XVI: I Cannot Allow The Sacred Dhaal To Be Endangered By Whatever Goes Below

The Systemarch was fearful - Chalybis saw this in its eyes, its teeth, the quivering of its many legs. He heard a rattling inside its chest - where the Dhaal were stored.

XVII: I Feed Slowly But Surely

XVIII: I Will Destroy This Thing Eventually But We Must Wait To Be Impatient Is To Meet Certain Death

Chalybis felt a flicker of satisfaction - the Servants, he knew, would be making their way down.

XVIII: The Gears Of Progress Have Been Set In Motion And It Is Now Too Late To Reverse This As An Army Of Chalybis Servants Is Already Marching Down The Chasms And Will Be Assembled Down Here With Him Within The Foreseeable Future After Which He Shall Grant It The Might To Deal With The Corruption So Chalybis Urges Lajortestus To Undertake Any Assisting Endeavours Before This Has Come To Pass Chalybis replied, making it clear that He would not be postponing this situation. If the Systemarch claimed that the corruption was growing ever stronger, He could not trust its ability to adequately contain it for long enough to end it, and He would not risk such a thing breaking loose within His realm.

Of course, there was still a large amount of time which He would have to wait - the Servants were not nearly as fast as He was due to their comparatively small size, and it would take them several days to march down the titanic chasm that had led Him into these caverns, and after their arrival He would have to adjudicate and, if necessary, upgrade their combat capabilities before there was any chance of victory in the inevitable battle that would follow...

XIX: I Can Tighten The Web And Weaken The Thing For A Time But It Is Not Permanent And It Might Insight It's Rage

Chalybis knew the Independants were coming, and his estimation was correct - they would take a long while to reach these lower depths of Telluratus.

XX: I Do Have A Theory Concerning The Habitat Of The Thing And Why The Place Was Chosen To Befoul

XIX: The Temporary Weakening Of The Intruder Shall Be Utilized When It Is Most Advantageous To Do So During The Encounter Itself Rather Than Prematurely Which Will Risk The Discovery Of Chalybis Efforts To Destroy It And There Remains Enough Time Before The Arrival Of His Army For Lajortestus To Explain His Theory About The Origin And Purpose Of The Corruption Chalybis replied, deciding that there was currently not much to do apart from waiting for the arrival of His Servants.

He began to listen to the Systemarch's explanation of events, standing motionless on the cavern floor before it. Around Him, various supernatural firearms gradually came into being, one after another clattering on the floor as time went on. Although He already possessed many such things, to His knowledge His Servants did not, and that was something He would be remedying soon.

XXI: There Is A Certain Ancient Portal Filled With Strange Anomalous Energies That THe Mad Thing Has Almost Certainly Been Drawn Towards Though I Myself Cannot Tap Into

XXII: He Draws Power From There And From The Lines Of Power In Telluratus Which Have Now Been Taken By The Web

Although it was likely that - if the corruption was truly drawn to this unknown artefact that lay beneath Him - the removal of this portal would in turn cause the corruption to move with it, Chalybis was not intent on removing anything from His realm because some foul creature required it. On the contrary, if there was a secondary source of power which could be tapped into by what was presumably a god, but not a Systemarch, this was something He had to acquire for Himself, so that He might use it to further His own goals later.

XX: Apart From The Knowledge Of The Portal And Its Powers Which Shall Be Reclaimed By Its True Owner Chalybis Within The Foreseeable Future Is There Any Other Information Lajortestus Can Provide Chalybis With Concerning The Capabilities Of The Corruption And Methods Of Vanquishing It He then inquired, interested in hearing what else the Systemarch had so far figured to be too unimportant to mention. If He were to defeat the corruption at its source, He had to know every single detail about it the Systemarch could provide...

XXIII: I Give A Caution And That Is Not To Drink Or Eat Or Accept Gifts From The Soul Beneath

Chalybis knew that the Systemarch was scared of this strange thing - but was the fear justified?

Although Chalybis was not completely certain of the point the Systemarch was intending to make - He did not need to 'eat' or 'drink', and was not intending to interact with the corruption long enough to accept 'gifts' of any kind - He duly noted what it said and decided not to inquire into the matter any further. The Systemarch was obviously too afraid to be of any useful assistance right now, yet its psychic powers would prevent Him from directly taking the information He desired to possess - for the moment. All He would now do was wait, wait for the arrival of His Servants so that He might prepare them for the upcoming war and rid His world from the corruption that lay beneath it...

