-[Chapter 003]-

With their comrades lost to the reality warping effects of the illusion spell, Aidan and Nadia now stood alone before the steps of the demon’s throne. A lifetime of training and warfare in service to Maiden Solar had given them the tools and skills to accomplish their goal of slaying him, yet their minds were plagued by uncertainty. This was to be their one and only chance at reversing their fortunes in their Empire’s war for survival. With the imperial capital—their final bastion of resistance—under siege at this very moment, the twins knew that failure was not an option.

On his part, Basil was well aware of their intentions and the dire need that had given rise to them. From a purely tactical point of view the dungeon keeper agreed with their chosen course of action. It was a reasonable plan, to strike at the core of a dungeon, but one that he had seen attempted countless times before.

The dungeon keeper gave a nod of courtesy to his enemies. “Before we settle this once and for all, I wished to express my sincerest admiration for the two of you,” Basil said. “It is no small feat for a baseline human to max out their power limit and reach the [Elite] status. A level 50 human warrior and priestess duo is something of a rare sight to behold outside of the Nine Hells. The underlying code of the universe is a cruel mistress in that she has set your limits below what most other sentient races can aspire to, but I find your tenacity to be a great equalizer. Truly, you are the best that your world has to offer.”

Nadia and Aidan exchanged confused looks.

“It is unfortunate that Empire Solar could muster so few heroes worthy of my time,” Basil lamented. “If only you had stronger friends than those level thirty-something kith that you elected to bring along for the slaughter... A shame, really, as they could have grown a bit stronger for my pleasure, but now they will just have to perish here alongside you two.”

Basil plucked at his beard as he mused. “Truly, a group of four to six heroes around your power level would have fared much better than the scrap you managed to put together. But I suppose it was the best you could do under the circumstances.”

“Elnora,” Basil waived for his assistant to lean in closer, “I will call on you to distract them once I begin the summoning ritual. Be ready to attack on my command,” he whispered to her. “When I cast the ritual spell, make sure to—”

The standoff at the throne was interrupted by a loud roar. To Basil’s great surprise his magic had not rid him of all those he had deemed unworthy. Having broken free from the warping embrace of the illusion spell a lone dwarven warrior emerged, eager to face the demons of this realm. The walking bush of a beard stumbled around in an apparent fit of delirious rage, swinging wildly at the air around him.

“Grendel!” Aidan called out to his companion. “Have you resisted the illusion spell, brother? Follow my voice! Help us slay the beast!”

Alas, Grendel was in no position to help anybody. Frothing at the mouth, the dwarven warrior had lost his mind to a delirious illusion of his own making. He swung and he kicked, dancing around and snapping at shadows in search of an enemy to assault.

“Oh, by the love of Maiden Solar,” Nadia said and covered her eyes in shame at the sight of the rampaging dwarf.

Grendel was unable to respond to Aidan’s hails. He had managed to break the mind altering effects of Basil’s illusion spell with the help of his {Berserk} ability, but, unfortunately for the dwarven warrior, he had incurred several vicious penalties by doing so. While the {Berserk} ability granted a massive boost to his strength and willpower, the latter allowing him to overcome the illusion spell, the dwarf’s intelligence and perception attributes had taken quite the heavy dip.

With his mental state now severely hampered, Grendel had apparently decided that he didn’t need his armor anymore. Thus, his muscled warrior’s body was on full display for everyone to see, finer details included.

“That’s not something you get to witness every day,” Basil noted. “Well, I mean it worked out for him… in a way. He did break out of the illusion, but… Yeah. Hmm.”

Elnora seemed naturally drawn to the sight of the naked dwarven warrior rampaging across the room. Her predatory eyes sized up the herculean—if a little stunted—form of the dwarf with undisguised glee. It was in her nature to lust, after all.

Basil’s oppressive presence eventually caught Grendel’s attention—dulled as it was—and, having finally sighted his enemy, the dwarf launched into a mad dash for the throne. With the {Berserk} status granting him all the intellectual complexity of a townhouse brick, he paid no mind to how reckless the move was or how easy it was for a mage to counter it.

Aidan and Nadia were too far away and could do nothing to stop Grendel’s headlong charge. The twins looked on in impotent shock as the butt-naked dwarf dashed towards the demon’s throne, his weapons swinging about wildly as he went.

