One night, before Esteban and Julia were tasked to join the Black Box and watch over Emily. The two went to an abandoned chapel on the surface of Noir. There they found it led to an underground Natural Dungeon.

“I thought the Agneists disliked Dungeons,” Julia said.

“The rouges told us that this place had been abandoned for years,” Esteban said.

The catacombs resembled the chapel itself. White marbled columns rested between the black floor and the white ceiling. Flower-shaped torches lit up the otherwise featured walls and revealed various sarcophagi. The indigo outfit of Julia and the blue coat of Esteban remained the only splash of color in this monochrome place. A cold wind blew over them as they explored the tomb.

While they explored the dungeon, Julia had her dagger out, expecting assailants. “The Intel is one the mark it seems.” She said. “Do you think the Ebony guards are interested in something like this?”

“I’m more concerned about the syndicate’s potential uses for a place like this,” Esteban said. “It would make for a handy place for ‘waste disposal’.”

Julia scoffed. “Them and their euphemisms. Well, all we gotta do is slay the core and deny the mob this place right?” Her partner nodded.

The pair soon entered a room populated by moving statues. The stone gargoyles resembled centaurs with the wings of a bad instead of the normal pegasian wings.

“Calcabrina gargoyles?” Esteban said. He used his magic to cloak himself and Julia as they moved past the patrolling statues.

“Seems like whoever the core is, they are a rather devout sort,” Julia said.

“You said that the Wintersun chapel was where you decided to turn over a new leaf?” Esteban said.

“You remembered,” Julia said playfully. She recalled the day when she decided to give up her life as a criminal and the day she decided to oppose the mob.

Through this adventure, Julia reminisced about her visit to the Wintersun chapel above the catacombs. As the two fought against the undead and avoided gargoyle pursuers, Julia recalled her encounters with the clergy in charge of the place. How she had been shown kindness unseen since the night her parents died. As she and Esteban defeated a suit of possessed mail, she recalled how the priests and priestesses had taught her how to use the Umbral Dagger. As they faced off against a reverent and his horde of frozen undead, she recalled how she learned that many of the fathers were victims of the Syndicate that she served—a mother’s son was murdered by the Voorhees gang in a chemical plant fire. A wife kidnapped by the Vanishers and taken to parts unknown, a daughter that was used by the Frankensteins as a means to get “spare parts” for their sick experiments.

They eventually reached the third Sentinel and defeated it. The angelic stature crumbled as the core was left defenseless. As Julia approached it, she began to hear a familiar voice. A voice that filled her with dread as she recognized who it belonged to, and who it came from.

✦✦✦

In the present. At Rosenkreuz’s guildhall. Julia found herself in another place of worship. A church with more ornate decorations with stained glass windows depicting the Administrators. There she talked with Chiron.

“The cleric had become a Natural Dungeon?” the centaur said.

Julia had told Chiron the tale of her trip to the Wintersun Catacombs. “It was a large shock to me as well.”

Chiron mused on the implications of that. “It is not unheard of for a mortal to become a Dungeon Core, but to have it happen to one of the cloth…Did you destroy him?”

“We did, yes,” Julia said with a forlorn smile. “The clergy worshiped the administrators, Messenger, and Divine Dungeons, but they felt that becoming a Natural Dungeon was a sign that they had shamed Astra.”

“Aye,” Chiron said. “We who worshiped the Administrators see Natural Dungeons as punishment. A penance for a great sin that could only be absolved by someone conquering the Dungeon and taking its core. The Agneists have even more dire views, seeing them as something to be eliminated on sight, rather than as a place for adventurers to grow or a penance.”

“The thing is that there was no indication that the clergy did anything wrong,” Julia said. “The folk at Wintersun were some of the most noble souls I’ve ever met.”

“Still, Noir has been noted to have a unique relationship with Dungeons. Your husband did note the potential uses the crime lords have for places like that. Especially given the rumors of them seeking out cores for purposes beyond hideouts.”

Julia was reminded of Project Stronghold. The radio stations had mentioned investigations into it but they haven’t turned up anything useful for the guilds or other authorities. It remains unknown what Project Stronghold is, save that it is somehow connected to the missing dungeons and the artificial one. “Maybe…”

Her train of thought was interrupted by a nun barding in the door. “Father Chiron!” she cried out. “Something happened to Abigail!”

“What?” the centaur priest said. He and Julia left the room where and headed to the congregation hall. There they found a young woman lying down on the floor. A green ooze flowed from her mouth and nose. Chiron checked the woman’s pulse and his face grimaced. The rest of the clergy worked to calm down the panicking churchgoers.

