Moirai had finally cried herself to sleep and Dee had left her in the care of the Living Mountain. Dee felt bad about leaving her alone, but the current situation didn’t really leave them much time to waste. Besides, staying still for too long would force her to deal with her own grief as well and now was not the time. If she took Moirai along, the grieving woman was likely to do something really stupid. Thus leaving her inside the mountain, for now. The mountain had given a very reliable ‘leave it to me’ feeling, but Dee would still keep tabs on Moirai’s whereabouts through the Mindscape, just in case.

Her next stop was the room where the injured people had been gathered. Five Winds was still low on healers but luckily the monks of the Heavenly Temple had that covered. A surprisingly large number of the hostages they had rescued were also talented in healing, and they were now returning the favor in whatever way they could. Dee found Razark in one of the side rooms. The healers were apparently done for now, as Dee could sense Razark was not in immediate danger, something that could not be said for all the other injured people.

“You look like shit.” Dee stated without pre-amble, noticing that Razark was awake despite his closed eyes.

Razark really did look quite bad. He still had all his limbs, but he had severe burns all over his body. Some of them were healing, some were not. They would all disappear eventually, but it would take time. “I’ve been better.” Razark replied grumpily.

They were both quiet for a moment before Razark continued. “Sorry I couldn’t save Nyx. I tried, but…” He felt oddly responsible for some reason he couldn’t quite understand.

“Not your fault. She made a choice, one that saved lives from what I heard. You did what you could, I’m sure. You certainly look like you gave it your best shot. No, there are people I blame, but you’re certainly not one of them. Revenge will come, if not from me, then from Moirai. Speaking of, I need someone to keep an eye on her while we deal with the emperor. Can you manage that? She’s currently asleep and will most likely be for a while, but I’m worried she will do something stupid once she wakes up.” Dee knew that Razark was the type that would need something to do instead of just laying here. It would slow his recovery a bit, but it would be better for his mental well-being.

“I won’t let some small burns stop me.” Razark stated firmly. He struggled into a sitting position, clearly in a lot of pain, but the vitality of a stubborn immortal was enough to keep him together.

“Good. Just make sure you don’t cripple yourself while at it. The old man would strain his back yelling at me if I allowed you to do something stupid like that.” Dee joked, even though she certainly didn’t feel like making quips. Yet she felt the situation called her to act as normal as she could. Razark would not appreciate pity or coddling.

Razark simply grunted in reply. Taking that as an agreement, Dee left him to his struggle and exited the mountain, finding the Phoenix man and the empress locked in a heated conversation. The empress looked up as soon as Dee came outside. “Dee, good. We don’t have much time to lose. I just got word that the emperor is coming back. He intends to finish the job.”

“So what can be done?” Dee asked, knowing that despite the error in judgment that had led to the current situation, the empress was still much better at planning things like this than she was.

“Well, I think we can still do this, but we have two problems. Thanks to us rescuing the hostages and the emperor’s clear disregard for the lives of the members of the Celestial Court, many of the factions are now willing to join us. The more that come, the more the emperor’s hold over them crumbles. That means many of the immortals currently going along with the emperor will either turn to our side or at least sit this one out. Combined with the power of the Living Mountain and the people we still have left, we should be able to achieve victory. But here’s where the two problems come in.

“The first problem is the Solarians as I suspected. I can say with reasonable certainty that there won’t be a second attack like the one we just suffered, but I’m not completely sure and the factions of the Celestial Court won’t just take my word for it even if I were. We need something more. The second problem is time. The emperor will be here with the other immortals in an hour, but the factions have their immortals spread around the area. It will take some time to get a word to them and for them to reach us. Without a significant presence from their own races and factions, the immortals following the emperor currently will not be able to rebel against his Domain. So we need to delay the emperor somehow. The delay need not be long, but we do need something.” The empress explained.

“And we can’t just strike at the teleportation gates again?” Dee confirmed just to be sure.

“No. There are simply too many of them. The lands held by the Celestial Court have the highest density of such gates in the entire Pantheon. Besides, the factions don’t like the idea of having their gates destroyed just for a short delay. The economic impact would be too great.” The empress confirmed a little sullenly. She found it annoying that the factions were still thinking about economic matters at a time like this, but the reality was what it was. Even if the economic losses would be much smaller than the factions claimed. They simply wanted to have their cake and eat it too.

Dee looked towards the sky with a sigh. There was a powerful being far above them that had not moved for a while. Dee had sensed the being a while ago, but since it had made no moves she had decided the being didn’t need to be addressed immediately. Perhaps now was the time. “I have an idea. One that I will not explain to you because you will not approve. However, it will solve the first problem for the time being at least. It might help with the second, or it might not. You need to come up with alternative ideas for the second problem in case this doesn’t work quite as I planned.”

