Chapter 397 (1/2)

Mrs. Hamilton stumbled slightly as they emerged through the portal that Lyra had created. Brushing herself off, Mrs. Hamilton felt slightly embarrassed. It had been quite a long time since she had behaved as anything but graceful, and she half suspected that the other woman had done a rough landing on purpose, to cause her to stumble.

Not that there was any proof, but ever since Lyra had become involved with that… strange being that had been parading around with her face, she had gotten even more deeply mysterious and pompous.

Still, Mrs. Hamilton didn’t really begrudge her for that. Lyra was a brat who was truly a genius. But that didn’t mean she would make the right decision, or even one close to correct, all of the time. But Mrs. Hamilton had no choice but to rely on her as a source for information. And as a lever that she could exert influence over, to control the fate of humanity.

Because although they had stayed ahead of things so far… the next portion of the System’s trials might be the most difficult they had ever faced: interacting with other segments of the human population. Those could perhaps be even more dangerous than a Raid Boss, if left unattended, and the fact they were progressing another level made the possibility of a Tier IV Raid Boss appearing likely…

A small part of Mrs. Hamilton twitched, wanting to raise the morality of what they were attempting to do now, but she instantly squashed it. She had made her decision; Mrs. Hamilton was not one to act squeamish when she decided to roll up her sleeves.

“Fucking doggy. The ONE time he moves quickly,” Lyra hissed, and Mrs. Hamilton looked around. They were on a dull grey platform, with darkness surrounding them. The material of the platform seemed to be ivory, because there was glossy smoothness to its greyness. At the center, there was a stone table, upon which Randidly was lying, dragons and snakes composed of Aether spiraling around his body, biting into him, piercing through him, and emerging from the other side.

But floating above Randidly was a spiraling sigil, hanging in the air, slowly condensing. As Mrs. Hamilton looked at it, she couldn’t suppress a shiver. There was something… almost evil, about the rune that was there. Somehow, it filled her with a cold sense of dread. Its cool light touched her skin, and invigorated her, but it also filled her with an unholy unwillingness, almost like a geas. Very quickly, she looked away, controlling her breathing.

Mrs. Hamilton glanced sideways at Lyra, and clicked her tongue. “That’s his Class then? We were too late?”

Lyra nodded glumly, but her eyes were filled with glittering calculations. “Perhaps… perhaps not….”

Mrs Hamilton controlled her face, even while the other party was pointlessly being a bitch. The problem was the girl was too used to playing a role, so she was constantly in this snarky character. Mrs. Hamilton was aware that it wasn’t the girl’s true personality, but she was also losing touch with Lyra’s true personality, buried under the play acting and muddied with the influence of that strange being, that Randidly called the Creature.

What was worse was that Randidly encouraged her irreverence, which Mrs. Hamilton supposed he couldn’t be blamed for. He just wanted to be treated normally. And verbal derision seemed to be a sort of interaction that he understood, and was comfortable with, but…

Lyra took several steps forward, and waved her hand. The rune trembled, and then slowly stretched, opening up, spreading apart. Between the two sides of the rune a finely detailed network of energy lines emerged, weaving together and connecting the two sides. Those little connection nodes glittered with dangerous power, almost hissing, when exposed to the air.

Imitating Mrs. Hamilton, Lyra clicked her tongue. “Well… we can’t shape his Class now, but we can… weave our own influence into his Class, as long as it follows certain guidelines. The effectiveness of it will depend on whether he accepts it, and has images to back it up, but-”

“Ah, I wasn’t first? A rare tardiness on my part, my apologies ladies.”

Mrs. Hamilton turned calmly around, while Lyra spun. Inwardly, Mrs. Hamilton sighed. Why not just announce to the world you weren’t expecting this, and you are now nervous…?

There was a creature walking forward, a wide smile on its Rhinoceros head.

“...Octavious Shrike.” Lyra whispered, her eyes narrowing. “I thought-”

“-that your distraction would be sufficient? No. Your arrogance is distasteful, child. I allow you to play your games, but this is something I can’t miss.” Octavius arrived at the low grey table Randidly was lying on and waved a hand. An ornate golden chair appeared, and he seated himself comfortably. “It is quite rare that a being achieves Transcendence. And oh, every alarm in the 7th Cohort is ringing like mad. I need to be here, so I can make an accurate report.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed even further, lending her a very melodramatic air. Mrs. Hamilton performed a small curtsey. “Octavius Shrike. A pleasure to make the acquaintance of the being who oversees all of our Cohort. I must say, I much admire your work so far. I would be delighted to join you to witness this… Transcendence, if you would be so kind…?”

Octavius turned and exchanged a glance with Mrs. Hamilton. In his eyes, she could read a lot, and a lot of it was worrisome. But, there was also a truth there that put Mrs. Hamilton on very familiar ground; this man was primarily a bureaucrat. Then he grinned, because he had seen the same truth in her eyes.

“Of course. Please, allow me.” Octavius waved his hand again and two more chairs appeared, simple, black wooden pieces, with a strange, triangle base, and no real back. More like stools than anything else. But that was just him posturing.