The Simulacrum

~Chapter 136~ Part 2

"No. I'm telling you, I've had enough!" I said, crossing my eyes with the combined defiance of a thousand soccer moms demanding to see the manager. "This was the last straw! I'm fed up with the stupid Celestials and their games, and I'm putting an end to it!"

Following my declaration, Roland touched his forehead and let out a soft groan.

"Please be reasonable. We just talked about this the other day," he insisted, but I was too mad to care.

After my return from Elysium, I changed out of my disguise, and my first stop was at the base, where I flagged our ever-dependable Sir Griffon down and dragged him to our new customary secluded scheming spot. Better known as the reception area next to the teleport closet.

Anyhow, I let out a growl and threw my hands into the air.

"Yes, but that was before I learned they sicced the child protective services on us, with the express purpose to annoy me and keep me busy! And this wasn't just Savir's plan; she had to cooperate with the others to keep my people in the Elysium busy as well, so they had to be in on the details!"

"Leonard, I understand you're upset, but—"

"I'm not upset, I'm positively livid!" I interrupted him, walking up and down in front of him out of habit. "This is getting out of hand. I already feel like I'm getting buried under all the various duties and ploys and events I have to keep track of, and I refuse to put up with the directors' inane bullshit on top of that!"

"Leonard," Roland raised his voice sternly and met my eyes. "You need to calm down. You can't make an informed decision while you're worked up like that."

As much as I didn't like to admit it, he did have a point, so I stopped pacing and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Okay, I'm calm," I declared. "I still want to stick my boot so far off their asses they could taste the shoe polish. Now what?"

Roland closed his eyes and let out a rough breath before we locked gazes again.

"So, despite my earlier advice, you want to dismantle the Celestial Directorate and rob its leaders of their ability to interfere with your life. How exactly do you plan to do that?"

"I'll just…"I started, but then couldn't finish the sentence.

What were my options? I could try to apply pressure on them as Polemos, but it had little effect on Savir so far, and if I did bring her to task, she might just respond by disseminating that stupid law to keep me busy. But then again, would dealing with the fallout of that really be worse than what just happened? Now I had empirical evidence showing that, even if I left her and her ilk alone, it didn't stop her from interfering with my life, and worse yet, with my family.

That said, if I went on the warpath as Polemos, it would definitely create a lot of resentment, no matter what Moose said. Taking Savir down this way would've given the impression that I was doing a political power grab, which could rally the other higher-ups behind her, and keeping track of three Celestial schemers and their plots was hard enough already, and it could potentially drag the Knights and the Draconians into the fray because of my other titles.

Okay, so what if I circumvented this by asking Angie for a favour instead? If Deus herself denounced Savir, it would probably make the other directors think twice before coming to her side… but doing so would open up Angie for scrutiny and attacks. At the moment, the reason why Savir wasn't doing anything about her was due to our 'deal', and because she was convinced that I was pulling her strings and trying to keep her influence low to maintain my own authority. It was one of those typical 'Evil Cannot Comprehend Good' trope situations, where she was so used to this kind of political backstabbery she didn't even consider that I would have other motivations.

However, if she thought that, chances were that all the other Celestial bigwigs were also thinking along the same lines, being cut from the same cloth and all that. Meaning that, if I did call upon Angie's authority as the second coming of Deus, it would solidify the impression of her being my puppet, which would give others the excuse to suspect, suppress, or even 'save' her. With that whole potential assassination thing Lord Grandpa told me about hanging over our heads, I couldn't afford to have even her own people, in a manner of speaking, scheme against her as well.

So… could I use Bel to deal with this? Honestly, my options as him were even more limited. Sure, I could probably beat Savir up if it came to that (she didn't exactly pose a huge threat just now), or even kidnap her and dump her in a cell next to Percival, but what would that accomplish in the long term? Have another prisoner I didn't know what to do about? And while threats of violence were a good way to keep people off-balance, if I tried to use actual violence to force the Celestials to change their policies… wouldn't that make Bel a terrorist?

I mean, yeah, I kind of played him as a villainous bad-guy and all, but there was such a thing as a line too to cross.

"If you don't have a plan," Roland spoke up again, seeing that I wasn't answering his previous question, "then don't act hastily. You said you had already laid some groundwork for supplanting the directors, right?"

"Yeah, but that'll take some time to come together," I admitted, sounding just a tiny bit miffed.

