Looking at four Nighthawks pointing guns at her, Ais's mind contained nothing but embarrassment.
The impeccable seriousness of the four Nighthawks helped slightly — but she still couldn't help dropping her gaze, not sure how to face people who clearly knew what "Witch" meant.
The four Nighthawks — black thin coats, top hats — looked at Ais, who had walked out obediently and was now standing with her head lowered looking a little pitiful. They neither said anything that might provoke her, nor relaxed their vigilance as a result.
The Witch pathway's Extraordinaries were known for their ability to manipulate and deceive others. And with a matter involving an evil god and a cult, no level of caution was excessive.
Even if the person before them held nothing back and sincerely wished to leave the wrong path, that didn't mean things were necessarily this simple — or even that her desire to come clean necessarily originated with herself.
Beyond that, as the church's Extraordinaries, their knowledge of other pathways was well beyond what any unaffiliated Beyonder possessed. Though, admittedly, the church had only roughly determined what abilities a Witch held less than four years ago.
To say nothing else: with the ability to use a mirror as a stand-in double, this tall and striking Witch was far from defenseless against them.
Alec Howard thought through what Ais had said and confirmed with her gravely:
"So you haven't yet established a connection with the evil god 'Primordial Witch' — not through speaking Her name aloud, or through any ritual with Her as the object of petition?"
Ais shook her lowered head.
"I only heard the name 'Primordial' from that woman's mouth this afternoon, when she handed me the formula and materials. Ah — the potion's knowledge does include a full name…"
Howard, who had not particularly relaxed to begin with, immediately cut in:
"Don't try to recall the full name!"
The already-distracted Ais startled at Howard's sudden sharpness and immediately shook her head — worried that a half-second's delay might result in a bullet.
"I wasn't going to! I know evil gods' full names can't be carelessly spoken…"
Before she'd finished, Howard cut in again, just as seriously:
"It's not only speaking aloud — if it's in Ancient Hermes, even just mentally recalling it could draw the evil god's attention. Quite a few people have died in their sleep from strange causes after encountering and internalizing certain forbidden knowledge."
Ais startled.
"Wait — what about regular Hermes? The full name the potion gave me is in Hermes. I don't know Ancient Hermes, except for the spell incantations the potion gave me."
"That's considerably less dangerous."
Howard didn't elaborate. He paused a few seconds in silence and decided to take this Witch to Saint Anjelka Cathedral first.
For a devotee of the Evernight Goddess , an Beyonder with a possible connection to an evil god was dangerous — but not alarming enough to cause undue tension.
"Walk ahead of us. Once we're outside the church, follow my instructions strictly. Otherwise we are authorized to use lethal force."
"Alright!"
As if relieved of a burden, Ais immediately turned and led the four Nighthawks out of the church at a normal pace, then followed Howard's directions and walked ahead of them.
The four Nighthawks quickly discovered that once outside the church, the Witch ahead of them had visibly relaxed — strolling as though on her way home. With four guns trained on the back of her head, she was not only calm but increasingly talkative:
"How confident are you of catching that woman, gentlemen? She shouldn't know yet that I came to find you — I divined the path to the church before coming and confirmed it carried no threat from her.
If you need me as bait, just say so. If not, that's fine too — just let me know once she's been dealt with.
When you fight her, try to disable her first if you can — her mirror double only activates passively, in response to lethal attacks, at least at Sequence 7.
Witches are very skilled at Curses, so please, whatever you do, don't let any hair or blood fall into her hands. Other personal items you don't need to worry as much about — she can't use them to Curse an enemy mid-combat.
She also has an invisibility spell and the ability to jump between mirrors within thirty meters of each other — please be careful not to let her escape…"
Noticing that the Witch showed no sign of stopping, Howard spoke up:
"Miss Ais — save the rest for when we reach the cathedral, or you may end up saying it all again."
Ais immediately cut herself off, then asked with some anxiety:
"Then, sir — given that I came forward voluntarily, could you please not take me in for experiments?"
Howard was slightly amused.
"Don't spread rumors. The church doesn't dispose of Extraordinaries arbitrarily — not unless someone is genuinely beyond redemption. An irredeemable, unforgivable criminal who deserves it entirely."
Ais's eyes brightened a little. She'd heard no negative rumors about the Church of the Evernight Goddess from ordinary people in the past few months. That was somewhat reassuring. She nodded, then asked:
"Good to know, sir. For someone like me — who only had one-sided contact with a cult member and never actually joined — what usually happens? Would I be detained? For how long? Is the food decent? If that woman happens to escape, could I stay in there longer?"
The three younger Nighthawks couldn't help exchanging a glance. They genuinely didn't understand.
How was it possible for someone to have just advanced to Witch, walk into a church like it was nothing and report the cult, and then have the mental bandwidth to wonder about the quality of prison food — or even want to stay longer?
Did she have literally no sense of shame?
Howard, for his part, was capable of reading past the words and detecting the embarrassment and resignation beneath Ais's composure. What he couldn't quite grasp was the equanimity itself — as though everything that had happened to her was entirely separate from her own choices.
"That depends mainly on what you've done up to this point." Howard's tone was slightly odd.
"Does killing those three Extraordinaries who were hunting me count as murder?" Ais asked, testing carefully.
"It does — though the consequences won't be severe. You're not going to tell me that's all you've done?" Howard's voice carried open skepticism.
Because the Witch cult operated with the spread of disaster as its mission — and although the current exceptionally strict crackdown had curtailed their more flagrant activities, Howard wasn't about to believe those Witches would hand over a formula and materials to a fringe member without any strings attached.
Ais, unaware of this dimension of the question, hadn't thought of it. But it reminded her of how she'd resolved the Instigator potion's influence — and that the woman had once mentioned that even Watcher team captains in various cities might not know the key was the potion's name.
"There's more — but I can say with complete certainty that when I was clearing the potion's negative influence, I didn't involve any innocent people."
"Let's hope so. Wait — did you just say clearing the potion's negative influence?"
Howard had been only half-paying attention, but as an Beyonder himself, he caught the key words immediately.
The three Nighthawks slightly behind him exchanged instinctive glances — no sound, but their reaction made their surprise clear.
Ais continued as though it were unremarkable:
"That's right. The reason I went from an ordinary person to Sequence 7 in under five months was because that woman told me the potion's name is the key to clearing its negative influence."
"That's impossible!"
One of the rear Nighthawks blurted it out before they could stop themselves.