Changeling

Nestra was shocked. Utterly shocked.

"Are you completely fucking stupid? Kidnapping a kid in Threshold?" she growled.

"You will regret touching our youths," Ashjay added, her voice deathly cold.

"She will not be hurt, if she truly is human," Alexander said in a dismissive tone. "I merely needed an incentive to make sure you stayed."

He smiled, very pleased with himself.

"The incentive is that I'm going to carve your chest cavity open and dig out your fucking core," Nestra replied.

"Don't let him get you angry," Ashjay said.

It was a little late for that, but Ashjay's point remained. Alexander was a B-class and not a pushover. She had to be careful. Ashjay took the spotlight in that moment.

"By Threshold law, I am required to offer you a chance to surrender."

Nestra ignored her, instead checking her mask phone for recent activity. There was a massive feed on the arrests, with at least fifty entries and one of them caught her eye.

"School assaulted. One teacher dead, five wounded. One student kidnapped."

That was it.

"You're wasting your breath. He's a fanatic," she said while Alexander smiled with a confidence he should not be feeling.

Just as she finished her sentence, she felt it. He wasn't waiting. He was deploying his own zero aura. Even with Nestra's resistance being at its strongest thanks to the dead world portal raid, she could still feel it sap the heat away from the room, denying movement, inviting sleep. She drew her sword at the same time as Ashjay charged, sensing the attack. There was a brief clash. Nestra could barely follow their movements but soon, Alexander pushed Ashjay away. He charged Nestra, his advance heralded by a glacial front. She barely parried the first attack by stepping back and to the side, His crystal blade almost tore her large sword from her grip with its stupid strength. He reversed, and Nestra was on the back foot. He was giving her no room to think or attack. She almost didn't notice his sword base morphing a hook. It took everything she had to push it away. Growing teeth still scraped her armguards, failing to pierce. His smile fell, then Ashjay's renewed assault forced him to back off.

Nestra didn't want to give him room. She charged, attacking with timed lunges aimed with precision rather than going all in. Ashjay was a hell of claws. They scored a few hits on his armor, chipping it, but he was keeping both of them at bay. A calm part of Nestra's brain whispered sweet terrors in her psyche.

They were outclassed. Alexander was strong. She silenced it as best as she could.

"All those portals…" he mocked. "And this is the best you can do?"

He reversed his course, allowing Ashjay to carve deep grooves in his chest plate. His sword hit her in the shoulder, spreading creeping hoarfrost on it in a deafening crash of ice and metal. Ashjay had readied herself by digging her feet in, but Alexander strike sent her careening against a generator in a shower of broken concrete. Another 5 million creds in expensive machinery crashed on the ground. And Nestra was left facing Alexander alone.

"Riel."

He attacked, and this time, Nestra met him halfway. She locked blades in a move that surprised him, and when her void-coated edge met the base of the sword, reforming hooks exploded. Shards bit into Nestra's unprotected face. It was painful, but she'd had worse. Her strike cracked his pauldron despite an attempt at blocking, but a punch to her left shoulder sent her flying. She landed on the wall, using passe-muraille to allow it to swallow her. She still saw light when his attack cracked it, but she was allowed to bounce back and reengage.

Thank fuck for her weird bag of tricks. It was running out quickly though. Thankfully, Ashjay was back in the fight. They tried to corner him again. It didn't work. Their battle tore through the limited space in a hurricane of flying metal and caving walls, piercing through containers. It was carnage, but the combatants themselves remained mostly unscathed. The tiny wounds on Nestra's skin were healing quickly, at least.

But she wasn't seeing a path to victory. He was just too slippery. He sure knew how to fight. At the same time, he was getting angrier, impatient.

"You test me," he growled.

A kick against Ashjay's chest pushed her away. He raised both hands, a wall of ice forming in front of him. Nestra's blade didn't get through.

Like a broken mirror, Alexander's smirk seen through the wall pushed him into the uncanny. Nestra readied arcane strike. Before she could resolve the technique, the mirror shattered in a hail of bullets. Alexander silenced a security drone overhead with a thrown shard, but the damage was done. Whatever he'd been working on had dissipated.

