"You lie." Hunter hissed, however, his voice was trembling.

Galahad laughed a quick chuckle and renewed his attacks without a word. It required a lot of focus not to use any actual combat styles he had relentlessly drilled. Lady Lavender's theory about Vestargo's bugs' adaptive abilities seemed correct. The bugs had abandoned their previous ambush tactics and begun to attack Arcadian forces mirroring the most basic tactics. It was a trap laid by the Emperor in which Vestargo's army had willingly and happily entered for weeks. The bugs' adaptability was, however, a double-edged sword. They copied the behaviour of their enemies without comprehension of its meanings and motives. They also lacked the tactical and strategic judgement necessary to correctly ascertain whether it was even worth copying the enemy.

The bugs had even started copying the simplicity of general Arcadian movements on the individual level. It was obvious that the simple bug brains couldn't differentiate between poor swordsmanship and a good one. They only focused on the effect of the clash of the two Armies. Naturally, they adapted to the simplified, or rather primitive, tactics used by the Arcadians who won every major and most of the minor battles. What the bugs couldn't see and, thus, learn was the unimaginable logistics behind each and every victory. Using primitive tactics successfully against a numerically superior foe wasn't easy and demanded careful planning before every battle. The key to each victory was knowing the enemy and its movements. Fortunately, the Emperor, from the beginning, decided that spies and espionage were the foundations of the Empire's military supremacy.

"Believe in what you like and want." Galahad blocked a wide cut of the mantis' blade and answered with a feint-thrust that changed into a cut on the impact.

The thin chitin armour of his opponent wasn't strong enough to withstand the blow from a Death Lord. The Aura of Death was crumbling the otherwise formidable defences of the Mantis Scion and negating its powerful healing ability. Galahad smiled as he noticed the fight for the room was almost over. Rango and Rukla were taking care of the last few blue mantises who must have been elite denizens. The mantises struggled to deal any damage to the far superior scions. Yet, Galahad recognised they tried to reproduce the Legions' line formation without realising it was useless without a shield wall.

Mantis hissed and jumped backwards, much further than it seemed possible and hunched over, bracing its blade legs. Galahad hid behind his aegis and observed the enemy as he carefully but confidently moved straight forward at his foe. Hunter leapt forward and spread his concealed wings, slightly surprising Galahad. The Death Lord realised he was aiming at Rukla who was turned away. Galahad tried to warn her but it was too late. The enemy scion cut across the back of the Dragonewt, just under her exposed wings. At first, a barrier flashed, stopping the attack for a moment but the spell wasn't strong enough to protect her. With a surprised gasp, Rukla was pushed tumbling to the ground, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

Galahad grumbled in displeasure and dashed towards Hunter. He bashed him so hard that the Mantis was thrown against the wall. The impact was so violent that it caved in the rock wall behind it. Hunter chittered painfully and spat out dark ichor before Galahad pierced him into the wall with his black sword. The Mantis screamed in horrific pain because the sword missed everything important inside so he wasn't killed. With growing terror behind his compound eyes, Hunter tried to free himself but it was to no avail. Galahad's sword was firmly embedded in the wall, holding the Mantis like an entomologist's pin. The fight was over. All the elite mantises Hunter brought with him crumbled to dust, leaving only him alive. The Arcadian forces lost a few warriors but their losses were insignificant.

"How is she?" Galahad asked without turning his gaze from Hunter.

"She will live... But, honestly, it's better to finish her off and let her respawn. Healing her completely will take nearly two weeks." Rango sighed while Rukla coughed and vomited her blood.

"It was a stupid mistake... I forgot to activate the shield runes in my armour." She admitted between her coughing fits.

"Stupid, indeed..." Galahad sighed.

"Kill me..." Hunter squirmed as he tried to move but he couldn't even move a bit in any direction.

"I'm not done with you pest..." Galahad snarled with disdain and looked at Rukla. "See you soon?"

"Yes... Sorry..." She sighed and a blue flame instantly consumed her body and equipment.

