The red light filled the last of the ritual formation’s lines. The whole formation flashed once as the light snapped into place.

Then a mighty tempest of red flames descended from the gem.

Right onto Saydaa.

Saydaa screamed. She felt as if molten fire flooded her veins. Every ounce of her being burned. Her eyes lit up, red light filling the room from them. Her hair exploded into flames. She began to rise into the air as red lightning crackled around her.

The lizardman at the altar began to cast another spell.

Through the midst of the pain, Saydaa heard a whisper fill her mind.

“You are all alone.”

“They abandoned you.”

“They hurt you.”

“They hate you.”

“You don’t need them.”

“You don’t want them.”

“Send them away.”

“Hurt them back.”

“Get rid of them.”

“All of them.”

The outer edges of the formation glowed green, small green streamers sneaking their way through the red lines and crawling towards Saydaa’s ears, pushing her thoughts and her magic down very specific lines…

It was then that an explosion rocked the chamber, shaking the stone walls.

Up in the balcony the Lizardman Leader hissed as the Cultist Leader pulled out a phone.

“What’s going on?!”

“Sir, we’re under attack!”

“By who?!”

The ritual chamber was built into the catacombs of an ancient city. Aboveground was a small and bustling town. A humble affair, prosperous enough to maintain itself but with no distinguishing features or specialties that would warrant attention from nations or corporations. A peaceful place with friendly neighbors that always lent a helping hand to one another.

Mostly because they were all a part of the cult.

The first line of defense: anonymity. A normal town with nothing wrong and nothing to care about. No walls or magic formations, no armies or weapons. Nothing to draw attention.

And the second line of defense: apparent innocence. A well-populated area of seemingly normal people just going about their lives. That put restrictions on what a government, a law enforcement agent, or a hero could do even if they suspected something was off. Sure, the intruder could force their way into the town, but they would at least have to consider the consequences of such a move.

And even if they decided it was worth the cost, it placed additional burdens on them. The civilians would do everything in their power to obstruct and resist without crossing that line into violence, and so interfere with the investigation. They would have to be rounded up and kept out of the way if the intruder wanted to make a move on the cult beneath. The intruder therefore would need to muster the forces necessary to pacify a sizeable civilian populace and the logistics necessary to support such forces, not to mention the political support to justify such an action. All of which would take time and broadcast the intruder’s intentions, and so give the cult time to simply move out of the area.

All in all, even if someone knew there was a cult underneath, until they could prove the entire town was in on it, their only real option was to try and sneak in unnoticed. Which again, was made more difficult by the sheer number of eyes on the lookout for any outsiders. And if they tried to use force anyways, the civilians would buy time for the more powerful cultists underneath to organize a response, whether a powerful counterattack, or simply to vanish and rebuild elsewhere.

For a hero especially, it would also become a moral dilemma even if they knew the entire town was in on it. How guilty were the townsfolk? Were they co-conspirators every bit as guilty as the people they hid or were they victims manipulated into serving a cause they didn’t truly understand? Even if they were knowing and willingly in on it, did that justify violence against unarmed civilians? Where should a hero of justice draw the line? Was it right to attack these people? To incarcerate them? To disrupt their lives? To break their long traditions and community? What was justice in this case? To stop the cult, at any cost? Or to do everything possible to minimize the impact on the town above, even if it gave an advantage to the cult underneath?

But the Association of Villains and Superbeings doesn’t care about all that!

And so people screamed and fled as monsters and undead arachnids rampaged through the town, spreading fires and smashing houses everywhere they went. The town had abandoned all pretense at this point, all the unarmed civilians fleeing for the hills as armed cultists gathered to resist the attack. Most wielded firearms and other conventional weapons, but a handful had more exotic means of attack like glowing daggers and magic circles.

In the midst of it all, a woman with spider legs on her back and metal implants strode through the burning town, a wild grin on her face.

“That’s right, come here my pretties! I’ve been oh so very stressed lately, maybe you could do something for me to help me relax?”

Bullets tore into her body but the undead super barely noticed, her dark magic restoring her body from anything less than truly catastrophic damage. Her robotic eye locked onto the flashes of light and heat from cultists hiding in a nearby structure. She raised her hand, a panel opening on her wrist and lifting a missile, which launched straight into the structure and exploded.

Her grin widened as one of the cultists flew through the air and landed in front of her. She picked him up by the throat, her hand glowing as she drained his life force and then tore out his throat. She threw the corpse to the side and then cackled madly.

“Yes, that’s it! More! More! I’ve been doing nothing but paperwork and that stupid, evil, stupid boss barely ever lets us cut loose, so you better satisfy me!”

