Netherwitch - 88 (Patreon)

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Chapter 88
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There were times when Sylvia was thankful that she was short.

Today was one such event. The petite girl moved through a series of tunnels, hive ants crowding all around her. The insect phantasms traveled on the walls, the floors, and the ceilings. She ducked. In order to fit through the space, she’d gone so far as to tuck her twin tails behind her, cording her tresses together in a rope.

The path led into the eastern mountains after crossing under the valley between the northern and southern ridge. To save time, Sylvia had teleported to the closest joint. Engineers from the Azure Expedition had placed a ring there, providing a way station for the troops.

Her destination lacked that amenity.

Finally, she entered a large chamber. The space was dark, illuminated only by the faint ether shed by the earthen walls and the brighter energies emitted by the beasts. Construction had finished two days ago, leaving no time to install more than a standardized set of wards blocking divination.

With the ceiling well above her, she straightened. Sylvia strode toward the center of the room. Hive ant warriors stepped aside, their dark chitinous forms crawling atop one another. Her twin tails gave a little shake. The corded lengths separated into a pair of cute curls.

Adjusting her beret, she let loose a few runes and a pulse of mana. Sylvia felt as much as heard her secure link slide into place.

“I’m in position,” she said. “What’s it look like back at base?”

“Captain Carter just finished loading the plague barrels onto the McCloudface,” Lieutenant Colonel Takahashi answered, his voice glitching thanks to the fog. “Once he’s in the air, the fleet will apply their potions.”

Sylvia gave a nod of satisfaction. She gazed up, her pastel pink eyes burrowing through the dirt and stone to witness what lay beyond. The sensation was an illusion. Her pure starlight eyes weren’t so powerful. Rather, the System HUD fed her information relayed through the Command & Control Network.

“What about you and Major Rogers?” she questioned.

“We’re in position, Sir,” Tobi responded stiffly.

“Let me know the moment the fleet is prepared,” Sylvia ordered. “And Ivar? How do things look with the Erlking’s Expedition?”

“He has his dreadnoughts above the fog, flanked by his cruisers and a brigade of soldiers and phantasms,” Tobi answered. “Jarl Watanabe promises that we’ll receive the support we ‘deserve.’”

Sylvia let out a snort. She had no doubt that the man had stressed the word when he’d said it. It didn’t matter. So long as the troll was willing to present a threat and keep the western flank pinned in place.

“Keep things in order for me, Tobi,” she said. “I’m going to check in with Lenape and Major Vallenfelt.”

Without waiting for a response, she shifted channels.

“How is my favorite turtle?”

“Quite nervous. Oh, I am very nervous indeed,” Lenape answered honestly. “Not for my sake. Nithe always claimed I was unreasonably durable. Though, it will be frightful to be the focus of such fury. No. No. I just worry that I’ll fumble. To have so many lives depending on my small shell, I’m not used to it.”

“Don’t worry, my dear. I shall fly ahead along with the others, clearing the path for you,” Emmy’s voice chimed in.

“Emmy’s right,” Sylvia said with a slight smile. “We’ve run dozens of simulations. We have contingencies in case things go wrong. All you have to do is protect the fleet while they protect you.”

Esmeralda had not been happy watching her princess fight on her own. To resolve that conundrum, she’d consumed three skill books to master the transformation realm art flux shift. Emmy had even gone so far as to cultivate the necessary organ. Alas, without an abyss palace and an appropriate broom, the impact was smaller.

Sylvia worried what would happen if her wife strayed beyond the world turtle’s protection.

“Stick close to Lenape, okay,” she reminded softly.

“I shall,” Esmeralda accepted. “And take care of yourself too, my love. I will not be there to watch your back should you draw excessive ire.”

The line clicked closed. Sylvia let out a breath, a stream of digital commands playing through her soul. Officers were organizing the army. She had multiple windows open, her Five Eyes scattered in the sky. One pointed at the Erlking’s base. Four faced the southern mountain ridge, viewing the land from multiple angles.

Data flowed through her, the senses of the scouts synthesized with real-time information. The result was bounced off the System. Pandora feasted on the numbers before eagerly sharing the results. Sylvia’s dungeon administrator trait took it all in, transforming the stream into a model of the world.

And with it, she could see everything. While her eyes could not pierce the fog, they didn’t need to. Every tree and boulder was marked. Buildings and bases were revealed to her, their bodies shrouded in gray as though beyond sight in a real-time strategy game. Where the scouts could see, the same details were cast into color, revealing individual soldiers and phantasms.

The officers of the Azure Expedition highlighted targets. Information was a powerful tool in war. Its potency was no less than that of a ship, a sword, or a spell. The ability to see what others could not see was already strong. To know the priority of targets without having to waste mental energy sorting through the cruft was an even greater advantage.

Sylvia let her gamers do their work. Instead, she swapped cameras until she had a direct view of the closest bone pit. Her target was seven hundred meters from her position, with half that gap being solid stone. The undead spawning nest was a lake of blood, bones, and corpses piled in red water. An obsidian obelisk rose from the lake’s center, deathly energies swirling around the foot of a pylon. Atop the obelisk lurked its guardian. The rotting eagle was a hræsvelgr, a Class V mid-ranked behemoth. The creature was slightly shorter than Windscourge.

A shambler crawled out of the pool, crimson blood rolling off its charred back. Dark flames came alight as the zombie set foot on land. Not far away, a kelpie dumped a wheelbarrow of plants and dead phantasms into the pit. To hurry the creation of undead, Wildfire Garden had set ether channels into the surroundings before stripping the mountainsides bare. The desolate remainder was a land of death. Only scrub, brush, and bare rock could be seen.

Sylvia panned her view.

Two Helheim legions stood guard. The majority of the undead was out in the open with smaller portions of the force in caves and dugouts. A company of fey soldiers acted in support, numbering one hundred. A third of their force was second consolidation. The rest were at the high end of the first. The soldiers weren’t priority targets. That designation was reserved for the death knights and the hel centurions. Without their psychic presence, the legions would fall into chaos. Easy pickings for an organized force of hive ant warriors.

After reviewing the situation, Sylvia opened a connection to the local scouts. “I’m only seeing one tagged death knight and fourteen centurions. Where are the rest?”

“In the caves, Sir,” a sergeant relayed over the comms. “We haven’t been able to locate them precisely.”

Sylvia considered for a moment. “Send in your figments after I launch my attack. Fifteen isn’t enough. We have to kill eighty percent to cripple their command structure and ninety percent to collapse it. I want the ants to roll over their group without contest.”

“We understand, Sir,” the sergeant replied.

“Move on my mark,” she ordered. “If I miss anyone, your group should step in and decapitate the rest.”

Sylvia checked the map. The scouts were two klicks from the bone pit. With the anti-divination fog obscuring their sight, they’d used the spell innocuous familiar to extend their vision. A couple of wood element minions were placed halfway between them, acting as relays.

Innocuous familiar was a variant of spies of a feather, created by the Astral Observatory. Its runic chain had two versions. The first produced a classic bird figment. The second generated a small beetle. Both had their advantages. The birds could travel quickly, covering vast territories and distances. The beetles were slower and smaller, but they could change color to match their surroundings.

The spell was hideously complex. Spies of a feather had a little under 4,000 runes. Innocuous familiar ran 8,000 and 9,000 runes in length. The extreme length was due to the replication of the System communication layer. In the embassy, Sylvia had hacked her way around the problem by sacrificing bits of experience.

Long spells demanded clear intent. Minor deviations from the base sequence would erode effectiveness or lead to collapse. Never mind an ordinary gamer, Sylvia herself found the spell daunting. She failed in one out of twenty attempts, with a fifth of the figments having flaws that undermined their real-world use. Less-skilled mages had to cast the spell three or four times per minion created.

And most gamers had the feature Networked Grimoire. With it, the System would mark off runes as the spell was cast, reducing the rate of error.

Her System pinged. Sylvia opened the link.

“Operation Koopa Troopa is ready at your command, Sir,” Tobi said.

“Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Takahashi,” Sylvia accepted. She paused, organizing her thoughts. “I don’t have a speech planned, so I’ll keep things simple. The Azure Fleet will begin by advancing on the southern mountain ridge. Once they reach saethbysg range, I’ll stir the hornet’s nest. Lieutenant Colonel Takahashi and Major Rogers, you’ll hold position until the last minute. When it’s time to go, hit those cannons hard. If they stand, we’ll lose the whole fleet.

