Chapter 5 - Figures

I awoke to a harsh morning glare, freezing feet, and a very comfortable presence beside me. Slowly, I yawned, then nodded as it all came back to me. I still had more than a few residual feelings of anger at what I had seen going on. It was the sort of primitive brutality that should have been wiped out a long, long time ago. In fact, for the most part, it should have been.

Not everybody liked Demihumans as much as I did; I knew that quite well. In many places, they were treated as second-class citizens just because they weren't human. However, outright abuse of that extreme level for no reason but doing it was frowned on even by the most anti-Demihuman cultures. So an operation of this scale was more than a little strange, and Emralia was not known to be a hateful country. The politicians I unfortunately now numbered among had not publicly decried girls with wings or tails, yet more than one had been wrapped up in this insanity. Far more than one.

"Good morning." a voice I was glad to hear again said. I looked over to find Flinder lying there, smiling at me. She looked radiant, as usual. Or perhaps my imagination was just covering the flaws since I was so happy to have her back. I'd missed her company. And her appearance, yes, but… I liked her beyond the fact that she had wings coming out of her back. For me, that was really something. A strange feeling crept over me, one that I recognized immediately.

It was a warning given off by a warding spell that sensed hostile intent. Totally useless against somebody like Sayo, who didn't plan anything out, but anyone coming to hurt me or my companions would trip up the spell. I set it up every night out of habit alone, along with a few other enchantments designed solely to keep me and those I liked alive.

"Stay here." I said, unwilling to lose her again. "Sayo! Amelia! We have company!" The two scrambled for weapons as a few shapes appeared at the top of a nearby cliff.

"He's awake." one of them said. "We'll just have to improvise." he and four friends leaped down and landed quietly, weapons held menacingly in their hands. I was not especially worried; with Amelia's addition, the fighting power of my group was far from a joke. "Eliminate them before the Queen gets here!"

Queen? What Queen?

There was no more time for thoughts, though, as the five men rushed forward. Clearly intent on killing us, international law took over. It was publicly accepted, everywhere, to fight back with lethal force if somebody was trying to kill you and they weren't punishing you because of your local laws. Thus, I felt no real remorse as Amelia took down three of them and Lilia and I beat the other two into the ground. We left their leader alive.

"All right. Talk." Lilia growled, skittering forward. "Who sent you?"

"Daeis." Amelia said, pulling a piece of paper out of his clothes. She unrolled it and examined the sheet carefully. "It's an execution order for you and Lilia, as well as an Imperial Edict to stay away from Sayo. Nothing on me or Flinder." She let the scroll wrap up and kicked the assassin in the side. "Did you really think that was a professional job? If you saw something unexpected, you should have just pulled back to reassess the situation, not charge in."

"Kashi scum." the assassin spat out. "You're no better than the freaks!" Amelia looked up at me, and I nodded. Those were the man's last words.

"So Daeis really wants us dead." Lilia remarked as she began packing everything up with her usual speed and efficiency. "That means they think we're a threat of some sort."

"Well… we are." I said, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. "We've got me, and I have Syrus' staff, we have an intelligent, talented spider-girl, a Drathi Ambassador, a Kashi Blademaster, and Sayo. Of course they think we're a threat; we have all the makings of a group of heroes!"

"He's got a point…" Amelia muttered, considering my words carefully. "We certainly do have a lot of power, political and otherwise. We're also on a campaign to go right to their Capital. That order was dated some time ago, but things have gotten even worse for them with my addition to this group." Normally, this would have been very egotistical of somebody to say. One person, however talented, does not suddenly make a group strong.

Unless that person is blessed by the Divines or happens to be Kashi. It cannot be overstated how much fighting power she added to our group; she wasn't Demihuman, but I felt far, far safer with her guarding my back. Or my front, more likely, since she would be right in the middle of any fight.

Lilia muttered over the scroll as she took it from Amelia, and nodded carefully a few times. I wondered what spell she was using, but fortunately, I didn't have to wonder long.

"This order was given at the recommendation of a number of senior military officers and Prince Raos." my familiar explained coolly. "Signed by the King himself. We're not just being generally targeted; the attack was specifically sent against us. It was very amateurish, but…"

I whirled around and fired off the most explosive spell I knew, and without pause, held up my arms and fired two more spells off to the sides. The areas around our camp except straight ahead vanished in explosions. The others were immediately on guard, glancing around. A man leaped out of the flames and landed in front of me.

"I knew something was wrong!" I exclaimed. "Any group sent on a mission like this would be composed of more than cannon fodder. Flinder stuck her head out of the tent, smiled, and settled down to watch.

"Heh. Too bad, your life is already gone." the real assassin said, flicking up a hand. Amelia did not hesitate an instant, but snapped her leg up and her arm down, breaking the man's arm. He swore very colorfully as he jumped backwards, fumbling with his good arm in his equipment bag for something. I didn't give him the chance, but lashed out with another spell. Amelia cut his line of life with a swing of her axe.

"No chance." Lilia stated, amused. "The others were just decoys after all. I would have been quite… offended… had they been the real attempt." She laughed, and I focused my thoughts into some semblance of order. We needed to get moving.

We broke camp and began moving along at a good pace. Sayo frolicked in the rocks as we passed them, occasionally making noises of delight over some small, ridiculous discovery. Oh, wow, there were actually rocks here! Still, as annoying as it was, I couldn't quite bring myself to be upset about it. Sayo was just… Sayo.

It was three weeks later when things got interesting again. We were crossing a ridge when the scent of blood reached my nostrils. This was not from a cut or two, but so much of the liquid of life that even those men we had wiped out would probably have been satisfied. I crested the ridge and found myself looking at a level of devastation that likely hadn't been seen since the Demon Wars of Syrus' time.

I only recognized one of the armies; it was a major army of Daeis. They were engaged in furious combat with what I would've sworn was an army of Paladins. You know, big guys in armor, large hammers, and a lot of light spell. The thing was, there were not that many Paladins on the planet. There weren't a thousandth that many if you combined all the ones throughout history. Including the apprentices who never made it.

"That's interesting." Lilia said as she came up beside me. Blood flowed so freely over the ground that the entire place looked like a lake of red water. My stomach churned in disgust as I took in the sight. And Daeis was… losing.

