Molly Song should have had a day off.

Now he and his fellow engineers lined up against the wall, and the prisoners waited for the firing squad.

It all started with his current girlfriend Yulin, one of the two women he met, who suddenly asked him to meet her parents. This requirement means it's time for a complete turnover, as things have gone from harmless fun to a quagmire.

The problem is that Yulin is the kind of woman with almond-brown puppy eyes that turns into liquid when she pleads for something, and Moyer is weak - in fact, very weak for the fairer gender.

So, Moyer switched his Wednesday shift to Thursday and had to spend an awkward night, with Yulin's parents staring at him, and Yulin clearly admitting that he had two children and an ex-wife, much to their surprise.

Yulin may not have cared, but no one wanted their youngest daughter to be the second, or, in Moyer's case, the hundredth violinist. Moyer apologized and left the house. Yulin's father shook his fist, and Yulin cried and tugged at his father's sleeve. Moyer punched him in the chin, but he's thankful he wasn't hurt this time. He didn't want to seduce her into fantasizing about getting married. They had a lot of fun, that's all.

Then it was Thursday and everything was right.

Morning shifts at shielded stations are a quiet and tedious job, especially at remote capes like Watson Bay. Over the years, he greeted the beast. Inside, a deep well more than ten meters wide contained a suspended ultra-high-density crystal with a diameter of six meters and about eight meters from tip to tip. This is the heart of the shielded station that keeps the city safe.

As a renouncer, Moyer's job is to monitor the hundreds of glyphs that surround the crystal, shaping the crystal's mana to create unique resonances that form a "barrier" – the wavelength of mana fluctuations that travels between the two stations.

His place of work, North Head and Watson Bay, make up the city's two main stations. Here, the barrier is so strong that it forms a glittering white wall above and below the ocean and extends to the seabed, so permeable that it is clearly felt at the astral level. What it accomplishes is the rejection of all nuclear life, causing discomfort, suffering, and eventual destruction. The larger the beast, the more damage the resonance gets, and the more mana it consumes.

"Senior Engineer Song. His colleague greeted him.

"Engineer Wenner. Moyer replied.

"How's your date?"

"With Yulin?"

"Yes, the Korean one. ”

As expected, the angry old man upset his mother. When I told them I had two children, I thought the old guy was going to duel me. ”

"Aren't you old too, old man?" Wenner smiled.

"Oh, I'm only forty! Besides, I'm young at heart. ”

"If you don't sort out your spells, you won't survive, how about your confession?"

"You know me. I'd rather spend the night in a woman's soft, fair arms than in a cold, hard textbook. ”

"Ah, don't do that, Moyer. You've been here for almost 15 years? Come on, man, we all know you can do better than a senior engineer, I've seen your work. ”

"It's too lazy!" Moyer exclaimed dramatically, promoted, just more work. I'd rather finish the calibration in an hour and start taking a nap. ”

Wenner shook his head in disbelief.

"How's your kid doing?" Wenner changed the subject.

"Percy was with his mom, so dare I say he was in pain for it. Gwen did a great job. Did I tell you? She was awakened by lightning. She definitely has more potential than I am. ”

"Gratz, man! I remember when you took her to the Christmas party, she must have been a lovely girl now. ”

"Are you interested? your son is still a bachelor?" Moyer asked cheerfully.

"He's really straightforward. yes, no, your girlfriend is too nice to him. ”

"Oh, come on, Ed, don't say that, Sam is a good guy. ”

"He was a man who often gave up on the law and had a low affinity for water. He would be satisfied with an ordinary girl. ”

"They're just kids, Ed, who knows? Gwen needs someone to show her how normal people behave. She's too much like her mom at times, with a mouth full of shit and a mouth full of swearing. Sometimes I worry. ”

Edward Wenner shook his head again. He'd seen some of Gwen's lumen recordings that Moyer had gotten from his dirty, rich brother-in-law, doing lightning-fast things. The girl thought more than Sam had ever dreamed of. Letting the two of them meet only ruined the boy's self-esteem. Moyer's intentions were good, but then again, he was usually taller than his class. He dated girls in their twenties; He also dates older women, even if they are high-level mages or mages, and he doesn't care.

Wenner was about to say something when they heard a distinct sound, and the fence gate in the middle opened. The hydraulically controlled entrance consisted of carved plates made of deformed steel. Seamless metal always makes a suction sound when opened, making it impossible to enter quietly.

He checked his watch.

