by Hugo Huesca
Ed and Lord Virion locked gazes, and both stumbled to their feet then rushed for their weapons. Vaines and the Devil Knight danced between them, and Ed lost sight of the enemy Dungeon Lord in the flurry of terrible blows and magical surges.
Vaines ducked low. Her sword was like a tall, blazing ember in her hand. It went through the Devil Knight’s leg right above the knee as if Molmeda’s enchantments weren’t there. Black blood fountained out in a shower of vapor. The Devil Knight stumbled, but as he did he brought his wings down over Vaines like a child pinning a butterfly to the floor with his thumbs. Vaines went down, her sword sliding away from her.
“Enough!” Molmeda bellowed, using the Devil Knight’s weight to keep Vaines pinned. He attempted to leverage his broadsword like a bonesaw to cut through Vaines’ neck. She tried to wrestle the blade away with her hands, her face contorted by the titanic effort of matching strengths with the fiend if even for a few seconds. “What’s that you liked to say, you bitch? Strength is redeemed by victory! Well, nothing is stronger than a Devil Knight!”
Ed acted without thinking. He rushed in, kicking Eulogy Vaines’ way as he went. He didn’t look to see if the blade reached the intended target—he had to jump above a swipe of the Devil Knight’s tail, and before the fiend had time to react the Dungeon Lord plunged his sword deep into the fiend’s side, where he guessed the kidney was. He noted idly that the Devil Knight’s haunch was peppered with black darts. Then, Ed screamed in effort as he fought the Devil Knight’s enchantments and the magical aftershock that threatened to char his skin. He managed to embed his sword a couple inches deep in the second it took for Molmeda to wail in pain and shake him off like a bull trying to gore a nearby cowboy.
There was a dizzying flurry of movement, and then Ed was airborne. He tried to right himself using his reflexes and watched in slow motion as the Devil Knight’s horns got dangerously close to his downward trajectory. The Dungeon Lord extended his hand in a mad hope and, as if reading his mind, the cursewing extended like a lasso, enveloped one of the horns, and pulled.
Ed didn’t even realize he was screaming as he drew an arc around the furious Devil Knight. The Dungeon Lord yanked hard at the cursewing and almost impaled himself on the horn as he straddled the Devil Knight’s neck with his legs and held on for dear life.
On second thought, he realized madly, this wasn’t my best idea.
Raw adrenaline and fear gave the world around him a frozen-solid sort of quality that those who undergo a near-death experience know very well. First of all, he was riding the Netherworld’s most dangerous creature. Second, he could see how the Devil Knight was reaching for him with one hand while pinning Vaines down with his good hoof. Vaines was reaching for her sword, only a few inches away from her extended hand. A few feet away, Jarlen and Lord Virion swiped at each other. Ryan sobbed next to the nearest wall.
The world resumed its usual chaotic speed. The next thing that happened was that Vaines grabbed her sword and almost severed the fiend’s hoof straight off just as his hand was about to close around Ed’s head. The Devil Knight toppled like a statue, and Ed along with it.
The Dungeon Lord rolled with the impact, his weary mind complaining all the while. Thanks to years of training and a non-negligible amount of help from his talents, though, he managed to spring up to his feet. The Devil Knight’s head was only a few paces away. Ed rushed at the fiend, caught the horns and grunting with effort, he forced the Devil Knight’s head to the side, exposing the neck and the vulnerable jugular. “Vaines!” Ed roared. For a second, the Dungeon Lord locked eyes with the blazing green eyes of the possessed creature and almost stumbled back by the hatred he saw there.
Like an apparition, Vaines arrived next to him, blade raised high above her head. She screamed as she prepared to plunge the steel into the fiend’s neck—
And then the fiend’s Evil Eye shut off like a candle snuffed out by the wind. Instead of hatred, now Ed saw fear.
“Quarter!” the creature exclaimed. “I yield!”
Vaines, to Ed’s surprise, held her strike.
Carefully, Ed let go of the creature’s horns as the fiend crawled back up, his magic already fixing the damage done to his legs. “I’m not sure that was smart,” Ed told Vaines. Truth be told, he was ready to run away if the Devil Knight did as much as look his way angrily.
