The op lich is a returne.., p.21
The OP Lich is a Returnee, page 21
Dai, ever the student of magic, caught on the quickest. “Like a Force Wall, Mistress?”
I smiled, and nodded at my apprentice. “Exactly, Dai. I’m glad to see you’ve been paying attention.” Turning back to the others, I said, “As she said, a Shield is only useful when you are expecting attacks from all sides. If you know which way the fire is going to come from, then it is far more efficient, as far as power goes, to use either a partial shield, covering an arc focused towards the danger, with it stretching upwards, to keep spells or missiles from being lobbed in overhead, or a Force Wall spell, focusing the defense upon a single plane. Because of the reduced area and the energy all being aligned on the same plane, you can strengthen a Force Wall far more than a Shield spell. The drawback being, of course, that the Force Wall only protects from one direction.”
“Mistress, what would happen if you designed a shield of Force Walls?” Aeko asked, clearly not willing to be outdone by Dai. “Like taking a twenty-sided die and using that as a model for how to build a shield?”
“Another good idea,” I nodded to Aeko. When I turned back to the scientists, I looked at the assistants, and said, “Well, why aren’t you taking notes?” I winked at Imai as the assistants all dived for their devices. “But to answer the question, such a shield would be far more complex to build and to fuel. Especially when talking about a shield that is designed to move around. Of course, this complexity is reduced when you also scale up the size of the field. Hence, why most city-shields are of this ‘tiled’ approach, with each tile having a separate generator, only focused on its little section of shield, while the central controls allow them all to be raised and lowered as one.”
Imai grinned, “That sounds like the kind of project that would take national funding to pull off.”
“Yes, but there are obviously limits to such a shield. It can’t be made perfectly airtight, because you have to have microscopic gaps between the walls to keep them from touching, and interfering with each other, to disastrous results. However, a second shield, geared only to keeping out harmful chemicals and toxins, as well as dangerous types of radiation, would be a much less intensive affair, and could cover the entire inside of the outer shield.”
“That seems… quite thorough, Akagawa-dono,” Koyama said, hesitatingly.
“The word you wish to say is ‘excessive’, yes?” I smiled. “I won’t deny that, for most threats, it would be excessive, and a waste of power, to have the secondary shield. But, when someone decides to use nuclear weapons, or biological or chemical weapons? Well, excessive is the order of the day. And then there are magical weapons of mass destruction to consider, as well.”
“Magical WMDs?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “I can tell you for a fact that the shielding setup I just described was used in any city or fortress that could afford to build it, during my long war in the other world. It forces an invading force to physically overpower one section of the wall at a time, which allows defenders to plug the gap while they work on repairs. Very effective against any conventional assault.”
“How did you beat them, then?” Akaryu asked.
“Well, that depends on the nature of the fortress. Once, I changed the course of a river, causing it to flood the city, which disrupted the wards. Another time, I caused an earthquake, to open up a chasm beneath the city walls. And then there was the time when I simply poisoned the water supply with a poison that caused its victims to become mindless undead, set upon consuming all living creatures they could get their hands on. But my favorite would have to be the time where I simply overpowered a section of the shield, and went in personally, with my Black Knights, and summoned an army within the city walls. That city fell in twenty minutes after I breached the shield, with the death of the mayor marking the last bit of life being snuffed out. I could have gone faster, but that was the first time I struck back against a city that had been conquered, and held, by the Demon King for more than five years, so they were a bit cocky when speaking to me.”
“Well,” Imai said, flustered. “Then I am glad we’re on the same side. Now, if you would look at the projections for Test Thirty, This, is the test that we wished you to come and see today.”
I looked at the screen, and studied the linework of the proposed enchantment for a second. It was relatively simple, like the shield charms were. In fact, the only difference between this one and the Shield Charm was…
“Oh, hoh! This is interesting. How soon until you can do a test?”
Chapter 68 – Containment
“We have the equipment set up already, and a testing chamber has been prepared.”
Imai led the way to a large space, three floors high and with the footprint of an Olympic football field, 120 meters by 90 meters. I noticed that there were scorch marks in some parts of the room, which was understandable, since a few of the tests had been ‘energetic’ in their failures. Fortunately, it didn’t look like things would get out of hand for this test.
I looked around the testing chamber, and nodded slowly. “Yes, this will do. What radius do you have the focus set for? Or is it variable?”
Imai shook his head. “No, we managed to figure out how to make it variable, thanks to the earlier tests, but the initial tests have been fixed radius, so we could eliminate variables. It should be possible to increase the radius of the shield, though that would increase the power draw to keep the same field strength.”
“Excellent,” I nodded. “And do you have a test subject prepared?”
