"Ratel and Port Payne have been confirmed to have vanished. This includes all coastal facilities around both cities; none remain," Modir said in the temporary camp on Plander's coast, withdrawing his gaze from the communications device and looking at Wasp and Night Owl standing beside him. Then he shook his head. "No... strictly speaking, it is as if they never existed."
The shield surrounding the camp blocked the frigid wind from the sea, while the heating equipment gave off comfortable warmth. Yet both Wasp and Night Owl felt a chill spreading through their hearts.
"The reconnaissance aircraft just scouted northeast along the coastline and flew all the way near Damteran Port," Maggie's voice came from nearby. "Damteran Port has vanished as well. That is the point on all of Violet Island furthest from its center. If this Supernatural Phenomenon really began at the center and spread outward... then the situation is probably exactly as you predicted."
Modir nodded but did not speak. He merely raised his head and looked toward the dense forest to the north. The mist that never dispersed from that forest had vanished, leaving behind only an unnatural darkness lurking amid layers of shadows beneath the trees. The Mage Eye sent out earlier had naturally dissipated after exceeding its control limit. Before it vanished, the final image it transmitted had still been endless trees, along with enormous piles occasionally visible in the forest, as though they were Stone Piles.
Those massive Stone Piles had initially led Modir to believe they were "remains" left behind after the cities vanished. But after observing them up close, he discovered that they were merely Stone Piles.
The territory of this "Mage Country" was astonishingly vast. Though it was only an island, and though its low-profile conduct had often caused people on