-[Act 1 * Part 7]-

Maiden Solar surveyed the gloom filled chamber with an expression of unbridled disgust. She soon spotted the remains of her dead champions lying at her feet. The angelic creature growled in anger as she realized that she was currently standing in what little remained of Aidan—a puddle of blood and mangled flesh.

“They have done their part,” the angel declared. “Their faith in me will be rewarded.” Her ethereal voice echoed through the throne room as she spoke. “It is time for you to rest, my servants.” Maiden Solar then dragged her naked foot over the clean parts of the floor in an effort to scrape Aidan off from her golden skin.

“Sorry about the mess,” Basil said and gestured at the red spot on the ground. “The brother proved to be… very durable.”

The angel kneeled down to take a closer look at the dungeon keeper. The chamber shook in response to her motions. “You did this?” Maiden Solar asked. “You murdered my faithful servants? You’re the monster in charge of this accursed place?”

“Yup,” Basil answered. “This carnage and the destruction of your little empire?” he said and gestured around the room, “All me.”

Standing tall and proud before the splendid angel of light, Basil extended his hand in a greeting. “I’m the dungeon keeper, Basil von Doom—pleased to meet you.”

In response to his cruel boast the angelic woman backhanded Basil and sent him flying. The impact of her hand carried Basil across throne room, smashing him into the steps of his obsidian throne. The glassy surface shattered under the weight of the demon’s body and he ended up half buried beneath a pile of razor sharp obsidian shards.

“I will end you!” the angel roared. “Your reign of terror has run its course, demon. Now prostrate yourself before me and beg for a quick death! Beg for death, because I want to do far worse to you!”

The dungeon keeper raised his hand from the pile of shards in an objection to her statement. “You seem to have it backwards,” Basil said as he dug his way out of the shattered steps of his throne. The dungeon keeper wiped the flakes of obsidian from his shoulders and cracked his neck. He then looked up at the angel and shook his head in disappointment. “For a creature of such brilliant light, you sure are blind to the obvious gap in our power.”

Maiden Solar ignored the demon’s ramblings. She clutched her fist and summoned a golden spear of light. She then drove her weapon towards Basil, halting it just as the tip was about to touch his chest.

“The situation seems pretty obvious to me,” she said. “Your pride got the better of you, demon. Now you will be made to pay for all of your transgressions.”

“Is that so?” Basil asked.

The angel raised her chin, striking a pose of utter contempt for the demon prince. “My power cannot be denied,” she declared. “I have already won.

“While your wretched armies throw themselves against the mighty walls of my cities in vain, I will have delivered a decapitating blow to your war effort. With your death this reign of terror will come to an end. My faithful followers will push your beasts from this land and drive them back into the dark corners of the earth. There they will wither and fade alongside your repugnant remains.

“Now, do you have any last words before I deliver your accursed presence from this blessed land?”

Basil pondered his response for a moment, but all he could come up with was a casual shrug and an expression of complete indifference.

It was at this moment that a loud slurping sound drew everyone’s attention to the succubus sitting on the throne.

With the angel’s furious gaze now upon her, Elnora spat out the drinking straw, slowly lowered the empty health potion and bowed her head in apology. “Sorry,” she said and pushed the flask away. “Please, continue.”

The angelic woman glared in disgust at the wounded succubus for a moment longer before turning her attention back to Basil. “The time has come to end this futile struggle,” she said.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Basil said and cracked his knuckles. “Now that you have finally arrived, I believe it is time to bring the conquest of this world to a close.”

Maiden Solar furrowed her perfect eyebrows. “So, you wanted them to summon me?” she asked.

“Well, I figured that I had to make it look like they could defeat me first,” Basil explained. “I didn’t know for sure that your arrival was triggered upon their death or with some sort of magic ritual. So, it took some effort luring you out, thank you.”

Basil scoffed. “In the end, all I needed to use for them to take the bait was these little trinkets,” he said and raised his hands towards the glowing woman. He revealed a set of four golden rings on his fingers. The dungeon keeper then made a show of removing them one by one.

“Your magic trinkets did not bring them here,” Maiden Solar reasoned.

Basil placed the rings into his pouch. “No,” he admitted, “but these cursed artifacts did keep them from running away.”

The dungeon keeper took a deep breath and exhaled. With the rings now removed his body almost doubled in size. The whole room now seemed to bend to his presence. His darkness grew strong enough to oppose her light—nay, envelop it. Even the ceiling above once more disappeared under the cover of the black haze from before.

Maiden Solar cast a divination spell on herself to take measure of her opponent’s abilities, “[Divine Insight].”

Her eyes shot up and down Basil’s body as she came to realize the true extent of her opponent’s power. Then, with a loud cry of anger, she drove her spear towards his chest in an effort to impale him.

Basil grabbed hold of the tip of the golden ray of light and crushed it in his hand. The whole weapon then fractured and disintegrated right before the angel’s eyes.

“You are not some middling demon prince!” she yelled in anger. “You tricked me!”

