Chapter XX – Day 329 – Politics by Other Means

Chapter XX – Day 329 – Politics by Other Means

I had visitors. Champion Michael with a group of ten people. I had been getting better, but pain still wracked me occasionally. I still had no idea what had happened. If it was Champion Michael who had used some kind of skill, then I had no chance. I could only hope it was something I had overlooked. It hurt me to even admit that I might have overlooked something.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

I hadn’t been idle. I knew there would be a response and had my forces prepared. I snuck my mental attack summons into a building. The first to be taken out was going to be their tracker. I wasn’t about to risk the rest of my limited forces.

Thankfully that forced the group back. I knew that wouldn’t keep Champion Michael for long. Think, I needed to think. Another bout of pain wracked my body. Dammit! It was hard to focus.

Champion Michael was rushing back into the city by himself. The mental attacks didn’t even slow him down as he made directly for the plaza. I needed to escape. But my lab and crystal reserves. I left my building and made my way into another one.

I lay down on the ground and closed my eyes to better focus. I was maneuvering my forces into position. Champion Michael reached the plaza. I got a mental alert when he began to melt my door. I launched mental attacks at him and sent in summoned ants.

He began to run into the city and check buildings. Thankfully I was on the other side of the plaza, nowhere near him. He began to melt my building.

The low level ants I sent at him were easily killed. A short time later he lobbed another attack. Hour after hour, he kept up the attack. I was tired, in pain, and he was about to break into my lab. If he managed that he would set me back by so much. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

I had one werewolf left. I sent it out to speak with Champion Michael. I hated to ask for a truce, but there was nothing else I could do to stop him.

“Champion Michael,” my werewolf said.

“Ritualist. It appears you are trapped.”

“Indeed, it does, but I still have one last trap to play.” It wasn’t a very good trap. But it was a threat. A threat I couldn’t carry out, but I hoped it would work as a bluff.

“Then use your trap. I broke through all your other traps. This one will be no different.” I personally winced at that. He was right. Time to bluff, at least werewolves had limited facial muscles, so hopefully he wouldn’t realize what I was doing.

“The trap would kill us both.” It wouldn’t. I was safely in another building and I had no doubt he would survive in some stupid way.

I had to be strong. I couldn’t back down now. “Then why are you even talking.”

He launched an acid attack with no movement or speech at my building, clearly making a point. “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.” You were on to start this! You and Ken imprisoned me and were going to kill me after getting my secrets.

If I hadn’t escaped when I did, you would have killed me for sure. The treasury was payment for the suffering you caused me. But I couldn’t fight anymore. I didn’t have anything I could use to stop Michael, only my pathetic bluff.

“Fine, a cease fire for 50 days and the boarders you proposed.” That would give me enough time to recover, hopefully.

“And after 50 days?” Don’t ask difficult questions like that. I would have more traps prepared by then.

“We meet again.” Champion Michael smiled and shook his 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.” A long term truce. I hated the very idea.

I wanted to kill this man. To make him pay. To make him suffer. Well, if he wanted that I wasn’t about to just roll over. “Then the boarder situation will have to be adjusted. Just the level 1 area around the city.”

“Nox, where is she?” That was a surprising question. Well I didn’t mind giving her up, she had abandoned me first.

“The boarders I asked for?”

“Yes, for Nox’s real name, whereabouts, and leaving any teams outside of Purgatory alone.” I thought it over and it was acceptable.

“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 could feel the rage coming off Champion Michael right now. Well, it was good to deflect his anger onto her while I recovered.

“Let’s write it out,” he said and casually purchased a book and a pen at the store. What a power move to showcase how many points he had. The discussion began on the exact terms, and he made notes on top of one of the pillars. I noted he kept a careful eye out on his surroundings. I didn’t take any chance of aggravating him and only kept my werewolf there in the plaza.