Let me tell you, there ain't nothing better than getting two bastards you hate to kill each other on your behalf. But there's an art to manipulation. It's about withholding intelligence.

What you know; what you don't know; what they know’ and what they don't know. To all you Counter-System rebels out there, keep this in mind: Big players don't much like each other too.

And if you can give them an opening, they'll bite down and bleed each other good and white. You can even slip away free of charge. Sometimes you don't need to kill the shark yourself.

Sometimes you just need to bring it over to where the orcas wait.

A little mutual benefit gods a long way.

-John Bishop

69

Mutual Benefit (I)

A human's will was the most fragile thing. Depriving a proud man of his pride could render him kin to even the basest of animals. Such was the fate that befell Sir Angeleous. Stalwart, unshaking, and, a mere moment ago, undaunted by whatever horrors Wei intended to inflict on him.

Now, he was frail, looking every bit his age, quivering upon the ground as he chanted a litany of pleas, begging the young master for mercy.

"What? What have you done? What have you done?" Angeleous whispered. Only a thin cut bled from his cheek, but the scythe that passed through him thereafter severed something ever deeper. The Form of the Harvester carved all of Sir Angeleous's will away. It was a paltry amount, enough to temporarily bluest the young master perhaps two times over. But aside from that, the greater pleasure lay in unmaking a problem before it could fully worsen.

Wei grinned down at the snake-to-be, slowly shaking his head as he savored this moment. Oh, how he loved in-sect politics. How he loved watching his mother punish those who thought themselves so smart that they considered themselves foxes in a coop of chickens, rather than just another jackal lost in a tiger's den. But even beyond the satisfaction, there was a twinge of something. A feeling of disgust and horror.

Wei's smile dimmed. It was a horrible thing to do—to sever another man from ever making another choice for themselves, to break them so utterly. But it had to be done. Ser Angeleous was determined to be an enemy. A problem that needed to be resolved.

A second thereafter, the young master felt someone enter the portal just behind him, and through his omniscience, he sensed Rafael approaching. The lich lifted his Veil of Invisibility, and for a long moment, stared on at the disabled traitor. Though his face was little more than a skull sporting gleaming sockets, the young master couldn't help but get a sense that the lich was even more horrified than he.

"So," Rafael said, clearing his throat. He shuffled awkwardly. "Is it done?”

"Yes," Wei replied, still observing the lich's actions. "You have done well, Rafael." The young master wasn’t against offering praise when it was due. "Are the others still occupied with their initiation?"

Rafael nodded slowly. "They should be occupied for a good while, at least long enough for us to conduct our questioning. But I think we should take him away and not do this here. There is always the risk someone might step in, no?"

Wei considered Rafael's suggestion and found it most agreeable. The last thing he needed was in-group conflict if one of Angeleous’ men suddenly entered the sanctuary again and beheld the scene unfolding before them.

"Come on," Wei said, speaking to the broken Ser Angeleous. "Get up, old man. We're going for a walk."

A moment later, they stood beneath the shadows of a partially collapsed wall. A moon grave of war was where they chose to conduct their questioning, and propped against the cracked and aged surface, Angeleous stared up at Wei, his eyes glistening with tears, his hands shaking. From time to time, the once-diaphanous wings he once sported would manifest, and Wei would feel particulates of solidity trace through the air, as if he was trying to summon another wall of concrete. But Angeleous was beaten, and Angeleous was done.

Without will, a man could not choose. And if a man could not choose, then he could not fight.

"I have a few questions I would like you to answer," Wei began, trying to watch for any shifts within Ser Angeleous's demeanor. So far, he was almost alike to the Knight of Lust. Broken, ruined. The only difference between them was that he hadn't started begging for death. The old man's lip pressed together, and for a moment, just a moment, Wei thought he was going to resist. But immediately thereafter, he gave a weak and broken reply.

"I will tell you, I will tell you anything you ask." It wasn't as if he could choose otherwise.

The first question Wei inquired was a simple one. If he had an Inheritor as a contact, why hadn't he called upon their aid when he was assailed by that Knight of Greed? When Wei found Angeleous and the rest of his men, they were on the verge of a last stand. But with such a powerful benefactor, that shouldn't have been necessary. The answer, in the end, was more simple than Wei expected.

"I hadn't sworn myself to them yet. I didn't want to," Sir Angeleous said. He bit his lip as the faintest hint of regret crawled across his expression. But it only lasted a moment, succumbing to become misery once more. "I was... I was delving through a rift. I was separated from my men briefly. It was... There were demons. I defeated them. Barely survived. But at the end there was a contract. A contract connected to the Circle of Pride."

