I stood at the top of the control tower of the wall slightly before noon, Autumn and Novi were at my sides as we waited for the oncoming wave of merfolk.

"I feel like I should smoke something now, you know, ritualistically before battle," I said, eyeing the ship with the demon. He had been smoking something when I first went to see him. Maybe I could trade being able to grow a shitload more for some.

Assuming whatever he was smoking was any good. If it were just a blend of herbs like you'd smoke out of a pipe, well, that'd be fucking boring.

Novi smacked me on the back of the head, "Don't pick up smoking, it's bad for you."

I just turned to stare at her, perched on my shoulder, and waited for her to figure out how she was kind of being a moron. It took nearly a minute before she broke eye contact to stare at the ground.

"Right, you can't get lung cancer because you're not alive… also, you could just grow new lungs if you needed to. Man, human biology was fucking pathetic when we had it, wasn't it?" she said, as she caved to reason and spat to the side in disgust. "I'm delighted we grew past being one."

"Do spriggans have any sort of culture of imbibing intoxicants?" I asked Autumn.

"Not spriggans, no," they said, a wistful look on their face. It took me a moment to register what they meant.

Patting Autumn on the shoulder, I muttered as close to their ear as I could get on my tippy toes, "We'll turn you into a Sylvan soon, buddy. Don't worry. We just gotta cross this ocean first. Hell, maybe we'll find you a Wildegraft suitable for you out in the ocean somewhere."

With a nod, they closed their eyes and took a deep breath. Their blood vines twirled together in contemplation.

"I'm going to have to be particular about what Wildegraft I consume from here on out. The first one I imbibed on a whim, assuming that would be the only one I could ever get my hands on, the second…" Autumn trailed off at the end. The seed of the Mother Tree, otherwise known as the World Tree, that I gave them was definitely worth it. Even if their culture was gonna be weird about it. "Let's just say that I need to ensure I meet a theme. If I become a Sylvan—"

"You mean when you become one," I interrupted. "I'm going to make it happen."

"Sure, when I become a Sylvan, then, I don't want to end up as a mismatched reject. That's usually what every illicit Sylvan becomes if they're working outside the advancement system. They just consume whatever Wildegraft they can get their hands on, never choosing a theme to work off of. Their abilities don't synergize, so even in the event they make it, they aren't particularly useful. The main reason illicit Sylvan are created is life extension," Autumn said, providing me more insight into the way life on their Plane worked than the entire time I knew them.

"Well, think about it. Right now, you have Blood and… everything? I think the seed of the Mother Tree is just Everything, right?" I asked.

Autumn chuckled, "No, not truly. It is an omnipresent entity, but that doesn't mean it literally embodies everything. Back home, we saw the tree as a representation of cycles, death and renewal. As Planes burn in the wars between different Spheres, the Mother Tree births new ones. It can also represent Fate and Order, as the Mother is the only thing holding off the Chaos in the Void between Planes from reaching within. As it was fated to do for as long as there are roots that remain to bind the Planes."

"Only as long as there are roots that remain? That implies that eventually it won't be around to protect us from… the Void? I thought the Void was just the lack of Space, how could the Void contain something if it holds nothing?" I wish I had spoken to Autumn about this earlier. They were apparently a font of knowledge on the cosmology of the multiverse.

"All things die, Ellie," was all they said before the merfolk started to make their move.

At the first sight of the ocean starting to writhe in fury, I hopped down from the tower and dumped the project I had been working on all night into my Inventory. I had left it out to fill its Mana batteries, and it was nearly full by now.

It was a godsend that I didn't require sleep because it allowed me the time to actually complete this masterpiece. If only 'didn't require' didn't also mean 'was completely incapable of.' I'd even received a few levels for my trouble.

Profession Level (Greenweaver) Increased +2 (28) +8 Wit, +4 Spirit, +4 Arcana, +8 Eidetic Drops

I only hoped that we wouldn't need it. Because if we did that would mean that the rest of our options had failed.

Climbing back up the ramparts, I saw Novi had already started a [Combat Simulation], so I was able to review the force approaching the shore.

Which… was only one lone merfolk? Uh, oh, that isn't good. Arriving at the top, I ran towards the Primary Domain Node and placed my hand on it.

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The merfolk was standing atop a pillar of water just off the shore, a trident in its hand. At my arrival, it raised the trident in the air, slammed it into the surface of the ocean, and the sea advanced. The lower part of the island was quickly subsumed by what appeared to be a tidal wave. It rode the wave up through the expanded space Autumn created straight towards us.

It was a good thing I created Tidebreaker. I could hopefully break this wall of water before we drowned… or just Autumn drowned, I supposed, since I didn't have to breathe.

Taking control of the cannons, I had the entire Fortress open fire on the merfolk. With a wave of its trident, the shells were plucked out of the air before they even reached him. I continued firing anyway; if I was going to win this engagement, then exhausting its Mana was probably important.

