It was unmistakable now, as Junko completed her fifth lap around the dark, dusty floor. She followed the stairs all the way up but they terminated in some kind of final, wide open space. It almost looked like a sundial as there was a large triangular protrusion in the center, but other than that and the large windows carved out of the stone walls in each direction, nothing up at the top fo the stairs suggested where Gekko and Motonubu ended up. There was a ring of those dias-like circles around the ‘hand’ of the sundial, though, so clearly the elevator had passed through here. It just hadn’t stopped here.

Junko leaned out of the window and looked upward. “OY!” The shout ripped from her lungs and echoed off into the distance. She also got a mouthful of ashy dust for her effort. Spitting and hacking she pulled herself back. If only she had some rum left to wash the taste out of her mouth. Still motivated she popped her head back out the window but this time kept her mouth shut and instead tried to see how high, exactly, this Arktower actually stretched.

Far, far below her, the liquid rainbow from the surrounding sea still simmered. Its light at this distance could still be seen, though it looked even more like a galaxy from this perspective than before. Above her she saw that the Arkspire extended another...who knew how many floors. Even though the stairs stopped here, the tower itself just continued growing off into nothingness. Her voice might not even reach even if the pair had gone up that high. What a fire hazard! How could the Jinchi people have built a structure with so little care?

The edges of her mouth bunched up as Junko scowled at nothing in particular. For nearly this entire journey she had been more than content to just follow directions. From point A to point B, that’s what good old Kiku-ichimonij Junko was best at! That required having specific orders to follow saying to go from A to B, though. Where was her B now? Wait for Motonubu to come back? Keeping watch of the little brat so he didn’t get into trouble? Despite the size of the Arkspire, it clearly had an endpoint and didn’t extend into infinity. Those two would have to come back down eventually, wouldn’t they? Maybe she didn’t need a point B. Maybe Junko could just sit tight and get some rest! Another warm nap sounded heavenly, actually.

It was these grumbling thoughts that accosted her as her feet pressed down onto the edge of the window and her hands began groping the outside stones of the tower to try and find somewhere she could hold onto. After a bit of searching she found just what she needed and with a kick, Junko propelled herself upwards. Her bag was light and her strength mostly recovered from that encounter with the shark, so it wasn’t difficult at all to scale her way up the dusty wall. Occasionally some ash got in her eye but if that was the worst of her worries, she’d be fine!

Her motivation was unchanged, of course. This was all for her own good. Junko didn’t do charity, no ma’am. As she clambered up the side of the Arkspire she shoved those old teachings of her long dispatched family as far out of her head as possible. Kiku-ichimonij Junko looked out for number one. Scaling a height like this was for her own personal gain! And she’d figure how, exactly, that made any sense, once she got to the top of it.

-

“That’s it?” Gekko was still standing quite a distance from Motonubu, who hadn’t ceased taking puffs from his pipe at all during the whole explanation. “After all that, your plan is just too...”

“Just to blow it up, yes.” Motonubu’s pipe-free hand reached into his cloak and pulled out a familiar looking paper cylinder. “They are a bit wet from the trip, but I believe they are still good to use. I am quite glad we took that rest, actually. Otherwise they might be too damp. These explosives certainly blew up those gravestones well enough.”

“Just one stick of gunpowder isn’t going to-”

A rough laugh came from Motonubu, causing smoke to escape his lips as he did so. “I have several more, the Annitou soldiers I...acquired these from were in no short supply. If the first doesn’t light or fails to do enough damage, we just have to try again. It will be easy.”

Gekko stared at the explosive Motonubu dangled between his fingertips carefully. “I want to do it.” His earlier paranoia still lingered, but from what he was reading, Motonubu wouldn’t be able to do anything dangerous anyway. “I can figure out where to stick the...sticks, so they’ll render the tower inoperable. You aren’t necessary.”

Motonubu briefly seemed to consider this, then pulled the explosive tube back into his cloak. “You are quite injured, Cadet Tanuma Gekko. It would be unfortunate if you slipped and fell while trying to run away from the blast. I require you to be alive so that I can ensure the weapon is completely disabled.”

“I- it won’t be hard.” Gekko stood up and puffed out his chest. Despite being half Motonubu’s age, Gekko was still almost able to see eye to eye with the man. “Two, maybe three charges should do it. If the wick is long enough I’ll have plenty of time to escape the explosion.”

Again Motonubu tilted his head as if deep in thought. He closed his eyes, then hit his pipe again. “Are you certain? I am worried we are overlooking some contingencies the weapon might have. What if instead of disabling it, we activate it? That would be a terrible thing to happen.”

Gekko blinked a few times, unsure how to process Motonubu’s concern. “Why would that happen? I don’t see anything here- that isn’t a possibility. And, besides,” Gekko glanced back at the column he read that had the most critical information on it. “...we could still stop it, probably.”

