The black cab drops me off at the entrance of the apartment and I disembark carrying the bag of hot wings that I had bought on the way back. Ever since The Voice had begun spawning me money, I have been taking the opportunity to eat out whenever possible instead of subjecting myself to The Voice's "cooking", if you could call it that. After being chased around the Six Trees District by that crazy lady, I fully deserve a treat.

After Nicky's attack on the campus, SOPO had been swarming about for the past few days combing over the main hall and interviewing witnesses. It was only earlier this morning that they had finally packed up their stuff and left. I had conveniently made myself scarce whenever SOPO investigators came around and left Alley to handle it by herself. Thanks to her, I had an alibi confirming that I was at the concert at the material time and was one of the innocents swept up in the chaos.

SOPO was however more interested in how Brocon got returned to the Academy. From communications intercepted by The Voice, Brocon's abrupt disappearance from the manor and the discovery of Trietel's bloody carcass has caused SOPO to have a panic attack. There was much distress as SOPO internally debated on how to explain to the P5 that Brocon managed to get herself kidnapped not once, but twice, in the same night. Brocon's sudden reappearance at the Academy solved that problem, but it raised several uncomfortable questions.

Alley stuck to the story I had fed her while being interviewed by the investigators. The investigators also did not pursue the matter further with her since it was clear that Alley didn't really no much about what had happened. The Voice had also cleaned up the scene where I fought Trietel, meaning that SOPO was not finding any traces of my presence there. Brocon was also of no help to the investigation, having been sedated throughout the whole ordeal. The SOPO investigation quickly ran into a dead end.

For all the doubts and questions the police had, there was no way to answer them. A file was opened on the murder of Trietel and the second kidnapping of Brocon, but with no leads or other information, those cases were going to be sent to cold storage in short order. The decision was made by the police to keep the presence and activity of this unknown third party secret from the public. All I needed to do was keep my head down for the time being and let the storm pass. Which is fine by me. Loafing around is the easiest assignment I had so far.

I unlock the door to the apartment and walk in to find the laptop turned on. Looks like my downtime is just about over. Just as I was getting used to freely using the cab as I wished too. I begin to unpack the hot wings in the kitchen and pile them up on a plate. With the plate in hand, I pull out the chair in front of the laptop and make myself comfortable.

"So what's up?" I ask, taking a big bite of the chicken wing in my hand.

The laptop displays the video feed from one of the drones that I had helped deploy in the sarcophagus. Its shuffling down an air duct when all of a sudden the camera feed cuts out, filling the screen with static. A few seconds later, the feed comes back online, but this time the drone is heading in the opposite direction. The drone turns back around and heads towards its original destination when the same thing happens again. Its as if there is an invisible line that the drone cannot cross.

I make a puzzled noise in my throat and take another bite from the hot wing. No idea what is going on here.

The Voice, without bothering with any preamble, rasps, "What you are seeing is the live feed from one of the drones I have sweeping the sarcophagus. From the video footage and the drone's behavior, I have determined how the mystery item has been hidden from my sight. Fate has set up a place of power in the sarcophagus and the mystery item has been stored within it."

"What makes you say that?" I ask.

The Voice replies, "The moment the drone passes a certain point in the shaft, my control over it is immediately broken. The drone's Artificial Intelligence then takes over and recalls the drone back to the hub for redeployment. Once the drone passes over that point in the shaft once again, my control over it is immediately restored. I have detected no signs of damage and tampering on the drone. That leaves only one possibility, Fate has set up its place of power in that location."

Interesting. "Can't you just force your way through?" I query.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"No." The Voice grumbles, "Just as Fate cannot enter this apartment or any of my other places of power, the same applies vice versa. I am absolutely incapable of observing or interacting with anything within a place of power under Fate's control."

Figures. The Voice and Fate were gods of the same dimension. It would make sense that they would draw from a shared bag of tricks. I am pretty disappointed though. The Voice's places of power so far have been a dingy room, this apartment and an abandoned store. Fate on the other hand has an underwater base. The Voice should really give more thought to upgrading the facilities.

