Chapter 296: Chapter 296

Jake was keeping his mind clear as they traveled toward the moon, lightly tracking his wives as they faced their challenges.

Thankfully, it appeared that Sati didn’t have to go so hard at her yoga to burn her inner flame brightly after they finished accelerating. And Ira didn’t even have to work hard to protect them from the cosmic radiation or energies of the void. The giant bundle of the Great Flame they launched with had surrounded them like a bubble, with Jake and Sati flying toward the moon like a shooting comet.

Sati still continued the yoga poses in his lap to build up the Shakti energy, but it appeared that this was more to his benefit as opposed to a life-or-death struggle.

Jake wasn’t sure how far they had traveled, but judging how the moon had grown in their view and how long they’d been traveling, he hoped they were well beyond halfway at this point. It had been hours already.

He was able to speak aloud using mana in his voice, but he spoke in their minds anyway. “Shouldn’t we… be slowing down soon?”

And Sati was still speaking and singing mantras and replied in his mind. [Why would we need to slow down?]

“We’re moving pretty fast now. Maybe you won’t die if you crash into a moon moving around ten thousand miles per hour, but I’m pretty sure I would.”

[The moon is not a physical celestial object. It is a giant orb of flame, the Great Flame. We can enter inside of it. It should welcome us.]

“Okay…well even just the deceleration from that speed, if done too fast, might kill me. I don’t know how many G’s I can handle now, but–”

For a long while, Jake thought the creature would learn to speak. It was certainly smart enough to do so, and it understood his family well enough. After all this time, the creature still hadn’t managed it.

During their five-year break from battle, they had even tried to help teach it along with their kids. But there was something fundamentally different with how its mind worked that made this a special challenge, and the creature still hadn’t said a word directly into Jake’s mind using their Familiar Bond.

They had done research on creatures of the void, and not only was sapience among them exceptionally rare, it was nearly unheard of. Not much at all was available at their Tier, but it was clear even among those specialized that creatures of the void were never more than beasts or creatures of consumption.

Hestia had said that the Umbral Envoy that was Jake’s great-grandfather was likely more a man-shaped beast than a person, and this tracked with what they had learned. And the reason was because to be a creature that touched across these many planes of existence or dimensions would need a unique mind to be able to function and operate in them at all.

Void beasts likely had a fragmented mind of some kind, allowing their consciousness to spread across these planes and hunt or accomplish what the monster required.

Seeing how his Umbral Gaze worked, Jake found it easy to imagine that it took a special mind to understand everything all at once. Without the view filtered, Jake could hardly even function as it was, only parsing out the several odd views he had at once by focusing on the physical world and the few adjacent planes that touched it.

It hurt Jake’s head to even try to look directly at Ira through the void, because it wasn’t like the creature was in a physical direction away from him–but often, another dimension entirely. Not only that, but he could see the creature sort of ‘snaking’ through multiple at once. How he observed the other dimensions or planes with his Gaze depended on which one he was looking at. As he intuitively added layers to his view, it was like looking through numerous different layers of stained glass, the lines and colors never aligning into a single image or truth.

Thankfully, for his purposes, the hazes, or shapes from these other dimensions even being present at all, were enough for him to know some kind of special energy or being was near, which was rather useful. It was often more than anyone else would ever get without a special Origin or magical perception to even detect those planes of existence at all.

Ira probably had the reverse problem, that the physical world was what felt foreign rather than the other dimensions. The creature instead communicated over the spiritual plane–using the Familiar Bond–using emotions and experiential imagery.

It was as if it remembered notes of Jake's or his wives’ thoughts or feelings and was able to play that piece of them back. It was bizarre, but he thought that perhaps the portion of its mind that touched the physical plane was too simple for actual language or understanding. With enough growth or evolution, the creature may one day be able to manage it. Either way, it would be a remarkable feat if it ever did.

The tutting and headshaking feeling Jake just received from Ira felt a lot like the time when Davonious, the chameleon beastkin, had snuck up on him on the back of Bill. Fhesiah had stated he needed to work on his magical sensory and his awareness. A tiny flash of disapproval, both in him and herself, for not helping him train enough in this important skill set was what Ira sent him.

Sati replied, [I’ll…give us at least a minute or two to slow down to be safe then. That should be fine, yes?]

