-[Chapter 004]-

With the dungeon keeper’s ritual spell having run its course, the chamber grew dim once more. Two figures emerged from the summoning portals. A man and a woman, no older than twenty, now faced off against the original twins at the steps of Basil’s throne.

“Nadia?” Aidan asked as he eyed the red haired girl standing at the base of the throne. She looked exactly how he remembered his sister from the days of their youth. The young man next to her—his own clone—did not seem to bother Aidan as much. He was just a reflection in the mirror to the old warrior; a stranger whose visage he had grown accustomed to over time already.

“They are not us,” the old priestess reminded her brother. “They are servants of darkness pure and simple. No matter how familiar they might seem, we must kill them without hesitation. Steel your heart, brother.”

“Oh, but they are very much like you!” Basil announced. “In fact, they are the perfect copies of you!”

Nadia dismissed the dungeon keeper’s claim outright. “That vile ritual of yours cannot replicate living things,” she said. “These are flawed imitations at best, demon.”

Basil tilted his head and smiled. “Well, alright,” he admitted, “the mirror images are only half as strong as you, but I think that the novelty of the spell is worth something by itself, right?” He took up position standing in-between the two children of darkness.

“But even if they are half as strong as you, I would like to think that I gave them your best parts,” he said. The dungeon keeper placed his hands on the shoulders of the corrupted siblings in a possessive gesture, which the youngsters didn’t seem to mind at all.

“None of the self-righteous religious banter, but twice the sass,” Basil said. “I reckon that these shadow clones will grow to outshine their originals in no time.

“I mean, so far I have had to do all the heavy lifting to make this battle any fun,” he complained. “The least you could do is to try and be a little less somber about it. I know that you are fighting for the survival of your civilization, but I didn’t think your strategy would amount to trying to bore me to death.”

He gently nudged the corrupted copies of the heroes forward. “Now, let’s get on with the show,” Basil said. “Let the better set of twins… win.”

At the behest of their master the young impostors of the sibling heroes advanced on their senior counterparts. Since they had emerged from the summoning portals fully clothed, but unarmed, they first had to find a way to even to odds. The girl began carving runes and magic wards into her skin with the tip of her nail. They would serve to empower her magic without a spell book at hand or an arcane weapon to channel it through. Meanwhile the young imitation of Aidan picked up Elnora’s black halberd and, having gotten a feel for its balance, leveled it at his foes.

“Can you banish them?” Aidan asked his sister. The veteran warrior kept a close eye on his young imitation, expecting him to charge at any moment.

“I cannot,” Nadia replied. “These are no mere illusions, brother. They are creatures of flesh and blood, albeit corrupted to the bone.”

“Will they disappear if we kill the summoner?” Aidan asked, glancing sideways at Basil.

“No, they won’t,” Nadia replied. “The resources it must have cost him to perform this wicked spell… we cannot simply undo such reckless madness.” The voice of the old priestess turned to a whisper so that the dungeon keeper could not overhear them. “But I know of a spell that might turn them against him...”

“I knew that you would find a way out of this,” Aidan said. “Tell me what to do!”

“I think that I can exorcise their corruption,” Nadia said. “But it will probably cost me all of my remaining mana and I will need you to protect me while I channel the spell.” She leveraged the bottom of her staff against the frozen ground and began drawing a ritual circle around herself. “I don’t see any other way to turn the battle in our favor here…”

Aidan nodded. “You can count on me! Nothing will get through.”

The priestess reached for a pouch on her waist and brought forth a handful of gold dust. She then began filling the grooves of her ritual circle with the expensive mineral as a sacrifice to the spell that she was about to perform. “You know,” Nadia said as she removed several of her bejeweled rings and threw them down upon the ritual circle, “it looks like we really won’t make it out of this one alive.”

“Yeah,” Aidan replied. His stoic expression warped into a bitter smile. “Well, at least we are going go out blazing!”

Nadia offered a weary smile in return. “Oh, you better believe it, brother! What we do here today will echo into eternity! We will make the Maiden proud.”

By now the shadow clones were almost upon them. Wicked grins warped their youthful expressions as the two teenagers circled their older originals. A classic story of strife: the forces of darkness facing off against the champions of light; youthful vigor pitted against age old wisdom.

