Mark sat down across from Lola and Sentinel Walter, down in the depths of Inquisitor's Hall.

It was just the three of them, located behind frosted glass in a side room. A shelf of books was over there and a small kitchenette was on the other side, in case anyone had long meetings and they needed refreshments. There could be a third person in the room, but Mark wouldn't know. Mark's Unionsense only extended 2 meters from his skin in this place, and while Quark could still use his sensors, he spotted no one. That wasn't proof the room was empty.

Mark had been hoping for a specific third person, too.

Mark simply asked, "Did Inquisitor Saikou not want to come to this?"

Lola withheld her words.

Walter spoke, "Saikou ain't moving at your requests, probably ever. You pissed him off, and you're pissing me off too, kid. It's been a while since we talked about That Thing That Matters—"

That Okuana knew how to kill demons permanently, yes; Mark got that.

"— and I've been patient, but you haven't come to us at all." Walter rhetorically asked, "Unless this is about That? But I don't think it is, and I told Saikou as much."

Lola softly said, "Ah, so you're the reason Saikou isn't here. Even though Mark sent requests to all of us. I see, now."

Walter hmm'd, and left it at that.

The Collective was the gathered organization of paladins, priests, inquisitors, and otherwise, of the New Pantheon. It was an affiliation, and not really a hierarchy at all, and so requests for meetings in the Collective were a rather straightforward affair: Send out requests, and people could choose to engage, or not.

Mark's access to the Collective was limited because he wasn't an actual paladin of any god and he wasn't a full inquisitor yet, either, so any requests for meetings with higher-ups, like Saikou and Walter, were truly at those peoples' prerogative. Lola was always going to show up to a requested meeting, though, which was great.

Mark had a lot of both fan-mail from his HVP shows, and even some meeting requests from the Collective as well, and a lot more besides that. Quark sorted through most of that stuff, and Mark ignored it completely. He probably shouldn't do that, but… He was busy!

Saikou and Walter were busy, too, but Mark needed to know some important stuff and they were the best sources of that information.

2 out of 3 was alright, though, Mark supposed, and even that hadn't been a straight affair.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet," Mark said, "I understand from Sally that she was able to convince you, Walter, and I thank you for coming. I thank you for training her, as well. Thank you Lola, for training me as well. Your training has been invaluable.

"But now I ask for something now that I am rather sure you don't want to give.

"I need to know if the Empire is trustworthy with regard to the International Teleporter List."

Walter frowned a little. He was about 3 meters away and so Mark couldn't read his vector, but he looked pensive.

Lola was also outside of Mark's range, too. She didn't have to think about her answer, though. She simply said, "We can't know that answer." She continued, "Under normal circumstances, yes, the Empire is trustworthy. Are these normal circumstances? No, they are not. I still think you should do it. You can't live your life in fear of what might happen, and who your unknown enemies could be. You just need to be strong enough to throw off all issues."

Mark felt better about his decision to do this, but he still had concerns. "Is there anything specific I should guard against?"

Lola had a response, but she was more interested in whatever Walter was going to say.

Walter looked like he was having a concerning moment, though Mark could only tell that by how he looked at him. Walter was otherwise stoic, and maybe even a bit dismissive.

"Being faster with Protect, or instilling Protect into your Binding," Walter eventually said. "Either of those work against the worst magics. Won't stop area of effect denials, like Force Bubbles, for instance, you know, just to name a random one… But it will be good against most everything else."

Lola's eyebrows went up.

Mark was surprised, too. Walter had pretty much said that the archmage twins, Lancer and Buckler, were here for Mark. But to be sure about that, Mark asked, "The Force Twins. Are they here for me?"

"They're tools of Aluatha. They're here for Aluatha. Could be you, could be Aurora," Walter said, frowning. "And now I'm pissed at Saikou for not being here. This is what you wanted to talk about, Mark? This shit? Like yes, there are dangers. Fuck them. Fuck Aluatha, too, by the way. Come to Okuana and help us with the Big Thing."

Mark asked, "Have you gotten further with it?"

"No."

Lola seriously asked, "Could he leave? Walaria has him in a contract."

"It's not a real Contract?" Mark asked.

"Good enough for a Grand Witch, Mark," Lola said.

Walter said, "We can override that with a bigger contract, directly to one of our own Grand Witches. Split loyalties and split her claim."

Mark asked, "Could I ask Walaria for assistance, or is that where the problem would be coming from?" Mark reframed the question, "Is Walaria trustworthy?"