It was the last safeguard built into the armour of every scion in the service of the Arcadian Emperor. To avoid being captured alive, they had the means to painlessly self-destruct. Galahad looked angrily at the spot where she was and refrained from growling. It was supposed to be a secret and now Rukla showed it to the most important enemy scion. He had to salvage the situation.

"What have you done to me?!" Hunter shouted with fury. "Why can't I hear my Lord?!"

Galahad smiled. Hopefully, the barrier runes triggered before Vestargo could see the self-destruction of Rukla. Galahad ignored him and walked towards the Dungeon Core. It was silent and, judging by its size, it was still far from transcending. Galahad put his hand on the gem's surface.

"Submit." He simply ordered, knowing that his Lord was connected with Vanlin through his touch.

The gemstone trembled but it seemed to refuse his Lord...

•••

"Never!" Vanlin shouted at the Death Lord who couldn't hear him.

He rejected all the offers that bombarded his mind until they changed. At first, they were, admittedly, fair proposals but, gradually, they turned into more and more direct orders. He couldn't see the one behind the words yet, but it surely was the Grand Enemy. One who defied Lord Vestargo. One who burned the Holy Forest...

"My Lord... Help me..." Vanlin whispered seeing the newest news from the World's Words.

But, where, before, he had his Lord's never-ending chatter and affirming presence, now, there was silence and emptiness. The intrusive presence was only getting stronger with each of his refusals. The Enemy...

"Why are you so loyal to him?" The question came out of nowhere.

Vanlin was surprised to hear the voice of the Enemy. It was calm despite so many failures to subjugate him. Instead, he was amused.

"You would never understand!" Vanlin growled and tried to push away the enemy's presence.

"I won't if you won't even try..."

For a moment, he considered another attempt to break free, but then he hesitated. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure anymore why exactly he was serving his Lord. There wasn't a single thing or instance that was convincing enough to explain Vanlin's devotion. The pause extended uncomfortably and, with each moment, Vanlin was more and more speechless. All his confidence and conviction vanished as if they had never been his. But how was it possible? The enemy must have tricked him already.

"I follow Lord Vestargo because he is powerful and provides us all the mana we need." He finally replied without conviction.

"That's your only reason to allow him to enslave you?" The enemy's voice was baffled now.

"I... No! I... I-" Vanlin shivered.

He desperately tried to recall any situation of close discussion with Lord Vestargo but, no matter how hard he tried, it was in vain. It wasn't a mysterious emptiness or lack of memories at all, on the contrary, he recalled countless occasions where he listened to Vestargo's voice. But that was it. He spoke and Vanlin listened. He had to. He had no choice on the matter when the Lord of the Ancient Forest called his servants. Only to listen and obey. The more obedient he was, the more happiness he felt. A sudden realisation started creeping inside his soul and Vanlin felt a mix of anger and fear. The Enemy was patiently waiting and Vanlin wasn't sure if he was glad for his silence or not. Nonetheless, his silence emanated with amusement lined with pity.

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"I won't be convincing you of my cause or wasting my time on explaining that you are wrong." It seemed that his patience ran out.

"No... I- please wait..." Vanlin nearly panicked. "I... I'm confused. I don't know what I should believe anymore..."

"I can't give you time. It's the only thing I don't have during this unprovoked war." He refused but there wasn't any urgency or pressure in his voice.

"I..." Vanlin hesitated once again. "My name is Vanlin of Deadly Marsh Dungeon..." He gasped in sudden and deep shock. "No... No, no! That's not right. I wasn't a Marsh Dungeon!"

There was a long pause before the Enemy spoke again.

"What do you mean by that?" This time there was no sign of his previous amusement, only concern.

"I once was a castle overlooking many villages in my shadow. Hundreds of people were delving daily before... Before..." Vanlin couldn't remember. His voice waned and faltered as he almost plunged into despair. He lowered his voice to a whisper when the painful and horrible memories finally resurfaced. "Before the bugs came and destroyed the land and killed the people..."

