It was just before the antiheroes had received the call from Coran.
There had been a number of events today which Trevor was currently considering, adjusting his own simulations to account for them.
Throughout the day, the antiheroes had worked with the lizardmen and goblins to expand the walls of what was once the slime village, so the city was now split into five sectors- a central wall with a sector to the North, South, East, and West.
Garett had also done some work in the alchemy labs with Lance, Iotar, and Gotek, and their progress was coming along rapidly.
Defenses were installed on the newly created walls, and moats filled with poison were positioned outside the outermost walls.
Trevor had kept contact with Rocko and Ploritan, and discovered that the repairs on the fishmen village had completed.
'Now we need to build a highway system to connect the villages. It's true that we can travel anywhere almost instantly, but we can't allow our citizens to become reliant on us. They need to be able to do things on their own, so it would be best to build a highway system so that we don't end up becoming transport vessels for a nation filled with thousands of people.'
The plan was to connect the cities with underground passages, and line them with a sturdy metal that would not be easily damaged.
Trevor continued running simulations to determine how long it would take to construct such tunnels, and grinned at seeing that with Garett's new power they could be created without issue.
'We can do that tomorrow. It's already quite late.'
However, there was one thing which continuously plagued Trevor's thoughts.
The Indeterminant.
They had planted Oraguth and the members of the resistance in the Capital of the Empire, and according to the report of Oraguth, even after Troy was awakened as the hero, he still kept his loyalty under the pretense of owing a debt to them.
This was an excellent response, and one in which Trevor was not quite certain of, but it was reality, and he continued his simulations with this new information.
'There is still a possibility of him betraying us later, but in every simulation, that will not happen for a while- even assuming it does happen. More importantly.... should I send someone to the Asarith Sultinate as a spy? That's the next location which the Indeterminant intends to infiltrate, so if I want to keep tabs on his movements, I suppose it would be necessary to have someone there. The only concern is the risk of being found out. If it's too risky, then I shouldn't make any moves.'
Trevor wondered who he should send for such a task.
'Well, Coran was relatively successful in his own task, so what about his sister? Let's run the simulations.'
Trevor's expression went from peaceful to seriously concerned to highly disturbed in moments.
'Nope. Nope. We're not sending Berith anywhere. Absolutely not.'
In the simulations where he had ordered her to not kill even a single person, she was unable to make any progress, being caught up by people who would question her and chase her down to the point where she would never be able to sneak in and observe.
Under the condition where Trevor ordered her to only kill those who got in the way of her objectives.....
80% of the time, this lead to the complete genocide of the entire nation.
'I think we'll keep her here in the slime village. No need to send her anywhere else just yet.'
Trevor put his hand to his chin in thought.
'Although..... perhaps I could use her in a different way..... well, anyways. I should focus on the task at hand.'
Trevor considered his subordinates to be valuable.
As a matter of fact, he didn't consider those who were not his subordinates to even have so much as basic rights.
Trevor did not support the punishing or harming of innocents, but if innocent people were to get in the way of his treasured subordinates, who held more worth as a person, then those innocent people would now become guilty in his eyes.
However, to simply kill off an entire nation of people when it could be avoided would be a bit too far.
'There should be a better solution. I'll continue running simulations, but who should I actually send? I already have a task for the humans, the Determined, Arlo, and the Birdmen.... and I would like for Hiru and his family to be able to unite once more with their lizardmen brethren, plus I don't want to separate him from his family.... perhaps I really shouldn't send anyone at all? I would like to keep tabs on the Indeterminant but maybe that's too much to hope for. After all, Oraguth is still stationed in the Empire, so if anything happens nearby I will be informed.'
Trevor racked his brain testing simulations of each and every one of his subordinates, but nothing seemed to play out nicely.
If he sent one of the weaker ones, they ran a high risk of death.
They had no information right now on the Sultinate and no contacts within it. With the Indeterminant present, heading there themselves was simply far too risky.
