds of early warning systems.” Zuellni reported. “Curiously, they don’t seem to be mounting much of a response.”

“That’s because they were expecting us, and we’re just one ship. Tower. Whatever.” Ashanti responded. “We do want to get moving though. I’m not sure how long their grace will last. And while I’m not exactly afraid of the Weijin Emperor, I’m not cherishing the idea of fighting all of their elite forces.”

“Bring us in. Follow the Yuki-Onna’s directions and start loading her people as soon as we arrive.” Karna instructed Zuellni.

“Will your transporters work? The spirit mentioned teleportation is impossible.” Ardani posed a very logical question. She was also curious about how the tower functioned.

“It’ll work. Our method doesn’t rely on spatial magic.” Karna didn’t bother explaining further to the sect master’s disappointment.

The tower swooped down under Tsuki's instructions and came to hover over a group of snow-capped mountains standing in a perfect circle, so that the valleys formed in the middle were still covered in snow. They noticed two things very quickly. One was that the Yuki-Onnas were already rushing to gather their things to prepare for evacuation. The second was that a large portion of the pale-skinned demonic women were currently locked in combat against an enemy near one of the mountain passes.

The enemy was made up of beings in full blood-red armor that didn’t even leave their eyes visible, riding bear-like beasts that were just as armored as their riders. The Yuki-Onnas outnumbered their enemy greatly, but their magic didn’t seem to have any effect on the armored cavalry that was in the process of scattering the formation the Yuki-Onnas had created. “Oh no, we’re late!” Tsuki exclaimed.

“Wolfgang, Ashanti. You two seem the best to deal with this situation.” Karna suggested, and surprisingly the two men just nodded before the transport rings brought them in the middle of the enemy. At the same time, the rings started pulling up any of the Yuki-Onnas in combat, prioritizing those that were injured or in a bad situation. “Ardani and Amaranthine, you take care of the wounded.”

Karna already had a good idea of the strengths of the various people, and the Aasimar Sect Leader was a skilled and powerful mage capable of using holy power for healing magic, while the elven Queen knew many druidic spells that could be used to heal. “The rest of you scatter around and help the Yuki-Onnas with the evacuation. Keep an eye out for any enemies. Just call for Zuellni when you need transport. Tsuki, help calm your people and tell them we’re not an enemy.”

"I'll run reconnaissance," Tsumi promised in turn. "I feel the situation is a bit more complicated than it first appears.”

As most of the people were transported off the tower, Karna glanced at Zuellni. “What can you tell me about the attackers? The uniformity of their equipment and style suggests we should expect more of the same.”

“Devils of a very humanoid lineage. They seem to excel in forging and fire techniques. That cavalry is fairly high-ranking and my quick scans tell me that they’re only the advance party. I can detect at least twenty times as much approaching. They won’t pose a problem to Ashanti or Wolfgang of course.” Zuellni reported.

“Why do I get the sense we were not told everything?” Gem commented.

“That seems quite likely. They wouldn’t mobilize this kind of response just for a single woman. Not unless there was something more at stake.” She frowned while looking at the illusion showing the image of the attacking devils. “These look like official troops and not just the private forces of some noble or a clan. Their armor and tactics are too uniform. That or we’re dealing with something much bigger than we expected. Either way, those kinds of numbers wouldn’t be sent just for Mayumi. She’s cute, but...”

“Are you thinking they’re just using her as an excuse or something along those lines?” Gem suggested.

“I’m guessing we’ll find out eventually. We need more information. And I think I know someone who could provide some of the missing pieces of our puzzle.” Karna nodded. “Zuellni, have you found Mayumi?”

"My apologies master, but the description you gave me applies to too many individuals. It's also out of date. I've narrowed the field down, but I'm still eliminating other possibilities." Zuellni had never met Mayumi after all, so even with Karna's description, it was hard to pick a single Yuki-Onna among so many. Zuellni also didn't want to mention that the way her master saw the world was a little different from others, as the others didn't have the benefit of seeing the others with her powerful soul. She could also read their karma if she wanted to, an advantage that others didn’t share.

“Try to hurry that one up. Try to keep the evacuation moving along as well. I have a bad feeling about this.” Karna ordered.

Even though the Yuki-Onna were doing their best to gather their things quickly, and they had even started before the tower arrived, the youkai didn’t want to leave everything behind. There were certain sacred items they wanted to take along, and removing the seals securing them took some time. Still, the transportation rings brought another group of refugees several times a minute. It took fifteen minutes until Zuellni managed to finally locate Mayumi, and by that time the attacking devils had been driven off.

“Karna! It’s good to see you.” Mayumi greeted her with a warm smile and an even warmer hug. It seemed the girl had gotten over most of her shyness.

“Mayumi. Sorry it took so long.” Karna returned the hug. “Are you ok?”

"I am now. Things were getting a little dicey there, but you arrived just in time. I hope. We haven't escaped yet." Mayumi gave her a harder squeeze before letting go.

"You cut your hair," Karna commented while giving the shoulder-length black hair a small touch.

“I was hoping I’d draw less attention this way, but it didn’t quite work," Mayumi replied while making a displeased face.

“Yes, I heard about that. I need some information. Tsuki told us you have a persistent suitor, but this seems a bit excessive for just that.” Karna pointed out.

