Disclaimer: I don't own any IPs that might appear in the story

The Council of Thirteen

Book Twelve: The Seventh Lord

Of Cults, Dolls and Slimes

One Shot

Beta:

"Wah! This cake is amazing!"

Tomoyo smiled at Kero-chan's compliment to the cooks' latest masterpiece that he was greedily scarfing down. It wasn't exactly high praise. Kero-chan found anything remotely sweet "amazing" but she was sure that the cooks would appreciate the compliment nonetheless.

"I'll be sure to tell the cooks you liked it." Tomoyo told Sakura's Guardian earnestly, even as said Mistress looked at her familiar with a frown.

"Kero-chan don't be such a glutton!" The First Lord reprimanded. "At least leave some for me and Tomoyo."

"But you two have cut slices for yourselves already." The mighty Guardian disguised as a winged lion plushie whined. "Can't I have the rest?"

"Kero-chan," Sakura hissed warningly, causing Kero-chan to adopt a hangdog expression.

"Ma, ma," Tomoyo cut in. "It's quite alright if Kero-chan wants the rest of it, Sakura. I mean if we want more food than the slices we've cut, we can always ask the cooks to send it over."

"Ya! What Tomoyo said!"

"Tomoyo don't spoil him."

"I think that ship already sailed, Sakura." Tomoyo said with a giggle gesturing at the Guardian who had taken Tomoyo's support as carte blanche to go ahead and had dived into the rest of the cake, eating it from the inside out.

With a sigh, Sakura shook her head and picked up her teacup.

"Let's talk about something else." Sakura said after a calming sip of her tea.

"Anything you say," Tomoyo said with a victorious smile she hid behind her own teacup. "What about?"

"Dom," Sakura suggested. "She's taken in another ward. She had Dante move in with her."

"Yes, I read the report. She justified it by arguing that now that he's entering the final phase of his education, it's better that he move in with her so she can supervise him more closely. But isn't she taking too much on?" Tomoyo asked, her voice tinged with worry. "Didn't Bella just leave her care? And Yuki and Yori only a few years ago? She's still looking after Rose Iris and her own children. How is she managing?"

"I asked her the same question when I contacted her yesterday," Sakura said with a frown. "She assures me that she has things under control. That Shirayuki and Felicia's help makes the parenting manageable."

"I am sure she can handle things," Tomoyo admitted with a sigh. "But I worry."

"So do I," Sakura said, taking one of Tomoyo's hands into one of her own and giving it a comforting squeeze. "We're her mothers, of course we'd worry."

"It's a mother's prerogative to worry." Tomoyo agreed, returning Sakura's squeeze with one of her own.

"Speaking of motherhood," Sakura-chan said with a mischievous smile. "Any idea when we should have more children. Perhaps the biological way this time?"

Tomoyo just shrugged.

"Maybe after the threat of the Sapphic Circle is dealt with?" She said concomitantly. "I would hate to have a baby and make it a target of Outsiders."

Tomoyo had no objection to having a baby per se. Either by her womb or Sakura's. In fact she would adore any child of theirs, no matter who birthed them. Even if it wasn't either of them. Dom was proof of that. But at the same time… The idea of raising a baby terrified her. Dom had been a teenager when they'd taken her in. Tomoyo had no experience dealing with infants at all! How would she deal with it!? What if she screwed up somehow? The prospect of being a bad mother was something that haunted her.

Sakura shot her a knowing look. Her wife was fully aware of Tomoyo's insecurities about having a baby. She shared them and had a healthy smattering of apprehension from her terrible experience trying to conceive during her first marriage to boot. Despite that, the Cardmistress nevertheless sent a burst of comfort through their marriage bond.

Though not used as often as the one shared by Dom and her wives, their daughter had shared that she kept it open at all times and had since its formation, the bond forged by their wedding was no less deep. And the warmth of Sakura's comforting love suffused Tomoyo's being, washing away the building upset caused by thinking of her insecurities.

"We might never be safe from the Circle," Sakura warned, pulling Tomoyo back to reality. Though the continuing flow of love that her wife poured through their bond helped keep her mind from straying into the realm of unwanted thoughts.

She knew Sakura wanted to have a baby. Despite her own fears, she very much felt the ticking of their biological clocks. And so she had, in recent years, come to increasingly desire to have a child. Even if their magic made the matter moot by preserving their youth, it didn't seem to be able to change her mind. Then again a person's wants need not be logical.

"I know," Tomoyo agreed, before continuing apologetically. "And I might change my mind eventually, but right now I really don't think it's right for us to have a baby."

"I guess you're right," Sakura conceded with a disappointed sigh.

