ShipTeaser

  The door opeo reveal a dimly lit room, with banks of monitors above a set of soles along the back wall. One was flickering, dispying the image from the camera outside, and several others were dimly glowing a dark grey. The rest of the room was cluttered with old furniture, some clothes, what looked like makeshift ons, and other detritus.

  “Don’t just stand there.” The girl hissed, and I could hear her clearly now the door en. “There might be others lurking about. And don’t fet, I have a knife!” she reminded me, and with a slight smile, I nodded again, pulling shut the door behind me, which slid shut with an audible thump, and I blinked my eyes a few times, as if to get used to the limited light. For the first time I saw the speaking girl, and had to admit to myself I was impressed. I’ve long beeo knowing pretty girls. Eri, my sis. Shiro, Aimi- and Hina-… to say nothing of my life now. Bur she’s still a matany, even now…

  The girl hiding, a knife clutched irembling hand, was a bit youhan my sis, maybe, and her hair was long, bck with dark brown highlights, down below her shoulders, though it was a little dirty and greasy, as if not properly washed with shampoo in a while. Her face was youthful, dark brown eyes crag with emotion, and she was easily as pretty as Eri. She was wearing a bzer and trousers-style of school uniform, though the bzer and shirt beh were missing several buttons and were somewhat stained with dirt, but overall she had a beautiful yet slightly boyish look. On seeig, she looked down, before pointing the k me warily. “Don’t just stand there looking!” she tinued in English. “It’s not safe to mess around. Besides… you promised you wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “Yes, I take you away from here.” I repeated. “But do you really think that knife would do anything to me?”

  She ughed bitterly, before putting it down beside her, though I noticed she kept it within reach. “I suppose not. Not if you are anything like the two tyrants.” She sighed, seemingly exhausted.

  “Besides, as far as I know, most of the Chosen here and those sves are dealt with.” I pointed out, and she looked at me, a little surprised.

  “Really? Then… then I get out of here?” She paused, looking down again, biting her lip. “That’s great, but… where are my manners? I’m sorry, being a good girl isn’t a priority in the Academy… just surviving aaining any human decy is miracle enough.” She shuddered theatrically. “I should offer you a drink, you look tired.” She rummaged around irash o her, her bae, and I g her long legs as she produced a pair of pstic cups and a half-full bottle of water. She poured out two cups, looking a little regretful. “I don’t have much, but…”

  “No thanks.” I said dryly. “I think I’ll pass.”

  “You will?” she said, before nodding. “Oh. Yes. You probably don’t trust me. I uand. The water, of course. I’ve been dowoo long, I’ve fotten how to deal with a normal person, one who isn’t crazy.” She paused. “You are a good person, nameless oppa, right?” she asked.

  Sitting down on a pipe-chair something was on my mind now, and I didn’t want to rush matters, though obviously time was of the essence when it came to survivors. “I’ve made my fair share of tough decisions, but I always try to be as good a person as the times allow me.” I said holy. “So, first up, who are you, and what happened here in this Academy?”

  “You don’t know?” the girl said, surprised. She picked up one cup, but before it reached her mouth she frowned, setting it down. “That doesn’t make sense…”

  “Oh I know plenty, like what the military told me.” I replied. “But that’s no substitute for knowledge on the ground. I want to be sure I don’t overlook anything. After all, there’s still someo rge, right?”

  The girl nodded. “Oh yes, I see now. Let… let me be of help to you! I’m so grateful you came to rescue us from this living hell!” she decred fervently. “My name is Kim Eui, but you should simply call me Eui, since you’ve e all this way. I’m a sed year at the Highschool here at useon. As to what happened…” She looked upwards, thinking. “All hell broke loose one day. The Chae siblings suddenly took over the school, and nobody knew what to do. Jun-Seo-oppa was ly well liked, pared to his sister, but Cho-Hee-unni was very popur. She was almost as pretty as me…” the girl ughed, a touervously, toying with her hair with one hand, crossing her slender legs as she sat. “…anyway, we didn’t uand it, but that didn’t stop it. useon has always been an institution that prided itself on discipline, rigour and solitude. There’s no i signals, civilisation is many miles away through dangerous mountains, and supplies are only delivered every few weeks by a specialised firm. Sure, there was one emergency lio the outside, but that must have beeroyed, as the adults failed. Useless.” Her gaze hardened.

