Defiance of the Fall

No one among the Kan'Tanu seemed to have realized there was a sealbearer locked away on the planet, even if everyone with the rank of captain and above had standing orders to keep a lookout for the sigils in case they appeared on fallen elites. The World Lord was aware, though, and had kept her in a separate dungeon. As far as Zac could tell after going through his Spatial Rings, the Remoulded had kept her hidden in hopes of negotiating a private deal with some outsider faction.

Zac only learned that fact later, after she'd been freed and loudly announced her status out of fear of being left behind on the Kan'Tanu world. The Sealbearer was originally from the Zurbor Sector, though not part of the Kan'Tanu sect. There were still some unattached cultivators around, though mostly in remote and unimpressive regions, just like how most F-grade worlds weren't even considered part of the factions they were placed within.

Stormstar, as the sealbearer called herself, didn't come from one of these remote regions. Zurbor bordered the Eternal Storm just like Zecia, and the situation inside was not much different from the Million Gates Territory. If anything, it was more populated and chaotic since so many had chosen to flee the Kan'Tanu and their Heart Curses since the sect arrived in the sector six million years ago.

The former pirate's seal was the Hollow Court, and Zac still hadn't decided what to do with her. Killing her to extract her seal was too ruthless, especially since she wasn't part of the Kan'Tanu sect. But she wasn't some saint, either. She'd taken advantage of the chaos brought by the intersector war to take her crew out of the Eternal Storm. She was an Early Hegemon, and her strength had let her ravage multiple E-grade worlds before being caught. For now, she was locked in a dungeon back on Earth, her Cosmic Energy and movements sealed.

Having the trickiest part of the quest finished early was a relief, but it put him in a difficult spot. While this was only the fourth successful campaign, it was the eighth D-grade world the Calamity Company had conquered. Three came from conquering neighboring planets, while one came from advancing a second layer during their second campaign.

They'd chosen to advance one more layer after learning of a demonic tree that was considered a strategic resource. Zac normally wouldn't have taken such a risk, but they'd gathered some intelligence indicating it wasn't that heavily guarded. The planet's population was so small they only had one battlefront, and they mostly relied on the huge tree for protection. With the large amount of additional merit such a conquest could bring home, Zac had chosen to pull the trigger.

And now, the Calamity Company wasn't the only one out there fighting. He was originally due to head to Kavista in six hours, but the Acheron Company would take out a ninth world in twelve. If he had followed that plan, he would've likely completed his quest off-world, and there was no way Kator would let him return to Port Atwood without first turning in the quest.

Zac was already cautious about returning to Kavista after the events in the Abyssal Pond, and producing the Court Cycle Token right in front of those people was a recipe for disaster. He had already confirmed that the quest progress was shared between his bodies, but he didn't want to give any clear answer to how it worked to Kator. The less certain they were, the harder it would be to scheme against him.

At the same time, not going likely meant losing access to the Brightglaive Munitions and their main source of Death-attuned Cultivation Materials his undead soldiers relied on. After all, the resources he'd looted in the Twilight Harbor weren't endless, and years had passed already. The War Machines, especially, were a huge factor in the elite armies' lightning-quick campaigns, and they all used expendable capsules to fire. Capsules you had to purchase from the foundry.

The latter wasn't a plot of the Undead Empire to keep him reliant on them. It was easier to build a D-grade War Machine that used a separate payload to fire, be it miasmic glaives or falling comets. Putting everything inside the Array Tower would make it more complex and often add longer charging times. Separating the functions also meant the foundry would get a repeat customer so long as their products were used, and many establishments made their real money through their after-service. His situation was the same with the Blazing Comet equipment they used, except for the suns.

Luckily, he'd been given an out upon arriving on this world. There was a second D-grade planet just eight hours' travel away. Zac had already indicated that the Acheron Company's campaign was about to wrap up. So if they wanted to steer all the fate toward Arcaz, why not let him conquer a neighboring world before fate could be shared? The Undead Monarchs were obviously eager to see the next part of his Flamebearer quest, and no one was willing to take unnecessary risks with something as fickle as fate. Even Kator had given in, giving him an extra day.

This way, Zac could turn in the quest on Earth and leave the token on his other body for safekeeping.

Zac's communication crystal eventually buzzed. He glanced out the window and saw a fleet of sleek Cosmic Vessels closing in with extreme speed. Meanwhile, elite squads had already gathered outside the walls, ready to be beamed up. Zac grunted as he got to his feet and jumped out the window. One more world to conquer.

