Ex-adventurer Bates was late, but you couldn’t fault him for that. The procedures and protocols he had to go under were extensive, intensive . Questioning, radiation checks, pulse checks, a 360 multiform scan, magical signature scans created by a realm eight [Enchanter], blood tests, the list went on.

  If he had any sort of metaphysical abilities then he’d have to show them as proof as well.

  This was a world with magic, skills and classes. A single dragonslayer [Rogue] with the right learned Epics could still bypass most, perhaps even all of these. Despite that, they did it all. It didn’t matter that the final test was the only thing that mattered.

  That was military for you.

  Bates entered the small waiting room and tried to remain calm. If he failed this test… well he’d hope it would be a quick end. He stood stock still, not even realizing a knife’s tip had been brought to his right eye until it had stopped. By the time he reacted, it was gone.

  An androgynous voice filled the room.

  “Pass.”

  Bates walked on through, as if the encounter with the knife hadn’t even happened. The room was brightly lit, oval and had enough enchantments and talismans to blind any mage with [Manasight]. In the center was a large circular table. Everyone else had already been seated and were well underway with the meeting.

  “You’re late, Captain Bates.”

  “Apologies, sirs!”

  Bates had been here an hour earlier than the requested time. It was very likely that even if he’d shown up two hours earlier he’d still have been ‘late’. Even here, in the most important meeting place of all of America, newbies got hazed. The Captain did not argue back.

  There was a low chuckle from the General that sat closest to him.

  “Next time just flash your card and proceed. We don’t stand on ceremony here. This is off the record and buried, Clear?”

  “Understood.”

  Bates took the only remaining chair available. The circular table was supposed to denote an equal standing amongst all the members here, though Bates knew that was dragonshit. He was by far the most junior member here.

  This was the meeting that everyone knew happened behind closed doors, but never knew what was actually being said.

  In front of him were documents, on top were photos of the recent massacre with the Witch Tyrant. There were angles that Bates had never seen before. He involuntarily shuddered as he rifled through the files.

  In each and every single one of these photos, the Witch Tyrant was glaring right at the camera.

  No matter the angle, no matter how intense the phase of combat was, she stared directly at him.

  The same person that laughed, gauged his reaction.

  “Scary, isn’t it?”

  “Are we not worried about hexes?”

  He asked the obvious question. That was a field of magic that had been thoroughly researched by their own team and the Archmage Tyrant. Yet they all knew the standards of hexes didn’t seem to apply to .

  “Well, she hasn’t killed us yet. If two of us here die in the next few months then we might have to change things up a little. Report if you suddenly require an unexpected medical treatment.”

  Bates hadn’t known General Vatner to be a humorous man, but the dry joke was welcomed nonetheless. Vatner continued.

  “The Witch Tyrant is capable of doing things no other [Witches] seem capable of. It does not mean there aren’t rules and limitations, just that we haven’t identified all of them yet. Rest assured, we’ve taken precautions against her magic. We’ve identified it as sympathetic magic. That’s what the rest of the world has been missing against her so far.”

  Bates nodded. He’d studied many of the different categories of magic before, but sympathetic magic seemed to cross paths with mental skills and was a little too esoteric to measure. It was good to know that they’d been finding limitations.

  “If I may ask, why are we doing this right now?”

  It had been eight days since the desync. Technically over thirty eight days since the conflict with the Tyrants had gone down.

  A familiar voice called out from the corner of the room.

  “That’s because of me.”

  Bates tensed as he realized he’d completely missed the figure leaning against a wall. This was the voice that had given him the pass to enter the room. In fact, Bates had forgotten about the knife incident entirely. The Captain tried not to shudder at the implication that his own mind couldn’t be trusted.

  This was one of America’s dragonslayers. Unlike Bates, he wore complete adventurer’s gear with a hood covering his face. His voice altered to be completely devoid of any identifiers.

  “If I returned early like the other dragonslayers, I would have looked guilty by association. I took my time to show I had none. The recent mess was a good distraction.”

  Bates deduced two things from that answer. This dragonslayer was an unblacklisted public figure and he wasn’t a Destined. It also meant he had two lives. Impressive for a dragonslayer.

  “Recent mess? Are you talking about the situation with Artigan at Lazhen?”

