Her claws extended, wreathed in power that suddenly read as twisted, corrupt. She aimed for my throat, moving with speed that suggested she'd been holding back her true capabilities this entire time.
I reacted on pure instinct, turning sideways. Divine power flared through my limbs without conscious thought, my body moving faster than mortal perception. Her strike missed my throat by inches, caught my shoulder instead, tearing through cloth and and finding no affect on my skin.
So much for maintaining my meager disguise.
I smashed her with the back of my hand and sent her flying, Kelithar shrieked, her form beginning to shift and distort. Her scales rippled, gold melting away to reveal brass underneath. Her wings spread, and where they should have radiated celestial light, they leaked like open wounds. "The Hells send their regards, and Zariel claims what is hers!"
Everything exploded into motion.
Urgala roared, her humanoid form shattering as she erupted into her true dragon shape. Forty feet of golden scales and righteous fury, her wings spreading wide enough to span half the reception hall. "Seize her!" I realized the hallsuddenly expanded outwards.
The seven canaries around Bahamut's head suddenly weren't canaries anymore. They grew, expanded, transformed into seven great gold wyrms, each one now easily twenty feet long, their forms finally revealed, It looked like they were still restraining themselves from fully filling the entire room. They moved encircling Kelithar before she could retreat.
Captain Mira had thrown herself backward, sword drawn, clearly out of her depth in whatever was unfolding.
And Bahamut simply sat on his throne, eye brow raised looking at me, his elderly disguise still intact, watching everything with eyes that suddenly seemed far too knowing.
"Zariel," he said softly, the air itself feel heavier. "She's grown bold if she thinks she can plant an infiltrator in my own court."
Kelithar, or whatever was wearing Kelithar's form, laughed. The sound was distorted, and carrying harmonics that made my divine senses irritated," Bold? I've been here for months, old wyrm. Months of watching and learning and waiting for the perfect opportunity. And you never suspected. None of you suspected."
"We suspected," Urgala growled, her massive form coiled and ready to strike. "Why do you think I kept you on administrative duties instead of fieldwork? Why do you think you've never been allowed access to very sensitive information, and you think you are the only infiltrator? We just wanted use you to find the other infiltrators".
The false Kelithar's expression flickered with surprise before settling back into confident mockery. "You knew?"
"We suspected an infiltrator after the previous intelligence leak. We didn't know who else was with you, but with you attacking a guest of Lord Bahamut, I guess we have to use you to directly find your circle of traitors" Urgala's teeth showed, each one the size of a sword. "Foolish, Zariel's servant. ha! Incredibly foolish."
I straightened myself , annoyed at the ruined clothes and that I fully exposed my divine nature, although it wasn't a big of a secret from lord Bahamut, it would be more annoying interacting with knowing mortals like captain Mira.
My war hammer materialized in my free hand, pulled from dimensional storage by reflex. The familiar weight settled into my grip, and I felt my divine power rising in response to the threat.
The false Kelithar's eyes locked onto me, widening with recognition. "How can you hit me that hard? You're not a mortal. I definitely struck you, that would have definitely hurt even a duke of hell. What are you?"
"None of your business, just someone who's getting really tired of being attacked by infernal forces," I said.
Her form continued shifting, brass scales spreading like infection across her body. Her wings extended fully now, leaking fluids that hissed and steamed where it touched the platinum floor. "It doesn't matter. Zariel has what she wanted. She now has the shipment location and the routes. This was just confirmation that our intelligence was accurate."
"And an assassination attempt on my guest," Bahamut added, his voice still gentle despite the situation. "That's poor form, even for an archdevil's servant. Zariel should have taught you better manners."
"What are manners to a devil, unlike scum like you with your false politeness, you monster" The false Kelithar raised her hand, infernal power crackling between her claws, "And she'll be pleased to know the results of all my efforts."
She spoke a word in Infernal, harsh and guttural, and reality around her began to tear. A portal, forced open through sheer corruption, ripping through the protections that should have prevented such things.
The seven great wyrms struck simultaneously.
They moved with such fierceness that spoke of centuries fighting together, each one targeting a different aspect of the forming portal. Jaws snapped shut on the dimensional tear, biting reality itself, disrupting the magical structure. Claws raked through the infernal energy, shredding the connections the false Kelithar was trying to establish.
The portal collapsed with a sound like breaking glass.
"No!" The false Kelithar shrieked, trying to reform the portal. Her hands moved frantically, speaking more words in Infernal, pouring power into the attempt.
Urgala didn't give her the chance. The massive gold dragon lunged forward, her jaws closing around the false Kelithar's torso. The crunch of breaking brass scales echoed through the hall.
The false Kelithar screamed, her disguise finally shattering completely. What remained was something, a brass dragon whose scales were covered in infernal contracts written in burning script. Her eyes blazed with hatred and pain.
"For Zariel," she gasped, and her form began to dissolve.
I moved without thinking, divine power surging through me. I slammed my hand against her chest, channeling the same binding energy I'd used on the devil corpses. The dissolution halted mid-process, her essence trapped between life and true death.
"You're not escaping that easily," I said.
The false Kelithar's eyes widened in horror. "What have you done? You can't... this isn't possible..."
"Funny you should say that idiot. How did you think I bound these other devils?" I stepped back, maintaining the binding with effort. Trapping something as powerful as a corrupted dragon required more energy than binding lesser devils. "Lord Bahamut, she's secure. For now."
Bahamut had risen from his throne, his elderly disguise finally dropping away. What stood there now was something magnificent, a dragon of platinum scales and impossible majesty, easily twice Urgala's size. His presence filled the hall with light that made the celestials' radiance look dim by comparison.
