"WHAT!?" I yelled in shock after hearing what had just been announced. Not only had Defender failed to stop the breakout, but a Spire-Lord had also been killed. And, as if the God of Death wanted to ice our cake of doom, we were now reeling from the fact Fire Trail is under attack. One of the escaped gladiators had broken into the main chamber where that beast was!
"SCREW YOU GUYS! I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE!" one of my colleagues shouted in panic as he tried to get out the door. But, everyone was now panicking without restraint because the announcement of Fire Trail's situation only meant one thing... The Magic-Exposer would have to be activated and unless you somehow got away. We'd all be dead...
Now, I can't say I was overly sentimental about my home or its people, but if any of these creatures escaped... If any got out of these mountains and into the lands below then we'd be doomed. Every city-state would be torn apart by these creatures! And if our best weapons could not stop it then there was no chance our rival cities could survive it!
"Dammit!" I then said before I violently kicked a chair away. Tearing off my nametag and reading it as I took heed of how I was the last one here. Clicking my mouth before I paced out of the building as it quietened down somewhat. Slowly trailing the crowds in their frequently clogged hallways until I just broke a window.
I screamed in pain as the glass cut me but I also did not focus on it. Nor did I focus on the ground that sent strong shocks into my legs. All this pain would have to be ignored and that is what I did. So much adrenaline was going through me and my mind had a singular purpose.
I was not going to survive if I let these creatures out of the Civil Mountains. So I might as well die on my own terms with heroics to match even our founder! I would have the legacy that I so desperately wanted. Even if it was vastly different to my previously planned version of it...
"Hey! I need a car!" I demanded from a nearby straggler as they held on to their tools while following the screams. My injured hand quickly bloodied my coat in the meantime. Glass was crunching under my weight as well.
"Don't we all!" was all I got from them before they finally dropped their tools and moved on.
I would snarl at him at first, but petty grudges would not save Tobaballe, "Ea'enk, I don't care if you nearly die doing it, you will get a car." I told myself in order to hype myself up on it. Moving as quick as I could until I saw one that had fallen off the road. It wasn't destroyed, but it must have been abandoned after being smashed off the road...
Luckily, the keys and all that was still there so I would hop in and start her up again. Carefully turning the car around before slamming down on the acceleration. Smashing the horn over and over in an effort to not run anyone over while I drove past the battlegrounds. Nearly throwing up as I saw all the blood and gore while also gagging at the bumps in the road.
It was all burning, everything... The weapons we made to fight magical beings in case they attacked us... They had all failed. Neither Defender with all its might did anything nor the golems that were spawned from its creation.
Not one of the goldhands succeeded so it wasn't just a tech issue either. We were genuinely doomed at this point if I could not set off the Magic-Exposer. That was one of our strongest weapons, if not the strongest now given Defender's state... If it failed then I did not know what we would do.
My home would burn and it would be the end of everyone within these mountains. Either food for a monster or a bloody stain as our attackers rampaged further on. The last few days had been nothing but calls to action. A new addition to a string of bad events.
Maybe I could cut that string here and now, maybe I could tie it up with a great event. One that signalled to all that we had saved our people even if they did not know... Or maybe it would fail too and I would die worrying about my home. Yet, I wanted to have faith in the creation of my countrymen.
I may have not helped make the Magic-Exposer, but I had seen it work. I had seen it devastate a mountain with a grand ball of bluish-white fire. I knew firsthand how it bent the people of this land to our will, how it scared off our rivals. And now we would see it go off once again.
"GROUND FLOOR!?" I would then swear as the car suddenly smashed straight into a blue-haired woman. And I nearly pissed myself at how she remained chipper despite having a car around her torso. But that was nothing compared to what was behind her... Gladiator-12 and Gladiator-27 were both right there!
I nearly collapsed in terror but they would walk past me without doing anything. At least, while Gladiator-27 was near me. Once he had passed on by, Gladiator-12 tried to hit me with her tail blade. Something that had barely just missed me.
"No, no, no! You can't go that way, monsters!" I would babble out in terror before I got back up and ran as fast as I could. Going on and on despite hearing one of them speak in my tongue. I kept on going until I found a spot to hide. And there I would remain for a few moments before I ran once again.
Slowing down as my prior injuries got the best of me and collapsing before Fire Trail's building. Nearly smiling in relief as I saw the salvation of my people. Within the walls of this slightly damaged building was the Magic-Exposer. Right at ground-zero if the wyvern ever escaped...
But, we would not need it for that creature. We would need it for the ones that were on their way to my home! So I hobbled inside of the building while panting over and over again. Running a bloody hand across the heated walls until I found it.
The room had not been touched and I tried to use my pass to get the door opened. But it was denied! The blood on my hands had set it off in the wrong way and now the alarms were blaring. And, for some reason, a goldhand came running towards me with his gun in the air.
"FREEZE!" he yelled as he nervously held that gun at me.
"ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME!? PROJECT GLADIATOR IS RUNNING AMOK AND YOU ARE TRYING TO STOP ME!?M YOUR FACILITY HAS ALREADY BEEN BROKEN INTO!" I yelled in fearful fury at this man as he twitched under my words.
"Orders... Orders were to only respond to issues regarding the Magic-Exposer..." he would nervously explain as his eyes went back and forth between gore and damage.
"A GLADIATOR HAS KILLED A SPIRE-LORD AND YOU'RE CONCERNED OVER SOMETHING SO PEDANTICALLY STUPID!?" I would yell at him as I moved closer to him.
"Stay back!" he would tell me as the gun trembled some more.
"OR WHAT!? YOU'LL SHOOT ME, UNLIKE THE MONSTER WHO ATTACKED YOUR FELLOW GOLDHANDS!?" I would remind him as it became clear that he was a cowardly man. One who was unfit to have the name or powers of a goldhand if this was his response to danger!
"I..." he began to say with a gulp before he moved the gun to his temple. And when he did that, I punched the gun in rage and heard it bang so close to me. But the goldhand was still alive... And he had a clean card we could use to get in.
"If you want to kill yourself so badly, do it with style..." I belittled him with as I snatched the gun from his loose grip. Thrashing the hand I used to punch it about, seething some of that pain out with a groan before I carried on.
"Alright... Alright..." the goldhand began to say as he opened up the chamber to the Magic-exposer. And what we saw made me feel calm all of a sudden. An odd contraption it was... A glass box with a core that glowed brightly...
It was big, bulky and rectangular on the outside with a shiny metal rim covered in rivets. Inside, there was more glass and a series of mechanical hammers. Some were not in the box, many were on the outside just in case more needed to be smashed. And, the glass that held the magic was ball-ish in shape, more like an egg than anything.
An egg with either two straws attached to it or a single spear that went straight into it. Nothing but the magic was in there, it was a complete vacuum. This device was not going to go off unless we made it do so... And this gun allowed us to skip right past the fancy sequence of activation.
"What's your name, goldhand?" I would then ask the coward as he nervously stared at the device. He would be confused at first, but he would look at me and nod a couple of times.
"Enum, my name is Enum." he would tell me whilst carrying on with the nodding.
"Well, Enum, thank you for your help." I told him before I forced my finger down on the trigger.