  Vatner cleared his throat.

  “One thing at a time. We need to get you up to speed on the Witch Tyrant.”

  Vatner glanced at a younger figure that nodded back and stood up. The man looked as young as Bates did. Neither recognized each other, but that wasn’t too odd. Bates didn’t recognize half the members of the Table.

  The man spoke in a clinical tone.

  “Xie Lihua, or more commonly known as the Witch Tyrant, fought off thirty dragonslayers by herself. During the fight she used three eleventh realm [Meteor] spells, maintained the usage of five light orb relics, and utilized a marble relic known as the Witch’s Platform. The Witch’s Platform and one orb relic have been destroyed.”

  The young man paused.

  “She also used a new, never before seen mana regeneration potion. It is uncertain if it was a trick or not. I am leaning on a colored regeneration potion, though it could be a double bluff.”

  Thirty dragonslayers and the Tyrant had only lost two relics. The contents made it sound like this was less of a contingency meeting and more of a ‘we’re fucked’ meeting.

  Yet the Table did not seem surprised or distressed at the information.

  Bates asked another question.

  “Were any of the dragonslayers ours?”

  Vatner laughed, “Define ours?”

  An older scarred woman cut in. If Bates remembered correctly, she had once been the deputy director of the CIA. Margaret Archer seemed to want to cut through General Vatner’s games.

  “No, or this conversation would be held differently. We knew from the start that this confrontation was unlikely to succeed. Every older dragonslayer we had, and, as far as you should pretend to know–those allied with us, were ordered to stay put.”

  That wasn’t what the rest of the world knew. They thought the conflict with the Witch Tyrant had been close and were pushed by the nations of Earth.

  “I heard she was almost beaten?”

  Nearly everyone chuckled at that. Bates internally sighed but didn’t raise a complaint. The dragonslayer in the corner stepped forward and the room quietened. Bates noted that two people in the room continued to chuckle, unbothered by the dragonslayer that seemed to be capable of slipping out of their minds.

  “No, she was not. This isn’t in any of the files here, but one of the reasons we encouraged this was so that I could observe her with my skill.”

  Bates was sure his curious gaze could bore a hole through steel. The hooded dragonslayer elaborated.

  “I can confirm that despite how close the battle looked, that it was not close at all.”

  His eyes went wide. “She faked all her injuries?”

  There were a few videos of her conflict. Dragonslayers observing from far, far away. Using magic or other means and recreating the conflict through skills.

  The dragonslayer paused.

  “No, I’m not exactly sure what it is. My Epic told me that she had been both close to death but also not. The only times that has happened were against monsters with two phases. If it wasn’t for that, I would have engaged with my team.”

  Now the whole room was silent.

  “Fuck.”

  “Fuck indeed.” Vatner agreed.

  His mind was moving ahead now, trying to make some observations and so he could pass the obvious evaluation they were giving him.

  “Prediction abilities often have deadly flaws. Did dragonslayer Indigo not have a prediction skill that she determined would grant her success?”

  “Mine is a target specific skill, not a prediction based one. It might be possible to trick my Epic. But it is learned and nearing max levels. It’s highly unlikely it was fooled considering it’s not magic nor does the Witch Tyrant know it even exists.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Bates sat back in his chair, he was no longer sure what the right question to ask was.

  “Is it possible to kill her? Is it possible to kill any Tyrant if thirty dragonslayers can’t even touch the weakest one?”

  Margaret answered. “Of course it is, did you think the strongest dragonslayers actually went? No, the only ones that went were those that weren’t in the know, and those that had a fanatic belief in Indigo. We already have a team that can deal with the Witch until she can get to the so-called second stage. No offense, dragonslayer.”

  “None taken. And Margeret is right. From what we understand, none of the Tyrants are likely to learn their Legend anytime soon. As long as that’s the case, we have teams that can handle them on Earth. You can see in those files that we have realistic contingencies for nearly every Tyrant, even in The Realm. A group used the obvious one against the Shadow Tyrant this time.”

  The dragonslayer was talking about the group that had threatened the Shadow Tyrant’s home city. Bates wasn’t sure how good of a contingency it was considering…

  “I heard the entire group was wiped out.”