Elnora nodded in appreciation of the sight. “Do you want me to handle this hunk of meat for you, Master?” she asked, clearly more than a little hopeful that the answer would be ‘yes’.

Basil sighed wearily and shook his head in denial. “This is a distraction,” he said. The dungeon keeper then cast a trap spell slightly ahead of the charging dwarf in an effort to end this charade: “[Greater Frost Mine]!”

With his mind completely consumed by the effects of his {Berserk} state, Grendel ran straight into the obvious trap and triggered it. An arcane explosion followed and a blast of foaming ice consumed him whole. Soon all that remained to tell of this bizarre encounter was the frozen expression of a crazed dwarf, encased in transparent ice.

“[Permafrost]!” Basil followed up the first freezing spell with another one, hardening the temporary ice formation into a permanent prison for the dwarf.

“Can we keep it?” Elnora asked.

The she-demon ran her hungry gaze across the rippling physique of the imprisoned dwarf. “We could put him near the quarters of the succubae. I think the girls would appreciate the eye-candy...”

“I don’t think we will keep that one as a memento,” Basil said. “It doesn’t really fit in thematically with the rest of the Mansion.”

Elnora seemed a little displeased by her master’s decision, but did not press the issue. Once she managed to tear her predatory eyes from the frozen dwarf her lustful expression began to fade.

“Anyway,” Basil said and gestured invitingly at the two remaining opponents. “Let us begin!”

He raised his hands in an upward motion, as if lifting an invisible burden. A swirling blizzard began to form around him before erupting into an explosion. “[Frost Nova]!” he said, casting a spell. The creeping frost shot down the steps of the throne and spread out across the width and breadth of the chamber, covering the ground in a thin layer of ice.

The dungeon keeper had opened the battle by claiming the very field upon which they stood as his arcane domain. The spreading frost climbed the pillars and covered up the piles of treasure that were scattered throughout the room.

In response to the dungeon keeper’s show of force the twins finally went on the attack. Aidan seemed unfazed by the freezing effects of Basil’s magic as he advanced towards the throne. Meanwhile Nadia began boosting his abilities with her spells, all the while keeping a close watch on her magic tomes. Among the heavy books hovering in front of her was an arcane tome that she could use to measure the effects that her magic was having on her allies or foes.

The status effects concerning her brother were present in the bestiary book, but Basil was still out of its reach. The priestess couldn’t yet surmise what kind of a foe the dungeon keeper really was, aside from his general creature class and corresponding racial abilities that were evident at a glance.

Basil rose to his feet and reached back behind his throne to retrieve a massive two handed war hammer. The metal slab on a stick did not look to be a particularly nimble weapon, but it was unlikely that anyone other than a high level creature could survive getting hit by it more than once. At least that is how it appeared at first.

Aidan was almost at the steps of the throne when Basil finally launched into action. In one swift motion the dungeon keeper leapt down from the throne and was upon the surprised warrior, hammer plummeting heavily towards his head.

The human dodged to the left, barely avoiding the thundering impact of the demon’s hammer as it landed. Basil’s attack sent shards of ice and shattered rock flying off in all directions as it hit the spot where Aidan had been standing just a moment prior.

Faced with the presumably sluggish fighting style of his opponent, Aidan activated some of his warrior class abilities to counter Basil. “{Greater Parry}! {Greater Strength}!”

He was now ready to slug it out with the demon.

It was at this moment that Nadia noticed that Basil had finally entered the range of her bestiary. To her great horror the information that popped up in her monster manual went completely counter to how Basil had appeared until now.

“It’s an illusion!” she called out to Aidan. “He’s a monk, not a warrior!”

But it was too late. Aidan had already activated the wrong abilities to counter his foe. He had gone for strength over speed, leaving him vulnerable to an agile opponent.

“[Dispel]!” At Basil’s command the cumbersome armor surrounding his body sizzled away into fine blue specks of mana. The summoned war hammer in his hands likewise disintegrated.

With the illusion vanquished his true form was revealed. The demon prince carried no armor on him at all, save for his cloth trousers—and even those were on the short side. Across his chest stretched a bandolier housing several scrolls and pouches, but, other than this strip of fur trimmed leather, his muscled body was completely bare.

Basil used the superior agility of his combat class to avoid Aidan’s attempts at a counterattack. He then delivered several lightning quick punches to the warrior’s arms and chest. The human was sent sliding backwards by the impact of Basil’s fists. He traveled a short distance across the iced covered floor, but managed to retain his footing.

