Taura focused her sight on the closest group of apoptosis as she used the multi-missile launcher offered to her. Even as they were torn apart by the projectiles, the apoptosis didn't slow down and continued walking forward until they no longer could, completely destroyed by the rain of projectiles. The makina-wielding minotaur couldn't take a second to appreciate her victory: Another group was already progressing toward her position, their weapons at the ready. She switched to her guns and started exchanging bullets with them, and fortunately her opponent's numerous attacks were stopped or mitigated by the barrier raised by Julia. The worm-using villager was using every spell at her disposition to help defend her allies while occasionally knocking back an apoptosis that was stepping too close.

As the number of available targets started decreasing, the minotaur's mind wandered back toward the instruction they had received: Slow down the apoptosis as much as possible while the village of Saloon was evacuated. The queen of Sabasa herself went to the village to inform the inhabitants of the upcoming danger represented by the apoptosis, and although some villagers were reluctant to leave their beloved birthplace, everybody followed her orders as strange, green clouds started showing up. While the magical analysis done indicated they were harmless, their supernatural appearance likely weighted in everyone's decision to leave this place.

And so Taura herself and a few allies had been tasked with holding the apoptosis away until the town was emptied of its inhabitants. As the followers of the hero, it was her duty to defend the world as nobody else could. During a short moment of reflection, she came to miss the times before, when the world wasn't such a mess. And for a single moment, she regretted joining the hero before she remembered that it wasn't his fault that the world was in this story state. If anything, joining him gave her the capacity to be able to hold the line against this onslaught and help everyone when her old self could have barely held her own against a few of those strange apoptosis monsters.

As she lost herself into this moment, she didn't notice the apoptosis that was crawling slowly toward her, almost invisible. The mechanical monster leaped at her and knocked her down, and as it raised a mechanical limb in an attempt to attack the minotaur again. For all her trouble, she got kicked away by a blade of wind, freeing the minotaur who finished it with a precise shot. The next instant, Taura felt an invigorating wave of energy and got up. She turned toward Witch, the succubus sorceress, and nodded in thanks. The pseudo soothsayer accumulated a large amount of energy, and released another wind blade close to the ground. The spell caught up several almost invisible apoptosis who got wrecked in the assault.

Taura suddenly felt a powerful rumbling through the floor, and suddenly saw Dahlia, the giant sandworm girl, dig a large trench across the floor in front of them. Good, if anything, it would slow down the apoptosis progression ever so slightly and give them a tactical advantage.

And it soon came to use as yet another wave of unfeeling, dogmatic monsters progressed toward them only accompanied by the noise of their organic or mechanical limbs. Even as they moved and charged no war cry came from their lines. Even as they were wounded and torn apart no screams came from their mouth. The silence only made the fight feel more eerie and supernatural.

As the small party kept raining down attacks on the tide of monsters in front of them, a whistling, crackling noise could be heard far behind them. Witch held a hand to her head and nodded.

"Our job here is complete."

"Then let's give them one final piece of our mind and get back home."

Witch and Julia nodded. Taura herself proceeded to pull a large cannon on her shoulder while her partners accumulated energy. She carefully aimed her shots, tearing apart one apoptosis with each blast from her monstrous weapon. After what felt like far too long, her companions finally unleashed their own attack: A rain of lightning bolts of a rare violence fell on the tide of apoptosis, tearing apart any monsters caught in it and kicking up glassed dirt around. Both her companions stumbled a bit afterwards, and she herself felt exhaustion filling her limbs as the adrenaline of the fight left her.

She pulled out a harpy feather, and, in the blink of an eye, the party was back in front of the Pocket Castle. They slowly entered, exhausted by the ordeal, and could see monsters running around while a few beds were filled with their more seriously wounded companions. After all, what they had just dealt with was happening all over the world, and everybody was needed. Witch left the party to make her report to the leaders of the world while the remainder made its way to the dining room. Fortunately, the place had been extremely stocked, and they wouldn't run out of food anytime soon. Taura herself got to enjoy some sukiyaki before going to take a rest. She hoped that the situation would be over before she would be needed again, but deep down she knew better. It was better to be well rested to be prepared.

Before she went to sleep the minotaur saw another group of monsters preparing to leave. She only heard that Iliasville needed reinforcement before they left, and sighed.

The situation wasn't going to get better anytime soon, was it?

People in Yamatai were hiding in their own home after a strange monster arrived. While her upper part was could make her pass as a human if it wasn't for her purplish skin color, her lower part looked like a strange amalgamate of legs. She was wearing an elaborate oriental dress that looked more like an ornament than an actual outfit, as her body was bared for all to see. Her red eyes checked the place around her with a delighted contempt: The inhabitants there were no threat. Her old home would fall easily to her. Delighted, she exploded into laughter.

"Behold, for I am the legendary queen Himiko, and I have returned thanks to Black Alice's gifts! Now, give me a fitting tribute of young men, or I will personally raze this place to the ground and torture every last one of you!"

