Chapter 382: Temporarily Resolved

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

The weasels were right around the corner and entering the premise through their myriad runnels but Drai had enough time left before they arrived to question Ares' decision. "Not that I don't appreciate the work you've done here in uncovering everything but... Shouldn't we have removed him from the quarry earlier?" The 'him' here was referring to the traitor, Brainiac. Brainiac wasn't his actual name but it didn't really matter because Ares had given him a new one. Ares was dead serious about carving out this guy's brain and turning him into a useful supercomputer to analyse resources and perform complex investigations of unknown materials and so on so forth. As he was going to be nothing more than a brain going forward, and he was particularly smart, the name Brainiac simply fit too well for Ares to ignore it! Regardless, Drai was curious. "If he can really control the weasels then letting him stay here was surely not the right way of dealing with him? Now that the weasels are here, he's going to cause some serious trouble..."

Ares shook his head. "Given everything that's been revealed up until now I would not be shocked if he could control them remotely so taking him somewhere else might even be more problematic. You wouldn't want the weasels escaping into the sect and killing disciples, would you? There's nowhere else to take this Brainiac guy, that wouldn't end up being pretty disastrous if he summoned the weasels to his location, and the weasels can at least be contained here within the quarry pit or this encampment. Plus, I'm serious about his brain you know? Where were you going to take him to? A prison? He's dying here and I'm lobotomising his corpse, it's not up for debate. Third and finally, I'm certain he has comrades outside the sect too. If he can contact them then, while I stay here and hold off the weasels, whoever's escorting him to whatever dank cell you were going to put him is going to get ambushed. I want him here were I can see him and prevent him from escaping, thank you very much... Although I guess I could kill him right now to prevent him from giving the weasels any commands in combat... If they're un-coordinated it should be easier to fend them off and capture some..."

Rumble Rumble Rumble

Hm? Why'd it get quieter? Ares was momentarily confused as to why the weasels sounded further away then they were before but he quickly put two and two together and realised this was one last act of defiance from Brainiac before Ares gutted him and cut his brain out of his skull. Though Brainiac could unleash weasel chaos in his final moments, he instead chose to retreat them for now which was a bad sign. Maybe he'd worked things out with his companions such that this was his way of telling them he'd been compromised and that was not going to be a good thing going forward. Sure the weasels retreated now but, next time, who's to say every single weasel wouldn't be sent here all at once? If the plan was revealed, and could no longer be done safely in stages, then an all out bum rush of thousands of weasels o seal the deal once and for all was a very real possibility. Having a large chunk of weasels, maybe a hundred or so, die here would cut into their forces before the big surge they would now resort to so not killing this batch of weasels was annoying.

That and, honestly, this was the correct choice for Brainiac for another reason. He probably understood that Ares wanted to deal with the weasels at the root, and was interested in finding out the location of their base as he'd mentioned earlier, so preventing the weasels from being tracked was wise. Ares could, and was planning on, putting a nothingness mark on a couple of the weasels as they fled after this combat. He would then follow after them as they returned to their base and that would have solved the issue then and there. Ares could just blow the base sky-high with a Perish Wheel or maybe even an Armillary and have an easy time of it. Now that that wasn't possible, however, he was going to have to deal with the weasels the hard way, without massive explosives due to the volatile quarry, and all at once to boot. The weasel retreat made everyone other than Ares happy but this was by far the worst possible outcome which explained his displeasure with the situation. Now Ares had to locate their base the hard way because, if he didn't by the time they launched their final attack, then things would get real ugly real fast... And now he couldn't kill the damn Brainiac either! Ares still wanted to but, now that he couldn't track the weasels anymore, he had to try and extract the information out of this guy via good ol' torture instead! This clever clogs had delayed his fate and altered the plan on the fly to prevent it from being thwarted. In hindsight it would have been better to wait until the weasels showed to kill him but it was too late for that small mistake, with big repercussions, to be corrected. To retreat his own forces when faced with imminent death was ballsy but it had worked out in his favour nonetheless. 

