Chương 467: 467

The flight took 4 hours, passing through night and into the next day, 14 hours ahead, and Mark woke up a little bit before Isoko. He left her in the bed, in the warmth, and she sighed, awake, but not ready to get up. Mark felt messed up for months after his first assassination attempt, back on that tram between Mage Society and Dawncoast. They had tried killing him a few more times that very same day, and Mark ended up killing a whole lot of goblins instead of dealing with the aftermath…

and then he had gone on to Endless Daihoon, Mark supposed, recalling all of that time just half a year ago. Both Mark and Isoko had been in battle before. They had walked under kaiju, and fought Kardi, and edged around death and complete destruction… But it was different when it was an assassination. They had gone from peaceful times, to a knife in the dark headed right for them. No warning. No prep.

Mark grabbed a pair of bagels from the fridge, made them, and grabbed some caviar and cream cheese and what looked like smoked fish of some sort. Along with some fresh coffee, Mark made an afternoon snack/breakfast for himself and Isoko, who was still in bed. So Mark delivered her meal to her in bed, waking her up with a gentle nudge of Union. Isoko startled awake anyway, flickering grey. Not Full Platinum but edging toward it.

And then she saw Mark, holding a tray of food, she realized where she was, and she sighed and went back to pale skin and black hair, saying, "We're close?"" 20 minutes till we have to slow down for the wall crossing." Mark set the food down onto an adamantium tray over her lap, saying, "I heard Moore talking about getting people set up, too, it's probably go-time as soon as we land." Isoko smiled at the food, and said, "Fancy!"" Not nearly as fancy as it could be!

This is some rich-guy's pleasure yacht, so if you want fancier we got it." Isoko shook her head, saying, "This is plenty great already… I wish you could have come to New Tokyo without this war happening, Mark. It's so nice. Life is… It's different. The old timers say it's like it used to be, back before the Reveal." Mark scoffed a little.

"I have a hard time believing it's like Pre-Reveal. There are superheroes flying in the sky and the oceans are 23 meters higher." Isoko rolled her eyes, saying, "There are a lot of committees that keep the old world alive as much as possible. Grandma used to be on some of them… Not sure if she still is." They ate. It was pretty good stuff. Artisan bagels and some truly expensive smoked fish. Not at all like the smoked fish Mark used to have back home in Orange City that Dad made sometimes.

He had been a great fisherman but only an adequate cook, which was funny to think about but only because Mark actually thought about them without hurting too much. Mark had a bite of the caviar and decided he didn't like it very much, so he gave the rest to Isoko, who loved the stuff. Isoko said, "You're up for sushi, right?"" You better show me the best sushi places in New Tokyo." Isoko grinned.

"We'll have to go low-brow first, so that you don't make a fool of yourself at the prime locations." Mark smiled—" Approaching the outer walls of New Tokyo," Quark said. Mark hopped up, rushing out of the main bedroom, past luxury and Aeri at the helm, and finally up to the deck, to stand next to Melanie Moore. Isoko came up behind him to grab the railing beside him, not saying anything right now, just watching Mark and hoping he liked what he was seeing. Mark did like what he was seeing, and Isoko smiled.

Moore was on her phone, talking to someone, and vaguely surprised by Mark, but not really. She just grinned a little, seeing Mark's own excited face, as he looked to the west, to the blue, blue sky, piled high with clouds. The Pacific Ocean was dark, the sky was bright with morning sun, and there, on the horizon, were the first signs of civilization. It was a low grey line; a separation between earth and sky.

The hoverring on the back of the hovership spun lazily, parting the sky from the ship's egress, aided by Wandering Sage at the helm, so there was no wind even though the ship was flying at thousands of kilometers per hour. Wandering Sage pulled back on the speed slightly. The Water Wall, also known as the Outer Wall or Main Wall, came into sight. It was a kilometer tall and more like a grey haze than a real wall. As they got closer the entire Water Wall turned clear-ish.

The amount of power necessary to turn an entire wall, thousands of kilometers long and tens of kilometers tall, resting deep, deep into the ocean, and high into the sky… Well, Mark would have imagined that it took a lot of power. But maybe it was more artifact-based. Mark said, "Once, I was told that I could purchase something called an invisible diamond, or whatever it was, if I wanted permanent invisibility, but that those sorts of things were mostly used for city defense, to make a place invisible.

