“Are you listening to me, Keitu?”

The Fifth resisted the urge to correct the person sitting opposite her. She was Keitu once, but that was a long time ago. That woman no longer existed, sacrificed as she had been to birth a goddess. Still, she had no illusions about where she stood. The sly fox was not someone she was in any position to offend. For now, at least.

“You have my attention Matriarch Nine-tailed.”

“Are you sure,” the fox woman said with a tilt of her head. A fluffy white tail flickered behind her. “You don’t seem to be taking this with the seriousness it deserves. You wished to see how far you could push. Well, your poking has finally woken up the sleeping dragon. What do you plan to do about it?”

The Fifth scoffed mentally at that. Nine-tailed was always rather dramatic. The Second had suspected the fox’s experiences would cloud her reason, but she had thought it worth a try.

“Even dragons are bound by rules. And the one we are dealing with takes them quite seriously. Besides, you should have more faith. Taking on all five of us is beyond even Walkins. I rather doubt they’re enthusiastic about destroying this world.”

The fox looked at her with something resembling pity. She shook her head as one would at a naive child.

“Do you really believe that? You think Walkins is your biggest issue? There are multiple Lone Powers on this world. Love might choose to not intervene, but her children do not share her stance.”

“Like I said, Nine-tailed, there are rules. You know as well as I do that the Lone Powers are restricted. Sending one against us is not something the other powers will stand. Be rest assured we are prepared for any moves against us.”

She stared at her counterpart at that, wondering what the next excuse would be when the damned woman burst into laughter. It was rather infuriating, being laughed at by a fox. Perhaps she would need to convince her foreign contacts to remove their protections. She’d love to see the old fox laugh when Union soldiers burnt down her cities.

“You are correct that galactic laws restrain Lasvania. Perhaps if you were in another star system, your strategy would be valid. But you are on Andrea, Keitu. As we speak, Cliver is not even ten thousand kilometres away from us. Maybe you are too young to understand the truth of this world.”

“Then please instruct this child on your so-called truth, elder,” she could not keep the scorn out of her voice this time.

The fox did not take the bait, choosing to reply seriously instead.

“It is a rather simple truth. We live on this world because Lasvania desires it to be so. Our nations exist as sovereign states because their senators have strange ideologies of freedom and self-determination. We collude with foreign powers to gain advantages and leverage, but we should never delude ourselves so much that we forget the truth,” Nine-tailed leaned in to make her point. “This planet belongs to Lasvania. We are free only in name. The last time someone forgot this, a lot of High Cultivators like us died and nations ceased to exist. I fear your path only leads to destruction.”

“I am well aware of what happened during the Reckoning. That was a time when there were few ironclad rules in the galaxy. Times have changed and our friends from afar are capable of assisting us a lot more now.”

The fox stared at her for a long time before seemingly coming to a decision.

“Very well, Keitu,” she drew in a rather unnecessary breath. “If the Union of Five has chosen its course, then I will have no path in it. Let it be known that the Nine-tailed Sect will not stand against Lasvania.”

“You would go against our friends instead?” the Fifth asked. She was rather pleased at that. The Hycons were guaranteed to give her permission to invade now.

“This is not Hyceria. I’ll take my chances with them. it is certainly wiser than going against Lasvania on their own world.

“Very well Matriarch. It was a rather revealing conversation. I wish you good luck in your endeavours.”

She was already halfway through a portal by the end of that statement. It would be considered rude, but she found it hard to care about respecting someone who would soon be either dead or in servitude. Still the fox still managed to get the last words, much to her annoyance.

“As do I. Though I suspect you’ll be needing it a lot more than me soon.”

* * *

King Marman the Fourth was having a decidedly unpleasant day.

It had started out rather well. The expansion continued with momentum and more countries were considering a formal declaration of alliance. He had worried about the Lasvanians, but his advisors' words seemed increasingly likely. Indeed, they had not discovered his dealings with the Hycons.

He was having to slow down a bit to avoid too much scrutiny. He was thankful for his lack of a formal relationship with the Union of Five. They had always been too impulsive.

Still, even with those worries, his day had proved more positive than negative.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

At least until his visitors arrived.

High Executor Walkins and Youija Everflame stood opposite him as he sat uncomfortably on his throne. From an outsider's perspective, it was a king talking to two lesser envoys from a foreign nation.

Of course, only someone with no idea of what the two represented would think that. In reality, Marman took it for what it was, his reckoning.

The first Reckoning had killed his father and weakened the kingdom for years. He was very aware of the dangers the two monsters in front of him could pose. Still, he could not back down. He had always known there would be risks involved in his ambition and he would be a rather poor king if he backed out at the first sign of trouble.

“High Executor Walkins and Director Everflame,” he greeted like they were just regular diplomats. “Whatever has interested you in my palace.”

“Straight to the point? I’m impressed, Marman,” Youija replied, shattering the illusion that she was anything like a normal diplomat.