Thanks Brad. Maybe Nestra was biased, but baselines messing with a B-class would always soothe her heart.

Nestra's attack smashed what was left of the wall and caught Alexander in the ribs, fracturing his armor. He had once again tried to block it, the idiot. Maybe they had a chance? He was almost immediately upon her when two broken generators smashed from either side, sandwiching him.

"Nice," Nestra told Ashjay while Alexander disengaged,his protections breaking down.

"Can't… keep going for long," Ashjay replied.

Nestra's heart missed a beat. She hadn't realized what was going on.

Ashjay was dying from the cold. If she collapsed, Both of them were finished.

"I'll give you an opening," the B-class said.

"Wait!"

Ashjay ignored her. She charged ahead, several of the cables in her tensers turning into tentacles. Alexander replied with a furious assault before Nestra could close in. Again, he smashed Ashjay to the side like he'd done before… but this time the cop didn't try to stop him. She used the momentum to kick him in the head. Tendrils collapsed on Alexander, restraining him.

His sword pierced Ashjay's flank. She screamed. Nestra panicked as she charged forward. She'd been on the defensive for the whole fight. This was her only chance to change that. Helena was waiting. No hesitation.

Alexander saw her come. He tried to free his blade but the tenser armor had opened, exposing Ashjay to the elements but keeping him unmoving with tendrils anchoring into the ground and the cracked walls. She used momentum to close in,her blade sliding into a crack in his ruined armor. Alexander gasped in pain.

"I warned you," Nestra hissed.

She shoved the sword in then left it there. The armor exploded. Ashjay was sent careening off to the side while fragments pierced Nestra's chest and shoulder. Her cheek bled but Alexander's disbelief when he saw she was still holding strong made it all worth it. Aszhii resistance, hard won after clearing so many portals.

She guessed this wasn't in his briefing. Void claws covered her fingertips then she buried all ten in Alexander's ribcage. He screamed. Warm blood covered Nestra's freezing fingers. She dug, then pulled his core out.

His scream was silenced when he fell, leaving Nestra to stumble back, bleeding, in pain, yet victorious and flush with energy. Her wounds closed but very slowly now. Regardless, she was still running high on adrenaline and there was no time. Had to keep going. Couldn't stop right now.

Helena needed her.

"What have you done?" Ashjay screamed from the side. "We needed to interrogate him?"

Oh good she was still alive.

"No use, no need. He was a fanatic," Nestra spat.

"That's not for you to decide!"

The B-class was clutching her chest, metal covering the wound to stop her from bleeding out. She was breathing hard and was far paler than was likely healthy; the cold had turned some of her spilled life into ghastly icicles. It looked bad but… B-class vitality made it hard to gauge how bad exactly. The sight reminded Nestra that the woman was on her side.

"I didn't believe I could contain him," Nestra admitted. "I could not take that chance."

"But —"

"We almost died!" Nestra screamed back.

She took a huffing breath. Everything hurt but she was healing and there was no time.

"I have a surefire way to find Helena, ok? I, uh, I need to go."

Ashjay really wasn't looking too fresh.

"Will you —"

"Go," Ashjay interrupted. "Go. I'll live. Ah, but one last thing. Is it true, what you said?"

Ashjay's gaze didn't show any hatred or disgust, merely curiosity. Which was… a little weird, but then she wasn't a first gen.

"Yes. I really am an alien. I also lived my whole life here."

"Would you swear you're on our side?" Ashjay asked, carefully neutral.

"On everything I hold dear," Nestra replied without hesitation.

Ashjay sighed, tension leaving her.

"Good enough for me, Riel forgive me if I'm being a dumbass. Alright, go. Find her. And get Brad to send the medics. I need stitches."

"Copy that."

