Even before Ben explained to him the road to an imperial defeat, Leo already understood how to achieve complete victory and had been plotting with ChaosBringer on how to achieve it.
For Leo, the road to a complete victory was simple.
He needed to infiltrate the StrongHaven castle and kill every single one of the royal family members present there, down to the last Evanus child within.
Since the North Duke was there too, he had to kill him as well, and the whole Empire needed to know that it was him who did it.
Just like Ben before him, Leo intended to take on the role of a kingslayer, and become notorious throughout the realm for his strength.
Of-course, he wasn't a fool and did not genuinely believe that he could just waltz into the imperial castle alone and slay everyone in there without a worry, as he knew that it wasn't as easy as that.
The Virex Corps, The various other masters present within the castle boundaries were all unknown variables that could not be taken lightly and hence Leo had started to work on a comprehensive plan to make this solo operation work.
He already had the snake controlling stone, and with the help of ChaosBringer, he had already found the access points in the Empire's sewer system that he could use to sneak his snakes through into the palace.
This was the reason behind him collecting snakes for months now, as he intended to unleash them all within the palace to cause panic and chaos within on the night of his attack.
However, just sending in snakes was not enough.
Leo, in his role as 'Leo Skyshard' the legendary merchant, had sabotaged the shipment of antivenom shipments scheduled for the palace, as the current lot that was stored within the palace was actually just water that was completely ineffective.
This meant that when the plan was eventually triggered, the anti-venom medicine that the medics would turn to, would actually prove to be defective, causing severe panic within the administration.
It was amidst this panic, that Leo planned to sneak in and start his murder spree, as although he was unsure as to whether or not he could kill everyone in a single night.
He had the confidence in himself that he could at least kill the king and make it out alive, with not a single royal soldier having the strength to stop him.
Of course, like every big plan, this plan too was extremely dangerous, with the new system rules making it so that his whole gaming career was on the line if he attempted this mission, however, with his mind already made, Leo felt willing to take this risk, despite knowing that it could potentially spell the end for him.
However, while he was confident about the execution of his own plan, the part that he did not feel confident about was the aftermath.
Even if he killed the top leadership of the Empire and plunged it into Chaos, it wouldn't help him win the Empire unless he could conquer it swiftly.
However, with him unwilling to spend months struggling against other players for a few hundred yards of land, Leo had a different plan to seize control of the Empire swiftly after he took out the top brass.
He intended to reach out to prominent guilds in each region and offer them a deal to join hands with him.
Since the Uprising already controlled much of the south and east, he did not intend to give any southern or eastern guilds a seat at the table, however, he wished to do so for the western and northern guilds.
From the west, he wanted to invite DarkSky and WhiteSaber guilds to form a coalition within and from the north, he wanted to invite three big guilds.
In return for offering them the position of a Duke, Leo wanted them to swear fealty to him, however, he wasn't sure yet as to how these negotiations would pan out.
If the other guilds agreed to join him, then once the central leadership vacuum was created, they could all assert control over their own regions and join him to form the government.
However, if they did not, then conquering those lands with the Uprising could prove to be a headache, especially with the demons active at their borders.
Overall, there were many smaller nuances to this plan as well, such as the uprising asserting full control over the south and Leo having to negotiate terms with the various racial kings later, however, if all the stars aligned for him correctly, if he followed this plan, Leo saw a path to him becoming the Emperor within the next three months.
"I would have told master about this plan, if I had faith that this plan would indeed work out the way I'm envisioning it to work out, however, as of now there are many fine details that I have yet to think of.
Such plans cannot be rushed and I will only reveal this plan to master, once I'm fully sure of it working out" Leo mused, as it wasn't that he did not wish to let Ben in on the loop on what he was planning, but it was just that it was too early for him to say anything yet.
"Damn in hindsight I feel like I should have treated Cervantez more kindly…. Now that I have to negotiate a deal with him for the DarkSky guilds support, I'm not sure I can do that with him not liking me at all" Leo muttered to himself, as he winced thinking about his relationship with Cervantez and how strained it was.
"Thankfully I have brother to rely on…. Surely brother will see the merits of my plan" Leo said out loud, as he crossed his fingers and desperately hoped that Luke would lend him an ear once he logged out of the game today.
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/// A/N - Mass Release Chapter 4 of 5 for the day. Thankyou for all your support! ///