King Baalrek wishes he could have done it differently—using his powers like this to interfere in such matters has interfered with Jacob Cloud’s Karma.
The surroundings are a bright cerulean and all smooth.
The Celestial Tower… I remember this now.
He had not gifted all his soul fragments with the knowledge of other places for a specific reason.
“Aren’t you worried about your pupil’s Karma?”
“That’s none of your business.”
King Baalrek throws the half-Elf to the ground, giving a cursory glance to the Elven Prince she has dragged with them, who’s currently trembling in fear.
“Why bring him? Is your wish to kill the Royalty of your people so large?”
“Oh, you don’t even know the half of it,” Nimirea replies with a smile that makes King Baalrek suspicious. “So,” she continues, “I suppose you won’t allow me to leave until they have made their way back to the boats.”
King Baalrek ignores the girl and turns around, looking at the Celestial Tower. He can clearly feel the presence of his inheritance, but…
“It’s on the last floor,” Nimirea says. “The Secret Room with the Skill you want Jacob to learn is on the last floor.”
King Baalrek, still controlling Jacob’s body, starts slowly circling her.
“You know many things. I suppose your master has elected a new Prophet.”
“Indeed,” Nimirea replies. “You and my master met many times. But he wasn’t your nemesis, right? No, your nemesis was someone else, Mad King.”
King Baalrek feels a shiver run down Jacob’s spine and slowly licks his lips.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that.”
“The Headmaster tried really hard to bury that part of your history. Your people don’t know the real reason why your inheritance is so cursed. I do.”
“Do you?”
“You were only barely conscious, the Prophet told me. You could barely make rhyme or reason of any situation. You managed to slowly shave the sane part of you away, store it in pieces before madness fully took over. It’s… impressive, really. Not many would have had the presence of mind to do what you did while slowly losing your mind to the Mad God’s Divine Curse.”
King Baalrek just stays silent.
“Yet, neither the Prophet nor my master knows who killed you. Did you take your own life, perhaps? I would love to imagine such a proud individual as you not bearing with life anymore once you completely lost control.”
King Baalrek, despite being one fragment of his original soul before his death, knows the answer.
“You decided to spend your time like this, trying to rile me up?” the Infernal asks.
“You saved your descendant, Princess Iskara Drazhal, to the detriment of your pupil’s Karma. You have stayed selfish, Your Majesty. Even back then, so eager to have your legacy live on. And why?”
King Baalrek frowns.
She knows too much. She knew about Jacob’s legacy. But why did she ask so many questions about my past? Should I kill her? No, Jacob Cloud’s Karma would be stained too heavily. But I have a bad feeling about this.
Nimirea walks toward the Elven Prince, who walks backward, scared out of his mind.
“Wait! Help me, Infernal! Please! I will do anything—“
“If he does, his pupil’s Karma will suffer too much,” Nimirea laughs and then, with a swift blow, snaps the man’s neck.
King Baalrek sighs.
“Happy, little angry girl? Is your grudge, your thirst for revenge, sated? Or is it a thirst that will never end, like a basin whose ground is too porous and can’t be filled with water since all the water it receives will be soon drained away?”
“I didn’t take you for a poet,” Nimirea says, rustling in the clothes of the Royal Prince. “You know,” she continues, as her hands grab at something, “I had this man find something through an auction—something I knew he would buy. But it can only be activated through a blood sacrifice, which now we have.”
Nimirea takes out a simple wooden stake from the Elven Prince’s pocket and then swiftly stabs it into his corpse.
Initially, King Baalrek doesn’t understand what she’s just done. Then, however, the blood of the Prince starts trickling to the ground and spreading at insane speed all over, coating everything in red, as a familiar, terrifying presence fills the first room of the Celestial Tower. Now, understanding what’s happening, he dashes for the exit.
* * *
The cerulean walls and floor turn the color of blood as the blood from the Prince trickles to the ground and Nimirea feels a terrifying force trying to make its way through her mind. She inhales slowly and strengthens her defenses against the Madness.
Baalrek has sprinted toward the Dungeon’s entrance, but the moment the blood of the Prince touched the floor, his fate was sealed.
“I thought this would interfere with whatever Jacob was looking for, you know?” she says while Baalrek claws at the now-closed entrance, desperate. “I was planning on having the Prince succumb to his greed and activate on the last floor, moments before we reached the Skill that the other Soul Fragment of yours holds. That would have corrupted the Soul Fragment and, as the Prophet foretold, the Skill. But I didn’t know Jacob had been relying on you—a willing, helping Soul Fragment of the Mad King.”
Baalrek’s aura explodes as the red around him tries to ensnare him and he starts punching the wall, making the entire Dungeon tremble.
Jacob’s body fights violently against the red as it slowly crawls upon its skin and pierces it.
