Collide Gamer

In terms of leaving an impact on the locals, John considered the mission a resounding success. Nahoa had made the right call by calling in the Creator Puppet. Showing that his subordinates could stand toe to toe with ringleaders had emphasized the point of himself being capable of breaking these people over his knee.

Well, ignoring that Nahoa could have done the same more effectively if she’d deployed her diseases.

The maidolotl had also fought several of the members of the fighting ring and won the melee engagement. She had done that more out of pride than anything else.

While the Creator Puppet pulled Nahoa aside to have some fun in the safety of the winter forest, the real John updated Maximillian on the situation.

“We have three clear issues now,” the Gamer presented.

“You never bring me good news,” Maximillian complained, jokingly.

“Yeah, he’s just kinda like that,” Jane agreed and scratched the back of John’s head. His first and second wives were with him today, visiting Maximillian in his own opulent chambers. The gravity king sat behind a vast mahogany table that reminded of the monstrosity of a desk John used in his own office. A reminder that was entirely purposeful, as it had been commissioned from the same goblin craftsman that had made John’s table, along with several pieces of his Sex Dungeon equipment. The short man was gifted in the shaping of wood and leather for erotic purposes.

Maximillian leaned back and grunted. The sound was unrelated to anything that was being said and had everything to do with what happened in the leg compartment. John had seen Irielz in the living room, having tea with her husband’s elementals, Laralia and Hawpler. That only left Alice to be the one sucking his friend off.

Well, there could have been plenty more in theory. It wasn’t as if Maximillian’s harem was just locked to those members. At any given opportunity, he could reveal that he had added another woman. Not like a king from a long and proud lineage was lacking for admirers.

For his part, John was seated on the other side of the table. Jane and Aclysia both stood behind him, one bent over the backrest, playing with his hair, the other remaining dutifully upright.

“Alright!” the gravity king said with renewed clarity. The suctioning sounds muffled by the table had turned mild, then stopped entirely as he kept talking. “What are these three issues?”

“One, I can now verify that our enemy gets stronger depending on the enemy they’re facing,” he revealed. “Observe showed me a clear fluctuation of Stats of the targets.”

“That also matches testimonies of those attacked so far.” Maximillian nodded, then turned his head to the side. As all two Maidens of Null were wont to do, Alice had suddenly just manifested next to her man. For her, that perfect teleport was just a decision of no longer wanting to be in the leg compartment.

Alice was a woman of modest proportions. Her breasts were on the small side, her waist and hips shaped with regular feminine allure. That was to say that she was deeply attractive, as all women that took care of themselves tended to be. Her face was quite gorgeous, striking a balance between aristocratic features and the adorableness of a farmgirl. Her skin had long since lost the Florida tan, putting her complexion back to typical, northern European paleness. Her deep brown, borderline black hair was tied into a low ponytail.

In her nakedness, Alice also showed the fine, silvery lines that crept outwards from her spine, covering her entire back in a pattern like the veins of a leaf. They expanded and retreated in rhythmless breaths, reaching as far up as her eyes at times.

When first he had met Alice, her presence had been like standing one lead wall away from a radioactive waste pile. Though a remnant of the sensation remained, he was way too used to Nia to mind – which helped a lot because Nia was notably more powerful than Alice these days.

“Since they all have access to these fluctuations,” Maximillian continued, while Alice picked up a bottle of water left for her at the edge of the table, “it’s safe to assume that they are benefitting from a Latebloomer’s ability.”

John nodded. The power increases were too widespread and too diverse in their application to be a different, emerging form of Upset. Having a way to power up allies was somewhat common among Latebloomers. John obviously had his haremettes and, to a lesser degree, he had the Training Hall that allowed members of Fusion to train until they reached level 30.

Izha had been capable of moving power around his hivemind. Remus could craft gods. Romulus could indirectly empower gods by stealing their power and then returning it to them after they had recovered to their regular maximum. Hailey could equip people with ludicrous armaments. Lu Zhi could call upon the Cardinal Beasts to empower their chosen. Arkeidos had turned people of his choosing into immortals.

Indeed, having some way to, directly or indirectly, empower others seemed to be a core feature of being a Latebloomer. Perhaps that was a balancing act of reality to disperse the power of an individual or, more likely, it was simply a manifestation of the emotional nature of Latebloomers’ Innate Abilities. Since all Innate Abilities were filtered through the egos of humans, who were social animals, a strong enough Innate Ability would inevitably come with a way to make use of social bonds.

Ironically, Romulus and Remus illustrated that in the ways opposite of what their powers would intuitively suggest. Romulus concentrated power in himself to an extreme degree. What first seemed selfish was most likely born from the fact that Romulus wanted to put the weight of the world on his shoulders, to protect everyone he could with all that he had. Remus on the other hand likely was this decentralized in his power because he preferred to watch from a safe distance while his creations did his bidding.

John fell somewhere in the middle. He wanted everyone to have a good life. He also wanted himself and those closest to him to have the best life. That manifested in a mild buff to all of his associates and an absolutely massive buff for his close loves.

In short: the fact that all inducted members of these fighting rings had a passive effect that rubber-banded the gap between them and their enemies spoke to them all having been affected by a Latebloomer.

“Given their blessing and the character of these fighting rings, it’s pretty safe to assume we either have someone who disdains inequality or someone who is just looking for a satisfying fight,” John commented. “Probably the latter.”