Tsk

Ares had been looking forward to the weasel fight as well! He felt seriously blue balled here... Training came in many forms and it was rare he got to practice fighting against hordes without his magic. He couldn't use annihilation here so it would be like the time in Baja when he fought the buzzbladers with nothing but open pillar magic for the bet against the Legions. He hadn't trained like that in a long while and he wanted to use his scythe damnit! Everything went wrong right at the final hurdle and this whole problem could have been sorted out completely in one fell swoop... Now this was going to be a multi-day issue and who knows what manner of attacks would be launched on this place now? They didn't have to be so subtle about their approach anymore now that everything was out in the open like this... Ares looked around at the cheering researchers and mumbled under his breath "Good for some..." These guys were officially useless now and could go get some sleep and / or medical treatment depending on how bad their hollow victory crash was. Meanwhile Ares' workload had just increased and he was going to be spending at least a week or two dealing with this in his spare time... The same was true of the sect elders who needed to guard this place and they realised pretty quickly as well that this was the case. Drai looked like he wanted to bash Brainiac's skull in himself but refrained as he was going to have to try and get answers out of him. To vent some stress he might actually pay the guy a visit and 'extract information' here and there himself... Drai hired this guy because he 'happened to be in the area and was willing to help' when the plague struck.. Bah! All of this hassle because of one nutjob! Drai had even given the outside help good living conditions and expensive gifts for their hard work only for them all to either be worthless or a traitor! Nightmare!

While Drai was ordering his guards to cuff Brainiac, Ares went over to the quarry and peered down into it to get a glimpse of whatever Massai was doing. Various holy runes were littering the pit and slowly eradicating the suffering mana which ought to do the job. Massai, in essence, had stumbled across the correct answer when using various scripture arts and prayer arts that were common in his now-destroyed sect. They were each used in rituals or sermons so he went through them one by one and must have found one that conveniently worked even if he didn't get why. Buddhists, as well as just about any other religious types, had magic not dissimilar to the holy pillar and so it was naturally effective against anything related to death magic or the undead. Massai's prayers must have been capable of destroying grave lord and toxicology aspect mana specifically which was more than enough to 'purify' the pit even though he was really just removing the troublesome mana.

Without toxicology mana, the outer edges of the ore wouldn't erode and so the bare fist mana couldn't get in and activate it. That alone would solve the issue but his prayers were also getting rid of the miasma itself which stuck around borderline eternally thanks to the grave lord mana. In short, both functionality and presence were wiped out one by one by Massai's work and so it was rather convenient... Again, he had no idea why it worked though! Lucky bastard! He was being revered as some heroic saviour monk because he got rid of some lingering mana accidentally! Phony! Ares was tempted to spit on him from above! Well, in his defence, technically speaking these were 'purification' rituals for a reason and they must have been used to cleanse shrines, or other such locations, of 'evil' countless times before. The way the purification was sold to others was holy baloney bogus but the actual end result spoke for itself. Repackaging anti-suffering pillar mana as religious purity was quite the scam though... Was everyone in Massai sect a fake!? Maybe that place being destroyed was for the better, honestly...

Ares walked back over to Drai now that Brainiac was tied up and gave the fellow sect master a suggestion. "I would recommend keeping him as close to me as possible so that I can react quicker if someone tries to rescue him. I won't always be in the sect but if I happen to be there, if his cohorts drop by, then this is for the best. Normally I wouldn't advocate for luxury for criminals but maybe you should try and keep him in the palace? Security there is already high, so that helps, and it's deep in the sect making it hard to sneak into. If you could lock him in a room with surveillance twenty-four seven it would be better than putting him a dungeon far away from me, I think. It's up to you, though, and I'll naturally try to stop him from being rescued regardless of where you put him. Objectively, however, I'm the strongest person in this sect by a decent margin and so it would make more sense to either relocate me near the holding location or change the holding location to be near me."

Drai gave this suggestion due consideration and eventually nodded. "He can stay in a spare room, or something of the sort, in the palace. Naturally he won't be living the high life there, and we'll remove anything he might find even remotely enjoyable, and we can conduct our investigation after throwing up some sound proofing magic and runes so as not to bother our other guests."

