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Serge Garin, Justicar, stood with hands pressed onto the Round Table. It was going well, but it was also a complete fucking disaster. One of the worst disasters that New Tokyo had seen in recent memory, not counting last week's aborted Gate Day. 10 portals open from Daihoon. Necromantic constructs flowing into the city and turning forests both inside the city and outside the walls into Green Death Ecology.

Infiltrators inside New Tokyo had activated and the AIs were mostly fighting that battle, and winning, but the fact that there was a battle at all was horrific. Four bunkers had been compromised and turned into necromantic nests. 20, 000 dead, just by those places, alone. Everyone had been hoping that one good strike against the blockade would have them breaking up and running, or at least gracefully retreating and then the diplomats would take over once again. But that hadn't happened.

What had happened was portals from Daihoon, filled with people and monsters with average PLs in the 50s. That meant that they were tearing through walls and ignoring standard-issue bullets. Mark's team had closed 2 portals so far and the word had gotten out not to kill any archmages, because someone had killed an archmage on the southern wall and that archmage was currently a Living Kill spell that the archmages of New Tokyo were still untangling.

Anything that got within the Living Kill spell's radius, or that drew its direct attention from a much larger range, simply died. Some of Serge's friends had already died. Teams Orichal and Iron, along with Glorious Man and Captain Titan and the New Tokyo Defense Force, had managed to break 6 portals. They didn't close them, though. They just broke the portal in the sky and then the ships on the other side repositioned higher or lower, in some direction, and they reopened the portals.

One portal had been opened inside of a high-rise building and no one had noticed for 10 minutes. 3, 000 dead in that one building, and now it was full of necromantic constructs at PL 35 to 65, tearing through all resistances and the other nearby buildings. Serge was silent, Union connecting him to everyone else, a Union of Life thrumming with Order and discarding Chaos.

The entirety of Crystal Tower's response against this aggression was a well-oiled machine, and Serge kept that machine in tune, looking at the maps and directing attentions where they were needed. He could still talk a little. Serge asked, "Is this truly the best possible result?" Timeweaver, Zaid al-Ishak, stood beside Serge, hand on his simple cane, gazing out at the battle. He flickered every so often, vanishing and reappearing in slightly the same location.

Serge had worked with Timeweaver for over 25 years now. He knew enough to recognize that the guy was working overtime, and that was scary. Zaid's voice was still partially cheerful, though, as he stopped blipping long enough to ask, "What could have gone better?"" You could have told us about the archmage triggers."" Nah," Zaid said, "Then they just get sneaky. This is the best option, Serge. Mark is here and so they're committing to the fight. They really want to kill him." …

So they wouldn't fight if Mark wasn't here? Serge almost lost his temper.

"I thought you said that we needed him to survive. But you brought him here just so we'd have this battle?" As if just waiting for his cue to talk, after having teed up Serge, Zaid said, "In 10-ish more days, when Dawncoast has their own Gateday, the blockade would have been at 20 kilometers away from Crystal Tower and able to jump to a 10 kilometer radius within minutes.

Once that happened, they would have activated a 'grand gate', transporting all of Crystal Tower and central New Tokyo to Daihoon, effectively killing us as a major world power. That death toll would have been 400 million and Crystal Tower would be gone from the world stage within the month, our pieces consumed by other nations, all of us refugees." Zaid flickered once, and then again, his joy draining from his face with each flicker, until finally he did one more flicker and he came back like a dead man walking.

With dark circles under his eyes, Zaid stared Serge straight in the eyes, and said, "I'm cutting losses, now. Expect disasters across all battlefields." While other people nearby panicked in small ways, and one intern over there knew enough to panic in a large way, Serge maintained." You will have earned a break after today."" I know," Zaid said, exhausted.

"Believe me, I know."" What are we giving up?" Serge asked, though he could already tell what had happened, based on the map in front of him. The Living Kill spell was advancing through Yokosuka, unchecked, now that its main inhibitor was gone. Retreating. Serge could practically hear the fury in the guy's voice, over there in the command center. Serge breathed out, "You told Glorious Man to retreat.""

The fucker barely listens," Zaid said, scowling, voice quiet, "You know how many fucking times I've fucking saved his fucking life? And I don't mean over the course of years. I mean today. Too fucking many!"" Ah," Serge uttered, gallows humor in his voice as he said, "We're in the 'cursing everyone' part of your exhaustion, huh?" Zaid straightened up, bags still heavy under his eyes, as he said, "I'm good, Serge."" I know you are."" I'm gonna make Mark give Ren either Battlemind or Leader.

I haven't decided yet— Ah." Zaid flickered.

"Neither, then. Okay. Weird, but okay." Serge almost asked what that meant. But there was a battle to be had. Serge asked, "Could I use Leader?"" I'm not checking that right now." Serge just nodded, Order flowing in, Chaos flowing out— A third portal winked out. Aleph One confirmed, "Third portal closed. 4 more dryads dead. 2 more archmages in pursuit of Mark's team. Isoko's Union is keeping them from committing to a real attack. Confirmed Battlemind in Specter and confirmed Accelerator in Tempest."