Wait. Daeis didn't lose. They didn't even know what the word meant. Daeis was an unstoppable tide, swallowing countries with ease, but here they were, being pushed back by a force that shouldn't have even existed. I had a feeling that all the rules had just changed. This was in no way good. It wasn't even hovering in the realm of neutral, this was flat-out awful.

"There's no way we could beat either army. Daeis is the enemy, but…" I looked at the army of Paladins. There was something unnerving about them. Then, I realized what it was.

They were just slightly off from what the people of my world looked like. Maybe a head taller on average, stronger, and with a lot of unusual weapons that had to be Artifact-level at least. This was what you got when you took a bunch of Human Paladins from a hundred thousand worlds and threw them into an army together. No wonder they seemed so odd.

A explosion detonated in the middle of the Paladin's forces. I worked a vision spell and scanned the area, then settled on a girl who stood calmly amidst the battle, firing off spells with ease. That was the girl that had been with Syrus when I had seen him… that was the Aesari Mirriel. Another girl was standing beside her, firing off even more spells of destruction that blew hundreds of Paladins to pieces with each shot. I didn't know her, but even from where we were, I could tell that she was powerful.

Mirriel was fighting with Daeis. So was Syrus, then. They were the admitted enemy, but the King of Heroes himself was helping them out against this horde of Paladins? What. The. Heck.

Then things got weird.

The area behind the Paladin army turned dark and began to swirl in a circle. Finally, a gaping hole opened in the air and more armored men marched out to replace those who had been lost. I made some quick estimates, and put the forces at roughly a half million reinforcements. Daeis, despite the hard work of the two female spellcasters, was being beaten back slowly but surely.

"Interesting, isn't it?" A voice asked. I looked over to find a young man standing there. Perhaps the most interesting thing about him was that he had four arms. Well, maybe that's not the best way to put it. It isn't like he had two arms on each shoulder. He had two normal arms, and the two armor-like ones that floated in the air a little ways off from his shoulders. I had no idea what they were for, but they looked dangerous and more than a little cool. Yes, I was jealous. I was quite clearly the leader of a group of heroes, and this guy had the nerve to be cooler than me. How incredibly rude. "All this death. When the Order of Creation attacks, it really goes all out."

The Order of Creation? I had never heard of them. Judging from the confused looks, nobody else in my party had, either.

"Ah, there he goes." the man said, smirking. What I had done in that mountain chamber was a light summer breeze. What my spell revealed as Syrus Markal's attack was a hurricane, a tempest, a windstorm of unimaginable size and fury. It was black windstorm that swept over the Paladins. To be honest, the wave of death must have killed over three hundred thousand of the Paladins before a bolt of light shot from the back of their ranks and turned the Black Wind aside. It fled back to Syrus' arm.

Oh. Not good. The Black Wind was a form taken by an Orisari. Not a weakling among the Divines, Lisianthia was very good at driving people insane with her power over nightmares. For something to turn aside a goddess like that… I did not want to face it.

"Huh." the man said. "That’s not good. I'd suggest staying out of this; you won't make much of a difference." He leaped forward, and those armor-arms of his turned into wings, not attached to his body, that somehow enabled him to fly towards the massive battlefield. A bolt of black lightning shot down from the skies and revealed itself as a tall, dusk-hued man. As he began smashing aside the Paladins, somebody shot out from the ranks of the light-based warriors and began fighting evenly.

The Divines were actually fighting each other full out. This ridge was a very bad place to be standing, there was absolutely no doubt about that. We were dead if we got caught in the crossfire of this war. I didn't know which side to be on, and I wanted to live very badly. I still hadn't really slept with Flinder, I'd just shared a bed. Blood dripped down onto my hand, and I realized I was biting my lower lip far too hard.

"Mihael." Sayo said, bouncing over. "Those thugs are ugly. Can I kill them?"

"Can you manage it?" I asked, my mouth twitching in amusement. Sayo just laughed.

"Who cares?" she replied, bouncing into the air before settling onto the ground in front of us. The ghost took what equated to a deep breath. "COME HERE, I NEED YOU!" she bellowed. The air split open in front of us and monsters began to move out.

I don't mean little ugly things, like some people thought about Lilia. These creatures were as much as thirty feet high, dragon zombies, monsters patched together with random parts, a lich here and there… this was an army of Greater Undead, creatures that were more than slightly powerful. Before long, thousands upon thousands of them were gathered before us. Sayo cheered.

"Yay!" she said, flying over and hugging a towering Giant who bore stitches all across his body. The ghost beamed radiantly as she nuzzled the beast. "Kill the Paladins! They annoy me!" her army set off down the hill, crashing into the side of the Paladin army. The forces of Daeis wisely pulled back as Sayo's force began decimating the invaders. At least, I thought they were invaders.

"Sayo, in the name of the Divines, how did you do that?" Amelia asked calmly as the ghost returned.

"Um… good question." Sayo said, scratching her head. "I asked really nicely?" There was a tremendous explosion from behind her, and we all looked over to find her force disintegrating. Sayo was still for ten seconds straight; the longest amount of time she had spent in one place that I had ever known. Excluding being still while sleeping, of course. "…They… they wiped out my army!" Sayo said, her eyes brimming with tears. "You stupid little perverts! You're supposed to die, not get rid of my warriors!" An explosion blasted the ridge next to us, courtesy of one of the Paladins. Sayo trembled in place.

"Rrr… That does it." the ghost said. "I'm pissed!" she let out a long stream of offensive terms that, once more, I must censor. It was even more vulgar than the first time she had let loose so viciously. A few more minutes of fighting ensued before a wave of black energy swept over the left-hand part of the Paladin army. It was an enormous blade of some sort, and had to be at least two miles long and a half-mile wide. This weapon was dragged through the Paladin army. Yet, despite the damage, there were well over a half-million of the men left, and Daeis was taking heavy casualties. Their warriors weren't getting back up like they normally would have. It probably had something to do with the Paladins having all sorts of holy powers.

Despite the incredible damage Daeis was doing with the help of a few absurdly strong individuals, the Paladins were winning. That was ridiculous. They should not have been winning. They should have been getting FLATTENED by the army of undead.

