A week had passed since they arrived in Grandis. Jury was present too, but she was stationed in Central Grandis alongside Galia and a sizeable force of Atelier personnel.
Trailing at least by one day behind Frost and Cer were the Exalted and the Tear Retrievers. As for the Iron Stars and the Black Moons; Moses returned to the Ark just south of Paradise. The chains that anchored it into Grandis remained. There were mountains smaller than an individual link.
Twisted shadows of these chains consumed most of southern Grandis as if to lock it up. Frost did not gain much insight into what the Ark was aside from being a mobile prison. The Iron Stars and the Black Moons were so dangerous that they were locked away in a world that desperately lacked Stars of the Nexus.
The reason for this was one of their powers:
“The ability to send entire cities into Subderma Layer. It was their method of removing impurities from the face of the world. From what we know, it has contributed heavily to the massive population that exists beneath the Epiderma Layer.”
Nav answered.
“It is different from Spatial Distortions. Remember, the Subderma can physically be accessed without the need to warp space. Think of it as a deep-sea trench. Those who sleep at the bottom will inevitably burst as they rise. Those who fall will cave in as they descend. It is nearly impossible to escape without, as Lailah claims, indomitable P-Factor Augmentation. Incandescent-Ranked Souls wouldn't have much trouble."
Another piece of the Nexus’s damned past. Make Sure Umbra does not use them for this purpose. We will need to keep a leash on them. Luckily, they seemed willing to cooperate. Eager, more like… They appeared suddenly like they smelt blood in the water.
The Iron Stars and the Black Moons was a major topic Cer, Nav and Frost had been focusing on for the past few days. Aside from their existence, Cer had zero knowledge of them. But it did not surprise them that they were instrumental in the past wars and the dark ages of Elysia’s history.
Not for the good reasons, however. Iron Stars were what happened if an Eclipse were tasked with assassinating a civilization rather than an individual. It would be no exaggeration to say that they were currently the strongest assets of the Nexus outside of the Beholders and the Archetypes.
But with that power came unpredictability. Their powers would come to be known soon enough, as with the Black Moons who were no more than Moons that embrace the Chained Theocracy’s defeatist and fatalistic philosophies.
“Black Moons have gotta be one of the rarest Moons. Right up there next to Blue Moons. You know how we’re named after different phases of the moon? A black moon is a moon that doesn’t exist.” Cer brought up.
“Makes sense considering they were also locked away.”
“Who has the better stats?”
“I haven’t seen one yet. But if they’re anything like the Iron Stars, then they’ll be stronger for sure. Probably not as much as Ber and Res. They’re on an entirely different level. Rest assured, Cer. It won’t change anything that’s already established. The Stars might belong to the Nexus’ on the virtue of them being Stars, but the Black Moons are loyal to Umbra.” Frost informed. “Unless we can integrate them.”
“I don’t know how to feel about Moons that are secretly stronger than us. What would even be their use case? Send them on suicide missions like the Vermillion Moons?”
“Depends on what they’re trained to do. Lailah and Nav don’t have an answer yet, other than they’re paired with an Iron Star. Besides, they’re the least of my worries right now. We’ll have a few of them fighting with us when the time comes.”
“Yeah, and let’s see how strong they actually are.” Cer pouted.
* * *
They eventually reached a place far from Paradise where the landscape began to flatten out. Large hills coalesced behind a pale fortress in the great distance. The structures here were not ruined like those before.
An impenetrable wall of emerald trees lined the bases of the mountain range. Birds that were like miniature dragons soared above those clouded peaks, diving in and out like fish in a brine pool.
Isca’s Fort was one of three major fortresses that defended Infernis. Towering walls with battlements ran from the foot of the mountains to the distant ruins of Paradise. It was untouched to their surprise. Ashes fell from the skies. They originated from various piles of forever smoldering fire crystals.
They were no doubt used to burn corpses. It was a rather unspectacular location. Nothing within the castle-like fort was anything of particular interest. Information was not usually stored in strategic locations.
Weapons on the other hand were plentiful. Racks of halberds, swords, spears, and shields lined every dark room. The quality was quite good from what Frost could tell as she plucked the head of a halberd, then, with a resounding shatter – crushed it in her bare hands.
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Behind the fort were mountains of charred metal armor. With no traces of bone and with the Interrogating Clock showing nothing of significant value, it was unclear what exactly had transpired in this place.
A field of haybales sat beside it, which were used to feed the horses of an enormous stable. Not a single horse was to be found, aside from frayed leads and bone fragments.
Damaged Bone Fragment
< Belongs to a horse >
Frost could not help but ponder on what had occurred here. A fight was always the likely answer. But with whom? Or better yet, what? Scattered further across the dying fields were more charred armor.
Normal flames cannot burn iron to such a degree.
Frost estimated that roughly a few thousand soldiers must have been stationed here.
“You’re off by a long shot. A hundred at best. Take a look at how this place was built. How big its halls are for humans. Not enough beds in the barracks either. Puritas made things bigger than they needed to be. It’s how they tricked people into thinking they had more numbers.”
Cer corrected, dragging a claw along the weapon racks that lined the outer walls of the fortress, cutting them effortlessly as though they were the heads of her enemies.
