As one sensitive to others' expressions and emotions, Gwen was the first to notice the fatalism that befell their captive.

Richard held the woman aloft in his water prison, exposing only her head. The rest of her body was tethered by invisible tendrils beyond the ability of a Mage unbolstered by advanced Transmutation to break.

"Well, let's have it." Gwen examined the woman more closely now that they were face to face. She figured that they could start with some straightforward answers to gauge her level of cooperation. Her cross-examination techniques were solely derived from Ian Flemming novels, but it would have to do for now.

"What's your name?"

"Nephres Zalaam." The woman had a skewered smile unbefitting of a captive. Her eyes were bright and intelligent, lacking the anxiety Gwen had anticipated.

"Who do you work for, Nephres Zalaam?" Gwen continued, a little taken aback at the candidness of Nephres' reaction.

As someone who had enjoyed a night in the MSS Hilton, Gwen felt flustered that the woman appeared entirely too relaxed for one now-imprisoned and soon to be handed over to Secretariat Choi. What awaited her was torture, maybe even a Mind Mage who would peel her brain like an onion.

Then what? Stasis? Execution? Show trial? For a moment, a little voice at the back of Gwen's head asked if this was like aiding and abetting an autocratic regime, but her concern was quickly quelled by her remembrance of Nephres abandoning her companions.

The Healer raised her head and met Gwen's eyes with defiance. It was difficult to tell how old the Healer was. Her appearance said the twenties, but the woman could be fifty for all she knew. Even in her captive state, the echoes of her Positive Energy affinity was palpable, radiating from the woman like a beacon and setting Caliban on edge. Alarmingly, the woman made Gwen think of Elvia.

She broke eye contact, afraid that she would be drawn to that halo of positivity and life.

"Come closer if you want the truth," Nephres murmured in her husky voice. "I'll tell you."

Her party regarded one another.

Lulan's aura grew tangibly sharper.

"You can tell all of us," Gwen derided the questionable attempt at gaining her empathy. If that's the game the woman wanted to play, she figured a little white lie couldn't hurt. "If you satisfy us with the validity of your answers, I'll put in a good word for you when we hand you over. It'll make a world of difference, trust me."

The Healer's citrine irises scanned her audience. Her sensual lips were split from their previous battery but now formed into a cruel crescent.

"Alright." Nephres beamed in an overly friendly manner. "It's your funeral."

Gwen looked at Richard, who nodded imperceptibly, indicating that he would not allow her to escape. She then looked to Mayuree.

"We're clear," Mayuree replied with a Silent Message. "No Mages within range as far as I can tell."

"I am all ears." Gwen folded her arms. Besides her, Ariel leapt onto Gwen's shoulders in a show of force, menacing Nephres with its dainty little horns.

Not far, Caliban slithered to and fro, patrolling their surrounding as much out of curiosity as following Gwen's orders.

"I work for Elizabeth Winsted Sobel," Nephres said. "Of Spectre."

As the last syllable sizzled through the air, Gwen felt as though a Petrify had been cast on her.

Her companions watched as her entire complexion, from her brow to her hands, turned from pink to pale, to ashen, as though Caliban had leeched out every drop of vitality from her body.

Unconsciously, she moved her face closer to Nephres.

"You better not be fucking with me," she spat with so much venom and vehemence that she startled herself. "I swear to God, Nephres—if that's your real name. I am going to do to you things you cannot imagine if you're lying to me. Your Astral Soul would be begging for mercy for the rest of eternity."

"Touché, I see you know my Mistress," Nephres continued carelessly. "She always did wonder what happened to her little-sister of the Void."

"W-where is she?" The voice that emerged from Gwen's blanched lips was quaking with emotion.

"I am frankly surprised you're not taking advantage of your aptitude. There's no shame in it. We do what we do to survive. Certainly, my Mistress is living proof—"

"WHERE IS SHE?" Gwen couldn't care less that her Void mana ran uncontrollably through her conduits, consuming the whites of her eyes. Around her, her companions' perception of space seemed to distort for a moment, not as a tangible thing, but one that alarmed the souls of the living.

Mayuree, the weakest of them all, suddenly vomited as nausea overwhelmed her senses. Kitty stared at her with suspicion and incomprehension, then moved in front of Mayuree, relieving the pressure on the Diviner. Lulan touched a hand to her chest, surprised by the fear reflexively gripping her body.

Her cousin, comparatively, could read the writing on the wall.

"Gwen," he put up both hands to show he would not be stopping her, whatever her choice may be. "Hold it steady."

Under Gwen's dire gaze, Nephres' complexion fluctuated, though as a Positive Energy user, the mental abuse wasn't enough to break her.

