The Dungeon Without a System

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The Voice's Manse, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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Tamesou Akio stood nervously amongst his party members in the mostly empty waiting hall. Beyond those doors, The Voice of The Creator was holding court. Two Children stood stoically at the door, one Minotaur with a great axe and one yellow-carapaced Scorpan with a spear. Likely Guards. Not that The Voice needed guarding, from the stories Akio had heard about the Bahrain invasion. They were acting more as crowd control than anything else.

Aaaand he was distracting himself again. Akio closed his eyes and exhaled sharply through his nose. Focus.

He pulled out the summons again, eyes scanning the note.

The note written in English.

Not Phenocian, not even Runic, like he might have expected from a Child. English. And what was on the note was almost as damning as the language it was written in.

To Party Isekai

You are hereby summoned to attend the court of Atlantis at midday tomorrow.

We have some things to discuss.

The Voice of The Creator

"What are you thinking?" Sophie whispered over his shoulder. He turned and found her eyes scanning the note, just as he had been. Bruce, Gobble and Elize leaned in too. Akio doubted it would do any good; the guards probably had enhanced hearing. Either way, from a quick glance, it didn't look like they were paying attention.

"Well, it's in fucking English," Bruce cut in, scowling. "If that's not a message on its own... No one should be able to read this, or even write this, without knowledge that no one in this world should possess. We already knew the Dungeon had access to that knowledge, somehow. But why make a point of that now?"

"Something might have forced its hands, or whatever the dungeon equivalent is," Elize added her own two cents, looking somewhat lost in thought. "It seemed... happy to wait, to let you delve as you wished. I wonder what changed."

"My thoughts exactly," Akio agreed. "It must be something big. But what?"

A throat cleared, and the teens burst apart. It was the minotaur guard; he grunted and motioned his snout towards the door. Was it time already? Akio shared a glance with his friends, and they returned it with a nod. Into the fire, then.

They approached the door, and it opened on its own. The stoic guards remained unmoved as the group of teens and young Child passed through.

The hall beyond the door was modest for what was essentially a throne room. Teal and purple banners, carpets and other furnishings. The braziers and chandeliers were silver, rather than the expected gold. At the end of the short hall was a single raised throne, and upon said throne sat the Voice.

Akio hadn't gotten very many chances to see her in person, and this was undoubtedly the closest he'd been to her.

A tall woman with patches of golden scales across her body. Claw-like fingernails tapped the chair while shifting, ethereal, rainbow-coloured wings spread out behind her. Similarly, piercing rainbow eyes tracked them unwaveringly as they approached. Akio was so focused, he was only broken from his inspection of The Voice by a nudge. Sophie. She caught his eye and glanced to the side. Akio followed her gaze.

There was nothing there. Akio looked back at Sophie, confused. She looked somewhere else. There was no one. Wait. What? There was no one else in the hall. It was just them and The Voice. The door behind them shut with a Thud as they came to a stop at the base of the throne. None of them bowed or knelt, and The Voice made no note of it.

There was a minute of silence as they sized each other up. The Voice was the one to break the silence.

"Thank you for attending to me," she began, to Akio's surprise. He wasn't sure what he'd expected, but it wasn't that. "As I stated in my summons, we have much to discuss."

"What were you playing at, writing that note in English!? Just who are you?" Bruce shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the scaled lady. Akio cringed. He wished Bruce had been more delicate about that. The Voice suddenly smirked and shook her head. She shifted, her posture changing entirely.

"This isn't exactly how I imagined this meeting going, but needs must," The Voice said, suddenly. She even sounded different! "Yes, I did in fact write in English. If I'd known it, I'd have written it in Japanese; alas, I never learned. Watched enough anime to get the most common phrases, though."

Well, now Akio was just confused.

"Watched... You've been to Earth?" Akio asked. The Voice smirked and shook her head.

"Let me introduce myself more clearly. I am The Creator, speaking through my Voice. I am the Dungeon of Atlantis, The Creator of The Children. I am also, like you, a victim of Isekai."

