12th of Season of Water, 220th year of the 32nd cycle

  Chaplain Longfang said his final farewells to his family, then joined Newt in the library.

  “Anything you would like to tell me?” Newt asked.

  “Thank you,” the old man said. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and that I’m putting you in an uncomfortable position.”

  Newt saw no point in denying the words. The request was more than a little awkward.

  “In that case, I have a question, one to which I will need an answer. When setting up a meditation chamber—”

  A spark of flame flared next to Chaplain Longfang’s ear and burned through his brain, disintegrating it before he could react. A fifth realm mage’s body was no more resilient to Newt’s attack than straw, and the man was dead almost immediately.

  He left the library and approached the Longfangs.

  “It’s done. Do you wish to bury your ancestor, or should I? He asked to be laid to rest next to his wife.”

  “Thank you, Lord Salamandra, we can handle it.”

  Newt nodded. There was little time, but it wasn’t his place to get involved with the Longfangs’ family matters.

  Meanwhile, the evacuation was progressing as erratically as one could expect. Newt didn’t bother with it. There were plenty of people more qualified to organize students. Instead, he went to his master’s abode.

  There, he found Gatemaster Greenthorn gazing at his house.

  “Twenty-five hundred years I’ve lived here. Moving without intention of returning is profoundly unsettling, even if it’s just a wooden structure, every board of which was changed a handful of times.”

  Newt let his master speak. While it didn’t seem like it, the retreat was Gatemaster Greenthorn’s greatest defeat and had shaken him the most.

  “Do you regret the decision, Master?”

  “No, of course not. I regret this place breaking down in disrepair a couple of decades from now.”

  Newt nodded. The clanhold would face a similar fate, though its location and the fact it was made of stone guaranteed it would stand for a couple of centuries if no new tenants appeared.

  “Any family you would like to pick up?”

  Gatemaster Greenthorn gave him a sardonic look. “Newstar, while I have brought my parents to the order, and they really did have more children later, that was over two thousand years ago. My blood running through anyone’s veins is so thin it’s not worth mentioning.”

  Well, that doesn’t sound depressing at all…

  So, Newt wisely changed the topic. “Has anyone tried to escape or done anything noteworthy?”

  “No, there were no attempts at leaving messages or escaping. As for students and non-core elements of the order, I can’t spare the attention. Monitoring over four hundred people scattered around is already stretching the limits of my mind.”

  With nothing better to do, Newt started moving around, monitoring random students who entered his perception range. Nobody did anything suspicious, but he didn’t really expect them to either.

  He entered the memorial for the fallen in the battle against the Blood Cult. He climbed the stairs and reached the two urns he visited from time to time.

  “I guess this is it, Big Man. If your ashes were really in this urn, I would’ve brought the two of you, but they are empty. I can only hope you reincarnated as one of these kids and are under my protection right now.”

  He drew a deep breath and sighed through his nose.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “I hope whoever conquers the island remains respectful of the dead, but I guess you don’t really care either way.”

  He petted the urn.

  “I’ll see you guys later. Hopefully not for a couple thousand years, but eventually I’ll be joining you.” He was about to leave when he turned back towards the urns. “You won’t believe what happened to me today. Chaplain Longfang of the Chamber of Runes…”

  Telling someone about his bizarre experience made Newt feel better, and he left the memorial center focused on the next steps of the evacuation plan.

  He reached the airport and noted that his master had been busy. Members of the Chamber of Punishment were herding people into the airships, while the overseers decorated the interiors with hammocks so tightly packed it looked like a joke.

  I wonder why nobody asked how we knew we have lost the scouting location we don’t even have? Are even awakened that prone to blind panic?

  Still, that tidbit worked in the plan’s favor. The only real problem would have been the wealthier families, carrying half a house on their backs, but those fortunately had high realm backers, who owned spatial pouches. Had that not been the case, there wouldn’t have been enough space.

  Newt watched, and by the time ten minutes were left ‘till the Gatemaster Greenthorn’s deadline, the Longfangs boarded a ship, leaving the island empty save for the champions gathered around the airships.

  “Let us depart our old home and create a better one elsewhere.” The gatemaster then divided the champions evenly across the airships, with those who had water and air affinities in charge of surrounding the airships with mist and keeping it together to form clouds.

  Newt wasn’t sure what he had expected for their trip, but a smooth start wasn’t it. They had over twelve hours of darkness to cover them, and one more cloud didn’t stick out in the winter sky. Since they were five miles up and didn’t plan on passing through territories of other orders, it only made sense they would go unnoticed, but Newt still couldn’t believe it.

  A whole day passed with nobody contesting them, then night fell, and they were already at the fringes of the empire. Even if an exalt pursued, it was too late.

  “Master, I will fly ahead and announce us,” Newt said, then separated from the air-fleet, which promptly slowed down.

  “What do you think?” He asked Magmin once more as the distance between them and the airships grew wider and wider.

  “The same thing I thought the last five times you asked. If you offered tribute and didn’t threaten my interests, I wouldn’t touch you. It’s the way of my kind. If I sense duplicity, I will first take the offered tribute, then eat you. It’s that simple. The ones who make it to the top are usually straightforward, since those who aren’t find themselves surrounded by enemies and torn apart even if they are stronger.”

  And yet, those words failed to put Newt’s mind at ease. The imperials were drawing tribute from all over the empire, yet they still exploited and planned to slaughter their mostly obedient population.

  “I guess it’s too late to doubt myself.”

  “It is. If she is going to betray you, you’re already dead, but I don’t think so. She wants to fatten you up to the tenth realm. She is confident in her strength. At the tenth realm, you would dominate her, but, but, she won’t let you reach the tenth realm. As soon as I reach the tenth realm, she will strike, and you will need to be strong enough to fight her while at the ninth realm.”

  Magmin and Newt had already been through that talk multiple times with minute changes.

  “I know you will be able to defeat her, and while we did discuss fighting her together, I think you should do it on your own. That’s the only way to convince her of your superiority. If you become the leader, she will follow and obey, as doing otherwise means death.”

  “I think fighting her together is wiser.”

  “It is and isn’t. You will lose half or more your mana, but in exchange you will get an ally somewhat weaker than her. You might consider it a safer bet, but she wouldn’t be convinced of your superiority, and she might challenge you later on.”

  “What if I lose?”

  “You know what happens, but it’s not the end of the world. Except it might be; if the two forces can’t cooperate with the two of us dead, your human cultists might destroy the world without facing a unified opposition until it’s too late.”

  That didn’t help Newt’s mood one bit.

  He flew ahead of the airships for hours before the first avians came over to inspect him. They were fourth realm manabeasts, too unintelligent to parlay with, that or they weren’t serpents.

  While they didn’t understand Newt’s hisses, they understood him flaring his tyrannical aura just fine, and fled in response.

  The sun rose again before a sufficiently powerful manabeast approached.

  “I seek Lord Magminion or Lord Calderion. I have business with their mother, and I need someone to announce me.”

  The seventh realm dragon examined Newt. The two of them floated in the air a hundred yards apart. For a moment, Newt thought it would attack, but it lowered its head after a moment.

  “I have heard the rumors that my honorable ancestor has had meetings and even made an agreement with one of your filthy kind. I’m guessing that’s you.”

  Newt considered the words. They were offensive, perhaps a taunt. The dragon might have hoped that Newt would attack it, giving it an excuse to fight back.

  “Would you like to fight first, then take me to see them?” Newt asked, thinking he might have found a branch of diplomacy previously unexplored between man and manabeast.