A blinding light covered his view when he jumped through the rift, somehow, he was the first to make it through. Dragon King Vector found himself facing large teeth. They bit at his body, it was a lot of pressure, like putting a heavy girdle on. It chomped and chomped again. He channeled his power, intent on freezing the beast that decided he was lunch. As he thrust his power out, he found it wasn't what he expected. Small crystals of Ice accumulated around his palms and a bit up his arms but no further, he appeared more like a sugar frosted treat in the moment than any sort of threat.
The creature had a tough time chewing on his armored body, Vector took the opportunity to escape its mouth when it opened. He crawled along its face and began to punch repeatedly.
Vira and Kuzunoha materialized just in time to watch Vector being thrown from the beast and swallowed whole. "No!" Kuzunoha spread her wings, it blinded the creature. "Dammit Vector!!"
Unwilling to watch their efforts to to shit in that moment, Vira charged her energy toward her fingertips, lashing out in a beam. It was the only a few millimeters thick but went quite far, her beam struck the beast but it was only enough to scratch at its carapace.
It roared and began to shake.
Kuzunoha wondered where Wu Hai was, he was right behind them. The beast turned, its armor plating was covered in sharp barbs that slashed as it rolled. Kuzunoha's shield was barely enough for the first strike, by the second row of spikes, she had been thrown clear across the Air.
The large worm-like beast tumbled and churned. It shook again and began to convulse.
Materializing near the beasts face, Wu Hai opened his eyes to a circling blade-work of teeth. His proximity was an issue, the creature turned on instinct. It chomped down on Wu Hai's shoulder.
A Tooth broke, it flew into the air.
Vera flashed to its position and caught it, anything from the creature should be able to damage it. She flew to Wu Hai's side while he held the beasts mouth open. Stabbing into its nostril, she drove the tooth into its brain. It convulsed, tumbling around like a cat that had been stepped on, scratching its face along the great stonework that flowed underneath like a great road.
As it bounced, not even the slightest of stone was put out of place. The roads had been reinforced greatly, far greater than the pressures that the beast was able to produce even during it's attack. Wu Hai used his claws, driving the tooth further into the creatures body and scrambling its brain. The creature stopped moving, its body laid limp.
"Damm, that was ridiculous. Where's Vector?" Wu Hai asked Kuzunoha, she had recovered and flown to his side.
"He's inside the creature, it swallowed him!"
"WHAT?!" Wu Hai opened the beasts mouth, walked in and began to slash at the meat, clearing a way down its throat and toward its heart. He stored each piece bit by bit but cared no mind to how he slashed, even the skull had been split apart. His friends' lives was on the line.
He took a moment but he found some movement, Vector's hand poked through some of the expelling guys.
Wu Hai's claws turned its intestines into ribbons and freed Vector from them.
"Zao, that was... horrible." Blueeue-heuheh. Vector threw up.
"Yeah, I don't doubt it. This was a bit much, I wonder where we are?" Zao had the Dragon King store the corpse away. It had eaten him, it was only fair that Vector get its corpse. It had failed, had he not been saved by the Emperor, Vector would have been the one who died.
Just as the creature disappeared, a bronze light came down from above.
A creature, a humanoid Qilin, came down from the sky. It was hard to tell where the light ended, shadows were difficult to locate as well. The beast's eyes from before had even been quite small, it was likely that the light in the area was a regular occurrence.
"YOU. DO. NOT. BELONG." It spoke in a booming voice and began to wave its hand. "RULES. THE. RULES. OF. HEAVEN." Bronze light hit all four of them, words appeared in their minds.
'Instant information transmission?' Vector had heard about such things but didn't want to believe it, that sort of cheat was simply too unfair to be real.
Rules of the world, including the fact that they were not welcome was replayed over and over in their minds.
All of them were forced onto the ground, gravity had been increased by two thousand percent. Vira let out a moan, it was rather pleasing.
"You Have broken the rules, since you did not know, this doesn't excuse your crime but the punishment has been waved. Off you go, to where you belong." Another wave of the Qilin's hand had sent them all away, four portals had captured them all.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
In an area, far, far from where the Emperor and his party had arrived, a Man on an Ox was tending to a rice field. His body was shrouded in grass armor and he was patrolling.
Proceeded by a large horn sounding across the land, a bright bronze light appeared. The Dragon King, Vera and Kuzunoha came crashing down into the mud.
