“So, should we just fly down and find someone?” Petal asked, seeming strangely pumped.

Gilliam assumed she was eager to test out her new body, with the barrier and knowing that Gilliam could heal her if needed, at least bodily wounds, she might be extra eager due to the safety net. Gilliam couldn’t say he didn’t want to see what she was capable of, adding her fighting skills and power on top of her changed body.

“I think it’s best if we don’t get seen, flying down just makes us stand out. I think the best might be for Savia to just land us on the sand.”

As soon as she heard her name she clambered out of Gilliam’s hair, clearly having just woken up at the sound of her name. “Savia can help!”

Climbing up on top of Gilliam’s head properly she stood up, squatting like a sparrow, using her tiny clawed feet to hold onto his hair to keep herself there. “What should Savia do?”

Gilliam chuckled a bit, it was good that she was ready to aid no matter what but it was a bit amusing that she just said yes not knowing what it was.

“We need to get down to the sand without being seen flying, can you teleport us down there?”

Though Gilliam couldn’t see it, he could feel that Savia’s entire existence lit up in glee at being given a mission.

She jumped happily, or rather bounced as she was holding onto Gilliam’s hair, “Savia can teleport!”

The group wasn’t moving sideways at the moment, and although the sandstorm had plenty of wind around them the barrier around Gilliam shielded her enough to let her fly herself down into Gilliam’s hands.

“Grab hands!” Savia commanded as she landed, stretching out her wings to point at the other two.

They did as told, flew in closer and grabbed Gilliam’s hands. As they did so Savia was peering over the edge of his hands into the desert, seeming to gauge out the area to land in.

“Master want to land on sand?” She seemed to just confirm as she was building up energy.

“Yes, anywhere safely on the sand, just down there not too far from the edge.” Gilliam pointed out somewhere seemingly random, he wanted to land and get an overview of the area before they started attacking anyone.

Without replying or saying anything the built-up energy in Savia pulsed and as the white light blinded the lot they felt a change in the winds and a surprising increase in heat. Though it was also warm up in the winds the sands weren’t reflecting its stored heat at them so it felt cooler.

They found themselves very close to the ground, just over some rocks or boulders near the end of the landmass, allowing them to fly down within seconds and go into hiding. It’s hard to judge distance towards a sea of sand so she did good in that regard. As they flew down it gave them a few brief seconds to look around to try and find some unlucky soul, but there was nobody nearby as they went down.

Gilliam let out a dissatisfied sigh, he didn’t expect them to just land near a perfect candidate but he somewhat hoped that it would be that easy. “Well... I suppose we gotta find someone now...”

“I think we can do it in two ways-” Angela turned towards the group. “-Savia can abduct someone, or we can move about as a group until we find someone and take it from there.”

This had Gilliam ponder for a moment, the best might be Savia but if something happened, she might be quite the distance away and have to wait for a while for any form of backup. On the other hand, they won’t easily see her due to her size and she has proven herself before.

“My Lord, I could go get someone?” Petal suggested.

For some reason, this wasn’t something Gilliam considered as a possibility... She was not only a local but even before her mutation she was quite the skilled fighter. If he were to send both Savia and Petal that would be a good team.

“Why don’t we send you and Savia, then?” He shared the idea with the group.

“That could also work.” Petal confirmed. “I blend in well but she can get us back right away.”

Angela nodded in agreement without commenting.

“Then we have a plan. We’ll be waiting here in the rocks, return here when you have someone. If something happens we’ll take to the air, Savia can bring you to us.” Though he didn’t consider the extra safety net of having Savia with Petal, if they did get spotted and shit went down they could just leave.

Gilliam reached his hand with Savia in towards Petal, Savia got the hint and took flight to land in Petal’s hair. “If there are any problems, you just come back, right?”

Petal nodded and set off, disappearing over the dunes in no time. It was this moment that showed Gilliam why the natural foot shape of the Fracturians were hooves, though she had newfound toes after the mutation she didn’t sink as far down into the sand as Gilliam did.

