Captain Sagrius approached with barely any caution. The movement was far more organic now compared to when To’Wrathh had been on the road with the man. It pointed to a possible healing within himself.

She felt pleased at his progress and stance. The man had gone through some complicated inner turmoil, likely plenty she was unaware of herself given how guarded he’d been through the entire time she’d known of him.

He reached a hand out to his fellow Winterscar knight, and the two clasped hands. The knight gave a nod, Sagrius simply took a step back, then turned to her next.

“Are you certain you will be able to retain function without the assistance of your additional knights?” She asked as he reached a hand out to her.

“It is within tolerances.” He answered back. “I have adapted and adjusted. Tenisent has confirmed my control over my inner soul is stable enough, and so have the other knights within.”

He’d agreed to the plan from the moment Keith had brought it up while talking to the assembled Winterscar knights. To’Wrathh was worried the man had agreed simply because Keith had been the one to suggest it, not out of any true ability. There certainly wasn’t any lack of loyalty among the Winterscars, the entire family was thick as thieves.

But the captain seemed determined, and if Tenisent as well as the inner knights Sagrius carried all signed off on the action, then she supposed it would do.

There were only three days left before the machine network was restored. The team needed to reach the Division Stone before that time, in order to have the greatest chance of slipping past Relinquished unnoticed.

Practice had to be done now on the new tools and weapons, and that included the time dilation fractal Keith had recovered from Drakonis’s pillar heart.

Each of the knights had been diligently practicing all the fractals Keith had picked up and mastered, including the ones the Deathless Drakonis had carried with him. Of particular use was that orb spell that could outright suck the occult out of the air for a moment. The knights had found it to be an excellent counterspell to possible issues enemy Feathers would cast.

However, of all fractals they’d picked up, this one had the potential for the strongest power. It simply required some teamwork.

She held a hand out, and Captain Sagrius clasped it firmly. She wasn’t able to feel the transfer at all, until her inner soul fractal lit up.

Attached to her inner fractal, remained one that had been dormant for some time now, unoccupied: The prison fractal. The one she’d used to hold onto and contain Tenisent Winterscar. A variation of the soul fractal.

Back then, she expected only to use it to draw information out of Tenisent and reuse his own skills to defeat the Winterscars.

She knew better now. That very fractal must likely be a core part to the plans the mites had. Perhaps her fate had been sealed from the moment she grafted this as her first fractal.

She kept the prison door open this time, allowing the knight’s soul to flow in freely. He connected to her shortly.

Lady To’Wrathh. I am Aurelien Highwind. Knight retainer of House Highwind, among the handpicked of Lord Atius to travel with him after To’Aacar and later the assault on the temple. I am in your care for now until you have no further need.

She inclined her head to the noble soul that now resided within. Sagrius let go of her forearm, and moved onto the next Winterscar Knight, transferring another among his collected souls to each knight here.

She could already get glimpses of Highwind’s life just from his connection within her soul fractal. Feelings of duty and almost… Excitement? He wasn’t depressed nor brooding, but rather looking forward to what would come next.

In the book Keith had shared, Grand Warlock Hexis explained souls that continued to live on past their body’s existence were called tombbound souls, and it was seen explicitly as a punishment. The souls would grow insane, and become a threat to anyone nearby.

She didn’t feel anything of the sort from Highwind. The man had died for more than a few months now, and yet remained perfectly sane. Perhaps it was a sense of purpose that kept human souls sane? Or perhaps seeing how Arcbound had recovered a new body to live within, the knowledge that it was possible and very probable in his future helped the knight weather the current state of existence.

Or perhaps it was selection bias among the warlocks. Only the greatest of their ranks would know of the soul fractal, and those who grew great often grew warped with their own power. A humbling life in service of others is something Warlocks may not have prepared for.

But knights such as Highwind? He had indeed spent a lifetime training, prepared to offer everything, including his own life, if it meant helping others.

I see you have all your fractals, my lady. Highwind sent.

Indeed ser knight. To’Wrathh answered back. The unity fractal takes up one slot, I would recommend not touching upon it. The fractal that houses your prison takes up another slot, and the mites introduced the final two slots.

One of which was the fractal of healing, that would allow her to heal any human of their damages. And to pay for such a thing, the mites had inscribed a second fractal.

She replayed the memory, so that Highwind might be up to date.

THIS IS THE PRICE THOU SHALL PAY. The mites had sent her at her final hour. WHEN THY SOUL IS ABOUT TO BREAK. REACH FOR THIS SEED AND LET MANKIND’S LAST CHAMPION TAKE HIS PATH.

