I once more walked through Sanctuary’s trial chamber, though this time it was dead silent. Garfiel must have properly gotten the villagers back to their homes. I’d take care of the refugees in the morning, but as long as he’d found a safe place for them to spend the night, that’d be good enough. The Ryuzus weren’t here either, so it was just me and the cold dead stone of the trial chamber.

Fairly soon, I reached the final doorway— the one Emilia must have gotten through after she’d finished the last trial. Sitting within a glass case was Echidna’s true body. Her white hair was the same color as snow, and stray pieces drifted over her face as if in the breeze. Though I knew the case was fully enclosed, so any movement could be attributed to lingering magic in the air. I knew that if this corpse could open its eyes, Echidna would have pitch-black eyes.

I punched straight through the glass, causing it to shatter into tiny pieces and rain upon the witch within. After the glass finished settling, I brushed the pieces off of Echidna’s body and onto either side of her— off onto the padding. From there, it was a simple thing to pick her body up and out of the magical coffin. I scooped underneath her legs and back, picking her up into a princess carry. I took a moment to just observe her body— curiously, she still felt warm, though without breathe or a pulse, I knew she wasn’t just asleep. Her head lolled to the side, her body completely limp within my arms.

“Beako,” I spoke into the silence, “If you can hear me, can I get a portal?”

The dark room remained undisturbed, the latent magic in the air tingling slightly against my skin. I waited another moment, but it seemed Beako either couldn’t hear me from within the Sweet Home or she wasn’t paying attention. Something to test out later, but otherwise, I set the idea aside for now.

With a heave, I threw Echidna over my right shoulder like a sack of potatoes. One quick summon of my company phone into my other hand later, and I brought Echidna’s body into my Sweet Home.

I wanted to hurry up since I knew Beako was still waiting for me. With that thought in mind, I hurried into the sweet home and then down the basement stairs. Each step down the hard concrete stairs, I just had one thought in mind; I couldn’t wait to spend some quality time with Beako! I wouldn’t let these chores get in the way of my Beako time for long.

After I made my way into the basement, I took a quick look around. This was actually my first time down here, so the view was still novel for me. I knew there had to be some kind of dungeon around here somewhere, but beyond that, I hadn’t known what to expect.

It was boring all things considered. A lot of empty space— presumably here for me to fill it out with stuff as I needed it? Either way, it was empty for now, just a lot of concrete: floors, walls, and ceiling. The room felt cold, too. Perfect for a cellar. Or dungeon.

The back wall was lined with cells, not unlike a stereotypical jail you might see in something like Shawshank Redemption. Except, these cells didn’t have any furniture either. It was just a lot of cold concrete and metal bars.

The cold emptiness stretched across the back wall, except for the middle cell— that one had a pink-haired girl. She stared out from between the bars, her eyes wide and locked directly onto me.

“Let me out.” She said, tone neutral with a hint of something deeper. “Please.”

“You’re kinda creeping me out there, Echidna.”

“I’m not the one carrying a dead body into a jail cell with a little girl.” She retorted, equally as neutral.

“Well anyway, I don’t have time to deal with you,” I said dismissively, “Beako is waiting for me.” I walked up to her cell. “Step away from the door,” I commanded.

She didn’t move.

“Suit yourself,” I shrugged.

I grabbed the bars of the door, swinging it inward toward me. Immediately, Omega tried to scamper away, but I just nudged her harshly back into the cell with my foot.

She fell on her butt fairly hard, but, unlike a real little girl, she didn’t cry or anything else. She just kept staring at me with those wide neutral eyes.

I shrugged off Echidna’s old corpse and let it drop to the ground, sharing the cell with the new Echidna/Omega.

After her body finished limply collapsing on the ground, Omega spoke up, “Let me out,” she requested once again.

“I refuse.”

“I’ll do anything you want if you let me out.”

I crouched down to be at eye level with her where she sat on the cold concrete. “In that case, vacate Ryuzu Shima’s body immediately and retreat into the soul crystal.” I took the Castle of Dreams soul crystal out from my sweatpants pocket, brandishing it into the air. “Get out of Garfiel’s grandma and I’ll consider giving you more privileges than just this cold dark cell.”

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She kept staring at me, utterly impassive. Just as I began to assume she had nothing more to say, her head tilted up to the ceiling and she began laughing madly. Her dark, hysteric laughter chilled my blood and creeped me out.

“Fine then!” She said, somewhat loud for this cramped echoing space.

Immediately after, Ryuzu Shima’s body collapsed suddenly, utterly limp. But, I could see her still breathing, so I hoped her soul and mind were still intact. Garfiel was gonna be ecstatic— assuming Echidna didn’t scour Shima’s mind to make room for her own.

I sighed. “You really are making me do more chores before I can go spend some quality time with Beako, aren’t you?” I complained aloud. I knew Echidna could hear me, even if she was in the Castle of Dreams.

I palmed the soul crystal in my hand. “Well, for everyone involved, you better hope this works, Echidna.”

