25.3

*ACT YoE 4,171/LT April 22, 2070, at 0037

Corporate Lab #8

Arasaka Headquarters

R&D Underground Satellite Hive#2 

The pale hand adorned with silver runes gripped the edge of the coffin’s lid, and a slow, deliberate movement followed. A second hand emerged, mirroring the first runes pulsing harmoniously with the flickering glyphs on the walls. The ooze, sensing a threat, writhed violently, tendrils snapping toward the coffin as if compelled to eliminate whatever was inside.

Michiko’s eyes narrowed as the coffin lid slid open and reality bent, revealing the Silver Witch floating upright above her coffin. Her presence was overwhelming—an aura of pure mana emanated from her like an invisible tidal wave. Her silver hair floated as though submerged in water, each strand shimmering like liquid mercury. Her eyes, pale as the moon and flecked with arcane light, surveyed the room with calm authority.

The ooze lunged, but the Silver Witch raised a finger pointing at the mass. The motion was graceful, almost lazy, but the reaction was immediate. Silver light erupted from her fingertip, arcing like a lightning strike. The tendrils that touched it disintegrated, evaporating into black smoke with a screech that reverberated in the minds of all present.

“Unbound filth,” the Silver Witch murmured, her voice resonating with a strange harmony that sent shivers through those watching. “You dare use me as a taxi to escape the Void?”

The ooze immediately retaliated, multiplying its remaining mass into a singular, towering form. Tendrils solidified into jagged spikes, and a low, guttural growl emanated from its core. It lunged again, faster this time, targeting the Witch with a coordinated assault of spiked appendages.

The witch didn’t flinch; she didn’t even blink.

With a wave of the witch’s silver-runed hand, Michiko watched as the air itself seemed to crystallize into a swirling vortex of silver dust. The particles danced lazily in hypnotic patterns, catching and grinding the tendrils to nothingness like an amoeba consuming prey. The ooze attempted to recoil, its once-aggressive movements faltering. However, it was too late to act as the dense liquid silver dust spread to encase it, forming a gleaming cocoon around the black mass. The Arasaka elite heiress flinched as black dust was casually pulled from the sides of the room, revealing the ooze’s actual backup plan.

Michiko’s eyes flickered as the room pulsed with visible sonic energy, the glyphs on the walls glowing brighter in response to the Witch’s magic. The complete ooze, now fully encased, writhed within its prison, but its movements slowed as the silver cocoon hardened into an unyielding shell.

The Silver Witch approached the encased mass, her bare feet making no sound as she floated over the blood-stained floor. Her expression remained serene, though her eyes burned with cold, purposeful glint. Raising her hand, she placed it on the cocoon, almost like caressing a loved one. A low hum resonated through the room, and the silver shell began to shrink, compressing the ooze within.

“You do not belong here,” she intoned, her voice carrying an edge of finality. “However, waste not, want not. Sacrifice for Power.” A circle of twisted runes spun around the cocoon with a maddening purpose. In seconds, there were multiple rune orbits.

The Silver Witch clenched her hand into a fist with a final, decisive motion. The silver cocoon and accompanying rune orbits imploded, the entire construct collapsing inward with a deafening crack that left a ringing silence. When the noise faded, Michiko observed that the ooze was eliminated with extreme prejudice.

The Silver Witch turned, her gaze settling on Michiko. There was no hostility, only an inscrutable calm. Unlike before, when she had looked something like an edgerunner at the first meeting, now the witch’s clothing looked as if she was portraying a fanciful cosplay.

“You’ve summoned me successfully,” the Silver Witch said, her voice now smooth and measured as her eyes flickered down to the rune circle she was in. “You have only minutes to Bargain, considering the rules of this world.”

Rules? Michiko shrugged before going down to the lab floor through a side door in the observation area, her composure intact despite the immense display of power she had just witnessed. “Power always demands a price,” she replied. “And I am prepared to pay it.”

The Witch’s lips curved into a faint, enigmatic smile. “Oh?”

The room was silent, save for the faint hum of residual energy lingering in the air. Frozen in their molten silver sculpture forms, the researchers were revealed to be mostly intact. Like a black hole, the Silver Witch seemed to pull all the silver in the room directly into her form, which turned to dust. Michiko glanced at those who had survived the ordeal—crawling to huddle at the edges of the chamber or clinging to the edges—they dared not make a sound.

