Aureatia's Central Assembly Hall.
The bureaucrats had gathered in the second communications room, now converted into the provisional operation headquarters, collected information transmitted from the different areas of Aureatia, and were devising strategies to curb damages as much as possible.
Among them were three of Aureatia's Twenty-Nine Officials. One was the person in charge of the operation, Twentieth Minister Hidow the Clamp. Supporting him were also Eighth Minister Sheanek the Word Intermediary and Twenty-Eighth Minister Antel the Alignment.
With his hands placed on a map, filled in with several arrows marking the expected invasion route, Hidow shouted, "Mele made it in time!"
A stir spread throughout the room.
Amid a perspective that outlined unavoidable, hopelessly large losses, it was one of the few select pieces of good news.
"I can't believe it. From Gigant Town to the second borough of the Eastern Outer Ward! From that far away…and not only that, but he managed to hit just Alus, without grazing the city at all. Horizon's Roar's sniping abilities are in perfect form! With this, we'll be able to stop Alus the Star Runner!"
"He got a direct hit on Alus?!"
A tan-skinned man wearing dark glasses stood up. Antel the Alignment was known for his composed levelheadedness, but he appeared to be uncharacteristically excited.
"We're getting detailed reports on the situation from the ground observation team. Alus the Star Runner defended against the Cold Star by making a captured minia hold the Greatshield of the Dead for him. The magic lightning bullet was shot back in the direction of the Third Stronghold. Mele fired two shots. One to block the trajectory of the magic bullet and protect the small tower. Then another that directly hit Alus."
"I don't believe it…! Is such a feat even possible?! True, if another person was activating the Greatshield of the Dead, Alus would have been vulnerable to
an attack from another direction, but still…aiming for that brief moment and firing two shots simultaneously…"
"Given they aren't reporting our victory, it's safe to assume the shot wasn't enough to kill Alus the Star Runner, then?"
Jumping into the conversation was a gaunt, small-statured man: Sheanek the Word Intermediary. While the man's physique resembled that of a malnourished child, in the academic world he was celebrated for his supreme intellect.
"…That's right. Alus was knocked down into the city, but he still isn't dead." "Do we know that for sure? It'd be impossible to keep his original body
intact after getting hit by one of Horizon's Roar's arrows."
Sheanek answered Antel's suspicions. "One possible explanation could be… Hm, what if the Greatshield of the Dead was bound to Kio's Hand from the beginning, even when he made that corpse hold it, to ensure he could pull it back in to prepare against a surprise attack from another direction? He switched over to using it normally, by activating the Greatshield of the Dead himself. Thus, he fell, unable to maintain his flight…"
Possessing a large collection of magic items, wielding them effectively, and moreover, applying them as needed.
Alus the Star Runner may have been just a single wyvern, but he was capable of killing legends.
"..."
Hidow looked down on the arrows scribbled helter-skelter over the map.
Using Cold Star inside Aureatia's borders wasn't the extent of it. They had considered defensive strategies to stop Alus's invasion, even if it meant using scorched-earth strategies including methods of destruction that involved the city itself, or utilizing magic items that sent harmful pathogens into the atmosphere. The evacuation and interception planning had needed to be revised several times already.
"Then, Hidow, is it safe to assume that Star Runner's been stopped by Horizon's Roar?"
"Yeah."
Guiding Alus the Star Runner's invasion path through Aureatia and committing the hero candidates to intercept him.
Their strategy had produced the exact results they had been aiming for. At the same time, they now understood for themselves that Alus the Star Runner was a terrifying abomination that far outstripped their expectations.
"…The credit goes to Shalk the Sound Slicer and Tu the Magic, then.
Without them, this would've been the end," Antel mused.
This was a battle of speed. Alus's speed exceeded the expectations of Hidow and the others, but it was thanks to the Shalk's otherworldly mobility, and Tu's swift will, that they were able to bring things to this stage.
Hidow drew a large circle around the second borough of the Eastern Outer Ward. He firmly declared, "This is checkmate for Star Runner."
