Chapter 6:

                    Into the wretched flesh

Collar stood outside the room where he and Raviela made their vows. On all sides, heavily armored guards surrounded him, monitoring him with great hatred in their gaze.

With quaking hands, Collar finished putting on the final piece of the armor he was provided. The armor set looked like it struggled to fit the man’s large frame, though the man barely seemed to acknowledge the discomfort.

“Repulsive that such a worm is wearing our armor.” One of the guards said and then spat on Collar’s face.

Collar sloppily wiped off the spit, still leaving some behind. He cursed the queen in his mind. Even though the stone healed all of his wounds, the sheer amount of pain he experienced left him barely able to function. His body shook non-stop, and his mind was cloudy. In this state, Collar was utterly powerless to defend himself if the queen was to betray him at that very moment. He could only hope that he could recover enough by the time they would encounter the monsters.

“If the feeling upon your cheek is so unbearable, I gladly offer to cut it out for you.“ Said another soldier while reaching for his sword.

Collar recognized this one, much to his dismay. One of the soldiers free of Sinvitas’s control turned out to be Jeffrey, and he looked the most eager out of the entire group to attack Collar at a moment’s notice.

The tension lightened slightly as the door to the room opened, revealing Raviela. The queen immediately noticed the stain on Collar’s cheek and wiped it away.

“My lady, no!”

“Silence! If the fake king notices marks of abuse on him, he may catch wind of our plans.”

“Of course, we apologize.” Said one of the guards.

Though the queen’s orders were absolute, Jeffrey continued to stare daggers at Collar.

“Are we ready, your highness?” Asked one of Raviela’s personal guards.

“Yes. I have contacted our forces outside. They are all ready to lay down their lives to stop the converted soldiers and mages from reaching us for as long as possible.”

“Are we outnumbered to this extent?” Asked one of the guards.

“Indeed so. The seven of you are all that we can spare for our operation. That should tell you just how critical our mission is. Even if it costs us our lives, we must see to its conclusion.” Responded Raviela.

The guards all put their fists to their chests and bowed to the queen.

“Excellent. Evizen, give each of them a stone.” Ordered Raviela.

Evizen, one of her personal guards, handed each guard a healing stone. Each of those healing stones was white, indicating that they utilized holy magic. Seeing this, Collar immediately backed away to a safe distance.

“I will lay out our task. After the fake king replaced my husband, he blocked the main power supply to the rest of the castle. I am sure that you have all noticed that our machines work slower, and the various outages with the lights.”

Collar’s recalled the flickering lights in the hallways and the feeble resistance that the robots had put up while fighting the beasts. So these were also Sinvitas’s doing.

“The reason for this was unclear to me at first. After all, the few machines and golems that remained functional still listen to his orders. However, after considering it for a while, I realized why this was. It was not that the creations it was powering were a threat. It was the power source itself. Its element is deadly to the imposter and his ilk; therefore, he removed it and forced us to use frozen power cores to power what machines we could. That element is not a threat to him, so it suited him having these around.”

“If the power source was such a threat, would he have not destroyed it?” Asked one of the guards.

“For reasons I cannot disclose, the power source is most certainly still intact and functional. You must trust me on this.”

“Of course. Even if you asked us to throw ourselves into hell, he would do so without question.” Answered the guards in unison.

The queen smiled at their loyalty.

“That is all. Move out.”

“W-Wait.” Interrupted Collar. “What about me? You haven’t given me a weapon or told me how to use my armor.”

“You need neither. We only need your eyes. In fact, if I could afford to sever your limbs, I would.” Answered Raviela.

Collar gritted his teeth. Though he could feel anger starting to boil in him, he reminded himself that this was all Raviela could do. She just took out her frustration on him, knowing that he would gain her wealth once the dust settled regardless of what she did or said. If he lived to see it through to the end, that is.

Raviela left together with her guards while Collar followed close behind. From the layout of the corridors, Collar suspected that they were still beneath the castle. Collar tried to use this free time to think of how to save Alice while also fulfilling his vow towards Raviela, but a thick fog crept in whenever he tried to delve deeper into his thoughts. The harder he tried, the louder the static became.

Raviela led the group to a wall. She placed her hand upon it, and the bricks pulled away to reveal the marble garden.

After their eyes adjusted to the different light levels, the sight before them made everyone’s hair stand on end. The grounds of the garden were littered with hundreds of bodies, servants, and nobles alike.

“Collar, do you see any monsters?” Asked Raviela, trying to stay calm.

“No.”

Raviela took a few steps inside and instantly felt a sharp pain when she inhaled the air in the garden. The queen hurried back behind the wall before closing it up.

“The air is poisoned.” She said in between coughs.

“Could it be that they caught wind of us and acted first?”

Raviela opened the walls to take another look at the garden. This time, she saw several service machines doing their best to get the unconscious people to safety.

“No, the monsters were fighting our robots when we left them. If this were them turning on us, they would have destroyed the machines too.” Noted Raviela.

“Ah, it might have been Valerria.” Collar blurted without thinking.

Everyone’s eyes immediately fell upon the man. Dazed as he was, Collar only realized his blunder after it was too late. The queen turned around and threw him a murderous glare.

“Valerria?” Asked Raviela while staring the man down.

“No, don’t misunderstand. I had nothing to do with it! She’s the psychopath who detonated the bombs in the city!” Collar fumbled as he tried to explain himself.

Collar felt himself torn apart by Raviela’s gaze. Seconds passed arduously like hours as the queen struggled to contain her anger.

