One by one, more and more pillars of golden light descend from cracks in the sky. Each of them severs a tentacle without resistance. Waves of destructive retaliation slam against the platform, but somehow, it holds strong. My shields–empowered by Noland commandeering them–barely twitch under the stress that would’ve killed me a thousand times over.

And… it’s just the shockwaves. The afterthought of magic being destroyed, not the actual magic itself. That little bit of magic from the krarig would’ve been enough to kill me. My hands close around Fleur’s changing body. I want to turn away. But I can’t.

This is how strong I have to be if I want to be completely free. Actually… no. I need to be stronger than this. Stronger than Noland, Ursula, March, and anyone the Preservation can throw at us. Illumisia alone proves that the other world is more dangerous than Earth. There’s bound to be others like her–others that the system will eventually throw at me and the other Worths to make sure we don’t do… whatever the system is scared of.

So I don’t turn away. I lock my eyes on the scene, watch as Noland turns his palm to the air, and gawk at the golden sphere that flickers into existence. Inside, a miniature krarig thrashes and struggles against the small golden confines. Outside, the krarig thrashes and struggles against a gigantic golden sphere that completely cuts it off from moving.

Noland raises his hand with the sphere. The real krarig’s sphere mirrors the movement–raising the massive apocalypse-touched monster out of the water and exposing its disgustingly long body for all to see. Tentacles like amalgams of steel supports and drills whip through the air, smashing against the golden prison and leaving long marks that hiss and thrum louder than volcanic eruptions.

Beads of sweat trail down Noland’s neck. “Tell your elemental friend that I need her help.”

I blink in surprise. “She’s… not able to talk at the moment.”

“Damn it.” He hisses. “Well, then it’s not my fault that we couldn’t get any of the hearts out of this thing. Ursula! March! You two want this thing for research?”

“Yes, please!”

“You better not destroy the damn thing!”

Two very different responses say pretty much the exact same thing. Noland sighs in annoyance, like they just made much more work for him, but I can see the small smile hidden under that annoyance. And, for some reason, I feel the need to test it.

“You could completely destroy it for the Worth bonus, you know.”

“Sure, I could, but then all I’d get is Worth. Even after spending all this, I’ve got more than enough to spare.” Noland reaches for the krarig in the sphere with his other hand and takes hold of a tentacle. “Research material like this comes along once a decade. And with March and Ursula’s skills, we’ll get way more out of it than the Preservation could ever hope to. Anyway, I feel like I’m going to vomit and pass out, so I’m going to stop talking and start doing. Sorry if I accidentally squish the hearts.”

Noland’s fingers close around the tentacle. Giant, glimmering masses of golden magical sparks appear near the exact same part of the krarig and take hold it exactly like Noland did. Like a cruel child torturing a beetle, Noland began to systematically disassemble the krarig piece by piece.

First came the tentacles. With sharp and merciless pulls, Noland severs each and every one and places them down on a simple shield he asks me to make. The real krarig’s legs are severed just as easily, then float to the side and arrange themselves in exactly the same way Noland laid the legs out next to him.

The krarig’s screams reach a crescendo by the time Noland plucks out all of its eyes. It grows quiet when he rips its beak, a mass of jagged metal and dripping grease, free and pinches the hole it leaves shut. I can’t do anything but watch in stunned silence as the krarig dies so easily before my eyes, and so thoroughly that I can’t imagine how the other one did so much damage to the world.

Using just his fingers, Noland dissects the krarig like a trained surgeon. All of its ‘organs’ are lined up with the legs, eyes, and the hollow shell that once held everything together. And, as if he’d always planned to save the best for last, Noland finally reaches into that hollow shell and takes hold of a strangely shaped sphere that leaks grease and is coated in salt.

My hope reignites when I see the heart. It blazes when he skillfully pulls the second and third free from the krarig’s empty husk. And it crashes when I realize that I’ve been raptly watching Noland dismantle this supposedly country-destroying apocalypse monster for almost an hour.

Because if Pearl hadn’t done what she did, Fleur would’ve died fifty minutes ago. And, for some reason, I can’t feel Fleur any more. Not like I can feel Pearl with my awareness, who’s in her shell, quietly talking while she gestures at things that I can’t see. It looks like it worked. But it also looks like it cost Fleur a lot.

A sigh flows freely from Noland. He peels his watch away with obvious exhaustion, his hands trembling as he picks at the clasp.

“That’s that.” He says shakily. “I haven’t been this exhausted since… well, the system will censor that. And… that. Oh, that too. Aaaand now I’m too tired to think of more examples. March, can you come get the parts?”

Bright pink flares next to me, and March steps through a portal much like the one Noland got me with. She locks eyes with me for a split second, but then all her focus shifts to Pearl’s shell. Curiosity blazes in her eyes without an ounce of restraint, and from how she silently mouths empty words, she must have so many questions she wants to ask Pearl.

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I hold up a hand before she can say anything. “I’ll explain everything when Ursula’s back and we’re in the meeting room. Nothing before then, okay?”

“I know. I’m just… is she how you got the everdriftwood?” March asks.

“Not until we’re all together.” I remind her with a small grin. “Pearl wants to meet all of you at once. Fleur, too, maybe. Depending on how she can work with the hearts Noland easily ripped free after he made me think he was going to completely obliterate the krarig.”

Noland barely has the energy to smile sarcastically. “You can’t blame a guy for covering his ass just in case the krarig turned out to be much more of a problem than I expected. But hey, it all worked out, so we can be all sunshine and rainbows now!”

