In the car, Alesia de Botton informed Alan Ma that her goal at Fudan was to meet with Gwen Song. The familiar name gave Alan a start, for he had been hearing about the girl from his uncle for months now.

"A walking lump of vanity and pride, a dragon in a woman's body, possessing a crystal-hoard to match," James Ma had wryly intoned. "You'll like her."

To Alan, at least on the lumen-caster, the girl of eighteen appeared perfectly prim and proper. Other than that one scandal where her Familiars went wild, she answered questions, kissed and made up with the reporters who had hounded her, and even spent time promoting her teammates, like the rogue from Huashan and their Captain from the funeral home.

"Is this not widely known?" de Botton remarked as she weaved through the traffic. "She's my sister-in-craft."

"Really?" Alan performed a double-take as the roadster accelerated.

"We all mentored under Master Kilroy while in Sydney," his VIP explained, her tone suddenly upset. "I suppose it'll be common knowledge once her IIUC finishes…"

Alan made a mental note to inform the PLA Tower as soon as possible.

"… and to think that for someone for whom master sacrificed so much, she turned tail so readily. Gwen was such a quiet girl when I found her being auctioned in her uncle's house. She was a nobody back then, did you know? Just tier 3, not bad for Frontier stock, but more or less just a pretty face. After I introduced her to master, she started to blossom, learning all sorts of magic…"

To Alan's alarm, Alesia's one-sided monologue grew in intensity, pouring forth with a vehemence that made him nervous.

"… it's ridiculous how everyone thinks that the prick has paid for his crimes. I mean our Master died because we couldn't access the Tower and turn it against Sobel..."

"Miss de Botton, we've arrived."

"...And speaking of Master's wife, bloody hell, when the day comes when the three of us hunt that bitch down…"

_VROOM_!

To the Magus' dismay, his driver gunned the vehicle around the perimetre of Fudan's university district, taking in the sights while continuing her tirade.

"There are students and NoMs here!" Alan indicated to the twin towers of Fudan jutting from the sea of skyscrapers, then to the pedestrians. "Please slow down."

_SCREEEE!_

Alesia spun the wheel. Alan felt as though he'd banked mid-flight during an aerial exercise. Horns tooted, NoMs screamed, other drivers howled abuse as they skidded across the tarmac to stop in a loading zone.

"We can't park here…" Alan pointed to the sign.

Thump! The door slammed.

Alesia exited the clinking vehicle, catching a hundred pairs of eyes as she rose to her full height. With a careless gesture, the woman discarded the shawl hiding her hair into the backseat, then with her voluminous curls falling about her shoulders, she strode toward the Handan campus.

"Where are you going?" Alan unbuckled.

The Scarlet Sorceress's figure shimmered, then she was gone.

"CAO!" Alan swore. Invisibility! He immediately replaced his glasses with a pair enchanted with Detect Foe. "Ta-made!"

He despaired. Whatever Alesia was using, it was higher than his tier 4 detection. The redhead was trouble; he just knew it! How the hell was he going to find her without causing a scene? Also, did the woman even know where she was going?

Thankfully, he had marked her earlier with a Detect Ally, if he could—

His Divination came up empty.

Alan's forehead quickly grew icky with perspiration. A foreign agent did not just go rogue on his watch!

Tapping his comm-device, Alan considered dialling the Tower.

_No._ The Magus told himself. He had no interest in career suicide. Not even the reputation of the Ma family was enough to stave off a monumental fuck-up like losing a Cat-4 VIP in the middle of a crowded university district.

De Botton couldn't have gotten far. He hoped. If he walked around, maybe he would spot her again, and he could then plead with her to follow at least the basic guidelines of a visiting dignitary, such as no activation of ilicit magic within the city's limits.

Please, please, please! He prayed to his ancestors for guidance. Don't start a magical battle in the middle of Shanghai!

_VOOMPH-BANG!_

Alesia answered Walken's welcome with a Fireball.

It was wholly unintentional, for she had planned to speak to the bastard, but when the cunt's castor-oil voice came through the corridor, her lips and her hands moved on their own.

Instantly, the empowered Fireball enveloped the small apartment.

Without a Spirit, her spell's range and damage were difficult to control, but Alesia felt confident that she had grown since Sydney's fall. At first, when she became well again to practice the craft, she had found herself crippled by the death of her Crimson Caracal, a near-sentient partner which had accompanied her since the Coral Sea Conflict. According to Gunther, it was because she had lost a portion of her Astral Body to the Djinn.

While she recovered, attuning herself to a life without her caracal, healing her crippled Astral Body with Elven elixirs from the Swiss Alps, she found that her connection to the Elemental Plane of Fire had expanded. Gunther suspected it had to do with the fleeing Djinn leaving a portion of its Essence in her Astral Body and suggested she should see a medical Magister, but Alesia's preference was for privacy.

And so, the Scarlet Sorceress marked the unexpected boon as just one of those things that happened in life, like food poisoning, or curry tacos.

Unfortunately for Walken, her control was still in development.

The orange fire filled the corridor, then blew out the bathroom, the kitchenette and the front door. In the next moment, a backwash of flaming paper filled the living room, indicating that Walken had activated a protective barrier.

"Alesia!" came the man's panicked voice. "Don't! We're in a tier 1 city!"

"Ha!" Alesia laughed. She had come with a plan!

She hadn't just come to Shanghai as a waif with a cudgel and a grudge. Just as Walken had his Grey Faction, she knew people who loathed Walken in the Middle Faction. Even without Gunther's explicit instruction, certain Magisters in Pudong were happy to see the recently resurgent Walken taken down a rung.

If maiming Walken was an option, she would have welcomed it, but it wasn't something she could realistically carry out without ramifications for Gunther's working relationship with the Greys. Instead, her plan was for both herself and Walken to be kicked out of Shanghai, saving Gwen from future harassment. After scorching Walken a medium-rare and concluding with their arrest, she would enjoy a brief diplomatic immunity, one that was enough to pound some sense into her sister-in-craft while Walken took the next cargo freighter to the Congo.

"Combust! Combust! Fireball!"

She kept her assault fast, low-tier and straightforward. Too much power and she couldn't control the damage, too low and they wouldn't attract the necessary attention.

_Crack!_

A burst of lightning discharge indicated that Walken had teleported outside.

"Blink!"

Alesia followed suit. This time, she had ensured that her clothes were all element-weaved. In Shanghai, she had no desire to be arrested sans her intimates.

Walken was making a run for it, rapidly deploying Dimension Door to move from rooftop to rooftop, making for the older sectors of the university district, where clumped clusters of concrete buildings still stood, awaiting demolition.

"Flaming Arrows!"

She harassed her target even as he hopped through time and space.

Sonnova bitch! She cursed. The prick refused to join spells or trade attacks, merely fleeing for it like a grey rat down a sewer. Alesia growled. Either way, she was determined that by the day's end, Walken would be homeless.

The woman's Fireball was no longer crimson, but it was all too familiar.

Alesia de Botton! Eric Walken groaned. De Botton was a rabid honey badger when it came to her tenacity, and there was no way he could see himself prying open her jaws.

To achieve that, he needed his student.

In all honesty, he had not anticipated that his protégée would so soon become his spell-shield. That Gwen may one day untangle the mess he found himself in had always been a part of his design, though having his old nemesis charging through an actual ISTC went beyond even his expectations.

It must have been the broadcasted IIUC ceremony, he realised, though he had no idea how De Botton watched CCVC-1.

Should he have stayed hidden? Walken wondered if once again, his student's pride had catalysed his own. After Burma, he had wanted to stand beside her and show the Grey Faction that they were right to welcome him back into the fold.

At the same time, he WAS proud of the girl. Why wouldn't he? She used his magic, ignored his advice, then accidentally liberated a country. That's an accomplishment for which he could surely take credit. Even now, he was going to gift her with his improved variant of Planar Ally.

But how could he convince de Botton of his "best" intentions?

_KABOOM!_

A wave of scorching heat washed over his back, dispersed by his Wind Wall. In his mind, he could feel Aella demanding to be released. Were he to match de Botton seriously, Walken was confident in his victory so long as they could enter a sturdy and enclosed space, a condition easily fulfilled in a city of concrete.

But after that?
Did de Botton think he was an idiot to fight her in public?

"Gwen!" Not wanting to end the encounter with de Botton in a coma and a livid Gwen voiding their partnership, he activated his Message device.

"Eric!" came the reply. "Your apartment's on fire!"

"I am heading for the training hall at Yi-fu No.2!" Walken Dimensioned Doored once more. "We can't let her damage any of the buildings."

_"_ Flame Torrent!"

A whirlpool of fire engendered where Walken had just landed, sending the pedestrians fleeing unharmed in all directions. Beside him, the trees burst into flames.

"Alesia! NO!" came Gwen's voice behind him, made audible by Clarion Call. "Calm down! Don't fight!"

"I'll meet you inside!" Walken switched channels on his comm-device. "Jiang! De Botton's after me!"

"Is that why my western entrance is on fire?" came the reply from Luo. "Who initiated?"

"She did! I am now headed to Yifu No.2 with Gwen, can you tie up the media and the police until I need them? Get Pudong to send someone!"

"Cao! I'll call the Tower!" The Message dropped.

Another Fireball erupted, this time taking out a bench and a trashcan, immolating the jade-green lawn as it singed his hair and beard.

Walken Dimension Doored once more so that he was right beside the training hall, then slipped inside to await the arrival of both his executioner and his saviour.

Watching Gwen effortlessly abuse their Master's Signature Dimension Door made Alesia feel both proud and very much annoyed.

"Alesia! NO!" the girl called out, then appeared a few meters away in a flash of blue-white lightning.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

In the distance, there was already the sound of sirens.

"You're looking well." Alesia rested a hand on her hips. "Chumming with Walken, eh?"

"Oh, for God's sake Allie, not here, and not now!" Alesia's little sister pleaded with her, squirming with a desperation that tickled Alesia's vengeful spirit. "You're as rash as fire!"

"And Walken is as false as air!" Alesia snapped. "That man killed our Master!"

"He did not!" the girl screeched back, her face glowing scarlet. "He was tricked! Just like you and me! Did you forget? It was us who brought Debora into the Tower, remember? WE DID IT!"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Alesia's complexion matched the hue of raw liver. Why in God's name was her sister-in-craft defending Walken? What the fuck did Walken feed her, or had she misjudged her little sister? Did Gwen whore herself to Walken for only a few measly high-tier spells?

"I am going inside," came a churlish retort from her sister-in-craft as she propped an ID against the security panel. "You can stay here, or you can blow us up!"

"You little…" Alesia snapped. "You think you're all grown up, and now you—"

The girl was gone.

"FUCK!" Alesia forced her shoulder against the glass.
The sound of the fire brigade, and what she presumed were Tower Mages, were coming closer now. They had ten, fifteen minutes at best, and in that time, she was determined to teach the little hussy a lesson in humility.

