Collapse - III

Shin slouched forward with his back against the wall. He put his hand against the top of his head and clenched his fist, grabbing his tousled red hair. Where had he seen that face and mask before? It was so familiar to him, yet not at the same time.

He shook his head, clearing his mind. Now was not the time to reflect deeply. After all, there was an entire city after his and his friends' heads. If any one of them were to be killed, there was no telling what would be waiting for them on the other side of the church doors. On the other hand, if they were captured, they would no doubt be forced into the same torture or slavery that had become synonymous with Dragonfall's system.

Shin opened his social window and sent a message to the group chat.

"Where are you guys? I just finished over here. Are you three safe?"

Within seconds, he got a response.

"We're a little busy over here."

Shin stared at the ground in thought. Fuyumi's message was brief but straight to the point. It wasn't unlike her, but the lack of elaboration concerned him.

He sat around for what felt like five minutes, before sending another message.

"Are you guys alright now?"

Just before he sent the message, Shin's shadow grew darker and more defined. He turned around to see a massive smoke cloud rising up. The sky shone bright for a moment, illuminating the night. Shin felt an invisible force push against him as the shockwave slammed into his body. The sound of a whipcrack followed by a massive thundering boom overwhelmed him.

He paused for a moment, in awe of the explosion. Shin got another message. He read it and quickly responded.

"I'm on the way."

Shin then sprung into action, running toward the blast.

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[06:00 | May 13, 2035]

Stacked boxes and empty carts whizzed by them. The dark alleyways began to feel like a neverending maze. Fuyumi and Nightingale panted heavily as they ran.

Nightingale wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead.

"Where are we even going?"

"Somewhere."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to just run around aimlessly?"

"Got any better ideas?" Fuyumi said with an annoyed tone.

They vaulted over a box and stopped.

"Not… really…"

Nightingale was winded. He put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

"Found you!"

Nightingale looked back up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice ahead of him. His eyes opened wide as the adventurer in front of him swung his axe. Fuyumi clicked her tongue, grabbed Ayaka tightly, and kicked her leg up, knocking the axe out of the adventurer's hand. It fell to the floor with a heavy clang.

"You bit-"

He clenched his fist and threw a right hook at Fuyumi.

His body collapsed as Fuyumi followed up with another kick to his groin. He groaned on the floor, clutching the jewels of his manhood.

"Shut it."

Fuyumi kicked him once more in the face. His nose was disfigured and bleeding profusely. The bandit reached for his axe, but his hand twitched before dropping to the floor as he lost consciousness.

Nightingale's jaw dropped.

"Thanks." He said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yup, don't mention it. Oh, we got a message."

Fuyumi opened her social window.

"It's from Shin."

"They're over there!"

Another voice came from around the corner.

"Shit." Fuyumi said, replying quickly to the message before closing the window.

Fuyumi and Nightingale looked around, desperately searching for another exit.

"Here!"

Nightingale pointed at a padlocked door. He quickly grabbed the lock and heated up his hand, melting the lock. He tackled the door with his shoulder, shoving it open. They went inside, closing the door behind them.

Nightingale put his weight against the door and illuminated the room with a fireball in the palm of his hand. It looked like a staging room for deliveries.

In the middle was a staircase that descended into the darkness. Hearing some noises, Nightingale put his ear to the door. The sounds of rushing footsteps began to recede.

"Seems like we're in the clear."

Fuyumi put Ayaka down, leaning her against the wall. She then turned around to face Nightingale.

"Let's check it out."

They followed the staircase down. The stairs narrowed the deeper they got. After fifteen seconds of walking, they came across a wooden door emblazoned with the Drakos guild emblem. They looked at each other and nodded before pushing it open.

The door revealed a room full of workers. It was dimly lit by candles sitting on the edges of the workbenches in front of each worker. They collectively turned to face the door, staring at Fuyumi and Nightingale. Their faces were empty, unsurprised. Uninterested, they turned back around and continued working. Fuyumi and Nightingale's first thoughts were that they were NPCs. If they weren't, they wouldn't have been so uninterested in two random strangers barging into their workshop.

Fuyumi approached the table closest to her. She stared over his shoulder. He held a mortar and pestle, grounding a rock-like substance into powder. They worked quickly and efficiently in what seemed like an assembly line, passing the products of their work to the next station beside them. Nightingale went to the end of the line where a dwarf-like NPC was packaging the powder substance into a small pouch, putting it aside into a small box. When the box was full, they stacked it inside a bigger crate. Nightingale ran his finger against the fine powder on the table and brought it up to eye level to inspect.

"Is this…?"

