Chapter 61 – Criminal

For the next few hours, Dream and the girls danced the night away. The girls especially. They looked stupid, cute, sexy, and inexperienced all at once. 

With their ability, it didn't take the girls long to learn to dance a bit. And once they got into it, they got into it. 

It was probably due to the mana-infused music, but Dream had never seen Iris so... well, sexual. That was usually Luna's thing. And since it was nothing malicious, he didn't stop the cause for her change in attitude. Technically, only he really had the 'immunity'. Unless the girls detected the music's influence, they couldn't stop it.

Not that he regretted letting the music do its thing. He loved it. Seeing that side of Iris was exhilarating. She even decided to take it upon herself and copy the others around them, grinding up against him. Moving her body every which way in that sexy black dress to the point where her scent was almost rubbed into his clothes. Dream was as turned on as he was surprised by her boldness.

Though this only went on for a good 20 minutes or so until the music stopped. With it, the enchanted atmosphere died down and everyone came to their senses, along with an embarrassed Iris. Though not as embarrassed as he thought she would be. 

She came out surprisingly confident, giving him a deep kiss before walking back to the table. Dream smiled and walked back with her, taking Luna to the dance floor next.

This was honestly one of the things Dream had been a bit conflicted on. With two girls, how was he supposed to divide his attention best? Especially in these kinds of one on one activities. Luckily, they were sisters and both understanding, otherwise there would be conflicts. Not that Dream was confident enough to have two girlfriends that weren't sisters, but that's beside the point.

After Iris was Luna, and it went as you would expect. Dream got a stand-up lap dance, and he enjoyed every second of it. She too was affected by the music, but it didn't cause a huge change like Iris. It only made her that much more passionate.

At first, Dream thought he was doing too little. He was practically just letting the girls dance all over him while maybe getting a little handsy. But at the same time, what was he supposed to do? Give them a lap dance instead? That would be an interesting sight. 

Either way, the girls enjoyed letting loose and Dream enjoyed the 'service'. After a few hours of switching and even dancing with both, Sophia finally had to step in.

[You have 2 hours before the sun rises. I suggest you three get back and get ready to leave.]

"..."

As the music stopped again, the three were suddenly reminded of how they were supposed to be leaving today. Or more precisely, within the next hour. They each pulled themselves together and calmed down while sitting at their table.

"*sigh* I totally forgot about today." (Iris)

"At least we packed before we left." (Luna)

The girls closed their eyes and massaged their heads. They actually weren't tired at all, a testament to their powerful physiques. They were just trying to clear their minds.

Dream on the other hand, was getting some news from Sophia.

[I think I've found where we are.]

'On this planet?'

[In the universe. I've been using all satellites to their full capacity to collect information. And I didn't expect to find where we are so soon, but in the last several hours, I've been verifying what I've seen. According to all the data on Earth, and referencing celestial objects around us, I've concluded that we are in the Andromeda galaxy. Where exactly in the galaxy is still unknown, but regardless we are at least 2.5 million light-years away from Earth.]

'...'

Dream sat there in deep contemplation. 2.5 million light-years? It's an impossibly far distance, something that according to all things logical, couldn't be traveled by anyone. But...

'Whoever brought me here was able to drop me on this planet, body and soul, in an instant. Not only that, but I have a connection to Earth in real-time. I can even pass signals through the connection. It's an impossible thing considering that I'm literally in a galaxy far far away. So there's definitely a way to get to Earth. A wormhole? If those even exist. Or the scary alternative, that person who dropped me here was able to travel that distance easily. Nothing short of a god either way.'

[What's even crazier is that this planet is developing at the same time as Earth. The coincidence is almost too good to be true.]

'Although it seems this planet has a buried history to it. Anyway, there's nothing I can do with that information right now. At least we know we're relatively in the same place and not stranded somewhere billions of light-years away.'

Dream sat back and stopped thinking about it. Pondering on it more would only drive him crazy. 

After he and the girls collected themselves, they decided to leave the tavern and head back home. A carriage ride later, they were in front of the house. A certain someone was also waiting for them outside.