Imai coughed nervously, and said, “Well, we’ve tested the base mechanism, and it looks like it works, but we can’t do the resistance tests, due to the nature of the field, unless someone is inside. Which is where our problems begin. As this will be the first test with resistance, we’ve been looking for a tester who can survive any unfortunate explosions, and also would be able to escape the field, if something goes wrong, even if it just means overpowering the field.”
“Ah,” I grinned. “You were hoping that you could get me to be your test subject, then? Well, that’s fine. But I’m going to bring one of your people in there with me, just so no one gets silly ideas about trying to keep me contained when the experiment is done. Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.”
Imai nodded gravely, and said, “I expected something like this. I, of course, will volunteer, as team leader.”
“No.” Imai looked surprised at my refusal, and even more surprised when I pointed at Akaryu. “He’ll be fine. You’re the lead scientist, no? You should be up in the control room, checking all the readings, and making sure things run smoothly.”
“But—” Imai started to interject, but he wilted under my gaze, accepting the inevitable. “Ah, very well. If Akaryu-san has no objections?”
The ‘interesting’ scientist just shook his head. “No, I am fine with this.” He did not sound as nervous as the others would have been. Probably because he was expecting something like this.
“Excellent!” I clapped my hands, and said, “Now, come along, Akaryu-chan, and we’ll have a nice little chat while they’re preparing the field for testing.” As I said that, I took his arm in mine, and effectively dragged the man towards the center of the test chamber.
Once we were alone, the man’s demeanor changed, slightly. Softly, he said, “Chan, is it? Such disrespect!”
“Oh, shush, you,” I chuckled, not moved at all by the man’s insulted tone, but answering in the same hushed volume. “You might be older than you look, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give you respect until you prove that you’ve earned it. And I’m not about to let potential threats just coast along, unnoticed and unmarked, so close to home.”
“What, the mighty ‘Lich Queen’ considers me a threat?”
I returned his smirk with one of my own, and said, “Only a fool would look upon someone like you, and not see at least a potential threat. You are different from the ones I’ve seen, but I know your kind.”
“We are ready to begin testing. Any suggestions before we begin?” Imai’s voice sounded over the speakers located in different parts of the room.
Looking over to the bay window where the control room was, I nodded, and spoke loud enough that whatever microphones were about the place would be able to hear me. “Yes, increase the field to encompass the room, and bump it up to the highest settings.”
“Are you sure? We haven’t tested things at that level, yet.”
“Yes, it will be fine. It would take more than the power available to this facility to keep me contained, after all.”
“All right, then. Setting complete. Activating in three, two, one. Activation!”
With that, a translucent blue field sprang up around the chamber, just barely missing the walls, and the equipment that generated the field. It was, of course, an inverted Shield Charm writ large. Instead of creating a bubble that kept out attacks and harmful magics, it created a prison of magical force that kept those inside trapped, and unable to attack those outside.
I nodded once, as I looked over the field. They’d done their job well. “Yes, this is good,” I said, my eyes tracing the paths of magic through the shield. “Now, I am going to teach you all one of the little truths about magical containment. The more powerful the spell, the better you can contain someone. However, more powerful spells require more mana, and that mana does not disperse evenly throughout the containment field all at once. It pulses and flows, in patterns that can be seen, if you have the right senses, and the right training.
“This means,” I continued, “that a containment spell like this is only useful against weakened foes, or ones who lack the skills to find and exploit the weak points. Most magical creatures, if given enough time, will find a way to overcome a containment spell, and escape it. How much time depends on their individual skills and level of power, of course, and, for some, the time required might exceed their lifespan by decades, if not centuries, but it is possible, especially for those who have blessings of luck on their side. So, simply throwing an inverted Shield spell around them is a delaying action, at best, unless you are massively more powerful than the enemy is.
“Of course, this means that, when one intends to seal away someone on a more permanent basis, the inverted Shield spell is only one layer of the seal. The final layer, deepest within the wards, and perhaps most important of the lot, but still only one layer. You will have other layers, such as a stasis field that allows creatures and objects to have their time slowed, or even stopped. Then, you’ll more layers, focused outwards, instead of in, so that they can keep the enchantment’s main controls safe, and keep any allies from breaking the contained being free.
“Of course, the problem with all of this is that, even if you have things set up in place ahead of time, it is impossible to activate a trap that will suppress and contain any being of true power with any semblance of quickness. Which means you need to incapacitate them somehow beforehand, or keep them stuck in place as you begin the rituals to add the layers of protections and seals in place. And, if you had the power to easily do something like that, then you could just kill them, and be done with it.”
As I spoke, I flicked my wrist, and sent a bolt of inky blackness at one point in the shield that I had identified as being a confluence. The necrotic bolt hit the shield, and it shattered, like panes of glass before disappearing into the background mana from whence it came. I had limited my output so that only the barest amount of energy fed back into the system. They had a minor power surge from the backlash, but that was nothing compared to what could have happened, and there were no explosions, so obviously I didn’t go too overboard.
