Léonne, Yunia, and I have a nice chat over tea and coffee while the rest of the girls talk on the other side of the room.

The halfling versus silver elf battle ended in an elven victory, and now it's time for dwarves versus the Asian humans and a few beastfolk from Wideberg to fight, but both sides are physically strong and heavily armored, so their battle won't be as interesting as the last one. Though that's probably just because I'm biased towards magic, and neither side seems to have a significant number of mages.

It's unfortunate that the assassins' attack ruined the mood for us to watch the previous battle because I really wanted to see the halflings fight.

"What is the secret behind the Fountuns?" Yunia calmly breaches the topic, and I also become curious to hear the truth behind the mysterious werefoxes who want to become our knights.

"Hm? Are they not to your liking?" Léonne casually replies.

And Yunia stares intensely at her. "It's clear that there's a reason behind their willingness to leave the Misty Low Forest."

"That's for them to tell you about. I only made the offer, and they accepted it," the werefox ruler coolly states, sounding very sincere.

But the elven queen is unconvinced and slowly knits her thin, golden eyebrows. "There's no scheme behind them?"

"No, not on my part, at least, and I do believe Thea will be to Wolf's pleasing, seeing his 'tastes.'" And she sends me an amused glance.

Oh, hell yeah. I'll fuck that snow fox so hard that her mother will feel it in her womb.

And I casually chime in, "If all she wants is sex, sure, but I'm a very open person, and I don't want partners who hide things from me."

She politely chuckles, and her fluffy tail even wags as she teases, "I find that ironic considering you're the most mysterious person in this side of the empire."

I pout for a second, but then I pompously declare, "My wives know everything there is to know about me. I also believe that I've told all of my secrets to Klein and Osaria, and I'll do the same with any other woman who wants to become a concubine."

Klein straightens up in surprise, and the other Companions send her curious looks. They're all respectfully trying not to eavesdrop on this conversation between rulers, but it can't be helped when someone's mentioned by name.

But Léonne becomes skeptical and inquires, "Will you also tell them to my younger daughter, the one you just couldn't help but seduce?"

I don't even flinch as I reply, "Perhaps, but there needs to be strong love and a commitment to loyalty before I'd consider it."

And her skepticism turns to mild displeasure. "I don't want to deny my daughter the chance to fall in love, but I'm not sure if I'll approve of your relationship with Allura."

I don't want to get her angry with me on this matter, so I diplomatically explain, "I'm not looking for arranged marriages or the like. I want to let things grow naturally."

She continues to stare at me for the next couple of seconds with her sexy, milfy, stern glare, but then she sighs and shakes her head. "You're a bad influence on her, and your possessiveness will make it harder for her to find normal partners."

"Well, if she marries another woman… I can impregnate them both," I state as I grin cheekily, but she just rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her Frele tea, so I think it's time to drop this topic.

I stand up and walk out onto the balcony to get a better view of the fighting. The Widebergians are having trouble dealing any significant damage to the dwarven shield line, so the mages and archers from both sides continue to lob spells over the melee, but they're holding back on the exchange, keeping a reserve in case something happens.

"How was the fight against the assassins?" Léonne asks, and their methods intrigue her when Yunia recounts the attack. "Tell me more about your enemies. I want to know more about the worms who hurt my daughter."

And Yunia is happy to oblige, but Léonne becomes pensive.

"Why do you think this Cleinias will return to the capital?" She questions, her sharp gaze directed at Yunia.

Who categorically answers, "The monsters are still in his mansion, and Kardia is hardly a glamorous place to live in comparison to the opulence of his home at the upper part of the Throne."

But the older ruler retorts, "If he's such a centerpiece to Katasko, then he's currently whipping his allies to keep them united. He won't return until the Purification is over."

My pleasant mood disappears in a puff of smoke, and my tail tenses up in anger. "What did you say?" I whisper heatedly.

She calmly turns to me and repeats, "He has no reason to return, but he has plenty to stay right where he is."

I turn to the door and start advancing towards it, but Yunia stops me with just a thought, forcing me to listen to her explanation, "Using the [Eternal Gate] Network would warn them that you're coming, and then they'd just ambush you with their numbers."