Sixteen hours later, Zac stepped out from the battlefront array, worn but in otherwise good shape. The satellite world was weaker than the one they targeted, and Zac returned on a shuttle just two hours after the battle began. Petrus accompanied him while most other elites were still wrapping things up on the Kan'Tanu planets.

He'd arrived at the war camp formerly belonging to the Second Battalion. It had long since been redecorated, including newly made banners displaying a unique weapon for the Calamity Company. A stream of messages welcomed his arrival, and he briefly scanned them as he made his way toward the Merit Exchange. The wartime quests needed to be handed in at the exchanges, and Petrus was there as a witness.

A large crowd of soldiers was gathered outside, but they opened a path upon seeing their arrival. They were all warriors of the Calamity Company, grizzled and covered in barely healed wounds. A few had returned just before Zac to get a day or two off, while others had been sent back during earlier battles to heal. They generally kept 20% of the Company on standby in case they needed reinforcements and to let people rest or break through.

The soldiers, both living and undead, enthusiastically greeted Zac as he passed by. Most of his fights had been highly visible, and he'd taken on an almost legendary status among his soldiers after a few of his exploits. Apparently, there was even a lot of debate among his people about which of the two emperors was the strongest. Camps had been formed, especially between the Calamity- and Acheron Companies.

Of course, only Zac knew the answer.

His undead side was still stronger than his human one, even after he'd spent three weeks in seclusion with his human body to catch up. Most of that time had been spent absorbing Life-attuned energy to alleviate the imbalance. He'd already gained three levels by funneling everything into his Cosmic Core's Life-attuned circuits, most of it from digesting Core-nourishing pills and using [Void Heart]. There was still a surplus of Death in his Cosmic Core and soul, but he needed to stop since the second elite army had been assembled.

Zac only had time to finally deal with [Surging Vitality] before setting off. He'd originally planned on doing so while still in the Perennial Vastness, but he'd opted to wait until Hegemony. It was difficult to say whether he upgraded the skill or created a new one—he'd essentially scrapped the whole thing, with the new Skill Fractal only keeping a few core aspects. The new skill was called [Surging Rebirth] and was far stronger than its predecessor.

The skill retained the ability to use Kill Energy for a powerful surge of recovery. It still used a whole lot of energy, but his branches of Life and Conflict could now boost the effect. More importantly, the skill could be activated while fighting without impacting his combat ability. Essentially, it would sacrifice his progress with levels for increased survivability on the battlefield.

He'd chosen this direction because of his [Undying Seal], the yet-upgraded healing skill of his Draugr form. Those seals had proven useful more than once in pitched battles, and the effect of [Surging Rebirth] should definitely be even better, considering it was more tuned to his Daos and a Peak-quality skill.

The new recovery skill even had a more normal healing feature now. It wasn't very impressive, but it was very energy-efficient and ran on either Cosmic or Divine Energy. It was the ability he'd use after a battle, letting him recover while using the accumulated Kill Energy on his Cosmic Core instead.

"Let's do this in the Faction Merit room," Zac said with a low voice, and the two headed into the room to the side.

Inside, Petrus began setting up a series of recording arrays and what looked like a treasure that could analyze energy auras.

"Just following orders," Petrus said with a helpless shrug upon seeing Zac look at him with a raised brow.

"Well, get my good side," Zac muttered. "Ready?"

Petrus nodded, and Zac placed his hand on the Exchange Crystal to infuse his will. There were no spatial ripples, but an oddly-shaped box covered in familiar runes appeared by his hand. The box was made from lacquered wood and shaped like a crystal, having a total of ten sides.

Each side had a singular rune, one for each of the lower courts, while the seal for the Left Imperial Palace was situated above the clasp. Zac briefly showcased the box for the recorder before opening it and found a small nine-sided token within. In contrast to the box, this one was made of an unknown lilac metal and was completely blank.

"No energy fluctuations and no impartments," Zac narrated as he turned the token over, not bothering to hide the disappointment. "It resists Mental Energy and Miasma. It seems to have no apparent use at this junction."

"May I?" Petrus asked, and Zac handed it over.

"How odd," Petrus said after a while. "The box appears more valuable than its content."

"Its use might not be apparent until later," Zac shrugged and stowed the token.

"This thing," Petrus hesitated.

"Will be with me for safekeeping," Zac expressionlessly said. "Don't want to mess with fate by sending it somewhere it doesn't belong."

Petrus slowly nodded, not pushing the matter further. Zac was inwardly relieved since there was no way he was handing it over. If the overseer had taken a hard stance, Zac would have been forced to take some unfortunate steps. With that part of the way, Zac continued to the next step.

"I have already received a second quest."

