For almost forty years Honey had been toiling away at the Gardens within the pocket spaces, her favorite had always been Kink's first garden, the one with Mike's Chevy and the salvaged battleship. It reminded her of the Lonestar City and the brief stay she had there. Her presence was upsetting the business and after following the Titan Sage for a time, she found herself in the Company of the Emperor and had even gone to the land of the Gods for a while.
However, things progressed so rapidly within the Ultinian Heavens that she was forced to abandon the thought of fighting beside them, her own contributions to the team were quite insignificant when compared.
After having planted the Red Stone within the Fire dimension and some many years later, it had drawn in a lot of creatures and several immediately experienced a forceful and great leap in their evolution. The once dry and arid place was still dry and arid but there were lots more plants and the fires of the space were considerably inviting to those within it.
Honey absorbed what she could from the Red Stone but at her original pace it was unlikely that she could completely absorb it, the stone was simply brimming with energy. The Bush had taken to the changes in its location like a duck to water, it's flames had grown by folds since arriving. Once Honey felt that she had gotten the most out of her experience there, she turned to leave but noticed that the landscape was much different. She was not very good at measuring time but the small trees that had been planted had grown considerably.
Taking out a Dimensional key card, she leapt into another space to clear her mind. She didn't care where she went but she felt like a lot of time had passed. Stepping out, she was taken aback. Honey looked out into the space before her and her expression showed a tedious wonder in her eyes.
Within the Blue Lightning Grass Plane, the grasses had completely taken over. There was a nearly endless field of lightning and electrical arcs collecting in the distance. From above and below, the entire space had been reshaped, the Kamoiya trees that had been placed near the entrance were the tallest thing within the dimension and they served to protect those that entered.
Their ability to absorb lightning was crucial to having access to the dimension. If any of the Trees that surrounded the portal entrance were not there not even the Emperor would lightly enter.
Honey entered to check on their progress, it had been a long time since she had come last time. She had spent about a month taking care of the plants within the lightning grass dimension the first time but it was the last on the list of places that she had to go. The Speed that Time flowed within Ultinia was so fast that generations of plants came and went with every passing month.
Upon entering she saw the lightning, it struck constantly throughout her field of vision. There was an abundance of energy in the atmosphere, it was charged, expelled and then recharged with energy. Violent torrents of energy were running rampant with no where for it to vent, it collected into the air, dispersed and spread the dimensional space outward with every single strike. The Field expanded at a rate that the lightning would strike.
'This is a lot of power.' Honey sat down and began to absorb the latent and ambient energies that flowed around her. She wasn't greedy, there was no need. The energy that slowly flowed into her body was as smooth as silk running across her buds. With the protection of the Kamoiya trees, she was able to concentrate and cultivate to her hearts content. As the energy began to build inside of her, Honey's body began to mist and seemed to be evaporating.
A Bright golden light slammed down from above, it hit the Kamoiya Trees like a raging dragon. Golden energy flowed around and motes began to gather in a line that flew to Honey's Core.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Misozi was using the puppet to make her great escape, when she hit the tree line everything suddenly changed. The trees behind her were being uprooted and pulled into the storm. More of the Divine Beast's Feather Fire was coming down and mixing with the winds that blew in all directions.
It was like an Armageddon.
Mages that were floating around in the air with protective shields were casting and directing efforts to attack the Storm Crow, it was unproductive. The Storm Crow picked the bubbles out of the sky and swallowed them whole, none of the combatants had any chances whatsoever of survival after the storm crows descent.
Misozi had almost no time for her to have recovered from the damage to the ship, in fact, she'd been injured further from the stabbing of spears against her hull. Now, she had a parasite growing across her hull and it had encapsulated most of her body in a thin silver algae foam. Her golden exterior and shape looked horrendous and bore the resemblance of a large, misshapen bar of soap. The puppet made its way through the forest avoiding the torrent that was swelling behind it.
The passage north was strangled by the falling debris, Misozi was having a difficult time maneuvering the puppet in time for some of the smaller things that were impacting it, after a few more hits, she was afraid it would not last much longer. The swell from the storm had yet to reach its climax and there was an embankment another length away. Misozi was unwilling to accept defeat, she decided it was better to be in the air.
Before the puppet could be destroyed, Misozi had it throw the ring into the hatch, then she force the puppet to hurl her as far as it could. The puppet would have been the perfect decoy but there was no one to misdirect. The Ship was flung away, over the ridge and several hundred meters before Misozi could readjust her orientation and fly faster.
Using her sensors, she continued to monitor the situation behind her, the Storm Crow had called a celestial storm, the elements had come together as one and the Sunset Kingdom outpost was swallowed in multi-colored lightning.
