Bunny Girl Evolution (BOOK 2 COMPLETE) (STUBBED!)

While Elise felt that her plan was solid, the execution of said plan was much less so. Controlling her body from her soul was possible, but not easy. At first, she felt like she could only do one thing at once. She could either speak, or move her arm, but not both at once. It was like she was trying to control a marionette without prior training, only able to do the most basic of actions.

For a few minutes, she was worried that her plan was a bust, since it would never work if she couldn’t move around convincingly. Luckily, the skill seemed to come to her very quickly. It only took an hour before she was able to walk unsteadily, and another before she could talk at the same time, and an hour after that, she was able to use single Skills while also moving around. She still felt a little stiff and unsteady, but as long as she didn’t need to do anything too intense, she could act normally.

Once she reached this point, they began to put the plan in action. And the plan to deal with the assassin involved doing… nothing. Not literally nothing, but they were going to act as though the assassin didn’t exist and continue with the Dungeon Competition. Even with the assassin issue, Elise still wanted to win, and this was still easily the best plan. Meanwhile, Elise would stay disconnected from the System for the vast majority of the time, only connecting to cast spells to assist in battles when needed.

Elise saw the plan going one of three ways. The first, and most optimistic possibility, was that the assassin would realize that she could sense them and give up on the assassination. None of them thought that very likely.

The second, and what Elise considered the most likely, was that the assassin would try to wait until she had let her guard down again, and then go after her again. That was the main reason she had chosen this particular plan. It was a little risky in that the best time to attack her would be in combat, during which time she would be connected to the System to use her Skills, but as long as she disconnected after each use of a Skill, she would hopefully catch them coming.

The third, and most dangerous possibility was that the assassin would try to overwhelm them with numbers using their clones. If they locked her in combat, one of the clones, or perhaps the real one, would probably be able to sneak around behind and take her out. She doubted that an assassin whose whole skillset seemed to revolve around stealth and clones would do that, since they wouldn’t have the power to last against the Dungeon team, but while risky, Elise thought it was the plan with the best chance of working. It might be how they handled it as a last resort.

Of course, there were dozens of other things the assassin could otherwise do to bother them, like trying to corral monsters in their direction, or sending clone after clone to wear them down and find holes in their formation, but it would all ultimately end in one of the main three. The question of which the assassin would pick would come down to who they were, and why they were after her.

She still had no clue who it might be. Her first theory was that it was Jelor, or one of the other important groups dealing with Ostra. She had not been paying attention to all the vicissitudes of the negotiations, but she kept an ear open for major developments and general news, and she knew that Ostra’s existence was not looked upon well by everyone. The king seemed more than willing to deal with them, but many of the nobles were against it, and while neither of the major churches had an official stance, their leadership was very divided on the topic. And extremists existed on both sides in all groups, so it wouldn’t be far-fetched for one of them to have sent assassins against known Ostra members who were infiltrating humanoid society.

The caliber of the assassin would have helped narrow things down if Elise knew anything about the power balance. She knew from Emmett’s class that the kind of stealth that she and the assassin possessed was not at all common. In fact, it was so rare that it never appeared in combat Classes below late 9th Tier. The fact that this assassin had it meant that they were either late 9th Tier, or they didn’t have a combat Class, which Elise thought likely. If they were truly a 9th tier assassin, the attack would have been far too fast for Elise to react to, and she would be dead.

Regardless, just having anyone with that Skill, meant that they were a powerful group… but she didn’t know enough to pin them down more specifically than that. She could maybe somewhat narrow it down by assuming the assassin was in some way a noble like her, but that still didn’t do much for her very limited knowledge of politics.

There was also the possibility of Ostra, but she brushed that one aside. There were too many things about that that didn’t make any sense. Unless perhaps Freddy was perhaps expecting betrayal? Maybe that was why he gave her the bracelet? Could that also be why no one had responded?

She mentally ran through a few more possibilities, but soon sighed and set the matter aside. There was no way for her to get an answer down here. Her communication scroll was not working, and she did not have enough knowledge to do more than theorize. She knew she might be able to get further by asking Hannah, who seemed quite knowledgeable about current events, but that would involve revealing more secrets than she cared to. So for now, her current plan was her best option.

Hannah had argued that they should just head straight back to the surface to report the assassination attempt, but Elise was extremely reluctant to do that. She acknowledged that it was objectively the safest plan, but she knew that the moment the Dungeon Competition ended, she would have to leave, and she didn’t want it cut short by the assassin. Especially not when she felt like she could handle the assassin. Luckily, after explaining to Telvir and Sophie, she was able to convince them to go along with it, and they both outvoted Hannah, and were able to convince her otherwise.

