Depthless Hunger-Chapter 274: The End of Intelligence Operations

For a time Kai's world was a blur of pain and shock. When his own teeth had bitten his foot he hadn't expected it to hurt so much, but it was as if he'd bitten his own soul. Only force of will kept him from crying out. He was barely able to focus enough to grab his boot and wobble upright. Maybe he was leaving blood behind him, but he couldn't be sure.

Somehow he had summoned the diamond star and collapsed onto it near the controls. It began to float north, much slower than he would have wanted. In theory the trees blocked him from sight of the demon and the guards, but his vision was swimming and he couldn't be sure. Had he turned around? Was he going in the wrong direction? His body felt ready to fight an army but not to actually think.

"There you are, and-" Omilaena cut off as she saw his leg. "What the f-"

"Bit it off," he mumbled. "Tracking."

"Shit. Kai, do you trust me?"

He slurred out something in response, but Omilaena was grabbing his shoulder and shaking him.

"Kai, listen. Behemoth's Heart is keeping you awake and it will resist anything I try to do, but you need to be unconscious, now. Focus it on your leg and don't resist."

It didn't fully make sense to him, but he nodded. Something sharp pierced his skin and then he didn't really feel anything anymore.

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.. 𝗳r𝐞ew𝚎bn𝚘ve𝚕.c𝗼𝗺

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Usually Kai recovered slowly, but when he next woke he felt completely healed. Refreshed, even. It was only when he tried to move his leg that he felt the pain and grimaced. Immediately Omilaena's hands caught his shoulder and pushed him back.

"You're okay. It's okay."

He was lying on a comfortable bed in a small room. There was sky outside and it was daytime, but otherwise he couldn't tell anything about where they were. Well, the sheets around him looked like the usual golden Commonwealth weave. Omilaena sat beside him with a smile on her face.

"That was absolutely insane," she said, "but it was the right decision. That chakra would have marked you permanently and the demons could have tracked us anywhere we went."

"You know the technique?" His voice was a little rough, but otherwise he felt fine. Except his foot... "Why didn't you warn me?"

"I had no idea about the technique going in, I only figured it out while helping you." She shook her head. "You bit off the majority of the chakra and it disappeared into whatever void you have for a soul, but you didn't get every last trace. Knocking you unconscious with a flood of chakra slowed it down long enough to get away for good."

"Zae...?"

"Is fine, just not here. She went ahead to make contact... which is assuming that you'll have valuable information for us when we can talk to the elves."

"Yeah." Kai answered automatically but was more curious about his foot. He pushed the sheets aside and saw that he had one, but it looked strange. Too pink, unweathered, scarless. It still hurt a little when he tried to flex the sole of his foot. "I'm surprised this isn't fully healed."

"What's that, you're upset that you haven't regenerated a body part already?" Omilaena rolled her eyes. "Actually, you probably would have, but as far as I could tell, your regeneration focused on getting rid of the foreign chakra first. It's unusually smart for a recovery technique."

"Mm." Kai settled back to rest and Omilaena snapped her fingers.

"You can't sleep yet, we need everything you learned while infiltrating or your sacrifice was useless."

He told her everything that had happened, regaining focus as he slipped back into the details. Apparently from their end they had been able to tell when the demon came alert and began hunting for an intruder, and had even debated trying to cause a distraction, but in the end had been helpless to do anything but help him after he made it out.

As for the information, Omilaena nodded casually when it came to the numbers and types of obelisks, made no reaction at all about the slaves, and seemed deeply interested about the split shipment. Her theory was the demons wanted to incite some type of attack on the Commonwealth instead of being seen as the aggressor, but the details began to seem very fuzzy and immaterial.

Kai settled back and focused on recovery.

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..

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By the time Zae Zin Nim arrived, Kai was wide awake and back to physical training. Fortunately his new foot seemed to have regrown as strong as the previous, though it was still tender. He integrated some stomping and jumping exercises to his usual Physique routine to help it get back into shape. On one hand, he didn't want to ever consume part of himself again, but on the other, it was apparently a viable option.

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She had gone ahead to one of the agreed-upon locations where she could make contact with elven agents. They hadn't exchanged information at that time and only set a different location for the meeting. Since they didn't want to stay in one place too long, they left the inn where he'd recovered and traveled deeper into the Commonwealth.

It seemed like they'd made it through with no sacrifices except for his foot. When it came time to meet the next contact, Zae Zin Nim went alone again for the sake of secrecy while they just watched. Kai and Omilaena hovered in the diamond star, waiting for her return.

Since she was trapped there, Kai decided that it was time to bring up the subject again.

"I was surprised to see the obelisks being made by slaves." He spoke as casually as he could, but he saw the glint in Omilaena's eyes.

"Good job not ruining your cover trying to free them," she said.

"Everything about it looked old, not like something the demons set up. Does the Commonwealth trade in slaves?"

"Yes, all the time." Omilaena gave him an odd shrug. "You're going to have to accept that you can't do anything about it this time, Kai. This slavery isn't as brutal as it was in Krysal, so many slaves are better off than free workers."

