

Ami’s light spells had faded away over an hour ago, and the inside of the adamantine prison was dark. She was sitting on its floor, her pale face illuminated only by the shine of her computer’s display as she stared at the lines scrolling past.



Finally, the dance of her fingers over the keyboard stopped, and she leaned back and rolled her shoulders. Her neck felt stiff from sitting still for so long, and she let out a long sigh.



“Are you finding the wards not to your liking?” Duke Libasheshtan taunted her from the corner she had pushed him into so she had more space to work.



As she swivelled her torso to face him, some of her screen’s brightness washed over the uncovered adamantine. The arcane patterns engraved into the bluish metal glittered like a sky full of stars as the light hit them.



“They seem flawless, as far as I can tell,” she admitted in a resigned voice, secretly impressed by their design. They did some clever things to spatial dimensions to hide everything beyond the room from magical means of travel. Her Mercury computer could even provide mathematical proof that leaving required passing through the volume of space currently occupied by the adamantine walls.



“I told you the Light gods are unsurpassed when it comes to defences,” the Duke said smugly.



His attempts to needle her made her feel a little less guilty about keeping him stuck in the ice block. She cringed when she tried to imagine what standing still for so long felt like.



“Are you ready to give up yet? Might as well kill yourself now if you are really worried about your magic making a mess outside,” he said. The melt water collecting underneath him indicated that he wouldn’t stay immobilized for much longer.



She rose to her feet, feeling a prickling sensation as blood rushed back into her legs. “I’ll have a go at the adamantine first,” she informed him.



“Hah! This will be entertaining. For me,” he said. “I’m looking forward to finding out what happens to a Keeper who tries to use holy magic.”



Turning away from him, she refused to let his words intimidate her. On the ground, she could dimly make out the pattern she had scratched with the aid of the mace she had picked up. Careful not to disturb the lines, she stepped into one of the loops of the mana-gathering diagram and faced the wall.



Mana that had collected over time within the bounds of the concentric circles flooded into her body. It felt like a pittance compared to what she was used to working with, but it should suffice for two spells.



She broke into a cold sweat as she mentally reviewed the necessary formulas and motions. Shaping a spell from scratch, without the assistance of a dungeon heart, required precise motions and flawless concentration. She had exhaustive theoretical knowledge of what she needed to do, but lacked experience and enough mana to try again if she made a mistake.



Goblins and imps could manage spellcasting, she reminded herself. It couldn’t be too difficult. Besides, she had carefully selected the simplest spells that would still work for her purposes. After a long, calming breath, she opened her eyes and drew the mana to her hands with determination.



The act of forming a spell required enough of her concentration that she had no more time for self-doubt. Her fingertips traced glowing arcs in the air as she hurried to stabilise the structures defined by the words she was chanting. Without her dungeon heart taking care of details like that, everything felt far more difficult and unstable.



Nevertheless, she managed to finish the spell and pointed with her arms straight at the adamantine wall. She aimed at the central rune of the prison’s warding scheme, almost touching it with her index and middle finger, and released the magic.



A lance of brilliant white shot from the extended digits, and with a flash, searing heat radiated from the impact point.



Yelping, she jerked her hand back and shook it to cool her burnt fingertips. She should have kept more distance instead of worrying about missing her target!



Duke Libasheshtan was guffawing. “A classic case of much pain, no gain!”



Blinking, she waited for her vision to recover from the brief flare. “I wouldn’t say that,” she disagreed.



A red spot no larger than a fingernail glowed on the wall like a baleful eye.



“You have hurt yourself completing the first step of a process you can’t finish. Congratulations. How’s that holy magic coming along, by the way?”



“I have an idea that might work,” she answered in a quiet voice. She had no way to get true holy power with which to revitalise the adamantine, but she hoped she could substitute life energy.



Its properties were close to holy power to begin with, and it had additional traits that made her optimistic. Injured dark gods could use it to heal, and it enabled her to use her magic when her body was drifting in the dark realm in a state of pseudo-death. There was a good chance it could do the same for a piece of not-quite-dead remnant of a divine being.



As for getting some life energy, well, she could drain some from the Duke. She glanced over at him and then dismissed the idea. The adamantine would certainly reject energy stolen from an unwilling victim. She would have to use her own.



