Yeah, he was still alive, but his Soak and whatever unholy blessings he had were gone, and vivic fire was burning on him. He kind of looked at me in a crazed daze as I came in, buried Chalice right between his eyes, and as he stared at me, I Flared her.

His psychic scream was pretty loud, and his head went off like a grenade in my face, sending me back the way I’d come grumbling about force waves and Thunder and whatnot. The screaming continued as his spirit tried to get away, and vivic fire wasn’t having none of that. True Death came up and bit him as he pscreamed, and he was reduced to food for the Land and the strengthening of the local Veil, thank you, kiss-kiss, pat-pat from the Land.

The movement upstairs where his soul-shackled minion neighbors were clambering down to try to get to me stopped abruptly, and there were multiple thumps as bodies hit the floor, puppets whose puppetmaster had abruptly passed on.

Hmm, lot of weapons here. I was going to have to ask the Juris if I could confiscate them for the Habberblok armory. They’d gotten the qualifications to upgrade with the establishment of the G&G safety zone raising the public safety concern to an acceptable level, and the constant violence at the fringes of the territory...

That was falling as the girls established their own territories, took over bloks, and began to gridwork all around. Less fringe conflicts, and more conflicts inside those territories, being carried out with great enthusiasm. It could be said that as a whole, Janus Prime was a more violent place right now than it had ever been... and then those violent places were better than they had ever been.

Strange how that worked...

---------

Transit cop Juris One and Two were actually the first Juris to get here, as they were the closest and raced right over. They scowled outside the gate entrance that was not allowing them in as I walked up.

“What did you do?” Mouthy Juris immediately yelled out, seeing dead Citizens lying around, craters, and burning homes; one completely trashed, and burning with unnatural fires.

“Killed a Warp Sorcerer named Kyler Merschoen, the subject of the Class 4 Warrant, Juris,” I replied in a neutral tone. “And be happy you can’t get the doors open, because the deterrence guns are active and would’ve turned you into blood spray.” He had the presence of mind to glance at the flower beds and step back from the gates. “Let me see if I can unlock them. Do me a favor and tell any wagons that come in that the defenses are active, but the living threat is not.”

I wandered towards the stairway the cyborgs had come out of, left conveniently open and doubtlessly having the controls to local security that had been suborned. And guess who was a Hacker and had ten Ranks in Computer Programming? Yes, what a good Sama she was!

------

“True Sight attuned to the thaumaspectrum. I could see the brain-spikes,” I told Philius as he and his team poked through what was left of the main mansion. The Juris were investigating the other homes, and also finding some deeply disturbing stuff.

He, Sir Dorval, and I were looking at a Summoning Circle wrought in human blood, probably virgin girls’, and thrumming with power, ready to go off. There were miscellaneous human and inhuman body parts scattered around, a lot of blood staining everything, and the rotting perfume and tang of Warp energies held in check.

“That is ready to erupt at the slightest contact,” Sir Dorval judged warily, looking at the shimmering circle.

“On the contrary, it would have erupted already if I hadn’t Interdicted the area.” Chalice hummed golden, limned in vivic fire. “Right now the Veil is too hard, and it can’t be forced. We’ll just make that a permanent thing, howabouts.” I touched the golden force blade and its unwhite hungry flame to the floor, and the corrupted blood wooshed up into activity like tinder.

We all watched the vivus run across the floor towards the circle, spreading out in a fan in every direction. It hit the multi-hued lights writhing in the symbols and lines of the summoning circle, and poof! Vivic fires leapt up around them busily, devouring the energy hungrily as a new, clean scent seemed to waft through the air.

“I’ve seen that energy at work among your other Null Psions,” Philius noted carefully. “Is this something that can be replicated? What is it?”

“First question: Yes, but you don’t want to do so yet. Vivic fire is only allowed on weapons belonging to Nulls. If the Warp Powers become aware it exists here, they’ll wipe the planet to get rid of the threat. So, it can’t be issued to the Coronals or Umbrans, despite how fantastically useful it is. Unless you can spread it across the galaxy in no time, and inform psion artificers en masse at the same time, you can’t let it out.

“Second Question: It’s the unnatural energy of reality. It reverts hostile or unnatural energies that do not belong to reality back to baseline. This tends to include negative energy in all forms, especially those associated with death. Materials so purified generally revert to dust charged with positive energy, really good for growing things, so it gets rid of dead bodies. It won’t affect magically or psionically bound items, such as Warp artefacts or necropsionic items, but Wards, sorcery, psi-shields, extant effects... it will slowly eat them away and reduce them to background energy.

“Oh, and they strengthen the Veil in the area they burn for a considerable amount of time. Can’t Summon or dimension-bend in that area for some time.”

Comprehension flashed in Sir Dorval’s eyes. “That is similar to what happened at Wendlerton Academy.”

I nodded slightly. “From the description, it would have taken a massive amount of vivus to make an effect so strong that it actually affected normal psionic usage. Something like that would have reduced the entire Academy grounds to powder. There was probably another effect that first sealed the Veil, and what vivus there was just piggy-backed on it and extended it out.”

