Savage Awakening 579. War Plans (V)

A/N: To those who got an extra notification, I accidentally published Oct 25's chapter a day early! Sorry for the confusion folks--it'll come out same time as usual

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Dya stood waiting at the gates, flanked by two of Reina’s Silver Winds in shiny silver gear. She looked quite nervous—a bit jumpy. But she beamed when she saw Reina and Zane heading over.

A few seconds later more guards opened the gates, and she all but ran up to Reina. The two women hugged. Dya even sniffled a bit.

“Thanks for agreeing to see me,” she said.

Dya then asked about Haxorax, a bit hesitantly. It’d been decided that the two shouldn’t meet, since Haxorax was still healing, and Dya was still getting over the experience. But she still wanted to know if Haxorax was doing well—alright, at least. Reina assured her Haxorax was doing just fine.

Zane didn’t have a very strong impression of her, since he’d only really known of her through Reina. But she seemed like she’d changed quite a bit, which made sense with what she’d been through. Reina told him a bit about the kind of treatment Lyxandor had put her through. She still hadn’t fully recovered, by the looks of it.

“The poor girl…” Reina had said. “She hasn’t left her home planet much in the past few decades. I think it’s quite brave of her to come here.”

Reina didn’t really hold any grudges against her. She felt more worried about her than anything.

They invited Dya inside.

Dya was stammering a bit at first, and looked like she might tear up a bit. But they soon learned she’d come here for a diplomatic purpose, and she was determined to fulfill it.

First she delivered a message from her Grandpa—the King Phoenix, who was now the head of the Azure Flame Faction. It was co-signed by the Queen Phoenix too, who was an Azure Flame Grand Elder.

The message was an old-fashioned letter.

To Zane Walker and the Mistress Reina,

We must express how thankful we are for bringing our attention to the cruelties that tyrant inflected on our granddaughter. And for you, Zane, for destroying Lyxandor’s plan and bringing the Prince to his senses.

It’s been a difficult few years for the Azure Flame. There’s much still to do. But as acting Patriarch I must attempt, at least in some small way, to right the wrongs wrought at that dragon’s hands. And personally, we feel the two of you deserve a measure of thanks. For our Dya’s sake.

Right off the bat, this fellow seemed a significant improvement over the last.

Zane doubted he’d ever have much in the way of an attachment toward most of the Azure Flame, but he still appreciated the gesture. Though Reina was the one who’d been responsible for fixing the whole Dya situation and for helping to turn the momentum of his win into a campaign against Lyxandor. Basically the stuff they were thanking him for. From Zane’s perspective, he’d just gone out and beat up a dragon.

To that end, we’d like to offer a few tokens of our appreciation.

Dya dutifully produced the first.

Phoenix Truefeather [Common (O)]

A core feather given freely by a True Phoenix, containing an aspect of phoenix Immortality. Among the most prized alchemical ingredients for all brews of vitality and life; widely considered the ultimate fire-affinity treasure. The Phoenix Truefeather is also a key ingredient in many rituals of life. If consumed, greatly increases the wielder’s regeneration and capacity for Creation, in body and soul.

We heard news that Mistress Reina would be attempting her final ritual. We hope this gift will be of use.

Reina was delighted and rather honored. She almost looked like she couldn’t accept it—she felt she hadn’t done what she’d done for a reward, but Dya pressed it into her hands.

We would also like to offer the two of you any one item from our personal vault as a show of goodwill.

Reina was floored. “That’s far too much, really—”

“Can we have a look?” said Zane.

“…”

Zane was happy to check it out. They were mostly Fire Law treasures or random valuables he assumed the Phoenixes had gotten in concessions or duels. One was some kind of Supernova treasure—this fragment of a star core; there were even million-year bones in there, though none of the Titan Rhinoceros—mostly just Phoenix claws. A few star-based Origin Grade techniques too, though he wasn’t really looking for new ones at the moment.

None of the bones would do much for his friends either. Since neither Reina, nor Evan, nor Avery were really physique-based fighters like he was, he wasn’t sure they’d even be ready to take on that caliber of Bone. Sacred Bones just weren’t core to his friends' powersets like they were to his. In Reina’s case, since she had to be deeply connected to the World Tree, having too much beast Bloodline could even work against her. 

He ended up settling on—

Bundle of 50 Transferrable Credits (Promissory Note)

A promissory note for 50 Transferrable Credits, to be redeemed by the wielder. This promissory note will instantly draw Credits from the vaults of the Time-lost Empire. This promissory note is currently valid.

It wasn’t any faction he’d ever heard of. He figured it had to be one outside the galaxy. That last sentence made it a pretty safe assumption they were good for it.

Reina had mentioned before that transferable Credits were really rare. It was why she’d only been able to get a total of 100 out of Elias, with 70 to be delivered after the war began. They were a System-created treasure.

“The leading theory is that the System wants to incentivize personal contributions and growth,” she’d told him. “It’s meritocratic in that sense. It wants to reward the best Monster slayers, so they’ll slay more Monsters and bring order to the universe—which is why it severely limits which Credits are tradable.”

Otherwise, Reina would’ve already applied some percent tax to all her World Tree citizens and handed Zane a giant stash of them.

That logic would also explain why you couldn’t just cash in valuable items for Credits.

In any case.

If the Phoenixes were offering him free Credits, he was happy to take them.

+50 Credits would only put him at 121—which was still far from his current big goal of that 200-credit 100 Million Year Rhino bone. And he planned to save up for that, so he wouldn’t make use of it right now.

But it was nice to keep stacking resources.

The Haxorax fight—or, more precisely, the spending spree he’d gone on right before that fight—had shown him there was quite some value in stockpiling treasures, then blowing them all at once. If he could do the same with shards and Credits…

He was looking forward to the start of the War.

