· · · · · · ·

History's latest trend : make overs. Zelas had become an involuntary trend setter.

Luna took the first step, tinkering with the angelsblood talisman somewhere in the east. Not the west. Zelas would bet her tail that Lyos had now met Claire, starting their eventual ... ahem, make over ... too early.

Then Deep Sea Dolphin with the island ...

Now, Zelas wasn't one to criticize petty indulgences. Redecorating held a beloved spot on her list of Secret Blasphemy Against Daddy. But by the questionable living of her soul ... the things ... the things Dolphin did —

Little bobble head clam people in the newly carved windows and cotton candy pink coral framing asymmetric doorways, halls filled with anemone fields, chandeliers of dancing lobsters hung from the floor up — a festival of pointlessness.

— the things Dolphin had done to her Tel al-Metallium, her key to fulfilling her purpose for the Lord of Nightmares. This was unholy!

Unholy in a bad way. Maybe as a devil she'd have to call it holy, but Zelas was sure the gods would find this abomination just as loathsome. The enchantments on the place even clouded the navigation on the astral plane.

The barest benefit was that she now had an excuse for her foul mood, which would be ill fit to her fellow deities and their glee.

With a swift kick, the latest spiralpool door scattered into a ray of water, the fifteenth she had destroyed. This one finally brought her and Xelloss into the central hall.

Deep Sea Dolphin turned her head and smiled. "I waited for you quite a while. Dynast is already here."

"You could have done a better job with the layout, lord Dolphin!" Post note unsaid : because I designed this place yet I cannot even tell where in hell I am. "I should not have to project a physical body to navigate such a short distance!"

She shifted to her aristocrat form just so she'd have a high heel to grind into that obnoxiously cute bubble-spawning clam the stood in the middle of the hall for no reason at all!

Deep Sea Dolphin simply tilted her head. "Oh my, did I offend you?"

"No," Zelas said through bared fangs. "Whatever makes you think that?"

Zelas set the doorframe on fire, yet all it prompted from Deep Sea Dolphin was a whimsical little laughter as she spun away. With a few dainty steps, Dolphin joined Dynast and Grau at the edge of the glowing pentagon.

It wasn't as mint colored as it ought to be, a sickly orange color mingled with it thanks to an orchestra of shrimp at each corner. Rashat and Raltaak were amongst them as directors.

No, why?

A small clutter of humans ran by the beast devils, franticly pushing a cart till they noticed the fuming Zelas. They froze, bowed and muttered apologies before dispersing.

They were a few of a legion of humans flocking in the cavities around the pentagon. In the already chaotic architecture, they blended with their chaos of magic tools, food stands and lampoons with happy faces painted on.

"With all due respect, lord Dolphin, what is this abomination?" Zelas asked.

"Oh, I made a few accommodations for my loyal followers," Dolphin drawled. "They appreciate them."

Judging from the miasma, they appreciated it the way stressed people under the delusion of happiness did. Where the tackiness bothered Zelas, for them it had to be a lot more.

"Won't you come, dear Zelas and Xelloss?" Dolphin asked. "I was just about to show lord Dynast how this operation works. Perhaps you can aid me to enlighten him?"

It could be an indication she knew Zelas was in, or it could be a simple dig at Dynast's intelligence. Neither her light smile nor her emotions gave Zelas a clue.

As Dolphin walked down a stair, the rustle of her dress became more distinct, the shine on the pearls brighter. Her human cult skittered closer, for as far as they were not duty bound to a station. They barely paid heed to the other devils, only moving out of the way and bowing. On her, they heaped sick love and praise.

A scrawny, overworked little woman stepped forth, gesturing the others to give her room. She bowed deeply.

"Lord Dynast, lord Zelas, meet my beloved bishop and organizer, Seija Kaaros." At the word beloved, the pawn's pride kindled even as she trembled in fear.

"Proceed to explain my colleagues, will you, dear?" Dolphin said.

Eagerly and with a juicy dose of anxiety, she obeyed. To Zelas her words were old news, but she generated the required fascination by thinking hard about how she'd done it.

In lower layers of the island lay an energy principle similar to the Dark Star weapons. Lina Inverse had weaseled the technique from Pokota and put them together. The Dark Star weapons released power based on will, but how much was proportionally put out depended on the spirit hive within the weapon, as well as the form. Lina Inverse had harnessed such a hivemind and constructed them to operate on Ragnarok. Zelas had provided her with devils of Luke Shabranigdu, carved off in hell and pulled through Megiddo. That last little detail had left no traces, to her luck.

"The techniques employed in constructing this place depended on golem mechanics mingled with the Megiddo Flare concept to invoke a soul stream, rather than more direct holy methods," said Dolphin's pawn.

"It is most curious the gods would not use their own magic," Zelas said, because they expected her to. "Perhaps they wished to diminish their own trace to avoid our tracking them?"

Dolphin stared at the machine. "Hmm. It may be, or there is something about the ultimate goal that they cannot do themselves. But I fear we must answer that later."

She clapped and the humans scattered like ants. The scrawny woman continued blabbering, "We have redirected the summon into Megiddo. Within hell, the number of rays account for Lezo, Luke and three unknown hosts."

"What about the ray in this world that broke away? Could it account for the seventh piece?" Dynast asked. Trust Dynast Grausherra to forget there were eight pieces.

"One of these must also belong to the Knight of Shabranigdu," Zelas said. "The seventh piece is yet lost to us, it appears."

