The five-person team walked into Dead End Hollow, each of them rubbing their hands together, ready at any moment to teach the dogs of Vision Corporation a lesson.
Seeing Ignis remaining silent, Billy decided to liven the mood.
"Let this Starlight Knight bring down judgment on the wicked!" the little robot declared, striking a pose.
"Alright then, let this Meteor-Mutt guide you." Belle actually initiated a joke this time. "Move forward—see that building? There's a rift at its first floor; that rift leads into a chaotic passage."
The Bangboo extended its stubby little arm, pointing to a building that had been sheared off beginning at the third floor; from the remaining signage it seemed to have once been a hotel.
"Once we go in, stick close to me—one wrong step and you could get lost inside the rift," the Proxy reminded everyone.
"Is such a dangerous route really okay, nya?" Nekomata was a little nervous; after all, nobody knew where rifts in a Hollow might lead.
"It's precisely because it's dangerous that we can get directly behind the enemy," Belle nodded while controlling the Bangboo. "Otherwise, Vision Corporation would have heavily defended this direction."
"Let's move. I just want to end this as fast as possible." Ignis ignored the others and strode straight toward the half-ruined building.
"Ignis is off today." Anby poked Nicole. "Last time we were besieged by Ethereals he wasn't even remotely anxious—he calmly ordered us to tighten formation."
"Hmm…" Nicole naturally noticed it too; the giant was definitely not right today.
They passed through fractured rubble, and a black rift silently stood in the middle of the hall; the Proxy led the team inside.
A momentary feeling of weightlessness came, then a fall. Ignis adjusted his posture and landed steadily on the ground, nearly punching a huge hole in the floor.
His ears caught the sounds of the others, and he reached out to catch them one by one.
"Looks like an unfinished high-rise, nya." Nekomata checked the surroundings. "What's the next move?"
Belle confirmed the positions around them and pointed downward, "To the basement of this building, then through another rift."
Ignis looked at the scene and felt a painful familiarity; his accident years ago had happened in a construction basement, the collapsed earth consigning him to serve the Emperor.
Look at the tangled cables strewn across the floor, at the complete lack of edge protection, at the elevator with no safety door.
Ah—the safety officer in him was waking up; he wanted to pull out his phone, photograph the site, curse people in the group chat, then go back to the office and write a corrective notice.
"The elevator's broken." Billy tried to start it, but the mechanism gave no response.
"Stairs, nya?" Nekomata stood at the edge of the floor and looked down. "This must be at least twenty floors high, nya."
"No—there's a faster way." Ignis squatted down as he spoke.
"What way?" Nicole asked.
"Building a single floor takes three days at best," Ignis touched the concrete slab. "But demolishing it takes only a few seconds."
"You mean you're going to—" Belle probably guessed what the giant intended.
"Tear out the floor and just fall through—faster than an elevator." Ignis began charging his Flamestorm Gauntlet. "Climb onto me and hold the seams of the armor tight."
The four of them began scrambling onto Ignis; Nekomata hugged the Bangboo and mounted Ignis's neck, Billy grabbed the base of the Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, Nicole and Anby each grabbed one side, clutching the shoulder-plate seams.
"You sure this will work?" Billy sounded scared.
"No problem—and it'll be faster than taking the stairs." Ignis placed his fist on the slab; the disintegration field instantly shattered the floor into rubble.
During the brief fall, he shut the disintegration field off to avoid dropping too many floors at once and causing injuries from a massive impact.
Using this destructive descent floor by floor, they reached the basement in less than a minute.
"That was awesome." Billy jumped down. "Better than the drop tower at the theme park."
"The drop tower isn't this high, and it doesn't fall this far at once." Nicole screamed the whole way down and her legs went weak.
Anby immediately steadied her to prevent her from falling in the pitch-dark basement.
"Even Nekomata couldn't take a drop like that!" Nekomata's heart was pounding; she immediately set Eous down.
"But it's the fastest." Ignis said, activating the flame igniter on his flamethrower to illuminate the surroundings with the faint glow of flame.
Sure enough, another rift awaited just ahead.
"There it is." Belle guided the Bangboo and pointed forward. "Go through it and we'll reach the back of the demolition monitoring point."
"What are we waiting for—the sooner the better." Ignis was impatient, urging everyone to move quickly.
Passing through the rift again, the squad appeared beside the tracks; an abandoned train happened to be blocking their path.
