For a brief, strange moment, everything expands before me. Long, sinuous signals stretching through reality that thread the universe together like a mess of misshapen beads on one single string, doubling back millions upon millions of times so everything connects to everything else. I stare at it in utter awe at the scale of it all… and question what exists beyond what I can sense upon the threads.

Because Earth and this planet are only a few hundred beads apart in a sea of billions. So close when measured against everything, yet so far when measured in any normal way. But I can feel the sensation slipping away. Without Pearl's empowerment, I can only feel a fraction of where this place is designed to broadcast to. That little bubble of sensation is more than enough.

"We need to stall," Pearl whispers with exhaustion in my mind. "If we can keep this stalemate going for a few days, we'll have the time to figure out how to save everyone before the quest progresses."

I nod weakly in agreement. The Quest just gave us a way to prolong this. I can't squander it. With waning strength I reach into the mess of broadcasting signals and try to get a hold of the city.

This function is not available due to the city's status as a quest reward.

To gain access, complete the quest.

Well, there goes that glimmer of hope; I'm not moving the city until the quest is over. Though… from the way that message was worded… I'm not locked out of using the signal amplifiers in general. So instead of moving the city to somewhere I could do something with it…

I'll just bring a monster to the city instead.

I carefully pull Illumisia's half-destroyed relocation coin from my inventory. It still smolders weakly from my previous attempt at summoning her. Jumble raises an eyebrow at the thing as she readies herself for combat, but it doesn't look like the horionguard's in a hurry anymore. He thinks he's already won. With his powers, he could easily wash all of us out of here and be done with it.

Luckily for us, he seems to have lost a lot of brain cells when he switched sides to the system. Never give your enemies a second more than the minimum possible.

The Quest takes a deep breath and tenses its shoulders. "I can't believe I'm actually going to meet her."

Anticipation fills the two remaining members of the horizonguard's tomb forces. CLamber's dad shudders for a reason he doesn't understand, his face twisting into a knot of sickened confusion as he looks at my gleaming coin. He doesn't know exactly what's about to happen. But the painted dane in him knows to be scared.

A quality the horizonguard doesn't seem to share. He scoffs at his man and walks up to Jumbl and I, not even sparing a glance at the Quest for some reason. Almost like he doesn't know it's there. He leans in close, moisture dripping off the ornate mask that marks him as one of Palastia's strongest.

"Who do you think you could summon that would change the outcome?" he asks coldly. "Another of your Worth Class allies? Perhaps that painted dane you always walked around with who didn't manage to make it here. Or maybe… you brokered a deal with one of my fellows. Another horizonguard frothing at the mouth to empty my seat for someone they'd find more agreeable."

He tilts his head to the side and laughs; a thing deep and slow and full of absolute certainty in his own power. Something about it feels… off. Like I'm forgetting a very important piece of a puzzle I've been working on for far too long.

The horizonguard steps back and spreads his hands. "This place brings everyone low, in case you've forgotten. Mana restraints, limitations on the upper limit of Worth-to-spell and skill conversions, and far more behind the scenes that I don't feel like explaining. Whoever you call will be so weakened that they'll be a simple bump in the road for my victory. So go ahead. Do whatever you think will save you. I'll relish in murdering one more person close to you before I permanently snuff out the flickering light behind your eyes."

Clamber's dad makes a stranngled noise. "Boss, that's a horrible–"

"Did I ask for your input?" the Horizonguard says flatly. "Were you or were you not one of us who was granted an exemption from the quest's damping effects for being the first to find the tombs?"

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The shaking paindne clenches his jaw. "I… I was. But I can feel something in that coin, boss. If you get me out of this prison I'll deal with it myself."

The horizonguard scoffs and turns away from his man. "I thought you more than this. When we return, you're off the board. I have no need for cowards. Now, Shelby, I'm waiting. You only get one, so make your choice wisely."

"Wisely, he says," the Quest snorts out a laugh. "I think it's time for the megalodane to see what her blood spawned, don't you?"

Couldn't agree more. I flare the relocation, feel the magic snap out through the connections made in the tombs, and hesitate for a second as it gently reaches out for Illumisia. She twitches in her spot and looks up to the sky with worried intrigue. Worry that quickly morphs into a toothy grin as my spell takes hold.

