Chapter 277

Chapter 277

Elder Thune’s white ponytail trailed down his back as his crimson eyes darted over the tome in his hands. Pale candle light illuminated the crypt, and an ancient, shriveled vampire in front of him rested inside an open coffin.

“The fallen god has been found, master… Our rise back to power beckons us from the outer reach.” Elder Thune whispered, his black robes shifting slightly from a mana breeze that was only barely there after untold years of decay. His fingers traced the ancient sigils of lost and forbidden lore that would have him hanged if any priest of The Blood God were to find it here. Whispers of blue light began to rise off the page - calling him towards a new path, a separate path that much evidence pointed towards having once been a mainstream ladder to the heavens.

Now though, the secret to that path rested on Panu in the depths of the underdark. A secret once buried with the so-called precursors.

“I track the bitch queen’s granddaughter to Earth, and they escape…” He snapped the ancient book shut, putting it into the coffin with the shriveled ancestor. “They destroy all of their research on untombing the Fallen Elder God… leaving nothing but ashes in their wake.”

He sneered, spitting onto the stone ground of the hidden tomb and turning to look into a mirror - his wrinkles starting to show even despite his pureblooded vampiric heritage. “Elysium takes the planet and merges it into an integration zone as if to spite me right when I find a lead, and then those damnable royal brats grow up and show up to inherit the world quest for myselves. A world quest… designed to hand them the prize I have been seeking for millenia. Did their parents leave them there intentionally? Did they experience a prophecy knowing this would happen, and follow the threads of fate through malignancy?”

His ancestor did not stir, and Elder Thune let out a long sigh before bringing his hand up to his forehead to rub at his temple. “I fear it to be so. The question becomes just how much they saw, and what I can undo before all is lost to us. All that we have worked for will be for nothing if either of the Wraithtide runts get their grubby claws on it, and I have no doubt that The Blood God himself would see them greatly rewarded if they were to destroy the legacy for him. Doubtless they will rise in the ranks of The Blood Moon Requiem if they do so, perhaps even receiving the ranking spots to inherit the throne. Already they have thrown mud into the water with one of the aspects of sin choosing the undeserving warlock welp, it is as if Elysium itself is fueling his ascent. But losing the legacy of Blood’s brother path… That cannot happen. Not when we’re so close.”

A spark lit up along the lower edge of the mirror, gaining the elder’s attention as his eyes narrowed. “Open.”

Immediately the mirror shifted image, revealing none other than Crendir No-Name on the other side. Through the mirror, Elder Thune saw a torture chamber where the vampiric princess Kathrine’s bare body had been strapped down to a bloody wooden table. Her eyes were glazed, drool dripped out the side of her mouth, and her body quivered violently in protest to the shackles and numerous metal stakes that skewered her to the wood.

***

Crendir shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the older vampire. Despite working for the man, Crendir was still playing a very dangerous game should the High Queen or any of the other elders find out what exactly was going on here.

“Have you found it yet? Have you found the location?” Elder Thune asked through the mirror, wringing his thin fingers together anxiously while glaring out at the vampiric E-grade captain. “Answer, me boy. Do not keep me waiting!”

Crendir bowed respectfully, and took off his helmet to reveal a clean-shaven head. “I meant no disrespect, excellency. I have not found the location yet… unfortunately. But nevertheless I called on time as you command.”

“Then find others to interrogate!” The old man hissed.

Crendir frowned, looking over to where the ghoul woman Mara now lay half-dead and stuffed in a box - her limbs oriented at odd angles. He looked to where the ones called Nin and Vin were reduced to bone dust, their spirits already vanished into the void days ago. To where the other necromancers of Allie’s guild were also dead. None of them had uttered a peep. “One by one I have gone through the people who knew. The last ones who know are Kathrine and Mara, which is why I even took this risk to begin with - your excellency. There are no others to interrogate, and they’re only just now breaking. I do believe that I will finally get it out of Kathrine as she is not as strong willed as the others were - but it is going to take time. Mara is one I may have to dispose of sooner rather than later, as talks with her are going nowhere.”

“And if you fail?” Elder Thune hissed, nails digging into his palms to drip blood onto the ground on the opposite side of the mirror - and into another universe.

Crendir remained stone-faced. “Then I will scour the underdark myself until I find it. With Riven and Allie gone, there are very few here that are able to challenge my own strength. I just need to avoid the banished and I’ll be fine.”

“The banished?” Elder Thune asked with furrowed brows. “Ah, you mean the demons that were banished with Gluttony…”

“Yes… Those creatures.” Crendir shifted stance uncomfortably. “They are… formidable. I have no doubt that many of them would be able to kill me if they found out what I was doing, but if what you say about the legacy is true… then it is worth the risk.”

A slight smile played on Elder Thune’s lips, and he nodded in agreement. “It is. To form a new step to the heavens so that our kind can finally break the chains of The Blood God is a step towards righteousness. We were not meant to be born as slaves to his will. It is time to form a new path, to reform the old ways, and I am glad that you have seen the light. But know that the actions you take now will heavily influence that fate, and if you fail… you curse us all to an eternal damnation.”