"That's remarkable," he said, his voice carrying harmonics that made the surroundings resonate. "You've bound her essence completely and she can't reform in the Hells , can't return to Zariel, can't even die properly, simply remarkable. She's trapped here until you release her or until your binding fails."
"It won't fail," I said,"I've trapped gods before and a corrupted devil dragon should be well within my capabilities."
Bahamut's eyes widened slightly at that admission, but he didn't press. "Then let's secure her properly before we proceed."
The celestials moved with practiced steps, wrapping the false Kelithar in chains forged from celestial silver and holy gold. They carried her form to a side chamber, presumably for interrogation and containment.
"Now," Bahamut said, returning to his throne and resuming his elderly disguise, "the original devils you brought. You mentioned unbinding them?"
I approached the corpses casually, my divine senses fully extended. If Zariel had trapped the false Kelithar with explosives, she might have done the same to these.
I reached out, touching the first spinagon corpse, and immediately felt it. Infernal energy, dormant and waiting, triggered by the touch of divine power. A trap, just as I'd suspected.
"Everyone back," I called out. "These are rigged to explode."
Urgala moved immediately, herding the celestials and Captain Mira toward the far end of the hall. The seven wyrms took defensive positions around Bahamut.
Unnecessary.
I withdrew my binding carefully, feeling the trapped energy surge as it was released. The corpse began to detonate, infernal fire building within it.
I channeled my divine essence outward, creating a barrier around myself and the corpses. The explosions came in rapid sequence, twelve detonations releasing concentrated infernal energy designed to kill anything in proximity.
The fire washed over me, cold flames that burned with malice and hatred. I stood firm, my divine nature absorbing it, my barrier containing the blast radius. Fire was one of my domains, and unless powered by divine it would not harm me.
The explosions subsided after what felt like an eternity. I lowered my barrier, smoke rising from my soot covered form. I had saved the corpses, so Lord Bahamut would be able to continue interrogating their essences.
I stood straight and waved my hand and the soot flew away from my body and I focused a little and my clothes were instantly repaired.
"By the heavens," one of the celestials breathed. "He just... he just tanked twelve infernal detonations."
Urgala approached cautiously. "Are you okay?"
"Give me a moment," I said feeling for anything wrong.
"You took those explosions deliberately," Bahamut said. "To protect everyone else in my hall."
"It seemed like the fastest choice."
"I am grateful you shielded my people from a trap that could have killed dozens of them,"
"Well, I suppose, they wouldn't have had to deal with it if I didn't bring the essences"
He laughed, the sound warm and genuine. "I suppose that is so. Regardless, I'm in your debt, 'heph'. You've been attacked twice because of my house, the second time while performing a service I requested. That's unacceptable. Name your price. Whatever you want within my power to grant, it's yours."
I considered that. What did I want? Gold meant nothing to me and territory was meaningless as I wasn't going to stay here. Political favor was the last thing I needed.
"Knowledge," I said finally. "I want access to your magical archives. Specifically, spell documentation up to ninth level, tenth level if you have it. Complete with the building block and bones of all it, including all basic descriptions."
Bahamut's eyebrows rose. "That's... not what I expected. Most would ask for wealth or power."
"I have wealth and I can create power. What I need is understanding of how magic works in this cosmology, particularly at the highest levels. I'm trying to adapt my crafting techniques to local rules, and I need comprehensive data to do that properly. Plus this is a vacation, I do not want more responsibility"
"You're a scholar," Bahamut said, something like approval in his voice. "A craftsman-scholar is a rare breed indeed, that. Very well. Urgala, take him to the archives and grant him access to spell documentation up to ninth level. Tenth level as well, though we have limited resources at that tier."
"My lord," Urgala said, "tenth-level spell knowledge is restricted. The council would need to approve-"
"I'm approving it now. He's earned it." Bahamut settled back onto his throne, the seven wyrms resuming their canary forms and flying around his head once more. "Besides, I'm curious what he'll create with that knowledge. Something tells me it will be extraordinary."
"Thank you,"
His expression turned more serious. "And Heph? Be careful. Zariel doesn't forgive failures, and you've just cost her an infiltrator and valuable intelligence assets. She'll escalate. The next attack will be worse."
"I'll be more than ready."
Urgala led me through winding corridors to a chamber filled with crystalline storage devices, each one containing compressed magical knowledge. "The archives," she said. "Everything we've collected about arcane magic over the past ten thousand years. Spell documentation and theoretical treatises with experimental results. It's all in here."
She activated several crystals, their contents flowing into blank journals that materialized on a nearby table. "These contain spell documentation from first to ninth level.. Everything you might need".
She hesitated, then activated three more crystals. "And these are tenth level. We only have documentation for a handful of spells at that tier. Most of them are theoretical, never really fully successfully cast. Lord Bahamut wants you to have access anyway."
I stared at the growing pile of journals. This was more than I'd hoped for. More than I'd expected.
"I'm grateful thanks," I said. This made it so I would save so much time and have it easier now, instead of having to go on long and annoying adventures to find these hidden knowledge.
"Don't thank me. Thank Lord Bahamut when you see him next. He's the one taking the risk giving you this." Urgala paused. "And Heph? Whatever you are, whatever you're truly capable of, use this knowledge wisely. High-level magic can often reshape the landscape. In the wrong hands, it can fully destroy them."
"I understand."
"I hope you do." She turned to leave, then stopped at the doorway. "The false Kelithar will be interrogated. When we learn more about Zariel's network, we'll send word. You deserve to know what you're up against."
I sat down, pulled out the first journal, and began reading.