They sat in silence for a moment, just sipping their tea, taking absent bites at their slices of cake and watching the enraptured Kero-chan demolish the remainder of the confection. This companionable quiet was however broken when a maid hurried over to them.

"Sakura-sama, Tomoyo-sama," the young woman said in between pants to catch her breath and handing a phone to Sakura. "Yumi-sama just called. She says it's urgent."

"Did she say what it was about?" Tomoyo asked as Sakura took Yumi-chan's call.

"She said that she'd discovered evidence that a cult dedicated to the Sapphic Circle is trying to summon the Witch's House."

Tomoyo paled at the news. The Witch's House was the domain of the core members of the Circle. If it was summoned into their world, it would mean only one thing: the start of a full-scale invasion.

It had to be stopped at all costs!

"This is the place, Yumi-chan?" Sakura asked as she, Tomoyo, Yue-san and Kero-chan walked over to the younger Lord as she gestured out of the tent they were all occupying, and which doubled as the operation's command center, towards a traditional Japanese manor.

"Yes, it is." The Third Lord said with a nod towards the compound that dominated a small valley in rural Kagawa Prefecture. "That's indeed the cult's headquarters."

"Have you secured the area and evacuated the civilians?" Tomoyo asked, eyeing the hustling base camp full of Imperial magicians under Yumi-chan's command appraisingly.

"We have established a series of defensive perimeters out to ten kilometers and evacuated everyone, not that there were many of them, out to twenty." Yumi-chan informed them. "The area is as secure as we can make it within the time we had."

Sakura nodded approvingly. That was rather impressive. Then again she expected nothing less from the elite magicians of the Imperial Household. They had been Japan's magical protectors since the Heian period and had carried out their mission remarkably well in those thousand years even as their patron's power waxed and waned. That their island nation had not disappeared from history like long lost Atlantis was proof enough of that.

"Do you think any of your men should accompany us into the building?"

"I'd like to say yes," Yumi-chan said with a sigh. "But realistically no. We're liable to be dealing with the elite, extradimensional servants of the Circle in there. My men are strong, but none of them are capable of facing that. It is better that they stay here and maintain the perimeters we've established. If we fail-"

"Which we won't." Tomoyo said confidently, though Sakura could sense just a hint of apprehension through their bond.

Her reassurance though worked as intended and Yumi-chan smiled slightly before continuing. "In the unlikely event that we fail, at least they'll be able to slow any vanguard the Circle deploys as part of its invasion. I trust them to be able to do that."

"Then if you're not taking them with us. We should strike now."

"Yes, let's not give the cultists any more time to finish their ritual."

"After you, Sakura-sama, Tomoyo-sama."

With the agreement of her fellow Lords obtained, Sakura called on The Move. Immediately, the Sakura Card obeyed and a bubble of pink light expanded out from the pocket of her dress where she kept it. The bubble surrounded them in seconds before blinking out of existence.

It rematerialized a moment later inside the walls of the cultist compound before bursting and depositing the three Lords of the Thirteen and Sakura's two Guardians, each in a ready stance. Sakura had her staff ready and her Guardians' magic were primed and ready. Yumi-chan had her tessens in hand, open to their maximum extent and ready for her to cast a spell at a moment's notice. Even usually mild mannered Tomoyo had a hand on the microphone of the headset that was her Mystic Code ready to cast her illusions or unleash her psionic spells at the first sign of a threat.

Despite their vigilance however, they were unprepared when almost as soon as the bubble The Move created faded, they were once more engulfed by light. This time of a ominous purple color, the light surrounded them and before any of them could respond wrapped them away.

"W-Wha- Was that a teleport trap!?" Yumi said, incredulously as she checked on her comrades.

Much as she expected however, she was alone. No surprise there. If they could teleport their opponents to some place else, it was only the smart thing to do to divide them up as well if possible. Though it seemed like their enemy was underestimating them.

"Yumi-chan," Sakura-sama greeted as she and her Guardians appeared in a burst of pink light before the Third Lord had even finished regaining her bearings. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Yumi reassured the older woman. "How-"

"This place is a labyrinth." Cerberus-san informed her as Sakura-sama hugged one of her Sakura Cards to her breast and began to commune with it, causing it and herself to glow a soft pink. "Sakura used The Maze to resonate with it and guide us to you. She's still trying to find Tomoyo though."

That was very worrying as despite being one of the Lords of the Thirteen, Tomoyo-sama was known for being a weak combatant, her magic being more tailored to a support role than a straight fight. For her to be alone inside a hostile environment… The thought didn't bear thinking. They needed to find her as soon as possible.

"Any luck, Sakura?"

"No," the First Lord said, with a furious shake of her head. "Yumi-chan, could you give it a try? Please!"