"Nations are not trustworthy and Walaria is her nation," Walter said, without missing a beat. "But, in the spirit of fairness, Aluatha is just as bad as Okuana. That said: a Sentinel of Okuana is here, answering questions. The Sentinel of Aluatha chose to stay away, and no, Lola, I did not tell him not to come; only that I would be attending… But, for what it's worth: Walaria is known to collect people and keep them safe from Aluatha, as long as they're steadfastly loyal to her, above all else. Aurora is just one example, but the Force Twins are another."

Lola regarded Walter, but said nothing. She seemed surprised he would say that, but then again, she wasn't too surprised. Walter was an Executioner for Drakarok, as well as a Sentinel of Okuana. Executioners were primarily charged by Drakarok with keeping governments honest.

Mark thought about all of that, and decided that he'd trust Walaria for now, though Walter was obviously holding back something. Whatever Walter was holding back was probably big, but also not a concern right now.

Mark said, "Okay. Thank you, Sentinel Walter." He asked Lola, "Is there anything specific I should guard against?"

Lola looked at Walter for a moment longer, then she told Mark, "What Sentinel Walter said is a good starting point. Getting faster with Protect or enabling Protect in your soul are both starting points that will give you an edge that you need to survive. If you wish, we can train ambush tactics. Ambushes from people are more dangerous than ambushes from monsters, but there's really no preparing against people who want you dead. Some training is good; over-training is just paranoia."

Mark nodded a little, but said, "I'm comfortable with my ability to survive ambushes." At the very least, he could always do a Union of Alacrity and Slowness and mentally move at 20 times the speed of reality, for at least a few minutes at a time. Mark added, "I requested this meeting to touch base with that serious question, and I think I got enough answers. Thank you, both of you."

Mark bowed a little in his seat.

Walter hummed.

Lola bowed in return.

And then Walter said, "We're talking about the kaiju shit, too, yeah?"

Lola sat straight, saying, "I, too, would like to discuss the kaiju creation."

Mark knew they'd probably want to talk about that when he requested this meeting. He was hoping it would just sort of blow over, but that was obviously not happening. Mark began with, "So, uh… Eliot found out 2 people on Earth can make and control a kaiju; one with plants and the other with pretty much any untouched animal. Verdant Guardian and Hexbreaker. VG can control her kaiju about as well as I could, and Hexbreaker couldn't control her kaiju at all, except to point it in a general direction, and sometimes not even then. Aside from those two there have been multiple incidents inside cities. One was in Jacksonville in the Floridas 20-something years ago, the other was down in the African Nations, and took place in four different cities, almost 50 years ago now.

"And goblins can summon kaiju pretty easily. That's their Big Red Button to use against the human lands, if they have to, but that's only a threat on Daihoon, as far as I know.

"There are no good records of someone creating kaiju on Daihoon, which has to be a lie, but I'm not sure in which direction lies the lie. Is it something that is hidden really, really well from the public eye, or something else? I don't know." Mark finished with, "And that's about all I know. Do you know more?"

Mark waited.

Walter frowned and looked at Mark like he was some dumb kid. That irked, but also… not far from the truth. Mark endured.

Lola simply said, "Humans can't make kaiju on Daihoon."

… Not human?

Mark took about 30 seconds to register those words, fully. Disbelief came first, and then he glanced at Walter, who hummed in agreement with Lola, and then came bargaining. Mark was human, so what the fuck kinda answer was that? Maybe anger was in there, too.

And then Mark paused.

Mark asked, "Addavein's talzarki stuff?"

"Or you're a hidden dragon," Walter said.

"We've verified against the hidden dragon claims," Lola said, directly to Walter.

Walter countered, "Only 99%." He told Mark, "But yes. You should not have been able to do that. The only ones who can do that are the royal families. In the old times, that is how they became royal families; by allying with a dragon and getting powers denied to normal humanity, and without being overseen by the demons themselves. Archmages can't make kaiju unless their demon allows it, which they never do, unless it's to the demon's specifications, which does happen more often than you think it should. Some archmages go out and spawn kaiju as a part of their Contracts… It's a whole thing, Mark." He added, "By the way: Okuana wants you as breeding stock for their noble girls."

Too many punches, coming right at his head; that's how Mark felt.

Mark said, "No thank you. No… breeding stock… work, or whatever you call it."

"Studding," Walter said. "As in horses. Stallions."

"… No thank you— Really? No. I don't want to know." Mark moved on, "So you said 'on Daihoon', Lola?"