  “I see, but it must have been hard to survive.” I prompted, and she looked at me gratefully.

  “It was, it most definitely was, oppa!” she agreed. “useon is special. The warehouses and kits had plenty of food and supplies stored, and si’s a b school, everyone had smuggled sweets and other treats into their dorms, and each side, both the girls’ and the boys’ dorms, had their own kit and dining hall, though food was brought in from the warehouses so they weren’t well stocked. But… without people to ma… waste and spoige set in. The strong hoarded, and when they realised they could get away with that…”

  “…they realised they could get away with doing other things too, taking whatever else they wanted, settling old scores, or simply lost hope, right?”

  “Yes. You uand humans all too well, oppa.” She agreed. “While the Chae twins were fighting their little proxy war, groups hiding in their dorms or in various parts of the Academy were retively safe, but then roups started… rampaging.” Tears formed, glimmering in the er of her dark brown eyes. “Me… I… I saw terrible things. I saw the boys dragging off girls they liked, evehey didn’t, and doing terrible things. Some girls preyed on the foolish boys, luring them in and then selling them out… people did anything to survive. Hey, you speak English right, oppa?”

  I nodded, and she expined. “I saw you in some of the cameras. Most of them don’t work anymore, the power went dowhe gover finally acted, though it just made things worse. But this is one of the primary rooms that takes energy from the backup geor, though even that’s almost done.” She looked sad. “The cameras aren’t great. But I read your lips a bit, and I saw some English words. Our Academy has a lot of influence from the great B Schools of Europe, including Britain. In fact, everyone here learns English to fluent level, and we do several books in literature css.” I wondered why she was tellihis, but I wao be sure of something, so I tio listen. “Shakespeare, of course, the Bronte sisters, some Ameri turn of the tweh tury cssics. And… a book called Lord of the Flies. Do you know it, oppa?”

  As it happened, I did. I’d read it ba the day, apparently it was one of grandfather Jack’s books mom took with her to Japan. “Yes, where kids trapped alone devolve into tribal, insane behaviour without any rules but what they make up.”

  “Imagine how much worse it would have been were it a mixed school.” She shuddered. “Oppa… wait, I still don’t know your name.”

  “You call me Akio…” I said, and she nodded.

  “Akio-oppa. Japanese? No matter, you’re a hero if you came to save us. Even if it’s too te for most.” She titled her head, letting out a sob. She stood, t towards me. “There were so many boys, like animals. The screams, the cries…” She reached out for me, and seeing me hesitating, scrubbed at her tears. “Please, I need human tact. I’ve been lonely and scared for so long, but it ends today. You’ll take me away from here.” As I still looked disined to let her touch me, she paused again, her expression so heartbreakingly downcast even I was moved for a moment. Seeing Eri or my sis like that would be dreadful, but…

  “I see. You think I’m dirty. That I’m defiled.” She shrank back, and punched over the gsses from earlier, water scattering over the makeshift table. “I get it, I do.” She let out a heartrending wail, tugging at her hair, seemingly mad. “I saw terrible things, but… I kept my purity, I swear it. And I made them pay!” She grinned lopsidedly through her tears. “They had rounded us all up in a room, but… I had been to the Chemistry b. I was a member of the Chemistry club.” She fided. “So I poisohem all. And then I rigged some traps to catch those that would e back to their favourite ir. Let the pigs die!” she snarled, before looking at me, eyes lowered. “Wait, sorry, Akio-oppa. Don’t hate me, don’t leave me! If you were in my position…”

  “If I saw boys attag girls, I’d have been less merciful.” I assured her. “Nothing disgusts me more. I have a sister, a lover.” Well, lovers, but that would spoil the mood. Ugh, even with my Split Thoughts, battling the Wyrm while w a plicated task with light element is challenging. “So if I was in that position, I’d have acted.” I paused. “Even if a girl was forced against her will, so what? I’m not a girl, so I could never uand the pain, but I know from my perspective I could still cherish them.” Haru is not dirty, no matter what she thinks. And I’ll be supp her until the day she finally fully recims what happiness was taken from her.

