When we had caught up to Alfred, there he was, calmly sipping tea on the corpse of a Gremlin. Three things crossed my mind. First, how did he kill them all this fast? Second, just HOW was he capable of getting this far in? And third, where the heck did the tea come from? Alice herself withdrew her Masamune. "Heh?" She murmured. Alfred stopped sipping his tea for a few moments, looked at us, and then casually resumed his sipping. Alice continued. "I could've sworn this was a Muramasa. It wound up in Master's hands...But where did this Masamune come from?" She wondered aloud. Now even I was curious here. Alice simply studied our blades. She continued her tirade.

"Muramasa blades are incredibly sharp. Known only to be created by a supposedly insane swordsmith sometime during the Muromachi Period, on a distance and ancient planet we've only recovered trace samples from. Whereas this Masamune blade might have been created 300 years earlier...This is odd. It's like a rift in time of sorts has opened up."

It seemed odd, all right. But we had no time. Before us were two gigantic gears. In front of them seemed to be these hut-like structures, from which a clown car's worth of Gremlins were pouring out. Alfred finished his tea, put it away, grabbed his gun, and loaded it. Tina took aim down the sights. Alice withdrew her blade. I did the same.

We silently divided into two teams. Alice and Alfred, Tina and I. We split up and began our assaults.

Tina stayed back and kept providing support fire. Firing bolts into the hut structures lit them on fire. The hundreds of painful screams that echoed through the obfuscating din of explosions was horrible enough. The smog, the flame, it's sheer burning power, everything else...Was this really right? Were we really doing something good?

Tina kept firing. The Gremlins kept charging us. Their armor was in various stages of singe and scorch. They fought, coughing from inhaling not only the smoke from the fires, but the smoke from the environment. After all of them were dead, Tina went on ahead and stepped on a green button, disabling missile launchers around us. One gear moved aside. We met Alice and Alfred after rushing back. The second gear moved. Unchallenged, we pressed on. Tina and Alice still gave each other looks that could kill. Alfred kept to the rear, providing cover fire and keeping a small distance from the two. I just walked forwards. Every heartbeat hurt a little. Alice slowed her pace from a slow jog to a walk and slowly analyzed my face.

"Master, is something the matter...?"

"Alice. Do you think these Gremlins have families? People to return to?"

"Well...Yes. Some of them, anyways."

I paused. I felt choked up. Alice's hands reached out, a sort of sadness crossing her face. One hand quietly patted my head. The second hand cautiously wrapped around me in a hug. I calmed down a little. "Thanks, Alice."

"No problem, Master."

It was a slow tread. And then a second wave. A mysterious masked Gremlin came over the announcement system.

"I leave you fools alone for twenty minutes and we have four problems killin' all the bloody personnel and breakin' in with ease! Stop them!"

It was a fight, all right. Tina shot the first Gremlin in the arm, causing his arm to jerk back, a bolt having impaled it. He dropped his weapon. A second Gremlin grabbed it and threw it, aiming for my helmet. The shield caused it to harmlessly bounce off. Good thing, too. The shield flashed orange, telling me that another hit like that would more than likely destroy it. I jumped back and took out my Valiance. Firing beam after beam into the crowd was easy. I discovered if I charged the beam up, it'd pierce enemies. The longer the charge, the better. Having no limiter forced this change from firing concentrated orbs to shooting beams. I was impressed enough.

One Gremlin called out an order. "The gunners! Get them!"

My shield had, by now, recharged. I took out the Muramasa and leaped back into the fray. Five Gremlins charged me. Parry, block, counter, slice. Too easy. We descended down to the second floor...

And HERE BE ROCKETS. We ducked, dodged, got hit, and otherwise moved through a war zone's worth of bombs. Each thunderous "BOOM" rocked my hearing. I eventually switched the Guards on to protect my hearing later, at the cost of inhibiting it now. Alice found a conspicuously giant golden key, and unlocked the lock with it, using both hands to turn the key due to it's girth. She then went into a room and slowly, with the caution and ferocity of a wolf, unsheathed her blade again. A Gremlin came flying at her, hammer swinging. She was caught, hard, in the forehead and staggered back. Tina looked down the sight as this furball was taking out a second hammer, then blasted it from his hands.

