It was said that the Shepherdess appeared again and again throughout the history of the Supremacy, like a ghost, or a specter, or a patron angel of the nation itself.

The warden of the Supremacy.

When the Supremacy faced an existential threat, she would come. With a quiet hand and a sharp blade, the threat would be cut down before most even became aware of it. Prospective traitors vanished. Foolish Supremes had their reigns cut short. Enemies found themselves helpless.

She'd even been on Elysian Fields. How much had she interfered there? It was impossible to know.

In truth, though, she was no ghost, no specter, and certainly no angel. She was one of the Zeilan Morhan -- the ancient precursors to the Special Officers, who'd fought together during the Thousand Revolutions. The Blind Man, the Umbrant Avenger, even the man who'd created the Sapphire Star and discovered Aether to begin with… all of them had been her close comrades. She was something out of history books.

Through some ability or tic, however, she'd managed to outlive history and survive into the modern day. For all that time, she'd been carrying on the will of the First Supreme. Azez Tazir -- the one they called the Absolute.

In short… she was the one who maintained the shape of this world.

Ruth listened to Wu Ming's story quietly, lying back on a moth-bitten couch, her eyes fixed firmly on the filthy ceiling. It wasn't a ceiling she recognised. This whole world felt like she didn't recognise it anymore.

Ellis. Alice. Rex.

She tried to stuff the mantra down, but it would only go so far. That rage still boiled within her body, like it had replaced her blood. She could turn it cold, but it grew no less intense -- and no less vindictive.

Right now, she wasn't in her right mind. Ruth was very well aware of that. The fact that she was just accepting Wu Ming's presence was proof enough. He'd infiltrated her inner circle for months, pretending to be Roman Hitch. He'd lied to her and tricked her. She should have been furious at him.

But she wasn't. All of her fury was reserved for Rae Ruditia… for the Shepherdess.

“Thanks for the info,” Ruth mumbled as she sat up, her voice curiously calm even to her own ears. “See ya around.”

Wu Ming raised an eyebrow as he watched her go. She'd woken up in this ruined apartment building, the only source of warmth being a weird string-campfire that Ming had created, so she could only assume that this was some impromptu base he'd found. There wouldn't be any security to stop her leaving.

“You just gonna head out?” Wu Ming called out, sitting cross-legged next to the campfire. “What're you gonna do?”

Ruth looked back at him, the light from the scarlet flames flickering across her tired face. What was she gonna do? That was an easy one. She knew the answer to that.

“I'm gonna kill her,” she replied. “The Shepherdess.”

“Just like that? You think you’ve got what it takes? She's a monster who's lived a thousand years, you know.”

Ruth blinked. “Then she'll stop at a thousand.” She turned to leave… but a barrier of string bound the door tight.

Sighing, she looked back over her shoulder at Wu Ming. Was this really going to turn into a fight? She didn't have the energy for this.

He was just smiling at her, one finger raised into the air -- a finger connected to many strings. He twirled the digit, and the barrier faded from sight.

“What?” Ruth snapped.

“I gotta say, Blaine,” Ming chuckled. “I like that attitude of yours. She'll stop at a thousand! Yeah, yeah. Seven outta ten, maybe eight. No, seven definitely. Wanna know where you're losing the three?”

Ruth stared.

Ming seemed to take that as a ‘yes’. He lowered his finger. “As you are right now,” he said coldly. “The Shepherdess would slaughter you. One-hundred percent.”

“I wasn't doing that bad before.”

“She was wanting to keep you alive. You heard her crazy-talk: she's got it in her head that you're her best bet for the next Supreme. Most she was willing to do back there was injure you, and even that was only so you'd use it to grow stronger.”

He clicked his tongue.

“If it came down to a situation where it was her life or yours,” Ming concluded. “She'd kill you straight away. Definitely. The fact that didn't happen means she doesn't consider you a personal threat.”

Icy anger clenched Ruth's hands into fists, tight enough that she drew blood from the palms. Her eyes, hollow gold, glared down at the sitting Wu Ming. His words had carved themselves into her heart like the blade of a knife.