“It should. If it’s not quite enough or I get surprised, I’m sure that Ira will help me out then.”

Jake knew that a human for that brief of a time, a few minutes, could handle up to 3 G’s without that much risk. Fighter pilots double that for a fair amount of time, but anything higher than that would usually only be for a shorter period or fractions of a second before they passed out.

He wasn’t sure what he could handle now, but he actually trained under heavier gravity levels, knowing that what would crush a human’s organs nearly instantly was totally fine for him. His body could also live without oxygen, and his blood not circulating for a period would be no issue.

Jake hadn’t tested and measured it, but 10 to 20 G’s should be a cakewalk. Filling him with hearthflames and auril, perhaps near 100 G’s could be sustainable. But slowing down from over ten thousand miles per hour over a minute or two would be over 10 G’s sustained, enough to kill any human for sure. And if they took under thirty seconds to slow, that rate of deceleration could be risky. Maybe. Dıscover more novels at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝓷𝓮𝓽

Waiting for arrival, Jake kept his mind mostly clear, only mildly paying attention to what his girls were doing. He would be able to act on any true feelings of alarm coming over their bond, able to send Runic spells and hearth flames over their Hearthian connections. It was a bit concerning what was going on landside, but he knew that they would be able to handle the threats well enough while he addressed this one.

Jake and Sati were getting close now, the large moon taking up much of their view. He knew that it was a rather small moon, all things considered, and acted a lot more like a satellite that followed a geosynchronous orbit a distance away from the world.

[There it is. The flame that eats no wood, no air, and no flesh, only the endless tide of energy flowing through creation. It is the ember caught between heaven and earth–a flame suspended by the cosmos’ will. The Great Flame.]

Thankfully, the magic moon, while made of fire, was nothing like a star aside from that. There was no fusion reaction occurring, making it rather different. It was merely powered by cosmic energies–the energies drawn in by the planetary core. In a sense, each of the four moons was like a cosmic filter or vortex, drawing in more energy for the world itself.

Watching through his Umbral Gaze, he tuned his filters as he watched. The bombardment of interstellar energies did get drawn in to the moon and then to the world in turn, like colored streams drawn into a whirlpool. It was like a miniature galaxy gathered around a fiery star, drawing the energies from its mere gravity.

And unfortunately, the tainted corruption–the dark haze he could see that he associated with the idols back on The Burning Steps–was rather present.

[We’ll begin to slow down now.]

The tail of flames from the volcano eruption back on the world wrapped around the sphere and then began pushing against them, slowing them down like a rocket. Jake felt the intense forces pressuring him from all sides, his body sinking into the sphere of flame.

He cycled his auril mixed with his hearth flames through his body just in case but found that the deceleration wasn’t too difficult to deal with even without it. She had actually taken closer to three minutes to slow down. They actually passed through the moon, but it wasn’t a problem because they kept going through the moon’s flames; the world was not solid.

As they entered what was much like an ocean of fire, he realized that the corruption was not all as he reached a range where his Umbral Gaze could see. There was a bulky figure in the distance, a powerful source of corruption.

[Are you ready for a fight, my Ishvara?]

“I’m ready. Go ahead and bring us closer to the figure. Any idea what it is?”

[The Great Flame is not…good with words or images, as it were. Just the general feeling of disgust and frustration. I cannot tell what it is from here.]

“What was your plan? This creature is clearly immensely strong against fire, or it could not be here at all. I have some options, of course, but you are…nothing but fire.”

Sati grinned back at him over her shoulder. [You misunderstand. I asked if you were ready for a fight, but I do not require you to participate in it. In fact, I’d prefer that you did not. Unless you’d like to?]

“Why not? I mean, was this not why you required my help?”

The Framework provided a prompt as they neared, detecting the threat on the moon. It was actually deep into the flame, eating toward the fiery moon’s core. It was difficult for Jake to tell how far it was because the moon’s energy got denser and difficult to see through, further down, it appeared. As they got close enough, the Framework had detected their enemy.

[Aspect of Greed detected. Defeat for Reward.]

It was a surprise to see another Aspect. But seeing what it was doing, perhaps it shouldn’t have been. It was burrowing its way toward the core, slurping up all the flames it could as it did so.

