The team left the station behind, weaving carefully through the icy fields laced with countless sludge puddles as they made their way north.
The sludge began to grow less concentrated. They entered a large open field of ice and snow, making it appear peaceful. There was a complete lack of creatures.
"What we are seeing confirms what we had imagined earlier." Lumi noted to the group. "The monsters, as unconventional and presumably thoughtless as they must be, had a plan engraved in them to attack the people here."
"That’s the rational conclusion." Susie agreed with him.
"It looks okay, but this place feels awful." Jin muttered, rubbing his arms. "Like the air itself hates us."
"The air itself...?" Elara grew concerned and drew an arrow. "Jin is right! There’s sothing watching. I can’t see it, but I know it’s there."
"How accurate is that?" Valeria pressed.
Elara pursed her lips, and after a mont, replied. "At least ninety percent sure. It’s pure instinct from my class. Sothing is watching sothing nearby. Presumably, it’s watching us."
"That must be what I’m feeling." Jin added, "The air here really sucks, yo. The lightning is... wait. Electricity is my speciality."
"Yes." Zara affird. "We know that."
"No, listen." Jin continued. "Lightning is my thing."
"The point." Valeria ordered.
Jin closed his eyes and focused hard. "One second. I think I can pick sothing up."
He turned in a certain direction, and took a couple steps forward. "There’s a device this way.
After several steps, he found himself face to face with a wall of ice. "Thunder punch!" He directly punched a hole in the wall, revealing a sealed cave. Inside were several circular marks on the floor, evidence of a heavy object with a circular base having once been placed.
Lying around were several small tal objects, and even so sort of device mounted on the wall.
"There’s no way." Jin’s eyes went wide. "Just like that?"
"No way is right." Valeria took steps forward, peering inside. "I do not believe the perpetrators would be so incompetent as to leave such things lying around in plain sight."
"Check for traps." Lumi stated. He narrowed his eyes. He was unsure on the specifics, but he did not believe it was a trap.
"What are those?" Susie asked, staring directly at the strange black tal object on the wall, indirectly exposing the exact reason why.
It was an object composed of steel, glass, rubber, and more. It carried no magic, but electricity. It was sothing the overwhelming majority of Masteria residents would never recognize.
A Security Cara.
Not a crystal recorder, not a magical device. It was a technological device.
Would the Wings of Darkness really consider that not only would this place be found, but by soone familiar with their technology?
Zara carefully entered, examining every single inch of floor, air, or wall. After a tense mont, she noted. "None that I can see." She narrowed her eyes. "Except for these things." She gestured towards the cara mounted on the wall. "I don’t recognize this."
"It’s that!" Jin exclaid. "That, right there! That’s what’s running full of electricity!"
A couple heads turned towards Susie, as she was a researcher. She put a hand on her chin in contemplation. "It’s rare, but there are so pieces of technology unreliant on magic, but electricity instead. I’m sorry, I’m unfamiliar with such foreign tools. I don’t know what that is."
Lumi knew it was a security cara, but simply saying those words were aningless. Knowing what sothing was is entirely different from knowing how to use them. He did not know how to use a foreign security cara. "We can identify this." Lumi pointed out. "Afton would know what this is."
"That’s right." Valeria replied. "If this is indeed from the Wings of Darkness, there is no way he wouldn’t know what this was.."
"I can try investigating." Susie replied, taking a couple steps forward, and pulling out an instrunt from her backpack. "Jin, you said you can sense electricity. Can you tell where?"
The two spent a few minutes figuring out the specifics, until...
"Alright." Susie took a step back, wiping the sweat from her brow. "We’ve confird a few things."
Jin continued. "It has no innate power of its own. It has an outside source supplying it with power." He pointed at a section in the wall. "Captain, can you cut here?"
Valeria approached, her two handed sword in her hands, and sliced right he said.
"Here, too." Jin pointed. "Then like this, and here."
Valeria followed the instructions, cutting open a square section from the wall, revealing a tight cramped space behind it. "What the...? You said the power source is here?"
"Yes." Susie pointed up to where the tech was mounted to the wall. "You can see these tubes running down, connected to this box. This box supplies the energy. Without power, that device has no power." She directly unplugged it. "Now, it is without power. Unless there is a chemical reaction, or undetectable sealed magical trigger, it’s safe to touch."
Elara looked up at the contraption. "So, until now it had power and was doing sothing."
"Yes." Susie confird. "We don’t know what, however.."
"How safe is it to touch?" Valeria asked, seeking counsel from the experts.
"Almost certainly. But precaution is key. The construct itself consists of the tal rectangle here," Susie gestured.
She pointed her finger closer to the arm, to what attached it to the wall. "Here, it is just the tubes providing power. We can cleanly sever this with no repercussions. I propose we physically sever it from a safe distance to see if physical touch would trigger a chemical reaction."
Jin stepped back, giving Valeria space. "You heard her. Safe distance, Captain."
Valeria gave a small nod and brandished her blade once more. With precise, controlled movents, she sliced cleanly through the tubing at the attachnt point, severing the device from its source entirely. Sparks flared briefly, but fizzled out almost instantly. The device gave no sign of life.
Everyone held their breath for a few seconds.
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