She placed her uninjured hand on her collarbone and used her remaining mana to cast a life-draining spell. Her legs grew weak as she carefully drew a thread of softly glowing white light out of herself, and a wave of tiredness washed through her.



She stumbled and leaned against the wall to remain standing, feeling as if she had just worked herself to exhaustion.



“Wait. What did you just do?” Duke Libasheshtan asked, craning his neck sideways as far as he could in order to see the small light hovering over her palm better.



She felt too woozy to answer him, so she focused on catching her breath and not falling over as she directed a tendril of energy at the red-hot spot.



The heated metal sucked in the offered life energy greedily, devouring her small ball of light within seconds.



“You can’t generate holy power, that’s just impossible! Unless-” The Duke’s wide-eyed expression briefly turned thoughtful before settling on exasperated disbelief. “Why would you carry a container full of holy power on your person? What could a Keeper possible need it for?” His gaze briefly focused on her outfit. “And where did you even-”



His voice had grown a little higher-pitched, and she got the impression he would have thrown up his arms in frustration if the ice had let him.



“No. Don’t answer any of that. Please. I still value my sanity.” He was shaking his head, black beard whipping left and right. “I’ll just be over here and take comfort in the fact that you can’t cheat at the last part, no matter how well prepared.”



Too tired to shoot him even a half-hearted glare, she proceeded with the next step of the procedure. Blood and judgement. She didn’t want to touch the spot of searing hot metal, but if she let a drop of blood run down the wall then it should get there easily enough.



Clenching her teeth and bracing herself for pain, she placed her burnt fingertips onto one of the sharper-angled engraved wards. With a quick sideways jerk, she ripped open the singed skin.



It didn’t hurt as much as she had expected. A droplet of blood seeped from her index finger and left a dark trail as it trickled down the wall.



She followed it with her eyes, taking note of the faint bluish shimmer it left in its wake. Was the adamantine already active and judging her? She should pass, if the Duke’s information was correct. Her intentions were good, and she had always tried to do the right thing.



But would the adamantine see it the same way? She had become a Keeper to save her own life – admittedly without understanding the ramifications at the time. Likewise, she had started worshipping Metallia out of fear of what could happen if she didn’t.



Would the adamantine be able to tell that she had done so on the advice of the Light, or would it only see that she had benefited from her association with a dark god? Worse, Metallia had rewarded her for services rendered.



She didn’t know if the divine material considered circumstances. Could it even look at the past? If it could only evaluate her current state... Hope blossomed for a moment before she concluded that yes, it could at least look at everything she had done. It wouldn’t be able to figure out her intentions without accessing her mind, and that meant it could read her memories too.



It would see every occasion when she had suppressed her conscience out of pragmatism.



Cold sweat appeared on her brow as she worried about what it would think of her more questionable compromises. Such as carefully staying ignorant of her employees’ past crimes and atrocities because she needed the manpower. Still using imps as expendable slave labour and golem parts when she could no longer be entirely sure that this version stayed non-sapient. Injuring, scaring and imprisoning people who were in her way.



Her throat went dry, and she gulped. There were also many other, lesser reasons for feeling guilty. Hiding the truth about being Sailor Mercury from her mother, for example. Not dedicating time to protecting her civilians from the effects of her dungeon’s Corruption. Accidentally ruining Cathy’s, Jered’s, Snyder’s and Camilla’s careers.



None of those, however, even compared to her greatest regret. Good people had died unnecessarily while attacking her dungeon. She could have prevented the deaths of those poor dwarfs. Fighting had not been her only option. She could have surrendered and taken the Light’s standing offer of sanctuary and imprisonment.



She dropped to her knees, hanging her head. In despair, she clenched her fists so hard that more blood spilled from her fingertips.



Still, she clung to her belief that she had made the right choice. She simply couldn’t sacrifice her own freedom while her world was still threatened by Metallia. Her friends needed her. Everything she had learned about the Dark Kingdom suggested that the senshi were completely outmatched, and she needed to find a way back so she could support them.



Glancing at the adamantine, she fervently hoped that it agreed with her reasoning. Otherwise, Earth would fall to Metallia, and this world would follow soon after.