“...Just make sure to not leave any marks on him.” Was the concession Raviela came to.

The queen created a large magical shield in the form of a bubble around her, giving her enough clean air to breathe as she headed into the garden.

Now alone, Collar watched powerlessly as the guards circled him. Though what was about to happen was obvious, Collar remained calm. He had seen and experienced this exact same treatment so many times before as a slave.

“Hit me, and you risk losing your chance to save your city.” Said Collar.

The guards grabbed him by his arms and held him still.

“Your families!” Collar yelled.

They undid his breastplate, leaving only a black shirt to protect his torso.

“Think of what allowing your rage to consume you will do. Whatever damage my group did will be far eclipsed by Sinvitas!”

The first punch came, straight into his stomach. Though heavy, the pain was softened by Collar’s dulled senses.

“The memory of your city will go down in infamy as-”

A second punch to his liver. This one left a shockwave of pain travel up Collar’s body.

“-as the city that gave birth to an invasion of beasts!” He continued.

“Hold your tongue, worm! That’s my goddamn sister you poisoned in there!” Yelled one of the guards.

The blows continued to rain down on Collar’s torso. Every attempt Collar made to reason with the guards fell on death ears. The pain Collar felt turned into anger.

“Alright...If you need it that badly, go ahead...Take out your frustration on me...But know that you are playing with your loved one’s lives with each punch...How many more can I take before I collapse and you lose your sight?”

Collar spat blood at the guards.

“And know...that I will not give you the satisfaction you crave.”

The guard who had hit him last grit his teeth. He punched Collar as hard as he could in the stomach. The strength of the hit nearly caused both Collar and the guards holding him to topple over. And yet, Collar’s expression did not budge an inch. He simply continued to stare down the men beating him down.

This only enraged them more. The soldier punched him again, and again. Each time Collar’s body convulsed a little harder.

After a couple of more blows, the guards finally stopped. They took a look at the man before them. Though his body was shaking uncontrollably, his eyes had not wavered a single inch.

“Haha..ha...If a slave driver was caught dishing out a beating this weak...he’d be killed for being a slave sympathizer.”

“Oh you want more you son of a bitch?!?”

The guard reared back and punched Collar across the face as hard as he could.

“What the hell are you doing!”

Collar couldn’t help but laugh.

“Always the same...no matter where I go...You only care about your pride.”

Evizen grit his teeth.

“Alright, enough! You’ve gone too far!”

“You have?” The queen’s voice sounded from behind them.

Everyone turned around to see the wall open again, through which a large number of ice constructs walked through, carrying servants and nobles in their arms. Among them was the queen, who stared down the guards.

The guards backed away from her, afraid of the queen’s retribution. Meanwhile Evizen left Collar with his comrade and bowed before the queen.

“My queen, I am afraid to report that-”

“Nothing happened.” Interrupted Collar.

The queen raised an eyebrow and walked up to Collar. Upon closer inspection, she immediately caught sight of the bruise on Collar’s cheek.

“What have you fools done?” Raviela asked angrily.

The guards looked absolutely terrified as the queen walked towards them with killing intent in her eyes. Whatever she intended to do to her guards was interrupted as Collar forced himself to stand in front of her.

“Don’t waste...my time…” Said Collar through pained breaths. “Punish these idiots...on your own time.”

Raviela analyzed the man that stood defiantly in front of her. Seeing that his spirit had not died, she decided to move on and leave the matter for later.

“You will take me to Valerria.” She said.

Collar nodded weakly.

“You aren’t the only one who wants to see her dead.” Said Collar.

Raviela raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t care how you feel about her. If she was your lover, your daughter, your most hated enemy. I will have her tortured until she’s too broken to beg for death. And then I will do it all over again. Forever.”

Raviela raised her hands. Unlike her soldiers, who were only able to use frost magic, the queen was skilled enough to handle and manipulate magic in its most raw form. A cyan bubble-shaped shield of magic formed and grew from air between her hands, encasing the entire group in it. The bubble was large enough to contain enough clean air for the entire group.

Under the queen’s protection, the group passed through the garden unabated by the poison circulating through its air. The queen moved fast. Whether it was because she was in a hurry to kill Sinvitas, or because she couldn’t take seeing the suffering of her people, Collar couldn’t tell. Whatever the reason was, he could barely keep up with her.

His legs strained and screamed at him to rest as he pushed them further and further until eventually, he had to stop and lean on a table for support.

“Tired already?” Asked Raviela without turning around to Collar. “You haven’t even begun your duty to me. Stand straight and follow me.” She said and started walking again.

“You don’t need to tell me.” Said Collar.

Collar took deep breaths and let go of the table. He pushed his body and mind even further, to where he could keep up with them. This changed as they reached the noble sector, however, where the area was built at an incline.

His knees gave in.

“I said follow me.” She ordered again.

Collar tried to get back up, but his body was not responding well from all the pain and damage he suffered.

“Drag him along.” Raviela ordered.

Her personal guards grabbed Collar and dragged him along.

“You better use this time to rest. You will need to act normal when we arrive before Sinvitas.”

As Collar got dragged around in a humiliating manner, a realization dawned on him. More, and more, his mind became clouded with a single thought.

*I am a slave again.*

His anger spiked only for it to bounce off the wall of dazed pain he was experiencing. Collar started to lose control of himself.

“If you let Sinvitas catch wind of my plan, I will make sure that your beloved will perish, and there will be no place in the world where she will be out of my reach.”

With the threat entering his mind again, Collar calmed himself. He pushed through the pain and walked again among all the others, for now, something flowed through him that was greater than the pain and anger he felt before. The desire to protect Yonnera, and to kill Raviela.

