Kidra had often called me a ‘petty tyrant sitting on a throne of stolen goods’ (Affectionately) after I’d messed with whoever’s giving her grief at the time. I would be a living nightmare, because my target wasn’t to loot expensive things to sell on the black market, it was far more nefarious.

…

Actually, it usually was to sell junk for a profit, so nevermind there.

But I digress, for the Winterscars in particular, it had a different goal.

Clear tape over the optical sensor of a mouse in their personal study. Switch sugar and salt labels. A stolen left boot. Waiting in the vent until they’d gone through the entire estate looking, before dropping it right back into place.

There were a hundred and one ways to mess with people, and I’d discovered a hundred and two different ones. And that’s what Kidra was mostly referring to.

Even after all this, deep down, my sister knew exactly who I was and always would be.

The emotional damage of having all her plates stolen was almost like a physical punch into To’Sefit’s gut. She started breaking down into a fit of either sardonic laughing, violent screaming, quick attempts to self-control, before repeating the entire process over like a loop.

“Sorry, not sure I understand.” I said, landing right next to her on the other side of the dimensional cape. “Did you want me to hold onto your hat too?”

One hand snatched her hat and held it, while the other held her staff out in my general direction.

The plates remained floating above, and I took all the time in the world to reach out, and grab them like fruit off a tree. Of course, I made sure to describe in detail everything I was doing so my captive audience could tell when each one of her remaining plates were picked clean off and stuffed into my bag.

Toothless, unable to attack me or mine in any way that mattered, and basically defeated, one would think I’d spare her life.

A Shadowsong would have done that, picked the more noble path forward with dignity.

But I’m not a hero of songs. I’ve killed hundreds of screamers and foot soldiers of the machine empire so far, I wasn’t going to hold back on To’Sefit simply because I knew her name.

She’d tried to kill me and mine, and she’d succeeded with Windrunner. Today, I was returning the favor.

The moment I recovered the last of her floating plates and secured them into my bag, I turned and continued my rampage.

Occult rifts opened up around her and the process of whittling her down continued. Stabbing through with occult mirrors, forcing her to chase after the origin rift on the side of my belt, up until I flew higher and flew in circles far out of her range.

She could try jumping after me. Feathers could certainly leap ridiculous distances. But the moment she was in midair, her defensive options got real limited and I’d absolutely start landing hits in. After which, I’d be looking to stab her with my true blade.

She wisely decided against it, fighting off my assault.

It’s a stalemate. If anything, she might be buying time now for something else to come. Superior sent to me.

I know, there’s got to be a better way to kill her. I thought on it harder, juggling a few different ideas and gear choices. I didn’t want to expose more of my bag of tricks, especially not with To’Avalis out there. But in order to kill To’Sefit, I had to checkmate her into a position she couldn’t escape.

Which made me come to a new plan: Doing exactly what she had been planning on doing to Wrath.

In one fell swoop, occult rifts appeared by all four bridges leading out of the mountain spire. One after another, swords broke through into the real world and sliced through each bridge, cutting them apart until they fell down and away. The mountain was now isolated.

Phase one complete, phase two begin. Occult images sprinted over the stairwells and ramps all over this mountain, until all of them had found a lantern. There, they all sliced or stabbed through each, until every single one had been cut.

The entire place fell into darkness.

With the occult lashes, I could fly off back to the nearest mountain and wait there. But instead of doing that, I landed right next to To’Sefit and braced my soul against the onslaught outside.

Father could last hours by pure willpower. I wasn’t as good as he was, but neither was I alone.

A tendril of soul reached out of my chest, and went through the bridge at my belt. Keith Superior grabbed my hand and held on with me. His own willpower flooded through as we both held off the world outside, together.

“How’s your endurance?” I asked. “Because I can keep going for hours.”

To’Sefit stopped moving. “My, my, is this your final plan?” She asked, head looking at all the broken lanterns that littered her final domain. “Standing here to watch me die?”

