A flicker of disappointment showed in Cassius's pale gold pupils, and he shook his head with genuine regret.
Ismail had been resurrected.
Although Cassius had no fear of the Grand Sultan, he had no way of killing the pasha right in front of the ruler either.
Moreover, he was nearing the limit of what he could withstand under the furious pressure of the Grand Sultan's onslaught—after all, this was a being possessing quasi-divine power, and even a projection was no easy opponent.
Ismail immediately spotted the red dragon glaring at him hungrily in the distance. He shook his head in disbelief, terror and unease washing over his face.
"You... you—"
"How can this be! Your head should have been severed by my blade!"
"How dare you kill me!"
The vivid scene of his sudden death, of his severed head striking the ground, was still fresh in his mind.
Soon, however, Ismail looked down at his considerably shrunken body and realized that most of the power within him had vanished.
"What... what did you do to me?"
His voice trembled.
Even at the moment of death he had not felt such fear; losing his power struck genuine terror into his heart.
Power was everything he relied upon to exist.
Only the mightiest efreet were qualified to become direct servants of the Sultan, the noble efreeti pashas.
Once shorn of his strength, in a warmongering race like the efreet, he was very likely to be supplanted by up-and-coming efreet of lower station.
"Ismail!"
"You fool!"
The Grand Sultan interrupted in a fury.
Ismail looked toward the Grand Sultan's towering projection in the distance. His expression instantly twisted into frantic panic and apprehension, and he dropped directly to his knees facing that direction.
"My lord!"
"Forgive me, I have failed your expectations! You... you even expended your power to resurrect me."
Yet the Grand Sultan paid no mind to the diminished pasha. Instead, he fixed his gaze upon the red dragon, his eyes blazing with fury.
If looks could kill, the Grand Sultan would have already flayed the red dragon alive, ripping out his sinews and slicing him into a thousand pieces.
Cassius, however, paid no heed to the glare. He merely licked his lips as though savoring an unfinished feast, and smiled.
"Grand Sultan, I came to negotiate. Let us call a temporary truce."
"Negotiate?!"
The efreeti roared back in disbelief, his tone bursting with uncontrollable rage.
"You broke into my realm, seized my city, slaughtered my subjects, and even killed my servant!"
"Things have reached such a pass, and you still dare talk of negotiation?!"
Cassius gently shook his head and said with nonchalance, "Grand Sultan, that is merely how it looks from your perspective. As I see it, your subordinates hunted my followers and insulted me to my face.
"Everything I did was merely legitimate self-defense."
Cassius remained completely unruffled and confident.
The justification did not matter.
Even an excuse as absurd as 'slaughtering an efreeti city in self-defense' could slip past his lips without so much as a blush or a flutter of his heart.
When creatures of evil alignments interacted, only one thing truly mattered: force.
If the Grand Sultan had arrived in his true body, possessing the quasi-divine strength of his prime, Cassius would have turned tail and fled in sheer terror.
And if escape proved truly impossible, dropping to his knees to beg for mercy would not have been out of the question either.
Now, however, what kind of waves could a mere projection of the Grand Sultan hope to stir before him?
"A fine 'self-defense'!"
"If I hadn't stepped in, would you have continued 'defending' yourself all the way to the City of Brass?!"
The Grand Sultan's furious roar echoed across the scorching wasteland, kicking up violent waves of heated air.
Yet he soon calmed himself. Staring at the red dragon across the expanse, his eyes grew dark and somber, brooding over untold thoughts.
Matters had already come to this.
Blind rage would change nothing; it would only make him appear incompetent.
"Cassius, I know who you are. Scion of Tiamat, the red dragon who seized the Great Anzetta Waste of the Material Plane, styling yourself the so-called Cinder Emperor.
"Tsk, tsk. You've certainly made quite a name for yourself lately—
"Yet you dare waltz into the Elemental Plane of Fire and trespass in my realm. Aren't you afraid that you will never leave this place alive?
"Do you even know what manner of being you have provoked?"
The words dripped with naked threat; the Grand Sultan made no effort to conceal his intent.
Cassius inclined his head slightly and said with mock flattery, "Of course I know who you are—Master of the City of Brass, Supreme Sovereign of the Efreet Realm, Paramount Ruler of the Elemental Plane of Fire..."
Under normal circumstances, the Grand Sultan would have taken this as mere flattery.
Yet this red dragon had just slain his servant before his very eyes and devoured the pasha's power; it was unmistakably dripping with sarcasm.
The Grand Sultan's expression darkened further.
Cassius paused briefly after reciting the long string of elaborate titles.
Then he continued:
"However, if you could actually appear here in your true form, I wouldn't dare take a single step into the Elemental Plane of Fire."
He gave the Sultan a half-smile and offered a theatrical inquiry:
"Having Prince Zaaman Rul's lance of sacred fire skewer you right through couldn't have felt very pleasant, could it? Tsk, tsk—I hear you were pinned straight to your throne."
"You greedy, arrogant beast!"
The Grand Sultan could not help but snarl in fury.
Cassius's words had once again struck his sorest nerve.
Several months ago, Zaaman Rul had conspired with fire dwarf rebels to infiltrate the City of Brass through a secret passage.
The Prince of Sacred Fire had sneaked into his Charcoal Palace and hurled that lethal lance, nearly ending his life on the spot!
Even now, the Grand Sultan was still recuperating from his wounds within the City of Brass, not daring to set a single foot outside his palace.
The city itself was under unprecedentedly tight security; all passages were sealed shut, and entering any area required rigorous scrutiny.
Thinking of this, the Grand Sultan glared darkly at the red dragon and spat bitterly, "Who sent you? What exactly are you after?"
"Who sent me?"
Cassius repeated the Grand Sultan's question, chuckling and shaking his head before continuing.
"That depends on your choice.
"If you insist on being an enemy of the Cinder Empire unto death, then I am a surprise vanguard dispatched by the Prince of Sacred Fire.
"I will soar across your vast realm, sweeping over every efreeti city and stronghold, slaughtering them to the last like the Grim Reaper."
Cassius's words were equally steeped in heavy threat.
Yet a nearly imperceptible trace of fluster flickered across the Grand Sultan's face.
Because what the dragon said was entirely feasible.
The fighting on the front lines was fierce, slave rebellions had erupted across numerous cities, and the efreet's elite forces had all been committed to battling the Prince of Sacred Fire's followers.
Meanwhile, he, the Grand Sultan of the Efreet, was severely wounded and spent every day recuperating inside his palace.
In such a state—front lines strained and the rear defenseless—no one could stop this great wyrm-tier, or perhaps even more terrifying, engine of war.
And the Prince of Sacred Fire would surely be delighted to see such an ally.
This beast truly had the power to tear the efreet realm to shreds and hand the rebels the chance to overthrow efreeti rule.
As the Grand Sultan pondered this, Cassius's voice continued smoothly.
"If, on the other hand, you make peace with the Cinder Empire, let bygones be bygones regarding these misunderstandings and frictions, offer me an apology, and extend your goodwill to the empire...
"...then all of this will have been nothing more than a misunderstanding. I will not interfere in your Burning War, and I can even provide you with armaments and materiel within my capabilities."
Cassius lifted his head, a placid smile playing on his fearsome draconic visage.
"I have always been a pursuer of peace, disinclined to resort to violence. All conflicts can be resolved through negotiation.
"Tell me... don't you agree?"
Chapter 461