They struggled to get up but gravity was at nearly twenty times what they were use to. Struggling to get up, all three of them slipped in the mud. For the Empresses, they were both outraged when their faces slammed into the soil again and again.
The Man on the Ox came over, his armor was dry and clean. The rain of mud had landed on everything except for his body. Looking down from his Ox, he saw the outlines of the two women and then Vector's tail. "Oh? Its been a long time since a Dragon came to the Land of the Gods." His big toothy grin gave Vector the impression that he could play a mean banjo.
It gave him an idea, Vector stretched out his hand and materialized a large clay-fired bottle of booze. It was Moonshine he had picked up in Florida.
"Tell us how to stop this, whatever it is and this jug of hooch is yours." It had four X's on it, marking its purification level.
The Grass Armored man stepped off the Ox and glid across the rice field. "Throw it up."
Vector was annoyed but there was nothing he could do, at the moment, he was stuck in the mud. He flicked the bottle up into the air and the Ox rider caught it. "If it meets your approval, a little help would be nice."
The Rider opened the top and took a sniff. His face shook. "Very nice.... Got any more?"
"One more Jug then?" Vector offered, he threw another jug into the air "A traveler knows there is a price for everything, its like that everywhere. Since its like that, give us a hand?"
The Ox Rider was a bit shaken, he couldn't figure out where the Dragon had been hiding the Booze. "Yeah, here." He waved his hand and blew them all to the road.
They were no longer sinking but standing was a problem. Vira tore a talisman and the mud cleared from her body. She passed one to Vector and Kuzunoha, "Use them. If I'm going to suffer, I'm not doing it while covered in this muck." She struggled and with great difficulty, she got to her feet.
Gritting her teeth, Vira was shaking as she stood, "See, its not impossible."
"Where is Zao?" The Dragon King looked around, he couldn't see Wu Hai anywhere. "Hey buddy, Can I bribe you for information too?" Vector pulled out a third jug from behind his back while trying to surprise the man.
It was successful in getting a reaction, the Man was a bit angry. "You said you only had the Two!" he charged over.
Before he could reach him, Vector had already passed the third bottle into the air, it sailed slowly. "That's fine. You can still have it even if you won't tell us anything. Thanks for getting us out of there."
When he caught it, the Ox gave off a unique sound like a fart that had come out of its back. It fell over. "Ahh, №1112! Look, Here.. Spirit Herbs."
Vector wanted to correct the man but he wasn't sure if it was just a translation error on his part. There were no herbs.
The Creature sputtered like a Car that had been given bad gas. It shook and then, after a few kicks, it was bleating in joy.
'Huh?' Vector was half confused, half relieved. He struggled to his feet with Vira, helping Kuzunoha from the gravel road. Each step felt like he had walked a mile and that was before he had been transformed.
"Since you had such good medicine for my herd, and hid it, I'll tell you a truth you're not going to like. Whatever power you had, its been cut down to the grass. You're less than grass here. Cultivators and descendants are cheaper than the rice grains I throw to the beasts. On this level of Heaven, all but one percent of your power has been sealed by the Gods. The Gravity here is also at twenty times, that's probably why you can't move well enough to stop me from doing this." The Rider walked up to Vira and started to fondle her, she moved quickly and slammed her elbow into his ribs.
It sent the man flying into the distance but he was laughing. "That's pretty good strength, I hope you can keep me company for a while. Once you regain your strength, you'll be able to escape but until then.." He licked his lips, he was ready to go in. He marched on through the rice and unfastened his pants.
"Its like this everywhere!" Vector roared, he could read the atmosphere, he wouldn't allow that to happen. His eyes started to turn blue, the tattoo on his arms grew and covered his back. His wings spread open and he shot a volley of Ice at the Rider.
The Man leisurely stepped to the side, evading the Ice spikes that had come his way. "Interesting." A Spear appeared in his hand, he threw it at Vector's heart.
It hit Vector in the chest, as it bounced away, his robe had been torn but no scratch was present. 'Oh? Its like that?' Vector grinned, he had been eaten earlier but even then, no damage had occurred. "VIRA! GIVE ME THAT TOOTH!"
She threw it over without question and set up a shield to cover Kuzunoha and her. Inside the formation she could control things like gravity to some degree, they steadied themselves and watched as Vector fought.
The spear tip lunged at the Dragon King's right arm, it stripped and slit the cloth from his shoulder.