Alfred was shooting quickly, but his weaponry wasn't too effective. He then saw several bombs flying down. Tina did as well, and the two split up. Tina quickly grabbed Alice from the floor she had tumbled onto and withdrew an Ultra Health Capsule she had swiped earlier. She crushed it in her hand, then tossed the powder at Alice.

Health Capsules, their real name being the Syonis Corp Healing and Restoration Capsule, were small pill-like capsules that contained innumerable amounts of nanomachinery. Designed to work within the body, these capsules could work wonders used correctly. From removing pimples to repairing major organs with the microprecision of a trained sniper, Syonis Corp's Health Capsule line was our biggest buy. Since everything could use these odd capsules, though, they were rare and happy finds.

The nanomachines mended Alice quickly. In moments, her bruise turned from purple to clear to gone, and her gaze went from shattered and glassy, a concussed vapidness, to a clear, focused, stern hold on the world. Eventually, the Gremlin came charging atme, hammer swinging. I got dinged good in the hip, and stumbled a little. He charged me again. I was hit a second time and completely face-down. I needed to focus lest my attacker beat me to death. I grabbed the Muramasa from it's sheath and blocked, but I barely had any strength left. My concussed, hazy mind couldn't focus. I withdrew a blue and white pill.

Another miracle from Syonis Corp. The Remedy Capsule. Designed for combat use, it was another dose of nanomachines, but these machines, rather then doing internal bodily repair, would instead sterilize, extinguish, administer an antidote to, warm up, clear the mind of, or even, it was rumored, bless the user. Syonis was our biggest dealer in tech. We had R&D working with Syonis on their medical breakthroughs pre-crash. Again, everything could use a Remedy Capsule, but since not everything was ailed, these were more common, situational, and, arguably, useful finds.

I gulped the pill and nerved for a shock. Even when you were ailed, taking one of these was like getting struck in the stomach with a rubber club. Normally, water would be used with pills, but Syonis was able to at least make a version that required no water to spread. My mind re-focused. The Gremlin went in for one last strike. No mercy this time. I used the Muramasa in a quick and effective, if brutal, slice. The Gremlin tripped, then saw his blood. He screamed like a little girl. I sliced him again, putting an end to him. Alice had the second gate lowered, SOMEHOW, during the ten-second period of time. Tina dragged me along a bit before I got to my senses. We handled the rest of the floor quick enough, even grabbing some more money and loot to haul back with us, should we live.

The elevator descended as we slowly entered a requiem of yelling, thuds, and NINJAS?

One Gremlin uncloaked and threw sawblades at us. There was no time and they had hacked our shields offline. We dodged them. Tina opened blind fire into the darkness, hoping to catch just ONE of them. Alfred opened on what was already known, Alice slowly kept her hand on her blade, ready to deflect anything, and I had Zero toss out a sort of purplish field. He flagged and dropped onto my helmet, but the aura was shattering their cloaks. Alice mobbed them as the haze seemingly blew up on the Gremlin. We proceeded with serious caution and came across a battlepod. We were nearing our wits' end. I hurriedly sliced open the Pod as Alice and Tina attacked the exposed wiring. We were rocked by a blast.

"Warning. Warning. Level destruction imminent. Proceed to elevator. Warning. Proceed to elevator. All personnel to elevator."

A robotic, monotone voice broke out. The mystery man spoke up again.

"'At was one 'f me finest battlepods and now y'go about wreckin' it! I'm gon' make t'lot of you pay for this!"

We ascended up and out, to the fourth floor.

Jeez! Holiday break, duty-free 12 days of my life, insane school, snow, and life! LEt me write my fanfic in peace why don't you!

Well, that outburst aside, I think I ought to explain myself. ...Keep an open mind.

I've felt lazy, and I cannot think of a way to complete the arc. It WILL be completed, though. Mark my words. I feel I ought to write another fiction to get my creativity back, for anyone who still cares about this, but keep in mind I might be slightly longer. Also, New Year's. That's happening too.