March cocks her head to the side. “The Preservation will come after us for this. Even if we have documents to prove they’re in the wrong, they’ll doctor their own evidence to look like we were the ones that did it.”

“Yeah, I know, but that’s at least a few months down the road. Probably a year, at least, since they’ll have to thoroughly cover their tracks. Watch for any signs that they’re remodeling or getting rid of the buildings you made for them.”

“I already am. Because you told me to half a year ago.”

“I did? Well, I guess past me had the right idea. I need to buy that guy a drink.” Noland laughs and turns towards March’s portal. “When you’re done here Shelby, come find me to explain to our two hostages how they aren’t just hostages. I’ll keep them distracted for… half an hour. Get that elemental settled in here and make sure March makes everything it needs. Oh, and send me the bill. It’s all I’m really good for, after all.”

With those parting words lingering in the air like toxic pollen, Noland steps through the portal March used to come here. I mull on his strange self-deprecation for a few moments. It really doesn't sit well with me; he just showed me the most brazen display of power I’ve ever seen, and for some reason, he almost seemed humbled by it.

“Hey, March… he wasn’t serious about that, right?” I hesitantly ask as March fiddles with the platform floor.

She shoots a glance over her shoulder before going right back to work. “Technically, he isn’t wrong. Banker doesn’t have any spells of its own, and Noland’s actually locked out of using any spells of his own. Hostile Takeover lets him use other people’s spells, and Ursula made a bunch of gadgets with spell-like functions so he can fight.”

“But if he didn’t have any of those, he wouldn’t be able to fight powerful apocalyptic monsters.” I realize as I walk over to March and lean in to see what she’s doing. “So… he can’t even put spells into coins?”

“Nope. Ursula and I made a bunch of them for him to use.” March swipes her hand across the platform, and tendrils of metal extend far into the distance to start grabbing krarig parts to haul back. “Gil helps sometimes, too, but he’s not around as much. Honestly, I think you’d be the best at making spells for him. He probably realized that when you asked him to help teleport in the krarig.”

I clear my throat and look away in embarrassment. “I… only meant to teleport in the hearts. The rest of the krarig wasn’t supposed to come along for the ride.”

As the platform collects the krarig parts, March hums to herself in satisfaction and brushes off her pair of pajama pants. “I just decided we’re having pizza tonight. Send me a message when you’re done talking to the two people you teleported in. Oh, and good luck with Fleur. She feels a lot weaker, but if I can actually replicate her conditions, she should recover pretty fast. Bye!”

“Wait, Nolan said–” I start, but March already marched through the portal. “Damn it. At least she left it open behind her so I have a way off this platform.”

I turn to the waters once again, and for a few minutes, I just watch the tendrils of metal drag the krarig parts closer and closer. They all disappear under the platform, and in a flash of magic, somehow feel connected to the thing. I’ll have to ask March for the blueprints later, just in case she built a research lab under the water or something like that.

“Problems solved, huh?” Pearl says as she squishes onto my shoulder. “The krarig’s dead, you got the coins you were looking for, and the Preservation’s on the backfoot. That sounds like a big win to me.”

“It does, doesn’t it.”

But something feels… off about it all. Everything worked out perfectly fine, and even the worst thing that happened wasn’t really that bad. All in all, I should consider it an amazing success for my first mission. Like I’m forgetting a part of the mission that’s going to come up and bite me in the ass in a few days.

“Shelby? Something wrong?”

I shake my head and clear my doubts. “Nah, probably just me overthinking things. How’s Fleur? She doing alright?”

Pearl sits down on my shoulder and lets her legs dangle freely. “She’s going to be perfectly fine. I worked my magic and infused her core into all her salt, which will definitely take a lot of time to get used to, but she’s going to be way better off for it. No more obvious weak point, she’ll move much faster through salt, and she’ll be able to evolve a lot faster too. Kind of like a shellraiser.”

“But not as amazing, right?”

“Hey, we had millions of years. She’s had less than a hundred.” Pearl giggles and plants a hand on my neck. “Once she’s had time to catch up, then we’ll do real comparisons. But… give her a few days to adjust, then bring her back here. She’s fragile right now.”

She says those words with such a heavy heart that I have no option but to agree. “Can I talk to her?”

A long pause.

“Sorry. I… lied a little.” Pearl sheepishly looks down. “I’m not done changing Fleur. It’ll be two days before she’s in a place she can talk, four before she can move, and the whole week before she can safely leave my shell. Maybe even longer before she can try interfacing with the salt in the hearts.”

I raise an eyebrow at Pearl’s pointless lie. “You know I wouldn’t be mad at that. Why’d you lie?”

“I don’t know. Honest. It just kind of… happened. But it won’t happen again; I promise. And Shelby… you have to think of a name for Fleur’s species.”

Pearl’s tone shifts from rueful to deadly serious in a single breath. I’m taken aback by the stark difference, and for a moment, all I can do is stare into her eyes. There’s not a single hint in them that she’s screwing with me or over exaggerating the importance of what she just said.

“Uh, sure, I can do that.” I say awkwardly. “Why’s it so important?”

“Because, Shelby… remember what she said?” Pearl leans in close, and for the first time in a while, I get a hint of the shellraiser she must’ve been before the system screwed her. “When you saved Fleur, you became her god. You might not understand how important that is right now, but in a week, you’ll understand.”

Pearl shudders, and I can’t tell if it’s from fear or pleasure.

“Living gods always have way too big a burden to carry.”