Phase One Ended

“Analysis team, have you finished analyzing Dancer’s Spirit Armor and Angel?”

Kanzaki Ieyasu was no fool. Even before she revealed her Angel, the girl had moved freely through the combat puppet formations, scoring successive kills, all thanks to the luminous particles that constantly enveloped her. To secure victory, he knew he had to target this ability specifically.

“Report, based on our machine diagnostics, the luminous particles can absorb and then re-release energy. Her ability to emerge unscathed from previous shell explosions was due to her absorbing thermal and kinetic energy. Similarly, the combat puppets suffered damage to their core because their magical power was absorbed.”

‘Absorb and release, is that all? Is she no longer using it because she absorbed too much? Where did the absorbed energy go? Was it simply discharged? Or perhaps…’

His thoughts swirled in his mind, tangled like a ball of yarn played with by a cat. Yet, he began to grasp the underlying mechanisms and principles.

“Immediately detect the energy fluctuations around Dancer. Include thermal energy, spiritual power, and magical power in the scope.”

Kanzaki Ieyasu’s fingers drummed ceaselessly on the table, his eyes darting back and forth in thought. At least for now, he didn’t need to concern himself with the battlefield; the remaining twenty combat puppets were enough to hold their own for a while.

Clang! Bang!

The clash of blade and cannon barrel rang out sharply. The girl then landed a kick on the chest of a combat puppet that had ambushed her from behind. However, without her Calamity, the puppet’s Territory, combined with its defensive spell formula, successfully blocked the blow.

“Tch! This is troublesome.”

Yisha clicked her tongue. She understood the combat puppets’ design principles and purpose intimately, but knowing was one thing, fighting them was another.

With shared consciousness and senses, combined magical power and Territories, and Kanzaki’s profound understanding of sorcery, every single combat puppet the girl faced could become a boss-level opponent if they wished.

She raised her cannon to block bullets flying from a distance, sidestepped a vertical slash, then backflipped to evade a horizontal sweep and concentrated cannon fire.

Before her feet could even touch solid ground, an enemy appeared above her, aiming and firing a fully charged magical cannon at her.

The girl did not dodge. Instead, she aimed her own cannon at the enemy and pulled the trigger simultaneously.

A black projectile shot out of her cannon, meeting two magical cannon shells a hundred meters from Yisha, resulting in an explosion.

‘The sniper fire from above is gone. Where will the next wave come from? Below, or from behind…’

Her eyes swept across the battlefield. Her body trembled with exhilaration, and her mind, sharpened by combat, was exceptionally clear. She knew she was in an unprecedented state, one her master had called “Enlightenment.”

She back-jumped, rolled right, and charged forward, causing attack after attack to miss their mark. She countered with bursting punches, hook kicks, and side kicks, executing a series of precise moves.

She didn’t need to see her opponents; the wind alone revealed their movements. She didn’t need to hear sounds; her understanding of their combat patterns, forged in previous battles, told her where the next attack would originate.

Yisha felt peculiar. Despite the incredibly fast pace of the battle, with at least three light swords and dozens of projectiles hurtling towards her almost every instant, she still found herself thinking about other things, such as why she felt this way.

Clang!

Seeing a combat puppet charging at her, the girl instinctively swung her cannon behind her head. The sharp clang of impact echoed through the sky. She shifted one step to the left, and a magic-infused bullet grazed past her, the closest one leaving a faint scratch on her cheek.

‘Next will be snipers from below and the right, and shelling from the upper right and the ground.’

Her light sword was blocked by Annihilation. Combat puppets from both sides immediately pressed their attack, seizing the opportunity to delay and prevent her from leaving the already locked-down airspace.

‘The obstruction is meant to ensure a hit. The ground fire isn’t from combat puppets, and it lacks the ability to change direction. Is it a magical cannon turret?’

Releasing her grip, Yisha abandoned her Angel. She even revoked the kinetic energy provided by Calamity that allowed her free movement in the air. Under the pull of gravity, her body plummeted towards the ground.

Evidently, the combat puppets hadn’t anticipated Yisha’s move. However, they reacted instantly. Some drew their magical cannons and began charging them, while others switched to anti-material sniper rifles, infusing them with magical power to ensure trajectory stability before pulling the triggers.

In an instant, the space behind Yisha glittered like a sky full of stars, green points of light illuminating the entire heavens. Alas, it was the radiance of magical power.

The luminous particles adhering to her body began to release all their stored kinetic energy one by one. This allowed Yisha to move as freely as a fish in the air, each maneuver enabling her to narrowly dodge the astonishingly large-caliber bullets by mere millimeters.

Boom!

The cannon shells, now fully charged, surpassed the bullets in speed and descended rapidly towards their target.

Whoosh!

This was the sound of a cannon shell whistling past her.

