Chương 515: BECMI Chapter 514 - Resolution

"True death, Master Rogmentor. You will not survive to bedevil any others, or be bedeviled yourself.

"The time of your slavery is at an end, elder. I will not set you free upon the world of the living, but nor will I bind you here into a prison you have been left behind in.

"Do you have any final words you wish to present me? A legacy to pass on that you have ignored up until now?" The lich had no eyelids, but the crimson points of hate dimmed slightly. This was the end, and he realized it.

"My journals, and the tomes in my chamber. Behind me, to the left, up the stairs, the first door with a ratuji skull upon it," he whispered hollowly, the black robe falling off his head to reveal vestigial horns. His skull was somewhat more oblong than a human's, too.

"They may be the last remnants of the history of my world, whose devouring of inspired the Immortals to sentence the Carnifex here."

"We will preserve what we can, as a warning to the ages, if nothing else," I agreed calmly.

"Rest assured that we will do our very best to kill them all, too." His whispery laugh as I lowered Dread was unfeigned.

"You do not know the horrors the Carnifex will unleash without a thought when they go to war, little dhampir..."

"Ah, lichlord." I allowed a moment of sympathy in my voice.

"It is a shame that you'll not see what is coming to greet your masters. They have no idea what war is at the level we can wage it. You would revel in their disbelief as they die, despite all their mad bargains and powers, and are fed to the Land they would despoil with thought in their ambitions."

"Is that so?" He seemed quietly amused.

"Then I will indeed miss such fine theater, Lady Edge. Would that it could have saved my world from their gluttony. End me now, and end them in time, too!" he chuckled hollowly. I lowered Dread down to the cavity below his ribs, long-withered skin splitting open instantly as triple-hued Wrathflames did their things.

Powerful Disrupting Banefire billowed up within his ribcage, the withered remnants of organs fell away, and his bones went up like dried leaves, crackling and consuming the negative energies that oozed out of them as he died. Within seconds his skull was on fire, but his quiet laughter continued over the crackling and powdering of his bones, until there was a wisp and a pop, and with a shudder, the lich fell apart into finest vivic dust, Wrathflames dancing atop his remains.

Cirru reached out and tossed the arms of the undead mage atop the flames, watching them go up like dried grass without expression.

"So, a native of another world," she mused aloud.

"That would explain why even dragons have no knowledge of them. They would only be known among planeswalkers, and if long enough ago, even few of them. It would require access to Immortal libraries to learn more of them."

"Investigating such here will immediately raise red flags from said Immortals, if our own do it. We shall have to see it done on the Far Shore." I frowned as things stirred in the undead's remains, things of magic we left to him by his masters which could be taken away.

"We will doubtless face bound creatures, constructs, traps, and spells in waiting, likely in great numbers, but they are already gone."

"The Karma comes from claiming spoils, not leaving them," Cirru said matter-of-factly, not from greed. Gold was nothing more than a vehicle to power for her… and good bedding material.

"We cannot leave this place here intact, and leaving it unlooted is almost a crime!"

"But we also have a great deal to do that will actually take up our personal time." She tilted her head.

"Leave it to others?" she questioned me.

"Sif and Thor just stepped through the Portal behind us, and they brought a team," I nodded. Cirru just nodded, barely flicking a glance in that direction.

"And the intactness?"

"When the Portal closes, this floating Castle falls, too." She grinned widely.

"Now that I would also like to see!"

They came with over forty people, and a lot of dimensional storage devices between them. There were twenty Eternals behind them, half of them grim Forsaken, following the Eternal Emperor and Empress of the Bright Empire, along with a whole bunch of Masters with the required skillsets. I knew them all, of course. If nothing else, most of them had come to me for a Wishcrafted Perfect Template, and they all knew I was the first Eternal.

Thor and Sif looked to be in their early thirties, aging gracefully towards maybe-forty, but never going to get there. The men and women about them, including their children, varied in seeming appearance from youthful to older, as they preferred, none of it actually making much difference.

"Anything special?" Sif asked, meeting me at the door that Cirru had shoved all the way open. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"This is a massive trap-infested city once occupied by thousands, or even tens of thousands, of creatures whose lowest level is Eighteen, and they were all spellcasters," I informed everyone, getting the expecting startled looks from them.

"Their spellcasters with Levels ran all the way up to Overmagi in power. Their Alignments are expected to be as Purple as they could possibly be for mortal beings, having destroyed at least one world completely, which resulted in their removal here." I turned around and pointed at the massive place.

"Your job is to spring and defuse all these traps, slaughter the guardians and beasts in stasis left behind, bull through the spells in waiting, loot everything worth looting, and prepare to Burn pretty much everything that is magical, because if they didn't take it, it's probably meant to kill you.

"When you're done, we're destroying the entire place.

"Do be quick. All of these creatures are now unleashed upon Nown, and it's likely they are going to destroy the planet. We're going to be needing you to fight before too long, so take everything, start Burning everything, and then get the fuck out of here, because it will be time to fight soon enough."