"Indeed," Dolphin said. "Could Lina Inverse have finally figured out how to completely destroy a host?"

Zelas had no need to account : yes, Lina could. What remained of her third strike had not even left a ghost. This was nice and all, but explaining the ray that responded into the real world was a problem. Said seventh piece was sealed down south for about four milleniums already, curtsy of the Knight and Sage of Siephied, as well as the Knight of Shabranigdu and a then not so evolved Zelas Metallium, who had only helped seal them because oops, chimera overlords are bad news. She needed to make sure this was never found out by the wrong people.

Knowing all that meant Zelas didn't feel curiosity, but that's what Zelas had Xelloss for. The machine entranced him enough to make up for her lack, though she nudged him; the amazement he felt was a tad too much Oooh Shiny World and too little Wicked Satisfaction At Approaching World's End. Fascination wasn't meant to be felt by devils, it implied a vested interest in the way things existed. At least he managed to be suitably curious about the mess with the hosts.

Dolphin ordered her pawns to their stations. After even the 'bishop' had left them, Xelloss asked, "So, what do we do now?"

"We wait for my dear followers to decipher the feedback," Dolphin said.

"Can't we just go to hell right away and follow the rays?" Dynast asked.

Dolphin and Zelas exchanged a tired look. Clasping her hands together, Dolphin explained with the patience of a saint, "It would be the equivalent of a beacon for Rangort to find us. We will attempt to calculate the general area of hell first so that we can actually exploit a potential godly blindness, should it have affected Rangort. If it becomes necessary, my people will turn the pillar back on while we are in hell. Until then, let us make ourselves comfortable."

Oh ... she could not stop the onslaught of alarm in her emotions. There was no time to contact Rangort, if she accompanied Dolphin and Dynast on this it would look like she backstabbed the god.

Unexpected things always happened. Dragons made bad jokes. Lost talismen ended up in the sea. Her own devices rendered gods mad.

If not for the sudden panic of Rashat and Raltaak, her emotions would have raised questions. Rather than her specific, Dynast and Grau cast a curious glance at the three.

"Is something—" Dynast started, but before he could finish, Dolphin conjured up a line Huraker and Riksfalto dolls out of the walls. They began singing, "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, ..."

Rashat and Raltaak groaned and whined. Zelas stored her on the spot explanation for her emotions (a claim she did not want to fight a god, Ragradia was enough thank you very much) and went with it. "Oh no, lord Dolphin, must you?"

Dolphin pouted, disappointed not to have gotten fury out of Zelas.

"It raises the spirits of my followers. I must," she whispered, careful to not be overheard.

Dynast didn't get that message.

"There is just one boon and one golden lord, and our smirk means suffering to everyone. Though the Ragnarok divides and the world staffs are tall, it's a small world after all! We'll have it destroyed in no time!" Dynast sang along. He and Grau swayed along to the music, big grins plastered on their faces.

"Ah ah ah," Dolphin said. "Not so crude, lord Dynast."

She whirled to her nearby cult pawns, who had overheard. With sweet words, she assured them Dynast joked around, and do please forgive his poor sense of humor. He's just a little fed up with those many false rumors about devils, off course they wanted to preserve existence. All this she delivered in the most saccharine sing song tone.

"Lord Beastmaster, perhaps we should go outside?" Xelloss asked tensely.

"We can handle this," she said, more out of pride than actual health convictions. But perhaps moreso it was morbid fascination that kept her here.

There stood Dolphin amidst her broken humans dolls, life and doll alike a tacky display of nonsense. She herself the picture of elegance of blue and pearls, she who was named after the sea. No other of the five retainers had a theme so obviously incorporated in her identity. All his this, her act and her decorations, it existed to offend existence. As if existence could be mocked by itself. Whether they liked it or not, they existed and it said something that Dolphin couldn't take the final step and turn herself into a mockery.

What if thousands of years ago, it had been Deep Sea Dolphin who ran into the Sage of Siephied? What if it had been her who stood before a true chimera of their lord and a human soul, her who had learned a mere soul could corrupt a dark lord into the desire to exist?

Xelloss coughed behind his hand. "Lord Beastmaster, but this may be a poor time to contemplate existential matters."

"It's a perfect time," she said. "I'm going to need to feel thrilled eventually and I'm on the trail of something."

"Truly? May I know?"

"I think Dolphin's got a seed of defection too. I'm having idle fantasies of converting her."

"That sounds ... useful, but I beg to be allowed a little leeway when I say ... do we really want her on our side?"

At that moment, Dolphin swirled on top of the machine and sang sweetly. To the horror of Zelas and Xelloss, her entire cult broke out in organized dance about the joys of their totally pro-existence anti mean god movement fueled by optimism.

"Let's go outside."

· · · · · · ·

Hours of trying to get outside and failing and wandering echoing halls later, they had their coordinates and sank into the blissful depths of hell. A few cannon fodder spies confirmed that while Rangort was in hell, es disorientation meant e wouldn't be on their head immediately. A marginal relief only, Rangort might have seen the rays anyway or be told about them by angels.

Rangort didn't rampage, which Dolphin assumed was because the god had behind Megiddo. Zelas made a safe bet with herself that e hadn't been exposed for that long, likely because of Luke and Milina. She'd have to look into how strong their fusion magic was soon. For now her priority was making sure nobody on her current side found out she'd been experimenting with chimerizing the remnants of Luke's power, let alone her alliance with Rangort.

