Held fast in the colossal dragon claw, Hamid trembled from head to toe at Cassius's questioning. He shrieked in terror:
"Y-You cannot kill me!"
"And why is that?"
"I am an Emir appointed by the Great Sultan of the City of Brass! If you kill me... you will make an enemy of the entire Efreet Empire!"
The noble efreeti tried desperately to project an air of authority, but fear still leaked through his eyes.
Cassius burst out laughing.
"Heh..."
"With things as they stand, does your Great Sultan truly have time to spare for a petty Emir like you?"
Cassius spoke with utter confidence, as though he had complete control over the situation and had no fear whatsoever of offending that Sultan.
The dragon had deliberately chosen this moment to enter the Elemental Plane of Fire precisely because he recalled a famous event from his past life—the Burning War.
The efreeti Great Sultan of the City of Brass was undeniably peerless in power.
He stood at the pinnacle of the legendary tier, approaching the level of a demigod or quasi-deity. He had allied himself with archdevils of the Nine Hells and leaned on Imix, the evil fire elemental lord and Prince of Evil Fire, as his backer.
Under his despotic, tyrannical rule, scimitar-wielding efreet had raided countless planes, enslaved numerous races, and carved out a colossal empire spanning the Elemental Plane of Fire—even repelling an expeditionary army from Fadlan.
Yet the glory of the efreet was far from eternal.
The true master behind the Elemental Plane of Fire—Kossuth, the greater deity and Lord of Flames—would never permit the Prince of Evil Fire to seize total dominion over the plane or covet His divine throne. Thus, He dispatched pure flames to purge creation.
Beginning in the year 1768 of the Third Age, Zaaman Rul, the good fire elemental lord and Prince of Sacred Fire, raised an insurrection. He united the fire dwarves, elemental apostles, and otherworldly races enslaved by the efreet to launch a rebellion.
They formed the so-called "Sacred Fire" and engaged in an endless fight to the death against Imix, Prince of Evil Fire.
The war had dragged on ever since. The flames of vengeance and revolt continued to spread across the Elemental Plane of Fire, and that Sultan dared not lightly step beyond the City of Brass.
"Or do you think... he would declare war on me for your sake? Risk offending a mighty red dragon?"
At these words, the efreeti noble's face went pale. A flicker of despair showed in his coal-black eyes.
The red dragon was entirely correct.
A pampered aristocrat like him had only managed to become the Emir of a city because the front lines were fiercely contested and all the powerful efreet had been deployed to the war effort.
"Oh, right."
A thought struck Cassius, and an amused expression surfaced on his face.
"I've captured you now. If I release you... aren't you supposed to grant me three wishes?"
As natural rulers of the elemental planes, genies possessed not only formidable physiques and spellcasting abilities, but also drew the power of "Wish" from the very essence of the Inner Planes.
For this reason, efreet were also known as fire genies. The power of genies to bestow wishes had become legend among mortals. Only genie nobility possessed this capability, able to grant one to three wishes to a non-genie creature.
Yet wishes had invisible boundaries; exceeding those limits invariably warped them into disastrous forms.
In his past life, players had even nicknamed efreet "wish vending machines," usually summoned via Candles of Invocation—a practice that carried considerable peril.
"Yes, my lord!"
"I—I can grant you a wish!"
Hamid replied at once, seizing on this like a drowning man clutching at a straw, terrified the red dragon might swallow him whole in the next breath.
"However..."
He hesitated briefly.
"Mighty dragon, my power is far too modest. Under my pact, I can only grant another creature a single wish at a time."
"Whether you desire gold and silver treasures or fine wine and exquisite delicacies, I can procure them for you."
A servile, flattering smile spread across the noble efreeti's crimson face. To preserve his life, his so-called aristocratic dignity meant nothing.
"Only one? How pathetic..."
"And do you really believe I lack gold, jewels, or fine food and drink?"
The efreeti looked ready to weep.
"O-Of course not."
"Mighty dragon, forgive my presumption."
Cassius's curiosity faded as swiftly as it had come, replaced by mild boredom.
A single wish might be an incomparable treasure to a mortal—a chance to rewrite their destiny—but to a red dragon, it was hardly extraordinary.
The Wish spell typically functioned by duplicating any spell in the world.
If a desire could not be fulfilled through duplicating an existing spell, the wish stood a strong chance of failing, demanding a heavy price, or manifesting in some bizarre, twisted manner.
"On second thought..."
"How about testing this wish?"
After a moment's reflection, Cassius made up his mind. After all, there were plenty of efreet here; he would have more than one opportunity to make a wish.
"Tell me: where will Jezralslak, the Demon of Vengeance, descend?"
"Th-This..."
"Mighty dragon, perhaps you might reconsider..."
The noble efreeti's smile froze instantly. Scorching sweat trickled down his forehead.
An Abyssal demon.
A creation of pure, chaotic evil.
No creature in their right mind would ever want anything to do with such things.
And any demon targeted by this terrifying dragon had to be a powerful, mad demon lord.
Yet the moment the red dragon spoke those words, the laws of the Inner Planes surged forth, compelling Hamid to fulfill the wish.
Cassius glared down at him relentlessly, an invisible dragon fear radiating outward that left no room for negotiation.
Against a mortal, Hamid might have found ways to twist the wording and cheat the rules.
Yet this dragon towered right before him, watching like a predator. His life and death hung entirely on a whim.
*True Lord of Flames...*
*Let me survive this.*
Hamid prayed silently, his face contorting into an expression uglier than weeping. Reluctantly, he pressed his hands together and began to channel the wish.
"I wish to see the location where Jezralslak will descend."
A formidable surge of power erupted.
The noble efreeti's turban whipped in the wind, and the golden pendants dangling from his ears swayed violently.
The miracle of Wish unfolded.
Reality warped around the desire, and a high-tier divination spell was conjured by that power, manifesting in a marvelous fashion.
*Whoosh—*
A colossal magical projection coalesced in midair.
Rolling mountain ranges and pitch-black rock formed the backdrop. In the center of the image stood a majestic peak rising a thousand meters high.
"This is..."
"Mount Thierry?"
At a glance, Cassius recognized the main peak of the Anstica Mountains—the mountain known to the people of the Northlands as the King of Snowy Peaks.
Then the azure sky suddenly darkened.
A colossal black claw ripped through the firmament, tearing open an Abyssal vortex hundreds of meters wide. Countless bizarre, grotesque demons poured out from the rift.
They surged forth like a tidal wave, their hideous bodies blotting out the sun and plunging the land into gloom.
"Cassius—"
"Face your final doom—"
A low, rasping voice echoed out. Cassius knew that voice well; it was Jezralslak, the Demon of Vengeance.
*Sizzle... hiss...*
As if interfered with by some unseen force, the divination image dissolved into static and flitting artifacts, then abruptly snapped shut.
"Oh? Quite persistent, aren't you? Still choosing to launch your invasion in the Great Anzetta Waste..."
"It seems this body of mine holds quite an attraction for you."
"That prophecy appears to be set two years from now. In that case, let me bring an end to it all in Anzeta..."
Cassius gazed into the orange-red sky of the Elemental Plane of Fire, embers flickering within his pale gold pupils.
Chapter 448