Pegarios felt the death of his Mother. He grieved and wailed and cut his flesh as any good grieving son would have done. As was expected from him. As the gods would have wanted him to do.

Then he began killing everyone who could be of threat. If his brother had been still alive, he would have been dead. He moved fast, even if he was Asoltolia’s child, that did not mean he would be granted leadership. One had to move fast and brutally. Power abhors and vacuum.

It was the way of things, after all. When a Matriarch dies, when a Patriarch dies, then its all up for grabs. There is no weakness to be had in the Integrated Multiverse.

Their House was already a mess and even with all the credits they were making recently, they hadn’t expanded too far out from the original family members. So the purge wasn’t too deep or too vicious. Just some useless and foolish who were favored by Mother and who had allies who would stand for them.

When the threshold opened in the space station, Pegarios was ready with his troops. They rushed in and managed to either kill or subjugate the mages and soldiers. Many had seen the way the mana was flowing and eagerly joined him.

Such was the way of the Integrated Multiverse. Loyalty only lasted until you were dead.

“You control the greatest device in all the Multiverse,” one of the Mages stated. “It can traverse any universe and all it needs is a little mana.”

“We are in control of the tesseracts?” Pegarios asked.

There was a moment of silence. “No,” the Mage said. “It was locked down and behind encryption we cannot decipher. Merchant Sullivan managed to do that before we could fully control the Cage.”

“Pathetic,” Pegarios muttered.

“We are Dimensional Mages, sir,” the Mage snapped. “We have secured the Cage, as was our job.”

“The Merchant is not dead?” Pegarios asked, brushing aside the comment.

“She lives still. She pulled your Mother into the other dimensional plane. From what we understand, only one in a billion can survive that transition.”

“Do we have any prisoners?” Pegarios asked.

“No, before we could gain complete control, Merchant Sullivan was able to teleport all of her people from the Cage. We suspected she managed to obtain a Threshold rank in her Dimensional abilities. It is the only explanation as to how she was able to open two thresholds leading to two different dimensional planes. It is quite impressive.”

“I’m sure,” Pegarios said. He looked around at the group of mages. “Not only is Merchant Sullivan alive, but she is also stronger? Was she not suffering the effects of a poison?”

“Tier 2,” the Mage said. “With essence mana channels,” he added as if it explained everything. Pegarios felt like punching the mage. “Those combinations are nearly unheard of, which leads to a lot of speculation as to what such individuals can accomplish.”

Pegarios paced the control room, staring at the small creature caged within a control box. He could see the heavy runes that prevented tampering and protected the creature. To think such a small creature was the only way they could control the Cage. A creature from House Sullivan, her abilities and skills were what was needed to open and close thresholds. The slave collar and control box allowed them complete control over everything the creature was capable of.

“We have managed to cut her off from the Cage,” the mage replied. “It will have to be an ongoing thing, as it is, it takes twelve Mages to keep up the shielding.”

“How much will that cost?” Pegarios asked.

“For control of this Cage, a pittance. Merchant Sullivan is apart of this Cage, her blood, her essence, and her mana are woven deeply within it. If we slip in shielding of the Cage from her senses, she will be able to regain it.”

“Double the shielding mages, then,” Pegarios said.

“Your mother was hard pressed to gather this many dimensional mages in one place,” the mage said. “It will take time to gather more mages.”

“Then get to work!” Pegarios snapped. “We cannot allow even the slightest of slips. My mother died to gain us this Cage, a high-grade, Tier 1 Matriarch. We cannot let her death be in vain!

“Merchant Sullivan is the only one that can create these Cages, but all it requires is mana to power it and keep it running. With our control of Yosi Sullivan, we can maintain its operation. As long as we also secure the other end of the Cage located within the RSH.”

“We are bringing in the heavy combat drones as we speak, sir,” another man said. “Once we’ve fully loaded the equipment, we can open a threshold to the RSH and deploy the drones and defensive weapons.”

Pegarios nodded. “Although the thought of relying on artificial intelligences disturbs me, it is the only way, is it not?”

“No one can survive the crossing, sir,” the dimensional mage said.

