Reinhard pushed himself up from the stone floor, Martha's boots no longer pinning him. He began to rush towards the metal platform, moving past the crumpled form of Martha.

The sound of his footsteps echoed through the room as he took the platform stairs two at a time, his hand gripping the rail for balance.

Anasha's legs gave out the moment he reached her. She collapsed forward into his arms, her fingers clutching desperately at his shirt while messing up his shirt.

But Reinhard didn't care as Anasha began crying, and the words came out of her mouth as she sobbed.

"I believed-" Her voice broke before she spoke again. "I knew you guys would come! But I-I didn't want to see-"

Reinhard's hand rose to her hair, fingers threading through the strands with gentle motions. "I know, I could tell you just wanted to protect us. But how could we leave you behind?"

Anasha trembles as she presses her face harder into his shoulder. "Rein…"

The sound of boots pounding against stone shattered the moment. Dozens of footsteps, rushing and urgent, echoing from the entrance passage.

Reinhard glanced behind to see Mehko workers and guards flooding down the stairs. They scattered across the chamber floor, some stopping short at the area where his friends were, while others pushed forward towards Phineas.

Behind them came figures in white coats, who were the Mehko researchers with their clipboards clutched against their chests. Their expressions shifted between confusion and concern as they took in the scene.

"Director!" A guard's voice rang out as his hand moved to the weapon at his hip as he rushed forward. "Are you alright?"

"Did those bastards hurt you?" Another guard broke into a run, his boots slapping against stone. "What happened here?"

Reinhard's brow furrowed, his visible eye narrowing as he watched the guards cluster around Martha's kneeling form. His mind worked through possibilities, discarding and accepting.

So the guards and workers knew Martha was the Director? That means the cover was thinner than we thought. Or wait...

He studied their movements, the way they positioned themselves in defensive formations.

The practiced efficiency of their approach, the familiarity with which they addressed her. Could these be the Sinner soldiers themselves, disguised as guards? The real workers wouldn't move like that. Maybe we really should kidnap one of them and torture the answers out.

Phineas chuckled and pointed at Reinhard. "It was my dear actor's fault."

The guards and workers blinked in surprise before narrowing their eyes. Reinhard inwardly cursed at Phineas as he saw them advancing toward where he was with Anasha still cradled in his arms.

They began to shine as they summoned their Beast Spirit, anger, fury, and dislike in their eyes.

His friends quickly moved in front of the stairs to block the approaching guards and workers who were glaring at them.

"Let's go, Reinhard!" Roana's voice carried over the sound of approaching boots.

Reinhard nodded as he shifted Anasha in his arms, adjusting his grip to lift her more securely. She leaned into his chest, her trembling finally beginning to ease, though her fingers still clutched his shirt.

But before he could begin moving, laughter cut through the room.

Everyone froze from the familiar yet very dark voice.

The advancing guards stopped mid-step while the workers' hands paused on their weapons. Scath halted the swing of her spear while Roana stopped forming her ice, with surprise on her face.

All eyes turned as one toward the sound.

Martha had stood up, no longer a broken heap on the ground or clutching her head. Her violet-blue hair fell around her face in a cascade that partially obscured her features.

Her head was still gazing down at the files scattered around her feet, some face-up showing photographs and data, others crumpled where she'd dropped them.

Martha's hand reached out, fingers extending toward her spear, where it lay abandoned on the floor, and she picked it up.

Scath's grip on her spear tightened, Joseph slightly raised his spiral lance, and Marie's crimson-gold spear trembled as she stared at Martha's form.

On his golden throne, Phineas sat up straighter as his glasses slid back up his nose. But his entire body leaned forward with interest, hands gripping the armrests formed from golden strands.

A Mehko researcher broke from the cluster, stepping forward on unsteady legs while the clipboard pressed against her chest like a shield. Her face shifted through concern and confusion as she asked. "Martha, what is going-"

Martha's head lifted slowly, her light blue eyes found the researcher across the distance, and then she faintly smiled. The same smile she'd given patients across clinic counters and the same smile that had reassured and comforted and promised help.

Then she drove the spear through her own chest.

"No!" The scream erupted from multiple people simultaneously!

Joseph shouted with his eyes widened, Marie with her hand stretched out, the guards roared out, and the workers stared in disbelief.

Blood leaked down Martha's black suit, with some leaking from the corners of her mouth. But Martha's expression remained serene and calm.

Her hand rose, and her fingers began moving through the air. They traced patterns that left afterimages of light, complex symbols that hung suspended for a second before fading.

Light erupted from the ground beneath her feet.

A circle expanded outward across the polished stone floor, racing along the surface like fire across oil.

The circle passed beneath every Mehko researcher's feet, leading to their faces being transformed in an instant. Their eyes went wide and mouths opened in shock, in denial, at the beginning of screams that would never fully form.

The same wound that pierced Martha's chest had appeared on each researcher simultaneously. Blood sprayed outward and painted the floor as they all dropped down to the ground, one by one, sometimes two or three at once, all of them falling.

Some managed to get their hands up, reaching toward Martha in question, while others simply collapsed forward onto their faces.

The researcher who had spoken fell to her knees first, her clipboard clattering against stone, papers scattering. She coughed, blood spraying from her lips in fine mist while her hand rose, shaking, pointing at Martha. "Why?"

Martha's light blue eyes remained fixed on her, and then she spoke, her voice was clear despite the blood, steady despite the spear embedded in her chest.

"This is for my brothers and sisters who you all threw away because they failed your trials."

The researcher's eyes widened in shock and then disbelief, then fear. Her mouth worked soundlessly, trying to form words that wouldn't come. Around her, the other surviving researchers showed similar expressions. Some displayed pure confusion, not understanding, while others showed terrible recognition and disbelief.

The green circle pulsed again, expanding further.

It spread beneath the feet of every worker and guard in the chamber. They barely had time to look down before the symbols flared bright.

The same holes appeared in their chests before they all fell. Within seconds, dozens of bodies littered the floor, adding to the growing lake of blood that made the polished stone slick and treacherous.

But Martha's gaze didn't follow their fall. She didn't even glance in their direction. Her eyes had already moved past them, looking elsewhere.

The circle appeared beneath Phineas.

The symbols glowed bright green against the golden strands of his throne. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Phineas sat frozen, silver eyes wide behind his glasses, mouth opening in surprise.

Then a hole burst through his black suit, through his vest with its gold chain, through flesh and bone. Blood sprayed forward, spattering across the golden strands, with Phineas leaning forward while coughing up blood that landed on the floor.

But he didn't fall.

Reinhard's eye widened in shock as he watched golden strands erupt from the throne like living things. They rushed into Phineas's chest wound with terrible speed, weaving through flesh, stitching and sealing with metallic clicks.

Phineas coughed again, more blood spraying, but his voice emerged angry rather than pained. "Damn it! Was that really necessary?!"

Martha ignored him completely. Her gaze moved across the chamber, passing over the bodies, over the blood, over everything until it found Reinhard standing on the platform with Anasha in his arms.

Her light blue eyes locked with her own blue eyes.

Reinhard lightly gasped because Martha's eyes were cycling through emotions so rapidly that he could barely track them. Pain flashed through, then rage, then sorrow, then came something like gratitude, followed immediately by hatred, and then back to pain.

It continued flashing in an endless loop that made Reinhard tremble as he felt pain inside.

"I am done." Martha's voice carried across the blood-soaked chamber with blood dripping from her chin. "I am not sure if I should hate you or thank you, Reinhard."

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