Chapter 104 (Patreon)

Last chapter of the arc 10k+ words. Thought to slip it into two but I like it as is. All that's left is the end of book Emperor POV.

Chapter 104

Albert was in his command center reviewing the information stream routing through Juni’s AI when he felt the world tremble. No one else seemed to notice, but he was sensitive to his father's comings and goings. That experience had honed his skill in detecting the fluctuations created by higher Tiered beings when ripping through the veil of reality when entering or exiting real space.

His father came to mind first, but it only took a second to realize that it was someone else. The tearing didn't stop quick enough to be a single person. In rapid succession, half a dozen presences flickered into his awareness, presumably members of the Army.

Things soon returned to normal, so he shrugged it off and turned back to the ongoing sieges. Juni had cut off the last Queendom city with the space-locking formations already. Ending this war was just a question of when the ideal time to detonate the bombs would be.

According to his scouts, the Queendom was stripping their forts to skeleton crews, as they funneled all available personnel to either repair the conquered city, or to speed up the next siege.

Once enough people gathered in or around the cities, the Kingdom would win the war in one fell swoop.

His daydreams of future glory and prestige were shattered when a much more violent tear rippled out around him, this time causing everyone to flinch. Albert prepared an emergency query to send out through his AI, asking for any related information, but he felt space ripple around him before he could send it out.

This power was familiar—his father’s. He was yanked through space, only to find himself hovering above the neutral city. Facing him was Queen Diana, flanked by four other stern looking women.

One was Sara, who stood slightly behind her mother. A Chaotic Space ship behind them drew his attention before he could inspect the other women more closely, as it disgorged dozens of his father's nobles. But then, his brain picked up on a familiar figure standing beside Queen Diana.

Cori. His sister.

Has she been taken hostage? How did the war go so badly?

The last reports from the Tier 20 world had indicated that while the real war was slowing down, the situation leaned in their favor. Then his brain took note of the colors that Cori wore, and the complete lack of shackles on her.

His older sister wasn’t simply standing near the Queens. She stood with them.

A woman amongst equals.

He scrambled to write her a message when Queen Diana broke the silence. Her voice resounded in the air around him and his father.

“This war is over, King Brice. I will accept your surrender now.” She gestured behind herself at the Kingdom nobles behind her.

Albert corrected himself mentally; they were new Queendom nobles, which Diana confirmed. “I, First Queen Diana of the Alliance of Allied Queens, have accepted oaths of fealty from these nobles on behalf of themselves and their subjects. They have renounced their allegiance to the Kingdom of Seven Suns. Apparently, they desired finer leadership. For their own betterment, and that of their people. These are just a portion of your nobles who felt they could do better under a new ruler.”

Albert peeked up at his father. The man smiled as if everything was going according to his plan.

The King barked out a laugh. “I don't see how that changes the outcome of this little Pather war. Why should I surrender?”

The Queen was clearly prepared for the question, and looked to her right at the empty space beside her. Suddenly, Colonel Thorne appeared, flanked by half a dozen other officers.

Queen Diana smirked at everyone. “With the annexation of the territory these nobles represent, we control all spatial routes leading up to this series of worlds, and all adjacent territories. On behalf of the Alliance of Allied Queens, I hereby request this war be ended, on the premise that the Kingdom has no remaining claim to the Tier 20 planet. In accordance with Chapter 6 Section 2 of the Empire’s Articles of War: a war between vassal states must have and maintain a valid casus belli. The new borders place Kingdom territory too far away from the original war claim to justify their continued involvement. Therefore, I ask that both wars be concluded.”

The Colonel nodded. “As I have confirmed the noble's willing allegiance change, we can move forward. The law does state as much. In the absence of higher interference, I, Colonel Thorne of the Imperial Army, as His Eternal Grace's most senior representative present, confirm that the Kingdom of Seven Suns no longer has sufficient connection to the Tier 20 planet to stake a legal claim. Therefore, the real war between the vassal states is declared over, and ownership of the contested Tier 20 planet is awarded to the Alliance of Allied Queens.”

The Queen's smile widened, but Thorne held up a finger. “However… The Pather war is a separate matter. The casus belli for this was an Imperial Mandate directly from His Eternal Grace, which is independent of the larger war for the Tier 20 planet. Unless the Emperor himself revokes said mandate, the Pather war will not conclude until at least one of the victory or dissolution conditions set forth has been met.”

For a heartbeat, Queen Diana paused, before shrugging and glaring at Albert's father. “As my daughter will soon conquer your Kingdom’s second-to-last city, why don't you just surrender and save yourself the shame of a protracted defeat.”

***

King Brice smirked outwardly, but on the inside, he was fuming. His traitorous little bitch of a daughter had sided with the enemy. Worse yet, she had seduced a flock of his nobles over to her side as well.

He didn't care about the Kingdom one whit. He had one foot out the door anyway, in preparation of leaving it altogether. He was ready to reap his rewards from the Empire for expanding his territory, and, by proxy, the Empire's land.

That reward would compensate him for the five millennium of stalled advancement. The main factors regarding his compensation were the quality and quantity of the planets he subjugated under the Kingdom during his expansion. In theory, his expansion efforts were sizable enough to warrant the resources required to pave his path all the way to Tier 39. Maybe even Tier 40 if he was lucky.

With his firstborn's treason, his expansion rating would probably be slashed down by half, if not more.

His reward would be equally reduced.

Taken away from him.

No one had taken anything from him, not since he had ascended to the throne. He was the one who took from others.

How dare they.

He stared at his daughter.

How dare she.

The anger blazed like a coal, and he was already planning his revenge; how he would kill his daughter and any Queens he could get his hands on. After ceding the throne and Tiering up, he would lodge a long-term stay in a rift, using the excuse that he needed a few decades of seclusion to settle himself.

It was a common enough practice that no one would question it. To avoid blowback from the Empire, he would need to change his identity. That would necessitate changing his face and destroying his AI before absorbing a new one. But after a few years, he could exit the rift with no one the wiser.