While the church tried to calm down the masses, Julia noticed a shadow move from the crowd to the entrance. “Hey!” she cried out. She moved after it, but by the time she reached the entrance they were gone. She could not find any sign of the egress, just the cold wind blowing in her face.

✦✦✦

That night, in Noir. A man walked to a nightclub. The sign read “4706”. A nekomata bouncer noticed the guy. “Password?” the man said.

“When the wind blows, the cradle will fall,” the visitor said.

The bouncer let the man in. He walked into what seemed to be an unassuming pawn shop until he reached an “employees only” door and opened it. He was greeted by the familiar sights of crimson lights and scantily clad ladies. This was Club 4706.

The visitor, clad in a dark red outfit usually works for church looked for his contact. There he saw a lamia man sitting at a table. He wore a black suit with robes. He approached the serpentine man.

“Did you succeed?” the robed man said.

The red-clad man nodded. “She is dead, I poisoned her with the somniotoxin this morning.”

“Were you followed?”

“Of course not,” the assassin said. “It takes a week to head from New Virginia to Noir. To come here in a day would require rare resources.”

The lamia chuckled. “Of course, It’s good to think the boss hooked us up with them. Now onto your next mission.” He handed him a folder.

The assassin reads it and his eyes widen in shock. “Don Giovanni, this is…”

“Straight from the top,” the lamia said. “Lady Erezbert is still pushing that angle.”

“This is insane,” the assassin said. “The idea that Harmonia’s shattered remains became special Elementalist’s Spheres is but a fringe theory!”

“And yet it is stranger to claim that a god could die,” Giovanni said. “Fortunately your task is far more simple.”

The assassin read deeper into the folder and learned that he was to murder someone who recently came across an unusually colored Aquasphere. “I see, she thinks these so-called Astraspheres are related.”

“Lady Erezbert don’t do things by halves,” Giovanni said. “It’s why she is Draconus’s right hand.”

“I know,” the red-clothed man said. “She was the one behind the Bloody Mary Massacre.”

“You know your stones on the history huh?” The don said. “You know what to do Lucius.”

The red-clad man left the lamia Don to his devices.

✦✦✦

The next day. Emily, Esteban, and Julia are at the Rosenkreuz guildhall. There they meet up with Benoit.

“Pleasure to meet you again,” Benoit said. “How is Heathcliff doing?”

“Fine,” Esteban said.

“Is there any update on Abigail?” Emily asked.

“Afraid not,” Benoit said. “She had collapsed onto the ground so suddenly and the autopsy didn’t reveal any signs of poison.”

Esteban grimaced.

“Esteban, do you think…” Julia said.

“May we go see her?” Esteban said.

Benoit is stunned by the request. “O-of course!”. He leads her to a nearby clinical ward.

Later, Esteban spoke with the coroner. He showed him the corpse. A pungent odor emanated from Abigail’s body, but there were no visible signs of rot.

“A somnitoxin?” the coroner said. “That would explain the sudden demise, but that begets more questions.”

“What do you mean?” Emily asked. “What are Somnitoxins?”

“Well, miss,” the coroner said. “Somnitoxins are rather rare neurotoxins. Rather than attacking the physical brain, they strike at the soul beneath. They can cause the soul’s tether to the body to be severed.”

“They are usually fatal,” Esteban said. “Unless one can reconnect body and soul within two hours from the first dose, the victim is guaranteed to survive.”

“And these are rare?” Emily said.

“Partly by nature,” Julia said. “They are sourced from dangerous beasts. But Liberté also has regulations in place forbidding their usage. Largely as a consequence of the Great Coma.”

“I’ve heard about that,” Emily said. “Elizabeth mentioned it once. But then how did Abigail get infected by it.”

“How indeed,” Esteban said with a knowing expression. Emily wonder if he thought the Vorhees gang had anything to do with this.

The three returned to the Black Box.

✦✦✦

At the Black Box. Esteban and Julia prepare for a trip to Noir.

“Are you sure you two want to head there?” Elizabeth said.

“We’re sure,” Julia said. “If this is what I think it is, then There is something I have to do there?”

Rose slithered into the core room. “Can we come too? The streets of Noir can never have enough justice!”

“Rose,” Emily’s voice echoed to the Lamia. “Are you sure you want to go?”

“The Vorhees Gang are the syndicate’s most dangerous forces,” Esteban said. “They are feared for the rumored abilities to trap people in torpor and their prowess in extortion and assassination.”

“To face them is to summon Revotos himself, they claim,” Julia said.

“All the more reason we have to go!” Rose said. “My fellow magical girls and I can help you bring them to justice! Please?”

“That is not a decision for us,” Esteban said. “Emily?”

