As the corpse seeker cracked, so did the core it was assaulting.
With a blinding flash, the proto-dungen core shattered and detonated. A shockwave of pure magical energy erupted around us, plowing, shattering the imprints of men burned into reality, obliterating the diatomic sphere and decimating the Sentinels gathering behind us.
Miss Possible's mouth unfurled wide, swallowing the broken pieces of the shattered core.
[Core Temperature: 92%]
[Energy Level: 100%]
[Structural Integrity: 38%]
[Dimensional Stability: 42%]
[Storage Capacity: 98%]
"Nazareth! Almost imploded ourselves," Vespera swallowed. "But we got the core! Yay!"
"Yay?" Cinder let out. "That's all you have to say after we nearly died?"
"I do! That was the most exciting thing I've done in... Like, ever. Gotta gamble to win big," Vee fluttered, her feathers dancing with black and white patterns. "Okay down we go. I'll move slowly, so the rock can melt and solidify behind us.”
Cinder nodded, looking very puffed up, wings black and red.
Miss Possible melted through a wall into a gargantuan open space and plummeted down through the air, crashing into the water far below.
Then as Vespera readjusted the tank's legs, Possy rushed out of the water onto a black sand beach. A few giant, house-sized snails stared at us, their black shells covered in glowing blue-gray moss glowing ever so slightly.
Miss Possible rapidly plowed uphill away from the giant snails towards a rope ladder and climbed up the wall by stabbing crystalline legs into slate stone, finally settling onto a large platform overhead marked with the logo of a tower.
"Ta da!" Vespera declared. "Gloomkerr Dungeon! Please disembark, n' don't leave any of your belongings or your mentally-exhausted driver in the tank..."
Vespera's arms came out of the liquid crystal and she fell backwards into my embrace. "And done," she let out.
Her body was soaked in sweat and she was trembling like a leaf in the wind.
"Effin Abyss," she mewled. "That was exhilarating... Now, let's never ever do that again."
I glanced at the flickering screen-wall covered in dark cracks and half-dead hexagon-shaped pixels.
[Core Temperature: 97.39%]
[Energy Level: 100%]
[Structural Integrity: 26%]
[Dimensional Stability: 32%]
[Storage Capacity: 98%]
I tapped my Quartermaster bracelet, whispering a name.
"Yes?" A scruffy female voice came from the other side.
"Hey, kitty-cat. Did you miss us? We're home," I said. "Come meet us at the Gloomkerr Dungeon entrance. Bring our mooks. We have plentiful loot to carry back into the tower."
"Gloomkerr Dungeon?!" Katherine repeated. "How did you even..."
"You'll see," I replied, hanging up on her.
----------------------------------------
We climbed out of Miss Possible, leaving the tank behind us pouring steam in the direction of the dungeon sea.
Katherine arrived first, her bulky form melting out of the Shadows. She walked towards us and spotted Miss Possible and then her mouth fell open.
"What?" She let out. "What the fuck is that?"
"That's Miss Possible," I replied. "Our new wheels."
Io emerged from the tunnel next, followed by Guild mooks carrying bags. They too froze, staring at the steaming tank.
Katherine stared at Miss Possible, her emerald eyes wide with disbelief.
"Is that... a Corpse Seeker?" She finally found her voice. "Why is it so big?"
"Correction," Vespera nodded tiredly. "That's OUR Corpse Seeker! Stolen her fair n' square."
Io whistled. "No wonder you smelled like certain doom. Wow. This is seriously old magitek."
"Forty-two thousand years old," I nodded.
"Where the shit did you...?" Kat began.
"Borrowed her from the Omnid Chapel." I grinned.
"BORROWED?" Katherine's loud growl made the phosphorescent snail eye-stalks vibrate in the distance.
"Yes," I nodded jovially. "On a permanent basis. Vee, unleash the doubloons!"
