Chapter 0266 - Advancement

Earth's population was rocked over the weekend, an HRMM bombing spree had occurred, for the three year anniversary of their demands the group had killed more than a hundred thousand people in their latest attack. The Ying Demon Family was out numbered but the public was frothing at the mouth, they were the ones suffering at the hands of the terrorists.

Ying Ho sent out a warning to the world. "Retribution? What has happened today will never be forgiven, innocent lives across the planet have been extinguished." He paced across the Projection, it gave away his uneasiness about the situation, showing his humanity and grief over the loss.

Qingchi stood beside him in the broadcast, she placed her hand on his shoulder.

Ho opened his eyes and lightning flared. "HRMM, I'm coming for you. What you've done is not only unforgivable, you've murdered your own neighbors for attention that you didn't deserve in the first place. If an answer is what you want, you now have mine. The Zao Empire has officially declared war on HRMM and its associates or supporters." Looking to Qingchi for signs of disapproval, he was satisfied that none existed. "Listen well.. those that do not surrender, that just happen to survive, will be sent to Hell."

Those words spoken by a Demon carried a certain weight, the remnants of the internet and communication channels were flooded with recounts and discussion over the matter.

Police matters were a constant struggle for the first month after the Statement. Support of the Empire had grown and the public of Earth freely exchanged their information with the Empire's representatives to stop HRMM and their attacks. Every week for more three years they had been bombing buildings throughout the world indiscriminately. All of it had been done to disrupt lives and operations of the Empire.

The Demon Race was quick but local news channels were reluctant to tell the stories, they would not help spread the fear.

Two months after Ho's announcements, the Ying Demon Family got word of an attack in Paris. One of the bombers had been caught and now wore a slave collar. Ying Qingchi was going to do the questioning and she was going to do it live and in front of the whole world.

A projection in every district was throwing their images into the air, Ying Qingchi stood with the captured terrorist kneeling down in front of her. "You are a member of the group known as HRMM, is this true?"

"Yes." He answered but his face was slacked and he looked like he had already been dead for a year, lines on his face showed that the man was drained of vitality.

"What is the objective of HRMM?" Qingchi wanted real answers for the people of Earth, without them, the people would lose faith.

"To kill the aliens." The words came out quickly but his face didn't change.

"Why do you think you deserve a meeting with Zao?" Qingchi continued her questions but she was patient and had many more.

"to kill him." His eyes were rolling like he was fighting the collar.

Qingchi looked out at the Projector, her image spanned the globe and more than seventy percent of the world was watching. "These terrorists don't want to talk or come to understandings, they only wish for more death and anyone that doesn't support them or their actions is a target."

She slapped her hand onto the man's head and a formation whirled around her, it covered the man's body and red rings oscillated up and down around him. "The Empire will not tolerate Terrorism!"

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Six and a half hours passed while Noyuki and Wu Hai were transforming, Vira, Mursayade and Kuzunoha were still cocooned together. Staring at their combined gestation, Wu Hai wondered what would happen. His dual breakthrough with Noyuki had been tremendous and all three of them were inside of Misozi's hull.

Vector stood on the ground, he looked at the damage left over from his experiment with the potion. "I hate that this happened." There were squashed and muddied items all over, most of his food supply had been turned into meaningless mush. He picked up a box of sweets, they were crushed like the rest. Underneath, he saw some manga and action figures, even a couch he was saving.

"You're such a pack-rat." Noyuki laughed.

Vector wanted to say that Wu Hai was worse but Noyuki had already acted the part of an individual. He patted across his chest. "Its just stuff but its still stuff I liked."

Wu Hai picked up a kids bicycle. "Stuff you like?"

"It was meant to be a gift in the future, looks like that's ruined too." Vector Sighed and watched Misozi hovering above the clouds.

The Ship was bright, it hung overhead like a lantern. "We should join them. There's no reason to stay down here anyway. Quickly sweep all this away so we can go." Wu Hai spread his wings and looked over at Noyuki. "Lets go, Vector, I'm going to check on the rest of our group. Don't forget the kid."

Noyuki was already in the air when Wu Hai drafted up and into the wind. "I really want to test out my new strength." Noyuki flew next to Wu Hai and yelled over the storm.

"Now isn't the time but, you know that.. " Wu Hai tapped on Misozi's rear entrance and the seamless hull split apart. "You first.." Wu Hai showed Noyuki some chivalry but he was more surprised that none of Misozi's puppets were operating. When the door came down, there were several puppets that were strung about, like they had been disconnected from use.

"This isn't right." Noyuki rushed to the cockpit and tossed a puppet out of the way. The HUD was giving a bunch of alerts, there were power issues and critical levels of energy had been stressing at the systems in place. It was hard to even look down the hall toward the Cabin, a revolving golden light swallowed all shadows around it.