***

The elevator went up. Nestra was fidgeting and she couldn't help it because someone had touched Helena and didn't they fucking get it the first time? She was going to rescue Helena AND kill the bastards for it. And she'd do it before they disappeared. Threshold's surveillance network was top notch. The only reason they hadn't been caught yet was that there was a lot going on so Central must be overstretched — but it was just a question of time. Time Helena might not have. When the kidnappers realized…

When she found them out… an urge to do something pushed her, buried genetic instincts she didn't care to repress. They'd seldom failed her. She wanted to howl her anger so badly it almost hurt.

Her needle teeth parted and a sound emerged from her chest. It was a high-pitched, sustained chant ringing with harmonics. It was also not fully there, not fully physical. The human mouth with its human vocal cords did half and her nature did the rest, making the fabric of space vibrate like a taut string. The drone was beautiful and maddeningly familiar and it just felt right. Its comfort fed her, turning her anxious anger to eager fury and death was no longer an 'if', but a 'when'. It was a call and also a warning and also, a dirge. But not for her. Not for Helena. It was a dirge for those who'd punched the tooth before realizing they were standing inside of the maw. Those who'd taken Helena were already dead. The song just served to inform them of this inevitability.

Nestra sang some more. She only stopped to ask Brad to help Ashjay but the security was already waiting with a nurse and a bodybag.

***

Sereth's hand tightened on Stibs'. Not too strongly. He had no desire to hurt her but… even the slightest pressure made him feel the texture of her fragile skin, the heat of her body and the rush of her blood, just under the surface. His thumb traveled along the knuckle so he could remember that feeling after he'd left. He winced.

"Sereth?"

His next words were choked out.

"It's time."

She paused. Her self-control reasserted itself though he could still fear her terror. It was a bittersweet feeling, to be craved with so much passion. For who he really was.

"Oh. Uh, are you alright?"

The call was strong. Very strong.

"Aszhii wrathsong. The little one calls to war though she doesn't realize. Of course, I'm too old to listen and this isn't a song of many covens, but… she's very angry. And very, very close to ascending. Or she couldn't manage it."

"Something bad must have happened…" Stibs said, worried for her friend.

"The future is still uncertain, but I must be ready to leave. If she makes it."

"If?" Stubs asked.

Sereth sighed. His beloved knew the rules. She was just worried.

"She made some decisions that tie my hands, and yet…"

He looked up.

"Perhaps the path was to be close to you humans. I think we both need to trust her a little."

***

Things would be fine. Fine. Just fine. Nestra had the perfect tool. The gates of Depth Six opened with a hiss and she was out, sprinting, following her instincts. There, to her right and beyond the perimeter, the fabric of space was thicker with something hidden just out of sight. She crossed the boundaries with passe-muraille, then sprinted out of the parking lot, then to a residential building three blocks away. Outside, the city was awake and displeased, with gunships and searchlights sweeping over the ground like spooked hornets. She was almost there. Then it was thin enough, and she slipped through with grace where Sereth would have punched through. There was a world. There were tall, ashen trees under a purple sky. A floating stone pyramid rotated towards her, surrounded by orbiting rocks.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She punched it. Shattered debris rained on the nearby bark. Nestra grabbed her sword, found the bite scar on her arm and sliced the skin. She pinched the wound until the agony was almost unbearable but the other one had to hear the call. Had to. It was urgent. Nestra only hoped that —

An oblong form swam through the air above her at a surprising speed, casting a brief shadow that made Nestra look up. The void shark had answered the call… really quickly actually. That was a pleasant surprise that was washed away by a renewed wave of outrage. Nestra did her best to convey her thoughts at the stupid glutton.

Kit. Kidnapped. Stolen. Find. Rescue. Kill. KILL!

A flash of something indescribable echoed inside of Nestra's mind. If she had to use a vague equivalent, it would be 'protective' with a side of 'hunger'. Sashimi made a short circle above the ground.

Then she was off.

"Shit."

Nestra sprinted like her life depended on it. Sashimi had clearly zeroed on the bite mark she'd left on Helena's thigh, which was good, but Nestra had underestimated the beast. Their mock rivalry and Sashimis' tendency to gorge herself to rotund buoyancy made it too easy to forget that she was, essentially, half a ton of void muscle torpedo with a front made of teeth. The predator only stopped at the edge of the portal world. Nestra rushed ahead and slipped through first to open a path through which Sashimi followed.