The town was silent for a moment before a large fire bomb fell on her and broke her shield apart. When it cleared, Himiko was greeted by the sight of Quetzalcoatl's colorful plumage as well as her rage-filled expression as the primal flying lamia was hovering in front of her. Himiko hissed.

"So, here comes one of the traitors…" She took a smoking pipe from her cloth, and shook it around as she laughed. "Is it how you repay Black Alice? By squandering her generosity and betraying her?"

Quetzalcoatl hissed back. "I did not betray her. She was nowhere to be seen as soon as one of the hero's allies attacked me. She abandoned me at the first occasion that presented itself."

"And it was as it should be. The weak is left behind. Is it why you left the tower and joined the hero? That's pathetic."

"No. I joined him because he offered me the best food one could dream off. I joined him because he offered me his support to protect my worshippers. And most of all I joined him because HE DOES NOT FORCE ME TO COOPERATE WITH THAT STUPID CAT!"

Quetzalcoatl attempted to dive bomb toward Himiko, but got held back by a shield. The monstrous queen laughed and riposted with an ice blast that knocked Quetzalcoatl back.

"Is that all you got? Your departure was no loss then."

The lamia rose up into the sky and prepared another dive bomb. Himiko attempted to blast her out of the sky with an ice pillar, but her opponent gracefully evaded it into a smooth dance.

Himiko was already jubilating at the perspective of her easy victory against her ancient ally, when she heard words that chilled her mind.

"Null magic."

She turned around and blasted a wind blade toward where those words came from, but it was too late: Her shield had already collapsed, and the moment she tried to cast it again, the lamia was ramming into her at the speed of sound. Himiko was propelled across the village and landed near the entrance. When she got up, she saw a group of kitsunes led by Nanabi. The fox centaur's expression was grim, fully focused on the dangerous threat in front of her.

Himiko snarled. "An ambush? Of course, that cowardly kitsune's family is fighting on unfair terms! It's all you know to do."

Nanabi answered her provocation. "You are one to talk, Queen of Devastation. You got Yamatai destroyed in a display of cruelty that disgusted Tamamo while participating in the consumption of its inhabitants in its rawest form."

"Do you think your mistress was any different before turning into a pampered kitten, you rotten carpet?"

"She changed, and she often told us that you were the reason as to why. So I will tell you this. Most enemies we face, we only incapacitate to try to sway them later to our side. You will not get that treatment." Her eyes narrowed. "I know enough about you to consider sacrificing our place in this world to kill you a worthy trade off. Annihilate her."

Each time Himiko tried to raise a shield, it was taken down thanks to the combined efforts of Nanabi and her aides. As Quetzalcoatl was summoning divine fire again, Himiko decided to fully focus on attacking her while avoiding her opponent's attacks as best as she could. Most of her efforts were focused on the flying lamia: It was her most dangerous opponent, and she had a bone to pick with the traitor. She focused ice blast after ice blast at the flying monster. Several ended up hitting their target, and Himiko cackled with glee as the lamia fell from the sky.

However she also noticed that the kitsune's perpetual assaults started to bring her down. Yet another storm of rock shards scratched her, and while she managed to hold her own against the magic hurricane as she focused her energy to counter it, a lightning bolt from one of the ninja's jutsu stunned her for a second. She kicked up a blade of wind to get rid of those pests, but most of them managed to evade it as it only knocked back one of the younger looking ones. She raised her fist in anger.

"This isn't over! You'll come back crawling for me once you see what Black Alice has in stock for you."

Himiko then proceeded to teleport away. The wounded trainee was slowly getting up, a large but superficial gash present on her face. Nanabi herself made her way to Quetzalcoatl. The large snake monster was lying on the ground on her face, and was having difficulties breathing.

"I don't think I will make it… But I will be able to say proudly that I defended this world."

"You'll be fine."

Quetzalcoatl coughed. "I don't know if you're trying to reassure me or playing a trick, but I feel my breath becoming harsher by the second…"

"No, really, you'll be fine. That sensation you're feeling is because you fell on your stomach and your tail is compressing your… impressive chest."

Quetzalcoatl twisted around to take a look, and noticed that the kitsune was not lying to her. She instantly repositioned herself in a more dignified pose, and solemnly looked at Nanabi while clearing her throat.

"Please forget that."

Nanabi nodded. "Please, keep protecting Yamatai."

Quetzalcoatl gave out a motherly smile. "Oh I will. I appreciate its people too much to leave it now."

Said people were coming out in drove from their houses with offerings. While the kitsunes got a fair share of thin fried tofus, most of the gifts were for the "mighty snake." Quetzalcoatl was basking a little too much in the worship of the locals to the kitsune's taste.

Nanabi eventually shrugged it off. As long as the ancient monster behaved, there was no harm done…

"We are holding so far. The cities closest to Tartarus got evacuated, but…" The Grand Noah queen leaned back on her chair as she sighed. "I don't know for how long we'll successfully hold the apoptosis back."

