Amalyse was having trouble concentrating. It was a little difficult to focus on any one objective when the real goal was to be as chaotic as possible. She just wasn’t used to it. Not that it had prevented her from agreeing to the plan. Why she had to be one of the spearheads of it, though…

She shook her head. Focus. One misstep, one moment of lost concentration, and she’d end up dead or worse.

The monster on her tail growled at her, as though it was reminding her of the urgency of the situation too.

“Yes, I know,” she said back to it. “You don’t have to keep growling at me.”

The Shadeborn—that was what the hulking creature with a gargantuan mouth on its bloated stomach was called, if she was remembering correctly—screamed at her in answer. It even hurled its axe at her. The twisted weapon missed Amalyse by leagues. She was moving too quickly and in too erratic a fashion for the monster to even hope to catch her.

Of course, she couldn’t lead the Shadeborn on a wild chase forever. At some point, the monster would lose interest and head in a different direction.

That was why Amalyse had to stop. She used Summon Weapon to pull out a red crystal, which transformed into a glinting spear made of crimson glass in a flash. A quick chuck sent it crashing into the monster’s shoulder. That enraged it enough to make it shriek furiously at her.

Amalyse tutted. “Need better aiming.” She wouldn’t count it a success unless she took one of the monster’s eyes out or something to that effect.

The Shadeborn simply charged at her. Amalyse continued moving. She considered taking a stand and actually fighting. After all, Amalyse was a cultivator for crying out loud. She couldn’t afford to run when a battle was heading straight for her.

But they had a plan to stick to. That came over everything else. Amalyse would have to swallow her pride and ensure the successful execution of their true goal.

Though, she wasn’t certain she could have actually taken on the monster in the first place. She was closing in on the Exalted realm, but even if she had managed to get through a tribulation somehow, she wasn’t even certain Early-Exalted would have been enough. That Shadeborn looked overly powerful, maybe almost B-Grade at the way it was going.

Amalyse wasn’t certain what told her so, but it didn’t matter. Her goal wasn’t to judge its strength and see if she could fight it. All she had to do was lead it on.

She pulled out her Comm Shell, hoping the recipient of her call wasn’t too busy to pick up. “Got another one on my tail, Kalvia. How are things looking on your end?”

There was no answer for a while. Maybe Amalyse should have addressed her as Your Majesty or something like that. It had been so long since she’d needed to exercise all those rules of formality her mother had drilled into her that it still felt strange to bring them up. She was rusty on the social niceties of higher society.

“Aetherian,” was all Kalvia managed to squeak out before the call cut off.

Well, at least she had replied. That meant their Empress-to-be wasn’t dead yet. Good enough.

Amalyse kept up the cat-and-mouse game with the Shadeborn until one of their primary fighters finally got to it. She and Marzdel had collaborated to get their actual locations, and she had managed to redirect the Shadeborn into his path.

There was no time to linger and see how well Marzdel handled the monster. She would just have to trust that he was more than capable of dealing with it.

For now, Amalyse had to hurry up and get to wherever Kalvia was dealing with the Aetherian.

“There you are!” Kalvia said after only about five minutes of Amalyse’s searching.

“Thanks for picking up the call despite—”

She was cut short when a golden bolt shot in from farther ahead. They were forced to scatter. The bolt caused a powerful, meteoric explosion, sending shrapnel and bits of sparkling, auric energy flying in every direction. While Amalyse might have been able to block it with a summoned shield, their job wasn’t to stand their ground.

“You alright?” she yelled.

“Fine,” Kalvia shouted back. “Platform.”

To anyone else, that sounded like a senseless word thrown out without context. For Amalyse, that made perfect sense. All this constant fighting in the first round had almost allowed them to craft their own unique language when it came to battles.

A tree shot up out of the ground nearby, empowered by Kalvia’s forest Domain. Amalyse wasted not a second to climb onto one of its branches and rise high into the air. She had also summoned a gleaming scarlet spear. The higher she went, the farther she looked for her target. Now where was that Aetherian hiding?

As it turned out, the monster had nowhere near enough sense of self-preservation to keep its presence hidden. In fact, it was ostentatiously displaying itself like the gleaming icon that it represented.

“Why don’t you just scream out your location next time?” Amalyse shouted as she threw her spear hard.

The monster had been too surprised by the sudden rise of Kalvia’s tree to take advantage of Amalyse’s more open position. Nevertheless, it was still fast enough to catch sight of the flying spear. With another flash of golden power, it vaporized the spear nothing long before it could reach its target.

“How’d it go?” Kalvia asked as Amalyse jumped down.

“Perfectly.” Amalyse grinned. “We’ve got all its attention now.”

“Good. Let’s go, then.”