Lola nodded a little and continued, "Yes. The mana is stricter on Daihoon. Despite the strength of mana on this side, the options available to people are more limited than on Earth. Artificial Intelligences came about on Earth. Gods came about on Earth. Travel to space, to the Moon and to Arakino, came about on Earth. And the creation of kaiju is possible on Earth in ways that is not possible on Daihoon. In that same vein of concern: Verdant Guardian and Hexbreaker cannot make kaiju on Daihoon, but you can. You can draw some conclusions from that, if you wish; those conclusions might even be correct. But we don't know, exactly, why any of this is how it is."

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"Demons keep this place as a playground," Walter simply said.

Mark breathed out, thinking, then he began, "I saw a video on 'what you should know as a mage', and it was all about how the Veil is a waterwheel, and it's pulling in energy for the demons, and… and stuff like that? That's why they don't like gates. It breaks up their energy collection. Is the Veil just… a whole lot more than a Veil?"

Lola had a moment of thought.

Walter didn't think. He just said, "Of course the Veil is more than it appears. The Veil is the energy collector. The System that Malaqua controls, which empowers the demons, is the energy user. They can't have their playthings disrupting the system too much, so they put controls on the high-energy side of the Veil, but since there is little-to-no energy on the low energy side, they can't put controls there that well. They still do, of course. Those controls are just in the people who go through the Tutorial instead of outside, in the open, in the mana itself. Powers and Skills exist because of a thing called the 'Binding' for a reason, Mark."

"… Ah," Mark said.

Walter instantly added, "There's this idea, popular among certain circles and to which I could easily believe, that all of this stuff with Earth, with the Reveal, with all of that, that it's all a new chapter in the demons' games. That there is nothing we can really do against them. That they are in control forever."

Mark scowled at that.

Lola frowned, too. She didn't like that whole idea, either.

And then Walter continued, "But the version of reality I ascribe to is the one where humans can actually, for the first time in the recorded history of Daihoon, actually have a chance against the arbiters of the System. That Earth was a miracle that never should have happened. That a mistake was made, somewhere, and that a crucial system was revealed, and the demons have been scrambling to get back to normalcy for the last 80 years. Maybe they all forgot to do some maintenance on Arakino for a long time; that place looked dead before the Reveal and Malaqua's installation. Maybe something else happened. I don't know.

"And so, all of this stuff you're doing, the Mage Society, the goblins, the settlement and the gate… All of it is secondary. All of it doesn't matter.

"What matters is exploiting this vulnerability as much as we can, as fast as we can, to ensure the demons cannot fix what was broken, because they are certainly trying. Look at how they're going after Addavein, and how they went after you, too.

"You need to stop fucking around here and come with me to Okuana." Walter added, "And with that said: You should probably do this International Teleporter List. When you get kidnapped I'll be working with Sally and your friends to get you back, and to hopefully rescue you toward Okuana, and away from Aluatha."

For a moment, silence.

Mark wasn't sure what to say.

And then Mark retreated into politeness, "Thank you for the promised rescue?"

Lola nodded at the seriousness of it all.

Mark told Walter, "This stuff isn't secondary. I just learned how to make a kaiju, for gods' sakes!"

"And how much adamantium did that cost you, huh?" Walter said, unimpressed.

"Okay, well. First of all, I know you're just fishing for answers, so don't think you tricked me into telling you, and secondly, I gained adamantium, overall. I actually have 120 kilos right now, which is, yes, less than I had when I started that day of goblin genocide, and it cost me about 30 to awaken the kaiju, but I started with 130 that day and I had 175 by the end of the day because I took it all back from the kaiju, and I even got more from wherever else it came from. 175 was way more than I walk around with normally, so I threw 55 at Metallic Bank." Mark finished with, "So there's some calculations for you. Does that help you with your adamantium deficit? Buy it from the bank; they're selling!"

Walter grinned, his skin glinting golden on the sharpest edges. "Good to know. I have a question, though: Do you think you killed that kaiju through dissolution of psyche, through the splitting of the mind with fear, or through extracting adamantium from it and thus weakening the strength that was holding it together? Or a combination of both?"

Mark paused. "… Uh. I don't… know."

"There's a new, old theory floating around that adamantium is useful for making and maintaining kaiju," Walter said. "Some people always expected as much. New revelations have brought that old theory back to life, and we already know you can't do any big magics without adamantium to hold it all together so it doesn't fray apart. So keep an eye on it. Get an answer, Mark; if not for us, then at least for yourself, and for your adamantium stores."

