Depthless Hunger

When Inafay heard they were going to meet at the Adobe Retreat, she had hoped for a quick peaceful resolution and feared extended negotiations. Instead, the challenges had been nothing like she expected.

The Prince of Pebbles had thrown out a list of random demands that ranged from "build a bridge" to "carry large stones in a circle." She had no idea what to make of any of them and they were mostly still hanging in the air. His only sensible request had been for someone to defeat a stubborn incursion monster - Kai had been dispatched to that task as their local expert.

By contrast, the Princess of Quakes seemed less combative in person, despite her challenges being literally combat. Once the Prince of Pebbles had run off on his own errands, the rest of them retired to one of the outer chambers of the Adobe Retreat, which was more comfortable physically if not politically. Since many of the others weren't comfortable with local politics, Inafay took the point position sitting in a chair opposite the princess.

"So... three duels," Inafay said. "I'm not clear what you expect this to prove."

"Everyone knows the Frontier elites have superior power," the Princess of Quakes said from behind her fan. "But we're not trying to challenge you, just pursue our own agendas. If you want us to follow your guidance, you need to show that you can actually teach us something."

It was a weak argument that only worked because of her position, so Inafay had to smile through it. "Fine then. What are your conditions?"

"The Frontier's advantage is that it can combine different powers. The first duel will be against one of our best, using only elemental powers."

"That's not a problem, Orotaisin can-"

"Not someone from the Elemental Nations." The Princess of Quakes looked to be using her fan to hide a smirk. "An outsider new to them. Are you truly advancing our capabilities, or are you merely exploiting them for your own gain?"

"Combat using no elemental powers or other abilities, only mana and martial skill. When all else is swept away, do you have the strength to stand firm?"

That was going to be harder, but Inafay pretended to be confident and nodded. "Fine. Have you saved the worst for last?"

"For the third duel... we want you to train one of our own." The Princess of Quakes no longer looked so smug and she lowered her gaze. "A princeling of one of my supporters is... less dutiful than he should be. He has a duel against a Waterborn next month and many are worried he'll humiliate himself. If the Frontier elites truly mean to strengthen us, then they must prove they can strengthen him."

At first Inafay was beyond irritated - she was happy to fight with a handicap as a test for herself, but training some idiot who didn't care enough to try? Still, they were trying to actually persuade these people... and as they discussed the details of all three duels, she realized that the Princess of Quakes might not be their true enemy.

The first two duels were with other clans, not the Quakes, and the third was clearly a favor to a political ally. As conservative as she seemed, the Princess of Quakes was only the leader of even more hard-line factions in the Earth Union. These conditional duels seemed less arbitrary if they were understood as ways of intimidating factions underneath a leader who actually wanted to cooperate. By applying such unfair restrictions, she looked like a hardliner while damaging her opponents.

"Is that all?" Inafay asked once they were done. "No literal bridges you need us to build?"

"The duels will be sufficient." The Princess of Quakes snapped her fan shut and rose to her feet. "Of course you are welcome to the hospitality of the Adobe Retreat while you are here. If you are truly our allies, we look forward to your progress."

That meant the rest of them had the freedom of the whole retreat, which could actually be nice. It didn't seem overly luxurious, but just having some time to themselves amid all the training would be a relief. Speaking of that... she was glad to see Orotaisin approach her.

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"Making someone else win a duel..." He shook his head. "He could throw the fight and ruin things for us."

"Not many young men could do that with their reputation at stake," Inafay said. "But I agree, that could be a problem. Probably better if a man approaches him first..."

"Alright." Orotaisin slipped away into the Adobe Retreat before she could ask him anything else. Well, at least that was one less thing she needed to worry about.

Most of the others had moved out, either to find rooms, take on other challenges, or prepare for the duels. Inafay sighed and took a while just to stretch in the garden. Fighting using solely her Windborn powers would actually be a significant challenge, since all her training so far had been dedicated to using both her elements and her Class in combination.

She turned around and almost ran into Zae Zin Nim, who was waiting silently. Despite herself, Inafay took a step back. The foreign woman had helped defend Monskon City and Kai trusted her, but there was something about her that set Inafay on edge. Her eyes seemed very... murdery.

