I was sitting on a white marble throne, an ancient antique that my legionnaires had dug out of the catacombs. Like a lot of the older stuff inside of the Citadel it didn't follow the “black and yellow” color rule at all. I figured that the god-approved, color scheme nonsense was a stupid memetic idea from this century that the cult enforced.

I had decorated the ancient throne with random pillows and curtains salvaged from upstairs. The floor beneath my throne was smeared with blood that had remained after my battle with the castle’s garrison. It added a certain dark allure to my sinister appearance as the new, ruthless, bloody Baroness of the Gold city.

I was wearing full-covering celesteel armour that featured a heavy helmet to which I had glued small bits of my unpainted, cut off silver hair. It completely concealed my new appearance as ‘Alexa Manning’, making me look like a menacing, female version of dark Lord Sauron.

I didn’t feel very menacing. My broken ribs hurt. I was exhausted, and I wanted to sleep, but alas - the cult was coming for me at midnight and I had to get everyone ready. Celes sat at my right and Arianna at my left, dressed in similar full-covering celesteel regalia, featuring long, blood-red cloaks. I hung similar red cloth-banners around the cavern and placed a few servitor lanterns on the floor that added to the overall "spooky" and “bloody throne room” look of the place. Arianna had taught me how to manipulate the colors and brightness of the servitor lamps. Apparently they could get pretty dim or very damn bright if need arose.

A bunch of chairs brought down from the castle were now filled with various Guilders. I enjoyed the variety of expressions painted on their faces. A full palette of human emotions was presented to me from concerned to angry to utterly terrified. A few of the people who already believed in me and trusted me looked happy and inspired. Alchemist Kane broke the trend. He looked exceptionally calm.

“Good tomorrow, descendants,” I said tapping the side of my marble throne with an armoured finger. “Today’s brainstorming session is about our near future - the topic being the Temple of Inquiry.”

All eyes focused on me with an intense gaze.

“What’s a brainstorming session?” Arianna asked, breaking the tense silence.

“Brainstorming is an ancient, group creativity process to gather new ideas and explore alternative approaches to reach a solution. The problem in question is - how can we utilize all of the resources at our disposal to destroy the Temple of Inquiry in... thirty thousand heartbeats.”

Eyes focused on me bulged.

“Impossible,” the Head of the Merchants muttered under his breath. Since most of his clothes had turned to ashes in the detonation, he was wearing an old, pink cloak from the castle’s catacombs roman-style. It fit his rotund, enormous frame very poorly.

“Yes, Jovius?” I looked at him from the slits in my helmet. “Do you have something to share?”

He fell silent.

“Don’t be afraid to speak out,” I said. “During the brainstorming session we are all equal. All of your opinions are equally valid and will help us generate creative solutions to the problem.”

“It’s impossible,” Jovius croaked. “The Temple of Inquiry cannot be destroyed. It stood for nearly a thousand years.”

“I could drop five hundred beast cores on it,” I said, pointing at a case full of beast cores that stood at my feet.

Jovius sniffed the air. “These cores might look impressive in a big pile like that but they’re two to five star rating each. At best they might cause some exterior damage and mildly annoy the Immortals.”

I showed him a small pouch of half-beast cores I had cut off from the disobedient Guilders and the garrison men.

Jovius sniffed and frowned. “These are ten to twenty times stronger. They might actually do some damage, but they won’t kill the Immortals or damage the servitor lanterns buried deep beneath it. The compound of Boundless Chorus likely has more servitors at its disposal than this castle. The shield wards will go up very quickly. The cult compound has weathered countless Deathstorm Convergences! The Temple of Inquiry stands in the middle of the compound. It’s a fortress within a fortress, made impregnable by a thousand years of accumulated wealth, knowledge and power.”

I sighed.

“Well it’s a good thing that three Inquisition Squads are coming to my castle soon then. They’ll be more exposed to beast core explosions in my domain,” I said.

“What?!” Jovius barked. The Guilders around him made various noises of panic.

“You heard me,” I said. “Three Squadrons. One of them will be headed by High-Inquisitor Pikoss Rhondarius.”

“We’re dead.” Jovius paled.

“You seem pretty certain of this. Why?” I asked.

“Pikoss Rhondarius is an Immortal. A killer. He is at least as old as I am,” Alchemist Kane commented.

“The Deathstorm Ward will…” I started to speak.