The devils separated to explore in three parties, each with their own generals and priests where available. This became four when after breaking apart, Zelas sent Xelloss ahead. He was to do her scouting while she met with her hell team.

She tuned into the magical presence of the two dormant hosts and beelined for them.

Hell's space didn't work on physical principles, but plasmic space formed itself on expectations and will. With its inhabitants being spirits and lately a god, the scenery had much of a physical world. On these plains a few wind smudged hills had risen, but for the most part marshes and swamps stretched out. Roads for souls wound in pointless curves across it. Some pathways spiraled up to end in thin air, others led below the water. Bridges led to other bridges, and some roads had a spatial anomaly that led to random areas.

Milina had called the location Golgotha, which Zelas vaguely recognized as an ancient word for skull place. Now she saw it, she quirked an eyebrow. Far above the ground in the murky olive haze floated a smooth sphere. Fibrizo's style alright, but why the name?

Flying up, she passed by the souls of Ancient Dragons. Once by them, she reduced herself to her humanoid travel form and knocked on the sole detailed feature of the thing : a black, Gothic door. Impatient, she tapped her foot on the wall, but it did not take long for it to open.

Milina peaked out, glowing in the darkness. What a mismatch to the environment, though the look on her face fit right in. If she was here, that meant Rangort had aborted the project around Luke.

"You better be here to explain what the hell happened," Milina sneered. Then she paused and stared. "What is wrong with you?"

She gestured at Zelas's arm, then behind her. Zelas looked. A frizzled wing stuck from her back, her arm was the wrong color and pieces of her toga floated around.

"Did you get caught in the machine or something?"

Zelas forced her projection back in order and said, "That would be greatly preferable, miss Milina."

"To what?"

"To impromptu musical numbers. Dolphin sings." Her voice shook at the memory and it took too long to order her projection.

"Oh. That's so horrible," Milina said without an inch of sincerity.

Zelas felt the need to put on her in place, so she added, "She's my sister. She could've been on my side."

Milina softened just a little. "Maybe you'll get a chance yet."

The words came loaded with all her human weaknesses and broken hopes ... tasty. Zelas couldn't help but enjoy it, and so Milina spotted the game and hardened.

"Your quirks aside," Milina said, "it's time you explain why you summoned the gods already."

"I did no such thing. Dolphin found my Tel al-Metallium and set her pet humans to operate it. It only appealed the gods because this was default mode, but they adjusted it now to reel in Shabranigdu. They have not put together any other pieces, though, so at least they do not know what it is really for."

"What? How did she find it?"

"Xelloss lost the new ruby talisman back in Kataart. Whatever agent took it has delivered it to Deep Sea Dolphin. She forced Xelloss to use it to track miss Lina Inverse, tracking him he went. We were cornered. Now she and Dynast are coming to retrieve the two hosts that Fibrizo caught. We need their identity purged before they betray anything."

Milina nodded. "Alright. Come in."

Within Golgotha, the nihilism gave way for glassy corridors, mirrored doors and obsidian statues. Milina's presence illuminated where ever they passed. Silver chains lay about areas where she fancied struggles had taken place, if the damaged walls were any indication. Where once Fibrizo's power had flown, Rangort's holiness had replaced it in foundation, though not form or effort.

"What is this place? It would appear Hellmaster has designed it, not lord Rangort."

"Lezo thinks he built it to trap the souls of Knights and Sages before he used it to collect the hosts of Shabranigdu," Milina said. "Speaking of hosts, do you have word yet of Lina?"

"As you seem to have forgotten, I require my talisman and my priest for this."

"How about Luna's talisman?"

"It is not yet completed, unfortunately. Speaking of communicating with our allies, is there any chance you could speak to lord Rangort before I am under attack?"

"No angel is able to receive visions from hir, we can only speak if we write down something and that depends on whether e pays attention."

A silence fell as Zelas scourged her options for a way out. To betray Dolphin and Dynast right now, was the best for the moment, but she had no garantee Rangort would listen, or be lenient afterward. Perhaps she should flee altogether, leave her behavior a riddle? Filia could teleport long distances, maybe she ought to just grab her and Claire and leave, they could always stay a step ahead. But this route would rob her of her proximity to Tel al-Metallium and the instability of the area meant there was no quick teleporting in. Besides, she disliked the idea of giving a dragon this much control over her fate.

Whatever the case, she had no interest in open rebellion. It was only a matter of time before Lei Shabranigdu was unsealed. Whispers and rumors already went about the evershifting ranks of the lesser devils. Should Shabranigdu wake to a world where she was a known traitor, he would find her and command her to do whatever he wanted. As her creator, she would be unable to disobey.

This one fear weighed down every other option Zelas had and decided her choice.

Milina opened the largest door yet, leading to a domed hall. In its center stood a pentagon table of which each side corresponded to an wall. Every one of these walls had an alcove with a round cage at their center, three of which had prisoners. Two were the unawakened, the third what contained the poor soul Lina had faced down three years ago.

The two other survivors, Lezo and Luke, sat at the table with the Knight. Well, more like slouched on it in Luke's case.

Lezo inclined his head, she returned the gesture.

"Milina let you in, so I presume you've given an adequate explanation for the recent events," Lezo said. "I would still like to hear them."

Zelas repeated her story, adding in more details this time.

