Chương 109: Part 91: The trail

It was a matter of minutes for Nestra to hurry back to her roadster to fetch her gear. By law, she was obligated to haul all of her stuff around. It was one of the Threshold regulations written in blood after a group of raiders had been forced to fight a breach bare-handed, back in '47. It also meant doing a silly dance putting on her Bellerophon armor in the intimacy of a fan spare parts storage box. Not even the worst spot she'd ever changed, to be perfectly honest.

By the time she was done, Ashjay was growing impatient. The B-class' brown hair was now hidden under an off-gray battle helmet. Special Affairs didn't have the best gear but looking at the metal gleam, it wouldn't matter. Mana steel covered her body in layered cords, like a living mass of cables. It was a very peculiar setup.

"A tenser?" Nestra asked, a little surprised.

"Kind of you to finally show up, Palladian." Nestra raised a brow. Any faster and she would have been stripping in the damn alley. Ashjay's gray eyes went over Nestra in turn. There was a quiet consideration there, one that didn't invite questions. Through the amazing power of nepotism, Nestra was probably wearing over a million creds in top-of-the line gear. Only a megacorp scion would carry more money strapped to themselves.

"A Bellerophon?" the B-class grumbled under her breath.

"Riel." Her answer continued a little more loudly.

"To answer your question, most subterranean monsters are powerful ambush predators. And I'm a tenser specialist." The tenser form was a mid-flow armor for metal gleams, where they could tense wires to increase their strength. Nestra knew it was difficult to master because her dad kept complaining about it. Ashjay wasn't done though. She gave Nestra another long look.

"I keep forgetting that you're Hector's daughter." Nestra shrugged.

"Then you come geared like a high gleam and you casually drop advanced metal mana knowledge like it's nothing. Anyway, are you ready?"

"Whenever you are."

"Not taking your guns?" Nestra winced.

"My coating has gotten a little strong. It messes with them. I'm looking for a solution. You go first?"

"I do not 'go first', Palladian, we will use formation 3 of the —" Nestra tuned out Ashjay, preferring instead to check her gear one last time while her superior used two hundred plus words to say she agreed to go first. After another ten minutes of lecture on safety measures Nestra was entirely familiar with, the B-class finally opened the sealed gate. As expected, no alarm rang through the complex. They closed it after them. It was dark out there, past twenty paces.

The air smelled wet and stale with a distant animal stench that did nothing to comfort Nestra. Her helmet automatically turned on low-light vision before she sealed it to avoid possible contaminants. The pair moved in silence, Nestra slightly behind and to the side. The drip of condensation echoed their careful steps. It was strangely warm here, but there were no signs of monsters in the barely serviceable tunnels, just age and neglect.

Sometimes, pieces of masonry lay collapsed, adding piles of dust and blocks of mortar to the already filthy ground. The tunnel was sufficiently long that the gate disappeared behind them. There was only their island of light, constantly moving through the infinite expanse of an ever-shifting tube. They would be stuck in this liminal hell forever, or so Nestra dreamed, but then they found it. In the middle of the path was a single mana crystal, pristine and shiny under the white radiance of Ashjay's light.

It was so incongruous, they both stopped. Nestra and the B-class exchanged a wordless glance. Like breadcrumbs. Except… but it was too soon to tell. They continued in silence. Here, seconds and minutes merged until it became hard to guess how far they'd travelled. Or so Nestra thought, when Ashjay held up a fist. The way was still unmoving, but Nestra felt it. Something strange. The shadows were… deeper. In front of them. She drew her sword. The shadows blurred, formed limbs.

Nestra stepped back while Ashjay's armor creaked and whined under pressure. Metal slashed, flesh pounced. Blood like ink sprayed the stained ground in hypnotic patterns. Nestra took another step back while more violence unfolded but soon, it was done, and Ashjay was victorious. Nestra approached the mess of twitching muscle and viscera the B-class had left in her wake. Now standing and dripping blood that wasn't her own, Ashjay still looked out for more monsters.

"Shadowbeasts," Nestra commented.

"Yes, and portal ones or they would not have attacked so recklessly." The implication was clear. There had been a breach. That meant there were more of the creatures. In the dim light of their armor, Ashjay steamed shadowy smoke as the essence of the monsters dissolved. She wasn't moving.

