Chapter: 51. Unexpected Factors
Accompanied by a crimson giant axe cutting through the ground.
Under the influence of the Twilight Authority, Maria successfully brought Alice and Professor Tenjō out of the passage and back to the surface.
However, the situation did not improve.
The battle on the island continued.
After the recent events in the escape passage, Alice and the others could almost be certain that the people coming to find Professor Tenjō were not there to rescue him; the S-rank “Elemental Sovereign” of Starlight Academy aimed to eliminate this knowledgeable witness.
Neither the Special Ring SEMA nor the three major academies could be trusted—this was no different from the initial situation, where no one had changed.
But at this moment, Alice didn’t even know who within her own organization to trust.
The events that occurred in the escape passage were by no means accidents.
Someone within the Starlight Society wanted to kill her and Professor Tenjō. Could it be that the Starlight Society was also—
“No, it’s it…”
Professor Tenjō, who was gasping on the ground, seemed to see through Alice’s thoughts and began to explain.
“What?”
“It’s the β system, if I’m not mistaken…”
As Professor Tenjō spoke, he looked up at the sky. In the realm of Twilight, he couldn’t see the stars above, but he could vaguely feel that countless satellites were aiming at this location from beyond the firmament.
“…It has gone online?” Alice frowned at the remark.
“But wasn’t it designed to prevent the End and extraordinary disasters?”
Maria, who had dispelled her Blood Crow state, took over the conversation.
“…Aren’t you supposed to be an anti-Ability user organization?”
Professor Tenjō looked at Maria, who was completely unaware of the situation, with a bemused expression.
“And you? As one of its creators, shouldn’t you be the one to save yourself?”
“One possibility is that the pseudo-light reconfigured some of its settings, leading to discrepancies in its operational mechanism compared to the initial setup. Another possibility is—perhaps my existence is simply an obstacle…” While answering Alice’s question, Professor Tenjō couldn’t help but place a hand over his heart.
Through his palm, he could feel his heart still beating.
But what he truly cared about was the existence residing within his soul—the fragments of the End.
He knew that if the End regained all its fragments, it would reclaim unimaginable power.
Perhaps that was the reason.
The β system considered him part of the threat?
But if he died, wouldn’t the fragments of the End—
“No matter what its true intentions are, the stronghold has been exposed. We need to go.” Saying this, Maria helped Alice and Professor Tenjō get up.
However, the latter shook his head upon hearing this.
“It’s useless. If the β system is online, then this world has already fallen under its surveillance; no matter where we escape to, it will discover us…”
“From the moment it went online—everything is too late.”
……
……
On the other side of the island.
The wreckage of a crashed tactical machine lay quietly among the trees, with shattered wings embedded in the soil and the engine still emitting faint hissing sounds amidst the smoke.
At the edge of the clearing beside the crashed machine, Kanade slowly regained consciousness from her coma.
…Pain.
That was the first feedback her consciousness sent back, as if every inch of her body had been forcibly torn apart.
Her chest felt as if struck by a blunt object, her ribs ached, her limbs were numb and sore, and even breathing brought about a heavy, stabbing pain.
In her normal state, such a level of impact should not leave a mark.
However, after the nullification of magical power—
Even with the protection of ability, Kanade felt she was on the verge of death during the fall.
At first, she only heard the sound of wind in her ears, but soon, another sound began to emerge—intermittent, muffled, and intense.
Boom—!
Like the roar of an energy wave hitting the ground, mixed with the sounds of metal colliding and high-frequency explosions, it came from the other side of the dense forest.
This immediately snapped Kanade’s consciousness back to alertness.
The battle was still ongoing.
Her squad had yet to rescue Professor Tenjō.
No, not only that—
Was everyone on the plane okay?
Determination supported Kanade as she forced her eyes open, and in her blurred vision, the sky was shrouded in golden afterglow.
It was the domain of Twilight; the entire island was dominated by the setting sun.
“…Kinoshita?” Kanade tried to call out to her teammate who had piloted the tactical machine, but there was no response.
She slowly propped herself up, leaning against a tree trunk, cold sweat soaking her forehead.
Looking down at herself—her uniform was torn, there were various bruises and contusions on her body, her left leg felt off, but she could still move it somewhat.
Kanade gritted her teeth, forcing her body to stand up, using the tree trunk for support as she took a few steps, scanning her surroundings.
All around her was scorched earth and broken tree trunks, a scene of devastation.
The crashed wreckage lay in the forest like a shattered monster, still exuding heat and the smell of burning.
