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I strode through Fuegin's dungeon.
I hated that it came to this. I always worried that Fuegin would stab me in the back, but I hoped that his hand of friendship was real. He was the first that came to me. He inspired me to extend the hand of friendship to Siwang and Munjan.
And Lucas, as much as I hated that he made copies of Maya, Garnet, Crystal, Hagane, Alizee, Morana, and Nina Naughty.
Betrayal I feared would happen, and we had almost come to blows over him taking Fara prisoner, but we had come to an agreement. He would support me. Now, to attack me with this other dungeon builder the moment the trap the Gods laid for me in the other world triggered was not a coincidence.
I didn't know everything that was going on, and it was frustrating.
Ahead, Amante stepped around the corner. Fuegin's wife glowed with her inner fire. Lava dripped over her curvy body. She was a beautiful woman, even made of volcanic stone. The cracks enhanced her beauty.
“He's waiting for you,” Amante said instead of attacking. Grief twisted her obsidian face. “Please, set him free.”
“How?” I asked, confused.
“Kill him!” she screamed and thrust up her hands. Volcanic fire erupted from her. “They have enslaved him! You must kill him!”
“Strong and durable, let the strength of Lord Nabu shield!”
Metal Shield, Beginner Magic, was enough to block the attack. I had to kill him. There was no choice. My dungeon was still being invaded. A force of Fuegin's monster girls had occupied an outpost far to the south. It would take days for anyone to reach it and clear it. Days when I would have almost no monster girls, exposed and vulnerable.
Killing Fuegin was the fastest way to save everyone sworn to me.
“Who enslaved him?” I demanded as I marched closer to her.
“The Company!” she hissed. “Through the elves. You can't stop it! He has no choice.”
The Company? “Who are they?”
She gathered more fire and howled, “It doesn't matter! Bastards! They've forced him to kill you, so you have to kill him. Please!”
Her fire shot out at me.
“The power of the tide crushes, let the might of Lord Enki drown!”
Tidal Surge swept out from me, striking her fire and engulfing it before slamming into the Fire monster girl. The water boiled into steam, cooling her volcanic body. The water vanished as she fell to the ground so hard and brittle that she shattered.
The pieces burst into motes.
She wore a smile, though. One of hope.
“Fuck,” I muttered and marched on.
\ / *
Fuegin waited for Leo.
The binding forced him to do this. He just wanted the release from it. Death was the only way out. Either he would die at Leo's hands, or he would kill Leo and die at the hands of the elves. They just waited to shatter his crystal. Even now, one of their warriors stood by to do just that.
Fuegin had his final orders. So he waited in his throne room. It was close by. He had moved it, hoping that this would come, that Leo would kill him. The young man was better than Fuegin in every way. Every bit of Fuegin wanted to let Leo kill him, but the command pressed down on him.
KILL LEO WITHOUT RESERVATION
Fuegin had no choice.
Leo marched closer and closer, dispatching the last of Fuegin's companions. No more monster girls were in this part of the dungeon. They were hundreds of miles away. He had summoned them, of course, and they were rushing to him, but they were days away.
This would be settled in the next few minutes.
Leo paused.
“Come on,” muttered Fuegin, staring at the red dot. “Kill me.”
\ / *
I advanced slowly through the dungeon when Smerta sent, “The monster girls with the adventurers are dead.”
“You weren't able to capture them?” I asked.
“They never made it to us,” she answered. “The adventures died, then the monster girls died. I do not know how.”
What the fuck?
I considered that for a moment. Did the monster girls kill the mortals? I frowned and continued forward, floating over the dungeon floor. That was the safest using Fly. There could be traps. I had yet to find any, but that didn't mean I wasn't being baited into lowering my car.
“Leo, Fuegin is being controlled by a ritual the elves made,” Siwang sent.
“I know about the ritual,” I answered.
“I have neutralized the other builder,” continued my friend. “Fuegin is all that remains.”
Did this neutralized builder order his own monster girls to kill the adventurers? There was a puzzle here, but it really didn't matter now. I floated around the corner and came face-to-face with a pair of heavy, metal doors.
The sort to a throne room.
I studied them then pressed my hands against them. They were unlocked. I shoved them open.
