Not (Just) A Mage Lord Isekai

Instead of meeting on a peak scraping the edges of the sky, our meeting with Tillan the bear lord took place in a field of broken rubble, in a river valley far to the west of where the clans were gathering.

The rubble had a tendency to shift, on occasion, with the rocks moving back and forth.

An earth mana-well.

And standing in the middle of it was Tillan. The man was massive, nearly as large as Inertia. He didn't look as much like the nearby bear that gave him his namesake as I'd expected. Neat braided hair, bare chest with only a light coating of hair so blonde it was nearly invisible and a hammer nearly as tall as he was, held in one hand.

Halfway to our meeting, Nexxa had joined us, unwilling to let me meet with a tier-4 without her.

"You shouldn't even be meeting with them, Perry," Nexxa said, shaking her head as we circled. "Just let me zap them to the Rift and be done with it."

"These guys are willing to talk. If we can convince even one of them to stand on our side, wouldn't that be worth it? They might also have the secret to helping Vaserra advance. As far as she knows, they shouldn't have been able to get to tier-4 as a bonded," I replied, tilting to the side to swing around, to make sure they hadn't brought any extra ambush forces. "Besides, knowing your enemy is useful."

"Just… don't do anything too stupid, okay?"

"Papa can't promise that," Bevel said, shaking her head. "Sometimes you gotta be stupid."

"Is that slander? I feel like that's slander," I said, chuckling as we continued.

While Nexxa had been trying to talk me out of this meeting since she first heard about it, when I'd contacted Vaserra, she'd been all for the meeting though she'd straight up refused to attend. Doing so would leave her borders unprotected, and that was assuming the allowed her to leave alive.

Seemed the other clans were getting more aggressive.

Still, if I was successful here and brought Tillan for a tour, she was very much looking forward to meeting him. Seemed she had a bit of hero worship for the old warrior.

As we circled in for our landing at the opposite end of the broken field, the man lifted his massive head, neatly braided beard trailing across his chiseled chest.

Since he'd chosen to forgo any clothing on his upper body every inch of his heavily tattooed muscles was on display.

Lots of stylized runic representations of different animals there, not just bears.

I landed first, with Inertia thudding down on my left, Tresla still settled on her back. At the same time, Nexxa and Bevel both floated down on my right, neither landing.

One overt display of strength, and one a little more subtle.

At least, that's what Ari had said when she'd suggested it, but honestly, I thought them floating there was overt for anyone who knew anything about ensouled.

The man was flanked by several of his own attendants, each of them nearly as large as he was, and all of them forgoing upper body wear, man or woman. None of them had as many tattoos as Tillan, but none had less than half their upper body covered in ink. In their case, most of the tattoos were focused heavily on bears.

Despite having brought Inertia, I was pretty sure they outweighed us in raw mass by a factor of five to one.

There was only one person who wasn't bear clan present on his side, and that was Henri the elder.

She had her arms crossed, and gave me a single curt nod when our eyes met.

"So, this is the little cub who has impressed Henri so," Tillan said, voice rumbling deeper than the engine of the train we'd just built. "Big, for a mage."

"Greetings, I am-"

"Yes, yes, I know who you are. And you know me too," Tillan said, waving off my attempt at introductions. "Though I must admit, I don't know your companions. Welcome, Forgeborn, to the Frigid Peaks. Rare, for one of your type to come to these cold lands."

Inertia lowered her head slightly, eyes whirring for several seconds while Tresla kept a hand on her shoulder, steadying herself. "Inertia thanks you for your greetings, and should your talks with our friend go well, she would be glad to talk further."

"Friend of a Forgeborn, huh?" Tillan asked, turning back to me, his deep blue eyes seeming to re-evaluate us. "Not something many can claim. Not outside the Howling Wastes."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Got lucky. She was hired as a guide. Turned out we shared a passion for building stuff," I said, shrugging with a glance towards my large friend.

She huffed out a whistle-hiss of laughter, subtly shaking her head.

"Lucky indeed. Not many Forgeborn make themselves available for any price," Tillan said, straightening. "Now, I have agreed to this meeting because Henri has said you are willing to bring me directly to the heart of your lands, where you'll let me check if you are responsible for the failure of the bulwark."

"That's the deal, yep," I said, nodding. "And in exchange, you and yours don't help the rest when they attack."

"Not that they'd survive the attempt," Nexxa mumbled under her breath, eliciting a soft chuckle from Bevel.

"A simple and easy exchange. One I'm prepared to accept with only a single condition," Tillan said, with a slow nod as I kept from reacting to the other's banter.

Honestly, they were behaving better than I'd been expecting.

"What's your condition?" I asked as he took the massive hammer and handed it to one of his companions before pulling an equally massive shield from his back and doing the same.