"Woah, this sucks big time," Laust said. "Your only shot at staying in grace of both the sides you're playing is if you can get Rangort here before anyone sees ya with im and do a lot of crafty explaining. Problem is, Rangort's not here."

"I have noticed," Zelas said. "I intend to secure my position with the devils. Mister Lezo, mister Luke, I would appreciate that you destroy the identities of those two hosts. They will be found, but let them silent if this happens."

"Off course," Lezo said. "We can arrange this. Eris, Ozel!"

Out of a door within one of the corner pillars, Lezo's two admirers stepped. One ager, the other serene, they said, "Yes, lord Lezo?"

"Please clean up our magic artifacts and prepare for the spiritual corrosion of the hosts. Do not worry about Megiddo's pull. We intend to let them go soon."

"And the rest of us?" Laust asked. "It's kinda dull sitting around here, I'd love to do something."

"You must stay here and help Lezo," Zelas said. "Mister Luke, I would appreciate it if you took your swarm and scatter them. Perhaps this will disorient the searchers honing in on Shabranigdu's aura. While you are at it, please meet my priest and ensure he sees this place."

"Why?" Luke asked.

"So he can honestly say he found it and told me, thus I shall not need to explain Deep Sea Dolphin why I am not surprised by this location. After all, it is a fabrication of Fibrizo taken over by a god and I am known to be eager for information."

"You sure have this planned out well ahead, haven't you?" Luke said. "If your priest doesn't know about us, how can we expect him to not fatally harm Milina? The guy's the fourth most powerful devil walking right now!"

"Do not worry yourself, Xelloss has specific orders he is not allowed to destroy any maidens of light and the brooding souls they are keeping on a leash. He believes I speak of others, but he shall figure it out once he sees you like this. He already thought it was a too obvious order to begin with. Now, if miss Milina could try to reach lord Rangort nevertheless?"

"I'll try," Milina said.

Zelas left the hall, only for Lezo to follow her.

"What will you do?" he asked her.

"I'm going to play the part of the evil world destroying demon duke desperate to revive her king. What else can I do?"

"You're up against Rangort, it's madness. Wouldn't it be wiser to drop the charade and stay in Rangort's graces?" Lezo said.

"I keep hearing madness declarations today. Have all dictionaries burned when I was off building Tel al-Metallium? Has some vile spell impaired grammatical abilities of whatever hapless victim it hit?"

"Let me rephrase this : your entire species strives for world wide murder-suicide. You want to live, but you do not possess a normal survival instinct. Are you certain you are not undermining yourself?"

Without truly meaning to, she dropped her human projection. Lezo had a snarling wolf in his face a second later. "Do not presume to know who I am, human."

"I meant no offense, lord Beastmaster," Lezo said. He calmly opened his eyes. "However, you have never met the Lord of Nightmares and did not receive the same gift as your son has. Or would you claim this gift meant nothing?"

She couldn't counter that.

Begrudging, she drew back into a human projection. "I ... I will admit that a desire to the end the world still exists in me. What of it? It is my mind that decides who I am, not only my base instincts. What Shabranigdu left me as is but a small part of what I am now."

"As one who nearly ended the world I loved out of a desire to see, I ask that you practice caution. Your will may not be entirely your own. The way Shabranigdu had influenced our existence may be different, but he nevertheless lies at our roots. He is not small and harmless, but he wants you to believe so."

"This is not the time to plant doubt in me," she growled.

"Is there ever a time? Or rather, what better time than the hour of our weakness?"

She could say a hundred things, but she refused. All she gave him was a sneer before leaving, for he was a young dead human who presumed to know about devils like her. Though, he did succeed, if only because deep down she already asked herself whether she truly did what the Lord of Nightmares wanted.

· · · · · · ·

For an hour, Zelas strayed around in a rough hundred mile radius of Golgotha, pretending to search for traces of devils rather than gods. What a vanity. The more she thought about her explanation, the less sane it sounded. The talisman Xelloss lost just happened to reach Dolphin? And Dolphin just happened to have humans who figured out the machine? She wouldn't have believed it herself, and the only fruit her speculation bore was paranoia.

On a positive note, she found a trail that could only be his : teacups in the corner of a bridge, teacups in a lifeless tree, teacups everywhere. All neatly conjured up by imprinted copious constructive thought onto ectoplasm. Off course he'd figured that out already.

She stopped in a bog to feed. Wailing souls condemned to endlessly drown provided good miasma, but no relief. In fact, it was here her first problem appeared.

Before her, a dull gray crocodile with eight legs slithered up. Grumbling about ectoplasm, Raltaak beat his scaled wings to rid himself of the muck. Only when he his eyes free did he notice Zelas. Startled, he bowed.

"Lord Greater Beast, I am pleased to have found you. Lord Deep Sea Dolphin wished to let you know we know where the hosts are."

"Oh? Do we?"

Raltaak pointed the tip of his wing at the distant green cumulonimbus hiding Golgotha.

"Tell me what her reasoning is," Zelas asked.

"We took it for a settlement of the Ancient Dragons," Raltaak said. "But it is too remote for a species that would strive to bring peace. They must guard something."

"Then let us go," Zelas said. She spread her wings and took off. Quietly, Raltaak followed her.

He followed her silence for a few minutes. Just as Golgotha became visible far above, he asked, "Why aren't you surprised about this?"

