Chapter 207: If the World Wants Me Dead, I’ll Eat It First

The news arrived in four separate envelopes. None of them contained anything Raven would call good. Roland dropped the last envelope onto the table and fell into a chair.

"The positive part is that we’re still alive."

Valeria looked over from the window. "When you start like that, it usually means everything else is worse."

"It is."

Elise sat near the fire with a clean bandage over her shoulder. Her presence no longer felt particularly strange within the group, which Raven considered a deeply concerning sign.

He opened the first envelope. It didn’t carry a Church seal. That didn’t make it better. A minor House in the region had sent a formal inquiry to two Mercenary Houses asking about a "biomechanical projectile weapon capable of compromising high-rank magical defenses."

Raven read the phrase twice. "Biomechanical."

Roland leaned over the table. "Sounds more impressive than it looks when you have to load it by hand."

"It’s still expensive."

"Then I withdraw the criticism."

Valeria took the document when Raven set it down. "They’re not asking about you directly. They want to know how the rifle works, who built it, and whether another one exists."

"That’s worse."

"I thought so too."

For weeks, hiding Predation had been relatively possible. People saw Stonehide, Burst Step, or some strange reaction and built their own explanations afterward. The Mk.I was different. It had a shape, a sound, fragments, witnesses, and now a story. It had first cracked and then penetrated part of a Champion’s defenses. That was difficult to reduce to a simple rumor.

The second envelope did belong to the Church. Elise recognized the seal before Raven finished breaking it. "Regional doctrinal office."

Raven looked at her. "How bad?"

"Depends which office wrote the rest."

"That isn’t reassuring."

"It wasn’t meant to be."

Raven opened the document. The investigation into Raven Ashford had been expanded. There was still no formal condemnation and no open execution order either. But the provisional classification no longer referred only to unauthorized biological artificing.

Now the language was much more specific: unclassified predatory Authority, confirmed integration of consecrated structures, adaptive resistance to sacred mana, weapon capability sufficient to compromise Champion-level defenses under prepared conditions.

Valeria read over his shoulder. "At least they included ’under prepared conditions.’"

Raven nodded. "It’s more accurate."

Elise watched him. "That part came from my report."

Raven looked up. "Then thank you."

She blinked. "That was unusually direct."

"Don’t ruin it."

Valeria smiled. The document continued. Some offices recommended maintaining the investigation and controlled-capture classification. Others wanted him elevated to an active doctrinal threat. A third requested review by a higher authority because of "adaptive propagation risk."

Roland frowned. "Propagation? They think Predation is contagious?"

Elise shook her head. "Not exactly. They don’t know whether what Raven does could be reproduced in someone else. Whether the Authority can be transferred, imitated, or whether FORGE could create something similar."

Raven set the document down. "It can’t."

"You know that," Elise said. "They don’t."

Reasonable. Annoying, but reasonable.

The third envelope carried a name Raven knew only indirectly: Orbrecht. Not a signed letter, but an intermediary, and a suspiciously clean commercial inquiry concerning routes, Kharad, a foreigner, and unregistered weaponry. Valeria read half of it and put the paper down.

"They’re still following us."

"Yes."

"Still because of Greyhaven?"

Raven shook his head. "Not anymore. Now they probably want to know what the rifle is worth, who can build it, and whether they can obtain something similar."

Roland pointed toward the table. "And I assume ’asking politely’ won’t always be their preferred method."

"I wouldn’t count on it."

The fourth envelope had no seal, only a folded sheet containing three names, two locations, and a reference Raven recognized immediately. Patron Seven.

The rest was incomplete: personnel movement, purchase of biological material, a route connected to Keller’s former contacts. Not enough to act on yet, but enough to confirm they hadn’t disappeared.

Valeria watched Raven separate that sheet from the others. "That one concerns you more."

"Yes."

"More than the Church?"

Raven considered it. "The Church is in front of us. Patron Seven is still working somewhere we can’t see."

Valeria understood. That was worse.

---

The rumors were less useful. Roland had collected several that morning. According to one version, Raven had fired from three kilometers away and penetrated five of Elise’s barriers. Another claimed he had defeated the White Saint completely alone. A third said the rifle was made from dragon bones and required human blood to fire.

Valeria stopped reading. "That last one offends me."

Raven looked up. "Why?"

"I’m the one using Blood Magic, and even I don’t need to drink it."

Elise picked up another sheet. "This one says you tore out your own heart during the fight and replaced it with a sacred one."

Roland looked at Raven. "Would that be possible?"

Raven took a second. "Not with what I know now."

Valeria closed her eyes. "Don’t help."

"He asked."

"You could have simply said no."

Raven returned to the documents. Reality was considerably less interesting than the rumors. He had needed prepared terrain, Valeria, Roland, specialized ammunition, prior intelligence, every Trait he possessed, and Penance Sanctuary activating when his body was already entering lethal failure.

People preferred to believe he had ripped out his own heart. It was simpler.

---

Roland spread a map across the table once they finished. "There’s another option."

