“Give me another juice box!” Mary Cogwire exclaimed, bashing her hands on the table. “That’s your job right? To give me juice boxes?”

Clementine Kelly grit her teeth. “That’s right.”

The spacious kitchen, ornate designs carved into the walls, was a grandiose display of wealth. The luxury oozing from every granite surface triggered Kelly’s gag reflex.

“You need to do what I say,” Mary said, an innocent smile draped over her round cheeks. “That’s what they hired you for, right?”

“That’s right. There should be no confusion about my purpose here. I’ve been with you for many months.”

“Really?” Mary exclaimed, incredulous. “No, there’s no way! That’s so much longer than I thought you were here for…”

Kelly did not go through eight years of higher Practitioning education to be the nanny to an eight year old child who treated her like a servant.

Despite the juice cabinet only being only a few feet away from Mary, Kelly stepped over the corpse strewn beside the dining room table to retrieve the item of Mary’s obsession.

“What flavor did you want?”

“Juice flavor!” Mary giggled.

“Pardon me…?”

Mary clapped her hands, the bells rung around her neck jingling jovially. “You better choose the correct juice flavor! Or I’ll make mincemeat out of you!”

“Of course, Mary.”

Kelly tried avoiding the pools of blood, but the corpse had fallen directly in front of the cabinets. Wondering whether Mary asked her to retrieve juice just to get the experience of seeing Kelly stain her shoes, she retrieved a grape flavored juice box and set it in front of Mary.

Mary rose from the table and stared at the tiled floors glazed with a shimmering overlay that glowed like crystals. “You’re tracking blood all over my floors!” she exclaimed.

“You didn’t let me get dispose of the leftovers from lunch.”

“Maybe I’ll get hungry later!” Mary pouted. “I want to eat more!”

Kelly sighed as she tore a thick towel from the expensive sheets of paper rolled into the wall. “You can’t eat more. Your meal has already gone bad.”

Mary’s eyebrow upturned and her lip trembled. “But...but...he was so yummy! Why do you think he’s gone bad already?”

“I told you to savor your lunch and let it last for a while. You could’ve had it for dinner.”

Mary climbed on top of her chair. Her pure white hair fell in graceful sheets over her shoulders, a silky blue garment draped over her shoulders, curling down her midriff into a layered gradient skirt. Her glittering black shoes obscured any stains, but the white socks provided a jarring backdrop for the splatters of blood.

“Are you telling me what to do?” Mary asked.

“If you don’t take care of yourself properly, I have to correct it, right?”

Mary pouted. She sliced her hand through the air, sending Kelly careening into the bespeckled cabinet. Her right hand landed in the blood.

Anger danced through Kelly’s impassive face.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Mary exclaimed, leaping from her chair, descending in a slow, unnatural feathery way. “I’m the boss of you. You won’t ever tell me what to do!”

“I’m here to protect you,” Kelly said, raising her face toward Mary from her position on the floor.

Mary’s nose wrinkled and she looked away. “Can you stop looking at me? I don’t want to look at your face.”

Mary might as well have hurled feces at a brick wall. The comment produced no reaction except for Kelly rising to her feet and turning her face to the right.

“Can’t you do something about that?” Mary asked. “I mean, can’t you get your dumb face healed?”

“I cannot.”

“Why not?”

“To explain that, I’m going to have to talk about the dominant magic system here. Is that alright with you?”

“Ohh! Sure! I love magic!”

“How familiar are you with practitioning?”

Mary tilted her head to the side. “Umm..that’s the crystal magic, right?”

Kelly nodded as she wiped her bloody hand with a towel. “Practitioning is using the enerium stored in the crystals beneath this country to perform spells.”

Mary pursed her lips. “Wait, what’s enerium, again?”

“Magic, basically. White magic. Enerium is the last element added to the periodic table of elements,” Kelly explained. “Humans, who used to research science extensively, did not acknowledge the presence of enerium. It has healing and protective properties. Many organisms are infused with enerium, like the fae, elves, and angels.”

“I’ve seen fae before! They’re super cool.” Mary’s eyes were glowing in excitement.

“Unicorns have enerium as well.”

Mary shrieked. “Unicorns? Oh my goodness! I love unicorns!”

“They are the physical creature with the highest concentration of enerium. The enerium eldritch gods are conscious forms of enerium — 100% made of enerium. Anyway, most people call enerium ‘magic’ but that is the term that made humans afraid of us when they were in power.”