The faint flicker of blue along the blood trail faded out.



“Well, that was quick.” the Duke drawled. “You failed, to nobody’s surprise,” he stated with certainty.



“W-what?” She whipped her head around to stare at him, tears gathering in the corners of her wide-open eyes.



“It’s obvious. If you can shrug off being confronted with your evil deeds so easily, then it’s clear you aren’t capable of feeling guilt and regret like a truly good person.”



“W-wait, you mean this happens to everyone?” she asked, blinking rapidly. A little bit of warning about the adamantine making her relive the parts of her life she was least proud of would have been appreciated.



“No. The lack of lamentations, tears, and self-loathing is unusual. Even the most virtuous dwarfs take some time to recover from the experience.” He snorted. “Someone with a working conscience who had committed even a fraction of a Keeper’s crimes would remain incoherent for weeks.”



“I see,” she stated softly as her racing heart slowed down somewhat. The guilt had felt horrible – still did – but it wasn’t crippling. She also didn’t think she had already become a cold-hearted monster. She simply could justify most of her actions to herself, which might have been enough to shield her.



“So,” she began after a moment, “is there some visual clue when someone passes the judgement, or did you simply draw conclusions from observing me?”



“The latter,” the Duke replied. “Not that the outcome was ever in doubt.”



He didn’t know for sure! She looked at the ground. With the help of the reddish glow from the heated metal, she quickly located the mace she had placed on the floor near the heated spot.



Metal screeched as she reached for the handle and pulled the weapon closer, dragging its spiky head over the floor.



The Duke winced at the noise and tracked her movements with his eyes. “Now what are you planning to do with that?”



“I’ll experimentally verify your conclusion,” she explained as she propped the mace’s head onto the ground and used its long handle to pull herself to her feet. Leaning against the wall, she managed to lift the weapon despite her protesting muscles. She felt so weak with some of her life energy missing.



He relaxed. “You’ll merely be making a fool out of yourself.”



“We shall see,” she said as she swung the mace.



With a loud clang, it slammed into the adamantine wall and bounced off, almost tearing itself from her grip.



“Not a single scratch!” the Duke laughed. “Told you so!”



She grimaced at the impact point. “I missed!” she protested. “The heated spot is tiny!”



“You are delusional,” the dwarf scoffed. “Delusional but entertaining.”



She ignored his unhelpful commentary and brought the weapon closer to the red-hot area. If she couldn’t aim properly with her current lack of strength, then she would use her body weight to push one of the mace’s spikes through the softened metal.



Groaning with the effort, she raised the weapon until she held it horizontally and rested it against the red-hot spot. The strain on her arms lowered when she leaned on the handle, pressing the weapon’s head harder against the red-hot spot.



With most of her weight resting on the mace, it suddenly slid to the side and slipped from her fingers.



Off balance, she toppled straight towards the spot of heated metal. She yelped and threw herself to the side, instinctively averting her face from the radiating heat.



Her shoulder bumped against the wall, and the smell of burnt hair wafted through the room as she slid to the ground.



Behind her, the Duke was laughing so hard that the ice trapping him vibrated from the noise.



Was he right and the adamantine was still invulnerable? Breathing hard, she squinted at its red glow. Her breath hitched.



“Look! LOOK!” she shouted with so much excitement in her voice that the Duke stopped laughing and shot her a puzzled look.



His gaze followed her extended arm and index finger towards the heated adamantine. It took him a moment to notice that she was pointing at a thread of molten metal. Like syrup sticking to the mace, it had stretched out into a thin filament when the weapon fell.



He stared at the dangling string of adamantine, his eyebrows creeping upwards until they disappeared underneath the rim of his helmet and made his bulging eyes appear even wider. His jaw dropped, and a strange noise escaped his throat.



“It worked!” she cheered, her tiredness briefly washed away by a surge of relief. The divine material was allowing her to shape it, even if doing so was difficult.



“It can’t be! I- Impossible! You are a Keeper!” the Duke protested. “It cannot- Even I couldn’t- How? Why? Worthy? But she’s a Keeper! A Keeper! I don’t- Never wrong- but, but, but, Keeper!”