From here, it was possible to throw a convergence of hero candidates at Alus, not just Shalk and Tu.
His escape route in the sky was already firmly under Mele the Horizon's Roar's control.
In which case, Aureatia needed to shoulder all the other work outside of the fight itself. There were countless other things he needed to get to. Firefighting. Housing the evacuated citizens. Curbing unrest. Controlling the flow of information. Treating the wounded.
"From here, our plan will put all our energy toward evacuating the citizens from the combat zone and preventing any increase in casualties. Focus our support on Sabfom's unit on the ground in particular! Sorry but everyone's going to have to give one more push!"
Alus the Star Runner was a threat that needed to be erased from this world.
An unfettered plunderer that ignored any and all authority to steal whatever his avarice desired.
For the sake of this world's tranquility, someone would have eventually needed to subjugate Alus. That someone would be the one who had brought Alus this far—Hidow.
He would take responsibility, right to the end. "…Time to snuff you out for good."
Hearing the alert following the end of the eighth match, and leaving the audience seats, now Ozonezma the Capricious was lingering on top of the outer wall of the castle garden theater.
He wasn't on watch for the incoming threat the alert had spoken of.
With Zigita Zogi the Thousandth dead, there was a strong chance that someone was nearby aiming to take Hiroto the Paradox's life.
His collaborative relationship with Hiroto had already concluded; however, the vampire threat that Hiroto's group hinted at was an enemy that a medic like
Ozonezma needed to prioritize dealing with above all else.
IF THERE IS AN ASSASSIN, THIS SHOULD BE THE ABSOLUTE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY.
The wind was strong. The clock must have been fast approaching noon. Ozonezma could clear the outer wall of the garden theater with a single jump,
but it was also tall enough to look down over almost all the buildings in Aureatia.
THEY ARE MASKING THEIR PRESENCE WELL. VERY SKILLED.
Several of the innumerable arms hidden inside his body gripped scalpels.
Ozonezma's perceptive abilities came from heuristics he had established by observing a large number of the minian races in detail and classifying their typical behaviors. During the upheaval in Gimeena City caused by the Old Kingdoms' loyalists, he had been able to discern who among the throng had military experience and shoot them down from afar.
Individuals behaving unusually. Individuals purposely concealing themselves in the shade. If he sensed any such presence, he could pick up on them through comparison with the great masses but…right now with the echoing alert, the reaction of the people at large wasn't different from usual. Some weren't following Aureatia's guidance and were trying to escape on their own. Some held their loved ones close while others were thrown into confusion and trying to keep themselves hidden.
In the midst of such chaos, his enemy didn't need to maintain their presence of mind but instead could feign natural confusion. At the very least, it signaled that Hiroto's enemy was a group capable of such techniques of espionage.
HOWEVER, THEY ARE DEFINITELY HERE. IT'S INCONCEIVABLE THAT ZIGITA ZOGI THE THOUSANDTH COULD BE CLUBBED TO DEATH WITHOUT ANY PLAN IN MIND. SOMEONE PRESENT, OR PERHAPS ZIGITA ZOGI HIMSELF, CARRIED OUT A DECEPTIVE PLOY.
Carriages began to carry the citizens away. They were uniformly headed toward the western side of Aureatia. If this alert had come from an outside enemy attack, this would signal the attack was coming from the east.
Even among the citizens boarding the carriages, he couldn't spot anyone he felt had something conspicuously off about them.
THE ENEMY IS A VAMPIRE. IF I WAS IN THEIR POSITION, FIRST I WOULD TARGET IT…
"Hiroto the Paradox!"
Ozonezma heard someone shout out the name. Not from beyond the castle
garden walls, but from the spectator seats inside. "I'll kill you, you Okafu warmongering dog…!"
A violent group of criminals was charging at the isolated Hiroto. Their weapons were blades of some kind. Ozonezma could sense their presence and knew where they were positioned. He didn't plan to make a move.
…A FEINT.
This was because the voice had come almost exactly as a medical squad carriage carrying corpses had departed from the garden theater.
