After The Explosion, A Useless Raid

Boom—!

A deafening blast tore through the elaborately arranged train station! The exquisitely decorated welcome avenue was instantly engulfed by thick smoke and flames.

The shockwave from the explosion was like a ferocious beast, wantonly destroying everything around it!

Flowerbeds were upturned, streamers torn apart, and a sharp smell of gunpowder and burning char quickly filled the air.

“…………..”

At the very center, Young Master Naiye still maintained an unbelievable calm.

He stood quietly in place, his gaze piercing, neat and composed, as if this explosion had nothing to do with him.

Two Magical Automaton knights immediately came to his side to guard Young Master Naiye.

But the two of them still weren’t the fastest.

The Dark Knight Weiluxika stood beside Naiye, calmly alert to everything around her; if any other enemy charged, she would immediately cut them down.

The fierce flames and smoke from the explosion had been held back, not a trace touching the immaculate Naiye.

But Weiluxika wasn’t the fastest either; when the explosion first occurred, she was still a step late.

Just now, the explosion happened right in front of Naiye; it would have harmed Young Master Naiye in less than a second.

But Naiye was unharmed; the current Student Council President, the Auriel Knight Academy’s strongest knight at present, stood beside him.

“Naiye, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, thank you, President Meiyu, for protecting me.”

“This is what I should do as Student Council President, but Young Master Naiye, you are even calmer than I imagined.”

Young Master Naiye’s calm voice came from within the pale-blue wings; President Meiyu smiled gently and lightly spread her clean wings.

Inside, Meiyu held Naiye with one arm while the other held her sword-and-shield weapon.

Her face still bore a kind expression and squinting eyes.

The explosion had not harmed him in the slightest.

“This….”

Against the beautiful scene of knights protecting someone important, the Dark Knight standing nearby finally felt the astounding pressure emanating from this Student Council President.

Weiluxika seemed to somewhat understand why squinting eyes were monstrous…….

“With you formidable female knights here, what do I have to fear?”

Naiye’s extraordinary calm did not stem from ignorance or fearlessness, but because he knew very well.

That he was being protected by a group of the strongest, most highly trained female knights.

This astonishing explosion nearly tore the welcome avenue apart.

Yet it did not cause even the slightest chaos or injury.

The young, youthful girl knights of the Auriel Knight Academy displayed absolute composure.

“Hey, you get out of here; everyone else, hold your positions.”

Lina glared at the frail Young Master Naiye in President Meiyu’s arms, then surveyed the surrounding situation.

She waved her hand back.

Signaling for most of the uninvolved and the youngest girl knights to leave first, not to stay and get in the way.

The remaining elite Elemental Knights stayed behind Lina, ordered not to move.

The harsh training these women had endured was displayed in full in this moment.

They acted swiftly and orderly; everyone knew their position and movements, step by step almost perfectly completing the operation.

At the moment of the explosion, they had already built an impregnable defensive line with their bodies and shields.

“Those not involved, evacuate immediately! Everyone else, keep formation! Hold your positions!”

Ice Tina, the discipline committee chair responsible for maintaining order, shouted orders; her cold, crisp voice was especially clear!

The order-keeping knights moved quickly, forming a wall to guide the uninvolved away while vigilantly watching the surroundings to ensure no new threats appeared.

Under Ice Tina’s calm command, the ordinary uninvolved knights left the area in orderly fashion.

The departing girl knights were ordinary cadets; sending them away quickly was both for their safety and to allow calm command.

The now-ruined welcome avenue suddenly emptied, leaving only the Four Great Knight Orders, who showed almost no movement.

Yet they faced each other at a distance, as they had been for some time.

No one left, and Naiye did not leave either.

He was still waiting.

After the explosion, aside from the welcome avenue being blown apart, no other places or people had suffered any harm.

Just as everything was about to return to calm, the enemy assault indeed arrived.

“Alert! All knights, prepare for battle!”

Ice Tina drew her ice blade; the crisp sound immediately put all the knights into a state of readiness!

She swung out frost at the same time, instantly extinguishing the flames produced by the explosion.

Everyone turned toward the sound and saw countless dark shadows slowly emerging from the smoke.

They were a group of uniformly shaped robots, expressionless and moving mechanically and stiffly.

These robots had synchronized movements and a cold exterior; on their icy mechanical heads were painted black skulls.

The machine soldiers of the Caesar Federation.

“Annoying Caesar Federation!”

The Fire-element knight Lina finally unleashed her anger for the day! She was furious today!

She swung her Flame Greatsword! Under a sharp, searing blade, those robots were casually cleaved in two by her fiery greatsword!

Those robots were easily felled by Lina, and then more robots appeared.

These robots had no emotion; they ignored the knights before them and followed only a preset program.

Their target was clear: Young Master Naiye of the Lycoris family.

“Everyone, don’t move, please let me handle this.”

Nia Skywing had barely finished speaking when she transformed into golden light and struck.

Golden petals drifted past everyone’s eyes.

The second wave of robots were thus casually turned into fragments.

“Truly amazing………”

This was Eren Dragonborn’s exclamation; he had been somewhat flustered moments ago and had only just thought to act.

Two renowned knight commanders had already finished their fights.

And he himself had only just realized…

Beside him, the Silver Moon Knight, Rena Silvermoon, her bright silver hair fluttering behind.

She had kept her hands relaxed behind her the entire time.

She watched everything that happened with great calm.

She knew very well that even if these Caesar Federation robots attacked in tenfold or hundredfold numbers, it would be nothing but suicide.

As one of the leaders of the Four Great Knight Orders, she understood the true strength of Auriel knights better than anyone.

“Little brother Eren, you’re over-panicking; that’s unacceptable.”

“Uh, sorry……..”

From this it was clear that Eren, the youngest in age, was completely inexperienced.

Eren hung his head in apology; in truth it was his first time seeing Caesar Federation robots, and he had been flustered.

At first, there was no such federation-state as the Caesar Federation.

It originated as an obscure small country north of the Auriel Kingdom.

Some sixty years ago, one of those small countries suddenly grew powerful and rapidly annexed another.

Then it did not stop; it swiftly annexed all surrounding territories.

Thus the Caesar Federation was established!

It was a militaristic state centered on mechanical technology, and it had only one method of diplomacy toward others!

That was to annex by overwhelming force!

But during its southward expansion, it ran headlong into a nail—no, describing it as a nail wasn’t apt.

It should be said that it had slammed into a mountain!