Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 10 : A Monster Appeared

Gads and Shanice dashed along the dirt after meeting their demands at the control room. The bearded man was left behind the pack due to sluggish movement on foot, but still swinging by in utmost happiness before their current ongoing discoveries at the moment. The door was built in 30 degrees angle and leaning onto the concrete surrounding its circle. It is five meters in diameter and capable of withstanding the weight of two adult persons combined, could be more as the couple were seemingly able to roam over its entire assemblage with ease.

“Wait, you guys! Don’t enter the hole if I haven’t inspect it close.”

He weaves a long inhale as they both arrived to the scene. Shanice has plunged herself into the platter of amusement alongside the pair ten-seconds earlier than her brother. After his arrival, the curly-haired woman turned her vision towards him and masking a ridicule on each side of the lips,” You’re late. We’ve cracked the door open without you.” scolded the woman a little. Against such hostility derived from her, however, the bearded man has known about the flippant attitude and putting himself a jokey face instead.

“You’ve got no tools for cracking a vault, baby-killa.” Boasted him in front of Shanice, felling a tree into her mockery soon after,”You’ve had to whistle for my dog and it’s still bite, but I can hail them up whenever I wanted to.”

John and Elisa Straverman were already putting a number of strokes onto the metallic surface, comprehending around its unwavering toughness this time around. A round-shaped vault engraved with numerous intricate contraptions emerged from within the black goo. Exterior-wise, sophisticated mechanism constructed on the panel appeared way too impossible to broken down. The black-haired man even having himself in awe towards such formidable creation,” I’ve never been on top of a vault before.” Said the John Straverman amidst his ongoing examination,”I’ve jumped a few times and I still can’t open it up.”

He observes them up close and spotting its outlandish combination with his eyes, probing over the small pipe-like constructions and looking at them in pride. His wife was also keen on inspecting the impenetrable door with different reason to apprehend. She tries to find any possible hazard upon its shell and mitigate themselves away from it as soon as possible.

After that, the blonde-haired woman nudged her view towards the bearded man,”You sure it can be opened?” She asked. Listening to her impending question, Gads Gilmore goes into silence for awhile. It takes quite some time to muster his thoughts and pondering any consequences that the man could convey.

Perceiving the bearded man and his struggling demeanor, their leader goes concerned. Her eyes meet the man’s vision and wriggled her eyebrows up front,” It’s never suited your style to think much, Gads. You’re all but a brawny figure for me.” said the woman before her brother’s appalling distress. Gads Gilmore went a bit in fury against her mockery, yet posed a glimpse of composure by the smile across his face.

”I can, and it’s a piece of cake for my tech. Watch my six and you’re be amazed.” He placed two fingers before his eyes,”Never underestimate any of my equipment, sister.”

Gads Gilmore unpacks the screen panel straight after and piling up a number of instructions onto the unknown feature of his device. Over the next step that the bearded man deemed feasible to penetrate the tough scale of the vault door, Gads Gilmore situated his screen upon the classical-made wheel at the center.

“Observe carefully, for what you will have to see is a masterpiece of mine.”

He muttered in utmost confidence.

~pop~

Across the rear side of the screen, its steel-adorned back goes aflame. Sounds of molten metals were pulsating above the door’s contraption and dismembered them whole. An abundance amount of liquid enveloped the wheel’s entire surface minutes after being molded in blue-tinted spark of fire. For some reason, the liquid could travel on its own towards its bolts and locking-down mechanism of the vault, expeditious and quick-witted to cloak everything into bright silver-colored metallic fluid it has created.

~blub-blub-blub~

Five minutes required for the silver-tinted metal fluid to befuddle the vault door’s mechanical contour. In next to no time, the metal blobs suddenly melted the entire setup and corroded its surface afterwards. “What is that, Gads? Mind to explain it out for us?” asked the black-haired man in excitement.

On the other hand, his wife wrapped both arms and folded them above the chest, overviewing the entire course of development without applying a word on such process. John Straverman after being ignored out of whim, however, springs ahead towards his large-bodied companion and prying over his backpack in his joy,” Show me other stuffs you got, master gadget!” screamed him towards the bearded man, who goes into facepalm against John’s immature reaction as he encountered such response up front.

His face says it all of a manchild who was eager to see more of scientific-related thingamajig on his voyage. Gads Gilmore appeared calm and collected against such enthusiasm that was shown up, yet still posed a glimpse of eagerness before his own invention at the most. With embarrasment, Elisa pulls her husband whilst bowing ahead of the bearded man consequently,”I’m apologize. He’s usually like this when looking at cool gadgets. I suppose it’s more like a syndrome for him lately.” Muttered the blonde-haired woman towards astonishment of her fellow teammates ahead.

“Don’t worry. It’s common for a man to admire my work these days.” Gads Gilmore briefly responded.

~zuuu~

Intense tremor appeared across the panel for each contraptions that were shrouded with metallic-tinted molten liquid. It crumbled up to pulp by the stream of wildly-heated elements above them and goes dissolved gradually afterwards. From a heavy-duty mechanical engineering to become molten-up paste of steel, there are residues left spread across the thick metal-coated fortification for the quartet to explore.