A shadowy something was passing under the feet of the masses and swooping in toward it.
I KNEW IT. THEIR GOAL IS TO DESTROY THE EVIDENCE OF CORPSES AUREATIA'S CAPTURED.
As the thoughts passed his mind, one of Ozonezma's arms became a blur.
A scalpel flew like a beam of silver light and skewered an object flying through the air into the ground.
He knew that it was a projectile weapon, like a spinning metal disk.
There was something enclosed in cloth, wrapped messily around the edge of the disk.
"...!"
Ozonezma instantly determined what it was, and he jumped down from atop the wall.
Because of his speed, he fell the almost forty meters immediately, then he knocked away six people in the crowd where he was going to land, pushed a carriage over, and alighted right on top of the chakram stapled into the ground. All of it happened in the span of a single second.
Then came a muffled thud.
An explosion occurred on the ground directly below Ozonezma.
The shock wave covered the enormous chimera and rippled throughout Ozonezma's body, but only a small amount of blood dripped from his armor-like bluish-silver fur.
There were some with light injuries among the group he had swept away when he landed, but they were merely scrapes from falling on the ground after he'd knocked them away. They were outside the area of the shock wave. Ozonezma had held back his strength to make sure of it.
"…Are you okay?" He called out to the medical squad carriage that was knocked on its side nearby.
There was someone who had escaped just a second before the explosion,
carrying two of the corpsified patients with her. "M-more or less. I-I'm all right…"
A woman had a frightened look on her face and one eye hidden. Aureatia's Tenth General, Qwell the Wax Flower.
"What about yourself, Mr. Ozonezma…? Um, that explosion…was that a bomb…?"
"IT WOULD SEEM SO. THEY PROBABLY AIMED FOR THE MOMENT YOUR MEDICAL SQUAD LEFT THE GARDEN THEATER AND HAD SOMEONE THROW AN EXPLOSIVE AT YOU. THAT AND—"
Ozonezma slunk down and peered at the feet of the crowd clamoring in front of the garden theater.
From in between the gaps in the constantly moving feet of the multitudes, he spied the wheels and horses' feet of several carriages.
"THEY DIDN'T SHOOT FROM ABOVE. IT CAME FROM BELOW. THERE WAS SOMEONE ABLE TO HIDE AND ATTACK FROM LONG RANGE IN THE SMALL SPACE RIGHT UNDERNEATH A CARRIAGE. THAT WAS WHY I DIDN'T PICK UP ON THE SNIPER'S PRESENCE FROM MY BIRD'S-EYE POSITION."
This assailant had discovered a line of fire to their target through this huge throng of people mingling together and had thrown their chakram with precision. Not only that, but while hiding underneath a carriage.
Bizarre technical skill. A regular sniper wouldn't practice such techniques, nor have any opportunities to use them, either.
"W-was it an assassin…from the invisible army?"
Qwell the Wax Flower's voice was clearly terrified, but the existence of this unknown warrior seemed to invigorate her as she stood gripping her large war ax in both arms.
"We have to defeat them…"
"CHASING AFTER THEM IS POINTLESS."
By the time the sniper had launched their attack, they had probably already withdrawn from the area.
Judging by their degree of skill, this foe wasn't one to linger behind at the scene.
"MORE IMPORTANTLY, THERE IS SOMEONE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO EXAMINE. JUST A MOMENT AGO INSIDE THE CASTLE GARDEN THEATER…"
"Would this be about the criminal that attacked Hiroto the Paradox,
perhaps?"
A woman's voice come to them from the vehicle entrance to the garden theater. A black-painted carriage had just arrived.
"…FLINSUDA THE PORTENT."
"Oh, ho-ho-ho! I am so happy you remembered my name! Now, why were you here at the garden theater, Ozonezma? You didn't come here to chat with Tu, now did you?"
"..."
Through the carriage window, he immediately recognized the corpulent body, swollen to twice the size of the average minia, and the glittering of jewelry on her neck and fingers—Seventh Minister, Flinsuda the Portent.