“Right, right,” Mary said, face scrunching up in concentration as she traced her finger in the air. “Right...so...anti-enerium is the opposite of that?”

“Yes. It basically is what people call ‘black’ magic. Magic of demons. Anti-enerium, or usually called antien for short, has the properties of destruction and deprivation. Creatures infused with anti-enerium are mutated in significant ways — horns, teeth, claws...At the same time, they are usually deprived of something.”

Mary blinked. “Deprived of something? Like, what do you mean?”

“They need to feed off of other creatures often to regain what they don’t have. Not all of them have to regain something, but the anti-enerium creatures that do are called parasites. For example, vampires are a pretty common anti-enerium creature that requires feeding off of others. A common parasite, if you will.”

“Oh! And so - let me answer this one,” Mary exclaimed joyfully. “Vampires don’t have blood, right?”

“Correct.”

“A different substance carries oxygen into their hearts and stuff?”

“Correct.”

“So that’s why they need to drink blood, right?” Mary’s wide eyes demonstrated the genuine curiosity in her eyes. “Because of the deformity that gave them no blood?”

“Precisely.”

“So,” Mary said, folding her hands together. “What does that have to do with your horrible scar?”

“A burn scar made by normal fire can be easily healed,” Kelly explained. “I don’t have a normal scar. My scar was the product of caloric crystallics.”

“So...enerium fire?”

“Exactly. Wounds created by anti-enerium, which is the base for caloric crystallics, can be healed, but there is often jarring scarring left behind.”

“So scars are left behind only when the injury is created by magic?”

A vein twitched in Kelly’s temple. “Yes. Just like I said.”

“Wait, wait,” Mary said, seemingly unaware of Kelly’s rising temper.

Which wasn’t a surprise, given that Kelly was hardly capable of emoting. But also, Mary knew that Kelly would not express her rage in fear of consequences that she was not allowed to defend herself from.

“Hold on, anti-enerium creatures do have something that they are missing usually, but...But in exchange, they have enhanced durability and strength?”

“Most anti-enerium creatures have enhanced durability and strength,” Kelly said. “Well, all humanoids charged with either enerium or anti-enerium have enhanced durability and strength just by definition. But they are stronger than enerium creatures physically, usually.”

“Wow…” Mary sighed dreamily. “That’s so cool. So...I’m stronger than enerium creatures, right?”

Kelly, who had been washing her hands in the sink, caught Mary’s eye in the reflective material of the wall. Two piercing red eyes returned the gaze, pupils narrowed into slits. Two horns extended from her skull, curling over her head, trailing down her spine toward her lower back. A long tail, coiled several times over, extended from her spine.

Kelly turned around, away from the mirror, to look at Mary’s soft brown eyes.

“Yes, you are.”

Kelly prefered Dark Mary over Light Mary. Neither versions claimed to be the true Mary - the original owner of the body. Kelly could never determine which version of Mary was the devil. Neither were sinless.

Light Mary had better control of her emotions. She was cruel and methodically so. If she was displeased, Kelly was well aware. The corpses splattered across the kitchen that Kelly was not allowed to remove would multiply, sending the festering odor of death wafting through the apartment. The bruises blossoming on Kelly’s limbs were another indicator of Light Mary’s rage, which was well maintained, but explosive.

Dark Mary had no control over her emotions. She didn’t like wearing dresses and kept herself locked away in her room. Kinder and sadder, Dark Mary didn’t want Kelly to watch when it was time for her to feed. However, when Dark Mary’s emotions got the better of her, then the damage to Kelly’s body and the surrounding area were significant. Even Light Mary, who would appear soon after, expressed frustration at this display of destruction. However, after every session of meaningless rage, she would always break down and apologize. So, Kelly preferred Dark Mary because Light Mary would never apologize.

Kelly knocked on Mary’s door as moonlight dribbled on the shimmering apartment floor. “Mary, it's time for your dinner.”

Wondering which Mary would answer the door, Kelly placed her hand on the doorknob. A meek, quiet voice responded.

“The door is open...You can come in.”

Dark Mary. That was good. Light Mary didn’t often ask for Kelly to come into her room. She would rather scream maniacally as she knocked on the door back before promptly telling Kelly to piss off. But, she wouldn’t use the words “Piss off.” She used the cutesy child-like language to express the message that Kelly was not welcome as an equal in her presence.

