Of course, she wasn’t about to leave her room without making herself look presentable first. There were loads of things to do. Even though she wasn’t currently on a mission, it was important to always be prepared.
By the time she was ready, the first light of day had graced the sky. Yet there was hardly anyone moving around the base grounds. That’s not to say it was empty. There were soldiers on watch duty and maintenance workers who were up and about. Lina mentally acknowledged their efforts with a silent “thank you” as she made her way around the training grounds toward the fence that separated the base from the outside world.
This was the heartland of the USNA. The hands of armed separatists didn’t reach this far. Unlike in conflict zones, there shouldn’t be any need to worry about sniper fire around the fence.
The threat to Lina’s life arrived silently. She managed to evade the invisible line of sniper fire purely by luck. In fact, she didn’t completely avoid it. The high-energy laser pierced through her illusion and burned the fence from the inside. If Lina hadn’t happened to deploy Parade a yard away from herself during her walk through the grounds, the sniper attack would have killed her immediately.
What shocked her the most wasn’t narrowly escaping death. She was, of course, genuinely relieved to have survived. A chill ran down her spine when she realized she was a sniper’s target. But what truly shook her was the fact that the attack had come from inside the base.
“A mutiny?!” Lina exclaimed.
She immediately used teleportation magic to deflect the approaching missiles while establishing a magic barrier to block the heat and debris. At the same time, she traced the trajectory of the sniper’s shot to a nearby warehouse rooftop.
“Jack?!” she shouted in surprise. “I knew it!”
A man was positioned on the rooftop holding something resembling a rifle. The distance from Lina to the warehouse was over a hundred meters. The sky was still dimly lit, making it difficult to identify the man with the naked eye. However, the psion waves he was giving off were unmistakably those of a familiar Stars member.
Lina recognized him as Lieutenant Jacob Regulus, also known as Jack, of Team 3. His specialty technique was Laser Sniping, which involved firing high-energy infrared laser bullets from a rifle-like device. Lina could tell that she was under attack by Laser Sniping.
“Jack! Why are you aiming at me?!” she screamed.
Jack didn’t answer. Lina sensed an increase in magic and swiftly deployed the electromagnetic wave reflection spell, Mirror Shield. The shield effectively reflected Laser Sniping’s attack. Laser Sniping was a silent and munitionless sniping magic, ideal for stealth attacks. Its only drawback was that it required approximately one second to charge before firing, not for the activation of the magic itself, but to amplify the light used as ammunition. This delay gave Lina time to deploy a shield right after sensing the magic activation.
While Mirror Shield reflected all incoming electromagnetic waves, including visible light, it also obscured the opponent’s presence while it was deployed. As soon as Lina deactivated the shield, Regulus had disappeared from the rooftop. She raised her magic detection to the highest level and scanned the warehouse. Before long, she sensed a magic projectile imbued with Dancing Blaze, a spell shared among Stars combat magicians. Lina gasped.
“Huh?”
The psion waves embedded in this Dancing Blaze spell belonged to Captain Alexander Arcturus, known as Alex. Lina quickly cast Area Interference. Rather than setting it up around herself, she directed it at four incoming knives. The knives, which had been flying toward Lina in swirling curves, lost control and were hurled to the ground.
“So even Alex from Team 3 is involved in this mutiny,” Lina muttered. “If I can even call it that.”
She considered the possibility that the two men were attacking her due to a personal grudge. But she was too afraid to put it into words. It was too overwhelming for a seventeen-year-old to think about.
Lina knew she was in an enviable position, but she thought she got along well enough with everyone in Stars. Sure. Team 4’s Vega and Deneb were notorious for complaining about her behind her back, but Lina never thought they were serious.
There was no time for wallowing in self-pity. Another Dancing Blaze came flying her way. This time, it was one flame instead of four, but the potency was far greater than earlier.
Is that a tomahawk?! Lina gasped to herself.
Area Interference wasn’t enough to stop this attack.
Arcturus had a mix of white, black, and indigenous ancestry. In fact, the indigenous side made up a quarter of his heritage, and it showed up strongly in his magic. He used a technique found widely in ancient magic, where weapons were infused with a wish to magically enhance them and render them impervious to others’ magic. This technique was also prevalent in Native American magic.
Arcturus had mastered a version with a tomahawk, and this was his trump card in battles against magicians. While it could be used in close combat, Arcturus primarily threw it from a distance using movement-type magic. His attacks were so powerful that not even Lina’s Area Interference stood a chance.
Knowing this, Lina swiftly dodged nearly twenty meters sideways in one smooth motion. As soon as she landed, she redeployed Mirror Shield. Feeling the impact of the light bullets on her shield, Lina immediately ran for cover.
Although there were obstacles and shooting targets scattered around, this was still open ground and offered very good visibility. In fact, here, she made an even better target. That was why Lina darted into the special vehicles warehouse.
Special vehicles, in this context, didn’t refer to heavy machinery or tanks. They were more like magic-fueled experimental weapons, such as self-propelled cars capable of short-distance flight, vans designed for underwater travel, or motorcycles that transformed into powered exoskeletons when integrated with a riding suit. Many of these vehicles sacrificed practicality for innovation.
Lina had heard there would be a long-distance test for a self-propelled car this very day. The warehouse door was likely open because maintenance personnel were going in and out to prepare for that test.
“This is Major Sirius!” Lina announced. “Everyone in the area evacuate immediately!”