Chapter 101

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, Command Center.

"So, satisfied with those tests?" Said Emilia as she hopped onto one of the stools.

"Very much so!" Answered Alexandra as she looked at the mass of screens. "Those adventurers were tough, but it seems that firepower can overcome essence."

"It always does, if you're willing to expend the resources."

"Uh uh." Alexandra's eyes unfocused slightly as she looked at the schematics in her interface for the cobras. She'd just reviewed the combat footage from not only the fight against team Crystalline, but also the handful she'd snuck in some new rooms in the labyrinth, and there were some modifications that needed to be made. Notably, the slithering mechanism was seriously prone to jamming at the slightest dent and-

"Ahem."

Alexandra's train of thoughts came to a screeching halt as the vampire girl cleared her throat, and the Earth-born turned towards her.

The second she laid eyes on the vampire, mental alarms began going off. Over the months they'd spent together, literally almost 24/7 due to the fact that neither of them required sleep, she'd gotten to know the vampire girl very well. And something was wrong, in her posture, her attitude, everything.

"Yes?"

"Well, I was wondering…why did you test your forces against team Crystalline?"

"Well I-" Alexandra stopped as Emilia held up her hand.

"Don't tell me it was just to impress the baroness." Emilia met the Earth-born's gaze, and Alexandra realized with a shiver that there was none of the cheer and levity usually filling the vampire's eyes. She was serious, deadly serious. "This was a full on combat test. All of the tactics deployed by the golems…this is something you had planned for in advance. More importantly, it wasn't a rushed contingency plan either. So I want to ask you, and please, answer me sincerely. What the hell are you doing?"

Alexandra opened her mouth, and closed it, before averting her gaze and turning back towards the screens, gripping the edge of the button covered command console.

"I'm building an army."

"Yes, I realized that, but-"

"Let me finish." Alexandra turned back and Emilia froze. There was something…raw and honest in her dungeon core's eyes.

More importantly, there was a coldness in them…and the weight of a thousand worlds.

"This army isn't meant for defensive purposes." Continued Alexandra, before gesturing. "Oh, I'll gladly use it to defend ourselves. But truth is, I'm going to find the people who turned me into…this."

"But…you're a dungeon core. Your mandate-"

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANY GODS DAMNED MANDATE!"

Emilia scrambled backwards as the dungeon core exploded. Alexandra stopped, and took a deep breath, visibly gathering herself.

"Sorry. That was uncalled for. But what I'm saying is that I was never chosen by your 'God of Fire' or whatever the fuck he and his custodians are. I got turned into this against my will. Fuck, I was murdered! Sacrificed by some maniacs whose identity, let alone objective, I do not know! So yes, this demonstration was a test. A test that will come in useful because I have fought some of these assholes, or at least their henchmen, and they have people on that level of power. And when I meet them again, I won't be beaten to a pulp and left whimpering on the ground again! I will grind them to dust under the feet of my golems, and hang them with their own fucking entrails if I have to!"

Emilia looked with increasing alarm as she saw the fire in her dungeon core's -damn it, her friend and almost wife at this point!- eyes light up.

"But…we…"

"I know. Its not the mission." Alexandra sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose, before sitting next to the vampire girl. "I'll fulfill it, as best as I can. I promise you that." She chuckled. "If nothing else, it makes for an excellent cover, both to increase my military capabilities and as a resource gathering op. But that's not my ultimate objective. I don't intend to just become a good little dungeon, processing adventurers until the heat death of the gods damned universe."

"So…what will you do then?"

"I already told you. I'm going to amass an army unlike which this world has ever seen. Gather allies, friends, favors. Then I'm going to find whoever did this to me, took out my party, and make them pay."

"And then?"

Alexandra chuckled.

"And then I'll think about a retirement plan. At which point, yes, maybe I'll settle down as a 'proper' dungeon, although I doubt that's much in the cards."

"What do you mean?"

"Emilia. You're a scholar, you don't have the level of knowledge I do perhaps, but you know a lot more about this world than I probably could ever hope to learn, and I've seen it."

"Seen what?"

"The collapse coming." Alexandra sighed. "Many think civilizations are cyclical. They rise, a golden age happens, then they either whimper out or collapse in blood and flames, usually the latter to some degree or another. Then there is a dark age of barbarism, and after a while something new rises from the ashes." The Earth born looked at Emilia straight in the eyes. "Your world is on the precipice of another of those collapses. The Eris Empire has grown fat, lazy, and if I'm right its badly overstretched. Meanwhile the rest of the world is finally pushing into a level of technology where tech can trump any numerical disadvantage. The same thing happened on Earth, once the various empires of Europe developed steam power and mass produced firearms. Its happening later here because magic can compensate for a lot, but even then its not enough. It takes decades to train a good mage, you can train a Tarkian shock soldier in three months. And the whole world is starting to see it."

Emilia's eyes got progressively wider as the dungeon core spoke.

"How-"

"I read your books. Some of them at any rate. Asked some questions to your relatives, collated some data, and basically made a psychohistory script. Not a good one, not even remotely, but good enough. You want a simple parallel? For a century and half Tark has been fighting defensive wars against the more magical, incredibly more numerous and more technologically primitive Republic. Now they're gearing up to kick the senate's asses on their own terms. And once the rest of the world sees that, what do you think will happen?"

