Path to the Apocalypse

Victoria opened her eyes and let out a slow breath, processing what she'd learned as she meditated on her Design Rune. This stage of the Rune had been both incredibly helpful and incredibly frustrating. It was divided into two parts: understanding people and… manipulating people. The understanding part was great! Figuring out how people worked, how they understood things… It was helping her manage her relationships with other people way better than she ever had before. Even without using any Spirit tricks, she could read people a lot better now than she could before. She didn't think she would have picked up on even half of Beatrice's little cues before.

However, the manipulation part… she supposed it made sense in a way. Once you know how a person works, you can push their buttons to make them more inclined to do what you want, but… it just felt wrong. It was one thing to make sure people understood something, but it was another to make sure they understood it in the way you wanted them to. It was more about managing people instead of working with them. What bothered her even more was how tempting it was. Knowing that she could just do this, and the other person would be happy, instead of having the long, usually uncomfortable talk it took for them both to actually understand each other… Victoria was tired of long, uncomfortable talks! Knowing she could just take a step back and keep everyone happy… She sighed, shaking her head. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be real! It'd be like Melissa had said. Everyone would develop a relationship with this fake self of hers, rather than who she really was, and… Victoria didn't want that, even if it would be easier.

Victoria let out a sigh, falling back into her bed and pulling up her design space, specifically a new section she was calling the character profile map. Images of the various people in her life floated around, faint lines connecting them all. Ursa and Tiffany's profiles were orbiting each other, red, pink, and yellow threads tightly binding them together. That was a mess waiting to happen. From what Victoria had observed, Tiffany seemed to like, possibly even love, Ursa, in a weird, definitely messed up way. However, Ursa feared Tiffany, for good reason in Victoria's opinion. And more than anything they were both angry at each other. Tiffany felt betrayed that Ursa ran away, not to mention the mess with Foratuna, while Ursa was bitter over what he'd been forced to go through as a War Bear. Victoria was sure that at some point they'd either fuck or kill each other, possibly both, and the fallout from it all wouldn't be pretty.

That was a side issue though. Victoria turned her attention to the profiles for Albert and Semloh, her expression twisting. Semloh felt guilt over what Dule Duhallis had tried to do to Victoria, so he'd been keeping his distance, but with the arrival of the Duke's men, he needed to start preparing the defenses in case of a Tamarin invasion, which meant he needed to work with Albert and he'd already begun to make moves to repair the relationship. Albert, on the other hand, felt guilt over the fact that he would inevitably need to betray Semloh for the sake of his people and his family, so he didn't want to repair the relationship. He had no interest in being friends with a man he might need to kill soon.

Furthermore, there was the issue of Semloh's continued investigation. He hadn't stopped searching for Duhallis or more information on a possible Tamarin invasion. One of the first things he'd done after the Duke's men had arrived was send scouts over the border. He'd also been asking the locals about any suspicious activity they've noticed, which had already gotten him pretty close to the Hidden Blades old headquarters. Tiffany didn't appear to be too concerned, but Victoria was worried she was putting more focus on Ursa than the matter at hand, clouding her judgment. The last thing she wanted was for Semloh to discover the relationship between Tamara and the Hidden Blades and start a sect war in her family's backyard.

Victoria carefully examined her character profile map for any loose threads Semloh could latch onto. The Hidden Blades were professionals, presumably, so he shouldn't be able to catch anything there… unless he was just better than them, she supposed, but that seemed unlikely. Ursa… Ursa should be good? He wasn't used to interacting with people, but he knew what not to say, and he could always contact Victoria if he was in trouble. Beatrice wasn't even on the radar, so that wasn't a problem. Maurice was good, Melissa and Calvin didn't know anything… The weakest link was Albert himself. He couldn't even bear to look at Semloh, and eventually the Lord Inspector would begin to suspect it wasn't because of Duke Duhallis and Victoria. Victoria sighed. She was going to need to talk to him about this, but she wasn't sure how he could fix it. Albert wasn't an actor, and he couldn't change how he felt. It was just… going to be a problem, and they needed to be ready to deal with it.

Victoria glanced at the newest character profile, focusing on it to expand it. Horace… Victoria frowned as she considered him. He seemed like a decent guy. Bit of an airhead maybe? He didn't seem to be all there, at least, though she was beginning to think that was common among high-level Cultivators… Tiffany and Jocelyn seemed to have a few screws loose as well. Still, at least Horace seemed benign, unlike the other two. Jocelyn and Tiffany gave the impression of snakes waiting to strike. Horace… Horace was more like a panda. Probably dangerous, but it seemed like he was more likely to hurt himself than anyone else. The only thing that worried her was the strange amount of interest he seemed to have towards her. Every time someone took an interest in her, it seemed to go bad, either for her or for them. Admittedly, so far it'd only happened twice, the situation with Jocelyn yet to be determined, but still, she didn't like her track record. It got even worse when you considered Earth… total destruction of the world was a pretty bad outcome in her opinion.