They hurried off. It was nice they had gotten some time to sleep and let the plan they’d come up with settle into their heads. That lone night of rest had done wonders for Amalyse’s recollection, at least.

The Aetherian gave chase, as expected. It was saying something, but it was far enough away that most of its words were too indistinct for Amalyse to make anything out.

“Do you have any idea what it’s saying?” she asked her companion.

Kalvia shook her head. “Possibly effusive praise and an endless stream of toxically positive encouragement.”

That got a snort out of Amalyse.

During their run, there were points where it felt as though they had run too far and had let the monster off their hook. Each time, Amalyse managed to reclaim the monster’s attention. Attacks from range made her feel like an undignified mosquito, but such was their plan. She would have to bear with it for the time being. If an Empress was doing it, it couldn’t be too bad.

At one point, they came across other groups busy with the same task as them. Amalyse saw the green-robed woman—who she had learned was called Lisorel—was taking potshots at a creature that reminded Amalyse of a Blightmane. The only difference was that it was white as snow and had fur that was spikier, almost glinting like gemstones.

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There was no time for chitchat. It would be a little embarrassing if they led their monsters to each other, so Amalyse and Kalvia had hunkered down until their allies had passed.

This had the unfortunate effect of letting the Aetherian catch up with them. At that point, Amalyse was forced to use her greatshield to protect herself ana Kalvia. It wasn’t too difficult a thing to wait until they were able to move once more. Hunkering had made them attract another monster’s attention on top of the Aetherian’s, a large Life Stifler’s, in fact, but that was fine.

According to their last call, Lord Oromin wasn’t too far away.

In fact, one of the golden bolts from the Aetherian flying at them would have needed another strong defence from either Amalyse or Kalvia, but they were spared the need to expend any effort. A silvery mist had sparkled up, reflecting the bolt back towards its wielder.

“I’ll take them from here,” Oromin said.

Amalyse was curious about his fighting style, considering the strange, defence-focused powers he used, but there was no time. They had to keep moving. There were more monsters to deal with.

“We will leave them to you then, Lord Oromin,” Kalvia said.

Oromin nodded, his eyes on the distant monsters closing in. “As you will, Your Majesty. Rest assured that they will be dealt with.”

“I wish I could have gotten to see him fight,” Amalyse said as they leaped off to find their next target.

“You’ll just have to wait till the second round.”

“I was almost about to say that it would take too long, but at this rate, it should take no time at all.”

“Correct.”

“Your Majesty.” Amalyse hesitated for a second. This was certainly far from the time to be asking questions that required thought and mental effort, but she couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like they were fighting the monsters themselves. “Do you truly think a seat at the imperial court will be for the best? For your purposes, I mean.”

Kalvia didn’t even bother looking in Amalyse’s direction. She knew better than to let her attention be pulled too far away from their real objectives. “It is a start.”

“A false start. If everything Rieren has said is true, then you’ll either be in grave danger at the court or you’ll be stymied so terribly that all your goals might as well not exist.”

“And you truly think you know each and every one of my goals, do you, Amalyse?”

Amalyse didn’t answer. Perhaps she had been making too many assumptions regarding what the Empress truly sought. After all, Kalvia had proven she wasn’t naïve about her responsibilities and capabilities in the way she had handled the administrative efforts in the Shatterlands. Maybe the imperial court was a stepping block to what she really wished to achieve.

“I’m simply worried about what you might face there,” Amalyse said. “Once we’re victorious.”

Kalvia modulated her tone to be a little less imperious. A little kinder. “I have ways of ensuring that it doesn’t turn out as terrible as you might expect.”

“Like whoever that fellow was at the training fields.”

“Yes. Things like that. Strings I can pull on, people whom I can rely upon and trust, powers I know I can use with impunity. You are one of them too, you know.”

Amalyse was tempted to smile, but then she sensed a powerful burst of Essence channelling going on in the distance. Exchanging a quick glance with Kalvia, she headed over in that direction. That looked like their next monstrous target.

They caught sight of the battle before long. It was a monstrous fray. The devastation wrought by the Aetherian’s powers was one thing.

What truly caught Amalyse’s eye was the monster itself.

It looked mostly humanoid, except if a man was constructed from compressed ash and strings of gold. The arms were missing entire chunks, the chest was mostly shattered, only a third of the legs existed, and the whole face had been smashed to smithereens so that glowing golden hair sprouted straight from the monster’s grey neck.

But in all the missing areas, those strands of glinting sunlit yellow ran through. They connected the disparate bits of the monster’s chest together, ensuring the limbs could function by extending through the missing bits.

Some even extended off the monster’s hands to form what looked like a large shield and a spear, weaving together to form a solid, golden lattice of weaponry.

“I don’t like the looks of that thing,” Kalvia said.