  “I see.” She looked at me for a long moment. “You’re a good man, Akio-oppa. And strong too, yes? You made it here, and you said that everyone else is defeated, barring the st?”

  “Yes, Chae Cho-Hee, as you called her. Didn’t you see some of the battles over the cameras?” I asked, and she nodded.

  “A little, but many are broken and the power is almost gone. So I ’t waste it, but I heard some explosions, and I wondered…”

  “Oh, so was the trap in the room with all the discarded clothes yours?” I asked. “That was clever, using diesel from the geors to create a fmmable oil to douse the room.”

  “Oh yes.” She said after a moment. “I do have access to the geor room, and some stuff from the Lab still. It wasn’t hard for me!” She puffed out her chest proudly, ing clain. “But I’m still scared. I’ve been trapped here so long, seen so many terrible things… I o feel safe. You keep me safe. You promised.”

  I didn’t say anything as she closed in. “If… if you , I be yours. You said you had a lover, so… I don’t o be yirlfriend, but…” Hands went to her bzer, slipping it free, revealing glimpses of skin through her shirt, many buttons missing, and she wasn’t wearing a bra, it seemed. She licked her lips. “I thought I was going to die in here. But what girl wouldn’t offer herself to the hero that saved her? Especially when… I feel so broken by what I’ve seen, what I’ve done. Help me, Akio-oppa!”

  She closed in, and I stepped backwards, and she made a most heart wreng expression of pain on her face. “I’m inexperienced. I’ll do whatever you want, even if it’s painful and cruel like those brutes, just so long as you need me, save me…” This time I let her put her arms around me, and she paused, fused for a sed, eyes on mine.

  “I thought I saw… no, it doesn’t matter.” Her barely cd body wasn’t something I could feel, as I was in my Brigandine, but she licked her lips again with clumsy seductiveness, opening them a little, reag for my mouth, but I tilted my head away.

  “Don’t you like me? Don’t you want to help me, and be rewarded? Aren’t I still pretty?” she asked hypnotically. Tears were falling from her face, but they were merely hitting my armour. She stood on tiptoes, as she was a good six or seven inches shorter than me i, and made to kiss me, but I dodged again, moving my head, and I caught a glimpse of annoyan her eyes. With a smile she licked out suddenly, torag my cheek, leaving a wet, slimy trail. I paused, frozen, and she grabbed my armoured colr, pulling me down, and as my lips opened, she opened her own mouth, and a tide of saliva spilled out, entering my mouth, and I shuddered.

  Releasihe girl stepped back, wiping her lips. “Yes, I noticed whehers like us came, that the stronger ones wouldn’t succumb to just a little mist they breathed in. Frustrating.” She kicked over my chair. “Ugh, I suppose you’re fairly handsome and strong, but kissing you would be a bit…” she rattled off some Korean curses. “…well, done is done. I’ve kissed a few frogs to turn them into sves….”

  ********

  Wiping at her mouth again, Cho-Hee retrieved a bottle from her pile of goods, eyeing the motionless Akio, as he was obviously still struggling with the water she poured into him. The strong always resist, but he won’t win. Ugh, only that one ever gave in on seeing me. I though he was the one, my true knight, as he was strong, with incredible speed. But he didn’t e back. He must be dead. Useless. “Water that trols the mind, makes people willing to obey my orders and sacrifiy goals. Sounds goht?” She kicked another chair in anger. “Everyone is a damn fool.” She forced the bottle into his mouth, and couldn’t help but blush as he swallowed reflexively, some of her water… her literal water… p out of his mouth and down his . “Tears or sweat are best, I don’t feel creepy about those. And they saved me the first time, when I was getting choked out. You boys are all the same. No, I suppose not all the same.” She looked at Akio, giggling madly. “You’re a real good-looking guy now that I look at you. And strong too. Better than that useless knight who never came back, despite promising to love me as his Queen. The rest… ugh, sometimes the minds break, and they are just zombies. At that point they are er than on fodder. So, I tell you what. It’s time to go. And I’ll let you be mine, so long as you prove strong enough for your mind not to break down to nothing. I’m not ied in love with dolls.”