"O-Of course," Yumi said even as she expanded her magic into the surroundings whilst simultaneously surveying the area.

All around them were rough stone walls and above them was a cavernous ceiling. The place was dark, the only light coming from sporadically placed clusters of growing crystals.

Are we underground? Was Yumi's first thought as the surrounding elements began answering her call and told her everything she needed to know.

"It's a labyrinth as Cerberus-san said." Yumi informed the First Lord. "Inside of an asteroid floating inside an otherwise empty pocket dimension."

"With this kind of set up. The usual way to get out is to defeat the place's Guardian." Cerberus-san said with an agitated growl. "Yumi-sama, do you know where that is?"

"Or more importantly, Tomoyo?"

"Apologies, Cerberus-san, Yue-san, but I don't think Tomoyo-sama is here with us. If she is, I can't detect her. As for this place's Guardian-"

"I'm right here!" A buxom young woman said as she shimmered into view directly in front of them. She had bright red hair tied into a long braid and was dressed in a short sleeved red shirt, loose black pants and slip on shoes that completed an outfit was associated with the stereotypical depiction of a Chinese martial artist. She was also decidedly not human if the ball joints that kept her limbs together were any indication.

"And the cat is right, you'll have to beat me to get out of here." The doll said with a smirk. "So let's rumble, shall we? Pluvia Acida (Acid Rain)!"

At her incantation, a barrage of lances made out of pitch black energy shot towards them.

"Shield." Sakura-sama said, her voice strangely monotone and lacking the warmth that usually coated her every word.

Immediately a bright pink barrier snapped into being between them and the incoming lances, blocking them. The projectiles packed a trick up their metaphorical sleeves though as they detonated upon impact into spheres of the black energy that made them up but despite this Sakura-sama's barrier held firm.

Yumi only paid all this a cursory notice though as confident in the more experienced Lord's ability to defend them, she had gone on the offensive.

"Ryūja no mai (竜蛇の舞, Dance of the Dragon and Serpent)!" She cast, sending a trio of horizontal tornadoes flying towards the doll, joining the arrow of light and stream of fire that Sakura-sama's Guardians likewise unleashed.

"Scutum Et Putredo (Rot Shield)!" The doll cast, conjuring dozens of panels of the dark energy that her magic was centred around in a protective formation around herself that blocked the attacks thrown at her. "You'll have to try better tha-"

"Dash," Sakura-sama said in a whisper before she vanished, only to reappear within the doll's barriers and startling all of them.

"Sword. Fight. Power." The First Lord said in quick succession as she swung her staff at the doll. Before it could react, the staff transformed into a sword and Sakura-sama used it to cut deeply into its chest, sending splinters flying.

"By Mistress, you're pissed! Flamma De Rasura (Erasure Flame)." The doll said as it leapt back, conjuring a blade of black flames that just barely parried Sakura-sama's next strike. "I guess messing with your woman does that to you, huh? Good to know."

"Uh, should we help Sakura-sama?" Yumi asked almost lamely, glancing away from the vicious sword fight between the First Lord and the doll to look questioningly at her colleague's Guardians.

"Not unless Sakura needs it," Cerberus-san said with a shake of her head. "As pissed as Sakura is right now, I think even she might accidentally engage in some friendly fire."

Sakura-sama engage in friendly fire!? The mild-mannered, widely beloved and warm hearted Sakura-sama becoming so furious that she'd lose her self-control to the point she'd do something like that!?

I guess the doll is right. Don't mess with Tomoyo-sama. Yumi concluded as her mind involuntarily went to what she'd do if anyone hurt her Tōko.

I totally understand how Sakura-sama is feeling. She thought as she smothered the burst of absolute rage at the images her wandering mind had conjured and returned her attention to the fight at hand.

Except it was looking less like a fight than a one-sided slaughter. It had only been a minute or two but the doll had already lost its left arm and was increasingly struggling to keep up with Sakura-sama's swordplay as she continued to press the attack.

"Uh, would it help if I apologize?" The doll asked, sounding fearful as it once more barely parried Sakura-sama's blade.

Instead of answering, Sakura-sama simply struck again. This second attack in such quick succession after the last seemed to catch the doll off guard and it was still woefully out of position to block Sakura-sama's sword as it came in low caught its right arm in the armpit and with a quick tug, severed the entire limb at the shoulder.

"Equus Calcitrant (Horse Kick)!" The doll cried desperately, firing a kinetic blast point blank that forced Sakura-sama back and preempted the fatal strike she was moving in to make.

It did little beyond that though as Sakura-sama's wards simply flashed pink and protected her from any other injury. It also only served to delay the inevitable as even before the doll recovered, Sakura-sama was upon it once more to deal the coup de grâce.