Outside, night ruled. Sashimi shook a little before conveying her displeasure: sounds, lights, poor mana, many predators, this wasn't a place she should be in, but her distraction only lasted for an instant. She was off soon, a shadow on a background of darkness. Nestra's brain finally realized that if a B-class found them now, Sashimi might be killed on sight.

Shit, Nestra might be killed on sight too. But Helena had to be saved. Nestra wouldn't be able to live with herself otherwise.

They ran. There was a lot of surveillance going around but few patrols, probably because most gleams must be concentrated around key areas. Nestra blasted her 'you don't see me' aura as much as possible through the convenient mean of repeating 'fuck off fuck off' very quickly in her mind. She hoped it would provide Sashimi with some cover as well. She didn't know if the creature could emit its own field. It was something that should have been tested before — dammit!

Helena was okay. She had to be. She had to be.

They ran faster. At some point, Nestra realized she'd been holding the harvested core in a death grip. It tasted like self-righteousness and deep resentment. And fear, weirdly. Her body buzzed with mana in a way that made her chest burn. Maybe she was overloading.

They arrived in front of a utility tunnel entrance. Sashimi lowered herself, her fins skimming on the concrete like it was a cloud. They were getting very close, so Nestra slowed down. Sashimi did, too, conveying her impatience. But Nestra wouldn't bulge.

Being stupid and rushing ahead was a sign of hubris. This was Helena's safety at risk. She wouldn't allow her anger or urgency to get in the way of a proper rescue.

"Ok, ok."

First thing first, take a picture and send it to Aunt Claire with the coordinates. Nestra would bet both her thumbs that the rest of her family was hanging around their phones, foaming at the mouth waiting to be unleashed. The last kidnapping incident had left a body count in the triple digits but people didn't seem to understand. Anyway, there would be backup. The answer was immediate.

"Don't intervene, we're already on our way."

Just as her answer was.

"No deal. I'm going in. If it looks like I can't succeed, I'll pull back."

She then dropped the phone in her dimension pocket. She meant it. Helena might be in mortal danger, but Nestra wouldn't get both of them killed if there was a risk. Calm. Safety was the number one priority.

"Let's hunt," she whispered to Sashimi.

A jumble of thought returned. Stalk. Position. Kill. It was Nestra's kind of plan, honestly. The two of them dipped through the ground, ignoring such pesky things as 'baryonic matter'. The void shark's subtle presence guided her to a musky underground tunnel. Stained concrete separated her from a mix of mana signatures. Her horns couldn't pick them individually through the walls but there was no reason for so many gleams to be gathered in this spot, so she slipped through while Sashimi swam overhead.

She was in an open room covered in support pillars. It was cold and wet, people in military fatigues and civilian gear were waiting around electric heaters. There were about twenty of them, mostly gleams and mostly male. Mix of C and D-class. Definitely less Asian presence than the average Threshold group. They reeked of stress. Nestra skulked in the shadows, covering herself with dark mana. Her skin woke up to cover her back in fleeting nothingness.

Helena was here, alive. Riel those guys were fucking dumb. They should have snuck onto a boat as soon as possible, although the port must have been locked tight. Or gone into a portal world, although all known repeating or open portals were under the heaviest level of surveillance. Or moved deeper.

Actually nevermind, they shouldn't have kidnapped Helena to begin with. There was no way in hell they would ever get away with it, not in Threshold proper. Fanatics were just so fucking weird. Nestra's relief at seeing her sister immediately morphed into something else, however. Helena was currently strapped to a metal chair, wearing only trousers and a sleeveless shirt that revealed the bruises on her toned arms. Her pale skin only made the fresh lesions that much more obvious. Her hair was matted. Dirt clung to her face, with congealed blood staining her mouth and chin. Her nose was purple and puffy. She was sniffing.

