"Ah...ah..."

Tristessa gagged, convulsing and unable to shake off the panic that was trying to give her a heart attack. Even though Stormcrow was no longer there, the terror and the touch of her hands on her body remained. Like the phantom pain of a severed limb, something she knew all too well.

"Ugh, akh...ah...AH!"

"If you're going to writhe like a pig, do it when I'm not present!"

Aurelia waved her right hand and summoned a gust of wind that wasn't the product of thaumaturgy, but rather of her Divinity of Nature, the [Divinity of Air Haste], a product of Xiliarra's love towards her. The gust of air was so strong and localized that it struck Tristessa's right cheek, the equivalent of a slap that nearly knocked out several of her teeth.

Some tiny cuts remained on her reddened cheek and began to bleed, but the intention achieved the goal: Tristessa blinked several times and stopped trembling like a victim of hypothermia, her reasoning ability rectified thanks to that supernatural blow.

"Uh…f-fuck…," she sobbed, tears falling as she despaired. "W-why?"

"There you have her, Master Gaoceiros," Aurelia said. "The dishonor of reading a Stranger's soul."

Timidly, an old man with a beard so long he almost stepped on it peeked out from behind her. He wore a thick gray robe and no shoes. Exactly as Tristessa remembered.

"Master Caius!"

She could still hear the old man's voice screaming like a madman and running through the halls of the Sanctuary. His verbal exchanges with his apprentice, Cyela, and most of all, the spiritual reading he performed in exchange for the donation she made.

Now Caius was a sea of nerves, clearly unwilling to stay in that place even a second longer than necessary. His hands, fingers interlaced with long nails kept trembling, resting atop the river of white beard that ran the length of his torso.

"Reading a Stranger's soul is… w-well… Are you sure, My Lady?" the mystic tattooist asked, flinching at the sight of Aurelia's cold stare.

"Do you question my ability to read people, Master Gaoceiros?"

"N-no, of course not! Excuse this old fool, Lady Eramisaptor."

Caius approached the distressed girl, pressured by the She-Dragoon's heavy and fearsome countenance. Facing her, his bulging eyes analyzed her like a priceless jewel protected behind the glass of a typical museum on Earth… And at the same time, like a dangerous caged animal that could try to pounce against the metal bars at any second.

"Master Caius…"

The gray-eyed girl's murmur was barely audible, depressed by the tattooist's lack of recognition. Inevitable, given the implicit cruelty that came with her [Divinity of Death and Resurrection], but it hurt, nonetheless.

"Oh! You know me, miss?" Tristessa almost smiled, ruefully, seeing that ghost of the enthusiasm she remembered in the old man, like when she had given him a great soul-jewel. "Have you heard of me? Or do you own a Divinity capable of…?"

"No chit-chat, tattooist. Do your job," Aurelia warned, standing behind him as the dangerous presence that she was.

"Y-yes, my Lady!"

Without a thaumaturgy catalyst, Caius raised both hands. Between the lines of his palms emerged two glyphs that respected the geometry of the natural lines and curves in the epidermis. They emitted a faint white light, but unable to break the cell's darkness.

He brought both hands to the sides of Tritessa's head, with the intention of placing them on her temple, but stopped on the last second.

"Lady Eramisaptor, spirit reading would be more effective if it could be performed in the Sanctuary, and with the consent of..." he tried to say, only to be interrupted by her.

"You will do it here and now, Master Gaoceiros. Even if you have to force your presence inside her rotting spirit."

"B-but...!"

"Are you testing my patience? Even if you are the best mystic tattooist in all of Entrana, I will not hesitate to throw you in a dungeon."

Arms crossed and firm as a prison guard, the She-Dragoon's orders were absolute. Impossible to disobey, unless one submitted to the consequences. Something Caius wasn't willing to do for a complete -ironically- stranger, like Tristessa.

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"I'm sorry about this, miss. Under different circumstances, I would offer you tea and a reading session," the old man murmured, distress materializing in his wrinkled gaze.

"Ha... Tea? There wasn't that last time..."

"Excuse me?"

"No, nothing. Do what you have to."

Tristessa had a broken smile form on her lips when Caius placed his palms on her temple, and her entire body was temporarily covered in tattoos. From the points of contact, tattoos of chains, thorns, and spirals surged along her skin and disappeared, like black ink expanding and diluting almost in an instant. A painless and almost imperceptible experience.

"I will not let you see my [Dark Resurrection], Master Caius. I will not allow you to suffer that fate of madness…" she warned, knowing that in her mind she could not be heard, but her dark soul could. "Neither you nor Aurelia Eramisaptor."

