***The World***

***Ascathon***

No matter what Ashley says, or how indifferent the demons are to the fate of a family member, the disappearance of two of my girls isn't acceptable.

“That's all well and good,” I reply, “but we can't just accept this attack and go on as if nothing happened! At the very least, we have to ensure that they know that such attacks won't happen without repercussions!”

“Ah, but that Tjenemit dude doesn't care,” Ashley replies, suddenly sounding worried. “I am not even sure if we are included in that rule of his. After all, as demons, we aren't much more than demi-gods, we don't even count as lesser deities.”

“Who says that we will bring this matter to Tjenemit? That's what Myrm has been trying to do for decades and it resulted in nothing. Tjenemit has no interest in anything we do, as long as it isn't concerning the divine,” I grumble. “As far as I understand it, the whole purpose of this project of his is controlling us while searching for potential new recruits.”

I shake my head. “No. If we want to send a message, then we have to lay down the law ourselves.” Raising a fist, I squeeze it to make my point clear.

Ashley fidgets around, like a child who was caught by her parent.

“What is it?” I ask, noticing her odd behaviour.

“It's just that you are so angry over this! I haven't seen you like that in millenia, with your eyes glowing red and blue sparks coming out!” she explains hastily.

That brings me quickly back down to face the facts and to realize my own emotions. She is right. I am getting carried away here, and that may be exactly the thing Myrm wants to achieve.

Normally, I had planned my revenge on Myrm to be far away in the future. It would come swift and be a surprise to everyone. These new circumstances don't change anything, aside from the level of punishment which I'll visit on my enemies. “You are right. I might've been a little-”

“Seeing you like that gives me shivers. It gets me all hot and bothered.” The demoness bites her lower lip. “Say, don't you want to take ~advantage~ of the fact that I am all wet before you do whatever you intended on doing?”

“I, er-” Somehow, I don't know how I should react to that. I've always known that all the succubi around me are deep down cold-hearted bitches, but... I guess that I expected at least a single tear for two of her daughters?

Then again... they more than likely see each other as nothing more than competition. I have to remind myself that the place which spawned these people is called Infernal with a capital 'I' for a reason.

While I was still taking my time with being puzzled about Ashley's reaction, the succubus matriarch threw herself to the ground to roll around like a cat in heat, managing to stimulate a reaction within me, despite the off-putting situation at hand.

“Sure, I guess?” Why waste a chance to participate in some succubus relaxing techniques? If I am going to kill people permanently, I may as well do it with a grin on my face.

One hour later, having taken care of the worst of Ashley's mood, I leave the workshop, ready to do some improvised murdering.

It would be a little overconfident to go right for the head of the lion since I think that Myrm should be at least as capable in a one on one fight as I am. And that's only by judging the other god's aura. Sadly, I have absolutely no idea what tricks he might have up his sleeve.

Which doesn't mean that I don't feel confident to take on some of Myrm's supporters.

A few decades of silently watching this fake-pantheon of ours were enough to make out who is on whose side.

Surprisingly, most of the roughly two dozen gods are in Seria's camp. Which means that they want to have nothing to do with the battle between 'good' and 'evil', and prefer to stay on the sidelines, playing the neutral party.

Then there is my faction with... me! I suppose that I shouldn't count my succubi as any help against a full-fledged deity. Let's not forget that there is Karin who is also useless at the moment.

I suppose I could force Willow to awaken in hopes that she may become somewhat of a power-house. But that wouldn't just put her at risk from the Council, it will also very likely be hard to explain where I hid an immortal for millennia until she managed to awaken into a full goddess.

Nope. Let's just forget the thought of getting any support. As always, it's me against them, which just means that I have to get them one after the other. Or in small portions, if I can take them.

Then there is Myrm's faction, which counts around eight or nine members, of which three are on-and-off-again people. Sometimes I've seen them interact with Myrm, taking his side, but most of the time they prefer to stand on Seria's side of the table. I suppose that they themselves don't know what they want.

Which means that if there is a fight, they will be the first ones to quit.

That leaves Myrm and four – maybe five – hardcore followers, of which three are gods in their own right. One is a middle-class deity, and one a lesser. Maybe if I send the whole squadron of succubi, they can take care of her. The problem is that if the lesser deity decides to run by using the pathways, there is nothing a succubus can do.

I walk down the corridors of my base until I arrive at what Ashley and her daughters dubbed the 'intelligence room' where they are gathering all the important information regarding the war between the mortals. Even if my succubi are no warriors, they are the perfect spies.

There is no question that they can provide me with the information of when and where.

***The World***

***Ulbion***

“I really don't see a reason for investigating this shut-down facility,” I mumble and kick a pebble as we walk through the abandoned corridor of an old Mirai temple, supposedly one of Ascathon's old research facilities. “Just look around. This is a ruin.”

“It is,” Rustik affirms, throwing back her brown hair while studying the walls, ground, and ceiling with high attention. “But the Alliance's spy-network got reliable information that something is happening down here. Some adventurer mentioned that the old machinery came back to life, and that people were mysteriously disappearing. Myrm wants to be on top of things, just in case another one of Ascathon's experiments is about to get loose.”

