Mastermind Freyya
Hidden in a cloud of Death Aura, the goddess of Defeat silently watches the battlefield from afar. With Haalfrin running about stalling for time, the plains have grown mostly silent.
Every now and then, Freyya looks over to where she senses the Queen is, and she feels her muscles twitch as she almost flies over to the bug.
Honestly, seeing the bug act complacent – as if she had already won after slaughtering the Arkin once – makes Freyya a little annoyed. If the Queen had known the Arkin are already dead, that they revive over time, and that Haalfrin is the one who can summon them… If the Queen knew this, then she'd be running about like mad looking for Haalfrin – not allowing him to easily get his way.
However, Freyya knows very well that the Death King is constantly watching her whenever she's anywhere near Haalfrin's world.
When she gave Haalfrin the draconic technique centuries ago – hoping he'd get himself killed with a spell too powerful for his body – the Death King had given her a light warning. When she sent Dakka across the World Gate to kill Haalfrin, the Death King had cut her salary.
At last… when the Death King found out she had completed a Contract with Haalfrin – altering his Fate and binding herself to him…
Freyya rubs her arms and shudders. Her bones still ache from the pain, and her spirit still cries thinking about the punishment she got. She never knew the Death King would be willing to send his own Reapers to his dungeon and experience the same treatment grave sinners receive.
Needless to say, Freyya doesn't know how far the Death King will take his anger the next time she interferes with Haalfrin's battles.
Thus, before she Contracts with Fisco, she wants to test a few things out – just to make sure that her theories are right, and that she's really found a way to evade the Death King's sight.
Obviously, it's best to test her theory out on something that doesn't have consequences as permanent as a Soul Contract – hence, why she's thinking about just educating the Queen Ant all about Haalfrin's powers.
Of course, Haalfrin thinks his wife is just leisurely reading a book; he doesn't know she's about to do something dangerous (dangerous if she gets caught by the Death King).
And so, not wanting to mess anything up, Freyya pulls out a scroll and starts memorizing it. To help herself remember, she reads it aloud:
"1. Drakavar seeks to devour everything in her limitless hunger."
"1. The Ant Queen seeks to devour everything too."
Freyya crosses those 2 lines off her paper. "Step one, check."
"2. Drakavar sends an endless legion of dragons after the gods on all the worlds – dragons she can revive without limit with her Name spells."
"2. The Ant Queen also has an endless legion of her kin that she can use her Name spells to endlessly revive with."
"Step two. Check."
"3. Drakavar is halted by the gods, but she quickly tears their strongholds apart."
"3. The Ant Queen is also halted by the humans, but she overruns the Threshold."
"Step three. CHECK."
"4. Future Haalfrin traps Drakavar in a battlefield with his Syl Name with a barrier that can only go down once he's been defeated. Drakavar is forced to fight him before she gets to what she wants."
"4. Present Haalfrin trapped the Ant Queen with his Syl Name with that same barrier. The Ant Queen knows she can only be free to devour everything once he's dead."
"Hmm…," Freyya frowns, "Step four hasn't happened yet. The Queen doesn't know she has to kill Haalfrin yet."
Sure, there are several steps after this written on the paper, but Freyya ignores them for now. Best to take things one at a time, yeah?
Indeed, what Freyya is working on with this list is a Mantling Ritual. (A/N: Refer to Chapter 186 – The Mantling Ritual). By imitating an event in a higher being's life, you're tying your own fate to that person's.
In this case, Drakavar's timeline with Haalfrin ends with his defeat and destruction. Thus, if Freyya wants Haalfrin to have his mortal life snuffed out, she'll need to tie his and the Queen's fate with his and Drakavar's. Since Drakavar is unquestionably more Significant than the Queen, it'll be the Queen's timeline that is altered – not Drakavars.
Already, her Mantling Ritual has shown signs of working; just like how Drakavar's power is in her blood, the Ant Queen has recently awaken "by accident" the ability to store her mana in her children's blood.
That's how Mantling Rituals work; it gives luck a focus, as if the very will of the universe wants something very specific to happen. You could say that if there are similarities between the two events (the present and future), then Luck will silently work to create more similarities.
For this reason, Freyya believes that because Drakavar knew about Haalfrin's powers, then Luck (Fate) will naturally want the Queen to know too.
