Chương 464: 464

Mark was Skilling Chosen #39 for the day when he felt the world whine in a way that only one thing could ever cause. It was a call to war. A demand of the demons to kill, kill, kill, because the Veil had torn... And yet, it wasn't a full Kaiju Call, or a full rift. It was just a small tear, distant and quiet, rumbling like some far-away storm." What the fuck is that shit?!" Mark called out, instantly pulling away from #39, vector going wide and far as he tried to feel out what was happening.

A bunch of people in the building had no idea what was going on, and Mark was terrifying #39 right now, so Mark told her, "Sorry, but something is coming. I need to see that right now."" Oh my Hearthswell—" Chosen #39 was saying. Mark was already out the doors, aiming at the balcony, ready to take to the sky as Quark flickered updates into his vision— Mark paused." Oh."" It's the Small Gate, sir," Quark was saying.

"Someone is coming through from Earth, and it is a logged request which was placed about an hour ago. Semi-emergency request." Mark calmed down, but the people he had torn past to get to the balcony, the Chosen and not, and the priests who had brought them here from the churches of Aluatha, were not calm. Mark told them all, "Sorry! Something was coming through the gate and I sensed it. Nothing to be worried about."

He chuckled, on purpose, to show people nothing was wrong, and some of them nervously chuckled along with him. Mark added, "Just a bit touchy, I suppose! Sorry, sorry—"" Sir, the people who came through the gate want to meet with you. They're from Crystal Tower. One of the people is Timeweaver." Mark's attempt at a chuckle turned into a very serious glare at the air— He was making people nervous again. Mark masked his emotions and— Oh.

Derek came down around the corner of the staircase, saying, "They want to meet with us, Mark." And then the air flickered to the side, and Timeweaver stepped onto the grand central staircase of Dawncoast Skilling.

He looked exactly the same as Mark remembered him from the Battle for Memphi, when he had stepped in, at the end, and suddenly shifted everything onto the right track, as though he had run the day a hundred times already and he was simply doing his end-run against the demons, and against the horrors of that apocalypse. He had foreseen the Resurrection Ghost because he had actually seen it in some future, and so he worked to make that happen by putting Glorious Man right beside Mark.

Mark wondered more than a few times if it had taken Timeweaver gathering up Glorious Man to make Mark listen, to allow the Resurrection Ghost to happen. Luckily, Mark didn't have to actually live through all of those attempts. Timeweaver, the Redo-Hero, was a posh Arabian man with a pinstripe dark brown and gold suit, with a dark wood cane and a bowler hat. He tipped the hat at Mark, and said, "Just a normal day, for now, so you can all calm down.

We have come to talk about breaking the blockade that Dominant has put up around Sidecity; New Tokyo's Daihoon-side city." He added, "We also wish to discuss a return to the Hero/Villain Program for you and yours. I believe Isoko would be very happy about this. A full itinerary of talks should be in your inbox." Mark needed to know, "I thought Crystal Tower wanted nothing to do with us?" Timeweaver asked, "Oh? Is being on the right side of history not good enough of a reason to turn against Dominant?"" For you?

Absolutely not."" Well that's unnecessarily harsh."

"… Maybe so, and… thanks for the help with the Battle for Memphi—"" Your first instinct was more correct. It was harsh, but also kinda true. We have a Gate Day on the first of every month, as you know. We did not have it this month. Or rather, we did, about four times, before I decided that we couldn't handle them coming in from their blockade and fucking us up way, way too much, so I had them call off our Gate Day." Timeweaver shrugged.

"We can talk more in a more private setting." He glanced around at the people, asking Mark, "20 more minutes here? How much you need?" Mark said, "I'll be at Castle South in 30 minutes."" Fine by me!" And then Timeweaver swirled and vanished. Mark had absolutely no idea how 'Time Manipulation' worked, and he wasn't even sure if Timeweaver did have an arch Power, or at least the message boards didn't really know. That sort of stuff was hush hush and the guy always wore a bunch of obfuscation stuff.

But with all the scanners in the building, and with Quark feeding him info, Mark now knew that Timeweaver was at least a Bi-Talent in Mind and Arch, and that those two Powers were at 100 and 100, while Body, Shaper, Natural, and Arcane, were at 98. So that was fun to know. Mark told Derek, "Let's process quickly, please."" On it, boss!" Mark told the people in line, the witnesses to all of this and to the gods standing at the shoulder of every one of them, "Apologies for the interruption."

