Threads of the Soul

Chapter 467 - 467: Good Business

Once everything was settled, and they were sure that there were no more traitors in their midst, the gathered group began to move out. For those who did not plan on returning to the American Capital, there was only real way out of the country.Lee. His service was fast, and more importantly safe. For many, even those with the power of flight, crossing the ocean was simply seen as suicidal. It was incredibly dangerous, with the countless different horrors lurking in the deep.

With no one to cull their numbers, sea beasts had grown all on their own and without anything to stop them. It was easy to say that the vast majority of Celestials or high ranking Transcendents were residents of the big blue wet thing. The only reassuring thought was that they did not have much of a central government nor a singular leader for them to gather around, at least that is what they assumed from their lack of presence at the meeting.

If they had some kind of deep sea king that could gather such forces, the land dwellers would have more to worry about than visitors from the stars.

So, crossing the sea itself was thoroughly crossed off many peoples lists, and even those on the continent didn't want to simply fly or ride off alone. Enough had lost their companions and had not prepared for long trips.

Why spend days or weeks facing countless dangers and more importantly, gaining a saddle sore, when they could just teleport with the Raven Lords 'Omen'.

There was a cost to this transportation service, however. In exchange for learning about their coordinates and taking these leaders home, Lee asked only that they would sign a contract that allowed him to operate within their countries.

Naturally they agreed, and were then shocked when he pulled out multiple contracts that he had coincidentally already prepared in such a random event as this.

All of these contracts were enforced by binding magic and not by any sort of government, so it was made clear they couldn't be wriggled out of. The fact he just so happened to by coincidence have the exact number of contracts for all of the individuals here, including Xander, ever so slightly gave Seth the strange suspicion that maybe, just maybe, he had done a little more than pick up Ava and the healers when he left.

Surely he didn't expect to extort business as soon as he saw them all gathered here and quickly ran to Julius to quickly draft up some standard magical contracts, right? That would be absurd.

Once these 'coincidental contracts' were signed and mystically enforced, Lee happily opened portals to exactly where they needed to go and took them through, with the understanding he would visit Xander last for a real talk.

Unfortunately, Seth and the rest of the American's had to go the long way like the peasants that they were.

As he was clambering onto Omelette, Nixie floated up beside him with a wide smile on his face.

"Oh no," Seth said sternly and pointed to the portal Corvus and Astra were leaving through, "You still have a competition to win. I'm not letting you abandon it after all the effort you went through to sneak into it."

"But... but that was just for fun and... and this looks even more fun! Plus..."

"Tough." Seth interrupted, keeping the stern expression.

"I don't want to hear any excuses. If you start something young lady, then you need to finish it. So go finish your competition, then after everything is done I might consider taking you here on a vacation. We can go see the ruins of Mouseworld in California and see if any of the mutated monsters are still wearing the costumes, how does that sound?"

"Actually, it's mouse land that's in California..."

Seth shot a glare towards Xander as he corrected him, silently telling him not to interrupt when he's trying to be a stern parent. The American laughed at the glare, holding up his hands in faux surrender and backed away to secure the Angel on one of the Eagles.

Clicking his tongue, Seth turned his attention back to Nixie, who was pouting slightly and squirming in the air as she struggled with the decision and annoyance of not getting to do what she wanted.

"Fine... But you better take me there afterwards and give me lots of praise when I win!"

"I'll think about it... But first, don't you think you should go win? If you miss your match then you'll lose by default and then you definitely won't get your prize."

She pouted more, stomping her foot in the air before turning around and shooting through the skies. She sailed over Corvus' head and into the portal, as Corvus glanced over his shoulder. The two men shared a meaningful look, before Corvus stepped through the portal just before it closed.

Seth let out a deep sigh, feeling another invisible weight being added to his shoulders just as the last one had been removed. Still, he quickly shifted his expression to something more warm and friendly as he glanced over his shoulder at the two sitting behind him.

Ava and Woe sat side by side on Omelette's back. Woe with an expression of excitement across his face while Ava clutched the saddle so tight her knuckles had turned white.

"Ready to go, you two? Trust me, It's going to be great. You'll love flying."

Woe shot his hands up, hollering in excitement, while Ava subtly tied herself tighter to the saddle before gripping it with her vice like grip once more.

She bobbed her head slightly, as if she wasn't entirely confident in her answer.

"I guess so... But are you really sure that this is a good idea? I really think we should have gone home with Nixieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Ava's soft voiced complaints quickly turned to shrill, high pitched and ear piercing screams as Omelette flapped his wings and shot into the air without warning, ascending high above the clouds in record time.

The Americans below could only laugh as they heard the screams fade out into the distance, before stirring their own beasts to take flight.