Instead, the fiend pulled Ed’s sword out from his side, grunting in pain. He covered the wound with one hand, then handed over the bloodied weapon, hilt first, to the Dungeon Lord, who started to seriously consider that he may have hit his head too hard at some point. “My contract with Dungeon Lord Dominic Molmeda is ended,” the fiend said. “You and I are no longer enemies.” He stumbled backward and focused as a summoning circle manifested in flames all around him in a display of power that would’ve put to shame every mortal spellcasters Ed had ever met. “My name is Velvonnar. You have my gratitude for sparing my life. I am in your debt. After I have recovered, if either of you are to call my name three times, I shall answer.” And just like that, he went away.
Tension visibly left Vaines’ body as she bent over and spat blood. One by one, her buffs shorted out. Despite not having sustained half the damage she had, Ed could understand how she felt. It was as if they had picked a fistfight with a truck.
Virion and Jarlen were still fighting. Before Ed could figure out if Vaines and he were supposed to kill each other now, Vaines turned to them. “Enough!” she told them. “We’ve trouble incoming.” She was using her sword as a stick to prop herself up.
Virion listened to her. Jarlen gave Ed a glance that he interpreted to mean if she could stab the Dungeon Lord now, while he wasn’t paying attention. Ed shook his head.
“What do you mean ‘incoming’?” Ed asked Vaines. “The Knight is coming back?”
“No. His contract ended. That means, Lord Wright, that Lord Molmeda is no longer capable of upholding his end of the bargain he made with the fiend.”
Ed blinked as realization set in. He turned in a full circle as the platforms swam slowly all around.
Molmeda told Vaines she would “pay for this,” despite him being the one springing his ambush. Velvonnar was wounded by the same darts that took Vaines’ minions out of commission. Lord Molmeda is no longer capable of upholding the end of his contract because he was just—
Seven black-hooded figures dressed in the garb of the Assassins Guild ended their camouflage spells and walked confidently into view. Malikar was at the front, smiling. He held a bloodied helmet at his side. Ed didn’t need a good look to know the helmet was still occupied, and that it had belonged to Dungeon Lord Molmeda until just a few seconds ago.
“This one turned out to be hiding very well, but we caught him,” Malikar said happily, tossing the helmet Vaines’ way. “Lady Vaines, Lord Wright. We’ve been looking forward to this meeting.”
27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Moth's Fate
“Strange,” Jarlen said as Malikar and his Assassins spread out, keeping enough distance between them that Ed couldn’t catch them all with a single fireball rune. “I could’ve sworn we killed you already.”
“I got better,” Malikar said. He turned to Ed. “Lord Wright, we are going to have a talk now. If you try to kill me mid-sentence like you have a tendency to do, know that my companions here will kill you.”
Ed raised an eyebrow. I guess I’m building up a reputation, he thought, though he said nothing.
“Don’t step any closer,” Vaines warned the Assassins, and they seemed to listen to her, although Ed couldn’t see their expressions beneath the hoods. Despite all the blood pouring out of her wounds, the Lady of Vros still looked fearsome, standing so straight it seemed as if her spine was made out of the same steel as her sword. Her Evil Eye smoldered, and she was no doubt reading their character sheets. Ed did the same. They were Akathunian Assassins like the ones he and Jarlen had killed many times before in Undercity. They seemed out of place in the Netherwo
rld, and little threat compared to the Devil Knight Vaines had almost fought off on her own.
However, none of the Dungeon Lords were unhurt, and Ed had lost count of how many basic spells he had left. Not many, that was for sure.
Besides, every single one of the men facing them, including Malikar, had a single talent hidden from view, which immediately put Ed on high alert. Vaines, next to him, frowned. Was the talent hidden from her as well?
Ed began to have one terrible suspicion. I really, really hope I’m wrong, he thought. This would be a perfect time for the Inquisition to burst in out of nowhere. “How are you alive?” he asked Malikar. “I cut your throat.”
Malikar just shrugged and grinned again.
