Chapter 638: Final Deadwaste Reunions

Teleporting across the world should have been more disorienting, yet Kai felt no more than the slight lurch he had felt years ago, teleporting into the monster reserve for the Hunter Trials. One moment he was with Omilaena on Rosemount, then the next he was back in the Frontier.

He stood within the phase-suppressing rings for the mortal phase trial, which he doubted was an accident - the elites had planned for the possibility that someone else would steal the teleportation potions. There were multiple people on guard, reacting the instant he appeared... but their attacks slowed as they recognized him. After all, Kai was one of the few people in the world whose soul was impossible to fake.

"Kai Clanless." Handelrey Orgoron was the first to lower her guard, shaking her head as she moved toward him. "Every time I see you, you manage to surprise me again. I suppose you've been to both Cloudspire and Rosemount."

"I have," Kai said, "but right now I just want to know about home."

An hour later, he was at the planning table with Gunjin and the other elites, getting the full picture. So many things had happened... he wanted to find and congratulate Razz for having taken down one of the most dangerous invaders, but that was old news by now. His eyes slid over the map, going from the lowest threats - still lethal to anyone below the elites - to the greatest.

"So we still have a major cluster of invaders in each of the Frontier nations." His hand stabbed down in four places, barely remembering not to tear the map with a claw. "Somewhat spread out, but they're in communication, so we can't begin taking them down secretly."

"Not unless we're committed to a very short time frame for an all out attack," Gunjin acknowledged. "They check in irregularly, but often enough to be a serious problem."

"There's one exception," Handelrey pointed out. "The group in Goralia is in complete disarray and we've co-opted their crystals. That means that we can listen in on what the others are saying and potentially interfere with their messages. But that's only a handful across the continent."

"Regardless, if we try to confront them all at once, our elites will be spread extremely thin. Especially in Krysal, where we don't know the exact location of all of the invaders."

"I agree with both of you," Kai said, "but we have to keep looking forward. What you've said about Fodajix and the Abhorroid... it sounds like he's basically trying to weaponize it."

"Correct. He knows we care about the continent and he doesn't." Gunjin drew a line from the Frontier to the southwest, the space between Krysal and Goralia. "The monster completely destroyed a stretch of the wall when it passed over, but that's a problem for the next incursion. It moves slowly, but it has already wiped two cities off the map."

"Wait, when you say-"

"The cities, not most of the people. Because the movement is relatively slow, we were able to evacuate them in time... but the neighboring cities are overwhelmed with evacuees, and Fodajix realized what we're doing. If we can't predict where he'll go next, significantly higher numbers will die."

Even with that aside, the complete destruction of two cities' infrastructure was a serious loss for the continent. Kai was past the point where he was thinking about survival and wanted there to be a continent left for the victors. Unfortunately, given the sheer scale of the conflict, and the way Fodajix was luring the Abhorroid, he might not be able to worry about such niceties.

"Omilaena is in position on Rosemount," he told them, "and we hope Zae Zin Nim is ready on Cloudspire. But this is going to turn into an ugly fight here... what's our plan?"

Kai looked up and realized that everyone was looking back at him. "We don't have a complete plan without you," Handelrey said with a wry smile. "Do you think you can take on the Abhorroid and Fodajix at the same time?"

"Probably not, but I shouldn't have to." Kai stared down at the map and the symbols of the destroyed cities. "Fodajix might be smart enough to lure it, but they're not on the same side. I can try to lure them together, but we don't know exactly what the consequences would be."

"Let's put that off a little longer," Gunjin said. "Take some time to meet everyone again, see what we've been working on developing. If there's danger of another city being destroyed, then we can take those steps. We can hope the situation develops before then."

That didn't seem very likely to Kai, but he realized a second later that from the elites' perspective, it had: their situation had been rough until Kai came back and tilted the scales. There was so much that could still go wrong, but some things were shifting in their direction as well.

After so long rushing and fighting, Kai allowed himself a few moments of respite just reuniting with old friends. Inafay and Orotaisin seemed to be de facto elites now, and they made plans to both spar and have dinner together, but he barely got any time to talk to them before they ran off to deal with a problem in the Elemental Nations.

So he moved on, and was relieved to find the Goralian contingent in one of the old supply buildings. When he entered, he saw Razz talking to Juray and Raghi, and for a moment they were all frozen in shock.

"Kai!" Juray was up first, hugging him fiercely. "I wanted to believe you were alright, but given how things are..."

"I'm the one who should be worried about you," Kai said. He moved to thump Raghi on the back. "What about you? Become a spymaster while I was gone?"

"Never again." Raghi shook his head slowly. "I'm not ready for phase training, but I've been working on my Physique again. The invaders have gotten Birtaegali to work with them in Irun and Goralia, so the elites need some backup."

Kai intended to talk more to them later, but he had to turn to Razz, who was approaching a little unsteadily. Even though his leg looked like it had been healed, he still moved a little gingerly, probably feeling a shadow of the pain he experienced. His smile was more restrained than the others.

"And I hear you're the most recent hero," Kai said, gripping Razz by the shoulders. "You took one of them down before me!"

