The Apprentice of Ouroboros [Monster Evo LitRPG Adventure]

“This is a deal with a goddamn devil, Neska.”

Neska had heard Juni upset before, but not furious. She didn’t think the normally book-shy mouse was willing or capable of reaching a full-alarm level of fury. She was coiled on her bed, listening to Juni lay into her after the meeting, after a long and exhausting day.

After laying out terms, with wise input from Kalloway and Resalio, they’d put together an agreement. On paper, at least. Neska saw several opportunities.

The first was a true first effort to change the organization for the better. While she didn’t trust the Seekers in the slightest, Ortholo had shown the barest comprehension that all was not well in the organization, and he himself might be a part of that problem. The fact that he made any concessions told her how truly worried he was, despite the veneer of calm and calculated deliberation.

Her standards were so low that even this was an improvement.

But Juni had a different opinion, speaking after a long silence. “Neska. These are the people who killed Risha.”

“Incorrect. The Varadur killed Risha.”

“Disguised and undercover within the Seekers, whose arrogance that they were untouchable led to that deception paying off!” Juni’s whiskers stood straight on end, her teeth flashing between words. “You said it yourself, Neska, you’d never trust them! Now we are doing just that!”

“And we accomplished something today that I didn’t think was possible: they’re talking to us, not talking down to us.”

“Do you really think the Seekers will ever honor their word?” Juni rolled her eyes. “Wake up, Neska. The Seekers have been perfectly fine with the power grab that the ruling council and the Exarch have granted them for twenty years. Did you know they originated as a guild for monster pacification and negotiation with sapient, intelligent monster species?”

“No.”

“Did you know that for thirty years before the Sundering of Arivol, they did a damn good job at it? We had working relations with the sapient monster species, carve-out territories, arrangements to establish produce and trade.”

She shook her head, letting out a hissing sigh. “They destroyed that within a year of Arivol going under. A year. They undid what took an entire generation to normalize relations with some of the less feral, and more reasonable monster tribes and individuals. So when I say this is a bad idea, Neska? There’s a lot of history working against the notion you can ever improve them.”

“We can’t talk about the future if we don’t survive what’s coming, Juni. Even Risha knew what was coming. Damn it.” She rubbed at her neck where the phased-out collar remained. “You think I want to do this? I would rather sink my fangs into Ortholo’s face with one of my numerous alchemical imbuements and watch his head dissolve from the inside out from acid.”

“Gruesome. And mildly satisfying. I don’t think I’ve seen a dark side to you.”

Neska curled up tighter, hands gripping her coiled tail. More than anything, she felt a trickle of mental fatigue that she’d spent so long ignoring. “It's always there, Juni. Risha protected me from an uncomfortable truth: this is a cruel and brutal world we live in. She didn’t prepare me for what it would be like, not fully.”

She glanced down at her claws, remembering the cluster of incendiary arrows she’d thrust into that grotesque eyeball. “I wanted that Instance core to suffer. I wanted him to feel the same pain so many others have endured over the past two decades. It felt like I’d struck a god, and if I didn’t make it further than that, I could have died satisfied in that final endeavor. And I’m worried I’ll do worse before this is over.”

“Doing worse? Cripes, Neska, are you aware of how many monsters you’ve killed?”

“A lot.”

“And out of all that, what has been your priority?”

“My friends and my team.” Neska glanced up to see Juni’s expression soften. “And I suppose my own survival, too. I wish..." She clenched her hands tightly. "I just wish I could find a way to break the corruption fully. All I want to do is save one of them, if only to prove to the world it's possible. And I couldn't do it with Veelah."

Juni's expression softened further, and her words seemed more hesitant now. "You did something. She had a choice of her own at the end. But Neska, focus on the immediate goal. Because you’re right, we’ll probably see and do worse to them before this is over.” Juni glanced over at the alchemy station, all the hardware and ingredients stored away. “Which includes, I suppose, making deals with devils.”

“It’s a devil we know. At least they’re predictable, and they aren’t beyond hope,” Neska pointed out. "I'm not going to pretend it won't take a massive amount of work. We'll have to...start from basics. Building trust, breaking that damn programming that the senior leaders have instilled, and work our way up.

“And you think that making friends with the Seekers, who are heinous almost by nature, is the best solution for everyone’s survival?”

“They have an incentive to kill Marikand. The fact that they came to us for help should show how bad this looks for them.”

“So let them sweat,” Juni proposed, looking unapologetic. “I would have.”

“I don’t think I made the wrong call here. Besides, we’re getting three individuals that might, just might potentially not be representative of the great evils of the Seekers,” Neska said, trying to sound dramatic. It fell flat in the face of Juni’s unblinking and unbreakable frown. “Look, if this doesn't work out, Resalio can and will kick them off campus.”