With Collar able to move on his own and able to hide the damage and pain he was experiencing, the queen’s squad traveled through the corridor until they arrived before the stairs leading to the castle.

Collar’s eyes widened as he saw the ones standing on the stairs. With a crown and purple veil, the two men commanded his eyes to recognize their authority. To add to that, a pair of twelve-meter-long snakes slithered around them ceaselessly as if guarding the territory around them. Going by how nobody reacted to them, it was safe to assume that these were invisible to everyone but himself.

But that was not what Collar found most striking about the two men.

“Oh, darling, what a pleasant surprise to see you. What brings you here? Did the festivities tire you out?” Asked Sinvitas.

Raviela looked at the duo and the leviathan skull resting further up on the stairs behind them. Though there were no signs of a battle, Raviela felt like a lot of lives had just been lost here.

“The intruders. I’m here to murder them.” She stated in a matter-of-fact way.

“Then why not wait for our troops to capture them? I heard we already caught one of them. Perhaps you can entertain yourself with him while you wait?” Asked Sinvitas.

Raviela’s eye twitched. She had pushed back all her feelings to the side and kept the charade up for so long, but now that she arrived at the end, she felt like she could explode at any moment. The disgust, the hate.

“Every second that the filth that infiltrated my city lives is a second too long. I will catch them myself and grind their bones to dust. I trust you have no complaints.”

It took Raviela everything she had to not attack Sinvitas on the spot. Though on the exterior she appeared perfectly calm, Collar could tell that a quaking mass of bloodlust hid just beneath her skin.

“No, of course not. Do as you wish. Happy hunting.” Sinvitas said and waved her off.

During the conversation, Collar studied Yaol and especially Sinvitas in great detail. Neither of them showed any outward hints of there being anything wrong with them, but whenever Collar looked their way his eyes wouldn’t stop twitching. A strange, disgusting yet faintly familiar sense of kinship washed over him, one he had only felt once before. With his wife, when she was infected with the same

Raviela nodded and left with her soldiers. Once the group disappeared into the same hallway the heist squad escaped through, the air around Sinvitas and Yaol changed immediately.

“Her words were quite telling, and she’s heading towards the heart. Do you think she’s realized who we are?” asked Yaol.

Sinvitas rubbed his chin.

“Hard to tell, but it doesn’t matter. Go and collect the monster we prepared for Aslagard and then kill her with Cyntorum.”

“And how do you intend to replace her? We still don’t have enough sacrifices to have Nemesis infect her.”

Sinvitas laughed. The laugh was mechanical, as if he had forgotten how a human being laugh, and he was merely reading the notes off of a cheat sheet.

“You need to unwind, Yaol. You aren’t seeing the amazing opportunity the Empress dropped into our lap.”

“Oh, now you made me curious. What plan have you got, boss?”

“It’s a simple one two punch to the Empress. First of all, you see, this attack was almost certainly orchestrated by her. There’s no other explanation for why my brother was the one leading the infiltration. Now all we need to do is get a confession out of him where he exposes her attempt at dethroning a poor, one-city king to drive the stake into its heart. And then we feast, oh we feast!” Sinvitas said.

“And what of the second punch?”

“The attack the Empress started also gives us the perfect opportunity to remove Raviela from the picture. She will be a tragic victim in this horrible terror attack by the Empress upon her own people, and oh how the people will clamour to side with an innocent man who had lost his beloved.” Sinvitas said and laughed.

Yaol joined in Sinvitas’s laughter, though his laugh was far more human than his superior.

“I can’t believe it. We are actually going to take over the empire before our minds erode. We might still be human beings at the end of it.” Said Yaol.

“Well, try to make sure that Cyntorum gets to deal with the bulk of Raviela’s resistance. He needs the most stimulation out of the three of us.” Advised Sinvitas.

“Oh, you’re not coming with me?”

“No, someone needs to stay here and guard the exit.” Said Sinvitas, smiling.

“The skull is blocking the stairs enough, no?”

“Ever heard of the magical power of jumping?” Asked Sinvitas while laughing. “But jokes aside, those among Yon’s group had the power to shrink and lift the skull without killing them. If left alone with it they can surely do it again. It’s not that I do not trust our puppets with retrieving them but I do like to play it safe.”

“And you think me and Cyntorum can handle Raviela on our own?”

“If you are really that worried…” Sinvitas pulled out and threw his watch to Yaol.

“Just form a portal. I’ll come running and save you two.”

Yaol scratched his head.

“I suppose that is enough. One last thing to do then.” Yaol said and kneeled before Sinvitas.

“Order me.”

Sinvitas smiled.

---

The queen’s group was approaching the mess hall.

“Be prepared for a fight, men. It’s quite possible that the entire canteen is filled with monsters.”

“My queen, why did we not take out the fake right there? He was completely alone.” Asked Jeffrey.

“Soldier, you are not to question my orders ever again. If you do not trust my methods, you are free to be skewered to death by your squadmates. Otherwise, get in line.”

“Y-Yes, my apologies.”

Collar couldn’t help but enjoy this exchange. He still hadn’t recovered, but his mind was clear enough to take schadenfreude in Jeffrey’s humiliation.

“We’re here. Collar, you know how to signal us.” Said Raviela before opening the doors to the mess hall.

Within they found Cyntorum, sitting alone on a chair. The head guard appeared to be lost in his thoughts and didn’t react to the queen and her guards as they entered the room.

“Cyntorum.” Said Raviela.