Daeis turned up the heat, as it were. A hurricane-shaped spiral of flames enveloped a good portion of the Paladin army. A Firestorm, one of the spells Mirriel was most famous for. Other wide-range spells appeared over large groups of the enemy. The butchery continued, and still the Paladins advanced, relentless. Daeis undead soldiers fell, Paladins died, spells ignited and flickered out… but you could tell which way this battle was going.

Then things got even weirder. The fabric of magic grew dense around me, suffocating, crushing, threatening to squish me into oblivion. A sphere of energy surrounded the Paladin army, becoming more and more opaque. Finally, the sphere dissolved, leaving behind a terrifyingly large crater and a few remnants. Maybe ten thousand Paladins. Daeis swarmed and managed to take them out.

I finally collapsed to the ground. I had seen more blood today than I had ever wanted to. Ever. Yet, somehow, it was not as impacting as it should have been. Like the lives weren't really people, just puppets.

"I don't even want to know what happened." Flinder said as she sat down next to me. "Look. There's still a few left."

I tuned in with my magnification spell and looked at the last of the fighting. On one side was Syrus, Mirriel, and that other spellcaster. The other side was populated by a few Divines. There wasn't a single normal soldier standing, just the mythic beings, by all appearances. It had come down to this; why hadn't they avoided the bloodshed and just done this from the start?

"This is so… sad." Amelia noted quietly as the wind carried up the smell of blood. "What were they fighting over?"

"Ideals." A familiar voice said. The man who had visited us earlier dropped out of the air and landed a few feet away. "The Order of Creation came here to spread its ideals and biases, like any other conquering army. Daeis opposed a large number of these ideals, and so naturally, they all fought." His odd wings transformed back into the floating hunks of armor. "War is the ultimate destiny of any two groups whose opinions differ more than just a little. Death comes as a result of that. You're Kashi; you should be used to it."

"…I wasn't a real Kashi until a few weeks ago." Amelia answered. "Besides, you have it wrong. To be Kashi is not to just be a phenomenal warrior. It's a philosophy to improve oneself; the combat aspect is merely to make our bodies strong homes for our spirits." The man nodded, accepting the correction with grace, and we all looked at the hovering image of the battlefield below. Syrus held Lorelei out, pointed at what looked like the leader of the enemies. The man snapped his fingers, and we had sound.

"Get off of my world." the King of Heroes said calmly. "You have no right to be here. Leave, and do not ever return."

"I'm afraid we can't do that." his foe said, spreading his hands wide. "We have laid claim to this world. Even if Arturia is helping you, she cannot unleash her real power. If you fight, you will die. Surrender, and spare yourself the trouble." Another portal formed behind him, revealing a massive army. Was the fighting going to start up again? But Daeis' forces were gone; there was nobody to oppose the Paladins. The hero-types down there seemed fairly able to counter what their counterparts did, resulting in a stalemate, but that would be useless in the end with such a force. I bit my lower lip, then gagged as another heavy presence warped magic in the area. Unlike the pressure from before, which had been pure, this was corrupt and rotten. It was a putrid stench, the opposite in every way of the previous feeling.

"Syrus, you loser!" a voice called. The owner of this voice became apparent as a swirl of darkness appeared in the small zone and formed into a being that looked about the age of the King of Heroes. Which didn't say much, really, considering that he was immortal. "I leave the world in your hands for a few hundred years, and this is what I come back to? A bloodbath you didn't win?" He had jet-black hair and equally dark clothes, but oddly pale skin. Almost… vampiric. Except no vampire had ever had this sort of power.

Lilia sank to the ground beside me.

"Kilth." she whispered. The blood rushed out of my face at a faster pace than it ever had before. Kilth? THE Kilth!? The one who had unleashed the Demon Wars and killed countless people!? He was still alive and he was HERE!?

"Kilthy!" Sayo squealed, shooting down. In the magnified picture hovering in front of me, I saw her tackle and hug him. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Hello, Sayo." Kilth said, his tone brightening. "I didn't expect to see you here. Or to remember me, considering how bad you are at recalling faces."

"How could I ever forget you?" she purred, nuzzling him. "…Who are you, again, and when did we meet?"

"I knew it…" Kilth muttered. "That's just like you." I looked at Lilia. She shrugged. "I think this battle is about over."

Indeed, the visitors looked furious at the interruption. After a few curt words, Kilth held up a hand and pointed at them. They said one more line, then turned around and vanished. The portal with the Paladins slammed shut without any of them crossing through, and Kilth lowered his hand. Sayo let go of him, and with a shrug, I began walking down the hill towards them. It only took a few minutes, and things were quiet for a long moment.

I mean, it was Kilth. It was Syrus and Kilth, here together, not trying to kill each other. Each was beyond legendary status, especially Kilth. On top of that, Mirriel of the Infinity and some girl, whose name I believed was Arturia. They were strong as well. Sayo bounced over to me and hugged me tightly, babbling on about how happy she was that I had come to visit her. Kilth, rather than being angry, seemed amused. I was very thankful for that.

"Lilia." the worst nightmare this world had ever seen said, walking over to her. Showing a surprising amount of courtesy, he kissed one of her hands. "It is very nice to see you again. All my old friends are here… my only regret is that I didn't arrive in time to participate in the bloodbath. Then again, that would've been a bit one-sided, don't you think?"

"Most likely." Lilia agreed. "I'm still angry at you, by the way." Kilth merely smiled and turned his gaze to Amelia and me. I shrank back, a thousand tales of his atrocities coming to mind.

"You must be… Mihael." he said. Oh, great. He knew my name. Wonderful. "You're strictly B-league, but I look forward to your future power level. And a Kashi girl as well. Judging by her weapon, it looks like you have a fan, Syrus." Amelia colored slightly. Well, I supposed it was true. She probably was infatuated with Syrus' legends. Most people enjoyed them, and more than a few had attempted to imitate them. "And… you. I don't know you."

"Oh, I'm just a mercenary." the man with the floating pieces of armor by his arms said dismissively. "I travel to major battles to watch and occasionally take part." Kilth nodded and looked around. "As the ranking one here, Iris, would you like to chair this little meeting?" the girl with Mirriel nodded and stepped forward.