He owed a small debt to her. When Ozonezma met with Tu the Magic, he had required the approval of her sponsor, Flinsuda.
"YOU REMAINED BEHIND AT THE GARDEN THEATER, THEN… IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, YOU CAME HERE ON HIROTO'S SUGGESTION AS WELL."
"That's right. You see, I had a bit of business to discuss with him. You wish to know about the people that attacked Hiroto in the garden theater, yes? It was only a simple examination, but none of the four were corpses. I'd assume they were residents with anti-Okafu sentiments that someone had riled up, wouldn't you?"
"I THOUGHT THAT MIGHT BE THE CASE."
Given that the invisible army had hidden agents in several groups, they were able to indirectly incite the uninfected to act as a feint. Ozonezma had understood this from the very start.
If that was the extent of the mob, Hiroto's goblin bodyguards must have handled it without issue.
"THERE IS ANOTHER REASON WHY I HAVE REMAINED HERE. I WANTED TO HEAR FROM YOU DIRECTLY ABOUT THE CURRENT SITUATION. WHAT IS GOING ON?"
In these situations, it was determined that hero candidates needed to respond to the emergency by making contact with their sponsor and getting the details from them. However, Yuca the Halation Gaol was a bit too far away to go ask about the circumstances. Ozonezma had determined it was faster for him to ask for the details of the situation from Flinsuda the Portent, Tu the Magic's sponsor.
"A-Alus the Star Runner is…attacking." Qwell the Wax Flower answered his question.
"THE SAME ALUS THE STAR RUNNER WHO WAS CRUSHED BY LUCNOCA THE WINTER?"
"…That's right. But he survived in the bowels of the Mali Wastes. General Haade's regiment intercepted with antiair attacks, but…h-he overcame them. His expected invasion route goes through the fifth borough of the Eastern Outer Ward—stopping him and bringing him down is the job for all the hero candidates…"
"FLINSUDA, DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH MEDICS AT THE READY?"
"Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Well, thanks to this alert, I've rescinded all the time off for the Health Ministry's staff. All of the squad deployed to the garden theater, myself included, are planning on heading over to the east side. Qwellie's troops are working on firefighting and rescue efforts. That said, though, I can't really be sure if we need help or not without seeing how things are going on-site for myself."
"I WILL ACCOMPANY YOU AS A MEDIC AS WELL. THERE IS ALSO A CHANCE THERE WILL BE MORE ATTACKS LIKE THIS ONE. PROTECTING MEDICAL WORKERS LIKE YOURSELVES WILL CONTRIBUTE MORE TO SAVING LIVES."
"That's quite an unprofitable thing to say, isn't it? Even if you work as a medic for us, I can't compensate you for it, you know?"
"…PEOPLE'S LIVES CANNOT BE REPLACED WITH MONEY, FLINSUDA."
"Quite right. I would do just the same myself," Flinsuda readily agreed.
There was no faltering in her tone, nor did she wear a solemn look on her face, speaking as if she was saying something completely obvious.
There wasn't any hesitation in the flow of movements by the medics under her command. The medical squad carriages departed one after another toward the east.
"I HAD HEARD THAT YOU WERE SOMEONE COMPLETELY DEVOTED TO MONEY AND NOTHING MORE."
"You need money to save many lives, don't you? The longer our patients live, the wealthier they make us. There's no contradiction at all, is there?"
"…YOU MAY BE RIGHT."
Vast amounts of money could easily save many lives, but the opposite was true as well.
That was one of the things Ozonezma had learned on his travels with Hiroto. "I'm sure you know this already, but it will be difficult to rely on Word Arts
treatments on-site. Cutting open people's bodies, sewing them back together… how confident are you with that type of technical medicine?"
"…HMPH. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING TO?"
There was a mountain of work to prioritize above taking down Alus the Star Runner.
Was there anyone able to move rubble that had collapsed in the flames, without paying any mind to their heft or the heat?
Was there anyone who could detect the presence of survivors even while under extreme conditions?
Above all, though, was there anyone capable of treating patients without depending on Life Arts, which demand a long period of contact between patient and doctor?
