The twelve mannequins hovered over the workshop floor. Each was dressed in a plain, black uniform, complete with a dark mask that covered where their eyes would be, if they were human. Ian thought they looked rather intimidating.

“Can I have them?” Zilverna asked, his eyes wide.

Ian gave him a sidelong glance.

Zilverna’s cheeks flushed. “After you’re finished with this whole business, obviously.”

“You haven’t even seen them in action,” Ian said.

Maria arched an eyebrow. “If you’re asking to receive them as an inheritance, does this mean you accept Ian as your–”

“Forget I said anything!” Zilverna blurted.

Ian chuckled. “Unfortunately, I’m a Beginning practitioner, so...”

Zilverna just gave him a wary look.

“Regardless, they’re most powerful when I control them directly. I doubt you’ll find them particularly valuable after I’ve returned to Eternity.”

“And the method to control them–it’s complete?” Kaiwen Chowicz asked.

“It is,” Ian replied, gesturing to the constructs. “I informed Euryphel via quantum channel that they’re ready to go, and he’s coordinating with the other Darkseers. If nothing changes, we strike tomorrow.”

“... What kind of strike?” Zilverna asked.

Ian’s smile was thin. “A two-pronged one.” It wasn’t just Achemiss they were going after, but all Infinity Loop research and production facilities. Everywhere that they’d tracked down and infiltrated over the previous weeks.

There was simply no way they’d eliminate every trace of Infinity Loop knowledge, but they’d do their damndest.

Ian and his closest allies would target the rifts, while the other Darkseers would handle the rest. There was one facility in particular in Iastra that was near impregnable, and they’d only succeeded because Orion Iucorsu had leveraged his father’s influence to infiltrate it. Apparently none expected Iastra’s prince in all but name to plan such a betrayal.

Except Ferasci Iucorsu himself–whom the Darkseers’ enigmatic Ascendant had personally kidnapped and locked away yesterday. It was still unclear how much the most powerful Beginning practitioner in the world knew about the Infinity Loop. For Orion’s sake, Ian hoped not much.

It did make him more curious than ever about the allied ascendant’s identity, but such information was held in the strictest confidence for good reason. When this business was all over, he hoped to meet them.

Maria placed her hands on Zilverna’s shoulders, fingertips rustling the tassels draping from his uniform’s shoulder pads. She smiled faintly. “Zilverna... you must stay here with Kaiwen.”

“I know,” he said, the words barely audible.

Maria squeezed his shoulders. “I love you.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Ian felt Maria’s awkwardness both through the interaction and through the lich bond. They’d spent more time together over the past two weeks or so, but their relationship needed more mending.

Ian cleared his throat. “Can one of you activate the lift to the surface?”

Maria’s head snapped around. “Of course. Kaiwen, lead me and Ian up.”

It was a bit of a squeeze to fit all the mannequins in the passage, but they managed it. Kaiwen must have contacted the guards and worked to ensure none saw them as they emerged, with the exception of the same three guards Ian and Eury had encountered on the way over. The scarred one nodded, and a passage opened up in the red earth. Ian and Maria bid Kaiwen farewell and plunged into the dark with the mannequins in tow.

Ian wished he could keep his wooden masterpieces in a void storage, but doing so made him nervous, what with the piece of rock tethering his soul to them. Souls couldn’t go inside void storages as far as Ian knew.

At least they look like people, Ian thought. Creepy, unbreathing, and eyeless–but still people.

They emerged in a remote, unfamiliar area–at least to Ian. Maria recognized it at once.

We’re on the western side, she communicated mentally. So straight ahead is toward Koro, and behind us lies the Bay of Ramsay.

Ian considered the five rift locations. Three were in the south in the Illyrian Ocean. The other two were significantly east, one in the north between Shattradan and Corneria–surprisingly close to Jupiter–while the last lay close to Datcha in the Haethan Ocean.

If he were Achemiss, Ian would choose one of the rifts in the Illyrian Ocean as his hiding place. The other rifts were within relatively easy reach if one had to be abandoned, which made it a relatively safe choice. The one near Jupiter seemed too far and isolated to be of use, though the rift in the Haethan Ocean actually wasn’t too far off.

Ian would still send two mannequins to each rift location, regardless. It was more a question of where his true body and Maria should go. Ian wanted to be as close as possible to Achemiss’s rift. Not because he planned to engage the man in close quarters directly—that would be Maria and the mannequins’ job–but because first, Maria would respawn to him if she was defeated since he’d taken back her phylactery, and second, because he needed to ensure Achemiss soul was isolated and extracted. As they’d already seen once, even total destruction of the ascendant’s body wasn’t enough to put him in the grave.

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How Achemiss had pulled that off, Ian still didn’t know, but he’d be remiss to assume simply destroying Achemiss–whatever that actually looked like–would be enough.