It was something like 60 million for one diamond. Is the entire Water Wall powered by those expensive diamonds?" Isoko wasn't sure. Moore put her phone away, saying, "Yes, but only halfway. True invisibility attracts certain kinds of kaiju, so even we don't have the invisibilities fully active all the time. So the invisibilities are only fully active at sunrise, for about an hour. It's the same situation on the other coast, at sunset. Mark smiled at that…

And then he had a lot more questions, asking, "Monsters attack the walls all the time anyway, right? How do you guys deal with that?" Moore said, "That's slightly complicated because we're in a constant state of cold war with the demons that cause the monsters. That cold war is the reason that New Tokyo became the center of power on Earth." Mark felt ignorant.

"… You're in a cold war with the demons? Do they not attack the walls?" Mark was sure that he had heard a story about some expansion to New Tokyo that failed because they tried to expand too fast and then the monster waves at that new expansion forced them to collapse that expansion. So surely they had monster issues, right?

Moore explained, "The demons stopped trying to kill us all the time a while ago because we can actually wipe the surface in every direction whenever we want, but they still attempt what they can when they can. But constant, low level threats like you have outside of every other city in the Two Worlds? Doesn't happen in New Tokyo—" Her phone vibrated.

"Excuse me… Yes… No, Ashley. I want..." She went off on her phone call. Mark turned to Isoko, not believing Moore's story at all… or rather, only partially. Isoko shrugged.

"There are always monster attacks but you'd never know it from inside the walls. That's why the base at D'Takasaki is so relevant. There's no normal monster spawning in the city— No! Wait. There are some kill zones in the city. Forgot about those. They're release valves for monster spawns? They're basically defunct, though. I haven't heard of any of them activating as release valves… ever."" So a cold war, huh?" Isoko shrugged; she wasn't going to countermand Melanie Moore, of all people.

Mark nodded a little, watching the Water Wall of New Tokyo coming up, like a thin, translucent mountain range. And then they were going over the invisible wall, and it was thick as fuck. At least a kilometer wide! Holy crap! And then there was an ocean just outside of the outer banks of New Tokyo, which was like a rolling mountain range of trees and small cities and so many different districts, all without any major walls.

Sure, there were emergency walls, but those walls all had yellow/black striped sections to them that could be raised whenever, to block monster flows, or whatever— Fishing boats on the open waters. Mark felt something like amazement, envy, and quiet joy, to see fishing boats on the city-side of the Water Wall.

They plowed the small waves like nothing was wrong, like there weren't so very many monsters just beyond the translucent barrier below— There was a damned fishing village and resort, right there, on the edge of the mountainous greenery that was the outer banks of New Tokyo… Right? Or… It wasn't New Tokyo yet, was it? Where was Crystal Tower? Where was Big Torii; the gate? Mark asked, "That's not New Tokyo yet, is it?"" Technically it is," Isoko said, "But it's just Chiba. I forget what they call it elsewhere?""

Oh!" Mark said, "Outer Banks Chiba?"" That's it!" Isoko added, "It's a bunch of open, flat land, and mountains, and the Ocean Defense Force is there— There's its hoverport. Big ships!" Some huge hoverships floated above mountain forests, above a bunch of towers and flatter spaces and prep zones. It was a military installation, for sure… Which was a concern, wasn't it? There were other hoverships in the sky around here, but that was clearly a military zone.

Mark turned toward Wandering Sage, currently sitting behind the steering wheel about 15 meters distant, inside the ship. Mark wondered toward Isoko, "Aren't there usually guide ships? Escorts?" Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation." Grandma has it handled," Isoko said, "And also Moore is here, so… Are we really violating anything at all?" Mark and Isoko were both a little giddy, like kids in candy shops.

Isoko was a lot better at hiding it, though, because, in that moment, Mark suddenly realized that Isoko might have already met many of the heroes he would be meeting today. Crystal Tower was trying to recruit him, after all. Maybe after Mark's tenure was up with Aluatha, and assuming the war went well, maybe… Maybe New Tokyo would be a pretty awesome place to live?

The ship moved over Chiba, and then there was the second bay New Tokyo, located where much of Old Tokyo used to be, and Mark started to recognize things. When the Reveal happened in 1969 and the oceans rose, billions died. Much of Old Tokyo was reduced to rubble. But it had been rebuilt, bigger than ever before. There were about 5. 3 billion people in the Two Worlds, and 530 million of them lived here. 1 out of every 10 people lived in New Tokyo!