"Alright, let me know which room you dump him in and I'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Ares didn't mention it but there was actually another reason for why he wanted Brainiac in the palace. It was also regarding security but there was someone in this sect that concerned Ares a little and keeping them out was potentially going to be a difference maker going forward. When thinking about who could manage to stay in the desert constantly, and build a base out there, there were very few options, one of which really stood out to Ares above all else. It was just conjecture at this point so he wouldn't mention it to Drai as he didn't want to put him on edge needlessly. Still, if Ares was right, then the palace was the best place for Brainiac to be un-rescuable. Even if Ares was out and about there was also a chance for Aejaz to hold down the fort in his stead. There weren't many times Ares would be going anywhere without him, as the Riddlemyd was going to be a joint endeavour between them, but that didn't mean it couldn't happen. Ares wouldn't drag Aejaz out along with him when he was just exploring the nearby area or the desert for treasures, for example.

"Oh and, make sure you pick guards with above room temperature IQ to guard him please. He's a sneaky and clever rat so I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a daring escape all on his own after poisoning some nitwits who fell for some kind of dumb trick. I don't want him being served tea under any circumstance and if he gets his hand on any alchemical substance whatsoever I'm going to personally demand an explanation from your guards. Have multiple people watching him at all times so that the likelihood of stupidity prevailing is as slim as possible." This might have sounded like excessive worry but it was justified entirely by the fact that Brainiac kissed his teeth and had almost definitely been plotting something already. Nuh uh! Ares knew all too well how the heroes of various stories managed to escape confinement by asking a guard to come and check something in his cell, or something equally ridiculous, and he wasn't having a repeat in reality of that cliché development! If Brainiac's comrades wanted him back they were going to have to fight tooth and nail for him... Not that there would be many teeth or nails left on this guy by the time the 'investigators' were done with him. Ares wasn't expecting results but it was worth a try at least. Plus venting frustrations on him would keep Drai from getting anxious over the impending doom so that was worth something...

Ares left the quarry and went over everything that happened so far in his head one more time. He wouldn't be coming back to this place necessarily any time soon but that didn't mean this quarry fiasco was over. God only knows what developments were in store but Ares would just have to take them as they came from now on and be alert as well as ready to answer calls from Drai when and where he made them. That being said, an attack on the quarry to serve as a distraction, lure Ares away from the palace, and then have a squad infiltrate to rescue brainiac was also an issue! Ares ruffled his hair because there was a lot to think about all because that idiot retreated the damn weasels. Even a strategist? On top of everything else Brainiac could do? Ares was honestly a little jealous of how impressive he was in the brains department. If only he hadn't thrown it all away like an obsessed moron, he would have been so much more useful! Had his role in this been minor Ares may have considered overlooking it. He wouldn't have pinned the blame on anybody, spoken to Brainiac in a quiet corner, and taken him aboard Red Sun. Unfortunately he was leading the charge on literally every front! Mr Do It All had sealed his fate with his own damn competence! Ares couldn't help but repeatedly sigh to himself as he walked towards the exit of the sect. He expected things to not be easy, as nothing involving the Torchbearer clearly was ever going to be, but he didn't expect such a complication right off the rip even after getting everything right... Speaking of complications, the twerp disciple, the Fellahin guy who ran as soon as he saw Ares last time because of his own rudeness biting him in the ass, mustered up enough 'courage' to come and speak to Ares.

The guy was a lot more timid and reserved than last time, almost completely docile and even a bit nervous, but he did successfully stutter out a few words eventually. "M... My sister... I... I never planned on letting her know about this... It was always extreme... To call on her... But it was just supposed to be an empty threat... I would have called the other Fellahin... But not her... But she found out anyway after I complained to my brother... Now she knows and wants to fight you... I'm sorry! Please don't take it out on me! It was an accident, I swear!" The guy kept rambling on and on, essentially repeating himself ad nauseum, but Ares didn't really care. his guy was seriously not as important to Ares as he seemed to think he was. He could have not spoken a single word since Ares arrived here and it wouldn't have changed Ares' impression of him as an ant by the roadside not worth paying attention to. So what if the Juggernaut was on the lookout for him? Ares had no intention of losing to anyone ever and so he didn't mind some high value training after getting denied by the weasels' retreat earlier. Hell if he ran into her today, as soon as he left the city, he would consider it good luck! Normally such a thing would be impossible, given the vastness of the desert and the randomness of the Juggernaut's returns to this city but, honestly, Ares knew precisely how often 'impossible' acts of fate seemed to happen around him! The fact this guy came up to speak to him was an omen!