Moments after she disappeared over the dune Angela spoke up. “She’s changed a bit, hasn’t she?” Her tone was not happy but more suspicious.

“I know, I noted that as well.” Gilliam confirmed as he sat down on a rock which had a chair-like height. “She seems a bit more secure and... if I had to put words to it; less meek?”

It hadn’t been that long since she changed, but she was already showing a little more secure about herself.

“I don’t know if the change to her gave her some security in herself, or if there was something that changed mentally as well. If worst comes to it, the slave brand is still there so I don’t think there’s gonna be any problems.”

Angela sighed and pondered for a brief moment. “She still requires your validation and seems very attached to you, so I don’t think there is anything bad about it. Not sure if you saw it but when you played with her tail she looked incredibly happy and flattered, so she’s still Petal.”

Gilliam nodded, he did indeed not notice that much, he noted she was happy when he asked to check out her tail claw, but he didn’t notice her being that happy. “I saw her light up a little when I asked to check out the claw, but I didn’t see her reaction afterwards... I was kind of focused.” Forcing a small and short-lived smile that faded after a second he realised that he might have been a bit too focused.

“But, if the changes are just more self-security, that is good. I never wanted her to be mentally ‘only a slave’. I want her to still listen if I should need to order anything but her coming up with ideas and doing things on her own like this, I kind of like that for her.” He ended his explanation with a more honest smile.

“Well... I suppose you have a point there. You have a weird mentality when it comes to your slaves. Most would like them submissive and subservient.” Angela had a hinting smirk at her statement, hinting at more than just one thing.

“Oh, well. Not sure how that side of things has changed yet, I suppose we’ll find out later. But if worst comes to worst... outside of intimacy there’s always the brand, so I think we’re good.” Gilliam didn’t tend to speak openly about his intimate private life, he always thought it was for him and his partner to know and nobody else had any need to know details, but since the topic was brought up like this he couldn’t stop himself commenting on it. Though he didn’t like the idea of brand-forcing her to do things against her will, so except for very rare cases like his own safety and the anti-lying order he gave earlier, he’d probably not use it much.

And it was true in his mind he wanted her to be a little more independent, though he didn’t mind if she remained a little clingy as he liked that to a certain extent.

“Well, as long as she doesn’t change too much that’s fine.” Angela didn’t seem too happy about this, but at the same time, she looked like she didn't care. “I wonder how much of it is mental change and how much is just not being the bottom of the barrel anymore.”

Their talk continued like that, starting focused on Petal specifically but broadening out into the Fracturians as a whole, ending up talking about what they should do if their plan works and challenging the Lord works as intended. They didn’t have much to go on for abilities or power more than him being massive. Another problem was if he chose not to accept the challenge.

Trying to plan out tactics, what could perhaps work and what might not, assuming this and that.

Suddenly a pulse of energy manifested next to their little hideout, Gilliam immediately recognised it, Savia was bound to him which meant that her energy felt surprisingly similar to his own.

Angela and Gilliam got to their feet and rounded the rock that kept them hidden to find a few things. First, Savia came flying like a projectile and crash-landed in Gilliam’s chest, trying her best to hug him with her tiny wing-arms. Second, it seemed that Petal had brought one person people with her.

Petal was also partly covered in blood but there were no signs of wounds, and given that her tailclaw was drenched it strongly hinted to the blood not being hers.

The person she had brought was an individual from the slave caste, having a somewhat similar appearance to what Petal had before the mutation, with different horns, eyes and a lot of other small factors, she was the same but had her differences.

“I see you found someone-” Gilliam started. “-Did you get hurt?” Though he couldn’t see any wounds on her he still wanted to make sure.

She shook her head. “This isn’t mine.” Confirming Gilliam’s suspicion and ending up with a better result.

Picking up Savia from his chest, giving her a little one-finger head pat he put her in his hair where she usually resided. He walked over to Petal and her passenger.

