Chapter 901: Ch 900: Great Minds Think Alike

"That fast, huh?"

Ryo stared at the black Card, unable to hide his surprise.

He'd only impersonated Kalki yesterday, and now Ouroboros was already reaching out to him.

Compared to the Heavenly Army's efficiency, there really was no comparison.

Hearing Ryo's remark, Shiroyasha sighed. "If these snakes didn't have some real strength behind it, it wouldn't be giving the Heavenly Army such a headache."

As the biggest criminal organization in the Little Garden, Ouroboros wouldn't have survived this long without some serious chops. If they didn't have anything going for them, someone would've wiped them out ages ago.

Being the mastermind behind the scenes really wasn't a job just anyone could pull off.

"My guess is they'll send someone with your delivery within a few hours. Get yourself ready."

'That's some real efficiency... guess I do like a boss who settles accounts on the spot,' Ryo thought, silently giving Ouroboros a mental thumbs up.

He set the card down on the table and said, "Good timing, actually. I wanted to see how they feel about Kalki."

He still needed to figure out exactly what Ouroboros's stance on Kalki was. Had they really just tossed him aside and washed their hands of him?

If that was the case, he'd need to start thinking about how to hand Kalki over to the Buddha sooner rather than later. The quieter those two-digit existences went, the bigger the storm brewing underneath.

'Guess my days in Ouroboros might be numbered too...' Ryo muttered to himself, then glanced over at Shiroyasha.

She caught the look immediately and spoke up. "I've got some things to prep on my end, so hurry up and wrap up yours too."

She paused for a moment, then added, "And if you can manage it, get me an official Trickster membership. Once you've got that, if you happen to land Taurus as well, I've got a surprise waiting for you."

'A surprise?' Ryo raised an eyebrow, but before he could ask, Shiroyasha had already cut the connection.

"This woman..."

He let out a helpless sigh, glanced at his half-eaten breakfast on the table, then at the black card still blinking away.

Well. So much for breakfast.

Grumbling to himself, he channeled a thread of energy into the card.

A moment later, the blinking stopped, and Loki's unmistakable voice came through. "Yo, can you hear me? Ryo, kiddo, you there? Is it safe on your end? I'll come through once it's safe!"

Ryo fell silent for a beat, then got up, left the dining hall, and headed for an underground backup meeting room instead.

Once he'd sat down, he spoke to the card resting on the table. "Go ahead."

On the black card, the white ouroboros symbol began to melt, spreading slowly across the surface before suddenly expanding into a full white magic circle. For a fleeting moment, Ryo thought he could sense concepts of space and time swirling within it, but the feeling vanished as quickly as it came, gone the instant the circle itself faded away.

The moment the array's pattern disappeared, a black raven with only one eye appeared on the meeting table in front of him.

"Morning, Caw~" Loki, in raven form, greeted him with a bright, cheerful female voice.

Ryo clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Does Ouroboros's intel say I've got a thing for all women? I get wanting to keep me on a leash, but could you at least send a person?"

He didn't share Indra or Zeus's particular tastes. He couldn't exactly get handsy with a "beast."

At that, Loki froze for a second, then said, in a strangely awkward tone, "Um... when Athena handed you my Spirit Rank, did she seriously not mention that I run around the Little Garden in a female form?"

Ryo: "..."

"Then why the hell did you have a rough male voice before and used he/him pronouns?"

After a long silence, Ryo set that thought aside and said, sounding a little thrown, "So you're actually one of Athena's people?"

He'd figured last time Loki was just running a con on him, given Loki's amazing reputation as the "God of Fraud."

Loki went quiet for a moment too, its expression turning odd. "Wait, you seriously didn't know?"

"Know what?" Ryo rolled his eyes. "Didn't you tell me you had broken free of Athena's schemes?"

"Wow, so you really only listened to the first half of my bragging, huh." Loki sighed, exasperated, then added, "Though honestly it doesn't really matter. Surrendering counts as breaking free of the scheme too, in a way!"

Loki hopped in a little circle on the table. "See, Athena never predicted I'd actually surrender, so letting me live on like this is basically her plan falling apart. Isn't that basically the same thing?"

Ryo couldn't help asking out loud, "You're not even mad at Athena?"

"Oh, I'm furious!" Loki puffed out its chest with obvious pride. "Which is why, while I'm Athena's mole, I'm also Hestia's mole, and Queen Halloween's mole, and I'm in tight with a certain higher-up in Ouroboros, and I've got something going on with the Heavenly Army too. See? Athena would never in a million years have guessed any of that."

'Damn, calling you a serial defector doesn't even begin to cover it...' Ryo really wanted to say something, but held his tongue.

"A higher-up in Ouroboros? By 'certain,' do you mean what I think you mean?"

Among the Little Garden's powerhouses, when people used the word "certain" as a stand-in, it was basically always code for one of the suspected two-digit existences.

'Loki's working for a two-digit existence? And in Ouroboros of all places... Krishna?'

"Yep, exactly what you think." Loki nodded lightly, then added, "In a sense, you're now one of that person's direct subordinates too, just like me."

The raven paused before continuing, "Of course, the handover at the top is still in progress. Before too long, you should be transferred over to the Queen. Congratulations, by the way. You're the one she specifically requested. Lucky you. Getting played to death can't be far off now."

'Queen Halloween...' Ryo's eyes flickered, but he didn't say anything, just asked, "So besides making the delivery, is there also a message from her this time?"

"That's right."

Seeing that Ryo wasn't rattled by the mention of the Queen, Loki looked a bit disappointed, but quickly came up with a fresh threat. "Though I should correct one thing. I didn't actually bring anything with me this time. Including the thing you want most."

Ryo's expression shifted instantly.

Loki, watching this, burst out laughing. "Called it. Just like that person predicted. The Another Cosmology on your body needs the power of Sun Authorities to 'unlock,' doesn't it?"

"Though Leo and Taurus are both constellations tied to Greece... That woman Athena really is something else, actually managing to create an Another Cosmology for a fourth-generation King. Just wondering how many Sun Authorities it's going to take..."

Ryo kept his expression steady at that. He'd already guessed this would leak eventually, so he wasn't caught off guard, and even his earlier reaction had been a deliberate bit of theater.

After all, it was better to leave some kind of leverage in Ouroboros's hands. That way they could actually relax around him, right?

"Tsk, you're obviously not going to tell me how many Authorities. No point wasting my breath then. And Taurus will come to you eventually, but it'll take time. Once something like that gets moved, it needs sign-off from multiple higher-ups." Loki paused, then shot him a meaningful glance. "Of course, there is a way to speed things along."

Ryo got it instantly. They were dangling another carrot in front of this particular donkey again, trying to get him moving.

'These shameless bastards, can't you people ever just keep your word? Sure, getting a Sun Authority for one Kalki impersonation is a pretty steep ask, but wasn't that the deal you agreed to?' He grumbled internally, then said out loud, "What's the method? Something to do with Kalki?"

Anything that made Ouroboros willing to shell out Sun Authority was basically always tied to Kalki. Ryo knew that much for sure.

"Look at you, all clued in!"

Loki gave him a knowing look, then composed herself, dropping her voice to something quiet and serious. "The higher-ups asked me to pass along a message."

Ryo kept his face neutral and waited to hear it.

Loki, mimicking the tone of a certain woman, said, "Tell that Arcadia kid to figure out how to get Kalki into the hands of that person from the Buddhist faction. Try to make sure it gets to Sanzen directly."

Ryo froze.

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