After crossing Death's River, the yellow miasma started to thin and a vast land of rock and decaying things scattered the scenery. It was warped and distorted like it was folded in on itself and there were actually very few creatures in the vicinity.
The Emperor stopped and spread out his senses, searching for that figure he had seen in Qu's data.
'Damn.. Why can't I find one of them?' Wu Hai had been flying for nearly 18 hours, the spread and depth of the yellow river, Death's River, was undeniably grand. It cut through the landscape like a scar and all loose energy eventually found itself condensed and flowing among the slurry. From one side to the other, it had taken him a considerable amount of his time just to cross.
"..." He heard a sound, it was the first bit of noise that didn't sound like ambient, environmental noise.
In a moment, a scene came into view. A large Undead creature, it had to have been five stories tall was swatting all around its body and fleeing in terror. Wu Hai ran closer and noticed what, from a distance, appeared to be a bulky Undead being swarmed by tiny creatures. The Undead was running in the opposite direction of the Emperor and fleeing for its life but it was never a match for Wu Hai's speed.
Wu Hai flashed a few times and narrowed the margin between them. Then, he saw a much better view of the creatures swarming the Giant Undead. Their faces opened sideways and they were giving off a strange yet undeniable aura, an aura that shouldn't have been there, an aura that matched his bloodline.
It resonated with his heart, a pulse came from his body and there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. The wave spread out and caught the attentions of the small predators.
They turned their attentions to the Emperor and his face twitched. Hundreds of mouths and thousands of fangs were bore at the Emperor. He channeled a teleportation circle in his hands while they approached and moved to the other side of Death's River, closer to the position of Tower City. He didn't want to escape them, merely get some distance and formulate a plan. The resonance was something he hadn't planned for, it greatly changed the situation, so much so that he had to reevaluate it entirely.
In the distance, among the red tinted light among the steep darkness, a glitter of lights, so many that it dotted the horizon began to rush toward the Emperor's position. "Shit. They're fast." 'Is this because of the wave? Can they track me now?' He teleported to another location about thirty kilometers to the north. Even if they flew at their fastest it would take twice the time as before.
He was confident in his ability to evade them. A communication stone was withdrawn from his storage and he called Qu.
-"Hey, what are these things?" Wu Hai didn't dance on ceremony, he asked and ignored all pretense.
The communication stone sparked and broke after it recorded the information, Wu Hai grabbed another and reconnected.
Qu looked things over and waited for a moment, then, he sighed. "These match Master Lu Sha's description of something called the Mollen, they are evolved Moles that were nurtured in the Starlit Dimension."
"The Mollen? Are you serious?!" Wu Hai was dodging many incoming attacks from below, the crystal broke and ended the connection. "Shit, these things are like Piranha." While he was able to dodge most of their beams, so many of them arrived and swarmed his body. They began trying to bite at the Emperor, their jaws however, were unable to provide enough force to pierce his body.
Wu Hai rotated at great speed and easily crushed the 39 that were closest to him in almost an instant. The White Blades from the Spot Demon had enough driving force to cleave them in two.
They died after a single strike, it wasn't the same as the death of Demons or devils, these creatures were mortal. It gave the Emperor further pause and when he had an opening, he teleported back to the Tower City pagoda.
"Holy Shit!" Wu Hai put out foreign flames on the back of his armor after removing it.
As he stood in the throne room, Kuzunoha walked up in confusion. "Why are you cursing?" It was abnormal, even for the Emperor to have used language like that in the Pagoda, his home.
"Hana's experiment. I figured out where they've gone." He stamped out the last of the flames on the armor and kicked it to the side. "Well, that set is useless now."
"Just what happened?" Kuzunoha sat down next to him and asked gently.
Wu Hai shook his head, "Master Lu Sha, he left that part out of his findings." He huffed and stood back up, after, he took out a communication stone and called for Lu Sha to arrive at Tower City immediately.
A portal came into existence, Lu Sha's device shattered. 'Che' He clicked his tongue. "These things only work to come here once and then poof.. they break, I mean.. its useful but it takes so long to get another one." Lu Sha sighed at his loss, not for the loss but for the inconvenience. "Master?"
Wu Hai stood there shaking his head. "Enough of that for now, none of that matters. Tell me about the Mollen."
"Ahh, the Princess's creations. They revered her, but escaped. There were three portals when last I arrived but they had all left." Lu Sha bowed graciously and unwavered.
"Hmm. They are predators. They are overrunning Hell but they are not devil, not demon, but mortal creatures on a rampage. Entirely Invasive." Wu Hai's face twitched and he pointed to his destroyed armor. They were finely crafted by Gefést. He'd even used materials that were hand selected from his collections.
"Hmm. For this I cannot give you an answer. Perhaps your daughter will have answers?" Lu Sha felt like he was shirking responsibility but it was entirely the truth, if there was information to be had, it wasn't from him.
"Its settled. Lets go check on Hanahaksu." Kuzunoha stood up and agreed, if there were predators in Hell, they had little to worry about for the moment but the threat would eventually build.
