Today was the day we would commence the raid, the biggest one yet.
As evening approached, the clouds finally parted, bringing an end to the night. The sky, the streets, the buildings; all were stained in the same crimson light.
The backstreets were busy, and adventurers from both Ganesha Familia and Astrea Familia were hard at work carrying supplies this way and that and taking up positions in the shadows of buildings.
"Here's the supplies from Dian Cecht Familia!"
"All right. How long will it take to divvy them out?"
"Ten minutes, sir!"
"You've got five! Hop to it!"
The two familias and I had gathered in the northwest of Orario, district six, to enact our part of the operation and neutralize one of the Evils' suspected bases.
"Everybody is in position, Captain," said Kaguya, in her usual battle garb, katana at her hip.
"Understood," Alize replied.
Even with all this preparation, the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach has not gone away.
"It's strange," I said, observing the city. "It is quiet, too quiet even."
"Do you think they spotted us?" Alise asked, hearing my words.
Kaguya's eyes narrowed, her gaze keen. "If so, they haven't shown it," she answered.
"Even if they have, we don't have any choice," replied Alize. "We have to crush this base one way or another."
"Lyra, here is the communication device." I grabbed the communication device and gave it to Lyra.
"Oh, thanks, you and pursues must have worked your asses off to make them, huh?"
"You bet your ass we did," I said, remembering the all-nighter we had pulled and only succeeding in making a handful of them.
"Hm? What happened to the one we used before?" Alise asked, hearing our talk.
"Well, they're still in prototype stages and are not that durable, their ranges are short, can't mass produce them, and are expensive to make–"
"W-Wait, Arin, you know Alise isn't smart enough to understand all that." Lyra interrupted with a smirk.
"Hey!" Alise protested.
I chuckled despite the tension. "What I'm trying to say is that the old one broke down. These communication devices are extremely fragile—one good hit and they're done for. Even these new ones we're using today are just as delicate and took us forever to make."
I looked at each of them seriously. "So please, whoever gets these, be very careful with them. We only managed to create a handful after pulling an all-nighter, and if they break, we won't have any way to coordinate during the mission."
Lyra held up the device gingerly, as if it were made of glass. "Got it. Handle with extreme care."
"Exactly. Think of it as more fragile than Kaguya's pride," I said.
"My pride is not fragile!" Kaguya shot back.
"The point is," I continued, "these things are our lifeline for communication during the raid. Treat them like they're made of butterfly wings. So it will be better if Lyra had it, since she will mostly be in the rear guard and have a better strategic mind than others."
"Well, well," Lyra said with a smug grin, "look who finally recognized my superior intellect. About time someone around here acknowledged that I'm the brains of this operation."
"Don't let it go to your head," Kaguya muttered.
"Too late!" Lyra declared, striking a dramatic pose. "From now on, you may all refer to me as 'Lyra the Strategically Superior.'"
"How about we just stick with 'Lyra the Device Holder'?" Kaguya suggested dryly.
Hearing their banter, the others' visibility relaxed.
"It's time," said Riveria, through the device, in a smooth, calm voice.
Ryuu drew her sword. The timepiece counted down the last few seconds.
*Finn could feel all eyes on him. He carefully gave his order.
"Go."
The Great Conflict had begun.
Somewhere, a mysterious god donned a wicked smile.
"It's time," he said.*
____________________________________________________________________________
A blast blew the heavy door clean off its hinges, the magical explosion announcing the battle that was to come.
"W-we're under attack!!" screamed the Evilus followers as we rushed inside.
Shakti yelled, "Chaaarge!" And all of us charged like hungry lions.
"Hyah!"
"Gwaaaagh?!" A flash of Ryuu's wooden sword swiftly eliminated one of the frontline enemies. She was joined by Kaguya, Asta, and Noin, who skillfully defeated their foes as well.
I rushed toward a group of three Evilus members trying to escape through a side corridor, my speed easily allowing me to intercept them before they could reach the exit.