Since it was the fourth day, they were supposed to be heading back anyway. Three days in, two days out. They would be going the right direction anyway. If things got dangerous, they could just move faster. It also helped that the assassin clearly didn’t want to cause collateral damage, since it would have been easy enough for them to kill Sophie, or whoever else was on watch, first, but they didn’t. Hannah still didn’t like it, but ultimately acquiesced, and Frank, as always, didn’t care either way.

Once Elise got general control of her body and Skills, they started advancing through the tunnels. They moved slower than before, and picked their battles more carefully, but given that they were already a bit overpowered for what they were doing, they didn’t encounter any issues. The wyrms and worms weren’t able to put up much resistance, and Elise was a little more liberal about her use of aether. Her ultimate plan of catching kind of hinged on using it, so it didn’t really matter if that particular cat got out of its bag at the moment.

For the first four hours, there was no sign of the assassin. Elise was beginning to hope that they had actually given up, but unfortunately, they had no such luck. As they rested after a somewhat more intense battle with a trio of powerful lava wyrms, Elise was gathering the experience fog in her soul when she suddenly sensed another presence on the edge of her range.

Immediately, she connected to the System, hoping she could use the Rune of Fate to fight off their stealth Skill, and although she knew it should have worked, she was pleased to see it did. Even while connected to the System, she could will herself not to be bound by the Skill. However, it seemed that in the process of doing that, it somehow alerted the assassin, and the moment she pushed their aether away, they got spooked and left.

Scowling, she disconnected from the System again. She wouldn’t be able to lure the assassin in if they were notified whenever she broke their stealth, but she wouldn’t be able to fight back unless she did exactly that. She considered for a moment the possibility of instantly trying to catch the assassin with a telepathically delivered {Royal Decree}, but she doubted that would work. The assassin had already reacted almost instantly, so it would have been difficult to catch them even that time, and now they would be ready for it, so they would react even faster.

She would just have to avoid doing that again and hope they thought it was her only trick. Though that possibility was seeming less and less likely by the second. The assassin would have to be very stupid to not at least theorize that Elise could sense them passively.

The assassin did not return until that night, when Elise was supposed to be asleep. She was pretending, of course. She wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night. It would be uncomfortable to be so sleep-deprived, but doable, especially with her now-superhuman Fortitude and Willpower to keep her going.

They crept up in exactly the same way as before, sitting on the edge of her senses and doing nothing. Since she was supposed to be asleep, she had hoped that they would sneak up and attack the same way as the first time, but they were cautious. Her earlier stunt probably hadn’t helped.

They stayed where they were for a long time, not moving an inch. It was an incredibly tense hour before it was time for a watch switch, and the assassin retreated during the small commotion. It was Telvir’s turn on duty, and though Elise used {Whisper} to tell him about the assassin, it was all for naught, as nothing happened during his shift. The assassin retreated once again during the next switch when Elise “woke up” and crept back, only to sit and wait for another two hours, doing nothing but waiting the entire time.

Elise was beginning to think they weren’t going to do anything. Perhaps they were trying to test her. See if she noticed them again. Or maybe they had noticed she was faking being asleep, and were trying to wait until she actually fell asleep. Or maybe they didn’t plan to attack at all, and were just going to sit on the edge of her senses, taunting her until she was too exhausted to react properly.

Not that the last tactic would work, since they would be leaving the Dungeon soon, but then again, maybe the assassination attempt wasn’t a one-off thing. Elise could, of course, just teleport to Everspring as soon as she got out and be relatively safe in Oberon’s care, but that was just another reason she wanted to resolve this here and now. Wandering the world would be significantly more difficult if she had to watch her back for assassins wherever she went.

When her shift ended, and she lay back down to sleep, the assassin finally made their move. Not immediately, but after Elise put an hour into doing her absolute best to pretend to be asleep—which actually wasn’t that hard, since all she had to do was release control of her body, letting it go completely limp and fall into an almost comatose state. There was no risk of her breathing or heart rate giving her away if she was not even currently in her body.

The assassin flared with aether, but if they used any mana, it was hidden well enough that Elise didn’t notice it. A moment later, there were two of them. Elise assumed it was the cloning Skill, and based on what she sensed, it was much weaker than Oberon’s. Yet another point in favor of them not actually being that powerful.

The clone slowly approached, with both it and the original noticeably on edge. Elise couldn’t read their emotions without connecting to the System, but just the way they moved made their emotions obvious. Elise stayed as she was, completely limp on the ground, letting the clone get right among them, drawing their knife above her. Then, she made her move.

She grasped the System web, immediately using {Whisper} and {Royal Decree}.

“Stop!” she sent.

The moment she had connected to the System, the assassin tried to flee, but they were a split second late, having been evidently engrossed in controlling their clone. They only managed to move about a foot before they froze in their tracks, stopped by Elise’s command.

“Release your stealth Skill,” Elise commanded, re-taking control of her body and standing up.

