Tail

Jack had made his way to the remote area in the high-density zone where the large portal cast a shadow over the lands. It was shaped like a gate and had a height of at least six meters and a width of over ten. Its color was different from the portals he had developed so far, with its bright blue color and the ripples that progressed through the flat surface, reminding Jack of a blue ocean.

"Can you tell what type of portal this is?" Jack asked the assistant.

"I have no recordings of blue portals or any portals of this size," the assistant responded.

Jack got closer to the fascinating sight and tried to use his detection ability to discover its secrets but to no avail. Then he created a small spherical portal and threw it at the gate to see if it went through, but it simply bounced off. He then picked up a stone and threw it at the gate, but the result was the same.

"What do you think?"

"I would suggest conducting more experiments and not taking any unnecessary risks. We could have a bat test it," the assistant suggested.

"Not a bad idea, but let's try a mouse first. That's what the scientists at home always do." Jack scanned the environment and found a mouse that looked just right for the job. He picked it up and gently tossed it at the gate, but it bounced off and landed on the ground. After falling on the rocky ground, it gave Jack a brief glance of disapproval and ran off into the distance. He then called over a bat and let it carefully try to enter the gate with only the tip of its tail. Even though Jack had over 1,000 bats, they were not disposable to him, and he could always heal a missing tail or wing if something were to happen. But even the bat was unable to enter the gate.

Jack started to scratch his chin. There had to be a secret to this large portal, but it did not seem to be obvious. Was he missing a key? Or was this a one-way portal and he stood at the exit point?

But Jack knew that experiments often beat analysis since they produce results faster. He went to the gate and tried to place his hand through it, but it felt like he was touching a solid wall. He then tried to force his way through by punching it, but it did not seem to budge. He thought that destroying it could be an option, but then he would have lost his only lead on the humanoids. He closed his eyes and tried to connect to the portal using his dimensional hijacking skill, but he could not feel any link to it. This gate was a total mystery to him.

"Jack, I recommend stationing a bat with invisibility and detection abilities here to observe it further. I will try to gather more data and find out a way to utilize the portal," the assistant suggested.

"Fine," he said while walking around the gate and observing its strange appearance. "Do you want me to do something? You wouldn't just suggest I take a break, would you?"

"That is correct," the assistant said. "I believe you should get in touch with President Cord and Supreme General Silvant since the alliances are extremely concerned by your activities in the West Alliance. They have been contacting you nearly every day. Their intelligence teams must have discovered that you have taken over the entire region and have technically become their enemy since you have de facto become the leader of the West Alliance."

"Just tell them that all is good and there will be no more wars," Jack sighed.

The assistant paused for a moment and tried to compute the most effective way to motivate Jack into a diplomatic mission which required extensive resources. "It would be beneficial for the stability of the entire planet, or at least the regions controlled by the alliances. By advocating for the opening of active trade relationships, it would also be possible to enhance the technological prowess of the West Alliance and research dimensional jump devices in the future."

"You really dug deep for this one, huh?" Jack said with a smile. Then he looked at the sky. "Ok, I will go. Let's start with whoever is free first. Tell both that I can meet now and get their locations."

Jack walked to the side of the gate and looked at its thickness since it was much more dense than he had expected. His own portals were usually less than a centimeter thick, but this one had a thickness of at least half a meter. It looked like an aquarium from the side.

"Jack, the President of Cibolas is available for a meeting," the assistant said.

"Great," Jack said as he opened a portal and jumped straight on top of the government building. Then he jumped in front of the president's office where the security team was already bracing for a sudden teleportation and entered the room. "Hello there, Mr. President. Hope you are doing ok," Jack said with a friendly but slightly bored tone.

"Mr. Fox… I can see that you have changed your mask," the president walked to Jack and extended his hand for a greeting. This was a level of formality that Jack wasn't used to since he often just brute forced his way through negotiations, but he appreciated it.