One nice older man said, "No worries, son."" Do what you have to do!" said a middle-aged mom. Mark nodded, and soon he was standing before #39 again, saying, "Apologies for the interruption. Are you ready to proceed again?" The woman prayed for the barest of moments, and then she looked Mark in the eyes, golden glints of Freyala deep in her soul, as she said, "We all got places to be."

Mark smiled a little, and soon #39 was out the door, Healthy Body already fixing small imperfections and helping her walk easier than she had in years. She was a doctor/priest, and with Healthy Body she would be able to heal with Union a lot better than before, simply because she wouldn't need to use so much of the Good part of the Union to heal herself. People with Healthy Body made some of the best healers for a lot of reasons, as Mark very well knew himself.

#40 walked in the door, and Mark got to work, though he felt a presence in the sky, in the world beyond, that was not Isoko, or Lee. It was another Sky Shaper, and Mark was pretty sure he knew who it was. So he knew at least 2 of the people from Crystal Tower. There had to be more than just 2, right? - - - - Mark landed on the balcony of the big meeting room of Castle South. Aurora, Yoro, Eliot, Isoko, and Addavein were there, while Derek stood in the back.

Sure enough, Wandering Sage was there, wearing flowing grey robes; her battle armor. Mark wondered why she was here. Was she here as the retired supervillain who had once tried to turn the sun off in a serialized HVP production? Or more as Isoko's Grandmother? Or as a dragon killer and one of the strongest Sky Shapers in the Two Worlds, and they were going up against hovercruisers in an Okuanan blockade? Timeweaver sat prim and proper in his pinstripe suit in a chair to the side, playing on his phone.

Why the fuck was he here, at all? Just to see if this thing went well, or not, and if it didn't, he reset time and spoke up? Probably. The final person in the envoy from Crystal Tower told Mark more than enough, just by her very presence. Commander Melanie Moore, age 65, superhero name Vilefire, former villain of the same name. She was blonde on blonde, of German and American descent, and she had been in the HVP for a very short time, decades ago.

She rapidly exited that and went into the army and into command of Crystal Tower, and now she was the top fucking brass of the entire organization that protected the Two Worlds from outsized threats. She was the one who decided if Glorious Man or Timeweaver or the Reality Manipulator, Nova Nexus, went on assignment. She controlled the four teams of Crystal Tower; Adamant, Mithril, Orichal, and Iron, and all the free agents who didn't qualify for one of the Big Teams of the Tower. And she was here! The fuck?!

Mark breathed out, "Holy fucking shit— Uh. Hello, uh, everyone." Missus Moore stood up, saying, "Welcome to the discussion, Mark—"" Pleasantries another time," Timeweaver said, not even looking up from his phone.

"Talk about the people we serve outside of Okuana, and be sure to remain in control of the situation. Don't let him think that you'd actually listen to me except when it matters, because he's worried about charisma-based social control, and I am at the peak of that." Mark asked him, "Is this the second or third go you've had of that particular observation?"" The third," Timeweaver said, barely looking up from his phone, at Mark, grinning a little." Thanks for clearing that up," Mark told the guy.

Timeweaver went back to flipping through his phone. Moore frowned a little at the man, then she said to Mark, "Basic pitch: We want to break the siege of our Daihoon-side port from Okuana's people. We're offering a return to the fold for all of your HVP-enrolled people here in Dawncoast, and connected to you, Mark. This includes Addavein, provided he remains human-sized." Isoko was thrilled and Addavein was something similar to that.

Moore continued, "Provided you assist with the breaking, Dawncoast will be eligible for membership in the mutual defense agreement of the Crystal Tower Compact." Oh. That was Big, and everyone knew it. According to Aurora's vector, she wanted Mark to do this." We're also going to spin whatever Skilling you can do as legal, and open up our wards to be Skilled by you, if you would have them. Healthy Body is great, and we'll pay the rates your office has requested, easily.

We'll also provide you with access to washouts, who don't want their Powers anymore, who will give you those powers in return for you giving them back to people in Crystal Tower. All of those specifics with Powers can be discussed later, by smaller offices, though if you run into issues I will be able to personally guarantee that your desires are met, provided they are in-line with Crystal Tower ideals." As for the people we serve on Daihoon… The blockade line used to be 100 kilometers out.