“Well, I will congratulate you on coming so far, so fast. This setup would have held an angry dragon for at least half an hour, just as it currently stands. For something you worked out in just a few short months, I must say that I am impressed. Of course, given the help you had, I am slightly surprised that you didn’t get further along. But I’m guessing there’s a reason for that?”
It was not lost on anyone that I was staring directly at Akaryu when I said that. Least of all Akaryu himself. Still, I didn’t expect him to come out and just reveal everything all at once. If he’d kept hidden so long, I was going to have to drag things out of him.
The man himself sighed, clearly less than pleased with the way I was outing him, and forcing a confrontation. However, before he could say anything, Imai’s voice came over the intercom. “What do you mean, Akagawa-dono? And I would appreciate you not accusing my subordinate of things. Akaryu has been a very important part of this team since the beginning.”
“Yes, since the beginning. I’m told your team is the one that helped develop the first CADs, almost forty years ago. And Akaryu has been with you all this time, hasn’t he? I notice that he’s the visibly youngest member of your team. And I’ll bet that he has looked like that, ever since the first day he came on the job. And you never noticed because everything was so gradual, and you were caught up in your studies. No? That’s because he is not human.”
“W-what? No, that can’t be. Akaryu, this can’t be true, can it? I’ve seen you go outside in the daytime, and you don’t have any of the telltale signs of the different types of lycanthropes, undead, or other supernatural creatures.”
“No, he wouldn’t. But then, there’s a good reason for such things. After all, I don’t bear any of the telltale signs of being undead right now, do I? When you shook my hand, it had warmth to it, and felt normal. But that isn’t the real me, as you should know. That is my glamour, which I wear to keep mortals at ease when out in my daily life.”
I stretched out one hand, and pulled my staff from the spatial pocket. I touched my ankh, and the business clothes I had been wearing shifted, leaving me in my armor, with my crown upon my head. I released my glamour, and black flames burned away my false flesh, revealing my true form, as a lich. Then, I slipped off the ring suppressing my power.
“I’ve shown off this transformation so many times, that people have started to think that it is just one of my ‘natural’ abilities. But that could not be further from the truth. It is a spell, like any other, one that took a great deal of time to learn, and longer to master, for it to get to the point that it is now. Fortunately, a lich has nothing but time.
“Yet, with all the times I’ve shown off this ability, and all the times I’ve said it was a spell, very few people asked me the proper questions. A few have asked how they can learn to do the same. Some even asked me how it works. But no one, not even my own disciples, have asked me where I learned it from, or what I based it off of.”
I struck the ground with the end of my staff, and a shield of black flame surrounded the room. Like my other flames, it would not harm the dead, and machines or even the wall would not be affected in the slightest. But living creatures would find it truly impassable, if they wished to live through the experience.
Turning back to look at Akaryu, I pointed my staff at him, and said, “Now, then. Reveal your true form, so that the Lich Queen of Risen Athelia may judge whether you are a threat to Our realm, or We shall do it for you.”
Akaryu stared at me, no doubt trying to judge the relative strength of our powers, and whether he could defeat me without being laid low himself. His hands twitched, as though they were aching to throw a spell, before he sighed, and shook his head. He stood up straight, and tall, and said, “Fine. I had wished to keep up this charade for a while longer, but I guess it has served its purpose.”
Chapter 69 – Revelation
Akaryu breathed in once, and then exhaled. As he did so, red flames flowed from his mouth, and spread, until he was completely wreathed in those flames. Then the flames expanded, until half the test chamber was contained within. Indeed, the flames were mere inches from my black flames at a couple points. And then, the flames died off, revealing the new form beneath.
Red. That was the first thing that the mind comprehended. A long, sinuous body coiled about like a serpent, with scales ranging from brilliant scarlet on the top to bloody crimson on the bottom, and spiked frill of flame red running down the spine, to the end of a tail that seemed almost feathered with the way the spikes fanned out. Four legs, too small to actually support the creature without the use of magic, yet clawed and vicious in their look. Two deer-like horns of bone extending from the back of its skull, with hairs of red and white forming a wild mane about them. Thick white eyebrows perched above golden eyes with a vertical slit that looked as though they could pierce the soul. And, at the reptilian snout, white whiskers formed a trailing mustache, moving to the magical currents in the room. A mouth full of wicked fangs, each as large and sharp as daggers was revealed as the creature roared.
“Well, lich, is this what you expected?” The dragon, for such a creature could be called nothing but one of those venerable lords of magic, said. He did not speak with words, but with mind-speech, the telepathic ability common to dragons in their natural form. And, with it, he was able to project his thoughts directly into the minds of everyone here, speaking to each in their own tongue.