I freeze and clench my claws, but an idea comes to me, so I turn to the Companions and order, "Call Nohopu and the High Officers."

 

We watch the Floater rising up into the sky as it turns around. It's aiming towards the Sky Lands to the south, but once it gets cloaked by the enchanting surrounding the closest one, it'll rise higher to become even harder to spot, and then it'll make a beeline for Kardia.

"I'm starting to feel like joining you in the Purification," Léonne serenely states, sounding almost eager.

My impatience is wiped away by surprise as I reflexively reply, "Are you sure? We're going to have to share any spoils with Vanea Anara's alliance and Princess Sa'Haa's Faiumi Merchant Alliance."

She nods in agreement, making her fox ears bounce cutely, exactly like Alissa's. "In the interest of maintaining our alliance, I'll be satisfied with a reduced share."

"We'll be honored to have you on our side," Yunia promptly states earnestly.

And Léonne flashes her a cordial smile. "Likewise. You're a good ally to fight alongside."

 

There's not much else for us to do besides just waiting, so we watch the battle at our doorstep end in a dwarven victory as they outlast the Widebergians. Then the girls and I peruse my memories in search of something we can use for the attack… and we might've just found the perfect thing for our situation.

The nearest Sky Land isn't that far, and the Floater is very fast, so just before lunch, it enters the cloaked area. My bird on the ship's bridge spots the same large, floating island we saw when we were going up the Throne to the gathering, but it's a lot harder to see it now that it's against the bright blue midday sky.

"This is it, turn around!" Nohopu energetically orders, and the ship stops moving forward, though it continues to ascend as it turns.

My bird even looks back just to see the squirrel captain's reaction.

"Course, set!" The navigator reports once the ship has stopped turning.

The Throne is becoming smaller and smaller as the ship rises, though the massive tower is still very visible, which could potentially host spies watching for the Floater, but it's kind of hard to get out of its sight considering how fucking tall it is.

Nohopu stands up, his face warped in a wide grin and his eyes staring excitedly at the horizon as he orders, "Code orange! Gem, overdrive. Propellers, overdrive. Speed, uncapped. Set!"

"Code orange! Gem, overdrive! Propellers, overdrive! Speed, uncapped! Set!" The navigator repeats.

"Engage!"

Then the ship gains so much instantaneous velocity that Nohopu is pushed back hard, almost making him fall into his seat again, and he's forced to grab the armrest to remain standing. The noise from the propellers becomes deafening, even with the improved sound muffling that we grew on the way here, and the ship starts shaking, clearly not prepared to go this fast.

They actually zoom past the Throne, rising so high that the ground under them starts to turn into a blue haze due to atmospheric scattering. This means that they're reaching the edge of the Broken Skies, and they stop ascending to avoid getting sucked into that non-euclidean space.

Maybe the Broken Skies could be used to decrease travel time, like using the Nether in Minecraft as a shortcut, but the people of Whakamutu don't have the best knowledge of how the paths between the Broken Skies and the surface work except for the few "entrances" that merchants used to take.

Aisco, Alcander, Silvano, and a handful of knights and mages come up to the top of the ship and prepare for battle. Not even half an hour later, a car-sized, eagle-like monster approaches the ship, but the High Officers scare it off before it can get in the way.

More monsters appear, attracted by the thick trail of flavorful mana that the ship leaves behind, but there don't seem to be any swarms in the area that can threaten the ship, thanks to the Imperial Fleet keeping the skies mostly clear.

But Aisco seems to be having a lot of fun as he snickers every time he launches a thick [Fireball] towards a monster, and he laughs even harder when the monster catches on fire. Because of course, the creepy bastard would be creepy. And considering how we're going to kill Cleinias for torturing and raping monsters, Aisco's delight feels rather aggravating, so we ignore him as best we can.

 

A little past our usual lunchtime, Kahura stops working on Alissa's left soul-hand so that we can eat, but both of her hands are technically already fully functional as their muscles and nerves have been properly connected with her wrists. However, she's getting a lot of disconcerting phantom sensations and intermittent shivering in her hands, so Roxanne applies some local anesthesia to help with that.

We sit down for our meal, and Léonne impassively stares at her former hands for a long moment. I can imagine how seeing your body parts on someone else might feel pretty weird for anyone who's not a narcissist like Yunia, who doesn't even bat an eye at Jarn, even though the golem has a perfect copy of her face.

