Chapter 69: Authority Ten

Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Authority Ten

Neva’s hand moved. A figure was sent flying into the ground by the sheer force of her movement. The walls around the corridor cracked from the power of the impact and Arin began to cough blood out. He tried to push himself up but Neva’s Authority was pressing on him so hard it was difficult even to breathe. He pushed his arms underneath him. The ancient Dungeon Master turned his attention to the red energy flowing from the dungeon. A new wave of energy passed through the walls. Arin’s Dungeon Sense immediately picked up on it. Even through the battlefield, he could sense the energy being forced into Neva from whatever source was generating it. Controlled, measured, and directed. Arene’s voice echoed in his mind

[External manipulation continues.]

[The energy is being used to amplify Authority Ten’s existing Authority.]

Arin clenched his teeth. "The elf Hero..."

Neva’s eyes narrowed. "So you’ve realized it." Arin tried to use Dungeon Sovereign but the moment his Unique Ability touched the foreign energy, he was overwhelmed. It was too complex, too multi-layered. He pulled back before he could be crushed by the sheer weight of it. Neva was watching him carefully "You have talent, boy." Arin gave him a tired look. "That doesn’t sound like someone who wants to kill me." Neva smiled. "Thousands of years ago, I would have said the same thing."

Arin’s expression changed. Neva raised a hand. The pressure vanished and Arin immediately pushed himself off the wall and stood. "What did you mean?" Neva looked at the floor for several seconds before he turned his gaze away from Arin. There was something distant in his eyes. "I was born long before this dungeon existed."

The red energy continued to flow through the walls but Neva stopped attacking. "I became a Dungeon Master when the world was still learning what a Dungeon Master was." Arin listened. Neva’s voice was calm. "Humans feared dungeons and demons. Demons feared humans. Both thought the other would eventually destroy them." Neva turned his gaze to the ruined battlefield. "War came anyway." Neva had been a Dungeon Master during one of the earliest periods of conflict between the two races. His dungeon had become a refuge. Demons came to him, seeking protection. Humans came asking for help. Neva refused to choose a side.

"I believed the war was pointless. Humans and demons had been killing each other for generations, yet neither side understood why the hatred had started." Neva had spent decades negotiating. Sending messages back and forth between settlements. Stopping raids. Offering his dungeon as neutral ground. For a while, it had worked. "There were humans who trusted me." Neva’s expression darkened. "There were demons who trusted me too."

Neva had believed peace was a possibility. Then the humans betrayed him. A group of human leaders had decided that peace with demons was unacceptable. They feared the growing influence of Dungeon Masters and believed that Neva was one of the strongest obstacles to their goal

"They invited me to a meeting." Neva’s voice grew quieter. "I went because I thought we were going to discuss a treaty." Arin said nothing. "The doors were locked from the outside." Neva had been attacked by the very people he had spent years helping. They had prepared weapons specifically designed to kill Dungeon Masters. Neva had fought. Neva had survived the first attack. But more humans came.

Too many.

Neva had eventually been brought down

"I still remember one of them asking me why I cared so much about demons." Neva looked at his own hand. "I told him that peace would never exist if I only protected people who looked like me." Arin’s expression tightened. Neva kept talking "They killed me anyway." The red energy inside the dungeon surged. Neva’s head snapped up. "And after I died, the war became worse." Arin looked at him. "Then what happened to you?" "My Authority remained." Neva’s gaze was distant. "Someone found what was left of me. They preserved my body, twisted my Authority, and turned me into this."

Neva looked down at his undead hands. "I spent thousands of years trapped between memory and instinct." Arin understood. The ten Authorities were not simply powerful old Dungeon Masters. They had been broken and altered long ago. "You were one of the original ones." Neva shook his head "No." He looked at Arin. "I am only one of them." The words carried a certain weight to them. "There were Dungeon Masters before me. There were Dungeon Masters after me. We came and went across different eras." Arin thought of Arene. "The System..." Neva smiled faintly. "I had it." Arin stared. "The System was already there when I became a Dungeon Master. I used it. I relied on it. I learned its functions." Neva turned his gaze away. "But I never knew who created it." Arin lowered his voice. "Neither did the others." "No." Neva’s expression became serious. "I searched for the answer for most of my life. I found nothing."

The red energy surged again. Neva’s body jerked as veins of black energy spread up his neck. His eyes darkened. Arin took a step back

"Neva?"

The ancient Dungeon Master grabbed his own chest as the external force tried to force its way deeper into his Authority. Arene’s voice was sharp in his mind

[Authority Ten’s resistance is failing.]

[External control increasing.]

