It was the next day before the Assembly kicked off. This time instead of going to the Fort and catching a lift, Gi flew himself. Even in the light drizzle that had replaced the downpour, there were monsters all over the Coliseum on the Sun tier.

But there was one monster he was looking for.

He found Kukdi waiting off to the side. The rain beat against his white mask with red claw marks painted across it, but the kobold perked up when he saw Gi.

"Underbridge. You've been making quite a few waves since our last conversation."

"Is that a problem?"

For the first time, Kukdi laughed. "Only for the clans that are no more. To the Faithful, you're fulfilling the First One's edict to grow stronger. I must admit I was wrong about you. I thought you taking out Ferra was a fluke. Instead, you have the same burning drive that she did."

"But better," Gi said. "And if I wanted to push into the realm of the Sky Clans?"

Kukdi turned serious. "If they can't defend their territory then that is the First One's will too."

"And what would it be worth to The Faithful to have another strong voice in the Sky Clans? A voice willing to go to war?"

It was difficult to tell what Kukdi was thinking without being able to see his face, but his voice was careful as he next spoke. "That wouldn't give us the votes needed to change anything nor do I have the authority to make those kinds of promises."

Gi leaned forward, keeping his voice as low as possible in the crowded Colosseum. "Imagine an Igna where we don't have to vote. We set the laws with our own strength instead of playing at being humans."

"And yet you say that in the same breath that you ask for our aid."

Gi shrugged. "You seem to think that I need your help or I can't achieve my goals. Your assistance saves me nothing but time. The Illusor Clan was killed by me. Not my Elites. Not my clan. Me."

"I don't think you will find the Sky Clans so easily destroyed. There's a reason they sit above the Ground."

He smiled at Kukdi, spreading his arm wide. "They would have to be. Think on it and we can talk more later."

While they spoke, most of the Ground Clan had filtered into their seats. The monsters in the crowd were starting to take a seat, many of them keeping their head covered with some kind of cloth. Gi took the seat that he'd had last time, feeling very satisfied that the one next to his was empty.

After a few moments, the rest of the Ground Clans filtered in. The Sonorous Dragon Progenitor, which looked like a yellow Dragon Pike, was last and stared hard at him as they took their seat. Gi noticed that more than a few of the Ground Clans watched him. Before, he'd been invisible, but in the last couple days, their number had dropped by two and he was to blame.

They must be wondering if he was coming after them next. A smug grin lit up Gi's face. At least among the Ground Clans, he was king.

The Sky Clan Progenitors started appearing one by one as they had before. The Spiked Eagle and Fighting Drake flew in taking their spot while the Fire Elemental appeared in a sizzle of steam and heat that continued to float upwards as he waited.

The Divine Horror's appearance was different. Like before, whispers started to echo through the Colosseum, both far away and right beside him. Its body was an impossible structure of gold and black picture frames, bewitching the eye as much as the whispers bewitched the mind. Before, he had been paralyzed by the memory of the Eldritch Forest. This time, the whispers washed over him and while he recognized their power, he didn't fear it. His Blood and Domain wasn't second to any other power.

While many of the other monsters were still reeling from the Divine Horror, the Angelic Mouse jumped down from a back of one of the Toucans. The living rivers of gold that lay like tattoos across his body thrummed in time with his beating heart. The Angelic Mouse's glare landed on Gi and the small mouse's hatred was practically palpable.

He'd expected that. He'd removed both of the Angelic Mouse's Ground Clans before he'd been able to truly intervene. Maybe the Illusor Clan had even informed them that they could handle the Underbridge Clan before their ultimate demise.

Finally, the Faithful Progenitor stepped through a dense shadow on the dais of the Sky Clan. Her Domain washed over all of them, protecting them from the Divine Horror's own. She wasted no time before addressing those gathered, her voice somehow louder than the rain.

"The sky-ocean continues its weeping, but it need weep no more. With both the clans of Sky and Ground present, Igna's leadership is here. Let us begin." Much of it was similar to what she'd said six months ago and it had the practiced oration of ceremony.

Like before, the Fire Elemental started to cut in as soon as she finished speaking, but another voice drowned out even his. The Angelic Mouse had a decent set of lungs. "I call to question the actions of The Underbridge, Ground Clan under the Faithful. Like sneaking rats, they attacked my Clans in the dead of night and robbed the Angelic Mice of what is theirs." Again, the Angelic Mouse's eyes bored into Gi, daring him to speak.

And speak he did.

"Honored Sky Clans, does the First One not teach that the strong must rule? That the strong may dictate what is right? My actions did not harm Igna." Gi gestured towards the Fighting Drake representative. "The Brain Goblins did not fight for the Queen. They let others take the War to Myshk. The Illusor Clan? I defeated them personally. If their entire clan can't stand against one monster's might, their strength was not worth much at all."

Murmurs broke out in the stands surrounding the leadership of Igna, the other monsters practically shouting to be heard by their neighbors in the rain. Gi simply drifted lazily in the air, drops of liquid light dripping down his fur before evaporating upward. He looked each of the Sky Clans in the eye with a particularly long look at the Angelic Mouse before returning his attention to The Faithful.

She spoke up. "The First One values strength above all. Clans and laws are only useful if they beget further power. If they do not, then they should be done away with. Everything is in the pursuit of power."

The Angelic Mouse spat out his next words. "Then the First One will have no concerns if we scour the Underbridge Clan from Igna and let their lifeblood wet its stones."

