Chapter 340: Countdown to Destruction

Kuyana watched yet another team of ghouls move down to the lower levels in a vain attempt to protect the ritual site from the intruder. Brave as the effort might be, at this point it was clear that they were doing little more than slowing the mage down. Of course, that might be what they were aiming for.

It was clear from the brief reports she'd overheard that the individual laying siege to the ruins was powerful and dangerous, at least comparable to a high Tier 3. Considering that a confrontation between Tier 4s had taken place in the middle of Gildusi just a little while ago, it seemed probable that one of the participants was responsible. If that was the case, then stopping him would require the deployment of the highest ranking members of the Beneface of Unyielding Hunger.

Although she was somewhat familiar with the way the ghouls established their rank structure, and could infer a great deal based on her experience with her vampiric masters, it was obvious to her that the corpse eating half of the Undying Court was simply sending their commoner members to their deaths.

She glanced back at the elders who were overseeing the completion of the unsealing ritual and resisted the urge to sigh. The fools really believed that releasing this tomb's prisoner would bring them power and glory. Assuming of course, they could successfully bypass the wards that had confounded the best and brightest of the Court for thousands of years. The method the Annhilite priest had given them seemed to be working, but it would still be some time before it concluded.

"Should we not do something?" Barlon asked quietly, although the careless manner in which he did so indicated that he was well aware that their every word was being listened to by their escort. The burly, evolved ghoul in question was currently in the process of cleaning its talons with a knife, but Kuyana could easily tell by the way his ears twitched every time they spoke that he was paying attention.

"There is not much we can do at this juncture." She responded offhandedly while making sure to shoot her aide a meaningful look before sliding her gaze over to the nearest exit. After tapping her arm three times, she continued. "The best we can do is wait."

Barlon nodded, careful to keep his eyes fixed on her. "I suppose that is the case."

Any further discussion was postponed as a group of high ranking ghouls approached them. The leader of the bunch, a ghoul matriarch named Griselda who held an advisor position in the court of the ghoul Duke, began speaking as they approached. "My apologies for taking so long to greet you. As you can see, we have a few minor distractions to take care of. Now, how can we help our cousins in the Duchy of Unquenching Thirst?"

Kuyana allowed the implied insult to pass. "It is of no concern. Our business is with the Annhilite. If you could point us in his direction, we would be most grateful."

"Oh my, how unfortunate. Our esteemed guest has already taken his leave of us. I believe he said something about seeing to his flock." The matriarch replied with a small smile.

Resisting the urge to grimace at the woman's condescension, Kuyana continued. "Do you perhaps know where he might be going?"

[Surely they can't be so foolish as to let him leave before the ritual's conclusion.]

There was a momentary flicker in Griselda's eyes that hinted at her unease. "I'm afraid he left in a hurry. Didn't even take the time to bid us farewell."

For a moment, Kuyana said nothing, taking a moment to digest the implications of the matriarch's words.

[...It seems he hasn't been disposed of, so I can only assume he somehow slipped through their fingers. If that is the case, then why are they still following this stupid course of action?]

"I see." She eventually responded, making sure to keep her tone polite. "That is indeed unfortunate. I am surprised that he did not want to stay and oversee the successful completion of the ritual. It would be quite the shame if he did not get to celebrate the revival of our glorious patron. Is there no way to delay things until his return?"

Griselda's eyes narrowed at the subtextual insult, but maintained her civility nonetheless. "Regrettably, this is a delicate operation. Stopping or even slowing would be quite detrimental. I'm afraid that our guest will have to be rewarded for his efforts at a later time."

[Hmph, they can't stop the ritual without ruining their chances for future attempts, so they would rather risk a potentially catastrophic outcome in the hopes of achieving their goals than cut their losses here.]

"I believe I am beginning to understand your difficulties." Kuyana offered diplomatically. "Perhaps you would be willing to allow us to help?"

This earned a snort of disdain from the woman, which had to be intentional since ghouls did not need to breathe. "I fear that this situation may be a bit beyond your capabilities, Retainer."

[You are so close to losing everything and you still cannot look past factional differences. This is exactly why your kind is in danger of going extinct while your blood sucking cousins are ruling half the planet.] Kuyana thought acidly before ruefully admitting. [Not that the vampires are necessarily less close minded and stubborn, but they have the benefit of wise leadership at the very least. Something that cannot be said for the ghouls.]

She was still in the midst of formulating a reply to the elder when a gasp arose from the crowd observing the ritual.

Griselda instantly lost interest in the two humans and began striding over to the group, her voice booming. "What is happening?"

An observer answered, voice wavering in distress. "The mages, t-they are losing control of the ritual."

Finding this answer unsatisfactory, the court advisor walked to the edge of the platform looking down at the ritual circle and roared, "What is the meaning of this?"