"Fiery." She whispered, causing her sword to be surrounded by a flaming aura as she brought it down in a powerful overhead swing that cut the armless doll from head to groin, leaving a deep gash even as it set it alight.

The burning doll staggered back from Sakura-sama a few steps before collapsing and burning to ash. All whilst the First Lord looked upon her defeated opponent dispassionately.

It was a sight that had Yumi gulping nervously as she for the first time understood just how truly deadly Sakura-sama could be. For in that moment, she was not the loving matriarch of the Japanese magical community nor the respected First Lord. No, in that instant as she looked down in anger at the burning corpse of the foe which had separated her from her wife, Sakura-sama looked like an incarnation of death itself.

"Tomoyo," Sakura-sama said in a semblance of her usual cheery voice, dispelling the awful visage from earlier just like how the labyrinth pocket dimension was dissolving around them. "Let's find her."

As the ominous purple light of the teleport trap faded, Tomoyo found herself alone in the courtyard of the cult's headquarters they were supposed to be storming.

They left me behind? Tomoyo realised with a frown. Why?

"'Cos you're the weakest of the lot of invaders." A red slime wearing the shape of a chibified version of a little girl wearing a dress with visible bloomers and her hair in pigtails said as it stepped out of the shadows at the opposite side of the courtyard.

"What Suramui means is that you're the least dangerous in a fight." A second slime said. Unlike its counterpart it was green in color, but was also wearing the caricature of a little girl, this time dressed in an elementary school uniform, a cat-eared cap on her head, her hair tied in bows and wearing a pair of glasses. "The trap was designed to send the more combat capable members of any invading group to a pocket dimension where one of our sisters would keep them occupied whilst we dealt with the lesser threats."

Tomoyo might have been offended at the dismissal of her abilities, but she never got the chance as she was forced to spin out of the way as a third opponent revealed itself by leaping off the roof of the manor and with its arms shaped into warhammers tried to squash her flat. This third attacker was unsurprisingly another slime and also wore the guise of a chibi little girl. It was a blue slime with long hair that was cut away from her eyes, dressed in a gown and wore a distant expression on her face.

"Oi Pudding! That's just rude!" The green slide chided the new arrival. "At least introduce yourself before trying to kill someone. Remember what Mistress taught us?"

"Assassination," Pudding shot back in a whisper as she threw her arms out at Tomoyo, the limbs transforming into spiked whips as she did so.

"Gradation Air," Tomoyo cast, causing the air in between her and the whips to become denser than steel and deflecting the slime's attack.

"She's gotcha there Ameko," Suramui said with a chuckle as she transformed her arms into blades and leapt at Tomoyo. "Mistress did say silence is key in an assassination."

"Mirror Alice," Tomoyo whispered as she let herself be skewered, only for her body to suddenly explode and send the red slime flying as she stepped out behind the green slime.

"But this isn't an assasination!" Ameko countered, even as she spun on her heel, transforming her whole body into a giant wrecking ball as she did and slammed into Tomoyo. "This is supposed to be a normal, honorable fight!"

"Says who?" Tomoyo heard the red slime shoot back even as she thanked the strength of the armor wards that she'd cast before the operation. They'd mostly held against the unnatural force the slime's attack had hit her with, saving her from being reduced to a bloody smear and for that she was grateful even as she flew through the air from the blow.

"Teleport." She cast seconds before she would have painfully impacted the wooden walkway that surrounded the courtyard and narrowly avoided the lashing lengths of the blue slime's spiked whips.

She materialized in the middle of the courtyard, putting her roughly equidistant from all three slimes and giving her just enough time to cast a single spell even as she rolled to a stop, bleeding off the last of the momentum from the earlier blow.

"The Mist," she incanted before pulling off another teleport to evade the bladed dervish that was the red slime and the green slime's barrage of hardened bits of her own body.

"What is this!?" The red slime said as she came to a stop from her spin and looked around the yard to see a bank of unnatural mist had suddenly settled over it.

"The Seventh Lord's spell of course," the polite green slime said as she too surveyed their surroundings though she did so with a wariness her comrades lacked. "Now where is she hi-"

She was forced to cut herself off when suddenly Pudding, the blue slime's whips lashed out at her and she was forced to leap to safety.

"Pudding, what are you doing!?" She shouted only to be forced to once more jump back when Suramui attacked her with her blades. "Suramui too? That means- Seventh Lord! This is your do-"

"It is," Tomoyo confessed as she appeared behind the green slime who lashed out by shooting a lance shaped pseudopod out of its head to impale her, only to hit empty air. This distraction with what was behind her cost her though as Tomoyo shimmered into view in front of her.

