Chapter 178: The Collectors Arrived

The Ashcrofts had barely reached the next passage when Reinhard sensed several unfamiliar Mana signatures approaching from the other side of the wall.

Before he could examine them further, space rippled across the concrete.

"Everyone back!" Reinhard warned.

The wall exploded inward.

Concrete and twisted metal filled the corridor. Reinhard pulled Emily against him and raised a barrier while Yuna thrust out her hand, increasing gravity around the incoming debris. The heavier fragments slammed into the floor before reaching Lily and Maki, while Yuna used electromagnetic force to divert a shower of metal shards away from the group.

When the dust cleared, several people walked through the enormous hole as though they had merely entered a restaurant.

One man carried a mana-shotgun over his shoulder. Another dragged a heavy relic case, kicking it whenever it caught on the rubble.

"You said the wall was thin!" one shouted.

"It was!"

"Then why did you use enough explosives to kill everyone on the other side?"

"Because I didn’t know if they were on the other side!"

"That doesn’t make any sense!"

"It made sense when I did it!"

Reinhard stared at them. Emily looked up at him. "Are these the people you sensed?"

"I certainly hope so. I’d hate to meet the people they consider reasonable."

One of the newcomers pointed his shotgun at them. "Hey, you guys Baal?"

"No," Reinhard replied.

"Good. They owe us money."

His companion immediately protested. "No, they owe me money."

"Same thing."

"How is that the same thing?"

"Because I’m standing here with you."

They resumed arguing while another Collector examined a damaged section of wall as if evaluating its resale value.

"I think we’ve found the Collectors," Reinhard said.

"Should we be worried?" Lily asked.

"About their explosives, their weapons, or their inability to agree on who owes whom money?"

"All of it?"

"Then yes."

A surviving Baal squad appeared at the far end of the passage. Its commander ordered his guards to block the route and demanded that the newcomers identify themselves.

The Collectors barely acknowledged him. One examined a relic weapon mounted beside the entrance while another tapped a suppression device with his shotgun.

"Expensive," he observed.

"Think we can sell it?"

"Not if you break it."

"Then don’t break it."

He tapped it again.

Their leader, a lean man with a scar running from his temple to his jaw, approached the commander with an outstretched hand. "We’re happy to cooperate. We’re only here to retrieve valuable research materials before this place falls apart."

The commander accepted the explanation and began describing the restricted routes. While listening, the Collector casually positioned himself beside the suppression equipment.

Reinhard watched with growing interest.

Oh, this should be good.

"And which way leads to the Heart?" the Collector asked.

"That route is restricted. No one proceeds without my authorization."

"Of course. We wouldn’t dream of causing trouble."

The Collector withdrew his hand and slashed the commander across the chest.

Before the guards could react, another Collector smashed a device against the suppression equipment while two others threw explosives behind the Baal formation.

The first explosion cut off the guards’ retreat. The second shattered the suppression device, destabilizing the corridor’s spatial pressure.

The Baal formation collapsed into confusion. Some guards rushed to protect their commander, while others turned their weapons toward the Collectors. The Ashcrofts immediately exploited the opening.

Then the Collectors attacked.

A relic bomb sailed into the Baal formation. One man charged through the smoke with a blade in each hand, while another fired his shotgun at a second suppression device.

"Why did you shoot the machine?" someone yelled.

"Because it was making the room annoying!"

"You could have turned it off!"

"How was I supposed to know it had an off switch?"

The machine discharged a violent pulse before exploding. Reinhard tilted aside as a piece of equipment flew toward his head.

"I take back what I said," he told Emily. "These people are definitely the reasonable ones."

Emily laughed before intercepting a Baal guard with Aeon. Her sword struck his weapon, and she distorted the space around its edge to throw his follow-up attack off course. She stepped past his guard and struck him in the chest, sending him tumbling into the smoke.

Reinhard used Spatial Pull to drag another guard into his companion, then advanced before the two could recover.

Meanwhile, several A-Ranks attempted to restore Baal’s formation. Yuna stepped between them and her companions, her Blazing Dawn Gnosis responding to the sudden movement.

She increased gravity beneath the nearest attacker. His feet struck the floor hard enough to crack it, forcing him to drop to one knee before he could swing his weapon. Yuna then seized control of his forward momentum, redirecting his attempted recovery into a sideways stumble.

