Nathan's feet dug into the stone bricks as he paced back and forth, over and over and over. Droplets of sweat rolled down his forehead and hit the ground with a great plop.

  "What exactly am I supposed to tell her?" he said. "That he was basically the one who executed her parents?"

  "Nathan."

  "I mean, it would be the truth—but it would also be painting him in the worst possible light! But if I say that he technically didn't pull the trigger, he just signed off on it—well, that just feels like the most weaselly thing I could possibly say!"

  "Nathan."

  He stopped and held up both hands in a halting motion. "I've got it. I'll just hide the truth from her until the last possible second."

  "Nathan!"

  Nathan looked over in the direction of the voice. Anand was seated in a chair, his face illuminated by the single candle that they brought down into the stuffy, humid room.

  "I understand that you're going through a difficult time," Anand said. "But to be quite honest, this really isn't my specialty. I'm a spymaster—not a psychologist. Besides that," he looked around the room in confusion. "Can I ask why you brought us into one of the interrogation rooms?"

  "First, we're here because Emi would never be caught dead going down here. After all, she knows that the traitor elf guy is imprisoned here."

  "You mean Fliel?"

  "Yeah, Farsi."

  "That's not his name—"

  "Anyway, the reason I got you is because you're also a terrible person who's done terrible things, but you managed to be reformed."

  Anand stared at the candle before he shook his head.

  "Although I dislike the description, I can't deny its accuracy. Nonetheless, I'm afraid that my insight would be rather limited."

  "Why's that?"

  "Although I've tried to make my peace with former victims of the Harrowed Hand, most of them have refused my apology and promised me death if I ever speak to them again. And this is despite the fact that I personally did nothing to them. I was merely part of the organization."

  Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Really? There's nobody you personally victimized?"

  "Anyone I personally victimized is dead."

  Nathan winced. "Yeah, I can see how that would complicate things."

  "Complicate? No, it makes things rather simple. Anybody who wants me dead out of vengeance has already passed into the afterlife."

  Nathan stared at Anand and then groaned into his hand. "I have no idea why I invited you up here."

  "Down, not up. We're in the basement, Nathan."

  "Yes, thanks for that spectacular insight. It's so…helpful." Nathan sighed. "The point is that I don't think I can convince Emi to drop this. I don't think I should, honestly."

  "You'd better decide what to do, and fast. The end of the Sixth Circle is going to arrive, and I assume that whatever plan you're hatching will require the cooperation of the elves and the orcs."

  "You already know about all that?"

  Anand raised an eyebrow. "I'm a spymaster. I know everything."

  Nathan wanted to ask further questions, but trusted that Anand would be careful with the information. He nodded. "Yeah. On the plus side, it looks like the orcs aren't as passionate about Fenrir's hit on me as I would've thought."

  "Indeed. They're too busy dealing with the fallout of him having gone insane and muttering about eldritch horrors in his bathroom."

  Nathan rubbed his chin. Would it be possible to weaponize knowledge of that person? Just share the truth of the universe and drive your enemies insane! What a deal!

  . . . On second thought, that sounded like a terrible idea.

  Nathan pressed his palms into his cheeks. A groan came out of his chest, low, frustrated, and completely worn to the bone.

  "I'll talk to her, soon," Nathan said.

  "I hope so," Anand responded.

  He stood up from the table.

  Nathan looked over at him curiously. "What's up?"

  "If that's all, I do have other duties to attend to. I'm busy trying to overthrow Fenrir, remember?"

  "Another color revolution? Reminds me of the good old days."

  "Nathan, that was less than a month ago." He paused. "Also, I don't think arranging a vote of no confidence is quite the same thing as a full-on revolution."

  Nathan waved him off. "Fair, fair. Go do your totally legal and not subversive activities."

  Anand stood up from the interrogation table and bowed. He then turned around and exited the room, leaving Nathan alone.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The water shimmered in front of Nathan and the skill activated inside his chest.

  "I thought he'd never leave!"

  Nathan jumped up and backed into the wall.

  The water continued rippling and the familiar fish scales of a finny friend floated into the air.

  "Congratulations, Nathan, my boy!" Finny said. "Good old Greg wants to see you."

  Nathan's left eye twitched.

  The fun never stops, does it?

  As Nathan stared into the eyes of the giant fish—size almost comparable to the kraken living in what was essentially his backyard shed, Nathan contemplated why he seemed to attract mammoth-sized monsters like moths to a flame.

  The two were in the Golden Realm, the only safe place to discuss—or even think about—the Mother System.

  "Nathan," Greg's voice rumbled like an earthquake in the deep. "It's been some time."

  "Like, two weeks," Nathan said.

  "Indeed."

  Finny had long since retreated, clearly terrified of offending the savior and master of the fish people. Nathan supposed he couldn't blame the guy.

  "So, how's it looking? Last time we talked, you said you were hoping to find a solution to help us get to the seventh circle."

  Greg was silent for half a minute before his eyes shut slowly. "I'm afraid that the news isn't good."

  Nathan's heart sank. "It isn't good, but that doesn't mean bad, right?"

  "The main problem was our method of moving ourselves through the portals. The most obvious thought was finding a way to edit the skill so that it would take large groups."

  "And?"

  "We succeeded. Partially." The fish growled…which was a noise that Nathan wasn't expecting to hear from a fish. "We managed to crack the code. Groups of two or three can be taken into the portal safely."