The Ox Rider whistled and his mount began to rush toward Kuzunoha. "Only those who were raised in the other realms meet with this problem, you are such low hanging fruit, how could I not partake." His grin turned insidious, "I'll have you both.. Mmm..... I can taste it now, that juicy peach like ass, its all mine.. all mine.." He cackled and howled, throwing the spear out once more. It flew toward the Dragon King's throat.
The Tooth slashed at its tip and knocked it away.
Vector spun and knocked the man down with his tail, stabbing into his grass armor with broken tooth blade. The Grass armor was a facade, Underneath, an Ethereal glow repulsed the blade and threw him back against the shield.
The shield flickered, under the strain of the realm, it too was greatly reduced in power. Kuzunoha struggled to keep it up, Vira had started it but anyone could power the shield formation.
The Spear tip came flying toward Vector's crotch, he leapt into the air but the shield was struck instead. It rippled and cracked, the spear kept going.
Vira caught it, the moment it touched her hands there was a burning sensation.
It was heavy, too heavy.
Vira was slammed into the ground under its weight, the fall nearly mangled her hand against the rocks. Pinned, she yelled out in pain. {"You trash.. you stupid pig. I can't believe this is happening."}
Vira spoke in the language of the damned, she was furious. Her heartbeat accelerated and her claws extended. If she couldn't use the energy beam to fight back, she would slice him apart with her bare hands.
Vector was still tumbling in the air. Looking down, he saw Vira steal the man's weapon. It disappeared in that instant into her storage ring. The Ox Rider felt a pinprick in his mind and stumbled during his charge forward to retrieve it.
Vira was freed and her claws were much sharper, she slashed out at the rider's face, tearing his headwear away and revealing his face. He was a Mucklin, an evolved beastkin. There were several tribes of his people on Shiyan, they were a perverse group of roaming rapists. To expand the tribe, they held a culture of marriage by capture. Those that had been taken by them, were never released and rarely survived the birthing process but they could all be used as pack mules.
She recognized the Mucklin Race as a hostile one, had it been on Shiyan, where her power was unrestrained then there would be no issue at all. With the flip of a hand, an entire family of Mucklin would be turned to paste. Now, in the heat of battle with less than one percent of her power in tact, Vira felt fear and worry. She spread her wings and used them to slash at him further.
Vector came down behind and slammed the tooth into the gap between the Mucklin's shoulders. He cut down and exposed its skin. The tooth rattled across the Mucklin's spine, green blood scattered across Vector's face. 'Green?' "Are these things fucking insects?" Vector wiped the crap from his face and stared down at the steaming pile of innards.
'Ptew' He spit to the side.
Vira was furious, she had wanted the finishing blow but her mood lightened when the Mucklin had died. "No, they just have green blood. Quickly catch it all, its rare enough to keep for later."
Vector shook his head and stored the corpse away.
The Ox, which had been under the mental control of the Mucklin, ran off into the distance in a straight line. It didn't stop for anything, continuing its last order to charge. Eventually, it would crash into something or simply die from exhaustion.
Vector fell over and panted. "So.. Heavy.." He put the tooth away and turned himself over to look at the sky. It was filled with small floating islands that seemed tethered together by branches of world trees. There was an endless amount of them, yet, the light hung in every direction. Shadows were few, if at all. "I wanna throw up again." He turned to the side and dry heaved. "This gravity sucks."
Kuzunoha's patience worth thin in that instant. "Would you can it for one second." She too was struggling, though, she had not had to battle, she still had to spend a lot of energy. "Where is Wu Hai?"
"I still don't see him." Vira answered and cleaned herself up. When she got to her feet once more, she straightened her back. "Its not that bad, just channel some energy into your legs and get up. You'll get use to it. Treat it like training." She took a step forward and her foot slammed against the paved roadstone. "See."
Tempering the body was a good thing, but unrelated training had a tendency to drive peoples focus into action. Figuring out what's important and working toward that goal, handling any adversity as a means of improvement. "Its actually beneficial, if you think about." Vector stood up, wiped his face and thumped his chest.
"Shut up." Vira heard a sound in the distance. "Get out of the Road."
She moved as quickly as she could, taking Kuzunoha into the mud with her. The Dragon King flew out of the way just in time but was forced into the mud anyway by the lingering gravity, a Cart was speeding by.