Skyfire Avenue

“I know!” Kang Hui opened up a second line but kept Lan Jue on the communicator.

“Hand down my order. Bring the ship and the fleets to a stop. Engage all of the ship’s internal defenses to their highest readiness and do whatever possible to stop the invader. Put the fleet in a defensive position as well and tell them to be ready for a fight. Defcon 1!” His orders were simple and to the point. He said they needed to hear in a few short sentences.

On the other line, Lan Jue sighed in relief. He turned around. “Mother, Wine Master. We need to get to him as soon as possible. We can’t let the enemy succeed.”

Out there in space was the North’s best fighters. If they fell before the operation even began, if one of their mighty Bastions fells, the future of humanity would be bleak indeed! Nothing else was more important than making sure Admiral Kang was safe.

On one end of the bridge Wu Qiu and Ling Ya stared in muddled confusion. On the other, the Wine Master was already lifting his scepter. The ship was flooded with a stabbing silver light. At the same time it mingled with a gentle pink glow. They mingled together and filled every corner of the ship.

The first teleport had been so sudden, the situation so dire, that the Northern soldiers hadn’t even known what happened. However, now they saw it coming – could feel the pulses of protogenia coming from the two helmeted scouts. Whoever they were, they commanded power on a whole other level!

PRotogenia… Paragons? The Wine Master? Incredible! This man bathed in silver, scepter in hand, was Skyfire Avenue’s chairman and foremost Paragon – the Cosmagus!

But the other one? A pink, enigmatic energy that was hard to fathom wafted from her. Another powerhouse? How was it she felt even stronger than the Cosmagus?

Time didn’t wait for them to puzzle out the answers. Reality rippled like waves in a pond. After the very unpleasant first experience both Wu Qiu and Ling Ya reacted by calling on their Discipline for defense. Neither were eager to feel the effects of teleportation again.

Flash! When matter reconstituted itself around them the first they heard was a deafening alarm. Outside the windows was a world of white while the sounds of destruction crashed all around.

This is…

As Ling Ya and Wu Qiu looked out over the familiar scene and twisted metal, they gaped in shock.

“Secretary, get out there and find the Admiral. We need to confirm his location!” Lan Jue wasted no time in explaining things to them. With a flick of his wrist a long white dress appeared in his grip. Immediately following, he was consumed by an orb of crackling electric light that hid him from view.

When the light dissipated a moment later there was someone else beside the Star Division commander.

Lin gYa gaped when she saw her. She was gorgeous! In her flowing white dress her beauty could topple mountains. A surreal atmosphere surrounded her as though she were a fairy come from the land of fantasy.

Her Discipline wasn’t lightning. Who was this woman?

Wu Qiu had recovered faster than the colonel. It’d taken him only a few moments to recognize this place as the resting area in Tyrannosaurus’ living quarters. He needn’t ask how they got here; teleportation. But how they teleported here, only the mysterious scouts would know.

His ears rang as the alarms screeched all around them, sharpening his mind. Now wasn’t the time for thought, but for quick and decisive action.

“Admiral? Admiral where are you? We’ve teleported into Tyrannosaurus with reinforcements.” Wu Qiu shouted into his communicator.

“Teleportation? Get over here, the emergency code is 5431…” Kang Hui quickly rattled off a series of numbers.

“No need for all that trouble,” the Wine Master interrupted. The Wine Master lifted his scepter for a third time. In a flash, they were gone.

ζ

Kang Hui’s office.

“Who’s that!” A pulse of powerful energy swept through the area, crashing from all directions. A shell of white light hid everything.

Admiral Kang Hui was seated calmly behind his desk. Four Adepts of different specialties stood at his side. Each one of them were bathed in auras that betrayed their peak-level status. The office interior’s defenses reacted quickly. The walls bristled with guns that pointed at the center of the white light, ready to fire at the first sign of danger.

“Admiral, it’s us!” Wu Qiu’s urgent voice called to him.

When Kang Hui saw it was indeed Skyfire Avenue’s scout team, he was dumbfounded. In all his years he’d never witnessed anything like this! Only a few minutes earlier these mysterious Adepts were close enough to the aliens to feed him information. Now here they were – it was inconceivable!

