"She will remember me," I said firmly. "Love isn't just memories. It's deeper than that."

  "Such confidence," Satosh smiled sadly. "I thought the same once."

  "I'm not you," I replied.

  "No," Satosh said. "You are not me. You are a very clever and incredibly dangerous Slayer, one I'd like to work for. One that I've been waiting for since I lost my wife."

  "Well then," I said. "You're hired. Welcome aboard, Scrutimancer. Hrm. How did you fool the Stratos? Don't they have some kind of compulsion magic on you like blood contracts or something?"

  "I agreed to be Emerald's fully bound kobold," Satosh said. "A bound kobold cannot disobey a dragon's orders. I have obeyed her every word for a decade. But now I'm finally free, because Emerald serves you as a Sixie."

  I whistled. "Long term plans there, Scrut."

  "There will be those like me in Omnithornia, desperate Omnids who will join your Clan," Satosh nodded, red eyes moving across my ex-prisoner companions and settling on his daughter. "And there will be those that will do everything in their power to stop you just to cling to their power."

  "Let them try," I said. "I've got a nice island fortress now."

  "And what will you do with it?" Satosh asked.

  "Turn it into a proper rehabilitation facility," I replied. "One that actually helps troubled Omnids. Maybe add some beach-front property, build some nice condos."

  "It's a rocky island," Mariana said, waving a tentacle at the cameras facing the outer perimeter.

  "I'll add a beach," I shrugged.

  "A bold plan," Satosh commented. "The Stratos won't take this lying down."

  "I know," I grinned. "That's why we're going to work hard to make this place quadruple impregnable. Mariana, how are those wards looking?"

  "Reconfigured to maximum security," the Scylla reported, her tentacle-fingers tapping across multiple control panels. "Nobody gets in or out without your authorization now, Mr. Fox. I blocked all incoming gates and gliders."

  "What's this place powered by?" I asked.

  "Two ley lines under the island plus beast cores funded by the Stratos. If you want to increase the ward power, we should insert more cores into the dragonheart engine."

  "Which is where?" I asked.

  "Right under us," the Scylla said. "I'll bring it up."

  She began tapping at the controls.

  A hexagon in the center of the room surrounded by yellow and black striped iron railings hissed open. A hexagonal black column emerged from its innards, with a cloud of steam and another panel opened within it.

  "Pour the beast cores into there," Mariana advised.

  "How many?" I asked.

  "As many as you can spare," she said. "More is better. The engine will burn through them to reinforce the perimeter ward."

  I pulled out a handful after handful of beast cores from my pocket and poured them into the receptacle. The black column hummed, lines of blue light racing up its surface.

  "The wards are at 425% strength now," Mariana confirmed, rapidly adjusting the ward. "Nobody's getting through those without some serious firepower. Not unless they want to spend about sixty million o-bux on bunker-busters trying to breach the shields."

  "Excellent," I nodded. "Now, let's see what other facilities we have to work with. Show me the prison layout."

  Mariana brought up a detailed map of San Clemente Island on the main screen. The facility sprawled across the northern tip, complete with dormitories, cafeteria, workshops, and medical wing.

  "Not bad," I mused. "Plenty of room to expand."

  "Say, Scrut," I addressed Satosh as the dragonheart engine slid back into place after eating some of my pocket-core collection. "If you can sniff the future this well, why didn't you prevent the human gangsters from attacking your wife to begin with?"

  "I've made many enemies in my line of work over the years, put many criminals away, crossed dangerous deviants I shouldn't have crossed… because I had integrity. There was no escaping their eventual retribution. I sniffed out many futures," Satosh's voice came through, heavy with regret. "In most of them, my wife and daughter died. In this one... they live, even if broken. I chose the path where my family survived. Where my daughter might find hope, even if that hope is in a human who can do magic."

  "Dad..." Magdaline blinked tears out of her eyes.

  "I'm sorry, Maggie," Satosh sighed. "It had to be this way. This was the best path forward for our family. I'm sorry that I've used you, fed you humans. I hope that you can forgive me someday for what I've done."

  "I… forgive you," Magdaline said softly into the microphone, blinking more tears out of her red eyes. "You were just trying to help me in your own messed up way. Why didn’t you… tell me?”

