[LitF] 52. Healing and Planning (Patreon)

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[A/N: This is last Saturday's chapter.

To make up for the delay, this chapter is 40% longer than usual.

This is chapter 52 because I consider the four interludes to be chapter 51 (for organization purposes). This chapter happens right after chapter 50, though.]

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Sophie wore something that Arthur's Wise Inspection trait called a hazardous materials suit. It was white but blooded. The blood didn't belong to her but to Tamara, whom she was carrying.

Tamara's human disguise was gone, showing her beautiful elf face and form—though, as always, marred by her unhealed cheek injury. When revealing the ancient secrets to Arthur, she had explained she could've healed herself a few years ago because she had been, in human terms, an immature teenager back when she committed a crime among the Keepers of Whispers. Yet, she continued suffering the punishment out of her own will. According to her, she refused to ever forget she had betrayed someone in the past, even if she didn't recall the treason itself.

The prince still wasn't sure if he should believe an organization that said Tamara had done that without ever showing evidence, but she trusted them, and he saw no reason to deny her resolve. Especially when it worked in his favor. Statistically speaking, traitors often reoffended. He trusted her enough, especially after their last arrangements, but the same distance she kept from him out of professionalism also prevented him from being too familiar with her. In fact, being too kind and merciful toward her would go against what she had taught him.

Tamara, in Sophie's arms, was pale, lacking her whole right leg, half her left leg, and both hands. The trunk of her body was mostly unharmed except for lacerations caused by a shockwave. Her royal maid uniform was enchanted for some defense but didn't protect any gaps like in proper armor, and the head maid had clearly stepped on a land mine or something similar.

The explosive had been powerful enough to ignore the defenses of someone with 3,000 points of strength. Physical resistance was only the secondary effect of the strength stat, but at that point, regular bullets couldn't hurt Tamara's eyes, and piercing projectiles would lose almost all power after penetrating bone. Add to that her passive defense skills, and she was very hard to harm.

What surprised Arthur the most was how precise the blast had been. If someone could use an explosive to obliterate Tamara's leg, they could also kill her if they wanted. The prince didn't believe it was a happy coincidence that she just happened to have enough strength to lose a single leg and injure another. There were clear signs of someone having calculated how much to injure an awakener with a lot of strength points but not to kill.

On top of that, her hands had been cut clean at the wrists. The angle suggested Tamara had done it herself, especially the right hand, which she had cut while wielding a blade with her mouth. One of the two women had physically tourniqueted her wounds to avoid blood loss.

Tamara had used her mouth instead of using magic or a skill. She wasn't healing naturally or using magic because she couldn't. Moreover, her stats were so deficient that she was one step away from death.

Arthur left the cave to meet them, and Tamara reported with a hoarse and dry voice, "I touched a computer keyboard. I heard a mechanism activating in the table below. The ground exploded at the same time." She paused to breathe. "The table was thin. I dismissed the danger to my hands while pulling them back. I thought it was a diversion, so I wouldn't notice or defend well against the explosion. I thought I could deal with whatever came from the thin table. I focused on the explosion. I was wrong. The explosives were the diversion. Voidsteel needles pierced my hand. They injected something. I'm cursed. I can't heal. Can't use magic. Can barely breathe. Cutting my hands off didn't help. It only made me lose more blood. I wrote down what I found. Lady Brimstone has it. I asked her not to touch me. She ignored my warning."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "I told you this strange suit can protect me from your blood—"

"Not from magic!" Despite Tamara's weak voice, she cut the half-vampire off. She even yelled. Her breathing became even more labored, but she continued, "If this curse is meant to spread, it can kill you too! I shouldn't even be here! You should've left me behind! I live to serve, and I'm willing to die for His Highness! I made peace with it long ago! You're placing him at risk, yet you still dare to claim you love him!"

The words hurt Sophie, but she didn't reply. Tamara might be dying, and Sophie didn't want to argue with the maid in her potential last moments. Instead, she turned to Arthur.

"Something's wrong with her blood," Sophie confirmed Tamara's report. "I can't tell what, but I didn't touch it."

Arthur nodded. "It's not a curse," he declared, to Tamara's shock. "It's voidsteel. Not the needle; in your blood."