Kelly stepped into the grandiose, circular room that held the appearance of a tower. Pillows were strewn about the room, as well as various toys and art supplies. Despite her messy habits, the size of her room made the mess inconsequential, giving the entire space a spotless perception. Mary leaned against the window, leaning on her elbow. She now wore a black poncho and black pants.

The outfit was something that Rohan would wear. Kelly wondered how he was doing. Had he completed his mission? She hadn’t heard from him for a while.

“It’s time for dinner?” Mary repeated in a slow, gloomy voice, turning her head toward Kelly, but not her body. “What do we have tonight?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t checked.”

Mary sighed and returned her gaze to the window. “I guess you can get me something that tastes the best in your opinion.”

“Very well.”

Before Kelly walked away to retrieve Mary’s dinner, she stopped, one hand on the doorknob. Before she could lose her nerve, she said, “Could I ask you a question?”

This called for all of Mary’s attention. She blinked, soft brown eyes widening in surprise as she eased herself away from the window. Kelly had never introduced a question like this. She would always outright ask her, “what would you like to wear tonight?” or “which juice box would you like?”

This was a question that Kelly did not have to ask. This was a question that she was going to ask that Mary did not have to answer. That she may not want to answer. This was almost an act of rebellion, wasn’t it? A declaration of personhood. Light Mary might not approve of such autonomous behavior. But Dark Mary didn’t seem to mind.

“Okay,” Mary said, tilting her head to the side. “What is it…?”

“Where do the people that you feed off of come from?”

Mary stared at Kelly for a moment, expression unreadable. Kelly felt a twinge of panic as she wondered whether or not the question offended her, but Mary simply shrugged.

“Does it matter?” She said.

Kelly bowed her head. “I’m sorry for the questions.”

“I don’t mean it like that,” Mary said, looking away, discomfort in her eyes. “I just mean… it’s still people who have to suffer for me.”

Kelly blinked. She had never heard Mary speak about her dinners as people before. Kelly did not respond.

Mary’s lip twisted and she began playing with the ends of her hair. “I don’t want to die.”

“Of course you don’t. Please, disregard my question. I spoke out of turn.”

Mary sat on her bed and stared at the floor. “Are you afraid of me?”

Kelly hesitated. “The way I feel toward you doesn’t matter. All you need to concern yourself about is that I am here to serve you.”

Mary wrapped her arms around her body. “There are a lot of people who want me dead, so they try to break in to kill me. But they fail, so they get trapped down there. They end up in the dungeons.”

Kelly did not respond for a moment. A shock of white hot panic sprung through her mind. All she could think of was those three.

Prince. Marina. Ken.

“I see. Well, good that they are being punished for their murder attempts.”

Mary cast her gaze out the window. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Kelly nodded and said, “I’ll get your dinner, then.”

As Kelly turned to leave, Mary said, “I’m going to need more.”

“More what?”

“The Eldritch God needs more than what I’m giving it,” Mary said, fiddling with her fingers. “I need another Annihilation.”

A dizzying whirl of terror submerged Kelly, though it did not show on her face. Rohan was right. How had he known? “That has nothing to do with me. You make those decisions.”

“Do you want to know how those work?”

“You can tell me whatever you want.”

“King Lawrence V lets me use his royal guards to cause chaos. I send out a draft to the demons living in Blackheim to tell them to go to some city that I want to purge. I station one of my Fragments at the location. Just by proximity, any chaos or pain or murder that happens around my Fragment will feed me.

“Any chaos or pain or murder that happens by a demon around my Fragment will feed me even more. Of course, whatever my Fragment does will feed me the most… and by extension, the Eldritch God.”

Kelly stared at Mary. “I see.”

“That’s interesting, right?”

“That is interesting,” Kelly said.

Mary turned around back toward the window, a breeze whispering through her hair.

“I’ll bring your dinner up to you,” she said, bowing her head, though she knew that Mary would be unable to see her.

Without another word, Kelly sprinted out of the room, leaning against the hallway, breathing deeply. She knew that Prince and his team had planned to raid the building in which Mary was stationed. Kelly tried to tell herself that the team was skilled enough to break through the complicated magic protecting Mary.

But there were many people trapped in the dungeons. Many. Too many to count. Their numbers dwindled as Mary got too far ahead of herself and had been killing them to save space. There were so many.

So many people tried to destroy the Parasite, and failed.

