Chapter 138 - Sacrificial Pawn

“Who...? White Maiden?” Corbin coughed, struggling against the arm wrapped tightly against his throat. “I don’t know any maiden!”

“Oh, but certainly She knows you.” The monk said, “After all, She was the one that brought you here to face the lizard.”

“The lizard?-“

Corbin turned his head to the side to see the hulking form of the giant lizard. It was no longer rampaging around, but had collapsed to the ground heaving violently. Its eyes were bleeding profusely as it whimpered, its body was flattened against the ground as if it were being pressed down by an unseen force.

This beast which had been on a rampage just moments before was completely and effortlessly dominated by the blood monk.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Corbin strained his neck to get a glimpse of the monk. His face was completely hidden by a deep hood, and the dark red robes fully concealed every part of his body. Even the monk’s hands weren’t visible. Two long black leather boots hung from the bottom of the robes.

A thick, putrid smell of metal and blood hung in the air. The monk’s robe was soaked in blood, which dripped off the hems onto the floor below. It glistened unevenly in the light of the single lamp in the corner of the room.

“Then you are in an even more sad position than I assumed.” The monk shook his head, “You’re simply a pawn, unaware of the master controlling you.”

The monk moved his hand to his waist, gripping onto a hilt that had emerged from his robes. There was a ring of steel as the monk drew out a long thin blade out of the air.

He held the blade in front of him with both hands, brandishing it towards Corbin as he descended to the floor.

“Let’s see if your master will let you die like a pawn as well.”

~

In a darkened room nearby, Yuzu reflected on the events that had so far transpired that evening.

After discovering the existence of the eggs, she was able to finally piece together the situation at the ball.

Uncle Zhao’s murder and the release of the monster, these were events that had been meticulously set in place. If Yuzu hadn’t unexpectedly appeared tonight, there was no doubt that the evening would have ended in tragedy.

In the timeline where Yuzu hadn’t come to the ball, the monk’s plans would have succeeded. Sansen Zhao would have been murdered by the tampered bottle of Scarlet Ambrosia. The night would have come to an abrupt, tragic end.

In that timeline, Victoria Shum and her friends would have found Char Char and brought her to see the eggs that they had found. Due to Char Char’s training and recent experience with the Exalted world, Char Char likely would have destroyed the eggs or recruited help to deal with them, averting disaster.

However, Yuzu’s presence tonight had altered the future.

Instead of seeking out Char Char, Victoria went after Yuzu. Yuzu could have cooperated and sent Char Char to the Shu’s dressing room as they requested, but she’d refused. The posh girls had planned to ask Yuzu once more, and had idled around the top of the staircase looking out for her.

But Yuzu had seen that they were waiting for her and avoided them.

As soon as she did that, the future changed. The sequence of events leading to the release of the monsters was set into motion. The girls would naively awaken the eggs and be devoured by the monster.

In its fervour it would burst into the ballroom and kill many more before escaping into the wilderness.

This was the future that Yuzu had seen earlier in the ballroom. This was why the knot of fate had spontaneously formed in the middle of the night. It wasn’t that it had somehow eluded her powers of fate, Yuzu had indirectly caused this future to happen through her own actions.

Fortunately she had had enough time to fix her mistakes.

The tampered wine was now hidden away. The posh girls had been saved from their gruesome deaths. However these actions had not gone unnoticed by the monk. Even though she’d only altered the strings a few times so far, her presence had clearly been noticed.

This was the danger that her intuition had been telling her about. The monk had some way of sensing when she altered the fate strings. He was waiting, watching the signs carefully. Each time she made a move, the ripples of her actions brought him closer to finding her. She was now dangerously close to being exposed.

Yuzu hovered her hand over the pair of strings that were tightly entwined in a dressing room not too far away. At this moment Corbin Nao was about to be murdered by the Abbott.

The Abbott had called Corbin her ‘pawn’. Though Yuzu hadn’t seen her actions in that light, she couldn’t deny the interpretation. If Yuzu and the monk were opposing players in a game, then Corbin was a piece that she had sent in to deal with the monk’s giant lizard.

If the Abbott hadn’t interfered then the lizard really would have been taken out by Corbin. However now the situation had changed.

Yuzu’s eyes flitted to the tapestry of fate as a number of Exalted strings were rushing over to the dressing room. Corbin’s battle with the giant lizard had destroyed a portion of the manor, causing enough tremors and noise to disrupt the party. Even without Yuzu’s interference, the Exalted in the manor were converging on the monk and Corbin. They wrapped around the Abbott’s string in a short, intense battle.

With a quick glance at the strings the result of that battle was clear to her. Without her interference, all of those Exalted would die.

~

“What do you want?” Corbin asked, still struggling against the arms that held him down, “Money? Materials? If you kill me you won’t get anything!”

“Oh, there’s nothing you can give me.” The monk said dismissively as he landed on the floor. He gently pressed the tip of his blade against Corbin’s heart, though he didn’t penetrate the fabric. “Even killing you would be unsatisfying.”

“You’d better run, then.” Corbin warned, his voice trembling as he tried to shrink away from the blade. “W-We have guards all over, they’re surely on their way.”

“Be careful what you wish for.” The monk chuckled softly, “If they come, you’ll be the first to die.”

A silence fell upon the room. Several moments passed and it became clear that no one was coming.

Throughout the manor, an illusory voice spoke into the ears of each of the Exalted saying, “Don’t go!”

For various reasons, they all hesitated and remained at a distance.

As Corbin lay trembling on the ground with a blade resting sharply against his chest, he heard a gentle female voice speak to him.

“Repeat what I say, if you want to survive.”

His eyes widened and he drew in a sharp breath as he looked around for the source of the voice.

“These guards of yours are taking their time.” The monk chuckled, “Are you sure you pay them enough?”

“I-“ Corbin struggled internally for a moment before saying, “I’m listening!”

The monk hesitated, watching Corbin pensively before coming to a conclusion. He withdrew the blade from Corbin’s chest and sheathed it in his robes.

Corbin once more heard a voice in his mind. He took a deep breath and said, “I am holding the guards at bay. What do you wish to speak to me about?”

“White Maiden, it is an honour to speak to you. Your appearance in the city has not been unnoticed.” The monk said, looking around the room.

“N-Nor have your actions tonight.” Corbin replied, “It seems that we are at odds with each other.”

“A minor misunderstanding.” The monk said amicably, finally placing his attention on Corbin. He drew his sleeves together and bowed to Corbin. “One that I’m sure we can work out.”

“I know you wished to murder Sansen Zhao.” Corbin’s eyes grew wide as he realized what he was repeating, “W-what misunderstanding could there be?”

“I cannot deny it. After all, you have already foiled those plans most elegantly.” The monk nodded, his voice deepening, “But that is the issue, isn’t it? We have both wasted precious time and resources by opposing each other. Would it not be more beneficial for us to cooperate? In this way, rather than fighting amongst ourselves, both of us could benefit.”

There was a pause as Corbin didn’t receive an immediate reply from the illusory voice. The monk stared down at him, the darkness under his hood deep and impenetrable. Corbin felt an immense spiritual pressure weigh down on him and he couldn’t help but shiver in reflexive fear.

The silence was unbearable as Corbin found himself silently calling out to the voice, asking her to say something in response.

He froze, perking up as the voice finally spoke into his ears.

“So, you want to make a deal.”