March 4th, 2018

Italy, Rome

Vatican City

09:00 AM

It was a beautiful Sunday Malicia thought, as she mingled in the throng of people. But she put on a disgusted face as she saw all those people living here, the sorceress liked Earth less and less as she saw what its inhabitants did to Gaia. She looked around her and was dismayed by the crowd. The population of Vatican City tripled when it was time to go to mass. She had arrived in Rome in the morning and was browsing clothing stores with a critical eye while waiting for nightfall. Her catsuit was glamoured to look like a green off shoulder crop top with long sleeves showing her bare midriff and tight black jeans with heeled half boots, the sorceress had chosen to look like a tourist with all her shopping bags and tried to look lost. This was a tourist trap to fill the pockets of this country’s religious order; the sorceress was seated by a copse of trees in Piazza del Risorgimento lamenting the lack of greenery, her Fae blood screamed bloody murder at this lack of nature. Looking at the walls of the Vatican, Malicia found them really interesting.

*Really Interesting.* The religious fortress’ walls glowed with a hazy white light in her mage sight, strange runic and Latin characters were forming a shield spell that crisscrossed the walls as they formed a pattern; a protective one. The Catholic religion denounced witchcraft in all its forms; Malicia remembered this passage in their bible ‘You shall not permit a sorceress to live’ and weirdly now that she was looking at the walls of that city-state, she discovered that they were warded. The magic employed smelled like faith magic to Malicia.

*How hypocritical of them hmph, this is going to be difficult though.* The Sorceress thought.

Malicia wished she could emulate Elissa and employ brute force to solve her problems but this would open a can of worms that she didn’t want to deal with. This world’s humans bandied up for the silliest of things and religion was one of them. Compared to the worship of Hekate who simply asked to respect nature, pass on wisdom but to refrain from perverting it and to not use it for nefarious purposes; Catholicism was murky.

What she liked in her worship of the Titaness is, if she found you worthy she bestowed wealth, victory, wisdom, good luck and prosperity upon you; but all these blessings might, at the same time, be withheld by her, if mortals did not deserve them. Hekate enforced a meritocracy, while those people on Earth and their sacrificial god wanted him to forgive any of their wrongdoings and sins they may have committed. They wanted their place in their version of the afterlife to be a paradise free from illness, hurts and old age... It sounded like a boring place to Malicia. As a sorcerer, the Dae knew that souls in the spirit planes didn’t work this way, nevertheless, she won’t inform those that believed this lie about it. It would be an exercise in futility.

A young man approached the Dae, speaking in a smooth tone, “Signorina, ti sembra che tu sia perso, posso aiutarti? (Miss, you seem to be lost, can I help you?)” and spoke in Italian.

The young man was of Mediterranean ethnicity, was blond with voluminous slicked back hair and a face dominated by his strong greek nose and satin grey eyes. He wore an unbuttoned white shirt showing off his impressive hairy chest with brown pants and a satchel over his shoulder, the man was certainly muscular but in a fashion model way. Malicia knew when a man was all show and not strong like her Heracles. As Malicia read the young man's aura, she wasn’t surprised to see lust and attraction flowing from it but the genuine feeling of wanting to help and be useful to her struck her as odd.

*Another man with white knight syndrome?* The sorceress asked herself.

Malicia modified her translation spell by focusing her mind, her eyes glowed momentarily and then she looked at the young man, smiling.

“Ah, yes I think I lost my way,” Malicia said in Italian.

“Don’t you know how to use the GPS option, signorina?”

“I am using an ability to be able to speak in Italian but unfortunately I cannot read it.” Malicia took her phone from her purse and showed that on the GPS app everything was in Italian.

The young man looked at the touch-screen and nodded, he also realized after what she said that she may be one of those superhumans that came to tour Rome.

“Oh, are you a superhuman? And this is an interesting ability you have here, understanding foreign languages.” He said trying to make conversation.

He found this woman attractive and was trying to be helpful enough that he may continue to speak with her. But there was something disturbing about her, it certainly wasn’t her lush and silky raven hair or her pouty pink lips and those soulful green eyes. The young man couldn’t place what was wrong with her.

“Thank you, signore...” Malicia thanked him and avoided correcting the misconception that she was superhuman.

She didn’t know his name and invited him to share it with her, Malicia flipped her hair.

“My name is Ezio, Ezio Andreotti. Piacere di conoscerti (nice to meet you).” Ezio said as he looked fascinated by this woman's very existence. She moved gracefully and flawlessly. The Dae heard the rest of the sentence in Italian; Malicia's translation spell was fizzling as the faith shield spell near her created interferences with her magic.

“And you Bellissima?” The Italian man asked smoothly.

“Malicia Von Braun.” She said with a smile.

Malicia could see that her supernatural beauty was making Ezio one of her minions, she had always had this effect on everyone and she didn’t tire of it. It was an innate ability coming from her Fae ancestry and the faith magic wouldn’t be able to interfere with it. She decided to use the young man to further her operation in The Vatican.

“Could you help me find my hotel?” Ramping up her pheromones production, the sorceress asked this.

Ezio opened his eyes wide, he was surprised that this beauty was giving him a chance! He answered immediately, looking rather keen on the idea.

“Yes, I can! What’s its name?” The Italian took his phone out and began to look at his GPS app.

“Hotel Della Conciliazione,” Malicia said without hesitation, she crossed her arms waiting for the young man to finish typing the name in the app.

Ezio looked at his map and whistled as he looked at the type of establishment the gorgeous woman was staying at.

“Ah, good choice! This hotel is a ten minutes walk from the metro and from St. Peter’s Basilica.”

*Yes, I know.* Malicia giggled.

Hearing her giggling made the Italian man's heart skip a beat, it was a musical sound that he could not stop repeating in his mind.

“I have a really bad sense of direction.” It wasn’t a lie, it was one of her deficiencies; Malicia looked rather embarrassed by it.

Ezio found her even cuter as red colored her cheeks; he coughed to avoid staring at the raven-haired woman too much. He approached her and said, “Ah permit me to help you.” Ezio took the bags off Malicia.

Malicia made an appreciative nod, the young man made a sign to follow him and she complied. Just in case she activated an array of spells that would protect her from any treachery from his part. She remembered a similar scenario playing out in her younger days.

*So far so good, I will make him a helper.* Malicia decided.

---

Hotel Della Conciliazione

Room 12

09:45 AM

The sorceress’ room was composed of two well-lit rooms with white and grey walls. It was a thirty square meter suite, situated at the top of the building. One room was the living room furnished with a dining table, a TV and a little kitchenette; the second one was where a fluffy looking bed was placed with colorful covers. It was nothing fancy, borderline economic. Yes, she could have gone to another hotel with more luxurious rooms but Malicia didn’t want to let too much of her presence be known in Europe for plausible deniability later. After the massacre she enacted four years ago in Europe, there were mage hunters still thirsting for her blood. Of course nothing she couldn’t handle, but killing too many of them would be detrimental to the cleansing of non-council vampire nests or dealing with rogue arcanists.

