Night fell.
The wounded were tended. The dead were counted. The survivors gathered in what remained of the main hall, huddled together for warmth and comfort and the simple reassurance that they were still alive.
Hoshimi sat apart from the others, near a shattered window that looked out on the ruined courtyard. Kira still slept beside him, curled against his side like a small animal seeking warmth. He didn't move. Didn't want to wake her.
Reina found him there.
She settled beside him without asking, smiling with her eyes closed back to her normal self, producing a cigarette from somewhere and lighting it with a flick of her fingers. The smoke curled through the broken window, disappearing into the night.
"Well there's no point in mourning them, what's done is done after all, it's not like we can change the past anyways."
Hoshimi sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing that the academy will treat this as a minor setback."
"This is Hex Academy after all, an institution developed by the government, just because a couple tools are broken doesn't mean that the toolshed won't be used any longer."
"Can't you change it?" Hoshimi asked. "You're the vice principal, don't you have any power?"
"I don't. After all, I chose not to accept the title of level 10, I have no say in such matters. I'm just as much of a pawn as you are."
"Don't you hate it?"
"How else am I supposed to live? It's safer than becoming a rogue, I can handle myself but I'm worried for you. I don't want to leave you alone." Reina softly smiled at him.
"You think I can't handle myself?"
"You can't, you're not Sophia."
"Then why didn't you become a rogue before adopting us?"
"I was broke, wanted for murder and no job would hire me."
"Wanted for murder? What did you do?"
"I killed my parents."
"Is that why you took me in? You saw yourself in me?"
"Nahhh." Reina rolled her eyes. "I just thought you were cute."
"So you've always been a groomer then."
She leans in closer towards him, her forehead nearly touching his as her fingers thread into his hair, holding him in place with a gentle but unyielding grip.
"It's always been in my blood" she purred, her voice barely above a whisper."
She presses her body against his, the soft curves molded to the hard planes of his frame. Her finger ran across his cheek with soft melodic movements.
"Get off me." Hoshimi grabbed her face, trying to pull her away from him, but the grip around his waist was strong, like a shackle around him.
"Hmph." Reina turned away and pouted, crossing her arms, pretending to be mad.
"Do you really have to be doing this at a time where other people are mourning?"
"When did you ever care about what others are feeling? It's not like I knew them personally, they're no different from a dead plant in my eyes."
"I think you should at least pretend to care."
"The rogues lost quite a lot." She paused. "We captured about a dozen. They're being questioned now."
"Will they talk?"
"I think there's a really obvious answer. The ones who obviously won't will be... dealt with." Her voice was flat, professional. "This is obviously an inside job and some of the injuries on the students are no different from Audrey Mirlo's, do what you want with that information."
"You want me to find out who the person is, right? Is this another puzzle of yours? A game?"
Reina's eyes met his, pressing a single finger to his lips.
"Who knows?"
A sly smirk spread across her face.
"I'll look into it," Hoshimi said.
"I know." Reina took a long drag from her cigarette. "You don't have a choice either way, Audrey's killer is in your little friend group after all."
"The assassin will kill more in the future, won't they? That's what your fortune tellers said didn't they?"
"Get some rest. You look terrible." She paused, looking down at him. At Kira curled against his side, asleep. "Take care of your little kitten, she's useful."
"She's not a tool."
"I know." Reina's voice softened. "That's not what I meant. She's valuable, Hoshimi. She relies on you, someone like her will follow you till the ends of the Earth, she's a rarity."
"Anyways, what are you going to do with the bodies?"
"Why're you asking?"
Hoshimi shrugged. "Mild curiosity."
"The government doesn't want to spend their precious income so the bodies are probably just going to get burned."
"I'll do it."
Sarah stood in front of them.
Her brunette hair was wild, unkempt, strands sticking to her forehead where sweat had dried. Her uniform was torn in a dozen places, revealing glimpses of pale skin that showed no wounds.
Her amber eyes pulsed with that unsettling golden glow, the light catching the dust motes floating through the air like tiny stars.
"The bodies," she repeated, her voice carrying that strange resonance. "The government wants them disposed of, right?" A pause. Her lips curved. "I volunteer."
"Huuhhh?" Reina's eyes narrowed. "Why would you ever take such a dirty task?"
"Someone has to." Sarah shrugged, a fluid motion that seemed to involve more joints than it should. "I'm used to burning bodies."
"Finee, just don't do it here. I hate the smell of smoke."
Hoshimi raised an eyebrow. "But you're always smoking."
"Errrmm." Reina tapped her chin and stared up at the ceiling, pretending to think. "That's an exception."