But Prince wasn’t trying to kill the Parasite. Not yet. The only way to kill Mary would be with the Cessation Sword. Kelly had located it a few weeks after she had been stationed as Mary’s guard. She was the one that had given Prince the position.

Prince...

Kelly had expected some indication from Prince that the team was safe by now. She had not received any notification, despite keeping her thincom close to her body. Attempting to steady herself with deep breaths, Kelly reasoned that Mary would not get suspicious if she checked to see whether Prince had been trapped in the dungeons. After all, Mary was waiting for Kelly to bring her dinner.

As Kelly leaned against the wall, heart pounding against her ribcage with a rate that rivaled an upturned container full of ping pong balls, she realized that her hands had begun to burn. Sparks were dancing in the palm of her hand.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Stay calm. Stay focused. You are in control.

Before doubt could root her to the sickeningly immaculate floor, Kelly sped down the hallway, eyes glazing over the gory paintings fixed to the walls. When she had first seen them, they triggered her gag reflex. Now, she could appreciate the meticulous brush strokes which produced the illustrations.

She descended the building using the elevator strapped to the end of the corridor. It was another ornate work of art, woven together with strands of metal carved into demonic symbols. There was nothing on the wall except for that elevator. After stepping inside, she pressed the only other button: the one that leads to the basement.

Down she went. Except for the humming of the machine sending her into smooth descent, silence accompanied Kelly. Each passing second sent another wave of dread coursing through her.

She caught her reflection in the mirror-camera affixed to the wall. Her short auburn hair, cropped to a pixie-cut length, carried splatters of dried blood. The red, mangled scar pulsating from her eye down toward her cheeks and eyebrows and crossing the bridge of her nose, was as visible as it had always been.

Kelly felt the warmth of her hands.

As the elevator opened into the semi-darkness illuminated by only a few flickering lamps at the top of the basement, which rose twenty, twenty five feet into the air, Kelly wondered how much longer she could take it.

Contrasting the immaculate glow of the apartment above, the basement was a cesspool of filth. The air was saturated with repulsive odors of death, blood, and sickness. The walls were lined with hundreds of cages extending infinitely toward the end of the basement. Most of the cages held skeletons or otherwise the deceased in various stages of decay. Kelly did not sign up to be on corpse disposal duty, unfortunately, and thus allowed the cages to fill infinitely until there were no more left.

When that time came, she could worry about corpse disposal.

For now, she would ignore the problem.

She began her daily trek across the grimy floors, stained with decomposing flesh and blood, and like usual, victims of The Building’s traps screamed for freedom. Their panicked, desperate voices saturated the air with misery, shackling Kelly to guilt.

She was so sorry. So sorry, but she couldn’t help them. Couldn’t help any of them. Who knew the consequences if she did?

Kelly had to let these valiant heroes leave a legacy of sacrifice. None of them would die in vain, especially those forced to feed Mary. Kelly would somehow one day destroy the Parasite. But not now.

Not today.

Kelly’s eyes had grown accustomed to scanning the cages with increasing accuracy and speed. At this point, she was well aware of which cages held skeletons and bodies with a grotesque amount of decay. Besides, a cage stuffed with Prince, the insufferable blue prick, would stand out like a dead body in a mall.

As a mixture of relief and panic began squirming paradoxically through her weary limbs, her eyes caught the flash of blue for which they were searching. She wasn’t sure whether terror or relief was the appropriate reaction.

All she knew was that she felt it, alright. Whatever she was supposed to feel, she certainly did feel.

Kelly dashed toward Prince, feet slipping in the wet puddles and loose flesh splattered over the floor, and placed her hands on the cage.

Prince’s arrogant dignity had fractured. He leaned heavily against the side of the cage, tears ripped through his clothes, blue blood and wounds speckled across his exposed skin. Perhaps the most concerning part of his state were the cracks crisscrossing beneath the skin on his face, growing like shatters in glass. His eyes were half-lidded, but when she approached, they lit up and a grin spread across his cheeks.

He fumbled toward the front of the cage and placed his hands on Kelly’s.

“Are you okay, Colton?” Kelly asked.

“Why don’t you make that judgement?” Prince said with a cheeky grin. “What do you think? Do you think I’m okay? Or maybe...fantastic?”

“Actually, I think you’re pathetic,” Kelly said, though her heart was pounding, relief staining her mind. At least he was alive. At least she had that.

