Chapter 62.

Aultcray was surprised when he entered the room where Agatha, Andre and their apprentices were waiting. Agatha was busy with her pipe, the smoke from the herbs she was burning spreading a nostalgic scent throughout the room, but everyone else looked like they were about to die. Their faces were pale and more than half of them looked like they were about to fall asleep on the chairs they were seated on.

"Your Majesty," said Andre, jumping to his feet a couple of seconds after Aultcray entered the room. He bowed even as he glared at his students who quickly followed his lead, "Forgive our disrespect-"

Aultcray chuckled lightly which silenced the Headmage of his House. "Have the four cardinal arrays been enhanced and recharged?" he asked when he received a nod, he continued, "then your fatigue is perfectly understandable. Is some rest required before we finish the central array?"

Agatha, who had not chosen to stand or greet him in any way, answered, "No delays," she said, continuing to smoke, "If we don't sync the arrays now it will be nearly impossible to do it properly later." With her piece spoken, she stood, put the pipe into her voluminous robes, and took a long look at him, "Let's go Aultcray. We've wasted enough time as it is."

He suppressed the surge of irritation and waved off his guards who bristled at her disregard for his rank. Andre and his apprentices looked stunned but no one said anything. They had not expected her to be so casually disrespectful. Which better than anything told Aultcray that they had never truly met Agatha. These lucky fools had only ever heard about the Witch of Ruin.

"Very well," he said, leading the way out of the room towards one of the oldest parts of the castle, the Central Keep. That particular Keep had been the first thing that had been built with the rest of the Castle rising around it. Even now, a couple of meters below the ground, it was the location of the central defensive array that coordinated the effects of all the others. Aultcray had proposed a deal, Agatha would enhance the defensive arrays with her decay magic and in return, he would provide her with an equivalent favour. It was something he wanted for his home and potentially even other barriers. When it came to negation based defence her magics were the best and after decades of honing the magic, it could even be used to completely disintegrate any invaders if need be. A powerful, versatile and efficient defence limited only by the fact that only a handful of people in the country could use it and only one person had truly weaponized it.

It was decay magic and Agatha's exceptional talent that had earned her the title of the Witch of Ruin. Siltvelt feared her almost as much as they feared him. The only difference between the two of them? His powers had faded in the decades after the war while hers had multiplied. Worse, she knew that he couldn't use the Cane any longer. If he pushed her and she found it worth retaliating over he was dead.

It was stunning to see just how powerful she was. Unlike all the other mages in the room who looked and felt exhausted Agatha was perfectly normal. He knew she had probably donated more than half the mana that had been used for the overall enchantment process but she still walked around with ease. He couldn't imagine anyone else except his past self does the same. Which, of course, led to the main reason he had agreed to her ludicrous deal.

He needed her to support Melromarc on the battlefield again. Without Aultcray to keep the hordes away from their nation, the threat of the Sword Hero and with the limited preparation, they would be able to finish before the war went into full swing he needed her help. But Aultcray knew that she hated war. Hated using her powers. For all that she was the Witch of Ruin, her title overinflated her actions, she had only used her magic against a small city and that had been enough to swear off using her magic against anything other than military targets. It had been ridiculous then and it was ridiculous now but he had no choice but to accept it.

After all, she was the strongest person in the Kingdom. Aultcray hadn't waved the guards off because he had forgiven the insult but because she was more than able to slaughter every single person in the castle with ease. She could probably just smoke the day away in a room while her magic slowly killed everything in the Castle. And that was if she was lax. Should Agatha choose to fully flare her power she would lay waste to the Castle in seconds. Defences would decay, defenders would die as flesh rotted off their bones and their brains turned into piles of mush. It would be a disgusting sight for anyone who studied the aftermath.

The thought of granting her whims was frustrating. It was a bitter reminder of how far his power had fallen but it was needed for the sake of his country. Aultcray glanced at the woman who was walking at his side and wondered what she would ask of him. Agatha had never been one for mundane requests. It was the main reason he had offered her a favour rather than lands or wealth.

They arrived at a small nondescript door which looked more like the entrance to a closet than the most secure location in the castle. Aultcray flared his mana and then placed his hand on a seemingly normal part of the wall. A small metal spike pierced his palm, took a sample of his blood, and then the door simply...vanished. As if it had never existed. None of the people who were behind him were surprised. His personal guards were expected to bring the Royal Family here in case of emergencies and Andre and his apprentices were meant to maintain the enchantments. Agatha had contributed to the enchantments in the long years of the war.

