CHAPTER 177: ANNOUNCEMENT

Awakened Association - USA

The door burst open like a cannon shot.

"Chairman!" Grace’s heels clicked urgently across the hardwood as she barged in, tablet in hand. Her eyes were sharp, her breath short. "They’ve made the announcement!"

The Chairman didn’t turn his chair right away.

He stared out the glass wall of his office, watching the sun hang low over the horizon. Slowly, he leaned back, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

He perfectly knew just who Grace could be talking about. After all, it was he who set his secretary on Kaiden-watching duty. "...When?"

She angled her tablet to show him its screen, upon which a post could be read stating:

’Valhalla’s Sinners Announce Global Q&A Livestream About Bastet, the Sun-Kissed Pharaoh! - Starts in 60 Minutes!’

She then answered verbally, "A few seconds. They were chatting amicably with the twins in the bunker up until suddenly he decided it was time to act."

"He sure works fast... And likes to make his moves in random, unpredictable patterns like that devil woman..." he muttered.

His head throbbed with the beginnings of a migraine. He had just finished briefing Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and the Awakened Intelligence Bureau on Kaiden’s potential for systemic destabilization.

He wasn’t ready to deal with another explosion conducted by none other than Vespera’s devilspawn. And it wasn’t that damned twin-tailed chaos incarnate who was causing him trouble now. These days, Alice Ashborn was starting to look like a pure saint when placed next to her big brother.

"Activate the media counter-cycle. I want bodies in that stream. Every analyst, every intern, hell, throw in every off-duty cleaning lady into the mix as well."’

He rubbed his temple harder, groaning as the pressure built behind his eyes.

"I have a feeling those damned brats are going to pick questions thrown at them at random as they lack any sophisticated methods to choose otherwise. As such, our best bet to be noticed is to flood the stream. We must outnumber everyone else in that chat. We spam our queries until they can’t not see them. I don’t care how many eyes we need on it. We are getting our questions through."

...

Crimson Dynasty – China

Beijing, Secure State Facility

"340 million views," the Minister of Awakened Assets growled, reading the data aloud with narrowed eyes.

He turned the massive curved monitor toward the Supreme Overseer, an aging man with dark robes and a stare like a dying frog.

The Overseer did not react at first. He just clasped his hands behind his back, breathing slowly through his nose.

"So," he finally said, "this foreigner now controls the narrative..."

"The livestream begins in one hour," said another aide. "He will take questions on Bastet. In front of the entire planet."

Silence fell.

Then came the whisper:

"We should be the ones who hold the leash of the beastkin goddess."

The Overseer inhaled slowly. Then, finally, he spoke:

"Deploy the Red Data Spiders. I want chat bots, operatives, awakened typers... anyone who can flood that stream."

A pause came before the Overseer declared:

"Use no fake names. We don’t hide. Let him see us. Let him feel the weight of China behind each question."

"And if he ignores us?" the minister asked.

The Overseer’s voice remained calm, but his eyes flashed dark.

"Then we take what he withholds. Sooner or later, every tongue talks under the right kind of pressure."

...

🇺🇸 ARC Division – Project: Chimera Tamer

Langley, Black Site 3

The blue light of the ARC terminal glinted off Colonel Martinez’s stubble as he leaned forward, squinting at the screen.

He muttered a sharp "Jesus Christ," before lighting a cigarette, no regard for the NO SMOKING sign plastered across the walls.

Behind him, half the division stared at the same thumbnail:

Bastet, lounging in a golden silk hammock, purring into the camera with nothing but Kaiden’s hoodie on. The sun-kissed, insanely attractive monster woman was strangely homely in his jumper, making many men’s hearts skip a bit out of sheer jealousy aimed at her master.

"Think he’s doing this to provoke us?" Martinez asked.

His Operations Lead didn’t even look up from his notepad. "I don’t think he even knows we exist, Colonel... He’s just a happy-go-lucky youngster who happened to strike gold out of sheer luck and now plans to capitalize on his one second in fame. But it doesn’t matter. Civvies are rallying behind him. Even our members are tweeting memes. He’s a one-man PR nuke."

Martinez exhaled smoke, rubbing his forehead.

"Alright. Mobilize our social division. I want ten thousand ARC sockpuppets in that stream. Agents, interns, janitors, their grandmothers... I don’t care. If questions are picked at random, we make ours unmissable."

"Sir," someone asked cautiously, "what if... this becomes another ’that’ kind of incident?"

Martinez stared at the thumbnail again. He felt that Bastet was strangely provocative with her staring at him as if he were an ant beneath her heel, not worth a moment of her attention.

"I don’t know," he replied with another sigh. "That’s what terrifies me."

...

Kyoto – Inner Sanctum of the Moon-Thread Shrine

In a temple bathed in silver lanternlight and the scent of plum blossoms, time seemed to flow differently: slower, quieter, reverent.

Lady Yunohana Tsukikage, High Shrine Maiden of the Moon-Thread Lineage, sat in seiza upon a silk-cushioned dais. Her flowing lavender and pearl-white robes shone akin to falling sakura petals under moonlight. Each strand of her ink-black hair was woven with silver cords, cascading behind her like a waterfall in starlight.

She lifted a porcelain teacup that was painted with cranes mid-flight, and sipped with a grace that would make even spirits hesitate to dare speak in her presence, such was the weight of her air.

Below her, five handmaiden shrine girls bowed deeply, their foreheads brushing the tatami.

"My Lady," one whispered, voice trembling in awe. "The Shogunate Circle... has chosen you to lead the stream intelligence operation on Valhalla’s Sinners’ upcoming stream."

"The world will be watching Kaiden-Grey’s every breath," added another, eyes glittering. "And every glance of the... cat-woman."

Lady Tsukikage placed the cup down with a gentle click. Her voice flowed like mist down a mountain slope.

"So be it."