"We’re just going in circles."
Bafrosk scoffed at the suggestion.
"Think this through! Be reasonable!" Raldo shouted.
At that exact moment, a shuju—a person of unusually short stature—suddenly appeared in the middle of the radical faction’s ranks.
"Wh—?!"
"Who are you?!"
The shuju said nothing. It tossed a silver ball straight into the air and vanished instantly via teleportation.
(That’s a Negadoll!)
Only Anne, who was present and hidden by her Invisible magic, could react in time.
There was no time to confirm the nature of the silver ball. Whatever it was, it couldn't be anything good. She hadn't expected the enemy to strike here, especially with so many radicals gathered together, even if Jin—or rather, his Body Double—wasn't present.
(To think a Negadoll would launch an attack now...!)
No matter what the silver ball was, she could have eliminated the threat if she had a simplified transporter to whisk it away. Unfortunately, Anne hadn't been issued one yet. Only a single prototype existed, and it was currently with Reiko. Mass production wasn't expected to be finished for another twelve hours.
(I won't make it! At the very least, I have to save Raldo and Belialus...!)
She lunged for the two people closest to her. Raldo’s shoulder bumped into her, and Bafrosk was knocked over toward her side as well.
"Barrier!"
She deployed her protective barrier. It was all Anne could manage in the split second she had.
One second after Negadoll 001 vanished, the magi-craft sealed within the silver ball unleashed its full power.
"Wh-What happened?!"
Back on Hourai Island, Jin kicked his chair back as he stood up, his eyes glued to the screen. He had sensed a momentary disturbance in the free ether.
Immediately after, the magi-screen went black.
"Did something happen to Anne?! What about Reiko and the others?"
"My Lord, Reiko and the Land units are safe," Laojun replied. "I am switching feeds now."
The magi-screen brightened as the display switched from Anne’s perspective to Reiko’s field of vision.
"Reiko! Something happened to Anne and the others!"
Reiko’s response was immediate.
"Yes, Father. I felt a fluctuation in the free ether. The sensors on Capricorn 1 detected a rapid depletion of free ether alongside a massive energy discharge. An intense flash of light was also observed at Anne’s location."
Sensing the gravity of the situation, Jin made his decision.
"Reiko, take the prototype transporter gun and go to Anne’s position. Be careful. Do you hear me? Be extremely careful."
"Understood. I am heading there now."
Reiko slung Touka across her back, grabbed the transporter gun, and leapt out of Capricorn 1. She sprinted across the terrain at a speed exceeding two hundred kilometers per hour.
Covering the four-kilometer distance in just over a minute, Reiko arrived at the Jest clan’s settlement.
"This is..."
A heavy silence hung over the area, making the previous heated arguments feel like a distant memory. Keeping her Invisible barrier active and moving with silent footsteps, she headed toward the site of the meeting: the residence of the Clan Chief, Bafrosk.
"...What happened here?"
Several demons lay collapsed along the path. She didn't have the time to check if they were dead or merely unconscious, so she hurried past them.
When she reached Bafrosk’s mansion, she found it enveloped in the same tomb-like stillness. The iron gate set into the stone perimeter wall was shut tight. Reiko moved to force it open, but as she did, she noticed a peculiar sensation.
"...The free ether... it's thin."
The concentration of free ether here was significantly lower than the area around Capricorn 1. While it seemed to be slowly recovering, the level of depletion was staggering. She estimated it would have taken firing high-level spells not dozens of times, but hundreds of thousands of times to exhaust the ether to this extent.
What made it even more bizarre was that, despite the evidence of such massive magical output, there was absolutely no physical damage to the buildings.
Tilting her head in confusion, Reiko forced the iron gate open. Even with the scarce free ether, Reiko’s ether converter was highly efficient, drawing enough energy to supply her systems with mana. The wooden bolt securing the gate snapped like a twig, and she stepped inside.
The courtyard was much the same as the path outside. Several demons were sprawled on the ground, none of them conscious. Knowing from Anne’s earlier reports that the meeting had taken place in the inner courtyard, Reiko dashed through the front garden and entered the house.
Finding no signs of life and facing no resistance, she passed through the mansion and burst into the inner courtyard.
There, Reiko froze.
"This...!"
Roughly twenty demons were lying facedown across the ground.
"Anne...!"
Reiko scanned the area and spotted a familiar shock of blue hair at the far edge of the courtyard.
"Anne!"
Reiko cleared the fallen demons in a single bound, reaching Anne's side instantly.
"Anne! What happened?!"
Anne was collapsed alongside Belialus, Raldo, and Bafrosk. Her barrier had already dissipated.
"Big... sister..."
At the sound of Reiko’s voice, Anne’s eyes flickered open.
"Anne, are you hurt?"
"...Yes....I'm having a little... trouble moving... but I am functional. No internal errors detected."
Anne’s speech was faltering at first, but she quickly regained her composure and managed to stand.
"Explain what happened."
They knew that Negadoll 001 had thrown a silver ball and vanished. The mystery was what followed.
"...I am not entirely sure. I remember deploying the barrier to guard against the silver ball, but I seem to have entered a Stand Still state immediately after."
She looked down at the three men lying beside her.
"Since Belialus and Raldo were friendly toward us, I pulled them into the barrier to protect them. It seems Bafrosk was caught in the radius as well."
Reiko knelt to check the three. They were unconscious, but their hearts were beating and they were still breathing.
"Their heart rates are extremely low, however..."
Reiko confirmed the observation. Their pulses were only about thirty beats per minute—roughly half of what was normal—and felt incredibly weak. Reiko relayed her findings to Jin.
"Let's try administering some recovery medicine."
On Laojun’s suggestion, Jin gave the order to use the medicine Anne always carried on Belialus. Anne reached for her supplies, but paused.
"The recovery medicine... it looks like it's denatured."
The liquid inside the ampoule she produced had turned a murky, cloudy color. Setting aside the investigation into the cause for a moment, Jin had Laojun use the transporter to send fresh stock from Hourai Island to Anne’s location.
Belialus swallowed the medicine slowly. After a few minutes, his heart rate stabilized near a normal level, though he remained unconscious.
"I’d like Elsa’s opinion on this."
At Jin’s request, Laojun summoned Elsa. She arrived a moment later.
"...Jin-nii, what's... happened?..."
Elsa was acting stiffer than usual, but Jin was too preoccupied to notice.
"Elsa, I need your advice."
He gave her a quick summary of the situation.
"...I see. If possible, it would be... better... to give the recovery medicine to the others, too."
Elsa offered her assessment as soon as he finished.
"If they are left with their blood pressure this low for too long, there’s a risk of... various... permanent aftereffects."
"Understood."
Jin instructed Anne to give the medicine to Raldo and Bafrosk as well. Then, he told Reiko to check on the other demons in the courtyard.
Reiko moved through the area, checking the twenty or so fallen demons one by one. Finally, she stopped.
"It’s no use," she reported, the words heavy with the staggering truth. "They're gone. Every one of them is dead."