Just a moment ago, things had felt hopeless, but Ben soon felt a sense of reassurance knowing he had a dependable person on his side.
It was a novel feeling to be so much lighter just by having his worries cut in half.
He was honestly proud that Haimar was his Esper, and he was even happier that Haimar was the person he liked.
Haimar was a terrifying entity when he held a grudge, but on the same side, he was an unbeatable asset.
Since Ben was unlikely to ever incur Haimar’s wrath, he was a perfectly reliable ally.
Of course, Ben occasionally got on Haimar’s nerves, but regardless.
If he returned now, while Haimar was asleep, and played innocent, Haimar might generously overlook the fact that Ben left without waking him.
But surely it won’t snow…
Even if it did snow, the distance between Central and Ben’s officetel was walkable, minimizing the risk of a major traffic jam, but the journey itself would be much more arduous.
He had experienced enough cold and fighting through falling snow yesterday.
A sudden wave of worry prompted Ben to look up at the sky through the window in the hallway to check if it was snowing.
Hmm? What is that?
Relieved that the weather wasn’t snowing yet, Ben was about to look away when something caught his eye, making him turn his head again.
“Are those fireworks?”
“Fireworks?”
“Where, where?”
Something was faintly glittering high up in the night sky.
His eyes were naturally drawn to the artificial sparkle, not stars.
He didn’t recall hearing about any fireworks display near the capital, Central, and wondered if some event he wasn’t aware of was taking place.
But looking closely, it looked a bit odd for fireworks.
The white and red dots, initially only one or two, were simultaneously spreading across the sky, eventually covering a wide area over Central and the surrounding land.
There was no sound of fireworks launching, and they weren’t bursting magnificently like typical fireworks.
Moreover, the way they were drawing white smoke trails and getting closer was similar to what he had seen during training…
…Similar?
“Get down!”
Simultaneously with Ben’s shout, the objects falling toward the ground immediately,
CRASH—!!!
Exploded with a deafening roar.
“Kyaak—!”
“Ben!”
With the sound of the explosion, the building shook violently, and all the windowpanes shattered.
Broken glass shards and stone fragments flew in all directions.
The sudden sense of déjà vu brought Ben an instantaneous foresight.
This was an attack by at least artillery shells, or anti-tank missiles.
Ben barely managed to recall that scenes of surface-to-air missiles or artillery shell launches during military training long ago looked exactly like this.
But it wasn’t over.
Boom—!
KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWANG—!
Explosions continued to sound nearby.
Fortunately, they weren’t directly hitting the building like the first one, but they were falling close by, making the entire building shake violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
Ben raised his head while lying prone to peek out the broken window to assess the situation.
Damn it.
The sky was raining fire.
Ben doubted his own eyes.
But even after closing and opening them, the reality of shells, whose origin he didn’t know, drawing lines and raining down like torrents didn’t change.
Outside the window, raging flames and smoke violently consumed everything in their path against the black night sky.
Injured people bleeding profusely were popping up everywhere, screaming. It was utter pandemonium.
“Ben, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Are Penka and Pinka okay?”
“Penka and Pinka are fine.”
The twins, who steadied their swaying bodies and followed Ben’s example, were covered in concrete dust but were fortunately unharmed.
Ben had only suffered a slight abrasion on his knee from urgently dropping to the ground earlier and had no major difficulty moving.
“What on earth is going on?”
He would be less surprised if he was struck by lightning while walking down the street.
The situation was so extraordinary that such an absurd expression fit perfectly.
Ben had never anticipated a situation like this in his life.
No, no one could have anticipated this.
This was the capital, Central, and unless a war had broken out, such a large-scale attack on the mainland should be out of the question.
Eternita was just one of the ordinary medium-sized nations; it wasn’t a country bold enough to openly wage war with another nation.
However, the continuous booming sounds surrounding them, as if mocking Ben, and the smell of smoke drifting in from the broken windows were highly suggestive of a battlefield.
Even though his mind told him a war couldn’t be happening, the sight before him was unmistakably a war zone.
“Penka has absolutely no idea.”
“Pinka is scared…”
The twins, consumed by unfamiliar fear, hugged each other.
