Peter had a total of 18.3 million essence for battle on the ninth and final congregation. The most he had ever saved up for battle. A good thing too because they would likely need every bit of it. He doubted this year would be like last year where he would have a lot left over. Normally a terrible thing for a rookie dungeon posed to enter the intermediate division, but with the conditions he would get if they won…

  Now they just had to actually challenge the other side. The problem was, he could see that some of his teammates seemed to be experiencing a bit of cold feet. Not Elyra, as always she was over confident in her abilities. Gabriel was quiet, clearly contemplating things. Peter doubted he would actually speak up. Gabriel wanted another win as badly as Peter. He also had a long win streak going.

  “I just don’t know. We barely won against the demon faction when there was only one extra core in the mix,” Gretchen wavered.

  “Realistically, we were two down since the bottom feeder was not much help,” Elyra countered.

  “Not quite, he did take out the frozen gate by himself. Plus the insect faction has 6 dungeons that haven’t fought since the tutorial. Year for year they would already field more units than us, now we will be fighting something like 20 to 1.”

  “But we both have two years worth of resources. Plus we have better elites, and Peter has 3 double S tiers.”

  “Actually, it's 4 now,” Peter corrected helpfully. That actually did ease Gretchen’s crinkled expression a bit. Now other than a few inconsistencies, she was physically a dark elf. The two main differences was that she was still too short, and her hair was black instead of white.

  Gabriel was actually the one to speak up. His face had firmed as he made a determination. Like Peter he just had to battle today. By the looks of it the 3 reptiles and 2 elementals were already slated for battle. Starlight had been able to intercept Cobra and the other ones had seemingly been added on. The insect dungeons were the only choice unless they wanted to battle each other. They needed Gretchen.

  “Plus Peter has his regular S tiers, and I have 12 myself. What if Peter and I provide some support for your defense?” Gabriel posed.

  Peter jumped on. “I can have one of my SS tiers help with your defense. You can keep all your forces back. In fact all three of you can for the most part… At least initially,” Peter suggested. Peter pulled up the information for the Ganon, his new dark mage for Gretchen to look at. He had been planning to leave him on defense in his own dungeon, but he would do just as well in Gretchen’s dungeon.

  “Damnnnn,” Gretchen said, reading the notes that Boris was adding on the unit. “Damn,” Elyra repeated. She had quickly repositioned to look.

  “You think you can take out a core on your own?” Gabriel asked, clearly skeptical.

  “Yeah, I think so. I could use a bit of support defending the entrance, and you guys should have a reserve force kept in no man’s land with a few of my own. With my repeater book we can get specific directions to them regardless of no man land access.

  “We good then,” Elyra asked, staring at Gretchen who was going over Ganon’s page again with her eyes. Ganon was basically like a self replicating army. All that was needed, was to keep him safe, time, and units to kill. Gretchen nodded. “Good, let's go squash some insects.”

  Agatha smiled wickedly as they approached. “Haha, I was wondering if you guys were going to chicken out. That would have been the smart thing to do, lucky for us you bunch are rather foolish.”

  “Better foolish than weak, haven’t you already lost to one of us. So weak in fact you have to grossly outnumber us to stand a chance,” Elyra replied with a smirk.

  “Hey, you are the ones challenging us. We would feel perfectly fine sitting back and watching the four of you get dismantled in a couple years,” Hive spoke up.

  “Well we would have also been content to let you scurry along and hide in a few years, but you guys just had to shelter a traitorous bottom feeder,” Elyra said her eyes narrowed and focused on Eli who sat confidently under the protection of the insect faction.

  “Don’t blame me. You guys were the ones that pulled me into that battle, forcing me to come up with a new plan to survive the integration. Say hi to Predator for me when you see him next,” Eli smirked. It was creepy. Eli was entirely pink now, including his lips. The smile was more devilish somehow than even Agathas.

  Elyra just stared back angrily. She was clearly seething inside. She was the one that had taken his turncoat way the most personal. Peter honestly understood the move, not that he would not like to crush that smug pink guy underfoot. The guy truly was a bottom feeder, hiding in the stairwells or lower level from congregation to congregation. Even Helen had found the core unbelievable having not seen it in her 200 some years.

  If anything they had helped the core. If he had integrated as he was, one of the weaker intermediate cores would have gladly tracked him down as easy pickings. His cowering technique would not have protected him for long. Now thanks to them he was a part of a group. Of course Peter had been hoping to add him to their number, when strong arming him into battle. There had not been much between them, but in those first few congregations, they had talked for a bit. Now there was no hope for that. Anyone of his allies or Peter himself would like to see the crustacean core eliminated. Trick was doing so, when the guy was hiding behind 8 other cores.