This startled Cyntorum out of his trance. He jumped to his feet and saluted the queen.

“Where are your soldiers?” She asked.

“They are after the intruders, my queen.” He answered quickly and to the point.

It was disgusting. He was just like her husband, a perfectly wretched copy of the original.

“And where are the intruders?”

Cyntorum looked frustrated. He glanced down at his armor. Sinvitas had not warned him of her approach, and he was not ready with a good explanation for the queen.

“They have somehow managed to breach into a restricted area. I assure you, the soldiers sent after them will have their memories erased.”

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“Good, good. One final question then. Why are you here while your men are in pursuit of the intruders?” Asked Raviela.

The queen didn’t care for what answers Cyntorum provided her. Collar could tell that she was only stalling for time so that he could analyze the room before him.

“Yes sir, why were you left all alone?” Asked Collar unprompted.

Raviela’s soldiers rushed Cyntorum with their blades drawn. They quickly pierced Cyntorum through all the small openings his heavy armor offered. Seemingly unperturbed by the assault, the heard guard swiped his hand at the attackers, twisting and breaking four of their arms. His retaliation was too little, too late, however, as the magic had already taken effect, encasing Cyntorum from head to toe in ice.

The guards wasted no time in shattering the ice block to pieces. Cyntorum’s frozen head barely had time to hit the ground before the queen stepped on it and smashed it to pieces.

With Cyntorum taken out, Raviela revealed the hidden entrance to the labyrinth.

“We’re on a clock now. Use the holy stones to heal yourselves as we move.”

Raviela led the soldiers into the same labyrinth that Yon and the others had fled into. Collar felt a small sense of relief knowing that Alice was likely to still be alive going by the fact that Cyntorum was still standing guard at the entrance of the labyrinth.

“I’ll take us through the shortest path to the energy source. Whatever happens, do not lose me. The labyrinth is treacherous to traverse blindly.”

That was a problem. Collar would need to somehow separate from Raviela, grab Alice and keep her away from the queen and somehow still find his way to the energy source.

It didn’t take a lot of running for Collar to catch his first sight of monsters.

“There are sixteen guards ahead of us.” Collar said low enough that only the group could hear.

This was information enough, for they could only see one guard.

“And aggression?” Asked Raviela.

The monsters turned to the group. The beasts were a mixed group, four had the upper bodies of toads with very muscular limbs covered in brown fur, four looked just like the bone fish Shinko had reported back in the garden, five more were winged bipedal beasts sporting huge circular horns and long gaping maws.

What stood out in that gathering of beasts were two monsters that were completely unique from the others, one a mass of bones in the form of a two-meter long lizard with four different scythe-like tails and whose interior glowed different colors, and a Hevoth, a three-meter tall monster with a very feminine shape with long, flowing black hair and skin composed of what appeared to be white tree bark and its face hid behind a mask composed of elements from all the other monsters in the corridor.

The creatures were clearly apprehensive about the approaching soldiers, but they did not show any hostility towards them.

“They appear confused. It seems that news of our attack hasn’t broken yet.” Said Collar.

“Then let us enlighten them.” Said Raviela

The queen formed an ice lance in her hand and threw it at the enemy guard. The lance flew through the air at blinding speed, nailing him in the chest and expanding into a ball of ice that immobilized him.

Seeing this act of aggression, the winged behemoths charged Raviela and her soldiers with the fish floating close behind them.

“They’re coming!” Yelled Collar.

The queen fired an orb of magic in the general direction of the monsters, which the creatures avoided with no issue.

The guards raised ice pillars that blocked the monster’s access to them. Just a few seconds after the pillars hit the ceiling the monsters smashed into them, nearly destroying them in a single hit.

“Buy me ten seconds.” Said Raviela as she started to condense magic into her palms.

“Might as well ask us for ten years, your majesty!”

One.

The monsters smashed the pillars apart. The guards readied themselves for attacks from above, only to be stabbed in the chests by twenty-meter long, razor-sharp tongues fired from the mouths of the toads. Despite their lightning-fast strike and enough power to split a man in two, the armor of the guards had completely absorbed the energy of the attack to the point where the men barely even registered the attack.

What they did register however was the pull of the toads as they reeled their tongues back in, pulling the soldiers over the makeshift barricade they had created. The four dragged guards reached for the invisible tether pulling on them to freeze it, only to be interrupted as the behemoths punched them into the ground with enough force to shake the whole corridor.

On the other side of the corridor, the skeleton lizard began to approach the battle. The Hevoth meanwhile freed the corrupted soldier and continued to observe the fight.

Two.

The other soldiers rushed to their help only to be pushed back by sweeping strikes from the remaining behemoth. Their armors absorbed and negated the blows, but it was still enough to halt their progress.

“They’re two steps ahead of you! Swing your sword to the right!” Yelled Collar.

The moment Collar informed the remaining three soldiers, Jeffrey and Raviela’s personal guards, the behemoth immediately backed away, making their attacks hit naught but air. Seeing their helplessness when faced with the invisible monsters, Collar approached Jeffrey as the latter was attempting to slash at a monster and swiped at his feet, knocking the distracted guard to the ground and making him lose his grip on his weapon.

Seeing Jeffrey on the floor, the behemoth facing him threw a punch at the two. Collar didn’t miss a beat, lifting the fallen blade with his foot and kicking it up to allow himself to catch it. Due to the pain clouding his mind he was slower than he expected, however, and the beast’s attack landed before he could retaliate. The blow hit deep, and heavy, all thanks due to his armor’s defenses not being active.