“What?” Emily said, shocked at Esteban passing the buck to her like that.

“They are your Sentinels after all,” the rouge said. “Do you think they can handle the Vorhees Gang?”

“The Coloraturas had been making frequent trips to Noir lately,” Emily said.

“Besides,” Rose said, “You know we’ve tussled with Syndicate goons before.”

“Alight,” Emily said. “You can come, but on one condition. You must listen to Esteban and Julia, okay?”

“Got it!” Rose said.

Julia smirked. “Guess we’ve been put on babysitting duty mi marido.”

Esteban had half-expected this. “Alright then.”

Rose slithered away in glee as she left to gather her fellow Magical Girls.

Emily summoned Elizabeth and alerted her to the Coloraturas and the Hermandezes upcoming trip to Noir.

After a few hours, Rose, Raine, Streltizia, Lily, Clover, Hydrangea, Azalea, and Anemone are already near the pods, prepared to accompany Esteban and Julia back to the city.

“You sure you don’t want to go, Emmy?” Anemone said.

“I can’t,” Emily said. “Guild told me there is a visitor coming today. Also, I have helped Lydia with Kaitlyn today. She had scared some of the other kids with her recent artworks.”

Azalea giggled. “Their faces were the very picture of terror.”

“Vamenos,” Esteban said to the kids. The party of ten boarded the pods and began their journey back to Noir.

✦✦✦

By the next day, Esteban, Julia, and the Coloraturas arrived at the city Noir.

“So what are we doing here again?” Clover said.

“We’re here to look into the recent murder,” Julia said.

“Somnitoxins right?” Anemone said.

Esteban turned toward the younger girls. “We are going to check on a few threads here. I know you kids are a capable bunch, but I want you to stay out of trouble while we’re here.”

“But why?” Rose said.

Strelitzia shrugged her eyes.

“The Syndicate is likely to know about what happened back at Joyfuller,” Julia said. “To say nothing about your reputation around those parts. If the culprit knows we’re here, then they will likely try to escape or worse.”

“…oh,” Rose said.

“We probably should’ve conjured up some disguises,” Clover said.

“Actually,” Anemone said. “Didn’t Whisper mention Witches can change our appearance?”

“They did?” Rose said.

“I remember hearing something like that,” Streltiiza said.

“Me too!” Lily said. “The guild also mentioned something like that as well!”

The group of ten arrived at the underground. On the way to the first destination, the eight Coloraturas tried to conjure up convincing disguises. But their attempts were met with their transformations reverting to their normal appearance and the presence of black puddles around them.

Rose sighed. “If only Whisper had taught us how to do that before they left.”

Esteban and Julia found their contact. A man leaning against a fence lining one of the tunnels leading outside. The man looked at Esteban and nonchalantly ashed for his business.

“We found someone dead in Rosenkreuz,” Esteban said. “A nice young lady collapsed in the town’s church.”

“What does that matter?” the hobo said. “Rosenkreuz’s is far from here.”

“The cause of death was a somnitoxin infection,” Julia said.

The man’s eyes shifted in response to the statement. Esteban noticed the tell. “Tell me, do you know anything about extant hits?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” the hobo said.

“Are you sure?” Azalea said as she swam towards the man.

“I’m not obligated to respond to nosy little mermaids, now scram.” The hobo said. His body language shows the tells of a suspicious man.

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?” Stretlizia said.

Julia approached the hobo. “Tell me, are the Vorhees involved in this?”

Sweat dripped from the hobo’s forehead. He looked at Julia and noticed she reminded him of someone. “Heh, I see how it is. Follow me, we can’t talk here.”

“Why not?” Rose said.

“The underground has eyes,” the informant said as he walked away from the tunnel. “There are things better left unsaid here.”

Esteban is still suspicious of the man. “On your guard,” he whispered to everyone. The man left the tunnel and led to them to an abandoned complex.

✦✦✦

The hobo leads the party towards a small alleyway. He stayed silent in the face of Rose’s attempts to chat with him, Azalea’s jokes Clover’s long-winded tangents. The Hermandez couple notices shadows moving in the distance.

As they walked through the other end of the alleyway, Esteban noticed something was off. Suspicions are confirmed when several Syndicate goons emerge from the shadows.

“Get ‘em!” the “hobo” ordered. The mobsters tried to attack the group unaware that they consisted of eight witches and two talented rouges. Strelitzia charged towards three of the assailants and summoned her labrys to swing at the mobsters. Julia used her dagger to summon her shadow while Amenone used her magic to pin the several mobsters to the ground.

