Chapter 253: A New Stage is Set

 And just like that, without further pomp and circumstance, the Fifth Trial had begun in earnest. From my vantage point, I saw portals and space-time fissures open up across the globe, signaling the invasion of those black humanoid aliens that Malazel had shown us all earlier. The first wave of invaders didn’t pose much of a threat to the well-fortified positions of even the weakest city-states, but the same couldn’t be said about the poor cities without defenders. 

Sure the various world governments had ample time to plan for this invasion, and even the most stubborn rulers couldn’t ignore the threat since literal superhumans were giving the orders. But even with the irrefutable evidence before them, some governments still procrastinated and stuck their heads in the metaphorical sand while others were busy trying to figure out the best response to these supposed aliens that were to come. Some of the more idiotic governments even tried to fight back against the Aspirants, and let me just say that the people in charge there didn’t last all too long. 

A week wasn’t a lot of time, and the ones who reacted the slowest, or worse yet, not at all, were all but devastated within the first few hours. Conventional firearms did all but nothing against the small flying aliens, and even higher caliber rifles - if people even had access to them - could only keep the weaker foes at bay. Larger weaponry, like ballistic missiles and anti-tank rounds, could certainly wound and even kill the enemy, but it wasn’t like they could carpet-bomb their own cities indefinitely. A few aliens might die from the initial blasts, but more would come in to replace them. It was a losing fight, and anyone with working eyes or a brain could tell.

No, the only real respite that could be had was in the towns and cities under the direct protection of the Aspirants. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the earth wasn’t under the protection of any city-state at all, and I didn’t doubt for a moment that the poor humans would resort to desperate measures before long. Q seemed to agree with me as well, because a critical mission was sent out shortly after. 

Global Mission 1:

Earth Mission Parameters:

• Stop the citizens of Earth from initiating Doomsday protocols. (6.31% complete)

• Establish Control of the World Governments (5.58% complete)

• Maintain World Order and Peace. (0% complete)

• Repel Invaders. (0% complete)

• ??? (0% complete)

Progress to completion: 0.92%

Please note that this is a global mission and must be completed alongside individual city-state missions. 

Three out of five objectives must be completed before the fifth trial ends. If more than two objectives end in failure then the planet is deemed unworthy and its inhabitants will be disposed of. 

Please work hard together, Aspirants of Earth!

Huh, I hadn’t known we’d get an overarching mission to complete. Thankfully, there was some room for failure there, and it didn’t look altogether too difficult either way. Plus, the Regressor’s existence meant that Earth had somehow survived this Trial, even without the presence of the three anomalies in this timeline. I didn’t have much to worry about here, but it was good to keep these global missions in mind for the future. I can’t exactly trim down the number of enemies too harshly if that means jeopardizing our overall survival. I’m sure they’ll pop up more down the line. 

Now, while it would be nice to just sit back and relax for a little while longer, I needed to initiate my own plans as well. While things are still relatively stable, my number one goal was to figure out just what type of anomaly I was dealing with here and go from there. Let’s start by asking Q.

“Say, Site Administrator Q,” I said, “I have a quick question.”

The man came over quickly and bowed. “What can I do for you, Lord Arbiter?”

“I was wondering, but what information do we have on hand about the two new Anomalies?”

“Ah…” He frowned. “Unfortunately, my information on them is rather limited…”

I sighed. “Let me guess, information’s mysteriously corrupted or missing?”

“Indeed, Lord.”

I rolled my eyes. “Great, so we know nothing at all about them?”

“On the one called Ashwin, we have very little. All we know is that he is anomalous, and that he mysteriously appeared in my Training Site midway through, with the approval of the Overseer, of course.” 

“Of course, he has that slimeball’s approval,” I grumbled.

Q sighed before continuing. “But I did manage to investigate Aspirant Ryan, at least superficially.”

“And?”

“While I couldn’t get anything concrete, I do know that he is some kind of temporal Anomaly, although fundamentally different in nature to your Jae-Hyun.”

“Can you elaborate?” I asked, not quite sure how to take this information.

“Unfortuantely, that was the extent of my investigation before my probing was found out,” Q answered, “I was told, quite sternly so, to back off by the higher ups.” 

“So not a whole lot to go on.”

“No, Lord Arbiter. I apologize for the oversight.” 

“It’s fine, Q. This is more than I had before.”

And it was true, at least this was a starting point, although it wasn’t exactly a great one. If he’s different than Jae-Hyun than we can rule out the possibility that he also regressed, but that still left a lot of other options left. Could he manipulate time by slowing or stopping it? Maybe he could see into the future briefly, or even walk through different timelines or the like. Hell, he could even mess with another Aspirant’s perception of time for all I knew; there was just too many unknowns, and that wasn’t even accounting for Ashwin. 