"Oh, don't try to flatter me," Razz said, while looking flattered. "I just manipulated them a bit, and I may have screwed things up."

"Nah, we knew we'd need to deal with Fodajix and the monster eventually anyway. It sounds like the situation in Goralia is under control, at least. Are you still in contact with the merchants there?"

"Constantly. It sounds like Fodajix just left without explaining anything, and that group has gone strange. Some of the elites figured out how to make half-phased alcohol, so I've been funneling it to Goralian merchants. It's keeping the invaders complacent, but I don't know how long it can last."

"Wait, half-phased alcohol? That sounds like the beginning of a joke."

"Wait a second," Juray said, "you can't keep throwing questions at us when you're the one who was off on other continents!"

So Kai sat down with them and went over everything that he'd done, at least in brief. Midway through, Lofgan joined them - he'd apparently been in phase training and left in order to visit Kai. He didn't say much more than that, but seemed pleased to sit and listen to the conversation, so Kai only gave him an approving nod.

Once Kai had caught them up on his work, he was able to get Juray and Razz to talk more about phased materials. It sounded as though being able to research the invaders' equipment had done them a lot of good, even if they couldn't really replicate the power. The Krysali elites were able to create phased crystal weapons for themselves, which they'd already been half-way to doing anyway.

"There was a time when I actually thought I could create a phase potion," Juray lamented. "You know, someone drinks a potion and becomes fully phased like the invaders. But the gap is just too far... I thought I made a big leap to help Omilaena, but this is even bigger."

"Yeah, there seems to be a huge gulf between the world we know and the outside one." Kai thought about telling them about all the Insanities he'd faced and decided that was the wrong direction for the conversation. What he really wanted was to sit with old friends and talk about Monskon City, but he could only justify relaxing here for so long.

After he reluctantly left the Goralians, Kai moved on meet with others. To his surprise, on his way through the elite base, he saw Yuinafal... walking alongside someone he would never have expected: Vyorrine Nermtrian. Kai hadn't seen the former Diamond Crystallier since they'd parted ways at the Battle of Yulthens.

<

Name: Vyorrine Nermtrian

Total Power: 712

Flamecaster Class: 67 (77)

Waterborn: Twicedrowned (163)

Path of Steel: Steel 2 (69)

Crystal Cultivation: 3200 (84)

Physique Level: D-1 (205)

Soul Level: 8 (64)

Golden Dragon Breath (+50)

>

His gaze caught their attention and they moved closer, Yuinafal giving him a lazy wave. "It's not much compared to you, but this is what I've been working on. Vyorrine here has been traveling the oceans and I convinced her to come back to Krysal."

"Crazy, the way things go." Vyorrine eyed Kai as if she wasn't sure he was real. "I didn't think I could beat you back in Yulthens, but god damn. Way to make a girl feel inadequate."

"You shouldn't, of course," Yuinafal reassured her. "You've done well with your phase training, so you'll be one of us in no time."

"I don't know about actually being an elite, but I saw these invaders. Not gonna let them do what they want here."

It was a surreal conversation, both to find out that Vyorrine had been taking an entirely different path in the years since Krysal, and to speak so comfortably with Yuinafal. There had been a time when it seemed like they hated each other, but an incursion and an invasion seemed to have solved that.

Eventually Vyorrine departed to return to her training, and it seemed like Yuinafal was going to leave as well. Kai caught his arm before he went.

"Good work," he said, trying to make his sincerity clear. "We couldn't defend Deadwaste without everyone working together."

"And we couldn't do it without you." Yuinafal inclined his head slightly. "We won't be fighting together, but you can count on me to take out some of the invaders. Focus on winning the big fight and the rest of us will cover your back."

"Thanks. You know... back when we met, I thought you hated me because I'd sort of... taken your position."

"Oh, I was absolutely pissed off." Yuinafal gave a dry laugh. "You have any idea how irritated I was to go to all that work, only to have you show up and upstage me? But... traveling on Rosemount, even though people were generous to me, I was reminded over and over that I'm really a son of Deadwaste. And after I got to see your work, I realized that you are too. It's like you said... we can't defend this place without everyone working together."

They shook hands in the Goralian style, then bowed as if they were in the Elemental Nations. Kai left with a smile on his face, absurdly glad that this hadn't become a vendetta in which Yuinafal turned out to have brothers and a father who declared vengeance on him.

Before he could get far, however, he was met by Tusquo and Quinta, and they were definitely not smiling.

"We cannot finish the work Omilaena gave us," Tusquo said, raising what appeared to be one of the invader's swords, melted into a rough sphere. "We have learned to manipulate phased metal, but incorporating it is impossible. For all our work, we are no stronger than we were before."

"Our phase training has proceeded well," Quinta added, "but the gap in power is too much. Irun may not be able to defend itself."

Kai wanted to tell them that they were being too modest, since they were both stronger than before and just controlling phased metal from the outside world was a big step. But in a conflict like this, normal progress wasn't adequate, and they could be called on to defend Irun if the violence began. He was a poor substitute for Omilaena, but he went with them to do what he could.

They were better off than they had been half a year ago, but could they possibly be prepared?