Chapter 1675 (2/2)
Tatiana stepped out into a completely different type of facility. Brass automatons scanned her and then returned to their stiff posture next to the entrance. The squat hallways were filled with automatons, pushing various raw materials into the variance storage spaces. Tatiana turned and walked East, passing several dimly lit rooms that were filled with weapons in stacked boxes.
Eventually, the industrial mesh walkway beneath her feet shifted into normal tile and Tatiana walked into a room that quite resembled a typical office conference room. Inside, Naffur Suite, Hydie Mordath, and Commissioner Arrietti were waiting.
Tatiana nodded to each of them in turn. Arrietti nodded back, Hydie grinned and waved, but it was Naffur’s shift into a standing, knuckles on the table lean that gave her pause.
“Is it bad?” Tatiana asked.
Naffur shrugged, but his brows were furrowed. “Hard to say. We’ve sent our best to investigate the warehouse where the children discovered the intruder… but aside from confirming that someone else was present in the room with them, we know very little. The Skill the intruder used to burn away their traces is definitely relatively well Leveled.
“The bigger problem is the remaining items themselves,” Naffur continued. “They’ve been thoroughly inspected; there was no tampering either with the materials or the runes. Honestly, it seems like the intruder was just going through a stroll in the warehouse… which is why our current theory has shifted. The intruder wasn’t trying to tamper with an item, but rather retrieve something that had been smuggled into the city with the cover of the Auction.”
Tatiana looked at the three of them. The more Naffur spoke, the paler Commissioner Arrietti was becoming. “And what do you think that item is?”
“A Darksteel Bomb, disguised as an image-killer suit,” Hydie Mordath, the Hexwitch, tapped her long nails on the wooden table. “I’ve been laying out an aura of bad-luck keyed toward our perpetrator that’s thick enough to scoop off every street in Kharon, but no one has spontaneously combusted yet. The Darksteel probably shredded my image before it can do any harm.”
Tatiana frowned. That actually was quite a problem. Of all of the established political powers in the modern world, Kharon was particularly vulnerable to Darksteel. Rather than numbers, Kharon relied on its elites and influential images to protect themselves. No one could completely rely on Darksteel for its military forces; the metal would gradually erode the wearer’s image. But just for a surprise attack…?
Too much of the modern Kharon was tied up in the running of Kharon Academy; teachers outnumbered both soldiers and police five to one. Kharon had the Order Ducis, but they were mostly free to pursue their own investigations. Considering all the dormitories and industrial districts floating above the city… manually searching with the number of men they had was impossible.
Plus, it makes a certain dark political sense… Tatiana thought. Zone 1 has been pushing for Expira to rely on the ‘nuclear’ option to subdue the upcoming First Calamity. If Kharon, the most vocal critic of that plan, were to suffer monstrously under the influence of a Darksteel bomb… but there is no way that Zone 1 would do this willingly. Especially now, with so many other factions present for the Auction…
Tatiana’s gaze darkened. But that is a large downside of the System. A single, determined malcontent can wield a fatal amount of power.
“How large is the bomb?” Tatiana asked.
Naffur spoke again. “Darksteel will quickly destabilize interspatial storage devices, so it can’t be any larger than an image-killer suit would be. Based on our projections… about the size of a person. And if detonated, a bomb of that size would irreparably damage about half of the main city of Kharon, with significant damage to half of the surrounding sky-islands.”
Tatiana bared her teeth. “And who do we have to thank for this unexpected gift?”
Commissioner Arrietti spoke this time. “The Hemlock Corporation supplied the image-killer suit for auction.”
“Ah, the financiers of Councilman Whittaker.” Tatiana snorted. “But I suppose this is a good excuse to finally meet them. Alright, you know your jobs better than I. If anything changes, report it immediately. Dismissed.”
*****
As the sun sank below the horizon and the grand festival of the Auction in two days seized the city, no one would notice a particular fist-sized clump of moss spirits. That clump floated back from one of Kharon Academy’s dormitories and rejoined the river of energy that flowed from skyisland to skyisland. Nor did these celebrating individuals pay much attention as that clump went against the current, floating steadily down toward the core of Kharon.
There, it joined the central region where all of the truly ancient moss spirits resided, sharing its newfound understand.
These actions remained unobserved even when, in the dark alleys and deserted industrial shafts of Kharon, some moss spirits began to break away and form small bodies to practice Scrawl. The early attempts were ineffective, but soon the collective hivemind of emerald moss spirits corrected and gradually began to lift discarded scrap metal and pieces of wood off the ground, without having to rely on people to first provide them Engravings.
The moss spirits of Kharon were slightly disappointed their progress was so slow, but at the same time, they flushed at the thought of Randidly Ghosthound being proud of them.