The Wine Master removed his helmet, revealing his craggy features. “No time for talk, Admiral. I am the Wine Master of Skyfire Avenue, I came with the scout team. We believe your Bastion ship has been infiltrated by one of the aliens’ strongest leaders. We need control over your ship’s defenses to help us beat it back. If we don’t succeed than Tyrannosaurus will be destroyed. We need to know precisely where it is this moment.”

Kang Hui’s surprise was short-lived. Of course he knew who the Wine Master was – also known as His Majesty Cosmagus! No wonder… no wonder this team succeeded where so many others had failed. They had a Paragon! A Paragon acting as a scout!

Star Division’s remaining members removed their helmets, one by one. Kang Hui – normally steady and reserved – began to shake.

He didn’t know the Gourmet or the Pauper, nor did he have any idea who Luo Xianni was. However, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize one of the North’s former Paragon leaders – the Epochrion!

“Your Majesty Epochrion?” He shot up onto his feet.

She nodded. “At ease, Admiral. We rushed back here to ensure your safety and keep this ship from being destroyed. We need you to turn over the ship’s defenses to us. Prepare to meet the enemy. They’re coming.”

“Yes!” Kang Hui was not part of an indecisive generation. Although things were far outside of what was planned, he reacted with purpose. He turned to a man with a general’s star on his shoulder, one of the peak=level Adepts. “Give their Majesties whatever is needed to combat the enemy. Start with the alien’s coordinates.”

Lan Jue paid them no mind, his attention was on one of the large screens nearby. A flash of purple streaked by. All you could see was a humanoid shape before the defenses barring its path exploded into shrapnel. Destruction was left in the monster’s wake.

Doughty mecha suits were left in ruin and any personnel unlucky enough to cross its path were instantly slain. Their essence was gobbled up faster than the soldiers could react.

But Lan Jue’s perception was sharp. All he caught was a pair of eyes. That was enough.

“That’s the Violet Prince. Let’s get after him!”

The Wine Master shot his eyes toward Lan Jue and nodded.

The Photographer growled. “A-Jue, Gourmet, Pauper, Wine Master, Clockmaker, Pharmacist and Driver – do whatever you can to slow him down. I’ll find a way to take this fight out of the ship.”

“Got it.” They said in unison.

The Wine Master waved his scepter. An orb og silver extending from the head until it swallowed them all up. It contracted against into a single point and vanished, along with Star Division’s fighters. Once they’d found the Prince’s location on the screens it wasn’t difficult to track him down.

Kang Hui stared blankly at the empty spot they had occupied. Who was that woman who was issuing orders? Even the Cosmagus and Epochrion had regarded her with respect and deference. What did this mean? The Epochrion was a Reflection of Heaven and Earth! He didn’t even know who the other woman was!

“Admiral, the Gourmet is likely Skyfire Avenue’s Infernal Vanguard. As far as we can tell, the one they called the Pauper is the Arhat of the Descending Dragon. The Pharmacist was the woman who came in second place during the Great Adept Tournament.” One of the Admiral’s attendants had leaned in to share the information.

Kang Hui’s surprise was clear. “You mean to tell me this scouting team has five Paragons… “

The soldier stood there, just as shocked, but nodded after a few seconds of quiet. “Yes, sir…”

Kang Hui’s face began to change. He became darkly obsessed with a single thought: How strong were these things where a scout force needed five Paragons?

ζ

Flickering silver light deposited Lan Jue and the others in an empty area of the ship. The wine Master was the first to move, stepping ahead and indicating with scepter. What issued forth was a ray of anti-space that carved a channel through the ship. It extended forward until crashing into the far wall. Reality around the borders of the pitch-black aisle crackled in protest and everything around them adopt a surreal quality. The universe seemed stacked on top of itself, layer upon layer, warping and changing even as they looked on.

It was the Wine Master’s Domain, Interspatial Flux!

The space between dimensions possessed tremendous amounts of energy. Be it folding, tearing or blending, this energy had many ways to wreak havoc.