  "But?"

  "It's only groups of two or three, and they have to be in direct contact with the person opening the portal."

  Nathan hissed through his teeth. "I get what you're saying. There's no way we'd be able to transport all the people in the Sixth Circle."

  With a mental thought, the leaderboard appeared in front of Nathan. He hadn't checked the number of remaining humans in a while. Last time, it'd been one billion, all the way on the first circle. Now?

  900 million.

  It was…much less loss than he'd been expecting, actually. 100 million deaths was still horrifying. But in comparison to the 6 billion who had died, it was actually a lot better.

  Either way, though, this made Nathan's plan pretty much impossible.

  "I guess what you were hoping for was something like a skill that could select without any care for range or quantity, then just send everybody into the seventh circle, right?" Nathan asked.

  "Yes. It was far too ambitious. We should've realized the impossibility of our task from the start."

  Nathan held up a hand.

  "Hold on, hear me out."

  "Yes?" Greg's massive form shifted. "What is it?"

  "I've been able to stuff my friends into my soulbound town, and we've been using that to get between the circles. Could we just gather up everyone and put them there?"

  The giant fish seemed to look at him with an unusual intensity. "In theory. But how exactly would you get the word out?"

  There was a good question. He could try messaging people on Dither—that would probably be part of the solution. But he needed more. A way to reach thousands, no, millions of people all at the same time.

  His breath hitched.

  "Chad. Chad Mann streams to millions of people on Dither. We can turn it into an event. A multi-day special stream dedicated entirely to distributing information and getting people into my town."

  "Will your town be able to support them?"

  "No, but it doesn't need to. We're not having them as long-term residents. We're just having them come in for transportation. We tell them that we found a way to bypass the sixth circle quest, tell everybody to start funneling in."

  "What of the other races?"

  Nathan hummed. He scratched his chin. "The elves will be simple enough. Emi is on my side. For now, at least. The orcs will be the tricky part. They're all united, and they're a small number similar to the elves. The problem is that their leader hates my guts."

  "You have a plan to deal with this?"

  "Not me, but one of my friends."

  It was all down to Anand and his plan. A part of him wished that Anand had involved Nathan more in what was happening, but if he truly needed the help, he was sure that he would ask for it.

  "Then it seems the pieces are in play," Greg laughed and the entire realm shook. "I haven't dared to fight the system in such a way in my entire life! Truly, Nathan, you have a way of inviting total disaster!"

  "That's not exactly what you want to hear when you're planning to fight an eldritch horror."

  Greg chortled. "But that's what you should've expected. Anybody who would participate in such a scheme is absolutely mad. Myself included."

  Nathan cracked a small smirk. "That's a fair point."

  Greg's laughter slowly died away. "You seem on edge, young Nathan."

  "Was I that easy to see through?" He sighed. "Things have been going too smoothly. There's been the occasional tricky encounter, but for the most part I've just gotten to sit back and train and focus on my development."

  "Is that really so bothersome?"

  "It is when for the past five circles, it's been one disaster after another." Nathan felt a chill run down his spine. His body seemed to wind up with tension. "I can't help but get this horrible feeling that everything is going to blow up in the worst way possible. Maybe because of one of the conversations I'm going to need to have? Maybe because I'm going to make a stupid mistake again? Or maybe…"

  By now, the levity had completely slipped away from Greg's voice. "Her."

  "Did I tell you that I ran into her?" Nathan's hands shook. "She was taunting me. Shapeshifted into the people I care about just to get into my head. I was able to stay calm in the moment, but looking back on it—there's a creature that stretches across multiverses who's personally out to get me." He chuckled, the noise shaky and strained. "I don't know about you, but that's enough to put the fear of God into me."

  Greg didn't respond, his expression as stoic as ever.

  "Your reaction is reasonable," Greg said. "More than reasonable."

  "What should I do?"

  "What can you do? You've already attracted her attention. There's nothing more than to commit to the course that your actions have brought you to. It's far too late to back out now."

  Nathan bit his bottom lip. The taste of blood melted onto his tongue. He released the hold, then took a slow breath.

  "I pretty much screwed myself the day I selected fishing, didn't I?" Nathan muttered.

  "What was that? What did you say?" Greg asked.

  Nathan shook his head. "Nothing. Thanks for your time."

  "Of course. It wouldn't do for the leader of our little initiative to fall into despair."

  "When did I become the leader?" Nathan said. "I never signed up for that."

  "I certainly didn't, either. Which means that the duty falls to you."

  Before Nathan could dispute this, Greg's massive form turned to the side. "I must navigate back to the fish homeland. Plans must be made. Farewell, Nathan."

  Greg shot off like a tennis ball, his fins and tail flapping behind him and propelling him forward.

  Nathan watched as he turned into a dot in the distance. "The fish homeland? What…?"

  He looked back up toward the sky. It was time to make his way back into the Sixth Circle. He took a step upward—

  A wave of exhaustion crashed into him. He stumbled backward and fell flat onto his rear.

  The sound of waves called from the edge of his hearing. He blinked and the landscape briefly turned into a familiar sandy beach. He blinked again and it was back to normal.

  She must really want to talk to me. Fine, I'll play your game.

  He allowed his eyes to flutter shut. He fell onto his side and entered into a dream.