"… do your companions know about the Consumptive aspect of the Void?" the woman mocked her. "According to Mistress, not all Void users are capable of absorption. You are sisters in more ways than you'd think."

"Shut up!"

"Ha! Was that what Henry Kilroy saw in you? Did he enjoy your youth as he did our Mistress? Did your dear Master—"

Thwack!

To the surprise of her companions, Gwen punched Nephres across the face, tearing open a gash across her lips and breaking the bridge of her nose.

A trail of vermillion sprayed from a nostril, drooling down from Nephres' chin.

Her companions stared.

Gwen knew but didn't care. She couldn't think straight. Her brain was fire, her hair felt like snakes.

"Did he feed you!? How did he start? Prisoners?! You're a fool if you're not consuming every Mage you lay your hands on, think how quickly you can—"

Thwack! Another strike, this time in the kisser, filling Nephres' mouth with blood.

"SHUT UP!" With every word from Nephres' lips, Gwen felt her head grow hotter and her blood run colder. Elizabeth Sobel! She had not expected to hear that name so soon, and certainly not like this. So this whole ordeal occurred because of Sobel? They were ambushed because Nephres had a history with her? Sobel was alive then. If so, she had to tell Gunther!

"Fine, fine, that upset you, I get it." Nephres swallowed the blood in her mouth. "Let's change the subject. Do you remember Edgar, Gwen? He loved you, you know, even if he didn't know it himself. The man talked of nothing but you for weeks on end."

Unpleasant memories ravaged Gwen's mind. Memories she'd thought were long buried and gone. Her temple throbbed, her neck ached, her throat felt parched. Where Edgar had intruded, she could still feel the Mind Mage's presence like a lesion across her subconscious.

"He's dead!" Gwen hissed through clenched teeth.

"Ah yes—we have no idea who killed him. Some say it was the one called the Pink Salt Saviour."

"Does it matter?"

"Do you wish to know Edgar's real name? Do you want satisfaction?"

Gwen's complexion blanched and burned simultaneously.

"I can see that you do. You have very talkative eyes, Gwen. Did anyone ever tell you that? Edmund, that's Edgar's real name. Hmm... what lovely eyes. I believe Ed would have kept them as a fetish once he was done with you."

"Shut up."

"See? I know you very well, Gwen. I know everything about you."

"Who is this woman?" Beside them, Kitty interjected, turning to Richard and then Gwen. "Do you know her?"

"We don't," Richard answered for Gwen. "I've never seen her before."

Nephres smiled sweetly at Gwen's companions, showing them teeth pink with gore.

"It seems your friends are not in the know," she said sardonically. "Shall I tell them? Shall I be explicit?"

"You have a death wish." Gwen raised a quivering hand. The initial anger had gone from her. She now felt a screaming paranoia and a rising urge to silence the woman before she could blurt out more of her secrets. Secrets that Gwen didn't even know she had.

"Playing?! I am not playing, Gwen Song! I've won! Guess what I did before you came? I sent off your data to Lord Ravenport! Oh! You don't know who that is!" Nephres laughed in her face. "It's alright. You'll find out soon! He'll find you, and then you'll know just now exquisite the retribution can be from a member of the House of Lords!"

"What—who?" Gwen's voice wavered. Edgar's father? Lord Ravenport? The House of Lords? What did the Mageocracy's home Parliament have to do with this?

"Oh, my dear, Magister Ravenport will have a field day with you. The things that repugnant man will do to a lovely thing like you. He will tear you apart. He will make you wish you were never born. Hahaha!"

While Gwen stared in stunned silence, her cousin took the uncomfortable lull in the action to audibly explain to Kitty and Mayuree that peerage positions made up the House of Lords, and at the very top, was the man on Nephres' lips, meaning if there was any truth at all to Nephres' claim, then it foretold trouble.

"Can we shut this woman up and just deliver her to Choi?" Kitty growled. "She's insane. A Slaver rat in a hole, connected to a British Lord? Who can believe that?"

Gwen heard the sound logic from Kitty's mouth but still made no move to secure the woman. She knew things they did not. She knew Edgar, or Edmund, as it were, and she believed Nephres.

Perhaps sensing that she had their undivided attention, Nephres continued her tirade.

"Oh, hand me over to Choi, sure. That prick will hand me over to the MSS after he has his fun. You'd love that, wouldn't you, Gwen Song? I wonder if the MSS knows about the Mistress and her connection to you. The bond you share with us! Shall I tell them how useful you will be in the future? What great hopes my Mistress has for her little sister of the Void?"

