The spot struck by the Laser began to glow, and the statue started to shake as if it might burst at any mont.
Executor: "How can this be? How is this possible...!"
The executor gritted his teeth. He couldn’t attack Shirone, nor could he stop the statue’s destruction.
At that mont, the sound of thunder echoed from the sky.
Blue lightning bolts fell in clusters, heating the area around Shirone.
The ground exploded, kicking up dust.
The executor looked at where the lightning had co from. A group of fairies was flying toward the plaza from the entrance.
Even from a distance, Shirone imdiately spotted the fairy at the center of the group.
She shone alone with a golden light, and her made-up face was beautiful.
It was Igrin, the head of the Mortal Managent Bureau.
Shirone’s friends positioned themselves around him. The tension they hadn’t felt while fighting the mortals now made their blood race.
The puzzling thing was that the first attack was lightning.
Electricity was closer to a spirit attribute, sothing fairies couldn’t wield.
Shirone (through ntal channel): "Who cast the lightning?"
Arin (through ntal channel): "I can’t tell yet. But there must be a fairy in the group who controls friction."
If they rubbed the charges into the air, they could create lightning. Depending on the charge arrangent, electricity would flow, so the accuracy was naturally low.
Rian drew his great sword and stepped forward.
Rian: "The entire fairy force? Finally, the inevitable has arrived."
Shirone had also anticipated this. Having violated heaven’s laws, it was natural for the Internal Bureau to mobilize.
The mortals parted to the sides, making way for Igrin.
The fairies flew in confidently, stopping ten ters away from Shirone and his companions.
Shirone saw Peope standing at the edge of the fairy group.
Unlike the others, she was staring blankly ahead. She looked like she didn’t know why she was here.
Igrin pointed at Shirone and his companions.
Igrin: "So it’s you, the ones who impersonated Nephilim to enter heaven. That alone is a grave cri, and now you dare to interfere with the sacred Day of Rebirth?"
The executor’s expression turned puzzled. Were they not Nephilim but impersonators?
But the abilities the boy had just displayed were clearly those of an angel. If he weren’t a Nephilim, how could he wield light?
Executor: "Lady Igrin, are you saying these heretics are not Nephilim? He clearly used the power of light."
Igrin: "Do not be deceived. The earthly realm has techniques to wield light magic. Moreover, the others are heretics who don’t even need verification. They tried to deceive even the fairies."
Canis’s gaze turned sharp.
Listening to her, it seed they had investigated them thoroughly. Moreover, Peope’s presence, despite her weak combat abilities, was proof that she had spilled everything.
Canis: "Damn it, I told you we should have left. That fairy betrayed us. She wasn’t trustworthy from the start."
Peope frowned.
Betrayal? She had rely followed Igrin’s orders in a daze. She hadn’t even known they were here until they arrived.
Peope: "Hmph! That’s right! I told them everything! You’re as good as dead now! You should’ve behaved!"
She had no intention of pleading with her innocence to humans. Peope even took responsibility for cris she hadn’t committed, further provoking them.
Shirone: "She didn’t betray us."
Shirone: "Peope made the right judgnt. A fairy like her wouldn’t undermine her own beliefs now."
Peope turned their heads with a huff. It was too late for such words to an anything.
But her mind was racing.
The right judgnt. Belief.
These were values she had never been acknowledged for by her seniors.
Igrin paid no heed. Having lived over 3,000 years, she could dissect concepts more finely than humans.
If humans could list love in a hundred ways, she could likely categorize it into ten thousand.
At that level, every event beca independent.
Looking into soone else’s house doesn’t make you a thief.
Breaking the lock of that house doesn’t make you a thief.
Even entering after breaking the lock doesn’t necessarily make you a thief. Even taking sothing from inside doesn’t make you a thief.
Only when you take that sothing and leave does the concept of a thief fully form.
It was a cognitive ability impossible for humans, who tried to judge the whole based on partial events.
In that sense, the conversation between Shirone and Peope was an independent event from the current situation.
Igrin: "I am Igrin, head of the Mortal Managent Bureau, the Fairy of Authority. For the cris of impersonating Nephilim to enter heaven and interfering with the noble Day of Rebirth, I hereby deduct all of your lifespans."
Shirone’s brow furrowed.
Shirone: "Is it always like this? Did you kill people’s lives just because you don’t like them? The Day of Rebirth is the sa. Why are you driving mortals to their deaths?"
Igrin: "You were born from giants. What’s so unfair about returning to them?"
Shirone: "Nonsense. No parent asks their child to return their flesh."
Igrin: "Seeds are sown to be harvested. Living beings die to provide food for others. You, too, are bound by this law."
Shirone: "Seeds are sown to bear new seeds. Living beings die to give others a chance. That’s how humanity thrives. A life without aning is no different from being dead."
Igrin let out a sigh tinged with sorrow. Why did such intuition never fail? The fleeting image of Miro in Shirone’s face was no coincidence.
Igrin: "How heretical. You are humans not worth associating with. What are you all doing? Begin the Day of Rebirth at once!"
As Igrin gave the order, the executor moved as if he had been waiting for it.
As the switch flipped, black liquid began to fill the ten glass orbs.
Shirone: "Damn it! We’re out of ti! We have to stop it now!"
Rian and Tess rushed to destroy the statue.
Igrin raised her hand and commanded the fairies.
Igrin: "Attack! Do not let them get close!"
Shirone and his companions entered combat mode.
