Chương 221: A great service

"Why are you not intervening?" Jin, the leader of the contingent of the Builder's cultists, asked Verses Sung Twice where he stood beside her, watching as Sunless Fang started clashing with one of the local silver rankers. The draconian's chained sickle seem to bleed shadows with every movement as it whirled in ways both lightning fast and angularly impossible, at least without the use of magic.

His foe, a human man who had conjured spiked metal armor, used his twin-tipped spear to fend off their almost omnidirectional assault, freely splitting the weapon into two shorter ones which he occasionally threw in supersonic counter attacks.

Through her aura, Verses could feel how the sound of their clashing, taking place in the plaza before the gate and its surrounding wall, woke up everyone within quite some distance even though all the people below silver seemed content in taking shelter within their houses or even leaving to run further away.

"You are not done yet, no?" she calmly replied, looking on as Sunless' shadow self emerged from the flickering haze covering the ground and caught the handle of the sickle mid-flight and managed to hack it into the side of the armored man while ignoring the barbs which were shot through it in retaliation.

"There is only one of them, and my... brother... over there will probably be most cross with me if I intervene with his fun."

"It is inefficient."

"We are already discovered, and as such might as well use the opportunity to revel in the strife and let ourselves be tempered by it. And thanks to your capabilities, we will have no trouble breaching this gate within short order, no? Once inside, it won't matter who saw us. Not as long as your people hold up your part of this venture."

"They will. Compared to you, our unity of purpose allows us to coordinate. As soon as we can set up the ritual inside, they will have an anchor. Creating the dimensional tunnel after that is just a matter of time. Besides, Aki is done now. We may proceed." Verses turned to see the elf's face reassemble itself as its exterior slid back into place in a smooth flow of soft clicks. Before her, the last vestiges of the array were flickering into nothingness.

Jin immediately strode past his subordinate and blasted an arc of lightning into the previously protected pair of doors which were blown open to reveal a short tunnel through the walls which soon opened up into a circular, unadorned plaza beneath the dome above. In its center, the Jade-Sky Gate hovered, silent and unmoving; its pale metal seeming at odds with its surroundings, as if the gate was somehow more real than the world around it.

Verses followed along with the others, both Builder cultists and essence-users filing through the more cramped confines.

"Sunless."

"You go. I'll revel here a while longer while you work," the draconian called back, currently whirling the chain of his weapon fast enough to form a deflecting barrier against a hail of metal spikes from a metal cocoon which his foe had retreated into. But as more silver auras had started appearing within their perception, clearly headed for the gate, Sunless apparently thought it wise to at least take some measure of precaution.

In a burst of inky blackness, he dashed into the tunnel after his companions, and the space was in turn soon filled with a deep gloom which even Verse's perception had difficulty penetrating. Outside she could feel the arriving silver-rankers - probably reinforcements to the local champions - draw to a halt, hesitance clear in their auras. From Sunless, hidden within the dark tunnel, Verses only felt eager anticipation.

Discord had many aspects, and the strife of conflict was the one which the draconian had most thoroughly embraced. Trusting in him to at least keep the locals occupied for a while longer, she instead turned to regard the cultists at work. Jin had walked up to the gate and was currently assisting his fellows in drawing a ritual circle in front of the circular artifact.

Verses was a somewhat decent ritualist herself, but from a glance she could determine that this was on a different level entirely, based on principles she had not yet encountered. The four cultists finish the circle just as sounds of clashing weapons and discharging powers could be heard from the tunnel, indicating that one of the local adventurers had tried braving its depths. Verses once again thanked her god as those outside clearly had no intention of rushing in there as a unit.

Each of them had come, sure, but to call them allies would be quite a stretch. Decades of traditions where they had clashed, schemed and maneuvered did not make allies overnight. And as the array on the dome was still active everywhere except the doors, just bursting through the walls or the roof weren't an alternative either. As such, Verses resigned herself to wait, the minutes seeming to stretch much longer in the tension.