Jack walked towards the President and shook his hand. "I had to take care of some unpleasant business and the fox mask just didn't feel right for the job," Jack said with a playful tone.

"So I've heard. You have been very busy according to my intelligence department," the president said as he gestured to Jack to sit down across his desk. He then walked back to his seat. "I know that you are a very busy man so I will be direct. We appreciate the protection you have provided us with and the cities you have rescued, especially since you have not asked for much in return. But what should we think about your actions in the west?"

Jack leaned back in the chair and looked at the President with a calm gaze. "You do not need to worry in case you think I want to take over the world. I don't. I didn't even want the West Alliance since it was too much work, but it needed to be done. They were out of control."

The president leaned forward and folded his hands on his desk. "It is not so much about what you want to do right now but what you can do in the future. Our country has seen many wars in the past and we know that justifications are easy to find. It is often the ability to do something that precedes the justification for doing it."

"I understand your way of thinking, but from a practical perspective, there is really nothing you can do. Even if I were to disappear, do you think this planet could handle the bat creatures that would be let loose without me? Or could you handle the humanoids and creatures that keep attacking the cities? What I can tell you is that I took out the leadership of the West Alliance because they were really bad at their job. They treated human life like dirt and I cannot save those who do not deserve saving. But there was a good way of wrapping things up since their religion has two very different sides to it," Jack said with a calm tone.

"You talk as if the West Alliance is already under your command, but as far as I know you have only taken a few cities for now and are mostly waging a propaganda war through communicators," the President said with a skeptical tone.

"It is only a matter of time. I have a very capable strategist who is taking care of the details and a lot of bats that do the dirty work. But I already took out the royal family and am technically in charge," Jack said, slightly more bored than before.

The president looked visibly surprised. "You already removed the royal family from their position? The Messiah of Seinas?"

"Yes, he is under house arrest for now. Or rather cave arrest. He has a bucket and some bread to pass the time," Jack said.

The President leaned back. "You have moved faster than I had been told. What will you do if the country collapses? This would be a catastrophe that would affect all of us."

"It won't. We devised a plan to keep 90% of the government intact but only replace key positions. Enforcement is done by the bats on a high level and by the existing executive branch on a low level. Since the Serenity Sect is highly regarded in the nation and is also following the same gods, it is an easy sell. The only difficult thing will be to change the current culture and industries that rely on slave trade and sacrifice. But this will change over time. We expect the radicals to flee the cities and to potentially rebel, but they will have no chance against my bats. They will also be sitting ducks for the creatures without the bats' protection, so this won't go on for long," Jack said with confidence.

"I know you are powerful but you are also young. Leading the largest nation and alliance in the world is a near impossible task for an outsider. We would prefer to provide you with our intelligence department and a large team to help you during this transition," the President suggested.

Jack smiled. Now he understood what the President was after. Hiding behind his concerns for war and collapse, he wanted a piece of the pie. "That won't be necessary. My strategist is a god when it comes to intelligence. But we will contact you soon to open up trade relationships. The West Alliance will soon be the friendliest place on the planet," Jack got up and extended his hand to say goodbye.

The President sighed and got up as well to shake Jack's hand. "Let me know if you change your mind. What happens in the West Alliance will also affect us so please be mindful of that."

Jack gave the President a smile and opened a portal to the South Alliance where the Supreme General and his leadership staff were already waiting for him. When Jack appeared in the room, everyone but the Supreme General rose up as a courtesy. Only the General looked as grumpy as ever and was, once again, pre-occupied with the papers on his desk. After a short delay, he looked at Jack, "Mr. Fox, we have been waiting for you. You can sit there." He pointed to a chair opposite the round table of government officials.

Jack smiled and slowly walked to the chair to take a seat. "You wanted to see me?" he said with a friendly tone.

"Indeed," the General briefly cleared his throat. "The South Alliance is grateful for your help in regaining control over the lost cities and your ongoing support."