Arin disconnected from the party’s ntal channel, leaving only the communication link. Since Igrin’s ntal resonance was spread across the entire area, there was no need for translation.
The Fairy of Projectiles initiated the first strike. As she extended her hand, the air burst out as if a hole had been torn through the atmosphere.
Small, dense gas pellets pelted Shirone and his companions.
The pellets weren’t strong enough to pierce their bodies, but their invisibility and sheer numbers made them impossible to counter.
Shirone: "Fall back!"
Canis erected a Shadow Wall. The air pellets struck the surface of the wall like hailstones.
At that mont, a sharp noise erupted from the sky.
The Fairy of Friction generated static electricity, summoning lightning bolts that Harvest intercepted.
Bright flashes of lightning struck repeatedly, but they had no effect on the magical creatures.
Harvest: "Kukuku! This feels good. Is this so new kind of massage?"
Amy, leaning against the Shadow Wall, summoned a Jack-o’-Lantern in her palm.
The fiery sphere flew into the sky, multiplying into dozens before indiscriminately bombarding the area ahead.
It was the Jack-o’-Lantern’s unique ability, "Fake Flas," so only three of the flas were real. But since no one could tell which was which, the targets couldn’t help but feel terror.
As Amy’s bombardnt scattered the fairies, Canis finally retracted the Shadow Wall.
With a clear view, Arin quickly pinpointed the fairies’ positions and proposed a plan through the ntal channel.
Arin (through ntal channel): "If fairies are spiritual beings, I have a way. I can take them down with a ntal Shock."
Shirone thought it was a plausible idea.
While magic battles had their own dynamics, directly attacking the mind was sothing even fairies couldn’t easily counter.
Shirone (through ntal channel): "Is it possible? There are so many of them."
Arin (through ntal channel): "I’ll cast a wide-area ntal Shock. It’ll consu a lot of ntal energy, but I can do it once. Lure the fairies toward . I need a 20-ter radius."
Luring all the fairies would be difficult, but even half would be enough to turn the tide of the battle.
Shirone: "Alright! Let’s scatter!"
The battle turned into individual skirmishes.
The fairies’ abilities were no joke. Most of them were specialized in combat, as if they had anticipated the fight.
But if the enemies were strong, it was actually better for luring them in.
Peope: "Huh? Huh?"
Amid the chaotic battlefield, Peope was the only one flying around, unable to grasp the situation.
It was her first real battle, and the power of the spells being exchanged was on a completely different level from her own.
A flash of light suddenly approached Peope.
Startled, Peope raised her hands, ready to use her spiral ability.
Shirone reflexively ard his Photon Cannon.
When they finally recognized each other’s faces, their eyes wavered.
Peope bit her lip, unable to make a decision. Shirone, too, canceled his Photon Cannon and turned away.
Peope gave him a puzzled look, but he said nothing and simply charged toward another fairy.
Peope’s head drooped sullenly.
Arin (through ntal channel): "I can’t hold on any longer! This is my limit!"
Luring the fairies in one spot was nearly impossible due to their flight abilities.
But the mages in Shirone’s party were also highly skilled in movent, so they managed to lure more than half into the designated area.
Arin (through ntal channel): "That’s enough!"
Movent is the combination of ti and space.
The mont the fairies entered the area, less than a second, was the only window Arin had to cast her spell.
Arin crouched and placed both hands on the ground. As her shadow expanded like a sinkhole, five fairies sensed danger and took flight.
But it was already too late.
A ntal shockwave erupted, sending dirt flying everywhere.
The fairies, disoriented and swaying, stopped flapping their wings like insects sprayed with pesticide and plumted to the ground.
With half their forces gone, the fairies’ morale plumted, and they began screaming and fleeing.
While Harvest chased them off with a swipe of her claws, Rian and Tess broke through the Kergoins’ encirclent and successfully reset the switch.
The liquid, which had risen to about a third of the orbs, was sucked back into the tank, lowering the water level.
The subjects let out sighs of relief.
But even that was torture. A glimr of hope was just another word for near-absolute despair.
Shirone: "Now’s the ti! Destroy it with the Laser!"
Shirone had already finished preparing.
If the statue were destroyed, the Day of Rebirth would stop. With the fairies decimated, no one could stop him now.
As Shirone’s Laser began to glow red, Igrin’s voice seeped into the battlefield.
Igrin: "By the authority of God, I command you, those without authority in this world, kneel before ."
As her words ended, sothing astonishing happened.
As if the world had gone dark, all the humans knelt. Shirone and his companions were no exception.
Shirone, his knees slamd into the ground, was bewildered. He tried to stand, putting strength into his legs, but his body felt as heavy as if he had turned into an elephant.
Words poured out through the ntal channel.
Shirone (through ntal channel): "What’s going on? I can’t stand up."
Arin (through ntal channel): "She’s the Fairy of Authority. What does this have to do with authority?"
Canis (through ntal channel): "This isn’t just any magic. It’s an irregular."
Shirone also thought it had to be an irregular. Otherwise, this result wouldn’t be possible.
So, how was it activated?
It wasn’t a verbal command. It was impossible to make hundreds of people kneel just by speaking.
Unlike Shirone and his companions, the mortals didn’t even resist. They simply looked up at Igrin with awe-filled eyes.
Igrin leisurely walked through the crowd of mortals and approached the statue. She flipped the switch herself.
As the liquid began to fill the orbs again, the subjects tightly closed their eyes.
The sobs of their families could be heard from sowhere.
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