Fifty-Two

Kon wrapped the blanket tighter around himself as he staggered forward, looking around Turja's suite. Far below the thinned crowd cried and shouted as Diur fought to win her bracket. With a flick of his will he was able to strengthen his vision but it had little meaning as Diur bodied her opponent. The Ulmna woman was a force, smashing through the likes of the classic cultivators with ease.

"You look like shit," Benny drawled as he walked in the room, looking over at the thin line of enforcers and the spy mistress herself. He dismissed them and came to stand next to Kon, patting him on the shoulder as they looked over the edge.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Kon whispered.

"Yes. It's not good," Benny said, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Somewhere private?" Kon asked. Benny shook his head.

"They do not hear us," the old man intoned as Truth slipped into reality for a moment to make his words the truth.

"That's always freaky," Kon said, making sure to keep his eyes away from the rune.

"I was able to get into their computers. No smoking guns, but…how well do you know how lanes work?" Benny asked, diverting halfway through his talk.

"They allow faster than light travel," Kon said with a shrug. Benny stared at him for a second before sighing. A small rune appeared over his fingers and suddenly the air in front of them was filled with lines, some thick, others thin, some moving, others stable. All of them connected.

"That is the lanes. Or a rough representation of them. They shift slowly over the years, moving from one spot to another if they're not properly anchored. Which only the powerful can do. It's one of the reasons B and A-Grades don't move around that much. They help anchor lanes to one spot. That and the lack of enough worlds to properly cultivate," Benny said. Kon nodded along as he waited.

A section appeared, looking like a spindly T with a few small wriggly lines off the base of it. All the other lines faded away as Benny ran his finger along it in silence.

"This is the Ulmna Confederacy. Now, I think there's a lane deeper in their space, near their homeworld, but nobody gets that far. The top of the T is a primary route, a thick lane that doesn't really move. They don't have control of the junction point, where it descends down the length of the lane, that is held by the Orgo." Benny waited a moment for Kon's inevitable questions, but he was so tired he didn't ask.

"The Orgo, along with a few others are allies to the Ulmna, who are the dominant political and military group in the region. The Orgo have a few decent sized sects with several dozen C-Grades but otherwise they rely on the Ulmna for military protection. They have a small planetary defense force, couple frigates and a decently trained militia. Everyone knows that if you fuck with the Orgo thouugh, you're going to get the Ulmna boiling up after you coming straight down the pipe," Benny emphasized his point by tracing along the base of the T.

"But if you're after the Ulmna, and have the firepower to do so, then taking them out will seal them off from reinforcements," Kon said.

"Yeah. The Gate of the Ulmna swings both ways. If a large enough force perches on Orgo, then the Ulmna have to hunker down and ride it out until one of their allies relieves the siege."

"What's in it for the Lion?" Kon asked.

"Spoils of war. Maybe a few planets? They don't exactly lay out their grand plans in a secret file called "secret treasonous plans" after all. But there are coordinates to arrive at Orgo and when. That's where all the cultivators recruited have been going," Benny said.

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"When?" Kon asked.

"About a month from now give or take," Benny said with a scowl and shake of his head.

"How long from here to Orgo?"

"Month. Maybe a bit more. Doesn't matter, we could arrive there it wouldn't matter in the slightest. If the numbers hold true then we're going to need a full Chapterhouse or more to sway the tides, and not a small one either. Then it matters if we even want to," Benny said.

"What do you mean? Of course we want to," Kon said, a bit of anger in his voice.

"No. You want to. But us as humanity? Do we want to get involved in a foreign war? Especially with some of our brethren moving in the shadows to support it? It spells civil war, Kon."

"They are traitors. Their actions killed Knights," Kon hissed, a fury bubbling in his chest as looked over toward the old man.

"And they'll get their just dues. But if you think arriving with fire and steel upon a battlefield will yield results, then you are mistaken. It'll get you killed," Benny said scornfully.

"We just let them do it then? Kill and slaughter and then mop up the rest? Watch as our friend's world is destroyed because we don't want to stand up to murderous scum?" Kon growled, it was a fight to keep the rage tamped down, to not yell and rage against it all. The simmering fire inside of himself that he'd thought he'd successfully banked was roaring and his blood thundered as he wished for nothing more than to see Alice's killers buried.

Benny watched him carefully, cold eyes watching and searching before the old man sighed and shook his head.

"I'm getting too old for this. The fires of youth are passionate and bright, but as you age it all seems so thin and meaningless. The same cycles repeated over and over again, the same play with just different players," Benny said. He paused for a second taking in Kon before nodding slowly to himself.

"You wish to see justice done? To do it yourself? To hold the blade and shed the blood? Will that quench that fire inside of you? That rage we all see that you think you have under control?" Benny asked.

"Yes," Kon snarled back as his vision blurred red, adrenaline was surging through him, blending with the thick amount of red hot rage.

"Then we will need armor. We'll push our trip to the World-Ships up and get you suited up. I'll buy the supplies we need to finish your ascension to D-Grade for body cultivation. You'll finish the tournament while I send out some messages. Need to find where a World-Ship is first and we need to alert the proper authorities," Benny said. Some of Kon's anger flashed away as his mentor agreed with him, but not enough to prevent the next words.

"We have to ask for permission before we take out the trash?"

"No, I will be informing people to be ready for the extinction event of an Order and several noble families. That there will be thousands of deaths and humanity will take this blow because of the greed of a few men and the anger of my apprentice. I avoid spilling human blood, but I am yours as much as you are mine. Together I told you, together we will find home. If this is what your heart needs to find equilibrium, then you shall know war and all its horrors," Benny said. His voice was deadpan, not an ounce of emotion in it as he stared down at Kon.

"I want justice. For all those who died on Crucible. I want to see these greedy bastards nailed to trees and hear them scream. And I don't want to abandon my friends. Diur stood by our side. She's shed blood with us. How can I repay that friendship by leaving her homeworld to be prey to the traitors?" Kon asked.

"You are treading deep waters now. Actions have consequences, and not all of them are easily seen. We could have waited till after the war and the fall of the Ulmna and finished off the Lion as they returned bloody and tired. Or they could have been rich off war loot and strong enough that it wouldn't have been practical. We're going to hop in and join the Ulmna and their allies with our own, then we may face brother Knights who know nothing of what is coming. It won't be the first time two opposing sides have hired Knights."

"Is it hypocritical of me to find the idea of killing Knights and human soldiers sickening when I have killed aliens without thought?" Kon let that thought sit on him as he watched as Benny chewed on his cheek.

"We're getting ahead of ourselves. You two will be going up to the upper arena for the next set of fights. I'll pay for everything for you two, you'll have to pay me back later," Benny said. He seemed tired, shrunken now, as he turned and walked out of the small cone of silence his rune had created for them.

"Did I screw this up?" Kon couldn't help but wonder as he watched the old man walk away. He turned to look back at the fight below and saw that Diur had won, just as he had predicted she would. The thought of having to break the news that her homeworld would soon be invaded, or at least that a war would start to try to take the gateway into the confederacy, was not something he was looking forward to.

"I just need to get stronger," Kon whispered to himself, clenching his hands in annoyance. Even after several days he hadn't recovered from the bath, but he could feel the strength in his body had grown. There was something more solid about himself now, a weight to his body that was reassuring. He'd get to test himself over the next few days when he fought in the arena above.

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