  She tossed aside the empty bottle. “No matter how strong you are, that muy urine is enough to break anyone. Damn, I drank and drank and drank water. I spent so long urinating in jars and bottles I thought I would die. I did other things too. But…” she narrowed her eyes. “It was y, and I didn’t lie. I never let them touch more than my lips and tongue. So…” she narrowed her eyes, watg Akio, who after a moment more, k before her, and she felt a thrill. “Hey, that’s pretty. Your eye is glowing. I thought I saw that before.” she said, curious. “Tell me true, is that your ability?”

  “Yes, my Queen. It’s the Mystic Eye. I defeat any foe with it. I have already defeated the Chosen we came in with. Oh, I’m sorry, beautiful Queen, they were yours, weren’t they? But I should get rid of such useless trash, you deserve only the best.”

  Cho-Hee was thrilled at his words, and the lucid way he spoke them. “You really are strong. I’ve not heard such a normal response from a my useless brother. Tell me true, where is he?”

  “Dead.” Akio admitted. “So too are…” he listed off the other puppets she had, and now she had a firm view of the situation.

  “Shit, my idiot twin, useless to the end. He whined and wailed that it wasn’t fair, but he didn’t see the bes. Not like I did. Our abilities are siblings, just like we are. Dokkaebi. What nonsehose whht these cursed gifts to us just wanted us to dance, but I’m not a puppet, not for ahough I am as much a sve to reality as everyone else.” She rubbed her lips again, eyeing Akio. “Perhaps it would be good, kissing you to wipe away the stain on my lips. I hate that I had to kiss some men early on, before I uood, before I met it. Oh well, losing my brother’s blood and the ability tthen my abilities is a loss, but… tell me, Akio-oppa…” she grinned predatorially. “You uand the other world, right?”

  “The Boundary? Where one keeps their Territory? Yes, I am very aware of it.” Akio agreed. “I believe you are utack there.”

  “Yes, exactly!” she agreed. “Now answer me holy, Akio-oppa. you drive off the ehere? It’s time to go, and I was warned losing my Territory, as you call it would be a problem. My Anchor should be safe, it’s there, and I have a guardian and hid my Anchor well. Oh, how many nights I spent drawing in water element and urinating into the ke to make the perfect trap.” She flushed, before shaking her head. “Even having a puppet like you listen to that makes me feel bad. No, you’re far too lucid to be a mere puppet. An ad servant, maybe. My new knight. Now answer me!” she ordered, and Akio spoke.

  “I say without any doubt I halt the atta your Territory in mere moments, should I exert my strength.” He promised. “Would you like me to?” he asked.

  “In a little while.” She agreed. “It’d be helpful if you could catyoag it for me, assuming they don’t end up captured by my ke and traps.” She paused, smiling. “You know, I’m even feeling a little bad. You did promise to save me, so early. And you’re still yourself, just uo do anything but sacrifice your all for me. So…” she reached out and touched his cheek. “…don’t feel jealous, Akio-oppa. Those we catch will just be my pawns, but you’ll be the one who stands beside me.” She pced her in her hands, thinking. “I ’t trust anyone, but I don’t enjoy being alone. So you’ll be with me.” Assuming I don’t find someoer one day. For now though, this is the st day at useon Academy. Sooner or ter this day would have e. hey’ll simply bomb this pce to bits and cim we blew up in a freak gas explosion or some such…

  “I have a question, my Queen…” Akio said, surprising her, and she narrowed her eyes.