"How's it going, Old Man?"

"..."

Riddick didn't respond and walked over to the girls, touching their shoulders with his hands. After a second, he pulled away.

"...We're leaving soon. You guys have everything packed?" (Riddick)

Dream smiled. Riddick scanned the girls and found nothing. Which also means that he didn't follow them during the night. He felt a bit smug. He doubted that Riddick would be able to find evidence of them doing anything if Dream didn't want him to know. Not that he would ever violate his trust, but still.

"Yes, we're all packed." (Luna)

"Then we'll head out now. You ready, Boy?" (Riddick)

"I am. In fact, we can take this carriage to the gates."

"That's fine." (Riddick)

With that they got back onto the carriage, soon arriving at the gates.

As they exited the Mountain, the sun was beginning to peek up over the horizon. Dream drove everyone a couple of miles away where they set up the helicopter. The blades began turning and kicking up dust while everyone boarded.

"You know where you're going?"

Riddick spoke up as they got on. Dream nodded to him.

"I do. Remember that rocket? Well, it had devices on it that make maps of the world. Take a look at your tablet."

Riddick took a seat and brought out his tablet, finding an image already on it. Dream had uploaded the map data they had.

Riddick scrolled around the map and found the Enchanted Mountain and the Spire highlighted, their locations clearly displayed. The location of their helicopter was also being tracked and showed the route they were going to take to get there. Which was just a straight line.

When Sophia had found the Mountain and Spire, she used the reconnaissance satellites to very cleary image the entire area. Not only that, but two of those planes Dream launched were currently circling the area at super-high altitudes of nearly 70,000 feet. They were constantly monitoring the area and Sophia was compiling data from what she could see. 

Riddick scrolled up to the Spire and saw clear images of the Empire. He was stunned as he had never seen a view of the place from such a perspective. The girls also went over and looked over his shoulder at the map, having a more curious reaction as they had never been to the Spire.

The Spire itself was a vast empire. Though the name sounds very singular and small, which led Dream to believe that the place itself wasn't that big. Maybe the mages who practiced there liked to be secluded in their research and had their own towers and areas, making things spread out. But nope. From the images Sophia took, the main capital was a huge community. And there indeed was a Spire. In fact, there were hundreds.

In the most prominent city of the Empire stood one massive tower. When Dream had first seen it, he was stunned silly. The thing was approximately 1,100 meters tall. This would make it one of the tallest buildings on Earth. And before Earth had developed graphene structural material, the tallest building had been the Burj Khalifa, standing at over 800 meters tall.

Either way, the Spire was truly a skyscraper. And outside it were other spires, but none as tall as the main one. The next tallest approached 800 meters. Then 700, then 500, until they became unnoticeable among the rest of the buildings. The city as a whole was almost 50 miles across and was pretty densely packed with buildings. Even this, however, was only the main capital.

The exact size of the Empire was unknown. Such a thing was determined by the political situation and whether the major cities around the Spire were kingdoms instead of parts of the main Empire. But according to trade routes that Sophia picked up on and the general flow of the populus, she estimated out the influence of the Empire to be around half the size of America. Another big hint to this was that every major city within that area all had spires in the center of the cities, an obvious tie to the Empire. So for now, they would assume that to be its influence.

The place they were heading to was the center of it all, the main capital. It would take almost two days of straight flying. And after seeing the map which told them this, everyone settled in for a long ride.

Luna and Iris both transformed into foxes which would prove most comfortable. Iris took Dream's lap while Luna took her dad's, curling into balls.

The helicopter began climbing higher and higher and everyone relaxed, mentally tired from being up all night and morning. 

Though for a split second as the helicopter climbed, the back of Dream's neck tingled and his hair stood on end. Was it chills? Nervousness?

Dream opened his previously closed eyes, looking at Riddick across from him. And when he saw the Old Man's face, his heart rate began spiking.

[Conta-!]

