"You little twit! You were alive the whole time!? We were all worried about you - okay, no, that's a lie. We were worried that the dungeon had decided to start killing us all, I'll say that!" As Violetta chews out a somewhat surprised Ruckus, Xenia watches on with a grin from her seat at the head of the conference table. Fortunately the Reincarnator Extraordinaire is invisible to her guests, so neither of them can see the look on her face. Unfortunately, they can see the look on her face on Emma's face, as the mirrored woman sits next to her. Parker and Sincere also sit nearby, muscle in case their newest visitor decides to get rowdy, but for the most part they stay ignored as the mage focuses on her former companion.

"Hey, it was sort of an offer I couldn't refuse, you know? ...Except for that one part where they said I could refuse it. But it was too good to pass up! And hells, what are you judging me for, you're here too aren't ya?" Ruckus shouts back at the woman, hopping out of his seat in the process so that he can properly pace around and wave his arms.

Clearing his throat, Sincere does his best to get their attention. "Yes, on that point. You are here, Mage Violetta. As I understand it, Dips made our offer and you accepted, yes? Just...to be clear, did Dips accurately explain what the offer was? Communication skills are not exactly her strongest suit, I must admit."

The purple-haired woman turns and puts a smile on her face, apparently pleased to be questioned by a demon. "Oh, well, I certainly hope there weren't any misconceptions, or I might be in quite a pickle now, hrmm? Hahahaha..." Her laughter starts off a bit wild before eventually calming down, and eventually she resumes in a more even tone of voice. "Aha, yes, well. Essentially, if I understood the voice in my head correctly - and I do have some experience with those - Dips..." Violetta trails back off for a moment. "Wait, is her name really 'Dips'?"

Parker sighs. "Don't ask, I did and I still don't understand it."

"Aha. Well, essentially she offered me a free pass out of Prince Thaddeus's raid. Entirely out, that is - that you would not ask me to fight them, and you would not punish me for my part in it so far. She also suggested that I could swear my soul to you for great power, if I wished it."

Emma was nodding along with the recitation until the last comment, which causes her to frown. "Wait, hold on. We didn't tell her to say that last part - did we, Xen? No? Yeah, that's not really the sort of offer we just hand out here." She scratches her head in thought before coming to a realization. "Yeah, Dips was probably hoping she'd be the one to get to kill you if you signed on for it."

The half-explanation makes Violetta's eyes grow wide. "Wait, you're offering me a deal where you kill me if I do agree to it? What exactly was she talking about?"

Ruckus's brow furrows at the question. "Weren't you listening to Tizzy's briefing about the place? Half of the dungeon guardians here are former adventurers! That ghost creep was talking about binding you to the place permanently!"

"Really?" Violetta frowns in concentration. "Oh, I might have missed part of that. There was something about it being a ritual involving a goddess, yes? I typically avoid the light gods so I didn't pay much attention, I suppose."

The guardians huddle with Xenia for a moment, and the dungeon master eventually allows them permission to share a few more details on the process. Taking charge, Sincere turns back to the mage. "Perhaps to clear up a minor confusion first, Kahlia is not a 'light' god as you would understand it. Generally benign yes, but as much as such alignments are constructed here she would be considered more of a 'wild' nature goddess. More importantly however, no ritual to Kahlia is required for someone to be...recruited. Xenia can choose her own guardians, with the consent of those offering themselves, of course."

Emma adds on a further point. "And as I said, we don't do that lightly. We don't even have any real open spots for new guardians at the moment, since Yulia and Sevastion took the last two. And they took them without going through the process either, and that was annoying enough. Sevastion's been behaving himself, but Yulia's still on a bit of a time-out for her shenanigans. In any case, you seem less suicidally crazy compared to those two." She pauses, eyes the woman for a moment, and amends her statement. "A little less, anyhow."

"Aha. To be honest...I would not be fully opposed to the idea, if I think about it..." The admission makes Ruckus gasp.

"What the hell, V!? Didn't you just free yourself from a soulbound pact!? Like less than a week ago? Why'd you wanna throw that all away so fast?"

Violetta sighs before answering. "To be honest, I've been feeling a little...empty, ever since I performed the ritual. The Rot God couldn't truly speak to me out here but I could still feel his presence, and furthermore it's a presence I've lived with for over twenty years. My powers are diminished, my mind is...quieter. Also, I'm realms away from my home and now I've betrayed the lord I followed here. What do I have left?"

That question provokes a direct response from Xenia, which Emma translates. "Hey, did you miss the point of all of that? That ritual gave you freedom over your life - which means you can do anything. Travel! Learn new magic! Start a new career! You've got everything left. Why would you wanna give that up to stay here?"

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The mage doesn't answer right away, but when she does it's with a slightly embarrassed look on her face. "Well, for one...it would be nice to live with family that actually cares about me. Your ritual undid the damage that my flesh-and-blood inflicted on me when I was a teenager, so you've done more for me than they ever did."

Emma raises an eyebrow. "And...are you? Family, that is."

"Ah, yes? On my father's side, though. I don't believe my pactsworn grandmother ever met Prince Xenon."