Even more telling, Patient Zero had discreetly moved to stand beside Kei. Michiko grinned silently in her mind at the implication. The terrifying telekinetic was scared shitless at the Silver Witch’s arrival. As the last silver in the room vanished, the glyphs along the walls dimmed, their light retreating as though bowing in reverence to the Silver Witch. Only the summoning circle’s runes were still blazed with light.

Michiko held her ground, her sharp gaze locked with the Witch’s. The air between them was charged, though not with hostility. It was an unspoken acknowledgment of power—Michiko’s calculated ambition to meet the Witch’s timeless authority.

“From what I can see you are…very well off, why bother summoning me? Surely a corporation with these resources can’t find mana hard to understand?” the Silver Witch probed, looking around the raised platform at the rest of the lab. Her voice carried an ethereal quality, each word resonating as if spoken directly into the soul. The silver runes visible on her displayed skin pulsed faintly with her movements, their glow a quiet reminder of her otherworldly nature.

Michiko squared her shoulders. “To ally,” she said evenly. “Arasaka requires your knowledge, your power. In return, I can offer—”

The Witch raised a hand, silencing her. “Do not insult me with promises of petty trinkets,” she said, her tone mild but firm. “They would have no meaning the moment I left this place. If you seek my aid, you must offer something more substantial.”

Michiko hesitated for only a fraction of a second, her mind calculating possibilities at lightning speed. “Your price?” she asked, careful not to appear too eager or resistant.

The Silver Witch studied her momentarily as though peering through Michiko’s carefully constructed façade. “You know of the one they call the Phantom?” she said. “She is my singular choice due to her potential power. However, she is one. The power of a single person below the Third Tier is limited.”

Third Tier? Michiko thought her augmented mind racing.

The Witch smiled faintly. “The stain of that creature would have waited until someone opened the lab. It would then have escaped to the wider world. Once in the ocean, well, you can imagine the ending.” she said, glancing toward the now-empty center of the summoning chamber. “Such a thing that could wipe your world of all life is a tiny bottom feeder beyond the Veil.”

Michiko nodded, already turning over the implications. “You want my assistance. Otherwise, there would be no point in even communicating with me or answering a Summon.” she said with quiet determination.

“Good, you have a sharp mind.” The Witch turned her gaze toward the surviving researchers, her expression unreadable. “Can they be trusted?”

The researchers collectively flinched, their fear palpable, but Michiko’s steely resolve did not waver. “No,” she assured the Witch. “Kei, handle it.” Patient Zero didn’t even have a moment to react as her bodyguard’s sword separated their head from their body. The researchers followed shortly after as blood sprayed and splattered on the lab’s walls, ceiling, and floor. Michiko’s eyes noted how the blood moved to the summoning circle runes before vanishing as if down a drain. The cost of this endeavor rose with every body that grew colder on the floor.

A flicker of approval passed through the Witch’s pale eyes. “Efficient,” she remarked. “Very efficient.”

With that, the Silver Witch moved gracefully toward the center of the summoning circle. The world twisted around her before the witch sat on a throne, a strange circle of floating tech bits rotating above her head like a crown.

Michiko exhaled slowly, her mind racing as her outward composure remained unshaken. Turning to Kei, who stood at her side, she gave a single, sharp command. “Liquidate everything.”

Kei inclined his head, already reaching for his commlink. “As you wish.”

Michiko turned, preparing to Bargain.

As Michiko faced the Silver Witch seated upon her ethereal throne, the air grew heavier, as though reality strained under the weight of their meeting. The Witch leaned slightly forward, resting her chin on her hand, her silver eyes studying Michiko with an unsettling intensity.

“Your actions are decisive,” the Witch said, her voice smooth yet layered with boredom. “Ruthless efficiency, a calculated mind. But those are tools, not essence.”

Michiko kept her expression neutral, though her mind worked furiously. Every word, every movement of this entity had meaning. She couldn’t afford to misstep. “I understand the stakes,” she replied, her tone measured. “And I know the value of power. Power is survival, and I’m a survivor.”