"What's got you all mopey?" Beatrice asked, walking in with a pile of laundry.

Victoria let out a sigh. "Just seeing all the things that could go wrong and get us all killed."

"Ah, so the usual." Beatrice rolled her eyes, setting the laundry down and hopping onto the bed next to her. "Victoria, you're the one who said it isn't good to focus on things you can't change… you're already doing everything you can. Don't put so much stress on yourself."

Victoria shook her head. "That's the thing. I can do something about a lot of this crap, I'm just not sure what yet. Which is why I have to think and plan and stress." Victoria explained with a groan, covering her face with her hands.

Beatrice hesitated. "Well… maybe I can help? Or at least let you talk things through? Oh! Do you think Obanonos might have any ideas?"

Victoria paused, sitting up. "He… actually might. He has been through a lot, hasn't he?"

Beatrice nodded. "A lot. You should hear some of the stories he's told me. Apparently there's a nation on another continent where they actually have a government like the one you talk about! It's called-"

"The United Sects of Avinter, yes, I know. Remind me to tell you about Horace later." Victoria interjected.

Beatrice's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You- Horace?"

"Yeah, he's from there. Crashed into my courtyard this morning. Kind of an idiot, but he seems alright." Victoria shrugged. "Now come on, bring out the snake!"

Beatrice began to nod, before pausing and smirking. "I could but don't you want to talk to Obanonos first?"

Victoria froze before letting out a snort. "You're getting better at that. But seriously, bring him out."

"Fine." Beatrice pouted slightly as she called Obanonos out of her Runescape.

"Yes, Master?" Obanonos asked, yawning, before pausing as he caught sight of Victoria and scowled. "Oh, it's you."

"It's good to see you too, Obo." Victoria replied, rolling her eyes.

"My name is Obanonos." He hissed back.

"O-bananas, yes, I know." Victoria retorted with a smirk.

"Obanonos!" He cried in response.

"Would you two quit it!" Beatrice snapped, looking between the two of them with a fierce expression. "Why do you both insist on antagonizing each other!"

"She started it!" Obanonos protested.

"He's an arrogant dipshit." Victoria shrugged.

Beatrice gave Victoria a look that was half stern, half pleading. "Victoria…"

Victoria sighed. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Obanonos, I- I need your help."

The snake puffed up, his tongue flicking out on satisfaction. "Of course. How may the great Obanonos assist the Master's companion?"

"Obanonos…" Beatrice growled, narrowing her eyes at him.

The snake coughed awkwardly. "Ah, I'm sorry. How may I help you, Victoria." Victoria quickly explained the situation with the invasion, the Lord Inspector, Albert, the Duke, everything while Obanonos listened intently, his expression growing more and more serious as she continued. "I see… this is a… difficult situation. I question the wisdom of handing over this system of yours so freely, but… I'm not sure if a better option was available. Long-term it could put you in some difficult situations, but without it, you wouldn't survive the short-term… truly a difficult situation." Obanonos sighed. "The problem at hand is this Lord Inspector Semloh, yes?" Victoria nodded. "Do you believe it's possible to win him over to your side, much like you have these Hidden Blades? I cannot believe he would be eager to fight a losing battle."

Victoria frowned. "I suppose it's possible… I don't know. He seems a lot like my father, and my father only agreed to do this to save his people. I don't think there's anything like that we can hold over Semloh though… His loyalty is directly to the King and the nation as a whole. There's no way the Hidden Blades would spare the entire nation." An isolated, spurned noble betraying their nation was one thing, but an entire nation submitting to another for seemingly no reason would definitely throw up some red flags, which the Hidden Blades couldn't allow.

"No, no, of course not." Obanonos muttered, nodding along. "Then I see two options: assassination, which would only delay the problem and leave potential complications, or give the Lord Inspector something more… urgent to focus on. Something that would keep him occupied, preventing him from focusing on any investigations."

Victoria cocked her head. "That… could work. The question would be what." She considered the question for a moment, before shaking her head. "Honestly, I should probably leave the specifics to the others. I don't have a firm grasp on our capabilities, so I don't know what's possible."

Obanonos nodded. "A good idea. Always make use of the resources you have at your disposal. Attempting to do everything on your own is simply foolish."

Victoria nodded back. "Thank you for your help."

"Yes, Obanonos, thank you." Beatrice thanked him as well, before recalling him to her Runescape and turning to Victoria with a grin, biting her lip. "Now about that other snake~"

*

"So, what do you guys think?" Victoria asked, looking between Albert, Maurice, and Tiffany after she'd laid out her concerns and offered Obanonos's advice.

Albert let out a sigh. "I wish it weren't so, but she has a point. I- I cannot maintain my composure around Semloh. It will make him suspicious sooner or later."

Tiffany clicked her tongue. "Annoying. How are we supposed to sow discord between your men and the Duke's if we draw them away?!?"

