The island of Kahoolawe was seeing some excitement, and more activity than it had for decades.

None of the native Hawaiians were getting close enough to disturb anything, although the two Sages native to the Islands were keeping an apprehensive eye on what was going on here.

Multiple Sea Dragon Emperors paying visits to the place would have been nerve-wracking at the best of times, as such creatures NEVER bothered to come on shore in the past, leaving that to minions and servant creatures. If you wanted to fight them, you had to go out to the sea, into their element, and take your chances there.

The fact they were actually coming onshore here was baffling to those watching, but none of the mages were stupid enough to annoy a Sea Dragon Emperor by trying to eavesdrop, so they could only content themselves with the fact we were doing business there.

Coralost had contributed solidly to the littoral defenses, actions, and training of defenders of all the inhabited Hawaiian Islands. They really had no choice but to trust us that nothing untoward was happening, and swallow any questions about getting a piece of the pie.

There were plenty of other islands out there to meet on, after all, including more than a few that had been completely wiped of anything of the land by voracious Aquatics, including their human populations. We also told them that the Sea Dragons didn’t LIKE coming here, with the natural defenses of the islands still weakening them, so this was actually something of an insult to them.

The locals were perfectly happy to let us keep slapping Sea Dragons in the face. Thousands of islanders had been slain over the years of The Great Flood, and a little payback was worth it for us to borrow some land nobody wanted to die on.

Sea Dragon True Emperor Deepwater Pearls had come with the full payment for both His own Columns and for the one million Braziers for The Sea Emperor. Low Emperor Subtle Currents had already come with his own payment and departed a week ago... and now Deepwater Pearls had THREE new Sea Dragon Emperors tagging along with Him.

The lads working on the Pearl-Night Alabastar were putting up a new column every thirty seconds or so, slowly and carefully following the Visual File records I was giving them access to, although there were minor adjustments as each followed their own style and made the tiniest of changes to reflect that. Those changes would be as obvious as signatures to an Emperor’s Awareness, showcasing the talents and understandings of each artist, essentially giving each column a touch of the Elements they wielded that mine didn’t display.

They were all at QL 40, so there was absolutely nothing to complain about, and indeed much to be interested in.

Their vivic flames also reflected the Elements they knew, further customizing the display of sculpture by the mage. It had first been done for Emperor Subtle Currents, and Deepwater Pearls had pointedly asked for the same.

The columns I’d done for Emperor Dancing Waters had a Golden edge to them that was both dangerous and warm, a contradiction the Dragons only enjoyed more, although they REALLY wondered what it meant to feel such things when they gazed upon the vivic flames...

The new Sea Dragons, of different clans and thus slightly different scale patterns and colors, were looking at the artwork being done hungrily, clearly ready to place orders of their own.

It was time to deliver The Sea Emperor’s order. “Where shall I deliver unto The Sea Emperor’s emissary what is His?” I asked Deepwater Pearls formally, gesturing to the supernaturally smooth ocean behind Him. “If Deepwater Pearls Emperor is willing, I can depose them upon the waters of the Bay behind you.”

All four of the serpentine Sea Dragons turned to look at the calm ocean waters there, wondering just how I was going to do such a thing. “THAT WOULD BE PERFECTLY ADEQUATE, HEALER FAE,” the True Emperor replied, equally formally.

I nodded, waved my hand, and a Portal to the waters of the Broom Closet opened in a narrow, wide band.

Water gushed out of the opening, and with it came the very plain, yet exquisitely precise Braziers of Sea Basalt, riding upon the waters in a packed surge and flow of them as they gushed out into the ocean smoothly.

Hundreds were emerging per second, but a million was not a small order, and everyone was counting, so there’d be no shortage. I could sense subtle command of the currents going out, constraining where the things floated and keeping them gathered up for easy control.

It took about twenty minutes for the last of the Braziers to float out of the Portal, forming quite a massive block of the burning, misting things out there in the water, basically turning it all into a foggy, mist-covered section of waters that didn’t dissipate despite the hot sun being directly overhead.

The three Low Emperor Sea Dragons went out and tested the vivic fog, inhaling mightily and repeatedly, surely more than they needed to, before turning and nodding to Deepwater Pearls Emperor.

Satisfied, the Sea Dragon True Emperor turned back to me. “THE SEA EMPEROR HAS SPOKEN, SAYING HE WISHES TO... TRADE FOR TEN MILLION MORE SUCH BRAZIERS.” He stared at me carefully, clearly wondering if we could deliver on such a thing.

“We can deliver one million more such Braziers every two weeks upon proper payment in trade, Emissary,” I replied formally to Him. “Furthermore, if you would like them delivered in a different location, you need merely name it, and we will deliver them there.”

He blinked, and inclined His head slightly at the courtesy. “SO I WILL INFORM THE SEA EMPEROR,” He intoned.

He probably thought all of our business was done, and that I was about to ask permission to be dismissed to work on His columns, or accept the orders of the other Sea Dragons Emperors sidling up, when I spoke up, “Emissary, information has come to this one’s attention that might be relevant to The Sea Emperor, and I was wondering if He might not wish to trade for it.”