The adventurers outside made several forays into Sunless' waiting defenses, but all were rebuffed with both glee and enthusiasm. And just when Verses thought that the locals were about to put their differences aside and actually manage something more collaborative, Jin called out.

"It is done. Gather." Verses, along with the others under her and Sunless' command, started congregating around the Builder cultists where Jin held the disc he had been working on for so long aloft. The thing was now glowing brightly along with the circle at the base of the gate, a glow which in and of itself seemed to somehow resonate with the artifact.

At a gesture from the cultist leader, Verses produced one of the gate tokens from a pouch at her side and touched it to the disc, creating another ripple in the glowing runes. Sunless was the last to join, diving out from the tunnel as a trail of inky blackness and appearing in their midst while leaving a mess of dark chains criss-crossing the short corridor. Without another word, the leader of the cultists stepped forward, and as his extended arms reached the gate, they seemed to vanish into thin air.

All of the gathered clergy and remaining cultists soon followed, Verses looking over her shoulder just at the last moment and thus meeting the eyes of the first local champion who had managed to burst through the chains in pursuit. He of course recognized her, as it was she who had beaten him so soundly that very day, and Verses delighted in the look of outrage in his face that was the last thing she saw before completely passing through the Jade-Sky gate.

That, and the knowledge that her being recognized as the recent champion of house Charity will probably lead to all kinds of interesting developments in the local political scene in the weeks to come. Up high among the clouds, in a location known only to those with real power in the world, a palace floated calmly in the skies.

It had done so for quite some time now, even though it had been several years since a living being of flesh and blood had set foot among its towers, walls and parapets wrought from jade in every color. But that did not mean that there wasn't anything living among the splendor.

"Hmm, let's see… Perhaps another dash of green there… Yes, that's better." A miniscule set of tweezers finished attaching three additional leaves of green jade onto a tiny, delicate sculpture of a bonsai tree. Each of the leaves would have been but a pinprick to a human, which made the contrast of the gargantuan, multi-hued insectoid construct coiled around the tree all the more pronounced.

"Well, that is another one for the collection. The mistress did tell me to keep practicing," Resplendent Gleam of Imagination - or just Gleam to most people she found the opportunity to speak to - said to herself, voice resonant and metallic. The tweezers retracted and folded into a thin, articulated arm which in turn withdrew into one of the construct's massive, claw-like legs, of which she had ten pairs interspersed along her body.

Gleam once more let her manifold senses roam over her creation, and overall found it to her liking.

"This is at least a two percent increase in precision to the last. Perhaps it will be enough for the mistress to teach me the next step? She did say I would have to get closer to my own meaning and image of life. Just imagine… Working with a brand new motive spirit…" She had a whole slew of musings queued up for review - enough that even her diamond-ranked mind couldn't just flash through them in a moment.

The mistress did say to give them due consideration, after all - as she used another set of unfolding limbs to carefully pick up the bonsai and put it on a jade shelf along others of her creations over the years. But just as Gleam was about to set the sculpture into its place, a signal which she had never felt before surged through the palace like the striking of a distant gong.

It did not faze the construct, who carefully put the bonsai in place with a final adjustment, but as soon as she had let go of the construct, Gleam's form blurred as she exited her workshop and rose above the palace on shimmering dragonfly wings.

Her flight was a short one though; more an arching leap which had her land in the plaza of the gates with a roar of displaced air, and Gleam had no more than touched down before she scurried off to one of the empty pedestals where a Jade-Sky gate would land upon return to the castle in the sky. No gate was there at the moment, with this particular one having been gone for decades. But its pedestal was still connected to it, and the edifice was clearly the source of the alarm.

The construct spared no time, reaching down as a pair of antennae - formed from shimmering mist just like her wings - sprouted from her head before touching down to interface with the pedestal.

