Chapter 34
“Hoo….”
The shock of the explosion still lingered in his body, so Kael remained facedown, supporting himself with one hand against the floor.
His ears were ringing.
A dull pain rose from his ribs, and the taste of blood spread through his mouth—he had clearly suffered a fairly serious injury.
However, he needed to move immediately.
Lin, the target, had already escaped safely under the protection of her bodyguards. All that remained was to eliminate the terrorists.
Kael raised his head slightly and confirmed the four figures emerging through the smoke.
He forcibly drew up the mana remaining at his fingertips and chanted a spell.
Revela
[Detection]
A faint light spread beneath Kael’s palm, and countless flames appeared in his field of vision.
He quickly scanned for the terrorists amid the fleeing civilians and wounded people lying on the ground.
There were no blue flames indicating mana.
That could only mean one thing.
‘There are no mages.’
Then the solution became much simpler.
He would not need a complicated response like the one required against a high-tier mage or an ACU user.
He needed to bind their movements while acting quickly.
Kael clenched his teeth.
He divided a single incantation into four spell formulas.
Multiplex Incantatio
[Multi-Incantation]
Vinculum
[Binding]
Four invisible chains streaked across the space and bound the terrorists’ wrists and ankles.
“What the hell is this… fuck!”
“Damn it, I can’t move!”
Kael raised one knee and barely managed to get himself up.
That was when it happened.
“Glory to Red Pulse!”
When one of the four shouted, Kael’s gaze turned toward him.
Even with his arms bound, the man in the passage below was drawing a small cylindrical device from inside his clothing.
The man’s finger touched the red-blinking device.
“Death to the corporations!”
The screams of the surrounding civilians erupted again.
Kael’s eyes grew calm.
A suicide bomb.
It was small, but if it went off at this range, it would sweep up the civilians and cause numerous deaths.
Kael reached out his hand.
Motus
[Telekinesis]
When the bomb suddenly shot out of the man’s hand, his eyes widened as though they would split apart.
“What…?!”
The small cylindrical bomb rose almost to the transparent barrier near the ceiling of Lumen Promenade.
Kael raised his hand higher.
Before long, the bomb began blinking red near the ceiling.
Kael clenched his teeth and twisted his wrist one last time.
“Up.”
At his word, the bomb bounced upward once more in midair.
And then.
KABOOM—!
The blast slammed into the protective barrier overhead, sending a red flash through the air as the shockwave poured down over the plaza.
People screamed and threw themselves to the floor, while the emergency barrier belatedly flared blue and blocked the debris.
***
Inside a patrol car operated by the Public Security Bureau.
Two people were sitting in the front seats.
The man in the driver’s seat held the steering wheel with one hand and shook a cup of cold synthetic coffee with the other. Nearly melted caffeine gel sloshed inside the cup.
The woman in the passenger seat had her terminal on her lap as she went through the list of reports they needed to process that day.
Just then, the patrol car’s radio crackled.
-M-17.
The man in the driver’s seat furrowed his brow.
“What now?”
-An explosion has occurred at the lower-level connector of Lumen Promenade Central Plaza.
The woman in the passenger seat raised her head.
-All nearby Public Security Bureau patrol units and contracted personnel are to proceed to the scene immediately.
The man in the driver’s seat slid his coffee cup into its holder and swallowed a curse.
“‘Contracted personnel are to proceed immediately.’ Do they think we’re delivery drivers?”
“Watch your mouth. Everything you’re saying is being recorded.”
“I’m saying it so those high-and-mighty people can hear it clearly, so don’t worry.”
The woman sighed and brought up the scene information on her terminal.
Lumen Promenade, upper-level connector zone near Seraph Tower.
The moment she confirmed the name, her expression soured as well.
“It’s a Seraph-controlled area.”
“An explosion in the upper-level district should earn us some performance points.”
“If we make it back alive.”
The man in the driver’s seat sharply turned the patrol car and accelerated along the outer lane of the aerial road.
The radio continued.
-Additional report. Slogans associated with Red Pulse have been confirmed at the scene.
The woman in the passenger seat spoke quietly.
“Red Pulse….”
“What corporation are they upset with this time?”
“This isn’t a situation for jokes.”
“Life’s so exhausting that I don’t think I can get through it without making jokes.”
The man said that, but accelerated even further.
Red Pulse.
A radical anti-corporate, anti-hierarchical revolutionary organization.
They usually targeted corporate infrastructure, such as corporate transportation networks, but it was rare for them to set off explosions in civilian areas like an upper-level connector zone.
