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Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

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Chapter 1184
"What do you mean you don't want to use the scrolls?" I protested as I followed my wife back to my residence. She'd gotten a pass to stay the night in Moment City from the prof, and we were planning her rank-up here tonight after we settled in.

She smiled beatifically. "I mean what I said," she clarified. "I have enough. My reputation and the months of holding back have more than pushed me over the threshold. I've been polishing my skills for the Advanced trial, but since I'm not holding on for that anymore, it's time for me to take the next step."

"Which I'm fine with," I protested. "But why not accept the extra points? Crossing B-rank is going to take you ages."

"It might," she acknowledged. "But we can cross that bridge when we come to it. This is about my breakthrough, and I don't want the help." She put her hand on my cheek. "I love you, and I appreciate the concern, but this…it feels like something I need to do on my own. Helping create that lantern shield showed me exactly what I need for this."

I frowned, but I couldn't argue.

She smiled warmly. "Don't be such a downer. I've been working on this for a while. With my new reputation and my own scores on the mid-terms, I shouldn't be TOO far behind you. Better not drag your feet, or I might beat you to B-rank," she winked to let me know she was teasing, and it warmed my heart to see her so unruffled by the current gap.

"Alright," I sighed, flopping down on my bed. "With your Domain active, you should be fine to absorb the Impact. It'll enhance the power of the Vault directly. Speaking of which, we should check to see if there's some way for you to tap into Cosmic Waltz now that he's been upgraded. Using his abilities to enhance your Domain should be easy enough with so much control."

Speaking of, I wondered how big the Vault would be after the rank up. I doubted she'd be hitting the same radius as I had, given all the enhancements and opportunities I'd had. I didn't know what a normal Domain size for a B-ranker was. Her Vault was currently a little small, but it had been partially forged with the cosmic fire, so I was pretty sure the flood of Impact would have some interesting results.

"You ready?" I asked her anxiously. She just squeezed my hand tightly to let me know she was alright, then closed her eyes and…let it all in.

Callie had been only about a hundred thousand points from B-rank for months now. Constant attention, constant renown. From her dad, from the asura, from our relationship, from her scores. Callie had been accruing renown at an absurd rate, even without the scrolls to bump her up.

Now that she was letting it in, the step from one rank to the next wasn't so much a threshold as a soap bubble. Just a little pressure and…pop. She punched right though, and I watched with relief and not a little bit of awe as the Impact overflowed her soul and poured into her Domain, reinforcing it and expanding her power.

From the outside it took far less time, and before I could even process, it was over. She beamed at me as she took out a pen and paper, scrawling out her stats before handing them over to me proudly so I could see how much she'd accomplished.

Calliope Wyndham. B-rank.

Ability: Legendary Trait: Heretic Archangel. An instrument of the will of a faded god. A child of the flame that burns back the heart of the Void.

Weapon:Gossamer (inverted form is Oblique)

Domain: Shadowvault. A special space of quantum uncertainty that stores items. Any item inside can be summoned in duplicate, once in its original form and once in an inverted shadow form.

Domain Size: 13 Miles

Sword technique based on inverted cosmic phoenix attribute: Certitude- collapses space in an unstable ball around the target so the attack is unavoidable

Chronicle:Book of the Final Flame

Pages bound:7- 1 (purification of apostate), 2 sword mastery, 3 creation of Peaceflame and Lantern Shield, 1 assist in creation of Song of Arcadia

Might-6,337,012 (x3 modifier for heretic angel trait)

Impact-215

Vitality-4,634,236 (x3 modifier for heretic angel trait)

Fantasy-3,646,541 (x3 modifier for heretic angel trait)

Focus-1,529,412

Perception- 2,743,186

Creation-3,616,043

Progress to next rank: 22,506,645/100,000,000

Soul Strength: Obsidian Soul Body.

Skills: Minor Tracking, Beginner Dual Dagger Mastery, Grandmaster Stealth, Intermediate Trap Mastery, Beginner Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Legendary Adherent Ascension, Grandmaster of the Sword, Legendary Angelic Bond

Path of the Heretic Scion- Solid. Technique: Guilt in Gossamer

I gaped. It wasn't unbelievable, exactly, not after so long, but it wasn't exactly EXPECTED. I was blown away by the jump. She was at almost a quarter of the way to A-rank right after the breakthrough. Maybe those jokes about catching up weren't so amusing after all. At this rate I wouldn't be surprised to see it.

Beyond that, I spotted a few other things. "Seven pages?" I asked her in surprise. "Looks like you bound a few during my recent upgrade, that's amazing, Cal. Of course, we both need to get a few more before leaving. Don't forget to look into some of the special locations here, they'll make binding pages a lot easier.

Her skills had improved as well, and there was a new one, seemingly connected to the Angelic Bond between us. She'd had that the whole time, but it hadn't been visible before now. I wondered what had changed to make it more visible. Was it just the upgrade from Angelic Bond's recent bump to tier 9? Beyond that, her stats were all pretty well filled out, and she'd even patched some strong weaknesses in her build.

Focus had been at five hundred thousand or so last I checked. The lowest stats got easier to raise the higher up you went, and a new environment had almost definitely helped. But I noticed something missing. "You mentioned the Lantern Shield helped you figure out a new direction for your breakthrough?"

"More of a supplement," she clarified. "But I did have an idea. Do you remember my new technique? Certitude? I based it on the Hatefire from the original lantern shield, it collapses space around a target making attacks inevitable and basically unblockable."

I had a distinct memory of her sword falling from every angle around me, an omnipresent threat like the sky itself was falling on my head in the form of a sword. "I remember," I chuckled. "I'm guessing you came up with another technique? What does that have to do with your Domain, though? Or your breakthrough?"

"Balance," she said serenely. "It's all about balance. The Vault requires balance, when in balance, both of the items involved in the process can be removed, but if balance is disturbed I have to enshrine one forever to make the other usable. My Adherent Fire is a balance to my Heretic Fire, my Oblique is a balance to Gossamer. Certitude is a technique I created myself, but even in that there should be balance. After all, I have two swords. Only when my technique is in balance can I show the true capability of my Domain."

Her voice was energetic, almost frantic, and I recognized the touch of epiphany. I'd felt that more than once in my own research and development headspace, so I knew better than to disrupt. I gestured for her to open the Vault though, knowing that she could practice even better inside, and that doing sword work in my room would be reckless.

When we entered, the first thing I noticed was the size of the place. After the breakthrough, Callie's Domain had expanded, clocking thirteen miles, but I hadn't really recognized what that MEANT. The Vault was a cube, which meant that as it expanded, it also got taller, and at this point, it towered so high that staring up at the ceiling was like staring into a bottomless pit. "I wonder what the opposite of an Abyss is?" I asked casually.

"A home," Callie said with a bit of melancholy. I was surprised, and cocked my head at her, but she just shook it off. "Sorry, just feeling a bit introspective. Come on, I'll pick up Oblique and I can start on the new technique."

I followed her deep into her Domain, where she retrieved her sword. I suspected she didn't need the walk, and had just wanted to show me around in here, but I didn't mind. It was nice.

When she finally got the sword, she took me to a new area I hadn't seen before, and took up position with her blade. "I'll need your help with this," she told me determinedly. "Would you mind lending a hand again?"

"Not at all, but what do I actually do?" I asked warily. "Do you need to attack me again?"

Now that she was B-rank, the gap between us wasn't nearly as wide. I should still be ahead, but I couldn't just assume I was untouchable. To my surprise though, she just shook her head. "Nope, the opposite. This one is defensive. I need you to attack. I want you to use Mephistopheles for this one. He's got your strongest offensive power, right?"

I grinned. "Alright, but now that you're at the same rank as me I'm not going to hold back. I hope this new technique is as impressive as you say."

Of course, I wouldn't actually hurt her, but I trusted Callie to be strong enough to take a head on blow. I called my staff from my Domain, enjoying the reassuring thump of the wood dropping into my palms. Callie got into a stance I hadn't seen before. "The complete form of this style will involve both swords and use both techniques at the same time. But I'll focus on the defense technique for now. Go ahead and attack."

Nodding, I let my whole body relax. Tension drained from my muscles, I let myself begin to sway, it felt like I was floating, like nothing was holding me up…then I struck.

My muscles snapped taught in succession, rolling up from the ground and through my body as my staff flashed out, blazing with the black flame of ruin. It was my most powerful blow without augmentation from a bunch of other demons, and a show of the respect I had for Callie's abilities.

Callie stood still. Her face was placid, her eyes serene. She only began to move at the last possible second, but by the time she did, things began to change. A bright golden light blazed up inside the sword, the light driving back the darkness of my flame, and she flicked her blade.

Her sword cut through my attack. Not through my staff, or through my stance itself. It was like she'd dissected the concept of my offensive and scattered the pieces. My blow was diverted in every direction, bleeding off into a million possible variables until it was dissolved into nothingness, diffused into empty air.

It was…transcendent. I swallowed hard. Trying to imagine her using that with one hand and Certitude with the other was terrifying. Balance. I got it now. "That was certainly something. What's it called?"

"The opposite of certainty," she said as she put away her blade. "Could be indecision, or fear, or even faith. But I don't think it is. I think the opposite of certitude is trust. Giving up your sense of surety and putting your belief in something else." She beamed at me happily. "I think this is it, Shane. This is what I needed. Even after ranking up this should be enough." She leaned forward to peck me on the masked cheek. "Go ahead and get back to your training. I've decided. I'll continue to challenge the Advanced Student trial at my new rank. I know I can pass." And so, our last month of training began.
 
Chapter 1185
The next month was a whirlwind of activity for me. Firstly, I spent most of it improving my timepieces. I got them all finished and adapted to the new Archdemon form, though I hadn't had a chance to actually TEST the thing yet. I'd also expanded my Domain to 42 miles, completed my fourth phoenix reincarnation (a triple enhancement to Creation as a bonus), and through the body refinement, pushed my soul supported stat number to five thousand per scroll.

My demons had been hard at work during the last month or two, taking on tasks and at least seven or eight of them had ranked up to tier 8, giving me a much larger work force. After redeeming the ascension thesis, I'd poured all those points into advancement, redeeming them to access special locations to help me with body tempering, improving my Domain, and even got my hands on the elixirs for B-rank.

Beyond that, I'd stockpiled another three hundred and ten scrolls (six hundred and fifty total) and just today had finished getting them all redeemed, bringing me a solid three point two five million in just wish stats, not to mention the two months of income from my Wishmaster position and my still growing reputation.

All in, all, the changes had been earthshattering, and combined with the qualitative jump from the timepieces, I was closer to A-rank than ever and ready to take on the world at these damned final exams.

There had been no word on the Void vessels or Deveskane. He was keeping a low profile, apparently, and while you could buy most things at the academy, you couldn't buy student info. Since we had no proof he'd done anything, Frozen Moment wasn't willing to just toss him out. I was sure he had something planned for the finals, but the Professor insisted his hands were tied, so all I could do was prepare as best I could.

I took in my stats as I considered my progress, unable to fight back a swell of pride at the sheer growth I'd managed with the last of my time here.

Wishmaster status. B-rank. Ability: Legendary Wish- Ten times a day grant a Legendary wish in return for proper compensation. Wish must be feasibly achievable by the candidate's own efforts within a three day period with current statistics.

Legendary Path of the Demonbinder- The Domain of a Great King.

Might-19,432,112(x3)

Impact-215

Fantasy-10,325,743

Vitality-17,118,871 (x3)

Focus-14,264,853

Perception-13,471,640

Creation-17,029,143 (x3)

Progress to next rank: 91,669,577/100,000,000

Soul strength- Obsidian Soul Body

Body Forging: Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- 36/81 drops- First Layer (Life Nova) 9/9, Second Layer ( Cosmic Phoenix) 9/9, (Ruin Phoenix) 9/9, Arcadian Phoenix 9/9

Chronicle: Myriad Demons Manual (pages bound:25- 4 Zagan, 1 Leviathan, 9 Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art, 1 Limbo, 1 Overlay, 1 Mephistopheles, 1 Song of Arcadia, 1 Cosmic Waltz, 1 Life Nova, 1 Angelic Bond, 1 Wisdom of Solomon, 1 Dantalion, 1 Azazel, 1 Sammael)

wish scrolls stockpiled: 0 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)

Domain size: 42 miles

Soul supported stat number: 5000

Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)

Weapon: Pillar of Goetia

Stored: 10 Adherent Fire, 7 shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges,10 triple strength tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 spider leg attacks (ten in reserve), 3 gravity attacks, 1 shadow clone, 18 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)

Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)

Frozen Moment Academy Credit points: 0

Frozen Moment Academy Contribution points: 0

Archdemons: Kronos- Archdemon of Time- Tier 8 (Limbo, Overlay, Mephistopheles)

Court of Gehenna:

1.Doom Sovereign- Tier 8

2.Goetia Staff Art- Tier 6

3.Cooking- Tier 8

4.Inventing- Tier 2

5.Balam- Tier 3

6.Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- Tier 6

7.Piano- Tier 1

8.Guitar- Tier 1

9.First Aid- Tier 1

10.Angelic Bond- Tier 8

11.Dust Construction- Tier 6

12. Stone Limb- Tier 7

13.Moonlit Night- Tier 4

14.Consecration of Flame- Tier 7

15.Ripple Running- Tier 3

16.State of Grace- Tier 4

17.Steam Arrow- Tier 4

18.Afterburner- Tier 8

19.Pit of Despair/ Brad- Tier 8- Timepiece:13 complications

20.Mountain Stance- Tier 7

21.Heart over Body- Tier 8

22.Mercy Kill- Tier 6

23.Double Trouble- Tier 7

24.Touch of Tears- Tier 5

25.Flurry of Blows- Tier 3

26.Heavy Hands- Tier 2

27.Marked for Death- Tier 4

28.False Fatality- Tier 3

29.Blood Curse- Tier 4

30.Creeping Darkness- Tier 2

31.Final Strike- Tier 7

32.Overlay- Tier 7- Timepiece- 13 complications

33.Song of the Soil- Tier 3

34.Rhythm of the Wild- Tier 2

35.Eye of Revelation- Tier 6

36.Danger Sense- Tier 6

37.Piece of Mind- Tier 6

38.Empty Spirit- Tier 6

39.Belial- Tier 8

40.Abomination Engine- Tier 7

41.Mephistopheles- Tier 8- Timepiece: 13 complications

42.Cosmic Collapse- Tier 6

43.Circle of Damnation- Tier 6

44.Cosmic Waltz- Tier 7- Timepiece: 23 complications

45.Mornax- Tier 8

46.Zagan- Tier 8

47.Life Nova- Tier 8- Timepiece: 13 complications

48.Song of Arcadia- Tier 8- Timepiece- 27 complications

49.Bael- Tier 8

50.Beelzebub- Tier 8

51.Agares- Tier 8

52.Dantalion- Tier 8

53.Sammael- Tier 8

54.Limbo- Tier 8- Timepiece: 13 complications

55.Gluttony- Tier 8

56.Wrath- Tier 8

57.Pride- Tier 8

58.Retribution- Tier 8

59.Murmur- Tier 8

60.Leviathan- Tier 8

61.Behemoth- Tier 8

62.Glory- Tier 8

63.Abaddon -Tier 8

64.Wisdom of Solomon- Tier 8

65.Promethean Fire Soul Body- Tier 6

66.Fate Sense- Tier 7

67.Scent of Truth- Tier 7

68.Damnatio Memoriae- Tier 6

69.Dark Reflection- Tier 6

70. Asmodeus- Tier 8

71. Astaroth- Tier 8

72. Azazel- Tier 8

The sheer volume of stat increase was staggering. I'd put most of my scrolls and elixirs into Creation, because improving it had a noticeable effect on my ability to make timepieces. I'd managed twenty seven complications on Song of Arcadia and twenty three on Cosmic Waltz relying on that boost.

Beyond that, the biggest improvement was definitely my Myriad Demons Manual. Over the last month I'd been binding pages using my various achievements (timepieces for most of my phoenix demons and two particularly tough tasks for Azazel and Sammael), and had now officially reached twenty five pages, a quarter of the way done with my binding before even reaching A-rank.

With only a single night left before the big exam, my teeth almost ACHED to be so close to A-rank but so far away. I'd squeezed every drop of potential and opportunity from this place in my mad dash for the finish line, but I was still almost nine million points short of my goal.

Of course, when I mentioned this to my wife and friends as we sat at dinner together preparing for the finals, I received nothing but boos and mockery (good natured as it was).

"Oh, poor me," Benny lamented in a saccharine voice. "I'm Shane, and I'm only moving through B-rank ten or twenty times faster than everyone else instead of thirty times like I wanted. Truly, there is no one in creation as unfortunate as me."

I rolled my eyes. "Like you have room to talk, don't think I can't tell you hit B-rank recently. You and Jessie both. I take it you've been availing yourself of the special environments around here. I haven't seen Toast anywhere. Where did you put him anyway?" I shot him a suspicious look, unable to resist pushing.

"I sent him to boarding school," he said blithely. "The Nunya Business academy. You'll see where he is when it's time. But yeah, I hit B-rank, and no I won't tell you how or what my stats are." He grinned. "You're not the only one putting work in here. Now that I can contribute again I'm going to savor it. After all, we all know you're going to hit A-rank right after we leave and I'll be lagging behind again."

"Granted," I allowed. "But I can help get you through it faster than you'd expect. My point cap on wishes has been exploding with the body tempering, and it'll go up a ton in A-rank too. Once I break through I can focus all my Wishes on pushing you guys up with me. You should focus on getting enough resources to pay for them while you're here."

He nodded contemplatively. "Noted. Anyway, I noticed Will and Tamsin are here, and they don't look like they want to murder anyone. Don't tell me you cured their crazy already?"

"He didn't," Bethy said cheerfully as she turned from her siblings. "At least not long term. They need regular infusions of that lame Peacefire stuff. It does help for a while though, and after we leave he wants to begin testing for a long term cure. I got a dose of the stuff myself and it was super chill, made me feel all warm and happy inside."

I snorted. "She neglects to mention how MUCH of the flame we need to have even a small effect. And that's at A-rank. I have to boost it with my staff to make any progress against their traits. They seem to trend back to resentment if there's any left. Once I hit A-rank, I'm planning to try to boost myself to S and see what I can do then. But I have to be careful not to like…annhilate them."

"It's ok, you can annihilate them if you want," Bethy said encouragingly. "I won't tell."

"Hey!" snapped Tamsin, who was currently in a reasonably good mood but still didn't appreciate the comment. "I thought we were getting along?"

Bethy shrugged. "I'm a fickle person. Beware my whims."

"She's joking," Chelsea said with a sigh. "I promise. She was just telling me the other day how happy she is that you two are doing better. She's really enjoying her time getting to know you."

"Don't TELL them that!" Bethy wailed despairingly. "They'll get ideas. They should fear me."

My sister patted her girlfriend's cheek. "Of course love, you're the scariest vampire princess in the whole world. Now eat your vegetables. Don't think I didn't notice you hiding your broccoli under the mashed potatoes."

"But I HATE broccoli," Bethy moaned. "This is the worst party ever. You wouldn't even let me bring any wine!"

"That was me, actually," I cut in. "No more wine until you can get the grapes under control. That D-ranker almost got eaten last time. And I don't care if he was ok with it. I draw a hard line at cannibalism at my social events."

She sniffed loftily. "That was ONE time. And I totally fixed it."

"Where's Gabe anyway?" I asked, looking around for the Adamant paladin. "I figured you would have brought him to this. Actually we're missing a bunch of people. Abel, Mel, Fade, Alanna, Crell. This is supposed to be our big sendoff."

"They're working on some last minute prep for the finals," Callie said with a chuckle. "Everyone knows something big is going down, so no one is willing to let it rest. I'm shocked I got YOU to take a break. If you weren't at a wall I would have probably had to drag you out tonight. Just let them do their thing."

I sighed. "I get it. I'm worried too. But we can only trust the work we've done. I believe we can pull this off. Whatever comes, we can get through it together." I reached out and took my wife's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Just like always." And when I saw the radiant smile she gave me in return, I knew that I was right. Because there was nothing in creation that I wouldn't destroy to make sure I got to see that smile every morning. Void Overgod, Deveskane, whoever came I'd crush them if it would keep her safe. Honestly, at this point, I almost felt sorry for the bastards. They had no idea what was coming for them.
 
Chapter 1186
And so the big day arrived. The final exams. I arrived at the testing grounds early, stopping only to stock my scroll supply back to ten and then heading out. Winnie was already gone, but I hadn't really expected her to be on my team for this. The limitations on team size apparently varied year to year, but it was usually around ten, and this year was no different.

I arrived where my group was meeting about twenty minutes before the start, double checking that everyone I needed had arrived.

Benny, Abel, Dayna, Bethy, Jessie, Fade, Alanna, and Crell. Plus Callie and I that was ten. I studied everyone, impressed at the advancement. B-rank across the board, except Fade and Crell, who had actually made the jump to A-rank.

I raised an eyebrow at my best friend. "You sure you want to do this?" I asked him bluntly. "You're welcome, obviously, but you know shit always goes extra wrong for me. You JUST hit B-rank, there's no way you're ready for this fight." I let a note of pleading slip into my voice. I wouldn't forbid him from coming with us, I couldn't do that to him, but I didn't want him there either.

"Bite me," he said, in as gentle a tone as he could manage. "And trust me. I'm ready for this. Ask Dayna if you don't believe me."

I raised an eyebrow at my elf friend. "You're party to this insanity? I guess that makes me feel a little better. You have better judgement than this idiot. Tell me, what's going on? How did he get so strong so fast? Where is his companion, and what role did you play in all this?"

She turned to look at Benny, who sighed. "Alright, fine, tell him. Shane, put Murmur up at least, and give it a bump."

Shrugging, I reached for my strongest stealth demon, pushing him up to A-rank. And not JUST A-rank. Peak A-rank. Any god paying attention would be able to hear, but given our current company I didn't think there would be any who had the time. Other groups were flooding in still, and things were getting hectic. Once we were protected, I nodded to my friend, and he glanced around surreptitiously.

"Alright, fine," he said again. "The reason I hit B-rank so quickly is because I've been developing a new ability. Or rather, I've been expanding one I had. You asked where Toast is, have been asking, and the answer is simple." He tapped his chest. "Right here. Toast is here with me. At all times."

"Some kind of fusion technique?" I asked with interest. I hadn't really considered that.

He shook his head. "Wouldn't have worked. My body wouldn't have been able to handle it. Not as it was. Which is why I contacted Dayna. She was over at the weapon department, but she's been studying magic tattoos, I'm not sure if you know."

"I'm aware," I said dryly. "We DID go on a quest together. What does that have to do with Toast?"

"Do you know what a Phylactery is?" he asked excitedly.

I searched my memory. "Soul container?" I said uncertainly. "Like some undead use to contain their spirits. I think the lich we met back on Callus had one. Or something like it."

He nodded. "Exactly. Well, I'd been doing some extensive research while I was away. Toast is a necromantic construct, and I can integrate necromantic constructs permanently into my body. But I obviously couldn't put a whole dragon inside my physical form. For one, my slots don't work like that, and splitting him up would be impossible. So I talked to Killian. I considered soul stitching as a potential solution, but it wasn't compatible with my ability."

"Which is why he approached me," Dayne said. He had the idea to combine his necromantic engineering with my tattoos and soul stitching, to make a linked series of soul vessels. He would tattoo magical receptacles across his body in places where he could integrate the parts, and-"

Benny glared at her. "Do you want to tell this, or should I?" He said sarcastically. "It's only the single greatest achievement of my entire life." She gave him a chagrin shrug and he continued. "Anyway, like she was saying, I designed a series of soul receptacles that could be integrated with my slots like an adapter and then stitched them all together. I needed to consult several professors, take a few classes, and spend quite a bit of time in the lab, but eventually…I finished."

I gaped at him. "Is THAT how you ranked up so fast? The reputation from pulling that off?" No wonder he hadn't been worried about anyone powerful overhearing. I was betting if he got that much renown most of his teachers knew already. "How did you even MANAGE it? I'm guessing you used that as the basis for your Chronicle, too?"

He grinned. "Yeah. I've developed a bit of a reputation. Especially since I broke through. Toast and I combined are a nasty combination. Not invincible at our rank or anything, but we won't slow you down, that's for damned sure."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, cough it up then. I need to see all these changes for myself."

He snickered, but quickly fished out a piece of paper and filled it out for me, passing it over and grinning smugly as he waited for my reaction.

Benicio Cortez- B-rank. Ability: Legendary Necrotech Integration- Allows the integration of existing artifacts into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them, four items per placement. Allows the integration of souls into created technology.

Bonded Companion: Toast (Dracolich)

Might-4,615,044

Impact-215

Fantasy-623,486

Vitality-726,441

Focus-2,720,141

Perception-343,582

Creation-1,263,471

Progress to next rank: 10,292,380/ 100,000,000

Chronicle: Death Dragon Dissertation

Soul strength: Obsidian Soul Body

Current integrated tech. 30/40.

Torso: B-ranked intangibility for short bursts, Three times multiplication of Might for ten minutes.

Right fist: triple punch, right infinite edge axe blade.

Left forearm: B-ranked energy barrier or variable shape, space ring.

Left fist: master slow acting tranquilizer effect, left infinite edge axe blade.

Right foot: Density shifting to create heavier kicks and more powerful jumps.

Left Foot: momentum neutralization to allow stopping instantly.

Head: slight cognitive boost to allow more thinking time, Three times multiplication of Focus for ten minutes.

Back: ability to grow a shell to tank damage.

Chest: Pair of golden B-rank spider legs that arch up from the shoulders.

Waist: Belt of spiritual calming, Three times Multiplication of Perception for ten minutes. Heart: Illusionary double, Three times Multiplication of Vitality for ten minutes.

13 slot soul construct: Dracolich embodiment matrix

Skills:Minor Cooking Mastery, Legendary Inventing, Legendary of Necromantic Engineering, Legendary Path of the Dracolich, Lesser Haggling Mastery, Minor Stealth Mastery

Path of the Dracolich-Solid. Technique: sword art, Dance of the Dracolich

I was impressed. Not because of the changes, those were decent but I'd grown a lot myself, so the raw numbers didn't do much to sway me, rather, I was impressed by the fact that he'd earned them himself. Whereas I had coasted on my reputation and a series of big dramatic feats, Benny had struggled his way through B-rank with nothing but his own wits. Being a Dragon host made the Might an obvious acquisition, but he'd made such a huge impression on his fellow crafters that he'd netted almost a quarter of his total in Focus, with a whopping one million in Creation.

Passing back the paper, I nodded solemnly. "Impressive, man," I told him earnestly. "Seriously, that's amazing." The academy had given him a springboard for all that gain, but he was the one who made the leap.

Jessie cleared her throat. "You know," she said loftily. "I'm impressive TOO. You didn't even ask about MY Chronicle." She winked at me. "I won't stand for this kind of blatant favoritism. I demand you praise me immediately. It's not fair Benny gets all the love." She raised her chin arrogantly, clearly demonstrating that she was joking, but I WAS curious. Not to mention it made sense to get as much information about my teammates as possible going into this. I hadn't asked for stats before because it was rude to most people, but Benny and Jessie were open to sharing and I wasn't saying no.

"I figured that went without saying," I told her wryly. "But sure, I'd love to see what you've accomplished, Jessie. But be warned, my expectations for Benny were VERY low. You'll have to do a lot better than that." I jerked my thumb at my best friend.

Callie snorted. "Don't listen to him. We're proud of you no matter what, B-rank so fast is a big accomplishment, you must have been a hit in the healing department."

Jessie flushed. "I did ok," she admitted. "They really liked my powers. Luckily the teachers were all really nice and willing to take me under their wings. I learned so much about healing, and my Vitality went up a ton." She fished out a piece of paper and followed Benny's lead, writing out her stats quickly and passing them over.

Jessica Evans- B-rank. Ability- Legendary Trait: Undying Lifestorm Thirionad. A spirit of the wild, bonded deeply with the Undying Lifestorm Ursa Randall. The beginning of a line.

Might-3,355,625 (x2 effective multiplier from racial trait)

Impact-215

Fantasy-522,758

Vitality-5,409,587 (x3 effective multiplier from racial trait)

Focus-819,755

Perception-625,765

Creation-423,958

Progress to next rank: 11,157,663/100,000,000

Chronicle: Blazing Restoration Folio

Path:path of the Green Sun- Solid

Lifebound partner: Undying Lifestorm Ursa- Randall

Soul strength: Obsidian Soul Body

Skills: Legendary Lifeweaving, Intermediate Horticulture, Legendary First Aid, Grandmastery of Herbalism, Expert Flower Arrangement, Legendary Beast Taming, Legendary Path of the Green Sun

Pretty similar, though I noticed Jessie had managed to push herself up another million past her rank up. Given what she could do, how high her Vitality was, and what her major was, I wasn't really surprised, but I was definitely still impressed. "That's AMAZING, Jess," Callie said excitedly, wrapping our friend in a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you. And I don't feel the need to mock you at the end of that statement to save face like SOME people," she stuck her tongue out at me.

"I didn't even SAY anything," I complained. "How am I getting shit for comments I never even made?"

Snorting, I turned to my other teammates. "No requirements, but if anyone else wants to share now is the time?" They all just looked at me, and I shrugged cheerfully. "Yeah I kind of figured, but it can't hurt to ask. Now, before this thing kicks off, we should-"

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to share my brilliant plan, because a loud voice cut through both the nearby din AND my Murmur domain. "Attention students," came the clear, ringing baritone of a figure I instantly knew was one of the Deans, even without knowing who. "It is time for all teams to gather in the field inside the arena. Please follow me."

The man, a tall, slim scarecrow of a person with pale skin and long dark hair, gestured for us to follow and then turned and walked away without another word.

I turned to frown at my friends, but since this is what we were here for, we had no real choice. With a shrug, we joined the milling crowd of other teams in a mass exodus as everyone filed through the open gates of the arena.

Once we were inside, everyone was gathered into a large group and told to wait as the man vanished. We stood there for a minute or two until, finally, a ripple passed over the sky. In the distance, twelve figures appeared, standing on platforms along the interior of the arena, towering over all of us. Swallowing, I settled in to wait for them to address us directly. I had a feeling this next part was going to be…intense.
 
Chapter 1187
The twelve deans of the frozen moment academy towered over us. I recognized a few of them. Dean Gibbons, Dean Harper, Dean Windermere, but most of them were complete mysteries to me beyond their names and titles. Still, I could FEEL the power radiating off them. Like the whole world was holding its breath, waiting for a storm to descend. Dean Gibbons was the first to speak.

"Welcome, students," he said coldly. "To the final exams. As I'm sure you're aware, this event is one we hold every year, and one that involves every major. Your teams are your own to select, by whichever criteria you choose, but graduation will be decided based on individual performance WITHIN the team paradigm, rather than by collective victory."

Dean Harper snorted. "He means that you can still fail if your team passes, so bust your asses or get left behind." Dean Gibbons glared at the other man, and he shrugged. "What? You beat around the bush too much."

"Enough bickering," came a quiet, almost whispered reproach. The figure who spoke was a shadow against the bright morning light, somehow completely impossible to make out despite being fully exposed to the sky. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Dean Kell Drave. I represent the Department of the Lost. The two previous speakers were Dean Samuel Gibbons of the Department of Temporal Dynamics and Dean Wallace Harper of the Department of Atypical Physicality."

"Right," Harper muttered. "Introductions. I always forget that not all of them know us yet. Yeah, I'm Wallace Harper, they call me the Monstrosity. Kell is the Silent Seeker and Sammy over there goes by The Hourglass Bodach."

The other Deans introduced themselves, most of them briefly and with very little enthusiasm. When Dean Windermere finished the roster, she gestured to the field around us. "Now, some of you may be wondering what exactly this exam entails. It's different every year, but is usually fairly consistent. Challenges span the gamut of what Ascendants are capable of. There are five of them, each worth two points, with bonus points available for meeting certain goals.

"Today's challenge is called 'Castles in the Sky'," she gestured up above us. "If you look up, you may notice that the sky is mostly empty. But, if you look more closely, you will see that high above us, there is a layer of illusory clouds. On those clouds are a series of illusory outlines of simple buildings. Your mission is to ascend to the cloud layer, find an outline, and create a building that matches it. You have twenty four hours. Begin."

Her voice cut out, and after it did, the Deans all just…vanished. There was a pause, like the universe itself had stopped to buffer, and then all hell broke loose, everyone surging forward and scattering to try to find a spot under a castle to begin their climb.

"We need to BUILD something?" sputtered Abel. "How is that a finals category?"

"Well, considering we have like three different crafting majors," I said dryly. "It makes some sense to me. The tasks need to be a good spread across all the specialties, otherwise crafter heavy teams are going to be at a disadvantage. Combat heavy teams might fail this one, if they manage to pass all the others they can still get as high as eighty percent as a unit. Not to mention the best teams can get extra credit on this, so the crafters can pad their score to prepare for less suitable tests."

"Can we focus, guys?" Benny said grimly. "The why is nice to know, but the HOW concerns me more. Forget the building itself, we've got some tricks for that, what we need to worry about is getting the hell UP there."

I glanced at Abel. "I figured we'd ask our resident travel agent. Or Callie. Or hell, I can give you all WINGS and let you fly up there if you really need it."

"Yeah, that might work," Benny said with a wince. "Except you apparently missed where she said it's an ILLUSORY cloud layer. The test isn't just building a castle. It's building a castle in the SKY. And the thing about castles, in case you've forgotten, is that they require foundations."

I shook my head. "Well, most of the people here have Domains. Not all of them will be suitable or large enough to use as a base, but mine and Bethy's would have the room. Not to mention the rest of Gehenna would be around to help." I paused. "But the projections will leave us vulnerable. Which means the teams building on Domains will need to assign guards."

"Some of them aren't going to bother," Callie said grimly. "Like that guy," she pointed to one of the closer teams, led by one of my classmates, and one I specifically recognized from the midterms. Desrick Flint, the guy who could condense time into amber, was currently doing so, snatching blocks of temporal energy from the air around him and tossing them to his teammates. Because of the nature of the material itself, their actions were faster than they should have been, warping time around them.

Desrick's team was laying the bricks down in a square pattern, building out a solid staircase heading up towards the cloud layer.

He wasn't the only one, either. Several other teams had taken that tactic, deciding to begin their foundations from the ground and build up, leaving all Domain users open to apply their Domains more fluidly. Some had on solid pad of foundation, some had built multiple pillars based on varying abilities to act as footers of a kind.

I grimaced. They might not have known this was coming, but apparently we weren't the only ones who saw the logic in having a crafting segment. Most of the teams anticipated something like this, at the very least, that was the only way to explain the distribution of Ascendants with material manipulation specialties across teams.