“It hasn’t faded by a centimeter since then. I understand the Mechanists want to turn it into a research location free of psionic interference. For now, we’ve been using it as holding facility for psionic talents,” Philius informed me.

“The Mekkers have been wanting to invent a cheap way to screen out psionic power since the Great Rebellion,” I sniffed. “They have a total inferiority complex dealing with it.”

“A lot of non-psions feel the same way,” Sir Dorval noted in a low voice. As a Coronal Knight, he was quite sensitive to the fact that the Knights were very much about presenting a positive view of psionic individuals as possible. The Mentats were basically seen as a block of elitists, snobbish mindbenders who had as little to do with non-psions as possible, and wilders and other rogue psis getting corrupted by the Warp was all too common an occurrence. The regularity with which bladeboys got into fights also didn’t give them a positive image, even if they were wildly popular in gladiatorial games.

The Coronal Knights were the ones who were always there. At war, in peace, their job was to fight and defend humanity against all the horrors that threatened it. While the Blues were arrogant assholes about it, the fact was that they always showed up, and very, very few Knights ever managed to retire from their job.

“The best way is to be a Null Psion, then everyone is in the same boat. Your psions cease to be a threat to you, and become one to your mutual enemies.” I cast a sideways glance at the two of them. “I have a question for the two of you, now that you are in my Null for the moment. Is there a possibility of setting up an Umbran and Coronal Guard, composed of Null Psions?”

Both of their eyebrows rose. “You want something beyond Striker status for your students?” Sir Dorval asked.

“Mmmm. Mentally, they are not inferior to any psions, although their focus is different. Having Nulls working alongside Psions is a major benefit for any psion. Furthermore, they are all combat-trained, which means they are bodyguard material, and can focus on mundane skills. I shouldn’t even have to say that they make better undercover agents than any psion, in terms of being detected as a mindbender. Having someone next to you who can guard you from psionic attack while you unleash your own is extremely useful, and...” I looked over the two of them with a lazy, knowing eye, “a Null is a psion with a Reserve they cannot tap. If they are bonded to a psion, that psion can use their Reserve.”

Both men froze, the implications immediately obvious. “Without a metaconcert?” Philius asked faintly.

“Physical contact only. If you can reach a standard of a Harmonic Nimbus, you’re good to go.” Easiest method to tell that? You could cut your mindblades through one another harmlessly.

“That is...” the two men looked at one another.

“Half-cloaks.” I got their attention again. “Psions should always lead both organizations. There are simply things you can do that must be done, and so you should be on top.

“But the number of potential Null Psions who can work for you vastly outnumbers the number of psions either of your organizations will ever recruit. In terms of non-psionic skills, Nulls will be your equals or unenhanced superiors, simply because they don’t have to focus on improving their psionic skills. They can master purely mental disciplines as or more easily than your own.

“I know that primary training for all Knight and Operative aspirants takes place off-world. But I think you should give serious thought to an alternative advancement path for Null Psions who want to serve the Emperor’s Hands.”

Both of the men grimaced. “Sama, there’s been very little change in how our Orders are run for almost ten thousand years...”

“Nonsense. Every single Castle and Dungeon has its own traditions and its own ways and means, and don’t think I don’t know about the factions inside, especially obvious among the Coronals. All changes start with small things in small places. Strikers are one thing, but a Null Psion with a silver Mindsword and Shield Focus is utterly wasted among them. I’m going to be giving both to you, and you need to use them properly.” My eyes were dancing a little bit, and the two men were growing increasingly uncomfortable. “Furthermore, some of my girls have expressed avid interest at serving directly at the side of my two contacts in the Hands. They will not be content with being relegated to mere Strikers when they can kick both of your asses... and as Bonded Nulls, let’s just say that the amount of Reserves they have is greater than your own.”

Both of them licked their lips unconsciously. “And yes, there is the fact that the best way to Bond a Psi and a Null is after-hours energetic activity.”

They swallowed together in unison, too.

I turned back to the room that was full of unwhite flame, and starting to spread beyond us. “Well, now that our conversation is over, how about we get out of here before it all falls down on us?”

-------------------

Black Night Specialist rating confirmed! With this, I would have come to the notice of both the Knights and the Umbrans, even if they weren’t aware of me initially. After all, there were only ten of us in the whole city, and the other nine were all affiliated with merc groups and were looking for mass payouts, not getting into the Back Files.

My Queen glanced up as I entered his office. He was looking trimmer now, the result of getting out and doing some field work, and the fact that Serena Rantha was working with him now. She literally had the Serene Talent, and was a good match for him. They could both work together for hours literally saying nothing, but getting tons of work done.

With all them Hags out there, there was a lot of work to do. He definitely had the most productive Termite office in the whole city. Doris out front had been dubbed official ‘Princess Termite’ by the Ranthas coming and going, and the half of her face that could smile was doing so much more often recently. The girls had taken her out shopping, one of them was walking her home almost every day, and they had helped her move into Habberblok, where she was holding after-hours training for people who wanted to get into government work, and making some good money doing it.

Having kids was so damn useful sometimes...

Buuuut, My Queen actually glanced at the creature riding on my shoulders for a second. “What brings you down here.” I could talk to him from across the system, I didn’t need to be here.