Depthless Hunger

Chapters 629-632

Chapter 629: Toeing the Line of the Impossible

It was fun to go back to basics, using her body to seduce men. Omilaena had to admit, she had enjoyed playing that role in her younger life, and it was still entertaining to see men's jaws drop and tongues roll. One appearance at a time, she lured Jonijix and his men northward.

The strange thing was that it wasn't quite as fun as it should have been. Her two virgins had definitely managed to infect her with some of their values, so playing the seductress just wasn't the same. She had to admit that what she most wanted to do with her new beauty was show Kai and Zin Nim.

And why not? That would be way more satisfying than taunting random assholes.

Though she made it look easy, she actually had to be extremely careful when taunting Jonijix. He no longer had overwhelming power, but he did have natural phases that required her constant focus. Perhaps worse, she couldn't fight him normally, both due to not triggering the other invaders and because she needed to keep teasing. For his part, he wasn't trying to kill her, just pin her down, so she managed to keep leading him on.

Running into Troulon and the demons had been a surprising diversion, one that had nearly thrown off her plan. She had convinced them that this was a terrible time to try and attack, so hopefully they could be useful resources later. It was always hard to tell with demons, and she no longer truly knew Troulon.

And so, hip shake by hip shake, flirtatious wink to flirtatious wink, Omilaena lured the invaders toward the Slumbering Colossus.

During the last stretch she had to watch while standing on a flying ribbon - her Physique had frustratingly not granted her any flight abilities - hoping they would take the right path. If she had danced right up to it, they would have been too suspicious for the sleeping Insanity to serve as any sort of trap, but leaving them alone meant that they might randomly turn in a different direction. When they hit the lower mountains, she worried that they could go off in a different directions.

Once the invaders finally saw the Slumbering Colossus, however, they began shouting in surprise and she knew that it had worked. They had left behind all their local allies in the effort to chase her down, so they had no one to explain. As they tromped closer to the mountain where it lay, they shouted all kinds of speculation to one another.

"Some kind of statue?" one of them asked.

"They love making huge shit here," another said.

"Yeah, but it's all fragile. Made out of paper."

Omilaena's plan had many possible paths, most of which led to success in one form or another. One possibility that she had secretly been rooting for was that the invaders would recognize the Slumbering Colossus. If it was from the outside world, it might be familiar to them or, heaven forbid, be one example of an entire species.

Instead the Colossus seemed to be entirely novel to the invaders, which she had to admit was a little disappointing. It was possible that her theory about the Insanities was wrong and that they hadn't all come from the outside world. Or, based on how several of them began pissing on the giant's feet, they might just be dumbasses.

"Hey, this thing is pretty tough!" One of the invaders had run forward and was whacking at the featureless crotch with his sword. For once, their weapons didn't slice right through unphased matter, but they weren't smart enough to be worried about that.

"Out of the way, idiots." Jonijix waved them aside and raised his hand to summon his water. "I think this thing is made out of real stone. You're not going to cut it with a sword. But let's see what it can do against some real power..."

He gathered up a sphere of water in front of his hand, and Omilaena had to admit that despite her recent boost in strength, the raw power of it still made her nervous. After building up the intensity a little longer, smirking at the other men, Jonijix unleashed the sphere against the giant's chest.

When it struck, the water exploded backward violently enough to sweep away a few of the invaders, who just laughed and cursed about it. In the wake of the water, the Slumbering Colossus appeared unchanged... except she could see that there was a thin crack across its stone chest. For the first time in recorded history, the Slumbering Colossus had been damaged.

"Damn, it's tough." Jonijix waved his hand, preparing to summon more. "How many blasts do you think it will take to blow it apart?"

"Five!" one of the others shouted.

"Four!"

"Oh, you want to bet on it?"

"What the fuck would we bet? We own everything here!"

"First shot at the elves, then."

"I'm betting ten or more!"

Behind the bickering and gambling men, the Slumbering Colossus opened its eyes.

Each was a perfectly round circle, taller than a person. A dim light flickered within the rocky circles, as if barely alive, but the Slumbering Colossus began to move. The invaders who were still on its body panicked and began running in multiple directions, shouting wildly.

Jonijix hesitated, water still building in front of his hand... then he turned and fled. He might not be the brightest, but there was a shrewd cowardice in every bully.

