Morvunskar… why did they choose to fight here of all places? They are making my task easier than what they imagine…

Bah! It matters little! Soon, that pesky mute and this deluded lizard will have weakened each other enough for me to remove the victor from his mortal coil.

While he was preparing his forces in the Apocrypha, Miraak was exulting at the sight of the fight between his opponents. All of his goals, whether they were his own or the ones imposed by his patron were within reach. Even better, the major factions of Skyrim had thrown a large amount of resources in the battle, drowning the field with their blood in a futile conflict. All he had to do was to wait and exploit the weakened barrier between reality at the right time to sweep in and take control of Skyrim in record time. The chaos had even attracted the attention of his master, leaving him some leeway for his own actions. His plan was simple, yet visibly flawless, simply relying on making use of the good fortune he was given.

However, as the battle was beating its full, he felt the attention from Hermaeus Mora focus on a particular point. Whatever attracted the curiosity of the Daedra lord justified his own attention. It appeared that one of the interlopers had found the fabled Oghma Infinium, a unique, ancient, book that belonged to his master. The witch clad in black had unwisely decided to make use of the tome even as her own allies were advising her against it. At first, he shrugged her off. While that tome could no doubt further empower her to a dangerous level if she used it appropriately, there was still the very likelihood that Alduin would make her disappear before he stepped in himself. However, he ended up surprised when she didn't use it for her personal power immediately and instead searched for a more specific goal.

His surprise was passably tainted by fear when he saw black runes appearing all over the book. Whatever the goal of the witch was, Hermaeus Mora had decided to give her a little push, further weakening the already fragile boundaries between the realm of the Daedras and reality. In fact, he could almost feel the soil from the other side under his boots.

"No… no! It's too early! It's way too early!"

The planes shifted and fused in a huge mess as pangs of reality were geographically displaced to make way for each other. Miraak and his cohorts weren't so much teleported in Skyrim than the whole pang of the Apocrypha they were in ended brought in reality and fusing with a few other daedric planes. He ended up shifted apart from his cohorts in the blink of an eye, a large army between him and everyone that followed him, and ended directly surrounded by a daedra, a trio of bandits and a thalmor that were all completely shocked by this turn of events.

Growling in anger, Miraak pulled a black curved sword from his sheet and quickly beheaded the closest bandit. His plan had completely and utterly fallen apart in the beating of an eyebrow. Millenia of efforts had gone to waste in less than a second.

Even as rage threatened to sweep him, Miraak remained focused on his plan. He could still escape the battlefield and try hitting his target when they were at their most vulnerable. Or if they proved too resilient, he could even disappear in the wild and try his luck at another time. He would have to deploy the utmost efforts to avoid the wrath of Hermaeus Mora, but he would still have a chance.

However, he was concerned by the Daedras. Even from the ground, he could feel their presence hanging in the air. For now, even if they had been caught in disarray themselves by the sudden dimensional shift, they were still watching the fight with an interest that was dangerous to anyone currently walking the world.

Are they looking for new victims… or for new champions? Would Hermaeus Mora consider the current user of the Oghma Infinium to replace me? This would be almost insulting if it didn't offer me a chance to escape his gaze…

Bah! There is not enough energy in the air for them to properly materialize in the first place! And none of them would be foolish enough to incarnate themselves on Mundus in so poor conditions… Let us make way.

As he cut down another bandit unfortunate enough to attack him, Miraak felt a magical rumble shake the earth. He could feel a wave of anger run over the land, although it didn't feel so much like the wrath of a group of furious gods than the bickering of people rushing over to grab the last sweetroll.

Miraak sighed. He had just been proven wrong. As long as he didn't meet the wrong being, starting again would prove trivial.


"What now, boss?! This place ain't right!"

Astrid couldn't answer the query from her helper. As the leader of the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim, she had developed a professionalism coupled with a paranoia that had turned her in a machine unable to be caught off-guard… or so she thought. She had detected the presence of a group from the Morag Tong earlier who were reconsidering their own mission to target her group, but they altered her plan very little. Even the apparition of dragons and daedras had been unwelcome but manageable events.

Then… it happened. She was moving her crew over a small hill to get at a vantage position while avoiding all the chaos when everyone got suddenly split and the world turned in a vision of oblivion. Only one of her subordinate was still with her, and it was a man whose name she didn't even remember nor even cared about.

Luckily, nobody around her looked willing to get embroiled in a fight with representatives of the Dark Brotherhood. People in the immediate vicinity were trying to give her a wide berth as much as the environment allowed them to. The lone exception was a witch wearing a vulgar green dress who was pouting like a child.

"This is just rude! What kind of host treats his tea party guests like intruders?!"

Astrid scoffed under her mask. What kind of delusional idiot would treat that battle for a tea party? She shivered when the witch turned toward her. Her power was simply terrifying. "Didn't you happen to see my friends? I've lost them in this mess, and I'm suuuure that they're missing me."

"No, I'm sorry." Astrid decided to play along and gestured for her partner to do the same. "I'm looking for mines as well."

"Mmph!" The witch haughtily huffed and turned around. "I guess I'll have to spend energy to find them myself!"

Several runes appeared around the witch who now had her back turned on her. Sensing the opportunity to get rid of a dangerous threat, Astrid slipped in the shadow and coated her blade with the most devastating poison that she could find, setting on one that would instantly freeze the heart of her opponent. In the meantime her subordinate stood back, ready to jump if things went sour.

Astrid was barely a foot from her target when a thick purple tentacle suddenly appeared from nowhere and slapped her away. She ended up inadvertently scratching herself with her dagger when the attack struck, and grimaced in pain as she landed on her feet. Alicetroemeria turned back, her childish pout still present on her face.

"People in this world are just impossibly rude…" When her expression changed in a big goofy smile, Astrid felt utterly terrified of her. The poison gradually freezing her body was of small concern compared to the monster in front of her. "It seems you're getting a bit cold, let me warm you up!"

Astrid went wide-eyed when a large phoenix made of fire appeared from Alicetroemeria's staff. That feat was only possible for the most powerful of mages, and she had made sure to remember their identity to avoid crossing their way. The fire bird soared through the sky under her stupefied gaze before diving toward her.

The assassin didn't even feel pain upon impact. The heat was enough to instantly reduce her body to ash as her mind lost itself on every single red flag that had surrounded the contract sent by the guild of thieves.

Mercer Frey was a skilled fighter and would have killed them on their own if he could. He would never have separated himself from so much gold. Twenty-five thousand gold was way too much for a contract of this type. She hadn't taken their feat seriously, treating those as mere hearsay. She could have backed off when that dark storm appeared on the horizon. She should have backed off when that other strange group appeared. Opportunities to step away kept presenting themselves, and she always refused out of professional pride. It had been just another job for her, and she didn't want anyone to think that she would let a contractor down.

She felt a brief reprieve when she felt that her pride would no longer be an issue as she ceased existing. Her very last thought was for Arbjorn, and how the presence of the werewolf could have changed the fight if he hadn't been separated from her.