"Tch," the elf in question clicks her tongue internally.

"How are you feeling, Alissa?" Léonne kindly asks.

"Very weird. With all the potions I'm taking, I'm surprised that I haven't puked from mana poisoning yet," she tiredly answers as she looks at her hands, which feel more like some foreign organisms that have glued themselves onto her rather than parts of her body, but she won't say that to her mother.

"Neither [Regrowth] nor [Alteration Magic] are perfect, so you'll both have some weird sensations in your hands for a few days," Ciel soothingly states.

"Yes, that much I know," Léonne hums back while staring at her own hands.

And since I'm still feeling curious, Ciel adds telepathically, "She must be feeling like her hands aren't 'hers' since they're new."

Huh… what an interesting phenomenon.

It's a bit too hard for Alissa to eat with her numbed hands, so she controls Jarn through [Bind] to use the golem's hands instead.

 

After lunch, Alissa resumes her treatment, and we start preparing for the assassination. We go to one of the secluded gardens because Roxanne's experiments would likely poison us all if they were done in a closed room.

We don't ask for privacy, so Lolo and Léonne come to watch, and at first, they're fascinated by the golems as they practice folding themselves as tightly as possible, but the bunny girl starts to feel drawn to me, so she timidly approaches as silently as she can, then awkwardly stands by my side.

I keep silent as I concentrate, but this is a meticulous job, so a long time passes, allowing her to build up the courage to innocently ask, "What are you doing?"

I open my eyes and send Hukarere a soothing glance before my loyal wolf takes the bunny girl away to keep her from interrupting me, and a short while later, I finish the summoning.

"I'm trying to mold my summon into a weapon," I answer and hand her the dart-shaped, tungsten earth elemental.

"This is heavy," she reflexively remarks as she struggles to hold the dart.

And I grin ferociously. "It's supposed to be. It has to penetrate the best defensive enchantments that money can buy."

Roxanne activates the test cannon, and the following explosion makes Lolo drop the dart in surprise as she jumps behind me for protection, but the elemental stops itself from hitting the ground and floats before me.

I smile wryly at the adorable bunny girl, her hands shaking as she touches my back, and I give Roxanne an internal thumbs up for the wingwoman moment.

Lolo realizes that the explosion was nothing special and immediately straightens up, trying to pretend that nothing happened. I give her props for successfully recomposing herself, but her blush becomes extremely obvious due to her usual, almost-naked fashion choices.

"How-… how are you going to use it?" She tries to move on.

And I kindly answer, "You just saw how. We're going to launch it so violently and with such force that the speed it'll achieve will make the Silver Lightning look like a grandma walking with a cane."

She stares at me apprehensively and wonders out loud, "What is it with men and weapons…?"

"What? I love weapons!" Hana suddenly chimes in from afar.

"And I love explosions!" Roxanne happily adds.

Lolo turns to them and awkwardly retorts, "You two are… different. A lot more men enjoy this kind of thing than women."

Nikolas suddenly appears, drawn by the sound of explosions, fighting, and the smell of burnt fuel. "What's going on here?"

"Developing a weapon," I offhandedly reply.

He raises his eyebrows and quickly approaches, his male instincts overpowering his dislike of me, which proves Lolo's point.

Léonne silently watches as we do our research, and the presence of the stern Chieftess makes both of the wereanimal adventurers a lot more meek than usual. They know we're different from the usual Lord, but Léonne isn't, so they act as respectfully as they can.

But their tension gets even worse when Vanea arrives. She comes wearing a pink princess dress, the type that she apparently enjoys wearing a lot, and her casual gait instantly becomes composed and restrained when she sees Léonne.

"Greetings, Dame Vanea," Yunia receives her in my place as I'm busy with summoning.

"Hello, Yulania, and…" Vanea stops for a second as she turns to milf-Alissa. "I assume you're Chieftess Léonne."

"I am," she coolly responds with a nod, not showing a single reaction on her face from Vanea's piercing eyes, but then she comments, "What a strange set of allies Wolf is gathering."

