World Soul: The Plan and the Betrayal
The Grand Master's Plan
The Seraphic Grand Master presents the Hero with the next step against Dage. Laken recalls his service in the Legion and says that the events surrounding Wilhelm convinced him to stop its corruption. With the Order's help, he has taken the Dark Shard, a fragment of Dage's soul and, he says, a conduit for Nulgath's power over him. The Seraphs are turning it into a weapon that can injure Dage's immortal form. That is the plan Laken offers the Hero at this point, before the truth of the device is revealed.
A direct assault on the Legion would fail, Laken argues, because its numbers are too great. Instead, a device from his Legion service can open a back door toward the World's Soul. The account describes that place as the source and destination of life, the Mana Core in Lore and a font of soul energy in the Underworld. Laken says Nulgath bound Dage to protect it: Dage can intercept souls returning there but cannot take its energy for himself. Occupying the chamber should draw him out with only a small force, keeping the secret from most of his army and giving the Seraphs an opening.
The Hero helps finish the preparations. Parts must be recovered from a Dwakel-infested storehouse, followed by Divine Water and Divine Fire for the device. Weapons and shields are gathered for the Seraphic soldiers. A radioactive hydra has swallowed the final Plutonium Core, so the Hero must defeat it and retrieve the power source. These five assignments lead to the group's departure; the advertised weapon and portal are ready for Laken's operation.
A Weapon with Another Purpose
Ada opens the portal, taking the Hero, Laken and the Seraphic soldiers into the Underworld. They arrive in tunnels outside the World's Soul rather than directly inside its chamber. Legion troops already block their way. The remaining assignments carry the party through those soldiers, then through a protective ward using Legion amulets. Laken explains that a living intruder causes the chamber's energy to form a guardian; defeating it dissipates that defense and lets the expedition proceed.
Dage is waiting by the World's Soul. Instead of attacking Laken, he praises the performance of his apprentice. Laken kneels and salutes the Legion. Ada and the Hero are stunned: he has been working for Dage, and he says keeping Ada ignorant was safer for her. The operation against the Legion has brought them to a meeting between allies, concealed behind the Grand Master's promises to the Seraphic Order.
The device's purpose is the heart of the deception. Laken explains that Nulgath cursed the shard, preventing Dage from reabsorbing it and keeping him bound to Nulgath and the Underworld. The Legion could not break the curse, but the Seraphic Order's power of Good could—and did. The device will not injure Dage. It is meant to funnel the shard's energy back into his soul, allowing him to reach the power Laken expects him to use: consuming the World's Soul and making the Legion strong enough to rule Lore. The earlier weapon story was the explanation used to obtain the Seraphs' help.
The Birth of the Blood Legion
Dage thanks Laken for giving him the means to sever Nulgath's hold, but refuses the conquest he expected. Much has changed during Laken's absence. Dage now considers guarding the Underworld and the World's Soul necessary to the balance of life and death, while Lore must remain with the living. Laken is incredulous. He has sacrificed years for Dage and this cause, and now believes that sacrifice has been wasted. Dage offers him a place at his side, but the offer no longer satisfies him.
Laken calls Dage a coward and raises the supposed weapon against him. If Dage will not take the World's Soul's power, Laken says, he will take it himself and rule in his place. As he begins to glow, he announces a new force: his Blood Legion. The Hero asks what is happening to him. Ada does not know; she has never seen this before. His announced ambition and visible change do not yet establish that he has consumed the World's Soul or achieved the power he claims.
Dage warns that the Seraphs will not support this fight. Ada answers by tackling him and stabbing his back with a dagger. Thrown off, she returns to Laken and the Seraphic soldiers. Whatever is happening to Laken, she will protect him; the Order still came to defeat the Legion. Her later dialogue insists that something has poisoned his mind and that her family must be kept safe until he can be made whole. Dage, in turn, mourns another betrayal and prepares to destroy Laken if necessary. The encounter has opened a war, not settled one.