------

”What does this do?” Indra asked while lifting a rosarius. The golden metal chain had a scale with two glowing purple gems on both sides. The titan god was asking in genuine curiosity as he couldn’t for some reason identify the item. Lightning crackled along his powerful arms, not an uncommon sight for titans in general, and especially not this one.

"I'm not sure of the exact nature, but it's filled with the power of life," Gaia commented while peering at an identical object closely. The jewelry looked tiny in the hands of the titans despite them taking a more reasonable size.

“Think for a moment you two. We’re going to be attacking the Netherworld, a plane filled with the foul energies that animate their unnatural kind. The object is obviously designed to protect us from those energies.” Shiva, the third titan god present chided his companions.

“We’re True Gods. Do we really need that kind of protection?” Gaia asked, not really quite seeing the need.

"You might not," Shiva admitted, referring to the abundant life energy of the goddess. “But the rest of us might. True Gods like myself or Indra can also protect ourselves rather easily, but that’s going to be a constant drain of power. And this is likely to counter prolonged exposure, correct?” The glowing god looked towards the rest of the table that was following the three gods arguing. Everyone at the table, which was actually multiple smaller tables pushed together to accommodate everyone, was holding a similar object.

“Correct. I’ve spent the last few weeks making them while our little crusade gathered. With some help of course.” Karna nodded towards Envy and Arjuna, who had both helped. Neither of them was quite as skilled at the job as she was, but the need for help had become obvious as the three gods had shown up with over four hundred war-ready titans. Even then the project would’ve been impossible if Lust, or Temperance as they were still trying to get used to calling her, hadn’t told them that Mount Celestis had long since prepared for such crusades and could provide all the gathered angels their own versions of the same artifact. Their version was weaker, but it would do.

“Slave driver…” Envy muttered with her head in her hands as she was sleeping while leaning against the table due to sheer exhaustion. The trio had been forced into working night and day.

They had gathered the most important members of their crusade at the table to plan things out. The rescue of Tsumi and a chance for some glory had ballooned entirely out of proportion. It seemed there were plenty of factions eager to finally stretch their might and take the fight to the Scourges for a change. It had started with the titans, but certain other parties didn’t want to be outdone. House Draconis had shown up with two elder dragon gods that sat in their human forms at the other end of the table. The two had brought their entire dragonflights with them, making their numbers almost as large as the titans.

Team Valor had also shown up in full, and they had brought their own retinues as well. It wouldn’t do for the young masters of some of the most important families to go into danger without adequate protection. That protection ranged from a handful of immortals to almost twenty strong retinues. Lust, noticing the political opportunity, had jumped at the chance to score some points by striking at a common enemy and had shown up with enough forces to match the rest In numbers at least.

There were several reasons that led to the unexpectedly large showing. The titans had shown up because the old True Gods still remembered the Sacred Lady and could put two and two together. They knew this would turn out big and had shown up out of respect. The dragons were just bored and jumped at any chance to have some fun and were certainly not deterred by Karna owing them a rather sizeable favor. There was also a prevalent feeling within the Divine Planes that things had stagnated too much. For too long the Host had handled almost all the external threats, which left the other warlike races and groups to fight internally and wallow in their frustration. There were many parties eagerly watching the success of this little endeavor, and if they were to meet success, their numbers would likely swell up a dozen times over. After all, it had been a very long time since actual gods marched to war.

“I think we’ve waited long enough. We have enough power to make this happen, and the most likely ones to join us already have.” Khaine stated loudly, bringing everyone’s attention to her.

As the Goddess of War, it was only natural for her to have certain amounts of control over the whole thing. In reality, she mostly allowed Karna and her friends to make most of the decisions, but her nominal leadership granted the whole effort a lot of credibility. Together with Valor and Wisdom, they'd also taken care of most of the logistics and organization. “Before we initiate this attack, we need to address two things, chiefly concerning our goals. While many are not aware of it, this is also a rescue mission. How are we going to find our target? Second point is about the worlds we manage to reclaim. I don’t think any of us has ever had to deal with worlds being reclaimed deep from the Netherworld. I don’t think we’ll have too many issues taking over some worlds but holding them while in the heart of one of the Scourges is another thing entirely.”

