Iyronwin the high-tierman teleported from portal to portal. Traversing through the network of dimensions at a rate few could match. Getting a location for each teleport was a simple matter only because he had been through each of them countless times. The world around him changed completely with every teleport. But soon he had to slow his progress as he reached the dimensions that were less familiar to him.

Currently his form was that of a humanoid, chosen specifically so he didn't scare any of the low-tierman out of Akmadouric's army. His eyes glowed with a fierce green from the spiritual ether which went well with his grayish light blue skin. Universal code lined the plates of his silver armor, rejecting anything that would do him harm. And the lower half of his body was that of a dense cloud. If he wasn't going to use his most powerful form, he may as well look good.

Arriving at the 'Newly Contested' dimension, he saw part of this world was gray for some reason. A natural occurance? He'd seen stranger. Then he read the skill description for Make It Stop.

"What an annoying ability." Most other high-tierman would have spent a bit of time to analyze the ability and come up with the perfect counter. On the other hand, Iyronwin wasn't the type for that sort of thing. High willpower usage and brute force was more his style.

Iyronwin twisted three of the rings on his right hand, summoning the pieces that would assemble into one of the greatest weapons in the multi-verse. A weapon few could wield but only he dared hold.

Erasing Staff Weapon type: Melee Damage: 842 unmake, 22 blunt Description: A three meter long staff that is made out of a material that rejects and destroys the universe around it. Willpower cost to wield: 721,000 per second Required Willpower Technique: Grandmaster

Three poles merged together the second they were summoned. And a clear staff appeared in the hand of Iyronwin. Visible only by the rippling it caused with each movement. Air rushed towards it like a spaceship being exposed to vacuum. Clear flames further distorted the space around it. Iyronwin held himself together as the weapon itself tried to erase it's own wielder from existence. He made the clear flames gather on the ends of the staff away from his hand.

Then Iyronwin charged into the Make It Stop aura, spinning the staff in front of him. There was no resistance as he ploughed through the grayness that stole the color from the world all around him. And after four minutes of searching he was upon the avatar of an idea.

Up close he could see that it had pits for it's eyes and mouth. And nothing but wispy lines where it should have had it's muscles.

Iyronwin still felt no resistance as the staff passed through the black stick figure's head. But the finely tuned sensors within him registered some. Which meant that the Avatar of an idea had a very small willpower pool. The freak.

With the source of the aura erased he teleported himself one hundred miles above. A short hop by his standards. He looked at the gray mass from above and saw that it was turning chatoic. Cracks appeared throughout the aura, appearing at random and without order. Heedless of what it had covered. Then it all began to move. The landscape stretched and bent as it was rapidly sucked into the black portal that led to one of Ulgroth's corrupted dimensions. Leaving only an empty space for almost a fifty miles in every direction.

Iyronwin floated high in the sky and disassembled the staff. The three pieces came apart and entered the pocket dimensional rings on his fingers. Using the weapon that threatened it's user took a lot out of him, his willpower pool had been drained by a third just from a few minutes of using the staff.

A corrupted black dreadnaught spaceship flew out of Ulgroth's portal. Violet lines coursed through it's black carapace. Hundreds of yellow eyes lined it's body of the ship made out of biotechnology. Tentacles with flames shooting out of the their tips flicked about on the rear of the ship in order to propel the dreadnaught forward.

It was going to be a long day.

One of the many minds of Akmadouric sat in a large room. Screens that detailed mission overviews flew overhead as he cycled and read through them. In one corner of the room were the personal files but he paid it no attention at this present time.

The purpose of this one was to remember and provide information regarding the logistics of Akmadouric's army to the hive mind cluster of the deity. His cranium was enlargened and elongated until his brain's weight reached half a ton. He could no longer lift or move it, so it rested on a special made cushioned pedastal. Unlike the other bodies that Akmadouric used, this one's hair was long and straight, flowing behind him like a cape. Thus giving him a much greater connection to the network.

He picked up a report detailing a certain diplomatic mission that had gone awry. A very simple diplomatic mission whose aftermath had somehow given a dimension 'Newly Contested' status. After reacquainting himself with the chain of events.

He said aloud "What an unbelievable mess"

For the multi-verse to have reacted like this over the saved life of a single woman. What makes this Bayei person so important? One of the multiverse's greatest laws is: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. A truth, not just for physics but for the threads of fate and changings of a civilization as well. He put those thoughts out of his head for now.

Akmadouric brought up one of the personal files. A mid-tierman name Kerink. He clicked the current view button and the screen in front of him showed what she was doing in real time. Kerink was back in her true body. Tightly restrained by a metallic cloth from the top of her head to her feet. She couldn't move a micrometer while the psychic rehabilitators sifted through her consciousness looking for any trace of corruption. Their hands outstretched towards Kerink's head and eyes were shut down in deep concentration. An unpleasent process, having ones thoughts stretched, bent, picked through and upon occasion, removed when corruption was found.

