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Relaxation was important. This was something that Karna strongly believed. If you couldn’t spend time just relaxing and having a good time every now and then, then what was the point of living or gathering power? What was all that power for? What people found relaxing differed greatly, but the important part was that you could let go of your worries and just be yourself. Enjoying yourself and having a good time was also important. The small and large pleasures of life gave it meaning beyond just your duties. So, it was perhaps understandable that when Karna’s relaxation time was interrupted, she was not happy about it.

Earlier that day she’d had another encounter with Hyperion, a very enjoyable encounter at that, and she was currently buried in her pillow hoard relaxing when shouts and sounds of battle sounded from outside. Considering they were deep in House Titannica territory inside multiple layers of wards, protective barriers, and security didn’t make things any less worrying. It did make her very grumpy and angry though as that security was clearly not doing its job, and she hoped that whoever had interrupted her relaxation had a good reason or there would be hell to pay.

With a single thought her pillow hoard vanished inside her storage items, which she already needed multiple of to store all her pillows. Then she used her phoenix ability to teleport to get outside and above for a good view of the situation. From high in the air, she noticed that the situation was actually much worse than she’d assumed. She secretly apologized to the security she’d maligned, as that very security was doing its best to keep things under control but failing. The noise wasn't just coming from a simple altercation. They were under attack. And it looked like the entire mountain range with all the manors and temples was suffering from the same fate. The most worrying part was the identity of the attackers.

All around them, it looked like nature itself had decided to attack them. Everything from Treants to weird giants made from plants that had grown together were assaulting the manor, while large flowers that had sprouted up on the edges of the properties now spewed magical fire and lighting towards the buildings and the defenders. Most importantly, though, among the plant creatures walked endless numbers of insectoid-looking creatures of a hundred different varieties. Karna recognized these beings. Treants and plant monsters could be seen in many other contexts, but these insectoids belonged to the fourth scourge, The Growth.

“What the heck is the Growth doing here of all places?” She muttered to herself.

Despite their appearance, these insectoids were actually a mix between insect life and plants. Individually they were not so hard to kill, though there were of course much more powerful variants among them. The problem with them, and the reason she’d not really believed they were gone, was that once a world was infected with them, they were almost impossible to completely get rid of. All of the members of the Growth spread spores when they moved, especially when they died. Those spores could bury deep underground and survive for eons even in harsh terrain, before suddenly germinating into a new swarm in a matter of days. However, terrain wasn’t completely irrelevant. Even if the spores could survive in the mountains favored by the titans, that was far from optimal terrain for plant-based beings. The creatures that would sprout would be fewer in number and weaker than in a more fertile land.

No matter the reason, they had work to do. “General alert! House Titannica is under attack! Everyone to arms! Repel the invaders! Defend the House and our territory!” She sent an announcement to all the forces of House Titannica with the authority of the Heir.

The results were immediate. Even in the holdings and estates that were not yet under attack, defenses sprung into place. Protective magic shielded and isolated the buildings, while titans flowed out to bring death and destruction to those that dared to attack them. The number of enemies was almost overwhelming, but death and destruction were something the titans were very good at. And while the Growth had numbers, Karna had been quite accurate in assuming that most of them were on the weaker side. Almost none of them had the power of an immortal. One of the advantages of the Growth was the ability to adapt to your enemies, so it wasn’t a shock when most of the enemies were immune to the effects of lightning, but titans were not limited to that element.

While the titans --and her friends who had also joined the battle-- rampaged through the enemy ranks almost unopposed, Karna prepared something more thorough. “Do not attack the darkness that will soon spread! It is not a threat to you!” She sent another message.

She very slowly shifted into her newest form, appearing as a dark mass of energy in the sky, before starting to spread around the entire world they were on. She kept a very strict hold on her form, trying her best to avoid mentally attacking her allies, instead focusing on the more destructive aspect of the form. More specifically, she focused on controlling those destructive powers and directing them against only one enemy. She had a very specific target in mind, and she wanted to make sure she got them all. She was targeting the spores, and she made sure that the dark mist sunk deep underground, deep into the bedrock as well. The Growth had remained undetected this long, which meant that they had not been germinating near the top. She seeped all the way into the core of the world to make sure she found all of the spores, and in a single moment they were all gone.