“Delay him, annoy him. Will eventually run out of power. If the High-Inquisitor can’t take this castle today, he will take it tomorrow, be assured.” The ancient Alchemist interrupted me.

“You can’t use some magic potion that will injure him so badly he won’t be able to fight?” I asked. “What if I hammer him with the biggest core I’ve got?”

The Alchemist shook his head. “For hundreds of years Pikoss was trained to fight. To survive and to kill. I was trained to create concoctions. We are not equal. I could distract him, delay him, but not stop him permanently. If I stand in his way - he will break me. I will not die, but I will likely be too badly hurt to help your cause, Baroness. I do not know of a power that will end the High-Inquisitor.”

I sighed.

“What can you tell me about the Temple of Inquiry?” I asked Celes.

“It is the Information-gathering arm of the compound. The Inquisitors guard many secrets in their library and punish or execute anyone who opposes the cult,” the kitsune replied. “I… could carry all of our beast cores into the compound, destroy it from within if need be.” She bravely offered.

“Magistrate? Will this work?” I turned to Traetorius.

"Take his sense-breaker bracelet off." I whispered to Celes. She complied.

The Magistrate sniffed Celes and shook his head. “She will die. The servitors that guard the temple are stronger than her. They will smell the cores and the guards will kill her… um... permanently."

“Right,” I tapped the throne’s handle. “I don’t want to destroy a library, no matter who inhabits it. The arcane knowledge that the Temple of Inquiry holds could be instrumental to saving our city.”

“You already enslaved all of us!” Jovis lamented. “It’s that enough? I don’t want to die in a bloody war with the entire cult compound! Even if we somehow manage to grievously injure the High-Inquisitor at the cost of half if not all of the people in this room, some other high-cultivator will just take his place. You're going to have to kill a hundred high-cultivators just to empty the Temple of Inquiry!"

“You’re not a slave - I’m not forcing you into unpaid labour in the fields. Also, I have yet to kill someone,” I commented, squinting at him.

“You will have to kill Pikoss to stop him and it cannot be done! He is an Immortal!” Jovius punctuated. “He came back from ninety nine thousand hells! Do you have something stronger than the demons of hells?” The fat merchant demanded.

“I’ve got a plan,” I waved him off. I wasn’t going to reveal my super secret weapon to the Head of the Merchants. Even if he belonged to me he could still accidentally spill my secrets before his heart stopped.

“We’ve all survived your beast-core bomb. It knocked us down, sure… The High-Inquisitor will likely not even stay down for more than a few heartbeats!” The Head of the Merchants groaned. “We won’t be able to hurt or capture him! If he can’t get to us today, he will bring the ENTIRE compound against this castle tomorrow, not just the Inquisition squadrons!”

“What do you suggest I do, Jovius?” I asked.

“Run. Flee the Gold city with your current wealth. Slowly grow in power over centuries. Become an Immortal that knows how to kill,” he said. “Return when you are strong enough to take on the compound.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I will not abandon my people during the Deathstorm.”

Alchemist Kane smiled at these words.

“They’re not your people, Ancient! You’re a Baroness in title only. You might have gotten engaged to all of us… got our bloody Dantians, but you’re still just sixteen. Still an easy broken mortal - not a high-cultivator. None of us can stop the High-Inquisitor,” Jovius muttered. “I can smell the combined worth of this room. The power of all of the people here. It’s not enough to kill someone like the Pikoss. We can hurt him a little at best.”

“How far ahead can you see the future?” I asked the Magistrate.

“Three days,” he replied. “After it the visions begin to blur.”

“What do you see in my future?” I asked, breathing my idea into the air so that the Magistrate could sniff my words. “Is god at my side?”

“It’s a bit unclear since I’m quite tired… but you will end the reign of the current High-Inquisitor tonight,” He announced as he sniffed me. "I made sure of it myself when Celes Rada wrote the letter under my guidance."

Everyone’s mouths dropped open.

“Thought so.” I smirked. “Onto the next issue. If Pikoss is dead or disabled, who becomes the next High-Inquisitor? Celes?”

“Umm…” My fiancee scratched her dark nose. “Inquisitor Illia Contagea.”

“Will she submit to me?”

“No. She is a stubborn warrior.”

“And if she is incapacitated… not killed, will the title of the High-Inquisitor pass to another?”

Celes nodded.

“So if a High-Inquisitor is unable to act, their title passes down?” I continued my line of inquiry.

