as they walked down the hall, Stella sighed but couldn't stop a small smile from forming. Then she looked around. "So… what now?"
Hugo stretched his arms before cracking his neck. "Now? We finish what we came here to do."
He turned toward the arsenal, filled with rows of arc-weapons, energy cells, and explosive canisters. Stella followed his gaze, gripping her arc-blade tighter.
"You're thinking about blowing it all up, aren't you?" she asked.
Cosmos hummed. "Ah, destruction. A classic approach."
Hugo smirked. "They won't be needing any of this anymore." He strode toward a stack of arc-energy canisters, their glowing cores pulsing with raw power. "These things are unstable. If we overload them, this whole place will go up in flames."
Stella let out a slow breath. "Alright. How do we set it off?"
Hugo stabbed Cosmos into the ground, the blade's glow intensifying. "Simple. We cut the limiters and let the Arcana energy spiral out of control."
Stella raised an eyebrow. "You sound way too confident about this."
"Relax," Hugo said as he slashed at one of the limiters, sparks flying. "I've done this before."
Cosmos let out a sigh. "I'd like to remind everyone that the last time he 'did this before,' we were nearly vaporized."
Stella groaned. "Great. Just great."
As the limiters shattered, the canisters began to hum violently, their glow intensifying. The air crackled with unstable energy.
Hugo stepped back, grabbing Stella's wrist. "Time to go."
The two sprinted toward the exit as the humming turned into a high-pitched whine. The moment they burst through the entrance and into the open night, the base erupted behind them—an explosion of brilliant golden Arcana energy tearing through the structure.
A shockwave blasted out, sending dust and embers into the sky as flames engulfed what remained of the Neo Arcana Dominion's outpost.
Stella shielded her eyes from the light, watching the destruction unfold. "That… was intense."
Hugo smirked, twirling his harmonica in his fingers. "Told you it'd work."
Cosmos sighed. "One of these days, I'd love for things to end without a massive explosion."
Hugo chuckled. "Where's the fun in that?"
As the flames roared behind them, the two turned away from the ruins of the base and stepped forward—toward whatever awaited them next.