Each tock preceded by its tick grows further and further apart. Undiluted fury ravages my veins. The motion of the clock, the flicker and hiss of the gas-lit lanterns, they fade. My perceptions focus. My ears, trained only on the staggered breaths fluttering from Rachel's lips. My eyes, seeing only the blade held across her throat. Tension dominates my presence. The very space around my being vibrates, pulsates, fractures, and distorts.

'Please.' Her voice, like the flap of a butterfly, is barely perceptible, but I hear it clearly.

I hear the pop and crackle of frenzied energy thrashing around me. That too fades from my attention. Muscles scream as every part of me strains. Tension coalesces. Three, no, four spears of opaque violence form above me. The usual translucent quality of an Art discarded, the spears formed of an overflow of malice demand to be released. Their pull overwhelming, it takes every fragment left of my reason to deny their appeal.

'Easy my love. I'm not here for a fight.' Lifting her knife from Rachel's throat, Huntress pushes Rachel towards me. Stepping forward, I take Rachel's wrist and pull her to my side.

'See, we're all friends here, and friends don't murder friends. Well, that is, of course, unless you just can't help yourself.' Chuckling softly, the woman puts her index finger between her teeth and bites gently down on it.

Maintaining my hold on the spears trained on the intruder, I dispel the Tension flowing through my body to the sigh of my burning muscles and creaking bones.

'That's a start, I suppose.'

'How did you find me?' I ask. The woman laughs.

'Oh? You're serious? Tell me, Reaper, how many true rank-three Tension masters that have a tentacle body Art do you imagine lives so close to Leafton? I could have found you easily, even if I didn't have help.'

She's right. It was pure idiocy to reveal my Arts to the Black Parade. This was bound to happen from the moment I used my Arts. She needs to die, but her death alone won't solve my problem.

The entire guild...

To ensure my survival, I must wipe out the Black Parade.

'Don't worry, it's not like the whole guild knows who you are, just me and your girly's friend. It took a little bit of convincing to get her to spill on you, but I can be very persuasive when I want to be. The rest of the guild don't spend too much time in any one place. They miss out on most of the juiciest gossip, but that's the life, you know?'

'If you're not here to fight, why are you here?'

'Weren't you listening, my sweet? I'm here to talk. It's a good thing you're pretty because you're not that-'

'Talk.' I say. 'You're here to talk, so talk.'

'No foreplay, all action with you, is it? Well, I suppose I don't dislike that.' Slowly, Huntress sheaths her blade. I disperse my Arts. The room goes quiet.

'I have an offer for you, my sweet. An offer and a warning.' Walking fully into my dorm, Huntress closes the door. 'The warning is this. In three week's time, there's going to be a Tower breach. The whole of the Oswald region will be flooded with monsters.' Glee evident in her intonation, a wide smile creeps its way on her face.

A Tower breach...

They're not natural phenomena, they're caused. Caused by Mavericks. She has the backing of a Maverick…

'Here's the offer, my love. While every Tension Master in this region is distracted, including most of the security in this academy, how about you and I rob the place?'

She's insane.

Each of the great academies on the continent of Aspire is backed by one of the five ruling Clans. To so brazenly attack their interests? It can be called nothing short of insanity. Even if one could survive the reprisal of the Clan itself, behind every high-tier Clan, behind the Xander Clan that champions Sapphire, is an existence far beyond even Father. Beings that have long since shed the restraints of mortal Tension Masters. Transcended beings of limitless power and fury.

To ascend the heights of power, to claim my revenge, no doubt those beings will become the target of my scheming. For now, however, while my strength to theirs is comparable to a grain of sand and a mountain, to even draw the attention of the five ruling Clans is to throw my life away.

'You're insane.' Rachel says.

'Silence, girly. Mummy and daddy are talking now. Why don't you be a good little mortal girl and speak when you are spoken to!' Screaming her last words, Huntress causes Rachel to take my arm in her vice-like grip.

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'As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, this Tower breach is a golden opportunity for us. Think of it, my sweet. The academy will be nearly defenceless. Just think about all those precious resources here for the taking. A haul like that, neither one of us will have any problems developing new Arts or advancing into the fourth rank.'

'Nearly defenceless and defenceless are two very different things.' I say. 'Even if that weren't the case, Sapphire Academy has the support of the Xander Clan and the Xander Clan is backed by Eternity's Flames.'

'That old geezer hasn't been seen on Aspire for thousands of years. I doubt he'd even notice if his entire bloodline were wiped out. Besides all that, do you not think Mavericks have gods they pray to? I know my mother prays, and when she does, it's to the World Witch.'

The Dread Mother…

Only one Maverick would dare boast their allegiance to the World Witch. The Dread Mother.