"We should continue, in case we do find the stones." And what was left of the thief, Nestra thought. She signaled that she was ready, and more tunnel followed more tunnel, still in silence but this time, the quiet had teeth, and Nestra kept her blade out. They walked. And walked. Sometimes, Ashjay would stop and listen but there was nothing there but the slow drip of squalid water. Finally, the light fell on another segment, and then simply… stopped. Nestra's brain struggled to understand what she was seeing.

There were two bits of tunnel and, in the middle, a void. Ashjay knelt next to a pile of refuse until her light was reflected off a dull, pitted surface. Exoskeleton, Nestra realized.

"Mana ants." This wasn't a void. It was the entrance to a side cave coated in some sort of mucus, Nestra realized.

"The Shadowbeasts must have been the portal world's side predators," she said.

"With any luck, this is a hive and the presence of hunters near the exit contained the ants in. Without access to food…"

"They wouldn't have grown much," Nestra continued.

"But I just killed the Shadowbeasts so now they're free to roam."

"Hypothetically," Nestra said. Behind her helmet, Ashjay's gaze was hard.

"I won't gamble Threshold's safety on hypotheticals."

"I agree," Nestra replied.

"We need to clear it."

"I need to clear it," Ashjay corrected.

"Small hives easily have several C-class royal guards, with the queen's support. We don't have a full team. I cannot cover you and stay mobile at the same time. Look, I could hold here while you go for help, but…"

"I'm also a raider of Threshold," Nestra patiently reminded her.

"I can hold the entrance against fleeing drones with eggs while the more dangerous creatures focus on you." Ashjay mulled this over.

"Yes, that's what ants do, isn't it? Been too long since I last raided one of their worlds."

"It is and I'll guard the door. Go in and kill them all." Ashjay nodded, eyes weary. She wasn't super fresh… but she was also B-class and this ought to be easy for her.

"Two more things," Nestra said, getting her attention again.

"One, look for human remains."

"Oh. Right. Breach."

"And thieves," Nestra reminded her.

"And two, I get 20%."

"What?" Ashjay blinked.

"20% of the value of reclaimed cores. That's the Threshold standard. Gotta pay my bills," Nestra explained. Although it was more about standing for herself. Let one superior give her unrewarded work and then it was an easy slope towards the dreaded unpaid OT. Fuck that. Ashjay blinked several times before starting a long, throaty laugh. Behind the, in the darkness, things chittered in alarm but it wouldn't matter for very long.

"Alright, alright. I won't argue. Twenty it is." Ashjay rolled her shoulders a couple of times, the tension leaving her. Nestra nodded.

"Then good luck."

"Keep the door shut," Ashjay warned, and then she was gone. Oh there was no need to worry. Nestra grabbed all three of the glowsticks she had in her small pack before dropping them on the ground some distance away from the cave entrance. A shake, and the rave was back on schedule. She spread them around herself, at her back. Inside, screeches and the familiar sounds of deathly violence filled the air with comfortable familiarity.

No one could block a passage like an earth gleam but if you needed a killzone, then ice and electricity were a very nice combo. There was a reason her mom had survived the Incursion. And now Nestra had herself a chokepoint. It was her job to turn it into a killzone before soldiers and workers climbed out, carrying eggs to safety. She saturated her armor in seconds, now used to it. The temperature dropped.

Deep cold caressed her skin, refreshing to her but a creeping death for others, growing spikes, carving veins of slow death in the moisture of the ratty walls. Freezing condensation formed tainted icicles like rotten teeth around that maw the insects still thought they controlled. By the time her armor was fully formed, the air was still, and Nestra was waiting. Her breath didn't fog in the air because that ice was hers, fully hers, and it would never hurt her. The ants though…

First came the hisses and skittering sounds of insectoid legs. Mana ants were a quiet race but from the pungent smell emanating from the entrance, Nestra gathered they must be screaming pheromones in each other's noses. The carnage continued unabated while Ashjay demonstrated what all metal users had in common: relentlessness and… let's call it conspicuousness. Soon, they were there. The first creature to appear was a drone with a bag of white, oblong eggs stuck to its back by slimy secretions.

