My Overpowered Bunny Girls

The guild transport rumbled across broken terrain, its wheels grinding against stone and ash. The sky above was a pale, washed-out grey. The air was cold and thin, carrying the faint scent of dust and ancient decay.

Nathan sat near the front, Moonlight across his knees, the Tyrant’s Eye swirling with quiet anticipation. His party was scattered through the transport—Garrett checking his equipment for the fifth time, Dillon dozing with Cloudy coiled around his neck, Elise reviewing the Tower World research on her interface. Smithy sat near the back, his Void Eel drifting at his feet, his expression thoughtful.

The question had been nagging at Nathan since the briefing. Smithy was a former Court operative. He’d participated in the Cleansing’s early stages, helped coordinate operations, known about the murders and the collapses. And yet he was here—free, unguarded, part of the expedition. Not in a TCA cell.

Nathan turned in his seat to face him. "Smithy. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you."

Smithy looked up. "I know. Why am I not in jail."

"Something like that."

Smithy was quiet for a moment. Then he sighed. "The TCA made a deal. After Fester’s death, they needed information about the Court’s remaining operations. Safe houses. Supply caches. Sympathizers. I gave them everything I knew. In exchange, they granted me a conditional pardon." He paused. "I’m not free, Nathan. I’m on probation. I have to report to a TCA handler every week. I’m not allowed to leave the capital without authorization. And if I step out of line, even once, they’ll lock me up and throw away the key."

"And the guild agreed to this?"

"Valerie argued for me. She said my knowledge of Tower Worlds was too valuable to waste." Smithy’s expression was wry. "She also said I owed the TCA a debt I could never repay, and the best way to start was by helping you survive the Ashen Expanse."

Nathan considered this. "That sounds like Valerie."

"She’s a practical woman." Smithy met his eyes. "I know you don’t trust me entirely. You shouldn’t. But I meant what I said at the Keep. I want to stop the Shepherd. I want to make things right. This is the only way I know how."

Nathan was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded. "Fair enough. But if you betray us out there—"

"I know." Smithy’s voice was steady. "You’ll kill me. And you’d be right to."

The transport rumbled on. The northern wastes stretched endlessly before them, and somewhere in the distance, the entrance to the Ashen Expanse was waiting.

---

The portal was not a tower.

It stood alone in the wasteland—a massive archway of pale stone, its surface carved with symbols that seemed to shift and change when viewed from different angles. The space within the arch shimmered with pale golden light, rippling like heat haze over summer stone. The air around it was still and cold.

But it wasn’t the portal that made Nathan pause. It was the camp.

A sprawling encampment had been erected around the portal’s base—tents and supply wagons, command posts and communication arrays. Banners from a dozen guilds fluttered in the cold wind. Climbers moved between the tents, their summons at their sides, their voices low and serious. This wasn’t a single party’s expedition. This was a full-scale operation.

"Master Class Towers aren’t raided by a single party," Helena said, appearing at Nathan’s side. She had accompanied the party to the portal, along with a contingent of guild staff. "The same rules that applied to Elite Class apply here—except more so. The Ashen Expanse is too large, too dangerous, for any one group to clear alone. The TCA has coordinated a multi-party expedition."

Nathan scanned the camp. He recognized some of the banners—Silver Drake, Red Dragon, Golden Hawk, Goldcrest. And at the center, Celestial Peak’s mountain-and-star.

"Who else is here?" Garrett asked.

"Six parties total. Silver Drake’s vanguard, Red Dragon’s strike team, Golden Hawk’s scouts, Goldcrest’s assault unit, and two independent parties. Plus Celestial Peak." Helena glanced at Nathan. "Derek Stone is here. He asked about you."

Nathan felt a flicker of surprise. "Derek came?"

"He volunteered. Said he owed you a debt from Drak’thar." Helena’s expression was unreadable. "The TCA’s been coordinating the parties’ assignments. Each group will enter the Ashen Expanse at a different point, but you’ll maintain communication through the TCA’s long-range crystals. The plan is to spread out, map the World, and reunite at the center. That’s where the Clear Condition should be."

"Should be?" Dillon raised an eyebrow.

"No one’s been inside in twenty years. Everything we know is speculative." Helena’s expression was grim. "The last party that entered never returned. Their comm crystals went dead within hours. We don’t know what’s inside the Ashen Expanse, or what its Clear Condition is, or what kind of enemies are waiting. You’ll be operating blind."

