As they left the teleportation room, Jack had Alice and Lady Niadas help carry Jadais unconscious body as they went deeper into the building. Concern was splayed across Lady Niadas face as she carried Jadai. When they walked into the next room, Jack saw dozens of modipods lining the room on one side. On the other were several large tubes filled with liquid.

In one of the tubes was what looked like a human male in the middle of transforming into something else. Jack examined the body and found he was long dead, making him a lasting testament to the horrors of this place. Alexia went over to one of the modipods and examined them and said "They've been used up."

"Looks like there are a few missing." Riley said, pointing at several spots where modipods had been removed.

"They were taken to Narak. I found them in a warehouse. There must be another way to get into this place besides activating all the towers." Alexia replied.

Magic energy was increasing steadily in the air. There was a weird hum in the air, making Jack's teeth hurt as they moved forward. Moving forward they found themselves in a tunnel overlooking a large room made to resemble a jungle. Stepping up to the glass window, Jack looked down, and he could see several monsters wandering about down below.

There was a buzzing sound, and he looked up and saw a panel slide open in the roof of the room and an orb floated down. All the monsters froze in place, and the orb floated to a bugbear and a thin rod extended from the orb and inserted itself into it. Jack could see blood go up the rod and a few seconds later the orb retracted the rod then floated back up into the ceiling.

Going onwards they saw several more rooms with different environments and monsters in each. In one exhibit that was filled with rugged crags, Jack saw the bones of a large creature. Passing through them they soon found themselves lost in a maze of corridors and rooms.

Jack chose the direction where the magic energy felt the densest, they continued on. They entered a room overlooking a large chamber below them. Looking below Jack saw hundreds of goblins attending to women laying pregnant on platforms. As he watched one of the women cried out and three goblins crawled out of her. A goblin came along and picked the goblin baby's up and tossed them into a pit with other goblin babies.

Stepping up to the glass window Lady Niadas said "Oh my god, this must be the birthing chamber for the goblins."

"Is there any way we can save these women?" Alexia said.

Frowning, Jack examined each of them and then shook his head sadly. "No, they are all too far gone for me to help them recover." Looking back up, he saw Megan in the back looking at a series of panels. "What are you looking at Megan?" He asked as he walked over to her.

Megan looked at him and said "It appears this device is monitoring the women placed on those platforms."

Going to the panels, Jack looked them over. It listed each woman on the platform under a number and noted the stage of soul marked they had reached. Messing with the panel controls, while he couldn't understand the words on the screen, he could however see the changes he could make with the controls. Besides modifying the goblins, the woman could produce, the device could even make them spawn other monsters.

In fact it looked as if one of the women was in the process of gestating a snake monster. Leaving that section he moved on to different options and found the one he was looking for. As he started activating it, Lady Niadas came up to him and asked "What are you doing Sir Jack?"

"I can't help them regain themselves. Their souls are in perpetual torture slowly being consumed by the mark. The only relief I can offer them is death." Jack said then, pressed the activation button and the platforms began to light up. Each woman began convulsing then they passed away. The goblins began screaming in dismay.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked back and saw Veronica. "It needed to be done My Lord. The world does not need to risk another goblin war."

Nodding, he led them out of the room and deeper into the building. Jack could feel they were getting close to that source of intense magic, when they entered a room that had at one time held murals along the walls. But the murals were now destroyed, only bits and pieces of them could be made out.

Along one wall with the most complete mural a tall man wearing a cloak could be seen. A word beneath him was clearly meant to be his name. The other figures on the mural had been destroyed, but some still had their names along the bottom. Ritalassa remarked "That figure reminds me of the one I saw in my dream. Could I have met him?"

Alexia walked up to the mural and examined the symbols on the bottom and said "I can't read all of these symbols, but I can read two of the names. The name for this figure is Ira. The other one I can read is Luxuriana, though I have no clue what the names really mean."

Beside the murals was a massive door, made out of Mavorite-Mithral. Going up to it, Jack pushed against it and felt it was locked. Not letting it stop him, Jack pushed harder making his muscles scream against the strain. The metal began to squeal in distress and then the doors flung open making a crashing sound into the chamber ahead of them.

Stepping past the now broken doors, Jack saw in the middle on a raised platform was a glowing field. The field surrounded a pacing Lord Attomas who looked to be talking to himself and pacing back and forth. He was nude and had several of those stones floating above his head.

