A white ceiling and a single hanging light.

Emma wondered if it was wise to keep on living when these two things very well may be the only things she will ever consistently see again for her entire life.

Well, those and Master Sorola. Without him, she would die pretty swiftly, after all. Not a terrible outcome the woman thought, given her and her general surroundings' circumstances.

At this point, what was left for her and her remaining people but death? Mindless obedience to a cult, that's what.

That was why she was fighting, that was why she was still alive... It just... It all got to her at moments like this when she questioned herself and wondered if there really was any point in struggling against the apparent oppression.

Perhaps she'd be happy as a brainwashed sheep in Mother Danielle's flock. She didn't know since only death or life as a cripple awaited her, but it was fun to fantasise every once in a while.

Faintly, Emma heard the door to her room open.

Only her right ear worked now after the incident that ruined her body, but she couldn't mistake that telltale sound of the door slowly swinging open.

'It's a bit early for Master Sorola's treatment. A guest then? I wonder if Sir Hamilio sent us reinforcements... For some reason, I doubt it,' she thought a bit callously.

The last time he had summoned her to talk was almost 2-months ago when he had asked her to keep an eye on his children.

Ever since then he hadn't made contact with her nor answered any of her calls for aid. Perhaps he wanted his precious son to deal with the mess which was a full ocean away from him and his other child.

Perhaps he was testing her and her ability. She'd lost Aila very quickly during this whole farce of a war, so this could also be a punishment of sorts since her family still existed under his thumb.

It was hard to tell what that man was thinking. Emma doubted even he himself could tell what he truly wanted considering how twisted of an individual he was.

Emma was loyal to Davido, but that loyalty had waned incredibly after she became a cripple who now constantly danced on death's doorstep.

"You look even worse than I did when half of my body was burnt off," a relaxed and familiar voice mocked.

Emma couldn't move her head, but her lips worked with a bit of effort. "So you came... Daz..."

"How interesting," a foreign voice she had never heard before said. "Most of her body is simply ash. How is it not collapsing in on itself and scattering? Embers truly are very mysterious."

"... A friend of yours, Daz?" Emma asked as she closed her eyes and focused more intently on her hearing.

"Brother-in-arms, actually. Shen Mu, meet Emma Cromwell. Emma Cromwell, meet Shen Mu," Daz said, introducing them to each other.

"... Bei Fan, huh?" Emma muttered. "It's nice to meet you... is what I'd say were I not being bent over backwards by both my own body and those religious zealots."

Mu cocked his head to one side as he held his chin. "How does she know my true identity, Brother?"

"She works for my father and was essentially meant to monitor me. I would wager that she knows more about even Crusher than we do. Not that we care about that currently. We're here for the Truthians, not to question a cross-continental stalker," Daz said with a shrug.

"Hah... A cross-continental stalker... Your emotions gave you a strange sense of humour, Daz," Emma said with a sad tone in her voice.

She coughed a bit before adding, "... You can't beat them. But hey, now that you're here, maybe that man will finally save us... He can't risk losing his precious triple-ability and double-bloodline son, after all." Sarcasm and hate were more than evident in Emma's words.

'Excellent. She's starting to resent my father. Maybe she's been building up animosity towards him for weeks now. This could be a great chance to steal her over to, figuratively-speaking, the dark side... That's how Rose put it when I suggested recruiting Emma, didn't she?' Daz mused internally.

"My father hasn't offered you any aid in this war?" Daz asked.

"Hah... 'War'... This isn't a war. It's a one-sided slaughter... Do you know the death count from both sides?" Emma asked as her voice went even more hoarse.

"Please, enlighten me," Daz said.

"130,213 and counting from my people. 312 confirmed Truthian deaths. 16,043 missing persons suspected to have been converted to the Truthian's side." Sadness and despair laced every word of Emma's.

"... I see. That's... That's quite the disparity," Daz commented in mild worry. "How can such a difference be possible? Do they have some sort of power on top of being able to cancel esper abilities and cut the link to the system?"

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"... They call it God's Gift. They can turn anything they touch into ash... That includes bullets. The only way to kill them is to catch them off-guard - a far harder thing to do than it sounds," Emma explained.

"Well, that solves the riddle of your current condition. Where's Master Sorola, by the way? Mu and I would like to talk to him," Daz said, surprising Emma.

"Do you... Do you already have an Ember?" she asked. "I knew you were talented being his son, but even that is a bit much to take in..."

"I'm happy to disappoint you then. No, I do not. Mu does though, also, Master Sorola may be one of the few people that can help us fight the Truthians, assuming he isn't already doing that on top of keeping you alive," Daz said a bit expectantly.

Emma smiled weakly. "I am afraid none of his Embers can be used offensively. Even with the addition of your friend here... Without an Ember yourself, how can you help? It would be wise to simply... leave. Unless you have access to some nuclear weaponry and can wipe them off the map, then it is useless to stay and fight."

'Well... Maddy actually can buy and use nukes. Only she can out of all of my citizens... I have to wonder why the system cares enough to restrict something like that to only the purest of people. There are more restrictions for usage, of course, but still... We're not even a speck in the system's eyes on the grand scale... Worse comes to worst, I can buy a launching facility and have Maddy clean up this mess once I make sure she meets all of the requirements to launch some nukes, for now though, there's no point revealing that hand,' Daz thought.

