239. The Necessity of Violence

Where Frost was an Angel in the eyes of those with good hearts, she was a Demon in those that lived nefariously. Morality in her mind was a set of universal principles that acted as the basis of civilization and the fundamentals of what made someone ‘good’. Or at least the concept of being civil.

Such a thing seemed like a pipe dream in Elysia, where powers reigned supreme, and where human morality was but one aspect of the greater whole. How did Kingdoms and Empires of foreign lands survive if Adventurers could wreak havoc upon them? Were they as ruthless as the Syndicates rife in the City of Spades? Did they treat their citizens like livestock, just like the Impuritas? Did they control people through fear, like Scarlet Logic?

Or were they like the Kingdom of Puritas, ruled by the most violent?

Jury returned with Ignis, and to her surprise, Cara and her Dawn Collection Team followed. Seeing them again was surreal, but expected considering this was their turf. What interested her were the Peace Flock who were smuggled aboard and driven away from the staging grounds that required a pair of lovers.

Now that Frost realized it, the Captain and the Vice Captain were a soon-to-be married couple. It made them prime candidates to fulfil the needs of the Masterpiece. After some consultation, the Archivist offered some good news.

“They were the intended catalyst. The Archivist is closely watching the Expositionist and they’re at a loss. Nothing has gone their way so far, but I would be wary regardless.”

And this is all thanks to the Archivist?

“Yes. By intercepting their present, she is altering the future. Although, this is more in line with the Fate Mechanism rather than the books themselves.”

So we’re basically fighting against their set of predictions. And she’s just giving us the heads up?

“I am not sure myself. Act X has the answers for certain.”

The Director more like it. He’s been pretty helpful so far pulling all kinds of strings for us… now for them.

Frost had each and every one of the false healers, the Red Giant, and the mantis Blood Moon lined up like death row prisoners awaiting execution. They were ensnared by her steel threads, mummified to prevent them from daring to move. The Red Giant and Blood Moon were still capable of fleeing, but Frost made them painfully aware that they no longer had the reigns over their life.

Behind them was an Unlying Tablet that periodically healed them with Grand Healing V, making death an impossibility. She never blinked, and the dirt and blood she had accumulated over the last two days instilled terror into the false healers, who gazed into the eyes of the only healer capable of violence.

*Snap*

*Crackle*

*Crack*

Frost questioned them with Jury’s aid as she doused their souls with Cinder stacks and broke fingers, joints, bones, and ribs torturously slowly. She thought of it as butchery rather than torture, for she did not see these monsters as people.

Anyone that persecuted a healer was irredeemable.

“Conspiracy against White Doves? And Inflow Direct’s blaming Caldera Industries for kidnapping healers when it’s been Scarlet Logic all along.” Frost’s calm voice was uncanny, and it was a stark contrast to the screams of the false healers.

Her flaming hands roasted flesh, destroyed tissue, and charred innards. The oath she had taken as a health professional burned with each blow she dealt, and each demand she made for them to spill everything they knew all the while their innards did.

A mountain of gore laid beneath the false healers, who were reduced to a whimper. The embrace of death and unconsciousness never reached them. Her Dream Shatterers kept them entirely sane and conscious. So far, only the Star and Moon managed to keep themselves relatively sane through the ordeal.

But the damage dealt to them was more psychological. A healer like her was the antithesis of everything they were. Frost was as bloody as they were, and the false healers were left humiliated wearing nothing but blood as they confessed to everything they knew, had done, had thought about…

“Lacing the Nex Megalopolis with Anti-healing artefacts. Torturing healers and parading as them to integrate into societies across the Nex Megalopolis. Mostly in the City of Clubs… And bringing them to Scarlet Logic for ‘collection’…” Frost relayed their confessions, and her Coat of Prejudice confirmed each and every word.

City of Clubs had a considerably high concentration of Scarlet Logic Gambit Teams, who were essentially infiltrators and personnel disguised as regular people to stir whatever plot Scarlet Logic had. From what she gathered, the false healers were made to chip away at their reputation, and at one glance of their Serums she realized that they were laced with poison.

Frost emptied its contents down their throats with zero resistance. She dared not to imagine what happened to the healers they had already taken. With what she knew about the Orth and Thras, her rage almost threw her to the Third State as her flames brimmed.

These people had little idea of what the grand scheme was, or where the healers currently resided. How many had been taken. How many had been replaced… They were only doing what was ordered, caring little of their actions. They were condemnable at the highest order, and Frost refused to let them die.

Instead, she left the Unlying Tablet where it was and doused the false healers in a crater of Liquid Fire. They’d remain there until someone saved them, unable to succumb.

As for the Star and Moon…

“Is your life worth more than Scarlet Logic? They saved you. But you don’t think they’ve been robbing you?” Frost calmly asked them. “What happened to your magic? You didn’t use any against the triplets. Were you overconfident? Was it a part of your mission?”

