The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

I took several deep breaths as I thought over the situation. I hated being forced into a decision with only two options. That was the kind of strategy that was used to manipulate an opponent and lead them to their deaths.

It reeked of the illusion of choice. It was a common trick in magic. To present a choice, but all outcomes were accounted for and led to the eventual conclusion of the act. The real trick was getting whatever person was watching to buy into the choice.

It was all about misdirection. That was what this entire battle was centered on misdirection, but on a level that had never been done before. Well I suppose the landing for D-Day on Normandy could be considered a misdirection on a grander scale, but that felt different. This was a one on one match and was personal in a way nothing else had been for a long time.

Whoever or whatever was behind all of this had pissed me off. That supernova of rage had collapsed into a black hole. While a black hole was incredibly hot, the metaphor sounded good in my mind as I considered the situation from all angles.

I was dying of curiosity, which was the first step of this trap. If I opened it I would just be sucked down a series of events that would culminate in some super trap. If I didn't open it, then I would lose the knowledge contained within. The only reason I was still hesitating was because of my strength.

Traps, plots, and everything else didn't matter in the face of absolute strength. But that was hubris and ego blinding me. I took another deep breath. I was not the Divine Empress. I would not be led around by the nose to my defeat by someone weaker than me.

Once I realized the solution, I smiled slightly. It was more of a forced grin than a true smile. Since the solution checked off all the boxes I needed it too. I held out the envelope to Michelle. "Hold onto this until we reach our destination, then I will read it. Don't tell anyone, don't read it, and keep it to yourself."

She carefully took the red envelope from me and looked at it before looking back up at me. "Why?" she asked.

"If I hold onto it, I will be tempted to read it. It is human nature. The curiosity will gnaw at my mind. Better to ask you to hold onto it until we reach where we are going, which I won't speak about until we reach there." There was also another concern. I looked over Michelle carefully. There was no change in her energy that I could tell, but if Jacob was a traitor, then I couldn't be too careful.

If anything, else happened, then I would know there were three possibilities. Remote viewing, Michelle being a traitor, or a contingency plan. Regardless, it would let me know that my enemy had compromised my personal surroundings to an extent.

"Alright," she said and tucked it away in a pocket. "So, no change?" she asked.

"No change. Altering plans when getting new information will play into whatever scheme is being thought of. The best response is to throw off the timing of everything and introduce randomness into the equation," I replied.

"And how will you even do that?" Michelle asked me and I just smiled at her. She shook her head.

I was treating this threat like I would the Avatar. I had developed countermeasures for her long ago. While I wasn't sure how well they worked, randomness was the bane of any trap. I needed to control the randomness in a way that would benefit me.

While I trusted my own thoughts, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that there was some kind of foresight or future prediction in play. Heck, there could be a small group of people working togeather against me, a cult or cabal of some sort. Regardless it wouldn't hurt to take precautions. Once we were in a high energy zone, then I would read the letter and contemplate on whatever message was contained within.

If there was any kind of time frame, it would be too late to act on that information as well. All of this sounded paranoid, but when things had gone this poorly so far, such actions were warranted. I refused to not take this threat seriously. That was why I didn't just speed run whatever gauntlet of traps that had been prepared.

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That was when the Avatar was brought up on a wheeled upright cart she was strapped to. Her eyes and tongue were back. Her eyes were golden, which were quite striking and unnatural. And her tongue was back since she chose to greet me.

"Fuck you, you mother fucking pig fucker. I hope your cunt mother is raped over and over."

"Gag her," I said and the soldiers nearby quickly put a gag over her mouth.

"Like a bitch in heat. And I won't stop. Cut out my eyes, my tongue. I won't stop cursing you. Doom is coming for you." I was already regretting this as the Avatar continued to hurl vile insults at me. Everyone was quiet as they looked at me, waiting for my next order.

"You know Avatar. That you could actually be helpful. This was a chance, and you choose to spit in my face." She continued to curse me through mental speak. Talking about how pigs and my mother were engaged in various sexual and gastronomic activities. It was honestly impressive in a way and would have been amusing if not for the current situation.

"I also prepared for this. I can't have you cause trouble. Put on the helmet. The gag only comes off at meal times," I said. A null enchanted helmet was put over her head. There was no visor on the front. The only thing exposed was the bottom of her nose and gagged mouth. I shook my head at her idiocy.

That was why I didn't insult people as a general strategy. I had only insulted the Divine Empress to put her off kilter. But anyone intelligent would ignore such provocations, no matter how vile. The Avatar should have sucked up her past punishment and focused on helping me. Then I would have had let her be fully healed. But since Doctor Katz wasn't coming along that was off the table.

I had been hoping we could have made peace, but it seemed that was not to be the case, now or in the future. She would be my safety net. Tests had been done and her monster repelling property was quite useful. As well as her ability to be an anti-sphere weapon.

Her value as a living human being was less than nothing. She wanted to exploit me, but now I would fully exploit her. A shame I couldn't risk strapping her to the front of the airship as a figurehead. She really did fit the role as a human nugget.

The helmet hadn't been used before, since she had to use her abilities to fill out paperwork as a punishment. But that was over with. Now she would be treated as a biological weapon and support item. If she wanted to be a horrible person, I was going to squeeze whatever good I could out of her body.

She was carted away onto the airship. "What a horrible woman," Michelle muttered.

"She isn't human anymore. She is nothing but an item," I replied, and Michelle looked at me. "That was her last chance for us to reach some kind of truce. If she had been helpful, then I would have let her be fully healed up and we could have worked togeather. Whatever human was left has been driven mad. All that is left is the Almighty System and its power within her."

"An item? Well, if I didn't know that you hate slavery, I would ask some pointed questions. But the Avatar was really asking for it," Michelle said, and I nodded at this. She really was asking for it.

While it was tempting to try and work through her personality shifts, comments, and other madness, it was a rabbit hole with no end. She was crazy. I didn't have the skill to label all her mental illnesses, but there was no doubt in my mind she had several. Trying to understand that bag of crazy, would make anyone else crazy.

There was no longer Avatar the human nugget, but Avatar the biological item. I was stripping her of the last vestiges of humanity she had in my eyes. There was no redeeming her. It was insanely frustrating that she wasn't the least bit helpful. If she had been, it would have been amazing. Like all my other mortal enemies, I regretted not being able to bring them onto my side. That was why I was willing to give it one last go, to see if there was anything that could be salvaged.

Unfortunately, my chosen punishment had been too strong. Suffering under the yoke of the most brutal torture known to man, paperwork, I had shattered her mind for all eternity, or at least long enough that it didn't matter. Now she was going to be a biological item that required upkeep.

The null helmet was the perfect way to contain her. It had been created years ago but never used. A research project looking into how null enchantments could be used to counter energy based techniques and shield against them. The helmet was one of the minor research results produced over the years. The government had done something useful.

I almost chuckled at that thought if it wasn't so morbid. Well it was time to go as I saw the last of the soldiers getting onboard and Captain Francis approaching me.

"We are ready to depart at your command Emperor Michael," Captain Francis said.

"Let us be off," I replied. I boarded the airship with Captain Francis and Michelle right behind me. There would be no farewell speech. I was leaving and letting it all fall apart. It was a shame, but there was only one thing that mattered, my life. I guess I really was a coward at heart.

It was a harsh realization, but one that I always knew. If I didn't have to fight then I preferred not to. While I did go into unknown situations, I only did so out of my own volition when I was confident in my success.