The alloy particles in her bloodstream were only a few dozen micrometers wide, so tiny that he couldn't detect them with his Mana Sight at a glance. If he tried to prehend Tamara, he would suffer a rebound but not know why. He also couldn't automatically pinpoint the microscopic gaps in his life domain caused by the anti-mana alloy.

If it weren't for his Sage's Eyes, which he activated as soon as he noticed she wasn't healing herself, he would also assume she was under a strong, unknown curse.

Tamara might've died with them none the wiser.

But he did have Sage's Eyes, which let him analyze her body. He just looked at her, and he learned about everything running in her veins with her blood cells. The voidsteel particles couldn't be analyzed even by the trait he got at max wisdom, but it still let him know their location, and the information had appeared in his mind about them labeled them as "unidentified matter."

Thanks to that, Arthur could "squint his domain" to feel the precise point where he knew the microparticles were and feel the gap in his senses that he guessed to be voidsteel.

For any other awakener, merely knowing it was voidsteel instead of a curse wouldn't have changed anything. Sophie had said something was wrong with Tamara's blood, and dealing with that or the anti-mana alloy was done the same way: they had to clean the maid's blood.

The most straightforward strategy to accomplish it was by bleeding Tamara while giving her fresh blood. Sadly, that wouldn't work because, by now, there were deposits of voidsteel in her entire body, not just her bloodstream. The voidsteel was lowering her stats, and soon enough, it would stop at peak natural stats. It would take her body weeks to naturally expel every foreign voidsteel particle or inflame every region with voidsteel and let a healer drain them.

Tamara didn't have weeks. An awakener with voidsteel inside them couldn't absorb mana. She was heavily injured, and even though her vitality couldn't heal her quickly enough to matter, it would keep doing its best, using her mana reserves in the attempts. Not to mention, her body would use mana to ensure the new blood given to her wasn't rejected. Tamara would die within two days. And that if the blood loss didn't kill her sooner, when her vitality got below some threshold that ensured she could live despite lacking so much blood.

To be fair, knowing it was voidsteel instead of a curse would also let someone else use a non-magic blood-filtering device if such a thing existed. But even if Arthur found such a marvel of technology in the surroundings, Tamara would still die from lacking mana within two days. The trap had been devious like that.

Fortunately, Arthur had two tools the average awakener didn't: his Sage's Eyes and his life domain. They would allow him to save her.

"Thank you for bringing her," he told Sophie. "And thank you both for returning alive to me. Come on it."

Sophie smiled and brought the maid in. The enchanted disk maintaining the cave malfunctioned when its magic went through Tamara to push the earth away. It was a directional malfunction, only failing to pull the earth behind the maid. That was interesting and might also serve to detect voidsteel. Arthur would investigate it later.

He asked Sophie to place Tamara beyond the disk's range, in the tunnel he had created as he moved from his previous location. Once the maid was on the ground, he looked at her and said, "Thank you for your loyalty and willingness to sacrifice yourself to me, but today is not the day you die."

Tamara was filled with hesitant hope, as if she didn't dare to believe she would survive.

Arthur first gently cut her uniform on the middle of her chest to prevent the enchanted cloth from interfering with his plans. He then created a metal half-sphere one foot wide and placed it on her skin. The object was sealed except for a dozen millimeter-wide openings that went deep into it, forming spiral pillars surrounded by deep valleys, making it so anything that was deposited inside wouldn't be able to leave unless the half-sphere was violently shaken and the trapped things got lucky.

Then, it was time for the actual healing.

The prince had two life authority chains. He used one to cut off Tamara's pain receptors, and she breathed in relief at once. Yet, her hope decreased. She thought he had only told her she would survive so she would die peacefully and was now assisting her to die more comfortably.

He used his other authority chain to decrease her body's dependence on blood. Blood loss was his most significant obstacle because he had no experience dealing with awakeners with decreasing body stats. Doing that gave him extra time if something went wrong, though he didn't think it would be needed.

Theoretically, he could accomplish both things with a single authority chain, but separating the functions helped save a little focus, and Arthur would take every advantage he could right now.

He also had two metal authority chains. He used one to inject molten metal particles into her veins, keeping it close to her heart, acting as a filter that would push voidsteel particles out of her system whenever they got caught. The other chain moved a microscopic metal bowl through her bloodstream. He used his Sage's Eyes to locate the voidsteel in her body, grab it with the filter or bowl, and pull it out. He piled every particle he found in the half-sphere, ensuring none would touch anyone in the cave.