For a moment it looked like the plate armor that Aidan was wearing had negated the unarmed attack, but then, to his own great surprise, he coughed up a mouthful of blood. An immense sensation of pain shot through his chest and the warrior was left reeling in the aftermath of the infernal monk’s assault.

Basil did not follow up his initial attack with more aggression. The dungeon keeper instead opted to straighten out his posture and wiped the shards of ice from his body in a show of courtesy to his surprised foe.

“What in the Nine Hells!?” Aidan cursed. He spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped his mouth with his gauntlet.

“Demon prince, level 50, [Legendary],” Nadia informed her brother on the status report that was now displayed in her bestiary. “And he has stats all over the place.”

Aidan furrowed his brows. “Level 50?” he said. “That’s lower than—”

“Expected?” Basil asked. “It is still more than enough to beat you two. A pair of [Elites] against a [Legend]… I believe the odds to be firmly in my favor.”

“He has almost no armor,” Nadia informed her brother, “but the natural resistances of his monk class are beyond absurd. It’s basically pointless to use any of my elemental magic—it’s that high!”

“This is no time to be standing around basking in my greatness,” Basil said, as he stepped towards Aidan. “I still have half a minute until the defensive abilities of your class are reset. Let’s find out if you can survive that long.”

Aidan gritted his teeth. “Come on then!” he yelled. He lunged at Basil with his sword braced for the strike. “With no armor to protect you, I will just cut your red ass to shreds!”

Basil easily dodged out of the way of the weapon and delivered a strike to Aidan’s right arm. He struck him on the shoulder, but the full impact of his attack was somewhat lessened by Aidan ducking to the left.

The demon prince easily matched the warrior’s movements and followed up with another strike. He delivered a low kick to his enemy’s right thigh in an effort to hamstring him.

The swift strike on his leg caused Aidan to falter, but by swinging wide with his sword he managed to swat away the infernal monk. That respite only lasted for a split second however, as Basil went back in with a high kick to Aidan’s upper chest. This time the warrior failed to maintain his balance and was sent falling backwards.

Basil would have had ample opportunity to beat the fallen warrior into the floor, but the demon prince was forced to duck and scramble for cover behind the nearest pillar as Nadia went on the offensive.

“[Sunburst]!” The priestess cried in anger and fired several bolts of golden light from her staff at waist height. She did not hold back on covering the entire area with a fan of magic projectiles as her brother was now well below their line of travel.

This just won’t do, Basil thought. He knew that he could dodge the warrior’s attacks all day long, but the priestess would remain a constant threat. She has to be disarmed first.

The dungeon keeper sprinted across from the cover of one pillar to the next until he was as close to Nadia as possible. Basil then emerged out into the open and made a dash for the spell caster. Along the way he evaded several magic attacks, but a single spell did strike true, scorching his demonic flesh with divine power.

With the dungeon keeper almost upon her, Nadia struck down with her staff and cast a defensive barrier spell: “[Divine Fortress]!”

A golden globe enveloped the priestess and Basil halted his fist mere moments away from striking the barrier.

“You can’t help your brother by sitting around inside that immovable bubble,” he said. “If you stay out of the fight then Aidan doesn’t stand a chance.” He glanced back to see if the warrior had recovered from his fall, but to Basil's surprise the man was already upon him and swinging.

“Get away from her!” Aidan yelled as he drove his weapon towards Basil.

The demon prince jumped out of the way and then several paces more, placing him well out of the warrior’s reach.

“[Hellfire],” Basil said and pointed his finger at the feet of the cowering priestess. The area around her golden globe was immediately encased in a field of black and red flames that caressed the magic barrier with their vicious trails, threatening to burn Nadia if her defense was lifted.

“On second thought, give us more time,” Basil told the priestess. “I want to see how far I can push your brother in a one-on-one fight.”

The dungeon keeper raised his fists towards Aidan. “Our second round is about to begin,” he said. “Show me the true power of your class, warrior. Give me all that you’ve got!”

Aidan flourished his sword in a taunt and took up a guard stance. “You won’t fool me twice,” he said. The veteran warrior activated his defensive abilities that had finally come off of cool-down, “{Greater Agility}! {Greater Dodge}!”