Mayumi shook her head. “Tsuki means well, and she wasn’t lying, but the issues here run much deeper. You already made contact with the Flamescar Clan. They’re Devils that excel in fire manipulation. That makes them natural rivals and enemies of us Yuki-Onnas, but at some point, someone discovered that if our two races practice dual cultivation, it benefits both parties greatly. By that time, our relationship was quite bad though, so things became a bit awkward.”

"I can somewhat see where this is going," Karna muttered.

“Perhaps, perhaps not. It was a good deal for both parties to have some of the young ones…shall we say explore the benefits. There were two problems though, aside from the obvious pre-existing hostility. The first one was that there were naturally pregnancies, but Yuki-Onnas give birth to our own kind 99% of the time, unless the other race has a similar characteristic. The devils don’t, and they weren’t happy about it. They certainly didn’t want any non-devils taking over the clan. Secondly, all the exploration wasn’t exactly consensual, both sides being the culprit on occasion. Those two things soured things even more.” Mayumi explained.

“While that gives context, that doesn’t quite explain the current situation, especially since both parties were guilty.” Karna pointed out.

“Well, I don’t know which side discovered it first, but the dual cultivation doesn’t have to be mutually beneficial. If certain rituals are conducted, then the other party can boost their cultivation greatly, but it leaves the other party a dying husk. Either way, things have gone bad really quickly in the last few years. Unfortunately for us, the Flamescar Clan is a major player in Weijin power politics. And with the Expansion taking away the attention of any official parties that might stop them from taking advantage of the situation…” Mayumi shrugged.

“I see. I really do wish Tsuki had told us about this. It’s not like we wouldn’t have helped anyway.” Karna said thoughtfully.

“I can see why she didn’t. I wasn’t joking about the power of the Flamescar Clan. You are effectively picking a fight with one of the major factions of Weijin. She was likely afraid you wouldn’t get involved if you knew.” Mayumi explained, defending the other Youkai.

Karna decided not to comment further, as it didn’t matter in the end. They were here now. “There’s something that’s bothering me. I get that Wei-Jin is a dog-eat-dog world, but I find it difficult to believe the entire clan of devils would be ok with a plan that basically includes the mass murder and rape of a clan of Youkai. Despite their reputation, devils aren’t any more evil than other races.”

Mayumi let out a deep sigh. “That’s where I come in. There are likely plenty of factions in their clan that are against this plan as it’s very short-sighted, and as you said evil. However, the military of the clan is currently controlled by the individual that has their eye on me. Karna, they’re really dangerous. They’re one of the strongest beings on this world, and I’m certain he’s…like us.”

"So a reincarnator," Karna said the word in Mayumi's stead.

“Yes, that. I made the mistake of looking at his True Name, and I’m pretty sure one of the main reasons he’s so interested in me is because he knows I’m one as well.” Mayumi added.

“What’s their True Name then?” Karna asked.

“Inferno. They call him the Flame King. He has more power with the element than anyone else on this world. It seems like his power is endless.” Mayumi explained, causing Karna’s eyes to narrow in suspicion.

At the same time, a communication talisman burst in front of Karna. "I located their main forces. Safe to say they have the numbers on us many times over, though we should still have the advantage because of our rank. They also have several rank eight and nine beings as well, so the advantage isn’t insurmountable. One of them really gives me the heebies. I’m almost certain he’s one of those beings that you asked me to look for. He might even be stronger than Arjuna.” Tsumi’s voice came over the talisman.

"That's probably Inferno," Mayumi confirmed.

“This makes things complicated.” Karna tapped her chin in thought. Now her other objectives started clashing with the mission at hand. “Gather our forces. I’ll leave the details to you, but we need a delaying action. Don’t engage the individual you mentioned. If you’re right, then this could be very bad.”

“What about protecting this area?” Tsumi asked.

"I'll handle that with the help of the tower," Karna said with confidence.

"…Why am I not surprised that you made your tower somehow able to fight in battles. Of course, you did." Tsumi muttered to herself before shutting the connection.

“This ship is yours?” Mayumi asked with shining eyes.

“Tower.” Zuellni corrected while appearing next to them.

“But…”

“Tow-er," Zuellni repeated with emphasis.

“Fine, fine. It’s not very tower-like though…” Mayumi mumbled.

It saddened Karna that even Mayumi shunned her vision. “We need to speed things up. If Inferno really is drawing power from the elemental plane of fire, then this whole area could turn really dangerous really fast. Zuellni, be ready to fire the main cannon at full power on a moment’s notice.”

“Aye-aye master! Big boom and lots of devastation incoming! Though, I do feel the need to mention that someone at rank nine should be able to easily evade the shot.” The spirit seemed happy at the prospect.

“That’s the problem, isn’t it. We’ll have to find a way to keep him in place. And we can’t ask Wolfgang or Arjuna to do it, because they’d just get caught in the shot as well.” Karna thought about ways to lock the enemy down and she was coming up with some ideas. If this Inferno could fully wield the power of the fire plane, then even keeping him in place would be difficult.

“Not a tragic loss in my opinion.” Zuellni pointed out without concern.

“Nevertheless, it’s probably better if Arjuna does it, or even myself if necessary.” Karna retorted with a small smile. "A lot depends on what other forces he's bringing. We brought a lot of powerful individuals, so we should have an advantage."

"You do realize you just jinxed it, right?" Gem asked ominously.