“Meanwhile, every Awakened with an axe to grind with the Seekers is gathered in one place. So that's a risk.”

Juni relented for a second, then sighed. “I don’t think that part was a terrible deal, but…you know they’re going to want to study your every move. They'll pick your abilities apart, find weaknesses, and have a nice, tidy report written that states, ‘this is how we burn the witch’. I’m telling you, they have ulterior motives.”

“As do I. Their organization needs a refresher. Sowing doubt in their seemingly incorruptible nature could do that. And we will be sending home three well-trained, knowledgeable Seekers who have proven to be half-decent human beings,” Neska concluded.

Juni scowled. “This plan of yours hinges on a lot of moving parts. Not least of which is finding and killing Marikand, who is even more of a nightmare than we believed. He can mimic class powers, Neska! That is terrifying!”

“So can I, but you don’t worry about me performing dark rituals.”

“That I know of.” Juni kept a straight face for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. “Okay, you’re probably the exception to the norm. But the fact that your other nemesis is alive and unaccounted for is bad news. He could be anyone.”

Then, Juni gasped. “Neska? What if he took…Risha’s form?”

A plunge into a river during the winter’s night had less of a chill than that ominous proposal. “Divines, I hope not. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…hopefully, she got immolated by her last stand.”

---

A few days later, Neska and the others reconvened in Kasfew's home away from home, intent on mapping the underground and finding Markus. Classes had now resumed, with one notable exception:

Kalloway’s lessons were pretty much anywhere he could fit them in, now that Neska was attempting to solve multiple problems at once. The current one: a sample diagnostic ritual more powerful than the last one, and with greater intricacies.

They had to test it, naturally. Neska had already practiced using objects that Kalloway provided to intuit information. She had gotten her ritual work two ranks higher each, and was beginning to learn the nuances of a diagnostic and scrying ritual.

There were patterns buried in the visions. After looking at several mundane household objects, she noted several key features she could ascertain from each. She usually was able to visualize or hear someone firmly attached to the object, usually Kalloway. She could also map out locations and geometry up to a certain point.

Juni’s observation, however, had been the lynchpin of this entire operation. What they discovered was that certain powers functioned while using their diagnostic, something Kalloway hadn’t anticipated.

“Hold on a minute.” Kalloway motioned for calm, just as Juni jumped for joy and cannonballed into Neska’s arms. “Yes, I can see you’re quite excited. Are you saying that the ritual works with certain passives? Well, that’s new.”

“I know, right?” Juni motioned for the others–chiefly Trevor, Kasfew, and the rest to gather. The mouse jumped from Neska’s arms and went to the chalkboard. “Okay. Let’s run this back. We used your hat as a focal point, because we know where it's been the past few days. You’ve been underground. Each item travels not just through space but through a mana vector field, in essence. This is true for areas with larger mana-based organisms or naturally occurring mana. We can track the item in three-dimensional space, but those gradient fields? We also read them, and passively interact with them.”

“Is the divination that good?” Neska queried. “How is this possible? I’m not even sure I understand diagnostic rituals yet.”

“Divinations like your diagnostic rituals are…” Juni frowned as she jotted down something on a chalkboard. “They are like those photographs on Kalloway’s wall. Brief, finite instances in time. The diagnostic ritual ‘reads’ that information through the runes and the focals used. It’s like a playback. Huh. Pictures in motion. I wonder if there’s some novelty in that,’ she murmured.

“Please don’t lose me here,” Kalloway sighed. Judging by his brightened expression, she had his undivided attention. “Okay, snapshots in time, the ritual allows us to ‘view’ them in a sequence. We aren’t diving into the past. We are observing it as it happened, a simulation.”

“Correct. Now, are there limitations to how far you can ‘view.’ You can observe scents, sounds, and vision with a normal diagnostic, correct?”

“Yes.”

“So, this is like taking snapshots of time, centered around an object, and extending to a certain radius. Tell me, Professor, how far can people sense ‘around’ the focal object? Our point of view typically moves with the item, right?”

“Usually. Or the person.” He rubbed his chin, watching Juni draw a series of arrows in a grid. “This is…Dulsame’s theorem of the Aether. The past is imprinted with the residual mana flow of the world.”

“Aether?” Neska asked, confused.

“An old Nordling term for the Umbral Shoal, a country off on an island continent to the northeast. Good scholars, but fairly isolated,” Kalloway answered. “So, yes, our point of view is fixed to a given area around the object. This radius of visibility depends on many factors. This includes the caster's relative skill level, the object's power, the density and vector of the mana gradient for the target of interest, and, of course, efforts to distort and obscure an object's presence and energy signature. Or a person. A sufficiently advanced disruption can feed back to the viewer, disorient them. It can also disrupt a diagnostic ritual and other similar scrying magic.”