  “Oh, are you rebelling? Trig me? If you are truly mine, prove it.” She retrieved her knife and strode forwards. “Let me…” she unstrapped his armour, momentarily impressed by its stru. “…question your body.” She thrust the bde, and for a moment it slid off his skin, before digging in, blood flowing. She stabbed again and again, looking at his eyes, and after a while moved the bde towards his non-glowing eye. “You don’t his one, right?”

  He nodded, nearly catg his eye on the close knife, and spoke impassively. “If my eye displeases you, by all means, my Queen, it should be destroyed.”

  “Good.” She thrust, though the knife halted toug his open eye. She left it there for a while, before withdrawing her hand. “It’d be a shame to ruin yood looks. After all, we be together for a long time.” Her smile was slight, but inside she was rejoig. I didn’t know it could work this well! Is it because he’s very powerful that he’s retained his full wisdom, yet still ’t go against me? Or is he captured by my charms like my st knight? Either way, I o experiment. But for now… “Ask your question, I am impressed by your devotion to me.”

  “I appreciate it, my Queen.” Akio said, not moving, even as blood gealed on his bare chest. “You spoke of it earlier. I’ve been in tact with the team attag your Territory, after we destroyed the one of your brother. There was a strange being there, it owerful. I received reports… I wondered what it was?”

  “Oh, you met the so-called Daeva, did you?” she ughed, remembering. “My brother always thought everyone liked me best. Our parents, our teachers, our cssmates. Of course they did. He’s… he was an arrogant little worm, who despite having the same sort of looks and brains as me, wasted his talents in ziness and jealousy. I mean, unlike him, I pyed sports…” she stretched, a little self-scious of her breasts pushing against her thin, worn uniform shirt. I guess even I am a little seal. Because he talk balike the others, I see him as more human. That’s good. I want to rule, but pying with dolls… I grew out of that when I was a child. But having some fun until it is time to leave this doomed world…

  “Anyway, at first my servants were useless, pared to his mad berserkers. Yes, they died quickly, they were… for want of a better term, able… but as I learned more and more how to exploit others, sacrificed my lips and my dignity… my poor bdder…” She sighed, remembering the bitterness of the early days, g, sweating, spitting and pissing for her victory, one of the reasons she doubted the sanity and iions of the so-called Gods, that her stupid brother merely saw as some Dokkaebi, like in that stupid manhwa he liked to read. “…the advantages were pin, and I started to overe him. After all, mere might rumps careful pnning and ing.” she decred. “But what truly ged things was when I met the Daeva. It took a liking to my ruthlessness, my desperation, and expio me what was truly going on.”

  “And you believed it?” Akio asked, and for a moment she was taken aback, before she ughed.

  “Hardly. If you’d have seen it, you’d know it’s fairly vile a being. But it told me the truth, that this world is doomed. And knowing what gift I had, and how my stupid brother was likewise blessed, and how he squandered everything out of spite, desperate to ruin me and those he thought didn’t give him his due… when I saw the idiots that were sent to stop us ter, useless, i weaklings, as you found in your efforts to rescue me…” she smiled, gd to have someoo actually talk to for the first time in a while, other than her previous knight, who she stayed away from as much as she could, as he looked at her with lustful eyes, and was fairly gross a person. “… I had no doubts. After all, it is possible to grow stronger.” She gestured, amber light flickering, and water scattered, spshing over Akio’s bare torso, being pink with his blood. “It’s not as strong, but at least it doesn’t require shame…” she sniffed.

  “The final proof was…” she leaned forwards, words tumbling from her. “…that it gave me a gift too. Proving that the Gods, Dokkaebi, spirits or whatever itting us against ourselves here were not the sole purveyors of truth. And it expio me how to use this sealed pce as a way to gather strength, what my gift of self-sacrifice could really do.”

  “And what’s that?” Akio asked, and she opened her mouth to answer, before narrowing her eyes, notig he was wearing an earpiece.

  “Is that on?” she asked, aook it out, shaking his head. She took it from him and dropped it in a ball of water shining with e sparks, before feeling paranoid and soaking him with a further bottle of liquid. It’d be a shame if he breaks down, but… I didn’t get this far without being careful.

