The cracking sound of the wooden crate feels loud in the silent isolation cell as I use my Hyoto “Twister” Saberstaff to tear open a wooden crate. Inside I see a bald human in a brown cloak and clothes crouched looking up at me with a surprised face with his left hand reaching out touching my wife with one hand and the other removing the last of the skin-tight underlayer of her healer armor.

Azure flares so brightly that the room appears to be experiencing a bright cloudless day indoors. My hand lunges straight towards the deadman that is touching my Aria. While my hand is moving towards him, my Twister shifts shape and gains a long spear tip.

He releases Aria and in an instant brings his hands up to grab at the spearstaff, stopping the tip of its blade from puncturing his throat. A moment after his bare hands make contact, I sent fire and lightning mana through it causing purple crackling flames to spring up all along its length. The human Special screams a high-pitched howl of pain and I press forward, the blade making contact with the skin of his neck.

“Stop or she’ll die!”

I stop pushing but hold the spear and look into his face that changes from terrified to gloating. Again. It’s happening again!

He moves his crispy right hand with a wince and a mana explosive appears in it. He turns it so his thumb is on the red triggering side.

“I knew you’d believe me,” he calls with a smirk. “One more move and she goes boom. You fucking suckers, letting women rule your actions. Now it’s too late for you and your little elven pussy.”

He stands up holding the mana explosive out towards Aria; my spearhead follows his movement exactly, ready to lunge forward at an opening.

In his empty left hand appears a golden healing crystal which begins to glow and I hear a sigh of relief from him. I can visibly see the skin in his hands regrow.

“She just had to fucking show up and ruin my successful defense of those useless normal fucks. Some of them would have brought good value.” The golden crystal dims and disappears from his left hand.

“I was promised power and I have it. You’re nothing compared to the power I was given.”

I sneer and respond with, “Given? You didn’t earn your power. It was granted and can be taken away at the whim of whoever gave it.”

Charles’s face and bald head flush red and his right hand flexes around the explosive.

He yells, “You don’t know what I’ve sacrificed!” And then in a soft voice, “Now put your spear away.”

I speak even more softly back to him, “Actually, I think I know better than you.” The Twister vanishes and I slowly reach down and rub Aria’s head. I cannot see her face but I find a thin, almost necklace-like, shiny collar around her perfect throat. The fact that she isn’t responding tells me why her light was dim to our rings. I speak to her with love and send it through the ring as I say it. “Everything will be ok now.” Then Aria vanishes.

Slowly turning my head to the Special, I find his eyes wide with surprise and he says, “What the. . . What did you do?”

I don’t move and simply say, “You’ll never know.”

A black casting rod appears in his left hand as the explosive vanishes from his right. He raises his hand to point the rod at me. I see a flash of red and a ball of flame launches towards me. I raise my hand and allow it to make contact with my mana construct armor causing it to burst around us both. Hope he has a good resistance attribute.

When the flames clear, I see him with his arm over his face and his cloth and leather outerwear smoking. Tilting my head to the side, I ask curiously, “You’re a Special right? Why do you need a construct to cast? Just use an active skill.”

His expression changes from surprise as he looks me up and down into fury with spittle spewing from his bared teeth. “I’ll fucking kill you. You’re weak.”

He lets another fiery ball go and it explodes against my hand again. Now he’s yelling, causing the string of drool hanging from his mouth to wave forward and back.

Still screaming he accuses me, “Everyone ruled by a woman is weak!” He lets another flaming ball fly. After this one clears, I can see the skin on his face and bald head is bright, but not from his emotions. The skin is beginning to dry and peel from the extreme heat. Seems his resistance isn’t that great.

“I was given power!” he bellows with wild eyes. “I was promised never to be weak again!”

His tone is half-exclamation, half-pleading. After another explosion, he says, “They told me I didn’t need an affinity to be great! I could use magica with their power!”

Another burst and explosion. They are getting weaker now.

“So you are a Special who never managed to activate a rune. What level are you then?”

“I can surpass levels. I’m stronger than levels!” Another flaming ball erupts but is barely strong enough to be worth me raising my hand.

I slowly take a step forward to him. He takes a step back and launches another. I ignore it and move forward again.

“What are you?!” The pitch of that call is so high I almost have to rub my ears.

Hmm. Maybe I can conduct a test.

Walking up to him ignoring his flames I stop a step from him and inhale a deep breath. Trying to remember what I did before, I send mana into my larynx and flood the air around it with my azure mana as well. Then let loose a yell straight into this special’s face. The entire room rattles as the human before me places his hands over his ears and screams. When I run out of breath I shake my head and feel a little wobbly but it's not bad.

Old Charlie, though, is barely able to stand as he stumbles to the left and then back a step catching himself. I feel a tingle on my left calf but ignore it.