“Right. So we can ‘read’ the data it presents to us with vision, sound, and scents. But that’s only half of it. People like me can read these coordinates. As an example, I will always know my relative ‘depth’ below ground with my new passive. I can also designate certain objects in contact with the earth, like my earth spikes, as beacons.”

Neska stared at her. “You can do that?”

“Well, I’ve been testing my passive. As you said, many abilities are far more than meets the eye. We’re limited by creativity, and less so, raw power. So, this means we can use my passive to read where the object’s been, as long as it’s been underground. And because this item is heavily linked to one user, Kalloway may be able to derive a vector plus distance based on the strength of the signal. Combined with my depth and some trigonometry, we can back-calculate his position. At least within the scope of the item.”

“One problem. What if this dagger never went into this guy’s secret lair?” Brent inquired.

“Doesn’t matter. We can survey this thing in real time, and as long as we are in the item's wake radius of the aether, we might be able to ping him and find his exact location. Several readings will be required. And rituals,” Juni muttered.

“Fascinating. Why have we never thought to use other extrasensory abilities when running diagnostics?” Kalloway pondered.

“Because most of them come far more readily to the Awakened, or monsters, specifically.” Trevor raised his hand slowly. “It’s in Reginald’s Compendium of Varadur species. The Awakened have filled in some, but not all the gaps. It also doesn’t cover new evolutions that could emerge.”

The discussion continued while they worked out a plan. Neska was determined to survey the blade's history and whether it had indeed been sitting in Suzie’s possession for ten years, but Kalloway seemed to trust her. Trevor aired his concerns, owing to the fact that this seemed too convenient.

What was inconvenient was Suzie mistaking Neska for Risha at first. Ignoring the fact that she was a fifteen-foot-long lamia with a feathery mane and Risha’s hat, what did she see in her that made her go to that conclusion first? Did…Risha have some kind of contingency? One where she would have Awakened herself if things went bad?

It seemed rather absurd for Risha to drop a casual ‘hey, in case a giant serpent shows up wearing my hat, it’s me’. It sounded insane, even. She cast the doubt aside. She’d have plenty of time to catch up with Suzie later.

Though, this did present the problem of how they’d deal with Markus once they found him. Talking was out of the question. Capture, unlikely. She had this dreaded feeling he would never let himself be taken alive.

Kasfew had repeatedly offered his opinion that their efforts amounted to a bunch of hocus pocus. He also stated it was likely to fail, citing that Neska didn't have a personal item belonging to Markus.

She chose that moment to spit out the dagger onto the meeting table, startling everyone present. Then everyone stared at it for several seconds.

“Where the hell did you get this?” Kalloway asked, looking pale.

“From a witch who certainly no longer wanted it. It's an athame. A witch ritual dagger.”

“It's…” Kalloway sighed. “Shit. I know this dagger. It does belong to Markus.”

All eyes turned to him. “You knew him?” Neska asked calmly.

“Why are you surprised that I did? He did work closely with Risha. And I watched a rift open between them over the years.”

“Then why didn't you immediately say anything?” Neska tapped a claw against her forearm, waiting for an explanation. "How do you know it's his?"

“Why were you hiding it in your stomach? Where did you get it?” he responded.

“I asked first, Professor.” This confirmed the dread she'd had all along. “You seemed reluctant to bring it up before.”

“Because it was more convenient for him to be dead! That's why. I saw the path to the hells he was taking her down. Some of her more extreme experiments were attributable to her willingness to help him. She felt she owed him that much. At least, that's my interpretation.” He leered over the dagger, visibly disgusted. “That is no athame. It's a blade upon which hundreds died. Plus the crossguard is distinct. I saw it often enough I'd remember it."

“Then it's prudent we confirm it, and see if we can glean any information. Does Suzie ring a bell for you?”

Kalloway nodded. “She got us supplies for years. Some that were frowned upon, but useful for specific rituals and alchemical work. And…well, I suppose, some other substances."

“The herbal kind that has a pungent scent when untreated, and a sweet and crisp scent with a hint of cedar when smoked?” Brent's smug expression and Kalloway's scowl suggested that the Professor had been a patron of the witch some time ago.

“No. Plus, she was in the Coven of Ashmarche, back when we had two covens. Now we have one. She got tired of the bickering. I don't blame her, either. Risha gave Markus's athame to her?”

“After Markus’s untimely demise. Apparently Suzie didn't know the details,” Neska explained. "Risha also told her to melt it down. Why would she say that?"

She had her suspicions, of course. The two of them had a nasty, nasty falling out, with Markus's actions leading to Risha's death. Neska pondered if the witch had, in turn, tried to subtly do away with Markus when she realized how unhinged he'd become.

