Ward eyes you for a second, judging your intent before handing you the gun. "Quick and clean," he says. "There's no room for error."
You point the gun at Corliss's head; it feels monstrously heavy in your hand as the weight of what you're about to hangs over you. "None of this had to be this way," you say as Corliss stares up at you defiantly. Her struggles have ceased—she's realized the reality of her situation and she has no desire to feed your ego by wriggling like a fish on a hook, desperate for freedom.
"Do it, then, Agad the Imperishable," Corliss growls. She lurches forward with surprising suddenness. "Do it!"
Startled by the unexpected lunge, you instinctively pull the trigger. The recoil from the massive hand cannon nearly causes you to lose balance as the incendiary round tears through Corliss's forehead, shattering her skull as it explodes backward into blackened chips of off-white shrapnel. Her body slumps back and begins to dissolve into dust as you watch. You expected to feel satisfaction, and while that's certainly an emotion competing for prominence, you are also filled with…