96 The Ninth Layer of Hell (1/2)

It was endless. If anything, the place seemed more like a godforsaken labyrinth than a research station. They trekked for more than three hours on foot and still had not even scratched the surface of the damned place.

How far does this fucking place go down?! How much space did these assholes need?! I can't even begin to fathom the amount of the work that must have been done to dig this far down…

Over the course of their descent into hell, the lonesome pair had traversed through all manner of places. Xibalba was a world of its own, rather than a research facility as Lu'um had described it.

They'd traversed past abandoned, silent underground cities that'd been built in vast pockets of unearthed cave and soil. Vast stretches of unused, empty space and an endless amount of sealed doors, gates, and barriers.

”You said this was a research station, right?”

”Yes, that's right,” said Lu'um.

”…Why are there entire cities down here, then? I thought this was supposed to be a research station, not an underground kingdom,” said Reed in an annoyed tone.

”Xibalba was designed as a self-sufficient research and development station, Ka'an. Secrecy was of the utmost concern, so it was built with to operate without the need of any external assistance.”

Reed shook his head and said, ”That still doesn't explain why this place is so goddamned massive. What the hell were they doing down here that they needed so much space? It doesn't make sense.”

”I told you, Ka'an. Research and development. This where most of our greatest achievements were created. The Divine Furnace was constructed here along with our fleets and their flagships. Grandfather Ulbo's ship, the Joyous Divinity, was also built here too, at one point in time. We also constructed the entire Heavenly Barrier system piece-by-piece down here…”

Xibalba, at its peak, had once held more than half a million workers, scientists, and engineers all working down here. The universe's greatest minds had been united under a single banner in the name of survival.

To that end, they'd peer into the Devil's mind and steal his damned secrets. They'd fight the Infestation on its own terms if need be.

Nothing had been off the table to them when the fate of their reality was at stake…

And so, they descended into bowels of Xibalba in silence. There was nothing more to be said about the place, other than it was a labor and a half for them. The biggest issue was that the place did not have any power at all.

When the research station was decommissioned, it'd been shut down permanently. The extermination squads destroyed the station's the reactor cores after they'd accomplished their objectives, effectively shutting off power to everything inside the station.

There's... nothing down here either, huh. I thought this would be a suspenseful rescue mission, but this turned out to be a damned pilgrimage instead.

He didn't know what layer they'd made down into, but he knew that they'd made it quite far. Not too long ago, his tome had informed him that it'd lost connection with the surface.

They had still not made contact with anyone, despite the progress they'd made. Reed didn't know whether to be happy about that or not. Sure, he'd prefer to not deal with any enemies, but not at the cost of his legs wearing out to the bone.

They'd barely used any Anima since they'd entered, for good reason. It'd make the trip down much, much faster, for sure, but it'd give them away to anyone Anima-sensitive in the area. That was something they couldn't afford to do, not with hostages on the line.

If they got caught, it'd ruin the rescue attempt and possibly endanger Astrid and Sebastian.

Reed had made it explicitly to Lu'um before they'd started that Astrid and Sebastian's safety took priority over everything else. That what they'd come for — to rescue, not to slaughter.

Find them and get them out. That was the mission.

Once Reed got them, he'd open a spatial tear and take them away somewhere safe. That was where his part of the mission would end.

Lu'um, on the other hand, would stay behind and make a thorough sweep of Xibalba to take care of the intruders inside. She'd handle the messier part of the mission and then reseal the research station for good.

That was the plan they'd made, but now... Reed had doubts.

”We still haven't found anyone yet. You'd think they would have put a roaming guard or two in one of the upper layers, but we haven't seen a single soul in here since we've entered,” said Reed.

Something's wrong. We've almost reached the bottom and we still haven't bumped into anyone…