Kalloway spoke calmly, though the anger in his eyes was aimed at the athame on the table. "Some memories leave a...a caustic echo. A past that doesn't let go of you. Sometimes the only way to get rid of them is to destroy that which triggers them."

"Translation: your witch had serious demons chasing her through her mind." Just this once, she wished Brent hadn't been so blunt.

“See, I was worried that this dagger might be a trap. And that Markus is three steps ahead of us, and Suzie was used as a pawn? Am I being paranoid?” Trevor adjusted his glasses, then pulled out one of his scopes to inspect the blade. “This blade has numerous microfractures. The blade has been sharpened…a lot. And seen a lot of likely combat. It also has small traces of dried organic matter.”

“Blood?” Kalloway suggested.

Brent dared to reach for the weapon and held it with a cloth rag. He sniffed, then winced. “Yeah. And worse things. Smells like Jurik’s armor. I think he bathed in a bucket of monster blood at one point.”

“I'll try not to remind him of that.” Juni rolled her eyes, then glanced at Neska. “Does this seem too damn convenient? I smell a trap. That creep already anticipated your moves once.”

“I know Suzie, and yes, I can vouch for the events.” Kalloway pointed at the dagger. “I was busy teaching classes, so I didn't always know what Markus was up to. But he had a temper. I knew that.”

Neska raised a brow, intrigued. “How?”

“He made a mess of Risha’s office once. I think he was the only person on the planet that woman couldn't intimidate. But it didn't start like that. They had a functional relationship at one point. I think he destabilized as time went on. He was always pushing for more aggressive tactics to combat the Varadur. Even grotesque methods. Risha's theory, and mine, is that the transplanted soul did not fully replace the monster soul. Bits leaked around the edges."

“And what about Risha, during this episode?”

“Unharmed. But shaken up. I don't think she liked how he kept wanting to push boundaries.”

His clenched hand shook, and he rubbed it gently with the other. “I think her breaking point was when he proposed aerosol distribution of toxins. He wanted to poison vast swaths of the Varadur territories at the time, and use them as buffer zones. I examined the bodies of those killed during a…mishap. I said to Risha, ‘This is more likely to kill us than the monsters, and you know this.’ Of course I thought it could be even worse, and it could kill everyone with the wrong wind direction. I voted to scrap the idea. So did Risha. The military overrode our objections and tried it anyway.”

He clicked his tongue, irritated. “I put up three photos on my wall that day. The Valosian military never tried it again, and I personally burned my notes on its manufacture. In fact, most of the documentation was destroyed, precisely because of the risk. With Markus’s death, it was a moot point. No one could replicate the compounds from his venom without a living sample, anyway.”

Kasfew, currently present in Kalloway's office, raised a clawed finger. “You realize that Markus could have replicated this, right? He could have been reverse-engineering this horrific experiment for ten years. The fact this is coming to light now is troubling. Precisely because a device to distribute this wouldn't be impossible to remake.”

“To what end? Killing his own academy?” Kalloway scoffed. “You know what this stuff did? It rotted you from the inside out. It’s horrifying, to say the least. No, I don’t think he could have fully replicated it. He didn’t have the know-how; that was mostly the military. He almost died once during a test in the early stages, and I think it left some permanent organ scarring."

“It’s not impossible. He seemed pretty bitter about the reception the Awakened got.” Neska pondered if he could have replicated the results of this necrogenic mixture. It was assumed that it could only be manufactured by him. But that required detailed knowledge of alchemy, magitech, logistics, equipment, and scaling of production. She doubted he could pull all that off by himself, and if it was so dangerous, he might have determined it wasn’t worth the trouble.

“Look, the sooner we find him, the better. He’s a threat the campus has been unable to deal with. We're doing this today. We have a lead and our best witch on campus.”

Kalloway peered at her in curiosity. “I find it immensely odd that the athame you align with most is also one of his weapons. Mister Marisano, what can you tell me about it, other than its history?”

“Dark steel construction. Mana-infused blade core, and various glands to absorb and retain liquids. Likely poisons and toxins,” he added drolly. “It really needs sharpening.”

“Athames are symbolic. Though the more practical application is for channeling mana, casting abilities with increased precision, and as a weapon last,” Kalloway scolded. “Times are unusual, and some witches do use them as actual weapons.”

Neska considered the weapon and nodded. “And we are using it to locate where Markus is. It still has a strong connection to him. Professor, should we bring anyone else in on this?”

A knock at the door got her attention, with Kalloway wearing a soft smile. "Yeah. I know a guy." He opened the door to reveal Professor Serkin standing with a weary smile, using a cane to assist his movements. "You're early, by the way."

"I did enough resting. I'm ready to pull this snake out of his hiding hole.”

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