🌐 Language / 言語
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The sound of birds chirping drifted from afar. A gentle breeze blew from the south, and soft sunlight poured through the balcony. It was meant to be a peaceful afternoon. It should have been.
In the grand hall of the Imperial Castle, the Holy Maidens stood in formation, clutching their Blitz—thought-guided armaments—as they awaited orders. A scout who had flown in from the watchtower arrived breathless, her voice trembling as she delivered the report of an unfolding catastrophe.
A mid-rank Beast-Devil had manifested out of thin air in the southern residential district. A swarm of lesser Beast-Devils was surging in from the western sea. And to the north, a figure clad in the robes of a high cleric was preparing a dark rite.
These events were observed almost simultaneously.
“The reports are confirmed. Those present are the response force. Intercept the threat immediately.”
Palzea declared before the gathered warriors.
“The residential district is mine! I’ll back up the girl who went ahead!”
Marzina was the first to speak, her shapely brows arching in a sharp, fierce line. The southern district was home to orphanages and schools—the heart of the city’s future. It was only natural that some had already charged into the fray without waiting for a formal command.
“Don’t get reckless, Marzina,” Palzea called out, but the girl was already a blur of motion, sprinting toward the exit.
A Beast-Devil appearing so suddenly within the city walls was an impossibility under normal circumstances. An icy dread began to coil in Palzea’s chest.
She turned her gaze to the remaining Holy Maidens. “Annihilate the swarm at the coast with extreme haste. Once they are purged, redirect to the residential district for support.”
Two Holy Maidens nodded silently and vanished from the hall. Finally, Palzea looked to the last two girls remaining by her side.
“With me.”
She stepped toward the balcony, several shield-type Blitz units drifting into a protective orbit around her. There was no doubt in her mind—the one preparing the rite in the north was Zolone.
In this city, where power was the only creed, no one wore the vestments of the old faith anymore. The only man who fit the description was the former leader of the Fidea Empire, the man who had tried to build a new religion upon the ashes of his defeat: Cardinal Zolone.
The fact that he was here, when he should have been confined within the old Fidea territories, was an omen of deep-seated treachery.
“Zehain is pulling the strings from the shadows. The ritual and the Beast-Devils… they are one and the same,” Palzea said, her voice stripped of all emotion.
“I will end this myself.”
With the two Holy Maidens following in her wake, Palzea took flight into the cold, unforgiving sky.
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