Three.

The four guards caught by the toads were halfway to the skeleton lizard, its four tails swinging wildly around, ready to decapitate them the moment they enter its range. And still, they were beset upon by the four behemoths, not allowing them to free themselves.

Collar knew that losing four soldiers right off the bat would likely doom their mission. He quickly regained his footing, though the damage left behind by the impact of the blow still weighed heavy on him, leaving his vision hazy. In such a precarious situation Collar couldn’t wait the couple of seconds it would take his vision to recover. He tossed the sword forward and threw himself at the behemoth, prompting the monstrosity to strike him once more.

But Collar was prepared this time, catching its massive fist in his arms and holding it down.

“Free them now!”

Evizen and his colleague leaped over the broken ice pillars. The behemoths holding down the four soldiers saw their attempt, prompting one of the monsters to get off its soldier and turn to them.

The two men immediately noticed the difference in the one soldier that was let go. Before the behemoth could reach them, they tossed their swords at two guards still held hostage by their monsters. The blades flew past the behemoths and the two men and instead landed squarely in the tongues of the toads, severing them.

The grip on them broken, the two guards finally regained a measure of footing, allowing them to grab the invisible fists pummeling them and freeze them. Simultaneously, the guard the one behemoth had left alone froze the tongue tethered to him and shattered it, leaving only one guard still caught.

Four.

The behemoths howled in pain as their whole arms froze over. Seeing no other recourse, they shattered their frozen arms, allowing them to escape the death grip of the guards they had just been beating down.

Collar meanwhile pulled the behemoth down by its fist. The beast took the invitation and opened its massive jaw to bite the man’s head off. Collar responded quickly, throwing the beast to the side and grabbing the blade again, plunging it into its chest and piercing it through its back. But the sword did not freeze the monster, for Collar could not harness its stored magic.

The behemoth retaliated quickly, grabbing Collar by the sides of his torso and tossing him to the ground. As Collar was still falling from the impact, Jeffrey grabbed the edge of the sword pointing out of the behemoth’s back, and activated its magic, freezing the behemoth from the inside. It tried to pull the blade out of itself, only to have the ice quickly reach its heart and freeze it whole.

It would still take a few seconds for it to freeze fully, but that was irrelevant. It was already dead.

Jeffrey smiled arrogantly at the prone Collar. The tall man looked up at him and his eyes went wide as for a split second his eyes registered a white shape above Jeffrey.

Five.

“Dodge you buffon!”

Jeffrey barely managed to move slightly out of the way as a bone fish passed through him, gobbling up his entire arm and shoulder in the blink of an eye. Collar looked to the other soldiers, horrified to see the other bone fishes slowly positioning themselves above them. Collar realized that these beasts had taken so long to attack because of this, but once they were in position, their speed surpassed even the speed of the toads.

“Move! All of you move!” Collar yelled as loud as he could.

The guards did as instructed, avoiding instant death as the fishes passed devoured parts of them, armor and all. After slamming into the floor the bone fishes started to float back up. The fish visibly trembled after the impact with the ground.

Collar grunted. Their weakness was painfully obvious. An attack so fast it’s nigh impossible to avoid, but that leaves them highly vulnerable afterward and that takes a long time to prepare again. Something so exploitable, yet he was the only one who could see them.

Surviving the whole ten seconds with enough soldiers left over seemed impossible.

And then the hallway lit up.

Six.

The orb Raviela had fired at the monsters had remained floating in the air that entire time, and now its true function activated. It exploded into a large mass of snow, flying in every direction and hitting everyone in the room.

In that one instant, the position and general shape of the monsters had finally been revealed to the soldiers.

The behemoths were immediately set upon by the soldiers. Their assaults were fierce even with pieces of them missing. The gauntlets of the three soldiers who had been wailed on by the behemoths lit up. Collar recognized the phenomenon from his own fight with Jeffrey. The monsters tried to defend themselves from the soldier’s strikes, only to be blown to bits by a single fist strike, splattering their remains all over the floor.

Raviela’s personal guards meanwhile had their attention on the bone fish. With one of them slaughtering the remaining behemoth, the other dispatched all four bone fish before they could attempt to escape.

With their opposition all but destroyed, the soldiers turned their attention to the remaining monsters.

The one guard who was still captured had been dragged before the skeleton lizard. The soldier tried to defend himself, but even with his armor, it took the lizard a mere five strikes for his head to get sent flying across the room.

It was a foe that presented a threat to them even when visible, but killing the guard revealed to Collar and the guards and its attacks were straightforward and easy to approach. The toads as well had had all but one tongue destroyed, they were no longer a threat.

That left the Hevoth.

Seven.

The skeletal lizard charged the group of soldiers, trying to keep them away with its tail swipes. The soldiers quickly intercepted it, with one of the personal guards parrying its strikes while the others grabbed its body at different parts and froze it. The lizard struck them with its tails, but it was too little to kill them before they could freeze it.

With the lizard buying some time, the Hevoth ripped away parts of its masks that correlated to the monsters the group had just murdered. It then sang a small tune, though only Collar could hear it. He could feel every strand of hair on his body rise on edge. It was a song that defied both life and death.

The discarded life force of the monsters flew back towards the Hevoth, at which point the bark around its face pulled back to reveal a face, half skeletal and rotted, and the other of a beautiful maiden with stars in her eyes.

She lowered her head and sap started to flow from the edges of her body unto the floor. The sap though little in quantity quickly spread and formed the bodies of the slain beasts.

“Dance, for the season of death, dance.” She said wistfully.