While his words devolved into even more incoherent babbling, Ami sat up and recovered her fallen mace, ready to attack the molten adamantine with renewed vigour. It was sticky, so she should be able to scrape bits away until there was a hole.



Using the weapon’s long handle, she could reach the molten spot even while seated. In fact, she could preserve her strength by propping it up against her knees and rolling it up and down a little to achieve a drilling effect.



True to her prediction, the sticky adamantine clung to the points of her improvised tool, accumulating in larger and larger globs on the spikes as she scratched at the heated metal.



Her hands suddenly encountered resistance. The mace was stuck, impossible to budge.



Mana flooded into her empty reserves, feeling like ice cubes moving underneath her skin, and she gasped in surprise. Understanding struck her a split-second later. She had made a hole in the prison through which the magic could flood in.



Her eyes shone a bright crimson, making the ward-engraved patch of revealed adamantine in front of her look violet and confirming that she was a Keeper again.



Far away, her dungeon heart sluggishly awakened from slumber. Her awareness was limited to its immediate surroundings, as everything further than a few metres away remained hidden behind a curtain of darkness. Tile by tile, this darkness receded, as if she was rapidly claiming the territory.



The wave of expanding awareness reached the first intersection and rushed down each of the three outgoing tunnels simultaneously. Everything it passed provided information. The state of the walls, the clicking of traps rearming themselves, the amount of water within the pipes within the wall.



Another intersection, and yet another. The rush of knowledge sped up exponentially. The amount of gold and gems in her treasury. The number of withered plants in one of the farms. An imp, rubbing her eyes in confusion. More intersections.



Ami grabbed her head in discomfort as the flashes of knowledge came faster and faster, too quickly for her to process them. They produced a sensation like pins and needles, multiplied by the size of her dungeon.



Running goblins. Armoury. Swords, daggers, clubs. Half-finished reaperbot. Frost patterns. Wandering civilian. Right angles. Aquamarine tiles. Dripping water. Trolls. Beakers. Cables. Mixed patrol. Intruders. Gems. Dragon. Tall ceilings, right angles. Pools and water. Warlocks. Slender pillars. Chatting dark elves. Intersectio-



The flood of information became too great for her tired mind to handle. Already weakened from draining her own life energy, she slowly toppled forward from her seated position, unconscious.​

