The Systemic Lands

Chapter XX – Day 329 – Politics by Other Means

I had visitors. Champion Michael with a group of ten people. I had been getting better, but pain still wracked me occasionally. I still had no idea what had happened. If it was Champion Michael who had used some kind of skill, then I had no chance. I could only hope it was something I had overlooked. It hurt me to even admit that I might have overlooked something.

I hadn’t been idle. I knew there would be a response and had my forces prepared. I snuck my mental attack summons into a building. The first to be taken out was going to be their tracker. I wasn’t about to risk the rest of my limited forces.

Thankfully that forced the group back. I knew that wouldn’t keep Champion Michael for long. Think, I needed to think. Another bout of pain wracked my body. Dammit! It was hard to focus.

Champion Michael was rushing back into the city by himself. The mental attacks didn’t even slow him down as he made directly for the plaza. I needed to escape. But my lab and crystal reserves. I left my building and made my way into another one.

I lay down on the ground and closed my eyes to better focus. I was maneuvering my forces into position. Champion Michael reached the plaza. I got a mental alert when he began to melt my door. I launched mental attacks at him and sent in summoned ants.

He began to run into the city and check buildings. Thankfully I was on the other side of the plaza, nowhere near him. He began to melt my building.

The low level ants I sent at him were easily killed. A short time later he lobbed another attack. Hour after hour, he kept up the attack. I was tired, in pain, and he was about to break into my lab. If he managed that he would set me back by so much. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

I had one werewolf left. I sent it out to speak with Champion Michael. I hated to ask for a truce, but there was nothing else I could do to stop him.

“Champion Michael,” my werewolf said.

“Ritualist. It appears you are trapped.”

“Indeed, it does, but I still have one last trap to play.” It wasn’t a very good trap. But it was a threat. A threat I couldn’t carry out, but I hoped it would work as a bluff.

“Then use your trap. I broke through all your other traps. This one will be no different.” I personally winced at that. He was right. Time to bluff, at least werewolves had limited facial muscles, so hopefully he wouldn’t realize what I was doing.

“The trap would kill us both.” It wouldn’t. I was safely in another building and I had no doubt he would survive in some stupid way.

“And how do I know you aren’t lying?” Time to pull out some razzle dazzle. I didn’t feel like a god right now. I felt like that pathetic old man at the end of the yellow brick road. A fraud, a failure. Dammit.

“Look there.” I had my werewolf point at a blue slime that emerged from a building. I had a weredeer follow behind it and sprinkle the slime with crystal. In reality the slime had multiple primed slime crystals inserted into it.

Multiple slimes formed together, the energy clash and then they all exploded in a massive burst of acid. I cut the tether to the weredeer as it was killed. I knew it was quite impressive, but very unstable. The slime would melt or absorb crystals inside of it. Once they broke down too much, the primed summoning would be negated.

“Why not use it before?” Dammit! Stop being so skeptical. Go away. Time for the lie I needed to sell.

“Just in case this situation occurred. If I did that to one hundred slimes, the resulting acid would kill you. Especially a larger slime will have a greater effect.” Accept it as truth and leave. I waited as Champion Michael looked over the plaza, waiting for a response.

I had no idea what he was thinking. Maybe he was trying to figure out my location. He hadn’t looked in my direction, but that didn’t mean anything. I needed time to research what was ailing me. I needed time to rebuild up my crystal reserves and develop new techniques. I needed time to increase my stats.

I hadn’t been this nervous since I presented my Master’s research paper. “Ack! Ack!” I coughed out some more blood. Curse whatever had caused this. Just go away Michael. Please just go away.

“Let’s talk.” The moment I heard those words I let out a sigh of relief. My bluff had worked. I didn’t think he would fall for it, but he had. Now it was time to seal the deal.

“A truce, between you and me,” I had my werewolf said.

“And our respective cities.” I winced at that. Of course, he would want that.

“That is acceptable.”

“Also, a boarder between our cities on the North South line between the striped meerkats and the brown summoning ants. Midway between Purgatory and Heaven.” I didn’t care, but I couldn’t be a push over. If I agreed too easily, he would know how weak I truly was.

“Unacceptable, the only boarders would be the level 1 areas.”

“And let you ambush our teams and take our grinding spots? You should be thanking me I don’t ask for a boarder a bit further to the East,” Champion Michael said to my hybrid. I winced at that. I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t make the situation worse. “You think you can defeat me? You think I care about the people you killed? Try me.”

I had to be strong. I couldn’t back down now. “Then why are you even talking.”

He launched an acid attack with no movement or speech at my building, clearly making a point. “Because you keep escaping and causing trouble. There is a chance you will escape again. And I would have to keep hunting you relentlessly if you did that. I would not stop.” You were on to start this! You and Ken imprisoned me and were going to kill me after getting my secrets.

If I hadn’t escaped when I did, you would have killed me for sure. The treasury was payment for the suffering you caused me. But I couldn’t fight anymore. I didn’t have anything I could use to stop Michael, only my pathetic bluff.

“Fine, a cease fire for 50 days and the boarders you proposed.” That would give me enough time to recover, hopefully.

“And after 50 days?” Don’t ask difficult questions like that. I would have more traps prepared by then.

“We meet again.” Champion Michael smiled and shook his head.

“Ritualist, you are a master of traps. I have no doubt in 5 days, let alone 50 days, you will have layers and layers of traps. Explosions and acid and monsters coming out of other monsters. This is a permanent armistice. You stay in your part of the Systemic Lands. I stay in mine.” A long term truce. I hated the very idea.

I wanted to kill this man. To make him pay. To make him suffer. Well, if he wanted that I wasn’t about to just roll over. “Then the boarder situation will have to be adjusted. Just the level 1 area around the city.”

“Nox, where is she?” That was a surprising question. Well I didn’t mind giving her up, she had abandoned me first.

“The boarders I asked for?”

“Yes, for Nox’s real name, whereabouts, and leaving any teams outside of Purgatory alone.” I thought it over and it was acceptable.

“Agreed. Ruth or Nox, disappeared a long time ago. Right after she led me to this city. Haven’t seen or heard from her since.” I could feel the rage coming off Champion Michael right now. Well, it was good to deflect his anger onto her while I recovered.

“Let’s write it out,” he said and casually purchased a book and a pen at the store. What a power move to showcase how many points he had. The discussion began on the exact terms, and he made notes on top of one of the pillars. I noted he kept a careful eye out on his surroundings. I didn’t take any chance of aggravating him and only kept my werewolf there in the plaza.