Power Overwhelming

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”…and our information campaign has borne fruit," Hope reported. "The faction the Saint came from has come under attack, and in a desperate move to protect them, the Saint herself Ascended to gain the protection of the local Emissary for her people. The ploy worked and the attack was stopped, but everyone has effectively forgotten our part in the whole disaster."

The group had focused their efforts on two things. Making sure that the enemies who had targeted them were busy elsewhere, which they managed with a variety of methods, as well as reaching immortality as close together as possible. The fact that they'd have several new immortals Ascending from the same world guaranteed that the Emissary had to protect the world, so no further attacks would be possible. However, since they didn't plan on Ascending to the Divine Planes with the help of the Host, they wanted to make sure those that had attacked them previously were dealt with.

Ironically, some of the attackers had already given up before the attack due to the storm, and even some of those that had taken part in the attack had since given up due to the stiff resistance they had faced. Some had been convinced by the idea that the presence of the Sins meant the world was controlled by evil, and had since either been convinced they had been wrong, or had lost interest in any heroics due to the losses incurred, or the impossibility of the task. As for the rest, the Magocracy and the Elves were not without allies, and a bit of pressure in the right place had been enough to deter almost all of the remaining holdouts. The few remaining had suddenly found themselves slim on allies and vulnerable to attack, distracting them from any further attempts. Diplomacy and threats were wonderful assets when they worked.

“Good. I’ll be able to rank up as soon as I want to, and with you two already immortals, we’re only waiting on Wrath then.” Envy concluded. Hope and Valor had been the first to rank up. The event had of course been noticed by the Emissary, but the group had rather firmly refused any assistance in Ascending, though promising that they would find their own way within a short period of time.

“Having Tsumi and Tremere rank up at the same time was a bit of a surprise.” Valor added. “Though we might have to go through some effort to find them. Such a shame they didn’t wait for us before Ascending.”

The two had gone up to the Divine Planes the traditional way, despite Karna advising them not to. Tsumi had been worried about Arjuna, which was fair, while Tremere was an ally by necessity, and didn’t necessarily want to be tied to the four of them with the decree hanging over all their heads. They were still nominally allies and might become stronger allies in the future, but the vampire had wanted to keep his options open for now.

"There is one issue though," Hope added. "We're all in breach of the Progeny Accords. So were Tsumi and Tremere. Now, I know that deal has been made largely defunct in the last year with so many reincarnators Ascending, but it might still be held against us."

Valor shook his head. “It would be odd if they focused on us. We could easily argue uneven enforcement of the rules. Besides, the Accords were between the major powers of the Higher Planes and the Host, however, we’re not Ascending with the aid of the Host. You could argue that the whole thing doesn’t even apply to us. Besides, it’s a bit late for any of us to start thinking about kids at this point. We’ve promised to Ascend within half a year, and unless you’ve forgotten to mention that you’re pregnant somehow…”

“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even swing that way.” Envy said half-jokingly. She knew Hope and Wrath had gotten frisky at some point after all, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Many reincarnators had wider tastes. Still, Hope had shown no indication of being attracted to men, which was different from Envy and Wrath.

Hope just smiled a bit secretively, without revealing anything. “Zuellni, any news of your master?”

The tower was currently located in a rare and remote system that only held a single star and no planets. Karna had revealed that this was one of the places where the planet had been either destroyed or taken by the scourges, leaving only the star behind. It was rare for an entire world to be destroyed so completely, though the possibility existed. The scourges were a much more likely explanation. The system had been here for a long time though, as Karna had found it in her previous life in this universe, back before becoming the Sacred Lady.

They were here for several reasons. The main one was to avoid attracting attention, as four people reaching immortality in a short period was bound to draw attention from more than just the Emissary. The other reason was a more practical one. Karna was intending to use a very particular type of dragon as her Aura bloodline, and the process would likely require her to consume the star during the process. It would’ve been somewhat bad if she consumed a star in a system that was inhabited.

The tower spirit appeared reluctantly. She had been reticent to help the three other reincarnators, but since they had been here for months now, she had relented somewhat. “The process is reaching its culmination very soon. I’d estimate that Master has already consumed 20% of the star and the trigger point should be somewhere around 22%. Once she triggers the change, the rest of it will happen quickly. The whole thing is speeding up, and Gem mentioned that we should be done in a week at the latest.”

“In that case, I’ll need to get on with my immortality as well.” Envy declared before exiting the room. She had been holding back for weeks now, just to make sure the two of them would be close together.

“It’s almost cute how she wanted to wait so that she could make sure to Ascend together with Wrath.” Valor commented, causing Hope to burst out in laughter.

“Don’t let her hear that. She’d eat you up, and not in the fun way.” Hope managed to not sound too mirthful.

