”You could have at least carried us in your claws.” The empress stated with an admonishing tone. Or at least as much as she could manage that while steadying herself on the nearby pillar.

“I could have. I didn’t though.” Dee replied while sounding a little distracted. She had carried the duo of the empress and Teresa by taking a hold of their clothing with her teeth. The teeth of her dragon form, which happened to be bigger than the two women.

“I rather enjoyed the experience as a whole, though I must say your dragon form might need a breath freshener.” Teresa commented as she cleaved the last guard in half. She and Dee had quickly taken care of the nearby guards that had spotted their arrival.

The empress had used her agents to draw nearly all the guards to the other side of the palace. She had also instructed Dee to make her portal as close to ground as possible and inside a secluded garden. Despite these precautions, it was still a testament to the empress’ skills that only a small handful of guards had noticed the arrival of a rather sizeable dragon, though Dee had shifted into her normal form almost as soon as the portal had closed behind her.

“This place really is filled with powerful people.” Dee stated with some amazement, not dignifying Teresa’s barb with a reply. Her Mindscape could detect thousands upon thousands of powerful minds, and there were even several powerful psions among those. Dee’s Authority could hide her from them for a while, though not for too long. If everything went according to the plan, they didn’t need that much time. “Despite your success, we still might have some trouble avoiding patrols.”

With so many of the powerful individuals having joined with the Celestial Emperor in his attack, the trio was not too worried about being able to deal with some random patrol they might run into. The problem came if those patrols managed to raise an alarm before the real attack began. Dee and Teresa could kill their targets very quickly but the patrols most likely had items that allowed for an alarm to be raised in less than a second. Fighting their way through a mass of guards would be much more challenging and time-consuming, assuming they could even do so.

“Don’t worry about it.” The empress stated and tossed the other two women one of the helmets she had just taken from the dead guards. Most likely one of the guards Dee had killed from a distance considering Teresa had not left any helmets intact with her attacks. “Just put that on.”

“I don’t know if you have noticed but I don’t really give the same kind of impression as most of the guards.” Dee stated. She could change her appearance for a time but she still had this special air about her that was almost impossible to hide.

“Just put it on. You’ll know soon enough.” The empress replied with a small smile.

Dee complied and placed the ornamental helmet made of some deep-green metal on her head. Suddenly she found herself surrounded by a full body armor made of the same green material. The armor had a definite dragon theme to it and had an emerald glow to it. The different plate portions were separated by a matte black skin-tight body suit that allowed for a greater mobility. The bodysuit had also appeared from seemingly thin air. It also fit her perfectly for some reason. “Huh. All this from just a helmet?” Dee mumbled.

Teresa gave a small whistle. “That really hides your aura well. In fact, you don’t give off any feeling at all. No wonder the guards felt so bland before they died. I could probably sense your Domain if I really focused on it, but…”

The empress gave a small chuckle. “It won’t hide your status as a psion from the minds of the other psions, but you said you have that covered. Would it surprise you to know that the armor was previously worn by a male Naga? Yeah, I mean the type that doesn’t have any legs.”

Dee looked at the rather clear leg armor and boots she was wearing. Her incredulous expression made it clear what she thought about the empress’ words. Or at least it would have if it had not been covered by the helmet that hid her face completely. The message still got through though. The empress continued. “That’s something you should both keep in mind. The Celestial Emperor, and by extension the Celestial Court, loves uniformity. Every guard from a hundred different races looks exactly the same despite being wildly different in size and shape. Every guard might look identical, but their appearance is often deceiving. Just because they look like they’re swinging a halberd at you, doesn’t mean they actually are. They might be using a sword or even a bow.”

“That sounds complicated.” Teresa stated. “Needlessly complicated. Any half-decent opponent will be able to sense the difference when up close. The only reason I didn’t notice was because I killed them so quickly.”

The empress laughed. “You have to remember that a half-decent opponent by the standards of you two is a very skilled opponent for anyone else. And catching an enemy by surprise even once can decide a battle in an instant. Besides, it’s less about the advantage and more about looking more impressive I’m afraid. The emperor isn’t stupid but he can be vain in the weirdest of ways, and this happens to stroke his ego for some reason. Let’s get moving. We have some distance to cover and not a lot of time. Teresa, you should utilize the helmet as well. I can make myself seem like a court lady, and we’ll give off the correct magical signals to anyone patrol that we come across. A little-known secret: it’s not really about looking the part, but giving the right magical signals inside the palace. Signals that I know, so don’t’ worry.”

