Chapter 1

Edward takes two shots at the goblin behind Ben

“ You gotta be more careful in here,”

“I was careful,”

“Clearly not, you wont be so lucky next time,” Edward says moving toward the next room,

“ I’m telling you, we don’t need some intricate plan if we just bash every monster before they bash us!” Edward heaves a heavy sigh at the mere idea

“ This is a SS rank dungeon, they only let us in cause were pros and not some block headed idiots who only know punch and kick,” Ben mocks his brother under his breath as they encounter their next set of monsters

“ Cover me from afar, I’ll deal with the bigger ones!” Ben draws his weapon and charges the orcs, Edward sighs once more as guns down the smaller goblins.

“ See what Im talking about! My plan is working like a charm!” Ben yells as his sword pierces the orc.

“Luck seems to really favour you,” Edward remarks, Ben burrows his brows as he glares at Edward

“Shit behind you!” Edward yells, breaking into a sprint to launch a powerful blast on a hobgoblin behind Ben, whom turned around to see it die.

“ See what I mean! You almost died just then, we need a plan before one of us gets badly hurt,” Edward was practically yelling now

“ Well maybe if you hadn’t distracted me I wouldn’t have been in danger!”

“ Oh now this is my fault? You’re the one whos charging in like an idiot! Its not like I told you to do that!”

“ You want a plan? Fine, heres a plan; We go in, we cut down any monster we see, we move on, is that enough of a plan for you?”

“ Oh forget it lets just get this over with,” Edward marches on, not bothering to see if Ben followed after

“ This must be the boss room, please be more careful here,” Edward pleads to Ben, grabbing his shoulder

“ yeah sure,” he mutters, but it was all Edward needed to hear

Ben launches himself at the first wave of Orcs

“ Clear out the hobgoblins, I’ll deal with the rest!” Edward yells out, maneuvring around the monsters, gunning them down in the process.

“ Now this is more like it!” Ben yells enthusiastically, grinning a big grin as he slashes through a hobgoblin.

“ Stay focused Ben!” Edward advises, the two had managed to clear the lower level monsters.

“ Stay put, this ones mine!” before Edward can say anything Ben charges one of the larger orcs now approaching them, carrying a large hammer

“ Shit!” Ben yells as he is launched back by the red orcs swing, it continues its advance

“ We need to regroup, think of a different approach to this!” Edward warns Ben, who was not listening

“ Forget that, we have to kill this bastard here and now!” he yells running at it, only to see its gone, his eyes shoot wide in confusion and shock, his head turns to the side

“ This was never your fault, you must live on!” Edward yells, hitting Ben with a charged blank shot, launching him out the way they came as the orc slams his hammer, painting the ground red.

“...”

“...” Ben sat in silence for what felt like an hour, he was processing what just happened.

“ AH YOU IDIOT! YOU-YOU GODDAMN IDIOT WHY DIDN’T YOU LISTEN!” Ben slams his fists into the wall until they start bleeding. He crumples to the floor,

“ I should've listened…” Ben mutters weakly, tears stain the stone floor.

Ben passes out from exhaustion.

“ What? Where the hell am I?” Ben thinks to himself, carefully sitting up, examining his surroundings.

“ Im still in the dungeon, but this camp was never here before…!” Ben jumps to his feet at the sight of the stranger, instinctively reaching for his blade. His hands grasp at nothing.

“ Relax im not gonna kill you,” the stranger hands Ben a plate of cooked meat and sits down across from Ben, he takes a bite.

“ Who brings food into a dungeon? Ben asks chewing on the meat, it had quite the flavor. Strangely savoury.

“ I didn’t, its goblin. Ben coughs a few times almost choking on the meat, the stranger laughs.

“ Relax cooked monster flesh can be eaten without any harm, plus it tase pretty good,” She says, Ben forces himself to eat, he’d rather not fight on an empty stomach.

“ Who are you and how’d you get in here?” Ben finally asks,

“ Im here to raid this dungeon, not clear it obviously Im just gonna grab some stuff and leave,”

“ On whos order? Last the dude who hired me only sent in one team,” Bens sight was locked on this person, in case she tries something.

“ Thats because Im from a guild, Godless Raiders, im sure you’ve heard of them before,” Boasts the stranger,

“ huh, so why’re you the only one here? This is a SS rank dungeon,” Ben asks leaning back, using his hands as supports

The stranger looks away, embarrassed.

“ Its my punishment…” She mutters, just loud enough to be heard. Ben smirks.

