Chapter 283

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

City of Darthar

Rook reacted faster than Allya would have ever thought possible. The door wasn't even halfway through the room that he had already leapt...towards Allya and Pyn.

Before Pyn even knew what was happening they were both on the floor while he shielded them with his body and a shield projected by his arm.

His companion however...It had to be Wonsnot. Two thirds of the golems were destroyed before Rook was done, and Allya saw him dispose of the last few ones a second later.

"Surrender now! We have you surrounded!" Called out Alexandra outside. "Release the baroness and the knight or be destroyed!"

Well...shit.

"What the hell?" Called out Rook. "What...just happened? Were those golems?"

"It's the core!" Yelled out Allya. "It's Crystal, we had a panic button and...crap, she must think you're trying to kidnap or assassinate us!"

"Ah." Rook smiled. "Well, lucky for us, she doesn't quite have the punch to harm us." His smile fell as he saw Allya's expression. "You can't be serious."

"We, ah, gifted her an entire magazine's worth of Old World missiles, ones salvaged from the armada that attacked Rebirth."

"...Oh." Rook slowly got up, and walked out of the cabin, his hands raised. "I'm afraid this is a misunderstanding."

"Prove it. Release them."

"I am not holding anyone against their will. Baroness, knight, if you will? Your friend looks, ah, upset."

Allya slowly got up, before helping her girlfriend upright as well. Then they made their way to the ruined doorway, still in their nightclothes.

And emerged in the cool evening air...surrounded by heavily armed golems. Before they knew it they were whisked away, their bodyguards grabbing them and the automata forming a solid wall of metal between them and Rook.

"Are you okay?" Asked Alexandra, her ambassador golem meeting them as they were more or less pushed on the other side of the golem lines and their bristling wall of guns by Éclair and Rogard, the old elf looking like he'd almost had a heart attack.

To be fair, if an entire...merciful Gods, there had to be a full company of golems out there, dropped on her and told her her charge was in mortal danger, she would be too.

"We're fine. But you kind of ruined the cabin."

"I'll rebuild it. Who the hell are these clowns?"

"Rook the Sunderer, and Wonsnot, I believe."

Alexandra's eyes flickered from them to Rook.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'. They were here about the twins. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd rather not abuse the patience of one of the most dangerous persons in the entire planet."

"Right." Alexandra made a series of complicated hand gestures, and the golems stood down, as one.

"Was that really necessary? You could dispense with the theatrics."

Alexandra smiled mysteriously.

"It wasn't theatrics. It was a stand down order. Across...several of my ambassadors."

Meaning it was relayed somewhere else. Probably her battlecruiser...and the main dungeon.

"I...see."

"No you don't. Alright, let's greet our new friends."

"I did greet them. So did you, actually."

"Yes, but death threats and breaching charges make for poor introductions."

The ambassador moved towards the cabin, but stopped as Allya grabbed its arm, her hand glitching through the hologram and grasping cold, hard metal.

"Crystal...thank you."

The dungeon core...hadn't hesitated, for a single second, and her first and primary objective had been to save them, period.

Alexandra smiled.

"No problem Allya. I've got your backs. Both of you. Now, let's greet the super powerful being in the fetching coat, shall we?"

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*****

If Rook was perturbed by having tea and biscuits with someone who had just tried to kill him, he wasn't showing it.

"So." Said the leader of New Raleigh. "I would like you to release the twins, and allow the shipment to go forward."

"And in exchange?" Asked Pyn, bluntly. Allya and Alexandra exchanged a look, but...well, negotiation was the elf's specialty.

"What do you want?"

"What do you got?"

Rook smiled.

"Quite a bit. But most of it would be useless to you, I wager." He took a surprisingly delicate tip of his teacup, and Allya shuddered internally. It was hard to reconcile the gentleman in front of her with...well, she had passed through the Sundered Grove, the place that had given him his nickname. A place where he had unleashed magic so potent its scar was still there, millenia after.

There was more blood on his hands than Sunrise's duchess, and that was saying something.