Then, he'd stalk the chaotic space around the Queendom, kill his daughter at the first opportunity, and start picking off the remaining Queens at his convenience. His cultivation was only a breath away from Tier 36, which meant he’d overwhelm any single ruler with it alone, not even taking into account his combat prowess.

After all, people went missing in chaotic space all the time. If he destroyed his AI for a second time after he finished, there would be nothing to connect him to their disappearances.

But for now, he needed that reward from Madam Renaissance. Anything crafted by her was worth far more than the slots to advance given by the Empire. That item would be the lever he would use to fight above his Tier, and advance through the last few Tiers faster.

He just needed to reach Tier 45 and complete his Aspect. Then, he could ascend to new lands and advance further.

Grow stronger.

Before leaving, he wanted to twist the knife. Spread some distrust.

With his best shit-eating grin for Diana, he faced his useless youngest son and ordered, “Detonate the bombs.”

***

Sara noticed Albert’s repeated shocks and felt terrible. The naked confusion when he saw his sister on their side made her feel even worse.

She was contemplating how their relationship could advance past this when the King's words froze her brain in its tracks.

“Detonate the bombs.”

What bombs?

Albert swallowed hard and looked to Colonel Thorne. She followed his gaze to where the Colonel glared daggers at the King. The soldiers around him flickered away. A slew of Army announcements arrived through her AI. None of which were good.

The general order to stand still and halt fighting for immediate evacuation caused her stomach to roll.

The King backhanded Albert and repeated himself. “I said detonate them! That means now! Not when you feel like it.”

Without so much as a ripple of power, a shorter woman with finger length, midnight dark hair appeared across from where the Colonel stood.

With a purring voice, she asked the King, “Are you not willing to wait for the evacuation to finish before enacting your plan? The kills will still be rewarded without the need for bloodshed.”

Albert's father spat off to the side, “It's mostly Kingdom and Queendom personnel. The few thousand Pathers are an acceptable loss. Deaths are expected with this war.”

The woman, who Sara couldn’t feel at all, just cocked her head as if she was studying a particularly interesting specimen before dissecting it. Her pose held for a long moment before a flare of light, like a new sun rising over the horizon, drew Sara’s attention away.

When she looked back, the woman faded away without a ripple of power. But from her place in the sky, Sara witnessed millions of people pop into existence at once around the neutral city. Her AI was too overwhelmed to identify them all, but her gut told her that this was everyone from both sides in the war.

The Kingdom and Queendom sides were intermingled, but if the woman had moved close to forty-two million people at once. It was a massively impressive feat in and of itself. It was a show of power.

Sara instantly knew that this was the woman who had so casually injured her mother, and left behind a wound so dire, that only the Queen could survive it… As merely a warning.

Queen Diana said that only a true powerhouse could have managed it so flawlessly, and that it was a display of power like none other.

Considering that the woman hadn't reprimanded the King, Sara feared that she may side with him, and possibly interfere with the Queendom’s expansion. But the woman was just gone.

The total death tolls rolled into Sara’s AI, and she blanched. Nearly 75% of her troops were registered as “dead”. Even the city that the Kingdom had only held for days was obliterated.

Her only city left standing was the teleporter city that linked them to Queendom space. The one that was locked down, and actively being sieged.

Sara’s mother cursed at the King. “You would set explosives that large? And you added depleted copper to make them dirty bombs? Are you insane?”

Hearing ‘dirty bombs’ drew her up. Sara had to look up what depleted copper was. Her AI reported it as a byproduct of mana enriched copper, which was unusually common on this planet. The list of side effects were long enough that she had to scroll for quite a while. But the short of it was, anyone who was unlucky enough to breathe the stuff in would be facing chronic mana problems, depending on the severity of the exposure. It could also linger in the air and soil for decades.

Huge swaths of the planet were now uninhabitable.

The smug bastard smiled and said, “I’ll accept your surrender now.” He obviously took great pleasure in throwing her mother's words back at her.

Diana just shrugged. “So be it. We lose the Pather war. With most of our troops dead and our final city locked down, Prince Albert only needs to blockade the entrances to the central city. He’ll easily be able to hold the planet for the required month. I'm not too prideful to admit defeat. The Alliance of Allied Queens officially surrenders in the Pather War.”

Sara’s mother nodded to Albert. “Well played, young man. I…”

The King’s laughter boomed “You think this sniveling idiot had anything to do with this!? No, I wouldn't trust him to empty a boot filled with water even if I told him the instructions were on the heel. I ordered this at the start because I didn't trust the little idiot to win himself! If it wasn't for the blood test, I’d have thought his mother was sleeping around. He's worthless.”

For the first time, The King looked for Cori. He actually smiled kindly at her. “No, I only have one heir. My only true daughter. The only one willing to do anything for power. As is proper.” He laughed, and this time it was deep and sounded genuine. “No, Cori is the only one of my spawn that measured up. Most of my children ended up as only whining pups, but she's a wolf like me. Vicious, and willing to do anything to seize what she desires. I knew of her plot long ago, when the other contenders froze her out of the throne. It was only a question of when she would make her move.”

Sara turned enough to see Cori look nauseous, but the King kept talking. “And you, my once nobles. Did you think I wasn’t aware of your little plot? No, I knew, and it's why I was willing to poison this planet. What do I care for a wrecked world?”

Diana cut in, “You should care, because you violated half a dozen treaties forbidding deliberately harming habitable worlds. They’ll have you slaving away in an asteroid belt for this.”

This time, the King pointed at the now returned Colonel Thorne. “That's a stretch! No, ask him. When a war is declared, the planet’s current habitability rating is locked in until the war’s conclusion, to keep the rules of war from swinging with the population of soldiers. This shithole was still well under the population threshold needed to be considered an inhabited planet at that time, and so it remains ‘uninhabited’. I can do anything I want to an uninhabited planet. They are explicitly outside of the rules.”