Tamara's body was alive, and life was movement. His Sage's Eyes deconstructed her body for him, including the location of the thousands of "unidentified matter" particles.

Even Arthur was surprised by how fast everything went; it took him mere seconds to take every particle out of her.

He then asked Tamara and Sophie to remove their clothes and let him clean their bodies with his domain. There was no impropriety in that, only the detached professionalist of a healer. He was seeing both as patients who needed help.

He piled every piece of cloth, including the hazmat suit, on the corner with the half-ball. By sheer luck, no voidsteel particle had fallen from them when they moved into the cave, so he didn't have to worry about that. After he was done, he dug a hole as deep as possible, threw everything inside, and closed it off.

As soon as he removed the last piece of voidsteel from Tamara's body, her breath eased even more. Her vitality was currently lower than 100, but every stat would return to normal in less than ten minutes.

Not that it mattered for her missing limbs. At level 2-1, the Vital Regeneration trait, which she got at 1,000 points of vitality, only regenerated one limb in one year. She would need potions to fully heal—or for Arthur to use another living being's biomass to reconstruct the limbs. They would have to go with the latter because Graham the limb-regeneration potions were in Graham's spatial storage, and the knight was out of commission.

"It's done," the prince declared. "We should be safe. How are you feeling?" His senses told him Tamara was fine, but only a lousy or inexperienced healer would disregard patient input.

She smiled amid the tears that were already rolling down her eyes. "I feel perfect. Thank you, master. Thank you so, so much. Thank you."

Few strong awakeners reacted so strongly to almost dying. Their mind-stat-fueled willpower made them emotionally detached in some aspects, especially concerning matters of life and death. That was currently not the case for Tamara. Even at her peak, none of her mind stats were higher than 1,000, considerably lower than her body. The voidsteel had significantly lowered them all, causing her willpower to suffer.

In fact, Tamara's resolution to die for Arthur, despite her reduced will, was unquestionable proof of her loyalty.

"You've been taking care of me since the day I was born," he replied softly. "It's only natural for me to save you."

Tamara cried harder and failed to speak a few times when she tried. Arthur sighed and put her to sleep before she said or did something she might regret later.

He then turned to Sophie, "How about you? Do you feel fine?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. Can we put on some clothes now?"

"Go ahead."

The half-vampire gave Tamara a beautiful black dress and black shoes. She herself wore, surprisingly, jeans pants, a white T-shirt, and a pair of white sneakers. The clothes were tight on her body, and there was something about how common yet sexy it looked that made Arthur look at her in a way that definitely didn't fit the circumstances.

Sophie's eyes and knowing smile made it clear that she had done it intentionally. She then slowly removed her clothes and put on new ones: a beautiful light brown dress with golden flowers and long leather boots. This time, she also wore underwear.

"Fate," Arthur breathed after she was done.

Sophie giggled. "A sneak peak on some ideas I had," she said.

"We might've died if we were attacked while I was that distracted," he said. "Someone should've followed you back here."

Her smile didn't leave her face. "As if. We both kept watch over our surroundings. I just delayed us for half a minute." She approached and pecked his lips. "It was also a thanks. And proof."

"Proof?"

"Proof that not only will I always come back to you, but you'll also like many of the ideas I'll have while away. Proof that some distance apart is good for us. Proof for me, too." She sighed and hugged him. "It hurt, Archie. I was so scared. But missing you was good to me, kind of. Seeing you again after being apart was great." She hugged him tightly. "Thank you for respecting my decisions. Including bringing Tamara back. I knew you could save her."

Arthur hugged her back and also sighed. He had suppressed his emotions to the utmost when he heard Tamara say she believed herself to be cursed. As far as Sophie knew, the maid was correct. Yet, Sophie had risked her life.

Because she knew he could save Tamara.

Her blind faith in him didn't bring him the joy he believed they should. Instead, they weighed heavily on his shoulders.

He whispered, "You might be wrong one day, Soph. I'm not perfect. I can't solve everything."

She whispered back, "I know. I never doubted you could heal her, but if it happened... If they could kill Tamara that easily... You had to know. You had to see. Even if I also died, you had to know what to be prepared against."

