Chapter 0288 - Approaching Storms

Mursayade left Kuzunoha and Vira at the ruins of Anzone. She landed in front of Vector's nose and kissed it. "You did real good, I don't know if this is permanent but its better than you dying." The transformation was a stunning one, pulling herself away from his face, she could see his eyes focus on her.

"What happened?" Vector pulled himself out of deep thought. "I was planning on consolidating my power but cultivating alone and like 'this' is difficult."

"I'm here now, lets try together." Mursayade landed between his toes. She walked up his arm to his head and sat on top of it.

"Together then." Vector concentrated on sharing his energies with Mursayade, a biting cold began to flow toward a central gathering point, it condensed and hardened, liquefied then condensed again. Mursayade sent her energies into the orb, it bounced back and nearly blew her off of his head.

The small explosion could be heard all the way back at the ruins.

Mursayade stood back up, "Maybe I should go first." When she sat down she repeated the same actions but went first instead. Vector's energy slowly crept toward her fire and interconnected energy orb. Sharing their power between the two of them was not difficult but they were so far out of alignment that her energies were nearly incompatible with his.

Vector went very slow, he felt like he was only sharing a thread of his power but a thread was still better than improper circulation or a toxic build up of energies. As he put his energy into hers, there was a warmth he couldn't escape, it made him want to moan.

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Kuzunoha led Vira and Noyuki into the depths of the Castle, when they came near the room that the hand had come out of, they all stopped. Kuzunoha grabbed at Puyai, "What the hell was that thing earlier, we never got a clear explanation."

"A Dark Realm, We don't know what to call it or what to call the being that was reaching through but all we've heard is rumors of the place's existence." Puyai crossed his arms, "I've told you what I know." he shirked his arm back. "I trust you enough that I've used a precious family heirloom to save your friend, this is how you repay me?"

"Precious? Heirloom? A Monster Core is a Monster Core and look where it got him, he's undergoing rapid change and who knows if he'll ever be able to regain a reasonable size."

"MONSTER CORE! THAT WAS NO ORDINARY CORE!" Puyai lowered his voice a little, bit his lip and mumbled, "My ancestors kept that safe for generation after generation. Ungrateful, so ungrateful."

"Don't shit a brick old man, we're all just a little pissed off about the circumstances that keep happening around us." Vira noticed the tension and decided to burn it down faster, easing the pain.

Puyai kicked down another door, "In here."

As they walked in, there was a terrible odor. "What the .." Vira threw up.

"You've been throwing up a lot lately, what's the big deal?" Kuzunoha cleared her throat and pulled Vira's hair back.

"I don't know." Vira closed her eyes and probed her body. "Good news, I'm not pregnant.. she laughed."

"What's the bad news?" Noyuki helped them both up.

"I'm losing my strength and I don't know why." Vira stumbled. "We need to get out of here."

"Vira?" Kuzunoha lifted Vira's chin, "She's out."

Noyuki spread her wings and flew out of the rubble, she held onto Vira and landed in the field near Vector.

Looking up, she could see Mursayade atop his head, "Hold on Vira." Noyuki laid down a formation, it wasn't as grand as the one that had been employed during his aggressive expansion but it suited their needs. Noyuki began funneling her energy into Vira.

When Kuzunoha arrived, she had brought Puyai along.

Puyai's excitement couldn't be masked, "Ste'Dugen.." He took a deep breath, his whole body was smaller than a single talon from Vector's claws.

"Its still Vector." Kuzunoha defended him and began to channel her energies into Vira. "Right now, it seems like we have two that need our help, why don't you close your jaw and give us a hand."

"I've already give you what I have, I will stand guard." Puyai could feel their energies rising even then, he took a deep breath and sat down on a large rock.

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Hours passed into half of the next day, neither of the cultivation sessions had ended and the battle group had already pulled out of the Anzone.

In the twilight, the Western Forces had divided into their separate camps and spread out.

Puyai was eating some fruit and watching everyone as they transferred energy.

Vira was the first to get up. "What happened?"

Kuzunoha and Noyuki stopped feeding the formation. Their energy levels were critical, both of them sat down to recover. The natural energy of the area began to coalesce around them and funnel naturally.

Puyai almost lost his footing on the rock, they were practicing multiple disciplines and none of what they were doing made sense. Cultivation formations required formations but the girls were doing it without spirit stones or formations, there were no herbs, no totems of power to draw upon. For Puyai, they were a bit to mystical in nature.

"Four Goddesses and a Guardian Divine Beast." Fapp came up to Puyai when he saw him slip.

"You believe in fairy tales?" Puyai looked back at Vector.

"Your ancestors did." Fapp passed some sort of alcohol over to General Puyai. "Now, a divine beast is directly before us and who else along his side than four Goddesses. If coincidence is a matter of fate, then destiny plays strange games. What else could it be?"

Fapp drank half his drink in one go. "I want to believe."