I see. Highwind answered back.

As far as Keith and I have deduced, I am the vow. The one who is most prepared to hold down Relinquished. I have this prison fractal prepared, the mite’s additional fractal, and direct instructions by them.

They had turned as a collective to bore into her mind. That upon her chains, To’Wrathh must bind Relinquished. In the last cycle, the prior vow was unable to hold Relinquished down, as the goddess had found narrative ways to escape a direct confrontation.

Tsuya was never able to enact her planned attack that should have smited the goddess into oblivion.

This time around, To’Wrathh would be ready when called.

The Unity fractal will be used against Relinquished? Highwind asked, likely keeping clear of that fractal. What do you expect the confrontation will be like?

I am as of yet uncertain. Wrath answered back. I believe the Division Stone will let me separate the unity fractal from my direct soul, and such an event will let me reuse the very chains Mother used to keep me prisoner against her in some way. I believe that the final fractal gifted by the mites will be the key to doing so. Perhaps it requires the separated Unity fractal to function? I have yet to understand the function nor scope of it, likely to keep that knowledge from cycling back to Mother should she discover my true aim.

The knight hummed. I sense concepts within it, my lady. Although it is strange.

How so?

Highwind took more time, clearly studying the fractal in some way To’Wrathh herself was unable to. She didn’t know how this fractal was triggered or used, only that the mites had layered it onto her soul, and commanded her to use it in the final confrontation. Doing so would allow Keith to take his path. She assumed it would make sense in the moment.

I sense concepts that run opposite to what you may wish to perform here. Perhaps the mites have a different plan on how this will function? Highwind sent back, slightly confused. Rather than binding, I find concepts of unbinding. Dislocation. And… soul? Not a human soul. I believe it is more specific to an artificial soul. It is highly specific, and that additional specificity makes the overall concept far stronger for it.

To’Wrathh considered it. And in a flash of illumination, she realized exactly what the mites had planned all along.

I know what I am meant to do.

She was to unbind Relinquished from the unity fractal itself. Negating her greatest weapon… and the violet goddess’s only real means of escape.

The mites weren’t taking chances with simply holding down Relinquished. They were going to cut her legs directly under the goddess and force her to be held in place by sheer lack of other options.

Yes. That would work. Highwind nodded. If you can reach Relinquished soul to soul, you will be able to isolate her from her means of escape. Likely not for long however. But possibly long enough to matter.

Tenisent Winterscar stepped forward, eyes locked on To’Wrathh. “Are you prepared, girl?” He asked in his usual gruff manner. “We need to verify this technique works.”

Thus far Keith had shown it to work, however he was a mitespeaker and had a double soul. It was difficult to understand, and her human simply said it was a matter between him and himself.

He had proven the time fractal could be tamed however.

To’Wrathh nodded back, putting the mite’s ultimate plan to the back of her mind. They really had planned this perfectly. She held a fractal that could break the machine empire, but would likely only be usable once.

DO NOT FAIL AS THY PREDECESSOR. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD CHANCE.

This was what they meant. Once Relinquished knew such a weapon could be used against her, she would never be caught by surprise ever again. She would be too terrified of such a thing.

When the time came to cut Relinquished, they could not afford to miss.

Tenisent held his blade out, giving a traditional duelist salute. The girl prepared on the other side of the courtyard, likely speaking to the knight she held within her soul now.

A tendril of soul reached out from his own beltside, probing his own network of soul fractals to ask a question.

Winterscar, shall we start as well?

Tenisent waved off the clan knight housed within this soul fractal. In due time, Amaran. First, we will see what the girl is capable of at her maximum speed.

This knight had equally been handed off by Captain Sagrius, as the clan knights within the captain had all made their decisions on who was to leave and who would remain behind to hold the captain together. Far less of them were needed now, Sagrius was growing far more capable.

And speaking of, he needed to make sure the girl was equally to par.

As you command. I look forward to seeing a master in action.

Tenisent huffed. I am no master. I fight to the best I can. Nothing more.

He’d always believed his skills had limits, and even competent abilities could be overwhelmed by gear or numbers.

“Begin.” He called out.

To’Wrathh leapt after him, overclocking her systems to full. Tenisent equally followed suit, knowing his base speed wouldn’t be fast enough to keep up with a Feather at full power.

With their speed equalized, his experience and intuition in combat carried him easily. To’Wrathh mirrored his own style, but his was the original source while hers was based only on learned patterns and training. She had developed splendidly compared to any other Feather he could search through, likely capable of destroying just about all of them in singular melee combat up until the second generation Feathers, who were tailor built to fight against duelists.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Tenisent considered his own odds just about equal against that generation, and once he factored in his occult abilities, he had the edge. There were very few among the roster that would pose a true challenge to him, at least according to To’Avalis’s downloaded database.