"We could manufacture an emergency which requires the skills of Cultivators, such as Semloh…" Maurice muttered. "Something to do with the Rune Beasts, perhaps? Though the Hunters would probably jump all over that…"

Victoria's eyes suddenly widened as an idea occurred to her, before frowning as she considered how to actually implement it. "What if-" She began. "What if someone went missing in the wilderness, someone important, deep within Rune Beast territory? Say… me?"

"Absolutely not!" Albert exclaimed immediately. "I cannot allow you to place yourself in such a dangerous situation!"

"But it works so well!" Victoria retorted. "First, it gives you an excuse to act as weird as you want, because you're worried about me. Second, it gives both you and Semloh excuses to get out of the castle to search for me. And finally, I don't actually have to be lost in the wilderness. It just needs to seem like I'm lost. I don't even have to be gone. I can change my appearance like I did with Foratuna and Ursa and act as a maid or something. Oh! I could be a Hunter! I've wanted to get back out there anyway. I still need to study Rune Beasts, you know." She paused, turning to Tiffany. "If you could teach me that technique to hide your cultivation, that'd be very helpful as well… probably should have asked earlier so I could begin working on my Qi core."

Tiffany shook her head. "It's a Qi technique. If you want to learn it, you'd need to have Qi already. That's why I haven't already taught you. However, there is another option here. If you plan to go missing, we could simply take you to the sect directly! There's no need to go through the sect entrance exam to get in. That was only necessary to keep up appearances. It would be strange if the Marquis's daughter was specially inducted into the sect right before an invasion. However, if you go missing and join the sect as someone else… there's nothing to be suspicious about!"

Maurice coughed. "I believe you're both missing a factor that may make all this… difficult. A new Cultivator has arrived in the area, a powerful one. One who has taken an interest in Victoria… I cannot imagine he would simply sit by while she goes missing."

"Oh, fuck, Horace." Victoria groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "He is going to be a problem."

Tiffany looked between the two of them with a frown. "The foreign Cultivator? How much trouble could he cause?"

"He's in the Unification realm." Victoria sighed.

Tiffany's eyes widened. "He's what?!? The fuck is someone like that doing here?!?"

"Exploring." Victoria sighed in frustration.

"Gods damned- fuck!" Tiffany cursed.

"Hold on, hold on." Victoria waved her hand, frowning. "It may not be so bad. I can't imagine a foreign Cultivator is going to care about our politics… could be wrong, of course. I may have to be a bit more proactive in telling him about the other world, however…"

"Or we could consider a plan that doesn't involve sending my daughter into the middle of a wilderness full of Rune Beasts who could tear her apart in an instant!" Albert growled.

Victoria shrugged. "Sure, but I don't have any other ideas. Unless you wanted to just start the invasion or something, which would be pretty distracting. Plus, you don't need to hide that you're going to betray him if you just betray him. Of course, Horace might still be an issue there… freaking wild card." Victoria cocked her head. "Huh… actually, there are other options. We could just start killing people, like a serial killer or something, which he'd need to investigate. Kinda evil though, but so is a lot of what we're doing here… alternatively, we could kill Semloh, and use the system to change one of the Hidden Blades to match his appearance, letting them pretend to be him for a while. Wait, shit, they have that thing that lets them know when someone dies… maybe kidnap him instead? Change his appearance, maybe fuck with his brain a little-"

"You are not doing to Semloh what you did to the Duke!" Albert exclaimed, pounding the table.

"I wasn't suggesting anything like that!" Victoria protested. "I was only thinking of making him a bit more compliant. So we wouldn't need to lock him up somewhere to keep him from talking."

Albert shook his head. "Even that is too far. Messing with someone's mind like that… I understand why you would do it to someone like the Duke, but to do that to someone like Semloh, a good man… I would rather see him dead!"

"That's… fair, I guess." Victoria muttered, her expression twisting slightly, feeling a bit judged. She hadn't planned on hurting the man! It would have been like… mental prison. She paused. She really needed to take the time to examine Foratuna's mind at some point… see what she'd actually done to it.

Albert sighed. "I- I'm sorry, I'm a bit… frustrated by all this. Every choice available to me seems to lead down a path I never wanted to take."

Tiffany snorted. "Yeah, yeah, life is hard. Get used to it." She shook her head. "You nobles… always thinking life should go your way, and unable to handle it when it doesn't. Some of us have never had good options available to them!"

Victoria blinked at her. "Well, that's a bummer." Tiffany snorted again. "But we still need a plan. If we let things keep going like they are, we're going to have issues."

"Replacing Semloh seems like the best plan to me. The least variables, and the least likely to be disturbed by this Horace person." Maurice offered.

Tiffany shrugged. "That could work. Just let us study him for a few days to nail down his mannerisms. Alternatively, I still like the plan to send Victoria to the sect early, as long as we can deal with Horace."

They all looked to Albert, who hesitated before letting out a sigh. "Fine, we shall kidnap and replace Semloh. But no mind fucking!"

"No mind fucking." Victoria agreed.