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Rose and Raine coordinated their attacks to scare off several of the assailants with a display of flame and lightning. One of the larger mobsters simply charged at Raine in defiance but was met by Rose’s swordplay shortly afterward. Hydrangea took her grimoire and used it to freeze some of the mobsters in place.

A pipe-brandishing woman approached Lily, aiming to strike the centauride girl, but Clover used wind spells to not only repel the woman but several of the mobsters as well. The peryton fawn conjured a twister that sucked several of them up and propelled them onto the nearby roofs away from them.

The informant looked at the green-haired girl in shock and horror. “The hell?” he thought. “She was just blathering on about the streetlights five minutes ago!”

Clover sent a dire glower at the man. “Will you help us seek justice for the wrongs that had happened here?” she said in a sweet but stern voice with a calm yet furious expression. Her folded metal fan was pointed toward the man as if it were a sword. The “hobo” simply turned around and ran. Clover calmed down and looked at her friends. “Too much?”

Strelitzia placed her head on her palm.

“A little,” Rose said.

Esteban looked at Clover with a mild surprise. He sensed a familiar expression in Clover. One that reminded him of his first encounter with the Vorhees Gang.

“I’ll alert the Rouges what happened,” Julia said.

✦✦✦

Later, they arrived in one of the Rouge’s impromptu guildhouses. There Julia and Esteban brought up both the Somnitoxin attack and the encounter at the alley.

“Ken had sold out, huh?” one of the people there said with a sigh.

“Those vampires must’ve paid him a pretty penny.” Another lamented. “We’ll keep an eye out on the turncoat.”

A fawn woman approached the group. “Hello there Mr. Hermandez.” Her suit was as yellow as her hair.

“Deborah,” Esteban said to the blond woman. “Are there any reports of Syndicate activity lately?”

“Not since your little trip to the carnivals,” Deborah said, referring to the Joyfuller incident. “They’ve been on their toes since news of that factory broke out.”

“Of course they are,” Julia said.

Clover approached Deborah. “Hello there.”

“You must be one of those Colorturas we’ve heard so much about,” Deborah said. “Heard you girls found a place outside this cursed city.”

“Yup,” Clover said to both questions. “I wanted to ask if you saw anyone like these…” she began whispering descriptions of her parents into her ear.

Strelitzia sighed. “She’s at it again.”

“Of course,” Azalea said. “She misses her parents deerly.”

“I know,” the minotaruide said.

Julia heard the conversation. “Parents?”

“We met her and Stretlizia one day,” Hydrangea said while reading one of the guildhall’s spellbooks and copying some sigils to her grimoire. “She mentioned that she was searching for her parents after they were separated.”

“I see,” Julia said. “You girls were living at that diner for three years right?”

“Yeah,” Rose said. “Why?”

“Have you ever…”

“No,” Raine said. “She seemed certain that they are still alive.”

“I see,” Julia said. The rest of the group turned to Clover and Deborah. The latter told her something that caused the younger girl’s face to become sullen.

“No luck?” Azalea said.

“She said she had never seen them before,” Clover said with a sigh.

“There is something of interest you should know,” Deborah said to Esteban. “You know about rumors of the ‘extra elements?’”

“Yes,” Esteban said, “Why?”

“Over on the surface, my informants had mentioned that a research facility had come across an irregularly-colored Aquasphere and are currently bringing it to the Metropolitan Museum of the Arcane for research. I’ve heard that the Syndicate had been digging into those rumors for some unfathomable reason. Odds are likely they will try to rob the Met as they are receiving it. Maybe you’ll find Vorhees guys among them?”

“Thanks for the tip Deborah,” Esteban said.

“Pleasure’s all mine,” Deborah said. “I also have one for the kids as well.”

“Huh?” Rose said.

“Word on the street is that a movie crew is eying Rosenkreuz for scenery for an upcoming movie and among them is actress Pearly Templeton,” Deborah said. “Maybe you can verify it yourself when you return there.”

“Pearly Templeton?” Anemone said.

Lily screamed in excitement. “This is huge, she is one of Hollyland’s biggest stars!”

“And one of their youngest,” Julia said. “Only Astra knows how she managed to survive an environment like that.”

“It’s still a rumor,” Deborah said. “Try not to get too excited.”

Lily didn’t listen, she was too busy daydreaming about encountering the porcine actress. It didn’t help that she knew about a recent commission made to the Smith dwarves.

The rest of the group thanked Deborah for the information and left. Raine tried to bring Lily closer to reality as they left the guildhall and embarked to visit the museum Deborah mentioned.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, with the Black Box and the Bleumaw. Emily manifested her avatara to speak with Kaitlyn.

“Emily!” the young construct called out to the core.

“Hello Kaitlyn,” Emily said.