The spores were not the only thing she found and attacked, though. Deep underground she found entire hives and biological factories. Small ones to avoid detection, but still something that spoke of planning and preparation. Again, the terrain was not well suited to the Growth, so even these hives and factories were less effective than they could be, but they could accomplish more than simple spores. Or they could’ve if she’d allowed them to exist. She suspected they had been a recent development, as even at their small scale they couldn’t have remained hidden for very long. Most likely they would’ve expanded quickly if left unchecked.

She would have to do this again once the current attackers were dead, as they’d produce more spores, but at least the enemies wouldn’t be getting reinforcements for now. Envy had done a good job following up and reinforcing the message that the titans were not to attack the dark energy, although, of course, not everyone listened even with two warnings. Fortunately, their attacks didn’t accomplish anything, and no one powerful enough attacked her that her form would retaliate automatically. The problem with a form focused on destruction was that the destruction could get out of hand.

The fighting on the world had slowed down a bit as everyone had been hampered by the darkness, but as Karna pulled the darkness back, the battle re-ignited. As the initial surprise wore off and the defenses all activated, the tide quickly turned against the scourge. Titans were born warriors and their defenses were mighty. The enemy had also been cut off from reinforcements, and they'd clearly been betting on an extended fight with multiple waves of attackers and a battle of attrition that would wear down the titans. The whole point of their kind was that they didn’t have to worry about individual losses, as they would soon be replaced. Something that didn’t hold true anymore. That didn’t mean that there were no losses amongst the titans, of course. The most powerful insectoids had enough power to cut through the defenses and the metallic skin of the titans. Still, most of the losses were among the non-immortal titans and those that had been caught isolated and were overwhelmed before they could get help.

The fight was still ongoing in many places around the world, but was mostly dying down. Meanwhile Karna’s friends and allies, along with the most powerful gods of House Titannica gathered for a rushed war council. “What the heck is going on?” One of the younger gods demanded to know. “Who’s attacking us?”

“I believe that was the fourth scourge, the Growth.” The Grand Marshall replied with a slightly questioning tone while looking towards Shiva who nodded in confirmation. “Before you ask more questions, I should point out that we are not the only ones under attack, so this isn’t targeted at us specifically. I’m already getting magical reports from all over the Divine Planes. At least half of all the worlds are currently under similar attack, and many of those worlds don’t have the benefit of having our defenses.”

"The terrain also matters," Karna interjected, and quickly explained about the spores and the hives she'd destroyed. "I believe the attack on us was relatively light in comparison, and I dealt with the source quickly. We may be better off than anyone else not currently under attack."

The Grand Marshall nodded, as the hasty reports and cries for help seemed to confirm her words. “Luckily, I haven’t received word from any Emissaries about the lower planes being under attack yet. All the worlds of the Divine Planes have garrisons of the Host in addition to any forces of whoever holds power on a particular world. However, the heartlands of the Divine Plane have had their defenses severely reduced for both political and military reasons. Many of the houses don’t like our garrisons looking over their shoulder, and most of the peaceful worlds simply didn’t need large numbers of defenders, although they usually have heavy magical defenses. Assuming they’ve been maintained.”

"The attack by the two princes also reduced many of our defenses as they took a big chunk of our forces along," Marius added. He had been brought along as an advisor to Shiva, although as far as Karna knew, he’d only arrived a couple of days ago.

“How could we have missed something like this?” Gaia asked with a deep frown. Life was her domain, and she hadn’t felt a thing. Even if the Growth didn’t have a strong presence, they were heavily drawing on her element.

"Well, the Growth was assumed wiped out two emperors before the current one, as the mages performed a thorough magical purge simultaneously on all the worlds of the Divine Planes. The emperor even ordered the mages to extend the purge down to the lower planes. The process took tens of thousands of years to complete, but the scourge hasn’t been seen since.” Shiva as one of the oldest explained. “We simply weren’t on the lookout anymore.”

