“Fun,” the Seven-Tailed Silver Fox Winkle repeated with a huff. “It is said the Realm Lords of the Dark find this war they have begun ‘fun’.”

“That does not surprise me, either. It means they probably do not come from lofty origins. Beings born powerful are usually quite content with the way things are, and are willing to stay at their current level and place, only rousing themselves to face those who challenge them.

“If you come from a low place and advance to a higher one, than the climb is the thing that is important, growing stronger so that others might not lord over you. There is no content place at the top, only getting stronger and finding who you might challenge, who might still be a threat to you, and how you overcome it.

“This is what the Beast Plane faces, beings who seek more strength!”

“How do they gain strength from this fighting? Would not the loss of their servants weaken them?” Winkle asked reasonably.

“Not without vivus,” I reminded him, and he rumbled for a moment in thought. “No, they want death and souls, Elder Winkle. They want living creatures to call on Dark Magic, and in doing so damn themselves to their Realms at death. Without vivus to oppose them, the numbers of their followers do nothing but grow over time, and literally never die.

“All the fighting and slaughter is simply a smokescreen. Killing Beasts does not actually gain the Dark Realm anything. It is getting the Beasts to practice Dark Magic and so starting a flow of souls and the dead to them that is key here. The Taint and Corruption are just tools for them to start that process.

“Until vivus entered the equation, this fight had cost the Dark Lords nothing but their time. Any servants slain merely returned and were reborn. Any power expended ultimately returns to them. They doubtless looked at their expansion into the Beast Plane as an idle and unstoppable fact of life once they began the invasion. They will simply introduce many Dark Bloodlines into the Beasts, assuring themselves of a steady supply of Dark Magic-using creatures and souls, tap into the deaths and negative emotions of the Plane to further empower themselves, and then just monitor and maintain it as they go onto another Realm to do the same thing.

“This wasn’t a fight to them until vivus entered the equation. It was just a game they were guaranteed to win.”

“That is often a very satisfying game, yet a very boring game,” the Fox noted after a minute. “One can only play with prey for so long before it is time for something else.”

“Congratulations, then. With vivus, this is no longer a game, but a challenge. It merely is to see if they can be roused enough to truly care, or they consider it more entertainment, and in the end just go on to somewhere else that is not quite so much work, and doesn’t actually require spending permanent power and resources to win at.”

“And so that is why we fight now. To encourage them to turn their attentions elsewhere.”

“A temporary solution, as you probably deduced. There is no concept of time to such immortal creatures. I keep making Torches because the Vivic Burning MUST continue. The whole Plane needs to be aligned against them, the price they pay MUST be something they’d rather not. Their servants need to be slaughtered and set to vivus, further weakening them in a manner they did not predict.

“Even if we win and push them off the Plane, they know of this place, and they can return. They doubtless will return, because the boredom of another inevitable win became an exciting fight here, and what do they care if they spend some of their infinite numbers of Damned souls having fun here? It just means they found a worthy challenge!”

His Tails swished nervously. “That is not an encouraging thought for the future,” he murmured.

“No, it isn’t. It means I need to put into place some permanent things that can help you after I finally leave, things the Beast World can use to defy them if they return.”

“What sort of things?” he asked in interest.

“I’d like to put up a Pyramid with a combined Interdiction Field and Causality Magnet. The weakest spot in the Veil will automatically be wherever the Pyramid is if a Breach tries to happen, but with the Interdiction it will be the strongest spot on the Beast Plane from this side when something tries to come through... and the Nobles and Emperors of the Beasts could juice the Hell out of it to keep it even stronger from this side, not to mention the Realm Lord.

“That should really annoy the piss out of them. They’ll have to try to Breach through at least three places at the same time to have any chance at getting through.”

His Tails flip-flopped at the idea. “That is a very good idea,” he agreed carefully.

“The other thing is a way to repair the spiritual damage the Shades and Curse-users like to inflict, and to drive out the Poisons they use. That would require making a very large Healing Circle that is strong enough to help out even an Emperor, or which could mend scores or hundreds of lesser Beasts at one time. I’m not sure how to go about that, where to put it, or who would be in charge of it once I am gone.”

“There are several noble Bloodlines of Healing Beasts who may agree to watch over such a place,” Winkle considered. “It would have to be in a neutral territory, yes? Or some Emperor would claim it for their own use.”

“Logically, it would be best if the Beast Lord simply declared it a neutral place of healing for All Beasts, and that would be that,” I nodded in agreement, and his Tails swished again.

“Very generous of you,” he said. “I have a request to make of you.”

“Go ahead, Elder,” I prompted him.

“I have a kit, a descendant of mine. He is... not of the pure Silver Fox Bloodline.”

I tilted my head at him. “You mated outside the Nine-Tailed Silver Foxes? And he didn’t inherit the Bloodline?” I asked for emphasis.

“If he has, it is lying very dormant. He is, by all I can see, a simple Crimson Ghost Fox, like his mother.”

