The God Who Haunts Worlds

The New Champion

(Rigel)

From the comfort of my office, I got to watch the video feed of Night Reaper's interrogation on my laptop.

"After Lily and Tez left I hid in the abandoned building for the day. The next night, some mercenaries discovered me and chased me another abandoned building, where I spent most of my time hiding in a closet while mercenaries were beating each other senseless. When the fighting died down, I tried slipping away unseen, but I got into a scuffle with a group. of mercenaries. The mercenaries were easy to fight, but then I got my ass handed to me by that hero and that's when I got taken into custody."

"Do you know where Tez is now?"

"No."

I turned off the video and began thinking.

"Is Night Reaper being honest?" Malak asked. "Did the Illuminati really commission demons to create monsters and orchestrate the deaths of innocent civilians."

"The Illuminati has skeletons in its closet," I admitted. "But there's nothing we can do about it now, and we have a more pressing matter to worry about.

"Assuming that Ripley's truth enforcement is working, then Tezcatlipoca is forming alliances with monsters and villains to help him rebuild his empire."

"That's sounds like what he's already done in the past; what makes this time so special?"

"In the past, he's never been absolute about anything. He's never told his minions of his plan for an empire, rather that he simply had an ambition to grow as powerful as possible. Additionally, he's never been certain about an outcome.

"This time, though, he's certain that he'll get what he wants. If Night Reaper's memory is correct, then Tezcatlipoca already has an army of monsters, and a powerful magic-user capable of moving between worlds. This army could be posing as ordinary citizens or hiding in the dark places of the natural and supernatural worlds. Either way, Tezcatlipoca already has the means of causing devastation."

"But surely monsters cannot compare to everything the Illuminati has. Gods, angels, heroes, mercenaries, guilds, police, the military....it wouldn't be a fair fight."

"Tezcatlipoca wanted Night Reaper because he was a villain, a villain who defeated the heroes Red Ice and Death Meister along with several mercenaries, despite the fact that Night Reaper didn't have magic. Tezcatlipoca is looking for villains to help even the odds, since villains are more dangerous than standard criminals, and villains actually pose a threat to gods, angels, and heroes."

"And what about his empire? Could he really build a new one? Even with the Lord Almighty in power?"

"I want to say I doubt it, but Tezcatlipoca doesn't deal with absolutes unless he's certain they will come to pass, and they always do. The Illuminati High Council, along with Holy Host and Grand Pantheon, has been made aware of this; but I also proposed my own solution to our little situation."

"Huh?" Malak furrowed his brows.

"I wasn't just sitting back and watching the discord, although it was quite amusing; I was also formulating a plan to put an end to Tezcatlipoca. It requires a few modifications, but the Holy Host, Grand Pantheon, and the Illuminati High Council all approve of my plan."

"I thought getting approval from just one of them took days, if not weeks."

"I made it happen, just like I'm going to start my plan now."

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(Amelia Garcia)