'Xiu, Xiu, Xiu, Xiu, Schu-hu-hu-hoo', As lightning bolts descended, the Storm Crow cried out in joy at its bounty. A Divine Beast would not move for scraps, it feasted on anything it saw fit to swallow.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
It was the middle of the Night, the Pagoda Tower was buried beneath the surface and well hidden, protected from the rain and safe from exposure.
Inside Zao's Bedroom, "ITS TIME TO GO!" Wu Hai was waking the others up. A call had come through his communication device, Misozi was panicking and fleeing.
"Back then, did you mean it?" Vira asked Kuzunoha as they were getting dressed.
"Mean what?" Kuzunoha had no idea what Vira was referring to.
Vira had a somewhat blank stare, "That you and I were sisters now."
"This again? I thought we got over that when Tero was born." Kuzunoha was scrambling to put some armor on, it was tough, she hadn't worn any for some time and definitely not after her transformation. Nothing fit the way she remembered it.
Vira helped her with a few pieces at the back. "I am.. Its just. Well, now we have Noyuki."
"I heard my name." Noyuki came over and was already wearing her set of armor. It was painted white like the rest of theirs but on the back the Zao Family crest had been clearly added.
"Nothing, just some old scars. Could you help me with this." Vira turned her ass toward Noyuki, there was a strap she couldn't get aligned. "Don't worry about it, everything's fine."
Noyuki helped as quickly as possible and then Wu Hai teleported them all to the third floor. Vector and Mursayade were still naked in the middle of the library.
Wu Hai wanted to laugh but right then was not the time. "Vector, Get up. We've gotta go. Misozi is on her way, something huge happened." Shaking Vector awake, Mursayade turned over and bore all. He clapped really loud then whistled in the room, it echoed and the two of them shook from their sleep. "Sorry, its an emergency, get dressed, we're leaving."
Teleporting out of the Pagoda, Wu Hai put it away and a deep hole opened up where it had been. It caved in and soon filled with water from the storm overhead.
Sharp rain like knives were coming down.
"Its a good thing you said to wear armor, this shit is crazy." Vector formed a large ice shield and held it above his head. "Where's Misozi now?" He was forced to yell over the storm, everyone was straining their senses and looking for her toward the south.
In the sky, the clouds were intermixing like oil and water, dark parts would separate quickly and large amounts of water was solidified into shards that rained down in every direction, behind the waves of knife rain, the feather fire flowed around like swarms of locusts destroying everything it touched inch by inch.
Misozi was small, otherwise, how could the group have missed her and her trajectory.
Wu Hai transmitted his voice to her and asked, "How long until you reach our position?"
"I have no idea where you are, my sensors are being blinded, I'm flying north until I clear the storm." Misozi's idea wasn't a bad one but the more distance they put between them, the worse things were bound to become.
"Fine, I'll come to you, then bring you back with me. Keep talking." Wu Hai looked at the others, "I'll be right back." An arm of the storm was approaching and the knife rain was getting larger.
Wu Hai arrived at Misozi, then rechanneled and called Kuzunoha to return. "Lets go." He had seen what was coming and there was no time to waste, it was suicide to remain in the forest, the forest probably wouldn't even exist by daybreak.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
In the Eclipsing Empire, an Orange clothed figure stood over a projection of the battle at the borderlands between the Sunset Empire and his own. He watched as the Divine Beast laid waste to the Outpost, thousands of soldiers and commoners were killed and or then eaten by the enormous and powerful Storm Crow.
"Excellent. When the Storm Crow's finally satisfied, have our soldiers come in and kill any survivors. We can't have anyone know that It was us who destroyed the City." The Emperor commanded the group.
"Won't the damage make it easy to tell the source?" A high ranked commander asked, he did not believe that it would cost him his head.
As it fell, the Emperor spoke clearly to the remaining Generals and Commanders. "There won't be anything left, just use the gas we have staged nearby."
"Sir, that gas kills indiscriminately, our own men will be.." The General stopped his words before he lost his tongue.
"I didn't ask your opinions, do what you've been ordered and stop sniveling. Is there any word from my concubine??" The Emperor seemed agitated over his question.
"Reporting, No new information has come." The soldier was a disposable one and he knew it, his voice trembled because he believed them to be his last.
The Emperor kicked the man and he fell down to the floor in pain. "Find me some answers, its been three months, I can still feel her aura nearby. If she's gone over to the Sunset Empire's side, then kill her on sight." Kicking the Soldier's genitals, he skid across the room.
It had in fact been three months in Ultinia since Noyuki had slain the Emperor's Concubine but her appearance looked nothing like that of the Blackened Emperor. He represented the Eclipsing Empire, every suit of armor was dredged through blood until it was died a red so dark it turned to black.
The Eclipsing Emperor turned to his Royal Guards, "The Storm Crow will not finish its rampage until morning, be ready with our forces to take the land. I want an entire legion of soldiers ready to move on the Capital. Once we gain control of the soul pool, we can pay the Storm Crow again and have it head to the Sunset Capital."
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