"Circle of Pride?" Wei asked, sounding surprised. He wasn't sure how that would lead one to make a contract with the Inheritors instead, but he listened on.

"When I took the contract, I was grievously injured, wanted to survive. I tried signing, needed any kind of help I could after skimming the pages, but the lines on the inside, the contents were altered. My submission went to the Inheritors instead."

Wei paused at that, and a thoughtful expression fell over his face. Rafael shot a look at the young master. "Altering a contract of hell. This is a most grievous offense, here in the Claimed Hells." The lich clearly scheming himself. "Wei, I think we can use this to our advantage. The Circles… Some acts are accepted between them. They are technically always in a state of war with each other. But they still belong to the same structure, and to have someone else subvert Mepheleon’s foundational legal bindings… this cannot be forgiven."

What Wei considered was along the same track, but he was thinking more about Mulver Groon, and the contract the Orc offered as well. Was his contract compromised too? Did the Circle of Pride know about this?

"Do you still have your contract?" Wei asked, speaking to Ser Angeleous again. The man swallowed and nodded, and with a brief compression of space, a stack of pages spilled out before Wei's feet. He picked it up, and immediately began suffering through the details.

As he looked through the pages, even with his System translating the contents, he found himself utterly lost, confused as to what he was taking in. There was so much jargon and so many referenced items that he only got half of what he needed to from each sentence. Furthermore, most of the agreed items open for signature had the words "negotiable" and "dependent on interview" written above them over and over again. At the end of each page, Angelelous’s name was burned within a circle of ciphers.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Wei showed Rafael the ciphers, and the lich examined them carefully. For a few moments, only silence followed, then suddenly, the lich cried out and pointed his platonic scalpel at a specific sign. “Here.”

"Here?" Wei asked, curious to what Rafael had just discovered.

"There has been a modification made here. The reference circuits have been rerouted carefully. This change was clandestine. Whoever did it clearly didn't want the Circle of Pride to know."

Wei squinted, and even with Omniscience it was hard to tell. Thanks to his growing Enlightenment, though, it was getting easy to remember the symbology. "Very good. Very good. Angeleous. What happened after you signed each page..”

"I was transported," Angeleous said. "I was taken to a place, a dark room. I was healed, fed. A strange man spoke to me. Strange man without a face. He wore silk… very strange silk garments. And he asked me questions about where I was from. And if... if I had encountered you."

"Me?" Wei said. He cocked his head and frowned. This fit what he'd experienced thus far. The Knight of Lust was clearly deployed specifically to eliminate him instead of his companions. For whatever reason, the Inheritors wanted his System. And they would stop at nothing to take it from him. "And what did you tell them?" Wei said, continuing on.

"I told them. I... I told them everything." Sir Angeleous shook his head. "But I didn't have enough. I don't know you, boy, but I despise you. I loathe you. I loathe you for offending me. I loathe you for making a mockery of me. I loathe you for preventing my worship. For saving that blood-sucking fiend from rightful judgment." He finally lifted his head, and a twitch passed through his eye. "And I would have loathed you for what you've done to me. But I am... I am ruined. You have ruined me."

And he slumped down, sobbing quietly.

"So, did you make an agreement with them?" Rafael asked, this time instead of Wei. "Did you give yourself to them? Did they offer anything to you?"

"No," he shook his head. "No, I simply... they gave me a means of communication through my chat. They showed me how to use it. I told them I did not want to follow another false faith that mine is the only one that was true, and they took no offense to it. They simply wanted to be," he paused as he struggled to find the words, "mutually beneficial parties for our causes were aligned. And furthermore, they would not give me anything unless I provided them with something tangible myself: aid towards your capture."

And that explained why Ser Angeleous was in such dire straits. The encounter with another knight was merely his misfortune, and the Inheritors had no intention of showing their hand. However, that also meant another thing. There could be a great deal more sinners currently under their employ, and they might have already infested the newly restored Drowned Sky Sect. A dark mood began to build within the young master. It's barely been a few days, and already he was dealing with snakes of his own.

How did mother ever deal with this? No, wait, she didn't really deal with it that much at all. She mostly relied on— and his thoughts trailed off there. The memory of his father was like oil meeting fire within Wei's gut, and immediately rage began to burn within him. Rage. They questioned Rafael further, trying to discover if any of his men were further compromised, or if it was just him. The old man responded each time, ensuring that his men were innocent, that they did not know the compact he agreed to, that they needed to be spared.

In any other situation, Wei wouldn't have believed him, but with his will broken, and with Rafael casting a working meant to peek at the truth within one's mind, the certainty of Angeleous' words were further cemented.

"And you still have communication with him right now? Yes?" Wei asked.

