Taking advantage of the fact that Sahar, who was devastated after learning the truth, had not completely calmed down, Rika Fujimaru took the opportunity to decide to try to start a discussion on an issue that she couldn't figure out in order to solicit the opinions of others:

"I think it's weird. I remember—or maybe I'm mistaken—wasn't Verchak a judge of the Order? What does she want a demon host to do? And, most importantly, where did she get the technology? ”

Although among the well-known double standard monsters of the empire under the Inquisition, although it is indeed a great rebellion to secretly create a demon host for various reasons or needs, it is not very rare, after all, the Inquisitor is also one of the most powerful and good groups in the empire to "shut up and keep secrets". However, getting a controllable demon host that can accomplish certain purposes is not something that the Inquisitor can do by touching his upper lip to his lower lip: this kind of tightrope walking on the edge of danger and depravity still has a technical threshold after all.

How to judge whether the carrier is suitable, how to accurately summon a demon that is strong enough but not so strong, how to make the demon actually burrow into the carrier (and not into the other psychics or even the inquisitors themselves), how to restrain the demon, how to confine it to the carrier, so that it does not have the ability to cause trouble in the real universe, and how to force it to obey. In the process of creating a qualified demon host that can be used for one's own use, each step requires a very specialized knowledge of the taboo of subspace or demonology, and absolutely the help of powerful psionics. Considering that Inquisitor Verchak's black ship did have a large number of psykers in her service, she would have met the latter condition by default. But, where did she get such professional forbidden knowledge?

Rika Fujimaru didn't think that the judges of the Alien Court would pay attention to this kind of crooked way—the focus was on "this", not "crooked ways". Maybe it's because she's stereotyped, but in her concept, the red lines of the empire that the Inquisitors of the Alien Court are more likely to violate are often things like "raising a spirit prophet", "having a good conversation with the necromantic overlord and making great use of his knowledge and technology", and "hiding an abomination intelligence". The mistake of privately controlling a demon host is more reasonable for Hastings, who is subordinate to the Demon Court, to make it. Although what the demon host could do, Hastings, as a psyker, could basically do it himself, he had no motivation to do it at all.

"You're not mistaken, but I don't think it's important." Sevita said in the communicator, "When you decided to board the Shadow Hammer, you set yourself the goal of 'bringing Mita Ashn back to the Storm Frontier without attracting attention.'" Whether you decide to use some supernatural trick unknown to others to reverse the fact that the person has become a demon host, or actually bring a demon host back to your ship—and I assure you, your ship won't become any more heretical for this little thing—I have to warn you that this goal has been at least half of the time lost. ”

"It's okay for you to be in the wind, but I really feel like I smell a treacherous smell in this matter." Fujimaru Rika furrowed her brows, "Do you think it's convenient for us to contact Hastings now?" ”

The communication link was quiet for a few seconds, and for a while, only Sahar's angry shouts such as "I'm going to kill that old witch" were left in Fujimaru Rika's ears. The man was locked in the depths of the vault by a trap that had not yet been lifted, and walked around in circles in anger and anxiety like a headless fly. Fearing that the other party would be carried away by hatred and anger, Rika Fujimaru rushed out of the vault regardless of the situation, and then was cut into small pieces the moment he passed through the trap. Fortunately, he still at least retains his basic sanity, knowing that if he dies here, then revenge will be empty talk.

Besides, Sahar didn't know where he would go after he left the vault. The secrecy of Vault 44 was too high, and it was a completely unfamiliar position for a traitor like him who was forced to join. He may be able to roughly grasp the general direction between himself and the bridge where Verchak was, but walking on a labyrinthine black ship, it is not enough to have only an approximate direction.

After a period of noise bombardment, Sevita, who had confirmed the situation through the sound array center of the Emperor Dream, finally replied: "Of course, I believe that if you insist on contacting the other party, of course our dear Inquisitor will spare time for you. ”

"It's 'inconvenient,' right?" Rika Fujimaru automatically translated the euphemism that was almost yin and yang in Saivita's mouth, "If Ranmaro is free at this time......

