Collide Gamer

“I am quite honoured to be the target of such animosity,” Judas said. “Though, if I may remind, I didn’t do anything to earn it.”

John continued to glare at the clone of a clone of the traitor. ‘Technically right,’ he admitted mentally. ‘Though his attitude really does not put me in a mood to deal with him that way.’

Most women in the room were inspecting the renowned betrayer with second-hand loathing. At the time of Herman’s treachery, his harem had been much smaller. The most recent addition had been Siena, effectively limiting it to Jane, the elementals and Aclysia. Momo and Lydia were more in the fuck buddy category at that time. Even if Lydia had been there, she had very limited contact with the man.

Aclysia, however, was staring with enough seething hatred for everyone combined and then some. Marice lay across her lap, the grey blade ready to be encased in ice and swung through Judas’ torso at a moment’s notice. “You are a ceaseless factor of hurt for my Master,” she hissed.

“Again, I haven’t done anything,” Judas proclaimed, hands raised in defence. “I was trying to turn Ernst into an asset, not a crazed maniac. My asset, yes, but I can hardly be blamed for that, now can I?”

“You’re a lot chattier than you used to be,” Claire remarked. “I remember you being cold-eyed and creepy-smiled.”

“This clone was fashioned with sociability in mind.” Judas put his palm on his chest. “Lowered social inhibition, lowered shame, increased recognition of facial features, that sort of thing. Everything to make me more unassuming and likeable.”

“It’s not working,” John grunted.

“It’s not working on you,” Judas retorted, “but most people have neither the strength of will, pattern recognition, nor previous history to place such scrutiny upon me. I managed to infiltrate a monarch’s palace. That says everything, now doesn’t it?”

“Don’t put the screws to your guys,” John said to Maximillian, who followed the scene with an understandable amount of trepidation. “Even Lorelei couldn’t spot him or the Tzitzimimeh.”

“I wasn’t going to put the screws to anyone,” the gravity king stated. “However, this whole affair has just risen from bothersome to worrisome enough that I may get Romulus involved.”

“Between Judas, the outworld invader, and the ridiculously powerful Latebloomer, this has become a sordid affair,” John agreed. “Though, since the traitor is doing traitor things, we might be able to deal with this ourselves. What more can you tell us about this ‘Nyala’?”

“I can tell you nothing about her,” Judas responded with a self-aware shrug. “She showed up one day and Ernst immediately took a liking to her. She was quite forthcoming about her nature to me. I had already learned about the Tzitzimimeh from the ancient artefacts in my possession, but I wasn’t aware it was a broader issue until you disclosed it and Yohua-”

“Yoshua,” John corrected once more.

“Yo-shu-a,” Judas said very closely, eyebrows pulled together. “Why do I keep getting this wrong?”

“Part of the broader cognitohazard, maybe?” John theorized. The shroud of unknown matters around the masked things and the Tzitzimimeh was dense. “At least her existence does confirm that we are truly dealing with Tzitzimimeh. Of course, that only creates more questions.”

Momo overtly cleared her throat. “Questions that we might find answers to if someone with proper expertise took a look at this collection of artefacts…?”

“I am keeping them,” Judas denied.

“Let’s not start negotiating access to relics of my people,” Nahoa nipped that topic in the bud. “We have a mission to finish first.”

“As our axolotl says, as Master promised, as we ought to,” Claire agreed in a serious trill. “You said you would aid us, Judas, so what is your suggestion on how we can take him down?”

‘And it better be the kind of plan I can trust,’ the Gamer thought. If anything in the scheme he was presented indicated that Judas was trying to lure them into a trap, he would personally turn the clone into red mist.

“As you have now experienced firsthand. Perfect Challenge makes Ernst practically invincible,” Judas told all of them. “There is simply no one in the world that had his talent and experience in fighting on an equal playing field.”

“It’s utterly ridiculous,” Jane backed the traitor up on this. “We couldn’t even lay a finger on him.”

“And we tried,” Copernicus added. “Seriously tried.”

“Recording the combat data revealed a total lack of style,” Scarlett weighed in. “The man just fights and he does it extremely well.”

“So, we just throw me at the issue or what?” Metra asked.

“Not to insult you, First of Wrath,” Judas continued, “but even you will not be able to win. I acknowledge that your Babel Phrase puts you in similar situations, but he is still your superior when it comes to fighting at equal level.”

Metra narrowed her eyes dangerously, anger pulsing through her mental connection at an elevated rate. She was one of two in the harem that had additional history with Judas, though the contract she had with him and Mengele at the time had turned her into little more than a fancy tool. Fortunately, Eliana was not on this mission. She would have made Judas count his spine segments while she ripped them out of his flayed back.

“I would test that theory,” the blonde berserker babe declared.

“Nyala won’t let you,” Judas stated with simple certainty.

“Woman with portals supporting big tough fighter guy,” John groaned. “It’s Seminaris and Siegmund all over again.”

“Except more threatening, in the grand scheme of things.” Maximillian stated.

“My plan, then, is simple… I need you to poison and then overload Ernst.” That was an exceptionally simple plan, so simple that John raised an eyebrow at it. “I really do not need you for anything unique,” the treacherous man continued, “only for the power you have. Poison him, then face him as one.”

“Every power has an upper threshold…” John mumbled and rubbed his chin. The plan was fundamentally workable, which made it trustworthy. Even if Ernst was convinced that his ‘Perfect Challenge’ would equalize ANY situation, this could not be. There was no such thing as unlimited power, unless your name was Gaia. There were people who would debate even that.