Cutting open bodies, observing, surgical excision, stitching them back together—there wasn't anyone in the land who had repeated such extraordinary feats more than Ozonezma the Capricious.
"FOR ME, THAT IS POSSIBLE."
If the flow of people was a great massive river, she was but a single small drop.
The woman seemed to be an older sister, carrying her frail and delicate little sister on her back as they fled.
The woman had a bandage over one eye. If there was anyone with a sharp, observant eye, they may have noticed that she was making extra sure the other eye was not directly exposed to light.
The young girl on her back held her breath with her hood covering her face completely, while trying to ensure no one caught a glimpse of the beautiful features underneath.
"Wieze will get the job the done. Do not worry, my lady." The woman's name was Lena the Obscured.
A corpse in Obsidian Eyes, as well as a mimic, possessing the supernatural ability to skillfully replicate the appearance of another.
"I understand… Koff, koff!"
The girl on her back was Linaris.
She had always possessed a weak constitution, but her condition was now growing even worse. Despite successfully murdering Zigita Zogi the Thousandth in the eighth match, she received news of Hartl the Light Pinch's death and had
moments ago given the order for the entirety of Obsidian Eyes to withdraw.
Therefore, before Aureatia had issued their evacuation alert—and before Ozonezma appeared on top of the wall of the castle garden—Lena brought Linaris with her and fled. The alert that rang immediately afterward, as well as the flood of people pouring into the street, skillfully concealed the two of them.
With Wieze the Variation on it…he should be able to use the crowd to target just the magical squad carriage and take it out.
Wieze was a sniper capable of crawling like an insect through openings that were impossible to slip through with normal body movements and throw his chakrams from afar. The fact that he had volunteered to serve as their rear guard in front of the castle garden meant that he intended to aim for the corpse-laden carriage to dispose of it.
The problem is…whether there's any Okafu ambush waiting for us where we're escaping to.
At the very least, the two didn't need to fear an immediate attack. Even assuming the castle garden theater was surrounded by troops from the Free City of Okafu, given the present situation, with civilians running about in droves trying to escape after the warning, they wouldn't be able to go through with their operation as anticipated. They needed to focus everything they had on making absolutely sure no one spotted them.
Using the throng of people to confuse Okafu's eyes, they were returning back to their base of operations.
All that's left is if my eye will hold out or not…
Lena pressed down on her eye that wasn't covered by her bandage.
Mimics were an extremely difficult construct to create, and one reason was their nature itself, making it possible to freely design their cells' characteristics. At the developmental stage, they needed to have their life-maintaining functionality designed from the ground up.
Even if by a stroke of good luck they were able to acquire the ability to survive, normally it would generate a defect somewhere in the body. In Lena's case, this lay in her optic nerve.
If her eyeball was continuously exposed to light, it would cause an acute seizure. She would convulse and lose consciousness.
Even with a thick bandage to block out light covering her eyes, Lena herself was able to operate without a problem. However, the fact that movements made while her eyes were covered seemed suspicious was a problem no amount of training could solve.
Currently, by suppressing half the amount of light she took in with her eye bandage and taking great care not to directly look at any and all sources of light, Lena was extending the amount of time she could act for as long as possible. Nevertheless, the more that time went by, the further her combat abilities would decline, and it would grow difficult to fulfill her role as Linaris's bodyguard.
"I'm sorry, my lady."
"…Koff, what…is the matter?"
"If I had managed to keep a closer watch of Zigita Zogi, I wouldn't have put so much strain on you… I should've used this eye to watch for the exact instant his head was crushed."
"…Frey was there as well, and she wasn't able to discern if it was truly him or not, either. It doesn't mean—koff—you're at fault, Miss Lena."
Linaris's velvety black hair was touching Lena's shoulder.
A feeble and thin body, the polar opposite of Lena's and the others, who had trained and tempered their physiques as assassins.
She wanted to steal her and run far away somewhere—the thought flashed across her mind.