The Dae connected her laptop to the hotel wifi, she sat before Ezio who looked at her in a blissful way. The poor young man was enthralled by her supernatural beauty and could not escape her, he would not want to anyway. He decided to serve her coffee while the sorceress perused satellite views of the Vatican, trying to spot the place where the shield array matrix was supposed to be. Malicia has decided that she will use a three-layered plan to attack the Basilica and empty the underground vault full of stolen artifacts that the Christians misappropriated and that she intended to give back to some of her contacts to make them owe her more services.

*Of course, I will keep the most interesting pieces and give them to Elissa to study, like this she will be able to forge her own artifacts.* She told herself.

Malicia intended a lot of things to come from this heist, she was already reviewing her mental contact and associate list to cash in or ask for favors. It was business, but nothing compared to what she left at home. Elissa had awakened the power to know more about Phantasia and their days on Earth were numbered. *This operation is this important, get artifacts, throw Elissa on a world with more Cosmic energy and let her reach her full potential.* The sorceress decided.

Her thought process was interrupted when Ezio put a sizzling cup of coffee on the glass table.

“Have this, it’s hot so be careful.” Ezio smiled at Malicia who he thought looked rather too serious.

He didn’t know what trouble was haunting her but he hoped he could help her. Even if he had to employ more sinister means.

“Thank you, Ezio.” Malicia took the cup of coffee in her hands and flashed a smile at the young man.

“Glad to be of service.” The man nodded at her, sat in the seat facing hers and leaned his elbows on the table.

The smell of the dark brew was tantalizing, Malicia could detect a faint presence of honey and something like a drop of milk.

“Say could you please tell me if Rome possesses a superhuman group?” The sorceress asked as if to make conversation.

The beginning of a plan of action was forming in Malicia’s brain. She already knew how to breach the walls buffed by faith magic, but there will still be meddlers that will try to impede her. The sorceress wasn’t keen on killing anyone that didn’t deserve it and she didn’t want to look at Elissa’s eyes if she ever did that. But sooner or later their family will have to spill blood to achieve their goal of returning home and freeing Daphne from her regenerative sleep and taking the Demon fist army on.

“Yes, of course. There are four of them, they have divided the city of Rome between them, their groups can cover more areas this way.” The Italian man began.

“Who are the most powerful members of each team?” Malicia intervened.

So far the sorceress observed that the system the teams used was comparable to the one in the USA, but they have a superabundance of supergroups and they had to divvy up a city or town into precincts around their headquarters.

“First is Il Gladiatore of the team called Il Campioni del Colosseo, he is a strong man on par with Major Freedom from your America. Second is Andromeda of the Pegasus team, she can control mystical chains and make people tell the truth or… torture them.”

Malicia liked the woman already, better than this gladiatore individual, but she wasn’t about to tell that to Ezio; the poor man might not survive this revelation and snap out of the effect of her allure.

“Interesting, they seem dangerous,” Malicia said in a voice she hoped was fearful enough.

Ezio looked at the woman and put a hand on her’s as if to reassure her; as for Malicia she let him do it, normally she would break it but she needed that info. She was also feeding on Ezio’s emotions at the moment and she didn’t want to interrupt it.

“Oh yes, but Il Gladiatore is the most loved of the two after all he is a buon samaritano, Andromeda is a loose cannon and not really well liked.” The man took his hand off from Malicia’s and stood up.

Ezio walked before the glass window where he could see from afar the walls of the Vatican and some other buildings. Malicia took a sip from her coffee and hummed at the explosion of delicious tastes it made on her tongue, after finishing she just had to congratulate the young man.

“Oh, this coffee is excellent!” Malicia gushed. She decided that later she will buy an Italian coffee machine as the taste agreed with her. “Sorry for interrupting, please tell me more, ”

The young man grinned as if he had won the Euromillions, he straightened his shirt on him and dusted imaginary dandruff off his shoulder.

“Thanks. There is this trick with the heat that can make coffee better.”

“You are a man of many talents, Signore Ezio.” Malicia laughed with her cup coffee in her hand and her legs crossed.

Ezio couldn’t believe that he lucked out this much by finding this delightful and elegant creature by pure coincidence. The woman was too perfect, her voice, her hair, and her voluptuous body; a little voice in his head was telling him that it was too good to be true. Why did she need info on the local supergroup? Should he be worried? But he didn’t think that someone this nice could have bad intentions.

“Oh please, just call me Ezio. Where were we? Ah, the third team's most powerful member is called Blocco Mentale, he is a telepath; his team is called Il Glorioso. And the fourth individual is Giove, she is an electricity manipulator of the team La Tempesta, she’s well-liked, more so than the others as she saved the Pope once.” The young man told in an educational tone.

Ezio had even met Giove and was proud to think that she was the most upright woman that he had ever met. Malicia was filing away the information she had just received and will gather more before tonight, what the young man had given her was a fine start.

“Thanks for telling me, Ezio. Hmm, I see that it is late you should go back as I am going to prepare for a party.” Malicia was going to create a diversion of epic proportions, she was not going to be sorry for the material damage she would cause.

She intended to summon a creature to assault the walls of the Vatican, a Being smart and powerful enough to be able to stand up to faith magic and would give all those superheroes a tough fight.

*Ah! I remember Lady Ghadiss said she would really like to play a trick on humans when she had invited me to drink Dwarven wine. I will call on her.* Malicia thought about that powerful Dragon she had met while rampaging around Europe.

Ezio gulped, he didn’t want to leave at all; basking in the perfection of this woman was all he wanted to do. However he doesn’t want to push his luck, he took his wallet out and took a card from it and placed it on the glass table.

“Hum, Signorina Malicia this is my phone number. If you ever need anything, call on me.” Ezio said hesitantly.

It was the first time that he was made to be like a bumbling teenager, hesitating to engage in a conversation with his crush. This situation was similar to that for the young Italian man. He didn’t want to be brushed off, but his fear was assuaged when Malicia spoke next.

The sorceress stood up and gave him her hand. “I will! Thank you so much for your help, Ezio. I hope we will see each other again.”

“Me too.” He took Malicia’s hand and planted a kiss on the back of it. “Arrivederci, spero che il destino ci porti di nuovo insieme.” He let go of her hand, turned heels, went toward the door of Malicia’s suite and closed it.

The translation spell had glitched again, and it bothered Malicia, maybe he wasn’t just a normal human after all.

“Such a good young man, maybe I will see him again.” The sorceress praised the departed young man.

Malicia went to meditate on her bed, gathering her mana to call on the ancient mother dragoness. She hoped that what she was doing wasn’t going to put too much of a black mark on this day. But realistically? Malicia didn’t care at all.

