Chapter 659: Karma (1)
Beneath the sky of the Machine City, where black jade flames and platinum rain mingled and scattered.
BOOM!!
The Agents and soldiers quickly moved towards the fallen Hermes.
“Committee Member!!!”
“Committee Member Hermes attempted suicide! Get a healer here immediately!!!”
“It’s no use. He’s already…!”
The soldiers who rushed over quickly checked Hermes’s face and fell silent, one by one.
The revolver bullet, fired point-blank at his temple, had pierced his head, leaving it in an unexplainable state.
This was beyond the scope of healing magic or resuscitation spells.
It was a perfect suicide, as if someone had intervened, leaving no hope whatsoever.
“This…!!”
The Sidesquad agents, trembling in despair, whipped their heads around.
They seized Lennok, who lay collapsed beside Hermes, by the collar and pressed their guns to his head.
Click!
“You traitorous bastard!!”
Lennok’s head reeled backward from the gun’s pressure, and just as the agent, unable to contain his rage, tightened his finger on the trigger, an silver blade flashed before them, cleanly severing the barrel.
Clang!!
Realizing it was an Enforcer’s equipment, the Sidesquad agents quickly gathered their magic.
“Leader!!”
“Everyone, don’t move from where you are.”
Swish!!
Meister Narcissa, leading dozens of Enforcers, declared with an icy expression.
Even as she leaned weakly in her wheelchair, her face pale, her chilling presence was enough to halt everyone’s movements.
“Circumstantial evidence has been found indicating that Hermes was the culprit behind the Meister assassination and the city’s destabilization.”
“What…!!”
“After collecting and organizing related testimonies and internal circumstances, all those directly or indirectly involved in the situation will be arrested and brought to trial. Put down your weapons and comply with the escort.”
“…”
The Sidesquad, who served Ex Machina, and the Mechanized Troops, who had followed Hermes to acquire Old World technology, had many vulnerable points. If they meekly complied with Narcissa’s words and were escorted away now, they would surely bear a certain portion of the responsibility later.
However, with Hermes, who had served as their rallying point, committing suicide right before their eyes, even the commanders leading the legions couldn’t easily make a decision.
Should they resist to the end, or should they follow the overturned tide?
As if reading their inner thoughts, Narcissa spoke once more.
“Put down your weapons. I won’t say it again.”
Amidst the air, sharply pulled taut with tension, only a suffocating silence hung heavy.
The 고민 (deliberation) didn’t last long.
Click!!
As the commanders were the first to put down their weapons and quell their magic, the others slowly disarmed and accepted their restraints.
“You made a wise choice.”
The commander, his hands cuffed by the approaching Enforcers, slowly nodded.
“On the way up, I saw the Commander of the 3rd Mechanized Troops dead in a gruesome state.”
“…”
“I don’t know what happened to make Committee Member Hermes choose suicide at the end of his plan… but he’s not the type to bet his stakes on a reckless gamble.”
With Hermes’s crimes revealed to the world and his own suicide, everything was completely ruined.
The ruined Workshop Tower and the black jade flame burning the sky were proof that everything had gone awry beyond expectation.
At this point, resisting on Hermes’s side would be meaningless.
Everyone knew they had no choice but to change their stance to match the altered situation.
They might suffer losses in a plea bargain during trial, but they couldn’t be killed resisting here.
There was no longer any justification or practical benefit on their side.
Overthrowing the Machine City and succeeding in a rebellion without Hermes’s and an Ascendant’s power was an impossible task.
The Sidesquad, Mechanized Troops, and several recruited Enforcers who had surrounded Hermes’s dead body were sequentially carried away.
Following Narcissa’s orders, Hermes’s body was also quickly recovered and moved somewhere.
Then, Narcissa stared intently at Lennok, who lay as if dead beside it.
“Stop gawking and get up, Lyman.”
Narcissa’s voice flowed out, chilling.
“If you don’t wake up, I’ll escort you to prison as is. Or should I call you Van?”
“…So you knew.”
Lennok, shifting his gaze slightly, opened his mouth.
Lennok, who had barely had the strength to breathe when Hermes tried to kill him, had recovered enough to hold a conversation in a short time.
The platinum rain that Orokhnier had scattered in his final moments as he vanished.
The Ascendant’s will-thought, which had even neutralized the black flames burning the sky, had improved Lennok’s condition to some extent.
While movement itself was difficult, he was fully capable of being conscious and conversing.
“Adamant Thunder of Vulcan. It seems you enjoyed your time posing as a talented artisan in Machina.”
Narcissa glared coldly at Lennok and spoke.
“Do you even know what you’ve done?”
“…”
Instead of answering, Lennok slowly sat up and leaned against some nearby debris. Ignoring the Enforcers who cautiously aimed their weapons at him, Lennok pulled out a cigarette and flicked his hand.
“Is it alright if I light one?”
“…Who said you could sit there?”
“Hmm?”
Narcissa’s reply was slightly delayed.
Lennok chuckled, belatedly realizing he was sitting on fragments of a pristine white throne.
The pure white throne where Hermes had sat to open the new Ascension Gate.