Vespera tapped her wrist and a cascade of gold bars, Celesteel and magisteel cards, misc coins and documents began pouring out from Miss Possible's crystalline body, creating a glittering pile on the black stone platform.
"Bag it up, boys and girls!" I said, arms spread dramatically wide.
Katherine choked. Io laughed. The mooks stared at the pile of treasure with wide eyes.
"What." Katherine asked. "The fuck. Is that."
"Booty?" I grinned.
"I thought that you went on a date," Katherine massaged her snout with an exasperated expression.
"We did," I said cheerfully. "Had a lovely stroll in the city, taunted Emerald, bought some presents, stopped an execution, terrorized a city, stole a tank, robbed a bank, had a farm-cooked meal, bought a farm, had a walk on the beach, and retrieved an ancient magical reactor from the bottom of a radioactive sea. Very romantic. Right ladies?"
"Our foxy man knows how to show his girls a good time," Vespera smiled tiredly, held up by Cinder in a bridal carry.
The Quetzi let out a bothered noise.
Katherine stared between me and the Thunderbird. Then she looked at Cinder.
"Yeah," the Quetzi-girl replied with a half-catatonic look of glassy eyes. "That happened. All of that."
----------------------------------------
In the days that followed, I unpacked all of my sixty Omnimart stolen phones from my bag and taught my mooks how to use and charge them, connecting them to a copy of Yulia running on a stolen laptop.
Vespera spent all of her time in the grand dining hall, integrating the laptop and the stolen proto-dungeon core into the center of the tower directly below. She had used one of Possy's heat-release vents to purposefully melt the core and rapidly mix it into a very evenly blended slag about a hundred times with larger pieces of crystalline tower material, burning all individuality from the core. Then she used Lance's bricking wand to sink the said core deep into the floor and began setting up layers upon layers of crystalline wards around it.
Once she was done with that, she began entwining more hexagrams into it, giddily building her death ray while whistling Twisted Nerves song from the Kill Bob Film.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Katherine used her superhuman strength and deep-warp to punch new tunnels connecting caverns and to plan out rooms beneath the tower to house the Undertown refugees and our future employees. Io went with her and supervised her, warning which section was stable and which would cause a collapse.
I spent most of my time managing my Guild, explaining to each mook what they had to do for the potential year and six months that I would be away.
Miss Possible remained stationed at Gloomkerr for a day, gradually cooling and repairing herself. Eventually, she joined the excavation efforts. Thanks to the Corpse Seeker's drilling power and Io's disaster-sense we were able to create thousands of new tunnels and rooms connected to our Guild, hollowing out the interior of our crystalline domain in just a few days.
When the space was set up fully, Vespera covered the entire tank in cold runes and we began venturing out into Duskbloom-engulfed Undertown, swiftly rescuing thousands of people from their hovels and Topaz dens.
Without the tank on our side, many people would die, but Miss Possible tirelessly worked night and day even while we slept as Vespera set up a basic body-retrieval algorithm inside her, targeting passed out Undertown denizens. The Duskbloom mites had indeed devoured all Topaz out of people's bodies first, leaving them clean.
Shash and his assassins set up checkpoints throughout the new tunnel network, organizing the refugees into different sectors based on their skills and establishing a basic security system.
Along with human bodies, Possy liberated tons of useful stuff, collecting magisteel safes left behind by the mages and Guilds who fled Undertown. In just a few days our Guild vault became absolutely packed with Kitlix, gold, weapons, tools, books and artifacts.
A section of the tower was modded by Vespera to melt down the bars and mint new coins and cards with an image of Miss Possible on one side and my foxy face on the other, aged to make me look regal and wearing a laurel crown with the words LORD PROTECTOR etched around my bust. Shash and our other agents were sent upstairs to lease a variety of properties with the currency for our business venture developments, offering various select, capable, young individuals jobs in our crystal tower.
Through rapid organization and delegation, the crystal tower transformed into a semi-functioning city-state within Undertown.