  “Never mind that. I think it’s time. We should be going. But first, go and stop that attay Territory, so that I withdraw gracefully. Then take me out of here as a victim of this mess. Then we go and start again elsewhere. I’ve done all I here now.” I hardly wait to get out of this dingy hell. I won’t miss anyone here, they all served their purposes. I’ll be pitied as a victim, and I turn the wealthy into my puppets, and use them to find others like us to exploit. Grow strong, and save myself, live like the Queen I am. “While you solve my problems, let the Daeva know we are leaving. No, I suppose I’ll see it when I remove any trayself here. It’s probably having fun toying with the invaders si knows losing much of this Territory of mine won’t be critical.”

  There was a long pause, and Cho-Hee narrowed her eyes. “Why aren’t you moving?”

  “Sorry, my Queen, but it’s impossible.” Akio said. “I’ll take you out of here, but… I’ve already sin that piece of detritus that you call a Daeva.”

  She paused, mouth hanging open. “What did you say? Impossible… but if you are that strong…” her mind whirled. This ges things. If the world is doomed and I don’t have it to take me away… no, I won’t be beaten. She chewed ohumb, thinking. Worst case, I live any life I choose, ruling over handsome men, every material desire fulfilled, until then, or maybe even grow to challehe Gods who mocked us all… “In that case, stop the attacks, you said you could, right? If you slew it, it should be easy for you…”

  “I certainly could, but… it’s also too te. Because…”

  At that moment Cho-Hee screamed, a horrible tearing pain within her, and for a moment she nearly bcked out, losing sciousness, until a surge of dark warmth spread from her, the well of her phting back. “You… you…” she managed, enraged and fused, only for Akio to shake his head.

  “…sorry, but I also just destroyed your Anchor. But it’s as I suspected…”

  ********

  “…but it’s as I suspected…” I said sadly. I immediately k was her, while I had used light element to mask the glow from my Eye, I easily observed her, and could see Morana’s Divine Favour shining brightly within her. As well as something very iing that I wao analyse. “…you don’t have just one Favour, but two. And the sed is abnormal.”

  Amber letters burned in my vision, as in the Boundary the disiing blood and flesh of the Wyrm drifted down in the dark waters beside me, and below me, at the base of the ke, the Anchor shattered, my attacks overing it rapidly.

  Your Css, queror, has increased from Level 21 to Level 22. You have destroyed the Anchor of a hostile Territory. Your css, queror is suffit to cim aract the Divine Favour within this Territory and its owner. Your Adherence is suffit to utilise Morana’s Drowning Lake Of Self-Sacrifice, and you have enough patibility to possess this Divine Favour and make it your own. This Divine Favour has suffered degradation and enent. You may possess or e it but this will entail some risk of harm, and in its current state the Favour is imperfect.

  You have gained in strength. Your Level has increased…

  As I surged up out of the ke in the Boundary, the battle over, my body was steaming with bck mist, Spirit Water terag the tainted ke. Likewise ierial I was simirly exuding expelled curses, though weaving enough light to mask it in the dimly-lit room was a hassle. Worth it though.

  The girl Cho-Hee coughed up dark blood, and her eyes were murderous. “How… how did you resist me? And why? My ing is perfect, and it assured me none could easily find out about my abilities or what I did here. This was the sealed bottle where I would grow my power until it was… time to… leave.” She was radiating hatred, and she reached for her knife again. Ordinarily I would have thought she was done now, but the sed Favour, the ohat was swirling with the remaining adherence I had lost after my earlier victories, was still fortifying her. And it’s missing something. I see the areas in other Favours where the mysterious ??????? that my Eye ’t identify should be, but now I have a number of them to pare, I see it’s almost entirely absent from this knockoff.