“Yes, Sir!”

Tobi’s voice echoed over secure link. In the distant reaches of the battlefield, she watched as a colossal turtle rose above the mountain peaks, a wooden platform and six ballistas on his back. Five Cirrus Skycruisers gathered beneath Lenape. The ships were slightly longer than the turtle, though their figures had a slimmer silhouette.

With the fleet rose a murderous flock, eighty dark-winged rocs with wings of black and gold. Thrice their number had white feathers. Saddles were strapped to the backs of the falcons, three hundred riders carrying bows or staves. Mana potions hung from every belt to ensure their endurance. All the gamers had back-up mechanisms of flight.

The ships were overloaded. Gamers crowded the holds, others packed onto the short decks. They were stuffed beside barrels and other weapons of war. Sylvia, Belkis, Esmeralda, and a host of mages had spent the last week preparing potions of all sorts. Some held edicts that were swabbed into the inner decks. Others created illusionary distortions, obscuring the ships while stifling all forms of detection. There were even law spells deployed to enhance the cruisers’ speed, durability, and lift.

Thousands of gold in munitions would be spent in a single battle.

Flying at the fleet’s head was Esmeralda Vallenfelt. The witch’s gorgeous green hair fluttered behind her in a river of emeralds. Emmy’s latest armor had the same military style as Sylvia’s. The primary color was white, with the frills and ruffles green instead of pink. Her wife lacked a cape. Emmy had insisted on it, believing that since she was of lower rank, Sylvia’s armor should come across as more commanding.

Lenape spread his ki. The sky warped, twisting around him.

The natural magic of a world turtle was realm. By combining it with the transformation realm art flux shift, Lenape had forged a mystic art. Everything around him was drawn into the bubble. Space suddenly crunched, the nearby ships shrinking from sixty meters in length to six, making them appear like skiffs or dinghies.

Then the turtle fell forward. Space crunched in front of him, the fleet picking up speed. To cover the great expenditure, gamers cracked open barrels of space dust. Ether flooded the territory only to be drawn into Lenape’s magic. Faster and faster they went until their combined velocity reached 900 km/h.

It took minutes before they reached the valley. The northern mountains fell away, transforming into low hills then green expanse. The beautiful threshold was the start of no man’s land, the territory where saethbysgs could rain down with impunity.

Which meant it was Sylvia’s turn to act.

“■■■■ ■■ ■■■■, ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■, ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■, … ”

With steady syllables, she spun circle after circle, forming a grand array. Abyss poured from her palace until the room seethed with crushing darkness. She felt the weight of it in her chest, a deep and growing pressure that made the earthen walls shudder and groan. Hive ants chittered. The phantasmal beasts wobbled, straining against the growing gravity.

She drew upon the forces of the world. A whirl of ether ripped through the room, bright bands of energy challenging the darkness. Her petite body devoured everything: air, fire, water, and earth. The ethers were catalyzed into the element abyss. Once. Twice. Thrice. She filled and emptied her palaces like a mortal breathing air in and out of their lungs.

Such dreadful force flooded the space, Sylvia feared the ants might die if made to endure much longer.

Then she spoke: “■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■!”

With eleven circles of five hundred runes forming the foundation, she created a single structure with one thousand two hundred sigils. Abyss stirred. The walls of the chamber groaned. Then, all at once, the earth opened its great maw. A broad tunnel tore through the stone walls as though the cavern were the throat of a titan. The path branched as it went, nine mouths reaching for the surface.

“Crawl, my pretties,” Sylvia cackled, pointing the way with her staff. “Crawl!”

Hundreds of ants rushed forward at her command. When the insects entered the tunnel, their speed doubled, the ground and gravity aiding them along their path. The grand array of circles faded, having raised her ether ratio to the absurd value of thirty to one.

When shaping terrain, earth was the preferred element. Changes made with such spells were longer lasting. Abyss, however, was superior when it came to rapid, short-lived transformations. Even so, it took a lot of power to create a tunnel so long.

With her minions in motion, Sylvia’s eyes turned to her screens. The scouts were moving, rushing figments into the camps. Alarmed fey and phantasms were running about. They didn’t yet know the nature of the threat, but that didn’t prevent them from preparing.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

“■■■-■--■.”

Her target was the hræsvelgr. The rotting eagle had leapt from its perch, its giant wings beating as it sought the source of the disturbance. A black hand appeared above the giant bird, the palm four times longer than the creature was tall. The behemoth twisted in the air. Her hand clenched into a fist. Fetid blood sprayed out between the fingers, only to be drawn back in when the construct collapsed into a black hole.

Her eyes shifted. Guided by the insect spies, Sylvia picked out the highlighted members of the bone pit’s command staff. Runes fell from her lips. Her left hand flickered, seals casting rune gate in rhythm.

“■--■-■, ■--■-■, ■--■-■.”

Lightning crackled only to vanish. The jagged bolts appeared out of nowhere on the mountain above. Her chain lightnings tore through the enemy ranks, slaughtering sixty foes in a second. Fey soldiers and hel centurions fell like harvested wheat. Her vision panned, finding the missing fragments of the command staff. Though the small caverns had few targets, Sylvia didn’t hesitate to eliminate them as well.

“■--■-■, ■--■-■.”

The undead army fell into chaos. One hel centurion remained, surviving only because the scout team hadn’t found him yet.

“Handle the rest on your own,” Sylvia said over secure link. “I’m moving to site two.”

“Thank you, Sir,” the sergeant on the other end barked.

She didn’t hurry on her way. Instead, she gave her palaces a few seconds to recover before drawing a lazy circle in the air. Blue-green light sparked, carving a path through existence. Voomp. She stepped through the gate to emerge inside a guiding circle in a larger chamber. Insects clung to the walls and ceilings in a chitinous carpet.

Pulling up a series of windows, Sylvia checked the situation. Then she started casting. Abyss poured from her palace. Circles illuminated the dark room. A tunnel tore open. Finally, chain lightning reaped the army’s command staff, leaving the enemy weakened and confused.

Sylvia unhooked her Ashen Flask. Popping the cork, she took a long pull, draining half the contents. While the potion dissolved in her stomach, she opened a link to the rest of the expedition.

“The hive ants are in motion. I’m ready to assist other parties as needed,” she informed.

With her prying eyes and a little help from the Command & Control Network, she observed the battle.

Not long after Lenape and the Fleet started crossing over the valley, saethbysgs flew from six points along the southern ridge. Three came from the foggy mountains, while the rest rose from the western hills. Fish missiles gathered in a giant swirl. Only when the swarm of saethbysgs reached into the hundreds did the first wave split off. The fish flew in formation, their numbers scattered just enough that they couldn’t be swept away with a handful of spells.

It took half a minute for them to reach the Azure Fleet.

The ships opened fire, ballista bolts flying from them even as mages and warriors moved to intercept. Crackling javelins speared the fish, while Emmy unleashed waves of lightning. Two thirds of the mass was scoured in a blink. The rest of the saethbysgs unraveled. Flesh was consumed by internal magic, washing the blue sky with blazing streaks of red.

A rain of molten metal fell upon the shroud of illusion.

Only to meet layered edicts. Needles of lava dimmed, the power of metal magic cut by half. Lenape spread his aura. The Azure Fleet was shrouded by his spectral shell. Molten spears pierced the manifested art, liquid scattering with a sizzle. Much of the spray missed the ships.

Sylvia’s expression remained tight. The spectral shell shuddered under the blow, magic tearing away pieces of Lenape’s ki. The Astral Observatory had simulated the battle several times, but no one was certain how much the titanic turtle could endure.

A second wave of missiles arrived on the tail of the first. As the fish descended, the sky rippled. The hundred or so saethbysgs split, each missile flanked by a half-a-dozen decoys. Wildfire Garden had packed a surprise, aiming to use talismans to slip their active defense.

Sylvia let out an unladylike snort. Distant illusions were effective against ordinary soldiers. The gamers, however, were attached to the Command & Control Network. The processing nodes in the Cirrus Skycruisers tracked every missile, their data banks augmented by the eyes of the players.

Not a single bolt, spell, or arrow was deceived. Saethbysgs were cut down by the score. Fish phantasms detonated. This time, the cones of lava spikes arched up from below, hoping to shower the more vulnerable fleet. Mages threw up fortresses of iron in response.