"Hmm… Oh? Oh! OH! THE AUDACITY!" Ever since the accidental visit of a little iron-ranker some years back, Gleam had taken to practicing to keep her musings carefully modulated to avoid hurting any other guests, but this all slipped completely from the construct's mind as she sensed that something had been done to one of her mistress' gates.

"TAMPERING! INTERFERENCE OF THE FOULEST MANNER! THIS WILL NOT STAND!" But Gleam knew which gate now, and therefore knew where to go. And in another flash of shimmering, mist-like wings, Resplendent Gleam of Imagination left the palace in the skies, descending to the world beneath for the second time within a decade.

"Pathbreaker, we need to go faster," Dancer on the Broken River once more urged with a restlessness Kite had only seen in her during the times when they might have caught a trail of Discord's clergy. Even while the air roared around them where River sat in her usual position at the back of the small ship which Glint pulled through the air - the lands of Hua-Xi blurring by beneath them - silver-ranked hearing let them hold their conversation in relative ease.

"River, we don't know if this trail is more valid than the rest. Even if I will admit that Wander sending us a message requesting our presence does lend it some more credibility. But still… Boundary? I do not understand why that particular location is of use to them."

"Don't be a fool. Boundary is one of this kingdom's border cities. It's the most rural one at that. Perfect for smuggling, and you of all people know what they have been bringing here over the past decade."

"Something which you and your former sect no doubt profited greatly from," Kite replied, a bit of an edge to his voice.

"The fact remains -," River retorted unapologetically, "- that they might be waiting for something important. Something which cannot be portalled, or at least not easily enough. Portals require trust, after all. The rat-woman will at least probably have been able to sniff something out when we arrive. Even in her flippancy, she is at least competent," the priestess finished with a grumble, once more settling down in meditation as it seemed that she would get no further concessions from Kite.

He, in turn, sighed and went back inside, leaving the woman to her brooding.

"So… Managed to keep her from jumping ship and trying to run northward instead?" Dragonfly asked from where she lounged in one of the plush seats while she watched Sprite go through a balancing exercise, which was in turn made that much harder by the swaying ship beneath them.

"Yes, even though it wasn't a strenuous task," Kite replied, sitting down beside her and leaning his head against her pink curls.

"Shame. The trip might have been more pleasant if she had," Will replied dryly from where he sat meditating hand in hand with Laevyeth, the both of them floating above their seats balanced atop one of Laevyeth's spear-copies.

"In a way-," Kite agreed, "- but while I don't begrudge you your feelings in regards to her, Will, I do not believe that these kinds of comments are of much help to any of us at the moment." Changing the topic, Kite instead turned to Sprite and her efforts.

"You are doing good there, little sister. A lot better than I was at your age. Your balance is impressive." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He did feel a twinge of satisfaction as the now thirteen year old actually perked up a bit at this compliment instead of trying to simply mask it as had been her way in the past.

"Thank you, senior brother. I will work all the harder to impress both you and teacher. The time and effort you have spent on me will not be for naught," the girl replied, the core of rigid dedication in her aura all the more palpable.

"Progress is progress, even if gradual," Kite replied, his double meaning apparently lost to the young elf who just threw herself into practice with even greater fervor. Even in spite of River's grumblings, few could deny that Glint did help with expedient transport.

The carp had only grown faster and faster as she and Kite progressed along silver rank together, to the limit that she couldn't really show her full speed or rise to any great heights above the lands below out of concern of attracting monsters in great numbers, or worse; something of much greater power from the heavens above. But even so curtailed, they made the trip to Boundary in days rather than weeks, with the final stretch forcing Glint to choose an undulating path between the mountains of northwestern Hua-Xi.

As they approached their destination, Kite had gotten a growing sense of unease which he couldn't properly place; a sense of foreboding seemingly without source. The group, apparently picking up on it too, had all started stowing their things in tense silence as they prepared for their eventual arrival when River suddenly burst into the cabin where the other resided, her features even more intense than usual.