The dungeon keeper smiled and gave the bracing warrior a nod of courtesy. Basil then launched into an all-out attack on the man. Now that the proper abilities had been chosen to counter his agile fighting style, the warrior was able to keep pace with him.

Aidan negated the dungeon keeper’s repeated attempts at closing the distance by keeping his sword between them at all times. He delivered swift jabs and cuts at Basil’s limbs as the demon prince tried to get around the blade's uncommonly sharp edges. This back and forth dance continued as the warrior desperately sought to fend off the infernal monk, but even with his abilities boosted, Aidan was finding the task almost impossible. The demon pressed his attack without reprieve and eventually succeeded in overwhelming the defender.

Three swift strikes across his left arm sent Aidan reeling, but just as Basil was about to deliver a telling punch to his exposed face, a bolt of golden light struck him in the back. The demon tumbled forward and into the reach of Aidan’s sword. Seizing the opportunity, the warrior delivered a grazing strike across the left side of the demon’s torso.

The dungeon keeper winced in pain and ducked to avoid a follow up attack. He successfully used his downward momentum to roll past the warrior, leaving him in the clear on the other side.

Nadia stumbled through the fading hellfire towards her brother. She had been scorched by it, but having held out until the very last moment she had only faced the withering flames at their weakest.

“So, you have finally chosen to join us,” Basil said. “Shame, I was hoping that I would have more time to play around with your brother. Rarely do I get the chance to face such a worthy opponent in single combat...”

Aidan growled in response to the demon’s praise.

“[Healing Bond]!” Nadia said and pointed her staff at Aidan. Once the magic bond had been established she commenced casting healing spells on him and by doing so recovered a portion of her own lost constitution.

Reinvigorated by his sister’s magic, Aidan appeared to recover from some of the damage that Basil had inflicted. He could not be healed back up to his prime without taking some time off to recuperate outside of combat, but Nadia could at least keep him at peak fighting capacity while their encounter lasted.

With the twins now joining forces to oppose him, the dungeon keeper changed up his tactics. Basil intentionally took the next strike of Aidan’s sword on his left arm as he pressed past the bracing warrior and towards the priestess. In a few long strides he had placed Aidan behind him and was almost at his sister’s throat.

Nadia crossed her arms on her chest and cast a defensive spell. “[Divine Shield]!” The golden shield of light appeared just in front of her, barring the demon from striking her directly.

With little time to exploit his breakthrough, Basil resorted to grabbing hold of some of her spell books that were still hovering in-front of the priestess, just at the edges of the protective shield. He caught the small one, the bestiary, in his teeth while clutching at the covers of the much larger spell book with both hands.

Aidan invoked an ability to force the demon away from his sister. “{Lionheart}!” he cried out and his voice turned into a roar—a blast that he directed towards his enemy. The stone floor cracked under the weight of the warrior’s shout as it traveled across the chamber.

Just as Basil was about to break free with the arcane tome in his hands the shockwave struck him from the left. It violently parted him from the book and sent Basil crashing into a nearby pillar.

Dazed from the impact, the demon prince rose to his feet and backed away from the twins with Nadia’s bestiary still in his teeth. He then proceeded to tear it to shreds once he deemed himself to be at a safe distance. Now she could no longer spy on him without wasting her precious mana on specialized divination spells.

“We must press our advantage,” Aidan said. The warrior advanced towards the demon lurking behind the pillar.

Having done away with the bestiary, Basil circled the room, slowly drawing closer to the steps of the throne.

“You are—tough,” he mumbled while picking out the scraps of the book from his teeth. “Two on one you might have stood a chance against a lesser demon prince. But not me, I’m afraid. Today is not the day I die.”

“Running away, are you?” Aidan taunted him.

Basil backed away towards the throne. “Hardly,” he replied and raised his arms in an inviting gesture. “Why would I leave now? This is where our battle finally gets interesting!”

The demon prince took out a scroll from his bandolier and held it out for the twins to see.

“Don’t tell me he has another Tier 8 spell sealed in that scroll?” Aidan asked. “How many of those things can the bastard have?”

“Might be another illusion,” Nadia reasoned, “might be something else entirely.” This time the priestess placed herself in front of the warrior to shield him from any harmful spells that the demon might cast.

Aidan noted the growing strain in his sister’s voice. “Are you sure that you can handle this pace?” he asked.

