****(POV)

The man in charge of Metropolis-C, Allistair, could be seen sitting in the most basic conference room at the MTA.

He was a serious man that always wore his black metallic armor. Yet, he never seemed out of place anywhere. He could be going to the beach in a full plate, and no one would find it peculiar. He had long black hair, a piercing green gaze, and a very carefully trimmed beard.

At his side, his assistant Lowell could be seen wearing the regular Black Squad outfit and yet looking classy in it. Both were Climbers and were currently discussing the happenings in Metropolis-C.

"What's the Black Legion's current status?" Allistair inquired.

"No idea, Sir. There is no way to make contact with them. They should have just engaged the enemy. There is still no news from them. Shall we send them reinforcements already?"

"What is the status of their Stones of Promise?"

"All intact, Sir!" The assistant replied with relief in his voice.

It seemed like their communications were proving ineffective for some reason. At least, the stones being intact proved that all the leading members in the army were still well. The Tower artifacts were relatively reliable.

"We'll sit on standby for now. I have this bad feeling that they won't simply attack D-23. I guess it's an instinct from dealing with sneaky criminals all these years." Allistair sighed pensively.

Even he wasn't sure of the best plan of action. But there was one thing they knew, none of the Gene Corp leaders had been detected along with their army. Either they were hiding well, or they had entirely different objectives.

"Sir, what shall we—" The assistant started only to be interrupted by a loud alarm.

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!

"What's happening?!" Allistair furrowed his brows.

"Sir, it's a report from the Black Squad! There are some troublemakers going around rampaging. They suddenly started trashing everything around them. Here!" The assistant quickly brought the footage up.

Very angry people could be seen swearing on the screen as they ran everywhere, causing wanton destruction. Some had baseball bats, hammers, stun guns, and some even ran around with swords.

"This is weird. This should be a low-level danger. Any random Climber can handle these guys. Why did it trigger the emergency alarm? It seems to have been an automatic activation too."

"No, look. This is extremely dangerous. Pay attention to the scale of the issue and the people that are rampaging." Allistair brought out a 3D model of Metropolis-C with very light red showing up everywhere.

"You mean?!"

"Yes, these aren't enemies, but our civilians. Something definitely happened. Dammit, this is why I had that bad feeling! Quick, find out why they are acting like this. A skill or a drug more likely caused this. I want a complete analysis ASAP!"

"Yes, Sir! I'll contact the Black Squad and request they bring some back to our base for testing." Lowell exclaimed.

After all the instructions were sent, they couldn't help but share an uneasy look. Then a few minutes later, they finally had their answer. Beep!

"Sir, it seems to be a weird variation of Firgone. It's like it magically appeared. It's spreading all across the city in an invisible gaseous form, and we have no idea where it's coming from! Our people are investigating it at the moment, but there is something worse." The assistant was shocked.

"Go on."

"It seems like the concentration of it is slowly increasing. Right now, it only stimulates the destructive impulses of the targets, but this could soon turn into murdering impulses." He worriedly added.

"Fuck. Assign all the guilds below A-Rank to handle the problem. Tell them to knock the civilians unconscious and to tie them up, so their movements are restricted. With a little luck, these symptoms are just temporary."

"Yes, Sir! What about the A and S ranks?"

"Leave them on standby for now. There is no way this will be all. The bigshots from Gene Corp haven't shown up yet. This is unsettling. For now, we'll wait and observe the developments. I feel like they'll strike once we commit."

"We've begun blaring the 'head to the nearby shelter' alert, but people are too incensed to follow these simple instructions. We can still use them to store the unconscious civilians." The assistant suggested.

"Yes, make sure people are defending it too. We want to avoid any kidnapping." Allistair added while nodding.

How would they capitalize on such an event? The goal was obviously to confuse. There was no way this was the end of it. What was their true objective? Steal? Kidnap? Assassinate? Destroy? D-23?

"I need to know the status of anything remotely important. Ambassadors, government buildings, prisons, S-Rank guilds, families of VIPs, everything!" Allistair ordered.

"That's the weird part. Besides the civilians acting out, there really is nothing else. It's like this whole thing is nothing but a prank meant to keep us busy." Lowell said, perplexed.

"What about outside the city? What's the status of EVE?"

"It's still observing everything and … Ah! There are tons of ships waiting in a nearby area!"

"Are they making their way toward us? Another Metropolis? Are they about to breach the nonaggression pact?" He frowned as this could escalate easily.

"That's the weird part, Sir. All are unmoving. It seems like they've been on the ground for a while. Plus, from the size, it's clear that all are different models."

"Armies are standardized. This means these guys are most likely pirates. I thought they were hiding in a corner to die somewhere. They are probably either making their way here as we speak or are already waiting in the shadows."

"What shall we do about it, Sir?"

"Send the A-Rank guilds along with the description of the most infamous ones."

"Isn't that overkill, Sir?! Also, won't they have changed their appearance if they dare to come here?"

"It's fine. We still have the S-ranked guilds. We can reassign manpower with a slight delay in the worst case. But yes, they probably changed their faces. I'm afraid they'll probably try to steal someone's identity."

"What shall we do?"

"For now, warn the low-level Climbers that people are targeting them. Also, warn the merchants to oversee their shops. They'll probably try and attack a few in passing. It's in their nature."

Allistair could only sigh. Why was it always so troublesome? The criminals would struggle to the best of their abilities and cause innumerable problems only to spend the rest of their lives in jail or working as slaves.

Was any of this worth it? Why were all these bastards causing so much trouble? Couldn't they just Climb like anyone sane?

Gene Corp could have just patiently waited for stronger pets to experiment on. The pirates could have signed magical contracts with guilds. Sure, it would have been a disadvantaging contract, but this was retribution for their wretched way of life.

All of them were too proud to admit their wrongdoings and kept struggling. Now, they were the ones that had to deal with the aftermath. This was such a pain. Just as he was lost in thoughts, the sound of explosions was heard outside.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"What the Hell was that?!" Allistair exclaimed.

Then soon afterward came the sound of something big and heavy crashing along with tremors. It felt like an earthquake, but this wouldn't be as simple for sure.

CRASH!

TREMBLE!

His assistant was livid and shaking as he answered him.

"Sir, it's horrible! It's Arcadia!"

"What happened?!" Allistair was already expecting the worst.

"I-it f-fell! Arcadia exploded!"

"WHAT?!" ….