Amalyse shook her head. “Me neither. But that doesn’t mean we can stay here.”

“I’ll set up the empowering Domain. Be careful.”

“As always.”

Amalyse headed off while Kalvia stayed back. Her Domain tree was already rising, quickly sprouting leaves and growing flowers that spread their empowering buffs in a wide area. Amalyse was caught in it, the effects taking root within her body in moments.

Her skin felt like it was hardening, her muscles strengthening to at least twice their usual power. Every step took her farther and faster than before, every movement feeling it was both exercising greater power and allowing her greater control than normal. The effect of Kalvia’s empowering Domain even sharpened her eyesight and hearing, brightening colours and sharpening sounds.

The monster twisted around to face Amalyse. By the looks of the local area, it had been fighting someone else nearby, though there was no sign of its opponent.

No sign if they were still alive.

“A new prey?” the Aetherian asked. Its voice rang over multiple times, like it was coming from every single thread on its body. “Will you come face me, or will you too run away? I was led to believe that this land contained the greatest and grandest of your kind. Perhaps the reports were exaggerated.”

Taunting. From a monster of all things. Amalyse paid it no heed, instead, summoning a spear. One she wreathed in flame with her Firelight Fang technique. Then she threw it at the monster.

It didn’t harm the Aetherian. All the monster had to do was bring that thread-built shield around. A brilliant golden flash emanated at the same time that the spear struck it. The technique Amalyse had used imbued a fiery explosion into her weapon, which set off as soon as the spear hit its target. But when the smoke dissipated, the Aetherian was perfectly fine.

Of course, Amalyse was sticking to the plan. She wasn’t supposed to stand around and see if she could take on that monster by herself. No, her goal was to claim its attention and run.

Which was exactly what she was doing.

Besides, she was even more sure she couldn’t face that Aetherian by herself than she’d been with any of the previous monsters she had faced. This creature was an entire league stronger than them. Of that, she was certain.

“Another retreat?” the Aetherian bellowed from behind her.

Amalyse didn’t pay attention. She simply ran. Hopefully, Kalvia had picked up the chain of events enough to go with the flow.

Problem was, she couldn’t tell if the monster was following too. That was crucial. If the Aetherian ceased to come after her, then she would have to pull its attention back onto her somehow, regardless of the associated danger. In fact, as Amalyse briefly looked back, she found that the monster really wasn’t on her tail anymore. If it had ever given chase in the first place.

“Amalyse!” Kalvia shouted.

The urgent warning in her voice made Amalyse twist around to find her companion. She was indicating Amalyse to join her at the rising Domain tree, the look on her face fearful. Amalyse didn’t hesitate. They had built up their trust to the point where she didn’t need to waste precious time thinking. Amalyse complied instantly.

A good thing she did. As soon as she got moving, she noticed why exactly the Aetherian hadn’t followed. Instead of charging after Amalyse, it had flung a destructive bolt of golden energy that razed the earth in its wake.

It was far enough that Amalyse was able to dodge the bolt itself without issue. The problem came in its wake. There was a riptide of power behind the sizzling spear of gold, one that tried to pull Amalyse off her feet as it crushed everything, including the very air itself. Amalyse failed to draw in a breath even as she and Kalvia desperately clung to the Domain tree.

Even worse, the bolt had exploded. Its detonation somewhere off into the distance released several flares of auric energy streams, each as large and potent as a geyser.

They struck out in every direction. That was the only blessing Amalyse could count on. She had managed to summon her crimson greatshield to defend both herself and Kalvia. It was only the fact that every flare didn’t hit them once that her shield, even empowered by Kalvia’s Domain, was able to protect them.

“In the name of the Beyond,” Amalyse muttered as she looked out over the destruction that bolt had caused once the tide of overwhelming power had abated.

She barely got to take any of it in before Kalvia jerked her around.

“That thing isn’t done with us,” the Empress-to-be said.

Amalyse couldn’t look at the monster coming at them for long, though. She’d noticed something even stranger just as Kalvia had dragged her attention away, which made her turn back towards the direction she’d originally been facing.

Someone was coming. Someone she recognized. That was… Lord Mercion?

There was something odd about his movement. Something familiarly odd. Several more cultivators were giving him chase. Amalyse grimaced. Those had to be the ones attempting to rob the humans of their tokens. But despite all their sudden appearance, it was the lightning coming off Mercion that made Amalyse truly frown.

It was blue, not the yellowing sparks she had come to associate with the lightning used by Mercion and the rest of the Stannerig clan. She had seen that bluish-purple lightning before.

Amalyse blinked. That was—

“It’s here!” Kalvia grunted, pulling Amalyse’s attention forward again.

The accursed Aetherian had finally arrived to deal with them all in person.