The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

The marsh erupted with a yellow flash that turned white and slowly faded. The Inquisitors were already moving when the light of purification was at its brightest and they stormed the cave. A few surprised and weakened beasts were no match for the vanguards who dispatched them almost instantly.

"It's a crypt," Fjorla said with an uncertain voice.

"It wasn't made by the Enemies and it doesn't have the same aura as the temple," Dahlia said as she entered the tomb. "We are going to continue forward with haste and won't be investigating this place for now. The recovery team will try to copy some of the glyphs and images inscribed on the walls. However, our main priority is to exterminate the enemy, not to discover what civilization made this structure."

"Yes, Grand Inquisitor!" Two hundred voices bellowed in unison as the Kill Teams proceeded forward.

"Watch out for traps!" Cédric bellowed after them.

Four of the highest-ranked Inquisitors followed behind the Kill Teams, listening to the reports through their radio slates. The teams moved fast, finding a few stunned beasts which they dispatched equally quickly. The complex was much larger than they first thought because, even after one hour, they hadn't surveyed everything.

"It is certainly not a crypt," Dahlia commented loudly as she walked down a wide corridor.

"Yes... It's something else entirely, but why is it underground?" Fjorla replied while she was inspecting the walls as they walked.

"Can you feel it, Lady Dahlia?" Lydia stopped, closed her eyes, and extended a hand. "The flow of mana isn't natural."

"Yes..." Dahlia slowly nodded. "It's directed... Like the mana conduits powering various systems on our airships."

They followed the flow of mana in silence. Their path was illuminated by orbs of light hanging slightly behind and over their heads. The magical light was soft so as to not irritate their eyes but, despite that, it brightly lit the structure around them. Soon, they found closed gates made of an impressive mithril-adamantium alloy.

"What the hell?!" Cédric asked incredulously as he placed his hand on the surface. "That's a hull alloy!"

"What's that?" On the right side of the gates was a slight recess in the wall and some sort of small altar with a crystal ball. Dahlia examined it and put her hand on it. "It's fixed to the surface-"

"EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS ACTIVE." An echoing, but not loud voice declared. "USER RECOGNISED."

The four Arcadians formed a defensive circle the moment the voice spoke. However, except for startling them, nothing happened. No Voidlings or other traps activated and Inquisitors couldn't sense anything in the vicinity. Dahlia, still warily holding her rapier, brought out her communication slab.

"Report! Has anyone heard anything?" She asked, but all reports were negative.

They relaxed, ever so slightly, and returned to investigating the doors. After Dahlia heard all the reports, she turned around and wanted to check the doors herself; they simply slid open. Without any fuss, any sound, or even causing a single cloud of dust. However, one thing changed when Dahlia entered the chamber. Lights began illuminating one by one and, gradually, the entire structure came alive. Dahlia, who still couldn't sense a single enemy, slowly sheathed her rapier. She focused on the mana flow that had changed. The entire structure was rapidly filling with tremendous amounts of mana. Suddenly, they all felt the massive mana discharge and looked at each other in shock. It came from one of the upper floors of the complex and only one spell could have needed so much power.

"Report!" Dahlia demanded, dread edging her tone.

Each kill team reported their status until a member of one of them replied with a wooden voice. "Team fifteen here. We... I think we triggered a teleportation trap, Ma'am. Captain Arthur Ives is missing in action, Ma'am..."

"Fuck... I told you to watch for traps!" Cédric clenched his fists. "Out of all the god damned traps, they had to trigger something like that!?"

"Captain Arthur Ives! Do you copy?!" Dahlia yelled into her communicator, ignoring Cédric, but there was no response. After a few additional, unsuccessful attempts, she took a deeper breath and hailed their frigate. "HMS Paladin, Captain Paul Ives, one missing, Captain Arthur Ives. Did you detect and record a mana spike a minute or so ago?"

Now, with the lights on and the entire structure illuminated, they could see for themselves that the room they were in was massive. It appeared more like the bridge of a dreadnought, but a few times larger, than any room they could recognise or even guess its function.

"Yes and no, Ma'am." The man who commanded the Inquisitorial Frigate was calm. "Whatever it was, the mana expenditure was equal to what we used during the transit here from Avalon. Considering the fact that it was spent on a single person, we can't even begin to triangulate his current location, Ma'am. We have this event detected and logged, but it was too fast to be properly recorded."

"By Eriar..." Dahlia pulled her hair with her free hand. "Do we, at least, have a direction we think he was tossed?"

"Very general, Ma'am..." The Captain sadly declined. "He was thrown somewhere east. We have already tried to contact him as well but he isn't in range."

"I'm so sorry for your brother, Paul..." Dahlia closed her eyes and said it in a compassionate tone.

"If he survived that, I'm sure he will be fine." He said with a slightly bitter but proud voice. "He is an Inquisitor Captain of His Imperial Majesty. If anything, we were lucky. My brother is a tough bastard, a combat specialist, so he won't go down easily. I would have been much more worried about a less combat-focused Inquisitor going missing, Ma'am."

