Chương 189: Deal with the Refuge

"War?" Judge's voice was strained.

"Perhaps you have forgotten, but most of the Cultless were abandoned by the cults for being too weak. Too incompetent. Survival is a great hardship on its own; and you want us to go to war?"

"It is exactly because they abandoned you that you should. How many of the Cultless — if given the chance — would cut the cults down to size?" Nyxala pushed on before Judge could interrupt.

"Outside of the Refuge, you are all weak. I understand that. But it is not strength I ask for." For once, Judge didn't outright reject her.

"Then what is it you propose?" Nyxala hesitated. He already knew of her mutations, but her plans to tear down the cults were another thing entirely. If the Scriptures and Bodytwisters — or any other cult, really — discovered a plot to bring down the cults, then they would cease their quibbling and unite to tear down the unsightly, upstart usurper. In comparison, her status as a valuable sacrifice becoming public would cause conflict between the cults. At least in the beginning.

Up until they realised she was worth enough for all of them to achieve their dreams together. Thankfully Solan was too greedy to realise that herself.

"I intend to gather the strength to take on the cult leaders," Nyxala said. Better to give the man an alternative to hope for, than to simply let the idea of selling her out fester.

"It may be years or even decades before I reach that point, but I will. The Cultless have two strengths: numbers, and the cults' tendency to overlook them. Both are aspects I could use." She expected him to scoff or laugh at her claim of the heights she'd reach, but he simply narrowed his eyes and listened on.

"Ly͚sy͚rã can be in a lot of places at once, but not even she can accomplish the work of thousands. The Cultless' efforts would begin as simple information gathering. Ly͚sy͚rã can overhear conversations, but she cannot ask questions without revealing herself. They will go about their days pretending to earn enough to survive — whether that be in the Biovault market or scrounging for trash — and toss out subtle nets for information whenever possible. Never about scrolls or rituals.

That would arouse too much suspicion. Instead, they should allow the lower creeds the chance to walk over someone they consider lesser. Let them tattle and spout their grievances."

"You want us to leave our Refuge just to be beaten down by those who want a punching bag?" The distaste in his voice was clear.

"A bit of short term pain is nothing for the sake of vengeance." Nyxala didn't like that the situation had shifted from her making demands to having to convince Judge, but the alternative to this option was to kill them all, and she really didn't want to have to face Lysyra with that outcome.

"How many of the Cultless would disagree?" Judge didn't grace her with an answer, so she continued. Time to offer a carrot.

"Beyond that, I intend to supply rituals and sacrificial materials so they can create nuisances for the cults."

"That would take a lot of consideration to set up safely. Not only would the cults immediately investigate such interference, but it is dangerous for those without many evolutions to interact with any particularly dangerous ritual. And besides that, how could you possibly intend to supply purpose-fit rituals and the materials needed to enact so many of them?"

"Well, the rituals I'd steal." Nyxala was just waiting for the opportunity to raid the Scriptures' Library… even if it would remain beyond her for a long while yet.

"But for the materials…" Nyxala took her Technocult knife and deposited the contents into an empty vial before handing it to Judge.

"You'll find a few drops should be enough to power through the requirements of any basic ritual." While giving the man her blood might be the same as confirming her status as a perfect sacrifice, she expected he would see it as the promise it was. She had the potential to reach the cult leaders. So long as they didn't betray her, then there really was hope for the Cultless. A hope that they could never achieve themselves.

"This is… something I can agree to," Judge said, holding the vial up to the light.

"So long as it stays as somewhat of a support structure and we are not brought into direct conflict with the cults, we can work something out. I assume selling this off will raise too many questions? If you really want to help us, donations of food or resources more saleable would assist the most in setting this network up. The cults control the Biovault, after all." Nyxala nodded.

"I'll see what can be done." She glanced to Lysyra, who was both relieved that she had backed off on her threats, and still incredibly fidgety.

"Well, now that the reason I came is dead, I'd rather not stay."

"Yes, I've heard that the higher the evolution, the more uncomfortable the Refuge's suppression becomes." Judge's serene expression returned as he turned to Lysyra.

"It is good to see you again, Lys. I know it makes you unsettled, but do drop by whenever you can." He spun, ready to return to the Refuge.

"And Nyxala? I very much hope we can be friends. Should your secret be exposed, I can promise it will not be from us. But, next time, do restrain yourself from threatening my family." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Nyxala didn't wait to watch him leave. She had no desire to stand around as the focus of a dozen deadly barrels. She slipped through the spirally series of gates and doors until finally, she felt the net slip from her name.

Her blood immediately spun to life. All the fluid spilling from her de-shelled arm and wounded chest sprung into an embrace that clung to her neck. WHERE WERE YOU? WHY DID YOU LEAVE US? If Nyxala ever wanted proof that this obsessive blood was something external, than this was it. Her name hadn't disappeared. Her blood hadn't disappeared. And yet, it thought she was gone.