The Colossus - no longer Slumbering - lurched forward like a toppling mountain. From a great distance, the movement looked absurdly slow. But when Omilaena compared it to the running of the invaders, she realized just how much ground it was covering. It practically fell forward, one over-sized hand sweeping out - not just to catch itself, it landed atop the slowest of the invaders.

Omilaena winced, wondering how large of a blood splatter the hand had caused. But no, the way the Colossus was drawing its arm back, beginning to curl its fingers... she saw that it hadn't flattened the invader, it had grasped the man like a pebble in a person's palm. Slowly the Colossus raised its arm back to its face, and its jaws began to open unnaturally wide, revealing only a stone cavern within.

At a distance Omilaena couldn't see the details, but she knew when the invader got close because he let out a scream. His body seemed to explode in ribbons of energy that flew into the Colossus's open mouth, disappearing into the stone until it was gone and the giant slowly lowered its hand.

Its eyes, which had been flickering so weakly, began to glow a steadier green.

That was when Omilaena first began to fear that this had gotten outside her expectations. One of the most probable paths had always been that the Slumbering Colossus would prove to be powerful, but she had missed one little supposition. Most likely it did come from the outside world... but here in the Deadlake, it couldn't find the energy it needed to live, so it fell into hibernation. Over the years it had been invulnerable, and it had never seen anything with sufficient energy.

Until now. She wasn't sure how long it could keep moving just from absorbing one invader, but considering that it had managed to hibernate for millennia, she didn't want to take bets. On all fours, it was slower than the invaders, yet it still pursued them with slow and steady movements.

No, not just them: Omilaena saw the massive head slowly move until the eyes fixed on her, and she realized that there was another source of energy for the Colossus to absorb.

She retreated immediately on her flying ribbon, outpacing the Colossus, but that didn't make her feel much better even as it turned into a silhouette in the distance. It seemed that she had interrupted Jonijix's raping and pillaging, but she had unleashed something new on Rosemount.

Her luck with Insanities was just awful.

.

..

.

So far, Zae Zin Nim had done all her cultivation in the Brightwind Pagoda. It had been built upon a particularly rich location for qi, and it was filled with various qi-rich treasures, so her progress had been easy. Now that she reached the final stages, however, she retreated to one of the sacred grounds and ordered the sect members to leave her alone.

With nothing to bother her, she fell into a trance of cultivation where days melted away. Only occasional outside thoughts interrupted her, as she reflected on the fact that at any moment she might hear that Yangix was invading east, or that atrocities had begun. But the greater worry always undermining her was the fear that everything she was doing was wrong.

She stayed close to the fundamental principles she had gleaned, concentrating the qi within her dantian without making it spill over. That should have been impossible, yet the process continued. Perhaps absorbing the Brightwind Meridian Perfection had simply made it more difficult, or perhaps she had unknowingly fallen into a subtle deviation. All she could do at this point was push forward and believe in the path she had chosen.

Instead of focusing entirely on her dantian, she mixed qi with the Coldfire Corona around it, and the Pure Yin Shroud underneath. Mana and chakra surged alongside her dantian, and then almost to her surprise, without any fanfare, she slipped forward.

At first she wasn't even sure what had happened, since it felt so different from normal cultivation, but when she looked at her soul, it was undeniable:

<

Name: Zae Zin Nim

Total Power: 1862

Cultivation: Earth Soul 101% (534)

*Heavenly Sash: Cultivation +10% (53)

Coldfire Corona: 46 (438)

Pure Yin Shroud: Spinel Rank (285)

True Blackblood Physique: E-12 (472)

Soul Level: 9 (81)

>

Her other abilities had stagnated due to her single-minded focus on cultivation, but they hadn't abandoned her: she had reached 101% of Earth Soul. It should have been impossible, yet she saw the numbers clearly, and more than that, they felt right.

How far did she go beyond that? She wasn't sure, but for the first time she truly believed that she would find answers. Zae Zin Nim set aside other concerns and fell deep into meditation.

Chapter 630: Against the Colossus

For the first part of Kai's trip into Rosemount, he couldn't get his mind off Jonijix and what he was doing in the Commonwealth. Yes, they hadn't triggered a total genocide, but what kind of victory was that? Anyone suffering when he could have protected them was a failure... and Kai realized that meant he would always fail, because he could never end all suffering.