“Agreed,” Maximillian said. “The former would take on a different character down the ranks… that’s what I would say, if it weren’t for, what you no doubt will say, is the second issue.”

“The memory manipulation,” John stated. “They are organized into semi-independent cells, like terrorists, and they obscure the identity of their leader. Not only do they have knowhow on how to put together proper operations security, they also back it up with magic.” John paused for a moment. “I am more concerned with the kind of magic though.”

“Why? You think this is related to something else?”

“Tziitzimimeh,” John responded. “I still have no idea what they are about, and until I know, I will just assume that they will be involved in everything.”

“That’s quite paranoid, buddy.”

“Of course it is,” John grunted.

“I thought they were associated with the Realmbreaker anyhow?”

“I think they are associated with the Realmbreaker at present,” the Gamer responded. “I actually don’t know that. It’s just that the two times they appeared so far were deeply associated with Yoshua.”

Maximillian hummed in understanding, though it was clear that he wasn’t terribly engaged with this line of thought. The Realmbreaker was not his problem at the moment and he had clearly no intent on being part of it either. In his position, John would have stayed clear of it as well. It was a Divided Gates level affair, given what John had reported on Yoshua’s level.

“Issue number three, then,” John continued, “which we already touched upon – their organization is every bit as opaque as we feared. We have essentially no way to penetrate it. Even if Fianna manages to infiltrate further up, she’ll get found out once our mystery Latebloomer tries to apply his blessing.”

Jane put her elbow on John’s shoulder and leaned a bit further forward. “Ya wanna pull Fianna out?”

“Yes,” John confirmed. “Better to take what we got so far than to risk her for minimal further gain. I am not willing to risk her safety and identity for the sake of getting a glimpse at this leader.”

Alice put down the bottle, then dropped into Maximillian’s lap. The gravity king supported her back with his arm in a well-practiced motion. “Then how do you want to proceed?” she asked.

“At this point it’s just random searches,” John responded. “Their manpower is ultimately limited. If we just keep grabbing them off the streets and putting them away, they will eventually have to respond or be consigned to a gradual death as an organization.”

“Dull and unsatisfying,” Maximillian groaned, “but the effective, gradual solution.”

John nodded. Fighting against guerilla tactics like this usually ended up like this. Asymmetrical warfare was always bothersome for the larger force, as it was all about a myriad of small operations. Annoying as that was, the superior side of the conflict ultimately just had to win the spiritual war. Resources and time were ultimately in their favour, as long as they had willingness to apply their force.

“This may take a while,” the gravity king cautioned. “Do you have a while?”

“I got nothing urgent in my future, though Nathalia may start nagging if I keep her waiting for too long,” John responded. “Well, not sure if I should say nagging…”

“You should not, Master,” Aclysia chimed in. “It is not nagging to insist a promise of marriage and procreation be fulfilled in a reasonable time.”

The other women in the room all nodded. Amusingly, Jane’s nod earned a bit of an annoyed side-eye from Aclysia. The dilly-dallying that the feline Lightbearer had partaken in when it came to organizing the wedding before the Lorylim War had not been forgotten.

“Two more weeks, let’s say,” John stated. “I’ll do my best to push towards a true confrontation with the enemy leader in that time, so we can remove ourselves with a clear conscience. If that fails, I’ll keep some of mine stationed here to aid you on a voluntary basis. I am sure we can cycle a few in and out every week with Lee’s help.”

“Much obliged.” Maximillian bowed his head In thanks. “I’ll bring this recommendation to my marshal. You’ll be called upon soon.”

John rose from the chair with a long sigh. He stretched, letting his spine decompress just a bit. “I’ll prepare for that call.”

“Also, I will organize a press conference,” Maximillian continued. “I will openly declare this intention to the public.”

John stood still for a moment. “That is a gamble,” he cautioned, though he also let it flow into his tone that he did not necessarily think that it was a bad idea. A direct challenge could cause the leadership to come out of the woodworks or it could cause them to slink away and go into hibernation. “Flipping a coin to get straight to the conclusion or to delay this until they are prepared to strike again.”

“I will take my chances,” Maximillian responded. “At a minimum, I assume that the low-level members of this organization will meet the challenge. It cuts down on their numbers.”

John turned to his first wife. “You’re about to ask me what my thrill-addled brain would tell me to do in that situation, aren’t you?”

“Read like always,” the Gamer responded with a chuckle.

“I’mma be honest… ya shouldn’t make that announcement,” the feline Lightbearer said.

Maximillian raised an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t bite?” he asked.

“No, thing is, I’d already be ready to pounce,” she responded. “Ya already gave me my invitation by sending one of your big guys to one of my fighting rings. Clearly ya got both the operational capacity to find my stuff and the power to smack my guys around. At that point, I’d make all of this very simple and-“

The walls of the palace suddenly shook. It was a low tremble, like a distant earthquake.

“That!” Jane shouted, while all five of them hurried to the nearest balcony. When they couldn’t see much from it, they climbed the staircase located on it to Maximillian’s private sundeck. From the flat roof, they had a good view of the rising plume of smoke, coming from Vienna’s city centre.

It was unnaturally black, rising further and further. Particles of gold mixed into it coalesced into words, dispersing and rejoining at different angles to project the message to everyone around. The challenge was simple and clear.

“I’m busting out my guys, come stop me.”