---

Malicia was ready, she had engraved communication runes behind the full-length mirror in the bedroom. It had taken her five minutes but it wasn’t that much trouble; however, if Gadhiss was in another plane it might have become a problem for the energy consumption. The sorceress focused on her mana core and began to feed energy to the mirror that she was touching.

“I bid you heed my call, Gadhiss The Champion, mother of the lightning Wyrms.” She called on the name of the mother of Europe's Dragons.

The sorceress felt her call connecting as primal mana connected to her own. Malicia let go of the mirror and knelt on one knee as a gigantic golden yellow reptilian eye opened in the full-length mirror, it looked around the room and finally focused on Malicia. The Dae looked expectantly at the mirror to be finally recognized.

“Oh Hekate’s pet sorceress.” A sibilant but strong voice enunciated.

Malicia cringed at the appellation, but it was what she really was. The disciple of the goddess of magic, one who was hated and banished from this realm by her Olympian peers. The sorceress didn’t pay it any mind, it was always the way of doing of draconic beings to try to begin a conversation in a superior position.

“Glad to see that you are well my Lady.” And she didn’t lie, she was happy to see the old Dragon Matron.

The Dragon eye looked around the room yet again and not finding what it wanted, spoke.“You too, where is your delightful progeny?”

Malicia, unfortunately, had holed up with the Lady Dragon while they were still in Europe four years ago and she had taken a liking to Elissa and more importantly, Cassandra who’s supernatural allure had already kicked in as a baby to protect her. The Dragoness was one of the victims and spent her time doting on her, Malicia believes that she would have kidnapped her daughter if she didn’t expressly insist to leave, not wanting to take advantage.

“Cassandra and Elissa are in America,” Malicia answered simply and… carefully.

*And I didn’t want to owe more to Lady Gadhiss. I am still waiting for her to collect.* Malicia pouted internally.

Malicia’s eyes glowed with determination and stopped the chit chat and directly put her cards on the table.

“I am in the old continent at the moment and I plan to steal the artifacts in the vault of those thieving worshippers of the sacrificial god.” The sorceress told the Dragoness.

The big golden eye of Lady Gadhiss dilated in surprise, then in obvious joy.

“Delightful! When do you plan to enact this plan, I am interested in participating.”

“Tonight.” The sorceress answered.

She didn’t want to play mind games with the ancient Dragon, and she was loathe to say that Lady Gadhiss could easily defeat her.

“Ah, it is on such short notice, sorceress.” The double eyelid of the Dragoness closed in annoyance.

It seemed that Gadhiss really wished to participate, she was one of those who had to hide when the sacrificial god's crusaders came to power and killed most of her kin and children. She hated dragon slayers and witch hunters.

“Not even for most of the dragon-slaying artifacts that I will without a doubt recover? I want them to be in safe paws and there are none safer than yours my Lady.” Malicia used her ace, she smiled impishly.

The eye of the Dragoness opened first in anger, then in mirth.

“Silver-tongued demon, continue I am amenable to consider helping you.” The Dragoness said.

Malicia bowed her head in acknowledgment and raised her head to look directly at the eye of the Dragoness. “My Lady, if you would help me destroy the walls of this fortress and of course fend off this city’s Champions it would be a great help.”

The eye rolled and the Dragoness said, “Fine, you’ll owe me for this sorceress.”

“Of course my Lady, your generosity knows no bounds.” Malicia flattered.

“It has been a long time since I last assaulted a fortress and tested the mettle of Midgard’s mortals.” The Dragoness voice sounded rather pleased at the prospect of causing chaos.

“You will be amused… my Lady. They have forgotten about us.” Malicia informed the Dragoness.

Even though supernatural creatures and clans roamed the world openly the normal humans and most of the superhumans didn’t give credence to the magical forces often arrayed against them or allied with them.

“You jest, surely?!” The eye of the Dragoness opened in astonishment.

She thought, *How could they, after all, their sins and massacres they had done in the name of their god?* The Dragoness eye filled with anger and promised retribution.

“Not at all.” Malicia’s eyes reflected the same anger.

She didn’t care a lot for the people of this planet, but she liked the little people, the Faes that had migrated to Gaia. The humans were destroying their habitats for profit, they had no respect for their environment and continued to take and take so much that they didn’t realize that they were committing suicide.

“Then I shall give Midgard a wake-up call they won’t soon forget, it is good that you called me, sorceress. When you are ready, call on my name and I will be there.” The Dragoness said Solemnly.

“It shall be done!” Malicia knelt and put a fist on her left breast.

---

Same day

Rome, Ponte

08:30 PM

Ezio recalled the good day he had today after meeting the raven-haired American woman this morning. She had seemed strange though, people seemed to stop to look at her as if she was one of those girls who was so beautiful that time stopped to appreciate her beauty. Malicia had turned him into a bumbling fool and it was a new sensation to him. The Italian man drove past the Post office and ended up on the road Corso Vittorio Emanuele, turned on the street Via dei Leutari to finally reach the Piazza Navona where the headquarters of the Pegasus team was. He regretted having to lie to Malicia, he was after all a member of one of the protectors of Rome and was beholden to his team.

His SUV entered the underground parking under La Torre, a building that was the start of their underground fortress. The light of the scanner at the booth of the armed guard flashed on his car and inside it. The security system was Tesla approved as it would take a supercomputer to break it. Ezio passed the security check and parked in his reserved space, someone was waiting for him, a young and tall woman of around twenty years of age; she was blonde with topaz blue eyes, had bow-shaped sensuous lips and a small refined nose. She wore a rather risqué purple costume that could be defined as a chainmail bikini and she had purple chains around her limbs. The young man sighed heavily as he stopped the car, undid his seatbelt and unlocked the car door. His fiancée, Cordelia Asti aka Andromeda. As of late, she had become rather controlling in their relationship, always texting him to know where he was and what he was doing.

“Ezio! Where were you?!” The strident voice of the young woman rang in the parking lot.

*And so it begins.* The young man thought while rolling his eyes.

Ezio exited the car, took his messenger bag and put it around his neck. He had decided to go through with his earlier decision after meeting Signorina Malicia, he had wanted someone as pleasant as her in his life. Not a shrew that was chosen by his parents. He had tried to compromise and tolerate her attitude, but he couldn't anymore; all of his friends male or female had distanced themselves from him because Cordelia had become an annoying bitch and was disrespectful to them. It reminded him of the day Cordelia had deliberately canceled his flight to Ibiza because he would be there with his friend and he didn’t want to bring her, or the day where she permitted herself to erase every one of his female friends’ numbers from his cellphone. There were even more examples that had angered him but he had let go for his parents. He regretted giving in to his parent's ultimatum, marriage with the girl of their choice or they cut him off. He was a Superhuman, he would have found something else to continue his lifestyle.