  “Saying such things leaves an imprint in the Astral for others to see,” Satosh shrugged. “I had to make sure that nobody could stop me, and always wore anti-scrying runes on me.”

  "So, what am I going to do next?" I grinned.

  "Deal with my owner," Satosh said. "Declare war on the Stratos."

  "Darn sneaky Scruts ruining the plot ahead of schedule," I said. "So… What do I smell like in the deepest Astral?"

  "Like… number eight," Satosh said.

  "Eight?" I asked, intrigued.

  "Yes," Satosh nodded.

  "Interesting," I mused. "I've never considered myself to be that particular number. And what does that mean exactly?"

  "It means you're unpredictable, dire change," Satosh said. "It means you're marked by the Dagaz rune."

  "A Dagaz rune?" I blinked. "So there are others like me?”

  "There are," Satosh nodded. "The wielders of Dagaz are hard to predict because it is very easy to get trapped in the infinite loop produced by the imprint of this particular number in the Astral."

  "And yet you somehow predicted what I would do?" I asked. "Otherwise we wouldn't be talking right now."

  "It took me decades," Satosh shrugged. "The key was accepting Dagaz into your heart, to go along with the pattern. Fighting against Infinity only leads to disaster."

  "So," I said, "What disasters await us in the nearby future?"

  "The Stratos will try to retake their facility," Satosh replied calmly. "SimmiTech will attempt to break your soul-bond with Vespera by erasing her mind. Golden Star and SimmiTech will attempt to have you assassinated."

  "And will they succeed or fail?" I asked.

  "I don't know the exact details," Satosh sighed. "I just know that there is hope. It took a lot of mana to accept Infinity into my heart and even more to hear her voice, to see what's behind the Number."

  "Her voice?" I blinked. “What? Number Eight has a voice?”

  "Sheela na gig," Satosh explained. "Infinity. Change. Dawn. The girl with endless faces behind the black hole."

  "This just gets weirder and weirder," Lilith commented. "It sounds like... the Scrut is under the control of an Outsider."

  "Perhaps I am," Satosh shrugged. "It's hard to see all of the strings concealed behind physical reality. Maybe we're just some god's puppets being pulled along the strings of a particular narrative, words on a page.”

  I laughed. Somehow Satosh had outdone me on the meta-narrator, 4th wall breaking business, the cheeky shark bastard.

  “So, who’s the narrator of our curious tale?” I asked. “Does he or she have a name? Is it Eight?”

  “No. Most Omnid Clans keep imprisoned gods in their basement, powering their... wards. Who's to say that these old families are not being manipulated by the pieces of the Wormwood Star Leviathan in some unseen manner across millennia?"

  "Huh," I said. "That's not weird and creepy at all. What does the Golden Star Clan have?"

  "They call her Uriel," Satosh said. "The All-seeing Eye of God."

  "And the Stratos?" I pressed.

  "They have Metatron," Satosh replied. "The Voice of God."

  "And what does Metatron say about me?" I wondered.

  "I don't know," Satosh shook his head. "I've never been allowed near the Stratos' vault. Only their Prima-born are permitted to consult their imprisoned god. I do know that speaking to these entities has a price."

  "Which is what?" I asked.

  "Mortality," Satosh said. "Those that speak with imprisoned gods cut their lives short, accelerate their paths towards their deaths. It's why most of the Arch-Elders of generations past the 1940's are dead. They burned through their lives fighting each other during World War Two, trying to predict their enemy’s moves, trying to shake the Archangels for better weapons.”

  "And what do the Simmis have?" I asked.

  "Archangel Zadkiel," Satosh revealed. "The All-Remembering One. A shard of the Leviathan's brain lobe. They use her power to optimize their bloodline, to make their children more clever, better at magitek crystallography and Dreamancy. Zadkiel is the reason why they're so obsessed with genetic purity and arranged marriages."

  "That's why Vee is so good at mapping out crystal architecture and diving into dreams," I deduced.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Your fiancee is the result of generations of Simmi breeding," Satosh nodded. "The brightest star that took a lot of magic to produce."

  "So... what you're saying is that Vespera was... manufactured?" I pondered.