“Of course you do.” Teresa mumbled in exasperation. The empress’ knowledge was useful but the woman could be a bit less smug about it.

The empress’ promise held though as no patrols paid them any attention, and there were plenty of patrols as they closed on the heart of the enormous palace. They had seen hundreds of guards, dozens of servants and a handful of officials. Normally they would have seen several times that number, but many were busy due to the Celestial Emperor making his attack and the empress creating small distractions around the palace with her agents. The main chambers around the throne room were always in active use by officials, and despite their precautions, the trio didn’t want to take unnecessary risks. As their goal was rather close to the throne room, that meant they had to take a rather winding route through the ornamental stone hallways. Luckily the empress knew several secret passages that made the trip a bit easier.

“Here’s where the trouble begins.” The empress stated, pointing at the opening of a circular corridor guarded by two low ranked immortals with their hands ready on their blades. Naturally, they were a little suspicious seeing the trio approach.

“We don’t need those two I assume?” Dee asked with a light tone, which caused the two guards to almost miss her words. Before they acted though, they both seemed to collapse to the ground seemingly without reason. Dee had of course seen the threads of magic that the empress had used to paralyze the duo, even though they were invisible to the normal eye.

“No, we do not. That’s also not the problem I meant.” The empress said while Teresa finished off the two unconscious guards just to be sure. “That corridor and the guards on the other side are.” The empress waved for the two others to stay out of sight from the other end of the corridor.

“So what’s so special about that place?” Teresa asked.

“The corridor itself is surrounded by what I could only described as chaotic space. The room on the other end is a small pocket dimension with the corridor being the only way to get inside. Don’t let the normal looking walls of the corridor fool you. You will not be able to use any of your powers while in the corridor, mainly because the chaotic energy will twist your powers into something else entirely. It’s a pure chaotic power of chance. If you try to cast a simple fireball, you might end up creating a star next to your face, or you might summon a frying pan. Or something else out of a list of endless other possibilities.”

“So we’ll just attack from here?” Teresa suggested simply.

“That’s where the problem of the guards comes in. They are all equipped with specially created tower shields that will reflect any attacks back at us. I will be fairly powerless here, and so will Teresa, as I would not recommend trying to rush through that corridor. Any defensive abilities you might use would have a chance to turn against you and cause you to implode inside the corridor. This is the second reason Dee is here that I mentioned before we left.” The empress explained.

“Let me guess. I’m supposed to move through the shadows and attack them from behind?” Dee asked, figuring out the plan. Or at least a plan.

“Well, that would work as well I suppose. If you can do that I mean. Strictly speaking, the other end of the corridor is a separate dimension, so I don’t know if you can manage it. I was thinking more along the lines of your shapeshifting abilities, but whatever works for you.” The empress had considered that Dee could turn into either her dragon form to just power through with her inherent defenses and scales or alternatively something small and stealthy.

“Yeah, I like my way better.” Dee stated and suddenly the shadows swallowed her. The empress was right in that it took a bit more effort to get to the other side, but while the two places were different dimensions strictly speaking, they were still connected and close enough for Dee’s purposes. The five guards inside all sensed Dee and turned towards the disturbance, but Dee used herself as a distraction while invisible hands suddenly shoved all five of them into the corridor.

As the corridor took effect, the guards found themselves floating weightlessly in place, slowly drifting towards the other end where Teresa and the empress were waiting. In their distressed state, three of the guards made the mistake of trying to use their powers to get back towards Dee. One of them actually succeeded while the two others met a rather gruesome end while taking one of the smarter guards with them as their abilities exploded. As the floating guard wasn’t really able to defend herself, Dee made short work of her with a single swing of a psionic weapon that carried enough corrupting power to disable the regenerative abilities of the immortal guard. Teresa took care of the remaining guard while Dee started dealing with the magical formation preventing spatial magic.

The formation was a rather complex one and couldn’t just be disabled forcefully by destroying the magical glyphs powering it. In fact, Dee took long enough to understand the formation that the empress managed to get to her to actually finish the job. She was much more skilled with such things after all. Then she pulled out a messaging talisman that she used to signal the rest of their forces awaiting this very signal. It didn’t take long before Dee felt several magical and a single psionic portal opening above the palace to allow the attackers entry. The one psionic portal was the exception in that it had been much more secretive and was used to bring in the group in charge of saving the hostages.

