Assault

Midnight had fallen over the industrial park. It was so quiet they could hear the wind.

Inside the factory grounds, patrols followed their set routes. Guards stood at their posts, while sentries on the rooftops held binoculars and swept the area beyond the walls now and then.

Everything was as usual.

They did not know that, a thousand meters above them, a pair of pink, star-shaped pupils had been watching them for a long time.

Love hovered in the night sky.

Her veil and long hair streamed in the air currents. Her companion fluttered its tiny wings, keeping her steady.

The entire factory lay before her.

The patrols, the guards, the rooftop sentries, those hiding in the shadows—every enemy within sight was locked onto, one by one, by those star-shaped pupils.

She slowly raised a hand.

Around her, pink orbs of magic power silently took shape, one after another.

One.

Five.

Ten.

Thirty.

The orbs floated beside her like a little galaxy, tinting the night sky a soft pink.

"Operation begins."

The instant Knight's voice came over the channel—

Love gave a gentle wave.

The thirty orbs became thirty laser beams at once, pouring down from a thousand meters above.

Boom!

In an instant, every enemy exposed along the factory perimeter was struck. They vanished into bursts of magical flame.

"Perimeter clear," Love said calmly over the channel.

The next moment, several streaks of light came hurtling from the direction of the signal tower, straight toward the factory.

Knight led the charge. Her silver armor drew a dazzling line through the night as she slammed through the factory gate like a cannonball.

"Enemy attack!"

The enemies who had escaped Love's laser barrage came to their senses. They pulled out black Negative Crystals and summoned Fallen Beasts.

In an