"You each represent a different group." she began calmly. "I need you to gather as many forces as you can to help fight against the group that calls itself the Order of Creation. This is not a small force; in fact, we've only skinned their knees with our efforts today; a few of their members rival myself and Kilth at our full power. My husband is currently working to accelerate production of his undead, but the process takes time."

"You're married?" Kilth asked, surprised. The girl, Iris, or Arturia, or whatever her name was, smiled.

"To a very nice young man." she agreed. "He's been a great help. As I was saying, he is working to create more soldiers for us, but there is the fact that they will attack again soon, and as it stands, we are not ready. Most of this world's Divines are gone on business, and cannot return in time to help, leaving only myself, Mirriel, Lisianthia, and a few others on duty. This is not like a war between nations; this is a full-scale assault that is part of a larger game being played by rival factions of the Divines. I don't really care about their game, since I'm not a part of it very often, but I don't want to see this world fall to one of the three factions."

"There's more groups like the Order of Creation?" Syrus inquired. Iris nodded.

"The Coalition of Sages and the Outrunners, as they would be called in your language, are about equal in size and power. Unfortunately, we cannot get assistance from either; while they would gladly help us just to wreck the plans of the Order, as we reckon reality… mmm… Ah, I know." she gestured, and a white square appeared on the ground. The upper-left third was white, and the rest was split between a blue and a dark red. A black dot appeared near the middle of the white section. "This is how we Divines see the territory of the three groups. This black dot is the world we're standing on; right in the middle of the Order's territory. They've simply ignored this place until now, since it's so small."

Well, gee, sorry. There wasn't much we could do about that.

"We're on our own. That's why we need to fight intelligently. I will be working on disrupting their attempts to invade, while Kilth… I'd like you to call up your armies and launch counterattacks on their base worlds."

"When did you get more armies?" Syrus inquired of his old rival.

"I've always had them. You only faced ten percent of my forces in the Demon Wars. When Sayo joined in, I decided to see if I could win with what I already had out… you beat me there, unfortunately. But yeah, I can wipe out a few worlds, no matter how thick their forces are. I like my home, and I don't want those filthy racists polluting it any more than they already have." Iris nodded and looked at Syrus and Mirriel.

"You two should focus on what you did last time; gather the human nations together. They're weak when separated, but if combined and trained properly, they should at least be able to hold their own until somebody else can help." she looked at Amelia. "You are charged with securing the assistance of the Kashi. They will be a great help." her gaze traveled up to Flinder. "Drathi. Get your kin involved, and any other nations you can. Use every tool you have; if we have anything less than all our strength gathered, we will be wiped out. This is not a question, it is an absolute guarantee."

"…Wait." I said quietly. Everybody looked at me. "So we're going to engage in battle with multiple millions of foes, against whom most of our normal abilities are useless? However much we'd like to hope, from what I've seen, this is hopeless. You saw that last gate; they were ready to continue, and if Kilth hadn't shown up, they might have actually attacked. We aren't going to even survive, much less win, just by gathering a few armies together. As far as I can tell, they can beat us in numbers, in strength, and in nearly everything else. There has to be a better way."

"What do you suggest?" Iris asked, frowning. I looked around the group, nervous. It was freaky seeing all these strong people staring at me.

"Well…" I said, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't have much of an… No, wait, yes I do. Let's strike at them first and use nature to our advantage. You know, flood their bases, make earthquakes… Um… no?" Everybody was looking at me like I was an idiot. "Well, sorry… but your plans are just as hopeless… Why not just mess with their magic codes? That would shut--" Iris grabbed me and lifted me off the ground, eyes blazing.

"You can affect magic on the control level!?" she roared. I nodded, choking for air. As I took a few deep breaths, Iris turned and looked at the others. "Okay, maybe it's not totally hopeless after all. When did a brat like you learn to do that?"

"I studied…" I muttered. "It was in this old book I found. It was all about manipulating the matrices of magic and stuff like that… I don't use it much, but it was a fun thing to study." I rubbed the back of my head. "Is it that good? I thought most people could do it."

"That wasn't a book for studying, you idiot, that was the control manual for magic itself!" Iris groaned. "I lost that thing before I impaled myself. Geez, who'd've thought it would turn up here? Somebody's definitely meddling." She cracked her knuckles. "Well, whatever. It would take me too long to learn it again; I hope you read it well, because we're going to need that. Get ready to take a ride, everyone."

The world around us blacked out for a moment, then became crossed with an interwoven web of lines amidst a black background. It was just like when I manipulated magic codes, except on a much, much larger scale. I'd never worked on anything larger than a person. The lines of information shrunk as more condensed in the area, until there was a spherical mass of them in front of me, maybe six feet across in any given direction.

"If you know how to put locks on, bar the Order of Creation." Iris ordered.

"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled as I put my hands on the sphere and shut my eyes.

"Well, this should be fun." Kilth said cheerfully. "Either we get a shield they won't be able to break very easily, or we're all going to die."

"Shut up." I told the single person I feared the most. I needed to concentrate for this sort of thing. I took a steadying breath and integrated my mind into the coding sequence. "Generate imaginary variables for the Fifth, Ninth, Seventieth, and Ninety-ninth Matrices based on the absolute relative refraction from the third sequence of the third matrix." I muttered under my breath, making the changes to the sphere in front of me. A set of numbers appeared in my mind. "Modify all matrices to convert other input languages into binary hex standard of this world upon completion of this program. Input results from number generation in the Fifth and Ninth matrices to the Seventh Matrix." The sphere pulsed under my hands. "Input absolute rejection situation: Attempts to access this world through magic with identification equating to the affiliation 'Order of Creation' in binary hex standard. Override Acceptance only permissible upon legal residence of target world." I let out a sigh and pulled back. "Man, doing that always gives me a headache." I groaned. Flinder wrapped her arms around me and kissed my forehead.

"You'll be fine." she said. "We're still alive, so you can't have wrecked anything too badly. Besides, she looks satisfied." I glanced at Iris. She did seem happy with the result.

"As a translation for what he was saying, he locked out anybody affiliated with the Order." Iris explained. "It won't hold forever if they can throw enough power at it, but they won't be getting through very easily." Everybody else nodded. "If nothing else, he bought us a little time… I'm just worried that it might not be enough."