Luckily, I had one of those too. Grinning, I reached into Gehenna, Calling out an old friend, and pushing him up a rank with my staff as I did. Agares appeared beside us, power radiating from the demon as he was pushed to A-rank. He grinned at me as he appeared. "Hey boss," he said cheerfully. "You rang?"

"We need some help," I told him, gesturing to the various spread out teams building towers into the sky. I explained the details, filling him in on the basics even as I called him some help. Beelzebub emerged, also pushed to A-rank, allowing his twelve clones to manifest Agares's powers themselves, as they had so many times in the past. They weren't as powerful as Agares himself at A-rank, given they were only tapping into his abilities secondhand, but they made a fantastic work crew.

Dantalion appeared next. I couldn't bump him up a rank, but his environmental analysis and data management made him an ideal foreman for our budding construction efforts. "Huh," Benny said as he watched my demons spread out. "I kind of forgot hot bullshit you actually are. Man, being on the other side of that must be REALLY frustrating. Hell, being on the SAME side of it is frustrating sometimes, but at least you're not trying to kill me."

"Give it time," I said dryly. "Now, I don't suppose there's anything you can add to the proceedings? You ARE a crafter." As we watched, Agares got to work dissolving the ground around us into dust, to condense into blocks. Rather than take it all from one spot, he took a huge layer off the field in every direction for about a mile. The field itself was huge, and due to the size of the castle outlines above, the groups had spread out quite a bit, so we had more than enough room to spread out.

He nodded. "My necromantic engineering has some potential applications here. I can use shadow stitching to put together some of those soul containers. Dayna could use them to tattoo the blocks like living beings, reinforcing them as we go. What about the rest of you? Do you have ways to help with construction?"

I shook my head. "Not this time. Domain based castles will be dealing with attacks during the construction itself once they get up there, but they also have a headstart. The rest of us will be dealing with attempted sabotage on the way up."

Callie nodded grimly. "You and I can fly up ahead of the build and stand guard. The others can just climb alongside the tower itself, since the top will be the most vulnerable spot."

"Fade, I want you and Alanna on offense," I instructed. "Sandbag our closest neighbors, it'll be harder for them to take shots if they're trying to rebuild. Crell, try to slow them down without direct intervention. Bethy, you're on air support with us. Jessie, you'll be keeping everyone going. I want life force boosts whenever any of the demons or defenders starts to flag. Finally, Abel, you're protecting Jessie. Someone is going to take a shot at our healer, guaranteed."

Everyone nodded, and I called up Sammael, pushing myself just that little bit extra to boost him to A-rank as my wings burst from my back. This exam was only freshman, but several of the first years had been A-rankers themselves, so we were far from in the clear, even with the boost. Still, given my current stats, a push to A-rank from Sammael would keep me on the cutting edge of combat power near here, even if it wouldn't exactly make me invincible.

We took off, speeding up into the air to take position above our friends as they began construction. Without a direct attack, we began to circle slowly. Reaching out through the bond, I contacted Callie. "Be careful," I told her worriedly. "I'm positive we're going to get attacked during these finals. I doubt they'll try anything this early, but the Void spawn won't let this chance go. Deveskane is around here, even if he's probably disguised."

"I know, love," she said soothingly. "You've said. I'm on my guard, so don't worry so much. Did you warn the others? Chelsea and your cabinet are all in a different group. Are they in danger?"

I shook my head before realizing we were talking mentally and verbalizing my response. "I don't think so. Deveskane isn't local, and I don't think our people are on his radar. Hell, I don't think WE'RE on his radar. I'm not sure he cares about us as individuals. He came after you to get the lantern shield, not as a vendetta. At least I think so. Not that it makes up for it," I gritted my teeth. "I'm going to tear that bastard apart when I get my hands on him."

Entering this place meant he had to be below S-rank. You couldn't get in with a completed Chronicle, which meant A-rank was the limit. That was part of my reasoning for striving so hard to get stronger. I might not be A-rank yet, but between all the preparations I made, I was confident that I could hang in a fight with anyone below S.

"Don't borrow trouble," she said worriedly. "If we can get through this without fighting him, do it. Report to the deans and let them handle it if you can. Your safety is more important than some petty revenge."

"Of course," I reassured her. "I won't pick any fights I don't have to." Left unsaid was the fact that I was sure I'd have to fight Deveskane. This whole thing was coming to a head, and there was no way he didn't have measures in place he at least THOUGHT would assure his victory. In the end though, only time would tell. Maybe I would walk out of this without a fight. It was a sign of my growing maturity that I didn't physically burst out laughing at the idea. The fight was coming, and I was ready.
 
Chapter 1188
The attacks came from the clear blue sky. I'd expected it, honestly, so I wasn't unprepared, but they came faster than I had anticipated. Cosmic Waltz rippled and I crossed a wide expense of empty air to arrive in front of the streak of darkness that was heading for the highest current clone setting a block. My staff lashed out like striking lightning, and I felt a concussive shock rumble through my hands as the arrow was deflected.

Unfortunately, it seemed like another of my fellow time majors had made an appearance. Orion, the archer from the mid terms with causal arrows, was somewhere nearby, and I confirmed it easily after realizing the arrow I'd just deflected had TURNED and was currently flying around me toward the clone.

Snarling, I triggered Mephistopheles, unleashing ruin on the arrow, burning away the causality with the flames of passing eons, then spun to deflect another with the same dark fire. Sammael, of course, was built to wield the black flame, so the A-rank angelic form bolstered the ruin flame. Not up to the same level as the demon himself, but bridging the gap from late B to A-rank was more than doable.

My staff warped in the air, almost seeming to bend as I blurred forward, deflecting a rain of arrows before they could land. Orion was B-rank, fortunately, so I managed to stop them all easily enough.

Slightly LESS simple to deal with was the literal HARPY that swept down while I was distracted, A-rank talons slashing towards my throat. He had a vicious grin on his avian face, and I prepared to block him, but didn't end up needing to. His eyes widened in panic at the last second, and he juked sideways, only for a nearly imperceptible line of severed sky to bisect his wing and send him plummeting from the sky.

Glancing down, I saw Fade sheathing his sword and turning back to the nearest tower. I called out a thank you, then Waltzed across the intervening space to deflect a small meteor coming from above. "Shane!" Callie called when she saw me intercept it. "This isn't working! There's too many coming for us. We need to thin them out!"

I nodded slowly. "True," I called back. "And I think I know how! One second."

Reaching into Gehenna, I called out an old friend. Brad appeared nearby, Asmodeus alongside him. The enhancement demon wrapped around Brad, granting him wings and a boost in power. "What's up, boss?" he called over the wind as he caught himself and flew the few feet he'd dropped to return to speaking range.

"There, there, there, and there," I called, pointing to the nearest four towers. "I want you to tip them over. Preferably on each other. Make a pit under them, compromise the foundation. Use that crazy power of yours."

He grinned at me, snapping off a salute and flying off toward the nearest tower. I called him back, sending him to the one Fade was working on. Having an A-ranker to protect him might keep him in play a bit longer.

And so began literal hours of keepaway. Deflecting, attacking, constantly changing tactics. Jessie was working herself to the bone recharging everyone, Brad took down three pillars (one of them with another) and the clones just…worked. Agares was building, Benny and Dayne were reinforcing, and the few attacks that DID make it through mostly sloughed off the stone allowing us to make good time.

Finally, we reached the cloud layer. Once we were high enough, Agares and his crew of clones started to expand out, building a huge platform using the tower as a base. I was a little worried it wouldn't hold, given how high up we were, but he created a sort of bowl shape that used the top mile or so as a base, and the result was shockingly strong.

Dantalion landed next to me as I stood at the edge, watching for attackers. "We good?" I asked him as I stared into the distance.

"We are," he said confidently. "The four corners of the square tower were hollow. As we built up, we had four of the clones at the bottom tunneling down. They filled the corners and extended the pillars down into one huge sphere under the base."

"Where did you get enough DIRT for that?" I asked in confusion. "I mean, Agares needs materials, right? It had to come from some-"

My words were cut off by a colossal boom. Namely, from one of the nearby towers. Which had been rebuilt and had almost reached the cloud layer, only to topple over again. "Brad," I said with a laugh. "He's transporting the dirt from under their towers through his pits. I'm surprised they managed the rebuilds at all."

"They've got tricks of their own," he admitted. "That tower of time amber seems not to need a foundation. It's pinned in spacetime. Fade has been trying to take it down for a while, but even his cuts aren't doing much. They seem to be hampering the growth a bit, at least, but nothing besides. Anyway, we're all up here now, and the work on the castle has begun. Luckily, the attacks on the base aren't very dense anymore, because aside from offense everyone needs to be up here to actually build."

I frowned, looking out over the cloud layer. "The base should be mostly safe," I said slowly. "But now that so many are up here…we might need to look for attacks from the cloud layer itself. Did you notice anything odd about it?"

He nodded. "It's getting more solid. The more construction is done, the more the clouds become real. It's like the illusory castles are bringing the clouds with them as they come into existence. I can see several being built in the distance, and progress is being made at a pretty steady rate. Which might be a problem."

"How so?" I asked him curiously.

"If the cloud layer becomes solid enough, then the building can be done on the clouds themselves. No one will need a Domain or a foundation."

I waggled a hand. "Maybe, but I'm not so sure. If anyone waits for it to be strong enough to support a castle, they're going to be WAY behind. Waiting is an option, but not a good one. I suspect it's a fighting chance for people who don't have a proper crafter on their team. One last chance for the others to eke out some points."

"Probably," he allowed. "But that doesn't make it good for us. Especially the condensing clouds. It's already dense enough to support a person, which means parties are going to start ranging out further to attack the cloud layer. I mean, it's good for us too, because the condensing clouds surrounding the tower will help keep it up, but we're all in danger."

"You don't say," came a dry voice as Fade stepped up off the stairs leading through the tower. They'd built a thin staircase around the edge as they'd climbed, to enable more stable construction and to make sure our people could climb. "Then I guess it's a good thing we came back to help." Dayna and Benny both nodded, my elf friend drawing her bow and Benny flexing his hands, revealing razor sharp claws of white bone extending from his fingers.

Abel, Callie, Bethy, Alanna, and Jessie lined up behind them. "So we're going all in on the topside, huh?" I asked worriedly. "Are you sure someone isn't going to come knock this thing over?"

Callie grinned. "I'd like to see them try. I've spent the last hour or so coating this thing with Adherent fire. I shifted it partially out of phase with this reality. It won't hold forever, but it'll buy us a few hours. By the time anyone manages to mess with it, the cloud layer should be stable enough to keep us in place. That's why Dantalion made this bowl shaped platform."

"Smart," I told my demon of information. "No wonder you said it helps us. Anyway, I won't say it's not a welcome bit of news, or that I don't appreciate the backup, but I think leaving the whole thing unguarded is still a bit premature. Luckily, I can help with that." I flexed my will, and Mornax, Doom Sovereign, Azazel, and several other tier eights emerged. "You know what to do," I told them shortly.

"I've got it," Oz said with a wry smile. My first minister knew how to take charge, after all. "Come on you lot. Let's go."

Callie smiled indulgently as I sent my demons off to do guard duty below, and I felt a thrill of amused smugness from the bond. I rolled my eyes. She'd known I would do that. She just thought I could use an excuse to feel effective after hours of pointless deflection and annoyance. I glared at her playfully and she blew me a kiss, which I caught and pressed to my heart, earning a giggle from my wife.

"Oh stop it, you two," Benny said sourly. "We're standing on top of a partially illusory tower over a several mile drop building a castle on illusory clouds. Do you really think this is the time for flirting?"

"He's just jealous his fiance is on another team," I told Callie sympathetically. "It must be hard to be a lonely loser."

I dodged sideways as a burst of cold fire erupted from Benny's mouth, blazing through the air where my head was. I'd have been fine even if it hit me, but still, I was kind of impressed. "Oh shit, you have dragonfire now?" I asked him excitedly.

He puffed up a bit. "Of course. I AM the embodiment of a dracolich. Dragons are famous for their fire, and dracoliches are still dragons."

That was pretty cool, and I was about to say so before I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. I turned on my heel to stare out across the cloud cover. As we'd climbed, the sun had been sinking. By this point, it was below the clouds, and while not fully DOWN, it was much dimmer up here. Not so dim, however, as to obscure the figures surging over the sea of clouds toward us.

"Incoming," I said grimly, bringing everyone's attention to the approaching army. Well, army might have been overstating it. There were at least a hundred, or ten teams heading this way, but they weren't really cohesive. They were coming from several directions, and a few of the teams seemed to be running into each other and conflicting, drawn into small skirmishes as they approached. "We've got company."

Abel stepped forward, cracking his neck. "I can help with this. They're on the way, but they don't need to get here too quickly." Closing his eyes, he raised his hands, then he made a sort of throwing motion and…an ocean appeared.

The Infinite Blood Sea had grown since I last saw it. Or maybe he was applying spatial lubrication to the sea itself. Whatever the case, it covered the area around the platform in a ring, creating a zone of denial. I called for Asmodeus, sending him forth to imbue Abel with the power that he could. Brad was back, and he didn't need the assist anymore, but Abel did.

Bethy stepped forward, patting his shoulder. "Good job Andy," she said, almost kindly. "Just hold that there. I'll go in and help."

Stepping forward, she dissolved into a cloud of bats, each of the creatures swooping unimpeded into the blood sea. I knew Abel had worked with Lark to make the thing, and Bethy was clearly comfortable working with it. I couldn't see what she was doing, but from the sound I could hear, she wasn't making it easy on the ones who were entering, at least not the ones she could stop. Sadly, she was only a B-ranker, strong or not. There were others coming for us now. Stronger enemies. Soon enough, forms began to emerge from the blood sea, barely slowed by the Domain. The A-rankers had arrived.
 
Chapter 1189
The A-rankers emerged from the blood sea in drips and drabs. They appeared to be spaced out among the teams, as far as I could tell there were no teams of JUST A-rankers, at least not near me. Which made sense. While there had been ten thousand entrants to the tower, and were therefore a thousand teams, A-rankers were a minority among them from what I'd seen.

Still, a minority among ten thousand people was still more than a few. Abel and Bethy were keeping the weaker ones off, but Fade and I were alone in here in terms of ability to hang with A-rankers. At least, we were for now. I glanced back to where the building crew was working. "Beelzebub," I called to the active clones. I'd pushed him to A-rank to help with the build, but he wasn't limited to Agares. "We need Asmodeus."

He nodded, and nine of the thirteen clones shifted away from Agares into Asmodeous. My enhancement demon spread out, overlaying my teammates, pushing them all up to A-rank directly. "Team up and be careful," I warned them. "This is temporary. And very limited."

Asmodeous was damned useful, but he wasn't the same as the pillar boosting someone. There were inherent limits to the demon's ability, and I didn't want them cropping up during this fight. Best to warn them ahead of time. With that established, I turned to face the nearest A-ranker, my staff spinning up as I strode forward.

I didn't recognize the man, but I assumed he was from Harper's department. He was clue with gills, and he surged forward with not just speed, but a kind of unnatural flexibility that I didn't enjoy dealing with at all.

Still, I was prepared. My staff snapped out and down. One constant for humanoids was that they needed support to stand. No matter how flexible their bodies were, in order to stay standing, you need your feet on the ground, and you need ankles to hold them there. The butt of my staff smashed down on the bone spur of the ankle like a hammer, and the blue man snarled, stumbling back.

My staff swept up, smashing into the bottom of his jaw, snapping shut his teeth on his tongue (they were very sharp, from what I could see), and he snarled in pain as he recoiled, stumbling back from me.

I snorted, following behind him, my staff striking the parts of the body he needed to brace himself or hold himself up. Finally, I landed a solid blow to his temple and he dropped, crumpling loose paper. Of course, I didn't have time to relax, I had to rush to meet the next one entering. Fade was already fighting four of them by himself.

My friends joined in, two at a time, rushing to swarm the incoming A-rankers. I was actually kind of impressed. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to focus on that, I was forced to change mental gears as I found myself face to face with the glowing blue eyes of a Void spawn.

"Void," I said dismissively. "Man, you guys will just work for anyone, huh? Still, I have to hand it to you, you're pretty stubborn. I wouldn't have the guts to start trouble in an exam like this."

The A-ranker stepped forward, prepared to fight, but froze. "You forget what to say here?" I asked sarcastically. "Monster, butcher, destroyer of Void beings. Meet your end at the hands of…whatever you name is. Those are the lines, right?"

He stared at me. "Outsider," he said in a voice like a million rioting beetles screaming for salvation. "We need not be enemies."

I winced. "Shit. You're the Overgod. The Void Child."

"You call me such," he shrugged. "I am simply I. I would parlay with you. You have proven competent. I would avoid such an enemy at a time of upheaval."

"You're scared of me?" I said sarcastically.

He shook his head. "It is not fear. Simply caution. My plans are delicate, they may be unbalanced easily. I wish to avoid this fate, and as such, I offer a truce. We have no need to be enemies."

"You say that," I said grimly. "But your horned monster gored me."

"That was your fault," he assured me. "Its target was simply your wife. Had you remained out of the way, you would not have been harmed."

My eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry," I said in a voice like an arctic wind. "Do you think trying to kill my wife makes me LESS angry? Do you think Callie is less important to me than my own continued existence? Because she very much is not. You will not hurt her, and your previous attempts to do so were unacceptable. I won't ever allow you to hurt her."

"Sentiment," he said coldly. "Is replaceable. You prefer the female. She can be substituted. We have many females. You can choo-"

He didn't finish talking. Mostly because his head was exploding in a corona of white flame. He screamed, falling back, clearly unable to understand the Peaceflame. I snarled at him. "Don't EVER," I said with a venomous snarl. "Call my wife replaceable again."

I stepped over the twitching body, eyes hard as I called for Mephistopheles, meshing the black flame with Sammel's power. I was pissed, and this was a good opportunity to let off some steam. My staff cracked the air like striking thunder as I engaged with the nearest three A-rankers. I didn't care. I was too pissed to be wary of the threat.

The first one to come in was from the weapon department, I suspected. He used a long spear, and he wielded it expertly. The other two, a summoner who called different types of crow and an armored warrior whose plate seemed to grow out of his skin, flanked him, preparing to take advantage of any openings in my defenses that he might leave. I didn't give him the chance. I went on the attack, rushing the main bastard head on.

His spear licked out toward me, seeking. I deflected, but it pulled back, adjusting before launching another flurry of stabs. Cursing, I whirled my staff around me protectively. One of the main benefits of a staff, I'd found in my years wielding one, was the reach. Staves are long and sturdy, and the end caps are brutal. This makes them excellent defensive tools because they can cover a large portion of the body at once, and excellent attacking tools because the end caps land from VERY far away and have time to build up momentum.

However, there is one other weapon that works even better for that particular purpose. The spear. Now I'd seen too much to call the spear 'the king of weapons', or anything pretentious like that. But the saying 'another inch longer is another inch stronger' wasn't just talk. Reach was a very real advantage, and a well prepared spear used could capitalize on that to devastating effect.

Especially with a blade on the end, it opened up thrusting attacks as a method far more devastating than I could manage with my staff. I spent the next few minutes on the defensive, countering the spear while a parallel dealt with keeping track of the other two.

I didn't rush. I didn't need to. I was in contact with Dantalion, who was nearby, and he was analyzing the fight. The longer they fought, the more clearly he could dissect their combat style. Combined with tapping into the Overlay, I was slowly overtaking the tempo of the fight.

Keeping track of the arrows as they dipped and wove around me required another parallel, the summoner was flooding the area with crows and the plate warrior was doing his best to block off one direction without interfering with the spearman's range. These three had fought together before, and without my advantages I'd have been hard pressed to keep them back.

But I HAD my advantages, and that meant I eventually found my breakthrough. In minute five, the spearman got agitated after missing a thrust and lashed out, turning with his upper body to unleash a sweeping slash toward my throat. It was the first time he'd done that, but he'd STARTED to do it three separate times and changed his mind midway. Dan had noted the pattern despite the attempts to backpedal and had steered me toward baiting out the blow.

Meanwhile, the back end of my staff had been deflecting and maneuvering the plate warrior, and I'd been controlling the space to herd the harrying crows. I dropped under the slash, my staff tapping just under the spear head as it flew, gently redirecting the fore from a sideways arc to a diagonal.

The plate warrior screamed as the razor sharp blade of his companion's spear passe through his visor, and along with it, his eyes. He stumbled back, clutching his face, unable to see my staff slip behind his ankles for a trip. As he went down, I reached out with Cosmic Waltz, pushing the demon to A-rank with my staff and ignoring the pain in my skull from pushing the pillar so far. I warped the space behind him, bringing it up and around as I pushed him into a current and sent him blurring out past his teammates and back in like I was hurling a shotput.

Armor guy boomeranged out and back, building up speed, and hit the spearman at speeds he could barely process, his whole body turning into a projective as he rode the spatial stream into the back of his ally, landing with a crash and driving the first one into the second.

The plan had been cooking for a few minutes now, so there was no suspense as I drove the bastards off the edge of the platform in a tangle…and right toward where Brad was waiting.

My demon had a strange ability, he could make a pit in anything. That included Void Roads, and it DEFINITELY included illusory cloud covers. The three A-rankers went through the hole in the clouds, still trying to react to the sudden assault, and Brad let it close behind them as they plummeted.

I was sure they'd be fine. The crow guy could summon birds, and he was the least injured. But it would take them time to get back to their tower and return to the top. Azazel could handle things at the bottom if they rushed ours, but since my people were hiding inside the tower which was out of phase with this reality courtesy of Callie's Adherent fire, I doubted they'd be an issue again in the short term.

Wheeling, I took in the nearby fights. My people had managed to overwhelm the A-rankers who had come, and not a single B-ranker had emerged from the blood sea. Bethy was good at what she did. For now, it seemed like we were in a lull.

Groaning, I limped over to the platform nearby and slumped down. "Jessie," I called for my healer. She appeared immediately, pouring her amplified life energy into me, and I sighed with relief. "Everyone ok?" I asked after a moment. "Does anyone else need healing? I can wait if it's necessary."

"Bit late for that," she snorted. "And no, I was keeping up with the fights. A few people sustained injuries but we were mostly dealing with them two to one. Fade was the only one fighting multiple enemies besides you, and he didn't get a scratch."

Snorting, I looked over to my bodyguard, who was looking fairly smug. Abel, who had only tangentially pitched in for fighting, looked a bit worse for wear. "Can you top Abel up?" I asked Jessie. "I think keeping up the Blood Sea is getting to him. We don't want that thing coming down anytime soon."

Pulling back her hands, she nodded as she turned to help relieve some of the pressure on my friend, and I checked on the progress of the castle. When I saw how early we were in the development, I cringed. "Dan," I called for my information demon. "I'm bringing out some help, direct them as needed." I released fifty or so demons with a high enough tier to be useful. Dan just grinned as he gestured them over, putting them to work. I hoped we got this done fast. The sinking feeling in my gut had never gone away. Something was still coming for us, I just didn't know when.
 
Chapter 1190
The first trial ended after a few hours. Guarding the palace as Agares built it was annoying, but despite my feeling of impending doom, I didn't actually run into any of the Void's agents. In fact, by the time we reached the ground again after the end of the task, I was surprised to find Elonwy waiting for us.

"Aww, look at you," she cooed as we filed out of the tower. "I remember my first final exam. The crafting section is always a pain, but you all did so well." She eeped, covering her mouth. "Whoops, spoilers. I'm not allowed to tell you your score."

"So you're just here to mock us?" I asked wryly.

She snickered. "Obviously," she said proudly. Then the smile dropped from her face. "But mostly I'm here to warn you. We've been catching Void cultists trying to infiltrate the exams. The others are going on nearby, the ones for the other years, and we've snatched up about a dozen agents. We even had a few professors try to intervene. They were all apprehended, but no one here has been caught yet. So be careful."

I paused at that. "Wait…they got CAUGHT?" I asked quickly. "All of them?"

"I mean, presumably?" she said hesitantly. "We can't exactly claim to know what happened to the ones we didn't catch, maybe there were a bunch of them. But we caught a lot of them. Our security department is excellent."

That was wrong. Too easy. My instincts were screaming that there was something wrong. But was I overreacting? This was the Frozen Moment Academy. There were Overgods in charge. Maybe they were just that good. "Can I…" I asked, trailing off as I tried to consider how to as the next part. "Can I talk to security? To warn them?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. "That's not really how things are done," she hedged. "But I guess it couldn't hurt. Fine, come with me. There's a day off between rounds to recover, so we have the time."

I nodded, relieved. "Thanks," I turned to Callie. "Can you get in touch with the other teams? Just check on our people and make sure none of them ran into problems with the Void cultists."

Rolling her eyes, she leaned up and pecked me on the cheek. "Ok Mr. Worrier. I'll check in. Your cabinet members are all plenty strong though, I wouldn't worry. Just be safe, ok?" She frowned uncertainly. "This feels…off. Something is going on, and I don't like it."

Putting my arms around her, I gave her a tight squeeze. "I'll be fine," I told her warmly.

Stepping away, I nodded to the others before following Elonwy off the field and out to where her car was parked. "Look, I get where you're coming from here," she said as we walked. "After what happened to me, I'm as pissed about all this as anyone. But this is what security DOES. And they're not taking any chances either. They're using the same Drayven Subjugation Collars Janet used on me to contain the prisoners."

"They're WHAT?" I sputtered. "Aren't those things banned?"

"For civilian use," she corrected. "Security has permits. They're not NICE, but they can even hold S-rankers. As you saw. Trust me, the cultists aren't going anywhere."

We climbed into the car and she pulled out. I closed my eyes to avoid my head getting scrambled by the drive, checking in with her as we rode. "Speaking of, how are you doing with all that? I mean I'm sure it's been rough to deal with. Are you staying somewhere other than your place?"

"Yeah," she said with a warm smile. "I'm staying with a friend. Thanks, Shane. It was…it was a rough thing to go through. I didn't exactly LIKE Janet, but I trusted her. Enough that I never expected to need to keep my guard up." She gritted her teeth. "I'm still so pissed I fell for it."

"Hey, enough of that," I said firmly. "You got taken advantage of by a friend. Or whatever you called her."

She snorted at that. "I guess. But getting suckered is never fun."

"What's the alternative," I asked with a shrug. "Never trust anyone again? Most people aren't going to screw you. Taking that risk makes all the people you CAN trust all the more valuable. Trust me. I've been backstabbed before. Literally. A guy I trust stabbed me in the actual back with a knife."

She chuckled. "And let me guess, you turned around and forgave him, then the two of you became good friends."

"What?" I said in confusion. "No, I beat that son of a bitch to death with my bare hands. Then I made a holiday out of the day I killed him on my home planet. People dress up in embarrassing costumes. It was brutal. I said you should keep trusting people, not that you should be a SAINT. Do I strike you as that kind of person?"

She laughed, a silvery, relaxed sound that meant more to me than a hundred A-ranked chits. "No, you don't," she assured me. "I was just expecting something more…heroic. You have that kind of vibe."

"Gods no," I said emphatically. "I'm not a hero. I just married one. Trust me. Callie is the hero in our relationship. If you find the people who did this to you, take them out. Trusting people isn't the same as forgiving the ones who screw you over. You absolutely should not do that. Screw them."

We were both still laughing when the car pulled up outside the large, square concrete building. "Alright, we're here. Follow me and try not to be too…you. Sander is kind of a stickler for protocol."

I saluted as we climbed out of the car, heading towards the building with a churning pit in my stomach. I didn't know why, but I was sure this was important. Maybe not bad, but big.

We arrived at the door and Elonwy pulled it open, letting me into the cooled security station. She led me to a desk in the back where a large man was seated in front of a computer, tapping away on a keyboard. He noticed her approaching and raised an eyebrow. "Elonwy," he said stoically. "You're back. I told you we had no new leads. That hasn't changed in the last twenty minutes."

"Not here for that," she said with a tight smile. "Here for this," she jerked a thumb at me. "My junior here has some question, we were hoping you might answer a few. He was the one who saved my ass from those Void bastards. He's also dealt with them a bunch before."

He glared at me. "I don't care what he's dealt with, this is a security matter. It's not for students to interfere in."

"Don't you have students helping?" she said archly, gesturing around the room. "Your interns even got excused from the exams for this. You can't spare some time to answer a few questions? He's not asking to be put to work, he just wants to know what the hell is going on."

I was surprised to hear about the other students, but looking around, I realized several people in the room were B or C-rankers. My eyes lingered on one absurdly tall man with long hair. He looked grimly implacable and was sharpening a sword with deadly precision. I hadn't seen a lot of people that intimidating. He was even bigger than I was.

Briefly, I considered how familiar he seemed, but I shook it off as Sander finally gave in with a sigh. "Fine. Ask your questions."

I turned back to the security officer, a literal god, and sighed with relief. I let my instincts guide me to the questions I needed. "Ok, you captured a bunch of them during the exams, right? Where are they being kept?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, his gaze suspicious. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Because if getting caught was their plan then maybe they planned WHERE they got caught," I said bluntly. "Maybe the whole point was to get locked up together."

"We're not idiots," he said coldly. "I didn't start doing this yesterday. They've been dispersed throughout the Academy. We had one of our formation masters specifically distribute them to avoid any potential collaboration, not to mention the inhibitor collars. We've taken every precaution."

I opened my mouth to continue, and he scowled. "In case you missed the subtext there, I am NOT telling you where they're being held. So drop it. What else do you want to know?"

"I want to know about the prisoners," I said bluntly. "One of them is…special. A former god from a lower realm who was ground down by exposure to lower dimensions. He got in suppressed and I haven't been able to find him. He's probably with the prisoners."

He sighed. "We would have noticed something like that. All the prisoners were thoroughly inspected. You'll just have to trust that we know what we're doing. Look, I don't have time for this. I appreciate what you did for El," he shot my friend a surprisingly tender look for such a dour man. "Really, I do. But these questions aren't going anywhere. I need to get back to work, and you need to go. If you think of anything important get in touch."

With that, I was dismissed. I grimaced at the brush off, but at least he'd heard me out. I didn't know if this had done anything but at least I'd tried. Elonwy and I headed back outside, climbing into the car. "Well, that was a total waste of time," I grimaced. "On my part, I mean, sorry. I appreciate the help on your end."

She shrugged. "Like I said, I get it. I owe you anyway. I'll keep on Sander about this. I don't know what's going on but you're right, it seems…weird. Too easy."

I grinned at her. "NOW you're thinking like a paranoid lunatic. Welcome to the club."

Laughing, she pulled out of the parking spot. I closed my eyes again, blowing out a long breath. "So…any advice on what to do in the next trial?" I asked her hopefully. "Any tips you could give would be appreciated."

"Don't make me laugh," she snorted. "I'd sooner peel off my own skin. The Prof would kill me if I gave away trade secrets. They'll tell you what to do when you get there, until then just stay ready. Now, where am I dropping you off? This didn't take as long as expected, so I can get you home fast and still have time to get back to the lab to check the results on one of my projects."

I just laughed. Even after everything, Elonwy was still just as dedicated to her work. "Just drop me at home," I said wryly. "I'll head back to Common City tomorrow, but with Callie out checking on the others and under guard, I might as well sleep in my own bed."

"I feel that," she sighed. "Staying with my friend is great for my nerves but there's something special about sleeping in your own space. I really miss it."

Putting a hand on her shoulder, I smiled sympathetically. "Hey, you're good. She's gone, you're working on things, and if you need someone to talk to I'm always around. I owe you too, you know. I would have died down there without you."

"You do not OWE me for helping you save my own life," she snorted. "But it's a nice offer. I'll keep it in mind."

Arriving back at my residence, I climbed out, thanking her as I headed inside. I knew I would have trouble sleeping, but I was bone tired from all the work during the task, so I was pretty sure I could fake it til I made it. To my surprise though, my eyes slammed shut the moment my head hit the pillow. I'd have to remember that exhaustion was a good cure for insomnia. Not that I was likely to forget. I had a feeling I'd be using it again all too soon.
 
Chapter 1191
Waking up the next morning, I felt rested and ready to go. After stocking up on scrolls, I popped to my feet, moving through some stretches to wring out any soreness. Despite the boosts from the staff and my demons, fighting so many A-rankers yesterday had taxed my body. Apparently there were limits even to my body. At least for now.

Part of the reason I had started on the path of body refining was to correct that exact issue. I'd never pushed myself quite as hard as I had last night, and it had taken a major toll, but I was pretty sure the pre-nine phoenix me would be dead. It was nice to see my improved physique visible as more than numbers on a scroll.

It had been a long time since I had pushed hard enough to have aches and pains in my physical body. I honestly hadn't realized I could still DO that. I suspected it had to do with pushing the limits of my staff upgrade.

Closing my eyes, I appeared in my Domain, and then in front of a door in the back of my palace. Stepping through, I arrived in Callie's vault. Angelic bond connected us directly, and I had long since gotten her permission to come and go here whenever I wanted. Not long after I stepped inside, my wife appeared, looking as rumpled as I expected from her in the morning. She glared at me cutely. "And exactly what time do you call this?"

"Noon," I said brightly. "It's that thing that comes after morning. You know, just because we have the day off doesn't mean you have to sleep through it."

"Just because your mouth makes noise doesn't mean you have to not shut up," she said acidly. "I'm tired, can I go back to sleep now?" Despite the bite to her words, she was more pouty than upset, and I had trouble not grinning at how cute she was in the morning. Unfortunately she could FEEL that I felt that way, which made the pouting worse, and was quickly spiralling into annoyance.

Laughing I put my hands up defensively. "I promise I didn't wake you up for no reason. I have plans for today, I was hoping you wanted to come along. It's going to be a lot of fun."

She glared suspiciously. "Do you actually have something interesting planned or are you trying to save yourself. Because it'll be way worse if you're making this up to distract me. You'll be cooking me every meal for the next month. Plus snacks."

"I have a plan, I swear," I grinned. "I'm going out to look for Void cultists, and I want you to come with me. In fact, you're the only person who CAN, because I'm going to make use of my most underutilized demon to do it, and only you and I can access his powers. Angelic bond has grown, and I should be able to give you access through that vector."

She frowned for a second, then her eyes widened. "Astaroth?" she said excitedly. "I forgot about that one. Your perfect disguise demon, right?"

"Yup, the one I designed for my trip through the Void," I said confidently. "Even way back then I could hide from someone a rank or two up with Astaroth, and now, at the peak of B-rank, my staff will boost his powers to peak of A-rank, anyone short of an Overgod should fail to notice anything unless they look close."

Or anyone here at least, these weren't actual gods after all, just fragments. While I was sure that their true forms could more easily pierce my disguise, Astaroth was a seriously well designed form, and I had a lot of faith in it.