Hours passed. Many hours. The rushing of water persisted.

Eventually Chalybis heard a far off clanking, whirring, buzzing.. the herald of his soldiers.

As He heard that His Servants had finally arrived, Chalybis stirred again, tendrils of steel sprouting from His body and reaching out towards the pile of weapons He had mentally brought into being whilst He was waiting. He was not quite certain what His Servants were currently wielding as weaponry, but He felt certain that He could improve upon whatever that was with His creations - and the blessing of advancement which He would soon grant to all of them. Chalybis was somewhat curious to see what His Servants would end up as when He advanced them after attaching weaponry to their forms, but that was a mystery which would soon be solved.

XXI: Behold The Servants Of Chalybis Who Shall Soon Aid Him In His Destruction Of The Corruption Which Lurks Beneath He declared to the Systemarch, staring off into the darkness behind Him and awaiting the entry of His Servants...

The Servants entered the great cavern, whirring, clicking, clanking - some had been damaged by the trip, and Chalybis saw that only about three-quarters of his Servants had come; roughly about fifteen hundred. Perhaps the others, ironically enough, were fearful.

Lord You Have Called And We Have Come

Although not every potential warrior had come, Chalybis was still pleased. In a way, it was probably better that not all of His Servants had chosen to answer the call, for those that joined Him in battle would become incapable of performing their normal tasks for quite some time, something which could not be neglected. Those that would now become His soldiers would eventually have to be returned to their current forms after the battle was over, if only to insure their ability to serve Him and His realm, so that neither would fall into decay once more.

XXII: You Have Been Called To Battle As The Infestation Of Organic Beings Has Come Further Than Was Assumed Earlier For Beneath These Caverns Lies A Corrupted Site Filled With Foul Creatures That Strive To Destroy This World And Which Must Be Obliterated Before They Can Gain Enough Power To Accomplish This Deed He decreed to the horde - no, legion - of Servants that stood before Him, sweeping His gaze over them and taking in their current designs. Although He had made the Originals, they had come a long way since that point in history, and this 'upgrade' was going to take a lot of effort from Him.

XXIII: To Facilitate The Destruction Of The Corruption You Shall Now Be Blessed By The Power Of Advancement And Receive Might Arms Which Can Be Wielded Against That Which Lurks Beneath So That You May Erase It From Existence In The Name Of Chalybis And His Realm He continued, and everywhere within His gaze, the upper-most set of limbs on the Servants fell to pieces, the various tools there taken apart instantly.

Moments later the limbs were rebuilt, taking parts from their former shapes and merging these with the weaponry that lay scattered about everywhere within the cavern to create more combat-worthy appendages. Although the weaponry was relatively simplistic to His standards, Chalybis did not possess the capability to produce more advanced ones in the desired quantity fast enough, so these supernatural armaments would have to be sufficient for the vanquishing of the corruption.

After He had completed the reconstruction of His legion, Chalybis reached out to the fifteen nearest Servants around Him, touching them with mechanical tendrils and infusing them with a fragment of His own power. The Servants so blessed disintegrated before Him, their current forms unworthy of the power they now contained and actively striving to correct this blasphemy by advancing themselves in all possible ways before they dared to reassemble themselves in His presence. They did return eventually, having become something far more than what they had been before...

Many hours passed, the Servants watching silently as Chalybis fit his chosen soldiers for war, rested, and then strove to enhance them once more. The work was exhausting, but liberating - Chalybis knew that by the end of the task he would have fifteen hundred warriors capable of fighting off almost any threat. The Servants liked their new firepower, despite being originally unsure: ancestral, perhaps deeper, memories counted the things as bane to their kind, but the Servants soon came to understand and appreciate the beauty of the firearms.

The fifteen chosen warmachines had evolved and changed in unforseen ways. Some, Chalybis saw, already had automatic firearms of their own. Others had claws, had expanded in size, or contained strange glints in their mechanical eyes. One was plated entirely in gold.

They were ready.

With His new army completed before Him, Chalybis turned His attention towards the cavern floor beneath Him. He knew exactly where the corruption was awaiting Him, and how He could reach that location by conventional means, but using those was not His intent. If the corruption knew of their presence - which was nearly inevitable considering the army of Servants was anything but quiet - a direct assault would be far too obvious to be effective. No, Chalybis and His army would take another way down - His way.