Her words made logical sense. They were a small group, and he was the most likely to survive to avenge them or prepare countermeasures for any issue. Dissecting a dead body wasn't the same as analyzing a living one if a curse was the cause of death.

But hearing that she had knowingly put herself at risk just on the possibility that it might help him survive later...

"Fate, I don't deserve you," he said. "If you had died, I would go on a rampage until I killed everyone involved in hurting you. I would dishonor your sacrifice and die soon after."

Her following whisper was barely audible even to his senses. "No, Archie. You wouldn't." She felt both sad and ecstatic at that belief.

The truth tore Arthur's heart apart. Sophie was right, of course. If she got killed in battle or in a trap, he would seek revenge at once, no matter the consequences. But if she sacrificed herself so he could be better prepared for the enemy, he wouldn't spit on her by getting himself stupidly killed. He would bide his time and ensure her sacrifice wasn't in vain.

Thinking about that sad life waiting for the right time to strike without her by his side was horrible. Sometimes, he hated that she knew him so well.

"I love you," he said with a last, heavy sigh.

"I love you, too."

He allowed them a half-minute of silence, then added, "Sorry for your loss."

Mr. Mustache had been left in their apartment in the Institute. Arthur didn't recall feeling him within his domain after they left, but he hadn't been looking for the cat. Unless they had released him in the wild, he was gone, too.

Sophie hugged him tightly. "I feel sad, but the worst is the guilty. We brought him here to die. I didn't even care to bring him with us to the dungeon."

"That's on me. I just brought us to the dungeon without asking anyone about it. Sorry. And you saved him before, didn't you? You extended his life and gave him free food and affection. He didn't have time to even feel scared before he died. It was a better way to pass than out of hunger."

"You saved him," she corrected.

"Which just makes me even more at fault. You cared for him in my stead. Don't feel guilty."

Arthur didn't often think of the cat but shared her guilty feelings. But it was more detached than Sophie. He saw Mr. Mustache as only a little less distant than the animals in the forest he had killed to heal himself and his people. The worst part for him was how Sophie felt about it.

The prince had assimilated modern culture enough to know that most people would be shocked if he ever publicized those feelings, but there was nothing he could do. In the past, in his culture, people didn't care that much about animals, and he had been raised to be king, who saw animals as resources. Moreover, he was used to killing monsters of all shapes, including those with animalistic features. Lastly, during his ascension, he had lived as countless animals, both hunter and hunted, then died as them all. It was too challenging for him to attach too much feeling to any non-sapient being beyond basic empathy when they were suffering, which had led him to save Mr. Mustache.

They kept silent for a few moments. Then, he grabbed the enchanted disk and the three unconscious people and headed back through the tunnel. He stopped midway through the original location and waited for Tamara's stats to return to normal before waking her up and asking her to use her camouflaging skill.

They left the tunnel there, heading to another forest where he could restore his maid's limbs and, finally, get a report on whatever they had found in the city.

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In a forest, a middle-aged female human repeatedly crouched and stood up while opening and closing her hands, testing her new body parts. Tamara's new black dress suffered under the strain of her human body, which was larger compared to her true elven one and Sophie's, the dress's owner.

Arthur finished reading the few sheets of paper where Tamara had recorded her findings with shaky calligraphy. It also had blood smears and tears. She had probably used her mouth to write it. She had had it hard.

He then turned to Sophie, who proceeded to report similar findings to the maid's.

In the end, he nodded and summed everything up, "So, Terrell has been missing ever since he was declared a traitor by the League right after we entered the dungeon. However, the League didn't reveal he blew up the Institute. Instead, they claimed the nuclear explosion was an accident. They were experimenting with destroying the dungeon, and the magic got out of control. Even so, they said they succeeded in getting rid of the dungeon."

The two women nodded.

He continued, "Tamara also found information about my sister's descendants living among the elves. And while she was following the trail, she sprung a trap that almost got her killed."

They nodded again.

Arthur deadpanned, "We were betrayed. If not before the attack, at the very least, after. The League stole the credit for destroying the dungeon from me because even those who might know we survived would rather side with Terrell. He has missiles with nuclear explosives, while we are few and suppressed, even if we're strong awakeners."

"I know this doesn't make any sense," Sophie said, "but I swear they are acting that stupidly."