Nekomata poked her head out to look—indeed, the same train from yesterday sat not far off. Within sight were nearly twenty armed men wearing Public Security gear.
"This is it, nya." Nekomata drew back to report. "I can see over twenty people, all armed."
"Looks like the plan's working well." Nicole folded her arms. "Next operation is simple: deal with the garrison, seize the vehicle, drive it out."
"I have a plan." Ignis said. "I'll assault from the front to draw their attention. You take the flanks and secure the train first."
"You sure you can handle it alone?" Nicole looked at Billy. "Otherwise, I'll have Billy help you."
"One man is enough." Ignis clenched his fist. "I'll tear through the carriage and make noise. If Perlman shows up—don't kill him; leave him to me. I'll handle him personally."
"Wait." Nicole grabbed Ignis. "You're not actually planning to just kill him, are you?"
"If not—are we supposed to leave him alive to keep harming people?" Ignis ground his teeth. "I'll squeeze him into a lump of rotten meat and burn him to ashes."
"That's too easy on him." Nicole shook her head. "Killing him alone isn't true punishment."
"How's that, Boss Nicole?" Billy didn't understand Nicole's point.
"Charles Perlman is only Vision Corporation's chief representative; if you kill him, Vision can pin all the responsibility on him." Nicole sighed—these two weren't very bright.
"But if the boss is dead, shouldn't the group fall apart?" Nekomata didn't get it. "Like the Red Fang Gang did."
"Large corporations are not the same as gangs. The figurehead only represents the interest group; he doesn't necessarily hold all the power." Nicole thought they needed more lessons later. "If this representative is removed, the real interests controlling Vision Corporation still remain. They'll just appoint a new representative. Perlman could be set up to take the blame for this explosion."
"Even though Perlman acts unilaterally, and Vision's internal council voted against it, his greater influence still pushed it through." Nicole shook her head. "So, Perlman must be captured alive and handed to Public Security. I trust those interrogation veterans at Public Security to squeeze out where that little goblin stashed his secret funds."
"Keeping Perlman alive will be more effective at destroying Vision Corporation than killing him." Nicole looked Ignis in the eye; she could feel the anger burning inside him. "Otherwise, Vision will continue to exist and keep doing this. And we won't be so lucky every time to stop them."
Ignis drew a deep breath; Nicole's reasoning was clear, but the blaze in his chest was not easily quelled.
"How can you be sure Public Security will investigate him thoroughly?" Ignis asked the last question that bothered him.
"The Janus District's Public Security chief election is coming up. No candidate will pass up a chance to show a righteous image to the public." Nicole spread her hands. "I told you to pay attention to the news—how are you all so insensitive?"
Ignis wanted to retort—no TV subscription, no phone—how would he know.
"If the law can't punish him." Ignis sighed, "I'll punish him in my own way. No problem?"
"Of course." Nicole nodded. "Maybe I'll join you."
"Good—since we've agreed, let's move." Belle commanded the Bangboo to hop up and down.
"I'm leaving now."
Ignis said this and punched apart the train carriage beside him.
"Face me! Face the wrath of the Son of Vulkan!"
Ignis burst through the gap, his audio array at full power; the tremendous roar made the others' ears ring.
"Ah… when will he drop that habit." Nicole rubbed her ears.
"Ears… ears… going to go deaf, nya." Nekomata was stunned.
Only Anby fared better—she always carried headphones.
The Vision Corporation armed personnel stationed near the demolition point first heard the warcry, then saw a dark-green tactical mech-like figure charging at them.
"Call for support—call the heavy unit! Call for heavy fire!" the first to spot Ignis prepared to raise his weapon, but in those one or two seconds Ignis was already upon them.
A gigantic fist crackling with lightning and pzzzt enlarged in their vision, and then he lost consciousness.
In a single encounter that man was reduced to a puddle of gore and shredded flesh.
"What kind of monster is that!" Vision's guards were stunned, even forgetting to open fire.
"Don't just stand there—shoot!" someone shouted.
The warning came too late; the giant monster had already reached them, and the terrifying fists struck—bang bang—two more pools of shredded flesh appeared on the ground.
"Quick—quick! The train's under attack!" a squad of about a dozen people ran over from the train and opened fire upon Ignis.
The repressed fury couldn't be sated by just three enemies; these guys had just hit the jackpot.