Ophelia lay silent for a moment as she stared into the raging waters, pain still coursing through every centimeter of her body. She would have loved nothing more than to leave this damnable goddess behind and find Lust herself to tear their throat out to save her brother; however, the sad reality was her body was in shambles, and even if she were healthy, she didn't possess the needed power to combat a Master of Vice…

Not even the weird foreign power that helped hold her together would save her in the face of the monstrosity that was a Master of Vice.

Ophelia's mind was anything but clear, but her only path toward answers lay in conversation with the terrible goddess.

"What would you like to hear first?"

Ophelia rolled her head over toward the giant dam of corpses, then weakly asked:

"Fate… why did you say… it is his fate to die? Why can't you save him?"

The woman behind the waterfall was quiet for a moment, then spoke:

"Fate… something malleable and immalleable."

Ophelia watched as countless thin strands of water flowed up from the water and intersected before branching off.

"Fate is like a web with many branching and intersecting strands. As an oracle, I am able to see these Strands of Fate… in other words, I can see the possible futures."

The thin strands of water started at one endpoint and moved away, branching out, and those ends branched out into more.

"All of these possible futures lead to one inevitable conclusion hidden among countless others. One which not even I am privy to, as I can only clearly see the strands closest to the present – each strand becoming more vague as the branch recedes."

Diligence momentarily paused, then continued:

"While it may seem like my actions taken with knowledge of the future would change which conclusion this world marches toward… That conclusion has already been set because the future path has taken into account my ability and has been carved and influenced by decisions I've yet to make."

Ophelia coughed up blood as she wracked her brain over the non-essential, incomprehensible explanation…

'But what does this have to do with my brother? Why must he die?!'

"Though technically those choices haven't been made yet… If I tried to fight fate by way of suicide, then it would simply have been my fate to die, and I would have changed nothing… In any case, the point I wanted to convey is that I can see each possible future, and my ultimate goal is to guide the weave and destroy the unwanted conclusions."

'Her… choices?'

Ophelia watched one of the branches at the beginning shatter and fall, which caused a multitude of other branches to capitulate, and eventually, multiple potential conclusions dissipated.

"As for your brother… There exists no remaining strand, no situation, where he lives. His weave of fate has drawn its last branch. One with no branch beyond."

Ophelia had no choice but to doubt the words she heard.

"Was… was it always my brother's fate to die?"

The voice remained silent for a time, then responded in a measured tone:

"Of course, we all die eventually. But to answer what you meant… not all paths led to this conclusion; there once existed futures where he died as a baby, and those where he died much older. But those conclusions have dissipated and fallen, leaving but one remaining for him."

Ophelia stared listlessly for a moment. Then a multitude of emotions raged in her as she asked:

"D-did you purposely… choose to follow a future… where my brother… dies?"

The First Shrine Maiden was silent for a moment, but eventually spoke evenly:

"I'm just a guide. In the end, you made the choices you did. But as a result, the most hideous branches have been destroyed. If your brother lived past today, the destruction of the world would begin much sooner."

'My… choices?'

'So it was my fault…'

'I made the choices which led to my brother's death…'

"What would you like to hear next?"

Yet, Ophelia was no longer in the mood for conversation.

She simply fell on her back and let the tears flow, ruing the day she'd been born.

Diligence, noticing this, in a fiendish tone whispered one more line:

"While I can't save your brother, I can help you get back at Lust, his killer…"

***

[+1 Satisfaction]

'How curious…'

Vale looked off down the hallway as he sat back on the throne.

"No."

They'd just finished the second round, and Toy lay naked, sprawled on the floor by the base of the throne.

Vale took a few moments of his own to catch his breath before guiding his mind back on the path of progress.

Vale had 416 Aether remaining, well, technically 514, because he hadn't yet allotted Ximena her portion, but he wasn't going to go back on his word. Anyhow, it was now time to distribute the rest…

The first order of business was replacing the casualties.

Using 40 Aether, Vale summoned two warriors, one archer, and five workers.

In no time, the new forces of his Legion bounded out from the core and walked until they knelt right in front of Vale.

"For now, head down that path and take orders from a Warrior named Stacy."

The new Salome lookalikes nodded in affirmation.

"Understood."

Most of the new workers cheered.

"Baduh!"

One worker whimpered:

"Badu."

Then, they stood up and began sauntering in the direction Vale had pointed, and, well, the only exit to the room. Ximena rolled her eyes as she made way for the newbies to scoot by her without freezing to reach their predecessors. Most of the new members had escaped the room when Vale called out:

"Wait…"

The group stopped and turned.

"You… come here."

Vale pointed at a shy worker who'd been lagging behind the rest and was nervously looking around, afraid all to hell of the crystal owl and resting goblin.

"Badu?"

The timid imp pointed at itself, then gulped and shakily trudged back toward Vale.

Vale stared at the imp who looked identical to one from the previous generation…

"Your name… shall be Dickless Jr."

"Badu."

Giving a slight nod, the shy imp scampered away and rejoined its worker friends.

With that done, Vale finally decided to address what to do with the remaining 376 Aether…

It was clear who most of it should go to. There was still one more member of the Dungeon of Lust who'd yet to receive anything… Himself.

Vale accessed the system until the now familiar voice spoke in his head.

[Would you like to absorb 276 Aether?]

"Yes…"

A moment later, Vale couldn't see it, but he most certainly felt it.

Aether spilled out from the Dunegon Core and crashed into his body, and began pooling around in his core before settling down and becoming his own.

Instantly, Vale felt his power grow two times… no, not just two, three times stronger.

As for why he spared 100… that was in case of an emergency or if he wanted to summon more troops. Or… if he wanted to gamble with either Items or Recruitment…

Either way, his reserves had just ballooned to 304, and strength welled inside of him, showing just what he'd been missing out on due to his generosity.

Vale stood up off the throne and stepped forward, and began looking at his arms, torso, and legs. They looked the same as they had before, but Vale felt as if his muscles were bulging and pressing against his skin — an overwhelming strength begging to be released.

Curiously, Vale made his way over to the wall and reeled his arm back, then sent an unreinforced punch into the stone wall of the cavern.

"Ow! Fuck!"

An echo bounced around the room, and Toy startled awake, and even Ximena, who'd been watching him, was surprised.

Vale reeled back and shook his aching hand. At the same time, he looked at the impact of his natural punch.

While the noise it had made was terrible, the actual damage to the wall… was barely a crack with a small rock coming loose and having fallen to the ground.

But even if the result was lackluster… Vale was satisfied. After all, that had been his natural strength forged by his increased constitution, done without the utilization of Aether. Not many people, at least no normal ones, were capable of damaging a stone wall with a straight punch. Let alone not destroying their hand in the process.

Vale shook out his knuckle for a little longer before reeling back again, and this time reinforcing his fist with Aether.

Taking a proper stance, Vale lunged forward and jabbed the wall, sending another explosive sound rattling through the cave, but this one was much more devastating.

Thankfully, the Aether he'd coated around his knuckle had saved his hand from pain, but it had done quite the opposite to the poor wall…

Vale's punch left a miniature crater in the side of the Core Room.

'This…'

Vale was no longer a weakling!

Well, relatively of course…

Wrath and the other Vices would still trounce his ass in a fight. Well… maybe not Envy.

Envy seemed to have her own challenges brought by her dungeon's location, and was also new.

Not that Vale cared for her plight.

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