Around the small glassed spot that made for her resting place, Alicetroemeria was preparing her teleportation spell while the assassin subordinate was wetting himself in fear and rocking in fetal position. Around her, Alicetroemeria heard the sound of battle still going strong, but she could feel the number of humans decrease by the minute.

"I better not have missed everything."


Atan buried his sword in the chest of the Stormcloak unlucky enough to approach him. He did want to drag out the death of his human victim a little longer, but was forced to move on to attack another bandit. Those fighters were so much distracting fodder getting between him and his mission to eliminate those so-called heroes.

"Foolish, irritating flies…"

He used the short moment of reprieve to gather his bearings and search for a target on this new battlefield. One of those fools had accidentally opened a door for the daedras in that plane, and he was now forced to deal with the display of their whimsical nature. The forest where he had prepared his ambush had turned in a vision of mixed hell where a burning river was passing between rows of sharp rocks. A berserk Stormcloak captain was approaching him with a large two-handed maul.

"You will die with those Talos-damned liars!"

Atan nonchalantly dodged the clumsy vertical strike of the captain and riposted with a small slice on his neck, creating a small but bleeding wound on his opponent. He followed up with a small slash aimed at the arm of his enemy as his opponent tried to dig up his weapon. After finally freeing his hammer, the Stormcloak captain swung wide in the direction of the elf. Once again, Atan mockingly made the smallest step he could before using his sword to spawn another small cut on his opponent, bringing a roar of pain from him. However, he was caught by surprise when instead of another attack with his heavy weapon, the Stormcloak dropped his maul and instead punched him square in the chest. Atan felt the air leaving his lungs, but quickly recovered and riposted again with a precise slash aimed right below the head of his opponent. The sword ended lodged midway in the throat of his victim who gasped for air.

"Die on your knees, dog."

Atan forced his enemy down before removing the sword from his throat. He sneered one last time at the body of his opponent as the latter fell to the ground. He barely had the time to enjoy his victory that an almost feral scream reached his ears.

"THALMOR!"

Atan grimaced at the Nord screaming his lineage as if it was an insult. He raised his sword and his shield as the man was recklessly charging at him in abandon. However, Atan turned white in terror when the bones of the man creaked mid-run while he became bigger and grew thick hair, his frontal limbs also expanding until his hands became sharp claws. Atan couldn't do anything when the werewolf jumped on him with his full weight, his technique useless against the overwhelming weight the lycanthrope had put in his assault. The furious beast repeatedly clawed at him, and while his armor protected him from the first strikes, it quickly ended up torn apart in the onslaught. He felt a wave of hope rise through him when a few arrows hit the beast and stopped its attack, but it simply growled and tore them from its body, the wounds left behind quickly healing. The beast then dragged Atan and threw it on the archers, and the elven captain could see the stupefied expression of his troops before he hit them with his full weight. The werewolf jumped on top after them and started clawing wildly, eventually tearing limbs apart in a cacophony of screams and blood. Atan tried to crawl away, only to get dragged back and shredded apart in a quick series of swipes, his life leaving as he cursed the beast for inflicting suffering on him.

"Holy shit! That's a big furry!"

The werewolf turned around in surprise. This new opponent smelt of closely intermingled forbidden promises, sex and death. While his instincts were calling out to join with her, he also picked up on the danger of crossing with strange, daedra-like creature. He roared mightily, making his opponent vent herself with her hand.

"Ew. I hope you smell better down there… nevermind, you're one of those assassins, I'll skip on riding your red rocket."

The werewolf ignored her taunts and dropped on all four before charging Morrigan. The succubus pranced around while the beast approached her. The moment he jumped, an aura surrounded one of her hands and he felt his momentum amplify, making him jump way higher than he intended. The succubus pulled out a large sword and cut his stomach length-wise as he flew over her. The werewolf yelped in pain and heavily landed, holding his stomach. He let rage further consume him as the wound visibly healed. Behind him, the voice of the succubus was grating his ears.

"Holy shit, you're still alive? Fuck me impressed!"

The werewolf got back up on its legs and roared again, a red veil covering his eyes as he charged Morrigan. This time, the succubus struck him in the head with her aura, making him fall on his back before she jumped on top of him, stabbing him repeatedly while he screamed in a mix of pain and terror. Her assault lasted surprisingly long, as any wound she inflicted regenerated too quickly to her taste.

"Stop regenerating! Seriously, you're only extending your suffering! And you're making it very awkward for me…"

Eventually, Morrigan resorted to attempt to behead her target. Several strikes were needed before the werewolf went down for good. Once she was sure her target wouldn't come back to life, she clumsily stepped away, covered in blood.

"Fuck me… I can't even have some proper fun in this place…"

As Morrigan tried to examine her surroundings to find Luka, a daedra appeared from another vortex. The succubus shivered when she felt just how much more powerful this one was compared to the other demons she saw. His appearance was as demonic as it could be, with thick horns coming from his forehead and his armor covered in spikes. The succubus even found herself gawking at the visibly large skull-covered bulge on the lower part of his armor. The daedra pointed a mace in her direction, his voice sounding comparatively cold and sadistic.

"Otherworlder… consider yourself lucky, as you've been chosen by Molag Bal himself to be his new champion in his quest to dominate this world. Now kneel and swear your fealty, or suffer the consequences."

After a whole second of consideration, the succubus dismissively threw her hand backward before turning away.

"Meh. I'll pass. It sounds like work, and I don't want to have more orders to follow."

The eyes of the daedra narrowed. Black bony pikes suddenly appeared from the ground and bound the succubus, leaving her surprised. Morrigan struggled against her bindings, but even her powers failed to break them.

"Hey! Knock it off with the bondage! I'm not a sub!"

"If you won't be one of my champions, then you will be one of my victims."

The daedra slowly approached as the succubus was repositioned on her back. Morrigan was still fruitlessly trying to break herself free while grimacing.

"Argggh, I'm going to be the one under! I won't hear the end of it from my sisters… you better show some good skills or I'll suck you dry like a cooked raisin."

The avatar of Molag Bal ignored her, and instead brought down his spiked mace on Morrigan's arm in a sinister crunch. The succubus screamed in a mix of pain and indignation.

"Seriously?! You have a legendary succubus at your disposal, and this is what you decided to do?!"

"Silence, you pompous ant." The daedra lowered his weapon again on Morrigan's remaining arm. The succubus winced in pain.

"This is not how you make a girl scream you overcompensating twat!"

The next strike hit her straight in the stomach, and although Morrigan could lessen the pain, the wind was knocked out of her.

Fuck… this is actually starting to hurt… and I still can't break free! I need to contact someone before that piece of garbage kidnap me!

Morrigan focused her mind on finding one of her allies, pushing through the pain from her limbs being crushed by her tormentor. She quickly found a familiar presence, but when she tried to reach out, she recoiled in wariness. This wasn't a normal mind, or even the mind of someone who had spent months experiencing the Pocket Castle. It was too abstract for that, but there was still enough familiarity to help her identify its owner.

Oh… oh, this isn't good. It can be really bad. It's going to be really fucking bad.