  "Yes," Satosh revealed. "Each generation of the Firstborn Clans is magically stronger, but there are less and less children being born. Such optimization has a price. Ritual magic tied to lunar shard alignment. Sacrifice. Burning through more and more beast cores. Each new brilliant heir costs more to produce, just as it costs more to produce smarter artificial intelligence engines.”

  "I see why Skyfall seems to have so many empty classrooms," I whistled.

  "Indeed," Satosh nodded through the screen. "The deity-Omnitype population has been declining for centuries. Fresh blood is needed, but the Clans are set on the path to produce the most optimal heirs, ones who will inherit the Earth, ones who will prevent the end of everything. Who will either figure out how to move the planet back to where it was hundreds of years ago or how to gate the entirety of Cradlefall to another habitable world."

  "The end of everything?" I blinked.

  "Our Earth is in freefall towards the mesh of doomed worlds," Satosh said coldly. "Past a certain point, nobody can see the future. The small Celestorms currently ravaging the planet at random are just the beginning. They will get worse and when they do, terrible, hungry, unstoppable things will begin to manifest and come through dimensional gates to our world."

  "Yep," Lilith said to herself quietly. "Def sounds like Outsider apocalyptic nonsense."

  "Outsider-infected or not," I said. "Satosh is a helpful creature on our side. Right then. Are you done pounding doomsday-lore into my head?"

  Satosh nodded.

  I whispered to call Cinder into my Quartermaster tag.

  "Yes?" Cinder's holographic form appeared atop of my wrist looking worried. "Did you start a riot already? Is that why you're calling me? To show me how much shit you set on fire?"

  "No riots. No fires. Only had to break a couple of walls. Everything's fine," I assured her. "We've taken over the facility. I've got control of the wards, a bunch of new Sixies, and Satosh is actually on our side."

  “What?" Cinder blinked.

  "Turns out Satosh wanted me to take over this place," I explained. "He's been playing the long game, waiting for someone like me to come along."

  "That's... convenient," Cinder said suspiciously.

  "Indeed," I nodded. "Also, apparently all the major Clans have imprisoned gods in their basements. Did you know about that?"

  Cinder's wings and head-feathers flared.

  "Is your dad keeping a bound god in his basement?" I asked.

  "Umm," Cinder blinked. "Not that I'm aware."

  "What about the Novas in general?"

  "Xastigar's family owns a buttload of shares in Omnimart," Cinder pondered. "Great grandad Nathaniel Senior has a compound Citadel where he and his wives produce... Lazarus Bracelets."

  "Aha," I said. "I was wondering where those came from. Does some preggo elderbeast god-centipede birth them in the Nova compound basement or something?"

  "I don't effing know," Cinder stared at me. "I don't get invited to the Nova compound! Since I murdered my precog-chosen fiancee, they sort of gave up on me and focused all of their attention on... Lance."

  "Archangel Azrael is kept beneath the Citadel of the Nova Compound," Satosh commented. "The Soul Shepherd."

  "I should get an Archangel," I commented, rubbing my chin. "I have the envy itch now."

  "All of the large shards of the Wormwood Star Leviathan’s body have long been claimed," Satosh stated.

  "Then I'll find my own god and imprison them!" I grinned. "How hard can it be?"

  "Alex..." Cinder stared at me with growing concern. "Please don't try to imprison any gods."

  "But everyone else has one!" I protest-whined. "I want one too!"

  Cinder made an Uggghh-adjacent noise. Katherine, the edge of her face visible in the holo frowned.

  "You guys are such downers," I commented at them. "Damn it, I want Vee back. Too much gloomy one dimensional rain over there without any merry rays of thunder.”

  “Hey,” Cinder complained.

  “Yeees?” I asked.

  “I'm not one dimensional, you jerk,” she huffed.

  “You're constantly either surprised or angry with me,” I pointed out.

  She squinted at me and sighed. “I'm not angry with you, you knob! I'm… angry at myself for not being able to do shit when Vee was taken and angry at Emerald for sending you into prison. I'm… mostly worried. Worried about you pushing your shenanigans too far and perma-dying. Worried about Vee forgetting us."

  “We'll sort it all out,” I assured her.

  “Sides’,” she said with a sly look. “Don't you appreciate my surprised acting…?”

  “Wait a minute,” I blinked. “So…”

  “At this point, I honestly expect you to pull off wacky shit like this,” she said. “I'm only acting extra shocked because I know you like it.”