Dragged down by the new weight, the fleet slowed by half. Eighty dark-winged rocs shot forward, escaping the column of bent space. The third and fourth waves of saethbysgs struck, met by a broader screen. Fewer than three dozen missiles made it through.

Sylvia took a moment to admire Emmy’s aerial dance.

The flurry of missiles paused as Wildfire Garden rethought its approach. Between the six Brenin, they had fifteen hundred missiles. Four hundred had already been spent with little to show for it, and it’d take weeks for the full complement of ammunition to recover. No military would let itself run dry. Especially not with the Erlking’s Fleet waiting in the wings.

When the Azure Fleet was halfway across the valley, three waves of saethbysgs swept in from the right, left, and above. With so many missiles coming from so many directions, the flock of falcons split. The lesser white-winged cousins rushed forward to fill the gap. The saethbysg suddenly turned in midair. Two hundred fish phantasms detonated, showering the rocs with half a million needles of lava.

A terrible mistake.

The dark-winged rocs reacted as though they’d known it was coming right from the start. The birds dove and twisted, slipping between showers of searing shrapnel as though they were acrobats. When the deluge couldn’t be avoided, the falcons faded into illusion instead. Burning bullets cut through their bodies, leaving minor to moderate wounds.

The three-sisters rocs didn’t fare quite so well. Fifty were lost in seconds. Players jumped from their backs, or turned the falcons belly up to use their beasts as shields. Half the riders survived as a consequence.

Which left the last wave. The saethbysgs screamed in from the left, aiming to take advantage of the gap. Before they could reach, a second stream of fish missiles shot over Lenape. The Erlking’s Fleet had stepped in, providing cover. Phantasms burst, their sprays of lava meeting the missiles cast by Wildfire Garden. Ballistas sang, adding to the point defense.

Eleven molten jets met Lenape’s shroud.

Having realized the sect’s weakness, Ivar’s fleet had grown bold. Her vision shifted, finding the ships. The hertogi’s army advanced, daring to cross the line so that they hovered over the valley. One hundred saethbysgs circled in the air above them, ready to trade their fish lives for those of their fish enemy.

Sylvia relaxed. If the hertogi was willing to provide an umbrella, she’d happily accept.

“Advance fast but steady,” she ordered. “Let Ivar take a bite out of the enemy’s missiles, if he’s willing.”

The flock of falcons adjusted. While the smaller three sisters rocs stuck near the cruisers, their stronger cousins fearlessly took the lead. Dark-winged rocs could maintain a flight speed of 400 km/h on the horizontal. To assure greater mobility, ten of the riders had been given edict potions to enhance their flight speed to 550 km/h instead.

Sylvia checked the time. Two minutes before Lenape hit the ridge. A bit longer than that before he could deliver the package.

“Major Rogers. Lieutenant Colonel Takahashi. Get ready to take out those cannons. I’ll provide a – ”

Her voice cut out. In the foggy land above, a death knight and five hel centurions galloped across the sky, the hooves of the hel hesters throwing blue sparks behind them.

Sylvia let out a huff. “■--■-■!”

Lightning crackled, bursting from her staff only to be sucked away by her rune gate. The jagged bolt fell from the heavens. Thunder cracked many kilometers away, her chain lightning ripping through the undead formation. All six phantasms were obliterated without the slightest chance of defense.

“– distraction,” she resumed, checking a different set of screens. “Hopefully, that’ll keep the Transcendents from interrupting your work. When you attack, move fast. Tobi, hold with everything you have. It’ll be a full minute before we can provide support. Major Rogers, your team will have to retreat quickly after you succeed. There’s nothing we can do for you.”

“We knew the risks when we signed up for this, Sir,” Tara’s voice chimed over the interlink.

With a minute to spare, Sylvia reviewed the battle. Armies of hive ant warriors were pouring out of the tunnels, tearing into the undead near the bone pits. Shamblers threw themselves into the insects’ pincers. Black flame spread where they touched, shedding an eerie blue-violet light. Behind the line, ants formed into regiments. They raised their abdomens, unleashing sprays of acid. Skeleton archers returned fire. Arrows clad in purple flame landed among the mass.

At the second site, the undead held. Barely. Sylvia could see the growing pressure. Azure Reach had allocated three thousand five hundred phantasms to each pit, almost twice the enemy’s number. Discipline was another advantage. The hive ants moved with lockstep precision. The Helheim legions had no more than three centurions remaining, just enough to retain control.

At the first site, the situation was worse. The entire complement of death knights and hel centurions had been slain. What was left was a ragged mob, the knights and corpse warriors attacking their fey soldier allies. Against the ants, they didn’t stand a chance.

Months spent gathering intelligence had revealed Wildfire Garden’s most serious weakness. Their phantasmal army was a hodgepodge of beasts purchased from a variety of sources. Phantasms weren’t one big happy family. Beasts of different species were often hostile to one another. To retain a semblance of cohesion, the sect had allocated a third of its fey soldiers to handling their beasts.

Even then, it wasn’t enough. Wildfire Garden was forced to split its territory into defensive regions, retaining complex rules of who could be dispatched where and when. The Helheim legions were the glue that held it all together. Centurions and death knights were smart. They were capable of cooperation. With the command staff obliterated? Wildfire Garden would struggle to reinforce the bone pit. Any army sent casually would only serve to relieve their enemy.

Hence, the unit of officers the sect had rushed to the front. The unit Sylvia had casually slaughtered. Real-time ISR was baked apples.

Her viewport shifted to Lenape. Wildfire Garden tried two waves of saethbysgs, this time targeting the Erlking’s Fleet. Sylvia was surprised when Ivar stubbornly pressed forward. The troll must’ve been desperate for a win. Excellent. He wouldn’t back down then.

Finally, the Azure Fleet neared the southern ridge. Ahead of them was a swirl of fish phantasms backed by a swarm of ten thousand flying beasts. The sect’s airship would be there as well, hidden in the mist. Sylvia had taught them a harsh lesson of what would happen if they left the ships in clear view.

“Ten seconds until go,” she announced on the comms.

She started to cast. Typically, she added barriers after she passed through a gate. Ether and energy had spiritual mass. Carrying it through a portal demanded additional mana. Furthermore, void-space was disruptive. Gates could steal a portion of a spell’s duration.

This time, however, she planned to teleport into the middle of a firefight. Sylvia would need every bit of protection she could scrounge up. Wards, frames, and barriers stacked on top of each other. She waited a moment for her ether to restore before finishing her Ashen Flask.

Voomp.

Dark cavern was replaced by clear blue sky. Noon sunlight reflected off the mist below, the fog a brilliant sheet of white. In her hand, Sylvia held her broom. The haft was smoky crystal. The bristles, translucent feathers that scattered the sun in a shimmering array of rainbows.

A saethbysg pierced the clouds below. The phantasm’s nose was a sharp sword, its slender body wrapped in silver scales. The creature ascended quickly. But it wasn’t the primary threat. P-poof! Not far from her, the beast’s brothers unraveled into molten showers. In the lands beneath the fog, lightning flashed. Brilliant streams of electricity cascaded upward.

“■■.”

With one casual word, Sylvia displaced herself one hundred and fifty meters to her right.

Bang!

Thunder cracked a moment later, the shot astray. She mounted her broom, her petite frame falling forward. The instrument kicked, increasing her acceleration. Space crunched in a column ahead. Her eyes skimmed down as she gave her broom a little shimmy so she whipped through the air in a wave. Mist shrouded everything. The System, however, painted the hidden terrain for her eyes. Static structures were made clear while large, mobile objects were given vague silhouettes.

She spied the largest. A Brenin. The tree-shaped ship was one hundred and thirty meters long from bow to stern, its roots set deep into the earth, drinking ether to incubate saethbysg babies. Her lips curled. Time to cause a bit of trouble.

Sylvia drew deep from her elemental palace, calling forth a great wave of abyss. “■■■-■--■, ■■■-■--■!”

Rune gates teleported fists into the land below. Her black hands smashed down, striking the rooted dreadnought. The first blow was slowed only by a ward against realm. The sheer force shattered the armored hull. A second fist followed. The ship’s enchantments sprang into action. A wall of leaves whirled into existence, absorbing the strike with a great puff.