"Agni O!" Blue flames erupted from my free hand, forming into a whip that wrapped around the legs of the first enemy, sending him crashing to the ground. My sword found his heart before he could recover.
The second enemy swung a crude axe at my head, but even without enhancement, the attack was clumsy and telegraphed. I sidestepped the swing and drove my blade through his chest. The third tried to flee, but a spear of blue flame through his back ended his escape attempt.
"Seize control of the base!" shouted Alize. "Neze, Maryu! Take the others and split up! We'll press on!"
"Don't let a single one escape!" said Shakti, separately giving orders to her squadron. "Take them all out and capture every last one!"
Neze and an upper-class adventurer from Ganesha Familia barked "Understood!" and "Roger!" before splitting off to the east and west with the rest of their squads.
From the open second floor, several Evilus members leaped down into the hallways.
"Got 'em!" replied Ardee. Her one-handed sword, Sacred Oath, that she bragged about as the judge and executioner of many a monster and villain. She raised it above her head and unleashed a vicious onslaught that flung the soldiers of the Evilus to the ground before they even had a chance to attack.
Meanwhile, two other foes kicked down the doors at the far end of the hall and strode in, only to come face-to-face with Kaguya and Ryuu.
"You take the one on the right, novice," said Kaguya. "The other's mine."
"Already on it!" Ryuu replied.
One by one, enemies fell to her wall of sharpened steel, while the ones at the back saw what awaited them and grew scared. Kaguya showed no mercy, hacking and slashing until even her own allies in Ganesha Familia turned and stared in fear and awe.
Meanwhile, the masked elf ran in the opposite direction, covering Kaguya's back. As she cut down her foes, she chanted a spell.
"…Cross the skies and sprint through the wilderness, swifter than anything. Imbue the light of stardust and strike down my enemy…"
"Luminous Wind!"
Balls of light appeared, encased in green air, and blasted the enemy foot soldiers packed into the hallways, as they collided with the walls, turning unconscious.
"I think I overdid it again." I heard her muttering as I cut another member down.
I felt that same bad feeling even now, as I defeated them one by one.
"It all seems too easy."
"Indeed," said Shakti, as she spun her spear around, blowing two evilius members away. "It's all going far too smoothly."
Everyone who'd ever been in the Dungeon recognized the feeling they were experiencing. The feeling of walking deeper and deeper into a trap.
"I knew it," said Kaguya. "Something's not right about this at all."
"Still, we continue the operation!" came the determined voice of Alise. "The enemy is losing numbers fast! Now's our chance to strike a decisive blow!"
And so we fought, going through the long corridor. Every window was boarded and nailed shut, forbidding even a single ray of light from entering the building. The farther we went, the colder the air became. The long hallway came to an abrupt end, opening up into a vast room.
"Look!" cried Ardee, pointing ahead. "This must be it!"
We stepped into the open space.
"Wow…!"
Like the hallways before, the room was dilapidated and dark, but this one had a ceiling ten meters high and was filled with steel cargo containers. It looked like a cross between a warehouse and a shipping harbor. Perhaps it had once been a storeroom, but now the only thing stored there was evil itself. As we cautiously entered, we heard a voice.
"Oh, hey. There you are."
"Arachnia!" Ryuu cried.
We looked up toward the source of the voice, only to find the bit*h Valletta Grede sitting atop a stack of containers. Her eyes scanned us for a moment, and then…
"Tch. Thought Finn was gonna be here," she muttered, her face turning to a scowl. "Shoulda known better than to trust that worthless woman," she added under her breath. Then her lips twisted upward. "You guys sure got here fast. It ain't a race, y'know."
"You don't seem too worried about it," said Lyra. "Wipe that gross smirk off your face. What are you up to?"
"Who knows? Maybe I'm just figurin' out how to kill you guys? Especially you, High Human."