At a glance it would have been easy to dismiss their encounter as one sided, seeing as how the shadow clones possessed none of the armor or equipment of their heroic counterparts. But after their battle with Basil and Elnora, neither Aidan nor Nadia were at their prime. Still, the corrupted youngsters hesitated to charge their wary foes. They instead chose to taunt them while searching for a more opportune moment to strike.

The shadow clone of Aidan addressed his corrupted sibling. “Hey sister,” he said and pointed his halberd at the old priestess facing them. “I hope you won’t mind if I get the killing blow on that old crone. Her wrinkled face is an affront to your beauty!”

“Whatever,” the young girl answered and nodded towards the stout warrior protecting Nadia. “We will probably have to deal with him first, but don’t finish him off yet. I want to see his face turn pale as I break the old crone before his eyes! There is so much I want to tell him about her true nature…”

Blood trickled down the hands of the young priestess as she continued carving runes into her skin. She made a point of locking eyes with Aidan as she revealed her intentions. “Hey, old man, did you know that your sister had a pretty good grasp of blood magic?” she asked. “I’m just using the tools she gave me!” The young priestess licked one of the runes she had carved into her wrist to taste her own blood. “If only you knew how many dark secrets she has kept from you.” She raised her bloodied arms towards Aidan. “If only you knew how much blood was on her hands…”

“That’s not fair!” the young imitation of Aidan protested. “That old guy is as straight as a board!”

Absent dark secrets to spill, he turned to belittling the champion warrior instead. “You tried so hard to do what you thought was right…” The eyes of the youngster glared up with glee as he recalled a stolen memory. “But there is so much shame!” He grinned. “Oh, your pain will do just fine, Aidan. You have so little left to lose… and I want to watch it all burn away! I know what you care for the most, so I will start off by killing her!”

Fresh out of the portal and having yet drawn but a few breaths of air, the shadow clones had already embarked on a grim and bloody path. They had such sweet voices, the twins. Sadly, there didn’t seem to be even a glimmer of sanity in their bloodthirsty looks.

Aidan scoffed. “That is a dark ritual indeed,” he said and shook his head at the sight of his wicked doppelganger. “Just wrong… I hate magic like this.”

The dungeon keeper disagreed. “This is just wonderful!” Basil exclaimed. “I honestly think that this is the first time I have seen this spell summon such perfectly twisted imitations. What a momentous occasion!”

Eager to witness his minions play out their part, the dungeon keeper planted himself down on the steps of the throne. While the shadow clones circled their originals, Basil took the opportunity to recover from some of his injuries by drinking deeply from a blood red healing potion that he had procured from his pouch.

“I love this kind of warped family drama!” he said. The dungeon keeper threw aside the empty potion and wiped his lips on his wrist. “Can you kill them? Will they kill you? Who knows! Let’s find out together!”

“Go team evil! ~WooOoo!” Elnora cheered on her master’s new minions from the throne. “Go team Doom!”

Having taken measure of their opponents the shadow twins finally launched their attack. The young reflection of the aged warrior lacked the protection of Aidan’s heavy armor, but compensated for it with greater agility. He jumped around like a loaded spring, easily evading the winded champion’s counterattacks while delivering swift jabs with the tip of the halberd.

Aidan did his best to try and close the distance, as his sword had a shorter reach than the clone’s halberd, but the youngster would not allow it. The range of his attacks was his most important advantage and the wicked little shadow monster knew it.

“Can you keep their attention on you for a while?” Nadia asked. “I am ready to attempt the exorcism of their dark spirits.” She deflected an arcane bolt cast by her clone, but did not fire back so as not to waste her dwindling pool of mana. The ritual circle below her feet was almost complete, but she could not afford even the briefest interruption of her channeling, if the spell was to succeed.

“I will shield you from them, sister!” Aidan answered. Having positioned himself in front of Nadia he took up a wide stance and braced himself for the wrath of his enemies.

Nadia began chanting and channeling her magic into her ritual. The shadow twins immediately turned their vile intentions towards her, eager to interrupt the spell.

“{Blade Wall}”, Aidan said and a red aura engulfed his body. It was a defensive ability that required him to carry an edged weapon, but it was only useful against melee weapons or physical projectiles so it could never have protected him against the unarmed attacks of the dungeon keeper. But for the comparatively low-level opponent that was his shadow clone, the human champion became an unassailable fortress. Even more importantly, the {Blade Wall} was an area of effect ability, allowing him to adjust his positioning and to remain between his sister and the shadow clones no matter how they chose to try and outflank him.