Right, that doesn’t matter in any case. I had originally planned to do some scouting in any case, so it wasn’t like I had to change my plans. If I didn’t know what Ashwin or Ryan could do, then I just had to probe them a little bit, and the best way to do that was with my lovely, lovely cultists. It was time for a little bit of divine intervention. 

As I was just about to send out my first instructions, Xalla hesitantly glanced over my way and sent a private message through. Huh, I had almost forgotten that Xollon could do that.

Careful Walter, she sent, If you’re about to do what I think you’re trying, then make sure that you’re subtle about it. While we can easily explain away the erratic behaviours of the cultists down below as just crazed fanaticism, we can’t exactly do much if you’re caught directly giving them instructions. You’re allowed to be worshipped down below, and you can use them as an Aspirant all you like, but you’re in your official capacity as the Lord Arbiter at the moment, and that comes with its restraints.

I frowned. Right… I bet there’s a million eyes on me right now. I’m guessing you and Q are under just as much scrutiny. Damn.

You’re right, unfortunately… However, Xalla continued in a playful tone, We have one temporary worker here that’d be more than happy to help out. 

And as if she heard us (I honestly didn’t know if she did hear us or not, it wasn’t like i knew enough about Xollons to know if these telepathic messages could be used like a group chat or not), Xaz gave us a friendly wave. 

You sure?

Like I said, she’d be more than happy to assist. Xalla smiled. Just tell me what you need and I’ll pass it along to her.

You don’t want me to do it personally?

Xalla gave me an awkward laugh. Well, I figured that there’s a lot of things you can’t or shouldn’t say to an outsider like her, so it’s safer to pass it through me first…

I frowned. Yeah, Xalla was never a really good liar, and there was definitely something she wasn’t telling me. If I had to guess, she was probably trying to limit my interactions with her sister, especially after that last conversation. I’ll be fair, Xaz could be a little… much. I chose not to press her about the white lie.

Xaz saw her sister’s awkward expression and secretly sent me a message. Let me guess, my brother-in-law-to-be, my sister told you to avoid me or something of the like?

Uh…

She giggled behind Xalla’s back. She’s a feisty one, our little tomboy, but she’s cute when she’s trying to sneak around. Don’t worry, despite whatever slander she’s saying, I don’t bite. I know you two have something crazy planned, and there’s no universe in which Xaz isn’t a part of that!

Yeah, I was starting to see why Xalla had such a hard time with this particular sister. I wonder if all of her family was unique. I knew she had another brother and younger sister as well, but I didn’t get a lot of details about them when I asked prior. She seemed to love them all the same. 

Huh, never thought I’d reach a time where I was looking forward to meeting my girlfriend’s family, but here I am. 

Walter, is something the matter? Xalla sent, interrupting the prior message. 

Right, too much sensitive information at stake. I sent replied quickly. I’ll try to limit how much I say to her. 

I turned my attention back on Xaz and sent, I’ll, uh, speak with you later. But yeah, we do need your help. Xalla will explain later. 

Sure, sure, she snickered, But we both know that she’ll give me the santized version. Oh no, no boyfriend of Xalla’s gonna have all the fun behind my back. I’ll be waiting for the full version, Walter. Do a good job and I’ll share some “interesting” information about my sister.

Well, I can’t say I wasn’t intrigued about embarrassing stories on Xalla, and it must have showed because Xaz snickered harder before turning away from me. 

I got the other Xollon out of mind and refocused on Xalla. All right, Xalla, so the jist of what I need at this point is information on the two anomalies and the city as a whole. 

Xalla smiled. Makes sense. What do you need on our end?

Nothing too complicated, I said, smiling back to the woman. So here’s what I need… 

Xalla looked at me with a perplexed expression after I had summarized my plans. Uh… is this really what you need, Walter?

I frowned. What do you mean?

She gave me a stern look as if I were saying something unreasonable. I thought you said it would be nothing complicated?

Yeah?

Then what’s the point of- She shook her head and sighed. Never mind, I should have known that you’d do things like that. I’m sure there’s a reason you chose such a, um, interesting approach, Walter. I’ll pass the info to Xaz and get things rolling.

I frowned again, still not sure what about my plan that was so disagreeable. I really did cut down on the unnecessary fluff this time ‘round. I’ve learned my lesson from that beating I got in the hospital, and I was certain that I had accounted for everything. 

“You really are clueless, my Host,” Noe said with a sigh. 

Not you too, Noe! This performance will be a success!

I only heard another sigh in reply from my system.

I shook my head and ignored her, turning my attention back on the Xollon. Thanks, I owe you one, Xalla!

Xalla shook her head again. You most certainly do…