  “Sadly, my Eye is actually ao see through things, and it pegged you straight away. But even without it, you have tells. You look too , and far too well-fed. And e on, trying to make me drink, when you knew I khe water was tainted? You also swallowed my lie about the nature of the trap. It existed, but not like I told you. It was fmmable cooking oils, likely sged from a kit. And I know you’ve been watg on more cameras than just this one by the broadcasting room, since you read my lips speaking English. So a lot doesn’t add up. If you were this Kim Eui, you’d never have such a prime hiding spot in this school without being hunted down.”

  “So… all lies, huh?” she ughed. “I was actually in drama club, as well as arts and crafts, and the athletics team. I was the… model pupil. You lied, even to the point of lettiake an eye…”

  “I’d just have regrown it.” I ughed. “You’re right, we grow stronger, smarter. And you’re pretty much a genius, Cho-Hee. You worked out mastering a by yourself, and your Territory was very cleverly set up. I might learn from that. But… you’re right. You were dealing with people who didn’t know their own strengths, and trapped them all one by one. Even your brother. Don’t yret his loss?” She’s got a lot of power rising, adherewisted into her Favour. But I want to see how it works a few moments more.

  “Regret him? I only started looking down on him when he grew zy and arrogant. When we were young, I liked him just fine. But in the end he was a berserk brute. Seeing him cry, wail ahen when he realised I’d ensve him anyway, switch te and hatred, spitting bile at me… it was so very satisfying. Just as…” she suddenly roared. “…it’ll be when I kill you! I’m not do!”

  She raced forwards, and her body was wreathed in the same sort of dark aether and adherence as the hand had, and her bodily strength was magnified many times over. Her knife flew at me, but I was still faster, especially since her Chakra work was damaged severely by the forceful quering of her Favour. Closing in, she looked at me with malicious eyes, then spat her final on, a mouthful of dark, oily blood.

  “Too bad.” Spirit Water met it, and they detonated, droplets falling like acid, hissing. “I’ve got a very high tolerao curses.”

  “Fuck you, fuck you!” she cried. “You’re just like all the rest, just like me! You’ve fought, killed, oppressed, taken…” She wasn’t giving up, dark finger-like tentacles shifting from behind her, five of them, remi of the Daeva, Akoman. “…I’m not going to be taken from! I saw enough those first few days, and from the stories I heard!”

  The fingers closed in on me, but I merely shook my head, recklessly bsting them with Spirit Water bullets, and as they disied away to dust and mist, she gaped, stunned, befrittieeth and attempting to stab my throat. Sorry but your knife before only cut me because I let you. “Maybe so. But… I keep my promises. I’ll take you out of here.” I said, grouing to grab at her legs. As she was held in pce, I seized her arms, wrestling the knife free, aher surged, f a number of delicate shimmering bdes that she couldn’t perceive. “But not carrying any of this inside you. You proved unworthy of it.”

  She screamed, vulsing again, as I sshed through the makeshift Favour, having bought enough time to study it while I preteo be her self-sacrifig servant. As it popped free, my Eye identified it as Akoman’s Well Of Blood, Water And Despair, though the description was a mess. I ha ter. For now… I’m exhausted. The girl fell limp in my arms, and I had to stabilise her Chakra work, despite my exhaustion, with Chirurgery aher Healing, else she would have died from the terrible shock of losing not one, but two Favours in rapid succession. With it came a det amount of muddy adherehat which she had absorbed before, and that was wele, as I was beyond exhausted, and now had numerous Favreedily sug me dry. I’ll look at them all and make some decisions ter. But for now…

  My work done, I hoisted the girl up on my shoulder, retrieved my shed armour, a out a weary sigh. Whether she wakes up or not, when she does… she’ll be an ordinary girl again, though maybe able to use a little water element, perhaps. No guarantees. In any case, she’ll have to face justice, but it’s not for me to punish her for her crimes. Unlike Nie Ling, though… I don’t feel any sympathy at all. Maybe it was as cruel here as she said, and she saw terrible things, like Lord of the Flies, this Kodoku in miniature wicked and full of pain, but… she added to it, dragged in others and stirred the pot, and all for her own power…

  “It’s over.” I said, with feeling, leaving behind the broadcast room, burdens in hand, without a backwards gnce…

  ShipTeaser