  “You guys going to accept the battle or not?” Peter asked, sending the group battle request.

  [The concept core rookies have been challenged by the insect core rookies. Optional condition: Core burn through has been enacted. Participants include:

  Concept core rookies (9): Peter (Design), Gabriel (Fallen), Elyra (Phase), and Gretchen (Dark elf).

  Insect faction core rookies(9): Agatha (long leg spider), Hive, Fire ants, Dung beetle, Cricket, springtail, Katydid, woodlouse, and Eli (crustacean).]

  One by one the names started turning green as allied and opposing cores agreed to the battle. A few seconds later the battle was set. They were all committed now. The insect cores were all smirking. They clearly thought there was no chance that they had the other side outnumbered by more than 2 to 1. However the joke was on them. Peter’s forces were far beyond what they had been when he had fought Agatha years ago.

  He was far beyond the point when they had barely beat the demon faction. Last year, he had stated that he would be stretched thin, but now he thought he could take on 3 of the insect cores including two of their best. Now he was wondering if he might have grossly underestimated himself. He guessed he would see based on how far the insect cores had developed. Hopefully his allies had also come a long way.

  “Elyra, I’m going to send my Ether tearing dragon and its one offs to help you with defense,” Peter decided. Before Elyra could protest, Peter cut her off. “Listen, the insect cores have watched all my fights. Which means they will be making preparations mainly against me. We need to hit them in unexpected ways. Hopefully, my ether tearing dragon and its one offs can take out a bunch of enemy elites helping you preserve your own forces to go on the attack.”

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  “Then should I provide some A tiers to help out with your defense?” Elyra asked.

  “No, just commit some more to no man’s land. They can either come to the aid of one of our dungeons, or they can reinforce the assault force. You can all have your own commanders in no man's land, but I need you to all have them listen to what I send them through the replicator book. Gabriel, I hope you can put a few S tiers in the reserves. We can have your commander there be in charge.”

  Before they could hash things out more, they were interrupted by the appearance of two older cores. They were the two Peter knew best, Emma and Fellette. They both had a somber expression. “Looks like you all are actually doing it,” Emma said solemnly. “Hopefully, I don’t lose all of my connections today to the insect faction.”

  Peter’s eyes flashed to Fellette. It looked like the insect faction had decided to continue their culling of the beast centennial’s. Fellette was the next oldest and the next target. His expression was somber, but not resigned. He clearly intended to give a good account of himself. “If anyone is going to be eliminated today, it won’t be me. First of all I plan on winning. Second of all, I'm not like Garrett. I did not commit all my support cards to winning every battle. I have spare core’s and some year off’s. I can last another decade at the very least.”

  “That’s good to hear, so did you guys come to wish me well or something then,” Peter asked.

  “I’m sure you will be fine, dear. We at the very least believe in you since you have continually surprised us. I’m sure you would not agree to such a lopsided battle if you felt you had no chance of winning,” Emma said with a smile. “I just hope this battle gives you enough rewards that you can stand a change during your integration, and hopefully you will trade me some goodies afterwards. At this point, you probably have gotten a few things that even Fellette or I would be interested in…” She broke off as another older core approached.

  It was Helen the nightshade core sauntering her way up to the table. “You should not interrupt the rookies. I’m sure they have battle preparations to make,” Helen chastised.

  “We were just stopping by,” Fellette replied, annoyed. “Not hindering them anymore than you will.”

  “Hinder them…” Helen said, smiling. “I have been nothing but helpful. “I even have some intel for them,” She said, her dark lips smiling at the other older cores. She turned back to the rookies. “I gathered some intel for you, that I’m sure you would want to know. Unfortunately, you guys already committed yourselves.”

  Peter felt a sinking feeling. Likely the other rookies did as well as Helen continued. “I don’t know if the insect millennial was afraid that you guys would win or whether she just wanted to crush you, but she directed her faction to max out their 2 for 1 trades for the year. The balance rule should kick in at some point, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were each allowed something like an extra 50 or 100 A tiers. Not really sure how much the interface would actually allow since its never come up.”

