As tempting as it was to stay by the gentle waterfall above, Ronny and Enzi were up and moving shortly after the fight ended. They knew that death was imminent if they didn’t get treated for the venom. As they left, Ronny looked at the pile of corpses they’d left in their wake.

The bodies reminded him of what had happened at the wall. A massacre.

They crossed the river and started walking back to the city. It was quite the trek, requiring them to relocate the path they’d used to get there, but they made it to safety without further incident. It was about 3:30 in the morning when they made it to The Palace, where they hoped to be treated.

On the next day, they didn’t do much. The palace clock rang at seven and with that, everyone there was awake. They went to the medic and most of the day being treated for their wounds. The potions the doctors used were amazing, but there was only so much that could be done. They were told to stay in bed for the day, and the two did exactly that. They were glad to save strength for the night.

♦

Alice followed closely behind Madison. They were in a dark, stony tunnel. Stalagmites hung from the low ceiling and required them to actively avoid getting hit. By Alice’s guess, the place was hundreds of feet below the lowest basement of the palace.

The air there was cold and stuffy. It made Alice uncomfortable to be there, “So… where are we?” Madison had been adamant about showing her this place, but had kept tight lips about why.

“This is the heart of our anti-guild efforts.” Madison used a magic light to light the way, since it would have been dangerous to use flames in such a poorly circulated area.

“This is your plan? A hideout?”

“Not quite… It’ll make sense when we get to where we’re going. I need you to see this.”

“Right…” Alice didn’t never knew about the place while she was still active in the Royal Family. Not even a rumor. The wood supports that held up the ceiling looked fresh though, implying that it was built recently.”

They came to a dead end. A pile of rocks blocked the path forwards.

Madison grinned, “We’re close.”

“To what? All I see is a pile of rocks.”

“Oh, I put those there… Just in case it tried to escape.”

“This is a prison then?”

“Be patient. You’ll understand as soon as you see it.” Madison touched the stones and watched them vanish one by one.”

“You summoned them? Seems like a waste of mana.”

“I come down here a lot. It’s a lot better than manually having to move them, even if it does cost me a lot of ‘resources’ to keep them there perpetually.” The way she said ‘resources’ seemed to imply something. Alice didn’t know what.

They continued traversing the tunnel. It was extremely long, with forking paths, blockades, and facades hiding the route to their destination. The level of secrecy was extraordinary. Nobody could have found the destination without Madison to lead them there.

“So when was this dug out?”

“I’ve been working on it since I was a teenager.”

“You?” Alice didn’t remember her sister doing anything like this.

“Yes. I’ve been digging this place out by hand since I was twelve. This wasn’t something I get help with.” She added, “Until now, I was the only living person to know about this place.”

“Right…”

They eventually came to an immense steel door. It was multiple feet thick and dozens of locks, bars, and chains held it closed.

“We’re here.” Madison pulled out a ring of keys and got to work on opening it. It took her a while to get the thing open, “I’m going to open it now. Brace yourself. I can’t control this thing very well.”

“What is that supposed to…” She lost her train of though when the doors began to part.

Behind them was a huge cavern. So huge, in fact, that the magic light they were using to see didn’t reach the ceiling, or even the walls. It was like stepping into an abyss.

“I wouldn’t go inside if I were you. Just stand behind the door. A good distance away, please.” Madison was already standing behind Alice, far back into the tunnel. Alice took the advice and walked to her.

When Alice was sufficiently far from the door, The Queen took a deep breath in and shouted with an unnerving intensity, “GET OVER HERE, BLIGHT LORD.”

A loud rumbling ensued. It echoed throughout the cavern and into the tunnel. Then, there was stomping. The footsteps were slow and irregular. The volume was like cannonballs crashing into a rockface. Whatever was coming was beyond large.

It took a while for the thing to traverse the cavern and come into the reach of the light. The details were fuzzy in the darkness, but Alice immediately understood what she was looking at.

Despite understanding, she didn’t want it to be true, “You wouldn’t…”

Madison smiled, “But I did, didn’t I? You know what you see, don’t you?”

“How many!? How many people died for something like this to exist?” huge, distorted-looking faces covered the creature in the place of skin.

“I’ve been working on this guy since I was thirteen you know. There are quite a few bodies in there, probably in the thousands.

“You… disgust me.” Alice had seen similar creatures before. They were called Corpse Chimeras, and the people that created them were among the evilest in the world. The process for making one involved forcibly combining dozens of separate, living people into single abomination. That alone, would have made it crime against god, but there was more. Because the monster was technically undead, the people that were sacrificed to form one were denied even death. The induvial components couldn’t perish until the whole creature was killed. What’s more, is that since they were created via necromancy, chimeras were bound to the will of their creator. They had neither the freedom to die, nor the ability to make decisions.

“Don’t worry. I just used corpses—for the most part. They were usually dead by the time I put them into the mix. Anyways…” She didn’t get to finish, instead finding herself pinned against the wall. Alice had her by the neck.

She didn’t know much about necromancy, but even she knew that a necromancer’s thralls were given freedom when their master died, “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now.” Her fingers burned Madison’s next.

That was unexpected. Madison struggled to speak through the chokehold, “T-this country can’t survive without me. Y-you aren’t s-strong enough to survive the coming danger… Creating the Blight Lord was necessary to ensure the s-safety of Barnock’s people!” She struggled to break free, but nothing was working.

“You say you care about the safety of your people? If had been true at any point in your life, you wouldn’t have used your citizens as components.” The grip intensified.

“It was for the common good! With an asset like this, our country might even be able to go against Adamantite! And… they’re all criminals anyways. They forfeit their freedom when they decided to go against the law!”

Alice gave her a hard knee in the stomach and let Madison fall to the ground. She turned away and started walking back in the direction they’d come from to get there, “I was wrong about you, Maddy. This isn’t about Barnock. You’re just in it for yourself. Good luck fighting the Guild without my help. I hope the Mythrills give you a painful death.”

“Y-you’re wrong! What about the Demons!? They’ll die too!” Madison, burned and bloodied, called out to her sister, but her words fell on deaf ears. Alice disappeared, leaving the Queen alone with her monster.