Auralis Empire

Despite the highly disturbing school shooting incident earlier this morning, it was surprisingly baffling that the school didn’t suspend classes or close the campus. All academic activities continued as usual, which was completely incomprehensible. On the other hand, Canglan Private High School, the site of the shooting, was quickly locked down, and the students were promptly relocated to safety. Compared to our school, which seemed as though nothing had happened, it was like night and day.

High school courses are incredibly tedious. You spend the entire year desperately cramming information into your head that, to you, seems completely irrelevant to the world, all for the purpose of memorizing it onto a stack of paper for the annual exams in July, only to forget it entirely in the next four years.

Our English teacher is a kindly old lady who, according to rumors, once taught Chinese to foreigners at a private school in England. This led to a quirky habit of hers: she would rapidly speak long passages of English, then slow down considerably when translating into Chinese, enunciating every syllable carefully, as if afraid we wouldn’t understand.

In short, it was a frustrating experience.

I squinted slightly, trying to distinguish what I could understand from the thick London accent around me, piecing together the parts into a coherent sentence (which was an incredibly challenging task, probably as difficult as analyzing ancient Egyptian pharaohs’ breakfast habits from half a stone tablet). Suddenly, a crumpled paper ball popped up from the side, hitting me squarely on the head.

I grabbed the paper ball and quickly calculated its trajectory, angle, speed, wind conditions, and local acceleration... Well, let’s just open it and see.

A line of highly encrypted, seemingly alien text appeared before me: “Blair, how is your sister?”

The handwriting, resembling something Van Gogh might have written after drinking two bottles of strong liquor with his left hand, was unmistakably Tina’s. Only a few people, including me, could decipher her messy script quickly. This also meant that whenever Tina and I passed notes during exams, we didn’t have to worry about others finding them and making use of them—essentially, Tina’s handwriting served as a kind of codebook.

“She’s fine. Her classmates and teachers seem to be taking good care of her. I don’t think anyone would be cruel enough to bully a blind girl, right?” I wrote back with equally difficult-to-read handwriting.

“Not necessarily. You need to take good care of your sister. She’s pitiful. If you let anyone bully her, I won’t forgive you!”

I never expected that Bell’s adorable appearance and the tragic backstory I created for her would have such a strong impact. In just a short time, even the carefree Tina had become a staunch protector of Bell...

Bullying Bell? I thought about the terrifying combat stance Bell had shown this morning, and the corners of my mouth twitched.

How many fully armed soldiers would it take to bully that strategic-level war machine?

Just as I was imagining Bell in full combat mode, with one hand on a reverse-phase cannon and the other on a ghostly siege artillery, battling the United Human Army, a strange sensation suddenly rippled through my mind. Was it... Bell trying to contact me?

No, it wasn’t Bell. According to her, as my chief assistant, she and I had an “unrestricted communication channel” for mental conversations. However, this feeling seemed more like a connection request—something Bell didn’t need.

Though I didn’t know who it was, I was sure it had something to do with the Auralis Empire.

I lowered my head, pretending to read, to hide any surprise that might show on my face (from experience, whenever the Auralis Empire contacts me, it's always with a surprise), and accepted the connection.

"This is World Arbitration Unit 2, Nina, requesting direct communication with the Emperor." A message identifying itself appeared in my mind.

Nina? I froze for a moment, then quickly recognized the name—the semi-transparent projection I had seen in my dream. Yes, the "goddess."

In fact, I had many questions about that dream, like why there was only one aerial fortress in the sky (now I knew it was the World Arbitration Unit). Where were the other two? Why did it almost touch the ground? What exactly is the World Arbitration Unit? And, more importantly, was Nina the consciousness of that massive fortress?

There were so many unanswered questions, but unfortunately, the connection with the Auralis homeworld had been intermittent. The fragmented signals from that world couldn’t accurately reflect the scene in my dreams anymore, like a lagging online game. The world in my dream had remained stuck on the last image I saw that night, and the connection with Auralis had nearly completely cut off. Even Bell only received faint signals.

Now, what did this AI from Auralis want from me?

Curious, I accepted the direct communication request. At the same time, I felt another mental signal arrive—this one from Bell, seemingly intending to listen in.

Though the communication was supposedly "timeless," the sheer distance, combined with Bell’s filtering, caused Nina’s voice to reach me several seconds late, in her calm and unmistakably Auralis tone. The content, however, shocked me.

"The Imperial Expeditionary Force’s 1st Legion entered space jump one hour ago and is expected to arrive on your planet in 12 hours. Please prepare for reception."

Just that sentence, and then... nothing.

What? Did I hear that right? Wait, hold on a second—are you sure?

But my flood of follow-up questions received no response, and the mental connection was abruptly cut off.

It seemed like this unstable connection had been forcibly established, and after only a few seconds, it was gone, leaving me with a massive headache.

The Imperial Expeditionary Force?

What the hell are they planning to "expedite"?

"Hey, Bell, did you hear that? About the Imperial Expeditionary Force?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what’s going on? Why is this army suddenly showing up?"

"Simply put, it’s my direct unit—the Heavy Armor Bell Legion."

Bell answered in a calm tone, and though we were only communicating mentally, I could easily picture her casual, matter-of-fact expression as she said it.

Maybe for her, sending an army anywhere was no big deal?

But for me, this was a huge deal!

In that instant, it felt as if my peaceful life was slipping rapidly away...