This defensive stance did not work entirely in their favor, however. While the young warrior could not so much as land a hit on Aidan, the shadow priestess was free to assault him with her magic without fear of reprisal. The young girl let off a barrage of spells and curses in the short time that it took for Nadia to complete her channeling. Aidan was pummeled by strike after strike of malicious magic to the point where the warrior was almost forced down to his knees.

In the end Aidan managed to outlast his opponents as the shadow priestess ran out of mana and the endurance to channel it before he fell. She was now reduced to throwing the occasional arcane bolt, which did little damage against Aidan’s enchanted armor.

As Nadia finished channeling her spell a wave of golden light erupted from her staff and flooded the throne room. The two youngsters ceased attacking and instead took to grappling with themselves. Revealed by the blinding light was a thick black mist that clung to their bodies. As the fight over their cursed souls unfolded the divine element clashed with the unholy until their shadows were visibly torn away from their bodies. The young siblings tried their best to hold onto them, but the overwhelming power of their originals could not be denied.

The light prevailed in the end and the cursed shadows were torn away from their hosts. Their corruption exorcized, the twins collapsed. Exhausted, wounded and thoroughly confused by their sudden awakening, they sought to embrace the only people they could recognize in this strange place—each other.

“Did it work?” Aidan asked. Blood was seeping through the gaps in his sundered armor. It trickled down his shaking legs, painting the frozen ground beneath the warrior with ever more drops of red. It was a testament to his superhuman endurance that he was still alive after the barrage of spells the shadow priestess had thrown at him.

Nadia confirmed their success with a nod. She then set to casting healing spells to aid her wounded brother, but they could do little to fix his battered body. Try as she might, the priestess knew that at this point she was unlikely to get Aidan back up to more than a third of his total health. Likewise, their prolonged battle with the dark lord and his minions had all but depleted her mana reserves, placing her most powerful spells outside of her range of ability to cast.

For his part, Basil observed the outcome of the fight with mixed feelings. The dungeon keeper did not seem all that disappointed by the defeat of his minions. If anything, the prince of darkness had expected their demise. Perhaps he was merely lamenting by the swiftness with which the fight had been concluded.

Having sized up Aidan and Nadia, the dungeon keeper shifted his gaze from the victorious twins to the defeated imposters. The demon’s brow sank, indicating intense curiosity at their current predicament.

“Defeated, but not slain…” he noted, “an unlikely turn of events.” He rubbed his chin in contemplation. “This opens up a few possibilities…”

Their corruption now exorcized, the young twins were left to face their new and bizarre existence. Wide eyed and frightened, they examined the battle scarred chamber around them and soon discovered its dark master glaring at them from the steps of his throne. It was clear that whatever memories or experiences they had inherited from their elder selves were not enough to help them make sense of their current predicament. For all intents and purposes they had just awakened for the first time, only to find their bodies wounded, their spirits exhausted and themselves surrounded by a dark and decidedly hostile scene.

The dungeon keeper clapped his hands together to focus their attention on himself. “Well, let’s see what we can make of you, shall we?” Basil said as he rose to his feet. He made a show of clutching at his wounded torso as he approached the shadow clones.

As the dungeon keeper drew closer, the young imposters of the original heroes reacted by backing away from the hulking demon. Clearly, they no longer recognized their summoner as their master.

“Where are we?” young Aidan asked. The boy shielded his sister with his body while threatening Basil with his borrowed halberd.

“Stand down, minions,” Basil ordered. “That little bout of exorcism has left you confused.”

He extended his palm towards the two in an offering. “I am your master. I created you. Obey me and I will protect you. Defy my request at your own peril.”

The shadow clone of Aidan sized up the demon towering over him, but did not lower his halberd. It was unclear if he was struggling with the request for submission or was dumbstruck by the situation in general, but the youngster failed to give a prompt reply, so the dungeon keeper pressed the issue.

Basil directed the attention of the young impostors to the old heroes as he further elaborated on his offer. “You were created with a single purpose in mind—to serve me. Now submit yourselves to my will or die. Those are the only options you have. Choose quickly. Choose wisely.”

“Don’t listen to that demon!” Aidan called out to the shadow twins. The rigid mind of the exhausted warrior went into overdrive as he tried to convince the doppelgangers to side with him.