He looked back as he turned away and called over his shoulder, “Oh, and do watch out for my little daughter. She won't be content with last place. Eventually she’ll start picking you all off. I would know, since that's how I ascended to my throne, after all.”

With a final laugh, he vanished.

Albert hovered over to Thorne’s side. He hadn’t taken the King's disparaging of his abilities well. His dejection was mirrored in Cori, who looked physically ill.

Sara thought over the early parts of the war and started to piece things together.

Albert had spent a reckless amount of points on mana, which she now knew went towards charging those massive mana bombs. They must have been ruinously expensive, which explained the discrepancy in spending that her side had noticed.

It also answered where Olivia had come from. A strategic mind like hers should have been making waves much sooner. After the first week of the war, her and her noble liege had barely been seen before they vanished off her spies’ radar. Her intelligence officers had written them off as a lazy noble and his retinue treating the war like a vacation. If they were in charge of digging the hiding spots for the bombs, that would explain what they’d actually been up to.

There was just one thing she still didn’t understand. None of that explained how her earth mages hadn't discovered any of the bombs. When they took each city, large portions had to be completely rebuilt by them. The mages should have felt the lingering signs of other earth mages’ work.

It made so little sense, she had to ask Albert.

“I don't understand how you planted the bombs. I just don't get it.” Her message was private enough, as she asked through their AIs instead of in the open.

He replied through the same method, without meeting her eyes. “Mundane digging teams. No magical residue to give them away. We also put the bombs under the teleport pads. No one but the army is dumb enough to mess with them. And they knew of the plans beforehand, and didn't interfere.”

Albert looked at his hands. Even from where she stood a hundred feet away, she saw his hands tremble as he clenched them into a fist. But it didn't stop the shaking, only increased it.

Sara might have lost the Pather war, but she wouldn't switch places with Albert for anything, not if it took her mother treating her like that.

That was far too cruel.

“He just said those things to hurt you. He was just trying to be cruel.”

Albert shook his head. “I don't know. Was he? I just leaned into his plan. I made excuses to myself that you wouldn’t be willing to siege any of my cities if you found out. Maybe if I had played my hand better, I could have won on my own. My side may have won, but I don't feel like a winner. I'm just tired.”

He looked to the side at the Colonel, and a second later, he vanished.

Sara turned to her mother, where she stood with Cori. The newest Queen had composed herself again and looked no more shaken than she had when they first arrived. The only difference was she had a frigid edge to her now.

Sara only knew the woman in passing. They had spoken only once, at a private dinner several years back. So she might be wrong, but Sara suspected that the King’s parting words had marred Cori as much as Albert.

Most of what she knew about the new Queen was second-hand through her mother, but everyone knew Cori hated her father with a burning passion. She could understand why, after only interacting with the man once. He publicly demeaned Albert, and even went as far as to hit him.

And in public, no less. The abuse was no doubt far worse in private.

That level of disrespect was hard to believe. Her mother never publicly reprimanded her, let alone physically assaulted her. Considering the level of thirty Tier strength discrepancy, keeping a blow nonlethal required a minuscule margin of error. The slightest slipup would leave his son in pieces.

King was almost asking for an accident to happen. Or simply didn’t care.

With nothing else to do, Sara began organizing her people. The planet needed to be secured. The Queendom might have lost the Pather war, but they had won the real war, so this planet was theirs by proxy.

A mountain of work needed to be completed, starting with quarantining the contaminated areas around the cities that had been hit with depleted copper.

Hopefully, her mother would step in to assist in the clean-up. Otherwise, large swaths of the planet would remain dangerous for decades. The army reported the wind patterns to her and expected fallout zones. The predictions were troubling. The city locations had been selected to maximize rift access, but now they were untraversable wastelands. The rifts themselves would be unaffected, but they were nearly impossible to safely reach for now.

With more and more messages piling up, Sara asked her mother to send her back to her headquarters.

Overall, today was a cause for celebration. Despite  losing the Pather war, the Queendom had a new Queen, and a new Tier 20 planet.

The future looked bright.

***

Alyssa stared blankly into the sky as the recording played through her AI.

The betrayal and treason were hardly news to her. She had caught wind of that early in the Pather war. Or more accurately, she had been approached by the Queendom early in the war with an offer. If she fed them critical information, there would be a permanent spot in the Queendom for her.

Initially, Alyssa had refused the offer off hand. Spies took on massive risk while being largely expendable. She refused to needlessly put herself in such a precarious position. Plus, massive effort had gone into establishing good connections in the Kingdom. Among this generation, her information network ranked second to only The Prince’s, despite being born to the lower nobility. Losing all that work for a ‘spot’ in the Queendom? No, that pitiful reward didn’t remotely justify the price

On top of that, there was all the effort that went into creating contacts among the independent crafters and various Pathers too. If word got out she had been a spy, they would assume she was only using them to sabotage the Kingdom and the trust she built up would sour. No, she had worked too hard to build her position in the Kingdom to lose it all for so little gain.

Then, the letter from her parents arrived. Once again, they were trying to sell her off. The pretext of her being able to approve her suitors was fading away with each attempt. Eventually, she might just disappear in the night and her parents would publicly announce she’d accepted a marriage offer outside the Kingdom.

After careful deliberation, she realized she was running out of time to escape her parent’s machinations and decided to throw her lot in with the Queendom. It would take more work to rebuild her social standing, but she was confident that she could make it happen. With her access to Kingdom information networks and her own rumor mill, she could earn enough political clout to gain a better starting position when she officially flipped sides.

That same night, she had gotten plastered in an attempt to make her decision easier to swallow. With one message to Amber, her future was set in motion. Immediately afterwards, she panicked and resorted to drinking herself into a stupor to dull the feelings. She had given up everything she knew for an even greater unknown, with only blind hope to comfort her.

Ending up in Liz’s room was more of an accident than on purpose. Alyssa had just needed to move, and her desire to avoid all of the people she decided to betray led her to Liz’s room.

