Kain had unleashed the more ancient version of himself, the version from before The Creator had overtaken their body and before the two had become one. Very rarely had either side been able to secure any kind of dominance for any length of time, as both sides had, over the course of their union, realized that they were stronger than ever before when they were of one mind. So then, why had the more feral and destructive Creation Kain been allowed to come out and make itself dominant?

The answer was quite simple, both sides were still fully active, but it merely appeared on the surface that the Creation Kain was dominant. Creation Kain was controlling the body and was able to bring out its current true physical potential, but during this unleashed state one mind could not micromanage the body’s Magic and other major and minor abilities while running rampant. So, while Creation Kain manipulated the body, Creator Kain manipulated the mind and soul.

This was not the first time that the New Kain had attempted this. Back during the final assault on Francus’ last bastion of Ma-Ginotte, they had conspired to try this out to terrible results. They had been unable to work together properly and as a result they had exhibited cruelty and malice that ultimately did not benefit either the New Kain and Darksol. It was far too costly to rebuild the destroyed fortress city and repopulate it, and both halves looked back on the failed experiment with shame.

They had tried to use this tactic several times after that, slowly refining it into what it was now. While the Creator side used their body’s abilities to their fullest, the Creation side was able to fully run wild without worrying about anything. Focusing regeneration on a single body part while increasing the power within allowed for bursts of speed that would have broken their bones and shredded their flesh. With a delicate mix of slowing down time and speeding up their reaction speed the two halves could make their body exhibit feats of might that no one else could.

Thus, it only took about half a minute for the Two Minds in One Body to wipe the Goblin King and his entourage. To a fly on the wall it would have appeared that Kain had simply turned into a blur that had filled the arena for roughly thirty seconds before solidifying again in the center. As the notifications rolled in, Kain dismissed them one by one.

“These shitstains weren’t worth this tactic.”

“That is true, but we needed to make sure that we could make this work in such a confined space.”

“But against these bastards?”

“Admit it, you liked it!”

“Can’t fucking deny that…”

“Want to run roughshod over the next floor too?”

Kain stopped talking to himself and a sadistic smile crawled over the left half his face.

“Fuck yeah. Let’s have some fun!”

“Yes. Wholesome, family-friendly, genocidal, sadistic, merciless and murderous fun.”

Kain paused and his left hand scratched his cheek.

“That was…”

“Yeah, a bit much…”

The two sides laughed at themselves.

“Well, maybe when Lizzy and Razzy are older they can enjoy a bit of fun down here with Us and Lexi?”

Creation Kain, who was showing himself from the left side of their shared body closed his eye and smiled.

“That… would be nice…”

“Yeah…. I never thought I would have this kind of experience or be a pseudo family man. The last time I thought that could possibly happen I was thrown to what should have been my death…”

“Same. Just without the ‘being thrown to my death’ part.”

The two sides of the same coin walked together as one down the stairs that led to next floor of the Dungeon. Creation Kain forcibly stopped the movement of their shared body and spoke up as they neared the bottom of the stairs.

“Hey, I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“You know a bit about Dungeons from your stories and such, right?”

“Yeah. And?”

Creator Kain was not understanding where this was going.

“So, what’s gonna happen to all the shit we destroyed when we leave? After a while they just kinda faded away, and they didn’t drop any ‘loot’, so what kinda rewards are we gonna get?”

“…”

“…”

“I have no fucking clue. There is nothing new in our inventory, so I assume that we will be rewarded once we leave the Dungeon.”

“That is complete and utter speculation.”

The right half of Kain made a one-handed clap while cheering in a mocking manner.

“Woot! Look at you use big words!”

“SHADDAP!”

The two walked down the rest of the stairs in silence, not sure of what they would find at the bottom. But as they entered the third floor, Creator Kain piped up, and asked a question that would change everything.

“Hey, I have a question of my own. What do you think would happen if we turned the mobs in the Dungeon into undead before they faded away? Could we use them on multiple floors, or maybe take them outside of the Dungeon? Would they cause the mobs on the floor we are on to respawn?”

Kain stopped for a bit before Creation Kain spoke up.

“Dunno. But we can find out, can’t we?”

The two sides of Kain’s face became as one and a terrible smile formed over his mouth. They, He didn’t often get the chance to experiment with something new anymore, with Alistaira now being the one focused on science and innovations.

“It’s time to put on the old Mad Scientist coat. Let’s see if we can exploit the hell out of this place!”

…

Level 10 of the Dungeon.

This was the floor that was effectively a Boss Rush of the previous nine floors with the last boss being something different. The Imperial Slime Couple was the first boss, followed by the Imperial Goblin Army, the Imperial Rodents of Unusual Size, the Imperial Alpha Wolf Pack, the Imperial Minotaur Herd, the Fungus Emperor, the Yggdrasill Treant, the Lizardman Imperial Family and finally the Naga Empress made up the first nine bosses and after that came the last boss of the first major part of the Dungeon.

The Over-Emperor of Ruin sat on his throne and waited for news that the lone invader had been dealt with, but every report was the same, up until the invader started defiling the third floor of his dominion. From that point onwards, the invader began to kill the Over-Emperor’s subjects without damaging their bodies and would then raise them into undeath. By the time the floor had been cleared once, the ROUSs had begun to respawn, as the ‘bodies’ were no longer there. This led to one of the worst scenarios that could possibly happen; an ever-growing army of hostile beings eventually fully occupying a whole floor.

By the time the invader opened the Boss Door and let its army of undead ROUSs pour in, the fate of Floor 3 was set in stone. Once the King ROUS was killed in a single blow by the invader and then raised into Unlife, the situation grew even more dire. Another floor of his dominion had been seized by the invader, and now an onslaught of undead was pouring down the stairs, heralding the arrival of the invader from outside.

With each floor lost, the despair felt by the 10th floor leaders grew. The invader no longer had to exert itself and would simply let its absurd amounts of undead do the job for it. When the invader finally cleared floor nine, the floor ten leaders were in full panic mode. They could only hope that the invader would be content with what it had gained and leave or that it would send its undead down one by one to be crushed by their overwhelming power.

Such hope was in vain, as the invader did not send its forces to try and capture the 10th floor. The Imperial Slime Couple quivered in fear as the door to their room opened and a single, taller than average human entered. Clad in black armor that looked like a mix of leather, metal and cloth, the invader cracked his knuckles through his gauntlets and took a battle stance.

The Imperial Slime Couple prepared to fight and as the doors closed behind the invader, all of the other bosses of the tenth floor watched with a mix of anticipation and apprehension as the fight between the defenders and attackers began.