The Simulacrum
~Chapter 170~ Part 3

"You could've at least warned me ahead of time!"

The silence left in the wake of Raven Boy's impassioned yet quiet protest was a short one, and I turned in my office chair to face him. We were in my 'old office' in the Dracis mansion, a fairly small room not too far from the conference hall. Small by the building's standards, at least, and it was just as lavish, with its freshly waxed hardwood floor and fancy chandelier over our heads. It belonged to me on paper, but I rarely ever make use of it even before I got a new one inside the base, so it was mostly used by Arnwald and Roland nowadays.

Speaking of which, our Sir Griffon was also in the room, though he was currently silent and standing by the door like a statue. The same couldn't be said about Agrawain, who continued to angrily gesticulate in my general direction, so I fully turned in my swivel chair behind the desk to face him.

"Would knowing that I wasn't entirely sure about the timing of things make you feel better about it?"

"No! That makes it worse!" Raven Boy snapped as he put his hand on his forehead, then swiped his hair back and looked me in the eye. "Who is that guy, anyway?"

"Bel of the Abyss?" I jested, but he clearly wasn't in the mood. "He's trustworthy, just a bit unpredictable."

"And that's a problem," Roland chimed in from the back, and Agrawain was in full agreement.

"Exactly. Where did you even find that guy? He was doing your whole teleporting or switching or whatever you want to call it, and talked just like you? Can you just make people with those powers now?"

While he wasn't entirely incorrect, considering future-me was inhabiting a homunculus body, it wasn't the time to discuss that.

"Don't stress over the small details. The important thing is that everything's proceeding according to plan."

"Riiight…" Agrawain groused, sounding more than just a bit skeptical of my claim, and he crossed his arms with a huff. "This whole conspiracy of yours is going to bite you in the ass one of these days. You know that, right?"

"Not if we wrap it up first, it won't," I argued back, but then we both fell silent when there was a knock on the door. I quickly picked up a random document lying on the desk and cleared my throat. "Come in."

"It's me, Leonard," Arnwald announced as he walked in, so since there was no reason to put up any airs, I put the paper back down and gestured for him to speak. "The Draconic Council is ready to continue the meeting."

"Already? That was quick." I stood up and buttoned up my shirt. I was going to stand in front of them soon enough, so I needed to look presentable. "Any other news?"

"Reports are still coming in, but from what we know so far, Bel of the Abyss's Axis of Evil initiated at least three separate surgical strikes during the chaos."

"Casualties?" I asked off-handedly. Blink and you miss it, but Sir Eagle's face twisted into a grimace for a moment, though not because of my attitude.

"None among our own forces. However, one of our allies suffered grave injuries."

"Oh. That's tragic." I finished tidying up, so I added a curt "Let's go," as I left the office, flanked by three Knights on three sides.

That wasn't too odd, but I didn't expect our group to almost double right away.

"Brother Leonard." Naoren greeted me with a shallow nod, standing in the hallway from earlier. The one that led to the conference hall, and he wasn't alone.

"Aam still pished. He was reit thaur, an' Ah cooldnae burst heem thes time either. T'is infuriatin'," Duncan griped in a hushed voice, much to the mild amusement of the woman standing next to him.

"Oh, don't mope, you big muscle-head," Lady Yseult said while patting his shoulder in an overly familiar manner. "Nobody else could touch Bel either, so they aren't going to make fun of you."

She was dressed in a different blue and black dress from before. That one probably got ripped by her transformation, or something. More importantly, her words made the Feilong patriarch furrow his brows at me.

"Are you all right, Brother Leonard?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked back by reflex, and it only made his expression grow even more complicated.

"That battle was rather… intense. I hope you haven't over-exerted yourself."

His comment piqued everyone else's interest (or rather, the interest of those who weren't already in on the scheme), and after some consideration, I shook my head.

"No. Neither of us was using our full powers, so this was little more than a skirmish."

"Now that you mention it," Yseult chimed in, looking considerably more professional than when she was talking with Duncan just now. "You've realized that Bel of the Abyss was up to something from the very beginning, haven't you?"

"That's right. I didn't expect that he would use himself as a diversion, so I was playing it safe and didn't go all out."

"Hauld yer horses! 'at was ye nae gonnae aw it?" Duncan interjected with a stupefied expression on his face. "Diz 'at pure techt ye ne'er fooght serioosly when sparring?"

"No, of course not," I answered off the cuff, making the big guy stare at me with slack-jawed confoundment. "Have you?"

Instead of answering, Duncan averted his eyes and muttered something about training more, allowing Yseult to pick up the thread of the conversation.

"I share his sentiment. Your clash with Bel of the Abyss was intense, to say the least."

