When Kaelus returned to the Great Tomb of Nexus, stepping through his personal [Gate] into the throne room, it was to an atmosphere of absolute victory. The Theocracy's grand, two-pronged strategy had not just failed; it had backfired in the most spectacular and humiliating way possible.
His Guardians were already assembled. The four who had formed the "welcoming party" stood at the front, their mission accomplished. Between them, kneeling on the obsidian floor and bound by Flora's strongest, sleep-pollen-infused vines, was their prize: Zesshi Zetsumei. The "Certain Death" of the Theocracy was unconscious, her immense power completely subdued.
Beside her, on a velvet cushion presented by Rose, sat the pulsating orb of the World-Level Item, [Downfall of Castle and Country]. Its chaotic, reality-warping energy was being calmly suppressed by a small, localized gravity field generated by a gesture from the Archmage.
"The reports were accurate, my Lord," Rose stated with serene satisfaction. "The Black Scripture is in a full, panicked retreat. Their legendary Captain is now a mindless invalid, and their morale is completely shattered. They will not be a threat again for a generation."
"And the second team?" Kaelus rumbled, his gaze falling upon the captured God-kin.
"They were... dealt with," Boom said with a grin. "The small fries are now fertilizer for Flora's new swamp garden. And this one," he nudged Zesshi's unconscious form with the toe of his armored boot, "she was tough. A good fight. But she wasn't ready for a team effort."
Spidy materialized from the shadows, dangling the now-empty blessed satchel from a single finger. "The trinket was secured as you commanded, my Lord. It made a fuss, but Gravity put it in time-out."
Kaelus looked at the spoils of this short, decisive war. A broken enemy army, a powerful new prisoner, and one of the legendary twenty World-Level Items that had been brought to this world from Yggdrasil. The Theocracy had meant to deal him a death blow. Instead, they had handed him a treasure of immeasurable value.
"Awaken her," Kaelus commanded.
Flora snapped her fingers. The soporific effect of her pollen vanished. Zesshi's eyes fluttered open, her senses returning with a jolt. She found herself on her knees, bound and powerless, in a vast, terrifying throne room with a ceiling made of swirling galaxies. Before her sat the dark god she had been sent to destroy, surrounded by the very monsters who had so effortlessly defeated her.
Her pride, for a moment, outweighed her fear. "So," she spat, her voice laced with a defiant venom, "you've captured me. Are you going to kill me, demon?"
"Your life is of no value to me," Kaelus's voice echoed, cold and dismissive. "Your death is even less so. You are not a warrior to be executed. You are a resource to be analyzed."
He gestured to the World-Level Item. "This bauble your masters sent you to use. It is a powerful weapon. But it is indiscriminate. A weapon for fools who would burn down a city to kill a single man."
He then looked back at her. "You, on the other hand... you are a far more interesting weapon. A God-kin. A direct descendant of one of the Six. A being with the blood of a Player."
Zesshi's eyes widened. He knew what she was. He knew about Players. The stories were true. He was one of them.
"Your 'gods' were my peers," Kaelus stated, the lie flowing as smoothly as truth. "And they were weak. They played at being rulers of men and died, leaving their children to squabble over their leftover toys. A pathetic legacy."
He leaned forward, the pressure in the room increasing. "You possess great power, Zesshi Zetsumei. But it is wasted in the service of a stagnant, dying faith. You seek a worthy opponent, a battle that gives your life meaning. You will not find it among mortals."
He made her an offer, one that was both a threat and a promise.
"Serve me," he said, his voice a low, compelling rumble. "Swear your fealty to Nexus. I will give you what you truly crave. I will give you opponents worthy of your strength. I will give you a purpose beyond being a forgotten relic's guard dog. I will give you a chance to stand on the winning side of history."
Zesshi stared at him, her mind reeling. She had been raised on a doctrine of absolute human supremacy and devotion to the Six. But her own strength had made her an outcast, a monster feared by the very people she protected. Her deepest desire was not for faith, but for a challenge, for a superior being to whom she could submit, to find the one who could finally defeat her.