  The dragonslayer nodded, “Yet it did stop the Shadow Tyrant from acting. That group was weak and let their guard down. A more competent team would be capable of keeping up the threat on his city.”

  Bates scanned over the documents as the group watched him. The plans didn’t get much better from there. Taking a city hostage was just one minor plan out of many. They even had contingencies on managing the Witch Tyrant’s domain and weakening her class before they acted.

  Two Tyrants stood out from the files.

  The only contingency for the Chieftain Tyrant was to kill the other Tyrants or make them denounce him. The skill [Might of My Tribe] would get weaker for each Tyrant that was no longer of his tribe. Then he’d be a subpar combat class with no Legend.

  The Passive Tyrant was somehow worse, there was even less on her skills than anyone else. There was only one contingency for her, and it was to run. Even if she were to rampage on Earth, they could only treat her like a natural disaster and attempt mass evacuations. One of the methods after that, was to ask the Tyrants to reign her in.

  It was ironic that asking the Tyrants for help with one of their own was part of the contingency briefs.

  Beyond that? Don’t engage, don’t bother even trying to assault her from afar. She did not need active skills to tank anything they could throw at her.

  For the Passive Tyrant, it was less of a contingency and more of a document outlining how to mitigate losses.

  There were two saving graces with her. One was that she did not seem to care about anything but occasionally visiting Ganear to try out the [Royal Chef]’s new dishes. The other was that she was the most likely to get herself killed. The Passive Tyrant was on her last life and was constantly picking fights with the strongest monsters in Sector Twelve and Eleven.

  Every other Tyrant was containable to a certain extent. If Bates had to admit it, it was more of a function of their personalities than any real advantage the Table seemed to have against them. Most of them were peaceful and cared little about anything beyond their own interests.

  Regarding the personality front, there was just one Tyrant that stuck out.

  Bates looked up at the silent table that was watching him, this was ultimately a test of fit. He didn’t know what would happen if the table decided he didn’t belong.

  He cleared his throat.

  “The Witch Tyrant’s attitude here is missing. Public perception remembers her as a woman of peace and reconciliation. But the documents here say nothing of the sort. It’s either been redacted or never been written down. Either because we’re worried about some sort of sympathetic tracing or because it’s been assessed that we don’t understand her. She’s also the worst of the Tyrants. She cares nothing for territory or wealth beyond her domain. Unlike the others, she actively plots against us, and we have nothing to threaten her with.”

  The room went deathly silent. Bates had the distinct feeling that he was being given an approving assessment. The dragonslayer stepped forward and produced a seat and sat down then he turned to Bates.

  “This is classified even beyond this table, do not repeat this out loud yourself. The truth is there was a Table before us, before this Table. They attempted a joint operation with some of the other nations of Earth. Most of us aren’t sure what happened, but everyone that was even remotely involved were killed within a year. It didn’t matter whether they were dragonslayers, leaders of nations or in deep bunkers on Earth. As far as we know, they died. If they know of the truth and are part of this current Table, then they are doing a good job keeping it a secret. If you do find out the truth, then I’d suggest you contact me so I can equip you with proper defenses. Even thinking about it in The Realm can draw her attention. Consider it the highest memetic danger there is.”

  Nobody dared to break eye contact or reveal a sliver that they knew of what was being spoken. Bates with his mind was rapidly connecting the dots. When did the Witch Tyrant become a recluse -

  “Is this the superhero gen-”

  “This is no test. Move on.

  The force of the words hit Bates like a truck. Only two thirds of the room reacted to the aura, the rest looked disapproving at the Captain’s curiosity.

  General Vatner cleared his throat.

  “Shall we move on to lighter topics? Artigan and the mess in Lazhen, do we have any information on who might be backing him?”

  There was a silence as they all turned towards the dragonslayer. The figure shook their head.

  “No clue. I’ve asked around, but if they’re doing the old plan, they’ve deviated heavily. The timing makes me think he’s backed by one of the blacklisted dragonslayers. They’ve probably timed this as a means of distraction.”

  A projector whirred as it displayed various pictures of Artigan and his edited video on the screen. Bates had already seen the video of the grinning elf laying an assault on an entire town of adventurers.