The Witch tilted her head, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. “You speak of surviving, yet your world teeters on the edge of chaos. The creature that arrived with me was but a fragment of the Void. The question remains: who guided its hand?”

Michiko frowned, the Witch’s words igniting a storm of suspicion in her mind. “Do you mean to say this was deliberate? A calculated interference?”

“Everything is deliberate,” the Witch replied, her voice dropping to a resonant whisper. “The Void doesn’t merely bleed into your reality without provocation. Something or someone has orchestrated this intrusion. The question is why. Mana is a Source, not a player.”

Michiko’s sharp gaze did not falter. She threw out words, testing the waters. “If you have the answers, speak them. I have no patience for riddles.”

The Witch chuckled softly, the sound echoing like the chiming of distant bells. “Oh, I have answers. But answers have their price. A Bargain is required before I can illuminate anything. The pesky rules of a world, even if a fragment.”

Michiko stepped closer to the circle, the summoning runes still blazing with the remnants of their ritualistic energy. “Name your terms.” Carte blanche was better than ignorance.

The Witch’s expression grew somber, her silver eyes glinting with purpose. “You see the symbols arrayed in the circle, yes?”

“I do,” Michiko answered, realizing the potential request rapidly.

The Witch’s gaze hardened, her voice ringing with authority. “Your world is a fragment. A portion of the whole. A piece of the puzzle. It is also a portal, a gateway of attack.”

Michiko’s lips tightened into a thin line. “You want to close the door. Shut and bar the gate from where you came from.”

The Witch’s smile returned, cold and unyielding. “It is about survival. Fail to act, and your world will fall like countless others. Do you think I am strong? I am a drop in the ocean, bound by rules, constrained by the Crystal Wall. Even then, one of me is enough to wipe all life on this fragment. Imagine ten. A hundred. A million. A trillion. Do you get the picture now?”

Michiko nodded slowly. “That result would occur far outside my lifetime, though, wouldn’t it?”

The Witch rose from her throne, her movement fluid and deliberate. The chair dissolved into silver dust, which swirled around her like a living cloak as she paced, “Possibly. Very possibly. Are you willing to risk it though? My patience is not infinite. I am not actively working against your world at this time. Merely trying to close a door as a favor to a friend who can pay me more than money could ever buy.”

Michiko met her gaze without flinching. “There’s no free lunch.”

A thin, enigmatic smile graced the Witch’s lips. “Good. Good. People without ambition are worthless. Ambition and greed in the right quantity are admirable and predictable.”

“Arasaka has just recently returned to these shores. What concrete assistance would you provide?” Michiko asked without restraint.

“The Phantom.” The Silver Witch said without inflection. “A promising one with massive potential. I invested before the IPO. They would clear any obstacles in your chosen path.”

Michiko’s eyes flashed as data regarding the mercenary operator flashed across her eyes. The appearance of the Phantom coincided with a murderous spree that had cleaned the city of many undesirable homeless elements. Since those individuals hadn’t paid much in taxes, the NCPD had merely logged the cases.

There were more cases than an Arasaka executive’s salary.

Michiko’s mind came up with a strange answer from the depths, “Souls?”

The Silver Witch stopped pacing and faced her with an amused expression, “Oh my, you are a very sharp one.” The witch seemed to pause for a fraction before deciding to continue, “Mana is everything. It goes by many names in many worlds. The method of use might change, leading some to believe it is a different energy, but they are ignorant of the truth. If mana is everything, but your world has no external Source pouring it in…”

Michiko’s eyes flashed as all the pieces fit instantly, “Then the only mana available would be…Soul Mana?” Her mind cataloged many stories depicting human sacrifice, reaching a conclusion in a flash of insight.

“Bingo, you may now call me Eve.” The Silver Witch said as she casually started floating an inch off the ground.

Michiko sighed at the display of power. Kei finished cleaning his weapon and sheathed it before standing at her side again.

“Anything?” Michiko let her eyes wander as her imagination took flight.

“Anything,” Eve said with a diabolical grin.

“Green. Can you make the world…green…again?” Michiko said hesitantly, like a small child asking for a treat they knew would be refused. At her side, Kei stiffened as his eyes widened.

A scroll appeared between both parties, and Eve gave a terrible smile as she said, “Let’s get down to brass tacks.”