“T-the next step up. It’s a Necrobeast. How the fuck did it cross the conversion barrier?! Those things are two thirds pure Nigredo by volume!”

None of them knew what a Necrobeast was. Zelsys was not willing to admit that ignorance, but she was very willing to try teasing the information out of the officer even in this grave a situation. “A Necrobeast? Aren’t those…” she trailed off.

The officer nodded, in his element when given the opportunity to have the last word. “Extremely rare even in th E.Z., yes. A rot-bear with a true understanding of Nigredo. Either we’re in a shared group hallucination, or there is one a stone’s throw from the anti-vehicle barricade.”

The ground shook, and they heard the sound of something hard striking metal. 

“Correction: Right next to the anti-vehicle barricade. What do we do? It’s not as if we can kill it.”

“Why not?” Zefaris questioned. “We’ve killed rot-bears before.”

“A rot-bear feeds on decay, but it’s still alive. This… This is death itself,” the officer rebutted. “Its only weakness is the creature’s heart. Even then, it can channel so much Nigredo it’ll just breathe on us and we’ll turn to dust.”

Makhus had been staring into empty space thinking. He perked up when an idea came to mind, asking, “What about the pure essences of life?”

The officer scoffed, “Liquid Vigor isn’t concentrated enough to weaken it to a substantial degree. Pure Viriditas or even Rubedo could work, but I doubt…”

A strand of Black Fog had crept through the small gap in the doorframe, and before any of them could warn him, the officer’s frantic breathing made him inhale it. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the ground, unconscious. 

“Lightweight,” both Makhus and Zelsys mocked at the exact same moment. The swordsman walked over to him, grabbing him by the arms and dragging him towards the other side of the room - or at least, trying to. Zelsys quickly loosened the wrappings on her left forearm and took hold of the Tablet, willing it to come alive and immediately activating the BROWSE STORAGE function.

“Sig, help me,” Makhus hissed through gritted teeth as he struggled. “He’s fuckin’ heavy.”

The bearded man gave a sharp nod and calmly grabbed both of the officer’s legs, helping carry him to the writing desk. In the meantime Zelsys retrieved bottle after bottle as quickly as the Fog vortex would spit them out, totaling four large ones and five small ones, plus the Rubedo bottle. Once she was done she unholstered her cleaver and placed the Tablet inside. As she had hoped, the holster molded itself to grip the Tablet as well.

Zefaris untied her rifle from her backpack, swiftly reaching into a pocket of her trousers to retrieve a cartridge and performing the multi-step process of loading the rifle and ramming the cartridge down in a single flowing motion, keeping the ramrod in one hand and the rifle readied.

Once the officer was hefted onto his writing desk his coat hung down wide open, and it became obvious what it was that made him so heavy. The inside of the garment was lined with pistols and pockets. “Fuckin’ hell, he’s got enough guns for a whole squad…” Makhus remarked.

There came another roar, this time closer. The four shared a look, and fully aware of their distinct lack of time to spare, they each grabbed a large and small bottle, with Makhus taking the Rubedo bottle as well and Zelsys taking an extra small bottle. Zelsys felt the instinct again, flooding her being. 

“I’ll get its attention so you can get it from behind,” she ordered, reaching for the handle of her cleaver.

The three each gave her a look. Makhus seemed concerned, Sigmund simply paid attention to her plan, and Zefaris had a rather strange glint in her eye. “You sure?” the swordsman questioned.

“It’s only fair that I play the bait this time,” she laughed, walking towards the door. A deep breath of the stench-filled air, filling her lungs to capacity as she readied herself to come rocketing out of the door. She slammed the door open and dashed out of the building, silver Fog virtually spraying from her nostrils as she went.

He only caught a brief glimpse, but Makhus recognized that technique. The deep breath, the exhalation of Fog before a physical feat. The words of a man he had met long ago came to mind.

“To breathe is to live. To breathe the essence of Aer is to be most alive of all…” 

Makhus wiped the thought from his mind, uncorking the Rubedo bottle with his teeth. He didn’t have time to dwell on the foreigner’s capabilities. 

“What are you doing?” Sigmund questioned. 

“I’ll absorb some and use my mouth as a hose. There’s too much in the bottle to break it.”

Carrying her three bottles as she went, Zelsys rushed out the door, exhaling as she ran towards the furthest gap in the barricade. She slid into cover behind one of the barriers before she even caught a glimpse of the beast. Now that she could take a look, it truly resembled a rot-bear, but it was also utterly unlike one. The beast was distended and contorted, its flesh skinless and decayed down to the bones. The bear’s rotting pelt hung from the creature like a cloak, and its intestines hung from its open stomach like an apron. It stood upright, leaning on the metal blockade as it breathed black fog over it. With each passing second, more of the blockade eroded, turning to pure rust under the beast’s onslaught. 

It had begun looking around in confusion when she passed by it, its skeletal head rising from the stump of its neck while its foggy eyes searched without goal. As she observed from just behind the metal blockade, she noticed several things that immediately explained why the beast was here. 

The flesh of its lower legs was riddled with shards of glass, its left foreleg held on by a knot of congealed blood. Most conclusively of all, its chest cavity - eviscerated and nearly empty - was occupied by an alchemic flask, a shriveled heart frantically beating within to pump pure Nigredo through the beast.