Valor shuddered. “Yeah, I’m not an idiot.”

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“I don’t know why I even bother leaving here, considering I have to come back soon enough anyway.” The black-skinned demonic Emissary shook his head in mock exasperation, though his play was betrayed by the ghost of a smile dancing on the corners of his lips.

“You leave because if you didn’t, the crazy tower spirit would toss you out.” Envy shot back, being the focus of the Emissary’s visit this time. She was also confident that she could defeat the Emissary by herself if necessary. She might have been able to do it before, but now that she was an immortal as well, that victory was all but certain.

“She’s correct, just for the record.” Zuellni popped in just to confirm, disappearing right after.

“You can say a lot of things about that crazy spirit but at least she’s consistent.” Valor smiled a bit as well.

“So, I’m guessing you aren’t planning on taking the invitation to Ascend this time either?” The Emissary asked rhetorically. The other two had already refused. He wasn’t sure if they planned on waiting until all four of them were ready, or if they wanted to make the attempt on their own. Or both as the case might be.

“You guess correctly.” Envy confirmed with a firm nod.

“So anything we can do for you in the meant-“ The Emissary’s question was halted as a pulse of power went through the entire vessel, and in fact through the entire system.

“It’s about time!” Envy exclaimed loudly as all three of them moved to the holographic display showing the view of the star in the center of the system. “I was worried I was too early.”

They watched in awe as an enormous pair of wings seemed to extend out of the star that had grown much smaller than before. The wings were dazzlingly white, the already familiar color of the living metal associated with Karna, but inside the wings you could faintly see the outlines of various constellations. Immediately after, a head and a tail exited as well. The draconic head had three pairs of long curved horns that seemed to form a crown behind her head. In the middle of all six horns glowed what seemed like a small star, and every move of the wings seemed to send waves of what could only be described as stardust into the surroundings. The dragon opened its enormous maw, and as she breathed in, the rest of what remained of the star seemed to be sucked inside, leaving the system in darkness.

“A Stellar Dragon? This is…” The Emissary seemed unable to find the words.

"The fucker got even larger. I thought her basilisk form was huge, but this is just excessive.” Envy complained. As she did, the presence of the dragon seemed to hit them all at once, and they realized Wrath had been holding her Aura back quite heavily so far. With her newest Awakening, all that presence was released. None of them were weak-minded enough to fall prey to dragon terror, and surprisingly they didn’t even have to fight against it. Instead, they felt empowered.

“This one’s new.” Hope commented. “Haven’t seen a dragon like that before.”

“I’m not surprised.” The Emissary commented, not bothering to wonder where the woman’s knowledge about dragons might come from. “Stellar Dragons are…forces of nature for a lack of a better term. Even the weakest ones can change the entire climate of a world with just their presence, and she looks the opposite of the weakest type. Is that Celestium on her scales?”

“It is indeed.” Valor confirmed, deciding that trying to hide it was too late at this point.

“That’s just…I wouldn’t want to be in a position to try and fight her.” The Emissary shook his head. “Oh divines, she’s the type that eats planets, isn’t she?”

Karna slowly drew closer, her nose almost pushing against the tower. “The type that can eat planets you mean. Surely you wouldn’t imply that I’ll eat inhabited worlds just because I get the munchies, would you?”

“Yes, yes. Of course. Well, seeing as you’ve just reached immortality, I have to ask. Would you like our help in reaching the Divine Planes?” He felt silly just asking. A Stellar Dragon could make the trip on its own.

“No thank you. We’ll be fine.” Karna replied politely.

“Yeah, I bet you will. Well, that’s my cue to leave.” The Emissary vanished in a cloud of smoke, appearing a small distance from the tower, before starting his travel back towards his post.

“Is everything ready?” Karna asked, turning to look inside the tower.

“Yes. We’ve all reached immortality, and we’ve settled matters to the extent that we’re able. How exactly are we going to do this?” Envy questioned. She was well aware that the Host offered the easier path to Ascension, but obviously there were other ways.

“The easiest way is to utilize the Grand Formation. The formation sends power up towards the Divine Planes, and we could ride one of those paths. That said, I don’t think it’s necessary anymore. With this form, I will be able to open a path myself and you can just follow in my wake with the tower.” Karna had done something similar before, though in a less conspicuous form.

“Sounds suitably ballsy and flashy. I’m in!” Envy declared, and the other two could only wryly shake their heads. They knew they were along for the ride anyway, so there was no point in arguing. The two Sins were clearly the flashier ones in the group.

Seeing that the others were, if not ready then at least willing, Karna forced the space around her to twist in a very particular way before opening her enormous maw in which everyone could see power gathering. Zuellni activated all the magical and technological defenses of the tower only seconds before it was buffeted by the shockwaves of the dragon's breath Karna unleashed. The breath seemed to be entirely focused on the twist in space she had made before, and tore a path open where previously there had been none. At the same time, they all felt more than heard some kind of barrier being broken.