Sir Angeleous nodded. "He's within my chat menu. I can message him at any time. I've been telling him about your progress, about how many are under your banner now, and how you intend to pass through the Hearted Realms."

This was something Wei could use. False information was a double-sided sword. With all the Inheritors could bring to bear, Wei could ensure that they were in the wrong place, misled from the proper path. Such was another reason why he didn't intend to kill Sir Angeleous anytime soon. The man had just gone from someone else's spy to Wei's pet snake, but he needed to consider what he wanted Sir Angeleous to do for him, how he could manipulate the Inheritors.

There was still a great deal he didn't know about the organization or how they performed, but there were several opportunities already ahead of him. The first was his contract. The modification it made would clearly displease the circles, if Rafael's words proved true. With that, Wei also had a contract of his own, one offered by Mulver Groon, also a servant under the Circle of Pride, if Wei understood it to be correct. They clearly intended to recruit him, but perhaps Wei could establish a mutually beneficial relationship of his own.

Additionally, he could attempt to ambush the Inheritor Sir Angeleous was in contact with. Wei managed to create a Liminal Boundary between him and his father briefly. During their chat, the young master hadn't been able to replicate the action ever since. Perhaps it required a channel of essence that bound them, or a direct connection of some kind. But there was still much Wei hadn't uncovered about his system. Perhaps hadn't unlocked yet, considering how many more advancements lay ahead of him, how many more ascensions he still needed to pass.

And then there was the question of how they were going to store Sir Angeleous in the meantime. The man was clearly traumatized, not nearly the person who he used to be. Simply giving him back to his men results in discord at the worst, and Wei had no intention of dealing with internecine strife. Morale was important for a sect, and he wouldn't allow his name to be demeaned so.

As he thought, his aspect of Enlightenment grew once more, and the young master looked to Rafael, considering a second opinion. He was approaching this problem alone. But that didn’t need to be the case. He had a most experienced traitor of his own.

Enlightenment Advanced > 21

[10/10] Aspect Advancements to Core Ascension

And just in time for another Core Ascension as well.

"Rafael," Wei said. "You know how the Claimed Hells are structured, don't you? You clearly have a great deal of knowledge about society here, about the Circles."

"Aye," Rafael began, sounding a bit awkward. "I have done my research."

It wasn't that he trusted a lich, but with these passing days, he thought he was getting a better grasp of who the trespasser was. They were cowardly in a sense, but they cared about people. He was no snake, but rather cat-like, self-interested to an extent, with a conscience lingering in place, a mix of virtue and human flaw. How strange these traits were for a living skeleton.

Wei summoned forth his Trespasser's Compendium and handed it off to Rafael. As the lich hesitated, the young master thrust his book forward, encouraging Rafael to take it. "I'm not giving this to you. Consider it a loan. But if you wish to use it to further your own desires… you may. On a single condition."

"Yes," Rafael said, sounding wary and hopeful at the same time.

"I wish to be with you when you do this research. I wish for you to explain to me what you are seeking, what you are trying to discover. I want to learn how you think." The words left Wei's mouth, and he found himself surprised by what he just said. A mere month ago he wouldn't have cared at all about what anyone else thought. There were only so few people that mattered in the world to him. But now he was growing curious, his advancing mind demanding more knowledge, more perspective.

"I… yes, of course, of course," Rafael agreed almost instantly. A sudden laugh burst out from the lich. "You will not regret this. There are a great many things we can be able to do together. In fact, the Trespasser's Lodge, they desperately need new help—"

"I am not going to sell my sect or myself to another power, Rafael," Wei said, cutting the lich off before he could get too excited. "However, we are not against a little…" he shot a look at Ser Angeleous, "mutual benefit of my own. If we can get the Circles or this Lodge of yours to resolve the Inheritors on our behalf, well then, I wouldn't begrudge such an action."

Rafael simply nodded vigorously. "Of course, of course."

And before they continued, Wei took a leap of faith, summoned a contract of his own. He held that out before the lich, and he showed them the front page. "What is this?" Rafael said.

"A contract," Wei replied. "One offered by a Knight of Pride, after he willingly killed himself to sate the conditions of my Class Divergence."

Rafael went still and looked up at Wei. "Did you—"

“No. Not yet. But I think we have room for negotiation now, don’t you.”

‘Quite so! Quite so!”

“Good. See if the ciphers inside the document are correct. I don’t want to be diverted to the Inheritors. We have much to do.”

“Of course! But… what do you wish to do. If it is truly a contract leading you to the Lords of Pride?”

Wei pressed his lips together as he suppressed a smile. "Well. Someone should inform them about the hostile actions being taken against them. Perhaps the Drowned Sky Sect might be of service.”