As soon as it spotted her, portal instincts and hive directives collided inside of its primitive brain. As always, the portal rage won and the monster charged her, pathetic limbs flaying the air. It stumbled after two steps. On the third, it fell, shivering. Fingers of hoarfrost crept over the shell and the eggs, killing what was inside. Mana filled the air and Nestra's core from the nearby death. The second worker died the same way, then another two immediately after.

There was a pause then the colored hues of her glowsticks shone on quite a few compound eyes. They charged at the same time. The sudden attack was immediately slowed when the first soldier twitched from the thermal shock. Nestra moved to meet the disorganized assault. Her first lunge caught the lead in the mouth, then she slashed at the second but even her coated blade failed to cut through all that chitin. With a tsk, she retreated when scythe-like limbs reached for her.

The lead's slow fall gave her an opening on her left. Another lunge and another beast fell, brain stem cut through. The right ant struck her armor but failed to breach. The attack still made Nestra miss, planting the tip of her sword in its shoulder. That wouldn't be enough to stop it. There was something ironic about facing the first monsters she'd killed as an Aszhii now as a human raider. Even then, true Nestra's stupid strength had served her well.

Human Nestra couldn't cleave through entire bodies in one strike, but she didn't need to. Falling back, she called an ice spear into her free hand. The spell didn't slow any of the ants as they were long past self-preservation. Rushing back gave her some elevation though, and that was all she needed. Nestra threw, nailing the last ant in the column. As it fell, she kneeled and skewered her next attacker. Its mandible clicked against her helmet. Another soldier pushed the first.

Nestra's feet slipped on the concrete, but she was done casting now.

"Thunderbolt." A massive tongue of electric mana torched everything from her fingertips to the conveniently-charged ice spear. Ant bodies convulsed in a grotesque dance while she pushed the lead one's body aside before its smoking bowels could pour on her boots. It was her time to counter. Loading herself with electric mana to increase her speed, she danced between the recovering soldiers. One strike. Another one. Perfect blows, lined up with uncompromising precision born from countless practice sessions.

One strike and they died. Nestra danced among them, untouchable. She reached the bottom of the pit and roared, swiping at the next soldier climbing over the body of its brethren. The decapitating strike worked and she was back up the ramp before the body touched the ground. The corpses slowly fell in that arctic bubble deep under Threshold. She panted from the mana exertion. Surely there wouldn't be another two attacks like that one. This text was taken from Royal Road.

Help the author by reading the original version there. The mana rushed into her, settling her breath as she dragged all of it into her core while waiting for the next assault. She was so close, so very close to C-rank. She could feel it in the way her core demanded to coalesce, both too large and too diffuse. No more organized attacks came, however. Two more soldiers tried their luck with even worse results than their brethren, struggling to maneuver around the obstacles.

Ant soldiers were fast and dangerous, but they were not exactly resourceful. She was still meditating when the din of battle quieted down. At some point, Nestra thought she felt a dying presence claw at her mind but it didn't last long. Ashjay returned soon after, covered in gore and holding her head with a pained expression. Her armor was a little worse for wear but she didn't look hurt.

"Psychic queen?" Nestra asked.

"Ugh. Yes. Not that it saved her." Nestra nodded. She remembered being shoved against a wall by kinetic energy from some big-brained ant queen, but she had prevailed with the power of her biceps and the might of Threshold's industry. So who was the big-brained one, huh? Ashjay was now watching Nestra's novelty ice garden. She was taking her sweet time. Maybe it was mild brain damage. It was always hard to tell with middle management.

"Hm, you alright there chief?"

"Yes, yes." Ashjay waved her concerns away.

"I am unhurt, just, this is a big case. I haven't slept much. I just…" She looked at the ghastly row of statues again.

"You really are a Palladian."

"It's on my birth certificate," Nestra confirmed.

"Now, uh, unless there is something else, did you find human remains?"

"What?" Ashjay leaned against the wall, which cracked under the weight.

"Remains. From a thief?"

"What? No. They fed off mushrooms. I got their cores, at least."

"Right. Then I… suggest we head back."

"I… well we still need to look for the thief but I suppose I should head back first. For a little while."