“I am aware.” Crendir stated, saluted with a fist to his chest. “I will not fail you, excellency. I will pry the information from the princess, or from the ghoul chancellor. One or the other. Be it a long and agonizing time in the chamber or not, the choice is up to them. I will try not to kill them as I proceed, but again… the ghoul they call Mara is trying my patience.”

“Very well. Keep me informed, and see to it that you get what you need at all costs.” Elder Thune said sharply. “And dispose of them like the others when you’re finished.”

Crendir hesitated. “I was hoping to keep the princess for myself.”

Elder Thune raised an eyebrow. “You cannot. The risk is too great. If her family is able to use her blood to track her down, which I am doubtless they are attempting to do even as we speak, it will not bode well for you. My wards cannot hide you forever. Kill her when you’re done, just like the ghoul, and burn their bodies to ash when finished.”

Without giving Crendir a chance to argue, Elder Thune turned the communication channel off.

Silence hung in the air for a long time after that, as Crendir considered just what kind of mess he’d gotten himself into. But there was no turning back now, and the prize at the end - should he succeed - was almost all he ever thought about anymore.

Stolen story; please report.

Grunting in irritation and muttering to himself, Crendir picked up a hot iron that’d been laying on a nearby rack. Turning around and walking over to where Kathrine was still pinned to the wooden table, he eyed her twitching, bloodied body before passing her by and walking towards Mara. Looming over the broken ghoul woman and glaring down at her, where black blood pooled underneath her prone form into the box he’d stuffed her into, he saw her one remaining eye shift to look at him when he raised the hot iron.

“Ready to talk yet?” He asked with a cold smile. “Where is the fallen elder god’s tomb, Mara? Answer me, and this torture all ends. Forever.”

Mara tried to spit, but all that came out was a gurgle - and one of her broken fingers shifted slightly in the attempt to strike him.

He chuckled and shook his head, abruptly spearing the ghoul woman to skewer her as she let out a loud squeal of pain. “Remember the rules, Chancellor Mara. Blink three times in a row when you’re ready to tell me what I want to know, and I will heal you. Until then, it’s merely a long game to see how much you can take before your mind bends and breaks.”

***

The sky roiled red, with tens of thousands of Gluttony’s insects devouring and battling the swarm that comprised The Gambler. It was interesting to watch, with both insectoid masses clashing with one another in a fervor - one not able to overpower the other. Truthfully though, The Gambler probably would have won if not for the hundreds of other attacks barreling into it.

Riven exploded with energy as rivers of blood tore from the hundreds of bodies around him to fuel the blood nova. A shock wave of red pulsed out of where he hovered over the city’s buildings, and then with a boom - the enormous globe of shredding crimson cannonballed directly into the mass of writhing leeches and insects that created The Gambler’s body.

The enormous hive mind roared, its writhing tendrils swooping in at supersonic speed to swat him from the air like a fly.

But he didn’t stay still, and vanished through a rip in space just before they met his position.

“How is he still alive?” Riven whispered to himself, thoroughly intrigued while he watched the creature regrow the limbs he’d just eradicated as if it were nothing. “He’s unkillable.”

Gluttony chuckled inside Riven’s mind. “It is why he is such a formidable opponent. Lillith has many times attempted to kill him, but should even a single one of his creatures live… the hive mind persists. He is one of a kind, and it pains me that he chose to serve Greed over myself. A shame, that we must inevitably devour him.”

Towers were turned to rubble and Riven created a shield of crimson ice to block three arrows launched from a tower’s roof, not able to return fire because of the swarming appendages ripping through the air towards him and erasing entire city blocks in the process.

Allie dove through the air alongside a dozen allied fliers with a cloud of souls engulfing her, the divine E-rank claymore gifted to her by The Scythe itself wielded in both hands as she crushed one of The Gambler’s stems. Her angelic halo burst with light and her black wings turned sharp to encase her as she dove into yet another one of the fleshy towers, blasting through the outer side and coming back around to zip through the mess of entangling swarm as it reformed behind her almost instantaneously. The bone armor covering her entire body was covered in gore, but was soon burned off as she channeled an immense amount of deathly gray flames around her and let loose with another eruption of fire that smoked the oncoming appendages with a necrotic aftermath.

Riven raised his staff overhead, drawing from the raging storm of blood mana around him and sending thousands of explosive razors down onto the canopy that’d become The Gambler’s body.

Amano, the half gargoyle half minotaur, flew up to hover beside Riven while watching the avalanche of projectiles rain down. He gave Riven a respectful nod. “Reincarnate, the Church of Greed is withdrawing to their temple as planned. Our counter ambush was a glorious success. We give chase to corner them like rats, but that is all. Is Lillith ready? Do you know?”

