Arthur… why Arthur? Jake had seen Arthur once in his life after the system, and he didn’t like him. In fact, Jake kind of hated the guy now. Why wouldn’t he? All interactions Jake had ever had with him were negative, even the second-hand ones. Moreover, he had been the one who decided that bringing Ell’Hakan to Earth was a good idea, messing things up even further. It was also clear he hated Jake’s guts.
Additionally, Jake did not get why Miranda wanted to work with him due to one minor detail.
”Didn’t he send a group to assassinate you?” Jake asked Miranda with pursed lips. ”Sounds like a great guy to work with, huh?”
”You speak as if that is simply not him showing he understands the rules of the multiverse. He read the rule book and knew that the Court of Shadows would act as long as he provided funds. He also understood Valhal. That means he is not as stuck in his thoughts as you may believe but can adapt,” the King said.
”As weird as it sounds, him not like us is exactly why he is good. The worst thing for a governing body is to have it be filled with yes-men who just do whatever you want. To have no one ever offer an opposing voice. I am firmly in the camp of the Order, and my job is to represent your views. The King will represent his own views and those of monsters while inadvertently also being tied to you. The Sword Saint is also not likely to oppose you and will not be very involved. Finally, a second monster added has a high chance of being on your side too, and sure won’t be on the side of humans. As things currently are, the common human population does not have a single person representing them, and we need someone actually willing to present them. Someone who has the guts to. Like it or not, Arthur has shown himself capable and willing to do this, and he is annoyingly efficient at what he does,” Miranda explained.
”Sounds all nice and dandy until he tries to start a civil war or some shit to take control,” Jake mused.
”Arthur has also shown himself to not be an idiot, and he knows that will not be in the best interest of the citizens of Earth. Giving him a seat at the council will also send a clear message that we are not taking over the planet as the Order of the Malefic Viper but as earthlings. It will also communicate that you are not the type of person to just go and kill anyone who disagrees with you or puts themself in contrarian positions to you. While some may interpret it as a weakness to ”forgive” him, it can also be seen as a strength as you, a Chosen, never truly cared for his petty games. That you don’t care enough about him to personally act. In some ways, I also think the best punishment will be to have him fix what mistakes he had made while we make full use of his expertise. Moreover, I think much of his hatred stems from ignorance. He views us as representations of concepts, not as humans, just like him. I believe with time, we can find common ground, and he can become an asset,” Miranda further added.
”The man has shown himself to be resourceful so far. Nobody here could have done what he did to make the United Cities Alliance, especially considering his lack of literal power. He got his position in such a short time, not by being stronger than everyone else but by sheer competence. The majority of humanity supports him based on what he has done before, and even in recent months, he has shown his genuine goal with all of the beast attacks. Rather than try and push for anything due to these attacks, he focused solely on alleviating the issue, making smaller response teams and teleportation networks, and stabilizing areas. I highly doubt he had anything to do with these beast attacks, and based on how fast those stationed in Haven gave up after we returned, he also seems to understand when he is in a losing position.”
”And you seriously think this dude will just give up?” Jake asked. This part was the one he believed the least.
”Yes, I do. Mark my words, within a week, he will come to Haven and surrender. If he does not come in surrender before the World Congress, then I will take back everything, but I highly doubt that he won’t. Arthur truly cares about humanity if his words are to be believed… so giving himself up to try and avoid a downright disaster for the United Cities Alliance would be the wisest choice. He will take the fall for his failure and take responsibility as their leader,” Miranda said with conviction.The King also agreed on this, with the Sword Saint nodding along like it was a given. Jake really felt outnumbered…
He understood why they needed someone from the United Cities Alliance and also kind of understood why it had to be Arthur. As Miranda had explained it, then the man was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he kept fighting, the result was already written on the wall, and soon enough, he would find himself slain. Even if he became World Leader, it would be short-lived… and chances are he wouldn’t, because even if Jake wouldn’t be able to kill Arthur, then he sure as hell could go on a rampage of the ages.
Additionally, he knew that death would also lead to problems. For better or worse, Arthur became the symbol of the United Cities Alliance and the hope of all those who wanted an independent planet that would not become slaves to some insidious higher power. If Jake was to kill him, Arthur would become a martyr and spark a war or, at the very least, an army of fringe terrorist groups.
The only way for Jake to combat this would be a total dictatorship down the line. He would need to rule like the Order and make Earth into something he didn’t want it to be. Jake was fine with people disagreeing and not liking him, and trying to control everyone would go against who he was. He also feared he would need to kill millions, if not billions, to try and root out all hidden enemies… which also sounded like something he really didn’t want to do.