Celes nodded again, golden eyes suddenly flashing in excitement. “There are seven Inquisition squads. We would have to incapacitate nearly all of them until the title is given to someone… pliable enough for me to manipulate their mind. As long as we have a High Inquisitor on our side, the Temple will be ours to guide!"

“Three are coming here. Where are the other four?” I asked.

“Four Inquiry squadrons are dealing with stamping out the revolution in the city,” the Magistrate answered.

“You know where they are?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Central fountain of the Grand Bazaar, Central park, The Black Gate and Buildertown,” he replied.

“How do you know where they are?” I gaped at his knowledge.

“I’ve been tracking their movements through servitor mail from my watchers, up to the moment when you activated the Deathstorm ward and put the… chefs into my office.” He replied with a sigh. “They might have relocated since, but it is doubtful. The city is… rattled. I myself had lit the fires and I had to make sure that the Inquisition doesn’t start to slaughter people.”

“Will they slaughter my people?” I growled.

“It is certainly possible. The situation could turn into massive bloodshed at any moment.” The Magistrate rubbed his head tiredly. “The crowds think that the Magisterium is supporting them because of the wedding declaration.”

“I don’t believe it,” Jovius muttered. “How can she kill the High-Inquisitor? She’s just…”

“She’s our Baroness. She managed to bring all of us down,” Lord Manning turned to the fat Guilder.

“Not down,” I commented. “Together.”

“Under you,” Jovius persisted. “I should have strangled you in the Bell lake cavern when I had the chance! You said that you aren’t interested in power or wealth and yet here you sit, bossing us all.”

Other disobedient, enslaved Guilders made noises of agreement.

“I’m not interested in power,” I glared at him. “Do you really think I want to rule you all, hold your hand and tell you what to do forever?”

“You literally consume our Dantians! You are a monster who violated the integrity of the sacred engagement ritual and used it for absolute evil!"

“Because people like you are what’s wrong with this world, Jovius!” I snapped. “I woke up to a world of darkness and suffering. I became a monster because I cannot idly stand by as I watch my descendants fill their minds with hatred via improper consumption of beast cores! At least death was an ending to the world’s cruelties with us. But you… you all eternally enslave the very souls of whatever beings tickle your fancy on a regular basis.”

“You can’t judge us from the golden tower of your past, Ancient.” Jovius spat.

“For all the greed, pollution, corruption, abuse, and vile malevolent wilful ignorance that existed in our world, it was still better than yours. And that just makes it sadder!” I declared. “If I’m going to be honest, some of you Guild leaders are all fucking monsters who view people as property and violate human rights left and right. At the very least nobody here is like the Psychotic Child Murderer Clint!”

Everyone glared at me.

“I know that I am from another time and place. In your world-view making beast servitor-phantoms is perfectly mundane… but the way you’ve been doing things… the way you’re still doing things is wrong. I’m here to put a stop to what I consider evil. I’m here to change the world.”

Jovius scowled at me.

“I will stop those that threaten me and my people. I swear to protect and to defend every human life. Even yours, Jovius. Even you… deserve to live. Everyone deserves to live.”

“Why?” The Head of the Merchants asked.

“There were seven billion people in my world. Some of our... wisemen speculated that we would destroy ourselves through overpopulation, but we didn’t. Instead we began to uplift humanity - city by city, nation by nation. There’s so much potential that you all are sitting on. You don’t even understand half of it. Your minds are bound by your inability to work together, the cult’s rules and idiotic dogma. I’m here to free everyone. I’m here to help everyone,” I uttered with conviction. “If I can learn enough I can create servitors that make servitors, machines that make machines. I need to get the ball rolling to start an avalanche of progress so that… everyone benefits, everyone wins in the end.”

“How?” Jovius blinked.

“If I don’t get killed, I can focus on making things more and more efficient until everyone has cultivation methods so amazing the average child is an Immortal.”

“You want us to live? You won’t send us to fight the High-Inquisitor?” He trembled.

“I won’t ask you to fight someone that’s a hundred times stronger than you,” I shook my head.

I looked at the massive pile of servitor glow-lamps that the men had gathered for me from the entire castle. I looked at the pile of beast cores beneath my feet. I knew what to do.

“Break yourselves up into groups.” I commanded the Guilders. “You will disable and disarm the four Inquisition squads in my city and lead the crowds back to my Citadel. Celes and I will stop Pikoss Rhondarius. We will break the power of the Temple of Inquiry tonight, or die trying.”