“Bloodline is very important among the Great Beasts. That means his future prospects are very limited. I do not have the means to improve his Bloodline, Elder. What could you be asking of me?”

“Would you be willing to offer him a Contract?”

I blinked. “To be honest, Elder, I’d not considered the possibility at all, considering where I am. What prompted your request?”

His Tails swished excitedly. “Among the Foxes, it is agreed that the wisest and most cunning of the Rulers have one thing in common... at one point in their lives, they were Contracted to Humans on the Mortal Plane. Many of them came from fairly normal backgrounds or Bloodlines, but with the aid of their Human partners, they were able to evolve themselves into paragons in their own right, and attain great heights of power.

“I do not see this happening for my descendant on his own. Your behavior has led me to believe you would aid him in his evolution to the best of your ability, and he may indeed grow in power with a Contract and bond to a Human Summoner.”

“Well, huh.” I’d had no idea such a thing would be so beneficial. “Is he willing? And I mean willing, not obeying Dad because Dad said so.”

“I do not know.” He was grinning, his visible eye winking at me. “He will have the chance to visit the Mortal Plane, go strange places, see exciting things, and possibly grow much stronger than he would if he stayed here in the Beast Plane full time. He would be foolish not to accept, but such are the ways of the young.”

“Have I met him yet?” I couldn’t remember seeing any Crimson Ghost Foxes.

“The Crimson Ghost Foxes are elusive and shy, not fighters. They help with the scouting of the enemy, but seldom engage in combat.”

“I have no objection to a Contract, if he is willing. He should be aware that becoming my companion may take his evolution in very different directions than he expects...”

“Ohhhh, even more interesting. Some of the Elders get so stuffy about Bloodline. Having a kit who grows up to a be a non-Silver Fox Noble would so ruffle their Tails!” Winkle laugh-yipped, and I had to join him in agreement.

It was a very important things for Beasts. Very, very few Beasts evolved themselves up in power on their own. Most stole, gained, or inherited the Bloodline of more powerful Beasts, changing their very own power and nature as they pursued evolution as power, or so I’d been told. A Beast evolving on its own into a brand-new Bloodline was practically unheard of among them.

The mathematician in me realized that was a zero-sum game, tightly restricting the number of powerful Beasts by only allowing them to inherit and evolve if a Beast before them died and they could take in its power.

Contracting might well sidestep all of that. We’d have to see. If it was true, than Contracting might be the only way to actually expand the power of the Beast World beyond its natural limits... which meant it was the reason why the Summoning Element was allowed to exist!

------

The shrunken crystal skulls of dead Dark Nobles came drifting in, and were sent back out quickly as I added more Artificing to my routine.

All my base Classes were at Three, and I was accumulating my backlog of Masteries now, something that was going to take me over three months just to catch up.

It was fine. I had a LOT of Masteries, both major and minor, to address, so I wasn’t worried about it.

The Beasts didn’t think anything of it after my ‘rapid growth’. There had to be a limit on how powerful I could get so quickly, after all, and slowing down to firm up my foundation was only reasonable.

My Karmic gains continued, and I kept at building up Zeben and Noble with Naming Karma that came more from Healing than from killing, but that was fine by everyone involved. While the Beasts appreciated the fact I would fight, they certainly didn’t need me there... although I really helped the advance of the vivic flames when I did.

The great forest was burning in vivic wildfires across a massive area, and despite the resistance of the Undead and Shades, its speed was only increasing. The increased Taint made the vivus grow thicker and hungrier, driving it forward and making it much, much harder to put out. Indeed, the more Dark Magic was expended to do so, the more the mistfires raged...

It was very strange advancing over the ruined landscapes, great mounds of white ash where had been trees the size of office buildings and more, and yet new growth was erupting from the ground with supernatural speed. Not all of it was trees, but it was clearly starting a new forest. A few days behind the walls of vivic wildfires, the landscape was swarming with green and basic life flocking to a new beginning, the vitality of it even impressing the Great Beasts and rare Sapient Plants involved in this matter.

From a mile a day, to two, three, five, and now ten miles a day, the perimeter of the Dark Realm’s intrusion into the Beast Plane was shrinking. The forces of the Netherworld were only growing more and more concentrated, of course, which meant the fighting was getting deadlier... but the Dark creatures did not like fighting in vivus at all, and the Wall of White was coming, with the unstopping cracking and crumbling and falling of countless Tainted trees like a crashing, grinding toll of doom to the Creatures sent out to stop them.

All that Taint they’d sent out was coming back to bite them in the arse!

The Emperors were watching for their counterparts, of course, but the loss of one of them seemed to have given the invaders pause. The Emperors had to do nothing but oversee the vivifying of the entire forest, they didn’t have to truly exert themselves at all. All the fighting was with their lessers, the burning vivus harmed no Beasts, and if the invaders didn’t come out, the wildmistfire was coming for them.

They waited for the surges to punch through the misting inferno, and were ready to deal with them when they came.

The Breach was slowly but surely being plugged!