The Builder’s Throne
The Legendary Builder Book #5
J. A. Cipriano
Copyright © 2018 by J. A. Cipriano
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Thank You for reading!
Author’s Note
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Also by J.A. Cipriano
The Pen is Mightier
World of Ruul
Soulstone: Awakening
Soulstone: The Skeleton King
Soulstone: Oblivion
Bug Wars
Doomed Infinity Marine
Doomed Infinity Marine 2
The Legendary Builder
The Builder’s Sword
The Builder’s Greed
The Builder’s Pride
The Builder’s Wrath
The Builder’s Throne
The Builder’s Conquest
The FBI Dragon Chronicles
A Ritual of Fire
A Ritual of Death
Starcrossed Dragons
Riding Lightning
Grinding Frost
Swallowing Fire
Elements of Wrath Online
Ring of Promise
The Vale of Three Wolves
Crystalfire Keep
Kingdom of Heaven
The Skull Throne
Escape From Hell
The Thrice Cursed Mage
Cursed
Marked
Burned
Seized
Claimed
Hellbound
The Half-Demon Warlock
Pound of Flesh
Flesh and Blood
Blood and Treasure
The Lillim Callina Chronicles
Wardbreaker
Kill it with Magic
The Hatter is Mad
Fairy Tale
Pursuit
Hardboiled
Mind Games
Fatal Ties
Clans of Shadow
Heart of Gold
Feet of Clay
Fists of Iron
The Spellslinger Chronicles
Throne to the Wolves
Prince of Blood and Thunder
Found Magic
May Contain Magic
The Magic Within
Magic for Hire
Witching on a Starship
Maverick
Planet Breaker
1
“My name is Arthur Curie, and you’re all fucked now!” I snarled, driving my magical sword, Caliburn, through the beholder’s gaping maw as it lunged at me. My strike drove through the back of its throat, ripping out the other side and spilling gobs of foul-smelling yellow blood across the grimy floor of the dungeon.
It tried to scream, tried to howl in pain as I savagely tore my weapon free, splitting the monster open like an overripe melon. As its giant eye stalks went limp, and it crashed to the ground in front of me, I whirled, my other hand already calling up Hellfire.
As the monstrous ball of fire grew in my hand, I slammed my palm into the lizard man who had been stupid enough to try to sneak up on me. The blast punched a hole clean through his right eye socket, taking off a huge chunk of skull with it as it exploded into a flurry of light and sound that filled the air with the smell of charred flesh.
That’s when the chittering screams of a dungeon full of monsters filled my ears, and the clock started ticking. Ever since I’d come into the Darkness to save Gabriella a few months ago, they had come for me. Swarm upon swarm of monsters would rush at me the moment I stepped into the void until I had no choice but to escape.
This time was different though. I wasn’t here just to slaughter monsters. No, I was here to free the dungeon of Al-Shakir from the Darkness because it was the sole source of Black Mold and we needed to harvest it. I wasn’t exactly sure why this was the only place it grew in all of Heaven or Hell, but I knew my alchemist Sally wanted it, and since both she and her lover Crystal were super-hot, I liked keeping them happy, especially when it involved killing the fuck out of monsters.
Besides, after what I’d seen of the empress’s army, we needed every advantage we could get. Which was why, despite Michelle’s pestering and Lucifer’s tongue-lashings about how reckless I was being, I was here. Trying to clear the goddamned cave by myself because it fucking needed to be done and no amount of debate would get it done. No. Only action could get it done.
“Die, mother fucker,” I snarled, pointing my sword at the lizard man sounding the alarm. A bright blue blast of energy ripped free of my weapon and hurtled through the air like a meteor. The blast slammed into the creature, throwing it back into the far wall where it exploded like a bag of raspberry jam.
That’s when I felt it. The awe-inspiring, terror-inducing effect of a Dark General’s approach. I wasn’t actually sure if that’s what they were called because none of my people had ever seen one, but that’s what I’d taken to calling them because they were fucking strong.
I’d fought one just once, and it’d nearly killed me. Since then, I’d escaped before the Generals could engage me in combat. This time though? This time, I had another plan. That was the other reason why I was here.
