CHAPTER 102— Alchemy City (8)
Dozens of heavily armed enforcement personnel stood on high alert outside an abandoned, multi-story industrial warehouse on the outskirts of the commercial sector.
"So this is where Salvador is reportedly holing up," one of the vanguard guards muttered, checking the magazine of his magitech rifle.
Cale Henius, a senior officer of the Alchemy Enforcement Unit, stood rigidly beside Alchemist King Stalin Bolievia, awaiting final directives.
"Proceed," Stalin finally commanded, his voice cold and devoid of its usual grandfatherly warmth.
"Team 4, breach the perimeter and clear the structure. Use lethal force if necessary," Cale barked, extending a hand to direct the tactical squads. "Team 6, establish immediate contact with our spotter unit—Team 2—who were assigned to maintain visual surveillance here. Everyone else, maintain standby positions and secure all escape vectors."
The tactical units moved with synchronized precision. Team 4 advanced on the reinforced steel door, slamming a magitech breaching charge against the lock. A muffled boom echoed through the street as the heavy barrier blew inward. Simultaneously, Team 6 broke off toward the direction where the observation post had been set up, while the remaining reserves locked down the perimeter.
Stalin stood in the center of the street, staring up at the dark, silent windows of the building, his expression unreadable.
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Ding...
"Finally it's opened." Kaya whispered, the small device in her hand flashing a bright green confirmation light as the heavy steel door clicked open.
'I honestly thought she had a terrible sense of direction when we started, but she brought us here rather quickly.' Ritvik noted silently, watching the door slide open.
As the heavy door parted, Kaya stepped across the threshold, tossing a warning over her shoulder. "You guys stay out here. I will be right back.
"Why can't we go inside with you?" Rowan asked, frowning.
"What if someone from you did something stupid and trigger an alarm. We can't take that risk, that's why I will go and come out with whatever I found."
The others exchanged glances. Seeing the logic in her words, they offered no objections, and Kaya slipped inside, the door sealing shut behind her.
The moment she disappeared, the heavy tension in the corridor dissipated. The students visibly relaxed, letting out long breaths as they slumped against the stone walls.
Ritvik dropped unceremoniously to the floor, sliding down until his back hit the cold masonry. Seraphine stood a few paces away, leaning shoulder-first against the same wall.
Ritvik glanced sideways. "Why are you standing right next to me?"
"Who said I'm standing beside you, you obnoxious mutt? I'm leaning against the wall, which happens to span the entire hallway," she snapped back instantly.
"Right, right..." Ritvik sighed, letting his head loll forward in sheer exhaustion.
A few yards away, Rowan was leaning against the opposite wall, with Sarina standing beside him, arms crossed over her chest. Watching Marna and Selene standing nearby, Rowan's curiosity finally won out.
"Hey... I've been meaning to ask you guys." Rowan started, pitching his voice low. "How did even you manage to convince a GAA student to guide you down here? The one we had earlier acted terrified of the restricted zones."
Ritvik tilted his head from across the hall, silently thinking. 'I've been wondering the same thing.'
"Well... we didn't really have to twist any arms." Marna replied. "She mentioned that she had her own personal reasons for wanting to uncover something. so she offered to help us dig."
"About Alokik?" Rowan pressed.
"Yeah. We heard she was very close with him.."
Ritvik stared blankly at the exchange.
'What is it with this Alokik guy that makes everyone treat him like a missing artifact?'
"Hey," Ritvik muttered, turning his gaze back toward Seraphine. "Why are you even looking into this Alokik guy anyway?"
"Is that any of your business?" she shot back.
"Fine, keep your secrets. I don't care enough to pry." Ritvik huffed, looking away.
Seraphine stayed silent for a beat longer, her jaw tightening slightly before she muttered under her breath: "He was my brother's friend."
Rowan's ears twitched sharply at the admission. 'Wait... Alokik was her brother's friend too?'
Across the hall, Ritvik stared at her with wide, blank eyes.
'What kind of bizarre logic is that?' He was my brother's friend, so I'm breaking into a high-security black site to investigate? Did you had a crush on him or something?'
For a split second, Ritvik seriously considered voicing the thought out loud, but his internal survival instincts screamed red alerts, warning him that death by spontaneous combustion awaited him if he did.
Sigh... Ritvik exhaled a long breath, reaching into his pocket to pull out the crumpled map just to occupy his hands.
Seraphine glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Isn't that the exact map Kaya told you to burn?"
"I'm going to burn it," Ritvik lied smoothly.
"I'm just checking our escape routes ahead of time in case things go sideways." He smoothed out the paper on his knees, tracing the ink lines. 'Hmm... so if we have to make a run for it, we take this conduit...'
As he scanned the layout, his eyes snagged on a metallic serial number stamped onto the opposing stone wall across the hall.
Sub level 5.
Ritvik blinked, looking from the wall back down to the map.
'Wait a second. We're supposedly standing right outside the primary data archives room, right? So why does the wall marker say sub level 5? According to this schematic, the archives are flanked by sub level 3.'
