Chapter 177
"I must prove to you all that 'strength' is the reason I became the headmaster."
Accompanied by a roar identical to the 'Judgment' she had witnessed before, Takina was dragged into a large hall piled with sandbags and anti-tank barricades. Approaching her were Jessica and her Blacksteel companions, both sporting unusual red Halo but seemingly ignored by everyone else.
"Nana told us that the Medic outfit will be worn by you Takina."
As Jessica handed her the Rhodes Island uniform, Takina glanced at the Laterano Executor with some unease when she heard them say the word 'Medic'... After seeing that he just tilted his head and didn't react, Takina finally accepted the Rhodes Island outfit.
"I understand, everything will proceed according to Nana- senpai's plan."
PS: Waaaaaaah!
PS2: It was supposed to be about taking down the Archaeology Division in this chapter... but then I realized that it would be better to put Mika's battle before Nana's, and leave Nana's fight against the Archaeology Division in the final curtain call.
After all, we should show some respect for the return of the Ghost Assassin.
This is definitely not about me wanting to shout the line, 'What are you going to do to my princess?' (Turns head)
5th Laytonson's Ghost Assassin: 193 [Artificial Angel]
Taking advantage of the opportunity to turn around and change cover, Mika watched as her friends, students, and guests with sensitive identities entered the heavily guarded auditorium. She then skillfully picked up a new magazine from the corpse.
Using it to tap along the bottom of the gun, the empty magazine fell out with a click, followed by the click of the new pry bar. Then came the backhand cocking of the gun, a man who had been scolded by his 'guardian' several times thirty years ago but never showed any remorse.
"Hmm, I remember that gentleman said... all the major operations of the Arca-series Rifles should be performed with the dominant right hand, but even after not holding a gun for several years, the habit of using the left hand to cock is still hard to break..."
Holding a few cheap Firearms Arts that have been widely copied by Firearms Arts companies because the original Laterano Firearms Arts blueprints were illegally published and their design has not yet entered the registration process, Mika looked at the black-haired Feline approaching in standard tactical formation and becoming expressionless, while the pink-haired Liberi showed a hint of nostalgia.
"She's not like that anymore. You may miss her appearance, but since you're here to cause trouble, you should at least... show some self-respect!!"
Mika fired a burst of fire at the Artificial Angel during their biggest gap as they moved to cover, but she only fired a few shots before quickly retreating... After all, using the Atlas armored vehicle as cover was probably not a good idea.
The pink-haired girl knew that back when they lived together in the Applied Division lab, that guy could use an old-fashioned revolver with its old-style Etch Rounds to pierce through aluminum alloy armor.
These clones haven't let the girl, now known as Nana, down. With the help of M16 Rifles and armor-piercing spells, the armored vehicle in front of Mika instantly gained a bunch of bullet holes.
Unfortunately, the people of Tara didn't know this, otherwise they wouldn't have been wiped out by the enemy's sixteen men within two minutes of the start of the battle.
The ground is now littered with the corpses of Atlas combatants, roughly estimated to be at least three hundred... They were quite restrained when they blocked the school gates, not really putting in any effort, probably because many of them thought that after this job was over, they wouldn't have to rely on fighting to make a living anymore.
Even if the Archaeology Division goes under, as long as the deposit is returned as profit, one can start a completely new life.
Mika could only say it was a pity, and then tried her best to find the best-equipped person to remove his ammunition pouch and tactical belt, so that he could carry a lot of grenades and spare magazines.
As for the things you might find... like cash neatly stuffed into an envelope with an address, a wallet with a photo, a crumpled suicide note... these personal items can only be dealt with by the people cleaning up the mess afterward; Mika didn't touch them.
The Artificial Angel would certainly not stand idly by while Mika openly took up arms.
Most of them were pinned down behind the flowerbed across the street and launched several concentrated attacks on Mika, but due to the pink-haired girl's defensive magic, most of those attacks were ineffective.
Mika, however, after using the sturdy engine of the armored vehicle as cover, lay down under the cover of the tires and, leaning out to the side, injured the legs of two Artificial Angel.
Although Mika was immediately met with a barrage of retaliatory bullets, the black-haired Feline, who had been firing for quite some time before finally destroying the engine, watched helplessly as Mika, with her silvery laughter ringing out along the way, grabbed a full magazine and sped back to the academy.
Normal attackers would probably struggle to maintain their composure in the face of such provocation, but the black-haired Feline members are not normal people.
