They calmly exited the alleyway, which opened into a crowded and noisy town square. Most of the din was from vendors behind small shop booths advertising colorful and interesting-looking wares. Leon saw the VR view of the square.

  The stalls resembled quaint white-marble or polished wood booths, trimmed in vibrant ribbons or banners that advertised the booth's name.

  Strung along booth canvas roofs were small colorful rice paper lanterns to make the area sparkle with a cozy, mellow, glow. Although the place was crowded, the atmosphere was leisurely and positive.

  "Fresh Rockfish! Catch ‘em while the deal is hot. Don't let ‘em slip away. Only two copper leura to feed the family!" said a shopkeeper.

  Leon glanced at a flapping fish with barnacle-like scales as he passed the booth's shelves. A sea smell lingered about his nose.

  The sight was making him dizzy, so he turned off the VR mode. He didn't pause, but continued weaving his way through the milling crowds to keep up with Wolf and Lucy's lead. Rabbit was still hugging his arm; eager to share her knowledge of the place.

  "Breeches! Salty hot roasted Breeches! For a cheap, one copper a punnet!" A shopkeeper shouted out his wares.

  Lucy raced up to the booth: after a brief exchange with the shopkeeper, returned to them with a brown bag stuffed with something.

  "Here." She fished through the bag to pull out a handful and shove it in Leon's free hand.

  He blinked at the shelled nuts warming his palm. From his knowledge, they were pecans.

  "They're pecans. Why are they called Breeches?" He innocently asked.

  Lucy chuckled and showed him by pulling off half a shell of one, which looked like pants were pulled down to show butt cheeks.

  "Get it. Tear the shell off the nuts, look like no... Bah. Just eat the nuts." She brushed aside the explanation when it was clear he didn't get it.

  He did as he was instructed, and shared some with Rabbit. They carried on. A few paces ahead, Lucy stopped them in their tracks when she approached a boutique shop nestled in the square's corner. Many young people, with studs on parts of their faces, heavy makeup, tattooed skin, and similarly styled hair as Lucy's, came and went from it. Leon was perplexed by the sounds banging out of the shop's speakers. It was heavy and loud.

  "Punk rock." Rabbit informed him.

  "Why does it sound like a battle is going on? Do people like that in their heads?"

  "Expression for the soul. Soul fights to express." She nodded, like that explanation was going to answer his puzzlement on the matter.

  Regardless, he shrugged his shoulders and followed the others inside. His lips twitched with question at seeing Lucy eye a shelf of square slips with ballsy artwork on them.

  "No way!" She gingerly pulled out one of the slips to see the cover in detail. "Syd Mad's live edition of 'Skanky Hoe in the Back End'."

  Her weird tremble and over excited expression made Leon raise an eyebrow; clearly not understanding why a slip of cardboard would stir up her energies. Curious, he peeked over her shoulder to get a better look at the cover image of a man and his scowling face, with his middle finger raised in a passionate pose. And realized that Lucy's hairstyle was the same as the cover image.

  "Five gold leura and it's all yours, Lucy." A store clerk came up next to her.

  "Five gold! Oh, man." Her shoulders dropped with disappointment. She reluctantly returned the slip to the shelf.

  "For twenty nickels, we have a copied cassette version." The store clerk casually dropped the alternative.

  "Sold!" She eagerly got out her coin pouch.

  Wolf sighed as he led Leon and Rabbit out of the shop for Lucy to finish her business.

  Leon noticed the neighboring shop booths were less vibrant at this end, and the rockfish looked like more rock than fish, especially with wisps of dust blowing around them. Food was food, he supposed.

  "Bloody hell. I just noticed. Where's Rabbit?" Lucy hissed when she stepped out. She glanced around, not seeing the girl anywhere.

  "Behind you, I am." Rabbit giggled at her back. She was still hugging Leon's arm.

  Leon switched on his VR mode and nodded when he saw nothing on the arm she was hugging. It seemed her cloak was effective in making her invisible within VR crowds.

  Lucy sighed with relief. She had forgotten the girl was wearing her shielding cloak. It was likely the reason why she hadn't seen her when Leon was chasing after her trail.

  As she had only seen him dash off like he was on some crazed, trippy mission. Luckily, it turned out to be Rabbit who had made him go through that ordeal. Although, the whole situation made her feel weird. Or more to say, it felt like from the moment she had hunted the mage in the dust bowl, something cosmically big was triggered. She hoped that wasn't the case. Because cosmic big hats and their destinies weren't her cup of tea.

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  "Hurry, the sermon's about to begin." A young man knocked Leon's arm as he past; hastily pulling his mother along for the square's center. Leon gazed further across the crowd to do a deeper scan of the area.

  Like most of the outer area buildings, the town square was a collection of weathered bronze walls, iron doors, and silver windows with various digital patterns across the surfaces. A few of the buildings were colossal structures to hold a small population. The main and obvious structure was the pantheon. A square building supported by a solid bronze triangular roof balanced on milky-silver columns. It emitted a faint hum and oily sheen.

  "The Eleutherian Council Chambers and Our Lady of Light, High Fane." He noted to himself when he scanned the building information from one of the plaques on the wall and stored it in his knowledge database. The information contained various connecting links to allow further information viewing.