"Implosion." She cast, causing the very space that the slime occupied to collapse upon itself, sucking in its body in the process until there was nothing there. This was followed seconds later by a sound akin to a gunshot or cannon blast a second later as the distortion faded and the air it sucked in was shot back out.

The slime was noticeably lacking from this though and Tomoyo smiled at that and turned back to its two remaining compatriots. Both of whom were still busy attacking each other under the influence of the illusions cast upon them by her Mist that made them mistake each other as her.

"Sorry for tricking you two but all's fair in love and war." Tomoyo told them as she watched their furious battle whilst tenderly holding her broken ribs and used what limited healing magic she'd learned on her injury.

"Pudding, Ameko!? Where are you two?" The red slime shouted furiously even as she dueled blade to whip with her blue counterpart. "Why aren't you helping me against the Seventh? Don't tell me-"

"Yes, I took them out already." Tomoyo lied, though the slime couldn't hear her. "And now it's your turn. Psychocutter."

Focusing her mind in tandem with her incantation, Tomoyo sent a blast of psionic energy that shredded the confused red slime. It howled in agony even as its body seemed to decay right before Tomoyo's eye and it collapsed into dust that blew away on an ethereal wind.

That's not what usually happens to slimes when they die. Tomoyo thought, her eyes narrowing at the sight. It's almost as if rather than killing it I severed its connection to the wo-

"Argh!" Tomoyo screamed in pain, pulled violently from her thoughts as the blue slime's whips slammed into her side, their spikes digging deep into her side and sending her flying.

It's seen through my illusions. Tomoyo realised rather belatedly as she teleported out of the way of the slime's follow up strike. How?

"Ameko told me to tell you that she told me that you're using illusions to trick me." The slime said, in a quiet subdued but coldly furious voice. "Suramui said it's a dirty trick. They asked me to beat you for them."

"Your sisters can communicate with you across the veil of our universe?" Tomoyo probed, suppressing the pain from her wounds even as she conjured a plethora of illusions of herself to confuse her enemy and buy her time to heal her wounds.

The blue slime just nodded even as she destroyed Tomoyo's illusionary doubles one by one.

Okay, that confirms it. They're either Outsider servants or extradimensional mercenaries. Considering just who we're raiding, I'm thinking the former even though they seem a lot more well adjusted to operating in a mortal plane than the latest abominations the Circle have been throwing at us.

"Thank you for the intel," Tomoyo told the taciturn slime as it finished the last few of her doubles and leaving Tomoyo standing exposed. "But I've really got to end this now. Psystrike."

The blue slime must have sensed what was coming. For it abandoned its attack to jump back. Sadly, it failed to understand the nature of Tomoyo's psionic spells. They focused on the mind. So as long as she could target a mind, they were simply impossible to evade. Thus even as it pulled off remarkable acrobatics to avoid it, a pillar of raw psychic energy erupted with the blue slime at its centre scorching its very mind and sending it hurtling out of the universe to whence it came.

"G-Glad it's over," Tomoyo said with a pained sigh of relief as she dropped her invisibility spell and dismissed her last illusionary double. "N-Now I can focus on healing this before Sakura sees it and freaks out."

Fate was unfortunately a cruel mistress and Tomoyo had just finished that sentence when in a shimmer much like a heat haze, Yumi-chan, Kero-chan, Yue-san and most importantly her beloved wife reappeared in the courtyard.

"Just my luck," Tomoyo muttered under her breath as Sakura caught sight of her and her eyes widened in horror.

"Tomoyo!" The First Lord practically screamed as she ran towards her, The Light already manifesting behind her and her hands aglow with healing magic.

"What happened!?" Her wife demanded as she poured healing magic into her wounds.

"I got smacked around a little by a trio of slimes in service to an Outsider," Tomoyo explained to her wife. "All things considered, I think getting out of it with only a few broken ribs and a handful of stab wounds was lucky."

"You getting wounded doesn't count as lucky in any way." Sakura shot back as Tomoyo's injuries finished stitching themselves back together.

"Uh, not to interrupt anything, Sakura-sama, Tomoyo-sam." Yumi-chan said, nervously. "But we have a ritual to stop?"

"Right, the ritual." Sakura said, sounding angry despite the warmth of her voice. "It's being held inside this compound, correct?"

"Y-Yes," Yumi-chan said, paling slightly. "Sakura-sama what are you-"

Sakura didn't give the poor girl a chance to finish her question.

"Hope, make this compound disappear!"

At her command, the familiar form of a young girl with long, silvery hair with wings atop her head, wearing a frilled dress that was The Hope materialized above the compound, a winged heart cradled in her arms as always. What was decidedly not usual, was the look of anger that was stretched across her face as she lifted one arm over her head and conjured a massive sphere of nothingness.

