It seemed they'd finally grasped the severity of the situation, or perhaps they could no longer keep pretending to be deaf and blind.
As a command was issued from that "Windowless Building," all of Academy City stirred into motion like a marionette made of metal, every movement manipulated into a frantic dash.
Anti-Skill armored units from various school districts, unmanned assault helicopters from Airspace Control Security, and armed personnel of ambiguous origin converged on the area.
It appeared that, out of concern for the massive space elevator looming behind them, the higher-ups hadn't authorized the use of excessively powerful weaponry this time.
If the stress equilibrium of the space elevator were compromised, the entire structure risked collapse.
Unmanned assault helicopters hovered mid-air, their mounted machine cannons spewing fierce tongues of fire, blanketing a large area in front of the space elevator.
Then, as their weapon bay doors slid open, swarms of miniature drones poured out in an instant.
These micro-drones were programmed to infiltrate the elevator via ventilation shafts and similar pathways, but the defenders launched several specialized electromagnetic pulse bombs, causing every drone within the blast radius to crash and fall.
It was then that the security forces of the space elevator—or rather, of the Orbit Portal Company—finally revealed themselves.
A large mobile weapon rolled out from the alloy gates behind them, resembling a standing mechanical beetle.
It had two pairs of thick alloy limbs front and back, twin machine cannons mounted at its abdomen, and a massive main cannon turreted on top of its torso.
Simultaneously, faint traces of invisible, cloaked units seemed to be operating in coordination around it.
As the main cannon of the large mobile weapon began gathering energy, a brilliant pillar of light swelled, ready to be unleashed.
Unfortunately for it, that beam never had the chance to fire—a precisely aimed laser weapon sliced away more than half of the cannon's barrel.
The situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse, and rumors were already spreading online.
Despite being a high-profile, celebrated corporation, they were openly deploying private forces to resist Academy City.
Under these circumstances, tomorrow's space elevator opening ceremony was bound to be canceled.
Meanwhile, the company's president, Ladylee, watched from one of the elevator's upper levels, gazing down at the human world scurrying like ants below.
Her face was an unreadable mask, showing no trace of fear or tension at the unfolding scene.
If Academy City possessed the power to kill her, she might have surrendered gladly.
For someone who yearned for death, the greatest misfortune was perhaps the inability to die.
"Another failure," she murmured, a tinge of despair coloring her tone.
Ladylee's lips trembled slightly, as if she were muttering to herself.
Now that Academy City had intervened, it meant she could no longer bring Meigo Arisa to this magic circle.
No matter how optimistic she tried to be, she didn't believe the forces she'd accumulated could stand against the might of Academy City.
She'd had this feeling for a while.
Everything—from her acquisition of Orbit Portal Company to the construction of this space elevator—had gone a little too smoothly, as if someone behind the scenes was pulling strings.
But then, abruptly, that someone seemed to have lost interest in her.
Was it because she had made contact with her? Even though she was the one who sought her out.
A faint, wry smile touched Ladylee's lips as her thoughts drifted.
Come to think of it, their relationship wasn't as bad as she'd made it out to be.
"I've got it—there's still a way to break the magical curse."
Just then, Ladylee's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she'd remembered something crucial.
From the very beginning, activating this enormous magic circle only required power on the level of a Saint.
Just as she had guessed, after consuming the elixir of immortality, she could still use magic, but her body could no longer generate magical power.
That's because magical energy stems from one's life force, and the elixir had rendered her life force static, unable to be converted or lost.
Unable to capture a true Saint-level being, Ladylee's options were exceedingly limited.
But aside from Arisa, whom she had originally planned to use, there seemed to be one other possibility close at hand.
That wooden bow—it possessed the power to shatter the Saint's body and prevent its recovery for a time.
Although, due to a certain someone's unexplained disappearance, Ladylee didn't know how to harness that power, the power itself still resided within the bow.
If she couldn't harness it, then she would destroy it.
The energy released in the moment of destruction might be less than a tenth of its full power, but it would still be enough to activate the magic circle.
"I need time," Ladylee thought to herself.
She had to inscribe a new, temporary magic circle within Endymion's vast existing array.
The difficulty of setting up a magic circle wasn't necessarily tied to its actual effects.
Sometimes, a haphazard arrangement could trigger magic affecting the entire world; other times, the most meticulous preparations still fell short of the activation requirements.
But most often, they relied on the power of fixed rituals to commune with a certain entity or phenomenon—a form of symbolic worship.
Just like this space elevator, which was modeled after the Tower of Babel.
If the form and purpose were similar, the ritual could tap into a fraction of the original's power. That was the straightforward, almost crude, logic behind this world's magical principles.
This new circle's function would be to erode the protective energy enveloping the bow.
The magic circle she chose was 'Achilles' Heel'—like in the myth, it would locate the bow's weakness and break it.
The problem was, time wasn't on her side.
The Black Crow troops outside the space elevator were her private soldiers. Well-equipped and combat-ready as they were, they clearly couldn't hold off the combined forces outside for long.
But aside from the Black Crows, the accumulated metal puppets she'd prepared were one of her trump cards.
Even though one had been destroyed earlier, the remaining one was enough to cut her setup time in half.
Of one heart and mind, like another Ladylee, her efficiency instantly doubled.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, a certain bun-girl was intently listening to the findings shared by Shirai-san and Uiharu-san.
As an upstanding member of Judgment, Natsume-san nodded and furrowed her brow appropriately, actively engaging with her senior's report.
According to Shirai-san, Yomikawa-sensei and the others had been dispatched to support the operation at the space elevator, confirming that the intel about a major impending disaster there was accurate.
To be honest, Natsume-san had already anticipated this, but having it confirmed by Shirai-san and the others solidified it.
Plus, judging by the rumors already circulating online, it seemed Academy City personnel had already clashed with Orbit Portal Company's security forces.
On some of the city's forums, live updates were still being posted nonstop. There were always those stubborn individuals in Academy City, bravely working the front lines of information dissemination.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.