The city gates of Salthalls stood wide open, and streams of dwarfs spilled out into the surrounding countryside while alarm bells rang ceaselessly. None of the sweat-drenched, red-faced and panting citizens had energy to spare to look at the sky, and so they didn’t spot the figure floating high above them.Tiger would have expected fleeing to involve more running, but the crowds below her were made up of people who were simply too exhausted to move quickly. Instead, they were walking at a brisk pace, keeping an eye on their surroundings and avoiding anything that looked wet. It was a good thing she had no intention to use the clogged-up streets. Now where was that well Mercury had used to enter the city?She quickly located the circular shaft and teleported inside, staying hidden from the dwarfs. The calm water below her reflected her orange-skinned form as she took a small crystal ball from her backpack. Right, the chambers her adopted sister had broken into were that way.She wasn’t going to teleport as she couldn’t be certain the dwarfs hadn’t replaced the wards Mercury had broken on her way in. She wasn’t going to dig either. Her earth-flavoured magic allowed her to part soil and rock alike. It was like pulling aside a curtain and closing it behind her, creating a small bubble that moved through the underground unimpeded.Water spurted into her moving bubble of space, splashing her in the face.She spluttered in surprise and held her breath on reflex. Oh, yes, there had been an aquifer in the way. Hurrying up, she managed to pass through before the liquid reached higher than her hips. What a great start.Finally, worked stone replaced the rock below her, and a ceiling peeled open under her. The water she brought along immediately dropped to the ground with a loud splash.So much for a stealthy entrance. Hopefully, with all the running noises and shouts coming from all around, nobody had heard her. She quickly checked her surroundings.Flickering lights, a little dim from the hoar frost that covered them, illuminated a stone chamber with stacks of wooden crates. One open door led to an empty corridor where a strangely static cloud of mist hovered above a sculpted sink. The other door opened to a large hallway, where a large humanoid frog was staring at her from behind one of the decorative pillars.She jumped in surprise and raised her hands, ready to summon a spell.The creature’s huge yellow eyes blinked once. It watched her for a few seconds and then walked away, its feet making slapping noises as it shambled deeper down the tunnel.All right. No need to defend herself. She was just going to start her search, then. Down the other passage.She had been sneaking around for several minutes when Cathy’s voice intruded in her head.she summarised her plan.Cathy’s mental voice shouted.she reassured her as she peeked around a statue.Cathy replied, sounding half horrified and half exasperated.She looked down. Water rippled around her feet. Another drop dripped from the icicle on the ceiling as she inspected her foot.She squatted down and dipped her finger into the cool liquid.Ignoring the swordswoman, she licked her finger clean.Cathy paused.Tiger tiptoed onwards, passing a few stairs down. There was a hostile pressure in the air. Had she ended up somewhere where the wards were still working?“Stop!” A low, commanding voice said behind her.“Gah!” Startled, she whirled around.A short figure wearing so many layers of rain clothing that it was almost impossible to tell what it looked like underneath was threatening her with a mace. It also had a spear strapped to its back."You one of the sane ones?" the probably-dwarf asked in a gruff voice, keeping his weapon ready to strike."Yes? I mean, I'm not going to attack you if you don't attack me first," Tiger answered tentatively, wondering how he had managed to get behind her in the first place."Fair enough. Think you can distract the bunch of crazies camped outside while I sneak a group of people past?""Huh?" she replied eloquently. She finally spotted the secret door in the wall behind the dwarf. It looked just like the masonry and stood open a few centimetres. Several pairs of eyes were watching her through the narrow gap.While she wasn’t looking, the dwarf had somehow gotten his hands on her shoulder and was now pushing her in the direction of a doorway. "Don't worry, they don't go after their own!"Cathy pointed out, not very helpfully in Tiger’s opinion.She sighed. Easier to go along with the flow than to cause a loud disturbance. "Fine, but at least give me directions to the nearest wine cellar."The dwarf chuckled. "Hah, you are still sane all right. Fine, just keep the monsters’ attention for a while!"She stumbled through a wide, arched doorway, and many inhuman heads turned to face her.Behind a stall that sold jewellery, a bearded creature with huge bat-like ears screeched, drawing the attention of the monsters that hadn’t spotted her yet. More mutants appeared from various shops, and an entire group of creatures sitting on the stairs around a semi-frozen fountain turned in unison, like a school of fish.She surveyed the marketplace and its occupants. It wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Dark Kingdom, actually. This, she knew how to handle. She stood tall and proud, clenching her fists as she flared the dark power coursing through her.The closest creatures took a step back, while those farther away ducked their heads and looked down. Some at the very back of the room discretely shuffled towards the exit.With a grin, she swept her gaze over the beings who tried to make themselves appear smaller. "Good, you guys can sense who's in charge! I need some stuff carried, and guess who's going to do the hard work?"Lines of dwarven soldiers advanced quickly through the streaming rain, crossing the surface terrain far faster than they could have dug their way into the dungeon. With the enemy Keeper unable to strike at them with her magic, they could simply walk over the outer defensive tunnels and preserve their strength.Or at least they thought so until an absolutely enormous lightning bolt dropped