Tala and Mistress clashed in a storm.

The grass was torn up, trampled, and obliterated in a wide circle, though not as large an area as might be expected, as both women were working hard either to keep from being moved, or to keep in close.

Blades and walls of air were countered with tornadoes and whirlwinds of iron. The remnants scored scars across Tala’s armor that she was forced to heal.

Inviolable dimensionality was bypassed—not violated—by Tala’s own dimensional variations through her soulbound weapon. The cuts she landed quickly healed through Mistress’s third magical set.

That seemingly depthless, rapid healing was slowed and tested by Tala’s use of void to impart heavy damage from even minor cuts, Flow’s void-edge adding separation where none was intended to be.

Tala reveled in the power that she felt, clashing with an opponent who was effectively three Refined functioning in perfect harmony, all striving to end her.

She wasn’t sure of her victory by any means, even if she was confident in obliterating Mistress with ease if she’d only had any one of the magic sets.

It was odd in a way. Most Refined had delved into multiple magical fields by the time they’d reached that level. Tala was a perfect example, straddling healing, cellular stability, physical enhancement, gravity alteration, surface area expansion, and more besides.

Because of that, it wasn’t like Mistress’s suite of abilities were beyond what Tala expected in a peer.

Instead, it was as if Mistress had hyper-specialized three times over, making each of the ability-sets more than they should have been able to be when used together.

Without her iron, Tala would have been utterly at the mercy of the air blades. Without her shape-changing weapon, she would have had a much harder time passing the dimensional defenses.

No, I could have used void to bypass that… but that would still be relying on Flow.

She could likely use her dissolution breath as well, but that was still an imperfect ability, and she was hesitant to rely on it in such a situation. They were moving so rapidly, it would be almost as likely to harm her as Mistress.

As to the healing—assuming there wasn’t something more to that suite of magics—any means of heavy damage dealing would have been just as good as her void at dealing with that.

…Well, not just as good, but sufficient to press an advantage on that front.

Her passive iron claiming should have been a heavy counter to such healing, but it wasn’t effective while she was opposed by three incredibly powerful souls— Or maybe four stronger than average?

That was an interesting thought but hardly relevant.

So, was Tala somehow perfectly equipped to counter Mistress?

Not at all. If anything, Mistress seemed almost too capable of countering Tala.

That led Tala to an uncomfortable conclusion.

If your enemy seems to have a bag of tricks that perfectly counters yours…

-They either expertly prepared for the fight, or they’re only using the ones that they think they need to use.-

Tala would bet on the second. She would also bet that Mistress wasn’t trying to kill her—despite the hostility that the other Refined had shown—at least not at the moment.

Mistress had to have more that she was capable of, but she wasn’t revealing it for whatever reason, despite seeming to indicate that she wanted the fight to end sooner rather than later.

So, was that a lie to make us think that she was going all out?

-So that she could pull out another card when we’d fallen into a state of confidence? Yeah… that sounds incredibly likely.-

None of the hits either side had landed had actually been life threatening, even if those on Mistress could have become so soon enough, without proper healing.

Well, then. It’s time to change the game.

She almost tried to pull Mistress into her sanctum directly, but given how well the woman had been resisting her claim on the iron within her blood, Tala did not like her chances of overcoming her will to move her through such a meathod.

That was fine. Tala had other means.

Tala ripped open a portal into her sanctum as large as she could make it, one foot under the ground upon which the two women fought.

In her sanctum, it opened into an underground cavern, sealed from the outside. She wasn’t about to expose her home to this woman directly if she didn’t have to.

The ground below them was simple—if deep—sod, and began to dip in immediately. Tala instantly grabbed whatever passed through the portal and pulled it further in, practically ripping the ground from underneath the combatants.

Mistress didn’t fall an inch, seemingly standing on the air itself.

Yeah… I should have seen that coming. Tala sighed internally. That was the second time she hadn’t properly accounted for Mistress’s air magics.

-It was a bit of an oversight, yeah.-

Mistress did pause, though, looking down. “A soulbound storage? Really?” She grinned at Tala. “You only had to ask, and I would have said yes. You’re a cheeky one with all this aggression.”

Even as she stood on the surface of the portal—pushing her own feet back out whenever any part entered, effectively making it a solid surface for her—Tala frowned in confusion, before Alat reminded her, -Her entering most soulbound storages would cause a soulbond between the two of you.-

Mistress began to drop, clearly allowing herself to fall, but then she froze midair once again. “Wait… something’s off with that storage.”

Enough waiting. The portal ripped upward, carrying Tala with it as it rose to consume Mistress.

The woman’s eyes widened as she seemed to understand the danger at some primal level. Then she was gone, having flickered out of the way of the portal.

And there it is. Tala grimaced. This is going to be like fighting Terry on top of everything else, isn’t it?

-Yes, but we’d be foolish to assume that that was the only hidden ability.-

Oh, certainly.

Tala almost closed the portal below herself, but then she had another idea, allowing herself to fall into it.

As soon as she was through, she opened another portal out, using her threefold sight to perceive where she wanted it to be. She then sent a stream of siege orbs at the woman from different angles, opening the portals all over the ground around the battlefield one after another just large enough—and for just long enough—to let the orbs crack out.