“More like guarding. In case you try to jump somewhere safe.” I said, “See how good you can dodge and fight off my images in midair.”

I didn’t know if she had some protection against the void or if she was doing something different. She’d been able to move through this biome fast after something changed a little while back. Superior and I were about to find out what it was that made her tick.

“How cruel of you. You take my weapons, abuse my vulnerabilities, stand right next to me - and do all this without even giving a fair fight back?”

“If you expected that, I’d say that’s a you-problem. Winterscar, remember?”

She laughed, and shook her head. “Killed a second time by a human, and this time he does it without even stabbing me through my heart himself. What a miserable way to lose.”

“Windrunner sends his regards,” I said. “Also, after you die, I’m taking your hat too.”

I could sense all the plates had turned off remotely already, so no shooting her with her own beam this time around. But this kind of ending was just as juicy to me.

“I know what you’re after, Winterscar.” To’Sefit said, head snapping up to stare at my general location. “Waiting for me to leave my shell behind, are you? I am not To’Avalis, and I refuse to end like he has.”

“In my defense, I do know someone who could make better use of it. Your name was all about elegantly stepping into godhood right? How about a demi-god as a first step?”

Specifically, one protofeather I knew who was still kicking around somewhere. The things she could do with a fully functional Feather’s shell. I know the nanoswarms in the following generation after the protofeathers don’t have the hardwired permissions to repair and restore some of the more expensive parts of a Protofeather’s shell. So A22 wouldn’t be able to recreate her old body.

But I did have Keith Superior with a direct line to the mites. I might be able to do something of an upgrade. Having a protofeather out in the field again with Wrath would certainly help keep her safer.

Might even be worth the danger of A22 whispering sweet nothings like ‘Alcohol’ in her head.

That’ll be a problem, but the benefits very narrowly outweigh the cons.

“A bold proposition.” To’Sefit said, twirling her staff before ramming it into the ground. With her hand free she brushed dust and dirt off her dress. Her other hand still held her oversized hat with a deathgrip. “However, I will deny that fate.”

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“I’d say you’re a sore loser.”

“Can’t be helped~ I do have one word left for you, Winterscar.”

“You sure it’s just one word? ‘I surrender’ is two words, just for your information.”

To’Sefit gave a slow nod. “One word. Oblivion.”

I beheld a supercritical power cell detonation, point blank, as To’Sefit preferred to obliterate her own shell and hat than ever admit defeat.

If I’d been wearing my old environmental suit with glass goggles, my eyes would have been blinded, possibly for days. Thermal heat and physical damage didn’t reach this dimension, but light sure did since I could see things on this side.

Unfortunately for To’Sefit, I wasn’t looking out the world through glass goggles.

Journey’s helmet captured the explosion, outputting the full screen display as pure white light to its maximum capacity, which was well below dangerous territory for the human eye. It then turned all black, with red warning signs popping up all in the center.

Sensor burnout detected. Camera feed offline.

“What a silver-pyrite bitch.” Cathida muttered, “Give it a few minutes for the nanoswarms to fix that up.”

In the meantime, I was falling straight down, since there wasn’t any more land under my feet. Being blind wasn’t an issue for me since I had the occult sight showing me where the mountains were around, although I couldn’t quite see handholds or topology with enough detail to grab hold.

So Superior and I flew out of the explosion instead. Time to return back to Wrath and the group, and have a more relaxing trip forward before we picked up Drakonis.

----------

Glee was something To’Wrathh enjoyed to feel. And watching To’Sefit have a small meltdown on the group chat was giving her exactly that.

The choice to abandon her shell and deny its use as an asset was multifaceted. The hardware was where her viral hooks remained, and destroying it all directly was an easy way to confirm nothing remained.

“Of the matter at hand, what do you have to offer in compensation?” To’Wrathh sent out. “You would not be within this group chat if you did not need my assistance.”

“Extorting me in addition to this indignity?” To’Sefit sent back. “You really have learned from the best.”

