“Who are you?” the woman in the white mask asked.

Keynes opened his mouth, feeling like a total idiot. What had he thought to charge into the heart of the White Masks organisation without a plan?

At the periphery of his mind flickered answers: guilt and fear. He’d tried to occupy his mind with something other than the visions, Daiyu Fen, Kaito Ren and outbreaks.

Great. And here I am. Neck deep in waste. At least, it isn’t radioactive.

When Keynes didn’t answer. She somersaulted over the rail and landed softly in front of Keynes. She was tall, at least two metres tall.

“So, who are you?” she asked again.

Keynes got a better look at her. She wore a black robe, a white mask resembling a rectangular piece of white wood with two slits for eyes.

“My Lady,” one of the White Masks behind Keynes said. “Let me deal with the murderer. Karim must be avenged.”

Others agreed with him.

They are Level 3s and 4s, all rift essence ascenders, Alice said. Only one is in the Medium Stage though. The woman in front of you, master, she is… she’s at least Level 5 but her spiritual stage is above Medium so I cannot gauge her Level properly.

Keynes thanked her. He forced his emotions to stillness. Only a clear mind could get him out of this mess.

“You are calling me a murderer while your friend killed hundreds if not thousands of people.”

“How dare you speak ill about Karim?!” the same man snapped.

The supposed leader made a step toward Keynes and he prepared his shortswords to lash out in an attack if she got too close. Not that it was going to work. The chasm in strength between them was too wide.

“Have your own way, murderer,” she said and spun on the heel. “Do whatever you want with him.”

Keynes half-turned and saw weapons of different kinds appearing in their hands. Twelve rift essence ascenders. Keynes was without a chance.

“Wait,” he called out after the leader before the first of the White Masks reached him. “I will tell you my name but call them off.”

“Stop,” the leader said and her subordinates ground to halt.

“My lady? What is it?”

“Let him say his name,” she said, standing with her back to them, her dark glossy hair spilt onto her back.

“Keynes Kid.”

It took a lot of effort to say it as he knew what kind of people hunted him and what they wanted to do with him.

You asked for it yourself, he told himself. You shouldn’t be here in the first place.

His inner voice was right. Once Keynes would’ve risked a minor injury easily fixed in a hospital, but today his life was at stake. His old mindset from before the ascension would only harm him in a big way.

The leader slowly turned back.

“This is more than I bargained for,” she said, then ordered her men to stand down and return to their posts. They protested, still asking for blood. It looked like they didn’t know who Keynes was. Except for the leader.

She knew.

Eventually, they withdrew from the White Hall, leaving Keynes and the leader alone, ten rifts glimmered with a promise of wealth while they stood facing each other.

“Keynes Kid,” she echoed his name. “To find you here, of all places… a strange coincidence. Why did you come here?”

“To stop you,” Keynes replied simply, understanding the impossibility of his task. When he’d given himself the goal of bringing down the White Masks, had he even thought it through? He hadn’t. But it wasn’t all he wanted from the White Masks. “And learn.”

“Learn?” she asked, sounding surprised. Her hand reached for the mask, but she stopped herself before she took it off. “You came to learn what?”

Keynes debated his next move. To his irritation, he didn’t have many options. Fighting his way out of here was not possible. Even with the plan of the depository in his head, he wouldn’t get out of this room. The leader of the White Masks was too strong for that. So far, his identity stopped the White Mask brutes from killing him. Now, he needed to find a way to convince the leader to not imprison him.

“How to master my Spirit.”

“Interesting. Why us?”

“Your assassin was the first person I’ve encountered who wasn’t all levels.”

“Yes, I can see you have managed to gain the Medium Stage yourself and maxed out your attributes. That isn’t only unusual. That’s the first time I am meeting some like you, Keynes Kid. I guess…” she trailed off for a minute and her posture suggested a change in her attitude but Keynes couldn’t tell what had changed. “That is remarkable. Follow me, Keynes Kid.”

The gate opened into another, larger room that resembled a warehouse. A pile of pallets stood in a corner, next to it lay reels of plastic pallet wrap. Two more forklifts were parked by the opposite wall. Next to them stood a table with some papers on it.

