Chapter 292

Eris Imperial Protectorate of Volkan

Great Gorges Dungeon, Core Room

"Why?" Pleaded the vampire.

The guildmistress didn't answer. She simply activated the neutralizer.

The advisor screamed for a few, endless seconds, before falling silent, his body mutating and dissolving as the nanotech went mad.

"You…you bastards!" Screamed the dungeon core, its words shaking the walls of the core room. Its avatar, a treeman, laid shattered in a corner, alongside the barely recognizable remains of its last defenders. "I will destroy you!"

The guildmistress stepped forward. The core had put up a good fight.

Just not good enough.

She pocketed the neutralizer, and pulled out a spear, one wreathed in flames, and suddenly the core was silent.

"His Divinity betrayed us." It managed to force, before the control programs reasserted themselves.

"His Divinity understands what needs to be done." Let out the guildmistress, her eyes hard.

She struck, the spear forcing its way through the iso-dimensional shield, and reality screamed around her as Gargor, dungeon core of the Great Gorges, died.

She waited for a second, as the core exploded in a myriad of colors, and suddenly was nothing more than inert crystal.

"We're done here." Said the guildmistress over her shoulder, and the rest of the kill-team nodded.

Mission accomplished.

*****

Alexandra looked up as the door to the workshop slammed open.

"Emilia?" She froze as she took in her girlfriend's expression. "Is everything alright?!?"

The vampire swallowed, heavily, and her eyes met Alexandra's.

They were full of fear.

"My...my cousin is dead. Alex they...someone killed him...and his dungeon core!"

"Fuck." Alexandra didn't even remember crossing the room, but suddenly she had Emilia in her arms. "I'm so sorry Emi. Who...who was it?"

"M...Margar..."

Alexandra closed her eyes.

Margar was the advisor assigned to the dungeon core of the Great Gorges, Gargor.

The very dungeon core she'd confronted when she'd told the UDC to go fuck themselves. The leader of the isolationists.

"The guild is cleaning house." Said the Earth-born, and she felt Emilia faintly nod against her.

"Yes...and they will burn for what they did. My homeland never forgets, Alex. Never. We are immortal. And so is our hatred."

Alexandra squeezed the vampire against her.

"You know...you know this won't be the only one, right?"

Emilia's hug tightened.

"I know. But my mom, and my dad...they're coming up with ways to ensure no more advisors will die."

"Ways?"

Emilia raised her head, and met Alexandra's gaze once more.

"My mother is still called the Blood Witch of Hartown, and the Harvester of a hundred thousand souls."

"...The western marches are marching to war?"

"It is supposed to be forbidden, we are neutral, but...this is unprecendented. Dungeons are supposed to be left outside such conflicts. They are the gifts of the God of Fire, not soldiers to march to their dooms."

"That ceased to be a long time ago."

The vampire sighed.

"I know. I know...But my mom was alive long before that time ended."

"Right."

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"There's also...I've also been told our reinforcements should be here soon. Ish."

"We hardly need them now, honestly."

Emilia shrugged.

"You may be surprised."

Alexandra's eyebrow rose.

"Would I? What are they even sending anyway?"

"I don't know much. My mom is staying very vague. She thinks I wouldn't approve of whatever she's sending."

"Uh." What the hell had the old vampire matriarch sent? "Well, I suppose we'll find out then. In the meantime, we're going to have to go public."

"Public?"

"Our allies need to know there was an attempt on my life as well...and who is most likely responsible."

"Won't the traditionalist accuse you?"

"Yes they will. They will no matter what. But as long as we don't accuse them, they'll look like idiots." Alexandra smiled wolfishly. "And the advantage of having looked, at least outwardly like, ah, uh...blunt instrument in diplomacy means that few will believe we'd be able to be that sneaky anyway."

"You think the guild will try to kill dungeons in your faction as well?"

Alexandra grimaced.

"No. But we need some level of transparency. They deserve to know what, and who, they are up against."

