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A giant vortex of magical energy visible to the naked eye twisted around above the island. The vortex seemed to be funneling the power down to the center of the island. The amount of magical energy was so high that the layers upon layers of magical formations around the islands were glowing white-hot, struggling to refine the influx of energy. Above the vortex was the pyramidal tower of Karna, adding its own effect to the whole, while the tower spirit maintained control over all the formations. The spirit floating just below the tower glowed like a tiny sun.

At the heart of the island, Karna floated in place in a standing position with her arms spread and her blueish-white hair fanning behind her and cracking with streamers of power that occasionally struck the surroundings. She was the eye of the vortex, her eyes shining with barely contained mana, as all the formations and the vortex channeled the gathered and refined power right into her. On her forehead was a silver crown adorned with a bright blue jewel, the current form of Gem who had taken the form of the most powerful artifact used for cultivation that they'd ever run into.

Occasionally small waves of power were sent out of Karna's body, sending a deep thumping sound reverberating around the island, and the ocean around the island was sending waves away from the island instead of crashing on its shores. The rampant flow of power had left a mark on the island as the ambient mana had manifested in several odd ways. The plants around the island had gained a sort of sentience and had all moved away from the center. The stone itself had solidified and was in the process of turning into a mix of various magical materials. If enough time passed with the current amount and flow of ambient mana, the entire island might turn into a deposit of precious minerals.

“She’s getting serious, isn’t she?” Valor asked carefully as he, Envy, and the witch that had taken part in the tournament were all observing the island from a safe distance.

“She’s been serious for the last year-and-a-half.” The witch pointed out.

“Well, as serious as she ever gets. I’m not sure if she’s gotten truly serious in a long time. Everyone will be well aware when that happens, and usually that only happens when a lot of people are about to die. You’ll be able to tell by the amount of screaming.” Envy retorted easily. She'd noticed the sudden change in her old rival almost as soon as it had happened. And if Wrath was getting serious, then so should she. She'd only been training heavily for a little over a year, and even if her preparations had not been as thorough as Wrath's, she'd also managed to reach the ninth rank as a Qi user.

As the trio was quiet for a moment, Envy turned towards the witch. “Ok, this has been bothering me for a while, but what’s your connection with her?” She couldn’t help but ask, and even Valor turned his head towards the two in curiosity.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The witch teased with a light smile, or at least so it seemed as she was still covered with illusions, but the looks she got from the other two made her clear her throat and get more serious. “It’s…complicated. Suffice to say that we’ve met in previous lifetimes. Usually in the ones where she’s been a mortal. We’re…family of sorts.”

“How come I’ve never heard about you?” Envy kept asking.

“You probably have. You just don’t know it. That’s about the extent of what I’m willing to say.” The witch shot the line of questioning down.

“So…should we disturb her? She seems to be in the middle of something.” Valor turned back towards the island. They knew the one gathering all that power had already gone through one rank increase, reaching rank seven, and was approaching the eighth rank.

“She’s been like that for months. Now is as good a time as any. Although, I suppose we might as well ask Zuellni first.” Envy pointed at the tower spirit that had noticed their presence and was floating down towards them.

“What can I do for you maggo-, I mean nuisances.” The spirit asked with a vexed tone of voice.

“Maggots?” Valor’s eyebrow shot up. He’d been called many things, but it had been a while since anyone had called him that.

“You know, nuisances isn’t much better.” The witch pointed out, more amused than insulted.

“If the shoe fits…” Zuellni just shrugged. She had never cared too much for others besides Gem and her master. And the occasional visitor that provided entertainment.

“We have news for your master.” Envy got to the point. She knew they could spend the entire day playing with the spirit, but she wanted to get back to her own cultivation.

“Can it wait?” Zuellni looked back towards the island. “Master is almost ready to make her next Awakening.”

“Scary speed.” Valor muttered a bit quietly.

"It can, but not very long. Your master has let it be known she's looking for certain types of people. We've got news of two of them together. And we can't say for sure how long they'll stick around. The longer we wait, the bigger the chance the people will leave." Envy explained. She knew Wrath was looking for certain reincarnators, though she didn't know why.

Zuellni considered the situation for a moment before coming to a decision. “Three days. Master will make her breakthrough in three days. Come back then, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to oblige you then.” Then without any further time wasted on pleasantries, the spirit returned to her place above the island.

“Hmm, I was worried she’d need longer. Three days should be fine considering how fast the tower can travel between worlds.” The witch nodded.