"I assume you have some kind of lead on where to go?" she asked mildly.

"Not even one," I chirped happily. "But I DO have access to someone who will. Namely, my divination teacher. She can definitely point us in the right direction. From there we'll just work with Dan to do a thorough investigation."

She let out a long suffering sigh. "Alright, FINE," she grumped. "But you're bringing me breakfast. Coffee from that place Winnie mentioned, and pastries. So many pastries."

I grinned. "Alright, I can do that. What are you in the mood for today?"

Tapping her pursed lips, she started her brain, getting it revved up to start it working. "Guava," she said after a pause. "And…dragonfruit. Oooh and loganberry. Do they have loganberry? I love those."

"They do," I laughed. Loganberries were a favorite of mine too, a hybrid fruit made of a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry. "Pretty good selection I know you love guava, so that one isn't a surprise. Dragonfruit isn't normally your thing though." I winked at her. "Guess you still know how to keep me on my toes, even after a few years of marriage."

Rolling her eyes, she waved off my comment. "We're going to be together for tens or hundreds of thousands of years, Shane. But yeah, the dragonfruit thing is unexpected. I was just in the mood for it today, I don't know."

"As the wishmistress commands," I intoned with an over the top bow.

She giggled, then waved me off. "Alright, enough flirting, I'll meet you in town. Can you set up Astaroth's disguise long distance?"

"Of course," I nodded solemnly. "Just let me figure out who we're using as a template. Needs to be someone who can wander around undisturbed but who won't be questioned. Do you have anyone in mind? Preferably someone A-rank."

She frowned, thinking it over. "There's a teacher's assistant I know. Natalia. She would probably be a good pick for this. She has a lot of influence. I didn't even know A-rankers could get TA positions, so she must be connected. Plus she's currently at her final, and she doesn't leave the spatial departments much. I only know her through classes."

"I'll need an image, and preferably a voice to go off," I said after some thought. She nodded, closing her eyes, and called on the shadows that were much less a part of her powerset these days. After a bit of tweaking, she was able to construct a model for me to use, complete with colors. After that, I called up Astaroth and used the staff to push him to tier nine before funneling the power through the Angelic Bond.

As I watched, Callie rippled, stepping back and out of space as Astaroth created a simulacrum to take her place, perfectly simulating the person she'd shown me. I could still see her, but after a moment, there was a ripple and she completely vanished from even my sight. "What the hell?" I yelped.

"Relax," her voice rang through the vault. "I used my Adherent Fire to alter the imaginary space I'm standing in. I can do the same for you, it should make it even harder to crack this form. Think of it as stepping a layer deeper into a theoretical void I created."

I grinned, excited to try it out, then reached for Astaroth myself, boosting it with my staff. Once I had it, I pulled up an imagine of one of the interns from the security bureau, stepping back and into my alternate space. After I manifested the copy, a surge of power flooded through the bond, blue black fire consuming the world around me. It faded after a moment, and then the air nearby took on a slightly greyish tint.

"Oh wow," I marveled. "This is…weird." My voice echoed strangely inside the space, but I could feel a layer of separation between this and even my previous hidden stat. "That's crazy, Cal. You've been learning a lot in the space major, huh?"

She beamed at me. "Of course. Finding new ways to apply my flames has been my main focus, and I've been getting so many ideas. This is just the beginning. I've got big plans."

"Can't wait to see where they go," I assured her. "But we should head out to meet up. I want to check with my professor as soon as possible." I paused. "Maybe I should have waited to apply the disguises. It should be fine though, she's a divination professor, if any god can see through this it'll be her."

I gave Callie a peck on the lips and then headed out. Exiting my Domain, I made my way to the nearby shop we'd spoken about, spending a few points to pick myself up some pastries (I got a guava of my own along with a cream cheese and a strawberry chocolate I hadn't seen last time I was there). After that I took the platform back to Common City and met up with my wife, who was practically vibrating with excitement and all but tore the coffee from my hands, gulping it down in long, heavy pulls before scarfing down her pastries.

Mine, meanwhile, were eaten relatively slowly so I could savor them. Also, y'know, TASTE them. Once we were done, I made my way to Professor Saunders classroom. To my complete lack of surprise, she was already waiting for us when we arrived. "Mr. Wyndham," she said cheerfully. "
Please, come inside."

Nodding to Callie, I entered, giving the professor a stiff greeting. "How did you know we were coming?"

"You told me, dear," she beamed. "In about five minutes. Or possibly tomorrow. You're here for help with tracking down the locations of the Void cultists." She paused. "Unless it was about the other thing…no, that doesn't seem likely. You'd be much more flustered. Oh well, spoilers I suppose. In any case, I'd be happy to help."

"You…would?" I asked in disbelief. "You're not going to charge us?"

She blinked at me. "Why, do you have something to pay me with? I didn't get the impression you had anything I might want, but I've been wrong before."

"I…" I trailed off. "No," I said, slumping. "No probably not. So what do I need to do?"

"Why, only read," she said with a laugh, reaching under a stack of books nearby to withdraw a piece of paper. She handed it to me, and I unfolded it to find…a map. "This will lead you to where you need to be," she said kindly. "Though perhaps not where you WANT to be. It's hard to say. Oh, and you might want to hurry. If you dally too long you may miss them."

I nodded. "Alright," I said slowly. "I'll keep that in mind. Do you have any…other advice for us?"

She paused for a moment, thinking about the request. "Don't turn left on streets ending in the letter M." She said decisively. "Or only turn left. It's probably one of those. But definitely not both."

I thanked her, grabbing Callie's hand and pulling her out of the empty classroom. "Well," my wife said sheepishly. "That was weird."

"Yup," I agreed. "But not exactly unexpected. She's always like that. But still, this map is going to be huge for us. I just need to find the nearest spot where one of the cultists was picked up and we can head over."

Callie turned to stare at me. She looked at me for a moment or two before reaching out to take my hand. "Hey," she said warmly. "Are you ok? What's up, you seem off."

I smiled at her. "Sorry," I said as I tried to shake off the nonstop feeling of foreboding I'd been feeling. "It's nothing. I've been feeling like something bad is coming. I'm trying not to let it get to me. No point worrying over what I can't change."

"Who says you can't change it?" she said imperiously. "Whatever is coming, we'll discover it early and expose it to everyone. Everything is going to be ok." She squeezed my hand again, and I felt my heart warm and then loosen, the everpresent knot in my stomach relaxing just a fraction. When she said it like that, I could almost believe her.
 
Chapter 1192
"So, this was the first place on the map," I said as we sat at a shaded table across from our target location. "I have Dan going at A-rank, and he's analyzing the locale. He should be able to dig into the temporal resonance of the place and get us some clues. If not, we move onto the next place. What about the map, you dig up anything interesting?"

Callie shook her head. She was sitting in front of the spread out map Professor Saunders gave us, studying the distribution of incidents. "Not so far," she frowned. "As far as I can tell, this is entirely random. Then again, I'm not Dan, and collating data isn't my strong suit. I can calculate spatial density on the fly to the eighteenth integer at this point, but barring some kind of space related formation I don't see what I'm going to be able to find here."

"Well keep looking," I shrugged. "We need to look busy. I doubt anyone is looking for lurkers, especially not after the change in our appearance, but we still need to keep up the pretense."

She sighed, holding up a hand to stop a waitress. "Excuse me, can I get another iced tea. And a plate of those cucumber finger sandwiches." At my chuckle, she just shrugged. "What, I get snacky when I'm hungry."

"Me too," I admitted. "So you better share. I love those cucumber finger sandwiches."

She winked at me. "Why do you think I got them? Anyway, what do you have so far? Dan's been at it for a while, did he pick up anything useful yet?" Dan's ability to mine locations for embedded data was one of my more useful tricks, and I hadn't busted it out for a while. I was looking forward to applying my brain to a problem again instead of just hitting it with a stick. Hitting things with a stuck was much more satisfying when I had a detailed reason in mind for why I was doing it.

So far though, he hadn't gotten much. "I don't know a lot. At about ten fifteen yesterday morning, a pair of men entered that bar over there." I gestured to the dive bar we were surveilling, a place called "The Rat Hole" (the bar's owner had really been leaning into the dive bar meta with that one). "Once inside, they took up a position in the corner and made conversation for exactly two hours and fifteen minutes, then one of them smashed a bottle and stabbed the other through the eye."

"Oh," Callie winced. "That's…what? How did the security department connect that to the cult?"

"Because after he killed his friend, the remaining cultist got down on his knees and informed the bar's inhabitants of who he was. He remained entirely calm and reasonable through the whole arrest, and even waited quietly for security to arrive to get him without restraints."

She blinked at me. "And…nobody thought that was weird?"

"Several people thought it was weird," I confirmed. "Up to and including the arresting officers. I'm guessing they looked into it and didn't see any issues with it. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't compare the incidents looking for correlations, I guess they just didn't find any."

"I guess that makes sense," she hedged. "I mean, there's no way there's just one security office for the whole city. These incidents were probably in totally different jurisdictions. I doubt they even have a full map of all of them, since a bunch probably didn't even seem like cult related issues." She studied the map more deeply. "Actually…what time did you say the guy killed his friend?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Twelve thirty, why?"

"One second," she said quickly, taking out her scan ring. She pulled up a site, flipping through to a list, then started circling spots on the map. "Oh," she said quietly. "Oh shit. Hold on." She started circling spots faster and faster, and then she drew out a shape by connecting them. "What does that look like to you?"

I glanced at it. "I mean…a blob?" I said slowly. "Why, what does it look like to you?"

"Well, when you structure it like that, nothing. Especially not if you use the incident locations, but if you pull up a list of the security stations where they're being HELD," she said, taking out a piece of paper. She drew a shape, then another, and then connected them together. "And line them up like THIS…"

I studied her sketch and paled. "Shit. This is a formation. It's in four dimensions. They staggered the timing to make sure the construct would form. But I don't recognize the shape. Does this mean anything to you?"

"It's kind of generic," she grimaced. "If I had to describe it, I'd say some kind of booster maybe? Especially with the murder. If this wasn't the only place where someone died, I would say that they're using sacrifices to create formation nodes. But there's no way the security department doesn't have SOMEONE who would notice this. We're B-rankers, and neither of us is even that good at formations."

I frowned. "I mean, yeah, it's weird they haven't…" my stomach tightened. "Unless they have. And they didn't say anything. Because they're PART of it."

"You think they turned the whole security force?" she asked skeptically.

"I don't think they needed to," I challenged, my mind racing. "Shit. I knew I recognized that damned intern. He wasn't wearing his mask, and we didn't meet for long, but I think that was Clarent. Think about it. They only need someone who can switch up assignments, and they clearly have that. They were able to reassign the interns so they could skip the finals. So they could have placed people at any of the stations."

The more I spoke, the more sure I was that I was right. Bindings. That was Deveskane's whole thing. Binding's like the collars, like the cells they were used in. Chelsea's yin yang path had a concept. Extreme yin gives birth to yang, and vice versa. That was what the little dots in the black and white sides of the circles represented. It meant that if you pushed something to a high enough extreme it would become the opposite.

In fact, Deveskane had DONE that before. Back at the Chasm. He'd used the unbinding energy from Atlas being unsealed to unbind the tower itself. If we assumed the Void Overgod had been in contact, it was possible, even likely, that the whole thing had been a dry run. He'd been experimenting with his Domain to learn how it worked.

Going around the Deans should have been impossible, but the Void Overgod had been trapped for a long time. If it could get free enough to send signals, it could presumably think well enough to study its prison. And Void Children were all about subversion and escape. The Void was ethereal and hard to pin down, it was why their stealth was so good. Deveskane's boss had dissected the defenses and hand fed him a plan.


The more I looked, the more similar the two situations seemed. I'd tried to warn the Deans, but they hadn't listened. Probably because I was a twenty year old from a lower realm who didn't even know how to mythcraft, or possibly because Harper just didn't believe the Void Overgod could pretend to be nonfunctional for so long. Whatever the reason, we needed to get to SOMEONE and tell them what was happening. Before it was too late-

The sky exploded. Literally. A colossal wave of red force SHATTERED the air above us. From distant locations, columns of red light erupted into the air. One, two, twenty, I counted one hundred and eight of them. The pattern was hard to track, but I was able to compare the locations mentally to the ones I'd seen on the map. I stared in horror as the beams of light began to twist and deform, creating a complex shape in the air, a circle of angry, painful geometric patterns that eroded the very world around them.

I was on the ground, I realized, staring up in horror at what was happening above us. I'd been knocked from my seat and was so stunned I hadn't noticed. I climbed to my feet, reaching down to pull Callie up. "We need to go. We need to go now! We have to find someone. Anyone." I fumbled for the bronze watch, but despite mashing the buttons I couldn't get a connection. There must be interference.

As we watched, the amorphous mass of shifting power in the sky began to move, sliding away from the city proper towards the direction where the curse canyon was.

"Where the hell are the DEANS?" I hissed as Callie and I took off for the nearest platform back to Moment City. "And why the hell didn't Saunders see this coming?" She had warned us to hurry, but we HAD. At least we hadn't dragged our feet.

But I knew divination didn't work like that. There were too many possibilities. She probably HAD seen it coming, she'd just seen it along with a million OTHER possible futures so it had gotten lost in the shuffle. Besides which the Void had its ways of camouflaging itself. Maybe the Overgod Void Child had prevented her from noticing. She was only a god. Not even a full one here either, just a fragment.

The platform was packed, and we had to fight our way through to get to the access point. As we arrived and waited to leave, I turned to Callie. "Ok, the Deans aren't here to stop this, which means they've probably been drawn away. That's a problem. But if the Deans aren't HERE they're most likely back at their own campuses."

She saw where I was going with that. "You want me to head back to the spatial campus," she said with a sigh. "Try to find my Dean and get him here. Are you sure?"

"No," I admitted. "The idea of you leaving my sight is terrifying. I'd rather peel off my own skin than send you anywhere. But the more of them we can involve before that formation breaks open the Void containment, the better our chances. Harper should be there at least, or on the way. I just worry that he won't be able to do much. It took him over a century to beat that thing last time."

She leaned forward to put her arms around me, hugging tightly. Then she tipped up my mask and mashed her lips to mine. "Be safe," she said quietly. "If anything happened to you…"

"Right back at you," I whispered into her hair as I clung to her. "I love you, Cal."

"I love you too, Shane," she breathed. "Don't you fucking die on me." Then she turned and she was gone, vanished into the crowd as she headed for her own major. I forced my rampaging heart to calm as I turned back to step onto the platform. I needed to stay calm. Think this through.

They'd used us. I could see that now. Our warning hadn't been ignored, it had been mistimed. Despite not implementing all the measures we might have liked, the Deans DID take things seriously. All of them being at the finals to oversee was clearly significant. But the Void had never intended to attack the finals. They'd baited us into thinking that. Or maybe I had just assumed.

Whatever the case, this was happening NOW. I needed to find the Dean, then my friends, in that order. This was going to get way worse before it got better, and I needed to make sure everyone was safe. My sister, Benny, Jessie, Bethy, they were all in danger. Callie was in danger. I smothered that horrible thought before it could form. Callie would be fine. She was strong. For now, I had to trust that she could take care of herself. I just hoped I could say the same of me. I had a feeling my self preservation skills were about to be pushed to the limit.
 
Chapter 1193
I emerged from the platform at a dead sprint. I didn't have time for things like subtlety or tact, I didn't have time for politeness or excuse me's. I needed to find someone. Anyone. I headed for the Professor's house because he was the closest to the platform, and the Dean was probably being distracted as we spoke.

My mad dash wasn't made easier by the fact that none of these people seemed aware anything was going on. A few people had come off the platform as I had, and the news was starting to trickle out, but the muttering hadn't really penetrated the consciousness of the crowd yet. I was fighting back against a sea of people that thought it was a normal afternoon, and it was really slowing me down.

I dropped Astaroth's seeming, since it wasn't helping much here and hurried down the road toward the run down house where Professor Hawkins both lived and worked. When I arrived, I started pounding on the door, desperately trying to get the attention of anyone inside.

That lasted about ten seconds, before the door was flung open and my Professor glared up at me in annoyance. "Shane? What the hell are you doing at my house? Why didn't you just call?"

"No connection," I panted. I was more exhausted from the mental effort and the worry than the physical toll of the run, admittedly. "Bad news." I filled him in on our search, what we'd found, and the fact that we'd been too late.

He grit his teeth. "Shit," he spat. "I TOLD Harper it was stupid to keep that thing. But no, big bad Overgod always knows better. "He even claimed to have tightened security after we mentioned your concerns." His eyes narrowed. "Damn it. That made it worse. It's an unsealing not a jailbreak, the sealing energy is part of the ritual. Increasing the pressure would feedback into the counterforce and ramp up the power."

"That was my guess," I admitted. "I figure the Overgod was counting on resistance to its escape. I'm glad to know we weren't ignored though, I thought you guys just wrote us off."

"We're not idiots," he scoffed. "When warned of a potential issue, we don't just hope for it to go away. You just didn't need to be involved in the security modifications. We were trying to keep as many people as possible out of the loop."

I grimaced. "Well it didn't work. Someone with the authority to redirect security was involved. Someone who was able to sandbag the Deans, who knew their schedules and how to distract them. At least I assume, since when I left they hadn't arrived to stop the ritual. Though now that I think about it-"

"Trying to stop or slow it is the worst possible response," he confirmed. "If its a feedback loop like I suspect, derailing it will only empower it. Our best bet is to arrange for the Deans to surround it and launch an ambush as it emerges. Unfortunately, we have an even bigger problem."

"Which is?" I asked, following him as he gestured me inside and stalked down the hall to throw open a closet. He knelt down and pulled out a large duffel bag, pulling things off the closet shelves and shoving them into the bag one by one.

"Security isn't departmental," he spat. "It's a free floating independent collective that only answers to two command structures. The internal leadership, and the Deans. The internal leadership runs the place by committee, which means that unless there are MULTIPLE traitors in the organization…"

My eyes widened in horror. "It turned one of the Deans," I whispered. "But WHY? What possible reason would an Overgod have to work with a monster like that? The Void uses power as a lure, but what could it offer someone that powerful?"

He shook his head. "Not all Overgods are created equal," he said sadly. "Nothing about Ascension is fair. Look at you, or your vampire friend. Some people are just stronger at every rank. And those advantages compound. People like my teacher are monsters that can fight other Overgods ten to one."

"Does that mean he can beat the Void Child?" I said hopefully.

Another head shake. "Unlikely. You need to understand that the kind of monster my teacher is? Harper is that same kind of beast. He's called the Monstrosity for a reason. Harper tells the story about beating that Void Child like it's a cute little anecdote, but he neglects to mention that his particular forte is durability and regeneration. Harper is a physical apocalypse. An unrelenting storm of horror made flesh. He basically CAN'T die."

"So you're saying that the fact that it took a hundred years was because he was barely strong enough to keep up with it?" I asked in horror.

"I'm saying it took a hundred years for the damned thing to exhaust itself butchering him on repeat a hundred times a day," he said bluntly. "Harper didn't BEAT that Void Child. He SURVIVED it. That's why he's so obsessed with that damned project. He'll never admit it but he considers that fight a loss. He wants to take everything special about the Void Child and make it a part of himself."

I swallowed. "So…all of the other Deans together-"

"Might not be enough," he admitted. "At least not alone. Harper isn't just the most durable, he's the STRONGEST. He does more damage than any of the others. If he couldn't hurt it, most of them can't either. But they do have tricks he can't match. My teacher and his wife are an incredible duo. More than that, this is a research university. The Deans all have their pet projects, not just Harper. Even I don't know what most of them are."

Taking a deep breath, I forced my heart to calm. "What about Dean Desmons?" I asked, trying to keep my tone calm. "I sent Callie to find him…"

"Simon Desmond is the most irritating Overgod in all creation, according to my teacher," he reassured me. "While Harper might be the most unkillable, Desmond is the most elusive. Harper won't stay down, Desmond won't stay STILL. Next to him is about the safest place a person could be in a crisis like this. He is ALSO able to come and go throughout the academy at will. He can collect the other Deans instantly if need be."

I nodded, because…that hadn't occurred to me. I knew the Deans were powerful, and I had assumed that meant they could travel vast distances instantly. But that wasn't how it worked. I mean yes, they were probably stupid fast physically, but who knew how far apart the different campuses were.

Some ascendants had travel based powers, some didn't. Like back during our military training, I'd been attacked by an A-ranked Duke of the empire. Because his powers involved long distance travel, he'd shown up when I was undefended, and only Zeke's desperate gambit of forcing himself to break through to A-rank had saved me. This was the same thing at a higher level. Despite them having MORE powers, they still had specific KINDS of power.

"But what if Desmond is the traitor?" I asked in a horrified moment of realization. "He'd be perfectly placed to-"

"To break that damned thing out himself," he said with a snort. "Trust me, it's not Desmond. I'd believe it was HARPER before I believed it was Desmond." He saw me tense and rolled his eyes. "And it's not Harper. Aside from the fact that he would gut himself before freeing that monster, he also wouldn't have needed to go through all the trouble. He could have just sabotaged the restraints himself. He did design them."

I chuckled in relief. "Well, at least that's two down," I said wryly. "I'm guessing Dean Gibbons is out because trying to stop him from freeing it would be basically impossible."

He nodded. "And Dean Windermere. As scary as Harper and my teacher are, Sela Windermere is infinitely more terrifying. If she wanted that thing free, she could have just broken it out by force. No, it must be one of the weaker Deans. Not the crafters, they're too busy to bother. They have everything they need." He continued shoving things into the bag, which was obviously spatially expanded because it should have been full five minutes ago.

"So who do you think it is?" I asked anxiously as I waited for him to finish packing and DO something.

"My guess would be Clara Temple, the Stargazer, Wendy Keller, the Merchant of Mirrors, or Kell Drave, the Silent Seeker." He said absently. "Temple is a little off, always listening to celestial voices, Keller will do almost anything for a profit, and Drave…well, his department isn't exactly the biggest resource focus. Where the hell is that Ralfjun Compressor? I swear I left it right…oh, there it is." He snagged a strange inverted looping crystalline construct, shoving it in the bag. "Alright, that's all of it. I needed a few things just in case we run into problems. Those cultists are embedded deeper than expected if they turned a Dean. Any given department head has unfettered access to their professors. No telling which ones might have been subverted."

He slipped the bag over a shoulder, adjusting the strap. "For now, we need to head to my teacher's house. I wouldn't be surprised if they cut the lines of communication temporarily to delay their response. Desmond will be able to help if your wife can get to him quickly, but with one of the Deans compromised, we need as many angles of attack as possible."

There was a bang at the door, and he strode over, opening it up to reveal…"Elonwy?" I asked in surprise. "How did you know to come here?"

"Your communicator might be out of synch," Hawkins said dryly. "But I have my own methods for reaching my TA. I contacted her when you arrived, she's going to be out transport to my teacher's place. That ridiculous car of hers is the perfect vehicle to shuttle us between the different majors. After we pick up the Dean, we'll swing by the spatial department and get your wife and Desmond."

"My car is not ridiculous," she said acidly. "You're just salty about the fact that it's a dual major thesis." She shot me a smug grin. "He can't stand the fact that I consulted the spatial department when I was developing the mechanism."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "That's a funny way to say 'please professor, make me administer the practical lab makeup exams next month' but if that's what you really want."

"NO!" she almost screamed. "Please don't, I'll do anything. Only idiots and lunatics fail those practicals, people DIE hosting those exams." They were still bickering as we headed out and climbed into the car. As I buckled in she held up a warning finger. "Don't wrinkle any of my notes. I'm pretty sure some of them are important."

We pulled out, and I closed my eyes, knowing what was coming. There was a slight lurch and then BAM, we were pulling to a stop. I opened my eyes to find the car rolling to a stop outside the Dean's house. I whistled. "Ok, yeah, that IS really cool. Let's go get him, I'm worried about Callie and the others."

We climbed out, hurrying to the door of the house. This time it was Hawkins that was banging on the door, but it didn't take even a minute for it to open. In fact, his knuckles had barely brushed the wood when the door flung open to reveal Deans Windermere and GIbbons, standing in their front hall wearing jackets and gloves, clearly having just finished getting ready to go out. Dean Gibbons raised an imperious brow. "You certainly took your time, didn't you? Come along then, we need to go." I wasn't sure if the fact that he knew we were coming inspired confidence or annoyance, but either way, it was definitely comforting.
 
Chapter 1194
"So, where are we going next?" Elonwy said as we piled into her car. Surprisingly (or not considering what it was), the seat seemed to expand as more of us climbed in, allowing for more passengers to sit comfortably. "Are we going to pick up Dean Desmond?"

Dean Gibbons shook his head, though he didn't seem too focused. He was looking around the inside of the car with interest. "What a fascinating conceptual model. Spatiotemporal travel using fourth dimensional temporal dynamics with a space based propulsion system. I hope you're planning to submit this as a thesis. I'd love the chance to study it in detail."

"Oh," she sputtered, her urgency being overwhelmed by awe. "I mean…yeah, I was. I hadn't submitted the proposal yet because I'm still ironing out the kinks. The-"

"Sequence oscillation is uneven," he cut her off. "I noticed. It's not too big of a problem though. If you boost the raydeon capacitor to fifteen cycles you can widen the frequency on the stabilizer. Should put the whole range within the stable zone. Hell, it would probably lower the escape velocity for the fourth dimensional layer by at least five lecters. You'd shave off maybe fifteen percent of the power draw."

She froze, eyes going wide as her jaw dropped. "I…why the hell didn't I think of that? Hold on," she dove backwards over the console, hanging halfway out of the front seat to dig through one of the note piles. "Ah! Here! I was looking at this!" She shoved the paper at him.

He took it, nodding. "This would work too, but it's ludicrously expensive. Overpowering the oscillations with a force buffer doubles your power requirements. You'd be at risk of a catastrophic system failure without a cooling system overhaul. Which would require a new power supply because the cooling system you would need to run this would require about twice as much output as the whole engine uses right now."

"Look this is fascinating and also gibberish to me," I cut in, literally shoving myself between them. "But can we do this another time when we aren't all at risk of being murdered by an escaping Void entity?"

Dean Windermere smiled chidingly at her husband. "He's right, love, it's not the time. Schedule a consultation with the girl after this is over and let her get back to the drive. As for our destination, Desmond won't be at his own campus by now. He'll have already set off to warn the others. We're more likely to catch him at one of those. For now though, we're not going to be doing that. I need you to take us to these coordinates."

She scrawled a series of strangely discordant formulas in the air with icy vapor, and I winced as my head rang like a struck bell just from trying to read them. I didn't recognize literally any of it, but apparently Prof Hawkins did, because he literally flinched back from the writing. "That's REAL?" he sputtered. "I thought it was an urban legend."

"Thought what was an urban legend?" I asked with interest. His reaction was kind of fascinating.

"My husband and I have a joint research project," Dean Windermere said matter of factly. "The frozen moment. Why did you think we gave the academy such a pretentious name?"

I shrugged. "I kind of assumed it was just normal Ascendant showboating. It's pretty on brand."

"Touche," she smiled warmly. "But no. The Frozen Moment is a Cryotemporal Engine we've been experimenting with for a few millenia. It's actually the secret behind those fascinating timelock rooms we use for the entrance exams. It's a revolutionary concept, using conceptual ice to slow entropic decay on a dimensional level, theoretically infinitely expanding potential temporal pockets with zero side effects."

Dean Gibbons cut in. "Time is fairly malleable," he confirmed. "But there are certain laws that are agreed on by nearly everyone. The universality of temporal flow is one of those. Things move through time, or are moved by time depending on your construct. The point is that while ignoring those laws temporarily is fine, removing people from the timestream for long periods of time gets them hit with serious entropic recursion. And yes, I know I said entropy is atemporal, but this is the exception that proves the rule."

"So the engine lets you remove things from the timestream for longer without backlash?" I asked as I grasped the core concept. "How does that help deal with the Void Child?"

"Because there are two times of temporal bubbles," the Dean explained. "Outward facing is essentially slowed time. To give an example, if you created a chamber where one day outside is a hundred years INSIDE, that's outward facing. The opposite is inward facing temporal bubbles. Which is when-"

I sat up straight as I followed that train of thought to its logical conclusion. "Where a hundred years outside is one day in the bubble. Slow instead of fast. So you could shove the monster into a time bubble and would essentially have an almost unlimited amount of time to deal with it."

"Nothing quite so convenient I suspect," he corrected. "Void entities are…slippery, when it comes to the timestream. Temporal energies don't stick to them very well. It'll help, but I doubt it will be enough to overcome the creature on its own." Elonwy had pulled out again, but to my surprise, even though I forgot to close my eyes I wasn't feeling sick or uncomfortable. I suspected she'd already instituted whatever fix the Dean had given her and it had worked.

"I don't suppose Dean Harper has perfect his research on applying my wife's specialized flame to the problem yet?" I asked hopefully.

Dean Gibbons snorted. "Harper? Harper isn't a researcher. He isn't stupid, but he tends to just smash headfirst into problems over and over again until they solve themselves. Absolutely no flexibility in his methods. It takes him exponentially longer to perform any measurable amount of meaningful research on a new topic. Which is to say…no, there is no chance of that having happened."

The car was still moving, blurs of color flashing by the windows, but it was kind of soothing now. I was enjoying the serene flow of the colorful outdoors, but sadly it couldn't last. We pulled to a stop again, and when we climbed out of the car, we were…"Where the hell did this mountain come from?" I asked in confusion, looking around at the jagged, snow covered peak we were parked on. All around us there were other mountains, albeit much lower, and they were all covered with a thick layer of snow.

"Permafrost Peak," Dean Windermere said serenely. "One of the most secluded and most secretive locations under the control of the ice major. I'm enforcing my will on the cold around us right now, or just being here would be enough to turn you into neverthawing statues of ice."

I whistled (which sounded strange and echoey in the thin mountain air). "You can do that? Just take control of cold that extreme?"

"Yes," she responded bluntly. "But I didn't. Not exactly. Rather than control it, it's simpler to just freeze the temperature drop at a manageable level. Cryokinetic control applied on the conceptual level is substantially more useful than one might expect. One can freeze all sorts of things beyond simple physical matter."

I nodded with interest, but before I could respond, a voice rang in my head. "Shane," I almost passed out from the sheer relief of hearing my wife's voice. "I'm with Dean Desmond. I told him what happened and he's planning to look for the other Deans. Are you with yours?"

I grinned wolfishly. "It's Callie," I said, holding up a hand. "She's getting in touch through the bond. She says she's with Desmond. He's looking for you guys."

"Convenient," Dean Gibbons said approvingly. "We never had occasion to experiment with soul bonding, but I confess I haven't seen many as concrete as yours. It seems a tab more anchored than most emotional bonds I've seen."

"It's not completely emotional," I corrected. "It was, but it was altered when Callie became an angel. It sort of mutated into a hybrid between a god's bond with their messenger and the partner bond we had before. But yeah the connection is deep. We can even enter each other's Domains long distance through the soul link."

He hummed with interest. "Fascinating," he said with a nod. "A useful ability in many situations. Including this one. Give her these coordinates to pass to Desmond."

This time when he listed them out he went slow and used a different notation. It was longer and more complicated, but it was something my brain could process and something I could pass to Callie. Apparently Permafrost Peak wasn't a place Desmond had been before, which was interesting, but it didn't matter that much. Once I finished passing over the information, there was a slight ripple and suddenly Callie was there. I breathed out a sigh of relief so visceral I was worried my lungs would implode, and I surged forward to wrap my arms around my wife. "Holy shit I'm so glad you're ok," I whispered into her hair.

She clung to me, squeezing back just as hard. "I'm ok," she murmured. "It's ok, we're all ok. Everything will be fine. I talked to your sister and Benny. Bethy picked them up. Chelsea had an emergency scroll from Nat she used to get in touch. They're laying low in the trait major. Bethy's dorm is far away from the platforms."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the gods. I was worried. I'm surprised she got them scooped up so fast. Remind me to thank her."

"I think she'll make fun of you if you do," she said wryly. "You know she doesn't believe in keeping score like that. Friends help each other." She smiled softly and squeezed my hand. "She's had a good example for that kind of thinking. You've got good taste in friends, and you surround yourself with good people."

"Started with you," I reminded her. I turned to regard the man who brought her. I recognized him from the exam, though I didn't know him otherwise. I gave him a respectful nod. "Thank you so much for bringing my wife back. I was worried sick."

"You should be," he said gravely. "We skipped through common on the way. The formation was still en route, but I don't think it'll be long."

Dean Gibbons nodded. "Based on the information given, I would say we should be seeing the results right about…now." As he finished talked, a blast of red light erupted off in the distance. Not like the thing pillars from before. This was a HUGE column of red light. My mouth went dry at the sheer magnitude of the power output. I'd seen some big lightshows, but this was next level.

"Oh," I said faintly. "That's…holy shit, that's crazy. Can you guys really beat that?" My mouth was dry and my throat was hoarse. My heart was thundering in my chest, because I could feel the shadow of death in that column. This light, this spear of energy, was the most dangerous thing I had ever seen in my entire life, and it wasn't close.

Dean Gibbons frowned at the light show. "I don't know," he admitted. "But I like our odds. I'm not sure which of the Deans defected, but regardless, they haven't seen all our tricks." He grinned nastily. "I don't think they have any idea what's coming for them. And they won't until the very last second."

I knew what he wasn't saying. This wasn't a one on one fight. The cultists were there. Deveskane was there. This was going to be a mess on every level, and I wasn't sure how the hell we were all going to come out of it in one piece. Looking down at my wife's hand in mine though, I felt an overwhelming surge of certainty. We WOULD come out in one piece, and stronger for it. I wouldn't accept any other outcome.
 
Chapter 1195
We emerged from the tear in space into a warzone. Dean Gibbons had decided we were going to miss our window if we pushed it too far and we headed for the canyon. But when we got there, we found…carnage. Bodies, flames, frozen time, curses everywhere. It was a mess.

Dean Gibbons knelt to check one of the corpses. "Resentment backlash," he said clinically. "Harper waited for them to enter and then destabilized the canyon's aura."

I perked up. "That's good, right? I mean, the canyon is huge, so they must have taken heavy losses." Of course Dean Harper would have countermeasures in place, I started to relax a bit, until I caught the Dean's head shake.

"They knew he would do that, it was the obvious move," he pushed the body with his foot. "This is a C-ranker. Most of the bodies are. They sent in a wave of fodder to soak up the damage."

"How did they get enough people?" I protested. "Did they really turn this many?"

Elonwy stepped forward, kneeling next to one of the higher ranked corpses. "I don't think so," She said grimly. "Hey, Prof, is this who I think it is?"