"That means I'll be able to go and directly tell the Ant Queen about Haalfrin's powers… and Luck will somehow make the Death King unable to see me when I do it?"
Freyya has never really done a Mantling Ritual before, so relying on something so invisible as Luck makes her nervous.
"Well, here goes nothing!" She closes her eyes tightly and dives down to the Queen's lair.
"Das! Don't bother making any more tea!" the Death King sighs at his self-appointed butler. "I'm just frustrated, that's all."
"Yes," Das says as he sets another tea cup on the King's desk with a clatter, "and tea is the perfect remedy for frustration."
"I want cookies."
"The doctor said you've been having too much sugar," Das says.
"Who's the king?" the Death King asks. "Me or the doctor?"
"…" Das goes silent for a second. "Anyway, what's bothering you?"
"It's my scrying pendent!" the Death King growls, "the chain keeps coming undone, and it keeps dropping to the floor."
"That's an easy fix," Das says as he reaches his hand out. "Just hand it to me and I'll go get it fixed."
Normally, Das would've fixed the chain right there, but the thing is heavily enchanted, and it needs an expert to handle it without breaking the magic on it.
"No," the King shakes his head, "I can't keep an eye on all the Death gods without it. What if something happens while it's gone?"
"Ugh," Das rolls his eyes. "Just hand it to me. I'll be really quick."
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As Freyya flies down, she pauses for a moment and rubs her arms – feeling a chill. "How long will I be imprisoned and tortured for this time if the Death King sees me?"
Freyya is about to turn back, but she suddenly gets the strong feeling that if she's going to do it, she'll have to do it now.
And so, Freyya holds her breath and flies down as fast as she could towards the Queen.
Moments later, Freyya crashes through the roof of a tunnel and lands right in front of the Queen.
Of course, the Queen tries sending a mana blast at Freyya, but Freyya isn't like Reri and Raru; she's a high ranked goddess. She wouldn't be fazed by something as weak as a creature who hadn't even ascended to godhood yet.
Seeing that her attacks aren't working, the Queen hisses in fear and tries running away. Before she can, Freyya easily teleports behind her, grabs her by the back of the head, and pins her to the ground.
Freyya closes her eyes and lets her Spiritual Threads touch the Queen. Then, she lets a long series of information steadily flow into the bug's mind.
Once the Queen realizes what's happening, her legs stop struggling, and she relaxes. Even her children back away and bow their heads respectfully to the goddess.
It only took a few seconds, but Freyya is done. Without hesitation, the goddess flaps her wings and takes to the skies.
The moment she leaves the tunnel…
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"Thanks you, Das," the Death King says as he takes his scrying pendent back.
"There, there, your majesty," Das smiles jovially, "the kingdom won't fall apart if you look away for a minute, right?"
The Death King sighs wearily and waves Das away. "Fine. Just go make some cookies or something."
"Of course," Das bows as he backs out of the door, "I'll be back in an hour with some tea."
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Truthfully, the Ant Queen is shocked about what the goddess had shown her – and yes, the Queen knows what a goddess is now.
Wanting some time to think undisturbed, the Queen sends her children away while she considers the implications of what this goddess had shown her.
"I've always suspected my enemy had some unlimited summoning trick, but I didn't know I was fighting the long dead… Wait, people actually continue to exist after they die?"
It's truly frustrating to realize that every enemy she's killed is still out there, and that they're all angry at her.
Suddenly, the Queen doesn't want to die even more, since she doesn't want to go to the same place as all of her enemies.
What's worse is that since all of those architects and enchanters who made the indestructible fortress are still "alive"… then perhaps they could make another fortress?! Capturing one was hard enough! No! They can't do this!
At least there's one piece of good news here. "That dragon slayer – Haalfrin, he is called… he's the link between here and the Death Realm. He's the reason this war will never end. I have to kill him."
She'd done enough traipsing around, exploring, and building. She needs to get serious!
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Haalfrin realizes almost immediately that the Queen has suddenly started looking for him. She's not even exploring or resting anymore.
Of course, he doesn't realize that this is all because of Freyya. He just chalks it up to her being bored, and he starts being extra careful when he goes out on his raids.
Realizing he's not going to have as much time to stall, he contacts Fisco. "How much longer is it going to take for you to finish transporting the palace?"
"Just give me 3 more days."