"—the situation will not change much." Sevita interrupted this assumption a little roughly, "May I warn you, you've wasted a lot of time at this halfway point. It would be good for all your accomplices that you would be able to complete your objectives and return to our own ship sooner. ”

Under the not-so-sufficient light in the vault, Rika Fujimaru's shadow shook slightly for a moment. There was a faint black spark on the ground nearby, but it was enough for the shadow's owner to capture this detail with his own eyes:

The "guard in the shadows", the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès, silently agreed with this argument.

Fujimaru Rika had to sigh and temporarily give up looking for the root cause of this issue. She looked up helplessly and spoke in the direction of the inside of the trap and persuaded, "Sahar, calm down. If you keep doing this, I can't safely get you out of it. ”

"Let me out!" Obviously, the person she wanted to communicate with didn't mean to communicate with her, "Let me get out of this hellish place!" I'm going to make that *Terra-foul-mouthed* Verchak taste great! ”

"What about Mita? Do we leave her alone? Rika Fujimaru asked rhetorically with a very sincere-sounding doubt.

The Chaldean lord had a way of getting her to be heard in most cases. Sahar's rank is obviously not high above "most cases", so he is also miserably: "But you said that Mita has become a demon host—"

"—Becoming a demon host does not mean being sentenced to death completely, at least for the Chaldeans." There wasn't much time, and Rika Fujimaru didn't bother to explain too much, "We can only do one thing this time: go and get Mita back and heal it, or go and kill Inquisitor Verchak." Which do you choose? ”

Rika Fujimaru said this, but she didn't really plan to do anything to Inquisitor Verchak. Her plan was that if Sahar chose the latter one on the spot, she would tell Sevita to activate the portal and capture him back to the Emperor's Dream, and she would take the rest of the road herself. It's just that Sahar was unusually competitive on this issue, and without hesitation at all, he replied categorically: "Of course, it's to save Mita." ”

Rika Fujimaru, who had received the answer she wanted to hear, nodded, and tapped the Aquila Scepter on the ground nearby. The trap set by one of the lord inquisitors was apparently ingenious enough that, apart from the additional sirens that were attached to its activation, Sahar, who had previously been firmly "stabbed" (and shouted in shame), found no signs of attack as it was activated. He couldn't figure out how it worked, but - sometimes you don't need to understand how a trap works, just let it stop triggering.

Even if there is alien technology in the trap loaded on the black ship of the Alien Court, it is still held hostage by the central control system of the Empire loaded on an Imperial ship after all. Almost all Imperial systems will open access to the Advanced Identifier built into the Aquila Scepter, and Vault 44 on the Shadow Hammer is no exception.

This allowed Rika Fujimaru to pause the trap without even finding its console, and successfully got the angry Sahar out of the cage. By the way, she also used this trick to read the communication records in the Cadmus Power Armor.

"I remember if you were injured in this trap?" Fujimaru Rika asked casually, "Where is the injury?" ”

"It won't affect the operation." Sahar is not surprising that he misunderstands the root cause of this question, so it is Sevita who answers it accurately:

"Judging from the physiological examination records of his power nails, an internal hemorrhage was marked on the inside of his ribs, about the location of the spleen." He broadcast this fact in a rather official tone, and then irresponsibly concluded, "Astarte will stop the bleeding in a few tens of seconds at most, and he will not die." ”

Sahar woke up from a dream, lowered his head and inexplicably touched the corresponding position between his chest and abdomen, but found that not only was there no scar on the power armor, but the servo system did not convey any subtle damage information that might exist. But he did feel as if he had been stabbed in that moment—the question "How did I get hurt?" quickly drowned out by intense agitation, and Sahar roared again at the questioner:

"I said it wouldn't affect the battle!" He quickly retrieved the blaster he had hung up in the empty warehouse, and with his other hand, he shoved the gem scepter he had taken out of the depths of the vault to Rika Fujimaru, "The most important thing we should do now is to leave this hellish place and find Mita!" ”

The Chaldean lord mechanically took the stuff in his bosom and watched as Sahar busily reloaded, checked his readiness, and tried to take all the bits and pieces he could use from the unconscious Cadmus. She didn't have time to stop the immoral act that was happening right in front of her eyes, and her mind was still stuck in the previous question:

"Even if nothing major happens, what is this trap...... I mean, I can subtly understand how it works, but how did this principle come to be achieved with Imperial technology? ”

"The throne—or some other!" Sahar exclaimed impatiently, "The principle of a trap, is this something worth spending time thinking about?" We've gotten rid of it! ”

