A Simple Transaction I

Pursuit to the Utmost

The arsenal of House Mirellyian contained two artifacts of interest to the war against the Lord Protector. First was the Opalescent Tower itself, whose sky-folded stone maintained within it the opposite and complement to his Cloak of the Evening Sky, the skies of Dawn and Noontime that blazed unceasingly from the Tower's surface. By allowing his Cloak to absorb its substance in its entirety, he could at last complete the cycle of dawn and evening, wheel of the sky full and entire bound to his vestment.

It represented power far vaster than a mere doubling of potential; a complete engine to one half-formed. The truculent efforts of the latter were as mere incidental emissions of the former's glory unbound. Of course, the disappearance of the Tower in this manner would not satiate his Decimator's Affliction, and would simultaneously serve to alert the Lord Protector that something dire was afoot. Time was of the essence; once he went through with the full absorption, they would have to act swiftly to dispatch Curse and adversary both lest the humanitarian cost become unmanageable.

The second of the Artifacts, of equal power to the Tower on their own, were the ancestral jewels of House Mirellyian, the Tears of Winter which had until the Protector's ascension adorned their crown of office.

These were no simple ornaments, but light itself cast into matter, droplets of the empyrean distilled into material flesh, an incarnate conduit between base and supernal that shined with radiance undying. Adorie lacked the personal power to wield them to their fullest, but Hunger's art of Accretion was almost perfectly suited to the task. They agreed that he would take legal possession of the Tears, abducting them as he had the Forebear's Blade, but that they would stay physically on her person, for once activated mere ownership sufficed to impart a great fraction of their power onto him, and mere distance no barrier - as light of a hue might stream from one's lamps without diminishing the sun from which blazed the same. For as light itself was both particle and wave, so the Tears were both the jewels and their light.

On the precipice of that investiture they gathered, keenly aware of their limited time but unwilling to leave any aspect of their plans to unexamined chance. Adorie had set about the daunting logistical task of evacuating her Tower while Hunger's party discussed military strategy. To conquer took one set of skills; to rule took quite another, and they were fortunate that in this land, unlike the Sovereignty, a capable and willing administrator was already present to take up those reins.

"As soon as my Cloak consumes the Tower," Hunger started, "the Lord Protector will know that something is wrong. Given the power of the first beast he sent against us, it would be wise to pressure him relentlessly, prevent him from marshaling any further preparations unmolested. On the other hand, we only have two days before my Decimator's Affliction returns. Do we split the party and try to handle both matters at once, or focus all of our efforts on the Lord Protector alone, hoping that we can deal with him quickly enough to handle the Decimation afterwards?"

"The second option seems pretty ambitious," Letrizia mused, "But I've heard it's bad form to split the party. I'd rather we all stay together. If that means we end up decimating some people, well, it's nothing Versch hasn't done before, and stopping the LP from actually killing people in his conquests is more important than a few days' worth of fractional life-force reduction."

"I say we do it all," Aobaru replied. "Or at least try! The rest of us can hold down the Lord Protector while you take care of your Curse. The Princess has at least a few loyalist Legions that would back her play, right? They'll be a lot stronger with my Vigorflame empowering them. As long as we stay in their midst we should be relatively safe too, and we have Miss Gisena to counter any exotic magics the Protector tries to deploy!"

"Um," Aeira said tentatively, "I believe we should follow Aobaru's instincts in matters concerning the Voyaging Realm. He is the Chosen One, after all. Sorry, Letrizia!"

She clapped her hands apologetically together before the Duchess.

"Y-you don't have to apologize to me!" Letrizia exclaimed. "It's just a difference of opinion, no big deal!"

"Yeah," Aobaru said happily. "The Duchess is a lot less haughty than you'd think an Empire noble would be. Probably because she's also an Armament pilot! Is that a reflection of Empire policy as a whole? 'The strongest steel is forged in adversity,' and all that?"

"Ugh," Letrizia tossed her hair. "Don't tell me you're a fan of the pauper-prince system House Hegellian uses. That's just to humor Attramemnar. Verschlengorge's decimation is rough, but Attramemnar's selection criteria is even more brutal, and worse, almost completely pointless! It has nothing to do with its fundamental nature as an Armament, Attramemnar is just an asshole!"

"I guess you've actually seen it in play," Aobaru said thoughtfully. "Though we equally can't expect you to be objective when Armaments are involved. Of course you'd think yours is the best!"

"That's because he is," Letrizia said haughtily. "And that's simple fact. Completely objective. You agree, don't you Hunger?"

"Well yes," Hunger said placidly. "He's my bonded Armament, after all: speaking of which, we should decide on a plan quickly so you can go check up on him..."

"Waiting for me to weigh in?" Gisena smiled.

"The opinions of a genius should not be disregarded," Hunger dryly replied. "Care to enlighten us, Princess Regent?"