"I don't like losing any of them, Paul... We are going to find him, people!" Dahlia promised with a determined voice.

After the incident, the extermination's pace slowed down considerably. The Inquisitors were more wary of traps but they weren't frozen by the disappearance of their colleague. It took nearly ten hours to secure the vast structure and, only when they deemed it safe, did they gather in one of the chambers, which resembled a large common room or something similar. The strange voice hadn't spoken again and no one reported anything similar. Dahlia listened to the reports and was preparing her own when her communication slate flared and a full-sized hologram of the Emperor hung in the air. The Inquisitors snapped to attention and slammed their fists on their chests.

"At ease." The Emperor replied calmly. "Hestia informed Luna and I about a massive mana discharge in your area. What happened?"

"One of the Inquisitors is MIA, my Lord," Dahlia informed with her head lowered. "We believe that he triggered a teleportation trap."

"Damn it..." The Emperor rubbed the back of his head. "Can we track him?"

"We have no idea, Lord Theon." Dahlia shook her head and powerlessly shrugged. "We weren't able to record the specifics of his teleport other than generally 'somewhere east', but the amount of mana was massive, so he might as well be teleported to the moon, and we wouldn't know."

"Let's hope that he is... No, I know for sure that he is still alive. Verka told me that, were he to die, his soul would go directly to her. She is protecting all your souls, after all. So he is somewhere there, alive. Who went missing exactly?" The Emperor smiled slightly, and everyone cheered up, hearing their friend was alive.

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"Captain Arthur Ives, my Lord," Dahlia said with an added small smile.

The Emperor whistled and started laughing. "I already feel sorry for the bastards he might meet. Besides, he isn't alone. His Familiar is with him."

Some of the Inquisitors chuckled and all of them smiled. The Paladin was one of their most dedicated and powerful warriors. The Emperor's reminder about his familiar also allowed them to relax a bit. All of them had incredibly powerful familiars who would easily overpower most of the things they might meet in the wild.

"We will find him." The Emperor said with a grim smile. "I promise you that. We don't leave our people behind."

"Yes, Sir!" They all saluted him with improved moods and fresh outlooks.

The Emperor turned to the side and was speaking with someone but the sound wasn't transmitted. He then shrugged, nodded, and looked back at the Grand Inquisitor.

"Zephyr, Hera, and Zeus are en route to you, Dahlia. They started babbling something about the ancient road system. They had mentioned it a long time ago but I thought it was destroyed. Anyway, they should be there in a few hours. Meanwhile, I want you to start investigating the ruins, and it looks like we have to establish an outpost there." The Emperor said. "I have no idea what to do with the ruins but one thing is sure: they are too important to leave them. Your job, for now, will be figuring out if the Voidlings spawn there, simply use it for hibernation, or if they teleport inside from God knows where. For the time being, you all stay there until you declare the structure safe for civilians only protected by Guardsmen."

"Yes, Sir!" The Wolfkin woman slammed her fist in salute. "Before Captain Ives disappeared, my team stumbled upon doors made of a mithril-adamantium alloy. When we inspected it, I touched a crystal ball and we heard a voice speaking something about an emergency protocol and that the user was recognised but, since then, it hasn't spoken again."

"Hmmm... I will send you a few Scholars who worked in Vanushka." The Emperor nodded slightly. "I have an idea what this complex is and, with a little bit of luck, we have struck gold. Hopefully, I'm right and we will bring Captain Ives back in no time."

That statement invigorated the Inquisitors.

"You want to send Scholars here, my Lord?" Dahlia asked in disbelief.

"Precisely." The Emperor nodded crisply. "But if the Voidlings have some way inside other than the doors, you need to discover it. If the Eternals are correct, then this structure is some sort of massive teleportation relay that originally connected the continents in ancient times. I don't need to tell you how important that structure is if they are right."

"No, Sir..." Dahlia paled slightly. "Teams four to eight, to the entrance and keep it secure! Contact HMS Paladin and tell Paul I want gunships and CB-90s to patrol the entire area! I want to know how many bugs are in this swamp! Nothing will breathe without our knowledge."

"Yes, Ma'am!" The Inquisitors saluted and dashed out of the room.

"Dahlia, I don't want you to tamper with the teleportation room too much." Empress Luna appeared near the Emperor and waved her hand to stop the Inquisitors who started saluting. "Was it a dead-end room?"

"Yes, my Lady!" One of Arthur's teammates responded immediately. "It was a fairly spacious room. Big enough for a few cargo carts in fact."

"Seal it for now and guard it." The Kitsune ordered.

"How many Voidlings have you killed in the complex?" The Emperor asked with curiosity.

"One hundred eleven, my Lord." She answered.

"Hmmm... Honestly, I expected more of them." He said and shrugged. "Prepare the outpost, Dahlia. Emperor, out."

He saluted them, and after pausing for them to salute back, Lord Theon terminated the connection.

