Making Plans

"Well, you've hit the nail squarely on the head," Arianna admitted, flashing him an approving smile tinged with a hint of sardonic amusement. "But you see, despite the fact that I was widely disliked and ostracized by my peers within the Arcane Nexus, I still rather enjoyed participating in their scheduled mage discussion meetings – open forums where talented individuals could calmly discuss and debate their latest mystical discoveries, insights into their cultivation paths, or observations regarding the intricacies of Magical Arts and Innate Spirits."

Her expression took on a slightly wistful quality as she recounted, "These meetings provided me with ample opportunities to glean valuable information and knowledge, even if I often found myself at odds with the more rigid mindsets and dismissive attitudes of those in attendance."

Arianna's smile morphed into a rueful smirk as she pressed on. "And then, as you can probably surmise, Starforge participated in one of these very meetings – a gathering I simply couldn't resist attending, if only to satisfy my insatiable curiosity about the Magical Arts and techniques he had mastered at such a remarkably young age."

A weary sigh escaped her lips as she shook her head in a mixture of exasperation and resignation. "My continuous disagreements with him, my refusal to simply accept his assertions and doctrines without question... well, it didn't take long for the entire situation to devolve into open hostility. He practically declared that I needed to become his personal servant, to submit myself to his 'enlightened tutelage' so that I could finally 'see the true light' and be set on the proper path."

Arianna's expression hardened, a steely glint entering her eyes as she concluded, "When I continually refused to bow to his arrogant demands, his devoted lackeys and followers attempted to goad me into physical confrontations – schemes designed to inevitably result in my subdual and forced conscription into Starforge's services, one way or another. But I never rose to their obvious baits, refusing to give them any justification to act against me within the confines of the Nexus's grounds."

Gladius felt a flicker of annoyance ripple through him as the pieces fell into place, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly as he growled, "And this relentless manhunt, this pursuit to apprehend you by any means necessary – Starforge can't truly take any overt actions against you while you remain within the city or the Nexus's sphere of influence. But surely the senior mages overseeing the organization must be aware that he's been dispatching covert teams and agents to track your movements, yes? Are there no laws in place to prevent such illegal hunts and underhanded tactics from being employed?"

"Not if you're viewed as nothing more than an 'average' mage in the eyes of your peers, and your 'transgressions' involve offending or slighting a mage of immense talent and prestige," Arianna replied with a philosophical shrug, as if she had long since come to terms with the harsh realities governing her circumstances. "Mages who exhibit true genius, who show the potential to reach incredible heights and bring invaluable knowledge and growth to their respective organizations, are afforded far higher levels of esteem and privilege. Their perceived value to the future outweighs any concerns over occasional... overreaches of authority or ethics."

For a brief moment, a contemplative frown marred Arianna's features as she seemed to mull over some unspoken thought or consideration. But it was gone in an instant, replaced by a brilliant smile that seemed to radiate an almost fevered intensity, as if she had managed to push aside whatever lingering doubts had momentarily surfaced.

"Which is precisely why I want to lure Starforge out from the protective confines of the Nexus and the city, to goad him into taking personal action against us," she declared, her eyes glittering with a mixture of eagerness and cold determination. "If we can continue growing our strength at an exponential rate and successfully bait him into confronting us directly, we can kill him and claim his Magical Arts as our own – the ultimate prize that will boost our paths tremendously."

"Really now?" Gladius couldn't quite conceal the undercurrent of greed that laced his words, his eyes glinting with a rapacious hunger for power as he pressed, "These Magical Arts of his are truly so invaluable, so transformative in their potential?"

"More than that," Arianna breathed, her excitement practically palpable as the words tumbled from her lips in a fevered rush. "You see, Gladius, there are different tiers and ranks when it comes to Magical Arts, each one granting progressively higher ceilings in terms of the realms and levels of power a mage can eventually hope to attain."