"Yeah, that's...we're not killing the first family we've come across and managed to convince to lay down arms. It's too late for the Bogdanovs and the Harrises. Might end up being too late for more of the rest, too. Look, at least try to make a go of things before you start binding yourself to another higher power, alright?"

The mage considers that and nods. "That's...fair. I suppose I've hardly seen this realm outside of one small town. Perhaps I should at least see what my opportunities are."

"Good, definitely think about it. We - " The mirrored woman halts as Xenia taps her arm.

"Hey Em, they just got through DEATH and Trush. Gotta admit I'm impressed, a little, they beat them pretty quickly too."

"Oof. All of them?" Emma sucks in a breath before turning back towards the guests. "Sorry pals, looks like I gotta go play bar manager. Need to make sure we've got the mortals cleared out, we put up a warning as soon as the raid started but some of them have been sticking around. Don't need any wild cards messing up this game. The boys here can play translator while I'm out, have fun!"

The giant mirror affixed to one wall of the room suddenly vanishes, taking Emma with it but leaving their guests with a few questions. Ruckus is the first to voice them. "She went to the bar? As in Floor Five? Isn't that, like, not even on the actual path to the core? Floor Four goes directly through a tunnel to Floor Six, doesn't it?"

Sincere explains. "Typically yes, however we've closed off that tunnel and installed portals which pass through the Fiver's Lounge. As that section is already limited to people who have cleared Floor Four, we didn't have to worry about Initiates wandering directly into the abyss, so to speak."

Violetta raises a finger. "But weren't you very clear earlier that you couldn't kill mortals on Floor Five? Or...are you willing to take the punishment for doing so, whatever that is?"

Parker shakes his head. "Actually, we're intending for the encounter there to be non-violent. We can't necessarily stop them from attacking, but if the mortals have all cleared out then at least they can't do any permanent damage."

"I see. Well...in the meantime, I suppose I'm not entirely sure what I should do with myself. Are Ruckus and I just meant to wait here until the raid is completed, then?"

The imp agrees. "Actually, just to confirm, is my job here done after that? ...Uh, assuming Thaddeus doesn't yoink you or core-crack you or something. Although I guess that would end the gig pretty definitively too."

The guardians consult with their master, and a few moments later Sincere answers. "You are of course free to leave once the ongoing event is concluded. That said, we're not going to simply toss you outdoors either, especially considering this could take all day. In fact, would you like some guest quarters to rest in, Mage Violetta? Xenia's become quite adept at carving out something serviceable in a very short amount of time."

She considers it, but decides to decline the offer. "To be honest, I'd rather not be cut out of the loop, I want to know how things are going!"

Unheard by the woman, Xenia chuckles. "Yeah, everyone appreciates a good show, don't they? Though I suppose they're not getting much of one here, it's not exactly like we've got a big widescreen TV in here playing the Superbowl. Although...Sin-man, mind getting your arm off the table for a minute?"

"Trying something new, are we?" The demon raises an eyebrow as he leans back from the conference table.

"The shit we did with those game boards was, well...just a game. It wasn't linked to anything actually happening. But I do have basically perfect perception of everything that's going on, and perfect control over shit like this table, so..." With a metaphorical deep breath for morale reasons, Xenia focuses her attention on the table in front of her and reaches out a hand. The stone shifts and grows into a scale model of what's clearly the Fiver's Lounge, although with the ceiling and most of the walls removed. Violetta and Ruckus in particular are rather entranced by the display of magic, but the model of the room pales in complexity compared to what comes next. Figures of people begin to emerge, and as each of them becomes fully grown they begin to move. Walking, silently talking, and in two cases actually spinning around on marble poles.

It's a bit of an illusion of life, given that none of them ever actually fully disconnect from the surface of the table and begin moving around freely, but it's still a display of skill that no Earth Mage could ever reproduce. Ruckus gives a whistle at the sight of the scene. "All of this is actually what's going on right now? ...Wait, they dance like that in the Lounge? Maybe I have been missing out..."

Parker is nearly as impressed, but keeps his expression more schooled so as to at least appear more experienced. "I've found it's wise not to underestimate our fearless leader when it comes to her own domain. I think we're all in for quite a show now. Ah, it looks like Emma's reformed herself, if in a different body..."

Not all that far away, although through quite a few thick stone walls, Deylia looks up in surprise as she's approached by...herself. "Emma? I don't believe you've ever taken on my appearance before."

The mirror grins, currently dressed in a maid-like uniform matching that worn by the woman standing behind the lounge's bar. "Well you're the only one in here, unless I was gonna dress like one of the bunnies. Besides, I think we go well together. Who can resist two cute maids, right? Although it's not nearly as cute as that other outfit I saw you practicing in. You're quite the performer, apparently!"

Deylia blushes before responding. "I'm hoping they don't get deep enough that I actually need to try out that guise, I regret ever making the suggestion to Xenia now! But if you're here, then I assume our guests will be arriving soon. Which means we'll soon be finding out how charming they'll find us..."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.