It is now 40 kilometers out, and Dominant has set up capture bases at D'Hawaii and all down the D'Australian island chains. He is capturing and relocating pretty much everyone who lives on Daihoon, who is from Earth, while executing every single Drakarokian he finds. The pogroms started on March 2nd, after we aborted our Gate Day at the behest of Timeweaver." We can save our own people but that blockade has to go, and we need help with that. Your help, specifically."

Mark was already on board, for killing a blockade of hundreds of ships would certainly hurt Okuana in a serious way, at least culturally, and maybe even actually. But he asked, "Why me?" Moore simply said, "We saw the aftermath of the Winter Ball Attack, due to treaty agreements between Crystal Tower and Aluatha. They sent good people to every hovercruiser they could reach, hoping to take down a single one. Each one was guarded by a dryad, so every single counter attack failed, except for yours.

You were the only one able to take down one of those hovercruisers at all." … Oh, wow. Did they have dryads on every single battlecruiser in the blockade— Timeweaver stood up, adding to Moore's words, saying, "There are dryads on every hovercruiser in the blockade. 108 of them, to be exact. The only solace is that they're all newly made. They don't know their full power yet. But they're each and every one a kaiju being piloted by a human.

Most of our forces are needed to protect Sidecity and New Tokyo, so we need outsiders to kill the outside threat, and Aluatha is the main entity to turn to in this conflict, and you're you, Mark." Mark almost asked how bad their missed Gate Day had been, imagining that those dryads had rushed the gate when it opened, or that something else horrible had happened— But Aurora flickered with hateful light, asking, "How does he have so many dryads? He should only have a few for every major city.

108 should be near his maximum and he cannot have left Okuana undefended." Timeweaver answered, "The adamantium he got from Mark and them's exit from Endless Daihoon, and probably elven resources. The gate to the elven lands in Verdant Citadel is closed now, but it had been open for a while. He probably has ancient hoards of artifacts, too. There are many ways to explain the discrepancy, and I don't know the full story, but I know enough to say that the major fault lies with Mark's adamantium.""

Fuck," Mark muttered." Well that's not fair," Isoko said, without much heat to her words. Aurora told Mark, "Aluatha approves of this destruction. Walaria will probably send a direct command to do this, if you choose to do this, but you don't have to if you don't want to."" I want to, and I have to," Mark said, looking at Moore, "If only to get Crystal Tower fully on-board with Dawncoast as a true participant in the Crystal Tower Compact."

Mark asked Moore, "Does this mean that the Crystal Tower is taking an active role in the war?"" Yes," Moore said, though it pained her to do that.

"Dominant has proven that the framers of the Humanity Accords should have disallowed dryads into the Humanity Accords. He was never going to let us do the Reset Quest at all." Mark was genuinely surprised.

"You're for the Reset Quest?"" Absolutely, though it has become political suicide to say as much, and perhaps even actual suicide, if Nobody Important's threats are to be taken seriously, which we believe they should be taken seriously. So I will never say I am for the Quest in public, but in private? Yes, Mark, absolutely." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit." Okay," Mark said, "Then I agree to all of this. How is this going to work?"

Timeweaver told Wandering Sage, "Go ahead, Aeri." What? Mark turned toward Isoko's grandmother, as did most others. Aeri eyed Timeweaver, muttering, "I hate when you do that, Zaid." She told Mark, "I want Healthy Body. You're just giving them out, right? So I want one—" She was about to say something else. Timeweaver said, "Tone it down now." Mark suddenly felt exhausted by the guy's meddling, and he was not the only one. Mark told him, "I operated just fine helping people before you came along.""

What he's doing right now is just him being efficient, and not actually serious," Aeri said, eyeing Timeweaver. Timeweaver grinned. He coyly asked, "It's not serious, is it?"" No, it's not," Aeri said. Mark ignored that and looked to Aeri. She was young-looking, but she still had white hair. This was because, years ago, she had captured a True Healer, someone who could grant limited immortality to another by healing the ravages of age, back when her daughter, Isoko's mother, had super cancer.