from the sky and struck the mountain’s flank.The advance faltered as the armoured figures blinked, momentarily blinded by the flash, and squinted at the spot where it had struck.A transparent, bubble-shaped dome covered the surprisingly undamaged impact point, protecting the two figures and the wine barrel within.Tiger looked down the slope at the rows of unsettled dwarfs and couldn’t help but admire Jadeite’s skill with illusions. That lightning bolt had certainly captured everyone’s attention and focused it on her.A sparkling bolt of pinkish light rose from the back of the enemy formation, tumbled through the air, and hit the shield with no more effect than the raindrops.She hoped his protection spells were just as good as his illusions and didn’t visibly react.In contrast, the absolutely rotund goblin at her side whimpered in fright and dropped to his knees. The green monster was so fat that he was almost round. Due to his weight, she couldn’t teleport him, the barrel, and another goblin, as she had originally planned. Still, roughly dwarf-shaped as he was, he would suffice for her demonstration.“Greetings, dwarfs!” she shouted, spreading her arms and throwing her cloak wide open. Better to get this done and over with before someone decided to rush her position.Below, helmeted heads jerked and looked around in surprise. The vampires in the scavenging room were successfully transmitting her words directly to the enemies’ brains, then.“I can’t help wonder if you really thought this attack through,” she continued. “By now, you must have learned of what’s happening at Salthalls!”An angry roar from many throats answered her.“Excellent. Now, you should be asking yourselves whether or not the Dark Empress can do at her seat of power what she can do in a distant dwarven city.”Pausing for dramatic effect, she raised a ladle and held it up for several seconds.“The answer is ‘yes’, obviously!” She dipped the ladle into the open barrel that had once held wine, but now held water from one of Salthalls’ deeper channels. With an over-exaggerated swing, she splashed the fat goblin with the ladle’s contents.Horrified gasps came from her audience as the green creature started growing until it was taller than Tiger. The large, triangular ears had turned into real horns, and an armoured shell covered the formerly flabby skin.Satisfied with the effect, the black-striped youma continued. "Oh, but, I can already tell what you are thinking. It’s a bluff. A trick. An illusion. She merely cast a spell on that goblin. She doesn’t have enough water to get all of you. To all of that, I have a simple answer: Observe!”Her index finger pointed upwards, towards the mountain’s peak. Up in the sky, beyond even the crenelations of the looming black tower, flew three of Mercury’s airships.Wind howled through the circular hole in the bottom of the airships' gondola, tearing at the robes of the chanting warlocks. The three mages stood in a triangular formation around the gaping opening, leaning on staves affixed just as tightly to the floor as their boots.Flames and arcane symbols moved in counter-rotating circles around the hole as their chanting intensified, reaching the final stages of the summoning ritual.As always when the spell was used on a submerged target, it didn’t just summon the intended person. Lishika appeared in the centre of the open hole, just above where the floor would have been. Around her was a cylinder of water that almost reached the cabin’s ceiling.It kept its shape for an instant even as it started dropping through the hole in the floor.The slender, long-tailed youma immersed in the column of water immediately reacted when she felt herself starting to fall. She disappeared with a flash of lightning, and the many cubic metres of contaminated water continued descending without her.Umbra and Mareki made their own escapes from their respective pillars of water, which plummeted from the other two airships.The many tons of liquid only partially dispersed as they dropped several hundred meters. Their impact still shook the ground and caused minor avalanches. A copse of young trees near an impact point was completely uprooted, and denser vegetation had its leaves ripped away. None of the water had been aimed directly at the dwarfs, but the spray drifting in the air and the water running down the mountain still threatened to get them if they continued on their current course.A wolf-sized blur darted out of the dripping underbrush and raced up a tree. Blue fur glistened wetly on spider-like legs as the creature ascended the trunk in defiance of gravity and disappeared among the branches. The bark moved where it had been touched, shivering and shuddering like jelly.Count Ornish shuddered too and put down his telescope. That little monster might have been a rabbit before the water had gotten to it, if the long ears were any indication. Stone-faced, he turned to the other dwarfs in the room. “It’s not a bluff.”“I could feel the impact even here,” his court wizard said, his skin the colour of chalk. “So much water. My Lord, it's going to seep underground. The sappers-”Ornish raised both hands. “I know. I know!” There was a metallic grinding noise, and it took him a moment to realise that it was coming from his clenching armoured fist. “We cannot win this,” he concluded.“But, my Lord!” Baron Sodnil protested. “Can’t we work around this? What if the priests make us protective talismans? Countess Zasod reports that the victims can regain their minds, if not their true shapes! Salthalls needs our help!”The count looked at him with regret. His old friend hadn’t been the same since his daughter had been captured by the Keeper. "Sodnil, the effects on our own troops are a secondary concern. There are eight thousand captive civilians in her dungeon. If we press on, we will be outnumbered nearly three to one."The dwarven commanders looked at each other with grim expressions. They all knew what a numbers disadvantage meant when attacking an entrenched enemy."Signal the retreat," Count Ornish ordered, his mouth tasting like ashes. “Inform Countess Zasod that she is on her own.”