Rangers Endgame

Chapter 101: An Unpleasant Surprise

AKANE:

With May and Sokuba staying back and the civilians evacuated, Akane followed Kiyoshi and her team to an abandoned building. Seeing that their detection artifacts hadn't gone off when they approached, they entered through a large hole in the side of the wall.

"According to the distributor, there should be a passageway in here." Kiyoshi recalled.

After searching for a moment, he pushed aside a weathered bookshelf to reveal an iron door inscribed with runes.

"Let me take a look." Matoi approached and used his wand to wave several motes of amber before the door. The motes glowed at different intervals and intensities, studying the runes as he grew more intrigued. "It has five separate rune inscriptions—each one requiring a specific amount of radiance to unlock. They also have to be unlocked in a certain sequence; otherwise, they'll reset. If you get it wrong, the amount of radiance needed to unlock them changes as well. I reckon these guys have some kind of lock suppression artifact."

"Would you happen to have one on hand?" Kiyoshi asked.

"No need. I've been looting abandoned ruins even before I joined Saberclaw. This shouldn't take too long." He replied confidently, tracing patterns with his wand in the air, instructing the motes to shift positions.

The runes glowed dimly as he prodded, pinpointing which strip of inscriptions he needed to start with. After finding the first one, he sent a steady stream of radiance from one of his motes until the runes rang with acceptance. As he repeated the process with the other runes, Akane situated herself on a collapsed chunk of the ceiling in the corner of the room to have a clear view of everyone and opened her sketchbook to kill time.

She flipped through several rough illustrations—Maeve overlooking the scorching deserts of the Fire Glades, Toju crouched to hyperanalyze two identical rocks from inside a dungeon while Masaru gave him a questioning side glance, Matoi tiptoeing greedily to a chest through a den of slumbering giants as Koan facepalmed in disbelief—until she found a blank page. After a few seconds of studying the scene before her, she put her pencil to the paper.

"Is something the matter?" She overheard Kiyoshi speaking.

Glancing up, she caught Kakkona with a grim expression. "Sorry," he took the time to articulate himself. "I know we're Sentinels and all, but I was expecting a little more resistance."

Kiyoshi crossed his arms in a way that suggested he knew what he was getting at. "Things were a bit too easy."

"Exactly," Kakkona leaned against a crumbled pillar in thought. "I'm not saying I don't trust our colleagues, but I don't like leaving them on their own."

Kiyoshi nodded in understanding. "We'll just need to move forward with the plan for now."

Akane went back to sketching out the room, appreciating the dynamic setting her team and the Sentinels obliviously provided. A few minutes into her drawing, she heard the final ring from the door go off.

"Voilà!" Matoi exclaimed.

The door bathed the area in brilliant light before it pried itself from the right wall and slid into the left with a screech. Beyond the entrance were worn stone stairs that led down into a black void. Matoi guided his motes along the edges of the doorframe and along the walls and stairs until he was satisfied.

"No traps," he confirmed, turning back to the rest of the team. "But keep your head on a swivel. We're uninvited guests, after all."

They all nodded seriously as Matoi turned back to the dark entrance. Taking a moment to steel himself, he took a step forward and breached the threshold. His companions followed closely behind with grim anticipation as he took point.

Torches spaced evenly on the walls flared to life as they walked past, casting eerie shadows on the rough-hewn stone walls. Their footsteps echoed ominously through the musty air, and the temperature plummeted the farther they descended.

The stairs leveled out, and they emerged into a spacious chamber dimly lit by scattered lighting artifacts that had lost their ability to hover. The room was lightly decorated with ornaments hanging on the walls. Moss clung to the ceiling, giving the room an earthy scent that clashed with the dampness in the air.

A jolt of inspiration surged through Akane as the chamber would've made for the perfect setting to illustrate. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to spare.

Ahead, the room split into three dark hallways.

"Which do we pick?" Matoi asked Kiyoshi.

"You mean you don't want to make the uncanny decision to split up?" Kakkona japed as he absently examined the disorganized mess of crumpled parchment on an old table.

"That wouldn't be very wise. Don't be so complacent in your rank that you're willing to split our numbers. That would make us easier to pick off, assuming Third Grades are clever." Masaru explained unnecessarily, Kakkona's sarcasm flying over his head.

Kiyoshi inspected the entrance to the hallways. Each one had wear on the floor, but the rightmost hall had much more than the other two. "We go right."

Maeve turned to her team, who had drifted to different parts of the room. "Masaru, Koan, and Akane, I want you three in the center. Toju and I will cover our flank."

Akane and the rest of them agreed, moving into formation. With Matoi scouting ahead, two Sentinels at his sides, and their tank protecting the rear, they moved cautiously down the hall.

SOKUBA:

Sokuba quietly leaned against the wall of a home missing a chunk of its roof after the initial assault. He'd situated the dozen Second Grades across from him in the street, now wearing the modified suppression cuffs on their wrists while still securely bound by his wires. Though their struggling subsided somewhat, there was the occasional jerk to test the wires' strength whenever they thought his focus was elsewhere, but this would often result in cuts.

May sat on the steps of the house's nearby porch. Since they were successful in securing the village, she decided to use her free time tidying up her doll. Aside from the sickening hum of radiance constantly oozing from the cuffs, the streets were dead silent.