Mark nodded. "I'll keep an eye out next time."

Lola interjected, "You will not be making another kaiju, Mark." Her face was serious.

"Of course… not," Mark said, a memory surfacing halfway through about Isoko yelling at him 'leaving weapons on the table is bad!'.

Lola eyed him.

Walter ignored that, and said, "I'm talking less about making kaiju and more about the price and availability of adamantium. If we can get Mark funneled at enough kaiju to strip mine them to drop the cost, then Okuana will be pushing for that, through the International Teleporter List," Walter said, standing. "And that's enough of this meeting for me. See you around, kid."

Okuana would want that for Mark? Well… Sure, he supposed.

Mark stood and said, "Thank you for coming," because it was proper.

Lola stood and bowed a little, because it was proper. And then Walter walked out the door, and the door closed, and Lola said to Mark, "That man is insufferable."

"Sally likes him well enough."

Lola ignored that, kinda, and looked to Mark. She was kind, yet serious, as she asked, "Are you okay, Mark? Do you want to talk about anything at all? I want to listen and help, because everyone needs help and I am worried you need help right now."

"Uh… I think we just did talk? But, uh… I'm okay? … Do I not seem okay?"

Lola reevaluated. "Is there a specific fear you have about this whole teleporter thing?"

Mark sat back down, feeling tired. "Too many fears, but now I'm wondering if they'll want me to go farm kaiju… and..." It was as though Mark's reason for existence was suddenly there, right there. Mark softly said, "I really, really wanna go out and kill kaiju like Glorious Man did when he was my age."

Lola burst out laughing.

It was a sound that turned the gloom of the moment into something amazing. Something nicer. Mark found himself grinning, and then chuckling. Lola wiped away happy tears, and then she spoke of how the Inquisition regarded the International Teleporter List. It was as Mark understood it in a lot of basic ways already, but with specifics.

Lola said, "The Big Porter can move anyone from anywhere to anywhere on Daihoon, Mark. You just gotta get tagged first. But there are some normalcies that make it comfortable for all involved. Basically, if you get ported anywhere but a clear, open space, on flat, bare ground, then they should specifically tell you that before the port. Otherwise it's understood you will always resolve into an area that's flat and open, with a local representative about 10 to 20 meters away who has the code words that your contact should have." Lola said, "It was set up by the Settlement of Xerkona, but everyone uses it. Every port is like a billion goldleaf if they have to get you around the entire world, so most people are assigned to areas. Smaller ports, smaller costs. You'll likely get assigned to Krototh; this North American continent, but on Daihoon. Maybe down south, too, since the Empire is all down there on the equator."

"Aurora gave me that billion-goldleaf price tag, too." Mark asked, "Why is it so expensive?"

"No idea!" Lola added, "That is above the Collective's current knowledge base, or at least above the base of those who are willing to contribute to the Collective's knowledge. State secrets, and the like. We imagine it is not that expensive in reality, but it is that expensive in practice, for any number of reasons.

"Every killed kaiju costs a nation either 10 million goldleaf in cleanup costs alone, not to mention infrastructure damage, or, if the kaiju is truly useful for parts, an attacked nation can gain billions. The average value from a kaiju kill is a gain of 25 million goldleaf.

"The International Teleporter List demands 90% of the gains of a kill, but the people on-site have to actually harvest the things, and that's about what I know about costs. I'm not involved in that stuff at all. Talent, like yourself, costs some amount of goldleaf per deployment, too. Have you negotiated a price for your talent?"

"Not yet," Mark said, "From what Walter looked like when he talked about 'farming kaiju'… If I'm extracting adamantium from kaiju, will they ask me to hand it over? Gods, I hope not."

Lola shook her head. "They might try to demand concessions, but Right of Powers is a big law, and you're getting that adamantium through your own Powers, so don't give them shit. Sell it at a normal price."

Mark grinned. "Yes ma'am."

Lola chuckled, and that chuckle turned into a happy sigh. She looked at Mark, and said, "Glory and Fear worked out well, huh?"

"Incredibly well."

"I'm proud of you, Mark," Lola said, eyes sparkling. "You are an asset to humanity."

Mark felt a joy well up inside. That joy came out in a small chuckle that then became a gush of sorrow and pain, happiness and misery. Tears flowed like rain. Mom should have been the one to say that to him. Dad, too. Mark started bawling, and then Lola was there with a hug, and Mark held on tight, sobbing onto her shoulder.

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