The guards inside the palace reacted to the new arrivals with speed and efficiency. While the attackers were much stronger individually, the imperial guard of the court was made up of over a thirty thousand rank nine individuals. With that many people, they could dedicate many of their own to fight every immortal that came through the portals. One of the over two dozen immortals still within the court realized that something had happened to the formation and led a group of guards towards it, though those guards met a rather swift end at the hands of both Dee and Teresa. At the same time, the empress managed to convince the lone immortal of her identity and to have him stop hostilities.

The man was not able to resist the domination of the emperor enough to join in the rebellion they were brewing. At least that was true until Dee unleashed her own Domain, canceling the effects of the emperor’s hold on the man. Still, the man was one of the political leaders with a faction of his own, and some of his people were held hostage, so the best he could do was to keep his own subordinates out of the fight. Meanwhile, the trio started marching towards the throne room where the biggest resistance was focused. Dee was using her Domain liberally to weaken their opponents and to destroy their resolve. She also allowed her full holy presence as a Champion to shine through to make the effect even more pronounced.

“This is too easy. This can’t be everything the Celestial Court has to offer.” Teresa mumbled while keeping her eyes peeled for any danger. The stiff resistance outside defied her words a little but Dee also felt the same. They had killed many guards but had faced very few immortals.

“That’s because this isn’t all the court has. Most of the magical defenses are being disabled by me and my agents, most of the immortals have gone with the emperor and most of what is left is spread around the land controlled by the court. They need to defend their own territories against rival factions and outside enemies, so not all of the power can be focused inside the palace.” The empress explained, though even she was feeling a little suspicious.

The trio reached the throne room only a second before one of the Children of the Gods kicked the large ornamental doors open, tossing the corpse of one of the defending immortals inside with a contemptuous ease. “Is this it? I expected a lot more.” The woman asked just as confused as Teresa had been.

The empress also frowned. Even with all the advantages they had, this was still too easy. The plan was good but not this good. She reached for one of the communication talismans and focused for a short time. Her face twisted in anger as she listened to the person she was talking with. “We…have a problem.” She said carefully, looking up at Dee and Teresa.

“Well spit it out.” Teresa asked her calm face still showing a small smile, though a little strained at the moment.

“The Celestial Emperor took a course of action different from what we expected. The chance was there in my attempts to view the future, but the odds were miniscule. Well, the odds being small doesn’t mean the outcome never happens. The emperor did not turn back once he heard about the palace. He continued on to the Five Winds, and according to the spy I have among his forces, the whole area where the Five Winds community had their headquarters is now a smoldering ruin. Everyone that stayed behind and didn’t manage to escape is now dead.” The empress explained, angry with herself. This had always been a possibility but there was little they could have done about it.

Dee gave a deep sigh. “What’s done is done. Those that stayed behind knew that it might turn into a suicide mission. The Five Winds can rebuild somewhere else if the land itself is unusable.”

“There’s more.” The empress stated with a grimace. “For some reason, the emperor is still not coming back. In fact, it seems he’s not in a hurry at all. I have to admit I can’t understand why.”

Dee’s eyes narrowed. “Unless he knew we were coming here and has something prepared for us.”

The empress looked at Dee in shock. “He wouldn’t abandon the palace. It’s his pride and joy, and the monument to his rule.” She had known the emperor for centuries and everything she knew about the man told her that her deduction was right. The palace held all the trophies of his victories and losing the palace would be a large blow to his prestige.

Suddenly a male voice sounded from a side door, and a man dressed in dragon robes approached them. “You know me so well my dearest wife. So well in fact that it will be your undoing.” The black haired man had a regal bearing and refined features, and he radiated an aura similar to the one Dee radiated, the two Domains colliding and grinding against one another.

“The emperor!” The empress hissed.

“Now, now. Don’t be like that. Wasn’t the whole point of this little plan of yours to force me to face you personally? Well, here I am, though it will do you little good.” The emperor stated with a faint victorious smile.

“Surely you’re not delusional enough to think you could take us alone?” The empress asked, probing for information.