Arthur smiled sadly. "No, Soph; it makes perfect sense. We were trained for a world with awakeners and know only an idiot would offend a strong awakener who can survive what we did. Terrell is evidently a good strategist, but his perspective is as skewed by his environment as our perspective was by our environment. This is a world of quantity over quality. Even a nuclear warhead doesn't matter much if the side with overwhelmingly greater numbers is willing to sacrifice some people to finish the other party. Yet—"

Sophie rolled her eyes and interrupted, "I know that. That's why I can't believe the League would be that dumb. Even from their perspective, you have much more mana— Oh. Oh! They don't understand what an impossibly strong awakener with too much comprehension and mana can do."

He chuckled at her eye roll. "That, too. Joint Command is made up of level fifty awakeners who fear leaving regions with too much mana. I bet the world will take a while to heal and allow awakeners to travel freely. Maybe except for a few elves, no one nowadays understands what a free, strong awakener can accomplish. Not even Terrell, considering I saw no one hunting us down."

"But doesn't they have a point, Archie? If they surround Avaria with enemy troops, we'll be pinned down because breaking through the barricade would require mana, and we can't recover it in low-mana regions. If they also keep attacking us... Not even you can fight nonstop. It doesn't sound like they're underestimating strong awakeners like you said."

Arthur smiled. "You got caught in modern perspective but also mixed it with ours. You can envision countless awakeners instantly deployed from everywhere throughout the world to fight a war. In the past, if you gave any nation a few days, their shamans would open portals to move their armies anywhere. It just took the willingness to spend resources. We studied the Great War, and that's one of the things that made it so terrifying in the end. By then, everyone was one step away from going all-out, and we had accumulated resources for ages, meaning portals would appear everywhere, and chaos would ensue."

"They have airplanes nowadays," she pointed out.

"Yes, but not enough to move as many people as quickly and effectively as you assume. They can deploy countless soldiers, but it would take weeks at the least. Not all military forces are ready to fight instantly like awakeners were. Few armies even have experience fighting wars nowadays, as it was one of the things the League kept mostly controlled and forbidden. But that isn't the point. You're still mixing things up. Soph, we were trained to fight a war against awakeners. Granted, Magitech is powerful. If they can develop nuclear bombs, they must have other surprises in store. And yet, I ask you: do you think even millions of unawakened clad in voidsteel and wielding weapons that can instantly kill you at the slightest touch, all of them stationed around Avaria, could stop you from running away?"

She frowned and thought for a few moments. "Maybe." He raised an eyebrow, and she sighed, admitting defeat with a "No."

"Exactly. Ultimately, only a strong awakener can deal with another strong awakener. That truth hasn't changed. In a way, our clash against Terrell will be a clash between the past and the present beliefs fighting for supremacy over our future. Is the Free Fate Movement right, and awakeners are just arrogant people living in the past, refusing to give up their power for the greater good? Were our ways temporary, a mere fruit of the cultural evolution of the Fated Races? Are our beliefs now outdated? Can our truth withstand the test of time?"

Sophie bit her lower lip. "Well? Can it?" They hadn't discussed such things before, but it seemed to bother her.

"You tell me. We almost died because we sprung a trap. The enemy knew exactly where we would be and when, and I lacked usable metal to protect ourselves in time. It was a terrible oversight on my part, born out of a tentative trust in the League and unwillingness to cause property damage to innocents. An oversight I won't make again." He pointed at the metal spheres and discs currently floating around him. If Graham died, it would be on him. "Sure, we're vulnerable against traps. Tamara is proof. But do you believe the same missile right now could kill you?"

"It can if I don't see it coming. It was fast."

"Good. Overconfidence begets death. Now, stop thinking on the defensive and about direct clashes. If I ask you to kill Terrell, do you believe you can accomplish it?"

"Of course." There was not a single shred of doubt in her entire being. "You should ask me how long it'll take, not if I can do it."

"And that's your answer to whether our way is outdated. That's our way, Soph. No, not our way; that's the way the world works. Only a strong awakener can stop another; it's a cold fact. Terrell wouldn't even see it coming.