"It's weird, George won't be here until 1400, I guess that guy messed up his schedule? ”

Moyer shrugged. Either way, he had time to rest and nap.

"Ahh

A low scream echoed. Then quiet.

Moyer twisted his lips.

Then came the sound of boots walking through the yard. The person who had accosted the guard was now heading down. Moyer had just sat down on a comfortable bath chair when the lounge door opened.

"Hands up!"

Maya stood on a stool with a cup of tea in his hand and looked at the two mages, their battle suits shining with mage armor. They looked well stocked, each mage had a belt full of potions, a wand next to it, and some small storage rings on their fingers.

"Put your hands behind your heads!!" the soldiers commanded.

Moyer said yes without question. Unauthorized entry into the shielded station is punishable by severe penalties. These people, assuming they robbed or stole here, appeared in their troops. Why are they here? Moyer wondered. If he had to risk guessing, he would think that they were pawns in factional infighting, constantly approaching the towers. When elephants fight, the grass is trampled. Maybe the men will do what they have to do and leave?Moyer hopes for the best, or there will be trouble.

When he reached the antechamber, all the engineers, including Wenner, were lined up against the wall. Director McBride is being interrogated by a young man whose arms and legs look like mechanical, puppet-like.

"Encryption key - give it to me!" the bot threatened. Of course, this is a ridiculous move - the engineers are tied down by Yas and will never be able to implement the glyph key.

Moyer was confused. What happened to the first-level guards, and why were these people able to enter the shielded station unharmed, but not have access to the inscription on the device itself?

Normally, the tower will emit two signals at the same time.

This could only mean that the symbol is not accessible to anyone who leaked the code of the shield station. Moyer thought about it, not wanting an answer at all.

Even if I wanted to tell you, I couldn't tell you.

The one-legged guy punched and kicked McBride with an exaggerated and unscrupulous attitude, and spit flew around. When the guy got tired of the sport, he straightened up and stretched out his puppet-like limbs.

"Then let's bite the bullet," the blonde announced.

The mages behind him were all dressed in gray-silver battle uniforms, which were blurry. There were six of them, and they were all about the same equipment. Moyer saw blood on their boots.

Moyer guessed that the blood at least indicated where the guards had gone.

Are they mercenaries? Moyer was weird, they looked like that character, but they were too disciplined. There's nothing special about a shielding station, but it does store a lot of crystals and other precious materials, enough to pique the interest of some greedy spells.

This leaves only the possibility that these people were private soldiers, born and nurtured internally by some aristocratic family or some multinational conglomerate.

To Moyer's surprise, the blonde mage was not only a magician, but also an enchanter! not just an ordinary wizard, but the worst of them. His elements are also very unusual. Is it ashes?' Moyer thought to himself. Ash is too rare. That's dust.

Oh my God, Moyer choked his whistle. When was the last time he saw the Dust Mage? Anyway, they were in trouble. Mages who sell forbidden spells and dangerous elements do not need to leave witnesses.

While Moyer was still considering his options, the stationmaster was shouting loudly. The young man put his hand on his forehead, and blood flowed from his wrist. Dust was in and out of the old master's face, spurting blood and other bodily fluids from his nose, lips, and eyes.

What a cruel little shit. Moyer thought in disgust, wondering how he was supposed to deal with this predicament without causing more drama for himself. At the moment, it seems that complete resistance is impossible, at least under the watchful eye of six police dogs, he will not do it.

A minute later, the eloquent leader seemed to be about to be killed, causing the exhausted old man to collapse to the ground.

"Tell me what the glyph code is," he asked carefully.

To Moyer's surprise, the stationmaster began to recite the sequence as if he were chanting a mantra. Poor Turf was already repeating for the second time, and at this point it must have been triggered by Yas, as he began to bleed violently from his facial opening. Ten seconds later, the man died.

"Nonsense!" the young man spat out. He turned his attention to other engineers.

"The rest of you, if you want to live, go to your place and do as I say. ”

The rest of the confessors respected each other.

They are not heroes.

But they know the importance of shielding stations.

"Fuck you!" shouted a middle-aged woman defiantly, I won't let any of you approach that shield, you rappers!"

"Beth!

"Shut up, Beth!"

"She didn't mean to, ladies!" she was all but a stupid old woman," Wenner pleaded, she couldn't even get into the workstation. ”

Beatrice is their incarnation. She repaired buildings that had been eroded by salt water brought by the northeast winds. She has a strong sense of justice, but has a limited grasp of common sense.