He cracked his neck, flexed his hands and then made a beckoning motion as he dropped into a wide-footed stance. "You show me everything you've got. No holding back."

I nodded, stepping forward. Vaserra had warned me that a personal challenge might be part of these negotiations. It was normal for the clans to start with these, to see where they stood relative to each other.

Plus, they tended to be good entertainment.

Which meant that, unlike usual, I had a full set of combat spells slotted in.

Bevel clapped in excitement even as everyone moved away, giving us plenty of space. To the point that a casual observer could've been forgiven if they thought we were being abandoned.

Almost like they knew we'd be throwing around incredibly dangerous amounts of force.

It had been a while since I'd had an excuse to let loose. And with a mana-well feeding me… well, there wasn't much reason not to go all out.

I started with a pair of storm dancing enhanced Lightning Bolts, for the obfuscation effect more than anything.

He'd been prepared for the first, easily knocking it to the side, but the second forced him to take a half-step back. The giant man stood shocked for a half-second before letting out a laugh.

Not that I'd done the same. While he'd been blocking, I'd used Dimension Step to slip behind him, where I unleashed another pair of Lightning Bolts.

Already, I was drawing heavily from the well, making sure to keep my mana as high as I could.

He charged towards me with a laughing roar, his powerful steps shattering the ground behind him as he came. I could've simply flown upwards, but instead I D-stepped again, still moving with the flowing motions of the storm dance as I appeared hundreds of feet away, a third pair of Lightning Bolts shooting out, followed by another spell.

As expected, he blocked both Lightning Bolts with no issue.

His grin as he charged forward slipped off his face as the ground beneath him exploded under the effects of Earth Star, sending him hurtling into the air. I stepped under him, this time without teleporting, his roar echoing off the nearby hills.

I couldn't help but grin.

This was… fun.

Sure, I was certain that once he got his hands on me, I was going to be in for a world of hurt.

For the moment… yeah, I was having fun using my spells on a target I couldn't hurt. Well, I suspected that if I cranked them up, it would start to sting.

Tillan crashed to the ground, the broken stone around him raining into the air. Where it froze before shooting towards me.

Well, towards where I'd been standing half-a-second earlier.

I took a risk, moving directly behind him, kneeling down and unleashing a massively overpowered Gust. Just barely caught his 'o' of surprise before he started roaring with laughter once more.

Then a pair of thick bear claws rose up, reaching to lock me in place.

Calbern's lessons hadn't gone unheeded, no matter how busy I was. I was in the dance, and a dance didn't stop just 'cause you hit a beat. Soon as he'd gone into the air, I'd D-stepped over to a rocky outcropping that stood a few feet higher than the rest of the broken field.

With a half-second's rough work using Sculpt Stone, I freed it from its mooring.

Just in time to swing it about as a shield against Tillan's fist.

The rock exploded, cutting shallow furrows in his flesh.

I reached up and touched my forehead. Despite Aegis and Dimension Stepping away, one of the shards had caught me in the head. A weakened Restore Form wiped it away, but it was a stark reminder of how much force he carried in those fists of his.

The encounter continued for another few exchanges, with him never quite able to get his hands on me, and with me not being able to hurt him.

"Hold," he finally called, a massive grin on his face. "You have proven yourself. I'm surprised."

I nodded, taking a deep breath, hungrily drawing in air. Keeping ahead of him had been the most intense workout I'd had since Calbern first started training me.

He'd also called the fight right at the perfect time, as I'd nearly bottomed out on mana.

Our companions from both sides drew closer, and he accepted his weapon and shield with a nod. Was glad he hadn't fought with those. I would've been little more than paste if he'd hit me with that hammer. And he'd come close enough with just his bare hands that he might've landed a blow with the extra reach.

Then again, I would've handled him differently, put on a different style of show. Plus the hammer would've made aiming Lightning spells even easier.

With a Restore Form to wipe away the worst of the fatigue, I straightened. "That was… I've fought mountains that weren't as tough."

"Ha. A mountain is little challenge for a man as stout as I," Tillan said, shaking his head, causing a great deal of stone to shake loose. Durable as he was, I'd knocked him through a lot of solid stone. "Though you're nearly as slippery as the old Panther himself. A good show, and enough to earn you a Sovereign's Exchange."

"A… Sovereign's Exchange?" I asked, unsure if I liked the sound of that.

"Yes. You have guaranteed me safe passage through your lands, and I shall do the same. When the time comes, meet me here and I will escort you to meet with the other Hydra lords, so they may hear your claims for themselves. Then we will go to see the truth of what has transpired in old Aeternia's shadow."

Yep. Definitely didn't like the sound of that. Visiting their camp hadn't been on my list. Not while there were three tier-4's camped out together.

Still, at least I'd bought some time.