Birdion stood behind, Dog-Eared Nicole, (Novalie) as she lost both of her arms in quick succession and began to bleed out.

Birdion could regrow both of her limbs quite easily but he knew not to touch her without permission. That was made very clear the first and last time he did so and his left arm was removed.

Kyrgios had picked both of them up from the almighty Icaron, though the land-based Theriang and sky-based Aviarcus had been at war for countless millennia, leading to mistrust and bigotry when forced to work together.

Birdion had even killed quite a few of her comrades personally. So it wasn't undeserved and he didn’t mind watching her bleed out. She’d killed him three times without remorse.

“If you can fix my arms, hurry up you damned birdbrain.”

“Birds are the smartest creatures in the sky. So I'll take that as a compliment.” Birdion replied as he placed two of his feathers in cauterized stumps.

In moments, twin bursts of flame erupted from the open wounds, and arms appeared where they used to be., though various battle scars and built-up calluses were gone.

“Did your powers evolve?”

“I recently had to resurrect while all my cells were being destroyed before they could fully form. It was a learning experience. I must thank you for removing our enemy.”

“So he didn’t join you?” Novalie drew a line around her right wrist with a claw causing her bracelet to reappear. The wound closed and a scar immediately formed.

“Scars don’t suit you very well.” Birdion looked away as the door opened and a platinum-haired woman with rose-pink irises entered the room. Pink shards of ice rotated around her wrist. At her hip was a small metal device.

“Quinara how goes your scouting?”

“They stole and improved upon our technology. I wasn’t able to get in range without entering theirs and I can fire from a mile away.”

“And Brick?” Bridion asked

“Drowned to death then impaled. His tracker is gone, meaning he’s likely dead.”

“I told you that letting him walk in alone would lead to something like this.” Birdion shook his head.

“How are they so prepared?” Novalie asked while rubbing her wrist.

“They outnumber us greatly and are quite diverse in abilities. What about the orcs?” Birdion asked the scout.

“The central assault team has retreated. They realized that they were out manned and being used as fodder. So they decided to leave the battlefield and regroup.”

“Wipe out their opposing team, they get their captain back. If by some off chance we lose, they have a weakened foe.” Birdion cocked his head to the side.

“Victor, Minerva, and Sheeva are still ready to strike. How goes our allies?” Novalie looked to the scout.

“Milo is injured heavily, Lisa, White Fox and Edwin are gone. Apparently a parisite in Milo’s wing stumps tore Edwin and only him to pieces.”

Birdion resisted a primal urge to laugh when he suddenly grew concerned. Then, his mind felt cool, and he forgot the feeling. An emerald glint briefly showed in his left eye.

“Let's launch a joint attack on the fortress tonight. All or nothing.”.

“They will never see it coming.” Birdion smirked

Hel meditated as her mana was pushed past its limit and her newest breed of insects was born. Worms that consumed mana and spread it across the environment. While tiny now they could grow colossal in time. The first batch had already grown to be a foot long in this mana-rich environment.

“With this task done it's time to move onto my final task.” Hel activated her mass communication flower.

“Phase Epsilon is in motion. Time to go on the attack.”

“Right.” Answered Biron.

“Roger.” Stated Cecil.

“Epsilon?” Asked Chiyo.

“About time.” Stated Tiffany.

“Can I get a moment to rest?” Asked Minah who seemed exhausted.

Bella did not answer.

“They will never see it coming.” Said an unfamiliar voice.

Chiyo scowled as she looked at Hel. “What is plan Epsilon? I haven’t been informed.”

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Hel sighed. “Right, it means use your best judgment and go all out.”

“That is concerning. Wait what do you mean by all–”

An explosion that shook the land went off a good distance away as the mana cannons locked onto a single area and fired simultaneously along with Cecil’s mech. A mountain a good distance away seemingly exploded as black ichor and giant tentacles covered the land.

“Once per day or week attacks. I’m hoping that was the once a week blast.”

“Well this may seem concerning but I've seen magical weapons capable of much more.”

“Those drain the area of ambient mana. This one makes things grow and flourish. Using the target's mana as a catalyst.”

Chiyo squinted. “Who designed a weapon like that?”

“No idea, I wasn’t involved in R & D.”

A goblin wielding a large wrench looked at Hel as though she had grown a second head. It realized what it was doing and walked away.

“Research and Development?” Chiyo stated.

“Anyway, Cecil and Bella are done for this round. Not sure why you're here to protect me. Given that you aren’t stronger than me. Now talk why would you pick someone like Ander.”

“You want the details?”

“We have the time and I’m somewhat invested in this strange drama.”

“Well then it started he fell from the sky.”

Bastion was riding on his new giant pet crab, back to the oasis, Kyrion made. The fighting had moved and the blood tangerines were ready to eat.

Bastion reached for one and found that he was too short.

“Need more tall.” Bastion stated.

The crab seemingly grew a foot and Bastion grabbed three in quick succession. Taking a bite through the sweet and sour exterior.

“Soo good!”

The crab held out a pincer plucked a fruit from the tree and consumed it.