“I asked you a question.” Cordelia glared at her fiancé.

She had passed the day calling him on his phone, they had an important team meeting that he didn't come to that was mandatory.

“I was helping someone.” Ezio didn't even try to lie, he was fed up with Cordelia.

“I called you twenty times, you could have picked up. Was this someone a woman?” She asked suspiciously.

Cordelia knew that her Ezio was an attractive man, even more than her brother or her ex. He is an upper tier Alpha ranked super and a good addition to their team; it appealed to her that their parents had arranged their marriage and when she met him she was so lovestruck that she dumped the guy she was seeing without regret. There was a trend that she noticed when they started to go out, Ezio was a woman magnet, he was humble, helpful and nice to be around as he made you feel as if you were the center of the world. Cordelia had appreciated the feeling and fallen in love with him, however, she had begun to feel jealous when any girl or young woman approached him and had even resorted to attacking them verbally if she noticed any trace of interest toward her fiancé.

“Of course, she was lost and I had to show her the way, I am not some uncourteous prick who refuses to help people,” Ezio argued.

The young man put his hands in his pockets looking for the next phase of this argument with Cordelia.

“How beautiful was she?” Came a really weird question.

Ezio’s laugh echoed in the underground parking, he looked at Cordelia again and laughed even more. The young woman became red with anger.

*How dare he mock me?* She thought, her chains bristled in movement as they glowed with energy, answering to her anger.

The young woman glared at him, crossed her arms under her chest and stomped her feet.

“Is that a trick question?” The young man’s grey eyes rolled. “Have you come to pick a fight with me, Cordi? It’s all you’ve been doing lately and you have begun to piss me off. You know there is only so much that I can take.” Ezio said.

It was the first time Cordelia saw her fiancé getting angry and it unsettled her. Normally he would just give in to what she wanted and they would be good again. She didn’t understand this new side of him, what had happened to him? Suddenly Cordelia had a bad feeling.

“Ezio?” She asked.

She attempted to come to him and touch his arm but he batted away her hand. Cordelia looked at him hurt, but the blazing anger she saw in her fiancé’s eyes stunned her.

“I quit.” The young man said as he took something from his bag and threw it on the ground at Cordelia’s feet.

It was his team badge, it conferred him the same power as a military officer. In Italy, government-sponsored teams like the Pegasus group had the same power as police officers and could also be drafted into the military.

“No, you cannot do that!” Cordelia cried in anguish.

“I just did, and by the way, I am not marrying you. I don’t love you.” Ezio said it as if it was a matter of course.

Cordelia’s heart broke when she heard that, but she was not deterred. Her mother had told her that marriages of convenience often weren’t based on love, all that counted was that she had a child with Ezio to add his family genetics to theirs. The thing was that she was really in love with him, for the first time in her life she loved someone but it seems he didn’t reciprocate it and that baffled her. She was beautiful, rich and powerful. Many men had courted her and she thought that her life was the best after meeting Ezio. But he didn’t love her. She didn’t care, she had enough love for both of them.

“You can’t do that, what would our parents say?” Cordelia tried to change his mind.

The young woman knew that Ezio was a really filial individual, he wouldn’t defy the will of his-

“Do I look like I care? I am through with you.” Ezio said.

He didn’t care about his parents anymore, they had become like Cordelia, manipulative, stubborn and downright unpleasant to interact with. They were superheroes like Cordelia’s parents and they had made their fortune by sponsoring fashion products, cosmetics, and politicians. Cordelia threw a chain at Ezio as he was about to get back in his car, it wrapped around his left leg and she pulled. The young man fell but rolled with it and took the chain’s length in hand and made Cordelia fall too as he stood up.

“I can’t believe you just attacked me.” Ezio’s face displayed his shock.

“I don’t know what-” Cordelia tried to say, shocked that she attacked him on the spur of the moment.

“Yeah, I can’t believe you attacked your own fiancé, sister.” A voice said interrupting them.

Ezio turned toward the voice, it was a spot in the dark as the form of an armored man came into view, it shined steel grey in the electric light, bristling with LED lights everywhere. It was a rather futuristic modern body armor similar to the one worn by Nikola Tesla, the greatest hero of this world. The individual in it was none other than Apollo Asti, Cordelia’s brother. Ezio unwrapped the chain around his leg and deployed his power, ready to reflect any kinetic or energy attack.

“I am going to leave, and if you try to stop me I will drop you.” Ezio threatened.

“Calm down brother, I-” Apollo jovially tried to say, putting a hand on Ezio’s shoulder.

It was batted away roughly. The anger displayed on Ezio’s face made Apollo stop trying to defuse the situation like he expected to do, however like his sister he had underestimated the young man. He had been lording over his supergroup for so long and gotten used to having none of his decisions disputed that he was at a loss when someone truly didn’t want to get along with him.

“I am not your brother and I will never be.” Ezio did not want to waste his anger on the Asti siblings they were not worth it.

The young man chose to get back in his car and leave, the brother and sister in the parking lot were left astonished by what happened.

---

The Vatican

08:45 PM

*It is time,* Malicia thought.

She had conjured the material necessary for breaking the Vatican’s shield, six spherical stones as big as soccer balls, enchanted with Phantasian runes to form a ward breaker. Whoever thought their defenses impregnable would now be disabused from ever using this word. The spheres were grey and black with golden glowing runes on their surface, with a snap of her fingers Malicia made them levitate and orbit her as the Earth does around the Sun.

Malicia gathered her will and punched a hole through reality creating a shortcut through the dimension just by focusing mana in a single point and stabilizing the tear with a spell. She knew where she wanted to go; in the sky over the Museum of Sala Clementina where she pinpointed that an artifact was feeding energy to the entire network of wards protecting the entire Vatican. Activating her Eldritch flight spell, motes of glowing golden light surrounded her and her feet left the ground as she levitated toward the portal she had created. When she entered it, the world briefly stopped around her and Malicia felt herself being dismantled then one second later put back together.

*Ah it feels so good at times to use a portal.* She thought in delight.

Some others couldn’t tolerate this sensation and categorically avoided this kind of transport, but Malicia wasn’t one of them. The sorceress appeared over the gardens of the Vatican, they were urban green spaces dating from the 13th century, full of fountains and sculptures. Those sculptures were gifts given to popes, there was also various flora and fauna surrounding it all. As she was floating Malicia’s Fae blood stirred by seeing so much greenery under her, weirdly the air was better here than the rest of the city. Too bad that she will have to thrash it. Light gathered in Malicia’s hand, various shades of gold and green as if it were light from a firefly. The light intensified and Malicia raised her hand and a ball of light shot into the sky, and as it got farther and farther it expanded creating a gigantic portal over the City of Rome. A torrent of blue and white light could be seen swirling in the portal.

