A barrier of light expended from a double-layered mechanical platform floating in the sea. It reached into the sky, flickering every few seconds. Light hummed all the while, like a radiator operating on its highest level. At some point, the barrier would bend backward, surround the Lost City of Hy-Bres and reconnect with the platform. That was the Anti-Terran ring. It consisted of torquing Mana particles. Any Mana particle that touched its light lost its mass and qualities. It ceased to exist and ‘returned to the void’. If any living being got in contact, they wouldn’t even die. The AT-Ring would erase them. Neither Valhalla nor Hel would await them. Just nothingness. Even the ‘corrupted’ Mana from Hy-Bres could only break through in high amounts and under the right circumstances.

The ring’s flicker revealed that two members of the Judas group were sitting cross-legged on the platform. It seemed that they had found the two individuals from the photo.

Agravaine rode on his Sceada, approaching the guards. The Berkanan rune of the back of his jacket flared up, and before the enemy could notice his silhouette in the dark, thick vines grew from the metal. They wrapped around the guards and levitated them above the platform, making them drop their weapons into the sea.

“Who…Who are you?” one of the soldiers shouted.

Agravaine jumped down from his mount on the platform. The plants twisted around, forcing the guards to look him straight at his face.

“I didn’t expect much from you, to begin with, but you can’t even recognize my greatness.” Agravaine crossed his arms as he shook his head. “Proves that your group’s made up of a bunch of low-lives. You’re a disgrace to all men.”

“Ey, who do you think you’re messing with, state dog?” one of them scoffed in an accent that couldn’t differ more from the High-Vaixian Ragna heard in television.

Ragna tried to lean closer as she could barely make out what happened on the platform. She would have to rely on their tones and words to recognize if any of them would take any action.

“State dog?” Agravaine sneered. “Ah right, I almost forgot. You think the entire world is one giant corporation that tries to control Vaix.”

“If you think Vaix isn’t deep into it, you’re as stupid as your bloodline. Get your facts straight before you accuse us of being idiots, idiot.” The second guard raised his voice. “We’re fighting for the good people. To free them from the evil that taints us.”

“Genocide, I see.” Agravaine continued to mock them. “You haven’t come up with any new plans for five-hundred years. And it doesn’t look like that’ll change anytime soon.”

“Who cares about that? You can have these rotten kingdoms. Go have them and die in them.”

“You do realize that you’re living on this planet, too. I hope you do. If you try to destroy the world, you’re gonna die too. Please tell me you actually had considered that.” Agravaine sighed and facepalmed. “I’m about to lose the last nanogram of respect I had for you sauerkraut eating imbeciles.”

“Perhaps it is my imagination,” Jareth whispered. “But he seems to have a low opinion on everything. I wonder much we can trust him.”

“Agravaine would throw away our lives if he thinks it helps with the mission.” Ray grinned. “I would never turn my back toward him, but he’s an earnest man. And quite entertaining if it weren’t for some of his personal opinions.”

“Eat a dick,” one of the guards shouted.

Agravaine clicked his tongue repeatedly, emphasizing each sound with increasing sharpness. “Of course, it would come to this.”

The guards shrieked.

“Listen,” Agravaine said. “I’ve planted bamboo seeds below your feet. So, here’s the deal. You’ll tell me exactly what I want to know, or my botanical friends will have some fun with you.”

“You think you can frighten us with some vegetables?” One of the guards chuckled.

“Yeah, kinda.” Agravaine showed them his teeth. “Since I’m pretty sure that you couldn’t even finish primary school, I’ll educate you on the special properties of bamboo.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, boy.” Bedivere snickered. “Here he goes again with his bamboo spiel. He really needs to learn a new schtick.” She looked at the rest of their group. “By the way, if any of you have weak stomachs, I wouldn’t look too closely. Or listen or smell, for that matter.”

Ragna gulped. Agravaine could summon plant matter and control their growth with one of his runes. She didn’t want to imagine what he could do with bamboo. The stories about Utagardian and Avalonians prisoners during the Great War made her skin crawl.

