Ben allowed me to bask in the adoration of my homunculi children for a few moments before he pulled me away from them. As I was being led away from my creations I called out to them and told them to set up shop. 

They eagerly nodded at me and began to walk in the opposite direction of where I was going so that they could go ahead and begin to staff the various buildings within the city. Ben, meanwhile, was forcibly dragging me in the direction of one building which seemed to radiate energy. As I turned and looked at it I could see electricity and other forms of energy statically float in the air around the strange place. 

Due to my awareness of the dimension I could tell that we were heading towards a special place. The place we were heading towards was the gateway in and out of the dimension, the entryway from which newcomers would first enter the building regardless of whether or not they were merchants.

Deep within the divinity that was currently in multiple places at once a cosmic being was beginning to fully awaken. A potent force of life, creation, destruction, and rebirth opened its eyes and found itself inside of a new host. 

The fiery creature had the form of a flaming avian, an eagle-like entity made of furious flames fashioned from the power and energy of the unborn. As the creature’s eyes opened and it took in its surroundings, it felt the potent power flowing through Andrew. 

By imbibing the essence of the x-gene Andrew had opened himself to the mighty Phoenix Force. That potent entity had just opened its eyes for the first time inside of its true, ultimate host, and allowed itself a second to take in its immediate surroundings. 

The entity was nestled within the soul of Andrew and as it studied the situation its host was in it it laid its eyes on multiple situations at the same time. Firstly it watched Andrew stepping towards the large skeleton that had sought a duel with him. The skeleton was a potent font of negative energy, the energy which potently reanimated the creature and made it able to shamble around. 

It also saw Andrew stepping towards a large building, and silently wondered what to do. Andrew took notice of the awakened entity silently wrapped around his heart and he chuckled even as the “him” in Lost Echo Cave approached the singular skeleton who was eager to perish at his hands. 

Andrew’s eyes began to glow with the potent inner fire that the Phoenix itself casually radiated. The strange entity began to feel a mighty joy as he moved towards the skeleton that had called him out. 

The skeleton roared again, attempting to intimidate the alien warrior who merely smirked at him. His eyes were lit by the cosmic fires of the Phoenix Force even as he activated one of his mighty mutations. 

As he strode towards the vile skeleton his skin began to shift and take on a milky hue. By the time he was in front of the undead creature his face was made from shimmering diamonds and the look on his face was one of murderous excitement. 

The skeleton swiftly hurled a punch at the former-human whose face continued to remain twisted upwards in a cruel smirk even as the skeleton’s bony fist smashed into the diamond-skinned former-human. The fists hit the diamond-skinned entity with a decent amount of force but stopped the instant that they touched him. 

His wife watched, curiously, and her eyes widened when she heard the subtle sound of bones cracking. She began to smile when the skeleton’s eyeless gaze turned to its hands which abruptly grew tremendous cracks and then shattered into milky white bone fragments. Andrew himself looked up at the skeleton and began to laugh. 

He rose one of his diamond-textured fingers and pointed it at his foe. Without uttering a single word he activated a potent spell from the universe in which the Skulduggery Pleasant novel series took place and a white beam of light shot out of his fingertips. 

The skeleton reared back and fell apart even as it staggered away from its foe. As it did massive cracks appeared on the creature’s skull, an indication of the type of magic that Andrew had just unleashed; the potent bonebreaker magical power once utilized by a powerful assassin named Tesseract.

The Phoenix Force watched all of this with an amused look on its fiery face. The creature it dwelt inside of was himself a veritable monster, but deep within him the flaming bird-like divine being could sense even greater cosmic power than within any of its previous hosts. His level of preexisting might exceeded even that of the Phoenix’s old paramour Odin himself! 

The Phoenix could detect energy that was strangely similar to Odin’s own cosmic might flowing throughout the body of Andrew. The mighty power of the skyfather seemed to flow through the veins of Andrew, and the Phoenix found it surprisingly comforting to be within a host as tremendously powerful as the allfather was. 

Andrew turned his gaze away from the fallen skeletal warrior and watched as his companions began to finish off their foes. The dragons mowed through several skeletons, tackling them with ease, while Almalexia effortlessly and skillfully drove her blade skeletal warrior after skeletal warrior. Her potent instrument dealt critical damage with each blow, its mighty fire causing the weak skeletons to crumble almost the very instant that her weapon touched their bony bodies. 

In almost no time at all the several skeletons were defeated and their bones were strewn about the room in which they had originated. As the last of them was defeated, Andrew willed his skin to return to normal, and the Phoenix decided to make its presence known.

At the very same time that I willed my skin to return to its organic state I felt the mighty flames of the potent cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force well up from within me. My companions turned to face me right in time to witness my eyes begin to turn orange and fill with the radiant light of the Phoenix Force. 

Their eyes all widened as they watched my skin begin to turn a beautiful shade of incandescent orange and as powerful world-altering flames began to pour out of my fingers and fill the guards room that they were in with powerful psychic fire. The room was brilliantly lit up by the furious fire pouring out of me, though when the fire touched them it did not harm them. 

They all gazed at the fire as it washed over them. The potent psychic Phoenix was mighty enough that it was capable of even affecting their minds, though it wasn’t strong enough to affect mine against my will.

“Hello Andrew…” The entity whispered, in the back of my mind. I chuckled as my companions allowed the fires of the Phoenix to rejuneivate them. 

“Hello Phoenix Force.” I replied, silently and through the potency of my telepathic abilities. I had a subtle but real smile on my face as I felt the creature beginning to flex its incredible power for the first time since I had become its truest and ultimate host.  

The unbelievably potent might of the purely psionic entity reverberated throughout me. The creature was mighty, heavy, and now that it was awake I felt its power pouring into every cell in my body. 