Tch. Dreadnoughts were too tough.

She didn’t push further. Punching through so much defense would eat all her resources. Instead, she wove a sequence of nine hundred and twenty-three runes.

“■■■ ■■ ■■■-■--.”

Sky ether poured into a runic vessel. From that sigil was born a whirlwind. Garuda’s wing was a famous supreme magic that spawned terrifying tornados. The swirling wind was filled with blades sharp enough to grind stone. What’s more, the spell was durable, drinking deep from the world’s ether to continue its destructive churn.

The most frightening trait, however, was how the spell could be stacked. With each cast of the three hundred and eighty-seven rune continuation, the storm’s scale would increase by a fold.

“■-■ ■--■, ■-■ ■--■, ■-■ ■--■!”

Sylvia was relentless, chanting the spell over and over again. After striking the Brenin with two black hands, the base activated its wards. Realm magic was cut off in a two-kilometer radius. Garuda’s wing emerged on the outskirts. With the first cast, the whirlwind was 11 meters wide and 220 meters tall. With the second, it reached 22 and 440. By the time she had woven the fourth chain, the tornado had swelled to 44 meters in width and 880 meters in height.

From the sky above, she could see the fog pulled into a slow swirl. The monstrous storm tore into a trailer park… err… camp of fey soldiers and phantasmal beasts near the periphery. A pity there were no scouts in the area. If Sylvia had eyes on the base, she could’ve directed her spell for greater destruction.

B-b-bang.

Lightning split the sky. Sylvia slithered around the electric lances cast by the cannons, too swift and slippery to be caught. Her sheer speed put her well outside any cone of correction. Wildfire Garden would need a lot of luck or a distraction to hit, and even that wasn’t likely thanks to her foresight art and her supporting cybernetic organ.

More dangerous were the saethbysgs bursting around her. The heavens were filled with the loitering munitions. Fish missiles came screaming in from every direction, puffing out in sprays of shrapnel. Sylvia wove between four blasts, realm skipped past another, only to be caught by a sixth. Arrows of lava sizzled against her stardust barrier, draining a fraction of its strength.

More missiles streaked in. Scores of saethbysgs were drawn in her direction. Which was exactly what she wanted.

Through the feedback of her distant magic, Sylvia felt world logic twist. Her tornado was suddenly deprived of its ether. Another law clamped down moments later, undermining the general principles behind the spell. Starved and weakened, the whirlwind fell apart.

Sect Leader Furuta shot up out of the mist.

“The raven is in flight. I repeat, the raven is in flight,” Sylvia called over her secure link.

Her Command & Control Network pinged. Major Rogers and Lieutenant Colonel Takahashi started their blitz. Each officer had a company of high-level gamers under their command. Getting the teams so close to the cannons had been tough. Scouts had snuck into the nearby mountain so they could dig a way station in its heart.

Still, between the guns and the commandos, there was a two-kilometer gap. The Astral Observatory had projected horrific casualties. Worse, the calamity cannons were close enough to their base’s soul beacons to catch the spirits of the dead gamers.

But it had all been meticulously planned out. As the companies rushed their targets, warriors threw a series of barrels. The wooden containers flew through the fog, shattering beside the cannons. The mist was suddenly drenched in pure black.

Sylvia didn’t have time for her minions. She had to keep Furuta busy.

“■■■■, ■■■, ■■■!” Scree – raa – raa-aack!

She opened fire with a skyrending beam and two chain lightnings. The pillar of plasma ripped through the sky, electricity coiling around it. The tengu parried. Her beam reflected off his staff, cutting across the horizon. Lightning jumped. The jagged wires were like snakes, striking above and below. Katsumoto danced to the side, escaping her skyrending beam to give himself space. A raised wing absorbed one jagged lightning bolt even as he deflected the other.

The tengu was too far away. Sylvia’s eyes weren’t sharp enough for a feint. P-poof! Saethbysgs burst, forcing her into a hard swerve. Lightning cannons flashed to her left and right, swarms of aerial beasts gathering in an attempt to hem her in.

She ignored them. She’d rather risk a few hits from the cruft than lose sight of her enemy.

“■■■■, ■■■■, ■■■■!” Sc-Sc-Screee-r-Ack!

She fired again, a triplet of searing beams aimed at the Brenin hidden in the mist. Black hand was the superior spell when it came to large structures. But it had a flaw. Without rune gate, its range was short. Skyrending beam, on the other hand, had no swiss rolls to give about anti-realm barriers.

Katsumoto shifted. The tengu beat one of the beams aside, glaring up at her with dark eyes. Since he refused to chase, Sylvia didn’t press. Instead, she zigged through the air, evading phantasms while her ether reserves restored.

A gate opened beside the sect leader before she was ready. Ashikaga Choji flew out, the portal blinking closed behind him. The kitsune said something before gesturing toward the horizon. Sect Leader Furuta’s expression turned ugly. Even from above, they could see the threat. Dark ink was spreading in the fog near the calamity cannons.

“The West Cannon is down. Thirty-eight casualties,” Tobi called a moment later. “We’ll hold until the package is delivered.”

“We’re facing fierce resistance by the East Cannon,” Major Rogers spoke after. “Give me – ”

Light flared, a brilliant beam piercing through the darkened fog. The blazing streak flashed past multiple mountains. In the far distance, Lenape tilted, placing the fleet in his shadow. Searing plasma smashed into the world turtle. Rays of light refracted off his shell, scattering across the sky.

But part of the energy made it through. The calamity cannon cut a black burn across Lenape’s lower body. Saethbysgs added to his pain, javelins of molten metal falling onto the turtle’s back.

The Azure Fleet approached the southern ridge, the green valley rising into steep slopes and higher hills. Swarms of flying phantasms filled the sky in front of them, hundreds of saethbysgs circling in wait. The Erlking’s Fleet lagged forty kilometers behind. Which meant Ivar’s dreadnoughts were close enough to provide support. Their saethbysgs shot forward. Fiery explosions cutting chunks from Wildfire Garden’s phantasms, prioritizing the fish missiles.

Then space folded in front of Lenape. The dark-winged rocs fell back, creating a tight formation around the beaten skycruisers. Despite the vast distance, Sylvia felt the stir of the titanic turtle’s magic. Realm amplified his flux shift. Lenape fell forward. The fleet fell with him, accelerating from 400 km/h to 1600 km/h in mere seconds.

Startled, the wall of aerial beasts rushed to intercept. Lenape ignored them, tanking a slew of missiles and cannons before plunging into the fog.

“The second cannon is down,” Major Rogers called belatedly. “Sorry, Sir. They got a shot off before I could finish.”

“Good job, Major,” Sylvia conveyed over secure link.

A gate opened beside the sect leader. Katsumoto glowered up at her before stepping through. Perched on his flying sword, the kitsune descended into the fog. The air went silent around her. The closing saethbysgs changed targets. Wildfire Garden didn’t dare waste ammunition on her.

“Be warned, the raven has returned to his nest,” Sylvia advised through secure link.

She spared a moment to check the situation. Lenape was skimming the valley floors, sliding between fog-laden mountains. With visibility cut to five hundred meters, a normal fleet would’ve struggled. Azure Reach did not. Their cruisers slithered through the gaps, hugging terrain as they flew. Helped by Lenape’s mystic art, the phantasmal army couldn’t keep up.

Sylvia flashed a smile. Wildfire Garden had to be in a panic right now, with the officers shouting desperate orders. Their phantasmal army was way out of place. With the great disparity of speed, it’d take minutes for them to catch up.

“The raven is at the West Cannon,” Tobi called in warning. “I repeat. The raven is at the West Cannon.”

Sugar! Sylvia let loose her mana, siphoning ether from her bottles before transmuting it into realm. “■ ■■■!”

She formed two hoops of runes in less than a second before casting the knot through its center. A blue-green swirl sparked. Voomp. She flew through the gate, crossing eighteen kilometers in an instant.

Ink was dispersing in the fog below her, creating a pool of darkened mist. The shadowy substance came from the taara vidroop. The star squid’s ink was thicker than the fey mists and more absorptive to magic. In the fog, fey could see several hundred meters. Sylvia’s keener eyes could penetrate around seven hundred meters into the depths. In the scattered black, visibility was ten to fifty meters, depending on the density of the ink.

