V2Ch55-Internal Affairs

The will o’ the wisps pulled at the weak Wills of several wolves.

James could sense it. He could not only tell how the wolves felt, but he could tell which wolves felt the tug of the lights most forcefully.

The scouts in the front of the group were particularly vulnerable. Where other wolves in the pack might have been investing Free Points in Will, they had consistently invested in Perception. This gave them an advantage as scouts, but it made them terribly weak against mental attacks like this. He could feel they were moments away from breaking and running toward the lights, at which point they would surely never be seen again.

As for James himself, the will o’ the wisps had no effect on him. They were just pretty lights.

He activated one of the Skills generated by Alpha Presence. Zone of Influence!

[Zone of Influence: Generate a field made from your aura (a combination of your Stamina and Mana), insulating subordinates from being influenced by foreign energies. Scales with Charisma, Will, and your own resistance to the foreign energies. Consumes Stamina and Mana.]

James’s aura spiked and spread to a wide area around his body. The field around him was invisible, but there was no mistaking what was happening. It felt like he was a teapot being slowly poured out, with the water being his Mana and Stamina.

I really need to practice this Skill, he thought. The aura field drained a surprising amount of both Stamina and Mana for a field that he thought covered a relatively small area. If it was anyone who didn’t have absurd reserves of Stamina and Mana, they wouldn’t be able to use it at all.

But at least the area covered was large enough to contain all the wolves, even those out of his sight. He could feel the influence of the will o’ the wisps had been broken completely.

Scouts, report! James sent. In the area of the will o’ the wisps, how many enemies are there?

We only sense a handful, my King, reported one. Thank you for extending your protection. This last was pronounced with what James interpreted as a slight tone of embarrassment.

Of course, he replied. I can’t have my valuable scouts kidnapped and made into Ghouls.

“Hey, Damien!” James called out.

“Yes?” Damien asked, looking at him.

“You’re resisting that just fine, right?” James pointed at the floating lights.

“Yeah, no problem,” Damien said.

“Great. The wolves think there’s only a handful of enemies over there, but some of them are affected by the lights, so it’s dangerous for me to leave them to go fight the Ghouls myself. Could you go kill them off for us? I’ll send the toughest wolf with you.”

Luna, James had observed, was more or less unaffected by the lights. She was a leader, so her Will was quite high for her level.

“Sure, no problem.” Damien flashed a grin. Then he took off his clothes. For a moment, James averted his gaze, though it seemed Damien had done this so many times that he felt no particular shame about the nudity involved. It was also a surprisingly quick undressing process.

Then Damien began to transform before James’s eyes. Tufts of dark gray fur began to sprout from every exposed piece of skin. Muscles bulged out of places that hadn’t seemed particularly toned before. His jaw bones cracked, unhinged, and lengthened into a muzzle. He let loose a monstrous roar as the muscle and fur spread over the rest of his body. And the transformation was complete.

Alright, Luna, could you please go with Damien and kill off the handful of Ghouls who are obstructing our advance? James asked. Sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead, though he could see his Mana and Stamina reserves weren’t falling too quickly. He wouldn’t want to keep this up too long. Not until he was in a less stressful environment.

As you wish, my King, she sent. She walked from James’s left toward Damien, to his right. Then James heard a sniffing sound from her.

Luna began to growl, low and deep.

Damien looked askance at the two-headed wolf.

“Uh, James, what’s up with your friend there?” he asked, his voice unusually nervous.

I forgot, the last time Damien lost a fight, it was with the Wolf King, right? Does being surrounded by the wolf pack make him nervous?

But James was also wondering what was going through Luna’s mind. He looked at her now, and she had her hackles raised and her lips partly curled back, revealing the tips of her teeth.

Luna, what’s the meaning of this? James sent.

The scent of the one who killed my mother, Luna sent. He’s covered in it.

James recalled an incident back in the forest, just before he had his Race Evolution. He’d seen Damien kill and eat a Command Forest Wolf, hadn’t he? Was that Luna’s mother? He paused to wonder.

Damn it, I don’t have time for this right now, he thought.

You didn’t recognize this scent before? he asked. Are you sure it’s him?

