episode_0255

A small figure fell as if thrown from the building. Levi barely landed on the ground.

Thud!

Dust-covered, he raised his head, to see the white-clad man slowly approaching.

Levi ran through the alley.

From the alley to the stairs, then climbing the wall onto a small railing. And then onto the roof.

‘I have to run!’

His instincts whispered.

That unknown entity wasn’t human.

Clutching his ballista, Levi leapt between buildings.

But the unknown man was there, everywhere he tried to escape.

Levi understood. This was a hunt.

That being was cornering him somewhere.

He couldn’t escape like this.

He had to fight somehow and shake him off.

Once the decision was made, his actions were swift.

Clicking into place, the drum magazine clicked into the ballista as if drawn in.

“Take this!”

Levi spun around and pulled the ballista’s trigger. A torrent of white light poured towards the man like a downpour.

The man reached out a hand towards the arrows raining down. Wherever his hand reached, the air warped, and all the arrows halted in mid-air.

“What…?”

Levi’s eyes widened. The man waved his hand, pulverizing the stopped arrows, then retaliated with a bolt of lightning.

“Gah!”

Levi flung himself away as if falling, barely dodging the electrical spark.

He landed with a thud on another roof just in front of him, barely escaping. The man stood on the opposite roof, as if waiting for him.

“W-What the—!”

His ghost-like, silent speed horrified him.

Not missing that fleeting moment, the man stretched out his hand.

Boom!

The roof exploded, roof tiles scattering everywhere. A figure burst out of the smoke, tumbling to the ground with a crash.

As he was getting up, an ominous premonition surged through Levi’s mind. Instantly, he focused magic into his legs and flung himself sideways.

Slam!

Immediately, the ground where Levi had been caved in, and a giant hand erupted.

“Gasp!”

The man stood before him once more. Levi raised his ballista, and the offense and defense continued.

Shooting, being chased, dodging. Running.

However, he had reached his limit.

“Aaaah!”

A massive shockwave enveloped him. Levi was slammed into a building.

His body was already covered in large and small wounds from fragments.

‘W-What in the world is that!’

The building he was forced into was a simple and clean space.

On one side, there was a small, bed-sized altar, and on it lay a human silhouette.

It was a familiar sight.

But Levi had no time to confirm it.

Because an unbelievable sight unfolded.

From within the wall, a human figure emerged smoothly, as if sliding out, and walked forward.

Like a ghost.

“Ah… ah…”

“Will you calm down now?”

Levi shrieked and pulled the ballista’s lever with all his remaining strength.

A large bolt clicked into place, loaded.

Boom!

A force comparable to a Federation main battle tank’s electromagnetic cannon assailed the man at point-blank range.

The large bolt, flying with destructive momentum, was lightly stopped by the man’s hand.

Clink!

“Certainly, you’re not ordinary. I’ll admit that.”

The ink-black bolt rolled on the floor. Levi’s eyes trembled as if in an earthquake.

“It was good that I captured you alive.”

His body was forcibly lifted.

Telekinesis roughly pulled Levi’s small body, drawing him into the man’s grasp.

“N-No! L-L-Let go! Go away!”

As Levi shrieked in terror, the girl lying on the altar suddenly sprang up.

The man’s hand, moving towards Levi’s head, froze.

“Die!”

Clang!

A hammer struck the man’s head. Taking advantage of the man’s grotesquely distorted head, the telekinesis was released. The perpetrator of the violence grabbed Levi.

“U-Uwaaah?”

“It’s me! Violet!”

The moment a startled Levi frantically recognized the voice, countless figures swarmed into the building.

“Charge! Charge!”

“Levi?”

“He’s safe!”

With a mighty roar, blonde-haired girls poured into the building. They were Violets.

‘I’m alive!’

Relief spread across Levi’s face.

As the rescue team quickly formed a line in front of Levi and evacuated him, the man’s head straightened out as if it had never been distorted, and he turned his gaze.

“What is that…”

“B-Be careful!… That’s not human!”

At Levi’s warning, the Violets tensed. The white-clad man grinned, seeing the swarming new adversaries before him.

“Hmm, what a coincidence. To meet you here. It was good that I brought that child here.”

As the man prattled incomprehensible words while looking at himself, the Violets responded with an attack instead of an answer.

「No talk!」

「Fire!」

As soon as the Violet command’s order fell, the waiting Violets pressed their triggers.

Blast!

One second later, an enormous explosion shook the silent streets of Asteria.

As the trap to eliminate the enemy who had abducted the hibernating Violet activated, the building immediately collapsed.

Countless debris and smoke surged skyward.

「Target status?」

「Didn’t get him!」

Detecting movement, Violet Command issued another attack order.

Command was certain. Even if they hadn’t killed him here, they had definitely inflicted damage.

“Get down!”

“Aaaah!”

The retreating rescue team covered Levi like a shield and ducked down, as successive air-rending sounds echoed above their heads.

