Every time she breathed in, it felt as though her lungs were being scorched.
Sydney Wetzley leaned her back against the cover, stroking the slide of her scalding-hot pistol with her thumb. Her leather gloves were already slick and gleaming with someone's blood and sweat.
"Director, the wounded are increasing again! The right flank is running out of ammunition too!"
At her desperate adjutant’s voice, Sydney turned her head.
"Hold on a little longer, Oliver."
She encouraged her adjutant, Oliver.
"The Capital Defense Force is coming. Once the 1st Division intervenes, those rioters will be swept away like dust. Until then, maintain the defensive line somehow."
"...Yes! Understood."
Oliver aimed his gun beyond the barricade once more. Watching his back, Sydney gritted her teeth. The Intelligence Bureau's elites were trapped in this cesspool, dying like dogs. As their chief, the sight was heart-rending.
But there was nothing she could do. She had to endure. As the head of the Intelligence Bureau, as the blade tip of the United Kingdom and Her Majesty the Queen.
Kugugung—!
It was then that a heavy rumbling echoed back.
Beyond the faint glow of the gas lamps, dark green wheeled armored vehicles could be seen pressing forward.
"Director! It's the Defense Force! The 1st Division has arrived!"
One of the Intelligence Bureau agents let out a cheer.
'It's over.'
Sydney finally let out a sigh of relief and flicked off the safety of her pistol.
Click. Screech.
However, the direction in which the armored vehicle's turret turned was strange.
The gun barrel wasn't aimed at the city district where the rioters were swarming.
Precisely, it stopped, aimed at the barricade that the Intelligence Bureau and the Military Police were defending with their lives.
'...No way.'
Sydney's lavender-colored pupils shook violently. In that instant, the scattered fragments of information in her head began to fit together like puzzle pieces.
From the beginning, the rioters' armament had been abnormal. The Intelligence Bureau's classified operations had been leaking constantly, and infiltrators had roamed Londinium as if it were their own home. Such incidents were commonplace—far beyond what the existence of an ordinary internal collaborator could explain.
Above all.
'The martial law approval came too easily.'
The Prime Minister and the Citizen Labor Party, who would normally have been reluctant to deploy the military, had immediately approved the deployment of the 1st Division. Thanks to that, the regular army had been able to legally enter the heart of Londinium.
Clad in the perfect pretext of suppressing the riots.
'From the beginning... this was the goal.'
She had been deceived.
The forces behind the scenes had no intention of suppressing the riots. Rather, they had used those riots to herd the obstacles into one place and set the stage for their annihilation.
Their goal was only one: the complete seizure of Londinium.
To establish a puppet regime to the Federation's liking in the heart of the United Kingdom.
Sydney chewed on her lip. The metallic tang of blood lingered in her mouth.
'The traitor was, from the start...'
Not some corrupt police executive or a flunky from the judiciary.
Those who could seize control of an army on such a massive scale and cover the Queen's ears. The center of power in the United Kingdom. The highest echelons of the parliamentary cabinet and the military. No, perhaps even higher.
They had staged a coup.
—"This is the Capital Defense Force Command. Royal Intelligence Bureau, lay down your weapons and surrender immediately!"
The voice of the commander holding the loudspeaker carried over the barricade.
—"Arrest warrants have been issued for all of you on charges of aiding insurrection and masterminding the civil unrest!"
The Intelligence Bureau agents stared at one another in a daze, still unable to grasp the situation.
"What the hell is this! Can't you distinguish friend from foe?!"
One agent, unable to contain himself, leaned over the barricade.
"We are the Royal Intelligence Bureau! The rioters who started the rebellion are in that district over there, not us...!"
"That is an order! Lower your weapons and surrender immediately!"
The soldiers before them responded mechanically. There was no reasoning with them. After all, they were merely following their commander's orders.
"It's a misunderstanding! Director! Hurry, establish communication with their commander...!"
"No need to communicate! Don't drop your weapons! It's a trap!!"
Sydney screamed at the top of her lungs.
But everything was already too late.
Ta-ang—!
Before Sydney's voice could even fade, some among the enemy opened fire. They were infiltrators and special agents mixed in among the ranks.
"They're resisting! Commence suppression!"
"Open fire!"
That was the starting point.
Tatatatatatang—!
The heavy machine guns spewed fire with horrific ripping sounds. Dozens of rifles fired in unison.
It was incomparable to crude Molotov cocktails. They were literal killing machines designed to ravage battlefields.
"Kuaaaack!"
"W-we're allies... why is the army... kheugh!"
Intelligence Bureau agents who had stood up to clear the misunderstanding were turned into human sieves in an instant and collapsed.
"Director, take cov...!"
A large-caliber round slammed into the chest of Oliver, who had urgently tried to throw himself toward Sydney. His body, unable to withstand the catastrophic explosion, became a mess of blood and flesh, dyeing the collar of Sydney's white uniform red.
"Kuk...!"
Sydney threw herself behind a shattered marble pillar. The thick blood of her subordinate, soaked all over her body, trickled down, producing an unbearably fishy scent of blood.
Without even time to feel that heat, Sydney shouted.
"The army has betrayed us! Everyone retreat inside the building! Contract the defensive line into the structure!"
Intelligence Bureau agents and military police began retreating in disgraceful shambles. Like rats terrified for their lives, they rolled across the dirt ground and crawled on all fours.