"Nevertheless, such a petty trick is not enough to keep me at bay." The Voice continues smugly, "I have cross-checked the building plans for the sarcophagus with the drones' progress. By using the air vents to probe around the edges of where I suspect Fate's place of power is located, I have managed to map out what I believe to be the said place of power."

A map of the sarcophagus appears on the laptop's screen with a portion of it highlighted red. From the map, I reckon that the space Fate is occupying is one of the shelters that were built into the sarcophagus during The City's construction. The shelter's size also meant that there might be plenty of goons guarding the mysterious mcguffin. Probably too many for me to handle.

"What about the monorail? Was anyone going in or going out?" I query.

The Voice rumbles, "No. I suspect that Fate's minions detected the presence of the drones and decided to hole themselves up in the place of power. As I cannot interact with any of the physical locked doors separating the place of power from the rest of the sarcophagus, Fate's minions probably believe that they can rely on the sarcophagus's life support systems and stockpiled food to keep themselves alive while they wait us out."

"Damn. If only the vents weren't so small. Seems like a good means of accessing the place of power otherwise." I muse.

"We are thinking the same," The Voice says, "I have also figured out a way to make use of the vents against our enemies."

The map on the laptop screen scrolls over to what is marked as an air purification center. The Voice then highlights the vents connecting the air purification facility with the shelter. "In order to save on cost, life support in the sarcophagus is centralized. While there were complaints about the perceived weakness of this design, it was eventually determined that the risk was minimal. Any attacker that could get past the sarcophagus's armored exterior would be too much for any of the inhabitants to handle, regardless of how life support was configured."

"You want me to hit the air purification center?" I ask.

"Not directly." The Voice elaborates, "Damaging the air purification center would affect the entire sarcophagus. There would be no way for me to hide such an event. It would only be a matter of time before The City is alerted and the police breathing down your neck. You will need to sabotage the life support system in such a way that only Fate's place of power is affected."

"The life support systems are outfitted with sensors that can detect chemical and bacteriological threats. Once such a threat has been detected, the vents to the shelter will be sealed to prevent the danger from spreading and the shelter will rely on built-in oxygen scrubbers to keep its inhabitants alive until the threat is dealt with."

The map on the laptop screen now scrolls back to the hub where I had originally deployed the drones. The Voice continues, "Thanks to you, I have broad control over the sarcophagus's systems through the hub. I will prepare a software update for the air purification center. This update will remove certain substances from the list that will trigger a lock down if detected by the life support system. As the sarcophagus uses a closed system, I cannot perform this update remotely. You will need to do it for me through the hub when I take you back to the sarcophagus."

Alright. Sounds easy enough.

The Voice rasps as several specific locations on the vents are highlighted on the map, "Once that is done, you will need to perform certain modifications to the vents to allow us to pump the shelter full of toxin and keep the rest of the sarcophagus unaffected. These modifications are not difficult to do, but given the nature of the task, I would only feel comfortable if you were handling it personally. I expect you to take several days to complete this part of the mission."

"Finally," The Voice concludes, "several canisters of toxin cocktail will be spawned and hooked up to the vents. The blinded life support system will be unable to stop our attack on Fate's place of power. Fate's minions will be left with two choices, remain holed up and die, or attempt to flee through the sarcophagus, allowing us to intercept them. Any questions?"

"Nope. I've gotten the idea of what you've been saying." I reply.

"One more thing Transmigrator," The Voice suddenly interrupts, "make sure you have completed everything you want to do in the Dreaming Spires District before heading back into the sarcophagus."

What? Do you realize how ominous you sound right now? Am I nearing a chapter ending mission?

"I sense that we stand on the edge Transmigrator. Our next move may very well change everything entirely. Be prepared." The Voice warns.

Nope. Not ominous at all. Your warning would also make more sense if there were actually side quests to complete in this world. Take notes Voice.

"Take one more day off." The Voice says, "I will need that time to prepare the needed supplies. After that, we set the wheels of destiny in motion."