Two battlefields, two heartbeats, crossing in the chaos of a city plunged into darkness.
*
Jayn, having thrown herself from the weather observatory, calmly assessed her surroundings as she fell.
Her eyes, like a hawk searching for prey, pierced the geography of this scrap-metal city.
Kicking off the corner of a massive storefront sign, she absorbed the impact by landing on an old ventilation fan cover, and finally, she touched down silently on the floor of the lower commercial district.
A cat-like agility.
Her appearance was like a small bomb dropped into the chaos-filled street.
"What the hell? That woman?"
The two closest Chrome Hound looters spotted her, their confusion quickly morphing into greedy smiles as they charged, raising clubs studded with cogwheels.
Instead of meeting them head-on, Jayn grinned and vanished into a narrow alley.
A classic lure.
The stupid hounds took the bait.
"Stop right there!"
The moment they entered the alley, Jayn was already above their heads, standing on the rusty iron railing of an old building.
She drew the 'Sky-Hammer' from her back.
She hooked the claw-end of the hammer onto the joint of an old emergency staircase nearby and pulled with all her might.
SKREEEEE—!
With a metallic shriek like a scream, the decades-old staircase collapsed entirely.
The heavy mass of scrap metal crushed the looters below, who were buried within it before they could even manage a short scream.
Jayn didn't stop.
She swung her hammer at the bolts supporting a giant cogwheel that was affixed to the wall of the opposite building like a decoration.
CRASH! BANG!
As the bolts burst, the massive cogwheel thundered as it rolled to the ground below.
The group of looters trying to block the alley entrance scattered in terror.
This was her way of fighting.
Not a battle of strength, but a hunt using terrain and wits—something only one who had mastered every inch of Rust Haven for ten years could do.
*
At the same moment, Leon was infiltrating the Central Aether Supply Tower through a lower-level maintenance passage.
Bracing himself with a sweat-soaked hand against the wall, he moved through the darkness, following the schematics drawn in his mind.
But his intrusion was detected immediately.
"Intruder alert! Sector C-7!"
The figures blocking his path from the end of the corridor, illuminated by lanterns, were not Chrome Hounds. They wore familiar uniforms: the Aether Technicians' Guild Guard.
"Stop, Leon Bright! Destroyer of the City!"
Leon let out a bitter laugh at their cry. Calling him the destroyer, when he had come to save the city.
Instead of fighting the guards, he kicked a small, unnoticed panel on the corridor wall.
With a clack, the panel flew open, revealing a secret ventilation shaft that existed only on his schematics.
"Stop him!"
Just before the guards reached him, he threw himself into the narrow vent without hesitation.
Not brute force, but a perfect understanding of the structure of this giant machine he had designed. That was his weapon.
*
As Jayn's guerrilla tactics continued to pick off his subordinates, an enraged voice finally echoed over the Chrome Hounds' radio network.
"All of you, stand down. I'll catch that rat myself."
The pack of looters parted like the Red Sea. And from between them, a massive shadow, easily over two meters tall, walked out of the darkness with heavy footsteps.
An overwhelming presence that made even the surrounding looters shrink back in fear.
It was Kalligo 'Red-Jaw'.
His massive chrome prosthetic jaw, which replaced his entire lower face, glinted in the faint light of the powerless city.
He glanced contemptuously at the wreckage Jayn's "tricks" had created.
His voice, mixed with the mechanical drone of his artificial jaw, rumbled low and eerie.
"One little rat is giving my hounds trouble. Good. It's hunting time."
Kalligo slammed the 'Hydraulic Axe' he had been carrying on his shoulder onto the ground.
KRA-KOOM!
With a tremendous roar, the thick paving stone of the plaza shattered, cracking like a spider's web.
Jayn instinctively dropped into a crouch, sensing the danger.
This was a different level of power.
"Kwahaha! Run, you little mouse!"
Kalligo charged, swinging the axe.
Jayn dodged the attack with her characteristic agility, weaving to his side.
A chance to counterattack. She swung the Sky-Hammer with all her strength at Kalligo's flank.
But Kalligo didn't dodge.
"Foolish!"
He raised his left arm and blocked Jayn's hammer flat-out.
With a dull thud, a jolt of pain shot up Jayn's arm instead.
It was like hitting a steel wall.
Kalligo didn't miss the opening and swung his axe in a horizontal arc.
Jayn reflexively threw herself out of the way.
The vendor's cart that had been where she stood just a moment ago was split in two like paper, scattering debris everywhere.
This wasn't technique.
It was pure, overwhelming force that pulverized everything.
For the first time, Jayn felt like she had hit a wall.
*
Climbing out of the dusty ventilation shaft, Leon finally reached the heart of the supply tower: the control room. He froze in horror at the scene before him.
"This can't be..."
The tower's massive Aether Core was pulsing erratically with an unstable red light, looking as if it would explode at any moment.
Clinging to the core's surface like parasites was an illegal military device: 'Aether Parasites', which had paralyzed the control system and were reversing the energy flow.
Leon rushed to the control console and entered his ID. But the only reply was a hopeless mechanical tone.
[Access Denied. Admin privileges locked.]
The Elders. Valerius had remotely blocked his access from the central command.
"Stupid old men...! The entire city is about to be blown away!"
Leon abandoned the official procedure.
He tore off a protective wall panel, exposing a bundle of energy conduits that were spitting violent blue sparks.
