Chapter 1058 - The "Negotiations" Begins - START OF BOOK 15

The Holy Church had already reached out with the intent of finding a peaceful solution shortly after Jake returned to Earth after slaying Ell’Hakan. After he killed Bertram, they were understandably worried about what actions Jake would take next. However, from the looks of the communications Miranda received, they genuinely believed they could reach a satisfying solution where they could walk away with Ell’Hakan’s Truesoul, and Jake could get “rightful compensation.”

Yeah, with them thinking that, it definitely made sense that they wanted Ell’Hakan, considering just how delusional they already were. Still, Jake at least wanted to appear reasonable, even if he had no intentions of acting in any way the Holy Church would find reasonable.

That being the case, Jake expected it to eventually devolve into violence. The Holy Church had long pulled back all its elites, with many of them not having been involved in the conflict to begin with. Truthfully, no one knew just how much power they had in storage, but Jake didn’t feel any sense of fear.

The only thing he possibly had to fear was being forced into a wasteful slaughter. He genuinely hoped the Holy Church knew that fighting would be futile, but things rarely turned out that smoothly.

Only half an hour after Jake finished transmuting his temporary bow, he stood ready on the teleportation platform prepared by Arnold, who was also there to observe and – if necessary – also send Carmen over. Jake considered if he should call others for backup but decided not to. Sylphie was off somewhere on Earth, spending quality time with her parents if Jake’s guess was correct, with everyone else also busy doing their own thing. Not to mention a few weren’t even on the planet in the first place, or the fact that people like Caleb couldn’t get involved due to his faction, and while Casper would have probably loved to go, bringing a Risen along was a surefire way to make them instantly start blasting.

“Ready?” Arnold asked, making Jake refocus as it was finally go-time.

“Ready as can be,” Jake nodded, and without further ado, the teleporter below him activated.

While it was true the Holy Church had invited Jake and Earth to a dialogue about how to solve their differences, there was no direct invitation to visit their main planet in the Milky Way, which was also why Jake used Arnold’s special teleporter that didn’t require permission.

Jake felt his vision shift as soon he found himself just outside the atmosphere of the Holy Church planet. Instantly, he saw that the local World Leader had done quite a lot to defend the planet, with powerful barriers fused into the environment everywhere. The thing is, the barriers defending planets couldn’t be too good unless they were of a high enough level. If they were, mana from the sun and the rest of the universe couldn’t easily come through, weakening the entire planet.

So, instead, the barrier was more there for detection and to destroy anything unidentified. This left quite the obvious flaw, as for the barriers to know if something was unidentified, it had to be able to see and identify the object in question in the first place.

Activating his Unseen Hunter skill, Jake quite easily snuck through the barrier and entered the planet before he rapidly headed toward the surface. Arnold had gotten a lot better with his teleporter and had even been able to focus it and teleport Jake to appear directly above the biggest gathering of presences on the planet, which unsurprisingly happened to be the capital city.

Before even breaking through the clouds, Jake saw the massive city below him. It looked like it was made entirely of marble, with large buildings and spires everywhere. From the looks of it, the local city plan also required at least one church or building of worship for every hundred meters based on how many there were.

The biggest building in the city was a large cathedral-looking structure on a slightly raised plateau. Even from up high, Jake could feel this was where the most auras were gathered... oh yeah, and he also felt his Hunter’s Mark still lingering on Jacob’s body, telling him the Augur was within.

Jake had considered for a while how he wanted to approach this, and one thing was for sure, he wasn’t going to do anything sneakily. In his mind, he wasn’t in the wrong for anything that would happen that day, as he was merely there to take back what was rightfully his.

That’s why Jake gladly introduced himself to the entire city. Floating not far from the large cathedral, Jake dispelled his stealth skill and unleashed his aura, even mixing in a bit of Pride to really up the intimidation factor. Within seconds, guards of the city took to the air, and not even ten seconds later, a group of what Jake assumed to be elites had also gathered nearby, watching on with careful eyes.

Jake remained silent as more elites gathered until, finally, the people in charge made their appearance. Jacob, Bertram, and a bunch of people in priest robes and fancy attire exited the cathedral, and the moment it did, Jake’s will-infused voice echoed throughout the city.

“I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

--

Iludar opened his eyes as the message arrived. The Chosen of the Malefic Viper had just reached the Holy Church’s Milky Way headquarters, signaling it was their time to move.

