After Shaeula and I cleared out the remainder of the foes, their coordination shattered, reduced to rushing at us blindly, I paused for breath, muscles burning. I had gained a level mopping up, as well as a decent amount of ether, which was split between refuelling me and sending it back to my Territory.

Still, perhaps the best gain was improving my combat senses… Fighting a number of foes with just my spear and physical abilities, I had grasped a few insights that I had been wrestling with, and my movements were smoother and more responsive. Of course, only a few of the remaining gnolls showed anything like true intelligence, the rest were mostly reactive…

Turning to Shaeula, who had stowed her pinwheels, the makeshift sack of bloody dirt that was tied around her shoulders making her look rather odd, I checked to see she was unharmed.

“Of course master. Such barking dogs are no threat to me-me.” She scoffed, and yes, it was true. Her pinwheels were devastating in open combat, the wires effortlessly cutting foes apart. Still, we had noticed some weaknesses that could be exploited against it. It was strong yes, but by no means perfect, though they were worries for another time…

“Shall we press on then?” I asked her, and she nodded. Moving further into the Territory a dark oppression spread over us, similar to what was occupying the Casino El Diablo. The winds around us shivered, fighting against the ill-fortune, which grew stronger with every step we took.

“I do not-not care much for this place.” Shaeula sniffed sourly. “I will not be sorry to see it gone.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty unpleasant. Still, it makes me curious. Is this some sort of feature of his Territory, or his own ability?” I looked around, and I couldn’t see any buildings of the sort my Territory possessed. They could be hidden within the Boundary-versions of the Material architecture that was mirrored here, but… I don’t think so. Something is definitely off here…

Several hyenas flanked us from one side, rushing at us mindlessly, but I didn’t even have time to react before Shaeula had dispatched them, winds gusting into sharp blades. Still, it was a lead…

“We should trace back their route.” I said, and she agreed, her eyes burning amber. As we followed a side street, another hyena raced at us. After spearing it, we turned in the direction it had come from, further into the malaise of ill-fortune that hung everywhere. After a few more minutes, we found our destination…

“What is that?” I asked, puzzled. There were several … well, vortexes, for want of a better word, of silvery energies hovering around head-height in the air. As I watched, perplexed, ether was sucked into one of them, and out popped another hyena, seemingly generated from nothing. It saw us and reacted, but Shaeula swatted it like a fly.

So they are similar, but different… I tried to use my Territory appraisal skill, but since it wasn’t my Territory, of course nothing happened. Damn, useless again… Shaeula offered more help though, her mystic eyes once more proving perhaps her most useful asset.

“I see-see.” She said after a moment of study. “These rifts in the Boundary, they are very similar to your own buildings. This one…” she pointed at the swirling silver that had materialised the hyena. “… produces those soulless creatures. And that…” the second vortex. “… is almost identical, but-but there are subtle differences in how it should function.”

“I see, so like a Spawning Spire and a Barracks, you think?” I asked, picking up on her meaning. “We should test it, we have time.”

We waited, and after dispatching several more hyenas from the first vortex, out of the second a gnoll appeared, and this one reacted with intelligence, panicking as it saw us in the heart of its Territory. A second later and it was dissolving into a mist of ether, our speculation confirmed.

“So even if the form is different, the effects are the same, I see.” I nodded to myself. “It poses some interesting questions, but for now… might as well wreck them. That bastard that tried to kill me should suffer the consequences.”

We tried striking at the vortexes, damaging them as we would my buildings, but there was little effect. Switching to wind and flame we discovered that worked much better, and in short order they collapsed inwards, gushing out significant ether, although I was only able to liberate around half for my use. Still, it was a welcome few thousand.

Heading deeper in we found more of the vortexes, the majority of them spewing out creatures, though we did find a couple that drew in ether from the higher reaches of the Astral, similar to my Ether Spires. When we found these we destroyed them, siphoning off the ether, and my mood was improving rapidly, despite the cloying aura of unluckiness that was growing ever stronger, now powerful enough to offset my Fortune entirely. ‘Lucky’ for us that without any real opposition, it doesn’t matter how much misfortune we have, we won’t be stopped…

After destroying more of his Territory, Shaeula stopped me, pointing to the sky. “Look-look. That seems most fascinating. I believe we should investigate further.”

Seeing what she was pointing at I paused. Now that I could see it, it was definitely weird. Ether was being pulled down, like an Ether Spire would, but also… aether was flowing in, up from… the Material?

I’m starting to see how the pieces are put together…

Reaching the vortexes we took a closer look. I’ve never wished I had a decent appraisal skill more than now. How can I go about improving mine? Uh, still, even without it I can see the strangeness here. The vortexes were a pair, one was pulling in aether from the Material, as I had noticed, but it was then converting a good chunk of it back to ether, which was then absorbed by the Territory. The second was pulling ether from the Astral, only to send it straight down to the Material.

