The atmosphere in the negotiation room wasn’t great as Jake had clearly set himself up as a highly contentious negotiator who wasn’t easy to convince of anything, much less reach a compromise with. Still, the head priest tried.
“Please relax. There’s no reason for us to be antagonistic toward one another,” the head priest raised his hands. “I do not disagree that you did indeed have some – if not perhaps even primary – claim of the Usurper’s soul, but the Holy Church has also invested heavily in him.”
“Oh, I’m fully aware of that,” Jake said, staring down at the man. “You not only assisted him during this conflict in the Milky Way but even facilitated his Usurper ritual.”
The tension instantly grew as Jake broke it slightly by smiling. “Thanks for that, by the way. Made the fight a lot more interesting and enjoyable. I don’t even want to imagine how disappointing his power would have been if he hadn’t been empowered by Yip of Yore’s Records.”
Jake wasn’t even lying with that one, those were his genuine feelings. Feelings he could see evidently threw the head priest off quite a bit, as in his head, it probably didn’t make much sense to thank people who actively sought to make your enemies stronger.
“However, that still doesn’t make up for all the shit you did in the rest of the galaxy,” Jake said, his smile gone. “You helped Ell’Hakan kill a lot of people and create a lot of chaos. Manipulated entire civilizations. You quite clearly positioned as an opposing force in this conflict, and now you want me to consider the Holy Church’s investment in the enemy leader of this war?”
“I know it’s presumptuous, but... yes,” the head priest sighed. “Ell’Hakan holds incredible value to the Holy Church. Not just in the minds of us mortals, but even the gods have made it clear they require us to bring his Truesoul to them. They are also the ones who invested so much in him. We, as mere mortals, are merely following the will of the gods. Soldiers on a quest we do not even know the true purpose of... only that failure is not viewed as an acceptable option.”
Jake did have to hand it to the priest, he wasn’t bad at his job. He had clearly also studied Jake quite a lot with how he framed everything. It was well known that Jake had a particular view of freedom and that he preferred to fight powerful opponents, so the priest was trying to make it as clear as possible that they didn’t want to fight or truly had any personal reasons to fight.
He was effectively saying that should Jake be aggressive, he was just killing soldiers following orders.
The thing is, Jake had always viewed that excuse as complete and utter bullshit. There was always a choice, and the head priest had clearly already made his. He probably couldn’t even imagine going against the Holy Church... or, more accurately, the branch of the Holy Church he was working for.Jacob was clearly from a faction that would prefer for Ell’Hakan to be permanently removed from the multiverse. At least nothing else would explain his prior actions. However, he couldn’t show this outwardly, and he even went as far as to speak up and argue for them to keep the Truesoul despite their previous encounter.
“Storing a Truesoul is not an easy matter, and I would like to inquire if the Chosen of the Malefic Viper even has a method should we hand over the Truesoul?” Jacob asked calmly.
It was effectively a rhetorical question, as Jake naturally didn’t. The only way to forcefully take and store a Truesoul was by using a Transcendent skill, and needless to say, Jake didn’t have one of those lying around.
The only reason why Jacob had been able to store the soul was because Ell’Hakan had given prior consent and the Usurper ritual had imprinted him with Records facilitating it. At least, that was the working theory.
Truesouls were usually the domain of the system only, after all, and every member of the Holy Church knew that. Thus, they also knew that Jake “losing” the Truesoul of Ell’Hakan wasn’t really a thing, as it was never something he could have taken in the first place. Something the head priest had also alluded to before. However, even if Jake couldn’t take the Truesoul, it didn’t mean he didn’t have something he wanted to do with it.
“I already had intentions toward the Truesoul, but you stopped what was meant to happen,” Jake simply said, crossing his arms while glaring at the Augur.
“And what might those intentions be?”
“As I said, exactly what you stopped from happening,” Jake continued in a sharp tone. “I faced Ell’Hakan with the intention of giving him a true death, and you taking his Truesoul made that not the case. My hunt isn’t finished before the Truesoul returns to where it belongs, and I don’t take it kindly when people interrupt my hunts.”
Once more, Jake’s words were very purposefully chosen. The Holy Church wanted to present that they were operating under the orders of their gods. That they had no real choice in the matter.
Jake argued that he also didn’t really have a choice. That backing off would go against his Path, and who was the Holy Church to ask Jake to compromise? What kind of compensation could possibly be adequate to convince the person who’d ranked number one in all of Nevermore to compromise their own Path?