Nadia nodded in affirmation. “It’s not the scrolls that worry me,” she told him. “The bastard has been saving his mana for something. I just know it. It’s almost like he’s toying with us…”

Basil slowly climbed the stairs of his throne while holding out the ready-to-be-triggered scroll in his hand. “It won’t be me alone that you have to face at the steps of this throne,” he assured them.

“Stop stalling!” Aidan called out. “You promised us a fair fight! Does your word mean nothing, demon? ”

“Oh, I am going to finish this myself,” Basil replied. “But I did prepare a special surprise just for the two of you! It would be a shame to waste a perfect opportunity for an arcane experiment by killing the subjects prematurely.” He gestured at the two champions in the room beneath him and bowed his head. “Now that you two finally stand before my throne, I can draw upon your power for my spell,” he said. “I am sure you will find its effects… quite amusing. I know that I will.”

Nadia raised her staff towards the demon and cast a bolt of magic, but the dungeon keeper threw up a barrier before the strike could land. Basil then released the scroll allowing it to unfold completely and broke the magic seal. “[Corrupted Mirror]!” he said and began channeling his mana into the arcane circle. Blue streams of energy left his body in waves as he fed them into the forming spell.

“No, that can’t be true,” Nadia whispered in disbelief. “That can’t be possible!”

The chamber was engulfed in a bloom of blinding blue light. Walls of burning mana rose up from the summoning circle that materialized around the throne.

Aidan looked to his sister for guidance.

“I didn’t sense the presence of the ritual circle because of all the damned illusion spells he had cast,” Nadia said. “The bastard has been playing for time ever since we entered the throne room! He needed to spill our blood to bind us to a ritual spell of his own making.”

“What is the ritual for?” Aidan asked.

“[Corrupted Mirror] is an illusion summoning spell of the 9th tier,” Nadia explained. “This summoning ritual must have taken weeks to prepare! The scroll was just half of the spell—a catalyst; a key of sorts.” Her stern expression faltered for a moment and a hint of confusion flashed in her eyes as the priestess reconsidered their predicament. “He must have been very confident in our ability to make it this far, otherwise he would not have bothered with such a complicated ritual. He really was expecting us.”

“You are correct!” the dungeon keeper called out. “But do you have the resolve to face the minions that I am about to summon?” Basil shifted his wicked gaze onto Aidan. “Can the brute really take the life of his own sweet little sister?”

Aidan eyed the twin twisting portals of mana with grave concern. “What is he summoning?” he asked.

“Us,” Nadia answered. “He is summoning corrupted copies of us.”

Nadia struck down hard with her staff and began channeling her divine magic. “Protect me,” she told her brother. “I need to interrupt the summoning!”

“Don’t think that I will let you spoil my fun,” Basil said.

With his efforts focused on keeping the ritual spell from failing due to Nadia’s interference, the dungeon keeper called on his servant to act. “It is time for you to do your part,” he said and looked back at the succubus standing at the side of his throne. “See to it that the priestess does not succeed in dispelling my magic.” He nodded at the cursed rings on his fingers. “With my arcane power so far diminished by the rings, I need to remain out of combat while I channel the summoning spell.”

“It will be done!” Elnora replied. She then pointed her wicked halberd down at the intruders and launched into a charge. In a few quick strides she had descended the steps of the throne and made a dash for the priestess.

Aidan placed himself in-between his sister and the approaching she-demon. “You won’t pass!” he declared and raised his sword to parry her halberd.

Elnora was about to get within striking range of her weapon when she suddenly shifted the spear tip of the halberd downwards, lodging it into the cracked ground just a short distance ahead of Aidan. The succubus then jumped up, vaulting over the bracing warrior.

Aidan swung around in an attempt to strike the she-demon with his sword, but was only marginally successful. Elnora winced in pain as the enchanted edge of the blade grazed the armored scales that covered her upper back. As expected, it cut through the fabric of her cloth cape with little effort. Further still, the magic sword dug into the black metal scales of her armor with surprising ease—a testament to its quality and the power of the warrior wielding it. In the end Aidan’s attack had drawn blood, but the succubus pressed on towards the priestess in spite of her shallow injury.

Realizing that she would not have enough time to counter Basil’s ritual, Nadia ceased her channeling and took up a defensive stance, ready to fend off the charging she-demon. With Elnora almost upon her, the priestess cast a [Divine Shield] and made ready to weather her assault.

