There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns.

Delta blinked as she returned to her Dungeon, the meeting of the siblings over, ending with the eclipse.

“No wonder they don’t meet up casually! They’re walking disasters!” She waved her hands in the air.

“Have fun?” came Mharia’s voice. Delta turned to scowl at her but paused. Mharia was still in the garden, but she was in some pyre built up of Jack’s smut books as the Kobold danced around her, torch in hand.

“To Pip, almighty reader of trash. Take this vile wench into your arms,” Jack hollered, sounding tribalistic.

“Jack... don’t start fires in the garden,” Delta said finally, causing him to stop.

“She deserves this and far more,” he stated without any shame.

“Maybe Pip doesn’t want Mharia? Aren’t you being rude by pushing her onto someone else?” Delta tried as she moved closer.

“True… I know, I can leave her bound by Wyin!” he said and took off with Mharia in his hands.

“Delta, I demand mercy!” Mharia screeched before she vanished through the door, followed by Jack’s mad cackle.

Delta thought about what she did to Alpha.

“Mercy will take 30-45 minutes depending on delivery time. Please be patient,” she said limply before smiling.

She might actually murder us all if you keep pushing her. Spite is a powerful motivator.

Nu appeared and Delta gave him a long look.

“Well, you’d know. But I have news,” Delta turned to her friend as Nu pondered her comment.

“The demon sibling that lives inside all humans and is the enemy sort of maybe is also from Earth and may be someone I know or potentially someone whose memory causes people to turn evil,” she explained.

Nu was blank for a moment.

“Oh and also I may be causing my own cult to rise as I do the exact same thing with my monsters meaning I could also be an eldritch goddess if I snap,” Delta added ever so casually.

You... vex me, in mind, soul, and body.

Delta gave him a curious look.

“You admit to having a soul?” she asked amused and Nu turned away, avoiding her gaze.

No.

He vanished and Delta was left alone as she blinked.

He was acting odd...

She wanted to chase him down and ask if he was alright, but all at once, she was surrounded by a dozen screens, alerting her to a dozen more things at once.

“Stop! Not all at once!” she yelled over the pinging and the screens began to inch to a rough orderly line that stretched a fair distance back.

“My god, I work at the DMV,” Delta muttered as the first one stepped up.

“How many of these are... important? Like I-definitely-need-to-know level of importance?” she asked the line. About ten more screens popped into existence, getting into line.

“I should have let Mharia turn me crazy,” Delta groaned as she sat down on a rock and got to work.

---

The three of them met in Mila’s house. The mother of Ruli looked pained as she leaned on the table.

“Some memories came back,” Haldi announced, almost too casually. Pic chewed a spare fork Mila had laying about.

Mila didn’t have the energy to tell him off. She was too busy trying not to weep at the memories of the beginning.

Damn Durence, damn that man. Damn him and his stupid heroic attitude.

“Why? The mana didn’t rise, so why did they return?” Pic asked around a mouth of prongs.

“One fell. One of those Silence beasts fell,” Mila turned, face calm. Her eyes were flaring, however.

“Then the Dungeon is winning?” Pic asked hopefully and Mila snorted before she brought out one of her many bottles of expensive and sometimes-illegal booze. She brought four glasses down, the containers clinking.

She poured the drink into each, the unsaid toast to their fallen friend loud in their hearts.

“So, if we can remember a little more, does that mean the incident is less likely to make us go mad?” Haldi asked after a moment, his nose wrinkling at the drink, eyeing the label on the bottle which boasted 80% Dragon blood and coconut.

It was called ‘Fiery Paradise’.

It was more like hot crap, but he drank it because it was actually strong enough to make them feel it.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t change anything. It just means instead of going insane and killing everyone we love on the first floor, we’ll go stab happy on the second. This fight isn't over by a long shot,” Mila said and Pic sighed.