A man was drawing blood from her wrist. She must have stopped struggling recently because her skin was red and angry under the restraints.

Nestra's vision narrowed.

***

Helena was cold, afraid, in pain, and very determined not to show it. The acid void in her vein asked to be let out but she didn't want to be slapped again. Not for nothing.

Couldn't cry. If she cried, they won. And her family would come to rescue her anyway. Fuck, those bastards had killed Miss Suri. Why? Why kill Miss Suri? No, don't think about it. Don't think about it or you'll cry. Helena allowed herself a sniff which was ok because her nose was still bleeding a little bit. Also, it felt very tender.

"If you're not one of them you have nothing to fear," her captor said with a neutral voice.

She was a muscular blonde woman with perfect self-control, one of the few to remain calm. Vials of blood waited on a whirring machine connected to a bulky laptop. Streams of data cascaded on the screen. Those people were fucking crazy.

Someone came to whisper something to the blonde asshole.

"Prepare to move. We're leaving through route B."

"But —"

"We have to try," the woman said, her voice brooking no objection.

As the woman turned, Helena spotted movement near the ceiling.

Funny how being the only one seated meant she could look up. Raiders seldom looked up. Thing was, ceilings were not always a protection. The woman returned her attention to Helena. The fact she wasn't even covering her face usually meant Helena wasn't going to get out of here alive, but now it no longer mattered. In fact, it looked like Helena could talk again. Also talking meant she didn't have to think about Miss Suri leaning against the wall, face twisted in agony as she died seeing her student carried away by masked raiders.

Rage stoked the embers of rebellion, and Helena found she could fight back her tears.

"We're going to move you. Do not resist. I have no desire to hurt you any more than I need to."

"No need to talk, dead woman," Helena spat. "That's what you all are. Dead people."

"We're doing this for the future of mankind, girl," the woman calmly said as she wasted no time closing her laptop, the last of the data sent Riel-knew-where.

"If this is the future you guys are envisioning for us, I want no part in it. You killed Miss Suri, you cunts."

"A necessary sacrifice."

Helena choked on her anger. That last sentence had opened the floodgates.

"You're the necessary sacrifice, bitch. Bye bye."

The woman would have replied but ten gray fingers closed around her face. There was a horrible crunch and Helena closed her eyes just in time to avoid the spray of disgusting stuff. When she opened them again, the guy who'd been whispering was now short a head and falling, and half of Helena's vision was filled by a muscular back so tall her sister's horns were reaching the ceiling.

Nestra screamed.

It was a terrifying sound that made the void in Helena's core vibrate, reaching not just sound but mana and something else, deeper. It was both animalistic and strangely harmonious. It should have chilled Helena to her core but somehow, it didn't. Because this was Nes, and Nes had come for her.

Then Sashimi swooped down on the nearest person and all hell broke loose. Helena called void and managed a small blade on her painful thumb. She awkwardly tore through the binding on her right hand, strength allowing her to tear off the last strap. It hurt. Next was her left hand. It was so hard to focus and she almost expected the cold feeling of a weapon through her body but, well, she guessed the assholes must be super busy dealing with the sybillant demon and the world's best shark. Her leg restraints were easier to remove. Helena then jumped on her axe, which was hanging against a pillar but by the time she looked up, it was all over.

***

Nestra stopped, panting. The last of her prey was bisected and coming to terms with it. Power flooded her core from all the kills, and she was fairly sure she'd managed to keep the attention on herself. Helena rushing towards the stupid handbag confirmed it.

"Sashimi came to my rescue!" her sister cried, tears of relief and happiness carving a path on her dirty cheeks.

"You're welcome; glad I could show up as well," Nestra grunted.

She was completely ignored. In a gesture that made absolutely no sense to Nestra's understanding of Sashimi, Helena jumped on the shark's back. The fat missile menacingly waggled towards the door.

"Really?" Nestra asked.

"Onward, faithful steed!"

"But that's a void shark! They don't work like that!" Nestra complained.

