Day had yet to break when the members of the Special Selection Unit Astral took their positions. Even among the various sectors of the front, this was the most grueling—the absolute vanguard.
Maintaining a sharp, constant tension, the Special Selection Unit Astral advanced. Their formation was set: Lydia and Abby in the vanguard; Deruku and Howard in the middle; and Flor and Ray bringing up the rear.
Henrick and Carol, acting as operational commanders, remained at the base to monitor the status of the battle.
This team had completed countless operations together. No matter the difficulty of the mission, they had always fulfilled it with absolute certainty. However, the place they stood now was different. This was a true battlefield.
They were standing in a place where human life was extinguished as a matter of course.
The unit reached the edge of the forest and began their approach.
"This is..."
"Quite horrific..."
What Lydia and Abby sensed first, even before entering the forest, was the stench of death. Though both were veterans of real combat, they had never encountered a place where the odor of rot was so pervasive.
The Special Selection Unit Astral stepped into the woods. Though dawn was still a distant hope and the forest was plunged in gloom, Lydia had already activated her wide-range interference sorcery.
The spell was Perception Field. It was a technique Lydia excelled at, and one that Ray was equally capable of using.
Lydia deployed her Perception Field to the front while Ray handled the rear, ensuring they had a perfect grasp of their surroundings. Among the corpses strewn across the forest floor, few retained even a semblance of a human shape.
They had to press on without letting the sight give them pause. Now, every member of the unit understood why the soldiers at the base had looked so utterly spent.
It was self-evident that anyone would break mentally after fighting in such a gruesome place, watching their comrades die miserably beside them day after day.
The fortitude of those who had held out until the Special Selection Unit Astral arrived was truly worthy of praise.
"..."
Because Ray had also expanded his Perception Field, he perceived the devastation as clearly as Lydia. His eyes happened to drift downward, meeting the gaze of a corpse. Even for an adult, the sight would have been unbearable, yet Ray simply stared back into those eyes with a hollow mind.
They were a void, harboring nothing.
Even staring into those sunken, bottomless sockets, Ray did not falter. He simply thought to himself that this scene felt familiar—that he was experiencing a profound sense of déjà vu.
"Twenty meters ahead. Enemy signatures. They’re setting an ambush. We strike first."
"Copy that."
Contact.
Lydia sensed the enemy's presence long before they realized she was there. With her command as the signal, the unit accelerated, sprinting across the earth in a single burst.
A dash.
Lydia, at the lead, immediately deployed her sorcery.
"Prima Materia = Encoding = Material Code."
"Material Code = Decoding."
"Material Code = Processing = Deceleration = Lock."
"Embodiment = Material."
"—Icicle Blaze."
Ice Swords manifested in both her hands.
They were the synonym and the symbol of Lydia Ainsworth—a manifestation of her power often referred to as her Attribute.
She dropped into a low stance, accelerating into a blur before delivering a single, lethal flash.
She swung her Ice Swords ruthlessly, aiming for the enemy's neck, but she failed to take the head. It seemed the enemy was more formidable than they appeared.
"They seem quite skilled. However..."
Lydia analyzed the situation instantly. Evading her attack in that split-second exchange should have been nearly impossible. Furthermore, she felt a sense of wrongness in the fact that they had dodged at all, given that she had held the initiative.
It wasn't arrogance; it was a pure, logical doubt. Additionally, what was truly abnormal was that despite Lydia’s blades having connected and sliced the enemy, they didn't let out a single scream, nor did they show any sign of attempting to treat the wound.
They didn't even show a hint of agony.
The enemy simply stood there, watching her intently, as if they weren't even aware of the arm that had been sliced open.
"Everyone, proceed as usual. Follow me."
"Copy that."
With Lydia at the lead, they finished the engagement in that area shortly thereafter.
"Is that all?"
With a sharp flick of her Ice Sword, Lydia sent the blood clinging to the blade spraying onto the ground. The battle hadn't lasted long. Lydia and Abby had done most of the work annihilating the enemies in the vanguard, while the middle and rear guards handled the processing of the remaining threats.
As for Ray, he had limited himself to pinning enemies down with ice, never dealing a direct, lethal blow. This was because Lydia had strictly told him that such was her responsibility.
"Still, it's strange. They showed absolutely no sign of fear. Nor did they prioritize treating their injuries. What is happening here...?"
In response to Abby's observation, Flor offered her own theory.
"It certainly is strange... It's as if their human functions are missing entirely. One could argue they've been broken by Overheat, but this is more like—"
Ray softly finished her sentence.
"It was as if they were puppets. That is what I think."
Indeed. It wasn't just Ray; Lydia had felt it too. There had been third-party intervention in the battle just now.
"Ray is right. The enemies were being manipulated," Lydia said, her voice steady as she began her analysis. "I could sense the faint leakage of someone else's Prima Materia."
She paused, narrowing her eyes.
"To begin with, blocking out pain and lacking fear to this degree is impossible for a human being. It's likely they are being controlled by someone."
"Is it Mental Interference Magic?"
Howard asked, tilting his head slightly, but Lydia’s expression remained grim.
"Yeah... that might be it."
Since it was still only a possibility, she didn't elaborate. However, she privately thought the amount of Prima Materia was too small for standard Mental Interference Magic.
Meanwhile, Ray was staring fixedly at the opponents they had just fought. His expression didn't change as he watched them in silence, looking as if he were sensing something deeper.
"Ray. Are you alright?"
"Yes. No problem."
"I see..."
Lydia's heart was a whirlpool of conflicting emotions. If Ray were to break down here, she could have him removed from the operation. Yet, there was no doubt that Ray had become an indispensable asset.
He was becoming such a focal point that the Special Selection Unit Astral was starting to feel inconceivable without him.
Suppressing those contradictory feelings, Lydia gently patted Ray's head. It was a very tender touch, just as it always was.
"Let's head back."
"Yes."
With that, the Special Selection Unit Astral began to withdraw from the front line. Since there were no other enemies in the immediate vicinity, they began their retreat... but in that moment, only Ray caught a faint sign and looked back.
"Ray? Is something wrong?"
"No... it’s nothing."
It must have been his imagination. If Lydia hadn't sensed it, then it surely was nothing more than a trick of the mind. With that thought, the Special Selection Unit Astral successfully withdrew from the vanguard.
They left without knowing that hostile presences were still nearby...
"That was close. My Stealth was perfect just now, wasn't it?"
"Yes. It was certainly perfect, and yet, it seems he truly is an outlier. The claim that he has surpassed even Lydia Ainsworth might actually be true."
"Phew... that gave me a start. But we've grasped the gist of their combat strength, right?"
As the girl asked this, the man adjusted his glasses before responding.
"Yes. I have a general grasp of the members' abilities, but as expected, I cannot see the bottom of those two."
"I see. Some of the Seven Grand Sorcerers are a match for us, but those two are special."
"Lydia Ainsworth... She is a Singularity of sorts. We should exercise extreme caution if we are to kill her."
"You're right. Well, shall we head back?"
"Indeed."
Then, the two presences vanished, melting into the darkness of the forest as if they had never been there at all.