[Baron Von Zimmerman]

I fumed inside of my cabin. The Void mage was a demanding beastie. It should have been obvious in hindsight that this creature was a tricksy one and that it would take more persistence to break her. I could not read her thoughts with my Divine Acazian eye. The Inquiry function within the eye told me that her real name was Valerianne Yul, but she herself and the two injured Rim Archmages referred to her as Nox, which was an odd quirk. My normal strategy did not work with her whatsoever. I had to rethink my approach to destroy her. She had challenged my authority, metaphorically slapped me in the face by demanding my coat and I would make her pay for this sooner or later. I glanced at her with the Acazian eye once again, across the ship, scouring her surface thoughts. This time it worked! Excellent.

[Wish there were things that fit me better.] She thought as she dug through the wardrobe of Nicodemus. [These are all male clothes. Sigh.]

Ha! A child’s mistake! She was either using an artifact that was hiding her thoughts and it had just run out of mana or she stopped trying to block her thoughts from me. What a fool.

My eye turned to the other passenger and her associate - June Rim Maldiver, a foxkin who was assigned to serve Nicodemus but had somehow got out from under his control, thanks to Yul. I refused to label her as Nox on the principle that the System was always more correct about these things. One could not lie to, could not trick the System. It was an absolute of the world.

[Why is she smelling so nice? I want to bite her. Why do I want to bite her? Concerning.] The foxkin thought.

It seemed like the fox was somehow mentally manipulated by Yul, potentially into being a servant. I pondered whether this manipulation was alchemical or magical and decided to always keep a shield-breathing bubble spell over my head around Yul. One couldn't be careful with crafty Archmagi.

I checked June’s stats again, just to be sure.

June Rim Maldiver

[Age]: 23

[Race]: Foxkin

[Level]: [37] Reasonable mediocrity [Shadowmancer]

Stats:

[Mana] : 135 [Shadow]

[HP] : 42/50

[Affinity] : Shadow & Void

[Aura] : 78% Gray, 14% Black, 1% Green, 4% Blue, 3% Void

[Perks]: Edge-born. [Mana to blood oxygen catalysis]

[Bond]: Reiu soul-debt contracts

[Pacts]: Deathseer's Shadowpact [×10 in Shadowmancy]

Inventory:

Rim Novitiate robe.

Hairpin lockpick.

Sextant slave collar [broken]

Novitiate Maldiver had become a Void mage! It was seemingly impossible, but it was true. This had to be Yul’s power at work. She could make Void mages. Yul was exactly what the Triumvirate of Virtue had feared, a Void mage that could propagate, bring others into the embrace of the Void. Unlike the Virtuous of the Europa’s mainland I wasn’t afraid of the Void. It was power, as simple as that. The first person to get into the Void dungeons would find themselves treasure and might of the progenitors.

I looked at the strike team of high mages gathered in my office with my human eye. Titisu, the Stupefier, stood off to the left. He wore a white robe with a red scarf and a big, long wizard’s hat. Dark, spherical goggles glinted over his eyes. To my right stood Fifty Four, the Neuromancer. He was wearing a green and black robe with fractal spiral patterns all over it. Decessander, the Sleepwalker stood in the middle. He was an indeterminate, formless gray blob, his approximately-human shape constantly shifting from one body type to another.

“All of you will go in and attack her from every direction.” I told them. “I want Yul taken down, paralyzed and asleep. Decessander - take up my shape, pretend to be me. Pretend to hand her the duplicate of the ship’s control ring. Once she touches you, dive into her. Titisu - your job is to shut down her mind as soon as she touches the fake ring. Fifty Four - disable her muscles. You know the drill. Decessander - spend as much time in her dream as necessary. I want her mentally broken, completely and utterly subservient to me.”

“Yes, Baron.” The strike team nodded.

“Take down the foxkin as well. Put them both to sleep. Examine them both VERY thoroughly. First Yul, then Maldiver.” I told them. “Yul is somehow a Void mage. I need you to find out how she has done this. I want answers. Go.”

The strike team left. They were wearing enough artifacts upon them to make them of a level equal to that of an Archmage. Shield, luck, speed, power multiplying. They were my best men. I continued to observe the team as they headed towards Yul and June. Even if they failed, I would observe how they were defeated and act depending on the outcome. If they died, I could claim that they weren’t associated with me, simple as that. Just a bunch of corrupt Rimmers trying to shake a Void mage for her secrets, that’s all. It was a worthy gamble.

I smiled and leaned back on my couch, daydreaming of exactly what sorts of things I would do to Valerianne Yul if the strike team succeeded.

Once she was mentally broken down by Decessander, she would become my thrall. I would take her, dominate her luscious body as I desired, wield her to open Void dungeons and utterly destroy the Sextants. She would teach me and those under my command how to become Void mages. The Rim would rise, build its own fleet of warships armed with Void bombs and I would be the Emperor of it all. It would be truly glorious.

[Valerianne Yul]

According to June, this cabin belonged to Nicodemus, her ex-boss.

I found myself some clothes within the wardrobe of the Rim Archmage. They didn’t fit me very well. I put them on regardless, as this was better than being butt-naked. I don’t know what was up with Nox constantly being naked. It probably had something to do with the wild nature of the spirits or divinities. I wasn’t a spirit or a deity though, so I put on whatever clothes I found.

Someone knocked on the door. I went to open it. A bald, lanky man stood there wearing a fancy, gray uniform. He had two other mages behind him.

“Ahh. Baron Von Zimmerman and... two friends? You brought us the ship control ring, yes?” June said with a small smile, likely for my sake, since I didn’t know what the Baron looked like exactly.

“They are my assistants.” Zimmerman nodded, entering into the cabin, bowing down a little to get through the doorway. He was quite tall. His face looked thin and nearly bone-white. One of his eyes wasn’t looking at my direction, instead staring at June. I couldn't even begin to guess how old he was.

“Here is the control ring for the ship, as promised.” He said, handing me an emerald ring.

I reached out for the ring and when I touched it, my body simply turned off. I started to fall. I watched June collapse to the floor, from the corner of my eyes. My mind followed, folding in on itself.