An announcement began to broadcast from some of the unbroken speakers on the ceiling, accompanied by a crackling sound.
[Code Red, Code Red. This is a real emergency. Proceed according to the emergency response manual. All staff and visitors, excluding combat and rescue personnel, are requested to immediately move to the bomb shelter. I repeat—]
Suddenly, the area in front of them flashed brightly.
WEEEEEEEEEING—!!!
A piercing siren and flashing emergency lights.
It was a sound that awakened them to the unbelievable reality.
Ben tried to organize his thoughts in the face of a scene where a piece of everyday life had been utterly destroyed and instantly flipped on its head.
‘Be calm.’
Upon careful consideration, it was a more rational inference to assume this was the work of a terrorist or a single Esper going berserk than an act of war.
Espers and rescue personnel scattered across various departments must be scrambling to resolve the situation.
Ben wished he could be of help, but objectively, an F-Guide who was close to being an ordinary person was of little use in the current situation.
Even though he was the unique case of an Irregular, Haimar was not by his side, and it was hard to expect anything from the twins, whose physical abilities were the same as an ordinary person in their 20s, despite their special ability of dreams and their five senses.
Therefore, Ben first needed to safely evacuate with the twins and then contact Haimar.
“Do you sense anything nearby?”
He asked, wondering if any Espers or rescue personnel who could help might be passing by before they moved to the bomb shelter, but the twins gloomily shook their heads.
If only they were in the main building where he had talked with Enten, but because they had moved to the vicinity of the residence building where the twins were temporarily staying, the area was crowded with ordinary people unrelated to combat, all scrambling to evacuate.
Ben gradually calmed his agitated heart and took a deep breath.
Apart from his organized thoughts, a small sense of grievance surfaced in his heart.
How could his luck be this bad?
He wished he had just listened.
He was stunned by the situation that had occurred, as if punishing him for being separated from his Esper.
It wasn’t as if Ben had been going out alone often since Haimar began suffering from the control device adaptation problem—it had only happened twice, yesterday and today—yet he wondered if fate was inflicting this ordeal by taking advantage of Haimar’s absence.
‘Next time, even if the sky rips apart, I will stick close to your side.’
“Let’s go to the bomb shelter. It’s dangerous to stay here.”
“Uh-huh! Okay!”
Having decided on a course of action, Ben rose without delay and led the embracing twins.
Penka and Pinka followed, holding hands, and the three walked down the corridor following the emergency evacuation route.
Since their current location was on the second floor, they had to use the stairs to get to the underground bomb shelter.
As the building was large and had multiple routes to the basement, Ben recalled the shortest route, checking frequently to ensure the twins were keeping up.
KU-GWA-GWA-GWANG—!!!
Occasionally, the building was hit by an artillery shell, causing their pace to slow down.
Some paths were heavily damaged, almost like cliffs, forcing them to proceed slowly and carefully.
When the walls cracked, looking as though the building might collapse at any moment, the startled twins often stumbled, forcing Ben to move with one twin virtually tucked under each arm.
Finally, encountering a less damaged, level path, Ben set the twins down and took the lead again.
“We need to pick up the pace from here.”
The bomb shelter was just one floor down.
Although things had calmed down for now, they didn’t know when another attack might strike.
They had to move faster while they could.
“Ah, Pinka fell—!”
CRASH—!!
Just as Ben bent his waist for safety and hurried his steps, an artillery shell aimed at this building happened to strike near the corridor where Ben and the twins were passing.
The badly shattered wall from the shelling crashed down upon the group along with concrete dust.
The residual shock slammed into Ben, sending his body flying into a corner of the corridor.
Even amidst this, Ben managed to grab Penka’s hand next to him and crouch down together to shield them from the fragments pouring over their heads, waiting until the aftermath of the shell subsided.
Penka, trembling in his arms, cried out in a desperate voice.
“Ben, I lost Pinka!”
Pinka stumbled over an obstacle, and unfortunately, the explosion coincided with it, causing her to lose hold of Penka’s hand.
Ben looked around to assess the situation, but all he could see were paths broken in various places, and the thick dust cloud had not settled yet, making it impossible to see the surroundings clearly.
