Dave stopped time just before the man's fist struck the tree.

Leaping from between the Voidtree roots, he rushed across the island, running away atop of the water. Reaching the waterfall, he dug himself into another dark, wet alcove nearby, his mana running out.

As time resumed, Sir Wabbor's fist connected with the Voidtree. The impact was cataclysmic. The tree's roots tore free from the rocks, revealing some kind of a pulsating, crystalline, violet structure beneath it.

"There you are, you blasted Dungeon core," Sir Wabbor snarled, coughing blood and frothing at the mouth.

From his higher vantage point, Dave saw that below the Champion the tree roots held a corpse in their embrace. His bones were covered in violet crystals, the ribcage partially decayed away, revealing a glowing crystalline sphere in its innards. Thin, violet, crystalline threads connected the dungeon core to the dead man's ribcage and the massive Voidtree above, looking like a torn-up neural network.

“Perish!” Sir Wabbor's fist came down upon the exposed core, igniting the air.

The resulting explosion was blinding, a shockwave of released Void energy that rippled outward, distorting space itself. The core shattered into a million glittering shards, burning and melting with violet fire that also set the Champion alight, slicing up his entire body.

Sir Wabbor screamed, flailing from the catastrophic release of magic, his skin and muscles burning off as his armor and clothes melted off him.

More Void-spikes teleported into his body, appearing with sickening thuds, sent by more monsters that emerged from the lake. The destruction of the dungeon core didn’t halt its Sentinels.

Sir Wabbor stumbled, then fell to his knees, blood pouring from countless wounds.

With guttural cries, the Champion began to claw at his own flesh, ripping out spikes and crystal shards with wet, tearing sounds, each extraction accompanied by a spray of blood and a mad gurgle. As the foreign objects were removed, his horribly damaged flesh began to knead itself.

In a display of mad defiance, Sir Wabbor began hurling the extracted Depthknell spikes back at the surrounding monsters. Sentinels were sent careening back into the dark water, Depthknells were skewered by their own weapons and Voidbats simply exploded in the air.

Dave watched this grisly battle with bleeding eyes and ears, still pretending to be a harmless rock, his entire body throbbing with pain like it's been run over by a train several times.

But in his bloodlust, Sir Wabbor made a fatal mistake. As he pulverized a particularly massive Voidcrawler, his attention wavered for just a moment. It was all the opportunity a high level Sentinel needed.

The lanky undead moved with preternatural speed, a Void-blade thrumming in the dim light. Before Sir Wabbor could react, the Sentinel's strike found its mark. The void-infused weapon cleaved through the Champion's amplified flesh, bisecting him from shoulder to hip.

Yet even as his body was sundered, Sir Wabbor's indomitable will refused to yield. With his last reserves of strength, he lashed out at the Sentinel. His fist connected with the creature's skull and the Sentinel's head exploded.

But it was too late for Sir Wabbor. The void-blade had found its mark, piercing the crystalline core that fueled his invincibility. Brilliant red cracks spread across the round gem’s surface like a spiderweb, flesh and muscles tearing off it.

“No! I can’t die! Not like… this!” The Champion's red eyes widened in shock as his own core shattered with a twinkle. “I have… to stop the… Necrrr…”

With a final gasp, Sir Wabbor exploded as his own core detonated, obliterating the man and half of the island in a blinding flash of unleashed red-tinted magic.

Dave went momentarily blind and deaf. Putting a bit of Vitality into himself, he waited until he could see once again.

Opening his eyes, he saw the ruined cavern, so he put everything into Vitality and waited until his body healed itself from the magical blastwaves that tore it up.

Cautiously, after about an hour of healing, Dave emerged from his hiding spot. He surveyed the carnage, his eyes scanning for any sign of remaining threats. Finding none, he made his way to the water's edge.

With a deep breath, he activated Timelessness once more. As the surface of the underground lake became suspended, Dave ran along the time-frozen lake.

As he neared the central island, he could see the remains of Sir Wabbor and remnants of the dungeon core beneath the massive, fallen over Voidtree.

Reaching the damaged island, Dave deactivated Timelessness. He cautiously approached the grisly scene, his senses alert for any lingering danger. There was nothing. Both the dungeon and the Champion were equally decimated.

Dave crouched by the remains of Sir Wabbor, picking out the largest remnant of his broken core. With a deep breath, he activated his Phantom Absorption, reaching out to consume the lingering soul fragments of the fallen Champion.

As the ethereal essence flowed into him, Dave’s mind drowned in the life of another man.

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. . .

In the grimy depths of Undertown, a younger Litsh Wabbor, a Strength and Vitality maxer, who loved to pummel other men with his fists for money at the Fighting Ring, stumbled upon a rather nasty scene.

A skinny, dark-haired, gray-skinned, approximately thirteen-year-old girl with six horns was cornered by a group of knife-wielding thugs.

“I can take on all of you!” The thin teenager hissed, drawing laughter from the ruffians who were clearly quite interested in the large, sparkling, blue gem hanging from her leather collar.

Without hesitation, Litsh leaped to her defense, the power of his fists making short work of her attackers.

As the dust settled, the girl introduced herself as Lady Castiss, declaring that she was the true Princess of Shandria from whom the throne was stolen thirteen years ago.