“Really? You’d go as far as to say pathetic?” Prince said with a pout.

“My prognosis, Patient Dipshit, is that if you feel well enough to crack jokes like this, then you feel well enough to get yourself out of this cage.”

Prince pouted. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Your bones are cracked,” Kelly said. “You need to get medical attention immediately. You know I can’t heal someone made of ice...I’ll melt you.”

Prince rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t say it like that. They’re not my bones, per se. It’s the layer of ice beneath my skin that forms the structure of my body. Without my ice, I would be nothing but mush and organs.”

“That’s your bones,” Kelly said. “That is so indubitably bones. Except bones made of ice. Who the hell thought that was a good design for a living creature?”

“Don’t think about it too hard, my sweet Clementine.”

“If you call me that again, I will melt all of your little ice bones.”

“You’re doing that right now,” Prince said, nodding down at his hands pressed against Kelly’s.

Kelly retracted her hands immediately. The only indication of Kelly’s discomfort was a subtle layer of red across her cheeks. Her face never betrayed her emotions otherwise.

“Sorry about that. You are the one who put your hands on mine.”

“Were you worried about me?” Prince said.

“Of course not.”

“You can lie, but the warmth of your hands can’t.”

Kelly looked away. “Where are Marina and Ken?”

Prince sighed and crossed his arms. “Well, they’ve gotten themselves into the same sticky situation that I have. I know they’re in one of these cages. We were separated is the problem.”

“Separated?”

“Apparently, there was a dragon here! Who would have thought? We had just taken care of a wormthorn and we immediately walked into a dragon.”

Kelly’s eyes returned to Prince. “What dragon?”

“Obviously not one of those common little bastards that start forest fires. There was a blackwood dragon there.”

Kelly blinked. Blackwood dragons towered up to twenty feet in the air. They were not the largest dragon, but they were impressive nonetheless, and about as friendly as a soccer mom who found a mistake in her complicated order of coffee.

“How did you escape alive? I don’t understand how such large creatures can even fit in a small space like the grounds surrounding The Building.”

“That was my concern too…” Prince muttered, adjusting his shattered glasses. “But the point is that the dragon didn’t seem to want to kill us. It batted us around and separated us, but it was like it had an explicit order not to kill us.”

“That makes sense,” Kelly said, crossing her arms. “Everyone trying to break into The Building become feedlings for the Parasite.”

Prince sighed. “So, we’re all supposed to be its torture slaves? What an appetizing ordeal.”

A shadow crossed Kelly’s face. “Indeed.”

“But I got knocked out because there was no way in hell for anyone, not even the best Practitioner in the world, to get through those obstacles. I know, I’ve tried.”

“You’re the best Practitioner in the world?”

“Of course. Now listen to what happened next.” Prince leaned in, eyes narrowed. With a theatrical hiss of a voice. “I woke up in here! Blood everywhere! Oozing from the walls! People screaming! How did I get here? Where will I go? That is one hell of a mystery. I don’t suppose you know how this happened, do you?” Prince smirked at her haughtily.

“Goblins.”

Prince blinked. “What?”

“I said goblins. That’s the answer you’re looking for. There are hundreds of goblins on the grounds. The Building employed them to help capture people like you and to help with clean up.”

Prince groaned. “That’s the big reveal? You’re telling me that I arrived here not due to some complicated, evil magic, but due to three foot tall little dumbasses carrying me here? That is not heroic at all.”

“Well, getting captured is not heroic either.”

“I can’t argue with that. Will you let me out now? I’ll help you look for the others.”

“Understood.”

Kelly pulled the key from her pocket and opened the door. Prince crawled out of the cage and attempted to hoist himself to his feet. However, applying pressure to his legs proved to be a useless feat, as he cried out in pain as he attempted it and slithered back to the floor.

“Pathetic,” Kelly said.

Prince looked at her sheepishly.

“Mind helping me up?”

Kelly did as so, pulling him to his feet with ease and swinging his arm over her shoulder. Without another word, they began pursuing the cages like storefronts full of pretty fucked up mannequins dolled up in festering wounds. It didn’t take long for them to find Marina and Ken, who had been shoved into cages side-by-side.

“Over here!” Marina called out as Ken stared ahead with a blank face of shock. “Kelly! Prince! We’re over here!”

Both seemed to be in better condition than Prince, as they both managed to get to their feet with relative ease.

“So, do you know where an exit is?” Marina asked, glancing around.