"I'm sorry, Vanlin... I'm really sorry for your loss. I'm Theon Avalon, the Emperor of Arcadia. I don't know what happened to you, or what was done to you so you lost your memories or even sense. But know one thing. Millions of Mortals are under my protection as well as the Dungeons who pledged themselves to me. Vestargo and all who serve him are threatening my people. I won't let him enslave or kill them."

"I would like to believe you, but I don't know what is true anymore... Sir." Vanlin said with a choked voice.

"If you accept to be one of my Vassals, I can help you find the truth. If you stay loyal to Vestargo, I will imprison you within your own domain, and you will be tried and sentenced once this war is over. There is no third option." Theon said.

"I..." Vanlin looked at the newest vasalhood proposal displayed by the World's Words and noticed that it was one of the previous, very moderate options. Accepting it wouldn't harm him... "I accept."

He said with a weak voice and felt a distant gasp of shock.

'You traitor! I will kill you!' It was, undoubtedly, Vestargo's voice and it was full of spite and anger.

Meanwhile, Vanlin wondered how he could ever have thought of him as if he were benevolent and fair. He focused on Hunter, the scion of Vestargo, who stared at his core with fury and hatred. The scions of Arcadia were standing between them, while Galahad of Avalon menacingly walked towards the Mantis. Behind Hunter was a small, empty room that was assigned to be a prison. With a push that broke the stones behind Hunter's back, the Death Lord threw him into the prison.

"I won't kill you, pest," Galahad said in an ominous voice. "Have you forgotten that I said that you won't be able to capture any single one of us? Now you are in our custody..."

"You fool... Do you think my Lord will allow you to interrogate me?! Do you think that I will let you force me into compliance?!"

"It doesn't matter now." The Death Lord laughed, with a cold tone in his laughter. "Even if your lord destroys your spawner, you will persist. You can't hear him any more because you are in prison. We will break you, pest, and you will tell us every secret of your master."

The sudden silence was broken by the painful screams of the Mantis Scion. He nervously looked around, his gaze was unfocused and hazy.

"Hahahaha... The Master just destroyed my spawner, as you said. I will dissolve into nothingness and you will never learn anything about my Lord!"

"On the contrary..." Galahad seemed to smile coldly and Vanlin was shocked by the calmness of Avalon's scion. "It only means that you are mortal now, pest. The life you now have is your last one and unique so, once it ends, you will truly die. But as far as we know, you won't share the fate of Mortals, pest. You will dissolve into nothingness and simply cease to exist."

Vanlin watched as Hunter shivered. It was a tremor of fear he never expected to see on one of Vestargo's servants.

"It's really a shame I can't destroy your spawner as I promised to you but, nonetheless, we will spend some time together."

"Vanlin." He immediately snapped away from watching the two scions.

"Yes, Lord Avalon?"

"I will send you an entire battlegroup to protect you until you rebuild your grounds. Would you like to be a castle again?"

"Yes, my Lord." He smiled at the thought and immediately received a breathtaking plan of a truly massive fortress.

"Begin the construction immediately. Vestargo won't forgive you for what he believes is treason."

"I'm aware of that..." Vanlin agreed bitterly. For better or worse, he has chosen a side in this war. "I only hope I haven't made a mistake."

•••

It had been a week since they captured Hunter. Vanlin had gradually regained his memories and his initial hesitation had quickly changed into anger. It turned out that one of Vestargo's vassals, Gamas, was capable of suppressing memories. Well, not directly him, but one of his scions, a High Feý who employed Feý Contracts and brainwashing skills. It was a troublesome ability, but thanks to Hunter, we learned all its nuances and weaknesses. The Mantis remained adamantly loyal to Vestargo but, even so, Galahad managed to gather a lot of intel. Except for one thing. The most important piece of information. The location of Vestargo's Dungeon. Nonetheless, he was talkative enough to babble about many things that would be considered secret for any Arcadian. While he certainly wasn't cooperative, it was enough to stroke his pride, speak flattery about Vestargo's actions, or even question his abilities to make Hunter talk. The only catch was the low quality and high uncertainty of the acquired data. Fortunately, it was easy to verify if the Mantis was speaking the truth or feeding us disinformation.

