"We were so close," Anne sighed, dragging her large dragonleaf club on the ground behind her. "But those dolls, though...Creepy as all hell. They, like..."

She didn't have to finish. David appeared absolutely incensed, snarling, "If we didn't have pain killing boons, I'm pretty sure that trial would've driven us insane."

"The Dragon really is powerful," Susan sighed, trying to redirect the conversation. "Anybody who doubts his powers is a complete imbecile. Name one nation that could stand up to his assault." Susan shook her head. "It's hopeless for anyone to fight COTD."

"Don't change the subject," David snapped. "That challenge was absurd. It was torture. That entire tournament was one form of cruel and unusual punishment after the other."

'The Creator wants us to be stronger,' Nimesh transmitted to Kayt while they walked along with the rest of the group.

"Nimesh says it's for our own good," Kayt relayed. "If we really are going to go to other worlds, who knows what kinds of horrors we're going to be up against?"

David growled, a pained, helpless sound. "Damn it! This wasn't why I left investment banking. I just wanted was to be a doctor, to do something useful. Not drag teenagers," he pointed at Anne, "into a baby-popping, zombie-smashing, doll-dismembering shitstorm."

"But none of it was real," Anne interjected acerbically. "Besides, I'm not some fragile Mary Sue. I'm not gonna go crying to mommy just 'cuz a few raptor stuffed animals pulled my teeth. See?" She grinned wide. "They're all back in place. It was a challenge, not an actual battle."

Realizing that arguing was a losing battle, David clenched his jaw. "Fine. But who's to say this doesn't escalate further?"

Edgewood reached out and grabbed his arm. "Hey. That's why we need to stick together, to talk to one another as humans. The Dragon doesn't fully get it."

David gave him a dark look. "I know."

Edgewood shook his head. "Just think: Susan is right when she says Earth is as good as conquered. The Dragon isn't going to be stopped, so we might as well get people into COTD as soon as possible."

David exhaled slowly, as though dispelling his rage through his breath. "Fine. I get it, I told you. Let's just go."

---

Lepochim was unprepared for the little jerboa quasi-sapient's appearance in the Spire's office. He gave it a baleful glare, then asked, "Did you really make a hole in the floor?"

It nodded so fast that Lepochim almost missed the gesture. "Yep. The Creator told me, Kessalo, to bring the kursi prisoners to you." Kessalo then peered into the hole and hollered, "Come up!"

Over the next fifteen seconds, seven kursi tentatively crawled into Lepochim's office. Lepochim's expression seemed to darken with each kursi's appearance, as though they were insects dirtying his floors.

"Alright, thank you, Kesso. Now, please...leave."

Kessalo's sunny self seemed oblivious to Lepochim's undisguised rancor. "Cya!" he chittered cheerfully. Kessalo then disappeared in a flash, leaving Lepochim alone with the seven kursi.

"Just to let you all know, I'm having a bad day," Lepochim said threateningly. "Don't push me. I'm immune to shell manipulation, so don't even try. I'm assigning each of you to one of my kursi peacekeeping subdivisions, of which there are three. Don't make trouble and listen to what they tell you. Since you've been sent to me," Lepochim drew his eyes over the seven, as though gauging their worth, "that means the Dragon no longer considers you prisoners. You'll have access to all the same privileges as the other kursi, namely access to the boon pools."

The seven appeared somewhat confused that they could all understand what Lepochim was saying, as though he was speaking several different languages at once. None of them spoke back.

"No questions? Good. I'll have the devilbats take you. Olm," he shouted. "Take them to the kursi residences. Tell whoever you meet to deal with these seven according to established protocol." Lepochim was thankful, at this moment, that he'd given the kursi an extensive instruction reference manual that explained what to do in various situations. The entire thing was, of course, almost entirely plagiarized from Sigenolf-74's protocol book.

"What did we talk about earlier?" the large devilbat said in monotone from around the office's corner, next to the balcony.

Lepochim's expression grew unsightly, further frightening the seven psychologically drained kursi in the room. "Please," Lepochim grated.

"We'll be back in a few minutes," Olm said in response. He entered the office, pressing his wings tight against his body to fit through the doorway. "Come with me."

The kursi, already having experienced enough for one day, meekly nodded. Olm led them out to the balcony, where Lepochim presumed they were flown away. Once again left in peace, Lepochim swiveled in his chair, hands steepled, head inclined downward in thought.

Today really was a terrible day: the United States had, against all odds, actually surrendered around ten minutes ago. They'd given the Spire office's landline a call, so Lepochim was the one to hear the surrender directly. Before then, the day had already been eventful with the tournament.

At first glance, the U.S. surrendering didn't seem all that more complicated, logistically, than another country's surrender. However, when Lepochim dealt with ambassador business in foreign countries he just needed to delegate people to leave and run the new dragonleaf cities. But if the U.S. was surrendering, that meant that he was going to have exponentially more work on his plate. If the U.S. surrendered, Basalith really was going to become the continent's new capital.

