Scylla Rising Pt 2

Tanya flipped to another page, quickly sketching a circle with the main symbols and runes at each cardinal point. Then, she connected them through the circle itself, adding lines and numbers at certain points with an odd frown on her face.

The numbers… the way they connect almost reminds me of formulae…

"…I'm not sure, but I don't think the cost matters. Whatever the purpose of these arrays, they wouldn't exist at all if they couldn't be used. What matters is the purpose of the whole thing."

Tanya sighed.

"Unfortunately, my knowledge of alchemical symbols is ultimately limited to manga and the history chemistry, both of which I am woefully inexperienced in beyond passing interest once upon a time."

"Manga…?"

"So, the best I can do is take what I can figure out from the individual symbols and numbers and try to piece together a meaning from that." Tanya grimaced. "Unfortunately, that means I need to catalogue the meaning of all of them, and not just the most important ones. And of course, some of these mean completely different things when placed next to one another, or above, or below, or at a different cardinal point…"

Her head dropped to the table with a quiet thunk.

Mary put a hand on her shoulder in an increasingly less rare display of solidarity.

"…I'll get you a coffee or something."

"That would be appreciated."

-=-=-=-

The Next Day

The Maj Inn

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

Knock. Knock.

Tanya jolted in her seat, her cramped back muscles loudly and violently expressing to her why this was a bad idea.

It certainly hadn't been the first time she'd fallen asleep at a desk, though it would never get any easier.

Tanya glanced around, rubbing at her bleary eyes with a hand while absentmindedly closing the journal and notebook she'd spent the better past of the morning pressing her sleeping face against. As she did, a blanket that hadn't been there when she'd accidentally fallen asleep fell off her shoulders.

Sue wasn't here, she noted while stretching her arms.

What time is it?

Knock. Knock.

Tanya blinked, every sense and instinct in her body abruptly shifting back to 100% as realization struck her.

Why would she knock? That's not Sue.

Tanya rose, fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it – was still in her somewhat dirty 'adventurer' garb. She had spare clothes, both reinforced and normal, in her bag, but that wasn't the most pressing thing on her mind right now.

She made slowly for the door, not bothering to slide on her boots or button up her overcoat. Instead, she reached beside her, to her belt.

Knock. Knock.

Tanya slowly opened the door, her other hand grasping the handle of a combat knife and flooding with enough magical power to level the whole city block, buzzing in the flesh, blood, and bones of her fingers.

"Yes?"

A man was there. Dressed in red to the nines, towering and powerful in magic and frame. He was also familiar.

I ran into him yesterday. Tanya quickly catalogued, also taking note of his body language and approximate level of hostility. She also ran over Magic Sense real quick, frowning mentally as her tracer spell didn't show up.

"…Tasha." The man spoke. "That is you, correct?"

Oddly enough, he lacked both threatening body language and any level of open hostility.

Tanya did not share this trait. Something about this man set her on edge. The air about him, his magic…

Even suppressed, there was no denying the sheer weight of it. It reminded her of Charybdis, in a way. Or Demon Lord Carrion, who'd she'd only had the briefest of encounters with.

"Who's asking?"

Tanya's magic buzzed even louder, begging to be released. She did not let it, the control over her own power absolute. Her grip tightened, then loosened as she remembered how unhelpful it would be to crush the handle of her largest combat knife.

"Please calm down. I have no ill intent." The man held up a hand, either not noticing or tactfully ignoring the way Tanya tensed at the motion, "I am Octavius Valentin, the Second Head of Scylla. The First Head has asked me to invite you to a meeting."

"A meeting?" Tanya narrowed her eyes. "Explain."

He stared at her impassively.

"…The First Head said, I quote, 'Tell her that Scylla wishes to parley' end quote." Octavius lowered his hand, "Scylla wishes to negotiate with you."

Tanya flexed her fingers slightly along the handle of her knife. Along the edge of the blade, a specific runic array, recently carved as of two nights ago, began to glow.

"And I should trust your word on this? I won't insult your intelligence by acting coy; this sounds like a poorly hidden trap."

"This is no trap." He shook his head, "Merely a negotiation between yourself and Scylla. I will guarantee your safety myself, if need be. Your power is intriguing; it would not do well to my interest for you to perish unnecessarily."

Octavius blinked slowly.

"…What did you just do?"

Good to know that works on someone other than Sue.

"Just a little something I picked up recently."

Did I scare them that badly? I nearly kill one of their members and they come running to the negotiation table. I wonder why that is? Why not retaliate? Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but this seems odd. Peace and rationality are usually not the first options I tend to run in to.

Tanya pulled her hand from behind her back, sheathing the knife on her right side. She did not, however, let go of the handle.

"Fine, say I believe you. I still don't trust you, even if you are telling the truth."

Octavius' expression bore the slightest hint of intrigue now.

"…You are aware of blood-based magic?"

Tanya raised an eyebrow. "In passing, yes."

Octavius extended his hand.