"YOU THERE!" She snapped at an attendant cowering behind the counter. "Open the door at once! Either way, I am coming in!"

Gwen stomped her way down the passageway, followed by a raging female Ifrit in the form of Alesia de Botton.

Good, she told herself. As she had guessed, resetting Alesia's mental pace wasn't impossible. Her once-instructor, now-sister was as straight as a Flaming Arrow as they come. What pissed her off though, now that she thought about it, was the fact that there was no fucking way Gunther did not have any idea that Alesia was about to pay her a surprise visit, and that her senior lacked the gonads to send out a warning. The way Alesia behaved, it was as though she had caught her red-handed with gore, like when Henry found his wife in that Hungarian catacomb.

Once inside, the trio formed into an awkward triumvirate.

"Ling. Barriers up, please." Gwen sent the command to the administration desk.

A thrum of magic ensured the trio of their temporary privacy.

"Sis." Gwen put on a happy face. "Welcome to Shanghai!"

"Don't call me that!" Alesia growled, her blue eyes sparkling motes of fire. "Not until you clear up this bullshit."

"Too easy." Gwen played it cool. "Eric Walken is indebted to me. I blackmailed him into teaching me magic."

"What?" Alesia looked to Walken, clearly not expecting something so sensibly plausible.

"Ah—" Walken caught on without missing a beat. "Gwen, that's confidential!"

"I trust Allie." Gwen moved closer to Alesia, placing herself between her instructors. "She probably thought you were manipulating me, isn't that right, Alesia? It's the opposite, I assure you. Walken is under my watchful eye."

"Are you lying to me?" Alesia narrowed her eyes. "Are you patronising me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Gwen lowered her arms. "Come on, Alesia, think about it. I've got dirt on him, and he's teaching me so that he's not homeless. It's a win-win for me."

"I saw you hug him."

"Ah—" Gwen attempted to laugh the matter off as inconsequential. "What's in a hug?"

"He was all chummy!"

"We were on vid-cast." Gwen felt dirty as the words left her lips. Was it all for the show? Her feelings were ambivalent. She'd felt genuinely happy and grateful that some credit went to Walken, who had given her just the right amount of advice to deal with the cluster-fuck in Kachin. "It's all for show."

"Magus de Bottom." Walken approached.

"Fuck off!"

"You got it." Walken backed away.

"Alesia." Gwen came closer with her arms open, having a second go at diplomacy. "I am so happy that you're here. You have no idea how much I've missed you and Gunther."

"No! No! NO!" Alesia muttered darkly. "This won't do."

"Why not?" Gwen made a face. "It was a misunderstanding. Walken's an employee whose job is to get me through the IIUC. Gunther knows this. He told me—"

"Gunther knew this?" Alesia's temper abruptly peaked.

_FUCK!_ Gwen inwardly keened.

"I called Gunther as soon as I found out the Dean dug up Walken as an instructor. You should know that I got very emotional. When he came into my class, I was this close to Consuming him."

"This is true," Walken called out. "On my Astral Soul, your hellcat tried to scratch out my eyes."

"SHUT UP!"

Walken shut up.

"So, Gunther knew?" Alesia demanded.

"Er… I asked him for permission."

"So he told you to chum with this fucker?" Alesia's hair was rising; she looked like she could eat liars like air.

"Allie!" Gwen dialled up her big green puppy-eyes. "Please don't be so mad, Allie. I am so happy you're here. There's so much I want to tell you and show you."

"MAD? I AM FUCKING STOKED" Alesia exploded once again. "THAT GUY KILLED OUR MASTER!"

"Er—" Walken raised a hand. "Correction…"

"ALESIA!" Gwen pulled back her sister's attention. "I am an Omni-Mage now- all thanks to Walken. How about that, huh? Master would be super proud."

"What the fuck is an Omni-Mage?" Alesia spat.

"Wow," a snort escaped from Walken.

"You're a dead man!" Alesia began. "Gwen, I swear to Gunther, if you don't kick his ass right this second—"

"ALLIE!" Gwen snapped back. The air froze as Dragonfear permeated the space between them, silencing Alesia.

Her sister-in-craft glared at Gwen, then retaliated with an intensity of her own, one generated from the numberless atrocities she had committed in the name of humanity.

"You've got some nerve—"

"DUEL ME!" Gwen could think of little else to relieve Alesia of her pent-up frustration. "I want to show you what I managed to fleece from Walken. Come on. Me and you, sister on sister. Let me prove to you that our Master would have been proud."

Alesia paused.

"Duel me?" Her lips curled cruelly. "Little Gwen, you want to duel me?"

"YES!" Gwen motioned for Walken to fuck off. "Me and you, mano a mano, first to yield. Oxford style."

"Oh?" Alesia seemed to have forgotten all about Walken. Her blue irises began to turn purple. "You're serious."

"Dead serious." Her own eyes glimmered with blue lightning. "If I win, forget about Walken. We'll go for cocktails and lobsters afterwards."

"And if I win?"

"I'll kick Walken out."

"Can I—"

"NOT NOW, ERIC!" Gwen shouted back. "Go tell the fuzz we're busy here."

The two women watched as Walken exited the hall.

"You're going to regret helping that snake." Alesia's expression was a tempest raining fire.

"I'll be the judge of that. Allie, do you have a Spirit right now?" Gwen took a step back. "Surely Gunther has got you a new one?"

"You'll find out." Alesia kicked away her stilettos. Pulling her hair back, she made a bun. "I am not fucking around, Gwennie. Are you?"

"I'll go easy on you," Gwen smirked, likewise knotting her hair. "Caliban! Ariel!"

Caliban slithered into being, discarding its Invisibility.

"SHAAA!" It wagged its lamprey-tentacles at Alesia.

"EEee!" Ariel made itself known, wagging its fishtail.

"You better beware," Gwen informed her sister-in-craft. "I going to show you how much I've grown."

Alesia cracked her neck, then her fingers.

"Ready?"

Their eyes met.

"Ready."

"Cinder!"
"Flashbang!"

Gwen cursed as her split-second spell failed to catch the dashing Alesia, grazing her sister-in-craft but failing to stun her. Caliban simultaneously charged, transforming into its spider form while Ariel took to the air to act as her spy-station and living turret.

"Combust!" The next spell came from Alesia, a split-second Evocation which Gwen had never seen.

"Lighting Bo—"

Her double-bolt was caught half-way when without warning, a mote of ember from Alesia's earlier Cinder cantrip expanded into a roaring Fireball, catching her entirely off-guard.

"Oof!" An intense heat licked her torso and her chest, sending her flying backwards. Were it not for her sturdy constitution and overwhelming VMI, the feedback from her twin Lightning Bolt would have thrown her onto the floor.

"SHAAA!" Caliban closed in, its claws locked for capturing one of its favourite humans. According to its master, merely pinning her would suffice.

"Stun Blast!" Came the next spell from Alesia, invoked one-handed. When the shockwave engendered, the blast sent Caliban skittering backwards, while Alesia propelled forward toward Gwen.

_SHIT!_ Gwen landed on her shoulder, then rolled into a dive just like how Alesia had taught her so long ago. "Dimension Door!"

"Blink! Flame Whip!"

Somehow, Alesia could predict where she was going to land. Appearing simultaneously, her former instructor caught Gwen by the ankle with her whip, seriously lacerated her white running shoes, then pulled Gwen with terrific force into the air.

Meanwhile, Gwen's lightning washed over her sister-in-craft, setting off a wave of defiant sparks as her Transmutation-enhanced body absorbed her tier 6 Lightning.

Passive magic? Her mind raced. Alesia could buff herself with silent incantations? As expected of the Scarlet Sorceress, she had grown far more powerful since Blackwattle.

_WHAM!_
Gwen slammed bodily into the Force Barrier, feeling her innards turn inside out. Madly circulating her Essence, she quickly spun, clearing her head with a restorative jolt, then kicked hard at the ground so that she pulled at Alesia' whip.

"Woa!" Alesia lost her footing. Even with her Transmutation Enhancements, Gwen's draconic-strength was stronger.

"Lightning Bolt!"
"EEee!"

"Flame Avatar!"

Twin bolts struck where Alesia stood, warping the barrier below. Alesia appeared to be stunned, but just as Gwen used the reprieve to stand, Alesia's red dress burst into orange flames, transforming her into a being of fire.

Djinn-form? Gwen blinked. Alesia looked just like Jun with his Ashen Avatar activated. Either way, it meant the difficulty had escalated.

"I thought you were going all out?" Alesia lifted into the air; her near-perfect proportions made impossibly sensual now that her eyes were burning coals and her hair was a river of firefly embers. "Nice Affinity, by the way. I took some damage. Why aren't you using your Void Magic?"

"Well." Gwen licked her parched lips. "You'll have to make me! CALIBAN! ARIEL!"

"Maelstrom!" Alesia drew a circle in the air.

_HOLY FUCK!_ Gwen sucked in a breath of super-heated air: at-will tier 6 Evocation?!

"Elemental Sphere!" Gwen retaliated with an AOE of her own. Behind Alesia, she commanded Caliban to no longer hold back. With a grotesque sound of bone and meandering flesh, it transformed into the stag and activated its sixteen prehensile tentacles.

Above, Ariel grew full-fluffed.

_FOOMP!_

A portal opened into the Elemental Plane of Fire. A sudden vortex descended, pulling Gwen and both of her Familiars into the swirling flames.

"SHAA!" Caliban's tentacles whipped around the stationary Alesia, capturing her flaming body. A great sizzling of grey slime polluted the air as the netherworld fiend used the Maelstrom's owner as an anchor, sliding its appendages around her limbs and torso.

Gwen's Elemental Sphere erupted, though from what she could see, some of its power appeared to have been deadened by the overwhelming volume of Elemental Fire that now filled the vicinity of the training platform. Indeed, it was becoming difficult to breathe, and what air that remained had now heated up to such a degree that she could feel her clothes fraying.

Crack! The second stage of Elemental sphere erupted, enveloping Alesia.

"Void Skin!" Gwen cooled herself before she felt faint from heatstroke.

"Bilby's Hand!" came another higher-tier spell from her opponent.

"Shield!" Gwen fell on the defensive. Instantly, the semi-dome turned opaque from the impact, though thanks to her absurd VMI, it held.

"Use your killing spell!" a command came from Alesia. "Don't be a sissy!"

"Morden's Hound!" Gwen cursed the fact that there was no fucking way she was going to use Chakram Seekers on her newly recovered sister-in-craft. Without IFF from Caliban, she wasn't about to risk wiping out yet another portion of Alesia's Astral Body.

Alesia continued to pound her shield, but Gwen had plenty of mana left to not only sustain but regenerate the damaged portion.

"GRRRR!"
"AWWWOOOOO!"
Her hounds emerged.
"SHAAA!" Caliban asked for permission to gore Alesia. Gwen denied her creature's bloodthirsty demand.

"Cali! Keep her tied up!"

"Flame Nova!" Alesia's response was to unleash a ring of cutting, expanding fire from her torso, slicing apart Caliban's restraints.