Nightingale paused. He had second thoughts as to what it was. Fuyumi made her way to Nightingale.

"Got a clue of what they're making?" She asked, curiously.

"Given the color, it could be some kind of seasoning? Maybe black salt?" He responded with skepticism.

"They wouldn't be hiding in Drakos' underground system just to make salt, would they?"

"It could be… some kind of explosive powder… Hold on, wait a second."

Nightingale took a pouch of the powder from a box and brought it to a metal table at the head of the workshop. He opened the pouch and poured out a thin line of the substance. At one end, he poured out a larger clump. He put the pouch aside and made a small fireball in the palm of his hand.

"You're just going to test it?"

"Only one way to find out."

Nightingale took out a small journal from his item pouch and tore out a small piece of paper. He proceeded to ignite the end of the paper. He slowly lowered the paper closer and closer to the powder. Fuyumi took one step back. He let go of the paper a few centimeters from the end of the line of powder and quickly retracted his hand. The line lit ablaze like a fuse, sparks racing along the line until they reached the clump, which exploded with a crack and thud.

Fuyumi jerked back from the sudden pop.

"That was… a good guess." Fuyumi said.

"Oh yeah."

"Look at this."

Fuyumi pointed at a booklet at the end of the metal table.

"Hmm?"

She picked it up and unwound the leather string tying it shut.

---------

[Dragonfall Workshop: Transport Hub: Node B3]

[Current Production]

Ignias Explosive Powder

[Production Rate]

3 crates per hour

[Worker Count]

20

[Current Inventory]

32 crates

[Current Efficiency]

[Tap Here To Change Production Settings]

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The booklet didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. On the surface, it just looked like a regular journal. However, the words on the page were updating live as if it was a computer screen. Fuyumi put the booklet down for Nightingale to see.

"So, this is how it all works." He said, scratching his chin.

"What if we-"

"We don't really have the time to experiment with this right now." Fuyumi said, cutting him off.

"I'm not thinking about experimenting. I was just thinking about making use of the resources we came across."

Nightingale turned around to observe the workshop.

"You're not thinking about…"

"Oh, yes I am." Nightingale declared with a devilish smile.

"I think I know how to distract Drakos while we sneak out of the city." He continued.

Fuyumi sighed.

"I'll go get Ayaka, you do what you're planning on doing down here."

Fuyumi left the room, leaving Nightingale to orchestrate his plan. Nightingale dismissed the workers one by one with the booklet. They left the room, up the stairs, and out the building nonchalantly. He put the node management booklet into his item pouch before moving back toward the boxes filled with pouches of the Ignias powder.

---------

Fuyumi knelt in front of her best friend and pushed her bangs aside, putting her hand against her cheeks. Ayaka groaned and murmured. Fuyumi smiled softly. She then glanced down at her bare chest. She closed her eyes, smile quickly fading. It was a reminder of the abuse that Ayaka had suffered. Fuyumi pulled Ayaka closer and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I couldn't be there sooner. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. You… you were there for me when I needed you the most. And… and I let you down. Sorry… Ayaka."

After a few seconds, Fuyumi carefully leaned Ayaka back against the wall and pulled her coat closer together, covering her up.

"Ready?!"

Nightingale's voice echoed from the underground workshop.

"Yeah!"

Nightingale stood at the end of a long makeshift fuse - a long winding line of ignias powder that led to a spilled box of powder in front of the stacked crates. He replicated the previous process, taking out a piece of paper and igniting it. He knelt close to the floor.

"On three! One… two… three!"

He lit the fuse and ran up the stairs.

Fuyumi put Ayaka on her back. Nightingale made it to the top of the stairs and opened the door for them.

"[Current]!"

They were lifted to the roof of the adjacent building and continued running. They jumped across three buildings.

"Any second now!" Nightingale yelled out.

An enormous bang shook the air around them. Nightingale put up a [Galewind Barrier] that protected them from the shockwave. The building was completely obliterated, leaving a crater in the ground. Stones and rocks were sent flying into the air as the streets were covered in shrapnel and debris. Adventurers and NPCs in the streets screamed, panicked, and pointed at the explosion.

"I'll tell Shin to meet us by the entrance of the city!" Fuyumi yelled over the commotion.

"Alright!"

They continued jumping between the rooftops. Below them, a group of adventurers were pointing at the blast.

"Holy fuck!"

"What the fuck was that?!"

They wore black metal armor adorned with the Drakos guild emblem and horned helmets.

"Was that the node?!"

"Let's go check it out!"

They unsheathed their weapons and ran toward the explosion.

Nightingale and Fuyumi ran toward Dragonfall's only exit as the rest of the city was thrown into chaos.