Magus Reborn

After making sure Victor was truly nowhere near them, Kai made his way back toward Veralt with the others.

He created another flying carriage so everyone else could keep up with him. Most of them were too tired to travel properly on their own, and even Killian looked like he was only staying upright through stubbornness.

The carriage was the simplest solution. And once everyone was inside, Kai took to the air again.

The journey itself was not long, but his mind refused to quiet.

Too many thoughts moved through it at once. The corruption zones, the golem, the strange rhinoceros fiend Klan’s party had encountered, Victor’s illusion, the letter, and even the fact that there was another Sixth-Circle Mage in this world, one who served Malefic and could project himself from miles away without leaving behind any trace Kai could sense.

It felt like his mind was going to burst.

They passed through two more corruption zones on the way back, and Kai stopped both times.

He couldn’t afford to let more parties walk blindly into places that were no longer what the reports claimed. At the first zone, they found another group of Mages and Enforcers from Veralt preparing to enter, and Kai ordered them to pull back immediately.

At the second, they found Duchess Vaessa. She had come with her own Mages and soldiers, clearly intending to handle the zone herself. Kai explained enough for her to understand the danger, telling her about the new fiends, the outdated information, and the fact that ordinary teams could no longer be trusted to clear the zones safely.

Vaessa listened without interrupting.

Once he finished, she promptly ordered her people out of the area.

“You should call all the nobles for a meeting,” she told him. “The corruption zones are no longer a local problem. We need to decide what the kingdom is going to do.”

Kai understood where she was coming from, but he only nodded.

After that, he left, and flew ahead of two carriages, one carrying Killian and the others, and the second carrying another party they had found before the Duchess. Behind him, the corruption zones remained like black wounds in the land, but Kai didn’t turn back to look at them for long.

His thoughts veered to Duchess Vaessa’s suggestion. A meeting sounded reasonable. In another situation, he might have agreed to it.

But gathering every important noble would take at least a day, even with his spells helping the process. And after that, what would happen? They would speak. They would worry. They would repeat the same points Kai already knew. Some would argue for caution, some for immediate action, and some would only care about whether the corruption zones threatened their own territory.

Kai didn’t need that right now. He didn’t need more voices telling him the situation was serious. He already knew that.

What he needed was action.

The corruption zones had to be dealt with before more people died. Victor would also have to be dealt with sooner or later, because a man like that would not show himself only once and disappear forever. He had made it clear enough in his letter.

They would meet again.

And after the corruption zones were purged from his kingdom, Kai knew there were still other problems waiting for him.

Problems that would come one after another, whether he was ready or not.

Kai still needed to deal with Vanderfall. He also needed to check on Amyra, and after that, he had to look at the Elder Tree to see whether it had been restored to full health or not. One problem sat on top of another, and the longer he delayed, the more likely it was that something else would collapse before he reached it.

The faster he moved, the better.

As soon as he reached the castle in Veralt, Kai ordered everyone other than Killian to rest and recover. Most of them looked like they needed it badly, and he had no intention of dragging exhausted Mages and Enforcers into another discussion before they could even stand properly.

At the same time, he sent orders for drones to be dispatched to every corruption zone immediately, making sure all ongoing missions were called off before more people wandered into danger.

Once that was done, he went to find Francis.

Fortunately, Amara was already in his office.

She looked both concerned and relieved when she saw him, as if she could not decide whether to scold him or simply be glad he had returned alive. Kai did not give her much time to choose. He cleared the room, leaving only Francis, Amara, Killian, and himself.

Only after the door closed did he start speaking.

He told them everything.

He began with the desert and the condition of the tribals. He explained what he had learned there, what had happened with Dravros, and how Malefic had appeared in his dream. From there, he moved on to the corruption zones, the fiends inside them, the attack on Klan’s party, the golem Killian had faced, and finally Victor.

He did not leave out the letter either.

By the time Kai finished, the room had gone heavy.

Francis, Amara, and Killian all wore grave expressions, though Kai could already guess where each of their thoughts had gone.

Killian was likely thinking about how powerless he had been against the golem and the enemies connected to Malefic. Francis was probably running through the damage the corruption zones could cause if they continued spreading unchecked. Amara, on the other hand, looked at Kai as if she wanted to lock him inside his room and forbid him from walking toward any more disasters.

None of those thoughts would give them a solution.

Kai tapped his fingers against the table between them, drawing their attention back to the present.

