Red. That was all she could see was red. Cultists of assorted sizes lay dead all around her. The walls in this corridor were slick with blood and foul. Her health bar was at eighty out of one fifty and her newly enhanced endurance bar was still at one seventy five. After accepting Wenyi specialization upon seeing Elder Ruby in the flesh, her mana bar disappeared. Sacrificed for the doubling of her stamina bar. She now had minor physical alterations to her hair and sweat glands. Not only could she still create poisons she’s ingested thanks to her subclass but now she could release diseases in an area around her.

With her prey so close she didn’t think twice about accepting the worst of the options presented to her. She didn’t know if Deacon had an influence on what she was presented or if she was always going to get those options, but the Wenyi class was the most insidious. While fighting off Ruby’s cannon fodder, they had no idea they were already dead upon engaging with her. At least five enemies died on their feet in the opening engagement. Several ran away after their compatriots displayed coughing symptoms before ever reaching her. Little did they know, they were already infected. If she were lucky, her Black Lung plague would spread through all the cultists down here. Her new class would let her infect people as well as drain sickness from them.

None of that mattered now. Before Ruby turned down another one of these passages, Amanda managed to sink one of her shock daggers into her back with a well timed throw. Amanda believed that would slow the bitch down. She sprinted around the corner after Ruby to find herself running into a lavishly appointed state room. The ceiling curved up into a dome with five columns holding the bulk of the stone above. There was a large table covered in maps. The largest of which was being held down with a perfectly smooth and spherical ruby large enough to be considered a medicine ball. Deeper within was a large bed with crimson colored pillows strewn about. At each side of the bed were red gem encrusted statues of four legged animals that Amanda didn’t recognize. The walls were covered with religious symbols of Hipag, all adorned with red curtains. If there wasn’t a brazier burning in the center of the room held up on a tripod, it would be pitch black in here. The room smelled of earthy mosses mixed with expensive perfumes. There didn’t seem to be any other doors out besides the one Amanda came through.

“Where are you?” hissed Amanda.

“You should never have come here, child. I was happy to take your refusal of our offer and let you die with the rest of the pathetic surface dwellers. I suppose I’ll have to finish you off myself. Filly. Mealy. Take care of this intruder so that I may continue Hipag’s great works,” came the voice of Elder Ruby from somewhere in the stately room.

The eyes on the four legged statues lit up bright red as the ruby orb on the table started to bathe the room in a sharp red light. Amanda dove to the side as one of the statues, no taller than her hips, smashed itself into the wall behind her. It had a flat nose and smushed in muzzle. The teeth looked like sharped ruby spikes more than actual teeth. The other one raced around the table from the other direction to leap at Amanda. She spun in place grabbing its hindquarters and bringing it down atop its counterpart. There was a fierce cracking of stone sound and the one that originally hit the wall began to crumble apart. Amanda had to release the second one as it twisted unnaturally snapping at her arms. The second statue had a spiral like mid-section. That set it apart from the first one who currently resembled a broken mess on the floor.

Amanada leapt up onto the table to get some distance from the more bendy statue. As she landed on the table the orb flashed out a pulse of red light. The crushed statue on the ground reformed in an instant, standing up right and looking around for Amanda. The corkscrew statue scrunched its body up in preparation to leap onto the table. Amanda had had enough of this. She slid across the scattered papers on the table and planted her right boot squarely on the orb at speed. It shot off the table and slammed into a nearby column. At the same time the more rigid statue sunk its teeth into the meat of her right shoulder. Amanda screamed at the pain. None of her new abilities could help against enchanted monsters. These things didn’t have blood nor were they susceptible to disease. There was a lifeline though. She was able to harm them using each other. She would have to take a page out of Deacon’s book and just smash her enemies. Just as she managed to wedge her blade into the jaws of the statues and slip out of its maw, Ruby began to speak again.

“Very clever. If only you were stronger, that tactic might have helped you. The Chosen of Fate will be stripping your friend of every benefit he ever received from this pathetic pantheon. As Hipag establishes a new ruling body of deities in the aftermath of his war, we will rise to lead the mortals of this world. You should have sided with us. The fates will scour Deacon’s home world of life to fuel the transition. We’ve already won. Just die like the filthy puppet you are,” cackled Ruby’s voice.

