Chapter 193

BOOOOOOOM

The entire building shook. The ceiling trembled and the lights flickered as Sonya caught herself on the railing. Shuta grabbed his mother while Marta planted her feet and rode it out, a stern look on her face. Sirens blared. Sonya pushed herself up and whirled. A warning symbol appeared in her HUD, an alert from the local Carter Radar. Mana surge. Dungeon Break!

She pointed to Shuta, “Get your people upstairs down here, now!” she shouted.

He looked at his mother who gave him an admonishing look and he let her go, hurrying out of the room. Sonya turned to Marta, her heart pounding. She started to march towards the exit when her friend put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She rounded on Marta, “What are you doing?” she demanded, “I need to be out there!”

“You need to stay right here,” Marta said patiently.

Sonya’s brows furrowed as a spike of anger rose in her chest, “I am Ishtar! If anyone can-”

“Sonya,” Marta soothed, “How’s it going to look if I show up around the same time Ishtar does? Ishtar’s not a hero either,” she shook her head, “You’re strong, I know. But right now we need you leading from the back. Let the heroes do their job. That’s why you helped create them, remember? For this kind of situation. It’s what they’ve trained for.”

Sonya’s lips trembled and she reached up to grab her friend’s wrist. She squeezed it as she hung her head, a lump in her throat. “Go, before I change my mind.”

“Yes ma’am,” Marta said and hurried out the door.

An aftershock hit, the waves of mana still spreading across the city. She started to approach Setsuna as a call came through in her head. She glanced at the name and answered without hesitation.

”Sonya!” Amos’ voice came through, ”You alright?”

”I’m fine, I’m at the Children of Dawn headquarters,” she said, ”Marta is moving to support Crusader’s team. Give me a report on what’s being done.”

”It’s worse than you think, the timing on this was too perfect. It’s got the stink of artificial. A hidden seventh dungeon my ass. My readings say it was probably uncommon,” Amos said quickly, ”All six dungeons managed by the Tokyo Guilds were on recharge with two coming up for culling. The guilds are scrambling all their people to continuously clear the dungeons to keep them from going up as well.

Sonya nearly tripped, her legs faltering with the news. She was aware that the other dungeons existed but hadn’t realized just how close they were to a possible burst. Without the Japanese guilds, would Crusader’s team, Marta and Sapporo be enough? Uncommon. Then the monsters are all rare-tier. I need to let Marta know.  ”Has anyone claimed responsibility? What about the International Team?”

”Just what you think, they can’t send too many or it’ll just cause more harm than good. Too many mythics on the ground will make things harder for the guilds. Sapporo is a huge mana producer too. They’re arranging teams of epics and heroics but that’s taking longer than just sending the main team,” Amos explained.

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh through her nostrils. This stinks of Otis’ tactics from the past timeline. But I know he hasn’t made anything close to a move like this. Where’s the agenda? The angle? Who profits? Liberty is an easy person to blame because of our conflict but there’s no reason for it. She would have immediately taken credit, made some sort of showboating announcement. She exhaled as her mind sped up for the first time in a long time. The thoughts coming faster and faster.

TICK... TICK... TICK TICK TICK

Is there a strategy? An angle? Amos is never wrong about this sort of thing. This must have been manufactured somehow. She thought.

You’re looking at it from the perspective of a warrior and a hero. An investigator. Ishtar corrected.

TICK TICKTICKTICK TICK TICK

Then what? Why would a villain do it? Just because? Nonsense. There’s a reason. Multiple reasons. Sonya grit her teeth and concentrated as her mind worked harder. Her fists clenched in the neuron flashes between thoughts. No credit has been claimed after such a dramatic incident? The minutes after are the best time. Someone putting this much effort into an act would take credit. Which means... they aren’t done.

This was a demonstration ahead of a greater move, Ishtar agreed. They are making a point and perhaps using it for other means that we do not have enough information to recognize.

Sonya clicked her tongue as her mind wound back down.

TICK TICK ...TICK TI-

”ASTA’s response?” she demanded as she took Setsuna’s arm and began escorting her back to her room. She didn’t know how close the break was and with rare-tier monsters running around she didn’t want to take any chances.

”Dungeon Break contingency three, for major cities, as planned. Munitions, gear, everything we can. Contacts with medical companies are being pulled and I’ve gotten in touch with Euclidia to get it over there as fast as possible.” Amos said, ”We’ve already started packing things on our end.”

She and Setsuna made it to the small stairwell leading down to her level in the subterranean base, ”Thank you, Amos. Keep an eye on the radar and the media. Let me know if anything else comes up. Someone is responsible for this and they are going to make another move. I want to know before it happens.”

”Yes ma’am, good luck on your end,” Amos said and ended the call.

She met the oracles eyes and squeezed her arm before calling Marta.

”Marta, I have intel.”

Snow hurried up behind her as Crusader’s hands hovered over the girl. She heard Snow let out a gasp. Crusader grit her teeth, gold fire erupting from her palms in a cascade that doused the young woman. She could only imagine how traumatizing it would be for a burn victim to be healed by fire, but she didn’t have a lot of options. She clenched her jaw, Come on. She urged herself before shooting a glance at the boy. She met his terrified gaze and wondered what kind of face she was making. She looked up at the hat on his head, singed, but her name still visible on the side.