Neither spoke. Their loyalty to Scarlet Logic would be admirable if they weren’t an Atelier of murderers. But they seemed to react at the mention of magic. With all they knew about the Impuritas, it was possible that they had their magic taken away from them.

It would be another major incentive to follow every word of Scarlet Logic if it meant reclaiming what was stolen from them. But from what she witnessed, these two enjoyed the thrill of their hunt.

“Not a single word… If I manifested Judgement, then Sinless Repent would’ve ripped everything out of you. You’ll have nothing to gain and everything to lose from here on out. You really won’t speak? This is your last warning.” Frost drew Iscario’s pale stake, which burnt until black under the heat of her flames.

The blackened stake hissed as she pointed it at their exposed chests, ready to skewer them like the beasts they were.

“… What is there… to confess? That we were ordered a cease fire with the Hungry, the Pages and all those Dungeon monsters?” The mantis croaked, his mouth moving like a puppet’s. “Magic robbed from us. The fear of a repeated death. The fear of losing sight of oneself… You blame us when we have nowhere else to point our rage…? The staging grounds they’ve created… it will begin everything.”

“So you’ve opened your mouth.” The Arachnid spat. “Pity. When we’re inevitably found you’ll be the first to go… Black Dove… It must be comfortable taking orders from your own heart. For people like us, we wield our hatred and are whipped with fear to go alongside the heartbeat of our Atelier. Can you condemn people who never had a choice to begin with?”

Frost exchanged a heated gaze. Her feathers rustled, but they also ceased abruptly. There was a lie in the midst. She saw the caravan of the Cara’s Dawn Team with her many invisible eyes and deeply sighed.

“If people at the bottom can choose to run away, then why can’t you? Is your magic really all that important? Everyone wants to live without pain. I get that. But you revel in that pain. And for what? FOR –!”

She impaled the Arachnid onto the black stake, leaving her to hang above a shallow pool of molten rock underneath.

“– WHAT!? DOES CIRCUMSTANCES DISMISS YOU FROM ALL THE ATROCITIES YOU’VE COMMITED! THEM FROM THE HEALERS THEY TORTURED!?” Ignorance was not a redeeming factor.

Like the Arachnid, she impaled the mantis through the chest with another charred stake. Both had taken enough beatings to have died over a hundred times, but they still were tight lipped. Even when they did confess, they were unapologetic. Frost had a feeling that the other Stars and Blood Moons weren’t any different.

But what about the people on the lower end of the Atelier? Were they just as willing as Cara to escape? Jury had evidence to suggest this was true with the readings she had received of their sins.

Scarlet Logic was like one gargantuan collective illusion. They still didn’t know how many were like Cara. And it still didn’t dismiss their wrongs. But Frost understood that if she destroyed their replication technology, then there was a possibility to putting an end to their menace in the Nex Megalopolis before things became out of hand.

The hell am I saying? Things are already out of hand. S4 is burning. S3 will probably follow, as well as the neighboring Sectors. Night has practically turned into day…

Frost was confident that they were incapable of moving. For the Star and Moon specifically, she moved them away from the Unlying Tablet and shattered every bone, severed every tendon and tore every ligament that would allow them to move. They were only allowed to breathe, and she repositioned the stake into a less vital part of their body, which took experimentation since they weren’t human to begin with.

Soaked in blood, Frost positioned them to face the heights that was the City of Spades, granting them front row seats for the inevitable fireworks.

“Skewering us. Judging us even though you know nothing. You… are not a healer. You are a beast that skewers. A skewering beast… with a mouth that devours all with its prejudice.” The mantis spoke in a philosophical tongue, although, its tongue and jaw were completely dislocated.

Hearing his mangled voice caused Frost to tug on the collar of her feathered coat.

“That takes me back, huh. It’s too late to figure out what I am. Watch closely. Because everything you believe in is going to burn.” Frost vowed as she turned her back away from the brilliant wall of flames.

She strode to Jury’s side and returned with her to the others.

“Are you ok?” Jury whispered, worried about her.

“It’s… Yeah. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there’s no way in hell talking to them would have done anything. Couldn’t bribe them. Couldn’t change their hearts. Just violence.” Frost complained as Jury suddenly took her flaming hand into hers.

She was the only one who could withstand her flames, and for that Frost was thankful. A part of her felt lonely whenever she had to avoid directly interacting with the others, but so long as Jury could… then she was confident to claim that she was ok.

Frost let loose of another heavy sigh and looked towards the waiting others.

There was much deliberation to be made. With the information they accumulated, they needed to thoroughly go through with everything Cara’s team, the Peace Flocks, the Archivist and Nav knew before they could begin their assault.

Because the ‘staging grounds’, as they’ve called it, was where the Masterpiece resided.