After all the times I complained, I'm actually a little bummed out that Light won't be able to one-shot this fight.

  Twenty thousand soldiers, or so Me estimates, are lined up in front of my Sentry Tower. King Aldus is at the front with two very beefy-looking men behind him. Both identical in every way except for an eye patch they're wearing on opposing sides.

  To be honest, they look like your everyday thugs rather than soldiers and I wouldn't be surprised if half of these numbers haven't been conscripted quite recently. That said, I'm still picking up a nasty vibe from Eye Patch A and B. Their leader isn't much better either and is full-on glaring at my tower in disgust.

  Maybe he's like Sis and the green-eyed monster has him? If we can settle this without violence, I'll happily build you your own. Hell, I'll even make it bigger than mine. Maybe. At least bigger than Sis'.

  "Where is your Lord!?" The King shouts, still showing some anger from before and also assuming his voice has to be loud to be heard. Guess what, guy. I'm a dungeon. I can hear perfectly fine when you're speaking normally.

  What an idiot. I look at the people still on top of the tower, expecting them to be nodding along in agreement. Instead, they seem to be staring at me expectantly.

  "Sacha," I whisper to one person I know that will have a good answer. "Why's everyone looking at me like that?"

  "You're the Lord, Master. The human down there wishes to speak with you." As always, Sacha's answer is perfect. Not what I wanted to hear, but precise and to the point no less.

  Ah.

  This is where I make an ass of myself, isn't it?

  It doesn't happen often these days, as every one of my family is connected to the same link, but I send Me a personal message through our private link.

  Don't do that, please. You know I don't. Otherwise I would have just asked you normally. I don't know how to speak to royalty and what if he attacks me straight away? Are there rules to war? I think there are, but I have no idea what they are. Do you? You can be my war advisor...

  Seriously?

  Huh?

  That threw me off. Yep, I wasn't expecting that one. I'm pretty sure Me used to be the conservative one, unless it was to do with prisoners. He just doesn't seem to like them. Probably Sis rubbing off on him as she wants them all killed and reincarnated too.

  Still, his advice isn't exactly helpful.

  Definitely going to make myself look like a fool. Yep. No two ways about it.

  "Alright then. I guess I'll be back soon." No one tries to stop me, not that they would, but someone offering to go in my stead wouldn't go amiss. Alas, no one volunteers and I port off feeling blue.

  In front of my tower, I appear from the floor like an Assassin would, but it's just my dungeon features at play disguising my identity. I don't want to give too much away this early in the game.

  King Aldus has long, golden hair and bright eyes. Red as a blood moon and deep like the ocean, they never left my own as I rose from the ground. Although, even though he had asked, the King didn't seem happy to see me. If anything he looked even angrier after I arrived. He probably wasn't expecting a short, green-haired woman to pop up, that's for sure. More likely expecting a man as the term Lord implies. I'm pretty sure anything I say will not be well received.

  "That's the dude," Violet points toward the King and Amber's eyes light up.

  "Do you have any food with you?" She asks.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Hello, Aldus. I'm Blondie," the third tag-along chirps merrily. Before I can say a word we've already blown it. At least I didn't make a fool of myself though.

  The King begins to summon a ridiculous amount of demonic energy in the palm of his hand. Before he has the chance to use it though, I panic. Throwing a ridiculous amount of my own concentrated mana at him first. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to kill him. Eyepatch A and Eyepatch B conjured some type of demonic shield, stopping my attack and informing me that they might indeed have a few powerhouses I was unaware of.

  The King laughs maniacally as the evil twins drop the barrier, leaving him free to launch the ball of demonic energy in his hand towards us at alarming speed.

  Realising that our talks are already over before I even got a chance to speak, I try to teleport us away. For some reason my dungeon function doesn't seem to want to work as I watch in horror as the mass of energy tears up the ground and disintegrates the fallen trees on its approach.

  I don't know what I can do to stop it. I don't have a barrier skill. I wish I did, but it's too late to visit the Bale of Fortune right now.

  Raising my arm up to meet the mass of black and red energy in a futile effort to stop the sphere of death is all I can do to protect the triplets. To my surprise, a black barrier appears around us right as the blade of demonic energy crashes against it. Swiveling my head, I see Violet, Blondie and Amber smiling with their own arms raised. Their joy didn't last however as the shadow barrier couldn't endure the pressure from the King's attack.

