The Eclipsing Emperor, Rìshí Huǒ sat atop his throne while several people were patiently waiting to giving their report from the front lines, "We have reports that Storm Crow has gone, your forces have begun to search for survivors and from the looks of it, there are none, my lord."
He smiled from ear to ear, it was part of the plan. The Black Clad soldiers in front of the Emperor were his personal guard, when he stood, they snapped to. "Once the area is secured, get me access to the soul pool. If you can't get into it, you were never meant to live past today."
Several of the Guard peeled off and held the door for the rest, then, they left.
"My Lord, We have word." A soldier came back rather quickly, he was nervous.
"Get on with it, what has happened?" The Emperor waved his hand for the man to hurry.
"My Lord. Search parties have entered the Soul Pools location."
"That's good." The Emperor seemed pleased and a grin began to form across his face.
The Man was still standing there, he dared not interrupt the Emperor, however, with what he had to say, it would have been better to have done so. "My Lord." He gulped, Emperor Huǒ noticed the man again when he started to speak, "The Soul Pool is … Empty."
There was a brief silence before a body was thrown out of the window. It crashed into the pavement below and burst like a ripe melon. "Empty! EMPTY!" The Eclipsing Emperor threw another man out of the open window but it wasn't venting his rage. 'Ah' "AAH!"
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Misozi was still desperately trying to repair herself while she sat in Wu Hai's pants pocket. There was little choice to do otherwise, she had caught up with the group and unless the decided to teleport far, far away, there were many dangers that they could run into during the escape.
The Storm Crow had yet to finish its meal.
Juese had fallen behind during their escape from the Forest, in all likelihood, he had died as a result of the Storm Crow's attacks.
When the light outside changed back to a bright yellow, the group was tired of running. Despite their best efforts, none of them had gotten a chance to sleep. They could all go significant time periods without any but their intentions had been interrupted and the intent was to simply rest a bit.
Wu Hai dug out another pit, laid out the pagoda and then buried it once more. With everyone making contact, he teleported them inside. "I'm going to bed, if you need me, you know where to find me.." Disappearing to his bedroom, Wu Hai left Vector in the company of the girls.
"So.. anyone hungry?" Vector patted his stomach. He had been getting better at preparing the meat they were able to cleave from more traditionally shaped beasts, he was also well stocked with the tools of the trade..
With the flick of his finger, his taco truck dropped into the Main Hall, The tires chirped when it landed and there was a giant jalapeno on the roof this time.
Vira asked where he had gotten it from, Vector rubbed his nose and didn't say anything.
"Mmm...I want Tacos!" Kuzunoha had them long before she had ever met Vector. Growing up near an United States Naval Base, she had seen all sorts of cuisine.
"I don't have any Eggs, but.." Vector sounded disappointed, "I do have Bacon and breakfast sausage."
"Those don't have any energy in them." Vira had tried to eat Earth foods in Ultinia, the food didn't translate the way she had hoped after they first arrived. In truth, none of the food they ate from Earth or Shiyan was doing any good, only foods prepared with Heavenly materials would suffice..
"I've made these." Vector sounded proud and pulled out a tray of delicately prepared meat patties.
"When?" Mursayade was confused.
"I can't sleep most of the time and reading gets boring, so.. I've been cooking in my spare time." Vector leaned against the doorway to the Taco Truck. "So, do you want some or not?"
"Definitely, give me the sausage baby." Mursayade said it dirty on purpose, Vector grinned.
He put the table that was attached to the side of the truck down and the girls sat around it while he cooked. A little over ten minutes later he had come back with a plate full of sausage patties. The entire lobby and Main hall of the Pagoda smelled of cooked meat, it was truly a heavenly smell.
Picking one up, Vira blew on it lightly and steam came up. "These look pretty good, their big and red.. I like the color red. She stuffed a bit of it into her mouth and her eyes began to gloss over in delight.
After Vira had put the meat in her mouth, Kuzunoha, Noyuki and Mursayade all did the same. They could tell that he had put some work into it, he had blended the right flavor spices and despite their origin, the tastes of the meat had still been altered by the spices.
Vector had finally had enough, he picked up Mursayade and carried her off to the room once she had finished teasing him.
The Sausages were fantastic, Vira, Noyuki and Kuzunoha finished off the plate and then found their way to bed as well.
Wu Hai kept Misozi in his pocket, they laid on the floor in a bunch beside the bed. When the girls came into the room, they found Wu Hai naked and face down. He was not just tired but sound asleep.
They pulled out some spirit stones and quietly cultivated in the corner before sleeping, it didn't matter what time it was outside and the group had nothing but time on their hands.
