Cornelius was having a hard time.

The same way he picked an artifact to counter Siberina, she had done exactly the same thing, using a set of glass balls, similar looking to eyes, that she had been throwing at him from a distance.

That obliged him to change the target of the Carni’s Spine, from Siberina to the ball she was launching at the moment. The balls had the ability to bounce on inorganic matter, like walls, but they were hard as steel were to hit organic matter.

An example of organic matter was Cornelius himself. He had his set of armor covering him, but the balls still ignored that, which had cost him a broken rib. After all, Siberina launched them with enough strength for them to be miniature cannonballs.

Fifteen strikes, three quarters of a liter of Cornelius’ blood gone, and he hadn’t hit Siberina once.

“How is that possible?” He asked his familiar.

“We assumed she had a strength similar to ours, but I’m not so sure anymore…”

Cornelius used the moment Siberina jumped close to him in a taunting manner to take a look at her hands. Like most mages, she was wearing gloves.

“Hm?” She noticed the look. “Curious as to what stage I’m in?” Removing her right glove, the sight froze Cornelius momentarily.

“It’s barely open?! Are you trying to trick us?!” His familiar shouted in his head.

“Oh, wrong glove, apologies.” Removing her left glove, a fully opened eye looked at them. It wasn’t mocking them, but it felt as it was.

Now Cornelius did indeed freeze. A fully awakened Esca. It was no wonder he didn’t even manage to get closer to her. Even the head of his family would have trouble dealing with her.

“Still so expressionless…” Siberina sighed in disappointment, looking behind him. “But you are so much more expressive, Velvet!”

Cornelius didn’t take his gaze away from Siberina, she was the most dangerous thing right now. He didn’t have anything to fear from a novice mage, and without him, Velvet didn’t have any chance of defeating Siberin-

Bang!

Something hit the back of his head. A gunshot. A bullet. Cornelius didn’t even have time to acknowledge the fact he was dead.

“Pride really got you twice.” Velvet said to his corpse. “Two times you let someone weaker than you do a surprise attack.” Then, she changed from pointing at Cornelius’s corpse to point at Siberina’s head.

“You will miss that shot. Aren’t you scared of fighting the big bad witch alone?”

“You’re not a real witch. You’re just some low cost pretender.”

There were memories of real witches in her familiar, and, even if Siberina was more close to a witch than a mage, she still lacked something.

Siberina smiled at that. Her eyes with the looming madness didn’t change, but she didn’t deny Velvet’s accusations.

“You knew I was gonna kill Nathaniel and eat your familiar. You bet on it.”

“Go on Velvet.”

“You are a gambler. A risk-taker.”

The Gambling Paradigm, one of the ten original paradigms. Their magic was based on chance. Chance to meet people, chances for their actions to affect the people around them in extreme manners… They liked to gamble with fate itself.

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“You are also a member of Chariot.” Velvet didn’t gain any information about that organization from the familiar, which only increased her belief that it was all part of Siberina’s ‘gamble’.

“Yes, that’s correct. What will you do now? You can’t defeat me.”

“I know, but you won’t kill me. You wanted me to kill Cornelius, and you want the Mergifari to know about Chariot. You want me to be the ‘messenger’,” Velvet smiled. “Am I wrong?”

“Yes, very wrong!” Siberina walked towards her. Velvet shot, the bullet missing Siberina’s face for a few millimeters. “Told you were going to miss.”

“I had to try.”

Siberina went past her, going to the damaged train’s exit. Turning her head to see Velvet, she said, “Get stronger. Once you lose everything you possess, we will meet again. It’s our fate.” Forcing softly the door open, she caressed the door’s frame with the tip of her fingers, before taking a step into the air and disappearing from Velvet’s sight.

Velvet stood there for a moment, the wind coming from the broken windows messing her hair. She put the gun down, leaned on the wall and slided down to the floor.

She remained in that sitting position for a bit, breathing deeply.

Then, she pushed her hair away from her face, forced a smile, got up, and went to the previous carriage, where the staff was.

Now that Cornelius was dead, they were free of control, even then, they remembered what they did while being controlled.

“Where is the supervisor?” She asked the first person she saw.

“He… he went to call the Scales… Do I tell him to stop?” Scared of getting a mage angry, especially more after trying to kill her, he was wary of his words.

The Scales, the full name being Scales of Poine, were a law enforcement organization that dealt with out of control or dangerous mages. His leader was part of the Mergifari’s high command.

Velvet knew this from Siberina’s familiar.

“No, it’s fine. Which number is the room that the viscount companion used? The woman with purple eyes.”

“It's… cabin number two miss.”

“Good. I’m moving there. Tell someone to pick my luggage and bring it there, it’s in the murder room. Also, is there a doctor or nurse on the train?”

“A doctor, yes.”

“Send them there in half an hour.” After saying that, she went to Siberina’s room.

If the Scales were coming, she had to be presentable, and that room had a shower and plenty of space.

Velvet went to take a warm shower, cleaning the blood on her skin and hair. The cuts had been patched by Hyde, but having a medic check on them would be safer.

After taking the shower, she dried her hair, noticing the staff had brought both her suitcases inside, setting them next to the bed.

She dressed in a simple white nightgown that she had found in Siberina’s wardrobe (she had taken her suitcase, so Velvet thought the sleeping dress was included in the high class room), letting her wounds breathe.

Someone knocked on her door. She went to open it. A man, probably three or four times her size, was behind.

Dressed in a red long open coat, white shirt and brown pants, dark skin with a nicely trimmed beard and a mustache with short black hair under an aviator’s hat with goggles, he towered over Velvet, making her have to look up to look at him.

Velvet wasn’t short, she was around a meter seventy, but that man was more than two meters tall!

“Good afternoon miss, heard you needed a doctor?”

Looking him up and down, she squinted at him, “An army doctor? Or a Scale doctor?”

“Both, actually. I have a few questions, but we can talk after checking your wounds.”

…

Velvet didn’t need to hide anything, and she didn’t, recounting the things that happened since she boarded the train. Baraviodos also talked to the doctor, after confirming he was indeed a Scale.

The man, named Irsen Kartal, was from the continent of Idir. He was part of the operations taking part in keeping mages in check during the Mergifari’s opening.

He was also one of the selectors. Velvet laughed nervously at that.

“You don’t have to worry. In fact, that gives you a bigger chance. The Grahams have gained several political enemies over the years. Some of them will surely try to make you pick them.”

I don’t want to be involved in politics… She whined.

After Kartal was done filling some papers, he left, and Velvet swore she just saw a wyvern flying off in the distance after that.

She was planning on taking a nap, too tired to do anything else. She had wanted to talk to Niko, but the kid had closed the door firmly and didn’t let anyone in.

Velvet respected his wishes, letting him grieve.