The relentless, insidious erosion of Vizima's populace continued, a creeping malaise born of Aizen's pervasive, city-wide Kyōka Suigetsu. The sporadic waves of fear and despair, coupled with the elusive, shadowy figures haunting the periphery of vision, steadily frayed the city's collective psyche. Citizens grew more suspicious of their neighbors, less trusting of their leaders, and increasingly prone to irrational outbursts. The city's mages, including a increasingly strained Triss Merigold, attributed these phenomena to "war fatigue" and the immense psychic bleed from distant battlefields, inadvertently perpetuating the very psychological warfare Aizen waged. Their inability to comprehend his spiritual manipulation only strengthened his contempt for their limited magical understanding.
King Foltest, immersed in his own increasingly paranoid purges and convinced of his strategic brilliance, became a direct conduit for Aizen's will. The King's volatile temper, previously a predictable flaw, was now subtly amplified and directed by Aizen's influence, causing him to lash out at loyal advisors and initiate rash military decisions. General Natalis, despite his logical mind, found his strategic calculations subtly undermined by Aizen's manipulations of intelligence, leading him to commit forces to campaigns that, while initially seeming advantageous, ultimately drained Temeria's already stretched resources and exposed its flanks. The kingdom was not merely weakening; it was being meticulously hollowed out, its very core rendered brittle.
Aizen's research in the Royal Library had reached its apex. He had unearthed and meticulously deciphered ancient texts, long dismissed as mad ramblings, that detailed the true nature of interdimensional rifts and the terrifying power held within the Elder Blood. These scrolls spoke not merely of portals, but of the ability to "unweave" the fabric of reality itself, to draw upon energies from across the Spheres, and to potentially merge or shatter dimensions. He now understood that Ciri was not just a key, but a living, volatile nexus, a conduit through which such colossal power could be either unleashed or, more importantly for Aizen's goals, controlled and stabilized for the purpose of his own ultimate ascension.
The whispers of Ciri's survival intensified, becoming more concrete. She had been sighted, fleetingly, by Witchers and mages, her movements chaotic and unpredictable, leaving behind trails of accidental destruction. The Lodge of Sorceresses, spurred by Anya's 'discovery' and their own insatiable thirst for power, began to actively hunt for her, convinced she was the answer to their own ambitions for dominance. Aizen saw their efforts not as a hindrance, but as a convenient extension of his own reach, their combined magical prowess inadvertently pushing Ciri towards the confrontations that would make her power manifest and accessible.
It was time for Aizen to accelerate the Continent's descent into irreversible chaos, to create a final, undeniable catalyst. He needed an event so profound, so devastating, that it would permanently shatter the remnants of Northern unity and leave the stage clear for his next move. His gaze fell upon the city of Vergen – a strategically vital stronghold in Aedirn, heavily fortified and symbolic of Northern defiance, currently under siege by Nilfgaardian forces.
Aizen initiated his most ambitious, multi-layered Kyōka Suigetsu to date. He targeted King Demavend of Aedirn, the paranoid monarch he had previously isolated. He subtly amplified Demavend's deep-seated fear of assassination and treachery, making him believe his own mages and advisors were plotting against him. He caused Demavend to 'see' illusory assassins lurking in the shadows of his court, to 'hear' phantom whispers of poison and betrayal, driving the king into an extreme state of paranoia and suspicion.
Under this influence, Demavend, convinced his own mages were compromised, refused their crucial magical support for Vergen's defense, believing they might turn its power against him. Simultaneously, Aizen subtly manipulated the perception of a key Nilfgaardian general on the Vergen front, making him 'see' phantom weaknesses in Vergen's defenses and 'believe' that a coordinated attack from his forces could break the siege within days, even hours. The general, believing he saw an unprecedented opportunity, launched a reckless, premature, all-out assault.
The result was swift and cataclysmic. Vergen, deprived of critical magical reinforcement and facing an unexpectedly ferocious Nilfgaardian assault, fell. The news, when it reached Vizima, sent shockwaves more profound than even Cintra's destruction. Vergen was supposed to be impregnable, a symbol of resistance. Its fall shattered what little hope remained among the Northern Kingdoms. Despair became pervasive, turning into a bitter resignation.
"The pieces are aligning," Aizen mused, watching the terrified faces of the Vizima populace as the full horror of Vergen's fall sank in. "Their unity shattered, their spirit broken, their leaders consumed by paranoia and false triumphs. They are ripe for salvation, for a new order. The chaos I have sown is merely the fertile ground for my garden of absolute control."
He felt the burgeoning power within him, the spiritual energy resonating with the very despair of the Continent. He was no longer merely manipulating; he was shaping the very currents of fate. The war would continue, bleeding the kingdoms dry, but its outcome, its true purpose, was now firmly within his grasp. The stage was not just set; it was ready for the true protagonist to make his move. The time for the "Architect of Lies" to step into a more prominent, albeit still unseen, role was upon him.