“I felt it when I went for my grandson. It was still there almost... that anger, hate... like poison in a wound,” Pic muttered, nursing his own drink and almost chewing the glass before he remembered it wasn’t his glass to chew.

Haldi and Mila knew exactly what he meant.

“The Manaline was deadened and our families grew up with starved seeds, even if it cost us everything that made us ourselves. Their seeds are malnourished and almost useless to the... enemy,” Mila said, forcing herself not to think too hard about the issue.

Her power was a hair-trigger from exploding if she allowed her seed to drown her in memories not her own.

This was the curse of power.

Some went and bound themselves to the king, using his power from the Dungeon to drain the rising corruption of their seeds, but not the folks of Durence.

Even without the corruption of their seeds, bowing to a sad pathetic man on a throne to save themselves would never be an option.

Haldi raised his glass.

“To Delta... sorry for the trouble, but keep at it,” he toasted. The other two followed suit.

---

‘You have defeated one of the major threats against the world, as misguided as it turned out to be. Mharia has been defeated and... employed. All additional third floor space shall be broken down due to size limitations. Mharia’s Throne room will be made into a boss room!’

Delta could feel the grinding of the floor, the breakdown of a lot of stuff... and generally, a growing headache at the information she was trying to parse while reading.

Her third floor was going to end up actually not being that big to be honest. The entrance to the map room which had sideways passages to the library and troll den. Onwards to the Feast Hall that was connected to Jeb’s side kitchen... both of them lead onwards to the main feature of the third room.

The Round Garden.

Delta mentally counted the paths.

She had the demon smith, the mad lab, the ‘used to be hell hole’ that was now developing into a hecking damn second mushroom grove of exploding lava mushrooms, a blank wall where the zoo used to be, and a semi-dorm room that was culled by her Guardgoyles during her fight with Mharia.

The boss room was the final door. Delta has to think of it as a sort of compass on her map.

The Boss room was exactly due north, the lab was north-east, the zoo used to be east... the cursed Mushroom tunnel was South-East, the Feast hall was South, a door leading back to Jeb’s kitchen was South-West, the Demon Smithy was due West, and the old dorms were North-West.

There was also the fact that she has a hidden Mana Well in her garden that did things to people.

Terrible and Wonderful things…

‘Due to defeating the threat and absorbing her things, you have gained max mana (excess Mana sent back to the rest of Dungeon to restore functionality) and 800 DP! Due to abrupt shifting in Dungeon and concern for Delta’s stress, the fourth Floor(400 DP) is locked for three days to allow adjustment and self-care.’

“I could really use a foot massage and having my nails painted,” Delta agreed. It was sort of a relief not to have to instantly worry about a new floor... she hadn’t even made a proper boss for this floor...

Still, when she had a moment, she’d make some den or place for Mharia to roost in. Delta could even make her some old things from her home to make the girl feel... better?

Mharia was an issue and Delta honestly didn’t know how to handle her exactly.

‘Notable items absorbed included:

Set of dragon remains.

Advanced marble material (black and white variants)

Expensive paintings and frames (images easily painted upon creation)

Detailed Lich infused bones.

One tea set made of rare diamond and tea leafs of pure magical essence

A closet full of carefully maintained dresses.

One throne.’

Click to expand...

Delta saw that each of these items produced an almost staggering amount of follow up notifications of potential upgrades, mixtures, unlockables, suggestions, monster creations, and... on and on and on it went.

“How long is it going to take me to get through all this?” she asked with dismay.

Nu eyed it all then reported to her a moment later.

‘6 hours, and roughly 20 minutes if you work non-stop’

“No,” Delta announced, crossing her arms. The act of sitting down and going through tons of repetitive work, looking over details she couldn’t grasp or understand while trying to give them a value in return shook something inside of her.

A recoil of horror... like this was a fiend she had tackled before.

A single moment and she was elsewhere, a desk with rows of shadowy people before her. They all looked out of focus for a moment, except one that seemed near the back, gazing out a window.