"Bennet Kane," Professor Hawkins said clinically. "Huh, thought he died at the Radiant Mountain Riot." He squinted around. "And that looks like Sanders Quilg. I KNOW I got a death report for him after that beast tide in the Shivering Second Canyon eight years ago. I don't know the fodder, but their high rankers are recognizable. Some of them vanished ages ago."

Dean Gibbons grimaced. "Yes, this has clearly been in motion for quite some time. Which makes it all the more certain that they had inside help."

I thought back to the stories about people vanishing, and how casually it had been brushed off. The Academy was safer than most places, but it wasn't SAFE. People died here. But knowing that was coming and intercepting them before it did, all without being noticed…they would have needed someone with a deep working knowledge of the ins and outs of Frozen Moment.

Clearly, I wasn't the only one thinking that. Dean Desmond looked grim. "That means they have someone with transport powers. And since it's not me…"

"Wendy," said Dean Gibbons sadly. "I had hoped it wouldn't be one of my few friends. I can't say I'm surprised, however. But she couldn't have done this alone. Besides the obvious, the others haven't shown up yet. Someone is delaying them. With the three of us here, Wendy involved, and Harper pinned down, that leaves seven of us unaccounted for. Someone should have shown up by now. If we assume the crafters might be keeping back to prepare, that leaves us with four."

"Theodora would never," said Dean Windermere firmly. "You know how she feels about the Void. And Corey disdains outside help in anything to an almost self destructive degree." Theodora was Jessie's Dean, the Overgod of Life called the Sister of the World Tree, and Corey Down was The Unrelenting Edge of the weapons department. "But if we assume they're each tied up, then that means they've been waylaid by-"

"Kell and Clara," grunted Dean Desmond. "Shit."

That meant that of the possible traitors, most likely all three of them had turned on us. I was beginning to feel uneasy. This felt…too balanced. They had taken too much into account. Whoever made this plan, be it the Void Child or one of the Deans, had been working on it for a long time. They had accounted for every variable so far.

"We know who they'll send to stop us then," Dean Windermere said coldly, frost beginning to gather around her.

"Of course," came a soft, airy voice. "Who else would it be?"

We all turned to find a small, delicate looking woman with a sad smile standing in the path. She was wearing loose, flowing clothes, and had a wide hood over her head. At first I thought the hood had shadowed her eyes completely, but a closer look told me she was wearing a deep black blindfold.

Dean Windermere's fingers flexed slightly. "Hello Clara," she said in a soft, dangerous voice. "Anything to say for yourself?"

The other woman shrugged. "Nothing in particular. It's only business, you know. The stars have stagnated since we established the academy. I'd reached a bottleneck. I needed momentum, celestial disruption. The Void is good at that."

"And now you're riding the power surge of tracing your path in the constellations," Dean Windermere said icily. "Do you think that's enough to take all three of us?"

"I don't think it needs to be," Dean Clara Temple, the Stargazer, said warmly. "I just need to slow you down. I've seen how this fight goes, Sela. Every detail. My victory is written in the stars. Just wait this out with me and we can all walk away safe and sound."

I had no clue what they were talking about, though from context it sounded like Dean Temple could see the future and had manipulated us into walking into a trap somehow? I didn't know what her stellar Domain could do, but it was clearly effective here. It seemed like because the Overgods were just fragments, their ability to leverage the environment played a big part in their individual strengths, hence the use of projects like the Frozen Moment.

Mentally, I tried to think of what I could do. Maybe if I pushed Kronos to the peak of A-rank I could disrupt the timestream nearby? But as soon as I had the idea I tossed it away. I wasn't an S-ranker or a god, I couldn't do anything here. Any tricks I pulled would be useless at this level. I glanced around desperately, looking for something, anything that I could do to help or even escape.

Nothing. Just trash, cursed artifacts, disrupted energy, and miscellaneous detritus. I even spotted a…street sign. I froze. 'Monday Street'. I read slowly. And it was directly to the right of Dean Temple.

Reaching into my ring, I pulled out the map that I'd gotten from Professor Saunders. As soon as it emerged, I realized something had changed. The previously normal map was glowing a bright, distracting red, just like the energy from the ritual. As I stared in disbelief, the map floated out of my hands, drifting up into the air. Each of the locations marked down was circled, and as I watched, the map burst into flames, burning away to leave only the circles hanging in the air.

There was a pulse of energy as the circles arranged themselves into the shape of a constellation, then exploded up into the sky, suspending themselves over us and creating a dome of red energy around us all.

"Oh, that little BRAT," spat Dean Temple, seemingly angered for the first time. "She SEALED the stars? And she used my own damned ritual to do it!"

"This is why she came to my department," Dean Gibbons said with a wolfish grin. "She was wasted on stargazing. Temporal mechanics are far more flexible. So…what are you going to do now, Clara? Sealing the stars has completely severed your celestial path here. Your chances of fighting the three of us to a standstill in an open match are effectively zero."

I shot my Professor a confused look, and he took pity. "Allegra Saunders used to be Dean Temple's disciple. She learned divination in her department, but left for a position in Temporal Dynamics after she completed her doctorate. It was a big scandal at the time. Changing majors happens, but Dean Temple was grooming Saunders to take over as her successor. She never quite forgave my teacher for poaching her."

"She was like a DAUGHTER to me!" she spat at him. "And he turned her against me with nonsense promises about exploring the underpinnings of reality. She had so much talent, and she threw it all away to play with equations!"

"Clearly not," said Dean Gibbons smugly. "She hijacked part of your ritual and used it to starlock you. She used the map as a connection point to absorb the power and had the kid carry it right in here under your nose. Which means she foresaw this entire confrontation and knew EXACTLY how to block you. She'd never have come up with that when she was working for you. Face it, I'm a far better mentor than you are, Clara."

I was blown away. Professor Saunders seemed so…flighty. To be able to outfox an Overgod, and her own ex mentor at that, not to mention she'd used US to do it. I got chills just thinking about that level of prescience.

In fact, it was more than that. This whole plan had been laid out to perfectly counter the Deans, it had been years in the making, and Professor Saunders had made the ONE perfect move she could to break the deadlock. She must have predicted this years ago, and had been steadily setting all this up ever since. It was staggering.

"Don't think I can't defend myself," spat Dean Temple, her face beginning to twist with panic. "I'm still an O-" her statement never finished. The frost that had been building around Dean Windermere had been quietly condensing, getting colder and colder, twisting the space nearby so subtly I'd barely noticed it. Her hands flicked up as Dean Temple spoke, and then…the other woman was frozen.

Not in ice. Or at least not only in ice. I flinched back when I tried to use Dantalion to analyze what had happened, but I managed to catch a slight scrap of information as my eyes started to bleed. Nine Layer Permafrost Prison. Time, space, soul, body, mind, Domain, heart, and fate, all frozen solid and frozen over again in a layer of indestructible permafrost.

Dean Gibbons whistled. "Wow, you took that a little personally, love. That's not going to thaw anytime soon."

"Treachery is just a part of life," said Dean Windermere coldly. "I'm less forgiving of incompetence. If you're going to stab me in the back, at least do it properly. Otherwise you're just embarrassing both of us."

"Very true," Dean Gibbons said brightly. "As for this little seal…" he lifted his fingers and snapped. The red dome around us flickered and went out. "I'll have to remember to give Allegra a contribution bonus for that. It was a flawlessly executed strategy. Now, let's go see if it was enough to turn the tide in our favor. I have a feeling the tides haven't turned completely just yet."

He turned and strode off in what seemed to me like a random direction and we all followed. I shot Callie a look, reaching out to grab her hand and sending a surge of hope and cautious optimism through it. This was a good sign. There were only two traitor deans unaccounted for, and they were most likely holding off two of the others somewhere else.

That meant our three would be able to focus on helping Dean Harper suppress the Void Child, or at least Dean Desmond would. I wasn't sure exactly how much actual attention was needed to run the Frozen Moment, especially since I didn't know what it WAS. Dean Windermere had gone in to get it alone before we left, and we'd never gotten to see what the device actually looked like, but I supposed that would change soon enough.

As we arrived at the entrance to the chamber, we all stopped to take in the scene. Dean Harper was there, standing in front of the exit, blocking off the passage with his enormous bulk. Red energy boiled around and past him from below. Around him, Void cultists attacked, ignored for the most part. Some gods, some A-rankers.

I recognized one of them as the familiar long haired man from the station. The one I now knew was Deveskane. He hadn't been able to reforge his Saga, and was apparently at the peak of A-rank still, but I could just tell it was him. When we stepped from the passage out of the row of trash, his eyes flicked to me, locking gazes, and I called my staff to my hand. I'd been waiting a long time for this.
 
Chapter 1196
Elonwy and the Professor spread out, obviously planning to engage with a few of the cultists. To my surprise, the two of them picked off three each, all at the same rank, and drew them off to open up the space for us. We were still outnumbered, but I was afraid of anything but numbers. I released about a dozen tier eight demons, and just to be safe, I boosted Asmodeus to tier nine and infused its power into Callie.

"Be careful," she told me solemnly as she stepped back. Callie knew that Deveskane was my responsibility. I'd been responsible for his release, and it was my job to fix it. Not to mention he'd taken a shot at my wife, and I wasn't letting that go.

I approached slowly, staff up, waiting to see what he would do before choosing my method of combat. Several cultists intervened, and I dispatched them with short, brutal strikes when they couldn't be avoided. Finally, I reached the fallen god. He shook his head ruefully. "You're gotten yourself involved in things far beyond your reach, boy. This will not end well for you."

Snorting coldly, I reached out with my Domain, wrapping it around us as I dragged us both inside. It was a little dangerous, but with the Seal and Pillar supporting my already much more durable than average Domain, his presence shouldn't be able to damage it, and it was at the very least safer to be inside than risk getting sucker punched by some insane cultist at an inopportune moment.

Deveskane didn't resist, allowing himself to be dragged inside, and we ended up in the throneroom of my castle, surrounded by the dozens of demons who didn't follow Callie into battle. He gave me a cold smile. "I suppose the tables have turned. How fortuitous for you."

"Nope," I said as I began to limber up. "I'm not going to mob you. That's too easy."

"You realize how stupid that is?" he asked dryly. "I find people like you, who allow emotion to dictate your actions rarely have a good end."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "And I'm supposed to take advice on good ends from the broken ghost of a former god who spent untold millenia trapped in an Impact meat grinder before selling yourself to an unknowable monster who isn't even from our reality. Like if you're going to betray humanity for the Void at least make it OUR Void. You're not even rooting for the home team."

"Your juvenile attempts at mockery have no effect on me," he said in a voice that was just SLIGHTLY tighter than it had been before. "If you wish to battle, proceed with the attack. But I warn you, while I may be unable to complete the step into S-rank, I possess all my old skills with my Domain, as well as a sizable boost in power from the Void Child. I am incomparable to my past self at this point. By the time I complete my breakthrough back to divinity and then from there to Overgod, I'll be beyond the reach of any other deity. I'm not the kind of enemy a B-ranker, even one like you, can compete with."

I nodded slowly. "Maybe," I said casually. "But maybe you're underestimating me." I reached for my power, for the four forms I had prepared for this exact moment. Mephistopheles, my most powerful offensive form. Life Nova, the apex of regeneration and healing. Cosmic Waltz, a powerful wielder of spatial fire, and finally, Song of Arcadia, a champion made to stand against the Void.

"Archdemon," I intoned as I connected the timepieces mentally. "Bennu." As I did, I pushed with my staff, elevating myself to A-rank, and I felt the four colored fire wash over me, rolling through my body, pushing me beyond what should be possible for me to bear. Even with my body refinement, even with my powerful soul, even with the staff and Seal to bear the weight, it was almost too much, it almost crushed me under the sheer awful power of the new form. Almost.

I grit my teeth, letting the weight crash down on me, letting it press me into the floor as my eyes squeezed shut, letting my soul groan under the stress, and all of it just sort of…solidified. Like I was being sublimated. I felt my soul, body, and heart aligning like planets in a syzygy. Under the strain, the thirty six drops of phoenix blood inside me burst to life, catching like jet fuel, and blazed up inside me, seeming to refine and meld the disparate elements of me together under the influence of the four colored flame.

When I opened my eyes, I felt lighter than air, like I had a sun burning in my veins. The four colored fire licked around me, and not just that, but behind me. I could see, out of my peripheral vision, a pair of glorious feathered wings, in black and green and white and glassy transparent flame. Behind me, the tree near my throne groaned a bit. I knew that I wouldn't be able to achieve this state outside my Domain. Only here, in the heart of my power, could I manifest this much of my strength. Four timepieces, four bloodlines, four fires of primordial power wielded against an enemy god in the center of my being.

It was insane. The risk, the recklessness. Bringing him here, doing this, it was almost more than could be logically accepted. There were so many other ways I could have done this, so many smarter, less dangerous paths to have taken. But…none of them were me. None of them were right. This was who I was. What I was. This was the purest representation of me.

I stepped forward, vanishing into the flows of space. Cosmic Waltz had gone beyond what it had once been, especially here. Every inch of this place was mine, and I could be anywhere I desired with a thought. My staff came around, the power of the Life Nova propelling the explosive end that was Ruin as I swept the staff towards Deveskane's head, aiming to cave in his skull.

His eyes widened at the speed and strength, and he dipped back, flicking up his hands. A pair of long, dark metal manacles unwound themselves from his wrists, hanging impossibly in the air as if underwater. My staff struck them head on, and they shuddered and rattled as they wrapped around it, draining off the momentum and trying to seal my attack in place.

The power leaching though the metal was staggering, and I knew it was Deveskane's Domain. Even with his body lacking a Saga and his foundation shattered, his use of his Domain was for more elegant and precise than mine.

But despite that, I realized something fundamental as I slipped my staff from the chains, retreating. Sealing. His Domain was based around sealing.

I thought back to lessons with my parents, to my lessons on using my Domain. The essence of my Domain, at its core, was Binding. I was Solomon, and I was on the path of the Demonbinder. My connection to my demons was my strength. My Bond with my wife was my conviction. My ties to my friends and family were my reason for being.

My staff flashed, thunder crashing as it tore the very air, four colored fire exploding against black implacable chains. I was winning, barely, but that wasn't enough. I knew what I had to do. What all this had been leading to. I could see it stretching out ahead of me like a shining road, leading me to this moment, preparing me for this. I pressed my attack, burning myself at both ends to push him harder and harder, until finally, with a grimace of rage, Deveskane finally stopped being cautious.

With an unearthly roar, he pulled on his Domain, forcing it into mine, manifesting the heart of his power within my realm to assert his dominion on my space. It was exactly what I'd been waiting for.

His Domain was hideous, a world of dark chains wrapping a thousand floating coffins, dark, monstrous things slithered and writhed in the blackness beyond where the chains faded from the dim light that showed them, jagged and covered in hooks and barbs. I drove my staff forward, exploding with four colored fire. Life Nova bolstered Peaceflame and purified the darkness, Ruin eroded the connections to Deveskane himself while the Cosmic Flame solidified the Domain itself.

I barely had the strength to finish it, to push over that last Domino. Because it had all been leading to this, every bit of training and innovation and growth. I'd been heading to this spot since I first set foot on the road to the chasm and I hadn't even realized it until just now.

With the last of my willpower, I triggered my staff, boosting Brad to the next tier, and bellowed "NOW!"

A hole opened beneath Deveskane. A pit of such utter, fathomless darkness that it ate my sight just to look at it. I thought of how many coincidences had needed to happen to bring me here. Discovering Brad, learning of his pit ability against the very Ascendant Deveskane was possessing, learning to create pits in people to imbue them with power, all of it for this one moment.

With the full weight of all my power, of all my demons, of all my Domain, I threw my whole soul against Deveskane, shoving him into the pit, Domain and all. After the purification, the erosion, the stabilization, and then Brad's intervention, not to mention his suitability as a material, it was almost shocking how smoothly he slipped into the pit, vanishing forever as it snapped shut behind him.

I stood frozen in shock as I stared down at the space where Deveskane had been. Just like I had used the feather for a material for Cosmic Waltz and the Lantern Shield for Song of Arcadia, I had just used Deveskane himself as a material for my Domain. His sealing capabilities had fed my Domain, shaping and changing it, and I-

My knees buckled. Power receded from my, Bennu rolling away, only for the strength to come crashing back ten times over as the enhancement from integrating Deveskane into my Domain finally hit, carried back like the returning tide as it crashed over and through me, and out into Gehenna. The castle shuddered, expanding and widening around me. Chains snaked over and through the dark stone, space expanding, and I could feel the changes to the plains outside too.

Forty two miles of Domain became fifty, then sixty, finally stopping at a full seventy two miles. An increase of thirty, almost as much Domain as I had originally started with. I felt a slight stress in the makeup of the Domain itself, but the chains bound it together despite the natural urge to fracture under such rapid expansion, and magmatic veins of Cosmic Fire erupted from the cracks, pouring around the suture like bindings and repairing it.

I checked my stats. No change to any of my core statistics, but aside from the expanded Domain space, my physical body had massively improved. My previous five thousand point per scroll cap had DOUBLED. I could faintly sense there were other effects, but I didn't have time to dig into them. I called Zagan over, having him blast me with life fire, and closed my eyes for a moment while he replenished my power. After the upgrade, my limits were far from what they had been, and all I was lacking was energy.

With that done, I stepped from my Domain, ready to rejoin the fight. I had no idea what had just happened, mostly, or what it meant, but my wife was still in danger, and that meant I was still needed. Everything else could wait until we were safe. Once I had emerged, I summoned every tier eight demon to battle, and we waded in. No rest for the wicked, after all.
 
Chapter 1197
The fight was absolute chaos. I was Kronos, at the moment. The glimpse into the temporal mechanics was giving me the time and predictive abilities to operate on the needed level. With my newly enhanced body, keeping it at A-rank wasn't even hard, and I was suddenly able to process what I was seeing so much better. Whether that was my progress through my current rank bleeding over or the power boost from consuming Deveskane, I had no idea, but it was convenient.

I flowed over the battlefield, staff lashing out to jam up the gears, stuttering time to a stop for a split second here and there to make openings for my demons, or just tapping the fighters and spreading the flames of Ruin to them as I stepped past.

One after another they fell, taken apart by my unnatural speed and grace. It just felt…easy. Right. I felt like I belonged here, in this space between heartbeats, standing inside the breath of creation as it stopped before the exhale. I was untouchable, unstoppable, and nothing could prevent me from bringing the inevitability of my wrath to my enemies.

I was so wrapped up in it that I almost didn't notice the attack in time. Only Callie's horror through the bond was enough to break through the thrill and enable me to react. Double Trouble carried me away, even as another horned monstrosity like the one that had gored me last time charged and passed through my illusory copy. "Thanks hon," I called out to her. "That was close!"

Double Trouble flashed again and I slammed my staff into the gears behind the monster's head. The blow jammed the mechanism, stuttering it to a brief stop for an instant, then continued on and exploded against the back of its head. The monster had somehow resisted, squirming against time itself to break free, and after it caught, I leapt back, removing the staff, and all its resistance spun the gears at speed without the blockage.

The small flame of ruin was amplified, pushed forward through time, and it consumed the monster in moments, dissolving it into ash. "What the hell are all these things COMING from?" I snapped. "Did this many students die mysteriously over the years?"

"No," my wife grunted as she flicked her blades, bisecting a pair of A-ranked Void monsters. "These are spawn, not vessels. The Void Child made them, or gave the vessel the power to make them. They won't stop coming until it's put down. The Deans need to hurry!" She glanced up worriedly, confirming the fight was ongoing, then returned to her battle. She'd circled around, her back to mind, and our wings formed a buffer zone to keep the monsters clear of each other's spines.

Above us, absolute pandemonium was ongoing. Dean Harper had manifested into a huge, terrifying monster. Its features changed constantly, seeming to mutate from one moment to the next, but it was always exactly what it needed to be when it needed to be it. Chitin, claws, fangs, ephemerality, strength, speed, a dizzying blur of features and qualities rolled over the beast, whose form changed and writhed like the sea in a hurricane.

Around him, space warped, swirling and shifting as it augmented his already unbearable speed. I wouldn't have been able to even perceive it if not for the underlayer of temporal mechanics, they were moving too fast. It was terrifying to catch even the afterimages. Dean Desmond was creating pathways of warped space to increase the speed and lethality Dean Harper was bringing to bear, creating a symphony of twisted space as he conducted the battle like a master composer.

Above him, Deans Gibbons and Windermere floated in the air, dark clouds gathering between their raised hands as they called forth the power of a single, terrifying blue snowflake. The flake was…painful. It hurt to look at, like it had too many points and edges for the space it occupied, and was shredding my eyes even from a brief glance.

Beyond it, and the clouds brewing around it, I saw a sea of red, the unsealing power of the ritual, tracing out a shape in the stars and condensing into a beam that the snowflake was trying to combat even as it attempted to freeze the unbearable creature the other two deans were fighting.

It was failing. The ritual was too much, too powerful. It wasn't as qualitatively dense, but there was just so much of it.

I had no idea how I knew that. I shouldn't. I wasn't really suited for this kind of formation work, I'd never learned. Something about this one though, it spoke to me. Like I'd seen it before. Not just once, I knew it like the back of my hand. And then it hit me. Deveskane, this was why he'd been brought here. This whole thing was based on his power. Literally. That red energy was Deveskane's WORLDFORCE. Or at least an inverted form of it. Hell, maybe that was part of why he'd needed to fall from Divinity, the ability to create this new unsealing force.

And suddenly, something clicked in my head. "Callie!" I screamed for my wife. "I have a plan! But I need your help!"

She shot me a confused look as she danced under a claw swipe, eviscerating a passing cultist and flicking Oblique clean. Oblique for the cultists, Gossamer for the spawn, she was already perfecting her combat style against these things. I was damned proud. "What kind of plan?" she yelled back, deflecting a tail swipe.

"Too much to explain!" I told her bluntly. "But I need you to let me use your vault!"

"Do it!" she laughed. "And make it flashy. I want to see something really crazy! I love when yu get like this."

Laughing, I spread my wings behind me, Sammael's feathered appendages sending me bursting upwards as I flapped, the ground retreating from under me. I approached the Deans and their snowflake. "Dean Gibbons!" I yelled to him. "Can you hear me?"

"Are you stupid, boy?" he snapped. "What are you doing up here?"

"It's not enough, right?" I asked him quickly. "The unsealing is proceeding and its undoing the seal of the moment, right?"

Dean Windermere nodded. "It is," she confirmed. "At this rate…we'll need to take extreme measures. Clara must have spent centuries perfecting this design. The Worldforce they used is unusually pervasive and temporally resistant."

"I can help with that," I said bluntly. "I need you to focus on holding back the ritual for a moment. Leave the Void Child to the others. I have an idea that should help a LOT. Not enough to matter alone, but it should give you the chance to push this over the top." I tried to put as much feeling and confidence into my voice as possible. These were Overgods and I wasn't even a real A-ranker yet. They would be insane to listen to me, but I had to hope they were.

Dean Gibbons looked at me…oddly. His eyes seemed to flicker with the reflection of a thousand shattered moments, just for a split second, and then they were back to normal. He nodded. "Alright, we'll do it. But don't take too long."

Dean Windermere didn't argue, just following his lead. Their hands snapped up and around, the downward pressure of their sweeping arms inverting as if they were holding up the sky. The black clouds pushed away the red light, and it enabled me to fly up between them. I closed my eyes, flickering into my Domain, and appeared in the throne room. "Brad!" I called. "Angelic Bond, I need you both!"

They appeared, and I nodded. "Bond, I want a door, open it right here. Straight into Callie's Vault, she knows it's coming. Brad, you go through it. Wait for my signal." Stepping back outside, I reached for my power again, this time projecting the throne room itself into reality, up there sitting on the black clouds.

Turning, I checked and found the door, I nodded and then reached for my newfound power. The chains shot out, winding over the frame of the door and then through it, climbing off the walls and into the Vault to bind my Domain and my wife's together. With the Bond as a foundation, the integration was seamless. We were already basically one in spirit, and this was just an extension of that.

"Alright!" I bellowed down to the Deans. "Let it DROP!" The black clouds receded from above me, allowing the pillar of descending red to plummet down upon my throne room. I should have been afraid, should have been terrified…but I wasnt.

This might be unsealing Worldforce, but it was crafted by Deveskane on the properties of his original. It was just backwards. I was still able to steer it, push it along, and I did, sending it right through the door and into Callie's Vault. "BRAD NOW!" I pushed with my staff, feeding every ounce of power and intention to my demon, and he HEAVED, opening a hole in the air from the Vault's position in the sky to right above the snowflake the Deans were controlling.

As the power funneled through me, I grit my teeth and groaned. I wasn't moving it, barely nudging, but this was so far beyond what I should be capable of. The chains holding me together and Deveskane's sealing power within my Domain were offsetting the damage, but I didn't know how long I could hold.

Luckily since I was the one nudging, Callie wasn't actually interacting with the power beyond changing it as it went through. It funneled along the Vault, entering as red unsealing energy and shifting as it went. It took a second to process, and for that moment, I felt my stomach clench into knots…

But the tension released as a waterfall of pure BLUE energy erupted from the hole Brad had opened. As it descended, it hit the snowflake, and the icy energy inside it caught like a high grade propellant with a match dropped in. The clouds darkened, expanded, and the blue energy EXPLODED down onto the battlefield.

Everywhere it passed, enemy fighters froze. Literally froze in time. The storm of blue glowing particles were like a wash of snow as they swept over and around, encircling the Void Child. Everywhere it made contact it began to freeze, sealing rapidly as it struggled. It let out a horrible scream, writhing and fighting to escape, but in the end, it couldn't manage. The very sealing energy that had been freeing it, once inverted, began to not only seal it again, but to convert the remnant unsealing energy inside, creating a sort of extra strong hybrid energy it couldn't escape from.

Red and blue met and the creature was subsumed in purple ice within about five minutes. As soon as it was done, I triggered Double Trouble, letting my projection drop as I appeared out of its path. The Deans caught the descending pillar of force much easier this time, and I almost fell out of the sky, only caught because Callie appeared where I was plummeting to scoop me up.

She beamed at me wildly, peeling off my mask and smashing her lips into mine. "That was INSANE!" she bellowed in my ear, laughing so hard tears ran from her eyes. "Do it again and I'll kill you."

"You'd have to kill US," I corrected. "Team effort love. Couldn't have done it without you!" I was laughing and crying a little myself, and as we touched down, I wrapped my arms around her tightly, clinging to her with everything I was. We did it. We'd survived, and I'd even managed to actually HELP with the big fight. I'd better get a ton of contribution points for that shit.

Laying my forehead against hers, I just let the laughter take me as relief drained every ounce of strength from my body. It was over. We'd all lived. Now all we needed to do was cleanup. And graduate. Which I was GOING to do without taking any more of the final. They owed me that much.
 
Chapter 1198
"That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen," Professor Hawkins informed me cheerfully. "Truly, categorically, cosmically stupid to an extent never before witnessed by either man or beast. You should teach a class."

I shrugged. "I'm only tangentially aware of what the hell just happened, to be honest," I admitted. "My soul hurts, my Domain is cracked, and my head feels like someone detonated a depth charge behind my nasal cavity. But sure, if it ever comes up again I'd love to teach people how to be so stupid you save the universe."

Dean Windermere and Dean Gibbons both touched down, the moment nowhere to be seen. "He's not wrong," she said warmly. "That was a phenomenal bit of ingenuity, stupid as it was. And unlike Alden, I DO understand what you did. It was an inspired bit of improvised Mythcrafting, though I believe part of your education has been to AVOID such off the cuff solutions. In this case, I suppose you can be forgiven your impetuousness. Just this once."

"Forgiveness is great," Callie said archly. "Contributions points are better. I believe my husband just contributed heavily to your personal pet research project. By any measurable qualification, he's earned a tidy sum."

"Not just me," I corrected in a firm tone. "Callie's Vault was the only reason that worked at all. I wanted her to get part of the credit. In fact, I want her to get MOST of the credit. She's just entered B-rank, and I'm almost through. I'll hit A-rank sooner than later, but she's a ways out. The more contribution she's reported as having here the better. At least, I assume you have some internal mechanism for spreading impressive feats?"

Ascendant culture functioned off things like that, and academies especially were giant PR machines. Of course, they both nodded, but Callie, knowing me better than anyone, cut in again. "Also we want an automatic pass on the final exam."

Dean Gibbons laughed. "Deal, though I have to clarify that you can't win the prize pool that way. Are you prepared to forfeit the credits?"

"Considering the number of contribution points we should be looking at," my wife said slyly. "I think we can let someone else try for those. We can use those points to get anything we want, right? Including all the ascension theses from the various majors?"

"You may," he said grandly. "But remember that your contribution points are finite. Wasting them on something as pedestrian as an ascension thesis may seem like a small expenditure, given it only costs a single point, but the value of contribution points is exponentially beyond anything you may access with credit points."

I blanched. "Wait, the credit to contribution ratio is one hundred THOUSAND to one?" I sputtered. "How much did we SPEND on that lab equipment?"

"Oh don't worry about that," the Overgod said in a comforting tone. "Alden pays a premium because of his involvement in crafting that particular construct. You only paid ten percent. But yes, that ten percent would have required approximately ten million credit points were you to pay out of pocket."

"So how much are we getting this time," Callie asked suspiciously. "I mean, we basically saved your lives. That's got to be worth at least…ten thousand. Each."

Dean Windermere snorted. "Nice try, dear, but most tenured Professors haven't amassed that much after millenia of working for us. You've done us a great service. We'd be willing to go as far as five hundred apiece."

"Just for this?" I cut in. "Because we were also part of Professor Saunders plan to defeat Dean Temple. Without me there, you might not have even gotten to this fight in time."

Dean Gibbons scowled at that. "Fifteen hundred total," he countered. "You contributed to that incident, but your wife did not. Five hundred for her for her part in the Void Child's defeat, a thousand for you, and we'll make sure to spin the narrative to give her the lion's share of the credit for the Overgod's defeat."

"And we can access the exchanges from all the majors?" I asked warily. "Professor Hawkins told us that there aren't really provisions for students to spend contribution points directly. If we're getting that many I need access."

"We'll assign Elonwy to you," Dean Windermere said with a warm smile. "She's an employee of the exchange in her major and can be granted access. She'll act as your personal shopper, in a sense."

Dean Gibbons frowned, but finally relented. "Very well. Because you contributed so heavily. Your rewards will, of course, be limited to what we discussed here today. Access to the exchanges through Elonwy, fifteen hundred contribution points, and our assistance with your renown generation. Are these terms agreeable?"

I could tell from his general demeanor that he wasn't really asking. This was the most we were getting, and any attempts to push further would alienate the Overgods we'd just gotten on good terms with.

"Agreed," I said quickly after a quick discussion with Callie through the bond. I turned to Elonwy. "Though we'll need to trouble you to drive us around a bit before we get into any purchasing. We need to pick up our friends and make sure they're ok, then figure out what everyone needs before we leave."

If anything, the sheer windfall we'd just stumbled on was going to be DIFFICULT to turn into useful resources in the short time we had left here. I had some ideas, but talking things over with Benny and the others definitely wouldn't hurt.

She nodded tiredly. "Of course," she said grimly. "That was…I don't know what that was. But I don't think any of us are doing quite as well as we'd like right now." She grimaced, putting a hand to her side. I frowned as I realized she'd been injured. She noticed my attention and smiled wryly. "I'm fine, just a flesh wound."

"Speaking of wounds," Dean Windermere said coldly. "We need to go, Simon. Theodora and Corey are still most likely locked in combat with Kell and Wendy. This isn't quite over."

Dean Desmond, still catching his breath beside Dean Harper, nodded tiredly. "Of course," he said with a sigh. "Give me a moment and we'll be off. Well done, students. Miss Wyndham, your application of spatial control is excellent, but there's room for improvement. I suggest you look into the personal tutoring option I offer. It is expensive but well worth the cost."

And with that, the four Deans all just…vanished. Between one blink and the next they simply ceased being where they were. Professor Hawkins rolled his eyes. "Melodramatic bastard."

"Well, I mean he IS an Overgod," I said wryly. "Comes with the territory. You doing ok Prof? Injured at all?" I couldn't see any damage, but it was obvious that the injuries sustained by a god fragment in combat would be different from the ones any of us got physically.

He waved me off. "I'm fine, kid. Let's just get out of this hellhole. Go pick up your friends."

We all headed out of the canyon. I was shocked to find Elonwy's car waiting outside for us. Professor Hawkins just grinned. "What, you thought they'd strand us?"

The car had been left behind on the mountain when Dean Desmond transported us, but apparently he'd brought it along without our notice or maybe gone back for it. We all piled in and Elonwy started up the car, taking a moment to adjust her seat before pulling out.

Rather than close my eyes, given all the changes to my ability to process temporal energy, I decided to actually watch as we drove through the fourth dimension. It made me a little nauseous, but beyond that it was a fascinating thing to witness. I expected to be watching for just a moment given the relative speed of rides when I closed my eyes, but to my surprise it lasted for what felt like an hour.

When we finally pulled to a stop, we were parked outside of a large, gabled manor that looked like it might have been haunted. "This is Bethy's dorm?" I asked in disbelief. "Did she REQUEST this or did they just assign it to her?"

Callie just snorted. "I give it even odds. Come on, let's check in on everyone. I want to make sure they're all ok."

We arrived at the front door of the dorms, knocking and being let in by what appeared to be an actual Gorgon, and followed the directions up to Bethy's room. I knocked, and there was a slight wait before the door opened to reveal my sister.


Chelsea's eyes were red, tear streaks down her pale face, and when she saw me, she let out a shriek of relief and threw her arms around me. "Shane you asshole!" she sobbed. "What the hell am I supposed to tell mom and dad if you die? Honestly, can you NOT be the center of attention for five minutes you showboating ass!"

I glanced at Bethy, who was waiting nearby looking relieved. "We just heard about your fight," she explained.

"What?" I said in disbelief. "How? It's been like five minutes since it happened."

Elonwy chuckled. "The Deans are really good at PR. But I thought they were going to give Callie the credit."

"They did," Chelsea shrugged. "But Callie is a sensible person. She only does crazy shit when my idiot brother needs to be pulled out of the fire. If she did something dramatic, it's only because Shane did something worse."

"That is BLATANT favoritism!" I sputtered. "And also only partially correct. I saved the universe. Or like…this tower at least."

My sister rolled her eyes. "You always do. But I'm relieved you're both ok."

"Excuse me," Benny said wryly from behind her. "Some of us are waiting to berate and congratulate our idiots. Good work and also you're both morons, and I'm telling your parents when we get back. Both sets."