  Shattering like glass, the barrier the triplets erected folds under the weight and the demonic energy hits us like a horse-drawn carriage. Visions of evil acts enter my mind as my body is thrown through the air, straight against the side of the Sentry Tower.

  Scenes play out through the haze that I can barely make sense of. A man I don't know stabs another man over nothing but a spilt drink in a tavern. Somewhere else, a group of children are taking turns hitting and kicking a girl tied to a tree. At dinner, a woman poisons her husband's dinner and watches sadistically as he lays frothing at the mouth. Worst of all is Kal. I see our ex-companion plunge his sword into Anya and commit the unspeakable once again.

  I watch them all while unable to move. Unable to speak. Unable to stop the act again. Hatred fills my heart. I hate Kal for what he has done. More so I hate the King for making me once more relive the worst moment of my life.

  "Kill him." Technically, I'm referring to Kal as I'm still hallucinating, laid against the tower where I landed. My family thought I was referring to the King, however, and they take my words as the signal and the battle starts in earnest.

  The ground shakes as a tide of monsters appears from the forest on both flanks of the army, crashing into the sides of their ranks. It doesn't stop there though as a swarm of Assassins appear at their flank and begin bombarding them with skills.

  I didn't know any of that was happening since I was still trapped in my own personal nightmare. I had reached the Core and Kal had just caught up to me. I'm pissed. Not the weak-ass me then, but the me here and now. This will be the third fucking time. I know this vision and my Terrortation sessions weren't real, but I'll be fucked if I let it happen again.

  Wanting to kill Kal before my fateful act plays out once again, I unleash my fury. However, what I want to happen doesn't happen because things never seem to go my way. Instead of watching Kal die, my rage shatters the illusion and I snap awake to a new scene of horror.

  Smoke billows from the battlefield where skills had caused explosions and set people ablaze. The sound of blades clashing and screaming is loud enough to give a regular person nightmares. I already have them and aren't too worried for my own sanity. What I am worried about is my family.

  Violet, Blondie and Amber all lay still in front of me. Parts of their skin burnt from the King's attack. Hair singed and the red hue of the Dungeon Mist clinging to them as it has already swept across everything that is mine.

  I don't want to look, but I can't bring myself to face away. This is my fault. I wasn't strong enough. I didn't think. The triplets, whose incessant consistency never ceased to amaze me, had to defend me with their own shields because I was weak.

  I can't take it.

  I try to stand up, ready to release everything that has built up over the course of my life, my death and everything in-between. I hate Kal which gives me strength and I hate the king which gives me drive. I also hate myself for what had just happened and that motivates me beyond limits.

  I stand up and only then do I understand that limits exist for a reason. Even after being shielded by the triplets, I am missing the arm I had held out to stop the King's attacks, as well as my left leg. Fear begins fighting against my rage as it often does, but I push it down. My anger can't be quelled by a few missing limbs and I remember what Me said back on the tower.

  I was overthinking. Not intentionally, but I had grown used to the strength of my body and the family around me. The body I created for myself out of nothing but dungeon points and a few skills. The fact that I got scared after losing a few body parts was laughable and only served to further fuel my rage.

  I'm no longer a human. Much as I might want to be, that's no longer in the cards for me. I can look human and pass myself off as one easily enough, but that's not who, or what, I truly am.

  I'm a Dungeon Core.

  A new body, identical to my own, appears next to me. Transferring my soul, I open new eyes and look back at the damage I took.

  My hair is gone, burnt away by the King's demonic magic. My right arm and left leg burnt down to stubs, little flickers of flame remaining, sealing the wounds. My dress is a mess and one of my eyes is full of blood. I don't look pretty, that's for sure.

  A tear falls from my eye at the sorry state I'm in. A real, honest-to-Core tear, not created by Water magic which I thought impossible until shown. Then again Light's having a baby with a human so what do I know?

  As the tear runs down my cheek and drops to the soil below, I activate not only my Presence but crank up my Dungeon Rage at the same time. Stupid King. Foolish King. Dead King. No one hurts my family and gets away with it.