Inside the field with him were three raised platforms that looked similar to the ones in the birthing chamber. In the middle of them was a pillar that was starting to glow. On the platforms were the two pregnant monsterkin who looked scared out of their minds, who were struggling against the straps that held them down.

Leaning against the shield on the outside was the harpy monsterkin who was examining it's nails in boredom and merely glanced at them entering in disdain. Snort was lying nearby and growled at Jack as he approached. Princess Falaen was pacing back and forth hitting her head over and over again. "Get out, get out, get out." She was muttering over and over again.

"This is over Falaen and Attomas. I won't let you accomplish what you are doing." Jack said

Falaen let out a giggle and tears began to fall from her eyes "I found the truth Sir Jack, but I can't hear my god anymore. All I hear is her voice! Her desires are now mine, and I can't find myself anymore. Yet I realized how blind I was, and when I stepped through that door, she welcomed me in her arms." Falaen madly ranted and pulled at her hair.

"What door? Who are you talking about?" Jack said, concerned. The energy coming off her was erratic, and he could feel her mind was in turmoil.

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"The maze door. I thought it was an illusion at first, how she saw the deepest desires within me. How wrong I was!" She cried and Jack was shocked as blood began to flow from her eyes. "Her power is within my blood. I have sworn fealty to her, she is my new mistress. I am bound to her will and I'm losing myself. She will take the empire as her own, and I will help her to it. The world will bow once again before her."

"That's not going to happen." Jack said, determined.

"Don't try stopping me please. I don't want to hurt you, but if you try to stop the ritual I will. My mistress wants the chains that bind her ripped off."

"You wanted to save your empire Falaen. You can fight her control." Jack encouraged her.

She looked desperately at Jack and said "Oh how I wish you were right. But she is too strong, I am too exhausted. The pleasure she offers is beyond everything you could ever imagine. She gave me a taste of it, and it's haunting me. I'm sorry I will see the world burn just to feel that good again." 

Unable to see another way forward, Jack said to the others, I will deal with her. Get through that shield as fast as you can and stop Lord Attomas." He began walking towards her and said "This ritual is going to be stopped. You simply are not strong enough to stop me."

"My father gave this to me to take in an emergency." Falaen pulled out a glowing vial and downed it before Jack could stop her. Jack watched in alarm as her level began to jump upwards till she was double in level. He could feel she was a bit stronger then those generals he fought earlier. Without access to his powers this body was only on par with a sixty to level seventy being, so this would be a tough fight.

With the blood tears flowing, Falaen said "When you climbed out of that gorge, I wanted that dick in me. Several times I thought about sneaking into your tent." She ran her hand down her body tearing off her clothes. "I will make you submit. When you join me, I will show you the pleasure you have been missing out on."

Dashing forward she pounced towards Jack. He reacted by swinging at her with his fist. She dodged and swiped at him with her hand. Her fingernails slashed his chest, and he grunted then dodged inwards he slammed into her and threw her away from the shield. The others began to try and get to the glowing shield and break it open.

The mad princess he was fighting assaulted him in a flurry of movements. While Jack was quick enough to dodge most, he found he lacked suitable combat knowledge on how to fight back. Unable to keep up with her nimble movements when she tried slashing at him again, he caught her arm and punched her stomach as hard as he could.

She retched and spittle flew into his face, blinding him for a second. Reaching up with her other hand she caught him behind his head and attempted to drive her knee into his face. Sensing the attack he let go of her arm and blocked her knee blinking to clear his sight.

Dancing around behind him, she slashed several times into his back ripping his flesh apart. Jack rolled away and quickly got back to his feet and blocked several more attacks. As she got closer, he began tossing things out of his inventory at her, knocking her back.

Backing up, she waited until he charged and as Jack got close again she attempted to kick him. Seizing her leg, he whirled her around and flung her across the room into a wall. He noticed there was a teleporter near where he tossed her. Maybe Lord Attomas wasn't lying when he said there was a teleporter to the surface in the main facility.

Pulling out a pole used for a tent, he ran across the room towards Falaen who was getting back to her feet. He glanced over to take a look to see how the others were doing. Riley and Alexia were fighting a changed Snort. The beast had grown double in size and had grown several arms that swiped at the pair. From it's ass, a screaming human head had emerged which every few seconds would puke out a stream of toxic black goo at the pair.