“You have little choice in the matter.” To’Wrathh sent. “If I explain to mother I had no plans or itinerary for your defeat, then it would imply you were defeated one on one against the Winterscar and will have to shoulder the full brunt of defeat.”

And Mother did not view defeat kindly among a Feather’s resume.

“Thus, I expect a good concession in exchange for informing Mother your defeat was part of my plan all along.”

Deals between Feathers were done often and without issues. There was a certain decorum between family, and To’Wrathh felt it only polite to offer a way out to her elder sister.

“Very well, here is my offer. A moment of peace.” To’Sefit sent directly to To’Wrathh over a private channel. “I will ensure To’Avalis does not attack or hunt you down for the next few days. And that is me being very generous. Don’t push your luck, little sister.”

“The deal is acceptable.” To’Wrathh sent back. “Negotiations concluded.”

A handshake was sent between both of them, and they both made a mock negotiation for a few minor concessions in public before To’Sefit logged off the public group chat to seethe in private.

It didn’t take long for Keith to return.

“Wrath, I’m back and got us some souvenirs!” Her human said, stepping right through the rift like a happy dog bringing back a ball. “Look at the haul I got, only missing a hat, but you can’t win them all, right?”

She turned from her position, eyes flashing over his armor, sending requests for a medical update and biometrics.

“Oh, quit fussing over him.” The armor engram sent directly back over the channel in the same millisecond. “He’s just fine. Even if radiation passed through the dimentions, Journey would have blocked all of that nonsense. He got away from all this like a bandit with church gold.”

“I would still appreciate having the full medical report scan.” To’Wrathh insisted. What if the armor skipped over something important? To’Sefit might have found a way to hurt her human in an orthogonal manner, which could explain why she’d been quick to offer a ceasefire. If Keith was already marked for death prior to the truce…

The engram returned the equivalent of an eye roll, and handed over the biometrics. She scanned through it all three times, confirmed her human had survived the encounter against a Feather unscratched and victorious, and only then felt her anxiety lift.

All this happened within the first few millisecond that Keith stepped back through the rift, before he’d even finished with his gloat.

In his hands were To’Sefit’s plates. Completely intact and functional. The higher dimension had stretched the self-destruct signals sent by To’Sefit, and as such the plates considered it an enemy attempt at detonating them. She’d been too paranoid someone would attempt to reuse her own security against her.

And out here, To’Wrathh was easily capable of disrupting any attempt by the Feather from a distance.

Her human held them up like the spoils of war that they were. “I think with a bit of elbow grease, and some back-door occult magic, we could probably lockpick our way through the security on these bad boys.” He froze for a second, and then his helmet turned to To’Orda. “Or we ask the Icon? I’m pretty sure weapons of mass destruction not functioning as expected would be a valid customer service complaint.”

“She says she’d be happy to give it a shot.” The pet rock said, paused, then continued. “She’ll even take care of the paperwork herself instead of handing it off to me. Wait. What?! BOSS. Why is the human exempt from the grunt work!? This is clearly unfair treatment, I want a hostile work environment complaint submitted. And yes I already know what that is. She sent a few hundred my way earlier.”

To’Orda gave a shrug and a grunt. He hadn’t moved from his seat, one hand on his shield, eyes closed and system running on what looked to be low power.

To’Wrathh wasn’t fooled, the posture was optimal for a quick defensive deployment in the direction of the fight, and she could see there wasn’t any lack of power draw anywhere on the Feather’s system.

It was a nice additional touch that the seating location was in front of herself, meaning she’d have been equally protected behind the shield. Not strictly needed anymore, if To’Sefit couldn’t control To’Avalis, she would certainly be forced to warn To’Wrathh of an incoming attack during the ceasefire timeframe.

Keith was already making his way to the small campsite, sitting down to unhook his helmet and take a lunch break now that they weren’t under any more time limit.

He took a deep sigh as he leaned back against the wall, firelight flickering off his face. “Hard day at work today. But I think I’ve been officially promoted from pest to number one nuisance now. How’s my ranking now?”