However, the System’s Command & Control Network still worked. In part because the signal was derived from the soul element rather than causality, and soul wasn’t bound to a specific space. But also because Moonlight Chemicals had cut an emissions window into the refined product.

The result was an excellent smoke screen. The kind Sylvia could ‘see through’ by way of the targets highlighted on her System HUD. The only flaw was that the ink was short-lived. It’d hold for fifteen minutes at most, gently diluting all the while.

Until then…

“■■■, ■■■, ■■■!” Ba-Ba-Ba-raa-aaa-aack!

With a vicious grin, she waved Chaotic Skies. Electricity cascaded all around her, forming a scintillating net. Jagged bolts ripped through dozens of flying phantasms before falling upon the battlefield below. Magic passed through the pit of ink, its power fading by a fifth. Then the bolts struck near Tobi’s company. Lightning punched through the horde. Phantasms and fey soldiers fell. Tobi’s soldiers gained a bit of breathing room.

Which they desperately needed.

Furuta Katsumoto was like a storm. Thirty players had died before his arrival. Wildfire Garden’s sect leader tore through six more in mere moments. He was too fast and too strong. Third consolidation gamers had little chance to evade his attacks, the force behind his staff smashed straight through their guard.

Lieutenant Colonel Takahashi moved to intercept, shooting from the shadowed mist to strike at the tengu’s rear. Katsumoto twisted, beating the samurai’s spear aside. The rings of his shakujō rang. A sonic staff thrust toward Tobi’s head. The samurai leaned back, dense ki brushing over his tatemono.

“■■■-■--■!”

A black hand appeared above Katsumoto’s head before the tengu could make use of the opening. No wards remained near the broken calamity cannon. The ink of the taara vidroop had drained them dry, the foundations already shattered during the fight. Katsumoto’s reactions were quick. He leapt back, the flutter of his wings exaggerating his motions. Her hand slapped down, abyssal force swirling. With a flick of will, Sylvia distorted the gravity so it dragged at the tengu more heavily than Tobi.

Alas, it wasn’t enough. A Class IX Transcendent was too strong to be pulled in.

But she wasn’t done. “■--■-■!”

Chaotic Skies slashed down. With a little twist, she tore open a micro-portal four kilometers below. Chain lightning cascaded, barely seen in the darkened fog. The bolt tore through a dozen phantasms and soldiers. Katsumoto flicked his staff, knocking her spell aside.

Sect Leader Furuta danced in the air. Four arrows of frost and fire flew from the mist. He slipped around a pair, the other blocked by a raised wing, the dark feathers like hardened steel. Tobi Takahashi took the opening, striking from the side. Ki haloed the man’s spear as he lunged, metal wings amplifying his flight. The first thrust landed clean, skittering off Katsumoto’s armor. The next blows were parried with expert precision.

The rings of the tengu’s shakujō sounded. A shockwave of sound tossed Tobi back. The second chime was a spear, hastily blocked by Tobi’s spear.

Lightning cracked once more. In the flurry, the electric bolt took the tengu off guard. Katsumoto jerked as Emmy joined the fray. Sylvia’s eyes flicked. Lenape’s stretched visage snapped into place over Wildfire Garden’s base. The titanic turtle’s shell was covered in scars. The wooden platform attached to his back was cracked and ruined. Five out of six ballistas were broken, a dozen gamers lost with them.

The Azure Fleet unfolded beneath Lenape, all five skycruisers popping back to full size. Their hulls were pockmarked by the stray spears cast by the saethbysgs. Brilliant light bloomed below their bows. Ten Edison Bright Lances unleashed a terrifying barrage, the searing glow piercing the darkened mists.

B-b-b-bang!

The sky cracked. Rivers of lightning pounded into a Brenin’s leaf barrier. Though the guns were diminished by their own stacked edicts, they melted through the shield in a blink. Two searing streams pierced through, blasting craters into the ship’s armored hull.

Bows twanged in the same instant. Thirty ballistas unleashed their fury. Myriad arrows fell upon Wildfire Garden’s ranks. Exploding shot detonated, unleashing a rippling wave of destruction. B-b-b-boo-ooo-oom. Sylvia could hear the rumble well above the fog. The bolts landed with impeccable precision, the overlapping blasts obliterating five centuries of fey soldiers and phantasms.

Sylvia frowned. The impact on the dreadnought was less than expected. She added a note to her local client. They needed better guns, and law spells more selective than her edicts.

Wildfire Garden reeled in shock. Half their defense force had rushed toward the calamity cannon while most of their aerial defenders had been drawn north toward the valley to intercept Lenape. Rocs tore into a bare thousand fliers, transforming the sky into a slaughter.

Hangar doors were thrown open. Gamers poured from the ships, taking to the air on broom or wing. Airmen shoved barrels out behind them. The canisters fell onto the base below. A handful detonated as they plunged, drenching dark gray mist in black ink. The rest struck the land below, exploding out in a noxious gas. The plague barrels contained a bio-weapon manufactured from the plague sacks of a fester fly.

Emerald Holdings was living up to its name as an umbrella corporation. Sylvia approved. Though, she’d need to double down on her production of living weapons. She couldn’t let Emmy start an apocalypse without her. A girl had her pride.

Finally, the enemy gave its response. Lightning cannons flashed, lances of lightning rising from the base and surrounding mountains. Between the fog and the illusions, half the shots missed. Three landed clean, dealing shuddering blows to the skycruisers. A pair of flame mortars followed, blazing balls of fire rising into the sky above.

The cruisers separated. Compared to their size, their speed seemed sluggish, but the ships were agile enough to evade the shots.

Ballistas added to the fray. Silver javelins threatened the cruisers while thunderous bolts targeted the rocs. In the obscured sky, the shots often went wide. The Fey Federation’s targeting tools worked well in their fog but not in the ink. The shots that threatened were easily slipped by the falcons. The System tracked every bolt, assisted by the processing nodes in the skycruisers and Sylvia’s dungeon administrator trait.

Aboard the ship, a group of mages returned fire. Two dug-in emplacements flashed, rune gates opening atop the underground weapons in the mountains. Unfortunately, most of the guns were safe inside the base’s wards.

The situation was tense. Their advantage was momentary. Hordes of phantasms were rushing back to reinforce, boosted by thousands of fey soldiers. Then there was the western flank. The hills on the other side of the Llwyd Tree were untouched. Those troops would seek to drown their army while putting a stop to the Erlking’s Expedition.

Gamers were tough. They could hold on for a long while. But ki, mana, and munitions had their limits. As endurance faded, they would weaken. Then they would fall. Nothing they’d achieved thus far was worth the risks they’d taken. For their assault to have worth, they had to smash the linchpin of Wildfire Garden’s strategic defense.

The Brenin had to be broken.

Since arriving, Lenape had stood still. The immortal turtle breathed ether, restoring his stamina like a sprinter who had finished a long run. It was only now that he turned his giant, yellow eyes on the dreadnought. The ship was rising into the sky, dirt falling from its roots. If given enough time it would flee the confines of the battle.

Then it would disappear into the mist.

They couldn’t let that happen. And the simplest way to kill a titan was with a titan. Tucking in his limbs, Lenape fell forward. His shell spun like a discus. As he accelerated, a mountainous aura grew around him.

BOOM!

He crashed into the Brenin with thunderous force. The impact was like an explosion, mist puffing up above the summits of the snowcapped mountains. The dreadnought slid through the sky, its shape visible thanks to Sylvia’s Command & Control Network.

Guns, ballistas, and a few saethbysgs struck in retort. The javelins bounced off Lenape’s shell without the slightest effect. Lightning rippled over him, leaving the lightest of scars. It was only the fish missiles that dealt any damage. Molten arrows dug into Lenape’s back, their effects diminished thanks to the stacked edicts.

Beside the monstrous ship, Lenape extended his right fin. Ki covered the limb, forming a gargantuan draconic claw. Thwack! He struck the Brenin. The wooden trunk that formed the ship’s hull caved in, revealing the shattered innards.

“BACK OFF!”

A black-scaled serpent rose from the fog. Cho Jun-seo’s tail whipped, sending out a cascade of ki and water. The spectral limb smashed into Lenape’s side, tossing the turtle dozens of meters to his right. The imugi swung his tail a second time, gathering a torrent into a spear.