Allowing a fraction of his mind to wander, keeping the rest of his focus on detaining the Second Grades, he wondered how long the raid would take. Depending on the size of the underground system, it could take hours, possibly days, to locate the Vault.

His finger jerked from one of the Second Grades trying to free his wrist, snapping Sokuba's full attention back to his captives. Using his thumb, he tugged on a wire connected to several bamboo before reaching the Second Grade's neck, the tension drawing a thin red band across his skin.

The man paused in contemplation as Sokuba's gaze turned threatening, daring him to make another move. The man gritted his teeth and abandoned his bold attempt at escape. Now that Sokuba thought about it, he could've been doing something more productive with his time. Or at the very least, it could stave off his boredom.

Pushing off the wall, he approached his prisoners, stopping just before their unstable radiance could reach him. They looked at him questioningly.

"I'm sure you all are developing cramps about now. Though I can't promise to relieve you of that, I can take your mind off of it," he held up his hand, the wires tightening in response as the men tensed. "All you must do is cooperate."

Some nodded reluctantly while others grinned to hide their nervousness.

"Now then. How large is this underground system you've built?" He asked anyone willing to answer.

"Almost a quarter of a mile in diameter." One man with greasy black hair said confidently.

Another man with a receding hairline looked at him with an irritated gaze. "You haven't even been down there. That thing is at least half a mile big."

"Both of you are idiots. The Savior didn't design it to be that big. Otherwise, he'd lose track of where everything is." A third one with stringy hair said, his voice gravely.

Sokuba breathed a frustrated sigh through his nose before asking a simpler question. "Who is the Savior?"

"Exactly what his name implies." The stringy-haired man answered.

"Rather egotistical of him then, to call himself such a thing." Sokuba accused.

"It is not a name he came up with, but rather his followers."

"Humanity will descend into chaos," a lanky man blurted. "He's seen it!"

"What do you mean?" Sokuba inquired.

The prisoners glanced at each other for a moment.

"How much do you know about radiance?" The stringy-haired man questioned. "Its purpose? Its origin?"

Sokuba lifted a brow. "I fail to see how that's relevant."

"Everything in the world has a beginning. And when there's a beginning, there must be a cause."

Frustration began stirring as the Sentinel realized he wasn't getting anywhere with the Second Grades. "I lack the patience for you to dance around the point you're trying to make."

"It will take your Sentinels quite a while to find the Vault. So we have all the time in the—" The man let out a sharp gasp.

Sokuba startled back a step. "Is something wrong?"

The man didn't respond, his expression contorting painfully. Suddenly, the lanky man beside him began to seize.

The bizarre anomaly rippled through the captives as they lost control of their bodies without warning. Agonizing grunts lodged in their contracting throats as their limbs contorted, their fingers snapping horribly.

Sokuba retracted his wires and rushed to help but stopped when radiance once again gushed from their bodies. But this time was different. Black splotches wriggled through the radiance, now whipping chaotically and forcing Sokuba to leap back.

The suppression cuffs, the only things containing their power, cracked and sheared before eventually bursting apart. May jumped to her feet, the scene wiping away the tiredness on her face and replacing it with genuine confusion and worry.

The prisoners lifted into the air and that's when they saw it. The sunlight exposed several strands of sickly white, each connected to their backs. The prisoners' eyes rolled back in their heads as blood spilled from their mouths before they went limp.

Sokuba and May stood there frozen, the twisted bodies swaying hauntingly before them. Sokuba snapped out of his daze and raised a hand to his communication artifact.

"Sokuba to Sentinel Kiyoshi," he spoke, a hint of shakiness in his voice. "We might have a prob—"

All dozen corpses lunged forward. Instinct took control, and Sokuba fired his wires, pulling him and May out of the crossfire. The bodies slammed into the ground with a sickening thud. Sokuba's eyes widened as the bodies' empty gazes locked onto him in unison, their heads now bloodied and caved in from the impact.

["Sentinel Sokuba, repeat. You cut out."] Kiyoshi returned, worry in his voice. ["Sokuba?"]

Sokuba didn't have the luxury to respond. His wires raced with urgency, jumping from one slender stalk to the next as he and May weaved through the canopy. The world around them became a gold blur as they fled while the bodies mutilated themselves in a reckless pursuit.

["Dai, send a party to investigate the village. Quickly."] Kiyoshi ordered.

["Copy."] Dai's baritone voice responded.

Dust clouds rolled over the fields below as homes, trees, and bamboo came crashing down. Eventually, the bodies snapped to a halt, giving Sokuba the time to set himself and May on a rooftop to comprehend what was happening.

"What a pleasant surprise," a raspy voice slithered from within the smoke, clawing at their ears. "Two visitors at my doorstep."

A dark silhouette rose from the cloud, its form taking the shape of a woman at least seven feet tall. Her elongated limbs twisted to unnatural degrees and her ghostly pale skin clung tightly to her bones. The white strands controlling the mangled corpses around her led to her blackened fingertips, and heavy cuffs dangled from her wrists. Her tattered clothes were stained with soot and crimson.

She contorted her spine, hideously arching her back as her neck cracked to face the Sentinels. An aged white mask with a crudely carved smile rested on her face. "I would be delighted if you would join my family."