The world was still ablaze all around them. Gunfire, screams and howling reached them from inside as the monsters filled the enemy fortification, Menagerie and Elaine hurried to their master's side, but none of this mattered to Maria. She held her beaten and maimed servant in her arms, refusing to let go.

"Never, ever frighten me like that again, you hear that?!" Her sobbing still shook her body, yet she staid firm to not let Sin fall. The beast smiled weakly, unable to return the embrace as her arms were only growing back at an agonizingly slow pace. "Hell has to wait for me, my master. I will not leave your side, I swear that. But now, please, you must hurry."

Black blood was seeping out of the corner of her mouth. "The enemy is coming to restore their order here, and we must finish our work and retrieve Trinity before then. I am not of use to you, so please, take Elaine and Menagerie with you."

Maria shook her head, and finally mustered the strength to look her in the eyes. Despite everything, every time she had acted out of line, every time Maria had to keep her by the leash, her wounded sight caused her master's heart to bleed. "No. I, I am going to go with Elaine and, I'll take Melanie along just in case but, Menagerie should stay with you. Hold her, bring her to the van!"

Menagerie obeyed swiftly under the intense stare of her master, taking Maria's place to hold Sin's mangled body upright. "And wait for us there, I am sure we wont be long."

Sin was too weak to protest in the face of her master's determination, silently she let herself get carried away. Maria stared at Elaine, who bowed deeply with a wicked wide smile, and Melanie. Despite the horrors the young woman had gone through, the new world she was pushed into, she stood firm, answering Maria's gaze with a silent determination. Together the three raced up the stairs into the building, into the maw of the battle.

Inside the scene was one of pandemonium. The defenders had quickly been overwhelmed after the death of the paladin, their corpses now feed for Menagerie's creatures. Maria spited the disgust she was feeling and ignored the carnage around her.

They searched the entire ground floor, opening every door that had not yet been bashed in, finding only frightened civilians or feasting monsters. Then finally Elaine grasped Maria's hand, pointing to one of the walls. "It is there, it has to be!" She ran across the hall, her threads slicing through any monster too slow to make way, Maria and Melanie had troubles keeping up with the small beast.

The wall began to glow at her touch, and opened, revealing an elevator, wide enough for a whole group of twenty.

Before Maria hit the button to go down, she looked into the hall. "Should we, take some of them along, you think?" Elaine shook her head, tapping onto the ground impatiently. "No, without Sin or Menagerie they are little more than untrained animals, they would only be a burden.

My beloved master, please, we must hurry. The spear they used, I have not seen a weapon that could hurt our eldest sister like that. And the fact that it's wielder was guarding this place where they keep Trinity."

Her voice trailed off, but what she meant to say was more than clear. Without another moment of hesitation Maria hit the button, the doors to elevator closed and they began their descent downward.

"Just, what did happen with Sin, back then." Maria was finally able to mutter as the elevator continued it's descent. Elaine lowered her head, shaking it. "I, do not know, my beloved master. It seemed to not only pierce her body, but her very essence, her Lore, her Soul." the small beast began to tremble, leaning against her master. "Had it, been me down there, I would have, I would've, died."

She said these words with complete disbelief, as if the very thought had never crossed her mind before. "I would, happily die for you, my beloved master, of course but, I never, believed that a mere human, paladin or not, could kill us."

The opening of the doors ended their moment of solace before Maria could speak. Elaine's eyes shot open and her fingers began to move like mad, the net of threads forming up around them not a second too soon as they were greeted by a hail of bullets. The flashing of the muzzles was so bright that Maria could not see the hallway in front of them, until the firing finally ceased.

The elevator had dropped them at the end of a long, pure white hallway. A young man stood at it's end, with six tall figures standing behind him, dressed in full black combat armour. All but two of them wore helmets, hiding their faces behind modernised gas masks. The other two, both women, flanked the man, dressed in an immaculate suit, with sleek black hair, glasses and a furious look on his face. "So, and here comes the primitive reactionary herself to ruin paradise!"

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Maria took the time that the guards needed to reload to step out of the elevator, Elaine at her side. Melanie, who had been cowering before, timidly followed, the fear of death clearly written across her face. "I don't know who you are, but you are holding one of mine captive. You."

Maria spoke to the guards now, putting as much confidence into her shaking voice as she could. "If you lay down your arms and leave, then I promise you safe passage. Enough people have died, and you cannot hope to win. Just surrender, please." the emotional exhaustion continued to ring in her voice, making the man laugh.