His scent changed when he transformed, she replied firmly. I’m almost certain. Do you think it’s possible that he shares the same scent as someone else in this forest?

That does seem unlikely. He might be the one who killed your mother, then, James replied gently. I don’t know. He would probably tell us the truth if we asked him. But if he is the one who killed your mother, are you going to fight him over it right now? You’re helping me, even though I killed your father.

That’s different, she replied slightly testily.

Is it? he asked. I think this place forces people and creatures to fight each other. I don’t think it makes sense to hold a grudge. Especially not now, when we’re facing a common enemy, and I don’t sense any hostile intent from him toward you or the wolf pack. Even though I believe your father almost killed him.

She was quiet for a few seconds, processing.

You make an interesting point, I suppose, she acknowledged. I do remember hearing there was a fight between the previous Wolf King and a creature like him while I was out hunting one day. The creature had to run off with its tail between its legs—

Alright, James interrupted. Can you work with him, then?

There was a silence that felt interminable. Finally, Luna replied.

If it’s really what you want, that’s fine for now, she said. But what about later, when we’re competing with him for territory?

It felt like she was looking for an excuse. A reason why James might order her to attack Damien, although James was fairly certain Luna couldn’t beat him in a one on one fight at her present level of power.

You’re thinking very long term, he replied wryly. We have to get out of this place alive before we can think about claiming territory on Earth. But if Damien becomes a threat to us, I’ll kill him myself. Right now, he’s ready and happy to assist us in defeating one of our rivals.

Then I’ll go with him as you command, she replied. You will remember what you said, about killing him if he becomes a threat? There was a pleading note in her tone.

Yes. I’ll put the safety of the pack and anyone else who follows me loyally above the safety of anyone else.

She let out a little, satisfied whimper, and then she walked forward.

“Come with me, Werewolf!” she said aloud. Then she bounded forward without looking at Damien.

“What was that all about?” Damien asked James, not moving.

“Apparently, you killed her mother,” James replied bluntly. “Once you transformed, she could smell the scent you left behind when you did it. I told her not to try and kill you.”

“Oh. Shit.” He looked as stricken as a wolf face could look. “I never thought of these mons—I mean, these life forms, um, having loved ones.”

“I get it,” James said. “I’ve done some things myself that would curl the hair that grows all over your body. We’re all still learning. Give her time. Perhaps she’ll forgive you. I don’t believe she’ll harm you in any way right now. It’s hard to describe, but I get this overwhelming sense from the wolves. Just—” He struggled for a moment to put a word to it. “Just this intense feeling of loyalty and devotion.”

“Easy for you to say. They are loyal to you.”

“Take my word for it, then. I’ve ordered her not to harm you.”

Damien looked at James for a long moment before he apparently decided to trust him.

“Alright, man,” Damien said. “I’m putting my life in your hands, then.”

He raced off after Luna, who was almost out of sight beyond the mist.

Not that she could really kill you anyway, James thought. Although he liked Luna, he had to be objective about her capabilities at present. Among the wolves, only the King was probably capable of that.

James waited until the two were almost fully out of his hearing range before he turned his head and looked back to Cliff. This fighting would take at least a few minutes with just the two of them against those Ghouls.

Enough time to tie up a loose end.

“So, anything you want me to do while our allies are fighting the big bad—”

Compulsion.

“I want you to tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Cliff,” James said.

A silent battle raged for a moment in their minds, until James’s Will had crushed Cliff’s like a cigarette under a boot.

“What would you like to know the truth about, sir?” Cliff asked in a weirdly docile voice.

“I can enter people’s dreams. I visited one of your dreams, once, and it was a completely bizarre place. There was mist, naked people wandering around, and the walls and floors were made of snakes. Explain that.”

“You witnessed one of my visits with my patron goddess,” Cliff said. “When I dream, I sometimes enter her realm.”

“You have a blessing from a goddess?” James asked.

“I do,” Cliff replied.

“What did you have to promise her to get it?”

“I promised to sacrifice at least fifty people to her during Orientation, and to continue sacrificing as many people as I could thereafter.”