Sati replied, [Not at all. It is for what comes next. This little thief has taken, and I must return what it has stolen. And…for the next part, it is better if I am the one to do this, I feel.] The fiery woman hurriedly added, [O–of course, I have every confidence in your purification skills…]

It seemed she didn’t want him to imagine she didn’t see him as capable. He chuckled. “How about I soften ‘em up a bit? That should be fine, right? I wanted to try something against an enemy .”

[Of course! As you wish. But maybe…don’t soften it up too much. Please? I want to purify this creature of what it stole and show you my path.]

Jake could tell that she wanted him to see and understand her further. The vision had shown her establishing her path, and now she could show him how she had grown and changed in the past five years, more than he must have seen in their Refuge. “It looks big and tough–I’m sure there will be plenty of it left. I won’t go all out.”

She nodded at this, less concerned. He went back into his meditative state, closing his eyes as he focused on breathing. Even in space, or perhaps because he was in space, he could still breathe using his Void Lungs. It drew in energies of the cosmos, vitalizing his cells. His Void-Divine Hearth Core also felt energized, drawing in even more energies from his wives and the void itself.

Having found tranquility through his breathing, strangely feeling at home, he then tried to find resonance with his Cherishing Justicar–Nessa. He thought of the virtuous, loving woman and how, if she were next to him at this moment, her tail would be wrapped around his waist and she would be excited to fight this evil and bring it to justice. Entering the state was quick, his body empowered, and his Champion Presence was altered to provide bonuses against evil Divine to all those around him.

He wasn’t just doing this for him and his tests–he was wanting to also do this for Nessa, to test this out and see how well her State worked. His runes on his vestments changed to a more blue-silver color.

Like liquid flames, Pyros entered his hand from the flame in his chest, taking the shape of a spear or javelin. Using Nessa’s flames from his hearth and transforming some of Fhesiah’s Qi-based flames using his Energy Nexus ability, he found the conversion rate to be poor but decent enough for his purposes.

His Hearthian Core and Bond had improved most conversions from abysmal, about 10 to 1, to poor, about 10 to 3. Thankfully, when converting flames that were already ‘close’ to one another, the effectiveness nearly doubled.

He imagined just 2 parts to 1 would be quite good if it ever got there, as his wives’ resources within his Hearth were basically a free several percent of his overall pool each. So converting much of Fhesiah’s flames since they were already Qi-based, he got a fair portion to boost Nessa’s, and he repeated the process for a few that were incompatible with his spell. They would regenerate quickly as it was, especially here in the void of space, it seemed.

Pyros transformed as he began to spend some of Nessa’s Qi on building his Greek Key meander pattern. It went from its fiery red and gold colors to blue and gold flames, with silver outlines from the glyphs. Inscribing the runes with his own Hearth Mana, he enhanced and prepared his attack. Some runes even carried Berri’s holy light flames and Ophelia’s Vajrafire.

As they continued their approach, they reached a speed that was much closer to the speed Ophelia and Valora could move. The creature grew in their view as they closed in on it.

It was massive, comparable to the Aspect of Balor they just faced. It was a huge, red, fire or lava beetle covered in black scripts, and it was consuming the fiery energies even as the moon seemed to push and shove against it with its flames. The moon’s efforts clearly were not random, but it wasn’t much better than that, Jake realized. Like a tantrum of a child, unable to control its body properly.

If Jake was going all out, he’d have boosted his strength with Einherjar, Holy Might, and Giant’s Growth for his throw and invested a larger percentage of his mana much like when he faced Old Man Xuan’s challenge with Nessa. As they neared, still moving rather fast, Jake threw his blue, gold, and silver spear of judgement using all his strength, but also all that speed and momentum from moving rapidly.

The creature sensed their approach only moments before it was struck. A blast of lava ejected from its abdomen, shooting it right at Jake’s projectile before it surrounded itself in a flaming, glimmering barrier of fire and darkness in defense and barely turned in their direction.

The silverish-blue Pyros pierced right through the lava and slammed into the barrier like a thunderstrike, shattering it and piercing into the monster’s thorax. Sticking deeply into the monster’s center, it exploded into blue flame, vajrafire, and flaming holy light, causing the monster to get sent off its original path and shoved upward by the fighting Great Flame.