"Hmm." Both raiders cleared their armor, Nestra letting the ice fall and Ashjay simply pulling her wires apart, leaving them both gore-free. The breach had been cleared but Nestra wasn't feeling satisfied. It just… didn't make sense.

Ashjay collapsed on a chair in her office, hair matted by sweat. She took long gulps of water from a large bottle. Her eyes were closed. Nestra decided to give her a moment. Ashjay breathed out once she was done. She gave the energy bar on her desk a forlorn glance.

"If they fled through the tunnels, we'll never find those crystals again," she said. The woman was on her last leg, with a raid at the end of several sleepless nights. Deep pockets marked her eyes. Above, the light fizzled. Nestra had to look at a nearby screen to realize in was going on 4 PM. It certainly felt like it should be later. End of shift, even.

"I don't buy it," Nestra finally said.

"Not a single bit."

"But… the crystal. The gate," Ashjay muttered.

"A single crystal in the middle of the path? It was probably planted."

"Nestra," Ashjay breathed out.

"I know you like Sara's theory, but…"

"Hear me out," Nestra said, raising a hand. Ashjay frowned but she was exhausted and that gave Nestra the opening she needed.

"One, anyone carrying crystals would do so in a secured container. If that container were breached, say, from an attack, then there would probably be several crystals."

"Could have been a packaging mistake."

"On mana crystals from a methodical thief? Possible, but highly implausible. Second, the runner would have been intercepted and killed by the shadowbeasts, and we would have found the carcass. We know the perp is an employee, and they don't have anybody capable of sneaking through a Shadowbeast ambush. Three, there are the attempts on Sara and myself." It was clear the neurons were not connecting.

"We have been focusing on Depth Six all this time. There is no reason to take risks killing us if the crystals are long gone. Rather, it feels like yet another desperate bid to distract us."

"But we got nothing," Ashjay complained as she gently massaged the bridge of her nose.

"Nothing. The hackings mean too many people could have done it. We've now combed Depth Six and found nothing out of place. We have no leads."

"Well, they don't know that."

"But I do. Unless we start sending people to the Red House in groups of five for blind interrogations…" Ashjay huffed, then her seat tilted and she almost lost her balance.

"Look, you need sleep. Half an hour."

"Don't give me orders, Palladian," Ashjay grumbled but without much malice. Nestra leaned forward.

"You know what's at stake. I need you awake just in case. Why don't you take half an hour, ma'am, and in the meantime, I want to talk to someone." Ashjay's resolve lasted only long enough for her lids to droop again.

"Fair enough. But let me know if anything comes up!" Nestra nodded. There was one last thing she could try.

The bottom of Depth Six still felt more like a forgotten vault filled with forbidden treasure than an official facility. She wouldn't be surprised if someone got jumped by a mummy or something. Maybe one of the boxes contained one of Riel's very own toenail clippings. Finding the janitor took ten minutes of searching and she only succeeded because he happened to be swearing quite loudly. His dark, disgruntled eyes followed her as she approached.

"You again?"

"Well, I'm still looking for the crystals. I think you mentioned no dust where there was supposed be dust, and dust where —""I know what I said. Gleam girl comes down here and thinks I'm senile, I don't need my own words parroted back to me perkele. I show you this one thing, last thing, and then you leave. Deal?"

"As long as I find the crystals, sure."

"Deal then. Come." Nestra followed the curious man up yet another labyrinth of passages, stairs, and airlocks. She was 99% sure it would have been amazingly faster to use the main lift but then they might meet people and that just wouldn't do. After a detour to find a box of dust, the janitor brought her to the turbine level.

"Glowing dust, here," he told her, waving his arms at the nearby generators like an angry windmill. But Nestra's brain was already firing on all cylinders because this was both very smart and incredibly stupid.

"No fucking way." But she quickly found the file showing recent power output levels and yes, as it turned out, fucking way.

The elevator whirred quietly on its way down. Nestra checked her armor again out of habit. She didn't expect to need it immediately but the night was very young. The doors slid open with the quiet rumble of properly maintained hinges, revealing one of the generator levels. Rows of properly packed and shielded machines waited in tight ranks in the distance, with four nearby as part of a scheduled test. Behind those were the engineer in charge: a bald technician named Xu she had met before.