I just frowned at her and said. "Why don't you surrender, bit*h? If you do, they might reduce your sentence." I do not believe my own words. I was just buying time, as that bad feeling was stronger and stronger.
"Hyah-hah-hah-hah!" she cackled. "Has anyone ever actually done that? How stupid do you think I am? Go on, you lot. Get 'em!"
At her order, a band of Evilus soldiers stepped out of the shadows.
"It's an ambush!" shouted Ryuu.
"I didn't think there were this many of them left!" cried Ardee.
There were dozens upon dozens of them. We were outnumbered by 3 to 1 at the very least, as they surrounded us.
"Now, come get me," said Valletta. "Let's have some fun!" Valletta leaped into the fray, her bloodred greatsword atop her shoulder, and the battle began.
All the enemy soldiers roared and charged, and soon the air was filled with clashing steel.
I could see the others fighting as I moved forward. Valletta appeared in front of me. "You are not going anywhere, High Human. You are my prey."
Her massive greatsword came down in a devastating overhead strike. I raised my blade to block, but the sheer force of her Level 5 strength sent shockwaves through my arms. The impact drove me to one knee, my sword trembling under the pressure.
"Still playing pretend?" she sneered, pressing down harder.
I rolled to the side as her blade crashed into the floor where I'd been kneeling. Without missing a beat, she spun into a horizontal slash that I barely managed to duck under. The wind from her swing ruffled my hair.
I countered with a thrust aimed at her exposed ribs, but she caught my blade on her crossguard and twisted, nearly wrenching the weapon from my grip. Her pommel strike caught me in the shoulder, sending me stumbling backward.
"Come on! Where's that fancy light show from before?" Valletta taunted, advancing relentlessly.
"What's makes you think I am fighting you alone?"
Suddenly, Alise's blade intercepted Valletta's strike, sparks flying as the two weapons met. At the same moment, Shakti appeared on Valletta's other side, her spear thrusting toward the woman's flank.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Not bad, Ankusha! You too, Scarlett Harnell!"
She was the sole Level 5 on the battlefield. Her two foes were only at Level 4. However, Shakti and Alise remained undaunted by Valletta's superior stats. They relied on tactics, strategy, and superior teamwork to plug the gap.
As the three of them fought, it gave a chance to observe the others.
And I noticed Ardee, fighting on the other side of the warehouse. She spun round, deflecting an attack aimed at her back, when to her utter surprise, the assailant let out an oddly high-pitched scream.
Ardee's eyes went wide when she saw who had just attacked her. It was a little girl, dressed in a milk-white robe like the other Evilus. This human girl was so young, in fact, that she only came up to the height of Ardee's chest.
"A-a child?!" The little girl clutched the knife in her hands, whimpering as tears formed in her eyes.
"How could they do this?!" I noticed her dropping her sword.
What the heck is that stupid girl doing?!
*The girl stared for a moment, then reached out her right hand, her left clasped tightly to her chest.
"Now, come here," said Ardee. "Let's get you to safety." Catching a glimpse of this across the battlefield, Valletta grinned a twisted grin.
The little girl looked up at Ardee with vacant eyes, and in an emotionless voice she said, "O Lord, please…" It was neither good nor evil that drove her.
Just a single wish.
"Please let me see my mother and father again…"
Then she pressed the switch concealed on her body.
" __________________"
Time froze.
The eternal moment was ended by a terrible blast.
The force.
The shock.
The heat.
It tore everything apart. Shakti, Alise, Kaguya, Lyra, the soldiers of Ganesha Familia, and Ryuu all flinched.
None of them could muster a single thought in the face of such unimaginable chaos and destruction.
The light blinded them.
The noise deafened them.
The tremors racing through the earth threatened to knock them off their feet and bring the whole building down on their heads.
Even some of the steel shipping containers were dented inward or flung clean into the air. A wall of sound.
Like a waterfall or an earthquake.
Like a castle collapsing all around them.
The sudden and destructive blast leveled all it touched.*