[Flamebearer of Zecia (Campaign, Inheritance (2/?)): Accumulate 500,000 Merit through Fated Flamebearer Campaign Missions within your faction. Conquer one Middle D-grade end node. Reward: Lesser Enlightenment. (0/500,000)(0/1)]

"The reward is similar to other sealbearers this time around," Zac commented.

He'd made rapid progress on his quest, but his followers had three months headstart. More than half his Sealbearers had already finished their first quest, and while their second tasks were different, the reward was the same. They all stood to gain an additional burst of epiphanies, though Zac doubted it meant they'd get a piece of the seal.

Considering it said "Lesser Enlightenment," it seemed more likely that the System had extracted some of Ultom's truths and awarded diluted versions. Zac guessed it'd be somewhere between his lake water and the real deal.

A few non-seal bearers had also finished their tasks, but their reward for the second one was quite different—access to a personalized trial. Zac couldn't be certain, but he believed there was a small chance of obtaining the first piece of an outer court seal in those trials. There was no way it could be a guarantee unless millions of outer court seals were in circulation. At least, Zac hoped that was the case since the alternative would be extremely high mortality rates. Joanna was already firing at all cylinders, desperately working to gain access and seize the opportunity that awaited her.

500,000 individual Merit was a lot, but Zac felt it wasn't that big a deal even if his previously accrued merit wasn't counted. He'd started out with 125,000 in both bodies, which wasn't even enough to put him at the top of the local list. In other words, the strongest Early D-grade cultivators had generated over 40,000 Merit a month since the war started.

It was more than the 26,000 Merit Zac had earned as Arcaz Umbri'Zi over the past month, but Zac knew that tally wasn't his limit. He could have gotten even more if he'd removed all the leaders himself, but Joanna and his other elites needed those fights for their quests and the experience. Both he and his soldiers were getting stronger, and they would gradually target tougher enemies who were worth more merit.

So long as the merit from both his bodies counted, he should be able to finish the task within half a year. It was a very tough deadline, but there was always the chance of running into more sealbearers. Capturing the pirate captain had added another 25,000 to his tally, almost doubling his monthly income. A single Flamebearer would cover half the quest, though Zac highly doubted he'd stumble onto one.

The second side mission wasn't too bad either. Campaigns couldn't be continued continuously. They would eventually end after a couple of battles in the Kan'Tanu sector. In Zecia, it usually meant reaching the main world of a multi-world faction. In cases of smaller factions like Zac's, his enemy would be sent somewhere stronger at random after taking down Earth.

With the Kan'Tanu, it normally meant reaching the main world of whatever branch of the organization you found yourself with. Taking out a weaker Middle D-grade world was by no means impossible, but Zac didn't feel the Calamity Company was ready. Even a weaker Middle D-grade faction was bound to have dozens of Hegemons, even multiple Middle D-grade Hegemons if unlucky. It simply was too much compared to the Calamity Company's 4 Hegemons.

Add to that stronger barriers and the higher average strength of their soldiers, and Zac would have to take significant losses to brute force a victory. However, the Calamity Company was in a period of rapid growth, and the number of Hegemons among his ranks would only increase. Quite a few people were right at the threshold, only needing that final push to begin forming their cores.

"What do you think?" Petrus said as he turned off the

"Well, I won't have to change anything up to progress the quest,"

"Your faction isn't ready to conquer a Middle D-grade planet," Petrus said, echoing Zac's thoughts. "I recommend petitioning for a group of Outer Elders to share the weight."

"There's no rush," Zac said. "We're a young faction. Who knows how strong we'll be in a year?"

"I guess that's true," Petrus nodded. "Are you heading to Kavista right now?"

"I still have some time, so I'll consolidate before going," Zac rejected. "Maybe I can squeeze out some last-minute insights."

"Of course," Petrus said as he left. He stopped at the doorway, looking back with a rare smile. "Good luck with your duel. If you win, you'll become a legend in the White Sky Phalanx."

"I'll do my best," Zac waved.

Zac left the exchange shortly after, teleporting to his cultivation cave. He spent the next hour stabilizing his mind before taking out a box. Simultaneously, on a distant planet in a different sector, Zac took out an identical one. Pavina's warning had lingered in the back of his mind since returning, and he had wracked his brains on how to gain an edge on the overbearing Izh'Rak Reaver.

It wasn't like the duel with Kator was a battle to the death, and encountering someone who could push you to your limits and beyond was a rare opportunity. The clash might even let him refine his techniques, and the longer they fought, the greater the chance was that Zac would discover something.

But the lower stakes didn't mean he was ready to lose. He wanted to win, both for himself and for Boje. The last-minute shopping spree at the Limited Exchange would hopefully create the opportunity he needed.

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