NOVPUBThe Sky Garden Raid—an attack by the Inter-Species Liberation Army against the Fixers and examinees in the middle of the Fixer Exam.
It was, in many ways, a full-blown prelude to the war that was to come.
A serious incident by any measure.
And yet, surprisingly, information about it was kept tightly under wraps, treated almost as if it had never happened at all.
Why would such a major incident, one that left quite a number of victims, be concealed instead of made public?
There were several reasons that could be listed.
First, the very existence of the Sky Garden, built to protect the fairies, was top secret.
Second, the fact that a facility isolated high in the sky had been successfully attacked could spark panic among civilians.
And third, if word got out, it would inevitably lead to the revelation that Tempest had suffered a major injury.
Now, two days after the incident had occurred, the upper ranks had ultimately decided that covering it up would be the better course.
In particular, they were unwilling to disclose the existence of the uncontrollable artifact—the Queen’s Blasphemous Tiara.
To admit that no place on Earth was safe from the Inter-Species Liberation Army...
To the powerless civilian masses, it would be nothing short of pure terror.
“So this is the famous Sky Garden, huh? It’s... a total wreck.”
“Considering it fell from hundreds of meters in the air, I’m more surprised it’s still in one piece at all.”
“A-a floating island this big... was in the sky? I still can’t believe it...”
And so, for various reasons, the Sky Garden remained completely unknown to anyone outside the Fixers.
Now, a group who had just arrived by ship stood upon its soil, each voicing their impressions aloud.
They were Fixer Victor—recently recovered from his injuries at the Saint Maria Hotel—and his assistants.
Under official commission from the Association, they had been tasked with investigating the Sky Garden site.
Most of those present during the Sky Garden incident had been immediately transferred to hospitals.
To examine the remnants still at the site, outside personnel had to be brought in.
Victor, his golden spiked hair gleaming as vibrantly as ever, strode confidently toward the visibly exhausted site manager.
“Oh, Victor... You’re here to conduct the investigation? Ah, yes, of course. You can go right in. Just be careful—some areas are still structurally unstable.”
“Mmh. Thanks for the hard work.”
Victor’s signature golden spikes stood out as always.
The manager only needed one glance at his face and hair to recognize him immediately.
Victor was the type of person who could be trusted without hesitation.
And so, without a single obstacle, he stepped boldly into the Sky Garden and let out a dry chuckle as he looked around.
“This... This doesn’t look like it’s just from the crash, does it?”
“No. The scale of destruction covering almost every visible surface... it’s definitely the work of Tempest-nim.”
The center of the Sky Garden, where the site manager had established control, was a veritable hellscape.
The ground looked as if it had been scooped out like butter.
Trees and rocks were broken and scattered as if some giant had carelessly smashed through them.
Debris sliced as cleanly as if by laser and scorched earth still blackened from flame—
Victor crouched down, scooped some of the soil into his hand, and tried to deduce what had occurred here.
“Looks like Tempest-nim finally released his true form. Then came unfiltered wind and lightning magic. Normally, that would’ve ended things in seconds...”
“But the enemy was the Sword Demon. That guy’s swordsmanship is said to be sharp enough to cut through storms and lightning itself. So yeah—it wouldn’t have gone down easy.”
“Right. And with signs of necromancy left behind here, they were probably disrupted mid-battle by interference or tricky support. It definitely wasn’t an easy fight.”
Victor recorded every detail of the scene through photo and video.
The Sky Garden, now floating precariously above the sea, would soon be dismantled and moved to land—
—which meant every tiny piece of evidence had to be documented.
Information about the Seven Calamities was a crucial clue to strategizing against the Inter-Species Liberation Army.
Even seemingly minor traces could turn out to be key.
Of course, if it were only this level of work, there’d be no need to deploy someone as valuable as Victor.
A more specialized, obsessive investigator could do the job better and more thoroughly.
So why had someone in the upper ranks of the Double Number Fixers come all the way out here as a field investigator?
Naturally, there was a compelling reason.
“Kieeek! Die, you wench! Become my puppet!”
“Hhic...!”
“Not a chance.”
“Gurk...”
A modified human suddenly burst from the ground—
—and was instantly knocked out cold by Victor’s punch, foaming at the mouth.
It had been an ambush aimed at Victor’s assistant, who had let their guard down for a moment.
