Zemy Plains Conflict Zone is the designated battlefield of the sisters’ escape from Platinum assassins and the point at which their private flight becomes a public military crisis. The zone gives the pursuit a formal System objective, while Cato’s intervention turns a desperate retreat into a defended incursion.

Setting and Function

Zemy Plains Conflict Zone appears after Raine Uriv, Leese Uriv, and Dyen have fled across four worlds under pressure from multiple Platinum kill squads. The portal network has become dangerous because the hunters can travel rapidly, pay for repeated teleportation, and converge on likely exits. Raine and Leese have little equipment and no stealth Skills, while their identity as surviving Sydeans makes them unusually conspicuous targets.

The zone therefore functions less as a neutral destination than as a forced threshold. The sisters are not simply moving toward safety; they are being driven into a location where pursuit, rank disparity, and the System’s quest machinery intersect. Their movement through successive worlds has postponed the confrontation, but the Zemy Plains mark the point at which evasion must become resistance.

The Pursuit Reaches the Plains

The assassins attack before the group can make another clean transition. Raine Uriv and Leese Uriv detect the first assault moments before dark blades erupt from the walls, and their movement Skills carry them away from the portal mouth. A Platinum assassin—a grayscale, furred frog-like species unfamiliar to Dyen—launches an attack powerful enough to shred Nexus walls made of Platinum-rank stone. Other attackers follow, including ice blades and orange poison, showing that the sisters are being pursued by more than one coordinated group.

The group reaches four worlds before the attack occurs, but the distance does not create safety. Raine and Leese move faster than Gold-ranked individuals should be able to, relying on their postbiological bodies, physical ability, and Skills rather than equipment. Dyen, despite having a movement Skill enhanced by boots and a cloak, falls behind them. When the assassins close the gap outside a town’s walls, Raine issues a final warning: the hunters must leave or die, and she invokes Cato’s authority. Thunder answers from the cloudless sky, announcing that the pursuit has entered a new phase.

Quest and Intervention

The System identifies the confrontation as the Global Defense Quest, titled “Destroy the Incursion.” Its recommended rank is Bismuth, its reward is an overloaded C-Tier Skill, and its location is Zemy Plains Conflict Zone. The wording reframes the assassins as an incursion rather than merely a private contract against Raine and Leese. In doing so, the System converts the immediate chase into an officially recognized defense action with a prescribed battlefield, difficulty, and reward.

Cato responds directly because protecting Raine and Leese has no moral ambiguity for him. His Zeken incarnation is eager to leave the passivity of observation and return to the surface, while other versions of Cato must remain limited to secondhand memories. Six forty-ton bioweapons descend in a drop pod, equipped with improved modifications, orbital combat support, and bombardment capability. Raine and Leese’s counterparts ride two of these bioweapons, allowing the sisters’ wider network to participate in the defense rather than merely watch the pursuit from afar.

Strategic and Narrative Significance

The Zemy Plains confrontation exposes the practical consequences of the sisters’ transformation. Their new Urivan identities permit them to move through Uriva and advise lower-ranked Urivans, but the same identities make them vulnerable once Initik recognizes their names, knowledge, and connection to Cato. Their bodies offer extraordinary speed and continuous communication, yet they remain exposed to hunters who possess higher rank, stealth, rapid teleportation, and numerical superiority.

The location also marks a shift from concealment to open power. Earlier, Cato’s surveillance network was still being assembled, and he warned the sisters to avoid Urivan towns until he could detect Muar. At Zemy Plains, warning and flight are no longer sufficient. Raine’s public command, the System’s quest designation, and Cato’s orbital-backed deployment all make the conflict legible as a military defense. The plains consequently serve as a hinge between an assassination pursuit and the broader war against the System’s established order.