The clone was already dissipating, and the knife fell to the ground with a clatter that startled Sophie. Telvir also arose at the same time, but Frank and Hannah remained fast asleep. That was for the best, though.

Elise activated her wings and flew down the tunnel until she reached where the assassin was still stuck in place, trembling. Elise could feel them fighting against her command, but Elise’s aether had a stranglehold on their soul, and they couldn’t budge.

They were dressed in all black, body and face completely covered, but now that Elise could see them clearly, the assassin was clearly a woman. And there was something about her aether signature that felt familiar. A sense of dread filled Elise as she flew around until she was standing in front of the assassin.

“Take off your face coverings,” she commanded.

Still trembling, the assassin reached up and began unwrapping the cloth, revealing what was underneath. She was not human. Her ears were pointed, but not like an elf’s, and from the top of her head, a small crown of branches was set. Her hair was long and jet black, and her eyes were solid green, and though Elise had never seen this particular face before, she recognized who it belonged to.

“Helene,” she said, her face stony and voice calm. “Why are you trying to kill me?”

---

Freddy was in a good mood. He knew better than to celebrate things before he happened, but everything had been going well. Negotiations with Jelor were more or less already concluded, and with their help, he would be able to forge deals with their allied nations too. Wei Lan was a surprise addition to the peace summit, but she so far seemed to not be hostile, so he at least did not have another enemy.

He had lived for many years under many names and witnessed many great events, but this was perhaps the one he was most excited about. A large part of that was that it was due to the fact that today would be the fruits of his efforts. Centuries of work on this organization, meticulously planning and preparing, all for this.

He had been somewhat distracted in Marwin’s office by the dozens of messages reaching him every minute with updates on Ostra’s current situation, but he hadn’t missed Penelope’s attitude. It was quite amusing. He figured that Elise would have told her about his identity, but he hadn’t expected Penelope to react so strongly. She was probably struggling between duty and friendship, wondering whether to reveal it to her commander, or keep it secret for now. And his message to her had spooked her even further. He knew that Oberon had probably rubbed off on him a little too much, but little pranks like that on unsuspecting humans were always so amusing.

Besides, after today, her conflict and nervousness would be gone. Freddy never intended to maintain this identity after Ostra went public. In fact, at the peace summit, he planned to reveal himself. Under other circumstances, it would have been dangerous to be uncovered as a demon, but he had spent decades doing as much work as he could to appear the benevolent ruler. His dukedom was one of the most prosperous in the country, as well as being the safest and having the best welfare. Even if his reveal was a shock, he would still have the opinions of the general public on his side.

On top of that, he hadn’t even taken this position through any shady means. He had become a duke through a deal with the previous king, so everything was legitimate.

He had double and triple checked everything else, too. Elise was protected, as were the other infiltrating members of Ostra. His backup plans were in place. Some of his other minor preparations were wrapping up. Everything was going perfectly.

His mood continued to improve when they reached the summit, and he began socializing before the official talks began. There were still people who were very against the idea of Ostra being allied with any major forces, but it was clear from the atmosphere in the room that they were losing ground. Ostra members had been performing charity and demonstrating their peacefulness all over the continent ever since their reveal, and even if some of the higher-ups were staunch in their principles, they could not hold out against public opinion forever.

When the king of Jelor announced the beginning of the summit, he was struggling to maintain his ordinary, calm smile. His lips kept trying to curl further upward, and his lungs wanted to laugh.

“Before we begin, my brother, Frederic, has a message he would like to share,” said the king at the end of his brief speech.

“Of course,” said Freddy standing up from his chair. “You all may– may…”

He swayed, suddenly dizzy.

What?

“A– apologies,” he said, holding up a hand. “It seems that I… I… I feel…?”

He felt something run down his chin, and held out his hand just in time to see a drop of blood fall onto it. At that same moment, all the knights around the room suddenly drew their swords, and one of the king’s advisors, Emmett Larcombe rose to his feet.

“What convenient timing,” said Emmett. “For all of you who are confused, this man is not Duke Frederic. In fact, he is not a man at all. He is an archdemon, and the leader of Ostra. He is also the one who ordered the creation of the Blood Syndicate, all so that he could later take it down and pretend that Ostra was a force for good.”

His proclamation was met with gasps and whispers. Freddy wanted to protest, but the poison ravaging his body only got worse. He was bleeding from his mouth, eyes, and ears now as well, and the strain grew so much he could no longer maintain his human form. His skin turned gray, his hair black, and great horns sprouted from his head, to the shock of everyone around.

Why…?How..?

“I have prepared copies of all the evidence, which my subordinates will distribute shortly. For now, please step back while we finish subduing the archdemon.”

Freddy glanced around, seeing the looks of horror, disgust, and hatred on the faces all around. This was not how it was supposed to go, and he had no idea where it had gone wrong. His mind was growing foggier, but he had the presence of mind to know that his situation was not going to get any better. He needed to get to safety so he could deal with the poison.