Sereth had been adamant they couldn't be tamed! Was this human pack bonding sorcery? Damn. Helena was dangerous. Nestra would never allow herself to be managed like that, obviously, but it was still concerning.

Relief finally flooded her chest now that she realized that Helena was safe. The break made her crash completely. Her body cooled. She shivered and realized her mistake. Yes, Helena was safe… but Nestra wasn't. She had to leave the city, if the resident A-class allowed it. It was not the time to take a break although she really wanted to. Ugh. Everything hurt, and the pressure in her chest kept growing.

In the meantime, Sashimi had found the gate locked and bitten it open in a vile screech of tortured steel. With Helena urging her on, they found the nearest access to the surface. A powerful burst of mana warned her of trouble even before the sounds of battle erupted. Helena dropped down from Sashimi's back. There were humans outside.

"Hmm, you should probably send her back."

With the beast sated and her discomfort increasing, Nestra thought she would have no difficulty forcing Sashimi into disappearing but to her surprise, the shark just popped out of existence as soon as she felt she was no longer needed. Nifty trick.

A quick check of her phone showed no new messages besides Claire complaining.

"I… think I feel mom outside," Helena whispered.

Nestra had to agree. There was certainly enough ice and electric mana outside for it. And she couldn't afford to wait.

"Stay behind me," Nestra warned.

Helena sniffed, and nodded. Fuck she was looking so young like that, and the blood made Nestra's stomach twist. But she was safe now. Almost.

Nestra opened the access door onto an apocalyptic vista. The street outside had been just a boring access point to an old subway station, completely empty at this time of the night. Now it was a battlefield ravaged by ice, fire, vengeful growths, and explosions. Buildings lay half-collapsed on the pavement. Spells striated the night alongside the clash of blades and the blur of B-class fighting mercilessly for supremacy. Some of the frozen pillars crackled with energy. Nestra hadn't seen such devastation since the purge of District Fifteen.

It was also very clearly a Palladian operation. Nestra didn't even jump when her mom materialized in front of them.

"Mom!" Helena cried.

"My daughters!"

Nestra watched the other two melt into each other's arms. Her mother turned to her, tortured by guilt, sadness, relief, and shame. It felt wrong seeing her mother so demolished, a first gen who had survived the incursion. Like Nestra was walking on something she wasn't meant to see. The strangeness of the situation broke every instinct she had and for the first time tonight, Nestra had no idea what to do.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so ashamed! I don't deserve you. I don't deserve this. I'm so sorry."

Her mom was half turned towards Nestra. Her Aszhii brain short-circuited. So she just grabbed her mom into a half hug before her cortex could catch up.

"Actually I want that," she said.

When had her mom become so small? The woman barely reached her core now, but her grip was strong and she smelled familiar and the color of her hair was just the way Nestra remembered, unchanging and comforting despite the war happening around them. Nestra's brain was empty, torn between hope and terror and just… not sure what was happening.

"It's my turn next," a voice roared. Her dad.

"Oh yes, yes. Sorry Helena, we weren't there."

"Nes, tell mom that I kicked ass."

"She was wired as fuck," Nestra confirmed.

Helena rolled her eyes.

"Riel, you're such a zoomer. Nobody says 'wired as fuck'."

Their mom burst into tears which cut into the banter.

"I'm so sorry. None of this was your fault and I, and I…"

"Hey it's ok you're here now," Nestra said. "I'm not mad but, uh, who are we fighting?"

"Let your mother finish!" Deborah Palladian roared in a voice that would suffer no protest. "As I was saying, I have been a terrible parent who let her trauma get in the way of loving her daughter. I can only imagine what you've been through while I focused on only my pain."

Well it was a pretty serious pain inflicted on someone who'd been through a lot… but her mom didn't look like she wanted to be comforted right away.

"Debbieifyoucouldhurry," her father said in passing.

"Right. I apologize. You are my daughter, this isn't your fault in any way, and I've been a bad parent and for that I am sorry."

"Accepted," Nestra hurriedly replied just as a vortex of metal turned half of the nearby street into shrapnel.