The mood in the room changed yet again as Jacob’s face fell – great acting, by the way – and Bertram even moved half a step closer to the Augur. As for the head priest, his expression was also dire, even if he hadn’t quite given up yet.
“This truly puts us at an impasse,” he said, sighing. “We truly cannot hand over the Truesoul, and you do not seem willing to accept any outcome that doesn’t involve you leaving without the Truesoul returning to wherever they go once dispersed. Am I correct in that assumption?”
“That does seem to be the gist of it, yeah,” Jake nodded, the negotiations having definitely fallen apart by now. Which, to be fair, was bound to happen if both sides were unwilling to compromise in any way whatsoever. Jake just had to feel like he at least tried and gave them a chance.
He was almost ready for things to take a violent turn as the head priest turned out to have one final gambit.
“I hoped we could reach some kind of compromise, but it seems that’s impossible,” the head priest began. “However, perhaps there is someone you can reach an agreement with. As I said, we are operating under the direct orders of the Holy Pantheon, and I have been granted the honor of allowing you an audience to directly commune with the one who initially wanted to recruit Ell’Hakan into the Holy Church.”
Jake had to be honest; that was a bit of a plot twist. He had expected to negotiate with some mortals, but it appeared like that wasn’t where the diplomacy would end. Getting such an offer instantly made Jake suspicious, though.
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He was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, yes, but Jake was still only a mortal. Gods tended to be quite arrogant, and based on all Jake had gathered, the god from the Holy Church who had originally struck this deal with Ell’Hakan couldn’t be weak.
That is to say, a top-tier god of the Holy Church was offering to directly negotiate with a mortal... either the god in question was an oddball, or something fishy was going on. It also had to be considered that summoning a god from the Holy Church to communicate with Jake couldn’t be cheap or easy, considering the continued semi-lockdown of their universe.
All in all, he was suspicious, but he still ended up agreeing, if for nothing else but his own curiosity. If things ever got dangerous or risky, he trusted his intuition to warn him anyway.
The look on the face of the head priest also made Jake think this could be a legitimate offer, as he genuinely looked as if he’d just offered Jake the best damn present imaginable.
“Very well,” Jake ended up nodding, and the slight look of disapproval on the head priest’s face only made Jake more assured there was some legitimacy to the offer. If not, the priest wouldn’t be so offended that Jake wasn’t elated at the mere offer of being in the presence of one of the Holy Church’s great gods.
“Allow me the honors,” the head priest said as he moved to the side of the town hall building. There, Jake saw the etchings on the domed ceiling that he embarrassingly hadn’t recognized earlier as a formation. In his defense, it didn’t really look like one, though. It looked more like an artistic mural with actual pictures and stuff, but upon closer inspection, there definitely was a bit of energy hidden within.
The head priest got down on his knees and placed his hands together as he prayed in front of the mural. His body began to glow with holy energy soon after as the mural responded. The two priests who had come along supported the older man, as this clearly took a toll on him. Compared to a Chosen like Jake with a direct connection to his god, this poor priest had to do way more.
At the end of it, he even took out a brooch and held it high, Jake instantly feeling that this wasn’t some low-rarity object. The brooch began to shine before shattering into pieces in a shower of holy light mere moments later, filling the room with light that quite frankly felt uncomfortable as it washed over Jake. Luckily, this light rapidly gathered and began to take form, and as it did, a new aura manifested within the room.
The head priest was already down on his knees but was soon joined by everyone else from the Holy Church, including Jacob and Bertram. Jake felt a few disapproving glances being thrown his way, but he didn’t budge in the slightest as he stayed standing, even as the subtle aura of a god began to bear down on him. An aura that contained something that surprised Jake and instantly put him on guard.
By now, the figure of light was nearly fully formed. The projection summoned by the priests wasn’t of the highest quality visually, but at least it could show the general form of the god in question.
The figure before him was tall and thin, though Jake was not sure if size mattered at all in this context. The god wore what looked like a normal robe and had a fully humanoid outline, though again, hard to tell their race before ascension just from that. The only other truly notable thing was the person’s hair. It was long, around knee-length, and floated in the air unpredictably.
This figure looked down, but even before that, Jake already felt the god and even a number of other gods all observing him. He looked up to meet the eyes of the figure made up entirely of glowing yellowish holy light as he let the god speak first.