Her expression took on an almost reverential quality as she expounded, "Common Rank Magical Arts can only carry a mage so far, allowing them to reach the peak of the Nascent Expert realm at most before their path becomes hopelessly obstructed, stalling their forward momentum. But Spiritual Origin Arts? Mastering one of those would essentially guarantee our ability to transition from the Nascent realm, through Origin Attunement, and into Spiritual Harmony without facing any significant roadblocks along the way."

Arianna's smile blossomed into a radiant grin as she drove her point home. "With Starforge's arts in our possession, our growth and evolution would be exponentially accelerated. We'd be able to reach the pinnacles of those higher realms within mere years, rather than the decades – if not centuries – it takes even exceptionally talented mages operating under the guidance and resources of a powerful organization."

Her gaze bored into Gladius's, shimmering with a fervent light of conviction as she concluded, "And because the mystical forces you wield through your Sword Saint path so closely mirror and imitate the flow of magic itself, I'm more than certain you would be able to accompany me in scaling those lofty heights, studying and comprehending the sublime intricacies of Starforge's arts to elevate your own martial prowess to utterly inconceivable new domains of power."

"I see..." Gladius murmured, barely able to suppress the tremor of excitement that rippled through his body at the prospect she had laid out before him. "That does indeed sound like a plan well worth pursuing, despite the inherent risks involved."

After all, in the life-or-death struggles that seemed to define their existences in this world, the notion of playing by predetermined rules or adhering to arbitrary codes of ethics was nothing more than a hollow farce. 

If Starforge and his ilk sought to eliminate them through sheer force and subjugation, then they would simply have to strike first – slaying their would-be executioners without a shred of remorse or hesitation.

A faint smile curved Gladius's lips as he felt the thrill of the coming conflict thrumming through his veins, the allure of securing such tremendous power proving to be an irresistible siren's call that he could not help but heed.

Arianna, sensing the shift in his demeanor, seemed to rein in her own eagerness and excitement, forcing herself to adopt a more measured, controlled demeanor as she flicked her gaze back toward the eviscerated corpse of the mage impaled upon the boar's tusks.

"Now then," she began, her tone all business as she refocused on the matter at hand. "What was this plan of yours to properly bait our pursuers into making their move? I'm quite eager to set the wheels in motion and continue advancing along the path that has so fortuitously opened up before us."

"Right," Gladius confirmed with a solemn nod, his mind already dissecting the most efficient way to orchestrate their ambush and lay the perfect trap for their increasingly brazen adversaries. "My plan is a relatively simple one, designed to instill a careful sense of caution in our pursuers without completely exposing the full extent of our combined might."

His eyes narrowed as he laid out the specifics, speaking in a low, measured cadence to ensure Arianna grasped every crucial detail. "We – or rather, you – will need to incinerate most of the other boar corpses littering this battlefield, leaving only a bare minimum of physical evidence behind. Then, we'll take this mage's body and set it apart from the others, making it appear as if he simply met an untimely demise due to his own carelessness or arrogance in underestimating what should have been a routine extermination mission."

Gladius's expression took on a slightly predatory edge as he continued, "With only a small number of beast cadavers remaining amidst the scene of such senseless carnage, our pursuers will certainly take notice of our apparent level of skill and prowess. Enough to make them exercise an appropriate degree of caution when they inevitably decide to take more direct actions against us. But not enough to prompt them into requesting aid from other organizations, or calling in reinforcements from particularly powerful mages or talents just yet," 

Gladius continued, his voice taking on a cold, calculating edge. "We don't want to spook them into believing we're such an overwhelmingly dangerous threat that they'll respond with excessive force from the outset."

He fixed Arianna with an intense stare, ensuring she understood the nuances of his stratagem. "The goal here is to lure them into a false sense of complacency, to have them believe they're dealing with a manageable, if skillful pair of opponents. That way, when they do make their move to capture us, they'll come at us with a smaller, more concentrated force – one we can isolate and eliminate with ruthless efficiency before they even have a chance to call for backup."