I tried to imagine Atlas's reaction to this, and could only imagine he'd be thrilled, but Amelia was bound to be less than enthused by the whole ordeal. Hopefully he was just bluffing, because she didn't really need all that stress. Either way, I was glad he was taking this so well, and I pulled him into a fierce hug. "Thanks for worrying," I told him sincerely. "Also, good luck on the finals, and you're going to need to find a pair of new teammates."

He sputtered as he pulled away. "What? What do you mean we need new teammates? What the hell?"

We explained what happened, all the details of the various betrayals and conflicts and how it all ended. We ALSO explained our rewards, and they all looked pretty damned offended by us being allowed to skip the finals, but I didn't really care.

"So…you're going to be buying everyone elixirs, right?" Crell said bluntly. "Because this is one of the few places we can get all the variants we need in this kind of bulk. It seems like way too big an opportunity to pass up."

I nodded. "At least. And I'll probably pick up the A-rank sets for myself and maybe Callie in advance, considering how much renown she's going to be getting soon."

No one seemed bothered by that, but that didn't mean they didn't have opinions. Soon enough, everyone was weighing in, telling me their ideas for how to spend the windfall, and I shot my wife a rueful glance. She just chuckled fondly, smiling at me and our friends in absolute adoration as everyone talked over each other, bickering incessantly.

I had a feeling this would be a long conversation, and with so many involved, even the fifteen hundred contribution points we had wasn't going to be quite as excessive as I'd been hoping. Laughing to myself, I sat down on the nearest bed as my friends all bickered, thinking over my options. Best to have a plan before they finished talking.
 
Chapter 1199
The bickering went on for longer than expected. I think everyone was just excited to have something positive to focus on after the fear and danger. Granted, most of them hadn't been in quite as MUCH danger, but still, it was obviously a stressful night for everyone.

One person more than anyone, though. I could feel a burning coal of unease through the bond, slowly growing as everyone spoke, and I frowned in concern at my wife as her nervousness built and built. Eventually, I just smiled and waved off the others, telling them to continue as I grabbed her by the hand and dragged her out into the hallway.

"Ok, what's up?" I asked her with a worried attempt at a smile. "You're freaking me out a little. Is everything alright?"

She flinched, obviously not aware she'd been letting on quite as much as she was. "I…yes," she said slowly. "Everything is fine. It's going to be fine. It's fine. Now it's fine. It's just…I'm afraid if I tell you what I'm about to tell you, after the night we had, you'll freak out. And I don't want you to freak out, because I'm not freaked out. I'm happy. So I was going to wait. But you're thinking about spending all those points and what if we could use them for…the thing I'm afraid to tell you about."

I frowned, taking her hands in mine. "Hey, whoa. You never have to be afraid to tell me anything. I love you more than anything in the damned universe. You could tell me you were secretly a face eating zombie spider piloting a shrunk down giant robot and I wouldn't care."

"You aren't allowed to watch horror movies with Benny anymore," she said with a snort. "That was absurd."

"That one I watched with Jessie," I said proudly. "We've corrupted her. But you're dissembling. Come on Cal, what's this about. I'm not going to be upset about whatever you have to tell me just because we were in a little dang-"

"I'm pregnant," she all but shouted, closing her eyes.

I froze. Almost literally. My blood chilled so hard it almost felt like my veins were turning to ice. "I…I…huh?"

"I figured it out before Dean Desmond picked me up, but I knew if I told you you wouldn't let me come with you for the fight and I was so scared you would die and we'd be alone and the baby would never meet their daddy and it turned out to be a good idea because you ended up needing me but I'm scared you'll hate me because I put us at risk but what if there's something in the exchange that can make the baby safer so I can't wait an-"

I put my hand over her mouth, laughing as I stopped her babbling by hand. "PLEASE stop talking," I begged. "I'm honestly worried you might suffocate. Just…give me a second. I'm not upset. I'm just…confused." She nodded mutely, eyes terrified, and I pulled her against me in a tight hug. "Hey, confused isn't bad," I told her immediately. "Just…I'm feeling a whole lot of things and trying to process. But they're not bad things. They're good things. I'm…holy shit Cal, we're going to be PARENTS. I don't even know what to do with that."

Her laugh was a little ragged this time. "Trust me, I know. I've been freaking out for hours, and I was doing it while trying to make sure neither of us died. You're not mad I was fighting?"

"I mean, you saved my ass," I said wryly. "Not to mention if we'd failed we'd have all been screwed anyway. So you being there to fight was probably better in the long run. Sure, I'm retroactively terrified of you or the baby being hurt, but that's no reason t-" Her lips crashed against mine as she kissed me senseless, and I was left blinking in confusion as she pulled back. "What was that for?"

"If you don't know," she said wryly. "It would take too long to explain it. But thank you."

Laughing, I shook my head. "I mean, I AM freaking out, just not about that. We're in our early twenties. Should we be worried about having kids?

"It's not like age makes you more qualified," she said wryly. "Have you MET our dads?"

"You know, I really wish that wasn't such a good point," I said with a laugh. "Though speaking of parents, my mom is going to be THRILLED. She's been making veiled and not so veiled comments about grandkids for a while now. Also holy shit, our kid is going to be SO cute! I bet they'll inherit the four parts of my current phoenix bloodline and your archangel bloodline both. The wings are going to be adorable."

She giggled, leaning her head against me. "Ok, yeah, that's true. And they're going to have so many aunts and uncles to spoil them rotten. And all our relatives." Her eyes hardened. "If Black Sorrow tries to lay a hand on my baby-"

"She won't," I assured her. "I mean, she might visit. But Atlas would turn her into a pretzel if she tried anything, not to mention what my grandmother would do. I expect she's selectively forgotten every bad thing she ever did to use and will expect grandmama visits. We can deal with that when it comes up. Do you know if it'll be a boy or a girl?"

Her eyes rolled so hard I was worried they might dislodge. "Shane I JUST found out. I'm not even showing yet. How would I possibly know that?"

"Women's intuition?" I said hopefully. "I mean, the baby is deeply conn-"

"BABY!?" shrieked an ear piercing, familiar, TERRIFYING voice from behind us. "You two are having a baby! Guys, come quick, Callie and Shane are having a baby! I can't believe you're pregnant, that's so COOL! Can I be the godmother, am I allowed to be a godmother? Can vampires do that?" I'd seen Bethy enthusiastic, but I'd never seen her THIS excited.

"What? A baby?" Chelsea squeaked as she pushed past her girlfriend. "That's AMAZING, oh my gods mom is going to be so excited! I'm so excited! I'm going to be an aunt! But I'm so young. You're so young. You guys must be terrified."

I sighed tiredly. "Yes, we're terrified," I confirmed. "We were just talking that over, if you could leave us to do that."

"I mean, the universe is so dangerous, things go wrong everywhere we go, how are you going to protect the baby?" she babbled worriedly, clearly not filtering her words AT ALL. I grimaced as she vomited up all the terrifying things I was trying not to think about.

To my absolute and utter shock, a hand clamped over her mouth like I'd done to Callie earlier. BETHY of all people shot me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, she's excited. She didn't mean that. She's very happy for you."

Chelsea, who had been struggling to get away, froze, shooting me an embarrassed wince. "Sorry Shane, I didn't mean to freak you out. I'm so happy for you. And excited."

I shook my head with a wry chuckle. "Yeah, I get it. I'm still dealing with it too. Though Callie and I were just talking about how cute the baby is going to be. I bet they're going to inherit one or both of our wings. I wonder which."

"I mean, given our respective family trees, you'll probably have twins," she said casually. Callie and I froze, remembering a joke that had been made about that years ago.

"Chelsea, maybe you should let the rest of us congratulate them," Benny said with a grin as he shouldered past. "If your foot goes any deeper into your mouth you'll leave bootprints on your lungs."

I rolled my eyes. "It's fine, Benny. Like you'll do any better."

"Well I can't exactly do much worse," he joked, stepping up to hug me. "But seriously, I'm happy for you, man. You've grown up a lot these last few years. You're gonna be a great dad."

My throat tightened, eyes swimming a bit as that hit me right where I lived. Coming from Benny, who had grown up right next to me, that meant a lot. And it felt good for someone to say that, even if everyone else's existential terror was probably more realistic. "Come back inside," Chelsea said warmly. "We can talk about whatever you want. You were wondering about whether to use those points for the baby, right? Or babies, I guess, sorry to be the one to bring that up." Her tone was sheepish, but supportive.

I turned to Elonwy, who had just come out of the room. "Well, you're our key to the wonderful world of the exchange. Anything that would help with the baby's future?"

I let my friends lead me back into the dorm, mentally berating myself for not bothering to use Murmur earlier.

As we stepped back inside, I glanced over at Elonwy. "Alright, so do we have options here? I've never done research on this kind of thing even back home."

"A few," she admitted. "Bloodline purification, prenatal stat boosts, soul enhancement, there are several possibilities. But personally, if it was me, I would probably want to go with a blessing from the Deans. Overgod sanctification can purify the spirit and increase talent. It involves cleansing the body with Overgod worldforce. You can have the process performed on yourself, but I heard pregnant mothers pass on a large amount of the benefits to their baby."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "And that's…safe? Because it sounds like a lot."

"Overgods have a powerful amount of fine control," she confirmed. "Granted, with the mess after the fight, you won't be getting all twelve, but nine is still a very solid number. Other than that, I would suggest buying a defensive token from one of the Deans for Callie. Having an extra life on hand for emergencies is never a bad thing."

That was true, and I hadn't considered it. The token I'd gotten from the Lady had saved my life and Callie's both during the succession war. And that was just from a normal god. An Overgod defense would be a perfect last resort if the Void managed to get past everyone to take a shot at my wife. She kept going, filling us in on the other options, but the more she talked, the more my head hurt.

I was still in pain from the fight, and this wasn't helping. I'd been expecting this to distract me and be fun, but the addition of finding I was going to be a dad was making me spiral. It was just so much pressure to deal with.

Admittedly, we were safe now as far as I knew. With the Void Child sealed, our last few weeks here at the academy should be peaceful, but that just substituted the immediate danger (which I was good at), with the creeping existential dread of fatherhood. I was trying not to think about it but I was terrified.

"I think that's enough," Callie said suddenly, reaching down to take my hand. "We've all been through a lot. Shane needs rest, and so do I. We can reconvene in the morning to spend the points, until then, we'll have to say goodnight."

Several people looked ready to argue, but when they saw her face they backed down. Callie arranged to borrow a dorm room, then led me inside and pulled me to the bed to lay down. I rested my chin on her head, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. As I closed my eyes, I let sleep take me, carrying me down into the dark where my dreams could help me make sense of all these changes. I was sure I'd be in better shape tomorrow, and then I could address all this big news head on.
 
Chapter 1200
I woke up weirdly energized. My brain had been running nonstop since Callie told me the news, and I couldn't help but feel…hopeful. Yes, the universe sucked and terrible things happened all the time, but we were getting stronger every day, and we had so many powerful relatives to provide a safe space for our child to grow up.

Hopping out of bed, I stocked up on my scrolls for the day, woke Callie (who was sleeping peacefully nearby) and then headed out to get her coffee and breakfast while she showered.

I sent a message to Elonwy before I left, asking her to come over and what she wanted to eat, and by the time I returned with breakfast, my friend had arrived and was chatting happily with a surprisingly bright eyed Callie.

"You're back!" Callie said excitedly, rushing over to me. I opened my arms for a hug, but was disappointed when she dove sideways to snatch away the bag with the danishes.

"You see what I have to deal with?" I complained to Elonwy. "She's the most important thing in the world to me and I'm, what? Third on the list? It goes loot, food, and then me. Or it used to. I feel like food is moving up the list."

Callie rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly, my feelings for you are all twisted up with food, so you share second place. That's what you get for making all of our dates five star meals when you were wooing me." She leaned up to peck me on the cheek. "And thank you for getting extras of my favorite flavor."

"Those are for me," I said sourly. She pouted and I rolled my eyes. "I mean yes, extras. Of course."

Elonwy giggled at that. "You two are honestly kind of adorable. Congratulations again on the baby. Or babies, if your sister was right about that. I assume you thought it over and are interested in the blessings from the Deans?"

"Overgod Sanctification DOES seem like the way to go," I admitted. "Even with only nine of them available, Callie will pass the benefits on to the baby for each one, right? What exactly does that entail? You said it increases talent, but in what sense? Is it just a flat benefit for Mythcrafting that specific attribute?"

As someone who had personally experienced the benefits of enhanced talent from birth, I understood the basic concept, but I wasn't sure exactly how a more specific version of that would manifest.

"Basically," she shrugged. "By washing the body in Overgod Worldforce, you acclimate to the attribute. It makes it easier to perceive and shape. I think the underlying logic is that it attunes your will more deeply to the attribute. It's kind of like the way recursion is weighted more heavily for higher ranked Ascendants. Except it's more specific to the types of attributes that compose those specific Worldforces."

Which meant that my dad's wish had essentially attuned me more deeply to all attributes of Mythology. I wasn't sure how that worked, but it really underscored how unusual my ancestor's bloodline ability and the things that came from it were. Even at this level, it consistently seemed to accomplish things it shouldn't be able to.

The more I learned about it, the more suspicious it made me. How the hell had he managed to create this ability? What kind of foundation would you need? I knew he was a genius, but out of all the absurd meta abilities I'd seen since becoming an Ascendant, the Wish power seemed…unique. Not to mention how unusual it was for gods to ascend without understanding Mythcrafting. Black Sorrow and the Revenant had used a Domain seed from other gods, but my Ancestor had just freehanded his Worldforce and still ended up with…this.

I made a point to ask him about it when I got back. I wanted to know where our power came from, where he'd gotten the idea for it and how he'd managed it. Some of it was bound to be the Great Book Heavenly Library, but even that was strangely unique as far as I could tell.

There was a thwack and I felt a ping off my mask. I looked down to find my wife glaring at me. "Stop pondering the mysteries of the universe while we have company. Elonwy's time is valuable, and we asked her to come here to talk about how to spend out contribution points, remember?"

I winced. "Ah, right, sorry, hon." I turned to Elonwy, giving her an apologetic nod. "Didn't mean to space out on you, El. Sanctification is fine, but that's only nine hundred. We still have six more. What about the other stuff you mentioned? I want to save at least five hundred for elixir costs for everyone, that leaves a hundred left. What about soul enhancement? You mentioned that, and I can't imagine a more useful thing for our baby to have."

My grandmother had been naturally born with a Mirror Soul Body, and the sheer convenience of it for her rise to S-rank had been staggering. If my kid could have that, I wanted it.

Sadly, Elonwy shook her head. "Soul enhancement needs to be done once the mother is further along. The sanctification uses the mother's body as a medium and passes down through the bloodline, but soul enhancement needs to be applied TO the baby. But honestly, given the utility of the sanctification, I suggest you use those hundred for yourselves. Force multipliers are great, but you still need to completely bind your chronicles before A-rank."

I blinked. I had actually forgotten that was a requirement. I was a quarter of the way there, but I did still have a ways to go. I'd heard they had materials to help with the binding here, but I hadn't looked into it. It just seemed…distant.

"What kind of options do we have for that?" I asked with interest. "I assume you wouldn't have brought it up without some method to solve the problem."

She grinned. "Of course. In fact, our major in particular has a method to help with binding pages. All of the majors can supply you with items that can help condense more stable pages, sort of scaffolding that can be added to your chronicle, but we do it a little different. There's a place here where you can step out of the timestream and view your past achievements. Time becomes malleable and you can bind pages with events that have long since passed like they were occurring in real time."

I blinked in shock. "That's a THING?" I asked in shock. "How come I haven't heard about it?"

"Because it's absurdly expensive," she said bluntly. "Most of the people who need it can't afford to use it, so it doesn't get brought up much. The Strange Aeons Ship is one of the Dean's personal projects from years ago. I only know about it at all because I was given full exchange access and went poking around for you."

That sounded perfect, honestly. Callie had a lot of time to work on hers because she was nowhere near done with B-rank. Even with the massive boost from the credit for taking out the Void Child, she was a ways off. I, on the other hand, was VERY close to peak B-rank, and I really didn't want to get stuck there once I hit it. I remembered Zeke spending quite a while at the peak of B before he took the leap during his fight with the Duke way back when.

I supposed I could do what he'd done and try to frontload some feats, but that was reckless and dangerous and only really worked for taking that one last step. This sounded like a safer, more measured way to make it to the next rank in a timely manner. "So how does it work?" I asked slowly. "Do I pay per page?"

"Nah," she said casually. "By the hour. How much you can get done is up to you. It's a million points per hour on the ship. Though that's not really indicative of much, considering how it works. How the time passes tends to vary."

I winced. That was ten points per hour. No wonder no one used that thing. The binding of a chronicle needed to be done in real time, for the most part. Once you hit A-rank you could author your pages, and that could be done later (obviously). So an A-ranker had no need of the ship, and I doubted ninety percent of B-rankers ever came close to accruing a million points, much less SEVERAL million.

Turning to Callie, I frowned. "I don't want to burn all those points just for me," I said uneasily. "You earned some of them too. The stuff we're spending on the others is one thing, and the stuff we're spending on the baby. But you could use this ship as much as I could. You have some amazing feats you could use for binding."

Honestly, thinking back I felt stupid for not binding a few pages when we saved the academy, but in my defense, between almost dying and finding out I was going to be a father I had been a little distracted.

Callie looked unhappy at the suggestion. "I don't need it," she said bluntly. "Between my dad and my sister I'll have plenty of opportunities to bind pages once we're back. But you're almost to the peak of B-rank. If you don't find a way to get those pages bound and fast you'll be stuck there. Hell, that was part of the reason we even came to this place, even if we both got way too distracted by all the nonsense happening here."

I sighed. That was true. Part of the selling point for this academy had been help binding pages. I frowned for a bit, then my face smoothed out. "Alright, compromise. I'll take ninety of those hundred and do nine hours on the ship. You take ten AND whatever we have left over after we get everyone's elixirs. I'm sure that they're not going to take up all of that five hundred, I just wanted to make sure to allocate enough just in case."

Honestly, the A-rank elixirs would probably be the majority of the cost. My future supply, Callie's, and our few A-rank friends. All the B-rankers would probably only cost a couple points each, though we had brought quite a few with us.

"What would I even do with them?" she said in exasperation, despite knowing that I had an answer ready.

I rolled my eyes. "You know you always need new gear. A few custom A-rank items from the crafting majors could be a gamechanger for you. Or maybe there won't be enough leftover for that. Who can say? Anyway, I'm not doing it unless you agree, and you can't make me. I'll just wait and grind through the pages the slow way. We can break through to A-rank together. It's no fun being ahead of you anyway."

She glared at me in exasperated fondness. "You are the single most stubborn human being I've ever met."

"Well, I did get chosen to be the champion of a torture goddess," I said reasonably. "Probably not something you manage if you can't stick to your guns. But that's not an answer, yes or no, love, do you agree?"

"Fine," she huffed out around a laugh. "I'll take whatever points are left over from the elixirs and the ten you aren't spending and invest them in my Vault. Happy?"

I beamed at her, leaning down for a quick kiss as my mask peeled away. "Ecstatic," I said in a not at all smug tone. Then I turned back to Elonwy. "Alright, that's our selection. Nine sanctifications, nine hours on the ship for me, and whatever is left after we get everyone elixirs goes to Callie for artifacts. That work for you?"

She laughed. "I'm sure we can make that work. Now, let's talk about those elixirs, because I think you've all got some choices to make."
 
Chapter 1201
"So, we're doing this an hour at a time, right?" Callie asked worriedly as we stood at the dock where the Strang Aeons Ship was moored. "Because I'm feeling a lot less sanguine about this now that I've seen that 'ship' in person." She made air quotes with her fingers at the word ship, and I had to admit I didn't blame her. It looked…well, it looked like a pile of junk.

The boat was small, thin and long and made of dark, moldering wood. There were holes in the hull, some patched and some open, yet somehow not filling with the flowing multicolored water that flowed beneath it. Within the stream, I could see faces, places, and objects. They flashed by too fast for me to track, but I knew what I was looking at. This was, quite literally, the 'Time Stream'. Or at least some version of it.

Not that it led anywhere. The section of water under the ship was only about ten feet by five. It faded into nothingness at either end, blending back into the normal water of the rushing river where the dock had been built.

"I had to admit, I don't exactly feel confident looking at that thing either," I said slowly. "I thought the Dean made this."

"He did," Elonwy said cheerfully. "But the Dean isn't the Professor. He's not always so constrained by things like aesthetic. Some of his projects get…strange. This one, he made with help from Dean Temple, actually. This was before he hired Professor Saunders, don't worry, it's perfectly safe. But it involves some strange principles of star navigation and fate."

I frowned as I looked down at the stream. "This doesn't look very focused. How exactly does it work? Like I won't just get lost in time, right?"

She pointed down to a pile of dark rope on the floor of the boat. "You'll need to lift that out and drop it in. It's a karmic anchor. It'll attune to you when you pick it up, and drag the river of time to catch on important moments in your past. But be warned, not everything you find is going to be some grand moment of import. Sometimes it'll catch on moments that were defining for you but never quite made it to the public eye."

"Honestly," I said as I considered her words. "I don't mind that. I know that pages bound directly affect your recursion, it's part of the reason to author them. Binding a few moments that are symbolically important might help me keep track of the person I am, and the person I always meant to be."

Elonwy shrugged. "Not my monkeys, not my circus," she said bluntly. "I don't know you well enough to give that kind of advice."

"Wasn't really looking for it," I admitted. "I was mostly thinking out loud. But I appreciate the sounding board. Callie is right, though. I'll do it an hour at a time. We won't be leaving for a few weeks yet, so I'm in no hurry. For now, let's get today's session out of the way. How do I do this?"

"Just climb in, pick up the anchor, and I cut you loose," she said with a laugh. "The river only functions in intervals, so the hour will start once you're off, and then you'll pull back in when it's up."

I snorted. "Well at least it's user friendly," I said wryly as I hopped onto the creaky old boat. It was surprisingly solid, and my landing barely made it rock. Reaching down, I sifted through the pile and picked up a small golden anchor about as big around as a dinner plate. It was connected to the boat by a dark, bloody rope covered in rough bristles, and it cut my hands when I pushed it aside to pick the anchor up.

Despite my gauntlets, the bristles slipped between the joints and shredded my skin, the blood leaking out to stain the anchor, dying the golden glow a deep, sinister red in the places marred by the droplets.

"Alright, cutting you loose," she said cheerfully. "Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, no flash photography, and I would advise against bringing food or drink on the voyage. Thank you for sailing Strange Aeons and have a terrifying cosmic day." She lashed out with a knife that she pulled from seemingly nowhere, chopping the much less evil looking rope anchoring the ship to the dock, and there was a rain of sparks as it parted.

The ship beneath my feet lurched and began to move, and I yelped and hauled back to hurl the anchor into the river before I passed the faded border in front of me. As it hit the water, there was a loud splash and the time stream rippled around me. In the reflections of the rippling water, I could see different images, ones I recognized. Before I could process anything specific, the anchor caught, yanking back on the rope and pulling the ship to a halt. It stopped right at the edge of the border, halfway over, and as I stared ahead, I found myself looking out over an endless abyss of darkness, like I was hanging at the edge of a cliff.

It felt like hours, but in reality, the ship only stopped for an instant, hanging there in the air as the momentum caught up, then jerked forward over the edge, and the world around me was consumed entirely in technicolor chaos.

Reality shattered around me, a kaleidoscope of fractured space and time in so many colors I didn't have the words to name them all, colliding and bouncing off each other as if trying to recreate an image and unable to decide what to be. Behind up, the anchor dragged in the shattered space, the rope a line of darkness against the rainbow riot.

Then, without warning, the boat jerked. The fractured rainbow fragments collided in JUST the right way, and they reconfigured themselves into an image, coalescing into a familiar scene.

At least, it was sort of familiar. It had been a long time ago, and I barely remembered it. But I recognized the players. Me, tied to a chair, and a familiar clean cut man staring dispassionately down at me. Stricture. The serial killer who had murdered Jessie's brother and several others, the one I had caught by accident in the dumbest way possible. The first person I'd ever killed.

His arrogant face was twisted in a sardonic grin. "What can I say?" he said, in that same smarmy tone I remembered. "I have a flare for the dramatic. Anyway, I'd close my eyes if I were you. Based on the expressions on my victim's faces, watching you blood pour out onto the floor makes it worse, for some reason."

The next part happened faster than I remembered. I triggered Double Trouble, appeared behind him, and punched him in the neck, using my armor to enhance the force. I'd forgotten it used to store impacts. My old gear seemed so far aware. Hell, even if I'd had my weapons on hand after being captured, I'd used tonfas back in the day. The punch landed, the spine cracked, and the other me just…crumpled.

I'd been drifting along through the room, the space vanishing inch by inch like I was sailing through space itself, but after he collapsed, everything froze.

In the chair, a copy of me sat, my illusory self from the subskill, and he cocked his head at me with interest. "Well now," he said, in a voice just like mine. "Isn't this fascinating. Where exactly did you come from?"

Blinking at him in shock, I slumped down into the boat, sitting down as I stared at him. "You can see me?"

"Should I not be able to?" he asked with amusement. "You're sitting right there."

"Well, you're an illusion," I pointed out. "The real you is unconscious. Oh, and I'm currently time traveling." I frowned. "Or I think I am? Is this real time travel? Or is this just a vision I'm having?"

He shrugged. "How would I know? You're the one who lived through this before."

"Again, unconscious," I pointed out. "But I have no way of knowing if this conversation really happened. I supposed I never asked myself what happens to the illusions after they're gone. I wasn't really prepared for this situation, to be honest."

He chuckled. "Fair enough. Well, I suppose since I'll cease to exist once this moment ends, it won't matter if I decide to ask a question, will it?"

"No, probably not," I confirmed. "So…ask away."

"Do you regret this?" he asked in a curious tone. It wasn't cold or empty, just…devoid of much emotion. Like he was asking my favorite flavor of ice cream.

I shook my head without pausing. "Nope," I said immediately. "Aside from him being a dick who killed my friend's brother, and was trying to kill me…so much came from this moment. So much of who am was because of this. What I have. This was a part of me, and I like myself. Why, do you think I should?"

Of course, I had come to understand my past self better, and this would contribute to that. "I don't," he said with a shrug. "Maybe it's because I'm an illusion and I'm going to fade anyway, but I don't think that there's anything wrong with doing what you have to do to extend your existence." He chuckled sadly. "I wish I could extend mine."

"Well, why don't you?" I asked casually. "Or rather, why don't I?"

He cocked his head. "You can do that?" he said in wonder. "You have some way to preserve an illusion?"

I held out a hand, and Gehenna pushed past the boundaries of the boat. I grimaced as I felt something…twist as I tried to expand my Domain. It hurt. But I ignored it and kept pushing. It was nothing serious, just resistance. When the field of dark sand reached the chair, a figure appeared in front of the illusion. A nondescript man who looked like me and like no one at all. Double Trouble.

He reached out to touch the illusion, and there was a sort of…shift. I let my Domain snap back, and the demon appeared beside me. I reached for the connection between us, and through it to find the fragment of illusion, before triggering my binding ability to force him to remain manifested within the demon that represented him. It was a lot like what had happened with Pit of Despair and Brad, but even more seamless. Although given the power difference, it was more the other way around.

He blinked at me as the ship began to move again, staring at me wide eyed. "That…what was that? What am I? What's happening?"

Chuckling, I clapped him on the shoulder. "All very good questions," I informed him. "And ones that you can have answered in Gehenna. Suffice to say that things are very different with me these days. But I'd still like to hear from someone who remembers what I used to be like."

I waved a hand and he vanished into my Domain. Azazel would talk him through the changes. I was interested to see how this would affect my demons.

Meanwhile, the ship had started moving. When I reached the point about as far away from my previous frozen position as the edge of the border had been from my starting point, I fell into the rainbow riot again, the world shattering as I plummeted into infinity. I laughed as it did, and as I fell, I focused inward, on the Myriad Demons Manual, and specifically on Double Trouble, condensing this incident into a page in my Chronicle.

It didn't feel like more than a few minutes had passed, and I had a hunch that this hour was going to take me through quite a few more moments in my past. I wondered if this had actually happened before, or this was all hypothetical? Maybe I would be able to confirm if I landed somewhere I'd been awake to see it. Of course, who could say if that would happen, I had spent a LOT of time unconscious when I was younger. I was still laughing when the anchor yanked again and the world started to resolve. Time for the next stop.
 
Chapter 1202
The next stop was quieter. No battle, no captivity, just me in a room with two people I was very familiar with. My old friend Cark, who I had met all the way back on Callus, and his sister Cassidy, who I'd helped rescue from a cultist.

In fact, as I looked at Cass's young face, her eyes shining with panic as she forced herself to put on a brave smile, I knew that this was exactly that day. It was the first time I had met her. She was about nine, several years younger than the last time I'd seen her. It always hit me like a ton of bricks exactly how much time had passed since my journey started. Not only because it had been so long but because it hadn't been long at all.

Three or four years. Three or four years since I opened that scroll and my life changed forever, three or four years since I called Benny to the park to tell him about my powers.

It was absurd, honestly. The amount of change. I had been just turning eighteen, alone except for Benny and Zeke, spending all my time playing Doom Sovereign and hiding from the world. I'd been…empty. I'd never felt like I fit anywhere, back then. Sure Benny was my best friend and his sister Maria and I had been close, but that wasn't the same as knowing who I was.

That had been part of why I'd gotten swept up in the Wishmaster inheritance trial so easily. I'd spent all my time having fake adventures online, and then someone offered me a real one.

And it had been an adventure. I'd left home, traveled the stars, met my mom and sister, gotten married, and now I was starting a family of my own. I stared at the past version of me, sitting there trying to console a little girl who had been ripped away from everything she knew and then put back but didn't know which way was up…and he looked so young. Even through the mask, he was just a baby.

But I could see the start of it. The moment that he processed what had been done to Cass and made a mental promise not to let that happen to anyone he cared about. It had been a fleeting thought, there and gone, barely even a conscious impulse. But it had defined so much of what I had done since then. Because Cass, at the end of the day, was a very important person. She was the first innocent I ever saved.

I'd helped people, of course. But Cass was the first time I had put my life on the line in defense of the helpless. And more than that, I knew from our conversations over the years that she was important to someone else in my life. Callie.

Callie had bonded with Cassidy deeply, as had all of us, but her value to my wife was beyond that. This moment had been a defining incident for me, but it had also been a defining moment for US. This had been the moment Callie fell in love with me. Or rather this rescue had been what showed her what kind of man I was.

I reached into my Domain, finding the tome I needed effortlessly, because I always knew where it was. I cracked it open and found a blank page, and I focused on Angelic Bond.

Of all my demons, Angelic Bond was the one that meant the most to me. He wasn't the first, or the strongest, but he represented what was important more than any other. I could have gone a million different ways in the early years of my development, could have earned a million skills or created a million techniques. But one thing had been crucial to my development. One thing had kept me on the right track and made all of this possible.

My bond with Callie was a part of me. Beyond any skill or soul connection, that link kept me grounded and stable at times when I would never have managed, otherwise. It was fitting then, to bind this page with an event so crucial to both of us. It wasn't big or flashy, but it was special. Important.

I bound the page without stopping. I wasn't sure what had stopped me last time, honestly, but it didn't happen again. I still didn't have any idea if I had actually BEEN there when I had killed Stricture, but thinking about it was giving me a headache.

Still, I continued on. Two wasn't my limit here, I could keep going. I still had time left in my hour.

The next few moments weren't as big or impressive, or even as important. I knew that the type of event you bound with a page mattered. Not just because of the recursion but because the weight of those collected moments made up your Chronicle. They would play a role in what kind of Saga you would, what kind of Domain seed you could form.

One might think that given this fact, it would be smart for me to load up all my strongest moments. Godslaying and winning tournaments and becoming the Wishmaster, all of those fundamental parts of my legend who made up the guy people saw when they looked at me.

And I would definitely include some of those. They were important to my progress, to my strength, and just to me. I was proud of my achievements. But more important than that was the person I knew I was. My mother's son, my sister's brother, my wife's husband. I could turn myself into the perfect monster of an ascendant with this place, I could make myself an unstoppable beast with the most stacked Chronicle ever made, in a way that people normally needed to hit the peak of A-rank to manage.

But I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to be an unstoppable monster. I wanted to be me. Picking the right events, the important parts of who I was, mattered more than raw power. Besides, I could refine the Mythcrafting on my pages at A-rank when I authored them. Just as I could eliminate recursion I didn't want from certain events then, I could add depth and complexity and with my training in Mythcrafting I could make them GOOD.

No, I wasn't worried about long term power. Especially given the changes to my Domain recently. I could bind a hundred memories of me eating cereal in my underwear and it wouldn't stop me from creating a powerful Domain seed.

But obviously I didn't do that. I followed the stream to important moments. My first date with Callie, the first time I met my mom, my first conversation with Chelsea. The conversation with Zeke where he told me not to let my power change me, meeting Abel. I didn't see them in order, though I had up to this point, I just sailed through. There were no more illusions and I didn't confirm my presence in the actual timeline, but it didn't matter. It meant a lot for me to feel those things again.

I bound five more pages before it was over. Cosmic Collapse for the meeting with my mom, Sammael for my sister, since it had been based on her angel friends, Beelzebub for Zeke because I'd based it on his masks, Mephistopheles for Abel because it was the punchiest of my forms, and one page for Cooking, because that was the first thing Callie and I really did together as a couple.

Apparently the hour was only enough for those seven, bringing me up to thirty total. Over nine hours I would be looking at eighty eight total, leaving me twelve pages from being able to step into A-rank. That was a lot better, though not as close as I'd hoped. As I climbed out of the boat, I found Callie waiting for me, smiling softly, and I stepped forward and wrapped her in my arms. She laughed against my chest. "Well someone is happy to see me, what did I do to warrant this kind of welcome?"

"You were yourself," I said quietly. "That's the most important thing anyone has ever done for me."

She chuckled to herself wetly, and I realized she was crying. Not out of sadness, I could feel that through the bond, more out of relief. "You're such a sap," she said, her face muffled by my chest. "You've always been a sap. My sap. Please don't change? This is a lot to go through, you're going to be taking in so much recursion. Don't…don't stop being you. I need you."

"I promise," I told her solemnly. "I won't. In fact, making sure that doesn't happen is my number one priority. I can do crazy universe shaking things later, for now, the most important thing is making sure I can be there for our family. For you and the baby. And that anchor agrees with me."

Grinning, I filled her in on my journey. She was fascinated by the meeting with the illusion, and even asked to meet him. Elonwy ALSO requested a meeting, and her excitement over what had happened to me in that first moment blew Callie's out of the water. She seemed convinced I had experienced some kind of unique temporal event and begged me to let her write a paper about it and any other similar incidents that happened during my time using the Strange Aeons Ship.

