The Primal Hunter

Chapter 996: Nothing Ever Goes Fully According To Plan

Jake still had a lot of questions regarding the Viper’s plan, and even if the snake god didn’t want to share the ending, there were plenty of potential problems in the middle of this act. Primarily was what would happen to everyone else around Jake.

It wasn’t hard for Jake to lean into the plan alone, but if he did, others were bound to get involved. Miranda was blessed by the Witches of the Verdant Lagoon and has shown no indications of being a heretic herself, so she obviously wouldn’t continue to back Jake if he betrayed the Viper, right?

Also, what about all the other people who were backing Jake precisely because he had the backing of the Viper? What about the galactic conflict that was going on? Was the plan to just flop over and let Ell’Hakan win? Because while he did feel like he owed the Viper a favor, he wasn’t willing to do something like that, which would end up hurting those close to him.

So, naturally, he asked the Primordial, who shared his thoughts:

”You are correct; that is a conundrum. You also need to consider all the people who came to Earth because you are my Chosen. For you to – at least in their minds – suddenly turn your back on your Patron can’t be a good look and will cause a lot of internal discord. But I have considered it, which is where I’ll have to ask you something that is a bit of a gamble, but the best solution in my mind: tell them the truth. At least a version of the truth.”

Jake was back to frowning. ”Elaborate.”

”Inform them everything you’re doing is part of the Malefic Viper’s schemes and that you are working together to deceive Ell’Hakan, Yip of Yore, and Valhal. At the same time, tell the opposite to Valhal and Ell’Hakan. However, and this is the important part, only show evidence of your claim to one side. Ell’Hakan and his people will be cautious, but the moment you turn on your aura of a heretic all such doubt should instantly vanish. From there, just stay away from your allies. Ell’Hakan will no doubt spread the word you have turned full heretic, but with information and travel still restricted for the most part, everything will be over by the time those on Earth can be convinced you turned heretic,” the Viper continued, as things were definitely getting complicated again with this plan.

”Alright... alright, I think we can do that,” Jake said after thinking a bit. ”I just want to make sure I don’t cause too much trouble or confusion during this time.”

”Believe in the people you have around you. You’ve assembled a good team of supporters, and if nothing else, the swordsman, witch, and others can handle matters for you. You also have a True Royal on your side; remember that. As long as she stays on Earth, no one dares try anything there. People are already making a lot of enemies in these times, no need to piss off the Endless Empire on top of everything else,” the Viper semi-joked.

”Speaking of huge factions... what the fuck are we doing about the Holy Church?” Jake asked, bringing up another thing he had been worried about. ”I assume all the other factions, such as the Court of Shadows, will sit on the sidelines and not get involved, but the Church is very obviously making their move. As things are, I can’t reasonable not do something to defend the allies I made to face Ell’Hakan and the Church... will me defending them be a problem?”

”Firstly, the neutral factions shall remain neutral, so don’t worry about them. As for the Holy Church, they are kind of a package deal with Ell’Hakan in this, so if you want to stop the attacks of one, you have to stop both, and at the same time, if you stop one, the other should follow suit. However, rather than fight, have you considered going the route of diplomacy?”

”Not sure they are interested in peace with Earth,” Jake muttered, taking into consideration all they had been doing over the last day or so to destabilize the Milky Way Galaxy and gain ground. What they were doing right now was the opposite of diplomacy.

”With Earth? Probably not. So don’t negotiate as Earth. Remember what the plan is, you’re about to abandon the Order of the Malefic Viper and join Valhal. It isn’t premature to leverage them a bit, now is it? With Valhal at your side, force through a truce where each party keeps their territories for now, both sides backing off until the conflict between Yip of Yore and I is resolved. Ell’Hakan certainly has faith in his Patron’s victory, so this will only benefit him as he will only grow stronger during this process. Plus, it will only make him look good that he successfully helped bring you to the side of Valhal; at least, I’m sure he will take partial credit. Meanwhile the Holy Church is certain to also want this truce. This will only put a pause on the war, sure, but if all things go well, you will get your chance to end it instantly once I’ve had my fill of Yip of Yore. At that point, you should also be able to limit losses as the enemy won’t be in a good state.”

”Minor problem there. Are you sure the people from Valhal will just be fine with all this? Sounds like I’m actually screwing them over quite a bit, using them to pressure the Holy Church when it’s all based on a lie. Could cause them some trouble, couldn’t it?” Jake questioned.

”I honestly imagined it would take away fucking longer,” Jake frowned. ”Don’t wars between huge divine factions and gods usually last a long-ass time?”

”They do, but Yip of Yore is not looking to have an actual war but a display of power. Plus, think of the audience. Won’t they get bored if things drag out too much and there isn’t enough action? You can only drag out narrative escalation for so long before people just get tired of it and just want to see the resolution already. We aren’t quite there yet, and Yip of Yore still has more attention to grap and power to gather, but his momentum is rapidly approaching the crescendo.”

”So, to summarize all this shit... I will make people on Earth think I’m going along with your plans while convincing Ell’Hakan and his goons of the opposite, travel with Carmen to the neutral Valhal planet, and use Valhal as a way to establish a temporary truce, showing me and Ell’Hakan are negotiating in good faith. Then, I will stay there for a while while shit escalates on your end until I will unleash my heretic aura, dealing you another blow and hopefully starting the final confrontation. Assuming you handle things on your end, Ell’Hakan will more likely than not find himself scrambling, his alliance crumbling, and I will take this opportunity to isolate and kill him before he has a chance to muster a proper response. I got all this right?” Jake asked, trying to catch the essence of the plan, ignoring all the minor details and adding on a bit of personal interpretation at the end, as there was no way this was gonna end without Jake taking his shot at Ell’Hakan.

“Yeah, that seems to sum it up pretty nicely,” the Viper agreed.

“You are fully aware something, no, several things in this entire scheme will go horribly wrong, and shit is bound to hit the fan, right?” Jake asked. “Too many damn factors to just expect everything to go according to plan.”

“Nothing ever goes fully according to plan, which is why the best plans are those that aren’t overly strict and can be adapted on-the-fly. Usually, that is. This one is a bit more robust, though, as we don’t truly rely on actually tricking Yip of Yore in every aspect. Even if he was fully aware of this entire conversation, he would still lean into our lie, as it would only benefit him to do so,” Villy said. “Ell’Hakan, maybe not, but I’m sure you can handle that guy while I handle divine business. They have a lot of gaps in knowledge, and the absurdity of your state as a Heretic-Chosen is something no one could have accounted for, so we do have some big advantages.”

“I guess,” Jake shrugged. “As long as you beat Yip of Yore, everything should be fine.”

“Yeah, so let’s hope I didn’t accidentally miscalculate and make him too strong.”

“... I thought you said I shouldn’t worry, and you got him handled?” Jake muttered, concerned.

“You’re the one who brought up nothing ever going according to plan first.”

“Well, yeah, but-“

“So you would have been the one to jinx me and would have to live with the knowledge you were the primary cause of the downfall of a Primordial,” Villy continued, clearly teasing him... though Jake still couldn’t help but be worried.

Yip of Yore was powerful, and now, the Viper was seemingly trying to make him as powerful as he possibly could. Jake wasn’t sure why, even if he had some theories, but no matter, there had to be a reason why Yip had the confidence to go for a Primordial in the first place, right?

Yeah... things should be fine. Jake just had to focus on his own side of things and not worry about the Viper. Not like the things Jake had to do would be easy, and he seriously hoped the others back at the Prima Vessel would be able to help him sell all the bullshit he was about to peddle.