"Something looms ahead of us. Something powerful," she stated, voice terse and tense in a way Kite had never heard from the priestess before.

"Something far, far beyond us."

"What are you talking about? I sense nothing-" Will began, but was silenced by Laevyeth squeezing his hand at this side.

"My Lord, she is right… You just can't feel it yet, even though I think it is already enveloping us," the outworlder said softly.

"My Lady, are you sure? What is it then? Something hostile?" Will asked worriedly, demeanor completely changing as he turned to the spear-woman.

"It is definitely a warning, but not towards us," River answered before the outworlder could, eyes forlorn as she was reaching out with her spirit.

"We should press on." Kite didn't answer right away, busy reaching out with his own aura as Laevyeth's words gave him more references as to what to look for.

"It is all around us," he exclaimed once he too could sense it; a direction to the unease he had previously just thought was restlessness after days of travel.

"It's an aura… It's, wait! I know it!" The memory was a distant one, but what the mind forgot, it seemed like the spirit remembered even if Kite had been a mere iron-ranker at the moment when he had felt that vast presence towering above him all those years ago.

"You do?" River asked sharply, turning to him as the others also gave Kite their full attention.

"I do… It is someone I met years ago, after my first little… Misadventure… After the queen's gate. But if she is here… Heavens, what is going on?" A quarter of an hour later, they were all gathered along the fore of the ship as Boundary came into view, nestled among the mountain in one of the more traversable valleys which led to the lands west of Hua-Xi.

The city wasn't overly large, perhaps two-thirds of Convergence, but it gave a distinct solid and old feeling given how much stone had been used in its construction compared to the primarily wooden cities more common around the kingdom. And while Kite had never been there, someone else in their group had.

"Hmm, the city at least looks intact," Dragonfly mused, having spent a few weeks there along with Soul.

"But wait, over there!" Following where she was pointing, one thing did stand out. In the northern part of the city, some kind of domed structure seemed to have mostly collapsed inward. Looking closer, there seemed to be quite a bit of activity around the perimeter of the building, but from what Kite could gather from watching the diminutive flecks in the distance that was people, none seemed to actually dare draw close.

"Glint, please take us in close. And if the rest of you would allow, I believe it to be best if I present my aura most prominently among us. She shouldn't have any trouble picking me out, but best not take any chances, no?" However, the grand aura emanating from the dome wasn't the only one inside the city, even if the silver- and bronze ones below felt quite paltry in comparison.

This didn't stop them from locking onto Kite as he projected his own quite forcefully upon arrival over the city, with Glint eventually setting down along a wide street - blessedly empty of normal-rankers - just before the small plaza which surrounded the broken dome. The structure and the presence within loomed before them, but so did a gathering of several groups of silver-rankers who were all watching Kite and his group disembark with varying levels of wariness.

Most were core-users, but each group of locals had between one and three more refined auras among them.

"The local houses and their champions," Dragonfly murmured, confirming what Kite had already suspected.

"Those are the Edens over there. Quite prominent, at least while Soul was staying with them." The head of the group she was indicating - a core-using silver-ranked human man whose hair had started graying - had apparently recognized Dragonfly as well, as he made a curt gesture that broke the seeming stalemate in the moment of hesitation at the newcomers' arrival.

His entourage, led by himself and two other silvers that were their champions, started towards the group while making sure to keep their auras contained in a gesture of peace.

"Why, if it isn't Mistress Dragonfly?" the core-user called out, halting his group at a respectable distance.

"It has been some time since you graced our home with your presence, but the Edens remember! But I cannot sense the blessed of Warrior among your number. Is she perhaps on her way?" He finished, seeming quite hopeful as he looked about after the celestine.

"Patriarch. Thank you for hosting me in the past, even though it was Soul who was your true champion," Dragonfly replied with a respectful bow.

"And no, she isn't with us today. Our arrival was something of a happenstance. Mind telling us what is happening here in Boundary? Why is the Opportunity in such a state?"