***

Evan would have to head off the next day, and Zane and Avery would have to go not long after. Evan, because he was pretty time-limited. The cruise for the next region, the Goto region, was heading off the next day, and he didn’t want to miss it.

Avery just wanted to get back in the game. She’d been rather incentivized over the last few days.

They’d seen her chasing after Chomper a few times that week, yelling some variant of arghhh! and attempting to retrieve her hoodie—which was a pretty common occurrence whenever they met up. They also witnessed Avery taping a “Free Dog” sign to Chomper, which Evan was slightly upset about. Though no one ended up taking the offer.

Zane kind of thought Avery-Chomper relations had improved after she’d ridden the big dog into battle last war. But it seemed more of a ‘one step forward, one step back’ situation. And it wasn’t so much a bond that Avery had developed with Chomper last war.

Avery explained to Zane that Chomper was a rogue force of nature that could only be harnessed, not tamed.

Chomper barked happily in agreement.

He also witnessed a slightly depressed Avery later in the week. She was lying facedown on the ground. She then listed off the various things she’d tried, which included trebuchets, cannons, and submarines. None of which had succeeded in permanently getting rid of Chomper.

Then she’d come to a startling conclusion.

“This galaxy,” she told Zane the next day, nodding wisely, “is one based on strength. It’s a doggy-dog world out here. If you have the strength, you can do what you want! But the weak do what they must. That’s why Chomper keeps stealing my hoodies.”

“Sure,” said Zane.

“All those other ways I tried,” she continued. “Were just crutches. Because they only papered over my true problem—that I was just too weak. The only way to guarantee your place is with strength! Which is why I’m going to finish my fitness regimen, become incredibly powerful, and then take down the two great evils in this Galaxy. Which are Malzareth and Chomper.”

She squinted at Chomper. “I’m gonna one-shot you!”

Chomper licked her affectionately.

Evan was still a bit bemused by the situation. But by this point he wasn’t that worried any of Avery’s schemes would actually succeed.

Then, when Avery was out of hearing range—“Y’know… I kind of think Avery would miss him too if he were really gone,” Evan said happily. Zane agreed.

***

Next up, Reina would finish the two Concepts she had left and hammer down the details of her war plans. Zane agreed that after he finished his own final Concept with the Barbarian Sage, he’d head back to the World Tree to break through.

The day before he left, they had one final Leveling session. Quite a vigorous one, since they both knew it’d be the last time for a while.

Then Zane got a letter from the Barbarian Sage.

“What the hells are you waiting for!” roared the Barbarian Sage. Then the old fellow grinned. In the background Zane could see a tangle of giant machines puffing steam, set against a backdrop of stars. “Come on over already! The weights are getting cold, you know.”

Zane wasn’t sure that was how it worked.

The Sage frowned at the background, where some debris was still being pried out of a chunk of reality. “…Alright, things aren’t fully done. I’ve still got some more testing to do. But they’re good enough—they’ll be done when you get here. You come over already, you hear?”

Zane planned to the very next morning. He was looking forward to it, actually. It’d been ages since—

He heard a massive shriek in the background.

At first he thought it was Fluffy getting up to some shenanigans. Then—

“Ah, hells,” said the Sage. “Think I overdid it with that last one.”

He grabbed at the camera, turned it a bit. Now Zane was staring into the black hole.

There was a new platform next to the deadlifting platform. A platform that appeared to be studded full of what looked like giant torpedoes. Torpedoes stacked to the brim with runes.

“Now, you might be wondering,” said the Sage cheerfully. “What the hells is that? Well, I’ll show you.”

He ambled over and smashed a giant button.

A torpedo dropped straight down—quickly at first, then seeming to slow as it neared the edge of the black hole.

It passed beyond the event horizon.

There was a pause.

He didn’t hear the explosion. But he saw the effects of it, the ripples cascading through the astral plane.

What he did hear was the screech of fury.

And a claw the size of a skyscraper burst out of the black hole. Then another.

A head the size of a moon emerged, subtle Laws streaming down its pitch-black scales, making the black hole’s extreme Gravity Laws slip right off. It had to be one of the biggest Monsters Zane had ever seen.

It looked like a dinosaur, only much chunkier.

Category II Kaijuu: Remoranth (Essence Level 762)

“Wasn’t ready for demonstration last time. But now it is.” The Sage grinned at the screen. “One last reason I built boot camp here—really the main reason at the start. It just so happens that a black hole’s got a hell of a lot of Destruction! And when you’ve got a hell of a lot of Destruction, sometimes you find yourself dealing with a herd of Kaijuu.”

He eyed down the Kaijuu as it emerged.

“Now, you might be thinking,” said the Sage. “What the hells do you do about an angry Kaijuu coming out of a black hole? Well, this is what.”

Then the Sage roared, and leaped, and punched.

It was quite a simple punch, wielding nearly no Laws or even Skills, just brute physical strength—which made the Law that shimmered up the Sage’s physique even more noticeable.

Then Zane saw four knuckles’ worth of impact craters land on the Kaijuu’s fleshy maw. Each knuckle the size of a small moon, like the force of the Sage’s fist had somehow magnified a thousandfold in a single instant.

The Kaijuu howled, tumbling in that nearly slow-motion way only truly giant things tumble, and vanished beyond the event horizon.

The Sage turned back to the screen, grinning.

“This could be you, you damned brat! So you stop whatever nonsense you’re getting up to and get over here.”

The message ended there. 

Now, Zane quite enjoyed getting up to nonsense with Reina. But he had to admit that punching Kaijuus into black holes made for a pretty compelling argument.