Kneeling over Echidna’s original corpse, I used one hand to roughly pull up the top of her sleeve— enough that her wrist was exposed. The stamp appeared in my hand immediately, I could feel how eagerly it wanted to be used. So, I did so. I stamped Echidna’s old corpse, wondering what would happen.

Would the stamp do nothing, since this was just a dead body? Would it ‘capture’ Echidna— and if so, would I be able to give her Company perks or not? Would I have to wait until I could use a resurrection on her?

I pulled the stamp away from her skin, immediately looking under the stamp and onto her bare, pale skin. Upon her arm, lay a now familiar symbol of a purple dragon, the rest of the stamp quickly filling in on the borders with more esoteric symbols. I vaguely recognized two of the three outlying symbols, all of them reflecting Echidna’s past in some way. Some kind of tree-looking image, a white dragon, and a black book. Those last two were obvious, at least.

Its purpose complete, at least for now, the stamp vanished from my hand— banished back to the æther from which it came. I palmed my Company phone instead, scrolling through the options. Body talent was pretty easy to find at this point, it was my most purchased perk, after all. I bought it for Echidna and used the settings to make her shorter, 5’2”. What? I thought it’d be funny. She was evil, I tried to justify to myself. I could do what I wanted to her. Except abuse or mind control— no unjust or unusual punishments and all that. More importantly, I used one of the two full-body heals, pressing the button and then staring down at her unmoving (but shorter) corpse.

I waited patiently, hoping that this would work. If I had to wait for a resurrection, I’m pretty sure her body would start rotting before I could afford it.

Echidna sat up with a gasp, her eyes opening and scanning the room desperately. I didn’t care too much either way, honestly. I didn’t trust her, even with the loyalty-enforcing stamp. I already knew from cannon that her idea of ‘loyalty’ could involve decades of subjective time’s worth of torture and death.

I looked back down at my Company phone, checking to make sure she didn’t have any access to Company assets, such as being able to summon my stamp or phone herself. I found the settings and toggled them off for her. She wouldn’t be escaping because I was stupid enough to let her use my phone to portal out of here.

Still gathering her wits, Echidna continued to stare around the room, before her eyes settled on me, her breaths coming heavy. She smiled at me and rose her hand into the air, “Al Go—” she tried to shout out, before choking on her own spell. She sputtered on the ground, clutching at her chest as it heaved.

I chuckled at the sight, amused by her efforts to smite me now that she had returned to her original, powerful body. “Loyalty stamp will do that to ya!” I pointed out with a smile. “Get used to it. I’ll also make sure no one else comes down here to see you.”

Her hand clamped around the front of her sleeve, where she stared down at the symbol marking her. I could hear her teeth clenching. Under her breath, with no small amount of malice tinging her words, she spoke, “You promised to let me out of here if I vacated the clone’s body.”

“Naw, I promised to give you more privileges. Honestly, you aren’t doing a great job of selling the idea to me, trying to blast me away with fire magic the second I bring you back to life.”

“We both know the fate I have here with you is infinitely more terrible than what I had as a soul in a crystal,” she spat out at me, hate in her eyes.

“Perhaps,” I tentatively agreed with her. “In either case, I think I’ll let you stew here for another night or two. I’ve got places to be!” The thought of going upstairs to comfort Beako took over again, excitement coursing and dancing through my chest.

I practically hopped over to Ryuzu Shima, still in quite a good mood.

“Wait,” Echidna spoke up, now kneeling in a seiza position on the concrete floor. “Leave her here. Her Od has been damaged from my intrusion.”

“What, and you’re gonna heal her back together? I think Beako is better suited for it, and less likely to do something terrible.”

“Bah!” Echidna spat, “She doesn’t have the skill required to put a soul back together. Leave her with me until tomorrow and I promise I’ll give Garfiel’s grandmother back to him.”

“You’re plotting something.” I raised a brow.

“Perhaps. Or perhaps this will give me a way to alleviate the boredom, at least temporarily.” She stared back at me.

“Naw, I’m not leaving her here with you. That sounds like a fucking terrible idea.”

“I’ll make a promise, to not hurt or harm Ryuzu Shima in any conceivable way, should you leave her here with me.” After her words, I saw and felt magic settle around the Witch of Greed, her torso glowing for a moment.

“A soul contract, huh?” It was just like the one Roswaal used in canon.

I tapped my foot on the ground for a few moments, considering.

“Alright, I’ll leave her here with you for tonight.” I paused for a moment, then continued, “Beako and I will come check on things in the morning.”

Echidna just smiled, up at me. On the surface, her smile looked innocently sweet, but behind that mask I knew lay the most frightening of monsters.

“And, tomorrow, I’ll figure out what you’re scheming with this, too.”

“If you know I’m scheming something, why let me heal Ryuzu at all?”

I smiled a feral grin, draconic fangs showing, “Well, isn’t it obvious?” I stared at her. After she didn’t respond, I finished, “Because it sounds like fun.”