It was difficult to tell with the mask, but it seemed like the Faithful Progenitor was smiling. "It pleases me to see our leadership so focused on The First One's teachings. However, the Underbridge Clan belongs to me and I protect what is mine. Would you like to force your demands on me?"

Gi wasn't exactly sure of the power structure here, but from the Angelic Mouse's anger, he gathered that the Faithful was near the top or at the very least above the Angelic Mice. The Mouse Progenitor took another tactic. "Of course not, my friend. However, the Underbridge Clan has slain all of the Illusor and Brain Goblins to the monster - including the children."

There was a pause as the Sky Clans all turned to look at him. He hadn't expected that exact accusation, but he wasn't completely unprepared.

"When I took out the Illusor Clan, I destroyed their entire estate. If any children died, it was a tragedy that they were so close to the battle. For the Brain Goblins, we made no effort to wipe them out. If they are all dead, that work was done by another. As I'm sure you all know, we were attacked by the Illusor Clan after our raid on the Brain Goblins. We didn't have time to hunt down stray monsters."

Everything he'd said had been true. While Gi had been the one to kill the Brain Goblin children, any of the adults that had escaped were hunted down by Krayli. Her new skill meant that no worshipper of Noctua Dominus could hide from her. The Sky Clan didn't need the exact details after all.

The Faithful Progenitor didn't acknowledge him directly, but she did back him up as she spoke to the Angelic Mouse. "My sources do indicate the stated timeline to be correct."

She waited patiently for the Angelic Mouse to respond, but he didn't have any more arguments for the group. The Progenitor's glare returned to Gi though, letting him know that he wasn't done with him. The Mouse's anger made Gi assume that their response would have all the subtlety of a hammer.

The Fire Elemental's voice boomed in the silence. "We have more aggression towards ourselves than our enemies! Let's take our warriors to Myshk and burn their shadows away."

To the Faithful Progenitor's credit, she didn't sigh at having to deal with the same stated concern as the last Assembly. Instead, she went through it the same way she did last time, opening it to a vote and only she and the Fire Elemental were for it. As last time, the Fire Elemental wasn't willing to force his desires.

Just as they did before, they went through changes in the state of Igna. With very few clans being active during the monsoon season, the Faithful Progenitor simply recapped Gi's own endeavors before ending it. "That concludes the Assembly. Let the new season begin."

Unlike last time, only the Faithful Progenitor ballooned her Domain. It washed over the entire group of monsters and it had a very calming presence. To Gi, it smelled like sushi in a small restaurant. Somehow it felt like he could just make out a decade old pop music that had been recomposed as a simple piano piece. It was Richard's first date with Danna.

Gi's mood soured.

The Faithful's Domain pulsed gently, like a parent soothing their troubled child. As Gi was focused internally, he missed the exact moment where the rain started to attenuate, but when he finally looked up, the rain had shrunk to a dribble. The sky-ocean no longer rolled and bucked and more beams of light started to sneak through.

Gi closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. The warmth of Igna slowly started to seep into his fur, shaking off the chill of the monsoon season. It would be back to its oppressive heat soon, but for now, it felt warm.

The sound of a light piano and the smell of sushi vanished as the Faithful Progenitor retracted her Domain. She and the other Sky Clans left by various means and the Ground Clans started to filter out. Gi considered going back to talk to Kukdi again, but he wasn't sure there was any more to say for the moment and Gi was no longer in the mood.

He really wanted to kill something.

*****

"What do you mean six months?" Galvina pushed her tavern chair back and it fell over, echoing in the small room. Her brother's face was made of fragments of light above the light stone that rested on the table. He looked so similar to her except the three marks on his forehead and that insufferable holier than thou expression. The Demon Empress's features always bred true. "The last three times I've asked you, you said a whole year. WHEN IS IT?"

"Show some decorum, sister."

"How the hell am I supposed to plan when I don't know how long I have?"

"If you'd not dallied, time wouldn't be an issue."

Galvina righted her tavern chair and sat back down, picking up her cider. She took a deep breath, thankful that the tavern kept this backroom available for her use. Frankly, her brother got under her skin more than most. She did need to calm down. Of course, since he'd already said that, it just made her more irritated. "Time is always a problem, but we've managed before. Much more accurately I might add. What's so different now?," Galvina said sullenly.

In his visage of light, he looked thoughtful. "Take a single moment in time. Do you know how long that is? Realistically, that moment could be one second or it could be five seconds, but we know it's not a whole minute. Normally, we have some understanding of the bounds by which time fluctuates. For some reason, it's different this time. That single moment is repeatably a minute or more. Does that make sense?"

It did, obviously. She wasn't an idiot. However, neither of them were scholars. She snorted. "Don't repeat something the scholars are saying and act like it's your own."

He sighed. "I never said it was my own words. Do you need to be so antagonistic all the time? The Southern Continent is making you more and more monstrous."

"Shut up," Galvina said. She might be prickly sometimes, but she was better than these savages. They made goblins in the Empire look well read. "Fine, time sucks more than usual. How is the infestation going?"

"Slow. It's surprisingly corruptive which makes it difficult to repel."

Galvina took a long pour. "Well at least if I miss my goal, I won't be the only one. Goodbye, brother." She waved her hand over the stone, turning it off. It blinked afterwards as he tried to reconnect, but if he didn't have any useful information for her then she didn't want to talk to him.

What she really needed was a good fuck.