"What is there to be surprised about? Why wouldn't a bunch of good two wings be involved with guarded the pieces? I suspected it already."

"Oh? Why? With Rangort cut off, wouldn't the hosts have broken out already? Mere dragons can't be enough to hold them. They just hung around."

"Resident magic surely," Zelas muttered. "Lord Deep Sea Dolphin must have reached the same conclusion."

"I see," he muttered.

The subtle emotion of disbelief dripped off of Raltaak, combined with strong suspicion.

He already lowered his speed. Soon he'd try to escape.

This was it, she had to clean up this unexpected misfortune.

Zelas swung around just as Raltaak dashed. He escaped her first strike, but in a place that bound them to dynamics, even just ectoplasmic ones, Zelas had the benefit. She changed to a swamp serpent, shot over him under cover of mist, wails and grime. He thought he escaped by flight, the fool. At the swamp's edge, she shot up as her true wolf form. So much weaker than her, Raltaak wasn't even worthy prey.

She bit through his wings with a quick snap, then pushed him into the ground.

"Wh-what ar-" She ground her boot down on his jaw, shutting him up on both planes. She herself raised her head.

The other devils wouldn't recognize the clicking noise she emitted, but Milina would. The small risk it carried in echo was worth it, Milina arrived soon.

Milina stopped dead before the scene. "What happened? Did he figured out something?"

"Indeed. Miss Milina, do please summon mister Luke. We require an excuse as to why mister Raltaak is about to cease. Perhaps you can feign to have been attacked."

Milina rolled her eyes. With the utmost bland face, she screamed the most convincing damsel scream Zelas had heard in a long time. It was almost too perfect to be true, but Zelas appreciated the ridiculous contrast. It even echoed across the caveless landscape.

Within seconds, said landscape exploded in an inferno spiced with Provoked Love Interest feels. Luke rose like a red sun, hollering something about Milina holding on, he'd be there in a second. Pillar of fire rose into the murky skies, lightning shot ahead. For all the dying, Luke still held a commendable amount of power.

Milina rubbed her forehead. "I wish he'd be less embarrassing about this."

Luke burst into the valley, red hot fury all over until he didn't see an enemy. Zelas tossed Raltaak in his path. Without a second thought, Luke obliterated him.

Milina sighed and gave Luke a careless wave.

"Milina? You're okay?"

"Yes, I am," she said. "You already did what you needed to do."

"Actually, I would be most grateful if you wait ten seconds, then head west and find me. A small attack on me would be even better," Zelas said.

Milina nodded at Luke. "What she said."

"Whatever you say, Milina!" he declared.

Luke sped off, but Zelas lingered to feast on the hatred Milina felt for being a morality chain.

Following her snack, she continued on the trail of Xelloss.

Xelloss made good work of not being around anyone else where Zelas found him. True to his word, he'd been exploring souls. How fruitful it was? Well, she doubted the clutch of eroded spirits had anything useful to tell, yet he busied himself poking at them.

"Xelloss," she said.

At once he abandoned his game and bowed before her.

"Do you see that gray thing in the sky?" She pointed towards Golgotha and handed him a script that explained what it was, plus the formation of the dragon guards. On cue, he told her this.

"Good. Well will go there now. In the meantime you will tell me stories of successful schemes, I need a mood lift."

"As you command," he said happily before launching into prattlefest. Good grief, could he prattle.

Xelloss didn't lie on his own. However, she could order him to, though this was useless when it came to deceiving the other lords. Lying was contrary to Xelloss's ingrained identity and they'd taste the loathing he held for the practice. Off course, this weakness could become strength. Zelas had once ordered him to lie about an unknown amount of successes for trivial plots, up to his discretion. Using remote communication, she could not taste whether he lied, so she didn't know which ones. As such, he had a reserve of successful reports to help her generate moods.

As expected, he's thrown in a little extra. Not only did he report successes, he'd also done a few extra missions she had no idea about. Apparently, she now owned a wine factory in Zephyria.

Deep Sea Dolphin, Dynast Grausherra, Grau and Rashaat had gathered in a clearing, surrounded by thick concern but also mild excitement. Her fellow retainers had taken to projecting their truer forms. Dynast appeared in his wide, spiky armor and the fraying darkness around him. True to being a caricature of the long gone knights of Siephied, everything about him was a foolish aspiration to greatness that all but himself recognized for the joke he embodied.

But Deep Sea Dolphin, in her lay abnormal beauty for a devil. A mermaid in base concept, she had no fish tail where expected, but malgrowth of sponge, coral and medusine extensions, all colored wild and topical. A dolphin's tail longer than her main body grew out of her hair, sleek and gray patterned. Twisted as it was of life's order, every move held grace.

Xelloss scraped his throat. "Lord Beastmaster, you are doing it again."

Hmm. Damn the appeal of manipulators, of mysteries and of lethality.

"Xelloss, I will tell you something now that allows you to guess a little of our plan. Dwell on it as you wish, preferably with surprise."

When she landed near the gathering, Zelas blurted out, "Luke is able to control the power of Shabranigdu at will. He got mister Raltaak."

"Oh my, how unfortunate. You saw it?" Dolphin said. Needle teeth glittered behind her thin lips, forming a smile that split her face.

"I heard more than I saw, but I recognized the screams. I believe mister Raltaak attacked an angel, after which Luke attacked. They must be allies."

"Did he now?" Dolphin's emotions were too even to read. The doubt she already felt could be for their current situation.