"SHAAA!" A viscous grey ichor sprayed into the air, evaporating as it touched Alesia's flaming form.

"Lightning Bolt!"

Alesia's flaming form absorbed the blue-white lightning.

Gwen commanded her dogs to attack. If they too failed, then she had only one recourse.

"Blade Barrier!" Alesia completed another tier 6 AoE in less time it took Gwen to manifest a supplementary tier 5 Ball Lightning.

A thick ring of spinning, flaming blades came into being, filling the space of the training hall. Once, twice, a hundred times, her dogs were whipped up by a massive meat-grinder of fire and steel, whimpering and howling as the merciless object bit into their lightning-charged hide.

"Ball Light—"

"Combust!"

The small explosion happened a few inches from Gwen's body, pressing the air from her lungs. Though a part of her exercise gear blew off, her skin was neither scorched nor blackened.

In a way, both casters were holding back.

"Flashbang!"

Her spell burst over Alesia.
She wanted to win, and Ariel would make it so.

"Barbanginy!"

"Blink!" Alesia had anticipated her killing spell, appearing just above the stationary Familiar, she grabbed Ariel by the horns.

"EEE—?"

"Disintegrate!"

"EEEEE?!"

Before the green energy ball could emerge, a beam from Alesia's hand, near-invisible in its extreme heat, removed Ariel's horns with the precision of a veterinarian surgery.

Gwen sputtered as Barbanginy's extreme energy clogged her conduits. To secure victory, she had fed a double-dose of Essence-infused Elemental Sphere into Ariel, and now that energy sloshed back into her Astral Body.

She fucked up! Gwen realised. Alesia's casting speed for tier 6 spells was faster than her tier 5 Evocations, so she should have gone with a basic Lightning Bolt. Six seconds might seem a split-second to those watching a duel, but to someone like her sister-in-craft, it was enough to kick her to the curb and gutter-stomp her face.

"EEEE!" Ariel sprung into a blind panic, assaulting Gwen's empathic link. Where the hell did its horns go? Not only that, it had lost most of its mane where the horns had been. It was now bald!

As for Ariel's master, Essence-infused mana now flooded her Astral Body.

"Caliban!" Gwen called out desperately for Caliban to assume its Naga form, surprised by just how hard she was willing to fight for Walken. "DO IT!"

"SHAAA!" came a cry from Caliban even as it struggled against the Maelstrom.

At that moment, Gwen's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she felt for the first time in a long time, the exquisite agony of an old fashioned mana burn.

"STOP!" Came a cry from the speaker system. "Operator! Purge the room!"

A second thrum filled the chamber, though the magic-deadening wasn't for Gwen nor Caliban. With her mind in chaos, Caliban de-materialised, returning to its pocket dimension, joining a traumatised, hornless, hairless Ariel.

The fire on Alesia's body dimmed until it was barely a whisper of orange licking the air. Simultaneously, her wide-range AoE ceased.

"HRRUK!" Gwen expelled Walken's scones, toast and jam all over the floor. She looked up at Alesia with runny eyes and wounded pride. "NO! I can still fight!"

"I know you can, tiger." Alesia sighed, her fury drained by the sight of her sister's suffering. "You win."

"Owww!" Gwen flopped over, then writhed on the floor. "My head…"

"You've proven your point." Alesia intoned sagely, dispelling her Flame Avatar. "You handicapped yourself while I almost gave everything I had. Still, I saw your skills on the vid-cast, you should have..."

Gwen began to pound the floor. "GHNNNGH!"

"Tiger?" Alesia realised Gwen wasn't listening at all.

"Blurrrgh!" Gwen vomited yet again, this time her ejecta was mostly tea and stomach acid. She wondered if her brain would leak out of her ears, or if her mana conduits would erupt. Heedlessly, she rolled across her own sick, splashing about the floor groaning and moaning like a dying fish. In her Pocket Dimensions, Caliban howled, while Ariel whimpered. Unbidden, she began to convulse even as her face took on the texture and hue of raw pastry.

Beside the epileptic Gwen, her sister-in-craft grew suddenly nervous.

_Phssht!_

The doors to the chamber clanged open. In came Dean Luo, Walken, Magus Ma and a troop of Military Mages from both the PLA and the Pudong Tower.

"Gwen!" the Dean ran to his trophy Mage with a face full of genuine worry. "Mao! What have you done to her?"

"It's just… a duel…" a croaking voice came from the girl. "My sister's teaching me…"

Walken likewise knelt beside Gwen, looking as though he wanted to help the girl. However, the Magister stopped short of picking his student up from the floor. With a critical glare, he turned his disapproving eyes up toward his ward's sister-in-craft.

"Ma says that's her shijie." A PLA Military Mage shivered.
"Brutal… too brutal." Another shook his head. "Gweilos are heartless, eh?"
"They only care about winning."

"Do you mind?" Walken indicated to the girl on the floor, his lips thin and hypercritical. "Do I have your permission to take her to the infirmary?"

By now, Alesia's face was flashing red and white.

"I'll do it!" The sorceress picked up her sister-in-craft. Gwen fell into her sister's soft body as she grew increasingly senseless. The last thing she heard was Alesia conversing with the others.

"Miss de Botton." Alan bowed his head, then indicated to the Military Mages. "Magister Walken and Dean Luo have chosen not to press charges, but we need you on the record…"

"I understand." Alesia's worry for her sister-in-craft overshadowed her desire to drag Walken down with her. "I'll meet you outside the infirmary. Can someone lead me there?"

The crowd parted.
The Scarlet Sorceress departed with her sibling-in-craft.

When the door clicked, the Dean turned to his Grey Faction colleague with an amused expression.

"I got some of the paparazzi to surround the front. I think it's going to make a nice headline," he remarked. "Why were you winking at her? The girl's going to be bed-ridden for days."

Walken exhaled, then appeared both embarrassed and anxious. He glanced at the expelled scones on the floor, then wrinkled his nose.

"I thought she was faking it…"


The underwhelming headlined, "Hellish Training at Fudan: Gwen Song Injured!" made the fourth page of the People's Telegraph, accompanied by an apology from Alesia de Botton, Heroine of the Coral Sea Conflict, and a hefty fine in CCs and HDMs for illicit use of magic. A day later, a second statement from Magister Gunther Shultz crawled its way through the grapevine.

"Miss Gwen Song's relationship with Magus de Botton and I will be clarified in time." The charismatic man smiled for the lumen-recorders. "At this point, the details are well known to those who have a right to know. Until then, I wish our sorceress fair winds in her endeavours."

The last remark was well calculated, leading to yet more speculation. Some professional commentators stated that it made perfect sense for Gwen Song to be Henry Kilroy's hidden disciple, for her access to not one, but two unique Familiars smacked firmly of the later Tower Master's most lauded area of magic.

Others critiqued that this was yet another attempt by outside forces to subvert the fairness of the IIUC, hinting that someone with as much influence as Shultz should not be publicly backing a candidate.

Meanwhile, the victim of the fiasco herself spent two days at her grandmother's hospital with mana sickness, falling in and out of fatigued sleep as her body recovered.

"You can manifest TWO of those spells at once?" Alesia sat on one side of Gwen's bed, while Walken sat on the other.

"Ariel duplicates them through its horns..." Gwen cuddled the mewling Kirin as it sat between her legs. Below, Caliban coiled under the bedstand. Thanks to her babulya's influence, a VIP room at the Second PLA hospital was an absolute certainty.

"Eee! EE!" Ariel cried out.

"It's growing back!" Gwen kissed her Familiar's scalp. "I can see some fuzz already."

"Sorry..." Alesia patted Ariel's silky fish-tail.

Arriving at the hospital had been a harrowing experience for the Scarlet Sorceress. When Alesia had finally met Gwen's frantic grandmother, her shame was so dire that all of her prideful arrogance dissolved at once. She apologised profusely to the grim-faced old lady whom Gwen had repeatedly labelled the kindest human being on this living earth, barring their late master.

On the opposite side, seeing Alesia so cowed filled Walken with satisfaction, for he had finally found a hard counter to the indomitable Alesia de Botton's fiery impulses. In his memory, Kilroy never fully reigned in Alesia. Without Kilroy, Gwen and Alesia were made of far more malleable metal.

But that would come later. For now, Alesia's temporary loss of temerity afforded Walken a chance to initiate a Grey Faction speciality. With great solemnity, he slid forward an elegant wooden box bound with plated mithril and etched gold.

"Magus de Botton, for a while now, I had hoped to return this to its rightful holder. In offering this olive branch between us, I hope I can be of some help to yourself, Magister Shultz, and of course, our mutual student."

Seeing that Alesia appeared hesitant, Gwen took the liberty of opening the brass-buckled lid. Within, twelve egg-sized Ioun Stones winked back at the pair of suddenly emotional women.

"Master's collection!" Alesia gasped.

"Opa made these!" Gwen touched a hand to her lips, then corrected herself. "Well, some of these…"

"Only a few are truly precious," Walken explained. "Though a prismatic set is all the rarer when gathered. Would you like an introduction? I don't think either of you has seen Henry's completed collection."

"YES!" Gwen's eyes sparkled. Ioun Stones were a girl's best friend.

Alesia relented.

"Let's begin with the brilliant-cut Garnet," Walken began, pointing to the first stone. "Henry picked this one up in Tanzania while suppressing the Popobawa, a kind of primordial vampire. It allows one to resist physical side-effects, such as being stunned."

"Ooo..." Gwen felt her fingers twitch.

"That one's a trilliant-cut Amethyst. Believe it or not, Henry said he found this one inside a Bone Golem in Tajikistan, guarding the tomb of an old Necromancer. It grants protection against Necromantic magic."

"This one is a mixed-cut Aquamarine: that's a gem with an easy history. Kilroy received this one during the Coral Sea War. I am fairly certain you were there, Alesia. Gunther retrieved it during that clash in Hamilton, do you recall?"

"The one with the seahorses? Their spurt-lances was a bitch to deal with."

"Yes, the Wave Riders," Walken corrected her. "The Captain of the Coral Knights of Queen Zeim had this on his helmet."

Alesia held the stone nostalgically.

Gwen cooed with worship.

"And now enchanted to allow water breathing and superior movement underwater." Walken moved across to the next gem, a fingernail-sized diamond. "This one's a rare one. A Royal Asscher Radiant Diamond. What do you think it does?"

"Be my best friend?" Gwen's eyes gleamed at the ten-thousand fold facade refracting the light. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Walken chuckled at the girl's undisguised greed. "No. It enhances your Shield, making the surface more rigid, like a Mineral Mage. Perfect for elementalists. This next one is an emerald-cut Moss Stone, from the Elfhome of Mossvale in Ireland. It enhances positive energy, and so are useful for healers. I had thought of giving you this one before, but your negative energy would likely shatter or disable it. Your grandfather was the inscriber."

"Aww… what's this one?"

