Kael and his group scaled the steel tower, their shadows stretching long over the industrial sprawl. From this vantage point, the chaotic struggle of Vander's men below looked like a clash of ants.
"As expected of Vander! That punch really has some kick!" Vi cheered, shadow-boxing the air. In the brutal reality of Zaun, where corpses were common and life was cheap, this violence was just another Tuesday.
Kael ignored her excitement, methodically assembling a Rune Rifle from his pack. The body was cast from brilliant, golden Adamantite, its barrel etched with shimmering blue runes. It looked like a relic from a future era, blending the aesthetic of a Nekomata sniper rifle with the primal truths of magic.
"Is that thing made of gold?!" Vi's jaw dropped, her eyes gleaming with a classic Zaunite lust for shiny things.
"This is much more expensive than gold," Kael noted, reaching out to shut her mouth before she could drool on the hardware. Forging this had required the "friendly sponsorship" of Caitlyn Kiramman. In exchange, Kael had built the young lady a custom Banger Pistol—a token of their "pure friendship" and a convenient excuse to hold her hand during testing.
Vi reached out to touch it, but Kael pushed her hand down. "Go play somewhere else. If you break it, you're mining ore until you're eighty."
Kael loaded an index-finger-thick Runic Bullet. Like the Chomper Bombs, these rounds contained an alchemical solution that, upon impact, triggered a localized spatial collapse. A ten-centimeter sphere of "nothingness" was enough to delete the vitals of any biological entity.
Through his eight-times scope, Kael watched the factory floor. Vander was in a bitter struggle. Silco's elite guards were fewer in number but disciplined; they used the dim, pipe-filled environment to evade capture nets.
Vander grabbed an Enforcer's arm, his exoskeleton whining under the strain. He couldn't match their raw power, but he had decades of street-fighting experience. He kicked the monster back, but the Enforcer laughed as his bullet wounds healed instantly.
"Heh, is that all?" the monster sneered. He hadn't noticed Sevika attach a Chomper Bomb to his spine.
SNAP.
The Enforcer's torso was sucked away like jelly through a straw. Seeing the efficiency of the "spatial deletion," Vander's men unleashed the rest of their ordinance. The tide turned instantly.
"Find Silco," Vander ordered, his voice echoing through the vats. "It's time we settled the bill."
In the basement, Silco watched his dreams evaporate. The "spatial bombs" terrified him. His individual strength was no match for Vander's crew. Driven by a sickly, frenzied desperation, he looked at his stockpiles of raw Shimmer.
"You forced my hand, Vander!"
Back on the tower, Kael's expression darkened as a thick plume of Purple Smoke began to billow from the factory vents.
"This is no longer fun," Kael said solemnly. "Vi, notify the neighborhood! Evacuate everyone! Now!"
"Is it the smoke?" Vi asked, seeing the urgency in his eyes.
"That smoke is evaporated Shimmer," Kael warned. "If they inhale it, they'll mutate or become instant addicts. Get them out!"
Vi scrambled down the tower, ringing the neighborhood's alarm bell with a rhythmic ferocity. Zaunites, practiced in disaster, began to flee, but many workers still rushed toward the factory to fight the fire.
Vander emerged from the building, his face twisted and veins pulsing with a faint purple light—he had already inhaled a small dose.
"The fire must be put out!" Vander gritted, fighting to maintain his sanity. "It's spreading!"
"I know," Kael said, descending to the street. "How many Chomper Bombs do you have left?"
Vander gathered the remaining silver spheres. Kael's fingers moved in a blur, disassembling the bombs and reconnecting them in a series—a feature he had built into the original design. By stacking the cores, he could multiply the spatial collapse manifold.
"Everyone back!" Kael shouted.
He wasn't just putting out a fire. He was about to level the entire factory into a lightless void.