It was her decision, even if she had taken all but five seconds to make it when she had been given the 'extrenuating circumstances' questionnaire.

Akmadouric flipped to another screen and watched the black portal suck in all of the matter that the Make It Stop aura had covered. Then he frowned, the bodies of the low-tierman would provide clues to Ulgroth on the locations of their home dimensions. A somewhat bad development in the war.

When reports went this badly, it was time for sweets. He telekinetically reached over to grab a slice of cheese cake, floating it into his mouth without looking away from the reports. His other purpose was to take in taste based information so the rest of the hive mind deity bodies could spend their time doing more important things. He didn't actually like being called 'The glutton Akmadouric', but he did inherit the food loving part of the deity's personality. Just as Akma had inherited the childish aspect of the great deity. Besides all of the calories went to his head anyway.

Before bringing up the current view of the Low-tierman Zackery Taylor, he first brought up his psyche profile. In short the analysis said that the man is a nihilistic narcicist who hates the world around him, so he spent his life diving headfirst into video games in order to drown out reality. He has destroyed all of his relationships aside from the ones of his profession. And even then all he did was talk about the game with his teammates. But for him to take such a risk to save the life of a woman he just met, maybe there is some kind of hope left for him. Zack still has the ability to care about something.

Akmadouric pressed the button and a real time video of Zack appeared. He was walking down the beach. The sun was setting on the horizon and behind him some Korean vendor girl holding cheap looking necklaces.

Zack said "Lady, I don't want any."

She said "You buy! You buy!" apparently those were the only words she knew in english, not that it mattered with the Akma network translations. She was likely following the tourist in unripped new clothes because he looked like he had the most money.

Finally Zack snapped and turned on her "Lady, I don't deserve to have my time wasted by a loser like you!" He pointed an accusatory finger at her "You don't advance your mind, you don't advance your body, you do not make the world a better place and you do not contribute to society at all. You have no special talents and no special skills. Everyday you wave around your worthless products and call out your slogans with the same repitition and mindlessness of a draft animal, and you make nothing for it. Now get out of here!"

The Glutton Akmadouric would have shaken his massive head if he had been able to move it. He watched the exchange between Zack and the teenager 'Apparently part of his grieving process includes laying into a pestersome street vendor.'

The little Korean teenage girl tried to argue with him for a moment but she couldn't seem to come up with a counter to anything to any of the points Zack had brought up.

The girl said "Asshole" and then walked away.

Zack's anger dissipated immediately and held up a hand to stop her but she was already gone"Wait...I...fuck."

A white haired Akma appeared out of his vortex in front of Zack "You can't say that to anyone."

Zack tried to do a half smile then frowned "Ya, I went a bit too far, but maybe she'll have an existential crisis or something and try to advance herself in some way."

"You've done nothing but play video games for half your life."

"You told me before that you have a little respect for the deep strategems that gamers like myself think up. Besides, the coach also had us read books, he said it is scientifically proven to be cognitively healthy."

Akmadouric said "Yes. Part of me has a little respect for it. But not this part."

"Hell if I know what that means." then he sort of fell down on the sand of the beach, looking out at the setting sun.

The glutton Akmadouric watched Zack for a minute before speaking again "I am here because I thought you would like to see what the result is for the decision you made."

A screen appeared in front of Zack. Bright flashes cascaded across the sky of the Dirske dimension. Forms appeared with the flashes but only for a moment. Black shapes rose into the sky and violet beams shot from them in random directions.

Zack shook his head "What am I even looking at here?"

"Those are the high-tierman. They do battle against those who threaten existence. The status of the Dirske dimension has been changed to 'Newly Contested', therefore it is the hottest battlefield in the entire war at this very moment."

Zack watched the video screen without making any sense of what he saw "So now what are you going to do with me?"

Akmadouric paused a few moments for effect "I'm not going to strip you of your Eidolans and put them on the market for someone else to make better use of, if that's what you're asking. Just go back to the island for now."

Zack hugged his knees and buried his head in them.

The white haired Akma cocked his head to the side and said "You're not feeling guilty about what happened to the Dirske dimension. You are grieving for Bayei's death."

Zack shrugged "If the Dirske dimension didn't become 'Newly Contested' then the High-tierman would have had their battleground elsewhere. Why should I feel guilty over something that was going to happen anyway? So how much favor is it going to cost me to get Bayei revived?"

"It's not so simple. Afterlives are a tricky thing, there are as many different types as there are different types of people. And that's even if certain unique souls don't get summoned by an interested deity."

"Great." he buried his head in his knees again.

"Hey Zack."

"Ya?"

"Do you want to go Ozone surfing with me?"

Zack started laughing "Sure. Why the hell not?"