Chapter 362: Forced Choice

The trace was going to persist right through the main projection until night set in, delicate but resolute, indicating a vacant area on all of the regular scans. It didn’t seem particularly difficult to follow up on that lead, so it was surprising the sealed universe would remind the three explorers of the growing lack of clean steps to walk through.

The pressure spike hit in the late hours. It wasn’t the metronome ticking, since it had remained steady as ever, but something else and much heavier that had pressed up against the outer defensive lattices of three major realms at the exact same time. Their vampire, dragon, and the reinforced edges of new Earth all had a similar weight pressing on them without breaking through or even attempting to. They simply hovered with enough force to send out a wave of warnings to every monitoring station.

Lucifer was already out on the outer observation platform by the second round of alarms, and Lucian’s voice greeted him in the channel after a brief hesitation.

"The barriers are proving quite resilient to any offensive attempts, but the force pressed against them would clearly have the ability to test three separate regions at precisely the same time. It does not seem to be an outright invasion, merely an inspection. It is a concern that we have allowed such a thing to happen at all."

Aeloria was already manipulating at the streams of data with silver streaked hair hanging loose as she worked. "We simply answered an invitation to examine a sector they were keeping to themselves. They have returned the favour by proving to us that our realms are no longer inaccessible despite any preparations to reinforce said barriers. If we deplete the number of potential combatants by drawing upon them for an expedition, what better way for this force to make inroads upon our walls than to follow straight after we abandon them?"

Nyx hovered against the side of the platform, her living shadow shifting to shift from the heel of her boots. "It is an excuse to allow the harvest to continue uninterrupted by watching the borders where it is not expected. The same thing has happened before, only they forgot to account for Remu’s chair and she ended up being a problem before any others. If anything draws off the walls, it is because the process of dragging it all the way through is far slower than waiting upon another hour where the orb will have grown denser. The threat of an enemy invasion is a self reinforcing cycle if one allows it to occupy more of their resources than necessary"

Lucifer was watching the readings of the pressure shift against the monitoring stations with a calculating eye. It truly didn’t seem random that they had happened at this point, and if it was not random it meant someone must have observed them as well and decided it would be best to remind the realms of their reach rather than hide all the way up the back of the board. "The harvest continues regardless. If we continue to fortify our walls against an uncertain future, the trace will only become more elusive than before. If we go chasing after it, any weakness that it might currently hide will be a gaping maw at our backs the second something takes our attention away"

Aeloria turned fully towards him. "Then make your decision with full understanding. The limitations of a smaller party still prevent us from remaining on the board long enough to prevent an enemy using our numbers against us when we are away. The weight on the walls has not increased but it has certainly not decreased either, and if Lucian has to maintain the realms with all of the reinforcements we can grant at the same time we will not be present to assist him in the effort"

Nyx cut Lucifer off before he could speak again. ’If we do not go, we continue to remain exactly where they want us. Occupied and in defensive stances without easy access to the enclave while the old progenitors are being bled to the front lines again. I have seen countless games stalled long enough for victory conditions to be rewritten when the pieces were no longer in play, and it has never been at a point where they had to commit fully to take another away. They move at the limit of their abilities so that everything else can be placed to stall for more, and that can be avoided completely when there is hesitation’

The platform was entirely silent outside of the steady pulse of the monitoring lattices and the soft chime like notes of the metronome.

Lucifer was watching the pressure indicators go through their peaks again, the metronome pulse, the trace going in a slender line towards the vacant bit of terrain. He was thinking of Remu on her knees in the witch territories, the chill of a dragged seat against her thighs, and then Damaris and Lilith who were probably still alive and still being used in some way beyond that weak spot. The walls were one thing the realms had, the people inside of them quite another but nothing was going to matter if once the harvest was done the results would be turned straight back against what it had grown up with.

"We’ll go"

Aeloria didn’t change expression, but the weight behind her gaze was still heavier for the choice he had made. "So sure of that are you"

"That I will give the orb exactly what it wants if I wait" Lucifer told her. We’ll take a small party, fast movement, and we’ll follow the trace as far as it wants to lead and force the next piece to show itself. Lucian will maintain all necessary reinforcements to the realms at whatever strength we can spare. If the pressure on the outer walls becomes actual force we retreat to the nearest point and regroup until it has finished what it must accomplish. As long as any of us remain present the schedule of this enemy will not progress"

Nyx’s lip curled in a smirk. "Finally"

Lucian was already on his end hesitating before speaking. "Then I will do what I must to hold my end while you do what you must accomplish. Don’t give me just cause to reach for a recall signal while you are somewhere useful"

"Before the orb reaches the full cycle of the metronome I will begin the movement, and your ready men should report before we reach the outer walls of the platform. We don’t waste resources on unnecessary parties if there must be any at all."

The pressure built gently against the outer lattices as though measuring itself against them, then eased away as if the thing that held it was done observing for the moment. The metronome still pulsed without pause, and the thin line to where the three had found the trace continued to linger.

Aeloria was already shutting down the unneeded projections as Lucifer stared. "Then we prepare, because once we reach that place we won’t be getting the luxury of retreating for more. No matter how far that has gone it has already been able to reach the combined barriers of three realms at once and expect them to all hold"

Nyx’s shadow crept out towards the floor. "Let’s not waste another moment on things of no immediate concern"

Lucifer took one final look at the thin line of direction from where the trace was. It was all set up, everything accounted for. All the losses would matter later, and perhaps even not at all, but for now there was something to move after and see to the edge of however long it would take before the enclave wanted to eliminate it.

Outside of the realms’ known borders the harvest continued as schedule, but within their boundaries for the first time an expedition was being gathered straight back to its source.