Nicolai, Ed thought all of a sudden. That was the name of the suspicion that had caught him. Nicolai, a man who had infected himself with a brain-eating larva and managed to keep it dormant with the use of a strange potion. Nicolai, who had almost killed Ed and everyone else in the Haunt.
Ed had never found out where Nicolai had gotten the mindbrood’s larva. Ed feared the answer was about to reveal itself.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” Vaines asked.
“Name’s Malikar. We met during your dinner, my Lady Vaines, although at the time I was under the temporary employ of late Lord Vandran, who thought I was a spellcaster of considerable means with access to Akathunian Assassins.” He glanced to his men. “He wasn’t wrong in that regard. But I’m actually more than that. My real work is as an emissary. I’m here to make your Lordships an offer.”
“Is that so?” Vaines asked, matching Malikar’s casual tone with ease. “Well, then, let us hear it.”
“In a minute,” Malikar said, waving a finger. “I’m afraid we’re soon to be interrupted.” He made a gesture, and the Assassins cloaked themselves again, fading into the background. “You see, an Inquisitorial strike team has managed to infiltrate the Factory and their scrying locked them in on the aftermath of your battle. They are almost here.”
That was when Ed realized he was really in a lot of trouble. No one was supposed to expect the damn Inquisition.
The Factory of Nightmares, people called it. Gallio could understand the reason for the name. As soon as he had stepped out of the summoning circle, before he could even get his bearings, the Factory had just… disassembled around the Inquisitors. They could’ve all died there as the platforms shifted and there would’ve been nothing Gallio could’ve done beside pray to Alita and hope the goddess was listening.
They had survived, though, and now the infiltrator, the spy Mohnuran, led the Inquisitors through a hellish maze of passages and trapped corridors.
“You shouldn’t have come, Eminence,” Inquisitor Jayden told Gallio. He was a tall, lanky man with cropped blond hair. Jayden would’ve been the man to lead the team if Gallio hadn’t arrived at the very last second. Without explicit instructions from the Examiners, Jayden’s authority had been deferred to Gallio, who outranked him. “Examiner Harmon asked for our team specifically.”
“I, for one, am glad you’re with us, Eminence Gallio,” one of the other Inquisitors said, just a kid in Gallio’s eyes despite being considered an elite warrior by the Examiners. The kid looked nervously at one of the many corpses that littered the long corridors Mohnuran guided them through. The corpse in question had nothing human about it. “I have no idea what goes on inside this accursed place, but it sure could use some of Alita’s cleansing fire.”
“Thankfully we brought some cleansing fire of our own,” said Cleric Dalph as he reverently caressed the steel frame hanging by a chain from his waist. Inside the frame, Gallio knew was a heavy, leather-bound book that was one of the Inquisition’s treasured Relics. The Codex of Aucrath, which contained a fragment of a bone of Aucrath himself before his ascension as Alita’s consort. The Codex was their secret weapon today, their answer against the abominations the Dungeon Lords held in their arsenal. Bringing it was a huge risk, as the Inquisition treasured its Relics, but facing a Devil Knight without divine assistance what utter folly.
Gallio couldn’t disagree with the decision to bring the Codex. He recognized some creatures. The fabled Silver Knights had faced them, before his time, and their battles against Tillman’s nightmares had been the stuff of song and legend.
Just what happened here? Some corpses were human, or human enough. He even recognized some of them as known minions. They had died fighting each other instead of the hellish creatures of the Factory. It seemed as if the dogma about Dungeon Lords was true: they were as dangerous to each other as they were to the civilized world. Wolves preying on wolves. It was a shame the Lordship had never managed to end itself. Then again, that didn’t surprise Gallio.
There was always someone in the world willing to doom themselves for a sliver of the Dark’s power.
“Careful, now,” Mohnuran said, raising a fist to indicate they should stop. According to their scrying, the surge of magic they had detected before was almost up ahead, just behind that steel door. “According to Wraith’s minions, he’s currently Vaines’ prisoner. So you should expect at least three Dungeon Lords in there, as well as Kharon’s Champion—Argent Planeshifter. That’s unless they all managed to kill each other in the last few minutes.”