'We need to find out more about the Indeterminant, but.... I will have to put that on hold for now. This isn't a situation I can approach carelessly like I did with Coran and Oraguth. I sent them there with the goal of attracting attention because I knew that they would not be linked to us, however the situation is far too dynamic for me to make a move here. It's a stalemate- one which I must carefully wait until my opponent shows a hint of weakness. I can't afford to give up the advantage I have- information. I know where he is and what he is doing, while he doesn't seem concerned with us in the least. Could this be an act though? Perhaps. Which is why I must remain all the more diligent.'
Trevor decided not to send anyone to the Sultinate.
The Empire was one thing, as it was in direct contact with the monster realm, but if a monster was to show up in the Sultinate, it would attract the attention of the entire world. It wouldn't be considered a minor fluke.
'On the other hand, Coran's actions are sure to attract attention soon, but that's perfectly acceptable. I intend to use that attention to weaken the Empire.'
Coran's invasion of Porta was currently seen as a budding issue, but not a major one.
It was possible that the hero would be sent to Porta next, however with the hero in his grasp, Trevor didn't have to worry about that. Even if he did, he could still step in and protect the village that they had took so much effort to obtain, and eliminate all who learned of his existence.
Regardless of what happened, Trevor had a plan, but there were too many uncertainties regarding the Sultinate, so instead he would wait and see what happened with Coran and Oraguth.
As Trevor finished thinking this, Coran made a call, and Garett seemed to answer.
"Hello. What's going on, Coran?"
----
Brutus found himself in a state of numbness.
His eyes went blurry and he could barely make out anything. It was as if light itself was bending and swirling, preventing him from seeing anything.
His nose was numbed and he could not smell nor taste anything.
A choir of whispers seemed to bombard his ears, speaking nothing more than sinister gibberish.
And in his heart and mind, he felt a fear so great that it was unlike anything he could have imagined.
When Brutus first met Slith, he was overcome by fear of Slith's abilities.
Fear of the existence of someone who was so powerful, that Brutus could be killed in an instant without even knowing.
However, the fear he felt at that time was one which he could control and dampen, and it was because he controlled that fear that he was able to hold a conversation with the man, and offer him a proposal.
The fear he felt right now was one that scratched away at his very essence. It was an instinctual fear which screamed throughout his entire being, one which could not be overcome by mere courage.
It was as if Brutus was faced directly with the sun itself.
No human can even consider defeating the sun. What would that even mean?
The sun is the very essence of human life.
If someone were to go against the sun, and try to destroy it, then the entire planet too would cease to exist.
That was what Brutus felt right now.
He was faced with an origin.
Something so tremendous that it would be nothing more than the ravings of a madman to claim that it needed to be erased.
Something that, if it were somehow destroyed, would take the entire planet.... no, perhaps the entire universe with it.
He then heard what was likely a voice. It was muffled and hard to make out, but it was clear that somebody was there.
"I'm going to test something out."
It was a female voice.
It was soft and soothing, free of malice or hatred. It almost put Brutus at peace, but the fear instilled inside him from whatever he was faced with was too great for such a voice to put him at peace.
It was then that he heard a scream.
A female scream, of high pitch.
"A-ash... no....Ally.... a-are you really concealing your presence right now!?! I..... blergh!!!"
"Woman!?!? What's wrong!?!? What happened!?!?!"
"Ah. Whoops. Looks like I haven't gotten used to becoming the origin. I'll try to contain this."
The vision of Brutus became clear, and the whispers in his ears stopped.
The terror which overcame him seemed to dissipate, and his senses returned.
Brutus looked around, shivering, trying to find out where he was.
He was inside a dungeon, hung by a wire which he was tied up with.
His mouth was stitched together, and he found himself unable to speak nor move.
He was in pain, but it was nothing compared to the terror he had just felt.
What was that? What could possibly have been creating that aura of despair and hopelessness which cut off his entire connection with this world?
In front of him were four beings.
A blue demon.
She was gorgeous, but right now she was on the floor throwing up. Even then, Brutus could not help but be overcome by her beauty.