Micaela and Tamamo were leaning over a large makina that projected the map of the world. It was updated each time a team brought in a report, whether they engaged apoptosis, other monsters, or any other anomalies. Every Tartarus was surrounded by a whole bunch of pings that indicated hostile contacts with apoptosis. So far, not a single one had reached a living city, although some had started to appear alarmingly close. Everybody was relieved that their teamwork paid off. And furthermore, the higher class apoptosis were thankfully missing for now.

However several different markers had appeared in other places, including populated ones far from Tartarus, silent testimonies that Black Alice herself had made moves. And Micaela doubted that the eighth Monster Lord's actions were framed by a desire to remain as close to true history as possible. Her mind also drifted toward the Lilith Sisters: So far, nobody had seen them. A grim thought crossed her mind: Considering how fast the succubi were, if they attacked a party, there was the possibility that their targets would be dead without being able to report or even to react.

Micaela looked at the projection of the Snow Continent. Its borders were invisible, covered under markers. Angels were now actively patrolling the moutains around, and it was only thanks to one of the angel soldier that somehow managed to infiltrate the continent that they knew what happened inside: Zion was part of the border patrol, Gnosis was guarding the shrine, Eden was doing the same for Snow Heaven, and Uriela was apparently guarding the ruins of Ilias Temple, their objectives, surrounded by a small army of valkyries. So far, nothing was moving on this side.

The most worrying change appearing on the map was the slow but visible expansion of the different Tartarus: All of them were slowly expanding, and everybody was prompt to notice that they were moving toward the central one, which was the only one that actually expanded in every direction. Furthermore, the one in Grangold was back, and another had spawned where the Holy Wings Shrine was located before Black Alice had nuked it.

Tamamo shook her head negatively: There was no telling what would happen once all of them joined. Time was off the essence now, and the only way they could restore the world was if Luka fulfilled his journey to defeat the Monster Lord with the Garuda Girl.

Well…Theoretically. They had to take care of the situation in the Snow Continent first. And the place was too heavily defended for a direct assault to not degenerate into a complete slaughter. Micaela still remembered the assault on Esta, and she didn't want to be the one on the attacking side there.

"How is the plan with the World Tree progressing?"

"Fast enough, it should be fully ready by the end of the week." Lucretia was currently discussing with Sara and Freya about the situation in Sabasa and the surroundings regions: With the only close Tartarus expanding in another direction, it was the least threatened place, but it didn't prevent a multitude of issues from appearing because of the sudden influx of refugees. Luckily, a few plant monsters and fairies were helping crop grows and playing peacekeepers, preventing the situation from degeneration further.

"That's too slow…"

"Alrauna can't do it faster, even with the use of time magic. It's all simply impossible."

"I don't harbor a single doubt about it and I apologize if it looked otherwise. I just wished those idiots would realize the predicament they're putting everyone in." She punctuated her sentence by gesturing at the Snow Continent.

"Their Ilias definitively took our resistance personally." The small goddess was also looking over the map. She didn't even spare a hostile or fearful glance at one of the monsters or angels around. Maybe she did realize that she had to cooperate with them if she wanted to survive. Or maybe it was because she felt less helpless after all her training. In any case, she was now bearing the look of everyone just fine. "I don't even think they would accept us surrendering to the light, not that it is even really an option. Please tell me one of you have a plan."

"We have one, but we imperatively need the World Tree to be ready for it. Once done, Tamamo will contact the twins with the hope that they won't forget to do their part. In the meantime however…"

"I'll go check on Luka and see if he's up for some training. I'd prefer saving my energy for my part." Tamamo started making her way out of the room when she took a peek at Ilias.

Both Micaela and the kitsune expected a small pique from the small goddess, but the latter remained silent, too focused on the map. It was clear she had changed. The kitsune shrugged it off and was leaving when a moody Alma Elma entered.

"Luka's disappeared."

Everyone present went wide-eyed. The succubus queen continued, still slightly angry over what had apparently happened.

"I was watching over him, but after a while, I noticed something strange with the wind surrounding him. When I approached him, I realized it was only a bunch of pillow surrounded by his aura. I don't know how he did that."

"It's a basic ninjutsu trick."

Everybody turned toward Tamamo's, and the kitsune's ears drooped. "I didn't expect he'd pull that one on us."

"Why did you even taught him?"

"It's an effective strategy in court to get out of a sticky situation!"

Micaela passed a hand over her face as she looked at the succubus queen.

"You don't happen to have developed a personal connection that could help us find him?"

"No more than you happen to have one because he's part of your family."

"…Ok…" Micaela looked at the map, carefully examining the different spots, and closed her eyes. "He was completely berserk last time we saw him, enough to kill Lucifina-"

Ilias' mouth was open wide in shock as she blabbered a few words.

"-With our support, not alone of course. But the point is, he's currently looking for a target for his rage between the Lilith Sisters, the Angel Faction, and Black Alice's goons. He can't access the Vampire Castle on his own, same for Snow Continent... So remains..."

Tamamo snarled. "Puppeteer's Tower. By all logic, he's at Puppeteer Tower."