"Don't let go!! If you let go, I'm done for!!" Yan Huan buried his face against Dahlia's wet calf and howled muffledly, "Second Uncle has already gone crazy. Why don't you come out and switch places with me?"
"Switch with me, switch with me!!" Sampo clung even tighter, hanging off Dahlia's thigh like a sloth. The blob on his blue-highlighted hair trembled with every movement, and several drops of liquid slid from his temple into his eyes, but he had no time to wipe them away.
"Big sis, have mercy! I, Old Sampo, have never begged anyone in my life! Just consider it building up some good karma!!"
"Why should I pay the price for your good karma?!" Dahlia was thoroughly impatient. Her voice turned shrill, and the composure she had maintained for so long in her violet eyes finally shattered completely, revealing the surging fury and collapse beneath it:
"This is Memoria I incinerated. If you want to blame someone, blame yourselves for knowing her!"
"But you're a Cremator!! What's the difference between burning this and burning anything else?! What's the harm in taking two people along?!" Yan Huan refused to let go.
"Then why don't you go burn yourself?!!!" Dahlia's voice was nearly a shriek.
The electrical glow around the doorframe shifted from ghostly blue to a blinding orange-red, letting out a shriek like a dying beast.
Fine black cracks began to appear along the edge of the rift.
Sam's thrusters erupted with fluorescent green flames again. Her chassis rose slightly as her mechanical arms slowly retracted.
Yan Huan felt an irresistible force dragging his ankles upward, peeling his entire body bit by bit away from Dahlia's calf.
"..." Dahlia lowered her head and looked at her legs, which had gone completely numb from being tightly wrapped by