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.

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

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,

a truce and to limit fighting right now. They’ll be on board and even push for it if you

when he heard how sure the Viper was: ”Say… I get that Valhal is kind of in on the plan to some extent, but do you also have the Holy Church in-the-know or what? Because

they are led by the Holy Mother, a fellow Primordial I have known for way too long. I know how they operate. They definitely have their own reasons for taking part in this conflict, and it shouldn’t be anything that negatively interferes

for more questions

Saint, Carmen, Sylphie, Miranda, and so on. They’re going to be confused as fuck even if I do tell them the truth, especially if they know I had the aura of a heretic. I haven’t exactly shared that I’m a Heretic-Chosen with anyone,” Jake said, not a fan of that part of

their stories

to have all your strongest assets remain on Earth until the matter is concluded. As for your concerns of them looking at you weirdly after all this is done… well, pretty sure they already look at you like the little freak you are, but I already planned on informing everyone I was behind you faking to be a heretic. It really shouldn’t be a problem if your friends don’t bring on the trouble,” Villy

any promises that they don’t have their own intentions,” Jake muttered. ”And I’m not going to put myself in a situation where I might end up fighting friends to

relationship with you, either. They are your comrades because you are fellow Earthlings or have some other personal bond, not because you are the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. Nothing in my plan requires you to insinuate you will give up control of Earth. In fact, it can even be sold that you are forging a stronger alliance through

this is still kind of vague, and there are a lot of elements I’m not clear on if will work out, so let’s try to be a bit more tangible. What exactly do

The Runemaiden will know which one. Once there, simply follow the plan and act like you are done with my shit and want to jump ship. The Runemaiden is the person with the highest level of authority in your galaxy, so

of the room he had isolated himself in as he considered everything. In truth, Jake kind of wanted to just reject all this, go to Arnold, and ask him to teleport himself and anyone who wants

was on his homeworld in the first place. So, rather than voice these thoughts, he wondered out loud when

of Yore decides it’s time to directly attack me, but I believe your actions can speed it up. Also, I have a hard time imagining he will not take advantage the second you seemingly turn into a full heretic, and it will definitely happen before your universe fully opens up once more, as when that happens, the ninety-third universe will once more attract a lot of attention that he is right now very much enjoying. But be aware it will be a while. He is still building momentum with the war against

imagined it would take away fucking longer,” Jake frowned. ”Don’t wars between huge divine factions and gods usually last a

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

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.