Chapter 173: I have tried reason
The dark corridor rippled like disturbed glass, and a woman stepped into the torchlight, her silk gown trailing over the damp stone.
"It seems we have a thing for narrow spaces," Vince said, walking casually toward the figure.
"Why’d you break out if you were going to come back anyways?" Emily asked, stepping fully out of the shadows.
It was Emily—Duke Owen’s wife.
The last time they had stood face-to-face was in the shadowed hallway of Owen’s private mansion, the night of Vince’s escape from the subterranean holding cells. It hadn’t been an unfriendly encounter; Vince had pinned her against the stone wall, threatening her life to ensure her absolute silence while he slipped past the perimeter guards.
"What are you doing all the way down here?" Vince asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"My husband is the Duke. I go wherever I please," Emily replied, holding her chin high despite the tremor in her voice. "What are you doing down here?"
"I came to stop your husband and the Emperor from turning Oakhaven into a bloodbath."
Emily blinked, her composure cracking. "What do you mean by bloodbath?"
"Looks like you’ve been told little of today’s plan," Vince murmured, a cold smirk touching his lips. "Not that I blame you."
"Go straight to the point."
"The Emperor had your husband set high-tier mana nodes beneath Oakhaven," Vince explained cleanly. "They’re trapping the Elven Queen and the King of the Beastkin inside the hall with their respective troops. Once the cage is set, what ever their plan is begins."
Emily’s face drained of color. "Do they intend to trigger another war of the races?"
"Great. You catch on pretty fast," Vince said, turning his shoulder. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to continue looking."
"What do you think would be the outcome of a war of that scale?" Emily called out after him, her hand instinctively clutching the silver amulet resting against her neck.
Vince paused, glancing over his shoulder. "Hard to determine the winning sides without knowing all the pieces on the board. But one thing I can say... there will be considerable losses."
He turned his back to her and began walking down the damp corridor.
With so many racing thoughts running through her mind, Emily took a step forward. "Who exactly are you?"
Vince halted, a dangerous grin spreading across his face. "You and the rest of the punks above us will find out soon enough."
BOOM!
Before Emily could blink, Vince activated Vector Drive. The air cracked violently as he blurred into a streak of purple light, shooting through the subterranean tunnels at hyper-speed.
It was almost as if she materialized out of thin air back there, Vince thought as his perception sped up to match his velocity. They’re using spatial illusion spells almost on the same level as the elves. In that case...
Vince instantly switched his focus, abandoning his physical map and focusing entirely on deep mana core tracking. Within seconds, he pinpointed Lyrielle’s distinct silver-blue signature two corridors over and flashed to her location, appearing beside her in a cloud of displaced dust.
"I think I understand why we can’t find them," Vince said rapidly. "You can undo illusion spells of any kind, right?"
Lyrielle adjusted her grip on her focus ring. "Yeah, sure. That’s basic magic stuff."
"Alright then," Vince said, his eyes scanning the empty air before them. "On my mark."
---
Upstairs in the high council hall, the air had turned to ice.
"You say this treaty is for unity, but I see little benefit to us elves," Moriele said, her expression colder than winter frost as she unfolded her arms.
"Likewise, my people," Golrath concurred, his clawed hand gripping the hilt of his massive battle-axe so tightly the iron wood groaned.
Emperor Marcus IV set his silver goblet down, looking across the table with absolute, divine condescension. "Pardon me, but not all creations are equal. The role of man is to conquer all—either through reason or force."
BOOM!
Without a second thought, Golrath stood. His deep crimson physical aura erupted upward like a volcano, shattering his carved chair. He spun his war-axe through the air in a blinding arc, pointing the heavy steel head directly at Marcus’s throat.
Simultaneously, Queen Moriele levitated several feet off the floor. A blinding silver staff materialized in her right hand, its crystal tip humming with devastating, concentrated arcane energy pointed straight at the Emperor.
Sensing the massive aura spike, the heavy double doors were shoved open. Elder Everwood and two senior elven elders rushed into the hall, weapons drawn. Right behind them, Golrath’s wife surged into the room alongside four black-armored Vanguard lieutenants.
Downstairs in the dark cellar, Vince and Lyrielle felt the massive energy spike reverberate through the ceiling.
Time was up.
"Ah, shit," Vince muttered. "Now, Elle!"
Lyrielle slammed her hands together, unleashing a blinding wave of dispelling mana. The spatial illusion dissolved instantly, revealing two imperial sleeper mages standing twenty paces away, hands hovering over two massive, glowing dark-mana pillars.
Back upstairs, Golrath’s wife grabbed his arm. "Honey, stand down!"
"Your Majesty, act with reason!" Everwood pleaded, placing a hand near Moriele’s shoulder.
Both sovereign rulers glared at Marcus, their breathing heavy with rage, before slowly lowering their stances.
"We’re leaving," Golrath and Moriele said in absolute unison. They turned their backs on the table and made directly for the exit.
"I told you we shouldn’t have come," Golrath growled to his wife as they crossed the marble floor.
Sitting at the head of the table, Emperor Marcus IV sighed softly. "I have tried reason..."
He looked at Duke Owen and gave a subtle, decisive nod.
Owen stood up, his face pale, and flexed his physical aura—the absolute signal.
Downstairs, the instant the spatial illusion dissolved, Vince blurred forward using Vector Drive. His dark Shadow Bind threads whipped through the air like razor wire.
SLASH!
The heads of both imperial mages were severed clean off their shoulders before their bodies even hit the floor.
But it was a microsecond too late.
Owen’s aura signal had already reached the array. The dormant dark-elemental stakes ignited automatically, driving themselves into the bedrock with a deafening thrum. A massive, impenetrable spatial dome erupted upward from the foundation, enveloping the entire council hall and snapping shut.
Vince stood over the decapitated mages, watching the pitch-black spatial barrier seal the ceiling above them.
"This is bad," Vince said.