"Both plans have their flaws," She said airily, "Though, as someone who prioritizes your well-being personally, I would prefer to focus wholeheartedly on the Lord Protector, I already know that you agree with Aobaru! There's no need to further pretend, hun. You're the type that can only be happy when you have your cake and eat it too. And, it is only under such dire conditions that your strength can truly flourish! Perhaps that's the very nature of Hunger."

"Hmph," Hunger grunted. "And here I thought my poker face was all but perfect."

"It was," Gisena said cheerfully. "But I know you too well. That's why you should take me with you on your mitigation journey! Not only am I completely indispensable, I'm also the only one who can fix the Decimation Lens when it breaks!"

"Outvoted," Letrizia said glumly, slumping against her chair.

"There, there," Gisena patted her on the shoulder. "This was never a democracy in the first place!"

---

The winner was [X] Once and Future with [X] Priority Two and [X] The Decimation.

The plan is set. In quick succession Hunger will take possession of both the Opalescent Tower and the Tears of Winter. He will then immediately depart with Gisena towards another Huntress' Moon target, while Adorie and the kids will stay ensconced in the safety of a Royalist Legion. So long as the Decimation doesn't take more than a few days to sate, they should be relatively safer under the protection of Vigorflame-augmented legionnaires, especially while hiding under shadowcloaks. With Gisena's help, speed of execution should be feasible.

Allowing the Lord Protector time to prepare is somewhat dangerous, but perhaps the Sorceress of Nullity has a point... even if the magus can escalate hard in a short amount of time, can he out-escalate the outrageous Progression of Lord Hunger himself!?

What is your new Huntress' Moon target?

[ ] The Armament Fish - This epochal beast is the end of civilizations. Put an end to its world-harrowing rampage; before the might of the Praxis, it is but one more walking swimming apocalypse put to the sword.

*A three-pick fight, you could make good progress towards Stranglethorn or another DA!
*Still very dangerous; before a monster as colossal as this even the resilience of the Outer Shadow seems tenuous and frail. All it takes is one mistake against an enemy of this size, especially with the Apocryphal Curse in play... a three-pick fight augmented with Apocryphal Intervention could well be deadly if pursued to the utmost.
*A contest of almost pure martial might, and one Hunger is reasonably well-suited for given his access to the Artful Thorn

[ ] The Lord of Stalks - Termeran Venitari is not a pleasant man. Brusque, cold, imperious; of clipped affect and unmerciful gaze, he holds absolute dominion over the cities of the Planar Delta. His personal life is an unceasing parade of petty tyrannies, enforced by an unflinching devotion to order that has resulted in one of the safest, richest, and most stable territories in the Voyaging Realm. For though Termeran is a fastidious martinet whom anyone could despise, it is unquestionably the case that his rule is competent, his foresight long-reaching, his judgements scrupulously fair. His peoples are both happy and free, an equilibrium difficult for all but the shrewdest of rulers even to achieve, much less maintain for decades on end. And yet it all depends on a central fulcrum, on his own incorruptible self without which the position of Despot would attract exploitative oppressors eager to loot the powers of the Delta for their own gain.

His loss would be nothing less than a tragedy, the unmitigated dissolution of the Delta powers into infighting and strife, despite the relief it might provide to his inner circle and family.

*While his security forces are considerable, they stand absolutely no chance against the now-titanic combat powers wielded by Lord Hunger
*It would not be a particularly difficult operation, merely a consequential one. But if Hunger falls to the Armament-Fish, the much vaster kingdom of Nilfel will remain under the LP's shadow...

[ ] Territorial Waters - With the Rotbeast defeated, the Elixir Kingdom is experiencing a new and frightfully powerful surge of magical potency in its waters, their purity and efficacy reaching near-perpetual seasonal highs and drawing ever-more wanderers into the hotels at its nexus. By assimilating a truly colossal sum of energy from the Elixir Springs himself, Hunger can abate the power of Decimation for one month more, though obviously this is not something he can repeat. This will reduce the power of the Springs to slightly below their Rotbeast-affected levels, and see the Springs depleted in roughly fifty-five years, but that's essentially just a return to the status quo for the people of the Kingdom... in that time Hunger can accumulate more than enough power to compensate for the harms done, so why not go through with it?

*Gisena will need to build an Artifact that allows Hunger to absorb the appropriate amount of power from the waters. Should take 1-2 days if the Apocryphal doesn't interfere.
*By far the option with the fewest risks and consequences; moderately reducing the Kingdom's prosperity and rate of Elite-surgecrafter growth is a small price to pay compared to the safety of the entire Planar Delta, and much safer than going up against the Armament Fish in a battle to the death.
*And yet, to betray the very people who made him King...
*Perhaps it's a King's dispensation to do with the waters what he will, and it's not as if this action will be inconsistent with Hunger's philosophy of rule. Besides, he really is powerful enough to make up for it later, if he survives.

---

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