Kwang! Kwang! Tatatatang—!
Enduring that hellish chaos while leaning against a single pillar, Sydney bit her blood-caked lip.
The flames that had blazed red in the streets had already died down amidst the smoke, and pitch-black darkness was descending upon the Foreign Ministry building of Londinium, now reduced to ashes.
*
At the same time, the Imperial Embassy.
The rioters' second offensive was relentless.
Unlike the beginning when they had charged in recklessly, they now utilized shotguns and Molotov cocktails in hit-and-run guerrilla warfare. Consequently, the defensive battle had transformed into a far more grueling mud fight.
Click.
I pulled out the submachine gun's magazine and gauged its weight.
'Six rounds. Is this my last magazine?'
I rummaged through my pockets, but all that remained were two or three spare rounds. The grenades had run out long ago.
"...Colonel."
Seraphina approached my side. Her dust-covered face was pale.
"Any further mana emission is impossible. If I forcefully raise it......"
Seraphina whispered quietly so that only I could hear.
"...I'm afraid a mana reflux will trigger."
"You've already worked hard enough. Rest for a bit."
'Hand of Harmony.'
[Skill 'Hand of Harmony (Lv.2)' is activated.]
[Stabilizing the target's bio-energy.]
I hurriedly stabilized Seraphina's mana circuits. The expression of Seraphina leaning against me eased considerably.
'The time has already passed.'
The thirty minutes Sydney had spoken of had passed, but the situation hadn't improved at all. Rather, the rioters outside the window had surrounded the embassy in a circle at a fixed distance, as if waiting for something.
'Status Analysis.'
[Target: Infiltrator affiliated with the Federation]
[Status: Anticipation, conviction of victory]
[Emotion: They will arrive soon. Our comrades who will cut off the breath of those Imperial bastards!]
'Our comrades?'
I furrowed my brow. It was then.
Kugugung—.
Vibrations traveled through the building's floor. The sound of numerous heavy vehicles and a large-scale force marching in unison.
"It's the Capital Defense Force!"
The sentries' faces brightened.
"Colonel! It's the regular army of the United Kingdom! They seem to have come to suppress the demonstr...!"
"Shut up. Don't lower your weapons."
I snapped coldly, then looked at the [Minimap] floating in the air.
And I felt cold sweat running down my spine.
Within a 1km radius.
A massive wave of troops advancing along the main road.
The hundreds, thousands of dots marked on the minimap.
"......."
Every single one of them without exception was marked in a 'vivid red' color indicating hostility toward me. Though they advanced overlapping with the demonstrators, there were no signs of engagement whatsoever.
Those red dots were methodically tightening the encirclement around the embassy.
"...Damn islanders."
A hollow laugh burst out.
This was the worst of all worst-case scenarios. The uncertainty Marshal Ludwig had warned of was manifesting in a way that far exceeded my imagination.
The regular army that should have come to suppress the riots had been seized by the damn reds. This was no longer a demonstration or riot, but a military coup. A thorough deception orchestrated by someone holding command authority.
And the reason they had surrounded our embassy? It was obvious.
'Because the Imperial delegation is the perfect scapegoat.'
They would create a common enemy in the form of Imperial absolutism to pacify internal discontent.
If they could just 'deal with' us in Londinium, they could consolidate the madness of Londinium in one stroke, and the United Kingdom could naturally transition to a wartime dictatorship under the pretext of preparing for war with the Empire.
Therefore, this was no longer a riot. Even the word 'insurrection' was insufficient to contain this situation.
It was, quite literally, a communist revolution.
I had an intuition. Starting from this incident, all of Londinium would fall to the reds. The communists would emerge victorious in the civil war, and it was only a matter of time before the entire island of Victoria turned crimson. Eventually, red flags would be planted in the Empire where the sun never sets.
Snap! Fwoosh—!
The tanks surrounding the embassy activated their searchlights. Within a barrier of light that completely blocked their vision, dozens of tank cannons aimed at the building.
Clack. Creak.
Soon after, the hatches of the armored vehicles opened, and suppression squads donning black combat uniforms and gas masks began forming ranks.
'Status Analysis.'
[Affiliation: 1st Division Special Unit (Suborned by the Federation)]
[Status: Awaiting suppression and assassination orders]
'...Ruthless bastards.'
"Commence operation! Arrest them!"
Finally, the enemy began to move.
"C-Colonel! Something is wrong! The Defense Force seems to be in league with the enemy...!"
"W-we must flee, Colonel! It's impossible to fight a defensive battle against such a force!"
The sentry's screams and Hannah's urgent cries rang in my ears.
In one corner of my vision, the countless red dots on the [Minimap] tightened their grip on our throats with a perfect encirclement, not an inch of breach.
The smell of blood and smoke stabbed deep into my lungs.
I spat the clot of blood accumulated in my mouth onto the floor and quietly pulled the bolt of the submachine gun with only six rounds left.
Click.
It became clear.
From this moment on, my goal was no longer defending the embassy.
Exploiting the chaos within the United Kingdom to maximize the Empire's interests, getting through this crisis to catch the Imperial Court's eye and climb the ladder of success, even that damned Santa Barbara Colony Treaty—none of it held any value now.
To hell with that pompous diplomat's justification and the hero's dignity. Throw it all away.
In this overwhelming deathtrap, my sole goal was.
Nothing but survival.