But… I didn’t notice any difference in the ether on the Material. Oh wow, no way… is that how…?

Beside me Shaeula nodded, having finished her own investigation. “I suspect so, master. Somehow it is connecting the Boundary and the Material on some level, likely feeding the foul aura of evil misfortune. I was not-not aware such was possible.”

“Well, I wasn’t aware about this specifically, but… my system does say there are benefits for having ownership of one’s Territory on the Material too. If we can transfer limited applications of our powers… this changes things. Or it would, if I had any powers to transfer. Just how is he projecting this aura of misfortune?”

I searched my Territory appraisal skill, to find that two buildings that had previously just been question marks were now accessible, not that I could build them, for two reasons. Still, they made fascinating reading.

Material To Boundary Connection Rank 1 – This Connection allows an area of your Territory that is connected to a Material area that you have full ownership of to be supplied with energy, pulling ether and aether from the land and its inhabitants on the Material. You can set the rate up to a maximum dictated by the Connection Rank, and can designate certain inhabitants as exceptions to this effect. This aether can then be converted to ether to supply your Territory. At Rank 1 this affects a maximum area of 20 metres in radius.

Boundary To Material Connection Rank 1 – This Connection allows an area of your Territory that you have full ownership of in the Material that is connected to a Boundary area that you also control to be supplied with energy, pulling ether and aether from the Astral and dispersing it. The amount of energy supplied depends on the Connection Rank, and you can allow this energy to remain free in the Material, gradually saturating it, or use it to power certain feats, though they will be weakened on the Material. At Rank 1 this affects a maximum area of 20 metres in radius.

“Yeah, I think I see how it all works. I’m definitely going to need to start buying up parts of my Territory…” luckily I had made plenty of money, still, it was just a drop in the ocean for what I needed. I even momentarily sympathised with the casino owner and his money-grabbing ways, but only for a moment… “All right, take them down.” I said, and we quickly destroyed these two fascinating whirlpools, getting significant returns, over ten thousand ether. At this rate my Silo is going to be leaking. I hope Grulgor and the kami can keep things contained… I’ll be home soon…

Heading deeper in, the Casino loomed in front of us. In the Astral it was a building of dirty grey stone, ash drifting from it as though there was a gentle breeze blowing across it. The statue of the devil that stood outside in the Material was not present, but a variety of rusted chains were dangling in its place, rusted tridents that were too large for anyone to wield tangled up amidst them.

“Tch, how tasteless.” Shaeula was unimpressed. “Still, I believe we have reached the heart of this place-place.”

“Yeah, the feeling of bad luck here is almost physical. Still, we can’t scour this whole area in an attempt to find his buildings. If we collapse the Anchor holding his Territory in place, we should take it all down in one shot, right?”

“I believe so.” She agreed, and we pushed past the curtain of chains, entering. Inside, grey ash swirled everywhere, but Shaeula’s eyes could guide us, and we soon reached a wide-open central chamber, where the VIP room would have been. It was far larger on the inside than the outside, similar to my apartment where I had set my Anchor. Perhaps a type of dungeon forms where an Anchor is set? Damn, I wish I had another Astral Emperor-candidate to ask. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have let Aliyah and her outfit take him… but then, I wasn’t in a position to do much else…” Following my train of thought, Shaeula offered a suggestion.

“You have her number, do you not Akio? You could ask her to find out for you, could you not-not? She was somewhat annoying, but very fun to tease.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. I do really want to know a lot of things, but it’d be dangerous to share with her, in more ways than one.” Without knowing what organisation she works for, or what contacts they have, it would be foolish to tip my hand. Besides, while we left each other on, if not good, then at least cordial terms… she was still drunk. When she sobers up… ugh, I hope she’s not too pissed off… “If it comes down to a serious situation, I can try reaching out to her, but for now the risks definitely outweigh the benefits. Putting that aside…”

Looking at what must have been the Anchor, a much larger ripple within the fabric of the Boundary, surrounded by a half-dozen smaller ones, I shivered. Dark mist was leaking from it, before dispersing into the surrounds. Shaeula eyed it, and confirmed my guess.

“That is the source-source of the ill-fortune. The very Territory itself is cursed with it. Were we to face opposition here in earnest, our actions would be destined to fail-fail.” She looked at me then, a grin on her face. “I am disappointed in you, why do we not have such defences?”

“Don’t ask me.” I shrugged, wondering the same myself. “Exposition-san wasn’t generous, maybe? Yeah, whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be the Anchor itself causing it…” Shivering from discomfort, I decided there was no point investigating further. “Well then, shall we?”

