Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System
Chapter 182: New Moscow

Jasper adjusted his greaves, tightening them up while the elevator continued its rise, "Those big ass mechs can handle the job, I'm sure."

"With normal monsters, yeah. The thing is, I'm sure there are creatures of unbelievable strength we haven't seen yet. I don't doubt that as good as this place looks, they're struggling to defend it," Finn presumed.

"I hope that's not the case. Just knowing a city like this still exists…It's comforting," Charlotte admitted with a quiet exhale.

He felt somewhat guilty for perhaps making her doubt the city could be sustained, adding in, "I'm just speaking my two cents. For all we know, this place could be perfectly protected."

Your journey continues with mvl

The elevator finally came to a halt with a small "ding" before its sable doors parted for the guests. What it opened up to was an exuberant floor with walls made of windows that had an outlook on the entire city, only through a one-way view.

Floors made of dark, spotless marble; to the right was an open, lounge room of sorts with sofas surrounding a flat-screen television that had a news channel playing. Again, it was a surreal sight for the survivors.

"Living the sweet life, huh?" Jasper quietly remarked.

A sound like that of buzzing and a keyboard clicking caught Finn's attention as he quietly led the way in, walking into what looked to be an entire floor designated as a rich apartment. As he turned around a pillar that blocked the sight of the other half of the room, he found what the noise came from–

"Ah," Finn let out.

He was face-to-face with the disconnected heads of one of the mobile suits as a digital screen displayed lines of code running over its visor.

"Oh, hello there–welcome."

The voice that calmly greeted him sounded as though it came from the helmet, though glancing over, he saw it came from a man working at a station behind it. There were bits and pieces, likely belonging to prototypes, laying around the workshop area.

It was a rather tall, lanky man that extended the welcome; he was pale with messy, dark hair though by his looks nor accent, he didn't appear to be Russian.

"Hey. Are you the one that sent for us?" Finn asked.

["Sleuth Status"]

[--]

There was nothing given from attempting to identify any information about the man in clear glasses, only a small smile from the slender figure as he adjusted his dirty lab coat. The stranger slid his gloves off, setting them down on the top of the work bench beside tools of unknown purposes.

"That's right," he answered, adjusting his hair before extending his hand. "I'm Nikko. I've been placed as the head of development for the security and combat forces, along with the technological general management for New Moscow."

"That's a whole lot of titles, isn't it?" Jasper said before giving his name, accepting the handshake. "I'm Jasper."

"Charlotte," the spellblade added, sharing the handshake as well right after.

Finn waited a moment before accepting, "I'm Finn. You said "New Moscow", right?"

"I did. That's what this place is," Nikko confirmed with a smile, walking away from the workshop towards the walls of glass that overlooked the city, gesturing for them to observe as well.

Finn gazed beside the engineer, seeing the tops of neighboring, but smaller skyscrapers, seeing the cars that looked as small as ants on the ground below.

"Seeing a place like this still surviving with the state the world is in…It's amazing," Charlotte admitted, standing near the window.

"It's not just surviving. This city–it's an astounding achievement for humanity. Greater than any city in history before it," Nikko proudly claimed. "Current circumstances were the catalyst for civilization to reach this point."

"What're you talking about? This place is fantastic, but civilization as a whole–it barely exists anymore. Outside of those walls, it's a scattered hellscape," Finn contested, looking at the engineer.

Nikko smiled, turning around as he looked at the prototype, mechanical suits that were still kept in pieces, "You need to look at the bigger picture here. Sure, as it stands, humanity as a whole is on the backfoot. Given time and resources, working together, we can return–greater than ever."

"Working together as in under New Moscow?" Finn questioned.

The suspicious stance taken by Finn earned a look from Nikko before the slender figure adjusted his glasses with a small laugh as if brushing it off.

"You have your doubts. That's understandable–you haven't seen the full picture yet. New Moscow is an impenetrable fortress. The Radegasts–the mobile suits you were introduced to earlier, I'm sure, are more than capable of exterminating most monster threats," Nikko explained with pride.