"Th-this is impressive! Three Divinities!" the old man exclaimed, his eyes rolling back in his head. "This girl was blessed by the Dark Sun and the Brightest Star!"

"Three? No more?" Aurelia asked, anger evident as she approached Tristessa's side. "What else are you hiding, Stranger? I know you own another Divinity! Show it!"

"Lady Eramisaptor! Please…!"

"Shut up, old man!" The She-Dragoon grabbed her neck, squeezing tightly, but not enough to prevent her windpipe from being blocked and suffocate her. The pain was excruciating, though, as her fingertips dug in and pressed with little mercy. "Do it!"

"I-if I do it, we'll all die!" Tristessa stared into Aurelia's, conveying the truth in her words. Would this be a way out of this failed loop? Of course, but people like the ruler of End-World and the mystical tattooist didn't deserve to fall victim to the [Gradient of Madness]. Even if Aurelia Eramisaptor was going to kill her, she didn't deserve that fate. "Do you hear me?! WE'LL ALL DIE!"

The forcefulness of the truth. The ruler gritted her teeth, so enraged that in Tristessa's eyes, the woman was infinitely more terrifying and dangerous than her Vilecross, Mystia. The fingers of that hand, which knew what it meant to judge and kill, pressed with the desire to pierce skin, muscle, and tear out her windpipe. It would be so simple, so easy to extinguish her life like that…

But at the end of that tunnel of rage, Aurelia gave in, freeing her throat and allowing her to take a deep, painful breath.

"Four Divinities… What God gave you that fourth?" she asked, crossing her arms again, though her anger remained unabated.

As she finished coughing and regained her breath, she met the inquisitive gazes of both of them, Caius having already learned every detail of her other Divinities and ready to pass on what he'd learned.

But not before hearing what the girl had to say. An answer that would spell chaos.

"Vel'Moran…"

As soon as she named the God of Death and Dimension, Aurelia puffed out her chest and nearly lost it, the corners of her lips curling censoring wild, intense emotions. And Caius…

"Is that true?! T-The Three Gods, the three foundational pillars…" The mystical tattooist turned away from her, equally frightened and fascinated. "L-Lady Eramisaptor…!"

"I know… I know," she whispered, thinking of that proverb passed down through generations. "We have a possible Dark Lady among us."

The sentence was given without trial, without reflection. Only because of the prejudice of possessing Divinities from the Three Gods. What was Tristessa's fault for receiving their blessings? What was her fault for having been summoned to Nekrom, without any explanation and without memories of her past?

Now she was going to die. There was no other fate for her in that loop, she knew it just by seeing the hatred emanating from Aurelia Eramisaptor's violet gaze. The gaze of a justiciar who would obey the directives of the Empire of the Night's Watch without a moment's hesitation.

But before she could do anything, the cell door opened and bathed the interior in light.

"What is it?" she asked to the soldier who went inside. He whispered something in her ear, and she turned to Tristessa to stare at her for a second, in thought. "…"

The soldier left without closing the door, thus making both Aurelia and Caius two dark silhouettes with unrecognizable semblances.

"Something's wrong, my Lady?"

"…your work here is done, Master Caius." Aurelia turned her back on Tristessa and placed a hand on the old man's shoulder, ready to lead him from that cell.

"W-wait! Aren't you interested in knowing what her Divinities do?"

"No. Even if she is a Stranger and protocol requires her to be sent to Mortalis for interrogation, it's too risky. That girl will be executed soon; her Divinities will have no meaning once Nekrom is released from her presence." She looked slightly over her shoulder, her gaze shrouded in that game of shadows and light. "Even if that Fourth Divinity kills us all, what matters is that she dies, one way or another."

"Oh…I-I see."

The She-Dragoon was about to drag Caius away, but Tristessa yelled at the last second. With nothing else to lose.

"Lady Eramisaptor! Please, spare the Mercer-Archeos family!"

Deaf ears, words from someone undesirable. Aurelia ignored her and guided the tattooist outside, who managed to stare at Tristessa until the last moment before stepping out into the corridor.

And when both silhouettes were swallowed by the light, the door closed, and darkness reigned once more.

Leaving Tristessa alone again. Alone and waiting for the approaching Death.

"…Are they going to die before me? And who will kill me first? The Dullahan, or Aurelia Eramisaptor?" she wondered, feeling her Baptism in Ruins begin to emit those cold pulses in her chest that announced the imminent arrival of her Nemesis. "It doesn't matter… Nothing matters now."

All that was left was to wait. Her destiny was written in blood.

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