Fuegin sat on his throne. He was a tall man. Normally, his skin was bronze, but today it was made of stone, his protective spells active. Flames burned in place of his eyes. He had changed himself with the power of the Void Crystal. He rose from his throne, a cloak of fire spilling over the pauldrons of his metal armor. His normally friendly smile was gone.
The burning pits that were his eyes seemed... anguished.
He didn't stand as strongly. As straight-backed. He was a broken man.
“I'm sorry,” he croaked.
My heart sank. I nodded. I had to kill him, or he would keep invading my dungeon. I didn't even know how to undo this ritual spell the elves cast on him. Maybe Fara knew, but there just wasn't time. I steeled myself.
The doors boomed shut behind me.
He screamed in anguish, “The waves rage, let the seas of Lord Enki protect!”
Chapter Seventy-Six
Fuegin cast Azure Dance.
A massive wave swept toward me. There was nowhere to escape the deluge. It rushed toward me. I landed on the floor as I came up with a plan. The water towered over me, the top breaking into froth as it swept to drown me.
“Stone and flesh become one, let the love of Lady Ki meld!” I chanted.
Stonemeld engulfed my body. I melted into the floor, flowing into the stone pavers. I plunged into darkness, but I could sense the world through the stones. The wave crashed over where I stood, shaking the room. I surged forward.
Then a massive quake shook the room.
The stones that I flowed through clamped down on me. I screamed in pain as my Granite Flesh protection shattered. I was forced up into the room to find massive cracks ripped through the floor, and the map screen shattered. He must have cast Quake.
“Light burns, let the incandescence of Lord Shamash shine!” Fuegin screamed before I could react.
The massive light engulfed me. Static Aura discharged, fending off the light. I squeezed my eyes shut against the radiance. It still hurts me. My Beginner defense wasn't enough to fully protect me from Incandescent Burst.
“Cruelty of ice, let the freezing might of Lord Anshar spread!”
Fuegin cast Hoarfrost as I blinked back the agony in my eyes. The world became ice around me, which slammed into me. It ripped through my armor and snuffed out the Flamebody. I clenched my fists as pain flashed through me.
He cast spells so fast. So fluid. I had to react.
“Flesh to steel, let the gift of Lady Nisaba transmute!”
I cried out, using Steel Body to turn myself into metal. My body hardened at one to protect me from the damage, even as Fuegin screamed out his next spell.
“Lightning explodes, let the destruction of Lord Enlil detonate!”
Electric Detonation exploded before me, a spiderweb of lightning that reached for me, but I was already spitting out my next spell, Ball Lightning. It came naturally to me. This was my inherent Element. The one the incarnation gifted to me.
“Crackling fury, let the lightning of Lady Uttu transform!”
I became a ball of crackling plasma and thus immune to the spell crackling through the throne room. I shot forward at Fuegin and crashed into him, only his Static Aura discharged. The current threw me back. I spun through the air and floated in place.
Fuegin: “I'm so, so sorry!” Fuegin cried, pain twisting his stony face. “I believed in you. I knew you would be the one. They chained me! A trap to any builder that enters their woods. You must kill me, or they will make me kill you!”
With crackling snaps, I demanded, “How can I save you?”
Fuegin answered with Fire Mines: “Flames delayed, let the fury of Lord Gibil erupt!”
The glowing balls of flames appeared throughout the room. They would trigger if I came to close to them. Or if one appeared feet away. It detonated at once, engulfing me in flames and devouring the lightning wreathing me.
I hit the ground and bounced. My metallic body clattered as I rolled into another of the Fire Mines. It exploded, the heat melting through Steel Body. I screamed in agony as it rolled me to the right. I groaned as I came to a rest, the metal spilling off my body. I was flesh and blood.
Unprotected.
“Death slays, let the finality of Lord Nergal despoil!”
Fuegin sent Blight at me. The most powerful Death spell. It filled the area with a black miasma that rushed at me. I had nothing to protect me from it. Once that fog reached me, I would wither and die in moments.
“Flesh to steel, let the gift of Lady Nisaba transmute!”
So I became steel again.
I stood as the black mist washed over me. I growled as it held back Death, but I was still a living creature inside all this steel. It was reaching through the metal. I groaned as it sapped my life faster than Healing Aura could keep it at bay.
I had to flee, but the miasma covered the entire room.