"Then let's do it this way: First, we solidify the domestic policies and hierarchy of the Draconic Federation. The lion's share of the work is already in place, so it should be doable in a few weeks if we put in the effort." He waited to see if I had anything to add, and when I didn't, he continued with, "You also have a strong connection with the local arch-mages and the Assembly, so while we focus on the internal unification, you could try to negotiate a treaty or some form of mutual agreement to ensure the Magi would have our backs, or at the very least they would remain neutral. Then, once all the internal and external problems have been resolved, you should have a much stronger power base to rely on when dealing with the Celestial Directorate."

"That… does make a lot of sense," I admitted, feeling a bit deflated. Since I stopped pacing, I decided to sit down and collect my thoughts a little. "Give me a few minutes to think this through."

"As you wish," Roland answered, and also sat down on another bench and patiently waited for me to get things sorted.

In the meantime, I sunk into my thoughts. On one hand, I absolutely wanted to put an end to Savir and her scheming, but on the other, what Roland said was entirely reasonable. Not to mention, rushing in to deal with those bastards right now could cause another of those plot pileups, where the Narrative would freak out and then just throw all the climaxes at me, all at once. The last time that happened, it resulted in the creation of Bel, me getting knocked out, and my hand getting fried from the inside. But then again, I did get Mountain Girl, Ichiko, Fred, and Galatea out of it, even if the last two required me to heckle Lord Grandpa a bit first, and…

Oh, wait! That's right, Lord Grandpa did become more cooperative after I freaked him out back then and took him down a peg. I did something vaguely similar with Savir just now, even giving her a hint about making peace with me, and if I scared her enough, she might just do that. Wouldn't that solve my problems, or at the very least alleviate them for a while?

With that thought in mind, I closed my eyes and focused on her red dot at the edge of my vision. Before I even finished that thought, I was inside a familiar small, dimly lit chamber with a single table in the middle. It was the place the three chief directors used for their clandestine meetings when they didn't want anyone else to know they were making deals behind everyone's backs, and once I arrived, I immediately groaned. Yep. Of course, they would be wearing the stupid cowls that hid their faces in shadows. Why would I even expect anything else?

"No. I'm telling you, I'm mobilizing our forces," Director Mensah declared with a growling voice, in response to something I didn't hear. "We have an Abyssal in our Elysium, and you let him loose!"

"I didn't 'let him loose'!" Savir objected in a low voice filled with indignation.

"But he did come here because of your plan," Tsephanyah pointed out, causing her eyes to snap to the man with a hiss.

"On whose side are you, Acacius?"

"I'm not taking sides in this affair, I'm just stating the facts," the blonde director (even if his hair couldn't be seen due to the cowl at the moment) sounded altogether unbothered by the discussion, though that quickly changed with his next line. "However, I do agree with Dolion in that we must mobilize the military in search for this Bel of the Abyss."

"And the Colossi," the bespectacled director chimed in, but Tsephanyah only looked at him with cold eyes under furrowed brows.

"How would those weapons help track down an Abyssal in hiding?"

"They could have stopped him from escaping," Mensah argued back, but then they both flinched when Savir slapped the table in front of her to get their attention.

"Weren't you paying any attention to what I just explained? The plan was perfect," she insisted, even though it obviously wasn't. "I had him exactly where I wanted him to be. He was surrounded by an elite CIEL team I hand-picked for this mission, and I used my authority to activate the Mana Well under the Migdál to its full power and lock the building inside an impenetrable spatial bubble. There was no way in or out, and he still disappeared from right in front of our noses! Do you honestly believe that those hulking warbeasts would've made any difference?"

"Which brings us back to the main problem," Tsephanyah spoke up, acting as the voice of reason. "How did he get in, and how did he get out?"

"I've already sent my people to the Department of Border Control," Mensah added, his arms folded and eyes glaring defiantly. "Preliminary reports say that there were no movements, sanctioned or otherwise, between Elysium and the ancestral land for the last five hours."

"That means he had to infiltrate the realm earlier," Tsephanyah mused with a hand on his chin, and after a dramatic pause he added, "And that he's yet to leave."

"That's why I'm telling you we need to fully mobilize! There's no way an Abyssal can hide in the—!"

"And what if he's not from the Abyss?" Savir suddenly said, causing the other two to fall silent and look at her as if she just asked if the different colours of the rainbow tasted different as well.

"What do you mean?" Tsephanyah urged her to continue. "Did you discover something during your encounter?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," she declared, her hand still on the table. "Do you remember the book?"

"The one you used as bait," Tsephanyah stated blandly.

"The only part of your plan you still haven't fully clarified," Mensah, on the other hand, sounded rather miffed. "Are you finally willing to explain what was inside that old pile of dusty parchments to warrant the Archon once again sullying his hands by colluding this Abyssal threat just to destroy it?"

