Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

High above the green clouds, a meeting between 4 Elder Warlords plays out.

Now, with all of the pieces of the past lining up, Ember begins outlining a plan for them to follow through with in order to take back control of this Citadel.

Torvak's eyes are wide as Ember finishes his last words. "Genius... the Demons will never see it coming..."

Zashen, the Berserker King, starts swinging its blades about, and can't stand still, moving in and out of the hologram's view. "Oh, I can't wait! It's always a good time when you come back!"

Asic, the High Orc, nods and keeps a straight face as he replies in a calm tone. "Very well, I will notify my men of what's to come. Quite an interesting plan. Many will be fooled, but it will be for the greater good."

At this, Ember's gaze shifts over to a surveillance system and sees the main elevator bringing up 6 strange-looking avatars to the top floor where the duel between the Demons and Warlords played out just a few hours ago.

Since then, the entire inner portion of the Citadel has been extremely busy.

Many Lords that have been in hiding for thousands of years have decided to show their faces in support of the Ogre Conglomeration to celebrate their victory against the two 1st Class Demons.

Some are old business partners that want to genuinely congratulate Torvak on his win by making a few trades and adding to the Volterra district economy, while others are cockroach Lords that want to stay in the know and contribute to any forces that show hints of rising power.

In addition to this, more 4th and 5th Class customers take the risk and come to the Volterra district because of the sight of a human being publicly accepted by a 1st Class Ogre.

This scuffle even inadvertently boosted the business of the High Orc's trading district two blocks away and has many new calls rolling into the Berserker Kings, wondering when they'll host more fighting tournaments or show up in the Grand Citadel next so they can place their bets or contribute extra worlds to their favorite fighters in return for ether dividends indefinitely.

Throughout this commotion and the long meeting taking place, scheming, the Citadel Lord has been taking in the scene of the public's perception and has crafted a plan of his own.

As the 6 strange avatars walk out into the middle floor, Ember speaks up.

"It looks like they've made their move. The Servants are here to collect their Demons. Let the second phase begin."

He looks back at the holograms, and the two Lords reply.

"Understood, we will meet you there," are their last words as the holograms deactivate.

Ember gets up from his seat and moves toward the door, and his world token ticks up from 167 to 169.

The exact cause of this being the death of the first two demonic sandworms below the Citadel is unknown to him, but a grin shows on his face as he walks toward the door.

"Grab two more elixirs for Asic and Zash, they're going to need it," Ember tells Torvak as he walks out the private room's doors and down the hall toward their visitors.

–

A few Red Ogre sales associates greet the incoming 6 Avatars, but Ember and Torvak burst out from the back rooms before their conversation starts.

Their figures resemble demons, about 5 meters tall, but they are merely servants of the Vermillion family.

A large V logo is on each of the strange avatars' backs, and their entire being is glowing a bright green.

No real skin or defining facial features are shown on these avatars, and each of them has [25] worlds on their world token, as this is the maximum needed for custom basic avatars like these.

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Each of them is a lesser lord from 4th and 5th Class worlds that the Demons have contracted into slave contracts and given branded avatars to wear and do their bidding.

Inside the minds of these identical green demonic forms, one of many races could be at its core. It could be a human, a goblin, an orc, ogre, kobold, wolf beastman, lizardman, really anything...

Even their voices are all the same, using a default demonic avatar voice, so it is truly impossible to know.

One of them up front is asking for Torvak, as they want their two warriors back and have an urgent message to convey.

The Blue Ogre and red-haired human walk over in a calm manner, and the sales associates step aside while the faceless demonic servant opens up its system interface. Torvak opens his in return to share a secure link for the servant to relay this message.

Simultaneously, he sends out requests for the two demons to be brought out of their containment rooms and shares the secure message with Ember for him to read as well.

Both of them read its content with straight faces, but inwardly excitement builds.

Torvak sends Ember a private chat.

"I don't know how you predicted it, but this is exactly right."

Ember nods and closes his status while his world token continues slowly ticking up as more battles continue in the mines below.

"Indeed, we're going to the center of the Citadel. It's time to visit the Lord at the Vermillion Tower."

–

A civil exchange for this invite to the Vermillion Tower and the return of the shattered avatars and melted minds of the two 1st Class Demons is followed through.

The 6 Servants take a fast travel orb away as soon as they've received what they wanted, and not long after, 4 more white orbs of light travel from major Districts to land themselves in front of the largest and tallest tower on the entire Ellipsia Citadel.

An enormous glowing V, kilometers tall and wide, shines bright on the building's entrance above an archway that opens up automatically as 4 flashes of white light arrive.

The inside of the Central Tower shines a bright white light as it opens, illuminating the High Orc, Berserker Giant King, Blue Ogre, and Human that stand before it.

As the vibrance of the white light fades, rows and rows of lined-up Demonic Servants line the walls of the entrance with a clear walkway in the middle.

It is clear the Citadel Lord wants them to walk forward and follow the designated path.

All 4 of them do exactly that, walking into the bright archway and into the Central Tower.

The semicircle doorway closes behind them, and in front of them a few kilometers ahead, the 6 servants holding the large containment cases with the 1st Class Demon Avatars walk as well.

The white floor moves forward on its own in the center of the room, making each step forward they take tens of times faster than it really feels.

In just a few minutes, they've traveled a few dozen kilometers into the tower and left the welcome displays of guards behind. It is truly a massive tower; it's clear they're nowhere near done walking.

Despite knowing there is heavy surveillance in this tower, Torvak does as Ember says and tosses both of the 1st Class Lords the elixirs from the black box he pulled from storage earlier, and both drink them in an instant upon realizing what they are.

Another ten minutes or so go by as another hundred kilometers pass walking forward into a seemingly white void of an empty room, and the Orc and Berserker allow the clear liquid they just drank to seep into parts of their minds that haven't been used in over ten thousand years.

Eventually, the 6 servants disappear in a flash of light, disappearing from their vision entirely.

None of the Lords react, and about 2 minutes later, they too disappear in a flash of white light as they hit a transport zone within the Tower and are brought up a few floors into another room that was programmed to welcome guests.

–

As a new massive room with walls and ceilings surpassing hundreds of kilometers in height and width comes into view, near the center of the tower, those within it appear too.

The 6 servants they've been following appear a few hundred meters in front, as the walkway beneath them is no longer moving on this floor.

The two damaged Avatars are being inspected by a tall shadowy figure.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Three black and purple Demonic Dragons flap their wings and fly about in the open air of the white room.

The servants disappear in flashes of white light again, and two of the demonic dragons flying high above dive down spewing dark black and purple energy from their mouths directed at the remains of the avatars that have been brought back.

The dragons grab their soul-bonded pairs with their front claws and swoop back up into the air.

Through the clouds of Demonic Energy, however, Andras Vermillion walks out with a jaded expression on his face to stand before the 4 Warlords. The majority of his avatar stays concealed by a growing dark cloud of Demonic Energy that seeps out from his being.

None of them speak for a full 30 seconds, nor do they make a move.

All that can be heard is the slow flapping wings of the largest Demonic Dragon in the air.

However, the Noble Demon breaks the silence.

"The human and the Ogre I certainly expected to accept my duel... but to have all of the Citadel's troublemakers in one place..."

Andras takes another step forward, and the cloud of darkness shrouding his figure follows while he looks each of the Warlords up and down.

"You lower lifeforms who believe you can challenge the Demons will finally know your place. This Citadel power struggle will be over far faster than expected... the Family Head will certainly look past my minor blunder once I relay the news of your deaths."