“Hear me out,” he beckoned, “I am you—so you know that you can trust me. I know that this is confusing, but I need you to help me defeat that monster so that we can all go home.”

“You… are me?” the young boy asked.

Basil growled in displeasure over the spreading confusion. “This is getting out of hand…

“Listen to me!” Basil ordered the young warrior. “Aidan—” he lowered his voice to sound more melodramatic. “I am your creator. Join me and we can rule this world as father and son.”

The boy glared at the fiendish demon prince with horror stricken eyes. “Get the hell away from me, you red bastard!”

Basil shrugged. “Well, it was worth a try.” With a swift motion he grabbed hold of the halberd and pulled it form the young warrior’s grasp. He threw it aside and backed away from the clones. “Then you have chosen death.”

The dungeon keeper pointed his finger at the floor beneath the twins and cast a spell: “[Greater Frost Mine]!” Once the trap spell had materialized it was immediately triggered and an icy explosion consumed the siblings in a flash, preserving Aidan’s frozen expression of disgust for the creature that had just claimed to be his father.

The dungeon keeper was about to make that prison permanent when he was hit in the head by a spell. The sudden strike sent Basil stumbling sideways. By playing around with his summoned minions, he had given the heroes time to recover and they had not let it go to waste.

Nadia discarded an empty mana potion, wiped her lips and pointed her staff at the dungeon keeper in a taunt. She then went on casting spell after spell in an effort to pin him while her brother gathered up his remaining strength for one last assault. There was no way that she was recovering her mana as fast as she was spending it, which was tantamount to burning herself out. The consequences of such an act could be deadly, but the twins had resigned themselves to making the ultimate sacrifice already.

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Bolstered by his sister’s healing spells, Aidan once more gripped the sword in his tired, blood stained hands and advanced on the dungeon keeper. He took to circling the distracted demon prince, looking for an opportunity to strike.

Basil fought back against Nadia’s suicidal barrage by throwing a few [Fire Ball] spells of his own, but the poorly-aimed attacks barely scorched the priestess as they landed around her.

“Casting fireballs,” Aidan scoffed. “And you said that such mundane magic was beneath you. I guess you have shown yourself for who you truly are—a mere monster. No more than a liar and a cheat!”

As the warrior got closer to Basil, the dungeon keeper moved out of the path of Nadia’s line of attack. He positioned himself in a way that placed Aidan in-between him and the priestess.

Elnora sighed. “Basil has the twins playing right along with his plan...” she muttered as she slowly drank the health potion through her straw. Her dreamy gaze followed the dungeon keeper as he readied himself for what seemed like the inevitable culmination of their battle—the last stand of the brave heroes.

Basil played up his panting as he addressed Aidan. “Not going to lie,” he said. “I didn’t think… you would last this long.”

Seizing upon what he perceived to be his opponents exhaustion, Aidan lunged forward in an attempt to skewer his foe. Basil embraced the attack and allowed the warrior to run his blade clean through the side of his torso, but by doing so the warrior was also now unable to escape his grasp. Howling in pain the dungeon keeper grappled Aidan to the ground. The two juggernauts then went on trading blows with their fists. With every passing second they grew increasingly exhausted, but the dungeon keeper appeared to be gaining the upper hand in spite of the grievous injury that Aidan had just delivered.

Having received a few more hits to the head the human warrior finally ceased his struggling and his arms fell down limp beside him. Basil slowly rose up over his vanquished foe and threw his bloodshot gaze across the scene in search of the priestess. Standing victorious over the lifeless body of Aidan, dazed and with a sword sticking through his lower right abdomen, he would have made for an easy target even for a novice spell caster, but no spells struck him. Once he sighted the priestess, Basil realized that she was in no condition to go on fighting him.

Her reckless casting had finally taken its toll. Nadia looked like a shriveled up hag. Bitter tears ran down her face as she whispered to herself. “Maiden Solar, guide us home,” she said. “My brother gave his last and soon I shall follow him. We dedicate this victory to you... Finish what we started.”

“Hardly seems like a victory to me,” Basil said. He clutched at the pommel of the blade to see if he could pull it from his body. The demon prince kneeled down next to the dead warrior to rest for a moment. He wiped the blood from his bruised mouth with his palm. “But it was a good fight. You fought well, that is. I could not have expected more from mere kith.”