"Of course it won't be enough." I said, scowling. "As far as we're concerned, they have unlimited troops; they can call in more whenever they want. Just taking down their armies won't do a thing; we need to find out how to keep them out permanently. So. Any ideas?"

Blank looks all around.

"You people are useless." I sighed. "Here I am, a brat surrounded by the most famous and most powerful people on the planet, and nobody has even a bad idea. Great. Just great. I know the Divines are big on getting people to do things for themselves, but this is a bit much."

"Shut up." Iris answered. "Let's just ask my husband." she fiddled with something and a boy close to my own age appeared next to us. His eyes widened as he saw Syrus and Mirriel, widened further as he saw Sayo, and nearly bulged out of his head as he saw Kilth. He managed to keep the rest of his face smooth, though, and cast an inquiring look at her. "Hey, Raos." Iris said, glomping around one of his arms. "We basically won the battle, though our undead were flattened, as were Sayo's. We put up a barrier to keep the Order out for a bit, but now we need to figure out how to keep it that way. Any bright ideas?"

"Of course." he responded immediately. He paused for a few moments, evidently coming up with his plans only then. "All right, I did some research while you were fighting on the Order, and they are extremely firm when it comes to protocol. If we open discussions with them, we just might be able to convince them to leave us alone, and in the meantime, they won't attack us. There's no possible way for us to beat them by force, but diplomacy stands a good chance of success. And we can always use this, of course." he held up a book; Mirriel immediately snatched it out of his hands and opened it, squealing as she looked inside. I stared at Raos. "Um…" he said, scratching his the back of his head as he caught my look. "It's a, uh, storybook for the children of the Divines. It's also a gateway to the Temple of Sacrifice, where apparently you can have any wish granted for a price. It's where I found her." he pointed at Iris, who smiled pleasantly. She had yet to let go of him.

I got the feeling that she was being sweet just because she felt like it. They didn't seem like true lovers, the sort who were always gazing into each others eyes for hours at a time, but they did seem to get along well. Like… I don't know, like normal people? Not the freaks in ballads and epic stories?

"So… Diplomacy." Syrus said calmly. "It might work if they're not too angry at us. Worth a try. How should we go about it?" Kilth smiled.

"Easy." he said. "We head into their main base while claiming diplomatic immunity and talk with their chief. Get him to forbid invasions of our world, and we're done."

"I thought you were going to suggest breaking in, killing everyone else, and forcing him to sign a contract."

"Even I'm not that strong." Kilth admitted. "I'm getting there, but considering that it's protected by three people nearly as strong as I am, I don't really want to try my luck. I'm evil, but not stupid. No sense wasting time, let's go."

"Any objections?" Syrus asked, really starting to take charge of this whole group. I had no objections to the plan or his leadership; he had experience. I didn't. And the King of Heroes was the person I would trust the most to lead us well. Iris pulled back from her husband and took a deep breath, and the area around us promptly vanished as we teleported who-knew-how-far. When the world returned to focus, I found an enormous white palace in front of us, and about five hundred guards. Nothing this little group couldn't handle, but we weren't here to kill them.

Now, admittedly there was a good chance of it coming to that, but…

"I am Claimh Solais Iris Arturia, Fourteenth-level Divine, and these are my companions." Iris announced, stepping forward. "I am here as an Ambassador to see the Lord of the White Hammer."

"Hammer?" I muttered quietly.

"Paladins." Kilth explained. I was learning things. From Kilth. This was ridiculous. "They often use blunt weapons, especially warhammers and the like."

"Enter." A voice called. The doors in front of us opened, and we were brought into a hall. "The Lord of the White Hammer will be with you shortly." the voice continued, revealing itself as coming from a slightly elderly man. He was very muscular, though, probably an ex-soldier who still trained regularly. Even the staff here was pumped up? Good grief. "Welcome, Claimh Solais, to our headquarters. Welcome, guests of the Claimh Solais. This way, please." he led us through a few halls into a sitting room, where we took up various positions. Lilia morphed back to her rarely-used human form for the second time in recent memory, apparently thinking it would be more polite. I agreed, and we really did not want to offend these people.

A few minutes later, a tall, rugged, and battle-scarred man strode in, wearing a fine suit of chain mail covered with an ornate cloth depicting a hand grasping a brilliantly shining hammer. So that was their insignia.

"I have not had such an honor in a long time." he said as a greeting, walking over and kissing Iris' hand. "These are my friends, who have consented to assist me in my work. I am most grateful." Each of the three men behind him exhibited the same aura of power as Iris and Kilth. A not-very-subtle warning, I noted. "What brings you here, Claimh Solais?"

"There is a world you recently attacked." she explained calmly. "A small little place. The battle was a draw, since both armies were decimated. I am… mmm… partial to this world, and would be very appreciative if you would arrange for it to be left alone."

"We've only attacked one world recently." the Lord of the White Hammer mused, scratching his beard. "As I recall, it's a dirty little place, infested with subhumans." Flinder and Lilia both stood up a little straighter, looking angry. "Ah! My apologies, ladies. I should not have used such language in front of you." I doubted he was honestly sorry. People who focused so much on light and holiness and claimed to spread good while they killed everyone they didn't like were not heroes of any sort. They were cunning, sneaky little turds. That stank. Badly. "As you know well, the goal of the Order is to eliminate such filth. Even at your request, I see no reason to leave it alone."

"That world is my home." Kilth growled. "I do not like your invasion attempts." For the first time, the Lord of the White Hammer looked slightly nervous. "You know what I am capable of. I would rather not have to flatten a few worlds to get the point across. Leave the place alone."

"You're not helping, Kilth. Shut up." Lilia said quietly. Kilth scowled.

"I've got an idea." Sayo said brightly. She'd been silent for some time, and smiling, she zoomed into the middle of the room so we could all get a look at her. I was suddenly very afraid for my home. "My friends all want you to leave my world alone. It's a very nice world, filled with lots of interesting things! Like George!" she held up a pebble and kissed it. "George is a very good boy."

The three Divines hanging out by the doorway looked like they had no idea how they were supposed to react to this.