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Misozi had no need or requirement for sleep, as the others were spending time motionless, she was toiling away at repairs. Her Hull had been compromised by the Silver Algae foam and every time she send out energy to the damaged sections, the energy would mysteriously vanish before the foam seemed more dense.
'This damned parasite.' Misozi released another puppet and ejected the ring with the spirit pool's content. It took Misozi from Wu Hai's pants and went downstairs to the Lobby. Locating a barrel shaped mug that was loose on a counter, the puppet emptied it of the old wine that had long since turned to vinegar. Then, it was filled most of the way with the spirit water. Misozi could only sit inside the liquid, there was no other avenue for her to pursue, all roads led back to consumption of either the stones or liquid in her collection.
"Ugh, this parasite.." Misozi talked to herself in the Cockpit. The Silver algae had spread to almost her entire surface, it clung to her like snot on the wall, even if she managed to get out there and smear it a bit, all she would do was spread it.
The Puppet set up a condensing formation and laid the stones out in order, there were thousands upon thousands of stones. The volume of spirit water she had was equally frightening and the group had no idea, Misozi could conceal it all and every bit of the cache were rightfully be hers to do with as she pleased.
While waiting for repairs to complete there was literally nothing to do, Misozi sent the Puppet to the third floor library. As repairs were underway, she slipped the remainder of her attentions into the library to pass the time.
There were many books, not all of them were in the database. Picking one up that didn't make much sense, Misozi flipped through it.
It was a Droidian style Erotica book, 'Private Bolts and Shafta, a connection between them and the Mysterious Links.' After flipping through the first few pages with the puppet's help, she was completely unable to put it down. Misozi sank all of her attention into the book and ignored the repairs, her body and the formation would take care of everything in due time. Even without the slightest bit of direction on her part, now that her physical body was soaking in the spirit water, repairs would be completed in a timely manner.
The novel was extremely dirty, there were oil smudges all over the cover. Misozi read every word and did her best to digest the information it held inside.
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The Emperor's guard had arrived at the Soul pond, they had the best trackers among the Empire's military forces and in a few hours, they had discovered the direction of some tracks that didn't match anything they had on record. The tracks ended suddenly a few kilometers away over a ridge just outside of the Storm Crow's reach.
After reporting to the Emperor, they had permission to pursue the mysterious footprints in the direction that it had fled. The Eclipsing Emperor had little choice, his plans not only required the soul pool's contents but he had been humiliated by the disappearance and the delay in battle tactic would cost him time that he couldn't get back.
The Sunset Empire would definitely respond once they got the specifics of the attack and if the Eclipsing Empire had not made a move before then, they would be pushed back much further than the borderlands.
"I'm going to skin that thief alive, no one steals my prize. That soul pond was payment for my armies, bring them back no matter the cost." Emperor Huǒ waved his guard to take their leave and stared at the scars left by the Storm Crow under the daylight. "Victory should have been mine.."
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Misozi was engrossed in the dirty book when Mursayade came back in the morning. She would have jumped out of her skin if she had any to leap out of, the look of embarrassment on a ghost was priceless to Mursayade.
"So, you like that sort of stuff huh?" Mursayade had her own appetites, which, she soon revealed. "I left that one out for you, I hope you don't mind."
Misozi didn't know what to say, she was red eared and clutching the book as to hide the words.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Mursayade giggled a little bit and grabbed another book from the shelf. "If you like that one, you'll love this one." She passed the book over, across its cover, the words 'Oh yeah! Oscillate Baby!' were written.
Misozi had the puppet secretly store both books and rush off to another room to lock the door behind her.
Mursayade laughed hysterically on the inside. It would have been very cruel to laugh at Misozi out loud at that exact time, Teasing her about it later would have to suffice.
Vector came out of his room while scratching at his tail, when he made it to the Taco Truck, he pulled out a Coffee Machine that had been hooked up to a power transformer and car battery. "Coffee.." His speech patterns showed he was still half awake but smell of Coffee was waking him up slowly.
As the cup began to brew, he added some sugar and then started snapping his fingers while he thought to whether he had any sort of creamer. There was some Vanilla ice cream in a freezer, he scooped some into the coffee and stirred.
When the drink his lips, he sighed softly and looked around. There were some lights on near the library and he went to investigate.
Mursayade was yawning while flipping through a book on hunting techniques. Her understanding of how everyone in the group contributed to each fight had been growing everyday.
"You're up early." Vector kissed her on the cheek and peered over her shoulder to read some of the page she was on. "Fun stuff."
"I know I'm up early but, so are you.. Is that Coffee?" Mursayade closed the book and stole his cup. "Go get your own." She sipped at it and walked away. When Vector stared at her, she picked up the pace and teased him while speeding away.