“Chosen of the Malefic Viper. I’ve heard much of your exploits and peculiar nature,” the god said in a booming voice that Jake couldn’t determine if was male or female.
“I can’t say I know much about you considering I don’t know who I’m conversing with,” Jake spoke bluntly, feeling quite a few death stares on him, even from Jacob and Bertram... and this time, he really couldn’t tell if they were genuine or not.
“ You are speaking to the Lodestar Matron, the Fourteenth of the Holy Light,” she spoke, the name Matron pretty much confirming she was a woman.
Plus, Jake already had some insight into the Holy Church and thus instantly knew what “Fourteenth of the Holy Light” meant. He also knew who the Lodestar Matron was. Her being Fourteenth of the Holy Light meant she was the fourteenth god to ever ascend in the Holy Church, meaning she was old. Really old.
She was a god not focused on combat, but one who lived up to her name of being a guiding star for everyone her light fell upon. She was a bit like an Augur in that respect. The Lodestar Matron also held a very high position in her faction as she was one of the top people in charge of one the most important parts of the Holy Church:
Recruitment.
For her to want Ell’Hakan... yeah, it made sense. Moreover, it being the Lodestar Matron also explained why the Church had wanted her to speak to Jake directly. He also now knew why they had struggled a bit with making the formation.
It wasn’t easy allowing the effects of her Bloodline to also bleed through, after all.
King Iludar remained wary as they prepared everything. Even now, he remained skeptical of Kindroth, but so far, the elf had done everything as they’d planned. The spot he had chosen was also a good one.
They were in the middle of a mountainous region not that far from Haven but far from any other settlements. Iludar had already sent scouts to check out the entire area while constantly staying ready to retreat should anything go wrong. He’d spent a lot investing in a very expensive escape token that would allow him to travel over a million kilometers away upon activation. Would this leave him in the middle of space? Yes, but that was better than being outright slain and at least gave him a path to survival.
Not that he planned on using it.
“What’s the progress on the formation?” he asked the mages, who were busy putting down a magic circle meant to suppress the magic of the witch.
“It’ll be done within ten minutes,” the mage confirmed, much of the work having already been done beforehand as they were effectively just transcribing a not overly complicated sealing formation.
“Good,” he nodded before quickly checking in with the ranger team he’d sent to follow Kindroth. They were the best stealth experts he had, and alongside some of the few spies and scouts he still had left on Earth, he confirmed that the elf was doing his job. He’d arrived in Haven and was now to drag out the witch.
This is our one chance, he told himself for the umpteenth time. In truth, Iludar still wasn’t sure why they wanted the witch who served the Malefic’s Chosen dead that badly. Sure, killing her would create chaos and trouble for the Chosen, but it wouldn’t cause any major damage in the long term. He could always just get another manager for his planet from the Order once the universe opened up.
Still, it wasn’t something for him to question, and this remained their best hope for a good future. As losers of war and former loyals of dead gods, what faction would want them? What faction would risk making enemies with the Chosen of the Malefic Viper? His unique abilities made many factions view him favorably, and Iludar was well aware that his own value and the value of his army weren’t high in the grand scheme of things.
That’s why he would do everything to grasp this chance given by the Holy Church. Kindroth was the same. A traitor with no home who was forced to flee alongside them. A massive fall from grace for the so-called Voice of the One, but Iludar truly shouldn’t speak, seeing as his title of King was simply for show now.
A few more minutes passed, and everything was still as it should be. Iludar had eyes on everyone of note or had intel about their locations, making him more confident than ever. Soon enough, he also received a message.
Kindroth was on his way. It appeared that he’d also taken that assistant of hers along, but that was truthfully expected. A number of elites from Haven also joined them, which was once again also expected. There were a total of nineteen people in her escort group, with one of them even an old plant by Iludar and Ell’Hakan that Kindroth had helped assure was close to Haven’s leadership.
Soon it’s time... Iludar breathed a sigh as he looked at the finished formation and the thousands of elites hidden in wait under several concealment formations they’d also pre-prepared.
This was the best chance they would ever get, and either the witch or he and his army would die today... and he had no intentions of dying. Even if one of the true elites of Earth could show up unexpectedly, Iludar felt confident. One person could only stop so many, and it wasn’t as if Haven could instantly summon an entire army to match his. Besides, all they had to do was kill the witch, and if he had to escape on his own afterward...
Well, his entire army would die, true, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.