Throughout the next few hours the artistic child had talked with Emily about various topics while she painted several images. Emily observed the paintings retained their eerie quality. One image depicted a neighborhood of homes contorted in conal shapes on a crimson desert. Another showed a figure overlooking a city where the buildings are missing half of their walls. The third depicted a woman picking eyeballs from a tree as if they were fruit.

“What do you think, Emmy?” Kaitlyn asked.

“These paintings are unique,” Emily said. “What was on your mind when you made these?”

“Hmm,” the child tried to recall what she was thinking about when she made these images. She shrugged a moment later.

An arachne child and their parents noticed the three painting, as well as the painter. The spiderling gave a distressed look upon seeing the strange artwork while the parent gave a look of distress towards the painting. Emily’s telepathy inadvertently activated and let her hear their thoughts of disapproval towards Kaitlyn’s choice of aesthetics. Kaitlyn herself was unaware of the two Arachne’s feelings as she began painting her forth piece.

The mother approached Emily. “Are you sure she should stay here, dear?” she whispered to Emily’s avatara.

“I’m certain,” Emily sternly said to the mother.

The Arachne family simply left. The mother shot a look of contempt to Kaitlyn, but she was too focused on the canvas to notice.

Emily is well aware that Kaitlin’s status as an ex-Strega was known among the residents of the Black Box.

“Where’s Rosie?” Kaitlyn asked as she painted what seemed to be a medical complex.

“She and the other Coloraturas were at Noir,” Emily said. “Esteban and Julia are taking care of them.”

Kaitlyn continued painting. “Noir huh?” she wistfully said. Her memories of the city lingered on in her mind, as did that of her deceased father. As her brush glided across the canvas images appeared in her head. Words she barley comprehended, sights she transposed onto the painting as they appeared in her mind. Eventually the canvas was finished. “Lookie!” the young girl said as she lifted her latest opus form the easel and moved it to Emily.

Emily looked at the canvas and made a shocked expression. She saw the visage of Memoria Medica on the canvas.

“Kaitlyn…how did…” Emily wondered about Kaitlyn’s powers. A thread of inquiry that was thwarted by the artist forgetting how she became a Witch.

“Is something wrong?” Kaitlyn innocently asked.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Emily said. “I just recognized something there, that’s all.”

“Huh?” Kaitlyn was confused by Emily’s response. “You’ve seen something like this before?”

“You could say that,” Emily said. She wondered about what that “Network” was.

A few moments later, Emily decided to bring Kaitlyn to another part of her dungeon body, away from her new territory. She hoped to not dwell on the unhemlich depiction of ehr swords’ microdugneon.

✦✦✦

Later, in the city Noir, a group of people in white coats drove a specialized vehicle down one of the many streets.

The driver looked at the rearview mirror, “How’s the cargo?” they said.

“So far so good,” one of the people said from the back.

“The aquasphere is as stable as it was when we got it from Farrow,” another said.

The car made a right turn, the driver keeping an eye out for any parties seeking to ambush it. “The Met is ten miles from here,” they said.

The sun began to recede into the horizon as twilight washed over Noir. The street lights turned on to illuminate the roads.

From a rooftop overlooking the museum. Esteban and Julia keep an eye on the convoy, not for the precious and rare sphere, but for those that seek to rob them of it.

At the same time, the Coloraturas are at the entrance of the Metropolitan Museum of the Arcane. They looked at the titanic seventy-story building. Filled to the brim with various exhibits and artifacts of the bygone era. Anemone and Hydrangea expressed a desire to tour the place, but Raine reminded them that they couldn't right now. Lily wondered about the rumors about Pearly Templeton’s visit to Rosenkreuz and asked her friends what they would do if they met her. The magical girls’ conversation ere eventually interrupted when Clover heard something outside the Met’s gates.

Anemone and Lily use a spell to clock the girls as they see the white vehicle moved into the gates of the building. The magical girls followed it as the red skies turned a dark blue.

The girls watch for people aiming to steal the cargo from the scientists as they move the indigo-colored sphere from the back of the vehicle. Esteban and Julia catch up with them as they witness a gray-coated figure approach the white-coated men.

“Are you from Farrow?” the man asked.

“Yes, we are. Are you the curator?” the driver said.

The grey-coated man nodded his head. “This is a very rare find, few are those that would brave an area recently hit by a cataclysm.” He handed them some refreshments for their efforts.

“We have much to discuss,” the driver said as they looked over the mugs of water. A slightly pungent odor wafted from the mugs.

“Everything seems normal,” Hydrangea whispered.