“Who cares.” I glance at the ceiling, expecting it to come down on top of us at any moment. “Ascathon was right when he said that this planet is riddled with abandoned projects of his... or her... never sure how to address the gender-confused sicko.” I chuckle.

I wouldn't call myself prejudiced against people with certain tendencies, but if need be, I certainly prefer the womanly types who are sure of their role. Like Rustik, with her finely chiseled nose and those cute perky... ahem... yeah...

She would probably rip my head off if I had said that aloud.

“You better make sure he never gets to hear that, or he will rip you a new one,” Rustik replies as the lesser deity enters a large room where some of the ancient machinery seems to be still active, despite millenia of decay.

I look around, silently admiring the insane god's handiwork. Even if I can't approve of his behaviour, his creations are built to last.

There are runes bathed in a purple light all over the surface of the great hall which we just entered. Glowing lines of power are running towards a central piece, something akin to a pool in the centre of the room. The water inside the pool is perfectly still, providing a mirror.

“Great,” I rant. “I bet one of the stumbling adventurers who found this place activated the thing by accident.”

“Looks to me like a portal,” Rustik suggests as she approaches, hands in her pockets. “Let's hope that it's not a doorway to the infernal planes. Ah, and please don't touch anything.”

“Nah, don't worry. I am not that stupid.” But just to be sure I put my hands into my own pockets. Rustik has a point. Good intentions can be easily overcome by curiosity. “May I just remind you that in case of that cursed mask, touching wasn't even necessary?” I quickly check my mental defences and try to make out any inexplicable urges or feelings which should be out of place.

“Yeah, don’t worry.” She shrugs and bends over the pool in the ground. “I am nowhere as incompetent as Sajurm.”

I follow her lead and take a good look into the water. Aside from our reflection, there is nothing inside it. The water is completely clear and seems to be about two metres deep, but it’s hard to tell because of the reflection and I have no desire to jump in just to test its depth. “Doesn’t seem like a portal if you ask me.”

“Now that we got a close look I am not so sure either, but what else could it be? Rustik points at the ring of runes which surrounds the pool. “I recognize those, and they are certainly connected to portal magic.”

I chuckle. “But it’s a pool? Do you think Ascathon struck the fancy, so he built himself a magical bathtub?”

She pulls a face. “Please, forgive me if I call bullshit on that theory. Aside from the fact that this setup,” she gestures at our surroundings, “is just impractical, there are various reasons why a magical bathtub wouldn’t need teleportation runes.”

I nod, still studying our grey reflections in the water. “Okay, so we confirmed that this place is something beyond the mortal’s kin?”

“Yes, let’s leave and nuke this entire area. Better to get rid of this stuff than to let the mortals play with it. Who knows what this thing does.”

“Hmm, okay. Let’s head back out the normal way to make sure that there are no adventurers inside when we light the place up,” I suggest and head back out, not the least bit interested in solving the mystery of the pool. If experience taught me anything, then it’s not to mess with anything that was touched by a soul-mage. Nuking it from as far away as possible is certainly the safest option.

We quickly retreat from the mysterious room and through a seemingly endless set of tunnels which are in various states of decay. It’s clear that the rest of the complex was housing one or the other critter at various points in the past. The ground is littered with the bones of creatures, most of them small humanoids which I would guess to be goblins.

It’s clear that the place was a monster-den for a long time. Without a doubt it was cleared out several times by adventurers, just to be settled anew some time later. There are more than enough dangerous creatures with a high reproduction rate in the world – dangerous for mortals. Some old ruins in the ground are the perfect breeding pit for them, given that they are strong enough to claim the place as their home.

Yet, something about this place isn’t right. “Say, Rustik?”

“Yes?” She turns to look at me.

“Don’t you think that there is something strange about this place? I mean, everything outside the pool-chamber is in various states of decay, while the chamber itself seemed to be in a reasonable preserved state. Isn’t it strange that the creatures which clearly inhabited this place at some point in the past didn’t stray into the chamber?”

Rustik shrugs. “I would assume that the entrance to the chamber was somehow blocked until the adventurers who reported it did something to open the thing.”

Pressing my lips together, I try to reassure myself that it must be the correct explanation.

We travel the remaining way without finding or sensing any mortals within the complex.

“Fuck!” Rustik curses suddenly as we step beyond the entrance which is covered with plants and liana, allowing only a single human to get inside. Outside is the dense jungle of the Sawood Forest.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Try to use the pathways!” Rustik turns around, searching our surroundings. “We are cut off!”

“That’s impossible!” I quickly try it myself, but they aren’t there. They just aren’t there! “P- pathways can’t just disappear like that!”

“No, they can’t,” a voice replies from behind us. “It’s surprising enough, but you are right, though, it’s likely that you just guessed?” Stepping out of the shadows, Ascathon appears from the dark entrance to the facility, clad in a dark attire which looks slightly baggy on him, but probably gives perfect freedom of movement.