The mace fell again, breaking apart one of her wings.

"You are a strong mind… I will bring you to oblivion and mold you appropriately."

"Yeah…" Morrigan coughed a clot of blood. "That's not going to happen, dumbass."

The mace fell again, this time crushing her second wing. The avatar of Molag Bal frowned in displeasure when he felt someone approach them. Without a sound, Sonya was approaching them with her huge war staff at the ready, her eyes dull yet focused.

"Another victim? Do you wish to be broken as well?"

"Prolongation of class three cross world contact detected. Intervention required."

Black bones tried to wrap themselves around the priestess who didn't slow down her stride.

"Era■■"

The bones completely stopped existing in a heartbeat. The daedra prepared his weapon to deal with the interloper, grimacing in an attempt to intimidate his target. The two started exchanging blows with an impressive violence, the earth quaking with each attack.

"You are not human. You are much more than that. Why don't you serve me and reap your due to dominate the world instead?"

Sonya didn't answer. The priestess of Ilias simply kept attacking without slowing down. She released an orb of darkness that the daedra lord could barely avoid, incidentally letting a sweeping attack connect with his side in a loud metallic clang to no visible effect.

"Asinine weakling… your mere attacks can't hurt a real Daedra prince."

"Weapon ■■■■■ : chao■■ ■■■■ult"

Sonya's war staff started shimmering as if the weapon was split between realities. The fight resumed as a high pace as the avatar of Molag Bal now carefully blocked the onslaught of the priestess. Even then, the occasional strike passed through his guard, occasionally shaking him off balance. However, the daedra lord pushed through the assault and swept the priestess with his mace, throwing her on the ground. He sneered.

"Foolish mortal. You will die here. Let it be a lesson for all those that challenge the prince of domination."

Molag Bal jumped up and took to the sky with his weapon raised. Sonya quickly healed herself and got back on her feet while her eyes remained locked on her opponent.

"Weapon ski■■: Ruyi Bang. Ascending Dragon Slayer."

Sonya's war staff extended as the Priestess of Ilias struck upward with enough force to create a shockwave Morrigan could feel from her prison. Her attack struck exactly right between the legs of the daedra lord as the latter was falling, the skull adorning his lower armor breaking apart before a fleshy squishing noise filled the plain. Even Morrigan closed her eyes and turned her head when she heard it happen. The strike didn't lose its momentum, instead turning around to throw the victim's body into an unfortunate pillar.

Neither Sonya nor Morrigan could see the results in the ensuing dust cloud. The prison of the succubus simply disappeared, letting her drop on the ground in a painful yelp.

"Sweet freedom… if only I could move. That bastard even broke my tail." The relief of Morrigan turned to fear when Sonya's expression locked on her. "Oh, shiiiit…"

"Class three cross-world contact. Erase."

"Wait, wait, wait! Remember your friends!" Morrigan's eyes started glowing as she pushed the vision of Luka and Nuruko into the mind of the priestess. She felt the last of her energy reserve deplete upon the effort. The succubus felt her heartbeat increase before Sonya stopped and shook her head on confusion, stumbling in pain.

"Argh… what happened?" She looked at her transformed surroundings. "Seriously, what the hell happened? We were in a boreal forest, and now we're… here?!"

"Yeah, Mephisto mucked up her spell with her book and one of those daedras used the opportunity to bring their world in the reality."

"Wait, really?! Argh…" Sonya massaged her head in an attempt to sooth the pain. "Why can't I remember it?"

"Well, he threw a confusion spell that made you go berserk, and then you… clubbed him hard down there."

"I did what?!"

"You slung your staff in his private parts. And I'm pretty sure you crushed them. He kinda stopped his attacks after that."

"Oh, sweet goddess… I feel awful. I don't think Luka will want my company after that!" Sonya shook her head in despair.

"Oh, don't be like that! You kicked ass, girl! I mean, that fucker had me on the ropes! Speaking of… can you heal me please? I'm out of mana and I can't cast anything with both arms broken."

Sonya sighed and approached the succubus. However, she stopped in front of her before casting any spell. She blinked a few times before looking down on the succubus with a powerful contempt.

"What's wrong? There's still some of his spell in your head?"

"You know… you're partly responsible for this mess in the first place…"

"Are you talking about what happened back in Mephisto's school?! Oh, please! If I hadn't grabbed the orb, what were the odds that Eden or Lucy-chan would break it?!"

"Maybe… but I was also thinking about what you did before and after that… I mean, you keep hitting on everyone, pulling out nasty tricks that we have to clean up afterward, and you never seem to learn your lesson... but maybe here…"

"Alright! I got it! I'll behave properly from now on! I'll do what you want and not do anything you do not want!" Upon seeing the priestess keep her expression, Morrigan continued. "Okay, I'll get out of your way when Luka's involved as well, I promise! I'll even teach you some succubus or esper tricks if you want as well! I'll personally take care of your training! Think of the potential!"

"Yeah… because you taking care of someone is such a good thing…"

"Hey! I'm taking care of Nuruko when you can't, and she's doing fine, isn't she? I mean, I also taught those children back when Mephisto was busy, and while I admit I did some questionable stuff to Luka, I'm only doing it when he asks. He's a stressed man, he likes the relief!"

"…"

Morrigan's voice cracked. "At least, heal one arm, pleaaase! I'll heal the rest myself!"

Sonya sighed. "It took you several minutes of coaxing before getting you to say that you care about others…" Her staff illuminated as she poured energy in the succubus.

"That was the first thing I did!" Morrigan briefly went wide-eyed and corrected herself as she pulled back her leg properly. "Nevermind! Hehehe, I'm mixing up stuff!" She finally got up, fixing her wings in an audibly painful crack. "Let's just… let me carry you back to the others…"

Sonya sounded more exhausted than threatening. "You better not try anything."

Morrigan chuckled. "You're reminding me of my big sisters with the nagging." She grabbed the priestess of Ilias over her shoulder and took to the sky, using her aura to keep the priestess stable. "You know, the Pocket Castle is ultimately lucky to have a big sister like you. You watch over everyone, solves conflicts, and help people groom their potential."

"Hurgh… big sister… Morrigan?"

"Yes? What do you want?"

"Please shut up. My head still hurts."


Another dragon roared in pain as he fell on the ground, most of his body torn apart by an impossibly powerful magical acid. Mephisto grimaced as the body of the beast gruesomely dissolved in front of her.

"Good grief, Promestein, please use more efficient spells. We don't want to drag their suffering."

"Sorry, but some dragons are resistant to fire, some others are resistant to ice, others to lightning, and then to the natural elements… it's more simple to just use an artificial acid instead."

Mephisto disapprovingly shook her head, but refrained from commenting. The ancient yoma was making efforts to save her energy herself as the battle threatened to wear her out.

Her mind corrected her. It wasn't so much a battle than an anarchic blood bath as armies ended mixed amongst each other with dragons dropping from the sky and demons randomly appearing to kill whoever was unlucky enough to get in their way. As the number of humans kept ever decreasing, the daedras started fighting each other.

