The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 133

Chapter 133 – Overconfident

Safar and I chatted for a while, after I set up the barrier that would keep those outside the property line from seeing what was happening. It would not prevent anyone from coming onto the site, however, since it was more like a privacy curtain than anything else. But it would be enough to keep the construction work from unsettling the locals.

Unloading all the building materials from my pocket dimension took some time, even with my undead laborers working as fast as they could. After all, I had torn down the temple stone by stone, so that it could be reassembled one day, but the temple had not been small, by any means. Thankfully, unloading all that material was not something I needed to pay any attention to, since I still had the undead foreman who managed the teardown, and he was in charge of bringing out and sorting the pallets of building supplies. I just needed to hold open the entrance to my pocket dimension while his crew went to work.

It took just over five hours for the laborers to finish unloading the materials, and it was two in the afternoon, locally. Naturally, Safar didn’t stay through the whole process. Once I’d given him enough information to keep his superiors from getting nervous, he took his leave, and went about his day. I, of course, didn’t mind. He was probably a very busy man, normally, and mortals didn’t tend to react too well to standing around for hours on end, especially through meal times.

Trusting in the foreman and the laborers to go about their business properly, I brought out a priest of Murena and several guards to help protect and sanctify the site, and left them to it. If my reckoning was right, it would be just about six in the morning, back on Easter Island, and I needed to get back, since the mortals would be waking soon. I’m sure there would be locals who wanted to meet with me, at the very least, and even if that wasn’t the case, I needed to be on the plane when it left, since I’d never been to Chile before.

Unfortunately, when I appeared back in my hotel room, I found myself confronted with a rather unpleasant surprise. Honestly, I should have expected something of the sort, and taken precautions, but I had been focused on getting the construction of Murena’s temple underway, and forgotten to ward my room. Which is why I was now looking down the barrel of a very large gun.

“Please tell me you didn’t think that this would be enough to defeat me,” I said, sighing, as I looked past the gun’s muzzle, and at the man holding it. I recognized him, of course. He was the same supposed FBI agent that had tried to ‘discuss’ who I would be turning into a Hero when I finally went to Mt. Shasta, to deal with the prime seal. Well, he did say that he’d come talk to me again.

He smirked back at me. “Defeat you? Probably not. But it should be enough to keep you from making any sudden moves. And don’t think about doing your soul-stealing bullshit, either,” he said, holding up the hand not currently pointing a gun at me. He had some device clasped there. A dead-man’s switch.

He must have seen the way my eyes narrowed, since his smile broadened. “Yeah, you recognize what this is, don’t ya? Well, it goes to a set of bombs. I let go of this, and this whole building goes up. Oh, it won’t do anything to you, sure. But those apprentices of yours? They aren’t nearly so tough as you are.”

I sighed, already bored with this whole thing. Obviously, I wasn’t going to seriously give credence to his demands, but I did want to ask some questions, so I decided not to kill him right away. “So, clearly you aren’t actually the FBI. Even in the trashiest Hollywood movies, they wouldn’t support anything like this. The CIA doesn’t have the guts to try my patience, after my last discussion with their director. So, who are you, and who do you really work for?”

“My name isn’t important. The important thing is that the agency I work for is dedicated to preserving the global balance of power, to prevent wasteful conflicts. Your antics have greatly disrupted the situation. It has passed beyond the point where gentler methods could be used to persuade you. You are threatening the global balance which keeps the world from spiraling into anarchy and chaos!”

“And by balance of power, you mean American supremacy, no? Because if you actually cared about preventing conflicts, then there are countless brushfire wars that you would have put a stop to.”

“It is the proper way of things. The world’s energies need to be properly harnessed and controlled, so that those with harmful ideologies can be prevented from disrupting things. Sometimes, that means we must take direct covert action, and sometimes, that means we are forced to allow certain actions to take place, to release pressure, and spur other forces to take public action against disruptive forces. Ever since the end of the Second World War, we’ve been working to ensure that a third war never happens.”

“And, what? You thought that you could just threaten me, and make me go along with whatever you wanted?”

“You may be too powerful to strike directly, but your family and associates are not. Oh, don’t mistake me, we won’t try any kidnappings, like the Russians did. You would just use whatever magic you used against them to track them down. No, we wouldn’t do kidnappings. There are so many ways that humans can die, after all.”

Nope. That was not going to happen. I had been planning on dealing with this insect, but now, it seemed as though I would need to pay another visit to the US. But first…

“Aagh!”

The nameless man cried out in pain as I moved. I did not show it off, usually, but my body could move far faster than a normal human could, even when I wasn’t using spells to enhance my speed. The fool was only two meters from me. I waited until he blinked, and then, in that tenth of a second, I covered the distance. My hand crushed the one holding the detonator, preventing him from releasing it, no matter what. His gun went off as he yelled, more reflex than anything, but I was no longer in its line of fire.