Jack noticed many of the advisors nodding in agreement, and it felt like the General was more open than he usually was. Public opinion seems to be a powerful tool for any politician, no matter what planet one is on, Jack thought.

"It was aligned with my goals and I was rewarded handsomely," Jack said with a casual nod. "But I am sure you have not brought me here just to thank me."

The General now looked more comfortable since he got the annoying part out of the way and returned to his indifferent and emotionless demeanor. "Yes, we have been following your actions in the West Alliance and would like to hear directly from you what your intentions are."

Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I just had this conversation a moment ago so let me give you the short summary. The West Alliance was a madhouse. They were sacrificing innocent people left and right and even made a spectacle out of abusing little kids. I took action to realign the country. Are you aware of the Serenity and Abundance Sect situation in the country?"

The General looked at his advisor who then straightened out his back and addressed Jack directly. "We know that these two sects are making up almost 99% of the populations in the entire alliance and that they are following the same religion. They are not opposed to each other but they are also not compatible."

Jack smiled at the advisor. "Correct. The Abundance Sect is the one that was in power and let people do horrible things in the name of their gods. The Serenity Sect is moderate and peaceful. I have already taken out the leadership and it will only be a matter of weeks until all the major cities are under control. My goal is not to lead the nation but to make the Serenity Sect take the government while the Abundance Sect does its thing but under strict laws to protect the people."

Another military officer joined the conversation. "Brute force will not accomplish that goal. You cannot change the culture that was and it will lead to the collapse of the entire region."

Jack sighed again. "I have a team behind me that has collected extensive intelligence on the matter. While sacrifices were common, they were conducted by a disproportionally small part of the population. In such murderous cultures, it is often the sadists and sociopaths that are encouraged to channel their desires, rather than the general population being affected. In my home, we had a similar situation where millions were killed in just a few years by a misguided government. The majority of the people were not involved but those who were eager to do evil were encouraged to take the lead. We will make sure that the transition is peaceful and that only the bad ones are removed. There will be no collapse. Anything else you wanted to talk about?" Jack was visibly bored and his body language already suggested that he would leave any moment.

The General looked at Jack calmly. "Then we will continue to observe the situation. You may now leave."

Jack smiled at the grumpy General and got up. "Alright, see you around." As he was about to open a portal and return to his cave, he noticed strange movements in the neighboring rooms. There were at least 6 people in different positions who were clearly facing him as if they could see through the walls. Jack addressed the assistant. "Can you see what type of abilities or devices they have?"

The assistant scanned the environment and placed the results onto Jack's visual field next to each individual. "I can detect that these individuals have detection, visual, sniper, telepathy, mind control and portal abilities. They seem to be extremely skilled and have a different appearance from the locals here. They also have weapons that I have not seen before."

"It looks like they are here for me but I am not sure the General is in on it. It would make no sense for him to offend me in any way," Jack said to the assistant in his mind. "Send a message to the General's communicator asking him if he is aware of the assault team next door. Make sure to tell him to only answer through text and not say a word. I will distract them."

Jack turned around and looked back at the General. "Actually, I have sent a report to your communicator which outlines my strategy for the West Alliance and also includes some of my plans for the future." He then looked at the advisor next to him. "Can you check if the file arrived?"

The advisor took the communication device of the government office and searched for the message by the assistant. Once he found and opened it, his face looked surprised and he handed the device to the General. The general, grumpy as ever, looked at the message with an air of indifference but his expression turned into a frown when he read the first sentence. He looked at Jack and shook his head.

Jack smiled. Alright, then you got everything. Time for me to go. He walked out the door and made his way through the corridors to leave the building. He felt strange walking to the exit like a normal visitor, but he wanted to observe the people who had been spying on him. They were indeed following Jack and he noticed that they must be wearing some type of camouflage device since the people they passed by did not react to them at all. Are they invisible? Jack was not sure.