"Ah, I see. A shame. We could have used her in the days to come," the Eden patriarch replied, not caring to hide his disappointment.

"But as of this matter, it is something for us locals to resolve. The Edens would welcome you and your companions as champions in this trying time though. If that was the case, we could tell you more."

"We have our own matters to attend here, Patriarch. I am sorry," Dragonfly replied before gesturing to Kite.

"Perhaps my intended here can explain more?" At her words, Kite noticed that the Edens stiffened slightly, and their auras became more reserved. Still, he stepped forward, joining Dragonfly at the front of the group.

"Patriarch," he said, giving a formal bow.

"My name is Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune, also known as Pathbreaker."

"Hmm… The duelist? I do believe I have heard of you," the older man replied.

"The very same," Kite confirmed with a nod.

"And while I do not know if it is the same errand which brought us here, I will need to go into that dome. There are-""Out of the question, outsider," the patriarch replied, manner shifting to curt terseness in a moment which Kite supposed was as much intended for him as for the representatives of the other houses who were no doubt listening to every word.

"Stewardship of the Opportunity is a tradition that goes back further than you've been alive. No outsider will set foot in there without the blessing of the current steward of the array stone. Force this matter, and deal with our swift reprisal."

"Given from what I sense from your champions here, Patriarch, I am tempted," Kite replied, looking around at the gathered silvers with an arched eyebrow.

"Hmmph. You overestimate yourself, if you think-""However -," Kite continued, interrupting the older man with a forceful spike of aura,"- I don't have to. After all, the gates of the Queen of Jade and Sky fall within the purview of her decrees, and are for no individual to control or deny. As such, there is only one individual here which I will need to ask permission."

"You dare-""Mistress Gleam! I am sure that you have heard our exchange," Kite called loudly, more for all those present than any worry that the owner of the familiar aura inside the dome wouldn't be able to hear him.

"May I approach? Or do you want me to prove my path to these so-called champions first?" His words caused a grumbling stir to start spreading among the gathered local nobility, but that was cut off in one fell swoop as the spirit inside projected its presence just a bit more forcefully.

"APPROACH, YOUNG KITE! YOU ALONE MAY ENTER, AS I KNOW THAT YOU RESPECT THE QUEEN AND HER TRIALS, VERIFIED BY THE TWO GATES YOU HAVE ALREADY CONQUERED! ANYONE WHO HINDERS HIM WILL KNOW. MY. WRATH!" The words were reverberating with an intensity that caused the whole plaza to tremble, and some of the gathered essence-users looked physically ill from the sudden increase in spiritual pressure.

At her words, Kite started forward with an encouraging nod towards his companions, and it was once again proven that tradition could be quite quickly forgotten in the face of power as the patriarch and his entourage all but scrambled to get out of Kite's way. Several privacy screens - a slight expense up here in the north where the ambient magic couldn't effortlessly power them - popped up in his wake around the different groups from the ruling houses as they began talking with different levels of agitation.

Kite paid them no heed as he made for the sundered gates which led into the shattered dome, but he was forced to a halt as he emerged inside and once more laid his eyes upon Resplendent Gleam of Imagination.

"Heavens, you really are beautiful," he said before he could properly consider his words. The colorful construct had been quite overwhelming back at iron rank, but with his silver-ranked perception Kite could now grasp her masterfully made form to a far greater extent. This only intensified the experience as Gleam turned one humongous head from where she lay curled around the gate in the process of examining it with a pair of shimmering antennae.

"So you said last time too," the construct replied a lot more softly than her previous roar, her words not reaching outside the walls.

"Still a polite young man, I see. Although I didn't expect to meet you for at least another four years or so, when I will return to the Victorious Sunset sect. Well met, Kite."

"The same to you, Gleam," Kite replied, matching the construct's lack of honorifics, much like the last time they had met.

