“The report is as follows. The Divine Empress was spotted heading South from Wuhan. All forces in her path have been killed, but she is not seeking people out. Suspected destination is the Forbidden City. Estimated time of arrival day 796.”

“That is today,” I said.

“Yes, it is. We just got word a few hours ago. So we are just packing and resupplying before all units split off into the various zones around the city. I have been afforded operational command of the Normandy Area. Do you have any orders?” he asked me.

I shook my head slowly. “Well, someone won’t be happy when they show up to their home today,” I muttered as I thought about the situation. “Can you get a message to Chief Administrator Clarissa?” I asked.

“It will take about ten days unless it is urgent?” he asked.

“It isn’t urgent, but she does need to get it. Give me a moment to write it out.” I went to a nearby pillar and the soldiers cleared away from it. I purchased a book and a pen and began writing out a letter. I had a soft spot for Clarissa which was why I was doing this.

Clarissa

By now you have probably heard the Divine Empress had returned. I have already told you my plans, but events occurred in Normandy. Specifically a golden light projection of the Avatar which she communicated through remotely.

After considering the situation. It is most likely that the Divine Empress will be pointed in your direction by the Avatar. Take all necessary precautions. I know you probably already know this, but I wanted to pass this along, since the Avatar should be considered hostile to us as well.

I suspect the Avatar is moving forces and arranging things for a takeover once the Divine Empress is killed and possibly has her own convoluted plan. I do not believe in her for a moment despite her powers. I entrust you will take the necessary steps and I will arrange for the materials to be delivered if at all possible.

The danger level of level 4 monsters while not a death sentence, has made numerous probes difficult and annoying. Both mushrooms and jungle are similar to swamps. I am sure you understand what that means after the many complaints I have heaped upon your shoulders about swamps.

In addition, the package is secured with the Avatar, since she will keep herself safe no mattter what. From the Divine Empress.

Champion Michael

I read through my letter multiple times. The spelling error in the last sentence, adding an extra ‘t’ to matter was intentional and a sign that the sentence should be ignored by Clarissa. If the letter was intercepted, then it would point in the wrong direction to wherever the child really was stashed.

I wanted to layer in as many clues and hints as possible for the Divine Empress to pick up on that her child was with the Avatar. That way she would go tearing off in that direction and away from us, hopefully giving us more time.

The Avatar would try to send the Divine Empress back, like a game of tennis, with the loser’s faction being annihilated. Or we might just be wasting time and energy and end up both annihilated and the Divine Empress would win.

I folded up the piece of paper and handed it to Captain Abdullah who was standing a respectful distance away. “For Chief Administrator Clarissa,” I told him.

“Yes Champion Michael. I will send it with the next team that is rotated down South,” he said and I nodded at this. I couldn’t just give the Divine Empress information on where I wanted her to think her kid was. I had to work on spreading out rumors on my own.

It was a long shot plan, and would just be a delaying tactic, but I needed to stack up all the advantages I could get. “What about our forces in the Dragon Empire, what are they doing?” I asked Commander Abdullah.

“They have scattered. Thankfully she isn’t hunting people down. They are all falling back to level 3 zones if possible, or swamp zones.” I nodded at this. Even the tribes of the evil empire didn’t like the swamp zones.

“What do you think she will do?” Commander Abdullah asked me.

“Get very mad. And then try and find me most likely. If you are captured, let her know I am going to the Avatar to leverage what I stole against her.”

“Alright, but I don’t plan on getting captured,” he said. I shook my head slightly.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“She will come and kill person after person to find what she wants. Don’t lie or try to deceive, since it will just piss her off. But if you want to spill my movements go ahead and you can say that is where I am headed along with what I stole,” I told him.

“What did you steal?” he asked.

“Something important and that is need to know, which no one needs to know. As long as what I stole is kept from her, then we have a possible advantage,” I told the Commander who nodded.

“Alright, thankyou for letting me know Champion Michael.” I nodded at this and then went back to the pillar. I purchased a new pack and filled it up with supplies. I also purchased a new outfit. I went with dark brown shorts and a gray shirt. I kept the boots.

I began crunching my armor up into a ball once it was all off and then tossed it into the city as I left. I had gotten looks from the soldiers, but no one had said anything. When your supreme leader gets changed, you focus on your tasks.

It wasn’t a big deal to me. Even if they did describe me, I was in very plain clothes. I rubbed my face. I let out a sigh. I would need to let my hair grow back, since my hair plucked face was too obvious otherwise. While I could adjust the Body stat for my hair, after pulling out all the hairs I had kept the practice up.