'Oh," her mom replied.

"But, errr, who are we fighting?"

"Yourdadwillexplain," her mom said before zipping away with a spell.

Her dad landed. His titanic armor was dented though healing. There was blood on his sword too. His eyes, through the tiny slit, remained completely calm.

"Daughter. The Rebirth Fund just announced a reward on your body, dead or alive."

"Wow," Nestra said, outraged.

"A reward of twenty-one million credits."

"WOW. I mean, I'm flattered but… dick move."

"You don't say. In any case, sorry I took so much time to help your mom. Helena, stay here you'll be safe."

Vassily emerged from the ground in a shower of green leaves. The giant winked at Nestra through his helmet.

"We are the first trans-species guild! Huzzah!"

Nestra barked a short laugh. It was the nerves.

"Nestra, follow."

She did, easily keeping pace with the steel giant. It wasn't like before when she couldn't have possibly followed the fights. She still couldn't keep up with techniques but now speed and experience told her where danger would come from, or when to stop. There were around six B-class people fighting the Palladians, with both sides strangely pulling punches. It looked like their adversaries were not coordinated, but also that the Palladians were trying to keep destruction to a minimum. It made the flow of battle strange and very fluid. She didn't try to dodge the fire spells coming at her. Her father just intercepted them with raised metal plates, and it was more important to allow him to predict where she would go. The heat and shock still made her exhausted body shiver with every impact. Her brain still struggled to follow. Aszhii were not designed to be rescued.

It was just… a very weird sensation all around. Her mounting exhaustion didn't help.

They arrived at the edge of the perimeter unchallenged. In the distance, Sanae and her mom moved in to engage the foes in a series of well-aimed spells. Her father's grip on her shoulder stopped her. His eyes were level with hers, with his armor on. His hand was strong but not painful.

"Listen, I get that from a genetic perspective or whatever this is, I'm not your father."

"Dad…"

"Let me finish. You have my sword style. You talk like us. I raised you from the moment you weighed 4 kg and screamed like a banshee three times per night. I taught you how to ride a bike and to skewer a monster. He might be your genitor, but I'm your dad. And I'm not sharing. He can't have you."

Nestra was tearing up a bit. Maybe it was the smoke or something.

"Buuh."

"And if you see that cunt, tell him I'm going to kill him for touching my wife. It might take a thousand years but I'll have his fucking head."

"Get in line."

"Right."

He gave her a short head butt, just two foreheads touching, horns against helmet. His gaze was steady and fully confident.

"Now get out of here. Claire will cover your exit."

"Dad!"

"We'll be fine. The bounty is unsanctioned so no matter what, Shinran is coming down on the hunters like a brick skyscraper. Go!"

Nestra raced on, feeling like she was bouncing on stilts. The realization had lit a fire in her chest, not one of bitter anger but a very weird, nourishing one. Her brain kept looping on that weird assertion she couldn't quite accept.

"I'm loved? Really? Really really?"

What a baffling fucking concept.

And then Aunt Claire was ahead, fighting alone against three B-class wearing a red and white uniform. She was wounded but keeping up. Her stone armor regenerated constantly which was probably saving her. One of the opposing gleams had a bow, her distant form shrouded in mist, another was a mage, his staff held high and face covered under a veil, and the last one a tall man with a spear like her. She turned.

"Nes! Run! I got this."

"Get her," the distant bow wielder screamed.

Run. Run? Nestra's brain short-circuited.

Run and leave her family behind, bleeding for her? Her family who was now risking their lives to allow her to exist, without a second thought? Helena, her nose broken. Her mother, crying. Her father, his armor dented. Her aunt, bleeding.

The ball of pressure in her chest pulsed one last time, then it exploded. An absolute maelstrom of mana smashed against her mind like a tidal wave, smothering any other thought except for one: direction. Nestra could still see the four raiders, frozen with shock in this fleeting moment as the white-hot power demanded to be directed. She needed… speed. Just speed. To catch up. To think. Anything else just wasn't as irrepressibly urgent. The energy flooded from her core to her spine, up and down in a wave of sweet magma, suffusing every part of her from her head down to her fingertips. With this came clarity, focus. She could feel the handle of her sword to the last strand, the hot wind of battle at her back. She could hear the gasp of the raiders as her balance adjusted ever so slightly. She had… just ascended.