"Ah- that's a Briolette-cut Alexandrite," Alesia interjected. "I recall Master receiving it from the Ural Mountains, from the Hill Dwarves of Yekaterinburg. It's beyond precious."

"Correct," Walken affirmed Alesia's recollection. "The Alexandrite has an inscription-cut patented by the Enchanter-Meister Gabi Tolkowsky, containing a superior Comprehend Language engraving, allowing for communication in Sylvan, Elven, Dwarven, and twenty-seven Demi-human languages."

Gwen gulped, her drake-tainted soul aching for the stone's ownership.

"And these are masterworks inscribed by Surya." Walken finger-walked through the next few. "The Brilliant Ruby enhances fire affinity and provides heat resistance. The Barion Sapphire does the same for Ice and Water Magic. The Pyramidal Topaz allows for supplementary affinity for Air and Lightning, and finally, the Tiger's Eye empowers Earth."

Two more Ioun Stones remained.

"This one is a failure." Walken pointed to a Teardrop Pink Tourmaline. "Its suppose to enable mental restoration, but it instead grants resistance to poisons. I don't know what Magus Huang was doing when he made this."

Probably distracted by something erotic, Gwen hazarded a guess.

"I suppose that means its rare in an unintended way." Walken shrugged. "Finally, we have another old-world Asscher-cut, this one's a Blue Zircon, the pride and joy of Henry's collection- it once belonged to your brother-in-craft."

"Does Gunther know the Asscher family?" Gwen inquired, impressed with the brilliance of the Ioun Stone.

"They're acquainted." Alesia cleared her throat.

"There's a very awkward bit of modern history there…" Walken scratched his head. "Before the establishment of the Pan-European Treaty of Versaille after the Beast Tide, the city-states of Europe descended into a sort of resource-madness. They fought over history, grudges, religion, trade routes, colonies, new Frontiers; you name it. It was the Golden Age of Spellcraft warfare, and the two major contenders were the Reich and the Mageocracy."

Gwen recollected that indeed, there had been mention of such things in her history books. As for "Modern History", her censored textbooks after the 1971 awakening of the Black Sea Dragon catalysed the rise of Magical Beasts around the world, coinciding with the rise of the Mermen Empires from the depth below. The pre-war period possessed nowhere near the same volume of information.

"That's right." Walken nodded. "Did you know Gunther's family was involved right up to their necks? I bet he never talks about that particular part of his past, hmm? When Berlin briefly occupied Amsterdam, Gunther's grandfather, Generalmajor Otto von Shultz, amassed a wealth of gems and artefacts, most of which Gunther had since returned to the surviving families. It's one of the reasons why he enjoys such renown in Europe, and why he left his homeland."

"An apologist," Alesia butted in. "That's what some people called him."

"Yes, well." Walken coughed. "It's not like England hasn't had its share of troubles. India, Burma, the razing of the Falkland Islands, those were exceptional times that called for extreme measures. In my estimation of Gunther, I think he chose to follow your Master, not because of criticism from the aristocracy, but because he had no wish to carry on what he saw as a tainted legacy. If I was the last von Shultz, carving out a new Frontier would also be my preferred Path."

"Gunther told me his old haunt was in Bavaria, near Breitenegg. They're minor nobility, aren't they?"

"Is that what he said?"

"Yes." Alesia coughed.

"Then that's that," Walken agreed.

Gwen chewed her lips, trembling with curiosity.

"So, what does this gem do?" Alesia changed the subject.

"It diffuses Negative Energy." Walken watched his student's face. "Kilroy requested it, but alas... "

The rest was best left unsaid.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"And you're returning this to us?" Alesia smacked her ruby-lips together. "Just like that."

"Well, its a bribe…" Walken confessed openly, proud of the fact. "Are you not sufficiently placated by the return of these priceless mementoes?"

"I see." Alesia pulled the box closer. "You shall live, for now. Gwen, what stones ya got?"

Gwen touched a hand to the back of her head. Hidden inside her hair and adhered to her neck was her babulya's Stone of Clarified Thought and a Comprehend Language stone. Revealing her pale, long neck, she showed them both to Alesia.

"What's that?" Walken pointed to an opalescent scale embedded at the base of her skull.

"Ah, that's Ayxin's gift," she explained with nonchalance. "It helps me regulate my Essence."

"Draconic Essence?"

"Aye."

Her two instructors looked one another in the eye.

"You can attune up to four Stones, generally speaking." Alesia pulled back her hair to reveal that she too had a private collection, running from the base of her neck down between her attractive shoulders. "Mine are Ruby-Agate, Fire Opal. Pink Diamond, and a Blood Hematite."

Walken whistled. "An Asscher-cut Argyle Diamond? A gift from Gunther?"

Gwen wiggled her brows suggestively.

"No wonder she beat you black and blue. Your sister-in-craft is running no less than four rare damage-amplification Ioun Stones." Walken inclined his chin at Gwen, as though a great puzzle had resolved itself. "Little wonder her cantrip was at Fireball strength."

"Anyway." Alesia pulled out three stones - the Blue Zircon, the Radiant Diamond, and the Pyramidal Topaz. "These are yours. Pick one more."

"May I…" Gwen swallowed. For someone like her, a superior translation stone was unimaginably helpful. "Have the Alexandrite? Also, can I swap the topaz for the garnet?"

Alesia removed the purple gem and the garnet, then tossed it across the bed.

Gwen palmed the stones.
The Zircon would somehow mitigate some of her Negative Energy, hopefully in a manner akin to Percy's amulet.
The Alexandrite would improve her coherency and language options.
The Radiant Diamond increased the rigidity of her twin-Shields.
And finally, the Garnet would hopefully reduce the chance of her being stunned by disruptions and counterspells.

"Four for each of us." Alesia removed an inferior ruby from her neck, then attuned the one made by Gwen's Opa. "The activation glyph is inside the lid of the box. I'll take the rest to Gunther."

"Gotcha." Gwen removed her mundane translation stones from her neck, then embedded her new accessories through the attunement ritual inside the box. The only one she kept unadorned was the diamond, for she preferred the mental-fatigue negation offered by her babulya's gift.

"Now that our Master's legacy physically links us." Alesia pointed a finger to Walken. "It'll be easier to hunt down our prey."

Walken stared, as did Gwen.

"That was a joke."

"Hahaha…" Gwen laughed drily.

"Hohoho…" Walken joined in.

"One day, I am going to catch you red-handed." Alesia packed the box into her Storage Ring then glared at Walken. "Don't you think for a moment that I am going to let my innocent sister fall into your grubby hands."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Walken put up both palms as if in defeat. "I am her humble instructor, nothing more."

"As for you." Alesia turned toward her sister-in-craft.

Gwen swallowed. Maybe she should have equipped the diamond.

Alesia's lips curled. "I am going to pound some spell-doctrine back into your head."

By mid-October, the second round of the Asian Qualifiers had gone underway. With Fudan occupying one slot by default, the remaining teams competed for the remaining spot on Jeju Island. As for Gwen, Alesia made good on her promise of sparring her until she spewed, while Gwen retaliated by drinking Alesia under until she painted the sidewalks outside the Waldorf-Astoria.

"Alesia, why are your spells so damn fast?" Gwen inquired as she panted against the cold training barrier. "How much practice will I need?"

"A lot more, that and I am using Master's variants," Alesia notified her sister-in-craft. "I've been provisioned all the way to tier 8... "

One of the reasons why she had hasted-spells, Alesia explained, was because their Master improved them. That was also why she was teaching Gwen their master's Bilby's Hand.

"It's a spell you'll grow into." Alesia left her with an oft-heard aphorism. "Since I am here, let's do our best to get Maelstrom happening as well, shall we? Master's variation is much easier to utilise. Get up!"

Alesia's Boot Camp, as expected, was hell. Compared to Walken's training, her sister's methods were militant to the extreme, consisting of a level of physical and mental exhaustion that challenged even Gwen's Essence-infused stamina.

A week later, Gwen threw a big bash to introduce Alesia to her friends and family, including Ayxin. When rattling off the guest list and presenting each of her Shanghai allies, Alesia grew incredulous.

"You invited your father's brother and a dragon-kin, but not your Mother or Father?" Alesia knew Gwen had family troubles, but the extent of her sister's complex was only now beginning to materialise.

"I left it to babulya to invite father," Gwen corrected her sister-in-craft. "I feel awkward with his new kid, and his wife hates me... you know?"

As an orphan twice-over, Alesia felt she wasn't qualified to comment. She had only Gunther and Gwen to speak of, and her fiancè loathed the topic of his family.

A day later, the gathering took place at the Four Seasons' panoramic-lounge overlooking the Bund. There, Gwen graciously introduced Alesia to the famous PLA Captain known as the Ash Bringer, as well as the woman-shaped dragon, Ayxin of Huangshan.

"Nonsense, how could I compare to the Scarlet Sorceress?" Jun's modesty was pleasing to Alesia, who loathed her fame, especially when it transformed into infamy following the incident with Walken. The number of times Alesia had to accept duels because she couldn't withstand the goading couldn't be counted even with her toes.

While the two military professionals exchanged humblebrags, Gwen made small talk with Ayxin about her eldest.

"Ruxin says he couldn't have done it without you." Ayxin regarded Gwen with suspicion, studying the girl's aesthetic physique. For the occasion, Gwen wore a strapless halter-dress that juxtaposed a Victorian front with an almost scandalously revealing back. "You're not involved with my brother, are you?"

"What? No!" Gwen spluttered. "Ruxin is like, five-hundred? I am far too young for him, and he's far too old."

"But you're at the prime breeding age for humans, are you not?"

"WOA!" Gwen waved her hands. "Word choice!"

"What's this, does Gwen have a beau?" Alesia butted in, having heard the B-word.

"Both of my brothers are keen on your sister-in-craft," Ayxin taunted Jun's niece. "Two Princes of Huangshan, one effectively a demi-god by human standards, she should be so flattered."

"They're both dragons…" Gwen added flatly.

"Ah," Alesia teased Gwen about her fictional flings with the draconic demi-humans. "I would very much like to meet them one day. I don't know how Gunther would feel about you dating dragons, I mean, we're the Middle Faction, but hey, true love and all that."

"Bloody hell, Allie—" Gwen felt her back beginning to sweat. Ruxin was cool. His human form was a rung above Gunther, and the guy was diplomatic to boot, possessing just the right amount of goofiness, but Golos? Golos meeting Alesia? What would be the first thing out of his mouth? It was probably something like, "Oi, nice Fire Element, want sum fuk?" Followed by instant decapitation by Gunther. After that? The awakening of the Yinglong and the fall of Shanghai into the South China Sea.

"I would very much like to meet this Gunther of yours as well," Ayxin politely addressed Gwen's mentor. "The Morning Star's prowess, if what Jun says is true, is on par with Ruxin, though I find it difficult to believe that a human could attain such destructive potential."

"The rumours don't do him justice." Gwen chuckled. "He once decapitated a Leviathan with one spell."