Taking a deep breath, I ignored the dread welling up in my stomach as my fight or flight reflex went fully into the ‘get the fuck out of here, you idiot’ camp. I was going to stick to the plan, which meant going deeper into the dungeon. My boots echoed off the chewed up green cobblestones with every step as I sprinted toward where I felt the dungeon boss.
Monsters attacked, but I bypassed them as best as I could, only cutting down those in my way. It was easy enough since the power of six Hellion Armaments combined with six Heavenly ones basically turned me into a super-powered demigod. Sure, I hadn’t completed the achievement yet to gain full control over the Heavenly Armaments, but I was so close, it didn’t matter against these weaklings.
Another wave of beholders fell before my blade,
and as their lifeless corpses hit the ground, I used the power of Mammon, Archangel of Greed, to rip the Dark Blood from their bodies. As the glowing green crystals surged toward my outstretched hand, I took a deep breath, absorbing their power.
It hit me like a freight train, surging through my veins and causing sparks to leap from my skin. As dark energy filled me, I spun on my heel and called upon the power of Lucifer, the Archangel of Pride.
“Let’s see you get through this,” I cried, unleashing all the stolen energy at once.
A massive tornado exploded into being, sealing off the cavern behind me with vicious winds that ripped into the few monsters foolish enough to be there. As the ridiculously powerful winds tore them limb from limb and splattered their blood across the walls, I wondered how long it’d hold the General.
Not wanting to waste a second, I turned away from the tornado and sprinted toward the boss room as quickly as my superhuman legs could carry me. A moment later, I came to a doorway made of what looked like solid oak and braced with thick iron.
I didn’t even stop.
Instead, I kicked it as hard as I could, using my momentum to drive my heel into the spot just beside the doorknob. My foot crashed into the wood with an ear-splitting crack that shattered the jamb, knocking the door inward with so much force, it slammed into the stone walls of the dungeon. The sound probably alerted every asshole in here to my presence, but I didn’t care. After all, I’d just summoned a tornado inside their dungeon. If they didn’t know I was here, they were fools.
“You dare trespass upon my dungeon?” the lich within the chamber said as he looked up from his grisly business. He had a demon strapped to the altar in front of him. She was clearly dead because her chest had been torn open and most of her organs were arranged in a crude pentagram around her body. And, well, her head was missing.
“My dungeon,” I snarled, throwing a handful of Hellfire into his stupid skull-face. The blast snapped his head back, and as he collapsed to the ground dead, I felt the cold chill of the General’s presence like an icy spider running down my spine.
I spun in time to catch a fist with my face.
My jaw shattered. My nose broke. My neck snapped. My body lifted from the floor.
I slammed into the lich’s altar with so much force the stone cracked, and as I toppled to the ground, my vision blurred.
Already, I could feel the healing ability I’d stolen from Dred struggling to repair the damage to my neck so I could do more than lay here like a dead fish.
“Hello, Builder,” the General said, taking a step into the room. He wasn’t that big, standing maybe five or so feet tall. The left half of his face was covered in a series of grotesque scars that made it look like mashed-up hamburger, while the other side of his face was movie star perfect.
His dark eyes were full of amusement as he reached up and pushed the hood of his cloak back. His short lavender hair sparkled in the torchlight of the room as he came toward me, bare feet smacking the stones like wet meat on a butcher’s counter.
“It amuses me that you have come here,” he said, pausing just long enough to draw the kusarigama from his belt. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the spiked ball attached to the sickle by a long chain spinning around himself to build momentum, and I knew he meant to smash it into my skull because that’s what he’d done last time. Let me just say that having a three-inch spike driven through your eye isn’t fun.
“Yeah, well, everyone says I’m dumb,” I said as I finished healing. “But really, I’m just a people person. I couldn’t dream of not seeing you again.”
His laughter filled the air as he launched his spiked ball at me, and I deftly dodged, throwing myself out of the way as quickly as I could. The ball missed me by the barest millimeter and slammed into the altar, spikes tearing through the stone like it was made of soft cheese.
As he pulled the ball back to try again, I sprang toward the altar and drove Caliburn into it with all my strength.
Light exploded from the stone, bursting from the cracks like all of Heaven itself was rushing in to drive back the Darkness, which was, essentially, what was happening. By killing the boss and destroying his altar, I’d freed the dungeon from the grip of the Darkness.
“You think you’ve won,” the General snarled, one hand tearing through the space between us and rending open the air itself.
