"Mr. Wei... Mr. Revy!"
The voice urged Revy to open his eyes.
The familiar aircraft interior came into view—And he was still himself.The palace of Kazdel had long vanished before his eyes.
(Was that... a dream?)
That dream had felt so incredibly real that Revy struggled to distinguish dream from reality.
"I'm sorry... How long was I asleep?"
He took the water handed to him by the Cautus girl beside him and drank it in one gulp.
"About two hours, sir. You were in a deep sleep the whole time, but just now you started reacting violently—did you have a nightmare?"
The girl named Fira looked visibly nervous.
She was originally a member of the Contingency Contract team—but only on the clerical side.Due to past experience as a maid, she was temporarily reassigned to this flight as a flight attendant.
This was also the first—and likely only—time Contingency Contract had operated aircraft services.
And when she learned that this flight was dispatched solely for one man by her superior officer, she knew right away:
This person… was no ordinary passenger.
(Two hours...?)
Revy didn't respond. He only frowned.
From the moment his consciousness drifted into that "dream" (if you could call it that), he remembered no more than ten minutes passing.But the girl told him he'd been asleep for two full hours.
If it wasn't just a distortion of his perception during sleep, then the "dream world" he had just experienced may have followed a completely different flow of time compared to reality.
That wasn't out of the question. Revy had a Sarkaz friend with the ability to manipulate subjective time.Altering a person's perception of time—slowing it down or speeding it up—was as easy for her as breathing.
Revy himself had been toyed with by that ability before.
But this time felt different.It didn't seem like the effect of Originium Arts at all.
Still, the strange, meaningless dream remained vivid in Revy's mind.
What was that place?
And who was the woman who looked exactly like Her Highness Theresa?
Why had he appeared there—and why had he left?
What did it all mean?
He felt like he had forgotten something important.No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall what it was.
"Mr. Revy?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I just woke up and I'm still a bit out of it... Anything urgent?"
Fira sighed in relief.
"Yes, sir. We're less than thirty minutes from Rhodes Island. We've already received landing clearance. Please get ready."
Revy nodded.
(Rhodes Island... Babel... I'm back.)
——— Scene Break ———
The situation in Chernobog was deteriorating rapidly.
Though the Ursus military police had briefly held the advantage, their overwhelming lack of numbers soon allowed the infected forces to turn the tide.
The so-called "Reunion Movement"—Though most of them had no formal training, their will was terrifyingly strong.They were nothing like a disorganized mob.
Amiya and the Rhodes Island operators stationed in Chernobog were caught in the chaos.
After linking up with Ace's E3 squad, the exhausted E1 and E2 squads finally got a chance to breathe.But against the relentless tide of Reunion forces, the combined strength of all three squads still felt pitifully small.
Fortunately, E3's ambush successfully blocked the first wave of enemies.
But soon after, Reunion released Originium slugs and Infected hounds, throwing the battlefield into disarray.
Above them, the brewing Catastrophe clouds loomed like a ticking time bomb—No one knew when they'd explode, reducing the entire area to dust.
"We can't keep wasting time here!"
Dobermann whipped aside several ambushing Reunion thugs.More enemies poured from the broken ruins around them. Her eyes filled with urgency.
"If we don't get out before the Catastrophe hits, we'll be completely trapped!"
"Fall back to the next rendezvous point! Through the park!"
Ace, displaying combat power far beyond that of a standard Defender, swung his warhammer and sent three shield-bearers flying.
"Nearl and the E4 squad will be waiting there!"
Even with communications down and panic spreading among the operators,both Amiya and the squad leaders showed enough poise and strength to temporarily suppress the chaos.
The key to breaking free—
Was to punch through. Fast.
But just then—
A strange fog began to spread across the battlefield.
(No... It's that person again...)
Dobermann instinctively moved into a defensive stance.
This fog robbed them of vision and spatial awareness.The last time it appeared, one of their Guards was seriously injured by a surprise attack.
(Where?)
"Behind you, Dobermann!"
With that shout came a heavy shield.
The clang of metal rang out behind her.
Before the red-haired Reunion elite's weapon could strike Dobermann's back, Ace's massive shield intercepted it.
"Thanks, Ace... That guy's sneaky as hell."
Watching the enemy who nearly incapacitated her, Dobermann had to tense every muscle—The next attack could come at any moment.
"Snipers—suppressing fire! Don't let them get close again!"
Ace, experienced as ever, took command after shielding Dobermann from the ambush.
"Defenders, prepare to—"
"—Ah ah ah, that won't do."
The command was cut off.
By a boy's voice.
His theatrical tone and actor-like delivery made his very presence unbearably grating.
"Kingslayer, you know this is my area of responsibility~"