I felt the stones beneath my feet. I had Stone Meld still going. It was an enchantment. I melted into the stone and “swam” through the stone. The pain stopped at once. Healing Aura did its work as I surged for the walls and went upward toward the ceiling.
If he cast Quake, it would be on the floor. If I felt anything moving, I had to be ready for him. Something rumbled beneath. He had cast Quake. I pressed my face against the ceiling and peered down. Dust rose from the floor. It was cracked even worse. The dungeon could take this damage, but any other building would have collapsed.
“The entire elf fucking nation!” he shouted, gripping his head. “Those damned woods. They performed a ritual! Massive! Don't go there, Leo! They will enslave you!” He gripped his throat with his fingers as if forming a collar. “Chain me! I'm sorry! I wanted to see it. I wanted to see you save the Incarnation.”
His words hurt. The pain of them tore at me, but... I could not die. Too many people would perish with me. The Incarnation would not be saved. The fucking Gods would win. I knew they were behind this madness.
It was all too carefully designed. A trap to hit me just as this attack hit.
So I whispered, “Mirror and reflect, let the brilliance of Lady Sherida copy.”
Illusory Doppelganger made a copy of me while turning me invisible. The copy dropped to the floor, controlled by me. It landed to Fuegin's right. I saw through its eyes. He whipped his head around, his burning eyes growing darker into coals.
“Color of life fades, let the shadows of Lord Zuen leach!”
Colorleach was a nasty Darkness spell that killed by drawing out the hues of life from a creature. The illusion reacted, blanching. It wouldn't last long beneath that spell. Fuegin would expect me to be in pain, though, so...
“Thunder bursts, let the passion of Lord Ishkur explode!” I shouted through the illusion.
Aural Assault exploded before Fuegin. He flew back from his throne, the chair ripped to pieces. His armor ripped apart as he landed, his stony flesh cracked and damaged from the spell. I had to press the attack.
“Death slays, let the finality of Lord Nergal despoil!”
I cast Blight on him.
The black mist swept over him even as my illusion failed. Fuegin screamed from the midst of it. I couldn't see him. He was lost to the vapor that had engulfed his body. I cycled through what spell to cast next.
“The earth heaves, let the fury of Lord Abzu rumble!”
Quake struck the ceiling.
It exploded.
I shot out of it before I was hurt, falling to the ground with chunks of rock. I had a Fly, so I didn't fall for long. Instead, I cried out the words to Twister.
“Winds swirl, let the rage of Lord Anu rampage!”
The tornado swept down into the fading mist of Blight, rushing at Fuegin. It would devour him. Fling him apart. His stone skin was gone. He was his bronze and muscular self. The howling vortex sucked at him, drawing him toward it.
“Crackling fury, let the lightning of Lady Uttu transform!”
He became ball lightning and zipped out of the way of the twister. The whirlwind swept over where he had been and struck the wall. I glanced around the room. Fuegin was surrounded by more Flame Mines. They were all ready to go off.
If I made a mistake, one could catch me, so I cast Living Fire.
“Flames consume, let the passion of Lady Lamashtu transform!”
A spell that was much more powerful than Flamebody. I was fire now, and horribly vulnerable to Azure Dance. A risk. I dropped to the floor near a mine that exploded. Fuegin whipped his head around as the fire concealed me. I smiled as another idea hit me.
“Flames delayed, let the fury of Lord Gibil erupt,” I muttered and cast my own Flame Mines.
I centered them on Fuegin's own. The one near him detonated, engulfing the ball lightning. He flew out of it like I had earlier. He came to a rest and cried out his next spell.
Azure Dance.
“The waves rage, let the seas of Lord Enki protect!
The water swept through the room. I was too close to him this time. It engulfed me in moments. Living Flame boiled in the water. Snuffed out. The spell ended. I was caught in the deluge and swept back. Fire Mines exploded, but the water suppressed them.
I hit the wall with a grunt. Living Flame had taken the brunt of the damage.
Fuegin screamed, “Awaken my flesh, let the monstrous power of Lady Ianna shape!”
Monstrous Shapechange?
To my shock, his body expanded into a red-scaled beast. A fiery dragon. Wings spread wide as his neck grew long. Saliva dripped from the sharp fangs that filled his maw. He wasn't as big as an ancient dragon, but he was bigger than Isatu.
