25 - Chapter 24 - Day 1811
Adya looked at the options, they had changed once again. She kept the options to herself, revealing the level of control she had would be too dangerous, even with those carrying her soul mark.
Her soul mark only offered protection up to Rarity Tier 8, which meant it was possible for those with a higher rarity to overrider her control. They could also potentially break the formation, the same way she was going to do here. In the end, absolute power was unassailable. Until she reached the divine grade, she could always be forced to capitulate.
She reviewed the options one by one. She rejected option 2, as it would just lead to the death of the little traitor. That left options 1 and 3. She had originally been ready to go with option 3. It would remove the existing formation, suppress its failsafes and let her mark take control.
What she didn't understand was what it meant by replacing the formation with hers. Did that mean, the formation would remain, and look the same, but she would become the formation controller, effectively allowing her to pretend like nothing had happened, or would it do something drastically different.
No, she couldn't take that chance here. She needed answers, and an option she understood was superior to one that she did not. If she had more time, she would have spent it creating more experiments to understand the limitations better. However, now was not the time.
She let out a weary sigh, and went with option 2. She made sure she was watching the formation when she did.
Whereas the formation had been a solid tattoo before, after Adya selected the option, the tattoo seemed to come alive, and molten in appearance. Slowly it was absorbed into the skin and disappeared. Using the identify option showed the traitor was fully under her soul marks control. At least this proved that she could enforce a formation on others against their will. This was great news for both the bandits, who could now be suffered to live, and bad news for the shadowed hand, as she would be taking control of all their leaders one by one.
Everyone in the room was looking at her, their eyes drawn to her due to her weary sigh.
“It is done,” said Adya to everyone and no one. “The existing formation is gone, my mark is in place.”
She looked at the traitor and instructed him. “You answer my mother, Parth and head of intelligence’s questions fully and honestly.”
He visibly shuddered, and then his face turned to relief realising that he had survived. “Yes miss, thank you for saving me miss. I will tell them everything, miss.” He fell to the floor kowtowing in gratitude.
“Ironically, after this, he will be the most loyal one ever.” Adya said to her mother.
“Give me your hand” she again instructed the man. She wiped away her tattoo, but the soul marl remained. “Check your status, do you have an option to request removal of my soul mark? In fact read out the whole entry relating to my soul mark from your status.”
“Yes miss,” he rescinded meekly and proceeded to do exactly that.
Soul Mark - Adya Gurg
Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed. Kevin - Retainer of house Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Kevin may not take any actions or inactions that can be construed as betrayal by Adya Gurg. Kevin will suffer soul pain, if he does not follow all instructions faithfully. Kevin will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru).
Adya was right that the soul mark could not be removed. She had a feeling that someone strong enough would be able to override her soul mark, but she could not confirm that at this stage. She also felt that if she offered the protection version, it would potentially allow the switch, then leading to an option to remove, but again this was just a guess based on their testing with the protection version, so she could be totally wrong.
The expressions in the room turned grim after hearing the details of the soul mark. They all had the nice version of the soul mark, allowing them to consent and only stopping betrayal. This was effectively a soul mark that enslaved, with no obvious way for it to be removed. While they felt no sympathy for Kevin, it was still a horrendous fate.
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“Mother, Parth, are you ok with me using this version on the bandits,” asked Adya, “Or any other traitors we identify?”
The fact she would ask permission made the people in the room relax a little. This was a dangerous tool, but at least Adya was consulting on its use. A few of the soldiers, who were not particularly close to Adya and didn’t know her personally, shuddered at the thought that had she wanted, she could have subjected them to the enslaving soul mark.
Parth looked towards Gauri for guidance. While he did not particularly like the insidious soul mark, he would trust Gauri’s decision realising he saw the world more in black and white, and not the subtle shades of grey.
“Yes, we are not powerful enough to start to ignore the tools available to us.” said Gauri, sounding weary. “We must use what we have.”
“I will go and complete the marks on the bandits,” said Adya, “As was my original plan, before the agenda was hijacked by our little traitor Kevin. I am leaving his interrogation and subsequent actions to you. Please bear in mind that since he is now under my power, I am responsible for him. Also he is no longer a traitor, regardless of what he has done up until now.”
“In fact,” said Adya, looking at Kevin. “Why did you agree to go ahead with allowing me to place the formation on you. You had heard a lot of the details, had you refused, we would not have pushed the issue.”
The head of intelligence looked crestfallen at the realisation that in his excitement to get more details, he had inadvertently caused a traitor to gain a great deal of damaging knowledge. He too wanted to know how his mistake had not been catastrophic.
“I had no choice, miss.” replied Kevin. “I did not want to, but the formation meant I had to follow instructions. The order I was given by my handler was not to do anything that would arouse suspicion. Since I did not know for certain that I would be exposed, I had no choice but to comply.”
“So we were saved by a badly worded order.” mused Adya. “Providence indeed. I leave the rest of this mess to you. Let me know when you need me. Make sure to capture any of these agents Kevin identifies, and don't let them damage their formations. Otherwise they will die and their handlers will be notified. Let’s go Dexter.”
With that Adya collected her ink and quills and left Gauri’s office and went off towards the barracks with Dexter in tow.
“Is it just me, or does Adya seem more and more scary everytime she speaks.” asked Parth
Adya headed off towards the barracks where the bandit leader was waiting on her decision.
It didn’t take long for her to arrive and to be led into the interrogation suite, or more accurately the torture room, not that she intended to use it for that.
The bandit leader had been left alone there for some hours at this point, not that he could escape.
He bowed when Adya entered, knowing that she held his life in her hands. He also acknowledged that anyone else would have killed him and his entire crew in the woods and forgotten about them. It was only because she had kept her word that he was still alive. They had not been mistreated, and even fed reasonably well. If not concerned about his family, he would have been content to wait, and not push for a decision.
“So it has already been a long day,” started Adya. “So I am going to be blunt. You know too many of my secrets. If I just let you go, even if you promise not to reveal anything, you could be forced to by others. You know as well as I that the shadowed hand will stop at nothing to find out what happened.”
“I know, miss,” he responded, sounding miserable. He was already having thoughts of being killed. “Is there no other option, miss?”
“There is one other option, one that each of your crew is going to have to decide on themselves.” said Adya, “I can put a formation on you, to force you to serve me. You will never be able to leave my service, except by dying. The positive to the situation is you would become a trusted retainer, as you would have no choice. Those who choose this option will be employed by the family.”
“So my only choice is between slavery and death?” he asked, sounding forlorn.
“I will not treat you like a slave, but yes you will be a slave if you choose that option.” responded Adya bluntly. She was in no mood to mince her words. This was the only choice she could offer him. She needed him to understand the gravity of his decision. “Now you need to decide. Which will it be?”
Surprisingly, it didn’t take the bandit leader any time to decide. “I will take life over death, miss. I choose slavery.” said he.
Adya had him bare his arm and place it on the table. She then proceeded to place the enforcement formation on him. It took her less than 10 minutes this time. She did not receive any prompt, the formation just converted to a soul bond, a fact confirmed by the identification feature. Adya mentally berated herself, she had forgotten to check how much willpower it took to force the mark.
“Right, I have a lot to do. Dexter, bring them in two by two.” said Adya. “I can't keep thinking of you as the bandit leader, what is your name?”
“I am Jason, miss.” replied the ex bandit leader.
“Well Jason, you are going to help convince your crew to accept the same deal as you have.” replied Adya. “In addition, I need you to get them to tell me their willpower reserve and regeneration figures from their status screens.”
“You mean wisdom, miss?” responded a confused Jason. “There is no will power stat.”