"But I can honestly say that I truly did not expect to see you here. Me and my companions came here on another errand. A quite important one too. Then I felt your presence here and thought it best to investigate. What is going on? If I am allowed to know, that is?" he quickly added, remembering just who the construct was representing. The construct regarded him in silence for a moment as if considering something, but that silence passed as quickly as it had come.

"Well, it would seem that someone, somehow has managed to tamper with one of my Mistress' gates," she eventually ventured, sounding both outraged and confused.

"Although I do not know how."

"I mean no offense when I ask this, but… Weren't you the one made to take care of these gates?" Kite ventured, making sure to keep his tone most polite.

"Yes! But 'taking care of' is quite some distance away from knowing the deeper secrets of their creation," the construct shot back, sounding only slightly annoyed.

"My Queen didn't share the foundational workings with me, and as such I am stumped. The traces of the ritual here were only silver rank, but somehow it managed to allow someone to bypass the settings of the gate, at least to some extent."

"Oh?"

"I am getting some feedback, you see. The gate is active, and while I cannot terminate the trial within or affect it, I can get a sense of it. Ten silver-rankers have entered, and the trial is active. Ten… How did they get ten in there? Oh, but wait? Perhaps… Ah, yes!" The insectoid construct seemed to become absorbed by the gate for a time, antennae feeling around different parts of it as she hummed to herself.

And while Kite was left a passive bystander, he thought it best to let the diamond-ranked being do her thing, and as such chose to channel the virtue of patience.

"Hmmm…. Hmmmmm!" Gleam eventually said, turning to look at Kite again while somehow conveying a different expression upon her rigid features.

"You know, this reunion might truly be heaven-sent. Because it did lead me to an idea. Say, you wouldn't happen to know nine other, trustworthy silver-rankers who would like nothing more than to enter one of the Queen's gates alongside you and investigate this matter, as well as bring justice to these trespassers who would corrupt her gifted trials?"

"... I-""Because you see, your words gave me an idea," she continued, talking over him.

"I cannot reset the trial from out here, or alter its functionality. But I should be able to make another officiating orb; a blank one, made to adapt to the trial it's inserted into and any objectives I give. And it should be able to get you in there within the same limits set by those who have already entered. Ten silver rankers went in, then ten can follow! How convenient that you're silver now, too. Heaven-sent, indeed!"

"But-""But I will probably need time to make it, even though I'll have to hurry. Who knows why those despoilers have entered the gate like this! And how," Gleam said, voice rising to levels which meant that those outside could definitely listen in, and with ease too.

"But two weeks. I shouldn't need more. Two weeks it is. Kite, I will now task you with this! Gather nine more of your fellows and return here in two weeks! The honor of the Queen of Jade and Sky is at stake, so you must not fail! Succeed, and you will be greatly rewarded!"

"Please, Gleam, just listen!" The construct had just conjured its shimmering wings and prepared to launch itself into the sky when Kite's cry finally seemed to register to her apparently busy mind.

"Wait? You are… objecting?" she asked, incredulous as she lowered her voice again.

"Well, no, but this is quite sudden," Kite hurried to say before the construct could make assumptions again.

"I honestly truly want to assist you, Gleam, especially if this is indeed some kind of subversion of the Queen's trial. But me and my group came here on an important task of our own too, one we need to pursue with utmost haste."

"Oh? Really? More important than this?" Gleam asked.

"Perhaps?" Kite ventured, honestly not sure himself.

"I really need to meet up with our contacts here in the city. They Who Wander, a swarm-user. She should know more, and might help me make a decision."

"Hmm? The rats? They're all around already. Have been since I arrived, seemingly tracing what happened here. Well, then do so and take care of this task of yours before I return. Two weeks should be plenty of time, no? Excellent. I shall now make haste. You will do a great service for the Queen with this, Kite." Then, with a rush of air and a sonic boom that shook Kite's whole being, Resplendent Gleam of Imagination shot up into the sky like a chromatic blur, instantly vanishing from sight.