Enchantress

12

^^ Dragul, Lord of Blood and Ashes^^

— Gina —

Everything was going according to plan, so far; the people that Erica had found who had ties to criminal organizations and dangerous little cults were provoked by Avid, whose appearance had been changed to that of a recently-deceased Clan Member named 'Omar Al-Hadaqa', and he'd teleported away from my Succubi Enchantress's flame attack just in time, then she'd frozen the little asshole and his guards, finally stabbing them all in the heart and scoring me the first three Human Souls I'd gotten my hands on; several Summonings required a Human Soul Specifically, so some good could come of it in the end, or would come of it soon. Torbjorn's Reintroduction went well, and then the Auction started, with everything going well... except the lights were now flickering, to my irritation, and nothing anyone tried backstage was working.

"Has anyone figured out why our electronics aren't working?!? Are we placing Magical Items too close to the Electricity, or what?!? I cannot and will not tolerate malfunctioning electronics ruining our Grand Opening!!!"

"Uhm... m-Madame?"

I whipped around at the small voice behind me, glowering downwards at the unlucky recipient of my rage. "What?"

"The-uh... the Gate Guards have reported, manually, that the Gates aren't working either."

"So this is an Electromagnetic Pulse-Type event?" I frowned, confused again, and looked at Zawahili, who had appeared when I'd started yelling. "Have you received a report of any sort of device?"

"No, and I don't imagine I will; what I imagine I will find is that the Dungeon has Expanded, and that could be very bad, depending on how far its spread. If it reaches to the City, everyone just lost power and they have no way of getting it back on until the Dungeon's Corona shrinks back down."

My eye twitched a bit as I held in a scream of rage, taking deep breaths to calm myself. "Didn't you say... that that was Extraordinarily Rare?"

"I did, yes, and it is."

"So it is a Cosmic Lucky Break that on the New Moon of my Grand Opening Ceremony the Dungeon we rely on suddenly expanded?"

She nodded, answering bluntly. "Yes."

"Well we will god-damned-well see about that!" I snapped irritably, stomping out of the backstage and into the 'Servants Stair', which was the hallway that accessed every single nook and cranny of this facility that wasn't publicly accessible, then up and out of the entire tower, headed for the Dungeon. The lights upstairs were still on, though there was a small, curved slice of the tower that was blacked out, like it was on the very edge of a Dome or Sphere, confirming for me the theory.

As soon as I arrived at the Dungeon, I found a small gathering of Awakened I didn't recognize, examining the interior of the building and looking through the Gate curiously, and cleared my throat to get their attention. "Hello, boys and girls, I don't believe you have permission to be here; this Dungeon is owned by the Chamberlain Clan, a Branch of the Tomoi Clan; if you are not a member of the Tomoi's, you need to leave."

At first, they stared at me incredulously, before busting into laughter nearly in concert while one approached me with a mirthful grin. "Babe, you don't seem to understand who you're dealing with, so let me inform you: we are of the Heinrich Clan, and we're taking this Dungeon Back. We sold you a Level 1, after all, not a Level 5."

"Ah, so you're backed by the Heinrich Clan? Good to know, I always like to know to whom I'll mail the Heads." The laughter died down slowly, leaving me in a room with around twenty men who looked to be in varying stages of confusion. "Darlings, Make it so, please? But I do need two survivors, if you don't mind?"