The Immortal King tilted his head. "Why would I want to talk to you?"
"Don’t play dumb. Why else would you do all this if you didn’t want us to reach a compromise?"
He met the Immortal King’s empty eye sockets without flinching. "What’s your goal? It can’t be to destroy the association." Cipher’s voice grew colder. "And if it is, you might as well give it up now. You can never destroy me." He gestured toward the undead forces below. "If we really can’t find a middle ground, I’ll slaughter all these undead here. You know I can do that - you’ve seen my abilities after all."
Cipher took a step forward. "And then I’ll chase you down wherever you go, destroying any undead you create. You can run, but I adapt. One day, I’ll catch up and smash that skull of yours." He paused, letting the words sink in. "Then I’ll do the same thing after you resurrect. Again. And again. And again." His eyes narrowed. "Do you want that?"
The Immortal King remained silent.
Cipher’s expression shifted, his face suddenly wearing a sweet smile. "So why don’t we talk then? What do you want?"
"Hmph. You know what I want," the Immortal King said.
"Give back what you took from me," he added.
"What we took?" Cipher wondered aloud. Then realization dawned on him - he was talking about Elara. "I’m the association chairman. You know I can’t just give you a civilian." Cipher kept his tone measured. "Is there something else you want?"
"Don’t waste my time. I just want what I want. If you can’t give it to me, then all negotiations are off. I’m not afraid of you," the Immortal King said, bringing his dark tentacles closer to Selene’s neck.
Cipher raised his hands, gesturing for him to wait. "Alright. I can hand her over to you, but I also need something from you."
The Immortal King stared at him. What was this guy’s problem? Couldn’t he see that he was holding a hostage? Was he stalling for time?
"Don’t waste my time. Why do I have to listen to you? Don’t you see who’s in charge here?" the Immortal King asked. "Just give the girl back, or I blast her head open."
Cipher sighed. It seemed he couldn’t buy any more time. But just as he thought this, he suddenly felt a shift in the air and smiled. He looked at the Immortal King.
"Since you’re unwilling, the deal is off," he said.
"What? Don’t you care about this woman?" the Immortal King asked in surprise. After all, when he had attacked this one, Cipher had been so angry that he’d thrown the dagger at him - he’d assumed Cipher must care quite a bit about her, even willing to negotiate.
"I do. But you give me no choice. As the chairman, I have to make the best decisions for the association. I’m sure she’ll understand as well." He then looked at Selene. "Selene, should I protect you or the civilian?"
She smiled. "The civilian, of course."
"You heard her," Cipher said as he charged toward the Immortal King.
"Tch." The Immortal King cursed. Well, even though that had failed, he also had a backup plan. As Cipher charged toward them, the Immortal King pushed Selene forward, throwing her toward Cipher. As Cipher caught her, the Immortal King had almost completely disappeared into a space portal.
"Quick, protect Amélie!" Cipher shouted.
"Hehehe, too late for that," the Immortal King said as he appeared next to the exhausted Amélie.
Cipher, on the other hand, just smiled. "Too late, you say..."
At that moment, another portal opened behind the Immortal King. A hand shot out, grabbing him and pulling him into it. Then, on the ground below, a smashing sound echoed as Marcus smashed the Immortal King against the earth.
...
"Y-y-you... No way! How could you be here?" the Immortal King exclaimed in shock.
He wasn’t surprised that Cipher had shown up - he’d sensed that he’d lost the undead Marcus, and though he was a little surprised Cipher had arrived so fast, it made sense that he had some transportation magic. He’d received confirmation of this when Cipher arrived at the association immediately after news of the attack reached the party, and again when he arrived at his hideout right after Vex returned.
But Marcus? He couldn’t understand it. He had confirmed that Marcus was completely dead. He’d even made him into an undead. How could a living person become undead? Yet here he was, fully alive.
"So only you can revive and no one else can?" Marcus asked.
"How selfish," Cipher added as he walked over. He’d detected Marcus among the crowd with his ESP while negotiating with the Immortal King. It seemed everything had worked out perfectly.
"How’s your mana situation?" Cipher asked.
"Fully loaded and ready to go," the chairman replied.
"Then I’ll leave him to you," Cipher said.
The chairman began cracking his knuckles. "Just keep the undead away from us."
"Leave it to me," Cipher said.
With that, both the chairman and the Immortal King disappeared. Cipher watched as they reappeared in the air above, then looked down at the undead on the ground. It was a good thing Marcus had arrived when he did.
With all these undead, their forces were being completely overwhelmed. Now he could focus on the army while Marcus handled the Immortal King. Since they were both space magic users, they could handle each other. Marcus had better overall physical stats and was more accustomed to spatial magic - he should be able to hold his own against the Immortal King.
The only problem was how to kill him permanently. Since he seemed to have unlimited revives, being able to handle him was practically useless.
Cipher smiled as he charged at the Immortal King’s undead army. Well, not completely useless. In order to hurt the Immortal King, the best approach was to destroy his undead army. Once the army was reduced to a certain extent, he’d probably give up and retreat.
And just as Cipher had predicted, about an hour later, the Immortal King disconnected from his battle with the chairman and unsummoned his army.
"This isn’t over!" the Immortal King shouted as a portal opened behind him. "You haven’t seen the last of me! I’ll be back for what’s mine!" With that, he vanished through the portal.
After he was gone, everyone could finally rest. The chairman appeared next to Cipher, and the others began gathering around them.
"I want a full report of the damages..." Marcus and Cipher said at the same time.
They looked at each other, then coughed awkwardly.
"Ahem. The chairman will be taking over his position, and I’ll be stepping down. From now on, report to him," Cipher said, addressing the gathered association members.
"Selene, coordinate with the others on cleanup. I’ll go fill in the chairman on what’s happened since he went missing."
"Ahem, yes," the chairman said, and the two walked away together.