Alexander The Great Mage

Chapter 88 - Armored Chicken

The first and only rule if a nation wanted long term deterrence towards kidnappings was - never negotiate. Smash the kidnappers cold bloodedly and sacrifice the hostages if need be, for the sake of hundreds more hostages that needn't be hostages when the organizations know that there would be no negotiations.

It was cold blooded and ruthless, but it was the only way to make sure that the world of crime knew that there was no point in trying to kidnap hostages.

Alexander knew that perfectly. And had done that multiple times back on earth, in fact, to great success. However when faced with his first hostage situation here in Arcanus 26, he found himself gritting his teeth and fighting down his rage so that a semblance of rationality could return to him.

"What do you want?" Alexander finally asked the Lich King softly.

He had no choice but to negotiate. Screw long term plans. He had to make sure that Aleyria survived this incident.

The Lich King raised a bony finger and pointed at him. "You." He rasped.

Alexander did not need to ask him what he meant. His intention was clear as day. A Scion Lord puppet.

"Kill them, Alexander! Don't worry abou- UKH" Aleyria's scream was cut midway as Caerose tightened her grip on her neck.

"Shhhh, pretty girl. Don't interrupt the Lich King when he's talking." Caerose whispered gently even as her grip continued to tighten.

As Alexander saw how much pain Aleyria was in, he felt his rage rising back up to a furious boil, threatening to overflow once more into waves of destructive energy.

However, for all his bluster and rage, a deep and cold part of his mind had never stopped studying the Scions and analysing the situation, all the while calculating the chances of success should he choose to erupt with overwhelming power to save Aleyria.

And so, it was to his utmost shock when he saw Caerose give him a slow wink and eased the pressure on Aleyria's neck.

What was happening? He glared at Caerose and Aleyria, trying to find out if there were more clues. Then, he saw Aleyria give him a slow wink as well, wincing slightly through the pain.

He felt his rage recede like the tide and his cold, calculating mind took full control once more over his entire being. Caerose and Aleyria were in cahoots! Caerose would not kill Aleyria.

Excellent. That gave him no more reason to fear the Lich King.

The Lich King noticed Alexander's killing intent dissipate and felt a slight glimmer of satisfaction. "What will it be, Scion Lord? Your life? Or the life of your beloved…" The Lich King rasped.

Behind him, the other Scions grinned. Vladimir even hooted aloud with pleasure.

"HA! Why are you so quiet, you blithering fool! What happened to all your bluster? Your po-"

Space around Vladir began to tremble violently.

Vladir noticed the disturbance and blanched. "Wa-wait!"

The Lich King pointed at Vladir and immediately, the silhouette of a horrifying black skull appeared around him. The black skull opened its mouth wide and sucked in all the arcane energy around Vladir, including Alexander's.

Vladir collapsed with relief, knowing that he had almost shared the fate of his fellow Scions who were dishonorably crushed into meatballs.

Alexander raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. The Lich King was truly full of surprises. Not even the Golden Lich Emperor could nullify, much less absorb, his power so blatantly as the Lich King did.

However, he noticed that the black skull dimmed significantly after absorbing his power. Apparently it was unable to devour the power of a Scion Lord, and instead, it had taken damage in the process of breaking it down.

"You wish for your beloved to die?" The Lich King asked him emotionlessly. He waved his hand and the black skull disappeared into his body.

"I wish to see if you're worthy of being the master of a Scion Lord!" Alexander clenched his fist and a massive amount of space energy fell upon the Lich King.

"Very well. All of you, stand back." The Lich King ordered. Immediately, Caerose, with Aleyria still clutched in her hands, and the other Scions retreated many miles back. They knew it was about to get rough.

Very rough.

The Lich King raised his hand up and released the black skull once more which slammed into Alexander's crushing magical onslaught with a loud BOOM! It opened its grinning mouth and began to wildly absorb the arcane energy in Alexander's attack.

HUM!! The black skull grew dim almost immediately. However, the Lich King infused more of his power into the black skull and it came roaring back to life.

"Well then, let's see how much of my power you can absorb. Have a taste of this!" Alexander growled.