"George likes it when his world isn't troubled." Sayo continued. "And Mihael still hasn't baked me any cookies, so he needs to say alive, too. So does Kiritos, or I might not get any more bedtime stories. At least, not the sort of ones he tells. Let's make a deal." she zoomed up to the Lord of the White Hammer and picked up his hands in hers. "You leave my world alone. And in return, Meaty doesn't try to gnaw on your spine."

Meaty was a Meat Cleaver. 'He' couldn't gnaw on anything.

"I like her." The Lord of the White Hammer said. "I'm not sure who Meaty is, but… Unfortunately, the removal of darkness is more important than my likes." he shrugged, tone mild.

"I'll give you Cor Hydrae." Iris said bluntly. The room was instantly silent. Most of us looked confused, but Kilth, the Lord of the White Hammer, and Iris seemed to know exactly what they were talking about.

"It's been gone for ten thousand years." he said quietly.

"So have I. You know what it is and what it can do." Iris answered. "Well?"

"…Deal." the man said. "Your world will be left alone, untroubled by the Order of Creation. In return, Cor Hydrae." Iris pointed a finger outside, and there was a fluctuation of magic so large that I staggered backward. I wasn't the only one. When I regained the ability to focus my sight, I found a titanic building outside, floating in the sky. It was a castle or palace of some sort, and absolutely huge. One of his companions silently vanished.

"Cor Hydrae is yours." Iris announced.

"Excellent." the Lord of the White Hammer announced. "Surik? Lorm? Kill them."

"What!?" Kilth roared. The man laughed as he walked out the door.

"We don't make deals with subhumans." he said as his companions sent attacks towards us. Iris and Kilth each blocked one of the attacks, and the sudden magical pressure in the room nearly killed me right then and there.

"Apologies, Claimh Solais." the one I thought was Lorm said as he pulled out a jagged sword and swung it. Iris pulled a staff out of somewhere and blocked the sword. It was a very nice staff. "I will see if I can convince him to spare you."

"Spare me?" she scoffed. "Indeed, spare me. Spare me the hypocrisy. How can you help somebody like that?" she dodged backwards as Lorm swung again, twirling the staff around in her hand. White energy charged at the tip of the staff as it rotated, creating a circle of light. With a thunderous roar, the attack was let loose, forcing both of the enemies to block as best they could. Iris threw out a hand, but nothing happened.

"You can't escape from here." the other one, Surik, announced as he and Kilth went at it. The room was already demolished; I was gathered with the others as far away from the fighting Divines and Kilth as we could possibly get. Which was not far enough by about fifty worlds. Everybody in the group was having a tough time, I could tell, except for Syrus and Mirriel. The pressure here, as it so often was with such beings, was horrible. With four of them going at it, things were even worse. "Just give up and die already!"

"You obviously don't know me well enough." Kilth replied. "You think you're deities, but you're nothing more than a bunch of fools who are just a little more powerful than most others. You're a creation, just like the rest of us. What power you can hold, so can I." He held up one hand and an orb of crackling black energy formed. Lorm, realizing the danger, lashed out at him. There was a spray of red in the air, and Syrus pulled back, bleeding heavily from a wound in his chest. "…And I obviously don't know you well enough, either." Kilth said, smiling. "It won't help much, but duck!" I followed the advice instantly and raised the strongest shield spell I had as Kilth threw his attack into the torso of the one called Surik.

The shield broke almost instantly, but it halted the worst of the attack. Still, I was battered by the force of the explosion. There was no longer an office to stand in; the walls had been blown apart. Kilth laughed as he summoned two more of the orbs. Surik looked somewhat worse for wear. Right then, the third of the enemy Divines showed up, a weapon in each hand. Iris and Kilth could hold their own against two people their level, maybe even prevail, but three-on-two, at this level, was far too slanted. I struggled to recall what I had learned.

"Just face it." Lorm said. "You're strong, but you can't beat us. Surrender, Claimh Solais. It is the only intelligent option."

"Hey, kid!" Iris yelled back as she exchanged a flurry of blows with Lorm. "When you learned to manipulate magic codes, did you learn anything else!?"

I thought about it.

"I learned a bunch of spells that burn my throat!" I answered. Iris leapt backwards and landed next to me.

"Good!" she replied. "It'll hurt, but use one of them! More, if you can! That's power not based on you, but something much better!" I ran through the index of spells in my mind, then took a deep breath. I almost never used these spells, because she was right, they were very strong. Every syllable burned my throat, like it was too powerful. Really, it probably was. I pointed at Lorm, who was charging an attack, and spoke three syllables.

Reality screamed for a moment, and Lorm shot backwards, slamming into the wall. His head hung down listlessly. He was alive, but… injured and unconscious. I was suitably impressed; I had just knocked out a fourteenth-level Divine. That was probably the crowning moment of my life; I didn't think I could possibly top such an effect.

"What was that!?" Kilth yelled as he let loose with his attacks. I spoke another syllable, and a shield rose up to block the shockwave. It succeeded quite admirably.

"Words of Power!" Iris answered. "They're used to create reality! Now…" she focused again, and a jagged portal ripped open. "In, in!" I didn't hesitate in grabbing Flinder and leaping through. The others followed, and moments later, there was a titanic detonation on that world. I let out a sigh of relief as the portal shut behind us, barring our foes from entering this world. At least, I hoped it would. My throat was raw, and I coughed up some blood. Yeah, it wasn't good to use that many of the syllables, few though they were.

"That was… ridiculous…" Amelia said, panting. "I thought they were honorable!"

"Evidently, it's only to people they like." Iris answered. "Figures. A mere ten thousand years I'm gone, and they degenerate so far. So, we wrecked their headquarters, half-killed two of their best warriors, and proved that Diplomacy won't work. Plus, they now have Cor Hydrae. Great. We're practically worse off than we were before." she scowled. "What is with these people!?"

"We're only mortal." Raos muttered. "We were lucky to all make it back alive." Sayo smacked him on the head. "Or, um, dead, in her case…" he muttered, rubbing the spot where she had hit him. "Ow. Let's just call it a day. They won't march immediately, and I need some sleep. Iris?"

"Bye." she said, waving to us as she held one of his arms. The two of them vanished.