Nathan looked at the portal. The pale golden light rippled, casting strange shadows across the encampment. Beyond it, a world of eternal twilight was waiting—a fragment of a civilization the Shepherd had consumed, preserved like a fly in amber.

"We knew it would be dangerous," Nathan said. "That’s why we’re here."

Helena nodded. "Final briefing in the command tent. Then you enter."

---

The command tent was crowded with Climbers from all six parties. Nathan recognized Seraphine of Silver Drake, Torren of Red Dragon, and Derek Stone standing near the back with his Goldcrest party. Their expressions were serious, focused—the same grim determination Nathan felt in his own chest.

A TCA Marshal—not Vane, but an older man with a scarred face and the insignia of a retired Climber—stood at the front, a holographic map of the Ashen Expanse projected behind him. The map was incomplete, huge portions of it blank.

"The Ashen Expanse," the Marshal began. "Master Class Tower World. Clear Condition unknown. Inhabitants unknown. Environmental hazards: presumed significant. We know it’s a world of eternal twilight, dominated by ash and ruins. The last expedition entered through this portal twenty years ago and never returned. We assume they’re dead."

The room was silent. The Marshal continued.

"Each party will enter the Expanse at staggered intervals. You’ll be assigned a sector to map and secure. Once you’ve established a foothold, you’ll push toward the World’s center. The Clear Condition should be located there—a boss, a conflict, an objective. We won’t know until we find it."

He advanced the map. Six sectors were highlighted, each one assigned to a different party. Celestial Peak’s sector was in the southeast—a region marked with question marks and the words "UNKNOWN—RUINS PRESUMED."

"Celestial Peak, you’ve been assigned the southeast sector." The Marshal looked at Nathan. "The TCA expects you to reach the center first. Good luck."

Derek caught Nathan’s eye across the tent and nodded once. Seraphine offered a grim smile. Torren raised his axe in a mock salute. The parties began to file out, making their final preparations.

Nathan stepped outside and looked at the portal. The pale golden light rippled, patient and eternal.

’The Young Lord is ready,’ Shiro said through the link. Her voice was steady, regal. ’We all are.’

’The Ashen Expanse is a world of the dead,’ Kuro observed quietly. ’We will need to be careful.’

’Careful is for people who aren’t us!’ Mirko declared. ’We are the Bunny Girl Legion! We are—’

"—going to be very quiet and very careful," Nathan finished. "This isn’t a Tower. We don’t know the rules. We don’t know the enemies. We go in smart."

’Hmph! Smart is also a form of excellent!’

Nathan felt the corner of his mouth twitch. He looked at his party—Garrett checking Volcan, Dillon adjusting his Storm Striders, Elise with Aurora’s Heart blazing softly. Smithy stood slightly apart, his Void Eel coiled and ready.

"Let’s go," Nathan said. "The Ashen Expanse is waiting."

The party walked toward the portal. The pale golden light washed over them, warm and strange.

And then, one by one, they stepped through—into a world that had ended long before they were born.

---

The Ashen Expanse was twilight.

Not the twilight of a setting sun, but the twilight of a world that had forgotten what sunlight felt like. The sky above was a pale, sickly grey, streaked with bands of dying gold that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat. The ground was ash—fine, grey ash that stretched in every direction, dotted with the ruins of buildings that had crumbled centuries ago. Towers of broken stone rose from the ash like the bones of a dead city.

The air was cold and still. No wind. No sound. Just the endless, suffocating silence of a world that had already ended.

Nathan stood at the center of his party, Moonlight in his grip, [Hunter’s Insight] flaring. The portal had deposited them in the middle of a ruined street, surrounded by collapsed buildings and scattered debris. In the distance, the city rose in broken silhouettes—towers and spires and domes, all of them grey and lifeless.

"Well," Garrett said quietly. "This is... cheerful."

"The Ashen Expanse," Smithy murmured. "The court records said it was one of the first worlds the Shepherd consumed. A civilization that refused to bow." He looked around at the ruins. "This is what’s left."

Nathan’s [Hunter’s Insight] found no immediate threats—no mana signatures, no movement, no signs of life. But the silence was wrong. The emptiness was wrong. A world this old should have something living in it.

"Stay alert," Nathan said. "We don’t know what’s out there. We move toward the city center, map the sector, and establish a foothold. No engaging unless we have to."

The party moved through the ruins, their footsteps crunching in the ash. The twilight pressed down on them like a weight. The ruins watched them with hollow windows and broken walls.

And somewhere in the distance, something moved.

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