Although the fighter doubted her words, her unwavering conviction stirred something in Wabbor's heart - a longing for purpose, for true greatness and recognition which the Ring fights could not provide him. When she offered him the chance to become her Champion, to stand by her side, to rise to the very top along with her, he didn't hesitate. After all, he just had to do one thing for her - to eliminate her enemies with his fists.

To prove her divine-heritage, the girl offered to shake his hand. When their hands connected, Wabbor’s stats became magnified, turning him from a high level fighter into an unstoppable, invincible hero of legend.

What followed was a brutal campaign of violence as he fulfilled Quests for his princess.

Dave watched through Wabbor's eyes as the Champion hunted down girl after girl, each bearing an eerie resemblance to Cedez. The memories were horrific - bodies crushed, limbs torn, lives snuffed out with merciless efficiency. Among them, Dave recognized a younger version of Cedez herself, her form shattering and melting into shadow under Wabbor's amplified fist.

Wabbor knew that he wasn’t killing people because after each girl was obliterated, their body turned into vanishing smoke.

But the violence took its toll. After each handshake, Sir Wabbor fell into a coma-like state, his magic-amplified body shutting down to recover from the strain.

Days, weeks, months and then years passed before he'd awaken once more, only to find Lady Castiss older and increasingly frustrated. Despite his efforts, her competition refused to stay dead.

"They keep coming back!" Castiss raged. "No matter how many times we kill them, they reform! We must find a way to end the others permanently! They stole my idea, are amplifying criminals and bandits too now, damn them. You have to eliminate the men aiding the false princesses!”

Dave felt the weight of Wabbor's growing doubts, the Champion questioning the righteousness of their cause. But always, the promise of power and Castiss' manipulation would draw him back in, sending him out on another mission to unmake yet another Champion or princess.

The cycle of violence and recovery continued, each time leaving Sir Wabbor more drained, more conflicted. Yet he pressed on, driven by a twisted sense of duty and the fading hope of claiming the promised throne, of standing at her side as her hero. Wabbor refused to admit it to himself, but he had become addicted to the power and invincibility his princess offered.

A much older, nineteen year old, beautiful Lady Castiss waited for him when he woke up after another months-long coma. Last time around, she had died to the sword of another amplified man. As she came apart into shadow herself in his hands, she promised to return. Her death had taken a toll on Sir Wabbor, made him realize that the girl he was serving was just like the others he had killed. Alas, it had been too late to turn back because he loved Castiss with his entire heart. Even if she was a mere shadow, she was his shadow, his Princess, his Goddess that gave him incredible might.

"Finally, you're awake, you useless lump!" Castiss snarled, pacing back and forth at the foot of his bed. "Do you have any idea what's been happening while you've been napping?"

Sir Wabbor tried to speak, but his throat was dry and raw from disuse. He managed only a weak croak. "What?"

Castiss didn't seem to notice or care about his difficulty. She continued her tirade, her voice rising to a fever pitch. "Lady Astra has acquired a very dangerous weapon that she could use against me! Do you understand what this means?"

"How?" he finally managed to rasp out.

Castiss whirled on him, her eyes blazing. "How? HOW? That's what you ask? Not 'What are we going to do about it?' or 'How can I help, my lady?' Just 'How?'" She let out a bitter laugh. "I'll tell you how. While you've been lying here, useless as a sack of potatoes, that little fox-eared bitch has been busy. I thought she was a fool..."

"Oh?" Wabbor struggled to sit up, his muscles protesting the movement, his head throbbing.

"She's been playing the innocent victim," Castiss continued. "Oh, poor little Cedez Astra, just a simple cafe maid trying to make her way in the world. It's all an act! She's manipulating everyone around her, weaving her web of lies and deceit!"

"But... my Lady," he said, chugging the water Castiss offered him. "How can a cafe maid be such a threat?"

"Because she's not just a barmaid, you simpleton! She's one of the fake-ass shadow-copies of me that the blasted Necromancer set loose in Shandria thirteen years ago! And now... now she's found herself a Champion, bound him with lies and Earth songs and stories she's cleverly memorized! Don't you get it? She's found herself a fool to wield, a pathetic Earth-born weakling who somehow happens to possess necromantic abilities!"

"Necromancy?" Wabbor growled. "But that's forbidden, dark magic..."

"Obviously!" Castiss declared. "It falls to you and me to stop her. She's playing a dangerous game, consorting with dark powers. Who knows what havoc she could wreak with a Necromancer at her side once he gets stronger, raises an army of corpses? You have to eliminate the Necromancer, my darling! We cannot permit him to devour the souls of the innocent!”

Sir Wabbor nodded weakly, his loyalty to Castiss and fear of Necromagic overriding any doubts he might have had. "Yes, my lady," he said. "I will not fail you."

Letting go of the torn corpse of the large man, Dave found himself back in the present, his hands soaked in blood.

He thought back to his first meeting with Cedez, her playful demeanor, the way she seemed to know so much about him before they'd even met. The songs from Earth, the books she'd read, the dreams she claimed to have had about him - it all suddenly seemed too convenient, too carefully orchestrated.

He recalled Cedez's words about having waited for him for ten years, about how she'd learned specific songs just to sing to him. Was it all part of an elaborate plan to gain his trust?

Was he just a blind fool like Litsh Wabbor had been?

He remembered the ease with which Cedez had navigated the dangerous caverns, her combat skills.

How much of her friendly cafe maid persona was real, and how much was a carefully crafted facade?

Did she sacrifice herself in this dungeon just to bind him further to her cause of slaying her competition?