"Everyone will rush to get those weapons and technologies?"

"Exactly. And in the process the protectorates under the Eris Empire are going to have their military capabilities explode right as the Empire is at its most vulnerable. What do you think will happen then? I'll tell you what, exactly what happened to Earth's colonial empires: either the Eris Empire will negotiate a soft exit like the British, or they'll follow my homeland, France, in a futile bloodbath to try to hold onto their -let's face it- enslaved holdings. And once either happens the entire Empire will probably come apart at the seams. And when one domino, the biggest one in international trade and peace, falls, everything else will collapse. The Asarian Kingdom is already only one step away from a civil war, as is any feudal monarchy when you think about it, and the Republic isn't that much better. With weapons flooding in from the Eris Empire as the trade restriction collapse and imperial generals declare themselves king of their own provinces, it'll be even more violent than it should have been."

Emilia swallowed, heavily. She wasn't a military strategist, but she was a scholar, and although she didn't understand some of the Earth-born's analogies she got the gist of it easily enough.

And she really, really hoped the logic wasn't as sound as it seemed. Because the picture the dungeon core was painting was terrifying.

"Warlords with modern weapons….everywhere."

"Yeah. My homeworld saw plenty of that too. Honestly as much as I hate to admit it the only reason that everything didn't explode right after the colonial empire collapsed was that the cold war was in full swings, and there were two competing super powers right there with every interest to keep the newly born nations more or less together and under their influence, helping to squash warlords and unify their people…of a sort, and usually with a pretty damned big boot on their necks. Here? The only superpower is the Eris Empire, they made sure to obliterate anyone who could pose a threat centuries ago. Oh, and the UDC, but my high and mighty 'fellow dungeon cores', won't move a damn finger, and you know it. So there won't be any stabilizing influences, not on a worldwide scale anyway."

"So you think the world is just going to…collapse?"

Alexandra shrugged.

"Probably, yes. In some manner or another the, what? 'Third Golden Age' as your history books called it? Will come to a screeching and fiery end. Oh it'll probably take a while, unless some asshole deliberately sets out to light all the fuses simultaneously, but the entire damned world is a giant pile of powder keg and everyone leading a nation is lighting a gods damned cigar."

"The western marches! Mom, dad, sis, I have to-"

"Relax, if your mother doesn't know about it, then she's an idiot. And we both know she's no one's fool. Moreover, who do you think I asked my questions to?" Alexandra shrugged. "Still, better safe than sorry I suppose. At any rate, I suppose most of the leaders who aren't utterly corrupt, incompetent or actively fooling themselves must know about this, at least to some degree, but there's not really much they can do. They don't trust each other, and more importantly I doubt they even trust their own damned people." Alexandra smiled. It was a dark, grim smile. "I always wondered how the leaders of Earth felt in 1914, right before the world descended into blood and fire. I guess I know now."

"Right…So you're expecting shit to go sideways after your campaign of vengeance?"

"Or during it, yes."

"Why…why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I'm arriving at the stage where my…preparations are going to become more and more obvious. Furthermore, you've always helped me, and quite frankly I don't really have anyone else with the sort of knowledge you have. So, time to put the cards on the table, and play cash. Will you oppose me, or will you help me?"

Emilia looked at the dungeon core, then at the wall.

"...Do you think the people that kidnapped you were responsible for the kidnapping attempts?"

"Directly? No. They had fucking power armor and gauss weapons. They'd have rolled right over us. But they sure seemed to have planned this, although something clearly went to shit -I doubt I was supposed to survive their ritual at any rate-, and they might have had a hand in everything that has happened so far." Alexandra shrugged. "Or they're all dead, and this is just corrupt politicians from the Republic and gods know where else."

Emilia sighed.

"Do you intend to attack the Republic?"

"What, immediately? Hell no. But eventually? Its basically a strategic certainty. Everything I've read and heard tells me they're a corrupt oligarchy. They literally can't afford to back down or they'll lose face and their grip on power. So they'll double down. And the only way to make them stop will be to take them down, internally or externally. And after what they did to you and the maids, I'll be more than happy to provide the 'external' factor."

Emilia visibly twitched at the mention of her maids, before sighing once more.

"Alright, I…I'll help you. But keep it quiet where Sarah or Ella can hear it okay?"

"They report in to your mom, I assume."

"Not really. Not on a day to day basis anyway. But they'll intervene if they think you're dragging me into a war that doesn't concern us, or putting me in harm's way."

"That won't end well…for them."

"Yeah, I know, hence the 'keep it quiet' part."

"Got it."

"As for the rest, well…" Emilia looked to the ceiling, before back down at Alexandra, and her smile was almost genuine. "I don't really have a choice in following you anyway, someone has to stop you from fucking up, and keep your massive ego in check."

"Thanks, its nice to be loved."

"Shut up."

Alexandra chuckled, before sighing as she looked at the command center, and they both stayed there in silence for several minutes.

"You know, this place is pretty barren, I really should get some carpets or something." Finally said the dungeon core.

"Oh now you're interesting in designing!"

"No, wait-"

The dungeon core was too late however, as Emilia flipped open the sizeable -and dreaded- notebook where she kept all of her esthetic design sketches, and began to sit up.