“Oh dear me,” Lenape said over the comms. He tucked in his head, tilting so the spike of water glanced off his shell. “How violent. Though, I do suppose I had it coming.”

Sylvia’s gaze turned. Screaming across the sky were hundreds of silvery shapes. Wave after wave of saethbysgs were rushing toward them. The time of their arrival was mere seconds.

“Saethbysgs inbound! All units defend!” she shouted over the comms. She pointed her staff. “■■■, ■■■!”

Twin spells cut through a score of saethbysgs, the jagged wires bouncing back and forth in 150-meter columns. She continued casting, throwing out a storm of five more bolts. Her magic gouged out gaps in the onrushing missiles. But it wasn’t enough. Saethbysgs descended in a flood. Then they unraveled, transforming into a wall of molten fire.

With a grimace, Sylvia shifted her broom, aiming for the openings in the deluge. Blue sky turned red. Heated air washed over her face, arrows of lava sizzling against her barrier. All around her, fire fell with apocalyptic fury. With the battlefield obscured, Wildfire Garden had opted for the simplest solution. They showered everything with a fervor of destruction.

Blazing spears pierced the fog. Flying phantasms were struck first, two-thirds of the sect’s air force falling in a blink. The three sisters rocs caught in the midst fared moderately better, thanks to Sylvia’s warning and their greater defense. The skycruisers were hit next, molten arrows piercing into their upper hull.

Fortresses of iron provided partial protection, but not every ship was caught equally, and not every cruiser was in the same condition at the start. The Unol held on. Barely. Its upper armor was so ravaged that the bridge was exposed with half the officers slaughtered. The McCloudface got caught in a heavier burst, searing metal burning all the way through to its main beam. Without ether and its base enchantments, the ship plunged at a forty-five-degree angle. Gamers abandoned the vessel, some still escaping when its bow slammed into the side of a mountain. The Cirrus Skycruiser dug in so deep only the ‘McCloud’ could be read off its nameplate.

Most of the gamers and the dark-winged rocs survived the deluge, either by guarding, dodging, or ducking under the ships.

B-b-bang! B-Bang!

The main cannons of the Cirrus Skycruisers unleashed a second barrage. Lances tore into the Brenin’s damaged hull, three crackling streams slipping through the dreadnought’s shattered armor. The ship shuddered, the pulse of its life force weakening. Then a beam of plasma struck. Emmy’s spell pierced perfectly into the Brenin’s guts. Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, the dreadnought’s flight transformed into a downward plummet.

A force rippled. Sylvia felt an invisible wave of soul and space wash over the world. Scores of souls were cast into the wind. The Brenin must’ve detonated its soul beacon to reduce the risk of it falling into enemy hands. A feature their skycruisers still lacked.

Combat followed the wave of destruction. The gamers were the first to react. Dark-winged rocs and their riders turned toward their ground-bound opponents, providing much-needed relief. Where the plague lingered, there was no need to fight. Weaker soldiers and phantasms were dead or rotting away. The sect’s second consolidation warriors hung on, but with communications cut off, no one knew where to run. Nor did their reinforcements know that they should hang back and wait. Armies poured in from the passes only to choke on the poisoned air.

Not everything was in their favor. While she was distracted, Katsumoto had found his opportunity. The tengu’s staff crashed into Tobi’s chest. The samurai choked. One chime of his shakujō, and then Tobi burst, his body a spray of fleshy chunks. Without the Transcendent pinning him down, Furuta became a flurry of black feathers. Four gamers fell in as many seconds. Arrows plunged from the dark, pausing the tengu’s slaughter.

An opening. It wasn’t Sylvia who took it, but the nearby gamers. Three rocs plunged through the darkness. Katsumoto twisted at the last moment, evading the first. The next he blocked with his staff, the force and weight of the bird sending the sect leader into an uncontrolled spin.

With a victorious “Kiao!” the last falcon caught the tengu with its talons. The ki-augmented blades pierced through Katsumoto’s armor, leaving a nasty wound behind.

More arrows flew from multiple directions. The great faerie beat a fast retreat. Near the ground, it was hard to avoid the players’ linked vision. In the sky, there were greater gaps.

Pastel pink eyes flicked to a target Sylvia could see clearly. Her elemental palaces were back at acceptable levels.

“■■■- ■-■-■. ■■■-■--■.”

With her first cast, she hit Cho Jun-seo with butterfly harrow. Before the imugi could react, she followed with black hand. Abyssal fingers wrapped around the serpent’s neck. The man choked, scales cracking under the pressure. Lenape didn’t miss his chance. The turtle’s head flashed forward, space twisting to extend the limb to impossible lengths. Mighty jaws snapped down.

The imugi roared, a third of his body disappearing into the mist.

Guns barked. Lances of lightning rose from Wildfire Garden’s base. To Sylvia’s surprise, four made the turtle their target. Instead of dimming, the scintillating lances grew half again brighter. Her eyes widened. Schneeball! The edicts protecting Lenape had been reversed. Instead of skittering off his invincible defense, cannons cut black scars into his shell.

Half a dozen saethbysgs burst. Before Sylvia could warn him, Lenape vanished. The titanic turtle appeared in the sky five kilometers distant.

“All ships be advised, Ashikaga Choji may attempt to reverse your edicts,” Sylvia announced over her comms. She changed her channel. “Lenape, I’ll be with you in a second.”

“We shall keep an eye on it, Sir,” Emmy’s voice sounded in report.

Sylvia quirked a smile, her left hand a flicker. She opened a gate then slid through, appearing just above Lenape. Voomp.

“Okay there buddy?” she asked, sparing a moment to read how her laws had been twisted.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Lenape replied. “But that was a most unpleasant surprise.”

“I can imagine,” Sylvia said. Her eyes narrowed. Ah. That’s what he did. “■ ■■.”

Void magic fell like a hammer. Law shattered. She followed her first cast with two others. “■ ■■, ■ ■■.” Two hundred and thirty-seven runes acted like a chisel driven into fragile rock. The edicts amplifying the elements lightning and metal were stripped away, along with a debuff cast by Choji himself. That nasty spell had left Lenape’s shell softer than normal.

“Oh, that feels much better,” Lenape breathed, his voice booming over the wind. “Though, it’d be nice to have a little more defense.”

The turtle’s head extended, curving to look back at her.

Sylvia shook her head. “I’m out of astral dust. Plus, the kitsune might reverse them again. Let’s not give him anything free to work with.”

The fog below flashed. Thick lances of lightning shot upward. One disadvantage of displacing themselves so far from the base was that it exposed them to new guns. Electricity scattered off Lenape’s shell. Visually it appeared harmless, but Sylvia could sense the turtle’s growing exhaustion. His ki had been worn away by intense battle.

Her eyes turned to the west. A shock troop of five hundred fey soldiers was passing beneath the Llwyd Tree’s branches, rushing to the eastern mountains to aid the defense. Phạm Diệp was on the move. The serpent dragon swam through the sky, furious that Wildfire Garden’s defense had faltered.

North of the mountains, Sylvia could see Ivar’s force. His fleet had reached the edge of the fog, his soldiers beating back the swarm of flying phantasms. The Tarws were in the lead, their flame and magma mortars firing into the mist. Wildfire Garden replied with their ground cannons, but not their ships. No surprise there, Ivar had four fresh Transcendents, while Wildfire Garden was heavily stretched. Cho Jun-seo was severely wounded. The kitsune had to have spent a lot of mana porting allies around. Katsumoto was busy at the base, picking off gamers from the shadows.

A trail of fire rushed overhead. The Llwyd Tree’s god beast, Atgyfodwr, swept through the heavens. The phoenix cast her burning eyes in Lenape’s direction. Then she dismissed him, continuing her flight. Atgyfodwr was the Llwyd Tree’s referee. Her job was to ensure the rules of the war weren’t broken.

“You have enough in you for another fight?” Sylvia asked.

“I can handle another tussle,” Lenape affirmed. “Ah, but which ship? Oh, I see it on the network. How convenient. Just give me a moment and – ”

Space twisted, reality warping to connect two points. Sylvia felt herself stretch like a rubber band only to snap back into place a moment later. Blue sky was replaced by cool, gray fog. No more than 300 meters away was a dreadnought. Bark covered the ship’s hull, seven pods cut into the surface for the guns and ballistas. Large roots hung behind the vessel. A Brenin could use those limbs to defend and attack, though they weren’t particularly effective at it.