"Yes!" Naoren cut in without warning, sounding altogether too excited. "The technique used during your last exchanges was especially fascinating! Could you… perhaps be persuaded to demonstrate it once more? In private?"

"This really isn't the right time for that. Maybe later," I told him before he could get any more worked up and used a thumb to point at the doors of the conference hall. "We should head inside. Everyone's already waiting for us."

"Oh. You're right, Brother Leonard." The bespectacled patriarch cleared his throat and readjusted his glasses. "Let's discuss this topic again in the future."

"Sure."

On that note, we started moving again, and the whole conference hall fell dead silent as soon as we entered. The place was cleaned up in record time, and even the singed and partially broken podium in the middle was replaced in the short time since the Bel incident. It made me wonder whether we just had spare podiums lying around in some storeroom in the mansion, just in case, but my thoughts were soon drawn to the familiar faces in the crowd.

First off, Dad-in-law was already sitting at the center of the table on the elevated platform and he greeted me with a grin. Since he'd just returned from his public 'diplomatic mission', he was dressed in a full business suit that, despite being custom-tailored, somehow still looked one size too small on his big frame. While we rarely used them, as no Draconian needed voice amplification to be loud, every seat had a microphone assigned to it.

"Son! I can't believe I missed you kicking Bel of the Abyss's ass!"

"Clan Head Abram, please don't be so loud," Naoren chided him before I could and pointed at the speakers in the corner of the hall. "The meeting is about to start."

Abram stifled a chortle and was looking at me proudly, so whoever told him about the previous events probably played things up to make me look better. I didn't have the time or opportunity to correct him, because as soon as I sat down, my gaze landed on a couple of 'guests' sitting in the first row of benches.

First off, we had Lord Barnabas. Since Dad-in-law was over at the School to discuss our contingency plans in regards to the Assembly, it made sense that hearing the news of a disturbance in the Draconic Council, the arch-mage would come back with him acting in a diplomatic capacity. What I didn't expect is that the usually reclusive Meister Gowan, the chief artificer of the School, would accompany him, and when our eyes met, the friendly enchanted flashed an awkward smile in my direction.

They weren't the most important, or unexpected, guests though. That honour belonged to the Abyssal envoys sitting on the other side of the aisle, a bit isolated from the rest. I couldn't see Corbeau, but Tracas was there, along with the same placeholder man that Fidèle Shamash used as her host during our first meeting in the restaurant. I wondered if she was piggybacking on him again, but not for long, as my attention was soon grabbed by Dad-in-law standing up and forcefully clearing his throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he began, putting his usual lack of indoor voice to good use. "Let us open today's second emergency meeting at once! Any objections?" I had no idea why he asked that, because there were clearly none. After waiting for a few seconds, he gestured towards the left. "In that case, let's start with a summary of the recent events. Mister Prefect, if you will?"

It was only at this point that I noticed that Jaakobah was in the hall, mingling with the security detail, and when prompted, he briskly walked over to the new podium. He was in a military dress uniform instead of his Celestial outfit, a white and grey ensemble that let him blend in with the Ordo Draconis personnel. He was facing us, so to make sure everyone could see him properly, the screens mounted high on the wall behind the Speakers' Table were turned on, showing his dour mug in ultra-wide high-definition detail. As soon as he stepped up, he put his hands behind his back and raised his voice.

"Thank you, Right Honorable Speaker." He paused long enough to give me a separate nod, then inhaled deeply and began. "At ten-thirty, several simultaneous disturbances took place within the jurisdiction of Timaeus. While Bel of the Abyss was here, a group of assailants, currently designated as 'The Axis of Evil', attempted to isolate Deus and her Justicar within a Restricted Space. In the same time frame, a different contingent infiltrated the Critias School of Conjuration, attempting to gain access to the Portalport under construction within the facility, while a third group assaulted the compound housing our…" He paused and glanced at Tracas. "Abyssal guests."

The Ashur Noble let out an indignant huff, while Jaakobah remained stone-faced and continued his briefing.

"The attack on Her Grace was repelled by ten-fifty-five by a combined effort of the Praetorian Guards and Kage Clan agents stationed in the vicinity. No casualties. The aggressors retreated and we lost track of them by eleven-ten; current preliminary investigation suggests they were exfiltrated by Bel of the Abyss."

"What about the group at the School?" Naoren interjected, subtly glancing at Barnabas and Gowan.

"The saboteurs were found and cornered before they could inflict any serious damage in materiel or personnel. The lack of collateral damage brings their motives into question, but the security staff at the School unfortunately couldn't apprehend them. Once again, Bel of the Abyss must have intervened. As for the last flashpoint…" Jaakobah glanced at the Abyssals once again. "A combined Ordo Draconis and Praetorian Guard detachment arrived at the scene by eleven-sixteen. By then, the conflict was over and the aggressors retreated on their own. As for their whereabouts…"

"Bel of the Abyss helped them escape," Yseult guessed, and the man on the podium nodded.