"In a war between nations or groups, numbers and technology mattered even in the past. We also developed enchanted armor and weaponry; such things aren't useless. When everyone is about as strong as everyone else, such artifacts are much more critical. We studied similar wars, and that's how Terrell thinks; after all, almost everyone is equally weak nowadays. Or so I suppose, considering he dismissed us so quickly after merely almost killing us. If he understood what we're discussing, he would've tracked us down and rained nuclear missiles on us. He doesn't do that because he assumes that's unnecessary. I would go as far as to state that he likely was corrupted by politics. Awakeners don't stop attacking until their enemy dies. We never know what surprises a monster or awakener has in store."

Tamara stopped her exercises and interjected, "He might not know we're alive, master."

Arthur could tell she was raising the possibility for Sophie's benefit instead of because she believed it, just so his suitress could follow his thought process.

He replied, "Possible, but unlikely. Our names weren't on the list of 'accidental' Institute victims you compiled, and they know the dungeon is gone. They can only conclude we're dead or missing. By not mentioning us, someone in the League wants us to know that they at least suspect we're alive. We must assume the League ultimately bowed down to Terrell, but someone wants us to believe it was out of fear, not because they want to."

Whether the League's betrayal was out of greed or worry for its continued survival only changed things slightly. A subjugated force used by the enemy was also an enemy force. The only difference was that Arthur could choose to free and assimilate that force into his camp instead of just crushing them.

In this case, he would focus on Terrell, the main issue, and kill anyone that stood in the way. The League was a problem for later.

"Maybe he doesn't have enough people to search for us?" Sophie suggested weakly. Not even she believed that.

"He had moles in Joint Command. He developed a nuclear weapon and, considering the League submitted so quickly, has more of them. Even with the threat such missiles represent, he would need strong backing not to be directly assassinated and replaced out of greed for such power. We must assume Terrell has the resources to look for us and believe himself safe. He doesn't think we're dangerous enough to justify using more missiles to finish us. Perhaps he wouldn't even have wasted a nuclear warhead on us if getting rid of the Institute didn't serve other purposes. For one, it was an overwhelming show of force. The Institute's defenses were among the best in the world, yet they failed, even if he exploited a weakness in them. Only a crater remains where once stood an entire fortress. I'm strong, yet those who knew I was there also noticed I couldn't or wouldn't stop the explosion. No one can defend against nuclear weapons unless they are stopped far away from their target—and that assuming the radiation doesn't spread or can also be stopped. Who would bet their lives against that?"

Sophie was looking gloomier at Arthur's every word.

The prince sighed. "You and I discussed politics and the dangers of different governments multiple times. As I told you before, even if I try to accept your viewpoints, in the end, I can only go as far as to admit absolute monarchy is a necessary evil. Awakeners must have privileges because of monsters, and social order must be maintained because losing awakeners to civil unrest means potentially losing the entire country to a dungeon overflow or external threats. Power must be centralized so different interests don't create weaknesses. Things might've been different if no awakeners existed, hence nowadays' republics, but from the moment a single strong awakener can appear, everything changes.

"Even if you don't think as a nation, if you think of us as family, you would be doing exactly what I would to protect ourselves, no matter who is right or wrong: we wouldn't leave a strong awakener free after we fail to kill them once. That's common sense for anyone who understands where true power lies. If money and enchantments were enough to stop powerful awakeners—or powerful monsters—no House or nation would waste resources growing or hiring mighty awakeners of their own. At most, they would invest enough to get some vitality boost and live healthier for longer.

"Although magic wasn't as cheap as magitech is, powerful Houses had access to enough enchantments. Still, only an idiot would offend a strong awakener for no reason. We were taught cautionary tales about it. We united against arrogant and disrespectful upstarts out of self-preservation. Because we understood no enchantment can stop a driven awakener after a certain level.

"Only another strong awakener can stop another," he repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. "Some enchantments could give you time for a mighty savior to arrive, but enchantments alone weren't enough. Unique and expensive shamanism saved my mother from one assassination attempt, but the murderers only needed time to track her true body down if they hadn't gotten killed first.

"You said yourself that you can kill Terrell. You also don't believe magitech is enough to stop you. His most powerful weapon against you would be awakeners. At the very least, he would need chronomancers to divine your approach and let him trap you."

Arthur had thought about it, and unless there was a secret missile launch facility nearby, Terrell had to have contracted diviners to time his attack. If the divination was wrong and the only target was Arthur, he would have wasted a warhead. That was another reason the prince believed the man didn't much care about killing Arthur in the blast. Terrell would still have accomplished the more important goal of destroying the Institute.

