[b]Redana![/b]

The power to harm a God. Not something to be taken lightly. Not something to prize. You would think that the Empire of Tellus would have vaults full of such things, but it is not so. Cursed items, weapons of destiny - even with the might and reach of a galaxy spanning Empire these are not things that a sane civilization makes it their business to collect.

With the resources of an Empire and the backing of one of Cronus' daughters Sagakhan, the Master of Assassins, has acquired three such terrors. She has the Black Pyramid, the Heart of Hermes, and Bella. With these she will hold the field against any odds. She might be harmed terribly in the process but if she can play these trump cards then Athena herself might not take the field from her.

And in your case, there is an additional complication as the Auspex demonstrates for you. If you somehow save Bella before destroying the Heart or the Pyramid then the Heart and the Pyramid will be used to destroy Bella. 

As to the how? Three trials are before you, Redana. Strength is sufficient for the first. Brute strength enough to destroy a pyramid of reinforced black stone, to grind it to rubble. Quickness is sufficient for the second. Quickness enough to steal a heart of gold from an assassin's chest. And for the third? Love. Always love, in the end.

[b]Alexa![/b]

You know that pain can change a person. Pain can wake them up, or draw them under. Pain is a crackling, horrible statement that the status quo is untenable. You don't have to get better but you can't stay here. And so, when you look upon Liu Ban's face, you feel some strange hope. Here, at last, is pain enough that it should change something. Here is the pain of a man on his deathbed, given one last chance to consider if he has any regrets. 

Liu Ban, Emperor of the Galaxy, has been no stranger to pain. For two hundred and fifty years he laboured in the molten, broken heart of his perfect machine, holding back the gears of a broken cosmos with bloodstained hands. He has known the pain of decapitation, of being reduced to furniture, of being condescended to by his ancient enemies. He has felt the pain of betrayal again and again as everyone who once served him cast him off. Until he is only this: A wretch, an animate scream perched atop an ogroid nightmare of flesh and wood and gleaming insectoid wings.

And still he will not change. 

"Alexa!" he roars, teeth clenched and bloody from the pain. "I command you: Cut off your own head! I," a deep, horrible shudder ran through him, "I have need of your body!"

And that's the problem, isn't it? Like Sisyphus, deep in the depths of Tartarus, he could step away from his boulder at any moment. He could part himself from this suffering if he just stopped grasping to it. 

But he thinks he can win.

Its why he declared war on Ares. It's why he killed the galaxy. It's why he never stepped away from his machines. He thinks he can win. He thinks he's smarter, thinks he's harder, thinks he's the only one who will do what has to be done. He thinks about old conquerors and heroes with contempt - they flinched away. They gave up. They let themselves be beaten. They didn't cross enough lines. They didn't try hard enough. 

But not him. Even now, even here, even in this wretched shape he still imagines that the only one who can defeat him is himself.

[b]Vasilia and Dolce![/b]

So there is a saving grace here. Bella is a creature of Artemis, which means that she is not an instrument of war but an instrument of the hunt. She can't go and kill just anyone, she can only target specific people.

One catch, though. Your names are carved onto her armour. [i]Everyone's[/i] names are carved onto her armour. Everyone who has ever been on the Plousios or the Anemoi is written into the big ritual list of death and there's nobody on this planet who is [i]not[/i] on the list. 

Well... on [i]your[/i] side at least.

And here you remember Mynx's pre-battle rituals. Her preparations were anything [i]but[/i] private. She had to gather hundreds of onlookers and have them assist her with her formal dedications to Artemis. No doubt Sagakhan had to do something similar when preparing Bella, and that means that she by definition had to do it in front of the assembled Kaeri. And under those circumstances it would have been extremely awkward to start writing the names of those very Kaeri onto the death list no matter how loyal they ostensibly were.

So, then, there's your answer. Bella will kill you and anyone like you without even breaking a sweat. But against the Kaeri she will merely be a stupendously strong and powerful battle servitor in powered armour. The battle with Epistia was keeping her from going through her own troops, the battle with Bella is that her own troops are the only thing she [i]can't[/i] go right through.

So there's your answer. Hide from the avatar of death in the ranks of the deadliest terror troops in the galaxy. Relativity's a bitch, huh?

[b]Bella![/b]

You can feel the names upon you. Each of them burns hot, a still-heated brand, pulsing like a heartbeat. You feel them against your exoskeleton, against skin that's still so incredibly sensitive. 

It's not a punishment. It's a treat. You know that with each life you take a name will go dark and cool and that will be the most beautiful, wonderful pleasure you've ever experienced. You've always burned with tension, now the tension has a long list of names. All that's left is to work down through the list. With each name a reward. The Master sometimes said 'Good Girls get rewards' to Beljani, but now you understand [i]exactly[/i] what that means. 

Helpfully, some names are written much larger than others. The Master has certain priorities. You could go kill a hundred mice, but that wouldn't be half the hit of soothing pleasure wiping the name Vasilia off your skin would be.