Acid Shot. More acid landed on the building. I kept moving around the plaza killing and dodging the weak ants. It was starting to get dark, but I wasn’t worried. I could keep this up. The Ritualist was going to die.

The ants suddenly stopped chasing me and backed off. A werewolf appeared from a side street. I scanned the surroundings and could clearly see the doorway to the melted building. If the Ritualist wanted to talk, I could use that time to regain energy.

“Champion Michael,” the werewolf growled out.

“Ritualist. It appears you are trapped.”

“Indeed, it does, but I still have one last trap to play.”

“Then use your trap. I broke through all your other traps. This one will be no different.” The silence stretched out.

“The trap would kill us both.” Now that was a bold claim. If he was telling the truth then I should stop my assault, but the threat wasn’t credible at this moment. He was going to die, but I was curious. Let’s see your last gasp at life.

“And how do I know you aren’t lying?” I asked. For a threat to be credible it had to be confirmed.

“Look there.” The werewolf pointed. A blue slime exited a building. A weredeer came out and sprinkled crystal powder on the slime.

The slime massively grew and exploded, splattering everything around it with acid. The weredeer was killed and dropped to the plaza stones. The one that had been talking inclined its head at me.

“Why not use it before?”

“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.”

Mutually assured destruction. I couldn’t accept this. After all the pain and suffering, the Ritualist was cornered, and he was threatening to suicide bomb me. I looked at the acid and how it was dissolving the stone.

Oh, I knew what he was doing. Clever. He was melting his way out, probably through a tunnel while this conversation happened. Once I finished melting his building and rushed in, he would use his slime bombs and attempt to kill me.

That meant his offer was probably legitimate, otherwise he could have let me run in. I looked at the store pillars. If I survived, I would be able to recover quickly enough. That also meant I couldn’t destroy them.

I let out a long sigh. No matter what happened, the Ritualist would escape, since he was probably melting at least two ways out from the inside if he was smart. Or he could have never been in the building to begin with. I had thought I had cornered him, but I had cornered myself. I could grind him down, piece by piece, but finding and killing him would be a struggle.

Still, I hated making peace or even a truce. But one thing I prided myself one was my ability to take a step back and think. Really think, not just look at the current situation. I could out grind the Ritualist. His time would come. I would just need to build up enough power and then crush him.

I had no doubt he was thinking the exact same thing as well. But if this last confrontation proved anything, was that I held the upper hand now. I could force him to move from his position, instead of the other way around.

More time would give the Union people time to get their stats up some more. Also, to get more people with skills. But the Ritualist would grow stronger as well. I looked at the store pillars. If I could destroy them, he would be in a tough spot.

Dammit! I just hated the idea of compromising with this man. I just hated it. The worst part was he probably felt the same. I tried to have him killed, he melted my feet. He murdered hundreds of people and robbed Purgatory, I melted his home. That last one didn’t seem like a fair trade.

Any kind of peace or truce couldn’t have reparations or anything like that. If I pushed more, he would push back. This offer of a truce was an olive branch. If I rejected it, I wouldn’t be able to kill him. It would be a North Korea and South Korea type of situation. I didn’t know which country I was, since we were both dictators.

I had a bad habit in Poker of always wanting to make hero calls. To catch people bluffing. I thought back to everything the Ritualist had managed to accomplish and his latest threat. To casually reveal the existence of slime bombs, what else did he have up his sleeve? I couldn’t even believe that I was actually willing to say the words. Dammit!

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Let’s talk.” I felt dirty just saying those words.

“A truce, between you and me,” the werewolf growled out a bit more aggressively than before. At least it was good to know he hated the idea as much as me. I had him on the ropes, but if he was willing to talk and I knew I couldn’t kill him, it didn’t hurt.

“And our respective cities.”

“That is acceptable.”

“Also, a border between our cities on the North South line between the striped meerkats and the brown summoning ants. Midway between Purgatory and Heaven.” I was going to push him East. No zones for you to the West.