A second Awakener rushed her from the left. Yuna reduced friction beneath his leading foot, making his charge unstable, then restored it abruptly. His boot caught against the floor, and his own momentum carried him forward. Yuna met him with a concentrated Mana strike that knocked him away from the others.

She did not need to overwhelm the entire group at once. By disrupting their footing and controlling the force behind their movements, she prevented them from rebuilding their formation.

"Keep them away from Maki!" Lily called.

"I am!" Yuna answered, increasing gravity around another approaching guard.

Lily’s fifteen spectral swords revolved around her, intercepting attacks aimed at Maki as the researcher moved toward the next suppression device.

Maki pressed a prepared seal against its casing. Fine markings spread across the surface, interfering with the Mana channels feeding the machine. The device flickered, its suppression field weakening until it could no longer maintain a stable output.

"That’s one," Maki said.

"How many more?" Lily asked.

"Enough that I’d appreciate it if nobody blew up the walls around me."

A Collector’s explosive struck the wall nearby, showering them with debris.

Maki reinforced the damaged section with a second seal before the falling concrete could crush her equipment. She looked toward the smoking corridor.

"I hate this place."

Reinhard, meanwhile, noticed one Collector ignoring an opportunity to attack an enemy because he had spotted a relic case beneath a fallen cabinet.

"Mine!" the man shouted, diving for it.

A Baal guard swung at his back. The Collector ducked, grabbed the case, and kicked the guard in the knee.

"Finders keepers!"

Another Collector immediately tried to take it from him.

"That’s company property!"

"I found it!"

"You found it with company explosives!"

"Then the company should thank me!"

Reinhard shook his head. These people were willing to risk their lives over a piece of equipment, yet their leader continued directing them toward the inner passage.

One Collector noticed Reinhard watching and charged at him.

Reinhard used Spatial Step to appear beside the man, then struck his weapon with his Right Hand of God. The relic slipped from the Collector’s fingers, and Reinhard caught it before it hit the ground.

"Nice."

"Give that back!"

"Ask politely."

The Collector lunged again. Reinhard used Spatial Pull to draw him forward before knocking him into the rubble.

"Reinhard!" Emily called.

He turned as a Baal Awakener attacked from his blind spot. Emily shifted the space between them, making the strike miss by a narrow margin. Reinhard redirected the attacker into the path of his own follow-up, and Emily struck with Aeon, breaking his defense.

The next reinforced entrance came into view. Its surface was covered in geometric markings resembling patterns Emily had studied during her investigation into the Black Moon.

The Collectors reached it almost simultaneously.

Their leader pressed a device against the entrance. Metal arms unfolded and anchored themselves to the surrounding structure.

Reinhard extended his senses through the passage. The Mana beyond the door felt wrong. It shifted in irregular waves, as though something beneath the facility were drawing breath.

"What exactly are you trying to take?" he called.

"Something valuable," the Collector replied.

Emily studied the markings. "You’re trying to reach the Heart."

"Of course. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to reproduce a phenomenon that can distort space on this scale? The research alone is worth a fortune."

"People are dying because of it," Emily replied.

"Everything has a cost. The question is whether the result is worth it."

Reinhard’s amusement faded. "You’re looking at a catastrophe threatening an entire city and calling it valuable."

"I’m looking at something the world might never produce again." The Collector turned back to his equipment. "Besides, we’ve already made a substantial investment."

Emily frowned. "What investment?"

"We gathered a lot of civilians for the research. People are remarkably useful when you need strong emotional responses. Pain, fear, resentment, desperation. You’d be surprised how quickly the process advances when you give people enough reasons to suffer."

Emily stared at him.

"You tortured them?" she asked.

"Some of them. Others became cooperative once they understood their situation."

"You sick bastard!" Lily snapped.

Yuna’s expression hardened. The floor beneath her boots cracked as her gravity manipulation intensified, but she kept her power directed toward the Collectors rather than the surrounding structure. A piece of broken metal rose beside her, suspended by electromagnetic force, and trembled in the air.

Maki ignored the man’s attempt to provoke them and studied the equipment attached to the entrance.

"Those markings aren’t decorative," she said. "The framework is feeding something into the facility’s Mana network. If their research is connected to the Heart, they could be forcing it to respond."

"Now you’re catching on," the Collector said.

Reinhard’s gaze sharpened. Before he could question him further, the man added, "We’ve also got some of our guys helping speed up the process outside, if you know what I mean."

Reinhard glanced through the nearest broken window.

