New Life As A Max Level Archmage 153 – Strategy

Vivi shifted uncomfortably as Cinereus, King of Dragons, most ancient of immortals, stared at her and digested what she’d proposed with sothing bordering on an incredulous look.

“I should allow the Cataclysm to subsu my mind? To take control of my body?”

Yeah, this is going to be a hard sell.

“Not all of your mind,” she pointed out in reminder. “Just most of it. I would prefer if you kept anything too, ah, sensitive locked up. It would make things much easier on .”

Particularly, she didn't want the Cataclysm learning how Cinereus planned to kill it. Anything that could erase an especially resilient Cataclysm would do a number on her as well. She very much didn’t want to be on the receiving end of the Dragon King’s bag of tricks.

“But yes,” she said. “The way I see it, there’s a clear path forward that minimizes the risk to both you and everyone else.”

That was what mattered most. Especially the forr—getting Cinereus through the debacle in one piece. No matter what feelings she had on the man as a ruler and how he separated himself from the catastrophes plaguing the mortal lands, he was a far lesser evil than a whole society of dragons running amuck.

Never mind that he really might be useful for the void threat. And that she owed him. And so on.

“A war of attrition,” Cinereus said, despite that Vivi hadn’t finished explaining. As expected, a man who had lived for ten thousand years could put together obvious assumptions.

“Yes. Once you stop resisting, the Cataclysm will take control of you. Then it’ll move to everyone else and finish claiming them, too. I don’t think they’ll be able to put up much fight, not if you’re barely holding on. After that, I just have to blast it around and wear it out until it’s burned through its reserves.”

“Assuming it has its own internal source of power.”

“Even if not. It has to draw strength from sowhere, either from itself or its hosts. Once I exhaust you and your allies, its claws won’t be so deeply sunk into your mind. Shattering the enchantnt with the Fourfla Amulet at that point should be…”

She paused.

“…unpleasant, but survivable, and without long-term damage. I can also do minor ntal repairs should the situation call for it.” That kind of spellcasting wasn’t healing so much as regular mind magic, so she would be able to do dependable work. “But only if I squeeze out every drop of strength available to the monster first.” Like trying to pull away a cat clinging to soone’s arm, with or without claws extended. One would cause a whole lot more trouble than the other. “We’re going for the best, safest result here.”

Cinereus ruminated over the proposition. “This is absurd, Vivisari. Or rather, that is what a hastier man would say. The implication made plain, and the source of my skepticism, is of course that you believe you can fight not just , but thirty of my most distinguished vassals.”

He gave her a pointed look.

“I’ve gotten stronger?” Vivi tried.

“Even if I hid my greatest contingencies from the monster, I would still expect the resulting opponent to be a formidable foe.”

There was a hint of incredulity at uttering the words. And Vivi understood—the Dragon King shouldn’t ever have needed to refer to himself as rely ‘a formidable foe.’ He was a world-ender. Should even an untrained child gain access to his strength, they would still put up a fight that shook heaven and earth.

“You are,” Vivi said, hoping she wasn’t too obviously trying to assuage a dragon’s ego. Cinereus was certainly much more aware of such things than Embralyne, but he was also fundantally of the sa arrogant race. “But how else would I be here? Past your ntal defenses, and while hiding the path I took from the enemy. An enemy that eluded even you. I’m stronger now. By a lot.” Feeling the need to offer so sort of explanation, she said, “I have been gone for a hundred years.”

“A century might grant a handful of levels at the heights you stand, Vivisari,” the Dragon King said. “I would know. I would know very well.”

She guessed he would. Scrounging about for another excuse, she settled on, “It’s not just levels. But I won’t be specific, of course.” Privacy when it ca to one’s capabilities wasn’t just normal, but common sense. Especially when they weren’t even official allies. “If you turn over your body and mind to the Cataclysm, I’ll be able to exhaust it in a fight. Then use the Fourfla Amulet to free you with minimal damage. And hopefully the rest too. It’s a good plan.”