The alley was narrow, choked with shadows that even the moonlight seemed reluctant to touch. Sarah dragged the first body by its ankle, the head thumping softly against broken pavement with each step. The sound was dull, rhythmic, almost meditative.
She didn't need to drag them.
The alley dead-ended against a brick wall twenty feet in. Graffiti covered its surface, layer upon layer of tags and messages, some old enough to crack, some fresh enough to drip. A dumpster sat to one side, overflowing with bags that had been torn open by animals, their contents scattered across the ground in a fan of rot and plastic.
Sarah stopped in the center of the space. Released the ankle.
She turned back to the bodies. There was a mountain of them. Students, mostly. A few rogues who hadn't managed to flee Sophia's awakening. She'd collected them from the edges of the courtyard while the others were too distracted with mourning and counting their dead to notice.
Sarah knelt beside the first. A girl, no older than seventeen, her face frozen in an expression of terror that death hadn't bothered to smooth away. Her uniform marked her as a second-year. Her chest had been caved in by something large and blunt.
"I'll need to wait for Jack to come and create the ritual," Sarah breathed. "But for now, I guess I'll savor them one by one."
She placed her palm on the girl's forehead. Closed her eyes.
*Vita Nova.*
The body began to dissolve. Not into ash, not into dust, but into light. Golden motes rose from the flesh like sparks from a fire, swirling upward in a lazy spiral before circling back and sinking into Sarah's skin. The process was silent, peaceful almost. The girl's features softened as she faded, the terror smoothing into something that might have been sleep.
She lifted what was left of the girl's carcass above her face, biting down and chewing away the flesh.
Sarah exhaled. The mana settled into her like warm tea, spreading through her limbs, her organs, her bones. It wasn't much, the girl had been weak, untrained, her soul had barely any potential. But every drop counted.
She moved to the next. A boy this time. His throat had been opened by something sharp. His eyes were still open, staring at nothing.
Palm on forehead. *Vita Nova.*
More light. More warmth. More strength.
By the fourth body, Sarah could barely feel the difference. But the faint headache that had been building behind her eyes had faded.
Then the sixth.
Then the eighth.
Sarah stood in the center of the empty alley, flexing her fingers, rolling her shoulders.
She looked at her hand. Turned it over. Watched the light play across her palm.
Footsteps. Soft. Careful. Coming from the mouth of the alley.
Sarah didn't turn. "Jack, did you bring the materials?"
Dominic emerged from the shadows, his eyes flickering with a faint blue. He moved differently than Dominic did, smoother, more deliberate, with coiled patience.
"You're recovering well, my Lady."
"I'm recovering adequately, but it seems that you're still not fully in control, I have a plan for you." Sarah turned to face him, her amber eyes gleaming. "The bodies here are weak. Tasteless. Like bread without salt." She paused. "But bread is bread. It fills the stomach. With this many bodies, we need a catalyst to collect all the mana before it gets transferred into me, or the rapid change in the mana density will alert everyone else."
Jack inclined his head. "The others? Any chance they could find out?"
"Still sleeping, last I checked. The Miller girl's awakening was... impressive. It will take them time to recover from the Zenith's effects." Sarah's lips curved. "Time enough for us to work."
"Work?"
She stepped closer to him, close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating from her skin, the mana thrumming beneath her flesh like a second heartbeat. Her hand came up, fingers tracing along his jaw with a touch so light it might have been imagined.
"Hand over the mana catalyst."
Jack's eyes flickered. "Of course." He handed over a small crystal.
"Good." Sarah's smile widened. "Let's begin the feast."
Sarah knelt in the center of the circle Jack had drawn. Blood, of course. Fresh enough to still be wet, drawn from the bodies themselves and mixed with something else, crushed crystals, powdered bone, the ash of burned spellwork. It gleamed in the moonlight with an iridescent sheen that shifted as she watched.
Seventy bodies, piled on top of each other like a mountain of trash.
She had thrown them in a pile, their empty eyes staring at nothing. Students who'd died defending their home. Rogues who'd fallen to Sophia's wrath.
Then the first body crumbled.
Not dramatically. Not with any fanfare. One moment it was there, a girl with brown hair and a hole in her chest. The next, it was ash, scattering on a wind that hadn't existed a second ago. The mist stopped flowing from that direction. The circle adjusted. The ritual continued.
Each dissolution sent another wave of power through her, another surge of mana that made her nerves sing. "This feels amazing, I've practically tripled what I used to have. But this is nowhere near Sophia Miller. I need that sword."
"Hey Jack." She stepped back to survey the empty alley, the blank wall, the scattered trash. "Who would you consider has an interest in you, romantically? Your face is one that is quite the pretty one after all."
"Seraphina Shaw, searching through his memories, the two of them used to be attached at the hip."
"That's good enough for me."