She let out a shaky breath and shoved her own feelings aside, letting her power do the work. It took several minutes of concentration before the girl started to move again, small groans of pain the sign that she was alive and on the mend. Crusader wanted to sag with relief, her chest heavy. Arata’s sister shifted and looked up, her eyes going wide when she met Crusader’s gaze.

“You’re going to be alright,” Crusader said, keeping the tiredness off her face, forcing her best Sonya grin, “Your brother is fine too.”

“Lil,” Snow’s voice popped into her ear, her tone grave. Crusader didn’t react, keeping up appearances. “Two bodies, ten feet away. I think...”

Crusader’s jaw nearly cracked behind her carefully constructed smile, “Arata, can you help your sister get to the end of this alley? We met some nice policemen on the way. They can help,” she said before nodding to Alphonse who darted back up into the sky.

The boy, shellshocked, could only nod as he helped his weakened sister to her feet. The two of them ambling towards the light. The girl glanced back over her shoulder but only found Crusader standing in the way with a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. She jerked her chin towards the little boy helping the girl walk. The girls eyes filled with tears but she nodded, keeping her cool as they made their way out.

Crusader sagged when they got out of eyeshot, “Damn it,” she croaked.

“I’ll make sure the cops know,” Snow said shakily, walking over to touch Crusader’s arm.

Crusader looked back at the bodies that were likely Arata’s parents. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to calm herself, her heart cracking a little more. She nodded at Snow and walked out of the alley, rallying herself as much as she could. She stopped just outside the alley, watching Arata and his sister meet with the cops they’d picked up along the way. She barely noticed Harbinger''s approach.

“We can’t take them much closer,” Harbinger said, walking up next to her.

Crusader frowned and closed her eyes, “I know,” she sighed before turning towards her. “What if we find more kids, though? Who are they going to go back with?”

“We’ll figure somethin’ out,” BLF said grimly, glancing towards a shadowy corner just past where they’d found the kid, he shook his head, “Damn. Are those his parents?”

Crusader didn’t look back, “Probably,” she said. So much death. How could this have happened? What about the Carter Radar? Shouldn’t it have seen this coming? She clenched her fists and hung her head, emotion burbling up in her chest like a torrent. A small hand wrapped around hers and she turned, breathless, to see Snow looking into her eyes.

“Stay strong,” Snow said through a haze of static and gripped her hand tighter.

Crusader reached out and put a hand on her head, stroking her hair as she looked towards the survivors. There were over two dozen of them now, all looking to her with haunted eyes that gleamed faintly with infant hope. So easily crushed. She nodded and gave Snow’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “We’re going to save as many people as she can,” she declared, “That’s why we’re here.”

She turned back to the wide street and her team joined her. The damage stretched on and on towards the distant point where the street ended and the Kato ward began. “It’s horrible,” Harbinger said.

“Do you think this was intentional?” BLF asked.

Snow frowned, “Maybe,” she tapped her implant, “I can pick up on Carter Radar alerts and I didn’t get anything.”

BLF scowled, “If someone caused this, I’ll-”

“One thing at a time,” Crusader growled and forced herself forwards, “But yeah, we’ll get to that for sure.”

Crusader and her team moved on. Grim faced, each new horror confronted with as much strength as they could manage. They didn’t have time to weep, to mourn, to crack under the emotional strain. They had a job to do. A job they kept doing as they made their way down the wide street. Further and further until they arrived at the edge of the blast, her spirit already heavy before they’d even arrived.

Tall buildings were tilted back and away, the ground was cracked beneath their feet. Instead of sirens and screams there was nothing but an eerie silence. They stopped at a decorative archway that led into what had been a multi-story outdoor shopping center. Not out of hesitation, but because there was someone barring their path.

The man that stood there was tall, with long hair that hung down to his shoulders. His body was slim and lithe, lanky. He stood with his shoulders slumped and his hands down at his sides. His fingers were long and spindly, gleaming like steel. His lips were spread into a bloodthirsty smile of razor sharp metallic teeth as he cast his gaze over the four of them.

Crusader fixed him with a stare, “Are you a local hero? Why are you just standing there?” she asked, holding her arm out for Alphonse to land. The hawk tilted its head to eye the stranger with caution.

He pointed at himself, blinking at her, before bursting into laughter, “Ishtar said you heroes weren’t all that bright, but man! What does it look like?” he laughed and shook his head. “I’m Rivet, and I’m here to keep you guys away from the boss.”

Next to her, Harbinger snarled and raised her hammer, “Liar,” she spat, “Your name is Sir Conway.”

Crusader whipped her head towards Harbinger. Right. She’s Liberty’s sister. She’s met Liberty’s Round Table. She knows what they look like. But... why is he claiming to work for Ishtar? She turned towards the villain, Rivet, who was looking at Harbinger a bit perplexed. He squinted and leaned forward, holding his hand over his eyes to get a better look without the sunlight interfering.

His eyes widened, “Oh I almost didn’t recognize you, young miss! Well now,” he sighed, “This is a problem,” he frowned and tilted his head left and right, “I was only supposed to slow you down until the situation became too much to recover from, but now?” He shrugged, “I guess I gotta kill you,” he said lightly before vanishing.

The next thing Crusader knew she was looking into a pair of glowing white eyes with gray sclera.

Fast!

“Shoulda kept your mouths shut, Heroes!”.