But Victor hadn’t been distracted—he’d already picked up on the irregular breathing nearby.
This was why someone like Victor had to be sent in person.
It was because remnants of the Liberation Army were still lurking in the Sky Garden.
Modified humans might not pose much of a threat to Fixers—
—but to civilians, they were living nightmares capable of killing in an instant.
That was precisely why, at present, only Fixers of a certain rank and above were permitted to roam the Sky Garden.
“Good. That’s one more captured. Rookie, contact the Association so they can take this one «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» in.”
“Yes! Right away!”
“And you, assistant—your scream was surprisingly cute.”
“S-shut up!”
“Hahaha! It tickled!”
Thump, thump.
Victor chuckled as his assistant flailed their fists against him in embarrassment, his expression relaxed—
—but in his mind, he was thinking sharply.
‘So there are still modified humans here... It’s been two days already, and things are still dragging. Even with a Single Number Fixer dispatched, they can’t spare time to hunt down those hidden deep underground... What a pain. I thought this would be a simple job.’
Survivors at this point meant they had considerable ability.
Some buried themselves underground to kill their presence completely. Others hid inside withered trees.
The difficulty of dealing with these modified humans was on another level entirely.
And worst of all, alchemical creations couldn’t be tracked by mana.
To a Fixer trained to counter magic, that made hunting down remnants especially troublesome.
Still, there was one fortunate development:
Now that Olvis the alchemist’s body had been confirmed dead, the production of modified humans had likely ceased.
If they could just finish off the remaining ones, there’d be no need to keep worrying about them. That alone was enough to reignite his motivation.
Once the unconscious, tightly bound modified human had been dragged away by the rookie,
Victor left the area ravaged by Tempest and continued exploring other parts of the Sky Garden—
—until suddenly, his brows furrowed.
“Hm? This is... odd.”
“What’s strange, sir?”
“Look at this. There are clear signs of a battle here... and yet, there’s barely any trace of mana.”
“Hm... You’re right. Dozens of undead look like they were crushed by a giant press, but no detectable magic. Magic of this scale, even by a lower-rank Double Number Fixer, shouldn’t vanish after just a day.”
The area they found strange was an open space around a large tree—
—where Yuri had fought the fused modified human, Triggers.
Skeletons were crushed everywhere, and the fused chimera’s torso had a gaping hole blown through it.
But for some reason, Victor’s equipment could only pick up the faintest traces of mana.
It was as if this hadn’t been done by magic at all—an inexplicably irrational result.
Normally, one might blame equipment failure or the Sky Garden’s collapse.
But Victor happened to know of a power that could achieve this without magic.
Psychic power.
If it came from an Invader-originated psychic, then this kind of result—complete destruction with no lingering traces—was absolutely possible.
‘Psychic ability... Come to think of it, there’s been talk lately of strange phenomena that can’t be explained by magic. Could there really have been a psychic involved in this?’
Lowering his stance again, Victor rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
If someone had done this, there had to be a witness.
But none of the people encountered by the Fixers who arrived first had stood out that way.
Well, there was one suspicious case—a black-haired girl that a Single Number Fixer had supposedly seen...
But Raven had taken her into custody and delivered her safely to the Association.
And with Tempest later confirming she wasn’t a threat, there was no reason to dig further.
Still, the lack of concrete clues left Victor with a lingering feeling that the truth was just out of reach.
Watching his assistant diligently documenting the area, he spoke up.
“Check if there were any outsiders involved in this incident besides the Fixers and examinees.”
“Huh? You mean... aside from the Calamities who attacked?”
“Yeah. My guess is... if there weren’t any outsiders, then one of the examinees must be the one.”
As his assistant stared back with a confused expression, Victor stood upright and said with grave seriousness:
“A psychic.”
His intuition, sharp enough to leap over the gap left by missing evidence,
was enough to send a chill down the neck of a certain snowy-white girl somewhere far away.
Of course, Yuri herself had no time to worry about that right now.
Because at that very moment, her mouth was dry, and she was trapped in a very tense situation.
“Yuri. Let’s talk.”
“...”
Facing Raven, whose voice carried no trace of humor,
she shrank back like a cornered mouse, shoulders drawn tight.
To her, it truly felt like she’d been pushed to the edge of a cliff.
