The paindne sitting before me doesn't look like half the man he was a few minutes ago. His teeth are bloodied, lips split from dryness, and more than a few patches of fur have already fallen out from stress. If I waited a few more minutes, he might be more dead than man. Hell, a few of the people standing around me might've helped make that a reality.

"We need your help," Ebb says without hesitation. "You know the old boss took away almost everyone's anchors; we even found yours in the massive pile that got destroyed by something the system left behind to make sure we never actually found the place. Or, when we did, that we wouldn't be alive enough to do anything about it. That ring any bells?"

Clamber's dad cracks a crooked smile. "You already know so much about what I know. So why don't you just keep telling me things until you're satisfied, then we can all die together like the actual boss wants?"

He's one sorry bastard. Buddy's dead, boss is in Illumisia purgatory, and he's more than willing to die for a cause that's already dead and gone. All that's left is the nuclear bargaining chip, and honestly, I'm not sure it'll have the desired effect anymore. Someone like this probably couldn't give a shit about their family.

I put that thought aside for a moment and lean down to meet him at eye level. Illumisia might've dragged him into this meeting kicking and screaming, but the guy has at least a little motivation to survive buried under those dying embers he calls eyes. If not for himself or even his family… for the stonestep solutions he so obviously believes in.

"You have a kid," I state.

"That I do," he casually replies. "Her name's Clamber, and she's back in Palastia in the jewelry store I own. Did you think you could blackmail me into helping just because of her?"

I laugh dryly and shake my head. "I was sort of hoping to, yeah. She's pretty much the only reason I'm here; she helped me with the plastic map, asked me to come find you, and even offered up a quest-style reward when I did. Guess that's all out the window now, huh?"

"Yep. Nothing matters more than the company. You'll never get in charge. None of the actual board would allow it, and all these idiots are going to die along with me when the quest progresses." Clamber's dad pauses to flash me a smug, toothy, smug grin. "No matter what you do, usurper, you won't get what you want. Your buddies won't be so keen on keeping me alive forever, and when one of them gets sick of it–bang! Everything ends."

It's a damn struggle not to let the disgust seep into my expression. This dude is everything I hate about stonestep solutions and the system rolled into one; and I thought the horizonguard was going to be the source of all that hate. Should've expected a few people to share his values. Values even the guy himself wasn't spouting openly when I first met him.

…Hm. Maybe there's an entrypoint there. "Alright, so we're not making any progress here; let's try something different. When did the system possess the horizonguard?"

Disbelief flashes over Clamber's dad's eyes for the shortest of moments. But not at the thing I said; at the fact that I know it happened. So there is something here. Maybe I can bullshit my way through.

"Don't want to talk? How about I spin a little theory, then?"

I clear my throat and motion for Jumble to hand me her book. Without skipping a beat she makes a show of opening it to a random page before placing it in my hands. Much to my surprise… there's actual writing there. Surveillance notes from the Quest. Shit, this makes things way easier. I skim over the relatively short report, make it even shorter in my mind, then clear my throat.

"Right after the horizonguard came to meet us, he went back to you. You were acting like a fanatic, which was normal for you, but he didn't fully agree; all he wanted was the reward the system promised him. He didn't give a shit if I lived or died. But then I saved Click. Things changed then," I pause and look up at CLamber's dad, who appears to be in the process of shitting himself with fear. "So you took his… you took his anchor and hid it away with the rest of them that you took. But instead of leaving it whole, you broke it. So when the Quest progressed, the horizonguard became a system loyal construct. Christ, man, that's cold."

Clamber's dad gnashes his teeth. "It was necessary. The boss didn't listen to the system's holy words; he kept going on about the all-mother, the progenitor, the very same massive wolf that bit him in two just a moment ago. All you Worth Class vermin need to be eradicated. Especially you."

He turns… to look at Jumble. "You destroyed everything."

"Did I?" Jumble smiles innocently and leans down, draping her arms around my shoulders possessively. "It's been so long, I can barely remember. Tell me, was it when I created a chain reaction that ended with a detonation that wiped this city into phase, or was it when I created a construct and injected it into the city's central computer to make sure the system had less and less power over it as time went on?"

I turn to her with raised eyebrows. "That's how you did it?"

She nods. "I had to learn how to make constructs somewhere, didn't I? And the Quest is… well… one of mine, but not mine anymore. Don't ask me how that works, because I have no idea, and he won't tell me."

Shellraisers. Fake shellraisers; that's how it worked. But to know that Jumble really was the catalyst for all this… damn. Really puts things into perspective about when she went back to check the place out; she was making sure it wasn't coming back to reality in some way. She'd know how to get back, too, if she made sure it was gone in the first place. Also explains why she doesn't have an anchor.

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"Slice, too? Is she fallout from your attack?"

"Yup. I think all the constructs technically are, since I made sure to wipe out all the mindless ones with the first attack."

"Do I want to know exactly how you did it?"

Jumble shrugs. "It's nothing special. If you overload everything at the same time, then direct the energy to the right place, you can make an explosion that deals more damage to the real than things in-phase. So when I offered the system an out by shifting this place out of reality, even though it didn't know I was the one that offered it, it greedily took the chance to save its haven."

"Damn. Tell me the whole story sometime."

"It's a date."

Clamber's dad makes a strangled noise, snapping me back to reality. "You… you did everything? The system thought it was an entire platoon. All of the heretics somehow coming together to work as one."