Countless projectiles soared through the sky.

Anti-tank rockets, streams of autocannon fire, magic-infused bolts and mortar shells. A storm of melting rays and magic blades rained into the smoke.

「Never give him an opening!」

Merciless firepower slammed into the building’s interior like a downpour.

It had to strike.

It was meant to.

Because that was the natural law of the world.

The world is composed of natural laws.

The Violets, like everyone else, recognized that as truth and acted accordingly.

Even in this world of magic and swordsmanship, natural laws were one of the principles that composed the world.

Therefore, bullets and magic had to strike the enemy. Whether they shattered or not.

They believed it without a doubt.

Until the world stopped.

A woman appeared among the Violets with a casual demeanor, as if out for a picnic.

The woman lightly snapped her fingers.

「Everyone, keep fi-」

「Press forwar-」

Time froze.

**

“The headquarters has briefed you multiple times already, but I will explain it again. Our target this time is not a magical beast.”

The Royal Guard Captain stood before the aligned knights and spoke in a solemn voice.

He maintained silence for a moment, waiting for the weight of his words to sink into his subordinates.

“The Federation has named them ‘Interdimensional Disturbances.’ These inferior alien beings call themselves ‘Eidos’ in their own language.

As you can tell from the fact that they have a language, they are fundamentally different from the magical beasts we have encountered before, which were mere animals.“

The Royal Guard Captain’s gaze swept over his subordinates.

“Among them, the ones that have appeared this time are called ‘Apostles.’ They are interdimensional servants dispatched from beyond the Arctic Gateway to destroy human society.”

Explanations poured into the knights’ ears, pounding into them. Things they had heard again and again.

“This time, do not trust your armored suits. If you feel danger, retreat immediately. I hate to admit it, but our opponents are intelligent beings with cognitive abilities equal to or greater than humans.

So, assume you are fighting an enemy equal to or superior to us. Most importantly, there is one more dangerous fact. What is it?”

One of the knights opened his mouth.

“Their abilities, sir.”

The Royal Guard Captain nodded. His face contorted, as if acknowledging the enemy’s abilities itself wounded the clan’s pride.

“That’s right, localized reality manipulation abilities. A power of a different domain from magic.

I’ve emphasized this repeatedly over the past few weeks, but never forget the fact that even Magnabyss’s Archmage couldn’t interpret the miracles of these monstrous bastards.

At this point, humanity possesses almost no means to stop their miracles.

He gazed at the knights before him with sharp eyes.

“I trust that all of you have thoroughly studied the data provided by the Magnabyss Group, especially Vanguard Unit’s engagement report S-124-A5.

This is very important. Even those dandies who call themselves ‘Guardians of Mystery’ paid no small sacrifice to understand and interpret them.”

His voice dropped to a somber whisper, but the knights’ expressions didn’t change in the slightest.

Satisfied with that fact, the Royal Guard Captain straightened his posture and raised his voice with unwavering conviction.

“Of course, I don’t doubt that any of you will flee from combat. Who are you?”

“The Steel Royal Guard!”

The knights raised their voices in unison.

“Who are we?”

“The Steel Royal Guard!”

The Royal Guard Captain’s eyes gleamed as he affirmed.

“Yes. We are Restrade’s strongest Royal Guard. We never retreat. We are the strongest, and the most steadfast!”

He raised his fist, making a gesture to boost the soldiers’ morale.

“We will sortie soon. Finish your personal preparations quickly. Dismissed!”

As the knights dispersed, Royal Guard Captain Ostro then encountered Cordo, who entered grumbling.

“Your Excellency, how is the Special Task Force Commander reacting?”

“Hmph, he seems a little uncomfortable, acting like a soldier. A mere parachute appointee, at that. I told him we’d send him to the Assembly when this is over, so what’s so uncomfortable about it…”

A sneer crept onto both their faces.

The current commander was an incompetent general whom they had replaced by leveraging their Federation Assembly connections.

Thanks to replacing the uncooperative Special Task Force Commander, it was easy to manipulate the military like puppets.

“Your Excellency, don’t worry. As soon as an exit is deployed in the barrier, we will evacuate personnel of priority status quickly.

It would be troublesome if academy personnel or clan members got caught up in it, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s the problem. Too many people are watching. If possible, we should only leave behind those whose disappearance wouldn’t cause issues.”

While conversing with the Royal Guard Captain, the commander frowned upon seeing the long trailers newly arriving.

The trailers were extremely long, and what was loaded on them was as long as a missile.

“This is… that item, right?”

“Yes, sir. Hmm…”

Cordo, who glanced at the cargo on the trailer, felt a sense of unease. The Royal Guard Captain also shook his head and stepped back, as if it were a cursed object.

The cargo on the trailer bore a faint, almost erased, symbol of the Magnabyss Group.

“Hah, what were they thinking, putting my fiancée’s name on something like that.”

Cordo clicked his tongue. When did the Archmage create such an atrocious thing?

