Altera stumbled back to her feet.

“Altera?” Ragna caught her at the last second, her brows knitting in concern. “You gotta rest.”

Altera raised her hand. Her arm was tremoring with every millimeter it gained in height. She pointed her finger at the Sea Mither and tried to open her lips, but no word would leave her mouth. Her face had paled. She might as well be staring at the doorway that led to Hel, about to meet Helena Luisenbarn herself.

Ragna titled her head. Her eyes followed the trail of Altera’s finger into the Sea Mither, and when she saw the thing inside, her body jumped as if someone had punched her in the gut.

In the center of the room sat the husk of a man. His skin had dried up and stretched over his bones like a piece of rubber. Barely any flesh had remained on him. Skeleton and tendons etched their marks on it as tears drove their lines. Every figment of the bones became visible under his skin. His pigmentation had turned into a combination of sun-exposed leather and charcoal, his face into a skull. Even closed, his eyes had sunk into his sockets. His stomach depressed into a pit that left no room for organs, and his rips poked out, letting his skin fall into their gaps. But at times, his thorax seemed to elevate by a minuscule amount.

The man was breathing. He was alive.

Crosses had been rammed into his body and connected to pipes that seemed to run alongside the facility. The man was sitting cross-legged and had laid his underarms in meditation, a human arm floating between them while a semipermeable cocoon of pure Mana had built around him.

Tears started to run down Altera’s face, mixing with the blood that stuck on her face. She forced herself to walk forward.

She couldn’t avert her eyes from this horror. She had to face it straight-on. Whoever this man once had been, he had suffered a great injustice. Even if he were a monster, he couldn’t have deserved such a fate. No, she had an inkling of who that man might be, and she had to confirm it.

The rest of the group arrived at the door. Altera stopped, Ragna pulled out her phone, and their comrades saw the man inside the room.

Their reactions couldn’t differ more.

“Is this a sick joke?” Grendel’s voice howled through the hall. His claws started to bend and his body to curl. Any moment, he could attack whomever he had deemed unjust. His eyes brimmed with rage, electric impulses running through their violet irises. “This is the secret behind the Sea Mither?”

Lutz averted his eyes as he pressed his palm against his mouth, suppressing his gag reflex. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead while he repeatedly swallowed whatever wished to come out of his stomach.

“So, we’ve been fighting for this cruelty?” By contrast, Jareth’s voice remained the same. He crossed his arms. “There’s no contract, no bond or obligation strong enough to warrant such suffering. No, I don’t wish to understand this.” He shook his head as a dry chuckle thudded beneath his mask. “To deny a man of both life and death, their final fate, is unacceptable.”

“Oh, crap.” Bedivere sighed and facepalmed. “I’m totally fucked. Yeah, that’s gonna suck.” Despite her words, her voice couldn’t be more nonchalant. “I screwed up the one thing I shouldn’t let happen. Archimago Vortigern’s gonna natter till my ears bleed.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You knew about this?” Grendel’s voice deepened to a beast’s growl. His body strained, halting in a mechanical motion that seemed to require all his restraint. “Answer me, Cynthia Aleia Allskin. Or I swear, I’ll end your life right and there.”

Bedivere cackled, tightening the grip on her spear. “You know. Now, I really don’t wanna tell you.”

“This is the secret behind the Sea Mither?” A voice echoed from behind, and everyone’s head snapped in its direction, staring at the woman from the Judas Group.

Altera’s skin crawled.

She had forgotten about her. The ice barriers were supposed to protect and contain her. But, of course. When she had almost collapsed, they had dissolved as well.

“Hertha Braunsteiger,” Lutz said, having recovered from his nausea. “You still want to fight us?”

