My last hope was fading before my very eyes, becoming a shadow of contempt.
I was left alone in front of the half-destroyed Lumina Rip, slumping onto the cooling scrap heap.
Clink.
The data chip in my hand fell weakly to the floor.
Old Barney's death, the ashes of Rust Haven, and now, my only hope, lying broken before me.
It all felt... over.
"In the end... this place is no different".
A hollow laugh escaped me. I didn't even have the strength to lift my head.
The splendor of this golden city was never meant for me.
Even here, I was still just a ghost of the scrap heap, with nowhere to lean on.
It was at that exact moment.
All the sounds of the city died, as if by magic.
The distant roar of airships arriving and departing, the low-frequency resonance of machinery that enveloped the entire city—every sound rooted in Aether evaporated in an instant.
But the sound of steam engines did not stop.
If anything, with the other noises gone, the hissing of steam erupting from all corners of the city echoed even more grotesquely.
The brilliant holographic advertisements spasmed, then vanished into darkness as one.
Darkness swallowed the city.
This wasn't the familiar twilight of Rust Haven. This was an absolute, all-consuming void, devoid of even a single point of light.
And then, the screams began to rain down from the sky.
"Tower! Respond, Tower! The flight path is gone!"
With the Aether control systems that managed the sky routes paralyzed, the airships in flight became a chaotic mess, like a flock of giant, blinded birds.
"I can't steer! The ship is— Aaargh!"
An passenger ship, emblazoned with a garish aristocratic crest, lost all power, spun wildly, and began to fall.
"You crazy bastard!"
The pilot of a steam taxi crossing its path yanked his controls.
KRA-KOOM—
He couldn't avoid it in time. They collided, erupting in a massive fireball.
Fwoosh—
In their wake, small Aether scooters, their power lost, fell like tailless comets.
Screeech—
Other steam taxis, their engines intact but their routes lost, slammed into each other with horrific screeches, trying to avoid the same fate.
I instinctively raised my head.
Far in the distance, the colossal crystal spire that pierced the sky from the heart of the city.
The eternal blue light that pulsed from Silverin's heart, the Central Aether Supply Tower, flickered convulsively.
And then, it went dark.
The Golden Crossroads was now becoming a silent tomb of steel.
* * *
Meanwhile, back in his workshop, Leon slammed his fist onto the workbench in a fit of rage.
"Barbarian...!"
CRASH—
With a roar, precision tools scattered across the bench. He didn't care.
His mind was a mess.
The wondrous sight of the Lumina Rip warred with the face of that ignorant girl who had actually considered striking it with a hammer.
It was sacrilege. A desecration of a sacred relic.
The anger that rose in him was unbearable.
But at the same time, a technician's burning desire to make that ship fly again seared his heart.
Just then, all the lights in the workshop died, switching over to the emergency power's flashing red warning lights.
Leon didn't panic.
He immediately ran to his desk and powered on his battery-operated backup monitor.
The city's entire energy flow-chart materialized on the screen.
This was no normal overload.
A specific point—the pressure in the external 'Regulator' Valve 7—was plummeting abnormally, throwing the entire system out of balance.
"This wasn't an accident".
It was clear, external physical sabotage.
He let out a hollow laugh and collapsed into his chair.
"...You fools. You finally went and did it".
The city's communication network was already in chaos with the Aether Technicians' Guild's useless announcements.
"An unknown system error has occurred. Citizens, please remain calm and proceed to the shelters..."
As the empty voice repeated, Leon retrieved a dust-covered data chip and a set of schematics from an old locker in the corner of his workshop.
It was his innovative design—a design detailing just how vulnerable the Central Tower's external Regulators were to physical shock, and the decentralized backup system that could compensate for it.
He remembered the day he had taken this very schematic to his master, the Guild's high elder, Meister Valerius.
*
The Council of Elders' meeting hall, built of cold marble.
The air was heavy with the smell of old books and parchment.
A younger, passionate Leon stood before the seven elders, eagerly explaining his theory.
"Meister! Honored Elders! The current centralized Regulator system is incredibly dangerous. A single external shock could paralyze the entire city. But with my design..."
His master, Valerius, didn't even glance at the schematics.
He rested his chin on a hand covered by a spotless white glove, looking down on Leon with cold eyes.
The other elders were either yawning or openly snickering.
"Leon."
Valerius's voice was low and quiet, yet it silenced the entire hall.