Nadia mustered a meek grin. “You,” she said and gestured at Basil with a trembling hand, “this place and those corrupted clones—they are not the only things carrying a terrible curse. Enjoy your empty victory over us while you can, beast. In but a moment Maiden Solar will arrive to deliver her judgment upon you. And then you will die.”

The priestess drew a long, thin dagger from a scabbard on her belt. Nadia then placed the tip of the blade up against her heart. “We carry a terrible burden, Dark One. We knew the odds of making it out of here alive… so we made sure that no matter what became of us, you would share in our fate. Against the light of heaven… you cannot stand.”

Her warning delivered, Nadia then pushed the dagger into her heart. “One death is not enough— ngh!—to pay for retribution...” Her robes quickly turned red when the woman pulled the blade from her chest. “She will only arrive… once we both have perished…”

Nadia then sighed for one last time before her body gave out. The old priestess fell asleep on the ice covered floor of the throne room, never to awaken again.

An eerie silence settled over the battlefield.

Basil pouted his bruised lips as he eyed the dead intruders in anticipation of the things that would come—the retribution that Nadia had promised. In truth, her warning of divine wrath was the only reason why he had gone to such lengths to fight them the way he did.

Nothing happened for a while so Basil changed out his tired knees. The dungeon keeper remained at Aidan’s side, watching and waiting; pretending to be at his limits, tugging at the sword in his gut to keep his body from healing and ruining his disguise.

“It shouldn’t take this long…” he mumbled, disappointed by the sluggish pace of divine intervention. “The twins are dead, so where is the glowing tart?”

Elnora descended the steps of the throne and approached her master. “Could it be that Maiden Solar messed up the ritual of binding?” she suggested.

“I hope not,” Basil replied. “It would be a shame if I went through all this theater for nothing.”

“Check on the twins maybe?” Elnora advised. “Maybe one of them is still alive?”

The dungeon keeper pulled Aidan’s sword from his body without flinching and poked the warrior lying next to him in the head with it. In response to Basil’s prodding Aidan let off a long groan of agony. As it turned out, the warrior was indeed still among the living.

“What does it take to kill you?” Basil asked. The annoyed dungeon keeper threw the sword aside, reached out towards Aidan with his hand and cast a spell to finish the job. “[Greater Arcane Explosion]!”

Aidan’s body erupted in a shower of blood and mangled armor as the dungeon keeper painted the floor of the throne room red with the warrior’s remains.

Immediately after Aidan’s explosive—and definitely final—passing, the chamber was engulfed by a bloom of golden light. This time the glow seemed to have an almost physical presence. It reached out across the room and wrapped around the stone pillars, banishing the shadows and mist in a flash.

“Going to go blind at this rate,” Basil complained as he squinted to protect his eyes from the burning light. He dismissed Elnora with the wave of his hand and the succubus quickly retreated back to the throne.

When the overwhelming presence of holy light finally dimmed, the dungeon keeper sighted his true goal. A being of pure divine energy now hovered just above the field of battle. As the golden light that had heralded her arrival now flowed into her, the heavenly creature grew in size and splendor. Her physical form soon stood at least half as tall as the pillars surrounding her. For the first time today, with the ominous darkness banished, even some parts of the throne room ceiling were revealed.

The angel’s naked feet found footing among the remains of the two heroes that Basil had just slain. Her body now fully manifested, the woman glanced down upon the comparatively tiny dungeon keeper standing below her and frowned in anger.

“It’s about damn time you showed up,” Basil mumbled as he stepped back from the golden lady.

She was an angel of pure holy energy, Maiden Solar, the holy spirit of retribution that Nadia had promised with her dying breath. She was the splendid goddess worshipped by the citizens of Empire Solar.

Basil opened up his arms to bask in the warmth of her golden radiance. “There is nothing quite like the glow of a level 80 holy elemental to get a suntan going,” he remarked.

The dungeon keeper went on to pound his fist against the wound that Aidan had given him in a primal taunt. “Come on, let’s finish what they started! Do your worst, Maiden Solar, because you don’t have much time.”

Ignoring the taunts of the demon standing at her feet, Maiden Solar surveyed the battle scarred chamber with an expression of unbridled disgust. She soon spotted the remains of her dead champions below her. The angelic creature growled in anger as she realized that she was currently standing in what little remained of Aidan—a puddle of blood and mangled flesh.