“We have won a great victory here, even if the cost was high,” Pegarios said. “House Revvena was in decline, our forces scattered, and infighting picking off the best of us. Now, we shall have a chance to regain all that we lost and more.”

Pegarios looked at everyone gathered in the room. “Never before in history has a nation, let alone a House, been able to enter a newly Integrated universe. One so fresh that levels and power are so easy to grab. One standard year, the System has told us. One standard year that newly Integrated Universes cannot be reached or entered. But we were invited here, by a foolish woman who came from this universe. That negates the System’s Rules and opens up everything for us.

“The greatest Houses were built when Integration began. When their ancestors were given Foundational Skills and abilities, when great heroes arose as an entire universe surged with mana and essence. This is our chance, brothers, sisters, and cousins. This is our chance to make our House great.

“Wealth and power await us. Let’s fucking get it.”

***

Earth,

This planet, its resources, its star system are all claimed by the Sword of the Universe and the Sword Union. The 3S corporation has been defeated and it’s holdings are now being held by the Sword of the Universe and Patriarch Pegarios of House Revvena. Submit. Resistance only guarantees death.

***

“What’s this nonsense?” Maria Valdez looked up from her screens. “What’s going on?” she demanded to her secretary, a slim dark haired woman. The secretary shrugged. “Go find out!”

Maria could hear commotion on the streets. She peered out of the windows of her office and saw a spectacle marching down the street. A dimensional threshold was open and from it marched hundreds of armored soldiers.

A small flutter of hope that Maya and the soldiers sent to fight the Flesh Army had come back was dashed as she saw the alien faces under the helmets. Their strange body shapes that told of species that never evolved on this planet.

These were not their soldiers. This was something else.

“What the hell?” Maria wondered.

“Settlement Leader,” a voice barked.

Maria turned to see a armored figure holding a blade in her direction. The cold gaze froze her on the spot. There was no mercy in that gaze.

“Surrender or die,” the figure said.

“I- I surrender,” she said.

The figure grinned. “Pathetic.”

***

“Earth’s being conquered?” the man asked, sighing.

“Unfortunately, it seems Asoltolia’s betrayal has succeeded,” Canton replied sipping a cup of coffee. He cringed at the taste.

“That means Maya is dead,” the man said, his face hardening.

“Most likely,” Canton replied.

“That’s my daughter,” Pops Sullivan stated.

“My condolences,” Canton said, tipping his cup at him. “But we’ve all lost people. We have to focus on those that we have left.”

“By allying with pigs and birds?” Pops Sullivan said

“Heavily armed Orcs and Crows,” Canton said. “Armed by your daughter and given levels in some hellish fighting in the Cage.”

“So, me and mine are basically dead then?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Canton said. “I’m leading what’s left of the Sullivan Infantry and the combined units of the orc and crow army. Although we were supposed to be teleported back to our origin points, we’ve all seem to have been dumped on your doorstep.”

Pops Sullivan glanced back at the hospital they had fortified days before. Back when they were still fighting the pigs and birds, not being invaded by some all powerful being and its empire.

“We’ve not known peace since Integration,” Pops Sullivan said. “All we’ve known is fighting.”

“Such is life, Mr. Sullivan. Such is life. Your daughter did not go out without swinging. She saved us all before… well, before her defeat.”

Pops Sullivan clenched his fists. “Peace, then?”

“Between our two groups. Between you and the orcs and crows. There is bad blood there and many atrocities, but the orcs are forgiving and the crows know peace is better.”

“We’ve done horrible things to one another,” Pops Sullivan said. “How can anyone forgive that?”

“All water under the bridge. The invasion by the Sword Union trumps all that.”

“How?”

“They’ll institute the Class system. All beings that have been uplifted due to Integration will be considered slaves. Limited in their ability to level and considered less than.”

“And us?”

Canton shrugged. “Perhaps we too will be enslaved. Its a gray area that hasn’t been fully explored yet. Although I doubt a conquering high Tier individual like the Sword of the Universe is going to be kind to the local inhabitants.”

“I will be no slave,” Pops Sullivan muttered.

“Then peace?”

“Peace.”