BANG! BANG!
Behind him, the sound of the Guild Guard breaking down the reinforced door of the control room hammered at his heart.
There was no time. He pulled the data chip from his pocket.
The only way was to connect the chip directly to these conduits and forcibly seize control of the system.
It was a gamble, no different from suicide.
*
The plaza had become Kalligo's personal stage.
Jayn gasped for breath, hiding behind the wreckage of a broken cart.
Kalligo was smiling. The relaxed smile of a predator that has cornered its prey.
"Nowhere left to hide, little rat."
Kalligo adjusted his grip on the axe and slowly approached.
Jayn gripped the Sky-Hammer again, but she knew she had no chance in a direct confrontation.
Her eyes darted around. Steam pipes, old billboards, unstable stacks of cargo crates. Everything could be a weapon.
Jayn burst from cover, dashing to Kalligo's side and striking a nearby steam pipe's old valve with her hammer.
Hisss! Hot steam erupted, obscuring Kalligo's vision.
Seizing the opening, Jayn circled behind him, aiming for the joints on the back of his legs.
But Kalligo's reaction was faster than she anticipated.
Though blinded, he pinpointed her movement by sound alone, spun, and slammed the shaft of his axe into her abdomen.
"Kaff!"
The breath-stealing impact sent Jayn's body flying, before she crashed to the ground.
The Sky-Hammer flew from her grasp, clattering loudly as it rolled far away.
A moment later, Kalligo's massive shadow fell over her.
He grabbed the collar of the fallen Jayn with one hand and lifted her effortlessly. Her feet dangled in the air.
Click-clank—
A sickening sound came from Kalligo as he disengaged the joints of his artificial jaw.
Like a hinge being undone, his steel jaw opened abnormally wide. Sharpened steel teeth closed in, right in front of Jayn's face.
"This is true power, little mouse."
From his red jaw, an ominous crimson energy, like that of an Imperial weapon, began to glow.
*
"Please... work!"
Leon connected the final cable to the searing-hot energy conduit with his bare hand.
Tssss—
Through the horrific agony of his flesh burning, he screamed at the system, betting everything he had.
"From now on, you move by my rules, you stupid cogwheel!"
The moment Leon's chip seized the system, every monitor in the control room flickered from red to blue.
The Aether energy, which had been dangerously backflowing, began to swirl into a massive vortex, sucking back into the center of the core.
Wooooooooom—
The entire tower, which had been shaking with unstable vibrations, grew quiet, settling into a stable, humming resonance.
From the top of the tower, a massive, stable, blue pulse of Aether energy rippled outward in a ring.
The city's extinguished lights flickered back on, as if by a miracle. The 'Golden Crossroads', once plunged into darkness, lit up, as bright as day.
And the city awoke.
Vweeeen—!
From building walls, from beneath statues, dozens of hidden automated defense turrets emerged and reactivated.
The turrets identified the Chrome Hounds in their midst, recognized the most dangerous target—Kalligo—and began unleashing a barrage of blue energy blasts.
"Kugh! What is this...!"
Kalligo reflexively threw Jayn aside to block the turret fire.
His thick coat, said to be made from the hide of a Devourer—a great predator of the sky that could withstand most cannon fire—began to burn, spewing black smoke.
He glared at the blue-glowing tower with furious eyes, then finally ordered the retreat.
"This city hides behind its machines like a coward. But remember this, rat. I will tear that throat of yours out myself."
He threw down a smoke bomb and vanished into the darkness with his subordinates.
Jayn, lying on the ground bathed in the blue light, looked at the distant tower and managed a faint, bloody smile.
"...You did it, Mr. Genius."
*
At the same moment, Leon, having confirmed the defense systems were suppressing the looters via the control room monitors, finally relaxed and slumped to the floor.
Forgetting the pain in his burned hand, he let out an exhausted laugh.
"...That crazy woman. She really held them all off."
In different places, the two sensed each other's success.
* * *
After the incident was resolved, Leon became the hero who saved Silverin.
The Elders, as if nothing had happened, offered him the rank of 'Meister' and vast wealth to cover up their own mistakes.
But Leon, looking at the hypocritical faces of those who had tried to kill him, felt a deep sense of revulsion.
In the end, he refused all their offers.
The place he headed was not the Guild's glittering hall. Instead, it was a crash site on the outskirts of Silverin, filled with the smell of oil and piles of scrap.
There, Jayn was crudely bandaging her wounds, staring dismally at the half-destroyed 'Lumina Lip'.
Leon stood before Jayn. He looked back and forth between the ship and her for a long time, then finally spoke.
"They want to make me a golden cogwheel and slot me into their machine. But I'm sick of it. I... I want to see the real sky. I want to fly a path that isn't on any schematic."
He pointed to the battered 'Lumina Lip' and continued, his voice filled with a longing he had never felt before.
"I'll fix this ship. No... let me fly with it. As your ship's first crewmate... would you have me as your Chief Engineer?"
Jayn looked at him, surprised for a moment.
And then, for the first time, she offered a faint, genuine smile, not the mask of 'cheerful madness'.
She extended a grease-stained hand to Leon.
"Welcome, rebel of the cogwheel heart."
Together, they looked at the 'Lumina Lip'.
The ship was still a broken pile of scrap, but in their eyes, a future was already taking shape—one soaring toward the vast, open sky.