But since I wasn't going back out until the next day, there wasn't much she could learn besides what I'd already figured out. After a conversation with Double Trouble, Elonwy agreed to meet us back there the next day, and we went home.

I spent the day with Callie and made her dinner. The others visited, but it was mostly just the two of us, and once that was done, I decided to try and center myself a bit. I had a lot of techniques and skills that could have helped, but my most direct was the Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art. It made my body stronger, but it also helped it connect more firmly to my soul.

So I went through a few rounds of body tempering. Without a template I didn't get any stronger from it, but using Peaceflame to temper my body helped center me and ease some of the mental strain of binding so many pages so quickly. It was soothing.

Beyond that, I even managed to elevate Nine Phoenix himself to tier 7, pushing him that last little bit over the threshold when I incarnated him for my practice.

After working out for a few hours, I climbed into the shower, sitting under the hot water and enjoying the experience of letting go of all stress completely. It was one of the most relaxing showers I'd had in years. Then I climbed out, went into my room and climbed into bed, pulling my wife against me as I drifted off to sleep.

As my mind faded into slumber, I couldn't help but think about everything that had happened. Not just here, or now, but since this had all started. What would I see on the next trip, on the one after that? It felt like I was traveling down a road that led to myself, and I wasn't exactly hating the journey.

Really, I wasn't too excited to be going home. We still had the war to worry about, the Void (though we'd made some progress on solving that problem here), and this place was…nice. We'd made friends and met interesting people. I had a mentor…but in the end, it wasn't where we belonged. We'd come here for the ascension theses, and we had them. We'd barely needed to use any of the contribution points for them. So we would just need to make the most of our time here. I could do that.
 
Chapter 1203
The next two weeks were…intense. Even though it was only one hour a day, exploring my past this way was incredibly difficult. It took a mental toll that just hadn't been apparent to me that first day. I tried to space it out, took breaks every few days, but just the daily hour was already almost more than I could bear.

By the time my friends had completed (and happily passed) their finals, I had made it through all fifty six of my moments. Today had been the last round, and I was trying my best to reorient as I lay, twitching, on the dock beside the Strange Aeon's Ship.

"Shane!" Callie shouted as I collapsed, running over to catch me and lower me to the ground. She turned to shoot a panicked look at Elonwy. "What's wrong with him? I thought this thing was safe?" I felt a surge of desperate worry through the bond, and I forced myself to smile as I reached up to put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine, Cal," I told her breathlessly. "Just…I saved the best for last. Some of those final pages were biggies. Godslaying, fighting S-rankers, all the craziest stuff. I set the foundation with my important moments, but I only had so much legend to work from. Eventually I had to get to the really crazy stuff. Doing so many of them at once was tiring. But I'm fine now, and it's all finished."

Grinning weakly, I reached into my ring, withdrawing a piece of paper, and quickly scribbled out an abbreviated synopsis of my current status.

Chronicle: Myriad Demons Manual (pages bound:88- 4 Zagan, 1 Leviathan, 1 Beelzebub, 9 Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art, 3 Limbo, 3 Overlay, 9 Mephistopheles, 1 Song of Arcadia, 1 Cosmic Waltz, 7 Life Nova, 9 Angelic Bond, 1 Wisdom of Solomon, 12 Dantalion, 2 Sammael, 1 Cosmic Collapse, 1 Cooking, 1 Double Trouble, 13 Doom Sovereign, 9 Azazel)

wish scrolls stockpiled: 170 (5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)

Domain size: 72 miles

Soul supported stat number: 10,000

Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)

Weapon: Pillar of Goetia

Stored: 10 Adherent Fire, 7 shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges,10 triple strength tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 spider leg attacks (ten in reserve), 3 gravity attacks, 1 shadow clone, 18 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)

Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)

Frozen Moment Academy Credit points: 0

Frozen Moment Academy Contribution points: 0

Archdemons: Kronos- Archdemon of Time- Tier 8 (Limbo, Overlay, Mephistopheles)

She read over it, looking impressed. "You didn't waste any time there, huh love?" she asked fondly. "And I can see a clear bias here. Doom Sovereign makes sense, given how many of the moments you picked at first were early defining events, and I get Dantalion too, you prioritize him a lot. Surprised Mephistopheles warranted so much focus though."

I grimaced. There was just so much. So many small fights, little moments where I'd made crucial decisions that hadn't seemed important in the moment. I felt…condensed. Sublimated. Like the core of who I was had gone through some kind of crucible, hammering away the impurities and just leaving a perfect, thousand forged self in place of the man I'd been before. It felt good. Freeing.

More than that, it felt like I was more solid. I hadn't seen so clearly in a long time. My willpower, the core of who I was beyond the soul, the mind, or the stats, had undergone a drastic change. I felt more resistant, more centered. I was pretty sure this was similar to what my cousin Felicity had undergone when she was growing up, only not actively harmful. Unless it was. That comparison unsettled me. I frowned at Elonwy. "She has a point though, I thought you said this was safe?"

"I mean, it IS safe," she said wryly. "For use one or two times. I can't tell if it's safe for use FIFTY times because no one has ever done that. I mean, I told you how expensive it is. You paid for it. The people who have used it before didn't use it like this."

"Damn," I said as I realized how reckless I had been. I wasn't sure if that clarity came from the sublimation or if I would always have noticed, but it was clear as day now. "You didn't think to mention that?"

She snorted. "Mention what? The complete lack of evidence we have for whether something is or isn't safe? I mean, you were determined to do it. I didn't think telling you hypothetical risks was a good idea. You know as well as I do that your mental state was key in there. Do you think you'd have survived the doubt?"

That…was a very good point, actually. I closed my eyes, blowing out a long breath. "No," I admitted. "No I wouldn't have. Shit, I'm sorry El. This was my call, not yours. I'm just a little raw."

"No, it's fine," she sighed. "I considered warning you, really. I just…I was worried that unbalancing you before you went in would cause problems. Especially after you did so well your first time in. I thought your Domain was giving you a resistance to the process. Most B-rankers who go in there don't have one."

I laughed at that. "It didn't," I informed her. "It had zero impact on the process. My soul either. No, that place is…it's beyond body or soul. That tests the self, the core, the concept of who you are. The heart that lives inside the core of your renown. My mom talked to me about heart, but I'd never realized how literal she was being, and how metaphorical at the same time. Still, I appreciate all your help here. I know you've been putting your thumb on the scale, with some of the other purchases. Buying up all those elixirs. It means a lot."

She flushed, clearing her throat. "Don't worry about that," she said lightly. "I was just being helpful. It's my job."

"But what if it wasn't?" I asked bluntly.

She blinked at that. "I…what?" She looked confused. "What do you mean? I'm a teaching assistant. A doctoral student."

"That's true," I agreed. "But you're also a friend. I saw how interested you were in studying Double Trouble. That temporal event was fascinating to you. You kept it to a few questions, but I know there's a lot more you want to know. Meanwhile, I'm from a backwater with almost no Mythcrafting knowledge, and you're a powerful, experienced S-ranker. You're the Prof's teaching assistant, like you said."

"Are you asking me to come work for you?" she asked in disbelief. "Abandon my posting here and just run off to a lower realm to teach beginner Mythcrafting to your minions? I mean, I know you'll miss me, but that seems pretty one sidedly in your favor, kid."

I shook my head. "Not abandon it. The Professor and the Dean both seemed interested in what happened. You mentioned wanting to write a paper about the phenomena, but you won't be able to study it properly in such a short time. I can give you unlimited access to Double Trouble, let you see the actual place where the incident occurred. I looked into it, and this place does have work study options. You could come with us and still get class credits for it."

Callie was unsurprised, of course. I wouldn't have made the offer without checking with my wife. Elonwy was a friend, but she was also an S-ranker, and potentially dangerous. Recruiting someone like that wasn't just my call.

I suspected that had been part of why Callie had challenged her earlier. I knew it had been part of why I had. I wanted to hear her logic for keeping the potential ramifications of the Ship from me. Realistically, I probably should have assumed, and if she'd said that instead I'd have been fine with it, but knowing that she'd considered things from my point of view helped solidify my resolve to offer her the job.

Elonwy had been through a lot with me in the time I'd been here. It had only been a bit less than a year, but I had grown to consider her a close friend, and I trusted her more than most. Honestly, despite having thirteen S-rankers in the WCP, I didn't know or trust any of the ones from the main lineage. I considered myself on good terms with Lark and Callie's sister, but in terms of actual S-rank power in the family, my paternal grandfather was probably the closest to dependable.

But she wasn't just strong. She was also smart and skilled. More than being able to act in a defensive capacity, Elonwy could help my other A-ranked friends and family hit S-rank more smoothly, not to mention prepare for godhood. We hadn't been here long enough to learn everything they had to teach, and bringing a TA back would do a lot to ameliorate that.

"I don't know," she said, poleaxed. "I mean, I guess you're not wrong. Work study exists, and there are methods to arrange transport back into the academy. The Professor would definitely be interested in a deeper analysis of the temporal incident. I could gather so much data. Think of what I could do to my car with those readings. The Ship itself is basically blackboxed, but I could reverse engineer the travel method through studying your illusion. A temporal vessel designed by the Dean I would otherwise NEVER get permission to explore."

Getting onto research projects required applications, tests, or just buying in with contribution points. She was right that she had no chance of getting unfettered access to the Strange Aeons ship.

I could see her weighing the pros and cons. Admittedly, I didn't know everything about her life here, but I knew she was closer to us than anyone else in the tower. She'd been rooming with a murderous psycho she barely knew, and you didn't do that if you had a lot of close friends to choose from.

Finally, she blew out a breath. "Alright," she said after a moment. "I'll come. If the Professor signs off, I'll come work for you. But you'd better make sure I don't want for anything down there. I want food and lodging covered in the contract."

Laughing, I held out my hand for her. She took it and we shook once. "I think I can handle that."

Still laughing and chatting, we headed off towards the residences in moment city. I had some last minute checks to do tonight, but tomorrow we would all be getting ready to say goodbye. With the year ending, our time at Frozen Moment Academy had come to a close.

I thought back to everything that had happened, to the monsters and gods and tests, and I had to admit, this had been more exciting than I'd expected. I'd learned a lot, met some interesting people, and I would be pretty sad to go. I kept in mind Elonwy's earlier comment about methods to return though.

Maybe I could take some kind of return pass back with me. After we finished the war, after the kids had grown up, maybe Callie and I could take a trip back to finish our education. I shot her an inquisitive look, and I saw the same interest in her eyes.

We got back to the residence and said goodnight to Elonwy, promising to meet back up in the morning. I stopped in the check with Winnie about when we'd be leaving, and make sure she knew to be ready, and sent a few messages to the others double checking that they were all ready. After that, Callie and I headed to bed, falling blissfully asleep within moments. I was glad I didn't have any trouble drifting off. After all, tomorrow was a big day.
 
Chapter 1204
I woke up relaxed. I opened an eye drowsily, looking around, expecting to need to go do something important. I'd been reexperiencing my life for the past two weeks, and while I'd had time off, I hadn't been completely free of responsibility in a while.

Granted, we were leaving today, but it wouldn't be right away, and honestly, catching a ride wasn't exactly rocket science. Unless we were riding in a rocket, in which case someone else would presumably have done the rocket science part and I would just be chilling in the back. But since this was an Ascendant academy, I was pretty sure that wasn't how we'd be leaving.

"Why are you up?" grumbled Callie as she poked her head out of the blankets. Callie couldn't stand light on her eyelids when sleeping, but she didn't like masks (I had mentioned the irony), so she tended to sleep with the blanket pulled up over her eyes like a hood, because she also didn't like her mouth covered. "We have to leave in like six hours, we should be sleeping. How am I supposed to sleep when you're up?"

I snorted, rolling out of bed and popping to my feet. "Oh, I'm sure you'll manage. You do almost every morning."

"No, but now you WOKE me," she whined, burying her head in the blanket. "I won't be able to get back to sleep. You should at least go get me-"

"Breakfast," I cut her off, waving a hand and letting a literal silver platter appear on my side of the bed. "And coffee," I snagged a steaming cup from my ring. "Because you are nothing in not predictable, and I have to check in with everyone. We're all meeting up in Common City. Elonwy is probably already there, Winnie too. But I want to beat Benny so I can make fun of him for being so slow."

She snorted as she poked her head out, taking the coffee and sipping greedily with a happy sigh. "You should cut him some slack. He was so upset you didn't get to see him show off his new tricks. Abel said it was really impressive."

"I know," I groaned. "But he's a B-ranker now. Once we get home he'll be hitting the front lines with the others. He'll have plenty of time to prove himself. Honestly, we had bigger things to worry about during that whole mess. Not that I would SAY that to him, I'm not a complete bastard, but still, he's got to know it deep down."

"It's comforting to me that despite having the ability to literally see through time, you still manage to miss the point somehow," she said fondly. "He's feeling ignored, Shane. He's your best friend, you brought him along to this because you wanted him around, and then we all got separated and barely got any time together. I know it wasn't your fault, but you could try to make some time for him in the next few months."

I grimaced. "I have twelve more pages to bind, so I'm going to be on the frontlines myself. Not to mention we have more problems than just the Void. Drexel is still around, and you just KNOW he's going to pop up at the least opportune time."

"That does seem to be the way our lives work," she admitted. "Just…try. He's getting married soon. Maybe you could do a bachelor's vacation or something. Take the boys to a war zone and fight some Void Spawn. Or whatever you do when I'm not around, I honestly lose track of your hobbies." She winked at me.

"Eat your breakfast, woman," I told her with an eye roll. "My only hobby is getting out of this conversation." I blew her a kiss and turned to leave, ignoring her laugh as I headed over to check on Winnie. My friend had already left for the meetup, so I decided to head over there myself.

I made decent time, and I arrived to find the place packed. Dozens of Asura were already there, chatting and laughing. Apparently they'd all had a good time here too. I made a mental note to get to know some of my wife's subordinates, since just referring them as 'the Asura' was probably not great for morale, at least if I did it out loud.

Besides them, I noted my own people intermingling. Abel, Chelsea, Bethy, her siblings and…her friend with the butterfly wings. Casi. I raised an eyebrow as I spotted her. "We have another tagalong?" I asked in surprise. "I wasn't expecting another travel buddy."

"Nah, Casi just wanted to say goodbye," Bethy beamed. "We're going to keep in touch and she might even visit. Apparently her family is a big deal in one of the higher realms, so she knows how to drop in. It'll be so much fun to get visitors!" she clapped her hands excitedly, and I cocked my head at my sister.

She shrugged. "You know Bethy, always making friends. Besides, having a channel to an upper realm might be useful. SOME of us have to think about the family." She made sure her tone was teasing as she needled me about my constant distraction from my job

"Please," I scoffed. "I just hired an S-ranker to act as a personal Mythology tutor to our A and S-rankers. The rest of the Wishmasters had never even HEARD of Mythcrafting. Speaking of Wishmasters, where are my other cabinet members. I saw Crell at the big throwdown, but I haven't seen Wulf, Peter, or Marco. And where the hell is Vicky?"

My cousin tended to remain in the background most of the time when we were doing violence, being more inclined to artistic pursuits like her painting, but I didn't expect her to be quite THIS absent.

"She's around," my sister assured me. "She got WAY into the enchanting department. Found a mentor, made friends, she was really broken up about leaving. I think she's still saying her goodbyes. She'll be here though. Nobody is going to miss our departure window, and we still have a few hours."

Benny added. "Peter was in the trade department, and given the mess with their Dean, well…things have been complicated over there. He passed his exams with flying colors, of course, but one of his teachers got swept up in the purge when they cleaned out the cultists, and he had some last minute redos on work to pay back a few revoked credits."

My master of banking was the perfect fit for the trade department, so I wasn't surprised there, but I WAS pretty shocked that he hadn't come to me about such a big mess. "How did you know all that anyway?" I asked Benny. "Were you guys hanging out?"

"Nah, Marco told me," he said with a laugh. "We ended up at the crafting department together."

I nodded. My master of development was Peter's brother in law, and as much of an inventing prodigy as Peter was a logistics savant. Keeping track of his brother in law made sense, and I was happy to hear Benny was making friends with him. Marco had been taken advantage of by shady business types in the WCP before I found him, and I'd broken his contract myself when I found out exactly HOW shady.

Abel piped in. "And Alanna, Fade, Dayna, and Mel are all running late. There's some last minute auctions at the weapons department. They're trying to score some deals before leaving. Mel isn't exactly a weapon user, but she does like those fire foci. I'm skeptical they'll have anything for her but it never hurts to try."

"That's the spirit Amber," Bethy said encouragingly. "Just keep at it. I'm sure if you don't give up you can learn to fight someday and maybe even be part of Shane's team."

"I was his COMBAT teacher," Abel bellowed in outrage. "I've known him longer than you!"

Bethy scrunched up her face. "That doesn't seem right. I'm pretty sure Shane and I have been besties since we were born. We grew up together. I remember when we were kids and we met in-"

Benny held up a finger threateningly. "I will cut you," he said bluntly. "I might suffer for it, I might even die, but I'll still do it."

Clearing her throat, Bethy flushed. "I…sorry, I got carried away. I was just kidding."

"Steal someone else's backstory," Benny said bluntly. "I know all about what you did to Samuels. We still can't remember his first name."

"That wasn't my FAULT," she protested. "Everyone knows vampires can steal your name. Also he lost it to me fair and square in that poker game." At his blank expression she sighed and nodded, not hiding her pout. "Ok," she mumbled. "Sorry I guess."

We spent the next few hours catching up, laughing and just generally enjoying ourselves. Callie showed up an hour or two later, and Elonwy, and Winnie. Casi left and Elonwy handed me a small bronze key she said was a gift from the Prof. There was a note wrapped around it explaining its use as a one time access point to the tower even without the physical building around. I was kind of touched, until he told me he was opening a tab for me in credits to be paid back if I ever used it. That was less heart warming.

Finally, the sun began to set, and it was time to go. "Alright, so how are we leaving?" I asked El, curious about this part. I had honestly wondered how we were supposed to get out, since our entry came through the frozen moment rooms.

She raised an eyebrow at me in disbelief. "Um, obviously we're driving," she said like I'd asked the stupidest question in the world. She pulled out a set of keys, pressing a button, and her car just…appeared. Several of the nearby Ascendants jumped, though I definitely wasn't one of them no matter what Benny was mouthing at my back mockingly.

"Will we all…fit?" I asked skeptically. "I know it's expanded-"

"It's a fourth dimensional construct," she said acidly. "It's as big as it needs to be. Just get in, I'll show you." Snorting, I gestured for the nearest member of my crew to climb inside. First in was Fade, of course, as my bodyguard. Then Alanna, then Abel. Bethy followed, then the Asura started to get in. It was honestly hilarious to watch, like a bunch of clowns climbing into a clown car.

Eventually, it was my turn, and I climbed back inside, not that surprised to find the whole thing much bigger than before. In fact, it had changed completely. Carpets were replaced with tile, seats with diner style booths, and there was even a counter with a soda fountain on it.

"Is this kitchen functional?" I called out the still open door.

"Of course it is!" Elonwy called back. "Knock yourself out. This trip will be a bit longer than the last one. Further to go."

I'd given El directions based on Dantalion's instructions. He'd spent enough time in out home dimension to have absorbed a lot of background data like that. Shrugging at the news, I stepped behind the counter, calling Beelzebub and then having all the copies incarnate Cooking. Everyone stared as the other me's spread out, and I grinned at them as we started to raid the fridge and cabinets.

"Well, you heard the lady, we're going to be here for a while." I spread my arms expansively. "And you know what we do when we finish a big mission and have time to settle down. Everyone get your orders in, we're having a feast." There was a cheer of excitement, and Callie all but teleported to my side, seriously informing me of her truly gargantuan order, which she would no doubt justify by being pregnant despite having always eaten like that. I grinned and looked out over the faces of my friends and colleagues. Leaving the academy wasn't so bad after all, I supposed. Not when I still had all this going for me.
 
Chapter 1205
I dragged myself into my room with the kind of bone deep weariness that you only ever felt when someone robs you of every ounce of sleep you'd normally have gotten. "I'm back," I groaned as I hefted the tray I was carrying onto the table. "And can we please, for the love of the gods, move to a room with an en suite kitchen. We OWN this base. We own all the bases. We can pick whatever room we like." It had been four months since our return, and while this suite had worked fine when we'd arrived, things had obviously changed more than a bit since then.

"I like THIS room," my pregnant wife said placidly. "I'm comfortable here. We'll stay."

"Yes dear," I said tiredly. "Anyway, I brought what you asked for. Prime rib, caviar, blueberry crepes, red velvet cake, gumbo, cold beet stew, and about a dozen other completely random things. You ARE aware that pregnancy cravings don't start immediately after you get pregnant and that I know you were using them as an excuse to get me to cook for you?"

She nodded diplomatically as she picked up a tiny cornichon pickle, dipped it in a bowl of raspberry pudding, and popped into her mouth. "And YOU are aware that I'm now four months pregnant and that pickles and pudding is not a food I traditionally enjoy, so we have far surpassed the point where deception became reality?" She arched an eyebrow at me as she chewed.

"Yeah, I know," I grumbled. "I just wanted to point out the obvious. Can I please go to sleep now?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, suck it up. Your effective vitality is in the eight or nine digits. You can survive being a little tired. I am. Or have you forgotten that I haven't slept more than an hour in three weeks because your baby is tap dancing on my bladder."

"Why is she always my baby when you can't sleep, but your baby when we're picking out baby names?"

"Because I said so," she said archly. "None of this would be happening if you hadn't gone behind my back to my mother to convince her to make me stay home. I could be out there with you pushing back the Void god forces instead of in here going stir crazy."

I sighed, flopping into a chair. "I know, Cal. But we agreed it was too dangerous for the baby. You're really showing now, and you're a target even more than I am. You're still getting the renown though, we have your sister dressed up as you making herself known on the front lines, and you have access to all the wishes you could ever want. The fact that carrying my kid can be repeatedly used as payment is kind of astonishing, to be honest."

"It's the bare minimum," she growled, biting viciously into a hunk of meat.

"Look, I AM sorry," I told her softly. "I know how much this sucks for you. The staying at home part," I clarified quickly as her eyes narrowed. "I have no idea how shitty pregnancy is and won't pretend to. But I promise, I'll make it up to you. You know I don't coddle you from doing something stupid when you want to, normally. I'm usually right there doing something even stupider. I promise we'll go do something absolutely crazy after the baby is born. It's five months, not five years. In the meantime, I'm here for anything you need."

She stared at me hard and then groaned. "Ugh, you can't just let me be mad at you? Fine. You know, there will come a point in my pregnancy when your sentimental speeches stop placating me. I'm not sure when, but it's bound to happen."

"Sadly, your ability to wrap me around your finger isn't going anywhere," I grinned at her, gesturing down to the tray.

Giving a smug harumph, she returned to her snacking. "Anyway, how was today's raid? I'm still surprised they let you out there. Wasn't Aiden stuck inside doing nonsense bureaucracy all the time when he was in charge?"

"That's because Aiden is a paranoid lunatic, remember?" I pointed out as I sneakily grabbed a stick of fried thousand layer potato. Callie's hand clamped down on my wrist with a warning glare and I dropped the fry with a sigh as I withdrew it. "If he'd formed a cabinet he'd have been much more free to join some battles. Also we weren't actively at war during his tenure, so he had less of an excuse."

"Point," she said through a mouth full of crepes. "How is that going, by the way? Hatescream's forces have been a bigger problem than we expected."

I grimaced. "Yeah, his ability to corrupt Void Spawn has been a pain. I've been in contact with the Rainbow Pope about it, and we might have a workaround. That's part of what took me so long, actually. I was wondering if you might be interested in going on a little trip? I've been stuck at fourth rank in my Nine Phoenix Art for months now, and this proposed solution involves a stop at the promethean library. A lot of the carriers for the flames are artifacts, and I thought you might-"

"YES!" she all but screamed as she stood up, chair falling over backwards. "Lets go now, can we go now? Where are my shoes?"

"We can't go now," I corrected with a laugh, catching her wrist. "We don't have any way to get there. I contacted grandma, and she's bringing the Acheron over to escort us. But it'll take a few days to arrive. We're saving time in the long run, though, especially since the library is situated inside the Holy Dominion, and the Acheron has all the permissions needed to access it. Apparently it was built in the middle of a sun in permanent supernova. Somehow. So we need to be careful going in."

She rolled her eyes as she sat back down, taking another bite of meat. "Sometimes I feel like S-rankers have a pathological need to show off by their very nature."

"I think that's more correlation than causation," I pointed out. "Only the dramatic ones survive."

Her snort was as conciliatory (I liked to think), as she swallowed her food. "So, tell me about this potential solution to the Void Spawn?"

"We're looking at ways to weaponize the Peace Flame on a large scale," I admitted. "It's incredibly effective, but I'm the only one with access. We had some preliminary success with infusing it into items, but I still need to be there to do the infusing, and it gets consumed fast. We need something long term."

It was jarring to return home to find the battles ongoing, especially after my experience at the academy. It was familiar, sure, but it also felt…different. Less urgent. Like I had been in a hot shower for too long and then stepped out into a slightly warm night. Compared to the heat of my former situation, this was just a balmy evening.

Of course, being in charge of the WCP was anything but relaxing. I relief on my cabinet a bit too much, honestly, but I was surprised to see that no one on the elder's council seemed to mind. I'd expected guilt trips or lectures, but my dad had corrected me on my misunderstanding.

I couldn't help but think back to the conversation we'd had on the subject, and how much it had put in perspective.

"What you need to remember," he'd said bluntly. "Is that half the reason for the office of Wishmaster is growth potential. The sitting WIshmaster's job is to become stronger, and the faster they do that the better. You grow at an almost inconceivable rate, and because of that, you're seen as successful."

We'd been seated in the throne room at my frontline base, though it had been later at night and it had been empty. "I was actually wondering about that. How am I growing so much faster than other Wishmasters? Aiden should have made it through B-rank as fast as I have, at least."

He shook his head. "You're forgetting the most important factor of renown. It's weighted. You're in regular contact with multiple gods, and are of interest to several others. They hear about what you do, and that renown weights your actions. Your great grandmother, great grandfather, our ancestor, the Lady, Atlas, even our enemies in the Void. They're following your deeds out of necessity. Aiden barely had the attention of ONE god, much less seven or eight of them."

I considered how much I'd grown at the academy, with the renown I'd gained interacting with the teachers and Deans. Thinking about it that way, it did make sense. But then, did that mean I'd had divine attention for longer than I realized?

When I pointed that out, my dad shrugged. "Maybe, but it's also a fact that wish users grow more quickly in the early ranks. I'm sure you've been told as much before, and you must have noticed it? The mismatch between the income from wishes and the sheer number of points you need?"

"I did," I admitted. "My body tempering art is helping, but even with that, A-rank isn't going to be quick or easy. I always wondered why we only have thirteen S-rankers in the family, but I'm starting to get it."

Without the enhanced point cap from my body tempering, I'd have been bringing in maybe a thousand points per wish at the outside. Even getting through B-rank required a hundred million, and A-rank was ten times that. If I didn't have the excess or all my outside income from the crazy things I got embroiled in, it would have taken me years to cross B-rank, even with the Wishmaster title, nevermind get through A to S.

"Hey, Shane, where'd you go?" a familiar voice perforated my reminiscence. I blinked, returning to the present to find my wife smiling at me ruefully. "It's rude to daydream mid conversation, you know."

"Sorry," I said with a laugh. "I was just thinking about our growth trajectory. I'm kind of glad im pulling ahead, since it means I can smooth things out for you with scrolls."

She grimaced, but nodded. "Honestly I kind of see your point there. I've been thinking a lot about just how far we have to go. We wouldn't have made it this far without a lot of natural advantages, luck, and the choices we've made. We need to keep snowballing those advantages as best we can if we want to reach godhood anytime soon."

"In the meantime, I'd like to try to get you to A-rank before the baby is born," I said bluntly. "My parents were A-rank when they had me, and I got a few advantages from it. Not to mention our bloodlines and traits and the overgod sanctifications."

Smiling, she lowered a hand to her stomach. "Yeah, I want to give her the best chance she has."

Callie insisted that the baby was going to be a girl, and I knew better than to argue. Besides, I didn't care one way or the other. I was just excited to be a dad. I was going to be terrified for my baby in this crazy world either way, but I would always do my best to protect her, and so would all her aunts and uncles among my friends, as well as her various grandparents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents.

Laughing, Callie shuffled over to the seat beside me and rested her head on my shoulder. "I recognize that look. Our poor girl. You're going to be the biggest helicopter dad." She didn't sound unhappy about that though, and we shared a smile at the thought.

We'd talked a lot about our fathers, and their various mistakes throughout our relationship. I knew Callie trusted me to be a better dad than either of ours. I wouldn't let her down either. Her or our baby. My eyes became serious as I stared off into the distance. And that started with this visit to the library. I needed to find a way to cleanse the Void invasion and make a safer world for our daughter. By the time she was born, we wouldn't be at war anymore. I'd make sure of it.
 
Chapter 1206
It ended up taking about four days for my grandmother to arrive. I spent those days relaxing, spending time with Callie, and checking in on everything on the war front to make sure it would run smoothly without me.

Each morning, I stockpiled my scrolls (eleven per day as of about two months ago, when I officially hit A-rank) and spent time with my friends and my team. I still cooked for Callie, but the prospect of a vacation had her in a better mood, so she wasn't quite as insistent that I run myself ragged, which was a nice change.

Now we were waiting at the edge of the foundation the palace floated on, waiting for our pickup, and we weren't alone. Benny, Jessie, Bethy, Chelsea, Elonwy, Dayna, and Abel had all come along with us, each interested in their own opportunities at the library.

"You're sure they'll have flames for everyone?" I asked Chelsea skeptically. "Your purification flame having a parallel makes sense, it's fine. But Abel's infinite blood sea is made of…well, blood. A sea of it. I know Bethy has a blood flame, so I can understand her, and life fire makes sense too, but Benny's dracolich-"

"Breathes necromantic fire," he finished. "Besides, the Promethean Library is more than just a place with a bunch of flames. It's the research institute founded by the Rainbow Pope. It delves into the very nature of flame. There are fires that are cold, fires that burn dark, if you can think of it, there's a flame for it. I've been eyeing the library for a long time, I've just never had a chance to actually visit."

Chelsea snorted. "Because the whole place is restricted. You can only enter if you have a writ of approval from Rainbow, and mostly that only happens if you submit a new flame. Which considering there are more than a million types of fire housed there, is not a common occurrence."

I gaped at her. "Wait…a million? How are there even a million types of fire? Like yeah, I know I have a couple myself, but a MILLION?"

She shrugged. "If I had to guess, based on what El has been teaching us about Mythcrafting, the various flames are made by mixing attributes with fire. Considering you have some that include multiple attributes, it's not too shocking there are so many combinations possible. That's part of why I'm hoping to find something better for myself. I need an upgrade for my purification flame bloodline, and I've been working on a method to make it work. I'm planning to use that as a foundation for my Domain when I form it."

"An upgrade?' I asked in confusion. "Leaving aside the mechanics, don't you have a perfectly balanced dual bloodline?"

"It's not balanced," she grimaced. "The stronger I get, the clearer that becomes. Enshrining Darkness is a Worldforce level ability, albeit weakened because I'm using it. Grandpa's purification flame is strong, for an S-rank bloodline, but it's seriously mismatched with Enshrining Darkness. My Path is based on harmonizing yin and yang, I can't form a Domain with an imbalance, it won't work. I need to create a stronger flame to balance Enshrining Darkness. Luckily, my Path itself lets my combine things together, so adding more flames to my bloodline is possible. I just need to find the right combination."

I nodded thoughtfully. "You could probably help the others integrate whatever flames they find too. Although if you need a light attribute fire to offset the darkness, why not something like my Peaceflame?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Too passive. Peaceflame is relaxed and…well, peaceful. Enshrining Darkness is a creeping corruption, which means I need the counterpoint to be fast and aggressive. It's kind of complicated, but trust me, it'll take some searching. The Library is my best bet."

Elonwy was practically boiling with excitement. "I adore these kinds of niche research projects. Honestly, studying the various ways to combine attributes into flame? It's like doing a detailed analysis of different kinds of dirt." Seeing our looks, she cleared her throat in embarrassment. "Which isn't an insult, mind. Extremely specialized researchers often find the most fascinating things. Especially when they have to pioneer a field. Given the lack of Mythcrafting knowledge here, this Rainbow Pope must have had to create an entirely new theoretical framework for his research. There's so much to LEARN!"

"Don't you specialize in time crafting with a subspecialty in space?" Abel asked dryly. "Also why didn't we take that crazy car of yours. It would have been way faster."

"Access permissions," I sighed. "The Library is in the Holy Dominion. Security is strict, and it might have started a fight. I'm sure El's car could bypass their defenses for the most part, but there's always a chance they have something weird or nasty cooking we don't know about. Don't forget how old the Church is. Just because we don't know about something they can do doesn't mean they can't do it."

Callie giggled. "Also his grandmother insisted. She hasn't seen me since I started showing and she wants to check on the baby. Honestly, that whole side of the family are natural hoverers."

That was true. I'd known Black Sorrow was a dedicated mother, and that my grandmother had always been close to my mom, but everyone had been WAY more over the top about the baby. Black Sorrow had come in person to visit and apologize for any 'misunderstandings', and had brought a giant teddy bear with her. Literally. It was building sized. It was still sitting in my Domain because we had nowhere to put it.

Of course, I wasn't going to deny my kid the best possible environment, and I knew from experience having Black Sorrow on your side was better than not. Still, I made her sweat a little, and forced her to make a few promises about how she and her people would interact with the baby.

Even my Ancestor, the first Wishmaster, had contacted me about her. I was touched, though I was also suspicious. He never interacted with anyone outside his library. I suspected he was hoping to use the baby as a connection to Atlas, but I liked to think he ALSO cared at least a bit about me and my family. He had saved my life once in the Quiet Room, after all.

Speaking of Atlas, he was on the phone with Callie every chance he got. He and Alara had both been thrilled at the news, and Callie was admittedly pretty happy to have them involved. Her own mother had been in touch too, though it was harder for her to keep in contact given Callus's low level of interaction with the Conglomerate at large. Callie had visited, using the starpluck bangle she'd gotten as a wedding gift to make the trip, but Amelia wasn't strong enough to be anywhere near the front lines where we'd been living, so it had only been temporary.

I was startled out of my reverie by a nudge from Benny. I looked up to find my friend grinning at me. "The woes of fatherhood again?"