They crossed the warehouse and entered another door with a warning sign. The leader ignored the sign, opened the door, entering the next room. There Keynes’s eyes bulged like two squashed coins. A sturdy catwalk with heavy rails on each side ran above a high room, at least thirty metres from the bottom to the ceiling. It held twelve round steel containers, approximately ten metres high each and four metres across. They occupied half of the room. The leader didn’t stop or comment on the view.

She opened another door and this time Keynes noticed that it was ten centimetres thick. They walked out into a tunnel resembling the emergency one. It had countless pipes entangling the walls like ancient roots.

Many turns later, the leader opened the door to a room. It was a spacious office with computers, wallboards and shelves thick with books.

One desk stood out from the rest, she approached it, reached underneath it and flicked some switch. Keynes grew wary but he was in her hands now. He kept his thoughts and fears to himself.

She turned to him.

“I am called Persephone,” she said. Her voice on TV had been altered, Keynes realised. Then she took off her mask, revealing the pretty face of a proud woman. She had aristocratic features so often present on faces of the richest as if they belonged to a different species. Keynes knew he’d never seen her before. “My real name is of no interest to you. For now, perhaps.”

Her admission unsettled Keynes as he understood what it might entail. If she showed him her face, then she might not expect him to leave this place. That was worrisome. Keynes didn’t know what to say and so he stayed silent, thinking hard.

“My Talent is telling me to tell you… a few things I am not comfortable sharing with anyone but the most loyal of my followers,” she said. “And yet, my Talent has never failed me.”

“Your Talent?”

Persephone sighed.

“It tells me what to do to find or gain whatever I desire.”

Keynes had to lean on a desk next to him to not fall over. That sounded like…

“A Broken Talent.”

“Not really,” Persephone smiled. “But close. Yes. There are severe limitations that truly Broken Talent wouldn’t possess. My Talent tells me what to do but never why and even the time frame is hidden from me. So, if I ask for something more abstract, it still could be years before I find it.”

“So… you have used it to … find me?”

“Yes. I wanted to find Karim’s killer. Twice it led me to Wagner Zimmermann’s estate but I am not stupid to face that man or his formidable servants in his estate. Then came a moment, when it told me to call Karim’s associate and invite them to the White Hall. From there it was all about waiting for whoever will show up.”

“And I did.”

“Yes.” She opened her mouth then paused, considering something. “And if you only were some government assassin or tracker, the matter would be resolved easily.”

“I’d be killed.”

“Indeed. But you’re Keynes Kid. The boy who caused two outbreaks and holds the keys to the rifts. Don’t look surprised. We contacted the scientists who worked in the Jamaican base. They happily told us everything in exchange for protection. It seems that the Old Blood families aren’t keen to let the truth out.”

Some time ago, Keynes would have wondered why the Old Blood didn’t wish it as the truth worked against the World Government. Now he understood that the World Government and the Old Blood were two sides of the same coin. Both wanted him exclusively. It left him with a question though. What would Persephone do? What did she desire?

“What does your Talent tell you about me?” Keynes asked.

She sighed again, meaning she had to say something she didn’t like to say.

“It depends on my desire. But what my desire is, isn’t relevant now. The issue is more complex than you think. Karim was one of my favourite subordinates and there are some who loved him. I also invested my time in him. Then there is the issue of our credo. Freedom to all. Death to enemies. And you’re, technically, an enemy, Keynes Kid.”

Keynes stiffened but said nothing.

“But I cannot kill you and we both know it. I… even shouldn’t keep you here. Although, this is a confusing part. Why should I let you go? Why does my Talent tell me to set you free if I desire Level 3 and higher rifts? And more, if I desire to survive or get stronger I must let you go. As I said, my Talent doesn’t tell me why, only what.”

“It’s never failed you,” Keynes reminded her.

She let out a short laugh.

“Yes! You understand my dilemma. On one hand, all my wisdom and experience scream to lock you up but on the other hand, my Talent is clear, you’re no good to me imprisoned or dead. Why is that?”

Keynes almost told her the truth then he reconsidered. Would her Talent change its mind based on what Keynes told her? It couldn’t be ruled out and therefore he had to be careful. He decided to approach it from a different angle.

“We can strike a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Yes. I can open the rifts. You can find them. I guess, your Talent can tell you where to find items you desire. If you—”

“No,” she interrupted him. “I cannot find things other people desire.”