She was looking towards Karna as she spoke, making others focus on her as well. Not everyone was completely clear on why they were asking her as she looked to be the youngest member of their group, but enough of the important people knew to prevent anyone from asking. “The second problem is much simpler to deal with, so I’ll address it first. We don’t have to do too much with the reclaimed worlds for the simple reason that the Grand Formation will do it for us. Most everyone knows that the Scourges can take over a world by occupying it, and the world then disappears into the dimension in this case known as the Netherworld. Most don’t know the mechanics though. The Netherworld, as with all the homes of the Scourges is a separate dimension that doesn’t exactly have a physical location. Thus, distances don’t really matter. To make a long story short, this process can be reversed. Once we have reclaimed a world, the formation will find a place for it. The world will then be treated just like the worlds created during the Expansion. Thus, we don’t need to, and shouldn’t, waste forces defending those worlds, as any forces left behind would be sent out of the Netherworld.”

Her explanation caused some whispers among the people gathered, which included many other high-ranking members from the three main groups participating, as well as the members of both Team Valor and Team Omega. “Can we in any way control where they will appear?” Gaia was the first one to ask.

“Well, how much influence can you exert over the formation?” Karna asked with a slightly apologetic smile. “It’s theoretically possible to influence it, but not fully control it.”

“So, we’ll be at the mercy of luck then. If we are unfortunate, the reclaimed world might end up immediately lost again due to ending up on the wrong side of the current lines of battle.” Shiva summarized, mostly just stating a fact instead of judging.

"Well, as to that, and to address the first concern that was posed, luck is much easier to control than the formation." Karna looked over the gathered people. "Most of you aren't aware but I have another True Name aside from the one spread more commonly. That Name is Karma. It allows me to control my namesake to a certain extent, at least when it comes to myself."

That definitely caused a stir. Karma was a very nebulous power that most didn’t understand well, and the idea of someone being able to even affect it, not to mention control it was dreadful to almost everyone. “I’ll be the one to open our path to the Netherworld, while at the same time maximizing the effect of my own positive karma. Here’s the problem. Most people think good karma makes you lucky. In a way it does, but that luck is not necessarily the type you want. It will guide me to what I need, or where I’m needed, not necessarily where I want to go. Those two can be very different things. I can also maximize my positive karma when we reclaim a world, which should at least guarantee that the world won’t wind up in some unfortunate location, even if the location isn’t necessarily advantageous.”

“We’re all dying to know, so I’ll be the one to ask. How much control do you really have over karma?” Indra looked at her intrigued. He had all sorts of possibilities in mind.

“It’s far from absolute, and I’m not going to go into details. It’s one of my secret weapons after all. However, it can be a very useful benefit in the coming battle.” Karna dodged all the other questions that followed. She had been expecting them, but she wasn’t willing to reveal her secrets.

------

As Karna opened the path for them utilizing her draconic powers similar to the time she’d Ascended to the Divine Planes with her allies, their crusade fell on the closest tomb world of the Netherworld like a judgement of god. In actuality, they carried the judgement of several gods, and gods had not marched for war in a long time. The results were predictable. The defenders of the particular world they’d ended up arriving at were woefully unprepared, as they had not expected an attack in the heart of their controlled space. Few had the kind of ability to just punch their way through reality as she did after all. Otherwise, the Scourges wouldn't be attacking at the borders and would be striking at the heart of the Divine Planes instead.

While the others might have been somewhat surprised when they stumbled on the gathering of three Phaerons that had gathered on the world for some negotiations, Karna was not. This was the effect of high karma, positive or negative. Anything you did was going to cause waves. With a single strike, where three Phaerons had lost their lives in seconds, three major dynasties were decapitated, leaving this portion of the Netherworld in complete disarray. These weren’t the most powerful or influential Phaerons as they were simply in charge of these long-established tomb worlds, but they were important in many ways. The immortals that had been protecting the Phaerons were swept aside, as the combined might of some of the most powerful beings on the Divine Planes was dropped on them.

The tomb world was quickly reclaimed, and they watched in fascination as it disappeared when Karna broke a particular magical formation that had kept the world within the distorted dimension of the Netherworld. Their crusade quickly rampaged through several other worlds as the Netherworld was caught completely unprepared. They all recognized that the Scourge had sent their forces towards the frontlines and recalling them to defend their heartlands would take time. Time which they used to their full advantage. They had reclaimed a dozen worlds until they started facing enough resistance that it couldn’t simply be brushed aside, and even then they were barely even slowed down.

The most significant advantage they had was that they had several magical supporting effects that multiplied their strength in different ways. Karna stayed almost the entire time in her Sacred Beast form and all truly dangerous attacks made at them simply disappeared. She didn’t bother making all attacks disappear because she didn’t want to give either their enemies or her allies the opportunity to probe the weird defense and figure out counters. Besides, everyone in their crusade was powerful enough to defend themselves from most attacks. Valor also shined in using the effects of his Name to turn their already powerful force into an unstoppable force of holy vengeance. That allowed the gods among them to focus on attack and their divine powers did horrendous things to their enemies. Karna also used her slowly growing divinity to make sure their enemies would not get back up, negating the main advantage of their enemy. Without lifting a finger personally to take part in the fighting, she was turning the battlefield around with just her presence.