“What, then?” she growled, a trail of red Aether crawling up her arm. “I just give up? Let things go the way she wants?”

“Oh, no no no, honey!” Wu Ming waved his hands, a mischievous smirk on his lips. “Not that at all. I said you have no chance as you are now…”

He winked.

“We just need to make sure that, when the time comes, you're an entirely different animal. And a little birdie tells me I'm not a half-bad teacher. How about it?”

Ruth blinked.

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Serena blinked through the soot and panicked tears as she pushed through the crowd, making her way to the apartment -- no, to the scene of the crime.

She and Bruno had been sitting in the hospital, watching over Annatrice, when the news had broken. She hadn't believed it. She didn't believe it. There was no way. No way, no way, no way.

Serena! Bruno called out, his voice distant. Calm down! Slow down. We need to think about this carefully. Don't make a scene.

But right now, there wasn't anything Serena could make but a scene. Finally, after bulldozing her way through the crowd, she arrived at the security tape cordoning off the hotel. She could see the room they'd stayed in from the outside of the building -- a burnt-out husk, smoke drifting away from it.

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“Ma'am,” one of the armoured security officers manning the barrier raised a menacing hand. “Stand back.”

Serena didn't move back, but she didn't go any further either -- that was apparently good enough for the guard. She just stood there, breath heaving, as she looked up at the smoke. Bruno was right. They had to think about this properly. She had to think about this properly.

Her mind ran over the situation the news had described.

The SilverEye reporter Rae Ruditia had been murdered. What was left of her body was up in that room right now, clawed and torn and burnt apart, a grisly sight. The pictures they'd shown had been nauseating.

After murdering Ruditia, the killer had engaged her bodyguards in a battle that had taken them through a nearby construction site and streets. Several civilians had been killed, and the property damage had been immense. After finishing off the bodyguards, members of the security firm Road and Restorossi, the murderer had fled into the night.

But that was bullcrap. Even if that had been what happened, there was no way the murderer was who they were saying it was. There was no way. Just no way.

Ruth Blaine would never do such a thing.

Her face was plastered all over the news, revealing that the co-owner of the company was in actuality one of the terrorists from the Elysian Fields Incident. A surviving member of Regiment RED who had struck in the heart of Supremacy territory. Right now, public enemy number one.

Serena let out a shaky breath. Okay. She'd thought about it properly -- and she knew exactly what to do.

Yeah?

Yeah. She had to find Ruth.

Uh… I could have told you that.

“But,” she continued. “I have an idea.”

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Muzazi's mouth was a thin line as he scrolled through the news article. After finally getting out of the hospital, he'd expected -- hoped -- to have some time to relax and reset before the next match in the Dawn Contest. Of course, that didn't seem like it would be happening.

Ruth Blaine was on Azum-Ha. The woman he'd fought on Caelus Breck, the woman he'd fought alongside on Panacea. One of Zachariah Esmerelda’s proteges.

But why?

It didn't take a genius. She was working as one of Hadrien's agents. No doubt the del Sed twins were lurking somewhere on the planet as well. Rae Ruditia had obviously presented some sort of obstacle to Hadrien, and so he'd ordered her eliminated. It wouldn't be the first time he'd had someone killed to ease his way through the Dawn Contest.

There'd be a next move, and Muzazi had to be ready for it. He took stock of the situation.

Morgan was just as grim as Muzazi, watching the news on the videograph, arms crossed. Ionir lingered by the door, a hulking figure of wood ready to halt any intruders. Marcus sat atop the windowsill, relentlessly polishing his pistol, blue eyes calm.

Ash del Duran had been posted to guard the exterior of the apartment building -- and needless to say, Anya Hapgrass and Endo Silversaint were staying by Aclima’s side. Gregori's current location was a mystery. Most likely he was meeting with Toll to report on Muzazi's activities.

That was fine, though. Muzazi was surrounded by allies he could trust right now. He'd have felt less secure having Anya, Endo and Gregori near him right now.