In the beginning, when Miranda had mentioned Arthur, Jake’s gut reaction had been that, of course, the dude was in for an arrow through the temple. Why wouldn’t he? But perhaps this gut reaction was why having people like Miranda was necessary.
One had to remember that Jake’s gut was not about making decisions that were good for anyone but himself. The reason he wanted to kill Arthur was just to make himself feel better, the future be damned.
There was also one thing holding Jake back from going full scorched earth on the United Cities Alliance… one that some people would probably make fun of him for.
What would mom and dad think?
He was a hunter, yes. He could live with them not approving of this, but Jake did not want them to view him as a monster, and if he became the next oppressive dictator of Earth, they sure as hell wouldn’t take it well. That thought alone was enough to calm Jake down and make him listen to Miranda.
Again, according to her, Arthur also knew all of these consequences of his death could happen, which was why Miranda believed he would give himself up and officially surrender. He would openly do this, announcing his loss to everyone and making a plea for peace. Knowing full well, especially if he went by the track record of the Order, that what awaited him would be an execution.
So if he actually selflessly came to surrender… Jake could maybe accept him being on the council. Maybe.
”Fine,” Jake finally agreed. ”If he comes, keep him here. I will be back three days before the Congress to have a talk with him if you are right. I will want to at least talk to him before I give him even the slightest shred of political power.”
Miranda smiled and nodded. ”That is all I can ask.”
”What about the other factions?” he then asked.
”Well, the Court and Valhal are no problem; I already received word from Lillian that both will not interfere in anything going forward and respect you or anyone you choose as the World Leader, even making it clear that should we wish for it, they will leave the planet,” Miranda explained. ”The Risen are already gone… which truly leaves only the Holy Church as an obstacle worth mentioning.”
”With them, I am not budging,” Jake made clear.
”I understand and agree. From what I have gathered, the Augur is not even planetside anymore, and it would not surprise me if the Holy Church does as they usually do in these kinds of situations,” Miranda said with pursed lips.
This was something that they had also all agreed on from the beginning. No other divine factions. Carmen would not be allowed on the council even if she wanted, not Caleb either, and Casper, if he was still on Earth, would also be barred. The only faction with a claim would be the Order of the Malefic Viper, with Jake as the Chosen telling everyone that it was his home turf.
Having another faction would only complicate that. As for people with independent gods, it wouldn’t matter much. Arnold, the Sword Saint, and many others, none of them would be issues to still have around, and the factions like Valhal and the Court would be allowed to remain but fall under Jake’s rules like everyone else.
As for what the Holy Church was doing… well, they were doing the usual thing. The Holy Church was a bit unique as a multiversal faction in that they valued numbers a lot, not just to increase the chance of someone with talent appearing, but for their faith. They wanted to retain them more than any other faction, which made their usual tactic when they lost a territorial war the same every time:
Mass exodus.
”From the reports of the Court that your brother so kindly sent over, the Holy Church has made a new vast teleportation network to bring all the faithful back to Sanctdomo. Meanwhile, those who were not an actual part of the faction but just living there were given the harsh choice of joining or getting thrown out the gates. They seemed to have read the writing on the wall that they would not win no matter what. If you won, they would lose, and if Ell’Hakan won, the United Cities Alliance would have also moved to get them out. Their final plan seemed to be to, at the very least, make sure the Risen would not be able to get anything from Earth either,” Miranda sighed.
Jake had to be honest… he was all fine with them leaving. Because if they did not, then they had been entirely correct in their assertion that Jake would kick them to the curb and tell them to get fucked. He still considered Jacob a friend, but it was like that kind of friend who you knew was a nice person but had now gotten himself involved in a nasty cult without being able to see it himself. Well, or a friend caught up in a multi-level marketing scam. All Jake would do was hope he saw sense before he went too far down the rabbit hole.
”Let’s hope they all fuck off by themselves; if not, we shall do some cleanup after we get the World Leader position,” Jake said. After that, there was only a bit more small talk before they agreed to end the meeting.
”You all know my plans, but what will all of you be doing before the Congress?” Jake asked.
He first turned and looked at the Sword Saint as the old man sighed in disappointment before answering.
”I shall head home to those pathetic dregs who dare claim the Noboru name. A solid cleanup shall begin, and the purging will leave us stronger and not as worn down by weakness. I realize that the clan perhaps expanded too quickly and was too dependent on me to hold it together. What I leave behind will be a clan able to stand on its own two legs. I will forever be a member of the clan, but I will officially step down as Patriarch and remain only as a protector,” the Sword Saint said frankly. ”I will be back for the meeting three days before the Congress.”