“ Im Ben Vellintine, Warrior class.”
“ Ellie,”
“ Thats all?” Ben asks curiously, Elie stands up to stamp out the campfire.

“ Maybe later, for now I need to find the treasure and get out,” She says.

“ What if you killed the boss?” Ben suggests to her, she stops walking.

“ Think about it, you’d get a better reward out of it and you’d be recognized as a pro for clearing an SS tier dungeon,” Ben tempts Elie with the idea of fame and riches, she sighs.

“ Fine, first we’ll need to get the Spear of Longinus, otherwise we stand no chance against the boss,” Elie states marching onward,

“ But the spear itself is the reward for killing the Orc Emperor?” Ben asks confused

“ It was never figured out whether or not that was true, the spear is a hidden item, everyone only knows its existence inside this dungeon. Nothing more.” Elie explains taking Ben through a path he had never gone before. They walk in silence.

“ So…You come here alone?”

“ Nah, I was with my brother,”
“What happened?”

“He uh…died during our fight with the Orc Emperor…”
“...Im sorry for your loss…” Elie apologises. The two reach a room with crossroads and monsters.

“ I guess its time to show you what I can do!” Elie exclaims, drawing two daggers

“ An assassin class I assume?” Ben thinks, Elie cuts through the goblins with speed and precision, leaving behind a trail of electricity

“ Lets move on, we got some exploring to do!” Elie exclaims, ben following behind

“ This should be it,” Elie says, the two had gone through a number of rooms before this one, monsters sat alone here.

“ A demon,” Ben readies his weapon, Elie doing the same. The spear sat behind it on a pedestal.

“ We should stand a chance if we play if carefully,” Ben says. They both agree, the demon did not.

“ What the hell is up with this thing!?” Elie maneuvres around its attacks, countering the Demons slashes as best as she can.

“ We just gotta play it safe then!” Ben yells cutting in between the two, giving Elie some time to recover.

The demon is able to parry every one of Bens hits,

“ This thing is too damn fast!” Elie jumps back into the battle

“ Then all I have to do is match it’s speed!” Elie yells, triggering a skill, boosting her speed

Ben glances around the room for anything that can help

“ Keep that thing contested Elie I have a plan!” Ben yells running in the opposite direction,

Elie was locked in battle, unable to take even a glance at where Ben had run too

“Hurry up with that damn pla-” Elie says, getting cut off mid sentence as the demons entire upper half is blown off, she stare in shock

“ pretty smart huh?” Ben says striding over to Elie and the now dead demon,

“ A heads up would’ve been nice! What if you hit me instead huh!?” Elie berates him,

“But yeah, it was pretty smart.” She crouches down and picks up the demons daggers,

“ Now we both have new, stronger weapons. I’d say were ready,” Elie says excitedly.

“Here it is,” The two had managed to backtrack their way back to the Orc Emperors chambers,

“...” the red stain on the floor reminded Ben that death was not something he would greet today.

“ We got this, we take the guards one at a time,” Elie pats Ben on the shoulder,

“ We do this together,” She reassures him, Ben grins

“ Lets go,” The two step forward.

One of the Orc guards walks forward, the two halt

Elie readies her new daggers, “ We start with him, I’ll keep his focus you deal the final hit,” Elie explains, speeding at her target.

“ Patience, not yet…” Ben keeps himself ready, his eyes dart to sudden movement on the right,

“Tch!” Ben spotted the other Orc guard had begun its advance, he charges it

“T-thanks!” Elie says, Ben was able to block the hammer using the spear

Bens eyes go wide in anger, this Orcs hammer was blood stained, it was him.

“ ARGH!” Ben pushes back, shattering the hammer and piercing a hole in the Orcs side, slamming the spear into its head.

“ I’d prefer it if you kept your cool during the fight with the Orc emperor, I’d very much like to keep it a two on one,” Elie remarks, having taken down the other orc guard.

“ Right sorry,”
“ Its fine, you wanted revenge, revenge achieved. Once we kill the emperor we’ll be home free!” Elie chimes, the orc Emperor stands unsheathing his greatsword.

“ You’ve done well to survive this long, humans. I can offer you power that no human can offer,” He waves his hand at Elie, his voice echoing the chamber,

“ But you, I’d have to kill you, It seems to be the only proper thing to do no? Reuniting you with your brother?” The emperor attempts to bait Ben into blindly attacking, he doesn’t take it.