Julia observed the grey-coated man. She noticed something was off about the person, something…familiar. A loud thud was heard and she turned her eyes to the source. She noticed some dust was lifted into the air.

The scientists also noticed the discrepancy. One of them looked at the disturbed dust, but they couldn’t find anything of notice.

“Must’ve been the wind,” the man in the gray suit lied.

The scientists took their mugs them partook of the water, but the driver refused. “I’m not thirsty right now,” they said. They are certain that something is amiss and try to subtly warn their fellows to not drink the water. The other scientists refused their hint and emptied their mugs.

“Come on, Professor,” one of the scientists said to the driver. “We got the thing here, there is nothing to fear from the Met’s staff.”

“Quite,” the grey coat said. “The Institution of the Arcane is one of the most well-guarded areas in Noir. Its security is like that of a Divine Dungeon itself. Why did some even dare to compare it to Gatsby Tower. We can assure you that the aquasphere is in good hands.”

The grey coat led the scientists into the building, the Professor having the Aquasphere in their hands. The two rouges and the eight magical girls followed them. Esteban suspected that the Syndicate’s agents had infiltrated the museum.

✦✦✦

Esteban, Julia, and the Coloraturas follow the scientist and the grey-coated man. The hidden adventurers kept an eye out for suspicious behavior around them as they eavesdropped on the scientists.

The man in the grey coat urged the Professor to drink. “Surely you must be parched by now?” he said.

“I’m good,” the professor answered. They still did not trust the man that greeted them. “Are there any other personnel here? I’d like to speak with them.”

“All of the staff is currently busy tending to the other exhibits,” the grey coat said.

Esteban observed the body language of the grey coat, his stride was calm and slow. His arms were similarly serene, and his microexpressions showed signs of discontent, particularly as he looked at the mugs that were unconsumed.

A while later, one of the scientists grasps their forehead. “My head, what is…” they collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

“Sean!” one of the others cried out. They approached him to check his pulse. Their face recoiled in horror as they saw his heart had stopped.

Another scientist suddenly slumped over the walls. The Professor tended to her as she checked her vital signs.

“Professor Will,” another of them said. “I don’t…feel so…good.” He suddenly fell unconscious onto the ground.

Will looked at his fallen colleagues, suddenly dead all around him, and the grey coat. He turned to the other man and glared at him. “What did you do? What was in that water?”

The man in the grey coat chuckled and took an arm into one of his pockets. “It appears the somnitoxin activated earlier than I thought.” He took out a gun and pointed it at him.

“Somni—“ Will realized that his fellow scientists were murdered. Their dreams were turned into unceasing nightmares, and the man before him was responsible.

“Now, hand over the aquasphere. Lady Erezbert is eager to research that sphere of yours.”

“Damn it,” Will thought. On impulse, he began to cast a spell, but the grey coat fired his gun. The bullet grazed Will’s shoulder and interrupted his cast.

Esteban and his group had enough. Julia was the first to intervene.

“Guardians of the Umbra! Cloak this man in sacred darkness!”

Will is suddenly enveloped in a dark veil, hiding him from the assassin.

“What the?” the grey coat said. “Vanishers, we have intruders!”

Invisible mobsters began to search the areas for the interlopers. Esteban noticed the footprints of one of them and rushed them, he hurled their body towards a wall and they hit two cloaked mobsters and decloaked them.

Will run from his colleague, trying to escape the dark veil enveloping him. The grey coat tries to fire his gun, but his bullets miss the shrouded man. Even more strangly one of them ricocheted off of thin air.

The grey coat saw a peryton fawn between him and his target. She brandished an iron fan as a furious tempest blustered in her eyes.

Professor Will tried to remove the shroud from himself as he ran, he bumped into Julia. He tries to cast a spell, but Julia dodges the magic missile and calmly approaches him.

“We’re here to help,” she said.

“You’re…” Will recognized the woman, and also that the shadow was her doing. His face calmed down from the revelation as Julia moved past him.

The grey coat looked at the young witch before him. “Merda,” he uttered. He fired at the girl, but she used her fan to summon a gust of wind that threw the bullet off course.

“Vanishers!” the man said. “Seize her!”

But nobody answered his command. He looked around and saw that several of them were both uncloaked and unconscious.

“From the shadows beyond we came,” a perky voice said. The mafioso pointed his pistol in the direction of the voice and fired, but the bullet was lodged into a wall.

“To defend the defenseless,” a stern voice said. A crimson ring hit the grey coat’s arm and removed the pistol from it.

“To stop those who wish to harm,” the pistol was crushed by the invisible trampling of four hooves.

“To wash out evil wherever it arises.” A voice said in a playful, almost joking manner.