Her weapon broken, Maiden Solar reached out with her hands and grabbed hold of Basil. The dungeon keeper did not resist. With two golden hands wrapped around his torso, Basil patiently observed the furious angel as she tried and failed to squeeze the life out of him.

“Why did you bring me here?” the angel hissed through her teeth. “Why did you trick me?”

“For the glory of it,” Basil said. “Oh, and also… the Guild of Chaos sends its regards.

“It has been decided that your adorable little empire has run its course. I’m just here to make sure that its destruction is complete.”

Basil effortlessly broke himself free form Maiden’s strangling embrace and clapped his hands twice. The pitch-black haze covering the ceiling above parted once more and a massive ritual circle was revealed.

“Will you submit yourself to me willingly, elemental,” the dungeon keeper asked, “or are we going to have to do this the hard way?”

Having examined the glowing runes covering the ceiling above, the golden woman cast Basil aside and turned towards the exit. She knew that she couldn’t possibly win a fight against a level 100 [Legendary] demon lord. That is why Basil had worn the cursed rings from the start—to weaken himself enough that he would appear far less capable than he actually was. It had all been done in an effort to keep the adventurers from fleeing; to make sure that she was invoked in an effort to defeat him.

Basil landed on his feet and immediately went about restraining the fleeing angel. With a vice like grip he took hold of her by the ankle and raised the massive creature up into air. He then threw her down upon the frozen stone floor in a manner most rough, all the while placing himself in a position to further deny her escape.

With his free hand the dungeon keeper pulled out a scroll from his bandolier and threw it up into the air. It immediately burst into flames and a spell was cast activating the ritual circle on the ceiling above.

Basil then pulled out a pair of sunglasses form his magic pouch and threw them over to Elnora. “Put these on!” he commanded as the magic runes on the ceiling begun to pulsate with arcane energies. “Things are about to get really bright up in this place.”

The dungeon keeper wasn’t lying. As the magic ritual began to take hold of the restrained holy elemental the room was shrouded in holy light. Maiden Solar screamed in anger as she fought to escape his grasp, but to no avail. Basil’s power was overwhelming. The angelic creature then began to glow ever brighter as the ritual tore her apart and siphoned away her power.

Elnora found the golden bloom of the angel to be less than pleasant to her demonic skin. She did her best to bundle herself in the cape of protection that Basil had given her earlier, but the warmth of holy light was still pressing hard against her.

Basil squinted hard as he tried to keep his sight on the struggling elemental in his grasp. Then, when he judged the moment to be right, he pulled out a fist sized—demon lord fist sized—crystal from his pouch and held it up towards the ritual circle.

“[Greater Siphon Soul]!” he commanded and begun channeling the essence of the angel into the soul stone in his hand.

The very light of her being flickered wildly as the angel sought to escape his grasp. Maiden Solar then began to fade as more and more of her essence was siphoned into the crystalline prison. Soon enough nothing remained to tell of her golden splendor but a shimmering soul gem in the smoldering hand of her captor.

With Maiden Solar now imprisoned, the fighting in the throne room had reached its inevitable conclusion. Unbeknownst to them, the intruders had been doomed form the start.

Elnora looked down on the triumphant dungeon keeper with doughy eyes and sighed longingly. Basil’s devious plan had come to fruition. The ambush had been a success and she had been granted a first-row seat for it all.

Basil was left breathing heavily from the strain of channeling such a powerful spell so quickly. The dungeon keeper smiled as he inspected the newly forged legendary soul stone in his claws. He had just created an artifact of the highest caliber, the delivery of which would place him in great esteem with the Guild. Perhaps it was even on par with one of his father’s legendary deeds… but probably not.

The dungeon keeper’s smile quickly faded. Basil placed the soul stone into his pouch, pulled up his dungeon keeper’s manual book, opened it and ticked a box.

The description read: “Capture or destroy Maiden Solar, the holy elemental worshiped as a god by the kith of Empire Solar.” —COMPLETED—

An update appeared beneath the task in red letters: “Confirmation of the target’s identity pending. Check in with the nearest Guild office.”

Basil closed the book and looked to Elnora. The she-demon was still cheering him on from the top of the throne. He nodded in acknowledgment of this accomplishment—for her sake, mostly.

I feel nothing, he thought as he cast his blank gaze across the field of ruin. For a moment there was something… When I fought the twins… But I feel no true sense of accomplishment now. The emptiness—it claws at me still…

The dungeon keeper rubbed his tired eyes and growled in disappointment. He had found no satisfaction in his crushing triumph. With so much power flowing in his veins, even the subjugation of a would-be goddess felt like an empty victory. His conquest of this world was now all but complete and yet, the achievement rang hollow in his heart.

Basil once more found himself wondering why—why he carried on with his work when it brought him nothing but disappointment. It was only when the dungeon keeper once more looked upon the delighted expression of his young apprentice that he was able to shelve these thoughts, leaving the issue of tackling his existential dread for another time.

At this very moment his armies stood posed to deliver the final blow to the Empire Solar, so there was still some work left to be done. Only with the conquest concluded could he linger on his doubts. This was not the moment for deliberation, but, rather, for decisive action.

Tomorrow the Empire would fall.