Raven studied the marked routes. "Tell me."

"We disappear for real. Not for a week. Not another false trail. Months. We move to another region, stop using major Mercenary Houses, put the rifle away, and wait for someone else to become the Church’s favorite problem."

Valeria stepped closer. "We could do it. There are enough routes to get us out before they close everything."

Raven studied the map. Before, he would have seriously considered it. Black Hound would have recommended lowering exposure, breaking patterns, and disappearing before an organization could build a complete picture of him. On Earth, that would have been the correct choice.

But this world had already moved past that point. The Church knew too much. So did Orbrecht. Patron Seven was still moving, and Noble Houses were asking about the weapon. Disappearing wouldn’t erase any of it. It would only change where the problems eventually found him.

Raven looked toward the Mk.I leaning against the wall. The weapon hadn’t existed months ago. Neither had Sacred Structures. Predation had changed. So had he.

The Arc Needle Queen had become part of the rifle. The Stormhorn had been sacrificed as a potential Skill to build something greater. The Matriarch had provided the final critical component.

Then came the Penance Hound, sacred and bred to track corruption. Predation had observed it, understood it, and consumed it. Now Raven could metabolize sacred mana and reproduce a defensive structure that had once belonged to another species.

None of that had happened because Raven was especially good at hiding. It had happened because every problem forced him to adapt.

Roland waited. "So what are you thinking?"

Raven took a moment before answering. "Disappearing buys time. It doesn’t change the Church, doesn’t change Orbrecht, and doesn’t make Patron Seven stop existing. Six months from now we’d still have the same problems, except we’d know less about what they were doing while we hid."

Roland nodded slowly. "So no."

"No."

Valeria looked down at the map. "That means accepting that they’ll keep finding us. Not just the Church. Nobles, mercenaries, and probably people we haven’t even met yet."

Elise raised one hand. "I would like to remind everyone that not all of the Church is trying to kill you."

Raven looked at her. "The fact that you need to clarify that remains deeply unhelpful."

"That’s fair."

Valeria set the map down. "Then what do we do if they keep sending people?"

Raven looked at the rifle. He thought about the question longer than necessary, not because he didn’t know the answer, but because months ago it would have been different. He would have changed routes, names, and cities, and reduced contact until he became difficult to find. That had worked his entire life. It wouldn’t work here anymore.

"Then let them keep coming," he said at last. "Monsters, nobles, the Church, Bloodborn... whoever wants to. I’m not spending the rest of my life moving every time someone decides I exist the wrong way."

Roland stopped looking at the map. Valeria didn’t say anything either. Raven rested one hand on the Mk.I.

"If this world insists on standing in front of me, sooner or later I’ll find a way to eat all of it."

Silence lasted two seconds. Elise opened her mouth. Raven already knew she was about to explain why that was spiritually concerning. She never got the chance.

A woman’s voice came from the darkness. "All of it?"

Raven closed his eyes. He didn’t need to look. Valeria slowly lowered her head. "No."

Elise frowned. "What?"

A figure stepped out from between the shadows. Silver hair, violet eyes, dark horns, and a smile Raven recognized far too well.

Nyxara.

"How interesting," she said. "I arrived at exactly the right part."

Raven looked at her. "Don’t start."

Nyxara walked toward them. "You just announced that you’re going to eat everyone. That seems like a remarkably difficult conversation to ignore."

"It was a generalization."

"I belong to ’everyone.’"

Raven sighed. "I knew you’d interpret that in the worst possible way."

Nyxara showed her fangs. "On the contrary. I think I finally interpreted you perfectly."

Elise stood, one hand dropping toward Mercy on reflex. Valeria noticed. "Don’t draw the sword."

Elise looked at her. "She’s Bloodborn."

"Yes."

"Champion."

"That too."

"And you know her?"

Valeria folded her arms. "Unfortunately."

Nyxara smiled at her. "You missed me."

"I’ve had several very pleasant weeks without you."

"That didn’t answer the question."

"It answered enough."

Nyxara looked delighted. Then she turned back toward Raven. "So... what is it now?"

Raven didn’t need to ask what she meant. Predation appeared.

[Royal Bloodborn.]

[Threat Assessment: EXTREME.]

[Night Sovereign Bloodline.]

[Current Assimilation Survival Estimate: 3.1%.]

Raven stared at the number. It had been 2.7% before. Still suicidal. Only slightly less suicidal.

Nyxara watched his face. Her smile changed. "It increased."

Raven took too long to answer. Valeria noticed. So did Elise, although she still didn’t understand. Nyxara stepped closer.

"How much?"

Raven exhaled. "Three point one."

Nyxara went still for a moment. Then her expression became even more pleased. "Oh."

Valeria closed her eyes. "No."

Nyxara ignored everyone except Raven. "This is going to be fun."

Raven looked at Elise, then Nyxara, and finally the Mk.I. He had spent too long trying to keep the world from knowing where to find him. That no longer felt like a strategy, only a delay.

And Raven was beginning to grow tired of delaying problems he would eventually have to face anyway.