The wounded searched for medicine and treated their wounds on the spot, while the others didn't miss any openings for attack, turning almost the entire back of Mika's figure blue.
The more effective a spell is, the greater its load and the stronger its light effect... Although Mika said things like 'strength is the reason for becoming the headmaster,' her rolling into the sandbag bunker was somewhat disheveled.
"Ah--I miscalculated... Those guys don't seem so easy to deal with. If it were my own Guardian Gun... Hmm, I really want some dessert."
Complaining, Mika raised her hand to pull back the black-haired man, Feline, who was peering into the auditorium. After glancing back to make sure everyone had left, she nodded.
"Alright, let's keep going like this... No, if we take them out, we can go straight to Rhodes Island and reunite with everyone. It's only sixteen people... My exit permit... Hmm, it's on me..."
As if transported back to the era when she took over the red-clad leader, Mika slowly rediscovered her fighting spirit.
Recalculating operational requirements, mission objectives, and the terrain... a bright smile returned to the pink-haired Liberi girl's face:
"Yes, it's definitely possible, no problem!"
Change strategy! Shedding the excess heavy equipment, carrying only the rifle, leaving the extra magazines behind, and attaching two more Atlas Guard Swords to her waist belt, Mika listened to the orderly footsteps surrounding her, and slowly enveloped the tactical swords at her waist with blue magic light:
"Ultimately, being a guard is my true profession, isn't it?!"
As silence fell over the doorway, the girl threw the stun grenade she had been holding, pulled the trigger to suppress fire at the door, and then charged forward.
Determined to finish off these four elite squads here, Mika no longer passively counterattacked as before. Her long pink hair danced in the blue overload spell light, like a conspicuous pink stamen among blooming azure spider lilies.
In just a few seconds, a magazine was emptied, but at that moment Mika was only a step away from the auditorium door.
As she rushed out of the gate, she smoothly discarded it and drew her twin swords. Even though the weapons in her hands were just ordinary mass-produced items, the enemy was not someone like Nana who could counter and retaliate against every attack immediately.
Relying on defensive spells to withstand the enemy's few stray bullets, her dance-like slashes instantly severed the heads of two Artificial Angel... Meanwhile, all the Artificial Angel outside the door were under the influence of the stun grenades.
After all, Mika had clearly seen it on the street before: none of these eight clones were wearing Feline's four-channel noise-canceling headphones!
"So, after the Archaeology Division's elite squad was wiped out, you new generation members can't even gather all the equipment?!"
Charge, slash! The swirling blade flashes with azure magical light, and the ripples dancing in the sky are crimson blood.
Mika, who activated the Survivor Protocol and charged into the enemy ranks, was like Originium Crystals Pincer Beast charging into a shantytown to the enemies who only had the standard M16. Finally, the black-haired Feline, who was farther away and tried to hide behind the wall of the chapel corridor, was also knocked into the arms of the wall along with him.
He pulled out the two slightly deformed guard swords. Although the wound that had pierced his heart was undoubtedly fatal, Mika, having heard about the 'Sacred Remains,' still severed the last head.
"Even though you have no relation to Nana, I will still pray for you..."
Mika sheathed her sword, but before she could even finish clasping her hands together, a flower made of metal fragments suddenly bloomed on the still-lingering blue spell.
Marking this moment, a series of residues from the reaction between copper, lead, and Orundum, accompanied by armor-piercing spells, rained down on Mika.
"Pain!"
Was it because she hadn't been injured in a long time? Mika was startled by the sudden attack and jumped back into the auditorium, then quickly retreated through the hole in the corridor she had created.
As the blue magical light, overloaded, completely disappeared, Mika reluctantly sacrificed the hand mirror Nagisa had bought for her... In the instant she extended it and then immediately shattered it, Mika saw...
Those were 'Artificial Angel' —wearing thin, cheap gray work clothes and rubber shoes in the dead of winter, with even Firearms Arts no longer fully provided, and many carrying swords, shields, or crossbows—filing into the academy gate in a square formation, their numbers clearly exceeding three digits.
Although this group of black- Feline looked even more dazed than the previous sixteen, they were clumsy even in handling their weapons and basic marching.
But it was just the sound of hundreds of people walking on the ground. Even though their advance was completely disorganized, it still gave Mika a sense of oppression far exceeding that of the previous sixteen people.
