Witches were the natural enemies of mages. Corrupted magicians, their minds unrepairable. They killed every mage that crossed paths with them.

No one knew how to cure a sinked. Once a mage became a witch, it was either kill or be killed.

The only reason witches gave about their murderous tendencies towards mages was:

We have seen the bottom of the primeval sea. We've seen what lies beyond the waves. We want to show you all what lies down below. Come with us.

Come with us.

Down below.

Velvet didn't mind getting shown something, but she wanted to be alive after seeing it!

That meant Siberina had lost it, Velvet cursed.

Aren't you supposed to be a noble?! Shouldn't you know better?!

Siberina's gaze shifted to her, the soft smile in her lips growing. Velvet flinched. She didn't say it out loud, give her some slack!

Fortunately, Cornelius used that to rip and throw the door he was close to towards Siberina, who went outside from the window Velvet had exploded.

Cornelius' control on metal just spans two and half meters… He uses the inertia to thrust the knives, but he can’t change their direction once they go out of that range. He also can’t control metal objects already in movement, if not, Nathaniel wouldn’t have cut off his arm. He needs some time to get control over them. Velvet thought. Then, she repeated that to Baraviodos.

“Seems like it. He must have half an Esca.”

Iren also had half an Esca. Velvet was the only one there with it barely open.

Something curled on her waist, dragging her towards Cornelius. It was a dark red chain.

“An artifact. He must’ve been keeping it saved for now.” Baraviodos said.

Velvet readied her two remaining paper figurines; now that Cornelius had another problem, she could try to escape!

“Put those down. Go deal with the human.” He said, putting her between himself and Nathaniel.

“Oh, now you want to team up? After trying to kill me?!”

“You can die with a grudge if you prefer. I can also order the people here to stall him, were you to be hard headed,” he stopped for a moment, before adding, “the thing puppeteering your friend is Siberina’s familiar, located on his brain. With your skills, dealing with a human without being stabbed is doable.”

Velvet dusted off her clothes. Hyde had stitched up her wounds, a golden thread keeping them closed, so she was not bleeding out anymore. Looking at Nathaniel, she got ready.

…

Cornelius' reason to team up with Velvet was simple. Siberina was a skilled assassin, and the moment he took his eyes off her for a second to deal with something else, he would be dead.

She was now on top of the train’s cabin, her shoes tapping on the ceiling. It sounded as if she was dancing.

He held the chain shaped artifact with his remaining hand. Carni’s Spine, that’s how it was called. Made with the spine of a mage related to Cornelius, it had the ability of never missing its target. The price was, every five strikes, it had to be fed a quarter of a liter of the wielder’s blood. The wielder could only be of the Graham’s family.

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Cornelius had picked this artifact from the family’s treasury specifically to counter Siberina.

No mage trusted another, even more when the only loyalty was bought with money.

And even more when it was a Ropertti.

He didn’t need the artifact against Velvet, it would be a waste of blood, but Siberina was dangerous. He wouldn’t have hired her if she wasn’t.

What he didn’t expect was for her to become a witch. Her father was one of the weirdest mages Cornelius had seen, and he was sane!

Some paradigms needed the mages to act wild to prevent corruption. Maybe Siberina acting ‘normal’ before had pushed her over the edge?

Still, there was no use to think about the why now. Now, he had to kill Siberina.

…

Two paper figurines. Three bullets. Some charms. A bloody notebook.

That was all she had.

Not all, she still had herself.

Walking towards Nathaniel, she made no comment, nor asked anything.

Neither did Nathaniel, or whatever was controlling him. The jig was up, so there was no need to keep the joke going.

He was no longer Niko’s brother.

Velvet felt the apathy part of her paradigm cover her. Unfeeling, everything in the cabin became information.

She let her two paper figurines fall, each one going to a different side. The remaining paper birds, who previously were stopping the staff on the other cabin, came back, swirling around.

Nathaniel cut the air, every slash cutting the paper birds that were too close to him.

The mage he had killed, and the one he had injured, got hit with a surprise attack. Now, lost that possibility, as long as Velvet didn’t let him get close, she would win.

He started running towards her, in an attempt to shorten their distance.

Boom!

One paper figurine gone, exploding under his feet.

As long as she hid the figurines with magic, he couldn’t see or detect them. Unlike Cornelius and Siberina, his eyes were human.

Boom!

This time, the explosion came from over him, scarring his body and making him unable to move.

The difference between a human and a mage was big. If not for the surprise attacks, Nathaniel would have fallen sooner.

Cornelius was right, she could take him easily.

Velvet looked at his back, he was trying to get up, his body burned. She pulled out the gun, targeting the back of his head.

She didn’t close her eyes, nor did she avert her gaze.

A gunshot sounded, blood and brain matter dirtying the train even more. Nathaniel fell, his head split open. He was dead.

Velvet walked towards him, kneeling next to him, then, she pushed her fingers inside his brain, searching.

There.

“I got you.”

A green snake, covered in blood, got pulled out.

Since it was acting as a parasite, directly controlling Nathaniel, it didn’t bring the pocket dimension, becoming unable to hide.

Velvet grabbed its head, lifting it over her face.

You deserve this.

Opening her mouth, she started eating it from the tail, making sure to chew.

It tasted awful, the metallic taste of blood mixed with the raw snake flesh and with the crunching of bones breaking.

Still, Velvet didn’t plan on enjoying it. No, eating it was an expression of hate.

Repressing her need to gag, she kept on chewing.

By the time she was halfway done, the snake had stopped moving. But she kept on eating, pushing the rest of its body into her mouth and swallowing.

She was done. The snake was gone.

Velvet slid a finger on her lips, catching a bit of blood that had escaped and licking it. A stream of information flooded her brain. The spells that Siberina knew, the life she had lived together with her familiar, getting hired by Cornelius to kill Iren, the things they had done.

She saw Cornelius luring Nathaniel that night, ordering him to open his mouth and put the familiar in his brain, killing him in the process.

Did they believe doing that was worth it? She got up, turning around to confront Cornelius and Siberina.