Serge asked Zaid, "Did you put him up to that?" Zaid grinned, a bit of his exhaustion fading, saying, "Nope. He did that all on his own, but one option worked out better than the others, so I angled him toward Accelerator instead of Speedster. I really, really like working with him, Serge. I want him here, but I can't push that hard alone, and I won't."

- - Aeri Kanno, Wandering Sage, flew with her family in the skies over Takasaki, where the portal had died off 20 minutes ago but the Green Death Ecology was still going strong. They had contained the incursion to the forests outside of the city, and they had scoured the sky of all fliers, but the forest still remained.'

Clan Sage' of Wandering Sage was just what they showed people on the screen, when they played up their roles as small-time villains of the main supervillain Wandering Sage, back when Aeri was still getting bookings through Crystal Tower. All of those roles were as henchmen, except for Chimiko, who Aeri had hoped could join her as a true supervillain, but after that 'cancer' had hit her years ago, they had needed to burn out the infection with Castellen fire.

Chimiko had taken her loss of power just fine, since it happened around the time that Riku had perished in the Tutorial, and that still consumed all of her thoughts. Back then, Chimiko had a whole lot more to be sad about. Isoko's relationship with her mother had never recovered from that loss, which was what it was. The almost-loss of their second daughter to Endless Daihoon, just half a year ago, had hit Chimiko extra hard, but Isoko's return had not alleviated any of that trauma at all.

Aeri had wanted the whole family to have a resurgence on the big screen, but now thi s shit was happening. But for a moment, she saw some of that resurgence there, on the battlefield, 5 of the 'Wind Masters' of Clan Sage active in the full defense of New Tokyo. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Aeri whipped the skies into funnels. Chimiko and her sister Ome turned those funnels into burrowing drills, cutting out horrors from the ground.

Isoko's father Hokichi used his Mist Shaper to rip the moisture out of one horror after another, making them so dry they just fell apart, turning to dust on the winds. He was the real power in this sort of battle, along with Isoko's cousins Sofu and Shiki, who had mastered 'Cutting Wind', spiraling their Wind Shapers into thread to slice and dice enemy after enemy as they floated down streets and through the forests. Aeri tapped her comms, requesting an update on the battlefield below her.

It looked cleared enough for secondary actions, but she wasn't sure. She couldn't feel everything in every direction nearly as well as Isoko could. Maybe 50% as good, and it felt— Aleph One responded, "Fire teams inbound. Highlighting the fire source." Aeri said through the sky, "Here comes the flame," as she felt the updraft of heat about 3 kilometers away from the Green Death node. With a casual tornado, Aeri grabbed the flames from whatever source was making them.

Felt almost like a team of Flame Shapers, but she didn't know for sure.

"All clear!" Clan Sage pulled back from the forest, sounding off all clears of their own. And then Aeri funneled heat from kilometers away into the edges of the forest. The flames burned slowly at first. It wasn't a whole lot of fire from those fire teams, and they were fighting off something else over there, so Aeri didn't take too much. But it was still ignition. It was enough. Aeri funneled the sky into the flames, and the flames grew with the power of a clean, hurricane-sized bellows.

It was an incredible roar, and it brought Aeri back to younger days. She hadn't done this in a long time. The fires by themselves didn't do much, of course. The PL of the Green Death trees was too high for normal fire. But Wandering Sage's Sky Shaper fire drilled into arcane constructions easily enough. The fire just helped to rob the necromantic monsters of their resources and their homes.

With a blasting wind, over 20 minutes, Aeri turned a once-beautiful forest into ash, coal, and blasted sand, all the way down to bedrock and stone—" All clear," Aleph One said, "Delivering new directions. Kaiju appearance at Sagamihara. Do NOT engage the tall purple Living Kill spell."" Kaiju time," Sofu said, looking uncomfortable. Shiki tapped her visor, adding, "Glorious Man main; Clan Sage backup." Chimiko declared, "And if the Living Kill even looks our way we're escaping! UNDERSTAND?!" Rounds of agreement.

Aeri had already lifted her team into the sky, headed southward, saying, "Ren will take care of most of it. We're on backup and cleanup. Let him work and do not get in the way." Rounds of agreement, again. - - Renjiru Furusawa, Glorious Man to enemies and acquaintances, 'Ren' to his friends, hated leaving behind an enemy, but that damned fucking Living Kill was apparently too dangerous to grapple with. Timeweaver had made that very, very clear to him, and to everyone else.

Only people with Death mana Talents could even hope to touch it without dying. They were, each and every one, basically Cat 7 kaiju for everyone except someone like Mark, and thus they were basically Cat 1. Crystal Tower had a few Death Mana heroes and villains, but they were few and far between. That stuff just didn't play well on the screen, and most of it was actually outlawed, so there had never been a big push for any of it from the recruiters.