While suppressing the dull pain in her chest, Kanade carefully moved toward the perimeter of the wreckage. Just as she neared the edge of a slightly lower slope, she suddenly halted her steps.
The branches and leaves in the forest gently trembled, and between the scattered vines and fallen trunks, she spotted a hue that felt out of place with the surrounding environment.
It was brown skin, glistening softly yet startlingly under the sunset.
“…!”
Kanade recognized it was Erika and hurriedly walked over to her.
She lay there on her back, her long chestnut hair scattered between the rocks and fallen leaves, the Star Academy uniform she wore had a few tears from the fall. Should she feel fortunate that she wore the “Armory” design from Star Academy? Even after the crash, there were no obvious injuries on her body.
Kanade quickly knelt down, checking her breath and pulse.
“Great, she’s still alive…”
In the next moment, Kanade scanned her surroundings, trying to find the figure of the black-haired girl who should have been with her.
For some reason, Kanade felt an overwhelming concern for her safety at this moment.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of her nearby; it seemed the crash had separated the two.
“…Tsuki, Tsukimi-sensei?”
At that moment, Erika seemed to awaken from her coma.
“You’re awake—”
“Taiyin, where’s Taiyin-san!?”
Before Kanade could finish her words, she was interrupted by Erika, who was visibly agitated.
Erika regained consciousness faster than Kanade had anticipated.
Having grown up in a war-torn area, Erika had become accustomed to this level of injury. In less than a second, she was fully aware and remembered what had just happened.
There had been a fantasy monster that infiltrated the cabin and attacked them.
The attack of the fantasy monster caused the plane to crash, and the girl sitting beside her had yet to regain her magical power—
All these concerns combined filled Erika with anxiety.
Erika raised her hand, wanting to prop herself up, but the dizziness from the violent movements caused her to fall back to the ground.
Kanade quickly moved to support her.
It seemed that even though her consciousness recovered quickly, her body still had been affected.
“…She’s not here; it seems we got scattered in the air.” Kanade explained to the agitated Erika.
“Listen to me, you’re still very weak.” Kanade pressed her palm on Erika’s shoulder, indicating her to calm down: “She may have been thrown into another direction in the woods like us. I will find her as soon as possible.”
After saying this, Kanade was about to stand up.
Like Erika, she was also extremely worried about that girl.
Especially seeing that the girl still seemed to be an ordinary person without awakened powers.
This made Kanade feel even more anxious.
If something happened to her because of Kanade’s desire to find Professor Tenjō early—
In the distance.
The fluctuations of battle continued to reach Kanade’s position.
—————–
Kanade’s squad still had not breached the stronghold, even as their main force, DD-chan, was held back by Juura.
The other ability users from the Starlight Society were not to be underestimated either; there were plenty of clones capable of fighting with abilities similar to the “greatest masterpiece” alongside those who could control “man-made fantasy monsters.”
This scale of combat power was not something this “special team against the End” could handle without Kanade’s strength.
If they were given enough time to prepare—
Perhaps they could defeat the Starlight Society through various tactics and extraordinary items.
However, everything seemed to be at a standstill right now.
Moreover, on the side of the Star Academy, X-rank ability users had already mobilized based on the coordinates provided by the pseudo-light.
The idea of Kanade and the others wanting to rescue Professor Tenjō was currently dragging him into this situation.
And neither side had any opportunity or means to communicate.
It had reached a deadlock.
……
……
At the blood-red cross stronghold.
Standing before the Alpha system, the pseudo-light drew conclusions based on the information received.
Similarly.
In the model calculations of Alpha.
The death rate of Tenjō Akihikō was 100%.
As long as he died, the Special Ring SEMA and the three major academies would also be unaware that the β system had gone online.
The pseudo-light turned around with satisfaction.
“It seems the plan is ready to move to the next stage—”
However.
Before he could finish speaking, Alpha behind him seemed to detect something and emitted a sound beyond the expectations of the pseudo-light.
【Detected system supervisor.】
Hearing this, the pseudo-light froze in place.
After the adjustments made to the β system, there was only one system supervisor.
That was—
He suddenly turned his head.
On the projection wall of light and shadow, near the red dot representing Tenjō Akihikō’s coordinates, another red dot suddenly appeared.
—————–
Passing through the white fog.
Nagi arrived behind that figure.
Although the other’s appearance felt strange to her, the magical power response emanating from them was incredibly familiar.
At this moment.
If she was to break the deadlock.
She must establish communication with the other party— as a friend.
“Hey, DD-chan, long time no see.”
Nagi said as she removed her colored contacts.