A cold sweat broke out on the back of James’s neck. This might be a little worse than I’d imagined.

“You’ve been sacrificing people?” James asked.

“No, no, I wanted to get as many as I could all at once.” Cliff spoke the murderous words with the same cadence as if he was talking about the weather. “I was waiting until near the end of Orientation.”

“How were you going to do it?” James was more curious than anything about this arrangement, since he obviously wasn’t going to let any of what Cliff had agreed to do happen.

“The goddess helped guide me to a Great Forest Scorpion on one of my hunting outings while you were gone. It dropped a powerful venom, which I claimed as the one who struck the killing blow. I was going to mix it into the food some night.”

“Wow. That’s, uh, quite something. Why did you agree to do this? Just for a little more power?”

“Oh, no,” Cliff said mildly. “I got her to keep my family out of Orientation. As long as I succeed in my task, they skate by without risking their lives. Good deal, right?”

“Uh, excuse me a second, Cliff.” He took a few steps away. “Hester, was there some possibility Anansi could have pulled Mina and Yulia out of their Orientation for me?”

“No,” she said. “It sounds like this goddess is more powerful than Lord Anansi, honestly. The System will sometimes bend a bit to a more powerful god’s wishes. It’s a creation of all the gods working in conjunction, but as with most things, the more powerful you are, the more of a say you get.”

“Alright, thanks,” he said. He believed her. At least, she was telling the truth as she understood it, per James’s Ring of Truth. He turned back to Cliff, who stood staring blankly into space.

“So, you agreed to sacrifice a bunch of people to an evil goddess to get power and keep your family safe, eh?” James asked.

Cliff’s voice changed for the first time since James had used Compulsion. He became defensive. “You accepted a god’s blessing, too, didn’t you? You were probably thinking the same thing as me, right? Look out for your family, to hell with anyone else?”

“If Anansi ever asked me to betray humanity, I would tell him to fuck off and die,” James said furiously. He quietly added, “No offense.”

“None taken,” Hester replied mildly. “And Lord Anansi wouldn’t do that.”

“I only agreed to accept his support, because he said he was a friend of humanity, and I choose to believe him. You forgot which side you were on and became no better than the Moloch cultists. Give me back my sword.”

Cliff’s body moved a bit clumsily, as if he was sedated or drunk. He reached into his bag and pulled out the Ego Spidersword. Then he handed it back to James. The eye in the pommel seemed to stare intensely at the blade’s owner.

I’ve been missing having a weapon that wasn’t broken, he thought. I’ll probably need something better than my bare hands to finish this, if the Soul Eater is as tough as the Wolf King.

Though he had ultimately beaten one of the Wolf King’s heads to death and then crushed its heart with his bare hands, James was still more confident with a weapon in his hands.

“Alright, Cliff, what’s the name of this goddess who blessed you?”

James gave the sword a few practice swings as he spoke.

“Hel, the Goddess of Death.”

“Why did you ask that?” Hester whispered. “You might get her attention, with one of the people she’s blessed speaking her name like that. You don’t want a death goddess watching you.”

“I need to know who’s a threat to me,” James replied under his breath. Then he deliberately raised his voice. “If there’s a goddess who’s happy to see me and my people get sacrificed, I’m not concerned about being friendly with her. Like Anansi said, death gods and goddesses don’t really negotiate to let people come back from the dead anyway. So there’s no reason for me to pretend to be nice.”

Cliff simply stood silently, waiting for the next command.

“On your knees, please, Cliff,” James said.

His former boss obediently knelt.

“Bend your neck forward a little bit. This isn’t so much personal as it is just dealing with a future problem, so I want to make it quick.”

Cliff bent his head forward.

“How is it possibly not personal?” Hester asked incredulously.

“Because I kind of always thought Cliff was willing to do this to anyone,” James said. “I just never imagined he had actually signed up to make that choice. He was probably going to fire me, too, I’d imagine. Ironically, now I’m terminating him. So I can put it all behind me, and just see him as another problem I’m about to put an end to.” He smiled slightly, and added, “You know, I like solving problems.”

James swung the sword down, until it struck an object that stopped it.