"Dammit. We need all the forces we can get," Dynast said with his usual muddle of stale anger.

"Then let us ensure we need as little as possible. He is out there now. We can handle the dragon souls and the only other possible opponent is Lezo Greywords, who took two Giga Slaves." She thought hard about getting drunk in a wine factory as she spoke. The novelty already wore off, but so did it for her fellow devils.

"You know where we intend to go?"

"The dragon formations resembled a guard routine I have seen during the War of the Devil's Descent, so I took note of it and pointed out the location to my lord," Xelloss said.

"We came as soon as we realized where it must be," Zelas said. "How did you two realize?"

"Observation," Dolphin said, an answer too simple for Zelas's tastes. Before she could question further, chaos set the board to its hand.

In the sky between them and Golgotha, the clouds broke. Rangort worm hir way down in a furious spiral, sweeping around in search.

Zelas closed her claw around Dynast's helmet and pushed her halfway into the mud, hunching down as well. Grau, Xelloss and Rashaat followed suit and Dolphin disappeared entirely into the water.

Xelloss as a black cone blended with the darkness, but Zelas and her bright colors stood out. How was she supposed to know she'd ever need to develop physical camouflage? Zelas forced her bright colors away, taking on black and brown.

A healthy Rangort would have noticed them across the astral plane already, but not in this way. Rangort's projection was on the small side, perhaps only fifty meters. With the surrounding trees, it was hard to see.

"That is not the location Luke went to, is it?" Dolphin asked, bubbles rising as she spoke. "Where is e going?"

"Uhm ... " Dynast started as he sunk deeper into the marsh. "I was hungry. There were a bunch of Ancient Dragons there, and maybe one of them went to fetch Rangort. Maybe a lot of them did. They saw me. I thought I .. could ... have a snack ..."

Zelas growled and Dolphin narrowed her eyes while little bubbled popped from her mouth. Dynast submerged.

Rangort uncurled. Slowly, e crossed the landscape.

Rangort projected eyes. All over itself. E could see onto the ectoplasmic plane about as well as a devil, even without the flow. E was still stronger than all the devils here combined. Unlike Ragradia, e was well fed too.

Zelas dismissed the idea of communication. Rangort had no mouth or ears going, just eyes. E meant to kill.

"Will we risk going up?" Zelas asked.

"We must," Dolphin said. "We are too close to give up. Let us do it while e is at least partially blinded. This is the best chance we get."

"Let's spread out. Xelloss, come along," Zelas said. "We're less likely the be discovered if we take up less space."

"Absolutely," Dolphin said. "Come, Rashaat."

They left quicker than Dynast could follow.

Zelas and Xelloss took the forms of foxes, staying close to the ground until immediately to the right of Golgotha. As the structure loomed above them, Xelloss at last asked, "I supposed our alliance with the gods has run out?"

What a pointless question by now, fueled more by uncertainty than anything.

"Is it not obvious? Xelloss, listen. Go inside and find miss Milina, ask her for the center. Find mister Laust there and tell him to hide. Return and tell Dolphin, Dynast and I the location of the hosts."

"As you command ... am I correct in assuming we're about to dissolve part of our own plan for coverage?"

Zelas nodded. "In part, but we can put it back together later. Miss Milina will not know you're about to betray the location, keep this in mind."

He bowed and left, forsaking a projection save for quick, small projections to orient.

To the left, Dolphin slowly floated up, constantly adjusting her coloration.

Both had theirs, neither was enough. One of the Ancient Dragons saw Dolphin, cried out and caused the swarm to disperse. That was it. Rangort came.

The devils scattered just as Rangort launched hirself into their midst, giving off more rage than Zelas had ever imagined to exist in the god.

E honed in on Zelas immediately. She speared up past Golgotha, meeting Dolphin and the others at the top. Rangort thundered after them, scattering them again. The size of Golgotha allowed her to remain out of sight just long enough to submerge into the swamp.

Dolphin landed close to her.

"E targets you? How curious." Like she remarked on a broken teacup. "Well, whatever your history is, be our diversion, will you? E can't do ranged attacks, use that."

"Fine. I'll let lord Dynast know."

"Excellent. I will submerge until I see my chance." She didn't wait for a reply before submerging.

Zelas went onto autopilot. Attacking Rangort head on would be madness, but she could feign it. Spreading her wings, she poured detail into her form and flew. Rangort spotted her, twisting attention away from a poorly hidden Dynast. Zelas howled, spilling words through the tone till Dynast got it. Diversion.

No ... he didn't get it. He just fled. Idiot!

There was no chance to reach use Golgotha as obstacle again. Zelas fled across the plains. Too slow. Pain tore her back open before she could even look back. Rangort's weight forced her into the slimy ground. When Zelas managed to twist her head, Rangort blocked the sky. Hundreds of eyes bore down on her.

The smallest tremor gave away the next attack; Zelas evaded the piercing tail by letting the swamp pull her under.

Real quicksand didn't suck anyone below, but the souls whose thoughts formed this scenery often thoughts so, and the land obeyed. Zelas acknowledge the ectoplastics laws as long as it suited her. Rangort's tail weighed after her, striking just as Zelas let go.

The ectoplasmic world was invisible to her from the astral plane, so only a gamble saved her. She reprojected about a mile away from Rangort, part of her wing merged with a tree. She tore loose, trying to scrape away the contamination with her claws.