“INFORMATION?” The True Emperor mulled over the implications of that. “WHAT MANNER OF INFORMATION MIGHT INTEREST THE SEA EMPEROR?” He half-scoffed.

“There are four Dead Zones in the deeps of the oceans, the equal of those upon the lands of Human make. Furthermore, there are another seventeen active minor conduits to and from the Netherworld extant in the oceans, and thus in His domain.”

All four of the Sea Dragon Emperors stiffened, and interesting shades played over their scales at the news. All of them had fairly fresh scars and wounds suffered during the very recent civil war, so memories of the fighting were very clear to them. Finding out that such things existed still was enough to rattle all four of them.

“IMPOSSIBLE!” Deepwater Pearls Emperor spluttered, but it lacked resolve, bearing only instinctive pride and arrogance. “HOW COULD SUCH THINGS ESCAPE THE SEA EMPEROR?”

“The same way they did when they were set up: the influence of a Netherlord is masking them from His Imperial Majesty’s senses and Awareness.” I let that sink in, and although it was measured in centimeters, watching their beards droop and spinal ridges flatten ever-so-slightly as they were crestfallen was quite satisfying to see.

“HOW THEN DID YOU FIND THEM?!” He demanded to know urgently, seizing on the important point.

“They are concealed against the Awareness of Beasts and the like up to the level of High Emperors. This one did not use Awareness nor mundane senses to find them.”

Which perfectly explained it without telling them how.

“I WILL CONVEY THIS TO THE SEA EMPEROR IMMEDIATELY!” He promised, knowing that any or all of the Tainted Aquatics who had not been confirmed dead were likely waiting in such areas.

“The areas will also need to be Sealed, Emissary,” I informed the agitated True Emperor. “Using Braziers can stop Dark Mana leakage, but will not actually close the opening without decades of time and no interference. This one does have experience in the Sealing of Planar conduits, but the trade will not be cheap.”

I was under no gods-damned obligation to fix up The Sea Emperor’s messes. He’d been gaffing off His responsibilities as Emperor of the Seven Seas, with the biggest domain in the world and the most Emperors following Him... and actually, the seas were generating just as much Dark Mana as Humanity was, they were just doing it right under His nose, because He couldn’t bestir Himself to actively rule His domain.

No wonder Leviathan Emperor got the respect He did, and only respected The Sea Emperor’s power, not His position. He was a bored, jaded, indolent sot sitting on a hoard of trinkets at the bottom of the sea, content in His position, making sure only that He couldn’t be threatened and leaving the rest to His descendants.

Dragons. One icily remote, one heatedly arrogant, and one slothfully proud, jaded, and lazy.

They were already responsible for bringing the attention of the Netherworld and Nirvana here, and just compounding it by the vainglorious uselessness of their actions.

Wise and mighty and ancient, and totally bloody useless.

“I WILL ALSO CONVEY THAT TO THE SEA EMPEROR!” Emissary Deepwater Pearls confirmed with a bowing of His head, wondering just how I might do that.

I had also basically just given myself more work capping Manifest Zones from the Netherworld. I rolled my eyes to myself as the first of the three new Dragon Emperors, Coral Display Emperor, sidled forwards to cautiously present to me his order for his own self-aggrandizing Columns to display his vainglorious self.

Thunder Depths Cachalot Emperor was This Close to making low True Emperor status, and more Dragon Water would definitely help him along in that process.

The world might end, but that was no reason not to fleece the shit out of these bastards until it did, right?

-------

They made a lot of noise, which wasn’t much of a surprise. There were a LOT of Monkeys involved here, and they were sounding out from all directions.

All directions around the Domain of the Night Weaver Spiders.

The howls of war were shaking the trees, leaves rustling, and every spiderweb vibrating with the volume of the threat. The Monkeys were here, they were everywhere, and they were coming!

And they weren’t alone, as Avians of all stripes, but especially flocks of rainbow-hued Parrots and Parakeets were imitating the Monkeys, adding to the din with Sound Magic, and overall making it really damn hard to concentrate on any kind of careful spellcasting.

All of the Monkey Kings under King Dorado were here. He Himself was a full Ruler King, almost a Half-Emperor after meeting with and receiving guidance from Son Wukong and the other Great Beasts, still more powerful than those he’d sent out into the human world, and that included Mighty Turk.

It was absolutely fine, because the Monkeys were finally coming for them damn Spiders who had been bedeviling them for years, and were going to end them!

Crazy amounts of magic with startling levels of subtle control were flowing through the Manafield and the overgrown jungle of Central America. The vibration of earth and sky, leaf and web, was driving the Spiders crazy with threats seeming to come from every direction. The shadows were constantly dancing, not stable enough to manipulate easily, and the Veil of the Void was in constant agitation and nearly impossible to manipulate.

There were even sparks of Fire and Lightning from some of the Sticks wielded by the Monkeys, and impossibly strong webs snapped and were cut through by them, rolled up and shoved out of the way of the advancing army, which was scrutinizing every shadow and making sure nothing escaped them as they came.