"Don't disrespect our Books of Hymnos, Dolion," the woman sneered and finally raised her arms and crossed it in front of his chest. "And no, I will not explain, as it is entirely beside the point. What you have to know is that, while this was not the genuine article…"

Argh! I knew it! I knew it would've been too easy! I mean, sure, I already decided to stop giving a damn about the stupid 'you have to marry the girl because something-something racial purity' bullcrap law, because letting Savir lord it over me already caused as much (if not more) annoyance than just dealing with it upfront, but I really hoped she was overconfident enough to use the real book for bait. That way, since I destroyed it, the whole thing would've been out of my hair already, but apparently, it was too good to be true. Will I seriously have to commit arson one of these days, just to be sure?

But hypothetical burning archives aside, let's get back to the conversations.

"… It was, nevertheless, an ancient copy written in one of the more archaic dialects of our Script. Yet, this Bel of the Abyss, as he claimed, was able to read it with no trouble at all."

The atmosphere in the room changed at once, and if I wasn't just a disembodied point of view at the moment, I would've facepalmed so damn hard I would've left a slapstick hand-mark on my forehead. I was so caught up in the moment back then, I wasn't even paying attention to what I was reading, so… did I mess up big time, or huge time? Let's find out, shall we?

"Are you telling me that he's an Abyssal that can read Celestial Script?" Mensah posited, and Savir gave her a 'Is this guy pulling my leg?' kind of look I immediately recognized, because Rinne used to give me those in the past.

"No. I'm telling you that he's not an Abyssal at all," she answered, sounding incredulous that she had to explain something like this.

"That… would explain a lot," Tsephanyah noted, and he received a nod of acknowledgement in turn.

"Indeed."

"Wait. Are you saying that he's been one of us all along?" Mensah asked, sounding justifiably skeptical of the idea.

"Not quite. I believe this 'Bel of the Abyss' is not a person, but more of an identity adopted by a group of conspirators. Dolion already mentioned that there was no recent movement crossing in and out of Elysium, but it's only a problem if we presume that he's a distinct entity who had to move between the planes. However, if we shift our thinking, it's much more logical to presume that the Bel seen on the ancestral land, the Bel causing chaos in the Abyss, and the Bel who escaped my trap today are three separate entities donning the identity and working in parallel."

I… had no idea how to feel about this misunderstanding. On one hand, she was way too close to the truth, but at the same time, she was so wildly off it was almost comical. I wasn't laughing though.

"You're saying that the Bel you encountered was just someone in disguise?" Dolion said, still sounding unsure. Good for him.

"It would certainly explain the mask," the third chief director noted in a contemplative tone.

"Precisely my point," Savir pressed on with a triumphant smirk. "As I said, my plan to capture this Bel person was flawless, but I didn't consider sabotage. Even if he possesses a strange ability to move fast, it should've been impossible to escape Migdál Glaukós under spatial lockdown… unless he had collaborators to help his flight and hide his traces."

"This 'movement technique' you speak of," Mensah interjected, finally getting caught up in the hype as he dramatically pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, like some third-rate anime villain. "Am I the only one who's reminded of the abilities Polemos demonstrated during the operation with the rogue Colossus?"

"That was going to be my next point," Savir answered cockily. "I'm glad you're paying attention."

"Eris, please," Tsephanyah groaned, and she, surprisingly, dialled her attitude back a little.

"To be more precise, I was going to share my opinion on this Bel's relationship with Polemos."

"Could it be that Bel was a role played by Polemos all along?" Mensah posited, making me tense up, only to deflate when Savir dismissed him with a careless wave.

"That's not possible. There have been too many witnesses of them operating at the same time. Not to mention, I have gone out of my way to ensure he was unable to leave his family unattended today precisely to force his hand into using Bel once again." I was tempted to let out a relieved sigh, but then she dropped a bombshell. "I believe there's something much more insidious going on. It is likely that what we're witnessing is just the tip of a vast, potentially millennia-old conspiracy laid down by the original Polemos himself."

"… You do realize you can't just make an extraordinary claim like that without elaborating, right, Eris?" Tsephanyah acted like my spirit animal and spoke my mind, and the woman flashed a provocative smirk.

"I wonder if you can say the same once I've done so," she said and placed both of her hands on the table again. "What do we know about Bel? He's active in three realms, possesses abilities reminiscent of Polemos, and despite his power and apparent personality, there are no records of him appearing before his first sighting at the end of last October. If you consider all of his actions so far, they all, without fail, benefited Polemos in one shape or form.

Bel's first appearance was during the Oathbreakers' strike on the Dracis dragonbloods, and he served as an agent to spoil their plans and weaken them enough to be absorbed by this Ordo Draconis organization he created. During his second appearance, he fed information to Optio Arpachshad, which led to the internal conflicts within the Directorate exploding, weakening and fragmenting us all just in time for the return of the Archons.