Rangort expanded size untill it didn't matter anymore that e had been a mile away. The expansion caused a shockwave that threw Zelas further away. Having no more time, she tore off her wing and corresponding part of her astral form. Now she could move again, she became a snake again. Less for Rangort to aim at, she got out from under hir just long enough to see the sky for a few seconds. Then the god was over her again, closer and closer. The horizon disappeared behind beige plates as Rangort folded hir heavy body around the area. Zelas only saw god and swamp, nothing else.

Another shock wave rippled the water, throwing both of them down. Zelas barely slipped through the plates that crashed down.

Clear in the sky now, she saw the shockwave's cause : Golgotha had fallen. The top had broken off and two thin blue pillars rose to Megiddo, each surrounded by churning red.

Rangort forgot Zelas and sped to Golgotha, trying to place hir body around the fleeting souls. Shabranigdu's power hooked for a few seconds, but not even Rangort could defy the pull of Megiddo. The power burned through hir scales and e withdraw to the astral plane.

The hosts returning to the world of the living, ready to slip into whatever available embryo formed right now.

After a few seconds, Rangort flicked back into form, now curled around Golgotha's ruins. E had new prey.

On top of the broken wall stood Xelloss. For all his speed, it did not matter. The god stroke down. Zelas just barely registered Dolphin also took a hit.

Xelloss stood no chance at survival a god's attention. Shifting back into warrior form she drew both swords and threw herself ahead.

Rangort's astral form blocked out all sight. She couldn't see him anymore. Didn't know whether he lived. Didn't matter, she'd give him a chance. He just needed one chance, he'd escape. He always did.

She plunged her swords and fangs into Rangort, breaking through the exoskeleton. The flesh below stung with holiness, but she ripped into it deeper. Zelas wouldn't lose now, not her plan, not her priest, nothing. All the pain pouring out of the god became her nourishment. Her jaw tightened, the wall between astral and form blurred.

So caught up, the tightening force around her middle barely matter. It should have. Zelas was torn off and slammed into the ground, her limbs crunched in the grip of Rangort's tail. Bones that shouldn't exist broke. Howling, Zelas crawled into the swamp to hide. Maybe Xelloss had hidden here too.

She sought him, but only found a glow deep down. Dolphin's medusine tail and the glint of her eyes. Zelas ignored her, but Dolphin caught up.

Zelas remembered to stop breathing the water, to stop projecting bones. The urge to ask whether she'd seen Xelloss burned on her tongue, but she kept it back.

"Dynast fled," Dolphin said. The slight smile on her face and the twisted glee told more.

"I know. Megiddo got the hosts."

"Yes. Let us go home and find their new bodies," Dolphin said eagerly. She had no right to be so excited, not now.

"I have to go find Xelloss," she growled. "My plan failed. I shouldn't have lost my priest over this. I should have been smarter."

The hollow string of words fell on barren earth. "Why are you so displeased? We succeeded!"

Zelas snapped her jaws shut right before Dolphin's face. "I just took a blow from a full powered god! If e wasn't half blind I'd be dead! I may have lost my priest as well! And you expect me to be happy about having two host that cannot awaken anytime soon?"

Dolphin held up webbed hands, smiling sweetly. "I meant no offense. Go find your priest. We will see you in the realm of the living."

Dolphin left, and Zelas could not. Even as Rangort remained around Golgotha, Zelas searched until she found a wisp of black and purple far away.

He lay torn apart between two dead trees, pieces of his power on the branches. She sank deep when she took her true form, but managed to pry him off. Like a rag, he hung over her arm.

"Xelloss?"

He stayed still, his arm fraying off. She nudged his shoulder with her claw.

"Xelloss," she growled. "Answer."

He finally opened his eyes, then closed them again in his familiar squint. With an apologetic smile, he said, "My apologies, lord Beastmaster. I'll do better next time."

"I shall hold you to that," she said.

He needed to feed and she still had business in Golgotha.

Far away, Rangort surrounded hirself with dragon souls and angels. Perhaps they communicate, arranged for a search. She could not muster the attention to figure it out.

Golgotha's ruins sank with inches at a time. Souls clung to the edges in a desperate effort to escape the water, bringing a thick fog with them. In wolf form, Xelloss on her back, she slipped by them.

Without Milina's light, she could not retrace the path by memory, but the scent of blood and trail of pain led her where she needed to be. Traces of a battle scarred the walls, energy burning down some corridors. How had Dolphin brought down this whole place?

Half of the central hall had collapsed, the sky was visible above. The cages had broken. Guts, torn flesh and blood covered the table, the walls, the people in the hall.

Judging by those people alone, one would not guess a battle. Lezo calmly sat on his chair as if he hadn't been injured. Ozel swept the floor around him, while Eris scrubbed off the chair.

"-wonder if we can use this for ... oh, look what mangy dogs just dragged themselves in," Eris said.

Barely had she spoken, or Luke and Milina looked through the other door. They dropped whatever they were doing and entered, followed by Laust.

"Did they try to force any of you into reincarnation?" Zelas asked.

"No," Lezo said. "Dolphin and her general went straight for the two hosts. I believe Dolphin had a talisman. She cut open the seals swifter than I had expected, and I'm afraid my remainder of Shabranigdu's power did not hold up well enough."

"She was so much faster!" Eris said. "Lord Lezo surely could have taken her if not for that and that rock."