I thought you’d have already picked where to go by now, Maria said.

Ian sighed. It’s hard to decide when we still have no new information. I’m leaning toward the two rifts on either side of Belloco. In other words, the westmost rifts in the Illyrian Ocean. That left two rifts bordering them on the sides–the one in the Haethan Ocean, and the right-most one in the Illyrian near Shibaria.

If Achemiss ended up in the rift near Jupiter, they’d be mildly screwed, but there was nothing to be done about it.

How are we getting there? Maria asked.

By going up so high, nobody notices us until we’ve dropped down.

... What about the mannequins?

Ian chuckled. They’ll go the long way, over water.

And Achemiss’s constructs won’t pose a problem?

Ian just stared at her. Maria–these are made to fight Achemiss himself.

She smiled and held up her hands. Just checking.You’re the only one who fully understands what they can do.

Ian knew they were just stalling at this point. He pulled her into his arms so that her back was to his chest. She still had the diadem activated, so she was warm, lifelike. He gingerly raised a hand to her diadem, feeling the smooth, cool surface of Cayeun Suncloud’s gift.

Maria’s hand rose to meet his own. Then, with a soft exhale, she deactivated it. Her vitality immediately darkened as she shed her false humanity. Her chest stilled, and her pallid hand held his for a few beats before it fell to her side.

Ian pulled away and nodded.

Go, he commanded, envisioning each destination in his mind. The mannequins didn’t have an understanding of where to go other than a direction, so he’d have to manually keep them on course. Before, that would have been an impossible task, but with Beginning, it entered the realm of the feasible.

For the first part of the journey, the mannequins would navigate without any global positioning, like that included in most glossYs. They’d stay close to land masses so Ian maintained a frame of reference. When they entered a terminal stage, flying out over the open ocean, he’d remotely activate the locators he’d placed on them. While unlikely, the locators could be traced, which made them a risk when flying close to land. For a short duration in the middle of nowhere, however, using them would be fine.

It’s uncanny how they move so silently, like little missiles, Maria thought.

Ian rolled his eyes. You should be familiar with it by now, considering how much time you spend with me.

She chuckled, though the laughter died quickly, replaced by a severe focus. How long should we wait to head out?

Ian cocked his head. Maybe an hour? We’re faster than my constructs, especially since our strategy involves going up and then plummeting down.

Maria sat down to meditate while Ian reached out to Euryphel. My constructs are on their way, he said, opening the quantum channel.

Excellent. I’ll orchestrate everything on my end. Euryphel paused. Good luck, Ian.

Good luck to you, too, he replied. There’s no one else I’d trust to pull this off.

I can think of several, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.

Seriously, Ian insisted.

Tell me nice things to my face, Euryphel rebuffed him. It’ll give me something to look forward to.

Ian was speechless for a second. That was brazen, even for Euryphel–and an obvious sign of the Crowned Executor’s stress. Alright. Take care, and let me know if anything goes wrong.

The transmission cut out.

Ian pulled out the Blade of Revelation and held its surface up to the sunlight. It was beautiful, appearing almost glass-like without his ascendant energy running through it, its blade blending in with the pale blue sky.

He wondered absently what the blade would do to something like Ari’s body, which still remained in stasis within the void storage Achemiss had dispatched with his Ian-esque construct, the one Maria had captured. They hadn’t found a way to open the storage in the intervening weeks, much less the one they’d stolen from Achemiss’s ruined body upon returning to their home world.

It was a task for Void Seeker Karanos. If he wanted Ari’s body, he could find an ascendant capable of cracking Achemiss’s protections when they returned.

Speaking of–he probably should’ve contacted Karanos, at the very least, to explain what they were attempting. He was most likely to know if there was something they hadn’t considered. He still hadn’t called the ascendant since returning.

Technically, he had almost an hour to kill...

Maria, he said mentally, I’m going to use the transmission artifact.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. Who are you calling?

Karanos.

She narrowed her eyes. Isn’t there someone else you should be calling before you do something dangerous that could, potentially, end in your death?

He scoffed. I’m hardly in danger, Maria. He swallowed under her withering stare. Why should I call her when it’ll just make her worry?

Because you should’ve called right after returning home. The last time you talked to her, it was to tell her you were attacking Achemiss–and she hasn’t heard anything from you since. I’ve told you this several times, but it’s ridiculous. You can talk to her about anything–you don’t have to let her know what you’re doing. Just... Won’t you regret it, if you do this, and you never get to speak to her again?

Ian would really prefer to just call her twenty-four hours from now, when everything was figured out. But the nagging number-crunching of his Beginning gave him pause.

While there was a very high percent chance he was in no danger, it wasn’t zero.

He squinted at the glare produced by the Blade of Revelation, thinking. Fine, he said. I’ll call her.

Maria gaped. Truly?

Yes, truly. He produced the transmission artifact. But Karanos first.