There was a stunned silence. The Voice, or rather, The Creator, continued when the teens made no move to speak.

"Some time ago, I went to bed one day and woke up the next as a dungeon core. I don't remember my name, nor the method by which I ended up here. Despite the lack of a system, I managed to make do. What about you? Do you have similar stories?"

Akio shared a wide-eyed look with his friends. He'd thought the Dungeon might have had a hero for a master or something. Absorbed their memories. It actually being a person, though? Bruce and Sophie seemed similarly shocked at the confession.

"That would... certainly explain some things," Sophie eventually said, slowly and carefully. "Our last memories before ending up here were moments before our deaths. Bright lights, then nothing. But... the memes, the music, the references. You added them... for us?"

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"Not specifically for you," The Creator answered, rolling a clawed hand. "I was throwing darts at a board. Would you not say Runic resembles Norse runes? Don't the 'ruins' on the Third Floor resemble Roman ruins? I've drawn inspiration from my memories of Earth throughout my Dungeon. I'll refrain from sharing them all, I'd rather you puzzle them out yourselves."

"Why now?" Akio asked when he finished. "You could have contacted us the moment you figured us out, but you didn't. What's changed your mind?" The Creator's smile faltered. He took a breath and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his palms together. A very... masculine pose for the decidedly female frame, making it.

"You're right," he answered, pointing his fingers at the teens. "There is a reason I've called you here today. How familiar are you with the Holy City and its High Priests?"

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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I paused to give the teens time to think and process their thoughts. I was throwing a lot at them at once, and they definitely needed the space. I turned Kata's eyes to Gobble, who was staring at me with undisguised awe. I blinked and switched to Kata's manavision. Gobble... was entirely physical. No mana pretending to be flesh there at all. Not many of my Children reached that level, primarily because while they did eat, it wasn't nearly enough. Children connected to mana crystals might eventually reach this level. Still, as soon as they died, they'd have to start all over again.

The teens gathered in a tight circle, and out of courtesy, I refrained from listening in.

What do you think, Kata?

"WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THERE WERE SUMMONED HEROES ON THE ISLAND?!!?"

Woah! Calm down. They're not out to kill me as far as I've been able to tell, and they've been hiding their status the whole time. Notably, they got here long before the crusade was announced. Which means they could have been summoned a while ago. Maybe they were summoned on the same day I was reborn here.

"Which is confirmation that at least part of that proclamation was made up entirely," Kata thought back, calming down, though I could still tell she was upset.

As for why I didn't tell you, well, it never came up, like I said; they were trying to lie low. To not make waves. They never tripped any of the hard-mode traps, so they don't want me dead. As long as that was true, and they didn't make trouble... It was nice to have people who actually understood my references. They're from my world! Or at least, one so similar it doesn't matter. While messing with Isid and the others was fun, it's so much more satisfying with these teens.

"I suppose," Kata answered. "I understand. You found a link to your past, and what, didn't want to let it go?"

Just a bit.

"We were summoned by the High Priests of the Holy City," the Japanese boy, Akio, said, jolting Kata and me from our mental conversation. "They told us we were summoned to hunt and kill a Necromancer. Supposedly, they'd been having visions of doom and destruction, armies of skeletons and zombies overtaking the world." He said nothing further, and he didn't need to. He and his fellow teen heroes bore some accusatory looks. That... made sense, though I now had a few questions of my own. I gave them a sad smile.

"Well, that may be my fault," I answered simply. "I figured out what I called 'Soul Mana' during a time of crisis, and named it so because it seemed related to souls. After further experimentation and investigation, I was corrected on my assumption. It was Death mana. There's no such thing as Soul mana, and never was. The Child whom I asked to perform the experiments is probably the Necromancer you were summoned to kill. However, I have no idea how the Holy City could have possibly discovered her."

The teens shared a serious look.

"Experiments?" Bruce asked, voice low and serious.

Ah, they caught that. Right. How to explain that...