"Just wait," I said dryly. "You're married now, you'll be joining me soon enough."

He snorted, shaking his head. "Cel and I are waiting until we're stronger. At least A-rank, and she's only barely into B. I can't thank you enough for those elixirs you got us, by the way. A full set for each of us was…generous. I know you gave them to everyone, but Cel needed the C and B-rank sets both."

"Yeah, well, Natalie did most of it," I shrugged. "The two of them are pretty close, and having access to Nat's scroll allotment definitely made the difference."

My cousin was firmly into B-rank herself at this point. I had no idea HOW, honestly, but I assumed she'd worked out a deal with one of the higher ranked family members using all that money Celine had been paying her. It was impressive, she was moving almost as fast as me. Of course, B-rank was where things started to slow down, and without a body tempering technique and a strong soul, she wouldn't be upping her per scroll limit anytime soon.

Benny and I chatted about his life, married and fighting Void Spawn on the front lines with his wife. They'd formed a party with Dayna, who was helping Celine improve her archery, and I was glad to see my closest friends getting along. I hadn't checked in with Dayna much since our trip to the chasm, and I made a note to find her and see how she was doing at some point while we were at the library.

Sadly, our catching up had to end, we were disturbed by Chelsea letting out a low whistle, pointing off into the darkness of space. Sure enough, looking closer, I was able to spot a black metal vessel sailing dreamily between the stars.

Of course, this was the Acheron about to stop. At top speed we'd have had no chance of catching even a glimpse of the S-rank ship.

It slid smoothly to a stop in front of us, shifting in the air (or whatever you called non land in space) with perfect precision until the ramp that descended was touching down right in front of us.

My grandmother popped out of the entrance, looking excited as she practically ran down the ramp to where Callie was waiting. "Calliope!" she all but squealed. "Oh, look at you, you look radiant dear. And I thought the supernova around the library glowed brightly. Let me get a look at you." She took Callie's hands and twirled her, making admiring sounds about the baby.

I smiled ruefully. "Hi grandma," I said with a brief wave, not expecting much of a response.

"Yes, hello dear, nice to see you," she said dismissively. "Now, we've prepared quite an assortment of meals for you. I remember when I was pregnant with Sasha I had the strangest craving for herring and jelly donuts. Our chef is under strict instructions to make you anything you want at any time, simply call down to the kitchen and the food will arrive in short order."

Callie looked overwhelmed, though happy. I smiled warmly at the joy on her face. I knew how much she treasured family, given what her teen years were like. I followed them onto the ship, the others behind me, as my grandmother filled Callie in on all the amenities aboard the Acheron. Having basically lived on the thing for a month or two on the way to Rackham, I was well familiar.

I noticed a familiar face nearby and stepped out of the procession to lean against the wall. "Hey gramps," I said with a grin. "Exciting day, huh?"

My maternal grandfather, Nicholas Anders, just chuckled ruefully. "It's her first great grandchild, let her fuss. She was just as excited for you and Chelsea, but we all know she wasn't able to be around for you. I think part of this is guilt at not being in your life, honestly. You know we were around for Chelsea, and Celia never quite forgave herself for not knowing you as a child."

"Water under the bridge," I shrugged. "Everything turned out for the best. Honestly, I wouldn't change a single thing about my life. Besides, I never blamed you two for that." My parents, yes, but honestly, not knowing my grandparents was low on my priority list for things that sucked about my childhood. Still, it was nice to know how much they cared, and explained how they'd gone to bat for me more than once.

As we watched them all head into the bowels of the ship, my grandfather clapped me on the shoulder. "You know," he said in a proud voice. "I completely understand that sentiment. Now come on, I want to brief you on some of Rainbow's…peculiarities. Always best to be prepared when meeting new S-rankers." I laughed and we headed off after the others as he filled me in. It was nice to be back.
 
Chapter 1207
The trip to the library was unexpectedly relaxing. Benny and I spent most of it watching bad movies, sparring, and playing a game we invented where we used our Paths to try to keep an apple core from touching the floor of the kitchen while walking on our hands. We both got in some trouble with our wives for that one, but it was totally worth it, because even suppressing my stats down to his level (sealing powers were really coming along), I still whooped his ass ten to one.

The trip took about three days, and I spent most of it enjoying my downtime. I checked in on Callie a bunch, but between my grandmother, my sister, and the chef, she was taken care of, and I didn't mind having some time to myself to hang with my best friend.

Abel even joined in on the game at one point (he cheated, somehow, though I wasn't sure HOW), and it was just a good time. Sadly, all good things must end, and we'd just been called up to the bridge and informed we were arriving soon.

"So, what do you think it's like?" I asked Benny as we strolled along the corridor. "Like…how the hell do you make a building inside an active supernova? We've seen some crazy things, but this feels like a step further." I was honestly looking forward to the view more than anything, I love seeing all the absurd and over the top construction Ascendants did, especially now that I was almost at a rank where I could do my own.

Hell, I might be AT that rank. As an A-ranker, I might be able to use my Domain combined with Agares to dissolve and reform an asteroid belt or something. I was half tempted to try it on the way back, but I'd just end up leaving behind whatever I made unless I decided to bring it along, in which case it would be easier to just bring in proper supplies and make it from scratch inside Gehenna.

We arrived on the bridge in a good mood, and I was immediately snatched up by Callie, who grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the screen that showed us the outside of the ship. "Shane! You've got to see this, it's amazing!"

She sounded so excited I couldn't help the warm smile as I let her drag me along, laughing as she pulled me to a stop in front of the screen to point me toward…fire.

I blinked, transfixed by the sight. A sea of flames. So big it beggared belief, confused the mind. An eternal ocean of blue white fire seething endlessly in the vacuum of space. My grandfather chuckled as he stepped up next to me, clapping me on the shoulder. "Rainbow's little pet project is always good for a show, eh?"

"How is it burning?" I whispered. "It's a vacuum, shouldn't it have gone out?"

He grinned, pointing off at a nearby section of space. "You see that?" he said as the screen zoomed in to show a large black metal construct. It looked…unfinished, hanging in the darkness at the edge of the frozen ocean of fire. He moved his finger and the screen followed, showing me a few more of the things. "That's a Stellar Flame Formation. It essentially condenses and refines the supernova, hollowing out the interior but super concentrating the heat into special designated areas. Rainbow uses them to forge new types of fire. He takes existing flames he has samples of and injects them all into the starcradle and just clashes them into each other to see what happens."

Elonwy, sitting nearby, winced. "That's…SO inefficient. He just…throws them at each other? And hopes he gets lucky? I mean, the construct is brilliant, and it's definitely a solution, but it just seems so wasteful. It's like doing puzzles with your eyes closed by feeling out the edges of the pieces. Theoretically possible but you're making things much harder than you need to."

My grandmother chuckled. "Yes, well, we were all doing that with everything until you arrived, I'm told. I've watched a few of your lectures that Shane sent me. Fascinating concepts. Rainbow has access, and he's been working on reconfiguring the construct, but it's not exactly manageable. Perhaps you could be of some assistance, if you were so inclined. I'm sure he'd be grateful for the assistance."

El perked up at that. "I'd be honored, it looks like a fascinating process. Optimizing it wouldn't change much in that aspect."

"I'm more interested in how we get in," I said bluntly. "Do we just fly through? I mean this ship IS S-ranked, right? I bet we could handle it." Not that I wanted to try, necessarily, the sea of fire was…impressive.

My grandmother chuckled. "Not a chance. That's not JUST a supernova, like your grandfather said, it's been hollowed out. Most of the excess is funnelled into the starcradles, but some of it is used to reinforce the shell. Beyond that, those formation devices can alter the properties of fire themselves, it's how he collides the different variants together. The shell itself is made of a combination of his most destructive flame types."

"We'd be cooking in here if not for how rigorous the heat control is," my grandfather added. "The thermal shaping is so advanced you could hold your hand up a micron from the surface and not even feel warm. The rings of fire around your Heirworld are based on this technology."

I snapped my fingers. "I KNEW I recognized that from somewhere," I said excitedly. "But this looks a bit more…robust."

"Your technicians couldn't copy the Stellar Flame Formation in its entirety," he shrugged. "Rainbow IS a genius. But still, he doesn't mind people studying the formation. He's usually proud to show it off, so I'm sure he'd welcome the help."

"Well, if we can't enter directly, how DO we get inside then?" I asked with exasperated amusement. My tendency to wax eloquent and beat around the bush for dramatic effect was very much genetic, it seemed. Not that I was in a position to throw stones, or even that I minded that much, it was just amusing to be on this side of it. In fact, I was pretty sure that, given my own tendencies, I knew exactly how my grandfather would respond.

Sure enough he grinned rogueishly at me and said. "Why, we knock, of course." Raising a hand, he gestured at the screen, or rather, through it. In the air in front of the ship, parallel to the plane of the formation plane, a massive hand of white flame manifested in space. With a casual twist of his wrist, my grandfather knocked three times with his flame construct. It slammed into the fire barrier, raising deep, angry ripples in the gently rippling sea of fire, crashing along the surface like waves preceding a storm. I swallowed at the projection, at the sheer size and power of it. I knew what had been, my grandfather's personal combat style, the Final Heaven Fist.

We waited for a moment for a response, and before long, there was a beep nearby. "We have contact," one of the ship's crew said helpfully.

My grandmother sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Put it up," she said tiredly.

On the screen, a new image appeared, a small square depiction of a blocky man with thick eyebrows and wild red hair. "Damn it Nicky, I TOLD you not to do that!"

My grandfather rolled his eyes. "Then maybe you should keep your comms open, Terry."

"I DID!" snapped the enraged Pope on the other end of the screen. "You didn't even TRY to call me this time!"

He blinked. "Oh," he said lamely. "Um…oops?"

My grandmother glared at him. "You told me he couldn't be reached," she said accusingly. "I ASKED if you could contact him to open the door, and you said no."

"Come on, he NEVER keeps his comm lines open," whined one of the only Demigods in the universe petulantly. "I've tried at least a dozen times, and it always ends the same way. How was I supposed to know this would be the exception?"

"Because we're at WAR you lunatic!" snapped the Rainbow pope.

My grandfather pouted. "Well everything sounds bad if you say it like that. It's not my fault you can't stay consistent."

"I'll light you consistently on fire!" snapped the Rainbow Pope. "Why don't we try that?"

"Any time," my grandfather said arrogantly. "You think I'm scared of you? Just because you're older than me doesn't mean you can take me. I'm more afraid of accidentally tripping on an upraised root in a forest than I am of your pretty sparkles."

My grandmother just sighed. "Enough," she said sharply, and both of them shut up. "Rainbow, we're here with my grandson, he's so excited to meet you. We also brought his friend and mentor, who we think will be a coup for your research. If you could let us in we would be happy to introduce you. And Nicholas will wait in the ship?"

"What?" he squeaked in outrage. "But why? Just because he complained? Come on, you know what he's like!"

"I know that you are a grown man," she said acidly. "And you are humiliating us in front of your grandson, his WIFE, and their unborn child. Honestly Nick, you're far too old for this petty rivalry. Act your age."

I winced at that, because it sounded a bit too close to a more annoyed variation of Callie's reaction to my banter with Benny. "I wouldn't go THAT far," I hedged, wanting to help him out a bit. "I mean, they're friends right? Friends talk shit to each other, it's just what they do, I don't begrudge them a little back and forth."

"No, she's right," he sighed. "This isn't the time. We are at war, and I know that. I'm used to not taking these things seriously, and I let my childish rivalry drive my actions. I'm sorry, all of you. Even you, Terry."

Gross," the Rainbow Pope said bluntly. "I hate when you're mature, it makes my skin crawl. Just come inside, I'll do anything to make this awkwardness end."

The screen vanished, revealing the star formation again. Before my eyes, the blue flame wall started to ripple again, this time from the outside in. My grandmother nodded happily. "Thank you, love," she told my grandfather smugly. "Sorry you had to take the heat for that, but you know what he's like."

"The call signs would have taken hours," he sighed in annoyance. "I get it, this was faster. I just hate apologizing to that bastard."

"It wouldn't kill you to try to get along with him," she said reproachfully.

He shrugged. "Maybe not, but why take the risk? We're both happy enough with our current relationship. Or at least I am. I'm not sure about him, but I don't care what he thinks or wants so I'm not sure that part is relevant."

"You're going to need to get over that stupid feud someday," she sighed. "But I doubt it'll be today. Take us down." She called that last part to the crew.

Sure enough, as I watched, the space in front of us shifted as the ship began to descend into the slowly forming gap in the fire formation. Callie, standing next to me, leaned in and muttered. "What was that about?" Clearly about as thrown by that whole interaction as I was, and just as in the dark.

"No idea," I shrugged. "But I plan to find out sometime soon. Sounds like some juicy gossip. For now though, I'm looking forward to finally seeing the inside of this place. I've got more phoenix templates to make, and all kinds of interesting fire to test out. Let's see how crazy I can make this bloodline, huh?" Her answering grin was all the reassurance I needed that this was going to be as fun as I hoped. I really loved my wife.
 
Chapter 1208
The inside of the Promethean Library was a unique sort of place. We landed on a platform floating in the center of the supernova, a wide, flat base of dense brown stone. When we touched down, I wasn't sure what to expect from the environment, given where we were, but once I hopped out and looked around, I found myself absolutely stunned.

Under the sea of fire, I'd expected to be blinded by the glaring lights, but instead, the formation seemed to restrain the light to a manageable level. Within the swirling blue, silver sunbursts and explosions of gold flickered and danced, creating a twisting watercolor tempest of glorious dancing light. The visuals were stunning, but the intensity had been restrained to the point where it was only about as bright as a normal blue sky, and I found myself unable to look away from the sight.

"It's beautiful," Callie breathed in wonder as we held hands, staring up at the gentle inferno. "I've never seen anything like it."

My grandfather grunted. "It's fine I guess," he said sourly. "Rainbow's always been a show off."

"Yeah, what is the deal with that?" I asked wryly. "I wasn't aware you were on bad terms with any of the other popes?"

He shrugged. "It's nothing too serious. Rainbow is the third oldest of the disciples, and he always considered himself a bit of a big brother. Especially to Celia, he was very protective, and when we started dating, he made all kinds of trouble for me. Except he's a pure researcher, and I'm a combat savant. So that didn't work out too well for him."

"A combat savant?" I asked with skepticism. "How so?"

Snorting, he shook his head. "I'm one of only five or six Demigods among the five factions. Don't look at how that's technically still a part of S-rank, the difference between a Demigod and a normal S-ranker is qualitative, not quantitative. Lark being able to challenge Unity as a Demigod was shocking, but as an S-ranker it would have been impossible. You need real talent to become a Demigod, or everyone would do it."

El clicked her tongue. "Well…I mean, mostly it's just a matter of understanding the mechanics, same as godhood."

"Yeah, but most of us don't," my grandfather said bluntly. "We just did it through sheer talent."

"Especially Lark," I shuddered. "I'm not sure how he's as strong as he is. Like I get the basic mechanism, but I've seen him do some really scary things. That can't exactly be normal, even for a Demigod."

"It isn't," Elonwy admitted. "But it's not unheard of. Singularities do exist. Outliers who reach absurd levels of power for their rank."

I nodded. "Like the Monstrosity?" I asked, referring to Dean Wallace Harper, the powerful Overgod who ran one of the twelve departments of the Frozen Moment Academy where we'd met.

"Like all the Deans," she said bluntly. "The requirements to reach Overgod are stringent. Only true geniuses ever manage to attain that height. When you're talking about Overgods, a certain level of brilliance is sort of implied. It's like the height limits on one of the roller coasters Bethy took me on. You must be at least this tall to enter. Except that minimum required height is about ten feet tall, metaphorically speaking. Some of them are bigger, but they're all at LEAST that tall."

I snorted. "That does make sense. So you think Lark might manage to become an Overgod someday?"

"Like I said," she responded flatly. "At least. That level of talent is the minimum requirement to reach the height of Overgod. You still need a whole bunch of lucky opportunities on top of that. I think assuming anyone is going to manage Overgod status is foolish. Even the gods you already have. They're all talented, they had to be to reach their current stage, but while their achievement of managing to form Worldforce blindly is impressive, it also means their foundations are shaky. They've got a lot of work to do to build themselves up. More than they would have if they'd stayed S-rankers by quite a bit."

That would need to be dealt with in time, too. Specifically, the fact that with Mythcrafting, we would be seeing more gods soon. Too many and we'd ascend the entire universe, and no one wanted that. However, we had a solid workaround already. Namely, the Void. Hanging Lands and the realms of the Void based gods gave us a solid template for managing that extra Impact.

I was pretty sure most of the six were in talks to create staging grounds in the Void with the help of our allies, using the war as an excuse to found new beachheads into the space for younger gods of their factions to be stationed at when they ascended. It not only took care of a potential issue with Impact management, it also prevented any potential insurrections by keeping the younger deities out of proximity, which was a win win.

Given how many S-rankers we had, I was better I'd be getting a call about that from the old man soon enough. Especially given the utility of my Peaceflame. I got the impression my current position at the warfront, as much as it was my own choice, was supported as much as it was to test my effectiveness against the Void spawn.

I shook off the intrusive thoughts. That had been happening more and more lately. My Perception and Focus had gone out of balance, and I really needed to get it fixed. I had quite a few scrolls to use still, so I knew where to put them. More importantly though, I was here specifically to find myself a new type of Phoenix template, and I should be able to find a Perception based flame to help balance things out.

Forcefully refocusing my attention on the task at hand, I pulled Callie after me toward the large brown stone building in the distance. While the sky was an aurora of shifting colors and lights, the Library itself was a lot more subdued, though no less impressive. A shocking amount of detail had been put into the building, with each stone lovingly smoothed and carved to depict images of heavenly fire, flame beasts, and rising suns. In all honesty, with the columns and the low pitched, gabled roof, it looked more like a temple than a library.

To my surprise, we weren't going to be waiting long for an escort. When we approached, I found the same large, blocky red haired man from the screen waiting, beaming at my grandmother. "Celia," he said happily as he stepped forward for a hug. "It's been too long. And you brought your grandchildren, how lovely. I knew Shane was coming but Chelsea as well? I'm honored." He turned to me and bowed slightly at the waist. "It is a pleasure to host the Wishmaster of this generation, and such an accomplished one at such a young age. A-rank before twenty five is certainly impressive, even Aiden didn't manage."

I cleared my throat, offering my hand. "I appreciate the praise, but I'm just a product of circumstance," I said dryly. "Too much going on at once. I'm just reaping the whirlwind, so to speak."

Callie opened her mouth, then froze. "I…I was going to say that isn't what that phrase means, but it kind of is? It's usually negative, but you have been sucked up into crazy consequences." Of course, I could feel from the bond that she didn't believe I was an innocent bystander for a second, and blamed me for our interesting lives (even if she didn't begrudge me) as much as most of my friends did. She just also realized I was trying to avoid recursion making it WORSE when people associated me with crazy happenings and was helping out.

The big man laughed boisterously. "Humble too. What a rarity for an A-ranker. In any case, I've been fascinated to hear about your research, and I can't wait to pick your brain about the various unique flames to which you have access. You're truly at the forefront of our field in terms of practical application. I too considered cultivating the Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art, you know, but the requirements were simply too stringent."

I knew what he meant. Nine Phoenix had been grinding away at his tier for months now and had only just caught up with the others. Without his hard work, not to mention the other demons to act as templates, I'd have had to put in about seventeen times as much work to make progress on the Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art.

Still, I was impressed at the depth of his knowledge. The old man had made it seem like that body tempering art was nearly extinct in the world. The fact that the Rainbow Pope had heard of it and considered pursuing it himself spoke to how thoroughly he'd invested in his passion.

"Now, I know we have several goals during this visit," the Rainbow Pope said as he escorted us inside. "But I hope you won't feel too rushed during your time here. While we're certainly in an urgent state of being, this research will be critical for the war effort, so it is our solemn duty to provide the best possible environment for learning and experimentation, which means time for relaxation as much as study."

"Translation: he wants to use you as a lab rat so he's going to give you some cheese and a wheel to run on so you stay happy while you let him study you like a petri dish." My grandfather said dryly.

The other pope sputtered in outrage, but despite making offended sounds, never actually contradicted him. After a moment and the realization that he couldn't claim that truthfully, he cleared his throat and changed gears. "Yes, well, what's a bit of research between friends. I'm sure Shane, may I call you Shane? You must call me Terrence. I'm sure Shane would be thrilled to contribute to my research and the common good of all mankind."

"I don't see how turning fire pretty colors does that," my grandfather said bluntly. "I mean, I have my own flame, and it's useful, hell, most of master's students went in that direction, but your weird obsession with finding every possible variation of fire is pointless."

"It is NOT pointless!" snapped Terrence wildly. "It is, in fact, the most essential direction of study, as you well know."

My grandfather groaned. "This again? There is no "primal fire" from which all flames descend. That's just normal fire. Cross referencing all the flames in creation isn't going to help you develop a super flame, it's just going to get you normal run of the mill flames."

Elonwy looked up with interest. "You're planning to reverse engineer commonalities across your samples to discover a primordial strain of flame?" she asked with interest. "That's a brilliant conceptual model. Especially for an Ascendant, your belief in such a flame makes it much more feasible to discover it."

She strode up to join Terrence, and the two of them started talking animatedly about his research. I grinned at my grandfather as he fell back to walk next to me. "You're a little hard on him, aren't you?" I asked quietly.

He just shrugged. "It's good for him. He fights harder to defend his position when he's challenged. We've been doing this a long time. You saw his reaction when I apologized. He'd be more upset if I DIDN'T give him a hard time. I'll try to ease up a bit though. It's mostly habit at this point."

I just snorted, shaking my head as we headed inside. Soon enough, it would be time to begin the search for my next flame, but before that, I wanted to try to balance out my Focus and Perception a bit with all the scrolls I had on hand. So my next step would be to check my stats again. How fun.
 
Chapter 1209
Finding a private place to check my stats wasn't too hard. We were going to be here for a while, so Terrence offered us guest rooms. Callie, knowing my plans for the moment, excused herself and left me to my own devices, and before long I was alone in our new rooms ready to check up on all my details.

I had to admit, the place was nicer than expected. Despite the brown stone walls, the floor was lushly carpeted and there was an actual waterfall leading into a two level fish tank full of brightly colored fish against the back wall. It was very soothing.

The bed was pretty soft, and I flopped down on it, doing a mental tally of all my gains over the last few months as a prerequisite to finding my next template. Among other things, the last four months had yielded an absurd fourteen hundred or so scrolls, and my rank up had improved my per scroll cap as well. I'd used most of the ones I had already, with only about seventy seven on me right now that I'd gathered over the last week. I had plans to use them on Callie, so I wouldn't be spending those, but the ones I'd already used had definitely contributed heavily to my current power.

And of course I had some stats waiting from recent renown gain, and not exactly a small amount of them. I'd been busy on the war front, binding twelve pages in four months, and it had earned me a lot of attention from peers and subordinates alike. My Wishmaster title got me their interest, but I was the one who had to earn their belief. And with belief, of course, came stats.

I was already pretty decently far into A-rank, actually. The full set of A-rank elixirs I'd gotten from the frozen moment academy, combined with my initial hundred million, combined with the bump from all my accomplishments, meant this burst of stats was likely to push me to about a quarter of the way through. With a thought, the purple flames rolled over my vision as I checked my stats.

Wishmaster status. A-rank. Ability: Mythic Wish- Eleven times a day grant a Mythic wish in return for proper compensation. Wish must be feasibly achievable by the candidate's own efforts within a three day period with current statistics.

Mythic Path of the Demonbinder- The Domain of a Great King.

Might-69,654,183(x 3)

Impact-285

Fantasy-26,472,182

Vitality-37,118,871 (x 3)

Focus-64,434,651

Perception-33,401,420

Creation-27,829,243 (x 3)

Progress to next rank: 258,910,835/1,000,000,000

Soul strength- Mercury Soul Body

Body Forging: Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- 36/81 drops- First Layer (Life Nova) 9/9, Second Layer ( Cosmic Phoenix) 9/9, Third Layer (Ruin Phoenix) 9/9, Fourth Layer (Arcadian Phoenix) 9/9

Chronicle: Myriad Demons Manual (pages bound:100- 4 Zagan, 1 Leviathan, 1 Beelzebub, 9 Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art, 3 Limbo, 3 Overlay, 9 Mephistopheles, 1 Song of Arcadia, 1 Cosmic Waltz, 7 Life Nova, 9 Angelic Bond, 1 Wisdom of Solomon, 12 Dantalion, 2 Sammael, 1 Cosmic Collapse, 1 Cooking, 1 Double Trouble, 13 Doom Sovereign, 9 Azazel, Song of Arcadia 12)

wish scrolls stockpiled: 77(5 in the possession of friends to be used over time)

Domain size: 108 miles

Soul supported stat number: 25,000

Bonded companion: Archimedes (Life Nova Phoenix)

Weapon: Pillar of Goetia

Stored: 10 Adherent Fire, 7 shadow attacks, 10 shadow jump (seven in reserve), 10 Stealth charges,10 triple strength tranq blows (ten in reserve), 10 spider leg attacks (ten in reserve), 3 gravity attacks, 1 shadow clone, 18 scan heals (I-rank ability so Shane can hold more)

Financial resources: 0 B-ranked, 0 C-ranked, 0 D-ranked(worth 100 E-ranked, past master rank is a watershed)

Frozen Moment Academy Credit points: 0

Frozen Moment Academy Contribution points: 0

Archdemons: Kronos- Archdemon of Time- Tier 8 (Limbo, Overlay, Mephistopheles), Bennu- four colored Phoenix demon (Song of Arcadia, Mephistopheles, Life Nova, Cosmic Waltz)

Court of Gehenna:

1.Doom Sovereign- Tier 9 - Timepiece: 27 complications

2.Goetia Staff Art- Tier 8

3.Cooking- Tier 9

4.Inventing- Tier 5

5.Balam- Tier 3

6.Nine Phoenix Reincarnation Art- Tier 9- Timepiece: 32 complications

7.Piano- Tier 1

8.Guitar- Tier 1

9.First Aid- Tier 3

10.Angelic Bond- Tier 9- Timepiece: 22 complications

11.Dust Construction- Tier 6

12. Stone Limb- Tier 7

13.Moonlit Night- Tier 4

14.Consecration of Flame- Tier 8

15.Ripple Running- Tier 4

16.State of Grace- Tier 6

17.Steam Arrow- Tier 5

18.Afterburner- Tier 8

19.Pit of Despair/ Brad- Tier 9- Timepiece:23 complications

20.Mountain Stance- Tier 8

21.Heart over Body- Tier 8

22.Mercy Kill- Tier 7

23.Double Trouble- Tier 8

24.Touch of Tears- Tier 5

25.Flurry of Blows- Tier 3

26.Heavy Hands- Tier 4

27.Marked for Death- Tier 6

28.False Fatality- Tier 5

29.Blood Curse- Tier 6

30.Creeping Darkness- Tier 2

31.Final Strike- Tier 7

32.Overlay- Tier 9- Timepiece- 31 complications

33.Song of the Soil- Tier 3

34.Rhythm of the Wild- Tier 2

35.Eye of Revelation- Tier 8

36.Danger Sense- Tier 7

37.Piece of Mind- Tier 8

38.Empty Spirit- Tier 8

39.Belial- Tier 8

40.Abomination Engine- Tier 7

41.Mephistopheles- Tier 9- Timepiece: 21 complications

42.Cosmic Collapse- Tier 9

43.Circle of Damnation- Tier 8

44.Cosmic Waltz- Tier 9- Timepiece: 34 complications

45.Mornax- Tier 8

46.Zagan- Tier 9

47.Life Nova- Tier 9- Timepiece: 19 complications

48.Song of Arcadia- Tier 9- Timepiece- 27 complications

49.Bael- Tier 8

50.Beelzebub- Tier 9

51.Agares- Tier 8

52.Dantalion- Tier 9

53.Sammael- Tier 9

54.Limbo- Tier 9- Timepiece: 28 complications

55.Gluttony- Tier 8

56.Wrath- Tier 8

57.Pride- Tier 8

58.Retribution- Tier 8

59.Murmur- Tier 8

60.Leviathan- Tier 9

61.Behemoth- Tier 8

62.Glory- Tier 8

63.Abaddon -Tier 8

64.Wisdom of Solomon- Tier 9 - Timepiece: 32 complications

65.Promethean Fire Soul Body- Tier 6

66.Fate Sense- Tier 8

67.Scent of Truth- Tier 7

68.Damnatio Memoriae- Tier 8

69.Dark Reflection- Tier 8

70. Asmodeus- Tier 8

71. Astaroth- Tier 8

72. Azazel- Tier 9

The changes were earthshattering. Not only had most of my court reached tier 8, several had reached tier 9, putting them on par with me. It was especially clear that binding pages enhanced the talent of demons, and I'd bound my final twelve for Song of Arcadia, determined to get that particular demon to tier 9 as soon as possible.

My enhanced soul and body (Impact was good stuff) had pushed the cap on my per scroll points up by a hundred and fifty percent, Cosmic Waltz had been hard at work expanding my Domain to one hundred and eight miles, not to mention the raw enhancement from the rank up, and on top of all of that, I'd managed to make several more timepieces with my time off, stabilizing multiple powerful demons and perfecting their abilities further.

My stats were absurd, mostly because of the hundred million flat I'd gotten from the elixirs, and the bulk scroll income, boosted as it was after rank up. Of course, that quick progress was just the explosive growth at the beginning of a rank, and was unlikely to be maintainable without access to those elixirs, but still, it was mindblowing to see what all my preparations had been worth.

It was a hell of a start, but if I wanted to keep it going, I needed explosive renown growth. My gains from high ranking foes were big, but they tended to taper off quickly. Ascendant growth was very much a matter of what have you done for me lately.

One of the most glaring problems though, had to be my Focus. Just like I'd suspected, it had skyrocketed. I was pretty sure the credit I got at the Academy for foiling a Void Overgod's plot to break free and kill us all had paid dividends there. But having it outstrip my Perception so heavily was leading to me drifting off into thought like I used to when I was starting out. A nearly two to one Focus to Perception gap wasn't crippling, but it wasn't a good thing either.

I'd been planning to rebalance somewhat with the scrolls I had, but the difference was extreme enough that they wouldn't have done that much good. Just shy of two million points wasn't going to fix the problem, so leaving those scrolls to Callie was still the best choice in the end.

Standing up, I stretched widely, feeling my muscles shift and contract as they got used to the new points. It wasn't anything crazy, in terms of percentage. Only a few tens of millions across all my stats, and with my Domain as large and stable as it was now, I had zero problem withstanding the influx comfortably. At this point, it was just a pleasant tingle, a drop in an otherwise massive bucket, and I couldn't deny how good that felt.

I was STRONG. Not top tier, not among my family and friends, but still. Zeke had broken through a few years ago, and had been active in the war since stepping down as my guardian, and both my parents had been A-rank for quite a while. I was expecting them to be close to the peak of their ranks rather than the bottom like me.

Still, the fact that I was AT the same rank as them at all was…mindblowing. When I first stepped onto this path, I'd honestly never really considered what it would be LIKE to be this powerful. I'd planned to become a god eventually, mind, but it had been abstract.

Now I was almost positive I'd get there, and it wouldn't be too much longer in the grand scheme of things. I was already standing at a level the past me had never even conceived of, with my Domain and my demons making me one of the strongest at my rank, even if the raw stats were still disparate enough that I probably wasn't punching at the TOP of that weight class. Callus hadn't even had D-rankers when I first awakened my power.

And A-rank was firmly in the upper tier of the universe in terms of both hard and soft power. Even outside my position as Wishmaster I had influence now. It was kind of overwhelming.

But I also knew I had a long way to go still. I grounded myself with memories of the Frozen Moment Academy, where gods were teachers and the Deans were Overgods. Not to mention the Void, still waiting in the dark for us to dive in and try to take a portion of it for ourselves.

Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to head back out to join the others. We would be exploring the library a bit before we had dinner tonight, and I wanted to get eyes on as many flames as possible. Dantalion's current power level was A-rank, so with the staff boosting him I was looking at S-rank capability.

I'd need to upgrade my staff soon, actually, and my armor possibly too. They both served their purpose better when they were a rank higher. That said, it wouldn't be quick or easy to get the armor improved. Finding that many compatible S-rank materials would be a nightmare. At least it was just a suit of armor and not a ship. Those were basically impossible to finish because of the resource scarcity here.

Another reason to venture into the Void, hopefully I would find some interesting materials to work with. After this trip I would contact my ancestor about mounting an expedition. Until then, I'd better go find the others before they got too far into the tour without me.
 
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Chapter 1210
I caught up with the rest of the team easily enough. While I'd gone to my room to check my stats, the rest of them had started on the tour early. There was a LOT of library to cover, and everyone was excited to get a look. Callie was in contact with me as I chased after them, and she filled me in on the details of the introductory tour as I tracked them down.

Basically, the library was divided into a few different categories. Rather than sorting them by something ridiculous like color or heat, Terry had arranged them into wings, with each one being based on the source of the flame. One wing was naturally occurring fires, one wing was flames created by abilities, and one wing was flames created by the starcradles mashing together combinations of the other two.

Of course, each wing was further divided into things like utility, enhancement, recovery, offense, defense, but those were sort of unstable qualifiers, given the overlap.

Technically speaking, for instance, my Belial flame was both utility, offense, and enhancement. My Ruin flame was offense and utility, because it was both damaging and ALSO aimed at destroying equipment.

When I caught up to my group, they were in the natural flame wing, specifically in the utility section, looking for a flame for my sister.

As I arrived where they were waiting, I slowed down briefly to take in the sight, blown away by the sheer grandeur of the place. While the library itself was made of dull brown stone, albeit gorgeously carved, the interior of the library was a lot more colorful. Along the rows, cubbyholes resembling sectioned off bookshelves were stacked with bell jars containing floating spheres of colored flames.

Rather than dance or burn though, the flames inside the jars were spinning slowly, perfectly compressed to flawless roundness as they spun lazily through the air, the flame rippling as if under some kind of dense suppression.

"What's that one?" Chelsea was saying, her eyes locked on a rippling white flame. Despite all of them being suppressed and spinning the same way, the flames were…different. It was hard to describe, like they had a different texture, almost. Within the bounds of the spheres the things rippled and surged, and I could see the varying thickness and manifestations of the flame.

The one Chelsea had picked out was thick and viscous, the inside of the sphere sloshing like flaming honey. Inside the orb, gossamer white danced with rainbow flickers as they surged like the inside of the world's most psychedelic mother of pearl snowstorm.