At least in Rosemount he could fly at top speed without worrying about being interrupted by cultivators - a few people might try to interrupt him, but he could easily outpace them and they'd forget it. Occasionally he got more information, particularly about Omilaena or the great powers, and that was what led to the second part of his trip adopting a different tone.

First he learned that Jonijix was pushing north to ravage the Elven Expanse, then he heard contradictory and implausible rumors about a monster that had appeared in the Commonwealth of Traebor. Some believed that Jonijix had unleashed it, others that it was the spirit of Rosemount come to life to defend them. A few even suggested that it was the Slumbering Colossus awakened, which was absurd...

Until he hung in the air over the Colossus as it crawled forward.

This was definitely the Insanity, animated for the first time in recorded history and moving inexorably toward the heart of the Commonwealth. There were a few signs that it had been attacked - not damage to the enormous stone body, just blood stains and the remnants of elemental attacks that had utterly failed to stop the creature as it moved onward.

Normally Kai would have stopped to gather more information and fully analyze the monster, but he realized that there was a Commonwealth city ahead. He could see a stream of people evacuating the city, but they utterly choked the roads, and the Colossus moved faster than it looked. Soon it would be on top of them, and most likely it would smash directly through the city without even noticing.

So Kai built up his monstrous armor and shot down at the monster's back. He had attained fully transformed state by the time he struck, a Tyrant's Claw slashing across its back.

The blow gouged the stone, so it wasn't invulnerable... but the strike didn't cut deep, blocked by the Colossus's enormous defense. For just a moment, Kai had to admit that he wasn't sure if he should have picked this fight. The next moments weren't much better, as the Colossus turned ponderously to look at him.

Then he shot Manticore's Spines directly into its eyes - Kai wasn't going to be intimidated by any monster, no matter how big it was.

Despite the glow of the eyes, they appeared to be primarily stone, so Manticore's Spine had nothing to stab or poison. Legion Bite would be even more futile, and Monstrous Tail was absurdly out-sized by such a monstrosity. Kai flew back, out of range, and hovered while he shifted his monstrous essence to try more techniques.

What exactly was the Colossus, other than an Insanity? If it was a monster, he should have been able to get a stronger sense for it with spiritual sight - he didn't think it could be worse than the Abhorroid. If it was a sacred beast, he couldn't make out anything coherent. It did feel alive, unlike a machine, but whatever power it had, he didn't sense anything like a human soul, so he didn't think it could be some unknown species from the outside world. Maybe it was something he had no category for.

In the time it took him to shift his essence, the Colossus stopped and rose to its full towering height. Nice that it acknowledged him as a threat, at least. Was it slow and stupid enough that he could beat it with mobility alone? Kai stretched Thunderbird's Wings and shot to the side, flying in a circle just outside the monster's reach.

Its head turned to follow him part of the way, then slowly shifted back. No matter how Kai tried to bait the Colossus, it refused to spin around after him. In fact, it closed those flickering eyes and its shoulders sagged slightly, almost as if it was resting. As if it was too much effort to chase around a little gnat.

Well, he could do better than a gnat. Kai gathered his strength while he circled, then without warning, flew directly toward the Colossus's head. He exhaled a fully phased Baleful Breath directly into that strange face, not stopping when it opened its eyes. The Colossus opened its mouth, and he felt a draining power emerge from that cavern, but he had better control over his power than that. Kai resisted the drain and breathed directly into the monster's mouth, thinking he saw the stones begin to split...

Enormous force struck his entire body at once and Kai hurtled through the air, demolishing the peak of a mountain before he realized what had happened.

Groaning and shaking his head, Kai slowly pulled himself out of the crater as Behemoth's Heart began to heal the bruises all across his body. The Colossus must have struck him with one of those over-sized hands, moving faster than he had given it credit for. Almost anyone else would have been splattered by the blow, and even he was injured. Another reason he needed a pure armor essence.

When Kai looked up, he saw that the Colossus had begun to run toward him. It seemed impossible that such an unwieldy shape of stone could run, but it managed to put one foot in front of the other and make an earth-shaking line toward him.

So far all his best techniques had only done a little damage to it - the Colossus wasn't completely beyond his touch, but he was chipping stones off a mountain. The only way he could beat it would be to get deep and destroy something essential with the most intense attacks he could manage. He'd already tried to strike the face and that hadn't been effective, so he targeted the chest and the enormous heart he could feel there.