"Uh-" Lysyra momentarily overcame her nervousness to gape as the blood once again took the form of a childish blob trying to squeeze Nyxala.

"I don't know what to ask first." And there were plenty of things Nyxala had to ask Lysyra, but first she needed to heal.

"Do you mind if I use you to manifest an amalgamation?" she asked the blob. When it nodded into her chest, Nyxala flooded her blood with corruption. While she waited for one of the beings bubbling in the blob to surface, she turned to Lysyra.

"Where's the nearest place that can trigger my Feat's need for struggle?"

"What? Right now?" Lysyra's fingers balled in her robe as she glanced around.

"Can you take me back to my home first?" Nyxala gestured the blood aside so she could show off the wound in her chest.

"That boy we saved went mad and almost killed me, and you're worried about being out in the open?" She opened her pecked eye while wincing for emphasis.

"I might bleed out." She wouldn't. With this little obsessive red mass helping her, she didn't even think it was possible for her to die of blood-loss. Still, Lysyra had been begging to be messed with, and now was Nyxala's chance. Lysyra glanced over her shoulder a dozen times before she responded. Despite no doubt having filled the surrounding nondescript halls with her replicas, she remained as fretful as a child on their first day outside the ward. No, more-so.

"Fine. But let's make this quick." She pointed to a hatch.

"There's a service tunnel through there, but there's a burrow of lapin spawn somewhere in there. Startle them, and you'll have all the struggle you could want." Lysyra stood back, showing no intent to even get close to the sealed entrance.

"Not going to lead?" Nyxala asked.

"How will I know where the burrow is without you?"

"No. I'm not going in there." Her voice was almost too erratic. Much more pressure than this, and the girl would break.

"Oh well, then I guess you don't need my protection on the way back to your hovel?" Nyxala shrugged and made her way to the hatch.

"I know what you're doing." Lysyra looked downright petrified." It won't work on me."

"Alright. Good luck!" Nyxala shouted back as she opened the hatch and slipped inside. She closed it and waited. Three… two…

"Wait!" the hatch opened to Lysyra's flailing limbs.

"I'll go first, just don't leave." Nyxala hadn't even reached one. She snickered, then it erupted into a full laugh. Turning her back on the girl, she moved deeper into the service tunnel while she giggled at the other girl openly.

"I knew it!" she accused, but followed regardless.

"My abilities work best remotely, so making me follow like this is just cruel."

"And so is sending someone into a place without telling her that the only thing that kept her secrets hidden wouldn't work there."

"I didn't know it wouldn't work." Nyxala fixed her with a glare.

"…well, I didn't think that was how the suppression worked," Lysyra amended.

"Nobody but Judge knows how it works." And not even he, going by his comments on its supposed ability to suppress Madness.

"I can see them now. Hide until I'm done." Nyxala waved Lysyra into a corner between pipes and ran ahead. Finally, the corruption had spread through the blood still swaying from her neck enough that there was a set of pincers scraping at the surface. Nyxala ran down the corridor, kicked at the burrow hole dug into metal, and ran off before the lapin-spawn could nip her with their vaporising teeth. They were quick, and their prattling hops kept them at the edge of her tail feathers.

When Nyxala was sure she'd accumulated enough of a challenge to trigger perseverance of Lýotepͦ, she yanked the slimy pincers from her blood, pulling free the sickening form of an amalgamation, and slicing it to shreds with her sole remaining claw. Once her arm had fully healed and she'd used up a little more of Tarchon's valuable stabiliser, she stopped. Her intent was to take the lapin-spawn head on, but she immediately regretted halting in their path.

Teeth sliced through her tail and left chunks without feathers. Ten seconds later, they were all dead, but it was annoying that she'd let herself be hurt like that at all. Especially after healing. Against any greater threat, a decision like that might have gotten her killed. Lysyra was shivering when she found her again. It was honestly quite concerning how different she acted in person compared to the attitude she put on when she had the shield of distance.

It would be best if she could wean the girl of her fears… but with Lysyra strength distribution as it was, that might not be the best idea. Nyxala did not expect to slow down and make her own environment 'safe' any time soon. With the way Nyxala's Feat worked, that would be actively detrimental. But Lysyra could very easily get caught in the crossfire if her real body stayed with her like this. The girl shouldn't be so terrified of leaving her hovel.

She shouldn't, but Nyxala wasn't about to demand she stay anywhere else.

"Come on," she said, walking back to the hatch.

"You're not about to make me fight a cultist or go swimming, are you?" Her voice was laced with so much distrust that it made Nyxala smirk again.

"I wasn't, but if that's what you want…?"

"No, no." She hurried to Nyxala's side.

"I'd rather find my hovel again."

"Then I guess I'll see where you spend all your time," Nyxala said.

"Comfortable, I expect?"

"Y-yeah." With the way Lysyra looked away and shuffled her feet, she couldn't have lied worse if she tried.

"It's very… cosy."