I was confused. He couldn't cast spells in this form. Yes, he could destroy me with ease, but I had access to my magic. Did he know something that I didn't? I wasn't certain. I had to come up with a plan right now, because...
Fuegin the Fire Dragon focused his reptilian eyes upon me and belched flames.
“Lightning flashes, let the passion of Lady Uttu fly!”
I teleported clear with Electric Jump and landed on the other side of the room. The dragon was huge. He swept at me with claws that would rend my flesh. I cast the teleporting spell again. Flames chased me as I appeared across the room.
He lunged at me, jaws open to snap down on me.
“Darkness flows, let the shadows of Lady Ninazu bleed!”
Dark Blood. An Ultimate Darkness Magic that turned my blood into corrosive shadows. It was a dangerous spell because it would only hurt Fuegin if he made me bleed. I dove out of the way of his jaws. I landed by his side.
His wing swept out and struck me, flinging me across the room.
I shouted, “Awaken my flesh, let the monstrous power of Lady Ianna shape!”
I used Monstrous Shapechange to become a lightning dragon. My body expanded. My neck grew longer. My perspective shifted. Fuegin growled as he faced me, fire spilling out of his maw. Electricity crackled through me. The charge rose into my throat.
I breathed lightning.
The blast slammed into the fire exploding from Fuegin's maw. The energy crashed and hissed, swirling in the air before us. He growled at me. I snarled back at him. We could not cast spells in this form.
It was only a fight to the death now.
We lunged at each other.
Our wings flapped, hurtling us at each other. Our massive bodies crashed in the middle of his throne room. The ground shook. Our claws raked down each other's bodies. He tore into my side. Pain exploded through me.
He roared in agony as my corrosive blood sizzled on his claws.
I bit at his neck, teeth scraping over armored scales. He sank his teeth into my shoulder only to hiss in pain and rip back. His mouth smoked as I ripped into his flesh. Blood spilled into my mouth. He didn't have the same protection. My claws tore into the muscles around his wings. I struck his ribs, gouging bones.
Healing Aura slowly healed my damage. My wounds closed as he rent down me again. He roared in agony and ripped back from me. I held a mouthful of his flesh. Blood spurted from his neck. He snarled in pain.
Smoke spilled from his mouth. His claws sizzled. One fell off. Another shattered. Blood spilled from the wound to his neck and the terrible rents down his sides. One wing went limp. He growled. I snarled. My wounds ached, but they healed.
His didn't.
He never cast Healing Aura before the fight.
It struck me with realization. They ordered him to kill me, not to survive.
I snarled in pain. I couldn't talk in this form. I couldn't take one last chance to try and change this.
Fuegin roared, and flames exploded from his mouth. They stuck my body, spilling over my clothes. The heat melted scales. My right wing collapsed. I growled as the agony assaulted my body everywhere.
I tanked the breath and drew in my own lightning. My wounds would heal.
Electricity exploded from my mouth and struck him in the side of the head. The crackling energy threw back his head. His eye boiled and smoked. He hissed in pain, stumbling back. Crimson poured over his red scales. Pools of blood dripped on the shattered floor around him.
He snarled and drew in a breath to breathe fire again.
I belched lightning.
The blast struck his wounded neck. He howled in pain as his body convulsed, the current racing through his flesh. I rushed forward and leaped at him. He turned his head, flames dancing around his teeth.
Flames engulfed me.
My claws swept out and struck his maw. As the fire burned me, searing me with such torment, I ripped off his lower jaw. His head wrenched back. His claws swiped out. Damaged by my acidic blood, one shattered when it hit my chest.
The other ripped into me. My dark blood spurted out, melting his paw. Fuegin stumbled back. His body shimmered. The spell ended. He became a broken, battered human. His neck torn open and charred, his fingers half-melted, his lower jaw missing.
He couldn't speak.
He couldn't cast spells.
He turned into a dragon so he could follow the command to kill me while giving me an advantage, I thought. Dark Blood made the difference. Or I could have assaulted him with Water magic. Death magic. I could have used a multitude of different spells against a large creature. He couldn't dodge. Couldn't defend himself.
I became human, my body screaming in pain. Healing Aura attacked the wounds, but they were severe. I reached out my arm, my flesh charred in places, and took Fuegin's melted hand. He stared up at me, his eyes dark coals now.