“What we need,” he said, “is a solution to the corruption zones before another problem lands on our door.”

Francis was the first to speak. “If there are huge fiends in each of the zones, or at least in some of them, then we cannot rely on regular Mages and Enforcers, Your Majesty.”

Kai nodded. “I know. I would have to handle most of them myself.”

Amara leaned toward him at once, her expression tightening. “You will be exhausted by the third or fourth zone. And I am sure the Maleficia are waiting for exactly that moment. You cannot let yourself fall into their trap.”

A part of Kai wanted to argue. But he didn’t. She was right.

There was no other reason for the corruption zones to appear in different parts of the kingdom like this. A plague didn’t spread in such a clean and scattered way, not unless something was guiding it.

Kai should have made that connection sooner, and the fact that he hadn’t, only made his mood worse.

But regret did not change anything now.

He looked at the three of them. “Then we need people strong enough to handle a corruption zone without me. At least a few. They can move separately and clear the smaller zones while I deal with the more dangerous ones.”

Killian raised his head immediately. “I can do that.”

“Not alone,” Kai said.

Killian opened his mouth, likely to argue, but Kai continued before he could.

“You are strong, Killian, but you fight up close. That makes you vulnerable. There is no reason to believe that Maleficia only wants to kill me. You are dangerous to them too, and if they can remove you, they will.”

Killian’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt this time.

“You can clear the smaller zones, but only if you bring mana cannons with you.”

“That will take people,” Killian said.

“Or something we can afford to lose,” Kai replied.

The Knight paused, surprise crossing his face.

Francis, however, understood almost immediately. A slow smile appeared on his lips as he clutched his hands together.

“That could work,” he said. “We already have a lot of golems in production. We can certainly spare enough of them to carry and operate more than a few cannons.”

Francis paused, thinking it through a little further.

“Either way, moving them around should not be too difficult if we build proper protective wards around them,” he added. “The golems can carry the cannons, and the wards will keep them from being destroyed too quickly inside the zones.”

For a moment, it sounded almost workable. Amara ruined that rising confidence immediately.

“Killian is still just one man,” she said. “We cannot leave the rest on Arzan’s shoulders.”

Silence settled over the room.

Just like that, they returned to the main problem. Two people were not enough. Even if Kai and Killian moved separately, they couldn’t clear dozens of corruption zones in a day or two. Not safely, and especially not if some of those zones contained fiends like the golem or the rhinoceros monster.

They needed more people who could stand against that kind of threat.

As Kai thought through the options, something clicked in his mind. It was an idea that’d work… but he didn’t like it.

He still didn’t fully trust her, and relying on someone he did not completely trust was always dangerous. But the more he considered it, the more it seemed like the best option available to him.

Kai looked at Francis. “Is Veridia still in the castle?”

The moment he said her name, everyone in the room understood what he was thinking.

Francis nodded. “Yes, Lord Arzan. She is still in her room. She has not interacted with anyone unless it is for food.”

“I’ll go see her.”

Amara’s lips thinned to a straight line. “Are you sure about that?”

Kai met her eyes.

He knew every concern she had, because he had them too. Veridia was powerful, but she was not someone he could treat like an ordinary ally. Still, she had gone through the Earth Plane with him. She had fought beside him there, endured the danger, and proven that she could be useful when the situation demanded it.

Right now, he needed useful more than he needed comfortable.

He nodded. “We don’t have another way. The rise of Malefic is closer than I expected.”

Killian leaned forward. “But will Veridia be enough? More corruption zones could appear, and even if they do not, there are already too many.”

“She might not be enough,” Kai said.

His gaze stayed on Killian for a moment before moving to Francis and Amara.

“That is why we also need to deal with whatever is happening in Vanderfall and bring Elias in. Once we have the support of both Magus, we can end the corruption zones in a day.”

***

Kai knocked on the door in front of him and waited.

Too many thoughts moved through his mind at once. The discussion with Killian, Francis, and Amara had taken longer than he would have liked, and by the time it ended, he had come here without wasting another moment.

His body wanted rest.

The last few days had been too much for him to recover from in a single night. Between everything, even his reserves felt strained in a way he didn’t enjoy. But kings did not always get to rest when they needed to, and Mages had even less of an excuse when the problem before them could destroy a kingdom.

For now, he could only hope Veridia would lessen that burden.

Even if it was only a little.

A full minute passed, but the door did not open. Kai raised his hand to knock again.

This time, the door opened almost at once.

