The great mechanical walker made its way out from the back of the basement and into the candle light. Marina looked down towards Sera with dark eyes as she spoke.

"The truth is, Sera, that it was never my desire to kill anyone. I have done all this in the interest of preserving life. There is madness coming, Sera. A dark cloud of wings over our kingdom. I have seen it in my dreams. My work needs to be done. You can oppose me and die or stand aside and witness a miracle."

Sera put herself between the machine and Pierro.

I have no idea what she is talking about but it is clear that she has to be the killer. There is some kind of ritual?

Sera looked back at the long gash beneath Pierro's clot.

She does not want to kill them so I must have interrupted her in the middle of removing it. I need more information.

"Marina," Sera began, "Why are you doing all of this?"

"For the sake of everyone. In times past the people would speak with God and they would hear our prayers. If the doom I see is to be changed then it is only God who can do so. It is through his gifts that I have been able to understand and remember. 'Four gifts must be taken and the fifth received'! That is how to path to God will be forged! I need a fifth clot to open the path. Do you understand Sera? We are within reach of holiness!" Marina spoke with a fervorous tone.

They just need a clot. There was something about the last one being received? Anjelica and Hound might be back at any second. I need to buy some time.

"You said that the fifth one must be received? Is that right?" Sera asked. She was wagering that Marina would want to talk about her plan more.

"The number five is a holy number," Marina explained with a terse tone.

"It sounds to me like there is a difference for the fifth one. You took four and then the fifth you just stole again? That does not seem very true to the word. Receiving is something that you do with packages or gifts...Gifts are given, not taken," Sera rambled on trying to find some thread to hook onto.

Then it hit her. An idea. A horrible idea.

"You need someone who is willing to give up their clot for the ritual to work. Not a drugged up scientist," Sera began.

"Pierro has been chosen! I cannot divert now!" Marina barked back.

Pierro began to stir as his eyes regained their focus. He looked up at Sera with just a twinkling of recognition in his eye.

"No. You have me. Take my clot," Sera started with as much conviction as she could, "I was telling Pierro that our clots are curses. If your plan has a chance of being able to save us from that fate then my life would be worth it."

Marina seemed taken aback. Confused and with wild, adrenaline filled eyes she uttered a soft question.

"You would do that for your people?"

"Of course. A hundred times over. It is a Gavel's duty to work for the betterment of their people. So I gladly offer my body for the cause!" Sera yelled with a bit of extravagance, "With that machine of yours it should not be too hard. Rip me apart and take the clot from me."

This statement seemed to take Marina aback.

"What do you mean r-rip you apart?" Marina stuttered out from atop her metal throne.

"My clot is not on the surface. It is...well I am not really sure but somewhere in my chest or neck area. All you have to do is rip me apart and dig through my insides and I am sure that you will find it," Sera continued as nonchalantly as possible.

"Sera that is ridiculous-" Marina began but she was cut off.

"No!" Sera yelled, "What is ridiculous is murdering five people and then saying that you tried to save them. In the bloody name of God? You drugged them, you cut them, you killed them. Those people died for a reason and you were that reason. Your zealotry was the cause of their deaths and not some insane ritual. If you feel like your work is so important then finish it! This time, though, you will have to face what you are doing. So do it. Kill me. It is for the sake of everyone right? Rip me apart."

It was a terrible gamble that Sera had decided to take. She was hoping that Marina would lose her stomach if her rationale was put in front of her, banking on the idea that there must be something good left inside of her.

Marina's face contorted into a look of panic and fear. As she mulled over the thought her expression soured even further. A trail of sweat ran down her forehead.

"If you give me some time then I can sedate you," Marina offered.

"I do not want to be sedated. I want the full experience," Sera retorted.

"You do not have to suffer-" Marina began.

"-but I must suffer if you want to finish this!" Sera yelled.

Marina was dumbstruck. Now frustrated, Marina made a decision.

"I do not have time for this!" Marina growled, "I will take Pierro and I will do the extraction correctly this time!"

The front mechanical arm lifted up off the ground to reveal three pincer-like claws. With a flick of a lever, the arm moved out towards Pierro.

I was hoping to stall, Sera thought as her thoughts ran a mile a minute. If she gets a hold of Pierro then I will never get him free. What am I supposed to do though? Fight her with a dagger?