“You're a good man, Fuegin,” I said. Some of the pain melted from his face.
It was over. Tears stung my eyes.
“I'm sorry I couldn't save you,” I whispered, the grief overwhelming me.
\ / *
Fuegin stared up at Leo, the young man injured but healing. Tears spilled down his burned face.
The better man won, Fuegin thought.
The compassion to kill Leo still held him, but his body was too broken to fight now. Peace fell on Fuegin. He was dying. Fifty years, he had fought against this moment, but now that it was here, he felt no fear.
He knew that this world would be in better hands. Fuegin had made a mess. He had hurt so many people with his ambition. Shattered so many lives. The pain faded from his flesh as his life retreated from him.
“Fuegin,” Leo whispered.
It was fine. Leo would carry on. He would save the Incarnation.
I just wish I could have seen it.
His vision darkened. Leo leaned over him, speaking, but the words were so distant. Fuegin's eyes closed. The pain vanished from his body. It all slipped away. The cold stones beneath his back. The warmth of Leo's hand.
He floated in a Void.
A darkness so complete it should frighten him, but there was only the peace of rest here. And he wasn't alone. Others were around him. He couldn't see them, but he could feel them. One came closer to him, touching his essence.
Amante, his wife
Then another presence. Liegra, his childhood friend. Regara, his sexy MILF. More and more came. All his twelve companions he summoned, even the ones he had claimed from builders. The ones that had lived with him and served him for fifty years.
They were all with him.
They were all together, along with even more. The monster girls he created. The ones he spun out of the voids. The first hellhounds to the seraphim and all those in between. Thousands of his servants whom he had given existence with a word.
A name.
They were all with him.
They all slept with him and joined him in his dream.
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Mrs. Zoe Maia felt something terrible as she fought the zombies.
“Leo!” she screamed.
The zombies all collapsed around her.
She spun and stared down the street at the pile of corpses. Her lover needed her. She charged over their corpses, the rain softening. The clouds broke above. Moonlight spilled down onto the wet streets, reflecting in the puddles.
She reached the end of her street and darted across the main road to the park at the other end. She could see him lying on his back, his skin so pale. The connection between them felt so tenuous. He was so close to death.
“No!” she cried and dropped to her lover's side.
She touched his body. He was icy cold. The color had vanished from him. He faded from life. He had defeated Todlicht, but the bastard was dragging her lover down into the grave. Zoe refused to let that happen.
“Leo!” she cried and poured Life into him.
With it, she poured her love. The grasp of the grave was strong, a skeletal hand that clutched about him and yanked him down and down. She fought against it, pumping warmth into her lover. Her heart screamed in her chest.
She had her hand over his heart, wishing to feel a beat. He didn't breathe.
“You are not having him!” she cried.
Around her, the withered grass became green. Flowers blossomed in the moonlight. A tree rustled. Something sweet filled her nose. The scent of life. She drank it all in and poured that Life into her lover's dying body.
Live, live, live!
The skeletal hand tugged harder on him. The bony fingers dug into Leo's soul. She attacked them with rejuvenation. With rebirth. With the cycle of growth. She was his MILF. They had become one flesh, and he had started new life in her womb.
Death could not have him.
Would not have him.
She poured her great passion for her lover into his chest. She battled with that powerful grip. Her skin glowed with a green light. She leaned over him and pressed her lips into his. She kissed him, expressing her passionate love for Leo.
His heart beat.
Leo suckled in a breath.
Tears spilled from her cheeks.
\ / *
Death dragged me down into the darkness. Into the void.
A terrible cold. It was Todlicht's grip on me that yanked me down. Skeletal fingers dug into my flesh. They tore at me. I wanted to escape them, but there was no fleeing them. I had to escape, but I couldn't do it on my own.
Warmth washed through me.
Lips kissed me.
Mrs. Maia.
I felt her pouring her warmth into me. I shuddered as the earth swept through me. The skeletal hands snapped. The bones splintered. Then it fell away. I gasped as I floated in the void, surrounded by warmth.
I had to return, but...
A woman made of lightning blossomed in the darkness. She watched me as I rose up toward the life Mrs. Maia offered. I remembered her from a dream. That dream before I was struck by lightning. Was she the Incarnation?