Would Agravine actually torture these guys? She couldn’t put it past him. But wouldn’t that go too far? Or did the risk of contamination require drastic measures? She couldn’t say.

“Bamboo grows about forty millimeters per hour. Imagine that.” Agravaine’s voice sped up, his words containing more enthusiasm than they should. His lips contorted to a smirk, and his eyes gleamed in the reflection of his Sceada. “That’s nine-hundred-sixty millimeters per day. Quite fast, isn’t it? Of course, we don’t have that much time. So luckily, I can speed up the process or slow it down however I want. And here comes the interesting part. Bamboo can become as sharp as a spear and pierce even through asphalt.”

The two guards shrieked in pain, and Agravaine continued, his voice becoming hoarser. “Right now, these plants are just scratching your assholes. Just one finger snap, they’ll penetrate you harder than any dick could ever do.” Agravaine emphasized his inflation as he sounded more and more like an army drill instructor. “But that’s not the best part. The bamboo doesn’t stop here. On, no, no, no. Your bleeding anus is just the beginning. It goes up your digestive tract, through your rib cage, and all that’s inside. And then, the bamboo comes out of your mouth. Usually, it takes a few days to die, but I can accelerate the growth to kill you in seconds. Or I could slow it further down to the point where you’ve to wonder, what’ll kill you first? Is it the shock? Will you bleed out or die from internal bleeding? Or will your organs give out first?”

“You wouldn’t do that. A knight has to follow the rules.” One of the guards huffed. “You lapdogs can’t go against company policy. You’re robots without a brain on your own. Whatever your handlers tell you, you’ll do. Can you do anything without a hand up your ass?”

“You really need to get your metaphors sorted out,” Agravaine moaned. He almost seemed fond of the soldier’s attitude. “It dilutes the point you wanna make and blows your cover of intelligence, transparent as it might be.”

The plants wrapped around the guard’s mouths and suppressed their screams.

“You guys forgot one thing: We’re out in the open sea. In a part of Aes, the entire world has abandoned. No law will save you here. No hero will come to your rescue, and no ear will hear your screams. So, allow behold the power of the bamboo.”

The screams of the guards intensified. Barely could the vines muffle them out.

Ragna covered her mouth, her eyes widening in shock.

She had to stop him.

Ragna was about to leap from the boat when Bedivere put her hand on her shoulder. Without saying a word, Bedivere shook her head. Ragna’s eyes wandered through the air. None of her teammates opened their mouths. Their faces showed various levels of discomfort and that they wouldn’t interfere.

Ragna sat down.

Even to get information, Agravaine’s torture went too far. But could she risk the Judas Group succeeding with their plans? Torturing them seemed like a small price to pay for saving possibly millions of people.

“Huh? What do I hear?” Agravaine put a hand next to his ear and leaned closer to the vines as they retreated from the soldier’s mouths. “Are you saying something?”

“Don’t think you’ve broken us, you impure scum.” Heavy breaths interrupted the guard’s words. “Whether we tell you or not, you can’t stop us. We’ve unleashed an abomination. Once it reaches the Mana Radiator, it will destroy the AT Field and unleash a wave of corrupted Mana like you’ve never seen before.”

“Which still doesn’t solve the issue of you surviving the fallout. Or for that matter, even in the worst-case scenario, a good chunk of the population will still thrive.”

The guards laughed. “We’ve become immune to the abomination. Everyone of pure blood has. Only the inferior will suffer. And your actions have proven again how much of a stain your blood is. Thank you for showing us how right we are. We see the disease that has befallen this world. It is upon us to cure it because everyone else is too ignorant. You can see the cancer that has infected you. Yet, instead of getting rid of it, you continue to make it grow faster. But don’t worry. You can remain in this infected world. Once all the corrupted Mana is unleashed, the path towards the holy land, towards Hyperborea will open.”

“Hyperborea?”

“The holy land of our ancestors beyond the horizon. It’s a sanctuary for the pure, hidden behind the fabrics of Mana. The pure will thrive, and you will die in this rotten world.”