A memory popped up. Her blade swinging through Anjelica's sword.

Could I do that again? I was only ever able to do it once when I was angry. No, not when I was angry. When I was focused and determined.

The hand swept around her and towards Pierro. The metallic bands comprising its surface shot past Sera and she saw inklings of her reflection in the surface.

Ah, fuck it. I think it is the only chance we have now.

Hoping beyond hope that her training had paid off, that she could focus enough in this moment, Sera raised her dagger.

As she brought it down towards the metallic arm, she saw the shimmering blade as it soared through the air. No flames had emerged. She was halfway through her stroke. She could change her tactic but something in her brain trusted her swing.

Renewing her conviction and bringing the blade down with as much force as possible, the blade ignited with purple flames and cut with great ease through half of the metallic arm. Sparks flew and metal creaked as the arm began to move erratically with many of its systems shredded.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Marian yelled from the cockpit.

Sera knew that she had both little time and the element of surprise. Moving with a quickness, she ran towards the leg closest on her left that was still planted on the floor. While Marina was trying to retract the now-damaged limb, Sera was already making her way underneath the connection between this other leg and the main chasse.

Thrusting the dagger up into the bottom of the joint, Sera ripped forward with the dagger. A spray of magenta sparks and metal chunks flew over her shoulder as she ripped the joint apart. There was a terrible sound of grinding, screeching metal from behind her and the air began to fill with magenta gas.

Sera ran out from underneath the metallic form as its shadow grew closer, making it out just as the metal connected with the ground. 

Sera gave a glance back to assess again. The attack was more effective than she had expected and now missing its' two front legs the disc's weight sent it tumbling forward. Sera stepped up onto the walker's surface as what was left of the legs tried to right itself and made her way as quickly as she could towards the control seat.

Marina noticed this out of the corner of her eye while madly working the controls. With panic, she reached down below her and began to retract her arm from a small compartment out of sight. Sera saw just the very bottom of the grip of a pistol began to emerge as Marina retracted her arm.

Having no other option, Sera flipped the dagger and sent it flying towards Marina's arm. It connected with Marina's forearm with a hiss. Some satisfaction came over Sera as she saw that the dagger had connected with Marina's clot. The clot tore off and Sera's dagger, along with the clot, went flying off into the darkness of the room behind them.  Before Marina could recover, Sera's shadow already loomed over her.

With as much force as she could, Sera gave a running kick to Marina's jaw. There was a variety of wet, crunching noises as a spray of blood and teeth shot out and away from Sera. Marina had been trying to stand but the force of the kick sent her careening over the side of the cockpit. Marina went face first into the body of the walker and she left a bloody print and smear where her face connected. She then tumbled down the side before being spilled out onto the hard, stone floor. 

Sera walked down the side of the disc to her dagger, picking it up off of the floor. The minute that her fingers touched it, the flames returned. This time, the ends were white hot as Sera's anger burned in her. Marina's clot began to emit an almost screeching hissing sound as the flames climbed up the blade and engulfed it. Ashes began to flow off as well as a dark ichor which sizzled as it hit the ground. After just a moment, the flames had burned away the clot leaving the well-worn blade clean. So clean that Sera could see her reflection in the side of the blade. Her eyes had a crazed, violent look about them and she could hardly recognize herself. 

Maybe this is who I need to be to fight scum like Marina. Speaking of...

"Are you still there Marina?" Sera asked out loud, her tone menacing and angry.

There was a cough and groan of pain from the crumpled form on the ground. Marina rolled to her belly and started to press herself up onto her elbows. As she did, she angled herself towards the stairs and began meek attempts at moving herself towards them. 

Sera walked at a quick but steady pace towards her. As she grew closer, Marina had managed to get up to her knees. As Marina began to stand, Sera arrived and slashed at the back of her thigh. No blood came as the blade slid through with a hiss. A puff of steam and smoke rose up from the back of Marina's leg. At this, Marina gave a great yell of pain and collapsed back down to the ground.

"You are a monster. You are a murderer! You would have killed Pierro and I and justified it as God's will. You are worse than any demon that I have met." Sera spoke with white hot anger as the smell of burnt flesh hit her nose. 

Sera gave a solid kick to Marina's side.

