Chapter 153: The Steam-Powered Chaos
The transition from the peaceful, real-world streets of Oakhaven to the chaotic atmosphere of Server 909 felt like being shoved into a giant, vibrating laundry machine. One moment, Aki was breathing fresh sea air; the next, he was inhaling the thick, oily scent of coal and overheated brass.
"Ugh... my lungs feel like they just swallowed a chimney!" Aki coughed, waving his hand to clear the thick green steam that was pouring from a nearby pipe.
They hadn't landed on solid ground. Instead, they were standing on the outer shell of a massive, flying structure that looked like a cross between a Victorian palace and a giant tea-kettle. The whole thing was held aloft by thousands of spinning gears and tiny, frantic propellers that hummed with a high-pitched, irritating sound.
"Aki, look at your clothes!" Rena pointed, trying to balance herself on the slippery copper surface.
Aki looked down. The 'Universal Beta Test' system had automatically updated their gear to match the server's theme. He was wearing a leather vest with fifty different pockets, a pair of oversized goggles with seven spinning lenses, and a hat that had a tiny, working steam engine on top of it.
"I look like a clockmaker who got struck by lightning," Aki groaned, adjusting his goggles. "And why is my hat whistling? It's giving me a headache!"
"At least you look normal," Sai growled. His massive armor had been replaced by a heavy, brass-plated diving suit that made him clank with every step. "I feel like a walking submarine. If I fall off this kettle, I'm sinking straight to the bottom of the map!"
Von, as always, managed to look cool, even in a world made of pipes. His violet cape was now reinforced with metallic threads, and his boots had small steam-jets that allowed him to hover an inch above the hot surface. "Focus. The 'Greater Grid' sent us here for a reason. Look at the sky."
Above them, the sky wasn't blue or black. It was a swirling mess of red "System-Error" messages and giant, floating computer chips that were leaking dark energy into the clouds. The virus was eating the server from the top down.
The Spider with the Top Hat
"Halt! Unauthorized organic presence detected on the Royal Kettle!" a mechanical voice shrieked.
From a hidden hatch, a giant mechanical spider emerged. It was made of polished silver, with eight long, spindly legs that ended in sharp needles. But the weirdest part was its "head"—it was wearing a tiny, perfectly tailored top hat and had a monocle over its glowing red eye-lens.
"Do you have a permit for those non-mechanical lungs?" the spider demanded, its legs clicking rhythmically. "In Server 909, breathing is a taxable offense! Pay the 'Oxygen-Fee' or face immediate disassembly!"
"An oxygen fee?" Aki laughed, reaching into one of his many pockets. "Listen, Mr. Legs, we're the Beta Testers. We don't pay fees; we find bugs. And you look like a very big, very annoying bug."
"ERROR! INSOLENCE DETECTED!" The spider lunged, its needle-legs stabbing at the spot where Aki had been standing a microsecond before.
Aki moved with the speed of a professional thief, his new steampunk gear giving him a strange, jerky kind of agility. He leaped over the spider's head, noticing a small brass lever hidden under the top hat.
"Von! Distract it! I'm going for its 'Settings' menu!" Aki yelled.
Von didn't need to be told twice. He drew a new weapon that had manifested on his belt—a rapier made of solidified violet steam. He danced around the spider, his blade leaving glowing trails in the air. Each strike didn't cut the metal; it sent a surge of "Logic-Static" through the spider's sensors, making it spin in circles.
"Now, Aki!" Rena shouted, casting a 'Cooling Aura' to keep the steam from burning them.
Aki landed on the spider's back. He grabbed the brass lever and pulled it with all his might. A small holographic screen popped up near the spider's monocle.
Current_Mode: TAX_COLLECTOR (Aggressive)
Available_Modes: [BUTLER], [DANCER], [FRIENDLY_GOLDEN_RETRIEVER]
"Let's go with... Friendly Dog," Aki grinned, his fingers flying across the screen.
Suddenly, the red light in the spider's eye turned a warm, happy yellow. The needles on its legs retracted, replaced by soft rubber pads. It let out a sound like a happy steam-whistle and began to wag its entire back-end like a tail.
"Aww, look at him," Aki said, patting the giant metal head. "Who's a good tax collector? You are! Yes, you are!"
"Aki, stop playing with the hardware," Sai muttered, trying to pry his heavy brass boot out of a gear-trap. "The 'Main Boiler' is glowing red. If we don't fix the core of this flying tea-kettle in the next ten minutes, we're all going to be part of a very large, very loud explosion."
Aki looked toward the center of the structure. A massive chimney was belching out dark, corrupted code that was turning into solid black soot. The virus wasn't just a bug; it was a physical corruption.
"Alright, team," Aki said, his goggles clicking as he zoomed in on the chimney. "The fun is over. Let's go huff some steam and save this world before my hat explodes."
As they ran toward the core, the mechanical spider followed them, making happy "beep-boop" sounds and trying to fetch stray bolts that fell from the ceiling. It was the weirdest team the digital multiverse had ever seen, but for the Ghost of Twilight, it was just another Tuesday.