Gwen slowly shifted her downcast face until she was at eye level with Nephres. The darkness over her orbs had become pure pitch.

"That's right! Make no mistake!" Nephres' voice took on a new volume and octave. "I'll tell them everything! About Henry Kilroy! About Edgar! About Sydney! About YOU!"

Gwen raised her right hand.

To her surprise, the trembling ceased.

"No, you won't," she said quietly, her voice suddenly taking on an obsidian edge.

"Void Bolt!"

"SLEET!" Kitty, observing her, caught her bolt cold with a sheet of ice that half-covered Nephres, freezing a portion of her water prison. "What the fuck are you doing? Gwen Song? Are you killing prisoners now?"

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"Kitty…" Mayuree stood between Kitty and herself. "Leave Gwen be. Whatever this is, it's Gwen's business."

"No! She's crazy! Mia, get back here! What did I tell you?!" Kitty pushed Mayuree aside then stood between Nephres and Gwen. "You Mao-damned hypocrite!"

"Get out of my way, Kitty!" Gwen snarled, her mind bubbling with broiling emotions. "This doesn't concern you—"

Her protest fell away when a part of Richard's watery prison, the frozen section, fell apart. Before the riled teenagers could react, Nephres Zalaam tumbled from Lea's grasp.

"Crap!" Richard tried and failed to reform the prison. "Gwen! Don't let her get away!"

Lulan stood to the side, watching the confrontation unfold, likely confounded by the in-fighting.

To Gwen's horror, Sobel's servant landed on all fours. Then, she sprinted for the tunnel entrance with a burst of supernatural speed.

"Lea! Gwen! Stop her!" Richard hollered.

"Kitty! Get out of my way!" Gwen reached out to push Kitty from her path.

"No way, not until you explain what the fuck you think you're doing," Kitty snarled. "Mayuree can track her down. But I am not letting you kill her. What does she have on you? Dirty secrets? What did she mean by Consume? What Prisoners? Who's Elizabeth?!"

"GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!"

"NO!"

"CALIBAN!"

"SHAA—" Caliban leapt for the fleeing Healer.

Kitty swore before she lifted from the air and turned towards the fleeing figure of Nephres. "Glacial Spike!"

Where Caliban had aimed to land and ensnare Nephres, a precisely aimed ice spike shrieked through the air on an intercept course.

"ONSLAUGHT!" Gwen poured her vitality into Caliban, causing it to gain the properties of Haste.

"Cone of Cold!" Unexpectedly, Kitty had another trump card. Her expertise was far beyond the likes of Gwen, whose mastery was wrangling the brute power of Lightning and Void.

"Lea!" Richard made his move.

Kitty's Glacial Spike struck a body of water, turning into brittle ice. Lea quickly discarded the solidified part of her body, then intercepted Kitty's Cone of Cold.

When Gwen made herself ready for another interruption from the Ice Mage, Kitty's forward momentum was stopped by a gleaming iron blade embedded into the concrete, threatening to split her in two.

"YOU!" Kitty turned to Lulan, her pale blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"Stand down." Lulan had made her decision. "Or be put down."

Now uninterrupted, Gwen poured her soul into Caliban, who had finished transforming into its spider form and was almost upon Nephres.

"Don't!" Kitty's voice shrieked beside her. "DON'T YOU DARE!"

"CONSUME!" Gwen spat pink froth between gnashed teeth, her eyes wholly smothered with tenebrous purpose. "CALI! DO IT NOW!"

"SHAA—!" Caliban fell upon Nephres, who futilely put up a Shield of Faith.

Engorged with more vital force than it had never obtained from Gwen in any point of their master-Familiar history, Caliban hurled itself upon the hapless Healer, opening its torso to reveal a secondary mouth under its cephalothorax.

"Mistress!" Nephres cried only once. Then the spidery fiend was upon her.

Tentacles lashed out at Nephres, one blue and one red. A crimson lamprey lip swelled and expanded, swallowing her head wholesale. The other punched into her abdomen, seeking out her liver and heart.

To the observers, it seemed as though Caliban simply tore into the woman before bringing her toward its gaping maw. With a delicate crunch, Nephres disappeared, clothes and all, into the Void of Caliban's maw.

Her over tense body relaxed, though she dared not witness what expression Kitty might now be wearing. From the corner of her eyes, she saw that Mayuree held trembling fingers over her mouth, then vomited into her hand. Richard remained impassive, his face impossible to read. Lulan glanced from Gwen to Caliban, then Gwen again, her eyes as wide as hen's eggs.

Gwen opened her mouth to make an excuse, but no sound could escape her quivering lips.