"And it'll set them up against the guild."

"That organization has to fall honey. There's literally no other choice."

Emilia nodded, firmly.

"It does. They have betrayed everything they were supposed to be. Let's burn them to the ground."

"Wow, slow your horses. One step at a time. And this? This is step one."

"And what's step two?"

"What else? War." Alexandra closed her eyes. "Total war."

She felt her girlfriend tense up, before relaxing.

"The collapse." Simply said the vampire.

"Yes. Someone is assembling a perfect storm. The Order..."

"Or the Church."

Alexandra was silent for the several seconds.

"Or the Church, yes."

It was Emilia's turn to be silent. Then she began shaking, and Alexandra realized the vampire was crying.

"I...I didn't want to believe...but...the spear...and Margar..."

Alexandra hugged her tighter.

"Ssshhh...We'll be alright..."

"Why...why would they let this happen?"

"I don't know." And for what it was worth, she truly didn't. She knew the Church wished the planet and it's people be kept in the dirt, but why? That still eluded her.

But she had a feeling she would find the answer in what caused the Great Night, and the ruins of the Sagitarius Empire.

"But I will find out. I promise you that." She finished.

"I'll hold you to that."

"I know. I know..."

*****

"One small thread..." The Adjudicator smiled as she set down the report. "Was all we needed."

The Custodian before her shifted.

"What have you found?"

"The guild appealed to the Order for assistance."

"Heretics." Said the Custodian, mildly...but his eyes belied his soft voice, and the Adjudicator shivered.

She couldn't help it. She knew of their limitations, of their weaknesses...but they were still the chosen of the God of Fire, enhanced through magic and technology to heights almost undreamt of on the world below.

"Quite. And they will pay for their treachery. But they have assisted us, even in their heresy."

"Are you tracking the group they made contact with?"

The Adjudicator nodded.

"We are."

"Excellent." The Custodian shifted again, even the slightest change of position a gargantuan movement by the giant in golden armor. "I commend you, Adjudicator. Your suggestion to divert surveillance assets from the dungeon was well founded, and bore fruit."

The Adjudicator nodded, accepting the commendation. She had been the one to realize that the Order wouldn't budge to help the dungeon, and their little raid on the Hammer of Eternity's supply ship was purely to acquire technology.

There was no need to keep a tight watch around 'Alexandra'. The Order had clearly realized they were doing exactly that, and meticulously keeping their distance, any agent in the vicinity extremely careful not to make contact with the dungeon core.

So instead, those assets had been deployed elsewhere, to more effective ends.

"Thank you my lord."

"What is the status of the Purge?"

"The preparations are moving, but slower than expected. The Order sabotages our efforts at every turn, however indirectly. They have clearly prepared for this eventuality, and laid careful plans in advance."

"We have grown predictable it seems. Very well. And what of the new waves of dungeon cores?"

"They are being prepared. Though the servants of the God of Light, as usual, are being...less than communicative on exact numbers."

The Custodian nodded. The God of Light was a thorn in their side...but a necessary one. He had forged the Aether, enabled miracles such as dungeon cores. Hence his title, the Aethersmith.

And that meant they had to go through him. For every extradimensional and dungeon core, they had to go through him and his minions.

"That is to be expected. But after the slaughter of this Purge, there will need to be replacements. Many replacements."

"Yes my lord."

The Custodian looked at the room, which seemed even more abandonned than last time. With the additional personel pressures of the Purge, fewer and fewer Seraphims manned the consoles on any kind of regular basis. There were always other, more pressing needs to fulfill.

"Speaking of replacements..."

"The inquisition has a list of candidates for you to perview my lord."

"Excellent. Then return to the preparations, and, Adjudicator?"

"Yes my lord?"

"Do not let that thread go. Glory be His Name."

"And Glory be His Pyre."

The Adjudicator bowed as the Custodian left, before pulling out her communicator.