Elnora swung her halberd from the left and lodged the axe head of the weapon behind the edge of the magic shield just as it materialized. But instead of pulling the weapon away to try and go in for a second swing, Elnora proceeded to push it further, sliding the shaft along the edge of the golden shield, grazing the shoulder of the priestess with the axe head along the way.

Nadia cried out in pain as her blood splattered across the frozen ground. Seeing that Elnora was about to strike again, she raised her staff and attempted to parry with it. The priestess was successful in blocking the next blow of the weapon, but the succubus followed it up with a kick to her face. The metal clad heel of her boot broke Nadia’s nose and sent a stream of blood gushing down her robes.

“Get away from her, you infernal whore!” Aidan cried out as he charged after the she-demon.

Nadia stumbled backwards and cast an offensive spell to repel Elnora: “[Holy Blast]!”

A wave of golden light erupted from the base of her staff. The barrage of divine energy struck hard and sent Elnora flying towards Aidan. The warrior cleaved at her with his sword, but Basil’s apprentice was agile enough to throw the shaft of her halberd into the way of the blade’s edge.

“{Thunder Strike}!” Aidan screamed just as the sword was about to clash with his target. A bolt of lightning ran down Aidan’s arms and coursed through the blade, empowering it. The sword struck the black metal shaft of the halberd so hard that it launched both the wicked weapon and the she-demon wielding it towards the nearby row of pillars at high velocity.

Elnora snagged her halberd on the first pillar along the way and lost it. She herself then slammed into the next pillar with such force that something cracked—either the stones or her bones. At any rate, she had been so badly wounded by the combined attack of the twins that the succubus could no longer stand.

“Gwet that bwitch!” Nadia cried while clutching her bleeding face.

Aidan complied with his sister’s request and went in for the finishing blow. In a few long strides he was almost upon the downed she-demon. He was about to deliver the coup-de-grace when Basil decided to intervene.

The last they had seen of the dungeon keeper he was still channeling mana into the ritual spell from the top of his throne. They certainly had not expected him to come to the aid of his downed minion, but, in hindsight, it was not the first expectation that had been shattered today.

Having glimpsed the demon’s sudden intervention from the corner of his eye, Aidan tried his best to position his blade so as to block Basil’s kick, but the dungeon keeper managed to land a hit across the warrior’s face that sent him reeling sideways. The dazed warrior immediately came back in to try and finish off the stricken she-demon, but Basil followed up his kick with an incredibly heavy punch to Aidan’s abdomen that blew him away from Elnora. The force of his strike was less penetrating than before and more of a push that flung the warrior far away from them.

A brief lull in the fighting ensued.

“Well, that was…” Basil searched for the right words as he looked down upon the frail body of his defeated assistant. “Quick? I suppose it was to be expected. In terms of sheer power they twice your level, after all.”

Elnora smiled as she noted the missing ring on her master’s finger. “You took one off,” she said. “To save me…”

“I needed more mana to speed up the summoning ritual,” Basil reasoned.

The demon then proceeded to pick at his teeth until he removed a shred of the leather bindings that had once held together Nadia’s bestiary. “Not that they will find out now,” he said and smiled. “The difference in my power shouldn’t be that obvious with just one ring missing.

“But still, good effort, Elnora. You played your part. They didn’t get to interrupt my summoning ritual.”

The she-demon looked up with dreamy eyes at the dungeon keeper standing over her.

“I didn’t—think,” she struggled to speak, “that they would be that strong.”

Basil nodded. “Well, now you know,” he said. “You are not the first demon to underestimate the abilities of kith. Their society might foster weakness and corruption more than ours, but sometimes they can rise up to become our equals. Never underestimate your opponents, no matter what species they hail from.”

While the two of them were holding their conversation, Aidan used the opportunity to launch an attack on the dungeon keeper from the rear.

“{Lionheart}!” he screamed, activating his ability in an attempt to stun Basil. The shout struck the dungeon keeper in the back, but this time the demon weathered the blow by holding onto a stone pillar with one hand.

Nadia cast a support spell on her brother. “[Holy Fury]!”

Empowered by her magic, Aidan swung his sword with divine anger. He placed all of his might into one final cleave that would hopefully rend the impossibly hard flesh of the demonic monk.