Fighting him as three hadn’t been enough. The report from Nia’s arrival had shown that his power was not infallible though. They absolutely could just jump him all at once and force his Innate Ability to max out. There just was one problem with that though.

“His maxed out state will doubtlessly be so powerful that he could kill some of us, even if we take him down” the Gamer stated. “Which I am obviously not in favour of.”

“Statement: I do not think we have the luxury to consider,” Beatrice weighed in. “It will become our problem eventually.”

John rubbed his forehead, contemplating the truth of that statement. Could they safely assume that the Tzitzimimeh were hostile? Yes, that was a safe assumption. They had waged war against the Aztecs who, even if governed by a horrific glutton, at least had been human. Contemporary evidence showed them to have attacked John at every given opportunity. Plus, if Judas was truthful (and he seemed to be at this juncture), Ernst was being influenced for the worse.

“Alright then… let’s put together a battle plan…” John said with a sigh. “Where is their headquarters, Judas?”

“I will tell you… via an electronic message after I get out of here.”

“Figures,” John groaned. “Then to the basics of our plan… as I see it, we have three forces to deal with. Ernst himself, Nyala, and the goons – who will be empowered courtesy of Ernst’s Innate Ability.” That listing got general nods. “Metra, I would have you face against Nyala.”

“I do well against space manipulation,” the First of Wrath agreed. “So, I will do as you bid, my Emperor.”

“Before you continue your planning,” Maximillian said. “Let it be known that I will be part of this mission. A king must protect his people.”

John just nodded, he had expected nothing else. “The particularities of Ernst’s Innate Ability will work for us there,” the Gamer said. “Our approach to dealing with him will be to send our scouts in and attempt assassination. If that’s not possible, administering a poison will be our second priority. After that, we simply face him with as much firepower as we have. Max, you could take the first crack at him.”

“If it’s a duel, then it’s even chances – ability wise.”

“Precisely,” John agreed with his friend. “Though this won’t be an honourable duel. Optimally, you just have to stall him out while he dies to the poison. If he gets the better of you, we’ll intervene and back you up.”

Maximillian groaned and freed one arm from Alice’s clutching embrace to run it through his hair. “Such underhanded methods feel horrid to use, but when the peace of the realm is at stake, we do not have another choice, do we?”

“The ends justify the means,” John spoke regretfully. “Only those facing favourable odds have the luxury of staying principled. In the end, survival is more important to me than fairness.”

“I don’t have a problem with any of this in the slightest!” Judas quipped.

Moira glared at the man with raw disdain. “You wouldn’t.”

“I hope you do not mind this coward’s weapon either?” John asked the Warden. There were many in his harem who had various degrees of honour. Among them, Moira was particularly attached to the virtue.

Her expression crinkled, as if she had just found a bushel of hairs in the middle of a rich chocolate cake. “I do mind, but I am neither ignorant of what man I got myself attached to nor of the reality of the situation. ‘Though one ought not embrace the witch or the warlock, one cannot forsake all their methods. Violence begets violence, they say, yet those that only wish for peace will find themselves dragged to combat all the same.’” She paused for a moment. “From the reflections of Norman, a previous Lord-Protector.”

“To put it succinctly: the world is messy, expect to get your hands dirty,” John gave his own spin on that. “Should I be prepared to write some memoirs for your libraries, by the way?”

“If I may, you must pen your saintly insights in due time,” Lorelei chimed in.

“It would be proper,” Moira agreed, without the religious veneration in her tone.

John hummed in thought, then returned to the matter at hand. “For the final piece of the plan, I would play it flexibly. It is reasonable to assume that the goons have their individual limits for how far they can be boosted. In fact, I would be surprised if they could exceed level 500 in effective combat power.”

“What makes ya say that?” Jane investigated.

“Hope, in small part, but also general recognition of limits.” The Gamer looked around his harem. “Typically speaking, power boosting effects are more effective the more restrictive the conditions are. I know I make it seem like it’s not that restricted, but my particular brand of uplifting is actually phenomenally narrow. I need to both love and be loved and then I also need to invest a whole bunch of Class Levels and it only goes up to my Level.”

“Only,” Maximillian repeated, jokingly. “But I get the picture. Ernst seems to just need to see someone as being on his side of the battle to empower them and it sticks with them. He empowered a whole lot more people in a few weeks than you did in over two years.”

“Which makes it reasonable to assume that the individual power boost can only go so far – especially if we strain the main guy,” John wrapped up that line of thought. “In an optimal case, we will blow away the goons while Maximillian buys us time, then focus all of our effort on Ernst. In the worst case, as few of us as possible will be fighting goons while we focus on just piling on the debuffs on Ernst. Individual debuffs might not do anything, but if we just keep laying them on thick while we challenge him with our combined might, he should start dropping in might eventually.”

“Which means,” Aclysia spoke slowly, taking her eyes off Judas for the first time, “Nahoa and I are paramount to this strategy.”

“Indeed, you are the only two that should be consistent on Ernst.”

“If I cannot take him out,” Maximillian added with a wry smile. He was hyping himself up a bit, but the chances he could work a miracle that Jane could not and that Scarlett hadn’t even attempted were small indeed. They all knew it. To throw that in his face would have been rude and counterproductive. Better to valiantly meet such an obstacle than to despair at its suggestion.

“If you cannot take him out,” John therefore agreed with a smile.

Then, they moved onto more detailed plans.