“Figures. Wait…” the crab spoke as they moved between the trees while Bastion plucked a few more fruit from various trees. The duo arrived at a log cabin where a masked Kyrion was busy creating tile floors in his new house.

House was being generous. On the outside, it looked like a small hut, but with some knowledge of Kyrion’s ability to alter space and use earth magic, the truth was obvious. The tiny hut was a house the size of a mansion.

“You two aren’t supposed to see this.”

“Why?” Bastion asked.

“This is my hidden grove, my love nest. The illusions and defenses…” Kyrion seemed irritated.

“People saw you die. How are you still here?”

“Look. How many times have I faked a death by now? It should only be surprising once. Falling for such a trick again is foolish. Never assume I’m dead especially if I leave a body behind. Those are traps. Guess you could stay here while plan Epsilon goes off.”

Kyrion brought his tiles into the hut then proceeded down a staircase and landed in a large entry corridor. The last few tiles were placed and Kyrion popped his back.

“Wow! Do you have toys?” Bastion asked, the crab currently on his shoulders as he walked down the stairs.

“In my travels around Cecil’s world I have come across many toys and made even more. Beyrazors according to the lore in a universe far away from ours. People use Beyrazors to settle disputes, and even the fate of the world.”

Kyrion held out a small circular object with the picture of a hand on it under the metal was a series of rubber wing-shaped protrusions and beneath those was a metal ball bearing that could sink into a pocket and switch to a rubber tip.

Bastion took the object and then looked at it in awe. He then noticed that it was an enchanted item as well.

Kyrion then handed Bastion a packet of stickers. As well as a dagger-shaped device.

“Go have fun. There is an arena on the third floor. Your opponent will show you how to play.”

“My opponent?”

Kyrion sighed and wondered why someone would bring those two here.

Lin entered from a side room an amused expression on her face. “This is how you intend to hide from the public eye? In plain sight?”

“This is legally my land so I can somewhat limit their scrying. As I’m already hard to sense on my own, sending a double in my place to be eliminated was well within my capabilities.”

“Is that why you spared that shard?”

“Birdion? Oh right… I did something inhumane to him. Though it wasn’t inaviarcane. That Gios is an irrideamble pile of troll feces, but he sure can do some things to a brain that I couldn’t and wouldn’t though undoing it would complicate things.”

“Hmmm? What line did he cross?” Lin asked.

“Enough for me to know that the entire force he sent to slay me have had their memories altered so much that they are convinced their captor is their savior. Also…Birdion’s dead lover is the one who tried to kill me. Giving him back that information would be troublesome.”

“What did you want to do with Viole?”

“Her memories were altered as well. Fix, then convince her to join with Nicole and Novalie. Hopefully Ari’s trouble doesn’t come back to bite us.”

“It probably will, not that it matters. Your empire, your rules. You could legalize having multiple wives.”

Kyrion didn’t fall for that trap. “I only have an eye for you. Nicole is a childhood friend. Also I imagine any sharing would end with me getting sawed in half. To see if I could multiply by mitosis. Yes but it isn’t worth it. Or drawn and quartered if two more want a piece, Cecil already claimed my brain for research purposes.”

“Is that so?”

“I also couldn’t handle more than one. Not without splitting myself in two. Again, not worth the pain or effort.”

“Fine I get it. Sheesh. Given that your mother picked me and your personality, I expected some rebellion.”

Kyrion tilted his head to the side. “Any fires of rebellion died when I understood the cost of my survival. Parents do their best and given my memory, keeping me from understanding innate magic was for the best. When my empire takes this continent I’ll eliminate the Beast Blood plague and bring my childhood home back to life.”

“And the incursion?”

“Will be on the Goskin continent. There wouldn’t be enough life here for it to waste assaulting, and starving to death. My land doesn’t like invaders.”

“So you intend for me to stay here?”

“Correct. At least for the year.”

“I’ll look after the kids then. All four of them.”

“Illanda and Eden aren’t ready for a battle of this scale and you suspect the nature of those two foxes.”

“Alright. How do you plan on keeping the white carpet clean?”

Kyrion pointed to two blue bell flowers attached to the wall.

“Every eight hours they will clean the house.”

“What am I supposed to do here?”

“Karl is still designing the fifth floor, ask and you will receive.”

“How many floors do you intend for?”

“Eight. The bottom most is a lab/medical wing. The lab portion is for guests mostly.”

“What kind of guests?”

“Siblings that intend to make potions for their graduation. I can grow resources here that are unsuitable to my home continent. Have you heard about ice?”

“Ice, yes it’s my affinity.”

“Not Ice… Zuheys.” Kyrion squinted as he fished for the word. It didn’t come out the way he intended.

“No. No I have not.”

“What about Ogerbits.” Kyrion squinted.

“Martini toppers. ” Kyrion added.

“What's a martini?”

“If I tell you. Then you tell my mother, it would become this nation's drink.”

“Yeah… Who’s fault is it that the purer the water gets the more alcoholic it is in your case?”

“Who knows. Now then, let's get to it. I have some shenanigans to get up to.”

“Good luck then. I’ll be back shortly.” Lin left through Karl’s portal which connected through their dungeon.

Kyrion then activated the runic commands placed on Birdion’s brain and triggered a frenzy.