In the ritual chamber cultists scrambled, running into the halls for the nearest armory. Once they had mostly vacated the room, the spider drones scrambled into position around the magic circle. The seals on their backs began to glow and grow, extending from the spider’s backs onto the ground until they linked to one another, forming a circle of characters around the magic formation.

At that moment, the seals locked into place and began to glow. The Lizardman at the altar hissed and stepped back as the green streams of light between his hands and Saydaa suddenly snapped.

The seals leapt off the floor, wrapping around the tempest of red fire like chains. The fire began to slow and shrink, still pouring into Saydaa but more like a rapid current then a flood. Saydaa gasped and panted for breath as the pain eased.

At that moment, a white light arced through the air. Kiyosuke suddenly appeared in the room, his sword in one hand and two large shurikens in the other. He dropped the shuriken to his sides and with two puffs of smoke Elise and Nana appeared at his sides.

“Status Report: Operation Rescue Saydaa has commenced.”

The Lizardman at the altar held up his hand, a green magic circle appearing midair. Nana swung around and aimed her blaster, raining a hail of bolts on the reptilian. The Lizardman hissed and ducked behind the altar, dropping his magic circle in the process.

Up in the balcony the Lizardman Leader hissed.

“Stop them!”

The Cultist Leader nodded and rushed from the room, yelling into his phone. The Lizardman Leader held up his hands, a large green magic circle forming in the air. A hail of poisonous arrows formed of green light shot from the circle towards the intruders.

Elise turned and held out her hands, a gravity barrier forming in the arrow’s path. The arrows punched through and continued on.

“Observation: Non-standard energy type detected. Adapting, loading profile: Saydaa.”

The lights on Elise’s core and arms changed from purple to red. A second barrier of red wind formed, sweeping the arrows away into green wisps that quickly dispersed.

The Lizardman Leader hissed and changed his magic circle. Elise’s core shifted from red to yellow-orange and she brought her hands together, firing a beam of light at the reptilian. The Lizardman hissed again and leapt from the balcony, landing on the floor as the balcony exploded.

Nana turned to Kiyosuke as she kept the other Lizardman under suppressive fire.

“Go! Help Saydaa! We can handle these guys!”

“Affirmation: Elise is eager to test new components in combat environment. Friendly Kiyosuke should proceed with the plan.”

Kiyosuke nodded and turned to the girl in the center of the room. He took a deep breath and then stepped forward.

The Cultist Leader ran through the halls, down the stairs towards the floor of the ritual chamber. He grit his teeth and swore.

How had this happened?

They were so close! A conduit for the ritual who could make miracles. A sufficient power source. The results of centuries of planning, of manipulation, of hiding and fleeing. The world was in chaos, the ILS was distracted, the governments and armies of the world paralyzed with fear. And no one was even aware they existed. So just who was it?!

After so long, after so much effort and struggling, he was about to realize the dream of his forefathers. To fix the mistake of humanity, to be elevated with his followers into a higher species, and to take their place as rulers of the world.

And now it was all coming apart in the final stretch.

Perhaps they jumped the gun a bit with the attack outside. But that was because this intrusion shouldn't be possible! This base was magically shielded. It could not be scryed from outside. Deep underground, it was likewise safe from radar, satellites, drones, and all other sorts of mundane surveillance.

So they did not think it was possible for an intruder to suddenly appear within.

A magical teleport would have triggered the wards. Even if they did pull it off, the intruder would need a precise location that they knew would be free of obstructions, a tricky ask underground. It would not be possible without knowing what was inside the base, which was impossible from outside without some form of remote surveillance.

So how had these intruders pulled it off?! They hadn’t triggered the wards, so it was like they didn’t interact with the target destination at all before arriving, as if they had just cut a hole in space from the other side! And how had they known exactly where to arrive?!

But ultimately it was no matter. Long had his brothers and sisters prepared for this day. He just needed to gather the might of the cult, all the treasures and secret knowledge they had gathered over the years, and the intruders would be vanquished with ease. The ritual would proceed, and all would be well.

And just in time, he found one of his brothers.

“Acolyte! With me! Intruders have breached the ritual chamber! We must stop them!”

The Leader rushed past, the acolyte falling in behind him. He didn’t notice as the acolyte reached into his pocket.

And pulled out a handgun.

The acolyte took aim at the back of the Leader’s head and squeezed the trigger, sending the Leader to the ground, a pool of blood growing around his head. The acolyte stepped over the corpse, gazing down at it.

“Saydaa’s not alone. She never was. The one who’s truly alone…was you.”

The acolyte turned and made his way back towards the ritual chamber, where the battle was in full swing.