Scylla Rising Pt 3

Are they novices? They don't understand how the game works. That, or they simply don't care about playing games, like Rimuru and my fellow Executives. But the thing is, Rimuru has the power, or will have the power soon, to do whatever he wants. He doesn't have to bother. This group either fits the same category or is drastically incompetent.

"Then, I assume everyone else is already here?"

"That correct." Drake nodded.

"Let's get on with it then. We're here to parley, so let's parley." Tanya uncrossed and recrossed her legs. Her left foot had been going numb. "You want to negotiate a ceasefire, right?"

She could see similarities, if she squinted. Human-ish guy as the leader, with the strongest member of the group being both old and uncaring about certain things.

It was a bit of a stretch, Tanya would admit.

"No. I would like to ask you to join Scylla as its Seventh Head."

Okay, maybe not as much of a stretch as she thought.

Apparently, Drake had another thing in common with Rimuru that Tanya had not expected. He also wanted to recruit her.

Jury's out on if he succeeds.

"Excuse me?" Tanya nearly fell out of her seat.

Somehow, this had not occurred to her at any point. This hadn't even been on the table, as far as she was concerned.

"WHAT!!" Nin jumped out of his seat, slamming his hands on the table, "She tried to kill me!"

"She basically did kill him, actually. Several times." Eve added, her mouth set in a thin line. She glared at Tanya, a look which Tanya did not deign to return, given that she was currently trying not to topple over backwards.

Tanya blinked incredulously, slowly maneuvering her boots off the table and sitting up straight.

He's clearly still alive though.

"Surely we can't just ignore that." Eve continued, turning back to Drake. "Right?"

Drake sighed.

"You tried to kill her first, did you not?" He addressed in Nin's direction.

"I- well." Nin looked away.

"That's what I thought." Drake nodded. "Octavius? What do you think?"

"...She is powerful. Uniquely so. It is... intriguing. I wouldn't mind seeing the limits of that power." Octavius stared at Tanya, "Whether that is as friend or foe... I do not care."

"Good." Drake turned to Tanya. "I've weighed the options. This is the most reasonable course of action for everyone involved. You are strong; your dismantling of Nin is evidence enough of that. We could use someone of your strengths. Join us and become one of the strongest."

Become one of the strongest? Tanya mentally echoed.

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself. I've still got a bone to pick with you all, and until that's addressed you can forget any cooperation on my end, much less me actively helping you."

"Name your concerns. I'm sure I can address them."

"That's not how this is going to work." Tanya shook her head. "What do you mean 'become one of the strongest'? As far as I'm concerned, the only person in this room who could help me with that is the one who seems bored out of his mind. How are you doing by the way, Octavius?"

"…Peachy."

"That's great to hear, Octavius. I'm glad one of us is enjoying themselves."

"Scylla is in the critical stages of an operation. One that will guarantee our superiority over the world." Drake leaned forward, steepling his fingers, "I cannot share more than that to an outsider, but it is one of the reasons I am so adamant you join us. We would both benefit from this arrangement heavily. It hits several birds with one stone, as they say."

"Yeah, pull the other one." Tanya rolled her eyes, "You've shared a lot more than I'd expect, but not the one piece of info that might actually get me to join. I don't even know who you are. You seem perfectly content to give, so give me something I can work with. What are your goals? Do you even have a reason for existing, or are you just a bunch of chuckleheads fucking around and kidnapping people for no reason other than for the hell of it?"

Alright, breathe. Tanya took a breath. Fuck, I hate idiots. This is the most reasonable thing you could come up with? I admit, I can vaguely see your train of thought, but surely I didn't terrify you that much that you would jump to this before anything else. "I've weighed the options" he said.

"My dream..."

Oh, for fuck's sake. This is my fault. I'm the one who asked for his reasons, and now I'm the one that has to listen to the villain monologue.