Kelly shifted uncomfortably, though maintained her cool exterior. “You cannot get to the exit using this elevator. We have to go up the elevator and down a different elevator.”

“Why did they have to make this so complicated?” Ken exclaimed. “Why couldn’t the elevator just go down to the normal floor?”

“Because it would be easier for you to escape if the elevator led to the exit. As it stands now, there is no escape except for the elevator here to which you have no key.”

Marina nodded. “Well butter my ass and call me a biscuit. That sucks. I mean, that puts all these guys here in a pretty bad situation.”

“That’s true. It puts us in a bad situation too.”

“Really? Damn, I couldn't have guessed,” Marina said, cocking an eyebrow. “Well, it’s time for us to get going then, right? We can’t just stand around hoping for a unicorn to fly us away and then stomp us to death with its hooves.”

“Is that supposed to be a good outcome?”

“Hell yeah it is!” Marina exclaimed. “Haven’t you ever wanted to get beaten to death by hooves? I think that would be just fine.”

Steeling their nerve, the group began working their way towards the elevator. They stepped inside and ascended. The sleek elegance of the elevator which had previously disgusted and unnerved Kelly had now become a source of comfort.

But Kelly was taking too long. Mary expected to receive her dinner by now. She would wander out in search for it soon — of that she was sure. Kelly hadn’t thought of that. She should have dragged another captured victim with them. That way, she could distract Mary by feeding her. Why didn’t she think of that earlier? Damn it.

All she had to do was lead the three to the other elevator. They would take it down and from there they would be on their own to run back.

“You called a rescue squad already?”

“No, no, we trusted in the power of friendship to set us free,” Marina said, cocking an eyebrow.

Prince snorted, trying to maintain some semblance of dignity despite being hauled across the floor by Kelly. “If we didn’t do that by now, then we honestly would’ve been better off a devil meat. You think we forgot our basic training?”

Kelly squashed Prince into the side of the elevator, forcing him to cry out in pain. “You are just the right amount of idiot that I wouldn’t be surprised if you did.”

“I mean, she’s right though,” Marina said with a grin. “You want to do everything by yourself all the damn time. You wouldn’t call a support team if you were bleeding to death in a dumpster.”

Prince wrinkled in his nose. “In a dumpster? I can’t argue with you there. If I put myself in such a disgraceful and inelegant position that I was in a dumpster then just let me die. Keep my dignity or give me death.”

Prince turned to Kelly and gave her a cocky smile. “Listen, Clem.”

“Do you want me to shove you into the elevator again?”

“If I ever put myself in a position where I lose my dignity and self-respect, then please give me the sweet mercy of death.”

“Listen, if I was expected to kill you whenever you were not dignified, then you would have been dead a long time ago and your corpse would end up being my favorite punching bag.”

“Can we please focus?” Ken snapped.

“Wow,” Marina said with a low whistle. “Kelly is the most stuck up, serious bitch on the squad. And you’re telling her not to tell any jokes? Listen, buddy. Go to hell. Let her have her fun when her dignity lets her.”

“So, the support squad should be able to lead you across the dangerous grounds as long as you break the eneric spells bound to the place. Are you prepared to make that journey alone?”

“Without the Cessation Sword?” Prince said.

That was the elephant in the room. Nobody wanted to address the reality of the situation.

That they had failed.

But they kept going, slowly making their way through the hallway. Kelly wasn’t sure what they were going to do when Mary found them. But they didn’t have to wait long to find out.

“You’ve brought so many people with you,” Mary said in her quiet, sulky voice. “What are you planning to do with them?”

Kelly turned around, Prince still flopped over her shoulder, paralyzed with terror. She turned around slowly, Marina and Ken following suit. Kelly could feel Ken trembling beside her.

Kelly noticed that Mary held a long, black sword in her hand. It shimmered in the radiant light of the hallway, glittering like black ink. The hilt was wrapped in a gray binding, five empty slots embedded into it.

The Cessation Sword.

Why did she have it?

The Cessation Sword was an impressive weapon, regardless of whether or not it was charged with Devil Fragments. It could kill in a wide radius with only a single slice through the air. Made of pure daemonics, it was a weapon rivaled by few.

It appeared that Mary did not want to waste her natural energy by using her own powers to kill them. She would use a weapon instead.

She dragged it across the floor toward Kelly, who stepped back. She was going to have to fight the Parasite with her own two hands? There was no way that Kelly would be able to succeed. She was going to die. They were all going to die here.