"What? No, no, you have it wrong; I had help. A lot of it, actually," Jumble laughs fondly. "All of them are dead now just from being alive too long, and they all left the city long before I actually pulled the trigger. I thought the system would've figured that out a long time ago, but it looks like I was right; the system has so many blindspots it isn't even funny."

"You dare?" Clamber's dad hisses. "The system is infallible!"

I can't help but laugh. He turns his glare to me, eyes smoldering with zealous passion as words of hate spew free from his mouth. This guy is a true system believer. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long for me to meet someone like this. Someone who actually believes it without being turned into a construct.

Fore steps into the conversation. "Are you first or second wave paindne?"

"First," Clamber's dad says without hesitation. "Second waves like you are nothing but pale imitations of our glorious forms."

"Liar."

The single word slaps Clamber's dad across the face with the force of an olympic boxer. He glares daggers at Fore as magic starts to well around him, but Fore just lunges forward and places his hand in Clamber's dad's mouth.

"Mlgh?!"

"Shh, shhhh…" Fore shushes the older man and slowly presses his other hand against Clamber's dad's chest. "You're not being very helpful right now, and I don't appreciate being called lesser for something I didn't personally do. I'd say inbred freaks like you are actually lesser, but since you're not, you're just a self-hating second-wave. How can you look at those hard-breathing, weak-boned, can't-live-without-a-system-blessing inbred exclusionists and see anything other than what they show you?"

Gentle magic slides down Fore's mouth-bound hand as Clamber's dad bites down hard. Blood wells up around Fore's fingers, melding with the magic as it slides down Clamber's dad's throat and visibly falls into his stomach. His eyes go wide with panic and he tries to thrash out of it, but Fore just gently presses his fingers further into Clamber's dad's unwilling chest, stilling him instantly.

"What are you doing to him?" Illumisia asks curiously.

Fore blinks, then looks up at the massive painted dane. A slight blush colours his face, and he looks away again. "I'm, um, sedating him, your majesty. O-or do you prefer megalodane?"

Illumisia snorts in amusement. "Your majesty serves me just fine. You have one attempt to explain how sedating this man will help our attempt to have him repair the damaged anchors."

"That's simple, your majesty. I-I'll just open him up while he's out and pull his skills as a jeweler out of his brain for myself. Like so," Fore mimes unzipping a jacket with his teeth, then takes a big bite of what's inside.

That finally gets a rise out of Clamber's dad. He thrashes around Fore's hand, teeth digging pointlessly deeper into the body modifying paindne's flesh with every passing second. I think I see what Fore's trying to do; there's something in Clamber's dad's brain that he cares about more than dying. System secrets, probably, that he doesn't want us to know. If we can fool him into helping us out just so he doesn't have to spill those, then–

Clamber's dad goes utterly limp. Fore hums knowingly to himself, leans over, and… uh… 'unzips' Clamber's dad from the bottom of the neck all the way down to the base of his spine. Pearl gaps at the sight while I just stand here uselessly gawking at the image of a man quite literally being split down the middle for easy access. Gnash, Sawyer, and Wojkmi turn away. Everyone else watches with rapt attention.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah; let's wait a second," I interrupt as Fore's teeth grow three sizes larger than normal, with… holes… at their ends. "There's got to be a better way here. I promised Clamber I'd find her dad and I really don't want to have to come back to her and say 'I found him, but then I let him get eaten for his skills'."

Fore frowns for a moment, then laughs and shakes his head. "I'm not going to kill him, boss. All I'm gonna do is extract the muscle memory and accumulated knowledge of jewelrymaking from his brain. You can kill him after we fix up everyone's anchors, if you're so worried about getting the final blow."

"That's… that's not what I… haaah," I sigh and wave for him to go ahead. "Whatever. Just make sure he doesn't die until I can show his daughter he's alive."

"Can do, boss!" Fore says eagerly, then… well… there's a wet slurp, and I avert my gaze. My awareness follows, too, blissfully. Guess I still have some control over that.

"That's one problem down," Jumble says, unbothered by the strange feast going on a few inches away from us. "Last thing we need to do is make sure some… things… are alright with the people here. Slice, Liquid, Click, Quest; get all the other constructs and have them come meet us in Gil's store. He'll be nice and host our last gathering in this damned city."

Gil raises a single thumb and makes a clicking noise with his mouth. The constructs all flock to him like moths around a lightbulb, and all the stonestep solutions people go right back to chatting amongst themselves while Fore… does his thing. I try to ignore it, but the sounds are just so… wet. Illumisia nudges me with her nose, then splits a smaller cherry-coloured painted dane from herself and starts walking away.

Jumble and I share a look. I turn to make sure all the others who were in our tower with us are doing fine, and much to my surprise, they're chatting happily with Fore's mask-buddies. They don't look like they need me at all, anymore. Clutter's invisible form bumps my side encouragingly as Jumble threads her arm through mine.

"Let's get moving," Jumble insists with a tug. "I want to get out of this place as soon as I can, and Earth sounds like a good enough place to make a new life for a little while. At least until the system calls you back to this world."

I take a deep breath through my nose and smile in agreement. She laces her fingers through mine and pulls me even closer, a motion that gets a snort of surprise from Illumisia, but not much more than that. I swear she mutters something like 'Fleur won't like that' under her breath, but I can't be sure.

Illumisia never even met Fleur, so how could she know what Fleur would like?

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