Riven’s purple eye, the one in the center of his forehead controlled by Gluttony, narrowed and shifted to the demon - and a visage of Gluttony’s maw ripped open in the air beside them. “It is impossible for Lillith to fail in this. Have faith that she is already done and out of harm’s way.”

Amano abruptly bowed. “Of course, Great Maw. We are ready to proceed when you give the command.”

Below them, the city continued to crumble, shatter, and burn. Roiling mounds of flesh continued to grow and bat aside the innumerable projectiles being hurled at The Gambler and Greed’s other followers. Hundreds of enemy demons were being routed through city streets and into underground defensive structures that Gluttony’s agents had already mapped out - or rather, that Lillith had already mapped out. The battle was finally drawing to a close, and Lillith hadn’t even taken part.

Yet.

“If The Gambler cannot die… Then why is he maneuvering away from us?” Riven asked absentmindedly, watching while the collective swarm continued to take absolutely brutal punishment from innumerable sources - yet still persisted. He raised his staff once again, channeling a torrent of black lightning into the shafter as it sent a typhoon of shadow damage barreling into and through The Gambler’s body at random.

“That is not what I said. He can certainly die.” Gluttony replied. “It is just incredibly unlikely. But like all the banished, we did not climb to the apex of power in our old lives by taking unnecessary risks.”

Greed’s followers were routed now, being cut down in the streets and over rooftops - in the air or on the ground. It was a butchering, with all of Riven’s party members coming out intact. Retesh the lich was enjoying himself thoroughly, collecting and resurrecting dead demons that provided him with very high quality bodies to use as new minions. Azmoth was beating some poor cyclops to death with the razor edges of his four half-shields. Nora was paired up with two other assassins from Gluttony’s commune, killing at random while Greed’s members tried to flee. While Fay remained cloaked at a distance to observe him for supportive purposes, and Athela’s bloody pool remained wrapped around Riven’s waist like a belt.

Despite the win, Riven was tired. Very tired. The raging thunderstorm of red circling him was let loose, smashing into what little of The Gambler’s body that remained and hadn’t been pulled back to underground halls of Greed’s defensive structures where fighting would be less favorable towards Gluttony’s camp. The hive mind just continued to roar in enraged frustration, killing many of Gluttony’s own that got too close and failing to focus down as many as it could otherwise due to the immense amount of firepower being unleashed onto it from thousands of demons in Gluttony’s army.

It screamed something out at Riven, something about being cursed and reincarnation this or that - but Riven didn’t hear it over the explosions of gore, flames, and shattering rubble.

“Miss me?” Lillith’s voice whispered in Riven’s ear, and he startled - turning around to see…

Nothing.

“Over here.”

Riven turned again, only to see nothing once more.

He sent out a mana pulse just like Lillith had taught him, and swatted her hand away just as she reached to smack the back of his head.

Laughing, she materialized beside him and giving him an approving look. “Very good. You all did very well in my absence, and the stage is set. Are you ready to proceed, Gluttony?”

Gluttony’s visage seemed to smile. “Yes. Yes I am…”

Riven though, was scratching the back of his head in confusion. Something was… different, about Lillith now. He couldn’t really place it, but she was… more. More than she’d been before leaving to enact her own part of the plan, and…

Eh. He didn’t know.

“Did something happen?” Riven asked curiously, folding his arms and letting his body suck in the ambient mana from the remnant blood energy lingering in the air. “You’re… off.”

“Off, you say? I do believe I haven’t felt so ‘on’ in a very long time!” She laughed at Amano’s confused expression - and waved a hand to dismiss it. “It is not important, and will be discussed later. Do you have the trigger, Amano?”

The Abyssal Descent’s temple leader quickly nodded, producing a small sphere and handing it over to Lillith. “Yes, Lady of the Black Skies. It is here just as you’d entrusted it to me.”

“I knew I could count on you!” She beamed - Only to get a sputtering and embarrassed, yet simultaneously proud reply that didn’t really make sense.

Together, the three of them watched as the last of Greed’s forces finally disappeared into their tunnels and towards the safety of the underground. When The Gambler’s last remnant swarm tendrils finally disappeared with them, a roar of applause and cheers rose up from the crowds of Gluttony’s followers. The sound came like a waterfall, and built until the city shook with their victory cries - only for Lillith to smile even wider when she raised the bauble in her hand over her head and began to squeeze.

“If they liked that, just wait until they see this.” With an evil cackle very fitting for an arch demoness like herself, Lillith smashed the orb - and with it, a low boom resounded from deep within the earth of the Abyssal Descent’s city.

Within three seconds, a fireworks display unlike anything Riven had ever witnessed came to light as the equivalent of a volcano erupting in the city’s inner district blew up with wild abandon. The hordes of Gluttony’s people who’d gotten out of the way just for this event went even wilder, and the dome over the city was cast in ash - as a burning crater of what had once been the underground fortifications of Greed’s temple bunker lay smoldering in a pit of lava far below.