He quickly sent several messages to check on matters and received nearly instant responses, confirming everything was as expected. Looking up, he saw the nervous elf standing there, clearly unsure of what had been decided. Understandably so.

“We have safe houses set up all across the Milky Way. All we have to do is survive until the universe opens back up. You know as well as I do that this is your only chance for survival,” Iludar said sharply.

“I know, I know, but it doesn’t make it any less nerve-wracking,” Kindroth, also known as the so-called Voice of the One, replied, his demeanor far from his usual self-assured one.

“Collect yourself. We are in a hurry,” King Iludar said, regarding his followers of elites. “There’s no turning back now.”

“Yeah, so let’s just get this over with,” Kindroth said, recollecting himself and taking a deep breath.

With those words, they activated the large teleporter that had been hidden away by the planet of the Great Bright One. It was linked to the Prima Vessel and was merely there to allow the teleportation of more people at once.

Their plan was simple: strike Earth while it was vulnerable. King Iludar knew that the moment Ell’Hakan died, he was on borrowed time, and he didn’t trust that the Holy Church would tide them over long enough for their escape to the rest of the multiverse.

So rather than simply sitting back and waiting for death, they would land a decisive strike where it would hurt the most. They would prove themselves to the Holy Church and any other force that still opposed the Order of the Malefic Viper to hopefully secure a good future.

All of this was happening with the support of the Holy Church and their loyal subject, Kindroth.

The Great Bright One wasn’t officially a member of the Holy Church but might as well have been in many aspects. It was a god in a gray zone that could do things the Holy Church normally wouldn’t while still receiving support from the Primordial faction under the table.

As someone who followed the Great Bright One, Kindroth was similar. He was a perfect spy who was not officially part of the Holy Church, so he could sneak under the radar in many cases.

Kindroth had been a source of information for this entire campaign and long before that. He was a traitor to the Order of the Malefic Viper, and both he and Iludar knew what kind of fate awaited him when this was inevitably discovered. The elf had also dug himself deep on his planet with the persona he’d created for himself, and rather than try to dig himself out, he’d been more than happy to just jump ship. The fact that he had been ordered by the Holy Church certainly also played a part.

And now, with the Chosen of the Malefic Viper gone, they had their chance to strike. Kindroth had also confirmed that every other fighter who was a major threat wasn’t around, and Iludar’s own spies had confirmed this. Even the cultist of the void and the Runemaiden weren’t in the city, giving them a window.

The teleporter beneath them soon activated, bringing them all to the Prima Vessel on Earth. Warriors appeared one after another, filling the vessel so quickly they had to funnel into the halls as everyone charged out.

On the way, they met no one, as Kindroth had indeed done his job and cleared the way. They easily made it out, and with Earth still unaware that a massive invading force had arrived, they reached the teleportation station close to the Prima Vessel to teleport to an area set up by Kindroth beforehand.

Attacking the witch within her city wasn’t the wisest move, but what if her trusted ally and fellow council member led her away from the safety of her fortress?

--

Jake floated in the air, his presence blanketing the city as he felt millions of eyes on him at once. Just the sheer scale of the city meant that any form of clash would result in many deaths, something Jake would still like to avoid.

“Chosen of the Malefic One,” a priest with fancier robes than the others spoke as he flew up to meet Jake. He was probably a head priest or something, but Jake truthfully didn’t care. “Your visit is highly unexpected and irregular.”

Jake really, really wanted to call bullshit on that one, but he held his tongue as he instead kept up his intimidating presence. “You wanted to talk. I came to talk... and take back that which is mine. That which you took from me.”

He repeated that they had taken something from him to really hammer home the point that this had to be the starting assumption for this entire talk. It needed to be clarified from the get-go that Jake had arrived with justification, and it was very purposeful he said all this in front of so many followers of the Holy Church.

Below, he saw Jacob look up at the head priest guy, and a moment later, the man cleared his throat, speaking a lot more softly so none of the citizens below could hear. “Perhaps we can have this discussion elsewhere in private?”

“Very well, lead the way to this private discussion,” Jake said, once more wanting to make it clear he was just following the Holy Church guys to some unspecified location. The man in front of him didn’t look very appreciative, but he couldn’t really do or say anything as he nodded and turned.

Following the lead of the head priest, Jake flew down while still keeping a good distance from everyone. He released a few pulses and noticed dozens of small teleportation buildings spread across the city, many of them now having elites gathered around, waiting.