Kai easily spun around the hand reaching for him and struck the chest with both feet, hard enough that the Colossus actually staggered back a step. But he'd done no damage, and he had to get through a lot of stone.

Isulfr's Bite yawned open, hungrier than usual, and Kai tore out a hunk of rock. That at least broke the creature's defense, but he needed to get deeper, and his teeth were aching from the dense stone. It would take more bites, and he didn't have time t-

A shadow fell over him and Kai couldn't move fast enough to prevent the Colossus's enormous hand from closing around him. Even though it squeezed, its offensive power wasn't as strong as its defense - Kai's bones hurt, but he could survive the grinding. It was raising him up, and if it intended to smash him, he would have more than enough time to escape and land another blow.

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Except suddenly he felt his life draining from him. He could feel the Colossus opening its maw, trying to consume him, and he cried out in pain.

Instinctively his hunger fought back and he unleashed Famished World. The sphere expanded from him, sweeping past the hand gripping him. Not only did the drain stop, the Colossus let go in surprise and seemed to shift back. Kai struck in all directions, slamming the hand open to free himself.

That left him suspended in the air, opposite the enormous face. The Colossus was definitely staring at him now, not yet attacking, but he could tell that it knew no fear. Whether or not it was a monster, it had the same mindless determination.

And Kai didn't. He reversed direction, climbing higher and putting significant distance between himself and the Colossus. Even though he wanted to keep fighting, his honest assessment was that dealing a little damage to its chest had cost him too much: he was drained and injured, not able to keep fighting against an Insanity like this.

At first the Colossus continued to follow him, lumbering instead of running, but as Kai moved further away it slowed. Eventually he saw its lower itself to the ground and begin crawling in the other direction again. It didn't hate him, it just wanted his energy, and if he was too hard to reach, it would go toward something else.

He hovered in the air for some time, catching his breath and letting Behemoth's Heart fully restore his body. At least he'd shifted its path away from the city, but that was a very temporary solution.

"There you are!" Omilaena flew up to him on a levitating ribbon, practically shining. "I got you a present, dear husband, but you ruined the surprise."

"The wrapping is a bit tough." Kai spat out some stone and realized that he spat out a tooth as well. "So that's the Slumbering Colossus, huh? I'm guessing you got the invaders to wake it up as a distraction."

"Indeed it is, and so glad to see you're smarter than they were."

Kai was considering his next question when he glanced at Omilaena again and realized that she wasn't just beaming in enthusiasm, she had transformed. Her Physique had changed, granting her the power she sought, and he noticed a few subtle details: her fingernails looked suspiciously like metal, for example. But the most striking thing was that she had an aura like the elves, telling his mind that she was astonishingly beautiful.

"Hey, you got your new Physique," Kai said with a smile. "It's strong, too, but I bet you're dying to see what it gains at E-1."

"Really, you want to talk about math?" Omilaena stamped her foot and pretended to fume. "Your wife becomes literally the most attractive woman on the planet and it's still about power to you?"

"Eh, I'm sick of soul abilities trying to tell me what to think. This whole business with the invaders thinking everyone here is ugly just seems wrong-headed to me. You're still the woman I married, and that's what matters."

"Okay, that's very romantic, but I didn't-"

He lunged out, grabbing her hips with one claw, tugging her off her ribbon against his chest. "I can show you how I feel later," he growled, "but what are we going to do about the Slumbering Colossus? For that matter, where are Jonijix and the invaders?"

"I don't have a plan for them yet." Omilaena grew serious, but she didn't bother to push away from him. "We still have a serious problem with the invaders calling for genocide, unless Zin Nim has broken through."

"Not yet."

"Then that's still a problem to be solved. But the Slumbering Colossus? Now that you're here, the solution is obviously for you to eat it."

Chapter 631: Jaws Ever Widening

At first Kai had thought that a plan to take down an Insanity was absurd, but he'd begun to change his mind even by the time they returned to Omilaena's camp. It included Troulon, which didn't surprise him given their history together, and Gorutiel, who was completely out of left field.

"Look at this guy!" Gorutiel rushed up to clap him on the shoulders. "Damn, you're stronger than me now, even before you bring out those strange powers!"

"I'm guessing you're here to try to consume the invaders?" Kai asked. "Their power is phased, so I'm not sure that will work."

