"What are you doing now?" Sydui asked me.

I ceased my concentration for a moment. "Oh right, I forgot to tell you... I'm trying to do visualization training."

"What does that mean?"

I smacked my own head. "Wow, I'm worse at explaining my thinking than I thought... basically what I'm trying to do is make my sabatons gain the spark of [Limited Sapience] by visualizing them as living creatures. I haven't made a breakthrough in so long and I think I've figured out the reason." After a moment of silence, I realized that I should state my reason. "That reason being that I don't view my armors as anything more than something that I wear, instead of something with a personality."

Sydui nodded. "Okay, I get it now."

I smiled. "I'm glad to explain." I returned to my concentration before realizing something. "Yeah, you may as well take a seat or find something to do, because this is going to take a while."

----------------------------------------

Yuluulth

I finally managed to get everything prepared, and even threw in some extra assurances.

It had certainly taken a while, especially because every time I thought my plan was as good as it was going to get, I realized another flaw that The Unorthodox could think of.

It was just paranoia at this point, and I knew that... but it just felt like the thing I needed to do, even with my champion's overwhelming advantages, it never felt like enough somewhere in the back of my head.

"Yuluulth?" Lviyr called.

I gave a start and looked over at him. "I'm sorry, what was your question?"

"Are you alright? You seem discolored." He asked with concern.

"I'm fine, there's just a lot to do is all."

"Yuluulth, this game isn't worth your health. You need to make sure to take care of yourself."

"So you always say, but I'm fine, I'm having just as much fun as usual!" I countered.

The [Worldbinder] stood and looked at me. "Yuluulth, take a break right this instant or I will force you to forfeit."

I looked up at her height which was easily double mine with annoyance. "Fine mom!"

"I wouldn't have to act like your mother if you took better care of yourself." She pointed away from the viewers and toward the lounge. "Now go get some real food in you, and no you can't bring it back here."

I rose from my seat and scowled. "I'm going, I'm going..."

Jyn laughed and was about to say something when he was cut off by our [Worldbinder].

"Jyn, if you say a single word about Yuluulth until he comes back, I will make sure Seliel picks your next champion for you."

That shut him up immediately.

I chuckled slightly as I went on my way.

While I usually went to our block's kitchen for quick meals and drinks, it wasn't exactly conducive for a proper sit-down meal, both because it was cramped and because of how expensive it was for food to be fabricated there.

If I tried to make a meal using the kitchen fabricator, it would take at least an hour, and usage time like that adds up fast.

So instead, everyone here pays a small fee to keep the power running to the whole complex, and to have a larger and higher quality food fabricator in the lounge

It also allows for a place for some of the less social of us to meet and mingle without feeling like we were saying hello in a coffin.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As I stepped onto the dorsal elevator, I noticed that Seliel was there too, likely coming from a different block.

"Hey Seliel!" I called out.

She looked around, and then she locked eyes with me.

She didn't respond at all, just standing there and maintaining eye contact.

I started to feel really awkward, so I decided to confront her about it.

She seemed really put off by this, which only served to confuse me more.

When I finally got to her, the question I had originally planned to ask was gone. "Hey Seliel, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!" She snapped, looking at the nearest wall instead of me.

"Something is clearly wrong, what happened to your usually bubbly attitude?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

I nodded. "Whatever it is, I hope it gets better."

"Yeah." She exhaled deeply. "What did you come over to ask?" She asked tiredly.

I stopped to try and remember, and then suddenly I reconnected the dots. "Oh yeah! I wanted to see if you wanted to come with me and get something to eat."

"With me? Are you sure?" She asked suspiciously. "This isn't one of those stupid attempts to tutor me to play is it?"

That legitimately hurt my feelings a little bit, but I pretended that it didn't. "Nah, I was ordered to get something to eat, so I'm going to take this opportunity to decompress as much as possible."

Seliel chuckled a little. "Did our wonderful [Worldbinder] have to tell you off again?"

I just averted my eyes, she already knew the answer after all.

I changed the topic to avoid that can of worms. "Did you want to come for food, or...?"