  “Way to ruin it,” I laughed.

  “Do you want me to keep acting surprised?” She raised an eyebrow. “Oh my Slayer, what terrible unexpected, insane thing will you shock me with next?” She made a ‘what’ face at me. “Oh I'm so angry with you, I just want to chase you down and…”

  “Riiight,” I chortled. “We can talk about you chasing me… later. For now, please put Emmy on if she’s nearby.”

  “Uh-huh. Here's Em,” Cinder said.

  Emerald's face appeared on the holo, the dragon girl held by her scruff via Kat's armored hand.

  "Sup dragon-bae," I grinned at her.

  "What do you want?" Emerald growled through the holo.

  "Just checking in on my favorite Sixie," I smiled. "How's your slave collar doing? Hope it's not too itchy."

  "It's effing horrible," she hissed. "I can't use my dragonfire!"

  "You sound a tad off," I commented. "A bit nasally? Did you catch a cold?"

  "No, you fuck!" Emerald snarled. "Your effing girlfriend broke my nose and didn't bother to heal it properly!"

  "Which one?"

  "Ci," Emerald glared in the direction of Cinder.

  "And she's going to break it again if I tell her what you did," I said.

  "What?" Emerald paled.

  "I talked to Satosh," I said.

  "You... WHAT?" the dragon princess choked.

  "The fuck did she do now?" Cinder demanded.

  "Unless you want me to tell Ci what you did," I said. "You better cooperate."

  "I... I'll cooperate," Emerald nodded rapidly. "Please don't tell her!"

  "Tell me what?!" Cinder snarled.

  "Don't worry about it," I said. "As much as I want to smack Emmy for her crimes, now isn't the time for that. Please tell me everything that happened at Skyfall after I was gated away."

  Ci nodded and began to narrate the events of the day with Katherine interjecting comments about what Cinder had forgotten or missed on.

  I listened. They were done in about ten minutes.

  "Very good," I said. "Yulia, please locate and dial the number of Attorney Thornheart."

  My phone dialed the number in a few seconds.

  "Attorney Thornheart speaking," the Omnid appeared on the screen.

  "Greetings," I said. "This is Alexander Glock. I'd like to report illegal detention at Cradlefoot Youth Rehabilitation Facility."

  "Ah! Mr. Glock!" Thornheart's image straightened. "We've been trying to reach you. Are you alright?"

  "I'm fine," I replied cheerfully. "In fact, I've taken control of the facility."

  "You've... what?" The Bunyip lawyer blinked.

  "Seized control," I clarified. "I now rule this island and everything on it. The Stratos Clan used it for illegal activities, so I'm confiscating it as my new Clan compound."

  Thornheart stared at me with wide, dark brown eyes.

  "Since you work for my fiancee and therefore work for me," I said. "I'd like for you to organize the paperwork necessary for the legalization of my actions here."

  "I... see," Thornheart said slowly. "And what exactly would you like me to file?"

  "A complaint against the Stratos Clan for illegal imprisonment, attempted murder, and operation of an unauthorized disposal facility," I replied cheerfully. "Plus whatever else you can think of. I want to tie them up in as much legal red tape as possible."

  "That's... quite ambitious," Thornheart noted.

  "I'm an ambitious person," I smiled. “Plus I do have the cash to pay you.”

  I waved a few celesteel cards in front of the screen.

  "Do you have evidence of their crimes?"

  "How else would I be here?" I asked. "Do you think I walked across the ocean like Lord Nazareth and asked them to let me in or something?"

  "No, um," Thornheart smiled. "I already have evidence for that. I could use more evidence of any illegal activities taking place on the island."

  "Ah," I nodded, turning to my misfits. "Which one of you is really good at running and flipping through folders to take photos? Raise your hands."

  Several hands shot up among my new Sixies.

  "Perfect. Tate, Ash–take these phones," I pulled our extra phones connected to Yulia on them. "Go to the Warden's office and start taking photos of all the paperwork you can find. Move down other Admin offices and document everything. Lilith, check the medical wing for disposal records. Renmar, Viktor–search the guards' quarters. Mariana, see if you can pull up ward records or videos of Satosh or any other guards gating people in to be disposed of."

  My new team scattered to their tasks while I turned back to Attorney Thornheart.

