Drake's eyes fluttered open as his consciousness slowly returned. When he came to he found that his arms and legs were bound to a thick stone chair. If he still had his belt on he could have used the hidden blade in the buckle to free himself, but like his clothes, his gear was missing too.

After surveying his surroundings he still couldn't figure out who had captured him and for what purpose. The room consisted of three bare walls of stone and a passageway, a small gem fitted to the ceiling gave a soft blue glow to the illuminate the room. Drake couldn't think of anyone who would use such a room to hold prisoners, perhaps a slightly mad earth mage. Maybe that old man he saw before he passed out was the deranged earth mage in question.

Drake didn't have time to ponder for long before he could hear footsteps coming from the corridor. After straining his ears he could make out at least three people were coming. He tried one last time to remove his bindings before they arrived, but even with the small amount of mana he had recovered since being captured, he was unable to break the ropes.

The first person to enter his sight was the armored knight, from their slender frame he guessed this person was the woman who was attacking him. Following close behind her was the old man he saw just as he lost consciousness.

He was about to ask them what they wanted from him, however, the third person pulled his attention from the woman's exquisite armor. Drake recognized the lanky man, his name was Jacob and he joined a few years after him and was put under his command when he became a captain.

Drake couldn't understand why Jacob would betray him, he treated him well enough. Drake even gave him preferential treatment as someone he trained up himself. Jacob never got any of the tough jobs and as long as Drake remained in command of this particular army, Jacob would be one of the lucky soldiers that lived long enough to retire, he also told the man that if he ever met the requirements he would immediately put him in with the elite unit without having to achieve some meritious service.

Jacob even used this familiarity with Drake to get himself out of a few bad spots too and managed to nearly tarnish his reputation.

Drake spat "after how well I treated you, this is how you return the favor", he spat on the ground and looked at Jacob as if he was an insect, "I even covered for you when after you cheated in the casino, do you remember that you ungrateful mongrel, if it wasn't for me you would have had your legs broken and if you were "lucky" they might have stuck you in one of their brothels for people with heavy tastes. But who knows, considering how much of a piece of shit you are you would probably enjoy it"

Jacob watched his former superior bark as if he wasn't tied to a chair right now and a small grin formed on his lips.

Drake saw the others shit-eating grin and only got angrier.

Jacob interrupted the mans one man spit throwing contest and said, "if you really were so good to me then, why was I sent with only one incompetent fool to scout this dangerous dungeon with, you know I could have died horribly or worse get captured, but I'm sure you "care" sooo much"

Just as Drake was about to start swearing at the idiotic scout he heard an odd sound coming from the hallway. It sounded like thousands of strange tiny birds chirping and if listened closely footsteps. Soon small bursts of blue light seemed to flash in sync with the loudest chirps on the hallway walls.

Drake's draw almost dropped off his face when Merlin the strongest mage on this side of the continent stormed in covered in lightning, it was at this moment that he realized why Jacob had defected. If someone like Merlin took notice of him and made him a student he would defect too.

Merlin disregarded the tied up man in the room and directly questioned Selenia, "Take me to Ahri" with a slight tremble in the fury that was his magic embued voice.

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Jacob casually replied to the powerful mage "Ahri is fine so calm down old man"

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU KID, TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, SHOW SOME GOD DAMN RESPECT BEFORE I TEAR YOUR SOUL APART", he then wiped out a small grey gem from his sleeve with a deep crack running across most of the surface. Merlin then grimly added, "this is a life crystal that is bound to Ahri's lifeline, it breaks when...".

Merlin didn't even finish the sentence, he just sort of trailed off while staring off into oblivion. Jacob's blank uncaring expression shifted for a moment, he didn't get the full explanation of what that crystal does, but he can guess given the fact it is bound to Ahri's lifeline and Merlins expression as he was trying to explain what it does.

Selenia interrupted the complex atmosphere, "Ahri really is fine, She is unconscious but I checked her myself and she should make a full recovery"

Merlin seemed to change from a wiery old man into a ferocious tiger in an instant, "recovery, recovery from what" as he looked around the small room for the culprit.

Jacob could see the mage's relief through the angry disguise he showed others, he felt slightly sorry for the old man so he comforted, "When I was healing her I also checked her soul and it's still fine, so after some rest, she will be perfectly healthy".

Merlin's shoulders visibly relaxed and then he questioned Jacob, "So who is the bastard who did it and where is Ahri now, I want to check on her myself".

Jacob pointed to the tied up man that Merlin obviously hadn't noticed yet and started to say "he was the one w--"

Before he could finish his sentence or stop Merlin, the old mage teleported right next to the prisoner and just as Drake was about to yell, Merlin's hand rested on his head and glowed a strange color that he couldn't name. Drakes soul gave a brief moment of resistance before it was sucked up into a crystal on Merlin's palm.

Everyone was so shocked by Merlins actions they forgot to try and stop him from continuing whatever he was doing.

With a few chanted words that sent shivers down everyone's spines Merlins hand glowed once again, the crystal flickered and then there was a shadow inside the crystal writhing in agony.

Rick grimaced then asked "did you just... bind his soul into a stone just so you can torture it for longer"

Merlin flicked the stone into one of his storage rings and replied "I don't know what you're talking about"

Jacob sighed then said "Well you ruined my fun, I was going to mess with the man's head a little and get some information before I possesssed his body"

Merlin finally realized something and demanded "your the dungeon aren't you, where were you when Ahri was injured enough that the life crystal thought she was dead, why was she in danger in the first place, I sent her here to be safe because what could be safer than a sentient dungeon, but look what happened I said I would dest--"

Lucifer used his dungeon voice to interrupt "DONT THREATEN ME" before the mage inevitably got to his hollow threat, then continued in a monotone "She got herself into the dangerous situation herself while I was figuring out ways to stop the invasion, which by the way would have killed Ahri too if I died so where were you"

Merlin was about to shout back, but found that he had nothing he could say against that. He had forgotten that a soul binding will kill the servants if the master dies.

Rick decided that it was time to meditate before things got out of hand, "he is right, Ahri acted recklessly and nearly got herself killed, Lucifer managed to heal her even when he had almost zero mana"

Rick could tell Merlin was about to rebut him so he quickly added: "remember that she is in "heat" so her mind is not completely stable at the moment", cutting off any doubts that Ahri could have done something reckless.

After a few awkward moments, Merlin asked "so what is the situation with the invasion force"

Lucifer blandly replied, "they are between the fifth and sixth floors creating rafts, why did you intend to swoop in at the last moment and save the dungeon in distress". Lucifer was quickly becoming tired of Merlin and was starting to regret even making a deal with him.

He continued "well don't worry I don't need your help because I have solved the problem on my own". Lucifer started transferring his consciousness into Drake's corpse.

Merlin spat back "with my students help I might add".

Drakes body twitched then spoke "your student, she is not yours anymore, her soul is bound to me and with her condition, her heart also belongs to me, so I can do whatever I want with her"

Lucifer walked passed the mute old man and stated as he was leaving "although I'm quite tired of you, so if you want her back you can take her along with the deal we have, oh also would you kindly do something useful and kill the dutchy soldiers invading your Kingdom on your way out, I don't like survivors".