With the door open they entered and walked down the spiral staircase, dim light from numerous enchanted gemstones lighting their way. Aultcray knew that if these stones had detected an intruder then this entire spiral staircase would be shrouded in illusions meant to delay and powerful spells meant to destroy the invaders. A last line of defence because if anyone got this deep into the Castle it was likely that the Capital had already fallen.

Once they got down to the central chamber he flared his mana and the numerous gemstones that anchored the defences of the castle began to emerge from the walls that they had been embedded in. The room was quite empty and the entrance to the stone room was sealed off once they all entered. The only way to leave was to destroy the place or by the will of one of the people keyed into this place and there were less than ten people who had that ability.

Agatha glanced around at the incredible feat of enchantment with apathetic eyes but he could sense her mana slowly gathering information on the defences. She raked her eyes across the hundreds of gemstones while Andre wiped some sweat off his brow and moved his apprentices into the right place for the ritual to start. It took Agatha nearly ten minutes which were spent in silence in the small, claustrophobic room before she was ready.

"Follow my lead," she said, before starting to chant. She hadn't waited for them to consider the words for very long. They all scrambled to their positions. Aultcray in the centre of their group as he would be the one who received the control of the arrays while Agatha was directly opposite to him while the others were organized around him in a complex pattern determined by the positions of the fraction of the gemstone array they would be powering.

Slowly, the stone room began to feel suffocating. By design, this room was meant to trap mana. More than half the gemstones in this room were infused with Mana that prevented anything other than deliberate flow to the defences. It was the only way to make a practical magical defence but it meant that standing here, feeling Agatha's mana colour the room was horrific. Her natural affinity for healing that she had twisted came to the forefront.

Only Agatha chanted. She was the only one who was directing the spell. The rest were simply there to fuel the spell and help her bind the array to him. She chanted for one minute, then two, and then another before he sensed the mana of the room started to change even further. Aultcray slowly felt the gemstones align to her nature before the mana of the room was aligned more to her than to anyone else. It felt like scalding hot acid had been poured down his throat and hundreds of the embedded gemstones changed as the mana stored in them was altered and warped to better fit Agatha's nature.

The glowing gemstones in the dim lighting were beautiful but no one could enjoy it. Aultcray could see that his guards were tempted to leave, they were shaking and more than one of them clutched their weapons tightly. He felt a great deal of pride when they suffered through it stoically. The other casters, used to Agatha's mana by now, only flinched slightly before getting to work but Aultcray had to close his eyes and flare his mana to counter the horrific power that she was casually emitting. He could feel his mana erode even though she hadn't even tried to affect him directly.

Defensive Arrays Altered

Decay Array Added

Southern Array Modified

Eastern Array Modified….

Barriers Altered….

Enhancement and Crippling Arrays Altered….

The messages on his Status Magic surprised him. He had been so focused on washing away Agatha's mana from his system that the entire process had finished without his notice.

"Is it complete?" he asked, his voice raspy.

"Check it for yourself," she said, looking perfectly normal even as the other mages staggered in place. Agatha walked up to her apprentice and handed the girl a bottle of Magic Water. The girl said something making Agatha smile before she turned to him.

"I want everyone other than Aultcray out. Now." she said, "there are some critical aspects of this new system that only he can know."

Andre looked to him as did Aultcray's guards who had stayed on the edge of the ritual room. The King hesitated for a long moment. He could guess that Agatha wanted to settle the debt. She wanted her favour and she didn't want anyone else to know. Aultcray lamented her lack of subtlety. It was as if she wanted everyone else to be curious.

Nonetheless, he nodded and waved their worries off. The room emptied slowly, the exhausted mages supported by his knights. The room which had seemed very full with all the people in it looked a great deal more comfortable now...well relatively speaking anyway, it was an eerie place and Agatha's mana was still quite stifling.

His old friend stared him in the eye and said, "You will stop acting as King and leave the day to day aspects to your advisors. You will deal with the Sword Hero diplomatically. No worthless accusations. No aggression and certainly no attempt to attack him." she paused, but continued when he failed to react, "This is what we want from you."