  If it really was a distraction, it was masterfully done.

  Somehow, most of the world had moved on from worrying about blacklisted dragonslayers to talking about the mad elf that was only in the third realm. While it was typical for the modern age to move on from old news, this felt like an extreme version of it. If Bates had to think of the reason why, it must have been because the topic of a third realm wreaking havoc was more comfortable than the idea that dragonslayers were using everyone as meatshields from the Witch Tyrant.

  Artigan’s grinning face captured the world.

  It annoyed Bates a little, it reminded him of his own failure. He had thought that Artigan might have been the grinning kid that had ruined his own Trial. The Captain had noted that idea down before it was found out that Artigan was an elf.

  Now the idea that both of them were the same person was laughable. Artigan had to have been the son of an adventurer couple, likely trained for years to be able to speedrun the realms like he had so far.

  Bates shook his head. “Sir, what is the old plan?”

  Vatner answered his question instead. “We wanted to make a Legend ourselves. We thought that having someone start from the beginning and fighting the world was what might have been needed. You remember the superhero era?”

  General Vatner gave a look that distinctly said that Bates shouldn’t talk about the previous conversation about the Witch. Bates just nodded.

  “Well, that generation was us, and a few other nations that had caught on.”

  He tried not to look shocked. That mess of a generation had been their fault?

  “Did it work?”

  “No,” Vatner chuckled, “Everyone died, that’s the problem with making the world your enemy. You have to survive the world being your enemy. That terrorist villain wasn’t ours, but he was the breaking point. The previous table had realized by then that the real villain project was going to take more bodies than we could throw at it.”

  ‘That terrorist’ was ‘Mad Gamar’, a [Mage] that had single handedly destroyed the hopes of there ever being a superhero era. Not by killing the ‘heroes’, but by killing tens of thousands of civilians. On Earth. After that, the enthusiasm for superheroes and villains completely died down.

  Now the idea of villainy especially, had become a taboo amongst adventurers.

  Bates could see the Table ordering something like that to happen. After all, one of his objectives had been to maximize his achievements, one that could be done by taking the Skeleton Lord’s deal and betraying his own teammates.

  “Having second thoughts?”Margaret, the ex-deputy director of the CIA, asked.

  “No ma’am, I understand that some sacrifices have to be made.”

  He believed it too. Bates would have coldly killed his entire team if it wasn’t for that bumbling bastard ruining the whole operation.

  “Good. Some at this table didn’t want you here after the disaster at your Trial,” Margaret scoffed, “To them I ask again, why would we deprive ourselves of a talented member, just because the Manager meddled?”

  General Vatner chuckled, “That’s enough politics out of you, you old bat.”

  The whole room laughed at that, including Margaret. Vatner turned a curious eye on Bates.

  “Did you find out the identity of your Trial intruder? You believed he was an American?”

  Bates hadn’t ever talked to General Vatner before today. This question was likely a formality more than anything. There was no way the Table hadn’t already checked and assessed his own conclusions. Bates nodded.

  “Yes, we ran through a hand drawn picture of him through facial recognition and identified him as a young American named Ryan Robinson. Unfortunately, it seems he has made contact with Seffara the Sapphire through an unexpected connection.”

  Vatner and Margaret made faces at the mention of the heroine of Sapphire. That was unexpected, perhaps the Table wasn't completely up to date after all. Margaret shook her head.

  “Leave it up to the Manager to meddle in our operations then leave a way out for his little Destineds. What was your follow up on that?”

  “Nothing but a footnote. There’s no need to cause trouble with a heroine that still has more popularity than the past three presidents. The fact that she has not followed up beyond making public displays of favor indicates that she isn’t planning on doing anything more.”

  It was… unfortunate that the man that ruined his Trial would get away so easily, but it was the cold logical decision. There had been some frustration while watching a video recording of Ryan arrogantly strutting his way into Seffara’s private jet.

  But Bates threw that thought away. Seffara the Sapphire still boosted their image to the rest of the world and The Realm. While she was known to be famously stubborn, she would not act out of turn unless she was truly pushed.

  The table seemed to approve of his cold analysis.

  Margaret nodded. “Last thing we need is more light shed on that operation. We’re all looking forward to having you out in The Realm when the Archmage Tyrant finishes his portal project and it spreads throughout The Realm.”