Beyond it, Marvello remained in chaos. Civilians who had not yet been influenced by the Black Moon were running through the streets, some carrying injured relatives and others desperately searching for somewhere safe.

Several Collectors were pursuing them.

They weren’t trying to kill the fleeing civilians. Instead, they drove them from one street to another, setting off explosives nearby and shouting threats whenever someone tried to hide. Each time the crowd scattered, the Collectors followed, deliberately prolonging their terror.

Reinhard’s expression darkened.

They’re not killing them. They’re making them panic.

Every scream and desperate attempt to escape produced more fear. The Collectors were deliberately manufacturing the negative emotions that could accelerate whatever was happening beneath Mensus.

Emily followed his gaze, and her expression hardened. Her fingers tightened around Aeon until her knuckles turned white.

"Those people are just trying to survive," she said.

"Which makes them useful," the Collector replied. "The city was already falling apart. We’re just making sure the results are worth something."

Lily raised her swords toward him. "I’m going to cut you apart."

"Get in line."

The Collector activated his framework.

A pulse traveled through the metal arms and into the facility. The geometric markings illuminated one after another, and the light continued downward through the walls.

Reinhard immediately felt the Mana pressure change.

The strands of energy running through the corridor briefly reversed direction before surging toward the lower levels. The floor vibrated, and the equipment attached to the entrance began emitting a shrill warning.

Then the pulse came back.

It rolled through the passage with enough force to crack the floor. Maki ducked beside a support column and slapped a reinforcement seal against it. The markings spread across the concrete, holding the fractured structure together as dust and fragments rained around her.

She examined the readings flashing across a nearby display.

"The Mana flow just reversed," she said. "Whatever they activated has interacted with the network."

The Collector stared at the readings. For the first time since his arrival, he stopped smiling.

The Baal commander reached the same conclusion and ordered his remaining personnel to destroy the framework.

The Collectors immediately turned their weapons on Baal.

The chamber erupted into another fight. Yuna forced the nearest guards away from the entrance by increasing gravity around their weapons and arms, slowing their attacks enough for Lily’s spectral swords to intercept them. Maki used a series of seals to restrict one Collector’s movement when he tried to reach the framework, while Reinhard pulled Emily behind a barrier as a relic projectile tore through the space where they had been standing.

Then the entire facility shuddered.

A deep vibration traveled through the floor, and the lights went dark for several seconds. When they returned, the displays showed a surge of Mana far beyond the levels recorded earlier.

The Collectors stopped fighting.

One slowly broke into a smile.

"Now that’s interesting," he murmured. "The Heart is finally becoming interesting."

Reinhard studied him. The Collectors had risked their lives for relics and equipment, yet now they were abandoning their possessions without a second glance.

The Heart matters more to them than anything they’ve collected.

Their leader gathered the equipment that still functioned and headed toward the lower passage. His companions followed, leaving the damaged framework and the fight with Baal behind.

One Collector paused to kick the relic case out of his partner’s hands.

"Leave it. We’re going downstairs."

"You said this was company property!"

"Then the company can come get it!"

They disappeared into the passage as the facility shook around them.

Reinhard turned toward his family. Emily was still staring through the broken window, her anger evident.

"We need to reach the Heart," he said. "If the Collectors can accelerate whatever is happening, we have to stop them. And if we can reach those civilians, we’ll get them out."

Emily nodded. "We can’t leave them like that."

Reinhard extended his senses toward the lower levels, trying to distinguish the unstable Mana from the immense presence beneath the facility. Yuna lowered the suspended metal fragment beside her and glanced at the others, ready to clear their path if another collapse blocked the way. Maki checked the seals she had prepared, ensuring she had enough left to stabilize the structure if the framework caused another surge.

Then, for one brief moment, everything went still.

The Mana didn’t weaken or intensify. The entire flow simply stopped.

Emily stiffened.

Reinhard noticed immediately. "Emily?"

She stared toward the passage, her face paling.

"I’ve felt that before."

"During your first contact with the Black Moon?"

She nodded slowly. "For just a moment, everything stopped. I felt as though something on the other side was looking back at me."

Reinhard’s expression grew serious. The Collectors had activated something connected to the Heart, and now the presence beneath Mensus was behaving in a way Emily recognized.

"Stay close," he told his family. "We reach the Heart, stop the process, and help those people if we can."

Together, the Ashcrofts rushed after the Collectors, deeper into the failing facility. Another tremor shook the corridor behind them, and the geometric markings ahead began glowing one after another, guiding them toward the Heart.