Thanks for being (Extremely) patient with my (Horrifying) case of writers block and schedule slippage. I WILL FINISH THIS ARC.

Sheesh. It's extremely late to be asking me-Oh, who do I care. I remember leaving a template somewhere around page one or two. Hunt that thing down and fill it in while I learn to hyperlink. Also, do note I am extremely lazy with apps and your character won't show until later.

I dreamed.

A horrible pain took ahold of me. A crushing, terrible pain, it's source nor it's intent made known to me. I screamed, but I could neither hear myself or hear others. I heard a SNAP and felt my arm go numb. Eventually, I closed my eyes, the sweat beading down on my face as death took hold of me.

I woke up, practically fighting for my life. I moved my arms. OK, still moving. I whispered to myself. Deciding against testing the waters of sleep again, I put on my armor, sheathed my blade, and left a note on my bed.

"Couldn't sleep. If I'm not back in a week, I'm either trapped or dead."

As I walked out, still slightly sweating, I heard a voice, a faint whisper of a voice, from just over my right shoulder.

"Couldn't sleep?" I recognized the voice. It was Tina. She looked at me, a rather saddened look crossing over her eyes as she stepped out in front of me. Her cloak was there, but she was missing her helmet. No, rather, she had been missing it since the whole fiasco with Arkus. Her hair, normally a golden blonde that seemed to remind you of the sun, dyed a bit of blue at the end, I guess for contrasting colors to attract subtle attention, was now so matted with dirt, dust, speckles of blood, the source unknown, and maybe a little oil from the Clockworks that it was impossible to tell it's color. She wrapped her arms around me, and I saw that tears had begun to well. This planet was breaking her.

And to be honest, I wasn't far behind. It was less physical strain but more emotional wear and tear that plagued me after the assault on Seerus's Grand Arsenal. I hugged her, and she began crying, like a helpless child watching on in horrified sadness as their parents, normally kind, loving, caring figures, fought one another with such verbose ferocity that it took him or her crying to get them both to realize this wasn't going to work out well. Tina began trying to speak, almost blubbering at points. I made out what she said, albeit fuzzily.

"Every time I try to help you, I always get kidnapped or hurt. It feels like I'm always the damsel in distress, awaiting rescue from a valiant knight. I'm TIRED of that feeling, Sin. I just..." She stopped. Crying overtook her. A sort of pain took hold. Tina WAS almost always getting kidnapped or needing rescue. I never needed that. Tina always did. Eventually, Tina's crying lessened a little. It seemed as though she was recovering. But she descended back into crying again. She then began talking with me. About her past.

"I was born on Ifous 5. It was a weary, desperately lonely place. We were one of the few actual families there. When I was six or seven, I lost my mom to bandits. My dad, wanting a better life for himself and I, got me into the schooling system. Some children decided to bully me and I eventually snapped. When one of the pointed a Proto Gun at me, and began threatening to shoot me, that's when I took the gun from his hands and made him eat his words and the bullet. I was feared after that day. But rather than make the bullies leave me alone, things got worse. My dad, eventually realizing I couldn't do well in schooling due to the bullies and still requiring us BOTH to get a steady income, got me into a part-time job. My life got better and the emotional pain faded after that. I had a LIVELIHOOD, and, at only ten years old, was surprisingly good at my job. I can't remember the job I got. But I can remember one of my co-workers. Marilyn, I think it went. She was supremely nice to me. Then, one day, these purple starfish-like creatures landed. When they demanded to see who was in charge, Marilyn stepped forward. The creatures attacked her and killed her. I still had that Gun from when I shot the bullies, so I was basically forced to fight three...Things...to protect my job. When I got home that day, all my things were in bags. Same with my dad's things, too. He told me we were leaving Ifous 5, that the planet was being conquered by what he referred to as the Morai. We eventually landed down on a new star system, on a new world."

She continued. By this time, the tears in her eyes had faded away. She still looked sad.

