17.7

Teleporting through the Prison Plane was trivial with Spatial Steps. Eve arrived at the instance she owned due to an agreement with Red. Her new Crystal Core mind instantly began feeding her information as she phased into existence.

There were remnants of powerful Mana fluctuations dissipating slowly in the area. That, combined with the ashes on the floor, told Eve that something weaker than a Daedric Prince but more potent than a mere Daedra had attempted to break through.

A possible Elite or Champion? As her mind analyzed the traces, Eve thought, comparing them with the Tier she knew from Wilson’s System. Tier Six, but weak, as if they just made it to that level of power. The creature would have been no threat had it made it here alive. Her mind promptly collated the data and informed her that Princes must occupy the highest echelon of power. If there were something more substantial than a Daedric Prince on the other side, it would have broken through already to annoy Wilson.

A thought to the fire-trapped portal caused the runes to release a massive torrent of power into her body. Mana flooded into her veins, dripping with untainted power that melded seamlessly. Every kill had been purified with Heat. The flow of energy wasn’t enough to reach Tier Seven, unfortunately. Even with that, though, Eve shuddered as the pleasurable sensation ended.

I should step across and harvest until I’m Tier Seven. Eve thought before her mind ruthlessly crushed the addictive thought. As her mind cleared, her eyes flickered with a silver flash. Had she taken that power before upgrading her mind, there was no doubt she’d be strolling into harm’s way without a second thought. Thankfully, she’d upgraded it first. No, I need a better plan than winging it. Chances can be left to the fools that desire to take them. If I must take a chance, I’ll make it the tiniest one possible.

With her new processing speed, a plan was quickly created. Eve used Witch’s Dust to create a three-dimensional summoning circle. The lines of silver flared with power from her Shroud, filling instantly. After the flash of light faded, Eve stared at a copy of her body clothed in a silver overlay battle suit. The summoned body’s face was hidden by an armored helm reminiscent of sci-fi fiction from Earth.

Even with her mind operating at mind-boggling speeds, it still took over an hour to enchant the entire suit of armor. The process was a testament to how little she could leave to chance. This wasn’t Charlotte’s world, so she used her full power to carve runes at the atomic level. She didn’t know what was on the other end of the portal, but the preparation was vital. Once she’d finished enchanting the suit of armor enclosing her summoned body, she gave a grim smile.

It is a risk attempting this, minor, but still a risk. Eve thought as she built another eldritch silver box. The profits are too significant not even to take a chance. I cannot permanently hide in the shadows hoping for the power to slowly accumulate in my favor. Even if something goes wrong, the mistake is contained in the Daedric Realms.

Laying down in the box as it began to float, Eve triggered the talisman connecting her to the armored body. With the Crystal Core, the mechanics of piloting summons felt eerily similar to a Virtual Reality game. It was almost as if those games had been training for doing something just like what she had planned.

Eve thought for a long moment before shrugging her armored form. It didn’t matter if her brother had somehow influenced the planet’s gaming companies on the off chance this occurred. It could just as well be so common in the universes that realities were infected with the concept. It was a distinct possibility that the mental dreams of zillions of Virtual Reality players in another dimension leaked into her world’s culture. It wasn’t like she was near the power required to have such answers, so she tabled the concept into Eternal Memory.

Once the box was sealed, Eve took complete control of the armored form. Her eyes opened, and she glanced at the silver box enclosing her main body. With a grin, she stepped directly through the Daedric Doorway. Her trap recognized the signature of her Soul Mana, allowing passage without attempting to melt her down.

After stepping through the portal, Eve entered a world of swirling lava, ash, smoke clouds, and dead rock.

It was a world that had extreme hostility to a mortal race. Eve was at first surprised at why her trap melted these creatures, but the answer was surprisingly noticeable.

Mana from her Shroud acted like concentrated poison. Combined with her Witch’s Dust, the Shroud shifted into a glittering silver cloud that drifted about her armored form. Eve sensed the deep joy as the sparkling fragments began to devour the enemy Realm’s energy resource.