  That news floored Peter and the others. Already they were grossly outnumbered. Now from the sound of it their opponents would have their forces bolstered substantially. The six cores who had not fought at all, should have collected around 120 to 140 million essence over the course of 9 years. Already that was the equivalent of 1,200 A tiers per core, not that all their resources would be used exclusively for A tiers. The dungeons that had fought, Agatha, fire ant, and Eli, would have half or less what the others who hadn’t fought had, but even they would have a year or two’s worth more resources.

  “Boss,” Borris cut in. Unusually, the clockwork unit’s voice had a bit of stress included in the tone. Peter had not thought it was possible. “Boss, my upper estimate of A tiers was 2,000 to 3,000 units. If each of the 8 insect cores got an additional 100 A tiers in trade, we could be looking at closer to 4,000,” Boris said, announcing the numbers.

  “And how many would you expect that our side can bring to bear?” Peter asked.

  “Well we are only going to be putting forth a little over 100. Gabriel should have a similar number. Elyra will likely have somewhere in the high 200’s. Gretchen should have about 200.”

  Peter’s head swam. Even the 2 to 3 thousand estimate seemed high, and that was assuming that their opponents had committed a large minority of their resources to summoning A tiers. With the rest going to make unending waves of B and C tiers. The high he had felt only a few moments earlier had now plunged into the abyss. He regretted having verbally committed two of his SS tiers to his allies, although they would need them likely more than he did. He could only hope the god-like dungeon in charge of it all had really imposed some balance on things. Hopefully, the insects had gotten far less than an extra 100 A tiers a piece.

  “Elyra, would you like to make some last minute trades. I will even offer you 2 to 1 like, you like,” Helen said changing to a sweet voice.

  “Sure, although as my guide, I wish you had a bit more faith in us,” Elyra stated frustratedly.

  “Oh, I do sweat Elyra. I know you all will not let my hopes for you down…” Helen stated, but there was a hint of sarcasm in her tone. Once the trade was complete however, she bowed out quickly enough. All her advice and help for the years, had likely been under the hope of building up young cores that could be potential allies through the centuries. It had not been because she was some benevolent core, doting on her young protege.

  “The interface allowed me to get up to 10 cards for 5 of my own. I don’t suppose you would like to support four young cores,” Elyra said, turning to look at Emma. Emma’s ember type cards would be far more valuable than Helen’s nightshade type. Fellette had his own problems to worry about.

  Emma looked conflicted for a moment, but in the end she agreed. It did give her 5 copies of all their type cards after all. Depending on how things went today it might be the last she got from them. In total she was only losing 2 million essence on the uneven trade. It was likely worth it to a centurion who was not worried about what was to come year to year. After wishing them a look Emma and Fellette soon departed.

  “Is this going to change our plans any?” Gretchen asked.

  “No… not really,” Peter replied. “Agatha is a sadistic bitch, she will want to hit us hard. I would expect each of us to get hundreds of A tiers from the start… However, Hive is more reserved and careful, he would be the type to test the waters.”

  “So its between whichever one of them gets their way?” Gretchen summarized.

  “No, they will definitely come out hard,” Elyra picked up. “Just think, their millennial just bolstered them significantly. The last thing they will want to do is to seem like they are trying to conserve their own resources that their leader just blessed them with.”

  Peter was taken aback. That was surprisingly astute for the demoness. “Very well, I will delay our assault letting them think we are on the full defensive. Worst case, we scrap the attack and I send our army to relieve the pressure on our dungeons.”

  ‘Delilah… Boris,’ Peter sent over both links. ‘All stops pulled out for our entrance. We need to put as many A tiers down as possible. If the insects were going to come out of the gate swinging, then he was going to make sure they met a solid wall.

  Peter quickly used just over 15,000 essence to extend the initial room to make it 15 times bigger. He added a second tunnel back to the puddle room in addition to the other and the underwater passage. His dungeon had been pretty cramped with all the units over the last year. Perhaps he should have expanded the first five floors long ago to their maximum size. It would have only been a matter of a few hundred thousand essence. He had always decided against it since he had been using the initial floors to merely see what his opponent had in store for him. Now however he would use the first floor to grind down enemy elites.

  Peter and his allies continued with their preparations until they were all whisked into their core space. As soon as Peter got to his headquarters, he sent ready teams over to his allies' dungeons to start making the teleportation runes. It was a simple matter to send them over during the preparation hour. Peter also sent over some other goodies to help with Elyra’s defenses. Gabriel and Gretchen were probably good, but Elyra’s auxiliary capabilities could still use some help. Then Peter began summoning. With 17.8 million essence he had more to summon then he ever had for a previous battle. Still it seemed far from enough for what would be coming.