"That's my cue." Syrus agreed, grabbing Mirriel's hand. The two strode off, leaving my group and Kilth. Kilth shrugged and followed his nemesis of old. Moments later, I hit the ground and lay there, suddenly realizing just how very green grass looked. It was an impressive green, to be sure. I nodded in satisfaction.

"Are you okay?" Sayo asked in her usual baffled tone, peering down at me with one finger on her lips.

"I'm fine." I answered, lifting an arm and waving at her. At least, I thought my arm went off. "I just felt like studying the ground for a bit."

"Stop talking nonsense." Amelia said crossly. "I may not have gotten my strength until recently, but I live among warriors, and I know what people look like when they're hurt. We'll camp here; he needs care, and fast." Sounding abrupt and businesslike, she began handing out tasks, which the others in the group performed with dutiful precision. Excluding Sayo, who simply sat down and stared at the same spot on the ground I was examining so thoroughly. Surprisingly, there was really nothing for me to do to help with the camp.

Before long, a shelter had been erected around me, and Amelia focused on things like putting her hand on my forehead and feeding me. I didn't quite have the initiative to do it myself, though I rather wished Flinder was doing it. Amelia looked decent, I supposed, but she wasn't in my fetish range. Nevertheless, I simply did as I was told, quite content to stare forward whenever I wasn't being urged to do something else.

"What happened?" Lilia asked as she busied herself with sharpening some of her claws.

"Magical feedback." Flinder answered. "I've seen it before. Those spells he did earlier, the ones that burned the air? Those are something beyond his right to use. They're like a drug; powerful effects, but they have their side-effects. Still, I've never seen a case this serious. He really seems out of it."

Her voice was very pleasant to listen to.

"He doesn't seem to have any serious injuries, but… he does need his rest." Amelia said agreeably, kneeling down next to me. "Is there anything we can get you to help you sleep better?" she inquired. It took a few moments for her question to register through the hazy pleasantness of my thoughts. I pointed to Lilia and Flinder.

"I should've known." my oldest companion said with a sigh. "Even when he's this messed up, he has a one-track mind…" A few minutes later, she had woven a pillow and a blanket, and these were pulled up over me. Flinder snuggled under the blanket, embracing me calmly. Her warmth was very comfortable indeed. It wasn't long before I lost consciousness and fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next time I woke up, I found a blur of colors passing in front of my eyes. It took me a few minutes to realize that we were traveling, and I was riding on Lilia's abdomen. That was awfully nice of her. I didn't even have to ask, and she was allowing me to ride.

"He's awake!" Flinder announced. "Still looks rather confused, though." With some effort, I managed to turn over, and I found my head squarely in Flinder's lap. She smiled down at me, a jewel of ruby majesty. "Are you feeling any better, Mihael?" Any better? This was rather nice as it was. I didn't give a verbal response, but my face must have shown some expression, because she looked up again. "Well, he's smiling. So he's coherent enough to enjoy something good." She stroked my forehead. "Mihael, we're almost to Asteria. Sayo went ahead to tell them of our arrival, though I'm not sure I should expect her to have made it or not… we'll get you fixed up soon, don't worry."

Well, if she said so, I supposed it was a good plan. As long as I got to relax like this for a while longer, I'd agree to pretty much anything. What could have been ten minutes or ten hours later, we passed through a large door, and I was lowered from Lilia's abdomen to a cushioned floor.

"What happened?" a vaguely familiar voice asked.

"He burned himself out with magic above his level." Flinder explained. "We used a warp spell to get to a town nearby."

"You must be the Lady Flinder." the voice said. "Welcome to Asteria. I'd like to give you a proper welcome, but I hope you'll forgive me if I put it off until after the Master is feeling better."

"That will be fine. He's done a lot for me; I'm worried, too." Flinder said. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "Come on, Mihael. You helped me, so it's time for me to return the favor." she helped lift me up, and I was carried through a few halls and set carefully on a large, plush bed. "I don't suppose you know anything to help with this sort of drain?"

"Oh, this and that." the voice answered. The word Kiritos swam into my mind. Hmm. Kiritos. That was a funny word. I vaguely wondered what it meant. "We've had a few Masters here who've dabbled in potent spells. Ashley, restoring drinks, please. Something with a kick and a lot of juice."

A few minutes later, a drink was poured into my mouth. Seconds later, I felt like I had plugged into the source of magic itself to use power. Every sense I had was sharpened, and I felt better than I ever had before. The effect faded after a few seconds, leaving me panting on the bed and fully coherent. Sweat poured out of nearly every bit of my skin.

"That always does the trick." Kiritos said, chuckling. "He needs more rest, of course, but that recipe'll knock the Divines themselves out of a stupor. Trust me, we tried it." I worked to slow my pounding heart, and looked around. We were back in Asteria, I realized. "Water, water." Flinder held a cup up to my lips, and I drank dutifully. When I was done, the two pulled my shirt off, and Flinder used a towel to wipe off the sweat before allowing me to lie back down. I must admit, it was an extremely pleasant experience.

"You look like you're feeling better." the Drathi girl announced, smiling. "I'm glad. You had us worried this last week." she kissed my forehead. "Be a good boy and rest some more, all right? We'll have something for you to eat when you wake up." At Kiritos' nod, she left the room. The Steward turned to me.

"I don't suppose we've found the future Baroness?" he inquired. I managed a grin.

"Something like that." I answered. "Take good care of my friends, yeah? I'd appreciate it." I sank back down even further and fell asleep again, unable to stay awake any longer.

I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, the feeling that every muscle in my body had been pulled much too far, and Sayo's grinning face in front of me.

"Whee!" she said. The ghost shot out of the room, returning with a maid. This nice girl brought with her a tray of hearty food, which I consumed as fast as I could. Kiritos and my friends filed in as I finished. "I found them! Did I win a prize?" Sayo asked. Kiritos whapped her on the head with a book. "Owie! I guess that's a no." the ghost pouted. "Darnit. And I tried so hard, too."

"You had us worried." Lilia said, crossing her arms. She was on two legs again. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Um… Heh… sorry." I said, rubbing the back of my head. "It was all I could think of to do at the time. I guess I overdid it."