With a flash of light, Dee disappeared from her previous spot and appeared in front of the Young King that had stayed behind to see how things developed. The Solarian looked calmly at the clearly angry Dee in front of him. He suddenly realized that this little meeting might turn out to be a really important one, and that he should tread carefully. The forces that had suffered the attack on the palace were depleted, but the woman in front of him had just blocked one of their more powerful attacks. And could probably do so again if need be.

Dee allowed her bloodlust to show through. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t just cripple you and kill every member of your race in front of your eyes while you plead me to stop.” The hostility in her voice was thick enough to walk on, and only partially fake. Dee knew that for this to work, she needed to put up a strong front and set the correct tone right from the beginning. She was bluffing, but only partly.

“You mean besides the obvious one where you actually don’t have the power to carry out that threat?” The Young King asked calmly, the form that seemed like a sun squeezed into the form of a man tilting its head to the side in question.

A small dark flame appeared, dancing around Dee’s arm. As Solarian, the Young King could sense the danger in that flame. And he didn’t feel in danger very often. “Invalid. You’re making two false assumptions. First of all, you assume I do not have the ability now. That is questionable. My talent for protection might be limited, but my talent for destruction is not. And perhaps more importantly, you’re assuming I won’t have that power in the future. You should know enough about me by now to know that to be untrue. You took a shot at me and failed. That’s the only shot you will get. If you wanted me dead, you lost your chance, and now it’s too late. Even if I didn’t have the power to defeat you right now, there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me from simply running away and returning in a hundred or thousand years.” Dee argued, with her tone becoming sharper with every word, while the black flame kept growing as well.

“Because of them.” The Young Kind argued, pointing at the people below. He realized there was some truth to Dee’s words. He wasn’t truly worried about his life at the moment, but her future potential was really a threat. Maybe not as big of a threat as she made it out to be, but a threat nonetheless.

Dee growled at those words. “Invalid. Here’s a little tip about using hostages during negotiations. Don’t kill one of the most important hostages before the negotiations even start. You lose any credibility, and since I’m already suffering a loss, the foremost thing in my mind is the number of ways I can hurt you before killing you, regardless of the price. Now that I’ve already suffered loss, the most important thing changes from saving everyone to killing you fast enough to not lose too many others.”

Dee had read books where someone killed a single hostage out of many to show their seriousness, but that was only for literature. In reality, everyone knew you were serious and had the capacity to kill. Killing a hostage simply meant that there was now less room for negotiation, as now the other side could no longer be let go. The killer needed to suffer for what they had done. The negotiations shifted from preservation to punishment.

The Young King shook his head, knowing that the situation was turning worse than the other Solarians had assumed. They had not dealt with Dee, whereas the Young King had, albeit briefly. He knew Dee had the capacity to become a threat. The others just assumed she was powerful, perhaps even stronger than the Celestial Emperor, but that she would never reach the heights required to truly harm the Solarians. “Because you want something.”

“I want many things. I want you all to die, I want my friend back, I want you to kill the Celestial Emperor and I want a good meal and a nice bed. But I realize those will not happen for now. At least I assume you will not kill the emperor if I so ask?” Dee asked rhetorically, receiving a shake of the Young Kings head in reply. “That’s what I thought. So I will settle for two things. I want you to come down and give everyone your word that the Solarians will not be attacking again. The word of the great Young King should be worth something, should it not? Secondly, I want you to go to the emperor and delay him. I don’t need you to do so for long. Just talk to him about whatever. Tell him this whole thing was beneath your kind and that it will not happen again or something. Just delay him for a short time.”

The Young King considered the demands. If this defused Dee as a threat then it would be a small price in the grand scheme of things. He didn’t actually have to go out of his way to do anything. The Solarians would not be attacking again so promising that was not a problem, and delaying the emperor was a small thing as Dee had mentioned. There was nothing strange about him making the stance of the Solarians clear to the emperor, and would not come back to them no matter the result. However, there were a few things he had to consider. Even though he realized the threat Dee could pose, he could not just give in. No one could just make demands of the Solarians. He needed to get something in return. Besides, the death of the emperor would create some problems.

“So you have stated your demands, which are not beyond the realm of possibility. However, you are not in the position to dictate terms despite your claims otherwise. I need something in return.” The Young King stated.

“And what would that be?” Dee asked warily. She was bluffing to an extent, so just getting the Solarian to agree to the first term was worth something in return. The second term she had mentioned would be a bonus that she had only stated in case she could manage to get the other side to accept it. It was something she was prepared to give up on.

In reality, Dee dearly wanted to take revenge on the Solarians for Nyx instead of negotiating with them, but now was not the time. She didn’t have the power to go against them even if they weren’t already busy with the Celestial Emperor. That didn’t mean she wasn’t planning on doing so in the future. Besides, it was Moirai’s right to take revenge on the Solarians instead of her. Moirai certainly would need time to grow strong enough to at least help. It was a goal for the distant future.

“First of all, we can deal with the death of the emperor. But we will not tolerate the destruction of the community of the Celestial Court. They are too important. Your little group will not be taking their place in the first circle either, in case that was your intention.” The Young Kind presented his first demand. The court would be in chaos if the emperor died, but it would survive. It seemed likely that there would be chaos anyway no matter if the emperor lived or died.

