“Astrologer, congratulations on your survival.” What an interesting technique. Forming a ball of energy remotely and resonating with the energy itself to project your presence. The trick was the first bit of forming energy remotely. She was clearly using the system’s energy or going through layers to reach here.

There was no pull or ripple from a layer breach, so she really was the Avatar of the System. When we had talked in the tower, it had been harder to be sure and her presence was more muted. Now, it was obvious how she was doing her technique.

“You clearly want something, what is it?” I asked. I didn’t have time to waste on pointless conversation. I had more than my fill recently.

“Champion Michael. He has grown too powerful. He seeks to oppress the entire land. I was thinking we could team up once more.” I was no idiot. The Avatar had her own agenda. She had manipulated the Divine Empress to her death. I wasn’t about to fall prey to her schemes and be led around by my nose.

“And how would this team up work?” I asked out of curiosity to see what she would actually propose. A shame she wasn’t a proper woman, but a nugget woman if Michael was to be believed. I had never had a nugget woman, the more I had considered the idea, the more it had grown on me. Regaining my adult body couldn’t come soon enough.

“Supplies. You take him out and kill him. I know you have a method you left behind.” She was quite knowledgeable. But she didn’t know the precise trigger. That was why she wanted me to act. He had too many stats for her or whatever idiot she had roped into believing in her.

“Why couldn’t I just sneak in and kill him?” I asked. While it wouldn’t be easy, it couldn’t be that hard.

“Clarissa is not to be underestimated. Once Michael explains what you can do, she will cut off any chance you have of getting close.” That was annoying, but nothing would stop me for long. I worked on the problems. I didn’t let my problems work on me.

“And what do you want for your help?” I didn’t believe she just wanted his death.

“Twenty billion points.” That was a lot of points. An astronomical number. “You don’t need to pay all at once, but a split of everything the Empire brings in.” I didn’t believe this for a moment. While it sounded nice, there was nothing from stopping me from betraying her. She was no idiot, so clearly she wanted Michael gone and then had a way to deal with me.

Probably tracking me down remotely and sending in hordes of people or her chosen champion. Then she would swoop in and take charge. What a cute little plan. If she thought to fool me, she needed to live a century more.

“Alright, where are the supplies and what do you want me to do?” I asked, seeing how much she really wanted to manipulate me. The more she told me, the more I could understand of her plan to betray me.

“A campaign of terror. You can decide how you want to conduct it. Eventually Michael will be drawn out, and you can kill him.” That was very interesting. She clearly wanted me to draw Michael out, but there would be a betrayal by a third part in the middle or right after our fight. An obvious trap, was an obvious trap. Only by using my brain, was I able to thrive, survive, and then rule.

I thought back to my time in the research lab the UCS had set up all those years ago. I had killed Death and earned a meta-point. Energy was the key, and for that I needed knowledge. Knowledge that had been built up by the greatest mind in the sexiest body imaginable. Chief Researcher Goldburg.

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Now that had been a woman. Not a frumpy hag either, but mature woman who knew what she wanted and had the brains to match her body. I had screwed her body and taken her knowledge. She had gifted me in more ways than one.

I had pushed my skills to the limit, learned about modules, and so much more. While she might have been a genius, once I had wrung her out of everything she had of value, an accident happened to her. That was my opening to be promoted and up the rungs of power in the UCS under those old men who thought they knew better.

Idiots, I had warned them not to mess with the system or the store, but they thought it was clever. Just like this Avatar. Knowing people was the key to winning any fight and it was clear she was desperate and grasping at straws. Her credibility had been shot. You can only involve yourself in one scheme before you became suspicious.

That was why I loved using proxies for my work. It made it impossible to track me down or understand my motivations. “Alright, I will figure things out. Supplies?” I asked. I was given a place outside the city and then the Avatar left.

I immediately left and found the supplies outside the city and next to the wall. Multiple chests of crystals, point and crafting crystals. This had possibilities. I would conduct this terror campaign in a way to create a false trail to a false Astrologer. I noted the Avatar was spying on me.

Cute. Very cute. But the subtle ripples in the energy were evidence of her observation. I had almost missed it, but after she showed up again I had realized exactly how she saw through her ball of energy. A clever resonance trick that was far better than the nonsense the Divine Empress used. But it still had flaws.

Resonance wasn’t useful, since it left a person vulnerable. I considered a resonance attack and felt a sense of doom. Interesting, so she really was protected. That was annoying, but I just had to get Michael to kill her and then I would win. If he had a meta-point, he would be disabled while the system struck him down.

If he didn’t have a meta-point he would be dead. It didn’t matter if he had a thousand or a million stat points. Against an anti-point there was no defense. This was going to be complicated, but I loved complicated. I returned to my building.

The first step would be to create a truly fake identity. A child was too obvious and remarkable. I needed to find my worshipers. It had been a whim of mine to make the all-female assassin cult to replenish a Valkyrie when one died. I would need to go to the rally point and see if there were any left. The manipulation of those women had taken time, but it was a fallback point.

If any survived, they would be there. I would then go recover the message from my useless homunculus that had failed me. Perhaps he had left some interesting information behind. Then I would set up in a secure location. The capital, this Purgatory sounded like a great idea.

I would then dispatch people on my behalf. Using a series of cut outs. While remaining in the capital for the right time to strike. It would take time, but I just needed to work myself into a position of trust and frame the Avatar. Well she would draw attention all on her own regardless.

The main thing would be acting while she wasn’t observing to set everything into play. Another weakness of resonance was that she had revealed her position to me. Or at least the direction she was in. Based on the strength of the connection, I could kind of work out the distance. Still, it had been foolish of her.

Now the real trick would be getting Michael to kill her. Framing her, he would go and get her, I would then rescue her as trusted person. Then I would need to arrange for Michael to kill her in some way. I was still stuck on this part, but good plans were flexible. I would adjust it has things progressed.

Once they killed each other, then there would be no one who would be able to stop me. Even if Michael rampaged, I wouldn’t be anywhere he could find. He would be chasing ghosts while I hid under his nose. It was annoying, but also exhilarating to be fighting against someone not the Divine Empress. She had been a relentless brute.

While I had fought her off, it was troublesome. Now there was one woman that truly was a man-eater. The hardest part of this plan would be keeping up a fresh supply of human flesh to rebuild my body. While people go missing all the time. I would just have to carefully pick my targets. The new arrivals would be perfect.

Everything was coming together. Now I would need to cultivate some people in the capital. The higher up, the better. I could assign my women to various important people had have them fall in love. Then I would have the women spread out and create havoc. A failsafe was also important so they couldn’t be tracked back to me in the event they were discovered. They would create chaos, while I waited for the right opportunities to advance my plans.