"How did they manage to escape? And after the King ordered those elementals he calls 'Royale Knights' to seize him too?" the One paced back and forth before a stone tablet, the remains of 16's ashen heaped upon it. On the other side prostrated a rather useless Templar.

"He messed with our priests, convinced them to retreat! But- I don't know how - in the chaos, I lost track of where the Holy Knight went. Not until he appeared again at the end to flee, taking our prisoners with them!"

"And your ability with the golden chains, how long until you lose the ability to replicate the parasites [Crystal Prison] spell?" the One's white eyes flared to beyond erasure, pure nothingness swimming in the dark of his face.

Shaking madly, the Templar could only push his armoured head further into already cracked stone.

"A day, maybe less. I had not rebound her ability in some time, nor had I the Werewolf's anti-magic protection. Truly great one, I am so sorry, please allow my soul clemency for-"

"Artioche, Animogna, Arellia, Secundus." The One spoke these words gravely, servants bursting from the walls in a sudden tide, the Templar frozen in place.

"My Master please, anything but that..." The Templar's heart broke as his armour was pulled away. Plate by Plate, mail, gambeson and cloth all. Leaving only the golden manacles of the chosen bound to his arms, the rest of him naked and small. They would not take the Templar's Holy artifact from him, so few breaking into the Templar class to attain it to begin with.

"You are hereby ordered to redeem yourself in my eyes - a one man crusade against the dark. Already a failure, you will do so with limited support from the Three's church, but may continue to ask the direct favours of the Three themselves. Find this fire-haired boy- find him and bring him to me."

"It will be done, my Master- it WILL be DONE."

Dismissing the Templar, the One allowed the servants to drag him away.

"One last thing," he had them pause, "some of our most zealous demon hunters have gone mad over the years, or if not mad at least borderline heretical. Your station outside of the church would allow for their rectuitment. I bless you with the title of Warden, of the prison that is the world. So go, Warden, and collect a force that will remove this blight from your name."

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The One smiled with white teeth as his Warden was taken away, plans already prepared for the most fervent hounds - humans, to accompany him. Stepping into a side room, the One strode to stand before a grand mirror.

Twenty metres tall, rimmed with silver faces in a variety of expressions and floating planets the size of his palm it was a mirror only the One could see. The One, and his own kind.

"Sister, how goes the implementation of my great plan?"

"All is according to plan, Designator Prime. Daario, your 1st ranked, is well on his way to creating a strange hierarchy in the demon world. So too have several more of your candidates excelled in their various fields."

"Very good, Sister Observer. Mind telling me of the situation of that who killed 16? For one to die this early on is troublesome, so...who did it? Where is the flame-haired boy?"

"Designator Prime, I thought you were one to hold to the rules, are you not?" The beautiful white skinned girl with jet-black teeth tilted her head in his mirror. The One clenched his hands but restrained his smile back to pleasant.

"Of course, but just this once surely-"

"You would have me report this to the council? Brother, be reasonable. You have so much power, surely you can pull this together yourself."

"And yet the blasted idiots attacked the damn Cathedral!" Roared the One, "I was saving that for war much later. The impact of the stone falling after so much loss would have been perfect, instead, so many of our best died to boulders and dust!"

"The humans are fast-thinking, Brother. The ones in the monster regions especially. While some few have died, others make great strides. The human known as Nocturne has entered the Elf High Sun Festival and looks set to place well. The human known as Ranarium has gathered a band of orcs, and is perhaps a month away from replacing the Warchief under his own rule. Another has introduced Modern-Era blacksmithing techniques, and a fourth is trying very hard to tame a dragon, and not without some minor success. Perhaps, you chose the wrong species to bring here?"

"Their ingenuity will be our undoing...no. As long as we have the king and his secret weapons, there is nothing it fear. NOTHING those Terran humans can do will dissuade my plans from their inevitable conclusion!"

With an angry wave of his hand, the One deactivated the mirror.

Striding away, he gave orders at a rapid pace. His stone servants obeyed wordlessly, and with the efficiency of well-designed clockwork. As was right, the One's plans always worked flawlessly. Every species before had always acted like puppets to his strings.

The humans of Earth would be no different.