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Kardi waved up at Mark with a sandwich while she cupped her other hand around her face and called out, "We're having lunch! Come have lunch with us!" Mark frowned. … Mark wondered if a nice splash of prismatic mana would hit Kardi and be enough to erase her completely. Probably not, if his suspicions about Grax having a soulhouse were correct, and that Kardi was a member of his Cohort—" We got cupcakes, too!" Kardi called out, "Or are you gonna stay up there!"

"… I'm considering my options," Mark Called back." Take your time! But not too long! I'm pretty sure the Spires are fritzing out, but they'll fix that soon! This place is only relatively safe~" … Mark wrapped his lower half in some adamantium pants and descended to the ground, to stand about 20 meters away from Kardi Shale, Grax the Light Titan, and Goofy Goblin.

At this range he could tell that Goofy didn't like Kardi, which was a relief, but he could also tell that Kardi absolutely loved to see Mark, and that Grax's demon, Leash, was focused on Mark through that third eye on his forehead. They all looked in good shape. Last time Mark had seen Grax, he had been red and worn out. He no longer looked worn out. He was still red. They all looked hale and hearty. Mark hated all of this.

Mark said, "The only reason I'm here is that you obviously got Lucky and angled all of this toward you, Kardi, so speak your piece and let's be done with this."" My God did most of the work getting us here," Kardi said, grinning brightly. And then she shook her head and added, "Thrashtalon is not actually allied with Wongod. He doesn't want to unleash the goblins upon the world, except maybe upon Okuana, but the goblins would never fight Okuana, so that's a non-starter.

He absolutely doesn't want Okuana to get the goblins as weapons. The offer of Pantheonic healing of the goblins is a real one, but since the Lightning Spires work now…" Kardi shrugged.

"That's a foible that we'll be discussing more, I'm sure. No one wants to trade Okuana's tyranny for 'the Endless Court' rising up and killing absolutely everyone. Thrashtalon is sure that they'd be capable of killing gods, one way or another, if they were allowed to flourish."" Great. Good to know." Mark looked at Grax.

"Your turn." Grax said, "I've been teaching Goofy how to use the soulhouse that I helped him craft." Goofy stood tall and proud, looking more like a small green version of Glorious Man than a goblin. The suit really sold it. It was a professional suit. The last time Mark had seen the guy he had been wearing a children's costume version of Glorious Man's suit. They must have either gotten this one commissioned, or bought it off of a teenager's high-class costume shop somewhere.

Grax's demon, Leash, kept Grax's third, bright red eye on Mark. Grax said, "I want to rip the Green away from Wongod and give it to my son, and I want you to help me do that. In return, I'll help you grow your own soulhouse. Wongod will also be gone forever. Wongod's total death will be boon enough, but there are multiple good things to be had here, and we will get them all. I want good things for both of my sons." Mark took a breath. Mark said to Goofy, "You're looking good, Goofy."" Thanks!"

Goofy grinned, showing off his bright white teeth without any fangs at all. There were no gaps where his fangs had been. On him, his grin was human, or rather 'elven'. It was not a threat display at all. Goofy said, "You're looking good, too! I hear you did good work at New Tokyo, but, uh… the Forgetting stuff is kinda erasing you from the world. People think Addavein did all of that." Mark frowned a little, but… Mark said, "Thanks for telling me, but I already knew a bit about that. So, uh…

You wanna kill Wongod permanently, then? Can we do it in a day?" Goofy's grin faltered. Grax said, "Not with those Spires active. Didn't know they were that close to being ready." Kardi happily said, "You could always ask the Pantheon to remove him from Dominant's board! Thrashtalon told them all about his offer, but they're not moving on that offer. They might accept the offer if you ask for it."

From what Mark was seeing, Goofy hated Kardi, Grax thought of Kardi as a person he worked with right now and nothing more than that, Leash was somewhere inside of Grax and looking at Mark through Grax's third eye, and Kardi was happy to be there. She was in love with Mark, and yes, that freaked him out, but also... Mark felt like he stood at a crossroads. Whatever decision he made here, about this, would reverberate into the future… if he even could make a decision about any of this.

He wasn't exactly strong enough to 'make a decision' about any of this. Those Lightning Spires had been unexpected. How would Mark fight against those? Well… Maybe Nobody Important would step onto their side, to take away the Spires from the goblins, since he had already stopped Okuana from using their own Great Weapons against Aluatha. But... Wongod and his goblins were the Endless Court, and that staff… That staff was strong, in truly weird ways. Wongod's new black staff was for sure Eria's staff.