The creature felt… much more mighty than even Almalexia, an impressive feat given that the version of Almalexia who was my companion was her at the very apex of her power, and thus contained many of the benefits of godhood despite her status as an artificial, and fallen goddess.

“I find you intriguing, little ascended one.” The being whispered, its very voice filled with unrivaled, pure psionic energy. The voice of the being was very beautiful, and for a moment I wondered if this was the sort of impact I had on someone. 

A split second after I wondered that I felt the might of the tree of knowledge. My question was answered by a quiet voice in the back of my mind that told me that the impression I would leave on someone would be much stronger than even the impression that the Phoenix Force was leaving on me. 

That knowledge was a bit staggering, but it made me quite happy to know that I’d be able to appear more impressive than even something as mighty as my newest, rather permanent companion.

“I must admit, Phoenix Force… What I know of you makes you sound legitimately amazing.” I told her, and I was being honest. 

If the creature inside of me was anything like the entity that was a famous and cosmic entity in the omniverse of Marvel Comics then I had an ally who was on a level not that far removed from my own. And incredibly enough I could actually beat it if I needed too! 

Though… feeling confidence that I could overpower the Phoenix Force, if I needed to, was itself a product of the tree of knowledge.

The only reason I had any confidence in my ability to beat the Phoenix Force was that the same voice that told me that I would leave a stronger impression than even it would told me that if it came down to it I could defeat it. Nevertheless, as a newly ascended entity the thought of fighting something like the Phoenix Force, a creature with millions of years of experience was frightening even to me. 

“I look forward to witnessing and even participating in whatever strange adventures you have, little one.” The voice of the Phoenix whispered. There was a certain… matronliness to its words that made me chuckle. 

“I feel safer knowing that you are within me, and possess the power to intervene if I find myself alone.” I told the entity, even as the bright flames emanating from me began to die down. As the fires died my allies began to walk towards me and I turned in the direction of the dark elf we had come here to defeat, Nezznar the Black Spider.

For the next few minutes the strange group of powerful beings would make their way through the cave. They’d expertly overpower the few foes that stood between them and their target, and avoid traps both natural and otherwise as they journeyed towards their final destination. 

The two divinities and their draconic allies were an unstoppable force of nature that could easily cleave their way through their foes with ease. Andrew led the charge against foes like zombies and flameskulls, and even bugbears. In a matter of minutes they found themselves in a key part of the dungeon they had come here to conquer and also free themselves from. 

The four heroes, and their powerful observer, stared at a dark elf who silently stared back at them. The five of them were far from alone and Andrew’s party were just outside of a critically important room, at least in the eyes of their foe. Andrew’s enemies were inside of the room, and they all studied their mysterious enemies.

The two sides silently stared each other down inside of the room known as the Forge of Spells. The room they were in was a workshop dedicated to the smithing of arcanically powered armors, weapons, and other tools. The dark elf and his allies were gathered around the room’s main feature, a gigantic furnace that emanated a powerful aura of perpetual magic. 

The room they were in was dominated by features like crafting tables, anvils, workbenches, and other objects one might expect to find in a fantasy world’s blacksmithing shop. There was no rhyme or reason to the room’s layout, as it had long been abandoned by anyone until the recent invasion of the dark elf who quietly moved his hand to the rapier at his side. 

Andrew himself smiled at the dark elf, and was the first member of his party to boldly step into the room, his skin shifting again to take on the powerful qualities of diamonds. At the same time his eyes filled with the otherworldly power of the mighty Phoenix. 

As Andrew began to walk towards his foe, striding openly and aggressively to Nezznar, the creatures who saw themselves as either the protectors of the forge or of the dark elf reacted. The allies of the Black Spider turned their fury on Andrew, launching attacks at him in a range of ways. 

Nezznar’s most valuable ally at the moment was a strange floating head that had four eyestalks protruding out of it. The creature roared at Andrew and leveled all four of its stalks at him, each of which fired a potent beam of arcane energy. The god did not stop walking towards the dark elf, even as Andrew’s own allies dashed into the room, and when the eyebeams of the beholder-like creature hit him he didn’t stop. 

The arcane beams struck Andrew and were promptly reflected in a number of directions. The colorful attacks bounced off of his skin like light would bounce off of a mirror. Andrew didn’t even bother attempting to reflect the attack back at the creature, he just fully ignored it. 

Nezznar had bugbear bodyguards and they hurled spears at Andrew. He also ignored them, and kept a murderous grin on his face all the while. The spears shattered against Andrew’s diamond-skin and clattered harmlessly to the floor. At the same time that that happened, Andrew kept his gaze locked on Nezznar and allowed his killing intent to seep out of him.

The air around the former human took on a dark blue tint, even in the darkness of the mine, and Nezznar began to feel a supernatural, irresistible amount of fear seep into his heart. The dark elf tried to turn away from the mutant approaching him but just couldn’t. All he could do was slowly back up, while keeping his eyes plastered to the strange and seemingly sinister creature murderously stalking towards him. 

“I’m ready to go home…” Andrew whispered, which only made Nezznar more afraid. The dark elf was a simulation but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel fear, and the random appearance of the murderous creature walking, unstoppably, towards him terrified him. The power of the essence of the killer would not be ignored by someone as mediocre as Nezznar. 

When one of the bugbears, large and incredibly furry goblinoid creatures, lunged at Andrew with a knife in his hands the diamond-like entity glanced at him and opened his mouth. A powerful soundwave began to emanate out of his mouth and cause the bugbear to yelp in pain as he dropped his knife and fell to his knees. As he attempted to cover his ears with his furry hands his whole body was suddenly alight, and the smell of burning fur began to fill the room. 

The final fight in the simulation was underway!