Swallowing his discomfort, he issued the next order.

“Everything that needs to be here has arrived. We depart as soon as the Apostle is detected.”

The Royal Guard Captain looked at the trailers and asked.

“It’s a relief that Magnabyss and those Federation bastards cooperated. What would have happened if we’d gone in without such countermeasures…”

Commander-in-Chief Cordo replied with an expression that said, ‘Are you asking the obvious?’

“We would be annihilated.”

**

Violet Command watched the scene, filled with horror.

A dissonance of senses, like a cacophony, spread through the network.

「Uh, ah. I can’t move!」

「My body’s frozen! Uwaaah!」

The Violets on site were terrified by the situation where they were conscious but their bodies were uncontrollable.

Everything before their eyes was frozen.

The smoke rising into the sky, the dust swirling in the air. The countless attacks flying with malice were awkwardly frozen and halted, like insects in amber.

Those free from this strange phenomenon were the sniper and heavy weapons team Violets who were a little further away from the scene.

「That’s strange? We can move…!」

「No way!」

Before the Violets could fully comprehend this bizarre situation, the man shrugged and extended his hand.

「W-What the—!」

The countless spells and projectiles suspended in mid-air turned 180 degrees.

Their targets were their original owners.

And then time began to flow again.

The spells and bullets surged towards the Violets, carrying the homing instinct of salmon.

Bang! Crash!

「Oh, oh! No!」

「Stay away!」

Under the impacts, explosions, and reversed attacks, the Violets were scattered horribly.

A gruesome sight unfolded, with bodies contorted and limbs torn off.

「Ugh! This is impossible!」

「Shriek!」

In indescribable terror, the Violets hastily changed their strategy.

From between the alleys, a group of Violets rose without hesitation and charged forward. Close-quarters combat began.

Crack!

Zap!

Gravity warped, and the Violets’ bodies floated into the air.

「Huh? I’m flying!」

「My body isn’t obeying me!」

Caught in the abnormal gravity, the Violets shook like puppets before being slammed back into the ground.

With a harsh roar, the Violets were flattened.

The attacks didn’t stop. Building fragments swirled over the Violets like a whirlwind, and strange light bullets and attacks tore apart the charging Violets.

The gazes of the man and woman narrowed as they observed the Violets charging without hesitation amidst cruel deaths.

The resistance was unexpectedly strong.

No, had such humans ever existed?

“Your prediction was correct. Those things are…”

“Are they connected?”

Even with injuries that would have instantly killed a normal human, the Violets continued to move.

As if feeling no pain, they charged towards death without hesitation, even with broken limbs and split bellies.

“K-Kill!”

One Violet, having lost a leg, crawled forward tenaciously.

Before the Violet could press the bomb’s detonator, the woman muttered expressionlessly and lifted the Violet.

“Was that the method?”

The Violet, repeatedly pressing the detonator, wondered why it wasn’t working.

Just as Unit 427 realized her bomb vest was inoperable, the woman raised her hand.

A grotesque symbol appeared in the air, then began to glow red.

The symbol exploded, and streaks of red light infiltrated the Violets present at the scene.

At that moment, the Violets shrieked in unison.

“Ugh… Uwaaah!”

The girls, every single one of them, clutched their heads, fell to the ground, and writhed.

“It works.”

The man looked down at the Violets distorted in pain and casually asked.

“How does it feel?”

“W-What is this… Uwaaah!”

The Violet struggled to speak, but soon shrieked again and writhed on the floor.

「Aaaargh!」

The network surged with pain and screams. The Violets flailed in a sea of terror and bewilderment.

「Why!」

This couldn’t be happening. Another piece of the Violets’ common sense shattered.

They were clearly distributing the pain, yet the pain distribution wasn’t working.

The Violet writhed in abnormally increased agony, struggling to find an answer. As the girl glared, tears streaming down her face, the woman spoke as if she had been waiting.

“You’re probably thinking, ‘Why is this so painful?’”

The woman stabbed the fallen Violet in the stomach with her sword.

“Aaaargh!”

The Violets’ screams grew even louder.

The pain doubled, fiercely piercing through their entire bodies. The woman, watching the scene, continued speaking.

“As expected, you used a trick. Girls, it was an interesting idea, but it clung to you too much.”

“Uwaaaah….”

The Violets were now on the verge of losing consciousness.

“So I experimented, and it worked splendidly. Consciousness linkage. I didn’t think humans could achieve that. Though now, it has become your poison.”

“W-What is this…”

As one Violet looked up, the man, as if he had been waiting, stomped on her face.

With a crunch, her head shattered. A scream echoed once more.

“Aaaargh!”

“Since you seem curious, I’ll explain.”

The Apostle from another dimension declared, like a merciless judge handing down a death sentence.

“I’ve amplified your pain receptors. Human.”

Every Violet in the academy city writhed in agony.

“There’s nothing you can do. I’ll scour your mind.”