The diviners were a big issue. Terrell might not be as resolute as an awakener facing an enemy, but he employed a High House's means. Diviners weren't omniscient, but they might thwart enough assassination attempts for something to go wrong.

In the past, wars often either ended immediately or took months to years to conclude. The former happened when the power gap was too big, or one party knew everything about the other and swiftly killed all key figures, including chronomancers employed by their foes. Arthur knew nothing about Terrell, and while the power gap might be individually huge, the institutional gap was also enormous.

Of course, diviners were just awakeners, even if their element was strong. Any awakener could be fooled. Considering Arthur's limited resources, he would go with the most basic play in the book.

"Sophie, I'll need your help," he said, looking her in the eyes. He hated separating from her, but it was the fastest way to get rid of Terrell and the best way he could think of to ensure she kept safe.

She smiled, proud yet unsure. "Of course, Archie. Anything for you. You know that."

He let gratitude and love fill his body for a moment before controlling his emotions and nodding once. "I do. And I say the same. We must establish ways to talk to each other and split up. I'll hunt Terrell on the light to attract most scouts' and diviners' attention. If we get lucky, he'll get angry and make a mistake, too. Tamara will investigate in the darkness and keep informing us about everything she finds; I'll kill every diviner she finds. She'll attract the second most attention. You'll position yourself wherever you think you can kill Terrell if the stars align. You'll move slowly so as not to alarm anyone and not be pinpointed in any divination. The more natural it is, the better. You'll only contact us if you think something is wrong." He paused and looked at both women. "Our lives are the priority. We can always try later even if we fail repeatedly, but only if we're alive."

Important people from High Houses were almost always assassinated by chance when they met the wrong person at the wrong time—and there were ways of making it more likely for that "chance" to happen. The most straightforward tactic involved making big "splashes" in the river of time to pull most of the enemy's chronomancers' focus and create countless forks in the future possibilities. Considering how multiple diviners had to check on the same event to get different perspectives and avoid holes, it also restricted how many of those would be available to check other things.

The plan wasn't perfect, in the sense that it was possible Terrell would keep evading death for a long while. But it didn't need to be perfect. Arthur and the women only needed to endure patiently and ensure the one creating big splashes didn't die. As long as the prince made things chaotic enough, it would be impossible for Sophie to be identified even if she never got in a good position.

Likewise, the better he did, the less likely Tamara was to mess up—again. After her close call, he was sure she wouldn't underestimate magitech or modern ingenuity again. And he needed her to acquire information.

Everyone's task was potentially lethal and equally critical. Unless Terrell messed up badly, he would never allow Arthur to get close to him. Until the world's mana levels increased and Arthur could use mana to traverse low-mana regions worry-free, he would always have to mind his reserves. Meanwhile, Terrell could spend resources to stay ahead. Arthur's domains might deny Terrell that advantage, as he could travel low-mana regions with no mana expenditure, but the prince wouldn't bet on an easy hunt.

Sophie bit her lower lip and asked, "You'll fight alone?"

He smiled sadly. "I need to." He gestured to the unconscious Graham and Emily. "I can protect the two alone. Neither you nor Tamara can do the same."

Sophie frowned as unreasonable jealousy spiked inside her. "You're taking her?"

"I'm kidnapping her," the prince corrected. "She'll remain unconscious the whole time. To my shame, that's the best way of ensuring her family is kept safe. Anything else and her family might become targets for Terrell to use against me. For the same reason, I'm ignoring my sister's descendants for now—though I suspect that if Tamara just happened to find out about them while collecting information about the state of the world, it might be related to Terrell, who might already have plans for them. I'll deal with it as it comes."

"Wait," Tamara spoke before Sophie could. "Master, you're considering the villain's gambit?" Her voice made it clear what she thought of that.

The villain's gambit increased the chaos he would create. So many people would discuss his actions, and his every movement would cause so many ripples, that it would be even more challenging for any diviner to see anything not linked to him when they tried. That would better hide Tamara and Sophie.

"What alternative do I have?" the prince countered. "I won't sacrifice Emily's family. She was in the Institute probably because of us. I already have to take care of Graham; one more unconscious girl won't change things."