The breath weapon Karna had used seemed odd to say the least. The celestial energies, the power of the moon, the sun, the stars, and various other celestial phenomena, weren't a proper recognized magical element. Yet any ability, spell, or weapon that managed to harness that power was strengthened exponentially. And for some reason, Karna's earlier breath seemed to consist of purely that energy, which was a scary thought. As the Celestial Archer, Hou Yi had managed to harness the power for his arrows and had managed to injure Karna rather severely before, even through the skin granted to her by her titan bloodline.

Karna took the lead, flying through the crack in space, while the tower followed in her wake. Whatever crack had been formed by her breath earlier soon closed behind them, and they found themselves swimming through a mix of chaotic energies. Spatial forces crashed against divine powers, which in turn crashed again mountains of Aura and rivers of Qi. All kinds of energies struggled for dominance here, and they were all so heavily concentrated that many of them had turned into solid and liquid. All the powers crashed on them, but Karna used her huge form like an ice-breaker ship, clearing the path for the tower. The deadly energies seemed to fizzle and disappear as they got close to her, the natural Aura of a high-ranking dragon resisting all magical effects. What energies didn’t just disappear were still diminished and seemed to clash ineffectually with her white scales that almost seemed to be absorbing the power.

Karna plowed ahead, not caring about anything in her path. Even when some of the powers had solidified into a mountain in front of her, she flew right through, her breath dispersing any obstacles too large to just ignore as they bounced off her scales. She knew that diverting from the path was the worst thing they could do. Time and dimensions worked strangely in this place, and she knew that if she diverted from the path even a little, she might find that they had arrived a hundred years into the future. This place didn’t look like a maze, but that is what it would be if you didn’t keep your destination firmly in mind and your direction directly towards it. A momentary distraction could cost you everything.

While the trip would’ve been dangerous for anyone else, she felt like she was in her element. She had wielded all of the powers that could be found in this place at some point in her lives, and even now most of them welcomed her. Some tried to rebel and attack her, but she could quickly put those rebels in their place. Just being here strengthened her, and she knew that would only become more obvious once they reached the Divine Planes. She was a Godling, and the Divine Planes were her home. Even this in-between place was more welcoming than repelling her.

The ones in the tower weren’t quite as comfortable, but with Karna clearing the way, they weren’t suffering either. Aside from some turbulence that was. They couldn’t avoid the energies completely. However, at Zuellni’s request, they added their own power to the defense of the tower. They were also experts in their own chosen energies. Hope handled mana and the spatial forces, Valor took care of the divine power, while Envy handled both Qi and Aura. They were pressured, but not to extremes they couldn’t handle.

If they had been asked how long their journey took, none of the three would have been able to tell for sure. To Envy, it seemed like only moments had passed, but Hope could’ve sworn they spent weeks plowing through the maelstrom of energy. Valor refused to comment when asked. Karna only smiled mysteriously when the three confronted her. Nevertheless, they arrived at the other edge of the maelstrom the same way they had arrived here. Karna used her breath to open a path through a barrier of some kind, and they found themselves in an endless meadow filled with grass, small animals, and a warm sun overhead. The sky above them seemed just as endless as the meadow that spread around them, and they got the sense that if they tried to fly upwards, they’d never reach whatever awaited above.

"Where are we?" Hope asked, feeling that the entire area was filled with positive and encouraging emotions. There was also divine power everywhere. The power was thick. Almost too thick for any one of them to cultivate, despite the fact that all of them had extremely pure and concentrated power in preparation for the Ascension.

"This is the realm of one of the True Gods," Karna replied, her dragon form finally dropping off, leaving her looking exhausted and drained.

“Which one? Won’t it be dangerous to annoy a god? I’m not sure trespassing is a good idea. I’m surprised we haven’t already been detected.” Valor was starting to panic a bit.

“You don’t have to worry. The goddess of this realm is long dead. The only reason it still exists as it does is because people still believe in her, and no one has taken her place.” Karna reassured him.

“We’re in the realm of the Sacred Lady?” Valor realized.

"We are indeed. No one else will be able to come here, so we'll be safe for a time. We can't stay here for too long though. Even if the owner of this realm is no longer present, that doesn't mean the realm will tolerate us for too long. Unless…" Karna went quiet.

“Unless what?” Envy prodded.

"Don't mind it for now. Just know we're safe here, but we can't stay too long. I feel like sleeping for a week, though I suppose a couple of days will have to suffice. I'd recommend getting used to cultivating here, though I suppose the thickness of the gathered power might make it difficult."