Morgan spoke up, eyes still fixed on the videograph. “I've been hearing rumours,” he muttered.

“Yeah?” Marcus looked up from his gun.

Morgan nodded. “Yeah. They're saying there were sightings of someone else at that construction site -- a powerful Aether-user.”

“Well,” Marcus shrugged. “Apparently, that Road and Restorossi bunch weren't half-bad. Blaine tore up half a district chasing after that Alice girl.”

“No,” Morgan shook his head. “They're saying… they're saying it was someone who used strings.”

It didn't take a genius. Muzazi looked up from his script at Morgan, eyes widening. “Do you think it's him?”

Wu Ming, the Fourth Contender, the Clown of the Supremacy -- one of the three who had perished at Elysian Fields. Apparently, he'd even betrayed the Supremacy during the battle. There'd been reports of his body… but Muzazi supposed reports could be wrong.

If they were, though, it meant that Wu Ming had been allowing his protégée to think him dead for the last two years.

Morgan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It… I'll be honest, it sounds like something he'd do. But why would he be going after Ruth Blaine, of all people?”

You fought alongside her in the battle, MorganNacht, Ionir rumbled from the corner. She was strong. Perhaps WuMing sought out that strength to challenge himself. It would not be the first time such a thing has happened.

Muzazi nodded bitterly to himself. He knew very well how far the Clown would go for an interesting fight. The mission back on Nocturnus had been manipulated by Wu Ming, too, so he could lure out Darkstar’s Abyssal Knight.

“Anyway,” Morgan said, straightening up, hand resting on his sword. “This is an opportunity, commander. If Wu Ming was on Azum-Ha yesterday, then he'll still be here today. If we can find him, I can bring him over to our side. If we have the Fourth Contender in the Eight Phases, we won't have to worry about petty attacks ever again.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow from the corner. “Someone getting kicked out, then? It's the Eight Phases, if I remember right.”

“It's all arbitrary,” Morgan waved a hand. “It used to be the Seven Blades. We can just change it again and make it the Nine Knives or something.”

Muzazi frowned. “Do you not like the current name?”

“It's not that, I just --”

“I quite enjoy the moon theming. Do you not?”

“No, I like it, it's just… this is an opportunity we can't pass up.” Morgan stepped forward. “We're doing well in this thing, Muzazi, but you're running yourself raw in the process. Once you beat Dorothy Eiro, do you really think you’ll be in a fit state to take on the next opponent anytime soon? It’s a miracle you’re not back in that hospital bed. We need to take every advantage we can get.”

Once he defeated Dorothy Eiro. Not if he defeated her. Muzazi smirked ruefully: his second-in-command certainly had a lot of faith in him. That said, though… his eyes narrowed as he looked down at the script in his hands.

These Nebula are really very demanding, aren’t they?

“It will need to wait, all the same,” he finally said as he rose to his feet, tucking his script back into his pocket. “I’ve just received an invitation -- it seems Miss Dorothy Eiro wishes to meet with me.”

He turned to stride out of the room --

-- only to come face to face with Gregori Hazzard. Instinctively, Muzazi’s hand went to his side -- to a sword that he no longer carried. How had Gregori gotten in here without anyone noticing? When had he done that? Why had he done that?

He didn’t trust Gregori nearly enough to consider betrayal improbable. If that bothered the man, though, he didn’t show it. He just rolled those crimson eyes of his… the ones that looked so much like hers.

“Try not to have a heart attack before your match,” Gregori said flatly. “Relax. I’ve come with a message.”

Morgan frowned, lingering behind Muzazi. “What kind of message?”

Gregori didn’t so much look at Morgan, instead keeping his gaze focused upwards -- locked directly onto Muzazi’s own. “A girl came looking for you at one of the other locations. Wanted me to pass along a message. Asked to set up a meeting with you.”

Muzazi sighed. “I’m aware Dorothy Eiro wishes to meet with me. Join up with Ash and --”

“Nah,” Gregori smirked. “She wasn’t part of the Eiro camp -- she said her name was Serena del Sed.”