The harpy monsterkin Megan and Telvin were fighting, was now changing shape. It transformed into something that looked like a giant chest with tentacles emerging from its mouth. He heard Megan yell "It's a Mimickin!" Nearby was Lady Niadas who was firing at the pair of creatures with her weapon. 

Near the glowing shield Veronica and Ritalassa were currently hammering away at the shield attempting to break it down. Maetrin and Alice were hiding near the door with Jadai trying to keep out of the battles. All of this Jack took in the second he crossed the room. 

When he reached Falaen, he swung the pole at her. Only for her to grab it and they engaged in a short tug of war before she suddenly let go and slammed into him knocking Jack to the floor. She straddled him and leaned down and sniffed him, and then ran her tongue down his chest. "I can smell her power on you. Serve her, drown with me in her lust."

"Not interested. Now fuck off." Jack said then threw her off him. She flipped backwards and then laughed. Jack could feel her begin to cast a spell and then dozens of ice pellets began to hit him. He found he was starting to be frozen into place.

Before that could happen, he roared and reached deep within himself and for a brief second he tapped into his powers again and a blue screen popped into existence and slapped Falaen knocking her back. Before she could get her footing, Jack was upon her throwing several punches hard into her face over and over again.

Trying to flee backwards, she hit a wall, and he grabbed her by the throat and punched her several times till he felt her lose consciousness. He lowered her to the ground and watched as her level began to drop back down, even below her original level all the way down to level one. 

Her skin took on a dull tone, and Jack could tell whatever she had drank had been only a temporary boost. Sore and bleeding he turned to the others and found Alexia standing next to the burning corpse of Snort. Near her was Riley nearby pulling her axe out a decaying body of an old man.

The Mimickin was full of arrows and lay dead, and Megan was currently working on getting the shield down with Veronica. Going up to them, he looked at Lord Attomas and said "It's over Attomas."

Attomas ignored him and continued to pace back and forth. He was saying "What is the key? No, that is not the key. I don't want to do that. No, not them never them." Then all of a sudden he pulled out a knife and advanced on one of the pregnant monsterkin the harpy one. 

Jack began punching the shield. As he struggled to bring the shield down, Attomas sliced the harpy's belly open, making her scream out in pain. He reached inside of her and yanked out the baby and snarled at it. "You're not the key!" He tossed it aside then hacked at the harpy with his dagger spraying blood all over himself. Then he ripped its chest open and pulled out the heart and bit into it.

After he drank the blood from the heart, he went to the pillar and rubbed himself over it. Jack doubled his efforts, and he could feel the shield struggling to keep going under his assault. Lady Niadas yelled "Give it up Lord Attomas"

He stopped rubbing himself on the pillar and looked crazily at his sister and said "Blood is the key!" He laughed and advanced on the other monsterkin. Jack let out a roar and struck his fist hard into the shield and shattered it. "You will not harm another person." Jack said.

Attomas stopped and said "She calls me to her."

Before Jack could move to stop him, there was a flash of swordlight and Yukali stepped out of a shadow and pierced Attomas chest. His eyes bugged out and he glanced back at Yukali. "Yukali?"

"I'm afraid father, your sister offered me a contract I could not refuse."

A peculiar sense of calm seemed to go over Attomas face. "Oh okay." She pulled her sword from him, and he stumbled forward to the edge of the platform and he looked down at them. "Her servant comes, run while you can sister." With that last statement Attomas collapsed dead.

"Yukali?" Jack said.

"I hired her to kill Lord Attomas if she got the chance to." Lady Niadas said.

Frowning Jack shook his head, "We should get out of here. We should try that teleporter..."

As Jack was speaking the platform lit up and the ceiling popped open and a figure floated down. "Can't have you leaving too early. The party is only just starting, and my Mistress has yet to arrive."  She glanced at the body of Attomas and shrugged "Well it figures that he would attempt to stop us. But it is ironic that with his actions he set in motion her revival anyway."

The words came from a woman who was heavily tattooed. They were glowing and Jack could feel immense power coming off her. He knew in an instant that he was no match for her, not with his powers blocked. 

A gasp came from Alexia. "You're the bitch that got my brother killed."