A single antenna mounted in a long-dead paindne flickers with magic. The horizonguard casually glances over at it, water spinning with deadly speed at his feet. His confidence oozes out into the air around him and chokes away all Clamber's dad's desperate attempts to warn him off. My coin burns with an inner light. Distance shrinks down and down and down until there's less than a finger's width between Illumisia and us.

In a blinding flash shaped like a painted dane, Illumisia appears. She shakes the moisture from her fur and eagerly turns to me, then freezes. Her gaze looks me up and down, a snarl growing at her lips as she takes everything in. All the blood, damage, and exhaustion I've accumulated today alone. Then, finally, she notices Jumble and the Quest.

"I remember your scent," she states coldly. "The ancient stench of a long lost traitor. And you… I suppose I shouldn't speak of your origins. Not here."

The quest nods. "That's for the best."

Jumble's too confused to say anything. She opens and closes her mouth, then leans to look around Illumisia's massive form. The horizonguard's oceanic assault crashes against her body like waves against the side of a cliff, splashing uselessly up but not over the wall that is the megalodane. An entire wall of raging, pressurized water all stopped by Illumisia's mere presence.

"Whaa…" she trails off open-mouthed. "Who are you?"

Illumisia focuses her gaze on Jumble. "I suppose I am your god, pup. Be thankful that I have grown merciful in recent months."

"A god?! HA!" the horizonguard barks out a short, insulting laugh. "The only god is the system! When your defences inevitably fall, there will be nothing left of your heretical boasts."

Deep, stomach churning rumbling fills the tombs. Illumisia's form glistens with a rainbow of sickly colours, all tainted slightly dark like bodily fluids mixed with black oil. Clamber's dad makes a strangled noise and rolls over on his back, presenting his belly and neck for all to see.

The horizonguard snarls at the display. "COWARD! We are in control here! One little painted dane can't hold a candle to the… to the… t-to t-th…"

He trails off into stunned silence as Illumisia disappears. Every ounce of his attention shifts to somewhere over my shoulder. With the last of my strength, I feel out with my awareness to see what has him stunned.

A massive eye fills the entire entryway. Or… more accurately… the rapidly-darting massive pupil of an even more massive eye takes up the entrance. Raw, monstrous power simply exists everywhere like the air we breathe in the presence of Illumisia. Unfathomable fury wraps around me like a protective mother putting herself between her pups and a threat. For the horizonguard, it must feel like staring at the personification of rapidly encroaching demise.

He takes a shaky step back. "I-I'm… you can't… this isn't fair! This Quest was mine! I already finished it! Give me the rewards I'm owed!"

The upper half of his body, and the space it previously occupied, goes black. No…. not black. The colour and texture of absolutely nothing at all. His legs and lower torso freeze in place, not moving a single atom in any direction at all, and he dies in absolute nothing. At least I think he's dead; Illumisia might not've been so kind to give him that quick of an end.

"T-the… the megalodane…" Jumble stutters. "When you said Illumisia, I-I thought you were… II thought you were…"

"She was telling the truth. Though, perhaps not in its entirety," Illumisia says as a smaller version of her blinks into existence a few steps in front of us. "It took you long enough to summon me, Shelby, and your explanation that managed to reach me was insufficient. I demand a complete telling of everything that transpired here. Before that, do you wish for me to kill the mann bearing us his neck? He seems to invite my jaws."

Clamber's dad whimpers pathetically. I take one look over at him, and honestly? The rewards Clamber promised–whatver they are–mean more to me than killing this asshole.

I start to shake my head but exhaustion rolls over me in one long wave, stilling me. A yawn stretches my jaw beyond what I thought possible as Jumble and Illumisia move in to make sure I'm okay. Illumisia shoots Jumble a withering glare, but to Jumble's credit, she doesn't flinch an inch.

"Jumble, make sure Illumisia knows all the stuff. I'm… going to take a nap."

Someone starts to say something, but it's all buzzing noise in the back of my mind as sleep forcibly drags me down. Right now… I think we've managed to sneak out a win. All that's left is to try for the happiest ending possible to this months-long ordeal.

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