Colleöne, Shialnor, and the Ancient Dragon burst into the heart of the Blessed Land, where their two cores waited. And then…the two Aesdes froze.

The room was filled to the brim with magic circles, most of which did not exist within either Colleöne or Shialnor’s systems. And in the center of it all, standing in between the two cores, was a man. He wore a black suit of metallic armor with a massive mana core…no, a massive dungeon core built into the center. The two Aesdes trembled…but they weren’t looking at any of the cores or magic circles.

“Rél…seomo? You’re alive?”

The man grinned at them.

“Not really. I have lost both my authority and power as an Aesdes and no longer think as I once did. In many ways, Rélseomo is truly dead.”

Colleöne turned pale as she realized the situation.

“Rélseomo…you are responsible for all this?”

He nodded.

“Indeed. I am the one called the Herald of the New Dawn. And I must thank you both, Colleöne, Shialnor. Were it not for your hypocrisy and laziness, I never would have succeeded.”

The Ancient Dragon growled at the two Aesdes as she stepped forward, warily eyeing the man in front of them.

“Snap out of it. Whoever he is, he is our enemy. Now is not the time for words.”

Colleöne’s eyes narrowed and she hoisted her blade.

“Indeed. I don’t suppose you intend to surrender then, Herald of the New Dawn? Your attacks on both the Blessed Land and the Material Plane have failed. Your attempts to corrupt the dungeons are at an end, your allies have been defeated, and you cannot stop us from reclaiming what is ours. Long and hard did we fight together, and I would take you alive in honor of those times. But if you choose to resist, I will show you no mercy.”

The Herald of the New Dawn chuckled.

“Come now, Lady of Courage and Victory. Do you truly believe I would be standing here if my defeat was imminent? Have you truly failed to glimpse even the faintest hint of my intentions?”

Suddenly, Shialnor gasped.

“Colleöne, that core in his armor…it’s…”

Shialnor glanced around at the magic circles and her eyes went wide. She started running forward.

“Quick! We can’t let him activate it!”

Colleöne and the Ancient Dragon didn’t bother glancing at whatever Shialnor noticed. Instead, they both rushed towards the Herald of the New Dawn, blade and claw at the ready. But the Herald of the New Dawn smirked at them.

“Too late.”

The core in his chest began to shine, as well as the Dungeon and Personal system cores. The room lit up as the magic circles activated. Red and black mana covered the surface of both cores.

And then a bright light filled the room…and all of the Blessed Land.

The brightest star in the sky of Aelea, visible even in the day, suddenly went dark. And every living thing in the Material Plane, be they man, beast, plant, or magic, paused what they were doing, and looked to the sky. Every eye began to tremble, every heart wavered. A deep sense of dread fell upon every being within the world. The ground itself began to rumble, and the seas began to churn.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

For the Blessed Land, from which the Aesdes watch over the world, had vanished, along with everyone on it. And in its place, a gaping hole ripped open the sky, opening up to a pitch-black, empty void.

The Herald of the New Dawn grinned as he reappeared in the Material Plane, alone. It was truly incredible. Somehow, every choice Anualë had made had been wrong. And now, his latest mistake would be his last.

He had cut off the flow of Holy mana between the Blessed Land and the Material Plane, intending to prevent the Herald’s corruption from impacting the surface. But in doing so, he had weakened the primary connection between the Blessed Land and the Material Plane. And, ironically, he had not quarantined the Herald’s corruption either, since the Herald routed it through the Dungeon system.

So, the Herald had been able to sever that connection, and cast the Blessed Land away. Perhaps into the Realms of Mana, or perhaps into the void beyond, the Herald of the New Dawn could not say. All he could say was that the Aesdes were now separated from the world…and the one connection that could have led them back was weakened beforehand by their own design. They had even taken the Ancient Dragons with them, as a bonus.

Of course, it required a truly staggering amount of mana to pull off. He had to carefully drain Colleöne and Shialnor’s powers from the cores, sending bits and pieces back to the two Aesdes themselves, so that he could fully corrupt their cores at the key moment. And since Anualë had stripped his powers, he did not have the might to do so himself.

So he had taken partial control over the dungeons all across Aelea. Not only did he send their monsters to ravage the lands, but he also pulled as much mana as he could through them, spreading their influence into the world around them to benefit from the chaos beyond. And with the large-scale conflicts triggered by the Heralds and their allies, on top of the dungeon hordes rampaging across the world, the amount of mana absorbed by the dungeons hit the immense quantities he needed to banish the entire Blessed Land.

He may have lost his power, but he was still a former Aesdes. His body could absorb and handle truly immense amounts of mana. Yet, up until the moment he triggered his plan, he was still unsure. He was not certain he could transfer the mana from Shialnor’s Dungeon system core to himself in an efficient enough manner. With the quantities required, even small amounts of waste might render him incapable of pulling off his ultimate plan.

It was NSLICE-00P who provided him with the final piece of the puzzle.

Her integration of a dungeon core with organic flesh was an inspiration. He took the Great Demon Lord’s core and fused it with his own being. In doing so, he created a conduit he could use to transfer the mana from Shialnor’s core, so that he could use it as his own with minimal waste.

And so, the final risk in his plan, the final uncertainty had been resolved. Then the Aesdes failed to react in time, the Ancient Dragons intervened too late. NSLICE-00P had been distracted by the Southern Empire, and so hadn’t stopped the war between the Eastern Empire and the Empire of the Sun in time. The mana accumulated, the cores were corrupted, and he had completed the ritual. The Aesdes could no longer intervene in the fate of Aelea.

Well, the Herald knew his former comrades. He expected they might find a way back, in due time. But it would take them time…time that Aelea no longer possessed.

For not the Blessed Land had not merely vanished. Its exit had also ripped a massive hole in the boundary of the Material Plane, one that the world could not repair on its own.

And now, almost everyone capable of assisting it was gone…save two.

One, an Aesdes who was young even by human standards, who could not possibly stand against him alone.

As for the other…

The Herald of the New Dawn grinned. For there was one other effect to his ritual, one last task for Shialnor’s core before it was removed from the world.

It turned out there was a reason Shialnor wasn’t worried about a second Great Demon Lord. After the first, she had prepared a response to that particular contingency. A backdoor into the system, a method for the Mother of Dungeons to punish unruly children of hers with minimal effort.

And as the Herald of the New Dawn corrupted her core, he discovered this contingency. He activated it with all the mana left over from the first ritual, targeting a dungeon master who was subjugating all others to her will.

He grinned.

One way or another, there would be no second Great Demon Lord. And then there would be no one left who could stop him. Aelea’s final day would come to a close, and then make way for a new dawn.

Seero was looking up at the hole in the sky, attempting to calculate the situation. Ateia fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. She did not need to determine what happened, for she could feel the hole ripped into the world. Connected to the mana of the world as she was, she knew immediately what had been lost.

“Victoria…the Aesdes…the Blessed Land…it’s all…gone.”

Taog turned to Ateia with his eyes wide open.

“The Blessed Land…is gone? That’s…impossible…”

But the moment they heard Ateia’s words, everyone knew it was true.

And then it got worse.

Suddenly, a massive quantity of mana flooded into Seero’s core. She immediately lost control of her core, and then the mana began to surge through her body. Seero’s body began to flake away.

And then she vanished entirely.