She cleared her throat in this dream.

‘Al-£$”!, pay attention. Your homework score was just as disappointing as the others. You’ll all stay behind an hour before the trip to complete additional work to ensure you qualify for the trip,” she instructed and knew she didn’t have to offer this... it would even mean driving them to the damn camp herself.

She eyed the others.

“Be&:^! Stop glaring at me, you know you’d rather go than stay here for a week,” Delta reminded and the girl scoffed, but didn’t argue. The last two looked up, expecting her to call on her next.

“Ga^^0^^... stop poking people with your ruler before I take it away,” she warned and the boy grinned at her and started building a sword out of pens that he could slot together. She really needed to clear out his damn desk.

“Okay doky, Miss D!” he yelled back, unbothered.

Sighing, she turned to the last student.

At the desk was a pile of snarling mouths, teeth, claws and insane bloated eyes that shot forward to swallow her with a primal scream.

Delta snapped back, physically toppling over as she laid there, shaking.

Nu carefully picked her up with his formed hands, his ability to morph his shape continued to grow each day despite his stubbornness on remaining a screen.

‘They’re trying to honour their word it seems. Sister and Brother are unchaining your memories... despite the trouble they may cause,’

he said with a touch of concern.

Delta touched her head, feeling a throbbing.

“If... I remember what happened... I think the Little Brother is involved. I think I knew him,” she muttered and there was a slight pause before she thought something unpleasant.

If she was around when Bro and Sis took Little Brother to be their family... did that mean she and the others were simply dragged along and... kept in stasis as the world's form? Or... did Brother intentionally fish them out due to their connection with the Little Brother?

She tried to think hard about what happened and something odd began to happen. She was abruptly at her core, feeling her head was splitting open.

Her orange core, suspended between the two pillars, shone then a thin crack went down one side as if to match her pain.

“Oh that’s no... unable to comply,” she said slowly. Tilting her head, she looked at her hand.

“I don’t think that had any- avatar state deployed, function to display- effect on me, so hopefully... I can just use glue to fix myself,” she mused.

“‘Glue’ not found in archives. I mean I have to make glue since no one’s dropped it- Spider-web, honey, combination?- but glue can’t be that hard,” she shrugged.

‘Delta! What’s wrong you’re... have a crack on your face,’

Nu appeared at her side. Delta blinked at him.

“Oh, hey Nu- designated aid of core and ‘friend’. Error, class for ‘friend’ not found- I think I pushed too hard, but I’m okay. -Core performance at 95% and dropping. Restoration in progress’.” she reported.

‘Delta. You’re saying things without hearing yourself. What restoration? What damage?’

Nu demanded and Delta was getting a bit concerned about her friend as she floated forward

“Nu... you feeling okay?” she asked worriedly before she turned abruptly and began to go about her duties.

“Admin access to Core memories have caused a compile error. Core ‘Delta’ is suffering backlash from memories she was not ready for. System override was engaged from highest authority. Why? ‘Trust’. Reason not logical. Nu, companion. Delta-System will repair inwards, please halt Admin-Delta from acting against innate code of ‘let’s not be a murder-hobo’ Dungeon,” Delta began to rattle off, but she didn’t think she was saying anything too important.

‘Did... you develop a personality split in the ten seconds I was gone?!’

The screen demanded.

“Can’t talk Nu, gotta make a super dragon with five heads that spew liches instead of fire breath,” she said distractedly.

“Error. Such creation goes against established desires. Admin-Delta is faulty. Rebooting ‘irrational fear of spiders’ subroutine,” the monotone emerged afterwards.

Delta abruptly began to screech, but walked forward like she was walking in a park.

Nu was... shocked... utterly baffled.

Then he became angry.

---

Sis watched as her general control and consoles, now utterly decimated by mushrooms all began to quiver. One part of the devoured divine instruments began to glow hot and blue, the mushrooms wilting away until something else emerged.

