“T-the next step up. It’s a Necrobeast. How the fuck did it cross the conversion barrier?! Those things are two thirds pure Nigredo by volume!”

None of them knew what a Necrobeast was. Zelsys was not willing to admit that ignorance, but she was very willing to try teasing the information out of the officer even in this grave a situation. “A Necrobeast? Aren’t those…” she trailed off.

The officer nodded, in his element when given the opportunity to have the last word. “Extremely rare even in th E.Z., yes. A rot-bear with a true understanding of Nigredo. Either we’re in a shared group hallucination, or there is one a stone’s throw from the anti-vehicle barricade.”

The ground shook, and they heard the sound of something hard striking metal.

“Correction: Right next to the anti-vehicle barricade. What do we do? It’s not as if we can kill it.”

“Why not?” Zefaris questioned. “We’ve killed rot-bears before.”

“A rot-bear feeds on decay, but it’s still alive. This… This is death itself,” the officer rebutted. “Its only weakness is the creature’s heart. Even then, it can channel so much Nigredo it’ll just breathe on us and we’ll turn to dust.”

Makhus had been staring into empty space, thinking. He perked up when an idea came to mind, asking, “What about the pure essences of life?”

The officer scoffed, “Liquid Vigor isn’t concentrated enough to weaken it to a substantial degree. Pure Viriditas or even Rubedo could work, but I doubt…”

A strand of Black Fog had crept through the small gap in the doorframe, and before any of them could warn him, the officer’s frantic breathing made him inhale it. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

“Lightweight,” both Makhus and Zelsys mocked at the exact same moment. The swordsman walked over to him, grabbing him by the arms and dragging him towards the other side of the room - or at least, trying to. Zelsys quickly loosened the wrappings on her left forearm and took hold of the Tablet, willing it to come alive and immediately activating the BROWSE STORAGE function.

“Sig, help me,” Makhus hissed through gritted teeth as he struggled. “He’s fuckin’ heavy.”

The bearded man gave a sharp nod and calmly grabbed both of the officer’s legs, helping carry him to the writing desk. In the meantime Zelsys retrieved bottle after bottle as quickly as the Fog vortex would spit them out, totaling four large ones and five small ones, plus the Rubedo bottle. Once she was done she unholstered her cleaver and placed the Tablet inside. As she had hoped, the holster molded itself to grip the Tablet as well.

Zefaris untied her rifle from her backpack, swiftly reaching into a pocket of her trousers to retrieve a cartridge and performing the multi-step process of loading the rifle and ramming the cartridge down in a single flowing motion, keeping the ramrod in one hand and the rifle readied.

Once the officer was hefted onto his writing desk his coat hung down wide open, and it became obvious what it was that made him so heavy.