Thoughtful eyes gazed intensely at the view screen as the giant ghoul guarding one of the bridges was destroyed by fire and lightning. "So, that's the extent of their power?"

"I'd best prepare for their arrival. I need more time..." he said thoughtfully.

Red Robe turned away from the screen with a swish of his robes. He walked past Princess Vita's glass cage without showing concern for the fact that the formerly mouthy princess now sat in the far corner panting for air. What he did take the time to notice was the item sitting at the top of the cage, an essence crystal the size of a large water melon radiated a vivid purple light.

"Good, it's almost ready," he said without the customary smugness. The group coming for him was far more formidable than he'd guessed. As things stood now, he'd have no chance of victory. At best he would defeat one or two of them before he went the way of his idiot bridge guard.

A complicated apparatus of crystals and lenses was suspended carefully around the room. Sigils containing symbols and words of power were designed and set in order to accomplish some nefarious purpose.

For the moment, however, he ignored all of that and focused on a small table in the corner of the room. "Something to slow the advance of a champion and his entourage..."

Killing them outright would be ideal, but there was little left in his arsenal that he could use by proxy that could prove capable of such a task. He would need to use his zombie war-mech in personal confrontation if he wanted the job to be done to that extent. No, for now he needed to stall them just long enough to finish his true purpose in this place.

"Giant ghouls aren't enough. Waves of zombies and blood ghouls won't do alone..." he said thoughtfully.

"Perhaps a combination of the two? It should slow them down at least," said Red Robe.

"Ah, to hell with it. This is the final hour in the eve of my awakening. I should just throw everything that I have left at them and ride out the clock, as they say," said the necromancer.

Confident in his choice, he moved to his recently enchanted smart phone and chose to reach out and touch someone. Namely, he reached out to touch every minion within the range of his voice. He gave them a single command. Converge on his location. Their nature would do the rest.

He went to the back of the room, and stood before a table that he'd prepared in advance. On the table there resided an ancient book bound in human flesh, and inked in blood. "The time has almost come. The ancient power will awaken and become mine. The gods won't do anything, and no mere champion will stop me."

He lovingly gazed down upon the hellish image on the front of the book. It depicted people weeping in a field of ashes as demons slaughtered the innocent, and then traced his fingers along the arcane script that comprised its title. "Infinite Sorrow..."

Red Robe drew back in surprise when a bright blue panel of light appeared before him. "A message from the gods?" he asked surprised. Perival should not be contacting him at this time. Their business was concluded. He looked at the divine missive carefully then snorted aloud.

[Message]

Greetings, villainous citizen!

It has come to our attention that you have conspired with a member of our organization for the sake of financial and political gain. While we would normally applaud an appropriately villainous work ethic, we must insist that you cease your current endeavor. It endangers several system worlds, and will lead to anarchy.

Further, the souls that you would need to consume will not be acquired through the appropriate channels. It is a breach of ethics protocol to utilize them in your well-plotted grab for ultimate power.

Will you comply with this ruling, and forsake your current endeavor? If you choose to comply of your own free will there will be no punitive action taken. You will be safely returned to your world of origin, without memory of current events, but you will need to surrender the item: Tome of Infinite Sorrow.

Comply with the request? [Yes | No]

[--]

"Those fools must be kidding," said Red Robe lightly before reaching over and selecting the 'no' option.

[Message]

You have declined the request.

The terms of our contract is decided. A punitive action will be taken against you in accordance with the standard rules of engagement.

Thank you for your time, and have a nice day.

~Grand Emissary, Emeritus Hellborne

[--]

Before Red Robe could say anything, the world began to tremble and shake. Briefly panicked, he looked around at the rattling items on the floor and then his carefully crafted energy focusing apparatus.

The shaking ceased after a few minutes, but beyond that he noticed no other changes. Quickly, he rushed to his view screens and checked over his forces. The city looked no more ruined than before, and his forces seemed relatively unscathed. "What did that bastard do?"

He checked everywhere that his network of cameras and zombies could see, but there was no sign of a change. "So, my punishment is the planet shaking a little? Weak."

Red Robe was not surprised. The gods rarely intervened directly. They left that to their champions.

"Threatening me won't help you fools," he said with a sneer. "I've worked too hard for this to just stop now and play nice."

Thoughts of his past, his childhood, and the horrors that it contained filled his mind for a time. Powerless for most of his life, and fearful of death around every corner, he'd come to appreciate the art of necromancy and the hellish secrets of the abyss. What did a man need fear, if death itself became his plaything?

The countless years of digging around in musty tombs for moldering tomes and decaying relics of necromancers who failed to live up to their true potential. They died, did not achieve the immortality that resided within the very book that he sought to unseal.

In all honesty, he could scarcely believe that the time was nigh. How many decades did he search for this time? How much treasure, and how many associates did he throw away in his bid to claim this evil tome. It was hard to remember the money or the faces used to further his goals. Even this world had been sacrificed as a means to acquire the ultimate power that rested within the pages of his hard won tome.

"Enough useless reminiscing," he said before setting about the business of realigning his apparatus. It was shaken loose in several places and required several minutes of work to get it back in place.

Upon completion of his repairs he happened to looked out the window. The cloud cover overhead was starting to thin out, but he saw no difference in the city than before. "So, my punitive action was repairing my set-up? That's just pathetic," he said before turning away.

Had he remained in place a moment longer he would have noticed that the cloud-cover had thinned enough in some places that the moon, now bright and full instead of its former crescent shape, lightly peeked through the clouds.

Red Robe returned to his tome looked down upon the evil book with an expression akin to worship, a thin purple line of light shot down from overhead and pierced the ruby colored talisman that bound the book. His worshipful gaze turned to one of utter delight. "It's begun at last! Only a few minutes more now, and I finally get what I deserve."