Eight.

“The remaining monster recreated the shapes of the other beasts!” Yelled Collar.

“We can’t see them either.” Noted Evizen.

Collar was still too hurt to move, though he quickly realized that the recreated shapes only included four behemoths, meaning that the one that had completely frozen over was exempt from the magic of the bark monster.

The guards charged the Hevoth. As they got close, she raised her arm and pointed to the snow attached to it, an obvious taunt.

The soldiers knew how to approach this. One of them went ahead of the others to scout out what abilities the monster had.

Instead of engaging the soldier in combat, the Hevoth stepped back. In response, the soldiers moved up to pursue her.

“What fool sacrifices their queen for a rook?” Asked the Hevoth.

As they stepped forwards, however, the sap suddenly sprang to life and flowed towards the destroyed bodies strewn across the corridor.

“Get back you idiots! You left the queen unprotected!” Yelled Collar.

The soldiers realized their mistake too late.

Nine.

The sap flowed into the bodies of the monsters, reforming them completely.

The guards tried to turn around to help, only for one of them to be struck by the last remaining tongue of the toads, while the others were caught by various black vines shooting from the Hevoth’s body. The steel of their armor started to rot away under the touch of her vines. In retaliation, the guards froze the vines and shattered them, only for them to be replaced immediately by other vines.

Collar was now left alone to defend Raviela. He took a glance at Jeffrey, who was still rolling around on the floor from the pain of losing his limb. The sorry sight was enough to make him miss Valerria’s company.

With no other option left for him, Collar jumped in between the beasts and Raviela.

The behemoths immediately started to rain blows after blows on Collar. The tall man’s pain threshold was quickly being reached by the heavy blows of the monsters.

And it was still not enough, for above him he could see the bone fish slowly float towards Raviela.

He knew that being so close to completing whatever she was preparing, she was not going to stop her spell no matter what, leaving her completely open to the attack of the fish.

Collar braced himself. As another blow came towards him, he jumped as hard as he could. The fist connected with him mid air, sending the man flying towards the ceiling, where the bone fish were.

Collar threw his hands at them, desperately trying to grab hold of one of them. And he succeeded. He managed to grab hold of two of them, dragging them back down to the floor as he fell.

He could feel the fish struggling to escape, but they could not break free of his iron grip.

The moment he landed back down, he wound back and threw the two fish at the two others still remaining in the air. The fish collided with each other, throwing them completely off course.

Collar smiled as a behemoth fist slammed into his back and sent him face-first into the floor.

Ten.

“Everyone, down!” Yelled Raviela.

Every guard did as asked, shattering the restrictions holding on to them, and threw themselves on the floor.

Raviela held a large sphere of raw, magical energy in her hands. And then she unleashed it.

The beam devoured almost the entire room. Only the entities hugging the floor were spared its wrath. Every monster caught in it was instantly vaporized. Even the corrupted guard had been obliterated by it.

Once the beam finally ended, the only thing left behind was the Hevoth, who had done as Raviela instructed and threw herself to the floor.

The beast got back up to its feet, though she was shaking heavily.

“Still alive?” Asked Raviela.

The Hevoth tried to take a step back, only to fall down.

“Oh, you are afraid. What an exquisite creature you are.” Raviela walked up to the creature.

The bark monster launched vines at the queen, only for them to freeze away into nothing on touch with her skin.

“There is nothing you can do.” Raviela said as she leaned over and placed her hand on the creature’s head.

In one last desperate attack, the Hevoth clawed at Raviela, tearing apart her dress and revealing the armor underneath. Just like with Tor, the armor expanded to cover her entire body, minus her head.

Raviela ran her finger over the monster’s head.

“I am glad that you feel emotions.”

Raviela grabbed her head and started to freeze the monster.

“It means I can freeze your mind in this exact moment. Rest well knowing that you will feel the fear of death for the rest of eternity.”

The Hevoth’s face revealed itself again, and it screamed. She tried to slit her throat only for Raviela to deny her attempt. Raviela’s smile immortalized in the Hevoth’s mind as the last thing she saw as she was fully encased in ice.

With the opposition finally eliminated, Raviela walked over to inspect her soldiers. Her eyes went over the soldier who had been decapitated. She spared but a second to mourn his death before continuing on.

She walked up to her wounded soldiers. They were all using their healing stones to recover their lost body parts.

“Do not use up the holy stones completely. Switch over to the frost stones in your armor once you use up half of their power” She ordered them.

“As you say, my lady.”

Finally, Raviela walked up to Collar and Jeffrey.

“I must apologize, Collar. I let my anger direct me, and I nearly lost the kingdom on my folly. I will activate your armor now.”

Collar rolled over on his back, giving the queen access to his armor.

“If you want to prove that you’ve overcome your grudge, hand me a weapon.” Said Collar.

“Of course.”

Raviela grabbed Jeffrey’s sword and placed it in Collar’s arms.

“My queen, what are you doing?!?” Protested Jeffrey.

The queen remained silent. In her place, one of her royal guards punched Jeffrey in the face.

“Know your place, soldier.” Chastised the guard.

The guard then quickly turned and bowed before the queen.

“My lady, I apologize for my arrogance but I request that you do not punish Jeffrey yet. Lowering our number even further is far too costly.”

Raviela pushed her hair aside.

“Yes, yes. It would be quite hypocritical to apologize for my hasty decisions only to immediately act on my anger.” She said.

Jeffrey stayed silent, having been made painfully aware of his place in the eyes of the queen and his fellow guards.

Collar meanwhile couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the scene before him.

