156 - Attack.

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The sky visibly darkened with tremors seeping into the city. It was as if something blocked the sun... No... Something DID block the sun, someone with a harmful intent to plunge the city into chaos. And what better opportunity than right after the Queen disappeared? Humanity's pillar of hope, the imperial Queen Fez that lead a new surge of innovation, vanished a year ago. Exactly a year after her disappearance, a new enemy arrived to execute an attack.

From the black darkness of the sky, pillars of light struck down in random spots of the capital, escalating the force of tremors and causing explosions. Deep bass sounds reach out to the ends of the city, signalling the destruction of streets and other facilities in the capital. The once prosperous city plunged into chaos.

If by pure luck, the residents survive the laser bombing, glowing orbs of light scouring for victims. These orbs of an unknown light spectrum appears in different colours to every individual, however a common ground can be reached when one is seen nearby. Run. As they are made of pure energy, they also upheld a strange ability to ignore all forms of attacks. Only dark elemental attacks can barely scratch them.

Other than their heat seeking and attack ignoring abilities, they also hold the tendency to explode when mana or other forms of energy manipulations is detected nearby, spreading more destruction in the capital. This could be manipulated to remove those orbs of light, however they track their targets and will always pull them into the blast radius, ensuring that the running party either offered up a sacrifice or perish. Unfortunately they are not affected by each other's explosions, and they are far too numerous even if every citizen took a blow.

***

" It's been 5 minutes and it's already become dark in 4 p.m. Aren't you going to do anything? A single pillar could hit us at any time."

"Are you seriously that apathetic? You could watch someone die and not move unless I ordered you to. There are clear signs of masses of death, it's basically a genocide. " (Cress) A look of disbelief wrapped itself around her pale cheeks and big eyes. As if exhausted(rightfully), she gave a sigh under a breath before returning her attention to the matter at hand.

"... You give me meaning, and I give you yours. I only exist... To serve you. " A strange pause broke apart any credibility of her vow, it seems she became hesitant about every action ever since that day. Alway excessively thinking before making a decision.

That way, her slow and broken vow hurt Cress's conscious even more. Afterall, it was after careful and thorough consideration that Lilith still devoted her life to Cress like a fanatic. When there was no class going on, she stuck to Cress like industrial glue, even during recess she could be seen cuddling with her.

"... It's already been a year... I honestly thought you would have been fixed by now. But your disposition is no better than back then. Fine, I'll order you since you don't want me to be nice. Defend this capital and its citizens. "(Cress) An frown had flashed past her expression for a millisecond, before she regained her initial composure. As if contemplating the current situation in a split second, she changed gears to immediately bark order.

" Hehe~ Onee-chan is still as kind as ever, wanting to save those average citizens puny lives. Well, okay. Guess I have to really save them now. " A childish smile spreads across her lips, it felt like a completely different person had manifested inside her. She no longer gave off the mature aura that her classmates admire her for. Though her strength has increased beyond their beliefs as showcased in the tournament, her personality took a 180. Gone was the remaining vestiges of her rather composed disposition.

Lilith, as everyone knew it, became much more cheerful and made many more friends than before. Instead of only intimidating the stronger warriors in the class, she grew close to the other classmates and held her school days full of joy and relaxation. It was odd, very odd. Even to Cress whom she had been the closest to in her life.

Disappearing from the spot, a crater was left in her wake as chains of explosion echoed in the sky.

Her proficiency with [Demonic energy] and [Shadow step] had gone to a monstrous degree, as they were used in ways unimaginable to the old Lilith. The anti-gravity effect was used minimally to maintain her balance and provide miniscule boosts to her movement. When changing angles, she would activate the effect to a greater degree to boost efficiency.

Pulling sharp turns at every possible degree, her speed also made it so that the orbs could not catch her in their self destruction, no matter what they would always react too slow. It was a given as she had used [Diamond speed enhancement Ex] to go beyond light speed, the rate at how fast the orbs explode on their victims.

Using a pole of [Demonic energy], immense pressure is exerted into an angle with all her strength, enough strength to pulverise a mountain was plunged into the shaft of the pole that made contact with her feet, forcibly changing the angle of her movement in an erratic fashion. Practically spinning in the air, more than 10 shafts spun around her tiny body, manipulating her own movement with unnatural ease. Her flesh bent to however she wanted, displaying capabilities beyond understanding.

The length of the [Demonic energy] pole's could be adjusted at will, practically shooting off faster than light when forced to extend its length. Rather than acting like poles, it was more accurate to compare them to rail guns. Even then, rail guns would pale in comparison to their potential destructiveness and versatility. Within a minute, the orbs had been eradicated, though the beams of light continue to bombard the streets.

Catching her breath, her chest heaved with even more pressure than ever, her body craved for oxygen, screaming in its fatigue relentlessly. Unlike the cheerful facade she has put up to hide her resentment, her eyes were now narrowed at the sky, exerting the seriousness of the situation.

"Tch!, how could I still not hate humanity when they attempted such an awful thing on you. Of course I'll be stuck in the past, but it's better to force a smile than mop around at how horrible humanity is. I guess forcing it for long enough does make it seem convincing. Hmph. "

Bearings regained, she prepared by giving her joints a little stretch. Before joining her hands together above her head in a clap. 'pachi! ' The [Demonic energy] poles on standby mode mashed together into the middle space right in front of her. Releasing the tension in her palms, the combined pole's formed a large pillar comparable to a marble quartz pillar, before shooting off into the sky. As if it was the opposite existence of the bombarding lasers, it shot off into the sky with a black light that spreaded off into enemy territory.

Before it boomeranged and came flying back down.