“The Fourfla Amulet. Yes, you ntioned that earlier. How did you acquire this precious artifact from my vault, might I ask?”

The implication was obvious. It was an item she had stolen once before. “It’s not like that. Your daughter charged it and provided it to .”

A pause. “Embralyne?”

“But that’s also neither here nor there. Explanations later.” The threat of being tracked down grew with every minute they talked.

“You truly believe you can singlehandedly fight not just , but two dozen other threats, each in their own right a force to be reckoned with.” A flat observation more than a question.

“Yes.”

He frowned at her, then out at the thunderstorm in the distance. He was quiet for a minute.

“I see those rumors were more credible than I allowed myself to believe.”

She assud he ant whatever reports he’d gotten back about ridian and the void breach. Dragons kept up on recent events in the mortal lands to so degree, though she didn’t know how much. Enough to hear about potential rogues, certainly.

“I’ll do my best to make sure there’s no casualties,” she tried assuring him.

“An even more absurd statent. It is one thing to erge the victor of a difficult fight, and another to wield a blunted sword while doing so.”

Vivi remained quiet.

“You ask for an enormous amount of trust.”

“Yes… but also no, not exactly. I’m not trying to be rude, but you don’t really have a choice. This is your only remotely good option. So trust doesn’t factor into it much.”

She winced as the words left her mouth. She had intended to simply explain the reality of the situation, but it had co out sounding antagonistic, even after she’d tried to soften the statent.

The Dragon King didn’t react. Just kept up his stony, regal mask as he presumably thought the matter over. He was certainly much more restrained than his daughter, and, to be honest, most dragons in the world. There was a reason she respected him.

“I suppose you are correct,” he said. “And it seems I will be in your debt. I am not a man who enjoys owing favors.”

“I’m just making up for previous grievances.” Robbing him and assaulting his son, she didn’t say. “And I also owe Embralyne.”

“You owe my daughter a debt?”

“That’s another thing we’ll have to talk about.”

“I have a great many questions, Vivisari, and I am long accustod to receiving what I desire. Posthaste.” He let that remark linger. “But you are right. I understand the scenario before . And much as my pride has been shattered, a good ruler would extend his thanks to the one who has co to aid him and his kingdom.”

She grew imnsely awkward as the Dragon King offered a bow. Not a full ninety-degree supplication, but more of an overt show of deference than anyone had gotten from him in… well, possibly millennia, she suspected.

“Really, we’re just evening things out,” she said uncomfortably. “You’ll be able to signal to your main mind to stop resisting? I don’t know how this pocket mory truly works.” She’d only found it, not analyzed its full structure. Sothing that’s been taking a lot of restraint, by the way.

“Yes.” A curious look ca over him as he straightened. “How did you know to seek this refuge out? It’s a… very last asure.”

Vivi imagined it was. She didn’t think Cinereus was the kind of person who would retreat over fighting to the bitter end. “Because I would’ve done the sa thing. Fairly close to how you have it set up, too, I think.”

Cinereus considered that response, and a wry expression settled over his face. “I see. That is a complint, I suppose. Very well. It is ti?”

“I’ll make sure everyone gets through this in one piece,” she promised. “Thank you for trusting .”

A frustrated tinge, the first break in his persistently regal deanor. “As you said, trust has little to do with it.”

The mory wobbled around her. Ti to withdraw. She closed her eyes and found the thread leading outward, the sa thread that would have eventually led the Cataclysm to Cinereus’s hiding spot. The remnants of her magic might still—but she intended to keep her opponent too occupied to focus on such a strenuous task.

Once more, her environnt shifted. She was back in the throne room with her staff touching the Dragon King’s forehead. Nothing had changed. The exchange had happened at the speed of thought and magic, which, for Vivi and Cinereus, ant very fast indeed.

“[Blink].”

She disengaged, reappearing next to Embralyne. The princess was barely beginning to startle, hand rising with a potion presumably about to materialize inside her grip. Listening to Vivi’s earlier orders.