"You know that I am fairly certain that Pierro was still conscious even when his eyes were fluttering? That means that the drug you used only made it easier for you. For them it was sheer torture. They felt every single second of..." Sera continued but her thought was cut short.

The flash of metal reappeared as Marina was sent rolling to her back by the kick. She had kept her left hand hidden beneath her and as she spun, she raised the barrel of her concealed pistol towards Sera.

Sera dove forwards, spinning her dagger around to bring it down onto Marina. Sera heard the gunshot go off just as her weight pushed forward and drove the blade into Marina's chest. They both sat in shock, chest to chest, as they looked at each other with surprise. 

For a moment, it was like the world had stopped moving. They both stared in pain and shock at each other. The moment was only broken when Marina sputtered and coughed out blood, speckling Sera's face and causing a trickle of blood to exit the side of her mouth. 

Sera pushed herself up in disgust but found her arms weak and rolled sideways onto her back.

A burning pain had begun to grow and swell in her stomach. She looked down and saw a red splotch in her cream shirt that was slowly growing larger. Sera gasped for air.

Silly me, she thought. I fooled around for too long and got shot.

Her blood pumped in her ears in a deafening drumline that got more and more quiet with each beat. The thrumming river began to fade to a distant trickle. As her breathing slowed, a strange placidity began to come over her.

Is this what it always feels like? Just calm? It feels like I am floating.

It was then that she heard something else above the sound of her racing heartbeat. The sound of great exertion. A body scraping across the floor.

"Oh Sera, what has she done to you?" a voice said.

I think that I know that voice, Sera's thoughts were scrambled.

There was a clinking of glass, the rubbing of leather against each other, and Sera's vision began to grow darker.

At least I will not be alone.

"Sera, you need to drink this," the voice said. Sera felt glass pressed against her lip. Some alcoholic, metallic liquid was poured into her mouth and she sputtered.

I do not need a drink right now, I am busy trying to breathe, she silently pleaded.

The liquid kept coming. Sera realized that the only way that she was going to breathe was to swallow whatever was in her mouth.

Gulp by gulp, she began to take the silty substance down. It felt like there were bits of sand going down her throat but she had no choice. Her vision had shrunk to a small point. All that there was in the world was the darkness, the metallic liquid, and her steadily swallowing. An eternity was spent before her throat could once again bring in air.

Sera gasped and coughed. Her vision began to slowly come back as a warmth spread out from her core to the rest of her body. The burning of her wound began to dull and then subsided entirely. She looked around and saw the frantic face of Pierro smiling down at her.

"Did you save me Pierro?" Sera asked weakly.

"I...I think so!" Pierro stammered in amazement. It was as if he himself could not believe it.

Sera looked down at her soaked shirt to examine her wound but as she looked she saw none. The skin was certainly covered in blood and her shirt was soaked but as she ran her fingers over the skin she found no broken edges. No wounds to speak of. 

"What did you do?" Sera asked.

"A contact had told me that potions like this existed in the world. He brought me a sample of it for testing but I had not yet had the chance to test it with anything. Thank God I threw away my reservations and just hoped that it would work. It was the only thing that had any chance of saving you," Pierro spoke and then gave a huge sigh of relief.

Sera sat up and the pair smiled at each other. She actually felt better than she had in weeks.

"Whatever that stuff was seems to have really done the trick," Sera said as she pushed herself to sit up. She looked over to the body of Marina which stared up to the ceiling blankly with the dagger still in her chest.

"I suppose she got what she deserved in the end," Sera said sadly.

"She deserved to be tried and face her crimes," Pierro responded, "However, what happened to her was something that she had brought onto herself. I just wish that I had seen it sooner. So many died because I trusted my Fledge implicitly."

Pierro shut his eyes and pursed his lips. Sera saw the immense pain in his face.

"What she was doing was insane. Nobody could have believed that someone they lived with was murdering people," Sera said. She placed a hand on Pierro's shoulder and he began to cry.

Sera stood, reaching down and retrieving her dagger from Marina's chest with a yank. As she wiped it clean on what remained of her shirt, she looked at the destroyed machinery, the ruined room, and the bloody ritual circle that had somehow managed to go undisturbed. 

Well she must have been wrong. Seeing God will have to wait for another day.