It was fucking glorious.

And now they were going to see. They were going to know not just what it meant facing first gens, but also facing their supposed prey. She was going to show them what they thought they could hunt.

Third ascension Aszhii warrior. B-class. The first step towards immortality.

Not prey.

Her body surged with void electricity in an upscaled version of her acceleration spell. Everything was perfectly clear. Aunt Claire. Her foes. Her blade. Everything made perfect sense, and she already had a name for the upgraded spell.

"Hypervelocity."

But that wasn't enough. Her understanding of the Scornful Crescent had stalled because it was a good path to follow at first, while she was still rediscovering herself as a raider. But now she had experience and there was something that didn't quite match her. She wasn't that distant and arrogant dancer she'd seen in her vision. They shared the same vicious, counter and deception-based style but Nestra didn't experience scorn. That was a haughty emotion and a waste of her time. She wasn't an arrogant hunter, at least she believed she shouldn't be. She was a fucking professional soldier. Scorn had no place in her mind. She had to forge her own path: more direct. She was a huntress, yes, but above all, she was a pro. Victory was the goal. Her path was that of the Blade Saint.

"Watch ou—"

"She's ascen —"

"Get her!"

"Nes —"

Step 3: cull the weak.

Nestra surged in front of the spearmen in a cloud of void energy. Her strike tore through his left arm and part of his chest with a dreadful clang. A spray of blood painted the concrete red. She turned, smashing her sword against a hastily raised gauntlet. The spearman took off like a rocket from the sheer might of the impact. Every muscle fiber in Nestra's arms and back screamed in protest. An arrow blinked in the distance but Aunt Claire was there, blocking it. Stones harassed the mage who raised a wall of dark flames.

"The brain first, really?" Claire yelled. "I expected you to pick muscles!"

"What's wrong with my muscles?" Nestra replied. "There's nothing wrong with my muscles."

The banter was all nice but even that sudden burst of energy was dissipating, leaving behind only pain. Her speed had come at the expense of everything else. It would take bones, sinew, and yes, remade muscles to match the old B-class. To Nestra's surprise though, the trio backed off after a sign from the one-armed guy. He approached, remaining hand open.

"Ragnarok just made claiming the bounty on your head a capital offense," he explained as if it was a valid excuse.

"It was before too," Nestra complained, but Claire didn't move when the guy picked his arm up, probably to reattach it later.

"Well, you are an illegal alien."

"Get fucked, mate."

Spearman had the audacity to chuckle before leaving. The trio disappeared, but Claire was in front of Nestra before she could relax. Her eyes were wide with concern. When she spoke, it was fast in the same way Nestra had experienced before, too fast for baselines to understand, but this time she could follow because she was one of them. It was a strange experience, like a familiar door finally unlocking.

"Nestra. Congrats on ascending. I love you very much. Did your parents tell you they loved you?"

"Yes!" Nestra happily chirped.

"Ok good but we're also trying to extract you and we will not die so kindly fuck off already, xenoniece. You need to extract and hide now. Enough delays for Riel's sake."

"Ok on my way. Damn."

Before she could do so though, four more shapes emerged from a side street. Those were not opportunistic raiders like before but masked people who'd come ready to hide their identities and go the whole way. Only one of them was easily recognizable from his thin sword and elaborate gauntlet, so much so that he hadn't even tried to wear a mask. He led the three others with aloof confidence.

"Ulysses," Nestra whispered.

The B-class stopped a few meters away, lopsided smile conveying bitter amusement, though his eyes followed the battle still raging behind Nestra.

"Well well well. I never thought I'd ever be so right."

"Don't waste time," a male voice warned, the tone artificially altered.

Nestra's hand tightened on her sword. She was running on fumes. Things were about to get complicated.