Nevertheless, she allowed her hands to crackle with sparks, shielding them from view.

“Say something, why don’t you?” Mary said, sadness highlighting every word. “You never bring so many people up here. And you passed by my door...Were you trying to let them escape?”

A bead of sweat appeared on Kelly’s forehead. “They are my friends.”

“Your friends? These people are here to kill me. How can they be your friends?”

“We have nothing to do with her,” Marina said suddenly, stepping forward. “Our decision to come here has nothing to do with her, okay? We’re her friends but we —”

“Don’t talk to me,” Mary muttered, flicking the sword in the air.

Kelly’s eyes widened in terror. “Marina, no!”

Marina flew through the air, blood splattering forward from a long gash through her midriff into her chest.

Mary frowned as Marina topped to the floor, crying out in pain. The moment she fell, Marina struggled to return to her feet. “This is not ideal,” she choked.

Kelly bit her lip and returned her focus to Mary. “I’m sorry that I have done this. What you want to do next will be your decision.”

Mary’s eyes welled with tears. “So, you’re going to reject me, too? You’re going to betray me?”

“I can’t condone you hurting the people close to me.”

Mary stared at the floor for a moment, examining the streaks of blood trailing across the hallway. “Really? Is what I’m doing that bad?”

Suddenly, tears began pouring down her cheeks. She fell to the floor, wrapping her arms around herself. Kelly stared at her in disbelief. “Mary…?”

“You don’t love me either…” Mary sniffled. “I thought maybe at least you cared about me. You stayed around so much longer than everyone else. All the other servants left much sooner. So, I thought you loved me.”

Kelly stared at her. She wasn’t surprised that she was the only one who could tolerate the tortuous conditions under which Mary placed her. Dragging the desperate, sobbing people up the elevator into Kelly’s room by itself was enough to make anyone plant a bullet in their own brain.

Kelly knew that much. Many times, she had almost been driven to that point.

But then, ultimately, she wasn’t.

Dragging victims to their deaths coupled with the stress of constantly dealing with Mary tossing corpses around the apartment, her job would have driven anyone away.

But not Kelly. It didn’t drive Kelly away, because she knew her purpose here. She was going to save people. That was the only thought that kept Kelly sane.

This was going to save people.

Besides, it wasn’t like Kelly had not dealt with corpses before.

“I can’t condone what you do, Mary,” Kelly said. “I’m sorry.”

“So, you hate me, then?” Mary sobbed.

The girl before her was not an innocent child, rejected by those who were obligated to love her. Mary was a devil — the Parasite tearing lives apart. The amount of people with which she had bloodied her hands were innumerable. Countless lives stolen from the world because of this one existence.

But Kelly did not feel hatred. She felt pity.

Because Mary was not always a Devil.

She didn’t ask to become this. Mary was a vessel.

And yet, it was Mary committing these acts on her own. Mary, condemning lives to hell — lives that deserved nothing but.

Kelly pushed Prince into Ken’s arms and approached Mary, dissolved on the floor in a pool of desperate misery. She knelt down before Mary, kneeling into puddles of blood, and wrapped her arms around her.

Mary stared at Kelly, disbelief round in her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“I am sorry, Mary,” Kelly said. “You don’t deserve what happened to you.”

Mary just cried harder, returning the embrace. “I can kill people so easily. I hurt them so easily...That’s not okay, is it?”

“No, Mary,” Kelly said, pulling away from her. “It’s not okay. But I don’t know what I can do to stop this.”

Mary stared at the floor. “I need to feed.”

“I know.”

Mary handed Kelly the sword and Kelly took it from her.

Silence passed between the two.

“Why did you give this to me?” Kelly asked. “You know what this sword does.”

“I do,” Mary said. “It won’t kill me unless you kill all my Fragments with it. But if you are able to kill all my fragments…” Mary sniffled. “Then you’ll be able to kill me. That’s what you want, right?”

“I…” Kelly was at a loss for words. She stared at the sword, heavy and cold in her hands. She suddenly felt as if a thousand anguished souls were fitted into the palm of her hands.

“You do!” Mary wailed, pressing her hands against her face. “That’s why you’re friends with people who want to kill me! You want me to die as much as they do!”

“I don’t want anyone to die,” Kelly said. “I want to protect as many people as I can. That is my job as a guard. To protect people.”