Basil countered the attack by slamming down his foot into the frozen ground. The kick sent a number of stone slabs flying up and into the path of the charging warrior. They did little damage, but were enough of a hindrance that Aidan tumbled over them and fell. He landed right next to the demon prince who then proceeded to kick the struggling warrior aside.

Elnora graced him with a contemptuous smile as the great human champion was sent sliding across the ice-covered floor like a soapy mop.

With Aidan out of the way, Basil opened one of the pouches on his bandolier and pulled out a dark purple piece of cloth. Upon closer examination it turned out to be a cape of sorts, but how such a large thing could have fit inside such a small container was not made immediately obvious.

“Here,” he said and wrapped the cape around Elnora’s shoulders. “This should protect you from further harm.”

“Master…” Elnora whispered and reached out for Basil’s face.

In the meanwhile Nadia followed up her brother’s unsuccessful attack by launching one of her own.

“[Greater Magic Missiles]!” she said and several colorful bolts of light erupted from her staff. They arched their way across the open field and struck the demon in the back.

Basil shrugged off the magic missiles, but made sure to play up their effect by groaning in anger. He then turned to face the priestess to deliver his protest. “We are having a moment here,” he said. “Have some patience, please.”

He directed her attention towards Aidan. “Go and heal up your brother!” he commanded. “Our battle is not over yet. Pace yourself, priestess, or you will be the first to perish out of exhaustion.”

Basil then turned back to Elnora. “And you are in no condition to keep fighting,” he said. “We should probably get you out of the way.”

Elnora’s eyes lit up with expectation as the dungeon keeper carefully picked her up from the floor. She took the opportunity to cozy herself into his protective embrace and closed her eyes.

I hope that she learns something from this close encounter with death, Basil thought as he carried Elnora towards the steps of the throne. It is important to throw her to the wolves once in a while. Pain makes any lesson more memorable.

“You saved me,” Elnora whispered. “I knew that you cared for me…”

“Of course,” Basil said. “It would reflect badly on my reputation if they killed you while I was watching.”

Elnora’s eyes popped open and her body tensed up at the realization that all was not well—that the fantasy was not playing out as she had hoped.

“I can’t let you die like this,” Basil explained to the alarmed succubus. “It would reflect poorly on my House. And besides, I can’t afford to lose a good assistant at the tail end of my conquest. Think of all the work that would go undone.”

Elnora’s expression flat lined.

“You know my stance on these things,” Basil continued. “The less I have to deal with the Guild’s regulations, the better.” He tapped her once on the nose, “That’s why I have you, my faithful assistant.”

He climbed the stairs of his throne and left Elnora resting in his seat.

Looks like they broke not only her body but her spirit as well, Basil thought. She didn’t seem this frail when I picked her up… Is she really on the brink of death already?

Basil brought forth a red health potion from his bandolier and placed it in her hands.

Elnora stared at the item with clear indifference.

Basil then went rummaging through one of the pouches. “I know I had a straw around here somewhere,” he mumbled.

While he was busy searching for it, Nadia once more cast a spell of [Greater Magic Missiles] on him, though at this point it didn’t appear to do more than annoy the demon.

“Do you mind?” Basil barked at the priestess. “I told you to go and fix up your brother! I’m coming for his ass next!”

“Wish you’d… come for… mine,” Elnora whispered angrily.

Basil did not seem to catch that remark. When he finally found the straw he handed it to the succubus.

“Stay here,” he instructed her. “We are about to get to the best part. My new servants are about to arrive.”

The dungeon keeper slowly descended the steps of his throne and shadows grew darker around him. “I thank you two for providing me with this opportunity to experiment,” he said. “It is a capricious spell that I have cast here today and I could not have possibly asked for better subject than the famed champions of Empire Solar!”

The twins exchanged frightened looks. Aidan wiped the blood from his lips and once again leveled his sword at the dungeon keeper. Nadia made sure to refresh the holy enchantments and blessings she had cast on her brother, but most of her attention was drawn towards the forming summoning portals next to the throne.

“Was he successful in his summoning?” Aidan asked.

Nadia kept silent, thus confirming his worst suspicions.

The twin portals at the steps of the throne expanded. Beyond the rippling threshold of the magic veil two shapes appeared and reached out from the realm of shadows into the world beyond.

The corrupted mirror images of Aidan and Nadia had finally awakened.