Chap 59:

Saquin blinked.

The sterile, high-tech environment of the holographic conference room was instantly replaced by the humid, dusty air of the outdoors.

He stood just outside the command tent, his white attire gleaming in stark contrast to the mud-splattered canvas surrounding him.

The command center was situated in the heart of a vast, makeshift camp erected just outside the perimeter of the destroyed Oke City. It was a sprawling hive of activity, buzzing with the chaotic energy of bureaucracy trying to impose order on a catastrophe.

Saquin took a moment to survey the scene.

It was impressive, in a grim sort of way.

Temporary shelters stretched out for kilometers, housing the officials who had descended like vultures upon a carcass.

Since the Rindraw Planet was located on the territorial fringe of the Rimfrar Empire, their officials held the primary jurisdiction here, sitting just above the Federation in the local pecking order.

Saquin could see the distinct Rimfrar insignia, a golden eagle clutching a star, emblazoned on the uniforms of the soldiers patrolling the perimeter. They walked with a stiffness that suggested they were more concerned with looking authoritative than actually being helpful.

But as Saquin's gaze drifted past the official cordons and into the bustling market-like atmosphere of the outer camp, his eyes narrowed.

It wasn't just soldiers and bureaucrats.

There were Empowered here.

Dozens, maybe hundreds of them. And they weren't the clean-cut, uniform-wearing government types.

These were adventurers. Mercenaries. Freelancers.

They lounged on crates, polished weapons that looked like they had seen too much use, and eyed the ruins of the city with a hunger that made even Saquin's stomach turn slightly.

"Vultures," he muttered.

From the looks of it, they weren't just loitering. They were negotiating.

He watched a group of rough-looking Empowered handing over a stack of credits to a Rimfrar official, who quickly pocketed the bribe and gestured toward a side entrance of the perimeter fence.

"Tacky," Saquin whispered.

He didn't have a problem with looting in principle. To the victor go the spoils, after all. He had looted the Vampire, and he had looted the Gravity Adept. That was the law of the jungle.

But this?

The bodies inside hadn't even gone cold yet. The city was a graveyard of civilians and low-level Empowered who had died screaming. To turn their tragedy into a flea market before the smoke had even cleared... it lacked class.

"Is this common?" Saquin asked the air.

"Greed is the most common element in the universe, Young Master," Shalis's voice replied smoothly from his side.

She had appeared silently, her presence unnoticed by the bustling crowd around them. To them, she was just another follower, albeit one with an aura that made them instinctively give her a wide berth.

"I suppose," Saquin sighed. "Let's take a walk. I want to understand exactly what kind of circus I'm leaving behind."

He began to walk through the camp, Shalis falling into step half a pace behind him.

They moved through the throngs of people. Saquin kept his aura suppressed, blending in as just another handsome, well-dressed young master out of his depth. It was a disguise that worked perfectly; people glanced at him, assumed he was some noble's son come to gawk at the disaster, and looked away.

Thirty minutes later, Saquin found himself seated at a rickety table in an open-air food stall run by a displaced local.

He ordered a bowl of Rin-Spiced Stew, a native delicacy that smelled of scorched earth and sweet peppers.

"So," Saquin began, taking a spoonful of the stew. It was surprisingly good. "Tell me what you gathered."

"It is as you suspected," Shalis replied. She sat opposite him, a small plate of fruit in front of her. She picked up a slice with delicate grace. "The adventurers are trooping in. They are here to strip the city dry. Technology, leftover Cores, artifacts from the dead... anything that isn't nailed down."

"And the officials are letting them?"

"For a price," Shalis nodded. "But it is not just greed driving this alliance. It is fear."

"Fear?" Saquin paused, spoon halfway to his mouth.

"The officials, both Rimfrar and Federation, are operating under a misconception," Shalis explained, a hint of amusement in her voice. "They know the Tier 3 Access event has been cleared. But..."

"But they don't know I closed it," Saquin finished the thought, a smirk touching his lips.

"Precisely."

Shalis took a bite of the fruit.

Saquin stared at her for a second.

Do artifacts have a digestive system? Or does the food just disintegrate into pure energy inside her?

He shook off the thought. That was a mystery for another day.

"They believe the Access point is merely cleared," Shalis continued, swallowing. "A cleared Access is a goldmine, yes. But a Tier 3 Access, even a cleared one, is unstable. The residual Senar can spontaneously birth things. Or worse, stray beasts from the Underworld could still wander through before the stabilization teams arrive."

Saquin chuckled. "And since it was a Tier 3..."

"The weakest beast that would wander through would be an Adept level threat," Shalis confirmed.

Saquin looked around at the camp.

Most of the officials strutting around were Initiates. The "high-ranking" ones were barely Users. If a single Adept-level beast walked out of that city right now, this entire camp would be a slaughterhouse.

"So they are cowards," Saquin concluded. "They are selling tickets to the adventurers not just for money, but for muscle. They want the adventurers to go in first, act as cannon fodder, and clear out any potential stragglers."

"It is a sound strategy," Shalis admitted. "If the Access was actually open."

"But it's not." Saquin laughed, drawing a few odd looks from nearby tables. "The city is empty. It's safe. I sealed it tighter than a vault. They are terrified of ghosts."

He finished his stew, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Well, their cowardice is my convenience," Saquin stood up, swiping an amount onto the table that was worth more than the stall owner made in a year. "Come on. Let's go do some looting of our own before the ants get there."

