VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 130

Magnum began to descend, the battle growing ever louder with each step down the ladder. It didn't seem that either side had suffered any casualties just yet, as both the twins' magic was visibly cutting through the fog. The only person missing seemed to be Gerson, which made Magnum worry.

Considering the only way off the catwalks was the ladder, Sadie searched the room below for doors or whatnot, and managed to find not just one, but two, alongside a conveyor belt that appeared to carry half-finished rifles sitting on it. The belt wasn't moving, but it was clear that this outpost was some kind of weapon manufacturer for the Messiah's local units. And underneath an elementary school of all things.

Magnum disappeared into the billowing wisps to join the fight, flashes of pink now appearing among the other colors. Perhaps it was easier to see what was happening within, but from this height looking down, it looked simply like a mess of a battle.

Sadie descended down the ladder, quickly making her way to the door nearest her before she could get sucked into the battle through whatever means. Of course, the door was chained shut, a padlock linking the chains together over the door. Sadie wasn't sure she had the magical prowess to bust this kind of thing just yet, so opted to head toward the second and only other door in the room. Peering through the fog billowing about, she couldn't see any chains on this one, but until she got close, nothing was confirmed.

For a moment, something emerged from the cloud cover, obscuring Sadie's path. It took her a moment to realize it was a cauldron, which had embedded against the wall. It was the size of Sadie, and thick enough to hold hot magma without melting. Smoke drifted off of its surface in droves, providing more coverage within the room, no doubt detrimenting her allies, save for Mettaton, who probably had the means to see through the smoke. Fuku and Magnum, however, weren't nearly as adjusted for this kind of scenario.

Sadie pressed both of her hands up against the unchained door before her, eyes watering from the massive cloud of smoke and fog that billowed all across the ground. Magnum wasn't a machine, nor was she a fire monster, so if Sadie didn't find a way to clear this room up, and soon . . . She didn't even want to think about it. Sadie knew smoke was even more dangerous than fire for humans, all the more reason to find the control room.

The door was incredibly heavy, and even when she pressed all her weight against it, it barely budged. She kept pushing and pushing, sucking in deep breaths and subsequently coughing up the dirty smoke. It took a good minute for her to create a gap big enough for her small frame to fit through, but when she finally did, a large grin appeared on her face. Nothing fancy, but this room clearly controlled something, as several red buttons were neatly displayed in front of her on a steel panel. None of them were labeled very well, each one having a single letter or number written on it in smudged marker. Very helpful.

A fire extinguisher sat on the other end of the cramped room, beside another button that extended from the wall. Sadie nearly pressed it the moment she saw it in hopes of maybe turning on a sprinkler system... which would have been lovely, but Fuku was out there, and Sadie doubted water would be good for her. So, she was left to examine these buttons and pray to god that she could turn on a filter, or a fan system, or something. A place underground with all this dangerous equipment had to have some method of extracting smoke, after all, she just needed to find it.

Sadie began by pressing down on the 'A' button, not knowing quite what to expect, but instead of anything actually beneficial, an irritating alarm began to ring, accompanied by a flashing red light. Not what she wanted. Sliding her fingers down the steel panel, Sadie instead began to poke at the row of 'F' buttons.

The first one . . . didn't seem to do anything. F1 was useless. F2, on the other hand, made a loud ringing sound echo through the outpost. It lasted only a second or two, but she noticed the microphone situated further north on the panel of the button, leaving her to assume she'd just activated some kind of microphone. F3, upon pressing it, made the stale, smokey air feel suddenly lift as the whirring of machines sounded. While she'd been successful at activating the filtration system, she'd already pressed F4, the final of the 'F' buttons before waiting to see what F3 did. The sound of grinding metal could be heard at the activation of F4, but before she could determine what that was, the door into the control room suddenly burst open.