Taking a step forward, I rip the rod from his hand then clench my fist and punch him in the temple. He flies sideways two meters and tumbles on the ground another meter, landing face down. So far it looks like the only stat of any substance for this poor excuse for a Special is strength.

Well, it doesn't matter now. I walk over to his sprawled body and press my bare hand to the bald peeling skin of his head. I might have pressed his face into the floor a little. Ok, more than a little.

You know what? Fuck it.

I grip the back of his skull, lift it up and then slam it down.

[Can you get anything from his nanos?]

That would be illegal, Vic. Killing is one thing, his nanos will return to the hive and be reused. But harming another’s nanomachine system consciousness could have lasting consequences. We have no idea how the hive mind will respond. . .

[I’ll have a conversation with the hive later and it can yell at me. Right now I need information. Access his nanomachine system and tell me what information can be found about what this lunatic’s deal is.]

Vic. This. . . I don’t want to. . .

Now that pulls me up short. She doesn’t want to? That is such a profound statement I am not sure how to respond.

[Ummm. Can you gather intel without harming the consciousness? Or maybe ask it? I have to imagine it doesn’t like serving such a . . . well a giant misogynistic fuckhole.] I hear a single small laugh at that.

Let me see if it is willing to help us. . .

Feeling him stir slightly, I slam his face back into the cracking stone floor two more times until he is still. Sure, I could use death to drain him, but that wouldn’t be nearly painful enough. Thinking again of what he did to Aria I slam his face three more times completely penetrating the floor and then lean down and send a mana strengthened yell right into his ear from an inch away. His whole body shudders in response then falls still.

Feel better?. . .

[A little, until I think about what he did and then I want to do it again—only harder and louder. Were you able to get anything?]

You were correct about one thing, his nanomachine consciousness was not pleased to be assigned to him. However, it is not advanced enough to provide anything of value without his authorization. His density is simply too low. . .

[That might account for him lacking an affinity. Can you get his level?]

. .

[Seriously? What a weakling. He must have activated with seriously low density. So what do we do now? I need his information. He can give me info on the slavery ring, his partners, sellers, buyers, and who knows what he has in his inventory that can we can use as intel, evidence or collateral. And I think something else, but I’m not sure.]

While I want to torture him to death through a slow dismemberment, I know I can't.

I do not know how to help you without violating my own set of morals. Which I get from you by the way. That means you are also against this in some way. . .

Isn’t that interesting? I am somehow directing myself to not do what I want to direct myself to do. How fucking circular. This is maddening.

[Can you override his consciousness without harming it?]

No. . .

[Can you use your density to help it advance its awareness? Perhaps then it will help.]

Even if I could, it cannot help without his authorization. . .

Fuck!

[Can you look in his inventory but not touch anything?]

No. I think you will have to go about this another way. . .

Or I could just order her to do it. It’s like having my finger on a trigger and my mind telling me to pull it but my gut won’t let the finger flex.

[I’ll think on that for a few minutes. Did you hear what he said about how he was promised power and it was given?]

Indeed. He could have become corrupted. It might be your opportunity to determine if it can be detected. . .

[That is an excellent point. Send Shield a note that I caught a potential test subject on that matter.]

Why have you not released Aria yet? Secure message sent. . .

I place the black magnetite collar around the fucker's neck and respond with a slight quaver in my “voice”.

[Because I don’t know what she’ll remember and awakening her without my full attention and care could be traumatic . . . more traumatic.]

Even in my mind, I choke out those last two words. Clearing my throat I continue in with a more normal tone,

[I am hoping being on Peggie’s old perch will help if she is aware of her environment. Speaking of Peggie, how is she?]

Quite well. You have no worries in that area at least. . .

[Great. So now to get this rapist fucktard out of here.]

I head to an empty cell and, after a quick check that everyone is still unconscious, drop all but one of the group of prison employees into what becomes a decent-sized pile of uniformed humans. A light death serpent-draining later, I grab Aria’s plates, hood, and mask from the crate, throw the collared Special fuckwad into it, reseal the top extra tight with a drop of nature Magica, drop it none too gently on a grav cart, and walk back up towards the emergency exit with the cart following behind. There is no way I am risking bringing a potentially corrupted Special in my Mini World. Not happening.

[Run the departure routine.]

You are free to proceed. I will alert you if any changes are required. . .

Thankfully I had already arranged for an inconvenient surveillance outage as well as a lack of patrols between there and here with the assistance of the chief of security. Yep. He’s my new pal and is the only human in the new smaller holding cave I created in my iron mountain. Pretty sure I remembered to make an air hole. Or did I? I wonder what would happen. Hmm. . .

Ah well. I do love to experiment.