Was it that his posture, leaning against the throne’s fragments, evoked a sense of caution in Narcissa?
Lennok ignored Narcissa’s words and, weakly holding the cigarette, flicked a spark.
“Originally, it would have taken a very long time for that blaze to disappear…”
Lennok muttered, exhaling smoke, then self-mockingly added, “At least it won’t go to the worst-case scenario. I should be grateful for the great Transcendent’s mercy.”
“Restrain him.”
At Narcissa’s command, the Enforcers slowly began to approach Lennok.
Their chilling presence suggested they would cut him down if he so much as tried to gather any magic.
But Lennok, fully aware of this, instead of escaping, stared intently at the approaching Enforcers.
“Isabella.”
Lennok chuckled, spotting a familiar face among the Enforcers.
“Did your reunion with your superior go well?”
“What nonsense…”
Isabella gritted her teeth, tidying her tattered uniform.
“Maiya Lonsdale fled the scene long ago. You’re the only one left.”
“…”
“You will have to fully disclose why a wizard from Vulcan is in Machina, what you did to Hermes, and all your other criminal acts.”
“I see…”
Lennok, slumped against the throne fragment, exhaled smoke and fell into thought.
Every time he reflected on the past after completing a major task, the journey through the Machine City this time felt exceptionally long.
Perhaps it was because Machina’s most dangerous secret stretched all the way to a world that had already perished.
Although Hermes’s suicide brought it to a temporary close, not everything was over yet.
Lennok would have to collect all the causality he had gained in the Machine City and ascertain how far the fragments of the Old World extended.
If he had his way, he would disappear from here right now, but…
“Here.”
At the sight of Lennok, cigarette in mouth, extending both hands, the Enforcers flinched significantly.
“Cuff me. Wasn’t that what you wanted?”
“You bastard…”
Lennok chuckled, watching another Enforcer grit his teeth.
“I still have things to do, you see.”
Click!!
Isabella, who had cuffed Lennok’s hands with magic-inhibiting metal, immediately pulled him to his feet.
“Unauthorized entry into the Submarine Wall Heart-Star Vault, kidnapping and instigating the assassination of Meisters and Ex Machina members, destruction of the workshop district and the tower, and even the massacre of the 3rd Mechanized Troops. Congratulations, Van, on becoming one of Machina’s worst criminals.”
Isabella said with a rigid face.
“A prison sentence and facilities incomparable to those in mega-cities await you.”
“Do you know that no one has ever arrested me in Vulcan?”
Lennok replied with a laugh at Isabella’s words.
“I never thought I’d receive that distinction in Machina. You should definitely add it to your resume later.”
“…Take him away. Confine him in the special detention facility until the court-martial begins.”
Led by the rough hands of the Enforcers, he walked out of the collapsing Workshop Tower.
Flames rose everywhere, and the acrid smell of smoke hung heavy.
Even as they walked over the corpses of the Mechanized Troops and damaged facilities, dozens of Enforcers and soldiers surrounded Lennok, wary of his movements.
Everyone clearly recognized that Lennok was the cause of the disaster that had unfolded in the Workshop Tower.
With the shock of the sector shift having subsided and martial law lifted, Lennok walked weakly down the quiet streets, wiggling his cuffed hands.
An Enforcer didn’t miss even that suspicious gesture and snatched Lennok’s arm.
At the same time, the soldiers escorting him immediately aimed their guns at Lennok.
“Don’t try anything. What are you hiding?”
“Nothing.”
Lennok said, innocently spreading his hands to show them, and the Enforcer reluctantly backed away.
As the armored vehicle for prisoner transport arrived, Lennok slowly boarded the transport compartment.
Around Lennok’s neck, a familiar platinum glow swung like a necklace.
“…”
A wisp of will-thought. It was an illusion, close to a vanishing delusion, yet Orokhnier had undoubtedly left something for Lennok.
It was a platinum pendant, in the form of a necklace. At first glance, it appeared light, elongated, and sharp like a feather.
What this meant to Orokhnier, what kind of answer it was.
That would be something Lennok had to figure out himself.
For now, it was enough to reflect on the will and the dialogue he had left behind.
“Depart. Move at maximum speed.”
VVVROOOM!!
The transport vehicle departed, unaware of Lennok’s gaze sinking deep as he looked down at his neck.
Vulcan, Sector 49, the mega-city.
Behind the alley in the building complex where Jenny’s bar is located.
One of the key meeting points in Sector 49, where various freelancers and mercenaries arranged work.
It was also where a broker, who now simultaneously operated one of the five largest distribution companies in the mega-city, was located.
“I’m not doing the job for that price, you bastard!”
“Then go somewhere else if you don’t like it. Is this your first day doing business?”
CRASH!!
As negotiations fell through, a robot and an insectoid kicked over a table and grabbed each other’s collars.
“Hehehe… This time, the curse costs a bit more…”
“But the curse you put on our manager last time didn’t work at all, why is that?!”
A curse-caster, holding a crystal ball and laughing sinisterly, and a bewildered office worker arguing unjustly.