"Is it just me, or does this attack carry a sort of…retaliatory feeling to it?" Envy suddenly asked. "Simultaneous attacks on countless worlds? Sounds kind of like what the mages in your story did."

“That may very well be.” Shiva simply shrugged. “We’ve never understood the motives of the Growth. Even less now that they’ve supposedly been gone.”

"We can play the blame game and the why game later. Now we have a situation to deal with. Karna, you dealt with the spores with your…whatever the heck that was. Can you do it again? And are you certain you got them all?" The Grand Marshall was all business.

“I can do it again, but not very often.” She pursed her lips.

"Fair enough. It does sound like something that needs a lot of power." The Grand Marshall said with a frown.

“Oh, you misunderstand. The problem isn’t power. It’s focus. It takes a lot of focus to only attack what you want. The problem is only destroying the enemy and not everything else along with it. You can ask Shiva or Indra about the first time I shifted into the form.” Karna gestured towards Shiva, who grimaced.

“Yeah, I don’t think it would’ve ended well without her rank 14 friends taking the brunt of the attack. Our minds nearly broke just from the form’s presence.” The old god confirmed.

“So, use with caution?” The Grand Marshall asked carefully.

"Exactly," Karna confirmed.

“Right. Anyway, we have hundreds of worlds in need of assistance. Some we can assume can manage on their own, like the dragons, though we should offer token help anyway for diplomatic reasons. However, we need to do some prioritization on who we can help. How many we can help. I have a distinct feeling this is only going to get worse before it gets better, and we can’t save everyone, but we have to start organizing a defense.” The grizzled soldier was already running scenarios through his head.

"I hate to sound cruel but I believe we would be better off assisting with one or two worlds at a time and thoroughly cleansing this threat instead of trying to be everywhere at once." Wisdom argued. "If we send forces to a world for a quick assist to push the enemy back, everything I've heard about the Growth so far suggests that they'd only be back soon. We'd be playing an endless game of whack-a-mole. Instead, we should make sure any worlds we help will stay liberated and can then provide help to others."

"It might also be cold, but we should make sure to focus on worlds we have a foothold in first," Envy added. This wasn't the only world held by the titans. Not by a long shot.

“I propose an alternative. We should make two groups. One to focus on House Titannica worlds and holdings, and another to help others. It’s going to be bad publicity if we only help ourselves. We can also more easily rally others to aid us if we show the initiative to help others.” Karna argued. “And while it might be tempting to start with the most powerful worlds, I suggest we focus on the more populous and less defended worlds. The militarily strong worlds will be able to either deal with the issue themselves or at least hold out until help arrives.”

“Not the most strategically sound path.” Wisdom pointed out. “Focusing on strong worlds first would allow us to add them to our forces and in turn help more worlds later on. If we try to save everyone, we might save no one.”

“No, she’s right.” The Grand Marshall shocked most of those present by agreeing with Karna. “It might not be strategically most optimal, but it will be if we want to save the largest number of people. This isn’t just about fighting back an enemy. We have to think beyond just this fight and abandoning the weaker worlds will be much worse in the long term. We still won’t be able to help everyone, but we should try to maximize the number of people we can help. Besides, this is the Divine Plane. We do not fall so easily.”

A messenger ran into the room, carrying a pair of missives. “Sir, the army of the two princes has been caught in an ambush! These creatures have cut them off from us. They’ve requested reinforcements to deal with the issue! Also, this world is now clear of all enemies!” He handed the more detailed messages to the Grand Marshall, who quickly browsed over them.

The Grand Marshall was cold in his decision. “The princes will need to deal with the problem on their own. We have a much bigger problem to deal with. If they don’t have the power to deal with the issue, then that’s their problem. They all set off to war, while we have innocents to protect.”

Karna got up. “That’s also my cue. I’ll need to cleanse this world again.”

As soon as she was gone, the Grand Marshall turned to the others. "Am I the only one that got the worst shivers from that dark mist-thingy she did earlier?"

"That's sort of the point," Envy argued back. "It's a form dedicated entirely to ending things and people. The shivers you and everyone else got are just a much lighter version of what we got the first time."

“I for one am glad she’s on our side.” Marius voiced a rather popular opinion.