A crystal tip of some blade rose, creating more features that become inhospitable to the mushrooms. Crystal and Mushroom... what incompatible beings...

What a beautiful sight. Sis watched as the crystal spread out, uprooting any Mushrooms that were in its way.

“Finally... I thought you’d never come, ‘Nu’,” Sis giggled and sipped her tea.

Mharia wasn’t going to drink it now... so why not?

---

The Orange Core flashed, the crack sealing over with an influx of Mana as Nu physically dragged Delta back by the end of her ear between his two fingers.

The healed portion was a shimmering azure blue, creating a striking flawed Core.

Flawed... but not corrupt.

Like a beautiful eye with orange and blue lines intersecting to create green.

----

“Hey,” Mharia said slowly, eyeing the giant effeminate tree. Her form seemed able to freely move through the Dungeon, unbound to any Floor. Delta was a fool to grant her this much freedom, but even then... Mharia knew she was always watched.

The tree with a cold expression eyed her.

“If you ask to nest in my branches like a bird. I’ll rip your wings off one by one and use you as a new lipstick,” the tree said flatly.

Oh, Mharia liked this one. So much... fire.

“Are you the World Tree?” Mharia asked, hearing from the trolls that such a tree existed. The trolls were lovely and easy to manipulate. They’d talk about anything...

The tree known as Wyin sneered at her.

“Are you the great fairy that touches pubescent teens to ‘power them up’?” she asked mockingly in return. Mharia snorted.

“I believe you’ll find she was hunted down and chopped up for pieces a while ago. No, I am Delta’s newest... ‘employee’,” Mharia said with such annoyance that it seemed to distract Wyin from being rude.

“Ah... the darling bone princess. Yes, I heard you were spanked and sent to the naughty corner,” Wyin smirked and fanned her branches out to seem elegant.

“Don’t… call me that,” Mharia said darkly and the tree drank in her anger like sunlight.

“Of course. Ivory Noble? Blanc Baroness? Calcium Countess?” Wyin listed and Mharia could leave, but she decided to power on through gritted teeth.

“I heard you ended up being a loser to a parasite that my dear papa summoned,” she fired back and Wyin’s entire form froze, not a single leaf twitched.

Mharia moved easily to avoid the massive trunk-like fist thrown at her.

She put a dainty finger on the wood as it moved past.

“Well... shall I call you Homeless Hawthorn? Perhaps Pathetic Palm? I can do this ‘mean’ business too,” Mharia warned as she weaved between a few dozen vines trying to spear her through.

She was only dodging because her actual offence power was…

Mharia couldn’t actually harm anything, the only magic she possessed now was glow-up or slight invisibility to humans. She bent backwards with a thought.

Well... she couldn’t hurt people physically... verbally was a whole other game.

“We can be utter demons to each other, but I think we can also discuss how to kill that sanctimonious arrogant sack of flesh that killed my family and stole your tree,” Mharia announced and the vines stopped instantly from her face.

“Give me one word... on how exactly you’re going to do that? Just one,” Wyin said, voice as thin as razor wire.

Mharia smiled sweetly, her eyes dark.

“Delta.”

After a moment, the vines retreated.

“You had my irritation, now?” Wyin’s face leaned in, sleek and flushed with sap.

“You have my attention.”

Mharia felt a single chill go down her spine, a slight reminder that she was still talking to a literal goddess... shattered and broken down as she was.

The real danger wasn’t outlasting Wyin’s anger... no, Mharia knew that the real danger was to ensure Wyin let her go in the end if she ever rose up again as a true goddess.

A life on the run from an invader god was easy. An actual in-world god?

Mharia was stupid and irrational times, but even she feared what was to be the actual successor to the Brother.

The Tree that would absorb the Brother and his Eye, giving them eternal rest, holding the world together.

Just as the other would consume the Sister.

Mharia’s confidence shook.