She tossed up a sound barrier and reinforced it so that nobody could eavesdrop. “Your father and I talked,” she opened with. “It went well. We agreed on a plan.”

A potion popped into Embralyne’s hand, as Vivi had expected by the gesture. It froze a few inches from the dragon’s lips as she registered both Vivi’s appearance and the words she’d spoken.

Before Embralyne could reply, though, the entire gathering of dragons collapsed onto their knees, then began shaking. A dark, sinister aura filled the air.

“I know I called him the dam holding everything back, but that’s even faster than I thought,” Vivi mused.

They didn’t put up a fight at all. More like the final shred of fuse before the bomb explodes. She winced at the uncharitable thought. Or maybe they were all on their last legs as well. I shouldn’t judge.

“It’s a very simple plan,” she told the dragon. “The best usually are.” She gestured for the woman to drink; she didn’t know how long they had before the Cataclysm finished taking over everyone’s minds. “To minimize the damage done when I use the Fourfla Amulet, we need to tire our opponent out. Exhaust him. Every ounce of energy we can. It’s really that straightforward.”

As for actually breaking the ntal control, extracting the Cataclysm and containing it, then killing it? Well. We’ll have to see how it goes.

Embralyne downed the second potion and groaned. She wiped her lips, free hand clutching her stomach. It probably wasn’t fun drinking multiple undiluted elixirs five hundred levels her superior.

“He… let it in?”

Vivi double-checked her sound barrier out of paranoia. “More or less. And hid away the most important of his abilities. But only the most important. He’s still going to be a bit, ah, unwieldy to spar with.”

“Spar with.”

“Sorry for any property damage. It’s basically inevitable.”

“Sorceress,” Embralyne said, looking around at the dragons slowly climbing to their feet. Their eyes no longer held a slick of oil sheen; they were pitch black to Vivi’s magical senses. Even Embralyne could probably read the magic now. “We’re a bit beyond caring about the Palace. I care about my family and my people.”

Vivi was glad to hear that. It was going to be ssy. “You handle whichever ones you can. No killing. You should be close to invulnerable by their standards. But if you sense the barriers I put on you starting to break, tell .”

“You worry about yourself, Sorceress.”

“No, I won’t,” Vivi replied flatly. “So promise you’ll call for help, or else I’ll have to keep tabs on you the entire ti. And I don’t need the distraction.”

Embralyne gave her a sour look. There wasn’t any ti to debate, and eting Vivi’s unyielding gaze, she bit off, “Then you have my word.”

“Good.”

She dispelled the sound barrier, because Cinereus, Solfirus, and Vulkarius had staggered upright.

Most of the dragons looked… not like zombies, but stiff and silent, awaiting whatever happened next. Perhaps commands. Only one had any sense of emotion on his face and in the way he moved.

The King of Dragons grinned widely, too widely, down at them from his throne. He spread his hands in wonder, then stretched. The baggy-eyed exhaustion from earlier had already been so discordant with the man’s proper deanor that Vivi’s skin had crawled. The feral smile that locked onto her was so obscene that her stomach actually turned. It simply didn’t belong on a man of Cinereus’s prestige.

“Your gambit failed, little mage,” Cinereus—the monster—sneered. “He’s mine now. All of them are. You fool.”

Gambit? She assud he—it?—had misinterpreted sothing. Maybe he’d expected her to try to free the Dragon King outright. It was a fair enough assumption. Better than fighting an entire court of dragons.

So Cataclysms were intelligent, like Remian, but their defining characteristic was also their utter madness and hostility. Cinereus was a startling exception for his strength and sanity. She would need to remind herself that she wasn’t talking to a person in any traditional sense. Especially whatever this thing was.

“It speaks,” Vivi said, her voice as flat and bored as always. Her heart, however, was picking up. In worry, not excitent, she tried to tell herself. “That’ll make this more interesting. Let’s have a few words together. I’ll start.”

She pointed her staff.

“[Arrow of the Thundering Wyrm].”