"…is to be the greatest. I'm going to stand at the top of humanity, the guiding set piece, the shining ideal of progress. And the Heads of Scylla will stand beside me, pinnacles in their own right. That is Scylla's purpose. To stand atop the world!"

Blah blah blah, and then you'll slay the Jabberwocky and go off to fucking Narnia to rule over magical lions with an iron fist.

"Lofty dreams for certain. And to do that you'll, what, inundate your city with Shades? Become the military leader of a single city of a single nation? Kidnap more monsters, people? Your actions don't match your aspirations. Not from what I've seen. I'm almost sorry for you, especially with the sort of help you're keeping. Speaking of which, hello over there Nin. You've been awfully quiet so far. Afraid of getting burned again?"

Tanya paused.

"Metaphorically, of course."

Tanya wasn't looking at Nin, though there was no doubt he was seething. She was looking at Drake, for his reaction.

How much did he care about his supposed creation? How antagonistic could she be, especially since it was looking more and more like she had them over a barrel. And she had barely done anything!

Lo and behold, there was an eye twitch! Looks like Tanya could get on his nerves after all. That was good. The more annoyed he got, the more likely it was he'd spill something critical by mistake.

"You lack critical knowledge." He said after a beat.

Tanya disagreed. Do I? I think it's the opposite.

"If you joined us, you could understand."

"I thought I told you already; that's not how this is going to work."

Drake seemed to have fundamentally misunderstood her character. She could see his thought process, so she couldn't exactly blame him.

Here's what he knew about her: she was Tasha, an adventurer and self-proclaimed hero, though this hid a more ruthless interior that was willing to burn a man alive if it meant cutting through an annoyingly powerful regeneration ability. She was also likely the strongest person in the room, or at least near the vampire, given how deferential and forthcoming he'd been so far.

But he had made one incorrect – educated but ultimately fatal – guess with that information.

He assumed that Tanya would want in on the scheme that would apparently make its perpetrators the most powerful group of people in the world. He assumed Tanya, or rather, "Tasha", would want to become more powerful as well. That she would se the opportunity for what it was and jump on it.

That's a fair assumption to make.

But, as reasonable as it sounded, he did not realize something.

Tanya did not desire power.

Well, that's not entirely true. She'd desired one form power in her first life, as a productive member of society who deserved promotion and the deliverance of their earned rewards.

Tanya did not desire power anymore.

Not since her own denial of it to another, the firing and loss of power experienced by a subordinate, had led to her first death and first meeting with Being X. Not since every promotion she'd gotten since then had only brought her closer to the battlefield, directly in line with yet another death, one she vehemently tried and untimely failed to avoid.

Seriously, fuck Being X.

Tanya did not desire power for power's sake.

The fact that she gained power, that she trained constantly away from the eyes of Mary and Hakurou and many others, that she improved and mastered skills and Skills and spells and more, was not contradictory to this.

Rimuru did not desire power either. It fell onto him like flies on honey, but he was perfectly content living life and existing. Tanya felt similarly.

She had gained power, and continued to do so, because the world was not fair.

Power, the great equalizer.

Her life in Tempest was the closest she'd gotten to a truly peaceful existence since her first life, and damn her desire or lack thereof, she would protect that peaceful existence with whatever amount of violence was necessary.

And if that seemed ironic, then that was the point. What was her life, except a series of cruel ironies stacked atop one another?

Whatever Scylla was planning, it would disrupt the peaceful existence Tanya was protecting. That much was clear.

That meant Scylla had to go.

"How about this. I'll tell you what I know so far, and we can compare notes." Tanya pointed at Drake.

"Right now, I see a man with dreams that far surpass himself. I see an organization who, for all intents and purposes, has nothing to show for its efforts. Other than pissing me off, Scylla's main accomplishments seem to be creating Shadow-based beasts that can't compete with a well-trained Hobgoblin and digging a massive network of empty tunnels under this city. Your résumé isn't looking good, Drake."