“As enjoyable as finding that out would be, no. I’m not that delusional. Oh dear wife of mine, you’re sometimes too intelligent for your own good. You forget, I’ve known you as long as you’ve known me, even if you tried to keep everything to yourself. I knew you had enough spies here to know about my every move and all I needed to do was imagine all the worst possible ways this whole thing could blow up in my face. Then I just had to do the one thing you imagined I would never do.” The emperor was now grinning openly.

He turned to Dee. “You must be the person my wife is betting everything on. I wish we had met under different circumstances, as we might have become great together. Unfortunately, my wife got her claws into you first. Oh well, one can’t get everything they want. I doubt you’ll survive, but if you do, I hope our next meeting will be more pleasant.”

“Survive?” The empress asked with a suddenly grim hunch.

Dee also noted that while the Celestial Emperor before them looked and felt real, his insides seemed somehow hollow. It was rather clear that the true emperor was not standing in front of them. Dee flashed outside straight through the roof of the throne room, leaving a gaping hole behind, while Teresa moved in to attack the emperor in front of them. It was hard to miss the increased temperature and the bright light approaching them from the sky.

She suddenly pulled the Living Mountain out of her Soul Space and tossed it towards the place that held the hostages, and more importantly Moirai and Nyx. “Time to make yourself useful!” She yelled at the mountain and rose to meet the incoming danger.

It was too late to try and evacuate everyone, as suddenly the entire palace was bathed in solar fires lancing straight down from one of the stars orbiting Pantheon. The attack had been launched a quite a bit earlier, but only now reached the intended target as the entire area was bathed in fires the likes of which few beings had ever seen.

Far above the palace, nearly in the orbit of Pantheon, the Young King and another Solarian watched as the solar flames started consuming the palace. Some of the more powerful immortals would manage to resist for a small time, especially beings like the Children of the Gods that were almost immune to the power aimed at them. Unfortunately, this was fire used by two rank thirteen beings with Sun Authorities that circumvented almost all resistances.

“The emperor’s plan was extremely decisive.” The older Solarian stated firmly, not entirely sure if she should admire or condemn the emperor’s actions.

“Extremely cruel, but effective.” The Young King stated equally conflicted. Not only did the emperor sacrifice his beloved palace, but he also gave up almost the entire imperial guard, which had stayed behind as a distraction to delay the enemies. The solar fire would also kill the officials and hostages, including several faction leaders within the court. The events today would almost certainly lead to a rebellion, though in an interesting move the ones that had been left behind in the palace were those most likely to protest the emperor’s actions.

“I still don’t understand why you agreed to it.” The Young King stated. The emperor would have to have paid a heavy price for the aid of the Solarians. That said, the Solarians were one of the few beings that could avoid the empress’ ability to see the future, so their involvement was necessary to the emperor’s plans.

“A favor repaid, for a service rendered. Further understanding is not required young one. That will come with time. For now, only obedience is needed.” The older Solarian stated. She couldn’t freely admit that the actions today were partially to alleviate the pressure exerted by the angels after the destruction of their embassy. One of the most dangerous demons on Pantheon being killed would go a long way to balance things out. The Solarians could not be seen attacking any of the demons directly, as this was supposed to be a safe haven from the War in Heavens, but if a demon perished as a collateral damage while they returned a favor to the Celestial Emperor? Well, that was another matter entirely.

“I think things might not go quite as the emperor hoped.” The Young King suddenly stated. He had been paying more attention to what was happening below while the other Solarian controlled the flames. Unlike the older Solarian, he had not missed the black sun that had appeared above the heart of the palace that kept consuming some of the solar flames and growing larger. He could also sense a weird power protecting certain portions of the palace elsewhere, although the protected area was minor.

With the Young King pointing the anomaly out, the other Solarian also noticed the black sun consuming the solar flames. She looked thoughtful for a moment before giving a small shrug. “Doesn’t matter. It is not our duty to defeat the enemies of the Celestial Emperor. We have done what was asked of us. Besides, that weird thing might be devouring some of our attack, but much of it is reaching the palace anyway. I doubt it will make much of a difference in the long run.”

The two Solarians would remain long enough to see that their attack would not spread to affect the rest of the area controlled by the Celestial Court, and then they would leave. What came after was not their problem. Or to be precise, the older Solarian would leave, while the Young King stayed behind to see how this played out. He was curious after all and knew some of the people involved thanks to his dealings with other communities.