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Stopping out of reach as a precaution, Gilliam spoke with the demon in Fracturian. “So, we need to find our way to the Heart, you don’t happen to know where the static portals are, do you?”

She replied right away, somewhat desperately. “I know where it is. She told me you’d give me food and mana if I told you!” Pointing at Petal it seems that she had already done the hard work.

“That’s not a problem-” Gilliam commented to the increasingly happy slave, taking some food heavy in meat and something to drink from the ring and handing it to her. “-I can give you the mana afterwards.”

Almost before he had completed his sentence the food and drink were snatched from his hands and were already being eaten. He couldn’t fault her, based on Petal’s descriptions she might not have eaten for days, if not more. Being treated like a toy on the side probably didn’t help her situation.

He let her scarf it down without rushing the talk, she wasn’t going to go anywhere given that she was getting what she wanted out of this after all.

Not long later, the food and drink were entirely consumed, to the point that they could easily see on her petite frame that she had eaten more than she was used to. This was probably going to last her for days and was possibly the fullest she had felt in her whole life.

Gilliam didn’t have to push the conversation, as soon as she was no longer eating she continued on her own.

“The gate to the Heart is this way!” She started moving in what felt like a random direction, if the edge of the landmass behind them was east, then she was leading the North.

They walked for what seemed like hours, not having much in the sense of small talk. Trekking through the desert on foot was much harder than flying, though Petal and the other demon had hooves which seemed to help a bit, Gilliam and Angela ended up just using the still-active flying spell to fly barely over the sand. Petal seemed to not do the same and was rather walking next to her demon friend.

They ended up on what seemed like an actual mountain, sandstone in nature with the odd grey stone-like part here and there, it was still a small mountain or stone hill.

As they came over the edge they could see what they needed, but also something quite horrible.

First of all, there was the cubical building they were looking for, so a static portal was indeed present, the problem was that there was nothing short of an entire army before them. The army was filled with various creatures, the lizard-like demons made up the bulk, but there were lots of imps, weird mutated dogs as well as larger creatures that looked like walking balls of spikes. They seemed like much stronger demons which were covered in defensive spikes, they weren’t all looking the same but they were close enough that it was easy enough to assume they were similar.

The last problem was the addition of what looked like a lizard man, not much larger than the others but he was acting differently. He might be carrying a weapon but the main difference was how others were acting towards him. It was hard to see details from this range.

“There, that’s the gate to the heart!” The demon slave stated, pointing at the cubical building as she looked very expectantly at Gilliam.

“That’s great...” He commented with a sour expression. He didn’t expect everything to go smoothly and easily, but at the same time, he hoped that it would at least be easier than an entire army, who seemed ready at that.

“I don’t suppose you know anything about them you can share?” Gilliam looked at both Petal and her friend.

The slave demon looked between Petal and Gilliam almost distraught.

“Oh, don’t worry, you held your side of the bargain, so you’re getting your mana even if you don’t know. I just wonder if you know anything about them.” He was an honest man in this kind of situation, though he hoped she knew something.

The slave calmed down, suggesting that she expected to have to answer before she would get her payment. “I... I don’t know.” Her shoulders and tail sunk.

“I know a little.” Petal added. “I got some info from Margol. I think the leader over there is Borroth. He’s lower in rank than Margol, but his combat skills are much... much higher.” She seemed both interested but also somewhat scared of him.

Gilliam was fine with this, for now, alt east from the slave’s side. Parts of him wanted to bring her with them but he couldn’t do that for everyone, so sending her back to continue living was probably the best he could do.

He walked out of the line of sight of the army, this distance shouldn’t allow anyone to sense any mana so it should be somewhat safe. “I can give you mana now if you want, but I think it’s best if we part ways afterwards.”

The slave came with him and nodded like a drug addict just about to get another fix.

