Chapter: 28. The Mist Resurfaces
Star Academy.
“This is Team B, we have successfully entered the research facility.”
As the words fell.
The iron gate with sixteen security locks slowly opened before the girl with twin tails and the buzz-cut boy, cold air spewing out through the crack, accompanied by a dull mechanical roar.
Their five-member team slipped through the opened gap and silently stepped onto the inner metal floor.
The effectiveness of the forged access card was only three minutes; they had to race against time to reach the innermost part of the research facility, find the room where the system was located, and retrieve the most critical “system components” from within.
However, the unfortunate reality was that the corridors within the research facility had double security measures in place.
Even with permission to open the main door, if the corridor detected running or high-speed movement, it would automatically lock all doors. Although it would not trigger a series of high-level lethal defenses, it would hinder their progress.
Therefore, the five-member group could only maintain their speed at the highest level permitted.
The sensors on the ceiling lit up one by one as they approached.
The buzz-cut boy was carrying a modified terminal on his back, the screen scrolling with lines of code like a waterfall. An obvious countdown timer displayed their remaining S-class access time, while the center of the screen showed a map marking the defense mechanisms within the research facility.
These included gravity-lock floors, beam-sensing mines, extreme pressure zones, and automated armed drones.
Even with S-class access, any action that did not comply with the procedures could still trigger these security devices. Therefore, when someone typically needed to enter the research facility, personnel familiar with the internal facilities would guide them to prevent unexpected breaches like the current system hacking.
However, this oversight allowed Star Academy to be careless in this aspect, providing the Star Society with a vulnerability to enter the research facility.
“We’re still three floors away from the system’s storage room.”
“Speed up…”
“No! We’ll trigger the alarm!” the buzz-cut boy shouted anxiously.
Every step they took felt like walking on a tightrope, precisely avoiding all potential alarm triggers.
Even passing a maintenance door, they deliberately adjusted their body temperatures to avoid detection by the thermal sensors.
The cold white lights elongated their shadows, casting them against the silver-gray wall.
“Here we are.”
They arrived in front of a curved alloy door.
There were no markings on the door, as if it merely led to a storage room for miscellaneous items.
They knew this was intentional by Star Academy.
Because this system, for Star Academy, was merely a theoretical concept that had yet to be finalized or constructed.
Whether in the plan itself or behind this door, everything was absent from Star Academy’s official records.
“Team B has reached the system room; the main control key is inside,” the buzz-cut boy whispered, his fingers dancing over the terminal in front of him: “Prepare to enter.”
The door lock was sequentially disengaged, producing a series of “click” sounds.
The girl with twin tails glanced around anxiously while standing behind the buzz-cut boy.
The environment was eerily quiet; aside from the sound of the door opening, the only noise that could be heard was the click of the buzz-cut boy typing.
It seemed the plan was going smoothly.
Everything progressed according to plan.
The girl with twin tails could not help but think.
Finally, after layers of unlocking, the door opened before them.
In a rush against time, they stepped inside.
Inside the control room, the lighting was cold and empty, devoid of any personnel.
What caught their eyes was a floating crystalline structure nearly two meters long, standing in the center.
However—
At the very top.
The core that should have housed a “key device” was empty.
All five halted simultaneously.
The empty slot quietly emitted a soft glow.
“… Why is there nothing?” the buzz-cut boy was stunned.
According to the intelligence they had gathered, that key should have been right there.
“Could it be that someone got here before us?”
Just when the buzz-cut boy opened his mouth, the girl with twin tails interrupted him in a tense voice.
“Something’s wrong; something is coming.” Her emerald green eyes flared with magical light as she summoned her phantom weapon and scanned the surroundings with caution.
At the same time, the three white-haired girls took up battle stances.
In the next moment, the lights in the control room flickered once.
Then—everything went out.
The red emergency lights clicked on, casting a dim glow against the alloy walls, elongating their shadows into awkward, intertwining shapes.
“… Hey, can you restore power?” the girl with twin tails asked in a lowered voice.