XXIV: Commence The Weakening Of The Corruption And Continue Doing So Until The Time At Which Chalybis Returns Or Has His Existence Temporarily Erased From This Realm After Which All Entrances To The Location Of The Corruption Are To Be Sealed Off He ordered Lajortestus as He raised both His hands above the surface, palms facing downward. This would be another heavy effort for Him, but again, utterly worth the results it would bring. He would have preferred to take some time to test out the new capabilities of His chosen, but there was still a long way down to go during which He could do so.

XXV: Now Behold The Path Of Steel That Shall Lead Chalybis And His Army Towards The Depths In Which The Infernal Corruption Resides So That They Might Vanquish The Foul Intruder From The Realm Of Telluratus Forever So That It May No Longer Act As A Parasite Upon That Which Belongs To Chalybis He decreed, and with an ear-shattering screeching, the metal parts that made up the cavern floor began to move apart, gears rolling away, pistons retracting, and hinges folding, all to create a massive steel stairway before Him that led off into the depths below, there where the enemy awaited...

The process took days. More and more often Chalybis needed to rest and recover his energy as he attempted the cyclopean task he had appointed himself. Many kilometers needed to be traversed. Lajortestus showed his immediate discomfort at the high-pitched screeching by wailing for hours on end and then drifting into slumber. The Servants waited, ready for battle.

Eventually, Chalybis stopped. He knew that the last tiny amount of effort would crack the seal and allow his soldiers to attack the Mad God; but he also knew that the Mad God could rise from there. If he did not wish to proceed, now was the time to quit. Regardless, he needed to be fully rested before charging into battle - it would still take a day's worth of marching to reach the creature.

With the tunnel nearly completed, Chalybis mentally called out to His Servants, commanding them to join Him in its depths. XXVI: Behind This Wall Awaits The Madness That Seeks To Destroy Telluratus And It Will Attack The Very Instant It Is Released So Respond In Kind And Obliterate Every Single Non-Mechanical Creature That Is Found Within The Darkness Beyond With Great Vigour He decreed, glancing over the army that was forming up around Him. He 'rested' somewhat, remaining absolutely motionless as the Servants took up something resembling a formation, until He felt that the time was right.

When this was so, He placed His hands upon the surface before Him, and with one final effort, forced them open, revealing that which lay behind them...

Before Chalybis was darkness, illuminated - however softly - by a low, throbbing, purple glow. Chalybis could make out a thousand, maybe more, strange, gibbering beasts.. some, Chalybis saw, had bulbous, purple lights flowing from their head, while others had too many claws, arms, tentacles, eyes.. it was a mass of black and green and light azure, and as Chalybis opened the seal he saw them all rise and stare, perhaps in shock.

Now was the time.

XXVII: Obliterate Them All was Chalybis last and definite order to His Servants before He personally waded into the cavern to allow them to follow Him, swiping at the nearby gibbering creatures to force them out of His way as He advanced. There might be thousands of them, but they were absolutely inconsequential beings, even incapable of holding their bodies in the same shape for more than an instant. What He cared about was the divine being which had spawned them, and was now most likely hidden somewhere amongst the ranks of its minions.

Although His personal army was similar in size to that of the corruption, He felt that such a balance was not acceptable as it would lead to far too many damaged or destroyed Servants on His side. He stopped moving for a moment, gathering an orb of silver metal within His eye - something which He felt He had not done for far too long - and shaping it into a host of thin, razor-sharp, spines. As He swept His gaze over the horde that was gathering around Him, the spines shot out like a swarm of arcane arrows, ready to spread His influence through the opposing army...

The creatures gibbered and screamed as they were struck by the metal blades, but Chalybis knew that there were many, many more. They screamed and howled, their own brand of war-cries filling the room, while the Servants were devastatingly silent. Suddenly, seemingly all at once, the wave of enemies assaulted Chalybis and his shining soldiers. Gunfire could be heard echoing throughout the entire cave. Chalybis winced as he felt acidic saliva burn through, in tiny amounts, the outer shell of his being..

Noticing that the silver metal mechanisms - which had never failed Him before - were not having the desired effect upon the corrupted beings - they were still noticeably non-mechanical and not in the process of becoming so - and that His physical form was being attacked by these infernal creatures, Chalybis decided upon a change of tactics. There were many ways in which He could destroy those that dared to oppose them, and the silver steel had only been a single one of them - although it was undeniably one of the more powerful ones.