“ – here we are. Much quicker than when dragging multiple ships behind me. That was a struggle. I do hope I’ll have many days to recover. I found this lovely series of books about a mortal kingdom. It’s called – ”

B-b-bang! The crack of the Brenin’s lightning cannons swallowed Lenape’s words. Sylvia swerved, evading casually thanks to her foresight. Two lances struck the turtle. Before they could hit, he had already tucked his head into his shell, the entire surface rippling with innate protections. Electricity cascaded over his body. Against a Class IX titan, the Fey Federation’s premier anti-personnel cannons achieved nothing.

Sylvia’s eyes flashed, picking out the soldiers and saethbysgs flying through the fog. She pointed her staff. “■■■!”

Crackling lightning tore through the gray mist in a jagged wire. The bolt pierced a dozen targets. Before the enemy could react, she added two more.

“■■■, ■■■!” Ba-ba-raa-aack!

“ – I felt such horror when he threw that poor boy from the tower. I hope he survives,” Lenape continued. His sad tone turned cheerful. “But if he doesn’t, I’m sure he’ll have a nice afterlife in the netherworld. Anyway, in the next scene – ”

The turtle’s voice cut off when he lurched forward, slamming into the dreadnought. The leaf barrier puffed, blasted aside by Lenape’s empowered mass. The ship’s roots tried to wrap around the titanic turtle to push him back. Lenape ignored the efforts, stretching out his head to take a big bite out of the ship’s hull. Into that gap, he thrust his fore fins. Sylvia heard a grinding creak as Lenape slowly pried open a massive gap.

“■■■.” Ba-raa-aack!

While Lenape worked, Sylvia let loose another chain lightning, eliminating the crewmen who were desperate to stop the attack. The turtle pushed further into the dreadnought, smashing through the decks. Then, with a crunch, his mouth bit down on the phantasmal core.

Life faded from the ship. She grinned. Then her happy expression was replaced by fury.

That fucker! “■--■-■!”

Sylvia spat the spell, a realm gate opening on the far battlefield. A twisting bolt of lightning ripped through darkened mist. Katsumoto tanked the blow, sparks splintering on his armored barrier, but the shock gave Emmy the millisecond needed to evade the tengu’s staff. The emeraldette danced back, a wave of frigid butterflies surging toward Katsumoto in a wall of blue beauty.

With the beat of his wing, the tengu flashed to the side. His shakujō rang, a sonic staff thrusting toward Emmy like a spear.

“■■■-■--■!”

Sylvia’s black hand appeared just in time to intercept it. Ki sank into the abyssal force. Her palm rushed forward. Katsumoto slid around the spell, too fast to be caught, a casual slash parrying Esmeralda’s chain lightning.

Then a wave of spells and arrows fell from a different direction. Katsumoto retreated into the inky mists. A dark-winged roc gave chase, the knight on its back lending the beast his ki. At his prompt, the bird burst forward, feinting left to make a sudden right-angle turn to attack from the right.

Katsumoto shifted. Talons scraped his right wing, tearing out a shower of feathers. As he moved, the tengu’s staff jinged. Air reverberated with invisible force. The roc faded into illusion. No good. Void wing lost half its power when faced with Katsumoto’s enlightenment. Blood sprayed from the beast’s beak. Dazed by the blow, it careened through the darkness to smash into the side of the half-broken Unol.

In the background, lightning flashed. The Jegos crumbled, falling into the land below.

Eyes sharp, Sylvia chanted with cold precision. “■-■-■-■, ■-■-■-■.”

A pair of rune gates opened one kilometer apart. From them were spat shrieking beams of plasma. The tengu danced between them. System communications were fast, but they had latency. At the speeds Katsumoto was capable of, Sylvia lost too much precision.

A moment later, the tengu melted into darkness. There were no gamers close enough to reveal his position.

Lenape gave the Brenin one final slap, snapping the dead ship in half. Sylvia descended on her broom, hovering beside the world turtle

“Let’s head – ”

Her voice cut off. A gate opened over the distant battlefield. An enormous mound of vegetation emerged from the portal. Ivar Haugen’s titan body was a bulky mass of plant matter that stood ten meters tall. Layers of vines covered the lumbering form, the roots writhing all over its length. A phantasmal beast passed too close. A creeper shot out, snatching it from sixty meters away.

“Grab Tara and her team before they get overrun,” she ordered. She drew a blue-green swirl with her hand. “Bounce back to the fleet after. I have to talk to the troll.”

She flew through her gate. Voomp. The troll’s titan turned toward her, the faceless mass of vines giving no expression. Ivar Haugen’s sneer, however, was conveyed perfectly by way of his voice.

“Be glad I arrived in time to save your pitiful force,” he said. “Something I’ll be sure to mention when it comes time to note your military merits.”

Without another word, the shambling mass dove into the inky fog. A moment later, Sylvia heard a chime. -Jing-ing-ing-. The resonant sound held for seconds, covering a vast distance. Through the shared vision of her Command & Control Network, she watched as fey soldiers made a disciplined retreat. The world rippled. Souls were thrown in every direction, a handful caught by the small beacons in their Cirrus Skycruisers.

“A simple thanks would’ve done just fine,” Sylvia huffed. She opened a connection, channeling psychic thoughts through her secure link. “All captains, set your altitude at four klicks. Soldiers, eliminate the last of their lightning cannons. I don’t want to lose another ship.”

While the army executed her orders, Sylvia rained destruction on the retreating troops. The Azure Expedition’s first great battle of the war was effectively over.

-oOo-

♦ Netherworld >> Azure Reach >> Official Announcements
Topic: New Pure Rune Confirmed

ResearchKing (Original Poster)
Posted: 11 days ago

Authors: J.Guō, J.Ross, E.Vallenfelt, and S.Swallows

Abstract:

It is the belief of the Collegium Magicae that the list of pure runes is complete. This understanding had remained uncontested for 1000 years. A pure rune corresponds to a mathematical construct known as a prime knot. Right-handed and left-handed variants of the same knot may represent different runes.

According to knot theory, the number of prime knots is infinite. Furthermore, the number increases exponentially with the number of crossings. There are 21 prime knots with 8 crossings and 49 prime knots with 9 crossings. All knots with 9 or fewer crossings have stable rune representations. However, upon reaching 10 crossings, 26 of the 165 knots are ‘false runes.’ Which is to say, the rune structure is either so unstable that it cannot be used, or the rune has elemental contradictions that prevent standard effect (Zosimos’s thesis questioning the Collegium’s definition will be discussed later).

Due to those factors, the number of valid runes falls rapidly with the number of crossings, such that only 0.079% of 14 crossing knots have stable rune structures. The Collegium Magicae has exhaustively tested all knots of 13 crossings and lower. Morgan Le Fay furthered their research by completing the Le Fay Algorithm. With it, she confidently asserted that there could be no pure runes in the 15 and 16 crossing space.

However, the Collegium’s own records show that their exhaustive examination was in serious error. They had only identified 8762 of the 9988 prime knots with 13 crossings. Their completeness in the 14 and 15 crossing space was even more flawed, capturing less than 20% of the total prime knots mathematically determined by computer models.

My study attempts to correct the Collegium Magicae’s flawed methodology by making an exhaustive exploration of all possible knots 15 crossings and below. At the point of writing this post, half of the potential runes have been examined, revealing 42 new Zosimos Glyphs and 1 new rune that meets the minimal metrics of stability defined for conventional magecraft.

Full paper here

(Showing page 5 of 6)

► Griffmiss [Posted: 2 days ago]
You’re amazing as always. Let me know when you have the final results. I’ll slip it into Runeworks Studio and Virtual Cauldron. (｡•̀ᴗ-)

Also… Zosimos Glyphs… ૮₍˶Ó﹏Ò ⑅₎ა

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 2 days ago] (Cloud Princess)
We do not speak of Zosimos Glyphs.

► DrSodium [Posted: 2 days ago]
I knew it! The Collegium Magicae was lying! How could there be exactly 1332 pure runes? That number is twice 666. There was no way a number like that could’ve happened on accident. Claiming there was only 1332 pure runes was part of a grand conspiracy. They’re hiding the divine elements like: death, time, and creation!

► Npc72 [Posted: 1 day ago]
Nobel Prize when?