"Where to, Young Master?"

"Into the city."

They left the camp, heading straight for the main gate of Oke City.

The gate itself was still standing, a testament to the city's sturdy construction, though scorch marks and cracks marred its surface.

A security checkpoint had been set up in front of it.

"Halt!"

A Rimfrar official stepped out, holding up a hand. His name tag read Sanmium. He looked tired, dusty, and thoroughly done with his day.

"This is a restricted zone," Sanmium recited the script he had probably used a hundred times that day. "No entry without a Tier 2 clearance or an official Adventurer's Pass purchased from the—"

He stopped.

He looked at Saquin.

White suit. Immaculate hair. Not a speck of dust on him despite standing next to a ruin.

Then he looked at Shalis.

And he stopped breathing.

Shalis didn't say a word. She didn't flare her aura. She didn't release a killing intent.

She simply looked at him.

Her eyes were calm, deep, and utterly devoid of regard for his authority. It was the look a dragon might give a particularly noisy cricket.

Sanmium felt his knees turn to water. His survival instincts, honed by years of dodging death in the frontier, screamed one word: Run.

"Or..." Sanmium squeaked, his voice cracking. "Or you can just go in. Be careful. Watch your step."

He practically leaped out of the way, dragging the barrier open with trembling hands.

"Thank you for your hard work," Saquin said cheerfully as he strolled past.

"Don't die," Shalis added, her voice toneless, as she followed.

They walked into the city.

The transition was jarring.

Outside, the camp was loud, smelly, and alive.

Inside, the city was a tomb.

The silence was absolute. No birds sang. No wind howled. Even the settling of the ruins seemed muted, as if the city itself was holding its breath.

This was the aftermath of a domain battle.

Saquin walked down the main avenue, stepping over fissures in the concrete that ran deep into the earth. To his left, a skyscraper had been sheared in half, the top part laying crushed in the middle of a park. To his right, entire blocks were frozen solid, statues of ice gleaming in the sunlight.

"I did this," Saquin noted, looking at the ice.

"They were dead prior to that," Shalis replied.

"I know." Saquin shrugged. "Doesn't mean I like the sight."

They walked for another ten minutes, navigating the labyrinth of destruction until they reached the central district. Or what was left of it.

This was Ground Zero.

The epicenter of the Access. The battlefield where Mayanar had ravaged.

Saquin stopped.

In front of him, lying amidst a pile of pulverized concrete and twisted metal, was a headless body.

It was dressed in the tattered remains of a sleek, high-tech combat suit.

"Kristen," Saquin said.

The woman who had triggered the explosion. The traitor who had brought the city to its knees.

Her head was gone, probably sitting under a boulder nearby, but her body remained.

"Let's see if you left anything behind," Saquin muttered.

He wasn't interested in her personal wealth. He didn't care about her credits or her weapons.

He was interested in one thing.

The City Core.

The thing she had stolen from the facility.

The reason for the heist.

The reason for the explosion.

The Core was the heart of the city's energy grid.

He still had not gotten the opportunity to search up the Core, but it would not be too late to do just that after he gets it.

If he wanted to understand the full scope of "The Seven Fever" and their rebellion, he needed that Core.

He knelt down beside the body.

He checked her belt. Empty.

He checked the pockets of her suit. Empty.

He even used a small pulse of Senar to scan for hidden compartments within the suit itself.

Nothing.

He frowned.

"Shalis," he called out. "Scan the immediate area."

"On it," Shalis replied. Her eyes glowed faintly as she expanded her senses, sweeping the rubble with a fine-toothed comb.

A minute passed.

"Nothing, Young Master," Shalis reported. "There are no high-density energy signatures in the vicinity. No spatial storage signatures either."

Saquin stood up, dusting off his hands.

His expression darkened.

"It's gone."

"Could the explosion have destroyed it?" Shalis asked.

"Impossible," Saquin shook his head. "I saw it after the blast, it had not a single scratch on it."

"Then..."

"Someone took it," Saquin concluded.

He looked around the empty, silent ruins.

Mayanar? No. The Vampire was an ancient being; he cared about blood and the supernatural, not things like this. Plus, he killed Kristen and moved on instantly. He was right at the scene, so he was sure of this.

Hank? Dead.

Shadow Agent? Dead.

Giant? Dead.

So who?

"We are the first ones in," Saquin muttered, his mind racing. "The officials and adventurers are still outside wetting their pants. Sanmium was guarding the only functional gate."

"Unless..." Shalis's eyes narrowed. "Unless someone was already here."

"Or someone never left."

Saquin looked back at the headless body of Kristen.

"The heist failed," he whispered. "Or did it?"

He remembered the chaotic battle. The confusion. The three-way war between the Heist group, the Rebellion, and the City Defenders.

Then, the Access battle just after.

In that chaos, amidst the blood and the Domains and the screaming...

A rat had scurried away with the cheese.

Saquin let out a low, cold laugh as a sharp glint flashed through his eyes.

"Interesting," he said to the empty city.

He turned away from the body.

"Let's go, Shalis. There is nothing left for us here."

"Are we leaving the city, Young Master?"

"Yes," Saquin replied.

The City Core was missing.

But he still had a heap of work he had to attend to.

After he was done with those things, he would come back for the Core.

And he would not stop till he gets it.

"Shalis, you will help me stay here. Also, tell those outside that no one should take a step into this city till I am back."

He turned to her.

"Deal with those who go against such a simple instruction as you wish."

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