Mephisto cast another series of quick fireballs on an ink giant when she felt Black Alice teleport back by her side. She nearly lost her footing when the disguised Monster Lord reappeared and extended her arms.

"Tadaa! Did you miss me?!"

"It depends." Mephisto quickly raised a reflective barrier as the giant lowered its club. The strike bounced straight in the head of the creature. The monster was still reeling from its failed attack when an explosion of ice ended its existence. "Did you see anyone else? I'm a bit miffed that the heroes disappeared when we were all gathered together for once."

"And whose fault is it?"

"My own, and I will gladly atone fix it as soon as possible instead of running away while trying to whistle innocently. Something that not all of our companions can say they did in the past."

"That's… unfortunately true."

"Now, let us secure a perimeter and find the heroes again before they somehow run yet into more troubles. Those young men are bound to attract more attention."

"Kaiser phoenix!"

A large fire bird appeared from the staff of Black Alice and crashed in an incoming dragon. The beast didn't instantly die on the impact, but completely failed to escape the following lightning bolt. The dragon crashed on the ground near Mephisto, shaking the earth.

"Although now I wonder how we didn't attract attention ourselves... seriously, you'd have to be blind to fail to see that!"

"I don't know either." Mephisto turned back to the battle only to suddenly suffer the feeling of getting displaced against her will. She ended in a dark place that even the strongest of spells couldn't illuminate.

"Good grief, what now?!"

Hundreds of sinister eyes of every type popped around her, all watching her. An otherworldly voice echoed from every direction.

"Welcome in my realm, interloper. I am Hermaeus Mora, master of knowledge and of the Apocrypha. And you, little thing, will offer me what I want."

"Ah." Mephisto removed her hat and bowed in deference. "Let me start by apologizing in the name of my team for intruding on your premises. I am willing to negotiate an arrangement that I'm sure could beneficiate both of us."

Hermaeus Mora mockingly laughed at Mephisto, whose smile twitched ever so slightly as she put her hat back on.

"You do not understand. You will offer me your knowledge. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"In that case, shall we create a contract? I'm myself quite interested in sharing some secrets about magic, particularly if they help us leave this world."

All the eyes around Mephisto kept looking at her, unblinking. Hermaeus Mora released a disparaged sound before a tentacle struck Mephisto's forehead. Instead of piercing its target, the tentacle harmlessly bounced, bringing out an indignant sound from Hermaeus Mora. In the meantime, Mephisto's smile became a condescending gaze of pure disappointment, throwing the daedra in a rage.

"You impudent fool! Do you really think you can hold to Hermaeus Mora? The will of a mortal cannot compare to the might of the prince of Knowledge!"

"It's fortunate that I'm not just a mere mortal then." Mephisto ignored the tentacles that attempted to strike her again and again. "And I am quite proud to say that I earned my skill through practice."

"How? How is this possible?!"

"Asking for my knowledge again, are we? If you had taken my offer, I would have gladly shared those secrets with you."

The world around Mephisto rumbled. The yoma smirked.

"However, since I'm a good sport, I will tell you how." She slowly walked forward, staring back at the closest eye while grinning. "I've spent centuries exploring the fields of magic at a time when all understanding of it had been lost and read forbidden books that forced me to develop my own mental defenses against their attacks. I then spent just as much time drilling the knowledge and the rigor needed to make use of it in the mind of whimsical young ones. I supported and administrated the work of a tyrannical Monster Lord that would one day order you beheaded before inviting you to a tea party. I've dealt with monsters whose name you could barely only dream of, and since then I took to administrating the resources of the Pocket Castle. It means having to deal daily with ancestral monsters that swayed heroes and kings and break them through their own skills. I've dealt with Daji's and Est's desires without ever falling prey to them. I've cooled down Morrigan's and Alma Elma's feud. The Arachne clan is keeping their feeding habit on the low thanks to me. And there hasn't been a battle royale for any hero for more than a month. For you, those words don't mean anything. For those who know, this is nothing short of a dark miracle.

Hermaeus Mora screamed in frustration.

"Now, as one of the worst troublemakers I have to contend with would say: train for five millennia and maybe you'll have a chance to get on my level, bitch. This conversation is over. Dispel."

Mephisto opened her eyes again to see Alice staring at her from close-by.

"Are you alright? You suddenly stopped moving without warning."

"My apologies for scaring you, I just had a word with a pseudo-god." She pointed at Promestein. The small angel scientist was now immobile, her eyes hollow as a slight trail of drool was coming from her mouth. "Was I like that?"

"Damn it! Defend her!"

Mephisto obliged, freezing a daedra unfortunate enough to get too close. "I feel sorry for him. Maybe I should have warned how awful being in Promestein's mind is." Upon seeing Alice raised an eyebrow, Mephisto continued. "It was an attempt to connect through our dream machine, don't read too much into it."


And indeed, Hermaeus Mora was at loss. His eyes were frantically all looking around trying to keep track of the mind of the scientist. Getting her to open her secrets had been a piece of cake compared to the yoma. The scientist was an open book raring to get more knowledge and didn't mind sharing hers.

However, it soon revealed itself to be a Pandora box. The human brain was often on one thought train all the time, maybe two at most. Promestein's was on more than ten at every single moment. The small scientist was simultaneously analyzing the sudden shift in the battlefield, what it meant, how could it help them escape, then she was thinking about the samples she got, all at the same time keeping with a sound strategy to defeat enemies and shifting her tactics accordingly before he brought her in, moving on just as swiftly to this new dimension. Somehow, her brain could flawlessly keep track of all these informations and then some at the same time.

Hermaeus Mora couldn't. He quickly abandoned this target. She was simply thinking too fast and too much for him. And he couldn't afford to bring her away in this mess if she started resisting. He ignored the small Monster Lord and instead decided to move on to Alicetroemeria. He felt a sense of dread when he brushed against the mind of the mage and quickly crawled away. The daedra lord castigated himself for his irrational reaction. He was Hermaeus Mora. What knowledge could she possess that would be comparatively unwelcome compared to everything he had accumulated in his realm? He resumed his attempt on the disguised Monster Lord.

Hermaeus Mora released the single most shrill scream in existence before dashing back to his plane in a panic.


"What the hell was that?" Alice shook her head as she cleared her ears after getting they got pierced by an impossible noise.

"A very rude host! People in this world have no manners!" Alicetroemeria crossed her arms under her chest and pouted.

As she healed her broken eardrums, Alice wondered if her senses weren't irremediably broken until she understood that the scream she was hearing came from above. She looked up to see Sonya falling, flailing around in a panic before being stopped barely a meter from the ground. Another voice echoed from the sky.

"Sorry!"

"Damn it Morrigan! I thought you were holding me!"

"Yeah, I had you until that whatever screamed and you struggled!" Morrigan landed near Alice, making her recoil as the succubus was covered in blood. "Whatever it was, it definitively had a psychic echo, because I simply couldn't maintain my grip on you! So, I'm sorry, but I'm not entirely responsible this time."

"Yeah… we actually believe you. You might want to heal yourself."

"That blood isn't all mine."

"Some is pouring from your nose."