“This is an entry permit to a City Council-designated greenbelt area. I got it directly from a druid.”
“They say government environmental subsidies have been cut recently, so things like this are already leaking out?”
“Just because you live cooped up in the forest doesn’t mean you lose your greed, does it?”
Even business partners secretly exchanging suspicious items and whispering among themselves.
The ceaseless chatter, the sound of breaking glasses, and softly flowing music blended into a chaotic cacophony.
Amidst this chaos, a woman sat at the counter, completely unperturbed, earnestly typing on her laptop.
She brushed her curly black hair back as if annoyed, yet her gaze never left the monitor screen.
Even when customers, unable to control their rage, started throwing punches, she didn’t even stand up, simply ignoring them.
Instead, two people who had been sitting at the bar, leaning over their drinks, stood up and grabbed the customers by the shoulders.
“Go fight outside, you idiots. What are you doing in a bar?”
“This is our turf, you morons! Get out of here right now.”
A man with a sturdy build wearing a pro wrestler’s mask and a woman with a shotgun slung over her shoulder, spewing curses.
“Dy-Dylan…”
The customers, recognizing that the two were members of the Antares Mercenary Group, became as meek as lambs.
“We didn’t intend to harm Jenny. It’s just that this bastard kept trying to defraud me…”
“F**k, so I’m supposed to sell at market price and just take a loss?”
“Enough. It’s noisy enough without you two babbling, so let’s just go out.”
Dylan abruptly seized the two, who couldn’t wait and were about to fight again. He almost lifted them by their collars, dragged them out, and swiftly tossed them in front of the bar before returning to his seat.
“Jennyyyyyy… How long are you going to make me manage the bar? I’m a mercenary, not a security guard!!”
“These days, security guards get separate incentives for this kind of work, apparently.”
At Mila’s words, Dylan shook his head wildly up and down.
“Exactly!! That’s it! Even though our office has formally partnered with you, this kind of unfair treatment is problematic!”
“…”
Only then did Jenny’s hands, typing on her laptop, stop. Jenny glanced coldly at Dylan, then at the glass in his hand, and opened her mouth.
“Mac Chickers, 300,000 cells.”
“…”
“Blackblood Whiskey, 360,000 cells. Flat Shielders, 530,000 cells…”
“Ahem.”
“You two are quite talkative, despite always picking the most expensive drinks, aren’t you?”
“Hahaha.”
Jenny scoffed, watching Dylan subtly avert his gaze.
“If you’re complaining even with free drinks, I’ll just call other mercenaries from the office. Who was that idiot who did stocks again?”
“Hehe, I was just saying, Jenny.”
Dylan quickly bowed, rubbed his hands together, and laughed foolishly.
“Mila brought up something strange. I didn’t say anything. You know my heart…”
“You traitorous bastard trying to sneak out alone!!”
CRASH!!
Mila, provoked, threw the glass she was holding straight at the back of Dylan’s head. Dylan also jumped up and kicked the leg of the chair Mila had been sitting on.
Next to the bar, which had instantly turned into a chaotic mess, Mad Manson shook his head disdainfully.
[Foolish idiots. If they just changed their heads into robots like me, they wouldn’t be enslaved by alcohol.]
“Manson, nowadays, is it the guy who guzzles gasoline instead of alcohol giving advice?”
Even with Jenny’s disdainful retort, Manson remained resolute.
[For me, it’s not a luxury item like alcohol or nicotine; it’s like drinking water to supply power.]
“Yeah, yeah, you’re just a car.”
“…”
Jenny, who had silenced the crazy freelancer with two words, gestured to the two squabbling mercenaries.
“Stop with the useless antics and come over here. I’m going to update your Deepweb security clearance.”
“Oh, so I’m going to be Platinum tier now?”
“Pla!!”
Jenny pointed at the screen, watching the two mercenaries huddle behind her laptop.
“It’s hard to get you higher-ranked jobs when your Deepweb clearance is low. Didn’t Felix say anything?”
“We usually receive requests directly from the office, so we haven’t encountered any problems in this area.”
“Our deputy commander usually handles most of the trivial tasks, anyway.”
“Anyway, if I’m going to assign you jobs from the distribution company, I need to raise your security clearance here. From now on, I’ll adjust the required performance conditions for you. Got it?”
At Jenny’s firm reply, Dylan and Mila grumbled simultaneously.
“Jenny, we’re not monsters like Van. The standards are too high.”
“Exactly. Performance isn’t something you can just conjure up, you know?”
“You shouldn’t compare us to a lunatic who can reach Diamond tier with just his existing achievements! What’s that guy up to now, anyway—”
[This is Patrick Media, Intercontinental Breaking News.]
The TV hanging above the three, who had been loudly chattering, began broadcasting news.
[The Machina Police Department announced this morning that they have arrested the perpetrator of the large-scale explosion that occurred today.]
[The culprit is Van, the wizard known as Adamant Thunder in Vulcan…]
“…!!!”
Upon hearing that name, the three instantly forgot the conversation they had just been having.
Almost simultaneously, everyone in the bar turned their attention to the TV screen.