Her Astral Soul was on fire.

And her physical body was in ecstasy.

More terrifyingly, perhaps, her consciousness remained unimpeded, wholly free to perceive Caliban's gift of vitality.

Richard caught her as she fell backwards, her vision rolling in their sockets.

"What the fuck is this?" Kitty's protest filtered through as Gwen landed in her cousin's arms, her legs as soft as steamed spaghetti. "Mia! We're leaving! Come on! We can't party with these… I don't know! Psychopaths? Wackjobs? Fengzi? They're a liability! They're insane!"

Lulan's eyes gleamed dangerously at Kitty.

Kitty averted the Sword Mage's gaze and turned to Mayuree.

Her childhood friend refused to budge. Instead, after cleaning her hands with a quick cantrip, she knelt beside Gwen and produced a healing injector.

"Is Gwen going to be okay?" Mayuree asked softly, kneeling by her side.

Richard placed a hand on her forehead, where beads of sweat formed.

Ariel helped by lapping up her perspiration, nudging her cheeks with its little pink paws.

Not far, Caliban slithered back in its serpentine form. After the terrifying deed, it had become well-fed and docile. From the looks of its slim body, there was no likelihood that Nephres still existed anywhere in the multiverse. For all they knew, the Healer was now particles of Void drifting in the lightless and lifeless liminal space.

"Get the fuck away!" Kitty shouted at the Void creature.

"Shaa?" Caliban came closer, feeling very pleased with itself, a little drunk on the payload of life-matter. "Shaa?"

Kitty raised a hand in warning.

"Kitty!" Mayuree stood. Her face was no longer sweet. "That's enough. Calm down."

"NO! Did you see what the fuck that thing just did?"

"I did," Mayuree replied stoically.

"Then why—"

"KITTY!" Mayuree snapped, her face reddening. "I am upset now."

Kitty's instantaneous silence was louder than a full-faced slap.

"It's my duty to protect you," the girl replied weakly.

"Protect me then." Mayuree's tone had a serrated edge to it. "If you're not helping. Stand down."

Gwen attempted to direct her faculties toward taking control of her shuddering body. Her eyes balls were moving—she was sure of it, but her consciousness felt as though drifting through a lucid dream.

"So, what happens now?" Lulan spoke, her voice full of concern.

"Is Gwen going to be alright?" Mayuree asked.

"I don't know." Richard took her hands and folded them over her thighs. He then checked her pulse and measured the temperature of her body using the palm of his off-hand.

"Gwen's strong," he confidently informed the others. Always thinking of her even when she showed them such weakness. "Gwen might bend, but she won't break."

"What should we do?" Mayuree asked. "Take her back?"

"No," Richard rested her head against his legs. "Now we wait."

[https://imgur.com/xJGXTPm.jpg]

After several unhelpful attempts, Gwen descended into a meditative state to stitch together her fractured psyche through sheer force of will.

She decided to rally her mind by thinking of her many "firsts", beginning with something utterly random, like her first taste of durian, which made her puke.

Others were more pronounced, such as her first Royal Easters Show cotton-candy filling her mouth with sugary happiness while Helena watched with disapproval.

She recalled the first time she visited the underwater aquarium in Sydney, watching the penguins being fed.

Other recollections were blended with the Gwen of this world, such as her first day at school. Her first time meeting Yue, her first sleepover. Debbie was there, seething with jealousy.

Her first crush was Blackwattle's blue-eyed School Captain, who turned out gay. She savoured her first date with a girl—something of an eye-opener.

She recalled her first-ever job selling ice cream at Darling Habour. She cringed at the time she was harassed by a man, a customer who wanted to pay her for something other than ice blocks.

A girl's life was filled with many firsts, from innocence to experience.

Now she was having another.

The first time she had consciously consumed a human being sans the buffer of the Kirin amulet.

How did she feel about that?

Orgasmic was too gentle of a word, for the sensation was akin to religious rapture. Where she had felt revitalised after being fed by Magus Kumiko's Wildland summons, now she had touched the body of Christ.

Every cell in her body sang. The fatigue accumulated due to her ceaseless expenditure disappeared, growing intoxicated with fortifying life.

Gwen cautioned herself.

Having eked out a decade with Celexa and Buspar, she was well aware of the dangers of alchemical indulgence.

When finally the euphoria faded and Gwen regained control of her faculties, she tried to reorientate the time. How long was she out? Minutes? Hours? A day?

A few minutes, she realised. But it had felt longer.

As the last vestige of liquid joy soaked her body, she felt the oncoming of guilt swallowing her once-white body, turning her skin black as tar.