“Fight?” She gave him a flat look and walked closer to them. “After seeing this, you think I want to fight?” She pointed at the man and shook her head. “No. That thing…” Swallowing, she started again.” Forget about Vaix, Hyperborea, or any races and kingdoms. This…” She raised her voice, furrows drawing through her face. “This is about us as human beings. No human should ever accept that. It’s horrible. It’s a crime against all of mankind. Whatever conflict we had pales compared to this.” She raised her arms, positioning herself in the group’s center. “If you consider yourself allies of justice, you have to stop this. Together we must right this wrongdoing and – “

Her head exploded, her words ending abruptly. Before anyone could react, chunks of Braunsteiger’s blood and flesh sprayed, and her body splattered on the floor.

Everyone froze in shock, their mouths and eyes open wide.

Behind Braunsteiger’s corpse, Agravaine had raised a revolver. Smoke was emitting out of the gun’s muzzle.

“What the Hel?” Ragna snapped out first. Her eyes bellowed in rage. “Why did you kill her?”

“She’s an enemy.” No emotions left Agravaine’s mouth, hat and scarf hiding his facial expression. For him, it might as well be just business. “I’m here to protect the Sea Mither and remove all threats.”

The last part, Agravaine emphasized, the implications clear. If anyone decided to oppose him, he would kill them without a second thought.”

“She had stopped fighting.” Ragna cried. “She wanted to team up with us. We could’ve talked things out. She could have changed.”

Lutz’s head turned to Ragna, his eyes expressing surprise.

“Ragna…,” Altera murmured.

A few months ago, she could have never imagined that Ragna would say these words. Let alone about a Vaixian. She had changed.

“Oh, please. Women never change.” Agravaine scoffed. “But that doesn’t matter. Even if she could, she had learned about the Sea Mither. I can’t permit her to leave this place alive. I’m not even sure if I can let you out. Now that you know the secret.”

“That Tomoyuki Vishnu’s still alive,” Altera finished Agravaine’s sentence. “That he’s the Sea Mither and generates the AT-Shield.”

“What…What do you mean?” Grendel pointed his claws at the man in the room. “That’s Vishnu?”

“Correct.” Altera walked between Agravaine and her group. “There are two reasons for my deduction.”

Ragna and Lutz increased the distance to Agravaine hiding behind Grendel’s armor and Jareth while Bedivere stood next to her fellow Knight. The lines were drawn. Everyone’s alignment within the conflict was made clear.

“One.” Altera raised her finger. “Even in this state, I can see the resemblance to his photos from thousand years ago. And two.” A second finger. “The cocoon of Mana is actually his Ysbryd, “Core Radiator”. It creates an armor of radiating Mana that protects everything inside from the outside and vice-versa. The AT-Shield is simply an extension of that. The purpose of this facility is to maintain and extend the scope of these abilities.”

“I’m impressed that you know that,” Bedivere said. “Information’s on Vishnu’s rather classified.”

“Don’t underestimate the resources at a Valkyrie’s disposal.” Altera flicked her hair, not reacting to the compliment.

It was better if she kept it to herself that she had gotten hold of the information because Geißel had provided her access to the restricted parts of Utgard’s digital library – and explained how to use a database or a computer.

“Vishnu lived thousand years ago,” Grendel argued. One couldn’t fault him for his doubts. “How’s that even possible.”

Bedivere and Agravaine looked at each other.

“I think they should know the story,” Bedivere said. “Perhaps it’ll keep them quiet.”

“In what world could that be true?” Grendel blew his nose.

Agravaine and Bedivere stared at each other, their weapons drawn out. A few seconds passed until Agravaine sighed. “Fine. As you know, Vishnu vanished after the Mana Bomb detonated. In truth, he was captured by the kingdoms. I don’t know what the details were. Perhaps, he volunteered because of guilt, perhaps he was forced, perhaps this was his punishment, or perhaps, this was the only way to go around it. When the kingdoms realized what dangers lurked on Hy-Bres and that the winds carried the contaminated Mana, they used his Ysbryd to create the AT-Shield. Don’t ask me how he’s still alive, but it seems that it’s an aftereffect of the contaminated Mana coming in contact with his abilities.”

“In other words.” Altera gulped. “Vishnu’s going to suffer for eternity so that we can live in safety. And now, you want to keep us quiet about it?”