Standing next to her was an elf who was trying to hold her up, his eyes filled with concern.
Another demon was looking at the scene shocked, and unsure what to do.
And finally, there was a girl who took the appearance of a ghost.
She was looking at the demon with a strange face.
She seemed to be looking down at her with a slight concern, as if she was guilty of something.
"Hey.... are you ok? I didn't realize...."
The demonic girl finished throwing up as the spirit approached her, and looked up kindly.
"Yeah... I.... ugh.... you're something else.... I can't feel it in this body.... but when I took over that man's senses.... it was as if I died a hundred times over...."
The spirit girl seemed to frown just a slight bit, as if she didn't know what to do.
"I'm....sorry."
It was something that seemed to be completely unnatural, as if she didn't know how to apologize to someone.
"It's not your fault.... I never thought that this ability could be so detrimental to myself...", the succubus answered while wiping a line of puke from her mouth.
The elf appeared to be fretting to himself as he held the demonic woman.
"No.... this is my fault.... I should have predicted this....", he muttered. "Over and over.... why is it that things that I can't predict keep on popping up? Why, even when I have this power to simulate.... do some things just keep going off course?"
"What even happened?", the male demon asked as the two helped the female demon up.
"Haha.... I tried out my new ability on this guy to see if I could witness his emotions.... but.... it looks like he was already going through some sort of torture just being near you, Ally."
"Eh? Are you telling me that just being near me is torture? That's horrible. I'm very hurt."
The spirit girl said this with dead eyes and a tone which was void of emotion. She clearly was not very hurt.
"That's not what I meant. You've become something crazy, you know. For those puny humans.... just being near you is enough to make them go insane."
The demon looked up with a condescending smile, meeting the eyes of Brutus.
"Heh heh..... hahahah.....HAHAHAHA!!!! They're so worthless!! They can't even be near you without almost passing out!!!"
She got up and came closer to Brutus, who started struggling in fear, but he was constricted.
He could not move.
"Isn't that the way it should be though?", the succubus stated while licking her lips as if she was consuming the man in front of her with her eyes.
The spirit girl walked up next to the demon, smiling maliciously.
"Yep."
Brutus tried to say something, but his mouth was unable to open. The thread which had sewn his lips shut began to leak with blood as it pierced his skin.
'What is going on!?! Who are these monsters!?!? Just now I was tied up by that thing, and now I am here!?! I don't know what's happening!! How could this happen to me!?! I made my way to the top! I worked hard! I continuously put forth effort, I collected people underneath me, I kept everything hidden from the Emperor, and I was so close to taking over as the new Emperor!! Ever since this morning, everything has gone wrong!! Why!?! Why did everything have to go wrong!?'
It then hit Brutus.
'No.... it wasn't just this morning. From the moment that the request I sent out to take care of those bandits failed.... was that a coincidence? I don't think so.... it must all be linked. Someone is out there trying to undermine me. Not just that hero! Not just that resistance!! Someone is working against me!!! And it must be these monsters in front of me!!! They're all working together!!!! They must all be trying to ruin me!!!! I won't let that happen!!! I won't let something like this drive me to ruin!!! No matter what happens, I'll keep trying.... over and over and over.... I'll do whatever it takes and climb my way back up to the top.....but right now, I just need to survive and get out of here....'
"You think you can survive? How pathetic. You think you can get out of here? I doubt that. Not without our permission and approval."
The demonic woman let out a mature laugh, one that was filled with the insanity which she showed earlier.
"I'm going to read his memories and figure out the best way to toy with him. Theo, it's ok for me to mess with this one, right?"
The elf had now regained his composure and pushed up his glasses, once more putting on an arrogant grin.
"Do what you want with him. His existence was an eyesore which would only hinder us, no matter how many simulations I ran. That's why I had him led to Coran through the actions of Oraguth. So that we could drive him into our den, and take care of that mercenary in one fell swoop."
"As expected of you, Theo.", crackled the male demon.