"I'm not sure honestly, it sounds exhausting."

"Exhausting? It'll be just like old times, except without Lviyr, Jyn, or Vindicost... but I digress."

She shook her head emphatically. "If old times is all you've got I don't want it Yuluulth, I don't want to be treated like 'The [Hazard Shaper] Girl', I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now."

"Well, how about 'old times plus' then, just nostalgic enough to be fun, but also with all the lessons learned between then and now." I pitched to her.

She looked at me for a moment, scanning my face, before giving a tiny emotionally-drained chuckle.

"I'll give it a try, but only because you're trying so hard."

After the minute or so wait for the elevator to go up, we got off and made our way toward the lounge proper.

Seliel clearly wasn't having any fun at first, but as we chatted, she started to open up a little more.

When we finally got to the lounge, we ended up on the topic of funny glitches we'd seen during play.

"There was this one time during the one-point-oh release of Deathworld Game that we hadn't quite zoned in the [Attributes] yet. I go and pick my champion and all that right? Some number of days in, an enemy champion uses [Maledict Of Misfortune] and gets "the chains". Suddenly, my guy is just sent out of bounds and dies due to a stack underflow."

Seliel started laughing. "Oh man, I wish you recorded that, it would have been hilarious to see!"

"Oh man me too, I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair at the time."

"I bet!"

A voice from behind us spoke up. "Sir and miss, please stop blocking the path, also quiet down if you don't mind, some of us are single around here."

It suddenly became apparent that it was our turn in the queue and we hadn't even realized. "Oh jeez, I'm sorry, kinda got caught up talking there, we'll just finish up here and get out of your way."

The individual scoffed. "Please do."

We both finished up our orders and waited for our food to be made to the side.

As soon as we were outside of earshot, I whispered to Seliel. "'Oh I'm sorry for wasting your valuable time your eminence.' Am I right?"

Seliel was deep in thought.

"Seliel?"

"Oh, yeah, whatever you said, let's go find a seat alright?"

"Our food isn't done yet... are you feeling okay?"

"Sorry, ignore little old me, I'm just a dummy ditzoid." She deflected, laughing nervously.

I was concerned, but let her be. "If anything comes up, let me know okay?"

She nodded emphatically. "Will do, good pal of mine."

I remember a time when she'd talk like this a lot more... but why is she like this now?

I think the last time she talked like this was... back after the first beta was released for Deathworld Game or so.

That feels important somehow, but I can't remember why...

...I'll look up the patch notes later to see if I can jog my memory.

----------------------------------------

The Voracious Stalker

Andrew is being an irritating prey, constantly within his walls.

As far as I could tell, my options were these:

One, I wait until Andrew leaves his walls for food or what have you, which has no guarantee that he'll go alone, especially due to his newer habit of having a full entourage of Nemeses.

It's not out of the question to separate them from each other, but to do so would have to be a stroke of tactical genius to be any less than a stopgap.

Two, I attempt to lure him out of the walls somehow.

That sounds easier, but is far more difficult I have found... after all, why leave your advantageous terrain for risky terrain unless you absolutely must?

Obviously, neither option is a particularly useful one for my current predicament.

So, instead I'm left waiting for an opening until I can come up with some sort of strategy to get him out here by himself, or at maximum with that one other Nemesis he seems to have as some sort of honor-guard.

I thought about lighting the wall on fire, but that would only cause a lot of things to come out at once, which while good for a distraction may cause more harm than good... I'm certain I can't fight all of the Nemeses in there at once after all.

What I need is some sort of pincer attack, but luring champions anywhere is extremely difficult when they're running away from you, and luring Nemeses anywhere is like trying to convince a wild animal to become friends with its prey.

It was then I had an idea that I had never considered before... I can talk to champions, so what if I attempted to convince one to work with me for some reason or another... why stop there even?

What if I made a force opposite to Andrew's, a group of champions lead by a Nemesis?

The idea was absurd, but I couldn't help but smile when I thought about it.

Andrew, just wait, I'll be back with an army of my own.