She had been defeated. Overwhelmingly.
And now, the one who had defeated her was offering her not death, but a place at his side. A chance to fight real battles. A chance to serve a god who was present, powerful, and active in the world.
Her life-long indoctrination warred with her deepest, most personal desires.
"And if I refuse?" she asked, her voice a near-whisper.
"Then you will be given to my Head of Research, a very curious woman named Gravity," Kaelus said, his tone utterly flat. "She is fascinated by your unique physiology. She will spend the next several centuries taking you apart, atom by atom, to understand the source of your power. You will find the process to be... educational, but not pleasant."
Gravity, standing nearby, gave Zesshi a smile that was all intellectual curiosity and held no warmth whatsoever. It was the most terrifying threat Zesshi had ever received.
The choice was simple: an eternity as a lab rat, or a new life of glorious battle in service to a true god of power. For a warrior like Zesshi, it was no choice at all.
Slowly, deliberately, she lowered her head, the vines binding her seeming to fall away as her defiant spirit was replaced by a new, focused submission.
"I... I accept, Lord Kaelus," she said, the words feeling strange and foreign on her tongue. "I will serve you."
Another powerful piece was added to his collection. The Theocracy's ultimate weapon was now his.
Kaelus then turned his attention to the pulsating orb on the cushion. [Downfall of Castle and Country]. A World-Level Item of immense destructive power. He could use it to destroy the Theocracy's capital. But that would be a waste. He had a far better use for it.
He looked at his new Queen. "Lilliana."
"My Lord?"
"This item destroys fortresses," he said. "My own fortress is... beyond its reach." He gestured to the Great Tomb around them. "But its power is chaotic. It can be... repurposed."
He focused his will, drawing on the immense pool of Divine Power he had gained from the dwarves. He did not try to wield the item. He began to unmake it, using his authority as a Player and his divine energy to deconstruct the World-Level magic it contained.
The orb began to glow with a brilliant, blinding light. The Guardians all braced themselves, but Kaelus held up a hand, his control over the process absolute. The raw, world-breaking power contained within the orb was being broken down, refined, and reshaped by his will.
Instead of an item of destruction, he forged its power into an item of protection.
The light coalesced into a single, perfect, softball-sized diamond. It pulsed with a gentle, steady light, containing all the defensive potential of the original item.
[Divine Artifact Created: The Heart of the Dominion]
[Type: Fortress Defense Core]
[Effect: When installed in the heart of a city or fortress, it projects a permanent, impenetrable defensive field. The field renders the entire structure and its inhabitants immune to all forms of physical and magical damage originating from outside the field. It is, for all intents and purposes, a permanent version of the stasis field Gravity deployed.]
He had taken the enemy's ultimate weapon and turned it into his own ultimate shield.
He floated the Heart of the Dominion over to Lilliana.
"Take this," he commanded. "Return to Lyria. Have your father step down and abdicate the throne to you, fully and formally. You are no longer just my Queen-Consort. You are the Queen-Regent of the Vassal Kingdom of Elysia. And you will install this Heart in the center of your capital."
He was giving her absolute authority over her old kingdom and the means to make it completely invulnerable.
"You will make Elysia a beacon," Kaelus declared. "A shining, unbreachable sanctuary under my protection. A place where humans can live in absolute safety, shielded by my power. It will be the greatest piece of propaganda we have ever created. A city of light that owes its existence to a god of darkness."
Lilliana stared at the pulsating gem, her mind reeling at the strategic brilliance of the move. He was turning her kingdom into a symbol of his benevolent protection, a lure for all the other frightened humans of the world.
"It will be done, my Lord," she said, her voice filled with a new, profound sense of purpose.
The holy war was over. The Dominion of Nexus had not just won. They had acquired a new general, a new ultimate weapon, and had laid the foundation for the next phase of their plan: the slow, inexorable absorption of all of humanity, not through fear, but through the promise of absolute, perfect safety under the reign of their one, true, Silent Sovereign.