That night, she feared that she had slipped up, but Liz hadn’t seemed to mention that she had called the Kingdom losers to anyone. She kept a wary eye out for the following few days, but either Liz hadn’t picked up on the slip or she just hadn't cared enough to report it.

Which was why she didn't balk at the news that she would be killed in the assassination wave, after giving Sara the hidden location of Alberts meditation room.

All of her work was now gone. On both sides. She had burned her bridges with the Kingdom by betraying them, all to escape into the Queendom away from her parent’s authority. But even that work went up in smoke. Her parents were here, still with her under their thumb. There was just no winning, or no escape at the very least.

She stared up at her parents with horror and disgust, as the implications started to settle in.

They had long been planning to jump ship without informing her. It made everything feel so futile. If she had remained loyal to the Kingdom, she would still have been forced to join them in the Queendom anyway. No one would trust the daughter of two traitors.

Even with her AI to prove that she hadn't known about the treason, they would always suspect her of being a plant. She would never be trusted, and would be under constant surveillance.

From the very start, Her parents’ opportunistic cowardice had screwed her over once again.

Her only hope was that that the goodwill she had earned with Princess Sara might be enough to prevent any marriages without her consent.

Alyssa was a peacock. She wasn’t necessarily choosy about her future mate. They just had to meet her criteria. She wasn't picky, like her parents claimed. At least, not really. Was it so much to ask for someone who was beautiful and powerful in their own right? Someone she chose.

She didn't even mind if they had other spouses. The company might even be nice. She could share, as long as she was number one.

What she wanted to avoid was being stuck in some loveless marriage of convenience, like her parents had. She intended to stick it out with her spouse forever—none of those timed contract marriages.

Is that too much to ask for?

Alyssa didn't think so, but her parents waved away all of her concerns as the pointless whining of a child. She figured it was because neither of them had a strong bloodline, and didn't feel her instincts. They didn't feel the pull to act as the primal, unthinking portion of your brain guiding them.

Her mother's eyes met hers, and after nudging her father, the two of them started to fly down to where she stood. Her stomach dropped as they, and the inevitable fate they would press onto her, once again loomed over her.

Juni had already run off after Albert’s scolding from the King was broadcast to everyone, and she was thoroughly alone in the mass of people. She didn’t feel like she belonged to either side.

Her mother landed gracefully, with all the bearing that someone flying with their Concept would have. Or it would have been, if it wasn't so obvious that she was trying to hide the flying device around her waist. Her father mirrored her mother's movements, and they settled down with faux smiles and flairs of their power to clear a space for themselves.

“Oh good, we were worried that you would struggle with making a connection when we changed sides. It was gratifying to hear that you had already jumped ship. It also smooths a lot of our hurdles in introducing you to a new generation of suitors. While this switch will be a benefit to us in the long run, we’ll have to start making alliances. We…”

Her father only nodded along as he added the occasional, “Good, good.” His attention was more on a Tier 15 noble who flew under her own power. Alyssa had no idea if he was talking about her taking the Queendom’s side, or the woman's body.

Her mother must have noticed, but she said nothing. As usual.

Alyssa's mind raced in circles that turned into ruts. She tried to find a way to use this to her favor, when Liz slipped away from her team, deliberately showing her back to Alyssa’s parents.

Her bearing was tight, as was her posture, suggesting that Liz was bringing news that someone didn't want to hear. She had seen that expression enough in their various meetings and verbal duels. It usually meant some good fun, but now, Alyssa didn't know if she could handle someone else kicking her while she was down.

Alyssa’s mother moved forward to continue their conversation, when Liz started speaking and halted her with her voice.

“This wasn't how I expected the war to go. Or, for you to have been a part of a larger plot to change sides.” The redhead looked at her parents with a withering glance that took all of them aback. “Or for your parents to be such pieces of shit.”

Alyssa stood up straighter at that direct provocation. Pather or not, that was an insult few nobles could let pass without a response.

Her mother opened her mouth, but her father barked out, “Now, you listen here…”

Liz ignored them, but Alyssa didn't miss Matt shifting his weight and taking a subtle ready stance. The rest of their team fanned out slightly, but it would do them little good. Even as worthless as her parents were, they were still Tier 14.

No Tier 6 could fight through that much of a power gap.

It was touching in a way. Alyssa knew that they weren't doing it for her, but seeing others disagree with her parents' attitude felt good.

“I recognized my owed favor to you after our little talk, but we never had the opportunity to make that even. Thankfully, I prepared for such an opportunity.”

Liz coughed slightly, and a woman appeared out of nowhere.

Power radiated off her nearly see-through skin, and Alyssa’s bloodline resonated with the woman's power.

She spoke with a whispery voice that was somehow lulling and grating to Alyssa's ears and spirit at the same time.

“I am recruiter Felicia, Tier 22 of Red Feather Academy, the Beast Kingdom’s preparatory school for exceptional youths. I am here to offer you a full scholarship. Our program will take you to the peak of Tier 14, and there are classes to help you find your own Concept. We boast a nearly 75% success rate for our charges discovering their own Concepts while enrolled. After our more unlucky charges leave our halls, they still have a 90% success rate, through the skills we teach and connections they make while walking our illustrious halls.”

At the slight pause, Alyssa shook her head. She didn't want to be under someone's thumb with that large of a favor. The statistics were also probably carefully selected, and curated to show such high percentages. Even 70% of people getting their Concepts was unheard of.

Still, she wanted in.

She expected that Liz might have gotten her this little opportunity, but the cost might be untenable. Nothing was truly free.

“I can't afford the price that comes with someone offering that.”

Felicia nodded slightly and grinned, revealing thin black needle-like teeth. “A perfectly astute first observation. A young lady should always be wary of the potential unspoken price of any gifts. But no, this favor isn't one that comes with a price tag. Possibly the only such one you'll ever encounter in your life. Your sponsorship comes directly from Queen Mara herself. Considering she funds most of the school herself, she is allocated a number of spots per year to give away however she desires. There is a standard contract you can have reviewed, but there is explicitly no repayment clause.”