Then my eyes opened to Mrs. Maia kissing him.
\ / *
Halia groaned as she crawled to Lord Leo. She reached for him, but she didn't have the strength. He was alive, though, kissing Mrs. Maia. She collapsed. The dead bodies around them were melting away. They didn't just rot, they dematerialized.
The life sweeping out from Mrs. Maia washed over everything, carrying it away.
His women rushed to him.
To her.
She was lifted up with him. They were carried. The moon shone bright above, reflecting Lady Sherida's light down on them. She smiled up at that sight. She was happy that she had done her duty. That Lord Leo
They carried the pair of them to the shattered house and upstairs to the beds. Halia felt a peace on her. The evil in the world was cleansed. Lady Sherida brought her to this world to protect her Lord, and she had.
Protected him in this world and the other.
Chapter Seventy-Eight
I wept over Fuegin's corpse.
The dungeon no longer felt alive. Hostile. It was just tunnels in the earth. Fuegin had passed on. I had no idea what that meant for him. Was he lost in the Void? Had his women chosen to serve me, or did they go with him... beyond.
I had a feeling I didn't have any new companions to summon, but plenty of new types of Level 1 monster girls that could serve me. I stared up into the air. The ceiling crumbled. Deep cracks ran through the floor. Scorch marks stained the walls.
My wounds healed. The pain faded.
I had won, and yet...
I wept.
“The dungeon is secure,” Smerta sent.
“I know,” I answered simply.
I stared at his body. This was his home. His dungeon. His tomb. That felt right. Later, I would do something more, but for now, I crossed his arms over his chest and rose. I was exhausted. I stumbled naked out of the place. I could fly, but that felt like too much effort.
I didn't even want to cast protective spells.
I walked out of the dungeon and into the mountains before my dungeon. Most of my monster girls were dead. I had survived a brutal attack on two fronts. I had done everything to save the world, but the ritual stalled.
Why had it stalled?
I felt like what stopped the ritual wasn’t connected to the trap that triggered and stuck me in the Void with my other self. No, there was something else I was missing. A component of the ritual I had to figure out. I didn't know what that was. I was too exhausted to care.
I passed into my dungeon.
I stepped into my home.
“Lord Leo!” a voice squealed.
Rounding the corner came Isatu. My fire dragoness scampered toward me, her dainty wings fluttering behind her. She wore such a smile on her scaled face. She was such a beautiful creature. Red scales like Fuegin, her yellow belly scales making a nice accent that Fuegin's dragon had lacked. He was a male, and male dragons didn't exist.
Were they supposed to once upon a time?
Isatu jumped into my arms before I could ponder that, though. Her big tits pressed into my chest, her nipples hard. Her enthusiasm spun me around. I gasped in delight, hugging her back. It was wonderful to have her in my arms.
“Lord Leo!” she gasped and peppered my face in kisses.
I held her to me, so glad to have her in my arms. She planted her lips on mine. I kissed the first dragon I had ever tamed. She clung to me. The Incarnation's granddaughter. She was such a cutie. I was so glad I had found her in the First Builder's dungeon.
I found her in the first dungeon because her father had seduced a fire dragon.
Why?
Why could Dungeon Builders bond dragons at all? They were native to this world. They could turn into humanoid forms, but they weren't the same as monster girls. I could revive Isatu, but when one died not bound to a dungeon builder, they left corpses behind.
I had bound so many of the dragons. Just trying to recover the swords had forced me into conflict with many of them. I had many of them. They were the embodiment of the twelve elements. The natural inheritors of them in this world.
No other creatures used them instinctively.
I frowned at that. Something sparked in my mind. What if—
“Leo!”
Maya's desperate cry tore at my heart and broke my train of thought. I broke the kiss with Isatu. She smiled and jumped out of the way so my undine could fling herself at me. Her watery form rippled as she wrapped her arms and legs around me. She kissed me with such passion.
I held her tight in my arms, glad she had survived. I wasn't quite sure how many of my monster girls I had to revive. It felt like the vast majority of them were in this part of the dungeon. My tongue danced with Maya's.
She broke the kiss and stared me in the eyes. “Big perv! You made me worry so much.”
“Sorry,” I said. “They laid a trap for me in the real world.”