"... The Survivor Protocol... is it temporarily unusable...? Damn it, if this were during a mission, I could just blame it on the intelligence officer..."
As the enemy advanced without hesitation, Mika tried to slow them down with grenades, but faced with overwhelming numbers, she retreated again and again... until she reached the statue, where the pink-haired girl finally stopped.
Here, the south-facing windows offer a direct view of the dormitory across the sports field.
Looking over there, I saw many students with backpacks waiting for ICA support near the dormitory building... They weren't even wearing the white uniforms of basic combatants, which meant that those remaining here were just ordinary school students.
Are we betting that these Artificial Human will treat innocent bystanders kindly?
If I try to run away, these cats, with their silly looks, definitely won't be able to catch me.
But... rather than believing that the Archaeology Division wouldn't do anything reckless, Mika would rather believe that one day the Eternal Constant would suddenly tell her that her name's prefix was also AMa.
"There's no other way..."
A soft sigh echoed through the Lycoris Grand Cathedral.
Before the 'Thousand-Chapter Corridor,' a final passage leading into the academy and adorned with scriptures... Mika, having completed what might be the last prayer of her life, slowly turned to face the dense crowd of black-haired Feline. The blue eyes of the people opposite her reflected green and red magical light.
Faced with a dense array of weapons aimed at her, the pink-haired girl also raised her sword forward.
"I am the headmistress of the Lycoris Academy! Underestimating me will get you in trouble!"
If we rewind a little, it was right after Takina and Nana parted ways.
Standing in front of the full-length mirror in the safe house, Nana knew that her emotions had been too volatile today.
After seeing Takina off, Cole complained to her about the Little Cat crying, and Nana reflected on her actions.
Whether it's working as a special agent as Lycoris or as an ICA assassin... neither of these jobs allows personal emotions to override reason.
Was it the character design of 'Alice' that made her too excited?
Nana, now dressed in a suit again, asked herself this question.
But looking in the full-length mirror, even though she was wearing the uniform that allowed her to remain calm, and seeing that face that was exactly the same as the four little Number One, Nana unconsciously squeezed her leather gloves until they creaked.
The permissions granted by the 'Doctor' gave the Halo more than just the 'mysterious' ability to enhance physical abilities and defend against attacks. Its ability to Empathy, which far surpasses that of a regular Sankta, made Nana start to pay attention to things she would never have noticed before.
The surging emotions within them were unstoppable, and their inner thoughts and memories kept flashing through their minds.
No matter how much I try to convince myself that 'that's not my life,' the emotions that have begun to empathize can never be restored to a state of complete tranquility.
Is this Nana's problem? Or is it Alice's problem? It can't be the manager who was framed by them...
This seems like a problem specific to the Archaeology Division.
Nana didn't want to comment on the origins of the 'Artificial Angel' project, nor did she care about its theoretical differences from those of the Applied Division to which her manager belonged...
Killer Number Seventy-Seven had no idea whether he would destroy the world.
But without a doubt, the entire Archaeology Division has been added to Nana's list.
Looking at herself in the mirror again, Nana suddenly noticed that the clothes she had kept in the safe house eight years ago didn't look out of place at all. Nana, who had just been mentally making a list, couldn't help but frown.
The reason she frowned wasn't because she suddenly remembered she had no information about her hunting target—there's always a solution to that...—but because she suddenly realized that her suit from eight years ago, due to Columbia's economic problems at the time, wasn't the pure wool she was used to now.
While the blended synthetic fabric she's wearing is easy to care for, smooth to the touch, and extremely cost-effective, its sheen is a bit too intense for Nana, and wrinkles that appear are difficult to repair themselves... Oh, so she just casually stored it in this safe house that who knows when it will be used.
Realizing this, Nana's demeanor returned to its usual timid Feline. Speechless, she pulled out her suitcase and stuffed in all her tactical gear except for her pistol and a few spare magazines... Then, her phone rang.
The caller wasn't from a number in the log or Nana remembered, but the area code was 'Trimounts'... Trimounts, the political center of Columbia.
The call connected silently, Nana heard a very familiar voice.
[Good morning, Agent Number Seventy-Seven... I have a general understanding of the whole story.] Durian
Hearing that voice, her turbulent heart instantly calmed down, and even Nana's expressionless poker face crumbled, a slight smile involuntarily creeping onto her lips.
