Tirna's 34th District had a massive dock.
As if to firmly prove its geographical importance as a transportation hub, airships periodically landed and took off repeatedly.
The airships were diverse. Some transported goods, and some carried people. After all, vehicles aren't always just for carrying people.
Some airships felt different from others in their external appearance.
More ornate, more sturdy, more massive.
Instead of departing to distant places, these airships would rise higher and disappear beyond the clouds.
Trains continuously ran on railway tracks above ground.
Airships ran in the sky.
Though unseen, there would likely be underground trains running beneath this land.
This was the 34th District.And at one of the airship docks in the 34th District, a massive explosion occurred.
For those working here, an explosion wasn't particularly surprising.
Such incidents had happened before. Especially when transporting sensitive materials, mistakes often resulted in this kind of situation.
In the past, there had been incidents of explosions so massive they nearly obliterated entire areas.
Safety protocols were created to ensure careful handling of materials, but are people ever consistently following protocols?
Mistakes arise from human carelessness.
Because of this, casualties in the 34th District never ceased.
Of course, such incidents mostly occur in places employing low-grade laborers and where hazardous materials are improperly packaged.
Even within the 34th District, each company's railway lines differ.
This could truly be called a distinctly Tirnian approach.
As a result, minor hazardous accidents typically occur in low-grade lines or cheap docks.
However, this explosion was different.
The dock where the explosion occurred was at least A-grade, if not S-grade.
Being a place for international entry and exit, dangerous goods were unlikely to be transported, and it was a place where accidents rarely happened.
An incident in such a place. Moreover, not caused by mishandling ordinary chemicals, but an artificially triggered explosion.
"Let's go there quickly!"
At Lorraine’s cry, Diolan quickly turned.
At this moment, no one wanted to get there faster than Diolan.
The starlight horse following Diolan accelerated his speed.
As if declaring they would not lose in speed, the starlight horse blew strong breaths. He was simply a prideful creature in such matters.
They raced across the elevated railway towards the explosion site.
On a path where only steel and steam-emitting machines were permitted, two four-legged beasts were racing.
This was a scene that could never be seen in the city of Tirna.
Even more so if their speed was faster than the train coincidentally passing on the adjacent line.
"Oh?"
The gentleman sitting in his seat and looking out the train window momentarily wondered if he was dreaming.
Meanwhile, the black and white beasts leaped high and headed towards the airship dock.
-Kwang! Kwang!
Explosions were heard in succession. The force of the wave was so close it could be felt on the skin.
Lucent frowned. He was unaccustomed to the tingling sensation flowing across his skin.
"I'll probably need to move separately here. Stay here and wait. And Lorraine, please guard Lucent. Just in case."
"Okay, got it."
Lorraine nodded helplessly at Osian's words.
She too sensed that getting involved in that fight would leave her in bad shape.
Above all, Lorraine's specialty was long-range sniping.
There was absolutely no reason to approach a location where forces were raging like a storm.
Thus, Diolan, Osian, and Edgar headed to the blast center.
The airship dock was large and wide. Naturally, it needed to accommodate massive airships. However, the explosion had damaged or destroyed parts of the huge air dock.
The first thing seen upon arrival was the busily moving dock security guards.
"Quickly evacuate people!"
"Bring the fire extinguishers!"
The guards were moving around to suppress fires in various locations.
Some guards were moving injured individuals and civilians to safe zones.
And beyond where even those guards dare not approach.
Someone was fighting there.
"It's Alensia."
Osian was the first to recognize her.
Alensia, elegantly extending and swinging her legs, showed the demeanor of a Tirna Executor. She was truly a born warrior.
However, even Alensia seemed to have a formidable opponent this time.
"I knew it was related to Mother Goose, but what is that?"
The one Alensia was fighting was one of Mother Goose's familiars.
Standing on two legs like a human and wearing clothes. He wore a mask that obscured the face, but otherwise not significantly different from a normal person.
"...Foolish Hans."
Recognizing the familiar, Diolan explained.
"Among the familiars she commands, this one serves as the brain."
"But the name starts with 'foolish'?"
"Actually, he's very smart. He's just pretending to be foolish. This incident probably originated from his mind."
"So he's definitely the primary culprit."
Meanwhile, the fight between Hans and Alensia was reaching its climax.
Alensia swung her leg widely. The trajectory of her kick was aimed at Hans's glabella.
'She's fast.'
Alensia hadn't become an executor for nothing.
She possessed the superior physical abilities unique to beastkin and an innate combat sense.
'But her opponent is formidable.'
Alensia was certainly an excellent combatant. Her movements alone made that clear.
However, her opponent was not human, but a familiar of the Great Witch [Mother Goose]. Moreover, according to Diolan, he was her closest confidant.
"Good day, Gretel. I have nothing, but I wish you'd give me something."
As Foolish Hans muttered this, a pale female figure appeared behind him.
It was a woman with wavy blonde hair grown long to her waist.
Gretel pulled out a circular shield.
"Thank you, Gretel."
Hans thanked Gretel and used the shield to block Alensia's kick.
It was impossible to easily block her attack with just a shield.
Naturally, the shield Hans was using was not an ordinary shield.
-Teong!