Alyssa doubted that it was as simple as that, but changed her view of Liz. This wasn't a favor equal to her helping Liz set up the Pathers Union. If she took this favor, she’d be firmly in the woman's debt.

“Why? And how?” She needed to know before seriously considering the offer, despite how tempting it would be to jump in feet first.

Liz shrugged. “The why is rather hard to explain, and less important at the moment. How, on the other hand, is quite easy. I'm a young Phoenix with an exceptionally pure bloodline. When my Talent came to light, I was concerned that it might present dangerous complications. So my family requested an evaluation from Queen Mara. She has a well known soft spot for Phoenix children and granted our request. I met her at that time..”

Liz shrugged as if that wasn't a monumental occurrence, but Alyssa figured that it made sense, given they were both Phoenixes. She could imagine the woman’s bloodline allowing the her to meet someone so powerful and above her station.

“Her Majesty told me to message her if I ever needed anything. Considering she offered me a position in this very school, I figured I might be able to get you a spot in my stead. I never wanted it, but I suspected you might be interested, so…”

The Tier 22 nodded. “Once we were made aware of you, your bloodline, and your other—” She drew out the word with a hiss, as if she was searching for the right thing to say next. Alyssa felt that it was purely for dramatic effect. “— achievements. Once you came to our attention through more standard means, the academy would have extended a scholarship offer anyway. Perhaps not a full ride, but the amount would have been substantial by its own merit—your merit.”

Alyssa swallowed. If they knew of her playing both sides, they might have been watching her for quite a while. That was unsettling.

Liz finished off with a half-smile, half-shrug. “Now back to the why. I thought that it would fuck over all of your scheming and planning, while also clearing our favor. It's everything you wanted, while rendering the networks and connections you’ve made over the years useless. I know how much you care about those things.” The smirk grew slightly evil as she added, “And I don't think you’re ready for the level of pettiness and layers of intrigue you’ll find there. It made me happy to imagine you getting eaten alive by people who are a million times better at these little games than you.”

Alyssa had no idea what to think about that. She knew— or she thought she knew Liz pretty well. But even she had to admit, that was quite the devious gift. It was everything Alyssa ever wanted, while, just as predicted, also ruinous to every last one of her plans.

A favor equal parts gracious and cunning.

It was also a challenge. Alyssa didn't fear the others at the school. She wasn't arrogant enough to think that she'd be better than them, but she knew that she’d be able to hold her own. And if the recruiter was to be believed, her backer was the Queen of Beasts herself, Mara. No one would push things too far, even if she fucked up and got herself on the wrong side of a bad bargain.

Alyssa could see herself thriving in that environment, and she tingled at the thought of battling equals.

It was thrilling.

Even at its worst, decades of work beat a lifetime as a broodmare.

Looks of shock and horror slowly crept across her parent’s faces at the realization that their greatest prize might escape their clutches. Seeing that only sweetened the deal.

She just nodded. “I’ll take it. I…”

Felicia cut her off. “Good! Now that you have decided, we must be off immediately. Your current education is years and six Tiers behind your peers. We will need to work on forming good habits, and erase all these bad ones. As Elizabeth said, your peers will eat you alive if you enter as you are now.”

A sleek ship hovered in the air above the crowd. They rose up to an opening door as the Tier 22 said, “I only have a month and a half while we travel to personally get you up to snuff. That isn't nearly enough time. First, we need to…”

Alyssa carefully listened as she glanced back down. Liz had a smile that said Alyssa would hate what was to come.

Liz was wrong; good or bad, this was exactly where she wanted to be. She tried to convey that in her return smirk.

Liz just laughed and waved as they entered the ship.

“And if you want to send messages with just a look, you need to be far more subtle. You don't need to shout with your face. It’s uncivilized and you give far too much away. Instead, you should have…”

***

Matt watched Alyssa leave with poorly hidden amusement. The fact that Liz had called her mother to get Alyssa the scholarship, while presenting the exact same tale about only knowing the Queen, was quite funny when he knew the truth.

Having been on the other side of that lie, he could appreciate the delicate web of truths that Liz had spun to give the impression she had.

He looked at the grinning Liz and asked, “Seems like she won that round, no?”

Liz shook her head. “No, not at all. She thinks she's going to do fine, but those other kids are going to eat her alive. Everyone who enters the Academy thinks they’re hot shit. To make matters worse, the cliques have already formed for her year group. She’s going to have an awful few decades.”

Alyssa's parents turned as one to Liz, and the woman roared, “How dare you!? You little viper! I'll have your head for this!”

She started to lunge, but her husband blocked her and frantically started talking her down.

He at least caught that Liz had a good relationship with a Tier 48. Attacking her was suicide, and he kept repeating that to his wife. The army was still here and watching, after all.

With that dealt with, Matt and his team started to move into the neutral city with the rest of the crowd.

It felt odd. Even with the Queendom technically losing the war, they celebrated on their new planet. Meanwhile, the Kingdom troops were in poor spirits.

Matt saw Conor and the twins huddled up and whispered together as they walked through the crowd.

Finally, when they had just exited the tunnel through the outer wall, Annie swung an arm over his and Liz's shoulders and asked, “So.. what are your plans?”

Matt shrugged. Right now, they were just waiting for their management team to be created and to start directing them. They didn't really have control of their travel plans for the foreseeable future. His speculation of what Annie wanted was confirmed when she asked, “We’re going to form a permanent team. After Tier 3, our Sponsor gave us permission to add anyone we wanted. We want to officially or unofficially team up with you three.”

Emily and Conor both nodded along.

Matt was touched. They may have met through random chance, but they had become good friends. He just didn't know how to turn them down.

Liz took care of it first, but through their group chat. “We really appreciate that offer. We really do. But we have a management team waiting for us in the wings somewhere.”

Emily cocked an eyebrow while saying, “I don't know what that is?”