"For real?" Morrigan wiped out a surprisingly thick blood trail. "Shit. Yeah, that did hurt a bit."

Alice ignored the succubus and looked around herself. The heroes were nowhere in sight, and she couldn't see any angel either. Even worse, the unstopping noise from the battle and the supernatural environment blocked her senses as well. The only unusual sign she could pick on was the huge roar from above, courtesy of a very angry Alduin.

"Good grief, I thought we had forgotten a little something…"


After the sudden battlefield shift that saw him separated from everyone again, Luka sat down himself on the muddy ground, half catatonic. The hero didn't even have the energy to get mad at the world or even at Mephisto for her obvious responsibility in this. He was just absolutely done with this world.

He actively ignored the assassin sneaking up on him. Even if his attack could potentially spell the doom of the hero, he didn't care. He just wanted to be done with it.

"Oh for fuck sake! Can I have a little help over here?!"

His will instantly returned when he heard Kazuya scream, all at the misfortune of his would-be assassin who ended suffering a punch in the stomach followed by another one in his throat, sending him down for the count. Luka quickly dashed amongst the rocky landscape in hope of quickly finding the demon hunter. He quickly found his companion, the latter dangling a foot in the lava river while his hand was stuck in a rock while a Daedra was mocking him. The monster barely had the time to notice Luka that the hero sent him flying straight in the middle in the lava. Luka didn't wait another second before rushing to his companion, pulling him up while crashing the rock that imprisoned him.

"Thanks, Luka…" Kazuya was panting. "And thanks the crew back home for forcing me to learn new tricks… I never imagined I would appreciate learning how to protect myself against lava. Bathing in a volcano was definitively not on my bucket list!"

Luka chuckled. Another Daedra ending tossed in the lava informed the duo that another of their companion was also close. And indeed, Novissa appeared further down the river and noticed them. The blond swordsman gestured for them to come closer, and was quickly joined by the remainder of the group. Luka felt incredibly relieved when he saw all of them.

Phew… at the very least, we're all back together in record time… well, almost. Lest is still missing... I hope he's doing fine. Maybe the others saw him. And with a little luck, maybe they won't be too far either.

I can still hear the sound of people fighting… who's even left by that point asides from these daedras and the strange monsters from that book?

The question was pushed to the back of Luka's mind as the duo regrouped with Novissa and the other heroes. As Lauratt was enjoying the relative safety they afforded thanks to the lack of enemies, Kazuya was examining the surrounding hellscape with an expert eye.

"It's strange… it looks like several dimensions were pulled in this world at the same time and mixed together. This pillar would find its place in a library, not in the hellish world that surrounds us."

Luka shrugged and checked around by himself. He could only see daedras and strange monsters fighting against each other. The one grace this place had was that they didn't have to see any of the bodies from the earlier clashes.

Let's not think too much about all the lives lost there… everyone who came here was a soldier or a bandit. They all knew the risk.

Lauratt raised an eyebrow at the result of his magical examination. Luckily, he had found the other companions of Luka, and all of them were close-by. However, he also saw Novissa twice in his scrying. The first was showing right in front of him, as the hero indeed was, but the second was a slight distance away.

Taking the hint, Novissa suddenly started dashing at an impressive speed in the direction Lauratt indicated him. Luka tried to call out to him, but to no avail.

"Novissa… what possessed him?!"

Luka started running behind him, only to get quickly overtaken by Lauratt and Hakunen who had no difficulties dashing through the rocky, unequal ground. He arrived just in time to see Novissa coming face to face with Miraak. Luka could feel the power as well as the arrogance pouring from the man in front of them, even if his face was hidden by an elaborate mask. The man sneered.

"And so the two Dragonborn meet, just as predicted… and yet I feel within you a pathetically weak mastery of the Thu'um. Is it why you need so many companions to assist you?"

Luka only acknowledged a single information amongst Miraak's tirade."

"Wait… you're really a Dragonborn?"

"How perceptive of you… now, walk away, or you will know the power of a true Dragonborn, and I will make you miss the idea of facing Alduin."

"And he will just come for you afterward, won't he?" Kazuya looked back in the eyes of Miraak as much as the latter's mask allowed him to. "He can't be killed, after all."

Miraak couldn't hide his amusement. "Of course, you ignorant whelps didn't find how to pierce through his immortality… now, I will not lose a single more second with you-"

"Tell us how to kill him."

Miraak went wide-eyed when all the heroes rushed at him. He barely parried the cleaving strike from Novissa that a punch threw him on his back, his sword slipping from his hand. The six heroes were all screaming over him, Novissa threateningly holding his closed fist over his head.

"Tell us how to do it."

"Tell us now or we'll make you say it!"

"Wait! It's out of question that we torture him! We're not that desperate…"

"You're right… Lauratt, can you fetch Morrigan please? I'm sure she'll get the information from him."

"Oh god, Luka… sir, for your own good, you need to tell us the truth right now!"

"What? She won't torture him, she'll just get the information from his brain after weakening his will."

"That's what torture is!"

"Ah. Wait, does that mean that each night…"

"Too much information!"

Overwhelmed by the chaos and the threats above him and the perspective of victories being null, Miraak gave in their demand the only way he could think of.

"Joor Fraah Zul!"

The heroes instantly stopped both their assault and their argument. Hakunen tapped his chest with his closed fist, puzzled.

"I think I can use it."

Miraak was furiously panting in indignation. "This ancient Thu'um will teach him the meaning of death and bring him down to the earth. As long as he's in the sky, he will be immortal. Now, if you are half the heroes you think you are, you will release me." He spat as much as he said the last words, but the heroes all looked down on him.

"We will once we're sure that this works as advertised."

Another roar echoed from the sky. Alduin was frantically trying to claw, burn and devour a light dancing around him.

"He's trying to eat Lucifina-chan… try that skill now!"

Hakunen clicked his tongue and focused.

"Joor Fraah Zul!"

A wave of energy left Hakunen's mouth and wrapped around Alduin, making the dragon scream in agony and trash in the air as he attempted to struggle with understanding the concept inflicted upon him. In the meantime, Lucifina-chan latched on his head and repeatedly brought down her sword on him, making a few wounds appear. The dragon tried to stabilize herself, then ultimately gave up and fell from the sky with the same grace as fifty tons of bricks. Noticing his trajectory, Kazuya shouted to the group.

"Scatter!"

Alduin ultimately crashed right on top of Miraak, furiously trying to fly up after the angel jumped in front of him. For the shortest moment, the dragon completely froze in its movement when he saw Luka and his group.

He was not faced with the heroes of old who were defending their freedom. He was not faced with the desperate and terrified people who had their back to the wall. And he was not faced with the weak excuses of heroes that had contested his reign millenia ago. Instead, he was faced with people who were furious to be forced to deal with him as well as a very bloodthirsty little angel. Their anger wasn't something he had imagined humans could possess in all his years. Their skills were second to none. Their bond was unbreakable, a far cry from the division that had allowed him to recruit dragon priests amongst humans ages ago. He always imagined that a whole army led by the Dragonborn would be necessary to take him down. And against his malice, against all the cruelty he was capable of, Mundus had decided to send… only them.