"Then he must be a most impressive specimen!" Ayxin's voice took on a sudden seriousness. "Miss Alesia, if you have mated with Magister Shultz, why have you not spawned offspring?"

"What?" Alesia spluttered. "You mean babies? Well, I mean- we're not planning, not really…"

"I would like to know the details." Ayxin leaned in closer. "Are you having trouble conceiving? I require knowledge of how higher-tier Mages manage physiological..."

"Gwen, come here." Jun pulled her away. "Go join your cousins and your friends."

"Uncle, I am eighteen. I know how the dragons and the phoenixes work."

"Just… go. Please?"

Gwen sighed.

"I'll be over there."

Jun exhaled with relief, then guided the gossiping women toward a private corner.

"Welcome back." Petra was having fun ingratiating herself into the team. As a trained professional, Gwen's cousin slid into the ranks as easily as a Spellcube into her Storage Ring.

"Thanks." Gwen took a glass of red wine from an attentive waiter. "How's everyone going?"

"Training day and night." Jiro was in seventh heaven when he found out that the Flower of Fudan would be a permanent addition to the team. According to his overzealous confession, he'd been crushing hard on Petra since he was a first-year. "I am at the moment mastering Bounding Flames after witnessing your Chain Lightning. Miss Petra, all my spells are at your disposal!"

"I am flattered." Petra clinked glasses with the Fire Mage. "I shall use them well."

Jiro's joy grew boundless. "Ow!"

Rene kicked him in the shins.

"How are the Spirits coming along?" Gwen asked both Petra and Lulan.

"A long way to go." Lulan seemed crestfallen. "I am still having a hard time against Jinwei. The Spirit is difficult to control."

"Aww." With a warm hug, Gwen assured her friend that her setback was temporary. "Lulu. I am confident you'll be able to master it and surprise us all."

"Gwennie?" Mayuree materialised, looking cute as a button in a lace mini dress.

"Mia! Where did you go?"

"A parcel arrived for us at the concierge." Mayuree raised her Storage Ring, then retrieved a Message Stone. "It's from Marong. He says it contains critical information for our next matches."

The rest of the team huddled.

"Let's take this somewhere private," Gwen recommended they move to a separate room. Perhaps in deference to Alesia, their instructor had not attended her party.

Mayuree invoked the secret glyph.

"Gwen, Marong here. I've got some information you might be interested in." The young man's voice came through the stone. "This won't hit the news for another week, but here are the latest payouts from the betting houses…"

Mayuree translated Marong's bookie lingo into a breakdown of their future opponents.

Oxford University was the top seed, the big dog, the proverbial sky above the sky, offering a mere one-point-two in odds to win the whole damn thing.

They were followed shortly by Europe's winners who beat France, Spain and Italy: Germany's Ludwig Maximilian University, and to no one's surprise, London's Royal Imperial Sorcerous College. Famously, the European competition was a microcosmic IIUC of its own accord, dubbed the "group of death", it was a warm-up to the Europe-only Inter-European University Cup in April.

Then came the Americans, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Thaumaturgy in Cambridge, the east and west of a nation bisected by endless Purple and Black Zones from the deserts of Nevada to the Saurian wetlands of Mississippi.

After the favourites, came the underdogs.

Asia's twin participants consisted of Fudan University and Tokyo University, surprisingly boasting even odds, despite Tokyo's rank superiority.

Oceania's representative consisted of the University of Auckland and Nanyang Spellcraft University from the fortress city of Singapore. Thanks to the Mermen invasion, Australia's top institutions had been thrown into chaos, and so rescinded their participation, paving the way for Auckland. Nanyang was itself strongly affiliated with Oxford and Cambridge, established after alumni broke from the Mageocracy to support Singapore's independence in the 50s.

Meso and South America's winners were Cuzco National University and The School of the Golden Sun. Both were unorthodox colleges only recently with skin in the game, having embraced the teaching of Spellcraft a mere three decades prior and very much influential in fields yet unexplored by modern Spellcraft.

Finally, from North Africa, Cairo University and its southern sibling, the Sorcerous Academy of Pretoria, originally an offshoot of London Imperial, marked the challenge from the continent with the largest demi-human presence.

"Holy hell." Gwen grimaced. "What world-rank are we?"

Petra's lips pursed. "154th."

"Wow!" Gwen almost swirled the wine back into her glass. "What kind of competition are we looking at?"

"You sure you want to know?"

"Better now than later."

"Oxford is the undisputed No.1 Magical institution for Spellcraft, followed by Stanford, MIT and London Imperial vying for No.2 to 5. Tokyo is 29th. Nanyang is 12th, I think. LMU is 24th. Auckland is in the 90s, and Pretoria in the 80s. The only universities in our range are Cairo at 224th, Cuzco at 197th and Golden Sun at 162nd."

"Which means our next competitors should be someone close to us in our rankings." Anita had done her homework. "Next, we'll be going against Cairo, Cuzco, or Golden Sun."

"And assuming we win, round 2 is going to be absurdly difficult," Petra affirmed her worries. "Chances are we'll be running into at least one university with a sub 50 rank in round 2, and if we make round 3…"

The horror, the horror, Gwen shivered.

Her teammates' expressions suggested they could hardly believe that Fudan could face the world's uppermost academic existences like MIT, Stanford, Oxford or London Imperial.

She suddenly felt the feeling of being a big fish in a small pond. Compared to cities like NY, London, Paris or Berlin, the rat-race in Shanghai was not dominated by Displacer Beasts.

With Marong's Message played out, the team fell into poor spirits, each realising that their bright futures concurrently cast long and sinister shadows, ones that may yet swallow them all.


Mid-October was the best time of year to visit Shanghai, for the superstructural Tower's hazy barrier kept the city cosy as its deciduous flora turned to fire.

At Guoding B1, above the autumn trees, Alesia and Gwen endlessly teased Gunther's iron-willed patience. After a while, Alesia grew thirsty; when she returned, Gunther had skillfully steered the conversation toward Surya, Gwen's grandfather.

"Tell Opa I love him, and that I'll be able to return in another year, two at most." Gwen said. "Thanks for looking after him, Gunther."

After Alesia poured herself and Gwen a glass of soda, the topic shifted to closer concerns.

"I've heard on the grapevine that you're likely facing off the South or Meso American institutions first." Gunther appeared entirely relaxed. "Fudan's low ranking may be a blessing yet. If you can defeat the rank 27th Kyoto, the less orthodox universities shouldn't be too much trouble. There's going to be one problem though."

"What's that?"

"The lower-ranked university gets to pick the grounds, so there's a good chance you'll be travelling the Andes or Mexico City."

"Wow," Gwen gushed. "I would love that."

"Love what?" Gunther chuckled. "Do you have any idea how powerful Spirit Magic can be when used by Shamans on their home turf? The very mountain will turn against you if you're not careful."

"Oh…"

"'Oh' indeed," Gunther continued. "Consult Walken. He's spent a few years here and there on the Mageocracy's behalf. What are you hoping to accomplish in the next three weeks?"

"Bilby's Hand from Alesia, and Walken's almost done with preparations for Planar Ally."

"An Ally? It's a risky spell- fantastic if you can manage it, but..."

"I think I'll manage," Gwen replied with confidence.

"Then the best of luck to you." Gunther nodded. "Don't force it. If the creature refuses to obey or make a deal, let it go. With your access to resources, it should be no trouble to try again when you've gained more mastery."

"Thanks, Gunther."

"No worries, and thank you for taking care of Alesia—"

"Who's taking care of WHO?!" Alesia shouted from the couch, ready for round two.

The LRM Device whined down.
All that was left was to train, spar, and study.

Nagaland.

Jade Palace.

Ruxin wondered what he should do next.

He was bored, and therefore, he felt cheated.

The reason for his ambivalence was because his treasury was empty.

And yet, he possessed more "wealth" than in any moment of his five centuries of life. The predicament was that his "treasure" was now a string of human-numbers on a data slate.

"My Lord, the procurement of Crystals will take close to a decade, else we shall drive up the price of your desired elemental crystals recklessly," Marong had informed him. "While I stockpile the necessary jadeite and nephrite, rest assured that your earnings have been invested. It's split between The House of M's jade venture, primary industries and the Centurion program. Furthermore, I have taken the liberty of inviting you to sit on the Board. The Grey Faction has consented..."

Ruxin paced back and forth in the near-empty vault as he ruminated over Marong's report.

A week ago, as tit-for-tat for the Spirit Cores, the Calamity had delivered a proposal of such ruthless tyranny that even Ruxin felt bedazzled. What their young financier had proposed in a two-hundred-page document was something called commodity monopoly in conjunction with supply capture and superficial-constraint. As Kachin produced the best jadeite and nephrite bar none, she explained, they would set the classification of the precious mineral. Simultaneously, through its auction network, The House of M would hoard all higher-grade jade while weakening foreign markets with lower-tier stones sold at cost.

Then, they would trade "Kachin Jade" as a branded commodity by propagating the idea that New Zealand greenstone and Vietnamese serpent stone were inferior facsimiles. Accordingly, when Yangon's monopoly matured, the rarity of high and hyper-tier stones would fetch higher barter value for the crystals Ruxin desired. Furthermore, regulation capture could be enacted through feeding officials a slice of the profit- paid in jade- which would naturally ensure loyalty to the system established by the House of M.

All of which were concepts that escaped Ruxin's understanding of human economics.

That, and against the girl's knowledge, Ruxin double-dipped from her longterm investments in Tonglv, as well as the ever-swelling income from the Centurion program.

The result was far grander than Ruxin had anticipated. Rather than razing cities and demanding ransom, these humans would race one another to pile crystals into his treasury. Where he had expected to be fighting powerful beings, he now sat on his throne, reading the paperwork and waiting for his crystals to arrive. It was a most un-dragon-like activity, one that he had engineered.

He wondered if this was why his father slept all the time.

"Gwen Song…" Ruxin felt a troubling uncertainty. "Calamity…"

Once more, he 'owed' the girl, for their exchange had grown askew. As the girl said, she liked balanced accounts, and so did Ruxin. He would have to find something else to give her. Thankfully, he had a layabout brother to spare.

"I am bored," Ruxin confessed to the empty room. He needed what humans called a hobby. Maybe, he would tease Tika again; there's always sport in that.

Fifty kilometres from Shanghai, there existed a series of sandbar islands.

An old spell-testing ground, the islands existed just outside of the PLA superstructural Tower's coverage, forming a part of the Xima-Anshan archipelago, three hours travel by ship from Jinshan, Shanghai's southern-most metropolitan buildup.

The island was inhabited by friendly demi-humans who had long since adapted to living beside humanity, surviving by trading fish from the South China Sea. Though the Merman had a name for their home, human fishermen nonetheless labelled the rocky outcrop "Dawugui", meaning big turtle, while the bar of igneous rock was "Jifenjiao" or chicken-shit reef.

Though the Mermen protested the name; it was to no avail. Shanghai's Secretariat had no love for demi-humans from "Turd Island".