"I can't believe something like those robots are a real thing," Charlotte questioned.

"Full blown gundams. I thought I've seen it all," Jasper remarked, lightly tapping a disassembled limb of one of the mechs.

Nikko laughed, "It's due to my system. I am not from Russia originally, but I came here to study abroad from Canada. I majored in robotics, so I believe that's where my ability came from."

"You said the Radegasts can handle most monster threats. Sounds like there's something they can't deal with," Finn pointed out, having been listening close.

"You don't let anything past you, do you? I respect that," Nikko acknowledged with a smile before adjusting his glasses.

The man in the lab coat walked back to the center of the room, casually using one hand to quickly type on a keyboard. Whatever was inputted seemed to cause a massive monitor to unfold itself from the ceiling, displaying to the guests.

What was shown was a mountain range during a full moon; it seemed that the moon was particularly bright that night, almost overbearingly so.

"What is this?" Finn questioned, watching the screen.

Nikko stood beside him, "This is footage from one of the Radegast pilots on patrol a few nights ago. What it observed, well–like you said, I thought I had seen it all as well," the inventor said, glancing at the knight.

It was footage from the perspective of one of the giant mobile suits, walking among a squadron of others carrying rifles tenfold as large as normal weapons.

[//Three Nights Prior, Outskirts of New Moscow//]

"Hound, relay any replaceings," the mech pilot at the back communicated.

"Nothing yet. It's abnormally clear tonight," the frontmost pilot of the Radegast responded, stomping through the grassy plains.

The patrol continued without any disturbances, only grass beneath the moonlight until–

A harsh sound like metal being crushed rang through the quiet valley, bringing the mobile suits to raise their weapons.

"Hound! Hound, respond!"

"He's–!"

All that was discovered where the frontmost pilot had been surveying was nothing more than a flattened pancake of steel.

A noise like that of the air being compressed and crushed blared before—crush. The mobile suit to the left of him was flattened in a single moment.

It was a seamless occurrence, as though the suit was nothing more than a tin can.

"Fox!" The pilot shouted in a panic, pulling the trigger of his weapon as he fired into the darkness. "Unknown hostile in the area. I repeat—unknown hostile in the…!"

Multiple, unseen impacts created small craters in the valley before the footage went blank.

—

"What was that…?" Charlotte questioned after the dismaying video.

"They were all killed, but by what?" Finn questioned.

"The Moon," Nikko answered, looking at the guests.

It was an answer that hardly made any sense, though the intellectual figure already knew that as he changed the feed, rewinding the shown footage to the exact frame with the full moon in view.

"You can't mean the moon, like that moon, right?" Jasper questioned.

"Not exactly. I theorize it is more of an embodiment of the concept of our moon, or more accurately the idea of it given physical form," Nikko explained, pointing to the screen. "Look closely. Can you see it?"

Finn stepped closer to get a better look at just whatever it was that the man was trying to get them to see. It took some squinting to make it out, though he discovered it, though it was hardly a few pixels of the screen to decipher.

Hidden in the near distance of that night time footage was a humanoid figure of pale, glistening skin with eyes that looked hollow and a body covered in craters.

"Is that it?" Charlotte questioned.

"What am I even looking at here?" Jasper asked, having trouble making it out.

Nikko confirmed their guesses, "That's the Moon. One of the pilots survived and was able to obtain its name from personally using sleuth on it. Strangest of all, it wasn't given the usual designation of "Enemy" or "Boss", simply–"Major Arcana."

"Major Arcana? Like tarot cards?" Charlotte repeated with some intrigue.

"Exactly so, it seems," Nikko answered.

Finn looked away from the screen, meeting eye-to-eye with the engineer, "And why exactly are you showing us this? I doubt it's just a kind warning to some passing guests. I'd assume this isn't common knowledge, either–nothing you let the citizens in the city see, right?"

"You're completely correct once again, Finn. This is something the populace is not permitted to see. We're afraid knowledge of this would only stir up…unrest," Nikko answered.