The grey coat saw several witches become visible. “We are, the Colorturas!” The lamia among them said.

The cyan-haired girl said to him. “Now tell us, did you visit Rosenkreuz lately.”

The mobster saw the Coloraturas before him. Beads of sweat dripped from his temple as he glared at the young girls. “S-so you meddlers are at it again? Don’t you know you’re trespassing?”

“Says the pot to the kettle,” Azalea said.

The mobster tries to take out another weapon from his coat, but Clover blows him away with her wind spells and blows the coat off him. Revealing his dark striped suit and several weapons strewn from the coat. Unarmed the mobster decided to use his fists to engage his eightfold opponents but before he could make the first punch, he was suddenly hit by a haymaker from an unknown direction.

Esteban decloaked in front of the mobster and turned to the girls. “Was the intro really necessary?”

“Figlio di puttana,” the mobster uttered. He knew about the Azure Rouge, as did all members of the Vorhees.

Clover rushed past Esteban and lifted the mobster by the neck. “Now then, did you kill anyone in Rosenkreuz?” the fawn said.

The mobster began to lie. “You think I would go that far away for a hitjob?”

“Perhaps,” Clover said in a menacing tone as she dropped him.

Julia emerged from the shadows. “We knew someone had used somnitoxin to murder someone there.”

The assassin looked at the indigo-clad woman in shock before regaining composure. “So the traitor has come here too? Heh, had I known you stronzi were here I would’ve brought more somnitoxin.”

“So you admit to the murder?” Julia said.

“I don’t admit to anything,” the mobster said. “My alibi’s crystal clear.”

“Not that murdering a bunch of people in a museum is any better,” Raine said.

“Heh, we of the Vorhees always planned for that.” The mobster took a long look at Julia. “Shame what had happened at Wintersun.”

Julia glared at the man. “There is a special place in hell for the likes of you.”

“Perhaps,” the mobster said. “But the Reaper won’t be visiting me yet!” the mobster rushed at the group and a fight ensued. However as the mobster was only one man going up against two trained rouges and eight witches, it was a short-lived fight. Made all the quicker by Lily blinding the man.

The mafioso was left incapacitated, and Julia approached them. “What did you do at the chapel?” she said.

“Sorry, mignotta,” the mobster said. “il tradimento non è cosa nostra.” The man swallowed a somnitoxin pill he had in his mouth the entire time and cackled madly. within minutes he lied there motionless, dead.

✦✦✦

The next morning the Ebony Guard were at the Met. They saw the unconscious bodies of the Vanishers and the dead bodies of their mobster leader and the scientists. Yet they had not noticed any trace oft he people that stopped them and saved Professor Will.

The radio blared with news about the discovery. And revelation that someone had subverted the tight security of the Metropolitan Institute of the Arcane in a bid to ambush Professor Will and steal the aquasphere.

Meanwhile, Professor Will met up with Julia in the ruins of the Witnersun chapel. “Thank you,” he said.

“I’m sorry we weren’t able to save your friends,” Julia said.

“It’s not your fault,” the man said. “I tried to warn them, but the fools thought they were safe. They were not able to notice the treachery of our ‘host’.” He let out a sigh.

Julia looked nostalgically at the ruins. “Any idea why they would want this?” she said in reference to the unusably hued aquasphere.

“I had some theories,” Will said. “But I cannot speak of them here. If they could infiltrate the Met then who knows where they got their eyes and ears on?”

“I understand,” Julia said. “I have some ideas myself.”

The two looked back at the chapel. “The reverend was such a kind soul, to think he had became a Dungeon Core…”

“It is rather inexplicable isn’t it?” Julia said. “Tell me, have you heard about Project Stronghold?”

“There is not a single soul in Noir is isn’t aware of the rumors.” Will turned his gaze to his old friend and former fellow churchgoer. “Why do you ask?”

“That mobster mentioned the chapel,” Julia said.

Will’s eyes widened in shock. “Astra forfend…” the implication washed over the scientist. “If those rumors are true—”

They do not know what exactly is Project Stronghold, but they are aware that it is connected to both missing Dungeon Cores and what befell Wintersun and tis reverend.

“I’ll have to report back to Fallow,” Wills aid. “Someone has to warn them the Met was compromised.” He took the aquasphere with him and left Julia. “Farewell, Julia.”

The two friends parted ways. Julia reconvened with her husband and the Coloraturas and then they returned to the Black Box, to Rosenkreuz.

✦✦✦

Later, in Rosenkreuz. Julia and Esteban helped Chiron and several other people set up a funeral for Abigail. After they had finished their preparations. Julia left the chapel for some fresh air. She rested behind a tree as she thought about the recency departed and about the Wintersun chapel.