"You half-killed a fourteenth-level Divine!" Lilia roared. "That's more than overdoing it; it's a miracle you're alive! And not a minor one, either! Don't do that again, ever!"

"Agreed." Flinder said, crossing her arms. Sayo huffed up beside her and assumed an identical pose, somehow looking far more entertaining than scary.

"I can't honestly say that the only victory is when you don't die…" Amelia muttered. "But they're right. You need to stay alive."

"I intend to." I said honestly. "Otherwise, I'd have to leave Flinder and Sayo all alone. Who are they going to love on if not me?"

"He's able to make jokes. He's fine." Lilia grumbled. Jokes? What jokes? I wasn't joking, I was quite serious.

"What's been happening in the world?" I asked, figuring that it was time to get down to business.

"Your shield is holding." Lilia responded. "They've penetrated, oh, a third of the way through. Maybe a little more by now. Iris says they're attacking us with most of the force they can spare."

Sayo pulled out Meaty and stabbed Kiritos in the head. Looking as calm as ever, the Steward pulled the weapon out. Sayo snatched it back and glared, muttering something about immortal stiffs.

"Yeah…" Lilia said slowly. "Something like that. When they get through, it's going to be over about that quickly. Raos thinks they're going to just march in and plop down, conquering the world by simply crowding us out. They're not going to destroy too much, since their goal is conquer and they want a nice, healthy world, but… as it stands now, we're doing. He did have an idea, though…"

"Reprogram magic here to kill anyone with that affiliation, and put a tri-hexadecimal eternity lock in a local language on the first matrix to prevent that command from being changed from anyone not affiliated with this world." Lilia looked stunned. "We seem to think along the same lines… It would certainly be a difficult barrier to breach, and would give us even more time."

"He just recovers from half-dying after doing something incredible, and he's already talking about doing it again." Flinder grumbled. She jumped onto the bed and moved in so her face was very, very close to my own. "All right, listen, Mihael. We're going to have Iris take care of everything. You've done a lot, and now that she's found that manual and has relearned her old abilities, she can handle things. I don't want you putting yourself in needless danger anymore."

"He doesn't have a choice. He has to." Amelia said. We all looked over to her. "Can't you tell? A lot of events are revolving around him. Consider: We're all here because of him. Sayo and Kiritos are servants at this estate. Lilia, you're his Familiar, and Flinder, you're his fiancée. I'm with him because I was advised by the King of Heroes to travel alongside him. Lilia, you told me that the Divines themselves gave him a weapon about the time this all started. You should be able to figure it out by now; he's like the King of Heroes. Danger is his destiny. Either he goes to it, or it comes to him. The best plan is to deal with the problems when we can control the most factors."

"That does make some sense." Flinder admitted. "He's a very unique person." I was far too pleased by that comment for it to be even remotely fair to anyone else.

…Not that this really meant much, no matter how you looked at it.

"I've got a better idea." Sayo announced. We all looked at her. "Breakfast. The world can wait, I'm hungry. If I don't have some soul to snack on in three minutes, I'll go plant flowers."

This was quite possibly her oddest threat yet. No small feat, considering that her usual ones were enough to drive away friend and foe alike. She was probably talking about giant human-eating flowers of some sort. Kiritos beckoned to a servant, and in short order, food was brought to us. Sayo munched happily on the spirit of a deer recently caught in the nearby forest.

"So if he's been chosen as a focal point, he'll need to in some way encounter the enemy…" Lilia muttered. "Geez, I thought I was done with this five hundred years ago. I swear, whoever puts me through this kind of trouble is going to pay dearly." she cracked her knuckles. "Mihael, what's the numerical representation of the universe?"

"Forty-two." I answered after a few moments of considering. "It's always forty-two; I'm not quite sure why."

"Fine." she said. "In forty-two hours, we're going to launch a major attack on the entire Order of Creation." This reasoning made no real sense, but it was as good a way to decide things as any. "In the meantime, we need to find a way for you to win without damaging yourself so badly." I tilted my head in consideration. "What's with that expression?"

"Oh, I just thought of something." I said with a smile. "There's a perfectly guaranteed way to get rid of the leader of the enemy." Everybody looked at me, and I pointed at Sayo. Everybody looked at her. The ghost tilted her head, then bent down and peered through her chest to see if anyone was standing behind her. "Would you be willing to introduce him to the sharp side of Meaty, Sayo?"

"Well… only for you." the ghost said. "And you're going to owe me the souls of a hundred ferrets afterward." she crossed her arms and nodded firmly. "And before anything, I want a body."

"Can't you just make yourself one?"

"Oh yeah." she said. An instant later, she was in a flesh-and-blood body. "Hey, it worked! Yippee!" she pounced on me and began gnawing on my shoulder. I ignored the pain.

"How… in the name of Kilth… did she do that?" Lilia asked. I shrugged with my free shoulder.

"I don't think Sayo acknowledges the laws of common sense." I explained. "Lilia, we know almost nothing about her. Kilth knows her by name and face, Raos told me while Iris was talking to the enemy that she's a Queen of some country, and has ruled it for as long as anyone can remember, and she's done more than a few odd things while she's been with us." I pat the psychotic girl on the head. She growled angrily and flipped around, biting my hand. I yanked my hand away. "Therefore, we may as well try this before anything else. Any arguments?"

I could see that everybody wanted to say something, but none of them could figure out any reasonable reaction to the messenger's antics. Sayo hopped off the bed and tackled Flinder, hiding behind the Drathi girl moments later.

"Good. The forces arrayed against us are so overwhelming that I think it's okay if we cheat a bit. We are not the aggressors here; we were attacked first, and anything we do is justified as self-defense. Forget the forty-two thing. Let's just get this over with already so we can be back in time for dinner." I slid out of bed, still rather unsteady on my feet. "Kiritos, I expect to have a hot meal waiting for me when I get back."

"Sir." he said with a bow.

"Oh, and one more thing." Sayo said with a wide smile.

"Hmm?" I inquired.

The last thing I ever saw was Meaty flying towards my face.

BAD END

Tip: You should not have given such free reign to Sayo. She may act kind and friendly, but next time, do not forget that she is dangerously unpredictable. Go back to this morning and send her on an errand to keep her away from you.