Like a predator sensing the perfect prey, Witch’s Dust began to multiply, flowing into liquid form in under a minute. Eve saw a legion square of enemies approaching the portal she’d exited from. Daedra from this realm looked like everything from living rocks animated by storm to lava-blooded humanoids with glowing eyes. As the legion of enemies arrived with clear intent to enter the portal, a shouted command to halt occurred among them.

Eve was thrilled to see that Polyglot could translate the words she heard. It was clear that when Wilson murdered the Daedric Prince, they did more than butcher it. The System had ripped the language of the creature’s home Plane of existence from its soul. Then the entire thing had been loaded into Polyglot, like slotting a translation card into a new position.

It was a terrifying display of power that a System could achieve.

On the other hand, the move served Eve well, letting her understand Dremora’s tongue. For instance, at this moment, it was granting Savage Survival Mind combat information. She understood the plans that were being spoken before her very eyes. They wanted to capture the stupid invader that had arrived from her home Plane of existence.

They wanted to learn the secrets of her world.

They wanted to understand how to conquer her home.

They wanted to eat her once they had everything they needed.

Ah, I think that’s enough. Eve thought before raising her palm to face the enemies, arrayed their numbers as numerous as grains of sand. Let us teach them the most straightforward lesson about where I call home.

“Numbers do not matter in the face of absolute disparity in Strength,” Eve said, speaking in the Dremora’s tongue.

There was a momentary shock that rippled through the assembled enemies. It was short-lived, though, just like the creatures before her. Witch’s Dust ramped up the conversion of the local Mana field. The effect was like turning the air into acid. Only this acid worked its way through the body with relentless brutality. Due to the way each of the creatures had structured their bodies to devour the Mana in the air, the results were nightmarish.

Dremora were a race of both warriors and spellcasters, but no matter which, they all absorbed ambient mana. There was no escape when the mana in the air turned into poison. Only a talented few realized the problem and fought through their pain. She watched as some of the strongest mages shielded themselves in resonance that repelled the ambient mana poisoned by Witch’s Dust.

For the rest, however, there was no respite.

Flesh melted from bones, bones crumbled to dust, and blood pooled on the dead stone ground. Where a vast ocean of enemies had resided, there was nothing but a few brilliant mages and a mass of red stains left. Eve watched, impressed, as the living Dremora mages pooled their power to cast a cleansing spell. It caused the mana in the air to shift into another form of energy entirely. Where mana had existed, with a primary heat aspect or that of Eve’s native mana signature, now there was the imbued mana with a concept of emptiness. Bone necklaces turned to dust, and staves shattered. It was a work that altered the very fabric of the world for miles around.

Eve could sense the empty Mana filling every nook of space.

The enemy had decided with the limited information that they would win if they could deprive her of Mana. It was a quaint concept that she had long grown past. She had endured enormous amounts of agony to counter this type of attack.

Crystal Core whirred to life, feeding off the Shroud that still functioned in this alternate environment. The very purpose of the Shroud counter this type of attack. Her method didn't stop working unless they sealed space with superior technique. Mana filled her veins pumping through her body. Witch’s Dust flowed into her form, turning it from merely mortal. Her body now appeared clad in a strange combination of mercury-silver liquid and science fiction armor.

Savage Survival Mind and Combat Bot combined, splitting the silver mercury liquid of Witch’s Dust into thousands of threads. Like the threads in a computer, her mind linked to each strand, turning them into murderous butchery devices. Spatial Step let her jump directly into the most prominent remaining group of the tens of mages that had lived.

Wire thread whipped among their forms, splitting the enemies into meat chunks that slid to the ground. As their bodies disintegrated into minced meat, the mana shields shattered. Glowing lines cut across every protection in a criss-cross pattern. It was clear evidence of the number of strikes that had occurred in such a short time.