"I don't know what the fuck that means, but I know that we demons are the only ones with the balls to try to take on these fools. Well, other than you and your lady, of course."

They had sort of spoken for a while, but the truth was that their bond was a strange one forged by necessity. Actually, Gorutiel was a predatory demon who had killed plenty of people and some would argue was better off dead. But Kai had collaborated with him once, even helped him eat someone, and in times like these he couldn't afford to refuse potential allies.

Once he got away from the garrulous Gorutiel, Omilaena swatted aside everyone else to give him some space. That was when Kai began to really think about the problem, and he quickly realized that he had very strong opportunities available to him.

His human power might be similar to what it was before, and his newest essence was marked for future cultivation, but he had a large stable of other abilities:

<

Dragon's Might - V (epsilon)

Behemoth's Heart - XIII (nu)

Thunderbird's Wings - XII (mu)

Tyrant's Claw - XIII (nu)

Manticore's Spine - VII (eta)

Baleful Breath - IX (iota)

Void Gaze - X (kappa)

-

Famished World - VII (eta)

Mutefang's Stealth - XVI (pi)

Isulfr's Bite - XII (mu)

Sahagin's Soul - XV (omicron)

Greatshark's Presence - III (gamma)

Monstrous Tail - VIII (theta)

Legion Bite - VI (zeta)

Wallcrawler's Feet - V (epsilon)

Abominalgum - III (gamma)

Slime's Immortality - II (beta)

Silver Demon - III (gamma)

Voidmaw's Bite - III (gamma)

Bloodtail's Armor - V (epsilon)

Deathmaw Essence - III (gamma)

Voidshell Essence - III (gamma)

Sacred Dragon's Qi - II (beta)

Coiling Island Qi - II (beta)

>

He had been thinking primarily about defensive abilities lately, but it was immediately obvious just how many essences he had dedicated to biting or consuming. Not just the obvious, either: the Silver Demon essence he'd taken from Anaelina so long ago now seemed very relevant.

Isulfr's Bite had long been an effective technique for him despite being based on only a single monster, so he thought it had great potential if improved. Even in its present form, he'd been able to bite into the Colossus, so he just needed to improve the offensive power and he might actually be able to finish it off. That would potentially solve one of their problems and get them close to solutions to the rest.

When he ran the idea past Omilaena, she didn't seem to object at all, just dropped into his lap to listen. "Works for me," she said. "I've been buying what time I can, but it's hard to manage both the Colossus and the invaders."

"You really think I'm ready to take on an Insanity?"

"Oh, we're past that point now, and I have no room to talk." Omilaena bounced in his lap strategically. "Come on, show me what a big strong man you are."

"Calm down." Kai put a hand on her face and pushed her away, but he was smiling. "I wanted to make sure there was a spiritual component to the bite, though, and I was planning on including a demonic component. Do you think you c-"

She was already standing again, snapping at the nearest demons. "Hey, you! Get over here and tell us what you know about demonic arts!"

Remarkably, they obeyed Omilaena's orders... or perhaps not so remarkably, given how much she overpowered them. So Kai spoke to the gathered demons, including Gorutiel, learning about how they drained power as well as transferred essence to others for demonic arts.

The demons served as clear examples, but weren't very good at explaining things: they operated on instincts and simply hunted power, almost as controlled by their hunger as monsters. Troulon proved to be surprisingly helpful, since he had learned a demonic art of his own before surrendering it, giving him some sober insight. He was smart, too, and Kai could easily understand how he and Omilaena got along.

Even though Kai was picking up everything almost instantly, it still took them a few days to cover such a complex topic. As he worked, Kai was unpleasantly aware that Rosemount was falling apart around them. The Colossus hadn't destroyed any cities, because it was slowing slightly, but it had crushed several holy sites and it was still on its way toward Traeton.

No one else had brought it up, but Kai grimly wondered if the Colossus was moving toward the First Crest. If the coin from outside could power a city, surely it could give the Colossus some of the power it needed. That raised the question of why it hadn't done so before... perhaps if the First Crest hadn't existed when the Colossus first fell into hibernation... but there was no time to think about idle theories, not when Jonijix and his followers were still causing chaos.

That was what bothered him most of all. The encounter with the Colossus had repelled them from the Elven Expanse, and they were doing less harm after the shock, but they were still causing suffering all around them. Kai wanted to take a shot at them and waiting made him furious.