Neva’s teeth clenched. "That elf..." His voice was strained. "He is not controlling my mind." Arin frowned. "What?" "He is controlling the Authority feeding me." The red energy wrapped around Neva before it suddenly lashed out, sending him into a violent fit. Arin barely raised his arms in time as Neva appeared in front of him again and sent him flying. Arin crashed into the ground and rolled across the floor. He struggled to his feet. Neva was already in front of him. A burst of Authority sent Arin flying again. The Dungeon Sovereign was pushing against the force but the Unique Ability was not enough. Neva’s attacks were faster, more powerful than ever. Arin barely blocked one of them, feeling his barrier break under the pressure. Another hit his shoulder, sending him into the wall. A third sent him reeling. The situation had completely changed. Arene’s voice echoed in his mind.

[Arin, his output is increasing beyond previous estimates.]

Arin coughed. "I noticed." Neva was watching him from above. Arin rolled to the side as the ground exploded beneath him. He pushed himself up and drove Dungeon Sovereign to its maximum, trying to understand what Neva was doing. He could see Neva’s Authority. He could understand parts of it. But his body was not strong enough. Neva grabbed him by the arm and sent him across the room. Arin crashed onto the ground beside the remaining members of his group. Ayan, barely conscious in his weakened humanoid form, was several meters away. Saira was on the floor, injured and in shock. The other elves were lying all around them, wounded and broken.

Arin looked at them then back at Neva. He couldn’t let them die. He forced himself to his feet "Enough." Neva stopped. The red energy around him continued to pulse. Arin clenched his fists. "I’ll keep fighting." Neva looked at him for a long moment before something in his expression changed. His eyes cleared and he turned his gaze to the energy flowing through the dungeon. "The one controlling this..." Neva’s expression hardened. "He thinks he owns me." The red energy suddenly began to tear away at itself. Arin felt the change in an instant. Neva’s Authority violently surged in the opposite direction, knocking the entire dungeon off balance. Arena-like cracks spread up the walls. Something far above them shattered. Arene gasped.

[External control has been interrupted.]

Arin stared. "What did you do?" Neva’s body was shaking. "I remembered who I was." The red energy was ripped away from him. For a moment, his body seemed to freeze. Then Neva looked at Arin "Listen to me, boy." Arin lowered his fists slightly "You don’t have much time." Neva raised his hand and a surge of ancient power passed into Arin’s body. He stumbled as the System appeared

[Authority Ten has granted compatible Dungeon Master skills.]

[Ancient Authority Control acquired.]

[Authority Severance acquired.]

[Dungeon Restoration acquired.]

Arin’s eyes widened. "Neva..." "Do not waste them." Neva’s body was already cracking. Arin took a step forward. "Why are you giving me these?" Neva looked at the ruined battlefield. "Because I failed once." Neva’s gaze turned to the bodies of the fallen. "I spent my life trying to stop a war. I died believing the people I trusted would help me." He looked back at Arin. "They betrayed me." A faint smile touched his lips. "But you..." Neva looked at the others around Arin. "You are still trying to save everyone."

Arin’s fists tightened. Neva’s expression softened. "Perhaps that is the difference."

He closed his eyes. Then he raised both of his hands. A wave of ancient power passed over the battlefield. It reached Arin first, then Ayan, then Saira and the other elves. The wounding around the battlefield began to mend. Broken bones reformed, deep punctures sealed, and blood dried up. The wounded survivors were able to stand on their own. Arin stared in disbelief. "You can heal them?" "Only those still alive." Neva looked at the corpses littering the dungeon. "I cannot change what death has already taken." Neva’s healing ability continued to spread throughout the battlefield, repairing every living person within his power’s reach. Ayan slowly opened his eyes. Saira pushed herself up. The other elves were beginning to look around, dazed and confused. Arin turned to Neva. "You saved them."

Neva nodded. "I could not save my people."

He looked at Arin. "Perhaps I can save yours." The Ancient Dungeon Master was beginning to crumble, bits of him falling away. Arin took a step forward. "No." Neva let out a quiet chuckle. "It is all right." His body was dissolving into dust as well as those of the other authorities. "Do not let the previous Dungeon Masters die in vain."

Arin’s eyes widened. Neva’s final words echoed in the chamber. "Defeat him, boy."

His gaze turned to where Caelan was pulling the strings in the dungeon. "Do not let him decide what becomes of you." The last of Neva’s body scattered to the floor. Arin remained motionless as the dust settled around him. The System appeared before him

[Authority Ten has fallen.]

[Ancient Dungeon Master Authority transferred.]

[New skills successfully integrated.]

Arin looked at the spot where Neva had last stood. His fists slowly clenched.

"The elven hero."

Rage left his lips. Arin turned his head. The red-black aura of Dungeon Master Rage surrounded him, his eyes burning with crimson fire. This time, there was no hesitation in his expression

"I’ll finish what you started."