It was a surprise to Ashtoreth when she woke up and found that none of the humans tried to kill her in her sleep.

It didn't make much sense to her, given that they hadn't tried to kill her during the previous day of fighting, either.

As she saw it, there were two possibilities. The first was that the human governments weren't willing to order a morally dubious killing in order to advance their interests. Considering this possibility only made Ashtoreth laugh a little. Of course they'd be willing to kill her.

The second possibility was that it was taking them longer than she'd expected to get their people together and act out a plan. It disappointed her to think that this one was more likely; she really didn't want any assassination attempts against her to interfere with the day's scheduled activities.

She called the others once she'd stretched and eaten. She knew that it would be a bit of a wait, as Hunter and Kylie would want to finish up what they were doing before returning, and so she made sure to call Frost last.

When he did arrive to find Ashtoreth, Dazel, Hunter, and Kylie all crammed into her house's tiny living room, he looked over them, then focused on Ashtoreth and scowled.

He was still mad at her, then.

"I didn't know you were awake," he said.

"Good morning!"

Frost's expression hadn't changed. "There haven't been any more more sightings of the horsemen who retreated. And no sign of your sisters."

"Makes sense," Ashtoreth said. "The Horsemen probably know that their best chance to have things go their way is to hang back and make a bid for the monarchy once they get the chance."

"Yeah," said Kylie. "I can see why they'd have confidence in a tournament more than… whatever our last fight was."

"Now, there's good news about the Horsemen," said Ashtoreth. "The fact that we didn't use all our extra cores to level ourselves right away will probably help us out. They might have leveled to match the highest-level fighters on Earth before they got here, and even if they didn't, there's still a chance that they've completely underestimated our resources."

"Wait," Frost said, blinking. "You're level 345? And Kylie—you're level 345? Since when?"

"Since last night when I spent a little cores I saved," said Ashtoreth.

"Same," said Kylie.

"I guess I should also push myself up to 345?" asked Hunter.

"Definitely," said Ashtoreth. "Where we're going, we'll see levels past 400!"

"Okay," said Hunter. "Sec."

"Hold up," said Kylie. "400? I thought that wasn't even possible right now."

"Double hold up," said Frost. "You all have spare cores? Every one of you kept some for yourselves."

"Yep!" Ashtoreth chirped.

"I'm still holding a bunch of cores for when my girlfriend shows up," Hunter explained.

"I held onto extra cores, too," said Kylie. "But I want to be clear that unlike Hunter, I did so for purely selfish reasons."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door, and Frost opened it to reveal a young man in military uniform. "Message for the princess, sir," he announced stiffly.

Frost stepped aside and gestured at Ashtoreth, shooting her an accusatory glance as he did so.

"Uh, ma'am? General Matthews has requested to speak with you."

"Is it because he wants to know what I'm planning with my team?" Ashtoreth asked.

"I believe so, ma'am."

"Okay. Well, I'm not going to talk to him about that because I still think he might be trying to kill me a little bit."

The minion blanched. "Ma'am…."

"Shoo!" Ashtoreth said. "We're planning a big attack on Hell."

"I—ma'am…."

"Shoo!" she said, waving a hand. "Come on, dude—I don't interrupt Matthews' secret meetings, do I?"

The human turned and looked very dignified as they strode away from her.

"Dazel, would you secure our conversation space?"

"Sure thing, boss," he said, rising into the air to draw runes on some of the walls.

"Ashtoreth," Frost said. "Please. Listen to me for a second, all right?"

"Sure thing, Sir Frost!"

"You're bullying the high command, Ashtoreth. You're treating them carelessly."

"Well yeah," she said. "If I don't take their attentions seriously, or the threat they provide seriously, then that shows I'm so powerful that I don't need to."

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Frost shook his head. "This is what I was talking about when I said that you might not have the right mindset for dealing with humans. Things here work differently than they do in Hell. No one's going to be able to forget this. They're going to think that you're unpredictable, temperamental, that you can't be trusted. You're making it so that you can never get anything out of these people again."

Kylie made a noise of disbelief. "You really think the most powerful people in the world won't be willing to work with her once she's the Monarch?" she asked. "They probably all play by the same rules that she does."

"That's just so unbelievably cynical," said Frost. "But even if they do think like fiends, won't that make them petty and spiteful?"

"Only when they can afford to be!" Ashtoreth said. "Which is only when they're in a position of strength."

Frost sighed. "So I really can't convince you to rethink any of this?"

"You got it! Now let's move on to my excellent plan. Last night, Dazel and I moved the bastion that we captured back toward it's original interplanar position."

"Won't that mean that Hell can re-establish their communications?" said Kylie.

"Only if they can take it back, which would require lower-level assailants to come and seize it from us," said Ashtoreth. "We only need it to be there for a little while anyway—see, my plan is that we use it as a launch point for an attack on bastions that are even further away from Earth."