"Your... sparkle of talent is the very thing turning you into a monster, making you forget the sanctity of the rules. Your arrogance is a desecration of the stable system our Guild has protected for a hundred years. If you do not wish to walk the path of a heretic, you will discard that profane idea at once!"
Valerius picked up Leon's schematic.
Then, in front of all the elders, he slowly, and very precisely, tore it in half.
The sound—RIIIP—was the sound of Leon's pride, and his last shred of faith in the Guild, being torn apart.
*
Waking from the memory, Leon looked down at the data chip in his hand.
The answer to saving the city was right here.
'Why should I? For them? For the men who looked at me like I was an insect? Who trampled on everything I was? Why...
...But I can't just let the city collapse...'
In his mind, the responsibility of a genius and the bitter resentment of a man clashed violently.
* * *
As time dragged on with no solution, the citizens' anxiety began to curdle into anger.
CRASH—
A shop window shattered. In the darkness, the looting began.
"The lights are out! Grab what you can!"
"My son! My son fell from there! Somebody, please, help me!"
The Guild's authority had hit rock bottom. The Merchant Guild Council began to relentlessly pressure the Guild.
The Council of Elders' meeting hall was in utter chaos.
"What is the meaning of this! Have you still not found the cause?"
one elder shouted.
"The cause doesn't matter! The Merchant Guild bastards are wringing our necks! We need a scapegoat to quell the public's anger, right now!"
another elder retorted.
"A scapegoat! The Guild's honor...!"
"Honor? At this rate, we'll be lucky to keep our lives, let alone our honor!"
The Council of Elders, driven into a corner, and Meister Valerius in particular, made a despicable decision.
He raised his hand toward the tumultuous hall.
"Everyone, be silent. There is a way."
He smiled, cunning as an old fox.
"Leon Bright... Everyone will believe it if it's that arrogant heretic. Hasn't he always ignored our Guild's authority and spread dangerous ideas? We just have to say he did this out of malice."
They needed a scapegoat to cover their incompetence and redirect the public's fury.
And the most perfect candidate for that role was the heretic who had always criticized the Guild's system: Leon Bright.
Valerius's dignified voice echoed through the city's emergency communication network.
"Citizens, the cause of this incident has been identified. This act of destroying the Aether Supply Tower has been confirmed as the work of the subversive element, Leon Bright, who has in the past disrupted the Guild's order and spread dangerous ideology. He is an enemy of the city who has endangered us all for his own twisted beliefs!"
Along with his inflammatory words, emergency power screens flickered to life across the city with a zzzt sound.
Leon's face appeared on the screens. A red brand spelling 'WANTED' was stamped over it, and the phrase 'DESTROYER OF THE CITY' flashed like a strobe.
Beneath it, the words 'BOUNTY: 100,000 GOLD' were clearly engraved.
The citizens, who had been lost in chaos, now had a clear target for their rage.
"Leon Bright?"
"That madman finally did it!"
"My shop! My family! It's all his fault!"
"Hah..."
Leon learned from the communication feed in his workshop that he had become the city's public enemy number one overnight.
He let out a hollow laugh, a sound beyond mere anger.
"So this is how they're playing it."
It was just as he had expected. But experiencing it firsthand was far more wretched than he could have imagined.
Outside his workshop, the roars of the angry mob and the heavy boot steps of the Guild Guard were drawing closer.
"Drag out Leon Bright!" "Get the man who ruined our city!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The dull thuds of the door being battered echoed through the entire hangar.
Leon hesitated.
'Should I just get caught and end it all? Or... should I help this city that betrayed me, one last time?'
For a moment, he pictured Jayn's face.
The defiant eyes of that 'barbarian' who didn't care about rules and acted on her own convictions.
At least she wasn't a coward.
"Damn it all...!"
Leon grit his teeth and made his decision.
Shhrrrk—
He swept his most important tools and the data chip containing the solution into his bag.
Just before the Guild Guard finally broke down the door and stormed in, he opened a camouflaged steel plate on his workshop floor.
Thunk.
Beneath it, a dark, damp secret passage leading to the city's sewers gaped open.
"Just you watch, Valerius. You'll see exactly who saves this city."
Leon took one last look at his workshop, then threw himself into the darkness without a trace of regret.
As he ran desperately through the dark, damp tunnels, he could feel the fury of the city chasing him.
Behind him, he faintly heard the CRASH! of his workshop's windows shattering, and the CLANG! BANG! of the furious mob destroying his precious machines.
Clutching the only hope for saving the city, he was now the most dangerous criminal, hunted by the entire metropolis.