"Then, I extend to you a temporary blood pact, lasting until sunset." A crimson circle of magical energy floated over his palm, symbols, runic and magical script coalescing inside. "The meeting should not take long. Perhaps not even until noon. But, I believe extending the pact until the sun goes down a prudent and effective display of trust. Do you agree?"

Tanya scanned the magic circle quickly with Magic Sense and a few formulae-based detection spells, her brow furrowing at the oddly familiar feeling behind the energy.

"Well, it's certainly a point in your favor."

It seemed to be exactly as he said it was. And he at least intended her no harm, she knew for a fact.

"Let's say I agree. What does this pact guarantee? How can I be sure your word is at all relevant, and that one of your fellow Scylla Heads won't just kill you to get to me?"

"The pact guarantees your safety from harm at the hands of Scylla. If any of my fellow Heads attempt to do you harm, I will defend you. The basis of a pact is intent, and my intent is to keep you alive. I am willing to put my word in blood to convince you of this."

The crimson magic swirled above his palm, as if in response.

"It is equivalent exchange. Your trust for my protection during the meeting. Though again, the pact will last until sundown. It goes without saying that I am also trusting you not to abuse this pact."

"Intent, huh?"

That's right, much of magic's power is derived from intent. If your intent is to create fire, and you have the appropriate magicules, you can use fire magic. A pact like this would take the intent of both parties into account, being based on trust. I imagine if I agree, and then intentionally try to work around it, the pact will simply dissolve. This would only disadvantage me.

Tanya hmm'd thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, if he tried to work around the pact, the repercussions would be much more severe, given the more explicit requirements on his own end. He's at the disadvantage just by doing this. I'm at the advantage no matter what. He's seriously trying to convince me to accept.

"What do I need to do?"

I can't turn this sort of deal down. I'd have to be off my rocker to not. Parley with Scylla? The amount of intel I should be able to drag out of them will be absurd.

"Accept." Octavius replied.

So, Tanya did. With a few caveats.

-=-

Mary opened pushed open the door with her hip, her left arm covered in blood and her right holding a brown paper bag filled with various baked goods.

"Hey, so I ran into another Shade while visiting a bakery, and he was really ugly looking. He spit his own blood too, with some kind of acid effect or something? I cancelled it out before it could hit me with that part, but it's still super gross."

She paused, glancing around the room.

"Degurechaff?"

-=-=-=-

Later

Centermost Section

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

Tanya had prepared herself on the walk over.

She'd gone through a mental list, of every bad guy organization or evil groups or otherwise "group of potentially dangerous individuals" she'd ever personally encountered.

A smaller list than you might expect given her history, but then again, most of her problems were the result of other soldiers or a Devil playing at Deity rather than the latest "Council of Dubious Dumbasses".

…Which honestly wasn't exactly a common thing in her previous world, despite being the unwilling victim of an isekai-related incident – technically three times, if you counted that weird school world with other isekai-related people, though she had no memories of that world and would never regain them – in a world of sort of science-based magic.

Her first isekai experience had been a bit an atypical one, Tanya idly thought.

She hadn't been especially overpowered… well, not without a serious drawback to said over-powered-ness, and she'd not met any demon lords, cat people, or evil organizations bent on world domination.

That's what the typical isekai experience was like, right? She'd really gotten the short end of the stick, all things considered.

Fuck Being X.

Anyways.

In terms of "Councils of Dubious Dumbasses", Tanya had a few in mind.

The Rus Federation's Communist Party leaders counted, in her eyes, as did the Supreme High Command of the Empire and the entire Intelligence Department of the Allied Kingdom. Those were the first ones to come to mind.

More recently – since her latest reincarnation – the Demon Lord Council was tentatively placed on the list, as was the Moderate Harlequin Alliance, which she'd only heard whispers of at best.

And honestly, they were only on the list because Geld swore the Majin that had tricked his predecessor had dressed like a clown while doing so, and Tanya was too much of a realist – read, pessimist – to not connect "evil clown Majin" with "Harlequin Alliance".

And now, there was this "Scylla" organization.

There were a few important things that Tanya would keep in mind.

One, there was a possibility that this was still an ambush. Even with Octavius' blood pact binding them together, Tanya's trust was tentatively extended to the vampire, and only the vampire, and only only because she could literally feel his sincerity through the pact.

Two, even if it wasn't an ambush, it was likely she would be threatened, or asked to make reparations of some sort. She had beaten one of their members to near death after all.

Three, no matter what this meeting would end up being, this would likely be the key moment in her own investigation. Villains – as childish as classifying something as a "villain" sounded in her mind – had a tendency to tell more than they should. If she asked the right questions, then there was no doubt she'd accumulate enough pieces to figure out, at the very least, a more defined outline of their actual plans.

Given that she hadn't yet managed to fully decipher the purpose of the city-wide ritual circle, which may or may not even be Scylla's work, Tanya needed to grasp for as many straws as she could.