Vanea grins and glances at me. "That's fine because, aside from Sa'Haa, those who flock to him have reasons deeper than just profits."

Léonne raises an eyebrow, but the princess simply smiles sweetly.

And Yunia decides to skip the rest of the pleasantries as she moves on, "We want to know everything about Kardia and the possible defenses of Cleinias' home."

Vanea jerks her head towards Yunia, making the elven queen groan internally in discomfort from the stare, and the evil princess breaks into a mad grin.

"I love how bold the Ryders are becoming," she whispers heatedly, and the intensity of her tone makes even Léonne stiffen.

 

Molding elementals to perfection is tiring, so the girls help me through [Bind], but the afternoon goes by in a flash as we're all very focused on our work.

Kahura isn't able to completely finish Alissa's hands, but they're fully functional now, and Alissa just feels a lack of "Dexterity" with them, which means that she can't properly use her bow, so she won't be participating in the attack.

And when night falls, we just have a quick bath, for the navigator on the Floater announces that they're approaching Kardia. The large agglomeration of lights under them is unmistakably a town, even when seen from so high up.

Alcander opens the [Gate] to the bridge, and Vanea, Léonne, and I cross through it. Then I open my own [Gate] because I can shift my points to [Mana Efficiency], greatly reducing the cost of the spell, which I use to bring my wives, except for Alissa, who stays at the embassy, preparing herself for another job.

"Your Highness, we've arrived," Nohopu happily announces, both he and the rest of the crew looking quite haggard from enduring the constant shaking and loud engine noise for hours.

"Good job, Captain Nohopu. I'm very pleased with the speed you've achieved," I earnestly praise him as I pull out the golems.

"Organize the replacement of the men with Alcander as you're to continue flying overnight and return to the capital once we're done," Yunia orders.

"Yes, Your Highness," he accepts with a bow.

Then we move to the top of the ship, and I notice that everyone but Aisco is also looking pretty tired, but we simply ignore him and walk to the front of the ship.

"I wish I could see him die, but I'll be satisfied if you bring me his still warm and bleeding head," Vanea sweetly requests.

"Sure, but we'll be putting it on a stake in front of the embassy," I answer with a devious smirk, then we start our preparations.

First, I summon ten Hollys and order them to search through the Nobles' Quarter of Kardia for Cleinias' presence. Then we begin assembling the Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot tank round.

A bat-sized, tungsten dart fit with a discarding sabot and encased around a huge, explosive shell. The narrow dart allows for extreme penetration while the sabot is an adapter that allows it to be fired from a thick, powerful cannon, and thus, the APFSDS round has come to be.

I sit down and begin summoning the dart-shaped, tungsten elemental. I wish I could summon a depleted uranium elemental, but that seems to be a bit beyond even my skills as I don't know enough about that metal to conjure it.

Once I'm done, the golems fold themselves and enter the hollow part of the tungsten dart, then we fit the sabot around it, put it inside the shell casing, and fill it with Draconic Climax. Finally, I pull out the [Reinforce]d steel cannon from my "Items" with a *poof*, and we load the round.

"Hm… this is similar to the supersonic javelin launchers, no?" Aisco curiously asks.

"Yes, but this is Wolfy's original design, not a copy of your launchers," Lina promptly answers, very intent on not letting him think that we're stealing his idea.

"Like the Raki airplane?" He casually continues. It seems plagiarism didn't even cross his mind.

And Lina nods, making her bangs sway.

I cast [Telekinesis] on myself and hover in front of the Floater, giving myself a clear, unobstructed view of the entirety of Kardia.

We passed by this town before when we were going to the capital, and we had ignored it as it was just another crossroads town, but Hana has some history with this place as she passed through here many times when her family was doing their usual route between Sommerland and Ryutake.

Kardia's main attraction is the wide variety of traveling merchants. Those who come from the north hail from Betoverd Bos and Gnomeria, Hermit's Roost, and Sommerland; from the east come the rare werefoxes, the elves of the High Forest, and the faraway merchants from Maoka; from the south comes those from Faium and Ryutake; and to the west is the capital, where a good deal of the merchants go to rather than come from.

But now's not the time for reminiscing, so she ignores the familiar sights and forces her mind to focus on what's important.