“Todlicht?” she demanded. “That ass-munch?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But Bellia guided me back. I was stuck with the other me.” I gave a rueful smile. “He's not happy that the fallout from what I've been doing has been making his life more difficult over there. Sounded like... people were dying in our town.”
Maya sighed. “But he gets all of us, so I don't see what the problem is. He has Halia, too. Plus, he can even breed them. I can't have your kids. You know how much that sucks. You knocked up Bellia.”
“He did, Lady Maya,” Bellia said.
There was my paladin. She hovered nearby, naked, too. I set Maya down, smiling at her. She had saved me. She flung herself into me, her breasts piling into my chest. She was so warm, brimming with life. She had rescued me from darkness.
“Thank you,” I told Bellia. “Your faith saved me. Saved us all.”
“How could I ever lose faith in my hero?” she asked, hugging me tightly. She felt so good against me. “Mmm, you're amazing, Lord Leo. Just so wonderful. I'm happy to be yours.”
“So am I,” I said, my hand sliding down to her rump. I squeezed her butt-cheek. “We won.”
\ / *
Lord Leo entered the throne room with Maya clinging to one arm, Isatu to the other, and Bellia hovering around him. Such worry swept out of Fauraliiithiliana. Even knowing he had come to, seeing him standing there whole and hale was a relief.
“What happened?” Fauraliiithiliana asked as she approached him. “Do you have any ideas, Lord Leo?”
“The ritual fell because we didn't have everything,” he answered and glanced at Isatu. “We didn't have all the dragons.”
“Dragons?” Fauraliiithiliana frowned and looked around. “What do you mean, my Lord?”
“Twelve ancient dragons guard the twelve swords,” he said and laughed. “Something from this world to bridge the Goddesses. For any builder to get what he needed, the Gods would force you to kill what they also needed. I don't think they expected taming them by the dragon builders to be a possibility. We just have to have all of them. Siwang dealt with the dungeon builder who had control of Life, Fire, and Light, yes?”
“Yes,” Smerta said. “They were in the force assaulting his dungeon.”
“So we have them all,” Lord Leo said.
For a moment, hope surged through Fauraliiithiliana until she realized something. “But, my Lord, Fuegin slew the ancient Metal dragon when he took Parmia fifty years ago.” Her pointed ears drooped slightly. “So it is hopeless if we need the ancient dragons. There is no reaching the incarnation.”
Lord Leo glanced at Isatu and shook his head. “Meskalamdug had tamed a fire dragon. Not the one bound by the gods. I am not even sure that had happened yet. He knew he needed dragons. He's the Incarnation's son. He must have known something.”
“Where do we find a Metal dragon?” asked Fauraliiithiliana. “Adventures, especially heroes with the Blessed Blades, hunted them all down. They...” She trailed off as it made sense. “Yes, yes, the gods would not want dungeon builders to learn they could tame dragons.”
“Some must still be around,” said Smerta. “Fuegin had a Darkness dragon with his forces.”
“Yes, there must be a Metal dragon around,” Lord Leo said with more confidence than I could imagine. “The Incarnation would see to it. She put influence in this world before the Gods shut her off.”
“That does not follow,” Fara said.
Leo shrugged. “In Parmia. We have to search Parmia for the new one.” He yawned. “But that can wait. I have to revive my monster girls and restore the dungeon.”
“Then sleep,” Maya said.
He nodded.
\ / *
Maya watched Leo sleep.
Bellia stood guard over him. She wore her wooden armor and sword, the gifts from Lady Ianna. She stood over him, looking so proud that she had rescued him. Maya smiled at how cute she was and how relieved she was that they survived.
Leo had this mad idea about dragons, and that would be worth pursuing. The gods were still out there. They could come back to cause problems for them again. The monster girls were alive. Revived. All the towers were sealed right now.
The dungeon was as secure as it could be.
Leo was alive, though, and that was all that mattered. She was so glad to be standing over him. To be watching him. He would wake up this time. She slid into bed with him and hugged him. She trembled as the grief swept through her.
Her tears spilled down her cheeks and melted back into her watery body. She rested her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat. They were so close to this being all over. The gods defeated. The Incarnation saved.
She couldn't sleep, but she could sleep into a trance. As she lost herself to the rhythm of her heart, peace fell over Maya. Leo was safe.