“This isn’t what it looks like, sir.”

A skinny young man was nervously trying to despell an etheric dagger in his hand, while kneeling before the Royal Justicius.

“You have just conjured a knife, facing a representative of the law.”

“I swear it… I thought it was I thief, breaking into my apartment. That’s not even self-defense… I would not even think about using it. I would just try to scare of whoever it was…”

“Hm,” Markus stepped closer to the man, and took a look at the disappearing weapon. “Pretty solid Shaping, for someone who doesn’t even have a license. You must have spent a lot of time practicing this particular Shape. And you did it for the sole purpose of scaring of potential thieves?”

“Emm… Yes… The neighborhood is…”

“Quite safe by our city standards, that are not really that bad, if you ask me. I think it will be easier for both of us, if you just tell me where to find Sirius.”

“Smithson? Isn’t he in prison?”

“There is no point in playing dumb. You can trust me, that you want me to be the first person to find him. Because, I’m probably the only one who will even try to catch him alive.”

“Sir?” A young pale woman leaned out the door frame. “I think he is saying the truth.”

“That,” Markus Focused on the kneeling man, “is not over. Wait here for me, and don’t move.”

The Justicius didn’t look happy, but he didn’t say a word, until they were out of the building, and surrounded by six silence runes. He might have taken too much effort burning them into the ground, to complain about wasting time, but he would almost prefer loosing Smithson’s trail, than someone overhearing this talk.

“What the hell was that, Gina?! I allowed you to come with me, so you can question him, about Smithson’s research and training methods. I do not recollect letting you take any part in my investigation.”

“He’s not our guy,” she said calmly.

“He admitted to being associated with him.”

“Something we already knew. Do you remember why he was the main suspect of being the contributor from the notes we found? He was the only one who was bad enough to fit the numbers. If we cross that out, they don’t really have anything in common except those few lessons he paid Sirius for.”

“And why do you cross him out?” Justicius asked her with an ounce of actual curiosity.

“He has even less control than the numbers from Smithson’s calculations would suggest, and after all those months it should be the opposite. I’ve also seen something on his hand.” She lifted her arm and conjured a small etheric ring on her index finger. “Some other suspects, also were using those. You might have not heard about them…” She stopped seeing Markus summon ten of them on his fingers, each Shaping more solid than what she just did. “Showoff. You know it is only impressive if you can keep them up for at least two days?”

“My personal record is three weeks,” he said with no pride or mocking in his voice.

“Am,” she stumbled a little. “Ok, so you know how they work. You need about one Tak of mana for each of them, right?”

“They are small and don’t do anything aside from putting a tiny strain on my system. I wouldn’t need a whole Tak for something ten times the size of a ring like this, they are greatly overcharged.”

“And do you remember whether Smithson was wearing any jewelry, during today's hearing?”

“An ivory ring. Just like when he was caught. If you imply that it was made of ether, I wouldn’t be able to tell. His ether pool is large enough to conjure something so small, without it being transparent. I have no idea how much control he has, but I could have missed the glow.”

“There was no glow in his runic cell.”

“But that… Wait, what were you doing there?”

“I wasn’t. I just read the reports. Now, something is more important right now. I could bet half a gallon of my blood, that his ring was made of ether. He could keep it material in a runic cell, so he can either resist the void pull, or he can cast spells consuming less than one Tak. The second one would explain the fractions in his calculations, but in both cases, you have to inform the people who are looking for him. Half of the counter measures you have prepared are close to useless right now.”

***

“So,” the bloodied man started. “How did you enjoy those few hours of freedom?”

“I… could probably use a couple more of those…”

“Unfortunately, that is not an option anymore.” He leaned back to take a look from the window. “Some people still want you alive, even some among my people, but only those young ones who haven’t seen how the world used to look like, before we have…”

Sirius swung a Hollow Blade, at the man as soon as he took another look through the window. Before the hit could even connect, something blurred, and a fist hit his chest with the force of a running horse. He managed to summon only two layers of ethereal armor, that have easily cracked on impact. Instead of preparing for a second blow, all he could do right now, was stabilized his broken ribs. The pain was overwhelming, and part of him wanted to lose consciousness, even if there would be no waking up.

“Bad idea. Very bad idea,” the bloodied man said in plain voice, with no emotion on his face. “I was about to make a deal with you.”

When Sirius didn’t respond in any way, the man continued.

“Do you think I killed all those people, because I am a monster? No, I killed them to show you that I am a monster. Today you will die, and I’m giving you a choice. Open your mind, and you will not feel any pain, or you will not be the last person who will suffer from my hands today.”

“My father…” Sirius started quietly not to hurt his ribs. “He doesn’t live here anymore. You can’t find him in one day, and I don’t really care about anyone else in this city.”

“Too bad. But your lack of humanity aside, you actually do care about someone. Yourself. Remember what I said earlier? It depends on me how you gonna die. And from what I see your pain tolerance is almost non-existent. You can have a moment to think about it, but only a few minutes. If you try any tricks, there will be more broken bones.”

“Why? Are you expecting someone? Like those people outside?” He made a small gesture towards the window.

“This again? What are you even trying to cast? You weren’t even good enough to use a weapon with no broken bones.”

“You mean this?” He opened his hand revealing a silver ring spinning on his palm. At the same moment, a cracking noise echoed from it and a rupture showed around it in the air. “I’m not doing anything. It’s already done. Since I’m gonna die, I can at least take you with me. Spirit of Judgement and Execution will be here in a moment.”