He gazed past the misshapen beings, staring at the metal surface beneath them. Despite the omni-present corruption, this was still Telluratus and His realm would obey His commands. As He clenched a massive fist above the surface, it instantly reshaped itself as He desired, forcing out groups of grinding gears, crushing pistons and generally harmful components everywhere on it, implements of destruction which He presumed could easily tear apart the soft liquid-like bodies of His pathetic enemies.

The carved metal surface within the cavern shimmered and shook, and Chalybis felt a wave of exhaustion descend upon him as the once-smooth ground became a maze of slicing, crashing, crushing, clanking gears and pulleys.. he saw, with much satisfaction, that a suitable fraction of the creatures were pulled into the gears, crushed to death, their screams echoing with gunshots about the cave. The Servants continued shooting and beating, showing no mercy or remorse, but Chalybis saw that several had themselves been caught in the vengeful ground, to be battered and smashed until death.

Chalybis saw with satisfaction that all of the creatures that had assaulted him were either shot or horribly maimed. The air was filled with smoke.

There was a wave of purple light from far ahead in the cave, and Chalybis realized that must be the source of the corruption. Above him, he heard a stirring..

As the wails of the dying mixed with the screeching of unstoppable gears everywhere around Him, Chalybis was pleased, having determined that the current ratio of fallen Servants to vanquished enemies was more than acceptable and would certainly lead to a solid victory by His side. Although it would have been somewhat preferable to have zero losses amongst His Servants, their demise did provide Him with a rather convenient access to replacement metal without having to damage His Citadel, something which He felt necessary after the corruption's caustic attacks against His form.

The ominous steel tendrils slithered from His body, reaching out to the trapped or destroyed Servants and rapidly coiling around them until they were no longer visible. The Servants were completely absorbed within them, their bodies broken down into their component parts which would restore His body and their undying souls returned to the essence of their master as He consumed them. Chalybis glanced upwards, momentarily taking in the ceiling of the cavern as He prepared Himself to deal with whatever awaited in the purple light ahead of Him...

As Chalybis dissolved and assimilated his Servants, he was disturbed by the slamming of several of the creatures against him; they clawed and hurled themselves and smashed. Half a dozen of the things had evaded the gunfire and had, rather intelligently, decided to attack the leader, but it was this process of assimilation - the scrap metal, shrapnel, and other razor-sharp pieces of steel being flung violently towards them - that was at once their undoing and Chalybis's renewal.

The gears whirred, crushed, and took several more Servants - and many more creatures - with them. Ahead, Chalybis saw most of the pathetic horde had been cleared with no more than a hundred deaths on his side; still, things would get tougher from here on in. Strange, heavily armoured, vaguely circular beasts started to leap towards his force. Bullets ricocheted off their chitinous hide. A Servant was shattered by the immense force thrown against it.

Above - above, snake things with too many eyes, strange suckers, watching, staring..

After realizing that the corruption was most likely creating more monsters with every passing moment, Chalybis decided that He would have to finish this rapidly and that He could not afford to waste time with the strange creatures above Him. They were acting rather passively now, but this would not last forever, so He would have to prevent their interference in another way soon. Ordering His Chosen - more specifically, the gargantuan ones and the strange golden creation - forwards to counter the charging 'things', He continued His own advance towards the source of the corruption.

As He walked, strange blurs appeared into the air around Him, an intricate network of lines which arched everywhere through the cavern, remaining just below the ceiling - and the strange beasts that now populated it - at all times. Gradually, the lines solidified, forming ever-growing steel beams which flattened and expanded themselves until they turned into heavy plates, interlocking with each other to form a primitive yet effective divider between the lower and upper portion of the cavern. Although it was not an extremely powerful barrier, Chalybis expected it to be sufficient to keep away the ceiling beasts until He had dealt with the other threats, after which they would receive His full attention...

Chalybis heard the cries of those above, infuriated, before they were sealed away. A few managed to drop down, but were split asunder by the Servants. A massive Servant - one of the changed - had, it seemed, limited metacreative powers of its own, and had created two large cannons which fired repeatedly at the monstrous sphere-creatures, shattering many. The sphere-things continued, however, working surprisingly well together, smashing Servants in tandem. Scrap metal filled the ground, covered in thick black and blue gore.

Reptilian beasts with bird-like wings swooped the Servants, but to little achievement: they were shot or smashed down quite quickly. A huge ball of chitinous bone smashed into Chalybis, and his large frame crashed to thr ground, shifted by the massive momentum gained by such a creature.