Lucifina-chan shouted to the sky. "RIP AND TEAR!"

The following actions couldn't be so much qualified as a fight as much as a butchery, as Alduin was repeatedly trying to scramble away from the heroes who were recklessly hacking at him at every opportunity while Hakunen regularly used the Thu'um to keep him down on the ground. The best the dragon could do was throw the occasional slap with his tail or a powerful breath, but the hero were content with dodging his attack, and that's when they were not using their magic to enhance their own bodies to power through his assault for the sake of not losing time between their strikes.

From afar, the remainders of the companions of the heroes were watching the rampage lasting for an uncomfortably long time.


"Good grief…" Mephisto was aghast at the display of violence. "I didn't think our heroes wanted Alduin destroyed THAT badly."

"Meh." Morrigan twiddled her sword. "While they had legitimate griefs against Alduin, that's more than your standard vengeance they're delivering here. Going by their earlier testimonies, they suffered from a lot of issues during their adventures which led to a lot of boiling resentment against this world as well as against themselves that got turned against Alduin because the dragon made itself the perfect target by being concrete, appearing at the worst time possible, and attacking them as well as innocents, hitherto justifying any actions taken against him, no matter how brutal. The best thing to do here is let them take their aggression out and remind them that we're here once they're done."

Alice, Sonya and Mephisto stared at Morrigan as if the latter grew a palm tree on her head.

"Did you… actually read Asogan's theory on psychological management."

"Read it?" Morrigan sounded offended. "Bitch, I wrote it! Or more exactly I gave Astaroth a hand to make up for a mistake of mine. I mean Asogan… Astaroth, Morrigan, hello?!"

"That one is on me for failing to notice… I wish those moments where you remind everyone of your age and of the wisdom that should come with it happened more often…"

"Hey!"

Mephisto shook her head and returned to disinterestedly watching the heroes bully the dragon to death. She didn't even turn when she felt Eden approach them from behind with Gilgorn under her arm.

"Thank you, Eden. Place her down delicately."

"Hmph!" The seraph refrained from her usual acerbic repartee while obliging. "I shall only say that we're lucky that none of those daedras are attacking us!"

"They're too busy attacking each other." Alice gestured at a small valley where a large group of daedras and monsters were fighting one another in a brutal melee. "They completely forgot about us."

"There is probably a good lesson to pull from this, wouldn't you agree, Mephisto? They're so busy with their petty infighting that they lost sight of their goals! Doesn't it look familiar?!"

Everyone refrained from responding to Alicetroemeria. They just kept watching the heroes as they kept on with their assault on the dragon, Promestein making another notepad appear between her hands as she placed another on a pile.

"Maybe I should invent a compressed storage device that will allow to store and write books without using hundreds of pages..."

Mephisto smirked. "It will never catch on… wait, what is Lucifina-chan doing to the dragon?"

"Gross! Eww, eww… EWWWW!" Sonya turned away in disgust. "WHYYYYYYYY?!"

"Oh, sweet dark goddess… nobody can EVER say anything about the mess I make after that!"

"Lucifina-chan! I didn't raise you to…" Eden bit on her thumb. "Sweet Ilias, this is disgusting."

"She's not going to… aaaand she just did that. Nevermind. She actually did it." Mephisto shook her head in denial. "Alright, everyone go help the heroes put the dragon out of his misery, I'll keep an eye on Gilgorn with Promestein."

The team agreed and mobilized, leaving the yoma and the angel alone with the small Demon Lord. As the sound of unbridled slaughter continued, Mephisto slowly breathed out.

"That will haunt my nightmares for a time… Promestein? Can you please help me bring back Gilgorn to the realm of the conscious?"

"I… I think I'm done taking notes down anyway. There are something that are best left forgotten, and what is happening in one of them." A pale Promestein put away her last notebook with a trembling hand. The small scientist produced a vial containing a glowing blue liquid and dropped a small quantity straight in Gilgorn's mouth. The small Demon Lord coughed a few times, then shook herself awake. Mephisto severely looked down on her.

"Before you consider doing anything drastic, I shall inform you that while we're not the greatest users of the skills that you're so weak against, we'll still be able to stall you for long enough that our partners come and make unrestrained use of them. Is my message clear?"

Gilgorn whimpered and nodded before bringing her knees in front of her head. Mephisto's tone softened considerably.

"Now, can you tell us what were you doing? Based on the testimony of the heroes, I don't intend to sanction you for your behavior yet, but I at least want to get to the bottom of the reason behind your actions."

"Well…" Gilgorn sniffled. "I was getting tired of all those Nightmares and succubi toying with me… and when I checked for a way to get back home, I found that there was a link to this world, likely from the time when that purple-haired whore toyed with dimensions to bring succubi to expand her Land of Night… so I quickly jumped in, and was elated to see what was on the other side… a world without succubi, without demented nymphomaniacs that would try exploiting my ONE weakness to lord themselves over me… so I got information, and power, and then… the heroes arrived in this world…"

Gilgorn repeated what she told the heroes about the Oghma Infinium and quickly passed over how they still defeated her. Although she didn't speak of the cause, it was still obvious to Mephisto in the first place.

"Good grief… it looked like that book didn't do a very good job of reinforcing your barrier of reality then if pleasure attacks could now pass through. You should even consider yourself lucky that the ones coming to found you first were the heroes and not one of our…" She grimaced as the sound of screaming and obscene insults being flung passed over her. "One of our more whimsical member."

Crying filled the immediate area as Gilgorn finally exploded in earnest. Mephisto let her a minute before empathetically placing her hand on the shoulder of the Demon Lord.

"Then let's make a deal. You come work at the academy to help us, and we make sure that nobody comes to have fun with you against your will. How does that sound?"

Gilgorn barely managed to articulate an answer between two inelegant sniffles. "I accept…"

"Good. I'll make sure that you have your own room once we're back." A pleasurable wave washed over her, making her barely shiver but knocking out Gilgorn with an expression of bliss. "Good grief, what did Morrigan just do again?!"

"This one wasn't from Morrigan, it came from Eden."

Mephisto mumbled injurious comments best left unrepeated against angels and decided to check on the group while carrying Gilgorn for her safety. The appearance of Alduin nearly made her retch, as the dragon had been completely torn to pieces. Near his head, the six heroes were spread unconscious with visible damp spots between their legs. On the other side, everyone was staring at Eden with the reaction that Mephisto expected from them: Alice and Sonya were pinching their noses, their eyes closed, while Alicetroemeria and Morrigan were grinning, and finally Lucifina-chan was tapping her foot with her cheeks puffed in front of her impudent superior. Eden herself was trying to hide her scarlet face behind her generous mane and failing.

"And there goes my date with Luka… damn it, now I understand why not everyone follows Ilias."

"…They were leering at me with hungry eyes and impure thoughts."

"Yeah, and they were gawking at me too, except that compared to your hypocritical ass, I would have gladly taken in all of their desire!" Morrigan gestured around her. "Also, I'm completely out of energy, so don't count on me to get them back on their feet."

