Boom! Boom!
The slash shattered the silence of the night. The severed section of the wall was hurled backward into the abandoned city by the accompanying shock wave.
Bzzz!
Seeing this, she unleashed another drawing slash, cutting open another section of the wall and leaving a massive gap between them.
She had deliberately controlled the strength behind both attacks. Otherwise, a single slash would inevitably have struck the residents beyond the wall and might even have destroyed a vast portion of the city outside.
Her entire body then rose into the air as she transformed into her Baleful Shadowlord form. With a sweep of her arm, the Eye of Stormy Judgment above her head unleashed an intense beam of light.
Boom!
The GHQ mechs rushing toward her were reduced to scrap metal, and a towering cloud of flame illuminated the night sky.
"Go!"
At the same time, she issued an order to the dolls on the ground.
"Oh!!!" ×N
The student dolls shouted in unison, fearlessly clambering over the severed wall, crossing the Seventh Loop, and sprinting toward the city beyond!
Boom!
Inside the underground tunnel, everyone felt the ground tremble and realized that the evacuation had begun.
"Mio has started."
"Everyone, move out! Don't fall behind along the way!"
Tsugumi shouted to the students behind her, then took the lead alongside Inori.
"Mio... please be careful."
Hare offered a brief prayer before following them.
Beep, beep—!
An alarm sounded throughout GHQ headquarters. Segai opened his eyes, still somewhat dazed.
"This is bad, Director Segai!"
Rowan rushed inside.
"What happened?"
Segai asked, sensing that something was terribly wrong.
"The wall around the Seventh Loop has been breached from the inside!"
"What? Breached?!"
Even Segai was shocked. He hurriedly brought up the footage.
"And... it was destroyed in an utterly outrageous manner!"
"..."
Segai frowned, a rare sight, as he transferred the surveillance footage onto the main screen. The main entrance of the Seventh Loop was a tragic sight. Wreckage from destroyed mechs lay everywhere, hellish flames raged across the area, and violet sword scars glowed upon the ground. The entire scene was bathed in crimson. There was no need to wonder what had happened. The ground forces stationed there had been completely annihilated.
Bzzt—!
The surveillance camera was destroyed the next second, leaving the screen without a signal.
Click!
He hurriedly switched to a second camera and saw the violet figure that fascinated him so deeply.
"Ah—what a beautiful figure..."
He could not help sighing in admiration.
The camera showed a beautiful woman floating in the air, her entire body resembling an exquisitely crafted doll. Around her hovered violet arms that looked as though they had been created through computer-generated effects, while one of them gripped an enormous blade. The space surrounding her had begun to distort, and shard-like fragments occasionally drifted through the air.
"That is—!"
Rowan pushed up his glasses, his face deathly pale.
"That is a god. A beautiful deity."
Segai smiled.
"What? A god?"
Rowan did not understand.
"Yes, a god... I can feel that power. It is not something we mortals are capable of interfering with."
Segai spoke in rapture.
"Are you serious?!"
Rowan was completely bewildered.
"Yes... I am not speaking metaphorically. She is the genuine article. Can you not see it? That power does not belong to this world."
Segai glanced sideways at him.
"..."
Rowan stood there in a daze, staring at the woman slaughtering GHQ's forces on the screen.
"Her power is far too overwhelming. No matter how many troops we send, it will make no difference. We should never have made an enemy of such a being—"
Click...
He picked up the radio and connected to every security unit in headquarters.
"All personnel are to engage the enemy at the Seventh Loop. Do not allow the target to approach the civilian district. Any rioting students encountered along the way are to be shot on sight. Leave no survivors."
"—!"
Rowan stared in astonishment at the man whose words and actions completely contradicted each other.
"But... I told you before, did I not? Sometimes, pretending not to understand is the safest course of action."
Segai smiled after cutting the transmission.
...
Just as Segai had ordered, GHQ launched its most comprehensive and massive offensive in history. Its forces included vast numbers of infantry equipped with heavy weaponry, tanks, armored vehicles, high-powered mech units piloted by elite Ghost soldiers, and even a large fleet of armed helicopters.
They all surged toward the Seventh Loop at once. There was still some distance between its boundary and the actual residential district, and the area between them was an uninhabited, abandoned city. That city was now about to become a hellish battlefield.