  "You'll have complete documentation within the hour," I promised. "Plus witness testimonies from the staff once I convince them to cooperate. For now, I'd like for you to listen to the testimony of Magdaline Satoshi. Mags, tell the good lawyer what you've been doing in cell twenty five, will you?"

  Magdaline stepped forward to address Attorney Thornheart on my phone.

  "I was used as a disposal system," she said quietly. "Forty-one humans were brought to my cell during lunch hours. I... consumed them, unable to fight my Omnid hunt urges. Dad… worked for the Stratos Clan, bringing me criminals and undesirables they wanted eliminated."

  "I see," Thornheart's expression darkened. "And you have evidence of this?"

  "The walls of cell twenty-five retain Astral imprints," Magdaline nodded. "Any competent Scrutimancer can read them. Plus there's the incinerator chute where I disposed of... remains."

  "I've been forced to do many terrible things as kobold of Emerald Stratos," Satosh said from the screen, which had now been enlarged by Mariana. "Compelled by magic into monstrous deeds."

  "You… What?!" Emerald’s hologram on my wrist choked. "You can't tell them!!!"

  Cinder smacked her hard. "Yes he can. Order Satosh to tell the lawyer everything about your crimes."

  "I'd prefer a permission to email an outline of my crimes to Mr. Thornheart," Satosh said. "That should be enough. I’ve been preparing the documents for over a decade.”

  "No... I..." Emerald choked.

  "Unless you want me to rip out your left eye right now to stuff it into your mouth," Cinder snarled. "You will tell your Scrut that he's allowed to email everything to Thornheart."

  "F-fine!" Emerald choked as Cinder drew her magisteel-armored hand back, aiming at her eye. "Satosh, you have my permission to email everything to Thornheart!"

  "Excellent," the lawyer said, looking over at his screen. "With this, we can file multiple charges against the Stratos Clan."

  "Perfect," I smiled. "Oh, and one more thing - I need you to file paperwork for establishing a new Clan compound here. Transform this facility into something more... constructive."

  "Such as?" Thornheart asked.

  "A rehabilitation center," I grinned. "No need to change existing tax permits or whatever."

  "Very well," Thornheart nodded.

  "Also," I said. "I'd like to sue Emerald Stratos for one hundred billion O-bux."

  "W-what?" Emerald choked.

  "You heard me," I said cheerfully. "One hundred billion O-bux. For emotional damages, attempted murder, false imprisonment, and generally being a dick to me in classes."

  "That's... that's crazy!" Emerald sputtered through the holo. "I don't have that kind of money!"

  "No, but your family does," I smiled. "And I want it. All of it. Every last O-bux."

  "The Stratos Clan will never pay that much!" Emerald protested. “They have the best lawyers and can hold up the case in court for ages!”

  "Then I'll take it in assets," I shrugged. "Starting with this lovely island facility. You own shares in it, don't you Emmy?"

  "I..." Emerald choked out.

  "Well, do you?" I asked. “Do you want me to tell Ci what you…”

  Emerald nodded rapidly. “I have shares in that stupid prison island, yes!”

  "We can settle the suit now then. I can drop some of the charges against you. Just sign the island ownership off to me as collateral."

  "I... I don't freaking own the entire island you idiot!" Emerald snarled, her eyes filling with tears.

  "No, but you own enough shares to make the start of my hostile takeover legal," I pointed out.

  "Plus, once the evidence of illegal activities here comes to light, the Stratos Clan will have a hard time contesting my claim."

  "My family will destroy you!" Emerald hissed.

  "They'll have to get in line," I grinned. "So are we settling this lawsuit now or what?"

  "I can't just... give you my shares!"

  "Sure you can," I smiled. "Unless you want Cinder to continue exploring your facial reconstruction options while Kat slowly drowns you in the deep?”

  Emerald glanced fearfully at Cinder's raised fist as shadows around her deepened.

  "Fine!" she spat. "I'll sign over my shares you ass! But this isn't over!"

  "Of course it isn't," I agreed. "This is just the beginning of our wonderful journey together. Ladies, call up Io and meet up with him. I'll need him to open a gate from my new villain Citadel island to Skyfall. I'll put ‘Day After Tomorrow’ for him to target on my phone screen!”