They called a start to their plan and sat ready back on Haven and it didn't take long at all for their deep strike into the lower floor to force a retaliation.

The royal guard were torn apart and Majesty sent a message to Tiamutael. "Young Master, you must tell the Mistress and the others The Carrion cannot be contained. Let them over run me and wipe them out."

When Tiamutael, relayed the message, Majesty got her response as a wave of The Carrion was about to crash into her.

Klaire, Gillian, Noah and Blaine appeared with Tiamutael in his dragon form and decimated their numbers in an instant. Blaine ordered Orm to guard Majesty and when The Carrion had been recontained, Klaire approached her.

"Carl would never forgive us if we let his creation die. You've earned our trust and we will be asking him to give you more freedom when he returns."

'I am a threat myself though, I am too similar to The Ca-'

"The Carrion, don't care about the threat they pose, you do and that will be recognised. You deserve your freedom Majesty."

'I object, if anything ever took control of my offspring...'

"Then we will ask him to mutate you to ensure that never happens, it isn't your species we trust Majesty, it's you."

Majesty made a strange bowing gesture then Klaire made her way to the mouth of the tunnel and detached her soul-form, then they both howled in unison as they used Klaire's aura to direct the sound into the tunnel.

The four of them then marched down and committed a massacre that left them disgusted. The Carrion weren't just a species that reduced worlds to dust as they stripped them bare of resources and ravaged any other living creatures present.

They all became in the endless tunnels that the unseen horror of The Carrion, was that they quickly numbed a person to act of killing. Even surviving a brief encounter required killing dozens of not hundreds of them and as a result they were slowly finding themselves reflexively going for killing shots without fear of collateral damage.

"This can't become the norm for us..."Klaire said through the sound of several death strokes finding their mark. "This is why we need something on their level. If this becomes the norm for us, how long before we start doing this reflexively with everyone that attacks us?"

"Yeah, got to admit, I'm starting to see this as routine and it doesn't feel great. What's worse is that the drones just get seen as training dummies... Is it it just me, or is Carl the only one of us who still seems bothered by it at all?" Gillian said, making the observation with a sense of shame.

"Did you see him after the Dracula thing? He could barely look any of us in the eye."

"Yeah, now you mention it. When I kidnapped him for our chat, he didn't look at me, he was turned to one side and looking out the corner of his eye at most... Damn, I wish I'd noticed."

"Don't blame yourself too much, he's worried about his humanity in general I think. He hates it, but wishes he didn't and he's struggling with the whole "potentially the son of the one responsible for all this" thing still. If we worry about him it will only compound it all, the best thing everyone can do is their best."

Everyone agreed that it was best to take Klaire's advice, except Tiamutael who thought biscuits and cake would be the best way, until Klaire pointed out that that would mean looking after Ki-ko on a sugar high.

The conversation slowed things a bit too excessively for everyone's liking so it came to an end and everyone went their separate ways as well as with their pets to speed it up.

It wasn't long after that that Alysse arrived with a new toy, vengeance for her lost mapping equipment. The "Klaire-Cast" was a mobile gun-platform that used analytical algorithms and nanites to profile and adapt to targets.

When Alysse set it up, it seemed like it would be a game changer in the containment of The Carrion and brought a lot of relief to everyone. Alysse had twenty functional units and just one had rendered the ascent path, from the fourth up to the third floor, completely impassable.

With fifteen of the units on patrol and five on rotational operation between firing and recharging above ground, the four who had been on clean up duty for a few hours already called it a day.

When Klaire and everyone got back to Haven, Leanna had woken up and kicked up a storm when Gillian told her that Carl had made it clear she wasn't allowed to go back to committee ran territory.

In the end, Alisha had to step in. "Leanna, you didn't see what happened afterwards. Carl became a conduit of power he couldn't control, if you left right now and something else happened..."

"What, Alisha!? He would never exert control over any of us!"

"No... I think erasing everything that might harm us is quite possible though. Do you want to see him commit a genocide with a stray thought? It's bad enough that poor Klaire could accidentally kill us all with a stray howl, but Carl was able to rob so many gods of their eyes and he tortured Dracula Leanna..."

Leanna went a bit pale hearing her. The idea that their sweet boy would torture something, even something as evil as Dracula, horrified her. "Please tell me you're kidding, the colour still fades from him after a fight and it's obvious that he still hates the fact that killing The Carrion made him feel better."

The way she referred to it as "obvious" made Gillian and the others feel even worse. On the other hand, it gave Alisha an opening to get her to pin the subject until she can broach it with Carl.

"Also, you don't need to worry about me, I stole all of Faylorna's experience and have as much control over everything as she does. There are some non-standard factors I have to work on, but that isn't a risk to anyone's life..." She then looked at Kyubi, before continuing. "...Kyubi, as matriarch of the faction and heir of Faylorn, I declare our challenge takes place tomorrow morning."

Everyone looked around awkwardly, except for Lillim who rolled her eyes rather than cast them in anyone's direction.

"Congratulations fox, you get your wish, I declare our contract fulfilled and you are free to discuss our contract beyond its confines."

"Thank you both, Leanna, Alisha, I apologise for not discussing the matter with you both as well. It was forbidden to speak with mortals about it until the challenge was declared."

"I'm not bothered, I had to watch every girl on the SAT-Station oggle him for eight years. At least you appreciate him for more than his muscle definition."

"I'm sorry Kyubi, I've got to say I think you should prepare for the worst."

"Thank you both and I'm well aware Alisha, Klaire told me when I issued the challenge, but I also noticed that he only really looks directly at her these days. Even the children he seems to look through, more than at."

Klaire made a comment about hating how much she notices and how it made it difficult to want him to reject her outright, which caused a fair amount of chatter.

After that they had dinner and then everyone went their separate ways. Klaire was cuddling Levi and Tiamutael.

"How are you doing Levi, you still struggling with your howl?"

"Yeah, it's difficult to control..."

"Well, don't forget that it's an emotional thing, locking yourself away will only make it worse."

"I know Mum, but I don't want to hurt anyone... I feel so stupid for accepting Faylorna's blessing."

"Well consider it a good lesson Baby, you learned to not make decisions so big when you're angry. I know me and your Dad aren't exactly good at waiting, but please learn from this and us."

"I'll try..."

"In the meantime, why don't you come out with me for now, I'll coat you in aura to stop you hurting anyone and you can speak telepathically with everyone except Faylorna, Lillim and Kyubi and the dragons."

"Sounds nice, I am getting pretty depressed staying in this room."

After that they all snuggled together and went to sleep, though it was restless and intermittent for Klaire.

'Should I tell Carl about everything, or should I wait for him to get back?'

A part of her felt like she should tell him, she knew it would put his mind at ease while he was away, but at the same time thought it would be better to just let him decompress on the trip.

In the end she decided that it might make him feel like he was missing out and come back, which would throw him into the hassle of dealing with the issues waiting for him when he gets back.

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