At least, once it was finally time to fight the invaders, he would have his jaws ready for them.

Once he had trained his Silver Demon essence, even coming close to developing a demonic art of his own, Kai prepared it along with all of his other abilities.

<

Isulfr's Bite - XIII (nu)

Voidmaw's Bite - X (kappa)

Deathmaw Essence - X (kappa)

Silver Demon - X (kappa)

>

He thought he had an impressive set of four. Isulfr's Bite was the core of it, of course, bringing the shape of the technique and years of development. During his honeymoon on Darkmist Island he'd eaten the Voidmaw, which could transform its entire body into jaws. The Silver Demon essence provided a spiritual offense and a draining aspect. And finally the Deathmaw that Omilaena had killed during the incursion was almost all mouth, providing a lot of raw power.

That would be good enough, or so he hoped. He'd considered some alternatives, like sacrificing Legion Bite to this ability, but he'd decided that wouldn't offer that much benefit, and it was really operating on a different biting principle since his goal was a single maximally powerful bite. Otherwise, he had the abilities evenly matched so they shouldn't absorb one another, which meant he should be ready.

Since he'd taken the time to build up all of the essences, they moved easily within him, fully under his control. Kai considered their spiritual shapes, making sure they could fuse together properly one last time, then began the process of consumption within himself...

And, for the first time in ages, he recoiled.

The problem wasn't the process itself, which was going smoothly - if anything, all too smoothly. It had nothing to do with revulsion, since he'd accepted all these elements of himself long ago. No, as he reconsidered his negative reaction, he realized that it was a subtler trap.

Right now, if he tried to fuse this new ability, it wouldn't have proper space to establish itself in his soul and the ability would have ended up stunted. Not obviously, since it would definitely have been effective, just falling short of its true potential. If he had pushed forward fearlessly and without hesitation, he could well have crippled the future ability, so Kai gave thanks for reasonable self-doubt.

What was holding him back, then? He didn't think the problem was complex at all, his human soul just needed to grow further to accommodate such powerful monstrous abilities. After all, Dragon's Might had been growing rapidly, and Behemoth's Heart had improved while fighting such dangerous opponents, so his monstrous strength had increased significantly. He briefly felt annoyance that he couldn't break through with his cultivation, since that would open up more than enough space, but he suppressed that reaction since he trusted that Zae Zin Nim was looking out for the long term.

Thinking of her reminded Kai of the obvious: he didn't need to figure this out entirely on his own. He went to Omilaena and pulled her out of her meeting with Troulon to explain what was holding him back. Part of him had been afraid she'd be disappointed, somehow, but she just nodded seriously.

"That's a solvable problem," she told him easily. "In fact, we can go back to our strategy of dealing with one Insanity using another. We have another one right here on Rosemount... you remember the problem with the Glorious Tree, right?"

"It grows fruits that allegedly grant so much power that they make people explode." Kai remembered discussing it years ago and winced.

"Oh, but you don't need to worry, not with your regeneration and everything else. I'm willing to bet you can survive."

"That's not the part that bothers me. Isn't that one of the national treasures of the Flaeren Dominion? I don't think they'll be willing to just hand it over, and I doubt even you would start another war at a time like this. We'd have to be careful with the Windlord, even now."

"Look at you, thinking about fighting a great power!" Omilaena gave him a predatory smile. "No, I just mean we need to convince them of... the righteousness of our cause, shall we say. The Windlord wasn't cooperative earlier, but things have gotten a lot worse, so they might be willing to listen."

Kai accepted that this was their best option, but he didn't like it. Given that this would require Rosemount politics, he wished he could just fight the Colossus.

Chapter 632: A Merchant's Heroism

Not long after Goraykan settled into accepting their invaders, who weren't as bad as many, tension began to rise again. Everyone knew that Fodajix and Budajix were no longer on speaking terms, and no matter how many times Razz told everyone that they were still allied, the rumors persisted. It was even said that they had stopped feasting together, even if all the other invaders were present.

Of course, it helped that Razz had made sure that they occasionally weren't informed.

He knew that he was playing a dangerous game, but he figured as long as the two lead invaders were focused on one another, they weren't hurting as many people. All their underlings were falling into factions as well, focused on one another instead of the Goralians.