The Nobles' Quarter is relatively small, so the Hollys don't have to search for very long before they find the biggest mansion in the town, second only to the Lord's home. The Hollys notice a large party going on inside, but there are a lot of guards all throughout and most likely some enchantments that would detect their approach, so Yunia drops down with [Fly], her points now focused on [Sense Presence] to increase its range.

We remain in absolute silence for a minute, the faint breeze of the night caressing our faces and whispering in our ears, a welcome calm moment in the quickly rising tension.

After so many battles, none of us are anxious, but we are eager to exact our revenge. Even though each of us wanted to deal with this in a different way, we're all in agreement that this is the best course of action for our future.

Alissa wanted more nobles to die, Roxanne wanted us to destroy his home, Hana just wanted to fight in the Purification, Ciel wanted to accuse Cleinias in front of everyone, Lina just wanted a quiet assassination when Cleinias dropped his guard, Aoi wanted us to dominate both of the Alkimeonids, and Yunia wanted a political solution rather than his death.

And I… I didn't want to fight. There's always a side of me complaining about how much of a bother it is to have to squash these worms… and how he'd rather continue studying and exploring magic, [Golemancy], specifically, than deal with this bloody business.

But we must. For our future, for our Fate, for the good of Rupegia, we must make a stand here and strike down the Wicked. This, we all agree on.

Suddenly, the people inside the mansion are finally in Yunia's [Sense Presence] range, and she detects a large group of people spread throughout a large hall, each energetically moving around in a partying way.

Then Alissa nudges her to pay attention to one area in particular, where six men are sitting in a circle, and a familiar presence triggers our memories.

That's Cleinias.

Léonne was right, the cockroach really didn't plan on coming back.

My breath quickens in excitement, my tail rises up, becoming as hard as steel, and I open my palms as my claws itch to rake through raw flesh and bathe me in blood. Then the memory of crushing the assassin's head with my draconic form makes me salivate in hunger, but the human pulls on the reins of the dragon.

I need to stay here for safety, so I won't be participating myself, but I still need to keep my mind sharp to provide support.

The rest of the girls all cast [Telekinesis] on the cannon, lifting it off the ship and into the sky, then we point it down and take aim. I land on the back of the cannon and also add my own [Telekinesis] to it. We need to keep it as stable as possible to not throw off its alignment with our target because the golems will have a hard time adjusting the trajectory if we miss.

Our gestalt training shows its worth as the girls slowly surrender their minds to me, and our wills start to merge into one with a singular goal, allowing our spells to aid one another instead of interfering.

The swaying of the floating cannon slows until it's almost imperceptible, and then it suddenly stops completely.

Say your last prayers, you wrinkly fuck.

I hit my tail against the primer, making a small spark that sets off the Climax inside the shell, and a massive explosion deafens us all. As I'm on the cannon, my entire body rattles from the shock wave, but a quick [Heal] is enough to bring me back to normal, and I focus on the golems.

The sabot successfully detached from the dart the moment it left the cannon, so now, the thick tungsten rod is freely shooting straight down at a blinding speed, and the girls all fly down towards Yunia to support her in the attack.

But then we notice a miscalculation: range. Either we're too high, or we used too little Climax for propulsion, so the dart is losing precious speed.

That's nothing we can't fix with magic, though. The three golems cast [Telekinesis] on the back of the dart, stopping the bleed-off of its speed, then stabilizing it at an acceptable velocity.

Yunia activates the [Gate] Scrubber, then the golems hit something, and they hear a deafening cracking sound, but the dart barely loses any momentum as it penetrates through the mansion's defenses.

It goes through the ceiling and arrives at the party with a boom, where it lands precisely on the mark, but it doesn't penetrate any flesh, instead sinking completely into the floor.

It takes a second for Yunia to notice, but she finds that Cleinias' presence has suddenly teleported underground.

Motherfucker…

We're all stunned for a second at the ingenuity of his safety enchantments. It teleported him the instant we penetrated the mansion's defenses, and it was faster than our goddamn sabot!

But we're not done yet!

PLAN B!

The golems fly out of the dart from its back end. Then they reform their bodies and take a look around. The hall is now a mess and filled with a cloud of dust since the impact caused a shock wave potent enough to stun everyone in the room, but the golems pick up the footsteps of heavily armored men quickly approaching.