Together we started attacking the rift that was the Anchor for this Territory. It was much more resistant to damage than the others, but soon it was starting to shiver, rippling like mercury. “Keep attacking, we can do this!”

With a final surge of wind energies assailing it, the Anchor collapsed with a whine that seemed to pierce through my very soul. As it shattered the baleful aura emanating from it vanished, and the other rifts exploded into ether, a vast amount flooding me. This time I was able to recover most of it, the pull of the Territory dissolving like ice under sunlight. As I was flooded with tens of thousands of ether, funnelling it to my Territory, I also felt strength coursing through me.

You have gained in strength. Your level has increased from twenty-nine to thirty-two.

Three levels at once! And I had recently levelled up too! It seemed taking out Territories was very profitable. As I turned back to Shaeula I suddenly went blind, silver obscuring my vision, my right arm burning fiercely around my wrist where Exposition-san had gifted me the bracelet. I staggered and fell, landing in her arms as she caught me.

The silver melted away, forming a cascade of question-marks, and as Shaeula was asking me what was wrong some of them started to resolve themselves into legible writing, forming a single sentence.

You have gained a class. You are now a Conqueror.

In addition, my head was splitting, my arm blazing with phantom pain. For a moment I seemed to be connected to someone, no… two someone’s. I caught a brief glimpse of flaming red hair and golden eyes, in a face so beautiful as to be clearly artificial. It was then gone, and there was another, a flash of blue eyes, cold as winter. Then it too vanished, leaving me drained and aching, my chakra network throbbing. My lunar chakra was also working overtime, knives of pain that I hadn’t felt in quite some time returning.

Blinking away imaginary tears I patted Shaeula to assure her I was okay. “I just got a lot of strength at once, I think that overwhelmed me.” I said, shaking my head to clear the last of the silvery fog. “I got a class too, but… there was something else, a connection to something, or someone. It’s gone now, still…”

“When you fell I could see something, though it was a working of great subtlety and craft, beyond my eyes to unravel.” Shaeula said, helping me to my feet. “I am concerned though. It seemed connected to your chakra network, tangled deep-deep. I fear it might bode ill for you.”

“Well, we can look into it later.” I said in reply. “My head is a bit of a jumbled mess still. But we’ve achieved what we came for and then some. His Territory is ruined, he’ll have to rebuilt it from scratch.” If he even can, assuming that Aliyah and her group lets him free… “I just have to check my class details…”

The first thing I noticed was it was a fifty level class! I was at level two, so it would be a slog. But the description was… less than useful.

As one who has conquered the Territory of another, less worthy soul, you will slowly strengthen your ???????????? ??????????? ?????????????. Your ?????? increases, as does ??????????????. As you conquer more and more of the unworthy and solidify yourself as a true ??????????? you will find it easier to reclaim more ether from destroyed Territories, as well as have greater chances to extract ????????? ????????? and make it your own. Go forth and Conquer, your path to Astral Emperor is one of battle, and only the strong can stand against what is to come. ????????? ????????? ????????.

So many question marks! But that isn’t important… “Here’s a question for you, Shaeula.” I asked, and she perked up, ready to share her wisdom. “If we are trying to protect the world from outside threats, shouldn’t we be working together? What benefit would it be to pit us against each other? I don’t get the endgame Exposition-san is trying to set up here…”

Shaeula pondered, chewing on one finger adorably as she thought. After a while she shrugged. “Without knowing this Exposition-san, all I can surmise is… a small number of the powerful can defeat any number of the weak-weak. You could pit a thousand of us against the Queen of the Seelie, and she would turn us to ash with her noble lightning with nary a pause-pause. Still, I have to wonder…”

“Yes?” I asked, agreeing with her previous thoughts. It does make sense in that regard. After all, in stories, fodder enemies are quickly exterminated by heroes and villains alike, so I get it, but still, working together with Shaeula has made us both far stronger than merely killing each other ever could, so that can’t be all there is to it…

“There may be more to this we have not been made aware of-of. After all, you spent but a short time with this Exposition-san, and seeing the strange connection to your chakra network, which had hidden from even my eyes until now-now… I believe we should re-evaluate everything we know.”

Yeah, I have my own doubts certainly. But it’s hard to think right now…”We’ll put sorting everything we know on our to-do list. But for now… I’ve had enough. We did what we wanted, so let’s return…”

With that Shaeula and I returned from the Boundary, finding that Eri and Aiko were asleep, having tired themselves out talking. Checking the time I could see it was almost morning, so with that I headed to bed, hoping to grab a quick few hours of sleep to ease my discomfort…