“But you can desire the same things, right?”

“For your knowledge, I rarely part with the things I desire.”

Keynes didn’t comment on it. Persephone stood up and began pacing the room. She was thinking about Keynes’s proposal or perhaps she used her Talent to determine the course of her action. Keynes had to admit that her Talent was formidable. Very formidable.

While Vivena’s Talent turned her into a powerhouse, Persephone’s Talent was like a treasure map inside her head. It explained the rifts in the White Hall. She’d desired to find them and she did.

It... It was perfect for Keynes’s newly created company with Wagner, Esopp and Columbus. It created endless possibilities.

Her Talent can speed up everything and help us with the… he remembered Shaper’s vision and his heart sank. Was securing Persephone’s help crucial in the development of that desired future? Or was she irrelevant to it? He didn’t know.

“What about stopping us?” she asked, drawing his attention back to the room. “You said you wanted to stop us. Will you still if I agree to make a deal with you?”

“I…” Keynes opened his mouth, finding it hard to come up with a good reply. “I don’t know. Your methods have killed millions of people.”

Persephone laughed.

“You’re the one talking! Your outbreaks killed a thousand times more.”

Keynes’s heart sank even deeper. Even though he hadn’t taken responsibility for the first outbreak, the second one was his to bear. He argued with himself many times, finding reasons as to why the outbreaks were crucial to the world’s survival. And how they stopped the World Government from gaining too much power and becoming unstoppable.

But sometimes, even these arguments had fallen short, exposing the cruel truth, he was the one who made the decision to cause the second outbreak.

Persephone saw it and perhaps, she desired to make him uncomfortable and unsettled. That Talent of hers, it was as much a treasure map as it was a weapon.

“So, what is it going to be? Are you still going to stop us?” she asked.

Keynes dismissed the instant urge to say no. He needed something else, something like his offer.

“Ceasefire.”

“Ceasefire? What do you mean?”

“Stop killing people and I… won’t try to stop you.”

A smile returned to her face and Keynes couldn’t stop wondering if she was using her Talent to outplay him. Yeah. That was a potential risk he and his business partners would have to face if he brought her along.

“Keynes Kid, I am not killing people, I am saving them.”

He was aware of her organisation’s ideals. They wanted people to get stronger by exposing them to the monsters. Even Daiyu Fen argued that people would have to face the danger sooner or later. Keynes didn’t agree with that.

“Give people time. They must realise that levelling up isn’t for the rich and the army anymore but for anyone. Your White Hall is a great example. You can relocate rifts, bringing them together. You can have people trained properly…” He trailed off seeing her shaking her head. “What?”

“Orbs of Relocations are cosmically rare. I have found fourteen so far and at the moment my Talent is silent about more. It isn’t so easy to relocate the rifts. And even if I did create this … training centre, it wouldn’t serve the purpose. The population doesn’t want exposure to the rift monsters. They want to hide behind the walls. That is why we must ensure that cities and towns have no walls, no artificial protection. This is the only way people will grow and stand up for themselves.”

“Survival of the fittest,” Keynes muttered.

“You understand!” she exclaimed, slapping her hands together with a force that could shatter Keynes’s bones. “Our planet is overpopulated anyway. Since the World Government took control, the wars stopped and technologies brought us many bad changes.”

The more she spoke, the less Keynes wanted to make a deal with her. She was insane.

She was a zealot of her own ideals.

“Why not try my way first? Bring proper structures to this. Help people understand why the rifts and levelling up is important. Overpopulation? Overpopulation is not the problem. There are countless planets we can colonise and each planet has its own rifts. How much wealth is out there in the stars, waiting to be reaped? Instead of slaughtering innocent people who may be crucial to our expansion as not every person must be a warrior, we will make it the right way. What about that?”

That gave her pause. Even Keynes frowned at the words that flowed out of his mouth. He didn’t know he had it in him.

“Interesting.” It was her turn to mutter. “Ceasefire. Hm. I guess you make a fine point, Keynes Kid. But what of the World Government? How do you plan to stop them?”

“The World Government is breaking apart as we speak. Freeman’s top people have left him. He’s gone mad. If we start training the right people, the government won’t be a problem.”

“Fine.” Persephone extended her hand. “Let’s make the deal then.”