“Agreed.” Dee could easily agree to that demand. Almost everyone involved was after the emperor and not the court anyway.

“Secondly, like you said, you are a potential threat to us, especially in the future. I will not allow a festering wound like that to remain to bother us at a later date. Once this fight with the emperor is finished, you have one week to say your goodbyes. After that, you are to leave Pantheon and you are not allowed to return. In return, I will personally make sure the Five Winds will be safe. Despite what you said about hostages, that is what they will be to make sure you will stay away. Only live hostages are useful though, so I will make sure they stay that way.” Despite him claiming them as hostages, it was rather clear that the Young King was, in fact, promising to protect the Five Winds, knowing their safety would make Dee hesitate otherwise. She was also more likely to return forcefully if she had to worry about them.

Dee still hesitated a little. She had planned on leaving anyway, but not quite so soon. This was a bit too sudden. Still, the offer was a good one considering the circumstances. With the Young King’s twisted guarantee, she could leave with some peace of mind. And she planned on coming back anyway once she was strong enough to ignore what the Solarians had to say about it. “Agreed, however, the Five Winds have already suffered enough thanks to your actions. To make sure more will not fall, your protection of them will start now. As you are assuming the emperor’s death anyway, you might as well aid in making it a reality.” She made a counter-offer. The Young King’s words had made her realize that there was an opportunity here.

“What did you have in mind? I will not kill him for you, nor would it abide by the terms if I attacked the rest of the court’s forces. They are not to be destroyed, remember.” Dee’s counter had caught him by surprise, as he had already assumed it a good enough deal. Dee’s counter-offer was even better for his purposes though.

“In that case, this should be just what you desire. Declare that the Solarians have had enough of this fight and need it to be resolved without turning into a large battle. Since the fight is truly only about a handful of people anyway, then let the fight be resolved among that handful. Demand something like me against the emperor, or a small group from us against a small group from them. That should suit your goals even better as many of the people you want to survive would die if this turns into a huge battle.” Dee argued. This would be the best outcome for Dee’s group as well, but the emperor would most likely be too proud to see that.

The Young King knew Dee’s words had merit. If things did turn into a battle, then hundreds of immortals were likely to die. “Well do it your way then. Keep in mind that all this is null and void if you lose.”

“I’ll just have to win then.” Dee stated, finally withdrawing her bloodlust.

-----

“It seems I’m being underestimated.” The emperor stated with a smile as he heard the declaration of the Young King. Unlike what Dee had thought, the emperor was not too proud to realize that a small group battle would be more in favor of the other side.

He didn’t know how many enemy immortals had survived the attack of the Solarians, but it couldn’t have been that many. At the very least that included the three individuals he was aiming for the most, though. If he agreed, then he would essentially be limiting his own forces while the other side was losing almost nothing. However, the other side had the empress. Surely she would have a plan in case he tried refusing. And the sad fact was that he didn’t know how much he could rely on his own forces considering that he had just sacrificed the hostages. Not that his subordinates were aware of that just yet.

He looked at the Young King. “It seems a little odd that you’re making a demand like this considering you just attacked them earlier.”

“We are not above making certain deals if the conditions are right, as proven by the fact that we went along with your demand to attack them.” The Young King admitted freely. There was little point in hiding it, and there was nothing wrong with his words. If one side could make a deal, then so could the other. If they had something to offer in return.

“What could they have offered to have you do this, I wonder?” The emperor mused. He had called in an old favor. He had performed a service to the Solarians a long time ago, and both sides remembered such debts. This was a fairly easy way for the Solarians to repay that debt. Still, the only reason they agreed was because it suited their other purposes, which was something the emperor was aware of. He wouldn’t have even made the suggestion otherwise. So what did the other side have to offer in return for this favor?

“That is something you need not worry about. I should also mention, we were not asking for your cooperation, we were telling you how things will be. Either you agree, or I will drag you there myself.” The Young King stated firmly. He didn’t want to give the impression this was a negotiation.

“Have it your way then. You said the other side will be sending the fledgling with a Domain, my wife and the leader of the Crimson Witches to the fight? We’ll make it even then. My side will include me and my two subordinates. I assume the fight is supposed to be to the death?” The emperor confirmed.

“Indeed.” The Young King nodded.

“That said, I assume submission is just as good? I would like to take two of them alive. My wife has a lot to answer for, and I’m intrigued by that fledgling. It would be a waste to kill them.” The emperor decided.

“That’s…not outside the rules.” The Young King stated slowly, knowing that the emperor was making a horrible mistake. It seemed this would not end well for him. Not that there had been much doubt about that in the first place. Dee had been right about one thing. She might not have the power to make her threat against the Solarians a reality, but she would not lose to the emperor. And if the emperor went into the fight with this attitude, then it would be a short fight.