“That went well, right?” Greg asked after everyone who needed to left to see to their duties in their own realities, leaving just the four of them, Beth, Nadia, Tessa, Narita, Beatrice, Cathryn, Li Jing, and Quinn.

“It didn't go poorly.” Nadia commented. “I don't think we can say it went well until we see the results. Just because everyone is willing to work together doesn't mean they're actually capable of it.”

“It's out of our hands now, so there's no point in worrying about it.” Tori sighed. “The question is what do we need to be doing right now?”

“I need to deal with the foxkin.” Chris replied. “Nero is talking to them, but from the few times I've checked on him, it doesn't seem to be going all that well. But at least they aren't torturing him, so that's something.”

Andrew frowned. “Nero?”

“The foxkin captain.” Chris explained. “The one with the potential aura ability.”

“Right!” Andrew nodded. “I still need to study that.”

“Well, I have a few things I could use Chris's help with in my reality. Namely dealing with her.” Greg commented, gesturing to the Techno that was still sitting in the cage he'd made for her, something that seemed to have slipped everyone's mind in the midst of well… everything.

“Greg, who is that and why is she in a cage?” Tessa asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“She's the leader of the Technos, and… well, she's the leader of the Technos.” Greg shrugged. “I somehow managed to get her armor off her, so now she's kinda helpless and I don't really know what to do with her, but killing someone who's completely helpless just seems wrong, doesn't it? I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do, but I'm not sure it's what we gotta do, ya know? Particularly now that Chris is here.”

“You want me to make her my minion?” Chris frowned. “I'm not against it, but I won't force it. Not without a good reason, at least.”

“Is the fact that our only other option is to kill her a good reason?” Greg asked.

Chris shrugged. “If it was, then she'd join willingly, now wouldn't she?”

Greg paused. “Huh. Good point.”

“Well, I'm not sure I want you guys anywhere near my reality at the moment.” Tori grumbled. “Mostly because our best chance at the moment is to keep whatever weirdness is going on as hidden as possible for now, and having all of you running around being weird and growing the portal is the last thing we need.”

Andrew frowned. “I feel like we need a better name than ‘the portal’ for this thing. Particularly since it isn't exactly a portal. It's more like… well, it's kinda like a Tiger's territory.”

“So you'd rather call it our territory?” Chris muttered. “That actually fits rather well, now that I think about it.”

Tori rolled her eyes. “It doesn't matter! The point is that I don't want it growing in my reality! Not yet at least.”

“Fair enough.” Andrew agreed. “I don't particularly want the territory growing in either of my realities either. Particularly not before we talk to the people who are actually in charge in system world.”

“Whoa, hey now, I'm cool not going to Tori's reality, particularly cause Runes just sound annoying, but there's no way I'm missing out on a freaking litrpg world!” Greg protested.

Andrew paused. “Well… There's no reason you can't go there if you want. Just don't do anything to grow the territory just yet. Shouldn't be too hard, right?”

Greg cocked his head. “I guess I could do things without smoke… might even be more fun that way.”

“Whatever works for you, I guess.” Andrew shook his head. “Is that it? Just the foxkin and the Techno?”

“At the moment, but long term I need to strengthen my space and I would appreciate any help I could get in that department.” Chris replied. “No offense, but I'd rather not stake the fate of my people on maybe making a deal with the Bonded.”

“None taken.” Andrew assured him. “And I have no problem helping out. I'm not going to just sit around while people are in danger.”

“Same.” Greg agreed.

Tori nodded. “We'll help out as much as we can. Though I'm not sure how much that will be given how your reality works.”

Chris shrugged. “We'll see.”

“Now, along those same lines, I'm gonna need some help making sure the people in my reality survive too.” Greg added. “But that's more of a long-term project.”

No one else seemed to have anything to add, so Andrew just nodded. “Alright, let's get to it then.” He paused, glancing at the girls. “Unless any of you want to switch realities?”

Tessa sighed. “I wouldn't mind checking out the litrpg at some point, but now isn't the right time.”

Cathryn grimaced. “I'm not sure you really do… some of the things in that reality are nasty.”

“Understatement.” Li Jing muttered.

“We're still needed in our reality as well.” Beth added, Nadia nodding along with her. Everyone else seemed to feel the same way, none of them particularly eager to start exploring the Multiverse. At least not yet.

Andrew nodded. “Right then, let's- get back to it, I guess?”

*

“Alright, so, here's the deal.” Greg began as he approached the Techno. Everyone else had already split off into their respective realities, so it was just the four of them, Tessa, and Narita at the moment.