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Their payload delivered, Sati brought their sphere to a stop. The fiery mana of the moon was hot even for Jake now that they had dove so deep into it, requiring protection beyond their bubble of flames they had launched with. Jake’s Hearthflames were up to the task, but Sati lessened the burden as they watched the creature’s response to his attack, and flames began to join their sphere from the moon itself, at Sati’s behest, it appeared.

The blue flames burned into the giant beetle as it wailed, its screech carrying across mana and space. The silverish hue from the flames appeared to be especially punishing, the monster having difficulty removing the frost and snuffing out the flames of the justicar.

But eventually, it managed it. Overall, Jake was impressed. If he had gone all out, he may have pierced its entire body and nearly killed it in one go instead of planting his spear in its center like a flag. Even now, Nessa’s silvery poison was damaging the creature’s middle section, like a lingering, burning disease. He drew Pyros back, the Divine Weapon shooting back toward him with respectable speed, and he caught it in his hand.

Sati smiled. “Thank you, my Ishvara. I’ll take it from here.” She began drawing up flames from the surrounding sphere, and that wasn’t all. The moon appeared to be helping by sending a big wall of condensed flames toward her from its depths, answering her call.

The beetle’s wings buzzed behind it, and it seemed to look back toward the Burning Steps in the sky and then the hole it was digging. Perhaps it was deciding on whether it could flee or not as it sucked in more flames and began to heal itself. The creature was clearly special in its resilience to flames and its ability to consume them, but Jake did wonder how it made it here. Perhaps it had followed the flames coming from the world, consuming them even as it flew for fuel, to defend itself from the chaotic void energies.

Looking with his Umbral Gaze, the monster was probably miles away from the core and had been moving rather slowly as the moon tried to fight the creature off.

Jake was a bit confused about the monster’s presence at first and how it fed into the overall plot until he thought about the series of events. The Aspect of Balor was summoned by the sacrifices of the clergy and their corrupted worship–and also, an investment of Tartarus or the Evil Divine in some way. The sacrifices of betrayers and more could not pay the full price regardless of how many, he knew.

Perhaps its entire goal was to taint the flames and weaken the clergy and the Great Flame, as well as rampage across the continent, attacking the people of the fire continent and pushing the Conquest meter closer to ownership.

And the Aspect of Greed was meant to deal the finishing blow. It likely could not eat limitless amounts of these somewhat pure or sacred flames from the temple’s worship, having a need to remain tainted itself. If the moon were more tainted or corrupted, it could consume even more flames to empower itself, its rate of consumption accelerating with each passing moment as it empowered and reinforced itself.

The Aspect was undoubtedly harming the Great Flame as it dug toward its core, and perhaps in time, it would reach a point where it would kill the moon or it would otherwise be impossible to stop the creature. Simply destroying the Grand Fire Temple wasn’t enough to destroy the moon on its own; this was likely the real plan from the beginning.

But Jake and Sati had arrived with plenty of time to spare. It was difficult to predict how fast the beetle could have reached the core if they had done nothing after they arrived on The Burning Steps. As it was now with Balor stopped, Jake bet this beetle would have taken a month or more. With the Aspect of Balor’s plot successful, the Alliance might have been lucky to have a whole week to win before the moon was destroyed and the world began to crumble–an impossibility. The Dungeon Raid alone would take days, and with Tartarus’ investment in the Greater Rift and the Fortress Assault, it was clear its attempts to delay were significant.

Having drawn in a vast amount of flame, spiritual appendages unfurled behind Sati as she grew from the Great Flame’s fire joining her. While she was sitting in his lap all this time, suddenly he was in her lap before he knew it. Her more physical, flaming body became much like the giant statues within her inheritance trial, and it wasn’t long before her size exceeded the giant beetle itself.

Jake’s eyebrows were at the top of his head, and he realized just why she likely didn’t need his help. She had the home-field advantage here, much like a solar-powered superhero fighting near the sun. Here, she was like a goddess, the miniature world itself willing to aid and protect her.

The creature screeched as a black, miasmic cloud of flame erupted from it. It was an immense amount that it had gathered and tainted, and Jake wondered just how close he had come to killing this creature. The abdomen was full of its tainted flames it was consuming, and if he caused a slightly larger explosion with his javelin, that would have separated the thorax from the abdomen. And that might have caused it all to leak away like a sieve, the monster unable to house what it consumed.

The Aspect of Greed flew toward them now, its wings buzzing as it approached at a speed that belied its size. It had definitely empowered itself from its consumption, and Jake was sure that the creature was early in the Third Tier already.