"All right everyone! We have new orders. I want a full map of the complex and a survey of the immediate area before the Gods arrive!" The Grand Inquisitor ordered and loudly clapped a few times. "Just be careful! If this is some ancient ruins similar to Vanushka, there might be golems or similar defences."

•••

I sighed and dropped into my chair. I was ready for our strike team to suffer some casualties but I wasn't ready for losing my people like that.

"It looks like we have gotten rid of the Voidlings for now." Luna fixed her long platinum hair as she sat on her throne.

"The ones we know about..." I exhaled.

"True..." She nodded and rumbled with her nails over the table. "I'm slightly worried about the missing Inquisitor."

"I've met him a few times. In my opinion, as long as he is breathing, he should be fine." I smiled. "He was born to be an Inquisitor. The only thing that could possibly kill him is Ubril or, eventually, the descent of the deities of Void and Chaos. If he has to face Mortals somewhere there, I can't imagine him losing."

"I know that I should know more about him, but he was always closer to you..." Luna sighed and lowered her gaze.

"Ha! I know that look." I stuck out my tongue at her. "Birds of a feather flock together. I can attest, without any reservations, that we are similarly minded."

"Then, he will leave a trail of dead bodies in his wake..." She wasn't concerned as she contemplated that.

"You left out words like 'bloodied' or 'mangled' or..." I chuckled.

"Yes, yes... I get it..." She covered her eyes with her hand, but she was smiling. "Thank you."

"Don't worry. We will bring him home as soon as possible." I said and crossed my arms. "I expect that we will have new ships ready in three months. Vestargo must be panicking slightly since his Titans weren't as effective as he, probably, hoped because we haven't seen many more of them."

"Maybe he is saving them for another large assault?"

"It's too late for that. I re-deployed my Legions and finally assembled three more. Legio XI Alaudae, Legio XII Sagittarius, and Legio XIII Libra are joining the fray. Once Freya manages to obtain a few more commanding skills, she will be able to raise Legions of her own."

"That's very good news!" Luna nodded eagerly and all her tails waved in a display of her happiness. "Galahad will certainly make good use of the reinforcements."

"Indeed. While some of the airships are still in the shipyards, we are back on track." I smirked. "The self-propelled artillery is incredibly effective in stalling or even breaking any of Vestargo's assault attempts. He can't counter them. His Titans are far too big to move stealthily and his forces can't hide anymore. While the Mana Detection sensors are crude, the bugs can't hide anymore."

"I saw the reports." Luna briefly nodded and looked at me with a strange expression. "About the Crusader SPGs... Tia wanted to open a heavy equipment factory in the Hilgvar province, and she is angry that I gave her a negative opinion. You know I couldn't agree to it because of safety concerns..."

"I know, Honey. Hilgvar is..." I hesitated. "No matter what you think of it, it's hard to defend. Setting up an artillery factory there is a very bad idea... Especially since it will have to be a mundane factory instead of a Dungeon. The Infinity Tower Dungeon isn't suitable for a heavy production centre. We need it to shelter most of the Hilgvarian population and as the regional food production centre."

"I know." Luna scoffed and pouted. "Tia knows that as well. She just wants to make the region more important for the Empire."

I sighed and sadly nodded. "I understand her concerns... Hmmm... What did Mia say about Tia's idea?"

"She also shot it down, but from a logistical and economic point of view." Luna shrugged and raised her hands defensively. "And Mia is right about that! We need factories much closer to Avalon where we are training the Guardsmen."

"True." I nodded and looked outside the window and approached it. "It's almost the days of the darkness, isn't it?"

"Yes. Irene and Amber are trying to predict when, exactly, it will occur but we should have a week or two."

"Mhm." I stood up and sighed. "I informed Stella about the complex. I will be sending her there with the Scholars."

"I... I think I should go as well." Luna said quietly.

I stood before the window and closed my eyes, keeping my hands behind my back. My right fist clenched while my left hand tightened on the wrist of my clenched hand. I felt powerless in my might. With a single thought, I could command thousands of my Immortal soldiers to do my bidding but I couldn't leave the boundaries of the Dungeons under my reign. I couldn't go with her and I couldn't protect her. That was more and more frustrating each time one of my wives wanted to leave Avalon.

"Do you have to?" I asked quietly.

"I think it's my duty, Theon." She replied as quietly as I. "I'm the Kitsune of the Champion of Eriar. I know ancient languages. But, most importantly, I owe that much to one of our most trusted and powerful soldiers."

I knew that she was right but that didn't make it any less easier.

"I know..." I gave up with a sigh. "Morrigan and the entire battalion of the Praetorians are ready to embark immediately. Victory is resupplied and prepared for the journey."

I saw a flash of the reflection of her in the window before she hugged me from behind.

"Thank you. I will return as soon as possible, my Dear."

I grabbed her and moved in front of me so I could hug her.

"I know that what you are doing is right..." I said. "It would be easier if I could go with you."

"I know." She smiled and kissed me. "I promise to be careful."