If it's true, if the Dread Mother is involved and she really does have the backing of the World Witch, it should be possible to obscure our attack on the academy from even a Transcended's gaze. It would take Ember's Crown itself, the power over all things, to see past the World Witch's haze.

In my travels with Father, I would hear tales of the Transcended. Beings of immense power. Each one, individually able to tear down the sky and ruin worlds. The force of their presence so great that for them to step foot outside of the Towers in their real bodies for even one moment would bring calamity to Aspire.

"Only a Transcended one can rival a Transcended one."

If the World Witch is distorting the sight of Eternity's Flames, it is possible.

'Oh, that got your attention, didn't it? No use in hiding it, my love, I can read you like a book.'

'How do I know you're telling the truth? What proof do you have that you even know the Dread Mother?'

'So untrusting.... Fine, if you want proof, I think this should suffice.' Pulling down the sleeve of her shirt, Huntress reveals a symbol of a snake coiled around the handle of a broom. The sign of the Dread Mother.

'I don't think I have to prove that mother dearest serves under the World Witch, do I? She's the last of her bloodline. Hunted like animals for being the descendant of a Transcend Maverick, you could say mother, and by extension mother's children, are the only ones in the whole of this world our god cares about. She won't protect us from the dangers of business, but from the interference of higher beings, we'll be quite safe.'

'If you're working with the Dread Mother, what do you need me for?' As if being forced to confess, Huntress bites her lip.

'The thing is, the academy isn't my mother's target. No, she's knocking off some mid-tier Clan's stronghold. As for the rest of the Parade, let's just say my familiar ties with my mother isn't something I'd want to share with them. My mother's a busy woman, she doesn't have the time to remember the names of all of the people she's killed, but that doesn't mean they don't remember her. Of the hundred or so guild members spread out across Area VI, I'd say at least half of them might bear a grudge or two against mother dearest.'

'Why are you telling me then?'

'Well, I know I can trust you. After all, I know who you are. For our mission to go well, I need you to be able to trust me also.'

Just the two of us?

It's true that in the event of a Tower breach most of the battle-capable staff members of Sapphire Academy will be called to aid in the subjugation efforts, but that's not to say they all will. This academy boasts Tension Masters and Escalades in the fourth and fifth rank. Any one of them would be more than capable of eradicating the Black Parade single-handedly.

To many, those below the fourth rank aren't even considered to be true Tension Masters. Rank-four, and the grades within, are considered by many to be the true stage of maturity for a Tension Master. Both Huntress and I are in the third rank, the pinnacle of achievement for most users of Tension, but less than insects to those who advance into the fourth rank. If even one such person stands against us, our deaths would be assured.

'So, what do you say, my sweet boy? Interested?'

'Do I have a choice?'

'Of course! You always have a choice in life. It just so happens that your choice is either to work with me or have your illicit activities made known to every man, woman and child living in Aspire.'

Shit.

'I didn't say you have good choices, but I think one is significantly better than the other.'

'There's no guarantee I won't also be called to aid with the Tower breach.'

'You seem like a clever young man. If that happens, I'm sure you'll figure a way to slip away unnoticed. One way or the other, don't make your problems my problems. You're cute. I like you, but don't think for a second that I wouldn't tear down your life to get what I want. You're going to help me, my love, or I will be the death of you.'

'I'll be in touch.'

Leaving the way she came, Huntress slips through the door to my apartment.

'You can't possibly be thinking of helping that madwoman?'

'I don't see what other choice I have.'

'I can talk to my friend inside the Black Parade. If we can expose her-' Raising my hand, I halt Rachel's words.

'If I expose her, she can just leave. She has the backing of a rank-five Maverick and a powerful one at that. I have no backing. I could run. Leave Sapphire Academy and hide in some dark corner of the continent subsisting on the profits of dark guild missions, but my access to the Towers would be revoked. Without the strength to live as a maverick or the ether stones needed to advance, I would never progress further than rank-three.'

'My lord, why do you need to be stronger? Your power already places you beyond the imagination of mortals like me.'

'It's not enough. Only by scaling the Grand Tower and seizing Ember's Crown will I have the strength to take vengeance on the Xander Clan and all who get in my way.'

Only at the top can I pause. Until that day, I will embrace all risks, all sins, all pain, and all sorrow. I will lay waste to kingdoms, slaughter the innocent, and pillage to my heart's content. No deed too shameless. No lines will I not cross. Until the day I can look down upon the world and everything it possesses, and call it mine, I will not stop.

So now Huntress stands as my obstacle? Fine. I'll go along with her plan. I'll attack this academy itself, burn it to the ground if I must, but I will kill that woman. For getting in my way, for presuming to be my master. For the insult to me and mine...

I will kill Huntress.