A distorted voice rang throughout the facility,

'This is an announcement from the Skyhost Collective, all Blighted threats have been neutralised. The lockdown in the Exit Sector will now begin to cease. All Summons who have been exposed to the infected, please remain in your current location, assistance will be with you shortly.'

Elira looked to Keristis, "As far as I know, we're the only two who fought them. It is unknown to me if any others have surfaced, but I assume we are to be attended to by someone in this room."

He nodded in agreement. Staring out the unreasonably large window behind her he could see a group of people huddled in a smaller room. One by one, the doors in the other areas were pulled out of the way by independently acting magic threads and opened letting them out, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Aurelius came running towards his location accompanied by a group of individuals that were carrying some strange device; it was cylindrical in shape and large enough for him to stand in.

The Deviant spoke out, < The doors aren't open yet, they're making it a makeshift quarantine area. I think this room is just a regular reception so nothing too important is in here. >

"What's your reasoning? I'm sure they would have had more people that could deal with this closer. After all, we are at the exit to the Blight Zone." Elira asked the weapon.

< Why else would they lock us in here? Look at your hands and his armour, between the two of you, almost everything in the Collective could be contaminated if you were free to walk around. I'm perplexed as to how you both aren't infected. >

The Deviant paused, becoming enlightened with a query.

< ...Are you immune? >

Keristis saw Elira's face turn away from him, she had something to say but definitely didn't want to say it.

The weapon sighed, < Haah... I'll take that as a yes then. How about you, Keristis? >

He couldn't tell, unsure as to why the spear was hesitant to ask and why Elira seemed embarrassed. In addition, he didn't feel right to reveal the existence of a voice only he could listen to, not that they'd believe him anyway.

< Nevermind, here they come. >

Aurelius put his hand in front of the door and a yellowish circle appeared, unlocking and opening it with ease. His group stepped inside. Effortlessly, the team behind him moved into a formation that cornered the two Summons.

As the strange device was planted on the ground, one of the group shouted, "Symptom dampener... deployed!"

Following suit, another called out, "Area stability twenty-six percent. This will be dangerous. Malint, I think it's best you take a step back for this."

Fixing a piece of upturned furniture, Aurelius nonchalantly spoke, "No need." he refused to move, a combination of faith in his power and concern for this promising Summon he had brought back kept him in place.

"Alright, get ready."

They raised their arms to aim their palms at the Summons, who were slowly becoming overtaken by a multitude of colours, it was cleansing magic intended to rid someone or something of infectious hazards. Keristis was greeted by a strange sensation at this, the armour soaked in blue liquid was vaporised and returned to its original violet-encrusted metallic grey. The flaming remained, however, and did not seem to falter.

On the other hand, the Deviant's Path wasn't clean - or rather, it couldn't be under these circumstances. A peculiar thing about his weapon was that it was immune to most if not all extraordinary conditions, meaning that the majority of magic that was directed towards it would be rendered pointless.

Elira didn't seem comfortable with the whole process. Not a single word had been spoken since the group came in.

Aurelius, ever the conversational, broke the tense atmosphere, "Elira! You alright? Where's Serulia?"

"Long story." she muttered.

"It seems we have a while, I'm all-ears."

"Immediately after you and your... Protector, I assume, left her in the assessment room she received one of those… text messages? I don't think she knew whoever sent it though, the name was nowhere to be seen. It mentioned absolutely nothing worthwhile, almost as if it was sent just for the sake of being a message, but from what she interpreted it was a request about her assessment abilities. She came here and then the Blighted came around. I told her to run with the others as I fought it." Elira sounded slightly saddened, as if she thought she should've done more in that situation. Having never been in such a dire situation was given away by her lamentation.

"Ah, much as I expected to be honest. She's probably led everyone back to the emergency meeting point, I think she'll be back soon anyway. About that message itself, well, a bit strange but I wouldn't give it too much thought." Aurelius warily spoke.

< Summoner, it should be considered that I am not in the most favourable of conditions at this moment. > A hint of disdain was carried within the spear's voice.

"Alright, relax. Keristis pass it here for a second. I'm able to sort that out." he held out his hand.

Aurelius took hold of the priceless weapon, whose first kill was still ever present within its remains. A golden light took hold, embracing the entirety of its frame and then split in half, removing all traces of a fight that were on it.

< Impressive, I admire your abilities. Triumph over my magic-resistant form is something I have not seen in a while. >

"Thank you for the half-hearted compliment. Here." the Deviant's Path was back in Keristis' possession. "By the way, Elira, how did you get any of it on yourself? Aren't you used to using a staff?"

"Haha..." she awkwardly laughed, "Let's just say that it got a bi-iit too close for comfort."

The conveyed feeling carried in her words mildly unsettled Aurelius, who had known Elira to be extremely graceful. In most cases, she was almost the definition of elegance when it came to manners and demeanour so if a situation ended in a way like it had now — a mess, you would know for certain that something was amiss. 

"The Blighted. They've gotten stronger haven't they?" Aurelius paced around the room while staring at the floor. "Problematic, but not something we can't deal with."

"Area is decontaminated and stability increasing, we're going to clean the other rooms." A member of the group announced.

"That's fine, go right ahead."

They picked up the unusual device and continued on their way, doors opened at their presence.

"What are they talking about when they say stability?" Elira asked, dumbfounded. The term was alien even to her.

< I can answer this. Stability is the word used in reference to the concentration of blighted mana. Essentially, if the area isn't stable, there's a high chance that a Summon will turn into a Blighted. >

"Ah, thank you for explaining." Elira smiled.

Aurelius was curious at the Deviant's knowledge. Assuming that the weapon had spent most of the recent time in Cosel's case, how would it learn of the newly-manufactured stabilisers? He had to enquire.

"I’m sorry but how do you know this stuff? That's a tad concerning."

< In which way is it concerning you, Golden-Eyes? > It laughed, careless at Aurelius' expense. 

He wasn't too pleased with a nickname, especially one coming from a weapon of all things.

"Tch, you have something to hide?"

Keristis didn't understand the passive-aggressiveness emanating from the two, and was slightly worried that the tension would be carried across their other interactions with one another.

The Deviant sighed, wobbling in Keristis' grasp, < The case wasn't exactly sound-proof. I could hear almost everything that was spoken in that room, including some things I didn't think I was supposed to hear. >

"Through a liability then? Eh, what else would it be?"

< It seems that you're quite bitter about that. Well in any case, don't think of me as the sort to use deceit to gain an advantage. >

"What? No, I didn't mean it like that." 

Frustrated, Elira spoke out, "Can you two give it a rest? I'm getting tired of your voices."

Keristis nodded in agreement, it was the only thing he could do to display his mild discontent.

"Alright, fine, we're going back now anyways. You might want to let Serulia know about your fight." Aurelius groaned.

"Oh, you aren't coming back?" Elira enquired.

"Not yet, Keristis and I are going out to the Blight Zone. Day trip."

"Well in that case, I'll be seeing you both." She waved, turned and began to walk back down the corridor, her dress slightly lifted off of the ground while trailing behind her.

Aurelius put down another piece of furniture.

"You still have the piece that broke off your armour?"

Keristis handed the warped metal to Aurelius, its sheen still reflecting the room around him. With it in hand, Aurelius closed his eyes and concentrated. A golden glow began to encompass the piece and it jumped out of his hand, flying towards Keristis' shoulder, seemingly refitting itself onto him. The flame that danced was extinguished as quickly as it was lit.

"Now that's over, let's get going."

The two walked out of the room as the doors automatically opened at their presence, the wonders of modern technology still surprised Keristis.