"I can take one fight if you help me," Zae Zin Nim said.

"Which one? I guess it would have to be the mana-only duel..." Inafay wished she could get a better look at the other woman's soul. "How do you want me to help?"

"I wish to develop my Class further. Kai has been helping me, but he left that path behind long ago. I need a specialist."

"Well, I guess I'm the closest we have. Sure thing!"

The short woman blinked. "I had expected you to request payment of some sort."

"Nah, you're helping me enough if you win the fight." Inafay grinned and gestured for Zae Zin Nim to follow her. "Come on, let's find some place to train."

.

..

.

Kai had been told that he was traveling south with the Prince of Pebbles to encounter some sort of unstoppable monster. He'd assumed that meant a servant, or maybe the Prince himself along with a delegation. Apparently it meant literally the old man himself and no one else, since he'd just hopped onto a rock and started flying.

On the way out, the Prince of Pebbles laughed and began flying faster, as if he could outpace him. The old man was fast for someone with Power around 200, and had a very erratic flying pattern that forced Kai to constantly shift his pace. With Thunderbird's Wings, however, he had plenty of time to figure out where the old man had gone and catch up. At first the Prince of Pebbles seemed irritated that he couldn't shake Kai, but eventually he just laughed about it.

A town rapidly approached, a medium-sized cluster of buildings built from large earthen blocks similar to the other Earth Union towns he'd seen. This one was abandoned, though - the only sign of former habitation was a broken-down wagon beside one of the outer buildings. As they drew nearer, he began to sense an uneasy aura.

"This place fell in the incursion," the Prince of Pebbles told him, for once appropriately somber. "We intended to clean it out as we rebuilt... but the monster here is unstoppable."

"So it has good defenses," Kai said. "How much of a threat is it otherwise?"

"Oh, quite serious. It reaches out and touches minds, disabling people. You should beware."

The Prince of Pebbles remained at the periphery while Kai investigated the abandoned town. It was honestly more a village, nowhere that many people would care about if not for the monster. He was beginning to wonder if it was some sort of ambush predator until abruptly he saw it.

A bright yellow blob emerged from a house - no eyes, no mouth, nothing but a blob of slime. Kai frowned at it and took a step closer, and at that moment it started vibrating.

Instantly his ears began to ring and his vision shook. It wasn't simply a direct attack, he felt the world twisting the way it always did in the center of the Frontier. Despite all his power, if Kai hadn't endured the phenomenon so many other times, he might still have been overwhelmed. As it was, Behemoth's Heart could handle the damage and he pushed through the mental haze.

He swung a hand overhead and used a single Tyrant's Claw to chop the slime in half.

And promptly found himself staring at two slimes.

Both of them began to vibrate, distorting the world even more than before. That could get bad quickly, so it needed to be stopped. When Kai tried to step closer, the slimes increased the distortion intensity, actually knocking him back a pace. If he'd had Baleful Breath he thought it might have destroyed them, but it wasn't in his active soul and it was hard to concentrate through the endless vibrations.

Instead Kai plodded to a wall and gripped the heavy earthen slab. Applying his full strength, he managed to tear it off the rest of the house and swung it overhead, flattening both slimes.

The vibrations stopped immediately and he breathed a sigh of relief. Except not long after, another yellow sphere popped up down the street.

Before it could begin attacking or dividing again, Kai retraced his steps to the edge of town. The Prince of Pebbles was regarding him somberly, as if a little surprised, but now chuckled. "Not as weak as it looks, it is?"

"So the whole town is infested?" Kai asked.

"Oh no. There's exactly one monster. No matter what anyone does to it, it just doesn't die. Its vibrations actually killed some people, so I'm impressed you can just shrug them off. But can you kill it?"

"I plan to do better than that," Kai said with a grin. The monsters of Deadwaste might be weaker than those on Rosemount, but living so near the abyss and its unfathomable power changed them in other ways. He couldn't concentrate on the slime enough to get a ranking, but he felt certain this would be a worthy challenge of a different sort.

Because for the first time in weeks his hunger was growing again.

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