“And here I thought everything had been for naught. No, it appears that this Dungeon run is going to be the most exciting of my life, isn’t it, Mad King?”
Nimirea rejoices as she sees that Jacob’s eyes—Baalrek’s, really, at the moment—go wide and his mouth opens in a shout, one silent vowel that gets crushed in his throat.
* * *
I wake up looking up at a reddish ceiling, smooth, without a wrinkle. Yet, the first feeling that invades my perception is this wrongness.
King Baalrek, what happened? I ask internally, slowly sitting up.
I know that he took over when Nimirea almost killed Iskara. I know because I gave him permission myself. Now, though, I have no idea what’s going on as it already happened the first time the ancient Infernal took over. When that happens, I completely lose any sense of space or consciousness.
King Baalrek? I ask again.
I hear sharp clacking sounds on the floor and I see Nimirea strutting toward me with a smile on her face.
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My blood runs cold.
“You woke up, finally,” she says with an ever-so-happy smile.
I stay silent, not willing to give anything away. But I know she must have done something. Also—I turn to look around—I suppose this is the Celestial Tower, right? Why is it so red?
“You don’t know what happened, do you? Your consciousness can’t coexist with your master’s once he takes over.”
I look at Nimirea with an unreadable expression.
We just look into each other’s eyes and now that I know who she really is, the beauty of her traits just seems plain evil.
“He’s gone,” she says after a beat.
I don’t reply.
“Your master, Baalrek, he’s gone.”
I get up and look around, ignoring her.
“We’re trapped in until we complete the Dungeon, Jacob. The Royal Prince,” she says, and suddenly an exsanguinated, pale body appears on the ground from her Interspatial Ring, “I had planned on using him to trap us until the tournament. I had him find a piece of the Mad King’s cross—“
She stops to look at me and I guess my confusion gave me away.
“Oh, you don’t know the story, do you? It only makes sense that your master wouldn’t tell you. Well, allow me, then.”
Nimirea puts the body away.
“Your master crucified a reincarnation of the Mad God while trying to kill it for good. Killing Gods, you see, is a very tricky business. What happened was that the Mad God knew he couldn’t win against Baalrek and used this death to curse one of the worst enemies of his. He knew he would come back eventually, and he just used that life of his to ruin Baalrek’s. Gods can easily come back after death—mortals and immortals alike, instead, very rarely can. What your master achieved, in fact, splitting his soul into sane fragments, is an achievement hard not to understate.”
She could be lying, but… Why would she?
“So, where’s King Baalrek now?”
“He got ripped out of your soul by the madness, which returned him to the other Soul Fragment. Now, they’re both ruined and… well, your master’s gone.”
I nod slowly.
“Ok.”
“Ok?” Nimirea says, puzzled. “What do you mean ok. I just said your master—“
“He might be dead,” I say. “What, you want me to cry?”
“You’re so callous, Jacob,” Nimirea says, surprised. “I took you for a more sentimental man.”
“What’s your next move,” I ask, looking down at my Interspatial Ring.
It’s still there.
There’s an inkling of a plan that starts forming after the information that Nimirea gave me.
“I told you, you must finish the Dungeon and confront the Mad King himself, Jacob, while I watch you try. There’s no other way.”
“Poetic,” I say, taking out a few Skill Crystals from my Interspatial Ring.
“What are you doing?” Nimirea asks, frowning.
“You just said you want me to see clear this Dungeon alone, right? I haven’t absorbed the Skill Crystals from the auction and the one I got from Professor Veythra. I was waiting.”
Name: Jacob Cloud
Class: Infernal Architect – Lv. 200
Core Skills:
Hellbane’s Sword – Lv. 100 (Platinum – Offensive)
Flame Slash – Lv. 100 (Gold – Offensive)
Flame Shield – Lv. 100 (Gold – Defensive)
Flame Armor – Lv. 100 (Gold – Defensive)
Infernal Veins – Lv. 100 (Platinum – Constitution)
The Grimoire Extraordinaire (Rainbow – Support)
Class Skills:
Furnace Core (Passive) – Lv. 100
Flameform Blueprint (Active) – Lv. 100
Infernal Thread (Passive) – Lv. 100
Ember Keystone (Active) – Lv. 79
Architect’s Insight (Passive) – Lv. 100
Hellspire (Active) – Lv. 100
Ignition Array (Active) – Lv. 91
Attributes:
Strength (STR): 375
Dexterity (DEX): 512
Endurance (END): 273
Vitality (VIT): 512
Intelligence (INT): 1024
Spirit (SPI): 1024
Wisdom (WIS): 719
Charisma (CHA): 18
Luck (LCK): 10
Unassigned Points: +30 Free Attributes
Other Skills:
Minor Cookery – Lv. 34 (Iron)
Greater Night Vision – Lv. 100 (Gold)
Light – Lv. 100 (Bronze)
Expert Pickaxe Mastery – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Greater Mineral Sense – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Mana Well – Lv. 100 (Gold)
Vibrational Hyperawareness – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Heavenly Intuition – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Platinum Grip – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Expert Endurance – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Expert Strength – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Infernal Wings of Ash – Lv. 100 (Gold)
Web of Withering – Lv. 100 (Gold)
Shadow Blade – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Diavolo Draw – Lv. 100 (Gold)
Black Flame – Lv. 100 (Fusion Skill – Platinum)
Blood of the Ancients – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Tribulation of the Damned – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
First Step of Mephistus – Lv. 77 (Platinum)
Sigil of Baal – Lv. 75 (Platinum)
Hellish Reversal – Lv. 80 (Diamond)
Greater Fire Resistance – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Shard Dominion – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Greater Striking Rhythm – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
Quake Balance – Lv. 100 (Gold)
Greater Fault Line Instinct – Lv. 100 (Platinum)
“You have the Grimoire on your hands and you take it this easy? Why not train them immediately?”