“Well!” Motonubu’s sudden increase in volume caused Gekko to jump, shaking loose some more accumulated ash. “Very well. I am convinced. I will leave the destruction of Arkspire’s weapon to you, Cadet Tanuma Gekko. Afterwards we will attempt to turn it on, just to verify it has been properly destroyed. You are far too injured to try and blow me up anyway, so.” With a flourish Motonubu pulled from his cloak three of the wrapped explosive cylinders, bundled tightly together into one bulky package. “I will entrust the ordinance to you. It is originally Annitou gunpowder anyway, so I suppose it is only right an Annitou cadet should do the honors.”

For the first time in a while, Gekko was able to breathe a sigh of relief. After everything he had been through it seemed impossible that Motonubu would have cooperated so easily all the way at the end. It felt absurd to say, but it was almost like...he actually did want to destroy the Jinchi weapon. Absolutely everything the man said and did was consistent with that goal. Even as he tossed the bundle of explosives to Gekko and the boy bent over to pick them up it felt surreal. They were actually going to do this. It was really happening.

With the weapon destroyed, Annitou would have no reason to want the boy dead. Once General Gou saw the messages down here he’d agree with Gekko’s decision- maybe even praise him for his quick thinking! And the discovery of the massive underground ruin would surely bring some level of reward to the boy, since it was extremely unlikely the Jinchi had a second god-destroying weapon just lying around in their caverns. All those storerooms they passed on the way up were without a doubt filled with loot as well- he had deliberately not told Junko or Motonubu about each room they passed that looked promising, specifically for that reason. It felt strange to say but the stars finally began to align for Gekko.

He cast a few wary eyes towards Motonubu but the man was content to stand quite a distance from Gekko. Sensing the boy’s unease, he started to put away his pipe and speak again. “I do hope you will indulge my curiosity, Cadet Tanuma Gekko. I am happy to let you work but I am interested in how the machine was intended to operate. We are the last living humans to be able to witness it, after all.”

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“Yeah, fine, whatever.” Gekko waved the explosives in Motonubu’s direction. “Just, don’t get close enough for me to smell you.”

“Certainly.”

Still not entirely trusting him Gekko shuffled through the built-up ash towards a specific crumbled stone altar off to the side. With a heafy push he shoved the thing aside, revealing a clean circular hole directly beneath it. Motonubu let out a slightly disturbing chuckle, causing Gekko to turn his head back with worry.

“No, no, I am sorry.” Motonubu was wearing that smile again. “It is just so absurd to me. How could you have known to look there? There must be thirty or forty of those broken stone carvings up here. Why that one specifically?”

“It’s- you wouldn’t understand.” Gekko started clearing rocky debris away from the hole he just uncovered. “Those altars are like, plugs, and depending on the order you- no, I’m wasting my time.” Gekko sighed, finally clearing enough away from the hole to slide the explosives into it. “This is the one you have to use to start the whole machine up, so it’s the only one we need to destroy. The stone’s literal translation is like...’cannot be undone’. The Jinchi dudes who put it up here made these stones so nobody would accidentally hit the switch. It’s hard to explain.”

Motonubu didn’t offer much of a response, instead merely offering an affirmative hum. He didn’t even offer any inane questions. Maybe he was just as eager to get this over with?

Gekko unraveled the wick that was wrapped around the explosives, then realized he was short some critical components. “Hey,” he waved towards Motonubu without looking the man in the face. “Gimme your lighter.”

Motonubu said nothing, tossing the small metal rectangle of his personal lighter towards Gekko. It landed in a pile of ash just short of his reach, but Gekko very quickly scooped it up regardless. He gave it a few practice clicks to ensure it lit quick enough. The whole device was terribly dull- no decorations or frills at all. General Daisuke probably had a cooler lighter than this. Why were Garion thugs so dull?

“I’m going to light it now, so you probably want to get away. Be my guest if you want to get perforated by shrapnel though.” Gekko moved himself over the hole and snapped his fingers across the lighter. It sparked, and a tiny yellow flame leapt into existence. He took a deep breath.

After all of this it was still very likely Motonubu would try to kill him afterwards. Agents tended to not leave witnesses where possible. But destroying this keyhole would kick up an enormous amount of ash and dust, giving the boy ample time to move to an escape route. Those elevator-like shafts nearby offered the perfect way to escape- but he’d need one more thing to do that.

“Actually,” Gekko coughed. “I didn’t realize it, this hole doesn’t run deep enough.” He looked towards Motonubu expectantly. “I need that key you used before. The one that worked on the elevator.”

“Oh. Oh!” Motonubu pulled out the stone dagger from his cloak, as if he had been holding it in his hands the entire time. “I figured as much. This ‘dagger’ is actually like an identification card, or like a key, am I right?”

