Upon drinking some of the antitoxin given to him by Thoth, Vincent felt a decent amount of the burning sensation subside, but it largely seemed to still be present. Namely, with each passing second, it seemed to permeate his body more. From what he could tell, it didn't seem to be deadly, or at least not yet, but it did certainly hurt like hell. Maybe he should drink more?

It's also worth noting that a slight sort of paralysis was beginning to spread throughout his body. Nothing crippling, but his movements would feel slightly...heavier, as though they were under intense gravity.

[hr]
[center][b]Heka[/b]
[i]Office of the Esteemed Headmistress Heka, Academy for the Advanced Manipulation of the World[/i][/center]

Heka pursed her lips slightly in thought, watching through the eyes of Lynn as the group polished off the monsters on the second floor. Pale fingers drummed along the surface of her desk, the God seeming to be troubled about some matter. However, she was jarred from her ruminations by the door to her office swinging open, and someone stepping inside.

"Heka, the fuck is going on?"

Heka leveled a dry glare at the individual who had entered, loosing a sigh. "Please make an appointment next time, before you show up unannounced. And what exactly are you referring to, I-"

"Do I need to spell it out for you? You're probably thinking about it already." The intruder scoffed, drawing out each syllable. "The Lab-yr-inth mon-sters are weak-er than they were be-fore. Got it?"

Heka shook her head in disdain, letting out another sigh. "Yes, I've noticed. The magical energy they're created with is less than last time, but our earlier estimations on the Core's power reserves should have been perfect, which means-"

"-What the fuck is it planning? Keh, I'm this close to just waltzing in there myself and trashing the place till I get answers, but nooooooo, I'd die before I got the chance. Fucking existence. Can't stand it."

"I assure you, I'm trying to perform some analysis on the matter. As we can hardly access the Core directly though, that's proving to be...difficult."

"Oh, poor you. Y'know, I bet if Vaak was still around that she'd be able to read the Core's info from here, no proble-"

"Shut up."

Heka's expression, previously neutral with perhaps a trace of annoyance, had shifted. It now displayed blatant anger, her jaw clenched tightly as she glared in the direction of the other party. Her right hand gripped the edge of her desk, knuckles turning white. 

In reaction, the other party smirked at Heka, lazily strolling forwards before coming to a stop by her desk, sitting atop it, and leaning over it. "Oh~? Did bringing her up make you all upset, He~ka~?" They chimed, face contorted into a vicious sneer as they laughed raucously. "Ha! Now that's what I like to see! Miss 'Prim and Proper' showing that look, that look of delicious hate!"

Heka visibly seethed, her eyes narrowing. "I don't hate you, I'm just-"

"No, no, you hate me. Not in general, no, of course not. You're too soft for that, I know. I just mean now. In this one fleeting moment, you take off that damned refined posture and curt little smile and you show me pure, visceral emotion. That wonderful contradiction as you try to reconcile between what you feel and what you want to feel...ah, it makes me excited just narrating it~!"

Chuckling slightly under their breath, the other party hefted themselves up off of Heka's desk, arms crossed behind their head as they moved to exit the office. "Well, anyway, I've got stuff to attend to. Only reason I came in was to see if you had any results yet, but as usual, you're useless. You keep doing your shit investigation, or whatever. Bye~"

And with that, they took their leave.