Dominant had angled his hit well, and Ren was sure they'd have to break out the nukes, soon, and on top of civilian populations, too, but if the Living Kill spells were anywhere near any civilian populations then those populations were already dead. So nukes were 'okay'. And so Ren stood on the 10th hole at Hodoga y a Country Club, shuddering in a building rage, waiting for Aleph One to give him new headings—" Kaiju spotted, cat 3," Aleph One said in Ren's ears.

"West. It's a tree. Not a dryad." Ren let a fraction of his power out, gripping the world, and the world cracked. Glorious Man floated into the air before he even took a single step, and then he took that step and the world cracked in his passage, air breaking, land erupting. The golf course had seen better days compared to its tiny time briefly hosting Glorious Man. But this was a great spot for him to land, and Ren had landed here many times before. He had also played some rounds of golf here, as a charity event.

The country club would survive… Hopefully. As long as the people survived, New Tokyo would be fine. And yet, Ren already knew that tens of thousands were dead. In one great leap, and then a few tugs of the sky, Ren saw the kaiju tree. It was a red maple tree, and it was already expanding in every direction like a plant kaiju made by Hexbreaker. Just a cat 3, though. Ren judged it as having at least size as a special effect… and 1 other special effect, if that. Was its special thing 'size'?

Ren asked, "Special effects? It's already a kilometer tall?"" Telekinetic leaves. High PL. They spin and cut," Aleph One succinctly said.

"Clan Sage is containing the spread."" Got it. Tell 'em thanks!" And then Ren was inside of the aura of the big tree. It felt his presence instantly and it reacted in the same amount of time, shedding bright red 5-meter-wide leaves that spun like sawblades directly at Ren. None of them touched Ren at all as Ren grabbed forward, reaching into the center of the tree-kaiju even before he hit the trunk. He clenched his fist, and the entire 100-meter-wide trunk clenched in a 5 finger grip, wood splintering, sap gushing.

Yank and mulch, in the same twisting grip. Leaves fell, spinning and trying to cut and getting nowhere. Ren grabbed the canopy and ripped it up, shredding the lifeforce inside of it, and then Ren turned his attention to the remaining trunk as it tried to regrow. Yank, crush, mulch, and splinter. Ren 'landed' beside the gnarled, 'chopped-down' trunk of the tree, his Tactile Telekinesis acting as feet, keeping him a good 10 meters off of the churned soil.

And then Ren concentrated his feet into the ground, stabilizing everything for a kilometer around, except for the land where the tree grew. With a great grip of both his hands and stabilized footing, Ren gripped and tore out the entire living root system of the tree, and then he gripped it in the middle and ripped it apart down the center. Sap fell everywhere. The kaiju tree died; Ren could tell because it's PL had dropped and now it was disintegrating in his very presence.

Clan Sage was already burning the remains, too, as its PL began to drop even further. Ren gave a salute to Aeri, put on a smile because everyone needed that, and then he asked, "Where to next?" Aleph one said, "To the wall, south and then east, avoiding the Living Kill, to head up to southern Chiba. Green Death Ecology has taken hold of the Chiba Airbase." Ren launched himself into the sky, asking, "How many portals are active? How many has Mark's team cut off?"" 2 active portals remain.

The one at Chiba and the one Mark is closing now. We are nearing phase 3. The final portal will be over Chiba. Estimated 12 archmages in total to clear, with many of them expected to be living spells made specifically to harm New Tokyo."" That means you escape when I tell you, Ren," Zaid said, directly into Ren's ears." Heard and understood!" Ren pulled himself along the Southern Wall, barely harming the upper surface at all, moving at mach speeds.

The Living Kill was still out there in Yokosuka, looking like an emaciated purple man 100 meters tall. The damned thing was still shooting Kill beams at everything it saw and sensed as it floated down the streets, while the guys in the sky weren't able to do much at all except get its attention every now and then… Ren found he could hate something else as much as he hated kaiju. That damned Living Kill spell had gotten tens of soldiers so far, and it had even gotten into a bunker, killing… killing way too many.

Synapse and Seraph were dead. Geugi and Karl. Two people Ren had worked with for decades. Dead. The people he knew and worked with and shared beers with were dead. It had happened before. It happened today. It would happen again. Ren's hate for kaiju and Living Spells hadn't tripped over into hating Okuana yet, but it was a close thing. It was too easy to sympathize with Mark. That's probably why the boy was so popular in the media.

He was going to be super popular after this, for sure, and Glorious Man had an inkling that he would help boost that popularity. Ren hit the Ocean Wall and kept zooming along, down the way toward Chiba. The portal was over the densest part of the forested mountain, where the big air ships docked for the Defense Force, and Ren hated Okuana just that much more. He knew so many people that lived and worked there.

Those were his people before he became Glorious Man, back when he was just a kid growing up with parents in the army. He loved walking through those forests, too. He had gotten drunk and made out with his gradeschool crush in those forests. And now dryads reached down from the sky, turning trees into monsters and people into horrors—" One portal left," Aleph One said. Timeweaver spoke to everyone through the comms, "I will be taking over directly now, with major news…"