“I know I have to die, but I can’t be the one to do it… I can’t kill myself. I don’t know how. You have to do it for me. So then I don’t have to hurt anyone anymore…”

“Of course,” Kelly said. “I will stop you from hurting anyone again.”

Mary sobbed harder, covering her face with her hands.

Kelly stood up. Her knees were drenched in blood. “I’m sorry, Mary. I enjoyed being your guard.”

Mary sniffled. “I liked being your master. I have...I have an order for you. This...this is my final order to you.”

“Of course.”

“Hunt down my Devil’s Fragments and kill me. Please.”

“Of course,” Kelly said, bowing her head.

“When you go down the elevator, I’ll tell my goblins to lead you all to safety,” Mary muttered. “I mean. There’s no way for anyone to actually be able to get in and out of here alive.”

Kelly nodded. “We’ve seen as much.”

“So...then you will all be safe and you can go complete your final mission.”

Kelly could scarcely believe her luck. She had never expected for Mary to react like this...to allow her and everyone else to escape to safety. To not only let them escape but to, in fact, aid in their escape.

But the fact was that Mary was the name of two existences. The devil that possessed the body, and the human child whose body was possessed. Perhaps it was the human child, Mary, who let them go while the devil was resting.

Kelly attached the Cessation Sword to her belt. Her belt had the functionality to sustain the weight of such an item. Then, she retrieved the wounded Prince from Ken, who appeared as if he would crumple under his weight at any moment.

Then, they all began walking toward the opposite end of the hallway. Silence fell from all sides. All that could be heard were their own footsteps fumbling toward the elevator, only a few feet away. They were so close to victory. Lives maintained, sword in hand, that should have been the end of it. An imperfectly perfect victory. A miracle that couldn’t have occurred.

But, nothing is ever that easy.

As they approached the elevator, ready to press the button to descend, Mary’s voice suddenly rang out.

“But I still am hungry, you know.”

Kelly whirled around, Prince still slung over her shoulders.

Without any hint of what was to come, Mary suddenly extended her hand, pointing it directly toward the group of people huddled desperately beside the elevator.

A black shadow suddenly sprung from her hand, crashing into Ken.

Blood splattered in heavy, thick puddles around them.

Kelly turned in time to see Ken collapse. His right arm and leg were gone. A ragged chunk of flesh was missing from his side. His eyes glazed over.

He was no longer there.

He was no longer anywhere.

The world distorted and faded in and out around Kelly. At some point, she had dropped Prince onto the floor, but she couldn’t recall doing it. She was sitting in the blood, trembling hands shaking Ken’s limp form. At some point, someone guided her back to her feet, but she couldn’t remember who or when. While this was happening, someone was pushing her away from Ken, but he was so far away now. It was like she couldn’t see him anymore. Like he was obscured by a thick black cloud. Like the whole world was submerged in a fog.

Kelly faintly recalled that she said something in a whisper to Mary.

“Why did you do that?”

What she actually said was probably more dramatic than that. Something more angry. There had to have been pain in her voice — no, agony at the very least. Her throat may have been ripped apart with her words. She was sure of it. But she couldn’t remember saying anything at all.

It was more likely that her word was soft but firm, as it always was. The disbelief would have pushed the emotion from her voice.

“I just want you to remember who your enemy is,” Mary said. “Thank you for everything...But I’m so hungry, Kelly. You know that I need to eat.”

Kelly faintly recalled Prince’s voice.

“We need to go. There’s nothing we can do now. We have to go now.”

They went into the elevator.

“Jeez, you’re covered in blood, Kelly.” Kelly thought that might be Marina’s voice, but her entire body seemed to have blurred out of focus. It was like she wasn’t there at all. Like no one was there at all.

He couldn’t have died, right? Ken? The neophyte so enthusiastic about joining the effort...about making a change. She knew this mission was way over his head, but Prince had approved it anyway because he was so damn persistent. He was so damn skilled. She thought for sure that he would have made it.

But he didn’t.

“Hey, you need to wash this stuff off of you. You want me to help with that?” Marina said. Her voice was shaking. She raised her hand, producing a circle of water in her palm.

“What?” Kelly said, though her voice was echoed and distant. “I don’t need help. Where did Ken go?”

“We’ll be back home soon,” Prince said. Kelly briefly recalled a cold hand on her shoulder, but it was reassuring, so she allowed it to stay there.

They descended without a word.