Now that Brutus took a closer look, these monsters....
They were wearing fingers and toes as jewelry.
It came upon Brutus that there was no way he could negotiate his way out of this.
'I have to survive... but how!?!'
The spirit girl stuck her hand inside his head, but it didn't hurt.
Rather, she closed her eyes calmly and then opened them.
She smiled horribly.
"Well well well.... what do we have here? I've had so many specimens of filth recently I'm not really sure what to do with them anymore. You're a terrible person, you know that? Taking people from their homes.... overtaxing people to fill your pockets.... lording yourself over others like you're some sort of big shot.... striking corrupt bargains with others to gain their support.... oh wait. Kinda reminds me of myself. HAHAHA!!! Let's see.... ah, I have an idea."
The spirit girl turned to the others with a wicked smile, laughing sinisterly.
"This guy is an acquaintance of our newest chef. I think we should give them a reunion, don't you think?"
The elf chuckled while fixing his tie.
"Interesting."
The red demon, who was now walking around Brutus to inspect him, laughed from behind him.
"Sounds fun. Let's show him what has become of those who think they can oppose us."
The sound of a snapping wire was heard and the body of Brutus fell to the ground, still wrapped in the wires. The demon who's skin color resembled blood had so easily snapped these wires which seemed impossible to cut, with a single claw.
"Ooh... this ability is quite nice, you know. Whatever I want to disappear is just.... gone. Better be careful not to accidentally hit someone with it.", he joked as he loaded Brutus onto his back.
The other three laughed at this, and they all made their way out of the jail cell.
"Oh, hey Kota."
The demon waved to a fishman in another cell who seemed to be braindead.
"We might need to test some of our abilities on you later, but don't worry. We've already tested some of them on this one, so at least you don't have to do all the work."
"P-please!!! Anything but that!!!!"
"Silence. Or we'll make it worse."
The fishman seemed to bow down immediately at these words, and the four continued walking past his cell.
Outside of the dungeon area, they opened a door which led to a kitchen.
Though, moreso than a kitchen, it looked like a torture room.
The table which would be used to butcher meats had straps on it to hold the subjects down.
This was clearly no regular kitchen.
Sitting on a couch was a family of four.
A braided wife in the middle with her husband in her left arm, and a child in her right- and the youngest child sitting in her lap.
They all looked.... happy.
They were laughing together, spending time just as a regular family would, their faces lit only by a few candles.
But why?
Why were they happy?
How could they be happy in this horrible dungeon?
How could they be cheerfully laughing with one another?
Brutus was placed on the table, and before he knew it the straps had been fastened.
The blue demon ran up to the family and gave them a delightful smile.
"Bella! It's been a while, but I guess things have improved around here while we weren't looking!"
"Oh yes!! I was provided with all these new tools and even a nice counter to butcher the livestock!!!"
"Wonderful! Actually, we've brought you a new piece of livestock to prepare, if you're ready."
"Of course!! Please, why don't you all have a seat at the table, and we will cook something for you immediately! I couldn't possibly let you all leave without having fed you something. Isn't that right, boys?"
"Of course, mama!"
"Mhm!"
The children no longer had faces of terror, but rather glares of joyful insanity in their eyes.
They looked at the table with the same bloodlust that her mother had.
"Look at my beautiful sons.... they're beautiful, aren't they? And now that their father has returned.... I'm sure they are growing up to be such wonderful men. Isn't that right, darling?"
"Of course, honey.", the father replied without a moment's hesitation.
"Ah.... I think you know of this one.", the elf said, referring to the husband while barely containing his laughter. "Why don't you take a look?"
"Of course, your excellency. Come on, dear. Let's check out the fresh livestock.", the husband responded while getting up.
"Ok!"
Brutus looked over.
He had heard that voice before.
His face was different, but he would not forget that voice.
"Caspus? Is that you?"
The man stared at Brutus with confusion, squinting his eyes as he walked forward.
"Caspus? What are you talking about? My name is Klyde."
----