So it was that the Jifen-folk gathered at the turtle's most generous "turd" to witness a plot of human Mages poking at the fabric of reality with a short-stick.

"Here-ya-go!" A skinny female gave out cans of SPAM to the small Mermen children, watching with wide-eyed wonder as they retreated with their oiled palms back to their parents.

"You can speak our language?" Elder Lei-bup was surprised because the humans never spoke the Mermen's accented, gibbering tongue, a language as effective in water as it was on land.

"I suppose." The female appeared thrilled. Behind her, two senior Mages made Lei-bup nervous.

"What are you doing here?" Lei-bup demanded, feeling more confident that this human was reasonable. The female had fur the colour of charcoal, and her complexion was like the grubs one found in rotting logs. Watching her spindly limbs, Lei-bup felt unimpressed.

"We're working on a summoning, and my instructors said that this was a spell-testing ground…" the girl grinned. "Look, I'll minimise the damage, and compensate you for the temporary land lease, is there anything you need?"

In his fishy guts, Lei-bup sensed that a great opportunity had arrived.

"One hundred kilos of brown rice!" he boasted. "… and ten HDMs!"

"Done!" The gullible female struck out a hand, then passed over a currency card.

"Gurrp!" Lei-bup shook the fleshy appendage, gifting the human a handful of his thickest secretions.

"Gwen, what are you doing?" Walken watched his student traffic in trade with the local rabble.

"I am trying out the Ioun Stone." The girl returned to her place beside the two Magisters. Apart from Wen and Walken, there were also observers from both the PLA and the Pudong Towers. Thankfully, de Botton was uninvited, thanks to their fiasco, she had been ordered to stay within the Tower's range.

Instead, he focused on the spell he had spent the last week cramming into his student's head.

**Summon Planar Ally (Variant)**
Conjuration (6)
Casting Time: 220 Major, 22 Minor Incantation, Tier 6 Summoning Mandala
Range: N/A
Components: Somatic, Verbal, Glyph, Enchanter tier 6
Duration: N/A
 _A variation modified by Magister Eric Walken of Sydney. As with Planar Ally, the spell opens a portal into an Elemental Plane activated by the caster's Affinity via the accompanying Mandala. Upon completion, a being of a variable tier will manifest. Once conjured, negotiation with said being shall take place. The maximum time allotment is dependent on the expertise of the accompanying Enchanter inscribing the Glyph. Magister Walken's variation allows for higher tiers of control than the original. For additional theoretical framework, please consult the documentation for Schliersberg's Planar Ally._

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To provide context for the spell, he had extolled the work of Magister Derik Schliersberg, a renowned summoner. Schliersberg's family attended the region of the Schliersee Mountains, now a Green Zone of immense agricultural value. In his youth, as a passionate anthropologist, Schliersberg had travelled the known world, collating data on cultures that worshipped primal Spirits and Elemental Gods. In 1937, he finalised the first Spellcraft variation of Planar Ally, allowing Western Mages with no history of Spiritual worship to entrap and commune with Elemental beings. Since the spell's conception, notable episodes in the Pan-European conflict, the Sino Conflict, the Sino-American War over Hawaii and the Indochina Conflict had elevated its esteem. When Magister Schliersberg reached the end of his life in 1984, a posthumous title of Meister was granted.

Walken's student had devoured the spell's history with keen interest, though one caveat remained. As a part of the summoning ritual, the Conjurer was required to visualise the type of beings they desired to call. If a Conjurer served the Vatican, then something with white wings was almost assured. If one's shamanistic faith worshipped one-eyed fire Gods, then that's what one got.

"Your Kurchatov's pentagram is flawed," Wen snapped at Petra, waking Walken from his work. "Pay attention to the Glyph, not to your cousin's dilly-dally with the local fish."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Walken had to admit that when Wen was at work, she was impressive. There was a commitment and dedication there that few people could attain even if they had the talent and the imagination.

His job, conversely, was etching the Mandala with materials Gwen had acquired from Marong and the House of M. For materials, they had spared no expense. Hyper-tier materials from the ichor of an Evil-Eye, mithril from Dwarven Bavaria and palladium from Ethiopia had all been paid for by his student's seemingly endless capacity to generate wealth. Additionally, he had instructed Wen to implement a purge function.

For both himself and Wen, as well as other invested parties, the choice of Planar Ally was two-fold. First, they were interested to know what exactly existed in the Void and what someone of her reputation could call forth. Secondly, a Planar Ally was a force-multiplier against opponents that are arguably far more skilful, proficient, powerful and learned than herself.

"Gwen, we're ready." Walken straightened his back with an audible groan. "There's got to be a better way than lying on a levitation platform. I don't remember it being this hard." `

The finished Mandala was enormous. It was etched out on the beaten sandstone, a little larger than the size of a tennis court. For his student, Walken had spared none of her expense.

"Petra!" Wen called out. "Inject the mana crystals!"

From higher up on the hill, Petra materialised a crate of high-density mana crystals and placed them into a ring of glyphs leading away from the actual Glyph-structure. Walken watched as a line of raw mana turned the array a brilliant silver.

"The re-summoning Mandala is much simpler," he assured his student. "Inscribing it will raise your proficiency with Enchantment as well."

"Great." His student took a deep breath. "What should I expect?"

"You're Kilroy's student." Walken's eyes twinkled. "Surprise me?"

"Alright." Gwen stepped into the portion of the circle made for her protection. "Prepare to be surprised."

"It's coming!" Wen called out to Walken as the Mandala lit up like a torch. "What do you think she'll summon?"

"Something draconic, I bet." Walken could feel his heart pounding in anticipation.

Within the summoning chamber, a lightning-flare burst over the rune-etched landscape, materialising into a majestic shape.

"It's draconic!" Walken shouted over the crackling thunder.

"Beautiful!" Wen was likewise impressed. "It looks at least tier 10, maybe higher."

The light faded, first revealing a crowned ridge of ivory and bone, followed by a long, serpentine neck armoured with interlocking plates. At its base, a powerful chest linking two enormous bat-wings joined a robust torso held up by tree-trunk legs armoured in azure, ending with a spiked tail.

"Eric," Wen remarked to the agape Walken. "Does that wyvern look familiar to you?"

Gwen felt a gut-tingling sense of foreshadowing when she pumped her conduits full of Essence and Lightning. According to her instructors, the space-time magic would tear into the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning to bring forth a suitably robust, and most importantly, intelligent, creature, one capable of bargaining.

Instead, what materialised was a sight she had not expected to see for some time, one that was infeasible, considering her spell's objective.

With the hysterical electricity faded, Golos landed in the Summoning Mandala.

"…" The Wyvern stared at the girl summoner.

"… Yo." She waved. "Fancy seeing you again. Why are you here?"

"Hmmph!" Golos exhaled motes of lightning. "Ruxin says he is indebted to you, and therefore, I am indebted to you."

"And what debt is that?" She cocked her head.

"... "

"Suit yourself." Gwen respected the Wyvern's sulky silence, realising he may be referring to her returned 'favour'. Mayuree's brother had been very forthcoming in stating that their new landed neighbour had tasked him to enrich the north's resources. To ensure that the House of M did not suffer, she had thought up a ploy involving a Jade monopoly. In her old world, this was impossible due to the turmoil in Burma. In this world, with Ruxin as a backer, a few decades of De Beer style monopoly with the House of M at the helm should be manageable.

Gwen raised a hand. "What's your price?"

"To repay Ruxin."

"I don't think that's for me to decide," she replied. "Did Ruxin say how long your servitude should last? I mean, how the hell did you even get here?"

"Ruxin has his ways," Golos stated contemptuously. In the next moment, his gaze wandered. "Hmm, you have readied snacks? I could eat."

"Snacks?" Gwen turned to her right, following Golos' gaze. There, she saw Elder Lei-bup and a dozen Mermen warriors, shitting themselves while half-paralysed by the wave of dragon-fear radiating from Golos' body. "No. Those are not snacks. They're people. Golos. Not snacks."

"Hee, you cannot deny me!" Golo strode forward, then ran smack-bang into the wall of force. There was a moment of incredulous confusion before the Wyvern grew wrathful. "You dare ENSNARE me? I am no summoned wyrm!"

"And why not? You're literally in my summoning circle!" Gwen spat back at Golos, irked by the Wyvern's ego. Golos was going to be one useless ally if he couldn't even follow orders. "If Ruxin says you'll obey me, what's the problem?"

"Impudent!" Golos growled, then let loose a line of lightning from its jaws to dash against the barrier.

"You want to be in debt to Ruxin forever?!" Gwen fired back.

"Ruxin marked me so that I would come to you," Golos growled, its beady eyes malicious and cunning. "And so I have! Each time you call, I shall come to you, and no more! Hahaha!"

"Golos, you're as thick as a log!" Gwen raised her voice. "Go back and tell Ruxin to send me a properly trained dog!"

"ROAR!" Golos smashed itself against the barrier. "Enough! You are not the master of me!"

"Oh, is that how it is?" Gwen snapped her finger, calling for Caliban.

"SHAA!" Caliban was ready for more draconic adventures.

"FOOL!" the Wyvern howled, smothering the interior of the barrier with blue-white lightning. Its scales fulminated with retina-searing discharge. "I have grown! Never again shall your beast best me!"

The ground shook, but the barrier held. Dragon-fear rippled out like a concentric wave, setting Walken and Wen to activate their Shields. Above, Petra and their PLA and Pudong observers circulated magic to resist the mind-numbing, pants-soiling horror spread by a primordial predator that had hunted man since the age of sticks and stones. Elder Lei-bup frothed at the mouth.

"I think that thing's a tad above tier 11," Walken remarked, borrowing Draconic-Essence from his familiar. Besides him, Wen kept herself lucid through her Mineral mana, scarcely believing that Gwen was having a shouting match with a bus-sized drake.

"How is it possible that she knows such a being by name?" Wen demanded, bewildered by the sight of their student's passionate haggling. "And speaking in Draconic?"

"They met in Burma," Walken replied. "And Gwen's acquired a new Translation Stone from Alesia de Botton, one originally made for Henry Kilroy."

"Impressive," Wen muttered. "Does this drake desire HDMs? They are hoarders, are they not?"

"I think this one might have other things on its mind," Walken observed.

"How is she going to tame it then?"

"Not sure." Walken squinted against the light, his hand resting against the purging Glyph. "I am sure she'll figure something out."

Golos wasn't an actual dragon, but as a scion of the Yinglong, he'd always considered himself above his kin that crawled along the ground or swam in the sea. Though he saw the female as almost his equal, he had never dreamt of serving as her subordinate.

"Brother, I have a task for you. Go and aid my investment. Keep her safe."

Golos dared not show displeasure to his brother, but in front of this mewling girl, he would bare his fangs to his heart's content! How dare she! What had she done to capture Ruxin's favour? For his brother, a scion of their great father, to possess an interest in the girl! It was unfathomable that he, Golos, a princeling of Huangshan, was less useful than some whelp barely out of her egg.