"Nothing much happened for four years. Then, my dad received an offer to join the Iron Wolves. He accepted and for the next three years, he kept planet hopping, using a deal of his money to keep me under a roof, rarely visiting and even then only being able to stay for half an hour at best. I grew tired of it. I joined the Knights at age 14. I saw...More fights than I should have. It was horrible. Eventually, three years pass on by. I'm on the second floor of the Skylark when the core exploded. Someone protected me from a chain Blast Bomb explosion and I got into an escape pod, only to notice another knight getting sucked out into space and left to freefall. I feel bad for that poor soul. If he or she is still alive, I'd be happy to meet them." She finished her story, a note of depression hanging on her voice.

It took me a great deal of courage to say those fateful words. I glanced up a bit. "You already have." Tina didn't quite catch on, her face adopting a look of confusion followed by denial. "What would you ask of them?" I asked, now in more of a lighthearted mood. Tina responded. "Probably for a kiss." She whispered, her voice becoming low and the sudden look of realization hitting her across the face. She then got up and walked to me. "You saved my life and didn't even know it. I want you to know just how I feel for you right now." She whispered, as she just placed a light kiss on my cheeks. "Thank you, Sintag. Thank you for being there."

She then sat back down, across from me. She yawned. "I'm extremely tired out..." She then put her head in her arms to relieve herself of the load and fell asleep. I picked her up and carried her to her bed and tucked her in, then put away the blade and threw away the note. I needed sleep.

My dreams were the best I'd ever had.

Kora contacted us all on the way up. "We've received some anonymous tips from the Spookats inhabiting Moorcroft Manor regarding several pieces of information. I'll send you to their approximate sources. Feel perfectly free to eliminate anything in your way. We're all counting on you four to get to that Core."

We stopped at an ornate looking hallway, with scarlet red banners adorning either wall and an equally scarlet rug draping the floor in a blood-red cloak. "I don't assume you've been to the Scarlet Fortress, even after all this time, huh, Sin?" Alice asked, shooting me a sideways glance. Tina shrugged and grinned a little. Alfred loaded his guns, slowly rotating the chambers to check if they were locked and loaded. Alice cleaned her blade off, removing the blood from it. Tina withdrew the Blitz Bow, which unfolded it's ends, fully extending the string taut. She lined up the scope, checked it for damage, and put it away. I myself checked the Muramasa for bloodstains of it's own, of which there were several, from various sources. The sword had seen a lot of fighting without cleaning. It was a wonder I could even continue to sheath it. Alice tossed me the cloth, which had some stains on it. I wiped the blood as clean as I could from it, and re-sheathed it. Tina gestured for us to go ahead of her. She kept an eye behind herself, with Alice moving ahead of us by a small margin, Alfred staying ready to shoot, and me, well, waiting for combat.

It was a slow, tedious walk. Suddenly, Tina called out. She kept her eyes down the sights. She had, I noticed, doffed a new hat with a bandanna. It almost reminded me of a cowboy from those cheesy films. Except not really. She also kept her hand near a blade slung at her waist when she wasn't holding the Blitz Bow. She pointed out a mysterious page...

Alice walked over, her own blade readied. Alfred kept an eye on his surroundings and the other down sight. Tina crouched to one knee and kept her Bow aimed down, but loaded. I put a hand on the Muramasa's handle and tensed, ready to spring if anything happened. After five seconds, Alice made a gesture to come to her. We converged, a sort of unease washing over us. She then began reading.

"The kingdom of Almire was once a beautiful place. It was prosperous and the people were happy. Many dabbled in the finer arts of he world, paintings, and, most important, studied the basis of alchemy. But then, a kingdom, filled with hatred at Almire, assailed them. Their leader, a man by the name of Vanaduke, prayed for power to defeat his enemies. When that failed, he fled his doomed kingdom. Records are divisive over what happened next, but one thing is made clear: When Vanaduke returned, he was a shadow of his former self. He burned the intruders, but in doing so, destroyed Almire in it's entirety. After that, he resided in his throne room, eternally locked into warmongering over an army of the undead."