Ben and Elie take stance,

“ hmm yeah Im gonna have to pass on that one, I think killing you here would merit more of a reward, right Ben?” Elie smirks

“ Your quite right my dear friend,” Ben gives a toothy grin before launching himself at the emperor

“ Then you will both die here!” He booms, blocking the spear thrust, he slams his fist into the ground halting Elies advance

“Whats wrong, cant keep up!” Elie yells as she dashes around, Ben keeping his sword busy allowing Elie to take hits when she can

“ Perhaps I should deal with you one at a time,” The emperor slams the ground forcing Elie to back up again, Ben is hit with an onslaught of attacks

“Tch this is annoying, my sword would break in one hit and I haven’t fully adapted to using a spear yet,” Ben thinks unable to find the chance to switch back to offense.

In Between swings Ben jabs at the emperor,

The emperor slams his sword into the spear, pushing down against Ben the blade pinches his shoulder, just barely cutting in

“ Now its my turn!” , he was able to push back emperors attack, allowing him to, in rapid succession stab the emperor

“ Looks like your the one whos going to be reunited with the dead!” Elie remarks, in her electrified state she slashes through his shoulder, it wasn’t deep but it hurt.

“ YOU INSOLENT PESTS THINK YOU CAN STAND AGAINST ME!? I SHOW MERCY NO LONGER!” The emperor yells, shattering a strange red crystal in his hand, the pieces imbed in his arm, causing some kind of mutation.

“ The idiot used the blood of the Demon king!?” Ellie's eyes shoot wide in fear and shock,

“ the what of the who??” Ben was confused, he hold his footing as gusts of wind emit from the transforming orc,

“ Those who are allied with the Demons are given a shard called the blood of the Demon king, it allows non-demons to become demonic while increasing the strength of demons,” Elie explains

“ARGHHHHH!” The demonic emperor yells, his skin gone from dark green to red,

“Tch! This has gotten even more annoying!” Elie yells evading the erratic attacks from the emperor, whom had ditched his weapon in favour of going berserk. With one swing of his fist Ben is slammed into the wall,

“ Tch, everything hurts. What I need right now is a plan,” Ben sits up, and then an idea hits him, its stupid but it’ll work.

“ Elie I have a plan! I need you to keep him still for five seconds!” Ben yells over to elie, who was reluctant to agree but had no choice, “ Fine but you better make it quick!” she yells back.

“ And now you will stay still,” Elie mutters, pushing herself to her limits she scampers along the giant body of the emperor slashing at his flesh, avoiding his hands as he swats at her, successfully holding him in place.

“ Now, get back!” Ben yells, He breaks into a sprint, thrusting himself off the ground holding

“ WORTHLESS HUMAN!” The emperor yells, Bens spear pierces deep into the emperors heart, the force of the attack slams it into its throne. Completely crushing it.

“ you…will crumble…in face of…him…” the orc emperor mutters, dying words.
“ haaaaaah, its finally over. Lets take a quick break, then grab the loot and head out.” Elie says letting out a sigh, Ben notices a strange shard sticking out from near where the spear sat

“ huh, wonder what this does,” He says plucking it out, the shard shone bright red.

“ I thank you for your hard work, I’ll be taking that now,” A hand grabs the crystal from Ben, he looks up from the hand in confusion, confusion turn to fear. It was Edward. His brother whom he had watched die, was standing in front of him with a strangely cold smile on his face, he pushes Ben away from him.

“ What the hell are you!” Elie yells pushing herself further, she had flanked his side, Edward side eyes her, with one gesture of his hand shes knocked back.

“...” Ben lay on the floor, his brain was still processing what had happened.

“ Edward.” Edward locks eyes with his brother,

“ I did it, I followed a plan, I- we can go back now, claim the commission reward!” Ben pleads, the shock from seeing Edward made Ben think what happened before was all in his head, that he never really died. His brother remaining composed.

“ You don’t seem to understand, Ben.” Edward starts

“Im the villain, I’ve always been the villain.” Edward says.

“No no- what? It, i- it- you’ve never been evil I’ve known you my whole life!” Ben argues, desperation leaking into his voice

“You died! I watched your body get mushed into the ground!” Ben yells

“ Statue of nine lives, I faked my death so I can find a certain item hidden in here.” Edward answers,

“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but I have been. The world is a cruel and unjust place, those with power oppress, those without find ways to seize control and exploit everyone else, I’ve seen it first hand Ben, WE are victims of that, our parents were unjustly killed by that fat bastard for what? Money, then he pushes the debts onto their children. I had to kill people just to live, so WE could live. The greed of humans, what they’d do for treasure in places like this.” Edward continues, his smile remaining.

