novelraw Chapter 49
Chapter 49
Chapter 49
“Ms. Lune, please be careful. I’m begging you.”
Oscar slipped a vest over Lune’s wings.
One by one he tucked flare-tubes—torch-shaped fireworks—into the pouches sewn across the front.
“Yes, yes, I know.”
“Mago always charges in reckless. She’ll use any means, never mind the cost.”
He cinched the last strap tight.
“Really? I suppose that does sound like her.”
“Please try to understand her, Ms. Lune.”
“You too.”
“Pardon?”
“Try to understand her—Ms. Mago, I mean.”
“Understand what, exactly...?”
“She told me not to get close to you. Remember?”
“You heard that?”
“Of course. You both shouted loud enough to wake the dead. It’d be stranger if I hadn’t. Still, Ms. Mago must have had her reasons.”
“Reasons? Looked like plain old prejudice to me.”
“That’s not who she is.”
“I’ve known her longer.”
“Then all the more reason you should understand.”
“Ah, come on... She’s the one who needs to understand—about species diversity and all that.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
Oscar pressed a matchbox into her hand last.
Lune answered with a small, grateful smile.
“Thank you, Ms. Lune.”
“I’m the one who should thank you.”
She spread her wings wide.
“Oscar Sita!”
“Captain Shimena...”
Oscar snapped a stiff salute.
“All set?”
“Yes, ma’am. No problems.”
“Good work.”
Captain Shimena led Lune away.
* * *
“The Third Invasion came in March, Year 608. That day, it wasn’t raining.”
I remembered that day from my previous life—
the day the Demon King’s Army used Winged Demon Beasts
to pull off another air raid, a day that ended in tragedy for us.
I repeated it to myself, clear and sharp.
But now it was early December, Year 607—
three whole months early.
For some reason the Demon King’s Army had moved up its timetable.
“Because of the Ghost King, I bet.”
Whenever I crossed her, she acted at different times, in different ways.
Capricious, mood-driven—
utterly her.
I raised the muzzle of my musket.
Black Winged Demon Beasts were already approaching,
Green Demon Beasts in special armor dangling from their talons.
Same as before, same as always.
I sighted on one of them and pulled the trigger.
Click—nothing.
The rain was not on my side;
a soaked musket is a useless one.
I turned toward the armory, hunting cover from the downpour so I could lay hands on more guns before the cubes were finally solved.
All I could do now was trust the Special Task Force.
* * *
Every remaining member of the Special Task Force stood in formation at Headquarters.
Captain Shimena studied them in silence.
At last she spoke.
“Marcello Arnes is not here.”
Bad news first.
Mago couldn’t fight right now either, I thought.
Everyone already knew Marcello was missing;
they felt the absence like a hole.
Without her, the mission difficulty spiraled out of control.
“Since Marcello enlisted two years ago, we’ve built our tactics around her, planned every operation to maximize her strengths.”
The force looked up at Shimena, tension etched on their faces.
“But she is not the whole of us. She’s only one member. Listen well, especially you new recruits.”
Units 42 and 43—freshly assigned—swallowed dryly.
“We’ve relied on Marcello Arnes for a long time, but we were an elite task force before she arrived, and we remain elite without her.”
“Yes, ma’am...!”
“Trust your experienced seniors.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“42nd, 43rd Platoons—move to the Tower.”
Shimena’s finger stabbed toward the lone spire rising from the center of Headquarters.
“Intercept the beasts at the very top. Use firearms.”
“Captain Shimena... it’s raining.”
Amon spoke first.
“We shoot when it stops. If it doesn’t stop, we wait until it does.”
*It doesn’t matter if we miss. We just have to let them know we fought back with muskets...*
“Hold position.”
The recruits felt uneasy about Captain Shimena’s order, but they could only answer in unison.
“Karasma Ken.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m entrusting the recruits to you again.”
“Understood.”
“Units 20 through 41—secure the ground floor of Headquarters.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Units 16 through 19—if the enemy overshoots HQ, mount up and pursue.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
*15th Platoon... Mago’s not here. Units 5 through 14—already dispatched to the capital.*
“Units 2, 3, 4—leave HQ immediately. Head for His Majesty the Emperor.”
“H-His Majesty...?”
“Then what about Unit 1, Captain Shimena...?”
“I’ll handle my own task.”
“Tomorrow, you mean...?”
“Not tomorrow—my task.”
Captain Shimena made a silent vow, then said it aloud.
“Tomorrow, we all meet again—alive.”
* * *
Captain Shimena joined Units 42 and 43 atop the tower.
Lune followed right behind.
Together they reached the flat rooftop at the very summit.
“Rain’s coming down like filth.”
Black-winged shapes punched through the storm clouds.
The Special Task Force instantly thought of the Second Invasion.
“If we fail this time, they’ll come the same way next time—and the time after. I see this as our last chance. Thanks to Mago saving a single airman, we can reach the sky, but we’re only buying minutes...”
She remembered what she’d told Mago in the capital.
—Ten minutes. That’s all I need, Trainee. Stall them.
“I hope ten minutes is still enough, Mago.”
While Shimena muttered to herself, Lune jerked her chin: time to go.
“Counting on you.”
Shimena gripped the rope linked to Lune.
Lune beat her wings.
She lifted into the air and surged toward the demon beasts.
The black beasts ignored Shimena and kept advancing—
until the moment she drew a dagger from her coat.
Then they learned their mistake.
“Good enough.”
She landed on the back of a winged demon beast.
Lune folded her wings and dropped away.
From that instant, it was Shimena Extein’s solo show.
A crescent-moon night.