Matt filled them in. “After Tier 10, if you show enough potential to excel on The Path, a support team is put together for you. They help you press your advantages and shore up weaknesses. Seekers, or people with seeker-like abilities, can get it early if they can fight above their weight class. Think about my Mana Concept in terms of charging rifts. It lets us advance without the normal time restrictions, so we were offered the team early to prevent us from falling into a rut. It came with strings attached though. I'd love to have you guys join, but our path is now a lot more restrictive now.”

They didn't press, which Matt was grateful for.

Annie punched his arm as she laughed out loud. “Well, we’ll expect great things in the future then. It's not like we won't see each other again. The three of us are close to finishing our Concepts, and once we have them, we’re going to race ahead.”

They idly chatted before they separated with hugs all around. The trio were taking one of the soon to be leaving Empire ships out to the other side of the Empire. They had agreed on hitting a Tier 12 planet for the abundance of Tier 7 rifts. They wanted to get used to being Tier 7 before they moved to the much more profitable Tier 8 rifts that would drop skill shards regularly.

Matt had little worry about them running into issues. They were strong individually. Together, they would make a fantastic delve team.

They wanted to stay and chat, but their ship was going to be the first one to leave. Their scheduled departure time was quickly approaching, as the ship was going to the farthest reaches of the Empire.

Hugs and slaps were once again shared as the new trio turned and raced away. Matt was watching them go when half a million points were transferred from Annie, with a note of thanks for the loan.

Matt smiled as he brought up his own points total.

Prior Total (last updated 24 days ago): 365,751 points.

TEAM MERITS:

(Calculated for Tier 6 Combatant).

• Enemy vassal killed, Tier 5. Worth 1 point. Performed 541 times.
• Enemy vassal killed, Tier 6. Worth 5 points. Performed 20,274 times.
• Enemy vassal killed, Tier 7. Worth 25 points. Performed 748 times.
• Enemy leader assassinated, Tier 7. Worth 50,000 points. Performed 1 time.
• Items and equipment looted but returned. Assigned worth: 50,447 points.
• Assisted in the elimination of a critical enemy strategic asset, siege mage. Worth 5,000 points. Performed 1 time.
• Eliminated enemy general(s) in the middle of a major engagement (each side >500K units). Reward: 1.4x multiplier to all team merits.

PERSONAL MERITS:

(Calculated for Tier 6 Combatant)

• Enemy vassal killed, Tier 5. Worth 1 point. Performed 541 times.
• Enemy vassal killed, Tier 6. Worth 5 points. Performed 20,262 times.
• Enemy vassal killed, Tier 7. Worth 25 points. Performed 732 times.
• Victory achieved! Top 100 contributor. 500,000 points.

ARMY MERITS:

• Successful seize command of vassal kingdom forces. Leadership rating: poor. 1500 points.
• Lead a long term harassment campaign against a superior invading army. Reward: 1.3x multiplier to all merits (applied after other multipliers).
• Took charge and led remaining troops while infighting delayed proceedings. Reward: 1.5x multiplier to all merits (applied after other multipliers).

UNACHIEVED MERITS: For reference purposes only.

• Conquer the final enemy city. Reward: 2.0x multiplier to all merits.

SUMMARY OF GAINS:

• Team Merits:
  • Raw Total:   226,058
  • Team Multiplier:  1.4x
  • Category Total:  316,481
• Personal Merits:
  • Raw Total:   620,151
  • Personal Multiplier:  N/A
  • Category Total:  620,151
• Combined Merits:
  • Sub-Total:   936,632
  • Total Multiplier:  1.8x
  • Grand Total:   1,685,938

New Gains: 1,685,938 points.

New Total: 2,185,938 points.

Points transferred from teammate: 500,000.

New Total: 2,551,689 points.

Pather Team Ranking (Kingdom of Seven Suns): 1st place.

Estimated Daily Stipend: N/A.

He had well over two million points now. If [Cracked Breach] was still on the market, he would have bought that without a second thought. But now, he really didn't know what he wanted. He knew it should be things that he currently couldn't afford on the Empire Market, which meant Tier 14 skills, or other obscure skills that were made cheaper for the war.

But as he had told Annie, Conor, and Emily, they had a management team that should be here shortly, and it was prudent to wait for their input. There might be some super underrated skill that he was overlooking.

Matt and Liz stopped by Kelley’s to say goodbye. The man was ecstatic about the end of the war, and what it meant for the expansion of his craft.

“Myself and a number of other crafters are staying. Really, it's most of us. We will work for the Queendom for a while, with the condition that we get first dibs on the rift that makes these.” He rubbed his ring. “It's a fantastic deal.”

The older man brightened. “Speaking of which, we’re starting our own little informal guild-like structure. It's mostly to just trade unique mana types. You’ll join, won’t you?”

Matt was already looking over the sent-over information, and nodded as he accepted. The rules were fairly straightforward and fair. Mana types were rated and shared, but had to be posted on the open forum for everyone to browse. Selling was done in between the parties involved, and any restrictions could be applied.

“This is perfect. I'm happy to add to it. I need lots of weird types to experiment with.”

Kelley grinned. “Oh, I know. With the war over, the Queendom is happy to host a number of Pather crafters, and is already moving resources over. We'll be making things with nearly no profit margin, but that's fine for now.”

Matt knew the resource in question was more personal mana stones that could be imprinted to hold a mana type. Kelley and all the other crafters would need massive numbers of them, even in a place as small as the Queendom.

“Let me know if any more good growth items pop out of the rift.”

Kelley laughed. “That's what we’re hoping for. It's not even close to likely, but we’re hoping nonetheless.”

They chatted for a few more minutes, before Kelley got called into a meeting and had to go.

The three of them were moving down the street, when suddenly, they were floating in the air amongst the clouds.

Aster yowled at the lack of ground. She tried to jump into his arms, but was only able to spin herself, which only increased the yowling.

“Good evening, children.” A woman appeared with short, black hair so dark that it looked purple. She had gleaming, slitted eyes, and smiled at them with two others flanking her.