“I see.” Agravaine turned his head, and Bedivere created a ball of light that levitated in the air. It flickered once, and Agravaine nodded.

“Thank you.” He turned back to the guards, and the vines wrapped around their bodies, muffling their screams as the bamboo poles shot through their bodies. Agravaine turned around. “The coast’s clear.”

The boat drove towards the Sceada’s light, stopping by a ladder. They all climbed the ladder and jumped on the platform.

“Did you really have to kill them?” Ragna looked at the ground. The vines had swallowed the soldiers and stood above the water like botanical statues. Even in the dark, blood darkened the color of the plants.

She couldn’t look at the faces of the men, Agravaine had murdered. They were Wilhelminsts and their plans genocidal, but did they deserve to die? If they had fought them, she could understand it. Sometimes, killing was the most efficient and safest method to disable a threat. But this? They posed no threat. Yet, Agravaine killed them not out of necessity but because he didn’t want them to live.

Agravaine chuckled. Within the ring’s flicker, he exposed his teeth. “Don’t lecture me, woman. They are the enemies. If we don’t stop them today, they’ll try again tomorrow. I’m not going to risk the lives of millions just to appease some lofty morals. Get out of my sight if you’re willing to risk lives to play moral apostle. I don’t have any need for weak women.”

“What the fuck’s your problem?” Ragna stomped towards Agravaine and reached for his shoulder when Agravaine jumped back.

“Never touch me.” Like an animal, he was fuming. He had fletched his teeth and curled his fingers to claws. “Do that again, and you will die.”

Agravaine glared at her and turned his back.

“What was that?” Ragna looked dumbfounded. “Did my parents kills his parents, too?”

“Don’t let it get it to you,” Bedivere said. “He’s like that to most women.”

“What?” Ragna blinked at her.

Was she messing with her? What champion would still think women are inferior? Every cadet learned that Flygja allowed women to be as powerful as men. Some of her former classmates had to understand this lesson the hard way, and she had been happy to assist the teachers in driving this mentality out. An encounter between their asses and her boots let the lesson sink into most heads.

“He actually doesn’t think they’re inferior.” Ray patted her shoulder. “He just hates them.”

“If you think that makes it better, it doesn’t.” Ragna remained unimpressed.

“Well, if it’s any consolation, he isn’t particularly nice to guys either.”

“He’s an asshole.” Ragna shrugged, and Ray removed his hand. “Got it.”

For now, she should brush it aside. Stopping the Judas Group took priority. Once they had completed the mission, she would confront him about his attitude. And if he insisted on his worldview, she would punch him so hard that he won’t be able to speak for weeks. Then, he had a reason to hate this woman.

“Bedivere.” Agravaine’s voice howled through the air. “Use your rune.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Bedivere waved him off, causing Agravaine to growl. Her eyes skimmed the platform, and the Paladin pointed at a square within its center. “The elevator’s there.”

Agravaine nodded. He stomped on the square three times, and it slid open, revealing a hole under it.

“What did you do?” Ragna asked.

“The Dagaz rune allows me to reveal what’s hidden.” Bedivere looked at Ragna, her eyes scanning her from top to bottom. “Be it lies or what lies beneath another layer. That’s quite a naughty place for a tattoo, by the way.”

Ragna blushed and hugged her body.

Bedivere chuckled. “That won’t help. I can still you just fine. But don’t worry, I’m not going to abuse my abilities like that. I just thought that it could lighten the mood a bit.”

“Never do that again.” Ragna hissed.

Bedivere nodded. “But if I can say something, your body’s quite gorgeous. You’ve nothing to hide.”

“That’s none of your business.” Ragna furrowed her brows.

Was she mocking her? Scars had disfigured her skin. She had seen that. If her figure once used to be beautiful, those days had been gone. All the fights had taken their toll and given her body, no man or woman would ever like.

“Stop the chit-chat.” Agravaine descended through the hole. “We have got a mission. Lives depend on our success, so behave like fucking professionals.”

Ragna rolled her eyes, and the group followed Agravaine.