"Okay." Fujimaru Rika sighed and gave a final account on the matter, "If Judge Hastings is free, Sevita, I would like you to ask him for me: 'Has Inquisitor Verchak joined any other order of the Inquisition, in addition to the Outer Order?'" ”

"What does this have to do with that?" Sevita wasn't really asking, he was just complaining, "What if she joins other orders?" ”

Even if he was only complaining, Rika Fujimaru replied: "I'm so skeptical because the attack method used in this trap is more ...... 'magic'. To put it simply, like a recording or video, this trap records a 'slash from a moment in the past' and loops each time it is triggered. Even if that's the case, at least the technology of space-time dislocation is involved in this trap. There is no doubt that it is very stealthy to some extent, and it can also evade most of the force field defenses, but the Imperial Materials Science is also developed enough that if you rely only on simple 'slashing', lethality is obviously not guaranteed. I don't think an inquisitor would use such a trap, which is clearly seriously flawed, as a killer in the vault. ”

"'Imperial Materials,'" Sevita's voice in the comm sneered distinctly, "I think you're taking that a little too seriously. The 'shield' of the empire is indeed strong, but the more dominant 'spear' will always exist—"

"—do you think the Aquila Scepter will be cut off by anything?" Rika Fujimaru asked suddenly.

Without waiting for anyone present or absent to react, she strode back in the direction of the trap, stomping swiftly into the trigger zone of her memory. The same alarm sounded again, but Rika Fujimaru had already withdrawn back to the outer safety zone, and instead stretched the Aquila Scepter in her hand into the space where the trap was located-

- There was no sword light, no change in airflow, not even the slightest bumping sound, and Fujimaru Rika's hand holding the staff was also very stable, obviously not disturbed by any external force. But in the next moment, the eagle that had been stretched into the death zone in front of it had been cut into three irregular pieces, and the part of the scepter had quietly broken, and the slender cylinder that had fallen to the ground rolled miserably. All the fractures were fairly flat, with no signs of melting from the heat or chipping from freezing, as if it was just—severed.

Even Sevita was taken aback by Rika Fujimaru's dismissive attitude towards the symbol of supreme power under the emperor in the empire. After relieving himself, he remembered that even if such a high-level holy relic was to be destroyed, it would definitely not be destroyed so peacefully. And Fujimaru Rika apparently got some kind of answer based on this:

"It makes sense: 'Because the slash has happened without any obstacles, nothing in its path will be an obstacle to the slash.'" The wreckage of the Aquila Scepter dissipated into the air like golden sand at the same time as Fujimaru Ritsuka made this conclusion, and the next second, another similar thing appeared in her hand out of thin air, and the alarm was turned off again under the order of the Aquila Scepter identification code, "This is the concept of 'reverse effect as cause'." No matter what kind of physical defense, it is meaningless in the face of the law of cause and effect weapon. ”

Sevita was silent for a moment, "This logic sounds familiar, I seem to have heard something similar on Jaystar. ”

Sahar, who had already touched the "corpse" of Cadmus, kicked the other man in anger a little farther away, and the original cast starmarines let out a little angry whimper. This made the person feel a little sense of crisis, but he looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka's back, and finally gave up the tempting option of two shots in the head of his former teammate, and instead looked up and urged: "When are we leaving?" ”

"Immediately." Fujimaru Rika quickly replied to Sahar and turned to leave behind the trap that in principle didn't seem to contain a lot of Imperial technology. She reluctantly made amends by shoving Cadmus, who had woken up but was still barely able to squirm on his stomach, and quickly left Vault 44 with Sahar, locking him in immorally.

"By the way, you're right." After performing this series of actions, Rika Fujimaru replied to Sevita on the way to the psionic prison where Mita was being held, "The whole ritual on Jestal is my extreme application of the concept of 'reverse effect as cause'. That's why I wonder if Inquisitor Verchak is on a temporary basis in a congregation other than the Outer Order. ”

Sevita, who didn't understand the connection between the context, chose to be yin and yang: "I thought you were the kind of boss who didn't like to tell riddles. ”

"Specifically, the Order of Kronos. Or 'the court of time'. Rika Fujimaru replied, "If that's the case, then she probably did come to me because of Jaystar's business." ”

(End of chapter)