"Lord Gaius! I have returned" shouted a female warrior in foreign armour

The room was filled with gold and shined bright like the summer sky, the white marbling without a single speck of dust. The female warrior on the other hand seemed weathered and experienced, her armor being witness to many legends and her blade to many foes. The emperor on the other hand seemed young and inexperienced, dressed in a white robe and a small golden decoration on his hair that he called a crown. He was a beautiful king, his fair skin and his golden locks as luxurious as the throneroom itself. However, that was only a facade for his enemies, hiding something far more sinister under the skin.

"Satie, my dear. So have you found the location of the rebels yet?"

"Yes sir! However, I was not able to finish them off due to a mysterious artifact they had..."

"Ha! Not to worry. This was but a reconnaissance mission. If needed I will personally see to it that they are completely destroyed without a trace"

The emperor stood up from his golden throne and picked up a handful of gold coins from the pile. The gold then slowly melted, transforming into a new armour.

"Satie, I hope you will accept this humble gift"

"Thank you my lord," said Satie, kneeling while receiving the gift with both hands

"You have been my most royal subjects. I trust you more than anyone, and when it is all done, I shall grant you any wish"

The left eye of the emperor now glowed purple, with a strange demonic symbol, affecting the mental state of Satie.

"A-anything?!"

"Hmm? Do you have something in mind?"

"I- uh"

"Heheh. I do suppose every King needs his Queen?"

"I wasn't thinking about that! I mean- Uhh..."

The king laughed softly, things were going perfectly as he planned. He then let in the pigeon that was waiting along the open wall supported by marble pillars. It was a messenger pigeon, carrying mail from Ace, one of his spies. She had been sent there to retrieve the elven slaves, but it seemed that she had found something far more interesting.

"Heroes..." quietly whispered Gaius

He turned to look at Satie. The two of them were not alone. Whether this was good news or bad news was hard to tell, for he no longer walked the path the Goddess paved for him, he was now making his own future, weaving his own fate.

"Satie, it seems that I have another mission for you," said Gaius as he handed the letter to her "We must make sure our fellow heroes are on our side, and therefore, we must invite them first. Make sure you make a positive first impression"

"Understood"

Satie left the throne room, leaving Gaius alone again. Now he had to recalculate their plans thanks to the new unknown variables. However, he was still confident that even if the heroes were against him, he would still emerge victorious.

Meanwhile beneath the kingdom, underneath the labyrinth, even closer to the core than the dragon hive, lay the Masking Office, the exclusive club for the highest-level executives of the underground market known as Faust. Of course, only a few knew of the name as it was one of the closest guarded secrets of the world.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Heheh, is that really the hero you fought, Jackal?" said an old man wearing a mask at a small table.

They were in one of the smaller rooms among the available. It was dimly lit with a silver lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, illuminating the round table below.

"Yeah, looks about right," said a figure enveloped in shadow

"So what do you think? Is this all over? I mean, the heroes now know of our existence"

"Hmf, what kind of businessmen would we be if we don't go down without a fight?"

"Hoh? Do you have a plan to propose?"

"The dragon hive. It's unstable, uncontrollable and it'll cause great destruction right? That's like having a landmine planted under your enemy's feet"

"Do you propose that we take the capital hostage?"

"That's the best shot we got"

"Hmm... Alright. It's not like I was ever going to be able to retire anyways"

The shadowy figure pours a bottle of wine for his friend on the other side of the table.

"At least it was fun while it lasted. I hope I live at least"

"Heh, I know I will!"

"Then let's meet again after the dust settles. Cheers, mate"

"Cheers"

So ended the night for the underground dweller, their end days rapidly approaching.

Meanwhile, at Siege's abode, the clock striking midnight, Siege, Orchestra, Poda-Bruss, Kallen, Solas and Kaizer had just returned from shopping while Dune, Ace, Sacrosanct as well as their new dragon was holding down the fort lest she exposes herself within the city. Reginn had also just returned from his trip to the World Beast and Blodelshein was still asleep at Sivrit's house. After an excruciatingly long day, the group finally gathered to share new information as well as opinions.

Kallen, Kaizer and Solas went first, reminiscing the return of Kallen's sworn enemy, a new demon lord, as well as a new look at the abilities of the cloaked boy from their first encounter at Sonosis. Solas suggested that the heroes make regular patrols, but Orchestra believed that the issue must be discussed with the king before any new system is organized, much to Solas's disappointment. However, Solas still decided that she would be patrolling the city personally, just in case a new demon lord appeared within the capital.

Sacrosanct and Ace then introduced themselves formally. Sacrosanct was the first non-human hero they encountered - other than Reginn - but everyone seemed pretty familiar with elves as Championnat had a long and intertwined history with Avangarden. In Ace's case, she needed a place to stay as the mission ended abruptly, her ride home was still yet to come, and so Orchestra offered her a temporary stay at the house. However, she would forget everything she learnt about the heroes after she returned to Championnat as per the demonic contract formed between the two. Reginn would later ask Blodelshein to erase Ace's memory just in case.

Now onto the main subjects - the story of the underground market enraged Reginn as he saw it as a defilement of the Goddess's beautiful kingdom. All agreed that the underground market had to be destroyed, but simply blowing up the labyrinth would be bad as that may sink the entire city. They would need to thoroughly search the labyrinth carefully to slowly extinguish the operations. Reginn volunteered to go to the market as soon as possible. He would also bring Blodelshein along to send a message to all those who dared to taint the Goddess's property.

Now was the time to discuss the dragon hive.

"We must destroy it immediately" ordered Reginn

"No, we can't! The dragons are innocent!" shouted Dune, overcoming her fear

"Hoh? I see that the demon lord is getting comfortable. There is no 'innocent' or 'guilty'. Only those who are against the Goddess, or with the Goddess. It matters not their status, those filthy beasts must be cleaned out immediately"

"But... But they won't do anything to the city! They wouldn't!"

"Can you guarantee that? Can you guarantee that these wild beasts won't kill civilians the moment they see one? These are wild animals. If you found wolves within your home, you must remove them"

"Remove them... That's it! Can't we just move them somewhere else?"

"And how? Only Blodelshein is capable of long-range teleportation and she can only do so while in contact with the subjects. The hundreds of dragons will definitely not be cooperative and even if they were, it would take weeks of Blodelshein's precious time"

"But... There has to be a way..."

"...I'll give you one week. That's it. If you can't find a way to relocate them, I will be destroying them along with all the criminals"

"..."

"...N-now to change the topic. What did you do today, Reginn?" asked Siege

"Well now, let's see..."