It has come through messenger 4, that the Divine Empress has a child. Working to figure out who is the father.

Normandy is out of play. Ensured coma is enforced to prevent long term complications.

Uday has been killed by Ritualist. No longer a possible threat.

I went through the notes, one after another, that had been left behind in the buried stash. A small, enclosed cart to ensure permanency at the same distance and the zone I had initially thought of. It was cute that Michael had thought I cared about the code he had given.

That fact he had given a code was enough to ensure that my long term plan had been a success. The last note was the longest and most interesting.

Outside context energy source. Located Northwest of Purgatory, Southwest of Truth. Took mental control of other beings. Used technique similar to ours. Terrain was distorting and turning to putty. Floating over void, destroyed bedrock. Avoided before. High chance of it being the Calamity. Shards of true energy were left behind. Damaged? System intervened directly. Took massive damage from shield area effect that was deployed as a wave.

That was the last message, and it was rushed. I carefully considered what my homunculus had left. Most of the messages were just notes about routine updates, but the last one was quite interesting. Based on the timing and other things I had worked out, this happened right when he tried to kill the Divine Empress and failed. Completely and utterly useless.

Still, an outside context source of energy was not something to take lightly. I had theorized that this place was an enclosed space. The light in the sky was proof that this place was either fake or there was some crazy spatial nonsense going on. I was inclined towards the former since I had checked the sky carefully and the void zones.

We were in a bubble of some kind. A very large bubble, but it had precise properties and was the source of arrivals. The bubble was maintained by the system running this place. That was why there was the trace of energy everywhere except humans. No matter what zone, monster, or skill, that trace was there.

It was theorized there might be outside context things, things that were beyond the system. But the fact that it intervened with a monochrome shield wave meant it was not to be taken lightly or easily exploited. I would have to check it out myself in the future when I had time. I couldn’t risk another calamity occurring in my current state.

I wouldn’t be able to save myself a second time. I flipped through the notes again, but there was nothing besides that last bit that was particularly useful. I focused on fire, and burned them all. I had the information and didn’t keep to keep these records anymore.

While unlikely, they might trace back to me and they had no sentimental value. Psychometry, or determining the past of objects, was theoretically possible. It would be very hard and tedious, but the use of names and ideas to engage in resonance based attacks showed that sheer versatility of energy.

“Let’s go,” I said to my fake mother as she quickly picked me up and we set off towards our next destination. I needed my Mistress of Shadows and Mistress of Whispers. There would be someone waiting at the rally point. Once I had them under my control, I would be attempting many thing to win this battle I was having with Champion Michael and ensure my victory was not seized at the last moment by idiots thinking they were clever.

It was a bit of a trip, but this lady made good time. Honestly it was impressive how easily she had succumbed and hadn’t complained. With all the bad luck raining down on me, it was nice to have things turn around a bit.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

This was the right zone, now to go North of the dungeon. A bit more traveling and we were there in the level 2 zone. I found a small campsite with several women just as it was getting dark. “Stop, right there. Who are you?” the lead woman asked.

“Sigma seven alpha,” I said and the women all quickly stood up and bowed deeply. I got out of Ruth’s arms and walked towards them. They remained bowing as I put a hand on top of their head, checking on what I had done to them.

There were some minor deviations, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed right now. “Imbue Life.” I used the skill five times, once on each woman. One collapsed to the ground dead. She was a bit uglier than the rest, so it was probably for the best. Dealing with ugly people was such a hassle.

“Report,” I demanded.

I listened as the lead woman began to explain how Champion Michael had taken books, wrecked their city, how many had fled, and what the Avatar had done.

“She rescued the Council of Shadows, but they were released shortly after. Right now they are sheltering under the aegis of the Free City of Hong Kong.” I sneered a bit at that. The Protector, the most useless human to exist.

He wanted to play both sides during the war. While I would have loved to have killed him, he wasn’t weak and it would have been a risk. Even more so with the Divine Empress putting so much pressure on the UCS with her human wave tactics.

“We are holding on, and are looking to reclaim Normandy.” I waved a hand and the woman shut up so I could think. I needed to make my way to Purgatory and not get exposed. I had to leave some key orders with these women.

Well, there was a fresh corpse and energy was still lingering inside of it. Without my Word of Power Shatter this would be a lot harder. “Imbue Life. Imbue Life.” I had done something similar to my Valkyries when the Calamity had struck. A shame only one had made it past the boss and away from the tower safely.

“Imbue Life.” I used the skill, forcing my energy into the corpse, reanimating it and overwriting the brain. By the time I was done, I was breathing heavily, and it was a twisted thing. “Get up,” I commanded it and the deformed human got up. It had my energy and that of the woman, preventing resonance.

I couldn’t afford to leave such a critical weakness laying around. But there was a core inside the homunculus that was a living tumor, that had my energy and no one else’s. That way it could use my skills. If someone got a hold of the tumor I would be in trouble, but there were multiple safeguards to prevent that from happening.

“Clean yourself up. Go with them and carry out my plan,” I said. The homunculus nodded. It already knew my plan, since I had imbued my energy into it. A lot of energy. While it wasn’t a perfect method to impart knowledge, I had repeated the process a couple of times to make sure it stuck.

“Astral Projection.” The homunculus turned into an adult human that looked like me, but without the robes. No need to draw unwanted attention. Better to be non-descript for now. The women left the rally point with my homunculus in tow.

Now it was time to make my way to Purgatory and set up a cover identity while I probed for any kind of weakness. My homunculus would draw attention to itself and die in a blaze of glory, ensuring no corpse was left behind.

Once that occurred, it would be the perfect time to strike and replace Michael with myself. Once that happened, I would easily regain the power I had lost with a bit of time and mental manipulation at the highest levels of government. Just a pointed suggestion to not pry closely into my new look and enhancing their worship and devotion.

Just standard things to ensure there would be no long-term problems. “Let’s go, you are going to pretend to be my mother like usual.” I told Ruth. She nodded and picked me up before setting off for the city. Once there I would have to play it by ear and see how things went.

Perhaps I could engage in a few acts of terror to start things off. The hard part was the conditioning. The method that was used on the Council of Shadows was long and complex. Involving triggering emotions while running through a long list of behaviors. Not everyone could be made loyal. It took time and careful attention to detail.

Now the women were useless. They had lost their city, their power, and even the ability to make more of themselves. That was why I was so impressed with this Ruth. Her brain just took it all in without complaint. Subtle suggestions worked best, while having someone act against their nature would make people aware and resist.

Also, people with high stats resisted much better. I had only been able to guide Michael along, not completely control him for that reason. I couldn’t let him get settled and get more stats. Once that happened, I would always be on the backfoot trying to catch back up. That was why I needed to act quickly before he built up any kind of advantage.