Emptiness resonated in the air, despite the giant crowds. Seen from the outside, Lanitol seemed better than ever. The city had seen a lot of calm as of late, despite the ongoing war. The surrounding fields and orchards produced food in great quantity and variety. There was plenty to go around and even use on luxuries such as exotic drinks and decorations. All that was fake.
Everyone with an awakened level of over eighty would feel that something was not right. Those above a hundred would even see everything that was wrong. Beneath the superficial glitter lay a core of nothing. Dallion couldn’t see people interacting. From his perspective, he was surrounded by sleepwalkers whose actions were constantly directed through hundreds of invisible threads created by the domain itself. Even the awakened were letting themselves go with the flow—probably aware of the consequences if they didn’t.
“This place has changed,” Euryale said.
There was a time when she had left Nerosal—and Dallion—to focus on her hunter training at Wetie’s provincial capital. Now there was no hint of what had happened to the hunting den or its occupants. There was a time when Dallion believed them to have scattered to other countries and provinces, but the likelihood seemed low.
“Cocoon of the chrysalis,” Dallion said. “At least one might hope.”
A blond overseer emerged from the ground a few steps away. He was probably the only thing that remained elegant and calm just as Dallion remembered him.
“Archduke,” the overseer said with a low bow. The way he did it left it open to interpretation whether he was bowing to Dallion, Euryale, or both. “A pleasure to have you visit again.”
Normally, that would be a lie, but this time Dallion felt sincerity stream from within.
“You seem a bit late,” Dallion said. “A bit longer and we’d have reached the second platform.”
“We expected you would.” The blond agreed. “Since you didn’t, I came to officially welcome you to the city.”
This, in contrast, was a lie. Even at his current level, Dallion knew the importance of etiquette. Archdukes, even weak ones, were petty and could start a losing battle just to prevent losing face. It would have been easy to land directly on the top city platform and proceed to the archduke’s palace. However, the pair had chosen to enter the normal way by walking through the main gate. What was more, Dallion had even placed Dark within his personal realm to avoid displaying overt hostility. At the end of the day, he was aiming for a peaceful transfer of power. It would be bad if his first major battle was against a potential ally.
“My mistake. Next time I’ll inform you of my visit.” Dallion paused a bit.
“It would be most appreciated, but there really is no need. As second after the emperor, you have the right to drop by whenever you wish.”
That was only a semi-lie. What the overseer meant to say was that Dallion had the strength to drop by. That much had been apparent even before Dallion and Eury had set foot in the domain. For one thing, the magic barriers that had been so vital during the days of the poison plague were nowhere to be seen. The guards also were virtually non-existent, rushing to open the gates before Dallion could say a word. They were able to feel the power coming from Dallion and his wife all too well and had no intention of giving any pretext for discontent.
“Any reason that the magic veil is gone?” Dallion asked out of curiosity.
“The archduke has had trouble finding a suitable mage,” the overseer explained. Translated, that meant that Archduke Lanitol didn’t trust any mages—coming from the Academy or not. “I’ve had to take on the role, which is only natural. I’m the city’s overseer, after all.”
“We’ll need an audience with the archduke,” Euryale tactfully reminded.
“But of course, my lady. It will be my pleasure to take you to his private chamber.”
This was in stark contrast to all the previous visits. When March had led the two in pursuit of the plague sword, they were only allowed to talk to servants of the archduke’s family. An audience was absolutely out of the question. Now, they were doing the broken ruler a favor by visiting him.
Creating a sphere of reality around them, the overseer slid through the city to the massive pillar holding the upper platforms. From there, they went straight up like a bubble in water all the way to the top structure and further into the archduke’s palace. Rooms passed by one after the other. To Dallion’s surprise, the throne room was also skipped, taking them to a relatively small chamber in which Archduke Lanitol was having dinner.
How the mighty have fallen, Adzorg couldn’t help himself. Dallion had to agree.
The once mighty lion was now a shadow of his former self. His high body trait still maintained a strong façade, but neither it, nor the expensive clothes and rare heirlooms could fool anyone into thinking that things were the same as five years ago.
Sensing he was not alone, the provincial ruler paused briefly, then looked up.
Dallion and Euryale had been placed at the entrance of the room, a few steps away from the table where the archduke was eating. There were no guards or servants present, leaving Dallion to assume that the overseer had been taking on those roles as well.
“Go ahead.” The archduke gestured. “Sit.”
The snakes on Euryale’s head gently moved about as she took the initiative and took her seat facing the man. Dallion paused for a few seconds before joining her. No sooner had they done so than two empty plates appeared in front of them.
“They won’t be staying for dinner,” the archduke said.
The plates immediately disappeared.
“I hear that you’ve taken the east.” Archduke Lanitol said, slicing a thin sliver of meat from the plate in front of him. Even in its cooked state, Dallion could recognize it as wyvern. The meat of most such beasts was considered inedible, but with enough skill and preparation it became a rather unique dish. Dallion himself had never tried it, but knew hunters who made a living selling off the meat to the imperial capital. “And now you’re taking the south.”
“For starters,” Dallion said openly.
The time for pretenses had long passed. Besides, the old noble was in no position to do anything about it. He had already lost the province to Priscord. The only reason she hadn’t taken advantage of it was because she had her sights set on something better.