"Are you just saying that because you're from the Commonwealth?"

"Give me more credit than tha-"

"Or because you have direct experience?" Kai had been speaking indifferently but now he turned and met her eyes, refusing to look away. She'd lied about her history to him at least once before. This time he didn't want to let her slip the question with a joke or a wild story.

She didn't squirm, but her eyes looked heavier than before. She didn't answer.

"If you really don't want to say anything, I won't make you," Kai told her. "But it seemed like you were intimately familiar with how the slave house was set up. And the people I felt in there had artisan abilities that didn't seem so unfamiliar."

"Fine." Omilaena slouched back in her seat. "I was born a slave here and they used me as a chakra-imbuer. Some of the fancy chakra machines you've seen come from experts, but plenty are made by drudges pouring themselves into objects over and over. Just don't make a big deal about it, like it defines me. It's not a secret I hold back for real friends or any nonsense like that, it's something I'd rather put behind me."

"You can stop if you prefer, I just want to understand you. So you were forced to work in places like that?"

"As I got older I moved up from pure chakra work to being what they call an Iron Artisan. Not a very strong ability. But we worked with some toxic industrial materials and I managed to absorb them instead of dying like so many did."

"The Heart of Poison."

"Exactly." Omilaena smirked a bit more like her usual self. "And I made some satisfying use of it, but I don't need to tell those stories. I clawed a path up any way I could and transformed my old skills to become a Lethal Artisan. Then skip years of training, realizing I couldn't compete against the best, a trip to a Deadwaste, and you basically know the story from there."

"Thank you for telling me." Kai turned that over in his mind for a while before he spoke up again. "Did you want to change things and lack the power, or did you leave the other slaves behind?"

Omilaena tapped her chest mockingly. "I'm not hiding a heart of gold in here - my soul is pretty clear about that. I helped a few escape, but honestly, slaves aren't all innocent little victims. They're as vicious and petty as everyone else. I won't weep if something bad happens to slavers, but I'm not going to put my life on the line for strangers like you do."

"I think I understand."

"My question earlier wasn't just trying to deflect. Are you going to make a big fuss trying to overturn the Commonwealth?"

"Even if I had the power, I don't know enough." Kai shrugged and gave a sheepish grin. "But since you're being all open and personal with me-"

"Asshole."

"Can I ask where you're from? I haven't seen a lot of people in the Commonwealth who look like you."

"That's actually another story, another one that isn't important about knowing who I am." Omilaena stared out over the landscape, eyes unfocusing. "One of the previous lords here used his slaves for a massive breeding program, hoping to create superior species. It didn't work and his efforts mostly vanished. But most likely my ancestry is part elven, part human."

So her the color of her skin wasn't a coincidence after all. Kai couldn't help but glance at her ears and almost wondered if they were a bit more pointed than he thought, but it was hard to be sure. In any case, she didn't want to emphasize it, so he looked away.

"I'll never bring it up again if you say so."

"No, it's... probably for the best that you know." She shrugged languidly. "It could be relevant for my Physique, or eventually for my advancement. If we're going to keep working together, it's good to understand each other."

But did they? Kai decided not to press Omilaena any further, since she'd already bent further than she wanted. They spent most of their remaining time training until Zae Zin Nim finally returned the next day.

"The elven informant teleported back," she reported. "He was pleased with the information, but we won't know how the Council feels now. Basically we have a choice of staying here to keep working or returning to argue for our boons."

"Nonsense!" Omilaena sat up straight, far more animated than normal. "We've spent almost two months traveling deep into the center of the Commonwealth and our cover hasn't been blown yet. It would be a shame to turn back now, when we could profit so much here."

"Then you still want to keep working for the Council?"

"Not exactly. If we happen across something that's useful to them, we could trade for it, but I say from here on we work for ourselves."

Zae Zin Nim considered for a time and then nodded. "I'm still concerned about demons targeting me for my cultivation, but anywhere else on the continent there would be the threat of my father's sect. If we can acquire chakra arts here, that could be even more beneficial than returning to the Elven Wilds."

"Then it sounds like we're agreed." Kai grinned and sat forward.

"What's gotten into you?" Omilaena asked.

"I never told you? I want my chakra art to be something called the Savage Creed, and I heard they're further north. I suppose you know it?"

"Oh, sure. They're difficult to work with, but there's no question their abilities are strong. Could be a good match for you. Cultivation to hide your soul, Savage Heart to explain your body, both reinforcing your real abilities. Sounds like the makings of a strong synergy."

"If we are agreed," Zae Zin Nim said while glancing between them, "then where do we go next?"

"Straight to the capital!" Omilaena grasped the controls of the diamond star eagerly. "Traeton is one of the largest cities on the continent. It's a good place to start everything else, but it's also home to one of the Eight Insanities. If we're going to do this, we might as well go all in!"

Kai found himself grinning in response and even Zae Zin Nim smiled as they accelerated. Deeper into the heart of the Commonwealth, and yes, deeper into the territory controlled by the demons. Matiavel the Destroyer himself, one of the most powerful people on Rosemount, would be waiting in the capital.

But where else was there to go but forward?