Kuyana could not see what was going on from her vantage point, but she could clearly hear the alarmed answer from one of the ghoul mages. "Something's wrong in the barrier chamber! I think...I think someone is forcefully breaking the barrier on our Lord."

"What?!" Griselda shrieked before rounding on a male ghoul. He was dressed in the uniform of the Crypt Guard, the premier military force of the Beneface of Unyielding Hunger, although there was an almost excessive amount of ostentation added to the otherwise spartan vermillion attire.

"Did you not, just minutes ago tell me that the barrier chamber was secure?!" She demanded, enunciating every word as she strode forward to stand within inches of the shrinking man.

"Yes, ma'am. We had close to 100 teams of guards manning the passages leading to the chamber. Although we've lost quite a few of our men to the intruder, we've so far been able to lead him down a decoy path…"

The man trailed off as another ghoul in uniform ran up and whispered into his ear. The commanding officer nodded a few times, gradually turning pale, before dismissing the messenger and turning back to face Griselda.

"Ahem...I regret to report that the intruder has punched through our lines and entered the sealing chamber. It seemed he managed to extract it's location from one of the guards he'd captured."

The court advisor stared at the man for a full second then, with a movement too fast for the human eye to see, she whipped her hand at neck level, neatly beheading him.

As the officer's body fell to the floor, she howled to the onlookers. "Get down there and stop him! We've come too far to let it end in tragedy-"

The rest of her indignant statement was drowned out by a titanic rumble that set the ruins shaking and knocked several of the ghouls off their feet. Only long years of training in marine combat allowed Kuyana to keep herself upright.

After a few minutes the vibration stopped, but any momentary relief felt by the group was quickly quashed as the ghoul mages began yelling in panic. A droning hum of energy began to fill the air, accompanied by a harsh glow of bluish light that grew increasingly bright.

Instincts screaming, Kuyana shouted a warning to her adjutant and was just starting to turn towards the exit, fully intent on running at full speed, when the explosion ripped through the room.

She had a brief sensation of floating as the blast picked her up and hurled her at the wall, and then she knew no more.

-----------------------------------------

"Hmm, maybe it's just nonsense designed to distract us from the true information?" Dorn suggested, more to himself than anything. "Could there have been another message on the victim? Surely I would have noticed…"

Julia watched him work for a few seconds before returning her gaze to the mage. For the last ten minutes or so, he'd been simply staring at the barrier surrounding the strange stone slab. It honestly didn't look like he was actually doing anything, but the occasional burst of force that reverberated around the room suggested otherwise.

"Are you sure this is the best time to try and decode that thing?" She asked, trying to distract herself from the seemingly apocalyptic scenario they were forced to witness.

"Admittedly, no. However, I am well aware that the current predicament is something well beyond my power to contest at this time. It is a scant hope, but this message may contain information capable of changing that." He replied quietly, a faint note of despair coloring his words.

Their conversation was momentarily halted by another wave of power coming off the barrier that seemed to vibrate through them in an extremely unpleasant manner.

Julia shook her head to dispel the disquieting feeling before continuing. "Alright, I can understand that. Is there something I can do to help?"

"My dear, I would be honored to have your assistance," He answered with a slight smile while offering the codebook to her, "but unless you have some hereto unmentioned expertise in the art of cryptology, I fear that we are truly outmatched by this cipher."

She took the book and flipped through its contents finding the neat rows of symbols and numbers to be completely insensible to her. Turning it upside down to ensure that she was looking at it properly, she asked, "What exactly are you looking for here?"

"If my deduction is correct, then this book should contain the key necessary to decipher this message." He held up a scrap of paper with a long string of symbols. "I am fairly certain that the numbers, since they do not appear in the code itself, are meant to allow operatives to serve as some kind of reference for the decryption process, but I cannot make heads or tails of it. Trust the Shadow Council to encode not only their messages, but the means to read those messages as well."

Frowning in thought, Julia started to turn the book back to its original orientation, but stopped halfway, noticing a pattern. "...If you hold it like this, don't the numbers kind of make a shape?"

Dorn started and quickly took the codebook back. "What are you...of course! A Linglasian cyclical cipher! No wonder I couldn't understand the key. You have to read each page from another sequential direction otherwise it would become nonsense. Julia, you are a genius!"

"Umm...thanks? I guess?" She offered while he went to work, furiously flipping through the pages of the codebook and jotting down whatever information he could glean from them.

After several minutes of this, he finally finished, quill hovering over the scrap of paper until it dropped a large blot of ink that obscured the last word.

"I've figured it out." He murmured dazedly.

"Well, what does it say?" Julia asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"It-" Dorn started, before the mother of all energy waves cut him off and blasted the pair of them to the ground.

They took a few seconds to regain their senses, but as soon as the spinning stopped, the small man was up on his feet, desperation in his eyes. "We have to stop him!"

"Wait, what? Why?"

"Because, it's a trap!"