Blaze is less annoyed by the Warlock's mild trash talk than what she perceives as a pointless attempt to rattle them. That's rude, especially to a civilian visitor. And why would his friend even bring up the War Cult? Pah. Luckily Verity's revelation seems to have stopped them cold. She's quick to follow up.

"No politics. No dancing around the questions," Blaze says firmly, making it both a promise and a ground rule. She sits back, folding her arms with a clank. "Just a threat to Earth and a problem that needs a Warlock's eye. Are you with us or not?"

Hirune nods immediately, if slowly, still looking at Verity with wide eyes. "But how did you... there's a stable crossing point, isn't there? How did you breach it?"

"Hive magic," Blaze answers shortly, and chuckles at the grimaces they pull. "But that's a whole other story."

"All right," says Ulysses. He seems to have sobered. "Then let's start by defining 'multiversal collapse'."