Esteban found his wife sulking near the tree. “Been a rough few days.” He said.

“I’ll say,” Julia sighed. “I don’t know what’s worse, that there will be more after her, or that there was once a time that I contributed to deaths like this.”

“We’ll stop them,” Esteban said. “The Vorhees and the Syndicate might be powerful but they aren’t invincible.”

Julia remembered something. “You lost your family to them right?”

Esteban nodded. The couple looked upon a field of beautiful flowers. Esteban took a daisy from the field. “My brother wanted to be a florist. He said he wanted to do good for the world in a way that didn’t involve risking his family’s life. To bring some beauty to the Underground. My mother and father were hard workers. There was no one they wouldn’t lend a hand to. There wasn’t no one they wouldn’t bring succor to. If only I’ve been there I’d…” Though he maintained a calm and stoic demeanor, Julia still saw tears stream from his eyes.

Julia knew her husband well enough. She knew his pain and suffering, and also his desire for justice. She knew it was why he became the Azure Rouge, why he had traveled with Heathcliff and Chiron all those years ago, and why he had helped form the Rouge’s Guild in Noir. And Esteban knew she knew as much.

Esteban wiped his tears. Julia stood up and comforted him. Esteban also knew Julia had her scars. “Do you still rue those you have failed to save?”

“I rue those that I killed,” Julia said. “There is not a single day where I wished I had stepped back from that life earlier. When I asked why it took the efforts of a kindly cleric and a near-death experience to turn me from a stone-cold murderer to the woman before you.” “Perhaps that was what bound us,” Julia thought.

“Even if the syndicate fell,” Esteban said. “There is still work to be done in Noir, and here.”

“Don’t I know it?” Julia said. “Quashing people trying to fill the power vacuum and also trying to make sure the people of the Underground get their fair share.” She looked at a particular flower and picked it from the ground. “Anniversary’s coming up, dear. Did we make any plans?”

Esteban chuckled. “Maybe a trip to Nightshoal? I heard the beaches are pretty nice that time of year.”

“Let’s book a room first,” Julia said. “I don’t think those Sleepshells make for a comfortable experience.”

The pair gazed into each other’s eyes as they reminisced about their marriage and the events before. Eventually they returned to the chapel and attended the funeral. After the solemn event, they returned to the Black Box. Esteban still seeking to pursuer information on Vladimir Draconis, but he also wondered about this “Lady Erezbert” as well.

✦✦✦

At the same time, in a castle-like building within Noir on a rainy day. An elegant woman had recently arrived at the foyer. Her bowler hated and suited servants tended to her whim. Her crimson locks obscured one of her eyes as she looked over the Gothic decor of her large manor.

After settling back into her home, she saw a servant enter her living quarters. “Lady Erezbert,” the servant said. “The assassin had failed to get the sphere.”

The woman scowled. “What happened,” she said in a sultry yet stern voice.

“We don’t know,” the servant said. “The Varnishers that were with him were captured by the Guardsmen, and he was found dead. Taking his own life. One of the Fallow scientists also survived and had escaped him.”

Erezbert is left unamused. She wondered what caused him to fail so miserably. “Bring Don Giovanni to me. That stronzate has a lot to answer for.”

“Understood, milady,” the servant left.

“Tch,” Erezbert said. Her mood and her day were left ruined by the unfortuitous tidings. “They don’t train these soldiers like they used to.” She took a cigarette from her ashtray and lit one of the ends.

Lightning struck the castle as Erezbert approached a tub, filled with crimson liquid. She smirked as she looked at the freshly filled tub. “At least this will get my mind off that little failure.” The door closed before she began to take her bath. Outside the luxurious room lay an unconscious maiden, her skin bore a pallor that is paler than the marbled columns of the hallways. A servant had just finished removing several tubes from her body. They took the young girl to another part of the castle.

✦✦✦

A few hours later, a vehicle had stopped in Rosenkreuz.

“We’re here, please wake Miss Templeton up,” the driver said.

“Pearl,” a man’s voice said. “It’s time to wake up.”

A Porcine girl no taller than fifty inches woke up and rubbed her eyes. Her lilac dress matched the bow on her curly hair. Her pig-like ears heard the sound of birds chirping, and her nose, no different from those of the driver and the man who roused her, smelled the fresh scents of baked goods.

“This is…Rosenkreuz?” The young girl said.

“Yes, Pearl,” the driver said. “We’re here, and we’re earlier than expected.”

The three exited the vehicle. Pearl wondered if the people there would accept her as she stayed in Rosenkreuz for the filming of her next movie. She also wondered if her mentor would still be able to meet her here.