And to trap him in a cage, no different to some common elemental! Threaten him with her black beast! Golos' tail twitched; his shame and anger boiled over, filling the air with the stink of ozone. "I have grown! Never again shall your beast best me!"

"Look, forget about Ruxin for a second, what do you want?" The female's tone softened. "HDMs? I'll give you thousands, tens of thousands. Gems? Precious metal? Do you want SPAM? I can ship it by the ton."

Looking around, Golos noticed that many human Mages were watching. If so, then the girl must be in an exhibition of some sort. Golos knew he wasn't smart like Ruxin, but he recognised leverage when he saw it.

"Hehe…" He slithered an enormous, arm-thick tongue from his grinning maw. What did he want? His nostrils flared. The girl's scent was delicious, possessed of something far older and purer than even his father. Unbidden, Golos felt himself drooling over the unsoiled Essence. If he could taste it, then he would grow more powerful yet. "First, I would like some seafood, then, I want…"

"No, and NO," his victim rebuffed his advance, her eyes grew offended. "Now you're dreaming, big guy."

"You'll have to trust that I'll be delicate." Golos turned on what Ruxin referred to as his unique charm. "You're strong. You'll survive."

"No means no." The girl flushed. Golos inhaled the pheromones falling off her like the fragrance of flowers. It was so thick and heavy that even for a being of Golos' magnitude, it was making his head spin.

"Last chance..." Golos leered, confident that the girl was sure to capitulate.

"You know what?" his victim hugged herself as her expression grew icy. "I know how to deal with rude bastards like you."

Indeed, Gwen knew how to deal with rebellious Familiars.

She was beside two instructors, a summoning circle and a creature in the bag- how could she not feel nostalgic?

"Eric! I am starting the second summon!" she called out to her instructor.

"What!? That's insane!" Walken called back. "It can't be done!"

"It can!" Wen's eyes gleamed, suddenly realising the girls' game. "Are you going to use a Void Beast to quash the Thunder Wyvern?"

"Preposterous!" Walken interrupted his colleague. "The barrier…"

"…Will hold." Wen's eyes were aflame with zeal. "Walken, I need to see this."

Walken stared into the researcher's semi-transparent, Mineral-tainted orbs. "Give me control of the termination Glyph."

Wen passed over her half of the Glyph.

Walken made the gesture to proceed.

"Petra!" Wen Messaged her apprentice.

When another cache worth a thousand HDMs entered the Mandala's circuits. A clamour of surprise broke out over the observers watching from a distance.

"Golos, if you don't want to be stuck with a building-sized Caliban, now's your chance. Quash your pride, then fight for me."

"Ha!" the Wyvern scoffed at her. "I shall destroy this thing you summon! You will lose everything, and then I shall return to Ruxin and inform him of your incompetence."

"Fine, have it your way." Gwen stepped back. Caliban joined its master in the protected summoning circle.

She began with the Major Incantations, her fingers drawing light-consuming Glyphs in the air as Void mana flooded her conduits. Thanks to her acquisition of the Blue Zircon, the initial hit of the Negative Energy felt blunted. Combined with her Essence, there was a significant increase in the efficacy of her Void-craft.

"... _Yog-Sothoth_! Key to the gate where the spheres conjoin! Lä! Master of the Thousand Young..."

According to Walken, to conjure an Elemental, she had to have ample knowledge of that which resided within the primordial energies of the quasi-realms. Golos had ruined her plans for a Coatl, but what of the Void? Who knew what the Void held? Caliban Delux? Her Void-beast didn't even have a physical form! If so, Gwen found herself with an unusual hypothesis. What if she could summon something that was fiction? What suited Caliban more than Lovecraft's twisted horrors? She had already drawn upon the author many times, whether to frighten Jun, or to shape her Elemental Swarm, albeit in that instance, she got lamprey-leeches, not goats, but still, it had worked.

"... Lä! _Shub-Niggurath_! Lä! Master of the woods that wend! I conjure thee! Planar Ally!"

As for Golos, Gwen had a pretty good idea what the Wyvern wanted, and there was no way in hell she was going to give that up. Who the hell did Golos think he was? A Demi-God sovereign of three frontiers? Not even a dinner-date? The guy can't even polymorph properly.

She licked her drying lips.

Soon, she would know whether her will shaped the Void, or whether it had a will of its own - either way, the stupendously arrogant Golos would bend the knee.


"HOLY HELL, WHAT IN CHRIST'S NAME IS THAT?" Walken knew he was in no danger, but put up a cursory barrier anyway.

Something was coming through the uppermost quadrant of the Summoning circle, slithering into being via a tiny corner of corroded air, growing larger by the second.

"It's a Void Being!" Wen commanded Petra to record the image while she furiously tallied the diagnostics. "My God! It's eating up the barrier's mana!"

An obsidian tentacle oozed through, obfuscated by the vivid fluctuation of eldritch energies.

"Petra! More Crystals!" Walken called out. "Gwen!"

"I am in control!" Gwen shouted back. "Keep the barrier up!"

_CRACK!_

A line of fulminating lightning erupted from Golos' jaws, obliterating the emerging mass from existence.

"SHAAA!" Caliban burst into song. "SHAAA! SHAAA!"

_Squelch..._

A tenebrous, inky gloop drooled through the invisible ceiling, resembling a monochromatic placenta.

"ROAR!" Another line of lightning eradicated the tear. Golos panted. He was a half-blood, and the impurity of his heritage limited his ability to use dragon-breath continuously.

But the Wyvern's efforts were futile. New intrusions rapidly grew until the cylindrical barrier's uppermost layer turned midnight, dispelling all heat.

"Ho boy." Gwen retrieved a bottle of Maotai and began to chug the contents like a mana potion. Concurrently, she dropped to the floor three Spellcubes chocked full of high-tier Restorations, prepared by Petra. Now that she had Enchantment as one of her schools, she could remotely trigger the spells.

"Is your vitality low?" sounded a Message from Petra.

"For contingencies," Gwen replied. "I caught a big bastard."

"This is history, Gwen. You're making history right now." Wen hijacked their conversation. "Focus! Don't let it slip away."

What her instructor meant was that she was going to make history, though Gwen took the Magister's advice to heart. Redoubling her focus, she continued to stream her Void Mana into the Summoning Mandala.

"GOLOS! Do you yield?!" she called out. "Or do you want to road-test The Thing?"

If a lizard could blanch, Golos probably would have grown lighter in hue.

"I shall crush your thing!" Golos croaked, steadfast in its arrogance, possessing more pride than sense. "Do your worst!"

"SHAA!" Caliban chorused whole-heartedly. "SHAA! SHAA!"

Gwen closed her eyes and did her best to will forth her best recollection. Yog-Sothoth was the gate and Shub-Niggurath, the mate; the two were well rounded as a pair, and not maliciously minded, a least toward inconsequential humans. As for what now spawned, her only wish was that it flew.

Above the summoning circle, the darkness began to swirl, forming a portal of sorts.

"IT'S COMING!" Wen's voice possessed the shrillness of a strangled cat. "By God! She's doing it!"

A crow-black entity descended, leading the way with a rupture of innumerable feelers, each beetle-black and clad in ooze, puckering with tentacle-pink suckers resembling lampreys' maws.

_WHAM!_

Golos slammed its spiked tail against the thing, shattering a hundred appendages and splattering the walls with tenebrous ink.

"HA!" the Wyvern howled, crouching to ready another strike. "Weak!"

The bulbous portion of the undulating globule now entered the material plane, swallowing all light and drawing the energies of the barrier into itself at an astounding rate. With each mote of Gwen's vitality, it grew larger, heavier-seeming, and more grotesque as strange boils and pustules bubbled at the surface, birthing agglutinations that hung from its bottom, resisting the call of gravity.

A Shoggoth? Gwen wondered. Or at least, a viscous facsimile.

The clamouring from the spectators grew to a feverish pitch.

"Is that…" Walken blinked twice, then ran a passive self-diagnosis to ensure that he did not delude his own eyes. "The BLACK SUN?"

"It has to be!" Wen looked as though she was about to dance a jig. "The great mystery! So that's what it was! We have to test it! We have to feed it!"

"Back! You black brute of the Unformed Land!" Golos barked, evidently growing warier. "Calamity! Why do you call this abomination?!"

There was no response from his Summoner. The moment the dark sphere had appeared, Gwen's mind delved into the darkness of the thing that spawned inside her barrier. Like Caliban, though the Void-being possessed no intelligible thought, she could feel its demands through the empathic link.

_What do you want?_ She questioned the thing, using her worm as a template. What are you?

_Hunger._

_Hunger._

_Hunger._

_Do you wish to be made flesh?_
 _Serve me, and I shall feed you._

_Eat._

_Eat._

_EAT._

"GWEN!" came Walken's appeal from the fabric of reality. When she came to, she beheld a howling Golos half covered in the black-goo. He was snapping and tearing at the tendrils, but like an Exxon Mobile oil spill, the bubbling protoplasm was vigorously mating with his proud body.

"CALAMITY!" Golos discharged a Wyvern-wide AoE.

A sharp, stabbing pain pierced Gwen's swollen brain.

"SHAAA!" Caliban writhed below her feet.

_HUNGRY!_

A call echoed in the Astral space of her Mage Soul. A weakness ran up her leg and through her vertebrae as her vitality fed into the summoning circle, fuelling the existent void-energies ravaging the barrier.

_Obey me._ Gwen focused her will once more. Obey, and I shall feed you.

The inky-mass dropped.

"MORE CRYSTALS!" Both Wen and Walken called out to Petra as she ran to the next node.

Gwen gnashed her pearly teeth, sending back her clearest vision of Caliban growing fat after a fresh kill. She had ample evidence that the ball was a mass of hunger, a primordial appetite. If so, there was only one way to negotiate.

With a glance and a gesture, she activated a Spellcube.

Expertly manipulating the oppositional energy, she sent the entirety of Petra's Restoration into the Shoggoth.

"Golos! How about now?" She had not forgotten about the Wyvern.

"NEVER!" Golos howled, chomping at the dark sphere with furious futility as its tendrils once again molested its lightning-clad carapace, heedless of the suckers that burned and spluttered.

Gwen growled. Golos was more obstinate than she thought. She didn't want to traumatise Ruxin's unruly brother, but the Wyvern had to be pounded into shape, and the Void-Beast was her hammer.

Smoothing her hair, she quickly activated a second Spellcube.

"Eat!" she commanded the maybe-Shoggoth to make her Wyvern yield.

A flood of vitality escaped her torso, nourishing the bloating sphere of engorged flesh.

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"The barrier's failing!" Walken's voice came through. "I am killing it!"

"NO!" she shouted back. "A little more!"

"You're crazy!"

"Listen to Gwen!" Wen shored up the Mandala with a series of quick incantations. "Keep the barrier going for as long as possible! We need this!"

"The risk is too high!" Walken hissed. "God damn it, Gwen!"