If Obsidian Eyes was destined for ruin regardless of whether they fought against Aureatia or not, then wouldn't it be fine to secretly disappear, just the two of them, and live while Lena lovingly admired her lady and her doll-like beauty?
Of course, Lena would never do something like that, nor could she.
All of a corpse's actions, down to their biological activity, were under the control of their parent unit. Their relationship went beyond mere loyalty into one of absolute dominance.
Yet Linaris was so enchanting, so ephemeral, that it made Lena ignore these laws of nature and send such wicked thoughts through her heart.
"If we exit out into the canal up ahead, the eyes of the crowd won't reach us anymore. We can use a small ship to meet up with Frey and…"
Lena's feet stopped.
An extremely short vagabond was sitting down on the berm. Not a leprechaun. A goblin.
…One of Zigita Zogi's soldiers? They've blocked off our retreat path after
all.
If this was their only enemy, it would be easy to dispose of them.
However, there was sure to be someone from Okafu's camp keeping watch
over the area. Lena had transformed her body into that of a minian woman, but
there was a chance they would get a glimpse of Linaris's face or physique.
Making a detour wasn't an option right now, either. If she made any unnatural movement, that would make it all the easier to remain in people's memories. An older sister carrying her wounded younger sister on her back. She needed to act the part; however, Linaris's face was the one thing she didn't wish to show to Okafu.
Now what are we going to do?
It was then that she noticed the sounds of footsteps behind her. These didn't belong to any Okafu soldiers.
"…Are you two evacuees as well?"
It was an Aureatia soldier guiding the evacuation.
"You can hear the alert, right? The carriages headed to the plaza are gathering out on the main road. You should evacuate immediately before you get wrapped up in a battle against a self-proclaimed demon king."
"Th-thank you."
Lena immediately changed her voice and answered with the voice of a scared townswoman.
"Everything happened so fast, I was so confused about where we were supposed to go. Thank you so much for guiding us!"
She bowed slightly, making sure not to put any more stress on Linaris. Naturally, she couldn't follow this soldier's guidance. As long as Aureatia,
through Zigita Zogi, had learned about the invisible army, they were sure to examine everyone gathered in the evacuation area for corpse infection.
They couldn't let themselves be seen by the vagabond goblin. They had to be wary of a surveillant watching from somewhere. Now this Aureatia soldier, too. The only route of escape lay up ahead—
I'll bring down the surveillant first. That's the only option.
Lena gripped a stone in each fist. She needed to look upward to fight the enemy observing from on high. It meant exposing her eye to the light of the sun.
She'd have only a single second. Would she be able to successfully pick out their enemy?
"…Pardon me, Mr. Soldier. There is something I would like to ask you, if you wouldn't mind," Linaris's clear voice asked from behind her.
"What's that? You can ask me anything you like, pretty little missy." "Is there anyone watching us from the buildings behind us?"
"…"
The Aureatia soldier looked behind them as if the words were controlling
him. Lena could tell that his senses, honed as a soldier, picked out a single window. She only had to follow his gaze with one of her eyes. She got a visual on the person watching them. It happened in a single second.
She flicked the stones. One at a time from her left hand, then her right.
One pierced through the surveillant's eye socket, while the other shot through the vagabond's throat.
"What the—?"
Faster than the soldier could feel suspicious of his own actions, controlled by Linaris, Lena's finger had snapped his neck.
Everything from the right shoulder down on this perfectly ordinary town girl had morphed into a massive, ogre-like arm.
"My lady, let us head for the boat."
Lena tossed the corpse of the soldier away with the strength of her monstrous arm.
The corpse crashed into the tiny body of the now dead vagabond, and they both were knocked down into the canal.
Not even a drop of blood remained on the roadway.
"I can't afford to look at more light than I have, but…the meet-up location with Frey is just up ahead."
She needed to wrap the bandage protecting her eye around the other.
However, there was one thing she needed to make sure she burned into her retinas.
"Thank you very much, Miss Lena." Linaris smiled.
"Of course."
Looking at her beauty, the thought came to Lena once more.
As long as my lady is here…it's impossible to keep myself composed and proper.