“Are you done with the theatrics? Or do I need to remind you that speed is of the essence here?” Collar said and forced himself to stand again.

“You are quite motivated for a criminal, worm.” Barked one of the guards.

Collar snarled.

“I am here to complete my job and get paid. If you think I’m motivated then you should take a good look at yourself and realize why the guards of the city are only capable of kneeling over and dying when they are faced with the destruction of their homes and death of their families.”

“You bastar-”

“Touch even one hair on Collar’s body and I will have your family executed. We cannot afford to lose any more of our power.” Threatened Raviela.

The guards were immediately taken aback by her threat. They knew that across her twenty-year rule she had never given a threat she didn’t follow through.

With her soldiers pacified, Raviela turned to Collar.

“Of course. The monsters freed the guard very early on. I am sure he had enough time to warn the other monster groups in the labyrinth of our presence here. We must hurry before they all collapse on us.”

“Perfect, lead the way then.”

With her personal guards carrying Collar this time, the group continued further into the labyrinth. Though his mind was still hazy, Collar kept trying to plan ahead. Following a train of thought he first started when Raviela mentioned that they’d be heading towards a magical source, he finally thought about how likely it was that the group would use Skass to head there. There was a good chance that they would run into them at this rate.

“How are you feeling, Collar? Are you recovering from the beating?” Asked Raviela, interrupting Collar’s thoughts.

Collar shook his head.

“From the beating of the monsters, yes. It’s just momentary pain that goes away fast. It’s the frost stone healing that is still lingering in my mind.”

“I see.”

Collar hesitated for a second before speaking up.

“Raviela, if we run into my group on our way to the magic source-”

“I will kill them.” She answered before he could finish his sentence.

Collar grit his teeth.

“I ask that you spare one of them. She’s merely a slave to the others and had no choice but to take part in the mission. I assure you that she has not hurt a single person in your city.”

“Then she can die with a clear conscience.” Answered Raviela.

“If you so much as touch her I will no longer help you.” Collar threatened only to immediately feel a sudden pulse in his chest. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand.

“I do not recommend continuing that train of thought, less you wish to die here.” Said Raviela.

“Very well, I intend to fulfill my end of the bargain.”

Collar breathed easy as the grip on his heart disappeared.

“But I am sure you must realize that we cannot afford to take on all the monsters in the labyrinth. We used up half of the healing stones’ power and we even lost one of us.”

“Your point?”

Collar inhaled. Revealing information about his squadmates could later prove to be disastrous, but he couldn’t see any other option left to him.

“One of the people in my group has the ability to sense magic. If they were running through the labyrinth desperate to save themselves, I think it's quite likely that they would use his ability to head towards the magic source as it’s the only thing offering any sort of prospects.”

“And if we follow the same path, we will inevitably run into monsters. An interesting theory you’ve come up with, but I have no intention of taking a longer path just because of your guess.”

As the group proceeded deeper into the labyrinth, Collar started to feel worse. It was as if the air around him was made of acid, it burned at his skin and hurt him when he breathed. Opposed to him were the guards, who seemed to enjoy the phenomenon.

“This is incredible! It’s like the air around us is filled with the same magic as the holy healing stones!” Said Jeffrey.

The realization hit Collar at last. The energy source Raviela was speaking of was holy in nature, and unleashing it was most likely going to kill him. The quantity in the air around them at the moment was too mild to be detected by his collar, but that will quickly change once they are before the real thing.

*No wonder she didn’t tell the guards that they can use holy magic to kill me.* He thought.

*My death is inevitable.*

It didn’t take long for the group to run into the same monster corpses as Valerria and the rest did. After some more running, Collar caught sight of another corrupted guard, who was himself tailed by a large group of monsters.

“Sixteen guards this time.” Explained Collar.

“Alright, everyone get ready.” Said Raviela.

To Collar’s surprise, the monsters and the guard immediately retreated the moment they saw them approach.

“They’re trying to escape!” Yelled Collar.

“Should we pursue them?” Asked Evizen.

“...No. They are definitely leading us into a trap.”

“Then should we back off and take a different path?” Asked Collar.

“We don’t have the time to do that. We need to keep moving forward. Keep your eyes peeled Collar, they are likely to attack us at any time.” Said Raviela.

The group continued onwards, anxiously waiting for any kind of surprise attack to hit them. Just as Collar had suspected, the path Raviela took was the same path that Skass had led his group through.

And so, they arrived before the set of doors that the heist group fled through previously.

“What is this?” Asked Collar.

“You don’t need to know. You can start worrying about it once we unleash the magic source.”

*So once I’m dead.*

The group continued a bit past that hallway, only for the earth around them to rumble. They pulled back as the ground in front of them exploded as skin trees emerged forth in a massive number.

“Monsters are coming out of the ground! I dealt with one of them before, their main body seems to be immobile but they can stretch their limbs out to attack you.”

“Immobile you say?”

Jeffrey ran ahead of the group and thrust his hand into the air above one of the holes. He felt the impact of his fingers piercing flesh, and he could see the ice spreading upwards to encompass the entire monster.

His moment of glory was short-lived however, as an ice chain tied around his neck and pulled him back to the group. Jeffrey wanted to complain only to see that it was the queen holding the chain.

“Form a wall now!” She yelled

The remaining guards raised ice pillars that covered the entire corridor in front of them. Just a second later the pillars shook as dozens and dozens of the trees' branches smashed into them.

“Is this really the best you could spare for the mission?” Asked Collar.

Raviela ignored Collar’s snide remark.

