The air became thick and turgid as water, churning with the unfathomable power of Leviathan Emperor, but was alternately burned and frozen free of me by the Firefrost power inside me. That, too, He eyed with great interest.

“CLAIMING A DOMAIN IN THE SEA IS NOT SO SIMPLE AS UPON THE LAND, LITTLE HUMAN...” He answered calmly, unperturbed.

I dipped into my vest and pulled out a Soul Gem, pulsing with aquamarine lights, and held up for His inspection. “White Death Wolf and Thunderbird Emperors are not so foolish as to think otherwise, Your Imperial Majesty! The Seas are no easier to defend than the skies themselves, after all...”

The Soul Gem floated up and out of my hand, and was pulled over on invisible currents of water pressure to directly in front of that enormous eye.

Twice-refined Water Mana, basically already at the realm of a True Emperor, needing no further work to absorb directly... and so far easier to refine towards the realm of a High Emperor.

“THIS IS A THING OF HUMANS,” He assessed immediately. “HOW DID YOU COME BY SUCH A THING, LITTLE HUMAN?”

“If Leviathan Emperor wishes to establish a Domain under the North Pole, this one agrees to build a Pyramid for Him that can refine and gather the equivalent of the Mana in that Crystal every day for His benefit!”

That finally made Him blink in thought, a shutter washing across His eye and back at my words.

“OF WHAT INTEREST IS IT TO HUMANS THAT I ESTABLISH A DOMAIN THERE?” He asked somberly, regarding me again, more intently now. “SEEK YOU A PLACE I MIGHT EASILY BE FOUND?”

He hated being bothered by anyone, even Emperors, let alone Humans!

“It is in the interest of Humans that another High Emperor of the Seas rise to contest Sea Emperor, and it is Leviathan Emperor that is most ready to do so! That cannot be done without Leviathan Emperor establishing a Domain, so that He might conceal His growing and gathering power within it!”

Waves and currents of water vapor as solid as rivers were swirling all about us now.

“IS THIS THE THOUGHTS OF ALL HUMANS?” He asked knowingly, clearly amused.

“Of course not, Your Imperial Majesty. The vast majority of Humans are far too concerned with survival and advancing themselves to consider such matters. Indeed, many Humans consider Leviathan Emperor to be little more than a myth Himself. The thought of working with Him towards a mutual greater goal would simply not occur to most of them.” I lowered Noble fractionally. “Only those Humans who would wish to work with the Emperors would know of this, or even consider such a move in the first place, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“HMMMM,” the air reverberated, and the water currents in the air danced to the sound. I promptly and automatically began to Sing along with it, and crystalline Notes were instantly added to His casual mastery of Tone and Bass. The air about us lit up with a thousand and one notes of Light and Sound rippling in the Water Mana.

He could also feel it reverberating through His own control of Water and Sound, enhancing it, and blinked again at me.

“WHAT EVENT DO YOU SPEAK OF THAT SHOULD INTEREST ME?” He finally deigned to say.

“The Sea Emperors have discovered that there is a race of Nautilusks that, when bred to various Lizards with Aquatic leanings, can reproduce at an extraordinary rate, birthing a new race of Shelled Lizards with extraordinary defenses and growth rates. Furthermore, the new race is sterile, and thus only good as an army of destruction that can survive indefinitely on the land.

“This would be of no interest to the Whales, save for the simple fact that absorbing and digesting the shells of these creatures will also increase the defenses of the Whales who consume them.”

I waved my hand, and a Holo of the Shelled Salamander Demon Flotilla, now even larger than a year ago, materialized for Him to examine. I drew the view slowly back, and further, giving Him an idea of the size of their numbers, until I was back far enough that He could see how it was skirting the Philippines, and sending waves of Salamanders forth to savage the beleaguered jungle islands there.

“We would like to see the Whales devour the entire Shelled Salamander Demon Flotilla. It is allowed to do its work by various Sea Emperors, and so the Orcas and Cachalots who might have been feasting on it right along have barely disturbed it at all.

“Furthermore, once the Whales have devoured the Salamanders and gained the benefits for yourselves, we believe the problem will be self-correcting in the future, as the Whales take advantage of the gift being sent to them.”

A pulse went through the Singing Waters all around us, like a great heartbeat waking up.

“In honor of how much such a deed would benefit us Humans, this one will also volunteer her services as a Healer to any and all of the Whales who participate in such a grand feast as needed. By the name of Thunderbird and the Phoenix Emperors, this one is VERY skilled at the task!”

The thrum deepened, cycling, Sound and Water Magic combining to a massive scale, and, I realized, starting to range out far, far faster than Sound could actually travel, on notes and layers that other species would not recognize, a touch of Psychic Magic upon it that would only make it legible to other Whales.

Leviathan Emperor was issuing a command across the world!

