Chapter: 26. Newborn · Starry Meeting
“I’m sorry, I need to excuse myself.”
After saying this calmly, Zou leaped down from the terrace, like a blade weaving through shadows, cutting through all obstacles and rushing toward the source of the explosion.
The originally tranquil night was shattered by the low thrum of sirens.
The streetlights on both sides of the campus’s main pathway suddenly switched from a soft milky white to red alert mode, flashing intermittently and casting large, dancing red shadows on the glass facades of the buildings and the ground.
Countless startled birds took flight from the vegetation, soaring beneath the starry night sky.
In the next moment.
Nagi’s phone, which she had placed in her gown pocket, rang.
She quickly took out her phone, and with a swipe of her fingertip, the screen lit up, illuminating her serious expression with a white-blue glow.
However, before she could take a closer look, the light emerging from the banquet hall caught her eye.
This made Nagi slightly turn her face, her gaze shifting toward the interior.
Inside the dimly lit star hall, although the strobe red lights flashed brightly, a more intense white-blue light temporarily covered it—
The students who had just been drinking, laughing, and dancing now all took out their phones, the text displayed on the screens reflecting in their eyes, which radiated a magical glow.
This was not an ordinary school, and the people standing here were not defenseless students.
Star Academy was, at present, one of the largest organizations of ability users.
Unlike the Artificial Academy Island under the jurisdiction of the Special Ring SEMA, the students here were not all newcomers to the extraordinary world; more of them were trained warriors, seasoned ability users.
The flashing red lights were less a warning for people to take refuge and more a declaration of war.
The emergency notification received by everyone’s phones was a forced alert pushed by the system, with cold blue edges and a golden frame, simultaneously appearing on all students’ terminals:
【Emergency Alert】
Star Academy has confirmed an invasion by external ability users.
The school’s defense protocol No. 7 has been activated: Ability use permissions are now open.
All students of C grade and above should immediately proceed to designated locations to respond to the enemy situation.
Students of D grade and below, please return to your dormitories within five minutes; the secured area will soon be activated.
— Star Academy Management Department
Although they did not know the exact identity of the invaders, it was clear that they had come to the wrong place.
It was like a robber, wearing pantyhose over their head and holding a pistol, kicking at the iron gates of a military base.
—————–
“We’re going to die, we’re going to die, we’re really doing this~~~”
“Calm down, okay? Didn’t we have a plan? This is all part of the big sister’s plan, right?”
“The one who needs to calm down is you!”
In a patch of grass at Star Academy, a pair of individuals dressed in white uniforms were nervously hiding.
Although they wore the white uniforms of Star Academy, they were not students there.
“Can the identity you set after hacking into the system really ensure we can enter the ‘Research Institute’?” asked the girl with twin ponytails anxiously.
“Logic says there definitely will be a problem—”
“There’s no problem, right? Just calm down and speak!” The girl with the ponytails couldn’t help but retort.
“Ha, ha? Of course, I’m very calm, okay? It’s just about forging an identity to infiltrate Star Academy to steal the ‘system’s key’ from the depths of the ‘Research Institute’? We’re not the ones making a commotion that attracts S-grade attention…” The boy with a buzz cut stuttered uncontrollably.
However, while his words were not very reliable, his hands hovering over the laptop keyboard were steady and nimble.
After his fingers danced across the keys like playing a piano piece, the screen displayed their student identity proofs. Although it was a completely forged ID card, at that moment, their permission level in the ID card had been changed to “S-grade”.
In other words, they had now gained “S-grade” permissions at Star Academy.
All areas of the entire academy were open to them.
“According to my model predictions, from the moment we first swiped our cards, we will roughly be found out as fakes in 3 minutes—so we need to enter the deepest ‘Research Institute’ in Star Academy, dismantle the key component from the system, and then leave within 3 minutes.” The buzz-cut boy repeated the task details, stuttering.
“This is our B team’s mission, right?”
“Yes, yes, yes, it’s somewhat safer compared to the A team with the young lady— as long as we get what we need before the ‘Research Institute’ sealing starts, then break through the ability users’ defenses and escape from Star Academy…” The boy’s voice clearly lacked confidence.
Hearing this, the girl with the ponytails patted his shoulder.
“Well, don’t worry too much… probably, although we really infiltrated Star Academy, we have our sisters’ help, right?” As she spoke, the girl shifted her gaze to behind her.
“Leave it to us.”
“Number Thirteen will give it her all.”
“I will definitely do my best to protect everyone…”
…
Deeper in the grass, three pairs of crimson eyes emitted an ominous glow in the darkness.
Their platinum hair glimmered with a dreamlike sheen under the night sky.
“Okay, it’s time—this is our debut, the Newborn Starry Meeting, the plan must succeed!” The girl with the ponytails checked the time on her watch and pulled the buzz-cut boy towards the building ahead.
—————–
“Erica, what’s the situation now?”
After Star Academy opened the ability usage permissions, Erica’s “Heavenly Key Liberation” could instantly take over all surveillance facilities within the academy.
In other words, everything happening on the entire artificial island was under her control.
So Nagi had Erica, as a non-combatant, take cover with the senior students and head toward the nearest refuge, while she provided real-time intelligence and support through an earpiece.
Before the students began their actions, Nagi had already slipped away from the Star Hall using the night and shadows.
“Kamishiro Akane” had not yet awoken as a potential ability user on the list at Star Academy, and if found in such circumstances, she would be forcibly taken to safety.
—Who would have thought something like this would happen so coincidentally…
Nagi’s mind drifted back to the message she received from the End of Days Nagi earlier in the evening.
Just when she was unable to contact her, Star Academy was invaded, and as someone who did not believe in coincidences, Nagi felt that there must be some connection, though she couldn’t figure out what relationship the End of Days Nagi had with this incident…
So she urged Erica to share the intelligence she had as soon as possible.
Tonight was one of those nights where one could see both the bright moon and the stars.
Not only did Star Academy have the invited S-grade ability user “Tsukimi Kanade” present, but secretly, it also had her own “resurrected” elemental sovereign—
Logically, even if this invasion was orchestrated by the End of Days themselves, it could not possibly succeed.
However…
Nagi’s intuition hinted at an underlying unease—tonight was going to be a long night.