Zelas didn't care. She let Xelloss sit down on the first piece of rubble near the door, then slipped into her aristrocrat projection. She needed more rest than she was willing to let on, so she let the form lean.

"Can I know what we are doing?" Xelloss asked in his typical tone. The way he spoke set loose her tension. He'd live.

"We'll meet the others later. I still can't tell you," she said evenly, but her face grinned and she flicked her tail at Lezo.

Lezo took the cue and spoke, "Your lord intends to collect pieces of Siephied and Shabranigdu in a form we can manage. Earthlord Rangort is only aware of the former and believed lord Beastmaster merely wants to stack the deck for her own survival. Now, Rangort will be under the impression your lord has ulterior plans. This is true, but they are not as much of an anti-god movement as Rangort thinks."

"Ah, and there miss Lina would come in?" Xelloss said. "Lord Beastmaster, you must have learned something during miss Lina's defeat of the third piece of Shabranigdu."

Sometimes she just couldn't help but be proud of him, even if his incessant curiosity and fascination had undesirable consequences. "Yes, I have. I will tell you a little more later, but I still need you to say you to be a little curious about the machine. Hold your curiosity."

"What do you plan to do now? Wait till you can explain Rangort?" Laust asked.

"No. Right now that is suicide. In time, lord Rangort will reconnect to the flow. Until then, I will stay close to Deep Sea Dolphin. Unless lord Lezo can forge me a new demonsblood talisman soon, we shall the other one back."

"If you take a piece of the Wall on your way out, we can begin the manufacturing of it as a security measure," Lezo said. "All we need now is an explanation for the ray that vanished in the other world. Surely Dolphin will search the direction it went. We'd hate for Dynast and Dolphin to find a fully operational piece of Ruby Eye, even if it were a chimera."

"Hmm? Am I missing something?" Xelloss asked.

"Yes, but only in the name of plausible lies. We will focus on our cover for the ray. Truth be said, it is simple. I believe that the shield has been adjusted during the pillar's call. The Sage of Siephied most likely did so. It won't create a pull next time they start it, so we just need something else for the pillar to pick up next time Dolphin activates."

Before Laust could even blink, she had grabbed him by the neck.

"Also, you should eat," Zelas said as she dropped him before Xelloss.

Smiling a little wider, he bore his staff through Laust's back, pinning him to the ground. The scream alone foretold a feast. Laust clawed at the ground on pure instinct. Blood seeped out onto the stone floor, if only because he thought of himself as bleeding. On the astral plane, he certainly did.

"Wait!" Milina called out. She spread her wings, surely to do something stupid, but Ozel stepped in her way. Milina stopped.

"Zelas, he is our ally! Find some other way!" she called. Luke gently tried coaxing her away, but she shook him off.

"This is the most sound proof method, miss Milina," Zelas said. "Why would I take a meaningless risk by letting the ray go unexplained? Besides, one cannot betray those one never had loyalty to."

Milina's hatred was a feast mingled with the disdain of Luke, Eris and Ozel (complimentary of their excessive loyalty). Zelas kept her face as straight as possible. Killing your allies was one thing, looking sadistic while doing it another; the latter inspired fear a tad too much.

Laust craned his neck, looking up at Xelloss. Zelas leaned on Xelloss's shoulder, so she was just in his range of sight.

"You promised I'd not cease," he said through gritted teeth.

"Xelloss did promise that, yes, but mister Laust, you must understand I have no compulsions about keeping his promises. It merely suits me to have a servant who has such a reputation," Zelas said.

"Lord Beastmaster, may I experiment a little?" Xelloss asked. "Gaav could give devils and dragons power as he pleased. I'd like to understand how he did so now that I have observed miss Lina tamper with life law circles."

"You may," Zelas said. "While you are at it, try to fill up. You need it."

Laust coughed up a trickle of power; it mingled with the mess left by the hosts. He croaked, "You really are something, wolf pack. Your best deception ... it's that you two really are loyal to one another. It's easy to forget what you are when I could taste that."

Zelas shrugged. "That is your fault, not mine. Right now, it serves us for your identity to cease and your soul to return through Megiddo. Xelloss?"

As Xelloss dug his staff into the lungs of Shabranigdu's knight, Zelas leaned on his shoulder and took in the remnant miasma. As any true devil, he ate as he had to, but it came with the face of a petulant toddler who wouldn't eat their spinach. Zelas herself liked a more refined meal.

Fascination kept his interest regardless of taste. While barely visible to her, whatever he did on the life law spell field held his rapt attention. He and his peculiar ability to mess with spells. He was too obviously happy with the world, and he'd worried her today. She ran her hand over his hair, like she did with her pet wolves in front of mortals. This, however, was for him alone. As hollow and deliberate it was, it didn't so much evoke a feeling to either, but it was not like astral beings had their own signs. They used those of the mortals for such small things.

When Laust's identity had fragmented near oblivion, she reached into the chest cavity and pulled out the heart. With that, the soul blanked and Megiddo pulled it in.

"Did you learn what you wanted to know?"

"Not all, but it certainly was interesting," he said.

Less small things, like letting him have his fun and feeding when she herself had injuries, those might almost be called altruistic. But honestly, was it not logical first and foremost? Xelloss with his blessing from the Lord of Nightmares herself, with his ability to channel another devil without dying. She needed him to be around. Xelloss was her evidence that her chosen path was the will of the Lord of Nightmares.

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