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Amanda thought to herself as she spun on the table, right knee down and left foot flat on its surface, if Ruby hadn’t spoken and just ran for it she might have gotten away. Both statues dove for Amanda at the same time. Amanda put her plan into motion arcing her back as the claws of the statues passed inches from her face. The statues sailed clean over her smacking into the same column she kicked the sphere at. Both monsters slammed into the column simultaneously followed a heartbeat later by Amanda driving both feet down on them from atop the table. All that weight came crashing down the ruby sphere that hadn’t rolled far enough away.

Cracks fissured through the sphere as red light from inside shot out in all directions. The statues crumbled to dust as the orb detonated at Amanda’s feet. It threw her up and flipped her three times before smacking into the nearby wall. There was a scream from the opposite side of the room as Amanda tried to shake the cobwebs out of her head. She checked her health bar to find it at thirty five percent of one fifty. This needed to end now. Slumped over the table was Elder Ruby, she had a halfmoon shaped shard of the orb through one eye. The lower half of her body was completely invisible before whatever she was wearing over her slipped completely off and fell to the floor in a heap of fabric. Amanda wasn’t content with a gravely injured Ruby. She walked over to the shallow breathing Ruby and began carving. After a few minutes Amanda received a new slate notification.

VENDETTA complete: New disease earned, Rot Hole.

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“I just got a slate notification that I have twenty minutes before I lose Bael’s blessing. What do you think that means?” asked Deacon.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. We better hurry and catch up to Ralph,” answered Tantus.

“You can’t lose a gods blessing without their permission. It’s impossible. You should probably ignore the message,” added Ignis.

“No, no. That is terrible advice. Just terrible,” replied Tantus, as he hurried down the hallway.

“But what about Hani’s soul? It’s still in that room. It’s like he’s stuck and can’t move. There’s also a Dwarf complaining. Most likely the one that was fucking with my bag. We must get him out of there,” stated Deacon.

“We’ll have to come back for him. We still need to find Amanda and put an end to whatever Efimeo is doing. The schedule is a little full and he really isn’t going anywhere. Sorry Hani,” Tantus called over his shoulder.

“What? Why would I bury you under the Ferris wheel? Yes, it’s an odd thing to ask. Last wish? Don’t you put that on me Hani! Fine, I’ll talk to Alfred but we’re coming back for you. Just hang in there. Yeah, stay away from that ghost dwarf. He seems irate,” said Deacon as he stopped short to speak through the doorway.

About ten minutes later the team found themselves back at the T intersection they found all the bodies at. Ralph was just standing there staring down the passage they didn’t originally take. Once Deacon and Tantus caught up they understood why. Amanda was at the end of the hall holding a severed Mulvarian head and limping.

“Tantus, heal her please. Deacon if you’d be so kind as to add her to the party,” Ralph said calmly although Deacon knew he was nothing but.

“I got her. We must hurry. Deacon they are planning to destroy your original world to supplant the current pantheon of gods. I don’t know how so don’t ask me,” said Amanda through labored breaths.

“Don’t worry just sit down and get rid of that. Tantus is going to fix you up,” ordered Ralph.

Deacon noticed how seamlessly Ralph moved into leadership mode. Gone are the days of him just taking sleeping potions and lazing about. He’d also lost some of that innocence and joy he once had. Deacon hoped that wasn’t his influence on this world’s events. All things considered; Deacon believed he may have cost his friend something precious. Then he saw the way he held Amanda’s hand and helped her back to her feet after Tantus’s healing spell had ended. So tender and with love. Maybe not all things Ralph deemed precious were lost.

“Clocks ticking. I’ll take point,” said Deacon as he stepped around his friends.

The next bad thing was going to happen to him and not his friends. Deacon was going to make sure of that. Then Deacon was brought up short not long into their walk as Typhus’s shadow-self appeared before them. It pointed down a specific hallway before speaking.

“I’ve scouted ahead. There is a large chamber I can’t enter for some unknown reason. I end up bouncing off the door frame. That is where you need to be. You must hurry. They will be sealing off the entrance you took to get down here soon. The best I can do now is look for another way out for you. Sound good?” asked the shadow of Typhus.

“Sounds perfect. Thanks Typhus,” responded Deacon.

“Let’s go monkey wrench them!” shouted Ignis.

“Is this a thing now? Please stop it’s…well if you mean their plans then technically, you’re correct,” said Deacon.

“Being technically correct is the best kind of correct for the Fae,” replied Ignis.