As a wave of white light exploded outward, dispelling all the darkness from the room, the General stepped through the portal. His entire form vanished before the light reached him, leaving me standing there all alone as the dungeon returned to Heaven’s control.
I stood there, huffing for a second before getting to my feet and wiping my brow with the back of my hand.
“Too bad it didn’t kill you,” I snorted, annoyed. Part of me had wondered what would happen if he’d gotten caught in the blast, but either way, I didn’t care. I had freed the dungeon, and now I could collect Black Moss.
2
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing out here alone, Arthur?” Lucifer snapped the moment I exited the cave with my bag full of moss. She stood there in her crimson armor, a sheathed sword slung from either hip. Her long dark hair was tied in a ponytail that swayed behind her feet with each step as she walked toward me, clearly pissed off.
Her anger was fair because I’d ditched her and the guards she’d assigned to me to come out here by myself, and while part of me wondered how she’d found me here in the dead of night, most of me didn’t give two fucks.
“Move, bitch,” I said, and when she didn’t move, I shouldered by her, knocking her aside. “Get out the way.”
A small growl rumbled in the back of her throat as the Devil stood there, watching me for a moment as I made my way along the trail that led back to Heaven’s main town. I made it exactly six steps before she spoke. It was farther than I’d expected, but not nearly as far as I’d have liked.
“Excuse me?” she said, voice so low it would have made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, you know, if I cared.
“We needed moss,” I said, whirling around to meet her icy glare. I shook the sack at her. “I have moss.”
“You can’t go off like this, Arthur. It isn’t safe—”
“Lucifer, I don’t give two fucks what you think.” I met her eyes as she stood there, staring at me with a strangely contemplative look on her face. “I am more than capable of going into the Darkness and getting moss.” I sighed, loudly. “Do you even realize how ridiculous that statement is?”
“Arthur, I know you’re stressed about the Darkness.” She took a long, slow breath and came toward me. “But this isn’t healthy. I’m starting to worry—”
“That I’m paranoid and crazy?” I met her eyes, and she stopped mid-step. “I saw it. Wrath saw it. She believes me, why don’t you?”
“Because it sounds insane.” She shook her head, causing her raven hair to flutter around her perfect face. “We have barely held off Dred this whole time, and you mean to tell me there are things stronger than him?”
“Yes.” I spun on my heel. I was done with this conversation. I had moss to deliver. Having the same argument I’d been having with her and the others for months wouldn’t help things now. No. Just getting the moss to the alchemist, Sally, would help. Then she could brew the potions to help with … I couldn’t quite remember, but I knew it had been important.
We’d been arguing about it earlier because there had been no moss, and no one could get some because the dungeon was lost to the Darkness, etc., etc. That’s when I’d proposed we take it and been told it was too dangerous.
“Even if that is true, and there are things stronger than the Destroyer, that is all the more reason why you can’t go out there alone like this. It’s not safe. Not alone.” I felt Lucifer’s hand on my shoulder, trying to turn me back around, to try to get me to be more reasonable. The thing was, I was tired of being reasonable. Dred wasn’t reasonable. The Darkness wasn’t reasonable.
; But more than that? More than that, she was too weak to help me. She just didn’t know that. They talked about danger, about what missions were too dangerous to undertake, but at the end of the day, I knew they couldn’t help me. Not as they were anyway. They were just too weak.
The General I’d fought would have killed Lucifer in that single blow. I hadn’t died, but it was because I could heal. She would have just been dead, and we’d be scrapping what was left of her off the stones with a spatula.
“Hit me.” The words left my lips in a guttural roar as I whirled around, throwing her hand off of me. I dropped the bag of moss onto the trail beside my feet and stared at the Devil.
“What do you mean hit you?” she asked, looking at me like I was a very strange bug.
“You think you can help me? Think you fucking matter? You just don’t. Not even slightly.” I gestured toward the dungeon I’d just freed. “Do you even understand how easy it was for me to take that dungeon by myself?” I shook my head and took a menacing step toward Lucifer. “You don’t, and if you had come, you would have slowed me down.” I waved a hand in front of me, dismissing the statement. “And if it were just that, it would be fine, but it wouldn’t be just that.” I shut my eyes. “You would have died, Lucifer, and you don’t even get that. So, hit me.”
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