To’Wrathh checked among the list of publicly ranked and noticed Deathless. Her human was indeed at the very top of that leaderboard, with extensive community notes attached mostly by To’Avalis. It had been purposely done, To’Avalis attempting to bait out any bored Feather who had a whim on taking on the world’s most dangerous Deathless. That Feather really had no sense of personal pride.

She explained as much to her human, who clearly let it go straight to his head as he winded down from the earlier solo fight.

It was all a longshot and To’Wrathh felt little threat from To’Avalis from this direction. The human was marked by Relinquished herself as a target of notice, and off-limits to anyone not involved. Which meant she had plans for him. No Feather would dare involve themselves, no matter how tempting of a target To’Avalis attempted to paint him as. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel_fіre.net

The stack of stolen plates were handed off in a pile next to To’Orda, and To’Wrathh could sense a wireless handshake protocol beginning. The Icon was already starting her viral assault on the security systems.

It was far easier to fortify and protect a digital asset, and the effort required to crack codes and break into a secure system was exponentially more difficult. Given To’Sefit was a Feather, she wouldn’t have made the security for her only true weapon something easy.

Given all that… it would be perhaps five minutes until To’Sefit would be required to make a very difficult choice on further asset denial.

To’Wrathh walked over to her human and sat down next to him, one pale hand reaching out to slowly run through the brown hair. Defined in the romance novels as a fond head-pat, most protagonists were often appreciative of this gesture. She felt it was a fitting moment for this.

“If you could scratch a little on the left, that’d be grea- oh that’s the spot.” Keith said as she decided to humor him. “Can’t exactly scratch my head when I’ve got a helmet on. Itching is a real problem, you know?”

He took one more bite of his ration bar, already speaking with a mouthful while she continued. “Also, think we could go back to those design docs on the jet propulsion packs? I’ve had some amazing ideas on the way back.”

She gave a nod, a hand reaching up as she sent To’Orda a quick message request.

The Feather gave a grunt back, and then flicked his pet rock right at her. She deftly caught the small bit of tech and connected to the systems within, requesting access to the projection hardware. It complained about the extra work, but that was in its nature, and To’Wrathh quickly bullied over that protest. “I can certainly unpack the schematics where we last left off, however haven’t you already proven capable of full flight now using the occult?”

He waved a ration bar back at her. “Yes, but no. It takes planning and focus to fly, and I’d like a system built for a lazy bastard like me. Last design iterations we had were with that aerospike engine direction, best way to make vectoring work out, but there wasn’t any way to scale it up enough to lift an armor up. Journey needs to go on a diet for that to happen.”

Capra’Nor used jump packs for quick relocation with fuel considered a non-issue as it was regularly replenished. Unfortunately, that had made them far too specialized for their tasks to be useful to Keith.

The schematics they’d been working on popped back up, and she pointed out all the variations they’d gone through. “The current engineering setup is a mathematical dead end, unfortunately. There is no physical method of supplying enough force without fuel difficulties.”

Keith waggled his ration bar for a second time. “Yeah, dead end for past Keith. But today? I got my hands on a gravity fractal. And as I was flying back, I’m more upset I hadn't even considered all the ways I could apply that besides shoving it in explosives and weapons.”

His hand then reached out to grab her arm, and then lifted it back onto his head. “Also, I deserve longer headpats. Also a small speech about how handsome and skilled I am would be welcome too. But I’ll settle for a fully working flight system.” He puffed up his chest, proud.

To’Wrathh hummed as she began work on engineering a new piece of technology together with her human. Keith was always most animated when it came to learning new engineering options, and she had a full repository to draw on. Having the rock project the schematics and simulation models directly into the air also made the process far easier.

Slowly, the last knot of apprehension she had about the current journey faded off. Between To’Orda’s guarded shield, herself on the other side, and a forced consession from To’Sefit to keep the peace, her human would be safe. For now.