Moyer didn't know if he would regret not helping the poor woman. After all, he had been to her house and attended several luncheons with the rest of the staff. The mother of two was happy with her fate. She must have been thinking about her son, who was still safely hiding behind the fence when she called.

"I don't like old women, but I don't like rudeness very much," the young man chanted. In a word, the Dust Mage moved his invisible dust beast to Beatrice's side. Then, he squeezed her like a lemon.

The rest of the crew watched Beatrice suffer, whimpering, and begging for death, until the once-exuberant mother was left with a shriveled outer skin, shattered to the floor, accompanied by the click of fossilized flesh and bones.

"Disgusting," the young man scoffed, seeming dissatisfied with the other volunteers?

The rest of the staff shifted to their place, under the watchful eye of a turban-clad mage in a silver-gray robe.

The young man manipulated the station's central control system with Master's glyph code. He expertly gives commands as if he knows how every glyph switch in the system works.

Well

The crystals in the center have darkened.

Moyer watched as the dust mage approached, placing his hand on the crystal structure. There's a violent mana surge, impressive volume and control. With the glimmer of time and space, the young man's storage ring swallowed the stone.

To the staff's surprise, the dust mage raised his other hand and summoned another stone of similar size to replace it. This one is engraved with symbols and runes, covered from beginning to end with malicious hieroglyphs. Moyer was a little alarmed and realized that it was a stone that had been stolen from Barrington Top Station about three months ago.

Others reacted as well.

They were all confessors here, and it didn't take long for them to understand their intentions! The staff's naïve hope of surviving the encounter faded. Now, it's a fight to protect their lives and the lives of the people in the city.

"Stop them!"

"Get them out!"

"Moyer, help me!"

Immediately, all sorts of shields, stones, dirt, water, and pure mana erupted here and there, protecting their casters from the forces of those who tried to enter their consoles.

The problem is that they all give up.

The guards who were supposed to protect them were dead. This battle, if there was one, was over the moment these mages entered the basement.

Moyer also raised his shield. Unlike the others, his obstacle is a series of bright pink jagged stones.

Outside, he heard the sound of a spell hitting his barrier and wondered how long his colleagues could hold out until rescuers arrived.

If a confessed person is going to make a comeback, they should be able to withstand the attack for a while. With the correct order of absorbing elements, elemental protection, and proper mana cycle management, a long-term persistence is possible.

Jingle Bell!

Bang-smack!

When Moyer carefully uttered the ultramagic necessary to delay the spell he had kept, chaos enveloped the world. However, as time passed, the sounds outside became quieter, more indistinct, and less noticeable.

So the battle stopped completely, and Maya knew it would soon be his turn.

An inscription bloomed in the darkness of his rocky pink crystal shell.

Unexpectedly, someone was texting him.

"Heyer?" Moyer replied with a spell.

"Hey, it's me, Edgar, the guy who just killed your friend. ”

“...“

"Listen, I'm not going to kill you. ”

"Oh, thank God. ”

"I need you, Mr. Song. For a task more important than that, at least for me. Would you mind if we talked face-to-face?"

“... What are my options?"

Moyer dispersed his shelter, and the pink stone spread out until he revealed himself. Curiously, his fragments did not fade into particles of earthy mana. Instead, the shell of his confession shield was scattered on the floor, turning into shattered pink-white particles that creaked underfoot.

In front of Moyer was a massacre.

, Wenner, Moyer felt the corners of his eyes twitch. Poor Sam. Others also died. Some were burned alive, some were crushed, and some were drained until they turned into shells.

Moyer was not blessed. He was not a religious man.

The dust mage's name is Edgar, and he stands not far from Moyer. Behind him, his followers were busy installing shield stones.

"You know, when I drained this little old man," Edgar whipped a few grains of dust around his pretty index finger and I found an interesting message on your roster. ”

"Go on. ”

"You're Gwensong's father, aren't you?"

Moyer raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What does it matter?"

Edgar, the dust mage, suddenly had a very crazy expression. His entire face was distorted, like a demonic mask, full of malice. The change was so drastic that for a moment, Moyer wondered if the man was being controlled by some evil spirit.

"What does it matter?"

Edgar pulled out a handful of hair.

"Why...... What does it matter—said Father!" Edgar paced back and forth, unable to control himself at all. "Why is this really important!"

Moyer stared.

This is an innocent question.

Of course, he didn't expect the man to lose his mind.

Maybe he should risk making a guess?