Untariin had been gone most of the time these days, and Razz didn't blame him: the invaders might be lashing out less frequently, but occasionally their anger spilled over and they killed someone. Hunters and others with a small amount of power were more at risk, unlike someone as harmless as Razz. It was possible that they would kill him too, but if he died that way, he'd consider it as a death in the line of duty.

One day as he was trying to source more chakra-rich wine, Razz heard a heavy footstep behind him. Somehow he knew who it was, and by the time Fodajix walked in behind him, Razz wondered if this was the moment he finally died. The small man did the least boasting and talking of any of the invaders, but the way he was staring made Razz's blood run cold.

"Did Budajix ask about me?"

The question sent a chill up Razz's spine as he dared to hope. "My lord...?" He cringed back, which didn't require much acting. "I don't know what you mean. I strive to serve all of you to the best of m-"

"Stop sniveling." Fodajix stepped up behind Razz, not touching him but too close. "Has he asked any questions about me?"

"I..." Razz swallowed carefully. "Very little, my lord. I think he may be jealous about the mansion you took for yourself, because he asked all kinds of questions about it. Of course I found him the best one I could, but if you're unsatisfied with yours..."

Fodajix grunted and stalked away, leaving Razz wondering if he had played that right.

Pitting the invaders against one another was a difficult act, because if he was too obvious they would lash out at him, but his early attempts had been too subtle. He'd discovered that Budajix was easy, since his ego was fragile and he stopped thinking when it was damaged. But Fodajix was hard to read and smarter than the others, so it would be too easy to tip his hand.

Because Fodajix had already seemed paranoid, Razz had tried to push back a little, not offering an answer that too obviously served him. He'd wanted to subtly imply that Budajix might be investigating his mansion as a threat, though he wasn't sure if it had any effect. It was entirely possible that he'd just undone days of fostering discontent between them.

The next morning, Budajix was found murdered in his bed.

There was no question about who had done it: Fodajix was wearing the other invader's mana circlet, increasing his power yet further. All the other invaders were shocked, keeping to themselves as if anything could happen. Razz was shocked himself, never having imagined that things would escalate so quickly.

Unquestionably, the smart thing to do was keep his head down and avoid attention. Even the other invaders were doing the same, and some hid their weapons as if in fear that Fodajix would come for them next. That atmosphere of paranoia weakened all of them, so in one sense it was best not to interfere with it.

But the chance that the murder would trigger the worst case scenario was too high. Shouldering the risk, Razz entered the mansion where Fodajix sat alone.

"My lord, I-"

"Go away." Fodajix waved him off without looking.

"Please, my lord. Your business is your own, but please tell the others about what happened. If they don't hear from Budajix and think that it was one of us, no one will be able to stop them. I have family across the continent, I just want them to be safe..."

"Ugh." Fodajix pushed Razz hard enough to shove him out the door, but then he reached into his robes and pulled out the communications crystal. Rubbing his bruised chest, Razz stayed long enough to hear him reporting that he and Budajix had fought before he slipped away.

Was the best plan to flee as soon as he had a chance? Razz had hoped to undermine the invaders, but this had surpassed his expectations. Then again, trying to flee could well place suspicion on him, and he couldn't guarantee that he could actually outrun opponents who were so impossibly fast.

By the end of the day, Razz had resolved that he was going to stay in Goraykan. He made sure to visit all the weaker invaders, giving them what remained of his stash, as if trying to raise their spirits. Many of them actually seemed to appreciate it, leading to painfully human moments of connection where they acted as though they were both normal people, instead of conquerors and victims. He didn't expect any of them could defend him, but it would bolster his reputation if it came to that.

When Razz went home, he found Fodajix waiting. The man had looked more emotionally troubled before, but now his face held only an icy curiosity.

"You're an altruistic man, thinking of your fellows like that," Fodajix said.

"And I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Razz bowed deeper than he usually dared. "I know we need to adjust to the new way of things, I just want my family to-"

"No, I don't think so." Fodajix grabbed his arm and his fingers might as well have been a steel manacle, bruising Razz as the invader dragged him up against a wall. "You seem entirely too smart for my liking."

"Than-"

"Shut up. I got to thinking about what you've done for us, how you've always been at our shoulders. And I don't think I like it."