"That one shouldn't have taken them out in the first place!" Eden was still determined to defend herself. Promestein immediately interjected.

"Actually it's very likely that the absence of any…" The small angel cleared her throat. "Right, thirty words or less. They became even weaker than usual to pleasure because they didn't get to see anyone they considered sexually attractive for a month. When they saw you, all their desire resurfaced, ready to burst and they exploded instantly."

"I do not approve your phrasing."

"Let's just…" Alice slowly breathed in and out. The sound of battle had finally come to a total stop, leaving them in an almost eerie silence after so much chaos. "Let's get Gilgorn up again and get to a place where we can relax and start working on finally leaving this world. This was what our expedition was about in the first place."

"It is something we can all agree on." Mephisto glanced at Eden, challenging the seraph to contradict her. "It looks like we don't have the attention of any daedra for the moment. With luck on our side, we'll be gone before they notice us again."

A jolly voice echoed. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Everyone readied their weapons when a sinister daedra appeared near the heroes in a vortex of energy. The demon raised his empty hands to make his intention clear.

"Easy there! I'm not here to fight. I was just getting concerned about my latest drinking partners when I felt that little mess from home."

"Little mess?" Sonya sounded surprised.

"Drinking partners?" Alice sounded jaded. "Note to self: never leave the heroes alone again, or they'll end up getting drunk with demons at the drop of the hat."

"We didn't need to hear that to know they had a poor judgment. Case in point, Luka recruited both Eden and Morrigan."

"Grrr…"

"You'll get used to it."

"Don't go too hard on your friends, I was disguised as a human back then. Besides, we had a lot of fun together!" Upon seeing everyone glare at him and at the heroes, the daedra changed his track. "I feel like you disagree."

"I apologize to lord Sanguine for making him feel unwelcome, but I beg of him to understand that we are still slightly antsy after getting attacked by his fellows and wish for nothing more than to leave."

"I can understand that. I wouldn't want to get the Molag Bal treatment myself." Sanguine meekly scratched his head and gritted his teeth while looking sideway at Sonya. "I have two things to deliver to you and I'll be gone. The first thing is a souvenir of the night I've spent with the heroes..."

Sanguine spawned a crystal that quickly ended in the hands of Morrigan.

"Dibs! Also what she said!"

"And the second…" He pulled out a large crate filled with fruits which content rustled. "This one appeared in my realm right when you tried using that book."

Nuruko's head popped out of the crate, glaring at the daedra for interrupting her feast.

"Kyu… KYU!"

However, she quickly jumped from the crate when she noticed Luka and started hugging the unconscious hero, the latter being shaken like a limp noodle. Alice blinked a few times in disbelief.

"Huh. It looked like your spell actually worked."

"I never doubted myself."

"Well." Sanguine slapped his thighs and turned around. "I'm done here, and it looks like you'll be gone soon. Say hi to that purple-haired party girl from me! It's been ages since we last had fun!"

"Wait, who?!"

Before Alice could reach to Sanguine, the daedra had already disappeared in a swirl of energy, leaving the lamia with another question she wanted answered. Mephisto softly grabbed her by the shoulder.

"They say this world is like a dream… on a slightly related note, once we get back, we need to start working on ways to contain Est. And Fulbeua. And Daji… good grief, can't these old bones get some well-deserved vacations?"

"Then take some. Don't worry, we'll make sure the castle is still standing by the time you come back. Isn't it, Promestein?"

"Mmh?" The angel scientist was taking large parts from Alduin's body and shoving in in her satchel. "Oh, sorry, of course, you're right. I'll make sure everything I found about this world will be put to good use!"

Alice's smile turned in an anxious smirk. "Yeah… don't you think bringing so much stuff from another world can cause problems?"

"Oh, don't worry, it mostly concerns alive organic tissues, and I have none of it with me!" Her bag ruffled on its own, making her reflexively drop it in surprise. "Or so I thought… I have no idea what is happening, but-"

"No abomination should come back with us!"

A spear of light blasted Promestein's satchel, projecting around small burning bits that quickly disintegrated.

"MY SAMPLES! MY NOTES!" Promestein pulled on her hair as she fruitlessly tried to grab the components falling from the sky before they turned into ash. "We could have made good use of all that!"

"Mmph! Everything we need is on our world, and it is provided by the Goddess! Nothing in this Ilias-forsaken place can compare to her boons!"

"I agree, but not for the same reasons." Morrigan joined Eden's side as Promestein started gritting her teeth in rage. "I mean, we don't know where that stuff used to be, and we don't want to bring another pandemic back home, do we?" The small angel was now clenching her fists tightly in rage. "And besides, knowing you, it would just have exploded, so for one follows the adults and don't try anything on your own, alright?"

The moment Morrigan touched the angel's shoulder, Promestein exploded. In a lightning flash, she started pummeling the succubus with a series of rapid light punches and Eden in a series of rapid dark ones.

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"Good grief, Promestein! Calm down!"

"Wait." Alice grabbed Mephisto's arm and smirked. "It looks like Promestein has built a bit of resentment, and the best thing to do is to let her take it out on a concrete target, isn't?"

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"I'm sure I could stop her, but it would be unwelcoming of a good leader to step in their business. She'll even be thankful for that."

"…I hate it when my lessons are used against me, but I'll let you have this point. It's fine as long as she doesn't kill either."

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"Still… I'm impressed that she manages to use both of her fists imbued with different elements to punch two different people at the same time…"

"Well, even if she did try to hide it for Alipheese-know-what reason, she did ask Alma Elma to train her in self-defense."

"Wait, that's what she was doing with Alma Elma?!" Sonya looked dumbfounded.

"What, were you expecting something more scandalous? The current succubus queen might be an unrelenting sex fiend, but it doesn't mean that she won't help you if you ask."

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"Of course, since she's in high demand, she will likely ask for a little something in exchange, even for her friends." Mephisto shrugged. "It will probably involve sex."

Sonya closed her eyes, exasperated. "I knew it."

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"Does someone happen to know why Promestein is crying that by the way? That's a strange war scream if I know one…"

"Now that you mention it…" Mephisto frowned. "Good grief, she's just doing like that animation!"

"What animation?"

"Those makina-based animated pictures showed! Daji provided her with a ton of them, and Promestein binged on them, sometimes watching for hours on end!"

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

Mephisto groaned. "That explains why she took so little care of herself… those shows will ruin her life. I'll make sure to them away from her."

Alice disapprovingly shook her head. "You really sound like an old-timer right now. How is it so different from someone binging bad novels?"

"It's not the same! It moves, there are pictures, it influences her brain more directly!"

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"You might have a point… but I wouldn't blame those. I would blame Promestein for being unable to restrain herself. Or Daji for providing them in the first place." Alice closed her eyes and looked down. "Or maybe even ourselves for taking so little care of her that she did do nothing but watch those for hours on end. Besides, it's not like she stopped living, didn't it? If she wasn't screaming whatever reference she is at the top of her lungs, you wouldn't even have noticed that she's been watching those animay. She's doing as fine as ever."

