Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Y-City, Ypselon---

She wandered through the rainy streets of Y-City. Originally, she thought she was past the stage where she had to travel all across Urth. She had hoped to be able to stay at Delta, for a few weeks at least.

But Leana had already given her instruction before they returned. While the Princess officially joined Minas Mar as their ambassador from Chrona, Cade secretly left Delta for Y-City to get a better insight into what was actually going on.

The reason Cade had to go, was because the System Church had long been isolated from the businesses of Ypselon. While they were not outright attacked or banished, the people of the System Church were no longer allowed to leave their HQ.

At least Leana had prepared a quick mount for her, otherwise, she would have had to travel by foot. It had only taken a few days to travel to the outskirts of the capital. She couldn't directly enter because of the guard and defenses in place and had to land somewhere that was less strictly monitored.

Things had changed compared to the last time she had visited the city, the defenses were actually the smallest change. The streets that had been bustling over a year ago were deserted. The crowd with a colorful mix of fantastic garbs and modern attire was gone, leaving only empty streets on the outskirts.

Storefronts were boarded up and only a few people in ragged attire dared to go in public. Cade was disturbed by the sight, which was even worse than the situation she had briefly witnessed in Delta. One could have thought Y-City became a deserted ghost town if it wasn't for the city center.

In stark contrast, it was filled with a bustling crowd glad in obviously high-quality attire and sparkling items. The stores were brightly lit, selling a variety of expensive products for credits or directly for system currency.

A lot of people she passed wore polyarkanate armor like hers. Back when she bought it, it was a luxury good, but now it seemed to be a standard around here. Hers only differed from theirs, because it was enchanted by a master enchanter in Chrona and subsequently changed its color to a dark blue.

It was quite clear that the district had been split into rich and poor, or rather the fortunate and unfortunate? She went around for a long while, listening to the conversations of people on the streets and in restaurants.

Y-City had not just changed on the surface, but there had been several policy changes over the past months. The primary effect was the tremendous support for people with high-rated classes. On the surface, they created a dynamic to make people strive to improve themselves, but in reality, the populace was bled out to subsidize the few that were lucky enough to get stronger classes.

Shortly after her arrival, she got a letter from Leana through the System Church. The reason they didn't use the communication orbs, was that the princess had a suspicion and worried their communication could be tapped into or Cade could even be located. They had more trust in the Rakshasa's ability to hide her presence when entering the system church.

After the letter informed her of the happening in Delta and Agra, Cade began to widen her area of investigation further into the outskirts. Formerly, Y-City had a safety parameter that divided it from the part they had to abandon after the invasion of the Muir Empire and the dungeon breaks afterward.

Cade was shocked, finding that the areas closest to this border had already turned to slums no different from the abandoned parts of the district. She was especially shocked because originally, this safety parameter would have originally winded after the refugees of Beta came to Y-City.

Even when Beta had lost to the Muir Empire and evacuated, they still had a sizable force of people, that should have helped to reclaim lost parts of the city for their people. Contrary to that, the parameter seemed to have shrunk.

It was obvious that people were missing, and what place was better than abandoned slums, to let people vanish? She started looking for clues to the origin of the blood berserkers that had attacked Agra in the outskirts.

Cade did not have to search for a long time. Using her illusions, she managed to speak with the terrified people that still trying to survive in this place. They all spoke of the same things. In the beginning, everything went great. It was true that they increased the range and safety of the parameter. Some of the people she spoke to were even from Beta.

However, things started to change with the new policies. The people of beta that made up the bulk of the defenses here moved to the city center and soon the parameter shrunk again. The soldiers that were supposed to help in emergencies, became their greatest fear.

If it weren't the monsters that took them, it was the soldiers that were supposed to protect them. Making shady claims of supposed crimes they would come in troves and keep taking away their people, sometimes whole families. The people that were taken away never returned and when they went to look for them, they couldn't even see them.

From what she found out, some of the guilds of Beta that saw what was going on and protested against it were either silenced or vanished. Some were forced to flee to the abandoned slums, hunted by the soldiers of Y-City. Whether they were caught, or somehow survived there like the bandits, the people didn't know.

All of them were basic classes, many non-combat or of low-level. None of them had the power to leave this place, especially not to wander into the ruins infested by monsters and dungeons to look for the remnants of those guilds.

Cade decided to stay in the outskirts and observe these events with her own eyes. It was just the second night she stayed in an empty building on the outskirts, that she got to witness and raid of soldiers.

Nobody even bothered to explain why they suddenly charged into a building and started throwing people into the back of their jail car. They only shouted for them to shut up and not resist, or they would be killed then and there.

She knew it was a mistake, but even with her <Heart of Steel> she couldn't stand by without doing anything. The guards were only lv.55, so it was easy for the rakshasa girl that had reached lv.90 in Chrona to enchant them with an illusion.

While they thought they would pack up the people and drive off, they actually unloaded the again and drove back in an empty car. Except for the shadow they gave a ride on top of their transporter. The rescued people did not question their luck and ran off the moment they had the chance.

The transporter brought its empty cargo to a place they called Facility 3, situated not far from the more prosperous city center. Arriving there, Cade dispelled her illusion on the men, who suddenly noticed that they had come back with empty hands when they were sure they had filled the back of their truck.

Cade used a skill from her Rune Warrior class and her skin was covered in runes with the effect of recognition inhibition. It was a way to further strengthen her camouflage, in case some could see through her illusion magic or detect her presence.

As long as they were not several times stronger than her or her skill, they would turn to ignore her, since they would be unable to recognize that something was there. It was similar to forcibly creating a blind spot in someone's mind.

Hidden by her skills, she entered the facility for further investigation. What she found was a place that functioned as a massive prison. Almost all rooms she came by were repurposed as prison cells, and the people were jammed into the cells like canned sardines.

With growing displeasure, she continued to explore the facility.