"Her presence helped lower our defenses against external threats," Sophie pointed out. "And she's a woman, not a girl."

"I do have an alternative, master," Tamara said. "Change her memories to let her remember you as—"

"No," Arthur refused firmly. "No mind control of any kind."

"Circumstantial evidence, then, master. I don't like the villain's gambit, but I understand why you would use it. Just leave her tied alone in an abandoned building with signs of having been kidnapped by you, and you escaped when she was found. Actual kidnapping would be a factual crime. You can't come back from that, even with good intentions."

The prince frowned. He should have thought of that plan. His lack of experience compared to Tamara was evident.

"That's a good idea," he conceded. "I'll be a little less safe for her depending on what Terrell attempts, but it's good enough. I did save her twice already."

He looked at Sophie and sighed. Sometimes, one had to do things they would rather not do to protect their family. He had no doubt rumors would arise about him doing something to the girl he had kidnapped, and since he would have kidnapped her, there was no reason for anyone to doubt he wasn't a worse scum. He didn't want the world to believe Sophie was married to such a man.

"No," Sophie said firmly, to both Tamara and Arthur's surprise. "If Terrell uses the woman's family against Arthur, it's on them. If Arthur lets his enemy capture her and use it against her, it's partially his fault. Yes, yes, I know. Maybe it's not his fault. But we can agree on how lousy it would be to give Terrell such a useful tool, I hope. As far as the world is concerned, Arthur has already kidnapped her, even if he returns her to safety. Who'll believe he helped her survive an explosion that destroyed the Institute? Getting rid of her might even cause her death, which will be linked to Arthur anyway. It's better for him to protect her."

She was still jealous, and defending the idea of Arthur protecting Emily took a toll on her. But she braved through it because she believed it was the right thing to do.

"Rumors can be as powerful as fact in some circumstances," Tamara said. "But when the time comes to reveal the truth, they are different. Indeed, they can blame His Highness for Terrell's actions against Emily to an extent, but it's still mainly on Terrell. Conversely, it's entirely on His Highness if he uses an evil means to justify an end. They'll link it to his father's actions that broke the world. They'll link it to Terrell blowing up the Institute for whatever reason he uses. High House Boria will lose more prestige, and your family will be ostracized. And for good reason. High House Boria will be someone who kidnaps women for their own good. It's true, but it doesn't sound good, does it? This isn't about just Emily or just you two. You must think of your children and grandchildren."

Arthur frowned again. Unfortunately, that made way too much sense. He could hide his family with his magic, but it would be a humiliation. He would smear his ancestors' name for a girl he had already saved. Refusing to use his own House's name would be a disgrace.

But Sophie was also correct. Letting Terrell have Emily would be a bad strategic decision. The only issue with her arguments was the difference between rumor and fact, which Tamara pointed out.

The prince thought for a little while, then sighed. "Tamara is mostly correct, but she's wrong about one thing: my family decides what's best for itself. I owe my ancestors a lot, but not enough to sacrifice an innocent for them. Not when my future wife and I are of one mind about saving said innocent. Not to mention, I wouldn't want my descendants to let innocent people die to preserve our House's name. That is if the name can even be preserved. Terrell only needs to say a few words, and as Tamara said, everyone will know my father broke the world. The League already claimed they destroyed the dungeon. Even if they reveal the truth later, how many will believe I did it, and how many will wrongly link it to the explosion, which they think destroyed the dungeon? Even if some believe the truth, how many of those will believe my actions make up for my father's sin, and how many will think I shouldn't have destroyed the dungeon? No. There's little to no prestige to preserve for High House Boria. My future wife's opinion is the only one that matters, even if the entire world thinks I should've done something differently."

Sophie felt a mix of pride, happiness, and bitter-sweetness. She both liked and disliked being right because it did mean some rumors would surround her lover. Still, she was willing to put an innocent woman's life above her personal comfort.

"As you wish, master," Tamara nodded.

"It's settled, then. Let's discuss how to keep in contact from afar. We should have ten primary ways and ten secondary ones. It makes it more likely to be intercepted, but information will be crucial for our operations to work. We'll meet in person once every month..."

They planned for a long while.

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[A/N: This is the first chapter in the Clash of Truths arc. It's going to be fun.]

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