"Pressure's at critical levels!" Wu Hai looked at the fractures that were forming along the walls. 'I've got to do something!' He thought for a moment and then rushed out of the cockpit and down the hallway. There was a refueling formation but it could be altered. Various runes were coming out of his hands, hanging in the air along his fingertips. Wu Hai was working as fast as he could under the pressure and his work wasn't perfect.

An extremely loud series of noises broke his concentration, Bright white-gold light exploded in the room. The sound of scattering debris came right afterward and Wu Hai was able to look inside.

Mursayade was standing behind Kuzunoha and Vira.

Wu Hai was about to compliment them and Noyuki came in, "The alerts.." She paused. "The Alerts are gone.. Wow, you're beautiful, all of you."

The three of them looked somewhat alike, Mursayade still had four arms but her body had changed, all three of them had shed their wings. They felt lighter but none of their clothes looked right, holes behind their shoulder blades were now loose and exposed. Nothing fit right and they looked out of sorts.

"I liked my wings.." Vira felt different without them.

Kuzunoha felt powerful, "I feel so much stronger." She grabbed the bed rail, it bent.

Mursayade walked out of her room, she saw Vector coming in and ran up to show him her new form. He smiled and didn't say a word. Mursayade had always been a beauty, it wasn't only skin deep but now, her body gave off the aura of a priestess, she looked very pure. Mursayade's attitude was anything but shy, she grabbed at Vector's belt and dragged him into the room while walking backward.

Vira and Kuzunoha saw the Isolation formation going up. "I guess she couldn't wait." Kuzunoha licked her lips. "Neither can I."

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Qingchi had her hand on the terrorist's head, she was about to execute him and broadcast it worldwide. A thunderclap came from above, something had broken through the atmosphere and beamed down to the surface. It struck the atmosphere with so much force that the clouds cleared. The object crashed into the ocean just off the shores of Japan, waves reaching seventy feet tall spread out and washed toward the Island.

The Broadcast was cut off. Qingchi looked toward Ho, grabbed his shoulder and disappeared. They reappeared near the impact sight and spread out their senses together, searching for whatever had come down.

The Ocean began to swell, it rose up in a hill and a Vishnan began to whirl the water around him.

'Vishnan?' Ying Ho knew that giving him time to attack would be a huge mistake, he drove a lightning bolt down onto the Vishnan's position.

A Shield of Water appeared over its head. The electrical strike did nothing to stop or even slow down the Vishnan's movements. Then, a beam of blue shot out from the Vishnan's hands.

It flew directly at Qingchi, she dodged but then she noticed its trajectory. The Beam was headed directly for Mt. Fuji. "Ho." She cried out and watched him vanish.

Qingchi allowed her body to rage with fire, the ocean began to boil around her. She directed her flames into a cone, the sprayed across the Vishnan's position.

The Vishnan dove into the Ocean when he realized that his strike had been blocked. Ho returned, he looked around but couldn't find any traces of the Invader.

Both of them were aware of just how troublesome Vishnan's were in the histories of Shiyan, how one made it through the shield surrounding the Earth made them shake their heads in confusion. "You hit him with lightning, I hit him with fire.. but, he shrugged it off." Feelings of inadequacy filled Qingchi while she was still floating above the boiling seawater.

"We need to get more of our forces, this won't be resolved quickly. He's disappeared and this world is covered in water." Ho reminded Qingchi of a crucial fact, Vishnan's spent the majority of their time manipulating from under the Waves.

Qingchi flew to Ho's side and they teleported back to Tower City.

"Gather the scouts, You have a new mission." Her hair fluttered as she spoke, Qingchi was furious with her words. She warned them of the Vishnan threat that had just arrived but none of them had ever encountered one.

The forces of the Ying Demon Family were still busy searching for terrorists when a literal terror had shown up and come down from the skies. Enslavement was a frightening thought, Ho had seen entire peoples forced to become slaves many times before and it was not going to happen under his watch.

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The Group was relaxing in their cabins aboard Misozi after breaking through, all of them had a lot of energy and were cultivating. Wu Hai wanted to fight Noyuki, Vector made a joke about Wu Hai just wanting to go fuck himself but it wasn't far from the truth, their energies complemented each other well and no greater stroke to ones ego existed than self-approval.

It didn't take much convincing for Vira or Kuzunoha, both of them were somewhat compulsive when it came to dual cultivation and their experience with a trio had always been more fortuitous. Adding a fourth to their circle, especially one that shared Wu Hai's aura and power, wasn't unwelcome.

Mursayade had her arms full, Vector's appetites had also increased. A few days later, the group had become restless. Spirit Stones and Lighkerr parts were already running low. If they wanted to increase their power intake, a change of location would be necessary and the enemy would only grow stronger. The group agreed as a whole that it was time to go. The lower plane of the Ultinian Heavens was showing a depreciated usefulness.

Wu Hai found a nice spot and dropped a teleportation array in place. Misozi landed the ship on top of it and then the Party vanished.