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MARUKI

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Despite every single fiber of his being screaming for him to scream and shout out his dedication, Maruki kept his wits on him as he followed Shade\'s lead. Even as his suspicions about the Vestygian rose to uncomfortable levels after he noticed his behavior shifting ever so slowly after they met with the other Vestygians, he still kept his faith that his friend was still working for the Empire and all that was holy alongside it.

Still, the fact that they were clearly recruiting without the express permission of the Princess rankled on his nerves something fierce.

"See you all later then!~"

His face keeping its stoicism, Maruki watched the Marquean woman leave, probably off to gather a what few blasphemies she might have to come aboard their [Rig]. Still, he kept silent. That was what was required of him after all.

"Right, now where were we before we got sidetracked," Shade breathed out as he gestured for the three of them to huddle up. "We\'re making our way to the Princess, right?"

Maruki hummed in agreement, nodding his head for extra emphasis.

"Yeah, you said we\'re gonna be sticking to da alleyways," Shen recalled with a small frown on her face. "Don\'t tell me dat\'s changed."

"It hasn\'t, but based on what Alset just told us, we don\'t have to keep our guards up all the time," Shade postulated, placing a hand on his chin as he brainstormed up a plan for them. "That means we can maybe stay a little bit longer on the streets, provided that we still don\'t catch too much attention at being obvious foreigners."

Maruki eyed his friend, their gazes crossing before the tank stared at the latter\'s [Manifest].

"You mean am I still planning on using my [Rozen?]" Shade asked, having read out his thoughts with a raised brow. "Yes, I am. It\'s still the only thing keeping us on the straight and narrow to the Marqueans. And I wouldn\'t want us to just rely on the locals being used to this kind of commotion to keep us out of trouble."

Maruki narrowed his eyes as he found himself listening in on the ambient noise coming from the main street. Despite what Alset told them, he was still not convinced that the Marqueans were wholly unaffected by the slew of explosions that just happened to their capital city.

"I still don\'t think that the people here are that stupid," Shen pouted, her tone audibly struggling to cover up her usual accent. "And all those Academics are roaming about now, assuming that they\'re actually those guys, at least."

"They might just be," Shade nodded in agreement. "You don\'t walk around with your weapons obviously close to your chest if you aren\'t a Somatic. That\'s one of the dead giveaways to spotting them. If they seem to linger on any single item on them for too long, either consciously or unconsciously, the chances of them being a Somatic will be pretty high."

Sure enough, Maruki spotted someone that basically fulfilled the criteria his friend mentioned. Walking among the masses, a young woman seemed to be so far out of her depth that she stuck out like a sore thumb. Close to her chest, what looked to be an umbrella was being hugged like a lifeline as she made her way through the crowd.

Tapping Shade on the shoulder, the tank pointed out the obvious, to which his friend hummed in thought as he nodded. "Now that\'s an obvious Somatic if I ever saw one," he pointed out, gesturing for Shen to look at what they spotted. "Counting on the fact that she\'s sticking out like a sore thumb, she\'s holding onto what is clearly her [Manifest] like a lifeline."

The tank could only nod in agreement. Based on what he had experienced, most Somatics held their [Manifests] with the highest regard. Even he was no exception with his [DUTY!]. His shield was the symbol of his dedication, and he would rather die than lose it to the enemy. For that to happen, he would either have to be so utterly defeated that his conviction crumbles, or be killed before their enemies could pry it off his cold dead hands.

"Aren\'t we getting sidetracked here?" Shen frowned. "We have to follow the explosions."

"Right," Shade chuckled. "I was just telling you what to look for in case we get split up while trying to navigate the city."

Maruki let out a chuckle of his own as he gave his friend a knowing look. He knew that Shade had just gotten sidetracked, even if he didn\'t like to admit it.

"Okay, follow my lead. I\'ll keep us hidden under my power," Shade declared as he drew his [Rozen] from underneath his suit. "Stick close."

Maruki did as he was told as Shade then raised his [Manifest] up to his face.

"[Inconspicuous]..."

With a small breath, his friend cast his [Move]. The rose glowed pink, then a shimmering barrier seemingly enveloped a small area surrounding him. It might not look much, but Maruki knew that it was his friend\'s [Manifest] at work.

"Again, don\'t step out of the barrier," Shade reminded them. "And we\'ll have to move from alley to alley every few minutes. I can\'t keep this up forever without a bit of rest in between."

Nodding, Maruki took up his position by Shade\'s side, his shield partly raised as Shen followed closely behind them. It wasn\'t much, but his being ready for anything would minimize the risk of them being caught off guard.

This would be a mission and a half. If they get caught out in the open, they\'ll be sitting ducks in the middle of the street.

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SHEN

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Gripping her wrench tightly, Shen kept close to the two men in front of her as she made sure not to fall too far behind. The streets were even more packed than earlier, and her keen eyes were quick to spot several Academics roaming the area now that she knew what to look for. She didn\'t think that they needed to do this much effort to hide, but she\'ll take their word for it. They were the ones with experience with this kind of thing. What right did she have as a street rat to tell them that doing all of this stuff would only cause more attention to fall on them if they get caught?

Keeping her wits about her, the mechanic held on, placing a hand on Shade\'s suit to make sure that she wouldn\'t get separated. As they got closer and closer to the other explosion, more of these Academics began littering the streets. Some of them were casually walking around, while others were clearly looking for something as they seemingly patrolled the surroundings of the smoking crater that was assuredly waiting for them.

"Let\'s duck to the next alleyway."

Hearing Shade\'s instructions, Shen followed. Soon, they were back in the relative safety of the shadows, with their nominal leader quickly dropping the barrier as he panted.

"That was... a long stretch of road with no breaks..." Shade breathed out, his hands on his knees as his [Manifest] glowed dull. "I don\'t think I\'ll be able to do that again for a bit."

"Then it\'s a good thing that we\'re almost there then," Shen pointed out, looking up at the plume of smoke now directly above them. "I\'m starting to feel it. Something absolutely broken is in here somewhere."

Her senses were starting to tingle. Deep beneath the ground, something massive was pulsing ever so rhythmically. Something that oozed power, and yet... It was starting to break down, probably even causing the explosion in the first place.

"Right, Maruki here thinks that we\'re only a street away from the crater itself," Shade said, pulling the mechanic out of her thoughts. She didn\'t even hear their tank speaking earlier. "It\'s going to be a long stretch, but I can do one more."

Shen hummed in thought as she replied, "Do you think I can... heal you to get better?"

"Wouldn\'t hurt to try."

Nodding, Shen cast a [Keep Working] on the exhausted Shade, his body glowing as her [Move] seemingly did its thing.

"Well, it\'s not much, but it\'s something," Shade faintly smiled. "Now, let\'s get going."

Raising his rose yet again, Shen felt the air around them shift as she found herself back inside his [Inconspicuous] bubble. Intrepidly, they stepped out to the considerably empty street. The lack of people around them only made her more nervous, but the nearby Academics didn\'t seem to notice their presence so far-

"Hey, you lot!"

The three of them froze, the fact that they were being called catching them off guard as they turned around. Thankfully, Shade seemed to recover quickly as he put himself between them and the man that had seemingly seen them sneaking about. Taking a small breath, Shen prepared herself for a possible fight, with Maruki beside her also doing the same as she heard the chinks on his armor creak in anticipation.

It will all depend on this one conversation...

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