His student's response was to pop her last Spellcube. "A minute! Half a minute!"

Abruptly, there was a sound of soft silk ripping in twain. Her vitality tanked, warning her of the creature's indiscriminate hunger.

A gash appeared on the tenebrous sphere.
A splash of grey goo fell over Golos' chromatic scales; then an enormous eye blinked open. An eyeball the size of a small building was now staring into the material world, taking in all its glory. Its six-meter pupil was black-on-black, surrounding a centre that may very well be a portal into the infinite realm of the Void, ringed by concentric circles of bruised purple. Around the iris, the sclera was ivory and slick, milky and writhing with unnamable things just below the surface.

The world grew suddenly silent.
Even the lull of the ocean seemed muted.

"Shaa-Shaa-Shaa..."

Thankfully, the sound came from Caliban, sweating goo from its body like a self-desiccating blood worm.

The eye turned, its aberrant form beholding all that it surveyed.

If the hunger it had earlier demonstrated was a stream, what it now channelled into Gwen's mind was a mighty, raging river swallowing all that it touched. She tried to move, to fight its will, but what flooded her head numbed all thought. The vitality from the third Spellcube disappeared in a wink as she fell to one knee, gasping for air.

"You win." Golos' voice broke the silken silence. He politely knocked on the barrier. "Get me out of here."

The final component of Planar Ally activated.

The Mandala burst into brilliant flames as its remaining ingredients ignited, clinching the compromise between the Summoner and her creatures.

Within her mind, Gwen could sense the power of its contract linking her to Golos' Astral Soul, and presumably, the one-eyed Shoggoth. At the same time, she knew that no amount of her Essence nor vitality would ever satisfy the Void-being.

If and when she called upon it again, it would feed until she dismissed it.

"PURGE!"

Walken activated the contingency Glyph, setting into motion rapid injections of mana that would quickly disrupt the pocket-space within the Mandala, ensuring its collapse and the return of its summoned residents back to their native realms.

"I'll call you," Gwen promised Golos as the Shoggoth began to fade, feeling the eye's tyrannical oppression disappear. Soon, nought but ankle-deep sludge and a dozen twitching tentacles remained. "Tell Ruxin to pass on an inventory of what you desire. No hard feelings, eh?"

Golos waited for the magic-circle to burn out.

When the last mote fizzled, he stared at her, and she stared back.

"Wow," Gwen awkwardly remarked. "You're still here."

"I am no mere Elemental." Golos' eyes grew suddenly cruel. He rose to his full height, bringing his clubbed tail to bear. "Prepare to suffer!"

"Ahaha, oh shit…" Gwen gestured to Walken and Wen to back her up. Around her legs, Caliban readied itself to be its master's shield. "We made a deal, remember? Don't forget, you've got Ruxin's orders, and I've got your consent. You're my guy, right?"

"A dragon shall not broker deals with puny mortals!" Golos' snubbed her. "Your feeble magic cannot bind me!"

"Do you mean to renege?" Gwen readied a shield. Now was a good time to see if that diamond-barrier worked. "If death or dishonour is preferable, then I suppose—"

CRACK!

A line of lightning, thicker than Gwen's entire body, fell from the sky as though a pillar of light, striking Golos across the face, punching his head so hard that his snout dug into the bubbling sandstone-turned-glass.

Gwen looked toward Walken.

Walken shook his head. "Not me."

Gwen looked up at the clear blue sky.

Golos lifted its chin, then coughed up a mouthful of sand.

"What was that?" Gwen asked.

"A scion of the Yinglong cannot go back on their word…" Golos sullenly mumbled under its breath. "Brother sends his greetings."

The disparity between the brothers was heaven and hell! Exhaling with relief, Gwen reminded herself to send the Demi-God dragon a suitable gift in the future. "If its all the same to you, Golos, I would like us to work together. Like when we fought the Naga. That was fun, right? I didn't leave you to die, and we both profited. Our working relationship doesn't need to be unpleasant. Here..."

With great effort, she exercised what remained of Almudj's Essence onto her palm. "Shake on it?"

Golos crouched in low.

"You think that a tiny mote of Essence like that will..."

An enormous pink appendage wrapped her hand.

"Hmm..." Golos licked its chops contemplatively, its ice-blue eyes rolled to the back to the back of its skull. "It's sweet... HMMPH!"

With a great bell-beat of wings, the Wyvern ascended.

"YO! Are we cool?!"

"Only if you satisfy me!" came the voice from the draconic-beast as it unfurled the impressive length of its full form, shaking off the gooey slop like a murderous, winged Clifford, splatting Gwen, Walken and Wen all over.

Upon the hill, the gathered Mages watched as Wyvern menaced the girl before turning to the inhabitants of the island with voracious scrutiny.

"Golos, NO. They're wearing pants, for God's sake." The girl stood between the Thunder Wyvern and the quivering Mermen. "Can't you eat one of Ryxi's goats? Huangshan's close, right?"

To their shock, the monster turned, growled, then lifted into the air.

"Call me sparingly! I am busy!"

A second later, it was a mere speck in the distance.

"That went well." Gwen carefully lowered herself to the floor before resting on her buttocks, not even caring that she was most unladylike. She felt drained, spiritually, physically and mentally. Golos had a strong will, and it was only the suppression of her Almudj's Essence against his imperfect draconic-soul that had sealed the deal.

Additionally, who'd have thought she could pull a one-eyed mass of hunger from the Void? Innately she knew it was in no way comparable to Sobel's Black Sun, though its appetite was true to the Void's characteristics.

"In hindsight." Walken approached, soaked from head to chest with void-goo and Wyvern-spittle. "I think that could have gone a lot worse…"

"Petra! Get down here and give me a hand!"

Not far, Wen selflessly leapt into the goo-sloshed Mandala, wading ankle-deep through gloop.

"Stasis! Stasis! Stasis! OH! Stasis!"

She happily packed every spare tentacle and tendril that Golos had severed from the Shoggoth.

Walken exhaled with wonder. "… see that? Now that's the sort of mental fortitude that makes a Meister."

Unanimously, the committee that oversaw Gwen's Planar Allies labelled her Void "Ally" a Class VI restricted manifestation. It meant that she could not summon the creature without permission from a Tower Arbitrator, and never in a tier 1 city. Until the Void Creature was thoroughly studied, it would remain classified, conjured only to further man's knowledge of Spellcraft.

As for Golos, the Tower committee requested an interview before the spell could be deemed feasible for the competition, to which Gwen reassured them of the Wyvern's grudging obedience, then redirected their doubts toward Ruxin and Ayxin. Unfortunately, considering the bureaucracy involved, the likelihood of her having her Void Ally in time for the first match was close to nil.

"Two steps forward, and one step back," Walken remarked with a tone of apology. "I am afraid it happens."

"It's okay," Gwen denied her instructor's fault. "I don't mind."

"These rulings are just formalities and conveniences." Walken's next advice came in the form of an evil whisper. "If necessity calls, forget the sanction. I've left Petra with five sets of Mandala ingredients. If someone is after your life, let the Black Sun or the Wyvern deal with them."

"I still don't think that's the Black Sun."

"How about an Evil-Eye?" Walken remarked, referring to the one-eyed monsters that roomed subterranean caverns. "Void-Eye - that fits the bill."

How about Shoggoth? Gwen remarked privately.

"Speaking of regulations, is everything going to be cool with those guys?" Gwen glanced at the Magisters from the Towers as they bathed Wen with attention.

"Well, if they want to censure your craft." Walken's expression changed to one of schadenfreude. "Then complain to Gunther, that's what the fastest spell-slinger in the west is for, ain't it?"

Night.

Lei-bup gathered his tribe.

He was feeling a little crazy, but that, in his humble opinion, was a good thing.

He had been touched by divinity, and he knew it.

When the Wyvern had wanted to eat them, it was the God summoned by the pale human sorceress who had cowed it.

Lei-bup recalled the invocation vividly.

_Yog-Sothoth!_ The key to the gate where the spheres conjoin.

And _La-Shub-Niggurath!_ Master of the woods that wend!

Existences that Lei-bup was sure were the salvation of his oppressed people.

Though the humans had left, the evidence of their Mandala, their magic, remained on his island, along with their discarded bottles, wrappers, and bits of uneaten food. When he ordered his tribe to scour the area, they had even recovered a bit of still-writhing tentacle that had dug into the earth.

Lei-bup incoherently gibbered as he wept salty tears of spiritual rapture.

From this night forth, he and his fishy-kin shall worship nought but the One-Eyed God and its priestess of pale flesh!

Four days later, Fudan received the details of their next match.

"You'll be going to Cuzco," the Dean announced to the group after they assembled in his office. "Magister Walken and a contingent of examiners from Brussels will chaperone your journey. South America does not yet possess a Superstructural Inter-state Teleportation Circle, so it's going to be a long trip."

"So rushed!" Gwen hesitated at the untimely news. "AND our opponents have home ground?"

"Compared to us, who will be travelling non-stop for ten days." Richard frowned. "I presume, sir, that we will be taking the PLA Tower's S-ISTIC to Hawaii, then boarding a shipping freighter to Lima, then use their ISTC To reach Cusco?"

"Indeed. Well done." The Dean was impressed by Prince's alumni as usual. "As it were, we shall be updating your Multi-Pass Adventuring Permits for the Americans. Remember, the American continents fall outside the control of the Mageocracy. I'll need you all to stay out of trouble while you're waiting on your ship."

"Yessir!" the group answered.

"Gwen?" The Dean singled out their sorceress. "Am I clear? No unnecessary trouble."

Gwen blinked innocently as to suggest she would never amount to such atrocities. "None, whatsoever, sir!"

The rest of Fudan's team chuckled.

"Now go and pack!"

"Yessir!"

Outside the office, Gwen caught Richard by the arm.

"Dick, what's Hawaii like?"

"Verdant paradise, golden beaches, an active volcano, lots of Magma-aligned monsters, Mermen by the horde."

"How about resorts? Any good beaches?" Her eyes sparkled. "God, I miss the beaches."

"Gwen, what are you thinking? Beaches are annoying. There's too much sand, and it gets everywhere." Lulan paused to challenge a girl who grew up close to Cronulla, and who had spent her alter-teens hawking icy-pops at Bondi.

"Surf! Sun! Skin! Sand!" Gwen blurted out, suddenly longing to dig her toes into the surf. How long had it been since she napped under the sun? "And a good tan!"

Barring Richard, her companions took their pale-skinned companion's praise of the seaside with a pinch of salt. In Asia, fair and flawless skin was a highly desirable symbol of status. Who would actively venture into the sun so that they appeared like a peasant labourer?

"And swimsuits." Gwen wrapped a hand around Petra's waist, making her cousin blush, then winked at the trio of boys in their competitive retinue. "Imagine it, seven girls and three guys..."

"YES!" Anita punched the air. "Oh, yes!"

Jiro's orbs lit up like twin stars.

"Jiro." Bai patted the Fire Mage on the shoulder. "Your fire is sparking."