Alice closed the tome. "The rest of it's damaged or worn away. Time takes it's toll, but seriously." She told us. "In any case, I've uploaded the data to Kora. I suppose while we're here, we might as well continue to gather information. Stay with me." She pressed onwards, and we followed after her.

I digress for a moment here. I began to feel sort of weird. Like something wrong was happening. Eventually, my sight began fading in and out. I saw a purple-ish hue appear, and a three-eyed monster.

An Apocrean.

It was without warning. The Muramasa gained red runes along it's surface. The blade was doing SOMETHING to me. Tina loaded the Blitz Bow and fired a bolt into the Apocrean's side, distracting it momentarily. Without warning, the Muramasa cut the Apocrean open, causing the blade itself to be tinged with it's essence. Essence which, to everyone's shock and horror, seemed to be absorbed by the blade itself. Even the Apocrean was spooked. It fled us without a second word. Immediately, the blade had me again. I looked at Tina...

And then, I blacked out.

It felt like hours, days even, when I awoke. The Muramasa was gone. My left hand, the robotic hand, had been detached. Alice kept her foot over my other hand. Tina cautiously eyed the Muramasa, and Alfred was watching for trouble. "So." Alice stated. "You're finally awake."

"Yeah." I murmured, my eyes blinded by the light. "What the hell happened? One point I'm insanely strong, next I'm taking a nap. Where are we, even?"

"Infirmary." Alice noted. "We noticed what had happened with the Muramasa and you. Your hand, by the way, simply needed diagnostics and repairs run on it. It'll be returned to you soon enough. But I'm worried."

"Why?" I asked. I had a gut feeling that I knew the answer.

Alfred spoke up. "If Alice didn't knock you out cold, you would've badly harmed Tina. You looked at her with sever bloodlust in your eyes. It was creepy as hell." He noted, a small frown crossing over his face.

Tina then spoke up. "It doesn't seem to be reacting to anything right now, but I don't trust that sword. Not now. I say, personally, we destroy it."

Alice chimed in. "No. As much as I'd want to see that sword destroyed myself, it's the only thing Sintag's got in terms of a sword. But I will say this. If there was an alternative, I'd HAPPILY have that sword destroyed."

At this, the biomedics returned with my hand. I quickly grabbed it and re-attached it, with Alice helping me calibrate it and otherwise re-affix it.

Tina kept her eyes on the blade. She seemed mesmerized by it. A LOT happened, but this was the weirdest thing I'd seen. Even that weird portal-thing couldn't top this one.

Alice suddenly looked at the Muramasa again. It was here that the second weirdest thing of my day happened. Her own blade gained blue runes running down the blade, more linear and orderly than the chaos the Muramasa's runes had. She withdrew her Masamune and struck the sword twice. Without any brand of warning, both swords now gained their respective runes. As each strike connected, they glowed brighter and brighter, and eventually faded away altogether.

And then Alice passed out. I got up, my legs weak, and walked to her. I felt for a pulse, which, thankfully, returned a result. I then looked at the Muramasa. Tentatively, I reached out and took it up. I didn't feel a thing. Had Alice destroyed the influence...Or held it back? Both swords seemed dangerous, and not just to enemies. I put it away for now and shook Alice awake.

"Alice c'mon, wake up." She eventually opened her eyes and rubbed them. A clear bit of pain was over her and she looked at me with a wild fear in her eyes. "Sintag, what happened, please tell me, I'm scared." She blubbered, tears of worry fleeing her eyes. Without any prompting from anyone, I hugged Alice. She looked extremely scared at this recent turn of events. To be fair, I was spooked and left in the dark.

One thing, however, remained clear to all.

The Muramasa was accursed.

END OF CH. 30

("But Sintag, you're two months six days late!" "SHADDAP AND LISTEN DANG IT" But seriously, a freaking MONTH without updates? I have NO EXCUSE.)

I awoke in my bed. It felt good to finally not be on a mission for once. Kora authorized me a day off, alongside Tina, Alfred, and Alice, due to recent events that had just transpired. It was here, in this small room, where I had my things. Or, rather, what few of them survived the Skylark. A small box with my Proto Armor and Sword in it. A pair of small, jutting metal rods, holding a small photo of my parents. An alarm clock. A small table and a chair.