He mentally reached for an amulet hanging from his neck. There was an anti-teleportation field set down, but the artifact was made by the finest demon smith in the world, and could not be stopped. He heard shouts as the mana swirled around him, but the humanoids could not do anything before he vanished, reappearing in his office.

He stumbled to his desk, fumbling with the drawers until he found the spatially expanded one that was supposed to contain various potions and antidotes. It was empty. Upon seeing that, he finally noticed that he was not alone in the room. Sitting on the couch and watching him with an amused smile. It was his assistant, Firona.

“You!” he shouted, black ichor flying from his mouth as he spoke. “It was you!”

“Me?” she asked, feigning innocence. “What did I do?”

Freddy tried to gather his mana, but it would not respond to his will. He tried to lunge toward her, but his strength was rapidly leaving him, and he only managed to stumble forward a few steps before falling to the ground at her feet.

“How?” he asked, spitting more blood. “HOW?!”

“How what?” she asked. “How did I poison you? How did I arrange for the downfall of Ostra? How did I steal from your secure desk? Oh, no, you’re wondering how I got around your contract to do all that!”

Freddy tried to respond, but all that came out was a gurgle as his mouth and throat filled with blood.

“Well, it’s simple. I didn’t! Your contract told me not to harm you, and has a lot of clauses about not doing anything that would directly lead to your death, and I have to admit, it was very thorough. But do you know what doesn’t count as trying to kill you? Giving a powerful poison to someone who thinks positively of you, only for them to just happen to start hating you some time afterward. I mean, how was I supposed to know that she would flip around like that? I was just giving a gift.”

Penelope?

Freddy recalled the young knight’s attitude and realized that maybe it hadn’t been just nervousness about how to handle his dual identities.

“And as for Ostra, that one is simple. You made that contract for ordinary monsters. It’s full of holes. Giving certain information to people who are already aware of Ostra and many of its misdeeds is well within the tolerance zone. I mean, really, that one was entirely on you.”

Freddy growled in anger, but he could hardly move a muscle.

“I really wish that I could deal the finishing blow myself,” she continued. “But unfortunately, I’m contractually obligated not to put you out of your misery, no matter how much you may want me to right now.”

The pain was indeed immense, but his time with the Collector had earned him enough Skills to tolerate it somewhat, and while the poison was destroying him internally, his head was still clear enough to process what was happening. He had known Firona did not like him. He had contingencies in case she somehow broke free from her contract and tried to kill him. He had contingencies in case she betrayed Ostra. He did not have contingencies in place for it all to happen at once, and he had no way to stop a poison like this. Even if his antidote drawer hadn’t been empty, he could tell now that it would have only delayed the inevitable.

“I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m afraid that the humans will be here soon. You see, they may have located this place recently, and they may be currently marching in and capturing or killing every monster here. Ostra is dying today, and you’ll be right here in the middle of it all. They’ll find your body soon, and I’m sure they’ll do all kinds of nasty things to it. Even now, news of the Blood Syndicate is spreading all over the world, and the people are not happy with you.

“But one last thing before I go…” she said, leaning in close to talk directly in his ear. “That rabbit you were so fond of? You really should have made me sign a contract not to mess with her either. She’s not dead yet, unfortunately, but I’m sure you two will be reuniting in the afterlife soon enough.”

Freddy tried to shout at her, but his body did not respond at all. He could barely move his eyes to look at her smug expression. For a moment, he hoped that his protection artifact would be able to keep Elise safe, but he had entrusted Firona to be the one to pass it along. The demoness could have tampered with it and he would have never known.

I am such a fool.

In the distance, he heard explosions and screams, no doubt from the human warriors pushing into the complex.

“I guess this is goodbye, former Demon King of Envy,” said Firona. “When I become the goddess of Envy, maybe I’ll go find your soul again so I can thank you for your service.”

And with that, she finally left. And the moment she did, Freddy disappeared as well.

He was not an idiot. Of course he had a contingency for if he was dying and could not stop it too. He just did not want Firona to see him use it.

A second later, he appeared before the Collector, who was busy aligning some chairs in one of his enormous rooms. He turned as soon as Freddy appeared, and to his credit, was only confused for a split second before realizing what was happening. He knelt down beside the demon, and infused a truly enormous amount of mana and aether into his body. Freddy felt his body heal and his head clear, but when the mana and aether faded, the poison remained, and continued to wreck his body.

“This is bad,” said the Collector. “I cannot cure it. We’ll have to go with Plan B.”

Dammit… thought Freddy.

Then, a heavy meat cleaver appeared in one of the Collector’s hands, and the next moment, Freddy’s head had been separated from his body. Without his heart, the poison ravaged his head in just a second, and then, his mind went dark, and he died.