A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Quickly, before Eira could steal her show again, Naeku walked over to one of the magic circles and put her hand on it. Looking up at it with fascination, she explained: "We are now in the main teleportation room, but there are smaller rooms directly behind these sigils. That's where incoming teleportations end up."

She turned back and smiled at Erik. "It's essentially a security system. Anyone teleporting in is secluded, and only has the right to be teleported back where they came from, or up to the main city and back."

Erik cocked an eyebrow, as did some others. "Why would they give anyone coming in the right to be transported to the main city?"

Rather than Naeku, it was Elora who answered with a frown. "They probably didn't, originally…" She glanced at Erik and shrugged. "But I guess they made this change simply because they weren't sure what would happen in the future. If no one discovered this city naturally, at least it would still be discovered if someone found a teleportation sigil on the outside."

Naeku nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! That's what the documents in my inheritance claim, as well."

She looked at Erik and her father. "So, they had the right to be teleported into the city and back by the sigil construct in charge of this place. That's how they got in and left again, sailing right by all our defences."

This time, she looked at Eira. "But it's different now! I don't even need to adjust the parameters, because Eira can simply refuse to teleport anyone."

Smiling proudly, Eira puffed up her chest. "Of course, I can! No one is getting in without Master's permission!"

Erik chuckled and petted her head. "Heh. Good girl."

Grinning contently, Eira pushed her head back against his hand as her tail swept joyfully.

With the immediate issue of security solved, Erik sank into thought for a moment as everyone else explored this familiar yet alien room. After a few moments, a devious grin spread across his lips. "Alright, so… what if I want to pay a visit to that trio from Maghreb?"

"What?!"

"Hah!"

"Yes!"

Reactions to his question were varied, with some worried, others amused, and Astrid, specifically, excited.

"I'm coming with you!" she immediately continued, a wide grin forming on her lips. "If you get into a fight, you're not keeping me out this time!"

Chuckling, Erik nodded. "Alright, Astrid. Just remember what we did to one of them, though. Since we can effortlessly reduce their fighting strength to two, I doubt there will be a fight."

Astrid scoffed and crossed her arms. "Hmpf. Not with that attitude…"

Erik rolled his eyes while Naeku walked up to him with a concerned frown. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Erik pecked her lips and grinned. "I'll be fine! Especially with my lovely Astrid with me. In fact, I can take Emily along in my dimension as well, just to be sure. At that point, it's three against two in our favour if it does end up in a fight."

Emily grinned wickedly in confirmation, already excited. She was a little frustrated because Astrid would be out in the open and she wouldn't, but she understood her power and ranking were still being kept on the down-low.

Elora nodded, having shrunk herself and now sitting on Erik's shoulder. "I'll come as well, of course, to deal with any unforeseen problems since we don't know if the other side has something akin to a facility like this one."

Nodding, Erik thumbed at his beloved fairy. "With a team-up like that, there's very little in this world that can stop us."

Hearing all this, Naeku began to pout. "I really need to reach the third rank…" she grumbled under her breath, frustrated at the fact she couldn't be of any real help in this situation.

After Ankhur then declared his intention to stay, understandably, since there'd be no third-rankers left in the city if they all left, Erik turned to Eira. "So…?"

***

A few minutes later, Erik and Astrid stepped out of a swirling portal after a smooth ride. They looked around. The room they entered was dark and seemed like the bottom of a yellow sandstone tower.

Erik remained in his casual harem pants and exposed chest, despite some of his wives' protests. His hands were casually in his pockets, but the Runeguard remained a prominent feature on his right lower arm. He was confident and wanted to exude superiority, but he wasn't stupid.

Astrid, on the other hand, was fully decked out in arms and armour. With the Norse style armour Erik had made for her, dual straight swords resting on her shoulders, fiery hair, blue eyes, and an excited grin ranging from ear to ear, she looked like an avenging Valkyrie, ready to pounce.

They may have gotten away from her last time, but if they tried anything, she'd show them how lucky they were back then.

"Doesn't look like they have the same kind of facility as we do," Erik muttered curiously. He pointed to the other end of it. "There's a door and stairs right there." He looked around again as his omnisense swept the place. "Is there a sigil construct here?"

Nothing answered, and his omnisense found no trace of the sigils a construct would need to project its form.

"Sigil constructs aren't easy to make," Elora spoke through their bond, watching the scene from his dimension, together with Emily. "They're certainly far more difficult than even the transference core, and the teleportation sigil we just took here. The fact that we've encountered two of them in just over a year is surprising enough. Besides, despite its complexity in construction, even someone with limited knowledge of sigils could activate the teleportation."

Erik nodded and started walking over the other end of the room, his omnisense continuously sweeping for traps and sigils. He kept his channel with Elora open, so Astrid heard everything she said as well. "I guess that confirms our suspicion that Enkare Nkai was the hub of a network," he muttered.

Astrid, her eyes flying around, quickly followed him and they started ascending the stairs. There was a similar elevator to the one in Enkare Nkai's spire as well, but using it might spoil the surprise. Plus, it was simply better not to use anything the enemy could control.

They strolled up the stairs casually, both husband and wife dripping with confidence, but encountered no one yet.

Eventually, they ended up in a wide, sandstone hall with grand statues of what Erik and Elora recognised as beast-kin. These were humanoid Arcanists with some animalistic features, ranging from some tufts of fur and a tail, to full animal heads, making them almost seem like shapeshifters.

Besides the statues, pillars and platforms also lined the sides, making the entire place look grand and heavy—a far cry from the more austere look of Enkare Nkai. On the far side of the hall stood an empty throne, with a heavy, triangle shaped table in front of it that didn't seem to fit the rest of the decor.

Around this table stood the trio of Maghreb, clearly in the middle of an argument. Erik smirked and strode forward.