He left the building and walked to the plaza right in front which had a variety of markets and attractions for visitors. The team was carefully following him but dispersed into the crowd. With the help of the assistant, it was easy to follow them anywhere since their signatures were locked in. Jack assumed that the spies had infiltrated the governments or had intercepted their most classified communications since they knew about a meeting that was only planned less than an hour ago. So they had been on standby for this mission and were after him in particular. But what were they after and who sent them? None of the alliances should have any reason to track him this way since they would risk too much. Jack was singlehandedly protecting their territories' borders so they would not dare even spying on him, let alone sending a sniper after him. Were there more large powers that he did not know about?

He knew that the alliances covered nearly 35% of the planet's surface but that meant that there was at least 65% that was unaccounted for. That's several Earths combined so there must be other powers who had enough resources to infiltrate such a restricted area.

Jack noticed two of the spies closing the distance, namely the ones with the mind control and portal abilities. The sniper ability user had taken a position that was elevated enough to have a direct line of sight to Jack but it was hidden behind the smoke from a food stall. The visual ability user must aid him in seeing through the smoke just like he helped them look through the wall earlier. "They are very skilled," Jack said to the assistant. "Will mind control work on me?"

"It will not since the Sym energy density in your body and brain is too high. They will be unable to penetrate that dense energy. Even if they do get through, I can nullify any interference in brain waves directly in the places where it would occur," the assistant said confidently.

"Then let's see what they do." Jack walked to a food stall and bought some fried meat snacks with the currency he had stashed in his storage dimension. As he was about to take a bite, he noticed the people getting within 5 meters of him. They stopped and he could feel a strange itching sensation on his forehead. It slightly tickled as if someone was caressing his head with a piece of cloth. Jack was immensely irritated by this sensation and just wanted to punch them for trying to pull such a dumb trick. But he calmed himself down and just stood still. If he was right, the skill was meant to put him to sleep or get him to let his guard down so that the sniper could take him out. But what they did not realize was that 6 invisible creatures were waiting 600 meters away from them to hide their presence and each had locked on to one of the spies. And they had made one stupid mistake and that was letting the one with the portal ability get so close to him. Without that ability, none of them will be able to escape.

Jack had put up 7 layers of his barrier in only a small area which directly protected him from the line of sight of the sniper. Then he suddenly noticed a strong Sym energy fluctuation around the sniper and sensed the firing of a strong projectile which was powered up by at least 5 artificial Sym energy crystals the sniper had in his backpack. The energy bullet penetrated 3 of Jack's barriers which was much more than he had expected, but the moment the bullet hit and disappeared in the barrier, Jack had jumped through a window portal and appeared right behind the portal ability user. He grabbed both of his arms. "Got you."

Jack noticed all the spies dispersing immediately including the mental control ability user who was right beside him. There was no panic or emotion but they just decided to leave as quickly as possible. None of the bystanders had caught on to what had happened since neither the shot nor Jack's jump were noticed by anyone. As Jack held the spy from the back, he instructed the bats to follow their targets and report back to him. "What do I do with you? You will escape through a portal the second I let go of you." Jack thought for a moment. "Oh, I got a great idea!"

Jack took the woman with the portal ability and jumped with her to his cave. On the way he instructed a bat with a barrier ability to follow him. He then opened a portal to the bat dimension and entered it with his prisoner. In the dimension, he left her inside the bat's barrier which had now become her prison. None of her portals will work in the other dimension since she needs to travel through the dimensional link to get home first. The toxic environment meant that she must stay in the bat's barrier in order to survive since only the bat can block out the Sym energy and clear the energy inside the barrier. She was trapped. The woman panicked as she was looking for a way out, but her expression turned into devastation when she realized that she had been outsmarted. There was nowhere for her to go. Even though she did not know that she was in another dimension, she could not feel the connection to her portals so she was completely locked out and it was obvious to her that the Sym energy was too high for her to make it alone.

It was the perfect prison.