"Sakura! Wait! We need to capture some of the cultist ali-"

"They hurt you." Sakura said, cold fury burning in her eyes. "They must be punished. Hope, do it."

The Hope nodded and with a look of vindictive glee she dropped the sphere of nothingness onto the compound. For a moment everything around them was consumed by darkness and as light returned, there was nothing left of the compound. There was however no hole in the ground. No, The Hope's power was a lot more precise than that. Instead, the compound and the compound alone had vanished. Every timber, every stone, every tile, banished from Creation. The only sign that it ever existed was the empty space it had previously occupied in the valley and thankfully the unconscious cultists that had been its owners.

"You scared me there, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo said, breathing a sigh of relief that she noted Yumi-chan shared. "I honestly thought you'd have Hope kill those cultists."

"I was tempted to." Sakura admitted with a sigh. "Oh, so tempted. But I couldn't do it."

"Well, glad you had the restraint not to, Sakura. 'Cos Hope certainly needed it." Kero-chan said and Tomoyo turned to see a disgruntled looking Hope float down to the ground next to one of the cultists and kick him in the side, earning a gasp of pain from him.

"Hope that's enough," Sakura chided the Sakura Card which pouted but obeyed and transformed back into its sealed form and shot back into her pocket. "She can be such a handful."

"It is in her nature," Yue commented airily. "So what shall we do with these cultists?"

"Yumi-chan?"

"Yes!" The aforementioned Third Lord said, shooting up to a ramrod straight standing position from where she'd been in the middle of cuffing one of the cultists with a set of earthen handcuffs she'd conjured.

"Can we trust you to handle things from here? I'd like to take Tomoyo home. After that scare, I think we need some time to unwind."

Tomoyo rolled her eyes at her wife's overprotectiveness. She was fine! She'd been healed, by her wife no less! There was nothing wrong with her. They didn't need to head home and dump everything on poor Yumi-chan's shoulders. Then again, she knew if she said any of that, she would just be ignored as her wife shuffled her home anyways. So she kept quiet and just exchanged exasperated looks with the woman's Guardians.

"Yes, of course, Sakura-sama. Leave it to me."

"Good," Sakura said, offering their teenage colleague a smile before turning to Tomoyo and picking her up in a princess carry.

"Sakura! Wha-'' Tomoyo began to protest only for her wife to ignore her completely and use The Move to teleport them home.

"I see Omer isn't in attendance," Dom said as she surveyed the empty chair that had been set aside for him in the dining room of the Kinomoto-Daidouji mansion that was serving as the venue of the meeting of Council of Thirteen that her foster parents were hosting. "Did he even reply to his invitation?"

"No," Sakura-sama admitted. "Then again I didn't expect him to. You know how he is."

Dom nodded. That was true, That Omer was a misanthropic recluse was a well known fact. Oh, sure, he could be trusted to cooperate with the rest of them. Most of the time at least. But outside of that, he was notorious for refusing to engage with the rest of the Council except on the rare occasion with the Twelfth.

"Yes, Omer's absence is expected. What isn't is the fact that Rose Iris, Dante, Bella and Legion are as well." Tomoyo-sama said, shooting Dom a disapproving look. "Are you seriously saying that you are representing all of them, Dominique?"

Dom winced. Her foster mother only called her by her full name when she was thoroughly annoyed with her. It was rare. Both her mothers, ironically Tomoyo-sama more so, were legendarily forgiving but even they had their limits. And a teenager, even the most well behaved ones, would test even the limits of saints like them. In that regard, Dom had been no exception.

"Yes," she said confidently despite Tomoyo-sama's anger. "Legion, Rose Iris and Dante aren't ready to assume their mantles in full yet. As their parent and/or mentor, I will represent them here for the purposes of this meeting. As for Bella…"

"She and Jane are mediating a major dispute between the Volturi and their neighbours the Cullens at the moment," Helena chimed in via her projection, temporarily pulling away from the blood bag she'd been leisurely sucking on for the last few minutes to do so. "Considering should they fail, we might see a Volterran civil war that very likely might spill over to include other Midians, between the two of us it was decided that she focus on the talks. I and Dom can fill her in on what we cover today, though naturally as her mentor she trusted Dom with her voting rights should any votes need to be made."

"The Volterrans are possibly facing a civil war?" Yuki asked, alarmed. "Helena, please brief me on this later. There are a coven of them up in the Kamchatka Peninsula. If they get embroiled in this war then there's a high likelihood of spillover into my brother's lands."

"If Far East Russia is affected then Japan likely will too even if as far as I know there aren't any Volterrans in the country," Yumi mused. "Please include me in that briefing as well Helena."