The moment Alensia's extended shin touched the shield, the surrounding translucent shockwave was sucked into the shield as if reversing time.
The shock energy accumulated to its limit was eventually shot in a straight line towards where Alensia was.
"Kuk!"
It was a counterattack almost simultaneous with the attack and it happened in an incredibly brief moment.
But Alensia showed an unbelievably fast reaction speed. Instead of retracting her extended leg, she rotated her body brilliantly in mid-air using that leg as an axis.
The directional shock energy failed to hit Alensia and instead struck the inner wall of the dock.
-Peong!
A circular tunnel was punched into one side of the dock wall.
If such a sturdy dock wall was so easily pierced, an ordinary person would have been completely obliterated.
Alensia tried to launch another attack, but she had to stop when Hans raised his shield.
With Alensia's offensive slowed, Hans spoke.
"Good day, Gretel. I have nothing, but I wish you'd give me something."
Another woman appeared behind Hans, this time drawing a spear. An orange spear with a mysterious energy flowing through it.
Hans, receiving the spear, threw it towards Alensia.
The spear, shot out like a laser, split in mid-air and instantly multiplied to over a hundred.
-Pababababat!
Alensia dodged all the spears with a clean, spectacular movement.
While her uniform was torn and scratched in places due to imperfect evasion, she sustained no critical wounds.
"Hmm. I didn't expect you to dodge that. Then how about this?"
Foolish Hans, having recalled the orange spear, this time aimed it at Alensia's subordinates.
The security guards rescuing injured civilians.
"No!"
Alensia, realizing Hans's intent, rushed towards him.
She tried to stop him, thinking she must prevent that action, but that was her mistake.
"Your camaraderie is dazzling, but that won't do."
From the beginning, targeting the guards was a decoy to provoke Alensia's urgent movement.
Hans twisted the orange spear's direction and threw it at Alensia.
Alensia desperately extended her leg towards the flying spear blade.
It was a counterattack intended to destroy the spear, but this was not an ordinary spear to begin with.
-Kwang!
A massive shockwave erupted. With a blinding flash, Alensia's body was flung outward at incredible speed.
"Keok!"
Alensia exhaled as she was embedded in the wall.
"I'll praise you for not dying in that situation. But you were too arrogant. Not even trying to open your Ark Parts against me."
"Cough! This can only be used after permission is granted."
"Haha. Such an upright personality. And that's why it doesn't work. What's wrong with breaking a few rules? Isn't it better than dying? Well, discussing this now is meaningless."
As Hans raised his hand, the orange spear returned to it.
"Let's end this."
"Says who?"
Hans didn't panic at the suddenly heard intruder's voice.
Instead, he threw the spear blade, which was aimed at the completely suppressed Alensia, towards the source of the voice.
"Impressive situational awareness."
Osian, mounted on the starlight horse, muttered this while watching the flying spear.
"Dangerous...!"
Alensia, recognizing Osian, opened her eyes wide and then shouted upon seeing the spear heading towards him.
Instead of responding, Osian spurred his horse.
-Hihihihi-ning!
"Break through."
The horse’s body transformed into a streak of starlight, charging towards the spear.
The massive, magic-laden orange spear collided with the starlight.
The starlight horse’s momentum, spiraling forward with starlight, was strong, but the spear's magical power was even greater.
-Kwaaaaa!
Just from the visible scale of the two forces, the spear was at least five times larger.
At this rate, it seemed Osian and the starlight horse would be flattened by the spear's power.
At least, that's how it appeared to Alensia.
-Twoong!
"How trivial."
Osian, mounted on the horse, coldly stared at the magical spear.
In normal circumstances, he would have wielded his starlight sword, but this didn't even warrant that.
Instead, Osian trusted his horse’s power.
The horse did not betray its master's expectations.
The pure white radiance generated by the horse pierced the center of the orange-yellow torrent emitted by the magical spear.
-Patching!
The magical spear shattered, its fragments scattering in all directions.
"It actually broke?"
Foolish Hans seemed to consider this unexpected, urgently trying to draw a new weapon.
If a black shadow hadn't fallen from above, that is.
"...A cat!"
Hans recognized Diolan’s attack and extended the shield obtained from Gretel towards him.
However, instead of striking the shield with his claws, Diolan smoothly slid over the shield like a liquid, wrapping around Hans's body like a rope, a feat possible only for Diolan, who could freely change his form.
Diolan’s cat face suddenly protruded towards the bound Hans.
"Long time no see, Hans."
"Your presence here means the Mother's children have failed. I expected that from the amphibian newcomer, but I didn't think the Blue Beard would also fall."
Hans laughed from behind his mask. Quite relaxed for a captured situation.
The reason was soon revealed.
"Gretel."
When Hans called her name, Gretel appeared and flashed a fierce look towards Diolan.
A massive shockwave spread, pushing Diolan’s body away.
While Diolan was typically immune to most physical attacks, this was different when the opponent was another familiar.
"You should have killed me immediately instead of trying to subdue me."
"But I've bought some time."
Hans belatedly remembered Osian's presence, but it was too late.
-Kwajik!
The moment he turned his head, what Hans saw behind his mask was the starlight horse strongly charging towards him.