*BOOM*

Out of nowhere, the helicopter was enveloped and blown to bits by fire. Sophia reacted quickly and created a vacuum around Dream and Iris, protecting them from the super-hot blue flames that could burn even them. Though this proved unnecessary as they were already being protected by someone else. He saw the transparent mana shield that was enveloping all of them. It came from Riddick.

Since the helicopter wasn't a helicopter anymore, the four quickly began falling out of the sky. Dream had nothing to summon and prepared to use his magic, until their descent was stopped by Riddick. Controlling all of them, he quickly began flying towards the trees, reaching the ground in a matter of seconds.

When they were all set down, Dream began assessing the situation with Sophia.

'So, what the actual hell just happened?!'

[You were attacked.]

'Is that right? Thanks for the enlightenment.'

[I barely recognized that there was an enemy until just before. I sensed mana agitation and a spike in temperature coming from a place below us. Then a fireball came flying towards us as insane speeds. Luckily Riddick reacted quick, or else you would've come out with some serious burns.]

'So a simple fireball caused all that. What level is this enemy at?'

[Unknown, but at least high second class. There's a high chance that they're 3rd class.]

'Well that's fantastic. Prepare to fight against one then.'

[Understood.]

In only a second they had determined that they were in a bad situation. Dream's armor activated and covered every part of his body. His senses spread out as far as they could. His mana vortex began spinning faster. His high-powered railgun appeared in his hands along with the deadliest titanium bullets he had. He saturated them with mana, then waited.

At the same time, Sophia explained to Luna and Iris that they were under attack from a potential 3rd class enemy. They realized and also prepared, but not for battle. They prepared to stay out of their dad's way. They didn't think they could affect this battle.

For a few moments, time stood still. Everyone was on full alert. But even after a whole minute of waiting, nothing happened. Dream understood one thing from this.

"Psychological warfare. They want to wear us down mentally." (Dream)

Immediately after he said that, another fireball came. Then another, and another. Over a dozen fireballs came at them from all sides. They were the same blue color as before, proving how hot they were.

And right as they were about to arrive, Dream felt the ground all around them begin to move. It was caving in.

'A trap huh? I would scoff but it's actually rather deadly.'

[So counteract it!]

Dream took her advice and began contesting control over the ground and air. A good chunk of his mana was used up as it saturated his surroundings. Though right as he was about to fight back, a horrendous wave of mana washed over the area, dissipating everything about to attack them.

The atmosphere was immediately filled with hatred and malice. Just standing there, Dream felt stifled. The mana he sent out retracted into his body as an almost instinctual reaction of self-defense. 

"...Even after 20 years..."

A voice echoed through the forest, seemingly aimed at nothing.

"It seems you all need to be reminded of just who you're dealing with."

After saying so, that wave of mana began corroding everything around them. In only a few seconds, everything within a 300-meter radius disintegrated. The trees, the grass, bushes, even animals just going about their business. The only thing left was dirt, stone, and ashes covering the floor.

Not a sound was made as it happened, nor did the caster even move. One moment, the forest was brimming with life, the next, it was a barren wasteland. Dream stood there baffled.

'...I take back anything about being able to contest against that monster. Who the hell could possibly fight that?'

[They're about to appear.]

Dream's attention turned towards where Riddick was looking. After a moment, 6 figures appeared surrounding them. They were foxes.

"Riddick Durov! You cannot escape! Word of your appearance has already been sent. Cooperate, and your daughters won't be harmed. And you may be able to live a bit longer. Individual whose name is Dream!"

The fox who was speaking turned to Dream. 

"What is your affiliation with Riddick Durov?"

"Affiliation? Why, we happen to be friends."

Dream's mask uncovered his face as he stared straight at the fox.

"Riddick Durov has committed heinous crimes against the United Empire's 4th class councilor, Raoul. Give yourself up and don't interfere in this matter. You will be let go unharmed and deemed unrelated to this criminal. "

"Hmm... Go free, or become a criminal to the world's largest Empire... You know what? Raoul, the 4th class fox, you can send him a message. Tell him that he can bring his furry ass over here and suck on my magnum dong."