That was about 65% of the population of Aluatha, and about 50% of the population of Okuana, but all of those places were spread out over continents. New Tokyo was one city, and what a city it was. Mark's breath fully failed him as he saw New Hope Bridge, giant and white and arcing between Chiba and New Tokyo proper, connecting the island underneath to all of that over there.

Skyscrapers abounded, each art-pieces of their own, like sound waves had been captured for all eternity and then marked out with building heights. They were tall. Shiny. Hovertrams connected everything to everything else. Giant floating weapons platforms, like blue cubes floating on their points, hovered over the waters— And there was Crystal Tower. It was a kilometer-tall spike of white crystal surrounded by supporting crystals of the same color and nature.

Like a spike of a bunch of different quartz crystals that tapered to a single spire, and then to a sharp tip. And then, to make it even cooler, someone had floated a sphere of crystal on top of that tip. The whole thing had been created by some major powers in the Reveal, right outside of the Imperial Palace of Japan, and later turned into the center of superheroing in the Two Worlds. All of the myriad silver and glass skyscrapers of New Tokyo had nothing on Crystal Tower. Mark felt overwhelmed and almost innocent.

It was like he was 10 years old again, before all the horrors of the Two Worlds, before Addavein, before training for the Tutorial, there he was, sitting too close to the screen, watching Saturday morning cartoons. There were tons of different shows. A lot of them started off with establishing shots of Crystal Tower. And there was Crystal Tower, right there. Mark smiled softly, feeling real good. Being older and wiser, though, he noticed things about Crystal Tower that he never noticed before.

That crystal sphere on top was some sort of targeting system, just like the blue diamonds floating in over the bays. In the shows they never talked about that blue/white sphere, or about the blue diamonds. They were always just part of the show that was left to the viewer to wonder about. Those things had to be Death mana lasers, though, right?

And if New Tokyo could 'wipe the land beyond the walls clean whenever they wanted', which Mark certainly believed Moore when she said as much, then there were probably Death mana gathering sites inside the city that could power those sorts of weapons that Mark saw, and also that he didn't see.

And if they had those weapons on this side of Big Torii (which was something Mark had never seen on Earth because the mana density here was cripplingly low; all spells faded fast unless they were specially made) then they probably had the same weapons on the Daihoon side, at Sidecity. Which meant that the dryad fleet was approaching Sidecity with all of its death lasers… Mark hmm'd. Moore was softly smiling to the side, loving the look Mark was giving the city… Or at least she had been.

Now, she was wondering what was up. Mark asked, "Do the dryads coming up against Sidecity have Necromancers or other anti-Death mana precautions?" Moore hmm'd, judging Mark's direction of thought for a moment, then she said, "Dryads are all basically necromancers, in action if not in Talent. So blasting them away with our Death defenses is a possibility, but they're too far away from our guns on Daihoon and they could pull at that energy and mitigate the damage.

If they popped onto Earth, then we could blast them, but even the best case would be like you appearing in the middle of Verdant Citadel in Okuana; a lot of death spread indiscriminately. We hope to avoid that." She added, "We expect you will need to change your loadout in some way in order to deal with all of the Death mana that the dryads are expected to use." Mark briefly considered slotting Necromancer in his fourth slot right then and there.

He could even spend some time with it in his soulhouse, tuning that power toward defense against Death mana. And yet, if he did that now, then he couldn't deploy it as a surprise tactic against anyone else, and Mark was sure he would need to have a few surprises up his sleeve for the blockade. Chances were that he could survive any Death mana blasts, anyway… unless they were from a city cannon, or from a bunch of dryads linked together and cutting him down. Hmm. That was worrying.

Maybe he should slot it right now, just so he wasn't taken unawares? Mark wasn't sure. Mark suggested, "We'll do probing attacks and if it's a problem then we'll have Timeweaver tell us, right? Because I have something I can do against that." Moore deflected the implied question of direction, saying, "I'm the commander who gets trusted people into the positions they need to be in, and then lets them go to work.

The people who will be overseeing the blockade breaking are probably Justicar in the hot seat and Timeweaver off to the side." She looked toward Crystal Tower.