“ Tell me Ben, do you believe us humans to be purely evil or good? At what point do we become “evil” and “good”, ” Edward asks, tilting his head to the side. Ben remains silent, unable to answer, “ Its fine you can think on that one,”

“ It seems I was deemed evil by my world when I killed that fat bastard, even though he was deserving of it,” Edward remarks

“ you-when did you kill Frank” Ben barely gets the words out,

“Before we came in, but thats not important,” Edwards head lolls back to get a better look at Elie,

“ I’d like to thank you for helping my brother keep going, if not for you he probably would’ve left, or died.” Edward straightens his head to look back at Ben. “ It seems my ride is here,” He steps down from the orc emperors body, the ground to the left of him splitting open as a gate of bones bursts forth,

“ 9th soul, I am Bell, I will escort you to the court where the others await,” Speaks the demon girl,

“ Thank you bell, but why don’t you go on ahead, I’ll be right behind you,” Edward says gesturing for Bell to go on head, she doesn’t. Edward turns his head slightly to look at Ben.

“ The advent of the demon king is upon us. 5 months-” Hes cut off, Elie had rushed in and thrusted her dagger, Edward moved his head out of the way, it stretched his cheek, a single streak of blood flowed.

“ You talk too much you know?” she says grinning, despite her fear. His smile faded. Edward reaches out grab Elie

“ DONT!” Ben had acted in the same instance as Elie, Ben grabs Edwards arm, Edward looks at his brother in bewilderment, as if thats something he’d never done before.

“Well, for your sake I won’t be killing anyone. That includes you too, Bell,” He says, the demon lady had her hand pointed at Bens neck, she stands down.

“ As I was saying, in five months time you can find me during the World raid in the Castle of Old, come find me!” Edwards smile returns as he laughs, throwing Ben at Elie, shes able to slow their momentum before they slam into the wall. Edward steps through the gate, Bell turns to them and bows lightly before following Edward, the gate sinks back into the ground. Ben passes out.

“...” When Ben had come to he was no longer in the dungeon, it seemed to be someones home. The wounds he had gotten from the demonic orc emperor had been patched,

“ How are you feeling?” Elie asks handing him a glass of water, he sits upright on the couch,

Ben sighs, “ Im fine, what happened after I passed out?” Ben asks handing back the empty glass,

“ I contacted my guild master, told him that the dungeon had been cleared and sent the vice guild master and a few other guys to gather the rest of the treasure. I made sure to keep the spear out their hands, and I uh…didn’t tell them about, what happened with you-know-who,” she says trying to avoid bringing up Edward, she takes a seat at a table, a bowl of cereal sat in front of her. She had changed into more casual wear.

“ Its fine, Edward seems to have been like this for awhile. “ Ben rubs his eye,

“ You know that girl called him the “Ninth soul”, hes not just in league with the Demons, hes working directly for the Demon King.” Elie informs Ben,

“I’ll deal with him in the Castle of old, until then I need to get stronger.”

“ WE need to get stronger, I might as well see this through to the end,” Elie says giving him a reassuring smile,

“ Thank you, for now I’d like something to eat, preferably not goblin meat this time” Ben says jokingly as the two laugh. They had set their goals, become stronger in five months and defeat Edward. Perhaps deal with the Demon king if it comes to it.

Elsewhere, ???

“ It seems the Orc Emperors lair has been cleared by him, perhaps we should make contact now?” speaks the strange lady, swirling a wine glass in one hand as she rest her head in her palm, speaking to the others at the table.

“ We’ll have to sooner or later, we should wait until after hes recovered. Is the item ready Lili?” the man adjacent to the lady chimes in, referring to the girl seated on his left.

She lets out a gentle sigh,

“ It should be, by the time hes recovered we should be able to give it to him, the key to the hidden dungeon in the Fragmented depths, but when we do go see him, you better tone yourself down Astra,” Lilith says waving a dagger Astras way, she lets out a little chuckle before leaning back in her chair. Astra takes a sip from her glass, the orange liquid sloshing around in the glass.

“ Don’t you worry your little head now, everything will go smoothly,” Astra gives a sly smile, causing Lilie to erupt into a barrage of insults, berating Astra as she merely laughs it off,

“Sigh” the man rubs his face as he has to listen to Lilis provoked bickering, letting a small smile creep onto his face as he watches the two bicker at each other.

“ Getting to Ben is step one, we’ll help him clear the hidden dungeon and get stronger. I haven’t told the others yet but we’ll be partaking in the world raid on the Castle old. Everything hinges on whether or not we can stop the 9th soul from establishing an anchor point,” The man thinks, his train of though getting cut off as a stray cup hits him square in the face, he joins the argument.