He was standing with his back to her and, interestingly, was dressed in city clothes with a bag strung over his shoulders. She approached him before speaking.

"Going somewhere?" Nestra expected him to jump, but he must have known she was there. His expression when he turned was strange, manic, scared, definitely unstable. The tall man's brow glistened with sweat while his knuckles gripped the strap of his bag so tight they were white. His breath came in short puffs. Full fight or flight.

"So… why are you here?" he bleated. Nestra rolled her eyes.

"A bit late to be pretending, don't you think? You stole the crystals, bit by bit I presume, then you fed them to your generators to increase the yield and got paid handsomely for it. I can prove it because the janitor found mana crystal dust near the generators. It will only take a summary inspection to find traces of mana in the fuel intake. Some of your coworkers must be in on it, and it will only take one to find out who will only ever see the sun framed by four lines of concrete." Nestra shook her head.

"You stole over four millions for barely a hundred K in bonus? Talk about a shit return."

"It's not like that!" Xu screamed, then calmer.

"It wasn't like that. The performance tests were flawed by design. The generators take too long to get started because of all the safety measures we have to follow, but management wanted us to be more 'responsive' or we would get fired. I'm on a work visa. If I lose this job, my family will be on the next boat out. My little one just started elementary school." He faltered. Nestra searched her heart for sympathy, finding none.

"And now you'll never see them grow up," Nestra said.

"Just because you tried to murder Sara."

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me." Terror filled him. Nestra was streaming the scene to a cloud save and he was currently handing out admissible proof like it was candy so she had little reason to interrupt him.

"I find it hard to believe," she lied, "considering it was done to stall the investigation."

"Believe what you want!" he blurted.

"It doesn't matter."

"Let me guess. You received a call from someone who offered to help. Make the investigation disappear in return for some help? And it got out of hand?" Xu hesitated. She almost had him.

"I never wanted all of this," he slowly said, eyes lost in the past.

"I just skimmed a few crystals. No one would have ever noticed, but the bonus came and suddenly I could afford that car we always needed to bring Weiwei to school, to the dance. We could eat well everyday… When they found out, I was so scared I… When the Americans came with the offer, I was weak. I just wanted everything to go back to normal."

"But they asked for something in return. What was it?" Xu hesitated. His mouth opened and shut, brain too crowded to decide what to do.

"I'm sorry…" he finally said.

"But I need to protect my family first." Too late, Nestra realized he'd pressed something. The four generators around her lit up instantly. Spent mana erupted from the roaring turbines, filling the air with actinic lines. It suddenly smelled like ozone.

"Wait," Nestra said, filled with disbelief.

"Seriously?"

"I'm sorry!" Xu screamed. There was a terrible crack, and energy all around. And pain too, but Nestra didn't move.

Xu closed his eyes. Guilt devoured his heart like acid because of what he'd done. He'd taken that last step on the road to damnation. Now he was doomed, but his family would have money to go on after his death. Because the Thresholders were going to kill him, if the Americans didn't do it first after he'd outlived his usefulness. He was a dead man. And he deserved it. And that police gleam woman didn't deserve to die in the fury of mana bolts that crossed the room in great waves. He heard her gasp, then no more.

It was his own damn fault.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He forced himself to look. Forced himself to sear her body in his memory so he could sink to hell with the knowledge of what he'd done. At first, the bolts scouring the spot he'd prepared almost blinded him, but then he saw her. She was still alive. A torrent of electricity struck her armor every half a second and with each bolt, her deceptively youthful face twisted in pain. Red welts scoured her cheeks. Another, larger bolt struck and she grunted… but she wasn't dying.

Xu grabbed his bag again, thinking he should head out fast and hope his 'rescuers' were already there. He'd dumped all of the remaining crystals into those four to create a cascade and… it wasn't enough? His fear of gleams redoubled. They were… simply no longer human. He ran, but he only made it ten steps before one of the engines faltered, its failsafe engaging at the worst possible moment. Another thing that was his fault, and that he'd postponed dealing with. The mechanisms were never meant to burn mana.

And then something pulsed so strongly even he, a baseline, felt it. He turned. He couldn't help it. He wouldn't make it to the service elevator anyway. The woman was glowing with yellow and blue light. It was so dense it could be seen with the naked eye. Her eyes burnt in the same shades. A primal roar erupted from her lips, and all of that energy poured into her sternum in a vortex. Xu wasn't pulled in that direction because it wasn't physical, but he felt he ought to have been.