"Perhaps, perhaps not."

"Very well." Rook sighed, setting down his teacup, before steepling his fingers. "Here is what I offer: the university of New Raleigh, from which both twins are graduates."

"You want...to give us a university?"

"Actually, I wished to give you a copy of its library...and access to its research programs." Rook didn't flick a glance at Alexandra, he straight up lifted his teacup in her direction. "I'm sure you'll be able to use it. The twins will serve as intermediaries, once their present assignment is completed of course."

"Deal." Said Pyn, while Allya snuck a glance at the dungeon core. Merciful Gods, was her hologram drooling? It was. Damn.

"Excellent. Then I assume the matter is resolved?"

"There are a few more things, actually." Said Pyn, and Rook raised an eyebrow. "First." The elf raised a finger. "Don't do that again."

"That?"

"Going behind our backs in our territory. You want to do something? Fine, but warn us. That's all we ask. Permission and some warning. We didn't stop the Syndicate, we sure as hell won't stop you, but don't try to go behind our backs."

"A fair demand. Very well. What else?"

"What the hell are you planning? Break Sunrise's brands?"

Rook hesitated.

"Yes."

For a man of his power, he was remarkably transparent when lying.

"Uh huh. Of course." Said Pyn, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"There are limits to what I am prepared to say. Your trustworthiness notwithstanding, what you don't know cannot be forced out of you."

"We're hardly likely to be interrogated?"

"Are you?" Rook's gaze was suddenly darker than the void between the stars, and Allya shivered. "Some of my best friends were broken, ripped apart, their very soul shredded for their secrets. No, knight, I won't take the risk."

"V-Very..." Pyn cleared her throat, trying to regain her balance. "Very well."

"Thank you. Though, you seem amazingly capable." Rook looked at Alexandra. "My commendations to you, your reaction time was quite exceptional."

"Thank you, I do try."

Allya almost twitched, as she felt some amusement in the dungeon core's tone. Knowing her, she'd been ready to unleash every kind of hell there was.

"Do, or do not, there is no try." Alexandra twitched like she was burned, and Rook raised an eyebrow. "Extradimensional proverb, so I was told."

"You know extradimensionals?"

"I've met a fair few in my time. Still know some. Charming people, if a bit critical of our home."

"Ah. Interesting."

"Met any of your own?"

"Yes. Let's say that. They seemed, ah, haunted."

"Well, they have witnessed miracles and horrors the God of Fire banished with the dawn of the flames."

"Some of those miracles and horrors attacked Rebirth."

"Those...were nothing compared to what was unleashed during the Great Night." Rook smiled sadly. "Believe me, once you delve into some of the ruins...you'll witness far worse."

"I see."

"No. No you don't. And I sincerely pray that you never do. Now, if this concludes our discussions? Not to put too fine a point on it, but me and my friend are quite busy, and have places to be."

"Of course." Alexandra snuck a glance at Wonsnot, and Allya had to agree with her slightly worried look, though only someone who knew her well could tell.

The guy had annihilated her strike team, and he was...too controlled. Not a movement wasted, even as he ate, his hands taking the perfect, most economical path to his teacup or biscuits. In truth he almost acted with more precision than Alexandra's golems, which was...disturbing, to say the least.

Even Alexandra's terrifying, blank eyed psycho-maid, the one with the poison fetish, didn't do that, and she already creeped the ever living crap out of her.

"Well then, no time like the present. My regards to you. And please, we were never here."

And they were gone.

"...Are we secure?" Asked Allya.

Alexandra looked at the newly repaired door, which her golem were just finishing installing.

"Yep. Good things I brought spares."

"I assume you shipped it with the breaching charges. Alex, I want one of your teleport redirectors. And bombs. Lots of bombs."

"That can most definitely be arranged, though it'll have to be stealthed."

"Sure."

"Good. Now I'll leave you two lovebirds alone."

"Lovebirds?!? You think we're going to do anything? We're dead tired, and someone just broke into the cabin!"