“Unacceptable, the only borders would be the level 1 areas.” I frowned at that.

“And let you ambush our teams and take our grinding spots? You should be thanking me I don’t ask for a border a bit further to the East,” I replied. The silence stretched on. “You think you can defeat me? You think I care about the people you killed? Try me,” I said.

“Then why are you even talking.”

Acid Shot. I melted more of the building. “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.”

The silence stretched out some more as the Ritualist thought over my demands and answers. I hated this. Still, I didn’t want to spend days upon days hunting him. It would be a coin flip on which one of us made a mistake first. I didn’t feel I would maintain an advantage in that kind of fight.

The Ritualist was thinking about how close I had come to killing him several times. I had no doubt about that. “Fine, a cease fire for 50 days and the borders you proposed.”

“And after 50 days?” I asked, curious to what he would respond with.

“We meet again.” I smiled and shook my 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.”

“Then the border situation will have to be adjusted. Just the level 1 area around the city.” Was a permanent armistice worth this compromise? I didn’t want to have to fight the Third Battle of Purgatory in 50 days. If we were going to keep fighting, then better end it now.

It would put pressure on the Union teams. We would have to give up grinding anything East of Purgatory. A massive loss since the meerkats were there along with Truth’s dungeons.

There was one other thing I wanted. “Nox, where is she?” I asked.

“The borders I asked for?”

“Yes, for Nox’s real name, whereabouts, and leaving any teams outside of Purgatory alone.” If I couldn’t melt the Ritualist right now, I knew exactly who I was going to melt.

“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 knew it! I was right! Oh, that bitch was going to melt and the Ritualist once I was strong enough. But her, she was on the short list with him. They were both vying for the number one spot.

“Let’s write it out.” I went to the store and purchased a book and a pen. “If you want to open communication with us, send a monster with a white flag. We will send a person towards your city if there is something to discuss. Hopefully we won’t have to talk ever again.”

“Are you so sure Champion Michael. I could use someone like you working for me.” That was never happening. A truce, I could barely stomach. Working for someone else? Well he had a better chance of becoming a real God and replacing the Almighty System than that ever happening.

“I don’t think so. You leave us alone and we will leave you alone.”

“Not even concerned about the people arriving here?”

“Why do you think I care so much about people? That I fought to protect my investment in Purgatory?” There was silence at that.

“Is there anything else you think I should include?” I asked.

“Trade. I would be open to the idea of trade, for different types of crystals.”

“That can happen after 100 days of peace, but I will include that.” I doubted the treaty would hold for 10 days, let alone 100 days. But I would be spending that time training. I was more sure than ever I needed to learn the sensing method based on negative energy. Even if there were consequences, I needed that skill.

I wanted to say something more, but I didn’t know what to say. To make peace with someone I hated, still hated, felt awkward. I guess the war ended in a draw but having a peace treaty like this didn’t feel like a draw. It felt like a loss.

I had put everything I had into killing this man and I had failed.

“50 days to discuss the opening of trade.” If the truce was going to last, then I couldn’t cut off all hope the Ritualist had for the future.

“70 days, and then trade can be discussed.”

“60 days.”

“70 days,” I replied. Based on his earlier comments he probably felt he could build up his forces in 50 days. Possibly ambush or kill whoever was discussing a trade deal. Better to delay it further out and see if he kept to his word.

“70 days then.” He could also be pushing me to see how much I was willing to give in and make this happen. I decided to add something as well. I wanted to ask for Ruth’s or Nox’s head. I then paused. She had been an ally and had run away.

The fact she hadn’t come back yet, and the Ritualist seemed annoyed painted a picture. Better not to ask for her head and push them to ally again. Better to just not say anything at all.

I would be using this time to prep for the next fight between us. I kept thinking the next fight would be the last one, but that wasn’t the case. I could no longer promise myself to kill the Ritualist the next time we fought. He was just too difficult to nail down with his method of fighting. I had no doubt he would come up with more traps and counters the next time we fought.