Everyone in Rome stopped moving and looked at what was happening, some people were fascinated and some began to panic. When nothing happened and that portal stayed open for a minute or so, the Romans breathed a sigh of relief but suddenly an azure pillar of lightning struck the Vatican’s northern-eastern wall near the Viale Vaticano road and it crumbled. A deafening roar could be heard and people's hearts stopped as a gigantic form passed through the humongous portal. It was bigger than an A380 plane, larger than St. Peter’s Basilica. Its scales were of shimmering gold, its wingspan was one hundred meters. It was a Dragon and it didn’t come to say hello. The people panicked and fled, car crashes happening all over the city. Fear, Anguish, despair radiated from them and nourished Malicia’s demon side. The sorceress began to cackle wildly as the Dragoness Gadhiss flew around the city and caused chaos.

Malicia’s power swelled more and more and for once finally felt full. She was set for years after this stunt, so much negative energy filled her demonic spirit that she felt a bit bloated. The sorceress set her mind to finally do what she was supposed to and entered the city-state of Vatican City. The Faith magic and hallowed ground did nothing to stop her as she was topped up on demonic mana, nevertheless the holy magic here irritated her Demon side. Just to be sure she tried to tap the ley-line nexus here but her attempt was shrugged off. Someone, clearly powerful was already in possession of this major power spot.

*It doesn’t matter.* Malicia opened her arm and the ward breaker spheres deployed around her and all glowed gold.

The sorceress directed the spheres toward the Museum and waited for them to reach the building. They were stopped by a shield of light. Malicia smiled and she fed more mana into them, and little by little the spheres pushed more and more into the shield that showed cracks forming on its surface until it burst with a noise of broken glass.

Malicia began to chant a spell in demonic that translated into “Unholy Orb” and a ball of Darkness appeared before her, it became denser as it grew in size. It was so dark that light couldn’t escape from it. The sorceress didn’t intend to search the Museum for the artifact, she has decided to erase it from existence from the get-go, after all, a Lady doesn’t sully her hands with such chores. Malicia regretted not being able to bring some of her retainers with her, she lamented having to go into exile from her Queendom. Like a shooting star, the Orb of Darkness flew towards Sala Clementina and struck the ancient building’s roof and the ball expanded in size to engulf it. There was no explosion to show that something had been here, only a crater where the Museum and the gardens had been. The irritation caused by Holy magic disappeared entirely, just like Malicia thought there was an artifact protecting the entire city-state.

The sorceress let her demonic horns appear letting go of her glamour, she took her Mithril scepter in her hand even though she already had one in her bracelet but she needed power. Something about this place grated on her nerves. As if there was her antithesis here. Malicia’s instinct has always been good and she listened to it. The Dae flew toward the Basilica, ready to take what didn’t belong to these pathetic humans of the cloth.

---

La Torre

Team Pegasus

“Dammit Cordi, you had to piss off Ezio today when a big ass dragon is attacking the city!” The manly voice of Apollo Asti, brother of Cordelia aka Uomo d'Acciaio rang out.

A female voice was laughing at the two siblings, they looked at the woman who had a white and red costume reminding of an archer get up with leather armor consisting of a breastplate, tight pants, a belt with pockets and a sheathed dagger, the hood she had on partially hid her face, on her arms there were metal bracers, same for her legs. There was a tastefully decorated bow behind her back with an arrow yoke hanging at her hips. It was a member of their group codenamed L'Arciere.

“I told you that you didn’t deserve a great guy like that, Andromeda. He was bottling up all the issues he had with you and you continued to push, obviously, it was bound to happen. You have been a real bitch with Riflettore.”

Riflettore is Ezio Andreotti's codename. After Andromeda, he was the most powerful superhuman in this team.

“It’s not my fault! I don’t know what happened to him to just throw everything away.”

“Girl, you don’t even realize what you did? I think I will request a transfer out of this team if we survive the dragon.” Another voice said, this time it was male.

The man wore a silver armor reminding of a knight on the cover of a fantasy book, he had a golden sword at his hip. His helmet covered his head, but everyone could feel the derisive tone with which he spoke. It was the team's strongman type, Il Paladino.

“Shut up, all of you! I am trying to listen to the news.” Another female voice coming from a glowing woman shouted. It was Stella Bella, the team's resident energy manipulator.

“This is Luna Valenti for Rai News 24, The golden dragon has been flying around Rome for five minutes now. No one knows what it wants or if it's totally mindless.” The Anchor said.

The roar of the dragon could be heard again making the tower tremble, the teammates all looked uncertain. Could they take on a beast of this size? They didn’t believe so, they were on standby waiting for the government to give the green light to do something about it.

“Oh, it seems that the military has been deployed, ground troops and artillery are positioning in the city; Fighter jets are coming to attack the beast.”

“Finally they are doing something!” Apollo shouted.

His other team members looked at each other and didn’t think that it’s going to do anything but their attention went back to the TV. The fighter jets could be seen harrying the dragon who flew around. The wing of six F-35 attacked by launching missiles that struck some kind of shield, not the beast. Apollo gaped at this, the other members of Pegasus did the same. The army launched artillery towards the dragon, tank rounds and surface-to-air missiles struck at the target but were stopped cold by the same shield ability it had shown previously.

<ENOUGH.> A sibilant and powerful female voice could be heard in the heads of everyone in the area.

With a wing flap, the Dragon batted the wing of fighters that all crashed on the ground in a big and loud explosion. Fortunately, the pilots had time to eject. But the situation for the artillery went from bad to worse as a rain of lightning bolts struck tanks and the anti-aircraft launchers manned by soldiers.

<How low have you fallen, humans, to rely on such toys?!>

<Come out and Face me, you spineless apes. Bring your Champions, bring your mages and witches and fight me! Or do you still depend on the goodwill of your sacrificial god? After everything you did in his name, driving every magical creature almost to extinction and forcing us into hiding… I should raze this city as I did to Pompeii.> Gadhiss itched to do so, but she didn’t want to go too overboard. Malicia was still here, and she was only there to be a distraction.

“Shocking events are happening, the military failed to take down the beast and its revealed that it is sapient.” The anchor continued.

<It? I am not some mindless beast you ant, I will teach you to respect your elders. Begone.> A light could be seen coming from the maw of the Wyrm that spat a lightning breath.

With a flash of light, the signal of the TV channel was interrupted. And everyone kept silent after this, not wanting to insult the big ass dragoness who showed that she could pick up on the TV signal and maybe even the voice of everyone. An alarm sounded as everyone was astonished by the events, after hearing the strident wake-up call, the team went to gear up and they went into their armored vehicle. All the pieces of equipment they had on right now were more on the lethal side.

“Let’s go, the government just contacted us we need to gather with the other teams to take on this big female dragon,” Apollo said while checking his rifle and other weapons on his HUD.

“Yeah let’s go die…” Andromeda said and spoke for practically everyone who had the same train of thought.