"ORA! ORA! ORA!"

"I maintain that she's just expressing her boiling resentment like the heroes did with Alduin earlier."

"You're… actually right. Nevermind."

"ORA! ORA! OOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Promestein released two final punches that threw both of her unconscious victims across the clearing. The small angel was still panting in rage, but she was also making an effort to calm herself. Alice cleared a bang that got in her face from the wind and slithered toward the crashed duo.

"They're not dead. I can hear their breathing over the wind… wait, is a storm picking up?"

"It's worse! I was wondering why we weren't hearing those two!"

Alice looked at where Mephisto was pointing to see a small tornado. Lucifina-chan was spinning with Alduin's head in her hands while Alicetroemeria was singing encouragements from the side.

"Spin! Spin! Spin!"

"What are you doing? Stop it!"

"Spin! Spin! Spin! Aaaand throw!"

Lucifina-chan threw the head of the dragon which flew high in the sky until it became barely a point in the horizon. Alice threw a half-hearted glare at Lucifina-chan.

"Really?"

"Sowwwwwyyyyyy…"

"My, don't be a sourpuss! We were just having fun while you were ranting about those new technologies you don't understand."

"I do understand them; I just prefer the old ways. And please don't try to deviate the conversation from the fact that you enabled Lucifina-chan to throw the head of that poor beast! At least, let him rest in peace."

"I just wanted to make sure no nasty necromancer tried reviving him…" Lucifina-chan started tearing up in an obvious attempt to garner sympathy.

"Can we just… gather everyone and get back home once and for all?" Sonya was trying to pry Nuruko fom Luka, worried that the little monster would try being more affectionate with the hero than decency allowed.

"I agree… the chance that this little head-throwing did some damage is negligible anyway."

Mephisto used her magic to gather everyone who was unconscious in a spot, and after a lot of back and forth between Sonya and the strange monster, the former finally managed to make her understand what she wanted. The decors surrounding Alice turned from a hellish landscape to an old style room with row of organized reagents. Recognizing her academy, Mephisto stretched with an uncharacteristic smile.

"Home, sweet home! And barely a day has passed since we left!" She pointed at a clock in a corner. "Say what you want about other worlds and their fantastic looks, nothing is better than your own little corner of a room!"

Promestein mumbled something about wasted opportunities and left in a huff.

"I agree." Alice sincerely smiled. "But we still learned quite a few things back then. It did us some good, and I'll make sure to take your advices in account. I'll start by repaying the respect the kitsune clan gave me."

"That's the spirit! Speaking of, I'm surprised we didn't see anyone yet. I expected one of our helper to come running as soon as we arrived. Our return is bound to have created quite a wave."

"Mmh. It's strange indeed. I mean, I expected as much from Daji and Vinum, but Magatsu and Tamamo as well? It's not like we need them, but I wished they were here to welcome us."

"I actually need their help… remember Lest?"

"Right…" Alice deflated. "It looks like we'll still quickly be back to fixing the mess left by others. I don't want to imagine what's already waiting for us."

"Good grief, we only left for a day! I don't imagine that a whole unstoppable army would randomly start rampaging around and raping everyone out of the blue on such a short notice!"

Lucifina-chan pouted in disappointment and left, only to quickly be overtaken by Alicetroemeria who mumbled something about Heinrich. Sonya was repeatedly checking and healing the different heroes in an attempt to make them come out faster of their unconsciousness while throwing the occasional scared look at Mephisto who nervously chuckled.

"No. There's no way I just jinxed it."

"…I think I'm hearing Amira running in that direction."

"No. No, no, nooo aand you're actually right." Mephisto closed her eyes. The familiar stomps of the reverse lamia could be heard through the hallway before Amira appeared at the entrance of the room, skidding on the wooden floor as she turned.

"No! My dear hero has finally been returned, but he's horribly wounded! What happened in the world! Gah!" She dramatically screamed to the sky before Sonya grabbed her by the throat, her green eyes glowing.

"Everyone is just resting after being wounded. We went through hell. Literally. You have bad news for us, don't you? Out with it."

Amira gulped. "A band of monsters started an orgy in Grandeur in your absence."

Alice sighed. "Damn it… it looks like we were right. It's probably those succubi from the Land of Night who decided that without us, they had no reason to hold back. Let's send a few kitsunes then, their earth skills will make short work of them."

"Actually…" Amira started slipping from Sonya's grip thanks to her sweating. "My reports indicate that they're the ones making a mess. At the very least, the presence of Tamamo, Daji, Yao and Nanabi is confirmed."

A veil of silence covered the room as the trio was taking in the information. Neither the heroes nor Promestein's victims disturbed it, only the small Monster Lord's nervous breathing could be heard.

"Are you alright, Alice?"

Alice spat through her gritted teeth. "Everything is fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work ahead of me. I'll start by repaying the respect the kitsune clan gave me."


Back in Skyrim, the region surrounding Morvunskar gradually returned to an approximation of its original state. While the rivers of fire, unholy altars, black pillars and other hellish elements gradually vanished from reality as if they never existed in the first place, the region was still devastated. The fire started earlier was extinguished by a heavy snow that the temperature turned into a downpour, transforming the soil in a muddy sludge that was forcing one of the unfortunate locals to make every use of his naturally exceptional agility.

J'Zargo climbed a slippery mound to get a better sight of the battlefield. It was laying in utter ruins, with weapons remainders and armors shards strewn about everywhere. However, there was no bodies. Oblivion had swallowed those. Only his memories had any trace of what had happened. Overwhelmed by the feelings from the recent events, he sat down for a moment.

He had successfully evaded the attention of everyone, whether they were human, humans, dragons or daedras. He slipped through every crack until only the last of them remained, seeing the world turn into a vision of nightmare that left him completely aghast. It was the end of the world.

And those strangers had treated everything with a terrifying casualness. He shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold or the rain. He had come here on the order of the Archmage of the College of Magic to investigate the unusual barrier used by a monster, and thought that the mission was beneath him. In hindsight, he was lucky to be so unremarkable that everyone had simply ignored him. He thought of himself as a powerful mage, and his convictions had been utterly stomped by those people.

Pictures and scenes danced in J'Zargo's mind. The heroes showing up and accidentally back-handing the Nord captain with enough violence to make an enemy of him. The collapse of the castle. The seductress saving him and killing an assassin. The world turning into oblivion. The death of hundreds of people as daedras arrived. A giant fire phoenix crashing to the ground. The seductress mocking Molag Bal. Molag Bal himself being struck in his loin. Alduin being slaughtered by the heroes while the witches watched. And then they quarreled with a violence that would have left anyone else dead before they left the world like one would go on their morning stroll. He saw everything that had happened from his own eyes, and yet he was questioning every single second of it.

"Nobody will believe J'Zargo. Not even J'Zargo believes what J'Zargo saw."

The Khajit got up, and, still soaking in the heavy rain, started marching northward, letting the weather clean the filth off the battlefield. Not a trace of the heroes remained around the fortress.

The remainder of Skyrim was another issue.