57 - Demon Core Conception [Cherno][+Artwork]

Her own knowledge had combined with Chernobog's Mystic Wisdom into an idea that the Boon illustrated by dredging up a single memory: A photograph of a half-sphere, within whose middle a smaller sphere sat. The other half of the larger sphere sat off to the side right next to a screwdriver.

Chernobog's blessing had received a question, and answered as one would expect a dark god's knowledge to answer: "Demon Core."

Perhaps most grim of all, nowhere did the idea of an explosion come into play. This eldritch, horrific Thaumaturgy was designed to fry everything in the vicinity, not to explode and vaporize.

Given the energy input and precise constructwork required, Krahe wholly expected that she would require an Eidolon to perform this great and terrible feat, perhaps even a Greater Eidolon. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but conjure the mental image of herself in a circumstance which would demand that level of indiscriminate firepower. For all her pragmatism, Krahe's ego was anything but small.

She filed the idea away with no expectation of bringing it to fruition any time soon, as the motorbike came to a halt. They had reached another thrice-damned minor shrine as their destination, and at that point, Krahe had to ask: "Do you only know the specific locations of shrines and grafters in the city?"

"What? No, no, of course not. They simply happen to be the places whose locations I can recall the most easily, and which I consider to be the safest. A shrine of the Seven Spokes will not cooperate with Hashem Family thugs," he defended himself, wholesale picking up the bike and carrying it inside the shrine. The shrine attendant, a lanky saurian girl in shrine maiden-like clothing, seemed surprised, but also glad to see him... And utterly dread-stricken at the sight of Krahe.

"Hide this in the back and don't tell anyone we came by, alright? We've an important secret mission!" the banisher instructed the girl, patting her head. She gave another concerned glance towards Krahe, then took the motorbike and, much like Casus, simply carried it deeper into the shrine. It would've been strange if Krahe hadn't seen her share of cyberized children working in heavy industry and lifting hundreds of kilos on a constant basis. Then again, they rarely lasted for more than a few months with the strain of those cybernetics, while this saurian girl could very well possess that degree of strength naturally.

"Is she grafted, or are Saurians naturally that strong?"

"Both, somewhat... However, a third factor is at play. She was born with the Boon of the Roaring One, the Outer God who created Saurians before recorded history, and whose maddening influence kept them as animalistic brutes until the Banishing. She was grafted not to enhance her strength, but to sever her from the Roaring One's influence. The girl was a man-eating berserker before then, now she will grow up to be an Igarian shrine maiden."

"Somehow I doubt that is the whole story... But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this one."

Krahe had, after all, encountered self-proclaimed "Techno-Anprims" in the deepest depths of Megacity Gamma. Scavengers with intelligence and culture akin to stone-age tribals, yet who recovered, repaired, and used high-end cybernetics from three generations ago... To hunt mutated animals for food. A caveman god who created cavemen and wanted his creations to stay as cavemen seemed downright reasonable by comparison.

It wasn't long before they reached the area in question, scouting from a safe distance. One could hardly ignore the gradual change in architecture, from beautiful historical buildings and art deco, to utilitarian warehouses and boxy homes clearly built in a hurry. The buildings here resembled those at the abandoned village just outside Jas'raba. Krahe mentally mapped out the area as they walked, and quickly determined which parts of this subdistrict had been blockaded from the rest of it. There weren't just blocked back alleys, but buildings in far too good of a state to have their doors and windows sealed the way they did.

"...I understand now," Casus said. "They must've coopted one of the abandoned stations from the subterranean tram line that was once planned to run through here. An official's wife opposed it having a stop here, as businesses that competed with hers would've benefited from the traffic. That conflict of interests snowballed until this entire section of the line was left unfinished, nearly one-third of the project just gone. This whole district has been on the decline since then."

"Does the unfinished tram line run anywhere near the Old Street Butchershop?"

"It does, that is why I arrived at this conclusion. They must be using it."

"Are you aware of any nearby entrances?"

"I do. The tunnel has been used by everyone from the homeless, to smugglers and renegade grafters trying to hide their grotesqueries. The only reason it hasn't been collapsed is the unnaceptable surface damage that would cause, not to mention all the pipes that run right next to the tunnel."

"Lead the way... And please cut back on the extraneous information."

"How am I to know what is extraneous and what is vital knowledge that merely seems extraneous to me as a native of this world? I am only trying to be considerate."

"Touché."

Entry into the abandoned tram line was a touch tricky due to Krahe's insistence on using an out-of-sight entrance if possible, which resulted in their breaking into an out-of-use municipal building to access its basement. It had been a guess, but a correct one, as they found a locked door into the tunnels. Casus seemed dejected at the sight, remarking: "We may as well look elsewhere. These locks are nearly impervious to normal lockpicks, and I am not a skilled lockpick to begin with."

"Well I don't have lockpicks, but I could..." Krahe murmured, squatting down in front of the door.

A disappointed sigh escaped her when she realized this wasn't the type of lock she could get at with simple tools. In fact, the keyway was like a deformed cousin to one which she had seen and dealt with a few times, a design that countered any typical lockpick.

"...Do nothing. We would need a tubular pick for this; beyond what I can conjure."

She stood up and stepped back, looking to Casus.

"We'll just bypass the lock altogether. Break the hinges."

"The hingepins are not exposed, and the anchors are in the brick by the looks of it."

"Correct. They are anchored in brick."

The Banisher glanced at the brickwork, then at his right hand, then at Krahe.

"Touché."