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As the three days grew towards the end, the tower above the island started moving seemingly without prompting. Those that had the ability to follow the flow of magic could see that the power flowing towards the island had reached a critical point, and the tower was simply moving out of the way. "She's about to have a breakthrough!" Valor called out to the other two, suddenly bringing all of them to attention.

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“What do you think it will be this time?” Envy asked eagerly. “The last time she went with a sea monster, and the resulting tsunami did a number on the nearby coastlines.”

“Didn’t she Awaken some sort of Scylla bloodline?” Valor also asked.

"Yes. I got Gem to explain the reasoning while Wrath worked on the gateway. Despite there being water-related bloodlines that seem more obviously powerful in a fight, she picked the Scylla for three rather important reasons. The first and most obvious one was that Scylla were much more skilled at wielding the element as part of their magic than almost any other. Secondly, a little-known fact, Scylla were related to Hydras, what with the hydra-head tentacles instead of feet and all, and shared the Hydra's ability to regenerate. It seems she's been taking some hits in this life and wanted to improve her ability to recover from injuries. The third reason had something to do with Scylla's allure and voice, though I didn't quite follow her reasoning there." The witch explained.

“Ah, I think I know. She has this extremely twisted and powerful ability known as Song of Khali. It’s really one of the nastiest, or alternatively the most pleasurable, abilities I’ve ever seen. And believe me, I’ve seen a lot. Let’s just say that the one time I got to utilize that ability as well wasn’t pretty. I think I wiped out an entire city without even trying.” Envy didn’t get queasy easily, but even she got shivers remembering that night. Her ability as the Sin of Envy allowed her to steal other people’s abilities, and she’d never steal that ability again. The sight had been so gruesome that she almost got sick thinking about it. Not a nice way to go.

"That's…I don't suppose it was a city full of evildoers?" Valor asked with a tone that implied he was hoping against hope but knew it was a futile wish. Envy didn't even bother responding, instead being content smiling sadly. She'd known and liked many of the people that had died that night.

“I’m guessing something to do with air or earth. She has water and fire already covered of the basic elements. Would make sense if she tried getting the entire set.” The witch changed the subject back to the earlier guessing game.

“Why not light or dark?” Valor asked.

“She doesn’t need the help there.” Envy covered her melancholy with a mirthless laugh. “I’m pretty sure she’s planning on something to do with air. She already has earth somewhat covered with Titan bloodline, though that’s more metal and lightning.”

Before they had the opportunity to speculate further, Karna’s form shot straight into the air, leaving behind a trail of glowing energy that slowly dissipated. She climbed up above the cloud cover before all the air in the surroundings seemed to start rotating around her just as the magical vortex had earlier. Soon she found herself in the heart of an enormous tornado that would've devastated the island below if not for the magical shield protecting it.

The three reincarnators stared in fascination as all the elemental energy of air was sucked into a single point before it exploded outwards, revealing the form of what looked like a mix between a bird and a serpent. The creature was also enormous. Large enough that they couldn’t even tell how big it was. The wings of colorful feathers seemed to extend from one horizon to the other, while the scaled serpentine body, also covered in a riot of colorful scales, was longer and thicker than many serpentine dragons.

“Motherfucker, she doesn’t do things halfway, does she?!” Envy cackled, clearly having regained her humor.

“Is that a Kun-Peng?” Valor asked with a frown, his constant smile disappearing for a short moment. “It’s the weirdest Kun-Peng I’ve ever seen, though granted I haven’t seen more than a handful.”

"Yes, well, Kun-Peng do come in several varieties like most other mythical beasts. The standard variety has the body of a fish and the wings of course from a bird of some sort. The more powerful and rarer varieties have serpentine bodies, though those wings seem to come from either a Coatl or even a Quetzalcoatl." The witch went into lecture mode, and the two others could almost imagine her adjusting a pair of glasses.

“She went for the jackpot by going for the Beast of Apocalypse version. Not a huge surprise as she already had the form of a Vanagandr, so why not go for another one.” Envy had seen the form before, used by Wrath in fact.

The enormous Kun-Peng above them flapped its wings once and cleared the storms its birth had created, making them vanish almost immediately. Then the creature shrunk down to a more manageable size before approaching the trio. As it approached, they all felt a pressure from a Domain pushing down on them, which they canceled out by activating their own. Despite shrinking down, the Kun-Peng was still almost a hundred meters long with a wingspan of twice that as it got close. “Ah, Envy, Valor, and Hope. Zuellni informed me you were here.” Her voice came out as a rumble that would’ve scared most people to death.