“One hundred humans would’ve cut it a long time ago. Puritas had some powerful people by their side. Now? One hundred normal humans post Paradise Lost would’ve been a free feast for whatever monsters live in those mountains. Iscario probably wanted to save face somehow. Bring people in from all over. Then boom.”
An electric maw tore a hole into the side of the pale walls. The brickwork surrendered to her overwhelming might. Residual sparks caused material to fling around, causing further destruction.
Wooden beams and log pillars collapsed as they exposed themselves from the wreckage. Along their smoldering surface was a Lichtenberg figure – the shape of a branching electrical tree. It was no doubt caused by Cer’s immense electric discharge.
“They just disappear all at once. Got anything on that clock of yours?”
“Nope. Nothing big happened here. It’s just another angle on what happened to Infernis. Events take precedence, huh.”
“It’s a good thing. If it was limited to people’s perspectives, then it’d be hell to tell apart their biases and whatever the hell goes on in their minds.”
“That’s exactly why we have two different clocks. Cer. Got any ideas what might have caused this?”
“Speaking from a professional wolf-hunter like me’s standpoint –” She folded her arms, grinning to herself impishly now that Frost was relying on her. “– It looks like they died. Horribly too. Armor remains but their bodies are missing sounds to me like something ate them…”
Cer became unsure all of sudden. She leaned over the blackened plate body of one, her eyes uncaring of the death surrounding her. She kicked the pieces around, fiddled with them, and tossed them aside, treating them like uninteresting trash.
She treated the field like it was the aftermath of her own doing.
“Take a look at this. It’s bloated.”
Frost joined her to investigate further. Indeed, the armor was strangely wider than it should have been, with signs of stress in various parts of the metal. The very rims of the armor flared and curled inwards with sharp splinters, like how one would picture the barrel of an exploded gun in a cartoon.
“Nah. Bloated?” Cer scoffed. “It looks like they exploded.”
“It can’t be the doing of the Memento Mori then. I imagine they prefer intact cadavers over chunks. Know any monsters like that?”
“That causes people to explode? No clue. I’ve never seen a monster that kills this quickly.” Cer’s words carried a strange wisdom as she turned her head to the mountains. “Not once. Not ever. Not here. The monsters of Southwestern Grandis like to play with their food. They let them marinate in their suffering.”
The air around her shifted unexpectedly. A solemn expression befell her before she shook her head and deeply sighed.
“Did you know, Frost, that some flowers can grow on infertile soil? Grandis is home to a lot of monsters that can make anyone want to throw their hands up in the air in surrender. Not me though. Well…”
She trailed off again, scratching her head as she searched for words to speak. Her mouth opened, but her voice betrayed her.
“Do you want to take another path?” Frost patted her head. Cer threw her body against Frost, leaning beside her as she sighed again.
“No. It’ll be good for at least you to see what happened there. It’s on our way too. I also have a feeling that ‘it’ will be there as well.”
“The Salivating Spark, huh.”
“Whatever they want to call it. To think a Corrupted ended up forming because of my rampage. Annoying, but it’s got my blood charged in a good way. Maybe I can grab myself a unique ability while I’m at it. You’ll be there too, so it’s not like I’m at any risk.”
Cer shrugged as Frost picked up an armor piece, bringing it close to her face.
“Do you always go into missions recklessly like that?”
“Duh. What do I look like a coward?”
“I can’t believe you’re one of the oldest Moons.”
“Well, what can I say?”
“… Haaah.”
Maybe bringing the single braincelled wolf along was a bad idea.
Frost’s attention moved back to the metal. She brushed off the excess soot with [Cleanse], revealing severe warping and discoloration. Another strange thing was that the ‘soot’ contained powdered metal too.
Just as she was about to put it aside, her eyes caught something peculiar.
“Cer. Did you notice this?”
“Notice what? You got the better eyes, so you gotta point it out to me.”
Frost’s fingers revealed a Lichtenburg figure in the metal.
“Did you shock them when you touched them?”
“No. I only lashed out at the fort. Oh… Oh shit. This is kind of troubling now.”
They exchanged stares before looking back down at the Lichtenberg figure. Quickly, the two sifted through various scattered armor pieces.
They all revealed the exact same markings.
“The culprit didn’t just use normal fire.” Cer’s bared her teeth eagerly all of a sudden. “They electrocuted them. The bodies would’ve burned immediately. No, skip that. They would’ve vaporized on the spot.”
Cer demonstrated by taking a metal sheet and, in the next instant, a bright flash of blue light disintegrated it. A cloud of black and grey vapor was all that was left behind. Nothing, not even a shaving of metal, remained in her hands.
The scent of chlorine returned as it usually did during extreme electrical discharges, as ozone was formed as a result.
What Frost witnessed was an arc flash, the ultimate nightmare of electrical mishaps. The fact that the triplets could withstand it, never mind control it, never properly registered in her mind until now.
“Fucking hell. Cer. That Corrupted of yours is on a rampage of its own.”
“Seems like it. This isn’t that much different from the scenes I’ve caused, so I had a feeling this had to be my fault. Somehow. In some way. Anyway, it’s going to be a Monsoon Corrupted since it couldn’t erase their armor. At worst it’ll be an Eternal Night.”
Cer nudged Frost’s shoulder.
“Let’s go hunt the old me!”