However.
Magitera was becoming a city where those ‘rare incidents’ happened more and more often.
-All forces approaching the scene, exercise caution. There is a possibility that the incident intersected with a VIP route.
The man in the driver’s seat smiled as though a mystery had finally been solved.
“Now we know why they called us.”
“A VIP?”
“If anyone had been hurt, they wouldn’t have put us on it. Tradd would have been dispatched, and things would have really gone to hell.”
The woman in the passenger seat did not answer and instead enlarged the terminal screen.
A red message was added at the very bottom.
-Traces of unauthorized magic use detected at the scene.
The woman narrowed her eyes.
“There are also traces of unauthorized magic use.”
“Was there a mage at the scene?”
As the patrol car took the descending ramp onto the side entrance of Lumen Promenade, the central plaza soon came into view through the windshield.
And both of them stopped talking at the same time.
Because the situation at the scene was nothing like what they had expected.
Casualties were few, and no structures had really collapsed.
Above all, the four terrorists had already been subdued.
Something like chains made of light was wrapped around their wrists and ankles, and all of them lay facedown on the floor, unable to move an inch.
Security personnel from Seraph Industries were sealing off the area, but it didn’t look like they were the ones who had subdued them.
The man in the driver’s seat spoke blankly.
“…It’s over?”
The woman in the passenger seat wore the same expression.
“Looks like it.”
“Then why did we even come here?”
“To write the scene report?”
“Damn it.”
They stopped the patrol car at the edge of the scene, and the two of them got out.
Then the woman walked over to the nearest terrorist.
On his neck was a black scorch mark, like the trace of a self-destruct device. But the device seemed to have been removed before it could go off. No—the traces of the explosion were on the barrier above.
The woman raised her head and looked at the ceiling.
“They launched the bomb upward.”
The man from the driver’s seat stood beside her and said,
“Telekinesis type?”
“Probably, I think….”
A high-tier mage.
The words came to mind naturally.
At least Tier 6.
At that level, binding four people at once and lifting a bomb all the way up to the ceiling would be possible.
The problem was why someone like that had been at the scene.
The bigger problem was that, even though someone like that had been there, there was no record of it in the Public Security Bureau’s call logs.
The woman scanned the surroundings and continued.
“This is the least damage I’ve ever seen at a scene like this.”
“I think so too.”
“If the bomb had gone off down here, at least dozens would have died.”
The woman looked at the barrier on the ceiling, scorched red.
“Whoever it was, they made a quick call.”
“I don’t think ‘quick’ even covers it….”
The man looked at the terrorists bound on the floor.
“Binding four Red Pulse members at once, launching the self-destruct device upward, and keeping civilian casualties down. Clean. That’s no ordinary level of skill.”
The woman muttered to herself, let out a very short breath, and pressed the response button.
“This is M-17. Arrived on scene.”
She chose her words for a moment, then reported.
“Four terrorists presumed to be Red Pulse secured. All incapacitated by binding magic. Civilian casualties lighter than expected. The explosive appears to have detonated near the upper barrier.”
-Any conflict with Seraph Security?
The woman glanced at the Seraph security personnel.
“Seraph currently has prior control of the scene. Jurisdiction needs to be coordinated.”
-Has the magic user been identified?
“….”
At the command center’s question, she looked again at the spell formula on the floor.
“Unconfirmed.”
After a brief silence, she added,
“However, judging by the level of the spellwork at the scene, a high-tier mage may have been involved.”
-Understood.
The woman lowered her terminal and spoke.
“A bomb went off in the upper levels, and you expected to clock out on time?”
“Can’t a person dream?”
“In Magitera?”
The man thought for a moment, then clicked his tongue and shrugged.
“Guess I was wrong.”
Just then, one of the terrorists bound on the floor gritted his teeth and raised his head.
“Red Pulse… will not stop….”
The man looked down at him.
“Yeah. Neither do our overtime and paperwork.”
He pulled out a pair of mana-suppression cuffs and sighed.
***
The top floor of Seraph Tower.
The moment the door to Edrian’s office opened and Kael stepped inside, Lin, who was already there, jerked her head up.
It seemed she hadn’t been able to stay seated on the sofa and had been pacing the whole time.
The moment Kael walked in.
Lin rushed straight at him.
“Kael!”
Kael reflexively twisted his body a little, but he couldn’t fully avoid her.
Lin stopped right in front of him and immediately grabbed his arm.