  He learned that the pantheon building was the High Fane for the Our Lady of Light faction. It was the place where the sisters and clerics presided and declared the country's common-sense code of conduct. His stored knowledge also hinted at the pantheon being the source of the city's power supply; allowing the virtual reality connections.

  His attention was drawn to the polished white marble statue of a benevolent woman in a flowing full-length gown. She had a star crown on her head. Her outstretched left arm was holding a flaming torch. The statue was at the head of a wide podium raised sixty feet, so the population below would have to stare up to see her. It was so spotless, it gleamed proudly before its people below the podium.

  "Eleutheria," he whispered aloud.

  "Our country's deity." Lucy nodded.

  They moved further into the crowd to see what held everyone's attention.

  A white-robed woman of importance stood boldly on the podium stage before the statue. An enormous free-floating display screen hovered over her head, so the masses could see privileged close-ups of hers and their deity's face every so often. She was appealing to the eye. Flawless skin with gentle green eyes and a delicate smile of painted red lips. Fine silver earrings dangled from her ears. Her blond hair was demurely styled in a platted bun, with a modest silver version of the deity's crown on her head.

  "She's so beautiful." A young girl in the crowd squealed with delight.

  "Hush! Our Lady's sister is about to speak," said the adult next to her.

  The white-robed woman patiently waited for the crowd's noise to ease into silence. She began her speeches.

  "Good people of Scarf City. Our Lady has seen your good deeds. Please accept her praises and love for you all." The white-robed woman stretched her arms before the masses.

  Leon frowned, finding her voice charming almost like a charm spell, but not so much that he was enthralled.

  A hearty cheer and roar bellowed from beneath the podium when showers of blue light rained upon the crowd.

  He felt his blood energy become excited. So much so, that the telltale aches of oxygen deprivation surfaced. He carefully removed two blood capsules, swallowed them, then reset his watch. The good doctor was true to his word; the capsules were effective in replenishing his levels.

  "Here." Rabbit slipped an aloe vera leaf into his free palm. He gratefully ate it.

  For everyone in the crowd, it seemed the shower of energy had boosted their vitality. Especially their VR capacity. Leon's glasses were showing full green bars on the charge level, and its storage size had increased by at least half a percent.

  Wolf carefully explained that people had bandwidth quotas for their VR CPU, which lasted for a month before being reset. Everyone defaulted to a regular quota for basic impressions and viewings. However, attending sermons by Our Lady of Light faction, sometimes granted boons for premium upgrades; a temporary increase in capacity and additional features otherwise not available on regular consumption.

  "So, being here for the sermon has benefits for the VR mode." Leon summed up.

  Wolf nodded. "More or less. Most of it is like having a prettier VR face or fancier looking home."

  Lucy added that the power was also akin to a happy pill in low dosages. This shower quantity wasn't harmful to human health, per se, but likely would be to someone of his condition. As it would excite his blood.

  Leon nodded and continued to watch the white-robed woman's sermon.

  "However! Our blessed divine AntiPope has noticed more biodefects sneaking into our borders to taint our lands with their magic filth. This must not continue! We must purge our lands from this foul evil. When the GCE lords tricked humanity with their foul medicine, we saw the truth with Our Lady's grace and wisdom. They continue to try and trick us. But I say, they will NOT!"

  Heads were nodding, which empowered the woman's voice to be bolder.

  "So, I employ each one of you to tell us of anyone who uses magic. Tell us if any of their foul numbers slip into our great realm. Be our eyes for our goddess and be rewarded with her blessings. We must keep our families and friends safe. It's up to us to do this!"

  The crowd bellowed with their agreement, cheering on the decree wholeheartedly.

  "Magic is a sin! The abomination of mankind. Report a magic-user. Do this for your families to keep everyone safe!" One woman passionately cried out in the crowds.

  "Yes! The woman knows. The imperials are villains. They torture their children. Turn man into machines. This is against the will of the gods, of our great goddess. The empire must never set foot here. Together, we can keep our lands free. This is the will of our beloved AntiPope! The will of Eleutheria! For freedom!" The white-robed woman's preaching continued to incite the crowd's frenzy

  Leon and Rabbit clung to each other, doing their best to stay inconspicuous.

  "Purge the evil!" A man added to the frenzy.

  People whipped out their guns and began shooting in the air.

  Wolf tapped Leon's shoulder for him to follow. He carefully led them into a quiet and safe corner to speak.

  "Who was she?" Leon soberly asked when he felt safe to speak.

  "An Ordained Sister for the city's Our Lady of Light order. Lass's role is to speak the will of our AntiPope and goddess." Wolf informed him.

  "Code are her words where the people's hearts follow." Rabbit shivered. "Our kind are a bane to purge, magic or no."

  Leon gulped.

  She added. "Imperial machinations we are. Bits of a failed machine. The Biodefects. To purge all is to save all. For a sin is a sin, so they believe."

  "Let's go," Lucy interjected to stop the conversation and get them moving.

  They walked through the quieter lanes and the street edges to avoid attention, especially from the city's guards.