"Splendid! Perfect!", Mephisto claps while smiling menacingly, as he watches the raging fire engulfed the entire floor. He taps his staff subconsciously to emphasize his point, to show how excited he really is, "This is perfect! Such power, so unrefined, yet so destructive, like art. No, no, this IS art. True art."

The young man with curly black hair looks at the flame while tweaking with his huge crossbow, "She reminds me of Frostnova."

"Flame and ice, huh, but I think she's more exceptional than Frostnova.", Mephisto smiles brightly, "If Frostnova was here, do you think her ice could seal the flames, or would the flames melt her ice?"

"No idea."

"Fire cannot be sealed, Faust." Mephisto takes a test tube out, "But it can be tamed."

Faust takes the test tube, full of some unknown liquid. He asks, "What's this?"

"A gift from Rhine Lab." Mephisto says, "It's a special type of sedative. Just pour some on your arrows and shoot them at her. After that, we'll be able to take her away."

Faust stares at the tube uncertainty.

"They said it's 50% effective."

"What about the other 50%?"

"Who knows?" Mephisto shrugs, "Maybe she'll explode, wiping the entire building out. Or she'll just die from the poison."

"Wouldn't that make our efforts a waste of time?" Faust frowns, "We've sacrificed a lot to capture her."

Mephisto shrugs again, "Can't you feel the temperature going up? If you wait any longer, she's really going to explode. When that happens, that 50% becomes 0%."

Faust sighs and walks toward the source of the flame, but after a few steps, he turns around and asks Mephisto, "What about Rhodes Island? Their people should be here now."

"Really?" Mephisto raises an eyebrow slightly, "Hmm. It seems I underestimated them. To think a truckload of Originium slugs couldn't even kill them. No wonder W warned me about them."

"What will you do?"

"Relax. You just need to deal with that girl." Mephisto says, "I will make the others stay in the first two floors, forever."


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


ACE frowns, as he examines the surroundings. The explosion from outside hadn't left the lower floors of the factory untouched. There are a lot of bodies inside the building, all dressed in Rhine Lab uniforms. He says, "Dr. Silence said Ifrit's condition should have stabilized, but after only a few minutes, she's gone berserk. Something must have happened, and I bet it has something to do with Silence."

"Damn those people. Other than Silence, they're the only ones who know Ifrit the most." El grits his teeth, "Those sons of bitches... Tsk. Wait. It doesn't make any sense. Why would they kill their own people?"

"We'll only know when we find the rest of them.", ACE says, "But our mission right now is to rescue Dr. Silence and Ifrit."

Lin Ye follows the squad in silence. His mind still occupied with the image of the flame. He'd never thought a little girl would be able to wield this much power. However, rather than be afraid, he was more concerned about her condition. Even for a devil, that much fire will burn her to ashes, if nobody stops her.

Fuck! Don't die on me now! I haven't brought you to Saria yet!

Lin Ye clenches his fists.

Suddenly, the squad hears sounds of scuffles around them. They stop and look around.

When they see what's happening, their expressions turn grim.

Those supposedly dead bodies are slowly rising and getting back on their feet. When they take off their lab coats, revealing the severely burnt bodies, those "researchers" pull out their short blades and walk toward E3 slowly.

"What the hell?!" El curses, "Shouldn't they be dead?"

"They're not from Rhine Lab.", ACE frowns, "I've never seen them before, and I don't think I saw Cardo's body either. They're infected… This is a trap."

ACE checks his gas mask and says, "Get ready."

"Leave this to me and Bonner, captain.", a sniper walks up and stands next to ACE, "Dr. Silence and Ifrit are more important than us.

Bonner walks up to the sniper with a double-sided axe. He says to Ace, "We'll be fine, captain."

ACE asks, "Do you need anyone else?"

The sniper smiles, "Captain, don't underestimate us. We'll take care of them and come find you later."

Bonner doesn't say anything, but he taps his axe in agreement with his comrade.

ACE nods and then gestures to the rest of the team to follow him.

Before Lin Ye leaves with ACE, Bonner offers him his gas mask, "Take this with you, Dr. Lin."

Lin Ye pauses, "What about you? Don't you need it?"

"If I don't give it to you, the captain will, but he's not infected." Bonner shakes his head, "He needs his mask, I don't because I'm already infected."

Lin Ye looks toward ACE and only after ACE nods does he take the gas mask.

"Just trust us, captain.", Bonner says to Ace, "We've been through so much together. Why would we die here now?"


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


"Silence! Silence!"

Ifrit wails while going past the piles of corpses. She's wrapped in layers of flames, and wherever she goes, the floor becomes charred and burnt.

When she reached the third floor, she fought dozens of Infected, but rather than an actual fight, they were simply burnt to a crisp. When her flames engulfed them, they were devoured and consumed, with nothing left behind.

Cardo stares at the devil from behind a wall. Whatever ambitions he had were gone. All that was left is fear. Fear of the certain death before him. Only now does he finally understand how powerful Saria was, to be able to subdue Ifrit when she's gone berserk. He looks at the bodies of his colleagues. They were slaughtered indiscriminately when Ifrit went on a rampage...

"Silence!"

"Shit…" Cardo curses quietly. He looks at the woman in his arms, the only hope for him making it out alive, Silence. He presses his knife on Silence's neck and shouts at Ifrit, "Stop right there, Ifrit!"

Ifrit doesn't seem to have heard his warning. All she sees is Silence, who had fallen subconscious.

"Stop there!"

Ifrit continues to walk toward Cardo and Silence.

"Bastard, can't you hear me?! I told you to stop!" Cardo was already backed into a corner. He shouts desperately, "If you take another step, I'll kill Silence right now!"

Despite his warning, Ifrit was still walking toward Cardo.

"Fuck!" Cardo stares at Silence. He really wants to kill her for creating that monster. It's because of her that he's ended up like this. But he can't kill her. He knows if she dies, he's next.

"Motherfucker, don't move!" Cardo shouts at Ifrit again. As a last resort, he throws his knife at Ifrit. However, the knife simply disintegrates, before it can even reach Ifrit.

Ifrit finally looks at him. Those golden eyes reflect Cardo's despair. She glares at him like a devil from hell, ready to massacre and slaughter all that's in her way.

Yet...

Suddenly, a low whistling fills the air, as a thin projectile flies towards her.

Ifrit raises her hands intuitively, but she's too slow. She stares at the bolt embedded in her shoulder, as her rage fades, being replaced with sadness in her eyes.

"Silence, Saria... please don't leave me."

Before she finally blackout she mutters.

"S-Save me. L-Lin Y-..."


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


Faust lowers his crossbow and watches the little girl squirming on the floor, sobbing and whimpering helplessly until she finally passes out.

He falls silent.

Did he shoot a devil... or a girl...


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


Draft by Demosama

Proofread by Demosama PanzerComrade56

Edit by Mihjaqtio