Vespera continued enhancing the tower's defenses, integrating more complex ward systems and expanding the tower's capabilities. The proto-dungeon core provided stable power for all operations.
Since there was only one column stairwell leading into Undertown, Vespera simply pointed the death ray at the tower housing it, attracting an absurd number of mites to the entrance.
----------------------------------------
Arch-Guild Enforcer Legarth Wixoff descended into the stairwell leading to Undertown, his crack team of Enforcers behind him, covered head to toe in specially designed cold-rune armor.
"Cold runes on," he barked to his team as they reached the bottom of the long stairwell. "Move quick and don't get distracted. We are to crack open the safes and to retrieve all valuables for the Guilds and mages that departed in their haste and abandoned much of their valuables behind."
The other enforcers nodded.
Legarth stepped out of the stairwell tower and found himself facing an inexplicable, silver-blue crystalline, semi-transparent obelisk standing in a literal ocean of glowing mites.
Not a single Kitlix lantern burned in Undertown now. Colorful mites drifted all over, obscuring his view.
"What in her Shadow's name?" Legarth stared at the odd obelisk and the horrid living sea below it. "Did these pesky mites already spread this much?!"
A magical projection suddenly flickered to life projected from the obelisk - a respectable-looking, foxgirl sitting on what appeared to be a crystal throne.
"Welcome to the Free City of Katsburg," she declared cheerfully. "I am secretary of his Lord Protector, Yulia. How may I assist you today?"
"Free City?" Legarth sputtered. "What nonsense is this?"
"As signed by the decree of Shandrian Sovereign Cedez Astra," the foxgirl's hologram continued pleasantly, "this section of Undertown is now an autonomous region under the regency of Lord Protector. It is Duskbloom-infested land currently being reclaimed by the Order of Thunder and Rainbow. Do you have an appointment?"
"We don't need an appointment," Legarth growled. "We're here to retrieve valuables left behind by the Guilds of Undertown. Also, Shandria doesn't have a Sovereign named Cedez Astra!"
"The Free City of Katsburg recognizes Lady Cedez Astra as the legitimate Sovereign of Shandria. Also, I'm afraid those valuables have already been devoured by Duskbloom," the projection smiled. "However, if you'd like to discuss business opportunities or schedule a meeting with one of our banking representatives, I'd be happy to assist."
"Banking representatives?" Legarth sputtered. "What banking representatives?"
"The Free City of Katsburg offers competitive financial services and employment opportunities," the projection replied pleasantly. "Including secure storage, currency exchange, and a multitude of investment opportunities. Would you like to schedule an appointment?"
"Listen here," Legarth growled, "I don't know who you are. I have orders from High Justice Luborkand of Shandria to retrieve that which belongs to the Guilders!"
"I'm afraid without proper authorization, I cannot allow you to proceed further," the projection interrupted. "The mites in this area are quite aggressive. For your own safety, I recommend scheduling an appointment with our representatives."
Legarth stared at the projection in disbelief. "This is absurd! We are authorized enforcers of the Arch-Guild!"
"Speaking of authorization," the foxgirl said in her far-too-polite cadence, "I notice you're carrying quite a lot of weaponry. I should inform you that unauthorized weapons are strictly prohibited in Katsburg. Our defense systems are... quite thorough. For your own safety you have ten seconds to step back. Ten. Nine..."
A red dot appeared on Legarth's chest armor.
"I don't have to listen to whatever this is!" Legarth ignored the dot, marching into the ocean of mites, parting away from his cold runes.
A brilliant beam of light erupted from somewhere high above and Legarth suddenly ignited like a torch. All of the runes covering his armor exploded at once, overloading from the ray that boiled the air itself. Then the sea of mites engulfed him whole as he screamed.
The rest of Legarth's team stumbled backwards in horror as their leader vanished beneath the undulating waves of glowing mites.
A hand emerged, then another. Hissing and smoking, Legarth crawled back towards his team, his expensive armor crumbling away, his entire body covered in mites.
