Korax squinted his eyes, purple eyes stared at Madakos. The others waited for an answer from Madakos, but he was clearly in his own head. The only answer, was the endless ocean, crashing on the shore, a small refuge in an enormous expanse.

“As great as this place is, we will probably have to find other settlers,” Madakos whispered, “demographically, we can’t breed endlessly with so few people,” he said, perhaps an answer to what Korax had asked.

“Breed?” Tamura smirked.

The others also joined in laughing at Tamura’s quip.

“Have kids with,” Hunila defended Madakos, charming him.

Korax raised his eyebrows and chuckled a little; others likewise looked with mild amusement, but ultimately Koreax settled down and said:

“Yes that seems reasonable, I can hardly argue with that,” he said. I guess that sort of answers my question. Perhaps he will accept the other Shadow Elves.

“Right,” Madakos said.

Neither side told each other that they were romantically attached, but both couples worked it out, probably because Tamura and Hunila were clutched the sides of the men they had claimed, both women smirked knowingly. Supplies were loaded onto the boats, for the sake of being efficient, the others were prohibited from stacking regular constructs and would be gifted one super construct each that produced 10 million zira. The two ships effortlessly glided along until the soft calm seas met yet another turbulent sea. There on what seemed like the edge of the world, the Continent of Death stood. An imperious sight, green beings interlocked on each other were as high as the clouds, two metres tall they duplicated, some falling into the sea. Both ships halted, attempting to be stable in the environment.

“What the fuck is that…” Korax whispered breathlessly, “I thought this was a land of Necromancers.”

“Bacterium,” the elder whispered breathlessly, “that is the name of the continent, I thought it was a myth. Bacteria are supposed to double every 20 minutes.”

It was witnessed by all just a moment later, of course with so many, it was truly astounding to witness, no one blinked for a minute.

“Is that true elder? Are you sure?” Hunila asked breathlessly, the question, revealing she doubted her own eyes.

Everyone doubted their eyes, their jaws wide open, their eyes even more open.

“Quite sure, especially now. It is said in 304cc a Human went there and it was only a tiny portal in the middle of the sea. But the Bacteria, they die in the presence of salt water and create earth, I think. Of course it’s hard to tell fact from legend, maybe the land was always here.They are supposed to create green crystals too. He gave some to the Shadow Elves. He went back to the Western continent and vanished…” the elder said, coughing afterwards producing an astonished silence.

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“That’s some old history,” Madakos muttered.

“It was in our clan library, I’m sure it’s true…” the elder said, with only a bit of surety, “are you sure you can deal with this?” The elder asked a little bit irritated, his tone full of doubt, wishing to change the subject quickly.

“If we augment the Zira power of some of the clan members, we will land on the coast and do our business. Then we can cleanse the land of these foul beasts,” Madakos said, nodding, but not entirely sure himself.

Every 20 minutes they doubled, some fell into the ocean, but they were remarkably sturdy, they often clambered back onto the shore, they extended beyond the clouds higher than towers, higher than mountains. Green creatures, 2 metre tall as a singular entity but of course in their multitudes they were absurdly tall and fat. A cloud of Bacteria had one mind, imitating the ocean in their undulating movements. Madakos’s companions waited a few minutes. Giving super constructs to a few of the elders and instructions.

“If we don’t make a beachhead return to the island, at least you’ll be safe there. Otherwise only land behind us when it is safe!” Hunila instructed, “do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” Korax said, “but I wish to go with.” He paused a moment and looked at Tamura, “Bestow me with more Zira. I must. I will protect Tamura.”

“Alright,” Madakos said, beckoning him to go on the rowboat.

They rowed forwards, and the Bacteria before them were infinite and also angry. They had given Korax 1 super construct (10 million Zira), and Madakos in turn instructed him to be defensive.

“Prioritise your own and Tamura’s life, please don’t die needlessly. Just save your own skin please.”

Madakos first summoned a cascade of purple flames, then he put towers up, the Bacteria immediately flocked to the towers and attempted to storm them. There were more than trillions. Hunila put towers next to Madakos’s flames which burnt and destroyed them as they approached, light green crystals were falling to the ground like rain would patter on the ground. Tamura and Korax joined in the defence, sturdier and sturdier towers slowly encroached on this continent. 5000 towers shot fireballs everywhere, Madakos teleported the lot of them onto the shore and immediately began shooting machine gun rate of fireballs and meteors.

“Push them back!” Madakos screamed.

The Bacteria’s behaviour resembled ants more than Humanoids despite their features, they rushed forwards and attempted to surmount the obstacles, swarms of Bacteria crumpled into mere crystals as endless hordes of Bacteria attempted to kill them. Fortunately Madakos burnt many to a crisp, 10 kilometre’s square was cleared in an hour. Hunila innovated, creating purple fire elementals, producing thousands of them that were effectively walking flamethrowers. Despite numerical superiority, the Zira users could easily fortify a beachhead, and Hunila created underlings that went about torching the landscape. There were probably decillions of Bacteria, but they were highly vulnerable to flames. A chaotic battle that was impossible to win, but provided they did not die, that was enough of a victory. The two ships slowly docked in the new harbour, the Shadow Elves cautiously looked at the defences. Hunila, Tamura, Korax and Madakos spent all their surplus zira on destroying the Bacteria before them. The dark skies were turned crimson with flame, and the ground that lacked any vegetation was now full of ash and or crystals.