“They have done their part,” the angel declared. “Their faith in me will be rewarded.” Her ethereal voice echoed through the throne room as she spoke. “It is time for you to rest, my servants.” Maiden Solar then dragged her naked foot over the clean parts of the floor in a rather undignified effort to scrape Aidan’s remains off from her golden skin.

“Sorry about the mess,” Basil said and gestured at the red spot on the ground. “The brother proved to be… very durable.”

Curious at the nature of the dungeon keeper and confident in her overwhelming power, the angel kneeled down to take a closer look at Basil. The chamber shook in response to her motions and the ground cracked beneath her knee as it landed.

“You did this?” Maiden Solar asked. “You are the master commanding the filthy hordes that have ravaged my domain? You murdered my faithful servants? You’re the big bad monster in charge of this accursed place?” She scoffed. “Is this really it?”

“Yup,” Basil answered. “This carnage and the destruction of your empire?” he said and gestured around the room, “All me.”

Standing proud before the splendid angel of light—goddess of a once great realm and supreme master of an entire civilization—Basil extended his hand towards her in a greeting. “I am Basil von Doom, the keeper of this dungeon.”

Somewhat understandably, Maiden Solar was not inclined to accept the demon’s offer.

Basil grimaced in disappointment and withdrew his hand. “Well, with the introductions concluded, the Guild rules stipulate that we should next proceed to negotiating your fate,” he said. “If you would be so kind as to shrink down your size into something more accommodating, we can go on discussing your dignified surrender in detail. The powers-that-be have decided to offer you a deal, but I am also at liberty to eliminate you, should you refuse to surrender.”

In a rather abrupt response to his demands the angelic woman backhanded Basil and sent him flying. The impact of her strike carried Basil across the room, smashing him into the steps of his obsidian throne. The glassy surface shattered under the weight of the demon’s body and he ended up half buried beneath a pile of razor sharp obsidian shards.

“I will punish you for what you have done!” the angel roared. “Your reign of terror has run its course, demon. Now prostrate yourself before me and beg for a quick death! Beg for death, because I want to do far worse to you!”

The dungeon keeper raised his hand from the pile of shards in an objection to her statement. “You seem to have it all wrong,” Basil said as he dug his way out of the shattered steps of his throne. The dungeon keeper wiped the flakes of obsidian from his shoulders and cracked his neck. He then looked up at the angel and shook his head in disappointment. “For a creature of such brilliant light, you sure are blind to the obvious gap in our power.”

Maiden Solar ignored the demon’s ramblings. She clutched her fist and summoned a golden spear of light. She then drove her weapon towards Basil, halting the thrust just as the tip was about to touch his chest.

“The situation seems pretty obvious to me,” she said. “Your pride got the better of you, demon. You thought that you could take on a goddess!” Her eyes shot wide open, betraying a sense of profound conviction in her own words. “This is my world that you have ravaged and you will be made to pay for all of your transgressions. You have broken many of my toys, demon. Rest assured—I will take great pleasure in breaking you.”

“Is that so?” Basil asked.

The angel raised her chin, striking a pose of utter disgust at the sight of the demon prince. “My power cannot be denied,” she declared. “Compared to me, you are nothing. And now I have you at my mercy.”

“And what was your plan exactly?” Basil taunted her. “Please, grace me with your wisdom, oh benevolent goddess.”

The angel donned a contemptuous grin. “Pathetic creature… While your wretched armies throw themselves against the mighty walls of my bastions, I will have delivered a decapitating blow to your war effort. Once you are dead this reign of chaos will come to an end and I will have my world back. My faithful followers will push your beasts from this land and drive them back into the dark corners of the world. There they will wither and fade alongside your repugnant remains.

“Now, do you have any last words before I deliver your accursed presence from my blessed land?”

Basil pondered his response for a moment, but all that he ended up offering in return was a casual shrug and an expression of complete indifference.

It was at this moment that a loud slurping sound drew everyone’s attention to the succubus sitting on the throne.

With the angel’s furious gaze suddenly upon her, Elnora spat out the drinking straw, slowly lowered the empty health potion and bowed her head in apology. “Sorry,” she said and pushed the flask away. “Please, continue.”

The angelic woman glared at the wounded succubus for a moment longer before turning her attention back to Basil. “The time has come to end this,” she declared.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Basil said and cracked his knuckles. “Now that you are within my grasp, I can finally bring the conquest of this world to a close. After defeating you, I will have just one final box to tick…”

Maiden Solar furrowed her perfect eyebrows. “What madness drove you to invite me into your lair?” she asked. “This world holds no powers that could face me. Whatever tricks you might have will not be enough to hold me, demon!”