Ares flicked the guy on the nose to get him to stop talking about a thousand apologies or whatever clan related tradition he was referring to. "I don't care. About you or your sister, I mean. Go frolic in a bed of flowers or something, just stop wasting my time... Actually, if you want to make yourself useful, ask your Fellahin brether...een about the scavengers. Ask them if they know of any secret bases those lot have out in the desert. bonus points if its either underground or there's an ominous stench of death in the area. That's a good chap!" Ares pat the guy on the back and left him to his own devices without seeing his reaction. He'd either not do it, and be useless, or do it and come find Ares on his own at some point. Ares wasn't relying on the guy but if using this weird connection helped him in the long run then so be it. Nothing wrong with trying to cut corners here and there!

And yes, Ares expected the scavengers to be involved in the quarry / weasel incident. Digger especially. And that would also be why Ares chose the palace to hold Brainiac. Digger couldn't enter there without a good reason whereas the sect's prisons were open to visit for core disciples for just about whatever reason. Diggers could stand outside the gate to the palace all he wanted, he wasn't getting anywhere near Brainiac while Ares was in charge around here! As for why Ares didn't mention this earlier to Drai, breeding suspicion of his own disciples was in bad taste considering Ares had no evidence to back up his statements with. It was just a guess but it also made sense. People who could operate for long periods of time in the desert had to have a lot of backing or be a part of a large enough organisation that could afford the resources. The fellahin or the scavengers were what came to mind immediately but the Fellahin were a rather traditional lot and them blowing up the country of their roots was unlikely. There was nowhere more suitable for Fellahin than sandy Xasca and so blowing it up was utter insanity. Ares just didn't have them pegged as the kind to do this, based on what he'd heard about them, and so the scavengers were the more likely culprit. Hell their entire shtick was looting the dead and what better time to be a scavenger than after the entire country has died a miserable death? Ruins galore, corpses everywhere, and the ashes of a country to rule over if this scheme didn't fall through. They'd be veritable kings and it was the ultimate scavenger fantasy come to life. Digger was obsessed with the palace and he would rule it one way or the other, even if he had to destroy an entire country just to own even a single broken brick of it. He probably had delusions of grandeur about rebuilding the country under his rule and becoming a real king as opposed to his oft-repeated moniker of 'false king'.

...

Ares was on a roll! He felt rather cocky as he swaggered out of the sect with a beaming smile. It was rare he got a chance to flex his pea sized brain and so he was enjoying every minute of coming out on top in this battle of wits. Granted his only real opponent was Brainiac, and he'd been caught with his pants down thanks to Ares' Omniscience giving him too many puzzle pieces to hide everything properly, but still! Ares felt like he earned the right to grandstand in his own head a little! More than anything, though, when he shared these memories with Enyo and Bellona later he'd be happy to hear their praise. Was he actually just a mutt looking for compliments from the two people carrying his leash? No but hearing his wives say nice things about him was something to look forward to after not seeing them for awhile. He was already missing them and having such a pleasant and cosy moment lined up made working hard worth all the effort! Plus it would give them confidence whenever it came to Ares going off on his adventures on his own. He knew they worried about his explosive tendencies. They most likely expected him to resolve difficult situations with brute force and, while they weren't exactly wrong, a show of brain over brawn in this situation would remind them he was capable of taking the safer route every now and then. He could work his way out of difficulty with some clever thinking and didn't always have to make the rashest decision available. If they concerned themselves over his health for even a few less seconds every time he left then he'd feel better about it. He didn't want them worrying about him all the time. Ideally he would solve the quarry issue without ever even having to resort to violence! It was impossible, though, and Ares knew he was going to have to throw fists at some point... Speaking of throwing fists, little did Ares know, but his prediction earlier was correct! he, in fact, was going to run into the juggernaut today and get into a scuffle with her! Her and a few others on the way to the Riddlemyd, actually, as there were all sorts of local monsters out and about today. Ares had seen teh luxurious side of Xasca in his warm palace but now it was finally time to see the rougher patches and experience true local 'hospitality'!