---

Under Saint Peter's Basilica

10 minutes after Gadhiss’ arrival

ZAP. Malicia sent a magic missile toward the magic user priest, the truth was finally revealed as to why they persecuted mages, witches and chased out other magical creatures. The priests use holy magic! Nothing worth the attention, Malicia had decided to create a good sensation by letting her horns out and the priesthood and security called her demon or Satan's henchman. As weapon’s fire bounced off her shield, she made the guns melt in the guards’ hands who screamed in agony because of the heat touching their skin. The nuns were evacuating the personnel to shelters and the holy magic mages and magic users tried to pin Malicia down. The sorceress sent an unholy bolt of magic with the mission of shattering their mana core, depriving them of the use of their gift forever, if it didn’t kill them.

Malicia was looking for the vault, her steps echoed on the marble tiles, as she passed through the pillars, a lot of sculptures, artistic tapestries and paintings were destroyed and burning because of the carelessness of the defending party. She put all the women and some of the kids that she could see running away to sleep. She had enough of searching and sent her mana into the ley-line nexus, connecting with it. She couldn’t use it but she could examine it. She went into the Sanctuary of the Basilica and was faced with the statue depicting a woman that sat and a man in her lap that seemed to be unconscious. It was uninteresting to her but what did interest her was that there seemed to be a secret entrance underneath it. With all the force of her will and a bit of telekinesis, she pushed the statue away to the right, destroying gears that seemed to be here to open the entrance.

Now Malicia entered in the passage following the trail left by the ley-line energy powering the primitive wards on the walls. She levitated and advanced in the meanders of what she knew was the passage that leads to the vault.

What wasn’t a surprise was when she happened to arrive in a gigantic cavern with armed men and Priests targeting her with banishment magic. Malicia began to cackle loudly, amused by this last-ditch effort to stall her. The gem on the sorceress’ scepter glowed red and she launched magical fire at her foes whose shields went down instantly and got immolated. Cries and screams of her victims echoed in the cavern and Malicia stopped laughing as she wasn’t feeling amused anymore. The ley-line had just shifted, it meant only one thing! Her feet reached the ground as she landed and deployed the most powerful shield spell that she knew off that created a black sphere around her; fire and light struck her defensive shield and she stepped back a bit under the assault.

“You will not get any closer to the vault, Demonling.” A strong and ethereal voice rang in the cavern.

The red and orange glowing humanoid form of a winged man appeared before the sorceress. A gleaming sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. The angel seemed to wear some kind of golden armor with a cape, strangely reminding her of a Roman centurion’s Lorica segmentata, a mail armor.

“Oh great, an Empyrean.” Malicia huffed and rolled her eyes.

Empyreans or Angels were the same as Demons but had kept their alignment to the light and served the ascended or more colloquially called, Gods.

“I, Camael, will destroy you and-” The angel grandly tried to say.

“Surely we can begin killing each other now?” Malicia interrupted him.

“How dare you int-” The angel looked affronted and began to say something. Malicia sent an Unholy Bolt toward him and the angel batted it away with his Etherium sword. The sorceress stowed her scepter into her spatial ring and took out two short swords made of black crystal and fed demonic energy into them. A purple aura radiated from the blades and the glowing angel flinched back at the sight of the darkness wrought weapons.

“Ebolythe, Sun steel, and Etherium's antithesis. Come at me little dove.” Malicia taunted as she put herself on guard, already sending unholy bolts toward the angel.

The fight for the vault had begun.

---

Rome

The Fortress

09:03 PM

<I tire of waiting, humans.> The voice of the dragoness echoed in every Roman's head. <Are you such cowards that after I savaged your toys you are burying your heads in the sand? I am waiting for your heroes to come to try and defeat me. Or did you forgo the use of magic for those useless metal contraptions you sent against me? How unsightly.> Gadhiss said utterly baffled by the human reliance on science.

Meanwhile, Rome’s supergroups assembled and listened to the dragoness’ taunting with fists closed and teeth bared. Andromeda hit the round table she sat on with her fist, a noise of ringing metal was heard. Everyone from the super teams gathered looked at her. Il Campioni del Colosseo and Il Glorioso were present only La Tempesta’s team was missing.

“She’s pissing me off! Calling us weak and names!” Andromeda screamed while tearing her hair out.

“Andi, she took artillery volleys and missiles on and took out the jets and tanks sent after her would you be able to do so?” L'Arciere said as if talking to a child.

Everyone smiled at that, the grey walls they were enclosed in weighed less with the levity that those two from the Pegasus team generated.

“Hum, no.” Andromeda kept quiet after this, not wanting to ridicule herself even more. Her face was red with embarrassment.

“L'Arciere! Well met.” A beautiful masked woman appeared in the mission room of the Fortress. She was tall and solidly built, with brown hair and a blue bodysuit with a purple lightning bolt in a shield emblazoned on her chest.

La Tempesta team was finally here! Everyone’s mood was lifted as the star super team of Rome finally came. Following the masked woman, others similarly costumed appeared behind her that could only be distinguished by the coat of arms on their torso.

“Giove, my friend! It’s nice to see you.” L’Arciere went and hugged the tall woman fondly, kissing each of her cheeks.

At the same time, Giove took stock of the people already present, but she found that there was a missing member of the Pegasus team. The heroine squinted her eyes in dismay and asked in confidence, “I don’t see Riflettore with you, where is he?”

Giove had a crush on the young man who radiated benevolence and kindness.

“Hum he quit the team prior to this crisis, we don’t know where he is. Internal conflict in the team is the cause.” L'Arciere murmured in the heroine's ear.

Giove looked at her friend with the mouth wide open, astonished that an asset such as Riflettore wasn’t present.

“That is no good!” The tall woman was getting angry at the loss of a potential ace in the hole.

L’Arciere looked apologetic, she too couldn’t believe the timing of the blowout caused by the rift between two key members. Love or dating shouldn’t come between the needs of the people and the country.

“Well, it’s not really Riflettore’s fault, it’s because of-”

BOOM. The fortress walls shook and cracked, everyone braced themselves or put themselves under the big table for safety. The armored building continued to tremble until finally the worst that could happen happened.

<If you don’t come to me, then I shall come to you, Champions.> The Dragoness’ voice said.

“Oh fuck!” Andromeda cried.

<Now get out of this castle and come fight me, don’t make me dig you out.>

“We are coming, Lizard bitch!” Apollo shouted, taking his rifle and charging toward the exit.

<Fool, you’d forsake your troops to charge at me knowing you are outmatched? I shall level the playing field then, and fight at your level!>

“What does she mean?” Giove was stumped by what the dragoness said.

“I don’t know… but we can’t let Apollo fight alone!” Il Paladino said.

“Let’s go!” L’Arciere charged toward the exit too.