He whipped his head back up, scrutinizing the corridor's architecture. The ceiling height, the conduit placements, and the masonry didn't match the blueprint at all.
'Wait a minute... how was she—'
"What are you staring at me for with that creepy expression, mutt?" Seraphine demanded, crossing her arms.
Ritvik snapped his head toward her, his face draining of color as a sudden, terrifying realization hit him.
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BZZZZT—
The walkie-talkie gripped in Stalin's hand crackled to life. "Command, this is Alpha Team. Come in."
"Report. Did you secure the targets?" Stalin asked crisply.
"Negative, Lord Stalin. The building is completely vacant. Repeat: there is zero personnel inside the structure. It's entirely clean."
Stalin's eyes narrowed. "Explain."
Before the team leader could respond, a second frantic transmission broke through the static. "Delta to control! Delta to control! We've located the spotter unit from Team 2... but all members have been neutralized and left unconscious in the alley!"
The missing pieces slammed together in Stalin's mind with terrifying clarity.
"Lord Stalin?!" Cale shouted, seeing the sovereign's face pale.
"Everyone fall back—mobilize the reserve units and head back to the GAA campus immediately!" Stalin roared, a vein throbbing on his temple.
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"Why are you staring at me like I just grew a second head?" Seraphine repeated, visibly unnerved by Ritvik's blank stare.
"Hey... don't you find any of this even slightly strange?" Ritvik whispered urgently.
"Strange? What are you babbling about now?"
"Think about it! That girl walked us straight here without ever hesitating, without once checking the map, as if she already knew the exact layout of this sub-level like the back of her hand."
The rest of the group snapped their attention toward Ritvik as he laid out his deduction.
"You're just overthinking things because you're paranoid," Sarina noted skeptically.
"I am not overthinking! She deliberately barred all of us from entering the room with her—not a single witness allowed inside. And..." Ritvik shoved the map directly into Seraphine's face. "Look at this layout yourself!"
"Ugh, get that messy paper away from me—" Seraphine tried to swat it away, but seeing the genuine, unadulterated panic in Ritvik's eyes, she snatched the map out of his hands with a groan. "Fine, whatever, let me see it..."
Ritvik scrambled to his feet, pointing down at the blueprint. "Look at the schematics! The data archives are mapped to sub level 3. But check the metal placard bolted to the wall right at front of you!"
Everyone turned to look. Etched clearly into the masonry was a large, unyielding numeral: sub level 5.
The structural layout of the corridor completely contradicted the place Kaya had led them into. The pieces clicked into place with horrifying speed, sending a wave of chilling dread through the entire group.
Ding.
At that exact second, the archive door hissed open. Kaya stepped back out into the corridor, her brow furrowing as she noticed the others clustered tightly together, staring at her with hostile expressions.
"What's going on? Why are you all huddled up like that?" Kaya asked, her tone sharpening instantly. She noticed the map clutched in Ritvik's hands. "I thought I told you to burn that map. We're leaving—move out."
"Hold on a second, Kaya," Seraphine called out, stepping forward with her arms uncrossed, her fingers beginning to spark with heat. "Before we go anywhere else... tell us what you actually found inside those archives."
Kaya stopped dead, her expression hardening. "This isn't the place for a debrief. Let's get back, and I'll explain everything."
"Or did you not even enter the data archives at all?" Seraphine asked flatly, her voice dropping an octave. "Where the hell did you actually just take us?"
For a terrifying second, absolute silence swallowed the corridor.
Kaya let out a long, heavy sigh, her polite facade melting away into cold indifference.
"Sigh... That's precisely why I told you to burn that stupid map."
She raised her hands slowly. "Look, I can explain—"
Before she could finish the sentence, Seraphine's arm whipped forward. A surging wave of raw, crimson flames erupted from her fingertips, roaring straight down the hallway.
Kaya's eyes widened in shock; she threw herself sideways into a tactical roll, narrowly dodging the searing blast, though the edge of her coat still caught fire, singeing her shoulder.
Kaya hit the ground, scrambled back to her feet, and locked eyes with Seraphine.
"Looks like you aren't going to listen."
In a flash of motion, Kaya reached into her pocket, pulled out a small metallic sphere, clicked the activation stud, and slammed it onto the floor.
HIIISSSSS—
A massive, dense cloud of blinding white chemical smoke instantly billowed outward, flooding the corridor in seconds.
"Cover your nose!" Ritvik roared, coughing as he slapped a hand over his face.
"On it!" Sarina called out. She whipped out her wand, sweeping it in a wide arc to cast a concentrated vortex of wind. The swirling airflow dragged the thick white smoke toward it's center, condensing the vapor at the tip of her wand before dispersing it into nothingness.
"Nice work, Sarina!" Ritvik cheered, lowering his hand.
Rowan dashed forward into the clearing, scanning the space. "She's gone."
"Damn it! You useless mutt, couldn't you have warned us a second earlier?!" Seraphine hissed, slamming a fist against the wall in frustration.
"Does it look like the time to argue. Let's get out of here quickly." Ritvik fired back, his panic rising.
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CHAPTER ENDS