Isoko's mom got healed, and Aeri took some true healing for herself, too. For that stunt, she was kicked out of the HVP. Aeri Kanno was probably… Mark wanted to say 30? 25? Something like that. But not completely? Was she injured? Mark said, "I haven't gotten any real Brawny Powers in a while. All I have is Healthy Body because it's so easy to get. Are you sure that is the one you want?"" Yes," Aeri said.

"I just need to attack you, yes?"" Go for it." Aeri threaded the air of the room, pulling from the vents and the hallway and the entire sky overhead, churning everything into a thread, into a needle, that carved through Mark's shoulder, through his chest, and out the window, like a hyper-powered watercutter. Mark, of course, grabbed onto her vector with adamantine strength, and though she had a lot of practice girding her astral body, Mark was still stronger.

He peeled apart her attack— The dream took hold of reality for Mark Careed and Aeri Kanno. Mark slipped Healthy Body into her before she even realized she was half asleep. And then Mark allowed her to wake up, and for the dream to fade. Aeri paused, the wind flexing out of her control. She was disoriented; knowing she had seen elsewhere, the dream, and then it was gone. She hmm'd, then said, "Still drilled into your heart."

Mark smiled, brushing at the fabric of his working shirt, which was, of course, heavily enchanted for self-repair. Mark's own body had flexed black at the attack, but his flesh came together, black blood flaking off into a tiny orb that Mark disappeared into a coin, while his clothes were actively repairing themselves at the same time. The window behind Mark still had a hole in it, but Eliot was fixing that. Mark said, "I would expect nothing less from Wandering Sage." Isoko was appalled.

"Grandma!" Aeri huffed and stood up, and then she paused, feeling out her body, gasping a little as she breathed easier. She flexed her hand, and said, "It really was that easy for you."" I've had a LOT of practice," Mark said, wondering if Aeri's healing from that unknown True Healer hadn't been as great as it could have been, if she wanted Healthy Body. But what he asked was, "Can you teach Isoko that needle-wind technique?""

That's one part of the many, many lessons I wish to teach her when she comes on this trip." Aurora said to the room, "Eliot and Sally are remaining here." Aurora told Melanie Moore, "Mark and Isoko are enough."" We expected to receive Mark and Isoko, which we are thankful for," Moore said, as she picked up a briefcase from the ground beside her, opening it.

She pulled out papers, setting them onto the table in front of Aurora, saying, "Here is the Crystal Tower Compact and the agreement we wish to enact with Mark and Isoko, as soldiers of Aluatha." Aurora read over the papers as she told Mark and Isoko, "You two should prepare for extended combat and a trip to Crystal Tower. Expect the whole trip to be combat. If we have to ITLKR you back here, Mark, we will. That's part of what this agreement is for.

Isoko, you will have to find a longer way back or hole up in Crystal Tower if something drastic should happen." Mark instantly said, "Can we induct Isoko into ITLKR, too?" Aurora said, "No." … Mark got the impression there were a lot of reasons behind that simple 'no', and perhaps he would have asked for some clarification, but—" We can do that at Crystal Tower," Melanie Moore said.

"Until Okuana decided to be how they are, we teleported people across all of the Two Worlds, all the time. We are a tier 10 city, Mister Careed. Not even Crytalis is a tier 10 city. We can do a lot."" Except poach my soldiers," Aurora calmly stated, even as she picked up a pen and started signing documents." Of course not," Moore said, also calmly." You two get going," Aurora said, "Prepare for 7 days. If this initial disruption doesn't clear the blockade then I want you back here for Gate Day on the 20th.

That's 13 days to do as much damage to the blockade as you can." Moore didn't like that short of a number, but it seemed like she and Aurora and probably Walaria and everyone else had already agreed to that number without Mark. Something stood out as wrong, though." Gate Day isn't on the 15th this month?" Mark asked." We're delaying it due to suspected interference and due to a great deal of rerouting from Crystal Tower's portal," Aurora said, leaving it at that.

Mark lined up a big question, with big implications, and asked, "Is Okuana still trying to trade with Earth? Or are they still using New Tokyo's gate, and still trading with Earth themselves?" The big question hung out there, full of implication. Everyone in the room had already had a discussion about it, though. Timeweaver was back on his phone. Moore said, "New Tokyo has been a trading hub of the Two Worlds for over 70 years. Okuana and Aluatha both used us for a long time, and we tried to be fair.

