“I believe it is fair, you took two of my best mortal subordinates, so I will take the two of you,” The Lord of the Underworld said, “But first the traitor.”

Siren’s mind raced he needed to find a way out of this situation. The issue was, that The Lord of the Underworld was nearly a perfect counter to Siren. With a dark kern, the elemental lord could also cloak himself and have an easier time seeing through Siren’s obscuration. He had a dual anima of fire and earth and could take control of any metal around him.

The Lord of the Underworld never stopped talking, “Though I won’t kill you yet. Your pet metal kern has a tool that I need. You will get him to bring it to me.”

Tristan had mentioned finding the lamp post in the same room as the Lord of the Underworld. If the two of them had been trapped as roommates for the last few hundred years, why hadn’t he claimed it? It did not matter at the moment. There was nothing he could do to save Daphan and Blacklake, he needed to get out. It was not exactly the truth.

His hand fell to the capsule at his waste. It could and would work, though it would be substantially less effective when used in an open space. He looked down into the pit. There was an enclosed space that he could use, though it would mean abandoning Blacklake and breaking his promise to Daphan. He had never broken a promise, and he did not intend to start today.

“Run you idiot,” Blacklake yelled.

The Lord of the Underworld clenched the hand resting on Blacklake’s shoulder, pulverizing bones and sending the commander to his knees. He did not scream, only letting out a grunt of pain.

Siren chose to ignore Blacklake and charge the elemental Lord with his ax raised. However, the next movement, the commander made was so shocking not even the Lord of the underworld had time to stop it.

“ To hell with your honor!” Blacklake yelled.

In a single motion, he created a jagged blade made of ice. It was discolored a slight green and shoved it straight into Guider Daphan’s gut.

It would not have been a lethal blow if the volatile mixture of hemotoxin and neurotoxin hadn’t been mixed into the blade's creation and deposited straight into his intestines.

“ that was unexpected,” the Lord of the Underworld said, “ I thought you had come to an understanding. “

Guider Daphan agreed, “We had a deal. “

“You and Siren had a deal, “ Blacklake hissed.

Then he lunged backward, not at the Lord of the Underworld, but over the edge.

It took a few steps for Siren to come to a stop. All that had happened too fast. He was aware that Blacklake took his oaths seriously, and the interpretation of oaths was one of the largest differences between Siren and the commander. While Siren would not condone Blacklake’s actions, he would not let the opportunity go to waste.

Spinning on the ball of his foot, Siren took a running leap off the side of the throne room as well. He aimed for the shelf that led to the mine. It was a long distance, but with his running start, he crossed the distance with room to spare. Halfway across, he felt the metal rivets pulling against him. In one motion he removed the capsule and abandoned the belt.

Landing in a roll, Siren sprinted into the tunnel system. He made sure to commit the network to memory, but it had been altered. New tunnels were added and some were blocked off. Doors were set into the wall, and his dark sense detected large rooms at regular intervals. Glow stones were set into the ceiling at regular intervals, drowning out the shadows in the nearby vicinity. It did not make it bright, but it did dramatically reduce the effect of his invisibility.

“Your alchemist called me a mole, yet it is you humans that are fascinated with living underground,” The Lord of the Underworld’s voice echoed in Siren’s head.

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The issue with mental conversations was the lack of a location. It was the same volume whether the Lord of the Underworld was ten steps away, or a mile away. Siren turned a corner and came face to face with half a dozen well armed soldiers. They stared at him in shock, and Siren slammed into them.

The tunnel was a good spot to fight a larger force of enemies, but Siren did not have time to work his way through their armor. He plowed through two of them before his momentum was finally arrested. Even his inertia had its limits.

“Who are you?” One of the armored men said.

Siren drove his fist into the open face of the helmet, grabbed his gorget, and threw him into the last two standing men. Their attempt to get their long swords ready in a tunnel failed when they were knocked down. It was a short scuffle, but still too long.