Tone of confusion goes unearthed before the metallic substance. Shanice furrowed her forehead against such results and conveying mild remorse down within,”That’s all you can do, Bro? I’m thinking a little bit too high, am I?” commented the curly-haired woman that curled both arms across the chest to redeem responsibility. Such devastating outcome has seemingly taken away trust from Elisa, as well, due to her lingering eyes across the unsuccessful attempt from their fellow intellectual genius of the group,” My husband would see all of your action as a part of disgrace, would you mind settling down a score with him in some ways?”

Listening to the wife’s complaint, Gads Gilmore reverted his gaze towards John Straverman subsequently. His expression has gone from favored enthusiasm towards visible fury. The black-haired man seemed disinterested against the mind-blowing consequences and being disheartened in front of degrading demise,” I’m a bit upset with you, to be frank.” John’s statement spurs a cold war over his child-like emotion in compelling expression of a dog-eyed face.

“Haven’t you look it up directly? That’s just the opening of my show, dumbass.”

~zuu~

From merely chewing a petite chunk of metal, the corrosive fluid has been flowing hot in temperature and liquifying more of them bit by bit. It successfully threads a wide-array of hole over the entire bracket and manages to move along further in depth. Being proud towards his own invention, the bearded man was famished for attention that he stepped one-time above the melted-down contraption before jumping across them effortlessly,”See? It’s not even scrapping my shoes off! What...”

“No, it’s chewing them up, Gads.”

Shanice drew a finger towards his shoes, now slowly dismantled by such destructive substance underneath. Gads immediately removes them away from his feet and let them getting obliterated alongside the vault door down below,” Technical difficulties, lads. I’m not getting away with this, but so what? At least it’s working well in my case.” He consoled himself out of humiliation.

~bzzt-bzzt~

“What happened?”

Shanice rubbed her pocket by the surge of resonating voice that goes blaring out. Phones suddenly goes ringing all across the junkyard and startled the quartet in immediate fashion. Their own handhelds have frantically do the same way and emerging in repeated sequence, which were mostly inept to be defused in one way or another.

Elisa becomes the first one to pull her device out of the pouch. A white-colored broadcast with ‘WIC company’ infamous logo has decorated the whole interface of her phone. Red-colored timer has appeared under the world-renowned trademark, counting across the remaining ten seconds left on the bracket for them to view upon.

“Oh no, someone has added another challenge for us, it seems.”

John Straverman acted out of surprise, akin to their leader whose face was bland from the commencement of its ear-splitting noise. They have known of Aldo Meridic and his extravagant challenge. It is fairly too simple for a revolutionary person to have them handled $20 billions worth of survival game without supplementary contest over the top. Shanice herself has thrown away her own gadget without anything to reminisce about.

Once an out-of-the-world personality messed up the wireless transmission, it means an end for their independence. Being bothered over trivial matters on their communication device would mean no less than a trash to dispose of.

‘Brother and sisters of Axeport city!’

His opening statements hails over hundred thousands participants at once. Most unwilling passengers of the malevolent trip have to pay their attention onto their gadget in unspeakable hatred. Aldo Meridic is legitimately identified most of their thirst for vengeance and competent enough to stop such notorious crime in seconds. Thanks to his prodigal nature, those bad blood of the man himself has been instilled within agonizing pain instead. His voice instigates pleasure and lust for another m******e.

A psychopathic, yet clean and tarnished hands of the man were tied behind a comfortable white screen on his broadcast table. Aldo Meridic took a breather for a minute straight without grumbling a sentence over the crowd. Probably for his own entertainment, it seemed, that the mastermind of their tragedy wallowed into the weeping willows of the innocent citizen and leaning onto them in utmost glee.

John and Elisa Straverman crinkled their nose before the tone of his introduction. They were truly in disgust over many issues that occurred after three days spent on the city. A humble vacation ruined, shifted into outrageous stunt made by a madman billionaire who was concealing himself within the dark.

“I’ll be pleasured to murder that man on the spot. Sorry for that, John, but that’s something I can’t defy.”

Shanice clenched her fist hard against the white screen. She was the culprit for her own phone’s dreadful end. Once the billionaire has settled of their absolute fate, her eyes were squinted and went furious against such unlikely challenge they have faced. The curly-haired immediately crushed her own handheld without any sort of remorse developed in her current self at the moment.

‘Ahem-ahem’

Aldo Meridic coughed. It disturbs the frequency and busted up pristine-white color of the screen to some extent, before then returned back to its regular appearance once more.

‘Pardon me for the intrusion, but I have to inform you all out of this.’ His charisma plays around the tone. Chief but sarcastic, the man flaunts a boundless fervor onto his own speech,’You must be now playing in groups, yeah? I recommend it. In survival game, one should be blended up in a group to contain responsibilities and devise a strategy with a friend. Or more, maybe, that’s up to your choice.’

~cripple-cripple~

The microphone captured a sound of crumpled paper. Back again, the video transmission goes slightly disturbed by the appearance of such annoying reverberation, but then goes back to normal as if none of them has ever happened in the first place.

‘Based on the statistics I’ve gathered, there are still a hundred thousand and a hundred people who were surviving throughout the third day of my game. It’s fantastic! I’m enjoying every ounce of it from my drones that recorded every steps taken on the city I have paid for three hundred billions with. So, I will deploy a small group of hungry monsters to take you out for a dance, okay?’

His last statement ends the feed in a whole.