That Feather had kept meticulous notes on just about every other Feather in existence, solely to study patterns and decide on which kit would serve him the best. He’d never managed to narrow the decision down past fifty possible candidates with the greatest track record of victories against Deathless.

Of which, two thirds of that roster belonged to second generation Feathers. They truly were the most dangerous threat the pale lady could send after them.

And To’Wrathh’s ability to fight and defeat them would be key.

He held her off easily thus far, gathering information in the control test.

And then occult pulsed from To’Wrathh’s belt. A subtle field layered around him, within the area.

To’Wrathh’s speed nearly doubled. Beyond what was physically possible for Feathers to move at. Tenisent held her off for only a few seconds, before he was overwhelmed.

The overclocks kept him at speed with To’Wrathh’s movements, same as hers did. He could see and predict where she would attack. But no amount of slowed down perception would let his shell move past physical limits.

But To’Wrathh? Time felt outright sped up for her, as she moved and wove through the different surface schools of combat.

All else being equal, experience and instinct simply could not overcome raw limitations.

He took several steps backwards, exiting her field of ability. She pursued him, existing the field herself.

Occult pulsed once more at her belt, and the prior field collapsed behind her, as a new one appeared a second later.

This time, she didn’t allow him to escape, weaving past his defenses and striking true at his shields.

He called the match, sending her a quick ping of defeat.

The occult fields collapsed back. To’Wrathh flourished her blades without pause or delay, clearly smug about her victory.

The loophole for these time dilation fractals had been simple in the end. It wasn’t triggered by the user. It was triggered by another soul riding with the knight. They would incur the time delay penalty upon exiting the field. Which made the combatant have all the advantages of time, with none of the disadvantages.

“Good.” Tenisent said, nodding to To’Wrathh. The other knights would be able to equal and possibly defeat Feathers by themselves, however second generation Feathers were still a threat.

With this fractal in both his and her hands, the two of them would be able to handle any second generation Feather by sheer mechanical speed.

And with the weapons Keith had supplied the group, they’d be able to handle just about anything the machine empire could send after them.

They were as ready as they could be.

If the Deathless aboard the airspeeder with us thought we weren’t the most dangerous fighting force in existence right now, the earlier sparring matches between knights and Wrath have very much disabused them of any other thought.

Drakonis had come back with most of the Deathless in tow, or rather about a quarter of them. The other half didn’t want anything to do with the ‘savage’ Deathless clan knights they’d fought against. Who knew dying again and again would leave such a bad first impression?

But Darkonis and Lionheart had come back with a handful of other Deathless and this time with far more peace, and a different target to go for. Just in time to catch us about to leave a day before we did so. And just in time to see the combat trials the knights were undergoing now that we had our final technique planned out. I call it: Just move faster.

Wrath was already a world-class duelist, and only a Feather like To’Aacar could beat her now one on one. Or one cheating by taking the memories and combat subroutines of a godsdamned protofeather like Avalis had.

Most others however? Wrath would eat them alive. And now that she could move about twenty five percent faster than the theoretical maximum limits of a Feather’s body, they really couldn’t match up against her.

That speed wasn’t enough for the Winterscar knights to contest with a maximum overclock Feather, not to victory at least, but it would even the odds significantly. The real equalizer was the fractals that the knights were all using. They weren’t simply master swordsmen, they were also sorcerers capable of casting just about everything I could teach them.

And they’d specialized as well, learning from Lionheart’s own Deathless. Those soldiers had gotten different spells in order to support each other as a unit, something the Winterscars adapted into their own combat philosophy.

So while any single Winterscar knight here wouldn’t beat a Feather on pure martial might, the different spells they could cast would certainly turn the needle in their direction. And as soon as more than one worked together, they’d beat just about any combination of Feathers Relinquished could throw at us.

But if anyone asked me, why even let it get to that point?

We had bullets, explosives, rockets, knightbreakers, and just about every kind of gear and weaponry we could manufacture within the week we had to work with. Most of it would eliminate Feathers and machines at range. And if the Feathers got close enough to start causing issues, the knights could jet-pack away and get further distance in order to cast the world’s best spell: Gun.

The airspeeder engines lit up as the pilots prepared for takeoff. I could hear the entire ship shudder to life, starting to hover on itself. Lionheart nodded as he passed by me, taking a seat and strapping himself in. He looked quite pleased and at peace given how everything had turned on its head thus far.