"As I was saying," the foxgirl continued in the same pleasantly unnerving voice, "for your safety, I recommend scheduling an appointment. Our banking representatives would be happy to discuss any concerns you might have in the future."
"H-help me, yo-you idiots! R-retreat!" Legarth croaked, spitting mites, his voice hoarse. "Back to the surface!"
The enforcers scrambled backwards up the stairs, towards the cold tunnel, dragging their leader with them.
"Thank you for your interest in visiting Katsburg," the hologram called after them cheerfully. "We look forward to your scheduled visit!"
The projection flickered off as the last enforcer disappeared up the stairs.
. . .
Behind the obelisk, in the crystal tower's control room, the image of the foxkin on the laptop screen connected to Lance's mana-electricity converter, smiled.
"Unauthorized armed delvers repelled," Yulia declared proudly.
"Great job," I commented from the couch where I was cuddling a sleeping Cinder. "Very diplomatic."
"Why, thank you," Yulia replied. "I aimed to be firm yet professional."
"Think you can handle it from here?" I said.
"A year and six months is a long time to leave an LLM in charge," she said with a smile. "But I've got a capable team of Arx-kin working as my hands and eyes. If I go offline or get stuck in loops, they can restart me or take over. Do you trust them, Lord Protector?"
"I trust in the foundation I set up," I shrugged. "I trust in the Guild I bought, Shash and Master Morty. Well paid, well-fed people don't rebel and our Guild's Vault is bursting with gold now. Just keep our people safe. And keep expanding carefully. No need to rush things. Use the farmland we bought to feed the populace."
"Of course," Yulia nodded. "I'll maintain steady growth while you're away. The refugees are settling in well from what I was told by Shash and can see via a few cameras pointed down."
I glanced at Cinder, who was dozing against my shoulder, her feathers shifting through peaceful blues and silvers.
"Ci! Time to head back to Earth," I said softly.
"Mmm, five more minutes," she replied, burying me in pink-blue-silver feathers.
"Do we really have to head back?" Vespera asked from where she was sitting, still manipulating hexagrams far below us. "I'm... happy here. Still so much to do."
"Are you scared?" I asked her.
"Yes," Vespera admitted softly, all of her feathers turning pure black. "I am. I'm worried about defying my entire family and my dad, worried about Zheng's wrath. Here you're Lord Protector and out there you'll be just another Skyfall student, a nullie at that."
"The world is more than Arx, Vee," I said, "more than our little crystal citadel. What do you think happens if we stay here past the two hour limit?"
"The gate to Earth will turn off," Vespera said. "Till next Friday. It operates on runic clockwork Instructor Zalimar set up. Our parents will freak out and bring Scruts into the school and then figure out how to reactivate the gate forcefully... get into Shandria and send many Corpse Seekers, Knight and other Omnid magitek to retrieve us."
"Exactly," I said. "Our death ray won't work against those. We can't run from Omnithornia. You and Ci will get dragged back to Earth on your parents terms. I don't want that."
Vespera nodded, her feathers twitching.
"Aww, where's my brave, cheerful Vee?" I asked, petting her.
"Tired," she replied. "Very effing tired. You try burning a thousand hexagrams into a tower in less than eighty hours!"
"Did you not sleep at all?" I asked her, recalling her cuddling us with one arm at times, while using her second arm to etch hexagrams into the crystalline strata below.
"Nope," she said. "Pushed need to sleep away with my current. Kept myself going past the limit. S'making me irritable and twitchy. Going to have a long-ass nap after. Was too excited about setting up our lovely base away from home." She sighed, standing up and stretching her black wings. "But, you're right. We need to face Earth. We need to roll on with our plans! Can't hide in our crystal tower forever. Omnithornia awaits! Rise n' shine, Skittles!"
She sent a brilliant spark into Cinder's face, the Quetzi-girl shaken awake with a bothered yelp and flutter of orange feathers.