“And I am truly fortunate that your wisdom is so limited,” Basil replied. “For all of your blustering, you seem to neglect the fact that you only chose to face me when your servants had softened me up.

“I figured that I had to make it look like the twins had delivered a crippling blow,” he explained. “I didn’t know for sure that your arrival was triggered upon their death or with some sort of elaborate summoning ritual. So, it took some effort luring you out, thank you.”

Basil scoffed. “In the end, all I needed to use for you to take the bait were these little artifacts,” he said and raised his hands towards the glowing woman. He revealed a set of four rings on his fingers. The dungeon keeper then made a show of removing them one by one.

“Your magic trinkets did not bring them here,” Maiden Solar reasoned. She kicked a nearby treasure pile and sent a shower of gold coins flying across the room. “This wealth is nothing compared to the splendor of my power. Did you really expect to bribe them; to lure them over to your cause with favors and promises of power?” She shook her head. “My minions would never betray me, demon. Their little minds are mine to command. They were happy to die for me today.”

Basil placed the rings into his pouch. “It is true,” he admitted. “They fought me to the bitter end, just as you had commanded, but I still needed to use these cursed artifacts to lure you out. After all, would you have come if your victory appeared in question; if I had wiped the floor with your best warriors so easily?”

The dungeon keeper took a deep breath and exhaled. With the rings now removed his body expanded to almost double in size. The whole room now seemed to bend to his presence. His darkness grew strong enough to oppose her light—nay, envelop it. Even the ceiling above once more disappeared behind the cover of the black haze from before.

Maiden Solar drew her hand over her eyes and cast a divination spell on herself to take measure of her opponent’s abilities, “[Divine Insight].”

Her eyes shot up and down Basil’s body as she came to realize the true extent of her opponent’s power. Then, with a loud cry of anger, she drove her spear towards his chest in an effort to impale him.

Basil grabbed hold of the tip of the golden ray of light and crushed it in his hand. The whole weapon then fractured, shattered and disintegrated into golden specks of mana right before the angel’s eyes.

“You are not some middling demon prince!” the Maiden yelled in anger. “How dare you deceive me!”

Her weapon broken, Maiden Solar reached down with her hands and grabbed hold of Basil. The dungeon keeper did not resist. With her golden fingers wrapped around his torso, Basil patiently observed the furious angel as she tried and failed to squeeze the life out of him.

“Why did you bring me here?” the angel hissed through her teeth. “Why did you trick me? Why did you do this?”

“Mostly for the glory of it,” Basil said. “Oh, and also… the Guild of Chaos sends its regards.

“It has been decided that your civilization has lasted long enough. I’m just here to make sure that its destruction is thorough. It is time to turn over a new page for this world.”

Basil effortlessly broke himself free from the Maiden’s strangling embrace and clapped his hands twice. The pitch-black haze covering the ceiling above parted once more and a massive ritual circle was revealed.

“Now, will you submit yourself to me willingly, elemental,” the dungeon keeper asked, “or are we going to have to do this the hard way?”

Having examined the glowing runes covering the ceiling above, the golden woman cast Basil aside and turned towards the exit. She knew that she couldn’t possibly win a fight against a level 100 [Legendary] demon lord. That is why Basil had worn the cursed rings from the start—to weaken himself enough that he would appear far less capable than he actually was. It had all been done in an effort to keep the heroes from fleeing; to make sure that Maiden Solar was invoked in an effort to defeat him.

Basil landed on his feet and immediately went about restraining the fleeing angel. The shadows that had lingered about the chamber throughout the event now flowed towards him and formed an extension of the dungeon keeper’s body. Like a shadow puppet, the black mist cast a hulking presence above Basil that was as tall as the golden angel facing him.

With a lightning quick punch to the back of her foot, Basil sent the Maiden tumbling forward. The shadow puppet around him mimicked the motion, but struck higher, adding to the inertia and slamming the angel into the ground. She had barely managed to lift her head when the dungeon keeper came in to restrain her further. Basil’s shadow wrapped around her neck and placed her in a headlock. The angel grappled with the chokehold in desperation, but seemed unable to loosen the demon’s grip. With her light flickering, even more trails of black smoke reached down from the ceiling and up from the ground below to bolster the restraints.