Tina awoke me from bed and quickly sat me down into the chair. "Sintag, do you know what day it is?" She asked, a small smile crossing over her. It took me some time. I hadn't had the chance to look at a calender, and because I was underground for days, sometimes weeks at a time, the date was as ambiguous as anything at this point. The fact I was half-asleep wasn't helping any matters and the other fact that this was sudden and I was off guard added up to blot things out in my mind.

"Tina, it's been a while since I knew what day it was, OK?"

"Valentine's Day, silly!" She cheered, grabbing me and hugging me. I was caught WAY off-guard here and yelped in surprise. Alice walked in, rubbing her eyes, tired as heck.

"Guys, I hate to abandon the usual here, but shut the hell up, would you? You've got people trying to sleep in here." She groaned, clearly sleepy, and clearly rather frustrated.

Alfred walked in. "Well, not any more, anyways." Given the fact he was the most alert of us four, he must have already been awake. Great.

Tina returned my attention to her. "So, I was thinking of something." She withdrew her Blitz Bow and took a look at the nearby firing ranges. "Shooting? This is your idea of a thing to do on Valentine's Day?" I asked, incredulous. Tina looked at me. She gave me a shrug in return, to which I could only reply by shrugging myself. Even Zero seemed kinda off.

He began speaking. "Er, Boss. You think something's gonna happen today?"

"Zero, I have no idea either. But knowing Tina, SOMETHING'S up."

"Right. Keep an eye out." Zero chuckled, a ghostly wail of a chuckle, anyways.

"We should get going. From what I hear, the Strangers seem to be celebrating this event." Alice was standing in the door, throwing a shadow into the room. Tina put away the training gun. She seemed unusually uninterested today. Why?

As soon as we left, I felt like I was punched in the gut. SOMETHING had flew into me at high speeds. Tina immediately gasped, Alice looked shaken, and Alfred hurriedly traced out where it came from. I myself grabbed the object. It was a grey box or some sort, with a discernible handle. I knew generally not to trust boxes. Not the type that flies from nowhere and smashes into you, anyways. Tina herself glared at it, and I was somewhat cautious. It was at this point I went back into a hall, set up a small table, and shot off the lid from several meters away. Tina kept a steady aim on the box. It was then and only then I saw the tag. It was a Valentine's Day gift from GRAVES, meant for Alice. We must not have noticed it, but whatever. Alice looked into the box, and almost instantly recoiled back in slight shock. She then retrieved the contents. A small bag of pinkish powder.

Heeeere we go again.

What happened next was a blur o activity. Tina immediately TOOK the bag from Alice, grabbed a Blast Bomb, and rigged it up to the bag, a devilish grin on her face. She then armed the bomb, loaded it into the Blitz Bow, and fired it into town square. She ALSO then took cover in the hall e were using. We immediately did the same.

-END OF CHAPTER 31, BACK TO PLOT-

(I've been playing WAY too much TF2. I need to kick the habit. Later. Later.)

We were contacted my Kora shortly after the whole bomb with a bag of love potion-stuff thing Tina caused. Turns out it had the desired effect, and all of Haven was falling head over heels. Tina got a good laugh out of pranking so many people like that. We were simply trying to keep the people from ripping her to bits and pieces. Eventually, we pried her away from the angry mob long enough to talk.

"Sintag, here's the good news. We've found out what the fire-causing...Thing...Was."

"And?"

"You've read about Almire, correct?"

"I think Alice did, yeah."

"Well, that's what's making the fires."

"What."

"Almire is cau-"

"I'll re-state. What."

"Rrrright." She noted, awkwardly stopping, as if considering what to say. "We're sending in you, Tina, Alice, and Graves."

"Wait a second, Graves is back?"

"Yes, yes he is."

"Well then."

Suddenly, my coms were interrupted and the icon of the Crimson Order came over.

"Right, mate, Seerus here. Yes, it is ACTUALLY me. I survived. Listen. I need your help. I know this sounds like a trap, but a colleague of mine by the name of Herex is developing some sort of bioweapon that he plans on sending to Almire's ruins. If he succeeds, forget the Core, forget your comrades, forget everything and everyone. We're ALL doomed."