“We need to pull back and take a different path.”

The group turned back and walked past the set of doors. As Collar watched the area in front of them closely he suddenly panicked.

“Back! Run back to the room this instant or we are all going to die!” He yelled.

Not questioning his command, Raviela repeated it for the guards to follow.

“You heard him, run!”

The guards were unsure of Collar’s words for only a couple of seconds, as after they started running a massive heatwave hit them in the back. Even running as fast as they could, they could still feel the source of the heat approaching them at an incredible pace.

The group barely reached the doors. The guards tackled them open and rushed in, barely escaping the attack.

With it being invisible to the others, Collar got to be the only witness of the attack. It was a giant heat blast, as wide and as tall as the corridor. The hairs on Collar’s skin caught fire and burnt instantly.

After turning his attention back to the room, Collar’s eyes fell on the dead skin tree standing in the middle of the room, and the dead body lying next to it. Time slowed down as Collar’s mind went through the appearance of each of his crewmates, and one by one eliminated them.

The body could only belong to Alice.

“To the other exit, now!” Yelled Raviela.

The group tried to run to the other exit only for skin trees to emerge from the ground and block it. The soldiers again formed ice pillars to block their attacks.

“I am going to blast through all of them in one go!” Raviela yelled and started to charge her magic attack again.

Just then, the beast who had incinerated the guard stepped in. It was a bipedal red lizard with massive limbs, four meters tall and three meters long, a lumbering beast of war. Lava flowed down from exposed pores across its back that mimicked the appearance of volcanoes.

What followed afterward had both Raviela and the rest of the guards stunned.

Yaol stepped in, followed closely behind him by Cyntorum, wearing a normal guard’s set of armor instead of his original, heavy set. The head guard showed no wounds whatsoever as he drew his sword.

“How could this be?” Asked one of the guards.

“Shut up and focus if you don’t want to die.” Yelled Collar.

Collar ripped himself away from the grasp of the guards and drew his sword. He wanted to check the dead body in the middle of the room, but he knew he couldn't afford to look away from his enemies.

“The air around here makes me want to puke. Let’s be done with them quickly.” Said Cyntorum.

“I have to concur.” Yaol whined.

Yaol’s hands and arms exploded to reveal long dark purple tendrils.

“Collar, what beasts are we facing this time?” Asked Evizen.

“It’s just one this time but I don’t think I can give you any useful information. It’s incredibly massive so if you follow the rising heat you’ll run into it.” Explained Collar.

“What? You have someone who can see our beasts?” Asked Yaol surprised.

Cyntorum didn’t wait any longer. He charged Collar immediately, clashing swords with him and sending sparks flying into the air. The recoil of the slash traveled up Collar’s body, threatening to damage his bones were it not for his now activated armor absorbing the energy.

It was enough for Collar to tell how much he was outmatched physically.

The guards rushed to his side only to be cut off as black tendrils smashed into the ground in front of them.

“Sorry, but you’ll be my playthings, not his.” Yaol taunted them.

Yaol swung his tendrils at the guards again, only for Evizen to parry them with great effort. The elite guard could feel the impact traveling down to his back. His armor cracked slightly trying to absorb enough energy to break the spine of its wielder.

“You lot handle the lava monster, I’ll stall Yaol.”

The guards headed for where the heat was the strongest, only for their armor and sword to start melting, forcing them back. Faced with this obstacle, the guards hesitated for a few seconds. And those seconds were enough to seal their fate.

Cyntorum demanded Collar’s entire attention. Every blow threatened to twist his arms were it not for his armor, and he could no longer focus on the lava monster. But even with all of his senses focused on Cyntorum, and even though the guards could not see the monster, they could still clearly tell what was about to happen.

The temperature in the room spiked suddenly, causing the floor and pillars around the monster to melt. Heavy black smoke emanated from its opened pores as its neck expanded to three times its normal thickness. The monster was mere seconds away from unleashing another fire blast strong enough to vaporize everyone in the room.

With the guards powerless before the beast’s heat and Collar held down by Cyntorum, Raviela stopped charging her magic prematurely and instead rushed for the beast. She quickly formed a bubble shield around herself as she entered the extreme heat zone around the monsters. Though the shield quickly cracked under the temperature, it still bought Raviela enough time to arrive in striking distance of the lava monster. Once she was as close as she could get to it, she let loose all the magic she had gathered.

Raviela unleashed her magic at the same moment as the beast firing its attack, and the two clashed mere centimeters away from either two. The collision expanded into a massive explosion that eclipsed the room the battle took place in, tossing everyone but the two who had been standing at the epicenter of the blast aside.

Collar and the guards were slammed hard into walls. Their breastplates took the worst of the impact, breaking and shattering in various places. The other armor pieces did not fare much better either, and for most of the guards their helmets fell off as they simply crumbled in separate pieces.

The tall man slowly got back up to his feet through pained groans. The moment he stood up he immediately had to lean on the wall behind him for support. He looked around for the queen, but the air around them was covered in a thick black fog.

Collar opened his mouth to speak, but no voice came out. He couldn’t hear anything else in the room either. A deathly silence had taken hold of it. Collar clutched his chest. He could still feel the bind on his heart, so the queen at least was still alive, though he had no way of telling what the fate of the other soldiers was.

Readying himself for the inevitable pain, Collar pushed himself away from the wall. His legs screamed in pain as he struggled to adjust to standing on two feet without help.

He took a few, short steps forward, and the fog slowly started to clear.

Allowing him to see Cyntorum as he rammed his sword into Collar’s eye.