Having pinned the angel in place, the dungeon keeper pulled out a scroll from his bandolier and threw it up into the air. It immediately burst into flames and a spell was cast activating the ritual circle on the ceiling above.

“Look away!” Basil ordered Elnora. “Things are about to get really bright up in this place.”

The dungeon keeper wasn’t lying. As the magic ritual began to take hold of the restrained holy elemental the room was once more shrouded in holy light. Maiden Solar screamed in anger as she fought to escape the shadow’s grasp, but to no avail. Basil’s chokehold on her was unrelenting and her squirming only served to sap her strength further. The angelic creature began to glow ever brighter as the arcane ritual tore her body apart and siphoned away her power.

Elnora found the golden bloom of the disintegrating holy elemental to be less than pleasant on her demonic skin. She did her best to bundle herself in the cape of protection that Basil had given her earlier, but the arcane warmth of holy light was still pressing hard against her.

Basil squinted as he tried to keep his sight on the struggling elemental in his grasp. Then, when he judged the moment to be right, he pulled out a fist sized—demon lord fist sized—crystal from his pouch and held it up towards the ritual circle.

“[Greater Siphon Soul]!” he commanded and began channeling the essence of the angel into the soul stone in his hand.

The very light of her being flickered wildly as the angel sought to escape his grasp. Maiden Solar then began to fade as more and more of her essence was siphoned into the crystalline prison. Soon enough nothing remained to tell of her golden splendor but a shimmering gemstone in the smoldering hand of her captor. The shadows dispersed, having served their purpose and the chamber grew quiet and dull once more.

With Maiden Solar now imprisoned in the soul stone, the fighting in the throne room had reached its inevitable conclusion. Unbeknownst to them, the intruders had been doomed from the start.

Elnora looked upon the triumphant dungeon keeper with doughy eyes and sighed longingly. Basil’s devious plan had come to fruition. The ambush had been a success and she had been granted a first-row seat to witness it all. She felt her power grow a little in proportion to her contribution to the fight, but she did not expect any great improvement to come from it. Her performance had been mostly academic, after all—a lesson about humility, learned through pain.

Basil was left breathing heavily from the strain of having channeled such a powerful spell so quickly. The dungeon keeper smiled as he inspected the newly forged legendary soul stone in his claws. He had just created an artifact of the highest caliber, the delivery of which would place him in great esteem with the Guild of Chaos.

It would have been all the more rewarding if he had actually felt any investment in the quest. Alas, it had turned out to be a rather trivial challenge, leaving behind nothing but a bitter taste for the victor to contend with. For him there was no lasting joy to be had in such an easy accomplishment, relative to what he was capable of. If anything, he had found the role-play to be the most entertaining part of this whole ordeal, but he recognized it for what it was—a distraction and nothing more.

The dungeon keeper’s smile quickly faded. Basil placed the soul stone into his pouch, pulled up his dungeon keeper’s manual book, opened it and ticked a box.

The task in the manual read as follows: “Capture or destroy Maiden Solar, the holy elemental worshiped as a god by the kith of Empire Solar.” —COMPLETED—

An update appeared beneath the task in red letters: “Confirmation of the target’s identity pending. Check in with the nearest Guild branch office.”

Basil closed the book and looked to Elnora. The she-demon was still cheering him on from the top of the throne. He nodded in acknowledgment of this victory—for her sake, mostly.

I feel nothing, he thought as he cast his blank gaze across the field of ruin. For a moment there was something… When I fought the twins… But I feel no true sense of accomplishment now. The emptiness, it claws at me still…

The dungeon keeper rubbed his tired eyes and growled in disappointment. He had found no satisfaction in his crushing triumph. With so much power flowing in his veins, even the subjugation of a would-be goddess felt like an empty victory. His conquest of this world was now all but complete and yet, the achievement rang hollow in his heart.

Basil once more found himself wondering why—why he carried on with his work when it brought him nothing but disappointment. It was only when the dungeon keeper once more looked upon the delighted expression of his young apprentice that he was able to shelve these thoughts, leaving the issue of tackling his existential dread for another time.

At this very moment his armies stood poised to deliver the final blow to Empire Solar. This was not the moment for introspection, but, rather, decisive action. Only with the conquest concluded could he explore his doubts further.

With the spirit of Maiden Solar sizzling in his hand, the sun was finally poised to set on Empire Solar.