She gestured and said, “I’m Luna, your new team manager.”

Seeing no reaction, she pointed at a man who held up a sign that had, ‘Hello! It is good to meet you!’ written on it.

“This is Kurt. He’s mute, so you'll need to read what he says. If you want to use AI, that's fine, but only as long as I’m not around.”

She took a deep breath before launching into a tirade. “I don't like AI. They make people lazy and overdependent on them. We can think for ourselves. They make you predictable.”

From slightly behind her, Kurt held up a series of boards that he flipped through, each with Luna’s rant on it, word for word. Even her dismissive wave of the signage had its own card. Apparently, it was a common rant.

“He's my assistant, and he’s damn good at his job.”

The short woman pointed at the remaining blonde woman. “This is April. She is our liaison. In a normal management team, she would be the one who interfaces with you, while we—" Luna gestured between herself and Kurt, “—work with a number of different teams.”

She shook her head. “I don't work that way. I only work with one team at a time, and most of your primary training will come directly from the two of us. April will be helping with our scheduling, PR, and making you new public personas. None of those are easy. She will also be taking care of your day to day needs. That doesn't mean she’ll be wiping your asses for you, so don't push her willingness to help.”

Kurt pulled up a sign asking, “Can you please share your Talent information with us?”

Matt was surprised that they didn't have access already, but the mute man shook his head while Luna explained, “Even we can’t access it without your permission. I can feel your spirits and get a good idea, but it's not perfect by any means.”

He, Liz, and Aster silently communicated for a few seconds. They came to the agreement that if they were doing this, they had to do it right, and their trainers would be better with hard numbers instead of guesswork.

Together, they shared their information, which caused quiet murmuring and note scribbling from Kurt and Luna.

Finally, the two came up for air and Kurt wrote out, “Matt, it's good that your mana is a true double. We feared from our observations that it would drop off. It gives you amazing versatility after a few Tiers worth of growth, and you’ll eventually make one monster of a mage.”

Luna interjected as he flipped pages and started to write, “But that's a problem as well. You’ll need to put in even more time to grow your skills and learn how to use them, but this isn't a bad problem to have. It just means that you need to put in more work.”

Kurt flipped up his board. “Mana Concentration will hurt you going forward, but if you can recreate that rift again, we can handle this. It will be expensive and time consuming, but we don't want to let you fall too far behind on that.”

A page flip showed the next text. “Mana control is something else you’ll need to work on. It's going to get harder and harder as your mana pool starts to expand massively, and in sudden jumps. We’re also looking into ways for you to deal with your mana doubling issue. It will get hard, but we might just rent out a city's storage, and have you refill it as payment eventually.”

Luna then pointed to Liz. “Your Talent is more straightforward, but it has potential that Matt’s lacks. You should be trying to understand and truly be one with blood. I get the feeling that it will help when you hit Tier 15, and get a beast form. Also, you should be trying more unorthodox skills like [Fire Sprite]. That was a good roll of the dice.”

Kurt held up a sign for Aster. “You are fairly standard, but your Concept is a variation on the normal ice bloodline, which is useful. You can do anything you wish to with ice or water magic. That gives you less room to grow, but you can become a master of your element.”

Luna held up a finger. “Speaking of growing.”

Around the woman, dozens of paper notepads appeared and then hovered before the three of them in piles. Matt's was taller than himself, and from what he could see, the other piles were just as large. To make matters worse, the notes were written in a small, but neat hand that filled every available spot on the visible pages.

“These are the notes that I've accumulated over the past year of watching you three.”

She pointed a finger at Matt, with her tone turning a bit more severe and chastising. “You have too many options and versatility in combat. While your mana pool limits you now, it won't forever. We need to do a lot of work with both your melee and magical combat if you don't want to be shoved into a dark hole and forced to power a planet. Or twenty.”

Luna seemed to ripple as she appeared in front of Aster, who was between Matt and Liz.

“And you, miss ‘wiggles her butt a lot’. It's to set your grip, not to show off. You need to pick a role in the group and start working toward it. You can't remain in a backpack forever.”

Aster cut the older woman off with a yip and a growl. “I like my backpack! It's comfy.”

Luna grinned evilly. “I don't care. If you want to be useful, you'll have to be useful. You have a massive advantage with your intelligence, and we need to press it for everything it gives us.”

She turned to Liz. “And you. You're a short to medium range mage, with your boy toy and the glove. Good idea to make that, by the way. That was a creative use of your time.” She nodded back to Matt and Aster. “You don’t have the problems that every other elemental mage has. You carry your resources with you everywhere, and can just kill something to get the ball rolling.”

Liz opened her mouth, but Luna held up a finger that demanded no interruptions.

“You need to decide if you want to remain a mage, or turn into a more melee-oriented style. Or, you might tread the path of both, so you can be more versatile and cover more situations.”

Liz raised her own finger in question, to which Luna nodded her assent.

“I was just wondering who ‘G’ was. The first message you sent was signed ‘G,’ and none of your names start with a g.” She shrugged as she added, “Seems weird.”

Luna barked a laugh, and Matt didn't miss Kurt crack a smile as well.

“I was afraid that you might recognize my name. When you didn’t react after I introduced myself, I realized your parents must not have told you about me. Even if you did, I could have worked with that. But really, if you knew who I was at my first message, you would have known that I’d be watching you the entire time. I didn’t want that.”

All three of them must have had looks of confusion, because Luna grinned wide, with far too many teeth showing.

“I've been retired for a while, but I was your parents’ manager a long time ago.”

Liz groaned. “Does that mean they’ll be hanging around? I have a deal with them to not show up until Tier 10. But I wouldn't put it past them to say that they’re visiting you to see me.”

“Ha! No, not a chance. Your parents wouldn’t even be on the same planet as me if they could avoid it. Last I saw them, they ruined my nap with one of their little foreplay sessions, so I made your mother play heat lamp and your father water my garden for a few years. Haven't seen them since.”

