“We should make one for you, then. I’m certain that you have plenty of admirers.” Elina said.
Lith was about to dismiss the idea with an excuse when the waiters added another chair and set the table for one more person.
“I reserved for four, but my father is not going to make it.” He said. “We aren’t expecting anyone else. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
“Your words hurt me deeply.” A familiar voice came from the entrance of the restaurant, behind Lith’s seat.
His eyes went ablaze, Elina turned pale while Solus tried and failed to take her communication amulet out of the pocket dimension.
“Hello, brother.” Orpal said while walking toward the empty seat. “Mother, I see you have aged well. Aren’t you going to introduce me to this young maiden I’ve heard so much talking about?”
Lith stood up, trying to conjure War but he failed as well.
“I wouldn’t try anything funny if I were in your shoes, little brother.” Orpal’s eyes were ablaze with deep blue light from Life Vision as he studied his guests. “If we fight, things wouldn’t go well for Mom, your new girlfriend, or Lutia, for that matter.
“I promise you that we’d fight so brutally that you’d be forced to reveal your Tiamat nature.”
“Do you really think that kicking your ass without your steed is so hard for me? Your ego is still only matched by your idiocy.” Lith replied as several spells manifested around him.
Yet no one seemed scared, no one was running away, not even the waiters and he didn’t like it.
“Is it ego when it’s you who walked into my trap? Is it idiocy when I have more hostages than those sitting at our table?” At a snap of Orpal’s fingers, a lean man brought Kamila from the kitchen room.
He kept her right arm twisted behind her back and kept a blade covered in runes against her neck. Lith could tell at a glance that such a weapon might decapitate her in one hit if the man was a Thrall and Kamila didn’t pour mana into her armor to reinforce it.
Lith used Life Vision as well, discovering that he was blinded. The restaurant had been filled with pointless arrays, just like the Undead Court’s branch in Panat. Neither he nor Solus had noticed it because the arrays had been kept inactive until that moment.
Even though they always swept a room with their mystical senses upon entering, inactive arrays could only be spotted by a specific spell. A spell that Lith didn’t use when going to a restaurant with his family.
“Sit down, or you’ll discover that I’ve many surprises left for you and none of them is of the good kind. Speaking of surprises, happy birthday, miss Yehval.” Orpal said while staring at her soft curves pressing against the fabric of her clothes due to her position.
“I must say, you have indeed good taste in matter of women, brother.”
Lith didn’t miss how Orpal ogled at Kamila, Solus, and to a lesser extent, even Elina.
He used body cast to Warp them all away and Switch Kamila with one of the waitresses, but once again, nothing happened.
“In case you are wondering why no one is coming to your rescue and none or your spells is working, I had my men cast Sealed Space over this building.” The Dead King chuckled as he felt the noose that he had put around Lith’s neck tightening.
“I’m certain that an Archmage as powerful as you knows what I’m talking about.”
Lith actually had no idea that, aside from elemental sealing arrays, a spell capable of completely blocking dimensional magic existed. Yet being Sealed Space a self-explanatory name, he understood what was happening.
“Let me be crystal clear, Meln.” Lith said while staring at his fallen brother in the eyes. “Threaten me all you want. We both know you can’t touch any of the hostages.”
“And why is that?” Orpal shrugged, but he inwardly hated Lith calling him with his disowned name and feeling the deep violet aura pressing down on him.
“Because they are the only thing that keeps me from killing you and your men on the spot. Were that to change, Night or not, you are going to die.” Lith tried to summon his Demons of Darkness, discovering that the Sealed Space around their table blocked even that.
Yet everything inside those three cubic meters (106 cubic feet) was still game.
“What do you want?”
“Contrary to what your brutish mind thinks, I didn’t come here to fight. I came here to catch up with my loving family and to make you an offer you can’t refuse.” Orpal sat down first in a display of confidence.
“What offer?” Lith followed his lead, but only so that his foot could touch Solus’ and establish a mind link that would go undetected, no matter what tricks Orpal had prepared.
‘I’m sorry, but mana vision is blinded and the pocket dimension is sealed. The space is being highly compressed, cutting off dimensional magic in all of its forms. The only world energy we have access to is that inside the cube so even our firepower is limited.’ She said.
‘What about Domination?’ Lith asked.
‘I tried that, but Sealed Space seems to be a tier five dimensional spell because it’s imbued with willpower.’ She exploited the physical contact to send him a Monocle of Menadion. ‘If I try to overpower it recklessly, the caster will notice and alert Meln.
‘Now, instead, we can study it together. We’ll learn a new spell and kick your brother’s ass as soon as the Eyes are done.’
‘Excellent plan.’ Lith inwardly nodded.
“Join me and together we’ll take down Thrud.” Orpal said, snapping them out of their conversation.
“Are you serious?” Lith asked.
“Dead serious. Pun intended.” Orpal laughed at his own joke, but he was the only one. “I’m not afraid of the Royals. They are just a couple of powerless rulers surrounded by those idiots of the Royal Court.
“I’m not afraid of the Council either. Those old fossils fell hand and feet into every single trap that Thrud and I lay so far. They are so slow adapting to the change of time, so worried about protecting their precious little secrets, that I can beat them simply by plucking them one at a time.
“The Mad Queen, however, scares me.” While saying those words, Orpal’s face showed how much admitting that someone was better than him hurt his pride.
“Her army is immortal, she shares with them everything she has, and she’s so powerful that even my fellow Horsemen look like trash in comparison. Believe it or not, she has reached the white core and has shared with her followers her breathing technique and the secret of the violet core.
“Those damn idiots are so blindly loyal to Thrud that they are incorruptible even when she lifts them from the effects of the Unwavering Loyalty array.” He said with a grunt. “Yet she’s far from invincible.”
“Imagine the two of us together. My Chosen and your Demons fighting side by side, each one armed with that Thundercrash of yours. We know what each other can do and you should have recognized my power from my fight with Manohar if not even come to respect it.”