Gallio could feel the anticipation building up in the surrounding Inquisitors. The younger ones, the two Inquisitors raised in Starevos, would want to kill Edward Wright. They had been trained for it, even. Jayden and Dalph, however, were older and had been born in Heiliges. They knew Vaines was the bigger fish.
Despite the danger the two Dungeon Lords posed, they were as vulnerable now as they would ever be—away from their Portals and their dungeons and most of their tricks. If the Inquisition managed to kill them today, the direction of history in Ivalis would shift.
In any usual circumstance, Gallio would’ve thought the risk was too great. But he had the Codex, and the sunwave, and he had heard the crying of the wounded in Castle Vadyahun’s hospital wing, and had seen the graves of the Inquisitors that had died defending Undercity during Wright’s revolt.
I can’t put this off any longer. What started that day in Burrova must end. Better for everyone if it ends today, he thought.
“These are the last known compositions of Lord Wraith, Lady Vaines, and Lord Virion’s character builds,” Cleric Dalph said. He shared the information so it would be fresh in their minds, although every person in there had already memorized it beforehand. “The Planeshifter is an unknown. Perhaps it would be wise to kill him first. Perhaps with the Codex?”
Gallio shook his head. “Save the Codex for Vaines or someone worse. Just focus on whoever you see first as we go through that door. They won’t be expecting us, and even the mightiest warrior can fall to a lucky arrow. I’ll deal with Wright myself, if it comes to it.”
“Very well,” said Inquisitor Jayden. “As the official leader of this mission, it is my duty to take the lead.” He turned to Gallio, grimly. “But it would be an honor if you’d be by my side… Eminence.”
Gallio nodded grimly. “It shall be my honor as well.”
“Buffs up, everyone,” Jayden said, turning to the rest of the group. Dalph set to work, while Jayden gave instructions. “The Armory is protected against scrying, so we shall go in blind, quick and hard. Do not save any talent or spell, Vaines and Wraith are big enough targets that killing them would be considered an acceptable result even if we fail to destroy the Factory. If Vaines manages to withstand our first push, Cleric Dalph is to target her with the Codex.” He went on like that for a few seconds, explaining a couple of the more likely scenarios. Gallio would’ve done it differently, but arguing with Jayden at that point would’ve only undermined the confidence of the team and reduced their overall chance of success. Standard doctrine of the Militant Church dictated that inefficient action was better than inaction due to indecision.
When Jayden finished his spiel, the team took their positions. The blue-and-silver glow of Dalph’s enc
hantments made them look like the fabled Knights of old. And who knew? Perhaps, if the Light was on their side, generations to come would aspire to emulate them just as they emulated the Knights.
Inquisitor Cassimir, the young Inquisitor from before, set up a series of demolition glyphs around the weak points of the door. The others retreated to a safe distance and Dalph raised a barrier to protect the team from debris.
“Everyone ready, we move on three,” Jayden said. There came the silvery sound of swords being drawn. Mohnuran craned his neck and hefted his axe. Jayden nodded at Cassimir. “Two. One. By Alita’s grace! Breach!”
The glyphs on the door shone a bright red, and then there was a deafening noise, loud enough to trigger Gallio’s talents to protect his eardrums from damage. There was no flame, only an implosion like an invisible cloud of force that made his bones shake inside of him. The door crumbled as if it were made out of paper and exploded backward toward the Armory as if punched by a Titan. Light flooded the dark corridor and blinded Gallio for a fraction of a second before his talents and his buffs compensated for it. He distinguished a bunch of figures standing in a circle not a few meters away. Perfect.
He screamed a war-cry and, raising his golden-sword above his head, rushed in, shoulder to shoulder with Jayden as the others followed.
As it turned out, they never had a chance.
Where Gallio had expected a bunch of Dungeon Lords and their minions, he saw a group of hooded figures he recognized from his time in Undercity. Akathunians, he thought. Something was wrong. Neither Vaines nor Wright were known allies of the Assassins Guild.
And why did it look like they had been expecting Gallio’s arrival?
There was no time to think. He finally caught sight of Vaines, and Wright next to her. Both were wounded. He rushed in, golden-enchanted sword at the ready. The Akathunians went to meet him, launching a flurry of darts his way.