Liz’s eyes grew wider and wider as Luna spoke, until it was almost comical.

“I'm honestly surprised that your parents never complained about me.”

Liz leaned forward and laughed. “Oh, they did. I know that story, but all they called you was that 'bird eating bitch'.”

“Ah yes, your mother was still a mouthwatering little flame sparrow when I took on their team. Catching and eating the other birds around her proved to be great motivation for her to train harder." She caught Aster's eyes. "Will I have to do the same with foxes?”

Aster shook her head violently and deflated.

Luna turned back to Liz. “Your parents were giant failures, which I intend to rectify with you. They were lazy, and more concerned with goofing off. I will not tolerate that in any way, shape, or form. Not again. Not with any of you.”

Liz shook her head. “No, this is perfect! I hate how they just gallivant around and refuse to take anything seriously. And if you being here means that they won't spy on me, I'm all for it. I'm pretty sure they have been. I’ve gotten the feeling of being watched more than once.”

She looked to Matt, who still had reservations but about a separate topic. “So how long have you been watching us?”

Luna shrugged. “A month or so after that investigator, whatever his name was, reported in.”

Matt winced. It meant she had fully seen his Talent at work. His initial reaction was to tense up at that but he had already shared with her the exact details. What did it matter if she watched him make rifts? Which led him to his second question. “And how often did you watch us?”

“All the time. I’m over Tier 40. I can see an ant on the other side of the planet fall off a branch while sleeping.”

Matt blushed at that thought. Luna apparently understood and just smiled. “Yes, I watched you two have sex. Notebooks seventy-three and seventy-four have notes where you can improve on that for the both of you.”

Matt felt himself flush to the point that his ears felt hot. He had to resist the urge to activate [Cracked Phantom Armor] to hide. Knowing that a higher Tier being could sense you was one thing. Having her critique their sex and write suggestions down was another thing entirely.

Wanting to change the topic and person he was talking to, Matt looked at April and asked, “Do you know what our plans going forward are? What are we supposed to do? I don't know how a management team actually works.”

April had a soft voice that carried on the wind. “I know we have a few recommendations for you, but in the end, you aren’t forced to take our offers or orders. In reality, they are simply strong suggestions. I do know that they want you to travel back through the Queendom, and head to a Tier 10 planet for your initial...” she hesitated for a second, “training. We found an individual that we feel can help the three of you with melee training, first and foremost. After that, we have a list of people for you to visit. With your age and Tier, Luna says that it's better to have you work on the fundamentals than to Tier up. Once we cover some bases and basics with you, I believe she intends to have you Tier up to Tier 8 rather quickly, and start with your—” she glanced over at where their island was, “—rift experiments.”

“What about the rewards for the war? We have quite a few points left over, but the item I wanted was bought.” Matt tried to not let his longing for [Cracked Breach] leak through, but he could tell he failed.

Luna turned around and jabbed a finger at Matt. “I wouldn't have let you use the skill much, even if you had bought it. It's too strong for your current prowess. No, it's better that you didn't get it.”

Liz leaned forward. “Wait, did you tell Sara to buy it?”

Luna shook her head. “No. I didn't interfere in the war a single time for or against your benefit. The only thing I did was prevent real deaths and watch.”

That actually made Matt feel better, until Luna said, “If you want my opinion, Matt, you should buy all the Tier 8 and Tier 14 elemental manipulation skills. I don't expect you to ever get the finesse a focused mage should have, but I want you to be able to out muscle or out mana any mage in the small bit of space around you. It will help prevent you from being taken out of a fight too early. Also, get [Mana Charge] and [Mana Slash]. Stop relying on the runes residing on your sword. You’re leaving too much damage on the table, and at Tier 7, you’ll be able to cast them. Plus you’re wasting space on your sword that can go to enchantments there aren’t skills for already. Spend your extra points on whatever you want. I don't care.”

She pointed to Liz. “You need to get the same things. Keep them in your outer spirit, so they don't get changed by your Talent. You don't need to be amazing with them. Just have them. Also, get any skills you think might change to be useful.”

Aster received a look that said she needed to get the same things, and from Aster's ear flick, she understood.

Luna turned back to Matt. “If you have any points left over, just trade them for Empire points, even with the awful conversion. Then buy [Ranged Heal]. I intend for you to need it.”

She looked down and to the side as if someone called her name, and she listened for a minute before turning back to the trio.

“As I said earlier, we will be making new identities for you all. Masks and the whole shebang. Also, Baxter intends to point his kids in the same direction. Treat the travel as a vacation, because it's the last one you'll get until you meet my standards, or reach Tier 25 and complete The Path.”

With that, they found themselves in the crowd that they had disappeared from. Matt looked around and, not seeing anyone they knew, sent a message to Melinda’s team stating that they were apparently traveling together.

Taking Liz’s hand in his own while carrying Aster in the other, Matt made the suggested purchases along with the repository of runes up to Tier 25.

They all made sense, and it wasn't like they couldn't afford them. Money would never be an issue, and he needed to get over that particular hangup. Buying Tier 14 skills was still out of his price range, but knowing that rare Tier 8 skills sold for Tier 14 prices was enough to ensure that it was at least possible.

Add into that the things he had learned about crafting, and using aspected and sub-aspected mana types for making items, he was sure that he could repeat his success with making new skills like [Copper Skin]. It was only a matter of reaching Tier 7 or Tier 8, so he could rapidly make and charge rifts to Tier 8, and guarantee skill drops.

Even with the disaster of the war ending in what felt more like a loss than the victory it was, he felt like things were looking up. They were getting a break, and could relax with friends for the next few months. It was a shame that Conor, Annie, and Emily were not along for the trip, but he had the feeling that things were going to change up once again.

His life before The Path of Ascension was repetitive and dull. It had been anything but since he stepped foot out of the PlayPen.

He was looking forward to the future, no matter what it brought. They were just challenges to be overcome, and he was coming to truly believe that the three of them could triumph over anything life, The Path, or Luna threw at them.