He must have been following us the entire time!

“What are you doing here?” Rustik asks. She reaches for the amulet around her neck and presses a yellow gemstone in its centre. “Myrm? Are you there? We could need some help here.”

Ascathon crosses his arms behind his back and sways slightly back and forth on his heels. “Sorry. That won’t work either. There is nobody on this planet who could hear you.”

“What did you do?” Stepping in front of Rustik, I call on my holy magic and summon a spear of light, imbued with my pure essence it should be able to cut through any aura.

“You stepped through the Portal of Inversion.” He spreads his hands, indicating the world around us. “I myself am not quite sure of the physics behind it, but the artefact shifts those who step through it into another dimension… no… that’s not right.” He tilts his head. “Let’s just say that we are phased-out of our normal reality. Not quite out of our dimension, but also not quite in the other. That’s why there are no people on this world. Didn’t you notice that everything is slightly greyer than it should be?”

I gulp, noticing the strangely shifted colour of the plants for the first time. Inside the dark tunnels, I didn’t take notice of the strange effect. But now that he mentions it, in the daylight, it’s quite obvious that all the colours seem off.

“But we never stepped into that damned pool!” I whisper to Rustik. Maybe he is just trying to fuck with us, wanting us to panic. “Maybe it’s a ploy to get us to attack him. He surely has a camera somewhere.”

Ascathon heard me nonetheless. “Are you sure? You see, the portal is a little peculiar in that regard. You don’t step through, but rather, look into it. That’s enough.”

“What do you want?” Rustik asks. “Why are you going through the trouble of bringing us here?”

He sighs, looking disappointed. “I just need to take you out of the game. Sorry, it’s nothing personal. In this place I can go all out. The damage won't transfer to the real world.” Then he smiles, showing his teeth. “But hey, you have to see the bright side! As soon as it’s game-over for you, you no longer need to play Tjenemit’s guinea pigs.”

With that, he releases his aura and I feel some incorporeal weight pressing down on my very soul.

Releasing my own aura, measly as it is against his, I call out. “Rustik, you have to get out of here and search for a way back. Tell the others while I hold him off.”

“There is no point. This whole planet is like a large void zone as far as it concerns the pathways. It’s the perfect place for a good battle. In fact, I am very certain that the Council uses a similar effect when they hold their sanctified tournaments every few millennia.” Ascathon steps forward, summoning a blue orb in his left hand. “I have no problem with dispatching you one by one, but your chances would be better if you fight together.”

Still not fully believing that he would be insane enough to go through with this, I point my spear at him. “You will never get away with this. The Council won’t ignore our disappearance. Tjenemit will start an investigation, and once they compare our whereabouts they will know. Do you really believe that these amulets of ours don’t come with a tracking function?”

His grin widens. “Oh, they certainly do… But!” Reaching for his collar, he pulls the cloth aside. “Which amulet are you talking about? As far as the World Enchantment is concerned, you went into the ruins and never came out. I wasn’t even anywhere close.”

Rustik’s eyes widen slightly and the both of us finally have to admit that he really set this whole scenario up with the intention to kill us.

“Rustik, try to get back to the pool and activate it somehow. Jump into it if need be. Don’t think about me.” Seeing us at the end of negotiations, I charge, putting a sizeable part of my power into the effort.

Aiming the orb of glowing energy at me, Ascathon jumps upwards, not holding back any of his power, distorting the ground beneath him.

I can only swing my spear, deflecting the simple blast of energy as the area around us is torn asunder by the sheer strength of Ascathon’s unrestricted movement. It’s only thanks to my own aura that I am able to hold my position without being blown away like a leaf in the wind.

Before I know it, I am hovering inside a crater, a hundred metres wide, with Rustik next to me.

“Why are you still here, you idiot!” I ask, as somewhere in the far distance the spell of blue energy hits something with the force of a nuclear explosion.

Rustik only smiles and looks down at the crater beneath us. “Do you really think that there is anything of the tunnels left after he created a localized earthquake and compressed the ground like smashing a meteor into it?”

“He must have another way back!” I reason quickly. I don’t really want to play the hero, but Ascathon is a damned powerhouse. Everyone knows it and the Council is even using him as one of their hunting dogs. The only reason why they try to refrain from doing so, is because he is a damned nutcase.

“Forgive me,” Rustik points up into the sky, “but I really don’t think that you would be able to stand against that. Or that I could find a way back within the little time you could buy me.” She pulls down the corners of her mouth. “Our chance of running without access to the pathways is next to zero. The only way I see is to beat him up and make him tell us how to get back.”

Even as I follow her indication to look up, my heart falls upon seeing the red star in the sky above us. I chuckle and lower my spear in resignation. “I always knew that you have a few screws loose, Rustik. There is no way we can beat that! The bastard was holding back.” We aren’t anywhere near that level. With that power, he could challenge a Council member in a one on one duel.

Rustik shrugs as the spell of red energy descends on our position, its mere aura clearing away the jungle as far as the eye can see, painting the pale world in a haze of red.

“How do they say? It’s a good day to die?”