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[b][i]~~~~~~Hollow Bastion / Storehouse District~~~~~~[/i][/b]

The large beasts slowly circled Ace and Shizuka, their long claws clattering and scrapping the rough storehouse floor with every pace they took, yet their half a dozen eyes each still watched the two for any chance of escape. It was the small amount of space each werewolf gave the other that allowed Shizuka access to the steel bars close by, and with surprising strength for someone much smaller than the machines, the metal beams were soon sent flying towards the creature closest to the entrance. The suddenness of it all definitely caught the machine off guard, the long hunk of metal easily slamming with its full force right on the side of the Werewolf’s head and bringing it down to the ground with an almighty crash. 

The second beam caught the fallen machine’s chest just as it began to stand back up, but it was the third that came right afterwards that managed to cause the most harm, running right through the thick metal chest and seemingly putting the creature down for good, its many eyes fading as it lay now harmlessly on the floor. The last two metal struts however weren’t as effective. With one swatted away by the remaining machine like it was a twig, the final piece of metal was soon cleaved into four smaller chunks, the Metalwolf’s claws being more than sharp enough to pass through the steel like paper. 

The rumbling that ran throughout the storehouse was enough to cause some of the higher stacked crates to come crashing down onto the ground, spilling their contents of machine parts, forged weapons, even dried packs of rations, soon the floor was covered in this and more, with splintered chunks of wood littering the piles. Racing over the growing mounds of now rubbish, the Metalwolves from every section of the storehouse seemed set on the heart of the quaking, arriving just to see the last few boxes and figures disappearing through the closing dark vortex. Like gravity returning to a vacuum, those crates which had been caught in the pull of the portal but had no time to make it through, came crashing down once more, whatever they had merely getting buried more and more with falling crates until silence filled the large building once more. 

The five massive Metalwolves simply held their positions, all facing their sights on where the vortex had once been yet it was the first to be created that slowly took steps forward, before turning to face the four. With another howl from the lead Metalwolf, those four that remained swiftly shot in different directions of the storehouse. While two were busy digging through the piles of crushed crates for something specific, it seemed the other team had a much simpler job, each one leaping higher towards the rafters of the building and slicing through the thick pipes that ran along them. 

Every new slice on the line of pipes allowing the gas within it to escape, until the storehouse was filled with nothing but the sound of hissing and highly dangerous gas. It was nothing more than a simple spark from one of the beasts landing feet that caused the massive reaction to occur, the storehouse exploded first with a deafening boom just before the fire erupted, like a beacon perfect for the pitch black sky. There was probably nowhere throughout Hollow Bastion that one wouldn’t be able to see this blazing inferno reaching high into the air, and that was the real purpose behind it, that no one would miss it.

[b][i]~~~~~~Hollow Bastion / Castle Keep~~~~~~[/i][/b]

The once grand keep of Hollow Bastion had been mostly decimated at the time the Empire arrived on this world. While partly in restoration at the time itself, the castle keep was still formidable enough to hold a moderate amount of resistance, but even then it didn’t take too long before it and the world itself fell under the rule of the Emperor and his Empire. Since then the city of Hollow Bastion, as well as the castle itself, had slowly been rebuilt and remodelled, with once smaller sections soon expanded to accommodate the sudden increase of technological advancement that had never been seen on the world before the Empires rule. 

The massive castle had changed drastically since then, its height now towering over the even bigger city below, strange hunks of metal shaped buildings clung to the side of the tower like structure the castle had become. And yet all this was still a work in progress, the peak of the castle/tower still being added to daily and though having reached passed the clouds, people could still see on clear sky days the unfinished work at its top.

The fire that blazed from the storehouse district was noticeable, even from the huge amount of distance the castle had between them. Light from this fire poured into one of the large rooms of the keep, the chamber fitted and filled with all manner of books and devices, the massive fireplace situated on the far wall having burned itself out hours ago and so brought in the pitch blackness to the room to begin with. Behind the large wooden desk and armchair, the single crack of light pouring out through the open sliver of an almost unnoticeable door revealed the wall of monitors and sitting figure before them all. 

All but some of the screens now showed the raging fire down at the storehouse district. Some from a distance, some from a street levelled view while people seemed to flock towards its general direction all to see what was going on. Monitors that had once showed the invasion of the UHs as they entered the storehouse showed nothing but static now, but what they once had was now being replayed piece by piece on a large screen, of which all other monitors circled around it. 

While not showing the entire chain of events, it was clear that was the point. Images showed the group of UHs ransacking the storehouse, their destruction of the defences outside clearly noticeable through the large opening of the building they had taken. Blood covered bodies lay strewn over piles of broken crates, some nearly beyond recognition. Blurry but still faint enough images of a figure stumbling over crates and planting a device on one of the far walls of the storehouse were the next to appear. All this building up to the final sequence of events, of the structure erupting with its earth quaking explosion. 

Already new images were coming in through the other monitors, those arriving to combat with the fire soon stumbling across the littered bodies left by the UHs themselves, along with a few of their own members both inside and out of the blazing building. Tapping his finger on the desk as he watched, the figure smiled as he laid back in the chair.

“Wonderful…simply perfect…”

The faint sound of footsteps that could be heard from the joined room didn’t seem to unnerve the figure, still laying back in the chair as two young women entered, side by side and both identically dressed like those of maids, the colour of their hair seemingly the only difference between them both. 

“Lord Nomis?”
“Master Clacverk?”

Both of the women spoke in unison, the masks they strangely wore covering both of their faces and revealed a simple design of a smiling woman, yet the emotionless tone from their voices was definitely contradicting. 

“You wished to be informed when it was close to sunrise, Lord Nomis.”
“And that time is nearly here, Master Clacverk.”

“Thank you, my dears.” Said the figure, who after standing up from the chair allowed the two women to start slipping on the long but thick coat onto him, accompanying it with the dark metal cane which Nomis soon took possession off from the red haired maid.

“I trust preparations for our upcoming event are coming along well?” Nomis asked as he made his way past the two maids, entering the large study that joined the monitor room and almost immediately began flipping through some of the already opened books on the desk.

“Yes, Lord Nomis.”
“Quite well, Master Clacverk.”

“Good. It should be any day now, and then we will be able to do so much more.” Said the well-dressed man, his smile returning as he flipped through one of the larger books, revealing within it page after page of various diagrams of a growing and familiar structure.