"My guards here are professionals, and they know who pays them! You think we would just have this state of the art facility be guarded by a bunch of cowards? Samdel, Hertiria, Merlayne, we all spent way too much for this. Do you have any idea what we are doing here?"

Maria continued to walk towards them, but stopped as the guards finished reloading and once more trained their guns on them. "You hold my servant captive, that is all I care about. Release her, and I may only take you prisoner."

"Of course! You Len-Fey are all the same! Power, servants, bondage, that is all you care about. You are so desperate to retain your power that you completely missed that the world has moved past you, how can you not see that?" The man's voice continued to reach higher and higher pitches as he spoke.

"For the first time in our history we have so many people learn about the power they have, we finally have the means to teach them, but stubborn fools like you continue to only think of yourselves! When was the last time that a mage has helped humanity, back during Rome perhaps? We Samdel have finally managed to get the people to see what they can achieve, what they can do, and here we have done everything to further prepare the wider world for the progress and advancement we can deliver, and I will not let a bumbling traditionalist like you-"

He stopped when the female guard to his right prodded his shoulder. "What, is it, can you not see I am." He froze up as he stared into the muzzle of her rifle. "For all your talk you forgot something." The woman to his left punched him in the side, causing him to fall down on the ground in agony.

"You aren't the one who pays us." Two of the other guards stepped forward, aimed, and unloaded their magazines into him, the volume of fire tearing his body into pieces. Maria and Elaine stared at the entire scene in shock and awe, while Melanie had closed her eyes, holding her ears shut.

Once the deed was done one of the women, who had bright blonde hair and a hardened, determined gaze, stepped over his corpse and towards Maria. "You took a good bit longer than her ladyship suggested." She laid a hand on her heart in salute. "Lieutenant Hawkes, leader of the wraiths, fifth Merlayne retinue."

Maria's eyes widened at her words, her heart skipping a beat. "You are with El-I mean lady Elizabeth? And you are going to help us? Has she finally accepted our alliance, what did she"

The Lieutenant motioned for her to calm down. "Now now, negotiating diplomacy is way above my pay grade, your highness. Our Ladyship merely instructed us to let you pass and make you a very worthwhile offer, should you show up here." Her fellow guards had taken position in front of the door leading further into the facility, with the other woman, with red hair, leading them.

"This whole facility was built by the three other great families for each to conduct their own research. Her Ladyship wants to offer you a deal: We help with directions and stand down while you get your beast back, and we get the research of the other families before blowing this place down to hell. It'll all look like your great and impressive handiwork and her ladyship gets what she wants while still appearing innocent. Deal?"

Maria did not need long to think, she almost immediately took the woman's hand and shook it, much to the Lieutenants surprise. "Of course, I could use the help anyways because." For a moment she paused, catching her breath. "My own forces are spread quite wide to repel reinforcements. Please, lead the way."

The lieutenant gave a quick nod and turned to meet up with her soldiers. "Alright, you heard the lady. Operation smash and grab has begun." One of the guards shook their head. "Sir, you have a terrible sense for code names."

When the soldiers of the fifth retinue kicked in the door and spread out, Maria entered a world she had not seen before. For a brief moment it appeared as if they had stepped into the very future itself. Walls, furniture, ceiling, all was pristine white. countless immaculate desks filled the room, with state of the art equipment.

The personale was as tidy and orderly as their surroundings, a crass counterpart to the soldiers that now dominated the scene. The place reminded Maria of the few happy dreams of her younger years, when a place like this had been what she thought of when imagining her perfect workplace. This dream was shattered as the soldiers lifted their guns and started to fire.

It was not a hail of bullets, every shot was precisely targeted, every bullet killed a person. Within moments the room was depopulated, and Lieutenant Hawkes marched over to the central desk as her soldiers fanned out to the adjacent rooms, where screams of panic were quickly silenced by gunfire. Hawkes picked up a microphone, and shortly after her voice began to echo through every room of the facility.

"This is Lieutenant Hawkes, calling all of wraith. Operation Smash and grab has begun, I repeat, operation Smash and Grab has begun. We have forty minutes, make them count." The answer to her message was gunfire from even further inside the facility.

When Maria approached her with Melanie and Elaine in tow, she gave them a smile. "Just stick close to me, alright? Wouldn't want one of mine losing a limb or life because they can't tell you're on our side for now. Please allow me to lead you to your beast."