Jake looked at Miranda. ”Don’t look at me like I don’t have a mountain of work in front of me with a damn mountain range in the distance of even more damn work. In a month, we will literally take over the planet, and I still have the aftermath of your war with another Chosen to figure out. Oh, and then we expect Arthur to come… yeah, do I need to say more?”
He knew that he had kind of messed up and quickly did the smart thing by looking questioningly at the King.
”We need a final beast. You mentioned this… whale? I shall try and seek it out or maybe try and locate another worthy candidate. I will naturally return for the meeting at hand, but I may not be there three days ahead, and If I do miss it, then we will meet at the Congress. I also need to recover, so I shall take it slow and carefully venture out. In a few days, I should be able to show about eighty percent of my full power again and will head out then.”
Jake nodded and smiled. It indeed seemed like everyone had things to deal with. As for Jake? Jake would take this month before the World Congress to do something he should have done a lot earlier and a lot more frequently.
All of this talk of taking over the world and the future of their planet reminded him of his family. Reminded him of the nephew he had only seen for a brief period what was to Jake years ago. It was only right to visit them as Jake decided to take a bit of a break and ground himself before becoming World Leader and making the subsequent push to C-grade.
After the meeting fully concluded, they all split up and went their own ways.
Jake headed out and first made a visit to Arnold. Miranda had seemed concerned about him due to Ell’Hakan apparently wanting to recruit him or something, but when Jake met him, he noticed nothing awry. He even decided to ask if Arnold had joined Ell’Hakan, and his answer had just been that he hadn’t. So, that was that. Jake found the entire thing a bit dumb, to begin with. Arnold didn’t look like he gave a shit about who took over the planet as long as they left him the fuck alone.
After visiting Arnold, Jake went for a trip down to the cavern and said hi to Rick and the small trolls who were all over level 95 and close to evolution. He kind of hoped they would stay small and cute – small being relative here for trolls – but he knew that wasn’t likely considering their large parent.
Rick seemed happy and greeted him handing him some uncommon rarity flowers. So that was nice of him. The cavern had also really changed and was now full of flowers everywhere with paths of grass one could walk through. Rick really liked flowers.
With the troll visit done, he headed out of Haven and took to the plains as he traveled by himself for the first time in a long while. Maybe he would even visit that massive mountain he saw on the way there last time to see what was on the top?
There were also the insect plains, but they would have to wait for now as Jake didn’t want to go on an underground hunting trip. That would have to wait.
The entire visit with the trolls and his own plans put him in a good mood, and with a smile, he left Haven as he headed towards Skyggen to spend some quality family time.
Ell’Hakan appeared in the vast library as thousands of books circled around him. He groaned a bit from the severed arm as the concept deployed by the Sword Saint still hurt nearly half an hour later. He realized he had miscalculated… but it had worked out anyway.
”Didn’t think to check for Transcendents,” a voice echoed as Ell’Hakan felt the pressure, making him take a knee.
”I greet thee, Yip of Yore,” Ell’Hakan spoke to his Patron. ”It was indeed out of our expectations.”
”Those Transcendent bastards have always been incredibly annoying, but even so, the swordsman should not be an issue moving forward,” Yip said with a smile as the many books around him had their pages torn out only to fly into a new book, mixing the pages seemingly haphazardly.
”It should not, no,” the nahoom agreed. ”Everything else went as planned. The native alliance is broken, the Church is abandoning the planet, the Risen are gone, and all other factions seem to have accepted their fates. The Chosen of the Malefic Viper will become World Leader.”
Yip smiled. ”Good, the first arc has been written with the mighty Chosen of the Malefic Viper beating back the would-be liberator of his home world. Now, it shall fall into the hands of the cruel Chosen, as my Chosen failed to stop him, the same as when I failed to stop the Malefic Viper from destroying and claiming the domain of the Brimstone Hegemon.
”A sad tale indeed, but is it not only to be expected that our heroes fail in the first arc? Only to rise to the occasion and strike back stronger than ever as they slowly build power for that one final confrontation. A final confrontation that shall leave the heroes victorious and the villains dead… giving birth to the greatest legend of all. A Primordial Slayer.”
Ell’Hakan smirked, feeling the emotions in the air as Yip’s confidence grew. Manipulating the god would be foolishness itself, but he could still at least feel the emotions. For every day, his Patron’s power grew - the success of both Chosen and god, linked.
The first arc had some unexpected issues prop up, and many missed opportunities, but overall the result had been achieved.
Their goal had never been to beat the Malefic’s Chosen. It had never been to kill him. Why would they want to kill him when they were only D-grades, isolated on a single planet? With such a small audience?
When they could instead expand their battle to be two Chosen World Leaders battling on a galactic scale? To face each other in the cosmos, fighting for the fate of their entire galaxy.
Wouldn’t that be a far greater story?