Chapter 903: Ch 902: Moral Blackmail

Arcadia Headquarters, Athena's room—

Athena had just finished listening to Ryo's explanation. She sighed and set a freshly brewed cup of black tea in front of him. "You've got guts, I'll give you that."

He'd only just been part of the whole Kalki impersonation mess, and now he was planning to stir up a fight between two-digits. Athena couldn't come up with a word for how reckless he was being, so "guts" was as generous as she could get.

"Come on, don't put it like that. I'm already stuck in the game. It's not like I had a choice." Ryo gave a sheepish laugh and took a sip of tea, looking a little embarrassed.

Honestly, he knew he was a trouble magnet. And there wasn't much he could do about it, and sometimes he even went looking for trouble himself.

But making money meant taking risks, and what Ryo wanted was power, and fast. When your goal is something as big as a Sun Authority, getting handed dangerous jobs is just how it goes.

Athena glanced at him. She didn't bother calling out whatever he was scheming in his head and just picked up her own cup.

"Sun Authority... yeah, that's worth risking a lot for."

Handling two Sun Authorities, or even three, was the kind of deal almost nobody in Little Garden would turn down. Three-digits, even some two-digits, wouldn't say no either. Given a chance like that, it was natural for Ryo to want to gamble.

The trouble was, what he was planning this time was genuinely dangerous.

On paper, all he was doing was handing Kalki over to the Buddha. But Kalki's identity was just too sensitive. Counting it up, Krishna, Buddha, the Lord of Cross, Kurma, and even Matsya were directly involved. That was five two-digits right there. Add Shiroyasha, who'd jumped in on her own, the possible twin goddesses, Algol, who would definitely protect Ryo, and Queen Halloween behind the scenes.

A simple "return Kalki" errand, and already ten Two-Digit powerholders were tangled up in it, more than half of the two-digit power left in Little Garden.

Seeing Athena frown in thought, Ryo shrugged. "For what it's worth, I don't think the risk is that high."

He'd spent ages thinking it through before coming here, and the only thing he'd worked out was that the key lay in whatever was going on with Kalki.

Until that was clear, there was no weighing gains against losses. So even though he could guess how many players were involved, he was still thinking about how to move, because the reward was too good.

"You only think that because you're missing information." Athena sighed, then frowned and muttered, "Looks like another two-digit has placed a bet on that little savior."

Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Someone else joined the fight for Vishnu's spirit rank?"

"Probably. Maybe not the Spirit Rank, but for some other purpose. But what we can see is that they're playing dirty. They've at least managed to anger whoever's behind Ouroboros."

Athena blew on her tea, calmly watching the surface of the cup.

"But once Kalki is delivered to Sanzen, Buddha will be forced to state his position and stand with the Heavenly Army, whether he likes it or not."

"If you want to think cynically, the one behind Ouroboros probably wants to use this to knock out their strongest rival."

Ryo's face lit up with understanding.

Buddha was one of Ouroboros's top figures. Nobody knew if he was a founder or a later recruit, but very few in Little Garden even knew that much. To the general public, Buddha was simply the good guy, the leader of the righteous. And that image was a serious burden.

In Little Garden, rumors could become reality, let alone an image like that. The public would never imagine Buddha was competing for Vishnu's spirit rank, and they'd certainly never guess Kalki was one of his "rivals," someone whose spirit rank he'd need to devour.

So if Buddha did something like that...

"Image collapse. Wow, so that's the play!"

Ryo clicked his tongue in admiration. He'd had no idea two-digits worried about this kind of thing.

The moment Kalki landed in Buddha's hands, Ouroboros would probably make it public. At least most of the well-informed would learn that the four-digit Kalki was now under Buddha's "protection." So if anything went wrong, accusations of bullying the weak, a kind face hiding a cruel heart, and sinister plots would all get dumped on Buddha.

That ruled out Buddha making a move on Kalki, which also meant, indirectly, that he was being kicked out of the race. Ryo even suspected, darkly, that Buddha would have to clean up the hidden tricks other competitors had planted on Kalki, just to be safe. He'd end up doing the most work and getting nothing for it.

Still, only a big name like Buddha could be "morally blackmailed" this way. If he committed a great sin, it would affect more than himself. It would hit the whole Buddhist Pantheon. That made things very troublesome.

Ryo asked, a little worried, "So by delivering Kalki, am I going to offend the Buddha?"

Athena looked at him. "He won't bother holding it against you."

She paused, then smiled. "Besides, isn't Shiroyasha in this too?"

Ryo got it immediately.

Right. The one who tossed Kalki over was Shiroyasha. What did that have to do with him?

If Buddha wanted a fight, he'd fight Shiroyasha, and those two had already clashed in the Dawn War.

Besides, this wasn't really dumping a problem on Shiroyasha. She'd volunteered to take it on herself.

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