Terry, for his part, looked like he was in hog heaven. "That," he said proudly. "Is Celestial Starfire. Harvested from a very special sun whose development was influenced by several nearby light-attributed worlds." He shot Elonwy a grin. "At least, so we assume. We've always been able to categorize energy, but your methods have helped us refine our parameters considerably."

She chuckled. "I suspect you were doing fine without me," she said appreciatively as she traced her eyes around the interior of the building. "This is a fascinating space, and your methodology was surprisingly advanced even before you understood the finer points of Mythcrafting. That formation outside is a work of art."

"Yes, everyone is very good at science," my sister said impatiently. "What does Celestial Starfire DO?"

"The same thing your purification flame does, roughly," he said with a shrug. "It just does it better." He shot my grandfather a smug smile. "It's always amusing to me how many of my fellow disciples can be replaced a well chosen flame."

My grandfather snorted. "Why don't you tell Moon or Judgement that," he said sweetly. "I dare you."

"ANYWAY," Chelsea said loudly, butting into their squabbling. "What do you mean roughly?"

"Means not smooth," said Terry automatically, but he flinched at Chelsea's withering stare. "Ugh, your glare is just like Celia's. That's not fair. Fine. I say roughly because the underlying principles are different. Since we started studying attributes and Mythcrafting, we've developed a new systematic approach to identification. We've figured out how to more completely map the attributes of a flame. We haven't done all or even most of them, but this one has already been mapped. It's basically a purification flame based on the concept of overwhelming goodness as manifested through judgement."

I nodded. "The harsh light of day," I said, bringing everyone's attention to me. "Hey there friends," I said with a cheerful wave. "Sorry I'm late."

"That's a good way to describe it, actually," Terry admitted. "And welcome back. I hope you found the rooms to your liking? We'll head to the dining hall to eat in another…" he checked his wrist. "Twenty minutes."

I glanced at his watch casually. "I can make you a better one of those," I said helpfully. "I have a lot of practice."

While I didn't have a skill for it, I DID have Dantalion, Agares, and Piece of Mind. The ability to make obsidian smooth parts to a microscopic level of detail while splitting my mind into countless threads made me an excellent watchmaker, even without an entry on my skill list. That said though, I'd been considering changing that. I could see a few ways to do it, perhaps using my piano skill as a base. I could work something musical into my watchmaking easily enough.

He looked intrigued, but Chelsea cleared her throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but if we only have twenty minutes I want to look at a few of these before we go. Celestial Starfire is pretty good, but I'm looking for something categorically opposite to my enshrining darkness. Do you think that'll work?"

Humming consideringly, Terry bit his lip. "Maybe, hold on, follow me. I think I might have something."

Turning he headed off down the hall, and all of us piled in behind him. He led us out of the naturally occurring wing and past the ability wing towards the wing where they kept his experimental flames. We took a few turns, down a couple aisles, until we finally arrived in front of another sphere.

This one was the same colors, but something about it was…different. The liquid texture was thinner, moving faster, and flickering with a few colors beyond the pearlescent sheen. Crackles of multicolored electricity jumped through it at regular intervals.

He gestured at it proudly. "This," he said in the smuggest possible tone. "Is Celestial Thunderfire. It's made from a combination of a combination. The thunderfire base infused with scouring windflame to create a storm attribute that we bonded to the Starfire. Balancing the energies is hellishly difficult. But the three of them all have cleansing properties. Thunderfire is known to have scouring effects on certain dark energies, and the windflame came from a desert planet where it formed naturally in a giant sentient sandstorm that blasted the surface clean for ten thousand years."

Chelsea's eyes were locked in the fire, flickering with a sort of reverence I hadn't really seen from my sister before. She reached out her fingers, sparking a white flame across the tips of them and holding it up to the jar. As it grew closer, the storm inside raged harder, still bound into the sphere, but clearly attempting to reach the fire. Her eyes narrowed, and she stepped back.

"Let it out," she said confidently.

"Wow," I commented wryly. "I legitimately can't think of a possible way that's a good idea. Can anyone else?"

My sister smiled tightly, eyes not leaving the jar. "Fate sense," she said simply. "I need to do this here and now. It's in an excited state, and still in flux. I can merge it with my flame through my Path, but it needs to accept. Yin and yang isn't about coercion. It's about balance."

Sighing, I glanced at Terry. "You heard her," I said with an apologetic grin. "You willing to do this?"

"The research value is immense," he said eagerly. "Don't worry about the other flames. The protections are more than up to the task of isolating the process. The REST of us might want to step back. That particular flame isn't exactly safe."

"Is it S-rank?" I asked worriedly. "Because she might not be able to-"

He shook his head. "It's a flameseed. It's TECHNICALLY S-rank, and high S-rank, but that's qualitative. The seeds are a storage method that works through suppression. I've been told you've been to the chasm? Same general idea. In fact, we perfected the process based on data from that place. It's one of the many functions of the formation. If you pay close attention, the spheres look a lot like the supernova's shape."

"Thaumaturgy," Elonwy said appreciatively. "But backwards. Using a symbolic connection to the formation to suppress the flames, relying on the scale of difference to grind down the ranks to a manageable level."

"Yup," he agreed proudly. "Exactly. The supernova is millions of times bigger, so the suppressive force compresses them down millions of times. Of course, we all know Impact isn't really linear, so it ends up being quite a bit less across ranks, but still, it's extremely effective. It takes a while for them to recover though, so the flame will be about B-rank until it does."

I nodded, gesturing everyone back. "Alright," I said lightly. "Chelsea, you ready."

Raising her hands, my sister manifested her yin yang diagram. It spun between her palms, darkness surging and trying to consume the light. I saw her grit her teeth, clearly struggling to hold them in balance. "Do it," she spat.

With a gesture, I had Terry pull away the jar like. As it came away, there was a crack like breaking glass and the sphere shattered. With an unearthly howl of fury, the flames exploded toward Chelsea, blazing across the hallway toward my sister in a column of screaming sentient fire.

Her hands snapped up, palms out, and the flames slammed into her diagram. As they approached, the diagram began to spin. As the spin accelerated, the flames condensed into a funnel, pouring into the single spot of light on the dark side of the diagram. The more it poured in, the brighter the other side blazed. I saw Chelsea's eyes flare up with power, and she stumbled back, Bethy catching her with a worried expression.

It took about five minutes for her diagram to drain it all. Chelsea's yin yang Path allowed her to combine things that shouldn't be combinable. It wasn't as complicated or versatile as mine, but my sister's Path WAS powerful and scary. She was a genius, and a natural soul constitution with dual abilities from birth.

Her merge this time was almost too much, I think. She was infusing the flame into her bloodline, making it part of her, and she was obviously winded and sore from the effort. Her hands parted, the diagram dispersing as Bethy helped her sit down in the middle of the aisle.

"You ok?" I asked her, heading over to make sure she wasn't hurt. "That didn't look fun."

"I'm fine," she rasped blearily. "Just need a second. Once I'm through it I'll be able to wal-" she tried to stand up, her knees giving out as she shouted. "Whoah!"

Bethy caught her, clearly concerned for her girlfriend. "Careful," she said softly. "Don't overdo it."

"Yeah, I think you've done enough," I said wryly. "I assume you'll need time to digest the gains here? Because I can't imagine integrating a bloodline like that is easy."

She laughed, shaking her head. "Not easy. And yeah, digestion would be good. And not just the spiritual kind." She let Bethy help her to her feet, turning to smile at Terry. "I believe you mentioned something about food?" She had used a ton of energy, I was sure, so it made sense she'd want to replenish.

He snorted, shaking his head in amusement. "Indeed," he confirmed. "We're having beef wellington tonight." Everyone perked up, me included. I loved Wellington. Always nice to get a good meal.
 
Chapter 1211
"Well, that was dramatic," I said as we headed for the dining hall after my sister's big bloodline upgrade. I had to admit, it was kind of nice knowing my friends and family were as capably bullshit as me sometimes. I couldn't have integrated that fire into my bloodline like that, and while Chelsea's Path might not be as grandiose or expansive as mine, it was clear it had some real kick where it counted.

Callie snorted. "Well, she is YOUR sister," she said wryly.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you could possibly mean by that," I lied with dignity. "Anyway, are you excited about dinner? I love wellington, but it's SUCH a pain to make. I mean, I guess I could have Cooking do it for us, so that's something to consider."

Callie's eyes lit up. "Wait, you could have Cook follow me around all the time! Why haven't you been doing that since the beginning?"

I paused, thinking about that. "Honestly…I kind of didn't think of it. Mostly, I just like cooking for you. Food has always been something we enjoyed doing together, and I guess I didn't want to give that up. I guess I subconsciously avoided considering the topic because I didn't want to give up one of the most important ways we spend time together."

Staring at me, her eyes shook slightly as she swallowed hard. "That was the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," she said softly. "I love you so much, Shane."

Leaning down, I gave her a quick, gentle kiss. "I love you too, Cal. But I was being silly. I know you need food more than I can be around. I'll send Cook to follow you around, he's tier nine anyway, so you can consider him a multi purpose body guard until you hit A-rank." I grinned as I added the last part, enjoying her pout as she expressed her annoyance at my overprotective nature.

"I don't NEED a bodyguard," she moaned, though she snuggled up under my arm as we walked, so she wasn't that upset.

"Just give it up," I laughed. "Until you have the baby, everyone is going to fuss over you. We're going to be alive for tens of thousands of years at the lowest, a few months of hovering won't kill you. Now, you see any new flames you're interested in checking out? Some of them are bound into objects, so you might find something interesting to use with the vault."

Distracting Callie with loot was a time honored tradition in our marriage, and the secret to my successful survival in many of our fights. Sure enough, she lit up with excitement. "We passed a few of those on the way. Most of them are those suppressed spheres, and most of the item bound fires are too high rank, but I DID spot a few that were interesting. Like there was one flame that could turn your body semi incorporeal like the wind to make you lighter. It was bound to a pair of shoes."

"That's awesome," I said with interest. "So the inverted version would be a density enhancement? Like the one Benny has?" I hadn't seen my friend use that ability in a while, but it was one of his more devastating powers when we'd been starting out.

The comment seemed to catch my friend's attention from nearby where he was talking to Abel. He turned to look at us solemnly. "If it is, you should be careful with it," he warned. "I did a lot of damage to my body messing with my density back in the day. Nothing I didn't heal from, but just because the material your body is made of becomes denser doesn't mean you're prepared to deal with the difference in the forces you use it to channel."

I shot Callie a worried glance and she rolled her eyes. "I'll use a shadow double to test it," she assured me. "I swear, I'm going to be so reckless after I have this baby. You won't have any idea how to handle all my nonsense."

"What are you going to do?" I asked dryly. "Punch a god?"

"Worse," she said smugly. "I'm going to act like YOU. Just you wait, I'll run around like a maniac starting fights and getting sucked into complicated plots."

I snorted. "You're not going to leave the baby to run off and wreak havoc. I doubt even I'll be starting much trouble until she's older. Face it, love, we're about to become old married people. Sitting at home making smart choices for our future and not doing anything that could get us killed. It sounds like hell."

She deflated. "You're right, I hadn't thought about that. Do you really think it'll be like that?"

"Probably not," I reassured her, making it clear I'd been teasing. "Don't forget we've got a large support system. And ultimately, our ranks are still important. The stronger we are, the safer the baby will be. I was just kidding. You can run off and go crazy after the baby is born. We'll leave her with my mom and you can come along when I'm creating that forward operating base in the Void. We can use the starpluck bangle to check in and visit regularly. It'll be great, you'll see."

I took her hand, squeezing it gently, and she squeezed back. I hadn't realized until I made the joke how worried she was about this. I'd taken for granted that she would be ready to go back out into the field with me after she had the baby, but this really WAS going to change our lives in ways I couldn't imagine.

Still, I was sure we could manage, plenty of people managed to be parents and also have careers, and most of them couldn't make a dozen copies of themselves on command or summon a legion of seventy two loyal demons with a variety of useful powers.

We arrived at the dining hall pretty quickly, and Terry ushered us inside happily. "Welcome, welcome, I'm so glad to have you here with me for this visit." He glanced at my grandfather scathingly. "Most of you, anyway. Honestly, I hope you'll think of me the same way you think of Moon, as a member of the family. Maybe asking you to call me Uncle Terrence is a bit much, but feel free to make yourselves at home." His smile was warm and sincere as he spoke directly to Chelsea and me. Of course, I already knew he and my grandmother were close growing up, so I wasn't too surprised, but it was still a nice thing to hear. I was mostly past the point of needing more S-rank protection, but I'd never turn down more family members, especially ones important to the ones I already had.

My grandmother smiled warmly at him. "We're so thankful for your hospitality, Terry. ALL of us," she narrowed her eyes at my grandfather.

Sighing, he pasted on a big fake smile. "Yup. Happy to be here. Best day ever."

As we sat down and got our plates, I turned to Terry with interest. "So I was talking to Callie about some of the flames anchored to items? She's always on the lookout for new ones, and I personally plan to study as many of them as possible with Dantalion to try to put together a proper design for a Peaceflame carrier. But I was curious about your thoughts on the design. I haven't locked down anything specific, though I was thinking about something like a suit of armor?"

He shook his head. "I recommend against that. When you're making anchoring items, you need to take multiple different limitations into account. Obviously, we can create more well structured armor, but we're looking at mass production. Which means material cost is going to be a factor."

Bethy snorted as she bit into her wellington, talking with her mouth full as she said. "Why don't you just make a watch? You said you're good at those, right?"

I froze. "That…is a REALLY good point," I said slowly. "I mean, I'd need to make some tweaks to the process. I can't use Agares for construction because he's based partially on Belial, and the attribute for the magma underlying that whole material is counter to the attribute of the Peaceflame." I mulled over the problem. "Except I might be able to work around that. If Callie can enshrine a completed watch, I would be able to have Dantalion deconstruct the template. We can just charge it with Peaceflame directly. Maybe have Brad help."

It would be a complicated process, but my experience in watchmaking SHOULD be up to the task. In fact, this would be a perfect project to begin my watchmaking demon creation on. I could use the first completed watch as a foundational object to create the new demon. Actually, my earlier Piano idea wasn't necessary OR optimal from that perspective. I could use Dust Construction himself as a base. That particular demon wasn't based on Belial, so creating watches with him should be cleaner, especially with the Peaceflame as a template.

"I know that look," Callie laughed as she swallowed a bite of wellington. "You've got some crazy scheme in mind that will let you do something ridiculous."

I waggled a hand as I put a bite of my own into my mouth. Chewing and swallowing, I elaborated. "I don't think so. I mean yes, eventually. Once he hits tier nine I can use the staff to boost him to S-rank, basically, though only the VERY earliest point of it. But that's a ways off, the demon I picked is still tier six. It'll make the reincarnation easier, especially with Brad helping, but I'll need to do some serious training with him to get him up to snuff."

"Honey," my wife said kindly. "No one has any clue what you're talking about right now."

I paused, glancing up to see everyone staring. "Right," I said dryly. "Focus. Way higher than Perception. Sorry, everyone. I guess we also need to find a flame that can help with that, if you don't mind," I said with a sheepish wince.

Terry grinned. "I'm a researcher, boy, do you honestly think I've never been caught in a Focus fugue?"

Elonwy laughed at that. "He's right, it happens to all of us at some point. Why do you think my car is such a mess?" She paused. "Well, I also operate in multiple timelines simultaneously which obviously doesn't help. But my Focus is a big contributor."

Nearby, Benny was nodding along, obviously well aware of the problems with being a researcher. I laughed, feeling a bit better for their support. "Thanks," I told them all gratefully. "But…yeah, I'd really like to at least try to balance things out." Of course, I might be able to find a flame that could boost two stats, since I only needed Perception to be about double. I hadn't considered that as an option.

But all that could wait til later. I forced my mind to calm, asserting my will on my brain to make sure I could be in the moment with my friends and family, then I cut a small bite and ate it. I nodded to Terry. "The food is excellent, by the way, thank you."

"You're welcome," he chuckled. "Tomorrow morning we can find your new phoenix template. I suspect your research will be easier once your stats are a bit more balanced. After that…well, I believe I was promised one of these watches, and I have to admit I'm enthused to see what you might come up with."

Honestly, so was I. I had some big plans for this, and I couldn't wait to see them come to fruition. But before any of that, he was right. Tomorrow we would need to finally track down my next flame. Now if only I could figure out exactly what I wanted to pick.
 
Chapter 1212
The next morning, we all woke bright and early. Well. Early. It was always exactly the same level of bright in the library. The blue sky was a shining, swirling expanse above us, and there were several cleverly hidden windows to outside that managed to flood the hallways with light without there being any definable SOURCE to that light.

Last night it hadn't been so bright though, so I suspected there was some mechanism to throttle the stuff, and we were using that to determine time of day. After stocking up on my scrolls, I headed out to find Terry, determined to get started on looking for my next phoenix template.

Callie and I were alone for this one, since everyone else had slept in. We didn't see any need for them to follow us around for however long it would take to find something. We met Terry and Elonwy (who had stayed up discussing research directions with him long after dinner ended and we'd all gone to sleep, apparently) in the central hall of the library, and to my surprise, they seemed raring to go, with multiple options prepared for us to look over.

"So, Perception focused flames," Terry said energetically as he led us off down one of the side halls. "There are a few of those, though they aren't exactly common. Most of them have eye focuses. Are you willing to implant a set of eyeballs?"

I paused, considering that. "I'm not…unwilling?" I said slowly. "But it's not exactly ideal. With Brad's abilities implanting them into a demon wouldn't require any surgery, most likely, but if possible, I think something a bit less biological would be best." I didn't like the idea of replacing my demon's eyes. It just felt wrong.

He nodded absently. "That does narrow things down. Not eye based, presumably nothing implanted in the brain then, we have a few that are bound into the form of eyewear. Maybe a pair of goggles?"

"Much more palatable," I agreed. "What do you have in that department? We could probably work with something stealth based too, come to think of it. Callie's vault would be able to swap the attribute on that." I wasn't sure adding another inversion onto my current plan was wise, but if that was the option, I'd take it.

"We have a few," he said with a quick nod. "Here, follow me," he led us off down a side corridor, then turned us into a small alcove. Bell jars were, as with everywhere else, omnipresent along the walls. Unlike the earlier flames we'd seen though, not everything in the bell jars was a ball of fire. I could see several objects floating in the center of the flaming spheres, shrunken down to the size of a fist and floating amid the fire.

He tapped a few of them, pointing out the items inside. "Goggles, glasses, monocle," he listed as he indicated each piece. "The goggles melt illusions, the glasses create a heat lens that bends sight through obstructions, and the monocle burns away confusion."

My eyes snapped to the last one. "Burns away confusion?" I asked cautiously. "How does that work?"

He frowned. "I'm not entirely sure," he admitted. "We haven't exactly finished categorizing every flame, and the item bound specimens are particularly tricky to pin down. Most of them are the result of Inventing."

"Yeah, that checks out," I snorted. "I should have guessed."

Elonwy scowled. "The fact that you people have created a crafting system based on nearly complete randomness and chose to call the practitioners 'scientists', mad or not, boggles my mind."

I frowned at that. "Wait…inventing isn't a thing in the higher realms?" I wracked my brain for some sort of memory of hearing it mentioned at the academy. I…couldn't. There was a crafting department, and I had assumed that since Benny had ended up there, it would be mainly inventing based, but thinking back, I'd never seen anyone from the academy itself who specialized in it.

Even my mentor, Professor Hawkins, practiced an obviously more deliberate and refined sort of mechanical crafting. "Huh," I said with interest. "I wonder if it's an offshoot of the loss of our Mythcrafting knowledge."

"Could be," she allowed. "It would make sense. Lacking a deliberate foundation, establishing a path of randomness to try to strain out the luckiest and most creative would make some sense. Plus I know that at higher ranks you can exert a bit more control. It just rankles me that you call people with no systemic foundation 'scientists'."

I chuckled. I'd actually heard this rant before. Specifically, from Benny of all people. The more he progressed from his origins as an inventor, the more he disdained the random byproducts of the process. Personally, I thought that success had made him a little smug, but hey, I wasn't a subject matter expert, what did I know about the differences between inventing and…well, inventing.

"Can you use that for your template?" Callie asked as my eyes locked onto the monocle. Dantalion was already active in my head, scanning the item, boosted to S-rank with my staff. "And will you be able to do it in time?"

"No," I shook my head. "To the second one. But that's fine. I don't need to complete the bloodline and get the stat boost right away. Just need to get it started. And yes, I can use it. I can use almost anything for a template. At least after all the research I did with the Prof making Cosmic Waltz and Song of Arcadia. I've become something of an expert on the whole process, and creating Bennu really helped with formalizing my understanding."

"Is that the one then?" asked Terry skeptically. "I thought we would have time to see a few more. There's no rush."

I shook my head. "Dantalion's scans show some interesting results for this one. It's what I'm looking for. Do you have a place for me to access my Domain? I don't want to do it here in the middle of all these flames. I can go back to my room if needed."

He shook his head. "Not necessary. We have rooms for people to examine and comprehend the flames. We call them reading rooms, for obvious reasons."

I chuckled at that, and he reached over and tipped back the bell jar. With no hesitation, he reached bare handed into the sphere, locking his fingers around the monocle and then pulling it smoothly out. It was a bit surreal to watch, honestly, because as he reached in, the proportions of his hand changed, seeming to distort and shrink, and as he withdrew, it returned to normal, along with the formerly mini monocle, now about the size of a small plum.

He deposited it in my hand gently, and I was surprised by just how heavy it felt. I could feel radiant heat coming off it, not like it had just come out of the fire, mind, but like it had a beating heart pumping blood through it. It was honestly kind of unsettling.

"B-rank," he commented. "Is that going to be too weak to use?"

I shook my head. "No, even if the demon I ended up picking was higher ranked it wouldn't be too big of a problem. We'd need to do some prep work, but B-rank is actually perfect for this one. I'm going to use Eye of Revelation as the basis here. He's tier eight anyway."

Once the flame was integrated, Eye would need to work with Nine Phoenix for a while while I designed the timepiece he would use. I'd need it to be able to integrate with Bennu anyway, so it would be easy to help him solidify the template that way. I was so used to the process I barely had to think about it anymore, but the designs just bloomed across my mind like a storm of creation. It took me a second to realize Dantalion was still incarnated at S-rank, but I didn't dismiss him. His help would only speed things up.

Following Terry to the 'reading room', I stepped past him, leaving Callie outside with the others. Without needing the Vault, I would be able to do this faster on my own. I loved working with my wife on projects, but this wasn't going to be too drawn out.

Once the door was shut, I projected Gehenna into the surrounding space. Nine Phoenix was waiting, as was Brad. Eye of Revelation wasn't, but that made sense because I hadn't been sure which demon would work best. I sent Brad to get him as I discussed the process with Nine Phoenix, and by the time we were finished gaming it out, the other two were back.

Eye of Revelation was…interesting. A tall, gaunt figure with, oddly enough, no eyes at all. He could obviously see perfectly fine, but his sockets were just empty pits with sparks of golden light in their depths.

He looked nervous, probably because he wasn't traditionally one of the demons I got a lot of face time with. I held up the monocle. "This is a conduit," I explained. "For a form of perception based fire. It burns away confusion, and the attributes are interesting. I plan to integrate it into you and to use that as a foundation to create a phoenix template. If that doesn't sound reasonable to you I'd understand. You won't be forced to do anything you don't want to do."

Despite the lack of eyes, I could easily see his gaze pinned to the monocle. "No," he said immediately. "I want to. I want to be stronger."

"Then you will be," I nodded. "Brad, go ahead and start when you're ready."

He took a deep breath, examined the monocle then focused on the empty pits of Eye of Revelation's eyes. It was kind of disturbing to watch, honestly. Unlike most of the time, when he formed a put from nowhere, this time Brad manifested his power by deepening the ones that were there. Or at least, one of them. The right eye seemed to be his pick this time.

As I watched, the eye expanded, and his hand sank inside, depositing the monocle smoothly before withdrawing.

Eye of Revelation shuddered, stumbling, back and catching himself on the table as his body stiffened and shook. I could feel the changes through Gehenna, feel the way his body was integrating the monocle. It didn't take too long, and as soon as it was done, I opened my stat page to check on his condition.

I found it easily enough. "Gaze of Certitude," I said out loud, chewing on the name. "Apparently the flame is called the clear mind fire. What a fascinating composition. There are several attributes besides fire and mind. Some kind of spirit attribute, a bit of divination, though only for flavoring." I glanced at Nine Phoenix. "Get started on the foundation for the template. Once it's done I'll build the timepiece."

He nodded, and I turned to Brad. "Make sure you're ready for more work," I told him gently, noting how tired he looked. "Get some rest. In order to complete the timepiece for this, I want to make sure I have the best possible foundation, which means it's officially time for me to get started on my watchmaking demon."

I could see my path forward here, and I was excited. Watchmaking was a skill that could use a lot more development, and assigning it to a demon would allow me to qualitatively improve in the discipline. Beyond that, I had a strong image in my head for these peaceflame watches, and the chance to bring them into reality sounded like fun. I could tell that Brad was interested in seeing where I could go with this too, and his eyes lit with enthusiasm as he agreed to rest up.

Turning, I stepped out of Gehenna and into the reading room. I'd known it wouldn't take long. Pulling the door open, I grinned at the others. "Ok, now you can come in," I told my wife. "I'm about to get started on my perfected Peaceflame watch, and I could use your help." Her answering grin made it even more clear than ever why I loved her so much.
 
Chapter 1213
While I began work on my biggest project to date, I sent one of my demons to go get my sister. Callie, who was eager to help, was mostly confused by my reasoning there. "I get why you need me," she said bluntly. "But why Chelsea? We're inverting the timepiece when it's done, right? Are you going to make two and try to combine them?"

"That's an interesting idea," I said thoughtfully. "But no. It's more specific than that. Basically, the Belial flame, which is part of Agares, is corruptive. It's based on my toxic fire, and then even moreso on Belial's ability to subvert everything. It's very different from Peaceflame, but it's NOT the opposite." I'd been putting a lot of thought into this, and while injecting Peaceflame into the completed anchor item might have fixed the issue, it wasn't going to be enough to steadily act as a foundation for one of my demons.

Callie couldn't invert corruption into Peaceflame, because while she had SOME influence on the results of her vault's inversion, she needed to work off what she had.

That's where Chelsea came in. I explained my reasoning to my wife as we waited. My sister's concept was yin yang. Not just combining, but balancing in a certain way. The yang and the yin weren't just pure opposites. They each contained a speck of the other.

Her eyes widened. "OH!" she said excitedly. "That's brilliant. If Chelsea uses Peaceflame and that corruptive fire to form a diagram, it'll inject a tiny spark of each into the other within the item. When I invert it, that spark will act as a guide, smoothly flipping the diagram from one side to the other, allowing Peaceflame to act as the direct counterpoint despite not normally being the right fit."

I tapped my nose. "Got it in one," I said smugly. "After seeing what our Domains can do working together against Deveskane and his boss, I figured it would behoove us to try seeing what kind of synergies our allies have with us. Chelsea in particular is an almost perfect complement to your vault."

She hummed with interest, clearly thinking it over, but I was already moving to the next step. Sitting down, I called up and incarnated Agares, boosting him to S-rank with the staff. I winced when I did. I already had Dantalion at S, and with the staff and I at the same rank, pushing two skills was testing my limits. I closed my eyes, focusing on the thrum of my pulse, and pushed past the small undercurrent of pain.

It wasn't too bad, thankfully, just a vague sense of discomfort. From there, I began the process of creation.
I had a few goals with this timepiece, so I went over them in my head. First: I needed a base timepiece for the new demon. Second, I wanted that base timepiece to represent the power of future timepieces I was planning to make at least somewhat, which meant Peaceflame, and I wanted it to represent my watchmaking as a whole.

There was a lot to cover. But ultimately, the most important factor was the skill itself. Adding Peaceflames would help make these specific timepieces easier, but it wasn't integral to the process. Mostly it was just convenient to scrub the toxicity from the materials.

Which begged the question: how do you make a watch that represents making watches?

Funnily enough, phrasing it that way actually helped. I knew how to make watches, knew the parts, the process. So my first task would be to represent those parts and that process. I reached out with my mind, Agares coming to my call as I constructed my first piece. The mainspring barrel.

I didn't start small. Not yet. Rather, I called the dust from the depths of my ring and crafted the first piece in a larger size so I could perfectly sculpt every bit of the object. It was huge, the size of a plate, but it didn't matter. I could compress it later, and it would only improve the durability. I left it floating there, then moved on. Hairspring. Crown wheel. Regulator.

One piece after another came forth, and after each one, I could feel the information, the shape, flowing a little smoother. They floated in the air, obsidian glass perfection, with flickers of green light dancing along the refracting edges.

The parts spun and clicked in the air, creating a giant model of a watch, a manifestation of my craft. I grinned, doubling down. My hands sped up, calling the dust out and shaping it, sending gears and springs whirling into place. It felt like music. Like a symphony of creation. I added more, letting the process take me, letting the complications pile up. Twenty, thirty, fifty. It was the most complex timepiece I'd ever made.

It built, and built, and I felt something gathering in the air. Meaning. Fate. I had no real idea what it was but it was peaking and I needed to finish this construction soon. I started to compress, even while I worked, the dust was condensed, packed tighter, and the parts all began to shrink. They all got smaller at the same rate, remaining perfectly to scale, in fact, they got smoother and more refined as I forced the impurities out.

The watch band took shape, slats of obsidian connected one to the next, a folding latch to close the band. Then came the hands of the clock, then the face, then the dials. Before long, it was finished, and I held up the hand with the watch. "Chelsea," I called without looking up.

My sister stepped up next to me. "Go ahead," she said calmly. I nodded, then called for Peaceflame with my other hand. She raised her palms and a diagram manifested above the watch, half black, half white, but with a speck of each in the other. Except the black half was DEEP and glossy, just like the obsidian, and the white was dull and flickering.
I pushed the Peaceflame toward it, and the diagram blurred. The white in the wheel began to brighten, sucking in the fire. Alongside it, the pinprick of white among the glassy black strengthened.

It took a few minutes of pouring in power before the watch diagram reached saturation. "It's done," Chelsea said, sounding winded.

Nodding, I set it down, letting my two S-rank incarnations drop. I groaned, holding my skull as all the backlash I'd been ignoring during the crafting hit me all at once. I did not enjoy the sensation.

But I was used to pain. I pushed past it, then lifted the watch to pass it to Callie. "Ready?"

She nodded, took the watch, then vanished. It didn't take long for her to return, and when she did, she held out a new item. Something completely different to what I'd seen before. And as I took it in…I froze.

"It's beautiful," my sister murmured as she beheld the work of art. And she was right. It was.

The design of the watch was the same. Same bezel, same face, same shape. But everything about it had completely changed. Where before, the obsidian gloss had given the watch a menacing, dangerous look, the material had altered states. Rather than black obsidian, the watch was made of perfectly clear crystal. Among the gears, golden swirls spun and shifted, following the pathways of the clockwork.

Despite being merely energy, and the object itself being clear, the dancing waves of golden-white fire gave the impression that parts of the timepiece were gilded, covered with gold or maybe platinum.

With the clear material I could see every single facet of the watch construction flawlessly, both the shapes and the motion. Somehow the edges of the obsidian, the sharp faceted faces and the cruel corners, looked smooth and friendly on the new timepiece. Despite being the same shape, this one was just…kinder. By nature.

Swallowing, I called for Dust Construction, releasing the demon into the world. He was ready and waiting for this, but when he saw me, then the watch, he froze, just as in awe as I was.

"This," I said as I held it up. "Is a Celestial Timepiece." I wasn't sure how I knew that. Maybe Dantalion told me. However it was, it was undisputable. That was the name of this object, no matter what anyone said. "Are you ready for your reincarnation?"

This wasn't a new idea. Or at least, not TOO new. I'd considered it last night, and made sure to speak with my demon earlier. Given the radical changes reincarnation could bring, I made sure to always consult the demons on what they were getting into. Some turned it down, some were excited about it. Dust Construction was the latter.

He nodded solemnly, staring longingly at the timepiece, and I called for the next part of this. Brad emerged behind us. Stepping forward, he raised a hand. In front of Dust Construction's chest, a hole emerged. It was an innocuous thing, but dark and deep. Something empty inside Dust Construction. I could SEE what it was. See the truth of it, and it made me shudder a little. Brad had hit tier nine over the break, and his powers felt…different. I'd missed it last time, when he was working on Eye of Revelation. Or it hadn't required as much for some reason.

Stepping forward, I lifted the crystalline watch, gently feeding it into the hole in the air. Dust Construction shook slightly, falling into a nearby seat someone had prepared.

The change to Eye of Revelation had been slight. He'd remained mostly the same after integrating the monocle, though admittedly, that wasn't the timepiece, and that process was ongoing. This though, this was a big change.
Dust Construction had been tall and pale with dark hair and eyes. His nails, lips, even his teeth had all been glossy, obsidian black. But as I watched him integrate the timepiece, I could see so many small differences. His hair bleached out, becoming white with the occasional streak of molten gold. His eyes shifted to golden flames, his lips, teeth, and nails to porcelain white.

By the time it was over, Dust Construction…no, that wasn't his name anymore. Celestial Fabrication. He was stronger now. Tier seven. Integrating the watch had pushed him a rank.

I dismissed the two demons, still in a state of inspiration, though I gave them both nods of thanks. Once they were gone, I called upon incarnation, bringing Celestial Fabrication to the forefront.

Waving my hand, I dumped a bunch of materials from my ring onto the table. I needed them for this, I knew. Dust Construction was a resource alteration skill at its core. His upgrade might have changed some specifics, but it didn't change HIM. Not really. Waving a hand, the items floated up into the air, I focused, and a burst of Peaceflame erupted from my hands.

Slowly, almost agonizingly so, the white gold flame began to erode the materials. They melted and warped, flowing into a crystalline mass that hardened and then dissolved into a glassy crystal clear dust.

My lips peeled back in an excited grin as the material reshaped itself before my eyes. A mainspring, a bezel, all of it seamless and effortless. It was like the watch parts were part of ME, like I was reconstructing my own hands from memory. Knowledge from Dantalion, from myself, from nowhere at all, it all poured into my brain like a waterfall of molten diamond. I'd forgotten what skills could do, especially when it came to something like crafting.

The material was naturally made with Peaceflame, so pouring more in was like pouring water over a sponge, the watch just soaking it all up. It took maybe a minute all told, and when I was done, a beautiful watch specifically designed to act as a guide, amplifier and conductor of Peaceflame was glittering flawlessly in my hands. I looked up at Callie, grinning like an idiot under my mask. "It's done," I said, raising my hands to display the timepiece. Now I just had to train Celestial Fabrication up two ranks. Guess it was time to do some grinding.
 
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