Jacob, Bertram, the head priest, and seven other official-looking members of the Holy Church were part of Jake’s “escort” as they entered a small cleared-out teleportation hub.

“I apologize for the lack of a proper welcome, but as I said, we truly didn’t expect you to show up without prior notice,” the head priest reiterated that he believed Jake’s visit was very sudden.

Perhaps it was partly true, as they had more likely than expected him to be more injured after the Ell’Hakan fight than he actually was. It was thus highly probable they had wanted to make more preparations before Jake visited that they simply didn’t have time to.

“Please follow me through the teleporter,” the head priest said, motioning toward it.

“Using a teleporter with an unknown destination seems highly unwise, especially when in territory I do not find particularly friendly,” Jake said, staring down at the priest. He’d only slightly let off on Presence while he kept unleashing his aura, fully aware of the mental pressure he was putting on everyone present.

“It will take us to an installation far away from the city, and what awaits on the other side is no trap,” Jacob chimed in, being curt with his words. Jake did catch something, though.

A military installation, Jake quickly concluded simply from the word installation, as honestly, in what other instance would someone use that word to describe a location?

“Fine,” Jake agreed as he teleported alongside the ten members of the Holy Church.

A moment later, he appeared in another small building, and right as he did, he naturally released a Pulse to get the lay of the land. They were now in a new city, a lot smaller than the other one but still pretty damn large.

However, rather than a normal city, Jake instantly recognized this one wasn’t... how to say it... real? It was a ghost city. Nearly all the buildings were entirely empty inside, with the only ones having any actual activity the ones with teleporters placed in their cellars.

If this was some failed expansion project or a weird military city to train urban combat, Jake really couldn’t tell, but he did know for sure it was now a military city. Within mere seconds of Jake arriving in the new city, over a thousand fighters teleported into the cellars of the many buildings throughout the city, seemingly setting up should things go wrong.

Overall, he did like this new setting, though, because outside of the city, there was nothing for hundreds of kilometers in any direction. They were well and truly isolated, which meant far fewer casualties should Jake end up having to go with the violent option.

“Please, this way,” the head priest continued as he motioned Jake out of the teleportation building and into what looked like some kind of town hall. Jake kept watch of his surroundings, and the fact that Jacob walked all the way in the back with Bertram and seven other high-tier C-grades between Jake and the Augur didn’t escape him in the slightest.

Jake remained silent as he merely followed them, as he felt the many observers. A quick Pulse confirmed there were now more than five thousand people in the city, and if Jake was correct, they were all top fighters of the Holy Church. Pretty much all the faction could muster should this turn into a fight, at least when it came to people who the Church believed could at least contribute.

He also finally properly probed the others in the small escort group, and while they all wore priest robes – besides Bertram, of course – five of them clearly weren’t actually priests. Their auras simply didn’t match the signature he would expect, and their level of power also made it evident they were fighters.

An elite party, Jake concluded right around the time they all found themselves in the wide open lobby of the building Jake had assumed to be a town hall. There, the head priest summoned a table and a set of chairs.

Jake looked at them but remained standing as he crossed his arms. “This really shouldn’t take long, so let us get this over with.”

Staring directly at Jacob and Bertram, Jake scoffed. “Those two interfered in my battle against the Usurper of Yip of Yore and stole part of my rightful bounty.”

“Bullshit,” Bertram reacted, with Jacob instantly calming him with a hand on his shoulder as he stepped forward.

“Apologize for my Guardian’s outburst. Your last encounter wasn’t a pleasant one for him either,” Jacob spoke with a tone Jake remembered hearing many times in the past during soulless business calls.

“I shall not deny that we claimed the Truesoul of Ell’Hakan, the Usurper of Yip of Yore, but we only did so after you had already taken what you had come to take. We are, at worst, scavengers infringing on your leftovers, but I object to us being branded thieves. We only took what you were unable or unwilling to claim in the first place.”

“You talk as if any of what you just said matters,” Jake said, openly pressuring Jacob with his aura. “No matter what I wanted to do with what’s mine, it has nothing to do with you. All that matters is that you stole something from me; that’s the end of it.”

Okay, admittedly, Jake hadn’t really entered this so-called “negotiation” with a mindset for compromise... but Jake got the distinct feeling Jacob wouldn’t want Jake to be in a too diplomatic mood either.