"Yes. Only on those deserving of such a horrible fate. No villages were raided for captives, and no innocents were kidnapped. The only victims were Bahraini soldiers from the Invasion, except for one. The first one. He is a true monster who made an attempt on my life when I was unable to defend myself and who sacrificed his party mates without remorse. After I discovered the truth, further experiments were halted."

"You said 'is'," Sophie asked. "Is that man still alive?"

"For a given value of alive," I answered frankly. "Hallmark's mind and soul are intact, even if his body would decay without constant upkeep. But that is besides the point." I stood and walked down the steps, stopping a couple of yards from the teens. I produced the Crusade proclamation from a pocket and handed it over. They took the paper carefully and scanned the writing. As they did, I continued.

"The priests whom you say summoned you have called a crusade against me under false pretences. Overblown excuses, assigning malice to my actions where there was none. If what you say is correct, the real reason is that they've somehow discovered that Huea is the Necromancer they seek, and her location. They believe I would weaponise her and Necromancy to destroy the world? Preposterous. Why would I do that? What purpose would that serve?"

I may have started to rant and pace, throwing Kata's arms up in the air in frustration. "It's maddening! All I've done since ending up here is defend myself and my creations. Sure, people've died, but they were trying to kill me. It's not my fault someone put a bounty on me for their son's death. It's not my fault the Bahrain targeted my island as a launching point for an invasion of Theona!"

I stop and sit on the stairs below my throne, carefully rubbing Kata's palms against her eyes.

"So... why did you tell us this?" Sophie asked. "You could have just gone along without telling us. I'm sure it was hilarious." She looked... upset.

"Well, I wanted to extend the hand of friendship. Share info, training methods, spells, all that jazz. From where I'm sitting, it looks like you, uh, 'slipped the leash,' to get to Atlantis, right?" They nodded. "They've probably figured out where you are by now, and don't seem to have attempted contact, so they've likely written you off as a lost cause. You're targets in this crusade, too, even if you don't join me. Sure, you could probably run, take a ship to some far-away region, or retire to some remote village in the mountains. However, all four of you are... distinct. Your looks give you away."

"So you're saying our best chance is to throw our lot in with you? Fight against the only people who could possibly send us back!?" Bruce accused. I gave him a sad look.

"Bruce... No hero has ever been 'sent back'. After fulfilling the tasks they were summoned for, they settled down. Most were married into noble bloodlines, which is why the nobles of this world appear so distinct from the commoners. Not a single one mysteriously vanished after killing the demon lord, or quelling the beast hordes, or some other world-destroying event."

There was a silence as the kids paled. The healer-princess, Elize, closed her eyes and looked down. So she knew, huh? Was she just giving them hope or...?

"You're dead, as far as Earth is concerned, and that's if timelines align between our worlds properly. We might be in a Narnia situation, or even a reverse-Narnia." I continued, bluntly. "Bright lights? Sounds like truck-kun to me. You got the Satoru Mikami treatment. Classic, but irreversible. If this were a portal isekai, there might have been a chance for a return trip, some back-tracing of dimensional coordinates or some other fantasy-scifi bullshit. But it's not. You died, just like I probably died in my sleep."

"So how did we end up here, then?" Akio asked quietly. His eyes were clear.

"Souls exist," I answered. "Of that, I have definitive proof. A vital spark that leaves the body at death. Through Necromancy, I've been able to trap souls in their bodies upon death. Their blood doesn't pump, their brains show no electrical impulse, and their flesh is cold to the touch. Yet, they can think, move independently, and speak rationally. I believe the gods of this world, the primeval personifications of the elemental planes, somehow intercepted our souls as they travelled to the afterlife. They have a goddess of life who could no doubt recreate your bodies from your own memories."

Silence. The teens shared more serious glances. They're really good at that non-verbal communication stuff. They seemed to come to a conclusion quickly and turned to face me again. They looked incredibly determined.

"So what now, then, boss?" Akio asked, turning back to me.

I gave a vicious smile. "We prepare, and show the people of this world how crusades are supposed to end."

"In miserable failure?"

"Exactly, Sophie. Exactly."

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