Darkness was clearly not their forte.
“Just a moment, I’m trying to get the power distribution system back online…” The buzz-cut boy frantically pounded the terminal.
But all that responded was a pulse of electronic noise— the screen suddenly started flickering with static, providing no response.
“This is Team B; we’re experiencing—hello?” Not only was the terminal down, but their communication was disrupted as well.
At that moment.
They seemed isolated in this space glowing with red light.
The control room was too silent.
No alarms, no enemies, not even a sound aside from their own breaths.
But a certain “presence” spread in the air.
Like static electricity, or some kind of gaze.
Cold, causing a shiver to run from their scalp down to their spine.
“… Did you hear that?” the girl with twin tails asked the buzz-cut boy.
“… It sounds like… crawling?”
The metallic grid floor beneath them produced a faint “clack” sound.
It was not any of their footsteps.
Too light, too fast, like some kind of fabric or tendril sliding swiftly.
The first to react was the platinum-haired girl, self-proclaimed “Number Thirteen.” Her eyes flashed red, and a blade constructed of blood formed mid-air, slicing towards their rear.
The target was the wall over there—no, the shadow on the wall.
Under the glow of the red lights, that shadow twisted, extended, and approached in an illogical manner.
The blood blade repelled the shadow that attempted to close in.
However.
Before they could even release a sigh of relief.
“—Crack!”
A bone-breaking sound lurched on the far right.
The buzz-cut boy seemed to be pulled by an invisible force gripping his ankle, dragging him out from where he stood.
“Yì-kun—!?” The girl with twin tails turned abruptly.
But all she saw was his figure being swiftly dragged along the floor, sparking against the red light.
He struggled, attempting to grab the door frame with his hands but was pulled into the dark corner behind the control console by the force from the shadow.
No screams.
Only silent disappearance.
Everything happened too quickly; their attention had just been drawn to that shadow.
So they overlooked the buzz-cut boy’s predicament.
“He… disappeared…?”
“Number Thirteen can’t sense his magic either…”
“… We are surrounded…”
Only then did they realize they were encircled, and what surrounded them was not hiding in the shadows but was the shadows themselves.
“It’s a shadow-related magical creature! We were careless; it’s not an Esper that came, it’s a phantom creature!” the girl with twin tails finally reacted and shouted.
Since this was Star Academy, she had subconsciously assumed that only Espers would appear here.
But at this moment, the magical response coming from the shadows was clearly that of a phantom creature.
The shadows had completely surrounded them—
……
……
Meanwhile.
When the buzz-cut boy opened his eyes in a daze.
What met his gaze was a dark silhouette standing in the shadow of the room, obscuring its appearance and form.
“Tell me, what is your true purpose?” the shadow slowly spoke.
Its voice seemed to overlap countless times, directly resonating in the buzz-cut boy’s heart, making it impossible to discern the gender of the speaker.
“…”
“… Why the β system? What exactly is it?”
Seeing that the buzz-cut boy failed to respond, the silhouette questioned again.
This made him inwardly alarmed.
They didn’t even know the name of this system.
The β system? That’s new information…
“Weren’t you the one who took it?” the buzz-cut boy finally spoke.
However, his question seemed to confuse the silhouette.
“What do you mean?”
“… The key, but this reaction suggests that you didn’t do it.”
At that moment, the buzz-cut boy slowly raised his hand; though the surroundings were dim, the watch on his wrist still displayed the luminous time.
“… And thank you for providing us with new intelligence.”
The buzz-cut boy saw the countdown reach zero seconds and smiled faintly at the silhouette.
“What—”
Before the silhouette could react.
Ding ding.
A clear bell sound suddenly rang.
In the next instant.
A mass of white mist enveloped the buzz-cut boy’s body—then he vanished on the spot.
The same thing happened to the other four in the other room.
“… The Mist Authority?” Nagi, stepping out of the shadows, couldn’t help but murmur.
She recognized exactly what this power was.
“Could it be that this time’s intruders are—”