"Will do," Helena said with a nod. "Though it's really not that big of a deal. It's just the Volturi poaching of vampires with powerful gifts from their covens has finally been noticed thanks to their overly aggressive attempts to recruit Alice Cullen. Bella is trying to get the Volturi and Alice to agree to a consultancy style partnership, where she's on call but doesn't need to leave her coven. Last I heard, the Volturi have already agreed it's just convincing the Cullens now. Bella should have that done shortly. You all know how persuasive she is. She's just so naturally personable that it's almost impossible to say no to her."

"That may be true," Eriol said through his projection from London. "But we must still be prepared for the possibility, no matter how remote, of the talks failing. So please brief us on them later."

"You too, Eriol? Oh right, there's a coven of Volterrans in London isn't there. Alright, I'll include you too. Might be a while after this meeting though, I probably should check in with Bella before I share any details."

"That's prudent." The Twelfth agreed. "And I think you should brief all of us, at least those of us present here today. Just in case."

"Agreed," Sakura-sama said as Dom and Tomoyo-sama nodded in agreement.

"Oh, alright." Helena said with an affected sigh as she played up her child-like appearance. "But later. We should discuss the increased activity by the cultist activity related to the Sapphic Circle within Japan first. I think that's more pressing."

"Yes, I agree." The Twelfth said, kicking off a round of agreement from everyone.

"Thank you, everyone. Then let's proceed." Sakura-sama said once everyone spoke. "Yumi-chan, the floor is yours.

"Thank you, Sakura-sama, everyone." The Third Lord said as she waved her hand and conjured a hologram of the Japanese islands with a dozen red dots scattered throughout. "Those red dots are sites of the aforementioned cultist activity. At least the ones we've discovered."

She waved her hand again and another two dozen orange dots appeared.

"These are suspected cultist cells." She explained. "Even one of either is dangerous enough as is. It only thanks one sufficiently dedicated cell to perform a ritual to call the Outsiders into our world. Certainly such attempts, like the one Sakura-sama, Tomoyo-sama and I foiled last week, are easy to detect and mobilize against but it only takes one to succeed and we'd be in serious trouble. And as you can see, Japan has up to and likely more than three dozen cells. I think you can all see why this is a cause for concern?"

"What do you require to fight this menace?" Helena asked, her eyes narrowed and her eyes glowing blood red as she glared at the hologram.

"More manpower," Yumi-chan said without hesitation. "Both the Imperial Household's mages under my command and the Tomoeda militia under Sakura-sama and Tomoyo-sama's have been run ragged keeping ahead of the cultists. We need an infusion of manpower before our men start getting sloppy from overwork and miss something."

"I'll send a battalion of Sanctuary's militia over." Dom said immediately. "And put out a call for volunteers."

"I don't have men I can promise immediately." Yuki said apologetically. "I've already contacted Yori through our bond. She'll speak to Nii-sama and get you a figure of how many you can expect from us Kuranians shortly. But at a minimum I can probably make some calls and get you about a hundred people. I'll also reach out to the other Ancients and see if any of them can spare you some men."

"I'll send you a couple companies from my Praetorian Guard," Helena said. "And God I hate that name but Carmilla insists. Bloody hell, why did she have to turn out to be Roman!? Sorry, tangent. Anyways, yeah, I'll have two companies, that's two hundred, of my elite guard at your disposal by the morning."

"I sadly have no men to offer," the Twelfth said with a sigh. "But I will redouble my efforts to assist your scrying efforts."

At this he shot Dom a pointed look and she sighed. "And I'll get Legion to assist as well. Hopefully, that will lighten the load somewhat."

"You all have our thanks," Yumi-chan said, choking up slightly at the ready offers of assistance.

"Didn't I tell you, Yumi-chan." Sakura-sama said, offering the girl a smile. "We're all a team. All you needed to do was ask."

Yumi-chan just nodded. Too overcome by emotion to speak.

In a burst of black lightning, the Outsider known as the Mage of the Abyss teleported herself into the billiard room of the Witch's House where the gathered members of the Sapphic Circle were playing pool.

"Hello everyone," the Outsider in the guise of a very well endowed, petite redhead said as she surveyed who was in attendance whilst the others returned her greeting.

Bent over a table and taking a shot was Azathoth and standing next to her offering advice on how to do so was her consort, the Reaper. Standing nearby and holding a pool cue of her own, signifying that she was Azathoth's opponent was the White Queen who was as usual flanked by her mindless zombie of a wife. Atop a bar a short distance away and busy making out were Midori and Shiro. The scandalous couple having long since divested themselves of their clothes from the waist up and were actively working towards full on public sex rather than just simple public indecency. Watching them with amusement from one of the bar stools was Viola who was being served a drink by her wife Ellen from behind the bar.