"Speaking of which, there's Justicar." Crystal Tower loomed overhead like the kilometer-tall spike of crystal that it was, the jumbled crystalline base as thick as an arcology back in Crytalis. It was probably shorter than Crytalis's glass dome, but it was all out there, and it was massive. It took Mark a moment to locate Justicar, flying just outside of a gap in the crystal. Mark noticed the gap first. It was a docking port between a few crystal structures.

Justicar came right on over, flying up and over and landing on the ship, his Union snapping into Mark's and Isoko's, flowing with Good and erasing all Bad. His was a calming presence, really. Just like his mother, High Priestess Julia Garin of Freyala. The light bent around him, too, almost golden. Divine. He was not actually Chosen by Freyala, though. He had True Union, like his mother, and like Mark and Isoko.

Justicar took off his silver paladin helmet and smiled a little behind his thick beard, looking at Mark and Isoko, reaching out a hand and saying, "Thank you for coming, Mark, Isoko."" Glad to kick some dryad ass," Isoko said, shaking Justicar's hand. Mark smiled as he shook Justicar's strong hand, too, saying, "I've seen you a few times already, but it still feels neat to actually shake your hand." Justicar laughed just a little, saying, "Imagine how I feel!

You came back from Endless Daihoon with gifts and danger a plenty, and I heard you've been Skilling a lot of Chosen from the Collective?" Wandering Sage effortlessly slipped the ship through a twist of cavernous crystal where sunlight reflected everywhere and turrets of floating crystal hung on the tips and corners of every crystal facet. Flat land existed behind the towers of crystal and Wandering Sage floated them toward it, toward guys hanging out by a dock that looked like their destination.

Mark told Justicar, "I have 130 Healthy Bodys for anyone at Crystal Tower who wants them. In addition to that, Second Princess Walaria wants me to do whatever Skilling work you want done for the next few days, whenever we're not fighting the blockade. Anything you supply through volunteers I can re-Skill into someone else, but the stuff I have from Walaria goes back to her, unless you directly get her clearance for it."

As Justicar breathed deep, taking all that in and feeling somewhat good about it, Moore had a much tighter, mental reaction, like she was doing advanced math in her head. Maybe she was. Mark continued, "Anything I take from the people in the blockade that is not on the list of Powers we're gathering for the war against Dominant I will be using for Aluatha, and I expect Walaria to send a team here to gather some of them in the next few days. I imagine Crystal Tower will get a lot of those Powers, too, though."

The ship docked. Justicar said, "I had heard the stories through the Collective, but I did not… Come. We will speak of tactics in the war room and then begin to break the siege in a short while." Moore spoke up, "I'll have those 130 people ready in an hour, Mark. I'll make a room for you. Might have a few takers to get rid of their Powers, too." Mark asked, "Are you planning on getting rookies Skilled?

Because if they already have a Power they might be able to evolve Healthy Body into something useful— And you're already completely aware of this. Sorry." Moore smirked, just a little, and started walking off the ship, saying, "We'll get those people to you, Mark, and yes, we hope the people who get Healthy Body will be able to evolve it into something better." And then she tapped something at her belt and she flew off, deep into the crystalline halls of Crystal Tower. Justicar pointed up.

"We're going up there. The Dock Dudes will take care of your stuff." Mark suddenly jerked, and so did Isoko, as both of them looked over the edge of the railing, both of them recognizing where they were— and there were the Dock Dudes, or at least two of them. Sebastian and Trainer, from the show. Isoko waved at them, saying, "We've been watching your show! It's fun!" Sebastian and Trainer both 'eyyyy!' d at them, and Sebastian called back, "We watched your shows, too!"

Mark told them, "We bought the ship from some rich guys! We have no idea what is on it!"" Can't be that bad!" Trainer called back. Justicar chuckled as he said, "Okay okay." And then he took off, into the sky. Mark rapidly held out a hand to Isoko as he said, "I don't want to blow a lot of wind here." Isoko easily took Mark's hand, smiling brightly and Full Platinum, and then she zoomed up into the air, and Mark dangled. Isoko had a whole lot of strength, though, and soon Mark was right there with her.

Still kinda dangling, though. She was smiling. Aeri floated beside them, saying, "Please focus more, lovely, wonderful, alive granddaughter of mine." Isoko put on a straight face and Mark did, too. It still felt awesome to be here.