There was an explosion behind me as the round hit the wall. Not a spell, but a normal explosion. Was that gun a pistol grenade launcher? No, I shouldn’t stop and think about that. He might have some other, even more stupid, tricks up his sleeve.

It was a simple matter to rip his soul from his body, which allowed the gun to fall to the floor. As I held the soul in place, I called forth my wraiths, and sent them to search for the bombs. They would find them, and disable them, if they could. If they couldn’t, well, there were other ways of dealing with bombs.

“H-how? I never saw you move?”

“Of course you didn’t. I moved literally in the blink of an eye. If you wanted to do something stupid like this, you should have at least put up a barrier or spell circle to try and slow me down, forcing me to break through it before I could get to you. It wouldn’t have helped any, but, at the very least, you would have been able to let go of the detonator before I crushed your hand.”

Still holding said hand in my own, the rest of his body hanging limply from the wrist, I looked the disembodied soul in the eye, and smiled. “But you Americans simply continue to underestimate me. Or, perhaps, you simply have an inflated belief in your own propaganda? Either way, you act as spoiled children who always get their way by screaming and throwing things until the adults give in. Now, I think it is time you told me everything I wish to know.”

The soul snarled back at me, as it struggled in my grip. “I’d rather die! ACTIVATE CONTINGENCY PLAN ALPHA!”

His cry was met by silence. Nothing happened. “What? How? That was supposed to work!”

“I presume you had some kind of voice-operated gimmick in your gear, then? Unfortunately, while you might think that you’re talking, now, it is actually more a function of mental magic. Your voice is not making any sound that the ear can hear, but the mind can hear the soul cry out.”

Suffice to say, the next words the soul uttered were far from flattering, and really rude and repulsive. Thankfully, I was spared any further need to listen to his rant by a frantic knock on the door. My disciples were here, to check on me, along with Koyama. With a thought, I used magic to turn the lock and open the door, letting them in.

“Mistress!” Naya called out as she rushed to my side. “What happened here? Who is this?”

Ya entered behind her, but her eye went first to the hole in the back wall of my hotel room, and then to the gun at my feet. “Interesting. That is the XM45. An experimental handgun design developed in the United States. If fires a .75 caliber miniature grenade, if I recall correctly. However, it was never picked up by the military, due to it being against the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868, prohibiting the use of explosive rounds lighter than 400 grams. Of course, that only means it cannot be used in war, which leaves a grey area for clandestine forces.”

That’s right. Ya was with me so often that I sometimes forgot that she was originally a spy for the Chinese government. She would have some knowledge of different weapons. That would be useful. But I should allay Naya’s fears, first.

“Aeko, I’m fine. Just came back from some business, and found a rat in my room. There’s nothing to worry about.”

I took a glance behind me, out through the hole in the wall, and into the morning air, and looked back at Ya. “Dai, do you know which groups might still be using such a weapon?”

“No one uses it for the original purpose, but I have heard reports of agencies that primarily hunt thaumaturges and supernatural beings which use weapons like this, amongst other things. The grenade is not terribly large, smaller even than the normal ones used in grenade launchers, and the recoil is supposed to be a challenge to deal with. However, as you know, when dealing with certain types of threats, it can prove far more deadly than even a large pistol round, like those used in .45 caliber pistols.”

“Fascinating. Be a dear and collect that for me, will you? Also, stay here and listen to everything our new ‘friend’ is going to tell us. Koyama, you come in and listen, too. I am certain that both your governments will be quite excited to hear everything this little worm has to say.”

As she picked up the gun, the soul in my hand struggled harder, trying to fight his way free. Of course, such actions were completely useless. He did not have the power to escape me.

“Do you think you can make me talk?”

I turned back to the soul in my hand, and said, “Oh, my poor, deluded little zealot. The only reason you aren’t singing like a songbird already is because I’m waiting for my wraiths to deal with the bombs you set. Then, I not only will make you talk, but I will see it in your soul every time you try to lie to me.”

“Your Majesty,” one of the wraiths said, rising up through the floor. “We have found five devices in and around the building, and a sixth on the vehicle which brought us here from the airfield. They have all been neutralized by using Death magic to age them into dust.”

“Well done,” I said, nodding to the wraith. “Do a search of the nearby area, and see if there is anyone suspicious lurking about. I doubt this fool is working alone.”

The wraith bowed, and slid back down, through the floor. Turning my attention back to the disembodied soul, I smiled. “Now, let us start with the questions. You can resist, if you wish, but it will do you no good. Your soul is mine, after all.”