All in all, it was a typical gathering of the Sapphic Circle. Unlike most factions of their kind, the Circle was more a laidback group of friends than an agenda driven organisation. Yes, they had common interests that they worked together as a group to achieve but most of the time they just hung out and watched each other's back against more predatory factions.

That was why the latest moves that the Circle were making were confusing the Mage. And since it seems all the major culprits for said actions were in one place this was the perfect time to find out just what in the Void did they think they were doing!

"Ahem!" The Mage coughed loudly, causing everyone to turn towards her. Even Midori and Shiro had turned a metaphorical eye her way even though they continued their hanky panky. Midori had lost her skirt by now and Shiro was actively working to get her out of her panties too.

"What is it, Ranma?" Azathoth asked as she took her shot and missed entirely, hitting nothing.

"Just wanted to know why in the name of the Primals we're meddling in the affairs of Thirteen," The Mage said, crossing her arms over her ample bosom. "Especially Ellen's use of my familiars that were supposed to be vacationing here in the House to attack them."

"Your familiars volunteered." Ellen said, looking confused. "You're upset that they got involved? I mean I know when I issued the invitation to this operation, you said you weren't interested but like I said they volunteered."

Damn, she's got me there. It's not like I gave them orders not to get involved.

"And their injuries?" Ranma said, trying a different tack.

"They didn't get any lasting injuries from the affair. Nothing a bit of regenerating or an hour or two with Puppetmaster didn't fix." Ellen said with a shrug. "I don't see the big deal. They even said they liked the bit of fun."

"But if you're opposed to them getting involved," Viola cut in before Ranma could reply. "We promise not to use any of your familiars, whatever they say, without your permission. Is that okay?"

That would work, if I didn't know my hellions. If I let them stay here, they'll definitely figure out some way to get involved.

"Nah, I think I'll just take them home. It's safer that way." Ranma said with a sigh as she ran a hand through her hair. "I really don't want to get entangled with Thirteen and whatever plans you guys have with them."

"You're missing out on a lot of fun, ya know." Frenda said teasingly from where she'd draped herself over Azathoth's shoulder. Considering that Ruiko was a whole head taller than the blonde, she was literally hanging off her wife like some human backpack. It was adorable.

"Maybe," Ranma allowed and quite honestly was sorely tempted. What her fellow members of the Circle were getting up to sounded incredibly fun. "But Eva-chan will be upset if I get involved in a war."

"For a vampire, your wife is surprisingly pacifist." Weiss observed with an amused shake of her head as she took her turn bending over the pool table to line up her shot. "But I understand the need to appease your significant other."

"Same," Midori and Shiro said in verbal unison without the hint of magical assistance.

How they managed that, Ranma didn't know and didn't want to find out. She'd averted her eyes from their direction ever since Midori had ripped the last of Shiro's clothes off a while ago. Though considering the sounds of intense love making that was coming out of their mouths for the whole time since then, how they managed it was an honest mystery.

"Well, you could stay and not partake." Ellen suggested. "You know that's perfectly fine, right?"

"Yeah, but it's too tempting." Ranma admitted. "So I'll be going now. Till next time, girls."

"Wait! Before you go." Viola said as she teleported to her side and handed Ranma a wicker basket. "Here. For you and Eva-san."

"What's this?"

"There's a place called Sanctuary in Thirteen's world. It's a hodgepodge of Earth's cultures. This is a sampler of some of the delicacies we've managed to sneak out of there in between our missions. I'm sure you and Eva-san will like them."

"They're Circle approved." Ellen chimed in with a grin.

Ranma rolled her eyes.

"Thanks," she said as she recalled her familiars in the House back inside her being and primed her magic to take her home.

"Bye girls!"

With a burst of black lightning the Mage of the Abyss teleported away.

Done!

So like how I had Sakura lose her cool? And how that transformed her into a terrifying badass? After all, she's supposed to be the most powerful magician in this setting. What else can she be but a monster when she cuts loose?

Tomoyo actually won a fight!? Unbelievable, right? Well, she is a Lord of the Thirteen. That naturally means she's no pushover even if she's not considered a frontliner by their reckoning. That and her opponents weren't really putting all that much effort into the fight either as hinted at in the last scene. The Slime Sisters were effectively "on loan" to the Circle's current operation and thus didn't really bring their A-game. Even then they roughed Tomoyo up pretty bad. Thank goodness for healing magic, right?

And I hope you guys enjoyed the cameos of characters from my joint fic with Engineer4Ever, Rise of Prodigies. It's not necessary to understand anything in this fic but if you enjoy my writing at all, I encourage you to go give it a read.

Well that's all for me this chapter, so till next time saraba da!