The heavy Originium artillery shells descended toward County Hillock, targeted straight at a defenseless population of Tarans. In anyone's mind, those caught in the open were facing absolute doom.
Even the Taran residents believed their end had come. Awakened by the sudden explosions from Talulah's Arts, they huddied together in the streets, trying to swallow the terror rising in their chests through frantic murmurs.
It was useless, of course. Facing an artillery barrage of that scale, they could do nothing but lament their terrible luck and pray for an impossible miracle.
What they didn't know was that there were completely safe spots in the Taran district at that very moment. Inside several sturdy buildings, groups of hidden operatives watched the panic outside with cruel amusement, laughing at their wretched countrymen.
Having known about the strike in advance, these operatives watched their fellow Tarans run around like headless chickens, desperately praying for divine intervention.
Yet just as they were mocking the terrified crowd outside, a miracle actually happened.
A blinding mantle of golden light materialized overhead, sweeping across the sky like an impenetrable shield. Everyone watched in stunned silence as shell after shell slammed into the glowing structure, detonating in harmless bursts of fire.
The heavy artillery rounds—which should have reduced the district to rubble—turned into a strange, terrifying display of pyrotechnics above their heads. The crowd stared up at the spectacle, completely frozen.
In the central square, the expressions of the surrounding residents transformed from fear and anger into profound reverence. They stared at the two women in the center of the crowd as if looking upon true saviors.
"What in the world is going on?!"
Inside the hidden safehouses, the Dublinn soldiers were thrown into complete disarray. This wasn't how the plan was supposed to go at all!
According to the orders passed down from their Leader, they were supposed to wait until the Taran district was reduced to smoking ruins before stepping out as heroes to rally the survivors under their banner.
What were they supposed to do now? Fall back and wait for new instructions, or act on their own initiative? None of the lower-tier operatives knew what to do, their eyes all turning toward their unit captains.
The unit captains were equally flustered under their squadmates' gazes. A bitter seed of resentment began to sprout in their chests. They were supposed to be the ones receiving the crowd's adoration, not some unknown outsiders!
How long had they waited for this moment? How much preparation had they poured into this operation? And now, some random woman had swept in and stolen all their glory!
"Should we break that spell of hers?" a fanatical soldier suggested in a low whisper. "The Leader's command was for this entire area to be bombarded. Since an anomaly popped up, we just need to eliminate the anomaly!"
Under normal circumstances, such an absurd idea would have been shot down immediately. But as the captains looked out at the cheering Taran workers and the strange woman standing in the glowing square, an uncomfortable envy gnawed at their minds.
Driven by frustration and the expectant eyes of their men, several captains nodded.
On the other side of the square, Jeanne was pouring every ounce of her concentration into her Noble Phantasm. This was the first time she had ever deployed a barrier large enough to cover seven full city blocks. Sustaining a field of this magnitude was an immense strain, requiring her absolute focus.
Meanwhile, Talulah had shifted her attention from keeping the crowd back to urging them to disperse safely. The Taran residents now viewed the two women as their ultimate protectors—especially after recognizing Talulah as a Draco. Their fervor reached a fever pitch.
The descendant of the Draco Kings has returned with her companion to save the oppressed Tarans!
Rumors that had circulated weeks prior suddenly flooded back into everyone's minds—stories of a Draco leading a band of guardians to liberate the Taran people and lead them to a promised land...
It matched the scene unfolding before their very eyes down to the last detail!
"Everyone, please back away and clear the area!" Talulah called out, trying her best to soothe the hysterical crowd. "My friend is maintaining a delicate spell right now and needs complete silence! The danger might not be over yet, so please, move back!"
Keeping the crowd calm was exhausting. For reasons she couldn't quite grasp, these people seemed to be in an exceptionally volatile mental state.
As she tried to manage the chaotic gathering, Talulah noticed something subtle. A group of individuals in the crowd was deliberately pushing their way toward the center square.
Her instincts flared. Scanning the approaching figures, she caught glimpses of concealed Dublinn uniforms beneath their heavy coats, along with the telltale bulges of hidden weapons.
Talulah didn't strike right away. Instead, she subtly raised the ambient temperature around the central square. As the heat began to scorch the air, she used the rising danger as an excuse to usher the civilians away from the path of the approaching operatives.
The hidden Dublinn soldiers, realizing their cover was blown, decided to abandon stealth altogether. They had numerical superiority, and that gave them all the confidence they needed.
Stripping away their cloaks, they drew their weapons and charged directly toward Jeanne!
"Have you lost your minds?!" Talulah roared, her eyes flashing with pure fury. She couldn't wrap her head around what these idiots were trying to achieve.
"Shut up, you greedy red dragon!" a Dublinn captain screamed, brandishing a blade. "We won't let you deceive our people any longer!"
From the center of the square, Jeanne felt the sudden shift in tension. She, too, couldn't fathom the reckless logic driving these men. But when people lost their minds, their actions became entirely unpredictable—and entirely dangerous.
"I will say this once: step back, or I will not hold back!" Talulah warned, her voice echoing over the square.
A ring of violent, searing flame erupted around her, forming a wall of fire that halted the charging soldiers in their tracks. None of them possessed the courage to hurl themselves into a Draco's flames, nor was Talulah willing to lower her defense.
The two sides locked into a tense standoff.
Trapped between the wall of fire and the gaze of the surrounding Taran civilians, the Dublinn soldiers grew increasingly agitated under the weight of those judgment-filled eyes.
Driven mad by the humiliation, several soldiers shouted a battle cry in a dialect Talulah didn't recognize and threw themselves blindly into the flames.
Talulah's expression turned cold. Flaring her Originium Arts, the wall of fire roared to life with terrifying intensity, reducing the reckless attackers to ash before they could even cross the threshold.
Yet, amid the swirling heat and smoke, one operative managed to slip through a gap in the flames using an Originium shield. Seeing the explosions overhead beginning to subside, he grinned, convinced he was about to achieve a legendary feat.
He raised his blade, charging forward—only to stop dead in his tracks.
The golden barrier overhead dissolved into thin air. Jeanne had voluntarily lowered her power, stepping toward him with a look of cold annoyance in her eyes.
"To be perfectly honest, I don't care about your grand Taran cause, nor do I care about whatever scheme your leaders are cooking up in the shadows," Jeanne said softly, her hand shooting out to grab the operative by his collar.
With a effortless flick of her arm, she hoisted the soldier into the air and tossed him back through the wall of fire like a piece of trash.
"I've realized something," Jeanne said, taking a deep breath as she wiped her brow. "There really is no point trying to reason with fanatics who've thrown away their brains."
She looked up at the quiet night sky. The anticipated second salvo of artillery had never arrived.
It seemed the allies she had reached out to earlier had finally arrived on the scene.