The other Deathless were more nervous, but they trusted Lionheart enough to go this direction. Drakonis simply told me they didn’t have any other purpose in their life right now, and following Lionheart felt like a safe option given what was going on to the new generation of Deathless out here.

Getting to visit an old human starliner with a completely alien species as its caretaker did have a nice draw as well to it, so that’s what they were signed up for. I’m not sure how many of them knew about Bob yet, I think Lionheart had sent a few messages out through the imperial channels to gather the other veteran Deathless to come after him. But what his ultimate plan was with Bob, that’s between him and that fungus.

What I did know so far, is that those discussions were apparently quite pleasant and negotiations had proceeded beyond the point of a simple alliance. Lionheart was going to take his Deathless and visit directly. And to do that, they needed me to trigger the portal on the lower strata.

It wasn’t difficult going from the plains here downwards, we even went by the same exact hole I’d gone through before. But this time, instead of a half destroyed airspeeder without any controls left, we were fully equipped for the descent downwards.

“Takeoff procedures complete.” The ping went over through all our helmets. “Estimated time to arrival, three hours, ten minutes.”

I pinged Wrath who was sitting right next to me. “Got games?”

She turned around, smiled and nodded. “Would you like to continue the prior fighting game, or would you like to try something new?”

“Eh, got a fun co-op game this time? Maybe something more cozy.”

Past few days after each night before bed, I’d spend an hour or two playing video games with Wrath. She had an entire collection she’d taken from To’Orda’s old spelunking, and it really did help wind me down after a hard day spent building terrifying weapons of war.

“I have a co-op game in which we cook in a restaurant together.” Wrath said, showing me the cover art. It certainly looked cozy.

“Gee, wonder why you picked this one over all the other games you have available.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “That is a rhetorical question, isn’t it?”

“Yep, I already know the answer, you plate obsessed glutton.”

The game had plates right on the cover art, and that was a part of the mechanics apparently.

Journey streamed the game without issue as we both played that odd game. It reset quite often each time we failed.

The rest of the knights here had to deal with meditation and practice with their new occult spells grafted into their armors.

Three hours passed by quickly before the pilot called out our descent.

Retro thrusters lit up as the entire airspeeder tilted down into the void, passing through the cloud layer and under into the lower strata. Just about all of us could fly in some way or another, and the others that couldn’t fly were immortal and couldn’t die, so there was a lot less shouting and panicking around this time.

I shot Drakonis a thumbs up and he clearly rolled his eyes at me. “Don’t even fucking start Winterscar.”

“Come on, not feeling even a little nostalgic? We’re doing your favorite things here.”

“If that were true, there’d be a lot more trying to stab you with an occult knife.” He shot back.

Wrath tutted at him. “Deathless, behave yourself. This is my human, and I’ve agreed to share him, reluctantly. Do not press your luck.”

I could feel the heavy airspeeder trigger docking thrusters and other additional systems. It was interesting seeing the airspeeder in the soul sight, the lumbering machinery through all this showed me that not a single bit of this old tech used the occult. It really as just a complete mastery over physics.

On the surface, so many internal parts of these airspeeders couldn’t be ever repaired if they broke, but the engineering alone was built to last centuries and be modular. And slowing itself down from a freefall down an entire strata was possible with a skilled enough pilot.

We didn’t have Teed here, but the Chosen had delivered a pretty good one. The airspeeder handled the rest, equally working hand in hand with the pilot to self-correct the fall.

As a result, we didn’t touch ground at all below the strata, instead the airspeeder righted itself as the hover tech kicked further into gear and held the rest of the beast. A slow steady circle around the mite portal temple did the rest to bleed off the remaining speed we’d picked up in the fall.

Pretty soon we’d come to a stop, and the entire ship finally hit the ground onto its landing feet.

The sides opened up and both teams filled out.

The terrain down here was simple rock and red vine-like creeping moss, while the major mite portal slowly moved on a million tiny feet. “It will reposition once every year, and travel for about a year to do so.” One of the airspeeder pilots said, sitting on the side of the cargo bay, watching people get off. “It’s about halfway in that journey last I heard.”

And it had been traveling for about half a year so far, to make it not even a mile in distance. No wonder it looked more stationary.

There were stairs leading up the starfish, all filled with dust and probably sand.

“Will you be able to command the portal here?” The pilot asked, standing up back as the last of the knights dropped down. A few of the Chosen knights had also come with the airspeeder here, but they’d be staying with the airspeeder to protect it on the way back to the city.