She let her hand drop.

"You're going to become the greatest, and you're going to put Scylla on top of the world. Is that right? I'm someone who finds the freedom of the individual important. So, how will you go about your goals? By stepping on the little guy? Through violence, fear? By showing off your currently nonexistent 'incredible' power? You'll effectively be declaring war on the rest of the world. Are you willing to take on all challengers?"

Tanya shook her head.

"I'll answer that last question for you: you aren't. You have no idea what you're getting into, and you have no idea the enemies you'll make by doing following these dreams of yours. There are some incredible people in this world. What makes you think you can best them? I've fought Milim the Destroyer, and I only survived because she wasn't taking it seriously. If that's true for me, then there's no doubt in my mind she'd rip this place to shreds without an iota of effort.

Of course, Tanya was stronger now than she was then, but they didn't need to know that.

"Here's some friendly advice from someone experienced with war. When you've got a fairly sharp sword comapred to the bunch, and you decide the best decision is to wave it about threateningly, remember that there will always be someone with a much sharper knife waiting to stab you in the back."

Drake slammed his hands against the table, jumping to his feet.

Why do people like slamming the table so much?

"That's exactly why you should join us. You are what Scylla needs."

Huh?

"Have you been listening? In case you've forgotten, I'm verbally ripping you a new one."

"And it's clearly deserved. You've pointed out just what Scylla needs for its future success, and it's you! Become the Seventh Head, Tasha. Join us!"

"Oh for-" None of this had gone the way Tanya was expecting, and it was starting to piss her off. "Stop embarrassing yourself, before Scylla become even more of a joke than it already is."

"Of course." Drake composed himself, sitting back down without a complaint.

Why the hell am I the one who's more concerned with your image?

Tanya pinched the bridge of her nose.

I really hate this. I hate everything about this. I'm not going to complain about my foe being incompetent, but at a certain point I'm just embarrassed to be fighting you.

"Before I make any kind of agreement with you, there's a few problems you need to address."

You, because Octavius doesn't care, and everyone else just bows to your whim anyway. Scylla may as well just be you, Drake.

"I only agreed to come because I believe you have something that belongs to me. And I want it back, before I even consider anything else. Understand?"

"What are you referring to? I'm sure Scylla can accommodate."

A broken record. It's just the same shit over and over.

"Is that so?" Tanya raised an eyebrow, "My allies. The Kijin Souei and the Dragonewt Souka. They went missing recently. Do you have them or not?"

"We do."

"Then release them. Furthermore, the Goblinas, Gobhua and Gobara, whom Scylla kidnapped. Allow them to return home. Then, perhaps we may come to an accord."

"Your allies will be returned to you." Drake didn't hesitate to respond, before looking at Nin. "As I remember, the kidnapping of the Goblinas was your idea, Nin. Can they be returned?"

"I've absorbed them, so no. Their existence has already been assimilated into mine." Nin glanced at Tanya with a lazy smirk, no doubt relishing in the closest thing to control and power he'd held in this conversation, "Pity."

Absorbed? They've been assimilated?

That make a worrying amount of sense and matched up well with a few theories Tanya had half-heartedly thrown around when considering Nin's abilities after their last fight.

That wasn't important right now.

Because right now, Tanya was mad.

For several reasons, not the least of which being that since Gobhua and Gobara were dead, coming to Xerxes was a massive waste of time. And while she honestly hadn't expected the Goblinas to still be alive after this long, it still rankled her something fierce just how casual he was being over the loss of life of two innocent people.

And over wasting her time.

Tanya was not a saint by any means.

But those two Goblinas were Tempest citizens. And apparently, Nin thought he could just waltz in and steal from Tempest. A city, at least in part, that was her responsibilty.

He really thought he could just stir the pot and leave it to boil, without even considering the consequences.

Fuck that.

That pissed her off.

It was a matter of principle.

