Chapter 245 47.2 Meaningful Choice?

GUIDANCE

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"What in the world..."

Guidance gawked as she found herself knee-deep in what felt like gunk straight out of the sewers. The deeper she got, the more the Marquean technology and architecture gave way to something far more... disgusting. Molten flesh, rotting corpses of animals... There were no humans, thankfully, but it was still disgusting to walk through or even look at.

"U-Ugh..."

The dev held her breath for as much as possible as she navigated the fleshy halls of the facility. Sure, the metal walls and floors of the hallways were still there, but dear lord was it just straight-up horrifying to look at. She thanked her lucky stars that the lights weren't that great, or else she might've actually seen a dead body lying somewhere in here.

Still, despite the horrifying mess that was in front of her, she couldn't help but think why this sudden change in the atmosphere even existed. She didn't design the place, sure, but the Engine had to base its work off of something that she made, and she sure as hell didn't remember drafting a zone filled with corpses and rotting flesh. Even the smell of it all was making her gag even after a few minutes of forcibly trying to acclimate herself to the area.

'I-I can't even talk to myself anymore...' she inwardly complained.

Holding her nose, Guidance opened her mouth to breathe, quickly closing it shut before she continued onward. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any enemies nearby. Then again, the amount of robots she had to kill significantly decreased at around floor thirty, where they were replaced more with turrets that shot out scalding hot air. Surprisingly, one [Adloqium] cast had rendered them useless, and she had kept casting her barrier [Move] ever since.

'This is a mess.... How deep does this go?!'

Guidance blinked away the offending smell as she kept on going. With the lack of enemies, she could focus more on the general feel of the place, and it had deteriorated even more than when she first arrived. It felt far more sinister now compared to when she first arrived, obviously, and somehow, it was as if she was nearing something that shouldn't exist. A creation so vile and horrendous that even her fvcked up mind would have trouble wrapping her head around such a creation.

Taking another breath, she pressed on. With each step, a sickening squelch echoed from underneath her foot. The sounds of it made her wish she had boots on, but what else could she do except to move forward and hope that she'd finally see the light at the end of the tunnel?

'Found it!'

Her eyes widened with joy as she found another hatch going further down. It was covered with sticky flesh, but it was nothing that she couldn't handle by simply swiping them away with her feet. Not even thinking twice, she jumped downward, her knees bracing for impact as she found herself holding her breath for what could be waiting for her beneath.

[*thud...*]

To her pleasant surprise, her feet landed on cold hard metal as she kneeled down to reduce the impact. Standing up, she took a deep breath that smelled suspiciously like sterilized air found in hospitals. It had that alcoholic scent that screamed disinfectant, the air around her feeling more charged than even the previous floors she went through where there were literal electric fences barring some of the hallways.

"What is this now..."

Finally whispering to herself, Guidance kept her guard up as she shook off the remnants of rotten flesh still clinging to her skin. The flecks of sticky fluids landed on the ground unceremoniously, flashing away with a sizzle as the ground itself kept itself clean... wait, what?

Her eyes narrowed as she observed the phenomenon more closely. Sure enough, any sort of organic material that got shaken off her sizzled into nothingness the moment it touched the nearest metal surface to it. Almost immediately, she thought about what would happen to her if she touched the walls with her bare hands. It was only a good thing that she was wearing shoes, or else she might've also disintegrated into thin air.

"And I don't want to die that badly," she chuckled to herself.

Still, this level of sterilization possibly meant that there were sensitive electronics being worked on inside this place. Or at least, something along those lines, seeing as she didn't really write Marquee to have access to full-blown semiconductors. Perhaps it was some kind of project?

Curiously, Guidance set off, her [Manifest] giving her extra light as she traversed the mysterious floor. From the looks of it, the entire floor was inexplicably pristine. Compared to the floor prior, the entire area felt like she could lick the floors and not get any sort of bacteria or disease from doing so. And the hum...

[*huummmmm...*]

She didn't think that her ears were playing tricks on her, and the fact that some sort of vibrations kept on traveling up her legs also tipped her into the fact that there was indeed something running in the floor. Maybe some kind of machine then. A generator? Air conditioning? She wouldn't put it past this buggy game of hers to generate something stupid like it being a massive toilet that's constantly flushing or something along those lines. Still, that might also mean that she was close to the end. Or at least, she hoped so.

"Let's get this over with..."

Gathering her courage, Guidance began following the distinct thrum of the facility down to its logical source. Through each pristine hallway she passed, the light began glowing brighter, even coming to the point where she didn't even need to light her way with how bright everything was.

The closer she got, the more the facility's make and design began to take shape. The light illuminated everything it touched. The walls were actually filled with tiny grooves that seemed to shimmer to the naked eye. They pulsed white every so often, giving her a clue as to what they might actually be.

"Some kind of circuitry?"

It was the only thing she could think of. Except... it shouldn't be? Sure, circuits existed in Marquee's tech tree, but she didn't intend them to be this far ahead in terms of development.

From there, her worry only grew tenfold as she traversed further and further through the hallways. As opposed to the floor above, this one didn't have any branching paths or confusing turns whatsoever. Instead, it only had a singular path; one that led to the thing that was now showering her with light so bright it honestly felt like she was being bombarded by flashlights.

Squinting, Guidance held her hand up as she approached the source. Ever so closer, she began feeling the heat. Not just any heat, but the kind that almost reminded her of being out in the hot midday sun.

"Almost there..."

With one last push, Guidance finally reached her destination. Her eyes barely being able to adjust to the bright lights, she did her best to observe the massive room she found herself in, and with it, the massive spherical machine that seemed to pulse with life and brightness.

"A-[Adloqium!]"

She couldn't help but gasp as the searing heat forced her to cast another barrier over her body. It did little to stop the light, however. With every second that passed, the massive ball of light showered her with enough rays that she would probably develop skin cancer in seconds. She didn't feel like she was dying at least, so that was something that she could hold onto in the meantime.

"Is... Is this it?"

With a whisper, the dev stared in awe at the glowing ball of light sitting below a massive chasm in the middle of the room. With the entire facility seemingly built around the thing, it looked as if it was some kind of new energy source. Or perhaps... a nuclear reactor?

"This shouldn't be a thing here..." she worriedly muttered to herself, her heart sinking the more she managed to catch a glimpse of the massive device. "It looks specifically like a sun..."

Marquee shouldn't have this kind of technology... Hell, this world wasn't meant for technology going past semiconductors to be a thing. She had made sure that the balance of power between the three Nations would be, if not perfect, then at least decent enough for them to be even. This, however...

This shouldn't see the light of day.

Frowning, Guidance set off to work. If she could somehow destroy this, then Marquee wouldn't just steamroll through the other two nations without a problem. Besides, she was working for the Empire. Shizu would want this thing to not exist, and she wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment.

"Here goes nothing..."

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I'm going to start preparing for the end. I know it looks far from finished, and maybe it is, but since nobody's reading it, I'll just end it on a decent note where I can continue where I left off if needed.

To all still reading my garbage, thank you for sticking with me this far. If you like my stuff, I have a lot more planned for something else. Won't say anything yet, but it'll be ready once this thing ends.