“He is one of the leaders of the silver devil worshipers,” The Lord of the Underworld said as he stepped into view, “His companion killed the old man Daphan just a few minutes ago.”

And just like that, his mission failed. It was true that Blacklake had killed Daphan, and the knowledge of his betrayal was not widespread. They had created a martyr while also missing their objective by a few minutes.

“Drop, your weapons,” The Lord of the Underworld said while making a flicking gesture toward the ground.

Siren assumed the elemental lord was speaking to him, but all the other soldiers responded. Four swords, several knives, and two halberds fell to the ground, before quickly levitating back up off the floor. Siren was unsure of how much damage these weapons could inflict, but the soldiers were wary enough. They all stepped back and away from their floating armaments.

If they could hurt a man in armor, then they could hurt Siren. He needed to get close to the Lord of the Underworld inside a confined area. This tunnel would have to work. He sprinted at the elemental lord as the smaller weapons started spinning. The swords and gloves spun as well, though like drills as opposed to the wheels of silver that the knives appeared to be.

The weapons were fast, but still slower than darkness. Light was thought to be the fastest element, but darkness is not just a void. It either exists or it does not, there is no travel, no half-state, and no degrees of darkness. It was a fact commonly overlooked, due to dark constructs being intangible. Siren was an exception.

A black carapace blinked into existence over his body, receiving the strikes of the weapons. All of them targeted his extremities, not aiming to kill. The Lord of the Underworld was trying to take him alive. Siren was battered by the weapons, but they lacked the mass to stop him. He was cut, but not badly enough to stop.

He made his way to The Lord of the Underworld and smashed him with a mace made of solidified darkness. Almost casually the elemental lord let the mace slam into his palm. The attack with his whole momentum was stopped dead. Siren yelled, creating a second weapon, this one a morning star. He whipped the weapon at the Lord of the Underworld.

“Why do you struggle?” The Lord of the Underworld asked. It sounded weary as it caught the chain out of the air.

Several blades slammed into Siren's back, piercing his armor. He grinned, “To win of course.”

The chained weapon vanished. Both watched the wooden capsule hidden in the head of the morning star drop to the floor. Then it exploded. Siren was not familiar with the mechanisms behind the explosive, but the elemental lord was. The Lord of the Underworld scrambled back, avoiding the worst of the blast. All the weapons lost their life and fell to the floor.

The elemental lord started screaming in pain. It did not stop him from using his powers to grab his deteriorating armor and use it to drag himself out of the rapidly growing cloud. The weapons were turned to dust and the soldier’s armor fell apart in seconds. Unfortunately, the Lord of the Underworld was made of sturdier materials.

Siren swore as his target rocketed away. He would never get a better chance than right now, it was injured and most likely blinded for the moment. Giving chase, Siren charged recklessly back the way he came. The elemental lord could fly, though it was jerky at the moment.

It flew into the center of the pit, then straight upwards. Siren gave chase, following The Lord of the Underworld up the wall. He was not unskilled at climbing, there were many cliffs near the ramparts making it a valuable skill. He crested the edge of the pit next to one of the arches only to find himself face-to-face with thousands of elementals.

All of them were skeletal, many were made of earthy brown essence. They also protected their injured leader. Siren was strong, but he was not worth a thousand elementals. Where had the Lord of the Underworld gotten all of them?

“We need to go,” A familiar voice said.

“Blacklake? How are you alive?” Not a very pertinent question, but he was trying to get his mind around the amount of death that would be needed to create this army.

“Adhesive infiltration artifact. Again we need to go,” Blacklake said.

The army only occupied one side of the pit, meaning he had an easy route of escape. Still, this was the weakest the Lord of the Underworld would ever be. It was so close but so far out of reach. Siren growled and nodded, before turning and running.

“Where did that army come from?” Siren asked.

“The damn elemental paid a visit to the Stone Caldera,” Blacklake said, wincing as every step jolted his shoulder, “It killed every last person.”