“Er, kind of. Fork it over.” Gekko tapped the hole with the lighter for emphasis. He tried to avoid staring at the artifact as it screamed its unseen language at him. “I need to put it in this slot thing to open the way to the switch. It’ll get destroyed too, so nobody else will be able to get in.”

Without any hesitation Motonubu tossed the dagger the same way he had hurled the lighter. It landed much closer to Gekko, causing him to jump and scoot away from it. That earned a slight chuckle from Motonubu. “You know, boy, the Fenshingiri did some extensive experiments with that artifact prior to my acquiring of it.”

Gekko was already inserting the dagger down into the hole, fishing around to try and find the slot that would grant him access. “You don’t say.”

“Yes. It has some kind of...defense mechanism, does it not? It seems to bring bad luck to those who hold it, but should not possess it. Perhaps it can only be safely handled by its original owner? A truly marvelous, though useless, bit of Jinchi security protection.”

Finding the slot Gekko inserted the dagger, then twisted it. Something clicked and opened further down the hole but that wasn’t super important. What mattered was he now had the dagger, and could escape down the elevator! The closer he got to achieving his goal, the sloppier Motonubu became. He must have figured nothing could go wrong now. “Well,” Gekko grunted and wiped some ash off his forehead. “Its real owner died a long time ago, so now all it does is hurt anyone who touches it. Kind of crappy design if you ask me. Back up, I’m about to light this sucker up.”

Reigniting the lighter Gekko brought it within distance of the green coiled wick. True to his word the material was still damp, and seemed to be taking a bit of time to light. The tension building over what felt like the last hour was about to pop off in a big way. Gekko had no plans to stick around and see if the explosives worked. Motonubu couldn’t tell anyway, but the whole tower was far too old to be used as a weapon any longer. Gekko didn’t quite understand its mechanism of action, but it was clear that there had once been some living component to the tower- something that drove its heart, though that word also meant engine so he still wasn’t clear on how the thing worked or what it did. In its current state the weapon was already completely inoperable and would stay like that for good. The explosives weren’t necessary at all. He would put them to better use than Motonubu could possibly anticipate.

Destroying the instructions on how to operate the Arkspire mattered more than some dumb switch! The wick finally caught flame and Gekko snatched the explosives up right as the tip began to fizzle. Then he hurled the bundle right towards Motonubu with pinpoint accuracy. The diminutive man stood right next to the central pillar where all the important information about operating the weapon lay- a perfect coincidence! With any luck Gekko would destroy the only data left on the Jinchi weapon, and take out the Garion agent with it. And if he didn’t- well, plan B was already in motion.

Gekko’s legs pushed away, propelling his small body towards the nearest elevator shaft. In his good hand he still held the dagger, and he twisted the dagger around while sprinting with the intention to drive it into the designated slot just as Motonubu had to activate the elevator. He slid to a stop and aggressively pushed the built up ash away from the top of the circular dias, looking for the keyhole. There! Sweat poured off his hands as he thrust it in, and he braced himself for a sudden drop. If the ride up was any indication the ride down would be...

...not happening. As he tried to stuff the dagger in, it stuck fast. It wouldn’t go all the way in. No way. No way! Was this one broken? Out of order? Those damned Jinchi couldn’t maintain their own methods of transportation! But, no, he still had time! Knowing he only had seconds left before the explosives detonated, Gekko again scrambled. He slid on his stomach towards the next closest elevator, sweeping away its ash and finding the slot all in one fluid movement. Again he thrust the dagger down into the perfectly fitting slot. The stone smoothly slid in, and...

Got stuck on something at the bottom. This hole was filled in too.

An incredibly, deathly chill wrapped around Gekko’s heart. For it to happen twice...

As the seconds ticked by there was no explosion either. Had Motonubu given him duds? On purpose? By accident? No, no time to think! Gekko clawed his way back up, this time throwing himself back all the way to the original elevator platform he and Motonubu had rode up on. This one had to work, since it brought them all the way up there! It might take him back to Junko but he’d worry about that later. Gekko thrust the dagger back into the slot and gave it a mighty twist-

But it didn’t budge. Just like the last two, this one also had something stuck at the bottom of the slot. Impossible. That was complete nonsense. Unless, unless-

“Feel free to try the others.” The thick, slimy satisfaction dripping off Motonubu’s voice was stomach churning. “Hope has gotten you this far- maybe you will find one elevator I failed to properly disable?”

Although everything in his body told him not to, Gekko looked towards the infernal Motonubu. He stood, giving a toothy grin, holding the bundle of smoking explosives in one hand. No, they weren’t explosives at all- as the smoke cleared, it was clear he was just holding onto some chunks of rock disguised with his Wispform, and wrapped with a wick to give the impression of an Annitou gunpowder charge.

“You have been terribly useful to me, Cadet Tanuma Gekko. Showing me how to start the Arkspire and how it operates...truly, our partnership has been very productive. It is a shame this is where we will be parting ways.”