Assuming direct control of Jarn.

I [Equip] her multiple limbs, each one now holding a weapon. Then I engage Terminator mode and charge towards the guards.

The two doll golems start using [Earth Wall] to dig a hole into the ground, but the mansion seems to be enchanted with something to prevent exactly that, which slows down their efforts.

With the guards all rushing towards the explosion, the girls just land at the gate, supposedly the weakest point of the mansion, then blow it open, the enchantments seemingly too depleted to stop them, and they just casually stroll in.

Now without a [Dead Zone] countering her, Roxanne is free to [Explosion] the floor of the party hall, stunning all of the nobles again before they can pull out their weapons and opening a hole that helps the golems dig down faster, but that seems to scare Cleinias, who certainly felt the rumbling.

One of our mages opens a [Gate] for Alissa, and she teleports into Cleinias' mansion in the capital. Once there, she leisurely starts opening the secret room while the Punishers outside subdue the guards.

I slam a hammer into a guard's shoulder, the power of the attack far from killing him, but the sound of bones cracking tells me that he won't be able to lift his sword again until he's healed.

A buff noble shoves a sword into a slit in the back of Jarn's armor, which would've severed a spine if she had a fleshy body, but I just swing an arm backward, hitting him in the back of the head with the pommel of my sword, and the poor bastard instantly assumes a stiff posture that indicates likely brain damage as he falls to the floor like a plank.

The nobles and guards all focus on Jarn due to how visible she is, and for the first time, I push my [Ekrano Style] to its limit in a multi-directional fight of one versus many.

WITHOUT ARMOR, YOU'RE ALL JUST FUCKING INSECTS TO ME!

I laugh evilly as I dance around them. The nobles are harmless, so I don't even attempt to engage against their superior [Weapon Use] skills and just go for a disabling attack instead; the guards are too low level to put up a fight against me, so I whack them away like flies; the mages are too vulnerable to pose a threat as a simple spear thrown at their lungs is enough to stop their chanting; and [Equip] ensures that any weapon I throw is instantly returned to my hand with just a thought.

A smart idiot uses [Searing Blade] to sever one of Jarn's arms, but the golem instantly uses [Manipulate Metal] to fuse it back together, and I shove a sword into his gut for his troubles.

HAHAHAHAH…! I'M FUCKING INVINCIBLE!

We detect Sebastian approaching Cleinias, and then they both [Blink] to the entrance, right in front of the girls. The two men freeze in surprise, but then they scowl as they realize who's before them.

"YOU CU-…" Cleinias' swear is cut short by Yunia's [Chain Life]. Then Roxanne uses [Explosion] on Sebastian's knees, instantly disabling him, and Lina and Hana charge forward to secure him.

"Cleinias Alkimeonids, you're accused of Wicked acts against monsters! Any last words?!" Ciel announces his sentence, and the Chains are loosened just enough to allow him to speak.

"Monsters aren't protected by the Sins, you whorish sow!" He spits back in fury, then tries to feed mana to a gem under his clothes, but [Chain Life] blocks him from doing just that, and he immediately pales as he realizes that he's been cornered. "No, wai-…"

Ciel mercilessly swings her glaive, and Cleinias' head falls from his shoulders. Then she casts [Judgment] on the blade of her polearm and swings it again.

A shrill scream claws into their ears as Cleinias' spirit is forcefully exorcized. The horror in his voice tells us that he's likely watching the gates of Hell open up before him… and then he's suddenly gone.

"You are now level sixty-one."

The rest of the golems are helping Jarn, but she's still being swarmed, and the guards are now throwing themselves at her limbs to hold her down. None of us have seen either Little Alki-Alki or that Fluminis bastard, so I summon the golems, and everyone retreats.

But first, we leave a gift in the center of the town.

The Punishers always publicly crucify the (already dead) Wicked to show everyone who they were and that Wickedness always leads to death, so we do the same, except we keep Cleinias' head as a souvenir.

I personally hand it to Vanea, who eagerly receives the head and holds it tight against her chest, not caring that her dress is getting all bloody.

Then I turn to Alcander, and he opens a [Gate] back to the embassy.

And that is how you actually assassinate someone.