Mistress was able to block and deflect the incoming orbs, even when Tala began causing them to burst at inopportune times, but the woman looked pressed once again, despite her flickering around to add to her ability to avoid the incoming storm.

Finally, Tala opened a her-sized portal above and to the right of Mistress. She had reoriented before launching herself through it with an act of will, moving much faster than should have been possible.

There was a magical resonance boom as Tala crossed the short distance from her portal to Mistress, and the woman didn’t even have a chance to glance her way.

Even so, Mistress had begun to move backward, twisting to face the incoming threat and causing her body to be at an angle when Tala hit.

Tala shoulder-checked the woman, even as void energy was aspect-mirrored across her armor.

The blow absolutely blew Mistress apart.

“No. I was fine.”

His look shifted into a smile. “That’s why. We knew you’d call us if we were needed.”

Terry trilled his affirmation.

Tala blinked a few times at that. That actually made sense. “Oh… well, thank you.”

With that, Tala settled in to analyze the damage done to Reality through her bloodstar cloud, still anchored around Rane.

She delved through the records Alat had taken from her bloodstar cloud while Rane moved toward the center of the city, watching creatures move in seemingly nonsensical patterns star- and stoneward of superficial, consuming the excess power in the area.

Wait… what if there was something else that they were moving around?

-That would track actually. We could focus on reality nodes?-

That’s an excellent idea. Tala shifted her focus, and it was like changing from staring through a dirty window to focusing on the grungy glass itself.

She saw them. Not reality nodes, but void nodes. That makes absolutely no sense. Every division is a void, how are there void nodes? Doesn’t that imply voids around another specific void?

-Well, describe what you’re seeing.-

You can see it too.

-True, but you putting it to words will help us both process what we’re seeing.-

…fine. It looks like the division between reality nodes is being displaced by something riding along the edges of reality nodes, and the fourth-dimensional things are avoiding them more carefully than even the predatory varieties of their kind.

-But what does it look like?-

It looks like the lines on a pencil sketch are being opened, exposing an eldritch world beyond… wait. The Doman-Imithe? Is that what it is? The Doman-Imithe bleeding through?

-Would that make sense?-

It would… if we go with the cross-stitch example that we’ve used before, and these are rents in that, it would make sense that we might be able to see the backside of the pattern through the tears.

-So, why would the four-dimensional things avoid the Doman-Imithe?-

Because that place is crazy… And then the obvious answer came to her. It has absolutely no magic. None at all. If these things live off of magic, being sucked in there would be assured destruction through slow starvation, even if nothing else ended them first.

-Exactly.-

So, Reality is flapping in the winds of the zeme, exposing the damage we gated have done, and it’s causing an entire ecosystem to spring up as a means of bringing about some form of healing?

-We’d probably need to see an older ruin to tell for sure, but that’s likely a good guess.-

That’s… that’s a really good idea. She considered for a moment. I still want Rane to get to the center, see if anything else is easier to see from there, but I think I’ve gotten all I can for now.

-Alright, I’ll let him know. Take a moment to rest and think?-

She nodded slowly, grateful for the suggestion. Sure. That sounds nice.

But the rest portion didn’t last long.

Tala grimaced within her helmet. I thought I had understood my place, what I believed.

-But she tried to harm you and didn’t lose anything but a bit of time.-

Exactly. She violated my view of the world.

-I know, how dare she not die.-

Tala snorted a laugh at that. Put that way, it does sound a bit silly.

-I’m going to say something that you already know to save us all time.-

Go ahead.

-No one else has to bend to your view of the world. You can either see that as a fatal flaw in your worldview, a condemnation of them for having violated it, or a chance to refine what you believe.-

Tala grunted. So, that which seeks to harm what is mine, should be forfeit and subject to my authority?

Alat sent the impression of a grimace. -That’s so weak, Tala. Come on. We left a gaping hole in our view of the world, and Mistress Cethira was simply well positioned to point it out. Let’s not paper over the flaw.-

Tala knew what the flaw was, they both did, but she expressed it regardless, The fact that there are those whom we cannot exert authority over.

-Exactly. So, to connect it to some of your earlier revelations, is a mother whose child dies through no fault of her own any worse of a mother?-

Of course not.

-So, then does the fact that you couldn’t impose your authority upon Mistress Cethira mean that she didn’t deserve to be subject to it?-

Of course not. Tala straightened.

-If a Sovereign comes and attacks you, will you just roll over?-

No. I will fight back, and even if I lose, I will come out stronger for the clash. Tala realized how arrogant that sounded, but it fit.

-Where does that mesh with your view of things?-

Tala’s armor melted off of her as she looked toward the sky, her very soul thrumming within her as the various pieces came together.

“I will oppose that which seeks to harm anything of mine, and take strength from the encounter.”

Tala felt yet another qualitative change to her aura and gasped as her advancement moved at least five percentage points closer to Paragon.

The zeme around her began to vibrate in a way that created a standing wave to her magesight, even causing the grass to bend and sway in regular patterns as the very air moved under the power of her revelation.

Her statement was true at a fundamental level and didn’t contain any inane—or unsupportable—claims or posturing.

It simply was.

It simply was her.