“COME, LITTLE HEALER FAE. IF ALL IS AS YOU SAY, MY TRIBES WILL FEAST WELL UPON THE LARGESSE OF THE OTHER SEA EMPERORS...”

“As Your Imperial Majesty commands!” I tied my Disk to near His eye as He began to move, sinking down towards the waters, but his eyes staying just above sea level. “This one has a pair of items that might be of interest to His Imperial Majesty...”

The slow and emphatic Whalesong didn’t stop as He said, “WHAT MANNER OF THINGS?”

“A minor display of current Human Magic in your Elements, Your Imperial Majesty.” I flicked up the first of the Spells. “Also, a modification to this which Thunderbird and Fire Phoenix Emperors found to be of great interest, the use of False Stars to wield Sage-level power for very little cost...”

As we tore through the storming seas at a great pace, I displayed the magic of Humankind, and the beginnings of the Magic of Emperors wielded with Soul-Magic on my end. He seized rapidly upon what False Stars could do, and soon twenty-fold False Star cannons of Water Magic were going off as He tested them out and what they did, for such trivial efforts...

--------

Whales could move damn fast in the water, which surprised me not at all. So could the Sharks and all the other damn Magic Beasts of the seas.

Watching the Whales gather to the Call of their Emperor was still a huge treat, however.

The most powerful members of the Pods would sweep up and bring the lesser ones along. This was vital, as it was the little ones who would benefit the most from what was going to happen here.

All sizes of Whales were showing up, from Porpoises to the massive Blues. Even the ones which nominally weren’t carnivorous were fully capable of being so if it was useful to do so, and given their sizes, wasn’t really that big a problem.

Being able to use streams of Water to slice other creatures apart into easily-swallowed chunks was also useful.

Long before we were closing in on that flotilla of Shelled Salamander Demons, there were tens of thousands of Whales of all sizes around the massive moving island that was Leviathan Emperor. The various pods of Orcas in all their patterns (all of them had white, but not all of them were black!), as well as the Cachalots and Narwhals, were particularly looking forward to what was going to come.

“The key reason you all are doing this is to eat the Shells of the creatures, they themselves are just an appetizer,” I repeated to this entire Whale armada for the tenth time. “The shell is as hard as that of a Crab or Turtle, and full of Elements to toughen your skins. It also makes them harder to hurt than their power might indicate. That said, the Shells are full of Earth Magic, not Water Magic, so they have a weakness... and that is Sound.”

Notes of ominous, expectant power rose from thousands of onrushing behemoths.

“Yes. I don’t know the Note, but when you find the right one, it will shatter their shells like the first ice. So, I ask the Elders to allocate the Notes and Songs among your people, find the right Note, and spread it rapidly that you might enjoy your feast with the proper musical accompaniment.”

The terrifying, shattering power of the Whalesong that soon filled the air around me promised a very, very bad time for the massive floating dinner table ahead of us.

------

For all the size of the force and the amount of noise they were making, none of it got away at all. The only sound that escaped the Cetacean Armada was Leviathan Emperor’s commands, and nothing in the path of the Whales could get off any auditory alarms without instantly making itself a target.

The existential dread that seized everything that realized Leviathan Emperor was present kind of made sure that didn’t happen. That said, Leviathan was fully aware there were other Emperors in the area of this thing, but that didn’t deter Him in the slightest. Three other Whale Emperors had swung in to join Him with their Tribes on this feast.

Their approach was actually deadly quiet. Leviathan Emperor hung back with the other Emperors, cloaked in mists as the entire force of Whales submerged and approached with almost military-grade hunting teamwork, closing in from the entire northern facing.

And then the Whalesong went off.

Even with a LOT of Thunder Resistance and being more than a mile away, my bones shuddered and my teeth clattered wildly as all those Notes went off together. The pure volume of it smashed through the millions of floating Salamanders in greeting. Conducted by the water, the Salamanders were stunned and left floating there helplessly as the Whales closed on.

There was a pause of sudden silence, and then a single Note repeated... and then that One Note just exploded.

Mountainous waves erupted among the Salamanders as a standing Note smashed through their numbers, and their defensive shells shattered like porcelain, not finely-ordered material harder than steel.

Whales swept in, and stunned Salamanders vanished into gargantuan jaws, drifting pieces of shells swept in along with them astutely.

The remaining Salamanders could definitely hear them coming now, even if their numbers extended over the horizon, but what did it matter? There was no way they could outswim the Whales, and their shells were shattering to that Note before the Whales got within a mile of them, dealing them grievous pain only compounded by the incredible Auras bearing down on them and the stunning power of those thunderous Notes pulsing through them.

They weren’t threats. The threats were the things that allowed them to exist and were escorting them along on their rampages on the islands.

Those things, right there...