"You should, faith is based on trust. Every tale has a bit of truth to it, make sure you move in earnest." Puyai stood up and brushed himself clean of dust. "I think I'm going to rest and meditate on what I've seen. Today has been a good battle. Have the guards double patrols."

In the morning the group was woken up by alarms, there was a storm headed their way.

A buzzing came from Kuzunoha's robe, Misozi's hull was vibrating.

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On Earth, Japan's representatives had entered into an agreement that all matters concerning 'HRMM' would be brought before the Empire's court regardless of national boundaries.

Captain Hiano Gaun had been tasked with bringing him before the court but after her attack and the bombing that had occurred on her ship, she was brought before the Empire's representative. Japan's Regional Representative for the Empire was Prince Ying Wu, he had turned into a fine young man but he was still young.

"What exactly happened?" Wu dismissed the guards, there was no threat to his safety.

"Thank you for meeting me, Your Highness." Wu waved his hand to get Hiano to stop with the formalities. As a Captain, she saw his discontent and told him. "I have no excuses, however, there was a bomb implanted within the Leader's chest. We noticed in time but barely, it almost cost us dearly."

"In time? You lost a ship, and all of your prisoners. I'd call that a heavy cost." Wu paced near the throne while he thought things over. "How many guards were in the transport?"

"Six, besides myself." Hiano stood straight.

"Tell me, what's more important? The Mission or the People?" Prince Wu stopped in front of her, his wings gave off a multi-colored fire like his mothers. The Half-Demon, half Truther Prince was curious about her.

Hiano kept her composure. "That would require a case by case judgement, in the case of this last event.."

She was going to continue but Prince Wu cut her off, "I didn't ask that. I asked, 'what's more important, the Mission or the people?'"

"People." She nodded when she spoke to reaffirm her response.

"Then you and I have much to talk about." Fire surrounded the room, it roared outside of the chambers. Ying Wu threw a formation disc out and an isolation field spread out. There was no way people could discern what was going on inside.

Captain Hiano stopped her train of thought and stared at Prince Wu. "What are you doing?"

"Forgive the theatrics but spies are everywhere." Wu gave a wry smirk like he was planning something

"Spies?" Hiano turned toward him after looking at the columns of fire outside of the shield. The shield was better than the ones she had seen on Shiyan, the Mi family had some of the best equipment but she guessed that it was because of his status that the formation plate was extraordinary.

Before she could ask another question, Ying Wu pulled out a Black card from his ring. "I'll explain everything, lets go."

As they materialized, Hiano opened her eyes to a field of pink trees. "Wow."

"Yes, its impressive. We can wander while I talk, this place has seen no visitors besides my personal guests, only three people know of its existence besides you and I." Prince Wu's words were cause for alarm, Hiano stopped next to one of the trees and probed it.

"So this place is secure, if its so secure, please forgive my attitude but for what reason have you brought me here?" She was suspicious but Prince Wu was a powerful and influential person.

"Don't be like that. My reason for bringing you here is merely for security purposes. We've had five bombings, each of them on the transports back. You survived." Wu pulled out a table from his storage and set it beneath the trees. "Sit."

Captain Hiano sat down but she wasn't happy about being in such a romantic atmosphere, alone, with a diplomat. It screamed of scandal.

"Our security details have been compromised. Your quick action saved the lives of your people but I need to know, how did you find out about the bomb?" Wu pulled out some meat, it was perfectly hot like it had just come off the grille. "I caught this deer when I was eight. Every time I eat some of it, I'm reminded that nature is cruel. One day, you're minding your own business and then the next thing you know, you're someone's prey or sport."

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Storm clouds loomed beneath the morning light, darkness covered the plains. Vector woke up sharply from his meditation and roared. "Mursayade, is Martin okay?" he was finally able to think clearly, he had been disoriented during his transformation and hoped that Martin had been spared.

"He's fine. Do you know what sort of hell you put us through yesterday? You almost died!" Mursayade started to beat on Vector's head with all four hands.

He moved slightly and she nearly fell. Clinging to the side of his horns, she reoriented herself and flew in front of him. "Are you better now?" Mursayade laughed and stroked the space behind his horn.

"There's no time. I didn't wake up for that, it just dawned on me to ask.. no.. I woke up because of that." Vector stood up and it shook the ground, his bed of ice cracked under the pressure and the Sutrali raised alarms. He pointed toward the clouds in the sky, toward the storm that was approaching. The storm over his own transformation had yet to subside and with the convergence of any two storm systems, even the weather would get very dangerous.

Misozi's hull began to buzz, it was enough to stir even Vira from her sleep.

"It looks like the Storm is alive." Kuzunoha heard the alarms from the Sutrali, it broke her from her sleep and the buzzing from Misozi's hull proved it was an emergency.

Misozi's panicked transmission left Kuzunoha speechless, she was describing the carnage she had seen before. "...The Storm Crow is approaching." Chained lightning swirled to a single point in the distance, it seemed to have an intelligence.