Mid-air.
On enemy backs.
Rain pouring in sheets.
No safety line.
One slip meant death.
Every danger only sharpened her exhilaration.
Her heart pounded faster.
She moved.
Planted the dagger dead-center between the beast’s shoulder blades.
A mark flared where the blade bit home: a red circle stamped with a cross.
She used the thrashing creature as a stepping-stone to the next.
One by one she leapt, leaving brands behind.
“Twenty-two.”
After marking the twenty-second beast she let herself fall backward, arms spread, free-falling through the dark.
Wind slammed against her back as she dropped.
At the same instant she released the dagger.
The blade hung motionless in mid-air for a heartbeat, then streaked after the marks at her signal.
Point after point linked into a crimson line.
The dagger became a red comet, threading each branded back and piercing every heart.
Like a needle sewing fine silk, it darted from one mark to the next.
They dropped like stones.
The Green Demon Beasts clinging to their claws fell with them.
Of the twenty-two that had been marked,
twenty-one died without ever knowing why.
The last one realized the dagger would chase its sigil forever.
It twisted frantically, but there was no escape.
Not until the final needle passed and every thread was drawn tight.
Only then did the dagger stop.
“G-Gah...!”
The twenty-second beast toppled, impaled.
At the same instant, Lune reached Captain Shimena.
Shimena caught the rope with a look of relief, then thrust out her gloved hand.
A crimson cross-hair glowed in the palm of the glove.
Casually, she plucked the onrushing dagger from the air.
“Once more, please.”
“Yes...!”
* * *
“Captain Shimena’s using a relic too...”
“If she keeps this up, can’t she just keep blocking them...?”
Members of Unit 43 stared skyward.
“Dunno...”
Karasma crushed their flicker of hope.
They turned to him.
“At first they kept their distance from Captain Shimena... but now they move like they’ve figured out how her relic works. Like they’ve studied it...”
Wherever the dagger struck, a sigil bloomed.
The dagger streaked after that sigil in a flash of red light.
That was all—
staggeringly simple.
Nothing but overwhelming speed.
“For winged beasts that learn language and tactics, the relic’s principle wouldn’t be hard. Proof’s right there.”
Karasma pointed near Shimena.
Beasts now brushed past her as if she were furniture.
“They’re ignoring her completely and charging straight past. Not at Headquarters—somewhere else. Probably for the Emperor...”
“We’re only buying a few minutes.”
“You’re right, Amon.”
“So we just let them through again?”
“Amon?”
“So powerlessly...”
Amon hid his face in both hands.
“This time... no, this time they won’t even fight us. Before, at least we clashed. Now we’re nothing...”
“Amon, pull yourself together. It’s not over.”
“I almost wish it were. A clean duel, to the death. That would be better.”
Karasma said nothing.
Silence was the same as agreement.
All the Special Task Force could do was watch.
This was the third invasion.
They could do nothing.
Karasma caught himself longing for the red-light district, for Madam Anne.
Every agent who’d worked that operation felt the same.
Back then they’d had a role—
tension, fear, sure, but also purpose.
They cursed the rain that would not stop.
Cold drops slapped their cheeks, and all they could do was take it.
“Commander Karasma... is this how it ends? They’ll pass Headquarters completely.”
“Amon...!”
A moment later, Captain Shimena and Lune landed on the tower roof.
“The rain won’t let up. And they’ve started ignoring me.”
In that bleak mood—
“I’m starting now.”
Lune nodded, as though she sensed fate turning.
“Looks like Mago’s running late.”
She smiled her usual smile.
Shimena knew she was hiding fear, but let it pass.
Everything was for the greater good.
“Platoons 42 and 43, form up.”
The agents obeyed.
Without warning, Shimena threw an arm around the shoulders of the nearest two—Belle on her right, Karasma on her left.
“Circle Ms. Lune.”
“...Ma’am?”
“Quickly.”
Bewildered, they obeyed.
They became a single body, an umbrella against the rain.
Lune opened every pocket of her vest.
Firework fuses glinted inside.
“I meant to carry them one by one, but they’d just get soaked and fizzle out.”
She spoke for Shimena, who only nodded.
She drew a dagger and began trimming the fuses shorter.
“Didn’t we practice the timing with Oscar and the explosions...? If you cut the fuses too short, we won’t know when they’ll blow—and if something goes wrong, they could detonate inside your vest.”
Belle spoke up.
“It’s fine. Thank you.”
Lune offered her a reassuring smile.
After shortening the fuses herself, it took about twenty tries before she managed to light a match.
As she reached out to transfer the first spark to the firework fuse—
A blue flash burst in the distance, illuminating the dark night.
A single bolt of light struck down, and thunder rolled across the sky.
Moments later, it came again.
A brilliant flash surged upward.
The second lightning came from below.
“Mago...”
Captain Shimena watched the afterimage fade.
Demon Beasts struck by the lightning from below fell like autumn leaves.
But it wasn’t enough to take them all down.
Not until they were gathered in one place for a decisive strike.
For now, it only punched a hole in their formation.
A hole that would soon close.
“I’ll go now.”
Lune bowed her head, resolute.
“Thank you for fighting for the Empire.”
Captain Shimena saluted her.
“It’s my hometown.”
Lune spread her wings and soared away.
The flame on the torch-shaped firework began to grow.
“M-Ms. Lune...!”
Just then, Oscar reached the top of the tower.
“She’s already gone, Oscar.”
“W-Wait just a moment...!”
“Oscar.”
Louise placed a hand on his shoulder.
Warmth passed through her trembling touch.
“Leave the rest to Mago.”