The vehicle sat idling inside the Arbalest estate's garage.
It was an Arbalest-pattern Landcrawler, a blocky fortress sitting on six oversized, treaded wheels. The chassis was matte-grey steel, scarred from previous expeditions but reinforced with glowing runic plating along the fenders. It was ugly, utilitarian, and built to survive the apocalypse.
Sai tossed his bag into the trunk and dusted off his hands.
"Finally," Sai muttered, looking at the ramp leading up to the surface. "A car. A map. We move."
"Shotgun!" Drex called out, vaulting over the passenger door and landing in the seat.
"This thing is sick. Does it have weapons?"
"Don't touch anything," Sai warned, walking around to the driver's side. "We are driving to the nearest city. Then we figure out the next step."
He opened the driver's door.
"Room for one more?" a voice asked.
Sai froze. He slowly turned his head.
Lucianna was standing by the rear door. She wasn't wearing the polished silver plate of the Knight Captain anymore. She was dressed in practical, light leather travel gear, designed for mobility rather than ceremony.
On her back, she carried two weapons. Her own silver spear, and crossed behind it, the battered, blue-glowing curio she had recovered from the Outerverse—her father's lance.
Sai stared at her. "You have a city to rebuild."
"The steward can handle the logistics," Lucianna said, opening the rear door. "Besides, I told you I was coming."
She put her things in the trunk, slid in, sitting directly behind Sai.
Sai looked at Drex. Drex just grinned and gave a thumbs up.
Sai let out a sigh that seemed to deflate his entire body. "I should have charged extra."
He slammed the door and gunned the engine.
The landscape outside the city was desolate.
The Ending Times had scarred the world. The road to the next city wound through cracked earth, dead forests, and the occasional skeletal remains of pre-war infrastructure.
"So," Drex said, trying to break the silence as they sped down the highway. "Where are we going? You mentioned a city?"
"Alpha Delma," Lucianna said, looking out the window at the passing wasteland. "It is the nearest Bastion City."
"Bastion?"
"When the crises began," Lucianna explained, "humanity could not defend everywhere. We retreated into massive fortress cities and fortified them. Alpha Delma is one of the Great Bastions in this region. It houses millions."
"Millions?" Drex whistled. "That's a lot of people. They must have a huge army of strong Awakened."
"They do," Lucianna said. But her voice was tight.
"If they have a huge army," Sai said, his eyes on the road, "why didn't they help you?"
The car went quiet.
"We sent signals," Lucianna said quietly.
"When the Rifts first opened... when the monsters appeared... I sent everything. Mana flares. Radio broadcasts. Courier drones. We called for aid for weeks."
She looked down.
"Nothing. Not a single reply. It was like shouting into a void."
Sai tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
"A Bastion City doesn't just ignore a distress call from a Great Family," Sai said. "Total silence isn't negligence."
Sai looked up through the windshield at the grey sky.
He had been wondering why the Goddess had dropped him here, of all places. Arbalest City had been a tutorial. A warm-up. Closing one gate and killing one bug was impressive for a normal person, but for someone with his "resume"? It was busy work.
But a major city—a hub of millions—going silent?
That was a Hero-level threat.
"The Goddess," Sai muttered under his breath.
"What?" Lucianna asked.
"Nothing," Sai said, pressing down harder on the accelerator. "If things are as bad as a major city going mysteriously silent, then I can't just stay on the sidelines. We need to see what's happening."
Two hours later, the skyline of Alpha Delma came into view.
It was impressive to see what humanity could build in such a short time to survive.
Towering walls of black steel rose hundreds of feet into the air, protecting a sprawling metropolis of skyscrapers and domed structures. It looked impregnable.
But as they got closer, the wrongness of it hit them.
The colossal main gates were wide open.
"That makes no sense," Lucianna whispered, leaning forward. "The blast doors are designed to stay sealed unless a legion is moving out. Why would they leave them open?"
"And look around," Drex pointed out. "It's clean."
He was right. In the wildlands, an open gate was an invitation. Monsters of every kind should have been swarming into the city.
But there was nothing. No corpses. No roaming beasts. It was eerily empty.
Sai slowed the car as they approached the intake bridge. The steel archway loomed over them. The city beyond was silent. No smoke from the factories. No movement on the ramparts.
"I don't like this," Sai said, his instincts screaming at him.
He eased the car onto the bridge. The tires hummed against the metal grating.
They crossed the threshold of the outer wall.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
A sharp, high-pitched alarm echoed from the walls.
Suddenly, the silent ramparts came alive. Panels along the inner wall slid open with a mechanical hiss. Dozens of cannons and automated turrets emerged, swiveling instantly to point down at the lone vehicle.
"Out!" Sai shouted. "Now!"
He didn't bother braking. He slammed the door open and threw himself out of the moving vehicle. Lucianna and Drex scrambled out the other side, diving toward the concrete barriers lining the road.
ZOOOM-BOOM.
A concentrated beam of pure energy fired from the middle turret. It struck the car dead center.
The heavy armored vehicle didn't just explode; it disintegrated. The shockwave sent the three of them skidding across the pavement. Metal shrapnel and burning tires rained down around them as the turrets swiveled, searching for the survivors in the smoke.
"My new car," Sai groaned, face down on the pavement. "We had that for less than three hours."