The Techno scowled at him. “I know the deal. I have heard everything you've been talking about.”

“Oh… well good! So, what's it gonna be? You want to be a minion or a corpse?” Greg asked.

The Techno hesitated. If he'd asked before this… territory was created, she wouldn't have even blinked before telling him to kill her. However, while being used by the mages was abhorrent, these people weren't mages. They were… something else. She didn't think they were gods, though she admittedly couldn't think of any term that would fit them better… But they weren't necessarily powerful, they were just… different. A type of different that could change everything. She turned to Chris. “The spread of mana is destroying our reality and recreating it in its own image. I don't care if mana spreads, but the fact that it destroys lives everywhere it goes is unacceptable. I- am willing to become your minion if you agree to help stop mana from ravaging our reality.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Sure, but I'm probably not your best bet in that regard. Seems more like a Tori thing.”

“But you're the one who's going to have control of me.” The Techno retorted. “I refuse to serve someone who would ignore the way mana hurts people everywhere it goes!”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Greg eyed her cautiously. “You aren't going to try and convince him to go around massacring mages, are you?”

The Techno shook her head. “Eradicating mages was the only method we had available to us that would allow us to curb the spread of mana and the destruction it causes. That is no longer the case.”

Greg cocked his head. “I guess that works?” He glanced at Chris. “That work for you?”

“If there's something out there destroying people's lives and there's something I can do about it, I'm not going to just sit back and watch.” Chris shrugged. “I assume the rest of you agree?”

“Didn't we just go over this for your reality?” Andrew frowned. “Obviously we aren't just going to ignore it! We aren't sociopaths.”

Greg coughed. “I mean… even if we are, we're still trying to be good at least.” The others turned to look at him. “What? I have issues! But don't worry, I've got a handle on it.”

Tessa sighed. “He does, don't worry.”

“Fair enough.” Chris shrugged, turning to the techno. “Are you ready to become my minion then?”

The Techno let out a nervous breath. “Yes, I'm ready.” Chris opened a portal for her and she stepped into his space, the mage world side of it, accepting the connection Chris offered with only a slight amount of hesitation, before stepping out as Greg removed the cage.

“Alright, now what?” Chris asked, turning to Greg.

“Well, I need to check on Travis and get the faction together so we can start preparing for the chaos that's about to start as people find out we're stranded and there's not much the aliens can do to help. Oh!” Greg snapped his fingers, picking up the power supply from the Techno’s armor. “And I need to pick up my orbs!”

The Techno froze. “You- have more of those?”

“Oh, yeah.” Greg nodded. “Like… sixtyish, maybe? It was the only way I could actually stop your people, ya know? Though even then I had to wait for the aliens to break your shields first.” Greg sighed, shaking his head as he remembered the battle. “Man, I hate being weak.”

The Techno was starting to look pale by this point. “You- we have to go! We have to save them!”

Greg frowned. “Save who?”

“The people you left to suffocate to death in their armor!” The Techno growled.

Greg paused. “Oh. Yeah, no, we should- we should definitely take care of that. Though there's the issue of how to find them…”

“I can help.” Andrew offered. “That's my thing, remember?”

“Right, great, come on!” Greg clapped, transforming into Bianca and opening a portal to the battlements. “Let's save some Technos!”

*

“So… is your entire race female?” Greg asked the Techno hesitantly. “Or at least female looking? Since an entire race of female's wouldn't really be female…”

The Techno glanced at him. “First, there are several races represented here, all of which are sexually dimorphic, at least, and not all of them fit into what you categorize as female. Though… you admittedly do seem to have selectively targeted only the ones that closely resemble the females of your species.” She added, frowning slightly as she looked over the small pile of armor bound Technos glaring at her with notably feminine faces. Greg had only removed their helmets so far, mostly because it let him quickly move on to the next person but also because it kept them from trying to escape in the meantime.

Greg winced slightly as Tessa gave him a look, crossing her arms. “There was no targeting! How would I even be able to tell through all that armor! They all look the fucking same!”

“Mhmm.” Tessa hummed. “And yet, here we are.”

“It really isn't his fault.” Narita sighed. “Some realities are just like this.”

Greg blinked. “Wait, really?”

“Really.” Narita nodded.

“Ha! Vindication!” Greg whooped, raising his hands in a victory pose while Tessa rolled her eyes, a slight smirk tugging at her lips.