The Shogun, already in her Baleful Shadowlord form, watched the vast army gradually emerge along the city skyline. Her brows rose slightly, and her beautiful eyes narrowed as she roughly estimated their numbers. The enormous force caused even the sand and gravel beneath them to tremble. Although her feet floated above the ground, she could still feel the "pressure" that such a sight would have imposed upon an ordinary person.
It was now midnight, and the true performance had only just begun. The student dolls surrounding her had suffered a few losses during the earlier riot, but that would not interfere with the rest of the plan.
To maintain appearances, she ordered the dolls to "flee" in every direction. As expected, the vast army that had just arrived gunned them down one after another. Whether mech, tank, or infantryman, every soldier mercilessly aimed at the students and coldly pulled the trigger. Even though the people they killed were mere illusions, the sight was still chilling.
Before long, the area in front of her was filled with GHQ's military hardware. Tanks, aircraft, and even mechs stood in row after row, forming what resembled an ocean of steel.
Click! ×N
They aimed their weapons at her in unison, as though intending to riddle her with holes.
Boom! ×N
The next instant, artillery fire filled the sky. Tanks fired one after another, while the mechs and helicopters launched all their missiles. In the darkness of the night, densely packed shells streaked through the air like a rain of fire, converging upon her position on the ground.
Her eyes flashed. The doll arms floating at either side of her assumed a stance, and a violet lightning shield instantly enveloped her entire body. The next second, shells struck its surface, erupting into violent flames. GHQ continued pouring firepower onto her for more than a minute. The ground was nearly blasted apart, and thick smoke rose in all directions, completely swallowing her figure.
When the bombardment ended, nothing could be seen except clouds of dust thrown into the air. Their original target had vanished—or rather, was no longer visible.
However, no one advanced to inspect the area. In their minds, no one could have survived such an intense bombardment of heavy firepower. They were completely confident.
Beep—!
"This is GHQ Ground Combat Unit One. The target has been destroyed... I repeat, the target has been—"
"Not yet!"
"Look!"
"—!" ×N
The shouts of nearby soldiers cut off his report. He hurriedly looked toward the city street ahead, which remained shrouded in airborne dust. A dazzling violet light suddenly erupted from within the dense haze, piercing through the heavy cloud like a blade and shooting into the sky.
The woman emerged completely unharmed. Dense violet light radiated from her body, while the doll arm gripping the enormous blade was raised high into the air. The blade shone brightly and resonated with the clouds above, while the surrounding dust circled her like countless particles.
The woman slowly opened her mouth.
"My turn, is it not?"
Her ethereal, icy voice echoed throughout the area. As she swept her hand downward, the enormous arm holding the blade brought it crashing vertically toward the ground!
Bzzz!
When the blade struck, the fan-shaped region centered upon her collapsed into a deep ravine. Thunder surged outward from the blade like a tsunami, sweeping across the metal tanks and mechs before her and instantly incinerating them!
Boom! ×N
Clouds of flame erupted one after another, piercing the heavens and dyeing the black sky a golden color reminiscent of sunset. The uninhabited city surrounding her was also reduced to ruins. Affected by the blast waves, the helicopters in the sky began losing balance and careening wildly in every direction.
A sphere of lightning gathered in the palm of one doll hand. It raised the sphere into the air and crushed it. The ruptured lightning spread through the sky like a sound wave, sweeping across the helicopters that had already lost control. Every aircraft it touched short-circuited in succession, black smoke billowing from their tails as they spun chaotically and crashed one after another.
Gazing at the sea of flames before her, she coldly floated through the area.
Bang!
A tremendous noise erupted from the other side—the sound of artillery fire. One of the Shadowlord's arms automatically blocked the shell for her, after which she swung her blade without even looking.
Bzzz!
A sword scar appeared in the air. Space shattered, and even the flames were sliced apart. Naturally, the tank behind them was severed as well before exploding once more.
And just like that, the entire GHQ force sent against her was annihilated...
"—!"
At that instant, a trace of expression different from before returned to her eyes. Her consciousness also emerged from the state imposed by the Baleful Shadowlord form. Looking at the abandoned city engulfed in towering flames, she could not help sighing.
It appears I used a little too much force.
I wonder how the main group is doing. They should already be aboard the ship by now, correct?
—
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