The Aspect likely did not arrive in this way, and unlike Alliance Adventurers, they wouldn’t necessarily be portaled away from the world when they reached the Third Tier, should they meet certain requirements. Given that they had a Fortress Assault and Greater Rift already on The Burning Steps, Jake wondered just what else Avaron and his lackeys might have done to aid its growth.

Sati spoke, her voice infused with mana even as she continued gathering her flames. “Creature of hate and greed, you have taken something that does not belong to you and have made countless people on this world suffer. I am here to bring you to justice and end this pain.”

The creature screeched loudly and paused its approach about half a mile away to send two scything swipes of tainted flames toward her.

Sati now had eight pairs of spiritual arms, and each one took on a different hand symbol–various mudras. The sphere of flames surrounding Jake and Sati was rather impressive now, and a river of it separated off. A ring of flame formed next to her as she chanted.

Jake could feel her will imposed, the weight of her spirituality infused into the ring. It felt like the yang flames of the sun, a shimmering orange lined with silver, filled with immense heat.

The ring of flames then congealed into a shape that Jake recognized–a dharma wheel, spinning beside them slowly. Sati’s physical hand gestured to the giant wheel, “The flames of radiance. With the fires of creation, I shall banish the darkness and reveal the truth.”

With a faster spin, the wheel launched toward the giant beetle like a saw blade, shredding right through the scything flames and continuing until it crashed into the monster and exploded. The beetle squealed in anger and pain. The orange flames had even carved off two of its arms and covered it with silverish-orange fire.

“Darkness deceives with anger and hate, but truth burns eternal.”

Despite its wounds, the monster continued its approach and built up a powerful sphere of flaming darkness as it did. It ejected much of the flames within itself that it had stored within its abdomen, snuffing out much of the silverish-orange flames, and Jake was a bit alarmed by the sheer amount the creature was using. It was an immense orb of corrupted flames, enough to level a small village in a single attack.

Sati was unworried, and Jake could feel why–the flames in the sphere surrounding them were no joke. She countered by shifting her hand symbols, several of them taking on the shape of clasping hands in prayer. From the sphere, a blue and silver flame that gave off a special, spiritual warmth much like a hearth formed in front of them, coalescing into two open hands meant to stop the giant orb.

“The flames of compassion and mercy burn what wounds, not those who suffer.”

The giant ball of flame crashed into the hands, and an explosion of malevolence echoed outward in a wave. The hands wrapped around the orb, the blue covering the dark sphere in but an instant. It began to shrink, the Yin flames purifying the darkness.

A few of Sati’s large spiritual hands clasped onto the orb, bringing it toward her, where it was drawn into her hearth in her chest without an issue, empowering her instead.

“Even hate is a wounded cry. I embrace the darkness with compassion, and it becomes light.”

It was much like Fhesiah’s flames of consumption and transformation, except it appeared to focus on flames that purified, from what Jake could tell. Flames that felt like moonlight, and consuming the tainted flames actually strengthened Sati further, her body growing larger and denser at the same time.

The creature roared as it neared, nearly half of its internal flames expended or more, judging by Jake’s Umbral Gaze. Sati’s spiritual arms moved quickly, and a series of claps rang out and struck the creature all at once, mana carrying the sound.

The immense arms locked the monster in place, the monster screeching as it struggled against its fiery bindings. Jake would almost be alarmed at the giant monster’s closeness if he couldn’t feel the truth.

The monster had weakened, but Sati had only grown stronger as this battle continued. The Great Flame continued injecting her with flames, as if gifting them to her. This contrasted with the beetle, who had to steal and convert them, and it couldn’t even do that while if fought, it appeared.

The hands grasping the beetle were not just flaming hands, but they carried Sati’s two different daos. The flames of mercy and compassion, the light blue flames surrounding some of the hands, restricted the monster. Then, the orange flames of radiance covering other hands burned away the enemy’s miasmic flames. And thanks to his Presence and Resonant State, the silver flames of the Justicar were infusing her attacks and making them even more effective, burning away the taint and purifying the monster.

The hands put pressure on the giant lava beetle, and Jake could hear and see its body being crushed from her efforts, and the silver flames invaded deeper into its body. Its energy stores were being whittled away by Sati’s flames, the monster being purified and destroyed.