Gilliam placed his hand on her chest and started feeding her mana, her eyes started glowing a little more than they already were and she was looking better and healthier as the seconds went. He didn’t flood her with all he could as he didn’t know how much was too much, so it was a steady and small stream that lasted for a few minutes, after which she stepped out of his touch, seeming to have enough.

“I... this....” She looked at her hands, she was practically vibrating as Petal had done earlier.

“I suppose that’s good, then?” He wanted to confirm, though this was a miniscule amount for him but might be, like the food, the first time she had obtained so much in one go.

She nodded rapidly and rather than staying she just ran off, disappearing over the dunes like a scared lizard with a caffeine rush.

“So... What should we do now?” Gilliam turned back to the group, starting the conversation. “I could Sun Lance them and we’ll use the chaos to make a beeline for the gate. Or we can try to challenge him?” He was just spitting out ideas.

Angela seemed to react to one of the options. “Sun Lance? You mean that massive explosion fireball? I don’t think that’s a good idea... You’ll tear the gate from the platform and send it flying, or it’ll just disintegrate.” She seemed to still be a bit scared of that spell.

“I mean... I don’t have to cast it that close.”

“No, I don’t think we should start planning with that...” Angela didn’t want to agree to use it, at least not to start with. “We could try the duel option if that’s possible, but if he’s really good at combat...”

Petal joined the discussion mainly repeating. “Borroth is very good at combat, he carries a wide sword. That is the only thing I know...”

They all pondered for a few seconds before Angela took the word, facing Gilliam. “Can’t you just make some super long-range assassination spell? I mean... it seems you can shit them out at will but you always use the same few.” She almost sounded a little annoyed at this but at the same time, her face hinted that she knew she had a point.

“Oh, I use the same spells in combat because I’m used to them, imagine if you had to stop fighting to write a word on your hand to punch. It would probably go fine at certain times but... it’s better to just do what you’re used to. But you do have a point now, though-” he pondered for a moment. “-we’re not in combat now so I should be able to put together something.”

He thought about it for a minute, a sniping spell was a really good idea. He just needed to find out if he should rely on a physical projectile or energy. Based on some sense of logic perhaps it would be best to send a projectile at Mach-lots speeds. Pure mana could be dispelled, as Kintas showed, it could be perhaps easier redirected or absorbed or something. But pure kinetic energy, sure, would be dependent on armour and other physical obstructions, but armour-piercing ammunition was often simple enough, more speed is usually what breaks armour, not pure weight. So if he could send some form of projectile fast enough, even simple materials should work.

“But, once I fire that spell... what if I miss? Or the chaos that’ll happen regardless if I hit or not?” Gilliam added.

“If we make some chaos and just get them to focus on that, or come towards us, they’ll leave the gate open, can’t we use that to just get out?” Angela tested.

“Hmm, that could work as well, alternatively if we get them far enough away from the gate-” Gilliam tried, but failed to hide a small grin. “-I could always just use the Sun Lance then.”

Angela wanted to say something, but stopped herself, almost seeming like she didn’t have anything good to say.

“I suppose we have a plan, then. I try to take him out long-range, and we clean up the chaos after, through the mayhem we try to pop in and activate the gate?” Gilliam summarized the plan, sort of checking if he forgot anything.

His companions didn’t add or change anything. Petal just nodded, Angela sighed before doing the same.

“I suppose it’s time for me to try making a railgun, then.” Gilliam smiled, both realising that he wasn’t making as much magic as he expected, but also liking the idea of doing just that.

He did send a spear into the skies when the first portal opened back in Lisica, so the base idea of making things go fast was not new, he just needed to make a better variant.

Taking a notebook out of the ring, as well as his ink pen, he started taking some notes and jotting down ideas. This lasted for several minutes. He sketched several circles, many runes without translations, and simple sketches of modern railguns that were later scribbled over.

After a short while, he stopped and smiled, looking at seemingly random runes in four lines as well as four distinct circles. “I think I have an idea.”