The [Combat Simulation] was still being updated by Novi, but glancing around the tower, I couldn't actually see her anywhere.

"Up here," Novi said, peeking down from the roof. She shot me a thumbs-up. "You got this, I believe in you!"

"Stupid cat, you can walk on water, why would you be afraid of it?" I asked, but she was already gone.

As the rush of water entered the Domain, I felt an uncomfortable prickling sensation. There was too much unsanctioned movement happening.

But I had to hold myself back; I couldn't stop it quite yet. The merfolk needed to enter the Domain as well. Instead, I turned the cannons down, aimed at the advancing water flow and switched ammunition to the freeze shells. They had a Rimeshrouded Cambium coating with an [Imbued Enchantment] that caused it to activate its freezing aura.

Unloading those shells into the wave, the front rapidly froze. As the wall of water continued building up, the barrage of shells caused a dam of ice to form less than one hundred metres from the front of our defensive line. This barrier curved up and over our line, forming into a dome.

The merfolk smashed through the wall of ice, but the water didn't fall. The cannons stopped firing for a moment as I leaned over the side of the tower to look at what they were doing.

I just noticed the merfolk was wearing a little golden circlet and was staring directly up at me. Its features were also different from the other merfolk that had invaded the island. I would call it almost draconic if I actually knew what dragons looked like. Harsher features, a thicker jaw, and a row of spikes running down its scales.

Its trident also looked fairly fancy; it was somehow generating its own internal Mana supply.

"Your defenses are surrounded, and there is no way out. Face me in honourable single combat or be crushed by the pressure of the deep!" He spoke aloud; his voice was grating to the ears, like someone rubbing rocks together in an approximation of speech.

I let out a sigh, my breath condensed into a plume of white mist. I felt Mana crackling at my fingertips as I reached into the domain, "Alright, merfolk lordling or whatever you are. But only on one condition, I have you right where I wanted you to spring my trap. We can duel in single combat or whatever if you survive the mess you've created for yourself."

Then I activated Tidebreaker's Wake and paid the Mana to upcost it. The Mana at my fingertips dove deep into the Domain, and I willingly let go as it started activating.

The air stilled, and I saw the breath of the merfolk condense into white fog as it tried to yell something at me. But sound no longer carried because the air had forgotten how to do so.

With a wave of his trident, the wall of water hanging above us collapsed inward. But it was already too late.

There was a pulse across the surface of the land encompassing the entirety of the Domain. Everything that stood upon it began to have elements stripped away.

First motion was lost, the water that was once falling upon us slowed until it had entirely stilled. Then heat was taken, and the water froze into crystals that hung in the air. The merfolk, already beginning to freeze just due to standing within my territory, had their blood thicken until it crystallized.

This did not kill the creature; obviously, it would be able to regenerate from this. But I was fairly certain it couldn't be a pleasant experience.

Finally, and this one I wasn't expecting, as I was unsure how the upcost of the Domain would come into effect, order was stolen from the ice droplets in the air. In its place, an endless avalanche was building.

Noticing what was happening immediately through some sense of ownership over the process, I tried to activate Argent Defense in a panic. But it wouldn't shift over now that the process had already begun.

"Get to safety!" I yelled at Autumn my words came out completely silent but my meaning carried anyway, and they found themselves suddenly being covered in Rimeshrouded Cambium pulled up from the floor. That was apparently the only safe move they could make.

Which wasn't much of a surprise to me once I saw the final effect of Tidebreaker's Wake come into effect. There was no rain of ice, no shards formed into bullets flying through the air. One moment, everything was completely still, as energy rapidly built up within the ice, then the next, with a sound that could only be described as a detonation of white noise and a flicker of white light I was completely entombed in snow.

My personal shield popped for the first time, having been overloaded by the pressure of a blast wave of ice particles moving at hypersonic speeds slammed into me all at once.

Grabbing the snow that had impacted me, I dumped it into my Inventory, quickly unburying myself.

Unfortunately, I did not see a kill notification.

Knowing I likely had very little time before the merfolk responded, I hopped into the air and splayed my body out to perfectly fit inside, then I dropped the armour I had built from my Inventory around me.

Connecting directly with the Core Node within the suit, I felt my senses extend outside, and I finally gained some of my height back. This brought me up to a staggering four feet tall. I was so happy I could cry, if I weren't busy with something far more important.

Hopping down from the tower, I landed on top of a pile of solid snow. Twenty metres away from me lay the snake, a jewel in its crown shone with an eerie green light, and the packed snow that had been coating it melted off.

Pulling my newly built hammer from my Inventory, I twirled it in one hand. I marvelled at how light it felt with the suit on. It was a shame I needed to finish this fast. Battery life was a major problem, even guzzling atmospheric Mana.

It pointed a single finger at me and spoke, "I am no mere merfolk slave. I am Naga—crowned in the abyss and born to rule the tide. Bow, land witch, before your betters."

"Make me," I replied.

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