"You got it, Aunt Edge!" Emperor Thor boomed, hefting Mjolnir meaningfully.

"Let's go fuck with some creatures that think they are clever, people!" Enthusiastic shouts followed. The Doomrose Dungeon had some insanely tough traps and tricks levels which prepared folk for this kind of stuff, so this was going to go faster than the Carnifex were likely to think. I had some Stoneshaping to do, and some books to read. The Markspace was absolutely tripping, of course. Thor and Sif didn't need to be anywhere physically to issue orders and start things rolling.

The Priests of Heaven's Reach had already confirmed the news with the gods, and were also moving quickly to a war footing. Beyond what was probably an opportunistic slaughter and feast for the Carnifex on the dead dragons, there was no sign of them… which meant they were dispersing first to gain information about the new world they found themselves in, then they'd set up bases of operation… and then the real shit would start. Quiet word went out on Marks, turned into physical warnings with Imperial Seals.

High-level characters would naturally become targets of the Carnifex, so they had to be warned, while eyes in the shadows waited for them to meet or get into contact with various Entropic forces who would be more than happy to help them in their plans. From the Nested Worlds, war machines began to quietly emerge, stores of food and equipment began to be shipped out non-stop for delivery by rail and steam truck, airship and Mirror Portals back and forth to where they needed to go.

Sythia was amusingly resurgent, having thrown off some of its necromantic leanings, and near the height of its power. They were warned as well, but didn't take it seriously, thinking the Immortals would protect them.

A week. That was all it took to loot the Unfalling Keep to its bones, overcome countless traps and waiting spells, Constructs animating from random objects, and powerful beasts and undead things released from stasis or simply waiting to attack. A lot of the wealth was heavy or bulky, and simply couldn't be taken with the speed the Carnifex had left their prison. The magical items left behind were universally distrusted and taken only to be Burned.

Given the number of Curses Sif could feel on them, that was very much for the best. The wealth of knowledge was taken out, the books also having to be gone over to eliminate the many types of written traps, Curses, cognition killers, and similar 'surprises' left among all of them, with mundane enhanced poisons that killed over time and repeated exposure among the least of things to be dealt with. Still, there was loads of stuff, and it was going to give the researchers years of work.

Cirru was already gone, warning dragon kingdoms of what was going to happen. The journals of Rogmentor indicated that the Carnifex loved subjugating dragons to ride around, and to eat any dragons who refused them or failed them. The disappearance of dragons was going to be Carnifex eager to get said mounts for themselves… or making a feast out of dragons the Carnifex couldn't resist after so many years. Not that dragons weren't in Everfall.

They just couldn't fly, so using magic to Create one was basically making a very magically expensive turkey for the dinner table, not a grandiose flying mount. Rogmentor's journals were actually very, very informative, a clear record of the tactics of the Carnifex during their war against the Joventi and their world, describing many of their deeds, and in even more acute detail their powers and abilities.

They had four Castes: Tricksters, what would be thieves and scouts to us; Warriors, their main physical combatants; the Voices, Priests who bargained with whatever foul powers would help them; and Magi, the arcanists who led the race with their powerful magic, covering all areas of study with zeal and power. All Carnifex had magical powers.

While there were graduations in the past, the least of the Carnifex had been slain before the mightiest were hurled into Everfall, meaning there were none here to show levels of ability. Tricksters could Reverse Gravity, use Grayspheres, Teleport, Telekinesis, Flight, and Cast both Lightning Bolts and Invisibility. They were also natural shapeshifters, blending in with the populations of their targets and replacing people to get closer to their targets.

Warriors had thicker natural armor and great strength, and could also wield Grayspheres, Speed, Lightning Bolts, and Mirror Image. Voices had at least the power of an Eighteen Priest, if not more, and could also use Force Field, Graysphere, Fireball, Speed, and Mirror Image. Magi seemed to start at Twenty-Five, the same Level as Master Rogmentor had been and making him just barely worth keeping alive as a slave in their eyes.

They had no extra spells, but the majority of them were over Thirty, with those at the Apex being as strong as Overmagi and maintaining an iron grip on their race. They had access to all manner of magicks, and were plenty happy to use them in the very worst ways on their enemies, although infighting among their own was remarkably small, uniting them against all outsiders as mutual participants in the feast that was life.

It floated there in a realm with no way to magically fly, a symbol of incredible defiance and ingenuity against and in the face of the punishment of the Immortals who had dared to judge them. I had to respect their zeal and defiance, even as I grit my teeth at what it meant for us. They would fight to the end, without a doubt, pride, arrogance, and the feeling we were just prey enough to drive them right to the end.

How they got so powerful with such attitudes could only have been the result of sponsorship by what Patron had made them, for they were surely no natural race with such power to them. Regardless, it was time for their Castle to fall.