All the superheroes present followed her charge, some with excitement and others with misgivings about what they were about to do. The ringing of a phone could be heard and the ID of the caller was from the Apostolic Palace, the residence of the Pope.

---

The Dragoness was crouched before the fortress that was located in the north of Rome in Della Vittoria, near the technology museum near the Viale Giuseppe Mazzini. Looking at the demolished walls, arcs of electricity surrounded the mother of dragons. L’Uomo d'Acciaio shot the dragoness in the nose with his energy rifle while exiting the Fortress, but it simply didn’t do anything to her.

<Finally. You have come to try and now I’ll reward your idiocy.> The body of the dragoness began to shrink.

L’Uomo d'Acciaio was so stunned by this action that he stopped attacking the Dragoness. Little by little an armored human shape with dark gold batlike wings appeared. The woman before Apollo was gorgeous, an otherworldly beauty. She had long gradient black and gold hair that ended in a golden fade at the end, golden eyes and a perky nose and lovely full lips. Her body was on the tall side and her naked arms bulged with muscle. She looked regal with the golden circlet on her head.

The armored hero's other team members arrived behind him and were confronted with the same vision as him.

“Mio Dio.” Il Paladino said while doing the sign of the cross.

<I am giving myself a handicap, now come at me.> The woman looked at them without moving her lips.

Everyone now knew that the dragoness had some form of telepathy going on and that it was her way of speaking and that it was her voice. Now they asked themselves how could she change from a big dragon to human form.

“Please can’t we resolve this without fighting??” Giove pleaded.

Everyone heard the laugh in their head when La Tempestas’s leader finished speaking.

<I remember a time when we Magical beings tried to negotiate with you, you treacherous apes. Your memories are short, you respect nothing beside riches and power; even though those are fleeting, no youngling, there will be no parley today. I have come to test you.> The dragoness wings opened widely, and everyone flinched.

The heroes took out their weapons and attacked. Gadhiss closed her wings and moved as fast as lightning toward the armored hero L’Uomo d'Acciaio, batted away his rifle and took him by the neck, as she lifted him she said, <You all lack conviction in this fight, maybe I should motivate you.>

The sound of broken bones paralyzed everyone and they all went silent as the Dragoness let Andromeda’s brother fall dead on the ground. Everyone was shocked.

“NOOOOO!” Cordelia Asti aka Andromeda cried when she saw the fallen form of her brother.

The Dragoness in human form didn’t bother to stop Andromeda from reaching the body of her brother. She cradled his still form, crying and calling his name. Gadhiss looked amused by this scene as if the fleeting lives of those humans before her were nothing. It was hard for a being as old as the mother of dragons to feel compassionate, her way of thinking was alien and dragons were known for being stubborn and set in their ways.

<Should I kill more of you to take me seriously?> Gadhiss asked impatiently.

She didn’t know what was slowing Malicia down, someone as capable as her didn’t get stopped by anything short of a world-ending threat.

*What could keep her busy?* The dragoness asked herself.

Andromeda’s body stiffened when she heard the dragoness treat her brother's life so inconsequentially, the chains on her limbs glowed purple and arcs of electricity sparked out of them. Everyone stepped back when they saw this happening, all the superheroes remembered that Andromeda was a loose cannon when she gave in to her anger and hate.

“Kill her!” Andromeda shouted to her teammates. “No! I will kill you, myself!” Chains unfurled from the young woman’s limbs and at the end of each of them, arrowheads and blades appeared via the metal manipulation and struck at the dragoness’ head and stunned her momentarily. One of the blades buried in Gadhiss’ arm but didn't draw any blood.

<Nice try youngling, but you are not yet ready.> The dragoness said as she took the blade out and kept the chain in hand and pulled on it.

Used to this kind of action from other criminals and supervillains, Andromeda turned her chains into sand, glowing purple sand that floated in the air and attacked the dragoness who just stood there protected by her spherical mana shield. However, she lost her vision and everyone scrambled to take advantage of this. L’Arciere nocked an arrow, and the arrowhead shimmered with a blue light as energy gathered in the metal and she shot the projectile that flew at high speed almost breaching the sound barrier and struck the dragoness’ shield that cracked slightly. Gadhiss was surprised because she had finally found a magic user in the lot of them. A giant sword materialized in her right hand and she dismissed her shield. With a flap of her leathery wings, she scattered the metallic dust that obscured her view.

<Magnificent! Entertain me more!>

A bolt of lightning struck the dragoness but it was as if she didn’t feel it at all. Giove looked dumbstruck at the human-shaped dragon who smiled at her.

<I am immune to lightning, child. Let me show you what true electricity manipulation is.> Thunder rumbled in the sky.

But no bolt of lightning came from the heavens, instead only the electricity stored in Giove’s body was extracted and flowed towards the dragoness.

“Giove!” L’Arciere shouted.

Pain wracked the woman's body as she was being emptied of her energy. Il Paladino attacked the dragon woman swinging his sword which was blocked by Gadhiss’ sword that was held with one hand. The dragoness kicked him out of the way onto the cobbled street that cracked with the force of the impact and she stabbed him in the breastplate, her blade ignoring the defense of Il Paladino’s armor. The man spat blood. The other members of La Tempesta attacked her with different elemental attacks, water, air, fire but nothing affected the dragoness even though her shield was down. Il Gladiatore tore after the female dragon as if to tackle her but he was batted away with a slap of her left wing. The Il Glorioso team tried to attack the woman mentally or use telekinetic attacks against her but were stopped by the strength of the dragon’s will who rewarded them with lightning bolts and they went down. Andromeda attempted to wound the dragoness again by reforming her chains from the cloud of sand to seal her movements but Gadhiss was wise to it and sent a bolt of lightning at her too and the heroine went down. Giove was unmoving on the ground, still alive but incapacitated.

Gadhiss made short work of the rest of the Il Campioni del Colosseo team and the only ones left were the energy manipulator Stella Bella and L’Arciere. Stella sent a destructive light beam toward the dragoness who felt pain for the first time since she began the battle. A slight burn, but nothing she couldn’t manage; L’Arciere began to spam her magical arrows and forced the Dragoness to protect herself with her giant sword, using it as a shield.

<Yes, this is how you should have begun this fight! Too bad that the young Archer wasn’t born an elf, in a millennium or so she could have become a threat.>

“Shut up Dragon!” Stella Bella screamed as she hovered around the dragoness and fired beams of energy at her.

<Make me.> Gadhiss laughed as she taunted the energy manipulator who came floating at her and peppering her with painful beam rays that singed her skin.

The Dragoness felt the surge of magic coming from the sacrificial god’s fortress city where Malicia, the sorceress was clashing with… an angel? *Why does Hekate’s pet sorceress get all the good fights?! An Angel here! How rare.*

<I am bored, now I will finish you. Of all the Champions coming at me today only you two deserve to be called heroes. Now sleep.> Gadhiss said as she called on lightning and a cage of electricity formed around each of the heroines, L’Arciere and Stella Bella lost consciousness as they got shocked by more electricity than their body could handle.

