[center][h1][color=6ecff6]Karina Frost[/color][/h1][/center] [hr] As Sil's voice became weaker and weaker, Akai grew even more worried. She didn't know what to do other than take both of them to safety... She didn't even know what's wrong with Sil... but she did know that she was definitely losing her. The situation became even worse when Sil stopped speaking [color=ed1c24]"SIL! STOP PLAYING WITH ME! WAKE UP!"[/color] Akai shouted as she continued taking both her and Lynx to a safe location. [color=ed1c24]"THIS IS NO TIME FOR JOKES!... Wake up... Both of you... Please!"[/color] Akai said, a mix of anger, fear, desperation and sadness in her voice as she watched, powerless as Sil went unconscious. [hr] Kneeling on the ground, already beyond the point of exhaustion, Karina watched, relieved as her ice spear tore the heart off from the distorted creature that Lord O'Kal had become. While it was another small victory for them, there were still two hearts remaining... Even though Karina wouldn't be of much help, she forced herself to get up... The battle wasn't over yet. The very moment she slowly but surely stood up though, time suddenly stopped around her. Without any time to react to the strange situation, a huge shadow covered her, taking a very familiar form... Her father, General Viktor Frost. Together with it, a voice called out to her, the voice of 'The Being', saying how she would never escape the fate of living under her father's shadow... She could feel it... That voice was mocking her, mocking her accomplishments and everything she was. It's words were like needles, aiming precisely to the small cracks in the armor Karina built around her heart and mind... [color=6ecff6]"SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!"[/color] Karina shouted, covering her ears, trying, with no avail, to make the voice go away as it continued. [color=6ecff6]"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME, ABOUT MY LIFE AND WHO I AM!!"[/color] she continued, with burning hatred in her eyes and voice as she said so. As the time began to flow again, Karina soon saw herself surrounded, together with the other soldiers and the rest of her group, by sharpened tentacles. In the blink of an eye, each and every one of them was bound by a tentacle. [color=6ecff6]"I will not fall without fighting!"[/color] Karina said, muttering to herself as she did her best to resist the tentacles. Even knowing that it was a useless effort, Karina simply couldn't give up now... Not after everything she went through. She refused to be remembered as someone who was right, but lacked strength to act up to her words... At that very moment, the same being, who came to mock her appeared once again. The moment he did, Karina's eyes once again filled with hatred. Initially, she thought that it had come once again to mock her, to say how she would be reminded as nothing more than a failure... But this time, it's target seemed to be someone else, as it turned towards the twisted creature that was once Sightles Nieffar. Something happened as The Being spoke to Nieffar... Something that it did... Or maybe something that was already happening even before it appeared... Regardless, just as it had said it was happening, cracks started appearing from the Seed's base, 'rot' as the Being had mentioned, quickly spreading towards Nieffar's tentacles and soon enough to it's spine, ending on it being completely split from the seed. Karina, falling to the ground after the 'rot' took Nieffar, was finally able to breathe again. Although they were not able to win that battle... They were now safe... at least for now. Unfortunately, as much as Karina tried, she simply wasn't able to get up. She knew that she had overexerted herself, both physically and magically. Still, even exhausted, she still found enough energy within herself to send the being a burning stare of hatred as he turned to her, Chres, Týfurkh, Octavio and Jen. The stump of the seed, after being salted, had turned into something Karina knew well... A very rare resource that was always seen and dealt with extreme urgency and cautiousness, due to it's effects and how it could be used as a weapon against her father and the Military forces he commanded... [color=00aeef]”Shadow metal…”[/color] Karina's expression of hatred didn't change as she heard Chres' words. She kept looking towards the being, watching his every movement and word as it clapped, congratulating them with an arrogant tone. Silently, Karina heard, still regaining her breath from the previous fight, as the being answered to Týfurkh and Chres' questions, mentioning how the reason for him having chosen them was but a gamble and how he was 'useless', stating that his influence in the world was stripped long ago. His explanation continued, mentioning how the Seed was drawing power from another source... Vi'daerus, the Omniscient as he called it. His explanation, while fantastical, was not exactly impossible to believe, after everything they've seen and went through. The fact that the Insight could bring someone closer to 'godhood' to omniscience, wasn't hard to believe and would explain a lot of the unbelievable powers the sightless had. Despite all that explanation... There was still one thing the Being, or 'Bud', didn't explain on detail... [color=6ecff6]"You still haven't answered us. Who... What are you?? Why shouldn't I believe that you are exactly the same as this Vi'daerus you speak about??"[/color] Karina asked, her voice and tone sharp as a knife as she looked towards 'The Being', or as he told them to call him, 'Bud'. [color=6ecff6]"You used us... You used all of us as mere pawns. Sending us to an almost suicide mission based on nothing but a gamble!"[/color] she said, shouting as she finally stood up again, pointing her rapier towards him. [color=6ecff6]"Not very unlike how this Vi'dareus used the sightless, isn't it?"[/color] Karina asked, looking directly towards Bud. [color=6ecff6]"You... Vi'daerus... You both seek to play god with a world that isn't yours, don't you? We are not pawns to be used, pieces of a game to be manipulated. Your influence was stripped from you and even this Vi'daerus needs very specific circumstances to exert his power..."[/color] she said, still staring daggers at him. [color=6ecff6]"It seems that I'm not the only one that rejects your kind... This world seems to do it as well..."[/color] she said with a mocking smirk towards him... A small payback for everything he said and did. [color=6ecff6]"Humanity does not need gods to control and restrict them. And we will not let any creature with such aspirations to do as it desires."[/color] she finished, looking to Bud defiantly. While Karina would like to keep the properties of the shadow metal any amount of it and even it's very existence a secret from as many people as she could, the moment Týfurkh asked more about it and Bud said they were free to take it, Chres immediately said for them not to, proceeding to explain it's properties and exactly what it was before staring at her, seeking confirmation for his words. [color=6ecff6]"There will not be any oversight to any amount of Shadow Metal leaving this room."[/color] she said with a cold tone, looking to both Týfurkh and Chres. Both her tone and her stare were clear warnings that she would not budge on that matter. [color=6ecff6]"The Shadow Metal will be secured by the Military of Touch and dealt with accordingly."[/color] She said, her eyes making it clear that she wouldn't comment on that matter any further. Even though Shadow Metal was a very rare resource, there was a reason why the Military spared no effort to secure any amount of Shadow Metal they went through and even to keep both it's existence and properties a secret by spreading disinformation. The very fact that Chres and the rest knew that the Seed had turned into Shadow Metal would be dealt with in a very serious manner by the Military. They would do anything so that information wouldn't become public.