Normally, Hunter would have vanished a long time before we could learn anything useful. His interrogation was only possible thanks to the prison. It was one of the Dungeon's rooms that seemed useless at first glance. It was very expensive and wasn't really needed since any room, with a good lock, would stop most of the people from escaping. However, it was invaluable if you wanted to interrogate enemy denizens or even scions who wouldn't be stopped by any ordinary lock. Since Hunter was our most precious catch during the entire war, I quickly ordered Vanlin to upgrade the prison to its maximum. As I suspected, the higher-level prison helped with interrogations while making escaping it nearly impossible.

Vanlin, who had shaken off the mind numbing effects of Gamas' scion's skills, quickly found a common language with O'llina and Simon. He renamed his domain to Fireclad Castle Dungeon and built appropriate spawners. The Fire Elemental Spawner and Manticore Spawner were very expensive but since Vanlin had enough mana for them in his treasury, I allowed him to build them. Both types of denizens were extremely effective against the bugs who, at this point, had focused all their attention on Vanlin. O'llina, who was suddenly left alone, quickly capitalised on the opportunity and carved away a huge chunk of the Ancient Forest. Vestargo, who suddenly had to deal not only with my Legions and Navy but the diverse forces of three different Dungeons, was quickly in full retreat. I had to stop my subordinates from getting drunk on their victory so as to not be too greedy with their expansions. I was sure that Vestargo counted on their overextension. After all, it was one of the oldest tricks in the book. Allow your enemies to spread their forces thin and then crush them with an overwhelming counterattack.

Vestargo's former slaves were a much bigger concern. Their psychological condition worsened with the degree of education we provided. They struggled with nearly every aspect of life. Some of them were, very slowly, adjusting to their new routines but it wasn't certain they would be able to overcome generations of conditioning. It was hard and painful to watch them become frustrated with mundane things like paying for goods or being unable to connect with our carefully selected group of Arcadian citizens. Despite everyone's understanding and patience, the people selected to help Vestargo's slaves failed miserably to find common ground and unifying topics. Even the contact with the former Bernan slaves wasn't as fruitful as we expected. For the High Elves and Squirrelkins, the typical problems and affairs of normal citizens of Arcadia were abstract. We weren't going to surrender or leave them be but, currently, we hadn't a single idea how to proceed.

At first, sending an entire regiment of the Guardsmen Corps to help the teachers teach the High Elves and Squirrelkins was seen as overreacting. When it became obvious that one regiment wasn't enough, increasing the number of soldiers was my natural idea of solving the problem. Obviously, it wasn't a problem that could be solved by throwing enough soldiers at it, but the orders were given and it was troublesome to change them. Somehow, the most elite Regiments of Arcadian Guardsmen ended up in the Wild Beast Dungeon which had become a temporary shelter for the freed slaves. The days turned to weeks when it was already certain that our attempts had failed.

But, as time passed by and weeks changed to months, the unexpected happened.

While everyone else came and went, the soldiers remained. Like a bulwark against evil, as I intended them to be, they tried to help in their own way. They couldn't offer much to the frightened and often frustrated people but they were always there. Encouraging them. Helping them. Life abhors a vacuum. Things, very quickly, took an unexpected turn... Or rather, very expected if we had considered it. Putting young and attractive women together with young and, mostly, single men who were known for their sense of duty and loyalty ended in many marriages. In a sense, the problem with the assimilation of the freed slaves into Arcadian society solved itself. The Guardsmen's wives could live in the garrisons and that basically solved the problems created by being free. Like every military, my army was ruled by its own set of rules which were far more appealing and approachable by the former slaves than being suddenly set free. So those who weren't interested in being married, quickly joined the Guardsmen Corps, completely solving the issue.

And leaving us with awkward smiles when something so seemingly impossible to solve, was solved, just like that...

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