"I have a certain skill that I want you to look at. I assume that you have used a skill slot on some sort of Identification skill, yes? I will give you permission to look at a skill called 'Astral Crystal Control'," Daz said.

"... Okay. Lean over me. I can't move my head." As much as she felt Daz would be useless against the Truthians, the confidence in his tone ignited her heart with a small kindling of hope.

Daz did as requested and very quickly, confusion filled Emma's ashen expression. "So that's how you control those gems of yours... If it isn't this one then I wonder what skill it is that allowed you to save Nevada and turn into a purple six-armed man of crystal... Still, what is that star in the skill's name?"

'She even knows about my fight with Aston Rickley... She clearly had a very powerful information network at one point...' Daz thought a bit wistfully.

Perhaps that information network could have been his under different circumstances. Lyle and Rose had been working rather tirelessly to create their own agency for gathering valuable information, but building it from the ground up was rather challenging.

"Are you in the top 100 on the merit point ranking list?" Daz asked.

"No. I'm in the top 10,000. I only have silver-level access, sadly," Emma answered as she closed her eyes.

"Well, since you've discovered its existence, I don't think the system will stop me from talking about it... It's called a Star of Eternity. In essence, it means that the skill is a part of me, not the system," Daz said, testing the system's limits slightly.

"A part of you?" Emma was confused. "What does that mean?"

"It means that even if my access to the system is removed, Astral Crystal Control won't be. It is interesting how our esper powers aren't inherently actually a part of us. Did you know that? It's why the Truthians and... other entities have the power to seal them from us," Daz said, alluding to Ak and Tek's special ability to affect esper powers as well as to the fact that Big Bo from the bank had done something similar.

"Other entities..." Could she shake her head, surely Emma would have. "So you knew I was a fellow esper, huh? I suppose that makes sense given how powerful Survivor's Instinct is... Is he also one?"

Mu smiled and shook his head even though Emma couldn't see him from where she was laying. "I am not, though I am rather aware of espers and have been ever since I was a child."

"... As the son of China's president, that makes sense... I see... Regardless, Daz... How can the control of a small party of gems help us kill that wretched woman, Mother Danielle?" Emma asked, hatred lacing her final words.

"Rather simply, really," Daz said plainly as he lifted his suitcase before opening it.

He then controlled the 50 differently sized diamond needles to float above Emma, giving her full view of them.

"I have absolute control over crystals. Absolute. Do you have any idea how fast I can make these move?" Daz asked with a slight smirk on his lips.

Gulping dryly, Emma asked, "How fast?"

"Fast enough to make them crumble. They are made out of diamonds, by the way. Absolute is a rather powerful word, is it not?" Daz asked rhetorically.

He was rather satisfied with his display of strength. After that little show he went on to describe his plans for the needles and he then discussed what Emma knew of the Truthians.

Before long, the door to Emma's room swung open and a man not of her previous council which Daz had dealt with upon solidifying their alliance entered the room.

The man was tall and dark and he was donning a simple shirt and some loose slacks. There was a string around his neck attached to a large sombrero which rested on his back and he had a rather powerful drooping moustache.

Also of note was the firearm at his hip, though it seemed completely normal. Likely, he hadn't upgraded it since the apocalypse had begun.

"..." He gave a passing glance at Daz and Mu before moving past them and then sitting on the stool next to Emma's bed.

He carefully put his hand on her abdomen then closed his eyes.

No one but Mu could see that he was using an Ember of some sort to stall the process of Emma's body turning to ash.

Minutes passed before he finally removed his hand. He nodded lightly then got up to leave the room.

They needed to work together so Daz saw no reason to stop the middle-aged man. He would have a chance to talk with him later.

Once he was out of the room, Daz said, "Master Sorola, I presume?"

Emma closed her eyes. "Yeah. That's him."

"Not much for words, is he?" Daz noted as he stroked his jawline.

"That would be on account of him not having a tongue anymore. I don't know the story, but he only communicates via writing, and he does that sparingly too. He just... protects," Emma explained.

Mu nodded. "I can feel a great deal of suffering from him as well as a deep sense of loneliness. Fear, however... he has no fear whatsoever. That man is at peace with his life and is ready to die at any moment."

Emma, as perceptive as ever, had noticed the deeper meaning in Mu's words. "... Suffering, loneliness and fear... You have an Ember for all of those? Is your offensive Ember one of those three?"

Mu, again, pointlessly shook his head. "No. I also have the Ember of Sweeping."

"... I see... The reports of you living on a farm for 5-years are accurate then... What position are you on the Ember ranking list?" Emma asked.

"17th," Mu answered honestly.

He never really was one for lying. Daz could see the benefits to withholding valuable information about a very unique ranking list, but it was Mu's information to hand out so he knew he had no right to scold his brother for being so loose-lipped.

"... Top 100 and you got 3 Embers for free... I shudder at the thought of what the top 10, top 3, top 2, and the number one position earned..." Emma sighed wistfully.

Daz frowned. He had similar thoughts. After all, he too had some rather cynical outlooks regarding the ranking lists.