The Dragoness deployed her wings and took flight leaving devastation and half of the super teams alive. She flew toward Saint Peter’s Basilica, a bit jealous of the fun Malicia was having.

---

The Vatican

Underground Vault

Malicia stabbed her sword in the shoulder of the angel who in turn bashed her with his shield and sent her flying through the air, however she teleported behind him. Camael was about to bash her again when she disappeared and reappeared in the air sending a bolt of Unholy demon energy towards him, he almost avoided it but Malicia teleported and sealed his movements with the earth trapping his right foot and the bolt struck him in the head. Camael cried in pain and let go of his shield, unfurled his wings and with his powerful strength destroyed the earth encasing his leg. Golden blood flowed out of his wounds where Malicia had stabbed him. He looked at her with fear in his eyes, it was the first time he was this badly wounded since the war with Lucifer.

Black electricity-like energy struck him in the torso, his armor turning into scrap and the female demon coming from the sky tried to stab him in the head. The Angel deflected her sword with his own but her second weapon severed his arm. Camael didn’t even have time to scream as Malicia let go of her darkness wrought sword and by putting her palm on the angel’s now naked torso pierced his heart with an unholy beam of demon energy.

The Angel looked at her in shock, all his blood flowing from the puncture the sorceress pierced him with. Malicia then decapitated him with her Ebolythe sword, the angel’s head rolled on the stony ground as the sorceress whipped her sword in the air, glowing blood spilling on her leather catsuit. The other sword appeared in her hand as she teleported it to her and she stored them in her spatial ring. She did the same with the angel's sword and shield, she decided that she will give them to Elissa as a present.

“Not even a challenge, I battled stronger demons in Phantasia.” Malicia humphed and went toward the big steel doors of the vault at the end of the cavern.

The doors seemed mechanical at first sight, but it wasn’t as a shield shimmered into existence when the wards in the cavern detected the presence of the being that defeated the guardian of the vault. Malicia laughed when she saw how simplistic the enchantments on this were, with a snap of her finger the sound of breaking glass could be heard as the shield shattered and the ward matrix controlling the defenses was destroyed. It was easier now that the guardian angel had been dealt with. Malicia’s telekinesis spell opened the gigantic doors and what was revealed was a big space more akin to what would you see in a warehouse full of boxes and crates with electrical light shining on them. Red light covered everything as an alarm echoed in the cavern but Malicia muted it by destroying the speakers she saw throughout it. A ball of light appeared near the sorceress’s head and she walked toward the crates and examined them. She began to grin wolfishly as she saw the labels with a lot of familiar names written on them. Gáe Bulg, Circe’s staff, Fragarach, the Sword of Peleus, Durandal, and Gram. Legendary weapons that Malicia expected to see here, she went into another aisle and looked at more tags on big crates and saw the word Tarnhelm, a magic helmet giving the wearer the ability to change form or become invisible; There were a lot of enchanted items that had appeared in the history of mankind here, gifts from the gods or from magical creatures to humans. Treasures ranging from weapons, armor, clothing, outerwear, musical instruments, and jewelry. Malicia became interested in the magical stones section of the Vault, whose mana she could feel even as they were enclosed in iron boxes.

Malicia opened a shiny box with a steel exterior, there were flowers engraved on the lid; on the tag hanging on the box, the name Bezoar was written.

*Hmm if I remember this is a stone believed to have the power of a universal antidote against any poison.* Malicia pocketed the artifact in her spatial ring.

In fact, Malicia took out her Sanctum pendant, the artifact that was gifted to her by Hekate that could store plenty of items and was tethered to a pocket dimension, and connected mentally with it. She got out of the big warehouse and created a portal big enough to swallow the entirety of the goods present in the vault. As the portal advanced and all the artifacts and relics were being stored in the treasure room of the Sanctum space. It took well over five minutes to take everything and empty the entire vault.

“Mission accomplished.” Malicia allowed herself to smile at that.

Everything was done here

<Are you done, Sorceress?>

Malicia jumped from fright and looked behind her to find Gadhiss in her humanoid form. There were some light wounds on her arms and her face and some kind of metallic powder covered her skin. The sorceress was surprised that the dragoness allowed herself to look this dirty.

“You startled me, my Lady. Yes, I am finished.” Malicia said as she bowed her head slightly.

The dragoness looked around her, the smell of blood, burnt flesh and feces was pervasive. Bodies littered the ground and the glowing form of a downed angel was in the center of the cavern.

<I see that you took care of the Empyrean, was he strong enough?> The dragoness made a curious expression.

Malicia shook her head and said, “I dispatched him in under a minute, he wasn’t that strong.” She looked at the angel’s body with indifference. “This one had gotten soft if you want my opinion.”

<They have become cowardly and only fight from the shadows nowadays.> Gadhiss informed her.

“I agree with you. Shall we go now?” The sorceress asked.

<Yes, I will come back to your ‘school’ as was agreed. From what you told me, you own your own Demesne now.>

“Yes Lady Gadhiss, you have a permanent invitation to enter it.” Malicia offered yet again.

Gadhiss smiled. <How generous of you, sorceress. I shall accept.> The dragoness nodded and crossed her arms under her breastplate.

Malicia opened a portal and made a sign to the dragoness that she could pass, she entered it without a word and the sorceress closed it. She hoped that Gadhiss wouldn’t wreck her school too much… she still had half a major bill to pay after those Dwarven builders of the Forgemaster clan had built everything in a month. A decent chunk of her Mithril and gold went into the construction of her magical school. The Dae then teleported into her hotel room’s bathroom and wore her glamour, gone was the demon and here was her human form. Malicia took off her catsuit, boots, accessories, and belt; storing everything in her spatial ring.

The Dae chose to take a long and hot shower, she just realized that there was no light at all in the bathroom. She knew that it was a motion sensor light system that the room had, the sorceress forgot that she had invited Gadhiss to deflect the attention of the heroes while she was raiding the Vatican, but she must have gone farther than the plan intended. That’s what happened when she took outside help, they made things even more... difficult. At least she had water and her hotel room wasn’t destroyed. Once she was done with her ablutions, the sorceress dried off her body and hair.

The sorceress clothed herself in the dark, fortunately, her night vision was perfect even though she could only see in grey and white. She put on her underwear and a tight fitting white and purple dress and brown thigh high boots. Malicia then took her luggage and was about to teleport when she heard someone knock on the door. The sorceress went on guard, wary that someone might be onto her and went towards the door and looked through the peephole. Malicia’s eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the man behind the door. She opened it and Ezio Andreotti appeared.

“Signorina Malicia, please help me you are my only hope.” Ezio pleaded as tears streamed down his face.