Sati’s unused hands made different symbols, and the flame of her hearth brightened. The white and gold flame of purity, her giant body was rapidly encompassed by the fire’s brilliance. Jake could feel her love and compassion, a warm, loving embrace of her hearth. And he could also feel her desire, her hope to serve him with her endless devotion, but also for him to love her in turn.

Jake couldn’t help but feel awed. Just like his many wives, her love for him was truly immense, her warmth wrapping around him like a gentle, loving embrace.

Sati said, “The pure heart flame. In devotion, I am unbroken.”

The Aspect’s mandibles clacked, and it tried to draw in Sati’s flame. The pull was intense, and even Jake felt like his Hearthflames might be drawn in through all the protection he had. He held onto it, but Sati’s flame did not even waver, and instead of being concerned, the monster was drawn in toward her by her own efforts even as she crushed it.

Sati shook her head. “The fires of love cannot be consumed by hatred and greed, for it is endless.”

Despite the destruction occurring within the creature and it being contained by the hands and flames, black tendrils erupted outward toward Sati, as if reaching out to consume or pierce her. But those tendrils were merely erased as they neared Sati’s Pure Heart Flame, her spirituality rising as she drew the monster closer to her.

It began to struggle harder after its failure, the silvery-white flames covering more and more of its body and piercing within it. As it came face-to-face with Sati, its body crumbled even further.

“Hate is a shadow of the heart–it has no substance. Come into the hearth, and be made whole.”

The monster was squished by the hands, the white flame burning the creature’s body as it was drawn closer. The spiritual flames it had consumed rushed inside of Sati as they were purified, the creature deflating and shrinking as her many hands pressed closer together. Eventually, the monster completely collapsed as it burst, the black corruption exploding into white flames as it was purified.

Prepared, Jake was watching as the monster’s Divine Spark rushed into Sati with his Umbral Gaze.

Her spirit brightened, her weight on reality increased, and her spiritual body pressed up against the ‘stained glass’ of other planes that Jake associated with divinity in a larger way. It was already present there, her spirituality significant as a cultivator, but it had undoubtedly just gotten larger.

Then the spark shot over into Jake. Having watched and felt this happen, he wondered about just how much he must have missed each time he received the sparks in the past thanks to having such poor Divine Energy Manipulation and other sensory.

Some of it, surely, was consumed as it went into Sati and changed her, but there was plenty left over as a spiritual currency. It was like the creature was worth nearly two entire Tier 3 sparks, if Jake had to guess the sheer amount. Compared to the several special entities they faced in that Battleground within the dungeon, this one was certainly worth more for some reason.

Sati shook and trembled as whatever she gained from defeating the enemy Aspect was consumed, and Jake continued to watch this process with interest. Her spiritual body became denser, stronger. Now, if he had to guess, she could easily compete with most children of the Divine.

It seemed even among Tiers, not all sparks were equal. In their meeting with Cernunnos when they spent a spark on Tanda’s auril heart to make it cyclical, he had started to say something to that effect and maybe go into detail, but Hestia had cut him off.

Perhaps because providing information like that was restricted or because she hadn’t wanted them to overestimate themselves or to become arrogant. Thinking back on it now, Cernunnos might have been trying to say that not only had they earned sparks, but there were plenty of them left over–more than they spent. He would have to ask Hestia about this.

In addition to that, he thought back to the moment when they defeated the Enforcer and how something similar occurred with him like Sati just received. His spirit had been expanded by the sheer amount of Divine Essence, and that likely had effects on him that he couldn’t begin to understand.

Jake turned around and smiled at Sati from her lap, looking up at her giant form’s smiling face. She looked proud, and he could feel over their bond that her emotions matched–especially since she could feel his own approval in turn. She hadn’t missed his thought about her being ‘like a goddess,’ too.

“That was impressive. I understand you didn’t need my help, but I feel a little bad…”

Sati tilted her head. “Whatever for, my Ishvara?”

Jake chuckled. “Well, you did all the work, and I got a spark for your efforts. In the Book of Champions, it had said something along the lines that only Champions could really spend them directly. This means I will likely be unable to spend it on you. Not even on an item that you could use, unless it was something like on our Hearth of the Refuge, for example.”