Knowledge is power, as the cliché goes.

Four, and last but not least, deception. Deception, deception, deception. Scylla would try to deceive her.

They would fail. Tanya would not.

Scylla could not know her own goals. Currently, her risk and the risk to Tempest was negligible. Scylla seemed to still believe her name was "Tasha", and she planned to keep things that way.

No matter what this First Head of Scylla wished to speak about, Tanya would not be unprepared. She would not be caught off guard. She would be ready for anything, and if need be, she had the power to bulldoze her way out.

Running away was something she was good at.

Tanya kept these thoughts in her mind throughout their trip. From the moment she'd laced up her boots to the moment she stood with Octavius outside a lone door, several flights of stairs underneath the headquarters of the Xerxes military branch.

She even kept this in mind as Octavius opened the door, walking in and announcing their presence with that same bored, somber tone he'd been stuck on since she'd met him that morning.

The conference room, for that's what it had to be modeled after, was rather large, though not obnoxiously so. Along the walls, where in a skyscraper or otherwise above ground room with the same purpose there'd be windows, tapestries and paintings were hung. Depictions of war were common, but so were acts of peace. One tapestry showed a bloody mess of fabric and bodies, and another showed a scene that looked suspiciously close to a certain fish and bread miracle performed by a certain Guy in the Sky's son.

Not the ugliest or gaudiest room Tanya had been in, by far. Rather pretty, in fact, especially with the ceiling having bene painted to look like a starry night sky.

The well-sized table that sat in the room's center was circular and a deep brownish maroon. Expertly crafted in a way that was obvious from a glance, it was surrounded by seven chairs of similar material and skill, no doubt a part of the same set or at least from the same craftsman.

There was no actual head, Tanya noted, though one of the chairs was directly across from the room's door.

This was the First Head's chair, no doubt. It was also filled, presumably with the man in question, as were two other chairs to the man's right.

An open seat sat between the First Head and-

"Hello there, Nin." Tanya decided to stir the waters a bit, just to see how serious they were about this parley, "Lovely weather out, don't you think? Cold, true, but I'm sure you actually prefer that right now."

Nin snarled, opening his mouth to retort.

"Nin. Stay silent." The First Head spoke.

Oh?

"You are here to observe, not to make more mistakes. Understand?"

"Tch." Nin looked away. "Fine."

So, this is the First Head of Scylla? Something seemed to click in Tanya's mind. I think… this is Nin's creator, right?

Octavius wandered away from her, taking the open seat between the First Head and Nin. He remained silent, though Tanya noted with interest that he didn't even acknowledge the others beyond momentary eye contact.

The First Head watched his colleague sit with a blank expression, before turning to face her.

"Step into my parlour." He said, gesturing at the seat across from Octavius, and next to an oddly familiar blonde woman.

"Said the fly to the spider." Tanya replied, taking the proffered seat.

"I believe the phrase is the other way around, actually."

"I'm aware."

The man blinked, then chuckled quietly.

"Very well. I am the First Head of Scylla, Drake. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Unfortunately, I can't indulge you and say the pleasure is all mine, because you seem to have left a roach infestation alone." Tanya shot an obvious glance at Nin, "How did you survive, by the way?"

"Fuck off."

Tanya was undeterred.

"By the looks of things, I'd say it was this woman right here who saved you." She turned to the woman next to her, "I don't believe we've met. Do you often attack others with your pets?"

"Eve." The woman said shortly, the snake around her neck eyeing Tanya with a what was unmistakably a sapient level of intelligence. "And no, I made an exception just for you. You nearly killed one of us, after all."

"Well, let's not cast the first stone too quickly now." Tanya glanced at Drake. "Keep your subordinates in check, will you?"

"All the Heads of Scylla are equal in position." Drake countered, "Though, some of us have seniority. Nin, Eve, don't be antagonistic."

That confirms one of my guesses. Their numbers don't correspond to their strength. It must be the order in which they joined, because unless Drake is really good at hiding his wrinkles, it's certainly not by age.

"We are here for parley, not a party. Control yourselves."

"That's right, we are here for that." Tanya leaned her chair back on two legs, kicking her feet up on the table.

How much would they let her get away with?

She observed the others.

Nin and Eve's irritation was clear as day. Octavius didn't react. Neither did Drake.

Interesting.

"I'm curious, then, why only four of your seven chairs are filled today." Tanya gestured at the two empty seats to her left. "Five, if you count mine. What gives?"

"The Third and the Fifth are attending to business outside the Empire. They will not be joining us for the foreseeable future."

Why would you share that? Now your enemy knows that two of your members can't help you. Wouldn't you rather bluff, given my own lack of knowledge, and say they were merely elsewhere in the city?

That, or Drake actually was bluffing, but in reverse. She hadn't ruled that out.

You could have said they were "taking care of something important" and left it at that. You could have not said anything and let me assume this was everyone, leaving me unaware of additional threats. Why did you not do that?

Tanya realized something in that moment.