She had a lot of work to do, and a heretical conspiracy to unravel.

*****

"Fuck." Said Allya, as she looked at Alexandra's ambassador golem in shock. They were currently in the cabin aboard the Dusk Blade, hovering over the shattered fortresses of the Alesian line, while Pyn was down on the ground, getting things organized for the ceremonies to ocme.

"We were expecting it."

"Doesn't make it any less of a shitshow. Plus..." The baroness sighed. "Seeing it is a lot different than knowing it would happen."

"Maybe for you, I had to fight the assassins off."

"I know, I know, I mean no offense, just..." Allya gritted her teeth.

"You were told dungeon cores were divine gifts all your life, and so precious that kidnapping them was a viable tactic, but killing them without considerable cause borders on outright heresy?" Offered Alexandra.

"Pretty much. That and...well, dungeon cores are utterly vital to life, not to mention economies. Killing one is just...mad."

"I think the adventurers guild has amply proved their madness by now."

"That it most definitely has." Allya sighed. "This is going to impact everything, you know."

"I know." Their gazes met, and their was similar grimness in both.

The death of a dungeon core was a momentous event, but...the fact that it had happened in the Eris Empire, even in just an outer protectorate, was huge. All life within that area, which would be immense, as a single dungeon core could provide life sustaining mana to the equivalent to what would have been a fair sized country back on Earth, before the consolidation that followed the Terran Hegemony War, with the help of the ley lines to spread the energy around, all that life would simply...cease to be possible, and it would revert to a wasteland.

That meant refugees. Lots and lots and lots of refugees that would have no choice but to leave. Not to mention the economic collapse, the trade routes, the chaos...

"Do you think it'll cause the Empire to collapse?" Said Alexandra, and Allya shook her head.

"No. Not yet. I know it may seem like a fragile edifice now, but it's sheer size gives it a lot of redundancies. What worries me is the fleet. Everyone in the Empire is going to be running scared, and that means there'll be massive pressure for them to do something. No one is going to believe the leader of the isolationist faction within the UDC being assassinated doesn't have anything to do with the civil war brewing within the council."

"Afraid they'll come here?"

"It's the logical choice. You are the epicenter of this mess after all."

"I can take them."

"Not without your high tech weapons, at least not as things are. And if you use those..."

Alexandra nodded.

"We'll have a lot of uncomfortable questions to answer."

"Precisely."

"I wouldn't worry too much. They're already heading south. Right now all eyes are on Eternia, she's one of the leaders of, well, the rebels within the council. And she's at the core of the standoff. They'll probably complete their show of the flag there before doing one here."

"Let's hope so."

"Everything ready for your big day?"

"My 'big day' will be when I marry my fiancée. But yes, most of everything is ready. And said fiancée is making sure everything is in order."

"True, my bad. And you mean feverishly running around and shouting at people, right?"

"Actually, no. She isn't like Emilia. She's a lot calmer here, though she really doesn't know a lot about those kind of ceremonies."

"The magistrate you brought with you does. Let's just hope the duke will be impressed."

Allya chuckled.

"You brought fifty thousand soldiers that would give Tark's best a run for their money. He'll wet his pants just from that."

"I wouldn't count on it. He seems like a tough, old cookie."

"Fair." Allya sighed. "So, we just sit tight, then?"

"I'm warning my allies within the UDC about the threat of the guild. But that's all we can really do. This is beyond us at this point."

Allya grimaced.

"It sucks not being in control of what's happening."

"Tell me about it."

The baroness laughed.

"Sorry, I forgot you had to watch us stumble around before you finally ran out patience."

"It's alright. Now, how about we get down there and help your girlfriend wrap things up? I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

"Yes, she'll tell me I wasn't pulling my weight otherwise."

"True, wouldn't want you sleeping on the couch tonight!"

Allya sputtered, but as usual, the dungeon core was gone before she could muster a reply.

Besides, what could she have said? The dungeon core was right.