“That's everyone, I think.” Andrew announced as he returned from one last sweep of the battlefield, an almost permanent grimace on his face from all the death around them. The Technos assault had practically been a suicide run, relying more on their sheer numbers than on superior firepower. Andrew couldn't fathom what kind of mindset these people had to have had to willingly throw themselves into the jaws of death like that. He glanced at Tori as she struggled to drag the last Techno to the pile. “Are you sure you don't want any help with that?”

“I said I've got it!” Tori growled, stumbling in exhaustion as she continued to pull the heavy armor across the dirt. With a final grunt of effort she maneuvered the Techno into the pile with the others, a satisfied grin spreading across her face as a string of tasks completed, netting her a full… twelve points. A slight groan escaped her as she collapsed next to the pile. “I need to raise my fucking limit.” She sighed. Those tasks could have been a lot more rewarding.

Greg stared at the pile of Technos with a slight grimace, once again counting them, coming up with forty-four, then to his pile of power supplies, which numbered sixty-four. He really hoped the missing ones had been taken out by the aliens, but he knew that wasn't likely. “Welp, at least we saved most of them from a horrible death.” Greg shrugged. It wasn't like he could have come back much earlier, and they had been trying to kill everyone he knew and loved. “Now, are we going to make them minions or make them dead?”

Andrew groaned. “Don't you think there's been enough death here? Besides, we just did all that work to save them! It seems wrong to just end it by killing them all.”

“Hey, I agree, but it isn't like we can keep them around as prisoners. Not while we're struggling to ensure our own survival.” Greg shook his head, then paused. “Though maybe if we sent them to a different reality?”

“I don't think that's a good idea.” Chris replied. “For one, they're aliens and the other realities are predominantly human. And also taking care of prisoners by shoving them into different realities seems like a bad precedent to set. Besides, I think we can just put them in my space for now and let Hiyada talk things over with them. Though I may need to grow it a bit… I think they'll fit for now, but it definitely won't be comfortable.”

“Hiyada?” Tessa asked, pointing at the Techno, who nodded. “That could work. What do you need to grow your space?”

“Ability energy. Or mana, in this reality. Probably.” Chris explained.

“How much do you need?” Greg asked, frowning slightly. “We aren't exactly in a good position mana wise according to the Archmage.”

“I honestly couldn't say.” Chris shrugged. “I can't exactly measure energy, I just know that when I absorb it, my space grows.”

“Here.” Tessa pulled out a mana pill. “See how much this gives you.”

Chris took the mana pill and tossed it into his space, absorbing it. The good news is it worked and his space grew. The bad news is it was barely noticeable, and even worse… “Did- did you guys just steal my energy?” Chris asked, narrowing his eyes at Tori and Andrew.

“We didn't steal it…” Andrew coughed. “It just kinda came to us?”

“And it isn't like we got a lot.” Tori muttered. “Barely a third of a point.”

“Wait, you both got energy?” Greg asked, looking between them. “Why didn't I get any energy then?”

Narita cocked her head. “Because you're already ahead?”

Chris glanced at her. “You know what's happening here?”

“No, but- okay, do you remember what I said about your forces not being able to exist without one another? And how that's likely what led to your connection?” Narita asked. “Well… it would make sense if that same principle worked to make sure your forces are… balanced, so to speak.”

Chris frowned. “But we've been existing independently just fine up to this point, haven't we? Why would we suddenly need to be- oh. It's the territory, isn't it? If our abilities are coming together to form it, then it needs all of us, and growing too far in a single aspect could be an issue…”

Narita nodded. “That makes sense! A reality with too much of any one force wouldn't be able to function!”

Chris sighed. “Still annoying though. Particularly when I need to strengthen my space.”

“True, but once we catch up, we can help you strengthen your space with our abilities as well.” Greg pointed out. “For example, the whole reason I collected these orbs is because they're practically bursting with vitality, and I'm gonna absorb them to strengthen my smoke, which should make you guys stronger as well, no mana necessary! Though first I gotta actually get my smoke into them, which may take a bit, cause they are dense.”

Chris raised an eyebrow, then shrugged in acceptance. As much as he didn't particularly enjoy anyone taking things from him, there wasn't anything he could do about it and at least he'd get things back as well. It was… acceptable. “Alright then, well, in the meantime, I can also get energy from any creatures you might need dealt with. Particularly since dying isn't particularly an issue at the moment.”

Tessa frowned. “Wait, how do you get energy from creatures?”

Chris cocked his head. “By trapping them in my space and draining it out of them? At least, that's how it works in my reality.”

Greg paused. “Chris… Can you use any energy to grow?”

“Yes?” Chris replied.

Greg grinned. “I think I have an idea.”