Wongod might not be who he was 10, 000 years ago, but Nobody Important had specifically asked about the Endless Court when Mark had woken him from where he floated over the Softer Lands, and there was history there that Mark knew nothing about. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Would Nobody Important side with the goblins? With the 'Endless Court'? In which case… Mark would need to figure out how to kill a Category 7 kaiju…

but that kaiju was the only reason that Okuana hadn't continually blasted Aluatha with the Pyramids at Longwater, so did Mark really need to figure out such a thing? Maybe not. Fighting Nobody Important would be a bad idea, for multiple reasons. Fighting Wongod would be a bad idea, too, for multiple reasons. … Mark looked at Kardi and thought about Thrashtalon's offer to work with the Pantheon to remove Wongod's curse, to remove the goblins from Dominant's side of the upcoming war.

Kardi seemed beatific as she sipped her tea from a porcelain cup. She was too serene by far. Mark looked at Grax, ignoring his focused third eye, and asked, "What would happen if the curse was removed?" Grax explained, "Wongod would become his old self, which is a 6-Talent menace with ever-shifting Powers, able to draw on the Powers of every single person who works under him, which would be the entire extended goblin tribe. All billion of them.

Goofy and I would be exempt because we both took steps to extricate ourselves from his territory, but anyone Wongod Bit would fall to him, to be reborn, whole, as an 'ascended goblin', or whatever he decides to call himself." Mark frowned. Goofy spoke up, "But as long as he's cursed then he's vulnerable to us."" He was," Grax corrected Goofy.

"Now he has the Spires and that staff. The staff was one thing, but the Spires are too much."" What the fuck is up with that staff, anyway?" Mark asked." What happened with it?" Goofy asked, curious.

"I saw a little bit. You couldn't hit around it, right?" Mark might have answered that question if Kardi wasn't here, and maybe if Grax wasn't here, too. Mark decided to remain silent. Goofy jolted a little, understanding why Mark wasn't answering. He glanced at Grax and at Kardi and he said nothing. Kardi sipped her tea." It's an Enforcer's Staff of the Endless Court," Grax answered.

"The Enforcer Staffs are unique condensations of witchery and action that crush the world to the whim of its user in ways witchery can only do in social settings. You saw that Mark couldn't fight it, Goofy. You would have fared a lot worse." Grax said, "The only way forward is to regroup and to figure out a way to take out the Spires, first. Whatever repairs he made to them can't have taken hold that well… or maybe they are strong repairs. Who knows! From there, he's vulnerable again.

As long as those Spires are active he will kill everyone around him whenever he is threatened." Grax sounded a little weird, like his voice had changed. Or maybe he had a… Something was wrong with his mouth. His fangs were missing. That realization threw Mark for a loop. His fangs were gone? Mark asked, "Your fangs are gone?" Goofy grinned brightly. Grax closed his mouth and spoke through tight lips.

"It allowed me to remove myself from the Green, so I did what I had to do." Mark told Kardi, "You have said your piece. Leave." Kardi stood up, bowed, and then spilled into gore that shifted and twisted into itself, into the air where her head had been, like a person being pulled through a tiny hole in the world. And then she was gone—" She's not actually gone," Grax said, "She's in my house."" Nice to have confirmation of that theory," Mark said, sitting down on the dirt where he stood.

He did not move closer to the goblins at all.

"So I heard you all were helping to stall the goblin advance into Vaka?" The Forgetting swirled around them, but it remained distant. It couldn't touch Mark, Goofy, or Grax, all but confirming that all of them had soulhouses and a Cleaning Ritual, or similar effect. Goofy looked proud as he said, "We couldn't assault the main city, but we could help fight against the lesser forces trying to reach out and corrupt those people living there. We did what we could." Goofy's vector turned a little shameful.

"We couldn't do much more than that." Grax said, "Before we get to that… I was there on the Dreadnaught when you and yours broke into the homelands. I have seen much of your continued ascent past that. I am very proud of you, Mark." Mark had a lot of mixed, hateful emotions regarding that statement, his face feeling hot, his blades in the sky and in the back twitching and aching for violence, but he recognized that those emotions were unproductive. He took a deep breath and said, "Moving on…

How are we going to install Goofy as the new leader of the goblins?" And should he get Aluatha involved? Would they even agree to help in this way? Probably, right? Doomo might even be willing to do something here, and he had had a bunch of contact with Nobody Important, so he would know more on that end, as well. Also, there was that staff Mark had seen at the Winter Ball, that they called something… Pillar of God, maybe? Yeah. That was it. Pillar of God.

It was one of the Swords of Empire and it caused everyone who used it to go berserk. Was that an 'Enforcer's Staff'? It might have been. Maybe Mark needed to go get the Pillar of God for himself. Grax stood, saying, "The targeting systems on the Lightning Spires are either out of commission or coming back online, soon. We should relocate to discuss various matters."