"How can I trust you?"

"Heh, I called it. Here's some photographic evidence and documents."

Files flashed across the screen, showing test results, lab results, horrible, horrible atrocities.

"Oh...My...." Tina had seen it and her hands were clasped over her mouth.

"Right. I understand you have business going on, though. Seerus out!"

The com with Seerus was dropped. I felt weird. Taking orders from an enemy. But the documents were real enough. And the photos were genuine. Kora came back over, clearly panicked.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Interference by Gremlins. They apparently require our help dealing with a bioweapon. Sending the data to you."

It took Kora all of five seconds of analysis to freak out. "Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. ...Well, er...This is a development. We'll send you four there with Desna's Recon Rangers backing you. For now, we have reports of paranormal activity near Depth 23. Get going. The spirits will have something to say concerning Almire. Thank Moorcroft's residents later."

As the elevator descended, Graves looks visibly unnerved. When I asked him what the matter was, he point to my arm. I looked down. My left arm was perfectly fine. Hand was a bit worse for wear. And then I noticed it.

There it was, clear and crimson as sunset. A bleeding slash wound. I sat down in horror and nearly vomited in shock. Tina gazed at it, her stare hardening. Alice was somewhat confused. "Who inflicted this on you?" She asked me. I had no idea. I then unsheathed the Muramasa and noticed it's blade.

It was stained with blood. And given I had cleaned it, there was only one person whose blood this belonged to.

Mine.

In horror, I instinctively tossed the sword away from me. This thing was cursed, no doubts remained when it possessed me, but now it was slicing me to remain in blood. I took the scabbard and looked at it's inside, magnifying the image. Visibly, there was no visual difference in the scabbard. Alice looked at her own arms now, to make sure there were no cuts. She confirmed I was the only one with a slash wound. We got a photo of it, sent it to the biotechs AND the wardens, and I had to dispense the Muramasa for this mission.

Lucky me. Inside the Arsenal Station was a Leviathan Blade. I'll admit it. After using so lightweight a sword as the Muramasa, switching back to this bulky thing felt difficult. I stayed behind for a solid three minutes, practicing with the Blade until it got it all back under routine. Then I stepped out and readied for action.

Except nothing came. We were all greeted by total silence. And then, before us all, embedded two inches into the hardened earth, was the Muramasa. The damn thing was BEYOND possessed now. It flew back into my hand, destroying the Blade. Great. After I just got used to using it again, to boot. I sheathed it, and felt another slow, methodical cut, forming what appeared to be a reverse skull on the back of my right hand. I collapsed forward. The pain and the blood loss were one thing. The fact I was stuck to this cursed blade was another.

Alice grabbed me and pulled me back up. And as I got to my feet, I thought I saw a hot pink eye with a dead black pupil, in the center of my vision. At this time, Kora contacted me.

"Sintag, you're losing a lot of blood. What's going on?"

"Nothing much." I choked out. "Just, you know, my accursed sword has been taking slices out of me."

"Come back up here. The biotechs need you healed up."

"No. Not now, Kora. I need to get through this."

Kora sighed. "Your determination astounds me sometimes. OK then. If you want to keep pushing through, your call. But if you start feeling faint, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT CONTINUE."

"Right." I noted. As soon as I said that, Alice tossed the Muramasa back to me. "You'll have to slice any foe with the blade, or it'll take a good slice from you instead." She cautioned. I kept Valiance ready, lining up the sights with my left hand. Since I wasn't a lefty, this created all sorts of awkward issues. In the end, I used my right hand. It was slowly losing feeling and going numb. Tina eventually lagged her pace and walked at my side, opting to prop me up. It was at this point I noticed something. Her Blitz Bow had a small switch on it that let her open the gun's stock and secondary magazine slots. She must have jerry-rigged it herself. She was clearly much smarter than even Weapons R&D. That said something alone.

I was dragged onto the elevator, and we descended to Depth 23.

It was swarmed with zombies.