The end result was that the power of their force was multiplied a dozen times over, while their enemies were cut down at the knees even without accounting for their lack of forces in the area. Many tomb worlds were simply places to generate the dread energies that animated the forces of the Netherworld. In a way, their crusade was metaphorically rampaging through the farms of their enemy without the guards being present to resist them. Even when forces were present to defend the worlds, they were easily brushed aside by the sheer difference in the quality of their forces, and the stacking buffs that their side had. No sign of Tsumi though, and that was slowly becoming a concern.

------

“Well, I have to admit. They’ve finally managed to gather a force that we have to take seriously.” Khaine stated as they stepped through another spatial tear to face an organized army arrayed against them. “I was starting to doubt if they had it in them with the last ten worlds being almost undefended.”

The enemy outnumbered them at least a hundred times over, and these forces were not just the usual cannon fodder the Netherworld had an almost inexhaustible supply of. “Well, they had to get smart eventually.” Wisdom replied. “They likely pulled out any defenses from the previous worlds to gather them all here. No point in throwing away more forces in battles they’d lose anyway.”

“Formation gamma!” Valor called out loudly, stepping to the front of their army. His armor was shining bright with the power of his growing divinity. Courage and Leadership suited him well, and he was exhibiting plenty of both during this crusade.

The titans arranged themselves in a roughly V-shaped formation with the trio of gods at the tip, before launching their famous lightning at the gathered enemies. The power of their attack was amplified by the presence of their gods as well as Valor’s effects, and the storm of lightning crashed on the undead. Much of the destructive potential met a powerful protective field that seemed to sap the strength from the attack, but the sheer power of the combined titans pushed through. The titans were their heavy artillery. Their attacks were simple but deadly. They were also a huge target for the enemy to aim at, while their metallic skin could easily deflect most attacks. And their large frames and lightning-wreathed blades could crush enemies underfoot just as easily as they could attack from range.

If the Titans were the artillery, then the angels of Mount Celestis were their infantry and shock troops, as the light and flame-covered blades of the holy beings cleaved through the enemy as their formation, led by both Lust and Valor, crashed into the heart of the enemy formations. House Draconis on the other hand was their air force, either engaging the flying forces of the enemy or bathing the enemy ranks in the deadly energies of their breath weapons. Team Valor and their retinues engaged the elites of the enemy forces, working as a scalpel to remove enemy leadership and destroy the synergy of the Netherworlds forces.

Their strategy was reckless and plunged them into the heart of the enemy, but it also prevented the enemy from using large-scale magic due to their own forces being in the way. They also trusted the effect Karna had on their defenses, which allowed them to be more reckless than they’d be under normal circumstances. She had positioned herself in the middle of the formation of titans for better protection, while Envy and Hope stayed by her side as bodyguards.

“They’re getting smarter.” Envy stated as two wraithlike assassins suddenly appeared behind Karna’s large frame, only to be shot down by Envy’s arrows. “They’re already figured out that you’re the source of the protection and are starting to target you.”

“Time for stage 2?” Hope asked eagerly.

Karna had spent a large part of her first lives on planning revenge, and Netherworld had been one of the targets of said revenge. Thus, she had naturally come up with many ways to achieve that goal. "Not just yet. We have to deal with something else first."

They could all sense a large amount of divine power gathering above them. This wasn't the doing of the True Gods in their crusade though. This was the dark deities behind the Netherworld finally taking action. The Netherworld and the other scourges naturally had their own deities, albeit much fewer in number and lower power due to the nature of how this universe worked. That didn't mean they didn't exist though. The members of this crusade had known this from the start and knew they'd eventually have to deal with that enemy as well. They also had a plan in place.

As the blow of negative energy struck down from the sky, Hope lifted the hammer Karna had lent her. It was a bit awkward to swing around a hammer with huge paws like she currently had. They both channeled their own power through the weapon, specifically to utilize the same effect Karna had used against Kurnous to devour divine power. The attack from the dark gods was consumed, and the gods were not certain if the feat could be repeated. In that case, they were just throwing their power away for no effect. To make the decision for them, Hope swung the hammer towards the enemy army, consuming the power the hammer had just devoured, flattening a good twenty percent of them in a single strike, and cracking the crust of the planet for effect.

“Oops. I didn’t think it would be that powerful.” Hope said apologetically, as now they had a natural disaster to complicate things further.

“Oh, that’s just perfect. I doubt the enemy gods will want to try that again.” Envy cackled happily.