"Their target?" Naoren chimed in next, but before Jaakobah could respond, the dapper man in the front row let out a scoff.

"It was me! Of course it was me!" Tracas exclaimed, and the surrounding disapproving glances only made him more indignant. He stood up, only to stagger for a second. The man sitting next to him reached out to support him, but he threw off his hand and gritted his teeth, then raised his voice for a second time. "May I speak in an official capacity?"

The other Speakers at the table were stumped for a moment, and all eyes were focused on me eventually. Probably because I was the one who originally vouched for the man and advocated for providing humanitarian aid for his side. Future-me told me something like this might happen (read: he knew for sure Tracas would do this, but wanted to keep me in the dark about it), so I wasn't too surprised. I gestured for him to come forth, and he soon replaced Jaakobah on the podium.

It took him a few long seconds to collect his thoughts, but then he leaned against the wooden pulpit and began earnestly.

"Esteemed Draconic Council! I believe it is blindingly obvious that the attack you suffered today, and all of its surrounding incidents, was but a series of misdirections. It's clear that the False Emperor and his so-called Herald orchestrated these events with the express purpose of assassinating me!" All of a sudden, he grabbed his shirt and ripped it open, making buttons fly all over the place and revealing a small mummy's worth of blood-soaked bandages underneath. "Look at this! Look at the lengths the False Emperor and his lackeys are willing to go to ensure that House Ashur won't rise again! Do you understand now why it's pivotal to ensure my succession?"

That last question was obviously aimed at me, but I was preoccupied with the sight of the man's bandaged torso. Yikes. I mean, I knew future-me didn't like the guy; after all, he wanted to assassinate Ollie, and even though I only talked with the kid once, that already put Tracas on my shit list as well, but I didn't expect it would escalate this hard, this quick.

In the meantime, seeing that I wasn't reacting to his prompt, the Ashur noble addressed the rest of the people present.

"Esteemed Speakers, Councilmen, and Magi! Today's events clearly showed that Bel of the Abyss is our common enemy we can ignore no longer! His schemes know no bounds and he fears no reprisal, daring to strike at us in broad daylight! He has to be stopped and shown that we don't fear him! I implore you; stand with House Ashur today!"

"I understand, Mister Ashur," Naoren responded first, sounding just a bit impatient. "We're already in support of your noble house, but the Draconic Federation is already a separate dilemma at the present, so we can't directly—"

"Hold on," I interjected, making Naoren raise a critical brow at me. I ignored it and pointed at the injured man on the podium. "He's not wrong. I wished to make sure that the Draconic Federation and its alliances stood on firm ground before committing to getting involved with Bel and the Abyss, but his threat can no longer be ignored. As he had clearly shown us today, he could strike at us anytime, anywhere, and if he did so once, he'll do so again. I'm afraid I can no longer delay the inevitable."

"Does that mean…?" Tracas spoke up, sounding hopeful yet calculating at the same time, and I nodded.

"Yes. Today, I vow to no longer hold back, and to take care of House Ashur's succession crisis. Personally."

"Brother Leonard!" Naoren hissed at me, covering his microphone with a hand. "This isn't the right time to make promises like that!"

"I agree," Yseult backed him up from the other side of the table. "We need to deal with the Assembly first."

"I'm confident that you can do that without my personal involvement," I responded without bothering to keep my voice down. "We have not only the support of Lord Endymonion but also our good friends at the Artificers' Lodge." I punctuated that by inclining my head towards Gowan. "I don't believe that our ties are so superficial that a single incident could fray them, and once the Assembly fully acknowledges the justifications and results of my recent actions, I'm certain that everything will be resolved at once. On the other hand…" I paused meaningfully and swept my gaze across the room. "Bel of the Abyss not only openly disturbed the session of the Draconic Council, showing clear contempt for our organization, but he also directly threatened Deus's safety once again. It's a provocation we cannot ignore."

Naoren and Yseult both tried to retort me, but they were beaten to the punch by a hearty laugh.

"That's the spirit, son! A man should never go back on his promise, and it's high time we showed the world we're not to be trifled with!"

"While I agree with Clan Head Abram in principle, this situation is…" the Feilong patriarch tried again, but seeing the general agreement among the rest of the council members on the benches, he soon gave up. "Let us put this proposal to the vote first."

"That's precisely what I was planning to say," I told him a touch cheekily.

Once again, everything proceeded just as planned, and once the votes came in, my path towards the Abyss (and our big finale) was clearer than ever.