The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 114

Chapter 114 – Back to Work

“Welcome to France, your Majesty. I am Commandant Marius Tremblay, of the French Army’s Magic Corps. I hope all is well?”

I smiled at the man who met me as I stepped off my plane at a private airport outside Paris. I had spent the last week in Lisbon, recovering my strength. When I wasn’t popping back to Japan for work. My magical reserves had filled themselves within a day of the failed ritual, as I was very familiar with how to replenish my mana pool by this point. There may have been an ebb in the ambient mana across Portugal, but recovering my magical strength was simple enough.

Recovering my physical strength, however, is what took me so long. There are spells that any Death mana practitioner can learn that allows them to ‘heal’ the undead. However, it was a quirk of magic that those spells were less effective when cast upon a lich, or when an undead used them on themselves. So, my healing myself was a rather trying affair.

Thankfully, a lich’s body reforms naturally, over time, so long as their phylactery remains unbroken. My phylactery was made of magical diamond, enhanced with all the fortification magics I could place upon it. I was not entirely sure whether it could be destroyed, save by casting it into the sun, or a black hole. Thankfully, none of those were close at hand, so I felt confident that I could survive anything the mortal world threw at me.

Now that I was recovered, however, it was time to move forward. The seals were not going to release themselves, after all. And since the next two seals were in French territories, it only made sense to stop in Paris on my way, and pick up whatever volunteers they had found to undergo the rituals for the Light and Flame seals.

I put aside those thoughts, and turned back to the present. “Thank you, Commandant Tremblay. Thankfully, I have recovered from my wounds in the Azores.”

“That is good to hear, your Majesty. Though, for someone who was at ground zero of a blast of that size, the fact that you survive at all, let alone are back to full health in a mere week is most impressive. Is it true, then, that you cannot die?”

I chuckled. “I died forty years ago, Commandant. But if you are asking whether it is possible to destroy me? Yes, but that would take power beyond what any mortal might be able to bring to bear. As for those who are no longer mortal? So far, I have met one being who might fight me to a standstill, if we were to fight head on, and another who, if we were to come to blows, it would be all I could do just to survive.”

“Not one of these newforged Heroes, then?”

“No, they are powerful, no doubt, but they are only about on the level that I was when my class was first summoned to the other world. To compare them to me would be comparing a child barely two years old to a special forces soldier in their prime. That is an approximation of the gulf between us. But whereas the soldier will eventually find his strength leaving him as age takes its toll, the passing years only serve to increase my power.”

“I see. If you will come with me, then? As you requested, the government has gathered volunteers with the appropriate elements to attempt the rituals of Light and Fire.”

I nodded, and followed him towards the airport terminal, my entourage following behind me. “And they have been fully informed of the risks, and the consequences? And do they have training of some sort? While the seals are in isolated areas, without much risk of loss of life, I am sure everyone would be happier if the rituals were completed successfully.”

“As you say, your Majesty,” Tremblay nodded. Leading the way into the terminal, he then turned towards a conference room. Inside were four soldiers. By their mana flows, it seemed clear that they were all new initiates of the Warrior’s Way, barely into the apprentice stage. An interesting choice, but sensible enough, since warriors were more likely to have training to resist pain, and carry on.

“Allow me to introduce you to Lieutenant Perrine Soyer and Sous-lieutenant Germaine Moreau, who have the Light element, and Capitaine Reine Vidal and Sergent-Chef Lydia Delafosse, who have the Fire element.”

I nodded to each of them, in turn, before appraising their mana more carefully. Soyer was clearly a Light Blade, that much was evident just from looking at her. Moreau, on the other hand, looked to be a Light Soul from the way his mana coursed through him. Both the women with the Fire element were Flamesouls, interestingly enough.

Looking them each in the eye, I said, “I am sure that you have been briefed on what you have been asked to volunteer for. I am also sure that you have seen the reports from the Azores. Frankly, what you are being asked to endure is torture, in the purest sense of the word. If it weren’t necessary for you to be conscious, to filter the energies of the seal through your bodies, then a procedure like what you will be subjected to would not be done on anyone while they were conscious.

“If you fail, you will die, as will the one undertaking the trial with you. The land will be forcibly changed, and earthquakes and tsunamis will likely ravage more heavily populated areas than the isolated islands housing the seals. In the worst-case scenario, a failed ritual might set off one or more of the other seals, as well, causing even more destruction.

“I tell you this, not to discourage you, but to ensure that you know the stakes, and the challenges before you. If this is not done, then the only options are a controlled blast, which will still cause issues, or leaking the energies into the environment, causing untold mutations to the creatures and environment in the area. Neither of which are exactly good solutions to the problem.