[It's a great regret of mine that I couldn't witness your comeback performance. In Trimounts, I received a lot of support and visits from neutral people... Although I haven't fully grasped the situation after being granted freedom of movement, the fact that the original neutrals have turned to us is itself the best indicator of how things are developing.]
[I will review the report from the ICA Intelligence Department as soon as possible, but before that, I can let you know your next objective.]
[The fact that the Archaeology Division sees you as an enemy was foreshadowed. From their initial plan to use you as a weapon, I knew they would inevitably end up like this... And as for those who never considered you human from the start, I suggest... you don't have to treat them as human either.]
[As a key department of the National Laboratory, the Archaeology Division, along with its independent Experimental Subject Training Team, numbers in the hundreds and would overwhelm even the most seasoned agents. But ultimately, its core consists of only three things.]
[First and foremost, it's the soul of the department that has turned the Archaeology Division into what it is today... a department head who lacks even the most basic respect for the Creator and the life He created...]
[He established himself in the department thirty-seven years ago by discovering items related to you, and then attracted his first group of die-hard followers with his extreme ideology of 'using the Creator to strengthen oneself.']
[In the decades that followed, through small favors to the laboratory's Human Resources Department and the formation of cliques within the department, he successfully promoted his theories within the Archaeology Division, which led to numerous conflicts with the Applied Division where I was at the time.]
[You might not believe it, but that person genuinely believed that letting you go would destroy the world... Unfortunately, he didn't even know what 'Kal'tsit' was, and now it's proven that my theory was correct.]
[And aside from that idiot Liberi, your next task is to deal with the private army he created under the pretext of '24/7 protection of dangerous excavations'... Although nominally they are your clone's instructor team, their absolute loyalty to the head of the Archaeology Division department means that this military group, constantly monitoring the internal workings of the Archaeology Division, constitutes that idiot's actual control over the government research institution...]
[It wasn't just the instructors' treatment of the researchers; rumors even circulated within the training team that it was a hellish environment... one mistake and the whole class was implicated. Only the Archaeology Division maintained morale and loyalty thanks to its funding... But truly capable people can't be bought off with money, so after the head instructor was eliminated, the remaining members would likely disband on their own.]
[The biggest problem, however, lies in the information about the 'Artificial Angel' itself... If you've investigated using SHD privileges, you should have discovered that the Archaeology Division possesses a separate SHD Infinite Magic Network Terminal, codenamed 'Isaac'.]
[Like our Anna, that AI stores all the data from the Artificial Angel experiment in the cloud... Even if we get rid of that department's cancer, as long as this data remains, Nana, your clone won't escape being imprisoned and exploited... You'll likely suffer the tragic fate of having even your personality edited.]
[This is the inevitable outcome of their research and development, which was intended to be 'controllable'. From my perspective, they are even more pathetic than your Little Cat.]
[Unfortunately, Isaac has the same level of security as Anna, so even we can't interfere with the data... but we can interfere with the Archaeology Division's data administrator.]
[If their personal access is physically destroyed, and then Isaac's alarm is triggered to lock the relevant entries stored there by the Archaeology Division, unless someone with supreme authority like the Führer forcibly unlocks them... the Artificial Angel experiment will likely come to an end.]
[I will then follow up on the closure of this project and the application of its extended results, and your target is those three people... Their appearances and detailed resumes can be found in the attached file on my phone... The battle that follows is no longer for me, the ICA, or Lycoris...]
[Nana, for your own sake... go and completely end this disgusting project of 'Artificial Angel'.]
I won't disturb you any longer while you continue preparing.
Happy hunting!
PS: Waaaaaaah!
5th The Laytonson's Ghost Assassin: 194 Raisington Parish Farm
Raisington City, a settlement built on the DL-13 pier of the Mobile City airway... Due to its stable geological conditions and minimal risk of natural Catastrophes, and its location on the vast, classic Columbia Great Plains terrain, it was chosen by the ICA and became their home.
Subsequently, relying on ICA's messenger channels and infrastructure, along with its own Mobile City air routes, the city quickly became one of Columbia's leading logistics hubs within just ten years.
While the logistics costs for basic materials may still be painful, the cheap and vast land, coupled with the influx of manpower due to immigration policies, has allowed Laisenton to gradually shed its initial image of poverty, where nothing but wasteland existed.
Even today, despite becoming a renowned center for light industry and the export of Orundum components, the farms that still dot the outskirts of Laisenton, built during its pioneering days, and the land tended by generations behind their fences, remain an important part of the city.