Kae
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Dungeon Diver CH831
🕑 Added 2025-04-07 23:00:06 +0000 UTCEmber’s body glows with a dense white light, manipulating the ether commands around him and the ceiling above while giving one last nod to the Warlords.
He points to Zashen. “You, come with me. We have one last thing to do before leaving…”
He smiles, sensing a vibrating transmission table at the top of the Central Tower.
The automated cloaking commands on the Berserker’s avatar activate once exposed to the outside air, and he too is enveloped in a cloud of white mist.
The High Orc and Blue Ogre give confident nods of approval as the two fly off into the sky, upward toward the tower.
In less than a minute, the two arrive at the top floors, and Ember opens the side door to let them walk into the narrow corridors.
However, he motions for Zashen to stop moving and sends a telepathy message for him not to say a word until he’s finished.
The Berserker Giant does as instructed, standing tall at the back of the hall covered in dense white commands as the red-haired human walks through a few doorways, triggering commands and finally making it to the room where the rising Emperor’s two body doubles wait.
One of them steps out from the room to stand beside Ember, but transforms into the demonic appearance of Drako Vermillion, and with the touch of a finger, Ember injects enough demonic energy, pure ether, and dense green Divine threads into the mana construct to make it seem believable.
The only thing missing is Noble Vibrations, but Ember cannot provide such a façade as he doesn’t have any that could mimic this demon himself.
He smiles, letting the fake Drako Vermillion walk past him and open up the door to the main room where the transmission device connected to the long meeting table in front of the city’s overview glass has been ringing for many minutes now.
“This will do…” Ember whispers while walking back down the hall toward Zashen, while the double in the room picks up the incoming call.
–
Part of my consciousness is busy on this mission in Ellipsia. As I’m not doing much more than sitting in a room in cuffs in the Grand Citadel, a large portion of my active mind is here when I pick up the call.
My senses in a body double are nowhere near as sharp as my true body. So much so, that I can hardly even sense further than a few hundred kilometers outward if I was using the full extent of my doubles power.
They have no borrowed stats, no ether control, and no Noble Vibrations.
Yet, as the familiar dark avatar of a long-horned demon shows up as a holographic image before me, I reflexively take a step back.
The familiar voice of Miriel Vermillion rings out, “The tournament event will be starting soon. I take it you will be heading over now as promised? You’ll make it just in time if you leave now. I’m looking forward to giving you an introduction in the main event to those watching in the Grand Citadel.”
I feel a strange pressure emanate through the room, and logically know what it is… but physically, I cannot sense it one bit. This double does not have Noble Vibration enhanced senses.
It just feels like the hold on my access to the system in this clone is weakening, like I’m getting extremely fatigued for no reason.
Yet, the large amounts of ether in my body thanks to Ember is keeping me standing and able to reply in a weak tone, showing a demonic grin.
“Oh—but of course. I was not planning on missing a thing.”
I can’t see the demon’s face, as it is shrouded in darkness, but it leans forward, making the pressure in the room vibrate with even greater intensity.
“Excellent, your fast travel orb will be-”
The hologram stops speaking mid sentence as it realizes something, and the pressure in the room instantly increases more.
It pushes me to the verge of passing out; I even see the health bar in my body double’s system start to tick downward even though I’m talking to an entity over ten million kilometers away through a transmission device.
“You dare deceive me? To answer an incoming call with a mere body double…”
The smile on my face grows, and I choke out a few more words.
“I couldn't answer in person, I wouldn’t want to miss the show. Round 5 is just starting after all… I’ll be sure to make myself known in the Main Event just as promised—”
I can’t finish what I’m about to say, as the pressure in the room grows so great that my body double is knocked out unconscious on the floor, then killed by the aura alone.
Dense waves of demonic energy, mana, ether, and Divine threads disperse through the room as an angered grunt is heard while the connection between Citadels is severed.
–
Ember lets out a laugh once the call finally ends, then sends a mental message straight through the floor beneath his feet.
He stands right above Abby’s cultivation room, as she’s less than 20 floors away from completing the assimilation.
Out of everyone, her mental state is the least fragile, as the pressure in each room now doesn’t hurt her at all. The green glowing healer feels as though she’s sitting in a warm bath, so a small disruption in her concentration is meaningless.
Though, after hearing Ember’s message, her eyes widen, and she begins speeding up her cultivation to finish these last floors as fast as possible, and not use up the full 5 hours remaining as expected.
“Understood. We will be ready,” is what Ember hears back through their mental link, then he turns to Zashen and lifts a glowing hand in the air to activate a final few ether commands.
A white orb forms around both of them, and the wall they entered the Central Tower in opens up again to let them fly out together.
“Very good. My work here is done. Off to the Grand Citadel we go…”
–
Beneath the Citadel, deep within a Dark Tower cut off from the Green Zone of the Upper Realm, a long-horned demon yells to himself against the black walls of his room.
“Fledglings these days need to know their place! What are they teaching them back in the Realm for that brat to talk to a family head this way… I’ll give him 10 years—no, 100 years—of torture for his insolence. A Noble needs to know his place in the presence of a Royal!”
The demon is forced to calm himself down once the tendrils of coiling corruption leaking out of his body start to crack the walls he stands in, as releasing even a drop of that power to the outside Realm right now would completely ruin the Arena event, and take days for the Green Zone to recover.
This prompts the Family Head to begin sending out commands to his subordinates, and gather all of the footage from the Grand Citadel over the last few days, along with the recent tournament results so far.
At the same time, Miriel opens up another direct link to a Citadel he has control over, bringing his strongest white-horned subordinate’s face up in perfect clarity in front of him.
Sisco bows, showing respect. “What may I do for you, my Lord?”
He doesn’t raise his head for a few more seconds, but Miriel responds with anger still in his tone.
“Go Personally secure Ellipsia and have your 1st Class Guards seize control of all the old Warlord’s territory. The Noble thought to be guarding it has left earlier than expected… And he will not be returning any time soon. I need someone reliable to watch over it for a few years while I conduct Drako’s training.”
–
While demons talk, and a new fast travel orb begins to make its way toward the Grand Citadel, I stand up from my seated position and watch the Round 5 match begin from a bird’s-eye view.
There are bright bursts of green light shining where Ava enters the Arena and begins brawling 2nd Class Lords with her fists alone. She is not even using any borrowed stats, her soul weapon, or any refined ether from her inner pool.
This is all the raw strength of her 3rd Ranked up buff upgrade, her higher than average level, and the unrestricted strength that her Freedom Avatar grants.
I’m not concerned for her well-being at all, but I am curious to see how she fairs in this arena event. Though, my attention is split between her and the sensation of two other moving entities on the other side of the dome.
Their geo-trackers are weak, but I still have a very slight connection to the two wolfmen I sent down to the underside of the Citadel as spies to collect data. Without links of loyalty, I cannot contact them directly, but there is still a way to get them to this room safely.
My eyes light up, and I send a mental message to Ava, giving her directions to meet up with the two 3rd Class Lords before it's too late.
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