“However, should you succeed in the releasing of the seals, then you will be transformed. Transformed how? I cannot say. You will be given the power of a Summoned Hero, but your bodies will no longer be the same as they once were. I might guess at what form they might take, but it would only be a guess.

“What I can promise, however, is that your lives will be forever changed from that point forward. Even if your appearance remains something close to human, you will not be the same as you once were. Transforming to another creature will grant you the strengths and weaknesses of that creature, obviously, but they will also give you some of that creature’s personality traits.”

Lieutenant Soyer raised her hand, and I nodded to her. “What kind of personality traits are you talking about?”

“I won’t be sure until I see your new forms, should you get them. But I do know that the Troll Patriarch, to use an example, has been given a nigh uncontrollable urge to breed, because of his new nature. The Nereid Pair have the compulsion to stay near water, as it is their home, and the source of their power. And the Dragon Emperor? I expect he must be wrestling with his draconic pride more than he used to.”

“I understand. Do you know what we might transform into?”

I sighed, and shook my head. “The only thing that I can promise you is that you will become a creature with a connection to Light mana. Whether it is literal, like in the case of elementals and fey, or more symbolic, like some creatures that might be summoned, is something I can only speculate on. However, given the nature of the transformation, I think we can count out the less powerful types, like wisps.”

Soyer frowned, but nodded all the same. “Understood. Can you give us any idea of what to expect, beyond ‘torture’? The reports we’ve been cleared for have been mixed.”

“You will experience pain as though every inch of your body were burning in fire, melting in acid, and boiling in water, all at once. This is because mana in far greater concentrations than you are able to use will be pushing through your body, like hooking a garden hose up to a fire engine. It will be actively changing you while you work to process the mana and filter it through your bodies to prevent mass mutations or spontaneous explosions.”

Capitaine Vidal nodded. “Is there anything we can do to prepare? I know you planned to do the Fire seal after Light, but if we had something to do…”

“Yes, actually, there are some exercises that you can do, to try and improve your coordination. It may not help with the pain, but it will give you some practice, so you won’t need to learn on the spot, as it were. However, the practice would probably be best if we did it somewhere more private.”

“Why so, your Majesty?”

I chuckled. “Because, Capitaine, it would be best to do the practice under conditions as similar as possible to the real thing as we can manage, without actually torturing you. And, so far, any clothes or personal items that the vessels had on their bodies did not survive the change. So, unless you wish to anger your quartermasters, you would need to strip down for the ritual.”

“We’re soldiers, your Majesty. We’ve learned to deal with… situations in the field.”

“I do not doubt it, Capitaine. However, part of this ritual will involve you standing face to face, hands in hand, allowing your mana to flow through them, and theirs to flow through you. Your souls will touch, and there will likely be some connection between your minds. That kind of intimate connection can cause people to think of their partner in new ways, even if they normally would not be attracted to them. Even if they considered their partner a friend, or a sibling.”

Sergent-Chef Delafosse sucked in her breath. “Oh, my Matthieu will just love hearing about this.”

Vidal shook her head. “He is a man. Of course, he would love hearing about something like this. Hopefully, it will be nothing, or else we may run into troubles with the regulations.”

“Well,” Tremblay chuckled, “I’m fairly certain that rules on fraternization will be… overlooked if this works. So long as everyone is consenting, that is. Command informed me that we may adapt to situations as deemed necessary, to get the best chance of success.”

“Be that as it may,” I said, “part of the problem with the failed ritual in the Azores was that the two volunteer vessels had trouble harmonizing their souls. Fear, pain, and embarrassment at being naked in front of a stranger, while literally baring their souls to each other, caused turbulence that hindered their ability to harmonize.”

Tremblay nodded. “We have rooms prepared in a nearby hotel. It is not the most expensive hotel in Paris, but it is the closest to the airport, and the people there know better than to go around asking questions to which they may not like the answers. And the police will help ensure the building is secure.”

“Good,” I said, before turning to look at my companions. “Naya, Ya, you will be in charge of setting up the wards to keep out prying eyes. Consider this a test of your skills. Chihomi, once our volunteers have started their training, I will begin your training, to help you understand and harness your patron’s power without losing yourself in the process.”

My disciples nodded, replying as one, “”As you wish, Mistress.””

The young warlock, meanwhile, just nodded serenely. She had changed from the young miko I met when I first returned to this world. She felt older, now, even if it had not been too long since we’d met. It was a sign of her contract with a being greater than herself. She didn’t fall to madness or become convinced that her patron’s power was inherently hers, so I had hopes that she would end up living a long and fruitful life.