They all nodded and gathered together. Another communication stone appeared in the center of them. Wu Hai spun a spell circle in his palm.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Hana was busy working on her formations, she was studying the things that had been done to the starlit dimension. Each of the alterations were entirely new routes for her to take interest in and with each bit of understanding, the closer she was to advancing her knowledge in greater bounds.
2091 posts circled the sky above, a contribution from Phera. The look of them all in action brought tears to Hana's eyes while she remembered her fallen friend. Wiping her face clean, she sent up another wave, there were 418 additional pieces that scattered into formation lines, forming an additional layer to the dimensional formation array.
A deep vibration spread out across the space and a roar that would deafen most echoed for what felt like dozens of seconds. As it wove around the space, it brought with it a pressure and the gravity doubled, many rocks pressed into the soil. The 17 lines that crisscrossed brought an additional focal point, heat and heat alone was drawn into the space initially. The air began to burn in the center of the dimensional convergence point, the Nexus.
20 more triangle plates, all carved with runes on their edge, were thrown out into the formation. Each of them was made of the same material and the circulating heat brought the pieces together. When they came together, they fused and began to spin.
The Elemental Tubs that hadn't been swept away by the Emperor were few but Hana had kept several of them in her ring. The Light Element Condensation Tub was one she never let out of her sight, it was too important.
It was time to start experimenting and she brought the tub to the base of the floating 20 sided heavy metal die. "My father would laugh at this." She shook her head but a moment later, a communication stone was vibrating on her body, it was only for a moment but it vanished after a few attempts, lowering its power a bit.
Then, the Emperor appeared, he wasn't alone either and it startled her. The Tub crashed down and nearly landed on her feet. "Master! Father! Mother! .. Vira." Her tone turned resentful for some reason but Hana's face never showed any enmity toward her Father's new Bride.
"What brings you all here?" Nervous, she pointed to her experiments, "I'm about to start trying something new. What do you think?"
Wu Hai saw the 20 sided, symmetrical object in her formation core. "Not a bad idea. What's the formation suppose to do. Wait.. don't tell me, let me look." His mind went elsewhere, completely forgetting the reason he had come.
Kuzunoha slapped the back of his head.
"Oh. Yea.. so, I actually came because of your experiments." Wu Hai's words brought shock to his daughter, she put her hands down and felt like she was about to get an earful.
Wu Hai walked over and kissed her on the head. "You've done something very amazing." It came to a shocking turning point in an instant, Hana stood there with her mouth hanging wide open. "The Mollen, they are overrunning Hell."
"What do you mean?" Hana asked and her father brought out projection of the creatures that were fighting him from just a while before and then brought out a tattered piece of his armor, there were teeth marks all along its length. The recording also showed their desire to find him and consume him, their tracking was of particular issue.
Wu Hai looked into Hana's eyes and asked, "Do you think you can still control them?"
"I don't know, last time one of them wanted to attack me but I've gotten much stronger since then." Hana tossed her hands up in a clueless manner. There was no need to ask, her reaction was expected. "I can try, I mean.. I'd like to try." Hana hung her head, her father's words of approval and questions of her confidence levels showed that he really wanted to give her a chance to fight alongside her. That was one of the major driving forces for her wanting to go to school in the first place.
"How about you show me your formation and then eat, after we can see if you can control one of them."
Hana gratefully accepted, hoping that she wouldn't be a burden.
"This formation is suppose to replace the crystal that was sent up by Aunt Vira. There are almost 5000 moving parts." The formation plates that rotated in the space above them looked like several rings that chopped like cutting knives along each edge, both in counter circulation of other. "Each plate has a different energy draw formation on it, I copied the one from the elemental essence tubs and put them onto each of the 20 plates to form the core. The large rings act like chargers and the spell threads between them used most of the materials, to get them to work in unison I had to borrow Vira's design and form each of the plates in the air in layers."
"So you're saying that this will turn into another Star?" Kuzunoha looked at the core that was still spinning, it was glowing like a nuclear core. No doubt there was radiation from the elements but none of that would bring harm to their bodies. "What's the next step?"
"I was about to use this tub and condense some light essence, who would believe such a thing as fate if it didn't come out to wave and poke fun at you. You're arrival is like destiny, I could use your help. Would you like to fill this tub just once?!?" Hana jumped up and down like child begging for a cookie.
Kuzunoha rolled her eyes, the process would only take a few minutes but it would leave her hungry and low on energy. She agreed, there were ways to replenish her energy and the dimensional space was a healthy one for her to be in during any sort of recovery, the positive energy in the atmosphere was growing quite potent. Traces of blood energies still existed in great amounts but all of it seemed to have long since been purified to great extents under Vira's Formation Array.
As the tub began to fill, Vira stared at the manner in which the formation had been put together. It was extremely different and had radical design changes that caught her eye. She flew closer to one of the steeles that flowed in rows. Charges held them together, drawn on the sides and rim of each were delicate runic patterns. 'These changes combine all the steeles into a singular device...' Her ears perked up and she widened her eyes, counting them out in her mind very quickly she found there were over 2000 of them working together. 'How did they get so much of this material?'
She continuously eyed the formation design.