“Are you okay? Are you really okay? You were bleeding. You got blown away by the explosion earlier. I saw it. No, I didn’t see it properly, but I saw it. So…!”
Her words tangling, Lin bit her lip as if trying to hold back tears.
When Kael looked down at her for a moment, her eyes were brimming.
“I’m fine.”
When Kael said it flatly, Lin immediately shook her head hard.
“You don’t look fine.”
“…I walked all the way here.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re fine!”
Edrian was standing in front of his desk.
He looked as neat as always, but deep fatigue weighed on his face.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
Edrian sighed and looked Kael over.
Kael pried Lin’s hands off and answered.
“Security here doesn’t seem all that great either.”
At his words, Edrian was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“It wasn’t always like this.”
He turned his gaze out the window.
“At least, it was rare for something like this to happen around Seraph Tower.”
Edrian looked at Kael again.
“But I suppose what you said is true enough now.”
His voice grew a little quieter.
“I can only say we let our guard down. I’m sorry.”
Edrian hesitated briefly, then continued.
“The ones involved in that incident were Red Pulse.”
“That’s the name one of them was shouting earlier.”
“Yes. Even among the anti-establishment groups, they’re a particularly reckless bunch.”
Edrian placed his hand on the desk.
A holographic file was about to appear, but he pulled his hand back.
It seemed he had decided there was no need to bring up the data right now.
“They’re a radical anti-corporate, anti-hierarchy organization. They see the White Society, the HCAB, and ACU users all as Magitera’s ruling class. According to them, the corporations are kings and the mages are nobles.”
Kael answered briefly.
“Doesn’t sound wrong to me.”
Lin looked at Kael in surprise, and Edrian didn’t deny it either.
“Indeed. That’s what makes them more dangerous.”
He continued quietly.
“They’re not people without reason to be angry. At least they have a clear motive. Most of them come from the underground levels, the outskirts, discarded laborers, and victims of illegal ACU procedures. Many of them really have been trampled by the corporate system.”
“And in the end, they started picking up bombs.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Edrian’s gaze grew heavy.
“Usually they attacked corporate infrastructure. Mana supply lines, transport vehicles, low-level security outposts, minor facilities tied to the HCAB. I can’t say they completely avoided civilians, but at least that’s what they’ve always claimed….”
He looked down at the sealed-off zone outside the window.
“But this time, they attacked an upper-level connection zone packed with civilians. And at a time that overlapped with Lin’s route.”
Lin’s face went pale.
Kael, however, didn’t let those words slip past him.
“Were they after Lin?”
“It’s possible….”
Edrian’s voice was calm, but something was seething beneath it.
“But nothing’s confirmed yet. Still, the timing was far too bad to call it a coincidence.”
“Their goal?”
At that, Lin couldn’t hold back any longer and cut in.
“This isn’t the time for that!”
Edrian’s and Kael’s gazes turned to her at the same time.
Lin grabbed Kael’s arm again and spoke quickly.
“Shouldn’t we treat Kael first? I can still smell blood on him. How can he be okay after getting caught in an explosion?”
At her words, Kael said calmly,
“I’m not hurt.”
Lin denied it again.
“Liar.”
“I just got bumped a little.”
“That means you’re hurt!”
“I can move just fine.”
“Hurt is still hurt!”
Kael looked at Lin for a moment.
He was about to say, “As long as you’re alive, you’re fine, aren’t you?” but stopped himself.
Because Lin’s eyes had grown wet again.
Seeing his granddaughter’s reaction, Edrian spoke quietly.
“Lin is right. I’ll call the medical team.”
“I don’t need it.”
“I’ll let the medical team decide whether you need it.”
“Haa.”
Lin was still holding on to his sleeve.
“Please.”
At that single word, Kael let out a short sigh.
“…Fine, I’ll just get checked.”
Lin’s face relaxed a little.
“Okay. Even if it’s just a checkup.”
Edrian operated his wrist terminal and summoned the medical team.
After that, a brief silence fell, and Kael walked over to the sofa and sat down.
Edrian quietly watched him, then spoke.
“Still, some good news just came in.”
Kael looked at him and asked what he meant.
“What good news?”
Lin also wiped her tears and turned her head.
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now.”
When Edrian operated the terminal on his desk, a short authentication chime rang out.
Then a notification arrived on Kael’s wrist terminal too, and he looked down at it.
Edrian smiled at him with evident satisfaction.
“Congratulations on becoming a full citizen of Magitera.”