It was a lot less headache than shaving constantly and made my face extra smooth. I really didn’t want a beard, but better to seem like some random person. Well with the Sense stat it didn’t matter. If she got that close, I would be spotted regardless.

So, hair pulling could stay. The outfit had to be changed though. She had mentioned it specifically during our brief conversation in Purgatory before I had been ejected into the atmosphere. I left Normandy towards the Northwest.

The plan hadn’t changed even with the Divine Empress’s return. I knew she would one day. It was just sooner than I had hoped. Why couldn’t she have been stuck in a time bubble or another dimension for a couple of years?

Well I should be grateful that I had gotten as long as I did and stole her treasury, wrecked her empire, kidnapped her kid, pissed on her bed, and generally made a complete mess of things in her absence. That buster stick I had left behind probably wasn’t the best idea either, but the expression on her face would probably be hilarious.

“Avatar if you are listening. If you can get me a picture of the Divine Empress’s face when she looks at her bed, then I will forgive you,” I just said out loud as I raced through the city. There was no response. That ability was completely overpowered.

I had been hesitant to believe it at first, but with that remote projection, I no longer had any doubts. The Avatar could see and communicate at a distance, which was incredibly frustrating to counter. If I was in her shoes, I would probably make similar moves and be frustrated by everyone and everything else. Life was hard when you were a human nugget.

Now that brought a smile to my face. The Avatar was my enemy. I would describe her as a peer opponent actually. The Divine Empress was in ludicrous territory and far above us both. But the Avatar was comparable to myself in the sense of being a player in this game of power we were waging for the eventual control of the Systemic Lands.

I had been naïve before not thinking about the geo-political situation. But in the game of nations, it was about maneuvering for long term advantages. The one thing I didn’t understand was the Avatar’s plan to kill the Divine Empress.

My best guess was that she wanted the Astrologer to handle things, but his homunculus had failed. While the original would probably do better, I had no idea how he could win in direct combat after being imprisoned or trapped for as long as he had been.

She had just gotten stronger during that time and she had come looking for him in Purgatory. That was why she was there. The Divine Empress clearly had a good idea of his combat potential. What I didn’t understand is why the Avatar thought he could win.

Perhaps some key bit of knowledge or a hidden super weapon of the calamity wiped United City States? That could be a possibility. But if there was a super weapon, why not retrieve it herself or have her people do that?

As for knowledge, the Avatar could see anywhere and clearly didn’t favor going after the books. She had more than enough time after our escape from the Forbidden City to go to Normandy. Instead, she had waited until the moment of my arrival.

I didn’t believe in coincidences anymore after the Forbidden City. It would be the Avatar pulling the strings for more than three parties to meet at the same time unless it was a planned meeting. There was no other way for the situations to make sense.

Even with all of this I didn’t understand the Avatar’s goals or plans. With the Divine Empress that was easy enough to work out. Get her kid and then murder both me and the Astrologer in the most horrifying and pain inducing way possible.

But the Avatar’s actions were a complete mystery. She was clearly tied to the Almighty System and the sense of doom proved that, but she had saved herself from my attack on the throne. Or was she forced to? She probably wasn’t allowed to kill herself if other people weren’t allowed to kill her.

That made sense in a twisted sort of way, but that solved one minor mystery. Let’s say the Avatar kills the Divine Empress, kills Clarissa, but doesn’t kill me. What did she think would happen? I would just find another Clarissa. It would be hard, time consuming, and piss me off to no end, but as good as Clarissa was eventually someone just as good would turn up as well.

Heck, I could just copy what Clarissa had done and set up my empire to copy that. That meant the Avatar had to have a plan to kill me as well or something to put me in check. I considered what she could do.

There was something I was missing. Some key understanding that would tie all of this together. The Avatar wanted me to enter the tower with the Astrologer. I kept turning that over and over in my head. She could send anyone else, but she wanted me to go.

If I just camped out in the wilderness and waited, I could probably outlast everyone. Even with the living bomb the Astrologer’s creation had put inside of me, I would just grip the store pillar for those couple of days.

That sounded like a better option. I didn’t like playing into peoples’ plots and preferred throwing over the entire board and then punching them in the face instead. Or just doing something unexpected like barfing all over the game board. No one would want to play then.

I needed to think on the Avatar a lot more and what she was plotting long term.