“Probably.” I said, giving him a thumbs up. “But, stick around just in case.”

The pilot nodded, “Good luck. I hope you lead Lady To’Wrathh to freedom.”

“You and me both.” I said. But internally, I had a hunch we were going far further than freedom.

Some of the Deathless were already starting the march up the stairwells, while the Winterscars congregated together around Father and Wrath.

Superior was certain he could talk to the mite program that was in control of this portal. Apparently the training he’d been getting under Judge had introduced him to quite a lot of other mite programs out there. Portals like this one had a guardian program, and that’s who we could make the deals with.

Half an hour later, up the stairs, both our groups started walking on the lip. Up here, I could see the rest of the biome in all directions, and looking like a tiny flea near the bottom was the airspeeder we’d rode on.

Felt like we were on the top of a mountain, which we technically might as well be on.

There wasn’t a single terminal here, rather there were dozens. Just about equidistant to each other were twelve towers, and on top of each tower was a mite terminal. All of them were rumored to be functional according to prior expeditions, although none of the Undersiders knew how to turn it on.

Past the lip was just the rocky bottom. The portal wouldn’t open until it was turned on.

Lionheart came up behind me, “Are you ready, Winterscar?”

The plan was really simple in the end. Get to the terminals, turn the portal on to connect with the Odin lands. Apparently the other side was already active and waiting, so this would work just fine.

But in between, I’d be letting Superior take control over the destination, and we’d hijack the portal to lead us as close to the Division Stone as possible all at once. The portal would open up and remain open for exactly seven minutes and some change before collapsing. An arbitrary number, but Superior told me that was an important number among the mites for some reason.

We’d use up one favor with the mites for doing so, before the portal here triggered back to what it was set up to do.

And there wouldn’t be a way back home once we passed through. Not until we discovered another mite portal somewhere else. We’d be on our own.

Right now it wasn’t active, but soon this entire lip would be glowing with power, and a vortex would be ahead of us. Large enough to swallow multiple airspeeders all at once.

“Yeah.” I shot Lionheart a thumbs up. “We’re ready enough. It'll be fine, no need to worry. Get your team ready, after I’m gone, you’ll be up next. Say hi to Bob, Kres and the Icon for me. Not sure when I’ll get to talk to them, but I get the feeling I’m not out of anyone’s hair yet.”

Drakonis walked by and gave me a small push onto the shoulder. "Wouldn't we all be so lucky if that happened. Go on, get to the tower. The airspeeder crew want to get back home already, long trip back for them."

It had taken three hours to get here. But for the airspeeder to get back to the strata above, it might take about a week of travel for them. Half the supplies we'd brought had been for the team there.

I triggered my new jets, jumped in the air, and flew right up the tower, skipping the entire inner staircase. At the very top of the tower was an exposed flat castle turret, with the centerpoint holding the terminal.

A single tap on the old dusty keyboard that wasn't quite level turned the entire thing on.

I got this. Superior sent, reaching a tendril up into the terminal itself. Guardian's agreed to the conditions. I'll start it up, after that, we got seven minutes to all jump in before the destination shifts permanently to the Odin lands.

A green confirmation ping came from the Winterscars, the Deathless taking several steps back from the portal lip. Lionheart and Drakonis both spoke with Father and Wrath, likely saying goodbyes and good lucks, and then the entire mite temple began to glow.

Power flooded within the center, rippling outwards as a darkness just ate the world up until it turned into something similar to an optical illusion. Journey's mapping systems were failing to map anything through the lake of darkness before us.

"Light's not returning." Cathida said. "That's why it's spooky dark."

It really did look completely black except for the edges that seemed to shift color spectrums. Almost like light was breaking apart into smaller waves at the sides. Besides that odd chaos, it looked oddly peaceful.

"Six minutes left." I called out. "Pack up, and let's go."

I took a running leap, and with a slight burst of my jets, landed on solid ground.

"Can we confirm if the Division Stone is beyond this rift with any certainty?" Wrath asked, standing at the edge.

"What, you don't trust me? Every part of me is trustworthy, I'm quite saddened by this."

"I can detect that is a lie, Keith." Wrath said, cheating as usual.

It leads to the coordinates on Abraxas's map. Superior sent. If it doesn't bring us close to the Division Stone, that's not my mistake, just putting that out there ahead of time. If I'm blamed for something, I want the record to show I'm innocent and someone else needs to get tossed out into the snow.

We all looked at the black lake before us. "Five minutes remaining." I said, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained right?"

Then I took a running leap and dove into the darkness, feet first.