Akira squeezes Julie around the waist. 

"... do it," she says.

Julie strokes Akira's back, watching raptly.

Pixie tries to twist to see the flaring runes, but she can't move enough to.

Joker picks up her dagger. 

"Do your best to hold still," she says to Pixie. "This is going to hurt a lot."

Joker brings her dagger down, and cuts down through the flesh of Pixie's chest until the blade skitters off Pixie's ribcage. 

She strains against her bonds, struggling to move. She can't get very far.

Joker doesn't rush. She lays her stained dagger in the surgical tray, and picks up the hammer and chisel. 

She sets the edge of the chisel against Pixie's ribs, and strikes it firmly with the hammer. With a sharp snap, Pixie's ribs break apart. 

Akira winces at the crack of bone breaking, but she doesn't look away.

Pixie stifles a scream, then lays there panting.

Julie inhales sharply and squeezes Akira tighter.

Joker seats the chisel again, and breaks out a section of rib that she takes out and sets in her surgical tray. Then she reaches into the hole in Pixie and looks for her heart. 

"... ooh," she says when she sees it. A wicked grin passes across her face. 

She brings her dagger in and cuts in quick efficient strokes. No need to make Pixie suffer needlessly. 

Pixie swallows hard and falls limp, blinking fearfully at Joker's hand in her chest.

Julie strokes Akira's hair and bites her lip.

"Yes get on with it —" 

Akira grits her teeth and fixes her gaze on Joker.

Joker does. She grabs hard, and tears Pixie's heart free. 

What she comes up with in her hand, though, is not a heart but a fleshy mask, with two clear eye holes ringed with veins of brilliant scarlet. It looks organic, raw — but it's indisputably a mask.

Pixie has a brief moment of staring in shock at her mask in Joker's hand, then disintegrates, melting away atop the table.

Akira swallows hard. 

"... So now you implant that in Bicorn...? Why the hell is it a mask?"

"Just so. Why it's a mask... probably has to do with the fact that she's just an aspect of you. But the ritual requires some speed, so I'll thank you not to distract me."

Joker takes her surgical tray and the bloody mask and comes to sit by Bicorn's side. 

"Here we go," she says, raising her dagger.

And she cuts into Bicorn's side, aiming for the center of his chest.

He grunts in pain, but bears it stoically.

Julie keeps stroking Akira's back and holding her close.

Akira breathes slowly. 

She really hopes this works.

Joker comes to Bicorn's ribs, and breaks out her hammer and chisel again. 

"Here goes."

Snap. Snap. 

She sets the broken-out section aside, takes the mask of flesh, and shoves it deep into the hole in Bicorn that she's created. 

Bicorn writhes, struggling against the clamps, then melts into a swirl of multi-colored light, pulsing and twisting over the altar.

The light soon coalesces into a new form, pooling on the altar. a mound of goop bubbling up from the obsidian surface. Glowing red eyes and a gaping mouth form, and it turns to look at first Akira, then Joker.

"Me Slime... Y-You... have mask! N-N-Nice meet you..."

"Nice to meet you too, Slime."

She looks over at Akira. "Well, there's proof it works."

"You had better be able to get Pixie back."