"Then I refuse to cooperate on any level with Scylla." Tanya stood. "Does it feel good, Nin? Does the satisfaction fuel you? I hope that feeling lasts as long as possible, because you'll need something to remember fondly while I'm ripping you into bloody pieces."

Nin would've retorted, if it weren't for the furious energy directed at him not just by Tanya, but also by Drake.

"Tasha, hold on." Drake rose as well. "We can still negotiate. What about your allies?"

"What about them? I'm not joining Scylla, so the deal's off. Not unless I get everything I asked for."

Drake frowned. "You're making a mistake, and for what, greed?"

"What's wrong with greed? You want the world, don't you? Well, I want two innocent Goblinas to return home to their families, but it looks like neither of us will get what we want."

Tanya strode towards the door, her hand slapping metal doorknob and her eyes flashing for a brief second as she turned to face the room at large.

"And about my allies. How's this for a deal? Release them, and we won't interfere in whatever scheme you've got going on. Got that? Send Octavius with your answer whenever you're ready; I'll wait outside."

-=-

As soon as the door slammed shut, Nin and Eve turned to Drake.

"What are you playing at, Drake?" Eve asked first, "You weren't acting like yourself at all. I certainly hope these aren't your true colors."

"When did you become such a suck up?" Nin said with a confused expression.

Eve sighed. "Yes, what he said."

Drake slowly dropped back to his seat, his expression melting into one of calm indifference.

"I truly did want her to join us. But you're right." He clasped his hands together, "She's powerful. Frighteningly strong. I could tell. Not just from her aura, but from the very air about her. It's unique in a way that's hard to describe, just as Octavius told us."

"Can we really let her just walk all over us?" Nin complained, "That was humiliating! She was insulting us the entire time!"

"It's better if she underestimates us. That's the point of the act, Nin. As the First Head, my image reflects Scylla's. No doubt she thinks we're a bunch of novices who don't even understand the game we're playing. That's the one of the best possible outcomes."

"Then all of it was an act?" Eve raised an eyebrow. "I've never seen you play that role before. And here I thought I was the snake around here."

"It was a partial act. I saw two possibilities, both of which were acceptable. The first was if she'd accepted. After, I would have dropped the facade and told her the rest of Scylla's plan." He said, shrugging. "No doubt, she'd be appreciative to learn that her new organization was smarter than it appeared. The second option was her denial, in which case I wanted to convince her to leave Scylla's plans alone. The fact that her allies are in our custody is a fortunate piece with which to bargain, but not something I'd counted on. Trust that I had other plans and leave it at that."

"But-"

"Enough, Nin. It's time you start acting in the manner befitting your role. You as well, Eve. I've been lenient with both of you, but that lenience nearly led to Nin's death and the failure of our operation." Drake frowned. "At most, we're beginning in two days. Two days, and Scylla will rise. No more interruptions will be allowed. Nothing can get in our way, understand?"

"Right."

"Yes, if that's your will."

Eve and Nin settled back comfortably in their seats. Drake let out a breath.

"Nin, I want to focus efforts on your Shades. How close are we to the required amount?"

"Actually, we're at the required amount. I boosted my production after my first confrontation with that woman." He jerked his thumb in the direction of the door, "Good thing too, since I'm still recovering my reserves. I'll be ready by tomorrow."

"Good. Eve?"

"My portion of the operation is complete. Communications are still being monitored, and my darling Quetz has long been prepared."

"Octavius?"

"…My duty is complete." Octavius rumbled, cracking open an eye, "But what of you, Drake? Have you made peace with it yet?"

"Of course I have."

"Don't lie." Octavius opened his other eye, sending Drake an unwavering stare, "The requirements for becoming a Demon Lord are some that many cannot stomach. And this operation, your role, it is of an even greater scale. Have you made peace with your decision?"

Drake closed his eyes, exhaling slowly.