"The ones that can't attack us yet?" Hunter asked.

"Yes! One of those."

"What level was the sister you fought on the nexus bastion?" said Frost.

"210."

"So won't these bastions have an even higher level threshold than that?" Frost asked.

"You get the idea!" Ashtoreth said. "I'm thinking we go out as far as we can, maybe hit a little above 400."

"Things strong enough to kill us," Kylie said.

"Come on," Ashtoreth said. "What we do all that training for? Plus, we're not going to have to fight off a whole army and we'll have a quick escape route."

"Why are we doing this again?" Hunter asked.

Kylie laughed. "Isn't it obvious?" she said. "Because our fearless leader doesn't think she can win anymore."

Ashtoreth opened her mouth to protest, then deflated a little. "Okay, well you know what, Kylie?" She crossed her arms and scowled. "That's true."

"You want to out level the Horsemen by the time the election comes," said Hunter. "That's it?"

"I'd rather frontload the risk that comes from attacking a military installation that I know the ins and outs of than do nothing as I wait for the election to come," said Ashtoreth. "And that could be at any moment."

"What kind of risks are we talking about?" said Frost. "How many enemies out-leveling us, and how well-trained are they compared to what we're used to?"

"Okay, here's the plan," said Ashtoreth. "We're going to come out of nowhere, target the highest density of infernals we can find, then kill as many as possible, as fast as possible before retreating. Last night when we were talking about it, Dazel and I figured it was like a heist mixed with a massacre. I call it a heistacre."

"It sounds… kind of like a terror attack," said Kylie.

"That didn't answer my either of my concerns," said Frost.

"True," she said, giving Frost a conciliatory nod. "So normally a bastion will detect incoming teleportation magic as soon as it starts casting. But Dazel and I can hijack the enchantments that send messages between bastions—we'll send a message containing the part of the spell that's targeting them, then cast the other half normally. They won't detect us until the moment we arrive."

Frost looked unimpressed. "How many enemies, Ashtoreth?"

"Maybe a hundred thousand."

"And they're higher level than us."

"But," she said, raising a finger. "They'll get little warning that we're coming, and we've got a great escape plan. Dazel's going to be back on the main bastion with the rift generators, ready to generate an inverted rift that will lead back to our bastion, just like he did with the Horsemen."

"We're still going to surrounded by enemies who outlevel us," said Frost.

"That's what our training is for!" Ashtoreth said. "Hunter will be hang back and quickly intercept any enemy that looks like they're getting something done, but remember, Hunter, most all of the devils will be able to see through your camouflage."

"I figured."

"And Kylie, this will be a good time to use some of those ashes we collected. If you can quickly send some shades at the nearby buildings when we arrive, the attack will seem to come from a broader area and they'll be slower to come down on us."

"Thanks, tips."

"You're welcome!" Ashtoreth said, beaming. "And Frost, you've got the aura that keeps us from dying to single hits and the other aura that grants us sacred damage."

"You're not even going to give me any orders?" he said. "I'm just a mobile set of buffs?"

"Hey, it's your build, not mine," she said. Then she added, "And we love you for it, just so you know."

Frost looked at Dazel, who had settled into Ashtoreth's lap. "She's telling the truth about extraction? You can get us out of there almost instantly?"

"Wha?" he said, raising his head. "Oh. Sure, yeah. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I'm a little disappointed she didn't spend more time elaborating our excellent plan for working the initial teleportation spell around their detection systems," he said. "It was mostly my idea."

Frost let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, you're a genius. Now can explain what 'sort of' meant?" He looked at Ashtoreth. "You two aren't sure that we'll be able to get out?"

"Sort of," Ashtoreth said. "See, it's not really what I'd expect of him, but it's entirely possible that my dad is the one who sent the archangels to confuse us. Even if that's not the case, Hell could be working with whoever did send them."

"So what did you mean by 'sort of?'" Frost asked. "And how will we know if Hell and the archangels are working together?"

"That's easy," said Ashtoreth. "If Hell and the archangels are working together, then our extraction will only sort of work."

Frost nodded, then said tiredly, "Because Famine will block our warp spells from working as soon as he sees us."

"Exactly!" Ashtoreth said. "But I doubt that'll happen. They don't even have a proper path back to the bastions without the nexus we stole!"

"So you don't think it will happen," Kylie said. "But you still wanted to warn us about it."

"Sure thing, Kylie—we're probably fine, but best to watch out anyway."

"And if the Horsemen are there?"

"We retreat immediately."

"Great," said Kylie. "Good plan. Truly a plan that exists."

"Kylie spittin' facts," said Ashtoreth.

She used her glamour to conjure a red, translucent image of the nexus bastion in the air at the center of the room. "Now," she said. "Let's go over some of the finer details, then get out and gain some levels!"

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