"And yet you're wearing crotchless chic. I'm sure Pyn will avail herself of that."

"How did-" But Alexandra was already gone. Allya turned to her fiancée. "How did she knew that?"

"She seems observant for that kind of things. I think it's a survival strategy, what with her girlfriend."

"Uh huh. Do you think getting her access to that university was a good idea?"

"If there's something I've learned, it's that she'll get what she wants, and run rings around anyone in her path."

Allya sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sighed.

"True. Very true."

She cracked opened her eyes as she heard movement and found Pyn leaning over her.

"So...she mentionned crotchless, right?"

Allya smiled.

"You're insatiable, you know that?"

"I'm not hearing a no~."

"Well...I did wear them for a reasmmhhhhh!" Allya's sentence ended up in a muffled yelp as her fiancée kissed her, and their suddenly wasn't any more time for talking.

*****

"Hello world."

Emylris opened her eyes as the strange voice spoke.

She gazed at the ceiling for a second, utterly stunned. Where was she? This wasn't her bedroom, what-

The memories came flooding in. The teleport. The assault on the dungeon...

That flash of light as the golem pointed its gun at her.

"Am I...dead?"

"You were." Said the voice, and the archmage looked to the side. She was laying on a bed, and by its side was a woman, sitting on a chair and clad in a military uniform that reeked of the Old World. "But your soul was never sealed. Hence, you no longer are."

"...I don't know who you think you are, but I am an archmage. I can reduce you to ashes with but a thought. And do things a thousand times worse if I put my mind to it."

The woman smiled viciously.

"You have no power here." She got up, and stalked to the bed, before bending over it, until her face was centimeters away from Emylris'. "But please, do try. I would enjoy seeing what you have in mind so I can inflict it back to you a thousandfold."

Emylris trembled as she saw those eyes...those eyes...

She felt a primal terror on level she barely comprehended. Like if she'd gazed at the abyss, and instead of staring back, it began to speak, to beckon.

"Who...what are you?" She whispered.

The woman righted herself.

"An excellent question! I suppose there's no harm in telling you. If you ever leave this place, which is unlikely, it'll only be with failsafes and total confidence you won't fuck us over. I'm the dungeon core." The woman shrugged as she sat back on her chair. "Or rather, I'm who she was."

"W-What?"

The woman smiled again.

"The dungeon core ain't a creation of the God of Fire kid. She's artificial."

"I'm no child! I-"

"You're in your fifties, right? Don't answer, I checked who you were before we did this." The woman's smile widened as Emylris stared in surprise. "Yeah, I know who you are. Who everyone in your strike team was."

"We-"

"Look kid, don't bother justifying yourself, I don't care. My point is, I'm older than you are."

Emylris' eyes got wide.

"You're from the Old World." She said in a horrified whisper.

"Ooooh, good guess! No no no, I'm much worse than that." The woman smiled. "I'm an extradimensional!"

The archmage licked her lips.

"I know extradimensionals. I studied you, and your peers, as well as your gifts. Whatever...fear you thought you could inflict with that is only for the foolish and uneducated."

"Oh? Know so much about me and my world?"

Emylris huffed.

"Of course! Who do you take me for? Terra was the birthplace of some of the greatest archmages! And a world without magic no less!"

"Interesting. And you think me unthreatening?"

"Why would some rat in the warren of your magicless society scare me? I see you were in the military. Good, you may be worth something."

The woman laughed.

"I like your bravado! I can see it's all facade. I can see your fingers trembling." Emylris clenched her fists. Damn it! "And I heard your admiration at what we had accomplished with the teleport redirector."

"You...you did it?"

"Yep. Developed in house. In more ways than one, actually."

"Impressive. But do you expect me to be trembling with fear?"

The woman's smile wasn't vicious. It was beyond that. She got up, and stalked towards the bed again, but this time she did it slowly.

"Let's see how much you truly know about my homeworld."

She bent over...and whispered her true name into the archmage's ear.

The mage wetted herself.

"You're...the butcher...of Europa..." She said.

And everything went black as she fainted.