After a short while the monster bike finally came to a stop. What Miko saw in front of him was a black steel wall so tall that it looked like it reached the heavens.
“This is the outer gate. In order to enter, you need permission from the four pillars, or need to be registered in the city's security system Gaia as a guest.”
Sapphire explained.
“Is it possible to fly over?”
“Hehehe, no that's impossible. The gate has no top, it just continued into another dimension. So unless you can tear through dimensions you'll never be able to jump over the wall.”
“Is that so?”
Miko thought that if you had time to rip through dimensions just to jump over the gate, then wouldn't it be better to just force yourself through the gate?
“Anyway, this city's defenses is pretty impressive.”
Miko said as he walked closer to the gate.
“So how do we get in? Do we have to wait for those Four whatever to grant us permission?”
Sapphire walked up next to him and shook her head.
“No like this.”
She placed her hand on the wall, and a line ran up and down her hand as if scanning it.
(State your identity.)
A computerized voice rang out in the surroundings.
“Code name Sapphire. Passcode: SC005.”
No response came for a while, and then finally-
(Identity confirmed.)
The wall suddenly split in two and created a passage big enough for one person to enter at a time.
“Let's go.”
Said Sapphire, as she entered the passage.
Miko followed shortly after.
He made Ishmavael return to her glove form, and Regis to her necklace form.
Tiamat had long returned to the Summit Of The Gods.
Miko closely followed behind Sapphire in the dark passage. After nearly five minutes of walking, Miko finally realized just how thick the gate that serves as a wall around the city really was.
He couldn't imagine the power it would take to force yourself through it with brute strength alone.
After nearly another five minutes of walking, Miko finally saw a light at the end of the passage.
It took him another minute to finally make it out.
When he stepped out the passage, he had to squint his eyes so that they could adjust.
“Woah.”
When he could finally see, he saw a world filled with machinery.
There were dozens of aircrafts with a stylish design flying through the sky.
He could see something that was illuminating the entire city. He identified it as something because it was obviously not the sun. It looked like a giant light bulb or something similar.
After a closer look the sky itself looked fake, like it was a hologram.
When Miko looked around he noticed that they were on a high structure of some kind.
This surprised him, because he was sure that they didn't climb any stair or ridden any elevators.
However he decided to think about that later, there was something he was really curious about.
“Are we inside a dome?”
He asked.
The sky itself was fake, but you wouldn't realize without an intensive look. But the mere fact that the city had a fake sky meant one of two things.
One, the city was underground. Even though he didn't know how he was standing on a structure that overlooked the entire city, he doubt he went underground without knowing.
The other reason for the fake sky is that the entire city was in a dome. This seems more likely, especially because the end of the black steel wall couldn't be seen from outside.
Sapphire nodded.
“Good job figuring that out. Grim City and all the other cities created by MYTH are located inside domes. Some believe it's for security purposes, while others believe it's to cut off the cities from the rest of the world. Either way, no one knows the real reason except for the Four Pillars.”
“Hmmm.”
Miko surveyed the city with his eyes.
All of the buildings seem to be made out of Neo-Concrete. Not even his kingdom could afford to make every last building out of Neo-Concrete. They especially couldn't use it on roads like they did in this city.
‘The formula and methods for creating this material should be hidden somewhere in this city.’
Miko thought to him.
‘But I gotta say, this city has a bit of Seoul mixed with a bit of Tokyo.’
He shook his head.
‘No, this place easily put them to shame.’
He looked down on all of the vehicles driving up and down.
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There were a couple of them that didn't even had wheels.
‘Could they be using magnetism to drive?’
Miko tried using logic from his past life to figure the mysteries of this one. However he quickly dismissed that thought with a shook of his head. He realized that it would be stupid to match the logic of two different worlds together.
“………”
Sapphire saw that Miko was busy observing the city and decided to give him time to soak it all in.
She then turn her back to him and tapped the ring on her finger.
“Jin. Hey Jin, come in.”
She spoke into her ring a couple times, keep calling “Jin” into it.
After the 15th time she finally got a response.
(…..The person you're trying to reach is not available at this time. Please try again after my 15 hour nap.)
She then heard a beeping sound, which was obviously made by a person.
When Sapphire heard the fake answering machine response, she snapped.
“I know you're there, you lazy bastard! Answer me dammit! This is really important!”
(……Hello.)
The voice finally answered after a long pause.
“Hello, my ass!”
(Oh, its you Sapphire. What is it?)
“I'm obviously reporting my return from my mission.”
Sapphire spoke with an unhappy tone.
(Mission? Then why are you reporting me? I'm not one of the Four Pillars,you know)
“Idiot. Did you forgot what you said before I left?”
(I'm sorry, I sometimes forget things when I don't get enough sleep.)
“And how long have you've been sleeping?”
(….What day is it?)
Sapphire couldn't help but sigh when she heard that.
“You said that I should report to you first, before I report to the Four Pillars.”
(Ah, you're right. So how did it go?)
“I succeed…..Kinda.”
She spoke the last part with a quiet voice. She was too embarrassed to say that she convinced him to visit the city, but not the academy.
She also purposely left out that he said he wanted to steal something from the city.
(That's good. So where is he now?)
“He's right-?!”
Her sentence was cut short when she looked behind her.
That's because Miko's figure was nowhere to be found.
“What the?!”
She frantically looked around in search of even a glimpse of Miko, but it was no use. He was nowhere to be found.
(Sapphire, what's wrong?)
“He's gone! I can't find him anywhere!”
She shouted in the ring.
(You tried using the sensors?)
“I already tried that. It couldn't even detect his foot prints.”
(Hm…Try hacking into the city's surveillance system. )
“I'm doing it as we speak.”
The bracelet on her hand suddenly projected a holographic window in front of her.