Lepochim was still reeling from the mass processing he'd overseen just before the first battle last Monday, when he'd toiled to ensure all the people queued outside were temporarily relocated into The Anima's basement labyrinth. Most of them had returned outside after the battle ended, but Lepochim had still managed to increase their processing rate by 300% over the course of the battle. Increasing their processing rate by that much left him and his kursi incredibly drained.

Just how many people were going come to Basalith's doors now that the COTD had effectively conquered the United States?

'We can redirect the people south of Texas' northern border to the Mexican city-seed...and Canada is likely going to submit soon, so we can redirect people in the North to Canada...and we can grow another U.S. city seed out west...Nevada, maybe?'

Lepochim's head swam as he tried to work out all the details. He never imagined that the U.S. would give up so easily. 'Certainly, it's the correct choice, but humans are rarely so rational.' And if the United States capitulated, Lepochim didn't doubt that other western nations would submit in short order, creating more and more work for him to deal with.

Quite frankly, Lepochim was surprised that Bath hadn't come to speak with him yet and discuss a plan of action. Hadn't he been listening in on the phone call?

---

"Lepochim," Bath said, entering the Spire without any special effects, choosing to walk in from the balcony. "I had to redo every challenge you had planned."

Lepochim gave him a confused expression. "Bath, we should discuss--"

"I expected a bit more from you and your special military training. Is that the best Sigenolf-74 has to offer?"

Lepochim's eyes grew wide. 'He really wasn't listening in.'

"Bath!" he cried out. "The United States surrendered."

Bath's jaw dropped ever so slightly. "What? And you didn't tell me?"

Lepochim's eyes narrowed. "It happened just a few minutes ago. Besides, I assumed you knew. You're typically listening to the Spire's office line."

Bath tsked. "My concentration was occupied by the final round of the tournament. I didn't predict that anyone would call during the ten-minute duration of the trial," he chuckled darkly. 'What were the odds?' Bath paused, letting the news sink in. "So, they really did surrender. Huh."

"It does feel somewhat surreal, humans acting intelligently," Lepochim replied, a smug expression on his face.

"Well, I'll leave you to figure out the logistics," Bath deadpanned.

Lepochim's face dropped. "Bath!" he exclaimed, utterly exasperated. "I need a little assistance. This is too much for me to handle."

Bath gave him an innocent look. "Don't you have the wasps?"

"Wasps?"

---

Lepochim couldn't believe his eyes. The interior of a particularly large apartment building was covered in large hexagons, all of which contained humanoid wasp quasi-sapients. They looked exactly like one would expect anthropomorphic wasps to appear, with distinctly human features and expressions.

All of them were typing away at computers, barely even noticing Lepochim's presence. He almost felt out of place. 'Ridiculous, since I'm in charge of this city,' he thought bitterly to himself.

"Queen of the wasps, approach," he commanded, hoping the queen would hear him. Thankfully, after about thirty seconds, a quasi-sapient wasp walked in from a distant honeycomb chamber. She had lustrous hair, as though polished with wax, and her compound eyes were dark and almond-shaped. Her antennae swooped elegantly over her ears and breasts, curling gently around her thighs. She didn't wear clothing, her exoskeletal carapace designed to appear like a suit of light armor.

"At your call, servant of the Creator."

Lepochim frowned. "The Dragon told me that you were supposed to assist in the operation of COTD. Did none of your kind think to contact me about your responsibilities?"

The queen gave him a serene smile. "Before, you seemed to have everything under control. I deemed it most expedient to work separately, in social channels."

"Social channels?"

"Utilizing the internet to direct public opinion in favor of COTD and the Dragon. We have also, recently, begun to implement other plans."

Lepochim raised an eyebrow, moderately impressed. By his estimations, any underlings that took the initiative were good underlings. "Such as?"

"Hacking into foreign governments' information systems," she said casually.

Lepochim nodded. "All well and good." He didn't know what either of those tasks entailed, but assumed they were somewhat important. Perhaps they had even played a role in the U.S.'s capitulation. "However, I now require your assistance."

The queen gave him a knowing look, her hair sashaying to the side as she strutted forward. "Don't you? Each country that falls, like dominos in a line, will need to be organized and integrated into the greater whole."

"Precisely. What services can you offer to speed this process along?" Bath did mention the wasps by name; surely they must have some sort of relevant special organizational ability.

"I've been readying the Hive for deployment," she stated, now close enough to Lepochim that her antennae brushed over his arm. "We can work on registering people in COTD's already substantial system. Moreover, with a large contingent of land-shapers, we can simply grow Basalith and other cities outward to encompass residences that already exist."

Lepochim nodded slowly, somewhat entranced by the wasp queen's trim frame. He'd never seen a humanoid insect before and wondered what the flesh under her carapace felt like...

As the wasp queen's head moved directly in front of his own, her compound eyes alien and captivating, Lepochim snapped back to attention. He coughed lightly. "Good, perfect. I'll check back with you in two days for a progress report. You're to start on your aforementioned plan immediately."

Lepochim promptly about-faced, then fast-walked out of the Hive.

'Quasi-sapients?' he thought to himself. 'Quasi-sapients don't plan, shape public opinion, or hack into governments.' Turning slightly purple, Lepochim also thought, 'And they most certainly don't try to seduce other sapients!'