"Peace isn't the right word for it." He leaned back in his chair, opening his eyes and staring at the constellation-patterned ceiling above. "I'm made my decision. There is not turning back, and I refuse to feel sorrow or anguish over it. There is no other path forward for me, for Scylla. No matter the cost, nor the bloodshed, my resolve is unwavering."

"We'll see." Octavius seemed to deliberate for a moment, "And what of Tasha?"

"Release her allies to her. If she follows the deal that she herself laid out, then she will not interfere. Inform her of our acceptance of her terms, Octavius. If you would."

Octavius inclined his head, an unreadable blankness to his expression. He rose, his palm closing over the doorknob and pulling the door open. He left the room without further delay.

"Of course, I'm not one to blindly trust others." Drake added, a few seconds later, once Octavius was out of earshot, "Nin, Eve. I want you two on guard. Nin, focus efforts on General Garmstrong and her cabal of loyal soldiers. I believe she's growing suspicious; she's intelligent, that's never been in doubt. I wouldn't put it past her to try and interfere once the barriers go up. Eve, you'll watching the entrances at the same time. Unfortunately, we can't do anything about the soldiers who will already be in HQ, but we can still keep others from coming in."

"As you wish," Eve tilted her head, "Though I have to wonder if that would that even be a possibility."

"Assume something can and will go wrong, and plan for it. I don't believe any of Xerxes' general populace or the soldiers outside of HQ can challenge our trap, but I also don't believe in leaving it to chance."

"Understood."

"I'm sorry to repeat myself, but are you sure we can just let Tasha go like this?" Nin said, crossing his arms, "It seems counterproductive. What if she goes back on her word? She's not the honorable sort. Not at all."

"Like you're a bastion of honor yourself." Eve laughed.

Drake held up a hand, and Eve fell silent.

"Even if she does, we will be prepared. If need be, Octavius might be able to handle her. And if you and Eve work with him, she'll have no chance." Drake's lips pressed together in a thin line, "This Tasha is just one woman, no matter how powerful. If push comes to shove, she'll find that Scylla can shove right back."

-=-

Well now, I suppose I didn't give you enough credit, Drake. But you're still mistaken.

Heavy footsteps approached her position, the tug of her and Octavius' blood pact twinging at the edge of her mind. Tanya snapped her fingers, allowing the formulae for the listening spell she'd slapped on the doorknob to fade from her mind.

"And what is the verdict?" She said, turning.

Octavius pulled up short just a few steps away, his bored expression given away by the hint of interested light in his eyes.

"…Don't you already know?"

-=-=-=-

That Afternoon, Saturday

The Maj Inn

Xerxes, Eastern Empire

"Where were you!" Mary stood in the center of the room, her arms crossed and her expression like that of a disappointed parent.

Degurechaff paused in the doorway as soon as she saw her.

"…Did you not read the note I left?" She said after a beat.

"…You left a note?"

They stared at each other.

Tanya dropped her head with a sigh.

"I left it in the journal." She stepped forward, closing the door behind her. "Have a seat and I'll explain what's happened."

Mary nodded, her cheeks slightly warm.

Tanya sat down on her own bed, beginning her explanation of the day's events immediately after. As she did this, Mary couldn't help but reminisce a bit.

It was still so surreal. This was their life now, wasn't it?

Having casual conversation. Sharing awkward moments. Working on the same mission. Fighting together instead of against one another.

Just… being friendly. Being friends.

Her, with the Devil of the Rhine. It was the weirdest thing. And, at times, Mary couldn't help but sit back and enjoy it. Who would have thought, huh?

Honestly, it didn't feel real at times. Almost like a dream.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Known Skills List

Tanya:

Common Skill: Thought Communication

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra Skill: Voice of the World Communication

Unique Skill: Formulaic Casting

Unique Skill: Tetrabattery Limit Enhancement

Mary:

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra/Intrinsic Skill: Physical Enhancement

Unique Skill: [It's a Rite of Passage to guess this now, apparently]