His appearances in the Abyss, while not fully confirmed, indirectly led to the destruction of House Ashur, cutting us off from our most deeply entrenched agents in their realm, and his involvement with the dragonbloods led to the formation of a unified organization that could threaten the balance of the world. Finally, he appeared twice recently, and both times he was but acting as an errand boy for Polemos. Do I need to say more?"

"You're telling us that it was all to further the authority of the Second True Archon and weaken his potential opposition?" Tsephanyah asked, and she nodded with confidence.

"I believe we just caught the coattails of a huge conspiracy, deeply embedded in our realm, as well as the ancestral land and the Abyss. Potentially even a wide-spread secret society that's been operating under our very nose for a long, long time, as it's the only way to explain how these 'Bels' could operate even in the Abyss, with Polemos at its very center. He was the one pulling the strings. He was the only one who could've taught that strange instant movement technique to his collaborators, he deceived everyone in order to rise to power, and…"

"And now, he separated Deus from us, effectively gaining custody over her to enforce supreme power over Elysium as well," Mensah said, and once again, if I had a head at the moment, I would be bashing it against a wall.

"The existence of such an enormous conspiracy is… unlikely, in my opinion," Tsephanyah tried to be the voice of reason, but Savir shook her head.

"The evidence is clear. How else can you explain Leonard Dunning's rapid rise to power, Bel of the Abyss's sudden appearance and activities in three different realms, the implausible unification of the dragonbloods and the Oathbreakers, or even just what happened today? These all required deliberate and concerted efforts using a wide array of collaborators he couldn't have built up over a few short years, let alone months. The only logical explanation is that the framework for all of this was set up ages ago, and upon his return, Polemos as Leonard Dunning only had to set the gears into motion."

"Makes sense to me," Mensah noted with a troubled frown.

"I'm still not entirely convinced," Tsephanyah spoke softly, but even he gave up soon. "But for the sake of argument, let us presume you're right. What do we do about it?"

Smirking, Savir theatrically raised her hands and declared, "A conspiracy under the limelight is as good as dead. All we have to do is to force Polemos to reveal his hand to the rest of the world. We must put enough pressure on him to force his hand until he makes a mistake that undeniably proves that he's…"

This was the point where I stopped listening and returned to my body.

"Fuck it," I uttered with all the indignation two simple words could possibly hold.

"Excuse me?" Roland blurted out, startled by my outburst, but by then, I was already on my feet.

"I said fuck it. I've had enough of these bastards, their stupid ploys and all of these goddamn plots never resolving themselves and only getting more complicated."

"Hold your horses. Why are you more worked up than…?"

Ignoring him, I Far Glanced at Snowy, and seeing that she was conveniently alone at the moment (sitting on the toilet, to be precise), I speed-dialled her on my phone.

"Y-Yes?" she muttered, sounding startled by the sudden call.

"Hi, sis. You're planning to visit the hideout this weekend, right?"

"Yes, that's the plan."

"When you talk with the old bastard, tell him he's out of time. He either coughs up something useful, or he's sleeping with the fishes. That's our ultimatum."

"W-Wait! This is too sudden! What happened?"

"We're speeding things up a bit. I'll explain everything in detail later," I declared, and then quickly said my goodbyes and started dialling another number.

"Leonard, please slow down and explain why you changed your mind so suddenly," Roland pleaded with me, but I raised a finger to put him on hold.

"Mike?"

"Eh? Yes?" the guy mumbled in confusion, apparently not expecting me to call him at this hour. "Tell Moose that the plans have changed. Tell him to gather all the supporters he can, and we're going to strike in…" I paused and consulted my mental timetable. "Monday. Let's go with Monday."

"By strike, do you mean…?"

"Exactly what you think. I'll visit you on the weekend and discuss the details, but I want him to get started ASAP."

"U-Understood!"

With that, I cut the line and turned to Roland even as I dialled the next number.

"Have the Ordo Draconis on standby, just in case. Hopefully, you won't have to get involved, but I might need some backup."

"… Please tell me you aren't planning to invade the Elysium."

"It's only Plan D, but it's unfortunately on the cards," I answered as I pressed the green button.

"But why? What happened in the last ten minutes to warrant this?"

"Have you ever heard of the saying, 'Play stupid games, win stupid prizes'?" He only looked at me funny, so I shrugged and said, "Don't worry. I'm going to teach the Directorate about it, you can listen in on the side if you want." Just then, the line connected, so I raised the phone to my ear again. "Hi, Angie. Sorry for calling you this late, but I have a small favour to ask…"