► QuestBasher [Posted: 1 day ago]
They don’t have Nobel Prizes in the netherworld. They have the Laureate of Magic.

@DustyLibrarian – How do you get a Laureate anyway?

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 1 day ago] (Cloud Princess)
My wife has one of those.

> 1332 is exactly twice 666

Indeed. It turns out, or well… how it will turn out, is that there are exactly 5 pure runes missing. All from the time element, in fact. I know because I just used them to change history. The records now show that I was the first person to set foot on Azure Reach.

Aren’t all my statues magnificent? They even named a town after me!

► WiseGuy [Posted: 1 day ago]
An incredible achievement, ResearchKing. It’ll be interesting to see if there are pure runes after the 1333. If we do find them, perhaps we can identify the mathematical characteristics that make those knots stable.

It’s not like there’s a lack of candidates either. There are 253,293 prime knots with 15 crossings and 1,388,705 with 16 crossings.

► ResearchKing [Posted: 23 hours ago] (Original Poster)
To examine knots of 16 or more crossings would require a more expedient set up. As it is, Miss Vallenfelt and Miss Swallows personally provided funding for my efforts.

As for the rune itself? We have tentatively identified it as one associated with the element law. However, we have yet to determine the rune’s meaning nor its full arithmetic characteristics. Therefore, the rune cannot yet be said to have been discovered yet.

► Npc72 [Posted: 22 hours ago]
> Indeed. It turns out, or well… how it will turn out, is that there are exactly 5 pure runes missing.

@SecretProtagonist – save us from this 1337ist!

► SecretProtagonist [Posted: 20 hours ago]
I’m retired.

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► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 19 hours ago] (Cloud Princess)
A man dies and he gives up on his life’s work. Shakes her head sadly.

► SecretProtagonist [Posted: 18 hours ago]
Shouldn’t you be fighting a war right now?

► SongGirl [Posted: 15 hours ago]
Amazing. It’s always wonderful to hear about ResearchKing making major discoveries even in his 80s.

► Griffmiss [Posted: 7 hours ago]
He’s pretty spry too, thanks to all those levels he picked up in the lab. High ether environments are good for you! I just hit level 29 myself.

ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 5 hours ago] (Cloud Princess)
Don’t worry, even if he keels over, Emmy and I have a laboratory waiting for him. We’ll send him straight to Duo Pacha Ayu.

► Npc72 [Posted: 2 hours ago]
I’ve heard about working someone to death, but this is the first time I’ve heard of working someone to life.

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 23 minutes ago] (Cloud Princess)
Capitalism is a beautiful thing.

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♦ Netherworld >> Azure Reach >> Nimbus Weekly
Topic: Article: Parliament Authorizes New Weapons [Subscribers Only]

Nimbus.Owen (Original Poster) (Author)
Posted: 6 days ago

To the shock of the citizens, the Parliament of the Reach awarded a new weapons development contract to Major Voltaic. The contract offers 20,000 gold over a five-year period. Protesters assembled outside the building almost immediately, calling it a waste of money and outright corruption at worst.

“Fey Federation’s saethbysg missile system has proven effective during the War of the Seasons,” Governor Sanchez explained, justifying the government’s decision. “Now that Azure Reach has had a chance t examine a Brenin-class dreadnought, it is only natural that we create a similar system of our own.”

Those words ring hollow to those of us who have followed Major Voltaic’s history. The company’s failure to deliver their overhyped Tesla Stormbringers left our Cirrus Skycruisers without a core feature. The Edison Bright Lance has likewise underperformed expectations with Colonel Swallows stating: “They lacked the punch I’d hoped for.”

This isn’t the first time Governor Sanchez has awarded contracts to a questionable company. The famous Access Railways scandal once threatened to end Mr. Sanchez’s political career. We will see if today’s decision proves equally fraught.

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► ZombieMan02 [Posted: 2 days ago]
Stop wasting my tax money, dudes.

► BeastCatcher07 [Posted: 2 days ago]
The level of bias in this article is insane. First off, it’s absurd to think our lightning cannons would equal those of the Fey Federation out of the box. The Federation has had centuries to refine their designs. Second, the Cloud Princess’s quote was taken out of context. Her full statement makes clear that she views the Cirrus Skycruiser as a work in progress. Finally, the Edison Bright Lance was developed by the Astral Observatory. Major Voltaic is only responsible for the production of the guns.

I hope Swift Ships paid you to write that slop.

► QuestBasher [Posted: 1 day ago]
@ZombieMan02 – You pay taxes?

► ZombieMan02 [Posted: 1 day ago]
What else am I supposed to do? The System subtracts it straight from my account. Fucking thieves, man. They’re just thieves.

► DesperateBowman [Posted: 1 day ago]
> The level of bias in this article is crazy.

Funny, because you forgot to mention how Major Voltaic screwed up the Tesla Stormbringers when you wrote that shit. Major Voltaic doesn’t have a single, successful R&D project to its name. They’re just a glorified weapons factory.

► BeastCatcher07 [Posted: 21 hours ago]
Oh fuck off and stop simping for the Cloud Princess. I’m perfectly in my rights to call out Nimbus Weekly’s bullshit.

► DesperateBowman [Posted: 19 hours ago]
And I can call out the government’s bullshit. Two wrongs don’t make a right. I want R&D to go to the people who are actually good at it. Which means groups like the Astral Observatory, E&S Solutions, Voidlight Laboratories, or Swift Strike Armaments

► Npc72 [Posted: 18 hours ago]
LOL. Every single one of those companies is owned by Cutie or EmeraldElegance.

► SongGirl [Posted: 16 hours ago]
Can we not do this here?

► QuestBasher [Posted: 16 hours ago]
That’s because half of Azure Reach is owned by the two of them. I don’t have a lot of faith in Major Voltaic, but I’m not going to blame Governor Sanchez for trying to break their monopoly.

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► Npc72 [Posted: 15 hours ago]
Hear, hear.

► FigLeaf [Posted: 8 hours ago]
Instead of debating the politics, I’d rather talk about why we need a homegrown saethbysg equivalent.

[Picture: Fish missile exploding over the Azure Fleet]

Most of the heavy weapons used in the netherworld have a range limited to a handful of kilometers. Lightning cannons can reach 3 km to 7 km. Ballista bolts range from 1.5 km to 4 km. The saethbysg, by contrast, can reach 50 km to 70 km. Their explosion is from the metal element too, which is useful because it forces us to defend against an entirely new vector.

Personally, I feel the development of a saethbysg-like weapon is necessary for our success.

► SongGirl [Posted: 6 hours ago]
Ooh! I get to say it this time! Magma or Lava?

► Npc72 [Posted: 6 hours ago]
Damn. You beat me to the punch!

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♦ Netherworld >> Tartarus >> General Chat
Topic: Magma or Lava?

CutestSilverBird (Original Poster) (Cloud Princess)
Posted: 16 years ago

[Picture of Pyrkagiás surrounded by a lake of molten stone.]

Is this magma or is this lava?

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► WastelandWarrior [Posted: 6 days ago]
It’s below the surface. That makes it magma. There’s nothing more to it.

► WiseGuy [Posted: 5 days ago]
It’s not simple at all. Pyrkagiás is on the fourth layer of Tartarus. Applying the concept of surface to a space like that is difficult. If we claim the layer alone is relevant, it’d be magma on the 2nd and 3rd layers as well, despite the open sky. Furthermore, magma is often called lava when exposed to atmosphere in a large cavern. The best question to ask is whether or not the liquefied stone is pressurized.

In this picture, it is clearly not. Lava, therefore, is the most correct term. We’ve discussed this to death a dozen times. There’s no debating the evidence.

► ZombieMan02 [Posted: 5 days ago]
No debate? Bullshit. Riddle me this, dude. If it’s magma while it’s underground, then why does it travel to the surface through lava tubes?

Yeah. That’s what I thought.

► GrimQuill [Posted: 5 hours ago]
Magma. Lava. A flawed discussion based off a flawed mortal tongue. Only the base characteristics matter. Any other point is pure pretense

► Npc72 [Posted: 5 hours ago]
I love this thread.

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 4 hours ago] (Original Poster) (Cloud Princess)

I should create a new spell and call it magma rain.

► Npc72 [Posted: 2 hours ago]
Do it! And make sure the rain has hot gas just to fuck with people.

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