Eve sealed the space around them as the remaining mages decided to flee. With only a few remaining, their value as information repositories was quite significant. She wanted to know where the was, who might counter her, and how to avoid any of the princes.

Her wires braided into liquid ropes the size of a dime. The first victim to be questioned was pulled to her, after which she stared down at the dazed subject. The loss had been so fast, and the Dremora mage was still attempting to understand it. Eve gave the idiot a hard slap letting a few of his teeth fly out.

“I have no use for those who have nothing to offer,” Eve said, using the creature’s language. “What makes your life more valuable than a human piece of meat?”

The Dremora that she’d broken out of a stupor started to shiver. Eve focused the weight of her Shroud, compacting the mana around her until it pressed down. The target of her ire broke faster than a faulty water balloon. No matter what else was said, Dremora was utterly unused to being in the victim’s chair.

While torture was distasteful back on Earth, Eve found herself improving at it with every second. The Crystal Core of her mind kept the emotions of repulsion at a distance. Meanwhile, the curious curiosity of a scientist was left to run unchecked. She set up a privacy bubble to prevent the other information sources from combining their stories.

Eve’s questions were quite typical.

How did these creatures breathe this air?

What sustained their forms?

Who would miss them?

Her questions grew lengthier and more involved during the torture session. Eventually, the first source of information broke into a gibbering yes-thing of no use. The disposal was swift and precise. As Witch’s Dust was eating the body, her second source of information was pulled up. With a minor flex, she started working on them. Savage Survival Mind and Combat Bot ratified a suggestion from the Search Engine channel in her mind.

Why question them one at a time when she could torture and interview them all at once!?

Eve facepalmed as her human habits had tripped her up here. A quick reshuffle had the other eight remaining prisoners enjoying the same treatment as the first. Information was gained with haste and broken into valuable tidbits.

This realm was ruled by a Prince calling themselves Mayrewn Dagon. The place was known by the name Deadlands. At the current time, another domain conflicted with the Deadlands. The enemy realm was called Iceharbor, and the two places were at each other’s throats. The ruler of the frost and tundra was Logb Gaolm The portal to Wilson’s dimension had been opened, and it was akin to ringing a dinner bell for Dagon’s forces. The Deadland Prince's people were desperate to resupply slave losses during the recent conflict. With enough fresh souls, the war would tilt from a balance to a route for Dagon’s side.

Traveling between Planes to acquire slaves wasn’t anything new to this scum. The Dremora were well-known slavers beholden to the princes. What the Daedric Princes needed with souls wasn’t Eve’s concern. She well knew there were countless uses for souls. It appeared that Logb Gaolm had recently suffered a setback, leading to the current stalemate.

Well, that’s what happens when you invade a System reality, duh. Eve thought with an eye roll. What did they think would happen when hitting a crafted reality-defending construct? How lucky these Princes have been not to fight anything above their weight class!

Even as the last Dremora expired in agony, Eve was carving a ritual circle on the ground. She’d learned that these creatures expected to be reborn. A quick Sacrifice for Power wiped their existence out. As the bodies vanished and mana flowed into her body Eve felt two presences peer through space to attempt to observe her.

It was a futile effort as her Dust Affinity combined with Witch’s Dust let them see nothing but floating particulates. Still, Eve’s paranoia crept to the fore again as she swiftly used Spatial Step to exit the magma valley she had been in. Appearing above the portal’s location, Eve quickly escaped the area.

Since there were two forces, Eve decided to help them resolve their differences. Sabotaging both of them wouldn’t work. Enemies that had been fighting for this long were not going to appreciate interference, no matter how subtle.

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Eve said as she moved swiftly towards a populated area indicated by one of the recently departed mages. Hiding among the masses while gathering information would allow for fine-tuning any plans.

The invaders thought the Prison Plane was a place ripe for exploitation.

Eve thought the same thing about this place named Oblivion!