“Hope?!” Envy and Valor turned to look at the witch in shock.

“What? You already had two Sins and a Virtue present. Did you really think karma, the fickle bitch, could resist bringing two and two together?” The witch shrugged.

“No offense, but Hope is not the word I would associate with the abilities you’ve been using so far. Or the way you’ve been acting.” Valor commented, remembering the time they first met during the test, where the witch had used poisons and all sorts of hideous creatures to attack and even kill his temporary allies.

“That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” Envy realized. “You’re trying to do the same Wrath’s been doing. You’re trying to bury the Name Hope by having everyone recognize you by another Name.” She also realized that she was single-handedly destroying Wrath’s attempts to bury that Name, but she didn’t care. She was…if not proud of her Sin, then at least of the special category that Name put her, and she didn’t want Wrath looking down on that. Embracing and controlling your Sin was better than running away from it.

“Sharp girl. I’ve noticed that the Name we see when we check others is not entirely random. Our expectations have something to do with it, along with how recognized a Name is. If people expect to see a Name that fits a witch, that’s what they’ll see most of the time. And the more people recognize me by that Name, the less likely it is anyone sees Hope.” Hope nodded and then turned towards Karna. “That’s partially why every time I see someone that looks anything like her, be it mortal or otherwise, I expect Wrath. Even I don’t know most of her Names. Besides, the Name Hope is almost as old as her Wrath. Plenty of things have changed since then.”

“Don’t let the Name fool you. Hope is without a doubt one of the more dangerous and ancient reincarnators in existence. Even older than you Envy. That isn’t to say the Name is inaccurate.” Karna rumbled again. She didn’t bother correcting the witch that her Wrath was eons older. Time had very little meaning when talking about such long periods anyway.

“Well, I wouldn’t have gotten it if I lost hope easily.” The witch shrugged. “Anyway, we’re here for a reason. Wrath, you were looking for certain people. We’ve gotten word of two of them together. Well, not together but on the same world.”

“I’m interested. I need to get out anyway to let my new power settle.” That’s why she’d spent enough time to finish the gateway after her previous Awakening. That, and she’d promised to complete the project.

“Three rather large empires were competing over the control of a planet that was created by the Expansion. The competition was mostly straightforward and honest without turning too ugly. They might have even been able to come to an agreement about sharing the place. Then things suddenly turned ugly. It took the three parties a while to find out why, as the empires back home had certainly not authorized things getting so bad, but apparently the Underworld had gotten involved. You know how the Underworld is. They don’t have the direct power of the other Scourges, so they often use more insidious means. Once they were discovered though, the other Scourges were happy to jump in. Things were getting dire, so our two targets also showed their power, which they’d been hiding until now.” Valor took over the role of explaining things. This was more his forte, which allowed him to regain his equilibrium and smile.

Valor had been quite forthright in the fact that he had informed the goddess that had found Wrath about certain things, but he’d also hidden the more important details. Such as the fact that she was Wrath. He’d used the age-old technique of giving a lot of information without actually giving anything truly useful. Karna had understood, as he had no reason to lie for her. He’d taken a neutral stance in essence. Now he was making up for it as recompense.

“So what’s this about?” Envy asked.

“The spirits asked me to deal with these people because they’re harming the elemental planes. A bargain was struck.” The still large Kun-Peng explained curtly. “Judging by the presence of the Scourges, this is outside Ysendra’s sphere of influence.”

“Yes. it’s a bit of a risk, but at least you’ve been informed. What you do with the information is your choice.” Hope summarized. If Valor hadn’t been present, she wouldn’t have bothered with the illusions. Ironically, she trusted her fellow Virtue less than the two Sins.

"Of course I'm going. I almost hope some immortal will be silly enough to come and pick a fight. Things won't go quite so easily for them anymore." The Kun-Peng's mouth was split into what looked like a savage grin as a building-sized row of teeth was revealed.

“Well, we do have four people here more than capable of fighting against immortals on an equal or superior ground.” Hope nodded. “This also sounds interesting enough that I want to join in.”

“Sure. Why not?” Envy asked rhetorically, even though it was obvious she was eager to go. She’d always loved getting into trouble with Wrath. The results were always hilarious and at least interesting.

Valor just gave a small sigh and nodded. He was now picking a side, and what better side than joining together with other Virtues. Even if it meant joining hands with the Sins as well.