The abyss was lovely, dark and deep, and she had avoided staring for as long as she could.

But all that now came to an end.

Nephres Zalaam. Gwen etched the name into her mind. Was Nephres her first, or was Faceless her first?

With Faceless, it was revenge.

With Nephres, it was self-preservation.

Self-preservation?

Gwen wanted to laugh.

Even Brutus had limits to his self-aggrandising moralisation.

She had protected herself, made a choice, paid the mana, and Caliban did the deed. If she had allowed Nephres to live, she would have been exposed. The CCP would find out about the truth of the Black Sun, her connection to Amuldj, and her life and freedom would be forfeit. At best, she would be a specimen. At worst, she could be mind-raped and stowed in stasis. Worse still, her siblings-in-craft, her friends and her babulya would get involved, then what?

They would all be in a world of shit.

What was there to regret then?

Her choice was right.

Her actions were dignified.

Her remorse was great, but she would live with it.

She had killed the serpent whilst in its egg. There would be no more mischief from Nephres.

Maybe it was the rapture, but Gwen felt buoyed by a strange calm; she was out to sea, far out and alone, but it wasn't an unpleasant kind of loneliness.

Slowly, her long, vibrant lashes fluttered, then Gwen Song, gleeful villainess, opened her eyes.

Her pupils, which had been vivid before, had now taken on a vital hue that was more opal than peridot. Her skin glowed with divine radiance, plump, pale, and tender as a babe's. As Gwen lifted herself from Richard's arms, she noticed something falling from her face, exposed arms, and thighs. Dead skin, replaced by her rejuvenated dermis, fell like dandruff.

"Everyone—" Gwen spoke, her voice intense and thrilling.

Her Familiars, now in their docile form, rushed in to nuzzle her.

Gwen placed a hand on Ariel and scratched its head; her other hand tickled Caliban's faceless mien by reaching under its uncertain chin.

"Gwen, how do you feel?" Richard asked.

"I would be lying if I said I felt anything other than great," Gwen replied with an unhappy truth.

"You okay now?" Mayuree took Gwen's hand. "You have the aura of a Healer..."

Her friend's words struck Gwen's heart like a festival dancer striking a tabla.

"Help me up," she implored Richard.

Her cousin obliged. Gwen stood, feeling taller than before.

"Thanks, Mia. I am happy you stayed," Gwen said earnestly.

"I had full confidence in you." Mayuree beamed at her.

"I am sorry, Kitty, for that sad display." Gwen turned to their deeply affected mutual companion. "One day, I'll explain it to you, I promise. For now, I assure you that I won't lose control like that again."

Kitty's cold snub came as expected.

"Lulan…" Gwen turned to the Sword Mage.

"We're not friends." Lulan put up both her hands. "Our matter is hardly resolved either. Let us return to your superior officer with the news of what's happened. Whatever happens, you saved my life and gave me a chance. If I survive this ordeal, then we talk."

The girls shook hands.

"You don't have Kusu's daggers. Do you?" Lulan asked, her voice hopeful but measured.

"I don't," Gwen apologised. "Sorry for lying."

The Sword Mage smiled wryly.

"It's fine," she replied, the timidity of her tone uncharacteristic of the berserker they knew. "Where I am going, none of that will matter anymore."

While the threesome pondered Lulan's cryptic message, Richard pointed upward.

"Shall we?" He pointed upwards.

"Let's go." Gwen led the way. "Let's end this and go home."

[https://imgur.com/xJGXTPm.jpg]

B11 basement.

B10 basement.

B 9 Filtration Chambers.

The service lift ascended.

In between flashes of light and dark, Gwen saw that her companions were alone with their thoughts, their minds digesting the scene they had earlier witnessed. Even if they tried to delude themselves that Caliban's consumption of Nephres was just like another attack, they couldn't deny that the Gwen who now strolled in front of them was no longer the girl that had descended only hours ago. Occasionally, one of them glanced toward her, then averted their eyes. Only Richard seemed unfazed, watching her with such benevolence that one might have mistaken him for a young father.

Ding!

The door opened, revealing one of the PLA guards serving under Choi.

"Oh, thank Mao, you're all back!" His eyes scanned the party, then stopped at Lulan.

"What's wrong?" Gwen inquired.

"The Major will see you at once!" The Private saluted. "They're all waiting for you! We were going to send out a search party just now!"

"Who's waiting for us?" Gwen asked quizzically.

The soldier met her eyes, stunned by her electrifying presence.

"E-everyone!" The private stammered. "Directors, Professors, Magisters and Maguses, the whole lot!"