He gave her a polite smile, though her reply scared him more than he let off. Even if Lasvanians did not bow, they usually tried to at least pay lip service to diplomacy. That they sent two old monsters with no warning was already worrying. The fact that his title was completely ignored and there was an absence of even the pretence of politeness was downright terrifying.

Perhaps the Lasvanians knew more than he thought.

“Well, even royalty gets tired of dancing around the subject too much,” he admitted.

“Well good for you. We have reasons to believe you are harbouring Hycon spies in your kingdom, Marman.”

“Bold accusations to make directly to my face Youija. On my throne, no less.”

“There will be none of that,” Walkins cut in. “We know this kingdom is the Hycons base for this world and you have been spreading their influence for a long time. You’ll stand trial for all of that but how well you cooperate will determine how harsh your punishment is.

King Marman was well aware of how powerless he was against Lasvania and its weapons. So, he turned to the only people he knew that were not. He activated the emergency mental alert he had set up with the Hycons. It was supposed to call for their support in case of Lasvanian discovery.

The moment he sent it, however, Youija turned to her left and stretched her hand across space. She seemed to search for a moment before she got what she was looking for.

“Found it,” she said.

He could not focus on what happened next, however, as the High Executor focused his attention on him.

King Marman the fourth considered himself pretty powerful. He might not be one of the powerhouses that were the Union of Five, but there were few High Cultivators on the planet that could take him without massive risk to themselves and the entire world.

Unfortunately for him, the Death Bringer was one of those few.

By the time he fully registered what was happening, he was already bound with restraints he could not break free from. He quickly realised with growing panic what they were. The vines of the World Tree were the republic’s preferred way of binding High Cultivators, after all.

Every last hope he held immediately vanished the moment he saw what Youija pulled out.

Struggling pointlessly in her unbreakable grip, was a small, blue-scaled humanoid the size of a toddler. Those glowing scales, pointed ears and draconian face, left no doubt as to what it was.

The Hycons were, after all, famous for committing genocide on things that looked too similar to them.

* * *

Amile Fifthtouched was having a rather unpleasant week.

She had been appalled when she heard about what happened to Lee, though she was, much to her shame, too embarrassed to actually send him a message. She had gathered the courage to text Lisa, but the other woman seemed busy and just said Lee was fine.

Still, there were even greater worries for her. Though she did not consider herself the most knowledgeable person, she was not stupid. Snippets of conversation around the house had painted a picture that was far from rosy.

Apparently, there were some barriers to their information access that should not exist. Even more worrying however, was the increased presence of Executors in the city. The Executors were almost never operated within the country. For them to be openly gathering in the capital meant the High Senate thought there was an enemy within. One with enough power to require drastic measures.

Unfortunately for them, the only people that fit that criteria were the Fifth Community. The results of the High Senate meeting, shocking as it was, only served to further confirm her suspicions. So did the subsequent panic that it fuelled among the community.

It was for these reasons that she was not particularly surprised when they were visited by an Executor just three days after the meeting. She had expected it to take a little longer, given how well connected her family was, but it was not particularly surprising. For the first time since before she was born, the entire High Senate and the Lone Powers were in full agreement. There was little the president and whatever connections they had could do in the face of that authority.

The retrieval had not gone particularly well, something that also did not shock her. She already suspected her grandfather, at the very least, was working with the Fifth Republic, given how fanatic his devotion was. So, when he tried to put up a fight, she was already mostly prepared for the results. The executors had been quick to disable him. No one else resisted them after that.

Five minutes later, she stood in a dark room in front of someone who was about to interrogate her. Though she had tried to prepare her mind for the past few days, it was more difficult than she had expected.

Her brain felt like it was partly on autopilot the moment her interrogation started. Most of the questions were things that she had expected. Her answers had been decided the moment she heard about the Fifth’s claim on Xiao Lee. There was no way she would support someone that stood against her rescuer, family or not.

So, she gave them all the answers they wanted. Nothing was hidden, from her grandfather’s fanaticism and hatred of the country, to the slightly treasonous snippets she had heard around the house in the past week. A part of her felt sad for betraying her family so, grandfather had instructed them to say nothing, after all. The rest of her thought about how much she hated them and would be glad to be free from their bondage.

At the end of her interrogation, she was taken to another room. A room, which she recognized, much to her growing horror.

“No!” she shouted. A familiar fear filled her heart. “You can’t lock me up. I did nothing wrong!”

She stared at the Executor, hoping to gain some sympathy. But there was no kindness in the eyes that stared back at her. She tried to tell herself it wasn’t happening, that there was a mistake. Lasvania did not imprison its citizens without confirming their guilt thoroughly. As she stared at the government official that was supposed to protect her, she realised the truth of her situation.

She was not dealing with the Lasvania she knew. The one that stood for freedom and justice and chose to value the lives of Neophytes and Masters the same. The wonderful country she had grown to love was nowhere to be seen.

What stood in front of her was the Lasvania that sent spikes of terror across countless worlds. The one that was usually pointed outwards towards enemies, not citizens.

Alas, Amile Fifthtouched was now an enemy.