  The Captain gave a nod back to the rest of the table. Bates had entered the system portals and confronted the Manager. He hadn't, of course, chosen to be realmbound just yet. Instead, there had been an orb waiting for him, as if in confirmation for all his efforts.

  The [Tactician] class. Despite his failure, the class orb was still there, waiting to be taken.

  All he had to do was accept and become Realmbound, of course.

  Then, without prompting they returned to the projector. It displayed a thorough analysis of Artigan’s every move, skills, likely items and everything else of note. It painted a clear picture. Artigan was someone that knew how to weave in and out of the ripples caused by bigger waves.

  It wasn’t perfect, but the results couldn’t be faked.

  The man who seemed like an assistant started talking as they passed through the slides.

  “I believe everything that has happened so far was a plan years, maybe decades in the making. From killing a talented [Swordsman], to escaping one of the largest cities in The Realm. Plus, his timing on the Trial invasion during the attack on the Tyrants. It is very likely that the person or persons backing him had intimate knowledge that Mezhar was going to attempt the challenge.”

  The man sounded more excited than normal, like he was admiring a tapestry of plots being woven from afar.

  “The solo assault on Lazhen was inspired. The only issue here is that all of this can’t just be the dragonslayer’s doing. We know from our own experience that if outside forces give too much guidance or direction, their achievements would be restricted. Considering Artigan’s level of power, it is most likely that he was raised in secret for years and taught to have impeccable risk analysis, then given free rein. I recommend trying to make contact.”

  The hooded dragonslayer sighed, “We’ll have to find out his backers instead, we can’t risk exposing our low realm operatives considering how few of those we have.”

  The assistant nodded and continued.

  “We’re already doing checks with other nations in case he’s one of theirs. However, it’s my assessment that this distraction was to bring attention away from the new blacklisted dragonslayers. They benefit the most from this distraction and are thus likely to be where Artigan’s allegiances lie.”

  Ten different dragonslayers appeared on the screen. The analysis of each of these names and the reasoned explanations impressed Bates.

  “While we cannot rule out the Tyrants entirely. None of them fit the profile. It is my belief that the top suspects are the [Stallmaster Thief], the [Fallfire Arcanist] with a small possibility of Ludovic Dubois, a regular [Dragonslayer Warrior]. Well there is also…”

  He hesitated.

  “Well, there is a chance that Ozyell might be the backer.”

  Vatner blinked, “The [Bard]?”

  “The music in both videos are too well put together. Compositionally it is almost in his style. Further, he is well connected and was always one of the strongest proponents of the superhero generation. Finally, Ozyell has been laying low of late and doing fewer concerts in recent years. It’s unlikely, but out of the non blacklisted dragonslayers, he’s the one that stuck out the most.”

  The dragonslayer shook his head.

  “I’m not dealing with Ozyell, but I can check with dragonslayer Dubois and the [Fallfire Arcanist] myself… if it’s the [Stallmaster Thief] then we’re going to need something to square with her. She’s going to realize some of us knew not to join the fight and didn’t care to warn her.”

  Some of the table grunted but didn’t say anything else, nobody really liked the kleptomaniac self-proclaimed Stall Queen. The table began debating on how many resources should be allocated to the search for Artigan's backer. Something Bates didn’t know enough to contribute to.

  He just dug into the analysis of Artigan’s steps. The more he read of the assistant’s report, the more convinced he was. This was no mere boy that would fail to hide his sneakers in the first Trial. This was someone that had an intricate understanding of The Realm and knew how to exploit opportunity to maximize his achievements.

  Now that Artigan had snowballed enough, he was spreading his wings. Using the momentum from earlier realms while escalating his aggression in leveled zones.

  A true masterclass planner.

  –

  Ryan, Milock and Clara were looking down at the table, not quite trying to meet a furious heroine’s eyes. They were seated in front of a new dining table that was quite possibly at risk of going in the way of its predecessor. They sat like naughty kids at the principal’s office.

  A principal that could very easily annihilate the entire school.

  “What the fuck were you knuckleheads thinking?!”

  Want to see Ryan and co get blasted by Seffara? You can do so

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