For a long minute, he stared at the woman. "That," he started, his breath short, his tone vicious, "is not going to happen. That hero is a monster. He-"

Aultcray was cut off as Agatha's mana flared. This time it was directed at him and he fell to his knees. His body started to fail as Agatha's power started to cause his lungs to start breaking down. The taste of blood and bile filled his mouth and he coughed, the phlegm that left his throat was bloody. It was nearly a minute later that she let go of her power and healed the damage that she had done.

The healing spell was like a balm to his soul. But it did nothing to stop his helpless rage.

"How dare you!" he screamed, "I am-"

The woman, his former friend flared her power again. This time only for a second but the intensity...it made the previous two times feel like they were nothing. It made him feel like he was nothing.

She sighed. "I would have preferred to be less forceful." she said, and then looked him dead in the eye, "but we don't have the time to play around. Siltvelt is gathering its forces. Faubrey is willing to fund them and Zeltoble will eagerly jump in to loot us if paid and if we manage to survive all of that then Shieldfreeden will happily finish the job and our only Hero is much weaker than the one you have made an enemy out of."

Aultcray grit his teeth, and glared at her but she didn't let him say a word, "Get your head on straight." she commanded, "I'm just the messenger here but I promise you that if you don't become the King Melromarc needs then you will be removed. That is the decision of Edgar, Mirellia and the even that fucker Balmus."

"Mirellia would never do that," he said, scoffing at the thought. Balmus and Edgar were hardly a surprise. Both men had chosen to mock him by ignoring their summons. He looked at Agatha and felt fury rise. She had only accepted his request to corner him like this.

He reached for his Cane. Aultcray begged it to empower him again. Tried to reach for the SP that belonged to it. Attempted to have his mana enhanced or his Status boosted but like every other attempt, it yielded nothing.

Agatha sighed. Looking exhausted for the first time, "Remember my orders Aultcray and remember who support me. Deal with the Sword Hero properly once he emerges, removes the bounty on him and stop trying to ruin his reputation. And don't do anything else. We have enough trouble as it is. If you don't…" she trailed off and flared her aura again before launching herself forward and grabbing his forearm in a vice grip. He tried to push her off but the level hundred mage casually held on. His crippled stats no match for her.

This time was much worse and much more concentrated. It was focused only on a small portion of his left arm but the flesh their blackened and then just vanished leaving a small cavity in his forearm. Then it spread throughout his body. Pain lanced through him, old minor aches vanishing as his body began to rot from the inside. Abrupt, as if she had changed her mind she began to heal him, but he could tell that his body was still broken.

Agatha had only healed him enough to leave him alive.

Agatha didn't stay as he winced and backed away from her. Pain filled his limbs with each movement. His lungs didn't seem to be able to gather enough air. She moved towards the staircase and spoke, "This was your final warning and the only reason you received it was because you were my friend once. Don't ruin your last chance. Don't screw things up anymore. Just wait until Mirellia gets here and then accept her judgement."

Aultcray swallowed. His vision blurred as tears emerged. For an insane moment, he contemplated attacking her but the pain in his body was a brutal reminder of the consequences of that. Instead, he collapsed onto the ground. No one was willing to protect his Kingdom or his daughter. They were telling him to throw justice to the wayside because it was a Legendary Hero who had done the unthinkable.

He scoffed at the thought of Mirellia allowing for this and stood up. Aultcray focused on his Status Magic and smiled as he realized that he could use it against Agatha. He controlled the defences, not her and-

Pain. Unceasing, unrelenting pain flooded his mind as the defences turned against him the moment he thought about hurting her.

Cannot be used against Creator Agatha.

Aultcray wanted to scream but his body didn't cooperate. All he could do was promise himself that he would one day have his revenge on her and all the others.

"Your Majesty," said the voice of his Guard Captain, and Aultcray scrambled to stand, unwilling to be seen in his pitiful condition. He quickly rubbed away his tears and covered the wounds.

He took a breath and moved towards the exit. Aultcray decided to wait. To muster up his resources and then shatter his enemies. He would gather wise, loyal allies again. He would rise and crush everyone who had done this to him.

The Sword Hero, Agatha, Edgar and Balmus and all the others would pay for this humiliation.

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