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“So, you feel strong enough to take on the emperor? My grandfather thought the same. A single night was all it took to change his mind. No one talks about what happened, but he was never the same afterwards.” The archduke took a bite of the wyvern meat, then left his fork on the plate. “Some claim that it was a prison item placed by one of the imperial agents. Likely it was, but that’s not what broke him.” He looked Dallion in the eyes. “It was the realization that he had reached his peak without having the strength to defeat the ruler. If he was strong, a prison item wouldn’t have stopped him. Are you strong enough, boy?”
“Not yet,” Dallion replied without blinking. “But I will be. I want your world item collection.”
“You’ve come to see me just for that?” The archduke’s face twisted in anger. Spikes emerged from the floor, extending directly towards Dallion’s neck.
“You already know the rest.” Dallion remained perfectly calm. Even if the archduke seriously wanted to harm him, the method wouldn’t have worked. With his speed, he’d be able to move away before they broke his skin. “And since you’re eating alone, I doubt you particularly care.”
“If any of the vultures in my family were half worth a damn, I’d have given them the throne and the title.” The spikes remained as they were. “None of them made a move, waiting for me to die before they start squabbling for what’s left.”
“Why are you so sure that they didn’t?” Dallion leaned forward.
There was an intense moment of mutual staring, after which Archduke Lanitol’s frown deepened.
“Falkner,” he said. “You made a deal with Falkner.”
“Is there anyone more suitable?”
“For you, no. For me…” there was a long pause. “Maybe not. My children are idiots. At least that crazy mage had the guts to go for the throne, even if he was using Azures to do it. This lot, they have neither the strength, nor the guts.”
Nor the brains, Dallion thought. Maybe his time in the imperial capital had made him more cynical, but he would have expected them to have started testing the political waters years ago. No wonder that Priscord had seen this opportunity. As the saying went, passiveness was an early sign of weakness.
“How long do I have?” The archduke grasped the situation.
“I’ll leave that to you, provided you give me your territory.”
“There’s a fine line between strength and overconfidence.”
“True, but that’s something for me to worry about. I already own half the province. No matter what I’ll do, imperial troops will pour into here. This way, the entire province might be seen as not worth saving.”
You’re hurting his pride, Adzorg warned.
Beggars are not choosers, Dallion replied. Lanitol isn’t an idiot. My guess is that he’s been waiting for this to happen ever since the failed coup against him.
That doesn’t mean you should rub it in.
“It doesn’t have to be public,” Dallion added.
“That’s your concession?”
“Yes.” Euryale joined in the conversation. “Dal’s an empath, so I’ll spell out your choices. Either you get on with this, or I’ll take the city by force and trust me, I can get the top two platforms before anyone figures out what’s going on.”
LANITOL has been added to your domain.
The CITY is Level 14
ARLERA has been added to your domain.
The CITY is Level 10
GORBOM has been added to your domain.
The CITY is Level 10
Three rectangles flashed in front of Dallion. They were followed by a series of others of lesser settlements: towns, villages, and even a few outposts. With this action, the province was effectively part of his domain. Yet, despite the territorial gains, Dallion’s awakened level didn’t increase. As he suspected, it was going to take a bit more to achieve that goal.
Leaving Euryale to keep Lanitol company, Dallion used his domain ruler ability to go directly to the old noble’s treasury. The place was massive, built beneath the palace. There were enough guards and artifacts to give anyone a hard time getting through. None of those had an effect on the owner, however.
Choosing to save time, Dallion made sure there were no guards within the vault structure itself, then ripped it out of the real world, placing it into the training stiletto his old Icepicker instructor had given him.
TREASURE VAULT has been removed from your domain.
TREASURE VAULT has been added to TRAINING STILETTO
Once that was done, there was time to go through the whole trove of treasures without wasting a moment.
The space was filled with thousands of valuable artifacts excavated from the Nerosal ruins. A great majority weren’t even leveled up. In better times, awakened guilds would have a field day exploring and leveling up every single one of them. Right now, though, Dallion was only there for the aura swords and, surely enough, he soon found them.
The old man had understated the size of his collection. Based on the way he behaved, one could be led to believe that he had half a dozen at most. In truth, there were dozens. Most were covered in black rust and mold, with some being in such a bad condition that they were only held together by the stand they were placed on.
Regardless of condition, Dallion went through every last one, purging all cracklings and rustlings within. With his current powers, such a feat was no more difficult than stretching. Sadly, the gains were a lot less plentiful than he had hoped. Of the fifty-seven aura swords, forty-nine were completely deprived of life. In five more, the dryads had gone entirely feral to the point that even the guardians weren’t able to do anything about it. Just in the remaining three, the populations were comparable to the dryads he had already freed, although their awakened levels were considerably less.
Even when Dallion brought them into the real world along with the minotaurs—that also were an almost permanent presence in many of the aura swords—he had only managed to double his existing forces, increasing his awakening level to a hundred and twenty-nine.
These had gained him the western forests and the southern part of the Tamin empire, but the real fallen south, not to mention the forbidden north, remained out of reach.
A few hours later, the capital of Jio Province was turned to glass by fire from the sky. The end-game battle had begun.