Suddenly Razz was slammed against the wall and he heard his arm snap. He couldn't stop his cry of pain, but it got worse when the invader twisted the broken arm and shoved his face against the wood.

"Who are you working for?" Fodajix demanded, cold eyes finally showing some hatred. "They're pulling your strings, aren't they?"

"Who do y-" Razz cut off as force slammed into his legs. He dropped to the ground, clutching the broken bone and struggling not to sob. Fodajix stood over him, looking down with pure disgust.

"I've always known you weren't as beaten as you looked. The strong ones are still lurking out there... I just didn't think they'd sent money-counters to do a warrior's work. If you want to live - if you actually have a family you care about - you'll give them to me. Set up a meeting."

Razz's body still hurt worse than anything else he'd experienced, but the pain was becoming numb. He stared up at the invader and, as he realized he was going to die, found himself strangely clear-headed. Somehow he even pulled himself up to a sitting position.

"Kill me now," Razz told him. The stark statement seemed to make the invader hesitate. "I don't have contact with anyone important, but you won't believe that, will you? Just kill me now and save us both the trouble."

For several seconds Fodajix stared at him, then he chuckled grimly. He reached down and grabbed Razz by the hair, dragging him into a storage room. The pace forced Razz to put weight on his broken leg and there was no way he could push through that with manful silence - he was groaning and whimpering by the end.

Once there, Fodajix pushed him against the wall, then grabbed a long piece of metal used for construction. With his bare hands he bent it into a half-circle, then he slammed that circle around Razz's neck. It pinned him to the wall in standing position, either struggling to keep himself upright or sagging and choking on the metal. Razz instinctively grasped at it with his unbroken arm, but he was clawing at steel and it was futile.

"You're brave," Fodajix said. "You're going to regret being brave by the end. How long can you survive here, I wonder? Even if you stay brave and refuse to say anything, I can still use you. Unless they threw you away, they'll come for you, and then I'll be able to take my revenge."

Struggling with the steel around his neck, Razz couldn't say anything. Fodajix closed the door on him and then he was engulfed in total darkness.

As the hours passed and Razz grew weary, he realized that it wasn't actually pitch black: he could see faint hints of light through the cracks in the construction. Those hints faded as it shifted toward evening outside, which was his only way of keeping time. It seemed like it had been an eternity and his legs ached - he could keep his weight off the broken leg, but the other hurt nearly as much now.

When the door opened, Razz groaned... and then he saw that it was Untariin.

"Unt-!" Razz choked as he tried to speak, then recovered. "It's a trap! He's going t-"

"Nah." Untariin grabbed the steel and tore it out of the wall, then pulled Razz to him and broke something which caused mana to surge around them.

Then, with a speed that seemed simply unbelievable, Razz was back in the sunlight. He thought he recognized northern Goralia from the foliage, but all he could feel was relief. His head was spinning and all his aches and pains redoubled, as if the light had awoken them as well.

"Oh, poor Razz..."

He realized dimly that Juray was guiding him to the ground, cradling his head and helping him drink a potion. When the mana surged through his body, at last he felt some relief in his broken limbs. As the pain ebbed, so did his energy, as if he had nothing left.

"Good work." Untariin knelt down on the opposite side, smiling at him. "There's one less invader in the world thanks to you. None of the rest of us can say the same."

"What... what about Fodajix?" Razz asked. "If... if he attacks..."

Razz didn't get an answer to his question because he dipped in and out of consciousness as his body recovered. Both sleep and waking felt like a dream and sometimes it was hard to believe that he had really done all that, living near invaders who could kill him in an instant. When he finally woke with a clear mind, he was incredibly disoriented.

Now he had the presence of mind to understand that he was in an elite base... and it must be the next morning, based on the sunlight. Raghi had joined them, talking to Juray in a low voice. No one looked panicked, but the uncertainty ate at him.

"What happened?" he asked. Untariin appeared beside him with a thin smile.

"Calm down, it's okay."

"But what about Fodajix? Did he start killing people in retaliation?"

"He didn't kill anyone, didn't even talk to the others, he just left the city." Untariin's smile thinned to a knife edge. "That's the bad news: he went toward the Frontier and we lost track of him. We have no idea what he's doing now."

Razz let out his breath and slumped back against the bed. At least his actions hadn't triggered the worst... but he could only hope that they were for the best. All he knew for sure was that the rest wasn't up to him.