A second projectile followed closely, allowing Yisha almost no time to react.

This incoming cannon shell carried immense responsibility.

The first was merely to guide Yisha’s movements in conjunction with the bullets, and to give her an estimated speed for the projectiles. However, that estimate would not apply to this one.

This shell was not much larger than a bullet, and with speed-enhancing spells like Sky-Breaker, it would reach Yisha only 0.3 seconds after the first. 0.3 seconds was just enough time for her to calculate the shell’s exact speed and evasion trajectory, which was precisely enough for it to pierce the girl’s delicate body and then allow the barrage of subsequent shells to tear her to shreds.

Everyone in the control room watched with bated breath. From the start of the battle until now, Dancer had finally revealed a flaw—a fatal one. How could they not be excited?

Finally, under their eager gazes, a colossal fireworks display erupted in the sky. It was so magnificent, its fleeting beauty captivating everyone. Yet, this was not the end. One after another, more fireworks bloomed across the heavens, equally beautiful, equally fervent, wild, and violent.

The blast wave swept across the battlefield, buffeting the earth and carrying with it the acrid scent of combat.

“Dancer’s spiritual wave signature has vanished. We succeeded.”

The monitoring officer delivered the news midway through the explosion, causing everyone to halt, followed by a roar of triumph that nearly tore the roof off.

“Ahahaha!! I told you so! So-called Spirits are just a bunch of nobodies once they lose their Spirit Armor!”

“Exactly! Dispersing her Spirit Armor for defense—what else could that be but a death wish?”

“If she hadn’t done that, we’d have paid a hefty price to take her down. Now, hahahaha!!!”

Kanzaki Ieyasu stroked his beard, a look of profound satisfaction gracing his features.

‘These people have finally reached their proper level. I can consider keeping them around a bit longer.’

Although an unsettling feeling lingered, what tricks could someone blasted to ashes possibly pull?

“It’s a good thing she was so pathetically foolish, trying to go against the Kanzaki family. How can anyone in this world be so stupid?”

The speaker’s words were unintentional, but the listener took them to heart. Kanzaki Ieyasu’s mind, previously clouded by euphoria, snapped back to lucidity.

‘Pathetically foolish? Was she foolish? Wouldn’t she have anticipated such an attack in that situation?!’

Like a sudden bolt of lightning across the sky, Kanzaki Ieyasu abruptly pulled aside the person at the control console and began operating it at frantic speed.

“Uh, Acting Head, what’s happening?”

Engrossed in his frantic actions, he ignored the operator’s question. His fingers danced deftly across the keyboard. After entering a long string of passwords, the operation page appeared before him.

“Magical Cannon Turret 1024: Charge complete, no target acquired.”

Without a second thought, he immediately issued a command for the turret to retract its magical power. The machine loyally responded to his order. Watching the prompt on the screen indicating magical power recovery, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Warning! Control room targeted. Please recall turret command or evacuate immediately. Alert! Control room…”

The smile froze on his face, then shattered. Kanzaki Ieyasu frantically pounded the control console, but this time, not a single command registered.

It was only when he demanded to see the surveillance footage.

Inside a metallic room, a black-haired girl sat leisurely on a chair, watching the screen with keen interest. It displayed the control room’s surveillance feed.

As if noticing his actions, the girl turned her head and waved at the camera.

“Hello there, Acting Head~.”

A chill crept up his spine, his limbs instantly turning cold and numb. He couldn’t believe it: Dancer, who should have perished in the cannon bombardment, was now sitting unharmed within a magical cannon turret, watching their celebrations. Yet, it was undeniably true.

“Bye-bye~”

The girl pressed the launch button beside her.

“Quick! Maximize the defensive spell formula strength here!!”

Kanzaki Ieyasu screamed almost maniacally. The others finally snapped to attention and began operating their stations.

Perhaps their emotions had clouded their judgment. Kanzaki Ieyasu’s previous commands had been ineffective, so how could they now hope for salvation from the control console?

All the screens in the control room changed, displaying a girl as lovely as a lotus emerging from water, standing there gracefully. If not for the dire circumstances, everyone might have paused to marvel at her beauty.

The girl clasped her hands in front of her chest, pouted slightly, and spoke.

“My apologies, but you’ll all die here.”

The control room lost power. No, it was more than that—the entire building had lost power. The spells that had been constantly running outside were also shut down.

The only light remaining in the control room came from the magical cannon, which was growing ever larger in their sight.

“Is this truly alright, Nuwa?”

Yina looked at the computer behind her—no, more accurately, at the girl on the computer screen behind her, the one who, at the last moment, had delivered the death sentence to the Kanzaki family.

“Miss Yina, if it wasn’t alright, why would you do it?”

She gave a sharp reply.

Yina glanced at Nuwa, who was connected to the building’s underground network terminal, and found herself speechless.