Veridia stood on the other side, dressed in Mage robes that looked as if she had pulled them on in a hurry. They were proper enough to be presentable, but her hair was still messy, and there was a slight sharpness in her eyes that made Kai think he had interrupted her rest.

She looked at him with mild surprise. “I wasn’t aware you were back from completing your thousand quests already.”

Kai smiled faintly. “They are not that many, but the weight of them is certainly equal to a thousand tasks. Maybe more.”

Veridia’s gaze moved over him more carefully.

“And no,” Kai added, “I have not dealt with everything.”

“Then are you here to kick me out of your castle? I thought you would send a maid and be done with it.”

“Do you want to be kicked out?” Kai asked.

Veridia shook her head without hesitation. “No. If I can, I would like to live here for a while longer.”

“Then let me come inside. I have things to discuss with you.”

Confusion passed across her face, but she stepped aside and opened the door wider.

Kai entered the room.

The first thing he noticed was the mess. Books were stacked unevenly across the table and floor, some open, some marked with loose papers. A few empty plates sat near the window, and several sets of robes had been left over the back of a chair.

Veridia closed the door behind him. “What do you want to talk about?”

It was clear Veridia had not been idle.

Kai only needed a few seconds to understand what she was working on. She had seen him advance to the sixth circle, and now she was trying to find a way to do the same. The notes, the open books, the half-finished diagrams, all of it pointed toward one thing.

A soul spell.

It didn’t surprise him.

That was how Mages were. Once they realised something was possible, they wanted to replicate it. They wanted to understand it, break it down, and make it their own.

And as for Veridia, power had always been more than a desire. It was the very foundation of how she saw the world.

Kai almost stepped closer to look at her calculations. Before he could, Veridia spoke.

“So,” she said, leaning back against the door. “What do you want from me that made you come here yourself?”

Kai turned to look at her. “How do you know I want something from you?”

Veridia smiled. “Why else would you be here? You are not the kind of person who becomes friends with former enemies, are you?”

“No,” he said. “I mostly just kill them.”

“I thought so. Anyway, what do you want me to handle now?”

He paused.

For a moment, he wondered how honest he should be. Veridia was useful, but that didn’t mean he trusted her completely. Still, dragging the conversation out would not help either of them. She was direct, and in this case, that made things easier.

“I need your help with the corruption zones,” he said.

“Huh? Can’t you handle them yourself? You have an army.”

“An army does not matter if it is only going to get crushed,” he replied. “A ruler needs to know which battles to send an army into. This is not one of them.”

“But you do not mind sending me there?”

“You will not die,” he said matter-of-factly. “That is the difference. You are a Magus.”

Veridia’s expression shifted slightly. “I haven’t felt like one for a while,” she said.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you are one.” He paused for a moment, letting the words settle before continuing. “Let me explain what is going on first.”

Veridia didn’t interrupt as he spoke.

Kai told her what he had seen in the corruption zones. He explained the giant fiends, the way the reports from the Watchers were no longer reliable, and how ordinary Mages and Enforcers could not be sent inside without risking a massacre. He told her about Killian’s battle with the golem, the rhinoceros-like monster that had nearly wiped out Klan’s party, and the possibility that more creatures like them were hidden in the other zones.

Only after that did he speak about Victor.

Veridia’s face grew more confused the longer she listened.

When Kai finished, she frowned. “I have never heard of a Sixth-Circle Mage called Victor. Never.”

“Hmm… It is the same for me. But he is a Shadow Mage, and the world is big. If he is working with the Maleficia, then he might have been hidden all this time.”

Veridia looked down for a few seconds, thinking over his words. “He certainly does not sound like someone I would like to fight.”

“I am not asking you to fight him,” he said. “I only want you to take care of some of the corruption zones, so I do not have all of them on my hands.”

Veridia looked back at him. “You do know I will not do it just because you want me to.”

“There is always a price.”

“Good,” she said. “Then what can you offer me?”

Kai went silent.

He had already thought through several possibilities before coming here. Money would not matter to her. Authority would mean very little. Protection was useful, but not enough to make her risk herself in corruption zones tied to Maleficia.

In the end, there was only one thing Veridia truly wanted. One look around the room told him that.

Power.

“I will offer you a way to reach the sixth circle,” he said. “I am sure that is enough for you to help me.”

Veridia’s eyes widened.

For the first time since he had entered the room, she looked truly caught off guard.

She had not expected him to say that, and from the look on her face, Kai knew he had her.

***

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