“I was waiting for instructions from King Baalrek. Since you…” I cut myself off and just absorb the Skills. Thankfully, I maxed Shadow Blade. Will you let me absorb the Skill Crystals or do you want me to die in the Dungeon?”
“I fear that if I stopped you from absorbing them and you died like a dog, not only would my Karma be impacted. But I wouldn’t be able to take the Rainbow Skill from you.”
“I would love to know how that works,” I say. “People can just rip Skill off bodies? For free?”
“There’s no free meal in the world,” Nimirea says. “You have no idea about the price one pays even just to—“
“So dramatic, I say,” looking at the notifications.
[Three Skills have been consumed.]
[Shadow Blade – Lv. 100 (Platinum)]
[Hellbane’s Sword – Lv. 100 (Platinum)]
[Black Flame – Lv. 100 (Fusion Skill – Platinum)]
[You have learned Hellraiser Sword (Diamond)]
[Hellraiser Sword will gain additional effects based on the Skills you consumed.]
[Two Skills have been consumed.]
[Flame Slash – Lv. 100 (Gold)]
[Diavolo Draw – Lv. 100 (Gold)]
[Diavolo Hypercut (Platinum)]
[Infernal Wings of Ash – Lv. 100 (Gold) → Hell’s Broken Wings Lv. 1 (Platinum)]
[Web of Withering – Lv. 100 (Gold) → Embrace of Darkness Lv. 1 (Platinum)]
I hear Nimirea grinding her teeth.
“Dramatic? Do you even know what I sacrificed to be—“
“You sacrificed it yourself because you wanted to sacrifice it, right?” I ask, looking at her.
“What?”
“You did sacrifice it because you wanted to sacrifice it. Yes or no?”
“Yes?”
“Alright, then why do you need to convince me about it? Are you not sure it was the right call to side with the people who call themselves the Dark Champions?”
“What are you saying?” she asks.
“I’m saying that for someone so convinced of your crusade, you seem awfully dependent on my approval—on the world’s approval, I suppose. You want me to say, oh my, Nimirea, you sacrificed so much. You’re such a pitiful woman for having given so much. You almost need me to recognize that. Without the almost, I suppose.”
“You think you can talk to me like that just because I won’t snap your neck on the spot?” she says, narrowing her eyes.
“You and your goons,” I say, looking at the first room of the Dungeon. “You—and I suppose your goons as well—are just so eager to steal Skills because you think we didn’t get them rightfully. And you’re ready to maim and kill and do all kind of wrongs that you justify with a higher purpose.”
“We do have a higher purpose,” Nimirea barks. “Do you know what that tyrant of a Headmaster forces upon the world?! What the System does?!”
“You could have fought without involving innocents. It seems to me you like to lash out, to kill because you feel deprived of something. Did I do something to you other than having the Skill you want? Because it seems to me like you’re just trying to build a bunch of justifications as to why you want to rip it from my dead body. At least, be a good villain: be like, fully evil. There’s much more dignity in a Monster God that wants to swallow the world than a bunch of neglected children lashing out.”
“You have no idea—“
“I saw kids crushed in tunnels, crying out and being reassured by their mothers who knew they’d die in a matter of hours, with the only thing those women could do for them was sing a lullaby and dry the tears from their cheeks. I saw fathers taking to a bottle and letting their children die of starvation or… worse. I saw things in a small village that would let you understand why the horrors you have inflicted to yourself are just as selfish drive. If you feel so deprived by the world, stop sacrificing yourself and start loving the little heart you got left.”
Nimirea opens her mouth but nothing comes out of it.
I pass by her side and say, “let’s go. I’ve got many floors to clear.”