Alexander circulated his power around his body and began to weave his golden space energy into vast, complicated seals. Golden rays of light burst forth from him and solidified into a vast and seemingly endless tsunami. As he did so, the silhouette of a powerful Golden Dragon appeared around him.

GRAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The Golden Dragon gave a faint but clearly reptilian roar that induced fear in all who were able to hear it. It contained a mild trace of something far more powerful than mortals.

Godhood.

The Lich King frowned deeply as he felt the unfamiliar emotion of fear wash over him. However, he suppressed those feelings viciously as he too began to unleash all of his power.

The Lich King raised both his skeletal hands and released his powerful death energy.

Whoosh!!!!

Alexander could feel a strange yet utterly familiar type of energy pass through him as he withstood the shockwave of death energy which the Lich King released.

AWOOOOOOO!!!!! AWOOOOOOOO!!!!

Ghastly specters that radiated a terrifyingly powerful death aura rose slowly from the remains of the two Scions of Perses which Alexander killed minutes earlier. Their faces were twisted into hideous perpetual snarls which were chock full of hatred. Their red eyes glowed deathly red as they glared at Alexander.

AWOOOOOOOOOO!!! AWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

They howled out their eagerness and thirst for vengeance. However, the Lich King was not finished. His death energy continued to spread throughout the city.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

Almost instantly, the ground beneath them began to shake.

Graaaa!!! Grooooo!! Grrrrrrr!!!

A jarring cacophony of hellish shrieks and howls ensued as thousands upon thousands of undead rose from the ground.

"RISE FOR YOUR UNDEAD KING!" The Lich King bellowed in a deep and creepy voice.

CRASH!!! GRAAAAHHH!!!!!!! GRAAOOOO!!!!!!

More specters rose from somewhere within the ruins of the Royal Palace. These specters were vastly more powerful than even the Scions of Perses. A deep aura of majesty and nobility emanated from them. However, it was a mutated form of majesty and nobility, one that was filled with darkness and evil. It was horrifying.

"The Royal Crypt." Alexander realised with a start. His eyes narrowed slightly. Although he felt nothing for these Kings, Queens, and all sorts of important personages of Rin-Turah, he still felt anger at the thought of such defilement on the ancient rulers of the land.

"Unforgivable." Alexander spat out.

The dragon silhouette around Alexander solidified greatly and slowly rose into the sky.

GRAHHH!!! It gave out a powerful roar as it took its place atop Alexander's growing tsunami of energy which rose higher and higher as power overflowed from his body in an overwhelming deluge.

For miles everywhere around him, space was locked down as every shred of spatial energy surged towards Alexander with a startling desperation, like slaves running helter skelter seeking to answer their owner's call.

CRACK! SPLAT!!

Hundred of the undead that had only risen from the dead burst into pieces. They were unable to resist the avalanche of energy that surged towards Alexander with such great power.

However, thousands more remained standing, and many thousands more continued to rise from the ground.

Skeleton after skeleton and specter after specter of men, women, elves, trolls and even animals long deceased continued to burst forth from the ground. They gave out horrendous roars of anger and indignance as their rest were disturbed.

Generations of people had lived and died in the City of Rin. Undead incarnations of the warriors, farmers, mages, generals and soldiers that once fought and died for the city, beheld it once more. But this time, instead of beholding the City of Rin with pride, they beheld it under a thick haze of hatred, mirroring the will of their new Lord and Master, the Lich King.

Many among them were mages, and not a few among them were powerful blue and even red robes. These had risen as specters and wielded dark and horrifying power. The power of the Lich King had twisted and enhanced their magic into black magic.

"Scion Lord. Bow to my will. You have no defense against this." The Lich King said. His eyes, which were glowing red, began to darken. And as it did so, silhouettes of black skulls began swirl powerfully around the hundreds of thousands of undead. Silhouettes which, apparently, could resist the power of a Scion Lord.

Alexander could easily deal with hundreds of thousands, or even millions of regular undead raised by Scions of Zegaro. Enhanced or not, they could not resist the power of a Scion Lord and for him, he would be like a wolf going wild in a chicken farm.

However, with the black skulls around them, he would be like a wolf surrounded by ARMORED chicken.

Ridiculous as it may sound, it was nothing but bad news for the wolf.