The metaphorical dust settled with only the glassy shine of overheated concrete twinkling through the haze of badly spent mana. Twin angry orbs zeroed in on him. He froze like a deer in headlights. It was over. She stomped through the mess, shivering and moving her shoulders around. She smoked a little but otherwise not much worse for wear.

"Ugh. One million credits mana bath. Not a bad way to ascend." Her left hand extended, forming a spear of ice in moments, then the spear grew and grew, and Xu knew he was dead. But then in her other hand, a sphere of pure electricity crackled to life. An instant later, they both fizzled out.

"Ah. Very bold to attack me with electricity. Right, let's add another assassination attempt to the tally. If you want to ever see your family again, you should reply to my previous question. Your friends. What did they ask for?"

This had to be one of the spiciest ascents to C-rank ever done if Nestra's tender body was anything to go by. It was also probably a world record for how fast she'd done it, but unfortunately she was 25 so nothing was impressive anymore. Still, C-rank. C-rank! Nestra wanted to show off to all of her friends so bad, but she was supposed to act cool because this was still an official arrest. And she couldn't even call people because that trap had fried her damn visor. Again!

Maybe she should just bite the bullet and just pull it into her dimension next time, claiming it's a special thunderstorm-resistant model. Another two hours of downloading all of her music from the cloud. Arg. Arg arg arg. It still stung a bit but, well, the mana crystals were done for anyway so using them to absorb the last of the mana she needed was just efficient use.

"I'll ask again. Your friends, what did they want?"

"Access," a voice replied. Nestra froze. Her mind went into overdrive. She recognized that glacial tone, though she had not been expecting him of all people, but here he was, cold mana now spreading over the room, cooling the scars on the ground. Alexander stepped out from a nearby corridor. He removed a complicated helmet while the rest of his body blurred into visibility. He was just as relaxed and casual as before, regardless of the setting and the fact he was currently trespassing in a military installation.

Nestra was baffled.

"You… really showed yourself."

"I fear hiding is no longer an option, but I can complete my personal objective nonetheless. Before we begin, I must confess that I haven't been entirely honest with you," he said, voice even. With measured gestures, he placed a reinforced visor on his temple. She'd seen it before. Those were the kind used by journalists in warzones if they didn't want to aug up too much. He was going to record their interaction, and likely transmit it at the same time. This was it.

"I can see from your fear that you know what I intend to prove," he gloated, "but to return to my confession…" He half-smiled.

"My real name is Alexander Reed." Nestra was forced to take a step back, aghast.

"Hello, cousin," he drawled. For the first time, he seemed pleased, even peaceful rather than bitter and distant. There were no doubts behind those pale eyes, no hesitation.

"When we last met, I told you that I always wanted to take the time to meet interesting people first, especially if a later meeting must end in blood. Consider it a courtesy done in memory of Deborah and Claire Reed, who fell to temptation. Know that their parents blamed themselves for this folly until their last breath. So it falls to me to… rectify some of those mistakes. Now, onto business. As I mentioned before, my associates and I pursued several leads on the issue of transformation gleams and mana in general.

What is the origin of this magic? Is it witchcraft, but then why are holy men and women offered this power? Why are we the only blade between mankind and extinction? I suppose it will not be up to me to solve this mystery. We thought we had found, in you, the epitome of transformation. The final piece: mankind twisted into the form of a demon. Your perfect control and your apparent lack of comfort in this form hinted that it was the natural end to a blasphemous process, but, as it turned out, we were wrong."

Nestra was trapped. The worst thing was, there was absolutely nothing she could do. All the pieces had been set long ago. This was just the last domino falling on her stupid face. She had expected it, but it still felt humiliating to see it done to her. She'd seldom felt more vulnerable as she did now.

"Some of our more illustrious members have access to a special list of all monsters called the Pandora database. But you know what it is, don't you? The shared knowledge of every monster in existence, kept secret because of greed while it should have been disseminated for and wide in mankind's defense." Nestra breathed in, breathed out. In the space between space, her true self stirred, struggled. It wanted out. The devil was out of the box and there was nothing else to do but run. Her instincts insisted.