Our fairness fostered some of the peace that had been here since the time of the Reveal. Many people on Daihoon's side of the Two Worlds still want to use our gate, but they cannot due to the blockade. This includes people of Okuana." So there was a lot of inertia that had to be overcome before the threats seemed real." But Dominant and all official Okuana Empire shipments have been canceled. Dominant's dryads have blockaded everyone from reaching our gate, and every day their blockade tightens. Peace has broken.

The inertia of 70 years of trade has come to a complete stop. And now Okuana has declared that no one will be using New Tokyo's gate at all, and that they are fully funding the Sahara Gate." So Moore was upset about all of this. Mark was too. Mark said, "Oh, good." He asked everyone, "So that means we're breaking the Sahara Gate whenever it comes online, right?" Moore instantly said, "Crystal Tower will not participate in that." Aurora, however, was full of radiant rage as she told Mark, "Of course."

Mark said, "Isoko and I will be ready to go to Earth in 20 minutes." Isoko stood up and started walking with Mark to the balcony— Timeweaver said, "Take 30, Mark." Mark and Isoko left the meeting, headed home, and both of them rapidly sent out messages to the people who needed those messages, including Andria, who was upset but understandable about the trip." I need to work out some bureaucratic bugs with Dawncoast Skilling, anyway. Don't die! Be good, Mark."

Mark smiled and said into the phone, "I'll miss you too, Andria. Talk to you later."" Send out messages to everyone you talked to already about Skilling! The Collective, Dawncoast itself, The People. Probably talk to Walaria directly, though."" Will do!" Isoko put some of her pre-recorded makeup tutorial and commercials to auto-play over the next week over her social media profiles, while Mark had Quark compose letters to all of his various Skilling obligations, from the Collective to the slaughterhouse.

And then Walaria called Mark." Hello, Walaria!"" Hello, Mark. I have a list of chores for you when you go on this trip."" Ready."" Load up on Healthy Bodys before you leave and prepare to hand them out to whoever wants them at Crystal Tower. I want you to steal the Bindings of every single person on every single one of those blockade ships and hand out the lesser Bindings to whoever wants them at Crystal Tower. Make allies for Aluatha with your Skilling.

Hit up the oceans south of D'Japan and grab some Ocean Shaper Bindings from some of the leviathans living down there. And finally, spend a day clearing out goblins for the People. Do not antagonize the goblins to move them, for we do not want them to ever come back to our shores, but get them separated from the People. Help the People with a few Ocean Shaper Bindings, too, but keep at least 3 for Aluatha."" Got it. Did you hear about the Good Bear I confronted and the cub it left me?

I'm not sure how to handle the cub except for letting Reeni and the witches take care of it. It was kinda impossible for me to want to remove the Binding from the mother. It felt like bad things would happen if I even tried." Walaria's voice turned a bit lighter.

"A Good Bear? No. I had not heard that… Those 'A Good Life' Bindings are impossible for anyone to handle, and it is good you stopped when you recognized that you should stop. Bad Bears are serious misfortune magnets for the very world around them. I will be sending a few possible druids to take care of the cub. Simply being at Dawncoast will likely provide at least a month of safety for the settlement. This is good news, Mark."

She got back on topic, "We'll be teleporting you back to Aluatha if needed, but with a Good Bear there…" She continued, "You have your requests. I will likely send a few people to pick up some Powers from you, at Crystal Tower, after your first few days of hunting, if you manage to find what I want you to find. My current goal for your Skilling is to make use of Annihilating Light. I'll send you a list of Powers to look out for. Good luck, Mark."" Thank you, Walaria." Click.

And then Quark flickered a text into Mark's vision High Priority Low Priority Body Strength or Speed modifiers x10 Kinetic Super Large Area, Fire, Light Anything you can find Mind Battlemind, Smart, Tinkerers Natural Leader, any Witch, any Prognostication, Dynamo Arcane Necromancer Fire spells Arch Any at all Note: Anything with a PL of 80 or above is useful. Anything below that you are free to distribute as you desire.

Any three-pair confluences in a tri-hex pattern will automatically be useful, like the Transcendent series. Mark told himself, "Seems pretty straightforward, then." And then he called out to Isoko, "I'm going to hit up the slaughterhouse for as many Healthy Bodys as I can handle." Isoko came out of her room, one bag in her hands.

"I'm ready. I'll go with you." And so they did.