She tried to quickly operate it without a moment's delay.
“Found it!”
The holographic window started showing a video feed.
It showed the moment Sapphire and Miko entered the city. Sapphire fast forward until when she turned her back to Miko. She then focused the video slowly on him.
She watched as he looked around for bit, and then-
“He disappeared?!”
Sapphire had to replay the feed several times just to make sure she wasn't mistaken. She even played it in slow motion. But no matter what she did, the result was the same.
Miko instantly disappeared in thin air.
“How is this possible?!”
Sapphire shouted.
After coming face to face with him, Sapphire knew how dangerous Miko really was despite his innocent face. And now such a person was let loose in the city, and it was all her fault.
(Hm….Didn't they say his grandmother was a renowned assassin? If that's true, then it isn't strange for him to have a couple stealth techniques or two.)
These words didn't consoled Sapphire, it just made her feel more ashamed. A woman of her expertise, was played by a 13 year old boy.
(Don't mind it, Sapphire. Just report it as how it happened. There's no way the Pillars can punish you so easily. They'll have to thinking if it's worth becoming our enemy first.)
These words were spoken with confidence.
After hearing them, Sapphire started calming down.
“You're right. And it's not like he can leave the city on his own. We'll definitely meet again.”
She encouraged herself.
(Good. You can just continue your main assignment. I'll deal with the young king.)
Sapphire nodded and then cut off their communication.
She then put on a determine look in her face.
“I'll definitely meet you again, Miko!”
At this time Miko was somewhere else, flying through the air while remaining invisible.
When he was walking through the dark passage with Sapphire, Miko cloned himself and then used [Stealth-Camouflage] to hid his real self.
When they left the passage he remained with Sapphire because he was stun be the city's appearance.
However he quickly got over his surprise, and departed from Sapphire while she turned her back to him.
He then waited five minutes after he left, to deactivate the clone he left behind.
It took Sapphire an additional 5 minutes to realize the clone was missing. By that time Miko was already long gone.
“This seems like a good place. There's no visible cameras or anyone around.”
He said as he floated in the air.
He was looking at a dark alley as he spoke.
He flew into that alley without wasting any time.
The moment he landed he aged a couple years.
“You two can come out now.”
The moment he said that Ishmavael and Regis transformed into their humanoid appearance.
“Finally free!”
Ishma shouted as she stretched her body.
“What are we going to do now?”
Regis asked him.
“For now we're just going to walk around and sight see.”
“So we're tourists?”
Miko nodded.
“Until we stumble upon an opportunity to claim everything in this city or get even a step closer, we’ll just do whatever we feel like.”
“I like the sound of that!”
Said Ishma.
“Of course we won't do anything that will draw unnecessary trouble to us. So no mindless slaughter and destruction.”
Miko said with a stern tone.
“You make it sound like I'm rampaging idiot.”
Ishma said with a frown.
Miko said nothing more to her and deactivated [Stealth-Camouflage].
(What's your first issue business, my king)
Tiamat spoke in his mind.
“I thought Augustus was your king. You've already wed three times, don't tell you're aiming for your fourth?”
Ishma said with a mocking tone.
Because of her connection to Miko, Ishma was able to hear his conservations with Tiamat. Of course, this was only if he allowed her.
Regis also could hear and communicate with Tiamat through Miko. She and Ishma could also communicate with each other and Miko through telepathy.
It was like the four of them made up their own network where they can freely communicate with each other.
(Brat, you've been testing my patience for the last 10,000 years. If you continue to get own my nerves I'll make Miko put a slave seal on your soul! That way even if you break away from the sword you'll still belong to him. And when that happens I'll be sure to torment you for all eternity.)
Tiamat said with a cold tone.
It was obvious she wasn't joking.
“Ishma, stop bickering with Tia every chance you get.”
Miko said, while chopping her on the head.
Ishma wanted to complain but was chopped again before she could.
She finally shut her mouth with a frown.
“The first thing we're going to do is to find out more about the city.”
He walked out of the alley with Regis and Ishma behind him.
“The first order of business is finding out where we are.”
Miko quickly looked around and a spotted a group of tough looking men.
“I guess they'll do.”
He then walked towards the men with a smile on his face.
When the men saw him, Miko could detect the lust in their eyes. It was obvious that they thought that he was a girl.
Miko decided to ignore their disgusting eyes for now and approached them.
“Well, hello.”
The men were the first to speak.
They quickly surrounded Miko as if they wanted to cut off his escape routes.
Miko allowed this and kept the smile on his face. But there was a vain pulsating on his temple.
“Say what a cutie like you doing in a place like this.”
Said one of the men.
Miko's eyes turned purple with anger when he heard that.
“Ah, screw it.”
His eyes changed from that of a human’s to that of a dragon.
“?!”
The moment the man looked into them, his legs started to wobble and his body was covered in cold sweat. He felt like his soul was being drawn in.
He could literally feel something grasp his heart.
This was [Intimidation], the ability to induce unreasonable fear in whoever look into his draconic eyes. This skill was the first skill Miko ever used. He used it on the robbers when he was two, and twelve years later he's using it again.
“Ekk!”
The man shriek like a little girl and fell on his ass.
“Oi! What's wron-?!”
“Shut up and don't move a muscle.”
The moment Miko spoke all of the men's mouth closed with a heavy force and their body was frozen in place.
Miko had used [Rule] on them.
His eyes shone a cruel light as he looked at each of the men's faces.
“Okay, this is how we're going to do this. I'm going to ask the questions and you'll answer them to the best of your ability. Blink twice if you understand.”
All the men blinked twice simultaneously.
Miko smiled when he saw that.
“Good. Now first question.”
His smile turned mischievous.
“How much do you all got on you?”