She had to flee now. Her conscious self knew it was useless. Her best option now was to face the truth with dignity, because this was what they were trying to rob her of.

"We found out that your appearance matches that, not of a transformation user, but of a monster. An intelligent, invasive species of which only one specimen was ever met and survived. You know what that would be?"

"Cacodaimon Anthropomimesis," Nestra replied. Alexander's speech broke. His flow was cut by her voluntary confession. It surprised him so much that even his accelerated mind struggled to comprehend when she took a voluntary step forward — even if it cost her every drop of self control she had.

"Or gray demons, although I do prefer the term 'alien'. After all, I am not a portal creature." Human Nestra faded from the view of the camera, replaced by Crescent, then Crescent removed her mask and there was only Nestra left. Her real form, skin exposed to the light and air. In the back, Xu gasped. She ignored them both.

"I'm an alien, yes. My people are the Aszhii. I was really born from humans, and my parents are unaware and innocent. As far as I understand, I am the first and only human-born Aszhii. I have lived my whole life here. I have hidden who I was out of fear as soon as I discovered the truth, and I think it's obvious why." She placed herself in front of his camera.

"I know you were expecting some sort of dramatic reveal. I can still hiss a bit, if that will make you feel better?"

"You misbegotten abomination."

"Now that's quite rude. I don't go around calling you a cunt." Alexander gasped, now truly angry. His face turned red and from below the cool surface, the asshole came out in full force.

"I have come to cleanse the sin of my family and reclaim my honor! Do you have any idea how I could face my peers knowing that you, you! You haunted our family? It was not enough for those lost whores to shame us, they had to be at the front of this wave of evil we're facing! We will purge you from —" Nestra rolled her eyes while Alexander pushed on with his declaration. She took her secured phone out while Alexander went on, furious at being ignored.

"Are you done?" she asked after half a rant.

"You beast! I will —" He wasn't done. She checked the news. It was good news. Mostly. Alexander abruptly stopped so Nestra pulled her phone back into her pocket dimension. Not losing more expensive electronics if she could help it.

"How about now?" Alexander was livid. He had gone all the way through anger to come out on the other side. He tossed his recording helmet to the floor, its purpose fulfilled.

"Now, I kill you."

"Finally!" Ice erupted from Alexander's form, turning him into a crystalline knight straight out of a faerie tale. It was really different from Nestra's spiky horror in a way that made her a little annoyed. She met his charge head-on. He was fast but he was also underestimating her. As he sliced, so did she, ready to follow up. Her monstrous power crashed against his. With a thunderous clang, Nestra was propelled back. She saw her complete surprise mirrored in Alexander own.

Then her back hit the wall, pushing every atom of oxygen out of her lungs. Meanwhile, Alexander smashed easily one million credits in expensive generators.

"Oof." Ow. Ow ow ow. Ok. So. Ow. So now she knew where Helena's strength affinity had come from. This guy was no joke.

"You… unholy…" He stood back up, more surprised than hurt. Nestra was fine too but she was also in no hurry.

"You may think time is on your side," he mocked.

"It really isn't."

"No no, see, as of twenty minutes ago, Threshold moved on you guys." Alexander's confidence cracked. He bared his teeth.

"Really," Nestra insisted.

"More than 300 of you obvious fuckers were arrested for conspiracy and terrorism. The city already made an international declaration admitting to the existence of the bridge world before you guys could get the secret out. I'm sorry but I fear your little stunt will end in the Red House. As for you, we knew raiders were moving around in camouflaged gear, so I had my boss install weight detectors under the entrances and guess what?" The elevator pinged again.

A refreshed Ashjay stepped out in full armor alongside Brad, the baseline gate guard, who wasn't looking too confident.

"Ah, Palladian. Brad, please arrest Mr Xu while we see to the intruder." Alexander had once again returned to cold anger. It was his turn to smile and Nestra didn't like that.

"Ah, you only arrested 300? I fear you missed quite a few. By the way, when I said time wasn't on your side, I wasn't referring to that. I knew I was destined to death or imprisonment the moment I came here. No, the reason I said that was because…" He chuckled.

"We have your sister."