Sati beamed a wide smile. “And I am overwhelmed with joy that I could help you obtain this treasure. You helped me immensely, and I’m happy you got something for your efforts–I certainly benefitted from our victory plenty. Your Divine Reinforcement is part of what makes it possible for me to control so much of the Great Flame. Then, your mere Presence from your Resonance State nearly doubled the effectiveness of my flames of radiance and mercy against that horrible creature of hate. Thanks to this, my Pure Heart Flame barely took any effort to purify that monster. Now I will require less rest before we continue our task.”

“Fair enough. And so now…what is our task?”

“It is simple. To save this world, we must purify the entire moon of all its corruption.” She spread her numerous arms wide.

“All of it?” Jake looked around with his Umbral Gaze. It was a sea of flame that took up his usual view, miles and miles of corruption and fire. It was a lot. “That…will probably take a while. I’m not complaining, but isn’t it fine if we leave it be for a while? We could always win the war and then come back and finish the job.”

Sati shook her head. “The corruption is like an insidious poison, and the Great Flame cannot purify or remove it. Every moment we leave the corruption, its spirit, such that it is, becomes more tainted, changing its ego in ways that cannot be undone. Before we arrived on this world, the poison was already past the point of no return, it seems.”

“I see. So if we leave it for too long, this moon shall be perverted by the corruption, and it will become evil in a sense.”

Sati nodded. “That’s right. The Great Flame represents the fires of life and creation on this world, and it is alive and suffering. Not only that, but I witnessed the taint throughout the world as we traveled; the flora and fauna, and even the people around the world, are suffering. I wish to end that suffering, rescuing it from this tragedy and upholding the dharma. Together, we are uniquely suited to doing so. It is fate. Destiny.”

“Understood. This does seem a noble task that it is worth taking a risk for. Avalara had fought off the corruption of the Death God, but she had the presence of mind to protect herself from such taint of her spirit. This moon does not have this level of intelligence and sapience, I’d imagine.”

He frowned in thought, observing his wives once again through their bond. Less than twelve hours had passed since their original launch toward the moon, but little appeared to be changing among them. Ophelia’s team was planting array flags on the floating isles, and once they met with the nomadic clergy of the Wind Grand Temple, they may try to redirect the wind mana to calm or redirect the storm.

But about every hour, they spent about twenty minutes closing one of the many Rifts in the sky. This slowed their progress, and they had only run into a few of the nomadic clergy so far.

And it seemed that Fhesiah’s team was getting delayed on their approach of the Earth Grand Temple. It was clear the enemy did not want them to interfere with whatever was happening there, or at least in that general direction.

“How long do you think it will take? Any idea?”

Sati shook her head. “It’s difficult to know until we truly get started–weeks? Days?”

Jake sighed. “I guess ultimately, we’ll have to just make it work. So far, it’s not clear what the rest of the plots of our enemy are. This is likely one plot of many, as Tartarus always hedges its bets. At the same time, this investigation is likely to take some time. Until the battle actually occurs, I’m not required to be present.”

“I understand the enemy may hit our brethren hard and fast in a surprise attack, but you can aid and rejoin them quickly, can you not?”

Jake closed his eyes and probed his Reverse Summon spell–began casting it by infusing the skill with a small amount of mana. He could feel how much it would take, and based on the distance to his wives, which would stay relatively static from in space…

“Probably somewhere around ten to fifteen minutes–and I know Ira could shove me through a little quicker if it was absolutely necessary. It’ll have to be good enough. So, how exactly are we doing this?”

“Worry not, my Ishvara. You only must do the same thing you did on the way here. Be my mirror, my stillness once again, and I will show you my devotion and purify the Great Flame at the same time.”

It was a little troublesome since it felt like his wives could be in danger at any moment, but they had around a whole day before Avaron and Cassius revived. And it wasn’t like they could arrive at the edge of the battlefield instantly.

Odds were, they would need to travel on their faster mounts, and he even had some people who could watch out for them in the city before they made their way out, to see which direction they were heading.

But Jake felt a little better that they had already defeated two Aspects. These beings were at the level of or greater cost to deploy than a Champion, and so The Alliance was already a fair amount ahead. The three sons of the Alliance Divine were likely useless and would instead help the enemy, but they had already made great headway toward evening the sides.

He would just have to trust that his wives could hold on long enough if they were faced with unfair odds.